Sapheyerblu Review » My General Weirdness

Lumberjacks VS Bootleggers

Christine — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:52:40 +0000

Okay kids, so check this out. First and foremost, I am NOT a Twilight fan. Yeah I know, I’ll probably end up on some CIA list for this or something, but I’m just not. My daughter, on the other hand, is totally into that little cutie Taylor Lautner, and if I have one more female tell me how much my son looks like “Edward”, I might just lose my mind.

However, I’ve found a contest where you have to choose a side and you could win an Amazon Kindle or one of several other prizes. Does this have something to do with the Twilight saga? Heck no. Weren’t you listening when I said I wasn’t a fan. I am, however, a fan of fantasy fiction and this contest is killer, (no pun intended).

Author Moira Rogers is throwing a Pick a Side contest until the 14th of June. She has created two interesting characters and it’s our job to pick the best. One is a vampire lumberjack and the other is a werewolf bootlegger. Yeah, I got all tingly too. But that’s not the big thing for me. You see, in my world ( the real one, not the one I put into my stories), I am the granddaughter of an actual bootlegger and I’m married to a guy who’s known as “Chainsaw”. No, I’m not making this stuff up, but I do feel a story coming on.

So, here’ s the thing. You have to head over to Moira’s blog and pick a side. But more than that, you’ve got to be ready to defend your answer because once you’ve made your decision, you’ve got to do a blog post about it then leave a comment (a real one, not one of those “great post” comments) about why you chose the side you did. Then, Moira will add a link from her site to yours and tell which side you chose. This is where you need to be ready, because others on that list of links may come by your site and either agree with you, or try and get you to switch sides.

So, which side am I picking? Well, that was a tough decision. As I said, my grandfather was an actual bootlegger in the late 20’s/early 30’s. From what I understand, he had a heck of a time trying to explain to my great-grandmother why there were bullet holes in the trunk of her car one Sunday morning.

But, my hubby has been cutting trees down for a long time and has been known as “Chainsaw” since the early 90’s. Plus, the idea of having a big rugged man nibbling on my neck does a lot more for me than the idea of a big furry guy peeing on my leg. So, I vote for The Vampire Lumberjack.

Okay, stop laughing and get over to Moira’s site and cast your vote before it’s too late. And remember, “Vote for the Lumberjack and you won’t get a Back Attack”.

Some Of My Creations

Christine — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:11:00 +0000

I’ve been promising to show off some of my quilt “thingies”, but never seem to do so. This is because I’m so worried that someone out there who knows WAY more about quilting than I do will come by and say, “Hey, that sucks”. It would kill me and I’d probably never quilt again. Yes, I’m speaking from experience (not quilts). Anyway, here are a few of the things I’ve been working on.

First of all, I found a cute quilt block pattern that was supposed to be used as an edge. I liked it very much, and gave it my own twist. I call it Love Links. Here’s the first one I ever did.

I totally dig the colors I used in this one. The problem was that I had no idea what I was going to do with it once I finished. It just kind of sat there staring at me, going “Don’t ignore me. I thought you loved me”. Then I got an idea to turn this into a purse pattern. I had a cool idea and did what I could to put it together. Here’s the finished product.

Laying flat

Upright position

Though it didn’t turn out exactly as I’d planned, I’m pretty happy with it. I’m going to use it for my daughter’s Easter Basket. She’s 16, and loves the little purse/bag thing. I told her she could have it, but not till after Easter. LOL. She knows she’s getting it for Easter, so this post isn’t going to give anything away. Besides, she never reads my posts anyway. I’m just mom, I never do anything cool.

Anyway, there’s a couple of the things I’ve been working on. I have a whole crap-load of other things, but not nearly enough room here. Let me know what you think, but please be kind. I don’t take rejection well at all. LOLOLOL!!!

Look at all those crafting books

Christine — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:29:12 +0000

I know I said I’d be back in just a few days, but you should see what I’ve been doing. I’ve been so busy with my quilting projects and reading all my new crafters’ magazines that I’ve completely lost track of time. What felt like a couple of days has turned into a few weeks. LOL. Time really does fly when you’re having fun.

Anyway, my wonderful mother-in-law was kind enough to give me a whole tote full of fabrics, 2 boxes of ribbons, and a huge bag of lace. But the biggest prize in my new lot was the whole box full of crafting books and magazines she gave me. My mother-in-law is as craft crazy as I am, maybe more. And though she has 3 daughters of her own, none of them are really into the whole crafting thing. So, I get all her crafting hand-me-downs. Whoo Hoo for me. LOL

As I began going through this box full of books, I was shocked to see just exactly what I had in my hands. She gave me books and magazines that go back to the late 40’s-early 50’s. Here are a few pics I took just to prove how cool my mother-in-law really is. She’s awesome!!!!!

