2009 September

Sep

Saturday really highlighted more than anything else, how much Type-A-Mom conference offered us as a community in general, and me as a writer specifically. I found the weekend strangely validating in a way that surprised me, as I am already a fairly confident person. It was interesting to get up to share what I had to share, and there – sitting in the audience – were the people I had come to listen to and learn from what they had to share! It was like the Twilight Zone Type-A style.

Giving away the coolest organic clothing in the world, @KikaPaprika. Photo by AlwaysAlli.com

Giving away the coolest organic clothing in the world. Photo by AlwaysAlli.com

The first thing that happened Saturday morning was the Boiron Mom Market. Major kudos to Boiron for seeing the power of, and supporting the creativity of, mothers in general. All the booths at the Boiron Mom Market were mom-owned, mom-run or small, mom-interest companies. Really a complete delight to see the variety that showed up to display their creativity with us.

I helped out at the KikaPaprika table where we were giving away free burnout tees – these amazing shirts that are 50% organic cotton and 50% recycled water bottles. The colors available in this style are so varied with true-shade colors that any skin tone could be paired with a shirt sure to amaze. What I love best about the entire line is how comfortable and beautiful the clothes are.

Fielding questions and comments from a very interactive audience. Photo by @Mooshindy

After helping Stacey (@ecochicdiva) with the giveaways I went immediately into my first of two sessions. Joanne (@PunditMom) and I were sharing on Understanding the Long view Payoff of Blogging and I loved how we approached that session from two very different, but equally valuable, directions.

While I’m very new to building up myself as a platform, that has been Joanne’s main focus for awhile now. Meanwhile, my original focus was on web content production and creating a long-term, steady stream of income for my family so I could be home with my children and not put them in day care. Great!

Both goals are very valid reasons to continue doing what we are doing online and it was neat to hear how we both are seeing those months of work payoff. In fact, Joanne has signed a book deal and will be releasing her book in near the end of 2010. If you aren’t following her on Twitter yet, you want to be sure to do so! I feel fortunate that @CutestKidEver took detailed notes during the session for anyone who couldn’t attend.

@WritingRoads and I chilling at the Problogging Session - pulled off a great session w/zero prep time! Photo by Kris Cain

The second session I did immediately after that was with Julie of @WritingRoads about Problogging - that is creating web content for other people. Harnessing your expertise as a web writer/blogger to do what they cannot or are not willing to do for themselves. She and I were totally on the same page in that we both feel this is a SKILL that should be paid for and compensated fairly. While our rates varied just a little bit (the cost of living in my area is much lower) they actually weren’t too far apart, and I think it probably surprised most of the people in the room that we feel confident charging that much.

Confession: Sometimes, I DON’T. I DON’T feel confident asking that price for my work. But I know in my head, even if not always in my heart, that it’s worth it. A company will spend MILLIONS on a 60 second commercial spot. I refuse to feel guilty second-guess myself about asked a few hundred for WELL-WRITTEN web content that will be with them forever. My prices reflect the level of my work. (Repeat that like a mantra if you must – My prices reflect the quality of my work….my prices reflect the quality of my work…)

The truth is if a company wants cheap content they can easily hire out $5 per article content from mills in India. How do I compete with that, do you ask? I DON’T. I don’t even TRY to put myself on that playing field because the game I am playing is so far above that it would be like asking a used car salesman for a customized Porsche. Apples – Oranges. There are companies out there who are willing to pay a FAIR price for excellent writing. Are you willing to provide it to them? (Whew! Now you guys got me preaching. Who took notes on this session and wants to write them up?)

After lunch was the Blogger Townhall Meeting where I spent much of the time chatting with @MoneywiseMoms about blogging in general, Mommy-Blogging specifically and how loosely defined it is and why some are so “protective” of the term and how I am not really, truly a “Mommy-Blogger” in the truest sense but I don’t care. I write what I write, when I write it and charge what I charge unless it’s going on one of MY websites and – well – I am totally ok with that. It was an interesting conversation.

Every conference I've ever attended w/my mom I have been "Karis' Daughter". Here she was "Angela's Mom". Cheers to tables turning! Photo by Kris Cain

Then came the Keynote address – great information – great consensus about the fact that it is ok for each of us to have unique goals, unique voices and unique methods of operation because WE ARE EACH UNIQUE.

