On Cloud 9…

Gotta tell you that I am always pleasantly surprised by things I find on Squidoo and that is a good thing because man, oh man can I get in a funk about life. For your viewing pleasure and without further ado…Do You Have the Courage to Ask For Help?

At the end of August Leigh Anne contacted me about her new book Not Guilty By Reason of Menopause, which is a great fit on my lens Menopause: You Need Some Laughter. A couple of e-mails later and we have put together this brief interview so you can get to know her a little bit more. Enjoy!

What inspired you to write this book that mixes menopause and laughter?

Well, it was one part inspiration, two parts perspiration, as I’m sure I was hot-flashing at the time. I’ve been teaching people to lighten up about all the things that cause them stress in their lives, and menopause, although a perfectly natural phase of women’s lives, does seem to be quite stressful for many of us. So I thought I’d try to help out by adding some humor to the mood swings, memory lapses, and night sweats. You either laugh or you lie face down weeping into the carpet, I always say.

What is your favorite passage in your book?

That’s like asking a mother to choose her favorite child! I enjoy: “You know you’re menopausal when your husband has learned to say ‘I’m sorry’ in eight different languages. Then there’s “You know that a Popsicle can cool you off in more ways than one.”

Who is this book for?

Your mother, your aunt, your best friend, your sister, your favorite teacher — any woman who has reached the point in her life where she scares her children more than they scare her… who knows the calcium content of a pitcher of pina coladas… who could play Thelma AND Louise in the sequel.

Where would you point someone to get out of a bad menopausal mood?

I would point them to their funniest friend and tell them to take her out for lunch or dinner. Nothing picks me up better than snorting through a meal with someone who knows all about me and likes me anyway.

Off the top of your head…share what made you laugh out loud or smile today.

I always laugh at the antics of my wiener dogs, so that’s a given. A friend sent me an email with a list of actual English subtitles used in films made in Hong Kong, which included lines like “I am damn unsatisfied to be killed in this way” and “Take my advice or I’ll spank you without pants.”  I’ve still got the giggles.

You speak, you write, you coach AND you Squidoo…how on earth do you find the time in a day to do it all?

I use smoke and mirrors. Well, not so much smoke as it makes me cough. Lots of mirrors. And duct tape. Not to mention the multiple personalities. Those come in really handy.

Can you give us some ideas on how you market your book? Where can we purchase it?

The book is available at all major online booksellers and in major bookstores. It’s also available from my website, accidentalcomic.com. I market it at women’s health conferences at which I’m often a keynote speaker, at author signing events, and by following middle-aged women into the ladies’ rooms.

How to find Leigh Anne on the Internet:

www.accidentalcomic.com

www.tenspeed.com

www.notguiltybyreasonofmenopause.typepad

www.boomercafe.com

As I have been browsing around Squidoo doing my thing as a Giant Greeter something really interesting has emerged. It really is brilliant! Has me wondering if I missed out on a post somewhere about ‘it’. It’s probably one of the best, possible money-makers.  Lensmasters across Squidoo are using their affiliate link. And you don’t have to worry about picture or art copyright!

IT’S ALLPOSTERS.COM

Wanna join me and start putting pictures + more on your Squidoo lenses too?

Bye Bye Art Print
Kolarsky
Buy at AllPosters.com

Hiring a kid to do things around your yard or in your home?

Just recently we had a couple neighbor kids come over to help out with things that were getting out of hand…piles of wood chopped but not stacked and under cover, disarray under the carport that was driving me crazy each night that I pulled up from work, fallen sticks and leaves from a recent bout of wind, and oh my, the kitchen cabinet full of mismatched plastics that cascaded at my feet each time I was in search of a container for lunches. My brain is always ticking and looking for solutions, so when I had my ‘ah ha’ moment I acted quickly and picked up the phone to call my neighbor to see if a couple of the kids were available to help with my dilemma. Well, I’m all better now, the kids loved the gift of money, my new to-do list is building, and I’ve marked my calendar for the next project day!

