Parenting Sites 411

I don’t know if one would refer to me as crazy, insane or just a plain ol’ blog hog…but I have a few blogs and I’m preparing to launch a group blog……anyone have any late night issues…I’m an incurable insomniac. You can always find me on twitter as jareason. As it is, I am attempting to bribe another woman named Jerri Ann into giving me that twitter name but so far, no luck. I’ll let you know if it pans out. And, I am also trying to buy the domain jerriann.com from the person who owns it as it has sat since 2004 with the same photo of “under constructin” type info on it. But, in the meantime…here’s where you can find me….

Jerri Ann Reason - media site
Jerri Ann - my battle wth EASports and the 30 day challenge
Mom~E~Centric - my personal site
TV Boyfriends - my most popular site
Mom is Teaching - where I hope to grow the most
Mental and Emotonal Health- where I hope to lend a helping hand the most often
Media Critiques - where I make fun of people (you maybe)
Parenting Stes 411 - where I try to offer up good parenting links I find
Michelle Obama Watch - watching Michelle Obama become the most popular First Lady ever
Life in Reality - celebrity watch
TBTS The Real Truth - a scam that caught even me

And, stay tuned for an upcoming group blog endeavor. Scarry? Yes, indeed!

You can read everything that has been posted plus upcoming tweets, skype messages and emails as well as all comments from this site on the new blog

TBTS The Real Truth

PurpleTrail is a brand new way to organize and manage parties, get-togethers, events and meetings. With it’s fresh perspective, PurpleTrail brings together some of the best features and experiences to help you easily manage your event.

Short video Tour - http://purpletrail.com/pt2/cons/mkt/tour/

PurpleTrail has been growing! In the last 6 months since PurpleTrail came out of beta we have seen hundreds of thousands of users visit us. They often share suggestions and feature requests.  We have been adding tons of features and currently we have the most comprehensive list of features for online invitations. Today we are making a milestone release with tons of improvements; both visible and not so visble. Here is a sample:

• PurpleTrail Design center : We are launching a revamped design center. It’s faster, has more features and tools and a completely new collection of design elements and invitation designs to choose from. You can now create stunning looking invitation designs like never before. Give it a try and you will never go back to standard invitation designs ever again.  Visit the PurpleTrail Design Center and click on ‘ Design your invitation’
• PurpleTrail is now with added boosters:  We have optimised the service and now PurpleTrail is faster than before. This means an improved and quicker experience for you.
• PurpleTrail looks better: With Spring on its way we decided to give PurpleTrail a new set of clothes and you can now enjoy PurpleTrail with a new header and a new home page. The new header improves the experience your invitees have with your invitations, ecards and announcements.
• Custom subject for emails: You can now customize the subject line for the emails you send out.  Again, this is a feature you will find only on PurpleTrail.
• Others: Also a host of smaller improvements like a better RSVP box to increase the response rate for your invites.

  

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This is not a political blog.  It is merely something that came to my attention tonight and I felt I need to say that I am amazed and I am grateful that a man, any man, any where would say this……….it’s prolific, PERIOD!

I’m paraphrasing here but what he said that was so powerful to me was this

“I believe that this is a moral issue….I believe that this is not an issue that women take lightly….I believe that women are in a better position to make decisions on this matter than congress …or the President of the United States….and at the same time….I want to see what we can do to prevent unwanted pregnancies especially in teenagers…..which is on the rise”

People, that is powerful stuff!  The man has the ego big enough to finally be open and say that regardless of what men say, they have no idea what pregnancy feels like or how to do with unwanted pregnancy.

I mean, bam, you turn your back and all of the sudden, you have a kid graduating from Kindergarten……and then, you have to get really hacked because someone broke the scanner.  But, then someone fixed it, then someone lost the cords, and then someone brought home graduation pictures and geeez Louise how am I going to show these pictures…ahaha, I’ll take a picture of the picture – damn I’m smart….

oh brother

Taking a picture is not easy…

Ok, let me try again…

Ok, look, this is not as easy as it sounds…

but I being the pestering kind, I managed…look how cute he is..

He looks huge doesn’t he?  And, with all those bright lights…well yea, he looks really big.  He is big for his age but he doesn’t necessarily have shoulders like a full blown linebacker just yet. 

May 26th, we walk the walk – and we will officially be a First Grader – Oh My, I am super scared!

Ok, so I hit another site and it took me to that doggone Spongebob crap again.  ARGH.  Either way, I’m going to talk about something very near and dear to me, Bullies.  I was bullied in elementary and junior high.  But, it was really subtly and it was done by the good kids so people basically ignored my constant tears.  I was even hospitalized 3 times with a diagnosis of only “nervous stomach”. 

