Frustrated….Part One

I have been trying to understand the mountains of information on how to do a blog properly. For those of you that have not tried this let me tell you….its completely overwhelming and knowing me I am truly making it way harder than it needs to be because I always over think everything.

I have been slowly adding some affiliate ads to my Avalon Blog only to discover that you cannot click on the links. They show up but nothing happens when you click on them. I am going through a company called Linkshare and every time I click on a tutorial or even leave a question in the contact spot I get a page that says its temporarily out of service. So I have ads on my site but no way to earn from them and no one to whom I can ask for help. I am going to attempt to ask someone on Problogger itself or if I am luck even Darren Rowse himself but I just want to cry. Today’s lesson is on how to link my blog to other bloggers sites and I find I cannot even respond to his email and lessons as hundreds of other people seem to have no problem doing. I know I just need to slow down and have patience with myself and this project but I really want to feel I am making some progress and as of right now I only feel more confused than ever. I will continue to find a solution for today’s frustration and let you know what I have learned.

Lisa

Learning to be a Professional Blogger: Writing an Elevator Pitch and Lists Blogs

I now have 5 blogs which may seem quite insane because the more I get into it the more I realize how hard this is and how little I know. Truly I feel like someone has driven up their car and asked me to fix the head gasket….or something equally as foreign to me. I am reading the book Problogger written by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett but I am also taking their 31 Days to a Better Blog Challenge. Day #1 asked me to write up an Elevator Pitch. I have literally spent all day (except when I was rushing my dog to the vet again) on my 5 Elevator Pitches.
For the Day #2 Challenge I am to write a list blog……????  Okay so I thought why not just combine the two and list my elevator pitches right here in my “Learning to Be a Professional Blogger” Blog.

So here goes:

Blog #1 http://lisalday.blogspot.com  A Brand New Day
             “This Blog is about my journey on becoming a professional blogger”

Blog #2  http://lisadayphotography.blogspot.com  Lisa Day Photography
              “My evolution as a nature photographer”

Blog #3  http://wildandwonderfulcatalinaisland.blogspot.com   Avalon on Catalina Island
              “Catalina Island is the playground for all, rich or poor, youth or aged. All classes mix with
               democratic spirit. – William Wrigley Jr. 1922″

Blog #4  http://lisalday111711.wordpress.com
              “My journey through my identity crisis, my midlife crisis and learning to love the spirit within”

Blog #5 http://rainyandrosie.wordpress.com
             “My love for nature as seen through the lens of my camera”

For the 2.3 people that may actually be following my blog I encourage you to check out my other ones. So far the only blog that I have been able to get advertising for is my Avalon on Catalina Island blog but I am going to keep trying. As always I encourage your comments and suggestions as I am going into this with great enthusiasm albeit blindly.

Have a great day

Lisa

Homesick

Ron, my mother and I all moved to Catalina Island as most of you know last June. After giving it 4 months we have all decided we want to go home. I miss Moab so much. Catalina has always been a dream of mine but the reality of living here is not at all what I expected. There are so many changes happening right now and business owners that have been here for 30+ years are losing their place because ultimately The Island Company owns everything. All the places I have loved my whole life are disappearing. And the backstabbing is the worst I have ever seen. I do believe its because resources are few and far between so anyone new to the island is an automatic threat.

I will always love this place and my sweet memories of my summers here with my grandmother will never fade for me but people say you can never really get back home and they are right. So in March or April we will make our way back to Utah. My mother will live with my daughter Jessica and her fiancee in Blanding and Ron and I will go home to our little paradise in Moab.

Utah spoiled me….especially Moab. I miss the vast open spaces and the hiking and the people that I grew to love in Moab and in Blanding.
I have not been happy in a very long time. It began when my dad got so sick I had to move in with my parents until he passed away a year ago. I then moved my mother up to Moab with me while we arranged to buy the house in Catalina and had it remodeled. Then we moved to Catalina and I feel almost claustrophobic. I miss the antelope and the red rock and the canyons, sunsets, sunrises and the rugged beauty that you cannot find anywhere else in the world.

So Catalina will continue to be a place I visit upon occasion because a part of me will always belong here but that was the child in me. The adult in me longs for Moab.
I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to try it and its been a wonderful experience but its not for me. I was listening to my mother call all her friends in Blanding today and I found there were tears in my eyes at the overwhelming joy they all expressed to have my mother come home and I know my mother needed to hear that. I just got back from Moab and I have not lost my place there either. I am wanted and needed there and that is where I belong.

So once again I will start over and rebuild my life but this time I have nothing that is drawing me away from Moab….I finally realized it is my home and that is where my heart and spirit is.

