Thursday, January 29, 2009
What I Was Really Writing
Taming the Chicken (Pox)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Where to Get Mortgage Leads
Ants in Our Pants
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Real Deal Detox
What's to Be Jealous of Jalousies
Getting Ready to Promenade
Money through Blogging
I wonder if I can do that thing (blogging) also.
You can blog, of course. Anybody can, but it takes know-how to create a blog that would hold the interest of readers as well as generate a lot of hits. Personally, I blog more as a writing exercise, so I'm not really very strategic about this. I think it's safe to say that blogs that are helpful and informative should be popular among readers of the same interest. Case in point, I know that most of my readers are mothers like me.
I just want to learn something about making money online.. maybe you can give me some advice that I can use.
Right now I don't have a regular writing gig, so I'm not earning that much. I basically have my blog and that's it. I earn through it by means of Google AdSense and paid posts.
Google Adsense is the banner or box of ads you usually see on websites. In my blog's case, this appears on the right margin of the page. When people click on the ads there, an amount is added to my account. It's not much, so since not a lot of people visit my blog (unlike the ones that get 1000 hits a day), it takes me a while to generate the minimum payout amount which is $100. It actually took me a year to generate my first hundred bucks.
As for paid posts, I've signed up with a few sites that offer opportunities for this (PayPerPost, SocialSpark, Blogsvertise, Smorty, etc.). You basically write a post that follows all the requirements indicated in the opportunity (number of words, hyperlinks, positive tone, etc.) and then submit it for approval.
In what way do you receive your income in the internet?
I mostly use Paypal to receive payment, but I've also used Xoom and Western Union in the past.
Hope this helps. :)
Monday, January 26, 2009
WAH Tips
We Play Distraction
Easier to Be Social Online
Drying Up
Now, does anybody have any tips on preventing chicken pox scars? I came across posts on sandalwood oil and Vitamin E oil, but I still have to research on them further.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Have Your Own Shop
I Must MEME
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag 5 people.
The nearest book is Alexandra Stoddard's "Mothers, a Celebration". The sixth to eighth sentences are the following:
"But how, you may ask, do we find this copious free time, this luxury to nurture and develop ourselves, to take time out to meditate or be solitary? One of the things we can all do is take a good, hard look at all the things we do and ask ourselves, do we need to do them all? We mothers can learn to build minibreaks into our schedules to ensure private time, no matter how demanding or hectic life becomes."
I tag anybody who's interested in doing this. I'm really very bad at the tagging rule, lol.
Inching My Way to the Great Outdoors
We Are Determined Not to Start an Epidemic
When we explore outside, bugs are usually some of the main fascinations. Marguerite has a scratched plastic magnifying glass that she usually brings with her when we go outside (along with a broken pink film camera, a squeaky board book, and a stuffed frog purse). Anyway, when she found this bug, she went to get her trusty lupa (I resort to the Spanish word because the English one is too long, lol) for closer inspection. I went online to google it, of course, and found this. I thought it looked like a ladybird bug except that it was that tan color and had no spots. Funny how it's supposedly called (if I researched right) 10-spot ladybird. I guess spots aren't in season. When I told Marguerite what it was, she started singing the "lalalalala ladybug" song (bububububuh butterfly, doodoodoodoodoo doodlebug, we are the dribbly dell singers, hehe) from Miss Spider.
So yeah, I just need to be more creative and inventive and we can really be more unplugged.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Online Mixers
Baking Soda Is Where It's at
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I Now Understand "Car and Driver"
I Need Me a Key Finder
Halloween Costume for Non-Halloween Occasions
Costumes are always fun and usually relevant to creative spirits who like to make ordinary days more exciting. Go to online stores and you’ll soon start devising a way to wear a costume before Halloween. In any case, you can just go shopping for Halloween early, get several costumes and resolve to hit various parties this year. The Costume Cauldron is a great place to do your shopping. It has a secret HAUNTED HOUSE backdoor on the website that can net you a good discount. To get to this backdoor, go to the homepage halfway down on the right and click on the brown comma in the line that reads “Our Store now has over 10,000 masquerade items for you to choose from!”.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Elizabeth Pantley's Latest No-Cry Book
The No-Cry Nap Solution: Guaranteed Gentle Ways to Solve All Your Naptime Problems
Foreword by Tim Seldin, President, The Montessori Foundation; Chair, International Montessori Council
Introduction by Meir H. Kryger, MD, Chairman of the National Sleep Foundation
~~^~~^~~
Will your child only nap in your arms, in a swing, or after elaborate rituals? Does your child take cat naps -- or none at all? Let world-renowned, trusted parenting author Elizabeth Pantley help you. She’ll guide you with the same sensitive expertise and gentle approach used in her other No-Cry bestsellers about sleep, discipline and potty training.
Research proves that daily naps improve health, mood, growth, intelligence and well-being. Yet children often resist the naps they need and parents don’t know how to make them happen. The results are fussy, crying babies and cranky, grouchy kids who also have trouble sleeping at night!
