Blogger of the Week – MamaNotes

This week’s featured blogger is Samantha from MamaNotes.

Tell me a little about yourself and your blog.

My name is Samantha. I’m a 24 year old wife and SAHM (currently) to my son Lucas who is 10 months old. My blog is a fun place for parenting talk and resources, and also where I share my days in motherhood!

Your blog is a nice mix of personal anecdotes, inspirational articles, and product reviews. Any advice to those who are thinking about starting their own blog?

Well, thank you! I try to keep it balanced. If you want to start a blog, do it! Make sure it’s readable and not too cluttered. Be true to yourself and have fun with it!

What’s your favorite product that you’ve reviewed and why?

The ERGO baby carrier, by far. I love that carrier. I use it all the time- I don’t know what I would do without it!

Tell me a little bit about the Body After Baby challenge that you started earlier this year.

Yes, the Body After Baby Challenge was created and started here on Mama Notes in May after my son was born. I have found that working with other moms, especially through the blog world, has been so beneficial to help each other lose weight, get healthier and get our bodies AFTER baby’s back! We are starting a new challenge for the new year, 2010! You can blog about it each week and get support, accountability and encouragement from other blogging mamas. Check out my blog for the details. I’d love to have you join us!

What are some blogs that you like to read?

I read Audrey Caroline, Bring the Rain, Kelly’s Korner, Young House Love, The Pioneer Woman, and many more!

What do you like to do in your free time, when you’re not behind a computer or chasing after your adorable toddler?

Well, it’s a given that I love to write. I also love to read, go on runs and walks, take naps when I can and spend time outdoors with my husband.

Thank you to Samantha for sharing her story with us! Be sure to visit MamaNotes to read her great reviews and anecdotes!

If you have a blog and would like to possibly be featured here, please let us know by filling out the contact form above. We look forward to hearing from you!

Blogger of the Week – Our Seven Qtpies

This week’s featured blogger is Lisa from Our Seven Qtpies.

Tell me a little about yourself and your blog.

My name is Lisa, or Qtpies7, and I am a mom to 7 Qtpies who amuse us to no end. My children range in age from 3 years old to 20 years old, so I get to enjoy all the stages at once. One is in the military, one in college, one in high school, 2 in middle schoool, a kindergartener and a toddler, and I currently homeschool 3 of them.  I enjoy writing and I love the friends I have made through blogging. My blog is also the place I get to share my opinions, of which I have many, by doing product reviews.

While I hold God as the most important thing in my life, my blog is not a religious blog. My blog is about parenting a large family that happens to be Christian, homeschooling and quiverful.

I love the photo in your header. Your kids really are Qtpies! They must keep you so busy – how do you ever find time to blog?

Thanks so much! They get more and more beautiful every year, in my opinion.

I make time to blog. It is where I gain my sanity back. The benefit is that the kids do the things that give me things to blog about when I am not paying attention, so blogging actually helps me get blog material. My favorite time to blog is in the morning before the kids have gotten out of bed.

What do you find to be the hardest thing about blogging? And the most rewarding?

I love to talk, so blogging isn’t hard, it is holding things back that is hard for me. Teenagers don’t want you sharing thier life with the public, something about a violation of their privacy? Many of their friends read my blog, so I have to be very careful with what I say. I know that people would love to hear about it, but I just can’t share some things. I find it very rewarding when people connect with me, or something I say makes them feel like they are not alone or a failure as a parent. You go through things in life for a reason, and if you don’t share them, you lose an opportunity to help someone else.

What are some blogs that you like to read?

I tend to read mom blogs, of course. I always make time for my close friends’ blogs and a few others: sassyfrazz, I’m Losing It Along the Way, Camped Out on Mt. Never-Rest, and a couple of blogs about large families like mine.

What do you like to do in your free time, when you’re not chasing after your kids?

My husband is great and makes sure I get plenty of free time, because if this mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! We have found that having time to be a person outside of marriage and parenting is very important and we make it a priority. I enjoy making cards with rubber stamps and other crafts, like Scrabble tile necklaces. My favorite thing to do without my family is my monthly Ladies Night Out. Several women from my church get together to play board games, eat snacks and laugh ’til the wee hours of the morning. Very, very rejuvenating!

Thank you to Lisa for sharing her story with us! Be sure to visit Our Seven Qtpies to read her great reviews and anecdotes!

If you have a blog and would like to possibly be featured here, please let us know by filling out the contact form above. We look forward to hearing from you!

Blogger of the Week – Toddler Momma

This week’s featured blogger is Corrie from Toddler Momma.

Tell me a little about yourself and your blog.

I married my husband in March of 2006 when he was on leave from Iraq and moved to Alaska in August of that year. His brigade returned home from Iraq four months later than expected so I was in Alaska getting a “home” ready for him to come home to. Not long after he returned we found out we were expecting a baby!

Now, I’m a 25 year old SAHM Monday through Friday and work as a police dispatcher on the weekends. I love being able to stay home with Ethan full time. The two nights a week that I work help me keep my sanity. In the meantime, DH will call me off and on all night at work because Ethan drank Visine (it happened!) or he can’t translate his cries in bed (he wanted MILK!).

I also just started selling Avon to make a little extra money on the side.

Why did you decide to start a blog?

I didn’t have any intention to start at blog at first! One of my friends was doing product reviews and giveaways so I entered a few of her giveaways. From there I started entering giveaway after giveaway. I had so much fun entering giveaways that I decided I wanted to start my own blog with reviews and giveaways for everyone else to enter.

