Surviving Mexico

March 25, 2017 · 7:46 pm

Theme Reveal–A to Z Blogging Challenge

The 2017 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge!

Where has the month of March gone? I should have had this post up last week, but obviously, I didn’t. So what’s this all about? Well, in April I’ve accepted a month long day blogging challenge. Seems ambitious of me, I know. A post a day for 26 days? On top of all my other goings on? What’s life without a little risk (and a lot of pressure) anyway?

So to whet your appetite for my fine blog posts–today is the big theme reveal!

A to Z reasons why La Yacata is the place to be WTSHTF (When the Sh*t hits the Fan)

Tada! Yep, you heard it right folks. I’m venturing into the realms of Prepperdom for a spell. If you’ve always wanted to know why La Yacata is the best place to live, I’ll give you 26 alphabetically inspired posts this month to set your mind at ease. If, at the end of the month, you decide, like we did, that La Yacata is the place to be, then I know of a few lots for sale right next door!

Look for the first riveting post April 1.

Find other blogs that have accepted the challenge at:

The Great and Powerful A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal!

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Tagged as atozchallenge, Blogging, blogging a to z, blogging challenge, theme reveal a to z challenge

March 22, 2017 · 3:36 pm

Failing at your own business–book reviewer

So as I was gearing up for my transition away from elementary school teaching, I began looking for other ways to supplement my income. The net loss from not working at the school was $250 USD per month. Therefore, I needed something that would fill that hole with moolah.

Reading books and getting paid for it seemed like the perfect job for me! I started searching about a bit for companies that were hiring in that field. I applied and was accepted for 2 different reviewer jobs.

The first website was BookLookBloggers. The catch is you are required to have your own blog with a minimum number of followers. There is no cash payout. You will receive a book to review free of charge. You must post the review of at least 200 words on your blog with links back to the site, plus post a review on a consumer website like Amazon. AND it’s a Christian publishing company, so not everyone’s cup of tea. I figured it would be a good experience, so went ahead and requested my first book.

I was not disappointed in the reading selection. It took more time than I anticipated to write the review. I wanted to get it just right. You can read my review of The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron here.

The second book reviewer position was with Online Book Club. This setup was a bit more complicated. However, there is the promise of a cash payout at the end. You can choose a book to review. However, the options available to you are limited by your reviewer score. For example, as a newbie, I could only download certain books in certain formats. There are specific deadlines as well. Within 4 days of acceptance, you must confirm you have a readable version of the book. Then within 30 days of the download, you must confirm you finished it. Finally, within 7 days of finishing, you must submit the review.

The review is subject to approval. It must be at least 5 paragraphs with at least 400 words. You must rate the book on a 4-star system. You can NOT publish the review on your blog, but you MUST share the link to the review once it’s been reviewed on your social media networks. Payments vary according to the books and are sent via Paypal. As I was still a reviewer in training, I did not get paid for either of these reviews.

I reviewed Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks by Morton E Tavel, MD. You can see my review here.

I also reviewed My Trip to Adele by A.I.Alyaseer, R.I.Alyaseer. You can see my review here.

There is a second option for income with the Online Book Club. With the Twitter Retweet Rewards, if you like, reply and tweet the Book of the Day post @TwBookClub, you can earn $5 plus $1 per 100 followers, rounded up to the nearest dollar. I don’t have a lot of followers on Twitter, so I only qualify for the minimum payout, but it’s something. You must retweet, like, and reply to each BOTD announcement tweet for all 30 days within 24 hours of the original tweet in order to get your reward.

Then there is always the chance for a $10 Amazon gift card. There are 2 given away daily, one to the person with the highest number of points and one randomly. You receive more entries by sharing, liking or pinning the BOTD on a variety of social media sites.

So, while I have yet to make any money at this venture, I’m going to stick with it a bit longer and see what happens. After all, I enjoy reading, and the potential to get paid for this hobby is a nice additional incentive.

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March 6, 2017 · 7:00 am

Thank your lucky chickens

Well, for the most part, I don’t think that everyone would consider our chickens particularly lucky. After all, there is always the possibility of them ending up in the stew pot or worse. Look what happened to Chat, the chicken cat, after all! However, compared to some fates, perhaps our chickens are fortunate. Let me tell you about our two more recent additions to the hen house.

One random afternoon, my husband was standing outside minding the goats and saw a flash of white. He thought it might have been a rabbit, but wasn’t too sure. Another flash and he identified the ball of feathers as a chicken. Ever so discreetly, he opened the gate to the animal corral and backed away. Zoop, zoop, there was a mad dash and a scruffy white hen ran in.

I’m not kidding when I said scruffy. Compared to our hens, she was downright embarrassing. A street orphan, maybe. It’s hard to say where she came from. The cow barn guy has chickens. The borrega guy has chickens. The horse guy has chickens. Even the chicken feather guy has chickens. In fact, that’s probably where she came from. The chicken feather guy (so named because he throws piles of chicken feathers in random spots in La Yacata) raises pigs for carnitas. He also has chickens for butchering. I don’t know what he feeds the chickens, but the pigs get the chicken intestines. Maybe he lets them dig through the pig poop? Anyway, life on the Flores mini-ranch has to be better than looming death at the hands of the chicken feather guy.

It took some time for Little White Hen to establish herself in the pecking order. Her place was substantially improved when little black hen joined the brood.

Little Black Hen was a rescue chicken. Literally. My husband rescued her from the jaws of a stray dog. Talk about a lucky break! Of course, she was traumatized and spent considerable time hiding in various locations throughout the animal area, mostly hiding from Little White Hen who was eager to establish dominance.

So how have these adopted ladies repaid us? EGGS! And for that, we thank our lucky chickens! As long as they keep producing, there won’t be any need for them to worry about that dang stew pot. White Rooster, however, is looking mighty tasty!