Updates, Progress and Pocket Pool

I know…the infamous Pocket Pool

Let’s start off easy shall we? So, there have been quite a few updates lately, probably so many that it seems tough to keep up with. At least for me, it seems that way. We will break it down in a short and sweet and somewhat humorous post for today.

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Site Appearance and Menu Options

As you may have obviously noted, the website theme has been updated. That is something I did a few weeks back and I wanted to sit with it for a while before making any more changes. After that, I started to tweak the Menu options a bit. And if I can be brutally honest with you, it was not an easy task. I am someone that people usually go to for any IT type mishaps. The random printer/computer malfunction, program not responding type of thing. I am no IT professional by any sense, but I do seem to have a brain for noodling such problems out.

Not to boast too much, but I am usually successful. For whatever reason, in WordPress, I could not for the life of me figure out how to get my posts to live on certain pages. It has been a struggle of ginormous proportions that has literally kept me up at night. I kept watching tutorials, articles, help pages etc., nothing seemed to help. I could’nt figure out what my brain was not comprehending as this should not be a difficult task.

I thought at one point age was playing with me, but re-thought that and am still in denial. In the end, I figured out a fix, albeit not completely ideal. When you browse my website, and my menu, please choose the subcategories that pop up under the main menu headings. This will bring you to just those posts. If you choose to click on the main menu heading, you will see everything I have ever posted to the website. Which is upwards of 35 posts as of this writing. Clicking on the subheadings will allow you to maneuver through my content more specifically and keep in mind, this is a temporary fix until I can figure out how to disable the click aspect of the main menu headings.

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Monetization of the Website

I started this website to continue a career that had been left behind. A career in creative writing and journalism. Well, usually you earn money when you have a career. Optimistically, at the moment I have a dollar and a dream. I have enabled advertising through WordPress as well as create a donations form on my A BIT ABOUT ME page. I have also created a link to a program called “Buy me a cup of Coffee” where you can choose the given amount or change it to whatever you like. Yes, both of these are donations to my website that if contributed to, will allow me to continue to focus all of my time and efforts on creating content that hopefully you all enjoy.

A slightly different type of monetization update is my new status as an Amazon Associate in their Amazon Associate Program. For those of you who do not know, through advertisements that I choose, I can earn a commission. I believe, unless I am mistaken, should you click on an Amazon advertisement that I have placed on my website, I earn for clicks, I believe I also earn a percentage of a commission should you actually make a purchase through one of the links or advertisements I provide.

I will be sytematically going back through all of my content to add advertisements to all my previous posts as I see appropriate. I get to choose the topics and types of things that get advertised, I also may include links to very specific items that may interest me and also by chance my readers. Some of these products will be on sale with a discount for a certain period of time so be sure to keep that in mind as you browse the site.

Why advertisements? I know, like a lot of people, I tend to ignore advertisements. But every once in a while I will come across something that actually piques my interest and I will click. I may buy whatever they are selling, or it might lead me to Amazon wander and purchase something else entirely. With the holiday shopping season upon us, I felt it prudent to include advertisements.

Magazines, Newspapers and most publications throughout history have relied heavily on advertisements. So in order to make this dream career come true, it is a necessary thing to have. I will do my best to keep it as least intrusive to the content as possible, but I must also still make it visible. Be patient please, as I have said, this is a work in progress. And don’t worry…if I don’t make 3 qualified sales in 160 days they will kick me out!

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The Infamous Pocket Pool Conversation

I know. I never thought we would be here either. Discussing this. I mean, I understand I have a 9 year old boy. I also know that boys will be boys and they tend to “explore” at this age. Or in this case, come up with a game that they think is brand spanking new. God help me when my son grows up and sees all of these posts. It’s either therapy, or he will disown me, or both, but hopefully he inherited my fantastic sense of humor and will just laugh it off. Hopefully.

It’s really not that bad of a story, truthfully. It was my husband the 50 year old that did it in. Took something so innocent and spilled the beans instead of keeping his mouth shut for like, I don’t know, another 2 years? So my son happened to be standing with his hands in each pocket, something lately I have noticed he likes to do. I think it’s adorable. He looks like a little gentlemen posing for a picture. Honestly, I could lean him up against a lampost and take a black and white photo, it would be timeless.

Enter husband. Ruiner of Innocence…Man who should know better and think before he speaks. I leave the room, and begin to hear a conversation between said husband and boy. My husband proceeds to ask my son why he has his hands in his pockets. My son simply states that he likes to do it, that it’s comfortable.

Why didn’t said husband…leave it at that? Because he is wholly incapable of thinking before he speaks and does not understand the ramifications of what he was about to unleash. The knowledge, that what my son was ACTUALLY doing, not only had an name, but was known by men all over the Earth for eons. He says to my son, I know what you’re really doing. My son, giggles and asks what? My husband then uttered the words that can never be taken back.

“You’re playing pocket pool.”

Now of course, from the other room, my head is completely cocked waiting for my son’s reply. My eyes wide with horror as I wait. He giggles again and asks what pocket pool is. Now I am not going to explain this to you here. You, my dear reader, and hopefully subscriber, can google that.

My husband however, decided to go into great detail about Pocket Pool and it’s place in the history of man as I stood in the other room contemplating how best to approach this situation that my husband has now unknowingly created. I don’t want to make a huge deal, but I don’t want to minimize the privacy fact that my husband COMPLETELY left out.

I mean, come on. Was this necessary? Did he need to explain to my son that knocking his berries around via his pockets has a name and is known by all men? Did he not realize that he was speaking to a 9 year old boy? That this information is bound to get out and I am a Mother just waiting for the first phone call. I am literally face-palming at this point during the conversation.

Of course, Mean Mommy, enters the room, scolds the both of them. I then explain to my son that he is never to utter those words in school or to anyone for that matter. That it would be a completely inappropriate conversation for him to talk about with another student at school. Listen, I am no prude. However, I must draw lines or there will be chaos.

Now, I am forced to have a conversation with my son, that “exploring” his body is normal, because of course my husband left that part in the wind. I will explain to an extent that I think is appropriate for his maturity level. Thanks husband. Leave the heavy lifting to me. Another face-palm if you can imagine.

And does anyone on this rock rotating around the sun believe for one second that my son, the 9 year old, isn’t going to tell at least ONE other boy? He is a rule follower, but I believe the temptation of revealing this knowledge may be too much for his young and previously innocent brain to keep in.

I so hope I am wrong.

So there you have it. Another day in my life and hopefully an informational as well as humorous post. (Informational on the website not the Pocket Pool rules, lol) Thanks for reading!