Lori Seaborg

3: On Accepting an Invitation to Play

She's 8 today

and I'm ridiculously sad about that.

You see, today is her last day to be eight years old.

I've gotten a bit too busy with the "shoulds" again. Lately, I've done what I "should," doing what is right in front of me (the dishes), what is on the calendar (the ballerina's lessons), and what is urgent (guests visiting). I've also spent more than a bit of time on my little business.

"Mama, do you want to play Legos with me?" she asks. "Do you want to take a picture of me in the tree?" "Do you want to make something with me?" And, most often, "Mama, I got some paper ready. Do you want to come draw with me?"

Sometimes I do those things, but most of the time, I only stick around for a minute or two before dashing off to do something more important.

This evening, I grumbled to a friend about our little girl asking me to play with her.

I grumbled. about playing. with my little girl.

What in the world am I thinking?! Here I have the blessing of a beautiful little girl, a bright, healthy one, who is artistic, and funny, and giggly. I only have her for a moment, really, then she'll be grown and gone and....

....too busy for me.

Tonight, she wanted to chat before bed, but it was already midnight and we'd been out past ten at the parades and I was t i r e d and so I said, Baby, please. Please let me just say goodnight. "But I want to talk to you," she said, "I don't get to talk to you at night like [our teenagers] do."

And it hit me that she's feeling a bit neglected. Mind you, we homeschool and so we are literally with her almost every minute of every day, but she wants something more than physical presence. She wants a bit of attention, a listening ear, a mommy or brother or sister or daddy to play for a while.

Today is our little girl's last day to be eight. She said "people should always have the last day before a birthday be a special day, since you'll never be that old again."

So today shall. So it should be!

Accepting a child's invitation to play is the 3rd degree of my 360° Project. I hope you'll join me on this journey!

October Update

I'm embarrased it has been so long since I've updated LoriSeaborg.com.  But it's for good reason -- this year has been a huge year for FreelyEducate.com.  In January, I launched FrugallyEducate.com.  Between the two blogs, I've been able to make the transition from having a hobby to having a real, income-producing business.  

My vision for LoriSeaborg.com is to write on How to Make Money through Niche Blogging and on How to Reach Homeschool Bloggers.  I see needs in both areas, and would love to help out with what I've learned in the years of blogging and working with education publishers.

If you would, subscribe to this blog (over there on the right) to be notified when I write another post.  I'm hoping to get to this project very very soon, but realistically, it may be January before I can start it.  It is, believe it or not, the holiday season already!  Eep.  My deals blog (FrugallyEducate.com) is extremely busy in the holiday season, as parents choose educational toys for their children for holiday gift-giving (by the way, you are welcome to contact me if you want in on the fun:  loriseaborg@gmail.com). 

Have a wonderful October!

~ Lori Seaborg

A February Update

This site will be busy and productive very soon!  I'm working behind the scenes these days, seeking a permanent home for my four blogs.  I've decided it's time to grow up to be a a Big Girl, which means I need to finally make the move to Wordpress.**  For those of you who are not bloggers, that means only that this site will look different in the next few months (sooner, much sooner, I hope).  You'll still visit LoriSeaborg.com, like you are doing today. 

Subscribe if you want to be informed of when the site will be ready.  That saves you from having to come here to check.  You can always unsubscribe later. 

Thanks for dropping by! 

*The four?  This one, FreelyEducate.com where I prove a high quality education can be free, FrugallyEducate.com where I find exclusive and exceptional deals for families who love to learn together, and Just Pure Lovely where I keep my creativity & inspiration journal. 

**(if you have a favorite hosting company, please let me know, and not just because you're an affiliate -- although I will be happy to click through your affiliate link if I go with that one)

My Affiliate Programs Wish List

In a self-publishing group that I'm in, someone asked what affiliate programs we'd recommend.  Here is my reply to the group:

Thought I'd chime in as a blogger.  Since I have a big, busy blog, I work with affiliate programs quite often.  Here is my wish list for affiliate programs:

• I like an immediate approval, or at least within 48 hours at the longest.  Usually, when I apply to a program, I've already written up a post on the product and just then thought of checking to see if there is an affiliate program.  I've delayed - and then forgotten about - many drafted posts that took weeks (or never, in a few cases) to approve my application.
• Updated banners and links.  It's quite frustrating when I want to promote a Christmas sale that I can see on a company's website, but can find only Thanksgiving banners a month old. This also gives me caution:  if they don't keep up with banners, will they keep up with payments?  I usually pass on the program if the material is old.
  
