November Update

To be honest, it feels like December already, I'm already making plans for Christmas - have got my daughter's present and the diary is filling up with Christmas commitments...
I usually take a few days off to help out with some school Christmas events, so I need to get that sorted soon, we are also intending to travel to my home town for Christmas, so there is a hotel room that needs booking for Christmas Night (maybe boxing day if I can persuade my wife..)

My 'day job' is still hectic at the moment, so very little opportunity to get much done with websites and blogs and the like. For some reason, I have found myself drifting back towards 'MyLot' recently. It's like a question and answer forum where you can earn a few cents each time you participate. It takes a while to reach the $10 payout, but you can make freinds (and enemies!) doing so...

I am still finding blogging opportunities, and converting cassettes into CD's so will have some extra money for Christmas if I keep working at it... I have always been a great advocate of the idea that 'saving' money is every bit as good as 'making' money, and I have just clinched a great deal for a bike for my daughter from eBay. I was thinking of spending about £120 on a bike, but found a used one better than I could have afforded (if it were new)  for just £30 on eBay from a local seller. The bike is in really great condition too, and has even been recently serviced.

So the preparations for Christmas are coming together, it'll all be over in a few weeks!

where to buy indoor fountains

Now I'll be honest, I didn't think there was room in my humble dwelling for an indoor fountain, however I do know where to buy indoor fountains because I found this one... and discovered that even the most compact of homes can have a fountain and bring tranquility and a peaceful ambiance to even a modestly-sized room.

The perfect gift for someone who loves the outdoors, and needs a little of the outdoors bringing into their home, these indoor fountains come in all shapes and sizes to suit everyone. Ranging from tabletop affairs like this one, up to full floor to ceiling sheets of cascading water, these indoor water features can be subtle shades of Feng Shui or just full-blown bling!

How you are helping Facebook scammers

'How many faces can you see?'

'Like if you see the monkey'

'Type 'jump' and see what happens'

Hands up if you have seen these updates pop up on Facebook and wondered what their game was? Well, I'll tell you.... selling Facebook pages at $200 a pop is what it's all about - if you can come up with one of these a day, you could clear $1000 for a five-day week.

Let's face it, if you think about it, typing 'jump' in a comment is not going to do anything on a Facebook page - if you read the comments, half of the them are from disgruntled people complaining that it didn't work, I have news for you - it works perfectly.

It works perfectly if it is your task to build up likes and comments on a Facebook page, these are Facebook 'currency' making page updates appear higher in news feeds. When the page gets tens of thousands of 'likes' and comments over a few short days, the details of the page are changed and someone buys a ready-made highly-ranking fanpage. By clicking these links, liking and commenting, you spread the net around your friends aiding and abetting cyber-criminals in their quest for easy money.

The worst of it is that, while some of the pictures are funny, such as the bear creeping up on the man.. others are emotive pictures and statuses such as 'like if you want to fight cancer' or a picture of a disabled child, a disfigured person, an injured animal - imploring you to click, comment and 'like', exploiting the picture, and exploiting you the Facebook user.

OK no-one gets hurt, but if you are one of those that complains about unwanted news feeds and invasive Facebook activity, just make sure you are not falling for this scam. If we stop clicking, it stops happening, as simple as that!

Linking in with Twitter

I have started my quest in earnest to properly link in with Twitter, embracing the social phenomenon that many of us just don't 'get'...
My first step was to dust off my old (largely unused) Twitter account and give it an overhaul in the form of a new background in keeping with my new colour schemes, and a new description in my profile. I have linked the account in with a Facebook account and am in the process of signing up to various Twitter directories.
My aim is to twitter a link to a well-written article and see what response is forth-coming. The article will be about something I have noticed about Facebook - that should at least be a subject close to the heart of the twittersphere. I haven't actually decided where to place the article yet, but it will probably be either on this blog or possibly as a Facebook status update - maybe both??
I have about 14 directories to sign up to and am currently about half-way through. I am not sure that I can make a big enough impact straight 'out of the blocks' so to speak, but I have seen great results with other sharing services such diggit etc.. so maybe if I get it right, the traffic will follow.
I am also halfway through an overhaul of Livewyre.NET (all part of the plan) - I have brought about half the content over to a Wordpress platform, and will be looking to have this completed by the end of the month - not only getting all the content across, but re-writing 'tired' articles to make them more punchy and relevant. I only wish I had more time to devote to this - it would be nice to think that I can just sit back when it's all done and watch the traffic build up - but experience tells me that it is not usually THAT easy!

