Internet Recovery Therapy In The Approach To Christmas

Hi there, I'm backkk!

Goodness, it seems like such a long time since I was on the blog!

The whole idea of setting up a blog was to make a little cash from selling my cards. That was of course on my other blog Vinca's-A-Thinka! over on my Freewebs site, I can't actually remember quite when I started it all off as it seems like forever, rather than the few months it has been.

Being a total novice at all this I decided that I had to start somewhere and to be honest was much more comfortable with the degree of anonymity that the web offers. Seeing as I knew very little about web development I started to play on the Microsoft Office desk top publishing program and whipped up a few very amateur ideas to be thinking about.

Unfortunately, I also discovered some lovely templates on free-web hosting sites and blog sites. This now means that I end up devoting much of my time to designing and redesigning my sites. The actual blogging is relatively easy by comparison; assuming that you can find the time to do so in the first place!

This morning I decided to take the world by storm and tackle my mail boxes; considering that between them there was the best part of five hundred e-mails this is quite a time consuming past-time. My new friend Fly-Lady is responsible for at least a quarter of them, and this is after careful deletions of testimonials galore!

Don't get me wrong now. I am not accusing Fly Lady of nagging; or anything like that, but when your back is at you and the Fibro shoulder/neck pain has resulted in the consumption of pain killers galore; talk about housework is the last thing you need. That said, some of the testimonials are truly inspiring and despite my many complaints, we are still getting there; slowly!

Getting back to my commercial website; Vinca Cards, we haven't actually sold a single card - yet! There is a very good reason for this which is that I haven't yet to put one card up for sale! Yes, I know; that does sound a little odd. However, I decided that rather than jump right in with both feet and make a load of expensive mistakes, I would suss out my market.

I used the website as an opportunity to conduct market research into what my market was all about. I included a questionnaire's and a guest book asking for comments, a members forum and a comments section at the end of each post in my blog. Unfortunately my feedback hasn't been high in numbers, ie less than a thousand returned questionnaire's. However the less formal feed back, ie comments and remarks made has been very encouraging, much of which I have already put into action.

At the moment I am thinking about re-designing the layout of my website to offer my products for sale on-line. Of course this will involve the inclusion of a lot of modern cyber tecnology and the applation of a great deal of patience & common sense on my part.

What makes this transition difficult is the fact that the whole business of inter-net trading, blogging, etc, is just so new. To people who are working crazy hours outside of the home, then commuting large distances on top there is often little chance to familiarize themselves with the inner workings of their computers, and so; there is little common sense in this area.

Luckily, I am blessed with a number of contacts who are kind enough to share the benefits of their experiences, all of it free of charge. Unfortunately there are also those who are only too happy to charge ridiculous amounts for what is slightly outdated advice; packaging it differently and peddling it as the new answer to our prayers.

With so much going on in the blogosphere, it can be difficult to manage one's time. Maybe I should take a leaf out of Fly Lady's book and set my timer in an effort to control my surfing time? There are so many great sources of inspiration out there that it can be very difficult to self regulate and be self disciplined; I have met some lovely people, who have been willing to give so much of themselves.

I wonder if The Priory; our local treatment centre for a rehabilitation of addictions deals with addiction to the internet? If so, who would be prepared to pay for my treatment? After all, while I have been so busy on the net, who has been making the money out of my card business? The quick answer is no-one; which is why over the next couple of weeks I expect to see a turn around in the structure of my VINCA Cards website.

There are a number of people that I should be thankful to, not least Darina Loakman, Angela Willis, Yarrow Stark, Lynette Chandler, Kirsty T, Alice Seba & Kelly McCausey & Rich Shefren. More recently I have found just what I needed on the craft side of things with Chewing Paper, The Worsted Witch, Amy Peters, and several others who's url's & names seem to have disappeared into the annals of Google Bookmarks; which I am unable to access at the moment!

A word of caution, be careful regarding the bookmark button on the google or firefox tool bars, they are a great idea and very easy to use; unless for some reason the server is having problems, like mine seem to be at the moment. From this day forth I proclaim that I will be using my own favourites and cataloguing each address into an appropriate file. Hmmmh, that sounds like another days work!

Christmas is just around the corner now, and still I have great intentions. We have yet to bring home a tree, all our decorations are still in the attic and the presents bought so long ago need to be wrapped! On top of this, we must find the large living room; ie the one I started to renovate two years ago; our small house is too small for five of us to live for twenty-four hours in what used to be LB's bedroom!

