No Good Day Ends Without An Injury, Or Two

My super-duper, stuffed full of pumpkin filling goodness, melts in your mouth and not in your hands, pumpkin pie. It tasted delicious. Mom ate a huge bit of it. I ate a huge bit of it. Aubree did too. If you notice, this is just one pie. I cooked two today.

Although the edges of the pie kind of look a bit burned, it’s actually not. I thought it was too but it kind of caramelized on the edges of the crust, it tastes darn good. Most of all, I can hardly wait to have another big ol’ slice tomorrow! Damn I love Pumpkin pie. However, I do love Sweet Potato pie more, but I don’t think anyone sells that filling in a can. :-/

Pie making isn’t all that made this day great. You see, I took today off for a series of mommy/daughter time with Monkey. Okay, a big part of it was for my sanity as well. I get really grumpy when I get over worked, so I took some time to relieve some of that work stress by having fun! Most of it was fun for Monkey, though. She ate pie, we watched disk two from season one of Alf, then we carved her pumpkin for her. We lit a pumpkin candle and put it in there so she could watch it as it lit up. Nothing was more exciting for her today, I would think. She’s really getting into this stuff now that she’s almost 4 years old and it’s great to see her enjoy it so much. Heck, it’s about time Halloween started to come back around because she has been asking me to take her trick-or-treating since last Halloween!!

Then, of course, the title here. It’s true, pie baking burned my arm and I cut myself with the knife while working on the pumpkin. It’s nice to have a way to remember a great moment… but I do not recommend injury. I just a bit unlucky when it comes to that stuff. I can’t bake without burning myself, so that was a given. Didn’t expect to cut my hand, though. Kids… this is why you need to make sure the knife always points at the PUMPKIN.

Most of all, I am going to go now. I have a few more minutes before I can go to bed but I am just thankful I was able to get a moment to write in here. Nothing like a blog post to round off a great day like today.

Posted in Parenthood, Personal Posts, Pictures

The Good Ol’ Classics… Are The 80’s Classic Yet?

A few nudges had me considering a Netflix account. It was Amy Derby that pushed me over the edge by dangling the hope of Alf in front of me.

With my two week free trial I have added all 3 seasons of Alf to my queue. Unfortunately, although I signed up for three at a time, I’m only getting one. So I received Alf Season 1, Disk 1 (out of 4) today. I watched it. My need for Alf has only just started to be quenched. Only a total of 11 left to go! I think it’ll take me a while…

However, it was wonderful getting to watch those first 7 episodes of Alf. It started in 1986, the year after I was born, so I don’t remember them beyond any reruns I might have seen when I was a little older. The instant I saw the beginning to an episode, it definitely triggered some fond Alf “I remember that…” moments.

Putting Alf on my list has Netflix recommending to me a whole bunch of old 80’s shows that have moved to DVD, some of which I’ve never heard of.

Do you have a your own favorite 80’s series? What is the name of it? Why do you like it? I might end up renting the series, if it’s available, based on your recommendation.

Posted in Personal Posts, Topic-Specific

When Politics Take Over Your School

When Monkey started school, I knew I wanted to be involved. My parents were involved in the things I did, and that was cool. I just knew that it was something I wanted to do. Especially since she is my only child and I have the flexibility of working from home, something my mom did not have.

However, I did not expect ‘getting involved’ to include running for a position within the parent involvement meetings. And winning.

It definitely made of an interesting day coming off the fact we’d just found out that Monkey also needs glasses.

I will be representing all the other parents of the school Monkey is in on different policies that they’d like to see implemented. It’ll be fun to get involved. There is even free dinner for all of us, that’s fun too.

In light of the political season, I find it interesting that I won an office somewhere. Maybe I will become the next PTA mom turned Vice President Hopeful?

Naw…

Posted in Parenthood, Personal Posts, Topic-Specific

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

After getting sick a few weeks ago I had just started to get everything back on track that had once been derailed. Then I got hit with a whopper of a cold. Derailed all over again.

So here I am, lagging behind on posts again and feeling much too groggy for anything to get accomplished.

I am in desperate need of a good, long, stress free week. One that includes a lot of sleeping. I would also enjoy some ‘for fun’ tasks. Writing for fun. Reading for fun. Knitting for fun. It has been a while since I’ve known what a hobby felt like.

Instead I can’t afford a vacation. No fun for me.

So instead I’ve been grabbing breaks when I can get them at the price of not being able to post.

I had some good topics I wanted to blog about too. They will have to wait until the weekend.

Until then, chew on this thought:

You might be a redneck if: you have to glue your rearview mirror back on your junky pickup truck.

