Winter is Here

The weatherman was predicting about 2 inches of snow or less for our entire region. Well it started snowing yesterday evening and it has not quit. It's up to about 7 inches of snow right now. My son was hoping for a school cancellation but it was not to be. They delayed it by 2 hours and that's all.Luckily my husband has 4 wheel drive so he is taking my son to school.

I went and grabbed my cross country skis and went out in the yard and started skiing. It was fun and beautiful.

Snow on the birch trees

Snow on the crabapple

Winter has arrived!

The Eyes Don't Have It

I woke up today and went to pay a credit card bill on my business account. I usually don't keep much money in there and just transfer money out of my business savings when I need it. Usually I double check the balance to make sure there is enough to cover whatever check I am writing. Needless to say, I was aghast when I found out that my account was overdrawn by $196.00. There was just no way. I thought immediately that someone stoled my identity and was writing checks off my account. I quickly called my bank and asked who the $196.00 was made out to. Turns out it was Costco. OMG, I've been in Costco every week, writing enormous checks for food, gifts and etc. I quickly went into my personal check register and sure enough there was that amount written down about two weeks ago. I must have grabbed the wrong checkbook to write the check. I could not believe that I did not notice it was a business check. My eyes must be really bad and it's getting worse. I think old age has caught up with me. I look at things 2 to 3 times and each time I see something different. It is getting so I cannot trust what is in front of me. The good thing about it is that my the bank covered my check, the bad, they charged me $32.00 for the overdraft but I am am grateful. It could have been a lot worse.

The Maze of Survey Taking

I am still trying to sort out all the different surveys and which ones would be good to sign up for. It's a maze and many want you to sign up for offers where there are monthly subscription rates, which I am not interested in. Cashcrate.com still seems to be the best. Right now I have earned $9.30 with $2.75 pending. I just signed up a couple of weeks ago. I discovered yesterday that you can take 2 surveys daily on their site that pay .80 each. That's $48.00/month. However, you have to qualify for the surveys. I didn't for the first two but did for a bonus survey and got the .80.

I also signed up for Inboxdollars.com and took some of their surveys. I have about $7.50 that I earned from them. The only problem I have found is that some of the surveys that I took, I answered about 20 minutes of questions and then in the end was told that I did not qualify, so they didn't give me the credit. I thought that was a little deceptive as I pretty much took their survey and then they didn't pay.
Surveyspot.com also did the same thing, I took the survey for 20 minutes and in the end they did not pay the $3.00 because they said I did not qualify. It was a ripoff!

Sendearnings.com, I have about $7.29 pending with them. Both Inbox Dollars and Send Earnings also give credit for reading their emails.

Mypoints.com , so far I have about 100 points and it looks like I need about 1400 or more to receive one of their gift cards. I haven't spent much time on there, although I took their one question surveys and gained about 40 points just answering that.Looks like you can gain points by registering on certain sites or by shopping different stores online.

Detachment from Outcome

Recently, I had an experience where I had volunteered to work on a committtee to raise funds for our church. We decided to do a tree auction where Christmas trees are decorated and then auctioned off. I had never heard of this before and agreed to help with the advertising of it and also to donate a decorated tree. I wasn't sure how things were going to go but I did get the flyers out to all the local businesses and the businesses in the next town. Also the chairperson did press releases in 4 papers. I also spent a lot of time decorating my tree. Got a prelit tree from Costco and decorated it in red, white and gold ornaments.



The night of the auction, there were about 40 people, mostly members of the church so not a good turnout at all. There were a lot of other activities going on in town on the same night so that was part of the problem. Also when they began the auction, my tree was first on the block and they started the opening bid very high. Nobody would bid on it even after they kept dropping the price. Needless to say it was a little disconcerting. When they went to the other trees, they started them all low and they all got bids. In the end , mine was the only one that did not go. They put it back on the block again and one of my friends started to bid on it and it finally sold.

