A spark of freedom

Got into a very heated... "conversation" (I won't call it a full blown argument, because I never cared that we were in the conversation, but the other party may have felt it was a full throw down) with someone tonight. I had never met this person before. And for the record, he started it.
He made it very, very clear that he has strong political feelings about all refugees being evil. And how we shouldn't allow them into our country when (and I quote) "my buddy has to wait 4 months to get glasses at the VA hospital."
He was quite adamant that "all those liberals who say let them in, let them in" are fine with the government paying for it, but would "never let them into their homes."
(I silently laughed on the inside that I was being called a liberal. That was a first, for sure.)
I told him that I would be more than happy to allow refugees into my home. I told him how much I have donated and given to refugee aid programs.
His response was colorful. He provided a few interesting ways that he is superior to others because of the good deeds he has done. And then basically challenged me to prove that I both "walk the walk and talk the talk."
It comes down to this- in the heat of the "conversation" I've never been more grateful for the opportunities that have come my way to serve others. I am grateful that I can proudly stand up and say that I don't just vent and complain or protest. But that I have gone out there and served and worked to solve problems.
The other person wasn't happy. He certainly didn't expect my response. He didn't back down. But it sure felt good to know that I have nothing to be ashamed of. I've done my part. And always will.

Alma 60:27-28

 27 And I will come unto you, and if there be any among you that has a desire for freedom, yea, if there be even a spark of freedom remaining, behold I will stir up insurrections among you, even until those who have desires to usurp power and authority shall become extinct.

 28 Yea, behold I do not fear your power nor your authority, but it is my God whom I fear; and it is according to his commandments that I do take my sword to defend the cause of my country, and it is because of your iniquity that we have suffered so much loss.

When Books Fly!

We have a winner! My next book will be out May 10, 2016!

I am more than a little happy to say that my final manuscript is finished and handed off to my editor. It's all Chelsea's problem now. I'll get to see the edited copy in a few months for a final review. But otherwise, this book is out of my hands. I look forward to seeing it next spring! 

Relationships and Social Media Never End Well

What the Walrus Said on Social Media

The time has come, the walrus said, to...

Take this relationship to the next level. 

It's time for us to go public and connect on all platforms. 

Come join me, won't you? 

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorErinAnnMcBride 

http://twitter.com/erinannie 

https://instagram.com/erinannie17 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmcbride 

https://www.goodreads.com/erinmcbride 

https://www.pinterest.com/erinannie/ 

http://www.amazon.com/Erin-Ann-McBride/e/B0094UQZSS/

Sharing the Gospel Through Social Media

It's official! My new book, Sharing the Gospel Through Social Media, is published and here!
This book was published by Cedar Fort Books and will be sold in bookstores around the country, and online.
Heed the prophets' call and learn how to use your social media skills for good! This comprehensive guide shows you how to kindly and respectfully spread the good news of the gospel through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, your blog, and in many other ways. Perfect for leaders or the everyday Saint, it will help your whole family become modern member missionaries!

Sharing the Gospel through Social Media

My new book, Sharing the Gospel through Social Media, is now available on Amazon!

You can download it for free between now and July 3, or procrastinate and pay $2.99 after that. 

(And really, I don't mind if you wait and pay!) 

Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ has never been easier. This book was written to help bishops, ward mission leaders, stake presidents, stake public affairs directors, mission presidents, and every day member missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, learn to navigate and appreciate the potential of social media in their missionary efforts.
Explanations, ideas, and strategies are provided on how to incorporate Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and other networks into Mormon missionary efforts.
This ebook makes it easy for even social media beginners to effectively share the gospel online.

But wait! There's more!
I decided to make ALL of my books free on Amazon this week!

I've updated both, "Increase e-Book Sales with Social Media Marketing" and "You Heard It Here First." In fact, "You Heard It Here First," has been heavily edited and is about 80 pages shorter than before! (Which is a crazy load of work, I tell you!) 

Increase e-Book Sales with Social Media Marketing (now with a great new cover, and better editing)

The Agency

You Heard It Here First Goes on sale Wednesday.

This Just In! (Also goes on sale Wednesday)

Beyond Perfection (not on sale, since the publisher controls that, not me)  

Hello Blog, it's been a while

Wearing my Real Salt Lake team shirt to support Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando on USMNT!

