What a Friend is to Me

What is a friend?  This is a question parents are asked by their children at some point. I want to share with you what I think a friend is.  If you would have asked me this before I would have said someone you care about that you hang out with and do things with. In theory that is somewhat true but there is so much more to it. A friend is someone you care about who cares about you back just as much.  A friend is someone you share a bond with. A friend is someone who lifts you up when you are down. A friend is someone who even though they might not completely understand what you are going through or why you feel a certain way about something or someone but they try and understand.  They are the ones that you can run to be it in person, on the phone or even through text and they always know what to say or do to try and make you smile.  Sometimes it just goofy pictures of them sticking out their tongue or a funny joke only you two understand, but it helps.   A friend is someone who does not tear you down.  A friend is someone who you can get in to an argument with and know at the end of the day, you will still be friends.  A friend, a true one, is a lifetime commitment.  People mess up, I do it all the time, but I know that my friends will love me for me and understand that I mess up. Just as I understand that they mess up.

I have shared with you guys before that I have had some toxic friends. These people were not good friends. I thought that they were. I always look for the good in people. That is how I was raised. I can’t stop doing it, but I need to be cautious. I am so lucky to have such wonderful true friends now. It really makes me look back and think wow, those so called friends were not friends at all. Thank you to all my true friends. Without you, I am not sure where I would be. I would name you all but, I would probably forget someone so you know who you are.

Hey Baby What's Youre Niche?

Everyone is always talking about niches.  What is your niche? I am not exactly sure if it pronounced nitch or niche which would rhyme with quiche.  Honestly, I don’t really think I have a specific niche. When I fill out certain things one of the question commonly on the questionnaire is what is your niche or what your main focus is.   True I do a lot of reviews and giveaways but, I also talk about food, family life, being a mom, doing crafts and other bits of random things.  I think that I am my own niche. I am just me, I blog about whatever I feel like. It could be what products I like one day and something random like about baby diets.  I don’t consider my blog as a review blog because I have quite a few personal posts. I think a review blog is a blog that has only reviews, giveaways and other PR related posts. I love doing PR related things but I am a lot more than just PR.   I consider my blog a mish mash of everything.

There are a bunch of great niche blogs out there. I just don’t think I am able to write about just one thing and one thing only.  My friend Laura writes a chocolate blog.  I like chocolate but I don’t have her discipline to do that. I think it is awesome if someone has a niche, or is like me that write about whatever comes to mind.  I have never really been  a certain type of person. When I was in school I was friends with whoever I wanted. I wasn’t a preppy person although I have a funny story about Goodwill, I wasn’t an athlete, I hated gym.  I wasn’t a gangsta, I wasn’t a skater. I was just me. I have always had my own style, did my own thing and was friends with different types of people.  I wasn’t anyone but me.  I would dress whatever way I wanted to, be it a band shirt and cords or clothes from Abercrombie.  It just depended on how I felt that day. 

I guess that is something I carried along with me as I got older. I don’t want to be in a specific group and only do one thing. I want the opportunity to do what I feel like and not be stuck being type casted in the blogging world.

Do you have a niche or are you just like me and do a little of this and a little of that?

I Need My Own Office!

I spend a lot of time on my computer, as a blogger and I don’t have a home office desk. I have a laptop so, I blog where ever I end up. I would like to have an office where I can go and work and have all of my stuff in one place. I would love to create my own office with Noah’s artwork on the walls. Noah loves to draw me pictures. I would like to have a brightly colored room with a cd player, so I can listen to music while I work. I would also have to have a TV. I would love to have some really nice office furniture. I used to have a computer desk that was extremely flimsy. It had a top on it that was really loose and would move if I touched it. I didn’t really like it because it wasn’t ideally what I wanted. There wasn’t a lot of space to put things. It did last a long time though. I need a lot of space on a desk where I can organize my things and spread out.

