I’ve been continually told that my online friends are not real friends. They are just on the computer, ‘in that box’, and you don’t even know if that’s what they really look like. ‘Marianna’ there could be a 400lb old skeevy man. You don’t even see those people in real life, people that you don’t see in real life cannot be your real friends. Hmm…if that’s the argument, then would most of my cousins – whom I rarely see since we’ve all grown up, maybe not be real cousins? What about my brother, David – who is a source of support and encouragement – solely by phone – he’s not my real brother, either? See, the thing is – we’re in a new age. Hello? The digital age. This is a whole new world and it’s just about time some people who are living in caves come on out and feel the sunshine on their faces!

I have a ‘new friend’ – a new online friend – who lives in Australia. She likes me. I like her. We’re both big into early childhood education. And that lovely fake friend of mine (who I’m pretty sure is not a 400lb old man!) made my life sweeter. And when I say sweeter – I do mean sweeter!!

It all started from a Twitter conversation one day. See, when most of us from Lynn Terry’s Elite Brainstorming Forum are getting on in the morning, Jen, my sweet new Australian ‘fake’ friend, is getting her kids ready to go to bed. So this one day she tweeted that she was fixing a warm cup of Milo for her kids before bed. I responded to her asking her what Milo was. Another lady from our group, who happens to live in Atlanta, expressed shock that I live in the south and didn’t know what Milo was. She was referencing Milo’s Tea. Blech. I can’t stand tea.

And as it turned out, she was wrong. Oooh, Anita – you got told! (As my kids would say! LOL!) Jen came back and told us that it was a chocolate drink. That sounds a whole heck of a lot yummier to me than tea!!! And as the conversation went on, she offered to send me some! From Australia? Are you serious? Sure! She said she’d just pick me up next time she went to the market. (I think that’s how she said it – market. I like that!) A few days later, she said she was going to the market and was there any other Australian treat I’d like to try? The only other Australian grocery item I’d ever heard of was Tim Tams. At one of Frank Kern’s seminars, someone had brought him some. So she said that she would get me some of those, too! Wow! Is this fake girl nice, or what??

It was so cool, because, we’d forgotten to get the mail for a few days – and on Thanksgiving after everyone had gone home and we were hanging out with my mom, who was visiting – we went outside wandering around with the dog. And I decided to check the mailbox. And there inside was a lovely package!!! I’d completely forgotten all about it – it was such an awesome surprise!! We took it inside and tore it open and proceeded to enjoy the uber yumminess that is pictured above! The Honeycomb flavored ones were my favorite – YUMMMMM!!!

And the thing that started it all – the Milo. That is some good stuff, ya’ll! I really like it. I mix it in my Vanilla Silk and it is such a nice, filling treat for the early evening. It’s great, because, it’s sweet, but, not overly sweet – and I love the grittiness of the malt. Sometimes I do put it in my coffee – which is pretty good, too – but, then you don’t get the grittiness. I’ve been trying to eat healthy again so I can get back to losing weight and I am not really much of a dinner person, so Milo works out perfectly as kind of my main course for dinner. I will eat a little something or other with it, but, the Milo lets me get that ‘fed’ feeling. And just like I’m sure Jen’s kids like, it’s a nice, cozy treat for the end of the day!

Now let me show you this ‘faker’ girl, Jen:

Isn’t she pretty? And I’m pretty darn sure that’s really her, because, last time I checked, 400lb old men can’t have babies – and she’s got three of them! Hahaha!

And she’s not just pretty, either! She is super dang smart! A little too smart for her own good! Grumble, grumble, grumble! (Be QUIET, Jealousy!!! Shhh!!!) Oh yeah, ok – she’s just really smart. See, she started working online less than a year ago – and she’s already generating lots and lots of moolah. Enough to quit her j.o.b. job. Wow – that’s impressive! I just listened to a podcast interview of her from Kelly McCausey and it was so funny how Kelly told her that some of us out there listening might be jealous and a little mad at her! LOL! “You mean you learned something – and then you went and did it???” That was so funny! You can listen to the interview here, at WAHM Talk Radio.

And you can see all of Jen’s smarts in action right here ====> PPC Mom – Affiliate and Internet Marketing Leadership

Thank you so much, Jen, for the goodies – that was awesomely sweet of you!

