Let's See If This Works

I've spent the last few days stressing out over moving this ever-expanding and changing site (not just the blog) to a new dedicated server. Well, it's a good thing since it means we are growing and making money. ;)

I assume that most of you know that ContestForMoms.com is more than just this blog. ContestForMoms.com is also a contest & sweepstakes site exclusively for moms including a free baby photo contest with prizes, parenting & holiday resources, and even forums. Basically, CFM is a plethora of free stuff and resources!

Anyway, we (er, well the technical director AKA Hot Daddy) have finally made the move and everything looks Ok right now.

Phew... I'm glad that's done and over with.

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A BIG Story

Well, really, it's not a big story... just my hair. ;)

I was tired of my very long hair so I got this crazy idea to cut it really short. Now I have to figure out how to style it. Haven't done that in a while. I thought mom hair do's were supposed to be easier. Ack!

As you can tell I took these photos myself. I tried relying on Hot Daddy but nothing turned out presentable. His picture taking abilities are limited to my behind. Seriously.






Maybe one day I'll actually get a decent photo of myself taken. Until then this will have to do.

END OF VERY IMPORTANT BIG STORY :)

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My Husband Likes To Embarass Me

Maybe you've seen this video making rounds on the web or on youtube???

Um, that's ME!!!!!

Unfortunately, my husband likes to use me (and our little boys) as his subjects when making paintshop video tutorials and photos.

Here is another video tutorial featuring our 3 yr. old.


Would you let your husband do this? ;)

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This Is What's Up

So I know I've been a little weird (maybe that isn't the right word) here lately and wrote that I was going to use another format, spend less time here, be less personal, yada, yada, etcetera, etc...

The thing is I can't commit to anything right now. Initially I thought I could but it's just not going to happen since we are in the midst of some big changes.

In addition to working full time from home, we are now officially homeschoolers!!

We withdrew our our son from public school this week after much consideration & discussion. Homeschooling is something we should have done since the beginning but I wanted to give our son the chance to try out public school. We did it. It wasn't for him. End of story.

We started "classes" today and I'm excited to report that it's going great so far amongst the chaos. Want a peek into our chaos? For starters, the 3 yr. old decided he'd get into his brother's supplies and pour an entire bottle of glue on to the carpet and draw all over his face with the "good" markers among other things. Let's just say he was quite interested in all of his brother's new things lying around.

The wonderful thing in all of this chaos was that our 3 yr old drew all 8 planets (What? You didn't know Pluto wasn't a planet anymore?) right along with his 6 1/2 year old brother. And, Future Bam's zest for learning is back. He is overjoyed to say the least.

Anyway, seriously, we completed more than a full day's worth of work in less than half the time it takes in regular school. How is that you ask? Homeschool and you will find out.

We are going to be doing a mix of worksheets and child led learning for now. I'm not sure I could classify our style at this point but we're leaning towards a mix of these 3: child-led, parts of the Moore Formula ( thanks to Quiet Mom & Fussy via Twitter. See Twitter can be good), and text book methods. I'm sure we will change as we go along to see what works best for everyone.

So now that this big change is taking place I want to be able to have the chance to talk about it here (or another new blog) as we go along on this homeschooling journey.

Finally, I want to say that I will still be blogging here but not on a schedule and it will be when I really have something to say or share. It won't be just to blog and get something up. I also want to try and do the Friday Linky Love post I talked about earlier but I may not always get to it on time so don't hold me to any standards. If you've learned anything on this blog it's that I change my mind a lot.

Soooo... bring on the organization/scheduling/recordkeeping tips homeschooling mommies & daddys!!!!

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My Very First Updates Monday: This Sucks Edition

If you don't know what Updates Monday is or why it's my first then you didn't read this, An End To The Mommy Blogging. So you may want to read that last post.


1. I hate moon sand. Who invented it and what in the hell were they thinking? This crap gets everywhere.

2. Lost is coming back on in a few weeks. I've been sucked into the theories discussions again. I hate when that happens.

3. American Idol starts next week. Follow along on my AI blog, Blogging American Idol. I will be doing more live blogging this year during the episodes. Any AI fan out there want to jump on board and blog with me here for fun?

4. New contests have been posted on our Contests & Sweepstakes blog. We've also got a fun contest going on for those of you who like the Veggie Tales, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Contest. Enter to win some really cool stuff for your kids.

