Why I Love My Husband

I am so twitterpated with my husband right now. Here are some reasons why

• He's so cute
• He's kind
• He puts family first
• He has juicy lips! Wowza!
• He plans for the future

That's just a few. I'm sure I will post more sometime soon.

What are my skills?

Does my inability to find a Work at Home job mean that I have a lack of skills? Some of the websites I have found encourage me to turn my passion into a job. Is there a job that pays you to watch daytime TLC and eat Funyuns? I seriously doubt it. Besides, Funyuns have MSG in them, and everyone knows that eating MSG will make you fat.

But, I digress... (yay I got to use the word 'digress'). What are my talents, my skills? I am mildly entertaining, but not really in a written format. I make my husband laugh a lot, but he is usually laughing AT me and he's not offering any pay for that. I can type pretty quickly which made me think that I could get a transcription job. Did you know that those are very competitive and hard to get into? There are also a lot of scams out there as well. I'm an okay listener and I'm pretty decent at getting a word in edgewise, but I don't think anyone is hiring for a best friend.

I took a career exploration class in college and there were a lot of suggestions from the personality tests that we took. Here are the top 3.

1. Faller
   • The person who yells "Timber" from the top of a giant tree
   • Con: High fatality rate
   • Pro: Dead coworkers mean lots of room for upward mobility (pun totally intended).
2. Choreographer
   • Let's not get too excited about this one because I cannot dance
3. Wildlife Game Warden
   • Pro: You get to work outside
   • Con: It rains outside
   • Pro: You get to carry a gun
   • ConL You carry that gun because both poachers and bears are going to try to kill you.

I'm not trying to be too picky, but I don't think that these choices are conducive to my life or my lifestyle. So the search continues.

Make Your Own Hours Jobs

In a previous post Work at Home Mom I went over the lists of jobs that allow you to make your own hours or work from home and all of the issues that I have with each one. I realized today that all of these lists were missing something.

Hair Stylist

That seems like a great idea! Of course, one would have to go to cosmetology school or whatever it's called and get a license, but that seems easy. After that you can work from home (I know someone who does), or lease a chair and make your own hours (I know someone who does that, too). You can work your dream hours of while the kiddos are at school, and in this case it's not so bad because that's when all the other mommies have the time to get their haircuts.

of course, you'd have to work at it. It is a job after all and that kind of spells out work. You'd have to build your client base and then keep up with them so that they don't run off to supercuts when you're not looking. You'd have to be available and competitive, and that might be hard if you're leasing a chair or running a business out of your home.

I think it's doable though and I can't figure out why it wasn't on the list. It's a job that a lot of people are very successful at and I think it would work out well for anyone who is self motivated and is able to manage a business.

So, I am adding my own little item to the list of things you can do at home, or do on your own time and that is cutting hair. So there, internet!

Lullabyes

My son is loving Jewel's Lullabye CD. We play it over the iPod at night and he hums along until he drifts off to sleep. My husband isn't much of a Jewel fan, but I think she has a very soothing voice. I imagine that if I grew up with a mom who had a singing voice like Jewel, it would be so nice to be sung to sleep. Then I think of what it would be like if my mom had a really powerful voice, like Adele or Tina Turner. Can they even whisper.

My mom's singing voice is... what is a nice way to say grating? Just kidding (kinda!). No matter how my mom's singing voice sounds to me now, when I was a kid I loved it when she sung me to sleep. I don't think it was so much the sweet sound of her voice as it was the attention I was getting.

Excuse me, I'm going to go and sing Caleb to sleep now.

Government Shutdown Puts America in Danger From The Queen

Extravagant derby hats off to the creator of this Meme. When I saw it, I just had to share it!

Adventures in Couponing

At the advice of the totally rude Lysol company who stingily refused to send me a single coupon when I took the time to write to them, I got the Sunday paper and clipped some coupons of my own. The first thing that I looked for was a coupon for a Lysol product, since advertising in the Sunday paper was the reason they refused to send me a coupon in the first place. I will confidently tell you that there were NONE. No manufacturers coupon from Lysol, and no store ad containing a Lysol product. So take that!

I did clip $10.50 worth of usable coupons from the paper. That was nothing compared to the over $300.00 in savings that was advertised on the front page, but I am being careful to only clip coupons for things that I might want or need before the expiration date. There is no point in spending money to save a portion on it while buying something that I don't need or won't use.

