30 April, 2020

The END of the Month (April)

I hope you already read my PUBLIC post this week at my PATREON page... I will try not to repeat myself, but who knows....


I have been busy most of the time... today has been a tired and not feeling well day... but, mostly, I have been OK.  The weather where I live was suppose to be rainy and cloudy (If I remember the little weather pictures right...) but it has been sunny and nice.

I have seen all the weeds growing in my ivy project space (anyone remember that???), and some wildflowers are in places I didn't remember them being.  I have been "stealing" the wildflowers from one patch because they are so beautiful, and putting them in my containers with trees that are trying to grow, etc.  I want to take them with me when I move, if I move.  Otherwise, they are nice to have in my containers.


My blackberry patch is growing... it looks like it might need more fencing, or higher fencing... it is really getting big and falling over the wall I put up to try to keep it from falling on the ground when the berries get ripe.

There is another huge berry patch growing between the neighbors yard and where I live.  I cut it back two falls ago to see what was under the "canopy" of vines and to see if it would grow back fully the next summer.  It was really full of dead vines.  I realized all those big blackberry patches you see along the roads are really just new vines growing on top of the dead ones !!  :-)  Last summer/fall, I just kept the vines contained there... and watched what happened.  This year they are growing huge and spreading out all over the place... I will have to go trim some of them back.  The vines get bigger in some places, with bigger blackberries.  I haven't figured out why yet.

I am still working on my freezer containers and canning jar supplies.  Last summer I saved squished berries in 2-cup containers for making small batches of jam/jelly through the winter.  I ended up using the juice instead... some jelly, some syrup.  I am not sure how I will process the berries this summer.  It will depend on how many berries grow, and how many containers I have.

I found a freezer container maker online one day when I was looking for the sizes I need.  I decided to suggest my perfect product to them and asked for some freebies if they ever make it.  The sizes I think I need are a half-cup, one-cup, and two-cup, which can be nested as a set if they make them right.  Also sold as sets of one size, if they make them.  I would have made them myself, and sold for income, but you know my story... no money yet.  :-(      If they don't make my perfect containers, I will... after I "win the BIG lottery prize!"   :-)


My budget for MAY is pretty much done.  I will check it over again, but not much changes when you have a budget.  Fixed expenses are the same every month, so the only thing that changes is the "extra" money you have over the fixed expense amount.

I have always hoped my online selling efforts would create the income I need.  It hasn't happened yet. FAITH is what I live on.  When GOD doesn't provide the way you expect Him to provide, all kinds of thoughts go through you mind.  In the beginning of this quest, I wondered if there were any unconfessed sins that kept Him from blessing me.  Later I decided it must be some kind of spiritual warfare... because of WT and other things.  I searched the Bible for things that might tell me why... and thought a lot about GOD and us, good and evil, money and poverty, etc.  In the end, it's all about GOD.  We are His when we get saved.  His Will is our duty.  So, every day, I just focus on the options for that day, and leave the rest up to GOD.  If He wanted to provide, Satan couldn't stop Him.  So there has to be a reason I just don't know about or understand.


I have so many things on my list  I wonder what to do first sometimes.  If I get ill, like today, the list has to wait.  I updated the WT homepage finally... and need to add some PAYPAL links for WT NEWS and INMATE NEWS.  This is an income effort for WT.  It may be good to wait a day or two, to make sure the details are figured out.

I'm doing a one-month promotion for WT NEWS...  for $15 you will receive six months of email newsletters, from JUNE to NOVEMBER.  In December we have the annual Membership Drive.

INMATE NEWS  is one of my PATREON projects, so I decided to add it to the webpage.  International mail is the problem for print options... I am just learning how to do international mail... and media mail... and repeating publications.  Inmates have to have printed copies.  Other people can get email versions.  How to accomplish that financially, is a real challenge.  I may have to wait to sell this subscription... until I have the Patreon funding, see lawyers, get helpers... PRAY for this project.  It is so important.


I also revised my webpage link for #My2020PatreonChallenge !!  :-)   I will start spreading it around as much as I can... maybe with every social media post.  I don't know yet.  Take a look and share it if you can.

http://work2gather.us/2020-PatreonChallenge.html

It's just a basic page for now...  I want to make it better, more formatted, more photos, more update options...   This is the second version.  I had to remember a lot of the HTML codes just updating this!!  I need to remember how to do webpages and figure out a code plan.  :-)  (Make a design.)  If I get the ADOBE suite, I can use their software to help.


