mom by choice

One of the things I know for a fact is that most moms want to work online and try different ways to make money online because just a bit more spending cash will make a difference in the family budget. Cmon, you know what I’m talking about. Even the smallest toys cost a lot if your child keeps accumulating stuff like mine does. It’s not to early to talk to him about self-control when it comes to whims and impulsive buying, but you as a parent will have to develop a steel heart to really keep yourself from not giving in to his demands when you’re in a toy store.

So, yeah, blogging is one of the ways to earn online, but only if you’re doing it a bit more shrewdly than most. First thing you need to look for are the places on the web where you can promote your blog, like a web directory list that allows you to promote for free. You can also guest post at another mom blogger’s blog, join forums, find a social niche and exchange ideas, and advertise your blog to your friends on face book and twitter.

Of course, you are going to have to find time to write on your blog. What can you write about? At first, I thought blogging was all about creative writing, but I was wrong. It’s a way to add useful info and opinion online for people to find. With that said, your content must be centered around useful topics that anyone would be glad to read about. Since you know something about a certain subject, there’s always a way to share this to other people, and one of those ways is by building a blog.

When I started working from home, I knew I was going to gain weight. Why? Well, it’s because I understand that I will have to modify my sleeping routine just to be able to work without disturbance. I mean I have to grab sleep during the day whenever I can and work at night. Initially, I didn’t have a diet plan in mind as I was apprehensive about diet pills side effects, but as my habit of working at night became routine, I found several ways to exercise even during the night or early morning.

First, walk around. Even if you only have the distance from your living room or home office to the kitchen, spend some time walking to and fro. No one will really see you pacing because your family is asleep, but if you feel foolish doing this, it helps if you have a book with you or your cel. Just in case someone catching you walking about, you can have props to justify your actions.

But beware, because you’re walking to the kitchen doesn’t mean you have to open the refrigerator to get something to eat. This was my mistake. I stave off sleep by eating munchies at night while I work. It’s not a good idea, I tell you. Just stock up on sleep (power naps during the day), and you won’t feel too sleepy at night.

Second, do crunches at intervals. Dropping on the floor to do crunches every once in a while will keep you marginally trim even when you work at night. Don’t overdo it, though. Your back aches when you sit all night, and because crunches require you to strain your body, you shouldn’t overdo it.

To really handle the stress of night time working, you must assign one whole day for relaxation. And with relaxation, I don’t mean heading to the mall. I mean you should get at least 12 hour sleep during this day to recharge your body.

Have you ever thought of just sleeping on a whim even when you’re not at all tired and even if you have problematic stuff you can’t stop worrying about? It’s not impossible, and you don’t have to pop a sleeping pill to do it.

I’ve often thought of sleep as the “re-boot” our body needs every once in a while. Even when I’m stressed, I found it easy to sleep because I do any of the following…

1. Keep your mind blank

This might be due to my training in meditation, but it works. Just let go of your worries. Picture yourself exhaling your worries and inhaling fresh fragrant air. In your mind, you must actually visualize air coming in and out of you for this to work. Then mentally say “breathe in, breathe out” so you can keep track of the pace of your breathing.

Yeah, I know this is somewhat like the Karate Kid movie in which the hero said “wax in, wac out”. At least, that’s what it reminds me of, but it works for me.

2. Slacken your jaw

When you’re too stressed and you can’t fall asleep, your body tenses up. To release this tension, you need not start relaxing your limbs. Just relax your jaw and everything will follow. We grit our teeth when we’re worried, anxious or excited, and we unconsciously do this when we lie down and try to sleep. Relaxing your jaw will make you realize just how tense you are.

Combine these two methods and falling asleep will come easy. You can try putting both your hands up if you really want to relax. Have you ever seen the way a baby sleeps? He keeps his hand up because he has no worries whatsoever.

Heya, here’s a sensitive post. I say sensitive because it’s so close to home. Oh yeah, I was a pretty messed up teener with an attitude that can only be called… rebellious. Everyone goes through that, I think. And the rebellious nature shows through every now and then, whether by doing things that parents wouldn’t approve of or writing poetry. Yep, I should know. I am one of those who aren’t blind to the fact that teenagers have more clutter inside their skulls than normal and are probably worrying about more profound things than acne.

Anyway, I thought my generation was bad enough. What, with the alternative songs that talked about shouting out to the world and blasting at conventions? I thought the rebellious teener trend in the 90s was the main thing that we left behind (I mean after we, the generation X-ers, crossed over to the other side of adulthood… a.k.a family and conventions).

But, noooo….

The attitude of lashing back to the world and societal norms became a warped concept that led to the trend that we now see around us among teens.

The generation now call it emo, which by the way has the same elements as the stuff we had back then (goth make up, metal, alternative music, vampires etc…) BUT without the same attitude of wanting to shout out to the world that we are “unique” and “individual” and “brave”. Now, the kids have adopted a culture of self-pitying behavior.

Where did the “Craving-for-My-Independence-and-Wanting-Self-Reliance” attitude go? In the past, it’s about shoving a fist towards conventions and the world in general. Now, it’s all about taking all the negative energy in and wallowing in it.

Hopefully this emo thing doesn’t last and when my son’s on his rebellious phase, they’d be talking about wanting to break free from parental clutches and being their own person once again… which is WAAAYYY better than sulking and feeling bitter about not being able to break free.

Before my pregnancy, I was vaguely aware of the many holistic treatments for the skin. In fact, I may have been using some “natural” methods inadvertently because of an endorsement from a relative, and this or that celebrity. What are these methods, you ask? Usually it’s a few drops of citrus in my bath water, mashed cucumber on my face and avocado scrub for my feet. Plant bark on my hair used to work, but then I didn’t like the smell so I used regular shampoo.

Simple touches do lead to better results. A dab of mashed kinchay usually prevents my skin from scarring. Most of what I know have been handed down to me through word of mouth by olden folks who I deem knows best when it comes to natural products. For natural treatment of eczema however, it’s still best to consult with a dermatologist, just to keep you from using a concoction that might cause more harm than good.

For kids, however, natural skin care is mostly about prevention than cure. How?

First, don’t let your son or daughter use hair gel – I know that most kids now want to fix their hair like mom and dad, but the thing is, the scalp’s skin will get damaged. Pretty soon, the synthetic chemicals in hair gel and hair spray will cause dryness in the forehead and ear area, the spots that are difficult to treat properly because they’re always exposed to hair.

I remember back in the 80s, hair spray was all the rage and even grade schoolers wore their hair a certain way (like Madonna) using hair spray. That was the time for new wave music, thick make-up and zits. For the longest time, I thought the zits were all because of the make up, but little did I know that the hair spray had a lot to do with skin break outs.