Speaking of honest reviews….. Here’s one I have for you!  I was recently accepted as a Purex Insider, which means I get some samples of Purex Complete’s new products in exchange for an honest review of said product.  I generally like the products that Purex makes so I was pleased to find out that I was now a Purex insider!  I am always on the lookout for new cleaning products to use, especially ones that are healthier for people and the environment.  That’s why I was very interested in learning more about the Purex Complete Crystals Softener.

Firstly, let me explain that I can NOT use Downey or Snuggle as softeners.  No matter what their scent I am allergic to those softeners.  So I was a little concerned about being allergic to the Crystals softener as well, but some of the information that I received as a Purex Insider calmed some of my worries.  Mostly that it is 92% Natural and doesn’t leave an oily residue on clothes or in the washer.  Instead, the Purex Complete Crystals Softeners “Penetrate fabrics to reduce fiber entanglement and smooth frayed fibers providing a naturally soft feel”.

From the Purex Complete Crystals Softener Fact Sheet

Why It’s Different > Safe for all laundry and better for fabrics

Do ALL of your laundry — worry free!  Purex Complete Crystals Softeners are safe for all laundry and will not harm, wear down or discolor your fabrics like oil-based softeners.  Safe for all fabrics, including baby clothes, athletic wear, towels, and whites.  Unlike other softeners, Crystals will:

• Preserve the flame retardant benegits of your children’s clothes
• Retain you athletic wear’s wicking ability which draws sweat away from you body
• Maintain you towel’s built-in ability to absorb water
• Keep you white clothing from yellowing and graying vs. using traditional softeners

The Product won’t harm your clothes and is safe and convenient for the entire family!

The Purex Complete Crystals Softeners come in three scents; Fresh Spring Waters, Lavender Blossom, and Tropical Splash.  The only thing missing is “Unscented”, which I am hoping they will include in their family of Crystals soon, as many of the insiders are requesting this.  The biggest plus in the scents is that they are long lasting and your laundry will smell nice for weeks.  The down side of the scents is that if you don’t like the scent or are allergic to it, the scent will last for weeks.  That’s why I am hoping they will get an unscented Crystal soon!

The Scent that I received was the Fresh Spring Waters.  Although I was not allergic to the scent it was extremely strong when I used it in the laundry.  I may have used too much though.   It was a very nice pleasant scent, if it hadn’t been so strong though.  The instructions on the bottle are not very clear as to how much you should use.  There are lines on the side of the bottle with the word “Load” next to each line.  I thought that this meant I was supposed to use that much of the crystals per load.  The amount was about a handful, roughly a half cup.  While the laundry was in the washer and the dryer the scent was overwhelming!  If it hadn’t been so strong it would have been a nice smell though.  I’m glad I wasn’t allergic to it or else I would have been in trouble.  However, once the towels were out of the dryer and folded nicely, they not only felt really nice and soft but also had a soft pleasant scent.  The scent faded to a tolerable amount instead of overwhemling my senses!

I think next time I use it I’ll use about a third of what I used the first time.  The towels did turn out nice and soft and didn’t not have a slick feeling to them.  I noticed how most towels that have been washed with a softener added come out feeling like they don’t quite absorb the water after a shower.  With the crystals the towels did not feel that way at all!  I was pleasantly surprised by this.

I think overall I like the Crystals, but would be happier with an unscented version of them.  That way there isn’t the overwhelming scent in the laundry room that makes everyone run away… It’s hard enough to get anyone else to do the laundry without giving them a good excuse like the scent is too strong for them to go near it!  LOL!

I think if you like Downey or  Snuggle, but hate the oily feeling they leave on your laundry, then you will love these Purex Complete Crystals Softeners!  They have three nice scents to choose from, and hopefully will add an unscented soon!  Definitely healthier for you and your family, more natural, and even easier to use!  You don’t have to wait for the softening cycle to use the Crystals, just add them directly into your wash!  I loved that, cuz I am just not the “wait for the right cycle” kinda laundry doer!  LOL!

