Fish in the tank

Since I have a girl feeding fish as part of my new blog layout, I thought I'd show off my fish tank. The "pile of stuff" on the left of the picture is the cute stuff I thought would look nice in the tank (gargoyles and such). My fish consistently put them on that side of the tank in a pile any time I try to arrange them otherwise. After a year of fighting with them, I've given up. Yes, my fish are BIG. The bala shark (silver) is approximately 7-8 inches in length (maybe be longer, I've never tried putting a ruler up to him). My plecko is just as big. I have a white kissing gourami, two phantom fin tails, and I don't know what the rest are.

Woo Hoo!

I'm so happy that there's a Sears Clearance Outlet not far from my home. After looking at sales ads, we headed there first. For the same price as some of the new washers we liked, we managed to get a Kenmore Elite Frontloading washer for the same price. Consumer Reports ranked this one third on the list. Only reason it was third? Normal pricing. HA! What's the problem with it? Functionally, absolutely nothing. It has a small ding on the lower right corner, and a scratch at the top. OOOOHH.. AAAHHH... It'll be sitting in a room that's not normally visited, so who cares? Now to get rid of the old one. Anyone want a semi-functioning washing machine that's willing to haul it themselves?

On Jerry Orbach

I meant to include this in the other post, but decided it would do better on its own. Anyway, the world lost another great actor yesterday to prostate cancer. He showed his edgy side in Law & Order, his flirty side with Lumiere from Beauty & the Beast, and his "dad" side in Dirty Dancing. We'll miss him.

Well Well Well

First I must say thanks to Mia and Ro from Ciao Mia Bella for the groovin' new layout of my blog. You guys rock!

I haven't been able to do laundry for over a week, I have piles of clothes and sheets everywhere. I took some of it to the local laundromat to get it done and it cost $42. OUCH! My washing machine started making bad scrunching noises and refusing to drain, so hubby said he'd take a look. A week later he told me that if he took it apart, it was unlikely he'd get it back together. So I called Sears. Sears guy came out yesterday and told me it'd cost about $300 to fix. Ya know.. you can get a NEW washing machine for that price. This one is about 15 years old at this point, so why bother to invest in it? Now to decide what I want and how much I'm willing to spend. In the meantime, I think the clothes are going to take over.

I took down my Christmas decorations yesterday. I was always told growing up that it was bad luck to leave them up past New Year's Eve. I think it may have been an excuse from my mom to be able to take the decorations down early, but it's become habit for us now. It's amazing how much more room that gave us down stairs once I got the cleaning done. Now to get everything back in to storage to free up the rest of the space.

It's funny, but for the most part this holiday, my kids have been very anti-social. They haven't wanted to go anywhere, they haven't really wanted friends over. It's just in the past day or so that they wanted to have a friend over. I guess with school, they're just on burnout.

Create a Great Day

Every now and then I?m reminded of how something which started small can become big. Remember when the ?smiley face? first got introduced to the marketplace?

It consisted of a large, bright yellow circle with two, black dots for eyes and a curved black line for a smile. That?s it! And now, years later that same smiley face appears everywhere and is recognized worldwide!

While I don?t expect my suggestion to become an international phenomenon, I can?t help but wonder, what if my idea really did ?take off?? What if each of us willingly made just a slight shift in how we communicate to one another and it impacted Atlanta?

Here goes. Beginning today, instead of telling people to ?Have a nice day?, I?m suggesting we say, ?Create a great day.? I?ve been practicing over the last couple of weeks.

People are surprised. They smile. They say, ?Thank you.? ?I will.? ?You do the same.? The shift from ?hoping? one?s day will go well to ?doing? something to make that happen places control where it needs to be ? ours!

For us to create a ?great day? requires action. When we become the playwrights, the producers, and the directors of our own lives we determine its journey. That?s what?s so exciting! WE create what WE want. WE orchestrate the day. NOTHING is left to chance. Like any habit switching from what we?re used to saying to something new takes effort.

