Read!!

I'm a book nut, always have been, always will be. I read "Gone with the Wind" in 7th grade and loved it. I worked through all the Madeline L'Engle books and more. I discovered Science Fiction/Fantasy books in High School where Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer-Bradley were tops. I love the classics too with Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Where did I get my love of books? From my parents, of course! My mom is as big a book nut as I am, and she passed it along to both my sister and I. So, what's the point of this entry? Easy, I volunteered at my son's school again.

It's an issue not just at my son's school, it's in a lot of them. There are kids that LOVE to have someone read to them, but for some reason their parents don't. Maybe their parents can't read, or maybe they're just learning English and can't read the english books their child brings home. I don't know, and I still think it's a shame.

I spent my morning reading books to some of the GREATEST listeners I've met. They LOVED having me read to them, and were happy to discuss what I'd read. Why was I reading to them? Because their parents didn't. My son's school, in cooperation with Pizza Hut, is starting a book club. If a child reads X number of books in a month, they can earn a personal pan pizza. If a child can't read, it's up to the parent (or relative, or friend, or teacher) to read to them. These kids really wanted to participate. The teachers were doing what they could, but don't necessarily have the time to read to each child individually, to help them with the club.

I had a blast sharing my time with these kids. My love of books, their love of listening to them, worked great together. They're working hard to learn to read, and I know with their determination they'll get there quickly.

I recommend to ANYONE that loves books, volunteer an hour a week (or every other week) at your local school. READ to the kids. You'll be glad you did.

The key is Networking

I started working with Discovery Toys in January of this year. I gave it (what I thought then) a good try at getting a good start. I became very frustrated after a while of not getting the parties I wanted. I took off for convention in July to see what I had missed, and received a LOT of great tips for parties and keeping customers. The main thing about GETTING customers that I received was to keep trying and to DO ANYTHING.

Well, I discovered several different groups in my area that were made up of women doing the same thing I was. Trying to run their own business, from their homes primarily. It's great being able to talk out frustrations of being a work at home mom trying to run your own business with others in the same situation. Having the same business doesn't matter.

Thanks to these groups, I have now gotten more parties booked for October than I'd hoped to get. So what have I learned? To find people that are in the same boat and TALK to them. They'll help you feel better, give you pointers on what you might be missing, and maybe even give you the lead toward what you want!

Here are the links to some of these groups:
www.womenofgwinnet.com
www.ryze.com
http://www.networkingworks.net/
The MomPack

Thought for Sunday

I don't know the author of the poem, nor do I know the title, but I love it and find it very appropriate..

-----------------------

I tried to teach my child with books,
He often gave me puzzled looks.
I tried to teach my child with words:
They passed him by, 'oft unheard.
With despair, I turned aside
"How shall I teach this child?" I cried.
Into my hands he placed the key,
"Come," he said "come play with me."

www.ashleystoys.com

Toy Review : Roll and Play

This is one of the new Fall toys from Discovery Toys. I received my new product kit last week and have been getting the toys out one at a time and seeing how good they are. The picture above is my children after they've discovered this one. My son is 5, my daughter is 3. The toy is labelled for 18mos and up. It's great for all ages! The die is very soft (pillow soft) with bright primary colors. You can use it to start to teach colors, and kids will love how soft it is. The cards are in primary colors as well.

The game itself is to roll the die, pick the color card that matches the color you rolled, and do the action on the card. Examples of actions are "Clap your Hands", or "Hug Mommy". My kids thought it was funny to have to go brush their teeth.

You can also play with just the cards. There are duplicate pictures between colors, and you can play a card matching game with them. Turn all cards face down, flip one card up and try to match a second card.

Roll & Play retails for $16.99 - www.ashleystoys.com

My day in Kindergarten

Well, actually it was only part of the day. I volunteered to help one of the kindergarten teachers at my son's school for a while this morning. Given a choice of several activities, I wound up on art. The project wasn't difficult, it was only a matter of monitoring that the children did the project as it was meant, not as they interpreted it. They had to cut out a leaf that was traced on paper, then sponge paint it. When everyone got done, they were going to decorate the ceiling with their brightly colored leaves. One child does what I tend to do when I'm concentrating.. tip of the tongue protruding slightly while they concentrate on cutting. One girl who was quite friendly helped me talk to another who spoke little english. I'm very glad I've started taking my spanish class. The children seemed to really appreciate having another adult in the room "helping" them with their projects. I enjoyed it and will do it again next week. Well, maybe not art, but I'll be in the classroom.