I think that atmosphere is really important too. I would definitely have a few candles in there that I can light to relax while I am working. I would love to have a huge desk chair; it must spin and roll around. My aunt and uncle have a desk in their house and it is on a track. It looks like something out of The Jetsons. You just push off and you go flying. I am pretty sure I hurt myself on it once. I am definitely going to think about creating a little home office for myself soon. I think it would be really cool to get one of those desks for small spaces for Noah, so he could do his projects next to me while I work. He does have a little table that my dad made when I was like his age, complete with a chair with the stickers I stuck on it from when I was little. Those stickers must have been stuck with super glue because they have been there for over 20 years. It is crazy to see my son sitting in my old chair at my old little table, I should be used to it, I mean he eats off the same yellow plates that I ate off when I was his age.

I guess I should start looking at computer desks for home,since my space is limited. so maybe someday, my dream of having my own home office will come true. I have a small half room that I could use. That room has been many things, like my scrapbook room, oddly enough it started out as a den. Now it is kind of a storage/guest room. We have lived in our house for three years and every year, it is made in to a different room. Maybe 2011 will be the year for my office for my blog.

Do you have a home office? What kinds of things do you do to make it more comfortable?

I Got Something to Say

The title of this post is a quote by the character Jerri Blank from Strangers With Candy. I feel like I should share with my readers some things. I wrote a post a while back called When Blogging Relationships Go Bad about my horrible experience with a company I worked with on my blog. You can read the post here if you are not familiar with what I am talking about. The long of the short of it is, I was working with a company that promised me a full sponsorship to BlogHer in exchange for advertising, posts and even a Twitter party that ended up being a nightmare. I turned and looked the other way while she bashed other bloggers and even a NASCAR star. I did think it was wrong but I didn’t stick up for my fellow bloggers. I feel bad because I should have been the voice for the masses;I thought that she was being mean and rude. I regret that.

After a while I tried to let it go and not let it bother me. I have received numerous requests and comments asking me to tell who it is. I have remained silent as a professional courtesy but in light of the increase of new bloggers, I have decided to break my vow of silence and share with you all so you don’t get taken as well. It was Bea’s Gift Baskets. There I said it. Like I said there are quite a few new bloggers out there and I want to warn them, I don’t want anyone to be treated like I was. It still hurts; even more so with everyone starting to talk about BlogHer and BlogHer related events like the parties. It also still hurts that I spent all that time working on the posts and twitter party that wasn’t review related. They got free advertising. I got nothing but disappointment. I am sure you are thinking well you got those gift baskets at least that is something right?

I went to the dollar store, it is kind of new and yes, it still had eau du Dollar store smell. I was browsing around by the food and I saw an item that was supposed to be “gourmet” in one of those gift baskets. I was like wow; those are the exact same chocolate covered pretzels that were in one of my gift baskets. I just thought well they could have sprung for the Flips if they wanted to be cheap. The Flips are like 3 dollars a bag versus the dollar store ones. It makes me wonder how many more dollar store items are in those overpriced gift baskets.

There is nothing wrong with the dollar store, I shop there. I love the dollar store, but if you are paying 90 dollars for something you should at least get 50 dollars worth of food, a 20 dollar basket then the company nets 20 bucks or something along those lines. Maybe 40 dollars worth of food but there shouldn’t be items that you can get at the dollar store. I just think that is unethical and deceitful. That of course is my opinion.

I just wanted to share this with my fellow bloggers and readers. Maybe even the weary traveler passing through my blog. I don’t want to see anyone taken by Bea’s Gift Baskets like I was. So, how can we prevent this from happening?

1. Make sure you get everything in writing. Granted I had everything in email and that would have been fine, but when you are dealing with something like this extra forms like contracts are a good way to go. I know she didn’t mention contracts once until after she pulled out and didn’t want to do what I consider the right thing.

2. Don’t turn the other way or put up with others that talk bad about other people. Chances are they are bad mouthing you to someone else. You should work with companies that conduct their selves in a professional manner.

3. If your gut tells you it is too good to be true, it just might be or if the person gives off a weird clingy vibe you should probably walk away. Always trust your gut and your heart.

4. If a person you are working with is lying to others, 99% of the time they are lying to you.

5. Talk to others about their experiences, I know that everyone can make up their own minds about things they want to do, but listen to what others have to say and keep it in mind for when you make your decision.

I hope you find these tips helpful and keep them in mind in the future. Thanks for reading!

