Merry Christmas

From my family to yours, have a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed Holiday Season.

Managing a Home Business as a Work at Home Mom

Managing a home business as a work at home mom can be a challenging, yet very rewarding endeavor! Many women who have young child elect to leave the workplace in order to focus on their children, and ensuring that the operations in their home are running smoothly and effectively. In times of economic woes like the world is currently facing, it is often quite challenging to live off of just one income. This is why more and more women are starting to create and operate their own home based business. If you are working to establish a home office, and create a supplemental income for your family, there are many preparations to be made. Here, I will offer some strategies on managing a home business as a work at home mom.

Creating a Schedule

If you are starting your career as a work at home mom who manages a home business, the first thing that you will want to do is to create a schedule. The idea is to create a schedule that will work in conjunction with your parenting responsibilities to optimize your profits so that you may be successful. Now, with that being said…how do you do that? It is actually quite easy to set the schedule. The hard part is sticking to it. Consider implementing the following tips in order to create a schedule that will work for you:

1. Set a certain amount of time each day to conducting household chores. Naturally, the time that you set must be a personal choice. During this time, take care of the laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and other things that must be contended with in order to maintain the home.

2. When it comes to meals, it may be appropriate to dedicate one day a week to preparing meals for the rest of the week. Believe it or not, it is actually much easier and quicker to create five to six meals at a time than to space them out over several days.

Prepare a chicken casserole in one dish, and a meatloaf in another oven safe dish, and throw them both in the oven at the same time. While those are cooking, cook a pot of stew and maybe some chicken and dumplings on the burners. There, you have four to five meals depending on leftovers. You may also want to throw some burgers and hotdogs on the top burners. Then, simply freeze the meals and pull them out to defrost the morning that they are to be eaten. Once you defrost them, reheat, and you are all set!

3. If you have children that are at least toddler age, there are many chores that you can assign to them to help make things run more smoothly. They can pick up their own toys, learn to set out their own clothes and dress themselves, assist in dusting, and even feeding, watering, and walking pets! You should also assign certain tasks to your spouse, such as taking out the trash and lawn maintenance. Putting dishes in the dishwasher, starting the washer and/or dryer and even helping the kids get ready for bed are also great chores that can be assigned to your spouse.

4. When you work at home as a mom, it is important to understand that it is not going to be your typical eight hour work day. You will need to block certain times to dedicate to your work. I say, if you are just starting out, blocking work in two hour intervals is appropriate. As your children get older, and the family becomes more accustomed to your work, you may move that up to three or four hour blocks. However, it is important to know and understand that this may take time.

5. Designate certain activities and projects on each day of the week. For example, break up the house work into certain days. For example, Sunday can be your “cooking” day, and you may designate Monday as your “laundry day”. There is no rule that says everything has to be done, in completion, in one day.

Professional Goals

If you are a work at home mom that is in the process of managing a home based business, it is important to set professional goals. One of the best ways to achieve this is to create a sound business plan. This is a basic documentation of the way that you want your business to operate, the way that you want to handle your finances, a detailed list of your resources, and where you want to go with your home business. Businesses that do not incorporate a business plan into their endeavors typically fail due to lack of direction. It is likely that you really want and need your business to work, so do not fail to leave out this essential detail.

Quality Time

Once you begin your home based business, you will come to face the challenges that so many work at home moms face. Typically, the main challenge is separating the personal life from the professional life. It is essential that you have some quality time scheduled in among all the household chores, professional projects, and deadlines. This should be scheduled in daily. Then, there should be a day set aside, at least one, which you dedicate to your family. Let’s say Saturday your spouse is off, and the kids are home from school – make this your “family day”. Go out and visit the museum, the park, the zoo – or just sit down and play some games together!

Conclusion

Managing a home business as a work at home mom will likely prove to be challenging. However, it is also a very rewarding experience that you will come to cherish. If you follow the techniques contained within this article, you are likely to experience the success that you always dreamed of as being your own boss!

Leon Edward runs www.FocusOnTheFamilyLife.com and presents online free information on family issues, health, budget, relationships, hobbies, money saving tips, print coupons online and work at home ideas. Leon Edward also helps people to start, build, market internet business and ways to earn money on the internet in a home business. Get Your free legitimate internet business kit and training , visit www.homebusinessit.com

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Too Funny

Saying Good Bye To Those You Love

Saying good bye to a friend is hard enough. Saying goody bye to those that have touched your life and made a difference in your world, is even harder. And that's what I had to do last night.

Last night was a gathering for everyone that knows the family that ran the daycare where my daughter used to go. And at this gathering, was a chance to say good bye to the family since they are all moving to N. Carolina.

