This blog is exactly what its title implies — a mix of interesting stories that I have heard, stories that I can relate to and other things that come to mind. Hopefully, somewhere in this blog o’plenty, you will find something useful, funny or just plain cool.

Feel free to comment, give me your feedback, let me know how I’m doing. I look forward to having you with me!

When I first came up with the idea of creating a blog, I thought, “Okay, I’ll set up a website, write a few articles, and wait for the traffic to come pouring in.” Wrong!! I believe I may have fallen victim to what I have always told my clients to avoid — thinking that “if you build it, they will come.” There is so much more to creating, building and maintaining a blog, it’s mind-bloggling!! (Sorry about that!)

The first thing I did was name my blog. I registered domain names, created the title, and guess what? My husband does not like it. We volleyed a few ideas back and forth, and the consensus was that the name will stick until a better one comes along. It was time to move onto the next step.

The challenge of coming up with ideas for blog entries was a little more difficult than I had anticipated. Usually, I can write until the cows come home, but now I had to find something to write about that other people would be interested in reading. I have an advantage in that this blog does not have a particular focus (yet!), so the world is my oyster on this one. I did this intentionally with the hope that somewhere along the line, an interesting topic will land on my lap, one that I’m passionate about, one that is creative and does not bore you. I know this breaks every rule about blogs, websites, and business in general, but I’m going to take my chances until I find a real niche.

After researching blogging further, it seems that a lot of the success is measured by the income that a blog earns for you. I’ve notice that a lot of this is achieved by advertising, affiliate programs, and other such means. Advertising can only work if people see it, so it is driven by the number of readers or subscribers to the blog. To get the readership, you need to have a following of people who enjoy reading your posts, and to write posts that readers enjoy, you need to a) know what you’re talking about, and b) enjoy what you’re writing. It’s all a delicate balance, with many layers and ingredients. Kind of like baking a cake; without the flour, eggs or milk, your cake will flop. The same is true for a blog. Without the right mix of “stuff” you’ll never be able to have your cake and eat it too.

Which brings me to the original question — what makes a successful blog? Is it readership? Is it personal enjoyment? Or is it, at the very least, the ability to earn a sustainable income? … I’ve decided that it’s a combination of all three. I know that there are professional bloggers out there that not only make a living blogging, but make a LOT of living blogging, and I applaud them. Loudly. As far as my own success goes, it’s all relative. Am I looking to make millions doing this? I’d be lying if I said no, so I’ll say probably not. Income from a blog is icing on the cake (and what’s a cake without icing?) Am I looking for people to read my writing? Absolutely — if anyone is willing to read this, I’m grateful for the time they took out of their day to do so. And, of course, the more the merrier. Am I looking for personal fulfillment? Without question. Writing is a passion of mine — it’s an outlet that I enjoy and hope to be able to continue doing. And, if somewhere along the way, I am able to eke out a living, then I will lick the icing from my fingers and keep on mixing.

If you have any ideas on how to be a *somewhat* successful blogger, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to comment and let me know what some of your secrets are. I’m not asking for the whole recipe — just a few key ingredients

Many of the articles I read on this topic talked more about the fact that people are turning to their friends for support, rather than family. Is this actually a trend, or is it simply a product of circumstance?

Now, I’ll be the first to admit – we have a ‘framily’ that we spend time with on a weekly basis. I haven’t seen my own siblings in over a month. In my own defense, a lot of that comes down to geography. Both my brother and sister live about 50 miles away, whereas my ‘framily’ lives about 2 blocks down the street. On the surface, it’s a matter of convenience for both parties, but there’s more to it. I just plain enjoy spending time with my ‘framily’ more than my siblings. We don’t argue, bicker or fight, and we don’t have that rivalry that goes hand-in-hand with siblings. I also feel like I have more in common with them than my real family.

I also firmly believe that ‘framily’ members need more attention for the relationship to work. Many of us feel that our families will always be there no matter what, whereas friendships seem to take a little more effort.

So, do I have ‘framily’ members because I enjoy spending time with them over family, or did it just happen to work out that way? Yes, I would lay myself down in front of a moving train for my sister or brother. I’m not sure I would do that for someone who was not blood-related. Notwithstanding that fact, I wouldn’t dream of telling my brother or sister my deepest secrets and aspirations, but I do not hesitate to tell my ‘framily’ members. I guess I would fall into the category where I would most likely go to friends for support, and I guess that makes me closer to them, but blood is still thicker than water when it comes right down to it.

