Hello, friends and family! It’s been some time since the last The Wood Log post. I’ve heard from some of you that you miss my updates and want me to write more. Thanks, family, for the encouragement! In my last update, I shared that we were expecting baby No. 2, and now we’re almost a month away from meeting our baby…boy. That’s right, we’re expecting a boy! We’re excited! Rosalie will be excited. She’s not yet old enough to understand why Mommy’s belly is getting bigger. But she’s already showing sweet signs of being a great big sister.
The post this week is going to be a general update. I’ve got plenty of updates that I need to make. One update is how 2024 went. So many things happened, and I need to make sure I record them while they’re still in my recent memory. Another update I’d like to share is our full experience traveling with a 1-year-old on Amtrak. Something that will help other new parents as they try to figure that out, because there just wasn’t a whole lot of information when we rode. And of course, I need to update you all on all the cute, funny, and sweet things Rosalie has been doing.
Another little announcement I’d like to make. With this blog, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to generate a little income. One thing I never wanted to do was directly ask for money. I tried to sign up for Google Ads so that I could put some unobtrusive ads on the site to help, but Google declined my application, saying that the site provided no significant information. Well, maybe it’s just a blog that’s starting out, so the content may be lacking, but also, who cares? If the site gets traffic, it shouldn’t matter what the content is like. It would cost them nothing other than a few database bytes on their servers.
With that, I’ve figured something out. I have an Amazon Affiliate link. This is in the right sidebar if you’re on a desktop or the bottom of the page if you’re on your phone. Clicking that link will take you to normal Amazon, and anything you purchase, we’ll get a fraction of a percentage of that order. So you help us out, and you get your Amazon order that you normally get. The only issue is that after doing this for a few years, I’ve figured out that Amazon sees anyone who’s been on my Wi-fi network, or any wi-fi networks that I’ve been on, as “close family” and those orders are ineligible for referral fees. This includes anyone I’ve ever worked with at an office. Anyone who’s joined our home network. Any parents, grandparents, or in-laws that I’ve joined on their wi-fi. It’s a really dumb thing Amazon does. I emailed them once about it, and they gave me something along the lines as “family members in the same household” crap, even though they were family but not in my household. Then I noticed when I shared links with co-workers, I could see purchases were made, but I got no revenue from those orders. That led me to realize they’re using wi-fi networks as the determining factor.
Family members already help us out so much, and we’re very appreciative of that. But if you’ve never joined our network, consider clicking on our “Shop Amazon” link for your next Amazon order; we’d appreciate that!
That’ll be it for this post. Recap: we’re having a boy! And order through our Amazon link! I’ll be working on the next post to post next week, 2024.