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I need to admit I’m addicted to blogging.
I HAD 8 blogs and just started my 9th one last night.
I have my original blog that I started when I was upset with Sprint and needed to blow off steam.
I then started an educational blog for people with lung disease. Since I was involved in education at the hospital and in home care I felt there was something lacking and so many of my patients slipped through the cracks because nobody took the time to educate them. I ran out of steam after about 7 months and abandoned it but it still got a lot of traffic so I reinvented it and it’s now about health concerns in general and I’ve had a few guest posts.
I then started a Christian blog when I noticed my focus on the original one was changing and I didn’t want these messages getting lost in there.
Then I started a blog for kids that was the adventures of my 2 puppies and written from the point of view of the puppies.
After that I was doing TV show reviews for a woman for pay. I wrote on 3 of her sites. She had about 20 people writing on 50+ sites. She decided she wasn’t getting the ad revenue she wanted so shut them down but made us an offer to own our sites for $10/month. I figured I could write the reviews on my own blog so I created another one for all the shows I like.
Then I wanted to try a different blogging platform but needed an idea for a new blog so I did I’m Not a Domestic Goddess But I Try. I talk about my journey to becoming a domestic goddess and my mistakes. I laugh at myself and share some recipes and tips. I even share the recipes I mess up on and where I failed.
I was doing product reviews for a woman on her site and realized I could do this so I now have a review and giveaway site. I started getting more reviews than I could handle and now have 6 women writing for me. There’s no pay but they get to keep the products they review and we’re putting together a Holiday Gift Guide with numerous giveaways.
I wanted to check out YET another blogging platform and needed another idea so I started one about the adventure and culture shock of moving from Chicago to a small town in southeast Alabama. My goal was to feature things happening in the area and do restaurant reviews if possible. Not doing much with it right now.
The last one I just started 2 days ago. I belong to a forum for women and they just started a section for writers and are giving us a writers challenge either monthly or every 2 weeks. The first one they put up a photo and had us write a minimum 500 word story from that photo. We could post it on the forum or our own site. I put it on one of my blogs then had this epiphiny that I could start a new site just for those stories.
I think I enjoy the creative side of getting a blog set up. I like the rush I get when the idea hits me. Thinking of the name, hunting for the right look then doing the first post. After a while I start twitching and need to start another one.
Do you have any hobbies or anything you LOVE to do or get an adrenaline rush just thinking of starting.
First of all, let me say, if this blogging does not interfer in your life in a negative way, you go girl. They all sound very interesting and I admire you for all you put into them. Have you ever thought of writing for profit? On the flip side, if you are ignoring life for these blogs, maybe you are a little bit like Sami and need some intervention. What do your friends and family think?
Yes, I have an obsession. I don’t think I realized it until this recent surgery. I was sitting watching TV thinking I NEED something creative to do. I’m a crafter. Nothing in particular but anything will do. That’s how my purses started out. (BTW, I am participating in an arts and crafts show in October with them.) I decided I have enough purses made so I was trying to think of something else to do with that same yarn and came up with decorating t-shirts with it. I make a chain and then wind it wround the neck in a decorative way and then add stones/gems/metal/etc. for further decoration.
Also, remembering that "wife beater" shirt Sami wore with the dusty pink flowery thingies on it, I went and bought a package of mens underwear and decorated them with yo-yos (the other day Mel had a shirt with them on the back). If you’re not familiar with them, they are circles of fabric, stiched around the edge and pulled up tight to make a little ‘yo-yo’. They came out really cute and I’m thinking of making more for the craft show.
Anyway, I am happiest when I’m doing something creative. My kids tell me I’m an addict too but say it’s one they are happy with. I discovered years ago that if I’m involved in some kind of project, I’ll spend my money on that instead of clothes, so, in the long run, it usually saves me money.
My real love is ceramics. I had a ceramic studio in California and have been certified by three different companies to teach, but it was too expensive to move all my equipment to FL. I just took my kiln and a few favorite molds. The problem is, there is NO place anywhere around here to get supplies and because they are all so heavy, shipping is prohibitive. For example, a gallon of slip (liquid clay) costs about $5.00 and $53 to ship! But, ultimately, the problem is the same with all my crafts, what to do with them when they are done. You need some kind of outlet and that is very hard to come by.
I use to crochet a lot, mostly baby blankets. When I worked at the hospital in Chicago I was coordinator of the NICU for our department (Respiratory Care) I had a bunch of leftover yarn so I made little covers for them. They weren’t big enough to wrap the babies in but they’d fit over them and tuck on the sides so they wren’t only in the standard hospital design receiving blankets. They at least had some color and looked more normal and healthy when mom and dad came to visit.
I’ve tried my hand at quilting but again only for babies. I could sew but when I made something for myself I’d get tired of looking at it by the time I was finished but I did make some outfits for my mom and some dresses for a little cousin. I whipped up a dress for a Christmas Concert at church in a weekend when I was visiting them. I also made her dress when she was flower girl at her aunt’s wedding. Now I’ll repair a torn seam or hem some pants and that’s about it.
