Happy Halloween!

I have been dreading Halloween this year, mainly because my husband is working so I would have had to take all the kids a-beggin' on my own. I lucked out, though, because it's been pouring rain all day. :) To make up for it I went out and bought them some candy, made up some goodie bags, and ordered pizza for dinner. They got so much candy at school, it really would have been ridiculous to go out for more.

So, I got off easy this year. Hoorah!

Now I have to open my store and lead book group discussion tomorrow. Oh..and fold about 10 loads of laundry......

Another week's worth of progress...

Things are moving right along here. After much ado, my baby boutique site is coming along and looking B-E-A-yoooootifull!!

My awesome mother surprised me by buying me a new computer too! She knew I was limping along with a geriatric computer, and all of my work on the web site was taking me probably 5 times longer than it should have. Every stinkin' thing was so. darn. slow, it was horrible. I was spending most of my time at the computer waiting for it to digest downloads and photo resizing. Gah! Now I've got this nice, new, unadultered computer that nobody but me will ever get to use (yes I am serious!) and my work is getting done at lightning speed! I have gotten lots of products into the shopping cart and it is all looking great.

I moved my office down to our family room where the kids watch movies and play. It is a good arrangement since I can now work more while also being with them more and supervising more. Plus, I have 5 sunny windows!

As I get closer to the baby boutique's grand opening, I am looking for fellow bloggers and web site owners that would help me out. What I need is:

1. Links! I will have a baby boutique blog for you to add to your blogroll, and would be happy to add your link to my new blogroll as well.

2. Mentions! Would you be willing to tell your visitors about my boutique when it opens? Maybe you'd like to take a stroll around the store and then write up a review of the offerings there.

3. Emails! Maybe you'd be willing to let your friends and online contacts know when the baby boutique opens. You can just send 'em a link and tell them a little about it.

Keep checking in here to find out about the progress, or you can email me at supermomshealth (at) hotmail (dot) com if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Out of the mouth of babes..

My 3 year is is rather precocious. (he's precious, too, but that's not what that says) He says stuff like, "Hey Mom, can you come help me with this ridiculous thing?!"

Yesterday I had to go to his teacher conference. For some of my kids these conferences are really needed, but for this kid it's kind of a moot point. He's probably doing better in preschool as a 3 year old than any of his 3 older brothers were when they exited preschool as 5 year olds.

So, I heard that he's doing well, advanced for his age, etc. etc. no surprises.

The hubby had been supervising the kids on the school playground while I had the meeting. Once we all got back into the car I turned to the little guy and sweetly say to him, "Your teacher says you are doing very well in school! That is great!"

He looks at me with boredom and says, "Yeah...whatever."

I laughed and laughed over that one.

Hyper! Hyper! Hyper!

Those of you that have been with me for awhile may remember how hyper I got when I was getting ready to unveil my awesome blog design that I still love-love-love.

Well, that was almost *nothing* compared to how excited I am about how my baby boutique design is coming along. My designer is doing a beautiful job and I feel like it is going to be the most gorgeous baby boutique site on the internet! It is very thrilling to see it all coming together, and I am really looking forward to being able to show you the place when it's all set up. :)

overheard...

I was just setting my kids up with a movie. A preview came on that said "coming March 2005." Izzy Man was muttering to himself, "March 2005....March 2005...that means you have to march!"

I love the literalness of little kids.

Organizing Papers

Paperwork is one of my worst things. When I need to put my hands on social security cards, receipts, birth certificates, or my business license, it is always a stressful search for a needle in a haystack.

I started out filing back when we first got married, but somewhere along the way it fell by the wayside and for a long time now it has been really really out of control. Now that I have my businesses getting busier all the time, the paperwork issue has been creeping up on me more often. I found myself stressed out and slowed down every time I needed some paper that I wasn't sure where it was. I have had "filing" listed in my "Plagues and Nuisances" list for months, but haven't made any progress on it until the other day.

