How much of the day are you plugged in? Do you consciously set aside offline time, or does it happen whenever it happens?

(c) 2015 by P. Lynne Designs

Ok, I must admit something….When this thing called the internet first came into the scene, I was not too thrilled at the thought of it.   Something changed to make me think otherwise and that was my job at CompuServe.   I was at the job for about a year in a half when it was all the rage in Columbus, Ohio.  People do not know that CompuServe was the first Facebook.  OK, I am going to stop right there, because I am aging myself.

Since I left that job in 1995, I have been trying to stay connected.  After I got rid of my free accounts for being an employee at CompuServe, I got an AOL account.   I still have it, but my father uses it.   I wanted more out of just being able to do a few select things.  It wasn’t until I got my account with Time Warner Cable’s Roadrunner that really made me take off in the internet world.   After that, I wanted to blog, sell items, and communicate more.  

2009 was a big year for me.  I started MDN Creates, the blog, I came face to face with Facebook, I opened a Twitter account, and a LinkedIn account.  I love it.  Add in a Pinterest account, a You Tube account that I actually started in 2007 with just viewing videos, and finally an Instagram account, you would wonder if I ever see anyone from the outside world.   As a matter of fact, I do. 

I do things with my family, with my church, and I take long baths (not too long).  I do sleep.   Most of my online presence in comparison to my off-line presence is about 50-50.  I work at home now.  My choice.  Some people still think it is an abomination to work at home while others say they wish they could.    My secret to being present to others is to set aside time for everything.   Sometimes I write it down and sometimes I do not.  My schedule is supposed to be:

• Business 9-5 (M-F)
• Home life (after 6)
• Family (after 6)
• Spiritual time (anytime of the day, because I need those pray moments, and God says not to put him on the backburner)

My schedule has been lately:

• Home life all day! I recently did some major renovations to the house and now I need to fix the car.  I had an accident last night with my sister in the car.  We are alright, but the hood needs replacing.  So there goes the 9-5 aspect, because mechanics are not going to see you after 5 (at least no body shops).  
• Business:  If I can sneak in a blog post or two, a writing assignment, or an ad campaign during 9-5, I am golden.   I would love to be able to contact a sponsor during the day.
• Family:  24/7  I have people who for the life of me cannot understand that if I was at an out of the home job, I would not be able to take you to appointments, go shopping, or have the repair person come into my home.  My purpose for working at home is to start a business, nurture it, and later on, if it gets too much to have it at home, I can buy a building and work from there. 
• Spiritual time:  I attend my church’s bible study on Wednesday nights, church on Sundays, and I try to sneak in a bible study reading or two.  Unfortunately I do not read the Bible in print anymore.  I have it on my Ipad and my phone.  It is more convenient.
• Sleep:  What’s that?   I am kidding.  I do get my sleep, including a power nap in my chair at the computer desk.   I do eat.  In fact, I am thawing out some chicken wings and tomatoes for my first “Everything but the kitchen sink” soup of the season.   It is basically a soup base, plus anything you have in your refrigerator and simmer.   Depending on your combo, it can be very delicious.  It is cold out there, and I need warmth.

Well I am at 730 words, so be blessed, my friend, and comment below your answer to this question about unplugging from your online friends.  

Tell us about a blog post that you didn't publish.

photo from Pinterest.com

Today, Blogher wants to know basically my failed attempt of a blog post that I should have published.    I do not think I have any.  They are one or two of them that are a work in progress, and I am in no hurry to publish them.   The reason are because they are a series of blog posts.  I am regretting that I am not publishing them fast enough.

I have a post that I did regret posting from the very beginning, until I saw how others felt about the same topic.   It was about Abby Lee Miller and Dance Moms on this blog (at the time it was called My Blessed Life.)   The only reason why I felt the way I did was because I did not think other people felt the way I do about the show.  I thing that Abby Lee is an over the top dance teacher, who is abusive towards her students except one, who is her prize student, named Maddie.  She hates the moms even worst.   You will have to read my review to see.  It has received 1112 pageviews to date, when means someone is reading it.  

