“The RoseBouquet”

Today is May 6th - Gra’ma Kroeker is 112 today; I wonder if they celebrate birthdays in Heaven?

I remember May 6th for another reason. Every spring I would be impatient to get the garden done in April already, and Mom would hold me back by saying, “Wait until Gra’ma’s birthday. If the weather is good, I’ll let you start then.”

Well, I cheated a bit last week. It was so-o nice out, and so I sowed some lettuce and spinach in the small corner under the tree and right close to the foot of the back steps. Those plants don’t mind a cool spring, or chilly nights. I hope to have some fresh salad greens in a few weeks!

I need about another 20-30 minute session of digging up the far end of the garden with my spade, and then I intend to plant potatoes. As you can see, I got nearly done yesterday.

I do my garden work in short 20-30 minute spells after meals, so it may take me a couple of weeks to get finished, but I am so eager - I may snitch more time!

My cat-lover subscribers really enjoyed my story of Snowflake last week. I try to space these out a bit, so as not to lose other subs, but I have been gradually introducing her to the idea of going outside. I think a longer photo story will come of this when we are further along, however, this weekend we have made some progress. I’m bursting to share this with you.

The advice I got was to get a halter and leash and train her to know that this always has to be put on to go outside. I sewed one and have for weeks, on nice days, been taking her out the back door. However, Snowflake, curious as anything, would freeze and trembling through and through, and would crouch and sniff and try to take in all the stimuli around her. Then in a few minutes she’d turn and rush inside again.

Last week I picked her up and held her and cooed to her on the back step. Her sides still trembled and her bones rattle with terror, but she was able to look around with intense concentration, trying to memorize every inch of the view in every direction. Her eyes seek out the birds and follows their every hop and flight. On Saturday, by rocking sideways and taking only one step forward per minute, I was able to get partly down the sidewalk. We made two or three trips outside.

Sunday afternoon she whined and begged by the back door like petulant two-year old. So I put on the harness and leash, but then she would lie down, and wait for me to pick her up. I sat on the back step to have my bowl of soup with her in my lap. By the evening I decided it was time to take a lawn chair out. Yesterday, we had another two sessions. I even carried her to the neighbour’s fence to say “Hi” to Snickers, the chocolate Lab. Snowflake stared her down.

Now I think of her as a very brave seven-month old cat. The burrr of fear in her belly is as strong as her loudest purr indoors, but if I hold her, she is game to go outside and take in all the sights and sounds and smells. You should see how busily her pink nose twitches!

I still have my peace, and in fact, am enjoying my revised schedule so that I now take time for things I’d set aside for many months. Yesterday I took a look at listing a site on directories, and worked on my ‘about me’ page for the aloe vera site. Got that finished but ran into a hitch with the links.

I also reclaimed some time right after lunch for renovating my huge Ruthe-SecretRoses.com site. Goodness, I started to overhaul it year before last and am just about done now with the resources section. However, I realize that I’ve learned several new things since I began that project (there’s over 600 pages), so I should really begin again as soon I’m done this work-through. Besides that, I’m learning tricks from my SBI site that I’d like to apply to this one.

One of the men I work with on the ministry site, http://manna-publications.org.uk wanted to learn how to update a certain page on their site himself, so last week Thursday evening he phoned me as he got out of bed in the morning, and as I was about to shut down the computer to go to bed, (due to a seven time-zones difference). I spent two hours tutoring him on how to do certain things for himself. For someone who told me two years ago that he was technically challenged and couldn’t handle anything as complicated as ftp, he did very well, and was quite pleased with himself. He phoned again on Saturday afternoon, and I finished off with a 40 minute lesson on some HTML codes. Of course, he took notes the whole time, but when he was done and reviewed what he knew he was quite a happy camper.

There is one page of French on that site, and as I’ve never had a lesson in that language, I’m quite happy to let him fuss over the accent marks and which way they should slant.

A special blessing on you if you are a mother! May this Sunday be especially wonderful for you.

I’ve shared stories about my Mom several years to commemorate Mother’s Day, so this time, I’ll pick a very unusual profile of a grandmother from my novel. Maybe you’ll want to read the book! Woohoo!

They say a messy desk is a sign of a busy and productive mind, but that’s hard to explain to those who don’t have such a mind. Last week I had a growing sense that I should organize my desk - seriously. So that was my main agenda item on Saturday.

Resourcefulness is one of those things I’ve inherited from my Dad. As I was doing some of these things I realized that others might not come up with these ideas by themselves, so here’s a few tips.

1. Pack up all the old notes, and files in a box and find a place under the desk or nearby to park it, so if you need to get at these archives, you can still pull them out.