I am so happy for them all and wish them all the best, however, I feel a loss. Like I am losing family. They were more than a daycare/preschool that took care of my daughter. They were family to me. And they knew it. I know how they care about me and my kids. We became close friends and I will miss them.

It's so hard for mothers to leave their children at a daycare. There are so many fears that we have. The biggest fear I had was for that (1) moment that someone would do something to my child that would traumatize them forever. All it takes is one instance....One moment. And I did not have to think twice about any of that at this daycare. I was ease and knew that my child was very well taken care of.

Over the years, my daughter became very popular there. And to this day, everyone knows her. My son is a big hit there too. He went for a short time and became friends with alot of kids. It's funny how the family remember my daughter from when she was a baby going there and to see how big she is now. The love this family has for kids is not fake....It is real...Genuine.

Erin....Thank you for being so good to my kids. I know all of us needed that and you did just that. I wish you the best in all that you do.

So for Rob....What can I say. I don't come across men like you. You are very rare and both my kids love you. They know that you are all about the kids and we all appreciate you.

Danielle...It's been nice to work with you as well lately. The love that you show for the kids is awesome. As parents, we feel it and as co-workers, we see it. You are very focused with your life and I wish you the best.

Amber.... Boy we go back. And I so appreciate you. You really care about everyone. Parents and kids. And there was one moment is church that made my heart pour out for you and Rob. I'm sure you remember when this was. But I will just say that I wish you and Rob the best. I know without a doubt that your future children will be blessed to have you both as parents. And that you both will be and already have been great parents to our kids.

Pastor Jim ....You have touched my soul. All your sermons were done in a way that moved me. I still remember so many of them still. Your interaction with all the kids at the daycare, the way you just showed yourself to them allowed everyone to be at ease. You really do rock.....

And now Nancy.....Ohh my goodness, how we go back. You have been a steady and calm voice for me. And at times, you have even been my back bone. You have such a tremendous spirit and such a huge heart for all. It was you that I met first and it was you that allowed me the peace I needed to leave my child with you while I went to work. You have touched me and will always be in my heart.

I know I said this all last night. But I know you will see this and maybe if there is ever a time when you need to think of those that really care about you, each one of you, you can come here and see for yourself.

From my family to yours, We Love You All and will miss you. Wishing you all the best.

Thanksgiving With Maxine

Hooray For All Teachers

ok... So I have been helping a friend out who runs a daycare....It's the same daycare that my daughter used to go to when I was working. And in return, they are helping me out. I am a long time parent there and knows everyone. And the current administration is leaving and a new one (who I know) is taking over. The old administration consists of FAMILY. It was all pretty much family run. Which is one of the reasons it attracted me to have my daughter go there. They are genuine and true. They really are as good as they come across.

So with the family leaving, it is nice to have someone (like myself) that is familiar to all the parents.
Someone that the parents could be comfortable leaving their kids with. And this was presented to me in a way that sounded so promising. And exciting. Which it is....But I have to admit after a few weeks, OHHH MY GOD..........I am exhausted!

I have done everything from working in the baby room... Which is the hardest. Hands down. So for all the parents that come in thinking that all we do is cuddle with the babies all day...... WOW..... You are so wrong. There is a tight schedule. And when there are 8-9 babies, crying at the same time.... That will test you. While 3 need to be changed, you have 4 that are hungry and 2 that are tired and want to go to sleep.... All I can say is, WOW!!!

Trying to teach a group of 3 year olds is impossible. You have one child off to the side, whipping shoes at another child. And a little girl in the middle, just taking all her clothes off.....And trying to keep the focus of all these kids is pretty much impossible.

I'm great at being a floater. A floater is someone that does alot of the physical work. accommodates all the needs to everyone else....All the other workers.....Makes sure everything and everyone is running in tip top shape. And that all their needs are met. You never have a minute to rest. But I like it that way.

I always felt that teachers and daycare workers did not make the money they really should have. But now I know from first hand experience that it's true.

I have a chance at advancing myself with this profession... But I have to honestly say......This is hard. I am spending more time with everyone else's kids than my own. And for the first time in my life, I am coming home EXHAUSTED. So my kids are getting a very tired mom and on a much less time frame than ever before.

I just want to give a BIG Hooray to all teachers and daycare workers. You are tremendous in my eyes.

Fact # 5

You'd have to drink 500 bathtubs to get a dose that caused any harm in animal studies.

