My website is up and running!

Yaaay! Tell all your friends!

www.soapcrone.com


All-natural handmade soaps! The best gift for the holidays is a handmade gift, you know. It just doesn't have to be handmade by you, does it? :)

Check out the site and lemme know what you think. Oh, and buy something while you're at it. I've got a family to feed.

Best time in a long time.

Please go to the following links to view my new obsession: mrpicassohead.com.

It's so much fun, I can hardly stand it. Of course, not all of mine are faces. To wit:

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=84c1bf9

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=a2b17dd

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=fee165c

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=396b2ba

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=e64c357

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=b446cba

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=b60c575

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=baa4360

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=c51594b

http://mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=07a1ddf

http://mrpicassohead.com/canvas.html?id=e5fc0ce

Okay, I'm done.......for now.

Today.

Today is my wedding anniversary. We've been married for 9 years, and together for 12.


*bows*


Thank you.

My Big Ideas

Why are my blogs always full of lists and quizzes? I feel the need to put my ideas down on paper, or else I'll lose them, somehow.

Okay, let's see:

1. Publishing company. I will publish

• my own stuff
• my friend's stuff that I think will sell
• other folks' stuff that I think will sell

2. The company will eventually have the following divisions:

• Educational literature
• Romance fiction
• Mainstream fiction
• Calendars
• How-To Nonfiction
• For Adults Only (we gotta make money somehow)

3. I will offer a small advance, with a larger cut for royalties than most give. I won't pull a book from print after only a few months; I'll leave it in print as long as it is selling.

4.The "for adults only" division will publish both books and ebooks. The paper books will have a cover that is essentially the same for all of them. I'm not divulging that idea here, but it's a good one. Anyway, that will help save on set-up costs for the books when they are printed, if they all have essentially the same cover.

5. I don't know how I'm going to pay for the calendar artwork. The same as books, I suppose. I'll work that out later. Probably a percentage per calendar sold, with non-exclusive rights to publish the artwork.

Anybody wanna tell me what you think about these plans? Will they work? Will they not? What questions do you have? This will help me to solidify my vision.

Had an idea today...

....while having lunch. S. and I were lunching in the real world, and discussing work, of course. Decompressing, if you will. I thought out loud about how well we co-teach, which is a rare thing for general education and special education teachers. I thought, "We should make a video of our teaching, and sell that along with a book someday. That would really make some money." Because we co-teach like nobody else I've known. I also thought, if we couldn't do that, we could secretly audio-record some classes that we teach, and I could transcribe them into my book. A video would be better, though. We are often very subtle.

The video could have a voice-over, as well. A little documentary thingy. I could create it on my lappy, what with iMovie and all.


Dammit. How many F***ing projects can a person have going on?

NaNoWriMo

I ain't doin' it.

NaNoWriMo

Your moment of Math.

Okay, children. It's time to take a quiz. Please clear your desks of all extraneous things (iPods, cell phones, Cliff notes), and focus only on your own work. This quiz should not be difficult, because I am very sarcastic.

1. My yearly raise is now in effect. I received my paycheck, and calculated my take-home raise. The percentage that I figured out was:

a. 10% of my salary--a lovely amount.
b. 1% of my salary--an insult.
c. 1/3 of 1% of my salary--the equivalent of leaving a penny tip at a restaurant. Well, 1/3 of one penny, I guess.

2. My monthly salary raise:

a. Won't cover gasoline expenses for one week.
b. Won't cover one dinner out.
c. Won't cover one jumbo package of diapers.
d. All of the above.

3. My daily salary raise:

a. Won't buy a ghetto cup of coffee at 7-11.
b. Certainly won't buy one Einstein's bagel.
c. Absolutely won't buy one cup of Starbucks coffee.
d. All of the above.

4. I work as a freelance teacher at a local university. I can earn my monthly pay raise from my district by working how long at the university?:

a. 5 hours
b. 1 hour
c. 10 minutes
d. 10 freaking minutes!

5. I also make and sell soap. This is a blue-collar type of employment, because I sell my wares at a local farmer's market. I've got to set up the tent, set up the tables, be outside in the elements, etc. I do this once per week, for about 5 hours total. Today was a crappy day at the market, as well. Breaking down my crappy income for today into an hourly wage, how many hours did I have to work today, to equal my raise for the entire month at my teaching job?:

a. 3 hours
b. 2 hours
c. 1 hour
d. 1 freaking hour

6. On a good day at the market, an average day, how long would I have to work to equal my monthly pay raise at the school district?:

a. 2 hours
b. 1 hour
c. 30 minutes
d. 22.8 minutes

7. Judging from all this math, your estimation of my time spent at my various, part-time, freelance and self-employed enterprises, is:

a. it's time well-spent
b. it's time needed to be spent
c. it's about time the school district treated teachers with some goddamned respect
d. all of the above

8. You are now wondering:

a. why anyone would ever become a teacher
b. how anyone continues to teach, what with the crappy salary and all
c. why I am still a teacher
d. all of the above





There, now. How did you do? Of course, the answers are:

1. c. No, I am not kidding.
   
2. d. Again, I'm not kidding.
3. d. Still not kidding.
4. d. Hmm. I wonder which job is more fulfilling?
5. d. And today was a crappy day.
6. d. Yeah. Selling soap. I shit you not.
7. d. That's my estimation as well.
8. d. That's what I'm wondering, as well.

It's become very clear to me that I must become self-employed all the way, in order to make a living in which I can spend some time with my family, and not work so many jobs. It's becoming less and less scary to me to "go it alone." My freelance stuff right now is doing very well. It's not enough to pay all the bills, but my credit card debt is decreasing, month by month. After the market, I sometimes purchase food and literally feed my family with that money. It's very satisfying.

Oh, and something else that pisses me off is this: The idea that, because I'm a teacher and I am supposed to feel so very good about my job, that the salary doesn't matter. It infuriates me when I'm told, in not so many words, that because my job is so fulfulling, that it makes up for a lack of salary. Excuse me? When did my employer become my parent? My family and friends give me love and I feel fulfilled; they show me love, and I feel valued.

My employer is supposed to show that I'm valued by giving me money.