Sunday morning, October 28, 2007

Hello Folks,
First of all, there are some decisions to make that I am having trouble dealing with. ABC.com has revealed a new Internet revolution for "people that own a website, or want to create one, to earn lots of money with advertising on a website-for the Gray-googlers generation?"

I suppose it could be a good thing, but then it could also be a bad thing. I have tried to maintain an informative website for victim/survivors of domestic violence and abuse, stalking, and learning how to get "one' s life back" after going through the tumultuous emotional roller-coaster of violence and abuse. Adding advertisement links, possibly for other websites for anyone seeking help, could be a good thing, but on the other hand, do I want all the ads. on my website? Hmm. This will have to be researched and considered. Of course I would like to make money. Who doesn't? But then again, at what cost would this step take me? More decisions.

This week was a crazy week. I got a lot done, but much to do. I started yesterday with the "Kilz" paint on the ceiling throughout the house where we had some leaking from the roof. Mainly around the skylights in the kitchen. The roof was never done properly from the manufacturer, so therefore, leaking did occur. Now the whole ceiling needs painted throughout the entire house. I am going to start tackling that project this morning as soon as it becomes light enough to start. My goal is to get it done by the end of this week coming up.

I went to Amazon.com on several occasions. I wanted them to update my book's content and was willing to send them all the information of corrections with better clarity, and flow after I had my first book revised in June of 2006. Well, after receiving numerous emails that they don't know who I am, or the fact that it is a "generated no-response" email, I gave up. So this morning, I uploaded an image of the revised book cover. Hopefully someone who wants to buy my first book, will see that it has been revised and updated and will decided to buy it because so. Isn't it amazing that the large Internet conglomerates do not have phone numbers or actual people available so someone can call them and talk to them?

Please pray for a very dear friend of mine, Vicki. She is suffering so badly and is in so much agonizing pain, constantly. She has been to numerous doctors, and now has had some blood test results come back that are gearing towards, "Lupus." She is to have more blood work done in a couple months to compare with the last blood tests. Why does she have to wait so long as she is so miserable and in so much pain? Do the doctors really care? Then to top it off, her wonderful and faithful dog is not doing well at all and may go at anytime. This too has been a very heavy burden and task she is facing, and this factor is not helping her in the least with her own horrific health issues. So please, pray for both of them. Her husband is a great guy, and helps her with so much as she is unable to perform daily functions at times that leave her weak and in even more pain. She is an awesome lady, and loves and cares for animals. She has rescued countless kittens and other animals and she has such a good-kindhearted-heart!

I had my computer guy add the link to http://www.authornation.com/ on my website. If you go there, type in beckyconrad, (no space), or survivor_beckyconrad, and you can find my new website there. Please visit me there too!
I must get things ready to tackle the painting job.
We may have snow flurries today! Brrr. Not ready for it, but it is inevitable.
Be blessed, be safe, and have a good week. Until next time,
Best regards,
Becky Conrad :)

Sunday morning, October 21, 2007

Hi, Folks,
I had a great time at both book signings this week. The trip to Wheeling, W. Va. was a little long as I took a wrong turn (or actually went straight instead of turning onto the new bridge), but I made it in time. I had the opportunity to speak to many different people in different walks of life at the West Liberty State College. Cheri Aul, the manager, was most helpful and a delight to talk to and to get acquainted with. She is a very nice young lady. She invited me back in February to do a talk at the "Speakeasy" they have on campus. I was supposed to do that on Wednesday, but the roof was leaking, and that was not a good thing so I was in the bookstore.

There was a young gal I talked to at length. She was having a lot of difficulty in her new relationship with her boyfriend. Trusting was the biggest issue as she was a victim of abuse. Ya know, that is a really big issue with women (and men too) that they face in their lives after surviving a relationship of violence and abuse. It takes time. She is seeking counseling, and that is a plus, but she must be patient and give herself time to trust, and hopefully with her new partner in her life, he is understanding and patient as well.

The book signing went very well at Border's in Cuyahoga Falls. I met other authors there (four of us total), and I bought they books they were selling. I handed out a lot of literature on domestic violence and abuse, and in doing so, achieved my goal of educating the public on the subject.

What is a successful book signing anyway? Is it selling and signing a lot of books? (Every author's dream come true.) Or, is it educating the people (if only a few), on the subject you are promoting? As for me, I had a very successful signing on both days!

I was able to procure another book signing at another Border's in Medina, Ohio, November 10, 2007, from 1 -3 p.m. I am excited about this too! I am going to try and get in as many as I can before the bad winter weather is upon us and traveling would be tricky.

