Online Course for the Job Search

Most of us know someone who is looking for a job...not an easy task any time, but especially during an economy where there are so many lay-offs. Yet there are jobs still out there. People quit their jobs for various reasons (a move to a less expensive city, spouse being relocated, etc.), and many of those jobs really do need to be filled.

Career Search Skills: Beacon of Light in a Dark Economy is a reasonably priced, three session online course to help your friend or relative (or yourself) land that job.

Click here for more information about this course.

Posting about Posting (or Not)

Daily posts, where did you go? Weekly posts, that's good enough, she shrugged. Over a month? My loneliness for you, my readers, pierces my heart.

I need to write. I've been too _______ (multiple choice. Your guess is as good as mine: busy, tired, distracted, confused about what to write).

Outside of the blog world, I've been trying to decide whether to write an autobiography or a fiction book, or just what to write. (If you have any thoughts, I'm open to hearing them.)

Of course, I've been writing a few emails...and occasional brief facebook posts. And I've been busy with other life stuff. But I need to write...if only I can figure out what, and find the time and energy.

Life changes. I've noticed that a few of my favorite blog friends haven't been blogging much more lately than I have. Is it simply a matter of their kids getting older or is it also the challenges of dealing with a difficult economy? Maybe that thought sounds crazy, but hey, some of us are working more, giving moral support to more people, working harder at spending less money on the necessities. Even the blogs I've been reading the most lean more to frugal blogs these days.

Would you be interested in reading my thoughts and findings about frugality here?

Praying for you all, and hoping the best for your families and dear ones.

Resolutions of a Soda Addict

(With my apologies to Dr. Seuss)

I do not drink soft drinks and coke.
I do not drink them. Nope, nope, nope.

I do not drink them from a can.
I do not drink them from a cup.
I do not drink them sitting down.
I do not drink them standing up.
I'd sooner eat green eggs and spam
Than have some soda from a can!

I do not drink soft drinks and coke.
I do not drink them. Nope, nope, nope.

I do not swig a bottle down.
I do not drink it, like a clown.
I do not take it from a boy.
I do not drink it out of joy,
Nor do I drink it 'cuz I'm weepy.
I do not drink it 'cuz I'm sleepy!

I do not drink soft drinks and coke.
I do not drink them. Nope, nope, nope.



P.S. If you ever see me with a pop, please don't try to make me stop. I might just listen instead of pout if you simply suggest I throw it out.

Sometimes it's Just the Litte Things

The other day we helped a friend with the tail end of a move. It reminded me of our own move about a year ago.

Although I knew for a couple of months that we were moving, I had no time to pack. I had only recently begun a new job. So, I was working; I was homeschooling; I was talking with our adult children on the phone. I had to take a nap - or get on the computer - to de-stress. Always, I had some reason that I didn't have enough time to pack up all the clutter that I wanted to hang onto (that was stacked on every kind of table) into boxes.

But I had a plan. I would take an extra day off from work to pack, and that should do it. But our moving plan got changed and the "extra" day turned into our first moving day...and I hadn't packed much of anything (fortunately, my husband had, but he couldn't be expected to pack up all my personal papers and "stuff"). If I had had that one day that I had planned to have, would that it have been enough? I kinda' doubt it now, looking back, but I never had a chance to know. We and our three boys (in Baltimore) moved ourselves...with moral support from a dear friend, and moving help from a friend who helped bail us out on our third and last day...but I'm getting ahead of myself. On the second day, when I was surely going to finally pack all those little odds and ends up into boxes while the guys got more of the furniture, I ended up (unexpectedly) stuck on the phone all morning with utilities people, then waiting in the afternoon for the cable guy to come.

Long story short: I never did get to pack up the odds and ends. They came over in bits and pieces, or were thrown into boxes by my patient husband, bless his heart.

I watched our generous, manly boys - who had offered to do the moving instead of us hiring someone - haul all those odds and ends into our apartment, along with huge "storage units" for all our stuff - including two four-drawer-file cabinets and three nearly-to-the-ceiling bookcases. And I said to myself: No more moves like this. We are going to get rid of some of this stuff! Beginning now. Next time I will be organized. We are not going to live with clutter stacked on the computer table, and the coffee table, and the telephone table, and, worst of all, the unoccupied end of the dining room table (where our three oldest used to sit). I am going to get rid of enough papers to get rid of one file cabinet. I am going to get rid of binders full of old papers. We are going to find good homes for some of our books.

Fast-forward a year. I have given away a few books (and accumulated a few more). I do think I'm a tad-bit better about the odds and ends on tables (except for the dining room table, and I do whittle it down to size frequently). But I realized yesterday that the project of sorting through papers in the file cabinets and binders had come to a halt...not a screeching halt that one would notice, but a meandering halt. I realized something while I was sharing this discovery with my husband. I discovered that this is what happened:

I stopped sorting through papers because I stopped shredding.
I stopped shredding because I didn't want to empty the shredder.
I didn't want to empty the shredder because it was surrounded by odds and ends.

If someone had asked me why I'm not sorting anymore, I would probably have said, "Procrastination" (but I'm not the procrastinating type; it's always more about priorities). Or I might have said, "I'm too busy with work and school" (which would be partially true but I've adjusted to working outside the home enough now to make some time for household organization).

In reality, the only thing that was standing between me and sorting through the papers were a few coins, paper clips, bookmarks, and out-of-date coupons.

Are there "odds and ends" of life, that you're not even aware of anymore, that keep you from reaching your goals, too? Sometimes we don't even notice. At least I hadn't until yesterday.