Update: Day #2,156 of Renovation

Hello Dear Readers ,

We're still at the in-laws. Sheesh, it's a good thing we get along except for those so-called hot issues like gun control, presidential candidates, religion, education, and so on. ;) I just try to keep my mouth shut considering the in-laws are feeding and housing us for the next few days. My iPod has been my one saving grace these past few weeks. That and TV. Speaking of TV, Did you watch Lost and Grey's Anatomy last night? It gets better yet more confusing every week.

Yes, I know I promised beautiful wildlife pictures on my next post. However, if you've been reading for a while you know that I'm not good at keeping promises.

But, hey, I've got lots of contests going on at ContestForMoms for Mother's Day where you can win free stuff like oh, a $300 Target gift card in our Jig-A-loo contest. Who couldn't use a $300 Target gift card or some free Jig-A-loo for that matter? I know I could use both right about now with all these home projects and stuff but one of you are going to win instead! You can also win an LTD Chix t-shirt on our NEW Baby Contest Buzz blog. Check IT out And, as if that isn't enough, if you think your baby is the cutest enter our free baby photo contest for your chance to win a prize package from Your Baby Can Read during the month of May.

I'm going to go renovate now. ;) Keep up with my latest complaints/projects/life on twitter. You are twittering, aren't you?

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Welcome To Our Abode

So we're in the middle of leaking pipes, no internet (I'm at the in-laws typing), a bathroom sink with no water, and boxes stacked to the ceiling. Ah, the joys of buying your own home and fixing it up.

My positive self talk for the next few weeks: "At least we have free babysitters & free meals" ;)


Lots of wildlife and landscape pictures to come this week. As if I have had time for photography during all of this.

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Our New (Kinda) Home

We are moving to a very small rural town in the next week or so. It's the place where my husband grew up and where his parents currently live. We are at a point in our lives where we want to be closer to family even if it means being a part of a backwards community that is stuck 30 years in the past. Seriously, we are lucky we have access to DSL but that's about it. The nearest Wal-mart, McDonalds and other necessary stores are around an hour away. I guess we'd better stock up now. ;) Hello, UPS man. I'm sure he will get tired of seeing me every day.

Our house is on the same property as Hot Daddy's parents so I've half-jokingly said to the in-laws in the past few weeks that our boys can just move in with them while Hot Daddy and I live the child-less life again. ;)

Realistically, though, moving back home will allow us to focus more on our online businesses/education because we do have access to family & friends helping out throughout the week. And, speaking of friends, we will actually be able to go out again which is something we haven't done much of in the past 2 years.

It's a good thing that our boys adore their grandparents. Who doesn't love people that are at your every "beck and call"? They have their very own concierge. LOL.

Here is a photo to show you just how rural we are. We are literally in between two hills. It's beautiful where we are moving to but Hot Daddy and I always said we'd never move back home. That is, until we had kids and saw how much they love it here. They don't even care that we are in the middle of nowhere. All they see is the beauty of the trees, mountains, and dirt!



You wanna know the hard part in all of this?

Explaining to the community and our family what we do for a living. They don't quite get making a living from websites/blogging. Sometimes I think they think I'm into some crazy stuff when I tell them I work from home and make money online.

Maybe I should start talking to them about Twitter? I'm thinking the people that follow me on Twitter outnumber the people that live in our tiny town. I'm also thinking that no one where we are moving to has even heard of Twitter. Sad or Safe?

I've also been thinking a lot about how living in an even smaller town where people know me will make blogging awkward. Will I change how and what I write about? If you are small town blogger I'd love to hear about how you deal with it.

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I Just Don't Know What To Blog About

Considering the sporadic posting nature of this blog lately one may have begun to think that blogging was ending for me but let me assure you it is not. As if the two readers left care, I'm still here. ;)

Anyway, I'm still reading, listening, and twittering when I have time. But my blogging has taken a backseat to homeschooling, life stuff, and other work projects. With my husband being a full time PHD student for at least 1 more year, and me being the full time earner for now, I felt like I needed to focus more on the business side of things for a while. Things being the ContestForMoms.com website (not really the mom blog) as well as other sites we have.

Anyway, as summer comes up and we settle into our new location (Yes, we are moving and in less than 30 days), I think I'll be able to get back into blogging for fun.

So I'll be back. I just don't know what I'm gonna blog about.

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Spring Means Soccer

For our family, Spring equals Soccer! Here's Future Bam from last week during a cold and muddy day. Do your kids play soccer right now?

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About Johnson's Camp Baby and Why I'm Not Going

I'm sure by now that most of you have heard about Johnson's Camp Baby. Specifically, that a diverse group of "mommy" bloggers were invited to attend an all expense paid camp/trip with celebrities & giveaways! I was among those invited and I was actually quite excited about the thought of attending for FREE and getting to meet other mom bloggers.

Anyhow, I was invited to Camp Baby in February with a deadline to reply by March 19 (recently filled up before deadline). Due to "possible" job obligations on the hubz part I wasn't sure I would be able to attend Camp baby and I emailed and asked if I could tentatively register just in case. I never received a reply back. The only thing I got was the form email saying that I needed to hurry up and register as the camp was filling up last Friday.

Anyway, at the same time I knew that if things went my way and I actually got to attend this event then I would want to bring along my 3 yr. old son for health reasons. I knew that in bringing my son, my husband would also possibly tag along to help out while I was doing the J&J thing. This ensured that there would be no interference at all. I asked around and got the feeling that this was going to be a child-free/husband-free event. I also asked a contact about bringing someone along. I was told that I could bring someone along at my expense which is totally understandable and I was fine with that but some things that were said left me feeling like it wasn't wanted especially after hearing in the blogosphere that this was a moms-only meetup.

Here it is a few days later and no one ever got back to me, and many of what I consider the top bloggers are talking about being disinvited for various reasons and/or not attending for various reason such as No babies allowed at camp baby and The "Diss-invitation".

I want to end this by saying that I ended up not registering at all so I was not actually disinvited but rather the camp filled up before I could respond with a definite answer. Personally, I think the firm handling the J&J camp baby should have provided clear guidelines on what is/is not allowed. And, if you are inviting a new mom with a newborn baby then that mom & baby should definitely be given a chance to attend. Afterall, this is J& J were talking about.

Furthermore, if you are a parent of a child with a medical condition then you know what it is like not wanting to be away from your child. Companies need to take note. I feel like for the next few months until our family gets some more answers about our son's condition then I won't be going anywhere without him. Unfortunately, that means no baby-free get-togethers for me for a while.

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My Little Guy Wants To

gift one of you with a prize!

With promises of letting my 3 yr. old walk around and take pictures with my camera (not the Nikon D40 BTW), he happily let me take one picture of him holding a little prize I'm giving away on our Mom Forums. Isn't it awful that I'm using him for advertising purposes and bribing him at the same time? ;)

If you want to win the prize he is holding (Disney's My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Friendly Tails) you will need to go over and become a member of the Mom forums at ContestForMoms.com right here. It's free and easy! Plus you'll get to chat with me every day. What more could you want? (just kidding...sort of!)

And, for all the contest lovers or American Idol lovers out there I've got yet another contest for you! Hey, we aren't called ContestForMoms.com for nothing!

Anyway, We're giving away an American Idol Prize Package where you could win an autographed t-shirt, CDs from Kelly Clarkson, and more! Interested? Click here!

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