Angie Rambles

The Real Life Guidance report, Balancing Work and Family was a quick and easy read. I have a hard time managing my time, I'm always going in so many directions (and I don't even have kids at home) and this report gave me tips and suggestions on a variety of ways to balance things. I'm off to implement a few of Aurelia's suggestions. I would highly recommend this report and all of her other Real Life Guidance reports. If you need personalized help, you might want to take advantage of Aurelia's wonderful coaching. I have personally benefited from her coaching (and even have met her in person). If you decide to purchase any of the reports or coaching services be sure to come back and leave me a message with your thoughts.

Last week when we had a pretty good snow storm, I was out and about and the roads where I was had not been plowed yet and I paid dearly for that but luckily it was only me involved. It didn't turn out to be my day, I was running late, got stuck at a train for 15 minutes and then got a green light however a firetruck and ambulance were coming towards me so I had to wait yet again. Then I went to turn left on to the main road and slid across the entire road slamming my right front tire into the curb, really hard. It was so loud that it scared the pants off me LOL Anyway, it started running funny, my steering wheel was shaking, my tire was wobbling and well, I had to drive on it for another few days until Kev could get to the tire. I hit the curb so hard that my tire rim went all the way into the tire. Luckily we found a tire and rim at the junkyard for under $40. That was all good but I still had the loud drumming/rubbing sound. Went to the car dealer early this morning and wa...

Do you listen to Mom's Morning Show ? If not, you should! It's a daily show that starts at 10:30 AM Eastern. Today kicked off the new Crock Pot Club and it was so much fun. Many of those who listen to the show know that I don't cook. Kevin (my hubby) is the pro and pretty much does all the cooking. But today I took part in their 1st Crock Pot Club and made a meal LIVE with Mom's Morning Show. It was a blast. I had my laptop in the kitchen to watch the chat room as I was putting together the meal and was on the call in line as well. I have to say it was a blast and dinner turned out pretty good. You can keep up with the Mom's Morning Show show notes here Here are some pictures of the finished product! The house smelled awesome today. Special thanks goes to Sandra Jensen of Family Foodies who made it possible for me to cook this meal with ease.

Over at 5 Minutes for Mom they have a contest going to win an MP3 player from Best Buy . This would definitely be a fun prize to win. You should go check it out and enter yourself. They have a picture of this cool gadget on their blog too. Oh and Best Buy is giving away a pair of headphones to the winner too. Nice!

I was tagged by Tishia to play along with this meme. Thanks for picking me, Tish! Here we go: 4 jobs I have had: Pet store Pet Store (a 2nd one) Front Desk Supervisor for Marriott Courtyard Certified Daycare Teacher 2's and Kindergarten 4 Films I Could Watch Over and Over Again: Grease Stepmom Die Hard (any of them) Gone in 60 Seconds 4 Places I Have Lived: Maryland Virginia (quite a few places throughout Northern VA) Illinois 4 Favorite TV Shows: Big Brother Amazing Race Numbers CSI 4 Favorite Foods: Chinese Spaghetti Pizza Sushi Websites I Visit Everyday: Google Reader GoodSearch.com (I use this in place of searching Google because the ISSA Trust foundation benefits from all searches. The ISSA family owns our favorite Couples resorts in Jamaica.) WAHM.com MommysHelperCommunity.com 4 Places I Want To Be: Jamaica Jamaica on the beach in Jamaica snorkeling in Jamaica 4 Favorite Colors: Green Purple Teal Brown 4 Names I Love but would/could not use for my own children: Millie Po...

Workout Mommy is having a neat contest. You have a chance to win a Brita faucet-mount filter and reusable FilterForGood bottle. I'm heading over to enter now, how about you? This comes at the perfect time as you will see in my post below. Happy Sunday!

Today was the most exciting day. We spent a few hours at Gurnee Mills Mall here in the Chicago suburbs because I had heard about The Biggest Loser Show and MSN's Million Pound Match Up and their tour. A town close to us was the first on the tour. How cool! It was a whirlwind day really. We met Kae, Amy and Marty, contestants from The Biggest Loser Show. They were so easy to talk to and lots of fun. We took pictures (see below) and the staff there also took a picture which we should get back in 24-72 hours. A great experience to be able to talk to Kae, Amy and Marty. I was also given The Biggest Loser Fitness Program Book , the new Biggest Loser workout, Power Sculpt , magnets and even water bottles. THEN if that wasn't enough, we had the staff come up to us and ask for a possible TV interview which of course we were happy to do. WOW They are not sure if we will be chosen as one of the interviews but we didn't see too many other interviews the few hours we were th...

I was tagged by Tamara to do a meme. I am very new to doing these and hopefully will do it correctly LOL Rules: 1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you. 2. Post these rules on your blog. 3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself 4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. 5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog 7 Random Things About Me: 1) I'm a 35 year old step mom of two, 26 and 24. Hubby is 10 years older than me. 2) I'm horrible at math 3) I am addicted to Reality TV 4) I love to have my feet rubbed 5) I have been spit on by an alpaca 6) I gave up drinking soda and eating Oreos in 2005 7) Toilet paper roll has to be over not under (I see I'm not the only one. My friend Tishia is the same way HA HA) Now I know I'm supposed to tag seven others however I have noticed that a ton of people have completed this meme so I don't know who to tag. I'll...