It's been about a week since the last time I posted on here. Which isn't too bad considering I've been going about 2-3 weeks between posts lately. But it's been even longer since I posted any day to day kind of stuff.
I guess my day to day life hasn't been all that interesting lately. Unemployment can be like that. I don't have the funds to go out very often. But I've been making an effort to do something fun at least once a week, to try and stave off unemployed depression. Some weeks I succeed, oftentimes I don't.
Next week I leave for my big Eastern European dance tour trip. Which, by the way, you can follow at Clog-America.blogspot.com, and on Instagram and Twitter as @ClogAmerica. I'm the social media person for the trip, so I'll be the one posting on those accounts. GO FOLLOW US!
I started packing tonight, but I started preparing for this trip weeks ago. I learned a trick before I went to Cambodia to beat jet lag, and I'm doing it again. A lot of people make the mistake of staying up all night before a big trip, and then try to sleep on the plane, and assume they can wake up at their destination, and "be on the right time zone." This usually backfires, and instead you're sleep deprived and groggy, and it takes a few days to adjust.
Because I want to be able to hit the ground running on this trip, particularly during my layover, I'm applying this little trick again. Instead of staying up all night, you plan to wake up earlier and earlier in the days prior to your trip. Since I have a 7 hour time difference ahead of me, I start 6-7 days in advance, waking up one hour earlier each day. (And hopefully going to bed earlier each night as well. This part takes a few days to kick in, I've noticed.) On the day I leave for the trip, I'll wake up at midnight (and hopefully go to bed around 4-5 pm the night before). When I get to my destination (in this case, Moscow) I will already be on their time zone, and not need to adjust or be sleepy.
Which reminds me- I'm going to Moscow!
My real destination is Belgrade, Serbia and Timisoara, Romania. But due to a lack of direct flights to Belgrade, I have a 25 hour layover in Moscow. And I land in Moscow at 6 a.m. (which would be 11 pm in Virginia). I got my Russian visa so I can leave the airport and tour around Moscow for the day. I'm very excited about getting to see Moscow. And actually, I get to see it twice because I have the same long layover on my return flight as well.
The real pressure this past week hasn't just been sleeping at strange times and packing. I WROTE A NEW BOOK! And if all goes well, and I'm hopeful that it will, it will be available on Amazon on Sunday. The title is, "Sharing the Gospel through Social Media." It's non-fiction (obviously), and is a guidebook for Mormons who wish to do missionary work online, and share the Gospel through social media. It's only about 30 pages, and fairly easy to read (I hope). It's in the hands of editors and reviewers right now. Fingers crossed that all goes according to plan.
Oh and then there is this little thing called the World Cup. (If you recall I've been a soccer fan for a very long time. How many blog posts have there been about Real Salt Lake games?) I've watched more ESPN in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 2 (4?) years! I have to admit, I've watched more soccer than I should have. I find it very hard to multi-task or write when soccer is on the TV!
That all being said, I have to wake up in 5 hours. Time for bed!

Religion and Social Media Survey

Friends,

Did you know I am working on one of the biggest, most important, and most challenging projects I've ever set out on?
It's true. I've been thinking about it for ages now, and have been making many small wheels in motion, and have recently gone public with my huge project.
I'm writing a [non-fiction] book on how religion is shared and received via social media. This book is requiring a ton of research, documentation,and writing. It's an exciting challenge for me to write something like this without someone else holding me accountable. (I write pretty tough e-books for my employer that require research and documentation all the time. But I've got a lot of people holding me accountable for that.) This one is all on me, if I want to make it happen.
I'm sure we've all seen some really bad uses of social media to share religious (or political) views. And you may have even seen some good uses of it. But I have this theory that a lot of people think they are doing excellent missionary work, or evangelizing, when really they are just preaching to the choir, whilst alienating their target audience.
I'm not setting out on this project just to point out all the annoying and bad uses of social media (think Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest primarily), but also to help educate and improve the use of social media. If you really want to evangelize and get your message to the right audience, there are certain things you need to be doing. And I want to write that book that helps teach those important things.
But I also think there is a lot to be said for just analyzing and understand why people do what they do on social networks. I think there will probably be some really fascinating statistics out there on this subject.
But here's the problem- there aren't any really fascinating, professional studies done yet. I've found some very biased and sponsored studies that don't prove anything. But no one has done the research I need (yet).
So I'm doing it myself.
I've started my own semi-professional survey on how people are, or in many cases are not, using social media to share their beliefs, and how other people perceive and receive those efforts.
I invite you to take my survey on social media and religion - even if you've never tweeted, Facebooked, or pinned in your life. All users and non-users are relevant here.
I won't be closing the survey until I've received over 1,000 responses. (And I've only barely broken 100 so far.)
Please feel free to share the survey everywhere and anywhere, if you feel so inclined. The more diverse the responses, the better.
Click here to take the survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ReligionSocialMedia