Also, I was an English major in college and withdrew to plan our wedding and then move to Alaska. My blog really helps me get that creative side out. My blog is my “escape” from the stresses around me and I wish I had known about the Mom blogging community sooner!

You’re still fairly new to the blogosphere, but what do you find to be the hardest thing about blogging? And the most rewarding?

As crazy as this sounds, it’s sometimes hard to think about what to write about next. Not that there aren’t thousands of topics out there! It’s just the matter of finding something that I can relate to in one way or another. One of my recent posts is an entry into a contest that TwitterMoms is having. When I saw the topic, “What was the most surprising gift you ever received,” I thought for a few seconds and a light came on! I knew exactly what I was going to write about. You can read that post here.

Also, I sometimes get discouraged when my giveaways have extremely low entries. I get so excited and think “Here we go! This is going to be great!” and then there’s less than 100 entries. In one aspect it’s because I’m new but in another (or maybe I’m just telling myself this) it’s because of the holiday season and Moms don’t have as much time to spend online this time of year.

Having a blog has been so rewarding! I love contacting companies to sponsor reviews and giveaways on my blog and what’s even better is when I email the winners of giveaways and I get their responses! My blog has also been my “escape” from some of the stresses of life. If I need to get away I just start typing and that blocks everything else out.

Do you have a mentor, or anyone that you look to for advice in the blogging community?

Moma Lovebug is the friend who’s giveaway I first entered. She helped me get my blog up and running and helps me with a lot of my blog’s formatting. I need one of those “Blog Layouts/HTML for Dummies” books (is there such a thing) or something! I’m slowly learning more but I still have a lot of questions!

Also, she doesn’t know it, but Resourceful Mommy has been great! I’ve gotten a lot of great advice from her Twitter parties and I’ve also made a lot of contacts by attending her parties.

What do you like to do in your free time, when you’re not behind a computer or chasing after your toddler?

In my “free time”….well, that’s hard (even though it shouldn’t be!) because I’m always on the computer. Every now and then I tell DH that I am going out, just me, and I sneak away to the movies on a date with myself and a big bag of popcorn! I’m also a QVC junkie. I go through spurts where QVC is on all the time and that’s bad, at least for our bank account!

I also like to sew and crochet. You could say that I’m the craft kinda person. Not so much into scrapbooking but I love to make things I can use. Purses, blankets, dishcloths.

Thank you to Corrie for sharing her story with us! Be sure to visit Toddler Momma to read her great reviews and anecdotes!

If you have a blog and would like to possibly be featured here, please let us know by filling out the contact form above. We look forward to hearing from you!

Blogger of the Week: Outnumbered 3 to 1

This week’s featured blogger is Melissa from Outnumbered 3 to 1.

Tell me a little about yourself and your blog.

I’m Melissa and I am a mother, fiance, jewelry designer and blogger. I am caring and loving as well as impatient. I like to keep it real and just be myself. I blog at Outnumbered 3 to 1 about my everyday outnumbered life in a house full of boys. I also love to share reviews and giveaways with my readers as well as a couple of weekly memes.

Love the description of your family on your ‘About’ page. How would your boys describe you?

This is a tough one!

Well first of all, I’m called a “mean mom” many more times than I would like to be, but that’s because moms notice the stuff dads don’t, I suppose. Someone’s got to keep them in line right?! I would like to think they’d describe me as fun since I love to play around and have fun with them. I’m a pretty good cook and I hear that I’m the best cook ever quite often. Unfortunately, when it’s something they don’t like, it’s the opposite and I’m the worst cook!

What’s your favorite product that you’ve reviewed and why?  What would your kids’ picks be?

That’s a hard one, too. I have reviewed some really great stuff in the past 6 months. Off the top of my head, I have to go with the Platinum Collection Cordless Stick Vac from Hoover. We all love it, even the kids. It is so convenient and I haven’t pulled the regular vac out since I got this one! The Flor rug is at the top of the list too for sure. I love it! There are so many more too though. The kids like the toys and movies for sure. They love that I review and they get to try new things. I did ask them what their favorites are though and Lil Man said “I like all” and shrugged his shoulders. Big Bro said the Shred Sled. I think that was all the kids’ {and even some grownups’} favorite all summer!

Do you have a mentor, or anyone that you look to for advice in the blogging community?

I have not had one specific mentor but I have received advice from a number of different people in forum and ning communities as well as some of my readers. I would not still be here blogging today with out the support of my readers and people in the blogging community. Everyone has questions and it’s really nice to know that there are many places you can go to help find those answers.

Any advice to those who strive to become successful product reviewers?

Everyone likes free stuff, but it’s not just about the free stuff. You are helping to promote a company too, so don’t lose sight of that. It’s great to build relationships. It’s very easy to just review a couple of things here and there on occasion, but more than that really is work. Like anything in life, you will get out of reviewing what you put into it. If you want a lot, you’re going to have to give a lot. If reviewing is what you really want to do then go for it. Do not let other people discourage you and do not get discouraged when you hear no. You will hear that word a lot at first, but it’s the ones that say yes that matter. I am always willing to lend a helping hand, so feel free to contact me (@OutnumberedMama on Twitter!) if you have any questions.

Thank you to Melissa for sharing her story with us! Be sure to visit Outnumbered 3 to 1 to read her great reviews and anecdotes!

If you have a blog and would like to possibly be featured here, please let us know by filling out the contact form above. We look forward to hearing from you!

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