Check Out This Amazing Blogger and Friend

Everybody is always asking me and other bloggers who their blogging idol is or who they look up to the most? Normally I don’t like to single people out because feelings get hurt and egos get bruised. Most people say it is some really well known blogger but for me it is Mommy Niri. I had the pleasure of getting to know Niri from a PBS Sprout Band of Bloggers telephone conference. She is an amazing person and she is so intelligent. She has a really cool accent too. She was full of great ideas and I knew during that phone call that I wanted to get to know her. I immediately started following her on Twitter and I started tweeting back and forth with her. I really enjoy talking to her.



She is such a kind person. She is doing all these things to help others and she is such an inspiration to me. She is such a great blogger and an even better person. She is one of those bloggers that truly want to make a difference like I do. I hope I have the opportunity to meet her someday soon. I can’t say enough good things about Niri. She is the blogger I strive to be like; she has such a big heart like I do. I bet we could do a lot of good in this world together. Everyone should check out Mommy Niri’s blog because she is such an awesome blogger and friend.

It's Time for a Survey!

I would like to get to know you all better and provide you with some great content, product reviews and giveaways. In order to do so, I have a quick 10 question survey for you to take so I can better meet your needs. I also am very thankful for my readers and I would like to reward you for your time and for visiting my blog. If you fill out my survey I will give you your own code to be used for 7 free entries in whatever giveaway you want. They can be used separately or all together. Your code will be attached to your email address so it can be only used by you and all codes are unique. Thanks again for reading my blog.

Click here to take survey

Please make sure you leave your email address in the survey so I can send your bonus entry code

Anonymous comments welcome, blog trolls are not.

I am going to let you all in on something. You probably should already know this as it is common sense in my opinion but, the internet is not as anonymous as you think it is. When you go to a website someone somewhere can figure out who you are. Well, OK not exactly who you are but if it is someone the person knows of they can. It really is not hard to figure it out, especially if you have left a comment or visited before. They also can tell where you came from and where you visit and how long you stay on the site. How often you visit and what you do.

Leaving anonymous comments is perfectly fine but at the same time know that you are potentially only anonymous to others that visit. I am not saying I know who every person is but it is not too hard to figure out who a blog troll is. Part of the reason I get some of the opportunities I do have to do with my stats. I have to keep track of them somehow. Makes sense right?

I got my first nasty comment on my blog Thursday night. It was on my compassion post. I had never received anything negative on my blog. Besides the occasional spam comment which everyone gets. I don’t really get bothered by spam. It is just a couple clicks and your comment about flowers in India or your foreign symbols are gone. I don’t know the difference between Chinese and Japanese symbols so I can’t say for sure what it is. Everyone up to Thursday night has been really supportive and nice on my blog. It really was rude. Of course curiosity got the best of me and I had an idea of who this blog troll was.

So I looked at my comments and the website I use and figured it out within moments. I have great investigative skills comparable to Monk or Sherlock Holmes. My hunch was right and I decided not to allow the comment to go through because it is my blog and my space and I choose not to litter it up with negativity. It wasn’t that the person had a different opinion than I do. It was the simple fact that the comment was an intentional attack. It was someone who had never been to my blog, at least I don’t think they had. It was a personal attack and while I understand and embrace that people think differently, I won’t let people maliciously attack me or my readers or friends. I am not saying you have to agree with everything I say; just if you decide to leave a comment do so respectfully. I want my readers to feel safe on my blog and know that I don’t tolerate trolls and mean spirited comments.

So, thank you to all my readers that are supportive and kind.

Look Ma, I am 6 months old!

Today is my SIXTH MONTH anniversary! Wow I have come so far from when I started. I am looking forward to going further. It both seems so long ago and just yesterday. I poured so much sweat and tears in my posts and work that it seems like a long time ago. It also seems just like yesterday when I had started because time has flown by so fast.

I have already learned so much from blogging and I hope you have learned a thing or two from me. I would like to thank my wonderful friends, the companies that continue to believe in me and of course last but not least my awesome readers. I know some of you have been with me since day one. I am so happy to get to know all of my readers and share my life with you all and I am excited to get to know you all more. Cheers to me and my six month anniversary!

