A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

If you’ve been following my humble little blog, you have probably read about my efforts to work from home. Back in September, I was jobless and looking for a way to make decent money online. I applied for several freelance writing jobs, but didn’t hear back from any of them. So I ended up having to go back to work outside the home, and put freelancing on the back burner for a while.

A few days ago, I got an email in response to one of the inquiries I made back in September. It was for a huge web copywriting project with a quickly approaching deadline. There’s no way I could have done the whole thing by myself, but if the first assignment went well I could do as many as possible in the allotted time. I accepted the first assignment and got to work on it.

I had to work the next day, so that set me back a little. Still determined, I pressed on and got a substantial amount of work done last night. I lost my internet connection a time or two, but chalked it up to computer problems and kept going.

This morning I turned my computer on to get back to work, only to find that I could not get online at all. I fiddled with my computer for about an hour before I decided that it might be a good idea to call tech support. I did… and they informed me that there was a DSL outage in the area and they didn’t know how soon it would be fixed. Lovely.

I searched the whole house unsuccessfully for the phone book, because I was going to call the library and see if the outage affected them. Then I saw that my neighbor, who has dial-up, was home. I called her and asked if hers was working, and she said it was. So I got my stuff together and went to her house to work on it.

I got some work done there before I had to go to town. When I got home, I tried to get online and found that my DSL was once again working. I’m still having some email problems, but I got done with the assignment.

I can’t believe after a year of having no problems with my internet connection, it decided to crap out on me when I needed it the most. At least it’s fixed now. As I later found out, the library was affected as well as the rest of the county. At least it wasn’t just my neck of the woods- if it had been, they probably would have been in no hurry to repair it.

When I first discovered paid blogging, I was cautiously optimistic. It seemed too good to be true that I could get paid for something that I was already doing and enjoying. But I took the plunge, and I’m glad I did.

Blog advertising is growing in leaps and bounds, and many new companies have sprung up since I got started. How do you know which one is right for you? You could try to find bloggers that are using each company and ask them. But that could prove difficult and time-consuming. Or you could visit the paid blogging forums at GeekySpeaky.com.

At the Geeky Speaky forums you can find topics about all of the players in the paid blogging game. And under each one you will find discussion between bloggers who have used the service, including tips, strategies, and known issues.

If you’re already familiar with paid blogging, be sure to sign up and share your thoughts. There are also other Internet-related topics, as well as general chit-chat. It’s a great place to learn about all things blogging.

Pumpkin’s t-ball coach called last night and said he was holding a parents’ meeting this evening. I’m going to see what they have to say. I’m still not sure about letting her play, but I have a feeling that she’s not going to take no for an answer.

I just hope this goes better than basketball did. She just seemed to totally lose interest in it. I would love for her to get involved in sports, because I think it would be really good for her. But I’m not going to force it on her by any means.

That’s mountain talk for a thunderstorm. And one is getting underway right now. I had planned on doing some more posts today, but the outlook is not so good now.

If you’ll excuse me I’ve gotta get off of the computer now. I’ll be back later, maybe.

I would love to take a vacation this year. I’m not sure whether or not we’ll have the money, but that’s only part of the problem. I’ve never planned a real vacation before, so I’m afraid I’ll forget something important.

Fortunately vacation planning is a lot easier than it once was. Vacations.net offers some great all-inclusive packages at savings of up to 50%. They have offerings from many resorts that include your room, meals, drinks, and activities all in one price. So you don’t have to totally stress out when planning a relaxing vacation.

There is plenty of information on the site about their destinations and accomodations, so you’re sure to find just what you’re looking for. They even have virtual tours. If you want to get away from it all this summer, they can set it up for you.

Hubby is anxious to get his own business started. I would love for him to, and I told him I would do everything I can to help him. I’m planning on looking for grants that he could apply for, and checking into other forms of assistance. If anyone has any ideas, please share!

I realized this past weekend that I don’t have many good short-sleeved shirts. So Hubby, Pumpkin and I went shopping. Hubby even took pity on me and said that he would buy me some. Talk about an offer I couldn’t refuse!

So off we went. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to shop with those two. Hubby gets in a hurry to leave, and Pumpkin distracts me when I’m trying to browse. I finally managed to pick out two shirts before I was ready to get out of there.

I later realized that Pumpkin and Hubby are in dire need of Spring/Summer clothes as well. And guess who is nominated for that job. That’s right, me. I wish I had some time to myself to do things like that, but on the rare occasion that does happen I always have more pressing matters to attend to. Anyone want to volunteer to do some clothes shopping for me?

Pay-per-click listings offer an easy way to get good placement in search results. For the right price, you can get listed in sponsored listings for the term of your choice. But is that really the most effective way to go?

Studies show that most search engine users do not click on sponsored results. So even if you are using PPC, it is wise to try to maximize your natural search rankings as well. Search engine optimization services, such as those offered by Customer Magnetism, can help.

Unlike many SEO companies who use outdated methods such as fine-tuning your meta tags, Customer Magnetism uses the methods that work today. They will seek out other websites and blogs that have themes similar to yours, and attempt to get links from those sites to yours. They do research to find the most optimal keywords for your site, and write copy utilizing them in a way that will get your site ranked well for them. And they will also work with your meta tags, but they realize that they are not the be-all and end-all of SEO.

Customer Magnetism will even monitor your progress in the search engines and provide you with reports. And when their work on your site is done, they will continue to monitor your rankings for a reduced rate. They also offer paid search management to help you get the best possible results from your PPC campaigns.

Some people think that living in a rural area is safer than living in the city. I once thought that way myself. But now I’m beginning to wonder.

We moved to the community that we live in now a couple of years ago. Since then there has been one murder, which occurred about two miles from our house. It remains unsolved, with no known suspects. Recently a man disappeared, and foul play was suspected. One of the suspects in that case lives less than a mile from us.

A few nights ago, our neighbor’s dog wouldn’t quit barking. We didn’t think much about it, but later found out that the neighbor had seen someone walking down the road at 2:00 in the morning with no flashlight. That’s not a common occurrence in these parts.

All this is really starting to freak me out. I know these types of things can happen anywhere, but it strikes me as odd that so much has been happening in this small community.

There is a single-wide trailer about a mile from where we live. It is used as a vacation home, and it’s on riverfront property. A couple of days ago I saw a for sale sign in the yard. I knew it would be way out of our price range, but I decided to look into it just for kicks. I wouldn’t mind having the piece of land it’s on, and thought maybe I would be pleasantly surprised.

Boy, was I wrong. For 3/10 of an acre, with a very old single-wide, they are asking almost $100,000. Holy cow!!!! I know it’s riverfront, but come on! A person could buy a respectable house with an acre or more for not much more than that. I don’t doubt that it will sell- this little mountain county is crawling with people from Florida in the summer, and many of them would give their right arm for a getaway by the river. But it seems that the real estate market around here is geared more toward people from more affluent areas, leaving us locals who can’t get a decent job around here out in the cold.