Isn’t that the point? If I could do it exactly like you with exactly the same motivations and the same style, why would I be necessary? I wouldn’t! And that’s ok, right? Would you really want me to look just like you anyway?

Had a great time hanging out at the Wine and Cheese reception at the end, although I didn’t get to taste any of the wine everyone else raved about. I did get to sing my cool Type-A-Mom Blogging Parody. Someone let Blogher know that I’ve already started working on a Blogher rendition of R-E-S-P-E-C-T just for them so….. *grin*

I also finally met @MomSpark in person – someone I’ve greatly enjoyed tweeting with and commenting on her blog….definite plans to hook up at the zoo or something sometime. SO great to find a blogger within driving distance of where I live!

What about you guys? In what ways were you challenged at Type-A-Mom? What stood out to you as something you were glad you heard? Who were you thrilled to meet? How will your blogging and writing change as a result of what you learned?

Sep

Thoughts About The TypeAMom Conference – Friday

By AngEngland | Conferences

Leave a Comment

I couldn’t decide what to do for my recap because of how crazy things have been since I got home. My laptop bugged out, my laundry needs to be done, and my husband started back to work. See the Blogging Song Post about how I’ve not seen the desk in over year.

So you guys are going to get the boring, chronological recap, but what I really want to touch on are things that stood out to me and thoughts I have about the conference after two days to process.

Micah in a Happy Kids Con Moment - Photo by @secretagentmama

Friday morning breakfast started out rough for me because Micah did not cooperate going into Kid’s Con right away. No biggie – he came to breakfast with the rest of us. I wore a pretty red shirt from KikaPaprika and their classic fit black pants since Friday was ALSO my Speaker Dinner night. I wanted something that would look good while I was speaking and then dress up for the dinner as well.

My necklace and bracelet were from KikaPaprika as part of their fair-trade support for

Sporting my KikaPaprika clothes and Rebecca Green earrings. Photo by @rbucich who was sent to the conference by tinyprint.com.

women’s shelters overseas, and my earrings were an original design by Rebekah Green and didn’t involve any blood diamonds or other unfair practices. I love being able to draw attention to mom-run businesses that not only support other mothers, but support world-wide commerce that is BENEFICIAL instead of damaging.

The session I spoke at on Friday was about the million-bajillion hats of a “Mommy Blogger” and I spoke with Tara (@FeelsLikeHome) and with Shannan (@slpowell) on the panel and it was great to hear their words of wisdom. Each had a different view point or thought to bring to the topic.

Tara talked about writing on a schedule, which helps her cut back on time wasted figuring out “what will I write about today?” because she already knows. Plus, of course, we all know how much more valuable written goals can be in terms of being able to then accomplish what we need to accomplish. If it’s written and scheduled it has a proven worth and priority level.

Shannan shared about how often we as mothers take on these many, many hats all at the same time. Blogging and web writing can involve so much more than just the content production, but also the networking, PR side, marketing, website design, graphics, etc. If someone isn’t

Listening intently to the other ladies on my session. Photo by @Rbucich brought to conference by tinyprints.com

skilled in a certain area, can you trade out with someone who is? Why do we feel like we HAVE to do everything on our own and cannot ask for help from our community?

I touched on the need for an occasional purging. Like a closet full of high-school-hand-me-downs, our to-do lists can sometimes become cluttered with the unflattering, needless, never-worn or outdated. Sometimes you have to let go in order to embrace that next step. I shared how I’d recently done that myself in order to make room The Untrained Housewife in my schedule – since my “online hours” are finite.

Take a piece of paper and fold it in half. In one column write down everything you are committed and in the other column jot down everything you gain from that position (monetary or otherwise). Place stars next to the things you are truly passionate about. The carefully consider the list and weed out anything that doesn’t really bring you a return AND you aren’t passionate about. If you don’t love it, and don’t benefit from it, why are you doing it?

Hugging my mom after the announcement. Thanks to @MrsCrumley of http://alwaysalli.com/ for this amazing photo.

And of course – at the beginning of this session I made my big public announcement – the pending arrival of Baby England #4. I was honored to have my mother, @KarisCM attending the session (and the conference!) so waited to tell her in public. She was so excited she cried, and then she was mad that she was crying in front of strangers. But it was a fun surprise and she is thrilled at the news of Grandbaby #6.

