The TRUTH About Motherhood

Search results for: “this blogger's life”

Throat Punch Thursday:Bullshit Blogger Edition
This week, I was all set to give the throat punch to Pastor Jerry Jones because lets face it, he is a douche bagger in a major way.Burning people’s Bibles, come on now. That is just not right. What’s next burning people at the stake?
But alas, in the last 24 hours, incredibly enough an even bigger douche bag, ass wipe has come to my attention.Oh yes, any blogger worth their salt knows of whom I am speaking. I don’t want to speak her name ( if she really even is a she) ~~She He~~ It has lied about everything else. I am not totally sure they are who or what they say they are. God knows, not one of their posts have they written themselves. That’s right. They have stolen every one of the posts on their site and had the gall to back date them.This moron even copied the about and uncut pages. Can you believe this? I highly doubt the photos of the children on the blog are even hers. Or real, for that matter. It’s probably some weirdo, no life having, living in their mama’s basement sort of douche bag.
As bloggers,we all know how hard it is to build a community and maintain a blog.It’s a lot of work. It’s like raising a child. If you want it to grow and be strong and respected, you’ve got to put your blood, sweat, tears, heart and a whole lot of elbow grease and time into it.That being said, it is a cardinal sin to steal someones content. That is stealing someones thoughts, experiences, feeling; their life, their talent, their passion. For that, you deserve a hell of a lot worse than my throat punch but that is all I have to give. I hate to do this but I feel its my duty to share the blog address so that you can all go check it out and see if this idiot has stolen your content. If they have, please report them to the appropriate people.I encourage all authors of original posts copied and pasted here, to fill out a copyright infringement claim at:
https://www.google.com/blogger_dmca.html
Here is the blog Outnumbered by Testosterone. I’m not sure what kind of racket this broad is running but she needs to be shut down.She’s like the single white female of the blogosphere and she needs to be locked up in a padded room , or at the very least locked out of the blogosphere. Yes, this weeks throat punch definitely goes to the crazy bitch that steals other people’s lives. Happy Mothering!
2010/09/09
What Every Blogger Should Know About Blogging
I wasn’t sure that I should write this piece about blogging practices because it will probably piss some people off. I’ve been blogging for 4 years and over the years, I have made some truly great friends; women who have virtually held me when I was having my greatest breakdowns, shown me the blogging ropes and commiserated with me when I had lost all control of my household, had no sleep and was covered in spit up and baby shit. They’ve become my sisters. You know who you are and I love you ladies.
In these 4 years, I have also learned that blogging is not just about the sisterhood, it’s a business and there are a whole lot of ladies trying to be king of the mountain and that summit if pretty fucking small. (more…)
2013/03/20
Throat Punch Thursday ~Marissa’s Bunny the Trust Abusing Blogger Edition

This week’s Throat Punch Thursday goes to the blogging mastermind behind Marissa’s Bunny blog.There’s a lot of sick people in the world and a lot of them have access to the internet, as evidenced by people googling search terms like ” chloroforming your child” and “little people having sex.” This is nothing new to me. I’m sure you are not surprised. God knows how you might have found this particular post yourself?
Marissa’s Bunny, real deal or not?
Bloggers are absolutely fabulous people to get a cause out in the world. We can seriously bring down any wrong in the world..if we set our minds to it. We take a topic and spread it like wildfire.It is amazing what we can do. But every once in awhile, I see something getting spread that sets off my spidey senses. In my 2+ years of blogging, I’ve seen a few of what seemed to be great causes brought to the social media Gods, ran with and spread like jam all over the social media world. Even if I do feel the cause is worthy, sick children, cancerous mothers, unemployed dads with testicular cancer..whatever the case may be, I am always leery to support a cause that I do not have direct and complete knowledge of the circumstances. I just feel like I have worked too hard for the trust of my readers to lead them off on any old quest. Not to mention, I’ve seen many well respected bloggers colored red with embarrassment because their good hearts led them blindly down the path of swindledom.
Who is Marissa’s Bunny? Really?
