New forum for Moms

Just wanted to let you know that there's a new forum for moms! It's super brand new, but it is up and running and it'll be fun to watch it grow into a busy place for moms to hang out. I'm already registered there as "Stacie" - stop by, pay a visit, and post an introduction!

Click Here to visit Mom's Talk Forum today.

Thank goodness for mothers

I just have to say, thank goodness for mothers - today I'm so thankful for mine. She took the week off to help with the kids since they are on break. They've been driving me a bit nuts recently (see my other post). I do think part of it has to do with the fact that we've been getting tons of rain so the kids have been couped up in the house more than usual. I'm so blessed to have her here in the same state as me to help out. I realize that not everyone has family close by.

Anyway, my mom came by today which was great because I had to take two puppies to the vet (first shots - that's another story), so I got to go alone while she watched the kids. She will also be here on the couple of days this week that I go in to my work my day job. The kids are certainly happy about having her here.

In WAHM news, I finished another site that relates to my main one (www.AllAboutFastpitch.com). The new one is www.FastpitchVisionTraining.com which has already contributed to AdSense income this month! Yippee!

Asking for another

Okay, please tell me that all babies do this. My youngest daughter (4) asked me if I could have another girl baby. Now you have to understand, I already have 3 girls. I told don't know about that - I already had 3 girl babies, her and her sisters. So then she asks, "Can I have another brother then?" (My one son is the youngest - 15 months). My daughter, because she's the "baby" girl, has never had a baby sister, just a baby brother. I never intended to have more than 4 kids, but my daughter is just one of those kids that's so hard to say no to. She was so cute when she asked. I know that's a terrible reason to go out and have another child, but I seem to be the only one that feels like stopping at 4.

All I know is that I told myself if I ever get talked into having a 5th child, I am NOT working outside the home period. It's just not happening. I worked during my last pregnancy and did not like it one bit. I had no energy for anything else. It seemed so unfair that I'd start my day at work which sucked out all the energy I had, then family and the house and the dogs all had to follow after that and get "tired out" me instead of the me that was rested and as energized as a pregnant person could get.

Okay, I'm rambling, but please tell me that all "babies" of families ask for more babies and all parents have to go through just saying no to this request. Then I won't feel so bad that I'm not giving my kids more siblings. Ever since my son was born, everyone has been asking me whether or not I'm having more kids. From family, to neighbors, to friends, to high school players that I coach, to my kids who don't seem to mind the fact that one more child would take a little more of Mommy's time and attention away from them. On top of that, the way people ask isn't in a manner that implies they think I shouldn't have more kids. It's more of a "Are you going to have any more because it would be cool" type of tone that's used. At first when people asked, I just used to say "No comment" instead of "No" so as not to jinx myself. Now I just answer with a question of my own, "Don't you think 4 is enough?" I don't know, I'm begining to wonder if I'm supposed to have more than just 4....

Fridays are slow

Did you ever notice that Fridays seems to be slow on the internet. There aren't as many forum posts going on. Seems like my AdSense is a little lower on most Fridays because it just seems like less people are online. Is it just me or have you noticed this too? Now I remember why I normally take Fridays off - nothing is happening and it's discouraging to work on a day when nothing's going on so why not have a 3 day weekend right?

The only reason that I decided to maybe get some work done today is because, since most of the people I work with (day job) are out of town, I have to go in to the office today. Being at the office means being at a computer. Now I can't very well sit at a computer for hours without doing a little bit of business browsing, website tweak, or blogging can I?

Well, whatever you are doing this Friday - I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A Mama's Brag - like only a mom can

Only a Mom can be excited about this, but here's my brag. My 4-year-old played in her very first softball game yesterday. In her league, the coach pitches the ball to the batters. They get a total of 7 pitches to try to hit the ball. Since this was their first game, after the 6th pitch, the coach could allow them to use a tee and hit the ball off the tee instead of having them try to hit a pitched ball.

Well, on my daughter's very first at bat ever - she hit the ball!!! She didn't even need the tee. On top of that, she made it safe to first AND, her hit brought in the very first run for her team. I was so totally excited! She ended up coming all the way around and scoring a run too - it was so cute. She is the smallest player on the team (on top of being the youngest, she is small for her age, so you can just imagine) so everyone was excited when she hit the ball.

