blogging – Luv Saving Money

Angela Wei of Milk Agency Talks About “Snackable” Content and More

Just today, I was talking with some people on social media, trying to get their feedback on my blog. The one thing I keep saying is, I know I need more content, content is king. It’s an easy-enough statement. Saying I need more content and doing can be two different things. Do my readers want Tips? Organizing Ideas? Budgeting Ideas? A glimpse into parenting life with 4 kids? Maybe all of it but when I think about that, it’s a little overwhelming. As a blogger I can be considered an entrepreneur but finding my grip in a saturated market sometimes seems impossible.

Angela Wei Milk Agency had a recent podcast interview on Content is Your Business. The one term used that stood out to me was “Snackable” content. I can’t say I’d really heard that before.

I think about how many times I’ve been sitting waiting for my kids’ dentist appointments to be done or waiting in my car for my kids to get out of practice. What do I do? I scroll through my phone. I comment and like facebook posts, Retweet things on twitter. I share an old post or enter some sweepstakes on instagram. If a piece of content catches my eye I’ll read it. Sometimes it’s a recipes I’ll save for later, sometimes it’s a cool organizing tip. That’s the idea of snackable content. It’s content that is easy to read, understand, and share. I’m probably not going to read a blog post that doesn’t catch my eye or that I have to keep scrolling until I get the point. Content isn’t just for blogs but for business websites too. Good content can help your potential client hang out on your website longer, learn a little more about your expertise.

Sometimes I’m uninspired. Other times I can come up with 2 or 3 ideas at once that I’m excited about. I did just sign up for the free monthly calendar challenge offered to see if that helps me think and do better. So what are some other sources for content ideas?

Content Idea Inspiration

Every day conversations. Just yesterday I was having a convo with a friend about organizing my closet we swapped tips and like some of my idea. I liked hers as well. That inspired me to write a closet organization post.
Inspired by other content. So sometimes I read content. In my head I’m thinking “yea but that’s so expensive” or “Things to do around Huntsville, Tx” Hmm maybe people want to know about things to do in my area”
Writing challenges or daily prompt challenge. This one I like and don’t like. I mean I try to fit idea into the theme of my blog but sometime writing about travel without having traveled for a while leave me a little stumped.
Did you know tomorrow is national coffee day? Yea so people with be scarfing up content about coffee tomorrow. Do you have a recipe, a favorite cafe, or story that involves coffee? Well there you go.
Sometimes we take for granted that something we do, a place we go, a recipe we make is common. Everyone know about it. I live in Pennsylvania but I lived in South Carolina for a few years. I found out in South Carolina they don’t know about a lot of the food I grew up on like perogies, halupki, gnocchi, and chicken paprikas. I was surprised to learn a lot of the common recipes there like collard greens, pig roasts, and clam bakes.

Where do you find inspiration for writing? What content would you like to see more of here on LuvSavingMoney.com?

This post is sponsored by Diamond Links. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Create Images For Your Needs with DesignCap

As a blogger and social media influencer, I used design websites and software fairly often. There is one in particular I had been using for years which will remain nameless. One day I decided to cute expenses and got rid of that website. Then I realized how much I used it. When I decided to sign up again they raised the prices. I felt like I had no choice though. Having no graphic design knowledge, I needed simple. Then I came across DesignCap.

DesignCap is very affordable even offering a free option. The top tier account is DesignCap Plus and it’s still more affordable than that other site I was using.

Design cap is not just for header images and social media headers though. They offer templates for infographics, business cards, invitations, reports, brochures, and more! Making this a great tool for businesses and entrepreneurs to use too. Create images for your needs. Pull from DesignCaps stock photos or your own.

Here is just one example of the eye-catching templates on DesignCap:

DesignCap is easy to use and requires no graphic design experience. You can use one of the templates or create your own designs. Add in your own business pictures, change words, fonts, sizes, whatever you want.

DesignCap is localized to 7 different languages including: English, German, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, French, Chinese.

The site was so easy to use. They offered more options for images, icons, colors, and fonts than the old site I was using. I created the header images for this post in a matter of minutes. It was so easy, no stress or frustration. I encourage you to try it out today.

Visit DesignCap.com to create an account.

I was gifted the DesignCap Plus account to try it out all the features for this post. No other compensation has been received.

My Daughter’s Birthday During COVID-19

About 6 weeks ago I was tossing around the idea of my daughter having a friend birthday party for her birthday which is March 26. In the end, I decided not to. I’m so glad I did. My daughter has been talking about her birthday since probably the end of January. If we would have planned a friend party somewhere exciting she would have been crushed if we would have had to cancel it. So that was at least a silver lining in this.

