A Tale of 2 WAHMs

Ramblings of 2 WAHMs - Anita DeFrank and Kara Kelso. Partners in business discuss how we manage successful websites and young children at home.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

The Ultimate Direct Sales Guide

I’m so happy to finally be able to “officially” launch a new project that I’ve been working on. Actually the thoughts of this project have been in the makings for a very long time but due to lack of resources I hadn’t been able to put it into motion. Well, I’m thrilled to say that there is no more lack of resources and I’ve found exactly what I need! I’m creating a book entitled “The Ultimate Direct Sales Guide” and no, this isn’t another ebook … this is an actual printed book! I have an awesome opportunity available for you to get some great exposure but if you want to know more you’re going to have to check out the details at http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/direct-sales-guide.html (By the way...this is first come first serve so you might want to look now!)

Sunday, August 07, 2005

It's time to say good bye...

Well, it's 9:00 marking the end of this year's Blogathon. I've had a great time and will be sure to participate again next year! I'll be sure to send Kara a large supply of Coke too! Who knows, maybe I'll get brave and join her for the nightshift too ;-)

It's been a great time and thanks for following along.

I'd also like to give a great big thanks to all who sponsored us. Know that your money is going to a great cause! Rupert's Kids is a foundation that I'd love to see grow by leaps and bounds!

Till next time...
Signing off...
Anita :)

Have a great day!

I think I'm awake enough now

I wouldn't start doing any "actual work" earlier for fear of still being half asleep and what it might turn out like. But, as I sit here and listen to my son and my boxer snoring up a storm (it's 8:30 guys...time to wake up!) I decided I was awake enough to start some real work.

I've been putting off a project for quite some time now and I figured I better get it taken care of. I came across The Consultant Consultants Corner the other day and I contacted Tara about writing for her printed newsletter. I'm not sure who was more excited, her or I? So I need to get some writing to her and I'm on a roll! I'll be sending her quite a installments in advance. That ought to make up for my delay!

Anita :)

Grumpy or Goofy?

Do you get grumpy or goofy when you're tired? I myself tend to get goofy unless you someone irritates me, lol. I've also noticed that it doesn't take long to irritate me either. I see on the other hand though that my business partner here definitely gets goofy! I just finally re-read all of the posts that we've made throughout the entire blogathon and boy, I bet it was interesting at Kara's house last night. I can't wait till she re-reads what she posted and I'm sure I'll hear a "I can't believe I said that!" Especially since for the most part this is our "business blog". I'm sure we'll have some stumped new visitors when they read some of our archives! Oh well, it's all fair game for charity!

Now I'm off to read Kara's story! I read the original ... I can't wait to see the remake!

Anita :)

P.S. Only one hour to go!!

More Superstitions...

I will not pick up a penny if it is heads down. (I've watched my daughter pick up pennies and drop them over and over again till it lands heads up.)

If I step on a person's shoe in front of me, I X their back. (Never heard this one.)

If I remove an eye-lash from my face or someone else's, I make a wish and touch something blue. (I've never done this but have heard of it. All except the touching something blue.)

Never put money on the bed. (Hmmm...hubby often empties his pockets on the bed after work. See, I knew EVERYTHING was hubby's fault!)

Never gift someone a scarf. (Never heard this one before.)

Never gift someone anything sharp like knives or scissors. (Nor this one either.)

During the first night of a full moon, empty your purse completely. Take it outside and shake it in the moonlight and ask for it to be filled up. (Aha! That's the secret! Remember, you heard it here!)

When I was a kid, my grandmother told me that you should never completely dress one foot before the other. So you should always do sock, sock, shoe, shoe -- NEVER sock, shoe, sock, shoe, or else you'll have bad luck all that day.

if your right palm itches, you'll get money. (My mom taught me that and to this day I still say, oooh, must have money coming! I think it's just more wishful thinking!)

If you nose itches one of three things will happen: 1 you will kiss a fool; 2 you will get into a fight; 3 you're going to sneeze. (Unfortunately I usually DO kiss a fool whether my nose is ichy or not...Shh! Don't tell hubby!)

Bad things happen in threes. (I'm living proof! That's my life. LOL)

Lift your feet of the car floor when you drove over railroad tracks. (I remember doing this when I was a kid, way before I even know what a superstition was.)

When we were little we used to hold our breathe when going by a cemetary so the spirits don't get in. (Never heard that one before.)

If you sing at the table the black crow will come get you.

Don't split a pole. (There it is again, can someone please explain this to me??)

Don't hang anything on doorknobs. (See it was just doomed at the honeymoon.)

Foot itches, you are going to walk on new ground. (My feet are always itchy. Especially when they're inside the shoe and I can't get to it, lol!)

Nose itches, someone is talking about you. (I've heard if your ears are ringing.)

If clasp of necklace is in front turn it around while making a wish. (Never heard that one.)

When I can't find something I say "Saint Anthony, I've lost _____ and need to find it" Stop looking for it and in a short period of time it will turn up. (This will come in handy!)

Anita :)

Are you superstitious?

Okay, first of all...is that a crazy word or what? Superstitious. Say that over and over 10 times straight, lol! (Funny the thoughts that go through your head when you're so bored!)

Anyway...
I decided to surf a bit this morning for something to do and I came across a post on one of my favorite message boards about superstitions. I think we do some of these without even thinking! Here's a few that were listed there...

I salute magpies and count them.

I throw salt if its spilled.