I am reading a bunch of books about online selling and how to make books to sell at Amazon --  Kindle and paperbacks.  It is a lot of learning time.  I'm going for the 30-page version or the short read first (100 pages or less, I think).


If I get a stimulus check, I might go ahead and subscribe to the online sites I am thinking about.  CanvaPro has a 30-day free trial.  I am going to do that in MAY if that is still and option.  Office365 has a shorter free trial, but I may try that as well.  It depends on what I can do with the CanvaPro first.  Anyone with good tips for these software options?  I'd love to hear about them.


Until next update...
May GOD help all His children to become ONE BODY IN CHRIST.

Deborah Martin

work2gather.us
etsy.com/shop/work2gather
ebay.com/usr/work2gather




23 April, 2020

New blog topics today -- no focus on my challenge :-) I hope!

I almost forget this entry because I was watching the second documentary I rented at Amazon yesterday, along with 8 Kindle books!!!  (You will have to search at Amazon videos for Urban Farmers as I couldn't find a website to link you with.)

I don't think I will be good at saving money... not really. I had enough, and only bought 99-cent books, one was only 49-cents!  :-)  The documentaries were the overspend, but they were only $1.99 each.  :-(



URBAN FARMERS was the first one I wanted to watch.  Rural people have more options than big city people, especially the poor.  This film was about New York City's food issues... food deserts, no land for farming, farmer's markets, CSA's, and whatever else they have there.  One thing I discovered in watching the film is the distance they have to go for farm products.  The CSA speaker said they get food from a 250-mile radius.  I was trying to decide how to apply that information to Oregon, and remembering Los Angeles issues.

Someone was smart enough to save the last piece of farmland relatively close to the main city.  I think that was Queens County Farm.  It's 47 whole acres.  Since it's a county property now, they do school field trips and more.

One other really interesting part for me was the online site Cornell University put together to connect the farmers and the people who want their products.  I still have to find it online and see what it is doing these days, but the idea sounded wonderful.  I am all for LOCAL emphasis.  I have been trying to advocate for emergency planning to know what food sources are around their region so they know where to go for food in a crisis.  That kind of website would be really good for everyone to think about establishing.

I thought they would have some roof gardens because the main movie photo shows green on top of roofs, but they didn't show any.  The CSA's are helping provide a lot of good food for the city people and helping the farmer's survive.  The Farmer's Markets are growing.  One neighborhood farm project was on temporary space, I think.  That is a real problem in developing food sources in places that are just not able to be developed at the time.  They work so hard and then they get destroyed by the owner of the properties.



A SIMPLER WAY was filmed by someone I support (slightly) at PATREON right now... I think.  I haven't found out for sure yet because he hasn't answered my messages.  I suppose he must be busy if he's doing films like the two I have seen, this one and one called LIVING THE CHANGE, also set in Australia.  I have decided he must live there. His name is Jordan Osmond.  I wonder if he will be able to build a Patreon page like a Kickstarter page... this will be interesting to watch, for now.

I checked for the website and found a link to watch it free (as of tonight...).  See what you think of young people trying to make a community from not much.







Here's my Earth Day offering for this post.  I didn't make a new post.  On social media I shared the three graphics I have on Earth Day issues.  I still remember my previous effort to share a Canva creation here... it was way too big.  I will have to do more of the size above... right?!

I spent a lot of time today looking through some of the Kindle books I bought.  Some classics like As A Man Thinketh and The Greatest Secret.  Ones on publishing books, social media marketing, building email lists, selling, etc.  I am trying to decide what kind of books I want to publish, and how to do it... with my current situation.  One comment in a book I was browsing today was that no one has time to read anymore... so the online books seem to be very short.  He has a formula.  :-)  I am still checking it out.  Amazon has a "short reads" section and the limit is 100 pages I think.  That was my first book goal... to do a short read.

I think I am done for tonight.

Until next time,
May GOD help us all to be better people,
and to reach the goals He has put in our hearts to accomplish.
May He protect us from harms we cannot overcome,
and help us to find our way through the valleys we must go through.

In Christ,
Deb Martin

work2gather.us
patreon.com/DebsRetirementPlan
etsy.com/shop/work2gather


16 April, 2020

16APR - Trusting GOD for the details

It's been a long week since Monday's update at Patreon...  I guess this will be the only PUBLIC update... I may have to change the way I do things with my updates.  The goal is to make Patreon the only place for my Challenge news... but, then how will I find people.  It's a real decision-making process to try to overcome the info connections.  You'll find out when I finally decide.  This may be the APRIL decision.