Here’s the link to get information about how you can do this too, http://www.squidoo.com/Hire_a_Kid. Make sure to drop a line…stars are good too

(I currently have this lens in Home&Garden, do you think this is a good fit? I’d appreciate your feedback.)

If it was not for the Internet and my search to find other WAHM’s, Jacque and I would have never ‘met’! I joined a couple of programs she offers on her website, Hometowne Market, and the rest, so to speak, is history. Now we chat every single day on Yahoo Messenger, connect on the phone occasionally, share co-ownership in two online groups (WAHM 101 and Deal Divas), and we are excited to be building our empire together

Jacque’s wry sense of humor always leaves me smiling. Her strength to carry on as a single mom, college student, working full-time, and building her online presence is a testament to me that mom’s really do rock! And yes I did drag her, kicking and screaming over to Squidoo! Although now, it’s just a dull grrr!, as she’s learning her way around. Enjoy our interview and I’d love it if you stopped by Jacque’s places on the Internet to see for yourself why I’ve aligned myself with this awesome woman!

What would you like people to know about you? I want people to know that everything I do is for my child, even if it means cutting back on some of my responsibilities. I am determined to succeed in school and with my business, but not at the cost of her or my everyday happiness.  I believe in never giving up and always moving forward.  I also believe that life without coffee would not be worth living,  lol! I believe in miracles, fairies, happy endings, healing hugs and puppy kisses.  I am a kid at heart and being stuck in a grown up world does not effect my ability to be silly.

If there was one thing you could change about yourself what would it be and why? Actually, I am going through a self introspection right now and I have decided that I need to learn how to de-stress my life and regain my joy in the everyday.  A friend loaned me a book recently that has changed my outlook on how I see the world.  Keep an eye out for a SquidLit all about it.

Your website promotes and supports WAHM’s, what inspired this design? With the ecomony being as it is these days, everyone is struggling to get by and be able to provide for their families. WAHM’s are just like you and me and the way I see it, it’s us against the “Big Guys”. Why should be help the millionares get richer by paying them for an item that we can get from a fellow WAHM that not only could use the business but actually appreciates it. I am extremely anti-mall this season ~ I’m shopping WAHM.

Why do you Squidoo? Well, there’s this chick I know :::wink::: that seems to think I have some talent at writing. I have always wanted to write, but was always afraid to share my thoughts ~ I have insecurity issues. This friend bullied me into my first lens and now I am hooked!  Even if nobody ever reads them, I find it very therapeutic just to put my thoughts out there.  If someone learns something, gets a laugh or smile out of it or even looks at something from a different perspective ~ that’s just icing on the cake.

Any final thoughts? If there were to be one thing I would like people to bring away from this interview, it would be a stronger belief in themselves ~ that they can accomplish whatever they set out to. Keep your friends and families close to you and there is nothing that can stop you from achieving your dream! Also remember to stop once in a while to enjoy what you have already accomplished.

Clouda9: I see Seedplanter was able to coax you out from under the barn. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to do this interview.

Tom: My days are long, and to tell you the truth, I’m ticked!  Your interview request was timed perfectly. Excuse my hyperventilating, but I gotta get this out or I’ll go ape. Do you know how stressful this is? Adrenaline is rushing through my veins. I can feel my heart beating a warning. Something’s going on and I tell ya, it’s ruffling my feathers!

Traffic on this road has increased threefold-what’s with these people, anyway? I’ve become a counterculture hero, thanks to Squidoo. I agreed to talk to Seedplanter, but what did she do? She wrote letters to members of Congress, for Turkey’s sake! Now half of Humanity is trying to mother me. Don’t you humans have anything better to do? Passersby gawk and point, and toss me treats.  (Newsflash: Turkeys don’t eat Gummi Bears!)