It's not that my plans are particularly grandiose; rather I need urgent treatment for my internetproblems; they are beginning to impact on other areas of my life, to the point that I am quite adept at hiding my efforts. Unlike the alcoholic I can't hide it under the bath or in the hot-press; and yet still I try! Now, where is that timer, again...?

The Day Before - The Morning After!

This week has been the most peculiar week. Instead of our regular Scout meeting on Monday night; we had the annual AGM. This took place later & finished much earlier than our usual session. The result being that none of the parents wanted to put in too much work & I am now the Vice Chairperson of the 1st & 10th Tullamore Scouts. Hmmm!

Upon my return home; I then sat until the small wee hours of the morning making jewelery, ieearrings x 3 pairs, one long beaded necklace and a small bracelet. As LB wasn't prepared to part with any of his treasured possessions at the school bring and buy sale; it all came back to Mum! Oh, and Gran! In all honesty, it was nice to be able to contribute something for a change; as the past few years have seen this annual event come and go before I was eventually informed of it. Last year both of the boys were given money to spend by one of the teachers; €3.00 each?! If only someone had bothered to tell me about it, before the grand event had taken place...

Between us we managed to cobble together a few more bits and pieces. You know the sort of thing, a tea pot which is too big and doesn't strain the leaves, a pretty little rice bowl, some gorgeous 80's handbags reminiscent of big shoulders and hair and a lovely headscarf too. My mum also tried to give away some of my childhood treasures, only to have them confiscated by me! Of course, if they were that important they should go up to my house, which is only fair...

Otherwise Tuesday was a relatively uneventful day. The regular jaunt into town to drop LB off at his Cubs meeting was un-necessary as I had cleverly fixed up for the poor child to be dropped & collected by DG. This was sensibly used as an excuse to stock up the Christmas wine cellar, as DG arrived home with armfuls of festive cheer; bought at a reduced price in our local supermarket. Two of those bottles turned out to be my favourite Spanish wine, cleverly purchased at our local branch of Lidl; who just happen to have a good selection.

Wednesday: oh my goodness! Wednesday turned into the most peculiar of days; perhaps I ought to say nights! I found it difficult to motivate myself and get going. I had spent the previous night finishing off some of my famous Christmas cards, having already announced that they were pretty much sorted I decided that they weren't and so spent the majority of Tuesday night scrunched up in a ball putting the finishing touches to them.

is indeed a Anyway, by the time Wednesday morning came I was in agony! It really doesn't do for me to be in contortions on my bed, for any reason. My left hip and leg were complaining loudly while the opposite neck and shoulder joined in the chorus. Were it not for the fact that I had the scouts meeting in the evening I would have been in bed really early; still duty calls and a commitmentcommitment.

Chocolate

Thanks to my cyberfriend Fly Lady; plus the fact that my Fibro-flare is slowly beginning to clear up, I am back in the mood for relocating/tidying up the house. In fact, yesterday I managed to cook up enough meat for two days meals. With one or two changes to the basics we'll have a scrummy strogannoff for four this evening; without any of the usual grief which accompanies the life-style of busy card making Taxi-Mom!


At the weekend DG & I spent a lot of our time sorting and clearing. First it was the boys' room; then ours. Having moved it all around; we now have the task of transferring the computer to the new computer desk in the corner. I dare say that I might get around to it eventually! It's hard work dragging the components around the place; not only is it heavy, ie the monitor, but it's also fiddly.



One of the advantages of all this is that once installed it would be easier to use; a proper computer desk has all the necessary accoutrement's, rather than my homemade diy jobbie at the end of the hall. Also, our room is much lighter and therefor I would be less prone to eye strain as I'll be able to tweak the final adjustments to the wiring without the use of a flashlight!



Fly Lady would be proud of me. Not only have I acquired a smart new home for my computer; I have also got tons of extra storage space for the paper, books, shredder, scanner, printer(s), files, etc. With a little more effort and we could all be that little bit tidier; especially me, and I will never again have to ransack the house for a little piece of paper again. It's a nice thought, but I am not so sure about that aspect of things, some habits are just too hard to break!



In the meantime our latest addition to the family; ie Chocolate the fluffy ball of kittenish fun, has a new playground. In order to keep the mayhem to a minimum; I announced to one and all that the poor little scrap would sleep in its bed in our bedroom. That way neither the boys nor the dogs would have the opportunity to upset him too much, or me for that matter! Seeing as he's a very well behaved little cat, he is already toilet trained and comes when his name is called; that is unless he is curled up in a ball on our bed.


The boys are simply chuffed to bits with their new friend and have even set up their Scalectric's for the first time in ages, in an effort to entertain him. Well, I'm not so sure about that one, as it's them I hear laughing their socks off, but hey! They're not doing any harm; so we'll leave them for a while, so long as they remember to pack everything away afterwards.



