From a Cluttered Desk

I am Tammy Cardwell, she of the cluttered desk. (Hey, you think I'm kidding?!) I'm having a blast here in Blogland and invite to you to peruse my ramblings. Like a buffet, they offer variety - essentially whatever makes it to the top of the piles that sometimes clutter my brain. We'll eventually cover it all - homeschooling, God, our church, the Eclectic Homeschool Online, books I'm writing and publishing, conferences I speak at, the joys of grandmotherhood, and hopefully chocolate. Of course, this is only what's near the top now. Who knows what's in those piles?

AHA! Look what I found on The Access’ MySpace page!

Terry is the second one interviewed, the smart alecky one text messaging and chewing gum. If you’re not hearing anything, check the volume control on the video.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I got a call on Monday.

No, let me back up.

The Access played a Showcase concert in Nashville during GMA week. Did I ever tell you that? Well, they did, and after that concert they were approached by scads of people who were hugely impressed, including the man who manages ICHTHUS, the oldest Christian music festival in the country. He WANTED them to play his festival, but it’s during the same week as our church’s youth camp and not only every band member, but the manager as well is committed to that camp. Their manager assured the man that they wanted in, very much, but could only do it if he could get them a Saturday concert.

The call on Monday was from their manager’s wife. They’d just gotten off the phone with the man and THE ACCESS IS IN!!!!! There has been some serious screaming going on here, I tell ya! They’ve been asked to play several music festivals (Seven, if I remember correctly), but this is a really big one, and a Saturday concert is huge.

Check out the schedule.

There they are, at 11:40!

This is on The Edge stage, which is where they put the up and coming bands. Their friends with Leeland will also be playing ICHTHUS, on The Main Stage, on Saturday afternoon, so there will be a good contingent from Baytown there, cheering them on.

Oh MAN I’m excited!

Hey, if you’re near Wilmore, Kentucky and want to see my kid, attend the festival and go see them on Saturday. He’s Terry Cardwell, the bass player. <BWG>

ICHTHUS 2008

I wish I could be there myself!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

You guys have GOT to see this! Oh…my…goodness!!!!

I could try to explain, but…nah, you just have to see. Let’s just say that if anyone doubted that God designed us… I’m shaking my head here, thinking about a few Scriptures and seeing them in a whole new light. That Jesus was slain before the foundations of the world, for instance. Man…

And after you finish watching the video you’ll probably want to do a google search of your own. The spelling is "laminin"

WOW!!!!!!!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

A friend and I have teamed up to give away a few copies of my ebook, A Homeschool that Handles the Hard Times: A Guide for Christian Homeschoolers. The idea began with her, so the "game" begins on her blog. Just read this post on Homeschooling is Life! and you’ll find out what you have to do to enter. You just might win an ebook…or two.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I guess I really need to start a "health" category, since I keep wandering back in this direction.

I learned years ago that there are a lot more remedies out there than the general populace knows about. For instance, when we had a bigger budget, you always found a bottle of lavender essential oil in my kitchen. It’s fabulous for burns, headaches, and tension/stress; I also found that it will stop the pain and itching of ant and mosquito bites pretty much instantly. And then there’s Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca Oil), which has an astounding array of uses as well; I’ve even seen it take care of a spider bite that had been refusing to heal.

So when a friend posted about this article on her blog, I knew I needed to share it with you. The Holistic First Aid Kit: What to Include and Their Common Uses, gives a great introduction to the basic holistic first aid items. I’d suggest printing a copy to keep with your first aid kit too, since it’s one thing to buy the products and another to remember what you’re supposed to do with them when the time comes.

In fact, I need to do the same myself, since there are things on this list I’ve never used before.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Yes, once upon a time…

…television was live and everything that was done was irreversible, not only recorded for posterity, but immediate fodder for the fans who got to see it as it happened. The actors had no second chances to get it right; ditto the musicians.

These actors really got it right. This is Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray (Yep, you pretty much have to be over a certain age to recognize those names) performing a classic piece entitled, "Argument to Beethoven’s 5th."

