Summer in Arizona

Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that it has been so long since I have posted. It looks like I was the last one to post anyway. :(
It is summer and it is HOT here in Arizona. We have already had our first 118 degree day, we have had 2 giant habubs. We haven't had much rain though. Wish we would get more here in the valley.
Business has been slow. Either because of the summer or the economy. Don't get me started on that....
School will be back in session soon and I have picked up some work with back to school items like back packs and lunch bags. There are sure some cute ones out there.
I have a new line of tote bags coming out soon. I find more and more people trying to be "green" (I prefer "Blue" since we ARE the blue planet" ;)  I use tote bags for the grocery store or a quick run into Costco or Sams. I always have them in the car. Will have them on Etsy and Craigs list soon.
As always I am so Thankful to know the awesome women of SuperWAHMz.com.
Well, take care, have a great summer........ until next time. :)

Moms in Business - Unite!

I just learned of the Natl Assoc of Moms in Business. COOL! They are having a contest, which of course, I think comfycozy.com is a perfect choice for a winner. They will be selecting the top 200 mom owned businesses.

I hope that you will vote for me - over and over again:O) AND, share the link below with your friends that just might think my Glow in the Dark pillowcases are a fun product and that this mom is a winner!!

http://www.startupnation.com/leading-moms-in-business/contestant/8785/index.php

THANKS! And if you are a wahm (or a superwahm as we like to call ourselves!), go ahead, enter your business too!

21st Century :)

Here I come, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century LOLOL
I need to work on my website.
I think it is about time I learn how to do that myself and
maybe take a class or two on search engines and how they work.
I need to learn how to blog more efficiently and
I need to learn how to tweet LOL
OH.... and I need to make a newsletter.
Not much to learn there. Maybe I CAN teach this OLD dog some new tricks.
I think I might be looking forward to the challenge.

You CAN Own a Million Dollar Business!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

New Day, New Life, New You - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I'm looking forward to 2009. Looking forward to a New Day, the opportunity to create a New Life and the chance of self renewal. This pillowcase design says it all. I tossed in as many positive affirmations, feel good mantras and motivational phrases that I could. The pillowcase is meant to start the day off on a good foot and go out and "be" the best you. The glow in the dark pillowcase design help end the day feeling positive about yourself. A lot can happen in a day. I open my eyes every morning in a good mood, it's tough sometimes to maintain that - especially when my 2 boys are arguing over cereal at 7 am. Sometimes, all that we are supposed to be thankful and appreciate for, ends up being the downfall of our cheery outlook on life!

Every day is a NEW day I tell myself. But, there are still days that I'd rather stay in bed and pull the covers over my head! I'm not all sunshine and roses here LOL

So, join me in the New Day, New Life, New You revolution! Is it too pushy to say "click here" and order your pillowcase? No, you say - cool, click here to order. There are lots of other glow in the dark pillowcase designs at Comfy Cozy that you can choose from, for yourself, your kids or friends that just might need a boost to get out of bed in the morning.

If your a WAHM or WAHM "wanna be", have a great New Year! Get out there and make this a great year! Keep checking in with us here at the superwahmz blog. We'd love to hear from you and help you make your dreams come true!

Denial

No, not a river in Africa.  I'm talking about not seeing the truth.  You know, when you think something is one way, but in reality, it is most definitely another.  *sigh*

I am in denial.  Well, I am coming out of denial.  Because I have been busy all.year.long, I didn't think my fall rush had hit yet.  I just kept telling myself, "you're just busy as usual."  Yeah right.

I guess I have left denial and entered the swamp.  Pretty funny, huh?  At least I can still joke about it.  Really though, I am now swamped.  My stack of orders measures 1/2" high, and I get several orders a day.  Some of them for multiple items, so they should really count as more than one order.

So, I may or may not be posting here for the next 2 months. Hard to say....if I get a free minute (what's that?) I will. Otherwise, you can grab a snorkel, strap on a paintbrush, and join me in the swamp : )  Ain't life as a wahm grand?

Catching Up

If you happen to read my personal blog After the Dust Settles, you know I've been sick. This cold is still hanging on, but as a (really) small business owner and a wahm, I have no one else to do the work. So I try to do a little bit each day. Just a little though....can't wait until I have my energy back.

Several times a day Periodically I type piggy banks into google, just to see where my site lands. Imagine my surprise joy when I found myself at #1 yesterday and today (so far). So exciting. I haven't been at number one for years....now we'll see how that affects business. I've been pretty steady this whole year, so I may not notice much of a change.

