~ Just a bit raggedy at times ~

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GOD BLESS PAULA DEEN!

Paula DeenOK America. It’s time to put your “big girl panties on” and get over yourselves. I’m in a mood this morning – beware. Your (mine too) weight/diabetes/heart issues ARE NOT PAULA DEEN’S FAULT! Give me a break. I can NOT believe that papers and reports this morning concerning Paula Deen’s announcement Tuesday that she has had Type2 Diabetes for the past three years. In all reality, this doesn’t affect anyone else, does it? Now if you are a huge fan as I am, and you are concerned for her, the best thing realistically you can do is to pray for her and her health.

My fired up state got started while watching the Today Show this morning, when Ann Curry (whom I love by the way) – as NEWS – discussed all the “upset people that felt betrayed” by Deen’s lack of honesty. WHAT? Why exactly do these public figures owe us anything “personal?” Really. She has built quite a business with her amazing cookbooks and television shows. You know why? SHE’S ENTERTAINING AS ALL GET OUT! She’s as much an entertainer as she is a chef. That being said, why is she EXPECTED to share her personal health news?

My fired up state increased as I climbed in my car to head to work and turn on my favorite radio personalities on 93Q – Tim Tuttle, Kevin Kline & Erica Rico – and they guys were TOTALLY bashing her. Erica was the only sane one in the group. I’m paraphrasing here in a big way, but Erica was fighting on Paula’s side by stating that she is not MAKING you cook her food. You think? Tim & Kevin, well – mostly Kevin, were talking about how bad her cooking and about how much butter and sugar she uses. So. The Jersey Shore reality show stars drink all day every day – does that mean you HAVE to go behave that way? HuH?

Has anyone ever read or heard of Paula Deen beating anyone over the head with her REALLY CUTE pots and pans all while forcing them to make a recipe from one of her books with multiple sticks of butter and cups of sugar. Of course you haven’t. Anthony Bourdain – star of “No Reservations” on the Food Network called Mrs. Deen, ” the most dangerous person in the world.” I guess the intelligence behind that statement explains why I’ve never heard of the guy and don’t even recognize him. Wow. The most dangerous person in the world? Think that’s a bit dramatic?

OK – so she has signed on with a diabetic drug company as a spokesperson. So she’s stands to make some money from these endorsements. Is that wrong for her business wise? Can you blame her? Think of all the stuff Trump has done, does he still have a high ranking tv show? Of course he does…..because he’s entertaining to watch. Watch one of Paula’s shows or catch her on the Today Show….she’s pretty cool. You’d want to sit and have a chat or two with her – but then I tend to like people that have BIG personalities.

I am so tired of everyone blaming these stars for how they are affecting the youth of today. Here’s an idea. TALK TO YOUR KIDS. Tell them that’s not right to suck down a stick of butter or 5 Red Bulls everyday. Or marrying someone you don’t know or don’t love and expect to spend the rest of your life with. Or drinking and driving. OR taking a gun to school and not dropping it when the cops tell you to. OR letting yourself tip the scales at 300 – unless you have a medical condition that causes you to gain weight, try pushing back. Trying exercising. Trying taking responsibility for yourself. Try not hanging out with a “bad influence” or “bad crowd.” Parents are so quick to blame everyone else for their own kids’ issues and missteps…..try parenting. It’s a concept that is lost on a lot of people.

Moderation. Only make ONE of Paula’s recipes a week OR only on holidays. It’s just like everything else. Most things won’t hurt you in moderation. Disclaimer…..I said MOST things.

Off my soap box now. Back to work! Anyone need a website or blog to VENT – ha!

10:53 am | Categories: Raggedy Moms | Comments Off

Observations from Aggieland | Social Media

I had the complete pleasure of spending a Friday thru Sunday in Aggieland – otherwise known as College Station, Texas, as the big kids and I were attending Senior Gulf Champs for a swim meet. This is a prelim/final swim meet attended by all of the usual teams we normally see – teams from just North of Conroe, to Humble/Kingwood, to Beaumont, Port Lavaca, Deer Park, Pearland, Katy, Sugar Land, Spring/Klein, CyFair….you get the picture. A few exciting ads this year are from Colorado and Arizona. So it’s a pretty good sampling of people. All swimmers are 15 years old and older, everyone for the most part is pretty dog-gone fast. There are just different levels of fast. We’ve seen swimmers that are “just exercising” all the way to a few “junior national times” achieved AND we’ve also seen some wicked fast Olympic Trial cuts achieved. Just fast swimming…….

Aggie Natatorium

As I’m sitting in the stands at the BEAUTIFUL Texas A&M University Student Recreation Center, trying very hard to work, my eyes keep wandering to the swimmers in the water, as well as the swimmers/parents sitting around me. I’ve made quite a few observations this weekend while hanging out with this incredibly diverse group of people. You know…..watching people’s social (media included) skills LIVE.

