©Lisa Barker
1. You like to dip strawberries, cherries and bananas in chocolate so you start experimenting at dinner with broccoli and cauliflower substituting chocolate for cheese.
2. You buy a bottle of chocolate syrup and carry it around in a small paper bag for a quick nip when you need it.
3. You pour yourself a cup of coffee in the morning and use twelve chocolate spoons. You never touch the coffee.
I absolutely love Halloween. I think everyone knows THIS is my holiday. We could skip Christmas and I’d be happy. I know I’m not with the general public on that one, but I can’t help it! I just love this time of year!
So I thought it would be fun to have everyone share what their kiddos are dressing up as this year. We go out tonight actually, and I’m in the middle of putting together costumes (currently we are all sitting while fingernails dry!).
My son is going as “death” (the grim reaper, but he says it’s just death). We picked up a mask that has a switch, making it glow different colors. VERY cool.
My daughter decided to be a mermaid this year, and looks absolutely adorable. It was a simple costume picked up from my most hated of all shopping outlets (I know, I try to avoid shopping there, but it was the easiest place to pick up a costume!). She’s actually not just ANY mermaid, but Ariel herself. Ok minus the red hair. I didn’t get THAT particular.
So what are your kids dressing up as? Or maybe what are YOU going as too?
Monday Nite Blog Thing
You Are a Natural Entrepreneur |
 You’re creative, driven, and full of great ideas. You could be the next Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, or Oprah. Keep with your dreams, even if people don’t understand or respect them. Someday you’ll have too much money to care what they think! |
I’ve been putting this post off for I don’t know how long … just sitting up there in my drafts. Why? Who knows. Call it lack of time, call it lazy … go ahead, I’ll let it up to you, lol! Just last night I was trying to force myself to do it but alas, a trip to the neighbor’s haunted basement won over. Not that I’m complaining … we had a great time!
However, I about cried this morning when I opened my email to one of my favorite fellow blogger’s blog updates to find that she had posted 10 Things Every Blog Should Have! Ack! She beat me to it!  :sad:  Well, I figured, that’s what I get for slacking, right? Actually, nope! I was LUCKY! She only had a couple of duplicates of my list soooo, I’ll share mine and then I’ll share her list too because it’s a great addition  :wink:  So, it worked out for the better for you!
And speaking of blog updates … that just happens to be number one on my list 
(All of the links below will open a new window so you don’t loose your place.)
Blog Must Have #1
You MUST have a way to keep your readers updated. I don’t know about you but I have a ton of blogs on my favorite blog list. I don’t have the time to trot off to each blog every day and if I don’t do it at least once a day, I get way behind. Instead, I LOVE subscribing to blogs so the updates are all sent directly to my email. Then I can read all the posts and click to the post I want to leave comments on. Having a subscription form on your blog is JUST as important as having a newsletter to your website (and we know how important that is, don’t we??). To easily keep your readers up to date, I highly recommend Aweber’s Feed Broadcaster. It’s simple, set it up once and you’re good to go!
Blog Must Have #2
One of the great things about setting up a blog is that it can be done free or fairly inexpensively. However, if your plans are to MAKE MONEY with your blog, I highly recommend going the fairly inexpensive route. If you’re not serious about your money making blog, then your readers are not going to take you seriously either. Sure, you can set up a blog for free at WordPress and end up with a website url of www.wordpress.yourblogname.com Or you could make a small investement of $9.99 a year and end up with a website name of www.yourblogname.com  So, you tell me, what looks better? And which one do you think your readers will remember better? Give your blog a more professional look and buy yourself a blog domain name.
Blog Must Have #3
If you’re reading this post then chances are, you probably already have a blog. But, I will mention that 2 of the more popular choices of a blog platform are either Blogger or Wordpress. I myself recommend Wordpress. Ever since we changed from our Blogger blog to our Wordpress blog, I’ve simply fallen in love with Wordpress. Yes, Blogger tends to be a bit easier for the blogging newbies but, Wordpress isn’t that hard to learn plus it has way more features.
