Pinterest 1: So, Are you one of the millions of people wondering how do I get on Pinterest?

Pinterest feels like on online gold rush. Everyone's heard of it, but no one really seems to understand it. How do you use Pinterest? How do I get on Pinterest? How do I even spell Pinterest? 

Have you noticed a lot of people spell it "pintrest" which makes me laugh. It seems they don't get the pun.

It's an online scrapbook, journal, photo album, diary... if things are of INTEREST to you, you PIN them onto your boards. Pin + Interest = Pinterest. What could be more simple?

Herein lies the problem. Newbies who log in don't understand how Pinterest works. You either see a big mess of stuff you don't really care about or a few things that are of no interest at all to you. Why?

PINTEREST is exactly the opposite from other social media. Your Facebook friends might be completely boring or visually challenged. These are some of the first people Pinterest suggests that you follow. That's okay, follow them. Maybe the will have a moment of inspiration, if not, you can get kicks out of spying on them.

Oh wait. That was in the past. Now, Pinterest lets you have secret boards. In the old days, I was shocked when complete strangers pinned the picture of the thing I planned to do some day. It felt like an invasion of privacy, and then I got a clue. Now, I'm giving you one!

First of all, I wrote THE book on Pinterest. For reals, I did. Well, I wrote a book or e book. That's right, I wrote an eBook about Pinterest. It is very helpful if you are a Blogger or a brand building a profile.

Then one day, I started building profiles for brands. (Yes, I'd love to do yours ~ let's talk HERE.) Instantly, I realized that not everyone gets it. Not everyone wants everyone else to follow them. Some people just want to find cool pictures, pin them, and save a little brain space. So, how do you get on Pinterest?

I'll answer that and all of these questions over the next few weeks:

• how do i get a pinterest account
• how do i get followers on pinterest
• how do i get recipes from pinterest
• how do i get the pinterest button
• how do i get started on pinterest

Well, the first one is easy. You no longer have to wait to be invited. Click the link to get a Pinterest account with your email address or to get a Pinterest account with your Facebook account. If you are a business go to Pinterest.com and click the "businesses" in the lower right hand corner. Got it? Good.

How do I get followers on Pinterest? Well to get them fast you should read my Pinterest eBook, How to get Pinterest followers fast. If you just want to start amassing followers you MUST follow others. Now that you have an account, click the big Pinterest logo at the top of the page. See anything you like? Click on the image and the pinner will show up underneath the picture. Follow them. Maybe they will follow you back. Maybe they won't. It depends- If they like what they see. Don't like what you see? That's okay, click the gray box with three horizontal lines in the top left hand corner. See a list of topics? Pick your favorite. Now, you should see a thing or two that is INTERESTING to you. 

Now for some secret Pinterest tips. You can choose to follow the pinner who pinned the image you like, but you can also click on the board they pinned it to, for example, "Summer Camp Ideas", click the followers of that board in the strip beneath the header on the right hand side and follow everyone. Why? Those people like the same board that you like. They like things you like. Therefore, they'll likely repin things you like. 

Your Pinterest experience should greatly improve. 

How to get started on Pinterest? Well, you're started now, but you still have a lot to learn. Check back next week for more details on what you can do to join the gold rush. And, yes, MEN should use Pinterest. It has something for everyone. I've got some great Pinterest tips and tricks to share. Some you won't find anywhere else. I've become a Pinterest guru. Hope you'll join me.

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Kitchen Kids: Tips for Donut Frosting and Recipe for Icing, Frosted Donuts and How to Make Maple Glaze

Easy tip for donut frosting and easy recipes for icing frosted donuts

You don't need an expensive icing tube or even a fancy bag; here's an easy tip for donut frosting and easy recipes for icing frosted donuts and a maple glaze recipe. Enjoy!

Plastic Icing Bags with clothespins to keep 
the icing in place (works for toothpaste too).

You can purchase plastic cone/tube bags to use with recipes for icing or you can use plastic Ziploc baggies and cut a tiny hole (about 1'4") on one bottom corner then, roll it up as shown above. With this technique, you can use the tubes as a pen and write names with frosting. Use a larger opening to make and pipe ribbons and roses.

