moneysquirrel
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Post by moneysquirrel on Jan 25, 2012 20:03:14 GMT -5
Important: After the recent visit and talk at school about Internet Safety from the FBI, I thought I would share this info about a danger so few of us are aware of:
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moneysquirrel
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Post by moneysquirrel on Jan 25, 2012 20:05:36 GMT -5
Update: 22 NS/CS daysStill buried under the mountain of papers -- I think I am in the foothills now since the pile is getting smaller. Back to work!
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jan 25, 2012 21:08:01 GMT -5
Congrats STartsmart. I've been a very bad girl spending this week. I've gone out to eat the last 3 days (the boss did pay on Monday) and I've spent a small fortune (ok only $35) in pregnancy tests with no positive sign yet, but I feel like when I was first pregnant with Ben. UGH. I said I was going to wait until Friday, but oh no I couldn't wait and had to test Monday. Now I am driving myself crazy.
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Jan 26, 2012 10:28:19 GMT -5
Holding steady- yesterday was a spend like I knew it would be. Drove DS up to the airport. They had one seat left in first class and since I didn't pay for his original ticket I was all "what the hell" so I upgraded him. Was $100 but I figured this way he wouldn't be in a huge overwhelming line going through security and he would get to board first and get off in Vegas first. Plus the flight attendants would keep a closer eye on him in first class. Cost around $75 to pay for the service to fly him as an Unaccompanied Minor so for $25 more he got a meal and to sit in first class. Was frivolous spending but I am ok with it.
Stopped by Ikea and got only what was on our list. Swung into the used bookstore and picked up a few books for good prices and that was it. We only drive up to the twin cities once every couple of months so we like to hit up all of our regular go to places.
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dakota4600
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Post by dakota4600 on Jan 26, 2012 10:56:10 GMT -5
Yesterday was a NS for us. We enrolled mini-D in tumbling (they said he was ready to move up to the 4 year old class ) and we had enough punches on our loyalty card to cover the cost of the session. Not much exciting going on. But I have gotten motivated to get things done around the house. I found a website/app called TeuxDeux, which is a basic list keeper. (Pioneer Woman recommended it, the app isn't free, just FYI) I used to use a notebook, but found after a while I had to start over with copying over the stuff that wasn't done, so I like the electronic version. Plus it has a someday list for those projects you want to get around to eventually. Anyway you can schedule your todo's and if they aren't done on the day they were supposed to, they follow you to the next day. Anyway it has motivated me to keep track of those little projects at home that seem to get lost in day to day life. Tonight mending clothes is on my list to do. Also I need to finish the wall hanging for mini-D's room. There isn't much left to do, so I think I can get it done tonight. Shelia- That was an inexpensive upgrade. I remember when I flew a lot the cost was usually 200+ at the gate to upgrade.
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Jan 26, 2012 14:24:53 GMT -5
Yesterday I did some impulse shopping at Target, today I returned 3 of the shirts that I bought because I didn't like them that much. While there I picked up new headphones for traveling and a set of 5 pound dumbells for the yoga room.
Also, kinda cool, I was invited back to speak at my high school next month! I'll be talking to the debate team about how the activity helped me in my career and I might end up judging a debate. It's very weird - I haven't really been back in 10 years since I graduated.
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Jan 26, 2012 14:42:02 GMT -5
Dakota- I don't know if it was so cheap because it was a one way flight or what but I thought it was a pretty good deal. Thanks for mentioning the to do list app. I am going to look that one up for sure. I struggle with my to do lists and I think that will be helpful.
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ses
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Post by ses on Jan 26, 2012 22:10:33 GMT -5
Redwagon--I am reading my first kindle published e-book. If this is a representative example, never again. Do these books not have an editor--at least a proofreader!?!? I know I am just a retired high school teacher, but, really! Incomplete sentences--missing words and phrases as well as incomplete ideas, improper tenses, poor subject/verb agreement......... just terrible. Bad enough to distract me from the story. Glad it is a loaner from a friend and not a waste of MY money.
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jan 27, 2012 8:32:38 GMT -5
Ses- my sister is an e-book author. Her children's books she is currently self publish, but her romance novels are published with an editor and a proofreader. I actually have not read her e-books because I don't have an e-reader, but I'd been reading what she has written since she was 14 (which meant I was 7) and she would never put her name on crap.
