
You’ll have to forgive my silence lately. I won’t lie to you folks (never have, so I don’t aim to start now), but I am definitely experiencing some of the darkest days of my life right now. I still don’t have full-time employment (though I’m lucky enough to have scored a couple of side jobs here & there), I can’t pay my rent, and I’ve had to go looking for aid in places I never, ever expected I would have to resort to. Writing & cooking are so much a part of me that it kills me when I just don’t feel emotional well enough to do either, but I have to admit that I’ve never, ever, EVER been in as bad a situation as I’m in now, and it’s affecting my desire to do what I do best. One thing was having a tiny income; it’s totally different to have NO income whatsoever and not know if I’ll have a roof over my head next month.
Still, I have no time to wallow. I have 8 days to figure out how to pay my rent and must continue to send resumes out right & left, in the hopes that SOMEONE will call me for an interview. In the meantime, I’m selling a lot of what I own to make ends meet (I’ll be tweeting links to some of the better things like nice purses & shoes this weekend, so stay tuned if you’re into that sort of thing!), and kicking myself in the ass to return to my one true love: this blog. With the way things have been going, I truly feel this is the only good thing in my life (besides the amazing, selfless love of my mother and the support of my fans & friends, of course. And the kitties. Pets are the best therapy!), and with all of the kind words and encouragement I get from everyone, I cannot possibly let this one good thing go. Especially when so many people seem to rely on me for advice these days!!! I say it a lot, but I’ll say it again: THANK YOU, for being such an amazing group of fans. You keep me going and because of you, I keep PGEW going.
/end sappy note
Anyway, for this month’s What’s In Store, I’m not really going to say much in terms of what I might be working on because I honestly don’t know what this month will bring (I’m rootin’ for a full-time JOB, though). However, I do want to call attention to a couple of things that have been added to my plate of poo lately, so that you, the greatest readers on the planet, can help the little blog that could…. continue:
~ Regarding printing recipes: I have this site set up this way for a couple of reasons. 1) I really like white writing on a blue background, and 2) It makes it more difficult for people to steal my content. NOT that I’m saying you actual fans steal, because I know that is not the case, and that is exactly why I wrote the mini-book – so that you wouldn’t have to run back and forth from computer to stove just to make your favorite PGEW recipe. However, I’ve been dealing with a lot of stolen creative content for the past year and a half: from the very title of this blog to actual recipes (I’ll expand on that in my next point), and this set up makes it a little harder for content thieves to do their thing. I am working on a way to bring you all a print option for my site, but I’m still not sure how exactly to approach it, so bear with me here. I know several of you have figured out how to get around the printing issue, but if you’re still wondering how to print out your favorite recipe, email me directly and I’ll walk you through it. I’d rather not discuss that in the comments of individual posts for reasons you’ll read next.
~ 17 of my recipes have been stolen by some fool who runs a “food blog” that claims these recipes as his own. I put “food blog” in huge quotation fingers because this is nothing but a stolen content site. He not only rips me off, but he rips off sites like 101 Cookbooks and other amazing foodies who, like me, put our hearts & souls into what we do, and that is just WRONG. It’s bad enough that I have had to deal with that woman back East pretty much taking my name and making money off of it (and she is CLEARLY not poor), but to have my 100% original recipes stolen and put on someone’s bogus food site is just the ultimate violation. My Facebook fans have done an awesome job at researching this jerk’s site and I am already taking action against him; however, it still doesn’t erase the fact that I’ve been the victim of a thief. It’s something I just don’t have time for right now and makes me completely nervous about posting anything new! But don’t worry… I will. This guy WILL be brought down and I refuse to let someone like that stop me from doing what I love. I do, however, want to ask for your help in alerting me of anything else like this if you see it. I don’t delude myself into being the only food blogger whose stuff you read (though it’s quite flattering when some of you say I’m the FIRST site you read!), so if you do come across something shady, please let me know so I can proceed accordingly.
~ I haven’t forgotten about the PGEW Shopping List post! I was about to post it when my temp assignment unfairly ended and I had to put this kind of thing aside for a bit. The good news is that I now have a much better story angle to work with (ever the writer, no?), so I think this will be a much better post now that I’m unemployed.
~ Did I tell you I tried out for MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay? I didn’t make the cut (too many qualified folks), but I had a LOT of panicking fun putting my stuff together for the judges. I think it’s also cured me of my fear of trying out for other shows, so you never know… PGEW may be on TV sooner than you think! Stay tuned. 🙂
~ I know this was a rather sad post, but I promise February will not be negative all the way ’round! I have a couple of old January recipes to start you off with and because I got help from an unexpected place, I was able to do a good shopping run at TJ’s the other day, so I’m armed with all sorts of good ingredients that I must make last for the next 4 weeks (eek!). I’m up for the challenge, though! And that means all of you will benefit.
That’s it for now! New recipe coming later today!
Love,
PG
