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That’s Sydney. She’s the apple of my eye and my constant source of stress. Sydney currently likes to sing Hannah Montana songs and pretend she’s Stephanie from Lazy Town, hence the pink wig. She throws things in like Hubba Bubba that turns your entire mouth blue just for kicks. After years of trying, worrying, waiting, and wondering we finally made our dream of being parents come true in December 2004. Life’s perfect right? One problem. Mommy likes to shop. She likes to tote her child around in expensive Gymboree outfits and mommy has a soft spot for all things called accessories. Unfortunately we forgot to plant our money trees in the backyard and daddy gets a little put out when mommy buys things that she doesn’t need, constantly. Nobody wanted mommy to go to work and leave this precious little thing at home that she fought so hard to adopt. Just imagine if I weren’t here to kiss away the tears or teach her how to count to ten in Japanese? What if she were at daycare all day long and didn’t even know what LazyTown was and couldn’t act like a super hero? We couldn’t have that could we?

Thankfully I found my saving grace with a company doing something I was already doing, blogging. I’ve been at it for a while now and I’m really excited about the new SocialSpark system. Ask me why I’m so excited? Ok, I’ll tell you. This company has real promise to help me boost above and beyond my earnings to date. That means more money in my savings account, more shopping adventures, more cute kiddie clothes, and best of all I’m sitting at home in my jammies while I do it all.

I don’t have to leave my house on cold winter days and bundle up my child to drop off for someone else to get to entertain all day. If she has a sniffle that doesn’t warrant anything but hugs and kisses then I’m here to give it to her. She’s not with a “stranger” passing the germs on. I honestly feel like I’m getting over on someone or bucking the system somehow by doing this. I don’t have to brush my hair or get dressed up every day. I don’t even get to gripe about the high gas prices that I pay to fill my tank to just get back and fourth to work, because work is in my living room.

You’re all wondering how much money I’ve made aren’t you? I’ll tell you this much. I started out saying that I needed extra cash for this and that and tinkered with this system. Then I wanted to see if I could earn enough money being a mommy blogger to adopt another child eventually. I planned on saving and working on this for a while. When I got my tax information this year I was shocked to see that I made it. I made enough money to adopt all by myself in one year.

I could tell you 100 more reasons why it’s the best job in the world. You just need to check out SocialSpark for yourself and earn some money of your own to know how great it feels. Wake up every morning feeling like a rockstar, sometimes I pretend I am one singing while I type in my robe, ponytail in my hair. You can join the SocialSpark mailing list and get updates on when it goes public and you are able to sign up and start earning that money. The sign up is simple and takes just a few minutes. As long as you have a blog over 90 days old you’re probably good to go. Don’t worry about not knowing how to do this. I was overwhelmed as well at the start. We’re mommies, we can do anything. The fact that the Izea boards are a place to network and ask any question that has been asked by 40 others and not get laughed at is a big plus!

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Pregnant man is not actually a man at all. Oh, he’s pregnant, but he’s a she. He had his breasts cut off and took some testosterone and decided to keep his female reproductive organs so he/she could have a child some day. The man said that an ex asked him why not just be a lesbian? I can probably tell you…because he would have as much attention? I mean come on now, if you want to live as a man then be a man. Men do not give birth, men should not want to be pregnant and give birth. I think this is one confused person that needs to stop having surgeries and start having counseling. I also find it odd that they went on Oprah and to People magazine. Dude, keep it hush  hush if you don’t want attention.

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My husband makes fun of me because I keep flip flopping on the country of choice for my adoption. I keep saying it’s not like I’m set on anything, I’ve got three I’m flexible towards. The sad thing is that the reason I keep “flip flopping” in his eyes is that things keep changing. Mainly, money. It’s important for most adopters to save as much money as they can in this process.

With so many things that are unknown in the adoption process it’s nice to know that the travel process is in my hands. I like to take the time every couple of months to surf around sites like HotelReservations.com and see what is going on with travel related issues. I’m constantly looking for hotel discounts and deals that would save me money while in one of those countries.