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I’ve had questions about Revolution Money Exchange, a site I mentioned in a recent Living on a Dime post. Most of the questions naturally centered around the foundational, "Is it legit?"

Answer: It is

It was founded last year and is an offshoot of Revolution Money, which is a revolutionary new credit card you might want to check out if you use credit cards. (You’ll find this USA Today article interesting) This one definitely sounds more secure than the average credit card, and has a lower interest rate as well. Because it’s so new, it’s not accepted everywhere yet, but I expect that to change.

So what’s Revolution Money Exchange? It’s a service that wants part of PayPal’s action. It offers free money transfers between members, free transfers to your bank account, and more. They are working on making a debit card available so that you don’t have to transfer funds to your bank account; I really like that option. And they’re using the very same tool to spread the word that Paypal did way back in the beginning - MONEY. When you sign up for an account, they send you a $25 deposit that you can immediately have transferred to your bank account if you like. They also offer you the option of inviting friends to join Revolution Money Exchange and for every person who accepts your invitation they will deposit anther $10 up to $500.

To invite people, you can enter their emails directly, or if you have a website or blog you can put in a button like the following. If you click on my button and set up an account, I’ll receive $10 (unless I’ve hit my $500 max, of course, but I’m not near there yet.), which I can then use in any way I please; you, of course, get your $25.

 There are some provisos on the $25 transfer, but only two. First, there is a time limit. If you don’t accept the money within the time specified, you forfeit it. Second, there is an option, which is suitable for those who are buying and selling online, to suggest a different amount of money. If you use this option, trying to get anything other than the $25, you forfeit the money.

If you’re interested in learning more, you might read the following articles. I would be grateful if, after you did, you came back here to sign up. Since I’ve been living on a dime too, I could use those $10 deposits!

Revolution Money Thinks It Can Win Friends on Facebook

Revolution Money Exchange

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Someone on one of my lists was asking about a photo her mom took of an animal that had been flying outside her window after dark - an animal that, in flight, looked like a hummingbird, but was much too large to be a hummingbird. After consulting with several people who are in the know, she determined that her mom had captured a "flying" photo of the rare Luna Moth. As I was reading the emails and visiting the site that came most highly recommended, I had flashbacks to my stepfather. I had a great stepfather when I was in second grade and one of  the special things he did was find things for me. One day he found an absolutely gigantic white grasshopper. I wish cameras had been as common then as they are today, because I’ve never seen one even remotely like it since and have no clue. My grasshopper definitely made a stir at show and tell and spent a few days at school, being fed by its delighted fans. It made even more of a stir when it disappeared out of the cage and we had no idea where we’d find it. One of the boys found it eventually and I let him take the grasshopper home to show his own family.

Flashbacks aside, after wandering around the site for a while, I decided I had to come share it with you. What’s That Bug? is a fantastic place to visit if you find a bug you don’t recognize, but it’s also great fun if you have any interest at all in the wide range of insects that are out there. I checked out the grasshoppers, of course, and was astounded by the variety of fabulous photos (Complete with scientific information) they had. Nope, no giant white creature appeared, but many other awesome things did.

What’s That Bug? Check it out!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I’ve been asked many times about writing and selling ebooks. I guess I could offer a blog-based online course in creating ebooks, but most of the questions revolve around marketing and selling the ebooks once you’ve written them. For this, here is my most basic answer not only for selling e-books, but any electronically-delivered product.

E-junkie

Now, before I go any further, let me point out that you will need a website of some sort that shares about the products you’re selling using E-junkie. But this service saves you from having to deal with shopping carts, hosting your own files, and worrying about bandwidth issues, plus - and this is a huge plus - it allows you to set up affiliate programs.

Right, so what are affiliate programs?

Affiliate programs allow other people to recommend your products and receive a percentage of the sale as a reward. Word of mouth advertising is by far the best advertising, and affiliate programs give you the ability to encourage it where your products are concerned.

