future thoughts...

So today I have been working on updating my resume. I'm starting to get fed up with this job at Office Depot. It's an okay job, I guess, but not a great job. The general manager has been unhappy with the staff because we/they are not making new employees feel "welcomed" enough... people have quit because they don't feel like a part of a team and so on. Well, gosh, I can understand that - I don't feel like I'm the part of a team. I just stuck around because I need the paycheck.

I've been looking at places where I can apply, and also thinking some hard thoughts about what I want to do with my life. I know I would love to write - that's a talent I have, and I could certainly be happy if I was able to do that for the rest of my life. I love animals - I'd love to work with pets. And I've thought about going back to school and getting a degree in the health care field. That's a pretty wide variety of interests!

Who knows what the future holds? Good thing God knows what's going on... cuz I sure don't sometimes!

life and money....

I have got to get into the habit of updating this more often.

I've done so many sponsored posts lately. I apologize for that. I really wish I didn't have to do that. But, at the same time, I feel like I have little choice... over the past month, these sponsored posts have provided about a third of my income. Hopefully, though, in the future I will be able to mix the sponsored posts with personal posts sufficiently.

I've created a budget for myself based on my current income. The problem with my current income is that my current income is simply not enough. I'd like to be able to pay for my own place - an apartment, or a condo, or something, but I just don't have enough. The two things that I can't afford are gasoline (for my car) and housing of some sort. So I'm definitely always looking for ways to supplement my income.

So, I suppose, keep reading. I'm sure that my future will contain more blogs, more sponsored posts, and hopefully a job that pays better. Who knows...

stools and seats

I’ve always liked having stools and chairs in random places around my house. Throughout my life, I’ve picked up stools at garage sales and flea markets. Lately, however, I’ve learned that I can find high-quality bar stools on the internet. I have found some great deals on Ebay, and several other sites also carry good stools. It’s so convenient to purchase my furniture and have it delivered without ever leaving home!

This is a sponsored post.

student loans

If I remember one thing about college, I definitely remember how expensive it was! At my university, the cost almost doubled between my freshman year and graduation. One of the greatest “catch-22s” of life is that, while your college years may be the most expensive years of your life, they are also the years that it is most difficult for you to hold a job – full-time OR part-time! If you choose to pay for college with loans, you may be paying off your tuition for years. You can look into student loan consolidation and other options to help you pay off your tuition sooner.

This is a sponsored post.

Immigration

Immigration is such a big deal in our country. It’s almost gotten out of hand – after all, we are a nation that is made of immigrants. I have met so many immigrants in my life, both legal and illegal. Politically, socially, and economically, immigration a major issue.

There are the legal immigrants. There are the illegal immigrants. Then there are those stories of the immigrant who has married, had a family, and lived (legally) in the US for years, but now ICS wants to deport him (or her). In our area recently, there was a story about a woman who immigrated to the US and married a soldier. Her soldier-husband was deployed to Iraq and was declared MIA, and ICS was going to deport her because of that.

If you are an immigrant, and you need legal help, then I encourage you to find a lawyer as soon as possible! Immigrant lawyers can help you get a job and a green card. If your family remains in your home country, an immigrant lawyer can help with that as well. Immigrant lawyers can even help if you want to emigrate out of the United States.

This is a sponsored post.

London Hotels

My family almost went to London this summer. A variety of circumstances prevented that particular vacation, and we’re grateful for it – had we gone to London, we would have been traveling during the week that the London car bombs were discovered and the car crashed into the airport in Glasgow, Scotland.

We still hope to go to the UK sometime in the future. When we travel to the UK, we will definitely be researching London hotels online before we create our travel plans. By researching online, we can find cheap hotels in London and get great deals on travel plans! If you’re traveling to Europe, check out London hotels on this website. You can also find facilities for a business conference here – and with so many cheap London hotels, you’ll have plenty of attendees!

This is a sponsored post.

Veggie drinks

Once, when I was in college, I tried a V8 vegetable drink. I’ve always had trouble eating enough veggies, so I decided I would try to drink my veggies. At the time (and this was a long time ago!) I wasn’t very impressed. The drink struck me as very salty and not a pleasant flavor. But veggie drinks, along with many other foods, have come a long way since then! If you’re struggling to eat your veggies, I would certainly try to drink your veggies! In themselves, veggies don’t have a terrible flavor, and drinking your veggies is a quick and easy way to get the vitamins and nutrients from vegetables. Also, by drinking your veggies, you will eliminate the vegetable texture that many people find unpleasant. (For example, I don’t really care for the “fingers” on broccoli. Others may not like the stringiness of celery.) If you live a busy lifestyle, as many people do, drinking your veggies is a convenient way to get a healthy snack on the go. If you’ve never tried a veggie drink before, now is the time! You may not like it, but you may also love it, and you may discover a great way to include more vegetables in your diet! For more information, go to Drink My Daily Veggies.




