It sounded kind of like something hard dragging.  Almost like dragging something heavy across the cement.

When I looked up at the car I noticed that the passenger side, front tire was sideways.  But the driver’s side was straight!

That’s not supposed to happen!

Why the changes?

You may be asking why there are changes coming and what exactly they will be.  Well, the changes are because Shawn Ann’s World isn’t doing what I was hoping it would be doing. I thought that by adding the product reviews and giveaways that it would bring more readership.  Well, it has, but not as much as I was expecting it to bring.  I won’t be doing away with them, but you will be seeing a lot less of them.

The reason for this is very simple.  My reviews are not bringing in more readers.  Although my stats have increased from before I was doing the reviews and giveaways, they aren’t true returning readers. What I mean by this is most, probably 99% of my readers are here for the giveaways.  Which is quiet disappointing. I’ve been keeping track of some statistics and have noticed that if I don’t have giveaways going on then my readership drops drastically.  I’m sorry, but that’s not what I want for my site. I want readers who actually want to read my posts and not win things.

I know, people are saying right now, , I can’t believe she just said that! I can’t believe she’s saying she doesn’t want her readers.  Well, that’s not what I’m saying.  I want my readers, but I want them to be here because they want to get an update on the family or look at pictures I’m posting.  Not just because I have a giveaway going on.  I know this because I recently posted a poll, taking a look at Shawn Ann’s World, asking for opinions and only 4 people actually voted.  I’d have to say that it makes me sad that only 4 people bothered to take the time to check some boxes telling me the type of posts they’d like to see here.

There’s another part to why these changes are coming, but that’ll be in another post that has to do with PR.

So what exactly will the changes be?

There is going to be a few different changes coming.

• One will be the way Shawn Ann’s World looks. I love this theme and have made some tweaks to it recently, but it’s just not what I want.  So, I’m going to be searching for a completely new layout.
• Another change will be that I won’t be doing many reviews and giveaways. In fact, I don’t know if I’ll even keep doing giveaways.
• Finally content.  Although my main focus is still going to be family, I am going to be adding some more Rants & Raves to the site.  I haven’t been focusing on a lot of the rants and raves kind of posts, outside of family, because I can be very extreme on my views and I didn’t want that to interfere with working with companies.  Well, I’m tired of being cautious about what I post so I don’t lose the chance to work with someone.

You’ll start seeing some of these changes immediately, but the look will take some time to get ready.  Summer is coming and I’m hoping that will bring a lot of posts about trips we take, places we go, and lots and lots of pictures.

Where’s this coming from?

Well, I am part of a private group on Facebook for bloggers that want to work with companies and the main person of this group has suggested that the bloggers change their style in order to get opportunities.  Apparently they’ve looked at a bunch bloggers and found that they like the way a couple of them write or have their site and they want everyone that works with them change their writing style and/or the way their site looks so it’s more like those particular bloggers.

Bloggers are doing this!  They are trying to please this person to get the opportunities.

Do NOT do it!

There is no reason any PR person, or anyone for that matter, should be asking or requesting you to change the way you blog or the way your blog looks.  This is YOUR decision!  You’re writing is your own, you shouldn’t be asked to write more like someone else.  The way you lay out your blog is your choice, no one should say to remove ads, change the layout, or anything! That should be your choice to do or not.

This is pretty simple and PR should be respecting you for who you are and not for who they want you to be. Let’s face it, it doesn’t matter how much you change your writing or your blog style for someone else you will never be Dear Crissy, Dooce, or The Pioneer Woman! Sorry, but you know it’s true.  The only thing you’d accomplish by this is copying these bloggers and then you won’t be unique. You want, or at least you should want, to be your own unique blogger.

It’s one thing to wish you were as popular or as good of a writer as another blogger, but you have to want that and not be asked to be something else than what you are. In order to be the best YOU can be you have to do what YOU want and be happy about it.  Everyone has their own style and has their readers because of their own characteristics; you can’t copy those because that’s not you.

With that being said, be YOU! Keep writing the way you want and the way you feel your readers can relate to you.

I’m not the greatest writer, and I know it. But I’m not going to change my writing style or who I am for anyone but myself!  If you don’t like my style than don’t work with me.  I write for me, I just happen to have followers who either like my writing, like the content, or they like the giveaway that’s attached to it.

Envenflo is calling on everyone; moms, dads, grandparents, and even caregivers, to submit a video of their little one jumping!  They can be jumping in or out of an ExerSaucer and be entered to win an ExerSaucer Jump & Learn Jam Session and $500 towards higher education.  Children in the video need to be 4 months to walking age.

It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Just visit the EvenfloBaby Facebook page (the ExerSaucer tab)
2. Register, accept the terms/conditions, and upload a short video of your child jumping (videos should feature children 4+ months to walking years of age, and be less than 3 minutes and 80 MB).
3. Vote!

