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Crazy as a Loom

Friday, December 25, 2020

Change isn't always good.


Ok, so here I am back on Blogger........I have had my own Word Press Blog for over a year now, and to be quite honest, I am not impressed.
I get a hundred spam comments every day, and have to go through them to approve REAL PEOPLE, and I find that supremely annoying.
Plus there are many, many days that it is unreachable, and I have to contact the server to see what is wrong.
So I find myself doing some soul searching......and please, feel free to share your opinion if you have one.



I spent a good amount of money getting my web site, up and running with Word Press.  It is nice, yes, it really is.  But it doesn't always work well.   Over the last year, I have had people message me that they can't get on it.  Then a message from the server appears, that if I would just pay for THIS upgrade, or THAT feature, it would certainly solve the problem.
Then there's the facts......which I have to face.  I sell more on FB than I ever sell on my web site.  In fact, the only time I sell a lot on my web site, is if I have a sale........otherwise, getting people over here is like pulling nails.  A web site only works if you can get people to see it.

FB, on the other hand, I have no trouble getting people to notice, to comment, to buy.
And then there's Instagram, which I could do a lot more with, if I were so inclined.

So the question I ask myself is this:   why do I bother with a web site?  It's not like I am at the beginning of a long career of weaving, trying to build a customer base, in order to do mega sales.
No,  I am actually on the down swing here.  I have downsized considerably in the last couple of years.  I got rid of all my rug looms, all my rug warp and fabric to weave rag rugs with.  I stopped doing weaving weekends, because we live here.  I stopped doing custom rugs,  and then after a couple of years doing baby wraps, I stopped doing custom orders for those, as well.
So really I am returning, or trying to return, to the retirement gig I envisioned, years ago.  Trying to have the life, which I have imagined, where I weave what I want, when I want, and otherwise sit and knit, or read, and just basically enjoy the fact that I don't HAVE to do anything I don't want to do.
A few day shows, here and there.......selling things by chance, and not in the full throes of a retail marketing endeavor, which, btw, I have hated since day ONE.




So I think I have answered my own question.   I am returning to Blogger.  I know the argument is that blogger might suddenly disappear and take my blog with it, but hey, I myself am going to disappear one day, never to be seen again.  So I guess that's not such a difficult concept.  And so far I've been blogging on here since 2007.   And God knows, it's easier, and feels like home.
So I'm going with it.

I wrote this a couple of days ago, and then decided to think on it a bit, and not be rash.  Then this morning I get an email from Word Press, wanting more money to fix some issue.  WHAT ISSUE?????   The one where I pay a lot of money for something that constantly needs fixing???   The last time this happened, I was on the phone with tech support for hours, and it still cost me money.

So I just clicked on www.crazyasaloom.com, and SURPRISE, I can't even get on the site, not on my lap top, or my phone.
So yeah.  I'm done.

I will leave it up a couple more days, to see if I can get on it, to tell everyone where I've gone.  I can only hope you will all figure it out.


This is the snow storm from the other day.   Now today, the rain has made most of it disappear.
 60 degrees outside!   
What a crazy year it's been.



No family get together for us this year....staying home......it's raining and the wind is blowing.
Quiet day.....did some weaving......starting to reorganize the studio.

Once again, I am  caught between loving my chickens, and wishing I didn't get so stressed about them.  Yesterday I went out to give them a treat, some stale crackers, about 3pm, and I walked into pandemonium.  A HAWK was in the chicken run, trying to get one of my chickens.....and they were all quite hysterical.  I grabbed a stick and went after him.......and eventually after a hectic few minutes, he found the door and flew out to a nearby tree.  I was so upset, I ran out and made a snowball, threw it up at him in the tree, and HIT HIM.  He flew away. He's lucky I didn't have a gun.
Today, the girls are on lock down, so I cooked a box of spaghetti for them.

I don't know about you, but carbs always make everything better.

I'll probably keep anguishing about keeping this flock of chickens, until something bad happens, and I swear I'll be done.





8 comments:

farmer's wife weaving said...

Sorry for all the troubles with the website, aren't computers a royal pain in the butt? I am impressed that you actually hit the hawk with a snowball! Good aim! Enjoy your quiet Christmas, Happy Yule!

Ellen D. said...

It seems like the people that control the blogs really make it difficult to blog which doesn't make sense at all. I am a blog reader so I don't know about all of the hoops you have to jump through. You should definitely do whatever is easiest (and cheapest)for you.
Loved your story about the hawk- what a good arm and good aim you must have to hit a hawk with a snowball! Wow, impressive!
Merry Christmas!

Unknown said...

I love your blog and support you in any form you choose to write. We had chickens for years and I was always worried about them. I totally get it. We are moving in the new year to a more rural area, aka more predators, and my DH wants chickens again. It is so heartbreaking when a predator gets them. But your chickens have a great life with you, what is better?

Nancy

Joanne Noragon said...

I had no idea that Wordpress had problems and cost money! Not a winning combination.
We had ten inches of snow overnight. Next week sill be warm, Hasta la Vista, Snow.
Glad you're back; so much easier to get to you.

Sojourner Design said...

Merry Christmas to you! I enjoyed reading about the blog issues you've been dealing with and your choice to come back to Blogger, as well as the realization that blogs don't really bring in sales if no one's reading them (and that's my situation!). Also understand the conundrum about the chickens. Mine have been gone for about 18 months; it's convenient to have turned the chicken house into a garden shed, but I miss wonderful fresh eggs (those were getting to be fewer and fewer) and watching the fun that the chickens had each spring in working over the garden plot before it got planted.

Peg Cherre said...

I am totally in the do-what's-easiest-and-cheapest-as-long-as-it-makes-you-happy camp. We are too old, and have done too much for too many years, to complicate our lives unnecessarily at this point. My big goal for 2021 is to figure out how to get some good pix of the product I already have woven so I can sell it online. I decided in the middle of this godawful year that I am only weaving what I want, and I decided recently that I may donate a bunch of my existing yarn stash. If it doesn't spark my interest, no point in hanging on to it, knowing that at some point my kids will have to deal with whatever is left.

Daryl said...

i get your blog via email .. and got this (as well as the previous announcement from your Wordpress blog) so for us who follow/read it seems not to matter what platform you use .. in my opinion blogging shouldnt be a chore or cost money ..

Rita said...

I think this is a good choice! Use Facebook or Instagram for selling and dump the website. Sounds like you're being milked for money. That's a shame. But glad to see you back on Blogger. You've wanted to downsize and have been even before covid. Take it easy and live the dream!! :)

Finding a hawk in the chicken pen would give me nightmares, too!

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