So now that I am turning my attention back to my writing, I am wondering once again about keywords, and which ones to choose to enable folks who would enjoy my little blog to find it. The thing about search engine optimization and this blog, however, is that I blog across such a wide range of topics that it’s hard to choose keywords: the words I would choose this week might not even apply next week. Add to that the fact that I seldom know what I am actually going to write about when I open the blog, and you can see how it could quickly become something of a dilemma. As an example, the META on the site still contains the same keywords that I chose when I started the blog, which do NOT include “photographs”, “divorce”, “depression”, “garden” or any of the other things I have spent most of the last year talking about.

Now, if I were smart and had plenty of money to invest in this site, I could hire someone like Search Engine People to do a Organic Search Engine Optimization for me. Since I don’t, I’ll likely end up doing what I have been doing: concentrating on content, and hoping the search engines are able to decipher what I am actually talking about. It’s probably not the best strategy, but it’s what I can afford for now.

Of course, there’s another method of attracting readers, too, and that’s where you guys come in. If you like what you find here, how about recommending me to a friend?

Wow! I can’t believe I’m almost caught up. In fact, I am so caught up that I am only giving you three pictures in this post, but that is also partly because I am so proud of the last one. Not that the picture is so great, but just that it represents something really good for me.

June 15 The List On the 15th, I wrote my list. I hope I properly conveyed my excitement about it when I posted it, because I am truly, very excited about my life list.

June 16 Hot, Tired, Pissed It has been very hot here, folks. It has been excruciatingly hot. And on days I work in the garden shop, I am out in that heat for most of the day. I find it interesting that many of the other people who work in that area manage to stay inside. In fact, I had someone say to me the other day that I was lucky because it was so nice and cool back there. Umm, yeah, yeah it is, inside. But I’m not inside, because the plants are outside. It takes me 3-4 hours to water them all properly, and since I work 6.5 hours and get a half hour lunch, that will tell you how much of the airconditioning I get to enjoy.

But that’s not the part that bothers me most. What really aggravates me is that I have to argue every.daggone.day for my lunch break. And one day last week, peeing suddenly became optional. WTH? I am 42 years old, I have given birth eight freaking times, and I don’t even sneeze without crossing my legs, ever!! And you think I can wait 45 minutes to go to the bathroom? Umm, no. It’s gotten to the point that I love my work, and hate my job. The plants and I get along just fine, but……….the rest, not so much.

June 17 Hydrangea On this day, I did the first thing on my life list, with the exception of the publication. I planted this hydrangea that I’ve had here for a couple or three weeks now. I actually have two of them, but the other one is burned even worse than this one and I am just not sure it’s gonna make it. But people, HYDRANGEA! And it’s time to edit the life list.

Now, then, I want to talk about something else. Do any of you buy gold bullion? I’m thinking about small investments these days, not because I have any money right now, but because I hope to have some eventually. I know it’s pretty, and I know that it’s practically been an object of worship since it was first discovered, but I am actually more interested in it’s staying power and growth potential than it’s beauty.

If I do decide to invest, should I go with coins, which have a currency value, or ingots which do not? The initial investment is higher for coinage, I think, but does that mean I can sell it for more later, or will the ingots be just as valuable down the road? Is it a matter of aesthetics or is the actual weight the bottom line?

Any tips? Experiences you want to share? Cautions? Talk to me, people, I’m listening.

Good afternoon friends, family, adherents and haters, how are ya? Man, I am in a mood today. It’s a good mood, but sometimes I get a little silly when that happens. I’m very excited, you see. I’ve done big things today. I was going to come over here and just post some pictures for ya’ll, and I may end up doing that later, but right now, I want to tell you what I’ve done today, because these were big things for me.

Today, I developed my blogging action plan. That was the second big thing. Basically, I need to blog 2 posts on 6 blogs three times a week. That sounds like a lot of blogging, I know, but I am trying to remind myself that I used to do that *every day* and that this is indeed a viable goal, and a better alternative to standing out in the heat for slave wages. It will just have to be consistent, and it will work, the way you have to keep applying acne treatment gel to your face all the time, not just when you have an outbreak. Ok, so that was that. Second thing.

