I don’t know about you, but my cell phone loses signal in a rural area.  When I visit my parents, I find that their area only caters to certain cell phone plans.  However, they live so deep in the boonies that they don’t have much of a signal at their disposal.  I want to visit them but feel very strongly that I need to invest in a cell phone signal booster so that I can work from their home.

Do you have a cell phone signal booster? Does it work?

I used to work for an electrical contracting company. My job was to be the assistant to both the accounting department and the human resources department. From time to time, I would assist the purchasing department with anything they might need, including generating purchase orders for electrical parts. Instead of doing inventory the old way (hand counting items and recording them in the computer or on paper — depending on what you consider to be “the old way”), they purchased one of the many POS systems available on the market. Then, all they had to do was scan in their items and it automatically recorded the item and quantity in the system. It saved a bunch of time for sure!

My dream is to own a home that will allow for an office. I love the thought of having my own private space to get away from it all and work in peace and quite. That seems to be something i’m missing at the moment. Hence, why I probably don’t get as much done as I would like to. If I had my own office, I would certainly pick out some comfortable yet modern-style office furniture with accessories to match.

If you have a home office, did you/have you/will you decorate it?

I consider myself to have a pretty green business. I mean, working on the internet and expending only electricity a few hours of the day constitutes a pretty low carbon footprint. Recently however, there has been a Green Study that shows how different businesses are contributing to going green. E-tailors like buy.com, for instance, sell all of their products online. All of these transactions are taken care of without having to step foot out of your house. You save money on gas and help make the environment better in addition to being able to get great prices on products!

I have been in the business mode of things lately and have been searching for unique and cost-effective ways to advertise my business. One solution I found is to list my site in a directories list, which can be easily found by Google and other search engines!

I have done this before in other online ventures and found the method to be helpful and affordable.  Now, hopefully, the magic will happen again and I will be able to drive traffic to my site!

How do you drive traffic to your site?

It had never really occurred to me until tonight, that in the future, I may need to start looking at commercial real estate. At some point (unless this house gets bigger), i’m going to need more space to work. Shared workspace is becoming the latest craze in battling economic stresses of smaller companies. Not only do they share space, but they share equipment as well. This can reduce the cost of simple overhead by a larger margin.

Still, I think if I were to rent a small shop area, I would want to have it all to myself. To be alone with my creative thoughts… so to speak.

Do you hear that?  Nope.  Me either.

The noises we are not hearing:

~Throwing up

~Lots of crying

What we are not smelling:

~Loaded diapers (every half hour on the half hour).

The end of this week has brought some semi-normalcy to the compound again.  I even managed to get the laundry caught up!  Which, if you know me is a feat anyway… sickies or no sickies.

Not only did I manage to get the laundry caught up but I also managed to finish setting up the business billing system, appropriate e-mail addresses and am *thisclose* to having the site finished!

I weigh in at WW tomorrow and am hoping for at least a 1 lb lost!  *fingers crossed*  This has been a rather stressful week though so I won’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen.

TGIF!

There is an ongoing Sale on buy.com right now!  Everything from cameras, to laptops to apparel!  Buy.com has everything you could want or need with great sales prices to boot!  Right now I am looking at purchasing a laptop and I see that buy.com has one on sale for $479.00 with top of the line specs.  They also have great prices on clothing and accessories!  Check out buy.com today to find great products at great prices.

The AIG debacle continues as fellow American citizens put in their opinion on how the situation should be handled.  An astounding 89.2% said that legislation should be passed making the executives give up their big bonuses.

As tempting as it sounds, I am not personally a fan of that course of action.  For one thing, it would lead to a slippery slope cycle that would give an open crack in the door for the government to have their sticky hands in other businesses.  For two, this hole was already dug when the bailout was given.  I assume it was given to AIG without stipulation which means they can do as they see fit.  So I guess for now, we’re just going to have to suck it up.

If I had to vote for a viable solution to this… I vote that our so-called “representatives” take a pay cut for voting in this bailout in the first place.

You can read comments made by readers here:

Angry Americans say…

Despite AIG’s troubles and the 170 billion dollar bailout approved late last year for the struggling insurance corporation, they still manage to pay out $450 million dollars in big bonuses for company executives. Supposedly they were contractually obligated.

Truth be told, I have no problems with companies handing out big bonuses for executives.  That is the beauty of the idea of capitalism is it not?  However, I do have a problem with companies using bailout monies to pay $450 million dollars in bonuses.  We (the tax payers) bailed this company out of shambles only so that they could punch us in the guts and then laugh at us.  Not only that, but their stock has not improved since the bailout and has gotten progressively worse (they lost 61.7 billion in the fourth quarter last year).  So despite the big ol’ check from Uncle Sam, they are still headed toward the proverbial toilet.