Craft Works, Pack O’ Fun, and Family Circle magazines

As you can see, this one was issued in 1969 and only cost 20 cents

This is a huge pile of Crafting Traditions magazines from 1996-2003

2 books published in the 60’s on how to recycle things you already have around the house. And you thought the whole Reuse/Recycle thing was a new idea. LOL

A massive needlework book from McCall’s-Fall/Winter issue for 1964-1965-it cost a whole 60 cents.

And now for my favorite

This is a book that my mother-in-law put together herself when she was in college. It’s full of little character drawings from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. It’s so cool.

From food and drinks

To scenes of various emotions.

Needless to say, I’ve had a ball the past couple of weeks. I’ve found a ton of ideas to work with, some of which came from days gone by and I’ve come up with ways to give them a modern twist. Now, if I could just finish one whole project, I’d be doing great. LOL

Checking In

Christine — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:30:59 +0000

Holy cow, where in the Sam Hill have I been????? Well, it’s been a crazy month so far. As most of you know, my son entered the United States Navy the first of the month. Since then, I’ve done everything in my power to keep my mind occupied so I wouldn’t spend all my time in tears. The result is that I’m in the process of creating some really cute items and will soon be re-opening my online store. Not sure which one I want to focus on just yet, but that’s not important right now.

Because of all the cool giveaways I’ve been entering, and all the wonderful people I’ve had the honor to meet, I’ve really gotten into making my quilting stuff. I don’t just make quilts, I make things like purses, clutch purses, and aprons with quilt patterns. I’m also working on a cool design for some place mats, but they’re turning out to be a little tougher than I’d imagined. Hopefully that means they’ll be really awesome when they’re done. LOL

As soon as I get a few more finished, or any of them finished, I’ll be sure to upload pictures. I’m pretty happy with the results so far, but almost everything is still in not-quite-done mode. LOL. My daughter keeps telling me that I need to finish up one project before I start another, but I’m one of those people who thinks to themselves, “I wonder what that would look like”, then can’t move on until I find out. LOL

So, as soon as I get a few more things done, I’ll show them off. I hope you’ll all stop by and tell me what you think, but please be kind as I don’t take criticism well. Ok, back to work. I’ll never get finished with anything unless I get off the computer and do some actual work. LOL

Friday Follow 2-26-10

Christine — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:20:03 +0000

Time once again for Friday Follow. This is my second week and from what I witnessed last week, this is the coolest idea of the century. When I posted my Friday Follow last week, I was blessed with my first follower within minutes of adding my name to the list.

So here’s how it works. Check out the list below. Follow the first three names on the list, as this is their ballgame. Then, add your site to the list of others and start picking out a few here and there to follow. Be sure to let anyone you follow know that you’re from the Friday Follow game so they’ll come by and follow you in return. The cool thing is that this list is brand new every week. Even thought there are hundreds of sites on the list, you have to go in and rejoin each week.

You can follow as many blogs as you want, and can do so all week long. However, you can only add your blog/site on Friday. As of tomorrow, you can’t add your site until next Friday. Then, we start all over again. It’s so much fun. But my favorite part of the whole thing isn’t in finding new blogs, it’s in meeting new people.

Say thanks to the girls who put this little shin-dig on:

Rita from One 2 Try

Tami from Hearts Make Families

Lynn from Midday Escapades

Thanks ladies, this is the coolest Meet and Greet I’ve ever attended. I actually look forward to this one. LOL

Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

My First Win

Christine — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:51:44 +0000

Have you ever wished Monday mornings would just skip your house and move straight on to Tuesdays? Yeah, me too. On a normal week, I’d hate Monday morning. But that all changed today when I got up and realized that I’d won one of the giveaways I’d entered. Talk about a shock to the system. For the first time in I don’t know how long, I was thrilled that Monday morning had come around.

The giveaway was through a site called The Lost Earring and this was a killer giveaway. Not just one or two prizes and/or winners, but 7 winners, 7 giveaways, and prizes from 7 different shops. I wrote a post about the giveaway on one of my other blogs and then didn’t think much more about it. Then, as I was turning my computer on this morning, happen to notice my giveaway calendar and saw that this one ended today. I thought to myself, “Oh that one would be cool to win” and went to get my coffee. Imagine my surprise when I opened my email and found out that I did.

I’d like to say congratulations to the other 6 winners of this contest:

Congrats to—

Jacky aka The Sweet Petunia
Laci aka Serenity 3212
Amy aka Atypical Girl
Lyuda aka Lusizova
Lily aka Lilyhoot
Lesley aka Hazydaisy

And thanks to Kelly at The Lost Earring and all the shop owners who were kind enough to offer their products to be in this giveaway.