2. Tidy up inside some drawers and create space to drop work-in-progress on short notice when cleaning up for company.

3. This means it would be smart to have a container for each project. If it involves full-sized sheets, a folder or a big brown envelope will do. Find a home place that is out of sight for each one, so you can put it away or pull it out fast when you need it.

4. I scribble notes on small pieces of paper or card-stock. Some need to be weeded into the waste-paper basket from time to time, but for the ones I want to save, I cut some used large envelopes in half with a scalloping scissor (straight will do too), and I file a bunch of them in a white vegetable oil jug with a rectangular shape. (I’ve cut off the top and wrapped wallpaper around it). This keeps my notes and ideas in a semi-organized way, and when I have to clear the desk off in a hurry, I set the whole cannister/jug into a drawer.

5. Every desk needs some catch-all containers so that you can spot your pens, and markers, and paper clips quickly when your eyes dart around for them. Rather than scattering them over my desk, I cut up empty tissue boxes like this;

pull away the cellophane in the oval
cut from the middle of the long side of that oval around through the sides of the box, up to but not through the bottom

fold the box along the center of the bottom so the two halves face and touch each other.

tape the ends together so they now become the bottom of your caddy with two compartments.

Depending on the design pattern on the box, you now have a pretty caddy for your odds and ends.

(a character in Ruthe’s Secret Roses)
You’ve met her granddaughters, Cathy and Muriel O’Brien in a previous Closeup, and I don’t want to spoil the surprises in the novel if you have not read the story yet, but I think I can dare to tell you a bit about her past, what brings her to who she is when Ruthe meets her. These details were not all part of the plot, so some got trimmed out.

Kate O’Brien grew up in England in her childhood, and later moved to Ireland, which was her parents’ birth place. They were entrepreneurs who tried to make a sale of whatever they could, just to keep body and soul together. In other words, sometimes they raided garbage dumps, looked for things they could fix or paint up and sell as antiques.

Kate was assigned the job of gilding old clocks and other knick knacks, or damaged art projects, because she had such a steady hand with a fine brush.

She also had a steady flowing tongue and had a lively wit. That was what helped her win the heart of a handsome landowner, and got her into a fine castle. She disowned her family, believing they would be an impediment to her rise in society.

It turned out that her husband’s family fell on great financial difficulty, and so she urged her husband Ian O’Brien the I, to sell the household goods for tickets to Canada. He was not used to hard labour, so at the beginning she had to support them with her old refurbishing skills.

Fortunately, Kate seldom forgot anything once she learned it, and while they had been in the castle back in Ireland, she’d learned quite a bit more about true antiques and their values. Ian was embarrassed, but she was able to restore their fortune, and get him a fine job as a banker. Of course, he learned to ask her advice on business agreements at home.

They had one son, Ian, who became a lawyer about the time his father died.

When he married Pearl without consulting his very controlling mother, it threw Kate and Pearl into bitter cross-purposes. They quarrelled over just about anything and everything. Ian usually gave up being the peacemaker and withdrew into the quiet ivory tower of his mind.

He felt he had done his duty to his mother when he had their home built next to hers, and that he was there whenever his mother screamed of a crisis.

Kate on the other hand, wished with all her might to provoke him to action She was ashamed to have a son so unlike herself, and was confounded that her attacks on Pearl could not rouse him. Kate feared that if he and Pearl ever came to ruin as she and her husband had in Ireland, he would not be as resourceful as she had been.

Ian and Pearl’s four children, as they grew older, gave her a wide berth too, and so Kate, completely out of ideas, took to her bed and decided to be an ugly old witch.

But she choose a bedroom on the second floor of her huge, greystone house, that had a window overlooking her son’s property. That way she could spy on their comings and goings.

To see what happened when Kate met Ruthe, you need to read the novel! Read more about it first here Or, jump straight to the order page.

Or, Read sample chapters of my first novel online, starting at the index

Order the e-book to download and read on your computer; Order page
You can order the softcover paperback from Booklocker.com

Time for a bit about Snowflake again. She is becoming a cat of sharp contrasts.

Snowflake is often frisky, racing from one favourite window view to the other at lightening speed as if scared by something. In fact, sometimes she takes some corners too fast, and whimpers as she accidentally skids into some furniture. A few moments later, she’s off and running again. (I’ve begun to wonder if there’s catnip in the new bag of cat food I bought, called Friskies). When she’s in this hyper mood, and I make any sudden move, however innocent, she’s off like a flash, her tail whippin’ tall over her.

I’ve got so when I see her tail dancing with that energetic tick going this way and that, I know she’s up to mischief with a flare!