So tell me… what company gives out big fat bonuses when it is failing to thrive?

The bottom line is this:   Our government stupidly gave AIG 170 billion dollars of bailout money.  This money was supposed to be used to get the corporation back on its feet.  Instead of being used to save the company and save jobs, the money is being used to save the summer homes of the executives.

This is an issue that the citizens of the United States should have been allowed to vote on because I GUARANTEE if we had been able to vote on this, then those corporate fat cats would not have been approved.  They would have been denied and forced to suck it up and do what most business owners do in hard times…. downsize, reorganize and simply live without.

If we (the average joes of the world) screwed up at work and cost the company money, we would get fired.  Folks at AIG get a million dollars.  If our companies fail to thrive and  fall on hard times, our employers take away our bonuses and other goodies until the company gets back on its feet.  And we are all okay with that because it means we get to keep our jobs.  The folks at AIG take an all expense paid trip to a tropical island somewhere (complete with private jet, luxury hotel, and a limo to go tooling around in).

People… this is why we are in trouble in this country.  This is one reason WHY the American public is so pissed off right now.

My final thoughts:  AIG… go to hell.

You can read the MSN article on the subject here:   OBAMA SEEKING WAYS TO BLOCK AIG BONUSES

It is only Monday and yet… things have been accomplished and started.  This marks the beginning of a good week!

As follows:

• I have been working on the shop design for the “Retrieve a Cure” website. I zipped my comps and e-mailed them to Evan this morning at 1:00a.m.
• Then, I had three doctors appointments (one for each child) today. Owie had to have shots. He hasn’t had shots since he was 18 months.  He didn’t cry but he did tense up his muscles.  Ouch!  Brody had a major ear infection and will get shots next week and Sophie was fine.
• We are currently working on a sketch up of the basement and are torn between regular vinyl blinds or Bamboo Blinds for the boys’ bedroom.
• I need to call and make a hot tub appointment for husb and I (our anniversary is in 3 weeks!).

All in all, this week will be busy as usual.  So much to do and so little time.  Oh how I wish there were more hours in a day sometimes and less hours in others.

I’m starting to recognize the true value of this social networking concept. It never ceases to amaze me at how adept we are all becoming to the internet. It is almost as if our lives (as of now) will forever consist of a global community.

Within that global community is the chance for all of us to succeed. One of the best ways to advertise (aside from locally) is via social networks. It’s along the same lines as buying promotional products. Except, you develop a relationship with your social network contacts. You get to know their work and they get to know yours. In that way it garners respect, acknowledgment and hopefully … business.

I can’t say enough good things about social networking online. I think that it goes beyond the social day-to-day chatter and can be very useful on a number of different personal and professional levels.

What do you think?

I recently read an article that went over the details of acquiring an enormous amount of holiday debt. It is tempting to charge all of your purchases and in some cases max out the credit cards…. but if you can try and pay in cash little by little throughout the year, then perhaps you wont have to have added stress of possible debt collection agencies contacting you after the holidays are over.

My husband and I just recently paid off all of our debt and so now we try to pay cash (or debit) for everything.

The kids and I are going to take a trip downtown to get some office supplies! I need a fax, a better working printer, some pencils, notebooks, etc. I am so excited!! YAY!!

Oh and another great thing is that Fashion Bug is having a 50% off sale this weekend! It sounds like it will be a good time to buy my winter coat and scarf!

So, I have decided to start my own daycare business (on top of everything else). It is exciting and I got some information from a good friend on how to go about doing it! I realize that I am burning the candle at both ends now… but life is too exciting to slow down sometimes!

Now, I just need to contact our car insurance place and make sure that I can add renter’s insurance on to our policy with a daycare rider!

Has anyone done this before? Any insight I can gain would be awesome!

So, I have been diligently working on a friend’s photography website and I must say, i’m pretty darn proud of myself!  I have been learning flash and advanced html coding!  It is a lot to learn but sooo exciting at the same time!

As soon as I am done with the site, I will have to show everyone!  I am really excited about the type of photography work she does as it is incredibly artful, creative, and life out loud! It is so exciting and she does such good work that I am constantly advertising her to everyone I know!

I’m two steps away from buying some promotional pens with her name on them! LOL!

Things have been going well over here on the compound.  Dare I say…?  I feel at peace with the universe right now.  I have felt inspired to start taking better care of myself and inturn it has made me happier.  There is a semi-famous quote miling around out there and i’m sure that 99% of you have heard it…. “if momma aint happy, no one is.”  This statement is extremely true!