Road Trip

I know it has been quite awhile since I have been able to write. Things here on the island is not what I would call paradise but we are managing. Then we had to go to Moab to winterize our house. I spent three wonderful days with Eileen and Jessie and I loved it. Here’s the thing….I have really been struggling with nasty depression and it was getting to the point that I didn’t want to get out of bed. I knew deep down that I missed Moab but I refused to believe it. I left Catalina when I was 7 and I have been trying to get back to her ever since (and I am 45) so why pray tell am I unhappy. There are many reasons that I will share with you guys later. When we pulled up in the driveway to our home I knew that I was going to come home….I love Catalina more than anywhere else in the world but there are many many problems with living here that I never saw coming. I also am so burnt out caring for my parents. First my dad and mom last year until my dad passed away then I moved mom into my home in Moab while we waited to move to Catalina. I haven’t had a break from care giving and being on call day and night for 2 years. When I saw my pretty home that Ron and I worked so hard at and did completely on our own I just wanted to cry…in fact I think I did a little. Then hanging out with Eileen was wonderful then I got to hang with Jessie at my moms old place in Blanding for two days. I made up my mind after those three glorious days that I didn’t want to be the only care giver in my mothers life and I wanted to move back to Moab. Ron and I talked along time about it and we both agreed it would be the best for everyone….but I still had to break the news to my mother and I felt so bad at having this conversation with her.
I finally broached the topic today and it went so well. She admits she misses home and she knows that Ron and I are not happy here. I told her she could either live in a mother in law cottage that we build on our property or a mother in law cottage on her old home in Blanding. She seemed relieved and frankly Ron and I let out a long breath as if we had been holding it this whole time.
Don’t get me wrong….the realization that Catalina was not the paradise I knew as a child has nearly broken me but I promise myself I will visit her often and who knows….maybe I can come back one day. But in the meantime I cannot wait to see the red rock and deep canyons and arches of the beautiful high desert of the four corners area.
We drove up the Salt Lake City to spend time with Ron’s children and had a great time until I was playing stick with Rainy. She ran to catch it and bent down into the tall grass and the next thing I know she is screaming bloody murder and running to the hotel. I got her  up in the room and we could see two big gashes at the back of her throat. We were on our way to Santa Barbara to see my uncle and once he saw her he gave me the number to his vet. She was drooling non stop in her left side and the whole left side was very very swollen. I took her in the next morning to the vet and they thought it was a ruptured salivary gland and the only way to fix it was to remove it surgically. BUT….only two surgeons in Santa Barbara were capable to do the surgery and each one worked at a 24/7 emergency hospital which could only mean one thing (cha-ching).
The other BUT was there would be no surgeon in until Monday and this was Saturday. We were suppose to get back on the boat to go home but we had no choice to stay because there was no surgeon that could do it on Catalina.
So Monday they started to use a small camera that would give the doctor a better idea of what was going on. Her tongue was very bruised and scraped under her tongue, She has a huge laceration down her throat right under her tonsil and there were at least three more gashes but luckily no surgery.
Of course she was really struggling with the drugs and anesthesia so we had to lower the lift to the van for my moms wheel chair so we just used it for Rainy. Ron opted to stay in the hotel with Rainy because she was seriously messed up. She got up and just stared at herself in the mirror and noises spooked her to death and she would whimper and whimper.  Meanwhile I ran over to Eric to spend time with him and had a lot of fun. but we had to skip dinner due to Rainy.
The next day she was a little better so we felt it was safe to head home. We stopped by to have coffee and breakfast with Lena and Eric and then we were on our way. Unfortunately by the time we go to the boat the boat was just leaving and the next boat would be about 3 hours so we had to hang out at the Catalina Island Express terminal. Finally we got on the boat….the water was quite choppy and eerie but I had no problem falling asleep.  When we arrived there was a  nice taxi driver that allowed Rainy to ride with us otherwise I would’ve had to walk home and I was already on my reserve tank.
Mom was so happy I was home again and she has been very pleasant to be with. I didn’t have the strength to tellher I could no longer be her full time caretaker….that we would have to hire someone and that she could either build a mother in laws cottage on the Blanding property with Jessie and Alaska there I wouldn’t have to worry. Her other option is that I build her a small cottage on our property in Moab. At this point she is leaning towards Blanding but we shall see.
This trip was bittersweet for me. On one hand I feel so much better about my future and I can go to work and make my own money and save as much as I can. Jessie is elated I am coming home and so is Eileen and the Barkery girls….my adorable twisted sisters.
Thats about all for now. I many details and stories but its getting late.