50-50

We are in the Washington, D.C., metro area visiting family for a couple of weeks. And naturally a lot of the conversation centers around us moving back to the area. And surprisingly I am not 100% for it.

I am about 50-50.

I miss my family, naturally, but I don't miss the traffic. I don't miss being in the middle of politics central. I don't miss everything being so spread out.

I am kinda feeling like after seven years, Oregon is home. While the fall leaves are beautiful in Maryland, the evergreens and grass are not as vibrantly green. The sun is beautiful on this crisp fall day, but the air is not as fresh and clean.

I wonder if I'd be able to stay home with my kiddos, if we moved back here or whether we'd have to be a two-income family to make ends meet. I wonder if we'd be able to afford to live in a good school district or whether we'd have to pay private school tuition.

I wonder if we could find a great neighborhood like the one we have now. I may get tired of being the only Black family in neighborhood , OK maybe there is one other, but I know my neighbors and count many of them among my friends. Here everyone is an island.

So yeah I don't know. My kids would love to be in Maryland and see their cousins every weekend. I, on the other hand, have developed more friendships in Oregon than any time since college. Hmmmm....

I can say that if my parents move back to the East Coast all bets are off and it's hasta la vista rain! :-)

Party favors and Usborne

I don't like to spend a lot of money on party favors, but I'd rather give something useful or cool than $1 worth of plastic junk. My luck with this has been hit or miss. For my son's recent Harry Potter sleepover "every flavor" jelly beans and a light up wand were easy and not too cheesy. For his beyblade party with a limited guest list, we gave a new beyblade. And for a previous race car party we gave out hot wheels cars. I haven't had such good luck with the girls though. Between the Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse and whatever else there have been limited options for non-cheesy and inexpensive.

Naturally that got me thinking about Usborne books and helping others come up with a good, cool, useful party favor. We have some awesome $5 beginning readers that lend themselves well to popular party themes. (Oh how I wish my kids picked one of these themes every once in a while.)

               

               

And $4 dot-to-dot books that might work as well:

               

Another cute idea is our activity cards. At $9.99 for about 50 cards, it's super cost-effective to tie a few cards together with ribbon, clip on a Dollar Tree dry erase pen and have a great favor to hand out. Some that might work with your theme:

                 

            

As for me and my 2 year old's Mickey Mouse themed birthday party in two days, I'm still thinking. Maybe I'll take my own advice next year. Though we may have to have a Halloween party just so I can give Spooky Doodle cards as favors. So cute!



To order any of the above, just visit my Web site at http://www.enjoygoodbooks.com. And remember sharing is caring. Pass these ideas along to your birthday-party-planning friends. :-)

Usborne Book Club Starting Sept. 1

I have mentioned before that one of my favorite childhood memories is getting my Weekly Reader book in the mail. I'm not sure why it was called "weekly" reader because the books came monthly.

Since I started selling Usborne Books almost six years ago now, I've toyed with the idea of a book of the month club. But well I can't call it that...something about copyright infringement.

So finally I'm just gonna do it and see what happens. Because as you may know I have been reading a lot of Jonathan James and the Whatif Monster and my internal dialog is moving from Whatif  no one wants to do it to Whatif this is just what that person with a really long wish list needs to get more of these fabulous books in their home.

This is how it works: 
You go to my web site (www.enjoygoodbooks.com) and browse around and click the add to wish list icon next to any book you'd like to get.

Consider your kid(s). If you have more than one, do you want them each to get a book each month?

Consider birthdays and holidays.

Consider your budget, and don't forget the shipping cost ($5) in your calculations.

When you have at least 12 books on your wish list, I will contact you to determine which books should come in which months and in whose name. Feel free to add more than 12 books. Don't let me limit you.

I will need a credit card number on file (Visa, MasterCard, or Discover) to charge each month.

Orders will be processed on the 1st and should arrive no later than the 10th.

Who wants to go on this adventure with me?

Educating myself

I have spent the last week or so listening to the online, direct sales interviews put on by The Mind Aware. Of course I know that this is an excuse to not do what I should be doing, which is to pick up the phone and connect with actual people.

But I hate the phone. I'll even text my husband instead of calling him, much to his dismay. This is such a long way from my teenage self. Back then my boyfriend and I would sit on the phone basically just breathing because neither of us where big talkers. Ah memories.

At any rate, the trainings/interviews I've listened to so far have been valuable. I just finished up
number four of the 24-part series. Today's teleseminar was with Jackie Ulmer on using social media for your business. And while I knew a lot of what she suggested, I did get some good reminders and was again reminded that my downfall in everything (from business to housework to raising my kids) is consistency.

So yeah, looks like I have a new personal goal to work on. If anyone has advice on being consistent, I'd love to hear it.

