The Lazy Sunday Stumble

Each Sunday, I do a lot of catching up on my blog reading. I like to read all of the posts collected in my Stumble group and share them with my followers. In the past, I've overwhelmed my Facebook and Twitter followers with a bunch of recommendations, so I have decided to gather all of the posts into one blog post for everyone to read!


Web Tools

• How To Use Storify from Kludgy Mom. Perhaps this is the next great tool for you. I've been toying with using Storify myself, so I am excited about this tutorial from Kludgy Mom (she's one of the best!).
• Great Internet Marketing by Thinking Like a Teacher from Creative Boomer. For my fellow bloggers, internet marketing is one of those skills you need to hone if you'd like to spread the word about your presence online.

Creative & Funny

• Where I'm From from Modern Gypsy. A beautifully written piece linked up to Mama Kat's Losing It! about where Modern Gypsy is from.
• What did he just say? Funny Kids Cartoon from Sason & Pobi. A cute cartoon where our blogger makes a first attempt at drawing with a mouse (that can't be easy!!).

Events

• Women of Faith IMAGINE Conference from Woven by Words. Mimi gives us an introduction to the Women of Faith Conferences by looking back at last year's event and showing us where to go this year!

Product Reviews & Giveaways

• Canadian Tire Kitchen Mission | Shark Portable Steam Cleaner vs. Stove & Oven by Simply Stacie. Stacie introduces me to a pretty intense-looking cleaner for the stove and oven. I had no idea they made these portable steam cleaners before reading this!
• The 5 Best Parenting Books from Eat. Live. Laugh. and sometimes shop. I wasn't sure if this should go in the family section or product reviews, but here it is. The five BEST parenting books according to Eat. Live. Laugh. and sometimes shop. They look pretty fantastic to me (I'm going to keep this list handy for my future self!)
• Looking for fair-trade energy? CocoaWell has it and more... plus a giveaway! from Almost All the Truth. A fair-trade product that gives you energy, helps your heart and circulation - why not try to win some, I'm going to. The giveaway entries end on October 6th.

Relationships & Family

• How to Turn Your Nags into Requests He'd Love to Honor from Before You Marry. 3 great ways to turn your nags into requests are hidden in this post - whether you are working toward getting married, or already there, who couldn't use these great tips?
• Winnie-the-Pooh, Complete Tales & Poems by Read Aloud Dad.A fabulous review of the classic A.A. Milne stories and poems illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. Read Aloud Dad not only reviews the collections, but reminds us why these stories are so precious to share with the whole family.
• Do You Know What Your Pet Is Saying? from Daily Organized Choas. Bibi takes the time to describe the differences between various pet actions so her family can better understand what the furry family members need. A great read for pet-lovers.
• Naptime, Interrupted. Kind of. from Genie in a Blog. This is hilarious, embarrassing and an important read for anyone this hasn't happened to yet! What do you do when your kids are enjoying naptime? Think about it and read this!

Health & Diet

• From B12-D: A Better You from With a Side of Sneakers. B-12 helps Heather deal with her pain, which is fantastic news for those who feel better taking vitamins rather than drugs. She discusses all the ways vitamins and minerals have been helping her and her husband.
• How to Stop Stuffing Your Face At Parties by Alison Golden. Do you have issues with self-control when in social situations? Do you lurk around the snacks and find, at the end of the night, that you can't even keep count of how much you consumed? If so, check out Alison's post for some tips on how to survive your next social event!

Recipes

• Cheap Eats - Beer Bread from The Budget Diet. Homemade bread for less than a dollar and no bread maker needed - this sounds awesome!
• Rustic Peach Tart from Delishhh. If the recipe doesn't sound tempting, just click the link and take a look at the delicious picture!

Let Brenna Tell you Almost All The Truth

Sometimes when you read someone else's blog you are left saying, "Now there's someone who gets it." Such is the case for me when I read the blog of this week's Stumble Buddy, Brenna at Almost All The Truth.

If you just started following my writing since I've started the Rivera Runs Through It blog, then you may not be aware of my obsession with living a greener lifestyle, becoming a more conscious consumer, or, most notably, my obsession with good, natural foods.Brenna's blog, Almost All the Truth speaks to each one of these topics and more spreading an amazing amount of important information for all of us to stay attuned to every single day.

Most times when I write about a Stumble Buddy I say "You'll thank me," for this introduction once you start readng, while this remains to be true in the case of Almost All the Truth, it also goes one step further: I'll thank you for taking the time to think about those things that are truly important in our world. Brenna's got a lot to share with you: sje's going to make you think, she's going to make you question and, if we are all lucky, she'll get us to change for the better!