One guy leapt out of his car and tried to mimic my dialect. He thinks I don’t know what the camcorders for? Doesn’t care a twit about my feelings or my future, just wants a higher rating on YouTube. It sickens me, I tell ya. Makes me want to regurgitate!

Clouda9: I know some humans can be so weird, so by adding your plight here on my blog I thought it would give you a chance to have another venue to shout out to humanity! So for today, what is the one biggest thing that you would like us to know?

Tom: “Shout” is right! My momma taught me to strut softly and carry a big stick, but sometimes you gotta raise the gobble a notch to get anybody’s attention! I would like the world to stop what they’re doing, put down their remotes, and just listen.

I am being stalked, people! Farmer’s family are showering me with psychobabble, and it aint’ cuttin’ it! They pet my neck (I hate that) and make me pose with visitors like I’m some kind of side show.  It’s freaky, I tell ya-FREAKY!  I heard their 12-year-old son asking if they could dress me up in a pumpkin outfit for Halloween and tie me to the front porch rail! That is SO wrong.

I want my fans out there to know that I do NOT plan to go down without a good fight. Back here in the tall grass, I’ve had a lot of time to think, and whoa boy! They’re in for a big surprise. If Seedplanter will answer her phone, I intend to share my plan with her. I get the feeling she’s ignoring me…that she’s :::sob::: given up, but I ain’t no quitter! MY CARUNCLES ARE IN AN UPROAR. Can you hear me now?

Clouda9: I hear ya Tom and I hope you know that I really do love ya’. In fact, I have a couple turkeys right here on our farm. Hey they may even be kin! Is there a message you’d like to give them? I’ll be out there later with their gourmet meal, no diet food for our guys!

Tom: HEY COUSINS! :::wave:::

Life passes by at breakneck (GULP) speed,  and I hope you two realize how pampered you are.  Gourmet meal? Ohhhhh, the very thought makes my dewlap dance.  (I snuck up close to Farmer’s window last night, to see what Wikipedia says about turkeys. It sounds like I’ve been cheated out of some good eats! I’m tempted to make an anonymous call to the Turkey Union, but who would believe me? Most turkeys don’t make phone calls. Too risky.

Clouda9: So there’s lots of talk about the changing season in fact, just this morning it seemed the maple tree on our property burst into full-color overnight. What’s your favorite part of this season? Is that question too mean…actually I have total confidence that you can answer this with real honesty.

Tom: I have a hard time enjoying Fall, because I have to constantly watch my back, y’know?  I feel at peace when I focus on my turkeyhood memories, when life seemed so much simpler.  And in the spirit of the season I’m trying to count my blessings. I’m grateful for this tall grass. Glad to be outta that chilly wind. Happy the dog has stopped harassing me. And I’m VERY thankful they don’t call me Tom-Tom anymore. That was so patronizing and demoralizing. I mean, a turkey has a right to a little respect.   I’ve learned how to smoosh myself flat and do the turkey crawl when I hear the screen door slam.

Oh, but let me tell you what happened yesterday.  I heard hammering-not the kind that signals a new roof, but the dull thump of a sign being driven into the ground. One of my wild friends flew over it and reported in. “Bro’, you’re in deep doo-doo,” he said.  ”Farmer’s printed a message in big bold letters: DOMESTICATED TURKEYS 4 SALE.”

I knew it! I am being raised for meat! All that neck-pattin’ and turkey-calling was a facade. They’re after my drumsticks!

Clouda9: Ouch, you poor thing! Tom I hate to cut call our interview to a close, you have been very candid and I’m sure you have more to say. Go ahead and give us your closing thoughts, just in case I missed anything.

Tom: I’m done with the nice guy stuff.  I laid out my thoughts in my Manifesto (did you catch that? Here, let me help you…http://www.squidoo.com/turkeys-manifesto and I’m not going to grovel. Nope!