I mean really, did the fact that I cried everyday at school not strike anyone as odd?  My son is much like me, very tender hearted and cries quite easily.  As of right now, in kindergarten, it’s not that big of a deal, he’s not being bullied and really if he cries…so do many of his classmates.

But, I do fear that he will eventually fall prey to the tears and that it will be hard for him to handle as he gets older if he isn’t able to get his emotions in check so that he doesn’t cry every time something doesn’t go his way. 

What do you think?  Will he outgrow it?

This one is going to sort of a cross post because I just couldn’t turn the information away but couldn’t decide where to use it.  I’m fairly certain that it isn’t going to affect anyone’s mental or emotional health and it certainly doesn’t have a hot man attached to it, so I’m left with these 3 options.  First of all, from a media standpoint, when you read the words “Safe Type Keyboard” and/or read the words “Greatest Keyboard” and “Ergonomically” then naturally your inquisitive little mind has to get moving.  Go see what is all asunder. 

So, with that comes the finding of the knowledge.  What knowledge?  Well just look at this thing?  It would take a full year of education just to learn how to monkey around with it.  Just look…

So, let me tell you that typing on a Qwerty layout is awkward and hard to learn.  And apparently using the standard keyboard is harmful and causes debilitating pain in the arms and wrists.  So, here you go, the safe type keyboard.  Yea Yea Yea whatever!

If you plan to teach your child to type, I highly recommend that you stick with a good ol’ fashion keyboard.  I learn to type on a mechanical one that went ca-clunk ca-clunk with ever key, but that thing up there…it would just be going ca-clunk in my trash. 

Anyway, back to the kiddos, here’s another alternative and it’s pretty doggone cute.  What do you think?

Who doesn’t like free?  I mean, you know, free is free and you simply can’t get things any easier than that. I’ve won quite a few things online as of late and so I know, it feels good when that delivery truck pulls up in my front yard and I know there’s something on it for me and it was free. 

Parents.com has a Daily Giveaway where you can enter to win baby gear, toys and prizes everyday.  So, by all means, don’t be a stranger to entering these giveaways because trust me free feels good. 

And, then there is a contest for the cutest dad photo and you will definitely want to check this out because we all know that our baby is the cutest, right?  And, finally, there’s the get organized sweepstakes where you can enter to get a professional in-home consultation and more.

What could get better than an in-home consultation when it comes to your kids?  Come on, someone, tell me, I’m waiting.

Some of the little sites out there are not very impressive to me.  You know, I really don’t care what my Twitter Grade is but just in case you care, lol, I went to Twitter Grader to see what kind of grade I have right now, but again…who’s really paying attention, right?

But, hey, the first time I ever checked it, my grade was like 70 something.  Now, I have to tell you that I am not a twitter whore.  I am the poster child for twitter because I obviously can’t walk and tweet at the same time or I wouldn’t be sporting this big ugly boot on my broken ankle.  And, I am also considered somewhat of a Twitter idiot because when I tried to DM my phone number to some folks last weekend, it went out live for the whole Twitter world to see. 

But, just for the sake of prosperity (I have no idea what that means but it sounds good), I thought I’d check it again before I run off on a tangent about my personal websites.  And, lo and behold, all that twittering I did at Blissdom (while sitting by the way, not walking – I may or may not have been driving, but I wasn’t walking and tweeting, I can’t do it), my grade rose to a 98.4.  Which seems awesome right?  Yea, so awesome that it means out of 1,259,151 twitters, I am 19,082…er..ok, never mind.

All of that was so mesmerizing that I had to jump in on the bandwagon when I saw this Typealyzer which is going to tell you about my website.  And, I have such a low self-esteem that I checked it out to see if I liked what it had to say before I decided to share it with you.  Sorry, just the plain ol’ truth, sometimes it ain’t purdy.

But, you know what, I like what it said about me, so you gonna get it….right here….and now…

I mean, check out the image they gave me…. She looks good doesn’t she?  I mean, I wish I looked like that for real..

And, here’s what they say about this website…

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.
The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

That part in red….absolute truth without one nano-second of doubt.

Go check your own blog out and see what you come up with….and tell me, whether you like it or believe it or not…

I was fortunate enough to attend Blissdom last weekend and one of the first group of ladies that I met was overwhelming at the best.  I mean, there were only like 3, then 7, than 14 and at that point, I gave up.  Well, 2 of the ladies had these awesome little organizers that caused me to froth at that mouth.  And, when I found out that they had received them from a brand spanking new company that asked them to help promote them, I knew I had to have one. 

I mean, look at this beauty…

Yes, I know that it is a bit shiny with my flash and all that, and of course, putting it on my laptop was pure laziness (but I do have a broken foot, remember).  Either way, the Card Cubby is nothing if not pure excitement…….