The video with the most votes at the end of the contest will win!  Be sure to tell all of your friends and family!!! You can vote daily! Evenflo’s ExerSaucer ‘Jump Start’ Video Contest is open NOW and closes at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on April 30, 2012. No purchase necessary to win.

If you don’t happen to have anyone to vote for, please feel free to vote for Xavier (I’ll update this post with the link as soon as I get my video uploaded)!  He will really appreciate it!

So, here’s a little poll for you to take that will help me know what you, my readers, would like to see here at Shawn Ann’s World.  You can pick as many options as you’d like. No answer is wrong.

I’m going to leave this poll stuck to the top of my blog for at least one week.  Please make sure you take the time to answer this little poll so I know what direction to go.  I need  your help with this!

Here’s some pictures from this morning and a couple of pictures of the eggs me and Thaddeus colored last night!

ShopYourWay Rewards members get an extra 15% off on almost everything (including sale prices!), Non-Members get up to 10%.  You can get more details by going to http://www.sears.com/familyandfriends!

Sears Auto Center normally charges $29.99, but Sunday only, it will be $17.99. Use Coupon Code: 13997.  Click the coupon for a printable version.

If you happen to be shopping during the event  you can always tweet to @Sears and tell them Hello!

Please remember that this is not valid in all stores and for all vehicles.  You can only use one coupon per purchase and void where prohibited by law.  Shawn Ann’s World, LLC is not responsible if the coupon does not work at your local Sears or for your vehicle.

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Zenni Optical is the #1 online eyeglasses store offering high quality prescription eyeglasses from $6.95. We feel prescription eyeglasses are a health necessity for most wearers, and to that end we take considerable pride in offering very high-quality eyeglasses online at truly unheard-of affordable prices.

Zenni Optical has thousands of frames to choose from and you can even upgrade your glasses to progressives, bifocals, premium anti-glare coating, sunglass tint, and even olephobic fingerprint resistant coating (on select lenses) for very low prices!  Each of their glasses come with an anti-scratch coating, are thin and light, have full UV protection, come with a protective case and microfiber cleaning cloth.  What more could you ask for in a pair of glasses, all started at less than $7!  Shipping is even very cheap, starting at $4.95 ($9.95 international).

Although I’m very glad that I no longer need to wear glasses, this looks like a great place to purchase your glasses.  I could spend hours looking at all the different types of glasses they have and probably still not be able to narrow my selection down to just a couple!  You can even “Try On” the glasses by choosing a person whose face is similar to yours and see how they look!

Best of the Best Commercials

Chevy - End of the World (image courtesy of http://msn.foxsports.com)

1. Chevy end of the world commercial.  Sorry, love GM products more than Ford and hey, let’s face it, when Ford asks their competition to pull their Super Bowl ad you know whose product is better!
2. Doritos “You didn’t see nuthin” was funny as hell!
3. Doritos “Baby Bungee” – Super funny!  Had to tell Thaddeus he is NOT allowed to do that with his baby brother!
4. H & M “David Beckham” – Who doesn’t like that one?  He’s got a nice body, but he’s also forgettable to me because I wouldn’t recognize him if I walked right into him.
5. Metlife “Classic Cartoons” I so want those cartoons to come back!  They were the BOMB!  Love them!  Commercial was dumb, but loved seeing the classic cartoons I grew up watching.

Not Bad Commercials

1. Audi “Killing Time” commercial was funny, but stupid at the same time.
2. Chrysler “Halftime in America”, it was pretty good.  Gotta give some love to Chrysler and Clint for doing a good and long commercial about the D.
3. Coca-Cola “Watching the Game” – Liked these, they were neat watching the reactions to the bears as the game went on.
4. Bridgestone (all) – Not bad, they had some good ones.
5. Pepsi “Elton John” – Funny but stupid at the same time.  Bordering Worst of the Worst.

Worst of the Worst Commercials

1. Kia “Mr. Sandman” – totally sucked.  Sorry, but when you have to show mostly naked women in a commercial to get guys to check out your car, it’s not a car worth looking at!
2. Honda “Broderick? Broderick?” TOTALLY STUPID.  Hated the movie, commercial is just as stupid!
3. Acura “The First One” – Sorry Seinfeld didn’t like you in your TV show, don’t like you as a comedian, don’t like your commercials!
4. Skechers “Dog Race” – Ummm, WTF?!
5. E-Trade “Delivery Room” – Bored with the E-Trade commercials, not funny.
6. GoDaddy – sorry, tired of watching the GoDaddy commercials during the Super Bowl.

The rest of the commercials weren’t memorable at all or don’t even need mentioning because they weren’t good.