Okay fellow bloggers, April from Rock Star Blog Designs has a sepcial offer for all of you–she is offering a 10% discount on her services when you mention that you found her site through Becausemomsaidso!  If you are considering re-designing or sprucing up your site, April comes highly recommended by me.  DON’T have a blog but WANT ONE?  Click on the MOM WEBS button on the right side panel to get one started (EASY!) and then contact April!  She took  my ideas and pictures and put them all together to create my header, background, and button.  She is fast, reliable, and a TRUE ROCK STAR BLOG DESIGNER!  Contact her today (click on her button on my side panel) and let her know that becausemomsaidso sent you for a 10% discount!

I received this in a forwarded email from Jenn Gayron (THANKS JENN) and just new that I had to post it here.  I am sure the wonderful nurse who started it would not mind at all if I posted it here.  Please take a moment to read this and then another minute to make a difference!  Fellow Bloggers-please blog it!  God Bless.

Subject: Be my Bra.
From a nurse:
I’ll never forget the look in my patients’ eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies. So there I sat with my patients, giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn’t grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet ‘Thank You’ they muttered. A mastectomy is when a woman’s breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a Mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards.. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let’s give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.
It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. Please take the time and do it! Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times.
If you’re receiving this, it’s because I think you will take the 30 seconds to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same. There’s a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It’s about eliminating the ‘drive-through’ Mastectomy where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.
Lifetime Television has put this bill on their Web page with a petition drive to show support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name, state, and zip code.
 http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php  
This takes about 2 seconds.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON

to your friends and  family, and on

behalf of all women,

 THANKS

Okay, I think I have everything lined up now for our week of giveaways.  I hope you will all join me here –everyday of course, but especially for the week of JUNE 14th which is when I will be hosting my blogwarming party.  I will kick off the giveaways at some point on Sunday.  Remember, those of you who subscribe get extra entries and fans on my facebook fan page also get extra entries so sign up for an email subscription and click on the link for the Facebook Fan page on the right side of the site.  I can’t wait to introduce you to all of the wonderful businesses I have lined up and let you know what we will be giving away—lots of good stuff, I promise! 

Things are coming along nicely here, wouldn’t you say?  The new header and background are in place thanks again to April of Rock Star Blog Designs, I have added some buttons of just some of my favorite sites on line, the Work At Home Mom articles are lined up for moms who are looking for resources to help them start up a new business or to further their existing career choices, I have thanked my peeps, I have visited most of the mommy blogger sites of those who paid me the highest compliment by voting me into this wonderful position, I have the mood music set  and NOW….

NOW I AM PLANNING MY VERY OWN BLOG WARMING PARTY!

 I have been contacting some very nice mom-owned businesses and many of them have agreed to join the festivities and are going to be providing some wonderful items for a week of giveaways here on the site.  I have already secured Snuggle Time Embroidery, Ella Bella Hairclippies, A wonderul writer named Jeni Hess who is going to be giving away an adorable children’s book which will feature the winner’s child’s photo on the pages, Kenna and Company will be giving away an adorable tooth fairy pillow (too cute!) and JUMP START WORLD is going to be giving away a three month subscription to a lucky reader as well.  JUMP START WORLD is HUGE in my house….My kids are flipping out about that one.  Actually I am quite thrilled about it myself–to have such a big company interested in sponsoring a giveaway is a wonderful boost to my spirits.   I have a few other mom’s who have expressed an interest as well, and I am just waiting for the green light from them to list their sponsorship (if that isn’t a word-then I just coined it).   If there are any other moms out there who would like to sponsor a giveaway in return for a review of their company please let me know!  I am always looking for new mommy businesses and blogs to review.  You can leave a comment for me here, or email me at lovemyryan02@msn.com.   So things are getting exciting around here.  I will let you know the Dates very soon for this week (maybe more???) of giveaways.  BE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN MY SUBSCRIBE AREA SO THAT YOU CAN RECEIVE THE INVITE DIRECT TO YOUR MAILBOX!  Feedburner will ask you to confirm that you want to be added to my feed, so be sure to confirm the request or you won’t receive the invite.  OH…. and the GREAT thing about subscribing to my site is:  Not only are you notified of when I add new content, but you also receive an extra entry into EVERY GIVEAWAY I will be running!

Blessings Always,

Cheryl

Isn’t she lovely?   April has exceeded my expectations with her design!  I love my new header and background–absolutely love it!  I sent April some pictures that I wanted to use and she pieced them together with this elegant ribbon and pink parchment paper header and background and WOW… JUST WOW!  I asked for old fashioned and I got it.  Hope you all like it too. 