Some of the tips/reminders I connected with are

Tune in to popular culture for your next theme. For example for Pampered Chef create "Master Chef" classes or for home decor look at the popular shows on HDTV. ~ Mary Christensen

Advice from Alice Hinckley on answering the "what do you do" question: answer from the perspective of what challenge or struggle you solve. What's the benefit, not the product.

Focus, commitment, consistency are the keys to success in direct sales. ~ Belinda Ellsworth

Market your business online the same way that you would at a local chamber of commerce event. You wouldn't immediately launch into a join my business pitch there so you shouldn't online either. ~ Jackie Ulmer

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Something I forget about myself

I don't like schedules so much. Now this is not news, not really. I can hear my mom and my friend Sarah saying, "Duh!" But I am always taken aback when I encounter that tug against the flow in different areas of my life. When I worked outside the home, I loathed people expecting to see me at 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m. or whenever I was supposed to be there. You know I was thinking, "Don't be looking for me trying to box me in!" And when my kids were babies I never had a strict feeding schedule or even a strict nap schedule. It's always been eat when you're hungry, though I have gotten stricter across the years with naps and bedtime schedules. Though I think a lot of that has to do with the kids' behavior. If they are playing well together and not driving me nuts, then I am much more likely to forget the time and get off our already loose schedule. Anyway as I was thinking over summer homeschool and summer reading, I was kinda beating myself up that I haven't done a very good job of sticking to a plan and getting the kids to do their work. And then I realized it's just another manifestation of me being schedule averse. I guess the non-conformist in me has to show herself somehow.

Sick to death

There have been plenty of days where I have just not posted rather than be a Negative Nelly. But today I just have to say that I'm sick to death of myself. UGH! I'm sick to death of my house. Double UGH!And I'm sick to death of laundry and cooking.

That is all.

April is all about literacy it seems

It's School Library Month. Did you know? It's a great time to thank your librarian, if your school is lucky enough to still have one.

There are also a number of other special literacy-related dates this month. For example, National Library Week is April 8-14. It’s a time to "celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support," according to the American Library Association. "All types of libraries -- school, public, academic and special -- participate. This year’s theme: You belong @ your library®."

Other dates this month: National Library Workers Day - April 10; National Bookmobile Day - April 11; Support Teen Literature Day - April 12; and Children’s Day/Book Day - April 30.

Though I'm naturally all about Children's Day/Book Day given my business, I think my favorite literacy-related day this month is National Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) Day - April 12, 2012. Again from the American Library Association, "It is a special reading celebration to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority. The official event date, April 12, is the birthday of author Beverly Cleary."

How fun!

Now, of course, when I find out stuff like this, my mind starts turning to figure out how I can incorporate this into my book business.

I'm thinking hostesses hosting home parties and donating their free books to their schools' libraries.

I'm thinking preschool or scout troop read-a-thons on D.E.A.R. Day with pledges going for books to the kids and books to be donated.

I'm thinking Cards for a Cause fundraisers benefiting local libraries and literacy groups.

Lack of ideas is never my downfall. Follow through on the other hand...

If you'd like to help me celebrate literacy this month, hollar at a sistah. Or perhaps I'll run into you at the library. 

Ode to 8 hours of sleep

What a difference 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep makes. (Let's not count the phone ringing at 5 a.m.)
I don't remember the last time I got a full 8 hours. But I need to do it more often because wow just wow.
I woke up actually rested. I can make myself a cup of coffee just because I like the taste and ritual and not because I can't open my left eye until I've had it. And I'm sure my kids appreciate it because I've made them breakfast and played a game of Snakes & Ladders, and I haven't even made that cuppa joe yet.

Sleep--the best kept non-secret!

A momma rant

I am sick to death of the "I didn't have time" excuse constantly coming from my son. I just picked him up from his after-school activity and as we're walking down the hall I'm looking at some of the things posted outside his classroom. So I ask where his is, and you guessed it. He didn't have time...

Now I know he's slow. I call him turtle for a reason. But I also know that after fall teacher conferences where I heard about a lot of unfinished work, I expressly asked that my turtle be kept in from recess if he didn't finish his work. That worked for about a month evidently.

So what do I have to do, show up every morning at recess time to check that his work is complete before he's allowed out? Or can we at least have his unfinished work sent home so I can have him finish it. I guess I'll have to send an e-mail to the teacher.

In the meantime, turtle's gaming systems are gone for a week while his guitar lessons are put on indefinite hold because frankly he just doesn't have enough time, especially with all the extra work he's going to have to do now.

*sucking my teeth and rolling my eyes*

Positive energy

Do you ever look around your house and get discouraged? Do you ever get sick and tired of being sick and tired? Do you ever just get sick of yourself and your negative inner monologue?

Yeah I’m there today. So I’m trying to find and focus on some positive energy. Sometimes being grateful for the big things isn’t enough. I mean, of course, I’m thankful that my hubby has a job and my kids are healthy. But that’s not enough to make me want to get off my booty. I need some little victories. Lots of little victories!