There are a number of reasons that this statement is not true:

• It's not just the dose, it's the timing. Low doses of certain chemicals at specific days of fetal development can cause permanent problems that often only manifest later in life. The same dose at a different time may have no measurable effect at all.
• Tiny doses are often toxic to some people. Recent EPA funded research found that some people are 10,000 times more sensitive than the average (median) person to certain forms of air pollution (Hattis 2001).
• We are all exposed to mixtures of hundreds of chemicals, and no one knows the dangers of these mixtures in our blood. Not only that, no one can ever know. To test just 100 chemicals in combinations of 3 would require 162,000 tests. And that is just for one effect, say cancer. For nervous system toxicity, it would take another 162,000. For endocrine effects, yet another 162,000. And so on.
• Sometimes low doses are more toxic than high doses, yet this type of study is almost never conducted. Low dose toxicity appears especially true for chemicals that effect the endocrine (hormone) system. In one recent study an estrogenic chemical caused enlarged prostates in rats at 2 ppb, but had the opposite effect at 200 ppb (Welshons et al 1999). A study with common pyrethroid insecticides induced hyperactivity in rats at doses up to 0.7 mg/kg but no hyperactivity at a dose 60 times higher (42 mg/kg) (Schettler et al 2000, pg 83). The reason appears to be that at higher doses defense mechanisms kick in. Health effects linked to low dose chemical exposures in animals (but not found at high doses) include increased prostate size, premature onset of cyclicity (menstruation), increased uterine weight, and hypersensitive immune system responses (vom Saal et al 1997, vom Saal et al 1995, Gray et al 1989, Halling and Forsberg 1993, Fan et al 1996). Industry almost never does tests to determine low dose effects, so when they say low doses cause no effects in animals, it is almost always because they haven't looked.
• People are often more sensitive to toxic substances than test animals. Animal tests missed the toxic dose of PCB's by 10,000 times (Rice et al 1996). The dose that caused permanent loss of IQ was only found through tracking of injured children. In another recent survey, humans were shown to be up to 200 times more sensitive than animals to 21 chemicals known to cause birth defects (Klaassen 1996).
• Chemicals are almost never studied for toxic effects at low doses. Animal tests are conducted at high doses for reasons of statistical power. This bias, while necessary, has created a dearth of knowledge of possible low dose effects, particularly on systems known to be sensitive to well-timed tiny doses of chemicals, such as the developing brain, nervous system, and endocrine (hormone) system.
• Low dose effects can be easily missed by standard high dose animal studies (assuming that the tests have been done at all). A low dose effect that occurs in just one out of every 1,000 people could be missed completely by animal studies which use only 500 animals at relatively high doses. An effect that occurred in 1 in 1,000 people would injure 270,000 people in the U.S. population.

Humans are effected by low doses of chemicals.

• It takes just 40 parts per billion (the equivalent of 1 drop in 15 bathtubs of water) of the hormone MIS to produce male sexual organs in the human embryo (Josso 1993). Put another way, it takes 40 ppb of MIS to terminate vaginal development in an embryo, the seminal event in the development of a male instead of a female child.
• PCBs at just 5 parts per billion in maternal blood during fetal development can cause adverse brain development, and attention and IQ deficits that appear to be permanent (Schettler et al. 2000). Five parts per billion is equivalent to one drop of water in 118 bathtubs.
• Dioxin causes a significant change in the sex ratio of children born to men who have just 80 parts per trillion of the chemical in their blood (Mocarelli 1996 & 2000). Men father nearly twice as many girls as boys when their blood levels of dioxin reach the equivalent of just one-drop of dioxin in 7,400 bathtubs.
• Low doses of lead cause learning deficits in children, but the same dose has no effect on adults. Just 10 mg per deciliter, or 100 ppb (the equivalent of 1 drop in 6 bathtubs) in the blood of a two year old can cause a significant decrease in IQ in adolescence and adulthood (CDC 1997).
• A 5/1,000ths ounce chip of lead paint can put child in the emergency room with lead poisoning (Calculated based on CDC 1997 & EPA 1998).
• And while it not a toxic effect, our sense of smell illustrates the exquisite sensitivity of the human brain. People can detect maple furanone at 1 part per quadrillion, or one drop in 590 million bathtubs of water (Leffingwell 1991).

References

Fan F, D Wierda, KK Rozman. 1996. Effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodizenzo-p-dioxin on humoral and cell-mediated immunity in Sprague-Dawley rats. Toxicology 106(1-3):221-228.

Gray LE, J Ostby, J Ferrell, G Rehnberg, R Linder, R Cooper, J Goldman, V Slott, J Laskey. 1989. A dose-response analysis of methoxychlor-induced alterations of reproductive development and function in the rat. Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 12:92-108.

Halling A, JG Forsberg. 1993. Acute and permanent growth effects in the mouse uterus after neonatal treatment with estrogens. Reprod. Toxicol. 7(2):137-153.

Hattis, D, et al., 2001, Human interindividual variability in susceptibility to airborne particles, Risk Analysis, in press.