So today when I saw a post on ShePosts shared by Jessica Gottlieb, I checked it out and then all my faith in the world went out the window. Long story short, Marissa’s Bunny is a blog narrated by a father, Mike, of a little girl, Marissa, diagnosed with Infantile Spasms, a rare pediatric form of epilepsy. For years, the Marissa’s Bunny blog has shared news of “Marissa’s daily struggles, meetings with doctors, the high cost of treatment, theories and possible surgeries, and even a disturbing video of Marissa in the midst of a seizure.” It really is heartbreaking and I know most parent bloggers, most humans, would feel compelled to do something to help this baby. (For the complete sordid story, please go here)
Bottom line, people’s heartstrings were pulled like the strings of a puppet and money was donated in the name of a sick little girl. But what were the donations really being used for? Where did they go? Is there really a Mike? A Marissa? There is nothing I hate more than good people being duped. My throat punch goes to any asshole who will use a sad story , invoking the name of a sick child ( real or imagined) to solicit funds under fraudulent circumstances. It’s like the 57 year old crack head I saw standing on the corner by the liquor store, missing her teeth with a piece of card board saying she had a 1 and 2 year old and needed money for food. Uhhm, no! I don’t buy that bullshit for a minute. Proof please. I hate that the world has made us so cynical but a 57 year old crack head having babies is about as believable as a company giving away 20 ipads in the name of charity.I’m saying whether or not it’s legit but from what I’ve read, there are a lot of things that don’t add up. Be weary of where you place your faith in people. Be careful and do some research before investing your complete trust and hard earned money in people.
*Today, I was featured at Hersay.com revealing the mystery of the man cold! Stop by and check it out!

Marissa’s Bunny Trust Abusing Blogger?
2011/07/22
Must Have Wordpress Plugins for Every Blogger
There are a million Wordpress plugins for Wordpress sites and they are constantly updating an evolving. It is hard to keep up. Hell, if you are new to Wordpress, it’s difficult to even know where to begin. I’ve had my site for almost 4 years (next month) and I’ve been on Wordpress for the past 2.5 years. I still am finding new ones that I should have been using like Facebook page promoter, which is my new favorite this week.
My personal recommendations for must have Wordpress Plugins are as follows:
Akismet: Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog’s “Comments” admin screen.
Wordpress SEO by Yoast: WordPress SEO plugin goes the extra mile to take care of all the technical optimization, more on that below, it first and foremost helps you write better content. WordPress SEO forces you to choose a focus keyword when you’re writing your articles, and then makes sure you use that focus keyword everywhere.
Alpine Phototile for Instagram: The Alpine PhotoTile for Instagram is capable of retrieving photos from a particular Instagram user or tag. The photos can be linked to the your Instagram page, a specific URL, or to a Lightbox slideshow. Also, the Shortcode Generator makes it easy to insert the widget into posts without learning any of the code.
Comment Luv: CommentLuv Pro has even more amazing features that can bring even more traffic and comments to your blog by giving you the ability to fight spam, add keywords, integrate twitterlink, add a top commentators widget, social enticements and by having it installed on your site, you get advanced backlink features on EVERY CommentLuv blog when you comment (there are 10’s of thousands of CommentLuv blogs)
Facebook Page Promoter Lightbox (My new favorite): All your visitors should know about your facebook page and tell their friends. With this plugin you can display a preconfigured Facebook Fan Page-Like Box inside a lightbox (overlay).
Official Statcounter plugin: The Official StatCounter WordPress Plugin brings you all the powerful StatCounter features to your wordpress blog.

I also did some research on Facebook and asked my blogger readers what they thought were the must haves. I have compiled that list for you! Enjoy, my friends.

Lizz Porter: Am I A Funny Girl
Tweet Old Post
Twylah
YARPP
No Right Click Images
GiGi Ross: Kludgy Mom
NRelated Content
Pretty Pinterest Pins
Greet Box
Rebel Mouse
Super Cache
Editorial Calendar
Social Author Bio
Melissa Arce Culbertson: MomcommComment Reply Notification
Woo Commerce
Popular Post
What would Seth Godin Do?
Corey Feldman: Corey Feldman
W3 Total Cache
Google XML Sitemaps
Hotfix
WPTouch
iFrame
Copyrighted post
Jetpack
What is your must have wordpress plugin? Please share in the comments!