If I break a mirror I have someone else look into it so I don't get 7 years bad luck.

My mother law makes you go out the same door you came in.

If a black cat crossing me in the road secretly and when no one is watching I "X" it out with my finger.

If I'm walking with someone and we split a pole, I cross my fingers and say "bread and butter". (What does that mean??)

If I say something has never happened and I don't want it to happen I knock on wood 3 times! (I do that, but I knock on wood and only say it once. Maybe I've been doing it wrong all this time?? LOL)

Will not try on another womans wedding ring, bad bad bad luck!

Hold your breathe and point your finger towards the roof in your car when you are driving over a bridge. (Never heard of this one before)

My silly x has horse shoes on the back of all his moviing trucks. (I think I might recommend this to hubby!)

I won't walk under a ladder or step on cracks. (I wouldn't walk under a latter anyway, lol. And stepping on cracks...I remember doing this on purpose when I was a kid!)

She once told me not to let a dog lick you in the face because your children would come out looking like a dog. (Well I can say for sure this isn't true, lol!)

She also insisted on putting a dime in my shoe when I got married. Supposedly it brings happiness to the marrige.

I knock on the roof of the car if I go through a red light so that I won't be pulled over. (Again, I think I'll mention this to hubby!)

I never put shoes on the table.

I always put money in a purse when I give a one as a gift so that person always has money. (Never heard this before either, but I'll be sure to thank hubby for me being broke all the time and I better put some money in that purse I just bought my daughter for her birthday!)

More coming later!
I wanna see what else I can find. What superstitions do you have? Geesh, not only is that hard to say...it's also hard to spell!

Anita :)

Four Signups!

Wow! Buidling my business was super-simple this weekend! Amazing how a little special can really bring everyone out of the woodworks!

I've signed up four new sign ups and my one downline has signed up two! And out of my four...three of them came to me, lol!

Really no work needed!

Now I have to go fill out some paperwork.

That'll keep me busy for the next half hour.

Anita :)

I have a friend!

LOL! Well, that sounded awful! Aren't you happy for me? I have A friend. No, honest I do have more than one friend. LOL! I have a friend that's up at this time of the morning and chatting w/ me on IM. Thanks Suzanne for helping me stay up!

I was just thinking I should start making little noises here and there and maybe hubby will wake up. I'm good now, he can keep sleeping!

Haha...

Anita :)

Infomercials

What else is there to do at 5:00 in the morning when you're up all by yourself and you have to keep quiet so as to not wake anyone else up? I refuse to do "actual work" for fear of what it actually looks like, lol! Yeah, I had a rough time falling asleep last night. Did you ever have a night like that? You know you have to get up extra early and you have to get some sleep but, you have have a heck of a time.

So, what do you do? Why you watch tv of course! Do you know what's on tv at this time of the morning? Infomercials! Oh, and my favorite kind too. The money systems! Yeah, you send them 4 easy payments of $49.95 and they'll send you the absolutely guarenteed, no fail system to put extra cash in your pocket! Very little work, super simple, minimal time....Can you say BULL!?! Oh, I loved this last guys comments:

"If you can read you can do it. If you can't read, have someone read it to you."

What?!? How about "If you can't read, go take some classes BEFORE you try to go into 'business'."

No wonder I get tons of emails everyday that look something like this...

"I have two small children and I dread taking them to daycare everyday. I want so badly to work at home. I don't have any money to invest and I can't work that many hours a day. What can I do?"

I wonder where ideas like this come from? Do realize that I work probably double the hours I worked outside the home? It's just that I don't have to commute and I can work the hours I pick. But, if I don't work...I don't get paid. And I don't have anyone else to blame but myself.

Okay off my soap box. Time to change the channel!

Anita :)

I was up at 4:30!

Honest, I really was up at 4:30! I just wasn't able to get online until 4:48! Yikes! I was really starting to sweat it out. Of course Kara was here just incase but, I would have felt horrible if I couldn't get online. I had to reboot my computer twice and try to get online twice. Finally it went through and I felt a sigh of relief. The only thing I could think of was Oh, is she thinking I slept in and how the heck am I gonna get on the computer at 4:30 in the morning.

"Morning mom! Sorry to wake you up this early but I need to borrow your computer to post on the blogathon."

Yeah, that would have went over well!

Good morning!
Anita :)

Maybe I'm not done yet

I do not believe Anita is awake yet, and I would hate for us to fall behind here. I'm sure she will be here shortly, but just in case I'll make another post. Right now I'm not doing much of anything interesting other than playing some games and reading more stories on that website. She has some rather interesting things there, but I'm not sure it's interesting to those that do not play our game.

She does have some nice pictures to go along with her website, and actually I did think of adding something like that to my site. Not sure yet how large I will make this though, but if I find a picture or two that I think will fit I just might add them. Might give the story a nice touch.

Alright I'm done boring you all for now. I'm sure half of those reading this do not need any help falling asleep!

My Time Has Ended

Anita should be awake here shortly ready to finish off the Blogathon. I'm sure she'll get a kick out of some of the posts I wrote tonight while tired and goofy. I've had a lot of fun, and can't believe I accomplished so much with my story! A week ago I never would imagined me having this much fun "working". Not sure you would exactly call it work, because I'm not quite sure what will be done with this story, but either way it was a nice way to spend a day.

