Stephanie Jacques

#1. I'm boarding my horse indoors so I can ride all winter and keep my sanity. I'm putting all my cards on this one because riding is my passion. This winter I'm NOT going 6 months without it!

2. Social Media NETWORKING! You never know what's coming around the corner when you're embarked in the social media journey. Keeping ahead with social media and getting continuous training to advance my knowledge has become my mission- why? It's fun and it's opened new doors for me!

3. Staying away from any negative in office conversations. Everything's goin' all right, as far as I'm concerned as long as I've got my family and my health, complimented by an exciting career and surrounded by friends.

4. Go snowtubing at Granite Gorge with my daughter now that she's old enough! This I'm looking forward to.

5. I'm going on a VACATION this winter!

Every once in a while I revert back to my children in a blog because of something that's happened that's truly warmed my heart. This occassion is one of them!

Last night I was a bit harsh and snappy with my daughter whose chatterbox mouth was steering me away from my search for quiet (...and my need to complete a thought without constant interruption.) Because we've raised our children with very little TV, I have an automatic guilt trip for turning it on, but maybe I should have because Mommy wasn't being a good playmate!

I felt bad about being unfairly snappy and, in trying to teach a good lesson, I spoke to my daughter about it this morning as she was getting ready for school. "That's right, Mom, and I'm sorry too for being crabby when you didn't sing to me before bed." And so we continued with our morning and I added that this morning, I was going to let her get ready on her own without nagging about getting dressed, brushing teeth, and hurrying up to eat (something we go through daily and it wears on me as well as her I'm sure!)

After a successful morning without nagging and getting out the door ahead of time for once (which I still can't figure out how it happened without my nagging) she went on..."because I will be able to teach my children how to prepare themselves for school without all that 'do this, do that, blah blah blah' and they won't have to hear me nagging at them because my children won't like it when I nag." I wondered where she got off talking about having children of her own and thinking about how they would feel if she, as a mother, talked to them a certain way. SHE'S 5 and she's talking about how she'll teach her children!

Lesson learned from a 5 year old this morning is, they're brilliantly smart and incredibly capable and willing. Using the right approach and communicating a sense of trust in them is something I'll need to work on because my goal as a parent is to raise my children so that they are capable of being independent when they leave the nest. Treating my daughter as such will help their self esteem greatly as well as make my morning more stressfree!

10/31/2009

28 Owens Drive, Swanzey 10:00-12:00

95 Plain rd, Hinsdale 1:00-3:00

620 West Street, Keene 12:00-2:00

11/1/2009

28 Owens Drive, Swanzey 1:00-3:00 (also on Weds 4:00-6:00)

How energy efficient is my home? I've asked myself this for a long time but come to find out recently that my house is pretty energy efficient! (But there's always room for improvement.)

Check out this rating scale and see what incentives are offered. Maybe you are eligible for an energy audit at below market value. Traditionally I've seen the costs for energy audits at prices over $375. If you could qualify for an audit offered to you at a lower price, it would be well worth it.

Thinking of remodeling? Are there state or federal incentives for your home remodelling projects? Your contractor may not know yet, or be able to help you out, but you can find out for yourself online. This trend is only going to grow stronger, maybe not as quick as social media did because of the costs, but help yourself understand the incentives available and it may not seem so far fetched.

Good luck going green!

I've finally made the decision to begin my second blog. While continuing this blog on Activerain, I've begun to realize the benefits to being on Blogger as well. The primary focus of my blog on Blogger will be to focus on local real estate and social media related topics.

It was so simple to set up and the features are wonderful! The widgets available are all the top widgets I've ever wanted to use and it only took me 30 minutes to customize my entire blog page. I have to admit I've fancied it up with videos from Youtube that I had uploaded, and I already had a stat counter account to track stats.

After much research I'm going forth on my second blog. I think it will be a wonderful compliment to my social media profile.