A Sign of the Times? August 30, 2009

I know the economy is bad.  I know a lot of people are losing their jobs and people are getting desperate.  But this is really getting ridiculous.  I sell a lot of stuff on-line through various sites, and have a website for my Avon business that people can order directly through.  But in the last month I must have gotten about 50+ spams and/or scams as a result of my on-line businesses.  I mean seriously, folks, do you think anyone would really fall for some of these things.  My favorite was someone who contacted my Avon business and wanted to order probably about $200 worth of product but couldn’t order directly from my website because she didn’t have internet.  Uh?  You don’t have internet, but yet you found my name through an on-line search and emailed me.  How stupiddo you think I am?  DUH?  Or the one just this morning that supposedly lives in Puerto Rico and wants to order Avon from me to re-sell in her cosmetics store, but has to send me a money order to pay for everything including shipping.  Uh?  If this is a legitimate request #1 sign up to sell Avon yourself , or #2 find a local Avon rep, and not have to pay for shipping from Connecticut to Puerto Rico. 

And to all the spammers on Craigslist, if I wanted you to send me your “business” opportunities I wouldn’t have checked “it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests” when I originally posted my ad.  I feel for the folks at Craigslist because they’re probably getting a lot of negative feedback right now.  I’ve probably reported at least 30 different emails in the last month for spamming.  They are hosting a great site only to have some abuse the system.  I love Craigslist.  I love the idea of being able to post a free ad to local people and getting rid of some of the stuff that has acumlated in my house.  My fear is that the Craigslist host will start charging for ads in an effort to curtail the spamming that’s infected the site.

To those poor fools that fall for any of these scams, my best advise –  just walk away.  Hit the delete key once you realize it’s not a legitimate inquiry to what you’re selling.  Don’t respond.  Report them if you’d like, but then just walk away.  There are a lot of legitimate work / business opportunities out there, but there’s an equal number of scams.  Research anything and everything before you get involved with it.  And never, ever pay someone for a work at home position.  If it’s a legitimate business opportunity, and you’ve researched it, there probably will be some upfront costs.  But if it’s a legitimate work at home position – you’ll be working for someone – do not pay for it.  After searching for the last 4 years for legitimate work at home/business opportunities, these are the lessons I’ve learned, sometimes the hard way.

Not As Easy As You Think June 9, 2009

For anyone that thinks being a SAHM or WAHM is “easy” – just as my husband.  He was home today because of rain (his current project is building a barn) and he witnessed first hand what a normal day is like for me.  Up at 6:30; get the kids dressed (not an easy task) and out the door to get Bug to school by 7:50.  I actually “cheated” today and left Buddha home while I took Bug to school.  But then there’s breakfast, cleaning up from breakfast and everyone making their lunches (of course, because no one else knows how to clean crumbs and tomatoe guts off the counter), laundry (never ending), picking up following after Buddha to pick up everything she gets into, check various e-mail accounts, phone constantly ringing, ironing, banking, errands, lunch, clean up after lunch, changing diapers, vaccuming, dusting, working on clients’ work/projects, trying unsuccessfully to get Budha to take a nap, going to get Bug from school, helping with homework, making snacks, cleaning up after snacks, figuring out what to make for dinner – hoping we have all the ingredients and that things will defrost in time, negotiating truces between Bug and Buddha, still trying to get Buddha to take a nap, re-check various e-mails, continue to work on clients’ work, figure out how to make a 7 year old un-bored, making dinner, cleaning up from dinner, folding laundry, getting Bug ready for school the next day, getting both kids bathed, trying to get both kids to bed, doing paperwork with my husband.  And that list doesn’t even include days that I try to sneak in a workout at the gym, or start other projects around the house – like take inventory of my Avon products or the boxes upon boxes of kids clothes that I want to put into an on-line consignment store.  I do sneak in a shower every day too.  I’ve tried not taking a shower now and then but I just can’t do it. 

So to all of you naysayers that think being a SAHM or WAHM is like sitting around all day watching soaps and getting ice cream – NOT!  I challenge you to just visit a SAHM or WAHM for one day.  By noon my husband was climbing the walls, and that’s only with one kid home.  Just imagine what the summer is like. . .

