I’ve utilized quite a few different methods to spread the word about ‘My Very Own Mail’. One of those methods, which I didn’t feel was very successful, but, that I really liked, was promotional pens. They were so cute! I have one left, and I keep it on my desk in my George Strait ‘pen cup’. The funny thing was, for promoting personalized letters for children, I didn’t often feel the opportunity presented itself to hand them out, and also, explain what they were promoting. I would sometimes put them in the packages for the children, but, that made me nervous, as some of the children were probably too young to be wandering about the house with pens. That is a relative call, though, as we all handle that with our kids differently - even differently amongst our own children. (Yes, my daughter -third child- ate french fries before she was even one! Heehee!) So, although I personally liked it, I don’t think it was a method that was very helpful.

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I was part of an online community once that was all about helping women with their small businesses. It was a really cool community, and I got a very neat suggestion there once. A girl had seen an ad on Amazon for toy mailboxes and she thought that would be a great addition to ‘My Very Own Mail’! Isn’t that a cute idea? And a perfect combination - for me to sell personalized letters and toy mailboxes? I thought it was just adorable - and I couldn’t believe it was so simple, and I had never thought of it! And then I never got around to it. Maybe one day I will. It sure would be neat if the mailboxes had my ‘My Very Own Mail’ logo on them, wouldn’t it? I guess that might be asking for too much, though!
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I was perusing the normal blogs upon my route this morning, when I happened upon a great post called, The Socratic Method, on my friend Cass’ blog. It is a super-cool, get the learners involved method of teaching! The teacher teaches by asking questions, leading the learners where they need to get to understand the concepts. The learners generally end up excited, and impressed with themselves for figuring out the answers. It is a way of learning that, I believe, can cement ideas in people’s brains! It is discovery and learning all at once!

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I am learning all that I can about blogging, and there is a blog conference coming up in June that I really want to go to. It’s called PostieCon and it’s in Orlando, Florida on June 1 and 2. My blogging friends and I are trying to figure out how we can go, but, we are not sure if we will be able to afford the trip. We are thinking, if we do go, about sharing an Orlando vacation rental, so the cost won’t be so high. I know that I would learn so much there that would really help with my blogging, but, I might just have to wait until next year’s conference. Hopefully by then, I will have generated enough income to save up for it!

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I have never been to Las Vegas, but, I think it would be so much fun! And the funny thing is that, I was never really interested in it until my brother took me to Lubbock, Texas! How weird is that? I know - I’m a goofball, but, just hear me out. Lubbock was a dry town, so they couldn’t sell any alcohol in liquor stores in the town. So right outside of town, on the other side of the freeway, was a place where all the liquor stores were and you pass under the underpass, and then - BAM! There they all are, in bright and pretty-colored lights - all lined up in a row alongside the highway! It was the coolest thing. And everyone told me how it was so much like Las Vegas - like a ‘mini Las Vegas’. And ever since then, I have thought that it would be really cool to see Las Vegas. And wouldn’t it be cool to go there and stay in some Las Vegas luxury condos? Fancy schmancy!! And have a limousine take us everywhere? That sounds totally awesome!

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You guys would just LOVE my puppy! I am so serious! Actually, though, he is four and half years old and weighs 100 pounds! He really is as sweet as he can be, though! I call him Baby Huey, because he reminds me so much of him.

I really need to go shopping for some pet supplies for him, too, now that it is getting warm again. We need a flea and heartworm treatment, that will hopefully protect him from all of these Alabama ticks - he got so many last summer! It was crazy! We were popping them off of him right and left! And we need some new doggy shampoo - he gets very dirty out here! He has so much fun doing it, though!

I sometimes wonder if we didn’t move all the way out here just for him, because he completely loves it out here! He is totally ‘in his element’!

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We recently moved into a new home, and along with needing a few things for my home office, we also need some other home furniture. We moved over 700 miles away, and our kitchen table wouldn’t fit on the moving truck. Isn’t that sad? It really was for me, because that table had been in my life for a very long time and I really, really liked it. It was very special to me. I think for my office, however, I might just need another table and an easy chair. We’ll just have to take baby steps fixing this place up! Sometimes baby steps are the hardest steps to take!

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My Very Own Mail is a business that is run out of my home, in my makeshift office, that is really supposed to be the formal dining room. I have a lot of plans for it, too. I know some of the things that I need to more easily run the business, and I know some of the things that I want, but, I can’t quite get a picture of it in my mind. I know that I need some special shelving. I need those little paper shelves like teachers have in their classrooms, because I use so much assorted color paper. And I need a table or desk that stays empty on top, for assembling the packages. I do already have drawers for all of the crafts and goodies and my business paperwork, but, I think I need a few more of those to really keep it organized. And the thing I really want to do is paint at least one wall, if not more, purple! Yes - purple! It is my room, office - and I know for a fact I won’t be able to win anyone over on a purple wall anywhere else in the house! And for just this little tiny room, the painting costs won’t be bad at all!

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The first newsletter that I want to tell you about that I receive and just absolutely love is from Surfing the Net with Kids by Barbara J. Feldman, otherwise known as SurfNetKids.com. The site is chock full of website reviews for kids, teachers, and families. If you sign up for the newsletter, you will receive Barbara’s educational website recommendations in your email every week. I thoroughly enjoy reading the newsletter every week and I think you will really like it, too!

Another cool feature to the site is the daily widgets - I have been meaning to put one on the Bookworm Broadcast for a while now, but, you know how life gets busy! So, finally - today I put the Daily Factoid widget in the left sidebar - you should see it show up shortly. Sometimes Wordpress is a little slow to show my updates.

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I get some really great emails that I have been meaning to share with you forever, and I just keep forgetting to do it. I also get some really rotten emails that I’m sure you don’t want me to share with you - like the four I’ve gotten for Viagra this week, that totally bypassed the filters and went straight to my inbox! What is up with that? Weird! The ones I would like to share with you, however, are really good educational and parenting resources. I find out some super cool stuff from them. I will have to start a series and start sharing them with you! Hopefully telling you about them will keep me accountable to stay true to my word and also start a fire under my tush to get to it!

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