This is a sponsored post.

back with a bang!

The wedding was beautiful, the bride and groom are honeymooning in California, and my family had a fantastic weekend away from home.

It's good to be home, and now I'm back to my scheming ways. Hopefully it will only be a couple more weeks before I can definitively tell you what I've learned.

Meanwhile, I hope you will all hang on for the ride, and perhaps I will even be able to pass along the information I've learned in the meantime.

sorry this is short...

So here's the deal-io, yo...

Our internet is officially not working. We've had some trouble with the DSL lately and now it's officially broken. Either our DSL modem has gone kaputs or it's a program outside our network. Either way it's not working, which is why you didn't hear from me yesterday. We're waiting for the repairman.

Right now I'm at the public library, typing this as I watch a little clock in the corner of my screen ticking down my allotted hour. No pressure or anything! :)

You probably won't hear from me again until at least Monday afternoon, if not later. My family is going out of town for the weekend to go to a friend's wedding (the 7-7-07 thing). We'll be back Sunday night, but then Monday morning I have to open at Office Depot. So... assumming our internet is fixed, of course... which it may very well not be! Argh...

It should be quite a weekend. My family is leaving Saturday morning for a 5-hour drive to the wedding, which will be Saturday night. Then on Sunday morning, we have been invited to a wedding brunch, and after that we will leave to return home! Lots of driving! While I'm here at the library, I plan to pick up a good book or two that I can read in the car - plus, of course, my Ipod.

Anyway, whenever I can, I will tell you how the weekend went. Hope you are all having a fantastic week, and hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Concert Tickets

I haven’t been to a concert in quite awhile. No particular reason… just haven’t really seen the point, I guess. I’ve worked so hard to save money that I haven’t been willing to buy concert tickets, and nowadays concert tickets are really expensive! Hopefully, though, it won’t be too long before I get to go to another concert. I have a lot of good concert memories, and I’d love to make more.

This is a sponsored post.

living outside...

I like being outdoors. It’s not so much the hiking or skiing or whatever outdoor exercise that I love, as much as just lying around in the sun. I dream of someday owning a hammock and having a gorgeous, wonderful outdoor patio where I can lay around and listen to the birds and the wind. Maybe I can even have an outdoor fireplace. I could lie in my hammock and read a book or just take a nap. I think that would be fantastic.

This is a sponsored post.

Furniture

Whenever I am finally able to get my own place, I’m going to have to buy a bunch of furniture to fill it up. Right now I just have a bunch of random, mismatched, dorm-style things. They’re good, and may work for awhile, but I know I’ll have to replace them before long. I may shop at Century furniture or somewhere else on the internet. I have lots of ideas of what I want, eventually, and you know what they say – you can find anything on the internet!

This is a sponsored post.

Branson part two

I mentioned earlier how nice Branson is as a vacation spot, but I think it would also be a nice place to live. The Missouri Ozarks are filled with nature and just lots of fun to be around. Lots of people buy a piece of Branson real estate as a “weekend” or “summer” home as well. I would love to own a lake house. I love swimming, and I especially love swimming in lakes. There’s just something so pure about it.

This is a sponsored post.

bathrooms

Like I said in my last post, my parents have remodeled our bathroom. Our house is over 25 years old, and it was totally worthwhile. Regardless of the age of your house, if you’ve ever considered remodeling your house, I encourage you to quit putting it off and do it now! If you’re remodeling your bathroom, you’ll need good bathroom faucets. You can find anything you want on the internet – so give it a try!

This is a sponsored post.

Farrays.com

My family probably watches "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" too much! It's a great show, and it's given us lots of great ideas of changes we can make to our house. We've remodeled a bathroom and made lots of changes to our kitchen (though I don't know if it's enough to call it remodeling). We've also just made lots of changes to our house in general - I guess you'd call call it "maintenance". We've replaced at least four light fixtures - and need to replace two more - in maintaining our house!

Farrays.com lighting has a great variety of light fixtures. You can shop by brand, by style, or by lighting application. It's a great way to shop for light fixtures - from the comfort of your home. They also have a toll-free number that you can call if you have any questions, or if you'd rather order by phone.

You can find almost any style or brand of lighting at Farrays.com. They have fine art lamps, forecast lighting, George Kovaks lighting, Hinkley lighting, House of Troy lighting, Kichler lighting, maxim lighting, minka lavery lighting, Murray Feiss lighting, Quoizel lighting, and sea gull lighting. Isn't that great!

This is a sponsored post.

