For as long as I have known my husband he has talked of a trip to Vegas. For our honeymoon we toured Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Beach trips and a trip to the Bahamas, were highlights in our pre-kids days. Once we had kids we tended to stay close to home. Twice we have traveled to Disney. But, Las Vegas remains my husband’s must-see destination.

Is Vegas on your list of places to visit? Would you like to win a trip to Vegas? I know I would. I entered the contest — Temptation is Beautiful sweepstakes. This sweepstakes was super easy to enter.

After entering my name, etc., for a chance to win a trip to Vegas, I took a Temptations quiz. Now, don’t worry the quiz is very tame and fun. Nothing racy about it.

The prizes are something else, too! Each day a tempting beauty basket will be awarded. Be sure to get in your daily entries. The Grand Prize will be a tempting trip to Las Vegas for you and 3 of your friends with $1,500 in spending money!

Be sure to take the Temptress Temperature — the site’s interactive quiz. I took mine. I was relieved to find that my temperature was…
…just right. What a relief!

Don’t forget when you finish the Temptress Temperature to share your temperature with your social networks…you know…your buds on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Are you “hot, hot, hot” or “cool as a cucumber”! Let your friends know. If you share your score with your friends you will get bonus entries in the Temptation is Beautiful sweepstakes.

When you enter the Temptation is Beautiful sweepstakes, leave a comment to let me know what your Temptress Temperature was.

Fine print: This contest is for U.S. residents only.

Trying not to be a broken record.

Have you ever read a blog and thought “Wow, I like that” or “I need to come back and see how [issue] got resolved.”  Yep, me too. I have my favorites from my early blogging days…some I still read and some I wanted to keep going back to but I forgot the url. What is it about a blog that keeps me coming back for more?

Some of the blogs are the “tells it like it is” variety like Anissa. I could do with more kutzpah over at my corner of the blogosphere. I tend towards the “giving the reader some information but holding other information back” style of blogging. Are you that type of blogger? I hold back information to protect my children and their privacy…you can blog to your heart’s content about diapering your 1-year-old, but that level of disclosure is not cool with a kid, a preteen, and a teen.

After reading some blogs, I get a mental picture of who the blogger is and what their family is like. I am drawn in my the photos, but also by the writing style of the blogger. The more detailed the picture the more I am likely to come back again again. Example: Pioneer Woman and  Trenches. These ladies have been blogging for years. Both tell detailed stories about kids and sports and animals and farm life and homeschooling. I read a post and want to come back the next day to find out how the issue was resolved.

I want to be able to present the true me to my readers — hey, don’t laugh I’m just starting out…I do have a few readers. I want someone passing by my blog to stop and read a while. A regular group of returning readers would be fab. Want to come back and see what I am doing. Grab my button in the right column and place it on your sidebar/blogroll! If you have a button, I add yours to my sidebar, too! Just leave a comment with a link.
 
But, just how much should I reveal on my blog? How much do you tell? Are you an open book? Could a reader read your blog and find out every single solitary facet of your life? Or, do you hold back and tell only details that pertain to the post you are writing. I’m not an open book, but know that I do need to allow my readers to get to know me. What makes a reader come back to a blog time and again?

Tune in tomorrow to read my blogging criteria. Hey, I need to get you to come back to my blog don’t I?

See..sometimes the kid, the preteen, and the teen do get along.

Did you know that I write about preteens? I’m not an expert. I don’t play one on TV, but I do have a preteen. In fact I have a current preteen and a former preteen. In a few years I will have another preteen. Yes, you can feel sorry for me!

Want a glimpse in to what I write about? Here are a few articles on topics such as:

Allowance

Texting

Packing

Child/Teen

Here’s my post and the comments…

http://www.complainary.com/2008/11/30/how-can-i-control-what-i-eat/#comments

I posted twice. The first was on a topic near and dear to my heart: the online safety of children, especially girls. I recently became a Mom Advocate for a safe online networking site: Yoursphere.com , so I posted to raise awareness about the issue and the site. I touted the fact children can only join the site if their parent signs them up and that parents can only sign up after having a security check through www.NetIDMe.com I felt satisfied by the post, until I got an e-mail from some guy who questioned whether the site was secure or not. I was offended. Now here’s what is funny I don’t know this guy from Adam, but he was questioning an issue that was important to me.

So, the conversation went something like this:

Mom on the Run: I have preteen daughters. Both have e-mail addresses, but the oldest has asked to have a Facebook page. I am not sure if this is a good idea. There are so many questionable people out there and children are just not as quick as adults to spot a person with ulterior motives. Children are innocent and we want to keep them “young” for as long as we can. How Do I Do That?