In The No-Cry Nap Solution Pantley explains to parents of children ages newborn to kindergarten the importance of napping to both behavior during the day and sleeping during (and through!) the night. She then shares with you her gentle, loving child-friendly techniques--tested on families of all sizes and circumstances--and shows you how you can customize her solutions for your own family.
Pantley addresses issues such as children who resist naps, dealing with schedule changes, turning short naps into longer ones, helping a child go from needing motion for sleep to “stationery” sleep, nursing at naptime, daycare-related napping problems, newborn “in-arms” or “in-sling” napping issues, and much more.
(Excerpt below)
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
Dear Reader ~
I thought I knew everything there was to know about naps, since I’ve written two other books and countless articles about children and sleep, but I was shocked and amazed at the new information I discovered while writing this book.
I set out on this venture knowing that parents struggle getting their children to nap. Everyone knows that children need naps, but the biological reasons behind this will convince you, without a doubt, that you should do everything you can to provide your baby or young child with daily nap time. It is common knowledge that when a child misses a nap he gets cranky, but you will be intrigued to learn the actual reasons why this happens.
Naps take only a few hours of time, but naps - or lack of naps - shape all twenty-four hours of your child’s day. The quality and quantity of your child’s naps influence his mood, behavior, health, and brain development. Naps can affect how happy your child is when she wakes up in the morning and how easily she’ll go to bed at night. An appropriate nap schedule is a vital component for your child’s healthy, happy life. When you consider all of this, you’ll also understand that your child’s naps - or lack of naps - can affect all 24 hours of your day, as well as your child’s.
While all experts agree that naps are important, and while they all know that nap problems can be a challenge to parents, what’s often missing are gentle, sensitive, loving solutions. Every idea I present is kind and respectful of the needs of both children and parents. In addition, I know that all children and parents are different, and cookie-cutter solutions are not what parents seek, so I include many options that can be customized to your own needs.
I have included excerpts for you below. For a complete set of excerpts please visit my website here: http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth
Hugs,
Elizabeth~^*
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The Volcano Effect: Why Skipping a Nap Results in Meltdown
By Elizabeth Pantley, Author of The No-Cry Nap Solution
From the moment your child wakes in the morning he is slowly using up the benefits of the previous night’s sleep. He wakes up totally refreshed, but as the hours pass, little by little, the benefits of his sleep time are used up, and an urge to return to sleep begins to build. When we catch a child at in-between stages and provide naps, we build up his reservoir of sleep-related benefits, allowing him a “fresh start” after each sleep period.
As shown on the sleep chart below, as children age, the length of time that they can stay “happily awake” increases. A newborn can only be awake one or two hours before tiredness sets in, whereas a two year old can last five to seven hours before craving some down time for a nap. When children are pushed beyond their biological awake time span without a break that’s when they become fatigued, fussy and unhappy.
Age | “Happily Awake” span of time between naps |
Newborn | 1 - 2 hours |
6 month old | 2 - 3 hours |
12 month old | 3 - 4 hours |
18 month old | 4 - 6 hours |
2 year old | 5 - 7 hours |
3 year old | 6 - 8 hours |
4 year old | 6 - 12 hours |
As the day progresses, and the sleep pressure builds, a child becomes fussier, whinier, and less flexible. He has more crying spells, more tantrums, and less patience. He loses concentration and the ability to learn and retain new information. The scientific term for this process is “homeostatic sleep pressure” or “homeostatic sleep drive” . . . I call it The Volcano Effect. We’ve all seen the effects of this on a baby or child, as it is often as clear as watching a volcano erupt; nearly everyone has observed a fussy child and thought or said, “Someone needs a nap!”
As a child progresses through his day, his biology demands a sleep break to regroup, refresh and repair. If a child does not get this break the problem intensifies: the rumblings and tremors become an outright explosion. Without a nap break, the homeostatic pressure continues building until the end of the day, growing in intensity - like a volcano - so that a child becomes overtired, wired and unable to stop the explosion. The result is an intense bedtime battle with a cranky, overtired child, or an infant who won’t fall asleep no matter how tired you know he is.
Even more, a child who misses naps day after day builds a sleep deprivation that launches her into the volcano stage much easier and quicker. If she is missing naps and also lacking the right quality or quantity of nighttime sleep…watch out!
Newborns and young babies have a much shorter span in which their sleep pressure builds. They rapidly reach the peak of their volcano in one to three hours. This is why newborns sleep throughout the day, and why young babies require two or three or four daily naps. Over time, as a baby’s sleep cycle matures he will be able to go longer periods between sleeps. It is not until age 4 or 5 that a child is able to go happily through the entire day without a nap, and sleep research suggests that even through adulthood a mid-day nap or rest break is extremely beneficial in reducing the pressure in all human beings.