I really do appreciate any and all responses to the survey. It is completely anonymous, although there are some important demographic questions in it.

If you still need some convincing think of this way- if you have ever unfollowed or unfriended someone online because they post too many annoying things about their religious view (or political - much of this will apply both ways) online, this new book and project could help eliminate that. But first I need more data and insights into how and why people say and share what they do online.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ReligionSocialMedia

Brilliant!

Lemme tell you a little story, friends. The story of a day that truly caught me completely by surprise.

It started out this morning with a doctor's appointment. In a nutshell, I've been dealing with a small medical problem that I knew could potentially be a very big, bad medical problem. So off to the doctor I went. The end result is that we won't know 100% for sure for a few more days, but it is likely a very small problem, and is probably the result of a crappy doctor's misdiagnosis, and possible neglect a few years ago.

I can't begin to tell you what a bad mood this put me in. The misdiagnosis (that the doctor had multiple chances to catch and correct at the time) caused me a lot of grief then, and it's extra irritating that it is coming back to give me problems again now. Word to the wise: if you ever get a gut feeling that your doctor is wrong, go get a second opinion. Don't be polite and give second chances to your doctor. Go get more opinions. Because if you are right, and your doctor is wrong, you really don't want to waste time being polite in the long run.

So off to work I went still feeling quite crappy (the medical problem gets to stay with me for a few more weeks until the corrective diagnosis will make a difference). <Insert sarcastic 'woo-hoo' here.>

But once at work things began to turn around. One of the products I market had a crazy great day. This was not expected by anyone. It was very fun to see it really sell well and work out. This helps not just the bottom line, but me, and a few other people as well, meet our goals. All in all, this alone was cause to declare this a good day.

Somewhere in the course of the afternoon I checked Twitter, and saw a tweet from one of my favorite musicians that said to retweet the status for a chance to win concert tickets. So I did.

Just a few minutes later- POW!- I won the tickets! (To be completely honest it happened so fast that I wasn't convinced it wasn't a scam. I made them prove it before I would believe it.)

Hello! I just won tickets to see Clay Walker at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas for next weekend! Including free hotel rooms and backstage passes!!

(This isn't my first time seeing or meeting Clay Walker. You can see my previous blog posts on him here- 2009 and 2007 pt 1 and 2.)

Talk about good days! I'll take it!!

This is now the ONLY "Doctors" picture that will make me happy. If it doesn't have John Hurt in it, it doesn't count.

And then, as if things weren't already fantastic, it was time to go see the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, "Day of the Doctor," in 3D in the theater. Some things are just too awesome to be seen at home on TV, and should be in the theater. I hadn't planned on paying for the 3D ticket, but all other showings were sold out (I bought my ticket last week). If you are on the fence about seeing it in 3D- do! There are extra jokes, and a whole funny 3D intro with Matt Smith and David Tennant, that makes it completely worth it.

Oh my heavens. As a Whovian, I can't begin to tell you how much I loved the special. It was so good. I loved every second of it, and didn't want it to end. I want to go see it again- tomorrow! (But alas, I cannot because I have to save my pennies for Vegas next week!)

Oh and did I mention I saw "Catching Fire" twice over the weekend? Plus re-read "Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire" and I've started "Mockingjay" again?

My little book-loving, sci-fi/fantasy loving, pop culture-loving, country music-loving heart, is about ready to explode! You have no idea how much I have loved living in my imagination these last few days! There's just something fun and enjoyable about being able to just LIVE in another world. (And then get to have a fun wish come true like going to Vegas!)

