OK don’t panic…. maybe I should whisper, but seven weeks from today will be Christmas Eve.

I don’t know if the thought of that is freaking every other mom out or if it’s just me, but do you know how fast 7 weeks will go by?

I love Christmas time, it’s my favorite time of the year.  I love the closeness of family and friends getting together.  I love making my Grandma’s special fudge to give to very special people in my life, I love how excited my kids get in anticipation of the big day, and I love that they get just as excited about playing with cousins as they do playing with new toys.

What I don’t love is leaving all the prep to the very last minute and then being in a panic to get it all done.

With this home renovation, I haven’t even thought about the upcoming holidays until just the last few days.  I need to make a plan, get organized, and get it done.  That way I will be able to enjoy the holidays with my close family and friends.

The first part of the plan for me is moving back into my newly renovated home.  And I’m VERY pleased to say that has already started to happen, we should be sleeping at home by Tuesday night (I’ll let you know how that goes too).

I want to do a bit of a series on holiday preparation that WAHM’s go through.  I’ll be posting blogs about that over the next few days.  What I would also love to do is get a bit of a conversation going with other work at home moms, as to the kind of prep you go through to be prepared for the holidays.   Some of the topics will include:

• I haven’t as of yet got any holiday affiliate pages set up.  It’s getting a bit late, but I plan on putting some up this week to see how it goes.  What type of things should we be doing as Christmas prep for our businesses, and is it too late to start?
• Being a WAHM is great because you can schedule in all those cool activities with you kids.  But sometimes it can be a bit difficult to dodge all the volunteer positions you are given because “you’re just at home anyway”.  Now I don’t mind doing my share, I’ll bake some cookies for a bake sale, or I’ll go into the classroom to volunteer but I certainly didn’t quit my full-time job so that I could be the president of every little sub-committee that comes along.  Know what I’m sayin?
• Shopping for holiday gifts.
• Scheduling and planning activities for the kids.
• Decorating.
• Food prep (got any great recipes?)
• Anything else that pops in my head

I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Let me know if you’re posting on this topic in the comments below.

Expect the Best,

christmas, Christmas activities, Christmas for WAHM, Christmas organizing, Holiday, Holiday planning, holiday preparation, WAHM Work at Home

I want to start a brand new meme today.

I’ve been blabbing about me for an entire year now. But it’s time for me to learn more about YOU, and so I’m starting this new meme. I sure hope it spreads

5 Questions about the ONLINE YOU…

1. How long have you been blogging?
2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
3. Are You trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?
4. Tell me 3 things you LOVE about being online.
5. Tell me 3 things you STRUGGLE with in the online world.

I’m starting this meme as part of the Birthday Celebration at Home with Heather. Anyone can choose to play along, and if I don’t tag you to start with just leave a comment and I will add you to the list.

Simple to play - I want to learn about my blogging buddies, so simply tell me more about you and your blog. In the post that you create, reference this post and then tag 5 of your blogging friends. If you don’t know who to tag, why not tag a blog that interests you as a way of getting some link love and finding more about that blog.

I’ll start:

1. I’ve been blogging for One Year (today).
2. I was inspired to start a blog, because I was sick of trying things that didn’t work, and I wanted to have something that I was able to do from home. I have many mentors. Jack Humphrey, Lynn Terry, Alice Seba, Kelly McCausey, Ed Dale and Dan Raine just to name a few.
3. I blog for both reasons. To make money and to have fun.
4. Three things I love about being online: It works great with being at home, I’ve met many new friends, I can work it around my life and my schedule.
5. Three things I struggle with: Writing - I’ve had to really work at improving my skills, working through who is really interested in helping me and who is a scammer, learning to take time away from the computer and just enjoy life (I’m a bit of a workaholic )

Alright - I’m going to tag more than 5 just to get the ball rolling. Please make sure you let me know when your post is up so that I can learn more about YOUR BLOG.

