Ribbit - Knit a frog.

Isn't this frog a cutie? I want it. I have never been a fan of dolls. Even as a little girl I preferred teddy bears and cuddly toys. Now, I want Ribbit, whom I spotted over at Konstant Kaos. The original pattern comes from Spud and Chloe.

Both of those websites are full of clever things for crafty people to make and do. They both have tutorials so that even beginners can try things for themselves. I highly recommend that you visit both blogs.

Now, where are my knitting needles?

The winner is.......

I am sorry for the delay in the final announcement. It must have been a tough decision because we had quite a squabble going on between the committee members.

The winner is Rosanne. We hope that this helps you to keep bringing in some income while your husband looks for work.

Thank you to everyone who entered. You left some very clever comments and you all deserve to win.

There is another competition where the same printers are to be given away. Wander over to Thinking Home Business and enter. DO it FAST! The comp closes tomorrow.

Social Networking - what is in it for you?

Have you been attracted by those tweets on Twitter that promise you thousands of followers within a day? Do you need so many followers?

If you have ever been worried about your lack of followers on Twitter or Facebook you need to listen to this. Seth Godin is talking about where the value lies in Social Networking. This is a great little video that is full of common sense.

Watch this.

Do you need a writer?

There is such an emphasis on writing, these days, especially in online business. A picture may tell a thousand words but it won't necessarily sell your item or service. If you are struggling with your writing you might need to hire a writer. That isn't as expensive as you might think.

Clever Streak is a writing service for small and home based businesses. We specialise in blogging and article writing. We tailor our services to suit your needs and our prices are suited to the budgets of home based businesses. We have a range of packages available to help you out including blog setup, blog babysitting and newsletter creation.

If you have work that you need done but you aren't in a hurry ask about our standby prices. They will save you money and you have the comfort of knowing that your work is booked in.

Drop in to our website at Clever Streak and see if we can help you.

Week 3 - Win a Printer

This is the last week of the printer giveaway.

If you would like to win it then leave me a comment. Make it stand out and be noticed!

To win: Leave a comment here telling me in 25 words or less what difference this computer will make to your life.

I have a new panel who will help me to determine the winner this week. Best of luck to you! (open only to Australian entrants, sorry)

The winner of last weeks competition is Michelle. Michelle please contact me via the contact page to claim your prize.

Carnival - Living a Real Life

Welcome to the July 18, 2009 edition of living a real life.

This carnival is a collection of articles submitted over the last few months. The carnival has been inactive for a little while due to the number of irrelevant and spammy posts we received. I am hoping that we can start off again and find relevant and useful submissions for the readers.

Let's kick off this carnival.

omguy presents Don't worry be happy! posted at Ordinary Miracles, saying, "Do you worry? If so, what about? The sources of worry can be many, our families, our health, finances, school grades etc…"

Andrew Rondeau presents The Greatest Success Secret of All Time posted at Great Management, saying, "Sir Richard Branson swears by it and credits it as one of the secrets to his success. Check out an excerpt from A Touch of Greatness."

Applying the Law of Attraction presents Can You Use The Law of Attraction to Achieve Your Desires posted at Applying the Law of Attraction Membership Library, saying, "When you have desires in life you want to make happen you will want to use the Law of Attraction to make it work.

omguy presents The Butterfly Effect posted at Ordinary Miracles, saying, "A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours. . ."

Joshua Seth presents Skydiving As A Metaphor For Life posted at Joshua Seth Blog, saying, "As I think back over the years and wonder at how I got to live this life of non-stop travel and adventure I am reminded of two of my favorite phrases “The world is your oyster” and “Carpe diem” (seize the day). I truly believe you can be, have and do anything you want in life once you clearly identify what that is and give yourself permission to have it."

Erin Pavlina presents Erin Pavlina’s Blog » Blog Archive » The Path to Purpose posted at Erin Pavlina's Blog, saying, "People ask me all the time how they can figure out their purpose, their one true path through life. I’m sure there is more than one way to get there, but let me share the method I used to finally find my way. Perhaps it will work for you too."

Diane Corriette presents What Is Greatness? posted at Personal Growth. Discovering Greatness with Inspirational Guidance, saying, "We all have greatness within us but what does being great mean to you and why is it more than just being positive?"

Andy presents Giving Back to Others posted at Personal Hack, saying, "Often we go through life in a very selfish state where all we want to do is take, take, take. Kind of like that game “the hungry hippos”. I had this thought the other day and questioned myself “would making more money, taking care of my health, or pursuing any other goal I had be worth while if I lived by myself on an island away from any other human being?”"