And, that’s a really bad photo of the inside of it, but as you can tell, it has indexed cards so you can put your cards in the right place alphabetically.

And, here’s the cool part, the other side, the side that I never did get a picture of without it being all shiny has a place to put your own business card and is really big enough to put several in it so you can use that spot for storage. 

My phone fits in it, my credit cards (or I should say debit cards) fit in it and it is simply just as awesome as it looked like it might be when I was admiring it from afar. 

And, the most important part of it all…..they are truly inexpensive….I’ve been perusing the site to see what else they might have that I want to purchase.  So, you too, go now and check them out and if you like compact little carry-it-alls, this is a must have!

I read on a professional blog somewhere that one of the best ways to build readership is to network.  Network, network, network.  I just returned from Blissdom and I’m excited by all the social networking information that I was able to allow to seep into my little brain portal. 

I met some bloggers that I thought were big time glass house bloggers making tons of money.  And, they weren’t.  I met some bloggers that were more down to earth than any one I’ve ever met and they were 6 figure earners. 

But, the common theme is network network network.  Then, last night in a big twitter party called #gno (girls night out), I happened to mention my goal of commenting on at least 50 blogs a day.  It isn’t easy and if you have a lot of other things going on in your life, I suggest your start with a lower goal than 50.  I started with 30 and worked my way to 50.

So, here’s where I issue this challenge:

Look at your feed reader, choose a number of blogs that you can realistically read and comment on at least 5 days a week, and then set that goal.  It’s important to remember that just because you miss one day doesn’t make it a failed experiment.  It’s like weight loss, just pick up the next day and start over.

If you are up to the challenge, sign up with Mr. Linky so I can make sure you are in my feed reader.*

*I must say that I normally choose blogs for comments by the finding blogs that have less than 10 comments when I read the post.  That doesn’t mean you have to do that as well, you can pick and choose as you please, it just makes it nice for those of us who do not get many comments to see them there.  Casey from Moosh in Indy said it best when she said, “I take each comment and suck on it”.  Yea, what she said.

Ok, so remember, I told you, I have already met the most incredible group of women and there is no way I can name them all.  But, for now, I’m going to stick with “if you gave me a card” then I get you here…

Now, lo and behold, guess who I find and end up eating lunch with.  First there was the middle person Roni who hooked us up.  But, then, then there these great women who confessed to me that…..they are homeschoolers.  WHAT  The nerve!  It was great and I was so happy that Toni felt comfortable speaking her mind.  I asked them about the homeschooling and I then introduced them to this blog.  Toni was kind, and then she said, “I wondered about that, you write a mom is teaching but you don’t homeschool.” 

Yea, well, that’s how it goes.  I told her all about you guys encouraging me to do what’s right for my family right now and to keep my mind open to what might become right later.  Anyway, I feel it is important to throw in here that Toni….yea, Toni has 6 kids and is totally pregnant with number 7.  Ages 14 down to 3 and one in the oven. 

If you don’t know her, you should.  She is  military wife and she is rockin’ in my book just because of her quite, simple, easy demeanor yet able to speak out and say what she thinks.  Gosh I love those kind of people.

Ok, enough gushing about just that one woman, there were more, too many more for me to keep up.

One of those women was Toni from The Happy Housewife and one was Kate from A Simple Walk and Joy from Fivej’s.

Now, as I said, I met many many many many more women.  I even have these two AWESOME photos to share….

Me and Tanis from redneckmommy and if you don’t know Tanis, you don’t know anyone…

Can you tell that I am like a complete dork and I am so enamored with Tanis that I could……lick her…? 

And, there’s Allison from fussypants and well, yea, if you don’t know fussypants, you don’t know Blissdom 09  and you don’t know Blissfully Domestic now do you?

Yep, you got it, I’m excited!

Just so you know, there’s lots of picture taking going on around here too, just look….

That’s Joy taking my picture as I take a picture of her…woot woot for Blogger Blissdom!

Now, I also received cards from Alyson from 3 Ps in a Pod and Shash who is crazedmommy and I’ve been chatting with her prior to arriving here so she was another awesome find in person.

Ack, I missed a card, Katie with the Geek Squad, how could I miss that card?

And, let met tell you about David Griner who I managed to really deal some misery too because…..he works with social media with Little Debbie snack cakes.  Little Debbie is actually is one of the sponsors here and they chose this huge group of women to try out their new 100 calorie snacks and give some away.  I wasn’t one of them.  Big surprise?  No? 

Ok, no for real, I’m not surprised and wasn’t even offended…until I figured out they were based out of….yea, get this..Birmingham, Alabama.  Yea.  Surprised?  No?  Well, after I learned that, I was like, whoa, I have 10 blogs and I am an Alabama born and bred girl, I look like I could totally use a few of the 100 Calorie snack cakes because obviously I’ve been eating the real things.  And, to add insult to injury, all things being equal, when asked where I am from, I answer “just outside of Birmingham”.  So, do you think these guys snobbed me on purpose?  Ha! 

