What is one of your favorite memories that invokes your friends or family? Why is it one of your favorite?

The first memory that came to mind was the day I gave birth to Sawyer. It is one of the best days of my life, and I was glad that the ones I care about the most were there to share the special moments with me. It’s obvious why it’s one of my favorite memories…without it, I wouldn’t have my amazing little boy.

When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up? Looking at ur life now, how close are you to that job and what do you aspire to do now career wise?

As far back as I can remember, I have wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I used to have old desks from a school here, and I would pretend to teach my cousins. If I was playing alone, I would teach my stuffed animals. When my sister was little, I worked with her and taught her most of her alphabet before she went to school. I love children, and to me, teaching is one of the biggest impacts you can make on the future.

Since having Sawyer, however, my career goals have changed a little. Right now, I want to continue being a work at home mom, doing freelance writing and internet marketing. I cannot imagine having to send him to daycare at this point. I want to be home with him so that I can prepare him for school. Daycares around here are nothing by babysitters, and I want my son to learn as much as he can before he starts Pre-K. James and I have also considered the idea of me homeschooling, but not sure yet.

When he sang “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” it really got me thinking about my grandfather. The song is about missing is own grandfather and how he wishes he could pack up his family and take a trip to Heaven to see him and a few other people again. For me, the song hits very close to home. I lost my papa in 2006 to lung cancer. I’d give anything to be able to take a trip up to Heaven to see him again. I’d take Sawyer so he could meet him. While there, I’d also want Sawyer to meet James’ parents. He will never know his grandparents on James’ side because they have both passed away. I never got to meet his mom (she passed away about 4 months before we met), and his dad passed away in 2008.

How has having a website and being involved in online communities and forums changed your life? What do you think you’d be doing online if you never got into making websites or online communities?

Being involved online has changed my life in so many ways. For one, if I hadn’t been involved, I would have never met all the awesome online friends I have. From them, I have learned so much, received lots of advice, and have had several there when I needed support. These people are so much more open minded than the friends I tend to attract online and are also around a lot more.

Also, without the involvement of forums and such, I probably would still be working a 9 to 5 job…which means Sawyer would be in daycare. It was through Lavish.nu that I first learned about paid blogging opportunities. A few other members were making a few extra dollars with their blogs, and that is how I got my start. Then, I branched out to becoming a member of “work at home mom” type communities, and that’s were I learned a lot more about working online, particularly as a freelance writer. Other online communities have landed me writing projects and other types of work, some of which I am still doing to earn money.

All in all, if I never got involved with online blogs, forums, and communities, I guess I’d only be using the internet to check email, read articles, or play games…though now that I have been exposed to so many great people and communities, being online only for these bare minimum tasks seems a bit sad.

What inspired you to create your personal blog? What continues to inspire you?

I have always enjoyed keeping a journal of my daily ramblings, thoughts, and rants. I made the shift to blogging in 2005, but all the other cool kids were doing it. Back then, I was on free spaces like LiveJournal and Vox. It was fun to blog about my daily life as well as my opinions and have others read and comment on them. I was inspired to share my life because it made me some great online friends, many that I have known for 4+ years now.

I am continued to be inspired to keep up with my blog because I know have a small following of people online that I feel actually care what I have to say. They have been there to offer advice, sympathy, encouragement, and best wishes. Plus, my blog has also helped me get new products to review in my home that I may never tried out myself.

Today’s blogging prompt is:

What are some things you do when you procrastinate?

I will be the first to admit that I am a HORRIBLE procrastinator. It’s a constant struggle since I work at home and set my own schedule. There’s no boss standing over my shoulder telling me I have to get things done on time. Therefore, I sometimes put things off to the day the project is due…and there are mainly things that I do to procrastinate.

For work, the primary method of procrastination is to browse other websites or check my email. If I am already sitting at my computer, it’s so tempting to check out Veracity.nu, Facebook, or my emails. All are usually more entertaining than work, so I’ll procrastinate between articles every now and then.

