Boring and Dull

There are some people who are called to great things. These are the people who know the truth (at least according to Steve Pavlina) and who wish to follow a different path. One that doesn't require a lifelong commitment to The Man. There are some who love their jobs and are happy to go to work (at least most days). However that isn't a very large part of the population and that isn't my dream, nor is it my husbands.

We have a hope and a dream of something bigger and better and at home. We both wish to make money from writing, both with our online work and with books (though different in nature), we also wish to sell the items that we create. I feel that these are worthy goals and with time Peter's day job will not be necessary for our survival.

The problem is from here to there. How do we get to needed x amount of money and aren't making it with anything but the day job to having more money then what we have to have to survive, but rather enough to thrive. Success is something that can happen (blog about success)...but when?

So, Peter is job hunting to satisfy the need of the hour and I am working on my blog series to begin the future of tomorrow.

Things

There are all these things running around in my head and my life lately. I have all of these goals and just don't seem to have it together enough. Drink more water, clean more, walk more, relax more, write more...and nothing seems to get done. Of course now I am also adding work more. It is today that I have unofficially began my new business of Dog Walking...The plan is to make money walking the neighborhood dogs. Some have looked at me with sceptically...That can't work...but I put my sings up at five thirty and got my first call at six thirty. So, I am certain we will see where it all leads us.

I think about what we want to do and I pray and hope that we make it there. We have our website which is a great place to write articles on topics we enjoy. It is technically a free place to post them...and so far continues to be a place that isn't bringing in any money, but the hope is that it starts to pay us just a little with the ads on there...enough to help us get by.

I want to write childrens' books for sure, and maybe further down the line something more complicated. I think I have what it takes, and have a few stories, in my head (the place where they haunt me, no one can read them, I don't have to fear rejection, and they never make any money or fulfill any dreams). Peter wants to write fantasy novels (and would be good at it), but that requires time to write and edit, neither of which he has right now, but could if the dog walking thing takes off really well. We both want to make crafts and sell them. I would love doing this at craft fairs, but that would require having a big enough stock to sell them there. Right now we only have a few pieces and they haven't sold in any of the outlets we have tried to sell them at. I love making jewelry and other beadwork. My husband currently makes small hand turned items (pens, mechanical pencils, magnifying glasses, letter openers, light pulls, ect.) I have a list of things I would like to try, a crazy huge list: glass blowing and cane work, soap and body products, candles, of course the jewelry and beadwork, carving, I do enjoy turning a few items now and then...

The funny thing is the biggest issues against our creativity is money. Can't make anything without money to buy the parts and materials and the tools to do it. And time, can't make anything without the time, can't make any money without spending all the time elsewhere. So, it is with this that I hope that the dog walking does well so that we can work less hours on our job and more hours on our passions and dreams.

One of Those Nights

It's one of those nights where I feel so good I can't sleep. Not that I physically aren't tired enough, but that my mind is going ten thousand miles an hour and keeping me up even though I know I am planning on being awake in five hours. I really need to be awake in five hours, we are going garage saleing for dressers tomorrow. I just can't see myself paying 100 to 150 dollars right now for something I can get at a garage sale for 25. Especially since I need three of them.

So, with my mind going at least ten thousand miles per hour I have been thinking about our website blogs. I added a page to our website, which of course is more time consuming then adding an entry to ones blog. I have been thinking about out goals and how the hell we are going to get from here today, to there tomorrow. If that makes any sense.

A little over a month ago I signed up for Google Analytics, which is an awesome program that allows me to know that we are getting about 45 visits a month and many of them are repeat visitors. This isn't good. It felt good. Seeing two visitors in a day felt better then none, but lets face it, in the line of traffic, it sucks. I know that we don't have enough content to draw more visitors, and I have been trying to change that, but most days that feels difficult. My blog traffic is growing nicely and I have seen some traffic move from my blogs to my website (and the other direction for that matter). I told you analytics was a great program. But we are still talking double digit traffic here. Not hundreds, or thousands, or tens of thousands, but double digits.

Then I think, how can I increase my pages? I know that time put into it would help, and not having to fight with the baby for the ability to use the keyboard and mouse (he loves making the computer do things). So, I need to carve out computer time. Which probably shouldn't be done at 1:30am too many times for my personal sanity.

Then I think, hmm, should I really do this blog in pink? It isn't really me. It also doesn't go too well with the title. Though I kind of like that contrast. We do have some dull looking blogs. Thought Provokers is very dull though I did that so as not to distract from the content. The content isn't growing near as much as I would have liked. That should change soon, my husband is no longer working 9am-10:30pm. He no longer has to leave for work at 8:15am and arrive home at 11:15 pm. Now he leaves at 7 and is home by 6 ish. It's still a long day, but does give him some time for other things, so his writing should add to both the blogs that he contributes to and the website.

That is enough rambling for now...

Beautifying the World

Being American I have a self centered view of the world. It isn't something I am proud of, but rather something that has been ingrained into me. There are those who speak around me of giving to others, and I strive to do so. But I think for the most part the things that excite me the most are the things that happens to me.

FedEx gave us a settlement, because they messed up (you can read about it here). It was a nice settlement and we decided that we would be buying furniture with it. We have lived here a month now and have had a dining room table, dining room chairs, a desk, and my mom has had a bed. Nothing more. We picked out a couch at Big Lots, but were waiting for their 20% off sale that is coming on Sunday. Then we got a call with a beautiful set that was being given away free. It now abides in our living room, and is gorgeous.

