BusyBodyBook Blog

BusyBodyBook Free Shipping & Handling In October and more suggestions...

I'm as freaked out about the state of our economy as anyone. I buy the cheapest gas I can find ($3.05 yesterday!), shop in bulk (there's only two of us so I repackage and freeze) and as a small business owner I have been watching costs go up and so our marketing budget has been sliced and diced.

I am acutely aware of the fact that with everyone so anxiety-ridden and taking care, I hope, of their budgets and so today I made the decision to offer our customers free "bulk" shipping until October 31st.

Purchase any 2 or more BusyBodyBook products and receive free shipping & handling.

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               It's really not too early to start thinking about the holidays.

                Good planning is the key to saving - both $$$ and your sanity!

SAVE$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SAVE

I picked up the November issue of ShopSmart, a Consumer Reports guide, because their headline "Websites that SAVE YOU BIG!" caught my eye and I did some exploring of their recommendations.

To save you the cost of the magazine, here's their list (hope they don't mind!):

Buzzillions.com with unbiased reviews.

Ebates.com for after purchase rebates (found money!) and %s off deals.

Freeshipping.com - the obvious but... a 30 Day Free Trial and then a $6.99 monthly membership for guaranteed free shipping from thousands of their partners.

Heyitsfree.com where the research for the latest free stuff is done for you. And, money saving coupons to easily print out (you can install ActiveX safely! No endless survey before downloading!

Pricegrabber.com compares prices and eliminates lots of websurfing.

Retailmenot.com with coupon codes (some expired?) but others endless.

Shopittome.com for brand shopping with your election of daily or semi-weekly email alerts of sales on items tailored to your size.

For our holiday gifts this season I'm thinking "family gift" instead of individual gifts. With some not so creative thinking you can come up with something that every one will love...restaurant gift certificate, movie night gift certificate with your babysitting service or just a basket with a movie and nosh. A "coupon" for a home cooked meal from your favorite recipes - package the recipe or even the ingredients.

As ever, shop early with mail order to ensure receiving your purchases in time!

A Blogging Beauty

It's not often enough that I find something that soothes my soul and takes me away from the concerns of the world,  the everyday catch-up anxiety, or the  constant problem solving mode we all live with.

But yesterday blogger Molly Balint of mollycoddle found me - or rather BusyBodyBook.

Admittedly, I am a review hog. It's what one is, does shamelessly, with a relatively new product to bring to market. Not two years ago we actively sought out blog reviews based on any mention of the mom market.  Today, thanks to BBB's growing notoriety,  we're now  approached for reviews.   The cost of  review is not insignificant (we mail out many review copies weekly). With this and a respectful but ever tightening marketing budget we've become pretty discriminating. While far less expensive than  conventional PR outreach we still try to ensure a good match - researching the blogger's  subject matters and stats. (Fear not beginning bloggers - I have a deep regard for beginners - I was once there and relied on the good graces of many! Contact me.)

So, getting back to my weary soul... when Molly inquired about a review her first mention that she was  a pro-blogger at babycenter.com set off  "gongs" and I was only too happy to respond. It wasn't until an hour or so later that I did my research - but first at her own blog.

Inspiring is how I describe Molly's blog. Whether talking about her family, her home, herself - Molly's writing is poetic , her images (her own) are beautiful, and her creative being heaven sent. Every character (right down to the font she uses) of her blog transported me back , forward, inside - yearning to pick up my knitting needles again, back to finishing John Adam's bio, and wondering when the next time would be that I would be planting, not just weeding.

Beam us up Molly! And thanks for the cucumber salad recipe! Jake's going to love it.

giggling in NYC, CA, CT

Woohoo! Got orders of the 08/09 academic BBB from "giggle" stores - a tad late for them to order this edition but I hope they're a sell out so they order the 2009 versions SOON!

 

                                           

   BusyBodyBook Organizers - TOOLS  for our insanely busy lives!

Check out at giggle.com or visit their stores in your neighborhood for really snazzy stuff for the kids (and you too!)

BusyBodyBook Toting Grandmas

I spent this past week with my family in Indianapolis, several days at 3PM sitting beside my sister-in-law Gail on a serpentine line of carpoolers picking up the 3 littlest Goldners at school. On my lap was Gail's new BusyBodyBook chock full of: the grandkid's schedules - pick-ups, drop- offs, soccer, tutoring, gymnastics; Mom Lisa's in- and out-0f-town schedule; and of course, Gail's own activities and chores. Whew! No rest or retirement for this generation.