5. I really wish it would snow tomorrow just for that snow day nostalgia. Plus I really love taking our boys out in the snow.

I don't know what I am supposed to be doing or even what I want to be doing here with the updates. Who cares about my updates anyway? For crap's sake, there's a million blogs out there!!!!

Maybe I should call this random babbling Mondays. Or random crap Mondays? Yes. That's a winner.

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An End ToThe Mommy Blogging

With the new year comes changes and one of my resolutions this year is to get rid of things that are uninspiring, non-productive and/or hinder me in some way.

For a while now I have felt very uninspired here at this blog. It is a chore to come up with something to write when I'm completely maxed out in all aspects of my life. The truth is I don't feel like writing at all. I want to experience more and blog less so I have to shift my focus for now.

But wait!! Before you delete me from your feed reader just know that I am not deleting this blog and I'll still be blogging just not with the same frequency and content. Instead I'm going to be doing (trying) sort of a scheduled thing like this:

Updates Monday

Updates Monday will consist of just that -updates! Short updates from my life or sites but no longer in story format.

Photo Wednesday

Since Photography is fun for me and I just got a Nikon D40, I'll need an audience to share my practice photos with. Each Wednesday I'll be sharing photos from my week.

From Around The Blogosphere Friday

This will consist purely of linky love. This will be my way of giving back to this wonderful community and sharing with you all of my favorite blog posts from the mom blogosphere and beyond from the week. I'll share between 5 and 10 links every Friday morning. If I miss a great post that you feel is worthy of being linked to then shoot me an email and I'll check it out!

Furthermore I want to thank all of my readers for being a part of this blog. It's been fun and maybe one day I'll come back and want to share my life again like I have for the past 3 or so years.

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Friday In Photos

You have to admit. They are two adorable little guys. Still learning the new camera. Suggestions welcome. :)

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What Can Twitter Do For You?

If you don't already know about Twitter, (Really, who hasn't heard of it?) it is a micoblogging/ social networking site that asks the question "What Are You Doing?". People micro blog throughout the day telling the world what they are doing as well as share links among other things.

Anyway, yesterday my husband asked me why I use twitter. He kind of sees it as a distraction and a time waster. I won't disagree with his assessment but I also won't fully agree that twitter is a complete time waster. It all depends on how you use it. Twitter, in fact, can be a very useful tool for bloggers and other website owners. So, I'm going to tell you how I use twitter.

1. I use twitter to let others know of new contests & sweepstakes I have posted on my website, ContestForMoms.com

I haven't always done this with twitter but now I see it as a way of utilizing twitter for the most benefit.

2. I use twitter for updates. For instance, if I update my blog I tell twitter.

3. I also use twitter to ask questions. Yesterday I asked the question: What are some things to do while in downtown Atlanta? and I received a multitude of helpful responses almost instantly!

4. Twitter is also kind of a virtual water cooler for many of us that work online specifically the WAHM crowd and it has been a great way to get to know each other more, follow what they are saying, and build relationships that I wouldn't have otherwise.

However, I recently read here that twitter shouldn't be used as a personal instant messaging system and your @'s should be kept to a minimum. I don't really know where I stand on this because on one hand I like replying to people but on the other hand I don't like reading the half-conversations going on in twitter of people I follow but don't follow me. That's something I need to think about.

5. Lastly, I use twitter as a news source.

So you see twitter can be useful for creating relationships, getting useful information, getting people to your site or blog, and building trust with your readers. Twitter lets other know that you are in fact human by all your random useless tweets such as (Hi. I'm awake. Need Coffee. or Just took the dog for a walk!) in between all the links and promotions you are doing. ;)

I admit that sometimes twitter is distracting and a time waster. But, overall, twitter can do things for your business if you don't become addicted. Basically what I'm saying is don't sit at your computer all day twittering with the hope of it making you money (at least not directly).

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Do You Really Need To Know 7 More Weird Things About Me?

Let me just say that I rarely do meme's anymore or maybe I should say I absolutely do not do meme's anymore unless I'm forced to by nice people like Marie.

Anyway, strangely enough the last meme I did was back in 2006 and it was titled "6 Weird Facts About Me" so I'm just gonna rehash some of that here.

1. I have a phobia of bathtubs. I take showers everyday but cannot bring myself to sit down in a bathtub. Maybe it is something to do with all bodies of water because I won’t swim in a lake or ocean either. Several years ago I attempted to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia with my husband and let's just say that was not the most pleasant experience.