Sometimes I Miss It. . . May 18, 2009

Sometimes.  I definitely miss the money associated with having a traditional full-time office job.  I sometimes miss wearing clothes other than sweats or yoga pants.  I sometimes miss the structure of working the same hours 5 days a week.  Sometimes.  I sometimes don’t miss the commuting at least 2 hours a day.  I sometimes don’t miss the struggle of wanting to help out at my son’s school but not having enough hours in the work day to do it.  I sometimes don’t miss writing a check out to daycare for 1/2 my pay.  I sometimes don’t miss not having the flexibility to take my daughter for a walk or go out and play on the swings if I want to.  Sometimes. . . sometimes.

This Is Why. . . February 2, 2009

This is why I call this blog “Of Cheerios and Conference Calls”, a perfect example. I don’t use my checkbooks much. Most bill paying and balancing I do on the internet, so I don’t write out a lot of checks. Because of this my checkbook is usually in one of two places – my purse or my desk drawer. Well, this morning I was pretty frantic for about an hour. I couldn’t find the house checkbook anywhere. Husband’s business checkbook – check. My business checkbook – check. Line of credit checkbook – check. House checkbook – no check. I have no idea where it went. Double checked the car to see if it might have fallen out when I went to the bank last week. Not there. Tore the kitchen apart in case someone (um, Husband) took it out of my purse. Not there. Tore my desk apart in case I missed it in the first look. Not there. Went through Buddha’s diaper bag – you never know. Not there. OMG – Husband is going to pitch a fit if I really lost it. Let me check one more place, my laptop bags. Not in the first one. Okay – don’t panic, look in the second one. Oh, wait, what’s in this outside pocket? The checkbook! Gee I wonder who put it in there. Oh, and look what else is in here – a handful of cheerios. I attempt to reprimand her for taking Mommy’s checkbook. But come on, how much can you really reprimand a 17 month old especially when she keeps saying “Momma” over and over and making a kissy face to you.

Goggling Yourself June 21, 2008

Have you ever Goggled yourself? It’s pretty cool and a little unnerving that you can just type your name into a search engine and actually get results. The power of the world wide web! I expected to find stuff under my husband’s name because of articles he’s been in the past for Rock Crawling. He competed for a few years. I never imagined to find myself, but there I was, just a few hits, but there just the same. It was kind of cool because what I found related to one of my “freelance” gigs, and was just a few days old. It was a post with my name in it on a WAHM forum. The timing was perfect because the woman who wrote the post was actually on my list of people to try to call today. Was that fate or what?
Still when I read some of the responses on the forum people had mixed feelings and I think someone even responded, “Run” when talking about the job opportunity. We’ve all been there. Working from home is an experience of trials and tribulations. Sometimes you get involved in the wrong things; and sometimes you hit on something really good. This particular freelance gig has been good for me. I’ve been doing it for two years now; I’ve gotten to know the owner. And I kind of take offense at someone insinuating that’s it’s a shady deal. The whole issue was because the e-mail server went down for a day, unknown to the owner, so an e-mail to me was returned as undeliverable. Well, I guess that’s the downside of being out there on the world wide web – parts of your life are open for all to see and comment on. So it’s kind of like reading the paper or hearing the news – take everything with a grain of salt and get on with your life.

Goggling Yourself June 21, 2008

Have you ever Goggled yourself? It’s pretty cool and a little unnerving that you can just type your name into a search engine and actually get results. The power of the world wide web! I expected to find stuff under my husband’s name because of articles he’s been in the past for Rock Crawling. He competed for a few years. I never imagined to find myself, but there I was, just a few hits, but there just the same. It was kind of cool because what I found related to one of my “freelance” gigs, and was just a few days old. It was a post with my name in it on a WAHM forum. The timing was perfect because the woman who wrote the post was actually on my list of people to try to call today. Was that fate or what?
Still when I read some of the responses on the forum people had mixed feelings and I think someone even responded, “Run” when talking about the job opportunity. We’ve all been there. Working from home is an experience of trials and tribulations. Sometimes you get involved in the wrong things; and sometimes you hit on something really good. This particular freelance gig has been good for me. I’ve been doing it for two years now; I’ve gotten to know the owner. And I kind of take offense at someone insinuating that’s it’s a shady deal. The whole issue was because the e-mail server went down for a day, unknown to the owner, so an e-mail to me was returned as undeliverable. Well, I guess that’s the downside of being out there on the world wide web – parts of your life are open for all to see and comment on. So it’s kind of like reading the paper or hearing the news – take everything with a grain of salt and get on with your life.

