Ask MomRN Show - Tamara Walker, R.N.  

Later this week I will be attending the Type-A Mom Conference, a conference for moms with blogs and websites! I am so excited and wanted to share a few things with you about it. First of all, I want to thank Chef's Requested for their generous sponsorship which is allowing me to attend the conference. Please check them out at http://www.chefsrequested.com and be sure to sign up for their newsletter and for coupons for their delicious steak products. I have tried them and believe me, they are YUMMY! I especially love the 100 calorie steak packs. Yes, steaks that are only 100 calories each!

I will also get to visit with my dear friends, FlyLady and Nikki Starr! Can't wait to see them again!

Also, my roommate for the conference suggested we share a little about ourselves through a Q&A and post them on our blogs. My roommate is Christina Gleason and I'd encourage you to check out her website and blog, http://www.cutestkidever.org.

Here are Christina's answers to my questions:
1) How old is your son?

TJ just turned 4 at the end of August, but he seems to think he's going on 30. He's in his second year of preschool now.

2) How long have you been married?

Tom and I got married on October 20, 2000. We've been married for almost nine years! People often give me funny looks when I tell them that because they don't believe I'm actually 30 either. But it's been a wonderful nine years. We may renew our vows on our 10th anniversary next year.

3) Do you have any pets and if yes, what kind?

No pets for me. I don't hate animals, I just don't want to touch them or clean up after them. When I go over to someone's house who has a dog, the dogs always gravitate towards me as if they're intent on convincing me to pet them!

4) What is your favorite part of being a mom?

The love. I love when TJ looks at me and tells me that he loves me... completely unprompted. The kisses and the hugs are awesome. I'm going to be very sad when he outgrows this stage, but I'll always know he loves me.

5) What is your least favorite part of being a mom?

I think I'd have to say the whining and the tantrums. I've got a very stubborn little boy, and he lets us know when he's unhappy!  He has a mild form of Asperger Syndrome, so he has slightly more tantrums than most kids his age, I think. It's hard to keep the discipline and the understanding in balance.

1) How would you describe yourself to someone meeting you for the first
time?

I've got slightly long brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. I have chronic hives that make me very self-conscious, but I've given up on trying to find out what causes them and how to get rid of them. It's been 20 years, and my husband says he doesn't notice them, so I'm trying to ignore them! I'm very introverted, so meeting new people is hard for me, even when I'm looking forward to it!

2) Are you a night owl or a morning person?

Neither. I am a mid-morning to afternoon person! I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so I'm lucky to work for myself and find the hours when my mind functions best. I usually start getting ready for bed around 11 and read until my sleeping meds kick in. I normally set the alarm for 9:30, but I'll have to suck it up for the conference!

3) Do you have any quirky habits?

I twirl my hair when I'm tired, bored, or whenever my mind drifts off - which I have a tendency to do. I've effectively layered my hair on the right side when it breaks. I'm a super picky eater, too - but I swear it's not my fault. When I was born, they had to feed me through a tube because I wouldn't drink the formula. I was born this way!

4) How long have you been blogging and why did you start a blog?

I've been blogging for about fouryears now. TJ is 4, so that's when the mommy blog started, and shortly thereafter I started blogging about LOST. Although if you count LiveJournal as blogging, I've been doing that since 2001! All of my blogs - and I have many - were started because I love to write about the things I do, the things I love. I started journaling first.  Not all of my LiveJournal friends wanted to see me gushing about my baby boy, so that's when I started what was then known as Cutest Baby Ever, now Cutest Kid Ever. Then I had the opportunity to blog about the TV show I was obsessed with - and get paid for it! It's all spiraled from there.

5) What do you want to learn or gain from the Type-A Mom Conference?

I'm excited about meeting all of the women I've gotten to know online, and I also hope to learn what it is I'm doing wrong about marketing my blog. I'm a professional writer, and I have a successful content writing business - but that's all ghost writing for other people's businesses. The writing part comes easy, but I just don't get marketing. I hope I can learn from the other moms at the conference!

