My Own Version of Heaven

Okay. If you read my blog often, you know how much I love books. My dream is to live right across the street from a library. So when I saw this, I could not believe it. It's my dream chair. I could live in that chair. Of course, I'd need a coffee machine nearby. But that's easily arranged.

My most current dream, and one that doesn't appear to be in the offing right now, is a vacation. It doesn't have to be exotic. It doesn't have to be luxurious. In fact, I found this vintage vacation on the same site as my dream chair, and it would be just right. Nice and quiet. Low stress.

Last but not least, the Kahlua-flavored brownies found on - yes, you guessed it - this same site would make me one happy camper. Mmm.

Just set me up in a little camper by the sea. Make sure my chair stocked with books is inside it. And don't forget to leave a plate of chocolate Kahlua brownies. Now that would be my version of heaven. And no, this is not a paid advertisement for The Style Files. What's your version of heaven?

Read more »

Were the Seven Dwarfs Right?

I came across an article recently at Pick the Brain that really has me thinking. It was about how listening to music can increase our mental focus and productivity. Blog author, John Wesley, recounts his "aha!" moment while playing video games to music in Focus Better by Listening to Music. He found that if he played while listening to music, his style of play became much more natural, and his decision-making process sped up measurably.

It's long been recognized that music can change a person's mood. I know an upbeat song will lift me when I'm feeling down. Inversely, I cry every time I hear Johnny Cash sing "Hurt." But it's a good cry. You know the type - cathartic. And I'm thrown right back to the '70s every time I hear a song by Elton John or the Eagles. Music is emotionally powerful.

But the idea that music could actually increase your productivity and focus is interesting and, I think, worth pursuing. So if you want to do your own experimentation, I highly recommend the new Pandora Internet Radio. My brother had told me about it. But it wasn't until this weekend that I really had a chance to check it out.

The neat thing is you can listen to a variety of music, but all in a similar vein. So if you feel like a little Doobie Brothers (Am I dating myself?), make a Doobie Brothers station. Pandora will only play songs in the same genre and style as the song or artist you name.

Who knows? Maybe listening to music while working does make us sharper. Maybe we all should whistle while we work. Do your own experiment and let me know.


Find thousands of Bilingual jobs at LatPro.com.

Read more »

Food or Gas? That is the Question

Am I the only one having to make hard decisions about where I will and won't drive? I've never been one to fill up my tank. I just can't afford it. But I've started putting more in lately, simply because if I don't, I might as well camp out by the pump. Ten dollars worth of gas is getting me nowhere.

The Associated Press reports that recent polls show that 46% of Americans believe that near-record gas prices will cause them serious financial hardship this year. The worst of it is there seems to be no real concrete reason why gas is so high. Somehow, the fact that gas prices in European cities like Oslo and Norway are three times higher doesn't make me feel a lot better about the situation.

So what's a driver to do? LifeClever.com has a list of 5 Ways to Instantly Find Cheap Gas, and it's pretty neat. Yes, I said neat. There are websites, methods of tracking gas on your mobile device, even a widget that constantly updates the lowest price for gas in your area. Check it out.


Learn more about Hispanic Recruiting at LatPro.com.

Read more »

Top 5 Stress Busters for Worn Out Parents

I've been feeling pretty stressed out lately. So I've been trying to come up with ways to cut back on the chaos around my house or at least soften the edges a little bit. And after reading lots of articles on said subject, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not going to be able to get rid of all my stress. It's just a natural byproduct of life. But I might be able to limit it in some fashion. And so I present the Top 5 Stress Busters for Worn Out Parents:

1. Stop procrastinating. Procrastination leads to stress. For me, this means forcing myself to spend 30 minutes a day tackling something on my list of "Onerous Tasks That Must Be Done." You know what I'm talking about - that phone call to the IRS, the bill that needs to be mailed.

2. Say no more often. The world will not end. You'll see. Someone else will pick up the slack.

3. Unplug your phone. I had mine disconnected. I'm totally cellular now. And very few people have my cell number. Ah, the sweet sound of silence.