We women are the backbone in our relationships at home.  Since we wield the emotional sword, the household reflects off of our moods.  I have always felt that walls in a home soak up the energy being put forth.  When we moved here, I vowed that the walls would soak up only positive energy.  What you put in is what you get back out, right?

I almost hate saying that I feel totally at peace.  The cynic in me is just waiting for the proverbial “other shoe” to drop or bad things to come in threes.  Sometimes it feels like the moment I say… “Hey world!  I am HAPPY!”, something happens to test that and otherwise throw me in a tailspin of unbalance.

I know… I know… think positive.  It is hard sometimes to keep up such a cheery demeanor.  I feel like so many people in my life soak up my energy that I must keep it positive.  When I am in a bad mood it’s like a dark rain cloud descends upon everyone.  They reflect off of the energy I give out.  Especially the kids.

Still, it’s nice to feel positive and happy.  For sure no one enjoys being depressed but some people like to dwell on things.  I myself am a dweller!  I think too much and drive myself batty.  This is probably the reason for the disorganization or as I like to call it… organized mess.

Right now I have a few monetary ventures that I am trying to cultivate.  One is a small business opportunity that entails web development. The other is to do an internship for the company my husband works for to gain more experience. I am excited about both opportunities and really hope they work out well!

If it is one thing I have learned, the universe has a strong way of telling me (telling us) where life is meant to be.

The great State of Michigan is trying to do their part by extending unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks to those who lost their jobs and through no fault of their own are still unemployed.

According to Blogging for Michigan “unemployed workers who lost their jobs, exhausted their unemployment benefits from November 2006 to March of 2009 will be eligible to receive the emergency extension.”

Thankfully, in addition to the 162 billion dollars that was approved budget for the war, congress decided to sign an emergency relief fund for the nation’s unemployed. That’s great considering that Michigan’s unemployment rate is actually above the national rate. Still, the problem isn’t only in Michigan… it is all across the United States.

While I happen to think that this is a temporary step in the right direction, it is only that… temporary. I wonder when the geniuses in charge who run our state and federal governments will start to get their act together and come up with a more solid plan to boost the economy. Big economic stimulus packages and extended unemployment (while certainly welcome at this point as people struggle to make ends meet with the rising price of gas and food), only serve as a bandaid that covers up the bigger issue.

In the grand scheme of things, people need jobs. Jobs that pay out more money than minimum wage. Because let’s face it, minimum wage is barely enough to make it on for one person, let alone a family.

This brings me back to the bigger issue of needing jobs. Our jobs are currently being outsourced by large companies whose corporate fat-cats are still rolling in large bonuses around $100,000+. All the while, Joe and Jane average American worker have to go home and explain to their families that they lost their job to a place where the workers are paid astronomically less and not offered benefits.

Meanwhile, mom and pop businesses (the same kind this country was founded on) are struggling just to keep their head above water because they are taxed to death by the state and federal government.

Then comes the issue of the global economy. We have the ability to grow more than enough food to feed the world in the United States. Even if we cannot feed the world, we should be able to at least feed our own, right? Wrong. The government pays farmers not to produce. In addition, we cannot export much of our farm produce because we might step on the exporting toes of another country.

This brings me to my final thoughts:

What is it going to take to keep companies to stay on the homeland? Why are our government officials voting in more tax breaks to larger companies while literally squashing smaller companies with high taxes that are almost impossible to pay? How will the United States fare in this global economy, since that we export next to nothing and import everything. We can only be a consumerist nation for so long. I worry for our future.

In a past business class, I read up on the power of franchise. It seems that a franchise is easy to set up and run so long as the rules are followed. For instance, if someone owned a Little Cesar’s franchise store, they couldn’t sell hot dogs. Nor could they offer any deals other than what the main owner of the chain dictates. However, the advertising, food, and everything else is decided for the owner of a certain store. Not to mention franchises are normally profitable (depending on location) because everyone is familiar with the brand.

The downside is that there is no opportunity to really put your own creative ideas to work. At least not where advertising and food are concerned. Also, it is rather expensive to own a franchise. So it is something that can be entered into with a partner.

How many of you have received term life insurance quotes or have a term life insurance policy?  What was your reasoning for obtaining such a policy?  Lately, the thought of life and death has been on my mind.  If (for whatever reason) I suffer an untimely death, I would want to know that my family would be taken care of monetarily.  I could not imagine leaving my children and my husband alone to struggle through life.  I have considered obtaining a policy but am not sure how much I want to have the policy drawn up for.

I’m young and in fairly good health, so the price at this point would be cheap.  If anyone knows anything about this stuff, leave me a comment!