June Is Here!

June is here and it appears like a perfect summer may be headed our way. Our Spring has been just beautiful. Just enough rain, not hard downpours, like we usually get. My home is surrounded by the Ludlow Creek State Forest, and it is breathtaking. It looks like the Garden Of Eden must have looked. Everything is a deep green, the birds are always singing - and they are happy songs - not the angry ones I used to hear when I live in the city of Vestal, NY.

I have had reasons lately to go into the city nearby, Binghamton, NY. It makes me so sad to see how that city has changed. My mother grew up there and it was a whole different world back then. My grandmother raised chickens right in the city, grew a huge garden every year and canned all her produce. She worked, of course, at Endicott Johnson Shoe Factory (most people did back then!), and her co-workers shared their bounty with her. She always took it and canned it. My mother's family did not suffer from no food in the depression, because my grandmother knew how to provide it. She was raised on a farm in Pennsylvania, so of course she knew what to do.

She raised all her girls to know how to do all those things and more. They learned to sew, crochet, knit, and whatever else they had to do to take care of their families in bad times. Back then when someone lost their job and did not have any means to take care of their children, the parents would take the children to the orphanages and leave them there. My grandmother fought against that and did whatever she could to hang onto her children.

Anyway, I have been moving all my merchandise out of my eBay store. Somebody said that eBay was broken and I think they are correct. It is no longer feasible for me to keep my items for sale on there, especially when my own website, www.larrylupole.com/catalog gets way more traffic. So I can even lower my prices there and charge a very minimal shipping fee with no handling fees! It is just great. And so much easier to maneuver. I have been adding many different products there this week. So if you get a chance come take a look and see what you'd like!

Downloading Free Programs Is Dangerous!

Recently, I downloaded a screensaver from www.appleblossomart.com because she had a great looking screensaver which showed horses running in the snow. I am such a sucker for a horse! Anyway, it had all kinds of problems. First, I could not use it. So I ended up paying $10. for it and it still would not work. So I left it alone. I made my own screensaver with my Windows program using the pictures from a favorite movie, Ride With The Devil.

A couple of weeks ago, I find out that I had a Trojan horse that came in on that screensaver download. I contacted the woman who has Apple Blossom Art, thinking she might want to know that she was spreading this around the internet. No, she didn't care about anything except that she did not want to take responsibility for it. Well, she is responsible for it. I am sorry that she is handicapped, which is all she cares about telling you. And I was more than happy to pay for the screensaver, but could never use it. But that is no excuse for what she is spreading around the internet on her free screensavers!

Recently, I have been trying to add a credit card processing program to my website www.larrylupole.com/catalog. I have to go through all kinds of paperwork and security safe guards to accompolish this. To make sure that everything is perfectly safe and that no one could get into my buyers' credit card information. But these spyware and adware programs are allowed to exist and we have to learn how to protect ourselves and our computers from them. I am hoping that my state of New York will start something to stop them. They were the first to introduce the famous, "Do Not Call" Registry for telemarketers. And I was one of the first people to sign up for that great service!

Now, my husband is having trouble trying to get rid of a spyware program called Mediaflex that he believes came in on his FTP download. We are not new to the computer world and work on them all the time. But if they can attach themselves on our computers, they can do it to most anybody's. These programs keep track of what you are doing, what you are buying, which sites you visit, even your passwords, sign-ins and maybe even your credit information. I think it's time for everyone to stand up for our freedom from this type of abuse on our computers!

I used to be involved in Affliate Marketing. For people not familar with it, you put a company's banner or link on your web pages and everytime someone clicks it and buys something, you get a percentage of that sale and any future sales that person makes. There were some guys who went into the affiliates' html and put a redirect on those links and banners so instead of having your id number on the link, it would have their's. So they would get credit for a sale from your site and you would never know! On the Affiliate Marketing Forums, these guys were known as Parasites.

Yes, doing business on the internet is almost as bad as dealing with the shoplifters and street thugs!

Nice February Day!

Today was a reasonably nice day for February. It was sunny and pleasant. I have been so busy on my website adding new products. To sell online, you have to work at that all the time. People come there looking for something new. We have added all kinds of new things and it's really shaping up. The funny thing is that I also have the ebay store and all and have been listing on there for awhile, but my site is a os commerce store and it is so much easier and faster than listing on ebay. You'd think it would be the other way around!

I know I talk about my animals a lot. But they are my family. My three horses loved the weather today. They were frisky, running and playing. But they really do like snow and cold weather the best though. Even our dog, Nikita loves cold weather, course she has a lot of hair. But she loves to roll in the snow or lay in the snow chewing on a bone. Then she comes inside and curls up right behind the woodstove on the hearth. When she gets too hot, I have to make her move away.

I love the internet and would like to arrange my life so I just would not have to go anywhere at all. Just buy everything I need right here from my computer. I know I could not buy my horses' their hay that way. But I could get have it delivered just like I have my firewood delivered. You can do all your banking and paying bills online. There are many many sites to purchase food from. And all your household supplies too.