Since Chocolate's arrival; on Monday evening, we have had all sorts of fun and games. The girls' natural curiosity has been met with hissing and spitting, stiking out with razor sharp claws and running to hide. Gypsophillus; being a terrier is determined to seek him out. Whether this is because she wants to play; we're uncertain.



TilleyTwo is also curious. We think that this is probably her maternal nature coming out; she has already managed to smother a couple of escapee hamsters and a field mouse while licking them quite literally to death! Unfortunately she's not so keep on Chocolate's annoying habit of swiping at her nose...

I'm off to the washing line and then I'm going to think about another 27 boogie-fling!

Polly Px

Wanted: Housekeeper in Rural Location

One of the joys of having a condition which renders me as not well is; that with the aid of medication to control the symptoms, I can honestly say that I have never been so happy.


For example BB; who was the victim of a freak accident on Monday, is at home with me this week. We mightn't be together all the time, we are within earshot of one another, should my presence be needed. In the past I used to hide my maternal anxieties under the armoured layer called a nurses uniform.


In these situations I was powerless; forced to surrender my nearest and dearest to my childminder/surrogate granny and pretend that everything was okay, when clearly it was anything but. That said, I couldn't commend Ellen more highly, if I tried. There could never, ever be anyone else quite like her; she truly is a wonderful person whose love and care nurtured my two boys like none other.


When I lost my usual income; ten months ago, life changed dramatically. All of a sudden, having previously delegated the daily care of BB & LB for the first twelve & nine years of their young lives; I became a full time mother! Oh boy; what a shock!

Being used to collecting the two boys at 6pm (on the dot!?); I found it difficult to adjust to missing those three hours. That short time gave me the opportunity to pretend I was Supermum; whisking around the house; like a dervish, putting right the things which I had neglected during the rest of the day.

Every now and again I used to cook for the madding crowds; rather Ellen would cater for the boys and BJK for me. In those days I was a most ungrateful child; I often used to complain in silence; occasionally out loud, about the menu, the committment of time, running to schedule, etc.

The cross examination that accompanied each wolfed meal was resented; leading to uneasy silences and evasive answers. As she regularly pulled teeth, BJK despaired of me; I was simply lacking sufficient energy to relive each day, for the sake of conversation.

I was irritated when the meal was late;it meant I would be late to collect the boys. In stark contrast to this BJK was somehow supposed to know on which days I would be late and cater accordingly; with grace!It was a losing battle for both of us; justified entirely by the fact that she needed someone to cater for; the obvious advantages for myself were blithely ignored.

Since then things have changed dramatically for us all. I will never forget the conversation with Ellen; her worst fears confirmed. So traumatised was she; that it took all of two to three hours before she was able to comprehend the fact that she was "loosing my boys."

The following day tearful conversations occurred; BJK moderating. We both expressed our regrets and heartfelt thanks. Without Ellen; I would not have achieved a half of what I have done over these past ten years. Come to mention it, the same should be said of BJK. Both of these amazing women have been mentors, and tormentors in turn; their support kept me sane.

These days my life has taken on some direction; I am in charge of what happens in my life. Others mightn't necessarily approve of things I have done; however, each will admit that I am managing superbly well.

Investments of time and money have been made and while it is early days yet, their support is guaranteed, regardless of who is taking the helm. I somehow squeeze into five and a half hours more household responsibility than I have ever faced.

As a housekeeper, I am hopeless. Hopeless maybe; happy definately. One of my dearest wishes for the future has always been to employ a lady; to keep house for me. No doubt it is one of those unrealistic frivolities; akin to the long awaited dishwasher. After its arrival in 2000; it stood in obeisance for years; awaiting an occasional load. It was little more than a white elephant; that is, until recently...

By happy coincidence, DG arrived at my door shortly before my income dried up. His long awaited introduction to the household; as a full time member, was unfortunately spoiled by the accompanying six and a half black bags FULL of dirty washing...!

Being not so young, but very much in love, I gritted my teeth and got on with it. I am still getting on with it and the loads of washing are slowly getting on with it too. Quite how I am supposed to catch up with all that needs to be done as well as be a full time 'wife' and mother, diy enthusiast, head gardener, chef extraordinaire and especially talented maker of greeting cards I do not know.

What I do know is that at the present time I would willingly open my arms, heart and home to anyone wishing to solve my inadequacy as a housekeeper, thus affording me the freedom to concentrate on my new career in making handmade greeting cards for sale to the public...