So far I have learned that:

Blogging is hard work but, completely worth it.

Blogging friends are the greatest people to have as friends.

I just literally learned what SEO is after six months of hearing the term and now I can stop thinking of a girl’s last name that I went to school with.

If you write it they will come and read it.

Comments are like hugs you can never have too many uplifting comments.

When sad or bad things happen you will have an out pouring amount of support even from strangers.

Trust your gut when it comes to blogging stuff.

Ms. V is the one of the best public relations reps out there and she is a total sweetheart.

I have a voice and I will use it in all my blogging adventures.

Blogging is a combination of bodily fluids. Tears, sweat, blood and sometimes even pee from laughing so hard.

Thanks for reading my blog. I love you all. I am looking forward to my 50th blogging anniversary and I hope you are all there to celebrate with me!

When blogging relationships go bad..

After recent events, that have to do with my blog, I am starting to wonder if all of my efforts are worth it. I really enjoy blogging and reviewing products and doing giveaways but, I am starting to question these things. I have many wonderful relationships with many pr agents and businesses which I am grateful to have. There is one “business” relationship that I had for three months; I really worked hard on everything I did for them. I put business in parentheses because it seemed like it was much more personal as this person emailed me almost daily. I went above and beyond what a normal product reviewer would do, I spent hours upon hours doing things that weren’t really in the scope of my job. It was almost like I had become an employee of this company. I was promised multiple times that they would fully sponsor me to go to BlogHer 10.

I spent my time writing posts for them that were not product reviews. I posted and posted for them. One I had to go back and edit because they stopped their relationship with a foundation. That meant I had to rewrite part of it, so it would make sense. I tweeted about the business multiple times. I also researched for them. I gave them free advertising for three months. I wanted to make sure they got their money’s worth. BlogHer is not cheap by any means.

I prepared a Twitter party and then held the Twitter party on a very devastating day, the last thing I wanted to do was have fun at a Twitter party. I wanted to be there for the community that I belong to. I wanted to mourn a loss of a fellow blogger. Yet, I sucked it up, I superglued a fake smile on my face, and did my job. Little did the guests of the party know that I was crying between my tweets. I was so upset, it turned to frustration because I had not had the help that I thought that I was going to have. I had to deal with other things between the others that were helping me. I had to deal with the sponsor making rude comments at the guests. I thought that overall it was a success. Anyone who has ever hosted a Twitter party knows how difficult they are to run and how stressful they are.

After all the hard work I put in to the company, and after all the nice things I did, I am left with nothing in return. They informed me out of the blue after emailing me as if nothing was wrong and after they sent me a Christmas present and then bailed on me. There were many questionable actions shown by the owner of the company. Many that made my stomach turn. I should have known but I trusted them. Some of the wrong doings were but not limited to insulting other bloggers, forwarding their pitches to me and making fun of them, lying to others, and just plain rudeness.

I was so excited to be able to go to Blogher 10. I talked about it all the time. I was like a kid at Christmas. I know it’s probably not all I think it is, but I want the experience of going. I want to go and learn and meet up with my friends that I have made in the last six months. I want to be able to have some time where I am around adults for an extended period of time without other people’s kids. Everyone deserves a break.

I want to represent a company or companies and use my voice to promote them. For me it is more than just a trip to New York. It is a way to break out of my shell and bloom in to the blogger I want to be through the training and the possible networking I will gain from this experience. It is not a trip it is an adventure and an experience. Now, I am not sure I can even have that experience because of the hurtful things this company did to me.

I am sure one or two of you are thinking, it’s just business. Well, it is not. It is extremely personal and extremely hurtful. It would have been completely different if it was just someone I did a few product reviews for and they just changed their mind. It was something I invested my time and heart completely and fully in this company and I thought that I was doing a great job. I was completely floored that someone would have the nerve to just do this to me after she knew I worked so hard and did so much. It is just so wrong to this to me or anyone. I have spent a lot of time crying. I have gone back and forth between crying and being angry. I feel like I failed and there was nothing else I could do. I felt helpless, I immediately reached out to my friends and I want to thank them all for their continued support. They mean so much to me.