Then there are times after a long nap when she comes up behind me, stands on her hind legs and taps me on the elbow with her paw, and meows politely for some cuddle time on my lap. She loves to be loved and physically handled and tickled, scratched or rubbed and stroked. I fill her food dishes and she ignores them until I’ve handled her a few minutes. So I tell her she’s a sensuous cat and a glutton for love. When I go to the kitchen she jumps up from a deep sleep and dashes in to join me, and whines like a toddler. Nothing shuts her up but to pick her up and cuddle for a while.

The first few days I had her, Snowflake seemed to have no interest in food or milk or water or anything. I tried various food, including people-food, but she sniffed and turned away. Now all of a sudden she checks the floor wherever I eat and if I’ve dropped a crumb, she wolfs it down. If I put it into one of her dishes, it dries up from neglect, but she wants my crumbs. Go figure that out!

Now for the biggie. I do not sleep well with a bed mate, so from the beginning I have refused to take her to bed with me. I’m very strict about the not-for-you-Snowflake zones in the house. She’s not allowed on my desk, or the kitchen counters or table either. But in the last two weeks she seems to be determined to sneak into bed with me after I’ve fallen asleep. The more devious she gets, the more creative I’ve had to become to discourage this.

I should back up to the first instance maybe a week or two after her arrival. One night I dreamt that a black mouse had leaped onto my blankets over my chest and was staring into my eyes. I freaked out and tossed away the blankets yelling for Snowflake to come get this mouse! Once I got the light on, I took to shaking my quilt and sheets to be sure that wee furry thing was not hiding underneath somewhere. All at once it hit me, mice don’t do such huge flying leaps; it must have been Snowflake! Well, my frantic war scared Snowflake to the other end of the house, and I think she remembered for quite a while that it was not a good idea to sneak up on me like that.

However, in the last two weeks she’s tried it several times. I’ve shooed her off, and chased her all the way to the pantry and slammed the door on her. (Then I opened it just to quickly shove in her litter box). She also crawled under the bed a few times and was scratching away there. So the other Saturday I pulled the bed away and cleaned thoroughly and then stuffed all kinds of foam cushions and boxes that fit tightly under the bed, so there is NO way she can get under there. I also rearranged the stuff at the bottom of my clothes closet right beside the bed, so she could not sneak in there and nest. This morning I discovered that she had found a way over my bed and into my laundry hamper in there!

We do take some short cat naps or Sunday afternoon naps together in the recliner. She’s not allowed there by herself, but when I have my pink fluffy housecoat on, she can curl up on my lap and we nap together. My advantage is that when she stirs I wake and can get back to work.

I realize poor Snowflake is just craving more cuddle time, but with her habit of coming and going through the night… nope, I’m still resolved to sleep alone in my bed. She has her towel on the desk by the window in my bedroom. If that’s not good enough… I will be more resourceful yet!

Thanks to a reminder from Robin, (South Africa) last week, I was able to upload all ten of my aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com pages much faster the next day. There’s still more tweaking to do. Then another 20 pages, and I can monetize it and turn this into a profitable little web business. I can hardly wait.

Day after tomorrow is May 1. I had hoped to have some students lined up for my Azaleas Virtual Assistants (AVA) course to start then. If I suddenly get some I can still throw myself into gear to work there, but over the last week or two I’ve been wondering what to do if I don’t get the students. On Sunday afternoon I took time for a prayer retreat to consider my options.

I began to see that not tutoring students over the summer months is not such a bad option. I still think the course plan is a very good idea, and that God is not asking me to cancel it. Rather, that it WILL surely come to pass yet. But it might not hurt to focus the next few months to working here from home mostly, so I can give my current clients more focused time, and also develop and promote my own sites. If I can get a deal with the WTM Board for a holding rent on the office space, I won’t have to get rid of all that I’ve set up there, but can have it ready for whenever the Lord will bring me the right students.

In fact, I really would rather that HE chooses and sends me the students best suited for this course and who could become trustworthy employees in the future. I’ve come away from that afternoon, feeling quite at peace about holding the office in readiness, and settling in here at home to be more productive again. Dividing my time to get that office ready has put me behind in some other things. My own sites have been neglected, and I have done only the most necessary things to keep promises to others.

On top of that, I have nearly all my estimates for the RRAP plan reno work in. I still need two quotes to be turned into me, and for two others to come quote on the eavestroughing jobs. If I can wrap that up in the next week or so, and get all of the quotes in to the inspector, the work may begin in May yet. It would be wise for me to be around here when those workmen come and need to get into the house.