On my other blogs, it is not as easy to say what not to publish, because I try to stick with the main topic, rather it is paper crafting (P.Lynne Designs), decorating and organization (Simply Organized Crafts), Disney (Traveling to the Mouse’s House), or talking about other products I sell with two direct selling companies (Tricia’s Baskets), there are plenty of posts that I did not publish, based on those blogs.   The blog that you are reading this post on, is sort of my let loose, no holds barred blog, with inspiration tied in, because everyone needs a little encouragement.  

Have I thought about consolidating my blogs?  Yes, because I have a blog coach who thought that I needed to have only one.   I asked myself if it would benefit to let go of 4 blogs, and the answer was no.   I started with one blog, I kept adding on to it, and then I decided to split it.  I just never though that I would split it 5 ways.  

So, this is a short post, so on that note, be blessed my friend.

November 16, 2013: a clean house is a happy house

No Blog prompt tonight.

Photo by P.Lynne Designs

I want to talk to you for a minute about my house.   My house was not a happy house a month ago.  It was very unhappy.  Why?  Well let me tell you.

My house was a prime example of mildly-looking hoarder house.  I am really too embarrassed to say this.  In fact, you may see a snippet of what it looked like 4 weeks ago.  I am calling myself out.   This is what happens when you let something go for what you thought was the good of something else.  In this case, it was my business.   I came up with every excuse in the book for not cleaning.  I did clean around the mess that I had.   What changed my ways?   

The first thing was a friend asked me to type something for her at the last minute.   I thought I was going over there to pick it up.  Not so fast, she came over to my home.   I had to run and hide the laundry, but it was still unbearable for her to see.  So I just grinned, bared it, and let it go.   The second thing was my sister and children came over.  The next day, I thought my niece stopped up the downstairs toilet.  It turned out that the main pipe to all four units was stopped up.  The result was a tree root growing inside, and the half bath, as well as another neighbor’s bathtub stopped up.  My father decided to get in all new carpet and paint the walls, and everything had to leave the house.  So while that was going on, I started weeding things, and now I have a clean downstairs, not messy clean.  I mean clean.

After the walls were painted, the carpet was put down, and the downstairs was organized, one of the carpet installers cut one of the wires to the security system, so a new panel had to be installed, because the old one was super old, and they told me that motion detectors are less efficient.   I thought I was done.

The next to go was the heater.   It quit on me Monday.   How did I know?  I smelled smoke, and it tripped the fire detector.   The heater repair person said that wires that helped the Frankenstein heater (that is a new technical word, folks) had burned out.   So my father decided to Frankenstein it back to health. 

One thing that I did not mentioned is I have been without a dishwasher for two months, You see this whole string of DIY projects really started with the garbage disposer.  I must have dropped a spoon or something in there that cause to reset button to not reset the disposer.   Before that was my computer, and in January, it was my upstairs toilet and stopped up bathtub.  This house has gone through a major transformation, and I have not tackle the issue of wanting to fix up my second bedroom into a craft room.  This is a want, not a “need to hurry up and fix this” job.   My stuff does not come in “3’s” as they say problems comes, they come in “5’s” and “6’s”, but I am glad that the money was available when I needed it.  Thank God for that.

So are you tackling a DIY project right now?   If not, what do you want to do in your home?  It does not have to be a single family home, nor you do not have to own it (just get the landlord’s permission first.)

Have a blessed evening my friend, and sorry the video is too embarrassing to show.  Maybe one day.

If you could quit one bad habit instantly without difficulty, which would it be?

New topic, I cannot answer this one honestly.

Friday night ramble….

From Goggle Images

I cannot think of a thing to write about, honestly, so this is Friday night ramble.  After all, this is my writing blog and I can write about anything I want to.  I am going to try to limit myself to 500 words or less, so here goes.

Facebook and the number of things you do not know about me game…

It seems that there is a game going around on Facebook, where you are tagged and given a number.   Let’s say my number is 7.   Now the object of this game is very simple, you have to name 7 items that people do not know about you.   Once you are finished, it is your turn to tag the next person in your circle of friends.   I am going to be honest….no one has tagged me, and I am feeling a little salty and lonely.   Of course it is a stupid game, but I like it when I am doing something other than seeing if I can get to the next level of Candy Crush or plugging my businesses.  Next topic….

My heating issues….

