If you are a business owner, chances are you are sending out newsletters to your customers or using a blog to keep them up to date on your business. When your customers read these and they see grammatical errors, typos and spelling mistakes, it can make your business look less credible. Your Virtual Assistant can proof your work before your send it out! We all make mistakes. Even before I published my website, I sent it to a few friends to proof for me. They caught a few things and I fixed them. It is easier to catch a mistake while reading something new than when you have typed it and re-read it.
I would love to help your business look it’s best by proof reading your outgoing literature. Send me your blog posts, web site, newsletters, e-zines, post cards, anything that you would like to have me proof for you.
My business is about making your business successful!

Last night at church, our student ministries pastor did an experiment to see if our youth would approach a new person that looked a little different. He had his brother in law come dressed in torn jeans, a t-shirt that had a scary picture, a green army jacket and a skull cap. He stood in 1 spot for the entire pre-service time while the kids played basketball, pool and did their normal social things. Not many of the kids even noticed him.
During the sermon, Pastor Troy talked about being true disciples and explained that they would have to also interact with people outside of their circle. He challenged them to stop playing church and start living a life of discipleship. He introduced his brother in law and told the kids about the experiment and told them that they might have missed an opportunity to show Jesus to someone. This “stranger” might have been someone on the breaking point that had decided that he was going to go to church and that if no one there talked to him, he was going to go home and end his life. We never know the impact we are making on other people!
I hope that it showed our youth to be on the lookout for new people and to at least say hello. I always talk to everyone, that’s just my personality, but I will be more aware of making sure that new people get plugged into the groups as soon as they can.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the social networking sites that I am a part of, mainly Facebook and Twitter. I have many “friends” and followers. I am curious as to why so many people only post their status and never interact with the people that are reading their posts. I mean, if you are on a social networking site, shouldn’t you make conversation with the people? It just doesn’t make sense to me…
I am a “fan” to some businesses on Facebook and I follow many on Twitter. I really enjoy getting responses back from the businesses. It gives it more of a personal touch! That it why I am so determined to make sure that the businesses that I represent on Facebook and Twitter are interacting with their people. If all the company does is send out “advertisements”, the fans will lose interest and not pay attention to what the business is saying.
I have said before “I’m a talker, not a stalker so if I follow you, I am going to engage in conversation.”
So, what do you think? Do you want interaction with the people you are giving your time to on Facebook and Twitter or do you just want to read their stuff and be done? Let me know what you think.

I wanted to get a Wii for my kids because I thought that it would allow them to play fun games and help them to be active. We started saving our money to get one and then a friend of ours bought one for us as a Christmas gift (but gave it to us 2 months early! LOL) Anyway, the kids have been playing it and I have been able to use it as motivation to finish their school work. I had not really taken the time to play it until last night and now I am hooked! I really love the Wii Sports Resort 100 pin Bowling. I played 4 full games this morning before 6:30 and no one else in the house was awake! During nap time for my daycare kids, I played a game with my boys (the youngest beat me) and then played 2 more games tonight. I think I may need an intervention. Ha Ha I am so sore from playing so many games today. It is great that my family is having fun together and able to be physically active.
I now have Wii Fit on my wish list. That will really help with my goal of losing 100 lbs by my birthday. I would love to hear about your favorite Wii games that help you be more active and burn calories while having fun with your family.

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are booming!  A lot of businesses are using these site to increase their customer base and get their name out there and they have a captive audience.  Read this post about Using Facebook for your business and then tell me why your business not utilizing these sites.

Many business owners have told me that they don’t have time to update and network with people on social networking sites.  Well, that is where I come in.  As your virtual assistant, I can help you set up accounts and start building a network of followers.  I will keep your pages up to date with the latest business information & specials as well as post photos of products and services provided and interact with your clients. 

You don’t have time to do it all, so let me help you! I will represent your company in the growing world of social networking and help you build your customer base and customer satisfaction at the same time.

Visit my website for more information about what I can do for your business as your virtual assistant.

I started seeing stuff about SWAGBUCKS a few months ago in some of the blogs that I read but never took the time to sign up…until about a month ago when my friend Lisa Bayorek posted something about it on her Facebook status.  I thought “Fine, I will click on this link and see what all of these people are talking about.”  I wish I had done this when I first saw it months ago!

I have been earning SWAGBUCKS just for searching for stuff on the web!  You simply sign up, install the toolbar and start searching to earn SWAGBUCKS that you can use to “buy” things you want!  Not only do you earn SWAGBUCKS by searching, you can also earn them by doing surverys, referring friends, signing up for special offers, recycling cell phones and more. 

So, don’t be like me and keep reading about all this stuff people are earning with their SWAGBUCKS while you are still searching online and not getting a thing for it…SIGN UP TODAY!

