Last day of the pay period for medical transcription – and it shows! Most of the time this week, the queue has been a couple hours long – by which I mean if I typed a report at 4, it had generally been dictated at noon or earlier. Right now, it’s about 15 minutes, which put it at risk for running out. That is the one hazard of medical transcription; sometimes the work just isn’t there. Fortunately, that is a rare situation.

I really should have been transcribing last night. Then I wouldn’t be scrambling for work right now. But by 6:30, when my husband got home, I was so obviously exhausted that he insisted I take a nap. I woke up when he joined me later, then Ariel didn’t sleep well last night, so today I’m still exhausted, but not as bad as yesterday.

I think Ariel is hitting the “terrible twos”, fortunately not as hard as she might. Everything yesterday caused a minor tantrum. No matter what I said, it was “Nooo!” and a stamping of the feet. I ignore such behavior, and comfort her when she seems to need it. Hopefully this will be a short phase, because it is very tiring for me.

I’m making great progress on my new website-to-be. I’m up to 13 pages of content for it. I’m working on that part first, then applying for the relevant affiliate programs. My goal is at least 20 pages of pure content before I start building the pages focusing on the affiliate programs. I should hit that early next week. I made about 4 new pages today. I’m very much enjoying researching this topic.

On the homefront, I’m getting ready for Ariel’s birthday party on Sunday. We like to keep things simple, after all, she’s only turning 2! Not like she’s going to remember this one, and she doesn’t have any need for a theme or anything like that. It should be a very small party, mostly family, although Ariel does have one friend who I think is coming. We’re barbequeing. To keep the toddlers safely away from the barbeque, we’re going to set up an old barrier we used to use for Ariel’s play area until she learned to climb it. It’ll make it at least harder for the kids to get into trouble. My mother in law might just make the cake, but since they just got back from a trip, I have tried to make it very clear that I have no problem with going out and buying a cake. I really can’t spare the time to make one myself, although the thought is tempting. I hope I’ll be able to do that when Ariel is old enough to want to lick the spoon. Much more fun that way, I think.

Yes, it was the AdWord ad I thought it was that produced my commission yesterday! This ad doesn’t get shown very often; often 10 times or less a day, and clicks only a couple times a week, but it is definitely paying off. That’s two $15 commissions for less than $1 spend on AdWords. I’d call that one effective. Now if I could just get more clicks. I’ve added more keywords to the list, so hopefully they’ll produce something too. It’s not significant statistically yet, of course, but I’m happily optimistic.

Looks like my AdWords campaign did it again – I think. I just got another commission, but I don’t know yet from where. None of my stats have updated to tell me where it came from, but my account is showing more money. I am really starting to love this stuff, even though I’m not earning enough money yet. I’m doing more than break even, which is a wonderful feeling. If I can keep this stuff up, I’ll earn good money at this yet.

Oh, yes, and my newsletter went out just fine. I think I understand how to use AWeber now. It really looks like a great system.

Ah, here goes with the new newsletter hosting through Aweber. I just prepared my first newsletter, and it should go out tomorrow. I hope it works the way it ought to.

I made an offer in the newsletter, and I will repeat it here:

I’m working on a new page for the website, and I would like to offer those of you reading this a chance to get a link here on this website. I’m looking at two-tier affiliate programs, and I want to know which ones you think are best. Now, I don’t need any more Internet Marketing links; I need ones for other products. I want to offer two-tier affiliate programs to people who aren’t trying to market to other Internet marketers. Send me your link and tell me why you think it’s a good program. Your own ability to make sales through it would be a very good indicator to me as to the quality of the program.

The program must be free to join, and must be an affiliate program; not direct sales or MLM. If two people submit the same program and I decide to list it, the first will get the link.

What do you get? Two things: A link to your website, if relevant, and the link I place on this page for your program will be YOUR affiliate link for at least three months. Even if I think I like the program and sign up under you, your link will be the one on that page for at least three months, so you’ll get those signups. I’ll still have the right to use my own links on any other page, of course.

Just email me at webmaster@homewiththekids.com. I’m hoping to have this page done shortly, so the sooner, the better.

Added a new page today. I’m a big fan of SBI, and they’re just about to add a great new feature for those interested in e-commerce – shopping carts. They have a great deal planned for those who already are signed up with SBI, a sort of buy one get one free deal. Definitely the right time to sign up with SBI if you were even thinking about it. They have a great guarantee, so you really have nothing to lose.

OK, enough advertising.

I can’t believe my daughter will be 2 in just one week! Where did the time go? I’m sure I’ll be saying that for years to come. She’s learning so fast right now, we really have to watch what we expose her to. New words just come popping out of her mouth, she knows most of her alphabet, colors, shapes and several numbers in order (although she does those mostly randomly). How did I get such a bright kid?

Of course, I’d also like to figure out how the organized work at home moms do it. I have trouble keeping up with the dishes, never mind the laundry, vacuuming, etc. Lists don’t help me; I ignore them. I know some of the problem is in training my husband to help, after all, I’m working a job too, as well as running a business! I guess I really just need to get a better routine going, so I don’t waste so much time. Seems like I’ll sit down to do something for 10 minutes, then poof! an hour has gone by. I’m sure many of you understand what I mean.

I’ve been having lots of fun lately. I’m working on a new website, and I’m determined to do it as much as possible in CSS. I am really delighted with how CSS handles everything. I’m just hoping I can keep it compatible across enough browsers. I love the way my current layout is starting to look for the new site, kind of a three column look, but one column is nested, so when it runs out the other column will use the extra width available. It’s so much fun learning this technique.

I just can’t believe the mood Ariel woke up in today. Quite intensely NEEDING to play, and in ways she normally doesn’t. Just had to have me playing with her, or she wasn’t happy. This is one of the delights of working at home. DH and I took her to the Children’s Museum, and let her play there. She loved it. They didn’t have much that we don’t already have, but it was a chance for her to run around with other kids. She’s in such a curious, exploratory mood today. I really hope it lasts.

Finally got things going with Aweber, and I’m very happy I did. I’ve been getting some very supportive comments from people even as they unsubscribe, simply appreciating my efforts and understanding the situation. I’m just glad to have this done and over with… please? I just hope my resubscribe requests don’t generate anything bad. All in all, it’s a tough situation, and I can only hope people will continue to understand that I’m doing my best to do the right thing.

Well, I’ve made the transfer of my list. Still waiting for AWeber to send the resubscribe notices. Once that’s done, I should be in pretty good shape, I hope. It’s been a frustrating experience. Wish I could say it had been a learning experience, but I just don’t see how I could have prevented this from happening. Just call it a part of being online, I guess. I really want to figure out how to get the RSS feed going. I think I’m going to look at that for the discussion boards too. Be nice to be able to encourage more people to come on over, even if not many people use RSS yet. It strikes me as quite a promising technology.