I had also received a call the night before asking if I could possibly help in the media center. Since I was in the school already, I stopped by the media center to see what sort of help and when they were looking for it. I was trained on the spot to check in and check out books and put to work. I stayed and helped for about 45 minutes then ran off to catch my son for lunch.

I haven't been in a school cafeteria in a long time. What a blast from the past. I was "lucky" enough to get to go to the teacher's food bar instead of the one's the kids used. Same food, less waiting. For my $2.50 I was reasonably well fed. It was a better lunch than I usually make for myself at home. My son introduced me to his friends in line, and they were more than happy to keep me occupied during lunch.

I headed out after lunch so the kids could play on the playground without distractions. I must admit, the next hour until I picked my daughter up from her preschool class was rather boring. I think it's my love of playing with kids that draws me to sell Discovery Toys. It's fun watching them learn and do. Our toys are great for that. I have to remember, though, not to introduce new toys or start play just before dinner is ready.. they'd rather play with my toys than eat.

I am Woman. I am Invincible. I am Tired.

For a work at home mom, this seems especially true at times. Let me give you an idea of a 'normal' day..

Monday -
7a - wake up, dress, wake children
7:30 - feed children, feed animals
8a - make sure eldest has shoes/socks and has brushed teeth
8:10a - make sure eldest is at the bus stop and ready for the bus
8:30 - feed self, clean, gather necessaries for youngest to go to school
9:15 - take youngest to school
10:00 - arrive at the Y to begin workout (cycle for 30 minutes)
10:30 - stretch & sculpting class
11:15 - shower and dress
12:00 - arrive home for lunch
12:30 - catch up on any messages missed during morning, make phone calls
1:15 - leave to pick up daughter from school
1:45 - arrive home with daughter
2:00 - clean some portion of the disaster that is my house
3:00 - hopefully daughter is napping, do my 'hour of power' for my business
4:00/4:30 - son arrives home from school, catch up with son about school, help with homework
4:30-6:30 - play time (usually with neighbor children), cook or heat dinner
6:30 - dinner
7:00/7:30 - bath, time to wind down children
8:30 - children bed time
10:00 - my bed time

Pretty mundane, generally. Not every morning is at the YMCA, though. Tuesday mornings I have a spanish class. Thursday mornings I'm volunteering at my son's school. Wednesday and Friday are determined by how much work related things I have to do vs. house related things. If I'm reasonably caught up, I'll head back to the Y. I plan on doing a 1/2 marathon in January, so I need all the help I can get.

But consider this: I'm the only one caring for the animals as a general rule, so all their needs can interfere with regularly scheduled items. I'm the only one caring for the house, so things tend to fall behind. I'm the only one responsible for my business. I'm the PRIMARY one responsible for my children. My husband leaves for work (generally) around 7:30a and doesn't get home until 7:30p or later. The children only see him during the week just before bed. On the weekend, we try to spend time with him, but he's so tired it's rare that we have a family outing. So I work in my parties and such around when I can guarantee someone can care for my kids. Husband or otherwise.

Is it no wonder that I'm tired? Would I change it for anything? Only thing I'd change is my husband's schedule. I love my children, I love my pets, I love my house, I love my job. My key is that I have time to myself on at least Monday mornings where I do something FOR myself. That gives me a chance to recharge. That and getting my children to bed by 8:30 so that I have at least an hour in the evening to simply sit and contemplate my day. (Or plan my schedule for tomorrow.)

Withdrawal pains

For someone who is used to being able to check email, surf the web, check the status of your business, and more online, not having a computer is a big pain. When Ivan rumbled through Atlanta, we started getting a lot of power blinks. I decided I should be careful and go ahead and shut down my computer. It's on a UPS, so a surge should hit that before my computer, but still, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Apparently, my computer disagreed. Once we were sure Ivan had done what he was going to do, I tried to bring my computer back up. It would not recognize the hard drive. After some tinkering, it would recognize the hard drive, but refused to get further than recognizing the hardware. Hubby being who he is did a little trouble shooting but was distracted more often than not and didn't too much. I took it upon myself to try to resolve the issue by calling tech support. They didn't try too much either and told me I needed a new hard drive. First, though, I needed to either find my system recovery CD (which I don't have) or get one from the manufacturer (who wanted to charge me). Then they'd come out and replace my now bad hard drive.

