I MOVED!

I have finally moved to WordPress.org for my blog. All the posts from this blog plus more to come can be found at my new location www.MommaDJane.com

Please pardon the mess over there right now as I am still transferring content. The About Me section and other pages are not complete. Although it is a work in progress I must say I am very excited about it. The whole blog has changed not only to a new domain but new look as well. I'm loving it!

My direction will continue to be the same, blogging about life in general. My focus is on climbing the ladder to success, not only in business but in life as well. I hope all you wonderful readers will follow me over. Come visit me and show me some comment love over at the new location. Tell me what you think of the new design. Also don't forget to sign up for the new RSS feed over there too.

Kind of sad that this is my last post on blogger. No more Blogging Momma, now to make my stand as MommaDJane.

CWAHM Blog Tour

CWAHM.com Announces Work At Home 101 A FREE online 3 week course designed to give moms a work-at-home starting place. Most people are curious about working from home. We know others do it, but aren't sure how they do it. CWAHM.com's Work at Home 101 is designed to give you an overview of the choices available that will allow you to work from home. This online course will give you the starting place you've been searching for. Best of all - it's completely free! CLICK HERE! Some of the things covered during Work at Home 101: * Where to Start * Telecommuting * Home-Based Businesses * Avoiding Scams * Entrepreneur Tips *AND MUCH MORE!

Plantronics Bluetooth Giveaway

Below you can view my vlog review of the Plantronics 925 Bluetooth Headset. Sorry that I don't sound like myself, catching this darn cold the kids have had. As I type this post I am losing my voice even more.



Don't you just love it? It is the perfect size, great compact carrying case that doubles as a charger and sleek design. I needed a bluetooth headset because I am very bad about talking on the phone while driving. Not sure about other states but within my area it is against the law to drive in school zones while talking on the phone. My speaker phone option gets used a lot and the person on the other end can never truly hear me well.




Now for the giveaway! As you saw in the video I am giving away a complete Plantronics 925 Bluetooth Headset sealed in box brand new. The winner will receive the one shown in the vlog {pink in color}.

To enter the giveaway leave a comment telling me how you handle your phone when driving... Are you a straight-laced driver who goes by the book and doesn't use your mobile when operating a vehicle? Do you only talk on the phone using a headset and/or speaker phone? Or are you a dare devil who has text messaged, checked emails and maybe even conducted conference calls while cruising down the highway? Come on be honest... whose judging?!

{Additional Entries - worth one entry each}
1. Tweet this giveaway and leave link in separate comment
2. Blog about this giveaway with link and leave separate comment
3. Sign up for newsletter on the top LEFT sidebar and leave separate comment
{Big announcements coming soon so you will want to receive newsletter}

Contest ends Sunday, February 22nd and winner will be chosen using random.org
Please make sure to leave a way to be contacted in the comment in case you win.

Mom It Forward Contest

For the Mom It Forward Contest to win the HP All-in-one Printer I want to tell you a little about my daughter. Tapanga is 11 years old and has a heart of gold. Her helpful attitude probably started at around age five when she saw the commercial on TV telling everyone to collect the pink yogurt labels to help Breast Cancer Awareness. She would wash the labels and keep them in a ziplock bag for me to mail in. It all stemmed from there... Once starting school she began taking part in annual jump rope for heart and tries to raise funds for just about every charity she is introduced to. Below are a few photos from this past year of her giving back to the community, helping others and just being herself.

Tapanga working at Camp El Tesoro at clean-up day to prepare for summer
Tapanga painting little girls finger nails at a local community awareness event
Having ten inches removed to donate to Locks of Love.
Tapanga sitting in the computer room at the hospital w/ her sister
Dressed up like a clown at the children's hospital, just to make someone smile

{Letter written in her words about her vision for the printer}

A Little 2 Sassy Blog Tour ~ Giveaway

{Welcome to Day One of A Little 2 Sassy's blog tour}
As you know I just love to support handmade products and I know the true meaning of appreciation for a work at home mom. All that being said makes this post even more exciting to introduce Kristina to you, the owner of A Little 2 Sassy. Kristina is a wife and mother of three. Due to unfortunate events during her childhood she lost her mother and was raised by her grandparents. Kristina's grandmother was always working on crafts and of course she was right by her grandmother's side learning along the way. Now that Kristina has become a mother, her daughter is the inspiration behind her bow making. The creation of A Little 2 Sassy has given her a chance to put her wonderful skills to work. Each item that Kristina hand makes for her customers is filled with love and pride.