The first thing I did this morning was to make a life list. And that is what has got me in such an excited mood. After I finish my blogging for today, I plan to reward myself by polishing that list and posting it. It will probably be a page instead of a post, just because I want to be able to edit it easily and to do that I want to link to it from the side bar. And yeah, it’s gonna provide lots of picture blogging fodder. Which kinda rocks for both of us, don’t you think?

Here’s a very small review. One of the items on the list is to “post this list on my blog, in it’s entirety with the exception of one item, despite those who will be scandalized by it or ridicule it”. if all goes according to my evil plan, I will be able to cross that one off tonight!

Pull up that rustic furniture and sit a spell, why don’t ya? Oh, and grab some coffee, too. For both of us, hahahahaha

April 16 The Clean-up Begins On this day, the clean up began. I had given my kids two weeks notice to clean up their crap, or I was gonna burn it. And for two weeks, they sat around and did nothing to corral their junk. And so, on the 16th, I came home from work and dropping them off with their dad and I began to clean. I began in the small bathroom, and I cleaned both bathrooms that weekend. Here is the first of many shots I took that day, detailing exactly what I found and where I found it, just in case they were interested. Which they weren’t.

April 17 First Fire This is, as the title suggests, the first of several bonfires in which I burned excess stuff. The house is by no means spotless, because I’m not done yet, but I can at least walk through most of it now. And I told the kids the burnings would continue until the housekeeping improved. They started believing me after the third fire.

In other news, I continued to cry this day, and for the rest of the time covered in this set of photos. And somewhere around 11 pm this night, I rolled over in my bed, my chest heaved and the little gentle tears I had been crying for a week became sobs. And yet, that was not the end of it.

April 18 Finished Clapotis Yes, I still knit. This one was a gift, but I will be making one for myself. Soon. Like, as soon as I finish up some other stuff. You do realize that in knitting, “soon” is a relative term, right?

April 19 Spidey and the Man Purse I just love this picture. This is my middle son, who found a discarded bag in the house and packed it with the stuff he wanted to take to the ball game. And he wore that bag with such awesome self confidence that it just made me smile. That’s my boy, and he is his own man.

April 20 Relay for Life I didn’t end up going to this, but I did snap a pic of the flyer so I could remember the details and share them with That One in case we decided to go.

Hmm, it seems so strange to write that date. It still seems so far in the future, and impossible date, like when you are 16 and imagine being 40something. It will never get here, and yet, here it is.

I’ve been thinking a bit about goals for the new year, as most of us tend to do after Christmas, and I have reached a few decisions. No really grand schemes, but a year I plan to spend doing the little things that make me who I am. No big vacations, no weird purchases, not even humidifier filters, but a year of quiet pleasures. I’m thinking that a gal whose kids have planned visitations with their other parent ought to have plenty of time for dates with herself. For me, 2010 will be the year of

• burned candles
• snapped photographs
• read books
• watched movies
• finished projects
• studied Word
• reclaimed self

There is one other thing I want to do this coming year, a bigger thing, and it will require a great deal of thought and prayer on my part. This year, I want to be a life-giver. That probably seems like a weird statement coming from a woman who has given birth eight times, but I am not talking about physical life. I am reminded that the power of life and death is in the tongue, and this year, I want to build people up with my words and not tear them down, to speak the truth in love and with kindness, to cultivate that meek and quiet spirit that is so precious in His sight. That last will take the rest of my life to master, and if I ever think I have attained it, it will be lost again.

:booking:

So, as I was going through my feedreader this morning, I saw this from Booking Through Thursday:

Happy New Year, everyone!

So … any Reading Resolutions? Say, specific books you plan to read? A plan to read more ____? Anything at all?

Name me at least ONE thing you’re looking forward to reading this year!

and I decided to use it as a springboard for my yearly goal post, because, yes I do have reading goals, and lots of other goals, too.

This year, I want to read the rest of the Harry Potter books. And my TBR pile. In fact, I am going to set a lofty goal of a book per week. Crazy, right? If I aim for the moon, perhaps I will reach the stars.

This year, I want to use up the craft stuff I already have, and not buy more.

This year, I want to exercise. In fact, I want to be able to play the card squat game up to 10 cards by the end of the year. I’ll have to post a video of the card squat game so you will know that this is a serious event.