Oh, I did read one of the stories belonging to someone that plays the same game as me, although her story is quite a bit different than mine. It's not a bio, but rather full of symbolism. If you read mine and think maybe it was interesting enough to read a more powerful and involved story, you can read her's at:
http://www.theowin.com/Five%20Deaths%201.htm

Finally, good night and have fun Anita!

First 2 Chapters Available

I did it! I got the first 2 chapters ready and available to the public. Wow, I completely did not expect myself to do this when I first started this Blogathon. Posting person things like this are really not in my nature. Without further anticipation, here is my fiction story:
http://www.spiritualexpression.com/darkness1.html

I even gave the story a title, but I'm not quite sure about it. I had really not thought about it before, and had always called it just "Biography" of the main character. Something wasn't quite right about that though, since there was more too it than just a bio. There was a focus to it, something the main character was seeking out. A story line basically, so I named it "Love & Light in Darkness". Now that I look at it, that's a pretty dull name. Hey, I'm not good with names and titles, so that's going to have to do for now.

Now I'm off to read the works of a similar topic. Will report back in 30mins!

Websites Almost Up!

I've actually got some energy here, and I'm pushing to get the first 2 Chapters of my story up on a website. The pages are finished actually, I just need to spell check the last one and upload them both. In my next post I promise I'll have a link!

Oh on another topic here, I was rushing to get a mailing list set up. Tonight of all nights I discover my mailing list provider has changed it's looks. LOVELY! Not only am I in a hurry, but I'm getting cranky and tired. What a perfect time to play "now where did that option go?". GRR!

I shouldn't complain, there wasn't major changes but enough for me to say "oh great, now WHERE are the buttons?"

I swear I started

Where in the heck did the last half hour go? One minute I'm pulling up a blank document and getting ready to start work on a web page, and the next thing I know it's 2:30. HOW? All I did was go get some coffee! Which by the way, I rediscovered the benefits of suger. Have I mentioned how much I hate coffee? But wow it's not bad with say, a cup or two of sugar. YEAH SUGAR!

What's really scary here that in addition to my goofiness I'm dealing with the other half that decided it would be fun to stay up with me. Come to find out, he's just like me when lacking sleep. FUN! So now there's 2 goof balls that are praising things like *sugar* and *game skills*.

I fear what Anita is going to think when she comes to blog at 4:30am. I swear to you Anita, I'm not on anything!

Done writing for now

I decided I'm seriously lagging here and dragging my feet so much that it's time to stop writing the story for now. I feel awake, but my mind really isn't. I just let the other half read the last chapter and he found some oh-so-stupid typos and errors that can't be explained by anything other than "waaaay to late to be writing this".

So right now I'm off to get started on that website. That I really do want to get done because if there is some growing interest in this story I can do a weekly continuing of it. That actually might even turn into a project of it's own since I'm already seeing the possiblities here.

Oh, and another thing I would like to get finished tonight is read work by someone else within this game that has also writen quite a few stories and poems. I'm anxious to get to that!

I think I'm ready

No not for bed, but ready to get back to writing here soon. I haven't written anything in my last 30mins, which is so terrible. I haven't even started on getting even the first 2 chapters up on the website! I'm now down to less than 3 hours to get all this done. I don't think I'm going to get this story done tonight, but that's alright. Wait, did I say that already? EEP! I think I'm starting to repeat myself.

So if I haven't been writing or even working on building a page or two on a website, what on earth HAVE I been doing? Erm, playing games. Yup, was playing games. But that's ok, it woke me up a little and is keeping me awake. It's neat to talk to other people in a game too, so that's fun. Plus it's giving me some ideas for the story. IF I get back to that tonight. I should, heck I have at least 2 1/2 more hours to stay awake!

Much better

I feel better now, but almost feel like I cheated by having a pop. It's still kinda yuck, but hey this is the only time I plan to do this. It's a special occation why should I feel bad about drinking just one pop?

Just to give myself an extra kick, I slipped off to play games for a bit. Still writing though here and there, and I'm about to start Chapter 12. Not to bad for a days work, eh?

By popular demand, I'll be posting at least the first 2 Chapters before the night is over. I would love to see feedback, and I promise I'll even set up some way to read the rest of the story at a later date. Please keep in mind while this is a second draft, it's still just that - a DRAFT. I'll try my best to catch spelling and grammer errors, but it's not finished yet.

Ok off to wake myself up more so I can finish off the next 3 hours here!

About the caffiene discovery...

Since I'm running out of things to talk about why not tell this story. It's mildly amusing so what the heck.

So I wander into the kitchen, frantically searching for a hidden Vanilla Coke. Much to my dismay, I found even my emergency pop gone.

Ok, so I scan the kitchen for another option. I see coffee on top the microwave (which I hate coffee), and could it be - YES! Pepsi still in a pack on the floor. While not coke, this will do I think, and I reach in to grab one. On closer inspection I see that evil tan bar..oh yes, it was CAFFEINE FREE! UGH! So I start to put the pop back because YEAH that's going to help, and see that in my hand is not a worthless Pepsi, but rather a MOUNTAIN DEW! Looks like my other half had his own stash of pop. I said WOO HOO!

He spots me with his pop and says "Hey, that's my stash!". *Evil look from me* I reply with "You are going to DENY me of this NOW?"

I see the fear in his eyes, and the threat of dealing with a cranky me for the next few hours.

"Can we share it?" He says. *Hissing from me* "But.... it was.... mine.....and....OK you can have it!".

*Grin*

I may have forgot to mention, I get a little goofy when I'm tired. If Anita was here, there would probably be talk of Rum & Coke or Strawberry Wine at this point.

