Are YOU Grateful?

I just spent a few days in the hospital - as a visitor - and it's made me even more grateful for my health. I'm not getting any younger and all things physical aren't as easy and I often experience some level of discomfort or pain, but I'm upright and independently mobile so I'm way ahead of the game compared to a good percentage of folks I've seen lately.

Then I got home and found 5 Reasons Not To Be An Ungrateful Bastard over at Ending the Grind. The post is really good and well worth reading but what hit closest to home for me was one of the comments where Adrienne said:

"Until you’ve been around death and sickness a LOT, you just won’t get it. I’m grateful to be healthy and given a chance to have another day on this earth."

It's so easy to take health for granted. How often do you actually stop and think about your health when it's good? Poor health demands your attention, but good health is much quieter.

So if your health is good, show some gratitude, ok? And if it's not so good, do whatever you can to improve your condition.

YOU Can Help Fund Kristy's Quilt

I ran across a neat opportunity that I had to share. If you're looking for a heartwarming quilt-related gift for a child or grandchild, look no further! Brandy Lynn Maslowski, the host of CanadianQuilt Talk, is making a move to get her children’s picture book, Kristy’s Quilt, published and in the hands and hearts of quilters and children everywhere.  

Kristy's Quilt, perfect for ages 2-92, is a heartwarming quilt adventure based on a true story about 10-year-old Kristy, a spunky little quilter who blossoms at the In Stitches Quilting Retreat.

You can help fund Kristy's Quilt through the Kristy’s Quilt Kickstarter campaign, which runs February 14 through March 14, 2014. And just what is Kickstarter? Well, it's a site that allows supporters of the project (like you) to fund the book in exchange for early bird copies and other fantastic rewards. Basically, if you back the project for $20 or more you’ll be one of the first people on earth to get a copy of the book in your hands this spring. You can choose any level of funding from $5 and up for all kinds of great rewards including bookmarks, softcover or hardcover copies, a doll quilt made by Brandy herself, and more. And most importantly, once the book is in your hands, you’ll be able to share your love of quilting with a child.

So why don't you join me in helping fund Kristy's Quilt? Simply visit KRISTY’S QUILT PROJECT. I know I'm looking forward to my early bird copy! And thanks for sharing the heritage of quilting with a child. Also, you can connect with Brandy Lynn at www.BrandyLynnDesigns.com. 

How to Have a Full Life

I so enjoy the email newsletter I get from Morna McEver Golletz each week. She always has helpful info and an interesting story to share. A recent newsletter contained the following food for thought:

Morna McEver Golletz is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessionals.com.

ManageWP Helps Make Life Simpler!

Over the years, I've acquired a bit of online real estate. In addition to this blog, I have several more and also several websites. It's gotten to the point that I often can't even remember what all I have and it's become such a confusing mess that I'm desperate for a solution that will actually simplify my life rather than just add yet another layer of complexity.

So...is there an answer? Well, maybe there is.

I've long yearned for a simple way to manage my various WordPress blogs/sites, each of which has distinct login info to keep track of and type in every time I want to post or do maintenance. With just one or two, no problem - get three or more and it starts to be an annoying, time-sucking hassle. I like the way Blogger has a single dashboard with all my blogs hosted here available in one spot. Imagine my delight when I found out last week that there are options available to similarly manage multiple WordPress sites, too.

WordPress Multisite

Apparently, newer WordPress versions include a feature called Multisite. According to the glossary at WordPress.org:

"Multisite is a feature of WordPress 3.0 and later versions that allows multiple virtual sites to share a single WordPress installation. When the multisite feature is activated, the original WordPress site can be converted to support a network of sites."

Sounds great for the techies out there but not for me - I want simpler and just thinking about creating a network of sites supported by one site gives me a headache.

Finding Other WordPress Management Options

In my quest for a simple WordPress management solution, I typed "manage wordpress blogs" into a search engine and came up with lots of options! Why didn't I think of this years ago? Well, in my defense, these solutions are relatively new so wouldn't have been available back then... but still...