My site will be getting moved to a new server. Cross your fingers that goes well. Right now it is not passing the PCI security test. This is the guidelines the credit card companies want businesses to follow when they collect customer information. Once my site is moved to the new server, we'll be good to go. If I don't pass the tests, I'll have to pay a monthly fee for non compliance. Kudos to Jo for working on this for me.  Of course, I may owe her my first born : )

Hubby got my second kiln set up last week. I have to take some pictures of my work area. It's handy to have 2 of them now. It should make a huge difference in me staying somewhat caught up this year. Maybe it won't be quite as stressful a holiday season....I can dream : )

And that's it....I need to get moving here and get some stuff done : )  Only 2 weeks to election day!  Yay!

It's Boss's Day!

Happy Boss's Day to all you hard working wahms out there : )


Click here for a little somethin' from me to you.


Have a great day and reach your left arm around your right shoulder and give yourself a pat on the back.  You done good : )

Search Engines & Robots

Do you think the Jetson's had any idea what search engines, spiders and robots had in common?

For WAHMS, we aren't just moms, wives and business owners, we're inventors, designers, crafts"man" (I'm not so politically correct!), assembly workers, accountants, receptionists, customer service reps, sales reps, etc etc. We are also computer geeks! I know more than I want to know about my computer and software and updating my web site. We often spend more time on our computer, than on actually running our business. Let me clarify, we are RUNNING OUR BUSINESS when we are updating our web sites, but I'd rather be designing!

I am not a really good computer geekand I can't believe I understand what I do! OK, Peggy, let's get to the point!

For the past few days I have spent HOURS on updating Key Words, Meta tags, descriptions on my web site, comfycozy.com. It's a daunting, time consuming task. All with the goal of increasing the rankings on Search Engines and landing on page one, so that when you look for a personalized pillowcase for Christmas, that Comfy Cozy is going to be the first web site on that page!

We all want to use whatever tricks we can to achieve #1 rankings on Google & Yahoo searches. Sometimes the tricks are doing us any good. I wanted to share something I learned about what is called a "robots follow" tag. Two web sites, highrankings.com and seoconsultants.com say that the robots follow tags and revisit-after tags are not going to increase your search engine rankings, don't effect when the spiders stop by and who created them. I was totally bummed! Now I have to go find another trick that will make me think I've got one up on my competition LOL! Check out the web sites for more information. Now, I'm going to do some REAL work - paying taxes...but that's another post for another day!

Balancing Act

Enter the Super Duper SuperWAHMz Contest!

I think we all feel like we are doing a balancing act. We "superwahmz" aren't the only ones. While being a wife, mother and small business owner have some uniquely tricky moments, keeping all our plates from crashing to the ground is a challenge everyone faces. Sometimes I feel like I'm walking a tight rope and someone keeps making the distance longer with every step I make LOL. The past week or so, however, I'm making some headway across that tight rope!

It feels pretty good. I've decided to not let the recent headlines and financial crisis make me lose my balance. I'm challenging myself to stay focused on the positives and not get caught up in anxiety, fear and hopelessness. (After all, you'll still be ordering my Comfy Cozy Glow in the Dark Pillowcases for Christmas gifts won't you!!)

Having a visual image of what a REAL balancing act looks like helps immensely! I find the following 2 examples help me to "walk the walk". I have apparently forgotten about these the past few months when I was swaying back and forth, on the verge of falling! It seems a good time to look at them again and buck up to the challenges that face me.

The first one is the amazing accomplishment of Libby as the first woman to walk the Lost Arrow Spire Highline. You HAVE to watch this video with the sound. Libby is one of my heroes now and somewhere on my list of 100 things I want to do in my life, is to walk a highline! OK, my husband isn't too thrilled with the idea, so I'm starting with putting a cable in my yard. It may only be 6 inches off the ground, but I think it will be great for me and my boys to walk on!

The second one I learned about from my oldest son, who brought home The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.
I was amazed, impressed and in awe of what Philippe Petit had done. It was on
Aug. 7, 1974, when Petit stepped onto a cable rigged between New York’s Twin Towers and proceeded to walk back and forth, literally suspended in midair, only pausing to lie down for a bit of a rest—1,368 feet above the ground. YIKES! (Note: Libby had a safety line, Philippe did not!) It's a great story for kids. Not the part that his walk was illegal, but the accomplishment. So my boys could appreciate his walk, we drew a chalkline, the same distance, in front of our house and tried to walk it without falling off ...not that easy!
Both of these are inspiration that no matter how hard it is to balance everything in our life, we can do it. The wind will blow, the distance will seem endless, but we CAN do it.

