Foovay’s Cauldron

Archive for December, 2008

I’ve been noticing lately that many of the blogs that I follow through their RSS feed are doing good to put up one new post every two weeks, some even once a month. A very few are daily or very nearly so. I can tell you which ones I pay a lot more attention, too. In fact, if a blog isn’t updated pretty regularly, I drop it off my RSS reader after a while.

Maybe it’s just that I’m a writer – but I managed at least once a week on my blog even when I’m not writing something any more profound than “hi, how are ya, I’m still alive”. I like to think I’m usually a bit more profound than that – but I have had some projects lately that are not “on line” projects and thus not you know – real sharable on the blog.

Today I collected my free tarot reading (gift to members at tarot.com) and one of the things it mentioned was that I am very good at motivating myself to do what I think of “the daily chores”. I don’t even think of it as being motivated. It is just what I do. I get up, I get dressed, I feed Pearl, I feed the outdoor animals, I come in take my shoes off and pet the dogs, then get my coffee and start the “optional” part of the day. Well, generally with my not so optional meditation. Of course, my New Years New Habit challenge is to put ten minutes of yoga in there between dog petting and coffee getting.

Put these two thoughts together and here is what comes out. I am going to start thinking of blogging as one of the daily chores. Feed, clean house, meditate & yoga, blog, then work in other stuff. Now I’m not saying the Cauldron will see me every day. You know I have several other blogs, most of them adult. Since the adult sponsors have been the ones sending me money lately – those adult blogs will be seeing me frequently, too. But at least ONE of the blogs will get an entry every day.

Back when I had 13 blogs, I often blogged all day. Starting with reading the news and email, everything seemed to be something to go on one blog or another and I’d end up spending most of the day at it. In the long run, it paid pretty well, too

To anyone who blogs, and has the intention at least of making money with their blog – really, you need to post a good entry at least once a week, but preferably every few days. Otherwise, well, I’ll probably drop you off my RSS reader. I don’t think I’m that much different from anyone else. Just so you know.

Blessedbe

Oh yeah, Happy New Year. If you are celebrating, please be safe.

Summer Fey Foovay

Change.gov allows you to ask questions of president-elect Barak Obama, and to vote for the importance of questions already asked. There are a number of very good questions already there about the economy, energy, the environment, and more. You have to register and sign in (takes about one minute) to add a question or vote for a question.

I voted for a batch, then added one of my own. This idea has been passed around here lately.

Instead of giving a bail out to the big corps who apparently can’t follow basic good business practices, who will pay billions to their CEO, and send the rest to their sweatshop factories overseas – send each and every American citizen, every one of us, one million dollars. I can’t vouch for the rich, but I know us bottom feeders are going to pay off our house (or buy one), pay off all our credit cards, and probably buy a new – energy efficent – car. Among other things. Thereby solving every single one of our economy’s woes – no more foreclosures, no more crippling debt, and I’m not going to vouch for the big three automakers. Since they won’t MAKE a dependable, energy efficent car I personally will be buying an “import”. (“Imports” being made in America now, and Fords being made in Mexico that whole definition is getting a bit silly)

If you want to vote for this idea – register, sign in, click on “view questions”, then Economy, and then search for “$1 mill” (without the quotes) and it will take you right to it. I know it sounds like a pain in the ass but in reality it goes pretty quickly and easily.

Already, I like this administration.

I don’t really “do” resolutions. I discovered very early in my life, that I never keep them. I mean, from Jan.1st I’m breaking them. So I quit making them. I believe it is Louise Hay who says that she is against New Years Resolutions because you are just setting yourself up to fail, and then ladle guilt over yourself. In far too many cases, she is exactly right.

But I’ve found myself in the last month or so, thinking of some habits I would like to create in the New Year. Some of them I’ve been talking about much longer than that. So just how does one accomplish that without falling into the broken resolution guilt trap?

Leo Babuta of Zen Habits has a good idea in this entry, Make 2009 Great: Join the Power of Less’ New Year Challenge. His approach is not so much “make a resolution” as “learn a new habit”. He has written extensively about forming new habits and therefore has a method laid out to help you do just that.

Yes, I joined the Challenge. My new habit is 10 minutes (at least) of yoga on a daily basis. Although my physical health is still good (knock on wood) especially on these cold mornings I find myself very stiff and achy. I’ve been in the habit of doing yoga on a daily basis before, but as we moved about, jobs and lifestyles changed, I lost the routine and the habit. I miss it. I can tell the difference. So my challenge is to regain that habit and make it part of my morning routine.

The other thing I want to do – that I have been talking about since we moved to New Mexico – is doing a daily drawing of our ever changing and beautiful sky. I don’t really believe I will ever be a great skyscape or landscape artist – but who knows, maybe I’ll surprise myself. In the process, I think/hope I’ll also learn more about working in watercolor, pastels, and possibly even get adventuresome and try oils. I don’t imagine this work will be for sale, but again, maybe I’ll surprise myself. I know any time I have disciplined myself to daily drawing, my art has improved.

On a side note to that – since I hand draw many of my ATCs I’ve discovered not only improvements in my drawing in general, but especially in my ability to render accurately in that small size. I’m liking it Meanwhile, I’ve begun to have my doubts if Swap-bot is really the community for me. I think I’m going to explore some other communities a bit.