Inki Handmade
Rini & Faith
The Moss Garden
Paint Me A Picture
Additions Style
Kate & Oli
La Cravate Du Chien

I don’t know what I’ve won yet, as all prizes were a mystery. However, I’m thrilled to be one of the winners and I’ll be happy with whatever I get. And as soon as I get my prize I’ll take pictures and show it off. I’ll also do a write up about the shop my prize comes from as at this point I don’t even know that. I don’t care, I just know that I get to look at my daughter when she gets home and tell her that her mama can now run around the house and yell:

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER (It’s a little inside joke between her and I)

Friday Follow Blog Hop

Christine — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:38:28 +0000

I’ve spent the past 3 or 4 years working in the blogging industry. Not the “blog for fun” game, but the “blogging for dollars” one. And I have learned a thing or two about making money from my blogs. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that it’s totally boring. But, the real trick is getting people to follow your blog. No readers means no dollars. It also means that everything you do is for naught.

Then, I decided screw it, I was going to do my own thing on this site. I didn’t care what happened, didn’t care about PR scores or SEO wordings, keywords, none of it. I figured that if I was going to spend all my time blogging, I’d blog about something I enjoyed, or that totally burned my backside. Then, I found the wonderful world of giveaways and contests. Well, ok, that’s not exactly true. I’d already found them, but finding my way back to them gave me a whole new inspiration to achieve.

I’ve had a ball the past few weeks finding new giveaway and contest blogs. I’ve listed most of them on my other blog, ChristineSenter.com. But, I thought I’d go ahead and list a few here. I love this blog, and it was originally supposed to be a review blog. But, I tried so hard to make it SEO precise and perfect that I lost interest. I’m so glad I came back to it. Especially now.

As I’ve been finding a few of these giveaway blogs, I’ve noticed a cute little button on some of them. It linked to a blog hop called Friday Follow. I wasn’t sure it was something I wanted to get in on, but today I changed my mind and said what they heck. Maybe it’s because everyone else in my house is gone and the quiet gave me the nerve, or maybe it’s because I’m a social creature and wanted to be part of something bigger than myself. Oh who am I kidding, I crave attention and that’s why I did it. LOL

Now for the kicker. I hadn’t even posted the link to my blog for a full 5 minutes when I had my first follower. Thanks Katrina for making me see that I’d made the right choice. I may not get anymore followers, but you totally made my day.

So, how does it work you ask??? I’m glad you did. Here’s how it goes. First of all, you check out the list of other bloggers on the McLinky list. Next, follow the first three blogs on the list as they’re the sweethearts who put this thing on. Nice ladies, the whole lot of ‘em. Then add your link to the list and see how many others follow your site. Follow a few others on the list as it really does something for the mind to know that someone out there is following you. And not in a creepy bad way like at the mall or something. It’s a good feeling. However, there are more than 400 links on the list, so take your time and really check out the blogs.

There are a lot of people in the SEO industry that will say this isn’t the right way to gain followers. I say, um, well just imagine me giving those people the raspberries (or the bird). Anytime you can become part of a group, go for it. And for any mommy bloggers out there reading this, this is a great opportunity for you. It’s a way to network, find new ideas, and you might even make some new friends.

The Not-So-Funny Side Of Spam

Christine — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:41:00 +0000

In my previous post, I discussed the funnier side to comment spam. This time, I’d like to discuss the not-so-funny side of spam comments. The kind that make me want to slap the taste out of someone’s mouth. I’m usually a pretty laid back kinda gal, but there are some things in this world that just piss me off. One of those things are people who think they’re slick, when they’re actually just sneaky.

As I said in my last post, I always check the spam comments on my writer’s site. I had gotten a notice in my email that I had a real comment over there, so I had to go check it out. And true enough, it sounded like a real comment sent from an actual writer who had started their own site. Problem was with the post the comment was linked with. Don’t tell me that “you and your wife found this site both informative and deserves mentioning elsewhere”, especially when the post you’ve left the comment on has to do with writing ideas for the month of December. Would have made sense 2 months ago, but not in February.

So, I checked out my spam folder and found the exact same comment listed 7 times. Word for word, all from the same website, but all different names and addresses. Oddly enough, they all came from the same ISP address. Wow, that’s just fricking amazing. I know I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but come on. I’m not that fricking stupid. And yes, this pissed me off. Each of those comments was linked to a different post all around my site. Was almost like saying, if I work at it, maybe I can get at least one of them to go through. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I decided to go check out the site and see if it might be worth a shout out. Then I decided screw it, I wasn’t giving this person the satisfaction. What really upset me was the sneakiness about it. You’ll notice that I’ve not mentioned the name of the site, and I’m not going to either. Even without a link to the site, I’d still be giving this person free advertising, and I’m not going to do that.

Normally, it wouldn’t bother me a bit to help out a fellow writer. I’d be more than happy to check out a website and tell the rest of the world about it. But, because of the way this person went about it, I’m not going to help. Piss on ‘em. If you want my help, hey, just ask. But don’t try to sneak in through the back door and make a name for yourself through me. I’ll throw you out in a heartbeat.