I was just telling Kev the other day that I would love a mixer. What great timing. A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog ! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible! The Prize: The winner will receive a brand new Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow !! About the mixer: From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t...

Our Gingerbread House I just wanted to post a quick note to say Happy Holiday's to everyone. We are getting ready to head out to do some major grocery shopping and then back home to clean, bake, wrap and all that fun stuff. My mom and dad are coming into town tomorrow night so I'm excited. Our house is pretty much decorated and the Christmas music is playing. We opted not to decorate outside this year except we do have a pretty wreath on the front door. I had Kev take a picture of the Christmas tree but I totally forgot to put the skirt around so it looks silly. We put together the Gingerbread house you see above and had a blast doing that. We will celebrate our 11th anniversary on New Year's Eve. Looking forward to a fun night out to Beni Hana's Japanese Steakhouse. Fun! Have a fun and safe holiday! Angie

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog. It covers: The best blogging techniques. How to get traffic to your blog. How to turn your blog into money. I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free. Blogging is one of the things I would really like to focus on in 2008 so I think any great info I can get my hands on the subject of blogging will be helpful to me. Thanks to the folks at Simpleology for the offer. Update 12/30/07: When I first posted this, I was not able to get access however I did email their support desk and the issue was taken care of almost immediately although they didn't respond saying it was fixed but I just happened to try to sign in and I was able to gain access so it's all good. Anyway, I have to say I am really impressed with this course. ...

I'm posting these pictures for a Wordless Wednesday challenge over at Mom's Talk Radio .

Lara posted on her blog Designed By Lara a very cool contest ! I would love to win this contest because I adore all of the design work I have seen from Lara. I have a few design ideas of what I would like as far as this blog goes and I have talked to Lara about a possible design for a new domain of mine so I thought it would be perfect to enter this contest. Let me know if you decide to enter too so we can root for each other.

There is a fun contest going on at Mom's Radio Network and I'm entering! I am doing the Mom's Radio Network Host Blog Interview with Marie Ynami of Mommy Community Here are just a few questions that popped into my head that I thought might help us get to know Marie a bit better. Enjoy! 1) When did you start Mommy Community and why? I started Mommy Community in 2003 - initially to drive traffic to a site where I sell stuff. Long story short - I got bored with the selling site but NOT Mommy Community so I ended up keeping it and I must say I am really happy I did - it has grown quite a bit since I first opened the site. 2) What is your favorite part of working from home? My favorite part of working from home is the fact that I get to work when I want. I am in control of my hours. Where else can you do housework like doing laundry while working? It is kinda hitting 2 birds with one stone. I also like the fact that I am home when the kids get home and I am able to help out ...

Have you heard of the brand new womens social networking site for work at home moms? I came in as a VIP member a few months ago to test the waters and I am enjoying learning the ropes. Check it out when you get a chance. Let me know what you think!

I’ve been tagged! Val tagged me for a meme where we post links. We can post up to five. Then we are supposed to tell five more people to share their links but since I'm not too blog savvy and don't know who to tag quite yet, I'll just post my links and call it a day LOL They can be business links, favorite sites, affiliate links, whatever you want… There are Five Rules: 1. MUST be clean. No R rated sites. 2. Only FIVE links. 3. MUST tell 5 people-I'll have to pass on this one! 4. A link back to the person who tagged you- Done 5. Lara's Place is the meme originator. 5 of my favorite links: Mom's Talk Radio - Network of Internet radio programs and podcasts for moms. A few of my favorite shows are Mom's Morning Show, Mom's Love Shopping, Mom's Money and of course the ever so popular WAHM Talk Radio. ClickNewz - My mentor and Friend Lynn Terry's Internet Marketing blog. A ton of resources to help you in business. Amazon - I am addicted...

Have you ever been to the 5 Minutes For Mom blog? I was introduced to this blog on the Mom's Morning Show and love it. They have so many cool contests and give aways. It's fun! Why don't you check out their 2007 Christmas Giveaway. Just click on the button below and have fun entering those contests that interest you.

Have you heard of Mom's Talk Network ? This is a fantastic resource for moms. Be sure to check out all the great things they have to offer. Sign up for the forum, join their mailing list for network updates and even become an affiliate to promote all they have to offer. Mom, get the confidence you need by following the tips in this guide Hope to see you at Mom's Talk Network

I was listening to the Mom's Morning Show today and they shared about a cool blog called 5 Minutes for Mom . They are having a give-away for a pink Dyson vacuum . How cool! If you recall I have a purple Dyson that I posted about here . I am entering their contest, however if I do happen to be so lucky to win, I will be passing this great vacuum on to someone special. Be sure to check out the 5 Minutes for Mom blog to see all they have to offer.

Every day this week on the Mom's Morning Show , Erin at Jewelry By Erin is having a daily give away for some of her fantastic jewerly. You should enter to win and then join us tomorrow morning on the show at 10:30 AM Eastern to see if you are the winner. Another fun contest that I entered was the FALLing Into Fun contest over at Lara's blog, Designed By Lara . You should take a peek at what you can win. Awesome stuff. Enjoy!