If you’d like to try Purex Complete Crystals Softeners out, click on picture above and you can get a $1 off coupon!

Disclaimer:  I am a Purex Insider.  I received product from Purex for review purposes only, all opinions are 100% my own!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Christine Plaisted

I love blogging… really I love writing.  I always have.  I wanted to be a journalist for a short time, until I realized that it was almost as difficult to get published as it was to get into the movies.  That’s when I decided that I’d just write for fun.  When I realized that I could publish my own works on my own website, it was fantastic!  But few, if anyone, ever saw my websites.  That is until I learned to blog and how to get my blog seen online.

Now, my words are seen by what I feel like is a lot of people.  Currently I’m getting about 50 unique visitors a day.  Which more me is astounding!  LOL!.  Of course it’s not the same numbers as some of the more “well known” and “celebrity” bloggers, but it’s still a lot to me.  It’s a wonderful feeling to know that my words are being read by more than just a handful of my family and friends and it means a lot to me.

One of the ways that I’ve gotten my blog to be seen by people is doing product reviews and giveaways on my blog.  Trust me, there’s nothing that brings in traffic like a nice giveaway!  Of course, it’s what may have brought people to my blog, but I don’t think anyone would come back if I didn’t have something more to offer them.  but the point is to get as many people to my blog as I can, so that they can see what else there is here for them.

This brings us to the whole point of this post, which is compensation for blog posts.   There’s a huge controversy about bloggers being paid for posts.  I have read many, many, MANY articles on the subject over the last few years.  My opinion has changed over the few years I’ve been blogging too, which is part of why it’s taken me so long to write my own article on this subject.  Until now, I haven’t really fully formulated exactly how I felt.  I’ve also become a little more experienced in the review and PR world of blogging too, so that has made a huge difference in how I feel now as opposed to when I first started.

When I first started blogging, and had a very small (less than 10 visits a day) amount of traffic, I felt like it was a privelage to recieve cool things for free to blog about.  I was looking for ways to not only get my blog looked at, but to give it good content.  I was also not as busy as I am now with my “real” job, so I had  a lot of time on my hands to “play around” with my blog.  And because I had very little traffic, trying to find someone willing to give me product to review was very difficult.  Never mind trying to find other content to blog about!

That’s when I went about trying to find networks that gave newbie bloggers connections to products and brands.  I looked at a lot of the “pay per post” type of sites as well.  Few if any of the posts that were relevant to my blog content wanted to pay me to post about their products because I didn’t have the traffic.  And I still don’t have the traffic that some of the bigger brands want to pay for content.  Which is ok with me because I don’t have the time to do that much work!

But that’s where I was when I read articles about mommy bloggers ruining it for other bloggers because they weren’t asking for money for content and advertising.  My opinion was that of course these other, more well known bloggers can charge for blogging.  They have readers, they have traffic, they have the numbers to justify charging.  However, bloggers like me, with little to no traffic can’t charge because we don’t have the numbers to justify it.  If we tried to charge for our blog posts and giveaways, we’d never get anyone to use our blogs for their outreach programs!

It actually upset me that these high and mighty bloggers would tell the rest of us to stop doing things for free because it was causing them harm.  That’s fine for them, they’ve already “made it”, but us little guys were still struggling to get into the blogging world.  We had to make some sacrifices to get our blogs seen, to get the traffic and THEN we could start charging.

Well, now, my opinion has changed a little.  I still think there is something to the “paying your dues” sort of idea behind receiving compensation for blogging in something other than cash.  Plus things like product reviews should never be paid for because that automatically creates a bias towards the product.  So that keeps the review from being honest and useful.  But posts that are purely advertising for a brand or product, those posts should be paid.

