I didn't take a hike yesterday, either. I was disciplined and finished all my work for the week, so that I could have today  off and go on a long hike.

However, my menfolks took the cars, so I am still not hiking.

On the other hand, this means I have the house to myself and can take a PSD (personal sewing day) and finish up that top I'm making while watching chickflicks on the Instant Watch, so I think that will be equally fun, if not equally good for me.

I'd like your opinion on the screenshot here -- an inner page from the new website I'm planning to launch along here someday. It's taking an incredibly long time, frankly, but it's having to be fitted in around the paying work.

The front page is waiting for The Computer Guy to "work some magic" (his words, not mine) on it, but I think this is how the inner pages are going to look, more or less. The front page will have videos and a flash gallery and stuff like that. There could be videos on inner pages, in the same spot where the photo is on this one.

Some posts will be more colorful than others, of course, This one is about e-readers, not the prettiest items around, but an important topic in the field right now.

So let me know what you think.

And if you haven't seen #2 daughter's professional blog, you might want to check it out, too.

I hope you have a relaxing and productive weekend!

I didn't take a hike yesterday. Maybe today. Any time available yesterday for hiking went toward getting my taxes and FAFSAs finished up. However, I finished up all the current projects for The Computer Guy, and all my oDesk jobs (except the Australians -- I only do one hour a week for them, so they always get put off till the weekend because it's just one hour), got my invoices out, closed a deal with a new client #2 daughter brought in, paid the designer's deposit, and accepted a couple of new jobs, so it was a productive day.

I also joined in discussions with #1 son about his philosophy paper. He was writing about the notion of the tabula rasa -- that is, that we are a blank slate when we are born, and all our knowledge comes from experience. We discussed instincts and language learning, and at one point #1 son assured me that a baby who grew up in a mechanic's shop could, by the age of 3, learn to fix cars.

"The reason you're having trouble defending your position," I explained, "is that you're wrong. Also, you're arguing against the thesis of your paper."

It was Amazon Vine day. There were no books that I wanted on the list, so I chose a measuring tape with a calculator and some design and print software, reminiscent of the old Print Shop. I remember that Print Shop was a lot of fun. True, I never print anything out these days, but still, it could be fun.

#1 daughter sent me a a profit/loss report for the first quarter. She sent me one before, but it was claiming that I had lost $3,000, and I felt sure that I would have noticed. Apparently, it was a simple mis-categorization. I may still not understand these statements, but at least the numbers at the bottom look better -- like, more as though I can afford to pay my taxes, at least.

Yesterday was a fortunate day for electronics chez fibermom. #1 son found the Kindle in the car. This made me very happy, although I had already gone and bought a physical copy of one of the books on it for said son, who hasn't even opened it yet, and I suppose may never do so now.

We also got a very clever thing from Netflix, and can now watch their instant movies on our TV, via the Wii. If you have both Netflix and a Wii, check this out.

And we were able to take the enormous TV I got off the curb one day a couple of years ago to the recycling for free. That's a long, boring story, actually, It was a good thing, though. I'll leave it at that.

Spring is here and it is gorgeous and sweet smelling outdoors. I don't want to be indoors. I am, of course, but I did at least get a bit of a walk yesterday. Maybe I can take a hike this afternoon. It is, after all the second anniversary of my being laid off.

The Computer Guy's business has a birthday. Mine does not. The anniversary of my layoff is the only date I've come up with, and that's a stupid thing to observe. But it might be a good excuse for taking a hike. Once I finish the work for The Computer Guy.

Once upon a time I made some Anzac biscuits and they were not good. They had a good story behind them, and in those days we'd bake anything with a good story at our house. But as I recall they were dry, crumbly, and tasteless.

So I forgot about them. However, there arose yesterday a concatenation of circumstances. My husband was complaining about the lack of cookies in the house. My son was complaining about the lack of snacks. I saw Lyle's Golden Syrup in the grocery store (as far as I know, there is no other purpose for Lyle's Golden Syrup besides making Anzac biscuits). I realized that I had seen a new recipe for Cranzacs -- Anzac biscuits with dried cranberries -- and that I had dried cranberries, coconut, and oats in the house, all at the same time.

Naturally, I bought the syrup and made the Cranzacs.

Now, let me see whether I can remember the story. I think it's like our Civil War hardtack stories. ANZAC is some kind of kiwi acronym -- Allied New Zealand Air Corps or something. And they were... let's see... starving out in the desert with nothing but.. oats and Lyle's Golden Syrup. And, I suppose, some coconut, which may grow wild in New Zealand for all I know.

They mixed up these meager ingredients with a bit of fat from whatever animals they grow down there, sheep I suppose, and baked them on stones. Then they had to get by with that and nothing else, having used up their breakfast porridge in making them. Now, each year on Anzac Day, New Zealanders eat these things and rejoice that they normally have access to Tim Tams.

