I thought I’d just introduce my “bloggy-self”  to my new readers. If you’d like to have a better idea of what I and my blog are about  you can read about it here.

Oh! And my blog is going through a “makeover” right now-so please forgive the empty spaces and lack of balance. I’m a  wife and mom first, blogger fits down the list somewhere after these!

And thank you for following my blog

Welcome to all my new readers! I’m thankful for each of you and hope to get to know some of you better. I know a lot of people don’t like to leave comments but I do welcome them!  I thought I’d write a post highlighting some of the things I blog about here at Hall of Fame Moms.

First, remember when you “subscribe” for emails or RSS feed as an entry to a contest here, that means you must confirm with Feedburner that you have subscribed. My updates should be coming to your email or RSS feed if you have confirmed all the way through.

If I draw you as a winner and your entry says you subscribed and I check and you aren’t confirmed (my end shows me who has confirmed their subscription) then you will not win. I will draw for someone else.

So  here’s a  little about me and what I blog about…

• Me, in a nutshell.

• I work from home and am currently featuring a Summer Series supporting other women who do too!
• I share my reviews on:

1. Family-friendly places to visit.
2. Family-friendly products {from anywhere}!
3. Resources in Stark County, Ohio .
4. See my “Categories” list for other reviews.
   

• I blog just about anything family related,  share about my faith and why I totally trust God and His Word, the bible (see my 2010 summer series 13 Saturdays to a Sharper Focus Romans 1:20). You don’t have to believe like me to get something great out of my blog, and I still care about you!
  
• I’m a first time homeschooling mom! (yikes! ) Check out resources I’m finding on it.
  
• I’m a rebating, coupon user type of gal. For other ways to save money click here . You’ll find more info on my specific grocery store savings here.
  
• We like Wild Things too!
  
• I also blog about some of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Festivities {which the 2010 Festival just started a few days ago!} since I live in the “neighborhood” .

I hope you enjoy reading my blog. I like comments too. I should tell ya that when I come across extra goodies that I don’t have time to post about I like to share them with my Facebook friends. Join my fan page here if you’d like to be kept in the loop!

Wow, have I come across some great ideas from other bloggers lately and I want to share them with you!

• Make your own beach-towel wrap (if I only had a sewing machine for these simple steps!) and this delicious looking gift idea for a neighbor… forget the neighbor, I want one!
  

• Tried and true. This is delicious! Hawaiian Meatloaf.

• Make your own vinyl clingys? Check it out.

• A Homeschool Carnival! I’m a first-time homeschooling mom now and enjoy reading what others have to share.

Subscribe here to get my updates by email or RSS!

My blogs are hosted by MomWebs. Maybe you’ve never heard of them. And, you probably don’t care…unless you want to be online blogging or marketing and you need to find a host .

I once used the free WordPress Blog when I was just getting started blogging. This is a great way to get a feel for blogging and experimenting with your dashboard behind the scenes. However, I wanted to place affiliate links and maybe some paid ads on my blog and that was against the rules. If I didn’t want to risk losing my blog I needed to find a host.

I had already been listening to Kelly McCausey’s WAHM Talk Radio online and learning about how to earn income from home. She is one of the partners behind MomWebs. I had developed a trust in her brand since I was familiar with her.  Additionally, Mom Webs has very affordable options for hosting. I chose the $5 a month package since I only had one blog at the time. Later I added another blog and upgraded to another package. I know there are other hosts out there so let me tell you what I love about Mom Webs and why I stay.

1. The customer service. Scott is the main person who answers my “email calls for help” {does that guy ever take the day off? }. It doesn’t take long for him to get back with me.  Then later MomWebs added a phone line to call and Kelly answered and helped me. I give them an A+++!
   
2. MomWebs moved my blog from free WordPress to hosted WordPress and being the techy-challenged person that I am Scott would add the plugins that I wanted.
3. Of course the price and the package options have to be right for me to stay with them too – and they have been.
   