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ses
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Post by ses on Jan 27, 2012 11:09:28 GMT -5
Muttley--I don't have an e-reader, this was a print version of an e-book. I kept telling myself not to be so critical, this is a new form of publishing and there will be kinks, but some of the errors were so glaring it was distracting. I don't know how this kind of publishing works, is a book printed just when it is ordered so there are not stacks of unsold stock. Is it worth an email to the author before more are sold?
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jan 27, 2012 11:21:12 GMT -5
ses - I don't think my sister has any bound versions of her e-books. She only went to e-books/e-publishing this fall. So, I don't know how it all works. Her romance publisher is Musa Publishing and I think they are strictly e-publishing (just started business this fall). If it was a book that was self-published then there is not a whole lot of control and it is up the author to determine how proofread it it is. This is the e-book she self published. www.amazon.com/dp/B005OZ6X66.
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dakota4600
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Post by dakota4600 on Jan 27, 2012 11:32:18 GMT -5
Uggghh! I had a nice long reply typed out and our server crashed, so an hour plus later I'm back.
Short version- Yesterday was a NS. We picked up my grandma's sewing machine from my parents. It is an old electric singer. The kind that requires arm strength to pull it out of the cabinet. It needs some work, so I will be calling a repair shop this afternoon and finding out how much that will cost.
SES- That would drive me nuts too.
Muttley that link didn't work.
Okay back to work now.
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jan 27, 2012 12:12:10 GMT -5
well, crap. When I go to the amazon website, the http doesn't link. www.saradaniel.com is her website. The Bravest Squirrel Ever is the name of the book (written as Sara Shafer).
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on Jan 27, 2012 12:42:24 GMT -5
Counting yesterday as an NSD. I paid $500, but it was the deductible on the car repair and that will be paid back to us by the other insurance company. So it's really only a temporary hold on money.
ses: I've found that problem with some of the e-books to, though in some cases (with odd misspellings or missing spaces) it might very well have to do with the program used to convert their document from word to the e-publishing format. I know that sometimes when I copy and paste from word into my blog software, it removes some spaces, and it used to be that when you converted a word document to a .pdf, acrobat turned some pretty common letter combinations into different letters (like everythere there was a "th" it became an "f"). If people don't know about those bugs, they can't fix them. At the same time, it is so easy to publish your own e-book currently, that anyone can do it, so no, it doesn't require an editor, a substantive critique, or even a proofreader.
startsmart: Congrats on Forbes Women. That's fabulous.
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ses
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Post by ses on Jan 27, 2012 13:44:57 GMT -5
I ended up going to the authors' facebook page and left a comment that the story was good but the proofreading stunk. I feel bad about leaving a negative message, but grammar and writing standards are dropping so much in this country I just had to comment about such visible and glaring errors.
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redwagon
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Post by redwagon on Jan 27, 2012 14:32:15 GMT -5
5 NS days
startsmart - we could get a drink again!
sheila - I am with you about grandmas getting older. It was my grandma's birthday last weekend, and she's so thin and was so down. A lot of that has to do with her cat passing a few weeks ago, I think. I hope she perks back up! Really rough seeing our loved ones decline.
shanen - hugs. that place seems quite incompetent.
nuttin, financialpeace - hugs for you as well. it's a crappy market out there in some areas. Hoping you find something soon!
ses - similar things have happened to our cats with bags. It's amazing how fast they can move, and how hilarious they look, fleeing something attached to them. I always feel bad though. Boomer needs the exercise, though. He weighed in at a bit over 16lbs. Holy crap! He doens't look that big. And baby Dax, who still looks tiny to me, was almost 15. I don't know where they are hiding it...
dakota - loving your image! Does TeuxDeux allow you to synch with another phone? We have a grocery app that synchs between our phones, but cant find a to do list that will. Annoying.
ses - anyone can release an ebook or print on demand (POD) on Amazon, so no, probably not edited or proofread. SOME are quite good. About 60 % are crap. Looks like you got one of those. How much did you pay? Hopefully not much. Amazon.com just opened a publishing division that will be releasing edited, proofread books, and those will be better (and pricier, I'm sure). Sorry you had such a bad example! I've never bought a self-pubbed book, myself. And yes, print on demand is one way the publishing industry is going to survive, self-pubbed and bigger houses. The paper quality is lower, for sure.
muttley - romance is one of the success stories of self-publishing. Somehow their quality is better. And yes, some self-published authors DO hire editors and proofreaders themselves, and those are probably teh 40% good ones.
shanen is right as well - conversion programs aren't perfect yet, so sometimes words are mashed together or it reads an i as an l, etc. An unfortunate side-affect, and hopefully will improve.
