So I've been stuggling with my Etsy account this past month, and it's starting to discourage me.  I don't know why I am getting so discouraged so quickly - I guess because December was such an amazing month for sales (I guess with Christmas and everything).  All these thoughts have been going through my head trying to come up with new and creative ways to get my business name out there.  Then I thought, why not ask you guys?  You guys have answers for everything else, so I'm sure I'll get something good from you all. :)  Looking forward to hearing any ideas you might have. <3  Thanks in advance.

 

And btw, I realize I have some comments to catch up on - sorry about that - I will get to them soon, I promise!!

Hey, i havnt been on here in a while....but i have a kinda huge dilema that i need some outside opinions on.  So i was in a chat room about a month ago and i was there juse because i was bored.  Well instead i found my first love and now i am absolutely in love with this i guy i met.  He is three years older than me and he live in New York while i live in Indiana...but i truly love him.  He has seen pics of me and i have seen pics of him and i no he's not some internet creeper but my best friend cant seem to belive that.  I just dont know wat to do because i feel like he is a big part of my life now but i cant talk to my best friend about him.  I also wont be able to see him for three more years.  He is 18 and i am 15....he makes me soooo happy and ive had a rough life and still do...if u wanna no more just ask.   But im still confused if it wud be better to try and get out of this now while i still can....even tho i think its too late to turn back....or if i shud stick with it and see where things go.  Please help me if u can!!

My husband and I were discussing a bit the other day about how many friends we don't have anymore.  Everyone knows that once you get out of high school, you drift apart - people expect that.  Our problem is that we aren't much for partying - we don't drink, and I don't like to be around people that are drinking.  I don't mind the fact that our friends drink - IF they do it responsibly - as long as they don't bring it around us.  But we've had a lot of friends that have said "oh - I'll never drink" - and what did they do as soon as they got out of high school?  Turned around and not only drank casually, but drank to the point where they don't have control over their selves anymore.  That just sort of irritates me - if you say you're not going to do something and you make that promise to yourself, then you should keep it.  It seems like the people that I've seen get into it that have said they weren't going to are the people who are only doing it so that they "fit in" with the crowd - which is even more irritating.  But anyway, I don't want to turn this into a rant - that wasn't my idea here.

The point is, after being sort of disappointed at the fact that we only have a few friends these days, I realized how stupid I was.  The friends we DO still have contact with are some of the most amazing people in the world.  Who else would I need?  I think the hard part about it is the fact that some of them went onto college or moved away, so we only see them a few times a year it seems. :(  I've always seemed out of the crowd when I hung out with "the girls" growing up - but when I was in middle school especially, I was so ridiculously shy - I couldn't even bring myself to talk to the guys.  When I got to high school, specifically my sophomore year probably, I came a little more out of my shell and was able to communicate better with some of the guys.  I found that I'm much better at communicating with guys then I am with girls.  I find girls to be too catty and whiny.  I'm not saying I don't have any friends that are girls, but the majority of the ones that I do have are a lot more distant then the guy friends that I have.  I am a million times better at being myself around the guys then I am around the girls.  

This leads me to the "Five Guys" I have in my life.  These are the guys that I either grew up with in high school or met after high school.  

Curtis - Of course, the number one man in my life is obviously my husband. <3 I would be nothing without my other half.  This amazing guy saved me from the darkest part of my life.  He stayed with me through the countless nights of crying in his shoulder, to telling him that I point blank didn't trust him in the beginning of our relationship.  He brought me out of that dark hole that I was in, and the years after have been amazing.  On January 12th, we will have been together for four years.  We've been married for a little over a year now.  He is honestly my best friend and the only person (okay, I lie.. my Mother also) I can trust with my entire heart.  

