Negotiations

Negotiations
Photo-A-Day #1557

Here’s a little sunflower that is in our side yard. My sister Tara has been growing a ton of different varieties of them,

Allison had a tough day today. Eva was very nuudgie today. And even this evening she refused to go to bed and wailed and screamed very long, and very loud. So we each took turns checking on her over and over. She’s learned that if she screams “Change” we will come in sooner. We’ve told her that it if she needs a change it is easier to tell us rather than cry and scream.

First she wanted Allison to take out every one of her stuffed animals. Screaming and yelling over and over. Finally all the animals were out. She stopped screaming for a little bit and then went back to screaming. Next she yelled potty. We’re encouraging her to use the potty when she shows interest on her own so I went in and got her. So, we sat down and waited.

Eva has learned how to fib in order to get what she wants. She didn’t need a chance, she didn’t need the potty but she was so insistent. So we are learning very much that you cannot negotiate. So, one more book and back on to bed. Prayers one more time and now she’s sleeping. Ah, negotiations. She’s a mini manipulator. So bedtime took a bit of time tonight.

I picked up a copy of the New York Times. Many people writing about the article, not many in favor of sponsored posts, one guy out and out misquotes the article to illustrate his own little beef with it. I do have to say that what I wrote in the past 3 years with IZEA has been genuine and disclosed. If you find something not disclosed let me know.

The Cloth Couture giveaway is going well, if you haven’t entered yet you should get on that soon.

My computer home is still dead. I had some photos from yesterday that I meant to put up. They were on the external drive so I grabbed them tonight and here they are.

Logan's 1st Birthday
This was going to be photo-a-day #1556 but my computer died.

Logan's cake
What an adorable cake love the photos of his 1st year.

Yummy Watermelon
Eva loves yummy watermelon

Yum!
Eva loving watermelon

Grandpa and Lady
My grandpa and his new dog lady, she’s such a sweet little dog.

4 Generations
My grandpa, Uncle, Cousin and my cousin’s son. 4 generations plus Grandpa’s dog Lady.

Welcome NY Times Readers

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Hi there! I’m really grateful that you chose to pop through and see what BenSpark.com is all about. I’m also grateful to Ted Murphy and the folks at IZEA for believing in me and my blog. If you are a regular reader and you have not yet read the article please go and read the full New York Times Article.

The article states that I get compensation to recruit bloggers and teach them how to improve their blogs. That is not entirely the way it is. I am an IZEA Insider, as such I am compensated $1500 a year to go to blogger conferences and be an ambassador of IZEA. I do try to recruit bloggers to the IZEA properties because I believe very much in what they are doing, they empower small time bloggers like me to make a little extra with their blogs.

As for the teaching bloggers to improve their blogs, that is a little something extra that I try and do for my IZEA Insiders Crew so that they learn how to use SocialSpark more effectively. I am not compensated for that I do it because the better the network of bloggers are the better advertisers we can attract.

I call those posts SocialSpark Saturdays. I also received $1500 for having the largest crew of bloggers in my IZEA Insider crew. I actively recruit bloggers to my crew and welcome each and every one of them. I’ve created a blog specifically for that crew where I try and spotlight different bloggers on the crew. My goal is to interview each and every one of my 1000+ members. I love finding out about other bloggers and what makes them tick.

You might want to check through my Photo-A-Day images. I’ve been doing this for over 4 years and each photo tells a story. I can go back to April 9, 2005 and visually appreciate every day since. At my 1000th photo-a-day I explained how I was able to do so many photos with… a photo.

Read More About Photo-A-Day.

Here are my sets
2005, 2006, 2007 (pre-flickr) 2007, 2008, 2009. I have taken my best photos and made calendars the past two years. My 2008 and 2009 calendars were also fundraisers for charities.

I love kayaking and had a kayaking blog for a while but found ti to be more of a seasonal thing, I do have 5 videos that I made while kayaking and one more on the way from my latest trip this past Saturday. The Roger Williams Paddle Trail trip.

I also love food and making crazy things so occasionally I post some fun things I’ve made like – Fry Sauce, ‘Grilled’ Peanut Butter & Pickle Sandwiches and Average Betty’s Hoffapenos.

And I love my Family. I write most often about my family. My wife Allison and my daughter Eva.