ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Did Do Better (But I Wasn't Expecting It)

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Regulars to my blog, and to this ShowCase will know that once a month I have the theme of: The One That Should Have Done Better providing another opportunity for those unloved posts to have a little more attention and possibly widen the readership.

After the last SOSC, I was asked by @The_Moiderer if I could do the opposite theme at the next opportunity; not 'The Most Popular Post' but an opportunity to highlight a blog-post which is consistently read or soared on the stats chart but was never intended to be a ratings winner. And because she's one of my favourite bloggers, and one of the first people I started following on twitter (60,000 tweets ago) I am unable to refuse her!

Finding a post for this link-up has proven difficult. People have different reasons for blogging: while some use it purely as a resource and a diary for themselves, others use it to communicate with the wider world. I'm one of those who thinks that the minute you press publish then you are sharing it with anyone and everyone to see, and therefore it is done with the intent of being read. However, there are some posts that I accept might not have as many readers as other posts: my 365 photo-journal hardly gets any attention for example.

I've got one post which sits head and shoulders above the rest. Unfortunately it's a competition and I don't allow competitions to be linked up. I will tell you though that it was a review and competition of NIP+FAB Frown Fix and has had 1000 more views than any other post on my blog, and has at least one hit a day. Sometimes if it's in the news I get a spike of 100 views that day. Bizarre.

The post I'm linking up is a mixed-bag. Yes, the initial purpose of it was as a sponsored post for NetMums and it was to write about the Family Friendly Football Festival. However, it was a big family day out for us and we had a really positive experience. In the month since I published it, I've had 200+ views on it. Reviews tend to get a quarter of that over the course of several months. Further to that, because it was a positive review, I am now being followed on twitter by The Football League and my review was retweeted by them to its 45,000 followers!

So which is the one that you weren't expecting? Which is the one that was actually written just as a rambling aside to yourself but everyone was fascinated in? Link it up below and see if you can get an insight into the workings of your readers minds.

ShowOff ShowCase is only successful when people read and comment on each others' blogs. Please take five minutes to show some love for the link-ups.

Please add the badge to the end of your post so people can easily return here to read the others.

ShowOff ShowCase

The Boy Reads…

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I'm sure that this is the same as with most toddlers, but when The Boy develops a liking for a book, then it is read over and over again. Tonight (as one of my working days) was my turn for the bedtime routine and I was pleasantly suprised to see that Mr. TheBoyandMe and The Boy have been practising a little pre-reading skills:

Walking With Purpose

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Earlier this year, a Facebook 'friend' walked across from the Welsh borders to London to deliver a petition to Downing Street and raising money on behalf of Help for Heroes. He walked from Gloucester to London!

As an ex-military man and currently a paramedic, it was an action which was close to his heart and meant a great deal to him. I sponsored him without a second thought and kept a close eye on his progress, and I felt a great relief and pride when he made it.

However, he was incredibly lucky because he came home from active service without a scratch on him. Many servicemen and women aren't so lucky. And it is these people who are the focus of the Help for Heroes campaign. The people who have lost limbs, suffered injuries we can't even begin to imagine and choose to focus on helping others.

Like Jonathon, who sustained a gunshot wound to his spine while serving in Iraq. Jonathan is going to be doing something quite amazing with the help of his dad. He is attempting the 17,590 feet trek to Everest Base Camp. Watch the video and check out his expedition. Then afterwards, why not pop over and donate? I have.

This is a sponsored post, part of which is being used to sponsor Jonathan on his expedition.

Little Photos From Little Fingers

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I was tagged by Momma Two ages ago to complete this meme created by her and Mammasaurus. Well she didn't originally tag me, but I sulked on twitter so she told me to consider myself tagged, I favourited, did the leg-work and then forgot to write it!

I am forever finding photos on the iPod Touch taken by The Boy, and I've blogged about them before. They make me chuckle, especially when I find random ones of my feet when we're walking around the supermarket, or of me putting my make-up on but only from the waist down.

Well both Momma and Mamma had been having a conversation late one night on twitter about the same thing, and so created this meme with the objective of showing off the photos that our little ones take. I will confess to giving The Boy the smallest amount of guidance beforehand; showing him how to hold the iPod so that the item he wanted to take a picture of is in the frame. Then I let him go with it, and these are the shots he came up with:

I don't think he did too badly really, in fact the crayons are quite arty!

I want to carry this on for Momma Two and MammaSaurus and so am tagging the following five bloggers, because I know for some of them, that their children are always having a play around with iPods, iPads, LeapPads, etc:

  1. The Crazy Kitchen
  2. Mummy Mishaps
  3. The Moiderer
  4. Mummy Mummy Mum
  5. Multiple Mummy

Cooking with The Gruffalo

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I realised this morning that it's been nearly a month since The Boy and Me (ha!) have done any baking together, and so I cracked open the plain flour and the weighing scales. We'd had a Gruffalo apron set sent to us from Dunelm so I decided to follow the recipe on the recipe card given in the pack to make Woodland Cookies.

