It's unfortunate, but I am a junk food junkie. I have been on and off for years. I have a horrible sweet tooth. I go through periods where I try to eat healthy and get off my sugar kick, but it always seems to come back. I even have tried to eat healthier sugary snacks, lol, that don't have refined sugar and more natural ingredients. I have found some pretty good snacks too. It's just a terrible addiction. One night I am starving and needing a snack and the next thing you know, my husband is off to Taco Bell to get some nachos. Then our healthy eating habits get tossed out the window and we are eating crap every night before bed again. It's bad.

I would love to say that with the new year I have some sort of resolution about not eating junk, but I don't. This is really one of those "one day at a time" type of things. So I did get some healthier snacks last week at the store. Guacamole, spicy black bean dip, and artichoke dip. That stuff hardly has any calories! I was really surprised. I helps stave off that nacho craving. At least for now. I mean, I guess it's better to have a junk food habit than to be a junkie. Maybe not that much cheaper though. Then you see all the commercials though, for nachos and cookies and whatever. I swear they put crack in that stuff. Well, maybe not. But something as powerful, I'm sure.

So, I am working on it (well I mean now that I just finished the last of the Christmas cookies last night, teehee). I really need to loose some weight. I had finally started to really loose weight from having the baby and then the damn holidays had to come and screw that all up. Ugh. Well, I guess once you realize you've made a mistake, you just pick up the pieces and try to start over again. Huh, sounds like I need a New Year's resolution every 3 months.

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I am relieved, as usual. There is so much stress for me around Christmas time that I am glad it only comes once a year. Especially this year with the economy the way it is. I can't say exactly how much it is we spend each year on presents for the kids, but I can say we easily spent over $1000 this year on all 5 kids. Don't get me wrong - I love seeing them happy and ripping open their gifts. Nothing makes me happier than be able to shop for them and give them the things they have been dying to get.

The thing that stresses me out is not having the money to buy them much. Well, we really don't have the money to buy them anything and we end up going totally broke. Now our rent money is nowhere in sight and the 1st is around the corner. Since the housing market has gone all to hell, my husband, who works in construction putting street lights in new housing developments, has had less and less work. So he has now been sitting home without work for over a week. It really sucks.

So I have continued to keep looking for a work at home job. I don't know if you can imagine how much it would cost to put 5 kids in daycare - or even 4 if we let the 13 year old stay at home alone (nothing spells disaster like that). I pray and hold faith in my heart that something good will happen for us. I believe that things are meant to be and I know that whatever is meant for me will happen. In the meantime I have been plugging away at working on an information website about cloth diapers, in hopes that I can someday build it up enough to earn money through Google Adsense and other ads. Trying to get visitors to a website is the hardest part. I have had to teach myself how to create the whole website, learn some html, and create a header and learn how to publish it, but getting people to the site has by far been the hardest part!

So I cross my fingers and hope for a better new year. Happy New Year's to you and your families!

Blogging is one of my favorite discoveries on the internet. With my love of writing, it is the perfect outlet for me. I can be creative, insightful or just silly if I want. The best part is that blogging is a wonderful way to reach out to other people all over the United States or even further. When I started this little blog, I had no idea that you can actually make money from blogging. I had heard of it, but never really understood how. It was all a faraway concept to me. One that sounded great, but was just out of my reach. That is when I found out about blog advertising.

What is blog advertising you ask? Well it's when you write posts on your blog about interesting websites, products, companies and services and get paid to do so. This is a fabulous way to make some extra money, especially with the way the economy is now. I looked around at a lot of different blog advertising companies so I could find one that was right for me. That is when I found Paying Post. Paying Post has quickly become my favorite place to go to find opportunities for blog advertising. They have tons of blog advertising opportunities and it is a very easy program to do.

Now I know what you may be thinking - most of the companies that do blog advertising have a so many rules and criteria you have to meet before you can even have your blog approved. Not so with Paying Post. You simply need to sign up, verify your blog, and then log in to see what opportunities you are open to you. It really is that easy. I have already gotten started with Paying Post and I'm really happy with them. If you are at all interested in blog advertising, then I highly recommend Paying Post. I think you will be quite happy with how easy it is to join their program.

Children love to see how much they can get away with and how far you will let them get. (Well so will adults for that matter) If you tell them no, they love to try to whine, cry, beg and hound you into changing your mind. For example, to save money this week (my husband who is in construction hasn't worked much) we bought a big old bag of generic "toasted o's" for breakfast. Yesterday, the oldest son asked where the sugar was, and I didn't realize it was for the cereal told him where it was. (I am opposed to using refined sugar if I can avoid it) So, today one of the other boys, knowing that the oldest boy got sugar in his cereal, decided it was his mission to try to get me to let him have sugar in his cereal. Let me just tell you, I have been a parent for almost 10 years not, and those kind of games don't work with me (not like when I was much younger and unwise to these things)

So, he gets the cereal out of the cuppord and proceeds to come over to me to tell me how disgusting the cereal is, how he's not going to eat it, and it's just disgusting. I simply tell him that's whats for breakfast and if he doesn't want it, then I don't know what to tell him. He might just have to go hungry. Of course, that did not deter him easily. He felt the need to continue to tell me how disgusting it was for another minute and then huffed off. That is until a few minutes later he comes back to ask for oatmeal. I also have a policy on this. We have some flavored microwave oatmeal that is not very filling and kind of a treat, so the kids cannot have oatmeal untless they have eaten some cereal and are still hungry. So I tell him, no. Well one of the other kids is in the kitchen preparing some oatmeal and this of course drives him crazy. So he finally decides to get the 'disgusting' cereal.