Make maple glaze recipe.

For the glaze:  1 C. Confectioner's Sugar, 2 Tbs. Hot Water, 1/4 C. Maple Syrup

How to make donut glaze: 

Blend confectioner's sugar, hot water, and maple syrup in a small bowl, drizzle over donuts.

For the frosting:  2 C. confectioners sugar sifted, 1/2 C. unsalted butter, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, 2 tbs. milk, food coloring (if desired).

How to make frosting: 

In a bowl with a hand mixer (electric mixer on low), beat the butter until well blended and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Add  milk and beat together. On high speed, beat frosting until fluffy (about 5 minutes).Now is the time to add a few drops of food coloring if desired. Keep in airtight container so confectioner's frosting doesn't dry out.  



Recommended:

The Donut Chef (A Golden Classic)*

Cinnamon Doughnuts

6 Travel Tips for traveling with Kids

Looking for Tips for Traveling with the Kids?

Road Trip! Tracey shares 6 travel tips for traveling with 6 kids in a van for 16 hours (and making it out with your sanity). Aside from these tips, make sure you have lots of family, car games ready to roll out!

Kids Travel Tips: Entertainment is essential!

First of all, you may already be insane for attempting such a feat, but with careful planning, and a LOT of patience (and potty stops), you can make it happen!

#1 – If one person pees, we all pee!

 Don’t miss out on the chance to empty all the bladders at once! With any luck, you can get everyone on the same schedule and won’t have to make 6 stops everyone hour for all the kids to pee. There’s also the added incentive that “we will get there quicker if we make less stops!”. This helped a lot on the way home when we were getting down to the final hours of the return trip.

#2 – Distractions are the key!

Long car rides are the worst when you’re short on patience. Let each kid pack a small ‘carry on’ (grocery sack) with their own activities – crayons/coloring book, video game, books, cars, dolls, you get the picture. You can always fall back on the classic car rides games – ABC signs, license plate states, etc.

#3 – Pain in the neck!

Naps are inevitable when you are on a road trip, and I don’t know about you, but I cringe every time I peer back and see my kids asleep and contorted into painful looking positions. We bought inexpensive neck pillows for each of the kids (so there was no fighting!) and there were no complaints! If they were tired, they just threw on their Neck Pillow, settled in, and were out like a light. Some of the kids even wore their neck pillows for the majority of the trip, just for the fun of it. We also brought a small blanket for each of the kids to keep cozy with.

Everything is a pillow...zzzzz.

#4 – Pass the trash!

Typically, when we reach our destination, the kids pile out of the vehicle and leave a field of destruction inside the car. From snacks and drinks to lunch stops and miscellaneous rubble that appears from who-knows-where, the floor is littered with a layer of trash. To counter this, we made it a little more fun to keep things clean by having the kids pass their trash up, each time they had any, and each person in the passing line yells “trash!” as they hand it on down the line. They got quite a kick out of this and would look around for things they could send up to the front. For the most part, all that made it to the floor were toys from the ‘carry on’ bags, which is another battle all on its own.

#5 – Limit fluids!

There are always snack stops when you are on the road and it’s tempting to grab something when you make a pit stop, but the more the kids are drinking and eating, the more they are going to have to use the restroom, and the more stops you are going to have to make. Give the kids each a beverage, but have designated times they can have a drink instead of letting them drink freely. This greatly reduced our stops on the journey home!

Awww look, they're not fighting!

#6 – Be patient!

Remember, you are traveling with kids. They are going to act like kids. Kids fight, bicker, get tired, whine, get hungry, and have to pee…a lot! So try to remain calm and level headed and if needed, make an unscheduled pit stop so the kids can stretch their legs and reset their attitudes (if you are lucky!). While you are handling all there is to handle, you might want to consider that a nearby destination would be just as great for the next family road trip!  

Recommended Reading:

The Everything Kids' Travel Activity Book: Games to Play, Songs to Sing, Fun Stuff to Do - Guaranteed to Keep You Busy the Whole Ride!*

Girl Scout Travel Tips

Our 50 States*