• Lynn Terry - ClickNewz
• YC - Internet Marketing Mind
• Monika - The Writer’s Manifesto
• Heather - Girls who Network
• Corrina - A Celebration of Curves
• Tinu -Free Traffic Tips
• Jon - Smart Wealthy Rich
• Mom of a Lego Kid
• Ruby - Close to You
• Christy - Christy’s Coffee Break
• Raymond - Attracting Your Goals
• Grizzly - How to Make Money Online for Beginners
• Sarah - BlueJar
• Fitzy - Fitzy Business

I hope you all play along, and tell the world about your blog. Any one is free to play, just leave me a comment so that I can be sure to link your blog

Expect the Best,

birthday celebration, Blogging, blogging friends, blogging fun, Link Love, meme, traffic, WAHM Work at Home, web promotion

I officially wrote my first blog post one year ago today. It was the standard Hello World that comes with every wordpress install.

What a year it’s been.

When I started out with Home with Heather I was fed up with trying different MLM’s. HWH was meant to be a few things for me. A way to keep my mind busy as I stay home to take care of my boys. A way to learn, grow and meet new people. And a way to replace my off line income so that I didn’t have to worry about that part of my life anymore and would be free to just stay home and love on my boys as they grow up. I have accomplished most of that and though I have not yet been able to replace my off line income, that will come in time.

Read the rest of this entry »

Blogging, celebrate, community, Happy Birthday, inspire, WAHM Work at Home, web promotion, women in business

As I’m busy working around HWH this morning, my “roomie” has got a local news program on in the back ground. One of the stories they are talking about is a local women’s fair coming up this weekend.

One of the ladies (sorry, didn’t catch the name) is talking about the 3 things that we need everyday to thrive. It just really clicked with me because I’m big on these things anyway, and I think they are so important for everyone, but especially for work at home moms.

So What are the Three Things?

• Joy
• Laughter
• Play

Everyday we are going to run into situations that will make us angry, stress us out or give us pain.  Although we can try and limit these things, they are a part of life.  We have to learn to deal with it and “suck it up”.

What really helps to keep it in balance is making sure that we also enjoy the other side of the coin DAILY.  Take the time to experience joy, laughter and play.

I’ve always said that it is important to laugh daily,  a good “belly” laugh will increase the seratonin  in your brain.  Producing enough seratonin is key in keeping you “feeling good” and having a good vibe going.

Even on my worst days, when everything is going wrong, I really try to take some time to be joyful, and laugh.  I do admit that I need to make more time to “play”.

The lady on the news show said that it’s like a big teetor-totter and that is the joy, laughter and play are up in the air… the flip side of anger, stress, and pain HAVE to be on the bottom end of the teetor-totter.

Do you make time for these things everyday?  Even if it means laughing at yourself.

Next time you are feeling really negative emotions coming take a step back.  Take some time to calm and get your joy back.  Listen to some music, play a game with your kids, go for a walk, or get a cup coffee and call one of your girlfriends to just chat.  Do what you have to do to get your feeling and mood back in check.

Part of the Law of Attraction is making sure that you are “feeling good”.  It’s like the analogy they use on the movie “The Secret”, when you stub your toe out of bed things start to spiral and the day will continue to get worse.   If you can stop right then and get your feelings in check, you can turn the day around.

Try it and see.  Keep note of how you are feeling.  When you are feeling good, good things will happen… promise

Anyway, I’m off my soapbox.  I just had to share.

Happy Friday!

Expect the Best,

avoid stress, feeling good, joy, laughter, LOA, play, The Law of Attraction, The Secret, WAHM Work at Home

It started off at 5:03 AM with a phone call from my friend Linda and she says “She’s had two pups”. “OK, I’m on my way” I said. Thankfully I’m staying at my mother’s house due to my renovation and so I kind of have a built in babysitter. We had figured it would be a middle of the night delivery.

I get stuff ready for the kids to get off to school, and then take off to Linda’s house. We waited for an hour for the next pup to be born. It was a stillborn, poor baby. The rest of the pups started coming very quickly… 15 minutes apart. Poor Budabelly, this is her first time being a mom. After 6 she was really tired and needed some rest so didn’t deliver number 7 for about an hour. It was a bit labored in breathing, but I managed to pull it through and now it’s squirming all over the place.

