The Ragged Edge

Who would think that one website could change your whole life? Squidoo does that to you. You begin by thinking, “This isn’t bad, I’ll give it a go.” So you make a lens, in my case using up some old articles lying around, unwanted and unsubmitted. You make your first crappy lens and then you make another one. You tentatively visit a few lenses – some you are awed by, some you curl a lip at. You make some more lenses, still not really having any idea what you are doing. Then someone invites you to join in with something – RocketMoms. There are people there who are ready to help. In fact it is hard to believe how much help and guidance these dear people are ready to share with a newcomer.

A little bit of confidence follows and you learn to rate and leave comments – can you believe, I was actually terrified of doing this, thinking I’d make some awful faux pas. The forum beckons and soon addiction sets in. Now I am lost forever in the deep, deep oceans of Squidom. So let’s see, what have I managed to achieve in this year of thinking of almost nothing else? Indulge me here. Yes, I am being a bit big-headed, I hate that, don’t you? But it’s my blog so I’m allowed to crow…

Graduated RocketMoms twice.
Made Giant
Got (hang on while I check) six Purple Stars
Lens of the Day
#1 on the whole of Squidoo (yes, I know there was some kind of conspiracy of goodness going on to get my lens there – thanks awfully, folks)
Became an Angel (and almost not an Angel within the week)
Won a Sunshine Award
Many other good things like being featured on various blogs. Such lovely people.

I hope to goodness that I am going to live up to all this Squidliciousness. I’ve done my best whilst being an Angel, patrolled the forum, handed out lots and lots of blessings and only a teeny, teeny amount of dings. Helped some newbies, as I was helped. Been a bit sarcastic at times too – I am very sorry about that (no, I’m not).

Bestly, I have made some really lovely friends. There’s a great feeling of ‘we’re all in it together’ at Squidoo, which seems to be quite unique and should be cherished and contributed to. The feeling of community, whether we are hanging around the forum, each other’s lenses, Crabbys, Ning or Facebook groups is second to none. I have even slid over to Hubpages to give it a try but nothing comes close to the kindliness and helpfulness of Squidoo.

Yesterday I published my 91st lens: Zen & Ink and, all being well, I should get to Giant 100 this time round. I can’t wait to see what this coming 12 months is going to bring.

Oh, and if you haven’t seen THIS lens by Allthatiscute, then go and read it now. Hilarious!

Well today it is! Shouting about it all over the place, in fact.

“Growing Old is Good” is my entry for the Squidoo Summer Sunshine Award for charity lenses and I’m happy to say that, yesterday, it was selected to receive that very accolade.  This means that my chosen charity, Women’s Future Benefits, gets $99 and I get $99 too! Happy me. I shall be able to donate a little more to lensmistress, Foovay, who is going through rough times at the moment.

I am not going to fret about growing old. It is an opportunity for me to reinvent myself. No more am I going to worry about what people think of me.  You reach a certain point in your life and it’s like ‘now or never’. My family and I are on the brink of a great adventure (more about that when it comes to pass) and I am embracing the idea that I am about to change the whole rest of my life. Tally Ho!

Anyway, all visits to my lens means more money for charity – so do go take a look and add a comment too.
Photo courtesy of misteraitch, under the Creative Commons Licence.

Just not enough hours to do all the things I want to do, particularly as one of the things I like to do is to laze around and do nothing much at all. I know I supposed to blog. I know how good it is to give my lenses backlinks but I’m just too darn busy being lazy!

~~~~~~~~~~~

January was a brilliant month for me Squidoo-wise. Made Giant, Lens of the Day, two Purple stars, featured on Joker Squid and Coffee Cup Blues.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that Christmas is but a dim and distant money-sucking memory, I’m starting to get the urge to spend more time on my creative interests – art journaling and the like. The other day I decided to try and get the kids to do some work for me by cutting images out of old issues of National Geographic… in the true spirit of being resourcefully lazy, I figure that by using Nat Geogs the kids might actually read some of it and learn something. Thus assuaging my guilt at taking the autonomous educating route and also increase my small stock of potential collage pieces at the same time – see, I know what I’m doing.  However, it didn’t quite work out as I’d planned, as my son decided to use his cut-outs to start an art journal of his own. Four hours he sat there, cutting, glueing and giggling at his own sense of the ridiculous.

Determined to salvage something from the session, I stole his art journal, scanned the pages and made this: Art Journals For Children.

Have I already said that?

The trouble is that spending so much time on new lenses leaves precious little to spend on m’blogs. Which is daft really, as my main blog seems to drive a fair amount of traffic to my lenses so they should not be neglected.

Playing catch-up then:

The BIG news…

My Zentangle has been nominated for a Giant Squid Award… and I haven’t even made Giant yet. It is in the ‘Potential Giants Section’ and I am so pleased and happy to have the nomination!

Anyone who has a spare vote can plonk it right here: Best Potential Giant Squid Nominees

My very, very talented sister-in-law sent me a glorious, riotous, intricate (ous) Zentangle/Zendoodle to add to the lens – well worth a look. The module is entitled “Jan’s Zentangle“. Here’s a peek at a small portion of it:

I am so jealous – she is almost a professional cartoonist – her work is a joy. She’s also a talented writer and seamstress. Some people make you want to spit!

What else?

Oh… yes… the small matter of publishing my 50th lens. Hooray! Popping champagne corks all round! I’d decided I wanted to do something a bit special… and I really had no idea what it was going to be until I started writing it. It was lovely to do – the words just flowed and the perfect pictures just leapt off the page of the Creative Commons search! It took a couple of days and even then, after much combing, there were still a few typos. There may still be. Anyway, theraggededge’s 50th lens – TAA DAAA! Appreciate Your Way to Happiness . And…and.. it went straight into the top tier. Much appreciation all round. Appreciation is me!

Then I went all bah-humbugish for the final RocketMom’s assignment. We were supposed to do a Holiday/Christmas vacation lens. I was just about out of ideas and was sulking in a corner when I got the idea that not everyone enjoys the holiday season so I put together a tongue-in-cheek guide to “Hibernation – The Ultimate Christmas Getaway“  Unfortunately, it did NOT go zooming into the top tier; it is languishing in a sobbing heap somewhere around 181,000. LOL! I thought it was funny anyway!

And another update. It’s almost 3am here and I can’t sleep. Turned on m’laptop and find two more blessings. I could cry I’m so overwhelmed.  Squidoo is such a supportive place – really in all my years of trawling the web, there is nowhere like this.

Thank you Drifter and Oh-Me…  I hope you have a great day tomorrow… because Top 100 or not, I’m already celebrating. Very quietly. In my head

Night night.

Earlier I wrote:

Two blessings on Zentangles! I am thrilled and can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring as far as lensrank goes. There was a slight dip this evening but the blessings will surely help.  All I want for Christmas is a Top 100 lens!

Thank you Holley and Mimi.

Had a lovely surprise yesterday evening. Went to check my stats and there was my Zentangle lens right up at 292. Now I am starting to wonder if it could make the Top 100. My heart is a-fluttering and I am checking viewings and stats every hour. Okay, make that every 15 minutes!

Then I discover that Marelisa has mentioned the len on her Abundance blog and I get even more excited. Emailed all my friends and family and demanded that they visit the lens. They won’t. Tempted to plead on SquidU for help but can’t bring myself to do that. It’s better if the lens makes it without too much help.

I’m now inspired to make another Zentangle lens, maybe in-depth with more instructions.  Hmm… will need some planning.

Anyway, this is my first post on my new and latest blog. I don’t think I can handle any more!