Best Google Month Ever

You'd think I'd be ranting about google right now, seeing as how I got the official bitch slap in their latest PR go round. Yes boys and girls, we went from a PR3 to a big fat goose egg. But honestly, I don't care. This blog was never really about the numbers. It was more about having a place where I could just be myself. Good thing. LOL

Anyway, even though I got booted, I'm still having my best month ever with Google. Now, for those of you who are making hundreds of dollars each month with Google, please understand that I'm still learning all the tricks that come along with making money through Google. I've had a record month. For the first time, I've broken the $30 threshold. I know there are a lot of other people out there who make a lot more than that per month, but this is a personal best for me.

Up until this past December, I'd never made more than $6 in one month. Then in December, I hit the $15 mark. I was so excited, I thought I was going to wet myself. In January, I broke the $20 mark for the month and decided to make that my monthly goal. I figured if I could make at least $20 a month, I was doing something wonderful. Anything over that was a bonus.

Well, now I know how it feels to hit the $30 per month mark. It's awesome. And I think I've finally figured out the trick. At least for me. You've got to have your Google ID on more than one site. I can't say I'll be making $30 each month from now on, but it was so cool to see that number in my stats.

I can't say I'm mad at Google. I'm hurt, but not mad. Yes, I posted some paid reviews on this site, and yes, I knew that Google didn't like that. But I've got kids to feed and several online subscriptions that need to be paid. The one thing that does piss me off is that when Google gives you the smack down, so do the paid review sites. Now that we don't have a nice PR anymore, I can't get any paid posts. It's like I stink or something. Really, I did shower today.

Oh well, it's just more incentive to find other ways of making some money. If anyone out there has any suggestions, I'm all for listening up. Most of the pay per post sites have turned their backs on me, so it's going to take some time. But I'm not a quitter. A whiner yes, but not a quitter. I will find another way, and I'll make sure to pass along any information I come up with. In fact, I'm working a couple new angles as we speak.

String of Tornadoes Hit Eastern Colorado

Living in Western Nebraska puts me within broadcasting distance of nearly all of the Colorado tv stations. Also, I've got a lot of family and friends that live in Eastern Colorado. So, when you hear that there's a tornado warning in that area, it makes you sit up and take notice.

In the past 3 hours, a string of tornadoes have hit Eastern Colorado, one of which was about a mile wide and traveled for a distance of 35 miles. Along with the tornaoes, was huge amounts of hail from golf ball to baseball sized pieces. As I write this, another tornado has been spotted near a town called Windsor, which has already suffered major damage from an earlier tornado.

For those of you who have never lived through a tornado, let me try to explain what it's like. It's terrifying. Some tornadoes look like long ropes coming from the sky, while the one that hit Windsor earlier today looked like a giant wall of swirling clouds that goes from the sky to the ground, and eats everything in it's path.

According to reports, there has been one death today caused from these storms, but officials haven't given many details. So far today, there have been 6 confirmed tornadoes in the Eastern Colorado region, and from the looks of things, they're not done yet.

Please say a prayer for all those who are having to deal with this situation right now.

18 Years and Counting

I am so excited, because today is my 18th wedding anniversary. Why am I excited? Because nobody thought I'd be married this long, including me. LOL. But we did it, and we're still going strong.

When my hubby and I first started dating, we were both dead set against marriage. We'd both come from divorced parents, and we were determined not to end up in the same situation. The only way to make sure it didn't happen was to never get married. Then, after a huge fight, my hubby pinned me to the floor and asked me to marry him. He pinned me to the floor because he was afraid I'd come up swinging. However, I was so totally shocked that I couldn't move anyway.

So, on Saturday, May 19th of 1990, we got married. We had the traditional church wedding and all the hoopla that comes with it. And after some trials and tribulations, we've made it to number 18. He asked me this morning if I really thought we'd ever make it this far, and I just laughed. I told him that I had 2 more years to go before I left him for a younger man. He said "Damn, I gotta wait that long?".

I can't say it's been a perfect marriage for the past 18 years, but I can say that it's been fun, interesting, and a hell of a lot of work. I couldn't imagine my life now without him, and I don't think I'd want to try. He's not only my husband, he's my best friend, my soul mate, and my favorite fishing buddy. Some days he makes me so mad that I want to beat him with a stick, but most days he makes me laugh so hard that my sides hurt.

I really am the luckiest woman alive.

I'm Fighting For Air

OMG, I found a reason to live. LOL. Ok, I'm joking, but I have found a new contest that has me doing backflips in my ergonomic chair. I'm a total contest junkie, but I haven't found any contests lately that make me want to jump for joy. No offense meant to anyone out there, but I'm not into the whole Entrecard thing, and as much as I love free advertising, I'm not looking for anymore free ads spots. Though these are cool wins for a lot of people, I need something with a little more substance. And now I've found it.

Mike from Bloggin-Ads.com is holding an awesome contest. He is giving away 10 $100 prizes, plus giving away 2 MacBook Air Laptop Computers. I've never been able to afford a laptop, and have always dreamed of having one. Now's my chance. I'm so totally into this contest because it's so easy to enter. Bloggin-Ads.com is a great site that has tons of useful information about blogging and some great blog reviews. I love the site.

There are a lot of different ways of entering Mike's contest, including digging or stumbling the contest post, leaving a comment on one of his posts, or writing a post on your own blog about the contest. Which, as you can see, I'm doing right now. This contest will run through June 13th, which also happens to be Friday the 13th. Plus, according to Mike's post, this is just the beginning. He is going to be announcing something else wonderful in a future post. I'm so excited. LOL

So, run over to Mike's blog and get yourself signed up for his contest. You could win $100 or a laptop. Of course, I'm going to be winning the other one, so be prepared for that. LOL. Ok, I don't know that for a fact, but I'm going to give it my all. I'm fighting for a MacBook Air, and I intend to win. :)

Dealing with bloggers burnout

Hey ya'll. It's been awhile since I stopped in, so I thought I'd better do something over here to make it look like I'm still among the living. I've been going through a major case of bloggers burnout the past couple of weeks, and haven't done much with any of my blogs. But, I'm starting to come out of it a bit.

I've been hanging out at a really cool forum called TalkWhatever. I don't usually do forums, as I never feel like one of the gang, but this place is different. They even let me have my own section for writers. That was totally cool. So, I've been the forum leader at the Writer's Block section. I've been hosting writing challenges, talking about ways to earn money through writing, and that kind of thing.

I've also been doing some writing on my own. Nothing that I'll ever publish anywhere, just some stupid stories to keep me from just giving up all together. I had to do something to get my mind out of the funk it was lounging in. Sometimes, I get to a point where everything I write has to sound like a fricking commercial. I think that was why I was getting burned out. I had to go find something to do to get my creative mind back on track.

I hate trying to be so "professional" all the time. I've never been the professional type. In fact, I've always been the kind of person who fought against the establishment. Had I been born 10 years sooner, I'd have been a hippy for sure.

So, anyway, I will try and keep this site updated a little more often.