Here’s the reason why there is a difference.  When you are doing a review, yes you get free product, but because how else are you going to try something that is new.  I may do reviews on items that I’ve purchased, but I don’t buy everything under the sun.  So for a company to get bloggers to talk about their product, they need to send it out to people.  They however can NOT expect that all reviews will be positive.  Not everyone is going to like the product, even if they recieve it for free!  Believe me, I LOVE free stuff… but just because it’s free, doesn’t make it great.  If I don’t like something, I”m going to talk about it and why I don’t like it.  Now, I try to be constructive in my criticsm, and try to point out that some of my opinions are just that… MY opinions, and not everyone will feel the same way.  But I’m not going to change my opinion of a product just because I got it for free.  I will also RAVE about products that I’ve purchased, and spent pretty good money on as well!  For instance, my HTC EVO… I spent a good amount of money on that phone, and nearly a year later I still LOVE IT!!!  So free or expensive, all reviews will get the same treatment from me and should from any blogger.  If you can’t trust a review to be honest, then all the review is, is another advertisement.  And really who needs MORE commercials!?!

Giveaways and other content posts are a completely different beast from reviews.  I’ve done giveaways of several different types and they are a LOT of work!  They are worth the work, at least for the blogger they are.  That’s a great way to boost your traffic!  But it’s a LOT of work!  Even for a small blog like mine it’s a lot.  Most of the giveaways I”ve done have been for free for the product providers.  I have begun to rethink that position, which is why I haven’t done another giveaway in a while.  They take a lot of time to run, even for one that only lasts for a few days or a week!  You have to sort through your entries, make sure they are all legit, follow all the rules, advertise them on the right sites/blogs, and then make sure your winner receives the prize in a timely manner.  Sounds easier than it is.  And if you want to run a LARGE giveaway (like what 5 minutes for Mom does once a year, they are nutz!), then it’s even more work!  Don’t look to this site for any of the BIG contests with multiple prizes… I just don’t have the time to devote to something like that!  Yikes!

I did the giveaways for free for two reasons though.  One, I was getting a LOT Of good traffic that seemed to stick around after the contest was over.  However, I didn’t see much of an increase in traffic for the prize providers.  I did a few giveaways for a friends business, and they didn’t see much of a boost in sales after the contests were over.  Which is really too bad because I got a lot out of it.  and Two, because I generally also got a free product to review for the contest as well, which not only gave me the post for the contest, but a second post for the review.  so really I was getting a lot more out of it, than I thought I was putting into it…. at least that’s what I thought until I realized how many hours I actually put into running the contest.  Then I realized I didn’t get enough.

The same goes for other paid content posts.  AT the sites like Izea’s Social Spark or Paid Per Post, you’ll find things to post about and maybe you’ll get paid $5 or $10 depending on your page rank and traffic count.   But when you’re not a “popular” or well known site you don’t get many of those paid posts, and the ones you do get offered are so irrelevant to your blog that there’s no way you could work them into a post for your readers without sounding like a commercial…. and a bad one at that!

There was one paid post I was offered for online gambiling site for my book review site.  It’s a BOOK review site… BOOKS… now, I can see where “Bookie” and “Book” may seem similar, but COME ON!?!  Really??  Obviously I turned that post down… but it’s not the only time I’ve been offered strange paid posts that wouldn’t make any sense to my blog.  To the point that I have stopped going to those sites to see if I’d qualify for any good paid jobs.  If I can’t qualify or apply quickly enough to get the good “gigs” then why bother?

Then there are the PR people who send pitches to bloggers.  I don’t know HOW I got on this one PR companies pitch list, but I have not replied to a single one of their pitches since their first email.  They sent me a pitch saying that they thought my readers would be REALLY interested in this great new movie coming out and would I like to partner with them and introduce my readers to the movie with some great graphics, some cool downloads and a neat widget to put on my blog.  I looked up the movie and the PR firm, and agreed that my readers would be interested in the movie.  However I didn’t see in their email what or how I would be compensated for telling my readers about this great movie.  Their response was quick and to the point, and after doing some research not at all uncommon from PR firms to bloggers.  They said they didn’t have the budget to compensate the bloggers they would be working with, but the hi-res graphics and cool widget were really great!  I then replied asking about at least getting a copy of the movie so I could tell my viewers honestly what I thought about the movie, and their response to that was, that they did not have any advanced copies to send out to bloggers either.