Wow it's been so long since I've had Mountain Dew, this thing tasts kinda wierd.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Who's got the caffeine???

This is one of these rare times that I wish I had not stopped drinking pop. I'm admitting that I'm getting tired now, and in serious need of a Vanilla Coke. Time is getting close to raiding the fridge to see if maybe, JUST MAYBE, one was left behind. Oh please let there be one in there, please! It's now 12am, 11pm my time, which means the last store in town has just closed (doesn't help there's only 2 in town). ACK!

*Heads for the kitchen in hopes of finding SOMETHING with caffeine!*

What to do all night?

The story is still going slowly. Amazing I haven't even hit certain parts of it yet. I was just thinking maybe I should take some time and find some good recipes. Might be of interest to some, and would help me start a grocery list for next week haha. Seriously, I really need to jump back into meal planning. Our grocery bills are so much less when we have meals planned out, plus it makes for less trips to the expensive little store here in town.

I've got 3 big cookbooks and a TON of little ones just sitting there, yet we eat the same things all the time. How sad is that?

Just a small section...

Ok ok, so my posts here are getting EXTREMLY boring. I guess it's time I post a piece of this story eh? This is actually from Chapter 2, and it's just a section of it. If anyone demands more, I may post more or even start posting Chapters to read. ;)

Since my parents believed I was old enough to fight, I had a sudden sense of empowerment. I took a deep breath, looked my mother in the eye, and spoke with such passion that I even startled myself.

"NO mother, I will NOT. My work as a mundane in Piet is not finished, and I will not leave my friends. You will just need to take some other CHILD instead!".

My mother was taken back by my stern statement. Never before had I spoken to either of my parents in such a way, as they both had always intimidated me with their large metal armors and sharp weapons. She gave me an odd look and paused for a minute, not sure of how to respond to her daughter's new attitude. Finally she spoke.

"Fine. You are so weak and talent less, I don't imagin you would make a good warrior anyway. Stay here you worthless child. We must go meet our political sponsors and are late as it is."


Want more or did you think it wasn't that good? Let me know either way, I appreciate feedback. :)

Is it time already?!?

How is it that a half hour can fly by so fast? Well looks like it's starting to take me a bit longer to polish up this story. I just finished Chapter 8 which has taken me all hour to do! I guess it doesn't matter much, but it's funny that earlier I was flying through the chapters every half hour. Oh well, no biggie! The important thing here is it's getting DONE. What I plan to do after that - erm, I'm not exactly sure. I may look into publishing it, or I might just put it on a website. Not sure, but someway, some how it's going to turn into a little extra cash I hope. But if it doesn't, hey this was fun!

The thought also crossed my mind that I should post a little teaser, maybe a paragraph or partial chapter just so you can get a taste. We'll see how much I can babble here, and if I REALLY run out of things to say I just might. ;)

My favorite lines

So this has to rank up there with one of the most dorky posts in the Blogathon, but I have to do it. The title is called "My favorite lines", and I should warn you - they are all from cartoons.

From Fairly Odd Parents:

Wanda: "You woke her up 3 hours late to take her medication?!"
Cosmo: "Yeah, first she got mad....then she got reeeeal quiet"

((By the way I can't even type that line without laughing!))
Another line:

Cosmo: "We could mean anything! We as in you and me, we the people, or my favorite WEEEEEEE!"


From SpongeBob:

((Spongebob things Squidward is dead and they are talking to a ghost. He's digging a grave for a very much alive Squidward))

Squidward: "Spongebob! Are you trying to put me in the nut house??"
Spongebob: "Nope. Just in this hole."


Ok there's a few to keep you laughing. Here's a few from more adult movies:

From the Breakfast Club:

The "trouble maker" to the guy watching over the detention: "Does Barry Manalo know you raided his closet?"


From American Beauty:

After quitting his job and having a fight with his wife: "I didn't loose my job, it's not like OOPS where did my job go? I QUIT!"

Hehehehe now that I have myself laughing, I need to get back to writing those stories!

I'm back!

Well here I am, back and ready to go full force again. I'll be here until Anita gets up, which is very very early. I'm a night owl as she said, so any excuse to stay up late and let me sleep in the morning is FINE by me! Unfortuantely I may be missing the last part of the blogathon as I don't have plans to be awake at 9am (which is 8am my time), but I'll try my best to catch up on posts I may have missed from other blogs.

The plans for the night are to start working on re-writing the next chapter of the original story, which in the new story is chapter 8. WOW! I can't believe I actually wrote that much earlier!

It doesn't look like I'll be finishing this tonight, since I may take a break away from writing my story to watch a movie. Of course the movie will need to be paused every 25 mins or so, but that's ok!

I was just telling Anita before she went off to bed - I sure am pathetic. Why you ask? Because I love some of the kid's movies. I get a real kick out of Spongebob, Shrek, and more recently - Scooby Doo movie. There's just some parts of that movie you can't help but giggle. Mommy instinct kicks in and says "wait if I'm laughing at this, how good is this for him to see?". But I suppose, you can't protect them forever right? Parts like in Scooby Doo movie where Shaggy and Scooby Doo have their *ahem* "contest" you have to wonder if a 5 yr old should be watching this. But you know, I'm sad to say, they have already discovered how funny this is when they do it themselves. (If you have not seen this movie, I'm sorry if I confused you. Let's just say the "contest" was something along the lines of normal body functions.)

