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OK, Alice, I'll Play Along! 7 Random & Weird Things about Me

Stephanie — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:06:01 +0000

Much to my surprise, Alice Seba tagged me the other day with the 7 Random & Weird Things about Me meme. Ah, the price I pay for commenting on someone’s blog! Some ways I dread memes, because it’s often hard to decide what to say, but I occasionally participate. Like today.

Here’s how this one works:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog; some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on each of their blogs. (I’m going along with Alice and leaving this part out!)

All right, here goes.

1. I pick my daughter up from school and drop her off by walking each day rain or shine. It’s a nice bit of exercise, and this being southern California, it’s mostly shine, sometimes way too much sunshine. Doubly so now that I’m pregnant enough to really feel the heat.

2. I read a lot, mostly science fiction when it comes to leisure reading. But if there’s reading material and spare time, I’ll read almost anything. We have a shortage of space for hanging family pictures because my husband and I have so many bookshelves. He shares my addiction.

3. I was very much the “shy girl” in school. You know, the one shaking and almost in tears when called upon, even though I almost always knew the answer. I’ve done a lot of work to get past that kind of thing.

4. I regularly try to push past my comfort zone. This is a big part of how I got past the worst of the shyness. Went away to college when all my sisters stayed in town. Tried out to be an expert on working at home for a local TV show once. Didn’t get it, but I tried.

5. My current pregnancy was a complete and poorly timed surprise. But sometimes statistics get you like that.

6. Despite living in southern California, I’d rather be in a place with more rain. Probably comes of living here almost my entire life, discounting those years away at college.

7. My son is one of 3 boys born on my mother’s side of the family in the past ~50 years. The other two are about a year and a half older than he is. All 3 of my sisters have daughters and no sons. I’ll take whatever I can get with this baby, but I have plenty of people cheering for another boy. Should be finding out within about the next two weeks.

And now the part I’m really bad at… tagging people. Hey Alice, are there tagbacks? Just kidding. Let’s see who’s been commenting around here…

Vered
Cath Lawson
Melissa
Charlene

Just if you want to, of course, folks. And anyone else who feels like joining in.

Wordless Wednesday – Cthulhu, the Easter Octopus

Stephanie — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:18:06 +0000

Destroyer of worlds, hider of eggs. Sometimes it’s hard to go wordless.

Wordless Wednesday – Peeling an Egg

Stephanie — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:11:58 +0000

13 Job Hunting Tips

Stephanie — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:35:01 +0000

With my husband hunting for a new job, I thought I would share some tips this week for others in the same boat.

Think hard about your goals.
This is an area I’ve made sure my husband has worked hard on. Being laid off means to me that he may as well try to pursue some of the dream jobs he never really had the time for before.
Don’t settle until you have to.
While my husband will have to take a job soon, that doesn’t mean he must settle for the first job that opens up to him. If he were doing that, he could well be working at Home Depot already. On the other hand, a point will come where we will really need that income to stay where we are.
Network.
I’ve been utterly shameless about telling people about the layoff. I’ve gotten ideas from a few people.
Get help with your resume.
One of the few good things to come of this layoff is that his former employer did contract with an outsourcing company that is helping him really put a better resume together. With any luck this will help him land a better job than what he had before.
Check Craigslist.
While scams do land on their job boards, so do a lot of legitimate jobs, especially if you’re not talking about working at home. We’ve seen some really interesting ones there.
When in doubt, apply.
This one has been a bit tricky for my husband at times. In the past he has been too willing to say he’s not qualified for a job over small issues. This time he’s letting the potential employers decide if his qualifications are close enough. Of course, the one that he was a great match for except they wanted him to be able to speak Mandarin Chinese we skipped over. Some qualifications really do matter.
Post your resume online.
Monster, Career Builder, Yahoo! HotJobs, Job.com, etc. This may not get you much of anywhere, but there’s always a chance.
Know how much risk you can afford.
A lot of the employers we hear back from on posted resumes are commission-only types, and potentially high pressure as well. If you don’t want to do that kind of work or risk not earning enough, don’t bother with them. But if you think you could do well and can afford the risk, go for it!
Interview, even if you don’t think you’ll get the job.
Sometimes you will. Sometimes you won’t. Sometimes the interview will help you to realize that the job wouldn’t have been a good fit for you anyhow. And all interviews are good practice for the one that gets you the job you really want.
Pay attention to the details.
Spelling counts. Grammar counts. Your appearance counts, even if you’re just dropping off your resume.
Dress appropriately.
Know in advance how you are likely to need to dress for the job you’re applying for. You can dress a bit nicer than that for the interview, but dressing worse can be a big mistake.
Turn off your cell phone during interviews.
You need to show that you understand the interview is the priority.
Do your research.
It can really pay off to be able to talk coherently about the company you are interviewing with. This is especially relevant if they’ve recently released some big news.

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13 Toys I've Tripped Over Most Recently

Stephanie — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:40:16 +0000

No, the place really isn’t that much of a mess. But when you have kids, you have toys to trip over. It just a fact of parenting. Don’t worry too much about the mess… this is over several days!

