How an Internet Bookseller Became a Squidoo Writer

As a bookseller, I found that Squidoo was a great vehicle for getting the word about my books out to educators. Some lenses explain educational products or tips for using them. Others offer information on book selling and the life of a bookseller.

Technology is changing ideas about education methods and even reading. Here are some of the issues related to these changes.

I am just beginning to write about my family, bit by bit. There is the family I grew up in, which was formed from the Hart family on one side and the Haynes family, which dates back to the American Revolution, on the other side.



When the children were adopted, we grafted parts of the Gnewuch family into ours, Our children were first the children of Deanna Barnes (Ron's third wife) and Ron Gnewuch. Ron's parents, John and Vivian Gnewuch, had adopted Bob Gnewuch, Ron's son from his first marriage. From the first few months after we got our children, Sarah and Jason Gnewuch, as foster children, there were two yearly visits from Bob, John, and Vivian Gnewuch, in the early summer when the children had their birthdays, and before Christmas. When Bob married Diane, she. too, became part of our extended family, and our children soon had nieces and nephews.


By this time we had our own nephews, my brother, Robert Madison Hart, Jr.'s sons, Robert Madison Hart III (Bobby to us) and Joseph.


As I write this, neither Kosta's parents nor mine are still living. Both of our children have also passed to the next life -- Jason in 1991, when he was 14, and Sarah, in May, 2009, at the age of 36. You will find Sarah and Jason popping up all over my lenses, since they still live in our hearts, as do all our friends and family who have preceded us into eternity.

We bought our property in Templeton just after our son Jason died. We had sealed the deal about three days before he died, and we had walked this property together. It was really purchased with him in mind, since it has almost 14 acres and could support the horse he wanted to have. The house is very small, and we never would have bought it had we known I would turn into a bookseller who needed a lot of storage space. The house has only 1120 square feet, and a really dinky kitchen. The previous owners had a restaurant business and probably only had breakfast at home, thus they didn't need many cupboards or much counter space. Except for the kitchen and bathrooms, you will find book merchandise in every room of the Templeton house, most in boxes waiting to be listed or numbered boxes already listed. In only one bedroom are the three large bookcases full of only our own books.



We also live part time in Paso Robles in a home we inherited from my mother. It is much larger, with a nice big kitchen, a living room, and a family room, as well as three bedrooms and an office. This is where we entertain and relax on weekends, although we still sleep at home where it's quiet and we can hear the owls hooting at night and the occasional howl of a coyote. I work to maintain the gardens at both houses, though we have a gardener to mow the lawns at the Paso house. In Templeton we don't have a lawn. Unfortunately, I'm still using two bedrooms to sort the contents of both our mothers' stuff. My mother-in-law lived in a huge house and every bit of it was full of stuff. Some we kept and brought to Paso Robles. We are using the furniture we brought back, but we still have a lot of things to sort through and give away. It does not help that we are both pack-rats. I also have claimed the office to use for listing used books and storing a lot of them, and the master bedroom is also in use for storage except for the bed. I was hoping to free up two bedrooms before Thanksgiving, but I doubt that it will happen by then. I said that last year, too.



I love writing about the area where I live. Templeton is located between the cities of Paso Robles and Atascadero. We can drive for ten minutes south and be in Atascadaro. We can drive less than a mile east and be in Paso Robles. If we want to go to the county seat in San Luis Obisopo, we drive south for 30 minutes. This is the beginning of what I will write about my area of California's central coast.

I have never lived anywhere else where there have been so many local Christmas events sponsored by the civic leadership of the communities that hold them. The communities of Paso Robles, Templeton, and Atascadero are all in North San Luis Obispo County. Each of them holds an entire calendar of events free to the public each December and at various other times of the year. This section will concentrate on the December events. I have also included some of my church's regular Christmas traditions.

This doesn't include all holidays, of course -- just the ones I choose to write about.

I suppose this would be more accurately called "Things I Enjoy in My Spare Time," since I'm interested in anything I choose to write about, but it also includes memories from my childhood not covered elsewhere.

I was raised in what was then The Bellflower Community Presbyterian Church in Bellflower, California. I am now a member of The Covenant Presbyterian Church in Paso Robles, California. I have had an interesting journey between these two spiritual homes. It will take time and many more lenses to cover it. Here are a few stops along the way.

Note: If you think Making Zjito for Slava should really be in recipes, try making it. I think few people would chose to make this except for religious reasons. It is a ceremonial food.

The Blessings of Rain is here because it features some Christian hymns and relates rain to the Bible. It's probably more an expression of faith than a journey.

I'm hoping that others facing the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one through accident or suicide may find some help here. And if you are faced with helping a loved one through a terminal illness, I hope I've given some encouragement and helpful hints to get you through that.

Most of what I share here are my everyday recipes -- what we eat when I realize that I must serve lunch fast after a morning of constant work and many interruptions. We eat our big meal after my husband comes home from his swimming at the gym about 3 PM. We don't really eat dinner. Some of these dishes can be on the table in less than 45 minutes. Others require a little more time when you have it and can be reheated for another meal when time is short.

Although I enjoy a good green salad as much as anyone else, especially with a pasta dish, sometimes it just doesn't go with the meal or I happen to be out of greens. These are some of the other salads we really enjoy.

I'm just getting started on these, but will keep adding them as I write them. I never know when I'm going to learn something new or explore a new topic, so I take my camera everywhere -- just in case.

I seem to have gotten my share. I'm hoping my experiences might help someone else going through something similar, or help someone visualize something that's never happened to them.

I'm not into shopping the way some people are. I do it from necessity, but I don't really enjoy it. A store is the last place I want to be if I can help it. So most of my shopping lenses I did because of a Rocket Moms assignment or a challenge. When I do shop for anything but food, I do most of it on line or through mail order catalogs.

This first quiz will be pretty easy to pass if you've read the rest of this and enough of the lenses.

Since I'm only allowed to list five lenses here, I have not been able to include everyone who has helped me learn my way around. I'm not even sure all the people who helped me are RocketMoms. I've tried to link to the lenses that will best introduce them. All of these are wonderful people who give a lot of themselves to serving others.