Instead of trying to figure out all the details of each option myself, I read some comparison posts, such as:

• WordPress Management Tools Faceoff: ManageWP vs InfiniteWP vs WP Remote
• 5 Tools for Managing Multiple WordPress Sites from One Location

and a few reviews, such as:

• InfiniteWP Review: BEWARE
• Why I’m Quitting ManageWP for InfiniteWP

In the end, I settled on the free account at ManageWP, which allows me to manage up to five WordPress blogs/sites at no cost (scroll down - there really is a no-cost option). And why did I choose ManageWP over the others? Mostly because my research indicated it was the one I was least likely to find frustrating. And so far, so good! I now have one dashboard from which I can access each blog and there are even things I can do to any or all of them from that single location. I'm loving the simplicity and am now a happy camper!

The Truth About Closed Doors

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."

 ~ Alexander Graham Bell

Book Sales Happy Dance!

Last Thursday night at about 8 o'clock, the UPS truck rolled up in front of our cottage in town and finally delivered our 50-book order of Impossible Beyond This Point! We were anxiously awaiting his arrival - in fact I had been checking and rechecking the tracking info online. Now that it's actually published, we wanted copies for family and friends, and a few to leave on consignment at the local book store. The books should have arrived days before but an addressing issue (PO box vs street address) caused a 6-day delay and nearly got the whole order returned to the sender!

On Friday morning, we dropped six off at Tammie's Books and she called Saturday morning to ask for six more. She hadn't sold all the original six yet but wanted to make sure she didn't run out beings there was quite a bit of interest just in the first day. And she gave Joel the best compliment ever when we dropped off the Saturday batch - she said she'd read a couple of chapters and could feel how "real" the story is. That's exactly what he was going for so it was gratifying to hear that he'd hit the mark.

We also dropped a copy off Friday with one of the reporters at the Trinity Journal and she may just write a review. How cool would that be? And we left one at the Jake Jackson Museum for possible placement in the gift shop. So that's what's going on locally.

And online? They're selling slowly but steadily there, as well. Amazon has cut the price several times, up to 22% off at one point. Right now I think Impossible Beyond This Point is listed for $12.70, which is 15% off the $14.99 list price. I don't know how Amazon decides what to discount and by how much but if folks can get the book for less than full price, I'm good with that!

Manage the Easy, Small Things NOW!

The following comes from Special Delivery, an eZine I receive from Stacey Curnow:

Lao Tzu reminds us that if you can manage the easy, small things now, you'll save yourself the time and effort of having to do the difficult things later.

Moreover, those small successes teach us how success feels, so we're more attuned to that feeling. Also, with the small things managed, we free our lives of clutter – and create more space for the truth to break in and show us the way.

Reprinted with permission from the author, Stacey Curnow. If you like this article and you want to give birth to your BIG dreams, sign up to receive her FRE*E eZine, Special Delivery, at http://www.staceycurnow.com/blog/hello-and-welcome/.

My New Declutter Secret Weapon

You know how they say one man's trash is another man's treasure? Well, it's also true for women! And I've found Etsy to be a great secret weapon in my decluttering quest. Ok, so it's not so secret. But who knew there were so many people looking to acquire what I'm looking to pass along?

For instance, do you know anyone who wants Vintage 1990 Special Edition Skippy Beaver 100th Birthday of Peanut Butter Glass Jar Banks? Me neither - but someone did! And she wanted all three and was willing to pay $5 each plus shipping to get them. I guess I shouldn't be surprised - I've been hanging onto the cute little buggers for over 23 years!

But let me back up a bit...

My SIL opened an Etsy store a few months ago (September 29, 2013 to be exact). At about the same time she was removing barbed wire that had been strung between trees about 100 years ago, she noticed that folks were buying rusty barbed wire for craft and decor projects. So she figured she might as well sell it instead of hauling it to the dump. But you don't want an Etsy store with just barbed wire, right? So after some brainstorming and looking around to see what else might be saleable here on the old homestead, she settled on the name Rough and Rustic and began amassing a variety of items for her shop.

Then I got an idea. Why not join forces and add my decluttered treasures? She's a photographer and I'm a writer. You need pictures and descriptions of each item. It was the perfect pairing! So I jumped right in and have turned my unwanted items into $61 during the last quarter of 2013! I know it's not a windfall and is only about 10% of her sales but still...I'm generating a little cash from things I no longer need that other people want.

And what else have I sold?

So why don't you pop on over to Rough and Rustic and see if we've got anything you can't live without?