The first shopping trip after the clipping saved me $5.50. I (very smartly) planned my weekly meals around the coupons that I had clipped to maximize their value. The next shopping trip I save the remaining $5.00. Not bad for a $2.00 investment.

One thing that I noticed, and this might be coincidental, but it seemed as though the Oregonian had better Coupons than the Columbian. The next week, I bought the Columbian newspaper to check out the coupons and there was ONLY ONE for $.50 that was anything I might remotely need. I'm not sure if the two papers run the same coupon ads or not, but there was a definite lack of manufacturers coupons - the kind you can use in any store.

I also noticed that most supermarkets have coupons that work exclusively for their store, but that the ad for Rite Aid usually contains at least one manufacturers coupon. They have the Rite Aid logo on them, but they do say "Manufacturers Coupon" which means that almost any place which accepts coupons will take them.

Another thing I learned is that not every store has to accept coupons. Some just don't! I had no idea! I haven't run into this problem yet, but it's good to be aware that some businesses do not accept coupons, manufacturer or otherwise.

What I Want

Maybe I should have titled this post "What WE Want" since today is my 2 year anniversary of falling in love with my newlywed husband. We celebrated with my little son and had a family meal and chocolate cake for dessert. This weekend we are hoping to get in some Honeymoon 2.0. Our "Honeymoon" was just 3 days at the beach 2 hours from our house because we didn't want to leave Caleb for too long, and we are hoping to be able to get away a little longer here and there. Not a bad way to stretch out the vacation.

We did have other things in mind at first. We found a Groupon for a trip to Ireland that was really affordable, but we didn't have time to take off of work. Ireland is somewhere Travis has always wanted to go. Also, England, Japan, and Scotland, but most of all New Zealand.

Travis is a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan and he wants to go to New Zealand and stay for most of forever. He really wants to visit the set of the movies - Hobbiton

I, on the other hand have a more cozy version of our vacation. I imagine our extended stay being in one of the Holiday Homes Auckland has to offer. From what I have seen of it there is a great mixture of city and rural scenes. You can stay in your own quiet rental island retreat for a week or so, and then switch to something downtown for a more exciting time.

I would love both of those kinds of vacations. The serenity of the island, the connection with nature, the beautiful scenery. And I also love the hustle and bustle of the city, being able to meet new people and try new things and feel the heart of the culture.

Before I met Travis, New Zealand wasn't ever a place I considered visiting, but he has really made me fall in love with the idea. The more he talked about it the more I thought about it, the more I thought about it the more I talked about it and the more I talked about it the more I met people who had been there. I found out that one of my customers splits his time between mainland US, Hawaii, and New Zealand because he is constantly bouncing around between family members. Not like he can complain! Talk about paradise. He probably only ever comes back to the rainy PNW for some perspective on how great Hawaii and New Zealand are!

After hearing about how wonderful New Zealand is, I have to say that I checked out Home Loans Christchurch. Moving to New Zealand really isn't a realistic option for us. I don't think we have the kinds of jobs that are in high demand there, but it is nice to dream, isn't it. Now if only I could find some Cavoodle Puppies for SaleI'd be all set.

Work at Home Mom

I'm still in the process of trying to find a job I can do from home where I can make my own hours. I'm not object to working outside of the home as long as I get to make my own hours but I'm pretty sure the chances of finding that are slim to none. I have been scouring the internet, which we all know is the end all be all of information - right? But I have yet to find something that is going to work for me. In fact, it seems like I am finding the same list on every website I checkout. Whether it's the Huffington Post, a grandparents' website, or an independent blogger, they are all saying the same things. And I have issue with most of them.

Get Paid to Surf the Web - If you have a college degree.

Be a Personal Shopper - Although no one can tell you how to start or how to contact someone who might need that service. Hopefully, you've been networking with your local movie star who is too busy to go out and get their own things.

Call Center / Customer Service Rep - Enjoy being on the waiting list IF your state is is one of those which are listed for this employer.

Direct Sales - One forum poster put it this way, "Avon - everyone is selling it and no one is buying it."

Answer questions for ChaCha - Not currently hiring.

I'm not trying to be a sourpuss, but none of these suggestions really work for me. I'm still not sure what I am going to do.

