A to Z Blog Challenge

In April 2013, Mama Making Changes will be participating in the A to Z Blog Challenge. I love challenges because they hold me accountable for posting daily, which is something that I tend to plan but not always do. 

In the A to Z Challenge, participants' post titles will start with the letter of the day every day except Sunday. Participating bloggers are also asked to visit and comment on at least 5 other blogs on the linky each day, starting with the blog that is listed after your own. 

The best part of this challenge is that participating blogs should see a huge increase in activity! This has been referred to as a "blog hop on steroids" because there are so many participants! 

Sign-ups are open now so click here to find out more or to sign up. I'm excited and ready to begin!

Summer Excercise Challenge

EricksonandCo.com is hosting a Summer Excersise Challenge! I am intrigued, but I'm not sure if I can do quite as much as this asks for. I am thinking I can change it up a bit to allow for my bad ankle because I can't run. I'm going to sleep on it, but check it out and see what you think! Maybe you would like to join and get in a little better shape this summer. Here is the schedule for the first two weeks so you can see what you think. For more details or to join, go to: http://ericksonandco.com/2012/07/exercise-challenge/#comment-142

Week 1:
(You can always change the days up – For example, if you need Wednesday as your rest day instead of Saturday/Sunday. And adjust as needed; Can’t run 1 mile? Start at half a mile! Hate running? Ride your bike instead (or walk or swim)!

Day 1: Run 1 mile and post time (no judging!!) We need a base time to see if we are improving, stretch at least once
Day 2: Yoga or Pilates (or your favorite exercise video) (Comment saying what you did)
Day 3: Run half mile as fast as can and post time, Stretch at least once
Day 4: Pilates or Yoga (or your favorite exercise video)
Day 5: Run 1 mile and post time, stretch at least once
Day 6: stretch
Day 7: stretch

Week 2:
Day 1: Run 1.25 miles (and post time), stretch at least once
Day 2: Yoga or Pilates
Day 3: Run .75 miles as fast as can (and post time), don’t forget to stretch
Day 4: Yoga or Pilates
Day 5: Run 1.25 miles (post time), stretch!
Day 6: Stretch!
Day 7: Stretch

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 6

Today's Challenge: Tell any nicknames you have and why you have them. 


I don't have a nickname. Is that odd?

Oh wait! I know!

I guess it does count that all of my nieces and nephews (except one) call me Lala! That's right, I'm Aunt Lala. When my niece was little, she stayed with me while her parents worked. When she started learning to talk, she called me Lala because she couldn't say Laura. It stuck! I had an older nephew at the time who already called me by my name, so he is the only one who doesn't say Lala now.

This is a Blog Hop! 
So hop on over to any of the participating blogs by clicking their name below.

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1. Going Green with the Grizls -HOST	2. Brittlebys Corner
3. The Outnumbered Mommy	4. Ashley Suzanne
5. First Time Mom	6. For Him and My Family
7. Baby Knows Best	8. Tristas Creations
9. The Mami Blog	10. SAPsMaMa: Natural Parenting and Green Living
11. Mama Making Changes	12. For What Its Worth
13. Crafting In My Closet	14. The Frugal Greenish Mama
15. Natures Nurture	16. Happy Green Mama
17. Garden Me	18. Why We Love Green
19. Christas Random Thoughts!!!	20. My Merry Messy Life
21. Adventures in Craziness	22. The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a Second Time Mom
23. The Crunchy Farm Baby	24. The Vagabond Studio
25. All Bout Cute	26. Samples*Freebies*Fun!
27. Parsimonious Pash	28. The Greening Of Westford
29. Tiffany, Brian and the Boys	30. Frugal Foodie Mama
31. Dogs, Dogtags and Diapers.	32. Lisas Blogs-Queen of Random
33. Mommys Favorite Things	34. Welcome to a Day in Our Lives
35. Chicken Scratch NY	36. Domestcially Seasoned
37. Mommy of One and Counting	38. Kickapoo Chronicles
39. That Molly Girl	40. Sew Recycle Love
41. Kelliebelles Karma	42. Life as a Wife, Mummy, and Nurse
43. The Cunninghams	44. Adventures in My Wonderland
45. Chasing the Wolf Pack	46. And Then There Were Four. . .
47. K is for Kechell	48. Gluten Free For jen
49. My Cloth Diaper Stash	50. Little Britches
51. One Stop Mom Talk	52. Eight Days a Week
53. Gurneyland	54. Libbys Library
55. Puzzle Me Complete. . Wife Mother Teacher Writer	56. Adventures of Mommyhood
57. chasing rainbows	58. The Shopping Duck
59. Cozy Corner Crochets	60. Put A Little Umbrella In Your Drink
61. Work, Interrupted	62. Heaven-Lei Islands of Peace ~ Thoughts & Treasures
63. Subliminally Rosie	64. Frantic Family of Five
65. Sugar Crumbs	66. My Sweepstakes City
67. In Gods Economy	68. Melody Adams. . . the blog
69. Never a Dull Day in Poland	70. The Ministers Wife Stamps and Saves
71. Mama getting back in the groove	72. Crafty Garden Mama
73. (¯`•Divalicious Pinoy Mom•´¯)	74. Homemade Dishwashing Detergent
75. Delightful Stampin	76. Upscale Treasures
77. Stuff Ive crocheted lately	78. The Anti-June Cleaver
79. From Army Brat to Navy Wife