I have heard it called many things, God stories, God Breaths, God Winks, etc but no matter what you call them, they are amazing! Have you ever felt like God places something in your day to make you smile and reflect on the fact that HE loves you?
~Some mornings when I look out my kitchen window I see a deer standing in the field behind my house. It always makes me happy.
~When I go through a dangerous intersection, I praise God and thank Him for helping me to get through safely.
~When I am feeling down and one of my cats climbs into my lap and wants to be rubbed, it reminds me that I am loved.
Simple things that we take for granted are often little reminders from God that he is there.
~My niece, Caitlyn mentioned at Christmas that when she sings in the shower, she gets applause. I thought she was weird and thought nothing more of it…until Tuesday morning when I was taking a shower and leaned my head back into the flow to rinse…I heard it! There was the applause! It made me smile and think of Caitlyn and how something as simple as washing my hair can become monotonous if I let it. How many times have I rinsed my hair since she told me that, yet I never paid attention to the thunderous applause? God has been clapping for me every morning and cheering me on to be a success, yet I have ignored it.

I can’t wait to see how many other things He’ll send my way to show me that He cares for me.
Leave a comment and tell me some ways that He has said “Hello, I love you” to you.

I have often heard people say how much they have sacrificed for their children & it has caused me to think about the word sacrifice.

Webster’s definition: sac·ri·fice 1 : an act of offering to a deity something precious;
2 : something offered in sacrifice
3 a : destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else b : something given up or lost

Yes, some parents do sacrifice FOR their children as in definition 3 but unfortunately, some are simply sacrificing their children for the sake of their own happiness as in definitions 1 & 2.

What do I mean by this? I am not talking about the old stay home mom vs working mom. Both situations require sacrifice on the mother’s part and the child. I am talking about the fact that some mothers are sacrificing valuable time with their children and are too busy spending time doing activities that are for themselves. Have I been guilty of this? Yes! I have had to step back and re-evaluate many of the activities in my life. I have had to give up things that I enjoyed because I was away from home way too much. So many people spend a lot of time chasing their own dreams (make more money, meet famous people, travel to many countries, etc) that they don’t have time to chase their child around the house in pursuit of a good tickle attack. The time that I have with my kids is precious. One of these days they will be taking care of their own families and I won’t get to see them as much. When this happens, I will have the time to do all of the things that I want to do. I don’t want to sacrifice my children by being an absent mom.  My kids need me NOW so I am willing to make the sacrifices needed to give them what they need, which right now, is me.

Am I saying that mothers should not do anything but be with their kids at all time? Of course not!  We DO need some time away so we can regroup and refresh. Even Jesus tells the disciples to get away for rest in Mark 6:30-32. I am just saying, look at what activities you have in your life and see how much time you actually are spending away from your children and cut some of the extra foo-foo stuff out.  I still play Bunko, go to Women’s Bible/Book Groups, have dinner with friends, and volunteer but if I had to give up these activities, I would do it in a heart beat.  What’s important in your life?  What are your priorities?  Children are a gift from God, so I really hope you are treasuring those special people that He has given you.

Wow! It is cold here. The current temp is 14 with wind chill of 8.
I had not really been paying attention to the weather since I had not been feeling well and yesterday my daughter went out to feed her bunnies & told me that their water was frozen. I made her bring the bunnies in but unfortunately it was too late and her white bunny, Oliver, didn’t survive.
It makes me think about the people that have no shelter and are sleeping out in this cold. I have heat, warm clothes and blankets…they do not. There have already been 3 human deaths reported in my area due to the extremely cold temperatures. One was an elderly man that was in his home with electricity but his heat wasn’t on. We all need to make sure we are checking on our neighbors and elderly family members to make sure they are ok. The cost of electricity and gas may be making some people not turn their heat on because they are scared to.

Thank you God for my shelter and warmth. Please protect those who are not as fortunate. Help them find a warm place to stay and warm food to eat.

I didn’t feel well the last few days of 2009. I had some pain in my tummy and just felt blah. I called the Dr on Jan 31 to see if I could be seen but she couldn’t get me in.
That night, we went to my dad’s house to celebrate Christmas/Dad’s birthday/New Year’s. I got my Keurig Brewing Station! Yay!! The kids played Wii with William and Mike…now that was funny!

2010 started out well enough. We stayed up as a family until midnight and then I went to bed.
New Year’s Day was spent doing a little shopping and then to my grandmother’s house for black eyed peas, rice, cabbage, broccoli cornbread and some delicious apple cake.
On January 2nd I decided that I had been in pain long enough so I drove myself to the ER without telling anyone but my mom that I was going. They ran some tests and couldn’t find anything wrong…nice huh?
At 4:40 AM on January 3rd, I woke up because of severe pain and felt nauseated so I went back to the ER…more tests and still no definitive answer. I was told possible kidney stones. I am not convinced.
At this point I am still hurting and am just trying to relax. I am going to my regular dr tomorrow to follow up. I really hope someone figures out what is wrong with me soon. I know I am crazy but I can not be imagining this pain!
Do me a favor. Pray for me and for the pain to either go away or they find out what is wrong with me. Thanks!
Happy NEW YEAR!