Still not so hilarious

For someone who has a hard time shutting up in real life, sitting here trying to come up with something to say has been amazingly difficult.  It absolutely does not help that as I find other bloggers and look at what they have accomplished, I realize that I may have a fundamental problem.  Instead of going online and learning all of these tools in an effort to focus on career development, I have been opened up to all sorts of possibilities that I hadn’t expected and are totally distracting me from my original goal. 

This isn’t a new thing for me.  I can pinball from one project or task while never actually finishing anything.  I am always busy, but seldom do I complete anything. I had been making some headway on this.  I did finish my hand knit Zombie Sock Monkey (without a pattern, thank you very much), but that was something I started prior to this blog / Facebook / Etsy / Twitter / LinkedIn project.  Now, I find myself following a great blog Carmenandginger that feeds into my love of all things second hand.  Not only do I spend way too much time reading her blog, it also makes me want to run off to the nearest flea marker.  Unfortunately, my love for old stuff got me to the place where I needed to start an Etsy store (SockMonkeysAndBacon) to get rid of my stash.  Can you see my problem here? 

I have found that there is a whole world of food bloggers out there who are just waiting to give me one more chocolate cupcake recipe. To that end, might I suggest Evilshenanigans and the Chocolate Italian Wedding Cupcakes with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting?  I just made them yesterday to rave reviews.  Of course both batches of Quick Sour Cream Cinnamon Rolls that I made from this blog were a hit with the whole family too.  I can usually satisfy myself by dumping online recipes into my ever-growing stash, but this blog actually gets me to move into the kitchen and bake.  That is double distraction and frankly I’d be better off learning how to grow vegetables or make salads, if you catch my drift. 

On the plus side, I am hearing things from my kids (age 19 and 23) that I never expected to hear.  My one daughter told me via facebook about my twitter posts that “I never thought I'd have to tell you this, but you use hash-tags too much.” and a recent status posted by my other daughter on facebook about a recent text to her, "'If you were following me on twitter, you'd have found out sooner.' My mother is getting OUT OF CONTROL."  Hey, I have heard worse constructive criticism. Either one is better than being told that you have sprouted some new facial hair or that you are using way too much self tanner.

I guess that for now, I will be grateful for the new ways that I am learning to connect, and I will probably allow myself a little more time to play, but ultimately I will need to either focus on my original goals, or reassess the whole purpose of blogging. 

If you have any ideas, or if you want to tell me about your adventures, I’d love to hear them.

The Butcher

Two weeks in…

This is only my third post in two weeks and obviously this is not going smoothly.  You can just thank me now for all the pompous crap I’ve deleted.  In no particular order, this is what I’ve learned so far.

1. Blogging is hard.  I feel like I now have a perpetual yet undefined homework assignment hanging over my head. 
2. Twitter is really, really fun and useful.  For now I am using it to keep track of random thoughts and observations in much the same way I might use a sketch pad or notebook.  Please feel free to follow me @ChristineAtWFOH
3. A good way to get people to your Facebook fan page is to feature something of theirs and tell them.  Sometimes they bring friends and those friends bring a new dynamic.  SockMonkeysAndBacon on Facebook
4. FAQs are your best friend, and full of good tips.  Unfortunately I still don’t use them enough.
5. It is trickier to get people to find you and follow you than it might seem.  Even if something works, you can’t stop trying to find other strategies and communities.

I still haven’t gotten the energy to fully tackle LinkedIn.  My resume is in better shape and I’ve looked up a few folks, but I need to make some time for that.  Don’t even ask about the web page.  It seemed like a good idea, and I have some stuff filed on it, but that may stay more of a collaborative space for the three of us. 

I am still waiting for more comments on this blog, so if you have anything to say – even just hello – please do so. Thanks to those who have bothered to join and/or comment.  It is way more fun with you on board.

PS The last post about graphics could have used an introduction.  It was a reference to some of the frustrations common to my last job in a graphics office.  I guess good structure will help in the future.  Thanks for your patience.

The Butcher