Friday’s take away for me personally was from the session @AlliWorthington and @JaniceCroze did about branding yourself. I already KNEW – but the reminder that everything we do online can be beneficial in building up our brand and presence was a timely one for me. A reminder that it’s ok to focus and hone in things. That it’s ok to approach something new that will help us move forward to where we want to be.

The Little Debbie cupcake break, and the Creative Memories photo walk were great events from two large sponsors as well. The speaker dinner I went on that night was FABULOUS and I met some really great people. Met Mr. @Suburban_Farmer and Mr. @Frelle as well as connecting with two NEW kindred spirits in @AmberRunsAmuck and @SaraSophia. All in all it was a fabulous first day to a great conference experience.

Sep

Type-A-Mom Blog Song

By AngEngland | Fun Stuff

12 Comments

@RealLifeSarah helped me out tremendously by stepping in with short notice, dusting off her guitar and making this happen. The video clip below was recorded and used with permission by @ExtraodMommy.

The words of this song are an original @AngEngland creation – Enjoy!

Type-A-Mom Blogging Song – to the tune of “My Favorite Things”

Verse: Custom blog themes and a hot wordpress plug-in
New twitter friends who can help put a bug in
the ear of a sponsor who’ll pay for your way
These are some sign that you might blog type-A

Verse: Designer and writer and networking whirlwind
Nursing at keyboards and typing one-handed
I’ve not seen my desk top in over a year
On my to-do list it’s right about here

Chorus: Baby’s crying, Pets dying
All life’s fair game
Read these sister bloggers and
what they all share, and you’ll never be the same.

Verse: Worthington wire’s a part-time obsession
Guest post on BlogHer with heart-felt confession
Writing a post with ten-thousand page views
When you have mommy-blogs who needs the news?

Verse: Amy on Twitter to warm up your website
Jessica Knows all the sponsors who’ll do right
Blissdom and BlogHer and now Type-A-Mom
Web savvy women will soon rule them all

Chorus: When the power’s Out for hours
If I get fail whale
I simply research my next brilliant blog
Cuz I’m a Type-A Power Mom

Verse: Eleven mom making Wal-Mart the coolest
Now mom blog reviewers on corporate to-do lists
Motrin moms proving our voices are heard
We’re Type-A Power moms, spreading the word

Chorus: Maybe Target, doesn’t get it
Still we all blog on
Good SEO content our readers adore
‘Cuz we’re blogging moms, Hear us roar!

Video originally published on Extraordinary Mommy Blog! Thanks!

Sep

Type-A-Mom Conference – Thursday

By AngEngland | Conferences

Leave a Comment

Cute Toys Outsided Heaven's Rain Store - Look for Them at Mom Market!

We arrived at the hotel rather late on Wednesday and by the time we has washed the road out of our hair the fun was basically over. @KarisCM and I managed to get some great chocolate anyway.

Yesterday we walked around Grove Arcade for awhile, ran into Heaven’s Rain, a sponsor at Type-A-Mom and very, very cool maternity and children’s store and headed back to the hotel to help get her swag bag goodies there for everyone.

Registration was chaotic but I worked the desk for about 2 1/2 hours and it was an AWESOME way to meet everyone and put the faces with the Twitter handles finally. What a great group of women we are, seriously.

Then came Speed-Dating – totally awesome. Not only did I get to share more about The Untrained Housewife and how excited I am about that site, but I got to learn more about what everyone else was doing. Great idea, Kelby! That was totally fun.

Micah and I are both styling, although only I am wearing organic fabrics. Drool becomes Micah a little more.

Finally connected with @Suburban_Farmer – who writes for Untrained Housewife AND is working on her own book right now, and @ecochicdiva – a gal who is affiliated with KikaPaprika, the eco-friendly clothing line I am wearing all week. This picture is the shirt, pants and tank top I wore while shopping Thursday morning. Totally comfortable and one-of-kind looking, but organic fabrics and clothing made in the United States. Fun!

At the reception I was also able to connect with @midwifeamy as well, who is here representing Lamaze. She is also working on a book and pregnancy blogging site. Such brilliant people, eh? Sidney (my handsome husband) came along to the reception with me and I had so much fun talking and chatting and chilling out I ended up being the mom they had to call to come pick up their kids from Kids Con. Um – whoops! Is a big mouth a good excuse? Lol!