With that said … both WordPress and Blogger offer to host your blog for free on their host. This works for some but as I mentioned in #2 … if you’re planning making money with your blog, go for the inexpensive route. For only $5.95 a month, you can host your blog on your own hosting which in turn ads to your list of features to work with. Hosting your blog with Blogger or Wordpress kind of limits you as to what you can do with your blog. Having your blog hosted on your own hosting, gives you unlimited control. So, if you’re anything like me (the control freak that I am …) you’ll want to opt to buy hosting for your blog.Â
(Sidenote: The economy plan is plenty to hold your blog. And if you simply cannot afford to purchase the hosting, do at least consider simply buying the domain name and forwarding it to your blog. Then do work towards the hosting. It really is that important )
Blog Have #4
Normally you wouldn’t catch me recommending “traffic exchange programsâ€. Normally I don’t believe in them. However this one, created by John Reese (who I personally adore) is like none other. Not only does this create more traffic to your blog, but also creates content too. (Yeah, now who wouldn’t like that?)
You can click here to see a short video that goes into full detail so I won’t waste your time too much here. But, the way it works is you place a small widget on the sidebar of your blog and it lists blog posts (and links) of other members. The more the links are shown on your blog and the more people you refer using your referral links gets you something called syndication credits which gives your posts more exposure on the blogosphere.
You can see it in action on the right-hand side of our blog —>
Blog Have #5
MyBlogLog - See that box on the right-hand side of our blog —> The one titled Recent Readers and all the little pictures there. Is your picture there? If not, then you should head on over to MyBlogLog.com and sign up for a free account. MyBlogLog is a service of Yahoo! MyBlogLog is a social community for bloggers and blog readers. You can create your own profile page which lists blogs and sites that you own. You can also join the communities, meet new contacts and meet other bloggers who blog about the same topics as you. And best of all … we get to see your smiling face every time you visit us. (Hint: That smiling face also includes a link to your profile page so others can visit your blogs too )Â
With your account, you’re also able to view your site stats and leave messages on others’ profiles. I’ve been a member of the community for quite some time now but I’ve just recently really started to utilize my account.  :oops:  It’s a lot of fun plus a great way to get your blog seen ;) There’s many more cool features that I’m just learning myself so if you haven’t joined yet … click here to learn more and join now.
Blog Have #6
U Comment … I Follow - Did you know that your blog is probably set up to tell the search engines to NOT follow links left by commentors on your blog?!? Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? Apparently most blog software comes with a “no follow tag†installed. Easy description … if your readers leave a comment and a link … it’s a dead-end street. his tag doesn’t allow the search engines to follow comment links. Uh why? I guess I understand because of all the comment spam BUT, hopefully you’re reading your comments anyway … it doesn’t take but a second or two to delete the comments you don’t want. So, if you appreciate your readers, then click here to learn how to join the U Comment … I Follow Movement.
Blog Have #7
I have never found another plugin that I love so much as I love the SEO Plugin! Like I mentioned before, if you’re a control freak like me, you’ll love this plugin - not to mention what it’ll do for your search engine rankings! As I also mentioned before, this is one of the pluses of having a WordPress blog ;) This WP plugin optimizes your blog to it’s fullest potential and gives you complete control in the meantime.Â
The All In One SEO Pack automatically optimizes your titles for search engines and lets you tweak them further, generates META tages automatically and allows you to define them, helps you avoid indexing of duplicate content plus much more. If you have a WordPress blog, definitely install the SEO All In One Pack!
Well, that should keep you busy for a little while … but WAIT … remember? There’s more. Now I’ll share with you Lynn Terry of ClickNewz.com’s list of 10 Things Every Blog Should Have
Enjoy! Your blog will thank you!
©Lisa Barker
Any parent knows that the moment a child sees water there will be
instantaneous deafness. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an ocean, lake,
river, stream or mud puddle. Even a Dixie cup full of water is a child
magnet…because children cannot hear parents when they see water.
Suddenly, the brain sends a signal that bypasses the ears and goes
straight to the child’s legs and tells the child to jump, dive, stomp or
splash in the water. Not until the child is soaking wet and shivering
do parents’ voices register.