• A low, or no, threshold.  I promote the affiliate programs that pay no matter how much I made, or those that have a low threshold, such as $25.  I don't like the programs that make me reach $100 before they'll pay out. 
  
• Pay often.  If you can pay monthly, that would be perfect.  It keeps you in the publisher's mind.  When I receive a payment from an affiliate -- even a small $12.99 payment -- I'm reminded of that program, I'm reminded that it worked for me, and I'm prompted to run it through again.
  
• Be as generous as you can.  I love a program that pays out at least 25%
• Be generous with your "cookie."  Amazon only pays when a sale was made within 24 hours of the clickthrough.  They can get away with that. You can't.  We all know that customers like to think for a while.  Give us the sale credit, and we'll use your program often.  I like 30 day cookies at the minimum, and forever cookies the most! 
  
• I will not work with a program that takes away my money if I don't reach their threshold within a timeframe, or one that requires too many hoops to jump through.  I won't work with one big program because although I've earned over $100 in affiliate money, they won't pay me because my account hasn't met this:

Sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers; and,
Sales made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, PayPal or European Direct Debit(ELV)). Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

Perhaps my sales were all from the same customer or they were all PayPal purchases; I don't know.  But I do know that all other programs I've used haven't required that of me, so I'll use those programs instead of this one.  (This program also takes money out of your account if you don't keep generating sales, so my $100 is down to $38 now.)

Two of my favorite private affiliate programs: 

• BigBrainz.com's affiliate program for TimezAttack. They pay monthly, no matter how little I make, via PayPal.  I don't get fancy reports, and I don't get any banners, but I'm okay without those.   Theirs is an example of a program that could be run from your site for minimal expense. The commission is 30% for purchases made within 30 days of the clickthrough. Since they pay often, I remember them often, and since the program is independently run, I remember it often.  That is, it is not just one of dozens of Commission Junction programs to me.  It's the "TimezAttack program" to me. Here is their program:  http://www.bigbrainz.com/affiliate1.php
  
• All About Spelling has been a favorite for a couple of years now.  They are also independently run, I think.  Banners look professional and are frequently updated; email response is quick; stat reports are great. They pay quarterly.  The commission is 15%.  The #1 reason why I promote AAS is because they'll count sales that are made any time through my clicks.   I really appreciate that, and have made sales from posts that are months old!   Here's their program:  http://all-about-spelling.com/affiliates.html
  

Remember, publishers don't have the advantage of knowing that you're being honest about the sales, so the more simple & generous your program, the more it will be promoted. 

p.s. I didn't use any affiliate links in this post, of course.  ;)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from me

If you're not already subscribed to Just Pure Lovely, enter your email address:

(I won't spam you.  I don't even know how.  You can always unsubscribe later.)

I have so many ideas for Just Pure Lovely & this blog, LoriSeaborg.com,  in 2011.  I can't wait for this new adventure!  After a vacation, of course.  I need a bit of time to create, bake, and celebrate Christmas, my birthday (a big one!) and a New Year. Then I'll be back.

p.s.  Thanks for the vacation!

Import. Check. Editing. Uncheck.

Hi, there!  Procrastination sometimes pays off.  While I was procrastinating on transferring all of my old blog posts to this blog, dreading the vast number of hours I'd have to put into the job, my old blogging host upgraded their system so I was able to just import the posts.  And even the comments!  I'm so thankful for that time saver!

Next, I'm going through the hundreds of posts, removing a few (just a few), updating what needs updating, and reformatting what needs reformatting.  

Someday, I'll announce this site on my other blogs (Just Pure Lovely and Freely Educate), but for now, if you found your way here, thanks for visiting.  But now go visit one of those blogs, or browse through these archives.  I'm not live-posting regularly here quite yet.  

~ Lori Seaborg

On Learning

You can homeschool 24x7 and still not teach it all.