So in my next post, instead of bore you with "hey I finished another chapter", I'll have to share with you some of my favorite kid cartoon lines that my significant other and I giggle about often. If you have seen the shows and have kids, you'll probably already know what I'm talking about and get a kick out of them too!

Wrapping it up

Well, that's for me anyway. LOL! Kara sure has a long night ahead of her. Thanks for taking one for the team Kara! I thing we've scheduled this perfectly for the two of us. She's more of a night owl and I'm more of the morning person. That would be why my last shift starts at 4:00 am!

I've had a great time today and am really glad we joined.

See ya in the morning!

Anita :)

This post wasn't hard!

Haha, well unless you're a big brother fan like me you're gonna care less about this post! You had to know I was gonna post about this while I'm right in the middle of watching it, lol! (Gotta love my laptop)

So, who did you vote for? Did I mention I want Kaysar back? Honestly, at this point I'm not sure really who I am rooting to win.

Rachel & Howie - Although Howie can seem to be a bit strange at time, I really do get a kick out of him. I bet he makes it interesting in that house. I think for the most part those two have been playing quite a game.

Ivette & Beau - Well those two are just a pair and a half. I get sick of some of Ivette's comments but, I bet she's a pretty good person to know. Beau, he's just downright hillarious (IMHO).

Janelle - I didn't like her at all until she hooked up with Michael. I think when they started showing her with Michael we started to see her true colors. I don't think she was quite as bad a person in "real life" than she acted earlier.

April - She's "cute" ... Lol! If that makes sense.

Jennifer - Hmmm...is she flying under the radar or what? How much have we really seen about her? She'd be one I'd have to remind that this IS a game.

Mmmm...look at all those sweets coming through!!

Anita :)

One thing done!

Haha, how pathetic is that? I only had 2 things I really wanted to accomplish today. One was to finish a webpage for the Mommy's Helper site and at least start reformatting the Direct Sales Success Kit. Now granted, I did realize that reformatting the CD was going to take quite some time but I never even started it! And in my own defense, that one page I wanted to get done actually turned into 3. But still, this is rediculous! LOL!

Anyway...
Big Brother is on! See ya in a half hour!

Anita :)

Christmas Lists Already?

First all I can’t believe my kids are starting their Christmas lists already. Although, I’m kind of glad. I’d much rather start my shopping now than in the middle of December like I usually do.

But, the funny thing is this...
I don’t get Christmas lists of gifts this year. They’re making lists of websites! Is that unreal or what? LOL! Well, I gotta say this makes it easier on me too. I’d much rather do my shopping from my couch in the living room than battle the malls and department stores anytime after say... Halloween. Yeah, Halloween. That’s if they don’t decide to start even earlier this year. I remember when I was a kid Christmas stuff didn't come out until after Thanksgiving was at least over. Depending on where you were maybe during Thanksgiving but certainly not before! Now I see stores taking down Halloween decorations and putting up Christmas!?!

Here's a couple of websites on my kids' lists so far...
http://www.musicspacekids.com
http://www.floam.com
http://www.ltdcommodities.com

Just incase you wanna start your shopping a bit early too ;-)

Anita :)

Have you checked in on the Blogathon lately?

223 Participants, 1581 Sponsors and over 45 thousand dollars pledged for various charities! Oh, that is absolutely fantastic! Have you pledged yet? It’s all for a good cause!

Take a quick peek at some of the great charities...
http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org (Artist Helping Children)
http://www.girlsrockcamp.org (Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls)
http://www.thereadingtub.com (The Reading Tub)
http://www.bookaid.org (Book Aid)
http://www.komen.org (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation)
http://www.kidney.org (National Kidney Foundation)
http://globalfundforwomen.org (Global Fund for Women)

Come join and sponsor a good cause!

Anita :)

Ooops!

Wow! What do you all who are posting all by yourself talk about all day? There's not much time in 30 minutes for anything to happen to have something to talk about. I still have 3 hours left in this shift and I'm starting to run out of things to say! Not cool, huh?

I guess I could ramble on about what I'm gonna make in the next half hour for dinner ... half hour? Oh hubby!!! LOL!

Or how about how I'm also gonna talk hubby into wrapping my daughter's birthday presents. Ick! I despise wrapping! I think the biggest problem I have is I have to try to make them look just perfect and I just can't do it. So, I'm sure you can guess it's the biggest thing I hate about Christmas. That's quadrouple the presents. Double the birthday gifts and double the kids!

Oh, I know what I can talk about... Big Brother!! It's on in an hour and a half! Nah, I'll save that till later!

Anita :)

Note to self

Iron out all the details of daughter's birthday party BEFORE the Blogathon!
Phew! I didn't think I was going to make it back here on time! Everyone decided to call in the past half hour about my daughter's birthday party tomorrow. Do you have any idea how hard it is to rush someone who's talking about your daughter's birthday party to get back to a blogathon?

A blogathon? What the heck is a blogathon?? Oh, yeah, I really have the time to describe that to you, lol! Too many friends and family just can't figure what it is that I do online all the time. Now, I'm telling them I'm posting in my blog every half hour for 24 hours for charity...

Thank God for the word "charity" and the partial word "athon". That at least makes some sense. Now all they know is I'm online trying to raise money for Rupert's Kids. Satisfies them and gets me back here to make my 6:00 post!!

Works for me!

Anita :)

I win!