Seedplanter is working with a senator to transfer me to Minnesota, but it’s going to take a team of SWAT turkeys to remove me from the property. Under federal regulation #AC467-631-TURKEYAID-400814, I may qualify for emergency funding. FEMA has kicked back Seedplanter’s request, but we aren’t giving up.  I’m not at liberty to share the details, but let me leave you with this one thought: DUNG. Apparently my dung is valuable in Minnesota.

I will be addressing the nation soon via Seedplanter. Please alert friends and loved ones with a heart for my plight. I need support, people! Not empty promises, but heartfelt wishes. Write letters. Plan a protest march. Step out of your comfort zone and DO SOMETHING on behalf of big birds like myself, who have lost their gobble.  We need a voice. You are our only hope.
:::sigh:::

Bio: Tom lives in the head of Seedplanter, a fairly sane writer and nature photographer from the Pacific Northwest who’s been authoring books, columns, and articles for the past 27 years. A former Newsday computing columnist, she enjoys camping, reading, cooking, and Squidooing. Visit her Squidoo page and blog, tell her Tom sent you:

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/seedplanter

http://seedplantersporch.squidtop.com

To follow Tom’s ongoing saga, subscribe to his RSS feed: http://tinyurl.com/58jz2p

By the way, Tom’s two current lenses are:
Turkey’s Last Stand:  http://www.squidoo.com/turkeys-last-stand
Turkey’s Manifesto: http://www.squidoo.com/turkeys-manifesto

Smiles are a frown turned up-side down,

Clouda9

Don’t know what I was thinking to let this go for so long! Been checking in on you all from time to time, each visit kept calling me back. Clique as it may sound…I’m back because it feels like home to me!

I’d like you to look forward to my renewed sense of sharing my ventures on Squidoo and beyond…some may come in snippets, yet others will possess a few twists and turns. Excited yet? Well just to let you know, I am!

With this post I’d like to make sure that you all knew about a movement started at SquidU that is spreading positive vibes across our social network.  The Homeopath rocks!

Onward and Upward Lovelies!

Winter52 has a job that ‘most girls’ dream of, she’s an online shopping diva, plus she inspires us with her mix of lenses! Enjoy this 2nd interview in my growing series of We Are Giants! If you are on the list make sure to watch out for a e-mail from moi’ with some thought provoking questions and your chance to shine here on my blog. Until then read on…make sure to click on the links to visit Winter52 on Squidoo and beyond. Thanks!

Why do you write on Squidoo?
I love having the freedom to write about whatever inspires me at the moment. I never dreamt that I could come up with SO MANY lens topics. I think that I’m at around 112 (some WIP) but I’m not going to do anymore until those are completed… at least I keep telling myself that.

Your lenses have an undertone of family, humor, and caring…who is it that inspires you to write and be creative?

Writing seems to have been passed down through the generations. My grandfather loved to write poetry and his mother wrote about her life in Ontario in the early 1800s. So, family does seem to inspire me.

How does it feel to be a Shopping Diva for b5media?

My husband would probably say that it is a curse because I now have a reason to shop lol… me, I love it.

You are here on Squidoo, where else can we find you on the Internet?

You can find me all over the place. I have a number of blogs of my own, plus I’m on StumbleUpon (note: I could not find Winter52 on SU), Twitter and b5media. Those are the major ones but I’m sure that I’m forgetting some.

Of the seasons, winter, spring, summer, or fall…what is your favorite and why?

It USED to be summer until this particular one hit. Allergies this summer is kind of ruining it for me. We have had tons of rain and things simply won’t stop growing!

Any finishing thoughts about making Giant Squid, being a lensmaster, blogging, family life, etc?

I’m just having the time of my life and the minute that stops, I will find something else to do lol… Life is just too short not to enjoy ever minute of it.

I (clouda9) personally like these three lenses:

Angels

Muffins Even I Can Make

Not In Love With Marmite

Meet lensmaster xtnshun, my 1st interview in announcing the Giant Squids of 07-2008! Make sure to click any of the links to learn more about this really honest fellow!

