Graduation Pictures

Okay I was jealous of Alice over at BecauseMomSaidSo.com because she had her son's graduation picture up already and he graduated the day after my daughter. So I figured I better get my butt in gear and get those pictures posted. Here they are, my youngest daughter on the day of her graduation from preschool.

I couldn't decided which one to post, so I'm just putting a bunch of them up.

Congratulations again Allicia!

Planning - My To Do List

Surprise, surprise - I've found myselft to be much more effecient when I take a few minutes every now and then to sit down and do some planning. Sometimes it's brainstorming, sometimes it's simply jotting down a to do list. Are you planning? Or do you just sort of do whatever comes to mind on a certain day when it comes to your at home business? I know I need to do it more, but I'm slowly by slowly getting more organized, doing more planning, and hopefully beginning to work much smarter than harder. :)

So, with that in mind, here is a bit of my "to do" list:

1. Create some real, helpful, and free tips for my Pitbull newsletter subscribers.
2. Revamp my Pitbull Training message list in my auto-responder to help more and "sell" less.
3. Continue to add to my inspirational quote auto-responder series.
4. Review my fastpitch softball site for additional ways to better integrate the affiliate programs I promote.
5. Do some marketing for my softball site (article marketing or sweetie stuff).

Technorati Tags: business, Internet, Blogging, work, wahm, small business, Marketing

Plan to get X Site Pro

After all the wonderful things I've heard about X Site Pro, I plan on getting it before the summer is over. If it saves as much time as everyone says, I'm sure it's worth it. I've even gone to the X Site Pro site to read a little more about it - it sounds like it will save me a lot of time and headache once I get it set up. Because I have a portal website with lots of content that I constantly add to, I know it'll help me out. My fear is just getting started with it and setting everything up. I'm just worried I won't use it to it's fullest and get everything I can out of it. It does allow you to try it for a full year though. If it doesn't work out, I can always get my money back. So that's cool. It looks like my earnings this month will be better than expected, so maybe I'll be able to dive in to this new tool sooner than I thought. I just hope I'm up for the challenge of the learning curve with this program.

Maybe I just need a kick in the butt!. I know this will be good for me. I just have to buy it and get to work with it! When I do switch over, I'll be sure to let you know how it's working for me. Until then, I'm still copying existing pages on my site, then coding in changes by hand.

Preschool Graduation Day

Today my youngest daughter graduated from preschool. The only one left to reach that milestone is my son. As we were standing in the rehearsal this morning, one of the parents said, "Well at least it's not their high school graduation." It was said in a way that expressed that he felt that time goes by so fast. His baby was graduating from preschool already.

Immediately the thought in my head is that, before I know it, I will be standing at her high school graduation and remember back to that moment when I stood with her at her preschool graduation rehearsal thinking that time will go by faster than I expect.

For now, I'm the proud mama of a preschool graduate. They all had teal caps and gowns. It was so cute. My other two girls didn't wear caps and gowns to their preschool graduations so that was something different. My daughter's teachers also asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up so that they could announce it as she received her diploma. At first she didn't know, but then she decided that she wanted to be a flight attendant like her aunty. So we'll see what the future holds. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pictures later. Congratulations Seagull Preschool Class of 2006! (126 students total!)

Back to staying at home

I'm having fun staying at home. My last official "employee" day at work was Thursday (6/15). I thought I would be stressing out a bit, but I'm not. I'm not worried about the money because after crunching numbers, we actually won't be behind where we were before because we no longer have to pay for my youngest daughter to go to school. Since I'm staying home, we also won't be paying a sitter and we won't be paying for after school care. Not to mention, I'll be paying a lot less for gas which is getting outrageous these days.

I was also a bit worried about being home every day with the kids - they can drive you crazy if you don't plan - KWIM? But I took my last few weeks of work to get adjusted to staying at home. The kids were already on summer break and I was only going into work 2 days a week. So I took that time to figure out what to do with the kids while their home. I also started thinking of how to better handle housework, grocery shopping, softball practice, and WAHM work.

One of the things the kids and I do is go to the library at least once a week. They've been reading more than they ever had before and they are enjoying it so we'll certainly continue going even after school starts.

