Blog Planner

I have been going around and around in my mind about using a blog planner or any planner of that matter. I actually bought a little simple planner to play around with until the end of the year. But dog gone it, my life is just not that busy.



I have no idea what to keep up with. I am not so busy that I can't just sit down after work and come up with something to blog about.

But....

I want to make my blog better ( I say this every year). or better organized. I want to spend more time on it and try and bring in more traffic. I want my blog to grow.

I would consider my blog a "lifestyle" blog I think. I blog about things I do, see, or experience. I try my best to leave politics or news out of it. Because I'm not that educated on either one. I often do reviews and sometimes those have deadlines so It would be nice to keep up with them in a planner. Maybe plan out blog post for the future? Right now my post are usually spur of the moment. I have a tag called "random". seriously.

When I go online to read about blog planning. I only find sites that lead me to professional bloggers that do a lot of marketing, and selling. People that are focused on one topic. They speak too big in vocabulary for me to even understand what they are talking about. I mean, heck, I just learned recently what "monetizing" is. 

I do get ideas of a post sometimes and I will either snap a reminder photo or jot it down in my "notes" app on my phone. Maybe that's enough for me or maybe its not. I like being organized and love to be creative. But I want my planner to be more than a pretty book.

So I'm asking my readers for advice.

Do you use a blog planner? What about a daily planner? Do you carry a little journal around with you all day or do you use a special app on your device? I am curious. I would love to have new ideas ready for the new year that will soon be here.

For my blog friends that “Monetize” I’d also love to know what you use for that. 
I use Adsense but for some reason, The ads have stopped showeing up on my page as of November 1st. I’ve checked all my settings and everything is active with no violations. Been to help and support but with no advice. I’m ready to find other options. 



Veggie Soup

We are now starting to feel the cool season of Fall here in North Carolina. The temperatures have dropped down to the 40's in the mornings and after sundown. It has put me in the mood for soup.

I have been wanting to make some vegetable soup. We have made all sorts of soups in the past but I have never made a real "old fashioned vegetable soup". I headed to my social media friends for some help and ideas on how to get this soup started. I was in a limbo weather to make it with a broth base or more of a tomato base. 

Most of my friends suggested V-8 Juice as a starter. Some suggested beef or chicken broth. 
Needless to say, I was still somewhat undecided on what would taste best. That's when I decided to reach out to my friend Anne. I know she does a lot of cooking, and, well, I just trust her taste. 

Her base starter? Water.

OK, that sounded easy enough. The veggies add the broth and make a delicious soup as it slowly cooks in a pot for a few hours. So that's how I started. Before I knew it, I was adding this, that and whatever. I started with adding some cubed potatoes and diced onions and let those cook a little first then I started adding in the veggies. I ended up adding a can of beef broth for flavor and consistency. 


Just look at that mess!

Then I made a pan of cornbread. I mean, what good is veggie soup if you don't have cornbread right? 


No jiffy mix here. This is the real stuff made in a cast iron pan just like mom! (recipe is on the bag of cornmeal).


My soup turned out delicious and we had enough for the next day. [Did I mention soup is better the second time around?] 
Below is basically what was in my soup:

2 baking potatoes
1 onion
2- 14.5 oz. cans of petite diced tomatoes
1- bag of frozen mixed vegetables
1- bag of frozen okra
1/2 head of chopped cabbage
1- can of beef broth
1- can of water
Salt/ Pepper
pinch of garlic salt
dash of Italian Seasoning
dash of parsley 

I started the potatoes and onions first in a little water in a stock pot until they started to soften, then I added all the other ingredients and cooked in a crock-pot on low 4-5 hours.

I plan to make some more of this kind of soup again soon. It's low calorie and Lord knows I need the veggies. 


We call this an Italian spoon rest.

“Soups On!”