After he sits down at the table and tells me again it's disgusting, I tell him if I hear another complaint he will go directly to a time out. Time out's work pretty well here. So the next thing I hear him say is that the cereal is actually pretty good, and that he's glad he got alot. I just have to laugh. I don't think as many parents realize that children really do need and want rules to live by. Yes, they will rebel and complain, such is life. Without rules and someone to guide them, what would become of a young person. I think you can just look around society today to see the answer to that. I am very proud to know that when I take my children out to eat, I always get complimented on how well behaved they are. I just wish that other parents had some of these values for their familes as well.

As Christmas quickly approaches, I start to realize, so does the new year. 2009. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. So many things have happened as I have watched my youngest son grow through his first year of life. When I think of New Year's and what it will bring, I have to ask myself, what does it really mean? So many people make their New Years Resolutions to make a better 'me' and celebrate the coming of a fresh start. But what really is the difference between December 2008 and January 2009? Can we not make a fresh start whenever we choose to? Can we not make resolutions more often than January of every year?

This makes me wonder what brought about the trend of the New Years Resolution. I know people are always looking for ways to better themselves (or at least I am) so I guess it's natural to want to make positive changes. I just think it's the pressure of the New Years Resolution once every year that people put on themselves that makes them never stick to them. So I have firmly placed a No New Years Resolution rule in place for me. I find it works well. That way, when I have something about myself I want to better or change, I just work on it when I realize it. If I am going to procrastinate on my better 'me', I'm doing it because I'm not ready to yet, and that's OK with me.

So, what's your New Years Resolution?

To all you moms out there. I know how hard you work taking care of your home and family and some even a job too. So in light of the holidays and all the hard work that us moms do, especially during this season, I thought it would be a great idea to make a list of the things that we can do for ourselves to show ourselves some much deserved love. I have created the top 5 things moms can do for themselves that are either free or low cost and don't take alot of time either. Every mom should do at least one!

#1 - Take Some Me Time

I mean real me time - leave the kids with your husband or a sitter and leave the house or lock yourself in another room away from everyone and everything. Sit in a nice relaxing bath with music playing if you have to. Real me time leaves you refreshed and is guilt free. Go to a coffee shop and read a magazine and turn off your cell phone for a half an hour. Just enjoy being free of responsibility for a short while and love it!

#2 - Get a Hair Cut

With life so busy all the time, sometimes it's hard to even remember you need a hair cut. A hair cut or new style can be invigorating. It can make you feel great about yourself and get you out of the house for a bit to chat with other adults. Then when you come home your husband is excited by your confidence and the kids are happy to see you. Best of all, a cut doesn't have to cost much!

#3 - Take A Class

Whatever kind that interests you. Yoga, dance, karate, whatever. Many local community centers have classes one day a week for a fairly low price so even if you are on a budget, you can find a class that suites your interests and doesn't break the bank. Just imagine yourself kicking butt in a Taekwondo class or jumping around the dance floor in your hip hop dance class. Super fun!

#4 - Start A Hobby

Maybe you don't fancy yourself the crafty type, but that doesn't mean you can't have a hobby. If you aren't into making things, you can try photography, gardening or scrapbooking. Just about every mom already has a camera - make it fun to go around the city and take pictures of things that inspire you. Or plant an herb garden in your window so you can use them to cook. And you can take all those pictures you have tucked in your closet and organize them and make it fun.

#5 - Write A Blog

Everyone is blogging now days and it's super easy to get started. Blogging is free and it's a great way to get some stress out and get things off your mind. It's also a great way to communicate with friends and family or just anyone at all. You can go to Blogger or Wordpress and have a free blog up and running within minutes. Then all you have to do is get writing. There's nothing like getting those creative juices flowing or just venting about something that happened.

Being a stay at home mom can be a lonely and thankless job. You work your butt off 24/7 cleaning, cooking, taking care of children, paying the bills, doing the shopping, etc. Yes you do it because you love it and you want to, but do you really get the appreciation you deserve for it? Does your husband tell you thank you honey for taking care of our home and children? Do your children say thank you mommy for taking care of me everyday? Most likely not. Sometimes they need a reminder of how hard you work (other than on Mothers Day) and sometimes you need to remind yourself too by taking a well deserved break.

I have to say, I am thankful of the Internet and it's capabilities in this day and age. Without it, I don't know what kind of connection I would have with the outside world (other than TV and ppl at the grocery store, lol) I have been able to reach out and connect to tons of people and get exposed to more information that I could ever imagine. It defiantly makes being at home all day a little less lonely.

So, for all you stay at home moms out there, give yourself a pat on the back, sit down with a hot cup of coffee/tea/whatever and relax. Do something that makes you feel good about yourself. You deserve it! You are doing one of the most important jobs there is out there and I commend you for it!