The question becomes, what will YOUR life look like when you decide to ?create great days? instead of having ?nice ones?? Share the idea and create a great day every day starting today!
===========================================
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.

Battlestar Galactica

I was given a couple of Best Buy gift certificates for Christmas. I was told specifically that I couldn't use them for anything for my kids.. instead I used them for something I wouldn't otherwise get.. The Battlestar Galactica DVD set! Yes, kids, I remember Richard Hatch as Apollo. I was an avid watcher when it was on. Crazy? Probably, but I'll hvae a blast watching them.

Image provide courtesy of Battlestar Fan Club.

Disney Marathon

Just over 2 weeks until the Disney Marathon. I don't know how ready I am, but I'll be working to complete the 1/2 (13 miles) in 3 hours. Last year, I finished in 3.5 hours. I had a blister on my left heel that took up the entire heel by mile 8. The last 5 miles I was walking on my toes to keep the heel off the ground. I managed (with thighs screaming in pain) to finish and get my medal. I learned after I finished it that I had the absolute WRONG socks on (cotton), so this year I have runner's socks. I also had older shoes, this year I went to the local specialty store (Phidipides) and got fitted for the proper ones. I haven't trained as much this year, but I know I can finish. Here's to the Walk!

Celebrities, Christmas, and more

After posting some of my 'less known' facts, I got to thinking about why those 3 actors are some of my favorites. Part of it is their looks. Face it, all three are attractive men in their own rights. Somehow, for me, there's more to it. I admire all three for their acting skills. All three manage to make whatever they are playing come to life. From simple roles, to the big ones (Bond, Legolas, etc). Oliver Platt and Sean Connery I respect as well for their married lives. They have stayed with their wives and family unlike most other celebs that can't seem to make up their minds. Orlando Bloom we'll have to wait and see, only time will tell. From what I've seen and heard from/of him, he'll be one to do the same.

You know it's Christmas when your daughter takes the roll of toilet paper and drops it into her bath water.

I'm evaluating, trying out, whatever, several different traffic generators. All are free with "purchase in" options so you don't have to surf as much. They're doing ok for bringing traffic in, but not the best. The first is Traffic Swarm. It has a mix of sites from other traffic generators to actual web sites mixed in.

The second is WAHM Traffic. This is primarily a traffic generator for Work at Home Moms. Does a pretty good job, though I haven't received any sales from it. It consists currently of businesses run by WAHMs.

The third is TS25. This is a new one for me. You apparently "compete" for a position in a 'syndicate'. This requires a lot of surfing, and I find it debatable as to whether it'll do much. I haven't been doing it long enough, though, to know for certain.

The fourth is Blog Explosion. I've seen a lot of increase in traffic for my blogs on this one. Even a few comments. Of the surf for traffic, this one seems to work the best. Assuming, of course, that I have any content on my blog worth reading.

My recommendations? Use traffic generators if you want, but don't count on them for a lot. I'll keep playing with them for now, but my two preferred ones are WAHM Traffic and Blog Explosion. Just a note: I'm promoting more than just my blog on all but Blog Explosion. I have my own WAHM Shop, my Discovery Toys site, and my new business called Kinder Cakes. Not counting some affiliate stuff I'm doing.

Merry Christmas

Wow

Me and my children with Santa. My daughter wouldn't sit on Santa's lap.

My children must be burned out on going/doing things. Generally, when given the opportunity to get out of the house and do something (anything), they jump at the chance. I made the offer today to take them to see either Spongebob or Polar Express at the theater. My son wasn't willing to leave the house. He was content to putter around, play some, veg mostly, and just be a homebody.