So Frustrating April 11, 2008

Budha only goes to daycare 1 day a week – 6 hours to be exact. That’s all. I work at a client’s office that one day and she makes the commute with me. Part of me is glad that she’s there beginning to socialize with other babies, and learning to adapt to her surroundings. But a bigger part of me is so frustrated because she’s been getting sick since starting in late January. She’s had the stomach flu – that took about two weeks to get over. Now she has an ear infection. She went all winter without getting sick – little sniffles here and there – but nothing major, no fevers. Even with Bug in school, he didn’t bring anything home over the winter. What’s even more frustrating is that I feel like I’m paying daycare for her to get sick, and I have to pay if she misses because she’s sick. So let me get this straight, I’m bringing her to a daycare center and paying them; she picks something up there and gets sick, misses a day because she’s sick and I still have to pay. What’s wrong with this system?! Between having to pay the cost for daycare that’s not being used and then the doctor visit and medicine, it’s not really cost effective for me to work for this client.

I’m So Excited March 13, 2008

Okay- so not only has Spring officially arrived on the calendar, the temperatures are even rising to the point I can open the windows, but I started writing on a group blog! Check out the Jobs Online Community Blog – http://justonlinejobs.com/blog/ – joining others that work from home. I’m excited about writing more about working from home – something I’ve been doing full-time since August 2006 and something I’m passionate about. For me working from home has been the best way I’ve found to balance family and work. There’s a great group of bloggers there so be sure to check it out.

And since I forgot to post yesterday, here’s a sweet pic of my kiddos that I did mean to post for Wordless Wednesday.

I’m So Excited March 13, 2008

Okay- so not only has Spring officially arrived on the calendar, the temperatures are even rising to the point I can open the windows, but I started writing on a group blog! Check out the Jobs Online Community Blog – http://justonlinejobs.com/blog/ – joining others that work from home. I’m excited about writing more about working from home – something I’ve been doing full-time since August 2006 and something I’m passionate about. For me working from home has been the best way I’ve found to balance family and work. There’s a great group of bloggers there so be sure to check it out.

And since I forgot to post yesterday, here’s a sweet pic of my kiddos that I did mean to post for Wordless Wednesday.

Too Much To Do October 26, 2007

I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. Some people think it’s so easy being a WAHM – you can do laundry while you’re working, do things with your kids when you want, not worry about dressing up, or even getting dressed if you don’t want to. I don’t know about other WAHMs but some days I miss the routine of dropping the kids off at daycare and going to a traditional job. At least I got to “leave” or “forget” about things for a while. I didn’t have to stare at the laundry piling up because I’m trying to catch up and not miss deadlines for work. Or obsess about the dirt trail every time someone walks into house because we’re doing construction. Or, God help me – and please no one take this the wrong way – get a break from a baby who has cholic and reflux, and just never seems to be content, even in her sleep she fusses most of the time. I love my kids – I can’t imagine my world without them. But I just want a break every now and then. It’s not easy being home. Between the baby and work the only time I really get out of the house is the drive to and from school for my son. And there’s always someone crying, or asking me for help with homework, or asking me when dinner’s going to be ready, or double checking me that I paid all the bills that need to be paid, or telling me that the baby’s crying and I need to take care of her.

I know I’m just overtired and venting. I’m truly not on the verge of doing anything drastic. I think tomorrow weather permitting I’ll bundle the baby up and we’ll go over to the park for a walk. If not the park, maybe we’ll just go to the mall and walk around, window shop, exchange a few outfits that she got – just something to get out of this house, and away from the usual routine, just a break.