Popcorn!

Popcorn is fun – everyone in the family from the smallest child to your Grandma and Great-Grandpa, knows that popcorn is fun, and nothing is more fun than making your own popcorn at home. The trouble is that making your own popcorn the old fashioned way can be messy, and to be honest the results are not always as great as you anticipated. When that germ of an idea started to form in your head, you were thinking of buckets flowing over with creamy light sweet popcorn, and what you got was tough hard kernels...not sweet enough, not buttery enough. What you and your family need (Christmas IS coming you know..) is your very own 'perfect results every time' professional popcorn popper machine. Light, fluffy, sweet, buttery popcorn while you sit down in front of the TV with the family, or snuggle up in your own private home theater! With your own popcorn, you can even make a TV movie feel like your own private theatre without all the expensive additional equipment. If you are lucky enough to have a room dedicated to movie watching, a popper popcorn is every bit as important as the 7.1 surround sound system, the state-of-the-art Blu-ray player or the high quality speakers. If you want to create a real cinematic atmosphere in your own home, you will be able to wow your friends and family with perfect popcorn to accompany the show whether it be the latest blockbuster, or the premier of your own home movie. There are products available for small kitchens ranging to products for full-blown cinemas, whatever the size of your venue, you can get a popcorn machine that will suit your needs and your pocketbook. If you are considering a popcorn machine for your home or business then Click here for more products.

October 2012

2012 is fast coming to an end, November and December always seem to be really busy months with the build up to Christmas - This year I have been dragged into a couple of projects at the school my daughter attends, I usually do the PA sound for the Christmas plays, and have also committed myself to do sound for the school pantomime too - this is usually a fairly hilarious affair with parents and teachers making fun of themselves and each other.
October was a good month in terms of online income, I had a large cassette to CD project to carry out which brought in nearly £200, about £50 of which had to be re-invested in blank CD's and CD cases. There were a couple of other smaller orders, and a few other revenue streams that yielded a few pounds here and there giving me £162 profit overall. My contextual-adverts earnings are up significantly this month too, not sure why, but not complaining!
I have been really busy getting to grips with Wordpress and finally feel I am making great progress - not enough to switch this blog over, but enough to consider it very seriously for lots of future projects. I have also been extremely busy with my 'day-job' too and have been promised a bonus for all my hard work - all very handy for Christmas, but also need to get that credit-card balance down too...

ceramic beads

Always on the lookout for unusual and beautiful gifts (especially this time of year), I came across some ceramic beads recently. As far as I can see, these could be used either as a gift for the crafter amongst your family and friends, or if you are a little crafty yourself.. as part of a special individual gift for someone important in your life.

Individually crafted gifts show thoughtfulness and are completely unique (unless you are churning them out on an industrial scale).
In these financially austere times, an individual crafted gift indicates how much you think of someone without breaking the bank.

Catching up

Lack of activity on Munny4Hunny over the last few weeks is for two reasons:

1. Have been busy moving my Livewyre.NET web site over to a Wordpress platform - this has meant a complete reorganisation of the entire site which is packed with stuff... I am really pleased with the way it has gone so far - quite challenging, but in a good way. I have had to give some thought to how I want to organise the information in terms of 'categories' and 'tags' - I ahve not had to think in these terms before, so it has been quite a challenge to make 'sense' of this way of categorising information. In addition, the use of both 'pages' and 'posts' has made things both more complicated, and yet easier to handle. I really love the idea of a featured image which can either just be a picture for a snippet of the post, and/or an illustration within the post itself. I am using mostly images from 'dryicons' (great free resource for small images and backgrounds) which has given a kind of uniform feel to the site.
2. The 'busyness' of 'real life' has meant that I have had little spare time to pursue extra-curricular activities - I have worked two 12 hour days this week in order to meet a major deadline. I am hopeful that next week will not be quite so frantic. There is plenty to do, so I won't exactly be taking it easy...

