Jan 10 2012

Calling All iPod Touch Owners

LaShawn and I have a problem. Back in October I splurged and bought us each an iPod Touch to replace our still-working but hopelessly outdated iPod Shuffles. Everything was great for the first month or so, but now we’re facing a small problem with LaShawn’s ipod.

At random intervals, all of the apps on her iPod Touch will just stop working. You’ll tap the app icon and the screen will act like it is switching to the app but nothing actually happens. This happens with all of her apps – not just one or two of them. The only way to get the apps to work again is to write down what apps she has, delete all the apps from her iPod, and then re-install all the apps she previously had on her iPod.

I know this can’t be normal because my iPod doesn’t do this. My iPhone sometimes will open an app only for it to close three seconds later, but I can always get the app to stay open after that. But her iPod doesn’t even open the app for a few seconds. Any ideas what might be causing this?

Jan 8 2012

I Just Don’t Get It

I am a fan of several Etsy shops on Facebook. One lady closed her Etsy shop a while back and focused on sales through her own site and offline. That was great, but she missed Etsy and so she re-opened her Etsy shop. Within the first three days she’d gotten her first sale with the new Etsy shop.

I just don’t get how it is that some Etsy shops get sales hand over fist and others just flounder and do nothing. I know some people say it has to do with how much advertising the shops do, but frankly, I’ve gotten better results without advertising as such than I have spending money to advertise my shops. I just don’t understand it. :(

Candlelight Boutique has done a fair bit of business, mostly on eBay but some on Etsy as well. I will say that Candlelight Boutique has been more successful than Eternal Stardust was – in terms of getting sales quickly, but Eternal Stardust still has more sales than Candlelight Boutique does. I’m hoping that changes soon, but I am not sure if it will or not.

Ever open your own business? How did you deal with slow sales?

Jan 2 2012

No More Blogs!

As I am sitting here I am seriously considering creating yet another blog. Yes – another blog. I already have a ton of blogs that I do absolutely nothing or close to nothing with. Some of these include Smoke Nation – which is supposed to be my NASCAR blog – but I never post there. Eternal Stardust Designs’ blog is woefully neglected as is The Bookworm Fairy (my book blog) and Candlelight Boutique’s blog. All three of those blogs are on Blogger, but I like them there, so I don’t think I’m going to move them to WordPress anytime soon. The Blogging Addict gets a post when I remember that it even exists.

Yet here I am considering yet another blog and trying to think of what I could use for a domain name for it. You see, I would like to have a blog dedicated to my weight loss. I am planning a new diet this year along with an exercise program and I would like to have a blog for it. Someplace where I could keep a public food diary. I don’t want to do it on an existing blog – I want the blog to be a fresh start.

But at the same time, my brain is reminding me that I can’t even keep up the blogs I currently have. To be honest, I am planning to give up The Blogging Addict & Smoke Nation once their domains come up for renewal because I just don’t see myself being any better about posting to either blog this year than I was last year. The domains expire in May and July and I don’t see myself renewing them. So that removes two blogs that I don’t use.

I am considering closing down Eternal Stardust Designs, letting the domain go, and just having Candlelight Boutique. Eternal Stardust’s domain expires in June. That way I only have to worry about one business blog because the other business will be no more. But I also don’t want to do that because I do have the baby stuff that I want to still be under Eternal Stardust. Decisions, decisions.

I’m torn. I want a blog to chronicle my weight loss journey and I want it to be separate from my other blogs. But I don’t need another blog. *sigh* I hate these decisions.

Dec 30 2011

My Newest Addiction

My newest addiction is a TV show. I have never been a big watcher of TV. For some reason, watching TV just hasn’t ever been a big deal for me. I can spend hours listening to music – and I do on a daily basis. I can spend hours on the internet – and I do on a daily basis as well. Give me a book to read and I’ll read for hours. Hand a crochet hook or pair of knitting needles and I’ll work on that for hours as well. Heck, give me movies on DVD and I’ll watch two or three in a row. But give me a TV show and I’ll probably watch one episode, tell you it’s pretty good, and give it up after that.

Oh, there have been shows that I’ve gotten into and watched – even some I used to DVR when I worked nights. These included the CSI series, Law & Order: SVU, and NCIS. But my newest addiction? Criminal Minds. I’ve watched precisely 4 episodes (the first 4 of Season 1) and I’m chomping at the bit to watch more of them. We ended up having to find them on YouTube because the DVD I rented through Netflix was messed up – it kept getting stuck during the 2nd and 3rd episodes. Grrrr. I reported the problem and the replacement DVD was sent out today, will be here tomorrow. I sent the messed up one back, but now I don’t need the replacement because we watched the 2nd – 4th episodes on YouTube. :P

I’ve also gotten into Doctor Who via Netflix instant viewing. :/ I watched the first two episodes and now I’m wanting to watch more. I’m not as whiny about it as I am about Criminal Minds though. I can’t wait to watch that show again – but I usually don’t watch anything until I’m getting ready to go to bed. :P Then I put in a DVD or I go to instant viewing on Netflix or I go to YouTube and watch what I want to watch before going to bed. :)

What are your favorite TV shows?

Dec 24 2011

Ben & Jerry’s Might Want To Re-Think That

The other day I was bumming around in Hy-Vee trying to get to the Redbox machine and not succeeding very well. I decided to wander around a bit and ended up in the ice cream aisle. I perused the ice cream selection and saw an ice cream flavor that I just had to try – Red Velvet Cake. I know that ice cream is not a healthy food choice but 1) it was Red Velvet Cake flavored and 2) today is my birthday, so I can have whatever I want! :P

I didn’t get the ice cream at Hy-Vee because they wanted over $4 for a single pint, and we all eat different flavors. So last night (the 23rd) we went to Walmart after doing some other stuff and looked for my Red Velvet Cake ice cream. Now mind you, I am a Red Velvet cake snob. Seriously. Red Velvet cake without cream cheese frosting? Forget it. I will complain about it. Red Velvet cake with vanilla frosting to which a touch of cream cheese has been added to masquerade as cream cheese frosting? Even worse. Dry or flavorless cake? Oh heck no!

So when I took a bite of this ice cream and tasted… *strawberry* as the overwhelming note, I was surprised. Now if you know Red Velvet cake, you know it’s a *chocolate* cake. The ingredients listed no chocolate at all! No cocoa, no chocolate, nothing! Wait – what? A Red Velvet cake flavored ice cream without chocolate? Um, no.

The cream cheese frosting swirl couldn’t be tasted, the Red Velvet cake chunks were dry and flavorless (probably from being frozen), and the Red Velvet cake batter flavored ice cream tasted like strawberry ice cream. Needless to say I was not thrilled. I ate the stuff, but only because I paid almost $4 for it so I was not going to waste it.

I will say this – Ben & Jerry’s needs to re-think their Red Velvet Cake flavored ice cream and make it more authentic. I can honestly say I won’t be buying that crap again!