I tell you, being at peace with either of two options is a whole lot more comfortable than dithering and worrying about what might or might not happen.

The other day I was listening online (in the background) to an interview with Marnie Pehrson of ideamarketers.com (she has 19 sites altogether!) and she was explaining the value of writing articles to post online in various places, and how it can greatly increase your publicity and image as someone who knows what she’s talking about - an expert in your field.

I’ve read this before and have in the past started to write and spread my articles with that intent. I believe there is something to it, but good intentions don’t get it done. I’m going to try to schedule in specific times to write articles and I hope after a while to become quite practiced at dashing them off.

If you love to write or are willing to learn I suggest this is a good method of getting good quality promotion for nothing - but your time and the experiences and knowledge you have garnered over the years. It is a skill you can learn. Just do a search online for articles about writing articles and then buckle down and try it.

You have nothing to lose and all kinds of benefits to gain.

(Now, watch me try my own advice).

I want to write more articles to promote my sites and products, but how do I make this an integral part of my life? Good intentions won’t get the work done. Come follow me as I make a plan and discipline myself to follow it until it comes as naturally as my bathroom routine.

First, I’ll make a list of the topics on which I would like to write articles. I’ll use the themes of the websites I work on as triggers. (I’m using abbreviations for the site’s names);
AVHH - articles on unique herbs and how to use them
BE - small business ideas, how to build a web business
RSR - inspirational on friendships, intimacy with God, makeovers, witnessing, and writing tips
AGI - genealogy and family stories, profiles of ancestors
GA - how to give wisely, profiles of worthy missions
manna - publication challenges in third world locations
RTM - Ugandan needs
PMC - challenges to do business in Tanzania
WTM - tract evangelism,
MMLC - log furniture ideas

Whoa, that list is getting so long I might scare myself away! That will do for now.

You will want to take note to not overwhelm yourself at first. Start with a short list. But while you are waiting for inspiration to come, keep making more lists. Where shall we look for the raw resource material to write our articles? Will some take extra research?

I have a handy book on herbs, but I’ll have to do some online research to make sure I don’t gloss over a business idea without checking for other things to include. The inspirational articles I can usually do out of my memory bank and my past, but I need to sit quietly and mull on some of these topics before an idea for an article gels. The profiles of ancestors and worthy missions will take some research too. So would the rest. But then I wouldn’t have to write an article a day on each.

Which brings me to another list part of planning this. How frequently do I need to write an article and how much time should I allow? Also, there is the matter of filing them and posting them - like where?

Okay, in my case, I think I can clear one hour for three mornings a week, but I will have to be flexible as that time may be taken over by some things that have priority. In fact, I have a couple of small jobs that need to be finished first, and then, if I get new clients I may have to sacrifice that time to deal with those jobs. But if I keep in the back of my mind that as soon as those hours clear up they belong to article writing, then I have a basis for a start. Later I may give up some other activities to make more room.

To make sure we don’t stress ourselves out with this, it might be wise to commit only to writing one article a week. If it needs research, I’ll do that on the Monday morning, and write in on the Thursday morning, and polish and post it on Friday. If it seems to really need more work I’ll set it aside, file it in a certain place, and come back to it whenever I run into writer’s block in another week.

Now, what about a plan for the actually writing of an article?

There are a number of articles and books with formulas to make this painless and productive. Each of us needs to experiment a bit first to see what works best for us. Some recommend making a list of 3-5 or 7 solutions to a problem, and describing each in a paragraph or two. Presto, there you have a short article of 300-500 words. Slant the article so the style is personable and talks directly to the reader. In an inspirational article you can tell a touching story, and if you get the reader to sigh with empathy, or smile at the humour in it, you’ve done well. All other articles need to share some practical help or advice. They don’t have to be complicated. The simpler they are the easier the reader can walk away and remember that advice and try it.

One more thing. Work very hard on the little biographical paragraph about yourself as the author that you are allowed to attach at the end of each article. The article directory sites insist that those who come to pick up your article to use on their site or in their ezine, MUST include that final blurb about you and what you do, or your website. That blurb is your gratis advertising, so use it wisely. If that article refers to and recommends a certain product you are selling on your site, be sure to include a url, or web address to the page where you sell it on your website. Then watch your STATs to see how many people come to that page after you have posted your article.

