Even the smallest of businesses will benefit if you can make sure you are all set up to accept credit cards. I work with hundreds of women a year who are working to start small businesses in the crafting industry. One thing most of them will agree on is that you cannot limit yourself to accepting cash and checks. In fact, even if you accept payments via Paypal, you are limiting yourself when it comes to flexible credit card processing.
OnlineChecks offers merchant services without fees, contracts, or even the cost of a credit card machine. Yep, you get a free credit card machine to keep. And, when you use OnlineChecks, you don’t have to wait for a lot of lag time to get your cash. You can process a credit card order today and have the cash by tomorrow. The merchant account has no annual fee and a surprisingly low transaction (a LOT less than the fees charged by Paypal).
Best of all, you can try the free merchant account service free for 30 days. You’ve got nothing to lose.
OK, we get it. David Duchovny has entered a rehabilitation facility for the treatment of sex addiction. I’ve found it humorous to read the comments and opinions on lots of other blogs. Most of them naively believe that Duchovny’s addiction simply means he is addicted to having sexual intercourse, and some have even commented that his wife, Tea Leoni, must feel lucky.
Unfortunately, sex addiction has a lot less to do with a pure physical need for sex and more to do with an emotional disconnect. Sex addicts often have trouble with honest emotional relationships and compulsively seek to connect with other people via impersonal intimate acts like masturbation, affairs, prostitutes, voyeurism, and other intimately unfulfilling behaviors that are many times abusive, secretive, and lead to depression.
Sex addicts often find that their compulsive needs come before family, work and personal health.
His entire family is in my thoughts, and I wish everyone the best. Difficult times are certainly at hand for them.
When I start feeling down about my smaller-than-usual travel budget, I try and do the whole making lemonade out of lemons thing and remember that not everyone can say that Orlando vacations are very, very affordable.
I live within an hour of Orlando and that leaves so many options open for me and my daughter. I suppose I take for granted that every year she and I go to the Pirates & Princesses party at The Magic Kingdom. Granted, we stay overnight, but a lot of hotels offer great deals for Florida residents. Heck, if I lived just a half hour closer I would buy season passes for the Disney parks, because after about April, they are dirt cheap if you live in Florida.
Whe I lived just outside of Washington, DC I made the most of that as well. I appreciate living so close to a destination that people make big, expensive pans to visit. I’ve just been taking it for granted lately. We have not been over to Orlando since February. I need to put it all in perspective and plan a day at Epcot for me and Gigi.
Confession time – I have never been on a cruise. I was meant to go on one for my Honeymoon, but there were green card issues with my groom (such a terribly long story!) and that eventually meant cruises were out of the question. We ended up staying in-state and just enjoying Key West in the off season. It was pretty great, but I never did stop wanting that cruise.
I’ve got a lot of ideals about cruises and I definitely associate them with checking out from society for a week or so – which is something I really need to do eventually. On the other hand, I have relatives who have gone on cruises more often that I can understand and claim that in the end they are boring. Their kids loathe the cruise…, and still the go each year. I cannot account for that.
My church has members who get together twice a year for group cruises. I’m thinking that might be the best way for me to start.
There is a good side and a bad side to the fact that Publix Supermarkets bought out most of the Albertson’s stores in our area.
Bad news first – I actually prefer Albertson’s 90% of the time. I like their meat and produce better, and they when they put out their weekly sales, they have a variety of items from week to week. Publix seems to have the same loss leaders time and time again. I can only buy so much buy-one-get-one-free solid white tuna and Juicy Juice.
Good news – the deep discounts have been great as the stores liquidate. I bought some cosmetics and personal care items early on. I’ve gone in for greeting cards several times and they are currently down to 90% off. General goods like disposable diapers and crayons and Ziploc bags are at 50%, I think. Even after Albertson’s put the “regular price” up as high as they could, 50% is still pretty great.
There are only four days left. Rumor has it that some of the percentages will increase tomorrow night, so I think I will make one last run.
The issue of addiction to computers in children was not something parents needed to really face when I was a child. Most households did not have a computer when I was a kid. And, if they did they did not have an internet connection. We got a little Apple 2c when I was in junior high. My dad did use a modem to connect to local bulletin boards about some of his hobbies, but that was it. I used the computer to type up papers and play silly little games like Lemonade Stand and Westward Ho! (the exclamation point is actually part of the game title).
Oh, how times have changed. Just take a look at this news item put out by the Associated Press:
PALM BAY, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Palm Bay teen chased his mother with a knife and beat his brother with a sugar cane because of a change to his computer privileges.
The 15-year-old boy was on the home computer Sunday when he discovered changes to the system made by his older brother. Police say the teen then threw several objects and picked up a knife and a stick of sugar cane.
The older brother and mother told police the teen pushed his mother several times while clutching the knife.