As for me, been fairly uneventful in my life. Although we are now open to the idea of me getting knocked up, so we'll see what happens. Joining Muttley on the baby mission! We have this weekend "off" although I just got my first project from a publisher who accepted me back in October, and it's a cookbook! Super psyched, although the pay is crap. It shouldn't take too long though, so that's okay for now.
Hope you are all doing well and have a great weekend!
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jan 27, 2012 16:31:51 GMT -5
red - My sis self published her kid's book. She has a publisher for her romance novels. But she is too much of a perfectionist to let crap go to market. I had to sneak in and read her notebooks of her stories when she was in high school. (I got in a LOT of trouble).
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Jan 27, 2012 17:07:25 GMT -5
red- we'll definitely have to get together one night! I'll email you about it And I so agree on the self publishing, we were mocking some of them in my writing group in Jan and there are some that are so so terrible! Most glaringly bad was the dumpster love stories. ewwww.
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jan 27, 2012 22:18:06 GMT -5
Bills are paid and receipts are entered into the computer. So, my personal accounting is caught up for the last 2 weeks. My week and a half's worth of good clothes are almost done drying (those that go in the drier). DS didn't throw up today and is apparently feeling better. And the last 2 weeks is finally OVER. Thank god. I still have to teach Sunday School on Sunday, write a report for work, and hopefully at some point go to Walmart (DH doesn't want to take DS out for a couple days, so it would just be me and I hate to go somewhere on the weekends without DS unless he is sleeping). We cancelled DS's party with the in-laws because he was sick. No cake for a puking baby. Spending for the last month isn't the complete disaster it could have been. We still spent more than we made (amazing how $1000 in unexpected expenses will do that to you). But it wasn't too bad. I have hope for this year. DH has a home improvement project that is going to cost about $1000. He is going to do built-s for our office and essentially combine everything in our office with everything in our spare bedroom. Hopefully, he will hold off buying anything until after we get our taxes done. I did hold off ordering somethings online that I really wanted to buy. They are complete WANTS and I was justifying and then I stopped myself and I said I really need to stick with needs for the next couple months. So, go me.
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spruby
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Post by spruby on Jan 28, 2012 21:28:41 GMT -5
UPDATE:
26/30 NSD - I've indulged in some retail therapy - we're ahead on some $$ goals and turns out I will get some cash bonus (not just time off) - but it was a want not a need
5/10 MOANS - making progress but have to carve out time for this
25/15 Restaurant points - we've been having a date night with dinner out every weekend because I've been gone so much
16/10 blog posts - Haven't done next week's yet. I'm doing well for the month though
3/4 "new job" activities
5/8 new books read - I have a number of flights this week - i plan to read a few books
mizbear - how is DM? how are you? honey - how is the job hunt? MK - floors done? mrslynch - how was disney? azmom - how is your niece doing? 3cats - how are you? shan - how is MIL doing? and how is DH with all of this?
Hope everyone is doing well. I try to read along but haven't had the energy to comment. I have to day trips for meetings this week - each one will be ~7hours of flying (round trip) for a 3-5 hour meeting. I can't stay over because they are 3 days apart. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry. Not good.
Hope everyone is doing well.
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pointy
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Post by pointy on Jan 29, 2012 7:16:52 GMT -5
startsmart - nice gig! congrats ;D update: 22/23 NS and 27/28 No QVC Where did January go???
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financialpeace
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Post by financialpeace on Jan 29, 2012 13:04:33 GMT -5
Update: 15/15 NSDs
;D I made my goal!!
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mizbear
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Stand back. I have a budget, and I know how to use it.