Several days ago, my daughter was complaining of an earache. Her complaining soon escalated to crying and I didn’t have any idea what to do for her – we haven’t really had that many ear aches around here. They may get slight ear infections with their illnesses, the doc puts them on antibiotics and we’re done with it. As far as ear aches that are just so annoying you can’t see straight – we just haven’t dealt with a lot of that. The other night that was exactly what we were dealing with.

I was in the middle of fixing dinner and we had something else going on after that – some kind of marching band thing? I can’t remember. And Mark wasn’t home – I called him and told him I thought we needed to go to the clinic. He said he’d call me back. So then I get on the phone with the clinic to make sure they are still open -you know, the doc-in-a-box thing. And of course – they were not. Endless ringing…
Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve been around this ol’ interwebby very long, you’ve no doubt heard the term ’sticky’ as it pertains to websites. Basically, it means, are you gonna click in here to Hippie Spelunker, have a one and a half second glance and book? Or are you going to hang around, reading posts, clicking here and there, checking out all that this Spelunking Hippie has to offer?

And if you’ve been listening to me in the last six or so months, you’ve no doubt heard the name John Pozadzides, or better yet, One Man’s Blog. I love it over there! I just love it! You never know what will be happening over there from day to day. Will it be informative? Will it be entertaining? Will we all rally around a cause, or against an injustice? Will we learn how to protect our computers? Will we read about icky and oh-so-creepy handsoap? You just never know, and that is part of what makes me keep going back every day! And that doesn’t even begin to mention how much I actually learn over there from John and his commenters!

But let’s get back to that concept of stickiness, though, shall we? John has not only created the stickiest website in the history of this here ol’ interweb, but, he’s created a Mighty Legion of Bubble Geeks! Now that’s an accomplishment! There are quite a few of us that have spent way too many hours over there playing the Bubble Shooter game! And this morning, while my rather grumpy children readied themselves for school, I casually sat and annihilated bubbles. And look what happened!! I joined the ranks of the Mighty Bubble Board Clearers!!  That’s right, folks – I cleared the board!

Given that it was one of those ‘grumpy kid mornings’ – no one seemed excited for me….huh?! What nerve! Do they even know how hard I’ve been working for this? And yet, I get not one, ‘Way to go, Mom’, not even a ‘Cool, Mom’. Insolent children. Hrmph.

I kick ass. They know it. We all know it. It’s ok.

And it came from none other than a Punkymom! I love my Punkymoms! They rock so hard they roll! (Thanks for that one, Kasie! I even told the oh-so-cool fourteen year old that last night, when he was professing my uncoolness – I said, “Kid – I rock so hard I roll!” Ha! Sure, he wasn’t impressed – but, I definitely was! Ha!)

Oh yes, Christmas card – right! I got a lovely and wonderful and sweet Christmas card from one of my favoritest Punkymoms yesterday!! She’s my “H-Queen” and she lives in Washington and I just love her! It was so sweet of her to send me a card! (And so early, too! Bitch. Actually, what am I worried about? I quit sending cards…I’m evil, I know. I do send ‘things’ – cards, notes, stickers, doodads – during non-holidays, so maybe I’m not completely evil.)

Now check this out:

Isn’t that just gorgeous? Now wouldn’t that have just made your day, too? It definitely made mine! I think I’ll hang it up over my desk so that I can look at it and smile and get that ushy-gushy-warm-I-love-my-Punkymoms-and-they-love-me feeling all day long!

Thank you so much, “H-Queen” – you ROCK SO HARD YOU ROLL!

Every day I sit down here to work.   You know, like perform functions for which individuals will pay me.  That kind of stuff.  And every day I get so bloody distracted!

The end of the day sneaks up on me, and I swear and mutter – and promise to do better the next day.

It’s kind of like this, it’s kind of like telling me, “Hey Lisa, I want you to go to that party – you know the one where all your favorite people are, whom you dearly love and enjoy – and I want you to work.”

Work?  What?  I can’t work.  I have got emails to answer, message boards to visit, and communities who need my input!  There are people from the east coast to the west, and even some overseas – who are depending upon my particular brand of merriment!  Don’t you know that?

Yeah.

Wonder if I could set up ‘Lisa-locks’ on my computer, instead of child-locks?  Like on one computer, I am free to do as I wish, but, on this other computer, the only access I have is to my blogs and to ChaCha.  Period.

Who would keep me from sneaking onto the other computer, though?

Hmm…