Almost time for my hair donation!

Well, my target date for donating my hair is Memorial Day weekend now. The longest part of my hair is now 16 inches long! I only need 8 inches to make the donation (to Pantene's program), but need to account for another inch or so at least for making the cut, then a little more for cutting a style. So I could actually keep it just below my shoulders in length. But I'm thinking a little shorter than that.

I've added some pictures of styles I kind of like to my hair donation lens. (If you ever wanted to know about how and where to donate your hair, I've got it covered!) I've asked friends (both real-life and online) to go vote on the style they think I should go for. I'm going to take votes until the middle of May, then use that to help me make a choice.

I getting really excited about cutting this mop off! It's been 18 months and it looks really shaggy now.

Yikes!

In all my joy over finding and adapting a template I liked, I neglected to include my Google Analytics code back into the page HTML. So I've lost an entire month's worth of data that proved you were here. Boo hoo! Yes, I'm feeling pretty stupid right now.

(But the page looks pretty!!)

Oh, thanks to my online friend, Susan52, for posting a comment on this post, which made this issue come to light. Go check out her blogs on Squidoo, eBay and recipes.

New line of lenses - toddler birthday parties?

Ok, I know. What do I know about toddler birthday parties? Well, I've been to more of them than I can count thanks to my family and friends being pretty good at the procreation thing. And, well, let's face it. I can get creative with just about anything.

I had noticed that a large number of the hits to my Abby Cadabby lens were related to party supplies and needs. I did a quick search and found that lots of people were trying to find cake pans, personalized invitations and the like for their daughter's party. So - while I have lots of party items on the main page, I ended up creating a whole new lens just about throwing an Abby Cadabby birthday party.

I know a couple of other people have latched onto the whole kids birthday party theme for their lenses. But I wonder if there's room for me to squeeze in there with a toddler target in mind. I can definitely think of a thousand and one ways to make it happen!

(I know - I committed to not do anything new until I get everything else as spruced up and promoted as possible. What can I say? I'm an idea hamster, after all!!)

Recovered two old blogs

Wow. Somehow managed to get logged in to Blogger using my old account information and was able to recover two blogs I used to have back in the day. One was related to my days as the women's minister at my church, the other was a reading log of sorts. The reading log I have definite use for still as I can include my Squidoo book lenses and keep my mini-reviews that help me track everything I read. (Which is a lot. Just got back from the library yesterday with 10 more books.)

But what about the other one? Should I keep it? The content is almost three years old. It never had any traffic. I'm not in that ministry area anymore. I'm not really in any ministry area anymore (whole different post, there!). So what to do with it. The url is actually my name, so I suppose I might want to keep that at least. But how to repurpose it when I have this blog as well? Hmm.

It's hard to keep the circles separate online

This article from Sunday's Washington Post (registration now required to read, sorry!) hit the nail on the head for me. I recently joined Facebook and quickly discovered that I run in a lot of entirely separate circles. In real life, these circles never intersect. I can be a totally different person in my work circle than I am with the chorus than I am with my Squidoo buddies than I am with church contacts.

So what happens when you end up in a place like Facebook and you suddenly have friends from all these circles in one place? How are you supposed to act now? I'm not a terribly different person with my different groups, but I do interact with them in different ways. And mashing them all together on Facebook has me a little confused as to what kind of info I want to be posting there. My goal was to provide another forum for my Squidoo stuff, but do my personal connections care about that? (Frankly, does anyone care?) Do my Squidoo connections care about my personal life? And does it really even matter.

My intro to Gather has me pondering a similar question as to what exactly is a "friend" when you are trying to make online connections. I haven't had any issues on Facebook with people I don't know trying to connect with me, but Gather is full of friend requests from folks I've never seen or heard of. Where do you draw lines in defining who is to be your "friend" online? Hmm.

Commit: I need a system!!

So far, I've managed to get up to almost 100 lenses without a real clue as to what I'm doing. How? you might ask. By just being me - obsessive, creative, determined. Yadda, yadda. But I'm finding that I'm jumping after new ideas before I've managed to finish the old. And that I'm not going back to update lenses with fresh content or new modules as I should. Nor do I seem to be getting the most out of my affiliate relationships. Sigh.

*** If you're a new reader, that's my favorite word. Sigh ***

I haven't really been keeping very good track of my stats. I don't make the rounds of the networking sites like I should. I don't visit other lenses in the groups I've joined. And I probably spend way too much time working (playing? piddling?) on this stuff without real ROI in mind. Because some of them have become more work than fun and the work part would be just fine if they made money.

I'm feeling the need to be more strategic here. So here's the plan. (Because we all know how well I do at meeting my goals, even when put out there for everyone to see!) I will finish the two series I have in the works and all other WIP lenses. Then there will be no more new lenses (unless I just have a desperately good idea that I can whip out quickly?) made until I get everything else into shape. This means:

1. revamping old lenses to utilize all available module options
   
2. adding content such as subheaders to help boost SEO
3. writing an article about each and every topic I've got a lens on and posting them to Gather
4. getting every lens submitted (at the rate of two a day!) to Lensroll.com
5. getting every eligible lens submitted to Squoogle
6. getting into the Isle of Squid and submit lenses
7. start Digging my own lenses and blog posts
8. re-evaluate my Google alerts to see which ones are giving me useful info and which are a waste of time

Once that's done, I shall commit to developing a schedule for promoting and maintenance. Sigh. That just doesn't sound like much fun. I guess I should also commit to working on expanding within my current space - like lenses on the different hair charities and so forth.

