I have overheard my husband commenting on the mud situation in our yard now several times. It seems, in his opinion, that this year is the worst year we’ve ever had for mud in the yard. I’m sure it’s because the ground never seemed to truly freeze and it’s been warm enough that the kids have been outside nearly all winter playing. They’ve literally torn it up!

No amount of patching or c clamps is going to fix this…I’m thinking reseeding this spring. THAT will be fun — keeping seven kids off the lawn long enough for it to sprout!

Time to take the plunge — we have another driver in the family and he will need insurance. Literally, as I write this, hubby is on the phone calling around and trying to get the best car insurance rates for David. As we all know, insurance companies consider young male drivers a sizable risk and set their premiums accordingly. No, it won’t be fun to pay those premiums…but I don’t think David cares much right now. He’s too excited!

In the insurance rate search, wouldn’t it be nice to shrink your search span by focusing only on those companies that offer motor vehicle liability insurance at competitive rates? We all want to save money…especially young people who usually have a limited amount of it. Why not simplify things and focus only on the companies that will provide coverage you can afford?

Now…after we find him high quality and affordable rates, we need to keep him driving safely and sensibly while he gains driving experience. This is one time when he need NOT travel in his older brother’s tire tracks and have an accident that totals his car about two months after getting his license. I have high hopes for David and this new chapter in his life.

When I was a teenager, I taught myself to crochet. My mom has always been a knitter, but my grandma (her mom) was a crocheter. We always joked about knitting and crocheting skills skipping a generation because my mom has tried to teach me how to knit on several different occasions and for some reason I just cannot get it. In the same way, her mom tried to teach her to crochet and that never worked out so well either.

Fast forward to my daughters and daughter-in-law. My mom is now having a grand time teaching them all to knit! Five of them are now happily knitting away, producing beautifully knit items while I sit all by myself with my crochet hooks. Even my 10-year-old and 7-year-old are proving to be handy with knitting needles! Little Rachel has a few years to go, but I have no doubt she’ll be a whiz, too.

So…I’m eagerly waiting for my granddaughters to get old enough to teach them how to crochet! Ava will turn five in a few weeks. She’s probably still a tad too young…but it won’t be long!

We’ve traveled to the southwest portion of the U.S. on many occasions. It’s always kind of a culture shock while we’re down there because of the deep Mexican influence. Being from the upper midwest, we are not used to quite so much Spanish conversations going on around us. There have even been numerous times when we even felt like we might benefit from a Spanish translator.

Because Spanish is so integrated into our country, you might find yourself needing Spanish translation. When you can’t understand someone or they can’t understand you, it’s time to get busy hiring one of those
Spanish translation agency/agencies. A language barrier is not something that you can let stop you from communicating when you must share information or data.

Make sure you hire a reputable company with the experience and ability to provide you with the finished products you need and desire. Depending on what you need translated, whether it’s a legal document or something else, accuracy is of paramount importance. Don’t trust your document to a company that might not deliver stellar results. This would be embarrassing and downright unprofessional. Once you find a company, you will be able to trust them with all your work as it occurs.

Hey entrepreneurs! Have you ever looked into business grants to finance your ventures? No? Why not? You’re missing out on a huge opportunity!

There are many different financial assistance programs out there. These are the programs that are ready and willing to help out entrepreneurs and business owners right here in the United States.

Yes, it’s true…eligibility varies and you won’t fit into every mold, but there are enough grant opportunities for everyone to grab a piece of the pie. Yes, it takes a little persistence and diligence…but the rewards will be worth it!

Not sure where to begin? Start with a list of the top programs for small business grants. You’ll see many familiar names here of organizations that have deep pockets and are ready to help people like you out with their business dreams. How about Huggies and Pepsi and Microsoft?

In fact, just about every major corporation in the country has a foundation that gives away money. Why? They want to enhance communities…you, the small business owner, get to benefit from their generosity! Even better, the federal government gives money to foundations and they then take this money and give money to small businesses. How cool is that?!?

Contribution by Saul Martin

Thankfully for me, I left my old company just before the bottom fell out. I decided to start my own business, well, my own business of sorts, and finally become a writer like I had always wanted to be. It’s a hard life and nothing about it is stable but I’ve been making a decent living and I’m so much happier than I ever was before. I developed my own personal business website using t1internet.net and I now have business cards with my name on them… That feels more official than anything I’ve ever had at my old job! I heard through the grapevine that my old position was eliminated anyway so if I had stayed I probably would have been out of a job by now and at least this way I was able to do things on my own terms. If anyone were to ask me if I thought they should jump off and start their own business I would tell them unequivocally yes. I’m so much more fulfilled in this new role than I’ve ever been in my entire life and though it was scary I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

It’s a little gloomy outside and we have some wet weather coming up this week, so it’s not so nice out there…but indoors, it’s another story. Sure…it’s still winter and that means cold and gloom at times where we live. But that doesn’t have to spread to our outlook, right?

We are coming up on some busy times in our household. The spring holy days are just around the corner. We’ll also be celebrating some birthdays — Ava turns five, Abby turns eight, Michael turns **13** and Daniel turns **21**!!

On top of that, David will be graduating, so there will be all the assorted hoopla that goes along with that. I consider this the calm before the storm!

Here in the US we don’t celebrate Boxing Day, although we hear bits and pieces about this funny little day around the holidays each year.

Boxing day has a long history. It used to be a day when wealthy people in the UK would give a box with a gift to their servants. Nowadays, it is a public holiday landing on December 26 (or the first or second weekday after Christmas). Countries observing boxing day include the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

In all my pregnancies, I’ve never needed to go somewhere formal while wearing maternity. I like the maternity styles these days…there’s no more hiding the bump! It’s FLAUNT the bump!

I think it might be fun to go out maternity shopping for formal maternity dresses. There are many different styles, colors and cuts out there to fit every taste and budget. Make it fun and take along a few extra pairs of critical eyes to help you make the decision.

I’m not a smoker and I can’t imagine being one…but I know there are many people who continue to engage in this activity.

It’s becoming more difficult to smoke in public. Many municipalities have ordinances that disallow smoking in restaurants, bars and basically any other public area. Many employers do not allow their employees to smoke on the premises. It seems like your only option is to puff away in the privacy of your own home.

There is another option, however.

BluCigs are electronic cigarettes. These special cigarettes are a smokeless, odorless option for smokers. They are not traditional cigarettes — they do not burn tobacco. this means you can smoke them in bars, restaurants, airplanes, offices — basically any place where normal smoking bans prevent you from smoking. The electronic cigarettes give off an odorless vapor that simply goes away in several seconds. This means that it does not hang in the air like cigarette smoke.

To be safe, you should check with the management of your location before using electronic cigarettes. It’s common for them to be mistaken for tobacco cigarettes and you don’t want to get in trouble. You should be able to use them just about anywhere, though.