4. I can register and renew my domains through them and not worry about it myself.
5. Kelly is the real deal, serious and personable. She has the Mom’s Mastermind’s network where work-at-home-mom’s can gather and network with each other. So I know she isn’t a “fly-by-night” thing. She also rally’s the troops to help take care of one another.  One example:  Around Christmas time in the past she’s done  WAHM Wishes where we all can share what we would like or  need to help us in business and then those who can (including Kelly) chip in money, products, expertise, etc  to fulfill those wishes do so.  I think my sister got a webcam for her computer one year and I got an hour of free coaching from Kelly which is exactly why I am a mom-blogger now,  a niche I’m happy with.

You don’t have to be a woman to use MomWebs! If you’re looking for affordable, helpful, reliable hosting- you’ll find it here.

*I’m writing this post to be entered in a contest to win some free hosting from MomWebs and besides that there are other goodies included

“A day in my life as a mom-blogger”…

We are not so much of a “schedule” type  family but rather a “routine” family. My day may bore you- just writing about it bores me. It varies a bit but here are the highlights.

My day usually starts around 7:30am – give or take {I’d like to get up earlier but doggone it, I’m sooo tired!}.  My husband leaves for work shortly thereafter, the boys are usually at least a little awake and they feel they “must” be at the window or door to wave good-bye. If they miss him I get to deal with the cries and tears.

I get my shower, eat breakfast and get some coffee usually, do my bible reading/writing somewhere in there and check emails, etc on the computer. The boys are probably playing by this time.  They don’t like to eat right away, but I do eventually feed them

I am a first-time homeschooling mom now and sometimes we work on educational stuff even though its summer.

Later we may run errands or the boys may play in the back yard.  It just depends.

Because I do a lot of online stuff related to blogging, social networking and just staying in touch with people – I am on the computer frequently throughout the day. The computer is within easy reach so I can be cooking and hop on Facebook or while the kids are playing I can be working on the next blog post.

I usually do some housework or laundry. OH I forgot to tell you, I do part-time childcare in my home too. So I usually have one or two extra kids here on any given day Monday through Friday.  Usually all the extra kids are gone by the time my husband is home from work, or they will soon be gone. I fix a sit down dinner…or I don’t.

Around the kids’ bedtime you will probably find me doing some final cleaning in the kitchen …loading the dishwasher, washing the countertops.  Getting the kids settled in bed takes some time.

Afterwards, my husband and I then may be found at our computers again …about this time the 4 year old  can usually be counted on to be out of bed peeking around the corner with one eye looking my way while he asks some question he’s asked one too many times at bedtime by now.

Hubby and I then watch a movie together but since its so late we only watch about one-third or one-half of it and continue the next night. By the time I get to sleep its probably around midnight.   ~Now you know why I’m so tired in the morning .

Well, there’s a glimpse of a day in my life! You can wake up now

*I wrote this post in order to be eligible to enter to win a paid trip sponsored by Lovable Labels for the  Blogher ’10 Conference in NYC.

Wow, has it been hot or what! Well, at least in our part of Ohio.  It was just about a week ago we had some of the greatest weather I can imagine…and now this hot spell. We’re frugal folks but not too frugal to not  put the air-conditioning on when its miserable outside. While I sit in the a/c the kids have been in the backyard (which mostly shade) playing in the sprinkler…which makes the yard muddy. But oh well.

Between all the busyness that is “my life”  I wanted to just “chat” for a few minutes.  Here are a few updates…

…I received word that my blog was chosen to be part of a Breyer’s Ice Cream review and giveaway tour which means I will be given 5 full-value coupons to give away to 5 of you. Stay tuned for more info on that.

…Remember my post about why I wanted to go to Relevant?  Well, I didn’t win the ticket (that Country Bob’s  was giving away). Thats okay though. Congratulations to the gal who won 

…I did apply to be a blogger for the Fox Chevy Blogging opportunity. Waiting to hear on that one.

Now a couple questions for you.

Are you following the WAHM’s & Self-employed Women’s series I’m doing each week? How about my 13 Saturday’s to a Sharper Focus series? Just curious.

I will say I had a surprisingly good turn out this past weekend regarding visits to my blog.  Do you have any thoughts about either you want to share?

Do have any questions at all for me that you think I can help with whether its about blogging, working from home, or faith?

I also want to encourage you to invite your friends (and you too!)  to “like” HallofFameMoms on Facebook. I do share the links to these posts on there and I occasionally share freebies and other money saving info that I come across. Things I don’t post about on here.

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