My brother, who taught me to sew had taken a pottery class. He made a few things and after he died I confiscated them. the first thing he made was a vase. It’s actually pretty good and you can tell it’s handmade. His name and the initials are etched or engraved on the bottom. I think they had to do that because they might not have finished something the first class. He also sculpted a small statue but I never could figure out what it was suppose to be. The vase is my favorite. I would have loved to learn pottery but at that time was too young for the class he was in and never thought to pursue later on my own.
DH and I are retired and he’s a computer or tech nerd and a gamer so he’s either got his eyes fixed on the screen killing zombies or some war game or his head and hands are in a computer someone gave him to fix.
My blogs don’t take up too much of my time. I spend most of my computer time visiting my favorite sites like Salem Place. When I do a review it may take me 15 minutes and that’s with organizing the information before I start writing. Don will help me out by reviewing tech or game related items. His daughter in Sweden asked if I could get some headsets she wants. They’re not out yet and are to retail for $129. She wanted to review them but when I contacted the company they wouldn’t ship that far. He’s reviewing them, I’m writing it up and we told her the cost of shipping them to her is her birthday present. I got an offer to review a printer but I have one so he took it, the same with an external ultra portable hard drive. He just loves when I get something he can use. Having 6 other women do reviews for me is a huge help and my mind isn’t as stressed as it was before. I pitch the companies or they come to me and then I forward the emails of offers to a google group I set up for them. They all get an email and can claim 1 each the first day and after that it’s up for grabs. They’ve all expressed how excited they are about this opportunity. One woman got some Crocs shoes for her little one, another got some sun protective clothing for her son. They get make-up, a computer storage system and some console games. I get excited when I give them something and they jump on it. I did get a vacuum last year I didn’t need. I kept telling the woman I didn’t want her to send it. She wa sponsoring a giveaway on my site and that was enough but she insisted so I used it twice to review it then donated it to the Center for Aging who had an 80 year old woman who needed a vacuum. I got over $400 in colognes around Valentint’s Day. I have allergies and don’t wear much cologne but I did spray and sniff in the air then took the bottles to church and the women were like vultures crowding around me and grabbing.
Don thinks I should write a book and be the next best selling author. I love to write but doubt myself. Everyone I know says I’m a good writer but they have to say that or they know I’d hurt them. I think I do OK for the short story but not enough imagination to do a complete book. Maybe one day. My favorite class in college was creative writing and I’d like to find writing classes around her but none to be had. Same with photography. When I was in my 20’s I had a darkroom and did color and black & white processing. I loved it but it was too expensive for the chemicals. The chemicals for color had a very short shelf life once opened and I’d open a bottle once to mix and by the time I got back to it again I’d have to buy new chemicals.
Don in addition to being a computer nerd or geek is also very interested in history, especially WWll. He’d like to go back to college and finsih the degree he started years ago and dropped but this time he’s like to focus on history. He said maybe he could teach.
We make sure to take time away from our "hobbies" for each other and have date night. Sometimes we go out or we’ll pick a movie on PPV or VOD and make some popcorn or he’ll run to the store for movie time snacks and we snuggle with the puppies and watch our movie. There are also some shows we both enjoy and we make time to watch those. Not too much on TV that we like but there are a few.
Thanks for sharing it with us. And I think you should go for the book. Just think of something you’re interested in and start writing.
I love to write also but, like you, don’t think I could handle a book, although I did write a short one about my breast cancer in a humor genre. Yeah, people have said, "What’s funny about cancer?" But I think you can find humor in anything and I hoped it would be helpful for other women going through it. But, I never spent any time getting it published.
One thing I really have enjoyed writing I call, "My Hometown." I started it because I thought some day my g.kids (because we’re so far apart) would want to know about my life growing up. I sat down and started writing about the first thing I could remember and went from there. I grew up in a great medium-size college town (LaCrosse, WI) and described everything I could remember about it, where we went, what we did, absolutely everything that came to mind. But the neatest thing that happened was that every time I reread what I had written, I’d think of some more stuff. I’ve got about 70 pages so far. A couple of years ago, my niece (who lives in CA and has read it) did a road trip across the US and stopped there. She said how exciting it was to see some of the things I had described. She said, "It was just like I had been there before." Anyway, I wished I had had something like that from my g.parents, who had all died by the time I was eight.
I took a creative writing class at the local community college and enjoyed it very much. I find my problem though is organizing, I have to just write chronogically, which is fine for non-fiction but wouldn’t work for a novel. Besides, I don’t have the imagination to figure out a plot and follow through. Hmmm, guess I’d be a good writer for Days, huh?