That’s what I’ll be doing this weekend.

Posted in Personal Posts, Random Thoughts

When The World Crumbles, Rebuild

What can I say, some moments are good and some are bad. It’s a big part of life. Right now I seem to be somewhere in the middle.

Like any normal human, some moments are bad. I get stressed out much too easily, my eyes hurt from straining too much and can’t forget that neck kink that won’t go away.

Then the upside comes around and the world is good again. Looking at bringing in new potential clients interested in a press release, applying for a potential blogging position, and I finally accomplished my goal of writing my first article to submit to AmChron.

The problem is, no matter how positive things get it only takes one little negative to reduce it all to ashes.

I noticed I’ve been focusing a lot on the negative lately. A little too tired, feeling a little over worked, and all around grumpy. Yet I haven’t felt much like talking about the good things going on, so I will do that today. I will rebuild my crumbling world, one positive at a time.

Lets start with that article. I was working on something completely different when the idea hit me. No, I will not be sharing my inspiration yet, but when it hit I decided it would be a good time to drop everything and start writing it out. I did so, and almost 700 words later I am happy to say I just need to do one more review before I submit it for consideration. Hopefully it goes over well, won’t need much editing, and gets posted as quickly as possible. I look forward to showing the world what I can do.

Then something amazing happened, Write To Press went up in page rank for Google. It was a 0, now it is sitting happily at a 2. That is a pretty big surprise. I didn’t imagine I’d go up in PR since I don’t really promote myself. I just network and gain clients that way.

I am relearning how much I enjoy my craft again as I break way from stressing about the time to work ratio. Especially as things get better at Ask Angel. I’ve gained new readers as I’ve switched up how I post on there. I’ve been receiving comments and messages from people who like the new style, and it’s the best thing to have ever happened to my website.

So things are much better than I can make them seem at times. It just means looking past the stuff that stresses me out and thinking positive.

Posted in Personal Posts, Random Thoughts

The Tortoise And The HAIR

An interview I still need to put together recently reminded me of a hairy experience I had some time back. Thought I’d share the thought.

I had walked into some hair styling franchise whose name I will not repeat and asked about getting a cut and dye. I think I just wanted streaks in my hair at the time. They told me that it’d be impossible and to make an appointment, so I made the appointment and went on my way. It was when I came back for my appointment that I found out how stupid they really are.

I let them know I was there, and the lady informs me, “Oh, but we can’t dye your hair! Our person who does that is not in.” Oh great, so the appointment I made was for nothing because that is the main reason why I made it and why they told me I had to make an appointment. I told her as much and she explained there was nothing she could do about it; would I like to make an appointment for another day?

Heck no!

I told the woman where to shove her frickin’ appointment book and walked out. One of those temper flair-ups because I am sick and tired of being jerked around by an airheaded brunette. I am a brunette with much more going for me than that woman had.

That same day I walked into another business, this time a mom-and-pop style business and they not only got me in at that moment but did everything as I needed.

The best part of this adventure is this: The small beauty shop is still alive and well. That big ol’ franchise which couldn’t organize their stuff? They’re gone like the wind.

Much like the title of this post, and like the story of the tortoise and a hare, the little guy keeps going because they are nice and they serve their customers with care. That darn hare of a franchise crashed because they couldn’t be bothered with how their potential customers felt.

Of course not all franchises are bad, it is how they are handled. This big box was not handled well.

Posted in Personal Posts, Random Thoughts

Don’t Blink, It’s Stationery

You can consider this a review if you like, but there is nothing paid about it. I am a fanatic when it comes to fancy note cards and stationery.

As most people have gathered by now, I write some of the interviews for the Business Opportunities Weblog. Every so often someone offers me a freebie of their product in return for interviewing them. As much as it is my work to do interviews, I love trying out different products. I am very stingy, so this is generally how I find a new product that I am willing to purchase in the future, much like when I received free coffee a while back.

If someone offers me something before I post their interview, I usually ask if they’d be interested in giving it away to one of our readers instead. That usually leads to, “Yes, I’d be interested.” From there I get to set up a giveaway with that particular interview and it is all fun. When Heather offered me free stationery of my choice, I had to rewrite my email response to her at least 5 times. I tried to tell her that it was okay, I appreciate her offer, but maybe she’d be interested in giving it to one of our readers instead.

I ended up taking her up on the offer.

I write some people regularly as a penpal, so I am always looking for new things of stationery I can use to help spice up my letters. There was no way I could turn down a great offer like that.

