Friday Favorite

Why do you blog? There are so many reasons: fun, work, time-waster, hobby, journal, etc.

One of the main reasons I do our family blog is for journal purposes. I've never been really good at writing things down on a consistent basis. I originally started our family blog so that our extended family could see pics of the kiddies and keep up to date on our family, but as time went on I realized that it was an easy way for me to keep a family journal. I tried scrapbooking...but I hate getting everything out, and then it takes me forever to think of something to do on each page...blah! I still do it every now and then, but it's not something that I enjoy doing. Blogging on the other hand, for me, is easy...and fast...and convenient...and the pictures are already available...and I don't have to try really hard to be creative...(you get the picture.) Keeping in mind that our family blog is our family journal, I got thinking how devastated I would be if something happened and all of that information was lost (which as we all know, can happen all to often with our advanced technology?!?)

Whatever your reason, I've found a couple of cool sites that might be of some interest to you. As I was blog stalking the other day, and just clicking on different links I found a couple of sites that look like they could be pretty cool. (*Note: I haven't actually used them yet, but I plan to.)

1. Bloggled - This is a site that offers a couple of different services. First and foremost, it is a site where you can BACK UP YOUR BLOG...FOR FREE!!! How can you say "no" to that?? Their goal is simple: To provide you with the best blog tools and features to make sure your blog information is never lost. Think about it...your time is valuable, you don't want to write your blog only to have it lost or deleted by accident. This service in and of itself, could give some valuable peace of mind...and save a lot of heartache if by chance something did happen! They are also working on a way to transfer your blog to a book...which is something I'm SOOOO excited about. It's not ready yet, but hopefully will be soon.

The next site starts where the other leaves off...

2. scrappingsimply.com - You know that blog to book thing...well it's available here! WooHoo! My kids love reading the blog, but I think that they would think it even cooler to see their names, pictures, etc. in a book, so I've decided that I'll continue keeping our family blog/journal and then have it made into a yearly book. (Tangible evidence that I've actually kept a journal.) I know that the kids will love to look through it and read the stories...even though they've already read them on the blog. It's like a whole new adventure when it's in a book in front of you! Anyhoo...I think their prices are pretty reasonable, but if the whole book thing seems to spendy, they have an option to just convert everything to a pdf file for the low low price of....(drumroll please) $2.95!!! Very cool!

Give them a try. See what you think!...and have a great weekend!