Being a person who likes to be more than prepared I searched for hotels and motels to see what I would be dealing with. I can tell you right now without naming country names that after seeing the accommodations in that country I’m even less thrilled with it than I was before. I was already leaning toward another country, but viewing the amenities available to me was a wake up call I really needed to have.

I searched hotels in Hong Kong, not really to see what was available, but to look at pricing. I was pretty confident that Hong Kong had great quality hotels already, but HotelReservations.com let me check them out according to price and the amount of stars they were awarded. Then, I was able to view all the amenities, a virtual tour of the premises, and a map of the surrounding area which gives me a good idea of what was around me. For me price, and the surroundings are going to be the deciding factors. I won’t be renting a car so getting the most out of my hotel is key to saving money.

Because I’m trying not to be all work and no play I also started to look at some possible destinations for a family vacation. I’m really interested in resorts that have packages, so I searched them from the site as well. Now, getting a good deal on a resort vacation from this site would really please me seeing as I’m trying to play and not break the bank. I was shocked to see destinations that I thought would be “out of reach” for my family at decent prices. If you are planning a business trip, adoption trip, vacation, or making last minute travel plans and you need to save money this site should be your first stop.

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Since we decided to adopt I have been very active in fund raising not only for myself, but other families as well. I even went so far as to start a group that focused solely on fund raisers and how to make them work for future families so the kinks would be worked out already. Unfortunately, there are always some things that we can’t work out. I’ve searched for answers and solutions to make these kinks a little less off putting for everyone and I just can’t find a way.

That’s why I’m really excited about using Shoutback for fund raising. My adoption community will benefit greatly from this system once we figure out the best ways to use it and all the benefits it offers us. A major plus that I see already is the ability to have Sponsors. First, you’ll start a community and then people from all over are able to sponsor your group. As we’ve learned in the past there is no better way to generate more business then good old fashioned word of mouth from your supporters.

Starting a group is free and easy. It’s also fully customizable with photos so people looking at your group pages will get a nice little peek into your cause and members that “cold call” selling doesn’t offer you. It’s easy search for groups under categories, or search auctions the same way. That’s another aspect that I think is going to benefit us greatly. The ability to do auctions as a group and generate money is something we honestly could never come up with before.

Now, we’ll be able to fulfill our dream of raising money for an adopting family and giving it to them as a gift in a lump sum once a year. Before I found Shoutback we couldn’t find a way to make this happen. I’m going to utilize this site for my group and myself in hopes of making adoptions happen! Shoutback would be an excellent tool for local school groups or churches to start using. It could help fund school trips and mission trips in a much more broad area then just a few families can reach out to locally.

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I was reading about the hosting program for the children at the orphanage. They have a limited amount of travel insurance, but they suggest you might want to purchase more. I think it’s a pretty good idea to purchase extra insurance just in case something happens. Just like I’ll purchase insurance for all of us when we finally travel to a foreign country. You can’t be too safe with something that is so simple to do.

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Wow, so moms who either who work at home contribute nothing to society. I really feel sorry for those of you who don’t do anything but MOM with your days, because you must be lower than I am. What am I talking about? The idiotic rantings of Crys.

Aren’t you missing your opportunity to be neutral and tell him that like yourself I’m a mother and I contribute to society in so many ways?

I’m sorry Ranee, but I have to say it. Call me a TGO ass kissing fence rider if you want… but blogging for money doesn’t contribute anything to society. Its just another waste of space on the internet. And being a mother doesn’t mean you are contributing to society. Remember Shelly from what ever the hell that site was? She was a mother and she didn’t contribute anything to society.

Am I neutral, maybe not as much as I should be. Because Yes, I do think TGO is a dickwad and should keep some of his opinions to himself. But he’s right, if you dont want someone picking on you for stuff you write or pictures you post, THEN DON’T DO IT!

So when I said that about being a mom I was trying to relate to her. I wasn’t attempting to say I’m a mom praise me. I don’t think that at all. I also barely really do blogging for money either so you can get off that kick Crys. It’s been said, it’s been hashed out with many of us, and it’s a mute point. Don’t jump on that bandwagon now, way after the fact.