It is so hard to believe with the grand weather we have been having that Christmas is not that far away. Amazing how time flies at times.

One of these days, probably when the snow is flying and I won't be leaving the house, I am going to put more pictures on my website from the first book and the second book. Time seems to go so quickly in the course of a day! (I have been up since 4:15 a.m. and it is already 8 a.m. I did my "new writing" on my other website at www.authornation.com this morning, and sent some pictures to the other authors present at Border's yesterday, plus answered some emails, etc., and now I have to get some things done for the CCAPL, and some house cleaning, and pond cleaning.

Hubby was so kind yesterday and made his delicious spaghetti for supper. His dad came down and helped him cut up the wood in the field, and then went down in the woods and dragged out more logs. We have a good supply as of now, but it will go quickly once winter is upon us.

The dogs are enjoying the cooler weather, (not 90 degrees), and are very frisky. They are still stealing green tomatoes and green peppers out of the garden. Hubby will probably mow it all off soon. Fine with me. I still have two baskets of both on the back porch waiting for me to do something with them. I'm not sure what yet. The leaves are coming down now and yet the fall array of colors are painting a fine picture in our woods and just about everywhere. Such a beautiful time of year.

Gotta go for now. Stay safe, be blessed, and learn all you can about domestic violence and abuse. It could save a life of someone you know and love.
Best regards,
Becky :)

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Hi, Folks,
Wow! What a day we (the C.C.A.P.L.) had yesterday for our Bazaar! We raised over $1,000.00 and talked to so many animal lovers. We even had some people become members. Awesome.

It was a lot of work planning and organizing, but we sure did pull off a successful day. The remainder of items left went to the Goodwill Store in Carrollton. The remaining hot dog buns and pop went to the Golden Age Retreat (nursing home) in Carrollton. They were thrilled with the donations.

Regarding my "Comments Box". Since I have eliminated the "Comments box" on my website, the nasty and ridiculous emails have stopped. Now, I ask you, If I am paying for this website, why can't I have a "Comments Box" on it to receive comments from people who have read my book (s) and want to share with me their thoughts? I find it very repulsive, disheartening, and down-right discouraging that there are nasty people out there who abuse such a good thing as the Internet. When will their justice come? It can't be soon enough to suit me.

My computer guy and I are trying to work out something on my website that I can hear from people. I can't spend three hours deleting emails from countries all over, (especially China) with their stupid nasty emails. They just don't get it, do they?

I am going to get the pond filter out of the pond and clean it up and put it away for the winter.
Yesterday morning we did have frost, so I will check the garden too and see if there is anything left to salvage out of it. Then, hubby can mow it off! Our beagles, and our Labrador will be highly upset they can no longer swipe tomatoes and green peppers! Ha!

I am so pleased that I am getting hits on my website at http://www.authornation.com/. (Search for: survivor_beckyconrad). I have been working on it in between stuff, and hopefully will update it even more soon.

For all you animal lover out there, check out the Carroll County Ohio Animal Protection League's website at http://www.freewebs.com/. Maybe you could pass out our website to your friends, neighbors, relatives, who love animals and they could help us out too. I am going to set up our PayPal account by Monday, so anyone wanting to make a donation can do it through PayPal.

Thanks everyone who has visited my website. May you continue to gain valuable information to help someone dealing with, or who has dealt with domestic violence, abuse, or stalking in their lives.

Be safe, and be blessed. It is a grand day to be alive.
Blessings to you.
Becky :)

Tuesday Oct. 9, 2007 please read

Dear readers,

I have had to have the "Comments Box" removed because I have been getting so much junk, porn, and advertisements emails from foreign countries it has been unreal. It has been going on for months, and I cannot stop it coming in. It is a disgusting world that people have nothing else to do with their time but cause others to have anguish, pain, humiliation, and invasion by sending stuff as they do. The evilness of the world is rampant. Yet, I try to look for the goodness, knowing God will take care of those evil persons eventually, but for the time being, it is very frustrating.

If you would want to contact me about my books to let me know what you think of them, well, I'm not sure at this point how you can do it. I might have to get a post office box to accept mail and comments regarding the books that way. Although then I would open myself up for unwanted solicitations in the mail. It is possible to post your comments on Amazon where my books are listed. That would help a lot.