Now I’m up earlier than should be possible and totally excited to meet up with some of my other friends that I missed yesterday. Breakfast, Sessions, Speaking (Woohoo!) and more today! If you didn’t find me yesterday, please find me today. Give me your card and let me know what you do – I am interested.

Sep

Feeding a Family Well on a Long Car Trip – What to Eat?

By AngEngland | Conferences, Family, Fun Stuff

Leave a Comment

So, what DO you feed a family with young children when in the car for many hours, anyway? If you’re like me, you feed a lot of the same items you would if you were home! We packed an ice chest, and this morning when we stopped for breakfast we picked up a few extra items to last the kids through the conference. Fresh fruits, milk for their cereal, one-day-left-rack banana nut muffins, etc.

We let them run wild around the park and play and slide and swing and get dew covered and get lots of the wigglies out and then we ate. By the time we finished our leisurely breakfast the morning traffic through Memphis had cleared out and we made excellent time. We had snacks provided by Plum Organics which came in handy when we didn’t want to spend money at the gas station on JUNK.

The Plum Organics has a mix called Mish Mash of fresh, organic fruits, that Micah can squeeze out for himself. He REALLY like the Banana flavored one. The bag reminded me of a space bag of food like what you can buy at a museum except it isn’t freeze-dried (thank goodness). Once you twist off the cap it just squeezes through the plastic end and Micah was able to do it on his own, for the most part. VERY cool.

Mish Mash - Check it out - I'm a big boy!

For the preschoolers we had a box of Fiddlesticks – the cookie like treats from Plum Organics which are a great finger food. Again, all natural and organic so you feel good giving it to your kids, but easy for them to handle and non-messy for the car. Here you can see that Evan is devouring his Fiddlesticks. I asked him what they tasted like and he said, “They are like apple cookies on my tongue”. A poetic four year old, what can I say.

The blurry Fiddlesticks just proves we are really on the road.

For a late lunch after nap time we stopped at – ahem – McDonald’s. It’s those blasted play places, I’m telling you – they suck in road weary parents with the promise of decreasing energy levels in the vehicles and you just buy into it. We were though, the only patrons in McDonald’s who carried in their own water bottles and sippy cups to fill with water. Lol! I’m not sure they knew exactly what to do about it, but oh well. We ended up just all sharing a snack-type-lunch of 5 chicken nugget packss for $10 bucks. Cheap.

Yep - Wear yourself out. Way to go!

We finished it off in the car with apples that I had packed for the to eat along the way and a few strips of beef jerky for me to help keep my blood sugar issues under control (I am rather hypoglycemic and tend to graze and eat lots of small meals throughout the day).

Now it’s 4:22 and we are only 60 miles from Asheville. I’m excited to arrive and even more pleased that we’ll be there before the kids get too hungry for dinner. I have meat, organic cheese and whole wheat bread for sandwiches when we get up to the room so that’s totally covered. Whew!

Sep

Traveling Games for Kids – Excited2Learn

By AngEngland | Conferences, Family

Leave a Comment

Since the children were awake and full from breakfast they were feeling a bit restless. I thought this might be time to go ahead and pull out one of our traveling games. Out came the Magna-Doodle and the “What Did You See Today?” game.

The Magna-Doodle is something I picked up from Wal-Mart for only $5 and it is proving to be more popular with than the Etch-A-Sketch. I think it might be because of the dexterity needed for maneuvering the two knobs on an Etch-A-Sketch vs the easy, pencil-like use of a Magna-Doodle.

The “What Did You See Today?” game is one of the mom-made products of the company Excited 2 Learn, run by two, twin sisters Amanda and Sarah. I love the home-made feel of the water colored art work of the game but the pieces are durable and sturdy. How do you play the game? There are about 3 dozen pieces of common sights that children can look for on the drive; a horse, a bulldozer, a flag, a yellow car, etc. Parents choose six of the pieces and velcro them on the six spaces on the back. Then as your child finds each one they can move it forward to the front space and when they’ve filled each of the six spaces they “win”.

Searching for the items on her game pieces....hmmm....