And here are my answers to her questions:

Here are the 10 questions I'd like to ask you:

1. How is life with two teenagers? Busy, hectic, fun, never boring, exhausting, entertaining, stressful, but sometimes it is a big relief to know they can take pretty good care of themselves when I’m not around. J
2. How long have you been married? Just celebrated 19 years of wedded bliss in August.
3. How noisy is your house with all of those pets? It all depends on what kind of mood the dog and the birds are in or if the toad is hungry. The dog barks if anyone comes to the door, if anyone or any animal comes near the backyard, and random other times. The birds get loud if they want attention. The fire-belly toad, named Dawg, actually makes a barking sound if he is hungry. My son named him Dawg BEFORE we found out that his croaking sounds like a bark. It was very strange the first time we heard him make that noise!
4. What is your favorite part of being a mom? Hugs & kisses, and watching my babies turn into young adults who have their own opinions, dreams, & goals
5. What is your least favorite part of being a mom? Having to be the “bad guy” when it comes to discipline (I do it, it just isn’t fun), doctor’s appointments, and anything I have to make them do that they don’t want to do. Also, seeing my kids hurt, either physically or emotionally.
6. How would you describe yourself to someone meeting you for the first time? I’m very short (5 ft. nothing), shoulder length brunette, brown eyes, and I have a below-knee artificial right leg. I’m fairly outgoing, love to meet new people, and love to laugh.
7. Do you snore or talk in your sleep? I only snore if I have a respiratory illness. I rarely ever talk in my sleep, according to my husband.

 Any other quirks? Not that I can think of. I do remove my leg to sleep at night for comfort reasons but I don’t know if that is a quirk or not. J

8. Describe your bedtime routine. Bedtime all depends on how tired I am. I usually try to go to bed by 11pm but that depends on what is going on. I’m a night owl so if I’m going to bed on time it is either because I’m really tired or my husband has said he misses me because I’ve been up too late for too many previous nights. I am pretty low maintenance and just get in my pj’s, brush my teeth, and if I’m really ambitious I’ll even wash my face. I usually watch tv or read before falling asleep, but that too just depends on how late I’m actually getting to bed. If I’m up really late then I just go to sleep when I hit the pillow. Just a warning, I am not a morning person but I won’t be cranky or anything, just might be quiet as I’m trying to get wide awake.
9. How did you get started with the radio show, and do you miss practicing as a pediatric nurse? I’ll answer the second half first. Yes, there are aspects of nursing I do miss. I enjoyed knowing I was making a difference and helping my patients and their parents. I celebrated the good outcomes and grieved for the bad outcomes. I hated giving shots, drawing blood, and starting IV’s because I hated to cause kids pain. I could do it, knowing that it was a part of helping them get well, but I certainly didn’t enjoy it. I hated “hospital politics” and don’t miss working overtime, getting called in on my days off, working weekends and holidays.

The radio show is a long story. Short version is that one day I heard the new producer of the lunchtime show on my local Christian radio station say she was looking for parent resources. Having a parent resource website, I sent her an email and offered to help her behind the scenes. She ended up giving me my own show. I did that for two years then the station was sold, switched to national programming and all of us locals lost our shows. Fast forward a couple of years and my friend, Marla Cilley (aka The FlyLady), convinced me to resurrect my show and broadcast it on BlogTalkRadio.com. I’ve now been with BTR for 17 months and am having a blast while striving to provide info families need and want.

10.  What do you want to learn or gain from the Type-A Mom Conference? My main goal is to learn how to make a monetary living from MomRN.com and the Ask MomRN Show. They have always been a labor of love, costing me more money than I’ve ever made from either of them. I have always seen both of them as a ministry first and foremost, but in order to keep them going, I now need to have an income from them so I look forward to learning from successful women who are earning an income from blogging & websites. I want to network and meet other bloggers, especially those I’ve “met” online already, and form mutually beneficial relationships. And I want to have fun, of course!

Looking forward to sharing more about the conference and the trip with you all on the 28th! Thanks for listening to the Ask MomRN Show!