In the past, I would have felt bad about the turnout, since I help to advertise it and also for my tree not initially getting any bids, but I have been trying thru meditation to learn to detach from the situation and not be too concerned about outcomes. I have to say that it does work and not only that, but I welcome that experience again because it taught me a lot and also that I know I can handle myself in adverse situations.

Meditation as a Way of Life

With all the chaos going on, I have been trying to get back to practicing meditation on a daily basis. It has been difficult, too many distractions. It's hard to find a quiet place in the house to do it. I know I am making a lot of excuses.

Really success in life is about maintaining peace and tranquility in the face of adversity. Unfortunately, I am in the midst of adversity and am now trying to do the meditation. Definitely not the best way to go about it.

The benefits of meditation have been known for eons. It can:

1) increase concentration
2) reduce stress and anxiety
3) lower blood pressure
4) increase relaxation
5) build self-confidence
6) help in post-operative healing
7) decrease muscle tension

and also increase one's detachment which can give one a better perspective on the situation.

My son has been practicing it everyday to help with his IBS symptoms.

There are many ways to meditate. One method I am trying is from the book," How to Practice the Way to a Meaningful Life by his Holiness, the Dalai Lama.



1) find a time and place to practice
2) physical posture: should be sitting in full or 1/2 full lotus positon. Rear should be slightly raised on pillow, above the knee. Back should be straight. Left hand palm up, on top of right hand, palm up
3) concentrate on the breath
4) focus on an object at eye level, at a distance of 4 to 5 feet
5) in the beginning do 5 minute sessions ( 4-16 times a day)

I will be practicing it daily and will let you know how it goes.

When It Rains It Pours

In my earlier post, I talked about my dad being ill with walking pneumonia and maybe pulmonary fibrosis. He won't know about the fibrosis until he goes in to see the pulmonary specialist on the 19th. My dad seems to be doing OK but still gets out of breath easily. He has oxygen that he tries to stay on but when he runs errands or the walks the dog, he does not take the oxygen with him.

I just found out yesterday, that my mom fell on cement while trying to take the garbage out. She has severe osteoporosis so not a good thing to hear. My dad had to drive her to the doctor because she was in severe pain. X-rays showed no broken bones. Thank goodness, but my poor dad needs to be home resting and not running my mom all around.

I'm having my own problems with my son relapsing from his IBS/Colitis like problems and I have been experiencing dizziness for about a week now. Never had that before. I finally called in to see the doctor tomorrow. I don't want anymore bad news!

CashCrate Extra Spending Money

Recently, I signed up on CashCrate. It is a site that pays you for taking surveys and completing offers. So far after a few hours of work, I have earned $2.55 and there is $8.75 pending. Some of the companies verify quickly that I completed the offer and others verify only at certain times of the month so your money sits in the pending category until the company lets CashCrate know that you have completed everything. You have to have made $10.00 minimum before you can receive a payout. CashCrate processes the checks on the 20th of the following month.

Some of the tips I have learned from others is to:

1) get an email account specifically meant to handle the email from this site. You will get lots and lots of spam. I signed up for a Yahoo email account.

2) get a prepaid credit card that you can use to pay for certain offers. Some offers require payment for shipping or a minimum fee in order to receive the product. Of course you do not have to accept these types of offers. There are plenty of 100% free offers that you can do.

3) Read offers carefully and be careful what you sign up for as some are free trials for only a limited time.

4) get a separate phone number for the calls that you might receive from different companies.I read on the forums that this doesn't seem to be as big of a problem unless you sign up stating that you would like to be called. Again read the fine print carefully!

Cash Crate also has a referral program where you can earn 20% of what your referral makes and 10% of what their referral makes. Also there is a $3.00 bonus when each referral makes their $10.00 minimum payout.

I'll keep posting about Cash Crate and let you know how the earnings are progressing!

