momready publishing

Make A Difference - Katrina One Year Later

When I last posted (yes it's been a while, but this time I actually have a good reason) I was at the BlogHer conference in San Jose.  It was a great conference but for me the best thing that came out of it is that I met Cooper Munroe and Emily McKahhn.

Cooper and Emily are the founders of The Been There Clearinghouse, an award-winning blog dedicated to connecting in-kind donors directly to people who lost everything to Katrina. Two days after the levees broke in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina,  they appealed to the readers of their mom blog to come to the aid of people of the Gulf Coast. Since then, Clearinghouse has functioned as a community cork board, allowing thousands of people to donate goods and services directly, person-to-person, to people who lost everything to Katrina and have since relocated to every state in the country.

Quite an accomplishment! 

My chance meeting with these amazing women came at just the right moment.  Here at momready we had been talking about wanting to use our growing visibility to help a worthy cause. I felt that although running the business was definitely satisfying I still had the need to give something back to the community.  I immediately spoke to Cooper and Emily and signed on to start Los Angeles chapter of the momready clearinghouse. 

When I returned home from the conference we began to research the number of evacuees living in Los Angeles and was shocked to discover that over 5,000 people displaced by Katrina have found a home in Los Angeles -- a staggering number of victims living in our own backyard.  We immediately began building the website and reaching out to social service agencies.

Which brings me to today's announcement...

momready.com is proud to announce the opening of the momready.com Los Angeles  chapter of the Been There Clearinghouse.  On the site,  Katrina evacuees currently living in L.A. can connect with individual donors locally and around the world in an online public forum. 

By posting their offerings online, readers can reach out to evacuees, who in turn can respond and receive  the items and services offered.  Evacuees can also post their specific needs for donors to respond to.

Today, I am attending the the Katrina L.A. County Area Long Term Recovery Committee's Katrina Anniversary Event at the Salvation Army in downtown Los Angeles.

While there I will be introducing the new Clearinghouse to evacuees and and logging them onto the site to either respond to donations or to log in their specific needs.  It would be wonderful if there were already some posts up with items people have to donate --- Yes, this is where you come in.

If you have any items or services to donate, please post them on the Clearinghouse.  The items can be new or gently used and can include, clothes, toys, school supplies, furniture, appliances... anything  you may have.

With your help, we hope to offer a new resource for hurricane victims and really make a difference in their lives.

Thank you in advance for your participation. I really appreciate it.

CLICK HERE to find out more and log onto the  momready Hurricane Clearinghouse.

Live from the BlogHer Conference

Okay don't laugh.  I know it's more than a little ironic that I, who have not blogged since July 10th, am attending a blogging conference.  As if I actually can consider myself a blogger with once a month posts that all start by apologizing for not blogging.

However... Here I am at the BlogHer Conference, a women bloggers conference in San Jose, California.  Today was all about meeting people and meet them I did.  I've never talked so much in my whole life and believe me I am a talker (okay, no snickering from the peanut gallery!)

I met some really interesting women involved in all sorts of internet related businesses (which I'll write about later in the week), talked to several bloggers about writing for the site, got some great ideas from a Technorati Project Manager, met some bloggers who we may partner with on some great upcoming projects (stay posted), almost talked my way into a meeting Google Corporate offices, and even had a celeb (internet anyway) sighting -- Amanda Condon who just left Rocketboom.com.  (I'm a big fan.)

And of course, got re-energized about blogging. 

Exhausted now. Will write more details tomorrow.

My Summer Job -- Juggler

As you can see my last post was dated the June 19th --- the first official day of summer vacation.  This was also the day I started my new career -- as a juggler.  I juggle work, I juggle playdates, I juggle kids activities around the house, I juggle appointments for all family members --  I juggle everything.

Now you're probably thinking, "You're a mom. Isn't that part of your job description."  True, but this summer there is a new ball added into the mix and it's a big one -- work.

Now it's not as if I didn't make plans for the summer.  My kids are enrolled in camp 3 days a week and I'm trying to put in 3 full days of work instead of 5 part time days so we have time for summer adventures together.  But you know what they say, the best laid plans...

