Who is Dustytoes? This is Pam's Wizzography

After living in New England for the first 22 years of my life, I headed to Florida.  After getting married and raising four kids in the Sunshine State, we decided it was not the place for us any more.  Our family moved back to the Northeast, where we planned to stay for good.

My plans never come to pass, and I ended up living on my own, due to a series of unfortunate events. During those tough years, I began a business and became successful enough to buy a house of my own, and began sharing my gardening experience, which was for me, "learn as I go".  

Eventually I could no longer afford to stay in the North, and had to move back to Florida.  

Because I have lived extensively in both areas of the country, my blogs and articles reference both locations.

I found it difficult to spend winters in New Hampshire.  I bought a snowblower when it became apparent there wasn't enough space in my yard to have my driveway plowed when we got lots of snow.  

So on top of working full time, raising my son, keeping up the house, building fires in the wood stove, and everything else that goes with dealing with life, I had to go out and snowblow the driveway whenever a storm hit. I realized that without a man in my life, living in the Northeast was going to be tough.  

This winter photo was from a particularly snowy winter.  I had to have my roof shoveled, for fear of it collapsing under the weight of snow.  But I did a nice job with the snowblower, don't you think?

Believe it or not, I began taking an interest in seashells after I moved back to New England from Florida.  When I started working online at the Zazzle site, I used photos of my Florida seashell collection to sell products.  Without any tropical beaches to visit, I was limited to the shells I already had.  I began a blog about identifying seashells, and wrote an article at Squidoo which was my most popular / money-making article.  Once the Squidoo writing site was no more, I transferred my successful article here, and it is still very popular.

Now that I live in Florida again, and am close to the beach, I can regularly update my blog and write posts about local events with information for visiting tourists.  I can also take more pictures of seashells to use on my Zazzle site.

Zazzle is an online print-on-demand store where anyone can open a store and upload artwork and photography designs to sell for a royalty.  In 2007 I was desperate for any type of income, and started my first store at Zazzle.

Earning at Zazzle has been up and down for me, but overall it's been a success.  I sit at my computer every day and do my work from home.

Although I won't disclose my age, I was part of the hippie generation and attended high school in the 70's.  

I have four grown children and currently, 2 cats.

My happiest times are spent on or near the water.  If I had lots of money I would live on a lake.  Going out on our boat and exploring empty islands along the Intracoastal Waterway is a favorite pastime for me these days.

I work 7 days a week doing at least a little, and often sitting for many hours at the computer.  Other than writing, walking the beach, boating and fishing, I don't do much.  I still try to garden, but in Florida it's tough.  I hate the heat.

Thanks to my Wizzley friends who have helped me become better at what I do.