Then I went to visit Very Mom and there she was, talking about the same thing. She had found a filing system called Just Organize Your Stuff (JOYS) and she has some pictures up showing her progress through conquering her papers.

Some of the things that appealed to me about this system:

The idea that all I needed to do to start was break down my big piles of papers into smaller categories, and then work on them one by one. This is much better for me than taking out each individual paper and putting it away (if I even HAVE a place to put it away!).

I like the way the papers are located in different places according to your need and their importance:

-the everyday file is an open-topped file that would be in plain view. Here is where you will put and find the stuff you have coming and going day in and day out (receipts, bills, etc.) (I love it that this makes putting stuff where it goes much, much easier)

-the reference file would go in the top drawer of a 2-drawer file cabinet. This is for the stuff that you would look at sometimes and want to have handy (like your refrigerator manual) but don't need to see every day.

-the important papers file is in the bottom drawer of your file cabinet, and this drawer should lock. Obviously, it's for your imortant papers that you don't want to lose!

-Vital files (birth certifs, soc security cards, deed to your house, marriage license, etc.) go in a fire proof box so they stay very, very safe.

This is so logical and is much better than what I was doing even when I was filing.

The other night I took a laundry basket full of papers plus several other containers and piles and sorted them into their categories. I did this while watching a movie and it was painless. (I also threw away a garbage bag full of papers I no longer need!) Now I need another movie night so I can work on each category. Tomorrow the kids head back to school so I will have some time coming up soon.

Inspiration in the form of an author and his fans

Two weeks in a row we were blessed to meet two of my son's favorite authors: Eoin Colfer and Brian Jacques. (pronounced Jakes for those of you that are still saying it the French way!)

Inspiration? So many middle school aged kids coming to meet their favorite author! Kids still read--and aren't afraid of big, meaty, challenging books! I saw kids that appeared to be soccer kids, prep school kids, long-haired shaggy kids, baggy pants kids, conservative homeschool types, and everything else. There wasn't a person in attendance at either event that made me think, "What is the world coming to?" Instead I felt great hope at knowing (and meeting in line) so many people read, think, celebrate literacy, and are sharing in the inspiration that comes from these books!

Brian Jacques was my favorite author to have met in person. (far better even than Diana Gabaldon!) His talk was very entertaining--he is most definitely a skilled storyteller! He is approximately 67 years old, and it really inspired me to know that Redwall is just 20 years old. Brian was nearly 50 when he became a celebrated author! I always love to know about people older than me than find their niche or make a major career change in life. It's thrilling to know that I may just be barely getting started!

Brian spoke about the underlying message in his Redwall books: Be a warrior! He explained that warriors are heroic and brave, that they value truth and their families, and they are willing to fight for what is right. It nearly made me cry to see the enthusiastic applause from his fans, knowing they are embracing this message.

At 67 years old, I also felt so blessed to be able to see and hear this man in person, and blessed that he has given all of us so many wonderful books. (my son has probably read every Redwall book at least 5 or 6 times each, except for one that he says was too sad) May he live on for many years, continuing to share great stories to teach and inspire us all!

To learn much more about Brian Jacques' books you can go visit his web site here. There are so many beautiful illustrations and fun facts for the Redwall fans.

Time for newsletters!

OK kids, now is your chance to sign up for my FREE newsletters.

The one for the baby boutique will feature sales, new products, contests, freebies, and articles of interest to parents of little ones.

Supermom's Health and Wellness is still in the works but when the newsletter starts going out it will feature product reviews, sales, helpful articles about issues related to healthy living, and lots more.

You can also join the No-Lice list and get reminded to check your kid's noggins each week to keep the cooties away!

Just enter your email address and then choose the newsletters you want! Easy as pie.

Sign Up For My Free Newsletter! Email:

blah de blah blah

Hello from the swamplands of Dollymamaville, where I have been too swamped with life to say hello for a few days.