The Volcano Effect is not something reserved only for children! This biological process affects adults as well. Understanding this can help you interpret what is really going on in your home at the end of a long day, when children are fussy and parents are grumpy - resulting in a whole mountain range of volcanoes.
Sleep pressure can be exaggerated by environmental issues such as the previous poor night’s sleep, on-going sleep deprivation, or daily stress. What's more, each person’s moodiness feeds off the others, causing contagious crankiness. And then you’ll find yourself losing patience and saying to your child, “I’m sorry, honey. Mommy’s just tired right now.” (This is a very telling explanation we don’t often stop to analyze.)
This Volcano concept brings to light one more important point: Quality naps can make up for lost night sleep - but extra nighttime sleep does not make up for missed naps, due to the homeostatic sleep pressure concept. Therefore, no matter how your child sleeps at night - great sleeper or poor sleeper -- his daily naps are critically important to release the rising sleep pressure.
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This is a copyrighted excerpt from The No-Cry Nap Solution: Guaranteed Gentle Ways to Solve All Your Naptime Problems by Elizabeth Pantley. (McGraw-Hill, December 2008).
If you would like to read further, more excerpts are available at Elizabeth Pantley's website.
Cluck-cluck Pox
I Need to Find My Inner Creative Freak
When I Grow Up
A Trim Tummy
Farewell to Sleeves and Pants
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Fun Toddler Investments
The idea is to get something fun, but still really beneficial in terms of her development (and hopefully, something she can use for a long time). Toddler games and toys would best fit the bill. Since it’s pretty much summer weather here all year long (unless it’s wet), toddler travel and outdoor fun stuff would be a good idea. This obviously needs some deliberation, so even if we're having fun with the money, we still mean to get great value from it. Anyway, ShopWiki.com is a great place to search for just the right stuff as they have a more comprehensive index of stores and items sold online.
Check Out the Weather
Friday, January 16, 2009
The Ford Legacy
Not about My Hair
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Yours 'Til the Kitchen Sinks
Monday, January 12, 2009
Daybook - Jan 12 '09
Outside my Window... grayish clouds, but with a line of orange in the horizon; flocks of trained pigeons flying past every so often; sparrows resting on my balcony ledge
I am thinking... of activities for Marguerite this week
I am thankful for... the life testimonies I heard last night (it was our evangelistic night at our church)
From the kitchen... just french toast (Husband was excited to make breakfast today for some reason, but he's still sleeping, so...)
I am creating... homemade fingerpaint (one of the activities involve fingerpainting, I guess, lol)
I am wearing... a ratty brown shift
I am reading... Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
I am hoping... to accomplish a few things from my writing list this week
I am hearing... the elevator pinging every five seconds or so (time for most people to get to work)
Around the house... three weeks worth of laundered clothes still to be put in closets. I have no excuse.
One of my favorite things... a lighthouse tealight/votive holder that my mother gave me several birthdays ago
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... paint toddler bed, sand and varnish vintage medicine cabinet, write a couple of stories, try out new activities with Marguerite
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Finding Coupons
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Season's Over
So, did you know that on Christmas Day Marguerite hurled with impressive force my almost full bottle of Escada Magnetism on the floor? Of course, it broke into shards (nobody was hurt except the perfume and probably my nerves, as usual) and to this day, I can still smell the scent every time I enter the bedroom. It was my fault. I actually gave the bottle to her to distract her during a tantrum. Talk about moronic ideas...we were getting ready to go out, she wanted to get into my makeup case and I wouldn't let her. She usually likes sniffing my perfumes, but she was in a fit, so...
I have some pictures to remind me what transpired during the season... actually a lot happened, but I can never get around to fishing the memory cards out of the camera before Husband clears them. Pictures end up in his laptop and since I'm always on the verge of popping a vein every time I try to log in there, I do not bother (yes, I can make a big production out of logging into my husband's computer since the passwords he gave me never work! I guess I'll never make a hacker.). The following are pictures from my dear friend Leila's party (wherein we arrived more than fashionably late... sorry about that again, Leila :D) with friends from the UP-Le Club Français some of which I had not seen since college days. Leila (who's another homeschooler, btw :) ) herself has just come home from her diplomatic stint in the Netherlands, so I was really very happy to see her and her family again.
We also went to Tagaytay with my inlaws. My sister had a party (26). My SIL had a party (27). My allergies tried to trample me that one time and they were semi-successful. Husband abandoned us on his penultimate day of vacation (the last day didn't count either because that was Sunday and our Sundays are all church stuff) to shoot a wedding. Oh and there was that fiasco at the Mall of Asia wherein Husband broke a glass and I ended up drenched with orange juice (separate incidents but the same restaurant and we can all thank the terrific twos for the decision to just get our food to go and eat at home, which we still didn't do because we were just sooo bone-tired) Anyway, the season is always over too quickly and blah blah blah here are some of the pics (Tagaytay ones I stole from my SIL; Leila's party ones Husband emailed me)