Please don’t walk over bloggers. They deserve the respect and kindness just as much as anyone else. We work very hard for our blogs and for the PR and companies. Only a blogger would truly understand the time and effort we put in to our work. I am sure that most of the companies appreciate all the work bloggers do. It is like when you work really hard on a bunch of projects and once they are completed they call you in their office and fire you.

I am pretty sure I want to keep blogging. I am trying not to let one bad apple ruin it for me. My only regret from blogging is working with that company. I am still extremely upset about this whole ordeal. I feel like I wasted three months for nothing more than empty promises and many lies. I hope that this post brings caution and awareness to others especially bloggers. I hate having the mentality of not being able to trust the people I work with, and now questioning everything and wondering if the same thing will happen again.

So, here I am again back to square one, for looking for sponsorship to BlogHer 10. If you are interested in possibly sponsoring me, please use my contact form or email me. I will work very hard to promote your company. I will post an informational post in the future. I just wanted to get this all off my chest and perhaps help me work through the complete disappointment and hurt that I am feeling right now. I hope that this post helps someone too.

Happy 100th post to me!

This is my 100th blog post. I have come a long way so far. I know I have a lot to learn still. I would like to thank my readers especially the ones that have been reading since the beginning.I would also like to thank all my blogging friends for their continued support. There are so many of them. It would be hard to name them all. I have a lot of really cool things coming up in the future. I hope you continue to read my blog. I am really looking forward to many years to come.

To celebrate I am going to eat a Christmas tree cake. I thought about making cupcakes with Noah earlier but he wasn't in a good mood. He is better now. We laid in my bed together with pillows and my blanket and watched Dora before bed. I let him stay up and watch it tonight. I have a feeling that is going to become an every day occurrence which is fine with me. It is so fun to snuggle up with my little boy.

Happy 100th blog post to me and Many Many MORE to come!

Spotlight on PR!

Feels Like Home and Adrienne’s House are hosting a wonderful event called Spotlight on PR.


You are now in a PR friendly zone! Fasten your seat belts and ENJOY the ride.
Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Sheila. I am a stay at home mom to a little boy named Noah. He will be three in September. You will find a good variety of things on my blog. It is just my little place to connect with others. I love to write about my son because he is the most adorable little boy. He is very smart and very sweet. I also write about my family and friends. I enjoy sharing my opinions about products with others. I have been known to email companies and tell them when I love their products. I am also not afraid to speak up when I have an issue with something either. As my grandmother always told me Honesty is the best policy. That is a philosophy that I use in everyday life as should everyone. There should be an open line of communication between the consumer and the company. I think that a good relationship between the company and the consumer is the most important asset.

I spend my time with my son, my family and friends. I love to cook; I have been cooking for as long as I can remember. I also love to eat. Traveling is another one of my favorite past times. I am an avid scrapbooker and card maker. One of the ways I like to unwind is by watching a good movie or one of my favorite TV shows.

I always consider myself as unique. I am unique because I have a big heart. I truly care about others. I try and help people any way I can. I am compassionate. I am 100%genuine and real. I am a hard worker and have a vast knowledge in a variety of topics. I love to do research and learn new things. I am a rare gem in today’s society. Sadly, now a days good people are hard to find.

I will hear any pitch with an open mind as long as it doesn’t go against my morals or is illegal. I look forward to hearing from you and forming a great relationship with you.

If you want to contact me please Email me at ilovebabynoah707@yahoo.com

Twitter @sheilacakes7

Thanks for your time.

Twitter

So I finally got Twitter. My Twitter name is Sheilacakes7. Someone already had Sheilacakes so I just added a 7.

Welcome to my blog!

Hello!
Welcome to my wonderous blog! My name is Sheila. I am a stay at home mom to the cutest little boy in the world. My son's name is Noah. I am starting this blog to follow my adventures of my silly little bundle of giggles and kisses. I also am looking for other mom's to connect with. I would love to do reviews and giveaways as well. I love trying out new products and telling people what I think. I am honest about my opinons and feelings about things. I also want to share deals and recipes and crafts and whatever sounds like fun. I want to help spread awareness about CHD as well. I hope you all enjoy my crazy but fun life.
Thanks for reading!