Sigh. Le Sigh.

I don't want my fun little dream world to end when I go to bed tonight...

A little Clay Walker for you- one of my all-time favorite songs!

Let's be friends (in other places)

I haven't invited all you lovelies to join me on other sites in a while. But can't we be friends in more places than one?
Come join me. I'll give you a cookie.

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorErinAnnMcBride
http://Twitter.com/erinannie
http://www.pinterest.com/erinannie/
www.linkedin.com/in/erinmcbride/
http://instagram.com/erinannie17#
and last but not least-

https://www.goodreads.com/erinmcbride

And if you don't know about my other blogs, go meet them too!
http://cuttingbackandgoinggreen.blogspot.com/
AND
http://www.mormonbooksandauthors.com/

And just for being my friend, I give you a picture of Colin Firth. You're welcome.

Given enough Dr Pepper I could rule the world

A few days ago I decided I needed to revamp my social media consulting portfolio. Many of my past clients were so long ago that the work I did for them is no longer showing online. Time passes, things change, no big deal. And I felt like I was up to a good challenge, and wanted to flex a few marketing muscles. So I offered friends and family some free marketing services.
30 people responded!
That is a lot of work!
But I am up for it! I'm excited for it. I have a wide variety of clients, and it will give me the chance to really experiment, and test different ideas out. I've been working on another e-book about marketing, and I really want to test some of my theories, and a few of these free clients are perfect guinea pigs.
However, I really should have checked with the calender before I took on such a big task! My parents are visiting from the "Magic Kingdom" (our name for the foreign country they live in) for the month, there's a big holiday this week, plus I'm about to go off to girls camp for a week too!
Not exactly a lot of time in there to do consulting work for 30 people on top of my regular daily work that already keeps me plenty busy!
Oops!
Meh. Who needs sleep anyway? Not me! I just need more Dr Pepper!
But today I am mostly just happy because I've decided to go up to DC for the holiday and hang out with friends. I was just in the DC area on Monday, so this will mean a lot of driving for me that I'm not actually up to. But I am desperate and miserable for some social interaction with other singles! It has been rough and lonely in Roanoke lately. (If you couldn't tell from my depressing previous posts.) The drive and gas money will be worth it!
So I am going to bed (way too late tonight) a very happy camper. Lots of work, lots to do, and some of it is even fun stuff for me. I can live with that!
 

What YOU Need to Know About New Blogger and Google+ Settings and Your Privacy

Like many of my fellow Bloggers, I received an email yesterday from Blogger (Google- the owner of Blogger). As far as I know this is the first email I have received from them in 9 years!

Here's the email-

Writing a thoughtful post and seeing how people engage can be really rewarding, so we’ve made it easier to reach a broader audience and see more of their reactions.

Once you enable Google+ Comments, people can share the comments they make on your blog to their circles in Google+, helping you reach people that they know. And there's more: mentions of your posts on Google+ automatically show up right in your blog's comments, so you can see more of people’s public conversations about your content (and private conversations you’re part of).

I want to make sure my readers and friends know about this change.  I have enabled the Google+ Comments, although I do realize I have a choice. I don't want anyone to feel their privacy was violated (although it certainly does have that feel to it). I've always been somewhat of an early adopter, and because I work in social media, I like to be able to test and experiment with these things personally before I attempt them professionally.

Like many of you, I find Google+ somewhat annoying and invasive. Just a few weeks ago I clicked on something innocuous, trying to look at something on Google+, (I was testing out a feature before I used it professionally), and it forced me to "add my friends back." One would assume this meant that my friends had added me first, and I should respond in kind. Instead, it suddenly added 200-300 people from my address book (hundreds of professional contacts I did not want to connect with)! And now, hardly a day goes by without getting 2-3 emails saying "this person I've never heard of before has added you back on Google+."

I'm not a fan of this site. I don't like how they keep making changes to one Google product, link it to another product, and then make it all tie in with Google+, forcing people to use it. For instance, this new comments feature.

However, in my experience, early adopting, and figuring out how it all works together, tends to work to my advantage (and others' advantage too, as I often seem to be giving friendly tutorials and advice!). 

