I think that bloggers tend to represent a more aware segment of the population than most.  We are often right on top of technological advances.  We discuss current events both on our own platforms and those of others.  We break news to each other and spread the word on things we feel people need to know about.  And one of the biggest interesting things I have noted is how eager we are to help others.  I tend to circulate in ‘mommyblogger” social circles, but I am happy to have some lifeblogger pals, too.  Regardless of the segment we feel the need to place ourselves in, or the ones others feel they need to compartmentalize us as, I find that when someone, anyone-not just other bloggers, is in need, the community rallies to help.

My family is of limited means. Like most other people out there right now, the money we have doesn’t go as far as it did even a year ago, and as my kids grow, so do their expenses.  As an employee at a non-profit organization, I am not getting a raise this year, as our funding contracts just don’t allow for raises for any employee in our organization.  Honestly, with budget cuts falling all around us, we are lucky to still have our jobs at all.  The point is, it’s hard for us to find corners to cut so we can give.  We do give some time in lieu of money, but the one area we think we can make the most impact on others with as little impact on our own budget as possible is to be more selective about choosing what companies we support with our spending dollars.

That was one of the first things that attracted me to HairZing, my sponsor for BlogHer09.  I am a member of the forums at NaturallyCurly.com and I heard about the HairZing there for the first time.  Everybody seemed to adore these beautiful accessories that did not damage delicate and typically dry curls, so I did what I always do and started looking the company up online.  I was obviously impressed by the vast variety of styles, and also by how many hairstyles you can use them to create, but what took it beyond “Oh, how cool” to “I have to get some!” was the social philosophy of the company.

See, Hairzings are all individually handmade.  There are no mass production factories with laborers barely making enough to eat each day.  That’s not how they roll.  Instead, they reached out to women in depressed economies in China and Kenya who struggle to find jobs where they slave away, often far from their families for much of the year.  Education is rarely even an option for these women, and female entrepreneurs are few and far between.  They gave the women in China the opportunity to become artisans, crafting HairZings for fair wages, often at home where they can be with their families.  They provided the funding as well as marketing and management support for a female-owned and operated beading cooperative in Kenya where the women of the Maasai tribe, which has long been celebrated for its beading skill, can support their families as well as learn the skills necessary to launch whatever small business they can dream of in the future.

By creating a framework for these economically disadvantaged women to become independent and self-sufficient, HairZing has contributed to a global shift toward a more stable world economy, but more important, in my eyes, is the contribution toward women’s rights.  By empowering women in China, where women are still sold into marriages, female infants are many times abandoned or murdered, and 70% of the illiterate are women, strides are being made toward equality.  Giving women in Kenya, where female circumcision is still practiced, a girl as young as 10 can be married off for a dowry in the low hundreds, and there is an illiteracy rate of 80% among the Maasai women, the opportunity to learn how to establish and grow their own businesses is an unbelievable step in the right direction for the future of those women, as well as every woman they meet and the daughters they will raise up with the expectation that they can do more than they ever dreamed of before.

I plan on buying hair accessories anyway.  I have curls I finally love, and I like to dress them up.  I have two daughters, one with thick, heavy hair and one with fine waves.  I love to have fun embellishing their already adorable looks.  So, for me, finding a beautiful product with so many ways to be worn, and that supports the status of women not only here in the US by being founded by women who have been friends for years, but across the globe, was a no-brainer.  That’s why I love them so much, and why I approached them about representing them at BlogHer.  I know that my sister bloggers will love these products, but even more so, I know they will love supporting a company that with socially responsible practices.

Be sure to visit them at www.HairZing.com, right now there is a Buy One Get One Special going on, and if you enter the promo code “Angel” at checkout, you’ll get free shipping, as well.  Find me at Blogher to grab a sample, if you want to check them out first-I know you’ll be as in love with them as I am once you do!

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I guess it’s like a milestone or something, heh.  But you know, while I start with a laugh, I feel really strongly about this one.

The breastfeeding issue is often a hot topic.  Whether it be the breast vs bottle mommies, who sometimes seem almost driven to justify their choice at the expense of the dignity of women who chose differently, or the breastfeeding in public debate, breastfeeding has lots of dissenting opinions swirling around it.

I think everyone has to agree that breastmilk is better for the baby than synthetic milk in most cases.  There are situations where breastfeeding is just not possible, due to health reasons or a low production that does not support the baby’s nutritional needs, or trouble latching on.  My mom is a mom/baby nurse and was a lactation specialist for many years, so I know all about the obstacles many, many moms who *want* to nurse face. And then there are moms who don’t want to nurse their babies.  I don’t think it’s my business which method a mother chooses.  I work with moms on a daily basis who choose to bottle feed and I don’t think any less of them as a mother or anything silly like that.  But I do wonder how much the public “ick” reaction to breastfeeding that has become mainstream has influenced their decision.