Phone call from a Monkey

In the effort to try to get a work from home career off the ground, or at least find a job that will let me make my own hours, I stumbled across Monkeyphonecall.com. You arrange for this business to call someone - a friend, a sibling, a coworker, even yourself - and make monkey noises.

I haven't tried it, I'm not getting paid to tell you about it, but I DO greatly admire whoever created and is running this thing and I definitely wanted to link to it. Perhaps when I get my own creative business up and running the good ju-ju will come back to me.

Bill & Ted Movie Night

My sister and I used to have movie nights. I mean some serious movie nights. We would have "Corey Feldman night" or "musical night" when we were younger. We would ride bikes to the movie rental place and get a couple of VHS, pop some popcorn and stay up late watching movies we'd already seen.

As we got older we started having more involved movie nights. We would watch Jaws and eat gourmet tuna salad, some kind of red cocktail that looked like chum, and a fruit salad inside of a watermelon carved to look like a shark.

Our next movie night is Bill & Ted. We plan to watch all of the Bill & Ted movies and eat "foods that are excellent to each other"

Some foods we are considering:

• Cheese and crackers
• Peanut butter and Jelly
• Bangers and mash
• Chicken and waffles
• Corned beef and hash
• Cookies and milk
• Coffee and doughnuts
• Pizza and beer

The trick is to not have too many filling foods in big portions. Also, we are going to have to nix the peanut butter and jelly, as my sister is allergic. We may replace it with Almond butter and jelly. Also, she is gluten intolerant, so we are going to have to get gluten-free versions of some foods. Have fun on movie night and remember to Be Excellent to Each Other!

Smoke from the fire on government island

Shots traveling South bound on the Glenn Jackson bridge. Smoke billowing from Government Island 8/19/13. 

Totally inconsiderate at the Clark county fair

I signed Caleb up for mutton bustin at the Clark county fair today. At sign up, they told us to come back at 1:30. They also told every other family with young children the same thing. So at 1:25 there was a long line of families standing in the blazing heat with no shade waiting at the gate. It was then that we were told that we would have to wait until 1:50. That is way too long for young children to have to wait in fill afternoon sun while the people in charge sip drinks under the shade they set up for themselves. 

Those in charge of the Clark country fair lounge in the shade while families with young children swelter in the heat. 

Girl Scout Crunch Bars

I'm going on the record here and saying that these things are good. I can't speak to the other flavors, but the Samoa flavor is rockin. It kinda has the same chewy texture as the cookie. So good!

Touch typing

I. Order to prove that I spend way you much time on the iPhone I am going to type this entire post without looking at the key pad. I am going to rely solely in my memorization. If the keyboard and largely the autocorrect feature of the phone. I am going to skip the punctuation however you will still see periods because double tapping the space button adds that in automatically. I am not going to edit this post at all from the original outcome. Unless I are a bad word during the preposterous reading   Wish me luck. 

McNickle & McDime

I was just charged 33 cents for an extra sauce at McDonald's. It's not the fault of the 17 year old kid behind the counter; he's just doing what he's told. It's a flaw in management, and I do mean flaw. 

This particular McD's is a hot spot for teens who love to load up on the (probably) MSG / high fructose corn syrup filled sauces at McDonald's. I'm sure they ask for enough extra condiments to run the business into the ground. As any business owner knows, the little things add up quickly. 

Does that mean that I should get 2 sauces for a total order of 16 nuggets and two orders of fries? That seems a little stingy. I waited until we had depleted our meager rations of sauce before asking for more, when I discovered that I was being charged extra for the third. 

Perhaps it would have made a difference if I had ordered a menu item that doesn't traditionally come with sauce? I doubt it. As a paying customer, I felt very unappreciated when I was charged for my extra sauce. And as any business owner will tell you, unappreciated customers add up quickly. 

I am sure that the pocketbook of McD's falls victim to diners who use their food only as a vessel for getting sauce into their face, but my family are moderate dunkers. Should we be punished because there are little BBQ sauce gluttons out there? How do you find a balance that allows you to treat everyone the same when everyone is not the same, yet has the same level of importance?

To add insult to injury, my son didn't even finish the sauce for which I paid. Evidence that he's not a sauce-hog. 