So forgive me for enabling the comments. Feel free to leave a comment here to test how it will work. I'm not sure (yet) if you have to be my friend, or in my circles, to make it work.  (You can join me on the site here.)

One more thing to know-
If you engage with a post on Google+ (for instance here is one of mine- https://plus.google.com/118118311920343529956/posts/2Um7jXDJWZv ) and you leave a "plus one" or a comment, your response will partially show up on the blog post, even if you don't go to the blog post itself.  Feel free to check it and try it. First go to my actual blog post - http://beta.fool.com/erinannie/2013/04/15/can-companies-be-a-great-place-to-work-and-a-great/30726/ and look at the social media bar on the left. You'll see the Google Plus icon with a number in it. Now, go back to the Google Plus link in this paragraph above. "Plus one" it, or leave a comment. Go back to the blog post, reload the page, and you'll see that number has changed. As far as I can tell, there is no way for the blogger to track those number backwards. Except of course it is trackable by going to Google Plus and looking for it.


If you are finding this blog post because of an interest in understanding more about social media marketing and ebook sales, check out my book-

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/295719?ref=erinannmcbride

The To Do List- makes me wondering what I am doing?

Some days it is easy to convince myself that I have successfully made the hump over into becoming a full-time, paid, employed writer.

Other days? Not so much.

This morning was one of those mornings where I wasn't quite as confident about my abilities to support myself financially as a writer. The past few years of roller coaster successes and failures have taken their toll on me, and some days I just feel like a failure. I wonder if I am spending my time chasing the right dreams at all. Will I ever be able to buy a house on the money I earn as a writer? Forget buying a house, will I ever pay off this stupid student loan on a writing income?

Maybe I should go get a full-time job back in marketing (though I feel as if I am selling my soul to the devil to even consider it), and just write part-time? At least I'd be financially feasible.

As I do most mornings, I sat down and made up my to-do list for the day. And here it is with no editing.

Girls Camp- email parents, email PW re: final papers

CR birthday- don't forget treats

start JTD timeline, find 5 new articles, write outline

Motley Fool- look up PR on Business Wire, write 2 articles, check WSJ, do SMM on last 2 articles

Find 1 new way to promote Agency today. Look up B2B options.

Add new chapter to Haley book, edit ending

Work on Meridian social media, email SP back, do daily edits, follow up with SEO/Scott

Write 1-2 Swing State posts

Check in with FFC guy about media pass, do research on presenters

Don't forget mutual tonight (set alarm) (CR bday, and father's day)

Text K-Anne about movies after mutual? Maybe gym instead?

Send Mancub bday card, set up family Skype on Sunday

Pack for DC trip.


Does anyone else see what I see? I'm still doing just as much social media in a day as I am writing! No wonder I never quite feel like I am a writer and not a marketer anymore. Granted, to be a successful, self-employed writer, you have no choice but to self-promote. But I'm going to have to put some serious thought into this. Am I trying to serve two masters?

Don't just "like" it, tell them you like it!

This may sound crazy coming from a person who is perceived to be a social media professional and aficionado. But I'm tired of social media. It makes people forget to be nice.

When did people stop being nice?

I think social media killed nice feedback. Hear me out.

When we like something now (whether it be a “Facebook like” or just a like like), we share it. We “Facebook like” it, or share it on Twitter, email links, etc. But do we ever bother to stop and leave a nice comment for the author anymore? Or are the comments sections of online posts reserved for arguments and nasty responses?

There does seem to be an exception when it comes to blogs, I admit. Maybe that is because of the more personal nature of blogging, and the connection readers feel to the blogger. But when it comes to professional writing, does anyone ever feel compelled to leave a positive comment? Or do they “share” it now?

Of course, sharing a well-liked article with your friends is the ultimate compliment to a writer. But unfortunately, the writer will likely never know that it was shared with others. The writer only sees the negative feedback that was left, oftentimes ripping the writer to pieces.

Sure, yes, I am a writer, with 1-3 pieces published online every day, so I am writing this from a personal place of exhaustion and rejection. I've had my fill this week with negative feedback that professional conduct prohibits me from addressing. But oh, how very badly I wish I could respond to some of these people and correct their judgments and condemnation. But alas, I shall not.