So - here's to staying at home and to also being able to exerise a bit more focus in the WAHM area to, hopefully, earn more money there. :)

Love Affiliate Marketing

Ahhh....affiliate marketing is so neat! Some months it can be discouraging because you don't see results or rewards. Then other months it's so neat because you don't really do anything different or more than the month before, but you still earn $$$. Last month was one of those trying months, but April and June were so cool. In addition to AdSense for June I also earned over $100 so far from clickbank, and have been paid over $130 from other affiliate products (that was money directly sent to my PayPal account!).

Anyway - right now, I'm listening to a telecall about how to increase AdSense profits, so hopefully I'll learn something that I can apply and boost income even more!

Today was pool day

As I mentioned in a previous post - today was the day I was going to take the kids to the pool. First we stopped off at the library to return books and get new ones. Then we made our trip to the pool. The pool opened at 12:00 and we were there right when it opened. We stayed for 2 hours and left at 2:00. That's the longest I've been at a pool in a long time. Between the beach days, the pool day, and softball, I'm getting quite a tan! LOL

In WAHM news, I've got some exciting interviews for my softball site coming up. I'm going to have to get questions ready for my interviewees by Tuesday. Since I don't normally "work" on weekends, I have quite a bit to do on Monday. I think in this case though, I'll be thinking of questions all weekend and jot them down as they come. Then on Monday I can just organize and possibly add a few more in. I'm looking forward to these interviews - they should be lots of fun!

Love my laptop

I've had my laptop for a while, but I'm just lovin' it now that I've straightened up my kitchen a bit. On one side of the kitchen I'm cooking dinner, and on the opposite counter I'm typing this blog post! How cool is that? I really like the freedom my laptop gives me. DH and the kids can have computer time (on the desktop) and I can still get work done. Plus I just figured out how to print from my laptop to the printer that's connected to my desktop so that's a cool new trick I'm having fun with. It surprised my daughter sometimes because she'll be typing something on the desktop and next to her the printer will start going off and spitting out printed pages. The first time she was like, "Mom! What's going on? How is the printer printing?" LOL

Anyway - just had to share that I love my laptop. I know some of you out there also have laptops and enjoy yours as well.

Monday is Beach Day

My mom called to plan on beach day on Monday. Soooooo...Monday is beach day! The reason my mom doesn't work on Monday is because it's King Kamehameha Day. Since she works for Kamehameha Schools, she's one of the lucky people who work for a company that observes Kamehameha Day and gives their employees the day off. So, the kids and I are going with my mom to the beach.

Wow - going to the beach twice in the same month (we went last weekend too - see picture). I haven't done that in a while even though I live on an island. It should be lots of fun and I know the kids will enjoy it.

I was thinking of making next week "swimming week" and going to the pool too. But then the girls start up softball practice again for summer league and it's probably not a good idea to have them out in the sun all day if they are going to have to practice in the afternoon. So maybe we'll save our pool day for Friday. None of the girls have practice on Friday.

Now DH is asking me if he should work tomorrow or stay home. Hmmmm, we sure could use the double time and a half, but it would also be nice for us all to enjoy a day at the beach too. Usually when he's been asking me whether he should stay home or work OT, I've been telling him to stay home. I was so prepared for him to work Memorial Day then he decided not to. I was also assuming he would work tomorrow, but like I said, having him go to the beach with us also sounds great. On the other hand, if he does work tomorrow, he can probably take next Saturday off. Augghhhh - decisions, decisions...

Training my VA Tomorrow

Well, I don't know if I can consider her a VA since she lives right down the road. More like a plain old assistant! But anyway, tomorrow I meet with her to go over exactly what I want her to help me with. For now, we're starting off small, she's just going to contribute to two of my blogs each week.

Eventually, she is going to help with directory listings or other marketing efforts as well as adding articles. I'm so excited to be moving along with getting help. Right now I'm starting to feel like all these "little" tasks are holding me back from moving forward. So, I'm going to take the advice I got at MM and outsource those things, so that I can spend my time on things that earn me $$$.