Bear with me for a while until I figure something else out.
Gotta go.
Have a nice day.
Becky

Monday, October 8, 2007

Hi, folks,
Yesterday, when I usually do my blog, I was having a lot of difficulty with my computer. First there was a virus, I took care of that, (RAN FOUR SCANS IN ONE DAY), then my emails/server would not work. I couldn't even reach the server by Internet. I did call them and left them a message, hoping, even though it was Sunday, someone might check the messages in case of trouble. By late afternoon, the problem was resolved. Then, I couldn't do my blog because "blogger" said my email did not exist. Finally got a hold of my computer guy, and he fixed the problem. Sheesh.

We had a good meeting Tuesday night of the CCAPL. My throat was starting to get a little sore and scratchy earlier in the day. I figured it was the hot weather/allergies, etc. Well, by the time I got home from the meeting, I could barely swallow and my throat was so sore. I sprayed it with Chloroseptic spray (that stuff is really good and works fast), took two Advil and went to bed. The next morning I could not talk above a whisper. Laryngitis hit me big time. I have a good chance of getting bronchitis, and possibly pneumonia, so off to the Doctor's I went to get the antibiotics. The Doctor also found fluid in my left ear. I noticed when I swallowed, it hurt on all of that side, but I didn't think about the ear.

Funny thing came up while the Doctor was examining me. She asked me if I ever had my eardrum ruptured. I told her "Yes, from my ex-husband's fist." She said there was scar tissue in the eardrum. I'll be darn. No one has ever said a word about my eardrum in all the times I have been to a doctor. Well, goes to show what was in my first book-was right on.

Well, by Thursday I had a voice back. Wasn't great, but better. Hubby was sick for two weeks with his "First school cold" and I try to avoid him, (no kissing on lips). Then my boss was sick on Monday too, so I got the bug. It was inevitable. Doctor stated I was at the office one year ago for the same thing, minus the fluid in the ear.

Hubby bought a gasoline-powered log splitter a couple weeks ago. Boy is it neat. It sure does a fantastic job of splitting wood. On Saturday, we went to Lowe's and he got an another chain saw. His smaller one was just was giving him lots of trouble and besides, it was old but it did give us a lot of use.

When we got back from Lowe's, we started on the logs in the field out by the woodshed we had dragged up from the woods. Well, that log splitter sure made mincemeat out of those trees. The biggest pieces were about five-six feet in circumference, and just one section, after it was all split, filled the wheelbarrow at least four times.

I was the official "wheelbarrow carrier-wood stacker" for the duration. Hubby said I did a good job of stacking and being a helper. Both our backs were pretty sore. Hubby's still is. He is strong, but those sections of the one big tree were quite an arduous task to maneuver and put on the log splitter. Hubby put it vertically so we didn't have to lift any pieces but snuggled them right up to the splitter. That was really the hard part, wrestling with the big pieces-getting them in position, and doing it over and over until the piece was completely split up. Of course it was 89 degrees, and we were out in the open THE WHOLE TIME. Hubby got a sunburn on his back. I got sunburned on my face (I have to wear a shirt). We drank at least a gallon of water. Hubby says we will wait until cooler weather to haul up more dead trees out of the woods. Fine with me.

I woke up yesterday morning at 1:30 a.m. (This morning it was 2:30 a.m.) Got on the computer, and discovered things were amiss with it, as it was all day long. Made coffee, and by 4 a.m. found the virus. Nasty-bad-evil people out there as you know folks-and one of these days-maybe soon-God will take care of them. Oh, another computer thing happened. I received two notices in emails. First one was from PayPal, said there was a question about my order, and if I clicked on the link for the "Resolution Center", type in my password, voila-there goes my information. I had a bad feeling about it, so I passed it on to my computer guy and he told me it was a scam.

Then later on in the day, another one came through from EBay about an order. I never have purchased anything from EBay so that one went to my computer guy too. BAD-Nasty-people out there. Beware folks. There is another popular one from Citizens Bank. DON'T OPEN IT. It really sounds really legit, but it is "Phishing" to the max. Let your bank call you or write you a letter and send by snail-mail. Even then, call the bank and verify the mail to see if it is legitimate.


In between my cleaning frenzy-(meeting of CCAPL members this morning at 9 a.m.-doing a "mass mailing"), I needed to clean my house. I had not done much but swept and dusted and it needed a major cleaning. So, between the 5 loads of laundry-furniture covers included, and trying to fix my computer-I got it done. I just have a little bit to do this morning before everyone arrives.

Well, hubby will be getting up soon. I'm going to make coffee and get more done before guests arrive.

Be blessed, laugh often, and enjoy your week-oh, and stay safe.
Becky :)
P.S. Had trouble publishing this blog. Error message came up-hasn't done that in a while-said I can't use exclamation points-bummer-they are my favorite-SO I USED CAPS INSTEAD. HA-SO THERE.