Tufted Ears

Hey, Everyone!

My schedule is getting pretty crazy and I know I'm going to have a lot to blog about. So rather than doing it all in one overly looooooooooong entry, I'm going to try to break down what I'm up to into smaller entries. That means more updates than usual in the upcoming week.

Check this out:I got a picture of Rebel from the front! (You're welcome, Paris!) She/he has such pretty tufted ears. It's a shame that one of them is going to be clipped once we capture him/her to get neutered at FixNation. :\ At least we'll finally know what sex Rebel is...

I've written some more articles for WP Pro Business. I'm particularly proud of this one. It talks about successful business women. I hope that you'll check it out!

On the other hand, you won't be seeing any more US Combat Sports articles from me. At least not until I can afford to work for free. Rather than have me try to explain why, check out what my "boss" there wrote to me when I brought up that I hadn't been paid for my work:

In the first quarter of 2011 our plan is to see which reporter's are willing to immerse themselves in their local scene's community and be able to provide enough content to be a paid member of the team. Your first two articles were excellent and got you off to a great start. In the first four months to a year we want writers to make their names known to their local gyms and the online community. We couldn't be happier with your start and hope you want to keep upon the path of being promoted and eventually becoming a paid USCS member.

...

Bummer.

I told him very politely that being paid "eventually" didn't jive with me where payment for my work was concerned. [I do NOT work for free--I (literally) can't afford to!]. There are no hard feelings. And I'm still involved with the Combat Sports community. Another opportunity has opened up in that arena already. (This time with someone who WILL pay). I'll talk more about it as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I've got WP Pro Business, other freelance gigs, and I've been selling scarves again!

Photo credit goes to Sarahe.

I had knit a bunch of them, but then the warm weather hit and kinda killed my sales...locally at least. I just sold a bunch of them to someone on the opposite side of the world!

Anyway, as I mentioned, I'm going to be very busy this upcoming week. For instance, on Wednesday, I'm going to be returning to my high school to talk to the Publications/Journalism class(es). I used to be head writer for my school newspaper back in the day... My old teacher found my website online and contacted me and invited me to come speak to the kids (since what I do now is pretty much what I did then, only for money).

Well, it's just past 1:00am and I barely got any sleep last night (up 'til past sunrise!), so I should log off now.

Until next time...

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

Superbowl Sunday 2011

Hey, Everyone!

Just to be clear right off the bat: I'm not watching the Superbowl today. Not even "for the commercials." The title is mainly for me, so that I can retrace my steps and find this entry/day again later in life. haha.

Anyway, look who came to visit today!!

Robert's Mom!

She's doing really well. She looked really healthy and had her winter coat (that's why she's so big/fluffy!). When we came home from grocery shopping, she was hanging out with Robert out on the deck. She still loves her little boy.

In other news, I'm going to be writing two Blog entries/articles a week for WordPress Pro Business. You should check it out! Or, if you're just interested in the articles that I write, those can be found here.

That's about it for this week!

One more picture:
Robert's Mom, Rebel, and Ziggy.

Until next time...

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

Rebel Exists

Hey, Everyone

I made $32.80... For the entire month.

Pathetic. I hate myself.

The whole of that money was from the same wonderful client (and I'm extremely grateful to him!--especially for paying in advance) and the articles he hired me to do are due tomorrow. So I'm going to try to keep this entry short.

Anyway, I've also been super busy this past week talking to/interviewing lots of interesting (and very nice!) people for US Combat Sports:

• Gary Finnerty
• Roxy "Balboa" Richardson
• Goran Karamfiloski
• Kason Chan
• Joe Schilling
• Mike "All World" Ryan
• Al Franco

All of them very interesting and very helpful and just all-around awesome to talk with. And they made for some GREAT interviews. I've got to get back in contact with a couple of them to double-check a few last details, but I think I've got the makings of some really great articles to submit in the very near future. Unfortunately, USCS is a little bit strange when it comes to how they pay their writers. Basically, since they're an online only Combat Sports News site, they pay their writers based on how many hits their articles get. Like a dollar per person or something (probably less). The minimum I could get paid for each of these stories is $2.00 and the maximum is $100.00. So...pardon me in advance to my friends, family, and whoever else reads this blog, for spamming the heck out of these articles once I get them posted. I'm a sad, sad, person who's desperate for the sweet, sweet, coin. Thank you for understanding.

Last bit of news has to do with my "Subject" line: Rebel Exists.

A couple of wise-ass friends of mine have joked that Rebel doesn't actually exist and that I'm just taking pictures of Ziggy from another angle and saying she's an entirely different cat. Because "I never see them together!" Well...that's because they hate each other. :\ Anyway, this morning, I saw them NEAR each other out the kitchen window and I decided to take a really crappy cell phone picture to share with everyone:For those of you who are new to my blog, Rebel is a feral cat that hangs out in our backyard. She has half a tail and is either a full or half sibling of Ziggy's (same mom). Our area has a whole big trouble with feral cats (which you can read about in other entries) and Ramiro (my guy) and I work to capture them and have them fixed.

This is Ziggy--the cat people confuse with Rebel because they're both white:
As you can see, Ziggy has her whole tail. Also, she's pretty much ALL white (except for her tail and that spot on her head). Rebel is very spotty. Hopefully that'll help everyone tell the difference. :)

Here's a cute picture of Robert & Ziggy (Ramiro & my cats) from the other night:
Robert will be 2 years old in April 2011 and Ziggy just had her 1st birthday in October 2010. They were both born in our backyard. For their whole stories, see my blog entry that has their (and their mothers & siblings) Catster pages: http://littlezotz.blogspot.com/2010/08/our-cats-are-on-catster.html

We also take care of Ramiro's sister Sarahe's cat, Ringo:
He likes bags.

In other news, I'm still in pain, I haven't been sleeping, and when I do sleep I have terrible nightmares. Also, I updated my LinkedIn page! Feel free to connect with me. People have been leaving me really great reviews. It's so nice that even though I feel so SO crappy that people still think so highly of me.

And that's all the news that's fit to print in the Life of Lauren these days!

Until next time...

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

Rebel Rebel

Hey, Everyone!

Just wanted to say that congratulations are in order for Ramiro as well. He's working at the same company I am now:That's the view from my cubical looking into his (there's a window).

Sorry, I didn't mention it before. He was on a "trial" basis at first and I didn't want to announce it until they made him a legit employee... And they did! Yaaaaaaaaaay!! Congrats, Ramiro! :)

Also, a while back I mentioned a "stranger cat." Since then, that same cat has been hanging around a lot. We don't know whether she's a boy or a girl, but we call her(?) "Rebel." Ziggy's Mom had her before getting spayed (another litter of one!). She hangs out with Ziggy's Mom and Robert's Mom. She looks a lot like our Ziggy, but much smaller (she's a lot younger) and she only has half a tail. My best guess is that someone ran over her tail with their car (like she was sleeping under a car and it rolled over her tail). I knew a squirrel as a kid who had their tail run over by a car and it looked very similar to Rebel's.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Rebel that I took this morning:Other than her(?) messed up tail, she's a very beautiful cat. It's a shame she's feral.

When we can, we're going to get a trap from FixNation and take her(?) in to be fixed. Go through that whole rigmarole again... Sigh.

That's about it for now.

Until next time...

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com