So FINE… I’m back. lol

(^^)v

Just so you know… I happen to have the BEST mother anyone could ever ask for, and that is why I’m such an AWESOME mom today. [insert "awww!"]

That sealed the deal for me.

Not only do I need a smaller booty, but I need a smaller body to keep from falling over and upsetting my son. So today marks “Day #1″ of my adventure with Winsor Pilates…

Mari Winsor for “Winsor Pilates“

** Not verbatim, but she basically said…

• In 10 days, you start to feel the difference…

• In 20 days, others will begin to notice a change in your appearance…
• In 30 days, there will be a major, noticeable change in your body shape, and you will feel stronger and more energized.

They’ll let you try it for a full 30 days, and if you don’t like it, return it and they’ll refund you 100% of your purchase price, no questions asked… and she does claim that in 30 days, you’ll see a major change in your body, so you’ve got nothing to lose, right?

I admit, I ordered Winsor Pilates 4 years ago when the kit only included the 20 minute video, the 50 minute advanced video, and the Win-in-10 Meal Plan and Cookbook.

I stuck with it religiously. Popped in the 20-minute video at the same time, for 10 consecutive days. And I kid you not, what Mari claims is true. I felt the difference in my clothes from less than 2 weeks of doing her tapes. Problem was, I started this workout just months after I gave birth to my son via C-section, so I started feeling some discomfort and stopped.

The workout in the 20-minute video is quite simple, but each move has a modified version if you feel it’s too difficult or uncomfortable. You don’t even need weights, bands, or balls… just enough room on your floor to do your 100s, side kick series, and leg circles.

I’m motivated to get going with this once again. I saw results for myself in 10 days… and I am now ready to “sculpt my body slim” with Winsor Pilates and see some kick-booty results in 30 days.

I’ll post my results from my 10th, 20th, and 30th days here, so stay tuned!

Why? Due to my apparent inability to multitask, I’ve fallen seriously off track from my healthy eating habits during my major “life sorting,” and am feeling quite a bit…

flabby, gross, and purple.

I’ve found that exercise is one of the ingredients I was lacking from achieving a healthy balance in my life. I have my family, business responsibilities, hanging out with friends, my spirituality… but no exercise.

Several people have told me that working out and eating right will help increase my energy, as well as help me gain focus. I so need that.

As a bonus, I’m extremely confident that my 30 minutes rendezvous with my wonder machine will transform me into…

I’ve been in this business since August 1996. That’s quite a long time considering a year doing business online is equivalent to 5 years offline.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is that I have a confession to make… sending out a broadcast message to my subscribers totally scares the begeebers out of me.

Ironic being that my ezine is what started my online business in the first place… over nine years ago.

As a matter of fact, I just sent one early this morning… my usual “Carmen’s Journal” issue, and I still had to go through my neurotic routine of running the text through spell checkers and content analyzers, sending 15 test messages to myself, and finally making the sign of the cross and asking God to keep me from exploding into a full-blown anxiety attack.

Saying I’m frightened is an understatement.

What am I so afraid of? Well, several things…

• Nobody will open it

• Nobody will find it useful
• Zero feedback about what I’ve written
• Unsubscribes (I know how you gurus out there say unsubscribes are no big deal because those people don’t want your stuff anyway… but to me, it’s like getting dumped.)

This all started about 3 years ago. I worked hard at putting together an incredible issue… I was ecstatic with the articles I’ve written and the new marketing tools I reviewed. I was looking forward to hearing back from my readers!

But when I sent it out, I received NO feedback. Days passed. NOTHING. I could see that my readers have clicked through the links in the message… many even purchased the products I talked about… but I heard from NO ONE. Not a peep from anybody. I was all alone in the rain without an umbrella (drama queen moment)…

When I asked about the nonexistent feedback in the issue that followed, some wrote saying they DID send me a note. But where? I never received them. Maybe it got caught in the filters? Or were they just trying to be nice? I don’t know. I will never know. But I do know that for some unexplainable reason, it has affected me in a ginormous way.

Oh! Don’t even get me started about this morning…

I was shocked to receive a few unsubscribes… it was heart breaking for me and it took all that I had to fight blinking just to keep the tears from rolling down my face (drama queen moment: part 2).

My 4 year old would refer to this as having “brain problems.”

Then I found that after a certain number of “undeliverables”, Aweber automatically unsubscribes those addresses from the list. I double checked the addies and sure enough, they were undeliverable and automatically unsubscribed.

I guess what I’m trying to get across with this is… if you’ve been putting off contacting the people on your list because you’re afraid of rejection, just write to them already! Look at me… I let nothing keep me from getting in touch with my readers. Not even “brain problems”.

The psychologists & students of human behavior among you will have a field day analyzing this post, aren’t you?

However, due to the ISP’s aggressive anti-spam filtering systems, he admits, “spamming just isn’t paying the bills like it used to… it’s no longer easy money. We are throwing in the towel”

But check out this statement:

Spam Slayer: Meet Average-Joe Spammer

If nobody was really interested in spam and never bought anything that was advertised to them, spam would go away. But people are interested in spam. As long as people buy things advertised in spam then people like me will send bulk e-mail. Are we really that different from so-called legitimate bulk e-mailers? I don’t think there is a whole lot of difference.

I find it interesting that spammers like Mike are losing money and giving up this “source of income” not as a result of of CAN-SPAM laws, or people who have been educated to fight and stay clear of spam… but because of one of the biggest annoyances to legitimate ezine publishers like myself… the ISP’s e-mail filtering system.

I have mixed feelings.

You may call me “Sir J-Rock”.
Mess with my mommy, and be prepared to feel
the burn from my staring, unblinking eyes.

Happy Halloween!

Now that I’ve got a screenshot of our #1 position on Google, this is no longer just a mother’s opinion… it is now a FACT.

Happy 4th Birthday, Little Munchkin Monster!

I remember going ABSOLUTELY NUTS when you first flashed that gorgeous smile at me – and only me… farted and cheered about it… rolled to your side… and off the bed… licked my face… sat up on your own… stood up with help… freely gave hugs & kisses… learned to ghetto booty dance… crawled backwards… ate solids… weaned off my boob… learned your colors… asked for a big brother… sang me your abc’s… drew a self portrait… read your book… wrote your name… begged me to let you back into my tummy…

I’m just as crazy wild about you now as when I first saw your big, full moon face and humongo eyes!! I’m so proud of you and the person you are growing to become! You’re my angel sweetie pie… the love of my life : )

We’ll make this the best 4th year ever!!

I LOVE you, Joshua!!

Your #1 Fan,
Mommy