I ordered a book by Phyllis Schlafly (The Power of the Christian Woman) and received it (finally) yesterday.  When I started reading it, I was amazed at how great she shared the details of being a woman in GOD's Kingdom... wanting to be a "Mom At Home" and happy there.  I suggested to the Eagle Forum they need to share the first chapter, at least.  (If they don't, I might.)

I haven't finished the first chapter yet, but I am working to get the book read.  I seem to be "distracted" by any little thing, and real needs.  I had to take two naps today because my body just wouldn't keep going.  I guess I have an irregular schedule... I end up being up in the middle of the night and sleeping small amounts over the course of each 24-hours.  I do what I can in the up hours, and take short naps.  The "distractions" are the main problem.  I have to find a way to get through them.

So, the book.  I am glad I bought both of the titles I did.  The other book was, "A Choice, Not an Echo" and it is about electing Presidents.  Some of the browsing bits I discovered are from before I thought of elections and what they mean.  As a child, my main memory of politics is a wonderful vinyl recording of President Kennedy's speeches.  I don't recall if I had it before or after he died.  I was very young when that happened.

I have seen videos or photos of her with Reagan.  I don't really know her politics.  I am not sure I will read that book right now.  Moms and the freedom to be at home are my interests.  I tried my whole life to be one... without poverty.

I just checked the copyright for the Christian Woman book and it was published in 1981... what was happening then...  I don't know.  I had two sons by then...  I think I was fighting poverty somewhere... maybe it was Lincoln City (Oregon) then.

My CHALLENGE is focused on PayPal.me right now.  I am wondering if it could work as my one-time $5.00 payment option.  It is a new payment idea for me this week.  I have to find out how I can make it work for my needs.

I was already signed up when I checked, but I hadn't been able to decide how to use it so it went out of my daily thoughts.  I guess you can just provide the link and anyone can make a payment to your account.  If you want to do that, my account link is  ::   https://www.paypal.me/work2gather     :-)

I have tried to contact PAYPAL.com for more information and to make sure my plans are within their general guidelines, and to make sure all my links go to the right accounts... but contacting big sites is like trying to fly from the west to the east without a plane.

I don't see posting it at Patreon will work... because of the fee issues, I suppose.  I still want to make it part of my selling options.  So far, I plan to post it on my social media sites with things to sell.


I had a problem with FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE this week... they decided my digital download for Etsy, SERVANTS, was objectionable and I am having to appeal that decision.  I mentioned that their actions are very unclear... they just tell you "it might go against their policies" and expect you to delete it.  I shared that when people get a ticket they at least know what law they have broken.  They need to decide what specific "Law" at F/B has been transgressed so that the persecuted can appeal the right policy.

I vaguely recall having another problem like this... but I think the same thing happened with ETSY and my writing about the Rapture to Christians.  There's no real appeal process at Etsy.  I have always hoped GOD would bless so I could create a fair and protected selling place for Christians... probably WT Members, but maybe open to the public.  If GOD provides the funds, I'll make those decisions then.

The main cause is the gay community, I think.  If it's not the employees, it's media pressure, which the gay community uses so well.... as they are doing with Phyllis Schlafly these days, and the rainbow, and Christian businesses, and....  No one knows how to deal with them... I call it Bible prophecy coming true.  They are bringing the future into being.  And this is why WT was created.

So, what else has been happening...
It's all a blur.   :-)  
I keep trying to keep my Journal up to date, but it ends up with lots of missed details.  I will work through this year, but may have to go back to my other style of keeping track of things.  :-)

EARTH DAY is next week.  I was looking at my calendar and realized how fast the month has gone by.  I like my tote design.  I keep trying to decide if I should get one for me, or wait until I design more and pick one of them.  I guess Earth Day will be lost in the VIRUS CRISIS as well.


There are only so many things one person can do.  The rest of the battle has to be put into GOD's Hands.  I know that one day GOD will make everything right... how, when, I am not sure... before we die, after we die... I don't know.  It's His decision.  My faith is in GOD.  I trust Him.

I have tried to find one way to explain how this works but so far DAVID is the only story I can think of... We wonder why he chose to sin with Bathsheba, but he did.  When GOD made sure there was no way to hide it, but the pregnancy, he thought there was some way to hide it.  WHY he thought that would happen, no one knows.  We can be sure the staff and lots of other already knew.  He chose to try to hide it.  That choice cost lives and took the Hand of GOD's protections from David and others.