We only got out long enough yesterday for lunch and to pick up some pictures I'd dropped off to get developed. Then had the "maid"/"Cleaning service" come by and do a rush job. Confusion abounded yesterday. I'd expected the maid to show by 9:30, by 11 she hadn't shown and her boss didn't know where she was. So I took my kids to a lunch meeting (I had a meeting, they had lunch and played games while watched by a 16yo). The maid finally showed at 3:30, needing to pick her kids up by 6:30 and they were an hour away. Ah well. Rush cleaning job.

I had to run out today to get my parents' Christmas gift. I realized that my hubby hadn't gotten anything for his either. He had no ideas for either of his parents' either. Normally, I'd have finished, be done, be avoiding the shopping. I hit Wal-Mart for most of what I needed. I was amazed that I was in/out in about an hour. They didn't, though, have a video I wanted to get. I stopped at CVS just on the off chance and got their one and only copy of it. Whew!

Don't know that hubby is impressed with what I got his folks, though. I was drawing a complete blank, then remembered (as I wandered through videos) that his dad has all the Garfield books. So I got his dad the Garfield video (at CVS). His parents don't have a lot of space for 'stuff', so I thought of "outside the house" for his mom. She likes to feed the squirrels, but I didn't find anything I liked. I did, though, find some very pretty flowers that do well both in a garden and in a pot. They bloom in winter, too. Got her those and pots.

Can you say OUCH?

I took my kids out today to see a local theater performance of "Babes in Toyland". Cute show done at the Kudzoo Theater. Unfortunately for me, my Group Manager got an order from Toys for Tots for $25K worth of toys. To be nice to her team, she was willing to divide the order up so we'd all get credit. Orders had to be in by 3p. I was in the theater at 3p with my cell turned off. WAH! Now, she was donating her commission to the cause so that the organization would get as many toys as they could. She still finished off what she needed to earn her trip to Los Cabos this year. I don't know that it would have helped me gain position, but it couldn't have HURT. What hurts is that I wasn't home.

To top it all off, I missed Amazing Race tonight because I didn't think about the fact that Survivor finished last week. Oh well..

I have to ask.. why do we clean house before the maids/cleaning service comes to clean?

I thought I'd post 10 "lesser known" facts about me just for fun.

1 - I'm a certified SCUBA diver (PADI/NAUI)
2 - Last dive I did was Sept. 2001
3 - Favorite Actors are: Sean Connery, Oliver Platt, Orlando Bloom
4 - Favorite Movie is: Hawk the Slayer
5 - I was a competitive gymnast until I was 18 when I blew out my knee
6 - My favorite broadway show is Beauty & the Beast, though to be fair it probably should be Phantom of the Opera or Chicago. Loved those too.
7 - My favorite musical groups are Rockapella and Aerosmith.
8 - I trained my two oldest dogs for obedience competition, one for carting.
9 - I can't carry a tune. 10 - I sing anyway.

Christmas Trees

Every year we break out my son's monorail train set. It has taken over our playroom. Two loops, with Spaceship Earth on one loop and the Contemporary on the other. Switching track between. I tried to take a picture of the tree with the lights on, it came out ok, but not great.

My kids are playing on their computer and, I'm Blog Explosion surfing. I came across some cool "tests", and take them. Now I'm sharing the results.

Take the James Bond Car Quiz!

You are 23% geek

OK, so maybe you ain't a geek. You do, at least, show a bit of interest in the world around you. Either that, or you have enough of a sense of humor to pick some of the sillier answers on the test. Regardless, you're probably a pretty nifty, well-rounded person who gets along fine with people and can chat with just about anyone without fear of looking stupid or foolish or overly concerned with minutiae. God, I hate you.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

Well, RATZ!

This really would belong with my toy stuff, but since it's more of a complaint than information about our toys, I'll put it here. Anyway, Jane Leitch, president of Discovery Toys, was on the Today show this morning. She was supposed to present $100K worth of toys to their charities of choice. They gave her 15 seconds to say who we are and what we're doing. Kinda hard to get an idea of who Discovery Toys is and why we're so special. So I'll put it here.

