Wishful Thinking - Yeah For Me I Won An HP Digital Camera!

This is the story of how I won a brand new HP digital camera. Out of the hundreds of posts Ted and his staff read they found my to be the most worthy of winning the prize for the best post about why I should be one of the five winners of PayPerPost's most recent contest. After reading this post you will know why they chose me.

Will My Dream Become A Reality

My dream has always been to become a smoke alarm photographer. There is just something very fastenating about smoke alarms. It could be that they are a symbol of safety, hope and smoke. Every time I pass a smoke alarm I think...wow, your are sooo beautiful. The round or rectangular shape, the red button... it almost brings me to tears. And their sound. Don't even get me started. That piercing beep, beep, beeeeeeep. It's like music. I sometimes burn dinner just so I can here that sound. The family hates it when I do that.
My dreams of becoming a smoke alarm photographer were shattered when I realized I didn't have a camera. I suppose I could have bought one but that would require money but money is used for bills not cameras. Everyone knows that.
So here I am lying on my floor looking up at the smoke alarm I so desperately wish to photograph. Hoping, wishing that my dream will someday become a reality.
With the right tools (like an HP Digital Camera and Photo Printer) I could be the best smoke alarm photographer on the planet.

This posts is not yet a reality. I have not won the HP digital camera yet. But after Ted reads this wonderful story I just know he will pick me as the winner ;)

This post was also sponsored by HP.

It's Cooold Outside

Of all days to have the our pipes freeze it had to be today. I got up early so I could get ready to got to the EquestFest in LA and when I turned ont he water to make some coffee there was no water coming out of the faucet. I was quite upset because there is just no way to get ready without water. I was already running late so the water thing was making me very angry.
My husbnad ended up take an electric heater outside to warm the pipes. It work after a few minutes and I told my daughter to knock on the wall so he would come inside. I guess he didn't hear her and so he ended up staying outside for a 5 minutes after the pipes unfroze. All was ok. I got to take my shower and get ready.

PayPerPost Postie Patrol

PayPerPost now has HP sponsored Postie Patrols. I find this very interesting and exciting. Postie Patrol #3 took place a few days ago. Check out his video.

Robyn Nykaza won a Digital Photo Printing system by completing all the tasks on for the HP/PPP scavenger hunt. I think Robyn did a great job in completing all the tasks. I especially liked the part where she got the man of the street to sing so kind of Christmas carol about gangsters. She ended up getting three of her assigned tasks with that guy. Hilarious :o)
Though I not exactly the most out going Postie out their I wouldn't mind getting the chance to win $1000 and a HP camera. It's not like PayPerPost will want to come to my little town. I suppose they could do a Fear Factor (Fear Factor has used them on an episode once) type thing as the Ostrich ranch down the street from me. That's about the only exciting thing around her. I don't know if I would be up for a Fear Factor thing though.

This post is sponsored by HP

EquestFest

I went to the EquestFest at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center today. I didn't even know they had such a a thing until my friend invited me. It was great and I really need to get away to see horses. I always get pumped after watching horse shows. I just hope I will make some time to go riding myself.
The EquestFest is an even that is held every year right before the Rose Parade. All the horses that will be in the Rose Parade were invited to participate in this event.
I plan to do write a post and maybe a video of the event. I will post it on my Horse Approved blog.

Christmas Flowers

My mother-in-law received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her neighbors this Christmas. I thought that was incredibly sweet since these neighbors only moved in a year ago. I never thought of giving flowers for Christmas. My mother-in-law really loved the bouquet and said it was like an answered prayer because she was in need of some kind of arrangement to go in her metal vase. I don't know that it was answered prayer but it was a very nice flower arrangement.
Maybe one day someone will send flowers to me for Christmas. I hope to have my own flower garden one of these days so that I can have fresh cut flowers available year round, except for the winter.

Performancing.com and PayPerPost

I guess PayPerPost is still "movin on up to the east side". They have just announced that they will be acquiring Performancing.com, Performancing Metrix and Performancing Exchange. What do this mean for bloggers? To be honest I am a little confused and am not sure what it all means. I do however know a little about this company from the information I have gathered from the Perforhmancing.com site.

