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.

Holidays

The Summer holidays are now over in the UK, but I have allowed myself a few extra days off from my day job to catch up with things at home.
I have not blogged for the last few weeks as I have been away on a 'frugal' holiday in a friend's caravan for a short while. We have done the same holiday for the last few years, and although it should be saving us money, I always seem to spend a fortune whilst we are there..
At least I can add more stuff to my travel blog now, although posts there have been sadly lacking since we have more or less stopped traveling since we are a family of three and not just a care-free couple any more.. (not that I would swap!).
I need to do a catch up on my financial blog too - judging by that stats supplied by blogger, although this blog gets more visits, my financial affairs blog gets a better ratio of visits compared to number of posts completed - I should therefore, in theory be trying to get more quality posts put on there to drive up traffic.
Online earnings have been quite slow this year, but I am aware that if I could rationalise my approach I could probably boost earnings, it's just a case of whether I can find the time to put the work in, and whether the returns will justify the effort. Nonetheless, the online earnings quest will continue...

Masonry screws

If you have ever done any serious DIY, you will have at some point got frustrated with the fiddly combination of masonry drill, screw and rawl-plug. When you emerge from your store of screws and drills,  usually at least one of the three components is the wrong size. Some years ago, I discovered the genius of masonry screws. The masonry screw needs only a matching masonry drill bit - the double thread ensures that a rawl-plug is not needed. No more drilling and drilling to make the hole a bit bigger so you can force the plug in - no more tightening the screw only to find the plug won't hold - no more driving hard with blistered hands before discovering that the plug was too short..
True DIYers everywhere salute the humble masonry screw, and always have a few hidden away for those awkward tasks.

Catering equipment

In an effort to maximise revenue, my wife has recently begun a business making cakes for local individuals and businesses. Like any business activity, there can be a fine balance between making a profit and making a loss.
As well as the ingredients for the cakes, a calculation of energy used in cooking and distributing the cakes has to be taken into consideration. Other cost considerations are the catering equipment which has to be of a high standard, and associated costs such as website and business card production. Naturally, website costs are low as I have created a website for the business and we also set up an associated Facebook page.
This type of business allows a stay-at-home mother to work in her own environment and still be available to do the 'school-run' and even look after a child when school is out for whatever reason.

The downside of the interactive web...

I am old enough to remember the hype around 'Web 2.0' some years ago when interaction started to creep into websites. The practice of leaving comments on articles and starting conversations crept into our lives and we ended up with the facebook generation that has bought us life lived out on a page...Social media suddenly took flight.
Now, I find Facebook a great way to keep in touch with far-flung friends, but I notice that other people tend to use it as a forum for discussion, which could be positive, but in my experience often results in insulting 'troll-like' behaviour. This is the downside of the interactive web, you give people a voice, and they will abuse it. This is why countries like the UK do NOT have 'free speech' as a right - it's because we understand that some people just shouldn't be allowed to voice their opinions as they don't have the social grace to understand how an inclusive society works. One of the worst offenders that I have seen is Yahoo where they allow users to comment on news - and they do just that. For example, I was just reading an article about recent lottery winners, comments were peppered with petty ill-disguised jealousy, some chose to roundly abuse the winners commenting on their appearance and suggesting that the male of the couple could now get himself a younger wife... No doubt, very funny if you are currently on school holidays and just graduating into long trousers, but of course each comment carries equal weight once it is posted. Added to this is then the opportunity to give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down to each comment - this interactive feature is subject to the same inane activity. One poster remarked 'Fair play to them, I really hope they enjoy it..' within a short time, two people had give a thumbs-down to this pleasant even-handed comment suugesting that there are at least two people reading the comments who hope that the happy couple DON'T enjoy their win.
I would prefer to stay out of these stupid spats, but I'm afraid I did jump in with 'What idiot gives a thumbs down for that?' (I got a thumbs up, but expect worse to follow..).
My feeling is that I know exactly why people do that, it's because we have some incredibly small-minded people out there - the internet makes it worse because the idiots who are too scared to be rude to your face are really brave when you don't have a chance of finding out who they are. I assume that the 'trolls' mask their identities, and if you are going to take part in these discussions, then I recommend that you do the same. By calling them 'trolls' we are lumping them all together, but in reality we are talking about a range of people. Some are ignorant, biggoted people, some are just idiotic nasty kids - both of these look the same on the internet and can be spotted by bad spelling and grammar. Others are sociopaths who have no idea of how to behave or interact with others, some have deep-held but basically flawed beliefs (conspiracy theorists and the like) who just love to bang their drum. Many are probably an amalgamation of the above.
This is the price of Web 2.0, you can't really stop it but I would offer the following guidelines:

• Don't put stuff in your online profiles that might be traceable (email addresses, phone numbers etc..)
• Don't get too embroiled in an argument because it may turn out you are arguing a serious point with a couple of 11-year olds... be prepared to walk away from the discussion if things are going in an unsavoury direction.
• Mark down or report posts that go againt the TOS of the site concerned - blow the whistle on the trolls.
• Be caureful about linking your comments into other social medai sites (loads of places like Yahoo will do this if you are not careful) -