As a snapshot the change at Minti is that;

1. I will be taking over the reigns of CEO from Clay going forward, with Matt as CFO. I will be looking after our team and getting familiar with operations during the handover period.

2. I will be managing my focus behind the business and also focus on raising profile again for Minti through the media.

But, mostly I am just excited to join in on all the hard work that goes on behind the site. I have witnessed the passion and care for something I only imagined as a speck some 4 years ago! I know when Clay says, oh your minti'ing that I have been on the site too long and not within work hours - but hey Minti madness is common amongst us folk - lol

3. I just wanted to thank the Minti team and mention that I am so impressed by the team, Clay and Matt (who's about to be a dad for the second time - a girl), our tech partner team, Belinda (Ad Sales), Izzy (with 3 kids and a 4th coming), Janice and Marg, and of course our members, I do have a new beat in my step and it makes stepping into this role that much easier.

4. The team is currently testing a new area for Minti to make a liitle real moolah of it's own, as well as getting our traffic to the point that ad sales keep this site free and alive. We are also exploring 'free samples' ideas, and a lot more, so we shall see what works out and what doesn't, but I trust you sparks are flying about here...

5. We are a very lean operating team, so hopefully I can explore ways to improve Minti's bank balance, Government Support and the special way we engage with our members with interesting programs in the future.

By and large, I think 2010 will be a great year for all of us to fire up the momentum during such questionable times :)

Cheers,

Rachel Cook

I will be able to post on my blog soon.

Brands available in Australia...

Fiesta (less chemical smell clothes whitener safe for coloureds) - better than napisan

Harvey Fresh - local West Aussie brand I think

Natural Food Confectionary (treats candy/lollies) - a must for any children sensitive to food colouring or preservatives

Amolin (a little pricey but very concentrated front loader or top) - for any family with allergies

Huggies nappy pants - but I have tried all the organic, biodegradable nappies - the one I liked was discontinued

Pantene - just because it doesn't make my hair fizzy - as I never hair dry my hair only if I really need to

Earth Choice - I totally love for dish-washing liquid (not harsh on hands, totally eco-green)

Earth Works - for cleaning products in the house (sparingly) as well as baking soda

Organic Collective - vege delivery every two weeks (priced cheaper than Coles)

Cobs Organic popcorn - occasionally, plain flavour

Campbells real stock - i am a big soup maker with so little time

Heinz - really only for low salt baked beans and tomato soup (back up meals)

Purell with aloe vera - antibacterial gel (the only product that doesn't insanely dry out my fingers)

Heron - for kids multi-vitamins (although I miss the US gummy bears multi-vitamin that had the Omega3's (burstlets dont work)

Brauer - for teething, colic, colds (great natural and for us it works)

Rosella - for tomato sauce

San Remo - pasta

Sun Rice - for rice

Nerada - pesticide free tea

Planet Organic - camomile and green tea

Molenberg bread - can't say enough that after all the breads this works for us, the only wholegrain bread the kids will eat

Farmhouse bread - preservative free white bread

Artisse Organic - lollipops (www.artisse.com.au)

Arnotts Arrowroot biscuits

Sunbeam sultanas

Anchor - for all types of flour

Betta - Natural kiddies icecream cones

Bulla - frozen yoghurt (we use to replace icecream)

Frosty Fruits - natural flavours/colours

Lurpak - i buy the refills and reuse the container (a little treat, as its pricey, but the only butter that my kids can't tell is there)

Again thanks for taking the time to give me some quick feedback :0)

Just a thought

mwah Rachx

If you have time to answer 4 simple questions about the above it would be greatly appreciated...also to have members fill in the survey who have been a recent member, a member in the last year and long term members, so I can get a mix of different experiences!

You get to surveys, if you are logged in and click on surveys on the left side within your orange navigation area.

Thanks sooo much and enjoy your weekend...

Rach x

After a lot of discontent, it ended up creating buzz about the new Vegemite snack, of which BTW, my boys don't seem to mind eating. For some reason the publicity has helped me actually take the leap to try it, just because the traditional vegemite has been part of our breakfast for generations.

So yay, Cheesybite it is, and hey most publicity is good publicity in the end, especially with a fast clear response and loyal customers who are very passionate to let their real feelings be known!!

So hears cheers to Cheesybite and Kraft :0)

"Vegemite - iSnack 2.0"

Well, it's so funny to look back and remember when my hubby and I were in the thick of Web 2.0 in 2005 and many in Silicon Valley rebuked the mention of the label WEB 2.0 and because of this, the new word for the internet resurgence was changed to "Social Media"....so now after 4 years the makers of Vegemite play a crazy play on the "2.0" resurgence where everything done a second time has a "two point o'er" after it... just how far behind are we techies?

When it comes to whats cool in the "real geek world of Silicon Valley" I think we really are, and us geek folk are cringing...I can't claim to be extremely geek, but I have lived in Silicon Valley during the Web 2.0 and Valley rebirth and I really think an apple-like "i" in front of everything and a "2.0" after everything is like putting on 70's platforms and running in them all day!!!!

[inject humorous sarcasm] - What it should have been was hanging an "r" like Flickr somewhere or make up a crazy name like Bing or Google..that would have been more geek classay!! [end of humorous sarcasm tone]

But hats off to the **"Web designer in Perth" at least you are famous for continuing the Social Media polarity. I am sure you didn't fathom that Kraft would think, "oh yeah!!!! how cooooool.... lets try and get in on the Web 2.0 thing, it'll be a winner...."

....sounds like something your parents would say.....as they dig out their crusty 70's platform shoes...

**Apparently he was the winner of "name the new vegemite product competition here in Australia" and yes I will buy and taste it, I am sure I won't shut down and need a reboot...mwah mwah mwah

and hey I just came up with a name in a thought - "Kangamite" come on peoples at Kraft

Fold down the top band of the socks to prevent the nasty red sock line some kids get and if your little one has socks that start to slip off while they play (which can be dangerous) pull up the socks properly and do a few folds lifting up gently so that the folds are secure and fold down to the ankle.

I can't believe it's only a couple of weeks till the end of term 3!!! Time flies...

Hope you are all having a great week...I am looking forward to resting and sleeping somewhere there in between :0)

Cheers all

Rachel

If you are like our family, we forget to drop pff videos all the time...but for us we seem to do it in a daze, forever negotiating to reduce our late or overdue fines and competely forgetting how lovely it was in the US to have the convenience of being able to send back your DVD when you felt you wanted to.

So we've gone from $30 here, $20 there for overdues at Blockbuster and DVD's that stop all the time, to trialing Quickflicks where we can add 20 DVD's at a time to our que and hey presto our mailbox has a DVD in it for us to watch (considering it is such a hassle to try and get to the cinema's everytime a movie comes out)...what I love more than anything is the no pressure to return back the DVD, and because of this (and funny how reverse psychology works) we send the DVD back in it's own pre-paid envelope in the mail as soon as we watch it and if I forget I can just do it the next day...

Anyway, I think I am saving money from not having to pay overdues for video's that don't play continuously all the way through and I think Quickflicks is the way to go, so far I am really impressed with the hassle free and after my trial I am sure to continue with the monthly fee.

I can only hope that our children can be protected from the swine flu/ flu with flu vaccines and hopfully us parents can recognise the signs of any bacterial infections early and/or virus. I guess it is a measure of balance and commone sense, yet I do believe some sort of volunteer register to allow people to record any sickness out of the norm should be set up. Especially, with outbreaks that are rare.