Halloween and Upcoming Events

To test my bloggy speed, I am going to try to tell you as much as I possibly can in 10 minutes, since I decided to watch Modern Family last night rather than write this post. I know, bad! Oh, well...I have been under the weather for the past three days and believe it or not, I just needed to relax.

Halloween is upon us and a fun weekend is about to begin! We are having our annual pumpkin carving party on Friday. We invite some friends over and the kids go to town with their gourds...have a few snacks and many laughs. When all is said and done, we line up the Jack-o-Lantern masterpieces and light 'em up. It looks awesome! The kids ooh and ahh at the final product. I think this year, we may have a judging contest with prizes.

Pumpkin Parade 2009

Not sure how my son will top his creation from last year.....



Yes, a Puking Pumpkin

But we will see!

I am also going to participate in a weekend long Halloween Contest by the SITS Girls....The prize is a sweet new fancy camera...one that I am drooling over. I love to add pictures to the blog and I have a little Nikon, that takes some sweet shots, but the prize camera, well, if I win, wait til you see *those* shots! Look for my Halloween themed posts on October 30, 31 and November 1. This would be such a cool prize, because what you may not know is....I am a Halloween Baby! That's right! So this could be the best birthday ever! :)

November 1st is also the day that we meet our new Blogger of the Month! I hope you have enjoyed our October Blogger of the Month, David! If you haven't visited yet, please check out his site. I think you will be quick to follow him!

The Chicago Series is about to wind down...we have met The Professor, The Movie Star, Gilligan, Skipper and Mr & Mrs. Howell so far. Next week meet Mary Ann! We will then have a recap party, Chicago style! I have had so much fun writing this...and I am glad you have enjoyed it too.

Since the Chicago series has been so well received, I decided to run a "I am Thankful For......" series in the month of November. Look for Thankful Thursdays, which will be written by guest bloggers sharing their story! Can't wait! Speaking of guest posts....

Nirvana Mamma wrote a guest post to kick off Blog it Forward!! Did you see it? Well, hop on over to www.blogitforwardnow.com to check out her fabulous post! You can find the first task announced at the bottom of that post. Join in! It's a good thing!

Ok. Ten minutes are up! Hope I didn't miss anything!

Have a great day!

I Wish Time was in the Stars

This is my Horoscope for today as shared by Twittascope:


"Thursday, Sep 23rd, 2010 -- You are still on a creative run, but may wonder how long you'll be able to keep it up. You may get an extra boost from the Full Moon today, but other people's demands seem to suck up whatever additional energy you have. Ultimately, managing your time wisely is more important than anything else now; concentrating with great intensity on a task for a little while is more productive than casually meandering through your work without focus."

How did it know? I am tired. I am freaking exhausted.

I have all burners going on full blast and I think it is catching up with me. Not enough time in my day.

I have been up since 3am trying to set up a domain and such for Blog it Forward....getting our next Blogger of the Month set up and responding to a few comments on the guest post I did yesterday. After reading the comments on that post I think I may do a follow up  here.

Now it is 6am and I can't believe that 3 hours have gone *poof*!

Time to pack lunches then hop in the shower to get ready for work.

How do we women do this day in and day out and not collapse?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.....

Changes, they are a-comin'!

In less than a week, a new feature will be arriving here in our neck of the woods and I am so excited! It has been in the making for a while and is now ready! Next Wednesday, Sept. 1st we will announce our very first MGB Blogger of the Month! I am so excited to introduce you, so be sure to check back to see who will be our Blogger of the Month!

The other feature that I have been fervently working on is Blog it Forward! I was not prepared for the immediate response for folks to get invloved! In one week, I have been contacted by over 250 bloggers who want to be a part of this movement! That is so AWESOME, and to be honest, a little overwhelming!

I am trying my best to set up a place where Blog it Forward can have a home. After working my full-time job, carting the kids to and fro to practice, trying to get ready for back to school, I am total toast by the time I sit down at the computer! I know-everyone is busy with their own hectic schedules; I am not the exception, however, the perfectionist in me just wants to make sure that I create a place that gives justice to this idea and folks will be proud to be a part of.

That being said, I will ask you to please continue to leave your contact info either in the comment section of the Blog it Forward post, email or on Blog Frog.

Some have asked when this will be started. I would say, if you have an idea of how you can Blog it Forward, put it in to action! Let me know what you decided to do and we will keep track of your story. I plan to have a rolling out of the "official" Blog it Forward in mid-October.

Thank you for being such a large part in the the changes of Mom Got Blog!

A New Movement: Blog it Forward! Are you in?

Remember the game you used to play as a kid when picking dandelions? You would pick them one at a time, hold the stem firmly in your folded fingers and then place the tip of your thumb just under the flower bud and sing: "Mama had a baby and her head POPped off!" When you came to the word "popped", your thumb would flick the flower head as far as you could.

Morbid song, now that I think about it.This week I have felt like a dandelion! I have so many ideas buzzing around that it is hard to bring them into focus and channel all that energy- if I did, I think my head would pop off!

I have two ideas that are competing with each other to get out there to you. One idea has been dancing around for a while and I finally came to a point where I was ready to give it a go, but then another idea came dashing onto the scene and tapped "Idea" on the shoulder and said "May I cut in?" Even though they arrived to the party separately, they really are two of a kind and I think will complement each other nicely.

My first idea came about in the spring. I wanted to really showcase folks that I like to read and that I thought you would like to read too.  Like most bloggers, I keep a blog roll list on the side bar, but it is starting to get long.  I didn't want anyone to get lost on a list, so I thought highlighting a blog once a month would be a great way for you to get to know other sites out there that maybe you would not have found.

Beginning September 1, I will start a new feature called "MGB, Blogger of the Month"! As the title suggests, the blogger of the month will be highlighted for an entire month sharing a guest post or two and will also have a spot on my sidebar-giving you a chance to get to know them and visit their site. I had a button created just for this occasion and have been in contact with our first honoree! I am so excited!

My second idea came about just the other day while participating in a live blog chat with Darren Rowse, author of ProBlogger. He was hosting a live chat to wrap up his 31DBBB Challenge with the SITS and BlogFrog participants. As Darren was answering questions, we came across one that was asking about promoting your blog and getting people to come and read it. Darren had some great suggestions, but one in particular caught my attention. He said something along the lines of: Promote OTHERS and in turn you will be promoted. I thought: Hmm. Like Karma. What goes around comes around. And then I typed into the chat box what popped into my head: "Blog it Forward!" The buzz was instant and then I thought....I think others would want to do this too.

I posted "A New Movement: Blog it Forward! Are you in?" on Twitter and on the SITS Community page on Blog Frog. The response has been phenomenal!

What is it?  Blog it Forward is like Pay it Forward. Do a kind gesture for someone else, with no expectation of anything in return, and it will help you some day. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. Some day.

For example: Maybe you have advertisers emailing you to review products, or giveaways, or what not and you cannot for whatever reason say yes. When you reply with "no", refer them to another blog who would love the opportunity to say "yes".

Another example might be that a blog has been trying to get followers or comments. Maybe suggest to one or two of your followers to "friend" that blog and become an active participant.

How will you Blog it Forward?

I'm going to start with my Blog of the Month idea and also feature Blog it Forward. 

If you are not on BlogFrog and would like to participate, please leave your information in the comments section or you can email me directly.

Let me know how you have done "Blog it Forward!" and I will share your story. Maybe it will inspire someone else!