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Post by mizbear on Jan 29, 2012 15:51:35 GMT -5
Quick Update- DM is living here. We have to move a few loads from the house still. It is very rough right now. DB wrecked her SUV and did approx. $1500 damage. So we are using my vehicle- much more fuel-efficient, but I have my way of doing things- I don't ride around, I don't eat out, I run my errands in a bulk run- etc. My DM is running the wheels off my car, wrecking my apartment, and just driving me nuts. Oh yeah- and griping if I want to take my car somewhere. She has even gone so far as to try ad tell me how to organize the apartment when she is doing nothing to help clean it and she refused to get rid of stuff.
I am not going to be on a whole lot for the next few weeks until this changes because I am doing it all. If my mother could afford her own place- I would throw her out now
To top it off- she complained when the rent went up because of HER income. Oh well.
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3catslady
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Post by 3catslady on Jan 29, 2012 19:13:41 GMT -5
I BOUGHT A NEW LAPTOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $300 WHICH INCLUDES TAX. I got $50 off because it was used and I had a reward card for another $10 off. I got my car in the garage and it cost another $300. It needed a new front axle because the cv joints were gone. Easier and cheaper to put on 1 axle instead of putting 2 cv joints. My mechanic takes payments and I arranged 4 payments instead of 1. I get home on Friday night and I am told the bathtub in the house is leaking down to the basement. A person can stand under the shower up here and someone else can stand under the tub in the basement and they both can take a shower. $150 later and it is fixed. Shortcuts the other people took to fix their problems is now costing me. And I find out that the water heater is not just leaking but running. Another $400 + for a new heater which is going to wait until income tax come back. AND the refrigerator I am using is starting to smell like freon. I am sorry I bought this computer.
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3catslady
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Post by 3catslady on Jan 29, 2012 19:16:04 GMT -5
I forgot to update: 25 NSD, 2 EOD, 2 SPEND. Sombody want to take Murphy away?
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moneysquirrel
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Post by moneysquirrel on Jan 29, 2012 20:08:18 GMT -5
Update: 25 NS/CS days
Today was a spend day but the rest of the interval were NS/Cs days. I have managed to get the mountain conquered until the next one comes around. I also have been fighting the usual seasonal sinus problems.
I have managed to read along at times this week.
Start -- great news about the Forbes SES -- The only kindle free books I have downloaded have been classics I plan to reread, Have not read any of the current self-published writers. Sheila -- The Boy is really becoming the Man. 3cats -- Glad you got the computer, Sorry about the visits from Murphy. mizbear -- Hope the drama with your DM abates soon. 'If I forgot anyone I am sorry -- brain is tired,
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ses
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Post by ses on Jan 29, 2012 20:40:20 GMT -5
26/31 NSD
Might pick up one more day this month, but i'm not sure. Depends on if I can talk myself out of shopping tomorrow. I have accomplished nada this weekend, so unmotivated. The last 4-5 days have been cloudy and gloomy and hard to get myself going. Perhaps next week will be better.
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Jan 30, 2012 10:28:40 GMT -5
3Cats- Hugs to you. I am sorry you are having such a Murphy filled week
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on Jan 30, 2012 11:03:25 GMT -5
10 NSD I realized that Thursday we also had to put gas in the rental minivan before we returned it, so it was not an NSD. Last Monday-Sunday, we spent money every day. I hate that. I'd like to say that we'll be better this week, but while I did go to CostCo yesterday, I didn't go to the regular grocery store, and there are still a few things we need from there. Plus, we should be getting a foster dog sometime in the next couple of days, and we'll probably need to hit PetsMart for supplies.
3cats: I'm glad you got yourself a computer. Sometimes you really do need to do things just for you. I hope things get better soon.
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Jan 30, 2012 12:11:50 GMT -5
Both Saturday and Sunday were NSD - yay me! Of course I leave for New York in a week and that's going to be somewhat spendy.
I do have an appointment with my calendar today to reconcile all of my NSD but I don't think it'll be too bad.
Already started the packing, I'm not a pre-packer like sapphire but I definitely have my lists and will be getting laundry done soon. I definitely have a system of putting little post it notes for every "thing" I bring just so I don't take OUT the phone charger before I leave and forget to put it back in. You think this is bad, wait until my next trip which will be with blue eyes for a few weeks. Already anticipating the nerves!
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