Aha! I win! No, I'm not crazy but I've spent the past half hour+ fighting with an online form processor, but I won! The form processor I usually use seems to be down so I had to use another. I may have designed websites but that doesn't mean I know it all, lol! Form codes are not my strong point by any means. If you're at all familiar with coding, you'll know once you fight for so long to get something perfect, you start seeing double. (Sometimes you even feel like ripping your hair out!)

But, not this time! It's just the way I wanted it AND I still have all my hair! Now off to finally finish that page! Let's hope Paypal doesn't give me as much trouble!

Anita :)

Time for the third shift!

I agree w/ what Kara mentioned earlier ... it sure is nice to have a partner to do this with. It’s a bit difficult when you have little ones to spend an entire weekend day online and have to be on a schedule to post every half hour. It worked out pretty well to only have one kiddo here instead of two.

Speaking of one being gone... ready to hear about our newest family member? She’s all black w/ brown feet. She’s also part dachtsun, part beagle. Now the funniest thing about this is my husband wanted a beagle and I wanted a dachtsun. Now, I don’t know a whole lot about dogs but, what are the chances of this puppy sitting there? I swear she was just waiting for us to adopt her ;-) Oh, and I forgot to mention one little piece of information earlier. We already have one dog! He’s a great big goofy boxer who is as stupid as a box of rocks. Sorry, I shouldn’t say that, huh? Hubby says I’m to say he’s just stubborn. Anyway, I can’t wait to see his reaction. I’m sure he’ll do fine with her but, I’m also sure he’ll be extremely curious for a while.

Anita :)

Still writing!

Yes! I continue to write and I do believe I'm getting close to finishing the re-write on the original first chapter. Just a few more paragraphs or maybe even just lines in this chapter, which by the way I'm now on Chapter 7. YIPPIE!

It's almost the end of my "shift", so be watching for Anita to come back in for a bit. I'm ready for a break but I hope will be ready to get back to writing tonight!

Still plugging away

I'm so thankful my other half is supportive. He's been so good with the kids today, and actually just ran to the store to get a few things for supper. I might have some time to make dinner tonight, but even if I don't he's stated he'll make it. *grin* Love having someone around that will actually do those "woman" things like cook, clean, and take care of the kids. I am very lucky indeed!

The story is still coming along. I'm still working on chapter 6 but debating if I should start a new chapter right now. See now, I told you I wasn't very good with the chapter breaks! I'm going to have to decide soon so I don't get confused later on (I've been saving each chapter separately, less confusing for me and easier to find something).

Chapter 5 finished

Yup, just finished Chapter 5 and just in time to make another post to the blog! I will start working on Chapter 6 here in just a moment. Still having fun with it!

I have to thank my other half for keeping the kids in check - he even got them to clean up the toy room! In good time even, with little stalling from them. I don't even think he helped them at all, so this is a good thing. :)

Working on Chaper 5

I think I'm begining to run out of energy just a bit, but I haven't stopped yet. I'm still working on Chapter 5. The story is still coming out very nicely and the only writers block I have is what to type here on the blog! I would like to post the story, but wouldn't feel right about it since it's not finished and I'm really not sure I will finish it by the end of the Blogathon. If I do happen to finish it before the end, I *might* post a link or somewhere it can be read. Warning though, it's a very strong fiction/fantisy story. I suppose I can tell you about the plot eh?

For those who are interested:
The setting is a place not unlike earth, in a world where evil lurks in certain areas. There is a side that wishes not to fight, and a side that has the spark and will fight. The story is actually a bio of a young girl, and her experiences in this world starting from when she was first born.

That's all I will say for now, and if you are interested in reading this, stay tuned!

Time is sure flying....

I can't believe it's already been a half hour since my last post. I just finished Chapter 4, and read over the last few chapters to make sure I didn't miss anything or to see if there was something else to add. It seems like I'm rushing this, but I assure you I'm not! This is just the way I write - all at once and in order. I'm not one for making notes or outlines. Ok, so this time I do somewhat have an outline, which is the original story. But really, I call that a draft more than anything else. I'm the type that writes "free style" and I'm comfortable with it.

Oh, I should also mention here my kids have been EXTREMELY good today. My other half has been keeping an eye on them and taken care of a few fits, but nothing out of the norm. I'm proud of the way they have been behaving, and I wonder if it has anything to do with all the running around we've been doing lately. Could it be they are content with just staying home today? I know I am! They've seen so much in the past 2 months it's unreal. The zoo, amusement park, trainland, the public pool, a concert in the park, and the local science center. It's just been CRAZY! I was more than ready to stay home and do nothing but write today, and I think they are enjoying some quiet time too. ;)

Just starting on Chapter 4

Seems like time is flying VERY fast, and so is this story. I just started on Chapter 4 and haven't had the slightest bit of writers block yet. (Knock on wood!) It's coming rather easy to me, probably because I have something to go off of. Hopefully I can keep this up all day, or at least until 5pm est when Anita comes back. After a few hour break I should be good to go again.

Oh I should mention about this story, one of the reasons I am doing a re-write. Not just because I want it longer, but because I realised it was too focused on the game. Those that don't know this game could get lost easily, so I needed to make some things a bit more clear. I hope I'm doing an ok job of that now, and I'll probably run this past someone that doesn't know anything about the game to see if it's easy to follow.

Back to work!