No, I’m just not that very well known…but now..maybe…we could have 100 calorie Little Debbie Snack Cakes for life.  Ok, for a week?

Ok, so I am at this thing call Blissdom.  As if you haven’t heard me talk about it incessantly for a month…just know what, yea today around 2, I arrived at the hotel and made it to my room.  I took nap and then…then…aahhhh I headed to dinner with an invitation fro Linda from LindaSPPreppy.

People, this is what my blackened Mahi Mahi with some crazed cheese sauce looked like and to be perfectly it was feakin’ awesome! 

I know, it looks like a desert doesn’t it.  I met some great women already, I’ll name a few because you know, name dropping is so cool…first I told you that Linda invited me to dinner….so that’s one,

Then, there was Robin, Melanie, Sugar Jones, Jyl, Carissa, Rocks in my Dryer, and that’s just to name a few.  And, the biggee. right off the bat, I got to meet…..Ali …..wooohoo

Wait a few more Plus Size Mommy, Mrs Flinger and… and…ok, I’m sleepy

Oh and this is Lori from A Cowboy’s Wife, she has a food blog, so erm….she is making a picture of her food that probably looks 300 times better than mine, for more reasons than one.

Consider yourself warned:  No More Name Dropping because, geez, how could I mention everyone when I can’t even keep up with everyone when I am in the same room with them….just so you know.

That’s what the room looked like before I trashed it.

And, does anyone know who these men are in my room?

Ok, so, I said no name dropping.  Then, I started looking through the business cards that I received just TODAY alone.  And, that made it impossible to at least pass this opportunity. This isn’t all of the people I met today and I didn’t meet all of these people.  Got it.  So, here goes…

Kangarooboo

Comfedoutkaiser

Good for the Kids

Victoria or Vdog

Organic by Nature

Laughing Rat Studio

Kaiser Alex 

Eden Fantasts

Malia Live Laugh Love

Lisa C Boyd

Melanie at Blogging Basics 101 and Bloggy Giveaways and Don’t Try This at Home

Robin

Lori at A Cowboys Wife, My Wooden Spoon, Cowgirl Critiques

Jyl

Linda

So, if I get hugged, licked or bit and they don’t leave me a card, then I might forget to add them.  I’ll try to do a business card roll each night, how about that.

Ok, so I am at this thing call Blissdom.  As if you haven’t heard me talk about it incessantly for a month…just know what, yea today around 2, I arrived at the hotel and made it to my room.  I took nap and then…then…aahhhh I headed to dinner with an invitation fro Linda from LindaSPPreppy.

People, this is what my blackened Mahi Mahi with some crazed cheese sauce looked like and to be perfectly it was feakin’ awesome! 

I know, it looks like a desert doesn’t it.  I met some great women already, I’ll name a few because you know, name dropping is so cool…first I told you that Linda invited me to dinner….so that’s one,

Then, there was Robin, Melanie, Sugar Jones, Jyl, Carissa, Rocks in my Dryer, and that’s just to name a few.  And, the biggee. right off the bat, I got to meet…..Ali …..wooohoo

Wait a few more Plus Size Mommy, Mrs Flinger and… and…ok, I’m sleepy

Oh and this is Lori from A Cowboy’s Wife, she has a food blog, so erm….she is making a picture of her food that probably looks 300 times better than mine, for more reasons than one.

Consider yourself warned:  No More Name Dropping because, geez, how could I mention everyone when I can’t even keep up with everyone when I am in the same room with them….just so you know.

That’s what the room looked like before I trashed it.

And, does anyone know who these men are in my room?

My husband and I constantly speak of life in terms of “when things settle down” or “when things get back to normal” and as you can probably guess, calm and settled are not adjectives frequently used when describing a family with small children.

So, tonight as I received a photo of a picture I had requested Nino paint for me, I became giddy.  One look at and I was in love (and not just because she made my arse look saller than Jupiter, but hey, it didn’t hurt) with this painting.  This is one of the most beautiful drawings, paintings, etc that anyone has everyone done for me.

I showed Boy Genius the picture and he insinuated that he did indeed like the photo as well.  But, he left it at that.  A few minutes later he walks back by my chair and asks to see the photo again….then he says, “I have a new blog tagline for you….” 

Naturally I knew I was about to get non-sense but this time…he made more sense than every….His thoughts one our tagline and our photo..

“Constantly re-inventing normalcy”

He added, just look how normal you three look,,,,weird how Nino was able to leave the chaos out of the drawing. Ha Ha!  Without further rambling, I give you, “constantly re-inventing normalcy”