Away from my computer, I may distract myself from doing what I need to be by watching TV. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but when I do, it’s often because I’m procrastinating from work or cleaning.

Playing online or TV are my main methods of procrastination.

What are some of your bad habits?

I have quite a few bad habits that I really should break. The first one that comes to mind immediately is biting my nails. However, I think I have recently conquered that one. After being a nail biter since I was a tiny child – seriously, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t bite my nails – I haven’t bitten them since May. I had a mani/pedi for Mother’s Day, and decided then that I was no longer going to bite them.

Another bad habit that I have is procrastination. I am really horrible. If I am giving a deadline for something, you can almost bet I will be the girl up until 3am the night before working to finish it. It also seems that I work better under pressure. However, on more than one occasion, my procrastination has led to not getting something done on time…say because there is also a computer or printer issue. I am also working on that though, because it’s horrible to try to work at home and deal with putting things off all the time.

Those are the two main bad habits I have. The others that I can think of at the moment include:

• Interrupting people. I hate to do it, but sometimes I can’t stop myself, or I am afraid that I will forget what I need to say before the other person has finished talking.
• Unhealthy eating. This is a horrible habit of mine, but I am slowly getting away from the junk food I once had to have to more nutritious food choices.
• Road rage. Can this be a habit…especially if you tend to have it every time you get behind the wheel?

What would you say to the first person who ever broke your heart if you were given the chance?

Thanks. Seriously. Yes, I loved you and I really thought we’d be together forever. I really couldn’t see past our break up for almost a year…and the pain that was created was like any other I have ever  known.

However, if you hadn’t broken my heart, I wouldn’t be able to consider our relationship a learning experience. I wouldn’t be able to have a husband who now loves me unconditionally. I wouldn’t be able to have an amazing little boy who calls me “Mama”.

So thank you for breaking my heart…so that it could be repaired by someone one much better than you.

If you could travel back in time by 10 years is there anything you’d change? Would you warn your past self of things to come? If so what? And why or why not?

My first answer to this question is, you bet I would change some things! Let’s see, 10 years..that would be August 2001. At the time, I was still in high school, dating my first serious boyfriend. I would have told myself back then that I was dating a loser who would never amount to much in life (He didn’t graduate high school, and I think he works at the landfill now) so I should find someone better. What I would have really like to have done is to met James right after I graduated. That would have saved me a LOT of heartache, money, and tears.

As far as education, I would have made sure I graduated with honor’s (I was 3/10 of a point away), and went and finished college in 4 years. I ended up dropping out of the first college I went to in order to come back home (partially for a guy, but I was burned out on school as well so I took the Spring semester and Summer off). I would have made sure I had my degree before the hiring freezes in the school systems began around here.

Even though it would have been nice to change these things, I don’t know for sure if I would if I really could travel back in time. The experiences I have had have made me the person I have become today. I do have a lot of regrets though…so if I could ensure the future that I wanted, then I may change some things if time travel was possible. Even if I didn’t make any changes, there would be some definite warnings to the 17 year old me!

James was away for work last week, which just made things worse. My sister stayed here to help with Sawyer, but it’s not the same as having James around. I was planning to take the weekend to rest and relax, but it seemed we were busy for most of it. Being a parent is very fun and rewarding, but wow, I didn’t realize it’d be so exhausting! The problem is, it’s more tiring now than it was when Sawyer was a newborn.

My entire mindset on getting things done has changed since become a mom. Before, I was okay with letting the household stuff slide until I was “inspired” to clean. I was also okay with taking some time off my freelance work every now and then to just relax. Now, it’s a completely different story. I feel like I need to be done this, this, and that…and I need to get it all done RIGHT NOW! It’s becoming very stressful since I’m just one person and can’t do as much as I think needs to get done.

James is a tremendous help, and it’s completely 50/50 as far as taking care of Sawyer and housework goes…so I don’t understand why I feel the way I do. Maybe it’s just being a mom, and wanting everything to be perfect for my son?