For those of who were/are considering redesigning your blog or website—–APRIL of Rockstar Blog Designs is the girl for you!  She was so patient and worked with me to make everything EXACTLY the way I wanted it.  She changed designs, she changed fonts and colors and didn’t complain that I was being a pain in the butt once!  LOL   Actually she didn’t need to change much at all –it was practically perfect the first time she sent it.  The only thing I wanted changed was the color and font style of the title.  I am over the moon for this design and it is PERFECT. 

If you want April to create your new facelift just click on her button at the side of my blog!  She is awesome!

Thank you so very much April. 

Blessings,

Cheryl

I just heard from April at Rock Star Blog Designs!  She sent me two headers and backgrounds to check out and says she is working on one more.  I will have three to choose from.  I like the two she already sent but I’m looking forward to the third as well.  The first one is Scrap-bookish, the second is flowery and I know nothing about the third.  I am hoping it is old fashioned though.  I am also planning my Blog Warming Party.  I have a few mom-based businesses that I will be reviewing and they will be giving away their creations to my readers.  NICE STUFF too.  I am so excited!  I can’t wait to get everything going.  Have a blessed day.  Cheryl

WIN a Personalized Children’s CD valued at $29.99 from funforkids and Evelyn’s Creations

   Fun for kids over at Today.com is having a great contest this week.    HOORAY for  GIVEAWAYS!  Evelyn’s Creations wants one of the funforkids.today.com readers to win one of her personalized children’s CDs!  The lucky winner will get to choose one CD from this list of 6 possible themes: Sesame Street, The Wiggles, Veggie Tales, Sing Along with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, Barney, or Disney Princesses!   The Mickey CD has lots of familiar songs like: The Mickey Mouse March, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, If You’re Happy and You Know it, Do Your Ears Hang Low, This Old Man and many more.  What makes this sing along CD different is it is personalized with your child’s name.  Mickey Mouse, Minnie, and Goofy all talk to your child and even incorporate his or her name into each song.  Every CD can be personalized with your child’s name.  Imagine having the Disney Princesses talking with your own little princess.  Your kids will have a blast singing and dancing along with The Wiggles, Barney, Veggie Tales and the all time favorites on Sesame Street.   Entering is FREE and EASY.  Click on this link and read all about it!  http://funforkids.today.com/2009/05/09/win-a-personalized-childrens-cd-valued-at-2999-from-funforkids-and-evelyns-creations/

  Your Choice -1 of 6 themes!

Well, here I am making myself feel at home in my new blog.   It’s great isn’t it?  Actually, it is still a little rough around the edges, but April of Rock Star Blog Designs is working on a brand new header and background for me and pretty soon this mommy’s blog is going to be all jazzed up and ready to shine!  I asked her to make it either antiqueish, old fashioned mom-like, or scrapbook-like in pastel colors.  Can’t wait to see what it looks like!

Wow!  It sure is quiet in here…. TOO QUIET!   I hope I receive some company really soon because it’s going to get lonely around here without some other moms to chat with.   I think I need to throw myself a housewarming and invite all my family members, friends, voters, and you of course!  That’s it–What a fabulous idea; I am going to throw myself a BLOG WARMING PARTY!   What do you think?  Will you join me?  Of course I will have to wait until April puts the finishing touches on the site…but it won’t be long till I can invite you all in to help me celebrate!   Stay tuned for the details which will be coming soon  =)

In the meantime, I absoultely must thank EVERYONE who voted for me in the contest.  My family and my friends were right on it when I put out the cry for help—proving once again that I am so blessed with wonderful people all around me.  Thank you to all those from the blogging community who chose me.  I was surprised and honored to see so many people who didn’t know me personally voting for me–what a compliment!  Thanks to the Tweeters, The Twitter Moms, The friends I made on Facebook’s Circle of Moms, and my co bloggers at Today.com and PNN —You all rock!  I can’t thank you enough for making this all possible.

 ** For those of you that don’t know the story, I won this WONDERFUL, Affiliate-packed blog through a contest that was run by Profitablemommyblogging.com.  I waited two long and at times agonizing weeks and watched hudreds of votes get placed (many for me and many more for the other amazing women who were my competitors) before finding out that I was the one who was being blessed by wining this amazing opportunity.    I am so thankful to Carrie Lauth and Kelly McCausey for giving me the opporunity to take over such a well-established and long running blog.  I hope that I prove myself a worthy heir to the riches that are contained within these posts and pages.  Thanks so much to Alice (the original founder of this blog), Carrie who carried the blog foward after Alice, and to countless other mom-bloggers who have furnished this blog for 4 years prior to my taking it over.  I hope that you, the readers, will continue to read the previous posters’ contributions as well as my own.    

     **  To Erin, Jenn, Elizabeth, Nicole, Mary, Judie, Kim, and Stacie—  You all had a wonderful following in the contest and I wish that we could all have won our own blogs.  I hope that you will join me here.  I would love to have you do a guest post at some point.  Please leave a comment if you would be interested!  I’d love to link to your blogs if you have one established. God Bless