2013/04/26
Featured Guest blogger: The Alabaster Cow herself, ERICKA!

Have you read the Alabaster cow? If not you are really missing out. Ericka at the Alabaster Cow is an amazingly, witty honest writer who will emphatically make you laugh, cry and shake your head in agreement. Now get over there and visit her while you can, she is on the precipice of writing greatness. Keep a look out, soon there will be upcoming novels!

Baby Poop, JTT, and a Monkey
I spent all day today covered in poop.
That’s the typical story isn’t it? The no shower, stink to high heaven, realize you stepped in Chihuahua shit an hour too late scenario that seems to stick to our motherly asses like chewed gum on a subway seat.
Or is it just me?
I only want one child. Does the fact that I didn’t realize I had my daughter’s feces smeared on my shirt and my shorts until three in the afternoon somehow justify this? Certainly. Is there more to the story? You bet your backside there is.
This life isn’t the one I had carved out for myself when I was younger. I had spent countless minutes whittling away at my potential future until it took the shape and form of the following:
·Publish my first novel by sixteen (I was of course willing to publish sooner but I reasoned I’d be able to handle the pressure at a more mature age. By which I mean sixteen).
·Gain the attraction of both Prince William and Jonathan Taylor Thomas which shouldn’t be too hard considering I was pretty sure I’d turn into a sixteen-year-old babe. This must have been the major clue that I was destined for a life of absolute beauty:

·Make a major decision and decide if I’d rather spend my life with JTT or Prince William. This one is obviously a head scratcher, folks.
·Publish consecutive novels and travel across the world for book signings and lectures.
·Buy a monkey.
As time went on I eventually nixed the monkey plan (I decided with all that money and fame that TWO monkeys would suit me that much better) and added the part about me obtaining my MFA, going on and securing my PhD under my belt and of course teach and write and maybe break into acting. It’s the natural progression of things, no?
But instead of lounging in the back of my limo, popping a bottle of bubbly with JTT (I’m Catholic so even though my forbidden love affair with the prince would be tres romantic, I’m afraid it would have been too much work and I’m too damn lazy and famous and rich for that), I spent the day covered in baby poop.
I love my daughter. There are tightly wound fibers in my heart that would deaden and drift away if I didn’t have that little lady in my life. But I only want that little lady and no other munchkins. Maybe it’s because my blood still contains my writerly ambitions. Maybe it’s because I have yet another novel manuscript bouncing around in my head. All I know is that I’m going to be an author one of these days. Not just for me, but for her.
People say I’m only dreaming. That one day I’ll get over my “one and done” philosophy and the whole writer schtick and that’ll I’ll want my own little Duggar clan. But that’s the thing: if I’m dreaming then this time the dream will stick.
Or else I’ll buy a monkey.
What a great point Ericka makes with this piece! We all need to hold on to our dreams so that we can be better parents to our children. We are the example that they base their lives on and if we lead lackluster lives covered in shit while watching life pass us by, what kind of an example will we be? Never let go of your dreams! You may have to change them up a little, postpone them for a little while, or even take an entirely different route to get to them ( the scenic route) but don’t let go of your dreams. I firmly believe that where there is a will, there is always a way. Even if you have to write that first novel during stolen moments in the middle of the night or while sitting there covered in a baby’s bodily fluid, don’t give up. The only way we certainly don’t achieve our goals is by not trying or giving up.
Thank you for the reminder
href=”https://alabastercow.com/”>ERICKA! We all had our dreams, and then we had our babies, Now, lets have our cake and eat it too!
Now, Please go visit ERICKA at the ALABASTER COW! You will thank me later! And follow this talented, humorous writer who shares her life and perspective with us in a very entertaining fashion.
I had the pleasure of guest posting at the ALABASTER COW today so please go there and check out my post for today!Happy Mothering!
2010/07/20
…and Then Blogging became A Pissing Contest
They like me, they really, really like me! These are the words running through my head as I read the email that I had been selected as one of Babble’s top 100 bloggers of 2013 reader’s choice in the Latina category.