I honestly could sit here and tell you the reasons that I don’t think being in the military is a wonderful contribution to society, but you happened to pick that one career that everyone is supposed to respect. Actually everyone contributes to society unless they sit in their basement and type all day long. Or lay in their bed and do nothing. It’s my personal opinion that everyone has a contribution because it takes all types of people to make this world work. From the president to the guy making your McMuffin in the morning. If one of them decided to quit then well, someone would have to take their place because they are needed.

I Crys, have chosen to devote my life to children. You know when my child who I want to stay home with goes back to school I’ll be doing the same. I’ll be going for Social Work to work in the system. Not in a school, or a hospital, or some easy little job somewhere. My goal is to actually go remove children from disgusting situations that would make grown men cry and work with their parents and them to make the best thing happen FOR THE CHILD.

I don’t to put myself into school right now and take the last year of Sydney being home with me and write papers all the time, research, study for tests, etc. So I guess I’m contributing nothing to society. Ok, fine with me. You kinda have to lump a bunch of us into that category don’t you? Jenn, Lindsey, etc. We contribute nothing to anyone. Except our kids need us to thrive and our spouses/significant others love to have us around.

Humm I guess if I’m not churning anything out at a factory, slapping pickles on a burger, or sitting at my desk job in the military then I’m worthless. Somehow in my spare time sitting here doing nothing but paid blogging which you’ve done too and stated that if you could make a living doing it you’d gladly sit home with your kids, I am pretty productive. Oh did I mention that the reason I do paid blogging is to be able to shop constantly? Yeah. My shopping habit is out of control and I like to buy clothes, toys, and educational things for my child. I also manage to send the same items, along with daily care needs like soap, tooth paste, and freaking always maxi pads to a 14 year old orphan who from the sounds of her letters thinks I contribute a ton to her world, and that’s enough for me.

My “sitting on my ass and posting for cash” has allowed me to be able to start doing the same thing for a little boy that lives at her orphanage as well. It will also let us sponsor a child to come to our home this summer, and next Christmas, and maybe adopt her. I’m sure if you ask that little girl she’ll tell you that I contribute NOTHING to society.

Can we not forget about the group I started and continue to run for families who are adopting and having a hard time raising the money? How about the cookbook that I wrote, published (with recipes from people in my group), put together, distributed, and sold successfully. Do you know how many people have emailed and sent me photos of the child they brought home with proceeds from that cookbook?

Whilst I’ve done all this I’ve fought like hell for the justice of my child which is a full time job in itself, actually was. That was over a year ago. So excuse me for not running out and finding the first really mundane desk job I could or burger flipping job that would have me. I didn’t really need the money to survive so I didn’t even think of leaving this child to do that. IHOP is hiring, I considered going there to flip pancakes, but why? Just because your version of contributing to society is different than mine?

I’ve uh had a pretty fulfilling life so I’m sorry you don’t feel the same way about me. Sure, I could have left this at a simple, Ok Crys whatever you say. Then, you’d have not had to read the whole damn thing would you? Pleas though, tell me this. What would you like me to do to contribute to society? Would you like me to find some random person who is talking about a girl named Ranee and say she’s stalking me? Would you like me to go back to finding everything I can about Jenn and picking her apart telling her how worthless she is? Or perhaps it’s as simple as me letting Michael have the run of my website again?

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I was gonna put up a Christmas layout. I made it, it was semi cute. Even the husband thought so and I thought why not? Then the backgrounds just didn’t look quite right. The truth is that I just chucked it and said forget it. Why? I’m just not into graphic heavy layouts right now. Sure, this one is fine with me, but it’s as graphical as I want to get. I’m in need of something very plain. Read More

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So I gave in and put up a pre-made layout on my other site. It’s ok though because it’s a Teresa pre-made and she pretty is the bestest! I’ve got other projects I’m working on so to be able to sit and make an original layout for the other couple of sites that I sometimes neglect is not in my schedule. It’s just not possible. I’ve sat here and tried all weekend, I can’t do it. I can’t find the time, energy, or creativity.