This year, I want to learn to play guitar. I have the instrument, I have the learning dvd. All that remains is to make and take the time to learn.

This year, I want to clean the house. I’ve kept hoping for something bigger, but it hasn’t happened, so this year, I am purposing to make our stuff smaller.

This year, I think I want to do project 365. I guess I need to make up my mind, huh? I used to do a photo a day, and it was a love/hate relationship for me.

This year, I want to send my kids to booty camp. They need to learn to do what they are told, come when they are called and speak when they are spoken to.

And on that note, I guess I just committed to Project 365. I may or not actually scrap the pictures in a book, but here’s the first one.

Notice the five booty camp recruits. (The other two are not yet home from a retreat.) Notice that one girl is holding a HP book, and one is holding 10 cards. Notice that my oldest son is holding my guitar for me. Notice that the girls are sitting on the clean counter I cleared last night. Maybe I should try again. I forgot to have some one hold craft stuff.

There, that’s a bit better. This time I included the craft stuff, and there are two children holding five cards each, (DaBaby lowered hers as I snapped) since I could play card squat through five cards when my nephew and sister taught it to me.

Please note that there are no goals here about money and there are no goals here about people who are beyond my control. I have no idea about my finances at this point, and I have learned that making goals that involve other autonomous people is setting yourself up for big fat failure.

IF I was to set one goal that involved others, it would be going to see Ang. this year. But that means I have to have a sitter, and a sitter falls in to the category of “other autonomous people”.

That was my weight this morning. I guess stress is almost as effective as Fenphedra
when it comes to weight loss. I’m not real thrilled with the cause, but as long as I have been wanting to lose the weight, I’ll take it. I mean, I have been dieting since January, but suddenly, I am just..not very hungry, and the weight is just …going. Odd. Maybe that whole “computers put your brain and metabolism to sleep” stuff is true, LOL!

While I am here, and by here I happen to mean the library, let me tell you what else is going on with my goals and aspirations. Doesn’t that sound so …. BIG? Haha! Anyway, I’m still reading, and this time it’s the third Harry Potter. I’m churning through a custom knitting order, and I’m singing. That’s right! In fact, I have a practice tonight that will probably lead to singing in church Sunday.

And speaking of church, I sure had a blessing yesterday. Someone said something to me Sunday when I was buzzing around doing 47 different things to get ready for 62 more, and I missed that thing. Mama happened to hear it and she repeated it to me yesterday. I’m a blessing, apparently. Does it seem odd to you that being called a blessing would be a blessing to me? Well, it is. As you know, I am in a very discouraging time right now. Even in the midst of that, though, I am attempting to keep on doing what I know needs to be done. And you know how sometimes it seems like no one notices what you do? Well now I know someone notices.

And speaking of library, let me apologize for the way my blog looks in whatever version of Internet Explorer I am using here. Blech! I’ll look into it when I have my system back. Also, please forgive any typos. My FireFox catches those, but IE does not.

Ok, I think I have rambled long enough here, don’t you?

Well, I guess I should break the silence, eh? After I posted about my lack of time and general frazzled-ness, I spent some time thinking. I feel like I have to much to do, becasue I have a metric ton of things to do. And so I spent the last two days reviewing a huge stack of books that had been sitting there by my desk giving me guilt. Books, done. Yay, me! Now I can turn my attention to other things.

Like video. That’s right, I’ve decided to branch out into video, and I have actually shot a few over the past couple of days. I used Windows Movie Maker to do my editing, but then tonight, I read this Blaze Media Pro review on Gadget Advisor and I’m thinking I might need to check it out. WMM does the job, but I couldn’t figure out how to mute just a split second of sound on it, so I had to cut more of my movie than I wanted to. If the Blaze Media Pro can do everything but the dishes, then surely I can cut one word out of a video, right?

As for the rest of my list, I’m not sure Gadget Advisor can help me. A new MSI x58 Eclipse motherboard may speed up my system, and the best extensions for Firefox may boost my productivity a bit, but in the end, it’s time management/goal setting and some boundaries that are going to allow me to get more done. Or less, depending. You know, less isn’t necessarily bad, particularly when you replace the things on your list with people you love.

I think maybe tomorrow, I’ll be tackling something else. Uploading my SPS to flickr? Maybe so.