We always have a family party for the kids though. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins come over and we have a nice party with cake, candles, gifts, and the kids all play together. We weighed the pros and cons of having the family party last week. In the end, we decided, it probably wasn’t the best idea.

On Friday, while at work (I’m a healthcare workers), I got info from several different sources that more shut downs are expected with all this COVID-19 stuff including our local Walmart. I didn’t know how true it was. We had been talking to my daughter about letting her pick out a bike and helmet for her birthday. She loved looking at the bikes and had an idea what she wanted. I talked to my husband and decided we better go get it since there’s so much uncertainty.

So yesterday I took my daughter to Walmart and let her pick out whatever bike and helmet she wanted. It was too big to fit in the cart. I told her to push it, but she wanted to ride it. (It did have training wheels on it). I expected people to be annoyed. But so many people smiled at her and were very patient with her. She was smiling ear to ear through the store while I picked up some last minute necessities. She’d tell people at random that she was getting the bike for her birthday. People wished her Happy Birthday.

I told her that we probably weren’t going to be able to get the Reese’s cake from the bakery that she really wanted but she could pick out any cake mix and icing she wanted at the store and I would make it for her. She chose a brownie mix with some glitter gel icing.

We ran into a mother with her teenage daughter. While my daughter was picking out the icing the mother said “Is it her birthday too?” I said it wasn’t until March 26 but since we didn’t know what was going to happen we’re preparing for it now. The mother told me her daughter’s birthday was Sunday and the girls wished each other a Happy Birthday. Then my daughter said “Mom this is one of the best days of my life”. Imagine, amidst the the stress I was feeling with trying to prepare, telling her her birthday wasn’t going to be like it usually is, she thought everything was great. That really turned my perspective around.

Then later that evening she started talking about her birthday again and about how pappap and the girls (her cousins) were going to come over. I had to remind her that they weren’t and why. She said “oh” and her lip quivered a little. I told her we could face time everyone in to sing happy birthday and maybe we could drop a brownie off for everyone. That seemed to perk her up a little.

I decided to post on facebook that if anyone was bored, if they’d like to send my daughter a card for her birthday that it might help make her birthday special. I’ve had at least 10 responses already.

It’s amazing how things can change so fast. While we’re trying to make the best of it and make her birthday as special as we can, I realize that things could be much worse. We’re counting our blessings and trying to keep a smile and positive attitude for the kids.

Living with Moderate Ulcerative Colitis – My Story

If you’re reading this you’re either curious, effected by UC (the short way of saying Ulcerative Colitis), or know someone that’s effected by UC. Any of these reasons are ok. Not everyone wants to hear about it. Not a lot of people even know what it is. The truth is, talking about Ulcerative Colitis is not a glamorous topic. It involves talk about managing not curing which is not always appealing to the sufferer or a loved one. It involves bathroom talk which ….let’s face it, not a lot of people want to hear. It involves having to plan every outing, just-in-case. It involves figuring out how to deal with people when the ask “what’s wrong?” but don’t actually want to hear about what’s wrong.

When I First Started Realizing Something Wasn’t Right

I started my path to my ulcerative colitis diagnosis roughly 10 years go. This is where I talk about things that people don’t want to hear. After the birth of my youngest son I started noticing I was getting “gassy” a lot. I constantly felt bloated. I started taking things like Gas-X , Pepto-Bismal and trying to change my diet a bit, but it didn’t help. I noticed I was having more need to excuse myself to the restroom. Even when I did, the relief was only temporary. I started to become uncomfortable in a lot of situations not knowing about what would happen. I was afraid of putting myself in embarrassing situations so I’d shy away from things. After about a year or so of dealing with it, I finally decided to see a GI doctor.

My First GI Doctor Visit

The doctor was nice. He seemed to listen to me. He decided to do a colonoscopy. Honestly the prep was the worst part. I did a follow up visit after the test. Basically he said that he didn’t see anything unusual except maybe some mild inflammation. He gave me some pills that I don’t even remember the name of anymore. I took them for a couple months but they didn’t help. If anything, they made me feel more bloated. I told him this and he told me I didn’t have to take them anymore. It was disheartening to hear that he really didn’t have an answer.

I felt like the pills were just thrown at me because there was no other answer. I wasn’t real confident in going back to see this particular GI doctor so I just didn’t. I tried to manage my symptoms myself. Cutting back on carbonated drinks. Virtually eliminating spicy foods. Staying away from greasy foods. Continuing to take things for bloating and indigestion. Eventually my symptoms got worse.

My Symptoms Started Escalating

I was not having diarrhea along with the bloating, and gas. I was also starting to get abdominal cramps and discomfort in my left side. Still I tried to manage it myself. Trying calming teas meant for digestive health. Drinking more water. Now taking anti-diarrheal medications as a daily med just to make it through my work days and other obligations. So I started asking around about GI doctors. I finally got a recommendation that seemed trust-worthy. I called and made an appointment.