Wow!!  Really?  You expect me to give you prime real estate on my blog, a full post, a widget taking up space on my sidebar, and I don’t even get to see the movie first?!?!  What am I supposed to tell my readers?  “Here’s a movie that I’m told by their advertising agency that it’s really good and you all should go see it because I will be whenever it comes out”???  Ummm.. no.. see above where I talk about honest product reviews!  That whole email exchange kinda pissed me off.  I know I’m not some big shot blogger, and I don’t pretend to be, but I do take pride in what I write.

This blog is all about me, my feelings on everything from family matters and politics, to products… but all of it is still my feelings.  If you want me to advertise for you on my blog, then fine, I don’t mind giving up some of my space to talk about something, but I’m not going to do it for free, without SOME sort of first hand knowledge of the product in question!  That’s just nuts.

Of course, no matter what business you’re in you’re going to find people who want the world for nothing.  Even in my “day job” I get this sort of attitude.  In my business our service fees are right in the middle of all the other businesses like ours.  I get customers that just love us and think our full price is a STEAL!  Then there are other customers who think that we’re cheating them some how even though we’re giving them our best price.  It always brings to mind the saying “you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.”

It really comes down to this… how much is your time worth?  How much is your blog and traffic worth?  No one is going to come up with the same answer, but I can tell you, your time, your blog, and your traffic, no matter how small, is not worth nothing!  It is worth something, or else the PR firms would not have a job just to work with bloggers.  There’s a reason they come to bloggers for “outreach” programs.  But only YOU can decide how much YOU are worth.  Of course it’s the PR firm’s job to negotiate from nothing up… and your job to negotiate from the stars down. 

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Christine Plaisted

I love blogging… really I love writing.  I always have.  I wanted to be a journalist for a short time, until I realized that it was almost as difficult to get published as it was to get into the movies.  That’s when I decided that I’d just write for fun.  When I realized that I could publish my own works on my own website, it was fantastic!  But few, if anyone, ever saw my websites.  That is until I learned to blog and how to get my blog seen online.

Now, my words are seen by what I feel like is a lot of people.  Currently I’m getting about 50 unique visitors a day.  Which more me is astounding!  LOL!.  Of course it’s not the same numbers as some of the more “well known” and “celebrity” bloggers, but it’s still a lot to me.  It’s a wonderful feeling to know that my words are being read by more than just a handful of my family and friends and it means a lot to me.

One of the ways that I’ve gotten my blog to be seen by people is doing product reviews and giveaways on my blog.  Trust me, there’s nothing that brings in traffic like a nice giveaway!  Of course, it’s what may have brought people to my blog, but I don’t think anyone would come back if I didn’t have something more to offer them.  but the point is to get as many people to my blog as I can, so that they can see what else there is here for them.

This brings us to the whole point of this post, which is compensation for blog posts.   There’s a huge controversy about bloggers being paid for posts.  I have read many, many, MANY articles on the subject over the last few years.  My opinion has changed over the few years I’ve been blogging too, which is part of why it’s taken me so long to write my own article on this subject.  Until now, I haven’t really fully formulated exactly how I felt.  I’ve also become a little more experienced in the review and PR world of blogging too, so that has made a huge difference in how I feel now as opposed to when I first started.

When I first started blogging, and had a very small (less than 10 visits a day) amount of traffic, I felt like it was a privelage to recieve cool things for free to blog about.  I was looking for ways to not only get my blog looked at, but to give it good content.  I was also not as busy as I am now with my “real” job, so I had  a lot of time on my hands to “play around” with my blog.  And because I had very little traffic, trying to find someone willing to give me product to review was very difficult.  Never mind trying to find other content to blog about!