This may not be the correct story. However, we do now have cookies in the house, and these are better than the first time I made them. They're a lot like granola, actually.

I made soap, too.

I sent off my federal taxes yesterday; I'm not sure I can afford the state taxes, so I'm waiting to see if any checks arrive between now and the 15th. #1 daughter also made me a report on our first quarter. The business is doing well, but when I look at my income from last year, after expenses, and the "retained income" or the amount I've kept this year, I see that I don't really earn all that much, personally. Less than my daughters, I think. And then I pay half of it for my sons' tuition.

I'm not complaining. I'm earning more than I ever have before, and I'm very grateful to be able to pay the boys' tuition. When #2 son was home, he mentioned that we seemed to "have a lot more flexibility" than he could remember us ever having before. And I'm making some investments in my business that will, I think, pay off in the long run. However, I thought I was doing well on the billable hours, and I would actually have earned more last year if I had done 40 hours a week at oDesk, at my lowest rate. This means that I still had a LOT of unbillable hours.

And then my husband told me that he wants to visit his country. I resisted the temptation to point out that I still haven't scraped together enough to get my dental work done. I also resisted the temptation to suggest that he start saving up for it. I'd like him to be able to visit his country, after all. I'd even like to go, too. It felt like a problem for me to solve, though.

Since I'd paid large sums of money for taxes, and also gotten #2 son's FAFSA papers (they're "verifying" his information, whatever that means, so we still don't know what we have to come up with for his tuition last year), and also had a brief and unsatisfactory conversation with #1 son on why he hasn't done his FAFSA yet ("There are a lot of things I should do that I haven't done," he snapped) -- well, it was sort of dispiriting to add that to my list of things I'm supposed to sort out.

My marker board has gotten out of hand again.

However, I have a finite list of things to do today: teach class, meet with the client whose site is supposed to launch today, finish up site alterations and a strategy plan for another local client, do the weekly reports for my Northerners, draft a newsletter for the New Yorker, and then if possible continue on to the next project for The Computer Guy.

Yesterday, I read, did a bit of sewing while watching Dreamweaver training videos, discussed philosophy with #1 daughter, and failed to do any gardening or hiking or indeed any energetic activity of any kind.

Oh, I did yoga and step class with the Wii, so I wasn't a complete slug, but I even drove to church, because I was wearing suede shoes.

I used to do a lot of hiking and camping and stuff, but I seem to have given it up. I need to take it back up again. #1 son brought me the pictures from his float trip, and the people in them are having so much fun just being out in the beautiful day.

It seems to me that it's easier to work normal   working hours and take time off and stuff like that if you're actually doing something, as opposed to merely resting.

With the second anniversary of my layoff coming up, I am working hard at having normal working hours and time off and something approaching a balanced life, and I may just need to go on a float trip now and then.

Another thing that I did yesterday, though, was to work on the website I'm imagining for #1 son, as well as on my new educational website.

The outdoor sports website is giving me practice in using templates successfully. I've gotten reasonably good at it by now, actually, but I figure I can build another half dozen examples of this site and by then I'll be very good at it.

I'm planning to set both of these sites up for affiliate marketing.

I'm blogging now for a guy who does a lot of PPC and affiliate marketing and stuff like that, so I'm writing about how amazingly profitable it is. I know people who do this, including Lostarts who very kindly shared a lot of her experience with me, and no one I know is earning hundreds of dollars this way.

Here's the basic math at Amazon, one of the major venues for this type of thing: in order to earn back the $10 for your domain registration, you must have someone buy $200 worth of stuff from you each year. In order to earn my hosting, I'd need someone to by $500 worth each month.

Over 8,000 people have read my lesson plan on "The Big Turnip" so far. I'd earn about 31 cents for each one of those people who happened to click through and buy the book. That would mean that I'd need about a 20% conversion rate, which would be unusually high. Of course, that's assuming that 8,000 people read it in one month, which isn't what's happening. But it's also assuming that I have only one lesson plan and one link, which is also not the case. I have hundreds of lesson plans, and hundreds of links, and will be adding more all the time. What's more, someone buying a $6.99 book at Amazon will probably add on another item or two in order to avoid paying shipping. If 20 people a month shop from my website and spend the minimum to get free shipping, it'll pay for its hosting. I expect that site to do other good things for my business, so having it pay for its hosting is really all I need.

