Adventures in Hedonism

My head is about to explode with knowledge!  I purchased a membership to The Niche Blogger by Amy Bass a couple of days ago and I have learned so much new information that it’s going to take my brain weeks to process it all!

I’m completely re-doing the sites that I was starting and I’m doing them the Amy way.  She is a mother of four with about 20 niche sites bringing in about $5,000 per month.  Her training is showing me step by step the things I need to do.

Yes, this is a glowing endorsement.  Have I made any money yet?  No, it’s only been a couple of days.  But I’ll keep everyone posted on how it’s going.  I actually have a lot of hopes about this.  I’m tired of writing and selling my articles to other people to make money from.  I want to write them and make money from them myself.

I spend $10 online a few days ago on a Great Big Bag 0 Grabs! 

For my money, I will be getting:

• A hand - knitted hat or scarf
• A document to help me increase my online earnings
• One article written especially for one of my websites
• One quote of my choosing, handwritten in Calligraphy
• One gently read book chosen just for me
• One free week of link love sidebar action
• One yummy recipe
• One custom made 125X125 graphic specially designed for one of my sites

Yowsers!, you might say! How did I find such an amazing dealio?  Just visit Read Between My Lines to find out more about the Big Bag O Grabs.  Tell them Jen sent ya!

The results are in! Last month I decided to do a little weight loss experiment of my own.  I decided to take Advil PM every night for a month and find out if better sleep actually promoted weight loss.

I did all other things the same and I ended up losing right at 6 pounds!  Success!

What I learned:

I had in no way been getting enough sleep before.

The sleep I was getting was disturbed and broken.

I feel SO much better after a good night’s sleep.

I am more motivated to get up and going in the morning after sleeping well at night.

I’m going to continue to take the Advil PM.  I was already taking advil for my arthritis, so instead of taking it during the day, I’ll just take it at night with the PM formula.

I’ll keep you guys posted on the weight loss thing, but honestly that’s secondary to how good I feel after a full night’s sleep!

With all the rush and traveling of the holidays, it’s nice this morning to have a little quiet time to myself.  I got a text this morning saying that I have no appointments at work, so I’m on call.

The house is quiet, the only sound is the traffic going by outside.  I had forgotten how good it is for the soul to experience a little quiet time now and then.

As a lover of music, I always have some hot, rockin tune playing in the car.  Usually some obscure band that I like and no one else does…But lately I’ve been riding in the car with the music turned off.

Does that make me old?

I don’t know.  I truly appreciate music.  Maybe I’m just now beginning to appreciate the quiet a little more.

My friend was home for Christmas this week and we took a long bike ride yesterday.  All around the downtown area…looking at the old hang outs and even going inside one or two that were broken down.   It did wonders for my soul.  I simply needed to look and listen. That’s what new beginnings are all about.

How does a non-religious family celebrate the holidays?  By clapping like crazy and watching the Christmas Tree blink on and off.

As a family, we are geeks and nerds.  My finance gave my son a Clapper for Christmas this year.  He laughed and choked and was generally excited. We spent Christmas Eve opening presents and attaching the clapper to anything we could think of.

For 3 days now, it has been attached to the Christmas tree.  Unfortunately, there was a thunder storm last night, causing the tree to go on and off like a gay disco.  It was pretty random.

We like the clapper.  We have devolped a love affair bordering on obsession.  I honestly didn’t think they even made these any more.  But there it was, on the shelf in Walgreens, calling out to all nerd families…buy me, buy me!

Who knows what the new year will bring now that we have the excitement of the clapper.  The clapper + Obama? Well, anything could happen.  World peace?  No problem.

The Raging Rev has a post a few days ago about morality and God.  Does all morality come from religion?  What kind of morality would society have if religion didn’t exist?  There’s a pretty good debate going on over at his blog and I thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

Not only do I believe that morality exsits outside of religion, I beleive that morality and all humankind would be better off without religion.  Religious extremests certainly cause more problems than they solve.  Does this mean that I’m not against all religion, just those who take it overboard?  No.  It does not.

