How to Get Your Teen to Attend School

OK, yes, I've been facing this lately. My son hates school -- he'd rather hang out (I think there may be a girl in this mix, but I'm not sure).

I'm not bending on this, he MUST go to school. However, I may have found a solution.

The boy wants an allowance. I want him to go to school AND attend all of his classes.

Hmmm...

Here it is:
$25 a week allowance BUT it's tied to school attendance. Skip a class and he loses $5 for the day.

As a bonus, when grades come out, he gets $10 for every A. But he also gets deducted $5 for every F.

I'll have to keep you posted, we're in the first week of the allowance thing.
(OK, it's a bribe. But if school is his job, then he should be paid for going.)

I'll keep you posted...

Two Ways to Find Free Stuff

I'm always looking for that best price possible -- FREE.

One great resource is the online FREE ads on http://www.craigslist.com/. Now, you do have to watch out for your personal information AND your personal safety, because anyone can post a free ad. However, I have received everything from antique furniture to a small dog on the craigslist free ads.

A second resource is Yahoo Groups. There's a group called Freecycle and there's likely to be one based in your neighborhood. In this case, people post ads, you respond, and either they choose you - or they don't. In addition, you can give away perfectly usable items that you don't want or need without having to lug it down to Goodwill. Just go to Yahoo, make a free e-mail address, then look for groups in your area. It's pretty easy, I did it for my Mom in under 10 minutes!

Those are my two top methods of locating great free stuff! Happy hunting!

Mythbusters!

Oh my goodness, check out this little snippet on the Mythbusters show!

If you were stranded on a desert island, and you could take only one item, what would it be?

The Mythbusters show took --- DUCT TAPE!

Yes, it is amazing, check this out: http://www.favitube.com/mythbusters-s10e01/

(Sorry, due to copyright restrictions, this picture is only an illustration. Please click on the link to view the video.)

So the next time your family laughs at you for making sure you have a Costco-size supply of duct tape, replay this video and remember, you can use duct tape for everything -- except ducts!

What to Do With My Old Articles?

I miss that revenue share I got every month from my old articles. It wasn't a lot, usually somewhere between $30 and $50 monthly. But it was money I could count on rolling in once a month, every month.

I didn't sell my article library when the website offered me a pittance for them. I turned down the offer, so they all still belong to me.

So, I have a number of recipes. I'm starting with those while I try to figure out the best revenue share website for the non-cooking articles.

I'm doing an ebook. Honestly, it's a work in progress right now, I'm formatting the recipes I've already dropped into the document and making a list of my other recipes that I'd like to include. Fortunately, I've already written up a lot of my recipes, so it's more a matter of finding the file, dropping it in, and formatting so they're consistent.

AND organizing, indexing, designing a cover and getting it all uploaded to Kindle, Barnes and Noble and smashbooks.

(This might be a series of ebooks, my mom's been wanting to do a cookbook for years so once I have this one completed, hers may be next in the series. She is an AMAZING cook!)



I'll post the link as soon as I'm finished, hopefully within the month.

Ticket Amnesty Programs

'Tis the season — to get a deal on those old traffic tickets that are hanging over you!

If you have old tickets that are preventing you from registering your car or renewing your driver’s license, you may be eligible for a ticket amnesty program. Occasionally, counties offer amnesty programs that allow you to pay a significantly smaller amount to clear your tickets. In some cases, you may even be able to do community service hours in lieu of a cash payment. However, most traffic courts require an appearance in court or special arrangements in order to perform community service hours. In California, the current rate is a $10 credit for every service hour. Therefore, if you owe $1,000 in fines, you must perform 100 hours of work for an approved non-profit agency or organization.

Please be aware that every county and state have different qualifications and procedures, so I can really only recommend that you go to your county's website and look for “Ticket Amnesty” programs. If one is not offered at this time, keep your eyes open, since these programs can save up to 50% on those old fines.

In California, many programs run from January until June. DUIs are NOT included in any amnesty program.

Link:
http://www.solano.courts.ca.gov/GeneralInformation/TrafficAmnestyProgram.html