I’m interested in the blankets you made. Our women’s club makes very plain Teddy Bears for the police and hospital. Just something to help a little one during a time of trauma. And we make soft pillows for mastectomy patients to put under their arms to make them a little more comfortable and donate them to Gilda’s Club. We also make heart-shaped pillows for cardiac patients to hold when they have to cough or do their deep breathing. (I’m sure you’re familiar with that!) I’ve posted this before but here’s a segment they did on the Miami news on us. http://gfwc-cswc.org/Video.aspx We’re always looking for something else we can do. After about 600 bears and pillows, we’d like to have something new to do. Back in CA we made hats for the premie babies but another organization keeps the hospitals supplied with them here.
I am really enjoying this topic and hope some of you other gals will jump in and tell us about your lives too. I’m sure everyone has something they are passionate about or spend a lot of their time on, justified or not. Won’t you share it with us? Just don’t include anything you don’t want out there in cyberspace for anybody to see.
A woman I use to work with started writing a story for her grandkids the day they were born. She had her first thoughts when seeing them, the things they did together and pretty much a "This is Your Life" type of thing. I thought that was such an awesome idea but not having any kids of my own I started one for my cousin. When she was born she’d come stay weekends or weeks with my mom and I. She was 4 when her grandfather adopted her and my mom died but I’d planned to take her to Disney World that March and the 2 of us went off together. She lived about 80 miles from me and her grandfather (my cousin) was divorced so I’d go spend weekends with them and her and I would go on adventures together or just do girl stuff like get manicures or shop. She always felt important when I’d ask her opinion on things I’d buy. Usually I’d pick out 2 items I wanted and get her opinion on which I should get. We had a special bond and even decided there was Mother’s & Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, Valentine’s & Sweetest’s Day but no day for cousins so we picked a Day in June to be Cousin’s Day and she got to pick whatever we did that day. She was 13 and living with her aunt and uncle when Don and I got married then moved from Chicago to Alabama. Leaving her was the hardest.
Anyway, with my long story I’d decided to write a little bio on her when she was about 6. A couple of years ago I got to reveiw Cherished Bound which is a picture book that you can add text to. I pulled out the notes I’d written and went through old photos and found many that I liked and took bits and pieces of what I wrote and added it to some of the pages The front cover had a photo fo her and I when she was about 5 and the back was a photo taken for high school graduation. I started out with her mom being pregnant and how excited I was the day she was born and went on to the first time I saw her. Then how I took my parents on our last family vacation to Geneva, Wis and rented a cabin for a week of nothing and took her with when she was 8 months old. Went on to how mom and her would argue about everything when she was 3 years old and had photos of my mom outside blowing bubbles and her running around trying to catch them. There were Disney photos and how I loved seeing her reactions to things like the Epcot Ball and having breakfast with the Disney characters. When she was 8 I we took a driving trip west and went to South Dakote for The Badlands, Mt. Rushmore. Stayed 3 nights in Yellowstone then drove to Montana and stayed with a cousin and came home through North Dakote and Minnesota and spent a day at Camp Snoopy at Mall of America. When she was 9 we went to Hawaii and she got to swim with the dolphins and at 11 was our last vacation together and we drove to Reddington Beach, Florida and rented an apartment on the beach. She decided she was my "travel companion" and she helped in some of the planning and helped make decisions on what we’d do each day (with some guidance) When we went on driving trips we had a deal. I’d pump gas but she had to clean the windows. Every morning I’d show her on the map where we were and where we were going to end up that day. I’d highlight the drive and she’d watch for road signs and point to the map to show me where we were. Kept her occupied and she wasn’t asking "how much farther". Anyway, I had the book printed in hard cover and sent it to her for her 19th birthday and she said she was laughing at some of the pictures and crying at the memories. That’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to being published.
My husband said I can be a humorous writer and thought I should write an Erma Bombeck type of book so I don’t have to focus on one long story. Something like that I think I could handle. I always thought I’d like to do a children’s book but after writing my puppies stories writing for kids is a lot harder than you think.
You humorous book on your cancer is actually good. I think until you’ve been though it you can’t even fathom someone finding humor in it. We had a nurse who went on to get her PhD in psychology. She started a C.H.E.E.R. group at the hospital. I can’t remember what the acrynom is for but it has to do with humor and chronic illness. She gave talks to our breathers group and had us in stitches, it was like going to a comedy club. She gave us medical data on how laughter releases chemicals in the brain that stimulates narcotic pain relievers and helps lessen pain. Also how starting the day with bad or depressing news will carry through your entire day where starting with a laugh will brighten your day. She gave us a task for 1 month we were to put away the morning paper or only read the comics and not watch morning news. Then report back to her on how we felt and most said they were happier. Also being around negative people or people who are sad all the time will bring your mood down. Most think those with a fatal disease or chronic illness can’t laugh or don’t want to but fail to realize they need to feel normal and laughter is a part of living. We had a neighbor who had stomach or intestinal cancer and was going through chemo. She lost her hair and always wore a turban. The first time my mom saw her without her turban she called her Kojak and since them she’d walk over and as soon as she got in the house the turban came off. She could be herself and not worry about upsetting my mom. She said it was freeing to have someone she didn’t have to pretend around.
I think making those things for hospital patients is wonderful. Everyone needs to feel useful and also feel someone is thinking of them.
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