I don’t believe in childhood indoctrination.  The definition of brainwashing is:

Intensive, forcible indoctrination, usually political or religious, aimed at destroying a person’s basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs.

I don’t believe that brainwashing is moral and brainwashing is the basis  of most religions.  Get people to believe in something that defies logic and tell them that their disbelief (that thing that the brain naturally does) is going to send them to eternal damnation.

Scaring a child by way of indoctrination is not moral.  Neither is putting their health in jeopardy because of your religious beliefs (abstinence only education ). For those who believe this is the only way to have moral teens, check your statistics.

You might be surprised.

I’ve been working really hard lately on creating a passive income stream.  A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I would write an eBook to publish on Lulu.

I am happy to say that I finished uploading the eBook last night!  Now, on to marketing!

As a thank you to my readers at the green ninja , I have decided to give away two of my eBooks to readers who participate in my contest.

But what is the eBook about, you ask? Well, a few of your know that my day job is massage therapy.  I decided to write an instructional eBook called How to Give a Relaxation Massage.    The book includes basic massage techniques as well as stress relief tips and even detailed instructions on how to give a one hour full body massage!

If you want to participate in the contest, you can head on over to The Green Ninja and read all about it!   I encourage all of my today. com readers to browse around that blog, because I have posted a lot of ways to make money online by freelance writing.

This Christmas is going to be extremely difficult for many people.  Those who were living from paycheck to paycheck (as over half of Americans do) are finding it hard to pay the bills, let alone buy junior that toy that he asked Santa for.

We, like so many other families this year, are struggling.  We are eating in and enjoying the warmth of the house and the company of friends.

It’s easy to focus on the negatives.  I won’t be able to buy my family presents.  Rent is going to be late.  My paycheck has been cut in half and things are not looking good.  I want to die.

Focusing on these things does not accomplish one damn thing.  Instead, we are trying to make the most of our situation and be very grateful for the nice things that do come our way.

We are sushi lovers.  We are lovers of steaks and wine.  We treat ourselves when things are going well.  Lately, we have been eating  a lot of peanut butter sandwiches.  This week, though, we decided we would eat out one night.  Cracker Barrel.  It was the best meal we had eaten in a while.  Not because the food was inexplicably delightful, but because we appreciated it more.

We could not believe that both of us had eaten biscuits, bacon, grits and more and had only a $13.00 bill.  For both of us! We brought home a plate of biscuits that were left over and had them for breakfast the next morning.  They were still good and we were still happy.

We will have sushi again one day.  After Christmas and the bills are caught up. But until then: yay, biscuits!!

My unhappiness at my day job is increasing by the minute.  Today, the doctor was in.

A little background…

I do not work for the doctor.

The doctor is a guest in our business and is allowed to see patients there once a month.

The doctor is arrogant beyond belief.

My morning began when I walked into work and the doctor looked at me and ordered me to put a new ink cartridge in the printer.  OooooKKKkkkkk….

Um..I’m not a secretary.  Especially not your secretary.  I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind wanting to be your secretary.  Do NOT order me around.

The fact that the above statement is written in italics should clue you in to the fact that I did not say that out loud.  I should have.  He later interruped me while I was with a client to tell me that he needed a chair.  HE NEEDED A CHAIR.  I calmly looked at him and said, “Then go up front and get a chair.”

Arrogant or just plain helpless? You decide.

son of a bitch!

Let’s begin by saying that this week of experimenting was not quite as scientific as I would have liked.  Due to excessive drinking, I did not take my Advil PM two nights.  So the experiment is only valid for 5/7ths of the total time accrued. (Is that even a real fraction?!)

Anyway, for those of you who haven’t been following this experiment,  I decided to find out if improved sleep really does promote weight loss.  I have been taking Advil PM (almost) every night for a week and the result is:…………………………………..

I’ve lost one pound.

Not amazing, I know.  But, hey, I’m a pound lighter than I was last week.  I’m going to keep it up through the month of December and report back to you guys weekly.

Wish me luck!!!