That’s when I went about trying to find networks that gave newbie bloggers connections to products and brands.  I looked at a lot of the “pay per post” type of sites as well.  Few if any of the posts that were relevant to my blog content wanted to pay me to post about their products because I didn’t have the traffic.  And I still don’t have the traffic that some of the bigger brands want to pay for content.  Which is ok with me because I don’t have the time to do that much work!

But that’s where I was when I read articles about mommy bloggers ruining it for other bloggers because they weren’t asking for money for content and advertising.  My opinion was that of course these other, more well known bloggers can charge for blogging.  They have readers, they have traffic, they have the numbers to justify charging.  However, bloggers like me, with little to no traffic can’t charge because we don’t have the numbers to justify it.  If we tried to charge for our blog posts and giveaways, we’d never get anyone to use our blogs for their outreach programs!

It actually upset me that these high and mighty bloggers would tell the rest of us to stop doing things for free because it was causing them harm.  That’s fine for them, they’ve already “made it”, but us little guys were still struggling to get into the blogging world.  We had to make some sacrifices to get our blogs seen, to get the traffic and THEN we could start charging.

Well, now, my opinion has changed a little.  I still think there is something to the “paying your dues” sort of idea behind receiving compensation for blogging in something other than cash.  Plus things like product reviews should never be paid for because that automatically creates a bias towards the product.  So that keeps the review from being honest and useful.  But posts that are purely advertising for a brand or product, those posts should be paid.

Here’s the reason why there is a difference.  When you are doing a review, yes you get free product, but because how else are you going to try something that is new.  I may do reviews on items that I’ve purchased, but I don’t buy everything under the sun.  So for a company to get bloggers to talk about their product, they need to send it out to people.  They however can NOT expect that all reviews will be positive.  Not everyone is going to like the product, even if they recieve it for free!  Believe me, I LOVE free stuff… but just because it’s free, doesn’t make it great.  If I don’t like something, I”m going to talk about it and why I don’t like it.  Now, I try to be constructive in my criticsm, and try to point out that some of my opinions are just that… MY opinions, and not everyone will feel the same way.  But I’m not going to change my opinion of a product just because I got it for free.  I will also RAVE about products that I’ve purchased, and spent pretty good money on as well!  For instance, my HTC EVO… I spent a good amount of money on that phone, and nearly a year later I still LOVE IT!!!  So free or expensive, all reviews will get the same treatment from me and should from any blogger.  If you can’t trust a review to be honest, then all the review is, is another advertisement.  And really who needs MORE commercials!?!

Giveaways and other content posts are a completely different beast from reviews.  I’ve done giveaways of several different types and they are a LOT of work!  They are worth the work, at least for the blogger they are.  That’s a great way to boost your traffic!  But it’s a LOT of work!  Even for a small blog like mine it’s a lot.  Most of the giveaways I”ve done have been for free for the product providers.  I have begun to rethink that position, which is why I haven’t done another giveaway in a while.  They take a lot of time to run, even for one that only lasts for a few days or a week!  You have to sort through your entries, make sure they are all legit, follow all the rules, advertise them on the right sites/blogs, and then make sure your winner receives the prize in a timely manner.  Sounds easier than it is.  And if you want to run a LARGE giveaway (like what 5 minutes for Mom does once a year, they are nutz!), then it’s even more work!  Don’t look to this site for any of the BIG contests with multiple prizes… I just don’t have the time to devote to something like that!  Yikes!

I did the giveaways for free for two reasons though.  One, I was getting a LOT Of good traffic that seemed to stick around after the contest was over.  However, I didn’t see much of an increase in traffic for the prize providers.  I did a few giveaways for a friends business, and they didn’t see much of a boost in sales after the contests were over.  Which is really too bad because I got a lot out of it.  and Two, because I generally also got a free product to review for the contest as well, which not only gave me the post for the contest, but a second post for the review.  so really I was getting a lot more out of it, than I thought I was putting into it…. at least that’s what I thought until I realized how many hours I actually put into running the contest.  Then I realized I didn’t get enough.