Here's a quick tour of Brenna's blog to give you a taste of what kinds of truth she has to offer: 

• Is electricity natural?
• Reduce waste through thoughtfulness 
• Top Ten Ways to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk
• Wordful Wednesday: vision, glasses and children
• Getting greens with organic and fresh green smoothies

 That's just a bit of a teaser for you. There is so, so much more. Please take some time this week to check out Almost All the Truth and truly think about the words she offers us. 

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This post was written as ta part of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

• Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?
• Get a Clue With Kludgy Mom
• The Perfect Formula for Learning at Old School with The Damsel   
• Find Out What You Should Know from the I Though I Knew Mama Blog 
• Shape Up AND Have Fun With The Budget Diet
• Ask Alison Golden About Her Secret Life as a Warrior Woman 

**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It has a FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

The Stumble Buddies Blogroll

My Stumble Buddies Blogroll

Each week I engage in an interactive discussion with the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog! It is designed with bloggers in mind. We share our posts with each other and with the world of StumbleUpon. Throughout this process I have discovered a great number of excellent blogs and bloggers. I decided it was time to shine a spotlight on them. Here, on the Rivera Runs Through It blog, I have been introducing  my readers to some of these great blogs by writing an individual post on each one. 

If you missed each of the individual posts, or are just looking for a one stop shop for some great reading, this is it! This is the blogroll of those bloggers in the spotlight. It will continue to grow as the weeks pass on.

1. Read Aloud Dad 
2. Kludgy Mom
3. Old School - Self Reliance 101
4. I Thought I Knew Mama
5. Alison Golden - The Secret Life of a Warrior Woman
6. Almost All the Truth

If you are interested in becoming a Stumble Buddy, and sharing in all of the Blog Love, then feel free to join in our latest discussion over in the Kludgy Mom BlogFrog group!

Other places to share this blog love:
-The Rivera Runs Through It Facebook Fan Page
-follow me on twitter @Riverand

Ask Alison Golden About Her Secret Life as a Warrior Woman

At the beginning of this summer, I was catching up on my blog reading and my Stumble Buddies when I was struck silent by a post by Alison Golden. It was timely, it was relevant and it was one of those reads that you simply knew you had to share once reading - the post was 4 Heartstopping Myths On Drowning Every Responsible Parent Should Know. I read it, shared it and could not stop talking about it. Although I had been reading Alison's bog for a little while before this, it was with this post that I recognized the Warrior Woman Alison truly was!

 
I look forward to Alison's posts as I know I will be exposed to humor, inspiration and possibly even learn something new! This blog is written in such an authentic voice, you can't help but feel like you are getting to know Alison, the person, more and more as you read her blog. I invite you to do so and join me in reading Alison Golden The Secret Life of a Warrior Woman, and just to get you started here are some of my favorite posts:

• What A Male Escort Taught Me About Going All the Way...
  
• 19 Priceless Tips for Introvert Mothers
• 69 Quotations to Inspire Frazzled Mothers
  
• Pole Dancing, Boudoir Photos - What is Happening to Me?
• 11 Reasons Clearing Clutter Can Change Your Life

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This post was written as ta part of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

• Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?
• Get a Clue With Kludgy Mom
• The Perfect Formula for Learning at Old School with The Damsel   
• Find Out What You Should Know from the I Though I Knew Mama Blog 
• Shape Up AND Have Fun With The Budget Diet

**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Shape Up AND Have Fun With The BUDGET Diet

As I started my stumbling for the week, and I was thinking to myself, "Who shall be my featured Stumble Buddy of the week?" I was struck by the timeliness and need to share the latest post by Kristl from The Budget Diet.

Of course, if I am being honest, that wasn't something that really surprised me - every time I tune into The Budget Diet I am reading a post that is fun, helpful and, often, exactly what I need at that moment!

Who couldn't use some really great tips on saving cash?

Who wouldn't love to have fun and enjoy life while doing it?  

This is what The Budget Diet has to offer you.

If we just take, as an example, the post written on the first day of summer called Summer Boredom Busters - 10 Summer Fun Ideas - here you'll find a fantastic list of ways to entertain the entire family throughout the long summer days. The ideas are not only cheap, they are legitimately fun ideas that kids will realistically fall in love with!