I'll be back tomorrow...

Copyright © 2005  Kathleen G. Lupole

What Happened To January???????????????

Georgie waiting for the lean to being built in 2000

Today is the last day of January. Usually, January is so cold and snowy that my husband tears the page off the calendar before the month is over. Then February is never much better. Some years back, we used to have what was called a "January thaw", where the weather would warm a bit, and the snow would thaw. Then February would come in with a vengence. But we hadn't had one of those in years in the area of which I live. Now, I am completely perplexed at what the future of our weather will be.

If I knew the weather would hold out, I would try to get some seeds started for my garden. But I can't put them in the ground anyway till May at least. Usually. My ground is usually still frozen rock hard in March. Carla Emery used to put her peas in early, I'm thinking maybe in April. But usually, I don't get anything in that early. But this year, I will be planting in my new raised beds (that I told you about when my husband was building them), and I am trying to implement Ruth Stout's method of gardening. That should make the whole process so much easier for me.

There is so many things you have to do to prepare for the months ahead. You are either trying to get through the winter or it is spring, summer and fall when you are trying to prepare for the upcoming winter. Whew! So much work and so little time. Tires you up but you cannot give in to it. Keep prodding along and you will be finished.

Barbie Dolls And Mothers

This is a book that I have for sale in my ebay store.

Last week, I sold three Barbie doll dresses that I had in my ebay store. I felt good about it since, the buyer seemed like she really cared about her purchase. You see, I did not make these myself, I wish I could say that I did. But my mother made these. She could crochet for hours. Her stitches were always perfect. I can look at other people's crocheted items and they just never compare to her's.

When she became pregnant with me, she wanted a girl so badly, that she started crocheting fancy dresses. She figured that if she had another boy, she would give the dresses to one of the family members that were pregnant at the same time. It turned out that three of my aunts and one cousin, were also pregnant at the same time. She told me that she thought someone would possibly have a girl. Well, that year, 1952 must have been a good year for girls! As they all had a girl! But I got all the dresses.

This is a jumpsuit that I have listed in my store. There are more items available there.

All my years at home, she crocheted all my dolls' clothes. Especially, the Barbie dolls, as they were my favorites. I still have the dolls and the clothes. I haven't sold any of them. The doll clothes that I am selling are ones she had made for me to sell. She also crocheted over fifty baby sweaters that I will be selling also. The best part of that is that she was bedridden the last few years of her life, suffering from Cushing's Syndrome. But this gave her something to do, and she did beautiful work, even with her hands shaking and living on pain medication.

When I was a teen ager, she sewed all my clothes. Back then, Cher was my idol. So she made me those bell bottom outfits just like Cher's. My clothes were different from everyone else's and back then, that was a good thing. It meant you were an individual and you stood out from the crowd.

She died in November of 2002. I miss her dearly, and she will always live on in me and my brother. She was a great mother and when I see the kind of mothers there are now, I thank my lucky stars I was born to her. She did work out, but we lived in small town areas and most of the time in the country. We were not glued to a television, and sometimes when she came home from working, her and my father would just take us swimming or some other fun thing.

Anyway, if you have time to check out my store in the next day or so, you will be able to see some of her doll clothes. They are beautiful, and I do wish I could find some more, after these sell. I was never good at handiwork myself. These will make some little girl a wonderful gift, as they can be played with and washed in a machine safely.

Copyright © 2005  Kathleen G. Lupole

Back To Work Today

Georgie Girl and Dark Shadow Relaxing!

Today, I finally got my power system back! I am like a addict getting her fix. I can't help it and I do not apologize for the fact that I love working on my computer. It is what I do. I remember very well, those days of going to a job and doing what someone else told me to do for a few lousy bucks in my pocket, that barely paid for my gas to get there! Who wants that kind of life anyway? It's true if you ask around, that most people hate their jobs, and especially hate it when they have to go to work.

So this morning, my wonderful husband fixed our system and got me back online! My work is way behind. I have my eBay store and I was trying to list enough things to get it up to 1000. But now I am far behind my goal. I had 560, but people kept buying things! I guess I shouldn't be complaining about that, and I'm not. That's what I want.

Today, was a rainy rainy day in upstate New York. Our horses hate rain. But they love snow. They would rather have snow any day. Even summer weather doesn't please our girls as much as a heavy snow fall! They hate bugs, storms, hot days, etc. But when it snows, they are running and rearing up and playing like young fillies. They love rolling in the snow! Two of our girls, Georgie Girl and Dark Shadow, want to eat their grain with the snow. So I end up looking for snow and putting it next to their grain so they can eat happily. Right now, the rain washes away the snow, but this is January and I know it won't last. Not here. In New York state.

I will be back tomorrow so till then...... have a great day!