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american bulldog, home renovation, life of a wahm, WAHM Work at Home, Web 2.0, Whats on my Mind?

So over the Thanksgiving long weekend, I had an opportunity to visit with some family and friends. It got me to thinking. I’d say 80% of the people in my “real” world have no idea what I do. Even if they know “she writes a blog” or she “works at home”, they don’t have a clue what a blog is or anything that involves, or really anything to do with any of my online work. All they really know is that I spend A LOT of time online. :- And that’s my close family and friends. I’ve never spent anytime trying to market my online stuff offline.

I’ve posted several blogs about branding yourself online… what about branding yourself offline? Even just getting a bit of name recognition within your “circle of influence”, your town/city and surrounding areas. We spend so much time online, are we leaving out a great market right in our own community?

Read the rest of this entry »

branding, chamber of commerce, networking, offline promotion, online business, real world, WAHM Work at Home, web promotion, word or mouth

I am honored that friend and fellow blogger YC, from Internet Marketing Mind would take the time to help me out with guest post. YC talks about Positive Desire. I totally agree that if you’ve got a positive desire/attitude that is 90% of the battle, and you can go on to accomplish anything you want.

If you haven’t been to his blog, go check it out

Enjoy…

To this day, despite not being able to engage in heavy weights training, that I enjoyed just 8 years ago, due to a previously torn disc, I still enjoy reading and listening to the many stories of strongmen back from the days when the sport was drug-free and much respected. These tales often chronicle the legendary feats of strength of these athletes, as well as the one attribute which allowed them to scale these heights - incredible mental desire.

In 1953, Canadian Douglas Ivan Hepburn beat multi-champion American John Davis to win the World Weightlifting Championships, setting a then world record in the press with 371 1/4 pounds. What made his story precious was that Hepburn had fused bones in his right ankle as a result of 3 operations to correct his clubfoot. Essentially he had a stiff lower right leg with a limited range of movement. Additionally, he had an eye ailment. Yet, despite these ailments since birth, Hepburn was able to attain his achievements as a result of a strong and intense desire that constantly burned in his mind.

While a man that suffered from physical handicaps toiled with desire to achieve success that no one would expect him to, many of us nowadays often lack this same desire to reach our goals. Unwittingly, I might say. Whenever I sit down with friends and strangers alike, I would be astounded by the limitless ideas that spring from their minds, ideas that had much potential for success and profit.

But only if they had carried their eager minds through equal desire.

It could be the culture of today, or the inert risk aversion that humans have. But when pressed to explore their ideas further by execution, most would quickly look for excuses to put down their ideas being just fanciful flights of wishful thinking, that they would not work due to one reason or another. In the online business world, these excuses would include:

“Who would buy this online, when you can just walk to the convenience store?”

“I cannot imagine anyone who would want to read about my life, blogging it wouldn’t change that.”

I suffered from the same lack of desire and negativity. I believe many of you who wish to carve out a satisfying life working from home, suffer these same doubts too. But now, I would advise anyone with ideas to practise greater belief and positivity, that many success stories witnessed in the world today owe much to the achievers’ unwavering desire to realise their dreams.

Your foremost thought in mind must be that you can, and will, make it happen. Without this inert and basic belief, no one would strive for what they could potentially attain. However, if you have a strong desire, and truly believe that dreams can be realised, you are always likely to overcome obstacles that get thrown in your way. In time, you will achieve your goals, perhaps in a home business, and enjoy much success and happiness.

Just like the humble champion Douglas Ivan Hepburn did on the world sporting stage.

YC is the author of Internet Marketing Mind, where he shares his ideas on Internet Marketing and making money online while leveraging on resources from his previous professional and current experience to achieve financial freedom. You can read his bio here.

goals, positive attitude, positive desire, success, WAHM Work at Home