A few years ago, I had bought some promotional pens for My Very Own Mail, my personalized letters for kids business.

They were so cute! And they were one of those kinds of pens that everyone likes - you know, like you try to steal off the doctor’s counter. Aw, come on, admit it - you know you do it!! Heehee!

Well, I had thought they were long since gone, I had gotten them several years ago, and I haven’t run across one in quite a while, but, the other day - in the kitchen, I was so excited to see a My Very Own Mail pen.

I was so excited! I sequestered it to the mug on my desk where I keep pens, pencils, scissors, and such — hoping against hope the monsters sweet children don’t find it!

And it really has me thinking about buying some more - it was such a great promotional item!

And handy, too!

Guess who is getting me to the church on time? My bestestest blogging buddies - the best buddies a girl ever had!

See, on Friday - two of my precious aunts passed away - YES! On the same damn day!

It was purely awful! Completely!

And I really wanted to go back to Texas and support my cousins, but, I just didn’t have the funds to do it.

So some of my bestest buddies, who happen to be blogging buddies - all chipped in and donated enough money so that I could buy a plane ticket!!

Can you believe that? Aren’t people sometimes just the freakin’ coolest?!

I love you, guys - you know who you are!

Thank you very much!!!

Is video conferencing right for your business? I know a lot of the time, one or more people is not in town for a necessary meeting - and this is definitely a good solution to that.

And a lot of people commute, or even telecommute, and this is a good way to bring everyone together for those all important meetings.

Businesses can benefit in a number of ways by incorporating video conferencing into their operations.

For those out-of-town workers who no longer have to hop on a plane, they can save on travel expenses.

If one of their staff is a commuter from another town, and doesn’t have to come in town for the meeting, they are essentially raising their productivity, by freeing that person up to do their work, instead of spending a whole lot of time travelling.

Also with video conferencing, businesses can hold desktop training and education programs. I know that I’ve learned a lot about internet marketing from screen cam videos, and to be able to hold a training like that live, would be extremely helpful.

And how happy do you think I was when I found one company that addressed both of those parts of me??

I can tell you, I was so excited! I was introduced to Website Magazine just the other day. I read their online version of their February issue and just loved it, so I ordered a subscription - which just so happens to be free if you live in the States!

While I was reading and thoroughly enjoying their magazine, I noticed a program that, for one, caught my ‘Hippie eye’, but, also - surprised me to see in a magazine about web marketing.

The program is called ReplaceATree.org - and guess what? The foundation is actually run by Website Magazine!

The Replace A Tree Foundation, in association with Sustainable Harvest, will plant one new tree for every subscriber to their magazine! Totally awesome!! The program was just begun this year, and they will begin by planting 120,000 trees retroactively.

And you can even find your tree! How cool is that? I’m gonna check into that and if there is a picture, I will definitely come back here and post a picture of my tree!

I know I’ve said this before, but, I just love being involved with PayPerPost. Not only am I making money, obviously, doing paid posts for them, but, I am getting so much more out of the deal, as well!

I have made a ton of new friends, all of whom are incredibly helpful with all of my online endeavors. I am learning all about blog marketing, monetizing my blogs, page rank, SEO, even some coding stuff! It really rocks - and it’s all because of PayPerPost!

I mean, yes - I’ve been online learning stuff for quite some time now, and yes - there are other paid blogging companies, but, since joining PayPerPost - it’s like my learning just got a giant BOOST! And it is so cool!

I got my first payment from PayPerPost on January 5th - and I saved that email notification! LOL! In all, with PayPerPost, I’ve made $721.53. Totally awesome!

The very best part about all of it is that it is allowing me to remain a stay at home mom. We are really in need of a second income right now and my online endeavors are giving us that. That is one thing that is so very important to me, to be able to be home for my children when they need me.

So I am very grateful to PayPerPost for that!

There’s another meme in town and this time the question is - What are five reasons why you blog?

I was tagged by Teri, from the wonderful blog, Mother Earthbeats - check her out!

1. “Mom! All my friends are doing it!” Ha-ha! Seriously, though - a lot of my online friends have been blogging for years, and this was just one more way for me to connect with them and swap stories, etc…

2. I fancy myself a writer, and without an education, or any formal training, a blog is a good place to get my feet wet and see what spews forth!

3. Bookworm Broadcast was started to support my children’s personalized letters business, My Very Own Mail. It allows me to share cool information with my customers, and allows them to get to know me better.

4. I am loving blogging so much, and there are so many opportunities out there for monetizing your blogs, and for getting paid to blog - that getting paid is one of my big reasons for blogging. It allows me to remain at home for my children, as opposed to be stuck in some office all day.

5. Naturally Lisa was started to hold myself more accountable in my spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health.

So those are some of the reasons that I blog!

I think I’ll tag: Loretta, Donna Leigh, and Sindy

That would be Colleen! She runs some cool blogs, and one of those is GeekySpeaky.com - I get all kinds of good tech and geek information from her there!

I have learned so much from her on blogging, computers, SEO …you name it!

And now she has just launched a great link directory! You can never get your links in enough directories!

It’s located on Geeky Speaky right here: Geeky Speaky ….blog and website directory

You need to get over there today and get signed up!

That will be my mantra where it concerns my children and their online activities.

And I’ll tell you why - because of the web that perpetrators draw children into - and the children don’t even realize that they are being drawn in.

I have told my children repeatedly, if they expect to have internet priviliges, then they should also expect to have Momma all up in their business.

I was watching Oprah yesterday, and she talked about that ‘preparation’ time the perps engage in, and she called it ’seducing’, but she had an expert there from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and he said that the perps actually have their own term for that.

Sick. And I can tell you that I know first hand what that is like. And I can also tell you that I had no clue it was happening.

And that is what is so scary about the internet. The abuse that I endured happened long before the internet. Now we are inviting all these scumbags into our living rooms. And we have to be careful - and watch for all the signs.

One way to do this is with spy software - it can record every single thing that the children do on the computer.

My boys play an online RPG, and it has a chatroom with it, and I constantly walk up and ask them, “Ok, what are they talking about now?” ….because they assure me that the only thing that is ever talked about in there is the game. But I constantly bug them about it.

Some freak could be ‘working’ them and they wouldn’t even know it - because these guys are so friggin’ smooth with the kids, you know? They totally brainwash them.

So spying? Yes, I will be doing that!

No way! Not on your life!

Granny had brought up the topic to me recently that maybe I should go apply to be a school bus driver, as she had read in the paper or heard on the news that they were hiring.

She thought that would be such a good fit for me because I love kids so much. I do love kids. But driving a horde of them around in a big ass bus scares me to death!!!

I get nervous enough when the minivan is packed and they start acting up. Gives me heebie-jeebies just thinking about it!

And after seeing our recent local news, I feel all the more justified in my decision!

A policeman was directing traffic at one of the local high schools and was accidentally run over by one of the buses and died!!!! Oh my God! How utterly and completely awful!

The bus driver apparently had some kind of medical condition that caused him to lose control of the bus. Not sure how he was given the job, with those circumstances, but, that’s a whole ‘nother post…

The point is, this is awful all around. Of course, it’s awful for the policeman’s family who will, I’m sure, miss him dearly, and were not ready to see him go.

And there were kids on the bus! That is so sad for these kids, especially sensitive ones, who could be affected by this for a long time.

And, of course, the poor bus driver, has to live with this the rest of his/her life. Not good.

So - bus driver? No thank you. But, Granny - if you see a preschool teacher spot open up - I’m all there!