Performancing Metrics is a free professional grade blogs statistics service aimed at professional bloggers

Performancing Exchange is a classifieds style marketplace for the professional blogging community

I am not sure how PayPerPost is going to be involved with these features but I can see it will be helpful to the PayPerPost bloggers.
It seems like every week PayPerPost has some big anouncement for us all. I just hope that there will be more offers available for the blogs with low or no pagerank. I have a feeling this may not change since most advertisers want to get as much as they can for their money. It's ashame though, the people that are new to blogging won't have any opportunities except for maybe the PayPerPost ones. It seems these days I am really a "PayPerPost blogger", meaning the only offers I can take are from PayPerPost.
Anyway, maybe PayPerPost acquiring Performancing will improve things for all of us.

Had a nice Christmas

Christmas was real nice. The kids wouldn't let me sleep in as long as I wanted but I guess I understand why. This was the first year my baby daughter actually got into opening the presents so that was real fun to watch.
On Christmas Eve we went to my Grandma's house and then Christmas day we went to my in-laws. I had a real nice time and I think everyone else did too.

Cute Baby Shirts

If you are looking for a really cute gift for a baby or parent-to-be check out this site. They have some cute baby clothes with great designs. I really love the Giglets line. My favorite I think is this one in the picture. My youngest daughter must have read this book because she seems to have us all figured out. The Nursery Guide to Baby Clothes site has some other great baby clothes.

Debt Free Christmas Shopping

I don't know if I have write about credit cards much on this blog but I do on my Time To Budget blog. I hate credit cards and I think that using them is foolish. Yes, I know people are going to say to me "But, if you correctly they can be a useful tool". What does it mean to use credit cards correctly? Buying only as much as you can afford the payments? Or maybe it's paying them off every month? Ok let's say you can afford the payments, what happens if life happens and you loose your job? What then? Not to mention your are actually paying possibly hundreds or thousands more in interest by the time you pay it off.
May you are one of those "I pay it off every month" people. You could loose your job too or have some other emergency that requires yu to use the money you would have for the credit card balance.
I am firmly against borrowing money now that I have been in debt for 15 years. I have seen nothing but pain and suffering come from credit card use and vow never to borrow money again. I don't borrow on credit cards, from parents or friends or from banks. The only exception to this rule might be to buy a home on a 15 year loan.
So why am I saying all of this because this Christmas could be the begining of a new ay of thinking for you. Don't purchase Christmas presents on credit cards this year.

That all being said if you are still determined to use credit cards at least read about credit card news and credit card advice to become better educated.

It's Almost Christmas

I have to go shopping tonight and I am not all that thrilled. I know it's going to be busy and I am probably going to get irritated with slow people. I am one of those people that like to zip around the story and get everything done as quick as possible. Yeah, I am one of those people. Anyway, I hope I can get everthing done tonight so I don't have to go back.

People Like My Time To Budget blog

I have been getting a few good comments on my Time To Budget blog. I guess budgeting and money is something that many people can relate to. One person said that she visit my blog everyday and like the information I post. I like to here that. I do like helping people. I am trying to balance the blog with budgeting tips and advice as well as money making opportunities online. I figure most people looking for budgeting advice are also looking for a way to make extra money.

PayPerPost RockStartUp

I find it very intersting that PayPerPost decided to go this route (video documentary/reality tv). I think it's a cool way to get people interested in paid blogging. Though I haven't read this anywhere yet, I imagine they hope to be picked up by a television or cable station. That would be kind of cool to see all the PayPerPost Posties on tv. That's if I had tv.
It's like reality tv for bloggers and advertisers. Well, I guess that is exactly what it is. Someday maybe they will start the Postie patrol again. I loved watching the Postie Patrol videos. Though, I think I would have a heart attack before my time if they came to my house. My house seems to be in a constant messy state.
So check out the latest videos. They are quite interesting. The PayPerPost team seems like a fun bunch. Maybe like the Brandy Bunch.... on speed. Just kidding PPP Reviewer ;).
They have a number of new staff members. The last video I watched I say a lot of new faces or faces they don't show much. So if you become a PayPerPost Postie you may become famous one day. You could be on tv! So many perks to paid blogging.