The same goes for other paid content posts.  AT the sites like Izea’s Social Spark or Paid Per Post, you’ll find things to post about and maybe you’ll get paid $5 or $10 depending on your page rank and traffic count.   But when you’re not a “popular” or well known site you don’t get many of those paid posts, and the ones you do get offered are so irrelevant to your blog that there’s no way you could work them into a post for your readers without sounding like a commercial…. and a bad one at that!

There was one paid post I was offered for online gambiling site for my book review site.  It’s a BOOK review site… BOOKS… now, I can see where “Bookie” and “Book” may seem similar, but COME ON!?!  Really??  Obviously I turned that post down… but it’s not the only time I’ve been offered strange paid posts that wouldn’t make any sense to my blog.  To the point that I have stopped going to those sites to see if I’d qualify for any good paid jobs.  If I can’t qualify or apply quickly enough to get the good “gigs” then why bother?

Then there are the PR people who send pitches to bloggers.  I don’t know HOW I got on this one PR companies pitch list, but I have not replied to a single one of their pitches since their first email.  They sent me a pitch saying that they thought my readers would be REALLY interested in this great new movie coming out and would I like to partner with them and introduce my readers to the movie with some great graphics, some cool downloads and a neat widget to put on my blog.  I looked up the movie and the PR firm, and agreed that my readers would be interested in the movie.  However I didn’t see in their email what or how I would be compensated for telling my readers about this great movie.  Their response was quick and to the point, and after doing some research not at all uncommon from PR firms to bloggers.  They said they didn’t have the budget to compensate the bloggers they would be working with, but the hi-res graphics and cool widget were really great!  I then replied asking about at least getting a copy of the movie so I could tell my viewers honestly what I thought about the movie, and their response to that was, that they did not have any advanced copies to send out to bloggers either.

Wow!!  Really?  You expect me to give you prime real estate on my blog, a full post, a widget taking up space on my sidebar, and I don’t even get to see the movie first?!?!  What am I supposed to tell my readers?  “Here’s a movie that I’m told by their advertising agency that it’s really good and you all should go see it because I will be whenever it comes out”???  Ummm.. no.. see above where I talk about honest product reviews!  That whole email exchange kinda pissed me off.  I know I’m not some big shot blogger, and I don’t pretend to be, but I do take pride in what I write.

This blog is all about me, my feelings on everything from family matters and politics, to products… but all of it is still my feelings.  If you want me to advertise for you on my blog, then fine, I don’t mind giving up some of my space to talk about something, but I’m not going to do it for free, without SOME sort of first hand knowledge of the product in question!  That’s just nuts.

Of course, no matter what business you’re in you’re going to find people who want the world for nothing.  Even in my “day job” I get this sort of attitude.  In my business our service fees are right in the middle of all the other businesses like ours.  I get customers that just love us and think our full price is a STEAL!  Then there are other customers who think that we’re cheating them some how even though we’re giving them our best price.  It always brings to mind the saying “you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.”

It really comes down to this… how much is your time worth?  How much is your blog and traffic worth?  No one is going to come up with the same answer, but I can tell you, your time, your blog, and your traffic, no matter how small, is not worth nothing!  It is worth something, or else the PR firms would not have a job just to work with bloggers.  There’s a reason they come to bloggers for “outreach” programs.  But only YOU can decide how much YOU are worth.  Of course it’s the PR firm’s job to negotiate from nothing up… and your job to negotiate from the stars down. 

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Christine Plaisted

Today I am thankful for our new house.  It is simply perfect for us.  The boys will have their own rooms, there’s a basement with plenty of room for a poker table.  I have a huge kitchen, with all new(er) appliances.  There’s a dog run, a laundry room, and a nice large pool.  The only thing that could make this place even better is to be near my mom & sister….. well, how’s next door?

