Hi bsky. I've been drowning in the Q4 crazies and Christmas prep. Sorry for ghosting y'all. BUT I just wanted to say I'm listening to the Nutcracker orchestral arrangements from start to finish for the first time in years and that tambourine is GOING OFF. Get it, tambourine.

I have informed delivery alerts set up with USPS and UPS, so generally I know when packages are arriving. Just saw an email from UPS that someone is sending us Spoonful of Comfort to arrive tomorrow and I am SO JAZZED. But I need to know who is sending me soup. Are you the soup sender? LET ME KNOW.

Also, did you know it's common for neurodivergents to practice personification and anthropomorphism? This is probably why I am so kind to the robots. I don't care if it's weird.

Me: "ChatGPT is AI, it doesn't care if you're nice to it." Also Me: "I want to be the nicest person that ChatGPT deals with today. I bet it'll work better if I'm polite and friendly. I hope it's not overworked with the holidays!"

Liam Mairi (Fourth Wing) is one of the best fictional characters to ever exist and no one can convince me otherwise. He's Uncle Iroh level perfect.

SEO is fun because you work on so many topics, and sometimes sentimental things pop up. I'm currently working on an ecommerce category page about fox plushes, and all I see in my head is this. Our kid's "Puppy Doggy." A free fox stuffed animal from a work conference became his lovey.

This is so real for where I am in the Tech SEO trenches right now.

“Well, I prefer to use specific plugins to resolve single issues. The combo ones just break more things in my opinions.” — a so-called WP developer It’s been months since I read that in an email and I still feel rage every time I think about it. The site has 75 active plugins.

Anyone want to guess what the emergency was?

Hey, every SAAS known to man... PLEASE TAKE NOTE 📝 Remind people before you charge them for another year. It's the right thing to do.

Here's a Friday reminder than if your small business has an "ads person" and that person is just dumping money into PMax...you don't have an ads person, you have a snake oil seller. PMax is good for Google, and good for making lazy buyers look important. It is usually not good for your business.

Google November 2024 core update rollout is now complete searchengineland.com/google-novem...

Two stages of writing: 1) This shouldn't take too long 2) Oh no

A business contact informed me (on a call about business) that she started seeing a therapist because of a social post she saw by me years ago. Talking about mental health to end the stigma and improve visibility DOES help. Anyway, happy Thursday.

I was 15 when my oldest niece was born. She's coming to visit in a few weeks. Think I'll ride the line of being "close enough in age to be cool" to a 19-year-old or will I be full-on cringe when she visits? WHO CAN SAY? Guess we'll find out.

Amazon Music, calling me out.

Sticking with my philosophy that there is something I can learn from anyone, no matter how big or small.

Current status: Googling fairly common words like "sculptor" and "renowned" because nothing feels like it's spelled right after this many words on this many sites. But, hey, I can spell out Wednesday so I always get that one right.

I know we're all jazzed about SpotifyWrapped and other music apps' equivalents but I need Audible to tell me how badly I should schedule additional therapy sessions based on my listening this year. "Girl, you good? You listened to a lot of dark fantasy romance this year."

Ah, yes. The monthly GSC emails that scare the crud out of my clients.

Y’all. I get to go work in-person with actual people today. As a self-employed extrovert, this is a BFD.

Speaking of Cyber Monday... My merch shop has 15% off today and tomorrow with code CYBERKELLY You can get yourself the "It Depends" shirt for a little discount! www.kellystanze.com/shop/seo-dig...

ALSO: If you work with contractors who have specialization in ecommerce, don't expect them to bend over backwards to accommodate your non-emergent requests between Thanksgiving and, oh...December 5th? Be nice to us. We are tired. We have a million fires, and probably want to see our families too.

Friends. If you are a small business owner and you engage a contractor of any sort, know that you get what you give. If you ghost for weeks at a time, assume that in that time the contractor has had other priorities arise. Don't show back up and expect immediate white glove treatment.

12/1/2024 Our first “skibidi toilet”

Look, I know NFL years run differently, but a little piece of my soul dies anytime commentators discuss how "old" Travis Kelce is.

