random — MomStart

Random Tuesday What to do today, and what do you think of my new hair style?

January 26, 2010 By Momstart 16 Comments

I’m wondering if I should keep the kids home today because they are starting to get sick. It’s usually when kids are starting to get sick is when they are contagious so I’m wondering about getting a whole facility of kids full of sick today or not. We usually go to the Kirkland Community Center with our other friends on Tuesdays but I’m just not sure they can handle it today.

I’m going to be taking a nap as soon as the kids are done with breakfast and I need to take a shower. I’m yucky this morning. My hair is different.

On Saturday I spent the day getting my hair done. I cut it short and got some highlights and lowlights. I had blond and red put in my hair. The blond matches my daughter and the red matches my son. He has the brightest red hair I have ever seen. It’s beautiful.

Here is a picture of mine, what do you think?

Staying home brings up the question of what will I do instead? Play outside in the rain, or hopefully it will be sunny, and get some exercise. I’m in love with my Wii right now because it says I’m down to my pre-pregnancy weight and that I lost 3 lbs last week. It’s not possible that I lost that much weight, so I think it’s broken just a bit, scales are so inaccurate. Depends on water, clothing, and the amount of cookies currently in my tummy. I better at least get some exercise in.

I’m still waiting on my package for Blissdom, I’m very excited to be going on a trip. I’m a little nervous because of traveling with my kids. I’m taking them to Texas for free baby sitting and then driving with my best friend in the whole world to Blissdom. So my trip is going to be excellent in so many ways.

Oh and I need tips on how to get sponsorship to BlogHer2010. I purchased my tickets so now I need help paying for plane tickets and hotel. Anyone want to be my sponsor or give me tips?

Filed Under: random Tagged With: blissdom, random, Random Thoughts, Random Tuesday

Random Tuesday – Daily Trials.

January 18, 2010 By Momstart 13 Comments

So I just went to visit my blog and it says Error establishing connection to database. WHAT, where is my blog. I think my husband broke it. That’s why we create a test page and not mess with the main page.

I have such a headache I want to scream

I’ve been looking at Pre-Schools and can’t make up my mind, save money or stay closer to home. I think I want to just stay close to home, she’ll be close, I could walk is so close but there isn’t enough side walk so it’s not exactly safe. She’ll be close to her friends that will go to Kindergarten with her.

I’m not good at getting out of bed anymore. I just want to stay in bed and then when I do get out of bed I want to feed the kids and get in my chair and take a nap. This morning my daughter said, “I want to take a nap with you in your chair” when she was done with breakfast. I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad.

It was sunny today, made the kids take two walks and now I’m sitting here eating a ton of cookies, not helping my diet here. I have no will power. I’m the one that made the cookies. Good grief.

I’m trying to build up my comments by visiting other bloggers but it’s so hard to keep up once I get the number up a little. I need more time in the day, or maybe I should just quite entrecard. I think I have an addiction.

I have to get up in the morning because I have to start taking my husband to work again. I guess my recovery/vacation is now officially over. Back to a routine, so no more sleeping in my chair. I really need to take a shower too but I’d rather sleep. I guess I’ll take one tomorrow after breakfast. The kids can play in the bathroom. I love my new home.

Filed Under: random Tagged With: Poking around, Random Thoughts, Random Tuesday

The @petcentric giveaway winner is so cute!

January 16, 2010 By Momstart 11 Comments

I don’t usually post photos of the winners on my blog for their privacy, but this winner is too cute! Black Lab, Cisco is going to be enjoying quite a few treats thanks to Purina Pet Centric.

Pet Centric is a great place to hang out and gather information about pets and Purina products.

Filed Under: random Tagged With: Pet Centric, petcentric, purina

10 Things To Do When You Have Writer’s Block or Blogger’s Block

January 15, 2010 By Momstart 9 Comments

In no particular Order:

1) Listen to the radio

When I’m sitting in the car driving along I hear all these different things that inspire blog articles. Local things that have happened or something on the news announced sparks a lot of thought for me, but by the time I’m sitting at my computer I’ve completely forgotten what that wonderful idea was.

2) Read the newspaper, Grab a magazine, on-line or off

Newspapers are full of all kinds of ideas. No matter what you blog about you can find information in the Sunday newspaper if you need some ideas: Real Estate, Job listings, Entertainment, Arts, Design, News.. Magazine’s are turning into blogs anyways so why not get some grand ideas from them. I’m not saying you should plagiarize, do not take word for word and then claim something. Just read some articles and then write your own perspective on something you found interesting.