Yes, they are going to be living right next door to us!  When I first started talking about moving in with Steve, my mom always said “Maybe we can find two houses next door to each other”.  It was always a nice thought, but never did we really believe we’d be able to find that.  Especially not two houses that fit our needs so perfectly, and more!  And yet that is exactly what the Universe did for us.

The house on the left is our house.  2 bedrooms in the basement, with a large room separating them that we’ll use as a “rec” or “theater” room.  We’ll have a wall mounted TV in there, with a couch (if it’ll fit down the stairway), the various game consoles we have, and a poker table.  Roger’s room will be in one of the rooms in the basement as well.  there are two separate rooms in there, but only one of them is really big enough for a bedroom.  The other one will be storage/library (YES!  I get a LIBRARY!!!).

Upstairs, on the “main” floor, is our extra large kitchen, that 3 or more cooks can be working in there comfortably without stepping on each other, our living room (with a fireplace), Jack’s room, and the master suite.  There’s also a “service porch” where the laundry and our freezer is.  Every bedroom has nice large closets with built in shelves.  The two bathrooms are upstairs as well.  Between the garage and the house is a fully enclosed porch, that is probably bigger than the livingroom.  It’s enclosed with lattice work for the ceiling, so not really usable on rainy days, but every other time will be great for party run off!  LOL!

Out back is our pool, patio, and RV parking area.  This is a beautiful pool that has shallow ends on both sides and a deep end in the middle.  There is also a fountain feature in the far back corner of the pool… makes it look very elegant for sure.  Plenty of room on the patio for a lot of people to sit and talk, eat burgers fresh from our grill and watch the kids play in the pool.  This will defintely be great for summer teen events!

And then right next door is where my mom and sister will be living.  They get a 2 bedroom one bath house, with all hardwood floors, a nice sized kitchen and a laundry room.  Their backyard is actually bigger than ours, but it’s all grass.  Although there is a swinset in their backyard as well.  They also have a workshop in their back yard that even has lots of storage and room for wood working, painting or any other type of arts and crafts that might come up.  They too have a nice patio in the back with a nice awning which will make the spring, summer & fall very nice.

I cannot tell you how amazingly happy I am that these houses were for rent.  It’s been a little bit tight and a big old stress bubble trying to get everything packed and ready to move.  We’re also moving our home office into a regular office about 3 miles from the new houses.  So for the next 3 weekends we’ll be moving something!  LOL!  This is going to be a crazy three weeks, but after it’s all done, we’re going to be so happy!  I just can’t wait for it to be all overwith!  LOL!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Christine Plaisted

Ok… maybe it’s more like a wordFULL Wednesday being that it’s Dr. Seuss’ Birthday! LOL! Do NOT play this in front of kids or at work! FAIR WARNING!! ROFL!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Christine Plaisted

Ok… maybe it’s more like a wordFULL Wednesday being that it’s Dr. Seuss’ Birthday! LOL! Do NOT play this in front of kids or at work! FAIR WARNING!! ROFL!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Christine Plaisted

I’ve been trying to get him to write down his stories and ideas for the longest time.  Partially because I’m his mom/teacher and I know he’s got to “do the work” behind writing, but also because I’m a big fan of his stories and ideas!  Both of my sons are very creative and opinionated (hmmm… wonder where they get that from??  08-) but trying to get them to write theses ideas down has been a lengthy battle!  grrrrrrr  Until now that is.  So while I’m on a little hiatus (notice I can’t stay away from my blog forever), please take a look at my sons blog as he is exploring the blogosphere.  Leave comments (they better be nice or this mama grizzly will come after you!  LOL) and discuss with him the many ideas he has!

Now without further ado…. Welcome to the Blogosphere my youngest son….

