Life-Or Something Like It

Day two had us getting up early in Joplin, Missouri. We all got ready, packed our stuff up, and went to breakfast. It was a good continental breakfast and filled us up well. On the road we were.

About two to two and a half hours in we all had a surprise. While we had bowls in case anyone was sick it was Marcus who was officially car sick. Luckily we could pull of easily and ended up at a candy factory which worked well in solving everyones discomfort at seeing Marcus be sick. I got him and his seat cleaned up, but it left him without any clean shorts or pants (I had packed lots of extra shirts in case of messes, but not extra pants or shorts)!

We went through Illinois instead of going through Indiana. There was a bit of tension on where to go to eat because we were all getting tired and wanted to get to the hotel as soon as possible. None the less we didn’t arrive to the hotel till about 10:30 pm.

All in all, this day went fairly well as well, but tension mounted and everyone was very much ready to get out of the van and on with life!

Karth Family Van Entertainment:

-Gunsmoke (the old radio show).

-Adventures in Odyssey (the radio show).

-A few word games.

-Books for those who could read without getting sick.

-A few naps!

Saturday the 30th of August was the first day of our vacation. It began fairly early in the morning. We finished packing, loaded up our stuff into our car, and headed over to Peter’s parents house. (Peter is my husband for those who don’t know). I worked with the kids to pack up the van since there was a lot of stuff to put in there. We managed to get it all in and add the kids. The back seat contained one seat of stuff, Mary (9), Marcus (2 and ours), and AnnaLeah (13). The Next row was Susanna (16), Caleb (11), and Levi (15). Then there was Me, Peter, and his older brother Isaac (24). Peter’s dad drove and his mom rode shot gun.

We were off. There were a few issues, primarily with leg room which was a problem many people had with stuff at their feet. However, we got off to a good start and surprisingly no one complained. We stopped at a gas station with only one bathroom. It was a line. Lunch came a short while later at a picnic spot on the side of the road. We had cheese, crackers, and dried fruit. Loaded up the van and headed out.

We had another stop and then dinner at Arby’s. We drove all the way from Midland, TX to Joplin, MO. There we had one issue. We didn’t know where we were spending the night because there were two hotels listed in the travel book. Finally we found the hotel, settled in. Our room had us, Marcus, and Mary. Marcus was thrilled to see his bed, but loved the fact that we were still there. He laughed and talked. We took a shower and Marcus and Mary went to bed. We got out to find that Marcus was still awake.

Day one proved to be a long drive, but went well. In fact, I thought (from experiencing trips as a kid) that we would have a lot more complaining and such. Day one of vacation was over and sleep came.

The day is coming to a close. I have worked hard and gotten all my work done. I almost have my family packed and I am very excited for the time ahead of us. Tomorrow morning we will be getting up early and heading out on nine days of crazy adventure and calling it a vacation. I shall be back on September 9th and look forward to continuing at that time. Till Next Time.

Time is becoming a bit of a crunch. After all, I have a million and on things to do before we leave early Saturday morning and it is all getting piled on top of each other. I am almost packed, at least for the stuff that can be packed ahead of time. But I still want the house to get really clean and I have a number of jobs that need to be completed before the big day.

This being my first vacation, I am very excited and a tad bit nervous…

Two days in a vehicle with eleven of us! Oh my that should be crazy. It is actually a little worse then that since we have to travel a number of miles on Monday as well to finish the trip to Michigan. Oh well…I am sure to let you know how it goes!

When it comes to page rank, Google holds all of the power. They use a complicated algorithm to decide that fate of people everywhere, well at least sites everywhere. Using traffic, unique visitors, return visitors, links, back links, and more to determine the popularity of a site. Plus they reward sites for behavior they like and take away points for behavior they dislike.

It has been known since about November of last year that sponsored posts were classified as behavior that was disliked by Google. Google went through and slashed page ranks affecting blogs and websites all over the web. Some lost their page rank without sponsored posts such as the problogger who went from a six to a four. But many of the offended and hurt bloggers were those who had lost a page rank due to sponsored posts. This hurt them financially because the higher page ranked blogs make more money with sponsored posts and personally because bloggers and webmasters are proud of their good page ranks.

Today is my first day seeing a slide in my page rank. My sites don’t have a great page rank. This one is the highest at a pr of 2, most have a pr of 1. However, The Mommy N Baby Page now has a pr of 0. This hurts because I have been working harder then ever to get a lot of good quality content on there as well as doing some promoting. But I have also been making a lot of money with sponsored posts.