About two weeks ago, I happened upon a link for yoursphere.com I clicked to find out more. I discovered that Yoursphere.com is an online community for children and teens aged 9 through 18. It is a safe place for children and teens to interact as the network does not allow adults to join. Adults can sign up their children, but not access the site. All adults go through a vetting process by NetIDMe to make sure they are who they say they are.

My daughter has been online for a week. Already she has earned credits towards gift cards and other rewards. I think I will sign up my younger daughter as well.

Me again (I goofed and posted twice): I have daughters: 12 and 10. My 12-year-old has school friends who are on Facebook and MySpace. She has an e-mail address. I feel pressure from her to be online, but the online world is rife with predators, etc. I recently found an online network for teens, www.yoursphere.com This network offers a safe network for teens aged 9 through 18 to talk to other teens. I became a Mom Advocate as I am so impressed by this network. As my 12-year-old plays online at Yoursphere, she can earn points for gift cards to stores and itunes. If you are interested in checking it out,
www.yoursphere.com?coupon=YSMD-BERR Use Promo Code: YSMD-BERR for $5 off annual membership. I am now a Mom Advocate for Yoursphere.

4 comments:

wiseman, 2. December 2008, 16:06

I was curious about NetIDMe so I visited the site to find that anyone can create a fake account using a fake child and parent name. All they ask for is the last four digits of a social security number. You can make up any four numbers, they have no way to check it. No safer than the rest of the net.

momontherun, 2. December 2008, 16:32

I’ll let the Yoursphere people know about this.

elaatyoursphere reply on December 3, 2008 2:30 pm:

I can assure you that this is false. You cannot just make up numbers as our system has denied people because their numbers didn’t match their DOB and full name that was given. Also, there is nothing on the NetIDme site saying that this can be done. This is a very legitimate site. Yoursphere prides itself on being able to keep children safe online, as much as possible.

wiseman, 4. December 2008, 0:37

The last four digits of a social security number are a serial number.
http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/geocard.html
In fact many people can have the same last 4 digits since they are sequentially numbered 0001-9999 and there are more than 10,000 people with social security numbers.
It is my opinion that a full name plus any 4 numbers given as the last four digits of a social security number does not identity a person.

So, there we have my first flame. I feel good about the fact that my Yoursphere contact corrected the misinformation that “wiseman” threw out there. Yoursphere is a very safe site. I wouldn’t let my kids use the site if I was 100 percent certain of their safety.

Remember, you can only type ONE WORD! Not as easy as you might think. It’s really hard to only use one word answers. You can only type one word, on each line. Here’s my One Word Answers:

Where is your cell phone? kitchen counter recharging
Where is your significant other? work
Your hair? grayish and hidden under a baseball cap as I am in desperate need of a cut
Your mother? considerate
Your father? forthright…in a good way
Your favorite thing? sleep
Your dream last night? rarely remember my dreams
Your dream/goal? financial security
The room you’re in? dining room sitting in an uncomfortable folding chair
Your fear? running over my children backing out of garage
Where do you want to be in 6 years? want to have discovered what to do with the rest of my life
Where were you last night? vegging out in front of TV after exhausting day of parent-teacher conferences and promoting my new venture, http://www.yoursphere.com/?coupon=YSMD-BERR
What you’re not? skinny
Muffins? prefer donuts
One of your wish list items? enough $$$ to take my children to my home country…England
Where you grew up? Manchester, England
The last thing you did? sorted through trash in garage…eeewww
What are you wearing? yesterday’s clothes, a Maryland jacket, and shoes without socks…I need a shower
Your TV? family room–HD, surround sound; playroom–small flat screen; master bedroom–ancient small nondigital TV
Your pet? no pets
Your computer? a link to a possible paid career as a writer
Your life? hectic, but in a good way
Your mood? happy
Missing someone? grandparents
Your car? lived in
Something you’re not wearing? socks
Your summer? relaxing
Love someone? Jim and my three children
Your favorite color? red
When is the last time you laughed? last night listening to my son’s K teacher talk about him
Last time you cried? last May during my disastrous graphics class

Ready, set, go!

EDITED TO ADD: themrs pointed out that my answers are not one word. Ooops…I goofed.

I’d like to become a blog much visited, until then I will be content to write everyday about my life for any and all to read.

http://www.momtourage.com/mommoments/StoryPage/0,,dhdwl8c2,00.html