And it all cost less than $50. Really! Here’s how we did it.

On Thursday afternoon, we removed everything from the office except for the desk and computers. We decided that the desk was too large, and taking it apart would be too time consuming (read frustrating). This was a decision that my husband would later regret.

On Friday afternoon, we *gasp* unplugged the computers and powered everything down. I actually went through a technological withdrawal over the weekend without my email, Facebook, blogs, etc. I always imagined the tough part would be living in chaos, but it turns out that not having any contact with the digital world creates chaos in one’s mind. Anyway, with the office emptied, we began the prep work. Now, remember, we were on a strict budget for this project, so some of the techniques you will read about are a little unorthodox.

The first thing we did was clean the office. A bucket of water and an old towel were used to wipe down the baseboards, walls and trim. Zero cost, except for the minimal fee for the 8 litres of water – not even enough to calculate at this point.

To protect the carpet, we cut up three cardboard boxes from the recycling bin, and fed them underneath the trim all the way around the room. Now, one could argue that the cost of the box contents, in this case soda pop, could be considered part of the project, but we had already consumed the sodas and would have regardless, so I says it’s still zero.

My husband and I are fairly seasoned painters, however, we still need to tape the trim before painting (after 8 years I have finally convinced my husband that even though this is a frustrating step, it actually saves time in the long run.) Because we have three windows and a French door in the office, we went through three rolls of painters tape. Cost of each roll, $1.99.

The next step was priming and painting. The paint rollers, cages, trays and brushes were all purchased from a garage sale for a whopping $1.00 (such a deal!) All of the primer and paint was from a local recycling depot, where we not only saved potentially harmful chemicals from ending up in a landfill, we also saved our wallets from suffering the oftentimes high cost of paint. Now, even though we had to mix three half-empty cans of paint together, the colour was spot-on and more than enough to do the job. It was high quality paint, at rock-bottom prices. Free. My favourite price. The only cost associated was the cost of gas to go pick up the paint, estimated at around $2.50.

The last step was the new light fixture, in this case a beautiful ceiling fan with glass shades over three candelabra bulbs. This was the splurge, and we picked it up from Home Depot on clearance because the box was damaged. Regular price $109.99, clearance price $34.97.

After moving the existing furniture around in a much more appealing formation, hanging the prints back up on the wall and giving every surface a good dusting, the room is brand new, with a fresh look. The total cost of this project, including taxes, was $49.76. I won’t use the phrase “priceless,” but I will say that the overall effect is worth its weight in gold.

Anyway, surprisingly, today (so far) I have only had to verify that I am flesh and blood to one company. Here’s where it gets good — the verification to prove that I was human was not the typical discombobulated word but a mathematical quiz! The text read, “Anti-spam* To prove you are human, what is 4 + 4?” Okay, so even my four-year-old knows the answer to that one, but I was stumped. Should I enter “8” or spell it out with “eight,” or maybe the answer was actually “44?” … The reason I was confused was that these verification steps were developed to thwart the spammers and their software programs, so maybe I was dealing with a trick question? I mean, come on, what computer doesn’t know what 4+4 is? Aren’t computers just giant calcualtors?

Needless to say, I entered ’8′ as my response, and it seemed to be the correct one. I’m just waiting for the next question to read, “Anti-spam* To prove you are human, what is the Pythagorean Theorem?” I’m just not sure if I’ll answer in equation or word form.

In May of this year, my Internet service was beginning to become a little unstable. It was up, it was down, and there was no rhyme or reason to when it would happen. A technician would come out and fix the problem every day, which lasted for five days straight. It was at this point that a senior technician informed me that my cable was “bad” and that the underground line would have to be replaced. The expected time frame for them to repair it was three months. Three MONTHS! I find it difficult to live without the Internet for three hours, let alone three months.

As a temporary solution, they hooked me up with — gasp! — a dial-up connection. Going from extreme high speed to dial-up was comparable to driving the autobahn at 160 mph and all of a sudden finding yourself driving through a school zone. With seniors crossing the street. On goats. With three legs. Needless to say, it only lasted two days before I made the decision to start seeing other cable companies. I called the competition to set up high speed Internet for the three months it would take for the cable to be replaced.

