Sunday 4 March 2012

Pinterest and More

Wow! Where does the time go? It has been a quick three weeks!

As many of you know, I am an active member of HubPages. I read an article a few days ago by a fellow Hubber regarding working from home and not putting "all your eggs in one basket". I agree with this strategy completely, which is why I have my "eggs" scattered about. It is important in this day and age to have multiple streams of income, especially when depending on the internet for your daily bread.

Working from home does have its benefits. As I increase my exposure on the web and continue to write about homemaking and life in general, I see so many opportunities to increase my knowledge and my income. I have recently been introduced to the benefits of Pinterest, another social networking site. It is a bit different than Facebook and Twitter in the way it shares what members are talking about. It is very much like a huge bulletin board, with all the categories and pictures. I encourage you to join if you haven't yet as there are so many things related to cooking, crafts, home decorating - and the list goes on. I have gotten some neat ideas from what others have pinned.

One thing I was very interested in was the Baked Cinnamon Breakfast Bites. Instead of following the dough recipe I used my breadmaker to make the dough. I spread margarine, brown sugar and cinnamon on the bottom of the pan, then rolled the little balls in a brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and placed them in a glass 9X13 pan. I then sprinkled a bit of the mixture over top and baked them for 25 minutes in a 350F oven. I was able to fit 35 balls in my pan; they were touching but not completely squished together. How many you put in your pan depends on whether you want them baking together. I had a nice pan of Cinnamon Pull Aparts when they were finished; the only bad thing was they were sooo good! I had a dozen eaten before they were even cool.

I am anxious to try (and most likely modify) more recipes I have pinned. One that will definitely be on my list is the Hedgehog cake. My daughter occasionally asks if she can get a hedgehog, and the answer is always "no". I am thinking for her 16th birthday it will be a "yes"; and I will only have to clean up after it once.

As I continue to heal from a dislocated shoulder I realize how I took so many things for granted. Losing most of the use of my right arm for several weeks has given me a different perspective on life in general. We often take for granted things we can easily do - until we cannot do them. Something as simple as brushing my hair with my right hand has been a challenge in itself. I had to adapt to using my left hand for almost everything the first week. One of the hardest things for me was to re-program my brain when it came to using the mouse on the computer. I can now completely sympathize with stroke victims; the only difference is my injury will take a lot less time to heal than many stroke victims. I am in week six now, and I still am having trouble with many tasks such eating and brushing my hair. Putting my hair in a ponytail is still a job I give to either my boyfriend or one of my kids. If they aren't home when I do my hair, I usually end up with an off-center ponytail or braid.

In my down time of doing a lot of the physical stuff that goes with looking after a household I was able to get my Author/Freelancer website up and running. I am very interested in pursuing my career as a writer in addition to my career as a homemaker. I believe I have found a way to combine the two and look forward to continuing to provide you, my reader with fun and informative articles. I have integrated a forum on my author/Freelancer site, and will be doing the same for my Homemaker Helper site which is currently under construction. It is now to the point where I am able to provide more services than a blog alone can accommodate. I will also be integrating a forum on that site as well, which I am hopeful you will take advantage of. I will post links as soon as I have it published.

The rest of my Sunday is going to be spent getting ready for our trip to the Brier in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It will be a fun and interesting event for me, as I have never gone to it before. We have been watching it on television so far, but it will be a lot of fun to actually be there.

I will most likely not be posting until after my return. Have a great week everyone!

Diane