On Cloud 9…

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.

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**

Chef Keem posted a ’shout out’ to lensmasters at SquidU! Please read it, participate, share your ideas, build a lens about helping others!  This is what Squidoo is all about, right?

Get this graphic

Whether you are up for a debate about dad’s doing housework or want to find out about the benefits of teaching children character, this lensmaster is contributing awesome stuff to our Squidoo community. Did you know you could make a shoe-box gift for a needy American child? I didn’t!

Altruistic and open GrowWear definitely deserves your visit…don’t forget to leave your comments and join the fan club as well.