The teen was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and battery.
Information from: Florida Today, http://www.floridatoday.com
A child finds out his computer use has been limited and he is upset enough to go after his mother with a knife? I can see throwing a tantrum, or sulking. A knife, though? He went at his mother is a deadly weapon. Insane.
As a mother, I am 100% in favor of limiting both the time and the content of a child’s computer use. I allow my daughter an hour on the computer a couple times a week. She is limited to websites I have chosen (WebKinz, Starfill.com, ect.) and right now she accepts that. Of course, she is five. I know we will have to go at things a little different in the future. However, she will not have a computer in her room, she will not have unlimited internet privileges, and I will monitor her online activity.
When she moves out of the house, it’s up to her to do the right thing. Until then, I will guide her every step of the way so that she has some idea of what the right thing even is. The internet is a wonderful place. It is also a dangerous place. Anyone who thinks porn is difficult to access online is just plain wrong – not to mention tragically naive. I want to protect my daughter. I do not want her to be one of the millions of modern kids who in their supposedly tender years already have a hardened and backwards view of sexuality.
…or these days, a dollar a day. Either way, the point is that we need to be putting money into a savings account or something similar as often as possible. I have cut out more luxuries than I can count on my fingers in the last couple years in favor of saving as much money as possible. I have a goal, and that goal is to one day have an easy down payment on a house for me and my daughter.
I came out of my divorce with a lot less than I had imagined. Somehow, my ex had spent a lion’s share of our savings, proved to the courts that he had no retirement in place (??) and thus far has done everything possible to delay putting out house on the market. So, it is just me, myself and I – and a will to make my financial situation as uncomplicated as I can.
I immediately made an effort to consolidate debt by working with creditors to offer settlements on some of the more oddball debts my ex managed to have in my name over the years. I suppose when you are married, you don’t think twice about just having your name on a loan, credit card, or even a utility. In my case, it turned out to come back and bite me in the end.
As I work through that, I am moving quite quickly back into my old ways when it comes to money. I am frugal by nature, pay all of my bills on time or early, and finance things as little as possible. I already feel more free financially and my savings account thanks me.
I overhead a very telling conversation today as I was gassing up my car. The Democratic Party might want to work a little harder to understand how their party members really feel.
You could tell from the bumper stickers on their hybrid car that they lean so far to the left that if I had blown a bubble with my gum they would have tipped over. Those are the kind of Democrats I overheard this morning.
But, the conversation I heard the mother having with her son was too good not to pass along to all of you. The boy looked all of 11 and he was telling his mother he thought the Democrats should have put Joe Biden on the ticket as the presidential candidate, with Barack Obama as the candidate for vice president.
His mother looked at him for a second, flipped her overly-highlighted hair and said, “I agree. Dumb move, huh?”
I know that a lot of people hear the term stem cell research and immediately their mind goes to the issue of cloned cells or cells harvested from embryos. I agree there is controversy in the research conducted on those sorts of cells.
However, did you know that many experts agree that stem cells are easily harvested from a woman’s menstrual blood? How cool is that? Not only it is a source without controversy, it means that a whole lot of women have access to a very easy way to save stem cells that they could potentially use in the future to help if they encounter a serious illness, like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. Lately, there have been major medical journal publications about the science.
A company called C’elle offers an easy system to harvest such cells. They supply collection kits and then store the cells for you. Menstrual stem cells are a 100% match for the female donor and some research even implies that they match first degree relatives, like a child or parent.
Right now C’elle is offering a promotional price that will save you $200 on start-up costs. So, now is a good time to look into the system if you have been thinking about it. Collecting and saving blood that has usable stem cells is a definite investment in your own future, health, and well-being. The reasons people store menstrual blood is much like the reasons people bank their children’s cord blood. Take a look at the C’elle client testimonial section of the website if you want more insight into the reasons behind people using the system.
The news today is full of information on how Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his presidential running mate.
Still, all I can think of is how Obama’s gums creep me out. They always have. I am transfixed when I see him on television. His gums give me the shivers – and not the good kind of shivers. It is a lot like my past complaints about actor Zachary Quinto’s eyebrows creep me out (he plays Sylar on “Heroes”).
There are just some physical features that I find so repulsive that I cannot get past them. I know it is trifling, but it is real to me. Obama’s gums eclipse every word he speaks, every point he makes, and every action of his life.
I’ve been pricing laptops lately, so this contest caught my eye immediately.
Charter Communications is running a Charter Laptop-a-Day Giveaway promotion right now where if you order any service online, you will instantly be entered to win one of 30 HP Compaq Presario C770US laptops. They are valued at over $600 each and have all the bells and whistles, like built-in WiFi and Ethernet, a DVD burner, and 160 GB hard drive. That makes my old laptop look like a relic.