First I must point out that I just love the flip flops! How cute are those? And... she makes them in adult size as well. Oh yes I would wear matching flip flops with my Gabby girl in a heart beat!

Next shows the pony o's hair piece. Those are perfect for the little older girl who doesn't want hair bows in her hair any longer. I must admit that although I am able to sneak in a hair bow every so often, these are Gab's favorite.

The third photo shows one of my personal favorites. I just love the curly ribbon hair bows. Plus I just adore the button in the center. What a great finishing touch!

Now for the giveaway! I have been given the opportunity to giveaway a $25 gift certificate good towards any hair bows or flip flops you find at A Little 2 Sassy.
Rules:
Go to Kristina's store A Little 2 Sassy and find one item you just love and come back to leave in the comment section

Additional Entries worth one entry each:
1. Tweet this giveaway and leave link in separate comment
2. Blog this giveaway and leave permalink in separate comment
3. Sign Kristina's guest book and leave separate comment
Don't forget this is a blog tour that continues for four days. There will be three other bloggers writing about A Little 2 Sassy, spotlighting something different and offering a special for their readers. Each post will be different so come back here to find their post links on Mr. Linky below. The tour will span over the next four days and wonderful discounts will be available that you won't want to miss!
Mister Linky below is for the other three bloggers participating in the A Little 2 Sassy Blog Tour, so please check out their posts to read more and receive other discounts.
{Contest ends Friday, February 20th at midnight}

Principessa Jewelry Blog Tour

Welcome to Principessa Jewelry Designs blog tour Day 5. I am so excited to be given the opportunity to introduce you to Principessa Jewelry. As you know I just love handmade products and supporting work from home women. Lisa, the owner and custom jewelry designer, does beautiful work.

Lisa also offers something really cool, an earring of the month club. I am the type of person who might not always remember to put on my necklace before walking out of the house but I always have on earrings. Just one of those things I feel naked without. The earring of the month club costs only $40 a year and you receive a new pair of the latest and most exclusive earring design before anyone else. The earrings will arrive gift-wrapped on the first week of each month via USPS Priority Mail. What a great way to pamper yourself 12 times a year or receive a package ready to give as a gift each month at a very low price.

I just love the Summer Elegance Dangle Earrings and right now they are on sale! Marked down from the original price of $25 to the sale price of $10.


Principessa Jewelry is also offering Free Shipping right now on all orders with no minimum. Plus don't forget to check out the other days of the tour listed at Writings of a WAHM to learn more about Lisa's store, Principessa Jewelry Designs and you may even find more discounts and a giveaway to enter.

Blissful Wardrobe

When I decided I was going to Nashville for the BlissDom '09 Conference I knew I was going to need new clothes. I read the schedule and saw there were two cocktail parties going on plus a pajama party. Considering I'm a single mom who doesn't get out much and my sleep wear usually consist of an over sized t-shirt I heard the mall calling my name. Then I realized what a great opportunity to wear clothing from sponsors during the event and help promote some businesses I love.

First up I have the gorgeous dress I wore to Friday night's cocktail party. This dress was handmade out of a satin-type material and was stunning. When I received the dress in the mail from Cowgirl Heaven, an etsy shop, I was impressed! I couldn't believe that it was handmade. Very professional work and if I must say so myself I thought it looked amazing on. I received many compliments and it sure felt good knowing I was prompting a work at home mom of handmade items.

Back View

Next is the customized shirt I got to wear to the Friday night pajama party. I was very excited to be the one wearing the original BlissDom '09 sparkle tee made by Sassy Sparkle, just for me! I am so excited about being given the opportunity to post about this shirt that she also offered me a discount code to share with my readers. If you order anything from her site between now and March 14, '09 and use the code bliss then you will get 10% off your total.

Last but definitely not least here I am sporting my Joe's Jeans. I just LOVED my Joe's Jeans. The denim material was so soft and they were extremely comfy. I wrote a past post announcing their special they have going on for Valentine's Day where you can buy one pair and get second half off. How great is that? Plus it's pretty funny how I finally got the correct size. I will have to admit though, if you are short like me, you better get the petite size otherwise you will have to get them altered. I had about six inches cut off the bottom.


Each one of these articles of clothing made me feel alive and fun while at BlissDom '09. Not only did I feel great in the clothing, get lots of compliments but I was comfortable as well. You just can't beat that!