Discovery Toys has been in business for over 25 years. It was started by a mom who wanted good quality educational toys for her kids and still be able to stay at home with them. Consultants sell through home and catalog parties similar to Tupperware/Pampered Chef/Avon/etc. We do NOT sell in retail stores, we are NOT related to the Discovery Channel.

We're still very little compared to other home party businesses, though. If you compare us to Avon/MaryKay/Tupperware in Texas, they have more consultants in one state than we have nation wide.

All of our toys are GUARANTEED. If your child breaks it, we replace it free of charge. The exception is books due to normal wear and tear. All of our toys are EDUCATIONAL. Believe it or not, kids can have lots of fun while learning. We highly encourage parents to play with their kids. The kids really benefit, and it's FUN! The toys start at infant and go up to early teens. As an adult, I find many of them fun to play too.

Ok. End of my rant/promotion, about what Jane wasn't able to do.

Jane! You go Girl! Next year we'll make 'em stand up and notice us.

Santa and parties

Santa
My daughter wants desperately to let Santa know that she wants a Chou-Chou doll (if you don't watch commercials about toys, it's pronounced "Shoo shoo"), there's just one problem. She won't go NEAR him, at least not voluntarily. Now, she's only 3, so I give her a break. She's been counting down the days to seeing Santa with her brother for a couple of weeks now. She's thrilled that he'll come give her stuff while she sleeps. I think the key here is that she WON'T BE NEAR HIM.

Co-Worker Christmas Parties
Onto another subject.. work Christmas parties. The Atlanta contingent of consultants had our Christmas party last night at my group manager's home. I went, though I was more ready to go to bed than to party. No one was expecting the BIG GUY to show up. He put an entirely new "twist" on the party. We'd been pretty clean until he showed.. he had a few "toys" in his bag that surprised everyone. We're all TOY LADIES, but NOT THAT TYPE OF TOY. It was funny, though.

We had our requisite white elephant exchange as well. I apparently had the record for number of things stolen from me. I was in the middle of the pack (#18 of 30) and had either 4 or 5 things taken away. I came away with something nice regardless, at least. I don't know if that's a title I want to hold, though.

School Holiday Parties
My daughter had her holiday party at school today. The class mom had a really cute idea. She made "candy necklaces" for the kids. You take holiday colored saran wrap (green or red) and pull out a good size piece. Then lay it out flat and place about 5-6 pieces of candy in a row along the long edge. Roll the saran wrap around the candy. Tie small pieces of ribbon between each piece of candy, tie a long piece to either end. Tie the two long pieces together to finish the "necklace". Really cute and was the hit of the party. If I get a chance I'll either scan or photo one of the ones I have for you to see.

Random Thoughts

Should I be worried that the most interesting thing on my blogs at time are the links to the other "interesting blogs" I read? Do I care?

I've hired someone from Ciao! My 'Bella! to spiff this blog up, not sure what that'll do with/to it.

Over the past few days I've had lots of random thoughts go through my head, none of which I've written down. Mostly because by the time I think of them I'm in bed, warm, and sleepy. I'm not about to get out of bed to blog. Sorry. I get little enough quiet time as it is.

My son has been quite pleased with himself recently. I "challenged" him last week to read a story to me at his bed time, instead of my reading to him. He was convinced he couldn't (after all, he's only in kindergarten), but that evening he read a short book to me called "Cars Cars Cars". Now, he probably recited most of it from memory, but that's an excellent start. He's reading to me some of the other simple books in the evenings. Definitely a good thing.

My son is finding out that kids that are 2-3 years older don't always want to play the same games he does. A couple of other kids from the neighborhood like to show up around here and play with the toys we have. I suspect half of their attraction to my son is the toys we have, though I give them the benefit of the doubt since for the most part they're good kids. The last couple of times they've come by, they've gone through the house, picked up a couple of toys, and headed to my back yard. They don't really even stop to talk to my son or find out what he wants to play. Makes me wonder.