Well, nothing much is going to happen over the weekend so I left it all alone. Hubby came home today to see that I'd taken apart part of the office trying to locate the required CD. He took it upon himself at that point to go ahead and fix my computer. So, now I'm back up WITHOUT having to find my recovery CD and WITHOUT having to replace my hard drive. Things would have been so much simpler if distractions didn't exist.

Admittedly, my computer wasn't down an extended period of time. I did, though, have to treat it as though it would be. That meant getting access to a computer long enough to turn off all email lists, notifications, services, etc. I also had to let anyone that would be talking to me by email know that I wouldn't be talking much by email until my computer was back. So, now I'm back. I get to go back and turn back ON all the things I'd turned off, notify everyone who would send me email that they can again send me email, etc.

Things were so much easier before computers. Well... maybe. I need to go read my newsgroups and catch up on all the latest gossip.

No time like Now

Have you ever had a dream that you never thought you could follow through on? Did you decide it wasn't "realistic" and so you set it aside? Is it something you could do if you just decided to take the time? Why aren't you taking the time? I ask because I'm sitting here listening to Shelley Laine's song "No Time Like Now".

At convention I saw a great presentation by Vince Poscente. I've since followed up with reading his book "InVINCEable principles". As he talked I realized that several of the statements he made are quite true. If you convince yourself (both your conscience [the ant] and your subconscience [the elephant]) that you can do something, you WILL do it. My 'aha' for this was the fact that this past January I walked the 1/2 marathon at Walt Disney World. I was not prepared, I ended up with a blister that covered my entire heel, and thighs that screamed at me, all by the 6th mile! I still had 7 miles to go! At WDW you have to maintain a 16 minute mile to get the medal at the end. If the bus picks you up, you don't get the medal. I WANTED THAT MEDAL! So, by the time I finished, I had my medal, and a body that hated me for the next week. But during the last 7 miles I chanted to myself "only # miles to go.." over and over and over. Apparently that was enough to convince my elephant that my ant WOULD get done.

I plan on repeating my experience in January 2005. I'll be a bit more prepared (I hope), but even if I'm not I'll finish! I'm convinced of that.

So what's the point of this? It's essentially this.. if you want something, and I mean REALLY want it, and you convince yourself that YOU CAN DO IT, then you most likely will. I won't guarantee it, it's up to you and what you want to do to guarantee that for yourself.

So back to Shelley Laine, who is an excellent artist by the way.. as she puts it "there'll always be another tomorrow, but then there's now.. I'm going to do the things I'm only dreaming"..

You'll find Shelley here.
You'll find Vince here.

Hopefully you'll listen to both and maybe decide now is a good time for you too.

24x7 Attitude

"24/7/Attitude"

You've heard it before: "Attitude is everything". "It's not what happens to you that matters; it's how your mind looks at what happens". Life is about "attitude".

From where I sit, it's getting increasingly more difficult to maintain a positive mental attitude! Traffic is stressful, responsible customer service rarely occurs, people are over-worked and struggling financially; it's becoming very difficult for individuals to maintain a balanced life style. When I arrive at the gym at 7:30 in the morning, a dedicated group of early risers has already worked out, showered, dressed and are on their way to face the daily challenges of their jobs. I bet in addition to feeling strong and healthy, this committed group begins the day with a positive attitude because they're taking time to take care of their health. It's a lesson for all of us!

Attitude is an inside job. It's how you respond to conditions out of your control. The challenge for most of us, including myself, is how to prevent external situations from impacting our attitude. Being positive requires work. It's a decision. It's telling yourself that no matter what is going on outside I will remain positive. I've decided to make having a positive attitude a goal for one week. For 7 days, regardless of what happens, I am going to sail through life's annoyances. Whether it's a delivery that doesn't arrive, an unresponsive customer service representative, a long slow moving postal line, traffic, or an important appointment that gets cancelled at the last minute, nothing is going to disturb my inner peace and mental toughness. I am going to maintain a positive mental attitude. It's all about focus.