 

The point is not to teach everything a child needs to learn by a certain age.  The point is to give the child a love of learning so that he can learn anything he wants or needs to learn to follow the path he is supposed to follow, the one his heart, his passion, his talents, and his God wants him on.

I'm Giving Away CDs from 3 Popular Artists!

I love it when I have the opportunity to be generous! 

On Just Pure Lovely I'm giving away CDs from two musicians: 

• Harry Connick Jr.
• Jonny Diaz

And on Freely Educate I'm giving away a CD from this artist:

• Joshua Bell (classical violinist)

Just go to those sites to enter! If the post is not at the top of the home page, scroll down or click "giveaways" in the category areas.  The deadlines for all 3 giveaways is October 23rd.

Welcome to My New Home on the Web

After months (a year?), it's starting to look a little bit like a webbie home around here.  Whew.

I'll perk it up a bit more, move a thing here or there, but more than anything, I have a lot of articles and photos to move to this site for storage (and for your reading, if you'd like).  Over the years that I've been blogging here and there, my articles and blog posts and photos have gotten scattered here and there in various places on the internet.  It's time to bring them to one home base, for safe-keeping and so I (you?) can find certain articles easier.

Thank you for being so supportive! 

psst, You can keep up with my current events best at Just Pure Lovely.  Do you educate?  You do, if you're a parent.  If so, visit my everything-is-free blog about education at Freely Educate.

A Wishlist of Things to Do in 2009

 

I keep a little spiral notebook handy for jotting down things. In it, is a long list of things I want to do, started on January 9th, 2008. I've added to it over the past year (I want to do everything in the world that's not scary or evil, so my list is quite long).

1. Streak*: A 28-day (Sundays off) of strength exercises each morning
2. Spin on a drop spindle
3. Weave on a loom
4. Design a rug hooked piece
5. Complete the rug hooked piece I designed
6. Learn Photoshop actions
7. Plan menu for 30 days
8. Create recipe notebook of healthy options
9. Streak: 14 days of moving every day (heart-pumping exercise, Sundays off)
10. Plant a fall garden
11. Schedule goat & cat vaccine and worming care
12. Streak: Carry a snack bag wherever we go for 14 days
13. Get new Nikon lens and learn it
14. Learn f-stops and other buttons on camera
15. Knit an intermediate project
16. Write an ebook
17. Learn how to create Adobe .pdf documents
18. Streak: Read to children for 10 days straight
19. Create school schedule for rest of year
20. Design a softie
21. Write a tutorial on that designed softie
22. Read all of the Old Testament (Bible) to kids
23. Streak: Go to the riverbank for 14 mornings in a row
24. Print 50 photos
25. Write a letter
26. Write a thank you note
27. Write a letter again
28. Teach kids a new sport (note: my man totally needed to help out here!)
29. Streak: 7 days of being only positive to my man
30. Start FreelyEducate.com
31. Visit North Carolina
32. Schedule time for my learning (use this time for learning new things)
33. Schedule time for creativity
34. Give away 20 books for nothing in return
35. Knit scarf for our big fella
36. Make salve
37. Streak: Tea Time at 4pm for 4 days in a row
38. Attend a symphony
39. Attend an opera
40. Learn to hand quilt
41. Finish a hand quilted piece
42. Identify five birds
43. Learn to needle felt the goat's mohair
44. Learn to smock
45. Put photos into at least 2 frames
46. Make our little gal a softie or soft doll while she's still little
47. Make a chore chart for the kids
48. Make a chore chart for me
49. Plant a spring garden
50. Design a punch needle embroidery (photo above)

There is an update in the middle of my lists that says, "On May 5, 2008, I had a big setback, tearing ligaments in my left ankle. It is now September 5th and it's still painful and swells but finally I'm up to working on this list again." It makes me sad that I missed so much time due to a silly injury, but, ah, well. While laying around, waiting for it to heal, I accomplished the things I could and dreamed about the things I couldn't.

I'm still working on that list. The problem is, it grows more quickly than I can complete it.

What would you add?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Streak means all in a row. For example, "Streak: 14 days of moving every day," would mean I need to move for 14 days straight in order to check it off. Streaks, I hope, will help me kick-start something so that it becomes a habit.

-------------------------
Lori Seaborg
http://loriseaborg.com