How About A Mocktail - Or Two!

This weeks feature Aussie is Louanne better known as lou16 on Squidoo. Louanne has over 360 lenses to her name as well as several blogs, including to upkeep.

Her blogs include Swimming With Giant Squids. This is an interesting blog where Louanne shares her experiences writing for Squidoo and shares many tips and advice for those of us still learning.

Another interesting blog is Lou's Cocktail Blog where she shares all kinds of amazing advice about making cocktails and cocktail recipes.

On Squidoo you'll also find a wonderful collection of cocktail lenses including this popular one on Mocktails that I really like. This is a great selection of non-alcoholic recipes for anyone who doesn't, or can't drink. Of course there are plenty of links to the alcohol recipe lenses as well, and I can tell you they sound great. So if cocktails are your thing then Louanne's lenses are the ones to check out.

Happy mixing to you all.

Promoting Can Be A Bit Tedious

Just after I had published my very first lens on Squidoo, I was invited to join Rocketmoms. For me this was a great thing and I was thrilled to join and participate. I have certainly learned a lot from being a member of this fantastic group and certainly would not have made Giant Squid without it.

How ever there was a bit of a downside. Well it's not Rocketmoms fault but this group became my little world and I really didn't venture much outside it. Consequently I'm now trying to do things that I should have been doing all along. This includes trying to get backlinks to my lenses, improving tags and making sure that pictures are also tagged correctly. A big task now that I have 50 lenses.

I'm afraid I was guilty of only listing new lenses at the Rocketmoms site which doesn't provide backlinks. So now I'm busy listing all my lenses at various Squidoo directories and trying to find other places to promote them. Quite a big task that is not very exciting either. Oh well, I only have myself to blame. But it means I don't have much time for the fun stuff of creating new lenses at the moment.

T Shirt Gifts For Frog Lovers

Fashions change over the years - always have and always will, I guess. So what is it about the good ol' t shirt that seem to keep them ever popular and fashionable.

For me I think they're just so comfortable and can be worn just about anywhere. You can dress them up or be totally casual in a t shirt and they are made for all members of the family, which is one reason they make such a great gift idea.

T shirts come in many fantastic designs but today we're looking at frog design t-shirts, the perfect gift for frog lovers. There are so many frog designs to choose from, so I created a Squidoo page with a selection of my favorites. From cute to funny or realistic life-like frogs, there is something to please everyone.


The Washing Frog T-Shirt
I love this. Frogs obviously like to be clean.

These designs are all available from Zazzle a print on demand company. If you can't find something you like you can even design your own special t shirts and other products.

Vegetable Garden Layout Ideas

This week's feature lens is by Aussie Squidooer GonnaFly It seems that she comes from a long line of vegetable gardeners and enjoys growing vegetables herself.

Planning a veggie garden takes a bit of thought. You need to decide where the best place is for your vegetables to receive the right amount of sunlight, how much space you have and how many vegetables you would like to grow. Then you need to consider the actual layout.

On her lens Vegetable Garden Layout you will find all the tips and information you need to create the best layout for your vegetable garden. It includes plans for the traditional vegetable garden layout, raised vegetable gardens, potager vegetable gardens, cottage vegetable garden plans and even a kids vegetable garden. These all come with great illustrations and information about each type of garden.

You can make your garden as simple or as creative as you want it to be. Gonnafly has also added links to several other lenses she has created to help you with your vegetable garden plans. Whether you are an old hand at gardening or just a begginer, you'll find loads of useful information. Get cracking and plan your vegetable garden layout now.

Are You Getting Ready For Halloween?

If your not already making plans for Halloween, you probably should be. Do you want a theme for your Halloween Party? Is your party for kids or adults? Will you be using Outdoor Halloween Decorations this year?

So many things to organise but wow what a lot of fun you can have at this time of year, and the possibilities seem endless.In Australia we don't really celebrate Halloween that much but it is one event that I am quite envious of. My mind is running wild with all the possibilities.

Whilst kids always love to play dress up, the same is not true for adults. Halloween, however is one time when everyone is willing to join in the fun. As adults, halloween costumes give us the opportunity to play the part of our "alter-ego". We can become our favorite super-hero or rock star, or anything else that takes our fancy and since everyone else is doing it, we don't feel stupid.

When it comes to decorating, the sky's the limit. Everything from Halloween Spider Decorations to vampires, bats, ghosts, witches, graveyards, black cats and pumpkins to name a few. So go ahead, let your creative side out and start planning that super halloween party now.

It's My Squidoo Birthday

Break out the champagne and lets party. Today is my first birthday on Squidoo. It's hard to believe that 12 months has gone already. Where ever does the time go?

For me it's been a big learning curve and alot of fun. From creating my very first lens (page), to joining Rocketmoms, through to the present day, I doubt I would have learned so much anywhere else. Squidoo is such a friendly and helpful community, even for dummies like me who don't always "get it".