Justice N Words

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Wanted: 1 Magic Wand (Used is fine as long as it still works), batteries not included ok.  Must pack entire household with a flip of the wrist, and move stuff from old house to new house and office with out the need for a rental truck.  Or at the very least will move all the heavy stuff from the house into the rental truck.. I’m not THAT picky!  Serious enqueries only.  Willing to pay a lot of money for wand, but still would like to pay no more than what it would cost to do the stuff myself .  Will also take magic wand that will make my teen sons stop whineing about needing to pack and move, and put a happy face on when I ask them to do things…. LOL!  Yea I know I’m dreaming about a wand that will make teenagers helpful!

So, just to let you all know, I’ll be writing as much as I can on my blog, but I will be more or less quiet for the next month.  We got the two houses that we were hoping to get.  We are signing the leases today and will officially get the keys to the new houses on March 1st.  AND at the same time we got our new office for our business!  Which we are currently moving slowly into that now instead of being exclusively at home.

Needless to say, this next month is going to be CRAZY!!!!  With a capital CRA and a Capital ZEEE!!  LOL!  We’re already packing and moving stuff that we can, and dealing with the move in costs.  Luckily we have enough money to cover both move in costs and our last months rent at this house.  All that without hurting for money for our business.  LOL!  It’s so great that our business was busy this winter, not sure we could have done this if we’d been slow!

Anyway, we’re going to be off to sign our lease soon!  Can’t wait till this whole move is OVER!!  LOL!  And then we’ll have a house warming party or something!

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Me at around age 5.

This is something I found on facebook, but I thought I’d do it here too… but instead of it being 30 days…. I’ll change it to 30 WEDNESDAYS!  So these are the rules below.  I’m probably going to post them on my facebook too, just because it’s fun.  LOL!

Day 1 – 10 Facts about me:

1. My favorite color is blue
2. I was born with bright red hair
3. I used to think I was going to be a model because I was always the tallest girl in class, then I hit puberty and I suddenly was the shortest.
4. I love playing the piano
5. I love singing
6. I wanted to be a mommy when I grew up and even played at breastfeeding.
7. I was allergic to protein and sugar when I was born
8. I used to talk like a Valley Girl even though I never lived in the Valley
9. I learned to ride a bike and to swim the same year and was taught by 2 different friends
10. My favorite poker hand is K10 because I beat Steve at a tournament with that hand one time.

Want to join in the fun?

The Rules:

So start off by making a photo album and naming it “The 30 Day Photo Challenge” It’s all about being creative everyone!

Day 01 – A picture of yourself with ten facts
Day 02 – A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 03 – A picture of the cast from your favorite show
Day 04 – A picture of your night
Day 05 – A picture of your favorite memory
Day 06 – A picture of a person you’d love to trade places with for a day
Day 07 – A picture of your most treasured item
Day 08 – A picture that makes you laugh
Day 09 – A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10 – A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with
Day 11 – A picture of something you hate
Day 12 – A picture of something you love
Day 13 – A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14 – A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
Day 15 – A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16 – A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17 – A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
Day 18 – A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19 – A picture and a letter
Day 20 – A picture of somewhere you’d love to travel
Day 21 – A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22 – A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23 – A picture of your favorite book
Day 24 – A picture of something you wish you could change
Day 25 – A picture of your day
Day 26 – A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27 – A picture of yourself and a family member
Day 28 – A picture of something you’re afraid of
Day 29 – A picture that can always make you smile
Day 30 – A picture of someone you miss
Day 31 – A picture of yourself

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Since I’m not focusing on this site as much as I would like to, I’ve decided to take it in some other directions.  Mostly I’m going to syndicate my other blogs to this site, to give them another place to get noticed.  But I will be posting other things here as well.  Things having to do with my business, having to do with small businesses in general and anything I can find out about Working at Home.  I’ve also created a twitter account for this website so you can follow me there too!  I’ll also be scouring the web for interesting articles and things about working at home.  So there will be new content on this site as well.  Hope you like the new direction!