I’ve been put in a frame of mind I cannot describe or get out of since reading Seth Godin’s Squidoo blog post. It hinted at a few things that I had suspicions of, as to the focus and agenda of Squidoo.

When I get in this type of mode, I search and search, reading articles, news, everything I can get my eyeballs on; until the subject has either been put to rest in my mind, or it spurs me onto creating a lens on the topic.

I’m afraid that our economy is going to get much worse. Some of us have already commented on the decline of commissions thru our Squidoo lenses. I think that if more would offer their stats, we may find that there is no one topic that is feeling the economic crunch. People are starting to think a bit before purchasing needless or frivolous items. They’re cutting back their purchases, saving that money for the rising costs of food, mortgage, and gas.

I have a lens that touches the subject, The Quality of Life; maybe that is why I’m spinning round and round, looking, and researching, because I know that the lens really doesn’t address the many times urgent needs of those that are being uprooted from our economy.

The lens itself is ok, I guess, but I want to reach people on a deeper level. I really want to be able to point a visitor to something that is more tangible than offering books that they could purchase. I’ve always heard the saying ‘you’ve got to spend money to make money’; but where’s the saying for people that need money and have none? I just don’t think it’s right of me to be trying to hawk books to people that really shouldn’t be spending their money.

I am so fortunate to have found Squidoo, as I have been able to earn a few hundred bucks a month, but before that time, I did not have an extra $20 dollar bill at the end of the month, so I know exactly how hard it is to live that way, and I don’t want to become one of those types of people that make internet ‘come-ons’, like ‘just spend _$_ amount of money, and this __ will take care of all your problems. That was always an insult to my intelligence, so I certainly don’t want to turn around and become like that.

I have another lens on the backburner of my Squidoo dashboard, and I suppose that’s another reason I’m in this mood. I’ve got to put about 7 days of work into it before I release the url to everyone. I realize that no matter how bad the economy gets, there will still be certain levels of society that will not be touched. Being on the low income end of society anyway, I’m used to being frugal, but many of us will be destroyed financially.

The new lens will be for those that haven’t had to drastically change their lifestyle because of the economy; and speaking purely with an ‘on-line’ view of life, those that are continously hunting for more income. I feel like I’m being sacreligious or something with this lens, but I guess I just have to remember that not everyone will be as deeply affected with our dropping economy as I will be.

Must be my time to take a serious look at my motivations and my morals; and how I want them to be portrayed online. I like to think of it as being pro-active and not hiding my head in the sand, oblivious to the world around me. I’m afraid the world may come to cutting out many of the products all of us push online, simply because ‘living’ expenses have to take priority, and I certainly don’t want to be spending my time promoting, pushing, what-ever you want to call it - products that seem utterly out of reach and ridiculous to most of society.

I am very proud of the natural medicine products that I’ve made websites on, and will continue to feature them. No matter how bad our economy gets, I will always believe that we can attain better health without ‘big pharma’s’ strong arm tactics with synthetic drugs’ harmful and dangerous side effects.

Gods Love and mine,

Debbie

I never would have dreamed that my little Squidoo page of My Flower Garden would have climbed so high in Squidoo ranking! It has also been in Squidoo’s Top 100 lenses, and now it’s all the way up to #6. Really should take a copy of that ranking, as it probably won’t stay in that Animals & Nature rank very long! Are You Polar Bear Aware has had the #1 spot for a very long time, and is right on my tail, with the over-all ranking of #7.

I’ve updated the ‘My Flower Garden’ page to include a link to my RSS feed of my Flower Blog, which I just got done posting to, and a link to my Natural Medicine’s lens, since I really don’t have many ways to make a bit of money on the Flower Garden lens. Most of my afilliate income is from all the pages the Natural Medicine lens has featured.

I didn’t manage to sell my 20 dog collectible and dog lover gifts lenses at Squidoo, which meant that the Dog Collectibles HQ Group didn’t sell either, which is ranked by Google as a PR5. Oh well, have ta find another outlet for my much needed roof.

Better spif up the joint………I just noticed this blog got mentioned in the Squidoo Blog!!

I’d like ya’ll to know that I also have 2 other blogs, a really purty one I’m proud of, to use for natural medicine, vitamins, and health articles; and a colorful one to use for my passion of flower gardening!

If you’d like to subscribe to this blog and you’re logged into WordPress, go to the top right of this page and click ‘Blog Info’. A drop-down box will give you a link for subscribing. If you’re not logged in, Whew….I finally figured out how to put a rss button on! It’s on the right hand side - and of course, my favorite color - purple!

What’s Happenin’ Today? Well, let’s see……..I’m sore as hell from working outside for the last 2 days. If you haven’t seen My Flower Garden photos, check them out……..that’s why I’m sore!

I’m prayerfully waiting on the possible sale of my 20 Dog Breed-Dog Lover Gifts lenses, and their Group lens. What could that sale mean to me? A New Roof for my home!

I got a reply to my email to another Squidoo buddy, everything is ok. I apologised to her for not emailing in the last 2 weeks or so. I told her that it has been particularly hard on me recently to try to portray a sunny disposition - when you live with pain every day - sometimes it just gets the better of you.

Simply put…..damn it, when you don’t feel good and are always hurting, sometimes you just can’t help coming off as a bitch.

If I’ve hurt anyone’s feelings recently……..I’m sorry.

Ending this post on a good note…….I was able, thru my earnings at Squidoo (all lenses & groups, royalties, & afilliate $) to not have to worry about making ends meet these last 2 months! I even had a little extra to give my son $ for his periodic company auction.

He spent less than $100, and I now have 3 new huge double pane energy efficient windows (valued at 3-$400 ea.) for my future indoor greenhouse (to put on my roof.) Plus he picked up 2 more smaller windows that I can use for the indoor greenhouse.

I will, at some time, insert the photos of what my family room used to look like, before needing a new roof for 3 years, which caused mold to form in the insulation, ceiling, and walls. We used to call it the ‘green room’ because of the furniture and carpet. Now it’s completely stripped, and will really be a ‘green room’ where I can grow vegetables in the winter.

Just finished designing and setting up the Natural Medicines blog. You’ll find a link to it on the right hand side. My ‘master plan’ is to divide all my Squidoo pages over 3 blogs, as per their topics. You lucky people are reading the blog that will be my ‘main’ hub. Little Debbies World will have articles about my other Squidoo lenses (that aren’t health or gardening topics), and my decidedly quirky opinions on my efforts to make a living online. Be prepared, many of those opinions may become rants

The DcInIowa blog is for all my Squidoo gardening and flower lenses, and in time, they’ll contain many articles.

The Natural Medicines blog lists all my health related Squidoo lenses, and boy, have I ever got a storehouse full of articles to periodically post to it! Bits, scraps, pieces of tidbits……..what the rotten FDA is currently up to, new health breakthroughs, bunches of stuff!

Now that I’ve just about got everything set up, I can start concentrating again on getting my Squidoo lenses up to par from the layout changes, and then post to each blog 2-3 times a week.