I was doing a major happy dance yesterday! I discovered over $100 I didn’t know I had – LOL! It was a big payment from one of my adult sponsors, sent through a service I don’t use anymore – or thought I didn’t! It was a great surprise, and allowed me to pay my hosting for next month, as well as renewing one of the adult domains. Demented-Pixie.com is also coming up for renewal next month, but I’m actually considering maybe letting it go. Sigh.

That is the second big surprise payment from an adult sponsor this year. The two of those quite eclipse what I’ve made with Adsense, ProjectWonderful, and all mainstream sponsors put together. Never mind the big $10 or so from Squidoo, and another $10 from Zazzle (for the YEAR in both accounts). The really funny part is that I have done nothing about getting my adult sites back up and running since the big October crash. Yet I’ve worked my ass off on the mainstream stuff.

Looks like the pendulum has swung the other way.

So I spent most of yesterday working on the adult side. I’m actually going through my old sponsors, looking at how they will fit into what I am doing now, and putting ads in place for the most part. I’ll probably do that most of the day today as well.

I am still hoping to gain Giant Squidom and I have at least a few more old lenses to update at Squidoo before the end of the year. If I don’t get it this time, fuck it. I’ll go play on the adult side for a few months.

Last yesterday evening I got a call asking me to nurse a baby goat. He’s supposed to be arriving today. Although his stay is planned to be short, he will likely take up a good deal of time while he is here. So if I’m not around, I’m being a goat mommy.

Happy New Year – in case I don’t blog again until after.

Her Royal Pearliness is back on line with a lens at Squidoo devoted to Pearlie the Psychic Kitty. A little work around allows her to still give her free personal psychic readings, too – but I’m going to make you read the lens to find it. Read it. Rate it. Comment. Push Pearl high in the lens ratings because, you know, she is special.

Now that took me all damn day. I’ve got 30 minutes before I must again brave the cold and feed the animals outside.

Help me be a Giant Squid this time, please? Check out my lensography, read some lenses, rate some lenses, comment, and give me some lens love.

Thanks

Hey. Working on some end of the year stuff – like cleaning out my inbox, going through my to-be-read book pile (if I haven’t read them in two years, I’m not going to!), shit like that. And I found this great update video on Sitka. Sunday has grown a mile!

I thought that would be some good news.

I’m plugging along, too, on updating old Squidoo lenses. One thing I did was completely redo the lens devoted to A Demented Pixie on Books, since that blog is gone now. Just one of the casualties I just did not bother to try and replace when Dreamhost went down for a month + and I had to rehost my websites. Anyhow, I’ve set it up to put my book reviews up on Squidoo now, and all the proceeds will be donated to Room to Read. I only have one review up at the moment, but you might want to bookmark and/or favorite Book Reviews by Summer Fey Foovay so that whenever I put up a new review you’ll get the news. The book review blog never made a bunch of money, but maybe these will do a bit better, be more fun to look at (Squidoo offers some fun stuff), and what they do make will go to a great cause.

Pearl is being a pest to remind me that I planned to do a lens on Pearlie the Psychic Kitty to replace her website that is gone now. I’m procrastinating since I haven’t figured out how to do the “Pearlie predicts” page. I can’t put the script in to a lens so I’ll have to set it up as a seperate page I guess, and link it from the lens. That would be a good thing to work on today though – since I’m sure folks are looking around for 2009 predictions. Hah – if Pearlie wants her page she’ll have to part with some predictions.

I’m once again applying for Giant Squid – so if you’re just fooling around on line and have time, would you please go visit, rate, comment, and otherwise give love to my lenses? You can find them all listed at my lensography. Thanks!

I had fun the last couple of days doing the first ten inchies for 100 inchies swap on Swap-bot and some ATCs. Spent yesterday enjoying the SciFi channel Highlander marathon. Loving my iPod shuffle. Staying a wee bit drunk most of the time. Holidays almost survived for another year…

Blessedbe

Summer

Glory Hallelujah – I gots my iPod shuffle for Yule. I’m doing my own little happy dance, even though getting things working has been a little struggle. I started this morning sitting at the computer listening to MY music with no commercials, no buffering, no struggle. It’s just all these little things that living like I do right now are such a hassle, that basically I’ve not had music for …like… a couple of years. Ahhhhhh…. It feels a bit like…this:

Look at that gals legs – real legs, shaped like legs, with muscles – aren’t they gorgeous? I was so struck when I watched the movie “Chicago” by Catherine Zeta-Jones figure. She is a dancer. She is feminine, and muscular, and curvy. Renee Zellweger, by comparison, looks like a stick figure. I can tell you who I’d rather run my hands over in bed. *evil grin*

Maybe that’s why I am so fond of the vintage porn – pictures of girls with real girl like bodies before this style of clothes hanger bodies to show off high fashion got going. Back when clothes were designed to flatter the woman, rather than the woman starved to two dimensions to show off the clothes.

Well, enough of my ranting. I may meander back in and work some today, but my basic plan starting from Yule is to maintain a state of altered consciousness (not to say, stay drunk but) until after New Years. Any work accomplished is extra credit. I’m taking a wee little vacation. I’m due.

Blessedbe

Summer