(For an example of completely wrong judgments, check out Buy Gun Stocks When a Democrat is in Office. The comment, “this is just another Ron Paul plug by a disgruntled Republican” deserves, nay, begs for correction.)

I'm not writing this as a plea for positive feedback. I'm jaded enough to weather the storms that blow my way. I write about divisive subjects (stock market, finances, religion, and politics), I have it coming. If I don't irritate a few people, I'm probably not doing my job well.

But I do write this on behalf of other writers. The world of writing is anything but fun. You invest your heart and soul into everything you do. Every piece of work (yes, even the ones about the stock market) is personal. Next time you like something you read, don't just “like” it online. Leave a comment and support the writer- the underpaid, hard-working, oft-maligned writer. Tell the the writer you appreciate the perspective, the analysis, or even just the fact that they looked into the subject. Otherwise, the writer may never know he or she did a good job, and will be left with nothing but the negative feedback to gauge the success of his or her career.

Facebook unveils new Groups feature

Everything you need to know about the new Facebook Groups right here! (written by yours truly)

All you need is love!

This has been a week full of highs and lows. From two friends enduring the awful pain of losing a child, to the joy of celebrating that a barren couple were able to adopt, from job layoffs to marriages, and so much more, this week has been a roller coaster. I am so grateful for the online opportunities that allow me to be aware of my friends' situations so that I can celebrate and grieve with them. I honestly believe that being so much more aware of my friends has helped me to become a more sensitive and compassionate person. I have grown so much from having the opportunities to love and care about others more frequently. I have also truly been grateful for the support and comments from so many people as I have gone through this foster care process.
There are so many more things that now we get to know about our friends that before we would have probably only read in a Christmas letter, or learned about several years down the road. These huge life experiences for our friends used to be just points of interest, things to hear about them, but never experience with them. But now thanks to Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and more we get to experience life alongside our friends. Isn't it wonderful how much more we get to share and experience with our friends now? And how much more we get to love?

Social Networking FAIL

I received a LinkedIn invite today from a former boss. A boss that I despised working for, and he despised me as well. He told me on more than one occasion to not think so much and just sit at my desk and look pretty. In other words, a guy I would never in a million years use as a reference or want to be associated with.
And yet, he's attempted to add me on LinkedIn.
But here's the kicker. He's listed me as a colleague for the wrong company. In so many ways, I'm not surprised. First, it shows his total lack of understanding as to how social networking works. Second, he still doesn't recall what it is I do! Its tempting to add him, just to write a recommendation on him, explaining how he was a jerk and  added me for the wrong company. Knowing him, he's too clueless to know how to delete a negative comment like that.
But I'm better than that, so I'll just block him instead.

I think I just got Wooted.

 

A few days ago my mother and I were discussing the size of the house I wanted to rent. She pointed out I would have a lot of work ahead of me to clean and vacuum such a big house. My reply? "Ooh, I can finally justify getting a Roomba!" 

Later that same day I put up the same thought on Twitter. You can even see where I said it right here.

So today when I saw the Woot was a Roomba, I was pleasantly surprised. Although, I am saving up for the deposit on the house still, and therefore, I can't afford a Roomba quite yet. (These foster kids I don't have yet are getting very expensive I tell you!) But I love to read the humorous Woot product descriptions, so I read it anyway, knowing I wasn't buying.

And then I saw my name. And all I thought was, "Oh wow, I wonder what kind of coding they did to put people's twitter names on their page like that?"

A minute later I got an email from someone saying, "Hey, you might want to check out Woot today."

I replied, "Yeah, I saw the Roomba, but I can't buy one quite yet."

But then I remembered, he doesn't know I want a Roomba. Or does he?

So I sent another friend a link to Woot, and asked them what they saw. She doesn't have a Twitter account, so I was curious what name would appear for her.

But she saw my name.

So I asked another friend to look, but didn't send her the link.

And she saw my name too.

And then I remembered what I twittered.

And holy canoli, Batman.

I think I just got Wooted. 

Do you think they would give me a free Roomba for using my name like that? (sidenote, since midnight I have had an unprecedented 17 new followers on Twitter. Coincidence? I think not.)

After all, the Roomba would be going to a good cause! My life with foster children budget is not going to be what you may call extravagant!