I see sponsored posts as a good form of advertising for the blogger. It is less complicated then selling ad space which requires that some sort of knowledge of working with codes be had. You simply follow the directions and get paid. It is also easier to use when starting out. After all, you don’t have to have a ton of traffic in order to make some money with it.

I guess this just means I need to work harder then ever!

On a more serious note, Congestive Heart Failure hits nearly 900 people a day or 350,000 people a year. In addition to that European studies show that this is one of the most serious cause of death among adults in the industrialized world. What’s more, many people don’t realize that they are at risk for this happening to them or that there are things that they can do to help with the problem. There are lifestyle changes that can be made and even ongoing treatment options such as a Heart ICD to keep the heart beating at the correct speed. Whether you know you are at risk, think you might be, or are just concerned about your future you should check out the website to learn more. This has been a sponsored post, thank you for stopping by and we hope to see you back again soon.

we will be leaving for our crazy vacation. This being the first vacation, especially of this sort, I am trying to be prepared. Top it all off, I have a challenge. We have very limited space with 11 going in a 12 passenger van. With that in mind we are packing half of the clothes that we need and we will be doing laundry part way through the vacation.

Of course, there is a huge part of me that is feeling really excited about the whole trip. There is so much to be done and then a crazy whirl wind vacation…I am hoping to write about it a lot.

Last week I got a phone call asking if I wanted Marcus to skip his weekly visit to his grandparent’s house because several people had a cold. I laughed figuring we were over there often enough that if we were going to get the cold then it would hit us whether I got to spend the afternoon working hard or not.

Well, one way or another, we got the cold. Marcus was really lethargic acting Friday to Sunday. Peter started feeling bad on Monday. Tuesday I had a bit of a tickle in my throat. By yesterday evening I was feeling horrible and today I am feeling terrible.

On the bright side, I am feeling better right this second then I was this morning…

Time has flown. It seems like just yesterday when we were finishing up Christmas by picking up all of the wrapping paper. Now it is August. Labor day is upon us and it won’t be long till Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) will be here. Saving money is worth the Black Friday nightmare. However, in this day and age it isn’t necessary. You can find lots of great deals that you can get over the Internet in your pajamas right here at Black Friday’s walmart ad.

Black Friday has its own website. Here you will find easy to navigate Black Friday deals that you can take in the comfort of your own home. They have tons of options from all of your favorite places to shop. Whether you want to shop the Babies R Us Ads for gifts for a special tiny someone or you are looking for Radio Shack deals for dad (or some other electric junkie on your list) they have something to offer you.

Plus the site makes it easy to find the ads you are looking for. You can plan ahead by going through ads that are starting to be listed now. But that isn’t all. You can sign up for e-mail alerts to make it easy to get more planning done and to find the best deals. Before you know it, Christmas will be here!

I have a lot of people in my life that mean a lot of things to me. It isn’t always easy to figure out what to say for others to get a glimpse into who they are in relation to me. But I will give it a bit of a shot.

Peter-Peter became my husband September 23, 2005. He is a wonderful guy who makes me feel cherished. He writes under the name Falon when he gets a chance and links to his stuff is here as well.

Marcus-Our first born arrived on July 20, 2006. He is a joy, most of the time and a beautiful little boy.

Mom-My mom and I have had our differences and I don’t think we do well living together. It doesn’t change the fact that she still means a lot to me. Others call her Terri though.

Joel-I have two brothers. The youngest of which lived with our mom and I all of his life and we got really close. College was hard on our relationship and while I still miss him terribly, we just aren’t as close as we once were.

Neal-My other brother, Neal, lived with our dad most of the time, but I still love him. While we don’t talk much it still means a lot to me when we do.

Tanya-My best friend in high school and I still keep in touch. Life has brought us farther then we ever imagined.

Cory-Cory is a great guy who I enjoy keeping in touch with. He is also a friend from high school days.

Regina-My one college friend who I work hard to keep in touch with Regina is a very special young woman who I don’t know what I would have done without her.

Peter’s Family-While I never imagined feeling like I belong to Peter’s family it is true that I feel that way now. Those that live in Texas have been wonderful to us in so many ways (not that his brother, Sam and Sam’s wife Naomi aren’t great as well, I just don’t know them well). The whole bunch include Mom and Dad (Marianne and Jerry), Isaac, Rebekah, Susanna, Levi, AnnaLeah, Caleb, and Mary.

Other’s have certainly touched my life, but I am one that has a hard time keeping touch with everyone. These are those who I talk to most often, though not in that order since I talk to Marcus more then Peter (Peter works 60+ hours a week and Marcus and I are home alone a lot), and I talk to Peter’s family, who live about two miles away, more then any of my friends or family who live in Michigan (about 1200 miles away).