Well, my new site is almost up and running. All it needs now is a big stack of affiliate links. I applied for a bunch, but they almost all approve manually, so it could be a week or more before I really have enough to make the new site worth advertising.

What is the new site about, you ask? I’ll tell you when I launch. It is NOTHING like Home with the Kids, I can tell you that. Completely different topic and target audience. It is purely an attempt to get my affiliate income moving, while Home with the Kids is primarily pleasure.

Yippee! It looks like the keyboard trick might start working on Ariel soon. It’s a pretty simple way to get a child to let you work, if you aren’t familiar with this.

I took an old keyboard and removed the cord from it. It was not difficult to open up this particular keyboard and just unplug the cord, but if you can’t do that, get some wire cutters and cut the wire. I have a very large desk, so I set her up next to me. I also took an old mouse and let her have that as well. Ariel immediately started pointing out the letters and yelling “I type! I type!”

When you work at home, there’s nothing like letting your children help or think they are helping. Toddlers love to think that they are working just like mommy or daddy.

Well I survived my daughter’s birthday party. It was a lot of fun. My mother in law made the cake, and felt bad when she found out Ariel doesn’t like coconut, which she had sprinkled on the top. Well, I barely knew that one myself, since she’s only been exposed to coconut once.

Finally got my sister to ask for something I’ve wanted to do for ages. She asked when we could take the baby gates down. I rent a couple rooms in my sister’s house, and she lives there too, so there have been a lot of concessions made by both of us, but she’s finally ready to let me properly childproof the kitchen and remove all but the gate at the bottom of the stairs and the one blocking the exercise equipment, which I don’t want Ariel near anyhow. I found some great magnetic latches on Amazon. They’re apparently hard to install, but I think they’ll be worth the effort.

This all came about because the gates were down for the party so people could move about easily, and she realized how much pleasanter that was, and that Ariel really doesn’t put things into her mouth so much. All I have to do now is get her to leave things alone she shouldn’t touch, and we’ll be in good shape.

I did take a few minutes today to put up my page on two tier affiliate programs. Never did hear from anyone with any suggestions on good programs to include, but I’m still open to suggestions.

What a busy weekend it’s going to be. I have to get the house ready and all the shopping done for Ariel’s birthday party tomorrow. It’s not a big affair or anything, but it will still take quite a bit of work to pull things together. Thank goodness my mom and my mother in law are helping by bringing some of the food and such.

I’m a firm believer in keeping things simple for a toddler’s birthday. She’s mostly getting clothes from us, and a DVD, not much else, and things we would have bought for her anyhow. Maybe I’m a spoilsport, but I figure she has more than enough toys already, and will be getting more as gifts from others.