My kids enjoyed it although Brianna got impatient looking for her last item – a police car. Goodness knows we had seen enough of them earlier in the trip I thought it would be an easy gimme but….no. *laughing* Oh well. You can see in the picture how content she was for a good 30 minutes so that’s pretty good indeed. When it was Evan’s turn to play it was easy to just select a DIFFERENT six pieces for his round and make it a whole new game.

This got us through the mid-morning wigglies until we were ready to stop for another tank of gasoline. Having a variety of games came in handy. Grammie’s Dollar-Tree binoculars were a big hit too and came in handy for playing the I-Spy game.

Brianna using her binoculars to search for the ellusive policeman.

Sep

Packing to Travel With Children

By AngEngland | Uncategorized

Leave a Comment

Today is the day I can say I am completely packed. Well, at least my kids are. I had packed all their clothes yesterday, and getting the laundry finished was a huge feat made possible by unplugging for two days. Today I packed all their goodies for the commute. It is a 12 hour drive – so of course – that will take a lot longer than 12 hours if I’m traveling with three young kiddos.

Kelby Carr (@typeamom) sent me a link to her article about packing a family travel tote to make long car rides or airplane trips so that’s what I did today. Here’s the You Tube Video of my magic-mom-sanity-protector-travel-tote and all the things I got for the Type-A-Mom commute. See details about each item below.

In my Magical-Mom-Travel-Tote I have:

Plum Organics snacks for the kids. One box of Fiddlesticks for my two big guys and a couple bags of Mish Mash for my little man.
Snack Taxi reusable lunch bags – you can put little snacks like animal crackers or whatever in them too but I am going to use them for sandwiches on the go. That way we can minimize the eating-out expenses during the traveling days.
Animal Crackers – Yes, my kids really DO think those are cookies. Please don’t tell them otherwise.
Trail Mix – It’s just your standard Sam’s Club raisin, M&M’s, peanuts, almonds, and cashews trail mix. We buy it in bulk and then I break them up into smaller containers to make it easier to transport on car trips.
Beef Jerky – LOVE beef jerky but it’s usually so expensive. Totally providential to find those bags on sale at the grocery store the other day. Of course – I’m only packing three because I already ate one.
Treasury Classics Bedtimes Stories DVD set from Scholastic – We’ve already watched the Curious George DVD and it was a big hit. Watch for the full review on my Type-A-Mom Preschool column soon.
Etch-A-Sketch – Picked it up at Wal-Mart today. It was funny because I asked an Associate where the Etch-A-Sketches were and this teenager down at the end of the toy aisle goes “I’ve got one here!” *laughing* He’d been standing there for like 15 minutes creating Etch-A-Sketch art. Too funny.
Magnadoodle – That way Brianna and Evan can switch out between the Etch-A-Sketch and the Magna Doodle and it will be like TWO new cool toys and the fun will last even longer. Please, Lord, let the fun last a long time.
Coloring Books – I packed two of their newest coloring books that still had plenty of new pages to color and a pack of new crayons my sister gave me recently. That way I don’t have to take the crayons out of their school boxes. Whew!
What did you see on your drive? Traveling Game – A totally fun and mom-made game with velcro pieces that are sturdy and laminated. Watch for a future interview with the creators of this fun game (and several other fun kid-friendly creations) – the founders of Excited2Learn.
201 Things to do When Your Children Say “I’m Bored” – with an entire section devoted to traveling with kids. I plan to make this my go-to-guide for on-the-spot creativity when I’m stuck for new ideas.
Hand Sanitizer – Yeah, because at least I KNOW any potential side effects from that. And when you have kids, you can never be too careful with the whole sanitation thing. Kids, rest stops, germs…yeah….hand sanitizer is a must.
Parking Pals – OK these are actually not in my mom tote anymore because I already stuck them on the van, but they are very cool safety things for moms of multiple children like me.
Little Touch Leappad and Leap Frog Leappad – With new cartridges I bought in big bulk lots for uber cheap. Gotta love a great deal. AND because I haven’t let my kiddos play with any of them yet they should be highly entertaining for a maximum amount of time. See earlier prayer.

So anyway – those are the nifty things I got for Type-A-Mom Conference Commute. More will be coming in detailed posts and reviews and hopefully a few additional videos, for example of how my son is using the Parking Pals so well. Until then, if you are looking for other ideas on traveling with children check out this article on The Vacation Gals website – fellow Type-A-Mom speakers!