I’ve been blogging for almost 5 years and in that time, I’ve come to know and love a lot of bloggers. I know it’s cliché but you ladies have become my true tribe. You’ve seen me through some of the best and worst days of my life and some of you are like sisters to me, even though we’ve never met. I know it’s genuine because those of you who I have met in person, it was like seeing an old friend not meeting someone for the very first time. Many of you are on my speed dial. I love you broads. Blogging is about so much more than just tapping away at a keyboard; it is sharing our stories, our lives with other people. For me, it’s about opening up and being real.
Friday, Babble announced it’s top 100 bloggers of the year. It wasn’t just mom bloggers this year but spanned 10 different niches. I was chosen as the reader’s choice Latina blogger and I am honored. I’ve been sharing my life, my children, my successes and failures with you all in a very honest way over the years and that is scary. To be acknowledged for that, was surprising because I usually feel like I am writing for an audience of one…myself.
Honestly, I was shocked. I am not the most popular blogger on the Internet, I don’t have the outrageous top tier numbers nor do I write about what everyone wants to read. I am honest and sometimes abrasive. I know I piss people off. I am the Throat Punch Thursday girl, for God’s sake. I am a loose canon sometimes who writes without a filter and that is not exactly attractive to some people. I am rough around the edges, so to be chosen by Babble was flattering but to be the reader’s choice was humbling.
I have seen so many of my talented friends receive this award in the past years and I have always been happy for them; ecstatic! Because, lets face it, we bloggers are the book nerds, introverted, quirky and deep types. We’ve spent our entire lives afraid that people will figure out who we really are and yet we bravely write it out and share it on our sites. We make ourselves vulnerable by exposing ourselves through our writing. This is why I love my blogger friends so much. Our blogs are the one place in life where I feel like we are all seeing one another’s true selves. That means something to me.
Anyways, I was excited about this award because honestly, I am never nominated or win anything. Congratulations came pouring in from my blogger friends around the globe. Some of you made me cry with your too kind words. It felt great and then I began reading the flippant comments on Facebook about how meaningless the Top 100 was. How it was “stupid”, how no one cared about these bloggers, how no one wanted to scroll through these writer’s life stories, how it was bullshit and all the winners were not very good bloggers. It took the wind out of my sails a bit. It tarnished it.
I know the award means nothing really; there’s no new job, money, trophy or car involved. My life won’t change because Babble has given me this award. But for someone who’s stayed true in her writing, to who she is, being chosen by the readers as their choice was something. It is validation that my fellow bloggers appreciate my writing, respect me enough to choose me to represent them and that somebody else reads what I say besides my mom.
I am proud to announce that I am one of Babble’s Top 100 bloggers; Latina Reader’s choice and next year, when you win, I will be genuinely happy for you because you deserve it and I am happy when my friends succeed. I am sorry if you don’t like those who were chosen on this year’s list. But mostly, I feel sorry for those who were belittling the list ( and in effect the winners) because it would suck to be that jaded and cynical. Thank you all so much for the very sweet and kind words over the past few days. They mean more than you will ever know and thank you Babble for selecting me to be on this list. But most of all, thank all of you who read me because without you I’d still be writing to an audience of one.

2013/12/09
More Hopping, FAWKING, and doing it all the HARD way!
Happy Friday, my friends! If you are here! I am happy to see you. It’s Friday and I am in a fantastically wonderful mood. The Big Guy is headed home to our zip code, the Bellarini will be headed home soon and it will be cuddle, snuggles and naps all around! And my Gabs, that little golden nugget is sitting by my side watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse…ever so quietly.Coffee is piping hot and in this moment life is pretty SWEET!Most of you have heard about my Be a Better Me Challenge that I have been doing this month, in honor of my birthday. Hope you can link up and we can all be better us! Also, in honor of my birthday, I have set a small goal of reaching a 1000 followers by my birthday September 25th. So, if you can follow or pass the word on to your friends who you think would enjoy this blog, I would much appreciate it. Feeling too blessed to be stressed this morning. Hope you are too. Take some deep breaths, relax, let all the craziness fall to the wayside. It’s Friday, its a beautiful fall day, and life is good! One more thing, Favor. Can you all help me out. I have been nominated for favorite Mommy Blogger on Babble. If its possible can you help me out by clicking on the first link here:
https://www.babble.com/babble-50/mommy-bloggers/nominate-a-blogger/
Then it should come up on the page “Nominate a favorite Mommy blogger” scroll down, select alphabetically as the way to sort and find The TRUTH about Motherhood and select
‘I like this Blogger”
Thanks everyone!