MomFaves Launch

Photo captured at BlissDom '09 of co-founders Josh and Rebecca with Dwan
{Welcome MomFaves}
MomFaves.com is an on-line networking site where mothers can go to seek and share advice. Not just any advice, either... Advice on their favorite products, sites, services and others. Did you recently try out an awesome appliance that worked wonders for your family? Do you highly recommend a website that offers great articles or services? MomFaves.com is the place to go and fave those items so other moms can read your referral. This word-of-mouth networking site is a wonderful place to come and find answers to your questions from other moms like you.

The greatness behind the network is the touching story about how MomFaves was founded. I was blessed to have the chance and meet the co-founders of MomFaves during my weekend trip to BlissDom '09 conference. How exciting, right? Josh and Rebecca Unfried are not only the best looking couple in town but very sweet and compassionate too. You can tell by their presence that they feel a strong pull in the right direction with MomFaves. Working hard behind the scenes to be ready for this amazing launch! So what are you wanting for? Go check it out and join now. It's absolutely free and you can meet other great women just like yourself.

MomFaves.com is holding their Sitewarming Party with Amy from Resourceful Mommy by celebrating their launch on Friday, February 13th from 8:00 PM CST to 9:00 PM CST. Did I mention that I am a panelist during the party? That's right, so come join us on twitter and maybe even win some great prizes.

I Feel the Magic!

I'm not quite sure there are words that would be enough for this blog post. Looking back I believe I e-met Jyl from GNO around October/November time frame. Jyl and Carissa were holding a Random Acts of Kindness giveaway where they were searching for entries showing any amounts of kindness, big or small. Of course like most GNO conversations it started on twitter. I announced that I was planning to donate a bunch of stuffed animals to the local children's hospital and wanted to do whatever I could to help give back to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. We had purchased items for Christmas gifts, where the proceeds went to Make-a-Wish. Jyl personally contacted me and wanted to know more about my ventures in giving-back. Since Gab was in the hospital the previous year {2007} during all the holidays we were very blessed by local churches and even the hospital with gifts for the children. Also before Gab's brain surgery the Make-a-Wish Foundation sent us to Disney World for Gab's one wish. During the toughest times in our life we were very thankful for all the kind people out there. Now that we are home and although we still continue to go through rough times we are strong believers in trying to help out in anyway possible. After getting to know me better Jyl asked if I would be willing to allow her to place a photo of Gab and myself in a short video she was creating to enter a contest. The theme was "Mom's Make a Difference" and of course I said YES. I am happy to share my experience with any mom if it will help. I knew that Jyl and Carissa were planning to enter the HP Magic Giveaway that Sugar had running on her blog with the video. I was excited to take part. I knew that the Mom It Forward team planned to do great things with it. I was feeling the magic just by participating.

Little did I know they had other plans....



Prior to Gab's disabilities becoming so severe I used to volunteer with the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization and mentored pregnant teens. I am a young mother myself and feel a passion towards helping build strength in young mothers. I also love to speak with teens to try and prevent pregnancy at a young age. Once Gab's disabilities began to take up more of my time I had to place most of my volunteer work on hold. Being able to donate or help at one time events is my way of doing what I can with limited resources. I look forward to the day when I am able to make full swing at it again, like old times. Because I have faith that the day will come where Gab is more independent.

Publicly I want to thank Jyl, Carissa, Sugar and HP for making this happen. Sincerely from the deepest of my heart I feel truly blessed even more than I thought I could. More tears of happiness have been shed since Saturday than I can remember.

Love is in the air... or music!

You may or may not know back in December I wrote a review on Seal's Soul Album. I also got to give one away, how exciting! The album was so touching and filled with love that I wanted to remind everyone about it during the week of Valentine's Day. Plus there is a special e-card you can send out from Seal to your loved one.

So why not give a little soul and love this Valentine's Day?







Would you just love to enter for another chance to win a Seal Album? Perfect Valentine's Day gift to yourself or late gift for your loved one. It is too late to receive by V-day but never too late to listen to some soul music. Plus did I mention the copy of the Soul album will be signed by Seal himself?! Yes, your very own autographed copy. {I don't even own one}

To enter the contest leave me a comment telling me what your Valentine's Day plans are. Whether it is staying home with your children or going out on the town, what are you doing to share the love this Saturday? One comment per person please. Contest ends on Friday, February the 13th. Also please go send someone you care about an e-card featuring Seal, it's a great way to share great music.

Also I want to mention this Thursday, Feb. 12th at 9:00 PM CST Seal's PBS soundstage show airs. You don't want to miss that.