PayPerPost Disclosure Policy Update

Well, it's official. PayPerPost now requires bloggers to include a disclosure policy on their blog and sometimes in the paid posts. This new requirement in the Terms of Service was posted on PayPerPost's blog just yesterday (12/18).

Since creating the concept of sponsored posting, PayPerPost has allowed and encouraged transparency, enabling marketers and bloggers to disclose word-of-mouth (WOM) or buzz marketing relationships. The company provides bloggers with tools to empower disclosure and has popularized the concept of adopting a Disclosure Policy for all bloggers through http://www.DisclosurePolicy.org. Consistent with WOM industry guidelines, PayPerPost also prohibits marketers who use the PayPerPost marketplace from requesting no disclosure. Today's announcement builds upon that foundation.

I have mixed feelings about this new move. I feel that this is good for encouraging transparency but it also might change the way I approach paid opps. I created a Disclosure Policy for my blog to because I agreed with PayPerPost about being completely open about paid blogging. I am fine with including the policy on each page of my blogs.
I feel my change in approach will come when an opp requires that I disclose on the post itself. I feel that this will turn my posts into to obvious ads rather than seamless posting on non-paid posts and paid posts. I know that some of my posts you can tell that they are paid posts but the goal was to make them all relatively the same.
I wanted seamless posts because I didn't want people devaluing a post because it was a paid prompt. I don't take offers I don't find some value in and never say anything that I don't believe to be true. I hoped that people could see that bloggers can really be paid to write about things that interest them and they don't have to be dishonest. I wanted me as an honest blogger to come through. Being able to valuing my opinion whether prompted by payment or not.
Still, I realize that people will not agree with my approach and think I am just trying to trick readers. If I were trying to trick readers I would not have include a Disclosure Policy at all and not speak so openly about paid blogging.
So what will I do? Will I still blog for PayPerPost? Yes. Will I take opps that require disclosure on individual paid posts? Probably yes. Will I still only take opps that I find value in or give freedom to express my opinion whether positive or negative? Definitely Yes.

I Need Ink Again

It's amazing how fast you can go through ink toner cartridges. I have a Cannon printer and I seem to be going through ink pretty quickly. A long time ago I had a HP and the ink seemed to last forever. It's probably about time I get a new printer anyway. The Cannon I have is a couple of years old. Listen to me. Doesn't that sound crazy. When people used typewriters years ago they last forever. I mean you can still use typewriters that are 50 years old. Now we have printers that last maybe 7 years. It's a shame, shame ,shame.
But since I don't plan busting out my grandmas old type writer I will just have to go ahead and buy more ink.

Very Happy with the New PayPerPost affiliate program

I just got about 5 referrals and though they are all still pending it is encouraging. I get $15 a referral which is much better than the $5 they were offering before. It's easy for me to refer people to PPP because I love the company so much. If you are interested in blogging for money click on my PayPerPost link or check out my Time To Budget blog. I write a lot about PayPerPost my Time To Budget blog.

DVD players

Have you ever heard of a blu-ray DVD player? I don't know if I am just out of the tech loop but I have never heard it. Aparently it was only just released in the UK in 2006. I don't know about other countries but I assume it was about the same time. The Blu-ray disc player is a new type of audio-visual equipment designed to play Blu-ray discs. This DVD player is designed to be more accurate than the regular dvd. The blue-violet laser is more accurate because it has a shorter wavelength than the red laser. Blu-ray can store up to five times the ammount of date that can be stored on DVDs or CDs.
This is exciting news. Except for the fact that yet again we are moving to another video formate. Which means in a few years all of our DVD players and CD players are going to be almost obsoleet. I guess it's a good thing though. Technology will advance.
If you are interesting in finding out more about this check out the DVD Recorders and Players Guide or the Samsung Blu-Ray Disc Player.
I am intersted in finding out how long it will be before most people have the Blu-Ray.