Parents | I don’t understand sitting in the stands for 3 days in a row, from 8 in the morning to 9 at night, and NOT sitting with your team. Seriously? Are you SO into your own kid’s performances that you can’t sit with and cheer on your swimmer’s teammates? You know those teammates that they probably spend more time with than you? I just don’t get it, I know I’m relatively social, but geeez – so are these people. I see some that sit off by them selves as if they are too good to sit with “the masses” – need to look REALISTICALLY at those times again…..

Teen Swimmers | Those dang earphones. Really? You are NOT in school, NOT being preached at or coached. Take the time and get to know the swimmers that you spend 3-4.5 hours with a day,  that share your passion of swimming. You can’t socialize when you are face down in the water staring at that little black line. Turn the dang music off, pack up your earphones and practice the social skills that you need to home for later on in life. And your music isn’t that good anyway – ha!

Social Skills | Wow.  Should I have said, “Lack there of?” As a native Texan and Aggie – yes, I bleed Maroon – there are just some things that I expect from the youth of today. Guys – hold the dang door open for girls. I don’t care if they are a 4 years old with untied shoelaces and dragging a teddy bear, someone you hang with daily or a little old lady fighting an umbrella in this blustery, rainy weather. Hold the door open. You never know when you are going to make someone’s day. Your mom should have taught you that by 15. Pay attention. Yes, it matters. Girls – you can’t whine about the guys “not noticing you” if you are constantly staring at a phone, texting about how cute the guy is WHILE he’s sitting next to you.  Yes, we know you are doing it. Here’s an idea – TALK TO HIM. With words, this is NOT the time to hone your social media skills. Try practicing those VERBAL skills. When you are older and in a meeting at your office of choice, you will not be able to text (if we are lucky). You’ll have to depend on your interpersonal skills that almost every last one of you are lacking. Including my own kids  – yes, I said it.

Social Skills & Competition | In “the old days,” we were expected to root on our teammates (and mean it), not sit in the stands being unsociable, listening to music, and staring at the ground in hopes that no one would talk to us. That was simply not acceptable. Were we competitive with each other? HELL YEH we were. You ALWAYS try to improve your time, but we swam for bragging rights as well as “beating the clock.” In the water, it was no holds barred. This was a very important meet. These kids work all year long for meets like this one. Some are trying to simply better their times, while some are vying for Junior National cuts and Olympic Cuts. It’s the same sport, just different levels of goals. A little extra support from teammates would do nothing BUT HELP! Try it, you might get it back in return.

Digital Social Media Skills | Wow. Where do I go with this one? Parents – do you have a clue what your kids put on Facebook and YouTube? Really. Most of my friends have their kids’ passwords and SAY they are watching their kids’ pages – but there is NO FREAKING WAY they are. The only way kids are going to learn REAL social skills, is if someone calls them out on their behaviors. Like their parents. Like their coaches.  Am I saying ride their butts all the time, no? They have to learn from their social mistakes, but I’ve seen some REALLY rough things – socially rough, not illegal/mean rough – this weekend. I really feel if some of these parents were watching what their kids were writing sometimes, it would get better. Now, some of these parents need to grow a backbone and actually “discipline” their kids as it helps them learn. They’ll still talk to you. REALLY. If they want to eat……

Now……Alexandra – get that 7 paragraph, re-post off your front page. Really.

12:51 pm | Categories: Family & Kids, Social Media, Swim & Sports | Tags: , , , | Comments Off

Change & Websites

Change Ahead ImageYou know……….websites change (or need to change) at the speed of life. As I was working today,  I kept coming across articles, tweets, posts – whatever the source, they all suggested change. Sometimes change is good, and sometimes it just takes a ton of effort. How many times do you think,”I really need to change that.” Really? How many times?

Well, when it comes to websites AND life, we all need to make the time. Whether it’s changing your meta-tags and titles on the websites you are managing OR changing the way you parent your kids, change is eminent.  And necessary.

I’ve been analyzing a website that I just can’t figure out WHY it’s not ranking within Google’s SERPS. It’s number one on all keywords with Yahoo & Bing, just can’t figure out the Google-thing. WHY, I ask? At the office, we all comb the site source and try to figure out why this one is different than any other website we’ve developed. Just blows my mind – something is there that I just can’t figure out……..kind of like parenting, huh?

As my kids’ teen years just seem to be flying by “at the speed of light,” I’m trying to figure out “why things just don’t work.” Or, at least, why they don’t work easily. Today, I just have to admit: EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is just different. Every kid, every parent, every friend……….is different. Do I like that? Yeh, it would be pretty boring if everyone was the same, but if there was just a manual. With all the rules to follow. I’d follow them regularly and religiously.

That being said, check your tags and titles for proper keyword usage – has something changed with your business? Don’t sell a product anymore? Get it out the tags/titles/content. Make CHANGES. GO FOR IT. Your website is prime real estate for new content, and more important, new ideas/products to lure in new clients/customers. You can do it.

Set aside 15-30 minutes, once or twice a week and start hammering away!