It can’t go without saying we are not super women. We don’t have the power to magically poof the laundry done with a blink of an eye. We don’t have x-ray vision to see what’s in the fridge to plan supper while doing other chores. We can’t fly our kids to school and back to beat the traffic. Even WAHMs are HUMAN.
That said, balancing work and home is a skill we all have to learn. As I sit here and type, my kitchen sink is full of dishes and there’s a pile of laundry waiting for me. We won’t even discuss what my desks looks like. I’m not caught up. I’m not even close to having an organized life. Is it better than it use to be? Oh you bet.
When I first started working from home, this place was a disaster. You were lucky to see my youngest (still in diapers at the time) with clothes on. If you could walk through the house without stepping on toys and clothes…..well that meant I had just power cleaned top to bottom within the last 10 mins. Supper was usually something as quick as possible. My kids got so sick of pizza and pasta it wasn’t funny. They were well taken care of, but the house sure wasn’t.
Looking around now you won’t find perfection. I’m still quite far from that. Some family members like to joke I’m no housekeeper (Ha ha real funny, thanks for stating the obvious!) . The house DOES look tons better than it use it. And it’s not just because my kids are older either. In fact, life has gotten more busy in the last several years. It seems we always have somewhere to be or something to get done (snacks for school, practices, appointments, PTO involvement, etc). The responsibilities I had 4 years ago are still here….we just added on to it.
So how did I improve? Well, that’s not something I can really answer. In fact, you probably won’t find any one set of tips that works for you. It all comes down to finding the organization, scheduling, and balance that works for you. I use a dry erase board and set work hours (and certain hours to clean the house too). I also plan my projects and set my sites on goals so I’m not just doing “busy work” every day.
I set habits that are my “norm” every day so I get closer to the goal……and that works for all areas of life too. For example, when I get up in the morning I fold clothes from the dryer while the kids are eating breakfast. I check my email first thing and get those all answered, then set off to make blog posts on Idea Queen. After school I start planning supper and clean the kitchen. In the evening I spend time with the kids going over homework or reading assignments. They are all habits -Â I’ve gotten so I don’t think twice about them.
Now I must say you really don’t want to take my “tips” above, because things are far from perfect. Some days I feel spread too thin and feel like I didn’t put in enough time into anything. Other days certain areas slip quite a bit because I’m so focused on one chore/assignment/errand. There’s also other things that should be done on a daily basis that don’t get done (cleaning off the table for example - there’s almost always papers or mail sitting on it).
What it all comes down to is finding YOUR balance and what works for you. Finding balance isn’t going to happen over night. Heck I’m STILL working on finding it…..but I’m getting closer every day.Â
I thought it was about time we had a little more fun here on our blog …
From now on … stop by every Monday Nite for a little blog thing!Â
There’s only one rule here … you can’t leave without sharing your blog thing answer!
I look forward to seeing your replies!
With a little fun … we can all find out a little something about each other
(or maybe you’ll find out something new about yourself!)
So without further ado, here’s this week’s first blog thing:
| Your Nail Polish Color is Magenta |
 How you’re unique: You’re confident - and you show everyone the true youWhy your style rocks: You have the attitude to carry the most outrageous outfits offWhat this color says about you: “Look at me. I know you want to!” |
I’ve been talking about making some changes on my original site, Mom’s Market, for a long time. It’s original purpose was to be an online mall featuring mom-run stores. The concept just isn’t what it use to be, and it was beyond time for a change. I’ve been debating on what that change might be for the last several months, and finally decided on what I’m going to do.
Before doing anything though, I wanted to move the hosting to my reseller account. I was tired of paying over $100 annually for just one site. Not worth it. Especially not worth it when I still have room on my reseller account that I pay a flat rate monthly for. Yup, time to move.
Now that posed a problem too, since the domain name and hosting were purchased together. In other words, I was paying a lump amount every December for both. Not good. Canceling one means canceling the other. So I needed to transfer the domain name somewhere else too. Of course I was moving it to GoDaddy because it’s where all the rest of my accounts are (actually they are with a reseller for GoDaddy…more specifically, Anita!)