1. The strangest thing I’ve ever eaten is …alligator in New Orleans and rattlesnake and goat in Mexico.
2. I wouldn’t be caught dead…. naked in public. It’s not pretty anymore and I’m pretty sure I’d give some people heart attacks (not in a good way) and probably be the cause of some in mouth regurgitation! Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Don’t feel pity for me, I can get back into shape…I just gotta get working at it.
3. When I am 75 I will…. be just like Aunt Sally, she is beautiful inside and out, she lives loud and balls to the wall. She has eeked every ounce of life she can out of her 80+ years. She is my hero. When I am her age, I want to be agile, able, still driving, teasing the boys, funny, uber lovable, enjoying cocktails with my bestest friends. I want to live every single day like its my last, starting now!
4. If I had to be named after a place I would want to be named… Virginia like the gorgeous state…the place where I left a big chunk of my heart last fall.
5. My name is “Deborah” – after my Mom’s bestie- “Asuzenna” – a bastardization of my Dad’s little sister’s name Asusana. I love my name, it’s especially funny to hear the way people fuck it up. At high school graduation it was OHSUSANA, at college it was INFLUENZA, and at my wedding it was Insuzensa
.It’s Ah-SU-ZEE-NA. Now you all know.
6. My all time favorite photo is…. a photo of the Big Guy and I when we first started dating. We were both in college, terribly young and equally in love. We both have the biggest smiles on our faces. I look a that picture and I remember how very lucky I am , and all the excitement and love that I felt in that moment to be with him..that picture can carry me through the rest of my life.No matter what kind of day I have, I can look at that picture and know that somewhere in the world the most amazing man I have ever known…loves me!
The other photo I absolutely adore is one of my girls when Gabs was a week old. I love seeing Bella looking at Gabs with such love, and Gabs looking up to Bella with complete trust and adoration.
7. If I could afford it… I would pay off all of our debt and our house, then I’d pay off my parents house, and my In laws house for them.If I could afford it, none of my friends and family would want for anything and then I’d take all of our stress free asses on a vacation to Greece.
* I do normally place my blog hop badges here but for some reason BLOGGER is telling me it has some kind of form error. Sorry, I tried but with the badges, it actually won’t save the post. I’ve lost it twice already. NOT doing it again or I will have to throw this damn laptop!*
Now on to the FAWK YOUs for the week.
FAWK YOU to my beloved IMAC.Why must you decide to start flashing that blasted file folder with the question mark on it? I have no answer for you! You have left me very sad, lonely and disappointed.I’ll give you another chance, just please come back to me.sniff* sniff*
FAWK you to a really hard week of kindergarten recess in which my little one felt ‘left out’. How I friggin hate to watch my girls feelings be hurt or heart broken. SO FAWK YOU growing pains!
FAWK you to Notre Dame football traffic congesting my downtown route to Bella’s school.
FAWK you to bloggers who steal other bloggers content. Have you no original thought in your tiny brain?
FAWK YOU again for not going all single white female life stealing on my posts. Is it weird that I feel a little left out:)
FAWK you to this economy that causes the Big Guy to be in yet another state while I am left to single mother it all week. Also, economy thanks for making my girls sad and miss their daddy on a daily basis. Saying good night over the phone or SKYPE is just not the same as a good night kiss from the Big Guy!
FAWK you to feeling lonely.
FAWK you to free and easy. I think I want to do every thing hard…live, play, love, and laugh HARD!
2010/09/10
Blogger Outreach
I have been working on the Internet and building my online network for over 5 years. Bloggers are my people and I can effectively connect the right brands with the right bloggers, because I actually know and follow them, while eliminating ineffective, off-putting generic press inquiries that insult the very bloggers your brand wants to work with.