2:16 pm | Categories: Raggedy Moms, Web & SEO | Tags: , , | Comments Off

Pinterest & Social Media at it’s Finest

It’s been crazier than normal lately. Been to Mexico with GREAT friends, home for 2 days, and off to Corpus Christi with 23 of my favorite high school students for TISCA – Texas Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association sanctioned swim meet. WHEW – all in the last week! On to more FUN things. Like Thanksgiving. Like prepping for Thanksgiving – ugh. And my new “I have a few minutes, so let me jump on the internet” past-time, PINTEREST. Gee, thanks Clair – this is a social media marketer’s and crafter’s DREAM…and it’s so simple.

I can blow more time looking at peoples “pins.” This, in my book, is so much more interesting than Facebook right now. A lot of my friends feel the need to tell me that they are going to bed, washing clothes, shopping for bras, God-forbid grocery shopping. Tell me something interesting – I’m tired of all the BORING POSTS. It’s NOT interesting to me, and trust me – I’m pretty easy to entertain. Tell me what you did for YOU, what your kids did that day that was special, upcoming plans/trips., a great recipe, a cute craft for Thanksgiving, a new product…something INTERESTING. Here comes the Pinterest plug. Think sticky-note heaven.

NO – I am NOT paid by Pinterest, with my social media marketing business and website design, that would be a reasonable question. It’s just a really cool site, especially if you lean a bit towards the crafty/cooking side. People “pin” things of “interest” (thus the PINTEREST name) in short little blurbs. If it catches your eye, click on it. If not, keep going. It looks a bit like a newspaper, with little boxes FULL of information. AND it’s different every time you long in. I saw this “hair” idea where the girl had “dampened her hair, and rubbed drawing chalk on it for color, then curled it.” Offers color, yet washes out. Alexandra would be all over that. Then I saw these cute little teacher gift-like ideas. Nice. Cheap & easy, and more importantly it’ll look amazing and be useful. Teachers don’t need anymore junk to sit on their desks unless it is uses precious space wisely! Just a plug for my teacher friends.

There’s one hitch….you have to be invited. Yes, by invitation only. I’ve been on the invite list since I was in Mexico on the 14th. UGH! People can invite you, or you can wait for the PINTEREST people to invite you. INVITE ME…..it’s really bugging me! Great site though – check it out. I know enough about this “social media marketing” to know these people are NOT TRYING TO MARKET anything because it’s taking too long and they are missing the opportunity to direct traffic to their site. They don’t NEED to be concerned, they clearly have TONS of traffic. People just share, to share. I’m sure there are a few marketers out there, but hey – you have to take some good with the bad.

This chandelier I’m sharing was something that someone “pinned” to the site from the DIY network.  So “Katie” was on DIY’s site, and thought enough of this (and the how to directions) that she posted it, shared the link and the picture, and it caught my eye. Niiiiice. I tell all my clients that social media is taking over. People share SO much, and to me, this is worth-while sharing. I see where the research and marketing funds are going, and it makes sense. But seriously, some people abuse Facebook. Who cares if you are going to the grocery store. Tell me what cool things you are going to make with the grocery items. Chances are, I’ll see you at the dang store. HA!

Anyway, check it out. Neat site. I try to share the new ones that are kind of cool. Back to work. I have to crank out a “penile enhancement and surgery” site. Yep, you read it right…..

10:10 am | Categories: Melanie, Raggedy Moms, Reviews | Tags: | Comments Off

Homecoming – Newcomings 2011

It’s that time. Teens plotting and planning for Homecoming (or Newcoming for my George Ranch friends). Do I ask a date OR do I attend with a group of friends. School groups are organizing dinners and mum-making-parties…….it’s a fun time. It can also be a stressful time for all. My “newcoming” friends are all doing this for the first time since they were in high school – which is kind of funny (wasn’t so funny for me 3 years ago -ha!) to watch. I have to mention out loud – my friends at George Ranch in LCISD – who have found a way for their kids to do what all the other schools are doing, but under a VERY creative name. NEWCOMING. They are a new school, only has freshman – juniors this year. So technically, there is NO ONE COMING HOME! Thus the newcoming…..

Austin High School, where my kids attend, has this down to a science. ProGrad takes orders, assembles and sells Homecoming mums. I think that is an AWESOME idea. What a great fundraiser. Students and moms – maybe some dads, who knows, put this together.

The Austin Angels, the dance team at AHS, are putting on a Homecoming Dinner & Auction. Food by Pappas BBQ. Another great Texas tradition – bbq and football. Dinner tickets are going to be sold September 26-30 in the AHS Commons AND by all members of the Austin Angels. These tickets are ONLY $10. What a deal! Entertainment by the Angels, dinner by Pappas AND an Auction? I know where I expect to see all my friends on October 12th.  Homecoming is that weekend, and yes, I realize my kids have a swim meet that weekend that has a location of TBA. Ugh!

Just wanted to share the information with y’all! If you want to share with your friends, visit the Austin Booster Club website for more information! GO DAWGS!

2:51 pm | Categories: Raggedy Moms | Comments Off

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