Chris Edgar presents To Be Creative, Let Go Of Your Identity posted at Purpose Power Coaching, saying, "Many of us are driven by a need to “know who we are”—a desire for a clear understanding of our roles in the world. It gives us a feeling of security to think things about ourselves like “I’m a lawyer,” “I’m a father,” “I’m an opera lover,” and so on. However, we can get so attached to the comfortable feelings these labels offer us that we end up limiting our creativity. When we become willing to dispense with our self-labels and stare into the abyss of uncertainty, we gain access to inspiration we may not normally feel."

axel presents Zen-Like Living posted at axel g.

Broderick Allen presents The Power of Now posted at Broderick Allen - Personal Growth and Enjoying Life's Journey.

Storm presents The Beauty of Simplicity posted at Ways To Simplify.

Relax presents How to become clever posted at The Wise Curve, saying, "Becoming cleverer puts you in an advantageous position in life"

Stephen Martile presents How to Stay Focused When You Feel Like Giving Up posted at FreedomEducation.ca by Stephen Martile,

Mark Yarrobino presents The First Step is the Biggest posted at Secrets to a Successful Life, saying, "For a lot of people, making any kind of change is extremely intimidating because it looks like a long road ahead that they’re not sure they’re ready to start walking down.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of living a real life using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

living a real life, blog carnival.

Are you on Twitter?

Do you have a Twitter account? If you do, leave me your twitter name in the comments area and I will follow you.

You might like to follow me, too. You can follow just by clicking on the champagne glass. The glass? Well everyone else has a blue bird. I wanted something different!

Week 2 - Win a printer

Well, the first printer has been won. The softies in the judging panel decided that the entry from Tye is the winner. Congratulations to you, Tye. We will be emailing you this week!

Disappointed? Don't give up. We have another printer to give away this week.

To win: Leave a comment here telling me in 25 words or less why you desperately need this printer.

I have a new panel who will help me to determine the winner this week. Best of luck to you! (open only to Australian entrants, sorry)

Themes in blogs

One of the best ways to prevent bloggers block is to have a theme that recurs throughout your blog. It can help to keep you focused and it also gives consistent content to your readers.

EP Designs is an example of a site that does this well. Elena has introduced Pink Saturday. On Saturdays she introduces readers to some of her stunning creations and it is tied together around the colour pink.

Not only are we able to watch some of her creations with their before and after images, we are tempted to buy her pretty items.

Another site that has adopted the themed approach is the Business Mums Blog. Melissa has introduced Marketing Monday and Friday Five. The Friday Five is a series of reports that Melissa produces on various topics and each is prived at $5.00. Marketing Monday tackles the huge topic of marketing your business. Each blog post has some great suggestions for small businesses such as what not to do with your email newsletters!

If you have a blog and find that you sometimes have a mental block why not se yourself a theme to write to on one day of the week? If you select it carefully you will be able to present great content and promote your business at the same time.

Win a printer worth $499!

Would you like to win a printer for your office? I am lucky to be able to offer you the opportunity to win one of three!

This is the official blurb:

The printer is an HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One Printer. It can save you money and lessen your environmental impact by delivering professional colour documents for up to 50 per cent less cost per page and energy use than laser printers. Importantly, the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One Printer also allows small businesses to produce their own marketing materials in-house, saving on outsourcing costs. This is something that is increasingly important given the current economic climate.


The HP Officejet Pro Wireless All-in-One Printer combines printing, copying, scanning and faxing capabilities into once wireless device. It is Energy Star® qualified, and offers double-sided printing and copying, a junk fax blocker, and the ability to scan directly to a network folder or email account. The Officejet 8500 Wireless allows users to preview, select and print high-quality photos from memory cards using the intuitive 3.45-inch LCD colour touchscreen. Economical high capacity ink cartridges that can be replaced separately also mean that the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One produces more printed pages with fewer cartridge replacements. These features can help small and micro businesses lessen their environmental impact while driving down costs by saving on paper and energy usage. This is a specific need of small and micro businesses that HP believes strongly in addressing.

I have had a look around and the feedback about this printer has been excellent. My last little printer was an inkjet and although it did an adequate job the print would sometimes smudge and it would run if it got wet. Whatever ink HP have used here is reported to have great holding power even if it gets wet. Yay! Perfect.

Would you like one? I am going to run this competition over three weeks and give one printer away each week.

To win: Leave a comment here telling me in 25 words or less why you desperately need this printer.

I have a panel who will help me to determine the winner. Best of luck to you! (open only to Australian entrants, sorry)

Great competition coming!

Boy, do I have a great competition coming here this month. I must have. I have huge prizes to give away to three lucky winners.

Now all I need to do is to figure out what the competition is and how it should be run.

Curious?

Good. So you should be.

Oh, you want a sneak peek at the prize? Fair enough. Here it is.

After you have a peek you should keep an eye out for the competition. It will start on Monday 6th July!