About a week or two before this appointment with the new GI doctor though something happened. I was standing at my sink doing dishes when I got terrible abdominal cramps. They hurt to the point that I couldn’t stand up straight. I sat down in my computer chair in the dining room. I had a strong urge to use the bathroom. I ran upstairs as quickly as I could. But I didn’t make it. I was horrified, how could I have not made it. Until I actually got into the bathroom. I realized I didn’t “have an accident” I was bleeding. It was a lot of blood in my pants and still more in the toilet. I called my dad to come watch my kids so I could go to the emergency room. My husband was at work.

They did a test and confirmed I was bleeding “from that area” and they told me to make sure i keep my appointment with my GI doctor.

THE Diagnosis

So I meet with the doctor. I seem to have a lot more confidence in him. He also schedules a colonoscopy along with a couple other tests. When I woke from the colonoscopy I was still back in the testing room. The nurse told me “Yea there’s definitely something there. You’re fire engine red” So they wheel me back out to a cubicle area where my husband is waiting and the doctor tells us I have ulcerative colitis. It was evident in the colonoscopy. I honestly felt some relief. At least I knew what was wrong with me and we could start treating it. I had high hopes of feeling better soon.

My Disease Progression

I started taking a pill. It began with an “A” I can’t even remember anymore. It helped for a while. After about a year though, it seemed like it wasn’t helping as much. I was having flair-ups. Bleeding, cramps, pain, frequent bathroom visits, etc. So he doubles my dosage. Again, I feel pretty good for a few months, ok for several more months, then eventually it felt like it wasn’t working again. So my doctor moves me up to the next “tier” of drugs. A stronger drug. It requires me to get my blood drawn every so many months. Again worked great for a year, stopped working doubled dosage, yada yada yada. Until now where I was again moved up to the next tier of drugs. I need to give myself a shot every other week. Routine blood work is required again. This one has a risk of causing liver cirrhosis which is why the blood work is necessary. After using that for so long….you guessed it, it seemed like it wasn’t working as well so increased it to weekly shots. When that didn’t work infusions were suggested. I’ve yet to jump on that train though.

Daily Life

I have 4 kids, I work part-time in a hospital. I’m only 39 years old. I’m not stopping. I can’t stop, I won’t stop. Anti-diarrheal is a daily medication for me. Humira shots weekly. Gas-X or something similar occasionally. Always mapping out and planning for restroom visits or the day that “I just don’t make it”. I keep a change of pants, underwear, and a pad in my car. I’m always reading about the newest treatments and progress with Ulcerative Colitis treatment. I’m always considering looking at a new doctor or even alternative treatments. I’m hoping for something to help to avoid surgery or ostomies in the future.

Standing in line at the pharmacy is almost impossible. I’m grateful for mail delivered shots. I’m thankful for public restrooms along my commute to work. I’m thankful for generic anti-diarrheal meds at Walmart. I’m thankful I have an understanding husband. A deciding factor upon going somewhere is if I’ll have access to a bathroom.

My Hopes and My Helps

I’ve realized over the years that, people that aren’t effected by UC in some way really don’t want to hear about it. So it can be hard. People don’t understand why you seem flaky about going out or need to cancel because of a flare up or a bad day. There are several resources and communities out there though.

The Crohns and Colitis Foundation has both support groups and an online community. I’ve found the online community helpful in talking and asking questions to other people dealing with the same issues.

It’s hopeful to see some of the new treatments, new research, and new break through with the treatment of Crohn’s and Colitis.

Educating yourself is half the battle. Preparation is the other half. It’s possible to keep on living your life the way you want to. Maybe you just have to make some adjustments.

If you’re just figuring all this out yourself here’s some things that helped me.

Stick to trustworthy sites like Crohn’s and Colitis foundation, Mayo clinic, and other trustworthy medical sites. It helps to seek out other sufferers online via blogs, social media, and online forums like the one on the Crohns and Colitis foundation site.
Keep a food log. There are some foods you’ll find you just can’t eat anymore if you don’t want to suffer the consequences. As much as I love popcorn and corn on the cob I know I have to abstain from it lest I pay for it the next day.
Talk to your GI doctor, dieticians, other dealing with Ulcerative Colitis, and your pharmacist.
It’s ok to try other things in addition to your regular treatment. You may find that a certain diet may help you. Maybe a certain tea seems to help. If you want to try some alternative thing like accupressure, massage, etc most time it won’t hurt. I’ve personally been reading about research with CBD.

This is a journey. What may work wonders for one person may not work for the next. It’s easy to get frustrated but keep educating yourself . Eventually you’ll learn what helps and what doesn’t help for your body.

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