No Average Mom

One of the best things I have ever done was to get into blogging. Blogging is not only a great creative outlet but has become a job I love. There are several ways to monetize blogs including blog advertising. I get to review great products and services and share them with my readers. How great is it that I get to do something I love and earn extra cash doing it? Advertising on blogs is also an incredible way for businesses to spread word across the web about their products. Be sure to drop a comment if you have any questions about blogging or the fun stuff that goes along with it!

One of my friends has taken a job for the summer rehabbing some local apartments. She comments daily on just how awful these apartments are and that they should be torn down. As much as I empathize with what she is saying I really want to remind her that she doesn’t have to live in them. Our town is a fairly economical deprived area and it is not like she is cleaning a nc waterfront property. In my mind I think that somebody will be thankful for all her hard work and look forward to calling this place home. Listening to her makes me very thankful for the home I have no matter how stressed I get with out neighbors.

We leave for vacation in just a little bit and I am so ready. It will be so nice to relax with my family and spend time just soaking up the great outdoors. I am really looking forward to trying out my new Dutch oven on the outdoor fireplace and testing a few new recipes. My son is very concerned about what we are going to do for fun. Even though he has been camping a number of times we have never gone for this long before. I am really hoping the rain holds off because he is sure to go stir crazy if he has to spend a week indoors without his DVDs and computer.

Today I went to a garage sale that gave me insight into how the other half lives. Offered for sale were literally dozens of new or nearly new items that the people just never used. There were clothes with the tags still attached and a number of luxury items. My husband would have loved the golf cart they were selling because it needed a few minor repairs. Surely the cost of golf cart parts would have been less than the new cart they had recently purchased? Then again I don’t have a yard so big that I need a vehicle just to get around it.

There was a time in our not so distant past where we were literally drowning in debt. It seemed like we would never climb our way out of from under the mounting bills we had piled up. In order to put an end to the misery that debt was creating in our lives I investigated every possible option to help us get out of debt. Bills.com is a great service that exists to help people struggling with debt to finally gain control of their finances. At Bills.com you can find a number of great resources such as links and information about credit cards, mortgage, budgeting, student loans, insurance, medical debt, bankruptcy and debt resolution. This site is a great resource for anyone who really wants to make the debt in their life a thing of the past. I can honestly say that finally having control of our financial future is an awesome feeling and I will do everything possible to make sure we never find ourselves in that kind of situation again!

My oldest son went for a well child visit last week and the doctor inquired about his asthma. Until that moment I hadn’t thought about the fact that our lives have been pretty much free of the effects of asthma for the last year. I am wondering if he has just outgrown it or if we are doing the right things to control it. When the doctor first diagnosed him with asthma I was quite concerned. My mind immediately raced with thoughts of a lifetime of breathing treatments, carrying around a portable oxygen concentrator or other breathing apparatus. Obviously, I was off base on some of my worries but as a parent every issue with your child is somehow magnified. The doctor even suggested that we could possibly wean our son off one of his medications to see how he does. It is exciting to think that he may be on the road to living life free of medications and worries about asthma.

Every time I turn around it seems like my youngest is up to some new trick. In the span of a month he has learned to stand up, cruise, sit up, crawl, speak a couple words, and had gotten 5 teeth all at once. My problem is that I am one of those parents who wants to preserve each of these “firsts” for all eternity but never seems to have the digital camera handy to do so. You really can’t ask an infant to “hold that pose”. The best I can hope for is to capture his “second”, “thirds”, or even “fourths” and pass them off as “firsts”. In 20 years I doubt it will really make that much of a difference. What is important is that I have some sort of memory of the event right?

This is just my opinion but it should be a requirement for anyone designing baby clothes that they have to actually be a parent! Furthermore, they should have to try to dress a squirmy wiggly baby on a changing table before ever putting any product on the market. You have to wonder what type of market research ,if any, is conducted before a product finds its way to the racks of your local department store. This idea hit me yesterday as I was trying to work my son’s flailing body into a complicated outfit that we received as a baby gift. Not only did the outfit feature far to many snaps and flaps but also incredibly wrinkly fabric. Who wants to iron let alone iron baby clothes? Seriously, baby attire should be wash and wear with simple yet functional designs. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice comfort and quality just to look cute at the tender age of one year old.