Comments

If you comment on blog posts please remember to be smart. I got a comment on the blog post I wrote about my dog's anxiety. I had to put my dog to sleep because his seizure and anxiety just go out of control. I mention in my post that I had to chain him in our back yard. A insensitive commenter said that I caused my dog to go nuts. The commenter didn't even bother to find out what the circumstances were and assumed I was abusing my dog.
I just want to encourage people to be smart when you are posting comments. Don't assume you know someone's life story because you read a blog post.

Pets Need Meds Too

I had a German shepherd mixed dog a few years ago that had serious health problems. He was the nicest, friendliest dog but he had mental issues. About a year into owning him he developed the habit of digging out of the backyard. He did this just about every day and it was making us so made. I don't know what happened to him while he was out on the town but he was terrified of the Ice Cream truck. He also hated anything that sounded like a fire cracker. There where some kids that would shoot their Beebe guns out in the back yard and that used to freak him out.
We had to chain him so he wouldn't run away and one day we came home and found him in the house by one of the windows, still chained. Yes, he jumped through the window. Then one year we went away for the 4th of July, big mistake. We had a friend coming by and feeding him and had him lock up in his fortress of solitude also know as our bathroom. He freaked out so much that he bit a hole through our metal door knob.
He started have very violent seizures. We had him on Valum and it still didn't help. The only thing we could do was put him down. I was a really hard decision because he was such a good dog for the kids. He didn't have an aggressive bone in his body. He was also perfectly happy and healthy looking when we had to take him to the vet. I miss that dog.
So I have heard of a product that helps pets with anxiety. This is a product I would have like to try on my old Jake. From what I have read this product works in a few days. If pet depression, stress and anxiety is something you have to deal with I would suggest you looking into this product.

MyBlogLog

I have been joining communities and adding contacts but not many people are joining my communities. I guess I don't have anything worth reading :o(. Ok, I guess I am just feeling sorry for myself. Maybe it just takes time. I really want horse people to join my Horse Approved community. There are like 4 real horse sites listed and 2 of them are mine. I want more horse people!

I Need New Eyes

I need new eyes. I can't see very well without my glasses. I just got new glasses a few months ago but I really hoped I could have gotten some contact lenses. I used to wear contact lenses but I could afford them this last time so I didn't get any. You have to get a completely different eye exam to get contacts. So I guess I will just have to wait until the money from my Google Adsense account starts rolling in ;o) HaHa! I will have to try the Focus Softcolors lenses. I used to have colored lenses way back in highschool. I had this aqua green color. It was kind of weird.

Tell Your Friends about PayPerPost

I was telling a college student I am friends with today about PayPerPost. I actually told her about PPP a month or two ago but I guess she didn't understand how great the opportunity was. So I talked to her about and she is all jazzed about blogging now. I told her this is a perfect job for a college student. It's actually a perfect job for a work-at-home mom and as an extra job.
I hope she gets her blogs started. She will have to wait 3 months to get started with PPP so she needs to get started. I tell anyone half interested in making money online that they should start blogging. PPP requires your blog be 3 months old. It doesn't hurt to start paid blogging they at least can make that disision in 3 months. If you wait then in 3 months you'll be wishing you hadn't waist that time away.
Just remember this blog or my Time To Budget blog when your blog is old enough :o) because I can get a $15 referral bonus. My Time To Budget blog will probably be easiest to remember. So repeat this in your head "TimeToBudget.com, TimeToBudget.com, TimeToBudget.com". Time to What? Budget? TimeToBudget.com
You got it now? Good ;o)
Good Luck!

RockStartUp.com

There is a great new reality tv show on the internet. It's all about PayPerPost and great things that are happening. It's a fun and interesting way to keep all the postie, advertisers and potentials up to date. Episode 3 is about the company finally getting into their new building. PayPerPost was occupying space at Mind Comet before they moved into the new building. The office looks great even though it's still being worked on.
It's really exciting to see this company's startup. I am excited for the staff, the advertisers and the posties. Blogging for money has been a great opportunity for me and I hope others will see it's potential.

The $1 Store

I just went to the dollar store the other day. I didn't was searching for things for a gift and for Christmas. I was suprised to find some good Christmas decorations. They are probably not the best quality but some things seemed to be things you would find in any other store. I love only spending $1 on an item. Since I am on a tight budget buying Christmas decor from the $1 store might be something I will be doing. Or maybe I will just have to skip buying Christmas decor this year. Come to think of it I have bought stocking stuffers there before.

