One Year Anniversary on HubPages: Accolades to 10 Hubs That Have Changed My Year

I have loved being on HubPages! Like many who preceded me, I thought I would merely write articles in the solitude of my own home and hopefully earn some money. The biggest and best surprise for me has been the community. I have had such a fun time of getting to know others through their writings, answers to questions, and forum discussions – even through stick drawings. And even from my first published hub, I have felt encouraged and supported. I don’t know if it is possible to write for HubPages “in solitude”.

I do realize that I have been absent for months – more on that later. But while I was active, I looked forward to each notification. There are dozens of hubs that have improved my life. These are the ones that came to mind first:

Is Adoption Right For You? Thoughts To Consider

This one easily gets the top spot. The minute I read that Bill Buc was adopted and had adopted his son, I knew I’d be hooked on his writing. What I didn’t realize at the time was that he was going to be such a great example and help to me. He actually read my hubs and commented on them, and he does that for everyone! That is amazing! He follows over 1500 hubbers!

Well, back to the point of this hub. Love is the only acceptable reason to adopt. My husband and I have wanted to adopt for years, and it was good for me to evaluate our motives. A couple of years ago we decided to foster with the hopes of being able to adopt at some point. We finally got our fostering license over the summer and have been blessed to care for a newborn for the past two months. What an adventure it has been. In the process of getting our license we heard stories of every kind of motive for fostering. Some were disturbing and evil. Bill’s hub is such a great reminder that we have to show these sweet kids love (and I realize that some of them are not so sweet!). I am fully convinced that each of these children need the love and stability of a family and the understanding of the love of their Creator God.

And once my family starts sleeping through the night again, hopefully I’ll have more energy to put into writing hubs and reading hubs of others :)

The Best Homemade Mexican Salsa Recipe

Maybe it’s bad that something as trivial as salsa gets spot #2, but I’m kind of trivial sometimes. I had tried at least a dozen salsa recipes before stumbling across this one. Have you tried it? Seriously, there is not a better one out there! It is 6:00am as I write this, and even thinking about the salsa at this early hour makes me want to go eat some!

How to Publish a Children's eBook

I like to write little rhyming stories for my kids and their friends. My mother-in-law has been telling me I should get my son’s published for quite a while now. So thanks, Billie Kelpin, for writing a hub that convinced me that ePublishing was feasible. Honestly, it took me a full week of evenings to figure it out, even though I already had the entire story and photos put together for a printed out version from Walgreens.

I felt almost giddy when I got to click the “save and publish” button :)

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet Recipes and Quick Snacks

My 3 year old is on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). I realize that most who read this have never even heard of that diet, much less would this hub make your top 10 list. But without the SCD he has daily tummy cramps and bloody stools. Gross. I know. The flatbread recipe is so easy and really delicious. I (who am not on the diet) even love eating it! Here is our son’s story.

How to Learn to Ride a Bike

I had seen pedal-less bikes online, and thought they were a great idea. However, my 5 year old already had a bike, and we weren’t about to purchase a new one for her. I had no idea that these bikes worked so quickly. And I didn’t know you could just take the pedals off of a regular bike. After reading this hub, my husband immediately took our daughter’s pedals off and let her “ride” around for a day. The very next day he put the pedals, minus the training wheels, back on her bike, and off she went! My husband was even a little disappointed that he didn’t get to do the running-awkwardly-beside-the-bike routine with her!

How to Generate Traffic Using Made For Pinterest (MFP) Images

Are Wrylilt’s words in the back of your head like they are in mine? Remember when she did that forum post offering to suggest improvements for our hubs? I thought her advice was brilliant. So I started looking through her hubs and ran across this one. I learned that everyone on Pinterest (myself included) is really superficial and can be manipulated by pretty pictures. And I learned how to make my pictures “pin-worthy”. And as soon as the baby starts sleeping through the night it is toward the top of my to-do list!

Just as a side note: I do realize that this hub will never be pinned. It is not intended to go viral or get tons of page views. And I know I’m not supposed to put links to other web pages, but this hub is not really for my monetary benefit. It is meant to serve me as a reminder of my first influencers on HubPages and hopefully encourage those who have had an influence on my past year.

How to Add People to a Photo with Adobe Photoshop Elements

He has other hubs that I also refer to often. He will even teach you how to add make-up to a photo in Photoshop! This hub was one of my first introductions to his tutorials. They are easy to read and easy to duplicate on my own photos. And bless Vinaya Ghimire for walking me through my non-professional version of Photoshop in the comments and even answering questions that are completely unrelated to his hubs!

How to Draw Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb

My kids think I’m a great artist. They often ask if they can take my drawing of Perry the Platypus to school to show their friends. My husband asked me several times where I got the picture – not sure he believed I could draw that well. That’s all I need to say about this one.

Mexican Hot Chocolate: Not Just Comfort Food

I feel a little silly writing about this particular hub since Teaches12345 has so many profound and great hubs, but this is the one that I come back to for seconds…and thirds :) This hot chocolate is amazing.

Recycled Container Gardening Ideas

These are so cute! Her photos and instructions are much better than my little experiment this year, but the kids had fun picking out old items we could use for starter plants. We ended up using juice boxes, frosting cans, and a kid-sized chocolate milk container. This is also the only article on my Pinterest gardening board with more than one repin. We’re up to 14 repins and 5 likes now.

And even as I finish up my list, I remember Cantuhearmescream's very creative rendition of popular nursery rhymes. They are hilarious! I'm sure more of my favorite hubs will come to mind as soon as I publish this hub. But I have to stop somewhere.

It has been a fun year. Thank you for reading to the end. And thank you for being part of my year!