After a FIVE month wait, the cable was finally buried and connected. Hallelujah!! As a loyal customer of my provider, I wanted to revive the relationship, and in gratitude, I was offered two years worth of freebies on my Internet and cable services. Imagine! A (major) company that actually appreciated my business, actually appreciated my patience, and actually did something to reward my loyalty! They promised that everything was going to be better from now on, and I blindly believed them. I was so thrilled with their gratitude, that I switched my home phone service as well. They now had everything, which is when the problems started again.

Since they have repaired the cable, my Internet connection has gone down approximately ten times. My phone and cable has experienced four outages. The day I tried to add further services to my television cable, I was unable to do so because their entire system was down for “planned maintenance.” And it has only been two weeks.

During our trial separation, I carried a torch, pining for the return of my cable company. Since the renewal of our relationship, it seems that the problems not only continue to exist, but have worsened. I am afraid I might be headed for divorce.

Here’s the story …

The service technician showed up to assess the problem, and when I gingerly led him to the source of the pain, he smiled, ever so slightly, and very gently explained that it was not an issue with the cable, or the modem, or even the Internet. You see, the system had been plugged into a GFI switch, and the recent storm must have tripped the GFI. After attempting to reset the switch, we discovered that there was no power being supplied from the outlet at all, and determined that it probably needed to be replaced.

But, it was the OUTLET??? … Thank goodness the lighting in the basement is not the greatest, otherwise he would have seen me turn 13 shades of red. I couldn’t believe I was accusing them of neglecting me, when it was just a faulty receptacle. That having been said, I will argue that it was still THEIR fault for plugging the system into the GFI in the first place. Maybe I’m just trying to justify the amount of pouting I was doing, but my understanding is that nothing is supposed to be plugged into that outlet — the service technician should have known that, right?

I now wonder what affect this will have on my relationship with the hydro company … sigh!

I decided that a cup of tea would do the trick. I probably possess over 100 different types of tea bags in my arsenal, and I was looking for the right one. I was astonished when I happened across a Traditional Medicinals herbal tea, that was actually called, “St. John’s Good Mood®” … Hmmm … seemed like it was right up my alley! I scanned the ingredients …lemon balm leaf, oatstraw herb, lavender, sage, spearmint, licorice, rose flower, lemongrass … these all sounded familiar. What got me intrigued was the first ingredient listed: St. Johns Wort flowering tops and extract. Was this the magic ingredient? I decided to investigate.

Here is the description that I found on the manufacturer’s website:

“St. John’s Good Mood® encourages a positive mood* by combining herbs traditionally used to ease nervous restlessness and tension. St. John’s wort herb tea is traditionally used for uncontrolled mood while lavender tea and lemon balm tea are used for nervous restlessness. These three herbs in combination form the basis of numerous traditional European teas indicated for mild nervousness and restlessness.” * These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Not to be persuaded by a marketing description, I decided to haul out my handy-dandy, Desk Reference to Nature’s Medicine (National Geographic) and look up St. John’s Wort, and lo and behold, there it was! “St. John’s Wort (lat. hypericum perforatum) is primarily used to relieve anxiety, nervous tension, insomnia, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and depression.” (p.339) It doesn’t specifically refer to stress, but these are all of the side effects of what we lump into the term “stress.”

Apparently, St. John’s Wort contains two compounds, hypericin and hyperforin (which automatically led me to believe that it will make you hyper, but not so, say the experts.) According to research, hyperforin, and to a lesser extent, hypericin, is attributed to the herb’s antidepressant effects. It is not exactly known how this works, but one theory is that hyperforin “blocks neurotransmitter re-uptake in the brain.” (Does this mean something can only bother you once?)

After brewing a cup of this “good mood” tea, I can honestly say that I did feel better. I’m not sure if it was the hypericin or, hyperforin, or if it was simply the warmth of the drink that made me feel a little less stressed. And, I’m sure there was some form of placebo effect to it, but nevertheless, I’m now a believer in the healing power of a little wort.

The Disappearing Male – A CBC Documentary