Chapter 3

Yes! I am now on Chapter 3....which in the original story is still Chapter 1. This has been so much fun adding to this story and letting my creativity out. I think we all have that creativity spark, it's just a matter of letting it out. I could be wrong though, but I don't think so. :)

I'm not feeling rushed, or even like I'm skipping parts of the story again. About the only thing I'm really having a hard time with is figuring out where the chapter breaks should be. I was never good with that, and sometimes I even have problems with paragraph breaks. Kinda wishing I hadn't blown off English in school *eep*. Funny I use to be able to write all kinds of short stories when I was a kid, and I use to READ as well. Yes I was one of those dorky kids in school that always had a book (sometimes 2 or 3) in her hands. Not just any book though, I had no interest in like "learning" anything (how boring!). No, I loved the fiction books. If it was fiction and scolastic, I probably read it. Go ahead, name anything published in the late 80s or early 90s and I just might know it!

Now, back to writing MY story! I swear I feel like a kid again, this is so fun!

Be nice Blogger!

We've all had problems here and there with Blogger I think. I've got my fingers crossed today that we don't have any major melt downs. It just about timmed out on me in my last post, so let's hope it's bugs are done for one day.

Well let's see, what have I got done so far? Chapter 1 is done (well kinda, I keep going back and typing things here and there), and it's amazing how much MORE I wrote from just a few paragraphs from the first story! I'm now working on Chapter 2 in the "new" story which wasn't even half way through Chapter 1 on the first story. YIPPIE! I feel a sence of accomplishment so far, and looking forward to writing all day *grin*

In between posts

Ah, I now see how difficult it is to make posts every half hour while attemtping to do something else! Much respect goes to those who are blogging alone and not in teams. I am very, very luck to have my partner Anita to split the time with me! We chose to take "shifts" so that each of us can attend to family today and uh, sleep.

Even still, this is proving to be a difficult task to write here and write my story as well. So this is what I've done for the last short half hour:

I took a look at the current short story I had written a few months ago. It's 4 chapters long right now, and it's a bit "rushed" as far as time lines within the story. Also there's more to add, but that I'll worry about later. 4 chapters is not much for a story that is suppose to have happend of a period of over 30 years! So what I decided to do is just start from the begining and re-write it. The plot itself is not being changed, but rather it's been "beefed up". I'm going into more detail for things I rushed through to finish. This started out as a story "just for fun" and more for myself than anything else, but now I'm thinking of publishing it or at least giving it to the public.

So far I've only got through the first 2 paragraphs of the original story, and already have 7 paragraphs of the "new" story.

Wish me luck on finishing this today!

My Intro and Change of Plans

Hello everyone! I'll be taking the "second shift" of our blogathon today. I realise there is probably quite a few reading all the blogs so let me give a little intro. My name is Kara, and like Anita I am a WAHM (work at home mom). With Anita I co-own several websites dedicated to helping WAHMs, plus have my own projects here and there. Some of my personal projects include Idea Queen, Prairie Soy Candles, and a poetry website.

I love music, poetry, and yes even online games *gasp!* (I don't think I've ever admitted that before!). Because much of what I set up online is automatic, I do spend time playing games online. I'm not one that likes to watch TV, and I love to set goals, so I'm usually drawn to games that allow me to play for a long period of times (months, even years).

I also have a pretty good imagination, and I like to write when the mood strikes me. Today I was going to finish up my challenge for Idea Queen, but I'm going to admit that I'm stuck. Best not to force these things, and I have added a page or two this week.

So today my challenge is expanding on a fiction story I've been writing based on one of the games I play. Let's hope I can get a little done in between posts!

Rupert’s Kids?

What is Rupert’s Kids and Why did we choose them?

Rupert’s Kids, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization committed to changing lives by empowering youth to discover their inner strengths, realize their own self worth and their value to society. Rupert’s Kids facilitates this process by providing mentoring and educational programming to youth through the rehabilitation of housing for low-income families. Through Rupert’s Kids, we can realize the potential in every young person by building upon the Rupert Philosophy of Life: Life is Good. Be You. Give Back.

You can buy all kinds of "Rupert Merchandise" there (including the infamous tye dyed shirts). All the proceeds go to Rupert's Kids.
Their mission statement is "To empower youth to discover their inner strengths, realize their own self worth and their value to society."

Their goals include:
- Provide mentoring and educational programming to youth.
- Develop housing options for low-income families.
- Foster community partnership, which serve youth and families.
- Facilitate delivery of financial assistance and/or services to youth, low-income and homeless families in the areas of education, vocational training and job placement.
- Develop committed volunteers and donors to provide resources of time, money and property.

We are highly active in helping moms stay at home with their children, so the choice to sponsor Rupert's Kids (which helps in areas we aren't able to) was an easy one.

Wanna see Rupert? We met him last month! Check out the pictures here:
http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2213

Take care,
Anita :)

How much work can she get done?

Okay, in one half hour time period...how much work related items can she get done?

1. Of course I needed to promote the blogathon a bit. (We’ll pretend this counts!) Sent out 2 “ads” about today’s event.

2. Fielded about 10 email questions about the promotion.

3. Oops! Got sidetracked! Had to visit one of our sponsor’s blogs. Haha, talk about ironic! She’s blogging for the ASPCA! Had to let her know where my daughter was today!! http://aspca.blogdrive.com/

4. Found where MOST of my questions are coming from and posted the details on how to join. There seems to be some confusion of how, when, where etc. Hopefully this will answer some of the FAQ’s and free up some of my time. LOL!