Today more and more grandparents are taking charge of afterschool. No surprise - more moms now have full or part time jobs than not. It's also wonderful to see these generations spending more time together.  With homework to organize, games to play, chores to supervise ( at least one sassy  kid) - grandma has a huge job -

- and at times this Baby Boomer has admitted she'd rather be playing Bridge or teeing off (now her morning and early afternoon activities have to be organized with a group of 8 other grandparents responsible for afterschool!)

Blogging for Blood Cancer

This past weekend I was contacted by blogger Lois Whittaker of goodiesformoms requesting help broadcasting a huge event occurring the week of August 11, 2008 called "Blogging for Blood Cancer." The event's goal is to raise the awareness and funds to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by enlisting the assistance of the blog community to spread the word.

Lois is also the National Team Captain of  Friends of Heroes, a national Light the Night Friends and Family team that conscientiously works towards raising money  for research to find a cure for those suffering from the different forms of blood cancers that all too often claim the lives of children and adults.            

Only months ago my sister-in-law was diagnosed with acute leukemia. She is currently and, thank god, successfully undergoing treatment. Joyce is one of the lucky adults to have found a bone marrow match and withstand the long, grueling but life-saving treatments. Each day is a new day and one more day that she remains in remission while her new blood fights off the leukemic cells which could have taken her life.

I personally know of three others who have had a form of blood cancer.  A young mother of four children won the fight of her life and remains cancer free for more than five years. But,  two others,  one friend just recently, were not as fortunate.

You can visit www.friends of heroes.org, www.light the night.org and www.lls.org for more information and ways to help. Please spread the word of this event on your blog, or perhaps give of  your time or make a tax-deductible donation to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In this we provide hope to those and their families whose lives have been overwhelmed with the effects of these diseases.

Yesterday

Sunday night when my business phone rang I had just put my feet up and decided that tomorrow would a be better time to return the call. But workaholic that I am I listened to the message. "Hi, I just Googled "Joan Goldner" and IF this is the Joan Goldner that grew up on 78th Road, this is Marsha Goldberg calling and if this is the RIGHT Joan Goldner would you please call me at back? I'm at my sister's in south Jersey for a few days."  It didn't take me two seconds to return the call to my long ago best friend and her family.

I'm on my way down to visit tomorrow to catch up with 2/3 of the family and I can't wait to see everyone I have lost track of for almost 30 years. Through Jamaica High School, Lehman College and graduate school (while we taught elementary school together) Marsha and I were pretty inseparable. Memories of straightening her hair with various "appliances", eating fish sticks with her family of 6, playing hooky and getting caught by my mother, taking the endless train ride together to Lehman College in the Bronx, hitching rides with "upper classman" who were old enough to drive us home, finally getting my license and waiting on early A.M. lines to gas up my parent's tank of a car before heading to school, picketing for peace together,  attending all family weddings, meeting her newborn, Eric... streams of flashbacks are making me cry.

When Marsha and her husband Bruce packed up a U-Haul in Queens, NY I was there to help and say good-bye as they drove off to live in Boulder, CO. I cried for days. We visited with each other a few times, spoke some, wrote some and then, I guess life just twisted and turned.

The last we spoke was 16 years ago when I felt a need to reach out just after I lost my mother and was about to have Jake. We hadn't spoken in a long while and when I called I caught her on a particularly bad day (ah, life!). We spoke a while and though we promised to stay in touch, once again life took over. So when I heard her voice again I changed every plan I had. Tomorrow I drive down to see the clan and spend a delicious day with people who made an indelible mark on my life, and who I plan on seeing every year to come and speaking to always!

78th Road was a very very long time ago but Marsha's voice made it all feel like it all happened yesterday.

Ironically, I received an invitation today to a Lehman College class reunion. I hope she can make it.

Vacations with Family: One Blogger + 3 and then, 8 Hoosiers + various pets

  I've finally organized our vacation plans - at last! My BBB has been updated and my todo lists include: buying lots o' gifts for the little ones, good NY bagels and whitefish salad, finding a new make-me-look-at-least-a-size-smaller bathing suit, calling the pet sitter for Happy & Scooter.

My niece Jill, now living in California, has been yearning for a vacation back home - in New Jersey. Raised in the east, she spent years at the Jersey Shore (Long Beach Island, to be specific). She's been pining away the last two years for our sandy beaches. Jill's been calling daily for a weather report - the hotter, the more humid, the better!

Frankly, I think she's out of her mind - Maui's great this time of year too -  perhaps she just needs a nostalgic three thousand mile escape from sunny, dry Palo Alto and a brief respite from the SVMOMS blogosphere.  The good news for Jake and I is that we get to spend time with  family - one 8-year-old ballerina (dances with the San Francisco Ballet), one 6-year-old newbie vegetarian, two CFOs ( 1- Chief Financial Officer and 1-Chief Family Officer.)