Eventually, GOD sent someone to make sure David knew that GOD wasn't letting it go.  How long that took is not known --  I have never heard a real verified timeline.  What I like to say is that we also don't know if the judgment GOD made for David's sin would have been different if David had made things right with GOD before the prophet was sent to him.

There is always a consequence to sin.  It goes on forever I have decided... like the popular "ripple" effect (Think "'Pocahontas" movie for an example.) --- everything we do affects others... expanding into the future.

Maybe you can see it as the "domino fall" -- when you topple the first domino, the rest follow in quick succession...   Life is a domino fall that never stops... each day is a domino...


I guess I am saying I have to do my best to reach the future by GOD's path, and leave the details of that journey to Him...  It matters what we choose... as individuals and as families and as communities and as nations.  I guess business decisions are in there somewhere.  Money is not the right goal.  What is good is the right goal.  I have only found one place to know what is good -  the Bible.

I hope you read it and discover what I mean.

In Christ,
Deborah Martin
work2gather.us






09 April, 2020

9APR Update - Continuing the #2020Challenge

Monday seems so far away... the days are full, so many little things.  Today is another busy full day, and I am tired.  :-)

I went shopping again later in the day today... some toilet paper was available, but I decided to wait and look for "my brand."  I got most of the other things I needed... except...   I guess I got enough for the current need.  

I do hope there are no people who are suffering in a serious way.  

I use to have to get food at community meal spaces.  And food boxes from those who offered them.  As time went on, the organizations got together to avoid the "scams" of those days.  I am not sure what goes on these days... and I hope I don't have to find out.  I was young then, and my situation is very different now.  I support food organizations as much as I can because I understand the need.

My 2020Challenge is slowly becoming a better plan.  I didn't know there would be so much to learn.  That is the way things go... we think it's easy, just a simple action, and the best results will be ours.  :-)  That's how life seems to catch us and take us forward... I hope it will be forward!!

The time it takes for everything is really a big learning experience.  The "list" becomes more and more important.  You have to "weed out" the things that really cannot get done.  Each day is a new list and a new priority.

It would be easier with more money, but this is the place I am at, so I have to deal with it.  We can only "start where we are" and keep moving.

I made a chart for the year way back in January... to keep track of the new activity and see how the progress went.  So far, it's a blanket of zeros.  That could be depressing, but I see GOD's Hand in what seems like failure... that is why I keep going.  GOD is doing something, I just don't know what it is... or who is involved.

This next week I am heading into more designs and more listings... the added listings are opportunities for income.  The budget this month is crashed unless I get one of those payments from the government for retired people on Social Security.  Depending on how much that is, I may be able to do more than I currently am able to do.  I don't want to plan any funding, but if I have it in hand I will then work on how to best spend it.  (I have lots of lists to choose from.  :-)

If I can, I also plan to update my Working Together website  (work2gather.us) -- it needs links to all its blogs and social media.  I am also working on how to make PDF links for the information and applications that are associated with each program.  Income is so important for the WT Plan that I am again organizing a list of income options for each program.  Then I will have to decide, again, which one to work on first... and that also depends on finances.

Where to put a link for building an Email List has been part of my decision process for some time.  As I update the WT website I will try to find the best solution for that.

I am currently trying to learn the new process for making ADOBE PDFs to make the links for WT and other projects I'm working on.  If I get a stimulus payment, I may go ahead and use it for the ADOBE subscription and see what I am able to do with it.

I am also thinking I will sign up for the Microsoft Office 365... which is less expensive... with my current budget.   I have been working on the options this past week... finding out where I am in my budget and finances and what I can "squeeze" out of it to pay for the subscription.  :-)   [think :: my piggy bank graphic]

I figure we can only budget the money we have...  I guess that is why I keep waiting for GOD to bless... and wondering why He hasn't.

That reminds me... I discovered a typo in my digital listing for my writing called SERVANTS, so I am doing that over and will relist it, and other things, as I learn the ADOBE PDF process.  I will go ahead and share the text here... because I love it, and because I want you to see it, and because it is a good reminder of where we stand in the process of life with GOD.  When I get it formatted, it will look a lot better and be ready to frame and display on your walls.  I may try to offer pre-framed options for gifting... again, that depends on money.

All these better options were (are) planned for growth activities when I got going.... I am still at the beginning.


Each moment, each day,
the mysteries of God unfold.
They surface in the innocent words
and complex actions
of those who share our lives…

Through our families, our friends,
through strangers and His tender
manipulations of our circumstances,
God speaks to us –
if we are willing to listen.