Random Sequence Generator

Here is your sequence:

* 6
* 5
* 4
* 7
* 2
* 1
* 3
WINNER IS: JERRI ANN, Congrats!

BlissDom '09 ~ Day One

Day One at BlissDom '09 is officially complete. I can't express how wonderful it has been to meet everyone. I took a ton of photos as well as videos and plan to post soon. The photos I took on my digital camera I can not upload until Sunday night when I get back home because I forgot my adapter. Sorry, guys... However I did upload a pic of myself wearing my awesome BlissDom '09 shirt from the pajama party that I took with my iPhone. Also if you want to see short clips throughout the weekend watch on twitter and my 12seconds.tv channel. I am trying to post periodically to keep everyone up to date.

I am headed to bed to try and get some shut eye before another early start tomorrow. Will try to post again tomorrow evening.

{Sending love from Nashville}

Happy Valentine's Day from Joe

In November I was contacted by Joe's Jeans to conduct a review for them on my blog. I was so excited! I got to pick out my style from their website and then I had to tell them my size. Should be easy, right? You would think I would know my own size but NO. Let me explain of course how I came up with the wrong size. I am used to purchasing pants that come in sizes such as 0,1,3,5,7,9,11,etc. I am very petite so I do still shop in the juniors section unless I am shopping at Petite Sophisticated. Joe's Jeans come in sizes such as 24,25,26,27,28,29,30. I must have been having a blonde moment when I decided to take out a measuring tape and measure the outside of my pants. I thought it seemed like a good plan, how could I go wrong? Well apparently I didn't know what the heck I was doing and the number I came up with was way off from the number I wear. To tell you the truth I don't even know how I came up with this number. I have been married in the past and my former spouse used to wear about a 32/34 therefore I should have known if the number I got was close to that, then it was wrong, of course keyword there is SHOULD. So needless to say when I received my Joe's Jeans, while jumping for joy, ripped them open to be highly disappointed I couldn't wear them. They were five sizes too big. Yes, FIVE. I know, what kind of idiot measures five sizes larger? The company has been so gracious to let me send the jeans back and exchange for the right size. They found a way to dumby proof my sizing guess by sending me to Nordstrom's to try some on. Now my jeans are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday and again I am super excited! I can't wait to conduct my full review, although I know I'll love them, the denim was so soft. I also plan to sport my new jeans at BlissDom!

Joe's Jeans is loving him some mommas. Their blog campaigns have done so well they wanted to offer a special Valentine's Day coupon code for all our wonderful readers. You can buy a pair of jeans for yourself and get 50% off a pair for your LOVE. Or you could just get yourself another pair half price. Use code: Joeslovesmomma which is good until February 23rd.

Super Bowl Commercials

I know today was all about the Super Bowl Buzz. To be honest I am not a huge football fan, I know - shame on me. Plus it's not like my state went to the Super Bowl or anything... However, I do like to watch the commercials. Although I must admit the past couple of years I wasn't as impressed as I used to be. I watched as many commercials this time as I could while caring for children but there was one commercial that stood out the most. Did you see the Jack in the Box commercial where Jack got hit by the bus? At the end of the commercial they posted a web site link which of course struck my curiosity, apparently like many others from the speed of the site. They created a whole blog along with You Tube account just to go along with this one commercial. Now that is dedication. The thing I didn't understand was why would they show Jack being hit by a bus with his head literally cracking? I personally thought it was a little disturbing for kids to see but it also left me wondering what it meant. Was that the point of the commercial, to leave you wondering? My first reaction was that the bus symbolizes the economy and Jack was suffering as the economy crashes... Does that sound right? The first thing I said was, "is Jack in the Box going bankrupt?" Once visiting the web site/blog that they set up I couldn't gather any more information then what I saw in the commercial. There were over 300 comments left by various people. So, readers, tell me... did you see this commercial? If not go view it over on You Tube and tell me what you thought. I am curious to hear what other views are on this. Is the economy suffering so bad that even fast food restaurants are 'crashing' and creating commercials to display their hurt? If Jack in the Box fast food restaurant is not hurting economically then is it just entertaining to see Jack get hit by a bus? I am curious to know what is the real point? Also if you are concerned, on their blog they even list ways to send Get Well Wishes to Jack, along with places to upload your own videos wishing him well or a way to sign up for text message alerts letting you know Jack's update. By the way Jack in the Box is on twitter and facebook too. Am I the only one that thinks this is far fetch?