Two weeks later we're off to Indianapolis to visit 3 generations of Goldners, 2 barn cats, 6 dogs, and, at last count, 4 horses (maybe 5 if you count the Great Dane). Occasionally zoo-like, I can't wait to hug, pet, shmooze, relax poolside, eat my sister-in-law's home cooking, and forget about work!

Nothing exotic, sort of  a staycation and so much fun for all.

What A Week!!!!! The 2008 NY Stationary Show is right around the corner

With the 2008 NY National Stationary Show beginning May 18 and just days away, we're working around the clock. I don't think my own Fridge GRID Pad has ever been put to such great use. With organizing and coordinating the details: insuring that products are ready; designing, producing and implementing our booth design; preparing sales and press materials - on top of everything else - we're a bit overwhelmed. But  well organized and ready for our "debut" of our line of ever-efficient, ever-life-saving BusyBodyBook Weekly GRID planners.

What's really exciting is that BBB has been selected for presentation in the National Stationary Show's New Product Display!!!

"So, what's new? What could be better?" you ask.

The BusyBodyBook Personal & Family GRID Organizer

                                                            Aug '08 - Sept. '09                                               

                                                   

                                                Jan - Dec 2009                                                 

                                                 

BusyBodyBook Personal & Family Organizers  now have sturdy, frosted plastic  protecting the ever-beautiful covers from coffee spilled on the run.

MORE..............................................................................................................................................                                                    

The UNdated, 7-Column BBB Fridge GRID PAD                              

52 Weekly UNdated pages, 11 x 8.5, and magnetic, the BBB Fridge GRID Pad is now two color and 3-hole punched. You can now store your pages in a standard 3-ring binder!

And MORE..................................................................................................................................

                              

The 2009 BusyBodyBook Wall Calendar

As with all BBB products, the Weekly GRID format is the key to better family organization and communication!

     The

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

BusyBodyBook Wall Calendars feature:

• 7-columns (as spacious as ever)
• a week-at-a glance that can hang as a 1-week or 2-week view (depending on your wall real estate)
• key contacts pages
• months-at-a-glance pages
• a  4" storage pocket on the back cover

11.5" x 14" or 22" x 14"

Available in August!

Whew!!!!! Thanks to everyone for your help, thoughtfulness and support - now and through the years!

Please visit us at Booth# 1543 if you're planning to visit the show.

On a Very Personal Note...

Saturday, April 19th, my niece Jill will be heading up a Bone Marrow Drive in Palo Alto, CA. in honor of her mom and my very dear sister-in-law Joyce who is currently and most importantly, successfully (thank god!) undergoing chemo treatment for acute leukemia.

This is a disease that affects thousands and the best and most hopeful, lifesaving treatment after undergoing extensive chemotherapy, is finally receiving a bone marrow transfer from a matched donor. Joyce is one of the lucky who has found a match and will undergo her bone marrow transplant in May. We pray for its success.

Please read Jill's own post at SVMOMS blog to read the information she has provided as well as find out where you may donate in Palo Alto or elsewhere.

Thank you for just reading and educating yourselves - and please cross-post on your own blog about this life-saving event.

• Date:  Saturday, April 19, 2008
• Location:  95 Crescent Drive, Palo Alto, California 94301
• Time: 9:00am to 3:30pm
• To be eligible to donate, you must be between the ages of 18 to 60

Thank you from all of us and all those who can benefit.

(The east coast family  have all of you on the west coast deep in our hearts!)

Our BBB Fridge GRID Pad - No refrigerator necessary!

Seems like our BBB Fridge GRID Pad has also become an office staple. There's been lots of chatting about how it's helping to keep your full plates in the air at work too. On your desk, your filing cabinet, in hand at meetings...

Like this comment: "I am a busy professional in the world of website development and while I don't have lots of kids... or even a husband, I have found some other incredible uses for BusyBodyBook 's GRID format - This is the first planning tool that lets me manage multiple projects and businesses. I work in the corporate world Monday to Friday and use the planner to keep many balls flying - I manage a college planning website and have to maintain a matrix managment role over co-workers in various departments including marketing, sales, development and customer service. Without  BBB to keep it all straight I'd be lost." 

Check this out too: Z RECOMMENDS (Scroll down about half way).

I recently read another reviewer mention she would prefer a product like the FGP that can be placed in a binder. Simple... BBB FGP sheets are the perfect page size for standard 3-ring binders and can be easily 3-hole punched! Voila! Geez...now we're beating out all those fancy planning products out there. Not bad!

BTW - The current BBB FGP are now 50% off!

Stay tuned. We'll be offering a new Fridge GRID Pad very soon. Same format, same size, magnetic, but now printed in 2 colors and...3-HOLE PUNCHED!

(There's even more exciting news to come.)