Defining Success

SUCCESS is Always a String of Failed Attempts to Get it Right

How do you define success? It's been a rough couple months for me. Well, rough may be too harsh of a word. Let's say a bit stressful and frustrating. For a few days, here and there, I've had a hard time defining myself as a "success". Whether it was as a mom or a business owner, it just seemed that I wasn't making the grade.

I was defining success in lots of ways - hoping to find ANY way that would make me feel better! What I had forgotten, was the saying that I often use as a mantra when it seems like I'm wallowing in a string of failed attempts and success seems unattainable. It was time I sit back and remember that success rarely comes easily and without some early failure, and certainly without a lot of hard work. I was hoping some things would be successful because I "wanted" them too - right out of the box, no real effort on my part! What was I thinking??

As I accomplish little things, I feel better. Like today, I updated my web site comfycozy.com. It's not where I want it, but I am gearing up for Christmas and it no longer talks about Back to School! I LOVE my Christmas Pillowcases:My reality check and reminder came when helping my 2 young sons with homework. They get frustrated and I hear them saying "I'll never be able to do this" or "I'm always making mistakes". It breaks my heart to hear them be so negative. So, I'm teaching them my mantra. Teaching them that SUCCESS is string of failed attempts to get it right. They'll misspell words and get math problems wrong MORE often then they'll get them correct UNTIL they put in the effort to learn them and soon SUCCESS will be theirs.

My kids have helped me accept that I AM a SUCCESS as a mom and as a business owner...I just have to remember that failure isn't necessarily a bad thing when we learn from it.

I Don't Like Ike, Day 5

Day 5. Still no power. Stores are opening and the gas lines are getting to be less than ridiculous. My husband, Shane ventured out early this morning and found another cooler. I was relieved. It's hard to keep that much food cold when there is no room in the cooler for ice.

The "boys" (our employees) are coming over today to clean the backyard. They need money and it's the only work we can give them right now. We call them boys because we are old enough to be their parents. Boy, does that make me feel old. None of the boys have running water at their houses, so they will all take showers here.

A dear friend came over yesterday to fill up water jugs and take a shower.

I am running out of busy work to do. Today I am going to tackle decluttering my office. It's a big chore and a little difficult to do without power. Not only is it full of work stuff, old trade magazines, etc., I also have a huge section of Girl Scout related stuff that needs to be boxed up and moved to our new meeting location. I'll give it my best WAHM effort.

My neighbor bought a generator yesterday that is big enough to run the wash machine. She said I could wash a load of towels today. Thank goodness. A shower is wonderful but what's the point if you have to dry yourself with a stinky towel?

The other two major chores that need tackling are decluttering my closet and my daughter's closet. Those might wait until tomorrow. My office is a doozy.

Yesterday, my daughter and I ventured out to find ice. I had to visit two PODs. Found it at the second POD. FEMA really is doing a remarkable job with the PODs. Lots of city employees, fire department and police were working the distribution lines. KUDOs to FEMA and the City of Conroe!

Anyway, on our adventure we saw a caravan of 15 work trucks with backhoes and other heavy equipment from Georgia. We also saw a caravan of electric company trucks (bucket trucks) parked on the side of the road just a mile from our house! There are electric trucks from as far away as Canada here working to restore power! It's wonderful! I can't wait!

I can't log onto the internet in the afternoons. It's too much of a power drain on the neighbors generator. So, until tomorrow morning... This is Kandas the SuperWAHM, reporting in from Hurricane Ike Central. :)

I Don't Like Ike, Part 2

Well, this is day 4 after Ike. I thought it might be fun to learn what a WAHM does after a hurricane. Currently, we have water and gas but no electricity. Phone and DSL work. I am running my PC off the next door neighbor's generator. But, I only have a few minutes more before I need to shut down.

Yesterday (Day 3) went like this:

Woke Up. Ate defrosted frozen pastries.

Threw some undergarments in the bathtub with some liquid detergent. Stomped around in the tub for a few minutes. Rinsed out the garments. Rigged up a clothes line using my husband's weight set on the backporch and hung the garments on hangers to dry.

Hooked up the generator line to the laptop and read some email. Could not respond to messages for some reason. Also posted to our business blog and website that we'd be without power for up to 4 weeks.

Washed the pots from last nights grilled spaghetti dinner. Yes, we made spaghetti on the gas grill.

Made cheese sandwiches for lunch.

Cleaned out the fridge and freezer. Threw out over $100 worth of food. Fridge sparkles.

Garbage truck picked up. Thank goodness.

Mailman delivered someone else's mail to us.

Entertained 6 neighborhood kids with sidewalk chalk and a parachute.

Filed a couple months worth of vendor bills and correspondence.

Raked the front yard.

Swept the living room rug and floors.