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Summer Blog Challenge: Day 4

Today's Challenge: Explain the meaning behind your blog's name.

I can do that! Woohoo!

When I started this blog I was very frustrated with the way my family and I were living. We had succumbed to the life of the proverbial Jones'. We were so busy trying to do what everyone around us was doing that we lost track of who we are and what we believe. I was sick of it. So my husband and I made a decision to change our lifestyles and get back to the way we used to live, back when we lived by our own standards and to heck with the Jones'. Even better, we wanted to do more than we had ever done before. We wanted to slowly but surely convert our lifestyle to the one we both dreamed of.

And Mama started Making some Changes around here.

Today, just a few months into our changes, we are recycling nearly everything that can't be composted. Our garbage is only a fraction of what it was pre-blog. We are driving one car instead of two and hoping to trade it sometime in the near future for something more fuel efficient. We have our biggest garden ever and plans to expand it until our front yard is a grassy lawn no more. The kids are on board and my daughter has planted her own herbs and sunflowers. We have learned to eat healthier and eat whole foods. We've embraced local sustainable agriculture and businesses, and we've gotten more active.

And don't worry. Mama ain't done Making Changes yet.

If you liked this post and others on Mama Making Changes, please clickhere to go to Circle of Moms and vote for me as one of the top eco-friendly mom blogs. Just click here, then click the thumb to vote. You can come back to vote every 24 hours. Thanks for the support!

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 2

Challenge of the Day: Post a picture of yourself smiling.

Okay, I hate having my picture made. Really. I love my camera and I am always taking pictures of everyone else, but I don't have many pictures of me. So after spending way too much time looking through all of the thousands of digital images saved on my laptop, I decided to take a picture just for this. I had no choice. Every somewhat recent pic of myself smiling has already been posted somewhere on my blog in the last few months. You only recall seeing a couple of pics of me? I know! That's my point! Haha. Anyway, here it is, my self-portrait...

Remember, this blog challenge has lots and lots of participating bloggers and you can click the button at the top of this post or on the right side of my page to go to a list of all of them with links to their blogs. Look around at some of them and see all of the different responses each day. You can share your faves on Facebook or Twitter! 

Summer Blog Challenge Day 1

June 1: Why are you doing this challenge?

I joined the Summer Blog Challenge for several reasons, actually. First and foremost, when I heard about this challenge I was immediately interested because it looked like fun! And girls just wanna have fun, right? A different question each day and I have committed to answer, no matter what the question is.

Another reason I am excited about the challenge is that it will keep me writing every day even when our summer activities get into full swing. I have committed to post an answer to the question of the day, every day, regardless of what else I post or what else is going in my life.

Lastly, I am honestly hoping my readers will enjoy getting to know me better and will come back each day to see what the question and answer of the day are. Maybe the questions will spark some conversation so that I can get to know them better, too!