By the same methods
He uses us to reach out
to a lost, hurting world,
and to fellow saints –
when we are willing to be channels
of His mercy and grace.

In all things it is our choice…
to listen, to obey, to be devoted to,
and used by our Lord.

When we live in constant awareness
of the promptings of the Holy Spirit,
Life becomes an adventure
of enormous proportion,
and we become servants
of the One true God.


SERVANTS
by Deborah Martin
work2gather.us


I hope you like it, too.  I never get tired of reading it... even after all these years.


In Christ,
Deborah Martin
work2gather.us
and more.  :-)













02 April, 2020

THURSDAY Update - 2APR2020 - New quarter and changes

It's been a long day and I haven't really sat down to plan this post, so bear that in mind as you read it.

April is a month of changes for me.  I will be posting at my tiers this month, with just one PUBLIC post for the month.  I have to get use to this as well.

I made my first EARTH DAY design for this year... took forever!  The design options at PRINTFUL are limited, and I keep dreaming of an ADOBE account.  :-)   I haven't used Adobe, but it looks like it will allow me to do a lot more with any design I might come up with.  I may complain about Adobe as well.  Each software has its good and bad points.

(NOTE ::  I made the PRINTFUL link an affiliate link... that means I might earn some kind of commission from Printful if you click through and become a part of the Printful process somehow... joining, designing, buying... somehow.  It's my first affiliate link... I'm still learning how it works.)






It's a large black organic cotton eco-tote... with 25-inch handles/straps.
You can buy it at my ETSY shop ::  https://www.etsy.com/shop/work2gather
or my EBAY shop ::  https://www.ebay.com/usr/work2gather

It is just a basic design of letters and the clip art they have available.  I like words but there has to be some kind of design to go with them.

          What I see in my head is still there, 
               waiting for the right "tools" to make things with.  

I guess that is why my PATREON quest is so important... and soon would be better than later as I have no idea how much longer I have to live.

After I made the design and listed it at EBAY and ETSY, I started looking for some Etsy groups at FACEBOOK to participate in... I am currently looking into at least five.  I want to find one to post at and see what others are making... another way to explore what is "trending."   :-)  maybe.

They seem to have a lot of boundaries with posting, so one group will probably be all I can handle.  Some have many thousands of "members" that may or may not be active.  Facebook groups are a sly way to sell your items, but they also sometimes bring good feedback.  They are also a way to see the competition, and to find out what is currently being made and sold, etc.

When Etsy changed their team format my personal group went away... or it's somewhere I haven't found yet.  I wanted to gather the Christian leaders for a team to help support each other.  I called it ELECT, E ( ? Etsy)  Leaders...(Etsy)  Christian Teams... I'll have to find that missing word... I worked around that word because Christians are the ELECT of God..  Well, it's been awhile... my efforts didn't seem to get a return message when I contacted the leaders.  Finding Christian teams at Etsy is a huge challenge... and worse now.  They made it so hard to be a team I think everyone is abandoning the concept.


If you think the world is going to be fair about spiritual matters, you are wrong.  I started to see how things were getting changed a long time ago, when I looked for community meetings to attend... and they were all on the nights and times that Christians were having church.  Since then, I have discovered more of those "covert" methods.  I do what I can and leave the details to GOD.  We can't stop prophecy, and those who hate GOD think it's their responsibility to "save the world" from Christians.  I don't think they realize what the consequences will become.

Online is just another war zone.  We can't see what is happening, and many times can't do anything about it, but it is where we have to be right now.  The saying "...things are falling into place" is true.  GOD's Word is coming true right before our eyes and ears.

I keep saying, "If anyone did this to them, it would be called a hate crime."  And it would.  But things are never fair in times of persecution.  I keep praying that GOD will help His People to find a way through this with each other... that is what WORKING TOGETHER was created to do... I think it may be too late now.

So... PATREON  is my last hope.  :-)  (plus a possible lottery win someday... BIG lottery win... only  :-)

I would like to start the process, and be able to do some of my BUCKET LIST items.  That would work for me.  I am ready to die, and WT is GOD's business/ministry.  I just wanted to get a few last things done.


I guess I got going there... it is always on my heart... always a current need.

Please remember that MONDAY updates will not be public anymore.  Sign up for the $5 CHALLENGE to be able to access them... and help me reach my ONE MILLION SUPPORTERS goal.  :-)

https://www.patreon.com/DebsRetirementPlan


Until next time,
In Christ,

Deborah Martin
work2gather.us