2014/09/07
Mommy Competition or More Bullshit that I’m sick of
This post is for my fellow Mommy bloggers. I know some of you don’t like to be pigeonholed by the term. I, myself, am pretty proud of it. I have only been writing this blog for about 2 years, but in that time I have surrounded myself with a wonderful community or women and men; mostly parents and bloggers. I have met amazing women all over the globe. My friend and advice pool has increased exponentially. I have also learned that there is a definite pecking order in the community, as there is in any social circle. People with seniority are obviously going to know more about the field and have more experience and insight. This is nothing new. This is the way of the world.
Last night, I was checking my Twitter stream and I saw a confusing tweet about Top Tier (more seasoned) Mommy Bloggers and it linked to a post. I won’t link that post because I don’t like to give traffic to what I think is a malicious rant. I wasn’t sure if the tweet was in agreement of the post or against it. So, my interest was piqued and I had to read it for myself.The jist was that it was a complaint rant ( a whine, if you will) about how Top Tier Mommy bloggers are aloof and “take” all the opportunities and that the only reason they have the opportunities that they have is because they were here first.She went on to insinuate that the entire “community” that they inundate themselves with is nothing more than a handful of other Top Tier Mommy bloggers. The entire post felt to me like a platform to attack. Of course, it is her blog and she is entitled to say whatever she wants about whatever she wants.It’s her opinion but it really felt like sour grapes to me.
I am NOT a big name blogger, by any means. I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of Mommy bloggers.But I can say this with complete authority, these women are where they are because they are talented writers, they work hard to network, they put themselves out there with their writing and most have been working hard at this for years.YEARS!The writer of the post says that the Top Tier Mommy bloggers “worm” their way into every single internet uproar referencing the Today Moms and Babble.com. These bloggers are the authority because they’ve been doing it the longest and gotten exposure for being pioneers in the field. The Today Show and Babble go to them first because the Top Tier Mommy bloggers are the ones who have been here for the longest. FYI, I know several “new” bloggers (especially int he NYC area) who have several media opportunities. So, it’s not just about being in that elite group. You have to be available and engage in social media. You can’t sit on a Mommy blogger throne and just think you are so special that the world must come to you. We are all moms. We grow babies and share our experience, have opinions..the end. Most are not independently wealthy, they are paid in prestige. They are paid in mattresses, trips and cameras.They write because they love to write. They write to maintain their sanity.They write because they have something to say. They keep writing because we are reading. I admire them for their fortitude and ambition.It’s hard to keep working so diligently on a goal that is almost impossible to reach.Mommy blogging is about as hard as actual Mommying, with much less rewards.
I wonder if the blogger who wrote the post has even ever tried to reach out to these so called Top Tier bloggers? I have. I have networked and chit chatted with just about every single one of them via Twitter, FB, our blogs, email and various other blogging platforms. You know what? The ones I’ve interacted with are very friendly, willing to guide/mentor a new blogger, gracious and smart. They don’t shut new bloggers out. But, as a new blogger, you have to be willing to engage, introduce yourself. They don’t know you. How could they? You’ve never met. It’s common sense, just like in your real life relationships.You have to make an effort. You can’t sit on your ass and expect Mohammad to come to the mountain. Most of us are not that fucking special.In fact, no one is that fucking special. Life is about relationships. You get out what you put in.
It’s ridiculous that I have to defend these ladies for doing nothing wrong. This post I read talks about community and the TOP TIER bloggers keeping it very elite and cliquey when she herself is the one who is attacking; shutting them out. They are not writing about keeping people out. She is. I think this is more a case of sour grapes than anything else. This is where the dysfunction comes from in this community.Not from Top Tier Mommy bloggers shutting people out but from whiny bloggers giving up and looking for someone else to blame for their own shortcomings. Work hard, persist and persevere or give up and shut up. Either way, stop complaining.
2011/04/19
Video Blogger
Video:
I gather information about the client and their product or use news and current events to create short, entertaining online videos to present the information in a unique way to aid the client in their outreach and marketing efforts.
Nutrisystem
HerSay
2014/09/07