I thought I’d be smart and move it all now, before the account expires and when I shouldn’t have down time. Smart right? After all, they wouldn’t delete my account completely if I still had 2 more months paid for right?
Well I was wrong. I thought I’d get the domain name transfered first, then I’d set the nameservers to the new hosting, THEN cancel the account. They wouldn’t let me. Said I had to cancel the account to get the information for the domain name. Now that’s just WRONG. I should have had access to my own domain name all along, not just when I decided to cancel. That makes absolutely NO sense. So there is the first strike against them.
They said once I canceled I’d have all the information. They were half right. I got the info to log in and change the contact email (which should have been MINE to begin with!). So I was able to start the transfer because the emails with the codes were going to my email address finally. Although I was asked for something I still didn’t have - an authorization code. Where was THIS? Strike two!
Now I’m in a panic because as of this morning the entire site was down, including my email. This is a HUGE problem. I called their support to get this code, but get an answering machine with their hours (which they should have been answering phones at this time!). I sent a support email and tried calling a few more times with no luck, then went out to lunch. Strike three!
The email I come home to - the same information I had been given when the account was canceled. No authorization code. Now I’m mad! I called support again, finally getting a live person to talk to. I’m told to “submit a support ticket”.  :evil: Are you kidding me? I said no, just give me the number because I already did that and it got me nothing. They said reply to the ticket, and that got me an error message (something about the ticket number not being valid). NOW I’m really upset, and fight off the urge to scream profanities at the customer service girl. Once I point out that I can NOT email anyone because it’s getting me nowhere, she says they’ll “resend the code”. THANK YOU! How hard was that? Don’t you love when they try to pass off their job to someone else?  :roll:
Now we are finally getting somewhere, and the transfer is pending. Although I think it says the current registrar has to approve, so it’s making me a bit nervous. I still have bouncing email, although I *think* it’s working to the point I’m getting all my messages. I had another hosting account all set up, and even though I’m not able to set the name servers, I can set up my email using the temporary IP address. Not sure exactly HOW it’s working or how well, but I’m at least getting SOME messages.
Now the moral of this story…..do not trust companies with your domain name except for GoDaddy (or a reseller, like Anita - they DO sell for GoDaddy and it’s complete with GoDaddy support!) . I wish someone would have told me this when I bought that first site. It would have saved me a lot of trouble in the long run. As for hosting…..well GoDaddy is fine for starting out too. It’s not a huge mess to change later on (if moving to another good host like HostGator), I can guarantee that!  :roll:
©Lisa Barker
If something is broken around here I know that one of the boys did it.
 I don’t even have to ask. The girls would never do such a thing.
 If they break something, they tell me. If the boys break something I
discover it piece by piece.
They also build things. Boys are like carpenter ants. They feed on
protein and sugar and then destroy things in the house in order to build
nests that are otherwise known as forts.
Another thing boys do is give parents heart attacks. Last week my
four-year old son ran away. But this time it was different. He meant to
run away.Â
New WAHM Website Pre-launch
Myself, and my partners Val Selby & Lauren Haugh have been building an exciting new website for Work at Home Moms, and are about to announce the official launch. I would like to give you, our 2 Wahms readers, the opportunity to join us, and see the site before the rest of the Internet finds out about it!
And so, it is our great honor to announce…
My WAHM Space ~ http://www.mywahmspace.com
The new, up & coming, soon to be revealed to the public social networking site designed by WAHMs for WAHMs. Take a look around and see all there is to see. We also have a blog to go with the site http://www.MyWahmSpaceBlog.com where you will find detailed information about some of the My WAHM Space features, and how you can get the most out of your visit! Our goal is to have a social network where WAHMs can come together to exchange business building tips and resources.
We’re only inviting a select group of Special WAHMs - giving you pre-launch access before the site is officially launched at our all day event at MomChats.com’s  chatroom. So take the next couple of days to get settled at MyWAHMSpace, then be sure to stop in the chatroom and join our Launch Party on Thursday!
So, what are you waiting for? Have at it!
http://www.MyWahmSpace.com