Howdy to all my Squiddy friends!

If you've wandered over here from the Squidoo blog, welcome!! I had the honor of this blog being listed with about 20 others from lensmasters who blog about their Squidoo lenses. Which I never talk about. Nope. Don't let the fact that the Squidoo tag has the biggest number fool you. :-)

The Invisible Man

One of our favorite TV shows in the early 00s (that seems weird to type!) was The Invisible Man on the Sci-Fi Channel. Unlike the H.G. Wells character, Darien Fawkes wasn't crazy. At least not when the Quicksilver wasn't taking over. He wasn't a goody-two-shoes like Sue Storm by any means and that led to many a moral dilemma and, well, lots of good action. :-) In honor of the first season being released on DVD (finally!), I did a lens on the Invisible Man (and Woman) and the different variations that have crossed through religion and pop culture. Still a work in progress though. Have gotten distracted by a multitude of other things.

Oh my Squidoo!!

Wow. They messed with the Squidoo template. Again. Now, no one wants to listen to me whine about something as unrelated to their life as the Squidoo template. But, dang it!! This is my blog and my life. (See the title?) So we're going to talk about it! :-)

They got rid of the horrid box at the top that was making a mess of the text and put in an orange band full of links across the top right below the introduction section. Which has the nasty effect of cutting the intro off from the rest of the content. And they've made the bio front and center by sticking it across the top of the content. Just not entirely sure why I'm suddenly so important to the page!

The point of the orange band stuff is to create more links on the page that people will be likely to click. More clicks = more revenue. But when half of those links are to things other than my pages, it's kind of hard to get excited about the linkage.

Hmmm. Some of my problem is the looks and I admit I don't know enough about how SEO, etc. works to truly have a solid and useful opinion here beyond gut reaction. Got over it last time and I guess I'll learn to deal again. But sigh.

Still looking for chairs

Had the brilliant idea to start looking for patio chairs on eBay. So have added this little deal so I can keep on eye on a search to find things I might want to watch and/or bid on. Pretty cool, huh? Only problem is that my template puts borders around all images automatically and I can't turn it off when I bring in things with images I don't want borders around. But I like them around my regular pictures. Need to ponder this.

Think green, not pink, when talking to women

Not sure if it's just the not being a girly-girl thing, but I find it just a little revolting that the first reaction for people wanting to market to women is to make everything pink. I'd rather have it in red, purple or lime green before I'd take pink.

Andrea over at Learned on Women has often ranted about this because pink does not a market for women make. She talks today about a different color, though, that is making headway with women - green. I'm personally far more responsive to a company that is attempting to be responsive in turn to how it can make a difference in the world around it. This goes for Whole Food encouraging people to bring their own reusable bag rather than take a disposable one (I get a 5-cent discount! Whee!) and the awesome Soles United recycling program from Crocs. For me, the green thing doesn't have to be that the product is environmentally friendly. It's about helping me execute on the small ways in which I can make a difference - less packaging, easier recycling, gentle incentives. Much more appealing than "NOW IN PINK!!"

Photo by Cyron on flickr and used under a Creative Commons license.

Join my Blog Network

Are you on Facebook? If so, come over to My Blog Network and help me out. I need 10 confirmations that I'm actually the author of this here blog. I have enough friends to hit 10, but not enough who are actually going over there to get it done! You can also join my network and discuss the blog there. I wish they had a place for the posts to feed in, but alas. I'm going to post the feed to the wall so people can subscribe for real as well. Thanks!!

Whew!

Totally forgot that I needed to add to the list to get my oil changed (things were blinking angrily at me!) and to pick up downspouts and a showerhead. Got those done, garage sale over and ... well there's still a lot left on the list. But I'm back on the sofa so time to work on lenses.

Weekend goals

Number one should be to not collapse! :-)

1. Work TWCD garage sale
2. Finish three lenses that are currently WIP - butterfly gifts, MonkeyBrain and invisible man
   
3. Get my craft books unpacked and on the shelves (which will probably turn into another lens)
4. Actually prepare for small group lesson
5. Attend meeting at church about Greece-Turkey cruise
6. Do research for days of week series
7. Write two Gather articles tying back to lenses - maybe invisible man and maybe college ringtones?
8. Root around in boxes to see if I can find the binding for Bryan's quilt
9. Get baskets for the bathroom while they're still on sale at Target - which means a Saturday chore.

Wow. That should be enough for now.

Christian obligations in the global economy

Hmm. Something to ponder. Don't know what I think just yet, although my gut tells me this is something else for me to get guilty about. The guys over at Church Marketing Sucks are talking about churches getting into the sweatshop-free movement and more generally, I suppose, the church's role in social justice. In fact, this is just the second post in a new discussion category they've started there.