Masterseek

Masterseek is a new, international business search engine directory. If you are a business owner, you can submit your business to Masterseek for FREE! Their goal is to become a contact between buyers and suppliers worldwide. Through Masterseek, you can find quick and free access to company profiles, contact information, and descriptions of products and services from more than 45 million companies in 75 countries. What a quick and convenient way to advance your company’s needs!

This is a sponsored post.

i signed up for payperpost!

So one of many things I wanted to tell you is that I signed up for PayPerPost. I'm not sure if I will like it or not, but I'll definitely find out. What I definitely know is that I will like having a source of income! Being unemployed is no fun, and I got to thinking a few days ago that, if I do PPP, I can earn at least a little bit of money! I doubt it will be enough to live off of, but it will be enough to put gas in my car and go out to lunch every now and then. And, with Redbox coming into my neighborhood, I will also be able to rent a movie here and there. Generally I think doing PPP will provide me with some "fun" money and give me a lot more flexibility while I am looking for a job!
If you're interested in earning money with PayPerPost, click here: make money blogging

This is a sponsored post.

divine secret service

I watched my friend come out of a church service one time, and he shook hands with the pastor like always.Well, the pastor this time pulled him aside and said "Jonny you should join the Lords Army." Jonny replied "But pastor I'm already in the Lords Army." The pastor asked " Then Jonny, why so I only see you on Easter and Christmas?" Jonny whispered" Because I'm in the secret service."

lawyer jokes!

A man died and went to hell. As he passed sulforous pits and shrieking sinners, he saw his former attorney snuggling with a beautiful woman. "That's not fair!" he cried, "I have to roast for all eternity and that lawyer gets to spend it with a beautiful woman!" The devil barked, "Shut up! Who are you to question that woman's punishment?"

George W. enters the Bible...

One day, George W. Bush got a chance to see Moses. The day he was with Moses, Moses did not talk to George W. Bush at all. Once Bush left, Moses' wife came to Moses and asked, "Why did you not talk to him?" Moses replied, "The last time I spoke to a bush, I had to spend 40 years in the desert!"

Sheridan's makes it right?

Recently I wrote a post about Sheridan's Frozen Custard in Independence, MO. I gave my honest opinion - and it wasn't a terribly flattering one!

I was contacted recently by Jim Sheridan himself, offering me a gift certificate to try Sheridan's again. The gift certificate is in the mail, and I don't know what the denomination will be - I won't be impressed if it's only for $1 or $2. I will say that Sheridan's has this much going for it: As far as I know, Sheridan's is the only frozen custard stand that offers a lower price for chocolate or vanilla custard without any toppings. Sometimes I like pure vanilla custard, and I always like to save a buck, so they've got that much going for them.

If nothing else, I do appreciate a gift certificate. So at least I'll get some free custard out of the deal!

drug rehab

Good drug rehabilitation facilities don’t get the credit they deserve. If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol, checking into a drug rehabilitation facility may be the best thing you will ever do for yourself. At a drug rehab facility, you can begin your life again. You can close the chapter of drugs in your life and begin a whole new life. Isn’t that just what we need?

This is a sponsored post.

Sheets and bedding

I may be a 20-something. Depending on your definition, I may be grown up. But I still think kids have the coolest bedding! If you shop for adult bedding, it’s all flowers and lace – boring! But kids bedding has animals and characters in crazy colors. Right now I sleep on a set of sheets with fish and wild ocean colors. Just because you’ve “grown up”, you can still have fun decorating your home!

This is a sponsored post.

real estate

Sometimes when I'm killing time on the internet, I like to look at real estate websites. At this point I don't have enough money for a down payment or anything like that, but it is definitely fun to look at them and dream of the house I could own one day. If I had a whole lot of money - like $700,000 - I could buy a REALLY nice house! And, while I admit that I will probably never own a $700,000 house, it sure is fun to dream!

This is a sponsored post.

Addendum to this week's reflections: Mark Lowry

Click here to read what I wrote yesterday. Just to update, I was telling about two children at my church's VBS - one who was an "ideal" student and one who was hyperactive and a difficult student.

You could call it ironic, but I think God had a hand in this. Last night, I picked up an OLD Guideposts magazine that was sitting next to my bed - I think it was published in 1997! Anyway, this magazine had Mark Lowry on the cover. So I read his story and really just laughed at how applicable his story is.

As a kid, Mark Lowry was completely hyperactive. He struggled in school because he was hyperactive. He struggled with his peers because he was hyperactive. He was put on Ritalin because he was hyperactive. And his career succeeded because he was hyperactive.

Isn't it crazy, how God takes the traits that society deems disadvantageous, and blesses us because of them? Awesome!