Ultimate Blog Party '09~ Howdy

Welcome to my little corner of the web. I love to have fun and a good party is one thing I simply can't pass up. The Ultimate Blog Party is a week long super fun bloggy hoedown that gives bloggers a chance to both get their blog noticed and meet other bloggers. I'm so excited to participate.

A little about me. I've been married to the love of my life for 15 years and I am mother to four great kids (three boys and a princess). I've been homeschooling them for 9 years and have used a good mix of different curricula over the years. The core of our learning has been Unit Study and delight directed, although the older they get, the more need I see for a little more structure. That could be a challenge...or it could be God's very sneaky way of boning me up in an area where I mostly resemble jelly.

I love dark chocolate, hot coffee, my sweet husband, Jesus Christ and really good books...not necessarily in that order. I am a bit of a resource girl and I can burn up the internet looking for the answer to what ever today's dilemma is. I was a better mom before I got a computer though as I am totally addicted to blogging, shopping, reading recipes, gathering information and often aimless surfing...usually a search gone wrong, probably started with good intentions. I am terribly disorganized and struggle with time and money management. Good thing is, I know that those are my weak spots, so I am not disappointed when I miss the mark. I am always trying to improve...if READING books on organization made you organized, I would have a Better Homes and Gardens model home!

I am generally positive and very outgoing. I like to have fun and laugh (and when I do, you'll hear it!). I like to play games, board games are the best. If there was a way to teach my kids using only board games, we'd be soooo there.... haven't found that yet, but there's still time.

I believed for a long time I was born for the stage (as in acting) but then I gave a talk/presentation on something I was already passionate and knowledgeable about and it was *AWESOME*. There were no lines to memorize, no blocking to think through, the words and thought were all mine and the feedback was tremendously positive and encouraging. So now, I want to grow up to be a public speaker, probably to moms...definitely women. I adore being in front of a group...it's even better if I have something relevant to share. I have enjoyed sharing encouragement for homeschool moms with regard to Casting a Homeschooling Vision and also on Personality Styles. I hope to expand my speaking repertoire to include more subjects as I get more gigs. If you are looking for a fun presenter who is passionate about encouraging moms, I might be it...

I'm so glad you popped in. I really love meeting new people. If you'll leave me comment, I be sure to pop over to your blog and say hello back. Because we both know, we are in this for the comments. Comments=blogger crack.

There may still be hope for the technologically challenged...

Musings of a Housewife is hosting a bloggy carnival this week that I just had to join. What I've learned this week. Because I have something of value to share with you all.

I am hopelessy technologically inept. In addition, I am somewhat resistant to change. So although I heard about the FLOCK browser, I was already happy with my personalized Firefox browser. Remember, the technology learning curve is, for me, pretty steep. So learning about Firefox additions and extensions and finding and adding what I liked, bookmarking my special hangouts on the web and setting up my iGoogle page took a LOT of work. When somethings not broke, why fix it?

My husband installed the FLOCK browser on his computer and urged me to look at it. "I think you'll like it." He knows me so well. But I was resistant.

At a friends house the other night though, we were having what was supposed to be a scrapping get-together, but since I don't scrap, I brought my laptop and we had a wireless Facebook signup party instead. It was way fun. I noticed my girlfriend had the FLOCK browser on her computer so I asked her about it. After she showed me some of the features, I decided to download it.

Oh friends, what this browser can do!! All the social networks I am a part of are aggregated right in my people bar. That's right. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg (which I joined, but never really fully used) and more, all accessible, all at the same time. Media streams are integrated as well. Flicker, YouTube, Picasa, Photbucket all searchable from a little button always available on your toolbar. All my feeds, both blogs I MUST read and my favorite RSS news feeds are instantly available in the MY WORLD tab.

Have a look at the social capabilities.

Getting Social with the Flock 1.2 Browser:

Blogging with Blogger can be such a chore in the blogger editor, especially trying o place/embed media. With FLOCK, it is SOOO easy. I LOVE the clipboard and drag and drop feature.

Blogging with the Flock 1.2 Browser:

But wait! There's MORE!! Do I sound like a late night infomercial? A very cool feature to me is that FLOCK is built on the Firefox platform, so all those apps and extensions that I had been using previously that I so didn't want to part with? They can all by used with FLOCK too!!

Are you ready? Wondering if it will work for you? Here's how to get started. Have a look. I have a feeling you will see the potential right away.

Getting Started with the Flock Browser:

Let me know if you decided to give it a try. The more I use it, the better I like it. That's sayin something for the technologically challenged gal that I am. =)

Blogged with the Flock Browser