…Good morning, and welcome to 2012. A time and place of hopefulness and joy. Seriously. I’m not kidding, universe, Hopefulness and JOY! Or I’m going to get tough. But since I have a role to play in how much hopefulness and joy there are, here’s some great stuff happening here right now:

See the sponsor right there, The Mother Magazine? Right on the right. See it, big and gorgeous, that ad? Click it. Check it out, the Mother Magazine, for Americans, too. Because we’ve lost our last Mothering magazine and boy do we miss it. What else are we gonna put on the coffee table when opinionated Aunt Martha visits-besides of course, Mama is Comic books ;o)

So here’s the deal,

order a subscription to The Mother Magazine and receive a free first issue, the 50th issue, Jan/Feb 2012. After you order the magazine send an email to infoUSA@themothermagazine.orgwith the code ‘freebirth’ at checkout, and the folks at the magazine will send you your free magazine!

Here’s another deal,

I have calendars for sale and right now they’re flying off the shelves, you want one, seriously you do. It’s only $14 and chock full of fun. AND, for the next few days you can try and win one in the contest that’s happening at the bottom of my page (I’m trying out rafflecopter so give it a fly and tell me what you think!) Win a calendar!

Coming up I’ve got another give-away, it’s about food, and recipes and ooops, I’m keeping it a surprise, but it will be just in time for your “I swear I’m going to cook more nutritious foods” resolution to really sink in. Just a few more days.

Finally, an introduction to some new features on my site, starting at the top right:
1. I’ve added a tip jar up there in the top right. Donations are always appreciated.
2.Just under is my Kachingle Medallion, for those of you who want to make easy, painless donations to all of your favorite websites on a monthly basis, you can join for only $5 a month and include me in your kachingling.
3. There’s the Mother Magazine, go ahead subscribe!
4. My calendar for sale.
5. My cousin-in-law’s lovely jewelry for sale, go ahead, click!
6. A change.org petition. sign the petitions you believe in, I make $1 per signature, it’s a great way to make me a buck without really costing you anything.
7. My facebook widget, LIKE me if you haven’t, I post LOTS of news over there, check me out.
8. My Amazon shop.
9-12. A few of my new products for sale. Photos coming.
13. What I’m reading now.

So there you go, lots to do and a new comic will be posting in just a few hours,

Thank you for continuing to read the comics after all these years, your feed back means the world to me.
I’m hoping your New Year is full of the joy and happiness that the hugs of little babies bring. Big kids too.

xox,
Heather

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