Personally, I nursed all three of my biological children.  I never considered otherwise, and I was very lucky that all of my kids latched on easily and I was a milk-production phenom.  I didn’t give a shit if people felt uncomfortable with me breastfeeding my kids.  I was considerate enough of others to drape a lightweight, breath-through blanket over my shoulder when in public, but in retrospect, it made the bonding experience much less for me because I couldn’t see their faces or caress their sweet little heads, and they couldn’t look into my eyes and reach up to put their little baby hands in my mouth or my hair the way they did when I was home.  Visitors to my house had to deal with my boobs nourishing my baby, and if they didn’t like it, they could call instead.  No one seemed to care.  None of my female friends were disturbed by their husbands catching a flash of boobs as I pulled the baby off, and the husbands were mature and respectful enough to just avert their gaze.  No big friggin deal.

I was only 16 when I had my first child, and I was by far in the minority by choosing to breastfeed.  I went to a teen parenting program and I got the “gross!” statements from other girls and whatnot, but I am a pretty strong-minded person, and I told them to suck it, which made everyone laugh and lay off.  When my next child was born, seven years later, we were on a trip to Rhode Island for a cousin’s wedding and we stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel.  As if on cue, Emily started to fuss as soon as my food was served, and I set about doing my shoulder drape and latch on.  My 7yo son said, “You’re going to do that HERE?” and I said, “Where else should I do it, Christian?” He suggested the bathroom, and I asked him how he would feel if I made him eat in the bathroom because using his mouth to eat may offend other people.  He said, “Wow, you are right, Mom.”  If a 7yo boy can understand that there is nothing abnormal or deviant about breastfeeding, why can’t adult women?

Getting to the issue at hand here, Catherine was at an event, away from her baby, sans breast pump, and hand expressing was not easing her pain.  She had befriended a woman earlier during the event, and the two solved two problems with one simple solution-Catherine nursed the other woman’s hungry baby.  Boobs relieved, baby fed-everyone is happy, right?

Wrong.

Someone saw it, and was disturbed enough by it that she posted to her blog about it.  And you know, I think it’s fine to say, “I wouldn’t have done that, because I would have had these concerns.”  But she misrepresented the exchange as a somewhat clinical swap among total strangers and compared the exchange to “sex without a condom”, and the method of her delivery was apparent to me that her intention was to stir up trouble.  I don’t care how much someone claims otherwise-when you title a post with “Controversy,” make an uninformed description of what happened, and you say you are leaving comments unmod’ed so people can “yell at you all they want,” you mean to stir the pot.

She claimed that not naming the women in question was the classy way to handle the situation, and she denied being judgemental, (though “Call me judgemental if you will” is almost a direct quote from the post, so clearly she knew that it would appear that way).  When her readers started making comments about how “disgusting” and “irresponsible” the women involved were, and how her boobs were “unsanitory” and “dirty” she did not seem to want to guide the conversation back to the discussion she claims to have been trying to create.  It became a high school, “oh my gosh, that’s SO gross!” coversation like the one I had all those years ago, and the poster joined right in.  She never said, “Hey now, this isn’t a bashing session-I just wanted to know if you would do the same thing.”

When people who believe there is nothing gross about breastmilk, and those who may not be personally comfortable with it, but respect the decision the two women made, came flocking to say their piece, her tone became petulant and whiney, and victimized.  I still do not understand how allowing your commentors to insinuate another blogger (and no, the popularity of ANYONE involved matters not at all) is filthy or disease-ridden without redirecting them is perfectly fine but when the tide turns and the criticism is pointed your way it is so terrible.  I still don’t understand how someone not involved and without the whole story is welcome to post her opinion, but the involved party can’t respond without being accused of trying to drum up publicity.  (And on a personal level, having my own comment misquoted and misrepresented chapped my ass, too.)

Her own people told her to remove the post, and she did.  Like I said elsewhere, I think that is the most chickenshit thing a blogger can do.  If you make a polarized statement, stand behind it.  Don’t whine about how victimized you are by all the people who disagreed when all your people who agreed victimized the other party and that was just fine.  “Poor me, I wrote a post to stir up trouble and when I got it, I couldn’t handle it, so I pulled it down and whined on Twitter about it ever since.”  (Seriously, I would rather spend the day with ten thousand whining children than this woman.  It Is RIDICULOUS how she is playing the poor, poor blogger who can’t express her own opinion without backlash.  She was fine with backlash when it went the other direction.  But when the whole story is given and the rebuttal is made, it is “unfair and untrue.”)

Here is how you do this,  anonymous Boobie-Gate poster (I won’t say your name so you can’t say it isn’t “classy” k? ):

I think what Catherine and Laura did is fine.  Because it was fine with them, and it did not negatively impact anyone.  It’s not my place to judge, and if I was in that situation, I am honestly not sure what I would do.  I just know that I wouldn’t set up a platform for my readers to throw tomatoes at the people who were in that situation and made a mutual decision that helped everybody involved.