3) Spend some time with your family

My kids keep me going day in and day out. They make me laugh, cry, and scream. Turning all of those emotions into an outlet will bring up plenty of ideas to write about.

4) Check out an on-line forum:

Forums are huge places for discussions and gossip.

5) Ask your husband/wife

Before I had a product review scheduled every night. I used to ask my husband what I should blog about. He’s always got some crazy idea in his head so if I just picked one of them I’d be set for the night. Sometimes, I only needed half of one of his ideas.

6) Ask Google

Google is great for all information. You can use any search engine you want for that matter but if you are out of ideas, it’s interesting to just do a search on “Blog Ideas”.

7) Ask Twitter

To use twitter it depends on who is on at the time and if your followers respond to your questions. It helps if you respond to theirs from time to time.

Go Blog Hopping

I’ve seen lots of people write an article, saying “hey I saw this great article over here”. Then they have a great article about their thoughts relating to that article. Or take an inventory of what works on other people’s blogs. What do they write about that encourages a lot of comments?

9) Take a Shower

This is another location where ideas just come to me. My mind is clear and lots of things just fly through my mind.

10) Call your mom

Calling my mom can get me all worked up. She drives me nuts making me want to write a whole post just venting about only God knows what. It’s different every time too. Moms just invoke all kinds of passion, good or bad.

Filed Under: random Tagged With: 10 ways overcome writer's block. writer's block, blog ideas, bloggers block, in need of ideas

Random Tuesday Potty Training, Robin Hood, Blogging

January 11, 2010 By Momstart 18 Comments

So I’m sitting here watching Robin Hood from BBC America and it’s getting funnier by the second. I love British Comedy, but I think this is supposed to be a drama. Maybe I just don’t get any of it really. I need to pee but I don’t want to get out of my chair and pause it. I’m really lazy huh.

I’m tired too, but I’m always tired. Today when I was cuddling with the kids in my chair, I passed out on them. I felt so guilty but they didn’t seem to care. They were enjoying Veggie Tales.

Potty training has been on my mind. What to do?

She is three now and has no desire to do it. Not for bribes for free, nothing. Most moms I know say that the best thing to do is just let them run around naked. Oh boy that sounds fun. I let her try just her underwear once and she peed on herself and started crying then I let her try again and she pooped in her panties.

Of course, I’ve read about much worse with other moms, but I’m so tired of diapers. Even my son is ready to start training. Maybe if I just do him since he’s willing she’ll follow suit? Any ideas?

I just ordered my business cards, I need to do more work on my blog. I need to update my theme and change the header, I’m so tired of the flowers. I want it to match my blog button again. Why am I so easily seduced by the TV. I’m a tv junkie I swear. I could sit and watch TV all day.

I’m training my children to be the exact same way. I let them watch way too much TV. The doctor said only “1 hour”. Oh man am I in trouble. They watch it so much. But they hardly pay any attention. Oh well.

I wish it would stop raining, I think that’s why I’m so tired all the time. I hate the Pacific Northwest. Maybe I’ll become a famous blogger and get to travel more. Oh dreams. A girl has to have them right.

Filed Under: personal, random Tagged With: personal, potty training, Random Thoughts, Random Tuesday

Random Tuesday – one of my new changes for 2010

January 4, 2010 By Momstart 17 Comments

One of my new years resolutions was to grow my blog and to do that I think I need to reach out to more than just the giveaway crowd. I want to write, I love to write, I always have. I just never thought of it as a career before. I still don’t think of it as a career but it’s a nice hobby. Anyways, this leads me to writing about different things and having more family photos on my blog.

Last night my husband said he noticed that I was putting more pictures up. He wasn’t upset which shocked me. Instead he asked me what photo I chose yesterday, well, since yesterday was my daughter’s birthday I posted a ton of photos of her and didn’t really consider it a photo post.

Thinking about my daughter turning three makes me think even more about the fact that I’m turning 30 this year. What a number, it’s stuck in my head. I just don’t know what to do with being 30. My husband asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I have no idea. I think I’d love to have a day at the spa and just be by myself. Get my hair done and relax. Which makes me think of that fact that I really could use a new hairstyle right now. I want to get my hair done before I go to Blissdom. If I was a company, I would look at me and say, that’s not my spokesperson right there. Not being the key word. Not that hair is a magic job in a bottle.

I should probably go visit my mother for my birthday. Take the kids and spend two weeks in Florida. That would be a relaxing time if my mother didn’t work the whole time. I just not sure she would take any time off from her job. She seems to think no one can do it for her. I’m the same way though. When I was a manager, I didn’t trust anyone else to do it right. So I was a workaholic, but I think I’m a workaholic when it comes to this blog too.