Cleaned out some of the garage.

Went to neighbors house for hamburgers.

Slept like a log. Exhausted.

Day 4 agenda:

Email and Blog Posts
More in the garage.
File Customer Correspondence and Invoices
Clean out the pantry
Watch neighbor's kids
Drive to POD to pick up MRE's (look that one up on the internet)
Grill chicken for dinner with the neighbors

No school all week. So entertaining the kids is high on the priority list.

Hopefully, I can post more tomorrow!

Me & Angie - best buds

This quote came to me through my Google Alert for "wahm." I just had to share it...make sure you don't have a mouthful of, well, anything. Ready?

"Angelina Jolie really has a lot in common with the average WAHM, which means Work at Home Mom. They both have to figure out how to manage their time, household, and families while looking pretty."

You have GOT to be kidding me. A multi million dollar actress has something in common with me? There ain't no way our lives are even remotely similar. Sorry, I don't buy that. There is no way she works as hard as I do and makes as little money.

And since when does she work at home? I don't think a movie set in some far-off place constitutes home.

And the last part of this quote, "while looking pretty." Uh...apparently the author here has not worked at home long. Or has a whole different idea of it. While I get up and shower every morning, brush my teeth and fix my hair, I sure don't go out of my way to look pretty while working at home. Really, for who? The dogs?

Anyway, this just amused the heck out of me, so I posted it. What do the rest of you wahm's think about it?

Here's the whole Google Alert......I'll give credit where credit is due.

Angelina Jolie is the Perfect WAHM, now what does that mean? Angelina Jolie really has a lot in common with the average WAHM, which means Work at Home Mom. They both have to figure out how to manage their time, household, and families while looking pretty. Debbie Cluff went from a simple SAHM (stay at home mom) to a WAHM and has ideas on how to market the at home phenonmenon. Go to powerstrategies.tv for the entire article. Links for Learning: Online Coaching - http://linksforlearning.wordpress.com

Sarah Palin - WAHM or not?

So, I've been thinking of whether or not I should write a post about something "political". I decided this wasn't so much political as it was professional. Regardless of what you think about Sarah Palin's politics, you have to admit that she's a successful woman, wife and mother. All I could think of last week when she was on tv, was "how does she get thru a day - how does she do it?".

I wasn't so much caught up in the immediate attention of her being a WOMAN that was selected to possibly be the Vice President of the United States, but the fact that she was a MOTHER who could possibly be the Vice President of the United States! Not a mom of grown children, but a mom of 5 kids spread over 18 years and one is a BABY! My respect for her as a politician and professional woman is one thing, but here she is taking on this HUGE opportunity with kids in tow:)

Sarah Palin may have lots of help. Something tells me she isn't doing the laundry at midnight, but we do know she's nursing a baby at 2 am! She probably doesn't dust either, but something tells me, she would if she had another hour in the day. As a Governor, doesn't she "work at home"? Is her office in the Governors residence? I'm sure there is one there. She probably has times when one of her kids will come into her office and not even care that she's the governor, to them she's just "mom" and they want something to eat or $5 LOL. OK, she probably has a secretary that just might ask them to wait - I'm sure they don't have to make an appt.

I write about her because I've been having an exceptionally rough patch as a wahm. I wrote about the guilt /regret thing and it's just not "in me" to whine and pout for more than a few minutes. This summer seemed to be a combination of "life is wonderful, enjoy every minute" and "life is hard, how do I get thru the next minute".

When I saw Sarah Palin on stage, I started getting excited about my life and the possibilities that lie ahead. She obviously has worked hard to get to where she's at, threw a few punches along the way and certainly took some...she most definitely will be taking on alot of folks that would rather not see her succeed past being Governor of Alaska.

I've put things on hold with Comfy Cozy because of how it might effect my kids and husband. I've also used that as an excuse to not take chances. Sarah Palin is an example for us to take those chances. She may not be perfect - who is?

So, my point is that Sarah Palin was and still is a wahm. She was a small business owner and we all know that means you work at home even if you have an office somewhere. The next time someone doesn't see me as a "working woman" or comments that I don't have a "real job", I'm going to let it roll right off my shoulders...we could have a WAHM in the White House.

I'm wondering what you think?

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day to all you wahm's and wahd's out there. One of the hardest things to do if you work at home is to take some time off. Really take some time off. Work is always there and it is easy to say I'm just going to do this little bit.

But sometimes you need the break to recharge and refocus. So, this is our holiday, we labor at home, take the day off, relax and enjoy yourself! (I'm going to try to take my own advice : ) And it will be back to work tomorrow.