Maybe I shouldn’t take this so personal, but I am really upset by this. Yes, the writing industry is a tough niche and it’s full of competition. Getting your foot in the door isn’t easy, and unless you’re associated with the right people, you might never get noticed. And more than that, I’m not exactly the most well-known member of the online writing community. But, I have built up quite a little following at my writer’s site and I don’t want a bunch of crappy comments killing that for me.

So, anyone out there actually reading this, if you have a writing related website and would like for me to check it out, just ask. I’ll be more than happy to look at your site give it a little free publicity. I can’t promise you’ll end up a giant in the writing industry, or that you’ll even find a way to earn money writing. The only thing I can promise is that you won’t end up a long-ass rant on this site.

The Funny Side of Spam

Christine — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:16:01 +0000

I hate spam as much as the next person. No, not that crap our grandmothers tried to pass off as meat, (I hate that too, but that’s a different post). I’m talking about those stupid emails and blog comments that people send out in an attempt to get people to buy their crap. Now this post isn’t about the email spam, it’s about the stupid BS that people try to pass off as real comments on my blogs.

I have 5 different blogs, but my writing prompt blog gets about 25 to 30 spam comments a day. And I’m just weird enough that I actually go in and read them before I tell Akismet (or as I like to call it, Ass Kiss Met) to kick em out. So, this post is dedicated to the dorks, morons, and idiots who actually think that I’m going to fall for their BS and let their spam comments to get through.

The truth of the matter is that most of them crack me up. For instance, when I get 5 comments in a row that all say the exact same thing, and from 5 different email addresses, do you really think I’m gonna see that as real? Not a chance, my friend.

Then there are the comments that say things like, “I’m so glad I found your insightful article while searching for this issue in Google”. Then I look to see which post the comment is linked to and it’s posted to go to my site disclaimer, or worse, my contact page. Excuse me, what issue were you looking for?????

But, my all time favorite spam comments from my writing prompt site have to be the ones that say things like, “I left a comment once before but it must have been filtered into your spam file”. Duh!!!!!! Or the comments that say “I respect your opinion on this matter but think you should take the time to look at all sides of the issue”. That one really cracked me up when I found out it was set to go with a post about October holidays. Um, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that posting a list of International holidays would be such a problem for someone who wanted to get their crap posted on my site. LOL

I know there’s no real way to keep from getting stupid spam comments on any of my blogs. So, rather than get all freaked out, I’ll just keep reading them and laughing at them, right before I hit the delete button.

Writing For Young And Old

Christine — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:29:45 +0000

Is it just me getting old, or all the up and coming writers out there a really dark breed? I remember wanting to be a writer so bad when I was younger that I’d write just about anything and let just about anyone read it. That’s not to say any of it was good, but I had a dream and I would try anything I could to see it come to pass. Now, I see all these young writers making a name for themselves in some really gruesome ways. No, I don’t mean they’re doing gruesome things, but the things they’re writing is kind of disturbing.

Ok, maybe it’s because I’m at an age now where every time I land a new writing client, I feel like a million bucks. “What, you want me to write about tree bark toilet paper? Sure, no sweat. Been writing about it all my life”. I know I’ve never written about it before, but I still have to make my clients look and sound like genius’s. That’s the life of a ghost writer. But I’m thrilled to be writing anything. So I’m not writing the great American novel. Yes, I tried but I have these strange beings in my house who seem to think they have to eat everyday AND wear clean clothes. Man!!!

I like to rummage through the various sites for writers all across the Internet. Most writers forums are basically like walking into a bookstore full of those uppity-ups that think their smarter than you because they use big words. Hey buddy, read my lips, unless you’re making a million bucks telling everyone else what they’re doing wrong, shut the hell up. I have no patients for people who think their better than everyone else, especially when they’re 20 years younger than I am. No, I didn’t go to Harvard or Yale, but I pushed two living, breathing human beings out of my body and I did it without drugs. I wanted drugs, but that’s a different story.

I guess I’m just getting old. I hate getting old, but at the same time I’m starting to see some advantages to it. I now understand all those weird sayings that used to come out of my father’s mouth. I’m finally at an age where I can look forward to my children moving out on their own, and actually enjoy the idea. I’m almost old enough to qualify for life insurance without a medical exam, and I can finally tell my mother to quit complaining because “I have the same problem and bitching don’t help”.

I guess my problem isn’t with the pieces that these young writers are putting out there, I have an issue with the way they do it. I never thought I’d be the “old chic” sitting in the back of the room wondering why the hell I came to this show. I always imagined myself the young, hip chic who knew it all. Well, I finally do know it all. Too bad I lost all the damn questions.