4. Take things one day at a time. Try not to look ahead to far and see trouble coming. This is a hard one for me, but I'm working on it. Get through each day as it comes. I've found that my worst fears hardly ever come true. Somehow in the end, it all works out.

and my favorite,

5. Relax your standards. You do not have to be perfect. Your house does not have to be perfect. Your kids do not have to be perfect.

Read more »

Cool Site O' the Day

Just stumbled across this site. It has the most comprehensive list I've seen of tools for freelancers. It's The Freelancer's Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need at Codswallop. There are organization tools, calendars, money management tools, storage solutions, writing, design, and productivity tools, virus and spyware protection programs, networking tools, website building apps, and just some plain neat things that you'll want to check out. I'm still investigating the list myself, but I've already found some great stuff! What does the word "codswallop" mean? It's an English term for nonsense.

Read more »

Cool Job: Work From Home as a Copyeditor

Since my last Cool Work From Home Job was freelance writer, I thought a look at copyediting would be fitting. What is a copyeditor? Well what a copyeditor is not, is a proofreader, although proofreading is part of the job. Copyeditors go over written copy before it's set into type, correcting errors in grammar, spelling, style, and usage.

Sometimes copyediting includes fact checking, although in most instances, this is not the case. It occasionally even means rewriting a piece to make it tighter and more readable. If you work at a magazine or newspaper, your job as copyeditor might include such things as layout or writing captions and headlines. But as a freelance copyeditor, your job will mainly consist of making certain a piece of copy is free from error, reads smoothly, and follows the rules of the recognized grammar and style guides.

Finding work as a freelance copyeditor may be challenging at first. The Freelance Work Exchange is a great place to advertise and find work. A professional website with contact information is a must.

Theda K. at Crayon Writer has written an excellent article about freelance copyediting, entitled "If You Can Write, You Can Copyedit." Read it for a better idea of what copyediting involves and whether it might be the right job for you.

Read more »

Life on a Deadline

If there's one term telecommuters are familiar with, it's the word "deadline." This is the point at which "it" - whatever "it" is - absolutely, positively must be done. I'll admit I've had a problem with deadlines lately. Part of it is simply that I'm going through a little burn out. But it's mostly because I haven't been very good at budgeting my work and sleep lately.

Deadlines are important, if only to propel us forward. But due to the very nature of working from home, sometimes they just can't be met. And when that happens, we have to either cut ourselves a little slack by asking for an extension, or suffer the consequences of stress overload.

Some people thrive on a deadline. It's just the spark they need to motivate them. But sometimes, for sanity's sake, we have to pull the stop cord and get off the bus. We have to give ourselves permission to not be perfect.

The older I get, the more I realize I'm not going to accomplish everything I want to accomplish. There just isn't time. Much better, I think, to focus on those things that are really important, and let the rest fall where it may.

Read more »

Free Books!

If you read this blog often, you know that I'm a big reader, that I love, love, love books. I love having a stack of them beside my bed. I love the smell of them, the feel of them. The more books, the better. And so I have to share Friedbeef'sTech.com's Best Places to Get Free Books: The Ultimate Guide. It really is the most comprehensive list I've found of free e-books, real books, audiobooks on the Net. Enjoy!

Read more »

10 Interesting Things About Me

Okay. I've been tagged by Christy at Christy's Coffee Break to list ten interesting things about myself, which is probably one of the hardest assignments I've ever tackled. Ten interesting things about me? I'll give it a shot.

1. I am a night owl. I like to stay up late. Very late. Usually working, but sometimes reading or playing on the computer.

2. I drink way too much coffee, which you probably already know if you've been reading this blog.

3. I am the mother of three girls - two of whom are fraternal twins with looks and personalities like night and day. One is blonde, blue-eyed, serious. The other is brunette, brown-eyed, lots of fun. My oldest, another brunette, has a personality that's a mix of the two. She can be terribly serious. But she can also be a real comedienne.