Woodland Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 170g plain flour
  • 1tbsp baking powder
  • 57g rolled oats
  • 113g butter
  • 113g caster sugar
  • 57g chocolate drops
  • 2tbsp golden syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Put on your unbelievably cute, wipe-clean Gruffalo apron and smile at mummy, while not falling off the chair.

3. Mix the flour, baking powder and rolled oats together.

4. Rub in the butter to make a crumble mixture.

5. Add the sugar, chocolate drops and golden syrup and mix to a stiff dough.

6. Roll out the mixture onto a floured surface, using the cute little rolling pin included in the set.

7. Use the cutters to cut out some cookies and place on greased and floured baking tray.

8. Cook for 20 minutes or until pale brown.

I was sent the Gruffalo cooking set in order to review. My opinion that it's excellent value for money is honest and unbiased.

The Crazy Kitchen

Websites I Visit The Most

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The jovial Jenny from Mummy Mishaps has tagged me in a meme started by excellent Emma from Mummy Musings showing the websites that I can't live without.

It's quite apt for me because the second that the laptop has finished firing up, the second Firefox has loaded I'm opening up new tabs; one for each of the following and in this order:

  • Gmail

The e-mails at the moment are bananas. Obviously I run a fair amount of competitions and so I get a lot of e-mails from entries, alongside the lovely comments on my original content posts. In addition to the notifications for blogs that I read, are the review requests. And at the moment there's a fair amount. I am inordinately fortunate to be receiving them but reading through take a little time.

  • Twitter

At the time of writing this, 58,999 tweets show that I'm an addict. Nearly 60,000 tweets in a year. God, I talk a lot of crap. Now, is the time to disagree with me and say that every one of my 140 character statements are profound and worthwhile. Come on, 1,807 of you follow me so it can't all be crap?

Can it?

  • TheBoyandMe

Of course, it should probably be first but hey-ho! Approving comments and writing posts. Do I need to explain anything else about it?

  • Facebook

Why? Why do I still bother with it? It's a pile of pants nowadays, but I'm a bit rubbish at letting things go. Besides, the TRU discussion group is a fab little community and I'm addicted to playing Words With Friends with Carole and Kate.

  • Picnik

It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best photo editing facility that I've come across. I've subscribed to the premium functions and I use it daily. Love it!

And so I tag:

A Man's World?

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I have issues.

For the sake of clarification here (because quite frankly I have a lot of issues ranging from an intense dislike of the colour orange to why I can't pull the plastic wrap off microwave meals) I feel it necessary to point out that my issue in particular is about men and ICT.

As an ICT co-ordinator who has just led her school through a successful assessment of our capabilities, I find it infuriating that the male (in theirs 20s) staff are assumed to know more than me. I'm very competent in this area and when I was on maternity, I am told that it was tough without me.

I really do think I'm quite astute when it comes to technology, it's partly my downfall in my job. I should just co-ordinate the teaching of the subject but because I understand infrastructure, hardware, software, etc. I am called upon to help like a technician.

This morning, my shadow co-ordinator (male) and I were on separate ICT courses. Mine was hard-core, brain-blowing infrastructure stuff, his was to do with Apple products. We sat down in the staffroom at lunchtime, alongside the other young bloke and started chatting with others around us. Another male teacher walked in and talked to the pair of them about technologies and ICT, ignoring me who was slowly cogitating and stewing in the corner. That was until I was asked an ICT question by my shadow.

My response?

"I'm sorry, I can't possibly talk to you about technology as I don't have a penis!"

Listography: Top Five Random Things I Like

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I've been rubbish recently with the Listography but I really wanted to make an effort to do this week's theme of randomness.

Just one word of warning though – random is not 'I like chocolate' – that's just not going to cut it round here. However 'I like chocolate sauce with my chips' is getting a bit warmer.

  1. Pub chips must be eaten with mayonnaise. End of.
  2. When I am in the classroom, the groups of tables must be parallel or perpendicular to the walls.
  3. I like to eat my custard slices by squeezing the pieces together, licking the custard out around the side and then eating the 'sandwich'.
  4. David Tennant was the best Doctor Who ever. Matt Smith is rubbish.
  5. I like a jam sandwich and half a glass of milk every night before I go to bed every night.

I know, possibly not as random as some but hey-ho!

Pop over to KateTakes5 to see the other link-ups using this little widgetty doo-dah!
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