I mentioned that I was going to start an adoption and pregnancy blog. That means I’ll be stripping IzzysBoutique of most of it’s links, etc. I’m taking anything personal or adoption related off of there. When you have delusional people who think they contacted your adoption agency you tend to want to retract back into your hole.

So I’ve gotten this far…

I slapped up the layout. I added some links to some of my friends, etc. to the site and stripped it of all others. If you want a link on there (it’s a pr2) for link building purposes just leave me a comment and I’ll add you ASAP. You can link me back, or not. Whatever you want. It needs content so why not help people build up linkage in the process? You don’t have to be any category or topic specific to qualify, just say the word.

Ok I need to pick the kiddo up from school and then get back to work on it all! Oh and if you have multiple sites you want linked that’s fine as well.

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I don’t think you all get it. I’m going to speak for myself and not Jenn or anyone else, although she’s being addressed in my comments. What I’m doing right now is just that, what I’m doing right now. I’m not really sure why anyone thinks it is wrong though? It’s up to me if I want to sit on my butt and gain 600lbs. It’s up to me if I want to become a brain surgeon, it’s UP TO ME.

The reason I got into the paid posting thing was because everyone was doing it and talking about it. Everyone had great things to say about it. I set out wondering if I could fund an adoption with the money I made. See the fact of the matter is that I might be comfortable, I might be more than comfortable, it wasn’t a question of that. What it was a question of is living under my means to save and scrounge and worry about saving up to $30,000 for an adoption.

What I choose to do is my business. As long as I’m paying my taxes and claiming them I’m ok with the legal system and the rest of you could really piss off. My family has always been the most important thing to me. Right now I don’t feel like it’s a great idea to leave my child when she’s going to be in school next August. It’s senseless. If I want to work, I’ll do it then.

I worked hard to get this child. I cried my eyes out for months on end, I puked, had my face swell up from stress, and almost lost my mind ALL TO SAVE THIS CHILD’S LIFE. I’ll be damned if I’m going to leave her because “society” thinks I need to have a certain job. Will I keep doing what I’m doing to dress her in over priced clothing and give her the things she wants within reason? Hell yes.

Everyone has said that I think I’m better than everyone else this week. I told my husband this tonight and he laughed. I guess I think I’m better than everyone else. If I want to plop down $150.00 on an outfit to wear at Thanksgiving so my kid looks posh in Gymbo or $$ on pictures for Christmas so I can have the memories I will. If I’m not stealing anything from anyone or denying anyone anything they need to live then I don’t see anything wrong with it. If I want to blog for money to do these things that’s my choice.

I’ve said this 100 times over, I fully intend on going to school next year when Sydney starts school. I just wonder something. What will all of you who hate me for no reason have to slam me about when I’m a full time student who does the posting thing? What will you do when I’m a full time social worker dedicating my time and energy to saving the lives of kids and I’m doing the posting thing?

Because you know what? I’d be stupid to not do it if I have the time. If I’m not taking time away from anyone that I love, then I’d be stupid to sit here and surf the net instead of sit here and blog for cash. You all want to act like I think I’m so much better than everyone else, how about jumping off your high horses then judging me.

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I want to start an adoption and pregnancy blog. Sort of to follow my journey to either one, which country to choose, infertility, etc. The problem is that I have no clue what to name it. I’m trying and trying to think of something clever, but I can’t. Since we’re not country specific I can’t do anything kitschy. I’m not really into using my name like raneeadoption.com because it could very well turn out to be a fostering or pregnancy situation and then that would be stupid.

I know what you are thinking. I already have a site dedicated to family and adoption. Well yeah I do. However, I look for that site to mysteriously disappear any day without any warning or reasoning. Although I’m fully paid up for a few more months until the name is supposed to expire. When it expires, since I can’t get my enom information I’ll just be letting it go. However, I DO NOT WANT IT TO GO DOWN UNTIL THE DOMAIN NAME EXPIRES OR UNTIL I’M CURRENTLY PAID UP TO.

I’m not giving anyone the go ahead in deleting my site.  I guess if that happened and I had no valid reasons I would have reason for a law suit huh? Dunno. Anyway suggestions please.

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