Shameless Promotion of My Ecrater Store

I just wanted to do a quick post on my Ecrater Store. I reduced prices on all items which include a lot of girls boutique clothes and educational toys. I also am offering free shipping with $75.00 purchase. Many items are under $10.00 and there are baby and toddler clothing for $4.50 and under.Great savings for the holiday and I hope you will take a peek!

When Parents are Failing

My dad said that the doctors found something else on his x-rays but they didn't know what it was. My dad suspects Pulmonary Fibrosis. He only says that because his one brother got diagnosed with it last year and the other passed away from emphysema and probably had it too. This is supposed to be a disease that develops from asbestos exposure but I guess other things can cause it. Looks like there is a genetic predisposition to it and my dad and his brothers were all heavy smokers.

My dad is going to go into see a pulmonary specialist to get further testing. There is no cure for it and the treatments that are available are not very effective.The prognosis is not good. Most people with this survive 4 to 6 years.

I am concerned for him to be sure but also for my mom. She is in poor health and my dad was basically taking care of her. He was the robust one , the one in great health. Now he is hooked up to an oxygen tank, and I am not sure he will be able to do without it.

My parents live 3 days away by car. If my dad is laid up for an extended period of time, my parents will have to move. We've broached this subject before and they always said that if they became ill or just too old to manage on their own they would move into an assisted care facility near their home.

Problem is they don't have any friends and relatives nearby. I think they should move closer to myself or my brother but I know we will have a fight on our hands.

I guess I knew this day was coming, it does for everyone that has elderly parents.I
just didn't think it would be this soon and I am not prepared for it.

In the Hospital

My mom called the other day and was saying that my dad had not been feeling well. In fact, he hadn't been well in weeks yet he did not want to see a doctor. She finally persuaded him to fill out some medical forms from a doctor's office that was recommended by a friend. They were going to drop those off on Friday and then wait to see if he could get an appointment.

Things did not go according to plan as my dad began to feel worse than ever. He finally dragged himself into an Urgent Care Center and they took one look at him and called the ambulance. He was taken to the nearest hospital. I got word of it later that day. Apparently he had pneumonia and it was bad enough that they wanted to keep him overnight. They started an IV of antibiotics and hopefully that will do the trick.

My parents are at the age where things like this are starting to happen. My mom has very severe osteoporosis on top of a slew of other afflictions. She was relying heavily on my dad to take care of everything.I was about to hop on the plane and go down there to help them but it looks like my dad will be released soon. Thank goodness.

My dad should have been seen a lot earlier than he was. I don't know about you, but it is getting difficult to get into a doctor right away. Every time my kids have been sick or myself, it takes at least two to three days to get an appt. Gone are the days when the doctors will try to squeeze you in. I have had to take them to the emergency room because my own doctor would not see us. What is happening? A friend of mine who works in the hospital labs told me that doctor's offices are now being treated strictly as businesses and patients as numbers. They don't see us as suffering human beings. We are just $ signs to them. I had been going to this doctor for 20 years and it's been in the last 2 years that I have been treated like this .This is very disturbing to me. I cringe every time anyone gets sick because I know that we could be on our deathbed and we still won't be seen right away. It is very scary!

Rejected by Blogrush

I have to say that I was a little put out when I discovered that I had been rejected by blogrush. First of all, I couldn't even get on the site for several days to find this out because they were rolling out their new revisions. Nobody likes to get news that the content of their blog is considered substandard. Granted, I have not been blogging that much on this site until recently and granted I have been trying to sell off my girl boutique clothing and everything else. I am an artist and I just want to get back to strictly producing art. I agree my content was lacking in places but I am stepping it up and blogging on issues that are closer to my heart than just reviewing products. Then blogrush gave me the ultimatum to remove their widget from my site immediately. It just left a crappy taste in my mouth.

It did make me feel a little better when I went to some very established blogs with good content and found out that they ,too, were rejected by blogrush. It seems that all this hype is for not. Only the big fish seem to be reaping the benefits of joining this site. I have a chance to resubmit my site in 30 days. I think I will pass for now.