5. Fix the mistakes in those FAQ’s

6. Potty break! Okay, I know that’s way too much info but, I am human! Hehe...

On to the next half hour stretch...(Kind of hard to get anything done in 30 minutes!)

Take care,
Anita :)

P.S. Did you sponsor anyone yet?? http://www.blogathon.org/blogathon.php?campaign&id=126 There’s a lot of great charities being blogged for today!

Any Big Brother Fans around?

Okay, so I’m supposed to be working, right? But, how could I not stop and take a moment to vote?!? Especially when we seem to have quite the controversy (friendly of course) going on at my message boards http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/phpBB2 of which evicted house guest should come back. Go Kaysar! LOL! (Couldn’t resist!) I’m way too addicted to a couple reality shows. Big Brother and Survivor are my ultimate favorites. I can’t say that I really like any others but, those...yikes! Too addicted!

So BB6 fans...who do you want to come back??
Don’t forget to VOTE HERE http://www.cbs.com/primetime/bigbrother6/_polls/amc_poll.shtml

Take care,
Anita :)

Sweating it out...

Phew! Well the last half hour I spent sweating it out! Apparently we missed something during the sign up process for the Blogathon. We weren’t sporting the neat little Blogathon Webring (to your right now). Our great team moderator June contacted me and gave me the link to sign up. Oops! It says it was closed and if we weren’t signed up that our campaign would be removed!! I would have been so disappointed to be disqualified over that. Thanks June for getting everything straightened out! We’re good to go. Now back to that full email! Yikes! I didn’t know so many people were waiting, considering etc to join my team. I haven’t even really had a chance to advertise the promotion! They keep coming to me. Works for me!

Gotta thank God for hubby! I usually don’t work on the weekends...or I try really hard not to. (Doesn’t always work out that way.) He’s been taking care of our four year old Cole while I participate today. He’s got the little guy down in the garage working on the never ending truck project. Yeah, hubby likes them big. REALLY BIG! My daughter is on her way to the ASPCA with her grandparents to pick up our new family member! She doesn’t know it yet but, she’s getting the puppy she wanted for her birthday. This afternoon should be pretty interesting! Stay tuned to see what she brings home!

Take care,
Anita :)

Change of plans?

Good thing I already made plans to be online today! My plans were to complete a webpage for MommysHelperOnline.com and also reformat The Direct Sales Success Kit (that is in CD format now) to be ready for print. (Shh! It’s a secret!) The Direct Sales Success Kit is a step by step guide for consultants, reps, sponsors etc who are involved in direct sales. As of right now, it’s only available in CD format but, as soon as I get it reformatted it will be available in print also. Yeah, I’m just a little excited about this.

BUT...I think someone else might have had something else in mind. The direct sales company that I’m involved with (The Greeting Cake Company) decided that they’re going to hold a free sign up for this weekend. Needless to say, I woke up to quite a full email. Looks like I’ll be fielding quite a few questions. That’s okay...it’s the perfect way to build my team!

Take care,
Anita :)

Welcome to Blogathon 2005!

Good Morning!
Welcome to Blogathon 2005!

I figured since we’ll probably be picking up quite a few new visitors due to the Blogathon that I’d start off with a little introduction. My name is Anita DeFrank. I’m a work at home mom of two great kids and married to my very best friend. I’ve been working at home for over 3 years now and wouldn’t give it up for the world. I do work 2 days a week outside the home. It’s the perfect balance for me. I get to spend majority of time at home with my kids but I also get those 2 days for a little adult conversation.

I own many websites, MommysHelperOnline.com, WahmStateDirectory.com, Wahm-Blog.com, MommyBanners.com, WahmBands.com, EasyBakeGreetings.com, Yeah, I’m nuts. And those are just the ones I own myself. I also co-own DirectSalesHelpers.com I co-own that with my partner Kara who will be along a little later.

For those of you who are real newbies to this part of the internet I should let you know that WAHM is an acronym for Work at Home Mom. As you can tell...that’s what my online life revolves around. I’ve met tons of new friends in the “Wahm Community” and we’re all out to help each other.

Today my blog posts are going to be about some of the things that I deal with on a daily basis. Feel free to drop a comment ... I’d love to hear from ya!

Take care!
Anita :)

P.S. Don't forget to stop by and sponsor us! You can view our charity and campaign at http://www.blogathon.org/blogathon.php?campaign&id=126

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

$27232.38 Total Pledged!

WOW! Have you checked out the blogathon lately? Over 27 thousand dollars pledged for various charities as of this morning! How awesome is that?!? There's a total of 240 participants and 933 sponsors! I'm blown away at such an awesome fundraiser and so very glad to be a part of it! :D

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

One Week Left of my Challenge

Well with one week left of my challenge, I have to say it's just not going well. I hit some road blocks and some major distractions, and I didn't handle them as well as I should have. I'm having some serious writers block as well. :( Nothing like tons of excuses to really hold you back. I think I may have overwhelmed myself anyway, and caused a major writers block. Building pages and using other's content is one thing, but writing your own content on 100 pages is a totally different thing. I look at it this way though, I've now got 24 more pages than I had before.

So to ease a bit of the stress here and stop rushing myself (I really don't want sloppy content either - that's no excuse, that's a fact!), I'm going to change my goal a bit. I'm going to back off and only work to 50 new pages by the end of this week. I really hate to change my goals, and take the "easy way out", but I'm already heading towards a burn out here. Plus like a mentioned before, I should be taking my time and writing GOOD content instead of RUSHED cotent.