I really want to get this Wordpress project to a state where I can re-launch Livewyre.NET, and am going to set a deadline of the end of November - this will entail getting all of the content from the old site onto the new platform, then editing each page and post to ensure the content is easy to follow and up to date. I have an 'SEO plugin' to help me ensure that the pages will maximised for SEO. The next stage will be then to tie in with twitter and use it to promote some of the content - I'm quite excited about finding out if this will prove a fruitful way of promoting the site.

wrestling singlets

Wrestling is one of those sports that is considered more highly in the US than here in the UK. Over here, the reputation of wrestling as a sport has been spoilt by the TV version of years ago which was little more than a rather physical pantomime. However in the US, wrestling is taken seriously at college level. I believe it is fairly well-documented that Tom Cruise was into wrestling as a youngster, so he probably has a good collection of wrestling singlets. In fact, wrestling is an ancient sport, much-loved by the Greeks, and one of those Olympic sports that has seemlessly transferred from Ancient Greece to the modern Olympic stage.

September 2012

September has been a decent month for me compared to others recently. I took a little over £100 last month, largely due to a contextual adverts company payment (shouldn't mention them, but they payout at £60). I also had over £20 for affiliate payments this month, so the bulk of the months payments were from passive income. I am doing some cassette to CD jobs at this moment which will take me over double last months total already for October, so income has been coming my way lately.

I hope my proposed plans for my website development will drive more passive income my way, but this 'passive' income sometimes needs a lot of frenetic activity to bring it to fruition. The yearly totals are low for  the 'half-way' point in the financial year, but I'm hoping for some increased activity for the remaining half-year.

Wordpress

I have just started 'updating' my main website 'Livewyre.NET' by attempting to put all the content onto a Wordpress platform. So far, it is going OK, I have 'played' with Wordpress before, but this is my biggest WP project to date, and one that I really want to get right. I am finally getting to grips with 'Categories' and 'tags', and although the site is not really a blog, I think this kind of structure will work well.

This is all part of my fresh strategy to harness the power of twitter and see if it can bring traffic and maybe even a bit of income. Also included in this strategy is a bit of 'rebranding' using some of my favourite graphics from the past, and updating them whilst lining them up with the theme I have chosen for the site - I may eventually bring this new branding into Munny4Hunny too...I'm going to be black and blue all over... watch this space!

cushions

We had a window-seat made for our dining room years ago, and we finished it off with some home-made cushions for which we had foam cut to fit the dimensions of the four seats.
We covered the foam with the same fabric that we had on our dining chairs and made frames which fitted onto the seats. More than ten years later, and those window seats still look pretty good, even if I say so myself, and they cost us only the price of the materials.

wine making kits

Anyone who reads this blog will know that frugal living is second nature to me, however I do like a few luxuries and the odd glass of wine is always welcome.
So I have decided that I am going to ask people to buy me wine making kits for Christmas so that I can eat, drink and be merry whilst still being frugal...

I may even start a new blog charting my wine-making progress, the triumphs and disasters in full technicolour.. I like full-bodied wines from the New World regions, but seriously doubt that my home-grown efforts will be able to rival my favourite tipple.

Sparked up by Twitter

I have had twitter accounts for a while but have not really got 'into' Twitter in any meaningful way. This was mainly because I couldn't see how I could use it. However, I am now rediscovering Twitter, trying to connect it with Facebook and planning to use it to drive traffic to websites and blogs that I own.
I feel like I have just started out again, the same way I felt when I started blogging - connected to a community, all doing similar things. I remember well how I started blogging and connected with a few people and felt like part of a community - we all went separate ways, and for me blogging for the last couple of years has been a relatively 'lonely' (not in an emotive sense) pursuit. Interaction has been largely missing, but I can now see how the Twitter community can be used to interact and therefore drive traffic. Traffic is the illusive 'asset' that most bloggers and website builders seek. I am going to dive into Twitter to see if I can use it to recapture my enthusiasm for the social web, and to get some much-needed traffic coming my way.

Custom Jerseys

If you are part of a team of some type you can find custom jerseys here. There are all sorts of clothing available for all types of team activities. You can customize each item with your own team colors, and add accessories such as hats, caps or a sweat shirt for keeping warm.
Some items are available in custom colors, others allow you to add your own custom text, logo or other images. There is an online designer tool that allows you to create your own design before submitting your order. No need to settle for some 'off the shelf' design for your team - now you can have your own custom design printed and delivered to your home or business.

Internet security

Some Do's and Don'ts for internet users everywhere - you may find something on this list that you do, but shouldn't...