I am a member of several affiliate programs; my posts about UHSE are a good example. I would be recommending that conference anyway (And it is still not too late to register; all the workshops and goodies will be online and available to ticket holders for a good, long while!) , but by becoming an affiliate and giving my affiliate link instead of a general conference link, I get a percentage of the sale every time someone uses my link to go buy their ticket.

Affiliate programs vary, but here are some details on E-Junkie using CJ Press, my own publishing company, as an example.

Every Purchase
If you sign up with my CJ Press affiliate program,  you receive 35% of every sale, even if the person who comes to CJ Press through your link doesn’t actually buy the item you recommended.

6 Months
E-Junkie tracks this person’s CJP purchases for 6 months from the time they click your link, and you get 35% of every purchase they make during that whole time.

Monthly Payout
Every month, E-Junkie gives me (CJ Press) a file containing the PayPal email addresses for and dollars owed to the people I need to pay (You, in this hypothetical case) so that I can do a PayPal mass payment. This means the people I pay don’t have any PayPal fees taken out of their payments, which is always a good thing from the affiliate’s point of view! It’s also easier on me than having to pay every single affiliate one at a time.

Control
I have total control over my products and affiliate percentages. In my case, I offer 35% as my standard affiliate percentage - some people offer more and others offer less. I can also adjust this percentage on a per-person basis. For instance, those authors who contributed to See, I Told Me So! get a higher percentage because, well..because they’re also the book’s authors. Once I set this, I don’t have to worry about remembering to pay them more because that mass pay file contains not only the email addresses, but the actual dollar amount that each person is owed.

You can add your products to the E-Junkie store and those who are browsing will find you; I had a sale this morning that obviously came from there, so I know people do browse that area. In adding product, you select the category and sub-categories you want your products in, and if there are no appropriate categories (For instance, when I uploaded Good Company’s music there was no "acoustic" subcat) you can create one.

Then you start telling people. Share the opportunity. Let them sign up as affiliates and tell others about your products on their blogs and websites and wherever. It’s not the only method of marketing, but, as I said, it is one of the most effective, and best of all, it really doesn’t cost all that much money. If I weren’t selling audio workshops, which means very large files, I could be using E-Junkie for only $5 a month. Even so, I only pay $15 and I’d say that’s a bargain!

So how do you get started?
By clicking this button.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

A friend wrote this recently and gave me permission to share it here.
Friends are such great things to have!

by Lee F. Dickens

…..Every day, as Groucho phrased it; "You bet your life"…Come the dawn, we arise to be reminded that our existence in general and our immortal soul in particular, are on the table…But it is not a crap shoot…It seems that what goes around actually does come around; because it’s all on the wheel…And don’t kid yourself for one minute, life is a gamble, and your aforementioned soul is on the line…Fortunately for us, the odds favor the house…As in my Father’s house; and you know His Son Jesus has all of our bets covered…He paid our blood debt…Shedding His blood…The wages of sin is death…However the wager of our lives IS our very lives…When we stake it all on the promise of the cross, we walk away a winner…Not a bet of blind hope; but one of abiding faith.

Copyright 2008 Lee F Dickens
A bio?  Oh sweet everloving Louise!  You mean look at my life, as in seriously?  I don’t do serious all that well…Let’s see, I’m part of that dying breed of native Californian…Actually we’re all living and dying; I’ve simply chosen to do it on the West Coast…Specifically in Orange County… Long enough to remember orange groves and smudge pots…With fifty years of perspective, only two intelligent decisions pop quickly to mind…When I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior and asking Deborah Brown to be my wife…These shaped my life, just as writing for almost 40 years has defined it. After turning a spectator into a wife, I gave up comedy/magic…Couldn’t top that trick. The writing and comedy continued unabated; just not performed…At least on stage.  The word weaver was content to take on the roles of a lifetime, to last a lifetime, those of Husband and Dad…With a lovely wife who has put up with me for over 30 years…And 2 beautiful daughters who didn’t have much choice, I am blessed to be a writer who dreams of being an author.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C