Squidoo?!

Have you ever heard of Squidoo?  No, it's not a new sushi food.... it's a fairly new website that offers the promise of more exposure for you and YOUR websites ~ your blogs, your Etsy, your Zazzle, anything at all you want to promote more.  Or it's just a place where you can tell the world about your favorite things, or maybe your not-so-favorite things.

At any rate, I finally grabbed a few hours yesterday to explore Squidoo in depth, and set up my own profile.  I crafted my first two "lenses" and I'm off!  I can't wait to build more and more on Squidoo.  I have a fellow Zazzler to thank for the idea (thank you Shane from Reflekshins!)  

Although I had heard of Squidoo and visited it earlier last year, I had somehow forgotten about it amongst all the other "to-do's" in my life (I know, I can't imagine how that could possibly happen!)  :-)

On a side note, my Zazzle store has been doing fantastic lately -- I've sold 100 copies of my Pink Gerbera Daisy thank-you card and 100 copies of my Sunflower thank-you card along with sheets of postage to match!


Woo-hoo!  Getting those "sold" emails just makes my day!  I would love to shed one of my two regular jobs if I could just make my online presence everywhere better! 

So if you have a spare second,
check me out on Squidoo!

Country Dreamin'

Maybe this post could be more appropriately titled "Country Meditations", or "My Bucket List". Or even more simply, "I'm Getting Old". Or better yet, "Posting Because I Haven't Been Diligent On Posting".

Ok, so it's a post about all the above things.  Sort of.  If it's incoherent and rambling, suffice it to say you've been warned beforehand.

At any rate, here I go with a motley assortment of questions and thoughts that have been running rampant through my brain since I turned 50 in December....

Why am I working two jobs?
Simple answer: To get out of debt.
More complicated answer: To get out of debt and live some dreams.

How long will I continue to work two jobs?
I dunno. I wish I had the answer to this question.

So, what are my dreams since I don't have as much of life to live said dreams?
There really is no simple answer to this question.

Of course, there are simple, easily accomplishable dreams, e.g., a trip to the fantastically beautiful Pacific coast to visit family. 

From left:
ny niece, brother, sister-in-law, me, my sister and brother--in-law

A winter trip to Yellowstone ~ I've been wanting to make this trip for many years now.  I've been to Yellowstone 3 or 4 times in the summer, but I would love to see its breathtaking snowy beauty.  Even better ~ to combine a winter trip to Yellowstone with a photography class!


Then there are more difficult-to-attain dreams, such as getting a tractor to work our property, grow our own hay, have a much larger garden with more variety, maybe even have our own small CSA someday.


Then there are the real pie-in-the-sky dreams, such as getting a really good roping horse for the hubby, sending him to a fantabulous roping school in Texas for a few weeks and then travelling the team roping circuit. Yeah, that one's a tough one, primarily because it involves many dollars.


But I also know there is no such thing as an impossible dream.  Never say never....

Who would have ever thought that I would be living in the Kansas outback on 27 acres?  Perhaps that wasn't a conscious dream of mine -- I never thought "hey, I want to live in Kansas", but here I am, and ever so happy that I have this little piece of paradise to come home to every single day.  I think it helps make working two jobs just a tad more bearable.

So I'll keep working my two jobs as long as I can to pay off as much debt as possible and build some savings toward our dreams.  I'll remind myself to grab a little bit of "me" time everyday before I head off to work -- whether that "me" time is posting on my blog, visiting a few friends' blogs, spending time with our dogs and cats and horses and guineas, or playing with my new video recorder or my camera.  Photography is still my first love but I've had precious little time to indulge in that hobby lately.

So, what are your dreams?  

Are you taking steps to make some of your dreams happen?

Our Crazy Cat

I'm not going to go into great detail about my over-month-long absence here.... suffice it to say that working two jobs with only one day off in December left me with little time for my hobbies.  :-(

During the month of December I acquired a wonderful new toy ~ my first video recorder ~ courtesy of my sweet hubby.  I'm now the proud owner of a new Flip Slide HD video camera.  Whooo-eeee!!  Can you believe I have never owned a video camera, ever?!  So I've got lots of new stuff to learn, and of course, little time to do so.  

With my first full weekend off work, I give you..... Our Crazy Cat.  Cut me some slack here on my amateur video.  Remember, it's my absolute first video shoot!!!