But the outdoor sports site wouldn't be linking to $6.99 books. It would link to $250 crash pads and $500 tents and $280 sleeping bags. #2 son has also been given special dispensation to take the web design class at the university next term. If he does so, and does well at it and learns how to do basic design work, then he could do my little coding jobs and design a couple of sites for me every month and earn a couple thousand dollars. If he also did a good job with his website and earned a couple hundred a month there, he could be quite a comfortable drifter, and of course all his outdoor sports would be tax deductible. Now that he's 21, he can play clubs, too, so his music could bring in some trickle of money as well.

I don't really believe in interfering in my kids' lives to this extent. #1 son may not want to do this at all. However, he might. It seems to me like a really practical way for him to finance his chosen lifestyle.

Okay. Time to get dressed and off to class. Oh, and breakfast. Better hurry!

Once again The Evil Mad Scientist is making cookies. The Evil Mad Scientist charmed me a couple of years ago with Fractal Cookies and now has made cookies reflecting 2D projections of 3D probability density maps of hydrogen atoms.

I got a kick out of the comments on the cookie press disks ("All of them seem fairly useless, with the possible exception of the electrical ground symbol" showing the Christmas tree upside down). However, I am completely amazed by the fact that they made their own cookie press disks.

I have a terrific cookie press, and I think it would be very snazzy to make your own disks. #2 daughter and I both have the same kind, the Pampered Chef model, and it has a nice selection of seasonal things like pumpkins and wreaths, plus one which is supposed to be an umbrella...

#2 daughter made a bunch of cookies with it for the office, and fortunately had a guy in her apartment when she began to pack them up, because apparently the cookies turn out to look like male genitalia.

You don't always see these things yourself. #1 daughter pointed out to me once that my pretty little pale pink tea cakes with a pink icing rosette in the center looked like breasts. I had to change the decoration.

I'm not sure what #2 daughter did with her indiscreet cookies.

Anyway, you could probably do letters, Roman numerals, or animal faces if you don't want hydrogen atoms. The Evil Mad Scientist explains how to do this with melamine plates, but also has the back up plan of  going to "popular online laser cutting services." First I've heard of that.

Why an Evil Mad Scientist, you may be wondering, especially if they make cookies? Yesterday, after taking a check and a paper rocket to my designer and doing a little mild grocery shopping, I stopped in to get a book (I still haven't found my kindle) at the bookstore. As I was checking out, one of the clerks said to the clerk who was helping me, "And I'm going to be the evilest cowboy ever!"

It seemed to me that the guy was setting the bar fairly low. How evil did cowboys get?

My clerk said they were pretty evil, grabbing land and all.

I have a couple of cowboys in my freshman comp class. They're cowboys because they work on cattle ranches, but you can tell they're cowboys. They're quiet and sit very still most of the time, and seem as though they'd be able to handle emergencies really well but tend to blush when girls speak to them. Hardly evil at all, and really no signs of land grabbing. Guys who work in bookstores may not have a realistic idea of the life of the cowboy.

"It's like being the evilest truck driver," I objected. The guy should have gone with being the evilest mad scientist.

I think they didn't take me seriously because I was buying a Jennifer Crusie novel. Still, it was perfect. I put away a lot of stuff around the house, read the book, took a nap, and made strategic plans. My husband came home from work upset because he had hit a deer which bounded across the highway as he was on his way to work. He is the kindest hearted man, and very nice to animals, even when he's about to butcher them and eat them, so he was naturally quite upset by it, but I was glad there wasn't more damage to him or the car. People around here often total their vehicles by hitting deer.

He took a nap, too. I got my work done for my Aussies. I might make cookies today, too. I think I am have some disks in my cookie press which look a lot like those hydrogen atoms.

When I'm tired, I make bad decisions. I've been very tired lately, because I've been getting up at 4:00 a.m. with my husband. While his being at work at 5:00 seven days a week will certainly help us out with paying the taxes, it's not great for getting sufficient sleep. Thus, by Friday I was sort of stumbling around in exhaustion.

This morning, I may go back to bed. Once I'm awake, it's hard for me to go back to sleep, and if I do, then I feel groggy all day, so I may also wait till afternoon and have a nap.

Anyway, I know that when I'm tired, I'm not at my best. I'm likely to take offense, or get cross, or have my feelings hurt, or decide that birthday cake makes a good lunch.

So yesterday, I was writing a blog post on Facebook and e-commerce, and I ran into some examples: a florist, Sephora, and Victoria's Secret seem to be the successful ones. I didn't want to become a fan of the florist for some reason. I don't know... they kind of seemed to be planning on sending me virtual flowers and stuff. Victoria's Secret is all very well, but I don't really want scantily clad women on my wall, either. I'd already had quite a bit of that with another of yesterday's blog posts (a client did a website for a Brazilian bikini designer).

So I became a fan of Sephora. Immediately they offered me numerous free things. I clicked through on their offers, needing to see how they used Facebook in their e-commerce strategy -- and then I saw it.

