I'm a full-time mummy

I had the good fortune of reviewing a newly released book by David Erik Nelson called: "Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred: Seriously Geeky Stuff to Make with Your Kids"

Title: Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred: Seriously Geeky Stuff to Make with Your Kids
Author: David Erik Nelson
Publisher:  No Starch Press
ISBN: 9781593272593
Paperback: 360 pages
Dimension: 9.2 x 7 x 1 inches

David Erik Nelson is a freelance writer and former high school teacher. His fiction has been nominated for a Nebula award and has appeared in Asimov's, The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and the forthcoming Steampunk Reloaded anthology. He developed the projects in this book at an alternative school, with plenty of feedback from his students. He is a contributor to the "Ask the Giant Squid" advice column at Poor Mojo's Almanac(k), a weekly online literary journal. You can also check out the author at his personal blog at: http://www.davideriknelson.com/sbsb/

The cover is a bit geeky for me but its title sounds excitingly dangerous and fun! Step-by-step books with illustrations, instructions and a book that comes with 24 quirky DIY projects that we can try on have always caught my fancy.

The book divides itself into 3 parts: Kid Stuff wherein the skills taught include basic sewing, carpentry, and electronics: Electro-Skiffe Band, which is an all music projects and requires slightly more advanced carpentry and soldering skills and The Locomotivated which is dedicated to flying and projectile toys.

Some of the projects, however, are too advanced for me, especially those under the Electro-Skiffe Band part. For example, the “x-Ray Talking Drum” project requires tools and supplies which are much more difficult for me to obtain, such as a large X–ray and a miter box.

I do love the fact that the projects in this book are designed to cost $10 or less and include kid-friendly crafts such as my favorites which are “The Sock Squid”, “Cardboard Boomerangs” and “FedEx Kites”, all of which are made of products which can be found in our home and does not costs much at all!

This book is a good choice for parents or teachers who would like to try their hands on craft-works which do not costs much and at the same time wants to learn useful skills in sewing, carpentry, electronics, and soldering.

You can get this book from Amazon, o'Reilly and even from the publisher website itself, which is No Starch Press.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book by the publisher (No Starch Press) via my association with BookPleasures in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

This is my 4th post on sharing "My Two Cents Worth" throughout my blogging journey. In this post, I'm going to write about: Followers.

Why do we need followers?

* To make more bloggy friends, and through them, hopefully can find out more on other people / countries cultures and so on.

* Helps with your blog statistics when you are pitching for some product reviews (as some companies only go for blog with bigger following)

* Wider network / coverage to spread news about giveaways and/or product reviews.

* Blog audience... meaning, at least you know there are other people reading your blogs too!

How to get more followers?

* Regularly produce good written articles that can connect with your blog readers / visitors

* Join the many blog memes around the bloggy land (Check out my Tuesday meme post, these few memes helped me gained a lot of new followers!)

* Host a product giveaway

* Participate in a blog link swap (either through Facebook, Twitter and so on)

* Become guest post on another blog

* Leave comments (real not spam please) on other people's blogs and hopefully they will return the favor and in time form a bloggy friendship and become a follower

* Make sure your follower buttons are easily accesible and simple to subscribe

* Submit your blog URL to blog directories, Search Engines and so on

* Participate in other forums (some of my blog followers came from the Babycenter Forum which I regularly shared my experience and advice in the early days of becoming a SAHM)

So there you go... that's pretty much what I can squeeze out of my tired brain now on the topic of followers.

I've always treat my blog as if it is my child (ok, lower ranking than Ben of course!), and I think you should too! Nurture it, build it, have fun and make happy memories with it as how you would do with your child. It does bring joy to your heart! Feel free to leave me a comment if you would like to find out more on a certain topic. And do let me know your feedback and thoughts about this topic, will you? Until then, happy blogging!

This will be my 3rd post on sharing "My Two Cents Worth" throughout my blogging journey. In this post, I'm going to write about: Comments.

Firstly, according to Wikipedia, "A comment is generally a verbal or written remark often related to an added piece of information, or an observation or statement."

Personally, I love comments. I believe it's a way how my blog readers/visitors can tell me their feedback and thoughts on the posts I wrote and shared in my blog. Without comments, it's like writing a diary (online that is) and talking to myself. Which is weird...

(* Now that reminds me of the time I freaked out when my blog readers/visitors who uses Internet Explorer can't comment on my blog due to a technical bug and I had to scramble off to find a temporary fix to allow the comments to still come in. It has since been resolved and I'm so happy I get more comments nowadays!)

OK, without further ado, let me share my thoughts on:

The reasons and/or benefits of leaving our comments

* If you regularly leave comments on a particular blog, it will make the blog owner become aware of you and also your website. In a way, it's kinda like trying to make bloggy friends. IMO, I made a number of bloggy friends this way and we have to start somewhere to make friends right? So, leave a comment if you want to be friends!

* Leaving a comment means you care about the topic discussed in the post and would like to share your thoughts on it as well. I think even a simple comment like 'Great post!' or 'Looks yummy!' goes a long way in telling the blog owner that although you are just blog hopping (for example) or really have nothing much to say on the post, you do make an effort somehow.

* Increase traffic to your website. When you leave a comment, some blogs/websites allow you to leave your blog/website URL as well and by doing so, you increase your chances and traffic to your website. For me, the way I replied back the comments I get is to go to the links you left when you commented on my post. Else, I revert via the email address you left when you commented.

* Participation in giveaways - some blogs/websites hosting giveaways requires the readers/visitors to leave comment(s) in the giveaway post as a way to enter.

Why People Don't Leave Their Comment?

* There's nothing for them to comment with. Could be what you wrote is too detailed that there's just no way for your blog readers/visitors to comment.

* Stepping into the line of fire. Could be that what you wrote is highly debatable that any single comment posted will ended up with more reactions on it and people are just afraid of that.

* You don't respond back to their comments. It kinda shows people that you're too busy to respond back to their comments, so people ended up not doing that anymore. Remember, communication is between 2 parties, not one sided only...

* CAPTCHAs and/or login system in order to leave a comment. Some websites/blogs I encountered required a user ID to login in order to leave a comment. I already have gazillions of user IDs and passwords that I need to remember, and absolutely do not need to add another one just so I could leave a comment for you.

My Comment Etiquettes:

When someone leaves me a comment, I do the following:

1. Check whether it is a spam? On average, I get about 10 spams daily (sometimes up to 30 a day) and it's very easy to spot them as most of them leave a flattering comment but at a closer look, you will noticed that their name and/or blog or website are from commercial type. This is a way to sell their website and put out their site links to as many websites out there as possible. Of course I will definitely delete all these spams ASAP.

2. Do they leave me their personal blog/website to contact them? If no, I will reply via the email they left in their comment. If yes, go to number 3.

3. Reply back to each and every comments, thanking the person for their comment and copy the reply, go to the person's blog/website, browse around (I normally looked for the recent few posts) and take the time to read their post(s) and leave my comment by pasting my reply on top of my comment on their post.

4. Of course, if the person who left me their comments are close bloggy friends, I don't often do step 3 as I would most probably be checking  and left my comments on their blog/website whenever they have a new post up.

So there you go... I think I pretty much covers all there is on the topic of comments.

I've always treat my blog as if it is my child (ok, lower ranking than Ben of course!), and I think you should too! Nurture it, build it, have fun and make happy memories with it as how you would do with your child. It does bring joy to your heart! Feel free to leave me a comment if you would like to find out more on a certain topic. And do let me know your feedback and thoughts about this topic, will you? Like I said earlier:

Until then, happy blogging!