The problem with being American is that I am not the only one who seems to be self centered. My mother (who is part of our household, see 1001 Things I Hate About Living With My Mom) is also one who is self centered. Only unlike most Americans the fact that we are family doesn't change the self centeredness one iota. We bought a TV for the living room, mostly because I like to watch movies, though she is planning on watching soaps everyday religiously, which drives me crazy. It isn't a big TV, it cost 150 dollars. Except now she has added a 150 dollar TV to the things she needs for her room. Along with an 100 dollar chair for the living room and a 100 dollar chair for her room and 2 book cases and a dresser and two end tables. Plus she is the only one that got to go on a shopping spree. The rest of us aren't buying new wants (such as clothes or craft supplies) because we wanted the house to have the things it needed first. Well, overall, I am feeling frustrated.

But such is a dull life.

I feel...

I feel I may have over extended myself just a tad. Life is overwhelming, though I think it is that way for most people. I just don't seem to have it together.

I am a lucky one, I know. I don't have to work. My husband goes to work, makes a decent wage, and we live off of that. It does mean that we drive a 1989 Nissan, have only one car, and we don't finance anything that would make our lives easier or better.

I have a list of responsibilities, as do most people, especially women. I feed my man, do the laundry and keep the house. I take care of Marcus, our rambunctious almost one year old (eight days shy of one year). I also take care of my mom who is disabled and lives with us (to hear more about that visit the blog 1001 Things I Hate About Living With My Mom). Some days taking care of her is easy, just the same things I already have on my to do list. Fix lunch, fix dinner, and such. Other days she needs to be run here and there for doctors appointments, and then there are the days she hurts so bad that I need to help her shower and take care of her personal needs.

Then we have the list of goals and hopes. We hope to build a website, a good website, www.falonofthetower.com. It is slow going, with my husband working all the time, I am the only one working on it. I hope to develop it into a huge web of informations, stories, and fun, but it takes time and energy. The hope is that this website will eventually pay for itself (at least) and maybe make a little money with some of our ads. I have found that with my responsibilities I am having a hard time working on the goals and hopes.

I also have the desire to loose weight for a healthier lifestyle (one that I have found is really hard to do when living with the person who helped you develop your bad lifestyle) (you can find more information about this subject in my blog and on my website). But actually loosing weight means finding time to do what needs to be done (walking and other forms of exercise).

Then there are the blogs. As part of my website I wanted to have a series of blogs that related to sections coming up. There is "The Fattest Diary" which relates to the section of my website "The Phat Diaries-Going From Fat to Phat". There is the 1001 Things I Hate About Living With My Mom which is just my way of blowing off steam and happens to be the blog that I have written in the most. Then there is "The Mommy Page" which is a diary of my life as a mom, or my feelings as a mom. It ties in with "The Baby Zone" on my website (I think that I should be saying our website, because without my husband none of this would exist). Then there is "The Sign Language Blog" which is slowly discussing the history of sign language and the deaf culture. I am hoping to have a section of my website dedicated to this topic as well as teaching basic sign language, however we need some equipment before I can teach sign on the web. We have a blog called "Thought Provokers" that is sharing some things that stimulate the thought process, though this blog hasn't gotten far. Eventually there will be thought provokers on our website as well. I also have "Beautiful Beads" which is a blog about bead work and jewelry making. This is also something that I want to add to my website, but have to wait till we can replace our camera (the batter was lost in our move from Wisconsin to Texas, thanks be to FedEx). I started this blog just to be a blog. Nothing to serious or educational. For now that is it, but that feels like a lot. Trying to post in the blogs somewhat regularly and work on pages for the website and take a walk and cook breakfast, lunch, dinner and take care of a baby and my mom and...

Well I am ready for a nap now, think I will work on posting the piece about leaving the baby for the first time that I tried adding to The Mommy Page yesterday.

Oh, I almost forgot a very important part of our website. Our fiction is being posted there! Or right here rather. And we have reviews and recommendations, including movie reviews for movies that aren't as easily heard of as the new to theater types, service reviews, and soon there will be product reviews. Yay!

The Tale of the Wondering Brain

I want so bad to make all of our dreams come true. We want to work together at home and make a living. It doesn't have to be a fantastic living, though we certainly wouldn't mind, but a living it has to be. We have people to support, and things that we would like to do.

However, there are so many things that need to happen first. We need to pay off our debts (which aren't as many as most Americans, though I have some college debt, and we now owe money because of this crazy move that we have made). We would like to save money so that when we finally jump off the cliff into the freedom of being self employed then we will have a little to fall back on. We would like to save money for a house (after all we are paying $759 a month in rent and other then the pools don't have much that we can say is worth it). We would like to own some newer cars, maybe even two so that both of us could go somewhere (after all we are driving a 1989 Nissan). We would like to survive and eat our fruits and veggies. Rice and Beans are cheap, but they don't provide a very balanced meal. We would like to buy some furniture, we gave all of ours away so that we could move easily. We have a desk, a dinning room table and four chairs, and a bed (that my mom sleeps on), and a port-a-crib that our one year old is using. We are sleeping on a blow up mattress and it is getting old. We also have no tv or radio (which is okay for me, but has been driving my mom nuts).

Right now my husband has a job he hates, and needs to find a new one. But he really only wants a job till we can afford for him to quit. I don't have a job, but money is so tight that I have been thinking about dog walking in my neighborhood in hopes of gaining a little extra cash.

Long run we want to be artisans and make money making beautiful things. We also like to right and would like to become published authors. We have also started a website (though it is still growing a little at a time) and have started bringing in a tiny amount of ad money. We would like to make all of these things work for us.

I am a crazy wondering brain of an artisan. Currently I am beading a jar. Without pictures it is a little hard to show exactly how awesome that is. I also make jewelry and other beaded items. Soon I will be taking a free mosaic class. My husband and I both work on the lathe and would love to expand what we can make there. Wooden boxes, carved spoons and sculptures, treasures chests, blown and caned glass, and more appeal to me. I would love to make it all. If only I could find people to buy it.