4. I love old movies, but nothing before 1939 or so. The women seem so silly to me in the movies before then.

5. I love to spend time alone.

6. I absolutely hate to talk on the phone, unless it's to a close friend, my daughters, or my brother.

7. I went to nursing school for a year, had straight A's, then quit. It just wasn't right for me.

8. I broke my femur in a freak swing set accident when I was five, and had to learn to walk all over again.

9. I was a sleepwalker as a child. I also danced and sang in my sleep.

10. My favorite "me" outing is a trip to the library.

That's it. I don't know how interesting these are. But there you go.

Read more »

Beautiful Betty

My mom was a Betty, a born in the 1940's, grow up, get married, have two children Betty. She got married while she was still in high school and had me, her first child, two years later at age 19. I know how young that is, because I have a daughter who's that age now. Two years later, my brother came along, and her family was complete.

She occasionally worked outside the home part time. But she was a stay-at-home mom for most of my childhood. And it was a great childhood. I could roam our neighborhood from morning 'til dusk, secure in the knowledge that Mom was there if anything should go wrong.

Her life wasn't always easy. There were financial hardships. And she was a creative person who didn't get many opportunities to express that side of herself. If she had been born 20 or 30 years later, she might have found more outlets for that creativity. I often wonder what she would think of my life, what I've made of it.

She was a quiet person who got enjoyment out of simple things: a wildflower garden, sewing, baking, spending time with her parents and her kids. She worked hard to provide a nice home for us. She gave me many special memories:

• Her postcards to me while I was away for one week (yes, that's one week) with a friend. These postcards were filled with the goings-on at home, including messages from our dog, Doodles, to come home soon. He missed me.

• The many camping trips to the beach and mountains in our little Cox camper.

• The funny face Kool-Aid mugs she ordered off the back of a cereal box for me and my brother. Thirty years later, I saw a set at an antique shop, and bought them for my kids.

• Her special relationship with her parents, and the many good times I spent at their house. I sometimes sit and watch Lawrence Welk on PBS now, despite the fact that it's terribly corny, because it reminds me of those happy days.

• Her attempts to save every dying animal I ever brought to her, no matter how hopeless the case. For several months, she nursed a hummingbird we found lying on the side of the road with a broken wing. Mom fed her sugar water from a medicine dropper almost non-stop. And when Ruby died, we buried her in a small gift box under an oak tree in the front yard.

• Her crying with me when my first real boyfriend and I broke up after a year and a half.

These are just a few of the many things I remember. My mom was a great mom and a great daughter. She faced death bravely, even as her first grandchild was about to be born. She was my best friend. I still miss her every day. She was beautiful. Beautiful Betty.

Happy Mother's Day to all.

Read more »

Cool Site O' the Day

As a single mom, I know there have been times when it was a struggle just to put food on the table. And so I'm really excited about Angel Food Ministries. This organization works primarily through churches all across the country to feed families in 32 states.

Anyone is eligible to purchase a $25 box containing a week's worth of food that would otherwise retail for $50. Every month's menu is different, and consists of high quality, brand name food. No dented cans or out-of-date goods. This is all fresh meat, vegetables, produce - everything necessary to create wholesome meals for a week.

There is a FAQ on the site which explains exactly how the program works, and a page that lists the organizations and churches in each state that serve as pickup centers. There are no income or religious qualifications. Everyone is welcome to take part.

Read more »

Are You a Beta Mom?

I recently came across a term that was wholly new to me, and unless I'm way behind the curve, it probably will be to you also. It's the recently coined name for moms who do the best they can with what they have, and feel that's good enough.

They're not perfect. They make mistakes. But they love their kids, and are doing the best they can at any given moment to raise them well. Think Julia Louis Dreyfus's character in the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine. They're "Beta Moms."

There's a great article by Sharon Jayson at USAToday.com about this new "laid-back" brand of mom, along with some signs that you might be a Beta Mom. And to these, I'll add a few of my own.