Write a bio something like this;

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ruth Marlene Friesen, makes friends everywhere, just like her alter ego,
the heroine of her novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses. Discover the secrets of
intentional friendship that transforms lives at http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com.
Find more of Ruth’s articles on writing and publishing here;
http://Ruthes-SecretRosees.com/A/WPub/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last week the weather was so fine, I got eager to start my garden, and spent some time digging it up with a spade, about a 20-30 minute spell after lunch and again after supper. I was about half done. Then Thursday we began to hear about a big doozer of a snow storm to hit this area on Sunday. Friday evening the wind picked up and when I looked out of the window at midnight, behold, the ground was covered with white, and it still looked quite stormy.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and everything turned to slush. Now the forecasters were saying that this big storm had by-passed us on the west, and was moving northward. We would just have rain on Sunday.

That was true, although there were icy patches in the morning. I had to scrape ice off the car for half an hour before starting out for church. I also had trouble with the padlock on my back gate being iced up. I managed to wiggle the key in and open it.

I thought now we’d go back to spring. Ha! Yesterday the winds were back, and the padlock was more trouble as I left to drive off for some errands and the office. When I came out of my office at 6 pm - Whoa! There was a full-blown snow storm in effect! My driver’s side car door was frozen shut and the once wiper iced up. But when I got to my gate, the padlock just would NOT open. I huffed and puffed on it, and got my key into it, but it would not turn. Finally when my fingers had had it, I drove around to the front and parked on the street in front of my house, praying of course, that no one will skid into it. That’s the main reason I’d taken to parking in the backyard; there’s been several such skidding accidents at this corner.

We are not having the quantities of snow first promised for Sunday, and the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow and things will warm up, but I tell you, today is a great day to have a home business, and no real need to go out anywhere!

Today I think I’ll give you a behind the scenes look at working with my SiteBuildIt! (SBI) site. It’s true that I have many irons in the fire, to use an old cliche, and I only mention one or two each week here, but this one has been more on my mind, and especially yesterday, so if you’d like to see what it’s like to build one of these creme de’ la creme sites, here’s a peek at aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com

A quick background; SiteBuildIt! is a proprietary software designed by Ken Evoy of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You subscribe for a year at a time, and don’t have to know any html to use it. My personal frustration has been that I do know html and almost have to unlearn it to use this system. SBI has many wonderful features, such as great help with brainstorming for the most suitable, profitable topic for your site, and then automated submissions to the search engines, so that you are guaranteed excellent traffic without having to pay heavy duty for it. There is a video training course, to guide you through every step. Most people who try this plan and stick with it become enthusiastic devotees. (Listen to them rave in their ILOVEmySBI videos!

Well, as an affiliate, I’d been reading about these since the beginning, and finally was able to subscribe in November. My efforts to start this Azaleas business really cut back on my time to spend at it. It seemed to be relegated to Saturday evenings, when I was so exhausted I fell asleep. But early in April I resolved to rearrange my schedule to give three mornings a week to my SBI site so I could get further ahead faster. I have now got 10 web pages done. I did my research and built them offline the way I’m used to, but now I need to build them in the SBI software to get them online. That’s where I ran into a challenge yesterday.

My old method is to just drag and drop my completed pages by ftp to the site, and presto, they are ready for the world. In SBI I need to copy and paste the parts into blocks, every element into its own block. Never mind any html coding. (Well, I did sneak in some). Then you have to click the “Analyse It” button. Another window/tab opens, and you get this page of instructions telling you where you don’t have your keyword showing up enough. You need it in your title, description and keywords (meta tags) and in your heading, and a certain percentage of times in the main text of the web page. In my case, I needed it to appear 13 more times. So I went back to fix those spots, or so I thought.

Hit Analyse It again, and this time I’m doing better in the earlier blocks, but I need it to show up in my links and another 7 times in my body. Okay, I go back and edit it some more.

I went back and forth like this on two pages for about two hours. I have never been so fussy with my keywords before! But I’m sure beginning to see that if this system is so fussy, then when it encourages me to hit “Build It” that page will really make all the search engines happy. The traffic should stampede in to this site!

Right now I’m not even sure I will get all the 8 other pages “built” over Thursday and Friday. It depends on how fast I catch on and deal with this matter of keywords. I do believe it will pick up pace as I learn the ins and outs of this system. I do intend to keep adding more and more pages, but I was focusing on a core set to describe aloe vera, and how to care for it, and the benefits.

Once I have 30 pages up or am getting 50 visitors a day I can start adding various methods of monetizing the site. That means things like putting in AdSense codes, and other affiliate ads. I’m looking forward to that - it’s when this site will become an income stream!

Of course, resourceful me, I’m ready to adapt these principles to my other sites. Things should improve all around.

Incidentally, if you want a d-i-y SBI site, go here, SiteBuildIt! If you’d rather pay a bit more and have one of the SiteSell webmasters do all the work for you, (still less than most other webmasters charge) you should check out Services - SiteSell