Tim - This guy was the best man in our wedding.. for obvious reasons.  He has been nothing but a wonderful friend since I've met him. He is currently living in New York trying to fulfill his music career (he is an amazing drummer).  I'm not going to lie, I often wonder what the heck his life consists of up there because he doesn't talk too much about it whenever he is with us.  I honestly don't think I know who any of his friends are besides maybe a few that went to high school with us.  But none the less - it is never a dull moment when we get together with Tim - we have a good time every time we see him.  He lived down here for a few months or so after he had already lived up in NY once - and Curtis and I were both thrilled when he moved back home - but he has since moved back up.  I hate the fact that he lives so far away.  I just really wish he could be here at home.

Aaron - This is who I consider to be my "big brother" almost.  I've known Aaron for a long time.  He was also the groomsman in our wedding. We met in high school my .. freshman?.. year I think.  I never run out of things to talk about when I'm with him.  He is currently in college upstate - which again, really sucks because I hate the fact that I can't see him all the time.  I'm happy to know that he is going to college to do what he wants to do though - I just hope when he finishes college he will be back in the area.  

Steve -  This guy can ALWAYS make me crack up laughing.  He is all about having a good time all of the time.  Curtis has known him for a long time, but I didn't REALLY start talking to him until after Curtis and I were already married.  He's always a blast to hang out with - and he's always been a huge help whenever we've needed him for anything.  He's sort of the "player" out of my group of guys - but it always cracks me up to hear his crazy stories about all his girls and such.  Another thing that I really like about Steve is that he's not afraid to show who he really is.. if you don't like it, then oh well.  He doesn't care.

Brandon - I met this guy through a friend that Curtis and I hung out with all of the time when we first started dating.  We instantly clicked and the three of us were always together.  Most of the time we just drove around the town, but for some reason it was still always a blast.  We have since grown a part and hardly ever see each other anymore, which is really depressing.  I think about the old days a lot and wish we still had time to just drive around without any cares.  I still consider him to be one of my best friends because I really do think that if we had the time we used to, we could still be really close.  Maybe someday.

Some people out there, surprisingly in the liberal side of the media, have said that I am a new type of cultural war adversary. The first time I saw this was in mid 2009.

I understand that somebody from a religious fundamentalist point of view may see me that way, but why a liberal? Because of my own mainly culture-based (rather than politics-based) movement to usher in a new era of more stable families, apparently. They did not like the fact that I wanted to support the idea of 'Till death do us part' becoming a literal contract for life once again.

Look, everybody can believe in different things, and if you are a liberal you should allow that. Obviously, I think they should see me as a fellow traveler in the movement to end racism and homophobia, rather than focus on my other beliefs which do not have anything to do with this agenda and belong in a totally different sphere than the political cultural war itself.

Eh, honestly - I really don't know what to say as far as 2009 goes.  I always write something in here to try to summarize up my year, but for some reason, I'm not really feeling it at this point.  Writers block? I don't know.  I'll try to go with it anyway.

I believe 2009 was probably the fastest year I've had in a long time... maybe even ever.  It had it's up and downs - just like any year does.  I lost some family members whom I wish were still here with us, but at the same time - happy for them because I know they are in a greater place at this point.  Each one was suffering and/or unhappy - and I know that they are now finally at peace and at rest.  I think about them each and every day knowing that, which helps a lot.  I saw some marriages and relationships come together, as well as some fall apart.  I've had some of my prayers answered, and some that haven't yet been answered. I believe I've come closer to my faith then I could honestly have said last year.  I trust in God for everything - and it has made my life so much easier and so much less stressful.  

I shared my first wedding anniversary this past year.  I feel our marriage has been strengthened enormously also.  This house has been a true test to that.  Between all the construction, we don't have the time we used to have to just chill out and be together.  I see how much other couples take advantage of the time that they have together - you don't realize how much time you've got with your significant other until that time is taken away from you.  We are making it through though - and I know 2010 will be bringing much needed time for us to spend together since the house is now nearing the point where it is at least livable for the most part..  :)

We adopted a second baby into the family - our little kitty ashes.  She's sitting on my lap as I type.  She can certainly be a handful, but I think we're both glad to have her in the family anyway.  Smokey appreciates it, I think.  I don't know how much he did at first, but I don't think he would be too happy if she was taken away now.