2. I am 4 foot 9 inches tall and weigh less than 90 pounds. Most of my family is small. However, I got the bad end of the deal and ended up the smallest.

3. I eat ketchup on Spaghetti. I know several of you already know this since I have mentioned it before. I cannot eat spaghetti unless I squirt ketchup all over it first. Now my thing is organic ketchup. I can't live without it!

4. I'm extremely unorganized. At one time I had my tax information, check stubs, and accounting information stored in the glove box of my car. You really don't want to see my desk.

5. I'm a sucker for Movie Soundtrack music. My favorite right now is from The Invisible.

6. I've recently started eating lots of ready made/pre-cooked bacon only to find out the nitrites will probably kill me off soon if I don't stop eating it.

7.) I only like wearing hipster boy shorts underwear. I shared this because I couldn't think of anything else and for that I am truly sorry. ;)

BTW, I'm not tagging anyone else. If you want to play along tell me in the comments and I'll link to you here. Fair enough?

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Overheard In The Mom Blog Household Yesterday

Random banter overheard in the mom blog household yesterday...


Ah, the sweet smell of Mexico!

Your face looks like shit. Your body parts too.

If we live in a cabin the serial killers will surely get us!

Only hillbillies homeschool. Who knew?


(Yes, I'm throwing in a new photo I took of Baby Picasso w/ the Nikon D40. We're havin' fun!)

If you are fan of the Veggie Tales enter the New Veggie Tales Movie Contest for your chance to win Movie Swag here. If you don't like the Veggie Tales (I understand, really I do) then don't click on the link. Easy enough, right?

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Where I'm Going In 2008

It's a new year and with each new year, for me, comes resolutions or at least some sort of plan to do things better than the previous year. So let's get straight to it, shall we?

In 2008, I want to be more focused and committed in my online business. I've been doing this for over 4 years and I'm convinced that this is my year. Hey, it's good to be optimistic right? My goal is to grow my businesses enough to where I can hire someone part time to help me. I can only do so much as one person. In fact, I really need a team in place if I plan to get anywhere. Keeping up with around 10 sites (give or take a few) is just not realistic for one person. We shall see how that goes. Baby steps...baby steps... that's how I have to think. Selling some of my business in 2008 is not out of the question either. It is an idea that I have been throwing around but nothing is official. Not even close.

Now on to the personal/family goals...

I've often wrote on this blog how much I want to homeschool but that didn't work out as planned in 2007. Instead I sent my 6 yr. old on to public school in August against my own wishes (due to family pressure- basically I let them talk me out of it) which has been a source of stress and general uneasiness for me since that time. I just feel like something is not "right" when I send FB off to public school. We are sending him to a place that totally does not go with our lifestyle and beliefs. The truth is homeschooling fits us and I feel like a hypocrite every morning for sending him off to some place I myself do not like for the sake of satisfying the need of pleasing our extended family. If you think about it, it's completely ridiculous! The reason our son is not being homeschooled is because I am letting my family and my husband's family influence our decisions.

But all of that ends starting now...

I am currently revisiting our choice to homeschool. Right now I am working on going through the proper channels to see what I need to do if I decide to withdraw our son from school and start homeschooling in the next month. It is not a decision I have committed 100% to just yet because I have other things on my mind. But I will be making a life changing decision very soon. And this is where you my dear homeschooling ( or not ) readers come in. I understand that homeschooling is a very personal decision and we all do it for varying reasons. But I'd love to hear why you ultimately chose to homeschool. What made you take that final step? That is something I need to hear today.

I have other personal goals but since I spent so much time on this post talking about homeschooling (wow, maybe a bit much) I'll revisit this subject later.

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A Not So Seasonal January Day

With temperatures in the low 60's today, the boys and I headed outside to enjoy the warmth while it lasted. This was the first day we have been outside to really play in what seems like forever. And of course I had to test out the new D40 because what would a day be without pictures? I'm hoping to regain some sort of a schedule tomorrow and get back on track...

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Starting The New Year With A Nikon D40

Hi, My name is Amanda. I'm addicted to contests, free stuff, and taking pictures.

To my surprise, Hot Daddy bought me a Nikon D40 yesterday. He's starting the new year out just right...

P.S. Ignore the pink pajamas, and could I possibly be the ugliest person on the planet today? Wait don't answer that...

Happy 2008!

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