I'm also seriously thinking about getting someone to come by and upkeep our back yard. Our front yard, not so bad, maybe just some help with weeds, but our back yard needs work. DH just admitted that he really doesn't want to do it and I know I can't do it all. After all, he's the one that wanted the yard and I specifically told him that I don't do yards. It would have been fine with me to live in a townhouse forever. But since now I know that we aren't going to constantly upkeep it all on our own, I'm going to start looking for help with that too.

Here's to becoming more productive and getting things done!

Technorati Tags: My Life, Family, Life, School, work, Home

Wow - 2nd place feels awesome!

Being an athlete, I don't think there has ever been a time in my life when 2nd place feel good....until now!

My daughter, the one that was on the magazine cover , just placed 2nd in the "Girls" Category for the American Baby Photo Contest. American Baby runs contests throughout the year and announces winners every 3 months. I entered my kids last month and the winners for that time period were selected at the end of May and announced online yesterday. See the annoucement here.

According to the website, there were over 1000 entries and 43 winners. It's a bit strange how the magazine came out just before this. The photo on the magazine was something I submitted last year for a Father's Day theme contest, so the magazine cover was a complete surprise.

The pictures for the photo contest aren't posted online yet, but when they are, that 1st place girl better be really darn cute! LOL

Technorati Tags: photo contest, baby, photo, Model, modeling, kids, Life, mom

Baby Talk Radio is Here!

Well, Baby Talk Radio has been launched! The first ever show is now available for your to listen to. My first segment will be probably be included in the next show. I am currently a regular contributor at Baby Talk Radio. I even have my own bio page that you can check out.

I know many of you love babies too and will probably enjoy Baby Talk Radio, so if you haven't heard of Baby Talk Radio or just haven't had a chance to check it out yet - it looks like it's going to be lots of fun!

Technorati Tags: baby, Pregnant, entertainment, radio, Podcast, Life

Summer and Graduations!

This is the time of year when I feel like time just flies! Another school year has come and gone and the next time my girls are in school they'll be in the next grade up. They grow so fast. Not to mention it's also graduation time. This weekend I saw a number of girls that I coach graduate - I can remember when they were just freshman. It's so weird to think that I won't see them at the school any more.

I don't know about you, but while I'm looking forward to summer and spending time with the kids, I'm also a little worried that they'll drive me crazy. That's why I'm doing some work tonight. Usually I do it while they are at school, since they won't be at school, I may not have the same kind of work time available. Since I don't have to wake up as early tomorrow morning to take them to school, I figured I'd stay up a little later to get some work done tonight. Plus right now, the house is quieter than it will ever be during the day.

As far as day time goes, I'm going to have to get creative to keep the kids busy (and learning) throughout the weeks they are home. They are only on break for about 5 weeks, so I normally don't put them in any kind of summer program or summer school.

What are your plans for the summer?

Technorati Tags: My Life, Family, Life, School, summer, graduation

DH and daughter on Magazine Cover!

Alright, some of you might have already read about this at Moms Talk Forum because I did a post there, but I figured this was worthy of a blog post. My husband and my daughter are on the cover of a local magazine called Island Family Magazine.

Click here to see the magazine

I think it looks great! But of course I'm a bit biased - LOL. I honestly don't remember submitting the photo. However, the photo is about 2 years old and if I did submit it, I probably did so over a year ago. I'll have to get another copy of the magazine so that I can save it as a keepsake. The one I have is a bit bent up from family and friends passing it around wanting to see it.

Anyway - just a proud momma/wife wanting to share!

Technorati tags: model, magazine, children, entertainment, family

Best Mom-Related Blogs

I don't know if you've noticed, but to me, Fridays seem like a rather "slow" day online. There never seems to be quite as much forum activity on Fridays.

So if you're a bit bored today, you may find some entertainment reading a few mom/family related blogs.

But if you're anything like me, I usually don't read a blog unless I see it as a link at another blog that I already read. In other words, I usually read blogs that are recommended to me. That's why I was glad to see a new thread at Moms Talk Forum called "What's your favorite blog for moms?"

If you're looking for a cool new blog to read, check out that thread and see which ones other moms enjoy. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!