When I received the stationery today, I was shocked at the quality. Not shocked because I thought it’d be less than good, I was shocked because the quality of the note cards was beyond impressive. Some card sets I’ve seen have lines going through the image, almost like the ink in the printer was starting to fade. I’ve seen it as a common problem among printers (going as far as to note VistaPrint has their issues too). This is not a problem with any of the cards she sent.

The second point I enjoyed about these cards is the paper. It seems to be a quality stock, and I like the fact they do not have ‘gloss’ on them. As pretty as gloss may make a card, it’s impossible to write a quick note with my fountain pens without needing a week to dry. Everyone has their own preference, but I am very fond of the paper she printed these on.

Although I did not pay for these, as they were a gift, don’t be surprised to find me purchasing from her again in the future. The large note cards (the ones with the flowers) go for $24 and you get 20 large flat cards. The smaller fold-over cards go for $26 and they also come in a pack of 20.

Mine were customized with the color of my choice. If you order from her, she will do the same for you at no extra charge. She also offers a variety, there is so much to look at and choose from.

If you enjoy writing letters, or even mailing off quick notes, I recommend Swanky Paper as the place to one-stop-shop for your stationery needs.

Posted in Personal Posts, Product Review, Work

Stress Kills, Take A Break Already!

That unfortunate thing that happens to everyone: stress. How long does it take to work day after day before you finally feel the effects of stress?

There is, “Oh I’m stressed out and need a break.” Then there is total break down where you worked in overdrive for far too long and you go through complete burn out.

Thankfully I’m just the first one. I’ve been feeling the effects of stress and recognize that I could use a break. Unfortunately breaks aren’t so easy to come by. I have work that needs my attention, my websites need my attention, I have things I need to write and most of all; there is just not enough time in my day for all of that plus free time and time with my daughter.

Unfortunately there is no vacation in my future, but I did get to enjoy a slight break yesterday and although the person who had the loud music and louder bass drove me up the wall last night - I am feeling much better.

When I am feeling stressed out I like to sit and watch a good movie. Especially one I hadn’t seen in a while. I did that yesterday, and although I can’t relax today because I have too much to do, hopefully my little break will pull me through until next weekend.

I posted this question at the Mom’s United in Business community, but I’d like to ask it here:

What do you do when you feel like stress has grabbed a hold of you?

Posted in Personal Posts, Topic-Specific, Work, Writing

Michigans Economy In A Nutshell

I try to avoid stopping work just to post, but when I came across an article based on the economy of Michigan, I stopped and decided it was time to speak up for myself.

I am not political. If you know me, then you know that I don’t really delve into politics beyond word-of-mouth discussion from the radio or chatter on Twitter. That was until it became apparent to me how bad things really are for the citizens of Michigan.

We can watch the government run to the rescue of large companies that made bad decisions, yet we see nothing for the poor folk who only want to work to make a decent living.

What about us?!

No matter how hard I tried to find a job after I graduated, nothing was available. What was hiring was very low pay and very high when it came to employee turn-over. They were also those jobs that scared me. Those fast food jobs that meant I would have to catch on and work fast, then try not to strangle evil customers when they came through. They weren’t me. I’m terrible at sales and, to be honest, working with the public freaks me out a little.

I did manage to find my own niche in the working world and it’s from home. It’s much easier to get along with me online than in the real world, just take my word for it.

I also found out that I can write for a living, that was a dream come true. So what about the thousands of men and women in this state still in need of some form of employment?

Lack of employment for the every day men and women within this state has it’s own effect on the rest of the world, as Political Affairs Magazine states:

“Literally dozens of schools in Detroit have closed, while program cut backs across the state have seen Michigan children go without art, music, and some foreign language classes as well as other special programs. Teachers in the Grand Rapids Public Schools system are in their second year without a contract, while the system was forced to cut $2 million from its budget last year alone.”*

Unemployment, less taxes coming in, less money to put back into our communities - we’re slowly eating away at ourselves and our future!

If we need taxes and we need jobs to help keep things running around here, then so be it. I pay taxes, my daughter attends public school, and I would like to see things get better for everyone!

It’s time to close tax loopholes and keep our jobs in this country.

Source:

* Political Affairs Magazine - Battleground Michigan: “It’s Time for a Change” - Full Article can be found here

Posted in Personal Posts, Topic-Specific

Would You Like To Win A Free Handbag?

Boy, the instant this one passed through Twitter, I grabbed it up and entered. You have no idea. I am a purse fanatic. I could collect those things like it’s nothing, strange considering I am not that girlie.

I would like to see some other people enter for a chance too. If you’d like a chance to win a purse (as of right now there is 20 days left on the clock), check out handbagplanet.

I must admit, giving away one purse an hour is definitely the way to catch my attention! Well done.

Posted in Personal Posts, Topic-Specific