Some morning victories: I worked out. That’s a positive. I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. So that’s another positive. I remembered to eat breakfast at a reasonable time, so there you go three positive things.

Is it sad that I have to pump myself up about these little things? (I’m sure you’re thinking yes though you’ll post no. lol) I think I’m going to need some more small victories to get me through today.

Stream of consciousness

In normal housework avoiding fashion, I'm sitting at the kitchen table taking turns staring out the window at my middle child playing outside in the cold and staring at my loud laptop trying to come up with something to write.

I kinda gave up on coming up with something good to write, as you can tell, and decided to go with more of a stream of consciousness post. There is just nothing exciting going on and I, fortunately, don't have any major concerns or issues on my mind -- mostly thanks to my mom listening sympathetically to my rant during last night's phone call.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good about where I am in time and space at this very moment. The kids are happy and healthy. I'm feeling pretty good about where I am on my *current* weight loss journey (fit and fabulous at 40 is in full effect). I had a good February in my book business. And am looking forward to a busy March. I am a little nervous about March through May, as I need $1000 in sales each month to stay on track to win an iPad. But if I do it, I'll not only win an iPad, but I'll also be on track to finance my 40th birthday celebration in Vegas.

So yeah, overall, I'm in a good mental space.

Fitting it all in

Since Sunday, after I dragged myself out to meet up with the Portland Metro Mocha Moms (moms of color, not a coffee group), I have been thinking a lot about the best way to raise my kids and set them up for success.

I am the first to admit that my kids are not likely to end up as a statistic. Kids raised in a two-parent household where both parents are college educated are rarely the ones dismal statistics are referring to. BUT it's not like that's a hard-and-fast rule. So naturally I worry about doing the best things for them. That's a universal momma thing I think.

I worry about who they will date. More specifically I worry about the parents' reaction when some little white girl brings my little black boy home as her boyfriend. Because really we live in Oregon and have no plans to move so that's likely going to be the reality. I posted a picture of Aliyah "tanning" recently, so yeah it's fair to say I worry about her self-esteem when she sees very few people who look like her.

Oh but wait the topic of this post was "Fitting it all in" not "What LaRonda Worries About." So back on topic. With all this going on in my mind, I start thinking about how to give my kids the best chance of success. Academically that has meant homework even when none is assigned. It has meant summer reading programs and workbooks, etc. And I think I have a pretty good handle on the supplemental education in that respect.

But then my friend Michelle mentioned that she does supplemental black history work with her children, too. And I thought, "Oh man! I should be doing that, too." But then I started to panic trying to think about how to fit that into what we're doing already.

I am having a hard time thinking through the balance between social time/play time, supplemental education, and extracurricular activities. There are only so many hours in a day after all. And I don't want to overschedule the kids or have kids activities totally take over our family time. So I guess what I'm looking for are suggestions for fitting it all in.

TMI: No longer a breeder

I am officially no longer a breeder. The three kids I have are the only three who will come from my womb. I thought I'd get cold feet. I thought I'd be sad. But I'm not.

I am mainly relieved. No more trying to remember if I took my BC pill. Because as bad as my memory is, I'm surprised we only have three kids.

Big Brother E was sadder than I am. He was hoping for a brother. He doesn't quite grasp that he could have ended up with three sisters!

So I'm sitting here, relaxing with an ice pack on my belly waiting to feel even a little sad. I think I'll be waiting for a while.

Missing work? How odd!

I was just thinking this morning that I miss having a job. Kinda.

Stay-at-home mom is a job. I know; you don't have to remind me. I enjoy parenting for the most part. I tolerate housework. I belong to moms' groups so I see my "co-workers." And getting paid in hugs and kisses is great except it doesn't pay for the new boots I want to buy.

And yes, I know I have the whole business owner thing going with my book business. I absolutely love sharing Usborne books with people and meeting other parents. But let me be honest, generating business is hard work and takes motivation that I sometimes just don't have.

So that brings me to a j-o-b, like one that I leave the house and go to. One where I'm with other adults most of the day. One that pays in tender that can be used to buy hot pink cowboy boots.

I really don't want a job though. I don't want to think about before and after-school care and what to do when the kids are sick or off school. I don't want to figure out how to get the kids to their activities (even though paying for the activities would be easier). I don't want anyone expecting to see me at 8 a.m. or even 9 a.m. I don't want to deal with traffic.

I do miss the steady paycheck without me having to do the business generation to get it. I miss having work friends. I miss plopping down in someone's office for a chat. I miss happy hours and cake to celebrate everyone's life events. I miss having mad editorial skills. I even miss meetings--a little. But really I think I just miss my ASAE friends. I made some really awesome connections during my nine years there. And even though most of them aren't even there anymore, I guess I'm feeling a little nostalgic.

OK enough of that. I guess I should go do some parenting or housework or book selling.