Well I have a Frankenstein heater now.  I had a Frankenstein heater when it quit on me Monday.   I now know what it is like to be in a deep freezer.  Thank God for parents.   My dad had the repair man on time, I spent Wednesday night at their house, worked on some pocket pages for a new mini book in my old room, and I was good.  My house is now nice and toasty.  Next topic…

Want to learn how to write better?  Keep a journal…A tip.

Honestly, this is how I had the guts to start writing online in a blog.   I write in a journal.   It is actually a word document, and I write about anything that I have an issue with, my hopes and dreams, my insecurities, my aspirations, my successes, and letters to people that I hope will never receive what I really feel.   I write almost daily, and I change the title of the journal when I feel that Word has run out of bytes for that document, then I start a new one.   Your journal does not have to be digital, it can be written the old fashioned way of taking pen to paper and just start writing.   A friend started me, and my first part was on a 3.5 floppy disk (I since then pasted it onto the second part).  I even read my journal sometimes.  If you have not started a journal, you should try it.   Last topic….

My ever changing blogging life….

So far, I have been following Blogher’s blogging prompts.   I did not think that I would enjoy them, but I do.  They make me think and explore a side of myself that I really do not think about.   What about you?   Why not give blogging prompts a try if you cannot think of a topic to write on.  It does not have to be from me or from Blogher.  There are plenty of blog prompts to go around.   Now I am over 500 words. 

Good night, and be blessed, my friend.

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Photo by www.marksdailyapple.com

Well, well, well, it looks like Blogher is running with a theme.   It is a challenge that I am willing to take.  I answered the question in my last post, which was published moments ago with my favorite hour, and they are asking me if I am a morning person or night owl.   Well, I am a night owl.   Whoooo!  Whoooo!  I would leave it at that answer and this would be the end of my post, but for some reason I do not like short posts.  So with that, I will give you my reasons for being a night owl other than what I said in the last post….

1.      No phone.   After all, no one calls me at night, except my sister who thinks I am asleep.  Since she now has a job at that time of night, I do not hear from her.

2.      I get uninterrupted bouts of time with Candy Crush.   Ok, see there is this thing called, “numbing the mind,” and I like a moment of that. 

3.      Infomercials.   I would like to give a shout out to AT&T U-Verse for this one.  1/3 infomercial, 1/3 interactive (Which I have not tried, because I am afraid of that extra charge that I got from Time Warner Cable), the rest, taped shows.

4.      Bejeweled Blitz.   See #2.

5.      Facebook, Twitter, and the rest.   If you are not careful, you can spend lots of uninterrupted time posting about stuff.   Can someone answer my question about what to expect on my first Disney Cruise or tag me for this silly answer game going around?   I am not really begging.   No, really.

Last week, I actually cleaned my house at 2 am.   Who does that?  Oh yeah, people like me.    Even when I was working out of the home, I would go to bed at 1 am to get up at 6 am for a 9 am job.   Who does that?  Ok, the night owl.  

Do not judge me, for I might become the opposite when I get old and grey.   I heard of something like that.  I am only 49, so I have a ways to go before that happens, if it happens.   For now, I will enjoy my night owl ways, while every once in a while rise with the chickens (as my grandmother used to do), and grab my cup of coffee or stronger, and pretend like I love getting up.   It is the least I can do for you morning people.

So who are you, morning person, or night owl?    I just need one simple answer.   I am taking a survey.    This is your writing assignment for tonight.

Be blessed, my friend, whoever you are.

What is your favorite hour of the day?

I am behind a day, so I am blessing you with two posts.  I am still dealing with my heater, and the repair person is working on it as I am writing the first of two posts.  I spent the night with my parents in a nicely, toasty, warm bed. Brrr, it is cold in here.  Hummm, tonight I may have to pretend that my heater is out again tonight, so I can spend one more night, before my sister and her daughter commodores the bed on Saturday night.

Anyway, yesterday, Blogher asked the question, “What is your favorite hour of the day?”   I will say without a doubt that it is nighttime.   Here’s why:

I work at home.  My family as a whole, thinks that work at home means you can drop whatever you are doing, and see to their needs.   Here is one thing you may not know about me:  I have no husband, no partner, and no children.   In other words, I am single.   Working at night reduces that need to getting mad at them for asking, and I can still do the things I want and need to do, which includes making things for my online store on Etsy, write in my blogs, or advertise in the different venues online to name a few.   