I've been taking a conversational spanish class. I'm doing ok, though I know I need a lot of work. I discovered the other day that there's at least one native-German speaking family at my daughter's preschool. I took 4 years of German in college. It makes me want to go back and see if I can get my German back up to conversational state and call myself "conversationally tri-lingual". Not sure what it would be good for, but it's tempting.

I found this advent calendar online and thought I'd share it with you. http://www.harpold.com/advent/

In 1969 (the year you were born)

Richard Nixon becomes president of the US Senator Edward Kennedy escapes injury when the car he is driving veers off a narrow bridge on Chappaquiddick Island US astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to set foot on the moon while commanding the Apollo 11 mission Breathtaking pictures of Mars are transmitted to earth from NASA's Mariner 7 as it passes within 2,200 miles of the Red Planet Woodstock music festival begins in upstate NY, featuring performances by Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and many more artists 250,000 Vietnam War protestors gather in Washington for the largest anti-war rally in US history The first draft lottery since WWII is held in New York City The Beatles' performance in public for the last time, on the roof of Apple Records The Stonewall riots mark the start of the modern gay rights movement in the US Marilyn Manson, Jennifer Aniston, Renée Zellweger, Edward Norton, Christian Slater, and Linus Torvalds are born New York Mets win the World Series New York Jets win Superbowl III Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup Sesame Street premieres Midnight Cowboy wins the Oscar for best picture David Bowie's debut single, "Space Oddity", becomes a huge hit - in part to the US landing on the moon Sharon Tate & the LaBiancas are found murdered by Charles Manson & "family"

What Happened the Year You Were Born?
More cool things for your blog at Blogthings

So..

Your Element Is Earth

You excel at planning and strategizing. You could be a champ at chess or Survivor. Well grounded, you are able to be realistic and rationalize. On the inside, you have a hard core. It's tough to phase you. You are super productive, and you are able to think anything through. Focused and super charged, your instincts are a good guide for your next step.

What's Your Element?

Car & Consumer Product Test Group

OK. Something is still wrong around here. I'm all happy that I finished my errands today early, was going to stop and hang out before picking my daughter up from school. Get out of the car, I hear this loud "HISSSSSSSS". I look around and realize it's coming from my TIRE! OI! Now, I can change tires, but I hate those little bitty spares that cars come with now a days. THEY DON'T BELONG! Anyway, I fish out my AAA card and sit on hold for a few minutes before realizing (HA!) that there's a car repair place on the other side of the parking lot. So instead of waiting on AAA to answer, get someone out there, etc etc.. I walk across the parking lot. Fortunately, they have it fixed in 15 minutes. The picture below shows what came OUT of my tire.. it is NOT a small nail.. it's a part of a car that the repair guy named but I don't remember.. he felt more sorry for whomever lost it than me. Ah well.

Anyway, has anyone signed up for one of those Consumer Product Test panel things? Does it work? Is it a scam?

My music recommendations

I don't know why, but I've fallen in love with a particular song this holiday.. it's "Mary's Boy Child/Oh Lord" as done by Boney M. Great song! I also really liked Barenaked Ladies doing "Jingle Bells".

This past year, for some reason I really enjoyed the Cheetah Girls. I really like their take on 'Cinderella'.

Quote of the Day

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

~ Proverbs 3:27

My Toy News

I've created a new blog just for business related information for discovery toys. If you're interested, you'll find it here:

My Toy News

Mercury in Retrograde?

After all this, yesterday lunch I met an astrologer. She informed me that mercury was in retrograde and that we should be careful running errands. Things are likely to go wrong. HA! How little did she know. I was surfing around and found this description of it to be very appropriate.

http://www.writerinthewindow.com/mercury_retrograde.htm

So does it really affect us, or is it just coincidence? I found this horoscope for the same day that I found appropo..