I opened my etsy store this past year.. the end of march, I believe.  I had a goal set to make 100 sales by the end of the year, and instead made 131.  I feel very blessed. :)  I also did my first craft show and had an amazing outcome.  I did the second one not too long after.  I hopefully plan to do many more in 2010.  

I got the job that I had been hoping for for years.  I now work with two wonderful little boys - ages 1 and 2 - three days a week.  Only working 3 days a week gives me much more time for my arts and crafts.  They are a fantastic family, and I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to work for them.  The kids will be coming to my house after everything is done here - which will be even more awesome. :)

If we support the idea of multiculturalism, we should all support legitimate lifestyle choices from everyone.

Sounds easy. But intolerance comes up in many forms. From my experience, my 'fellow travellers' in promoting equal rights and tolerance generally do not discriminate against people whose lifestyles are different from the mainstream. Yet not all diversity is celebrated still. For example, in the very circles that claim to be tolerant, I have still experienced discrimination based on my lifestyle choices and my beliefs.

I know I probably believe in a lot of different things to what constitutes mainstream, progressive generation Y out there nowadays. I believe in lifelong monogamy and the importance of stable family structures. I believe in the idea of clean living, and that in the longer run at least shunning alcohol, drugs and sex outside of committed relationships is the way to bring peace and sanity to life. Although I believe in tolerance of individuals' right to make their own moral decisions and WILL NOT support criminalisation of abortion, I do still personally believe that abortion is morally problematic in some way at least, and hope to really discourage its occurrence in society by my own efforts, mainly by targeting its root cause, sex outside of committed relationships. Although I believe in the right to terminate one's life without interference from the state, I have severe reservations when that consent is not 100% clear - hence I was on the pro-life side in the Schiavo case in 2005.

If I keep silent about all this, then I don't get any discrimination. But if I don't, I get shouted down almost like I am an alternative version of the religious right itself. But to tell me to shut up because I believe differently - is that fair at all? Obviously, if I can live up to the idea of fighting to let you live your lifestyle even though I don't agree with it and have to say something about it, isn't that good enough?

More dangerously, it sends the wrong message to people that actively pursing clean living lifestyles and being against a culture abortion-on-demand is incompatible with living within the equality and diversity movement. This fuels the recruitment and retention of people within the religious right - simply because they feel safer there. This must change if we are going to have any chance of winning over people from the religious right.

Countless people can claim that their particular lifestyles are given from heaven by their trusted diety, but that also means they are all contradicting one another. The only way forward is to have a fair match.

They say the free market is an effective way of deciding what is useful for commercial production, and which places and resources are best for producing it - because what is popular will survive and become even better, and what is not popular will perish. If we can put our worries about how jobs will be lost etc. making this not entirely workable as the sole basis for our economy, it is actually a valid saying.

Now let's apply this to the lifestyles marketplace, where, no matter what lifestyles are in and what are out, no jobs will be lost. Therefore, the free market should be a very valid tool for determining what is best.

To have a truly free market in terms of lifestyles, people should be free to pursue whatever lifestyle they believe in, as long as it doesn't harm anybody else (I'm not saying that's the only criterion for morality, but it's the basis that allows us to define freedom to the utmost extent to let this fair free market run). Society should not discriminate against anybody and the government's role would be to ensure everybody equally enjoys this freedom without intrusion or pressure to conform otherwise. This should apply regardless of anybody's personal beliefs.

Whilst gay couples fighting for equal marriage right have dominated the headlines for the past few years, in the UK a straight couple is fighting for a civil partnership - which has been denied to them because they are not gay.

Which is equally ridiculous. Equality is the answer to everything.