Contributing factors to the swamp:

1. I've been super busy getting the Baby Boutique ready to open later this month. It takes SO much time to get all of the tedious details taken care of when setting up an ecommerce site. A million details to comb through repeatedly....seems like it never ends.... Still--I have high hopes that we will be open for business by the end of the month, and that is EXCITING! I have found the cutest of the cute, most adorable and unique items for babies and moms. Really, I think the baby boutique is going to be an excellent store.

2. On the go: Last Wed. I took my oldest son to meet Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, among others. Colfer is my son's second favorite author. As luck would have it, we arrived at the book store to discover that his MOST favorite author will be at the same book store tomorrow night. Who is it? None other than the highly talented Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall series, and the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series! (is that what it's called? I can't remember) We are VERY excited to get to meet him in person. Quite thrilling for us.

3. Roofing: God has provided us a way to pay a large bill that we have coming up, in the form of my husband getting hired to do some roofing work. This is a great blessing and comes at a good time for us. Unfortunately, it has made for some craziness in the scheduling and car juggling departments (seeing as how we only have one car).

4. My kids are on their 10 day fall break this week. It's nice to have a week off, but kind of bad timing as far as my work needs for the boutique, the roofing job, and other stuff. At least we're enjoying nice weather, and have been watching a Survivor series on DVD, which we all find fun.
5. Appointments. Yesterday I actually forgot about my kid's eye exam appt. The receptionist called when I was already 15 minutes late. Since the kids were out of school I just hadn't looked at my calendar for days. ugh! We had to scramble to get everyone dressed, shoes on, and to the appointment which is 30 minutes away from here. What a nightmare. We got through it though, and now I have to go back for 3 kids to get glasses. There goes the rest of our money!

6. Other odds and ends include that due to our car shuffling and so on, I have missed my workouts for over a week. I don't know if I am going to be able to go at all this week. What a pain!

I am also considering the future of Dollymama Strikes Again! I started this blog for an anonymous place to vent and share my opinions without alienating real life people. Now that I am expanding into my businesses and will be starting blogs for each one of those, I am asking myself some questions.

I love my Dollymama blog, but it seems destined to no longer be anonymous. Anybody reading will soon know my full name and contact information. Anybody in real life that does a search for my businesses will find this blog in the results. Anybody who knows even a small amount of information about how to find stuff on the internet can sniff this blog out in less than one minute.

If I keep on with Dollymama, it will no longer be anonymous. Do I go back through the archives and take down any posts that aren't meant for reading material for real life contacts and relatives?

Do I take down Dollymama altogether and resign myself to only business blogging and knowing that my real life contacts could be reading?

Do I go into stealth mode with a new blog, forsake this blog design that I still love with all my heart, and never, ever mention my businesses?

Once I am keeping up with multiple business blogs, business newsletters, and the daily workings of several businesses, am I even going to have time for leisure blogging? I started this blog because it helps me get my thoughts out of my head so I can make room for the next great idea. I think I still want that. It just feels sad to think of feeling stifled here, though I guess I always do to some extent. (some real life people do read, including my husband, so I certainly don't do all the venting I might want to do!)

I don't know what the answers are, but it's stuff I'm thinking about. In the meantime. laundry mountain calleth.

Tried out Arbonne's facial exfoliant. It's like a sunburn in a bottle! I only had the stuff on my face for **three* minutes and was in pain. Washed it off and had a burned face for almost 2 hours. (to be fair, it does warn you on the packaging that a red face is normal, but the sunburn-like pain I was not expecting!) That was the last straw between me and Arbonne. I have found a much, much better all-natural skin care line that I will be offering in my business.  

Cool Sunday

Sunday we had a cool service. It was about noise in our culture and lives. Church started quiet, then added one quiet movie on the big screen. Then one by one various TVs, video games, and music players (that were arranged in the front) came on, until it got really noisy and overwhelming. My husband's comment was that it was like performance art. It was a very good portrayal of how the clutter (noise, visual clutter, too busy of a schedule) can get overwhelming and make it hard for us to hear God or be able to be still before Him.

We also had communion. It was different from our usual. We got these little white drawstring fabric bags that contained an organic cracker and a vial of grape juice. It was a cool way to go about it.