Wed Dec 8: Fallen From Grace
Someone is in a finger-wagging mood and unfortunately they seem to be concentrating on you! Maybe they think you've fallen from grace for some reason, or perhaps you're simply the only person who happens to be around when they feel like letting off steam. Do your best not to fall into an equally critical and disgruntled mood, because it will soon make you feel wretched. Bright colours are silver and cherry pink. Lucky numbers are 39 and 58.

Thanks to www.astrology.com for the horoscope. May it not turn into a horrorscope.

What a day..

I couldn't get the kids started, it was 10 minutes before the bus came before Robert was dressed and starting to eat his breakfast. I went to feed the fish and one of them jumped straight out of the tank (through a 1" gap), flip flop flip flop, until I managed to catch him and put him back.

Whew. Got son off to school, started preparing daughter's lunch/snack, caught a whiff from the cat box. Just as I get a bag out to take care of one issue, RING..! It's my husband.. "I've been in a car wreck.." He's ok, but hasn't called the cops and his arm hurts. (I won't repeat what went through my head just in case children are reading..)

Throw stuff into daughter's lunch box (random from the fridge), change her, brush my teeth, etc (in 5 minutes) and throw both of us into the minivan. Go find hubby.. wait for hubby to finish with cop.. follow hubby back home.. take daughter to school.. Rest of day is pretty uneventful, but STILL! Not a day I want to repeat.

For those of you that are interested.. here's the damage..

We have an insurance claim number, hubby is trying to figure out where to take it to get it fixed. And we'll have to rent a car to replace his while it's being serviced. ARGH!

Work at Home or Stay at Home?

One nice thing about being your own business boss is that if you don't work, the only person you answer to is yourself. However, the disadvantage is that there's no one but you to make sure it gets done. If you don't bring in the money, it's money you don't have. I've hit that "it's the holidays, I don't WANT to work" wall. If I were in the corporate world, it wouldn't be an option. Since it's just me at home, only me knows.

So, to the "work at home" vs. "stay at home" title. I stay at home with my kids, but I also run my own businesses. Since my jobs are all part-time, am I really a 'work at home' mom, or am I just a 'stay at home' mom with a little bit of side income? Eh? Or is it like the "you say potAto, I say potAHto" debate? In my kids' eyes, I'm just "mommy". I'll take that one too.

Public Service Announcement

I found this on the ryze. I don't endorse them, though any chance for a child to get a scholarship is usually a good thing.

NEW ESSAY CONTEST ANNOUNCED

We are pleased to announce a new essay contest for high school students, and ask for your assistance in distributing information about the contest to high school administrators, counselors, faculty and students.

CoachVille?s mission in 2005 is to create a model for understanding the changing nature of leadership in the world. This mission includes a commitment to the development of emerging leaders now approaching adulthood. As part of that effort, we are pleased to announce a new essay contest for high school students on the topic Redefining Leadership.

We invite students in grade 9 ? 12 to consider models of leadership from the past and present to develop their observations into a vision for the leaders of tomorrow by considering the following question: If you could do one thing to shift the consciousness of others and evoke positive change as a future leader, what would that be?

Contest guidelines and an entry form are available online at:

www.coachvilleannualconference.com

Click on the Essay Contest link located on the upper right hand side of the page.

The contest winner will receive a $2,000 scholarship provided by Five Star Leader, CEO, Bea Fields, and will be invited to present the winning essay during the 4th Annual CoachVille Conference, May 4 ? 6, 2005 in New Orleans, LA (including complimentary lodging during the conference, and round-trip airfare to New Orleans **within the US).

What's on my desk..

I'm blog surfing and found "The Mother of all Blogs". She had a cool game of 'what's on my desk', and I decided as a good way to wind down the day to play. Anyway..