Video Conference

To remember when the first video phone came out. It was a black and white screen that was about 2 inches. I don't know for certain if it was that small but I just remember it being small, hard to see and 10 minute delays. At the time it was really cool. Well, video conferencing has come a long way since then. Now the pictures are clear and just about in real time. I encourage you to check out the Life Size website and test their Video Conference. It's better then I have ever seen it.

Calling all horse people

I just started my new forum on my Horse Approved blog. It's really cool because the forum actually inside of my blog. I think I might include this in all of my Wordpress blogs. Anyway, I am all alone in this forum and need someone to talk to so please come by and chat with me.

Agloco

Agloco is a new paid to surf site that I talked about on my Time To Budget blog. Agloco doesn't sound like your usual get paid to surf sites. I don't normally recommend them because they usually use a top banner within your browser. I don't like that because I feel my browser page is not big enough already and having less space is annoying.
Agloco seems to be much different and I think it's worth checking out. They actually have a the surfing software attached to your browsers tool bar making it much less intrusive. I actually had someone comment on my old Budget Your Money blog about Algoco. He said that he knew one of the co-founders and could vouch for him:

I can speak to the quality of one of the co-founders. I worked with Ray Everett-Church (privacyclue.com) at my previous company TurnTide. He was our chief privacy officer and a total class act. I know that he wouldn’t found anything that wasn’t legit. That being said, it is of course on us all to do our own due diligence.

I hope this helps
-Kendall

I don't know Kendall personally but it is nice to know someone who knows someone and felt the need to post about them.

Still trying to decide what to do with this blog.

I have gotten pretty good at modifying Wordpress blogs. I actually had another Mona's blog once but something happen and I mess it all up. I like having this one on blogger but I don't like being limited. Blogger doesn't have everything that wordpress does. Though with the new upgrades, it might be close. Having my own blog on my own domain would probably be a good idea. So I don't know. I have created so many blogs I don't know if I can keep up with myself.

PayPerPost Affiliate Program

Finally!! Finally! PayPerPost has an affiliate program! Yeah! I don't know how many people I have already referred that I didn't get credit for. Before this affiliate program we had to hope that people would enter out e-mail address or send them an e-mail referral letter. Now, it's much better and right now we can make $15 for each referral. I am so excited. I hope I can get people signed up under me because I have been doing a lot of promoting. So if you are not already a PayPerPost blogger and you want to get your own blog money please check it out and sign up using my referral ID. Does it soud like I am begging? Well, I am :o).

My Plans for Moms Op Net

I know I haven't done much with Moms Opportunity Network website but I haven't forgotten about it. I still want to create a new and improved site that will probably be in blog form with mulitple authors. I want to create a place for work-at-home moms and moms looking for work at home to find a fun, informative place for information and encouragement.
So, I just letting you know I haven't forgotten and I still working on it. Thanks for you patience.

PayPerPost's Blog

PayPerPost has been trying to keep all us Posties up-to-date with their blog. It's been nice to be able to find out what going on in the minds of the staff. I have seen all kinds of craziness vidoes on this blog. Colleen and her french maid costume, Tamale and her confessional, the crazy green people. It's all been really fun to watch. They do also have typed information that keeps us all up to date. If you haven't already read the PayPerPost blog go ahead and check it out. You will either laugh a lot or feel really sorry for them. No really, they are a fun group of people.

Blogging and Link Popularity

Why do people pay bloggers to post links? This is a topic that when I discuss with most people they don't understand. Why are you advertisers paying you to blog? The answer is this. Each individual blog post that I write is actually indexed as a separate page in Googles search engines. An advertisers goal is usually to build link popularity. There are many ways to build link popularity but the most effective way is to have hundreds or thousands of links throughout the web with specific keyword links that are directed to your site. The content of the blog post also need to be related to the specified keyword.
Gaining hundreds or thousands of links on your own is almost an impossible task for most website owners. There are those who have a product or service that instantly becomes popular among the web because of it's good content or uniqueness. For the rest of the people that still may have great products or services seek an alternative.
One option available to advertisers seeking link popularity is to find companies like Blogitive that have a large number of bloggers ready to post about the topic with the specified keyword and link. Blogitive has over 2000 blogs ready and available to blog.