Part of my kids’ wooden train set.
Rocking horse.
Tricycle.
Toy laptop computer.
Dragon
Lincoln Logs
Wooden tool set
Play dough container.
Duplo blocks
Roller skates
10 ft tall stuffed toy bird (thanks, sis!)
Tractor
Toy cars

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Wordless Wednesday – From My Daughter's Camera

Stephanie — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:33:10 +0000

13 Ways to Save Money at the Grocery Store

Stephanie — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:30:20 +0000

In light of yesterday’s post on the economy and rising food prices, I thought I would share ways I save money at the grocery store.

Don’t shop hungry.
Some of the oldest food shopping advice, and some of the best.
Plan ahead.
The more you know about the meals you are going to make in the days ahead, the less extra stuff you are likely to buy, and the less spoilage you should have in your fridge.
Go through the ads.
It’s easy to miss a special if you aren’t particularly looking for an item. If you use the ads in combination with planning ahead, your meals can be based on what’s fairly cheap right then.
Go to more than one grocery store when reasonable.
I have a Henry’s and a Vons sharing a parking lot, and Stater Bros. across the street from them. It makes it very easy to shop them all, even though Vons most often has the highest prices. But driving too far can ruin your savings.
Take advantage of coupons for things you would buy anyhow.
Coupons can save you a nice bit of money on the things you need.
Don’t buy things you don’t need just because you have a coupon.
Buy what you need, not just what is at a good price.
Know who, if anyone, doubles coupons.
This is harder to find than it used to be, but if a store near to you does it, take advantage if the price is then the best.
Know the regular prices and what a good sale price is.
Any time you can get something for it’s best sale price, you’re doing pretty well, and the more you can avoid the regular price on most foods, the better. I also have just general guidelines such as “most fruits and vegetables should be under $1/pound, under $0.75/pound is better”. A lot of people keep notebooks so they always know if the price is good. I’ve seen stores drop a price $0.01 and call it a sale.
Plan at least an occasional vegetarian meal.
Meatless meals generally cost a lot less. One of my favorites is called Sand and Shells, and the kids just wolf it down. Most of the ingredients are *ahem* dirt cheap in my area.
Take advantage of your freezer space.
I love keeping meat in my freezer that was bought at cheap prices so I don’t have to buy so much when the prices aren’t so good.
Check out farmer’s markets.
Sometimes the prices are great, sometimes not so great. But know what you have in your area.
Garden.
Not easy for everyone, but if you have the space and are willing to give it a try, you can produce your own food for reasonable prices. Note it may take a while for you to regain your investment. But if you compost your other food scraps you will have a great natural fertilizer, saving one expense as well as concern about chemicals. It may also help your kids to see where their food comes from, and some even eat their vegetables more eagerly.
Make your own mixes.
Spice packets and other mixes can cost significantly more than what the individual ingredients cost. Mixing up your own is pretty easy, especially since many from scratch recipes are readily available online.

And a bonus tip, just because I thought of it…

Don’t buy in more bulk than you’ll actually use. It’s not a good deal if you paid more and used less than is made up for in savings.

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Wordless Wednesday – First Shave

Stephanie — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:51:38 +0000

13 Things I Try To Do Every Day Working at Home

Stephanie — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:11:36 +0000

I love working at home. It’s exhausting, but well worth the tradeoffs to be able to have the kind of time for my family that I can take at need.

The daily routine can be a bit challenging at times. These are some of the things both in terms of my business and home life I try to do daily. It’s definitely not the full routine.

Play with the kids.
Can’t forget this one. Being able to have a little fun with them is the biggest reason to work at home.
Post on this website.
Well, this is likely to be 5 or 6 out of 7 days a week, not really each and every day.
Check basic website stats.
I don’t check all stats daily; that would take too much time. But a quick glance to be sure everything is running well is important. I go over things in more detail weekly.
Check email.
The trick to this one is to not do too much of it. I try to keep it to once or twice a day, unless I’m actively communicating with someone by email.
Post on other sites of mine.
Which ones varies. This site gets more attention than the others do; it’s my favorite.
Read relevant blogs in my areas of interest.
Follow my writing schedule.
I plan out the kinds of writing I do at different times, such as writing articles for article marketing.
Make meals for my family.
We hardly ever eat out. My daughter rarely buys lunch at school, although she always wants to. It just makes more sense to make it.
Read to my kids.
I have a simple rule when I work during the day – if the kids interrupt me because they want a story, I stop as soon as possible. Similarly for games and such, but that’s balanced by making sure they know how to entertain themselves as well.
Get some exercise.
I walk my daughter to and from school on school days. Other days I try to find something else active to do.
Take advantage of quiet time.
If the kids are sleeping or out of the house, that’s serious working time. This is harder in the evenings, with my husband home, but still possible.
Clean.
This is good for those times I know the kids are going to be interrupting me a lot anyhow, although things like sweeping and mopping are best done with them not so underfoot.
Get some downtime.
Can’t be working all the time, even though it’s often tempting. I love what I do!

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Wordless Wednesday – Big Wine

Stephanie — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:03:46 +0000