I think you were wrong to post without asking the women involved the whole story.  I think you should have been more tolerant in your post, but since you weren’t, you should “man-up” and quit being a baby about the reaction you got.  I think you should have warned your commentors to refrain from bashing if you sincerely didn’t want to cause a controversy.  I think you didn’t anticipate it getting back to the blogger you were talking shit about and you were cowardly to remove your post.  I think your incessant whining on Twitter about personal attacks is so fucking blind and hypocritical that it makes me want to vomit.  I think you have a real problem with empathy, and that makes me temper my anger with sadness, for you.

That’s my statement and I’m leaving it up.  You don’t have to agree with it to comment on it.  You don’t have to be my friend to support it.  You don’t have to be my enemy to disagree with it.

However, if you don’t want to look like a douchebag, respect the decisions other people make when they do not hurt ANYONE.  If you don’t care if you look like a douchebag, judge away.  Sling mud.  Whatever.  I can take it.  I may make fun of you on Twitter, but I won’t whine about it, because I asked for it.

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My girlfriend Angel had a scrapbooking party last year, complete with margaritas and wine, lol. We left the kids with our husbands and we just talked and let our creative juices flow..I imagine it is like a modern day version of the knitting circles our ancestors likely participated in. It already was a positive first encounter with scrapping, and to top it off I made a page that I really loved, which I gave to my Mom as a gift.

Since then, I have *meant* to do some more scrapping, but a few things have prevented it form actually happening…the first being, well, LIFE, ha. But also, I think it’s smarter to jump in where I am, in Flylady’s words, and do my photos from here on out, and when/if I have time, go back to my old photos. That means that all my photos are digital, which means I’d have to print them out first, and have you seen the prices of printer ink??? So I decided to make digital albums! Great idea, except to do so in my image editor of choice, Photoshop, I’d have to scout out all the backgrounds, edges, “stickers” and they’d have to be free for me to use, as well, because violating copyright isn’t my cup of tea. So, I never did it. *sheepish grin*

Yesterday I discovered that someone else not only saw the need, but was industrious enough to create an answer to it; And so I introduce ScrapBlog, which I used to showcase my cruise photos on the previous post. They offer preset themes that are fully editable, and mix and match, and your finished scrapbook can be shared and published on nearly any platform you choose as a beautiful multimedia presentation.

I am absolutely CRAZY about this site, and I am going to finally be able to share my photos in a beautiful way that suits ME and my life. I hope that you take time to check it out for yourself, and if you enjoy it as much as I do, give them your vote at the Webware 100 Awards 2008!

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I’ve tried a ton of ways to stay organized and on track-Outlook, Google calendar, Yahoo notebook, blah blah blah. The problem was that everything was so spread out that I would get tired of using multiple services and just quit altogether. If someone could find a way to sync any piece of software with any other, they’d be a rich, rich person, lol. Entering the same info on multiple places to manage your email, schedule, projects, lists, contacts, and so forth just plain sucks. I always start with the best of intentions, but you know how that story ends, ha!

Then someone recommended Backpack to me, and the pieces finally fell into place. It’s so ridiculously easy to use, and it is as close as you can get to a pen and notepad, I swear, lol. You can use it to manage your family, your job, your hobbies, your business, your schedule, your home, groups, and the possibilities are just pretty much endless so I’ll stop gushing now, lol.

I use it for both work and personal use, because there is SSL security for paid plans, which I have. I name a project after each of my clients, and I also have one for topics like Family, Finance, College, and a general one for work. For my client projects, I make lists with my contacts with that client; I attach a map to their home; my case notes, the data sheets, and various other paperwork we complete, and file the originals in the office, to reduce paper use, (so my utilization of this software reduces my impact on the environment-a bonus warm fuzzy!); I list information that I will need readily accessible to me when I complete paperwork or reports; I keep a to-do list for each client; and I use the project pages in any way imaginable for my person organization. I call it Life Management, lol.

There is a free version, so check it out some ideas for how you can use Backpack:

• Quick access to numbers you need

  What’s the IP of that server? What’s our merchant number? What’s the bank routing number? Why not put all those numbers together in once place so you always know where to find them?

  Backpack makes it simple to create tables with all the numbers and data you need to get at quickly.

• Plan and organize a wedding or event

  Keep your wedding planning simple and organized by listing all your tasks and tracking your accomplishments. As the big day draws near, you’ll have a to-do list to be your guide, photos to reference when making decisions, and reminders that can be sent to you via email. Let your whole wedding party be a part of the planning by sharing your tasks and notes. No more need to stress over all the little details. With Backpack at your side, you can get back to looking forward to the happiest day of your life.

• Organize and prepare for a meeting

  You’ve got an important new business meeting coming up. You have things to prepare, things to do, files you’ll need to bring, and pictures and maps you’ll need to study. Don’t throw all this stuff in different folders on your hard drive. Don’t spread it out across your PDA, your desktop and your email inbox. Make a Backpack page and keep it all together.

• Organize rebates, coupons, and special deals

  How many times have you bought something and then forgot to send the rebate form in?

  Don’t waste money on missed rebate deals — store your rebate forms in your Backpack. Forms, codes, coupons, gift certificates — when you use Backpack they’ll always be right at your fingertips.

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