The only bad thing - something was messed up with my video camera - so I got all the audio recorded, but the picture was all "overexposed" looking or something. Just white - you could only sort of see her black pants, but that's it. :(

It did get shots of her before the game though. Her shirt, when untucked, looks like a dress. The number on the back of her shirt looks out of place. I'm sure the distance between her name and the number is "standard," but on a shirt that small, the gap between the name and number is about half her back! LOL - if we pull her shirt out enough on the tuck, we can see the entire number. Her pants reach all the way down to her ankles (you almost wouldn't know she was wearing red socks). Her helmet looks way too big and the bat (even though it is the smallest fastpitch bat I could find) looks almost as big as her. Maybe I'll be able to get a picture up later on.

This is why I love not having to work my "day job" full time. I had no problem making it to my daughter's first game on time. Because this game was on a weekday, many parents got caught in traffic on the way to the game after work and missed all of the pre-game as well as part of the first inning. I'm glad I could be there!

Tag - I'm it

Ahhhh, I got tagged by Carrie and Aurelia! So here goes:

Four Jobs I’ve Had :
1) Office helper (high school summer job where my dad worked)
2) Receptionist at barber shop my parents owned
3) Patient account rep at local hospital/clinic
4) Operations Manager at handbag wholesale company (current)

Four Movies I Can Watch Over And Over :
1) Fools Rush In
2) Seabiscuit
3) Little Big League
4) While you were Sleeping

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch :
1) House
2) CSI
3) Grey's Anatomy
4) Lost

Four Places I’ve Been On Vacation :
1) Michigan
2) Florida
3) Big Island of Hawaii
4) Las Vegas

Four Tunes That Play In My Head :
1) I love you, you love me (LOL I sing it to my son)
2) Don't Cha ;)
3) I don't know....just depends on whatever I just heard on the radio

Four Favorite Dishes :
1) Hawaiian food - lau lau, kalua pig, beef stew, lomi salmon, pipi kaula, haupia, mmmmm...
2) Lasagna
3) Kalua Pig Nachos at this restaurant at the airport
4) Banana Fosters (okay, not really a dish, but a great dessert!)

Four Websites I Visit Daily :
1) Adsense.Google.com
2) MomMasterminds.com
3) My own sites
4) eteamz.com (Fastpitch forum)

Four Books I Really Love :
1) The Secret - by Julie Garwood
2) The whole MacGregor series by Nora Roberts
3) Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
4) The Bible

Four Places I’d Rather Be :
1) In Vegas with DH and enough $$$ to gamble for days on end and get a full body massage
2) On Greg Norman's yacht (with my family, not with Greg Norman)
3) In my own bed sleeping ;)
4) At Disney World with my kids

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging :
1) Petite Mommy
2) Susanne
3) TheClassy1
4) Marie

Back from anniversary weekend

Well, it's been a while, but I'm back from our anniversary weekend away. It was such a nice relaxing weekend. We even enjoyed the luxury of being able to take a nap one day!

Now I'm back to the "real world" and had a couple of fresh ideas for business. One was working on a mailing list that I've been neglecting. It's the one that people can sign up for at www.my-custom-silicone-bracelet.com and keeps them informed of cool gift ideas and gift giving tips so they won't be stumped next time they have to buy a gift for a loved one. Anyway, I was able to put together a few message for that list so I'm good on mailings for a few months there!

Sometimes time off does wonders for the creative process!

Has Spring Break Arrived?

When do your kids go on spring break?

My daughter's are already one their break and they don't go back to school until April 3rd! Thankfully my mom took a week of vacation from work during one of the week's they'll be home and she'll be looking after them the two days of the week that I go in to my "day job". On one of the other days that week, we've planned to spend a day at the beach.

I can't even remember the last time I've done that. I know our days at the beach were very limited while I was pregnant with my son (now 15 months). We also avoided the beach when he was very young because he is quite fair and I didn't want him in the sun all day long. Of course, with softball running 10 out of the 12 months of the year, it's tough to find a free weekend. Oh wait - I remember, we did go to the beach a few days last summer. DH's family was "camping" at the beach, so we visited a couple of afternoons. Isn't it strange that someone, actually an entire family, can live on an island and not go to the beach more than once in a year?

What do you love?

When I first, first, first tried a home business, someone wise told me that it's best if your business is something you love. I thought, "Nah, that's okay, I don't LOVE this, but it's so easy." I was working with vending machines at the time. When we (DH and I) bought the machines, they were already in a pretty good spot. All we had to do was buy product and go twice a week to refill and collect our earnings. So simple, so easy. It would be okay that I didn't LOVE doing this.