Will I ever learn?

Link Up!

Filed Under: random Tagged With: personal, Random Thoughts, Random Tuesday

Guest Post – Summer Oleksy President of MOMS Club of Woodinville

December 2, 2009 By Momstart 1 Comment

The Northwest Regional Luncheon was a HUGE success again this year for the MOMS Club of Woodinville, WA. Thank you to the 18 MOMS who shared their time with me and each other today. Unfortunately NO ONE won a basket this year (bummer as some MOMS in other chapters won TWO baskets). Our gift basket which Louise and her blog MomStart support was valued at $1200 and was 6th in the collection of tickets. Thank you Louise for your time, dedication, and donations! This year our chapter won "Outstanding Service Programs", "Supporting the Mother-to-Mother Fund (R)", "Outstanding Chapter Overall", and "Outstanding Newsletter" awards; these were for our achievement in the 2008-9 year. Thank you for your support. Mark your calendars tentatively for the second Saturday (and weekend) in November 2010 as we’ll be headed to Portland for the Northwest Regional Luncheon. All members are invited to join us!

~Summer Oleksy

President

MOMS Club of Woodinville, WA

Filed Under: random Tagged With: charity, charity auction, donation, MOMS Club

Guest Post by Tricia Meyer Smart Mom Shop Online

December 2, 2009 By Momstart 2 Comments

I know people around me are always pushing me to “shop local” to support local businesses. But the reality is that if I save money shopping online, I have more money to support local businesses like restaurants, theaters, and bowling alleys. So in the end, I’m still doing what’s best for both me AND my community when I shop online to save.

Now that we have that out of the way, I want to tell you why the smartest moms will be shopping online this holiday season. Here are 5 sure fire ways to save money while you spend it (and who doesn’t spend at least a little in December?)

1) Compare for the lowest prices. Whether you do this formally using one of the many price comparison sites out there or informally by polling the friends in your social networks, you will be sure that you are getting what you want at the lowest price possible.

2) Use online coupons. You can find a coupon for just about every store online with few exceptions. Bookmark a couple of the top coupon sites and always check them before you buy.

3) Shop with rewards. Whether you shop through a traditional cash back/rebate site or even your credit card or frequent flyer program, be sure that you are getting any kind of points or rewards that you can on each purchase. Most of these sites are 100% legitimate and allow you to combine your rewards with coupons. Just do your homework when you choose a site.

4) Shop for alternative items. Unless you are looking for a very specific make and model of a product, do a simple internet search for the product you are buying and see if there is another similar item at a better price that would serve the same purpose.

5) Use reviews to your advantage. Many websites are now including reviews as a part of their site. You can see reviews on the product, the merchant, and even the coupon you want to use. Don’t waste your money on a merchant that isn’t going to get the item to you the way that you want it or on a product that people are saying doesn’t do what it advertised. You don’t want to have to spend that money twice to get a different item at the last minute.

I could make this list go on and on, but this will get you started. Be smart and check your credit cards often, use reputable sites—all those things you already know! And enjoy it….shopping should be fun, especially when you know you are getting the best deals possible.

Tricia Meyer is an affiliate marketer and blogger. Her personal website is www.tricia.me and you can follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sunshinetricia

Filed Under: random Tagged With: guest post, shop at home

So, I changed my mind for now about changing my theme

November 22, 2009 By Momstart 3 Comments

My husband has been helping me get my blog ready to change themes. He wrote some script for me today so that as I write my new posts the things I need for my new theme will be automatically created.

For instance, my new theme needs a thumbnail for every post. Uhh, I don’t use wordpress when I’m writing my posts so setting up a thumbnail would be like 10 to 15 minutes extra after I became accustomed to the change. I’m all about AUTOMATED. I did add the new featured content plug in though and that will be my new toy until I get myself enough posts to use the new theme. I’m too lazy to go back through my posts to create thumbnails.

I’m also going to change my background and header. I already created a new header but the color is all wrong for the background so I’m going to have to make a new one again. I’m very picky. I have to have things balanced and yes, my sidebars are a little bit of an issue for me at the moment.

My husband is all about taking care of me, especially if it means he gets to write some code.

Filed Under: random Tagged With: blog info

Pardon my Dust, I’m changing themes

November 21, 2009 By Momstart 5 Comments

This is going to be a little difficult over the next few days as I learn to use my new theme and customize it to make it look like my own. . I also have to organize it and change the pictures and eek, crazy times are ahead, but I want to wish you happy holidays.

I have a ton of giveaways to post before and on Monday, happy winning!

Filed Under: random Tagged With: blog info