Josso, N, et al., 1993, Anit-Mullerian hormone: the Jost factor, Recent Progress in Hormone Research, 48, 1-60.

Klassen, CD, ed. 1996. Casarrett & Doull's Toxicology. The Basic Science of Poisons. Fifth ed. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Leffingwell, J and D Leffingwell, 1991, GRAS flavor chemicals - detection thresholds, Perfumer & Flavorist, 16, 3-19.

Mocarelli P, P Brambilla, P Gerthoux, et al., 1996, Change in sex ratio with exposure to dioxin [letter], The Lancet 348, 409.

Mocarelli, P, et al., 2000, Paternal concentrations of dioxin and sex ratio of offspring, The Lancet, 355, 1858-1863.

Rice D., A. Evangelista de Duffard, R. Duffard, et al., 1996, Lessons for neurotoxicology from selected model compounds: SGOMSEC joint report, Environ. Health Perspect., 104, 205-215.

Schettler T, J Stein, F Reich, M Valenti. 2000. In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development. Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. May 2000.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1997, Facts on Lead, http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/guide/1997/docs/factlead.htm.

US Environmental Protection Agency, 1998, Risk Analysis to Support Standards for Lead in Paint, Dust, and Soil: Volume 1, EPA 747-R-97-006.

Vom Saal FS, BG Timms, MM Montano, P Palanza, KA Thayer, SC Nagel, MD Dhar, VK Ganjam, S Parmigiani, WV Welshons. 1997. Prostate enlargement in mice due to fetal exposure to low doses of estradiol and diethylstilbestrol and opposite effects at high doses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:2056-2061.

Vom Saal FS, SC Nagel, P Palanza, M Boechloer, S Parmigianai, WV Welshons. 1995. Estrogenic pesticides: Binding relative to estradiol in MCF-7 cells and effects of exposure during fetal life on subsequent territorial behaviour in male mice. Toxicol. Lett. 77:343-350.

Welshons W, SC Nagel, KA Thayer, BM Judy, FS vom Saal. 1999. Low-dose bioactivity of xenoestrogens in animals: fetal exposure to low doses of methoxychlor and other xenoestrogens increases adult prostate size in mice. Toxicol Ind Health 15(1-2):12-15.

Frosty Gets Caught

Willing to give up your child

I was watching the news the other night and there was this single mom that lived in New Mexico and she had a 9 year old little girl. She worked the graveyard shift at WalMart. And she was unable to find daycare at night while she worked.

I am a single mom and understand this dilemma. All previous jobs I had since I have had kids, had a cut off time so I would have time to pick my kids up at daycare in time since they closed at 6:00 p.m. It's hard to work 2nd or 3rd shift when you have kids and no family around. Daycare closes at 6:00 p.m. here.

But, this lady was on the news saying that she was in a position where she had to choose between her job and her 9 year old daughter. And that she was willing to give up her daughter to anyone that could take care of her in order to keep her job. I could not believe what I was hearing. There is no job that would even make me consider giving up my child/children.

If it was really that bad, and there was no daycare, no other jobs, no family, I would ask a friend to help take care of my children....And if you don't have any friends, then I would get the county to step in and take care of my kids until I could make arrangements to take care of my kids. At least you can get your children back from the county....But when you give a child up to a stranger, you won't. I don't understand how a person (mom) would be willing to go on the news and announce that she was willing to give her daughter up in order to keep her WalMart job.

Now how is your child supposed to feel when he or she sees the news down the road, about their mom willing to give their child up in order to keep their job? I just don't get it.

Awww, to my children.... I love you both more than anything!!!

Bonding Over Cookie Play

When one thinks about baking and cakes you normally visualize kids age 5 or 6 and above doing the activities. This activity can actually be taken down to toddlers aged 2-4 and done under parental supervision.

This weekend my boys and I had great fun attending a cookie baking playdate with his friends. They enjoyed squishing their hands through the cookie dough and pressing out the various shapes using the assortment of cookie cutters that I have.

The boys learned and practice how to share with their friends as we had limited cookie cutters and all of them were eying the Thomas the train cutters. They took turns and shared what resources we had.

This activity is very easy to prepare as you can do the dough before hand and store it in the fridge.

Recipe Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar - lightly packed

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

Put the butter, both sugars, salt and the baking soda in a large mixing bowl and beat with a mixer for about 3 minutes. Blend in the eggs and vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed and add the flour gradually.

This cookie dough is best used when chilled so try to mix it up ahead of time to allow for a couple hours in the refrigerator. Chill between batches.

Bake at 375° for 10 to 12 minutes on an un-greased cookie sheet.

Do try it out with your kids. They will certainly enjoy it.

Dominique Goh, elementary school educator and mom to two active boys. Catch my writings at my blog- www.dominiquegoh.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com