Well, after two years, I found out why it wasn't okay. I just didn't like to do it anymore. I probably could have found someone to do the re-filling for me, but I would still have had to go by product every week and what not. Anyway, the point is, because this wasn't something I loved, I gave it up. Yes we earned money, but, after a while, we just didn't want the chore of doing all the things that were involved with the business.

Then, like just about all other SAHMs out there, I looked into direct sales. I tried a few, but there was just nothing I was really passionate about. So......I decided to make my own business. That's why I started www.AllAboutFastpitch.com - I knew it was something I'd have fun with, enjoy, and love to work on. At first I didn't really know if I could actually earn money with it or not. It's great to know now that I can! It would have been wiser for me to do my market research BEFORE jumping into it, but since it was something I wanted to do whether I made money or not, it didn't really matter.

But if earning money does matter to you, then definitely think your business through before you start. One of the things we talk about at MM is "Can your passion be your business?" Sometimes it can, sometimes it can't - before you spend a lot of time and money on it, find out as much as you can. One great way to do that is to go through the steps of writing a business plan.

Looking forward to next weekend

Well, I'm less than a week away from my 10th wedding anniversary! Next weekend should be a lot of fun. DH and I are going to get away for the weekend without the kids! Yay! Plus we're going to eat dinner at a great restaurant Friday night (on our anniversary). It's my favorite restaurant and we always have a nice time there so I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure the week will be busy enough to keep my busy until the big day comes so the time should pass quickly. Hope you have a great weekend!

Finished first e-course, working on PR

I kind of like this e-course thing. It's pretty fun. I also think it's something new to people in the softball world. There probably aren't too many softball e-courses out there.

Now that I have that first one out of the way, I'm beginning to have ideas for more, so we'll see where those ideas take me. It's not only creating the product, but also making the most out of it.

The final thing I'm working on right now is a Press Release for our local newspaper. I'll share more information on that once I've finalized it.

Until later ~ best wishes!

Article Writing Tips

Think You Can’t Write Articles? Think again!
By: S. Myers
Writing articles and putting them out on the web for everyone to see can be a little intimidating though at first, especially if you don’t consider yourself a writer. Remember that you have a lot of knowledge in your area of expertise that your readers are looking for, so just start sharing that knowledge in articles. Let’s take a look at how you can start writing your first article today.

Make a List
One of the easiest ways to write an article is to start with a list. Take out a piece of paper and jot down 5 reasons why… or 10 tips to do…. Your list will of course depend on your particular business but here are some examples: 5 reasons to take a multi vitamin, 10 tips to get your child to eat his vegetables, Top 5 ways to loose weight.Now you write a little paragraph about each of your reasons or tips to explain them to your reader. Add an introduction to the topic at the beginning and close the article with a call to action such as start this today, visit this

Start with an Outline
I usually sit down with a pen and a notebook and start jotting down outlines for articles before I sit down at the computer to write the actual article. I come up with a title, a basic idea for the introduction and then just make a list of the major things I want to mention in the article. I also make a note of how I want to close the article. Then I’ll sit down and type out the entire article, modifying my outline as needed to make the article flow.

Record Yourself
If you’re more of a talker and love to tell others about your business, you may want to try recording yourself. Pretend you are telling a friend about a particular topic, maybe the benefits of using your product. Jut talk until you run out of stuff to say. Then listen to your recording and transcribe what you want to include in the article. You can record yourself on you computer, with a tape recorder, or use a MP3 player that records as well.

Interview Someone
Interviews make great articles as well. Find an expert on the topic you want to discuss in your article and either interview them in person (and record it) or email them the questions and have him or her send them back to you. Add a paragraph at the beginning about whom you interviewed and a little info about the person. You can close by summarizing the interview or highlighting a major point the expert made and encourage your readers to take action.

You can use the article you just wrote on your website, on your blog, or in your newsletter. You should also submit it to the article directories. Write a little resource box or author bio to the bottom of your article. When someone picks up an article from the directory to add it to their site or newsletter, they will also include your resource box with the link to your website, driving free traffic to your site.

Article by:
Susanne Myers has been driving thousands of visitors to her sites by writing articles. Sign up today for a free e-course on how you can do the same at www.easy-article-marketing.com/ecourse.html

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