Well Rested.

When Janalisa and I went up to see #2 daughter, we strolled around the Plaza chatting with the guys at the Pottery Barn and trying all the scents at l'Occitane, and we ended up at one point in a makeup shop where the nice salesperson let us play with all her toys. One of us asked what to do about dark circles under the eyes (I think that's how it happened -- she might have brought it up herself, I guess, the way they do in Japanese makeup shops).

"Well rested," said the salesperson.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, yes," I said, in the tones of one who knew that was the solution, apart from the obvious impossibility of it. I mean, being well rested is clearly not just the solution for dark circles but for most of the world's ills.

"It's the name of the product," she explained kindly. She pulled out the stuff and painted it on all three of us. We all looked remarkably well rested.

I didn't buy it, though I did think about it, but then yesterday morning I saw it at the Sephora website.

In my exhausted state, I found it fascinating. My eyes were riveted to the photo, and when you consider that it's a little box of powder, it's somewhat astonishing that I found it riveting.

It seemed possible not only that you'd look well rested after using this stuff, but that you'd actually be well rested. Like some kind of magic energy source.

I ordered it. I put it on my work credit card, as though actually ordering something were an essential part of the research for the blog post. The profit on that blog post is nil. The product will not get my taxes paid. It probably won't even solve my sleep deprivation issues.

In other news, the cleaner came yesterday, so my house is clean in between all the mess. I have mislaid my Kindle. I wish I could call it so it would ring and I'd find it. #2 son got the orientation leader job he applied for, as well as the Governor's School RA position. I haven't heard from the optometrist, so I guess no news is probably good news. And today is Community Clean Up Day, so I can take large things I want to throw away to the local elementary school for free.

I also need to pay my workers, clean my house, do some grocery shopping, and of course take a nap.

Birthday cake for #1 son. Note the Roman numeral candles, which I got at the Nelson Atkins. I should have taken them to the bakery and had them create a cake to go with them, but I did at least get the cake, and he liked it.

Yesterday I worked on blog posts and websites for The Computer Guy -- a motivational speaker and a sermon helps site, both of which were quite interesting -- and a social media strategy for a resort. All fun.I set up a couple of meetings for next week -- wrapping up one website and an initial discussion on another -- and was interviewed by a local news editor.

The other big thing task was trying to read the quarterly report from #1 daughter.

She's been looking after my accounting, and I had asked for a quarterly report, hoping that it would help me in decision making. I'm trying to be businesslike in my decision making. I've been making some investments in the business, and I'm trying to determine what further investments I should make, or at least whether I'll be able to pay my taxes. I'm also trying to determine what sorts of jobs I should be taking on, and what I ought to delegate, and stuff like that.

I figured the quarterly report would help me on all those things.

In 2008, I was only thinking in terms of income: was I earning enough to replace the salary from the job I'd lost, and did I make enough to pay my bills, stuff like that. The bottom of Maslow's pyramid, essentially.

In 2009, I worked on improving my ratio of billable to unbillable hours, and I did quite well on that. I reached the point where I felt confident that I would have sufficient work and an adequate income -- the next level of the pyramid -- so I was ready to move on.

Maslow's pyramid may not help the next bit. I am trying, for 2010, to be businesslike and think about profit. I'm also trying to build the business to support at least #2 daughter and me, so I guess that could be about love and belongingness. Or maybe having my company be profitable because that's how successful companies are, so we can move on to self-esteem.

However, I don't really get how profitability applies to me. I think the two ways you can make a profit in a business are to hire people who work for less than the amount the company charges, and to sell things for more than the company paid for them. Since nearly all of the income of my company is currently from me working, I make a profit by leaving some of it in the business bank account. That seems sort of artificial.

You can see why I have trouble understanding quarterly reports, huh? #2 son is taking accounting next year. Maybe he can help me grasp this stuff.

I took a bit of time in the evening and knitted. This is not a good picture, but it shows clearly that this is an unsuccessful piece of knitting. In general, I like subtle low-contrast color schemes, but there's no point to doing elaborate colorwork if you end up with something as invisible as this. I pulled it all out.

Salt Peanuts, my only Finished Object for 2010, is also unsuccessful, because the collar refuses to lie down. Perhaps I should pull it out, too. Or at least pull out the collar and redo it.

The eye tests were interesting. I haven't heard about them yet, which I figure is good news. If I were going to be blind soon, they'd have called me right up.

Today is #1 son's birthday. He's 21. He went out last night at midnight and hasn't yet returned, which is probably also good news. If he'd been arrested, they'd have called us.

Today I'll be picking up a birthday cake and talking with a reporter, and I also have way more work than I can actually do. Some of it just won't get done, that's all.