On my desk is:
2 boxes of sudacare (one child, one adult)
packing tape
bubble wrap
container of blank cd's for burning
box of envelopes
bills to be paid
The Wiggles - Wiggly safari CD
Rolled Lilo & Stitch poster
container of "Cosmic Catnip"
copy of Parents magazine
Mary Kay catalog
remote for the tv
pack of white chocolate covered pretzels
empty wrapping paper tube
misc. cards
misc other papers
printer
box of bob's peppermint candy canes
2 Beth Manner's Spanish for kids cds

Just for your entertainment, I'll include a picture and you can see what else you can spot..

I wanted to reflect..

on this year and my goal of becoming a Group Manager with Discovery Toys. So far, I have yet to have more than one recruit join. I was excited to have her join, she seemed excited as well. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, after she got her starter kit, she's "disappeared". I called, sent her letters, etc, and haven't heard back.

What's discouraging, though, is watching other new consultants start up and find their customer base faster than I've managed. I'm not sure if it's my approach (or lack thereof) that's blocking me. I've been working on "stepping out of my comfort zone" since July. I realize it's all a journey and the more you work on it, the better you get. But it's very disappointing to not see the improvement you're looking for.

I was talking with another lady who had briefly been a consultant. She saw the same issues (she's in my area) as I've seen. Now, I realize that this year hasn't been a good one for most people as far as money. But, she started years ago when the economy was a bit better than it is now. The fact that she saw it makes me wonder if the area I'm in is just bad for business all together. THAT is a very depressing thought. The area doesn't SEEM to be that badly off.

So, now I move on to figure out where I'm going with my business(es). Primarily the Discovery Toys part. I love the product, that hasn't changed. But I don't have the money to keep putting in to it to try to get it launched. I do A LOT better with selling things on ebay. I've found a small niche of stuff that I can sell and get good response. So, maybe I'm working on the wrong thing.

Whatever I'm doing, though. Something will have to change. I just have to figure out what.

It's very hard..

to work on a computer with a 3 year old asleep on your lap. They tend to sprawl and take over. My daughter likes to have at least one arm as a pillow, which means typing with one hand. If you shift, then you find out that your limb has fallen asleep. Generally at that point I'd make an attempt to put her in her own bed, but with my arm asleep, I'm not sure I can carry her. So what do I do? I surf everyone else's blogs. Have you tried the Blog Explosion yet? Kinda fun seeing other blogs.

As long as I'm talking about my daughter, she's going to be a little genius. She can type her own name into the computer when playing computer games, recognise patterns of A/AB/ABC/ABCD/AABB/AABCC, recognise all 26 letters of the alphabet, and more. Can you say I'm a proud mommy? She's going to give her older brother a run for his money, that's for certain.

On her brother, we're on the watch out for dyslexia in him. He has some problems at this point switching letters. Though at 6, it's just something we're watching for now. The eye doctor said his vision is where it should be for his age. Unfortunately, dyslexia does run in the family. He's a bomb for numbers, though. Addition is easy, subtraction takes a bit more work, multiplication is his current fascination. We haven't tried division at this point.

I will say that he found Discovery Toys' wrap & learn fun to play with. I don't have pictures of him with it at this point. Maybe later. I'm bad about keeping the camera within easy reach, and by the time I run go get it, they're done doing whatever it was they were doing. Bad mommy!

My son also suffers from "growing pains" quite literally. He's grown 1-1.5 inches since the beginning of October. He went from a size 12 shoe to a 1. I wonder if the migraines he was suffering until we saw the specialist weren't related. What with Kaiser, though, it'll take another referral to go find out.

So I've updated..

My work at home mom shop. If you feel like giving input on web design, feel free and leave comments here. Check it out.

If you're still shopping for the holidays and don't want to hit the malls, you can find something for pretty much everyone there.

Input wanted

Question about advertising, really. What catches your eye when it comes to something you want to buy? Being a work at home mom, I'm limited on what I can do, but I'm always looking for new customers. What turns you off when it comes to having someone approach you about stuff to buy? For you moms/dads, what do you look for when you're looking for toys? What catches your eye in ads?

Thanks in advance!