In other words it's not quite working out the way I thought it would.  That one extra ball has thrown my whole act off.  So I've spent the last few weeks looking for a new way to balance and I've found it surprisingly by adding in one more activity.  It's called relaxing.  R-E-L-A-X-I-N-G.  I know some of you may not be familiar with this activity but I highly recommend it. 

I must admit I was forced into this whole relaxing thing by a scheduled family vacation.  The first two days of my vacation I actually had some work that had to be done.  I did this all from my outdoor office under the trees with a handy wi-fi connection that offered me a view of the pond.  Not a bad way to work... but that's what it was work.  Not vacation.

The next day I vowed not to work and after quickly checking my email I headed out for a day at the beach.  And you know what?  I actually relaxed.  Once I re-experienced what a real break felt like, I couldn't get enough of it.  I swam with the kids, I read, I fished, I went on a long bike ride, I sat and did nothing at all. Yes I did check my blackberry, but I didn't plug in my computer the rest of the trip.

I returned home on Saturday catching up on my stack of unread magazines on the long flight cross-country flight and fell blissfully asleep relaxed and ready to take on the world.

Normally on a Sunday I work a bit in the morning before everyone gets up and then sneak a little work in later in the day when everyone is occupied.  But this Sunday I unpacked, did everyone's vacation laundry and in the afternoon, my husband and I snuck out to a movie. Then I came home and cleaned out the mudroom.  I didn't check my work email (shocking!). I didn't check the traffic on the site (unbelievable!).  I didn't even look at the site (earth shattering!).

Today is Monday, back to work and I've rarely been more focused, productive and yes relaxed.  My summer job as juggler is far from over, but what I figured out is that I while I may always be a juggler, I do have a choice regarding which balls I have to juggle, and I can't forget to add in a little time for the me -- the juggler.

So long...

Last week I opened up my email to find an email announcing that Baby Outfitters, an online juvenile products retailer, was going out of business at the end of June.  The wind was momentarily blown out of my sails.  One of us.  Gone for good.

It's not that I was such a big fan of the retailer.  We did link to them from time to time and I had in fact actually ordered items from them myself a couple of times.  But I guess I considered them a part of my "circle."

By this I refer to the sites and blogs I often turned to look at when I was developing momready and later linked to in articles and product lists.  These sites and blogs seem like old friends to me, always there for me to deliver a link during late night writing session.  Always sparking new ideas as I read through their pages.

And often, as I do research for an article, or reach out to companies to review their products, I make a friend along the way.  Moms like me who decided to start their own business.  We chat about our business, the business of the internet or just about our kids.

As I read about the pending demise of Baby Outfitter, I turned my thoughts to the viability of momready.  While we are strong and in no danger of shutting our doors, it is like going to a funeral and then thinking "Okay, I've gotta take good care of myself... get on the treadmill more."

So that is what I did today.  Got momready on the treadmill... looked at the infrastructure and made sure our bones were strong.  But I'm still sad to see an old friend like Baby Outfitter go.  Gotta watch out for my other "friends" and hope the tide doesn't sweep them away as easily.

Old Age

Well apparently old age is creeping up on me.  How do I know?  Well thanks to an article on the front page of the New York Times yesterday I can no longer ignore its inevitability.

As reported by Paul Vitello, there is a new trend in cell phone use -- a ring tone that only kids and those under the tender age of about 28 can hear.  Apparently it is at a high frequency that most people lose an ability to hear after a certain age.  When applied to their cell phones high schoolers are free to text their friends during class without their "old" teachers hearing.

After reading the article I figured, no big deal.  I have been known for my almost freaky hearing ability -- hearing things down long hallways and behind closed doors that others don't even know are being uttered.  I have been counting on this as a super defense mechanism to use against my kids when they arrive at teenage-hood.

Well apparently I better find a better plan, because I can't hear the ring tone.  I was shocked when my husband emailed me the tone yesterday and it played to deaf ears.  I hit that play button over and over and nothing.  Nothing!

I called my husband downstairs who gleefully admitted that he did not have my super sonic hearing but could hear it.  I couldn't believe it!  I made him turn his back and tell me when he heard the tone and I'll be damned if he heard it every time.

Here's the link to the tone.  Play it and let me know if I can count you in as my compatriot in old age.  With my husband's new found aural status I certainly need the company.

http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages/audio/nyregion/20060610_RINGTONE.mp3