Rambling On

Online Income

For the past couple of years, I have been actively searching for different types of programs that I am able to get involved in to try to earn a little extra income for our home. This has become even more important to me in the past seven months, as seven months ago I quit my full time job to become a stay at home mom. So with no income coming in from outside sources I have been “pounding the Internet pavement”. I am happy to report that I have found some opportunities where I have been able to earn a little spare cash.

One such opportunity I discovered just recently can be found over at Shared Reviews. Although I am just starting out in this program, I can tell you that it looks quite promising. All you need to do is do a lot of product reviews of products that you currently own and use and they will pay you for your opinions. You don’t even need to have a blog to participate. All your work is recorded on their site. It seems to be extremely easy work and it will also create a nice cash flow for me.

Like I said, I’m just starting out, so I haven’t had the experience of being paid or anything like that. But as soon as I have more information, I’ll be sure to pop in here with an update.

Quiet weekend coming to an end

Well the weatherman was right!  He said it was going to be a very cold weekend and he was right.  With temperatures hovering around the -23 degree mark and if you add on the windchill factor it was more like -33 degrees, we ended up with one cold weekend.  So like I promised we really didn’t do a whole lot this past weekend.

Actually it was quite nice to just sit back and relax for once.  The kids weren’t too upset with me when I told them they couldn’t go outside to play so that was kind of a good thing too!  Hopefully the up coming week won’t be so bitterly cold and the kids will get to go outside to play more.  But, if the temperatures stay the way they have been that won’t really be an option for them.

Last skate for the year

In my children’s school each class goes on a skate with their class four times a year.  That for me this year meant that I needed to stand in a cold rink first thing in the morning this year eight times.  Well I’m happy to report that yesterday was the last skate of the season.  That’s right, that means that I don’t have to go and stand in a cold rink any more this year if I don’t want to.

Both kids had a blast going to the skating rinks with their classes and their progress that they made on the ice was quite amazing.  You could see their confidence level build up after each and every skate.  Matter of fact, my daughter did a solo on the ice yesterday.  That’s how confident she has become.

Even though the skating season for the school is now over, we will be taking the kids to the outdoor rink from time to time over the next couple of months.  But they won’t be going with their classes any more this year.  This fact doesn’t really bother them because as long as they get to skating again, they really don’t care who it’s with.

Entrecard

For the past three weeks, I have been actively participating in a social network for bloggers. This program is called Entrecard. I would have to say that between all the programs that I participate in this one is by far the best for helping me to increase my traffic levels to each of my blogs. Currently I have three blogs in this system and I am absolutely thrilled with the amount of extra traffic that I have been receiving on each and every blog.

Although this system does require that you put some work into it, the work you put into it is definitely worth it. All you need to do is visit other blogs that participate in this program, drop you “card” on their site and then they will in turn return the favor. Yes, you get a lot of card droppers, but some of these droppers turn into real repeat visitors and commenter’s.

So, if your looking for a way to increase your traffic levels, then I highly suggest you stop by Entrecard, drop your own card and see your traffic levels increase by leaps and bounds.

I’ve been a very busy girl!

Over the past week, I have been making a lot of homemade jewelry. Last weekend I went to our local craft store and bought a ton of beads and supplies so I could get back to making jewelry. So for the past few days that’s pretty much all I have been doing. When I started posting on different forums that I have homemade jewelry for sale, some fellow bloggers suggested that I check out Etsy.com to see about setting up a shop to sell my jewelry. So for the past couple of days I have been looking into getting my own Etsy shop and I took the plunge and set one up. Right now I have five items up for sale, and if they sell, I will then advertise more. The fees associated with this site are quite reasonable, so I decided to give them a try for a little while. If this works out, then you will be able to see a lot more of the jewelry listed on this site.

So, please take the time to stop by my site and see what I have been up to lately.

Another major storm is on the way

I have to say that this has been the most unusual winter weather that we have had in a very long time.  We are now in for another major snowstorm.  Last week the weather was warm and sunny (almost spring like), and now this week, we are getting another 30 cm of snow.  I’m not complaining though as with the snowy weather the temperatures outside are still quite mild.  I just wish this crazy weather would make up it’s mind whether it wants to be sunny and warm or snowy and windy.  Pick one, so we can all get on with life. lol

He’s On Vacation…Sort of…

Well finally the kids are back in school after two long weeks of Christmas vacation.  But, don’t get too excited for me as this week my husband is home on vacation.  So, I still don’t have the house to myself yet.  But come January 14, I will have my house back and will be back to my normal routines.  Today I am getting a little taste of what it will be like next week as my husband got called into work today and he went.

So although he’s on vacation, he is working one of his vacation days.  So for today only I have the entire house to myself.  It’s amazing what I have been able to accomplish today with no extra bodies in the house for the first time in almost three weeks.  I think I will be able to get through the rest of the week with the knowledge that I can look forward to many more days like this in the near future. lol

Thinking Ahead

I know that we just finished Christmas and all our celebrations, but I figured that it is never to soon to start looking toward next year. As anybody in here can tell you, getting ready for the Christmas season can become quite costly. Not only do you have to worry about having enough money for Christmas present purchases, but you also need to have a little extra set aside for all the extra groceries that you are going to need. So this is why I have decided to think ahead to next year.

I have just sent away for a free catalogue from Chrisco Hampers. For any of you that are not aware of this company, it is a company were you pay so much a month to to have all the groceries that you will need for your upcoming Christmas dinner and Christmas celebrations. I think this is a wonderful idea so thought I might just check out all the ins and outs of this program.

I should be receiving the free catalogue within the next ten days. After I get a chance to look over the catalogue and their prices I will then decide if this is the route I would like to go for next year. I’ll be sure to pop back in here and let you all know whether this is an option that I would recommend to anyone.

I took a drive

Last night I just had to get out of the house for a little while.  So when my husband mentioned that he would like a bottle of pop, I jumped at the chance just to take a little trip to the corner store.  I hadn’t driven my car since we got seriously hit with all this snow and didn’t realize just how unsafe it is to be driving around this time of year.  I knew we got a lot of snow as I was out in the middle of one storm shoveling, but didn’t realize exactly how bad it was until I was driving by all the snow piles that the plows left.  The piles were so high that for me to turn onto another road, I had to actually drive in the middle of the road to see if anything was coming.  Thankfully nothing was or I would have been hit.

After my experience driving last night, I have decided that my little trip out into the wide wide world is probably going to make me not want to drive anymore for awhile.  At least until some of this snow melts and I can see where I’m going again.

I am so….sore!

Yesterday we were hit with a massive snowstorm and to be nice to my husband I took the kids outside and did some shoveling.  Now you have to remember that I don’t work outside of the home anymore so I am not use to such physical exercise anymore, so let me just tell you that I am paying for this little burst of energy today.  My arms, wrists and back are really sore today.  I only shoveled for about an hour and half, so I can just imagine what I would have felt like, had I finished the entire driveway.

So, besides getting my exercise for the entire year, I also learned a very valuable lesson.  When it snows, stay away from the shovels. lol  That’s my New Year’s resolution this year.  No shoveling!!