As you explore Kristl's blog, you'll be treated to weekly challenges, quick and easy recipes, cheap and fun party ideas and, of course, some great deals! Here are some of the posts that have causght my attention in the time that I have been a fan, just to get you started:

• Challenge: Don't Pat Full Price for Anything This Week
• 10 Ways to Perk Up Your Decor for $100 or Less
• Lemonade Pie
• Cheap and Cheerful - 20 Different Ways to Say Thank You

and for one of those real "A-Ha!" moments:

• Cut your Spending by $11 a Day and SAVE $4000 a Year!

So stop wasting your time and money and get on over to Kristl's blog. I know you'll thank me for it!

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This post was written as ta part of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

• Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?
• Get a Clue With Kludgy Mom
• The Perfect Formula for Learning at Old School with The Damsel   
• Find Out What You Should Know from the I Though I Knew Mama Blog

**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Find Out What You Should Know from the I Thought I Knew Mama Blog

Most of us have some idea of what we want to do with ourselves - who we want to be, how we want to spend our time and what is important to us. However, life, with all of its twists and turns and new challenges, very often throws in some new factor that opens our eyes, our ears and all of our senses to a piece of life that trumps it all. So, it seems, was the case with Charise from the I Thought I Knew Mama blog.

As you read Charise's post answering the question Why are you called "I Thought I Knew Mama"? you get a real sense of this kind of enlightenment experienced by Charise and her husband with the dedication of their son Jac. It is beautiful post and a great story behind a blog's name.

I Thought I Knew Mama is another blog that I had pleasure of "discovering" through my StumbleUpon group. Charise's posts always catch my eye from her emotional writing (she is a fellow participant in The Red Dress Club prompts), to her healthy, green living and neat product reviews and giveaways in line with those ideals. Charise also has lots of information and inspiration for moms looking to raise their children in a more ecologically conscious, healthy and natural way.

Some of my personal favorite posts from I Thought I Knew Mama, so far, are:

• What is BPA? Why is it bad? What can I do?
• In Loving Memory
• Soundbites from a Miscarriage Journey
• Antibiotics: Are they overused in my food? What can I do?
• 5 Easy Steps for Creating a Healthier Home

I Thought I Knew Mama is a great blog to explore if you are a mom, if you are a writer, if you are interested in going green or, at least looking for healthier/more organic lifestyle choices for you and your family, or if you are looking to get some cool new stuff from one of the many giveaways Charise hosts!

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This post was written as ta part of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

• Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?
• Get a Clue With Kludgy Mom
• The Perfect Formula for Learning at Old School with The Damsel  

**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

The Perfect Formula for Learning at Old School with The Damsel

Do you like to learn things?

Do you like to laugh?

Do you wish you knew the simple ways to get things done like they used to get done - with stuff around the house, cheap to get, or at least with multiple uses?

Well then it is time that you join me in attendance in one of my favorite places on the Internet - Old School - Self Reliance 101, with one of the greatest teachers I know, The Damsel.

I was first introduced to The Damsel back in November when I first joined my StumbleUpon group. The first post I read was about fruit flies. I read the post and understood - I, too, hated fruit flies -  I was amused - Was this woman writing about herself in the third person?? - and I learned - the "Cup of Death" is simple to assemble and implement with the Damsel's clear instructions.

I thought it must be a fluke. A great, simple, short post highlighted among many others that could not have all possibly fit this beautiful formula: relevant, fun and educational - I was so wrong - this IS the Damsel's formula! This is what you will find each and every time you attend The Damsel's class. Now, not all of her posts contain recipes for death traps, but every single one will either teach you something or leave you in deep thought about something. As a teacher, myself, I could ask for nothing more from each of my lessons.

Enough. I am wasting your time. I'm making you late for class! Here are some of the posts on my must-share list:

• Spring Cleaning
• Caramel Popcorn, Lazyman Style
• Nostalgia as a Life Choice
• How to Make Your Own Jet-Dry - sort of
• Walking to School (or Biking)
• How to Wash Windows
• The Last Week of School - Old School Style

I had to stop myself. This list was a lot longer a minute ago, but I want you to go explore the school grounds for yourself. Get on over there! The Damsel is waiting and I'm sure she has something wonderful to share with you today!

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This post was written as ta part of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

• Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?
• Get a Clue With Kludgy Mom

 


**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a brand-spankin' new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

Get a Clue with Kludgy Mom

I can't think about StumbleUpon without thinking of Kludgy Mom. It is not that this is, per se, her claim to fame, it just happens to be how our paths crossed in the winter of 2010. I was going through Darren Rowse's 31 Days to Build a Better Blog for the first time and became curious about using StumbleUpon as a promotion tool for my blog. I had no idea what it was, but I found Kludgy Mom's blog and was swept away by its design, its simplicity and her depth of knowledge of social media.