Plus, all online Charter orders right now earn you a Shell gas card valued up to $100. We can all use a little free gas, don’t you think?
Charter’s High-Speed® Internet is a steal at $19.99/month with their Back to School Bonus pricing. Can you believe there are still some people out there paying that much for dial-up? It’s time to move into the digital age, people. And, the free gas card is like gold in our current economy. I can’t think of a better time to jump on the high-speed train.
What a deal. Now, if only I could win two of those 30 laptops! I want to get my hands on a laptop for my daughter and I really want to replace my old laptop. A girl can dream, right?
I’m not a huge Sarah Jessica Parker fan, but this scene from the 1993 film “Hocus Pocus” always makes me laugh. Sometimes the clip just runs through my mind for no particular reason and I have to stiffle a giggle. I think the reason I recalled it tonight was all this talk about Halloween costumes.
By the way, though I can take or leave Parker, I adore Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy.
That last post about Miley Cyrus and the price of her 16th birthday tickets made me remember that my five-year-old has decided she wants to be Hannah Montana for Halloween this year.
For her first Halloween, I dressed her as an angel, complete with halo and a sweet little embroidered bubble outfit in cherubic white cotton. Of course, she was too young to have a say in her halloween costumes then.
By the time she got to her second Halloween, she was 21-months-old and already insistent that she go as Sleeping Beauty. Disney costumes ruled the roost after that: Belle the next year and Ariel last year. I assumed we would simply choose yet another Disney princess this year.
Nope. The kid is growing up and branching out, much to my chagrin. She wants to be Hannah Montana, complete with a blonde and pink wig. HalloweenAdventure.com has a Hannah Montana costume and it’s pretty cute. Plus, they have a 5% off coupon that is good through October 10 – PPP05BLOG2008, and we all know discounts and coupons make the world go ‘round.
If we are going to at least be keeping in a Disney theme, I am thinking that I might get myself a Sally costume from The Nightmare Before Christmas. That is much more my style than a princess. Although, my favorite past costume was from the year I went as Aphrodite. That might be a better choice, though it is not Disney-esque.
As a matter of interest, the website I mentioned above has a blog that talks about a lot of the latest costume trends. I might just cruise it for a few days and see if I get an even better idea.
My daughter is 5. She has moved recently into different musical tastes. She is no longer interested in seeing Laurie Berkner or The Wiggles in concert. “Oh, yuck!” she exclaimed.
Nope, she recently informed me she wants to see The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus in concert.
*sigh*
Unless you have been living in the back woods without electricity lately, you know all about the last Miley Cyrus tour, the expense of the tickets and how in-demand they were. Tickets were expensive to begin with, but once they got bought up by bulk resellers and scalpers, they become positively unaffordable.
The fan base for Miley Cyrus is young girls. Their parents are the ones forking over the dough for the tickets. And, there is obviously disposable income left in this society, or entertainers would not be able to demand and get such high prices.
I had to tell my daughter I could not afford for her to see Cyrus or the Jonas Brothers in concert. She is 5. Her abstract reasoning has not kicked in yet. She just could not understand.
And now I am seeing how Cyrus is celebrating her 16th birthday at Disneyland out in California and tickets to the party will be a mere $250.
What?
They go on sale August 30 and the event is expected to sell out quickly.
I have a website that offers free hair bow instructions and overt the course of the five years I have had the site, I have worked with countless women to help them get their small businesses up and running. Granted, I cannot be there physically, but I often help walk people though getting their crafting business online so they can begin selling to an international client base.
It’s always exciting to see even one more mom discover a way to stay home with their children at the same time that they are able to help provide financially for their family. And, it’s thrilling to hear a success story when someone realizes the craft items they love to make for a hobby can actually turn a tidy profit.
Choosing a web host is one of the first steps in getting your website online. It will be something you do independently of choosing a business name, a domain name, or even the design of your website. The hosting account is what you will buy so that your website has space on a server to store your site’s pages and files.
You need to find an affordable host that has a long-running good reputation, reliable uptime, and above all – fantastic customer support. A lot of what made me choose the host I personally use is the fact that the customer support folks are located right here in the United States and are available day and night. I cannot tell you how many times I have called or chatted with support in the middle of the night on a weekend.
One great place to begin is by looking at a site that offers hosting rating and review articles. WebHostingRating.com has tons of reviews, overviews, and articles. You can sort reviews by category (Windows hosting, dedicated hosting, reseller hosting, etc.) or rating level. It gives you an easy way to compare several hosting companies and see things like monthly fees and bonus features in all on one page, side-by-side.
Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions about choosing a host. In the meantime, take a look at the site I linked. They are a good springboard for your decision.
That last post about Miley Cyrus and the price of her 16th birthday tickets made me remember that my five-year-old has decided she wants to be Hannah Montana for Halloween this year.