MyBlogLog

Any horse loving people out there? I just started a community for people who love and respect horses. I think MyBlogLog is a cool tool but I wish there were more horse related blogs on it. I don't know if my efforts will be worth it but I am trying to create a large horse community. I guess if I just keep posting about in around the horsie blogoshpere I might get some people interested. Check out my Horse Approved MyBlogLog community and join.

This is so stinking cool

I just found one of the coolest wordpress plugins ever. I stumbled accross in on this horse blog. I didn't even know anything like it exsisted. Are you really curious now?
Ok, I will tell you. It's a Wordpress forum plugin. You can actually set up a forum that is intergrated into your blog. I love it. This is exactly the type of tool that my blogs can use. It works like any other wordpress plugin. It was really easy to set up. The only downside is that it's only in the Alpha stage but I haven't had any problems with it. I am hoping that it's mostly stable.
All of the forum information can be edited through the Wordpress Admin area. So cool! I will be setting up this plugin on my Time To Budget blog and my Horse Approved blog. I actually already set up a forum for my Horse Approved blog.
Like most Wordpress plugins this is a complety free tool. I love it. It maybe that I am a little over excited about it but it's so cool :).

Is Gold a Good Investment?

Is it wise to invest in gold? I don't have a yes or no answer for this question but I do have a word of advice. Create an investment plan that is balanced. Dave Ramsey has a lot of good advice on creating a balanced investment plan.
For many centuries gold has been viewed as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Many people see gold as a symbol of hope or approval. Visa offers us a "Gold" card. Our wedding rings are made of solid gold. We rate movies with 5 gold stars. All of these things have been branded in our minds that gold is wealth.
Before making any decision of investing in gold seek a financial counselor that you can trust.
That being said Monex Deposit Company (www.monex.com) may have some answers for you. Visit their website to find out more.

PayPerPost Money

So far I have made a total of $1,841.92 with PayPerPost. This is more money then I ever thought I would be making. Things have slowed down the last couple of weeks so I haven't made very much lately but I am sure things will pick up. Unfortunetly but also fortunetly I have only been able to contribute to bill paying with my earnings. I had hoped to be able to get highspeed internet but it didn't happen. I am still very thankful for being able to contribute to our household income.
I will be able to spend some of the money I make from last months blog ads to buy Christmas presents. My son has already submitted his gift requests. I was surprised to see it wasn't a mile long. I think he understands the family budget and is submitting a more realistic request.

Keyword Search Tool

I found this great tool that lets you put in a keyword like "frogs" and a list of keywords using frogs comes up and how many times it was used. There are actually two sites like this but this keyword search site was giving me trouble so I searched and found this keyword search site. The first one was I believe an official site of Oveture (now Yahoo) but most of the times I tried to load the page it wouldn't load. So I found the second one but I am not sure if it's an official count or not. I do know that when I typed in "horse" on both they came up with the same keywords and numbers. The only thing I noticed about the second search is that it doesn't say that the search is for the what month. The first site says what month these search numbers where calculated.

Harry Potter

My son loves the Harry Potter movies. Since he is not a strong reader he isn't really into the books but he loves the stories. I am thinking about getting him the Harry Potter Audiobooks. He has listen to books on CD and really enjoyed it. My hope is that he will grow a love for stories so that when his reading improves he will want to read books. This is my hope.
I guess you can rent audio books from Simply Audiobooks like you would a Netflix. I think that is a great idea. So maybe I will just rent him audio books instead. I don't know I will have to think about it.

I made an Turkey Dinner

I made a turkey dinner the other day. I got a free turkey at the grocery store so I decided that our family would have an in between Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. It was the best turkey dinner I have ever had I think. Since it was just our family we didn't have to wait for people to show up and bring their dishes. This seems to happen every year. The turkey gets cold and it's just not good eaten.
A friend of my suggested putting frozen discs of butter under the skin of the turkey. It was soooooo good and hot too!g
I am quite proud of myself.