Will you join me? Excuses are not an option!
===========================================
About Bonnie Ross-Parker:
Bonnie Ross-Parker is America's Connection Diva.
She is a multi-dimensional entrepreneur, author, and speaker. Bonnie founded "The Joy of Connecting," networking organization in Atlanta, GA.
She is author of "Walk In My Boots ~ The Joy Of Connecting" a book that every net worker should read!
To find out more, please go to www.bonnierossparker.com
Contact Bonnie at bootgirl@bonnierossparker.com
Copyright (2003), all rights reserved.
You are encouraged to copy, forward, and distribute The Connection Diva On-Line if this copyright notice and full information for contacting Bonnie Ross-Parker are included.
Contact Bonnie at: http://www.bonnierossparker.com or email: bootgirl@bonnierossparker.com.
I appreciate your sharing The Connection Diva On-Line with friends, family and associates. Bonnie

Hurricanes and general PAINS!

My best wishes to everyone that has been affected by ANY of the recent hurricanes. I don't know what it's like to lose as much as many have, but I'm learning about the pains of dealing with getting damage fixed. We discovered last week that Frances' coming through Atlanta damaged our roof. We didn't KNOW it had until my son went to bed and discovered a stain on the ceiling over his bed. AT that point the water had soaked through everything in the attic. We're now getting estimates, getting insurance set up, etc, to get our roof fixed. Unfortunately, now Ivan is coming ashore and it's going to RAIN again before we get it fixed. How much damage can rain do to our house? I guess I'll find out soon.

Did you Know?

Children who read on a regular basis have longer attention spans, greater appreciation for books, larger imaginations and a better vocabulary.

Did you know that reading to your child every day is the #1 thing you can do to encourage their literacy?

According to the Department of Education, 60% of 4th graders watch 3 to 6 hours of TV per day, yet only 46% read for fun on a daily basis!

Did you know that 75% of 4th graders read below 4th grade level?

So... What is Literacy?
Literacy used to be a matter of being able to read and write one's name. Just as society has grown more and more complex, literacy has become a more complex concept. It includes reading, writing, listening, understanding, communicating, and more! It all starts at HOME, though, not in school.

This is where Discovery Toys can help! ALL of our products are educational, and ALL of them can be geared toward helping a child become literate. For example, our ABSeas fishing game teaches the alphabet and matching uppercase to lowercase. A great start! My First Words is a trilingual board book set, excellent in this age of multilingual families! Reading on my Own at Home, a must have for every family raising a reader. And these are just examples!

So what can you do? Start by reading to your child. Encourage an interest in books and in exploring the world around them. NO QUESTION IS A DUMB QUESTION! If you don't know, HELP YOUR CHILD FIND OUT. The search for the answer can be a GREAT way for a family to be together.

Discovery Toy Party Suggestions

These were shared with me at convention this year, and I liked them so much I thought I'd share with you.

Ages 3 & 4	Ages 5 & 6	Ages 7 & up
Mainstreet Playhouse - they choose the adventure for the day	Flip Flop Faces - A bean bag toss with silly faces as targets	Wiz Kidz - a fast paced card gaem to get those creative juices going.
Flip Flop Faces - A bean bag toss with silly faces as targets	Make a plate - Turn their artwork into the party favor for a lasting treasure	Make a plate - Turn their artwork into the party favor for a lasting treasure
Kooky Catchers - It's a beginner Baseball set that's sure to be a HIT at the party	Give it a Whirl - Use hula hoops as hanging targets and aim the wings thru.	Amazing Puzzles for Clever Kids - 80+ activities/challenges to select from.
3 in 1 play center - anything from basketball, pitching practice, and ball toss! House friendly balls.	Super Marbleworks - cooperative play or team releay racing	Net catch - You're bound to need 2-3 sets in this unique ball toss game.
Good Catch Nubby Ball - have a good game of ball with our soft nubby ball	Joe Scruggs - put on the music an dplay musical chairs	Topplin' Teddies - Line up the teddies domino-style
Busy Bugs - Play 'bug in a bag' tactile game where you have to guess which bug you're pulling out of a dark bag.	Good Catch Nubby Ball - Have a game of dodgeball!	Wondercolors - have kids paint their own picture with this magical paint set

Party Favor Ideas Wondercolors project ($3.37 each)
Progressive Puzzle ($1.11 each)
Flip Flop Faces, 1 face & beanbag ($2.67 each)
Busy Bugs Critters ($.42 each)
Good Catch Nubby Ball ($8.99 each)
Opposite Pairs Puzzles ($.67 each)
Net catch, 1 net and 1 ball ($8.99)