I Parked in a Loading Zone

Oops. I totally just parked in a loading zone. Fortunately the officer came to find me inside the business I was in before he wrote me a ticket! Yikes! Thanks for the good Samaritan police officer! 

Should I Start an In-Home Daycare

I thought about this for just about as long as it took me to type the words into google search and then I closed the internet window. It seems like a great home business. Start an in-home daycare, keep it under so many kids and you don't need a business license, stay home with your kids and make some money.

Then I remembered that for a short time my mother ran an in home daycare and I hated every second of it. Even though all the kids were friends of mine, it was a horrible experience. I had to share my space, my toys, my time, AND my MOTHER with neighborhood kids for several hours every single day. At a day care, kids get snacks, and so my mom purchased snacks especially for day care kids and gave them out at snack time and we were all included... except that I wasn't at daycare... I was at home. I wasn't free to grab a bag of chips and sit in front of the TV because then 5 other kids plus my 3 siblings would want the same thing. I remember it being really limiting.

Plus, there was nowhere to go to just be alone. If I went to my room and shut my door, my girlfriends who were being babysat would feel like I was shunning them and being unsocial. But the truth was, I didn't want to be social all of the time. Sometimes I wanted to take a nap, and I just couldn't.

My school work suffered because instead of spending time on my homework, I spent time playing with my friends in a forced social situation. My mom wasn't able to help me because she was too busy trying to clean up after a house of way too many kids for one person. The rebellious pre-teen loud-mouth anarchist from a couple of doors down would be disrespectful to her, I would lose my mind and we would fight, and then she would attempt to "run away" to her house to which she didn't have a key so she would try to break in. This being someone else's child, neither of my parents were allowed to discipline her in any effective way and so it caused drama and strain. And so to that idea I promptly say NO THANK YOU.

Asking for Coupons - Campbell's

I got another response to my coupon request. Campbell's soup company had emailed me and let me know that they are sending me a coupon in the mail. I'm not sure if it is more than one (the email made it sound like a single item) or if it will be for a discount of a free item. I will keep an eye on my mail box and let you know when I find out what kind of goodie they are sending me. In the meantime, I will continue to request coupons from different companies.

Building Credit

I have been working on building my credit for over 2 years and I think it's finally paying off.

Two years ago I bought a car and financed it. I had a down payment of almost 30% and I still had a heck of a time finding a bank that would finance me! I have been paying on time on my car this entire time and it is only just barely starting to pay off.

When I got my car, the only credit card I qualified for was a secure one. I had to make a payment toward the collateral of my account in order to open a credit card. I was using the card to the max and paying it off in full every month. Little did I know this was NOT helping me. Apparently you only want to use 30% of your card every month and pay the entire balance. Since then, I have stopped using my card for purchases. Instead, I signed up with International Children's Fund and set up my donations to automatically come off of my credit card. That way, I know exactly how much will be on my card statement every month (although I still look it over), and I know that it is right around 30% of my limit.

About 6 months ago I was approved for a very high rated and very pricey credit card through a very high risk lender. I politely declined. They called, emailed, and sent letters every two weeks until the offer ran out. It was nice to be wanted, but I really didn't need their services. I had also applied at a couple of department stores because I heard it was easier to get approved through some stores than through banks. No luck.

Today I decided to try my luck at a department store credit card and I did get approved. And it is probably something I will use here and there so I decided to go with it.

I'm excited that I am able to get credit again, but I MUST SAY THIS: This is not a great way of CHECKING your credit because when you apply for credit it can LOOK BAD on your credit report. I was actively seeking credit at particular places as a way to begin building my credit which was a good plan for ME, but maybe (and probably) not you. The best way to fix your credit is to pay off your old balances. That was out of the way for me and so I needed to rebuild. Since I didn't have old cards to use (old accounts were charged off and closed) I needed new ones. Anyway, it is working for me and I am happy about it!

Asking for Coupons - Lysol & Clorox

I got my first answer back!

Lysol told me to check the local paper and magazine ads for coupons.

Nice, Lysol. Thanks a lot. I use Clorox anyway.

Oh, and about Clorox... Their "contact us" web page has a broken link to their email so I wasn't even able to ask them for coupons.

So, I appears that my fist attempt at asking for coupons is a bust, but I think that I will keep trying. Can't hurt, and it only takes a moment of time.