As many lensmasters will tell you, Squidoo can be quite addictive, but even so I've experienced a couple of little squidoo humps along the way. But after a short break the enthuisiasm always comes back. I thoroughly enjoy reading and rating other peoples lenses and it never fails to amaze me just what people write about. Doing that alone is enough to inspire me in different directions and stimulates new ideas that I can work with. That, of course, does not mean copying someone elses work, but rather opens your eyes to all kinds of possibilities.

One thing I have found, is that friends and family often haven't got a clue what I'm talking about. I'm sure my huband thinks I've "lost my marbles" since I joined Squidoo and sees me doing a happy dance around the house. He really doesn't understand why I get so excited about being sprinkled with "angel dust" or becoming a "Giant Squid". Ah well, my Squidoo friends understand!

I have ended my first year on Squidoo with a great month. In July I became a Giant Squid, was awarded two Purple Stars and had one of my lenses in the top 100 (ok it was only there for a day but I'm not complaining). Oh yes, and I also started this blog - something I had been procrastinating about for ages.

All in all, I'm very happy with my first year but I still have much to learn and improve on. Who knows what the next 12 month might bring.

So raise your glasses, bring out the party hats and celebrate my first birthday with me!

Animated Squids by Steve Thompson / tagsforkids is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Squidoo logo is a trademark of Squidoo LLC. Graphics, Squidart and Squidoodles © 2009 by tagsforkids (Steve Thompson)

How Has The Automobile Changed Society?

Seriously, can you imagine a world without cars? Yet only 100 years ago the automobile was almost non existent. We rely on them so much and everything that goes with them. By that I mean roads and highways, fuel stations, and even the employment that they offer. These things all provide employment for someone. Someone to build and maintain the roads, to operate the fuel stations and someone to build and repair all aspects of the automobile.

So just what impact did the automobile have on society 100 years ago and how does that effect us today? Back then the only way of getting around was either by train or by horse drawn wagons and horseback. Roads were pretty much just dirt tracks and communities were considerably smaller than they are today.

With the advent of the automobile these things began to change as the government poured money into building the first roads and highways, connecting towns and cities together. Suburbia began to spread out because people no longer needed to live close to there workplace. The population loved this new found freedom. Imagine what is was like to be able to travel where ever you wanted to go, whenever you wanted. Every one wanted their own motor car. Towns that once had been isolated, especially if the railroad did not pass by, were now accessible.

Without all these things our lives today would be very different. We would need to live closer to work, school and shops. If you live in a city you might think you could manage without the automobile. Think again. Sure, you might be able to walk, that's probably not a bad thing, or use the subway. Perhaps you already do that. But what about shopping?

Without the automobile (that includes buses,trucks and cars) how would stores get all there goods delivered. I'm thinking here about fresh produce. Today you can buy all kinds of produce, even when it's out of season. That would be impossible without trucks to transport it. By horse and cart it would be rotten long before it arrived. The variety of all kinds of goods that is available to us today, is largely thanks to the automobile.

If you don't live in a major city or town you wouldn't be able to rely on the subway and the good old horse would be the only way to get around. A horse can travel around 10 - 15 miles a day. How far do you need to travel to get to work etc? Where would you "park" your horse while you were at work? Ha ha, can you see the parking at your local supermarket full of horse and carts. Wonder if you'd get a parking ticket. (Sorry, I just had a mental image of that.)

When Henry Ford created his first affordable Model T, I wonder if he had any idea of what effect it would really have on society. Of course today the automobile has brought many problems. Pollution, congested highways, the reliance on a fuel source and many deaths and accidents. It's certainly not all good but what would we do without them?

Do you think the Automobile Changed History? Let me know what you think.

Image courtesy of aldenjewell

How To Increase Your Chance Of Getting Pregnant

Today I want to introduce you to a fellow aussie who goes by the name of hayleylou on Squidoo.

Hayley is a wife and busy mother of two active boys, but still finds time to write for Squidoo and maintain a blog Mom Is Blogging.

For the last 18 months Hayley has been trying to get pregnant again. While she had no problem conceiving her first two children, this time is another story. Through a series of lenses, (pages) she has traced her journey through the steps she has taken to increase her chances of getting pregnant, and faced the disappointment as each month shows a negative result.

In Tips To Getting Pregnant Hayley talks about her first visits to her GP and later referral to a fertility specialist. All the steps, from learning about ovulation and the fact that she has irregular cycles and didn't even ovulate every month, to taking clomid for ovulation induction are detailed here. There are links to her other pages about determining baby gender, artificial insemination treatments, gonal f injections, and other aspects of her experiences. Currently Hayley is taking a break from all this somewhat clinical attempt to fall pregnant and is now trying natural fertility methods.

Although she has obviously done plenty of research of her own, she writes only as a woman telling her, often moving, story of her attempts to conceive and the affects it has had on her life.

I'd like to wish Hayley all the best in her attempts. Perhaps taking the pressure off is all that is needed. I hope her story will help others who have problems getting pregnant, understand the processes involved.