Why do you write on Squidoo?

Apart from being a little addicted I now Do the Squidoo for interest.  Yes, I can make money and in the long run I hope it will be significant, but I (now) use Squidoo to find out things about people and subjects I don’t know about. I know you’re supposed to write about something you are interested in, and I’ve done that, but I’ve had the most satisfaction from things like learning about Marlee Matlin and how she doesn’t let her deafness stop her, or working out the scoring system on Dancing with the Stars (still working on that one!)

If you had to choose your top three lenses what would they be? How bout 50words or less as to why?

Jokes My Daughter Finds Funny - This really is a list of jokes my 12 year old daughter likes.  She has stopped sending them to me at the moment (it’s now boring) but I’m sure she’ll start again.  I’m actually glad they are relatively innocent!

Dancing with the Stars - This was the first lens I really applied myself to and it really enhanced the enjoyment of watching the show.  I did 12 SquidWho lenses on the contestants and learned things about them that are really interesting.  I had a spotty teenager girl accuse me of being “gay” because a 40-something man wrote a page about Sabrina Bryan.  We became friends though.  I also found it fascinating that I got 1200 hits on one day wanting to know if Helio Castroneves was married!

The Backyardigans - I started this because I got frustrated finding out which episode was on what DVD.  I actually enjoy the show and it grew into a resource for people wanting to find out about the Backyardigans.  I’m particularly proud of the little pen pictures of each of the characters.

It looks like you have great ideas about gift giving. Give us some thoughts about how you got started.

I found Squidoo through an article on how to get backlinks to your website.  I actually found it confusing and simply had a lens with mainly links to my gift site and articles I had written. I now have a full time job (darn it) so haven’t been able to keep up with the gift side, but I plan to return to it, plus it always perks up nicely at Christmas.

You have over 50 lenses on Squidoo and several blogs…how do you keep track of all your projects?

Badly.  I’m not the most organized person.  What I do is monitor the blogs and sites through my iPod Touch - you can’t do lots of writing on it, but you can start lenses pretty easily and tweak tags and title just fine. Some of my blogs have fallen behind because of work, and some were actually experiments (normally failed ones!).

Besides Squidoo, where else can we find you on the web?

I am xtnshun everywhere you go.  If people follow me then I look at their profile and usually follow back.  It’s sometimes quite hard to give those sites the attention they deserve.

Any finishing thoughts about making Giant Squid, being a lensmaster, blogging, family life, etc?

I make a lot of crap lenses.  If I see something interesting, I produce a basic lens with the full intent of returning to it when I have time to make it better.  I am slowly achieving that but don’t be surprised if there is a bare-bones lens near the bottom of my list!  On that subject, I’m actually anti-anti-spam.  I think a lot of spam is actually people who aren’t very good at it, and they need help and encouragement.  However if they are ramming something down our throat, are cheating, then they are fair game to get whacked! Squidoo can be a very frustrating place, but it’s a wonderful tool and the people are really nice as well as being pretty darn good when it comes to building pages. I’m proud to be a Giant Squid and will try to live utp to the standard that has been set by the other Giants.

**Please see We Are Giants for more information**

I am feeling very overwhelmed and unfocused! I’m not whining, just stating a fact. Here are my thoughts, asking for your help and feedback.

• Set the focus for my SquidTop Blog; make fan appreciation posts or ???
• Work on my new blog, Hearts and Hands; thought I’d make it about random things happening in our lives with links back to relevant Squidoo lenses.
• Have our website be a landing spot to highlight our businesses, where to find us on the Internet, etc.; If you have a website, what do you use it for?
• Work on lens updates; any thoughts on a good schedule for this? Remember reading a tip somewhere that it is good to update on or around the 23rd of each month…is that true?

I look forward to having you share your thoughts.