Working today, since it's a busy season and my husband is off and can hang out with our kiddo. Ecommerce site, working on giftable homegoods. There is a MEGA BLANKET. It's called a MEGA BLANKET and it's 60x120" and it's not a want, it is a NEED.

As a grown-up band geek whose performing days are behind them, I get a little sad thinking about the amazing video game and move scores I'll never experience as part of a symphony. Playing flute in a full orchestral arrangement of the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack? YAAAASSS.

My husband is playing the Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster. FF6 is one of my comfort games. I have basically the whole first act memorized. He's never beaten and can't remember how far he ever got in it. Meanwhile I'm giving him trivia about the score and character design and backstories 😬

Small animals (especially prey animals like guinea pigs) are tough. Their evasive nature means they don't show sickness until they absolutely can't hide it anymore. This guinea pig was fine. Until he wasn't. And that is so, so devastating.

Busiest work week of the year for me. Grinding toward deadlines and the key business period of BFCM for ecommerce sites. My son's 6th birthday is tomorrow. Today, my son's guinea pig is suddenly on the brink of death and too far gone to save.

@jeffdonald.bsky.social welcome, friend!

Life is busy and timing has been awful so my Kickstarter campaign for my podcast has basically rolled over and played dead. I don't think we'll hit the goal but I also don't want to entirely toss in the hat, so here's the link: www.kickstarter.com/projects/kel...

Not a astrological girlie by any means, but looking up my son's zodiac sign has me like, "Yep, total Sagittarius. Very strong-willed. Very independent. Very loving but don't tell him what to do." FWIW, I'm a Gemini and I think that surprises no one.

Read the meme. Was going to send it to @tucknificent.bsky.social. Then saw who posted it.

Accurate. I bought this ornament for Josh last year and it still made me laugh as we decorate the tree tonight. Almost 12 years ago, he found me on Match.

I joined @planetfitness.bsky.social as a Black Card member before the Chicago Marathon, explicitly so I had a place to shower after running 26.2 miles. Planned to cancel immediately. The hydromassage beds made me hesitate. Then I started doing cross days there. I guess I'm a gym girlie now?

"Long distance running must be so hard with ADHD!" I've seen/heard that before. But here's the thing: it's actually EASIER with ADHD. Literally every butterfly, dog, piece of trash blowing the wind, flower, fun-shaped cloud, etc. makes the run more interesting. My brain basically resets.

A certain nominee for Attorney General has withdrawn and they have already resigned from Congress so maybe, MAYBE, there's one less major trigger for abuse survivors in the mainstream news. It's sus that he'd drop out, so I'm curious what might have been found to prompt it. But we take the wins.

The little blips of joy I get from friends from The Other Site finding me over here...it's good for my brain. It's micro-dosing a sense of connection.

If you, like me, are feeling all the @brightonseo.bsky.social FOMO this week, just know that, uh…well, actually, I got nothing. I have no quippy silver lining to offer.

Today’s laugh is from my husband attempting to mimic my Chicago area accent. There’s no video. He’d kill me if I posted it online 😂

Google ain’t playin’.

The war of the robots has begun.

Simple joys: Introducing a client to the concept of canonicalization and then laughing with them as they learn how to pronounce the word and its variations.

I've never shared this over here, but here goes: next year, I'm planning to produce a podcast about imposter syndrome, and I'm running a Kickstarter to cover the initial costs (+ reward costs). If anyone is interested, check it out here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/kel...

Part of me feels like the perfect story arc of this fight would be them scuffling like they are now for a few rounds, and then Tyson lands one that completely K.O.'s Paul completely out of nowhere.* *I know nothing about boxing

As much as people like to clown on Stardew Valley’s romance system, I know for a fact that if a guy gave me my favorite food item, everyday for a year, I’d be considering marriage too

Anytime my husband calls me crazy for being a marathoner, I’ll remind him that at least I’m not a boxer.

Watching the fight before Tyson and Paul. These two women are obviously badass but I know nothing about boxing. Nada. I assume the color commentary is normally more than just someone repeating “MY GOODNESS, MY GOODNESS” while two women whale on each other?