So hmm. So what is our role as the church? We certainly dropped the ball many times in the past, and every time, in looking back, it's so clear that the path the church took at the time wasn't the one marked by grace or love.

Are Wall Decals So Over?

The Shelterrific gang is looking for ideas of overdone decorating trends. They're voting for wall decals, and I know I've seen them on their site often enough. And if you're talking about ones like the trash can in that picture on the post, then yes. Why would you want something like that? And if that's the direction wall decals are starting to take then definitely yes.

However, there are still a lot of beautiful ones out there and, having had a painting business, they allow people who are artistically challenged (but have great taste) to indulge. I discovered Mira Entu Interior via StumbleUpon and think these are definitely worth keeping around. (Well maybe not the toilet tank ones or the invading mice that look like sperm.) I've got some huge blank walls in my new bedroom crying out for me to paint something, and this site inspires me to think beyond stripes.

That said, I've been so busy with picking out details related to the kitchen remodel that I haven't picked up a decorating magazine in ages. So what do I know?

Heading back to Sesame Street

Well, I've taken a tour back to Sesame Street with my latest lens - this one on a new addition to the street - Abby Cadabby. I think she's just adorable. Took the opportunity to write an article over at Gather as well on the whole girly issue. Cracks me up and annoys me at the same time when people get upset about gender-related stuff. Like neutral is the only acceptable option. :-)

Yowser! I'll just stay inside!

Well, I'll probably just be staying inside anyway thanks to the viscous mosquitos we breed in our backyard. But, regardless, I need to replace our patio chairs. We have (had) those plastic adirondack chairs, which I think I bought at Lowe's for $25 each ages ago. They're really comfortable, easy to keep clean, just great. But also broken. We've already had to toss one because it decided to have a split personality and the remaining one is creaking away. But, alas, I can't find replacements at the four stores I've been to so far. So I started looking online.

Ackk!! What on earth happened to the price of plastic lawn chairs in the past five years? If you can find them, that is. We're talking starting prices of above $200!! This wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I started looking. In fact, check out this beauty from one of my favorite websites - Stack and Stacks. Can you guess how much it cost? If you shot below $600, you shot too low. Now, it's wood and plastic and very stylish to boot, but yikes!

That said, the same site does have some less pricy options, including some lovely ones made from meranti wood in bright colors that run around $100. But still, no simple plastic ones. I shall keep looking. Sigh.

TWCD Garage Sale!!

If you like to bargain hunt, you know that garage sales can be totally awesome places to score. And the best ones are always the ones put on my organizations. Why? Because they have tons more stuff than you will ever find at one house. One stop, more shopping!

The Women's Chorus of Dallas is having a garage sale this weekend as a fundraiser, so get on out there and shop, shop, shop!!

5925 Maple Avenue, Dallas, TX 75235 - Parking Lot
8 a.m.- 3 p.m.


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Crazy Squidoo-ing!!!

Squidoo moved to new servers recently and it's been quite the bumpy ride for us lensmasters!! Some couldn't log in or access Squidoo at all, some couldn't edit, some lost information. I didn't have too much trouble, although some nerve-wracking time trying to figure out what to do while they had everything off-line. :-) But I am seeing some real hits in my traffic. Oh well. Not much I can do but keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best. (That's my calm and patient side. No one ever sees that one, so don't be thrown. It's still me. :-)

Kung Fu Panda toys are arriving

The toys for Kung Fu Panda have started arriving and I'm adding them to my lens on the movie just as fast as I find them. There are action figures, the scene playset and a few weapons out so far. Still keeping an eye out for the plush toys, which have to be coming out soon. I might want a Master Tigress for myself.

This guy here? He 's quite the toy. Uses sensors to acknowledge your kung fu moves and features the voice of Jack Black (who plays Po in the movie).

Movie comes out June 6!!

Zazzle anyone?

Just wanting to test out this Zazzle panel and see what it looks like. Uploaded the first of our Track Addict designs over there to see how it all works. Like some things so far, but boy, they made it tough for me to figure out where to register!!


make custom gifts at Zazzle

Where to start?

Barely home an hour and already overwhelmed with everything I want to get done this weekend. And of course, have a new idea for a whole new series of lenses that I think would be some fun. Lots of ideas for articles to write to post at Gather related to my Squidoo lenses. I also need to figure out a schedule for how to manage all this stuff without going insane. Surely I can figure that out. :-)

One last thing about the new look

... and I promise I'll stop there. It's the "Creative Brown" layout from Pyzam, then I changed the colors of the body and text and made my own header. Love it now!! Only other thing I wish I could change would be the orange bar at the top, but I think blogger people just ignore that area all together.

I've joined Facebook!

For those of you who have drifted over here from my Facebook profile, I guess this isn't really news for you. If you're on Facebook and want to add me as a friend, I'm there under my full name. Yep, I want you to know who I am before we become friends. :-)

Took me forever to find the help topics for Facebook. Ended up doing a Google search and there they were. I was trying to figure out what a "poke" was. And no, I don't quite understand the point, but I guess that's where I'm not 12.