The first post I ever read from the Kludgy Mom blog is one I continue to recommend to new Stumblers to this day:

• How to Use StumbleUpon: Tutorial

What I learned in that post has been enough to turn me into a stumblin' junkie that has StumbleUpon as one of my leading traffic sources month after month.

Since that time, Kludgy Mom has continued to teach me about Social Media, introduce me to new ways of finding income on the Internet and make me laugh with her and at myself with her fabulous sense of humor. As you will see when you visit Kludgy Mom's blog, she is a woman of many talents. She claims in her tagline that Kludgy Mom is "the art of living haphazardly," and while the haphazard part of that statement may be what initially draws our attention, it is this Austin mom's art that wows us post after post.

Some of my favorite posts from Kludgy Mom are:

• What Twitter is Good For
• Finding Work From Home Opportunities
• App Girl to the Rescue
• How to Sell Groupons You Don't Want Anymore
• Why Blogging is Good for You

Take a moment now to head on over to the Kludgy Mom blog to see what her latest post is about - and be ready for anything: social media, product/app reviews, a recipe, a lesson for bloggers, or just a humorous post about a day in the life of Kludgy Mom. Whatever it is, I am sure you will be better off for having read it!

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This post was written as the first official post of my continuing series on My Stumble Buddies. To be a part of our StumbleUpon party to read and stumble week by week, come visit the Kludgy Mom community in Blog Frog!

Other Stumble Buddy Posts:

• Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?

 


**Don't forget Rivera Runs Through It now has a brand-spankin' new FaceBook Fan page waiting for YOU to LIKE it!!**

My Stumble Buddies

Every single week I participate in a discussion in the Kludgy Mom BlogFrog community where bloggers get together, share posts they're proud of and help boost each other up using StumbleUpon. It has been an amazing experience. Since I started participating this past winter I have learned so much about blogging, social media, the Internet, myself, places around the world and my fellow Stumblers.

As each week passes, I keep thinking these bloggers are awesome - I want to share them with everyone! And, in little ways, I have - very often my Stumble Buddies are featured in the "Food Reads" or "Good Food (Recipes)" section of my Friday's Food Finds segment on my Searching for Sustenance blog, or I've linked to their blogs on a relevant post (like in How Darren Rowse Forever Changed my Life in 10 Days), but so far only one Stumble Buddy has received the type of spotlight treatment I would like to give to all those who have taught me so much, and that is Read Aloud Dad in a post I wrote entitled Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?

It is time to spread the love. Each week another one of my Stumble Buddies will be featured here on Rivera Runs Through It. For now I will leave you with the links above to give you a taste of what's to come and an open invitation to our weekly StumbleUpon discussion that starts each Wednesday. It's open to all bloggers, it has a couple of rules, but if you are interested, come check it out at the Kludgy Mom BlogFrog Community this Wednesday, June 1, 2011 will mark the beginning of WEEK 37.

Are You Reading Read Aloud Dad?

From the first time I first read a blog post by Read Aloud Dad I have been a faithful follower. I love reading, I love family and I simply adore the fact that this blog focuses on the unification of both. Read Aloud Dad takes his role seriously as dad, as reader and as a children's book reviewer. I love his policy on reviewing books:

"I review only the best children's books available - I buy what I review.

In the beginning I considered whether to accept books for reviews, then ... after a long think ... I decided against it.

Read Aloud Dad's - "I review only what I buy" policy - provides more freedom and I can be true to my opinion."

In my most recent reading of his blog, I am happy to report that Read Aloud Dad has revealed his origin story in How Reading Aloud Made Me A Better Father. I believe this post is a must read for all who have some relationship with young children. Read Aloud Dad takes us through the steps of his realization of the power of reading with his children

"Children's books almost magically opened up the the channels of communication. They broke down all the walls. "

How many of us have experienced this same idea - either through being read to or by sharing the reading experience with a child ourselves?

I highly recommend that everyone check out this blog. Read Aloud Dad's recommendations are so fantastically thought out (I have already purchased his Pinocchio book of choice for my cousin's daughter) and filled with the best intentions. Within each post is the outpouring of one man's love for his two children - this blog and the work he does to inspire each post is, undeniably, a labor of love.