Do I get sleep?   Yes I do, and so far I wake up between 7-11 am, depending on what I have to do the next day.   Last night, despite the fact I was spending the night with my parents, I brought my work with me.   I sat in the guest bedroom and made 10 pocket pages for a mini book.   I will decorate later.   The parents were asleep, and I was in my element, even though I did not have everything with me.   No, I do not get my adequate amount of sleep.  The average American does not get that 6-8 hours of sleep needed.

I also do things during the day.  After all, the day is when businesses are awake, and I have to deal with it.   I need services too, like for instance, I cannot call the heating repair person to come at 1 am.   My friends value sleep, so I cannot call them to do something at 3 am.  So I have things when it is convenient for everyone else.   I am better than I was 6 months ago.   During that time, I basically stayed up until 6 am, and went to bed.  Suffered on Sunday, because church service was at 10 am.  That meant I had 2 hours of sleep.   All of a sudden, January 2013, I had that sudden urge to go to bed at 11 pm, and it lasted until April 2013.   Now, I am back to my nighttime ritual, but it ends at 3 am, unless I had coffee or something that was pressing on my mind, and then it 4 am.   I am working on going to bed no later than 1 am.

So what is your favor hour?   This is your writing assignment if you choose to take it.   Comment below if you want to spill the beans, or keep it to yourself.   

Be blessed my friend.     

Name five things inside your refrigerator right now and how you feel about them.

Photo by Real Simple Mag.

They say that you are what you eat and at the moment, and I am trying to atone from my former 1-2-donuts-a week-on-second-give-me-fried-anything-as-long-as-I-have-chocolate self.   It is a hard habit to break, and some days I am successful, while other days, forget it.   I am a lot better than what I was for a lot of reasons.  That confession is for a later post.  For now, let me tell you about my fridge.

Food item #1:  Almond and soy milk.   I love milk, but I have learned to love the vegan forms of milk, soy, and almond.   Now I am one of those people who, let’s face it will never be totally vegan.  I was raised a meat eater and will die a meat eater, period.   But I also believe in never say never, and I will say that I love both of these milks.   I still get the dairy kind, because I need my liquid cream for my coffee (flavored), and I love authentic chocolate milk.   There is nothing better than authentic chocolate vitamin D milk.  Whole milk and all.

Food item #2:  Veggies.   I am now eating more fruits and vegetables.   I had a period of time where I could not and would not eat vegetables.   I think it was because I was now living on my own, and I basically said screw it to what my parents taught me, but for some reason, it kind of bit me back.   For one reason, and I really do not fault my parents on it, but I ate a lot of canned veggies in my life.   I started reading about what happens to a person who does not have a balanced meal.   I have now learned to love fresh veggies.

Food item #3:  Cheese.  I love cheese, and it is one of the food habits that me and my father share (seafood, chitterlings, pig’s feet, and hot sauce are other food loves).  We have both learned to eat this stuff in moderation (the pork products), so it is a once a year treat now.

Food item #4:  Condiment bottles:   I have too many.  Enuf (enough) said.   I need to pair them down.

Food item #5:  Meatballs.   Last night, well yesterday, I took them out of the freezer and thought I would cook the whole package.   This is what I am talking about.  The butcher who carefully and lovingly made these meatballs, need to make meatballs for a person of one.   Twelve meatballs are enough for 2 people.  This is what’s wrong with the country.   It is not what’s in the stuff (like meatballs), it is the portion size.   Now I do not mind breaking down a larger package to get two meals out of it, but they do not make it so you can break down things such as meatballs.   So now I have to cook the other half of the package.   It is all about portion control.   No, I did not have to buy the package, but there are very few products out there for a person of one, because the food producers want you to believe that you can eat for two.  It is not right.

So you see, this is my fridge, and I love going grocery shopping.   What I did not talk about was the sushi that I ate two weeks before, or the chocolate that I buy once a month (down from 5 times a month ).   My doctor tells me that I am allowed to eat things in moderation, and as long as they are done that way, I am a happy non-vegan with vegan ways.

Be blessed my friends