You might be a Beta Mom if:

• You sometimes serve your kids pancakes, eggs, or some other food normally reserved for breakfast at dinner.

• You cannot now, nor will you ever be able to, eat off your kitchen floor.

• Your kids are not unfamiliar with the dollar menu at McDonald's and Wendy's.

• You don't cheerfully sign up for every school fundraiser, bazaar, or field trip.

• Your homemade cookies can be broken off in little squares and plopped right onto a cookie sheet.

• Your kids are happy to find two socks in the laundry basket that belong to the same color family.

Feel free to comment with your own additions to the list.

Read more »

The Hardest Word to Say

One of the hardest things about being a work at home mom is that people tend to think if you work from home, you've got more time than they have. So why don't you lead the class field trip, organize the church bazaar, or babysit the neighborhood kids when they're out on school holiday? And while it's nice to be more available to your kids - that's the main advantage of telecommuting, in my opinion - that doesn't automatically translate into having more time.

And that's why it's important to have boundaries, and to learn to say no. N-O, no! Sounds simple. But for most women, it isn't. And that's why I love OnlineOrganizing.com's 20 Ways to Say No by Ramona Creel. Study the list. Pick your favorites. And the next time someone puts you on the spot, you'll have an answer ready.

Read more »

Pay Yourself First

I've been thinking a lot lately about what's going to become of me in my old age. For many of you, that worry is years down the road. But I'm in my forties, so this subject is looming large in my mind. How can a single work at home mom with three kids to support hope to retire one day, when it seems there's never anything left over at the end of the month?

And that question, says author David Bach, demonstrates exactly where I've gone wrong. In his book The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich, his number one mantra is: "Pay yourself first." He claims there are six ways to get rich. They are, and I quote: "win it, marry it, inherit it, sue for it, budget for it, or" - and this is the magic step - "pay yourself first."

The key to making this work, he says, is something that most people don't do, and the reason that many will fail. You must "make it automatic." That means having the 10% automatically deducted from your paycheck, or making arrangements to have the amount withdrawn from your checking account each month on a set date. Bach stresses the importance of putting the money in a retirement account, placing the power of pretax investing behind your wealth building plan. In this way, you pay yourself before you pay the government.

Those who begin saving in their twenties, he says, are at a great advantage thanks to the "miracle" of compounding. But it's never too late. Those in their forties or fifties can still build up a nice little nest egg. They just might have to up the percentage that's automatically put aside each month. The main thing, he stresses, is taking action now.

Read more »

Cool Site O' the Day

Just ran across this neat site. You can fax anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for free. All you need to have are a computer with Internet access and an email address. It's faxZERO.com. You can send a .PDF, a Microsoft Word document (.DOC), or an Excel spreadsheet (.XLS). They state in their FAQ that they hate junk email and junk faxes, and will "absolutely not" send any junk email or faxes.

Read more »

Cool Job: Work From Home as a Freelance Writer

Whether it's writing articles for online content, blogging, writing ad copy, or writing a book, many work at home mom's have found freelance writing to be a fulfilling and flexible career choice. With submission sites like Associated Content and Constant Content, and informative sites like FreelanceWriting.com, where writing gigs are regularly posted, a new world of opportunity has opened up for writers who want to work from home.

WritersWrite.com posts a paying markets list that currently boasts 677 magazines, ezines, reviews, journals, and online sites that are open to freelancers. On Freelance Writing Jobs, freelance writer Deborah Ng posts freelance leads daily.

If blogging is your thing, I've heard good things about PayPerPost and Blogsvertise. Bloggers get paid to post about certain topics, and mention the advertiser within the post. There are also sites like ReviewMe.com, where bloggers earn by reviewing an advertiser's site. You won't get rich overnight blogging. But over time, you might build a large enough audience, that advertisers are willing to pay you for space on your blog.

Whatever type of writing you decide on, a great resource is Writing.com. There you'll find a place to network with other writers, share your work, and find useful writing tools. It's free. It's available to everyone. And with your free membership, you have the opportunity to create an online writing portfolio.

Read more »