Guilt part deux

I was going to comment to Lynn's post, but figured it would be a lengthy one and my thoughts would keep rambling on. I thought I'd write a new post.

I've been having guilt/regret moments lately. I hate it. Everything Lynn said is true for wahms, really everyone, but when you throw in owning your business, it's more than guilt for either a) not spending more time w/ your husband and kids or b) cleaning your house or volunteering for something. There is always c) doing ANYTHING that has to do w/ your business.

Right now I "should" be a) hanging out w/ my hubby before he goes to work
b) cleaning up the kitchen and the dining room
c) processing an order, updating my web site, straightening my desk

Instead, I'm posting a blog! I've always had guilt frustrations about home/work. Lately I'm having regret sneak it's ugly head in. I love my company, love designing pillowcases, enjoy the satisfaction of creating, guiding, running a business. I have the American Dream:) The dreaded "but" comes in when all that guilt seems to back me into a corner. When the being a wahm is too much. Yes, it's all self imposed. My husband thinks I'm doing a great job and doesn't care if there is dust on the furniture. My boys think it's nice that I'm home. I on the other hand, have moments when it's just too much and all I want to do is dig in my garden, bake cookies and read for a month!

The regret that I had never taken this leap of faith and challenged myself to be a business owner, then have kids and try to "do it all". I've never felt this before...at least not this way. I couldn't imagine having continued my job as a sales manager after I got married, let alone after having kids. I LOVE my life and the decisions that have brought me here. Is it horrible to have those moments when I want to get off this merry go round?? Oh, I know I would last a couple days LOL Then my husband would lock me in my office and not let me out til I processed orders, updated my web site and straightened out my desk!! I'd go crazy NOT being a wahm!

Life is tough, I've said I'm trying to get rid of the negatives and focus on all that is good in the world and my own life. Outside influences are really what makes that difficult...but that's a whole different post on politics and society! For now, I'll work out this guilt/regret thing. The good news is that should only take a few days...school starts on Tuesday and both our boys will be gone "all day". I'll have hours and hours of uninterrupted WORK - woohoo!! Look for a post somewhere in the next 2 weeks about how much I miss them and love being with them all summer:)

Now, I'm off to the kitchen, bake some cookies and spend the afternoon w/ family...the business will still be here and Tuesday I'll have to put my roller skates back on to catch up!

Guilt

I run my own business. And it is labor intensive and requires a lot of my time. I not only make and paint my piggy banks, I maintain my website, process my orders, print my business cards and do the packing and shipping.

Some of it is hands on product creation, and some of it is the office/paper work. I am falling behind on the office work. Especially the website maintenance. Why? I know how to do it. It just takes some time.

I am falling behind because I feel guilty sitting here at the computer working. If I am at the computer, I am not painting. Or physically completing something. My priorities are to get the piggy banks painted and shipped. However, if I don't get the website updated, I won't get the new products selling.

But I feel guilty working at the computer in the evening, so either I keep painting, or I don't work in the evening. And during the day I paint, because I feel guilty sitting at the computer. Like I am neglecting the piggy banks. Argh.

What I am trying to say is, it is tough being a wahm. You have to make time for everything. All parts of your business....whether it seems like you are physically accomplishing something or not. And don't forget your family. They're the reason you are working at home in the first place.

Birthdays

On the 17th I turned 44. I love my birthday:) I love being 44! I don't think I'm "old". I've decided that looking at life as a gift is better than as a struggle everyday. Even if some days are a struggle. I don't like the fact that everyone I love is getting older though, mainly my parents and brothers and sisters. Most days I pretend like they are all in their 30's with years and years to go in life. I also know that another year, even another day, isn't guaranteed.

My dad's birthday was on August 2nd. I got him a card with 2 old timers on the front. It said
"When I was young we didn't have a birth DAY, we had a birth HOUR and when times were really hard we were lucky to have a birth MINUTE...and we were happy with that".

I think it's a good philosophy to be happy with every minute. It's VERY hard sometimes, today for me is a struggle since I feel like I'm spinning my wheels and getting nothing done. ARGH! So, in light of that, I'm going out to lunch with my husband since he's on vacation and our kids are off to a friends for a few hours. YEAH - alone with my husband in a restaurant!

Then I'll be back tomorrow to face the trials and tribulations of being a WAHM. Some really good things have happened though, my orders for the Femail Creations catalog have started to come in and I just got a re-order for a custom design client, The Friends of Martins Tavern. All of our custom designs are done under Glowfx designs - you can check out our portfolio here.

off to lunch!

Happy Mommy Moments

This is my nephew. I am posting it because, to quote Lynn, "I can"! This little video is a good enough reason for me to work at home.