Merry Christmas to everyone near and far!
Merry Christmas
Hope everyone has a joyful Christmas! See you next week!
(No, not me! I hope to stay dry except for bath time during the holidays!)
Merry Christmas from Animal Shak
Hope your holiday stockings are full of chocolate BARK and catnip!
Sometimes Owning is a Bummer
My friend Chip – feeling jovial and getting ready for a week of good cheer and fa la la la’s – came home to the noise of water running.
So anyhow, I took half the day off to meet the people that came out to fix my silly leak. Turns out the main line busted coming out of the ground.
Yes, it was my fault, I didn’t shut ALL the vents around the house. The one the was closest to the pipe is the one that is so hidden you forget it’s there.
Lessons learned: 1) Close your crawl space vents during the winter to protect your pipes, and 2) If you see your water needle spinning, you have a leak.
Sorry, Mr. Chip. Hope you manage to have a Merry Christmas anyway!
Shelters Want Foster Families During Holidays
Several shelters throughout the country are seeking both individuals and families to foster pets during the holiday season. In Colorado, at least 12 dogs needed temporary people so they could be home for Christmas.
“I think it (Christmas fostering) will be good for them,” Jensen said of the dogs. “Once they are in their small kennel, they get pretty depressed. I think having human interaction will help them get adopted. Hopefully, the public will pull together.”
It may not be too late for you to provide a temporary shelter for an animal in need. Call you closest humane society to see if you can help.
Freelance Editing? You Could Be Getting Into More Than You Bargained For
I’ve done some editing in my time. I still occasionally do some freelance editing. But I’d much rather do writing. This is because editing seems like it should be easier. Just go through and correct things? Okay! But there’s more than that to editing. Before you take on editing (or any freelance job), consider that freelance editing can be time-consuming and tedious. And more difficult than writing when it comes to agreeing on a price with your client. Laura Spencer at Writing Thoughts offers these 8 reasons that editing is harder than you think it is:
1. Estimating an editing job accurately is difficult.
2. You have to read every single word.
3. There’s always something subjective when it comes to editing — no matter how objective you try to be.
4. Editing a bad piece can actually take longer than writing a new piece.
5. Some clients get upset when you change what they wrote. (Even if that’s what they asked you to do!)
6. There can be leakage from someone else’s style into your style.
7. Too much time editing can result in your seeing errors everywhere.
8. Your writing, in turn, is often held to a higher standard when you are an editor.
It’s not hard to see why the editing jobs I take on are few and far between. What about you? Do you like freelance editing?
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Teach Teens Independence
I had lunch today with my daughter’s girl scout leader and as we were talking about the trials and tribulations of raising teenage girls, I mentioned that Erin said she doesn’t want to go to college, “I want to get married.” While I’m all for marriage, the statement opened a conversation about how it’s important to get an education in order to have the ability to take care of yourself if things go bad.
My friend said she got married at the ripe young age of 16 and because she had no skills, she spent years in an abusive relationship because she didn’t have the means to escape it. My own sister had a long, happy marriage but she lost her husband to cancer seven years ago. Since that time, she’s struggled to make ends meet with low-paying jobs. She is now working at a university where she can take college courses at no charge and is working toward a degree.
What can we do to teach our daughters that an education and a marketable skill are important? We have to keep telling them that it is likely they will have to depend upon themselves alone and they must be prepared to do it. We have to keep telling them to get training, take classes, and earn degrees so they can earn a living wage. We have to make them understand that they have to have the ability to stand on their own two feet and not always depend upon someone else. We have to make sure we are willing to sign for a college loan so they CAN go to college if they don’t have the scholarships or silver spoon to pay for it. We have to tell them they are smart, brave, and talented so they will have the courage to go it alone when necessary.
Tomorrow: Is Your Teen in an Abusive Relationship?
Mortgage Applications Rise
Last week, mortgage applications rose by 8.5% according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, providing something for the housing market to be thankful for. This represents a return to the trend in mortgage applications, probably with a little help from the extension of the first time home buyer tax credit. However, most of the mortgage applications were for refinance efforts.
Indeed, refinancing remains rather popular right now, with record low rates. A 30-mortgage can be had for 4.88%, and a fifteen year fixed is at 4.33%. ARMs are still above 6% in many cases. However, in order to get the best home mortgage rates, you will likely have to pay points. This is an amount equal to 1% of the amount being financed.
If you have been thinking of refinancing your home, now is a good time to do it — if your credit is good enough to allow you the best mortgage loan interest rate.
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I Became a Fan of Nonja
I would add Nonja as my Facebook friend, however I am but a fan – and a big fan at that! Who is Nonja? What is Nonja? Here’s what her fan page says,
Nonja is a 33 year old orangutan female. The photos on this website are all taken by Nonja and show the new 750qm open air enclosure at Schönbrunn Zoo. The appropriate camera was supplied courtesy of electronics manufacturer Samsung.
Nonja lives in a zoo and was given a camera to take photos. Often they look like mine (faces cut off, a stick in the grass), but other times they are quite good! Here’s my favorite…
I’ve linked to Nonja’s Facebook but here’s the zoo web page as well. They’re probably being inundated with web traffic right now so servers may be slow. Here’s the Samsung site.
Working from Home: What I’m Thankful For
- Image by J. Star via Flickr
As I’ve been preparing my workload for the holidays, I’ve had some time to think about what I’m thankful for. There are some days that it seems almost tempting to leave this whole freelancing home business behind and just go work a traditional job. But those days are few and far between — especially when I stop and think about why I’m thankful to be working from home. As Thanksgiving approaches, here are some things that I am thankful for when it comes to working from home:
* I can be here for my son.
* I can arrange my own schedule.
* I have time to go to the gym.
* I have been able to take guitar lessons.
* I provide a good income for my family.
* I can spend more time with my husband.
These are all things to be grateful for this holiday season. What are you thankful for, when it comes to your home business?
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