• Don’t re-use your email password - if you log into a third party site with your email address and the same password that you use for your emails (ie. your hotmail, gmail, etc..) that third party site has both your email address AND your password...
• Use two-factor passwords when you can  - I keep an 'offline' (ie. a notepad in my office) record of my passwords. I tend to have a list of about three or four different words and about three or four different numbers that I use - but I will still use totally random configurations just to keep things fresh - that's when you need a notebook or pother physical record (as opposed to a spreadsheet which might be accessed on a PC)
• Don’t use the same username everywhere people don’t realise that people can use Google to connect accounts accross all the different networks they visit, and then work out a way in. For instance Facebook can give visitors clues as to pets names childrens names, car type - all things that can give a clue to passwords. Forums will do the same, if you are logged into a Yamaha forum - what's the betting that one of your passwords is a favourite Yamaha model??
• Keeps plug-ins such as Flash and Java up to date as many of them are to guard against vunerabilities
• Be careful about who you friend on Facebook 
• Don’t trust public wi-fi - fine to use it now and again, but just be careful about what might be accessible on your laptop - and even worse, your phone (phones are generally less well-protected than computers)...

Florida beach rentals

Having spent the last few years holidaying within the UK, I am determined that we will get on a plane sometime soon and have a 'proper' holiday. I am quite keen to visit friends in New York, but have to admit that Florida beach rentals look quite attractive too.
Florida is one of those locations that has everything a holiday destination should have including a Disney theme park, Epcot and the famous Universal Studios to name the most prominent ones. These attractions coupled with low costs of property locally means that renting a property can be a realistic alternative to a hotel holiday.

LASIK in Chicago

Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) eye surgery is an area of health care that has boomed in recent years due to innovative techniques and the opening of many new facilities proffering the latest equipment.
The surgery uses a laser or blade to cut a flap in the cornea and re-shape the stroma. The flap is then replaced offering a patient a life free from spectacles or contact lenses.
The cornea is a part of the eye that helps focus light to create an image on the retina in much the same way that the lens of a camera focuses light to create an image on film..

A unique feature of the service offered by Dr. Stuart Sondheimer is his experience in all types of eye surgery - this experience and background means that he has the facilities and skills to offer the most appropriate treatment whether it involves surgery or not. The practice is spread over three sites in Chicago, and services offered include Macular Degeneration treatments, Glaucoma treatments, Cataract treatments and many other vital ophthalmic services. His facility is widely regarded as the most trustworthy lasik in Chicago.

Success rates in terms of percentage of patients having this type of procedure are typically in the high nineties, the procedure is not entirely risk-free which is why patients should seek the advice of a suitably qualified and experienced surgeon before deciding to have the treatment.

Autumn is coming..

Uk weather remains undecided as the summer holidays are well behind us and everybody barring the students are back at the grind-stone. We leave a remarkable summer of Olympics in our wake as we face the mundane challenges of life in the vague hope of an 'Indian Summer' starting in the next few weeks.
The economy as a whole is in back-pedal or treading-water mode with little hope af any dramtic change any time soon. The general concensus is that the summer of sport in the UK has been a great success, and that gives us a positive attitude that we can take into our family and business lives, engendering a sense of satisfaction despite the uncertain economic future.
On-line earnings remain possible but it is getting harder to justify the effort needed to pull in the few dollars that are available. Having said that I have had a good result with my currently favourite affiliate - I often get a few payouts sometimes of around £2 or thereabouts every month or so, but I have just received notification of an impending £20 payout coming my way soon. The only issue I have with this is that the affiliate scheme doesn't have any tracking, so I am not even sure where the clicks are coming from... £20 will be a nice boost to earnings, and with another Adsense payment just around the corner, I will have some decent figures to add to my earnings.
I have just completed my tax return for the year just gone, but suspect that this mught be a 'plateau' year or even a dip year for me in terms of annual earnings.

Stunning Drums

When I was younger I used to play keyboards in a band, but before that I really wanted to be a drummer. Me and my friends would congregate in our school music room at lunch time and found all sorts of wonderful kit including some stunning drums. I would sit at the kit and knock out a rhythm and other friends would play guitar (I think one was a flautist too).
It was only when I offered to pick out the notes on the piano to help tune the guitars, that the others realised I could play piano...(whereas it was failry well established that I couldn't play drums!)
Since then I stuck to the piano, but I still would have loved to have been a drummer.