Desert Pond

Blog

  • From Squidoo to Your Own Site

    I first got my start making money online by posting content to a site called Squidoo. I joined in 2009 and did very well for myself until they started having issues with Google in the early part of 2013. At that time, Squidoo made significant changes to their strategy, the kinds of content they wanted, and the layout of their site. Their rules and regulations changed and they way they went about making those changes was – at the very least – annoying (and that’s being polite).

    As a result, I ended up moving all of my lenses to my own site: StonesFinds. It took awhile and I still have some to publish but it was well worth it.

    Now, I make the rules about what goes on the site and what doesn’t. I decide what I want to write about and I don’t have to worry that the format will have changed while I was off working on something else. Talk about feeling free and working for oneself!

    I’ve also added other kinds of posts to the site – content about my life, travel, my kids, and hobbies. I can write whatever I want to write about with whatever words I want to use and not worry that I’ve got to get past some secret filter.

    I have to thank Squidoo for allowing me a free place to practice but now I’m doing much better on my own and would encourage those of you who are struggling to simply start your own site.

  • Sewing Machines for Beginners

    Janome 6500P Sewing MachineWhen you’re a mother of all boys, there are some topics and items you don’t shop for much. One of those items would be sewing machines for beginners. There’s not really a whole lot of sewing going on at my house. There used to be, though. I took home ec in high school. I’ve made my share of pillows. I think I even made a dress once. (Pretty sure I never actually WORE it, however.)

    Now, there SHOULD be some sewing taking place at my house. I’m a bit, well, short. Pants aren’t easy to find. I have rolls of that stitch witchery tape so I can hem them with an iron. However, I’m always catching my heels in my hems and ripping out that darn ironing tape so actually altering the pants with a sewing machine is probably not a bad idea. In fact, I suspect that’s one of the reasons most people have a sewing machine – for alterations. What a novel concept!

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  • Good Management Practice – Create Alternatives

    Good Management Practice
    © Angela Luchianiuc | Dreamstime.com

    Somewhere along the line I had read that being a manager means having to choose between a set of of alternatives, often with limited information. Yes sometimes that happens, but good management practice would suggest the best become experienced at creating additional alternatives and gaining additional information.  That is truly a skill of the most successful managers.

    They are either adept through experience at seeing alternatives that subordinates and other do not see or creative at developing additional alternatives. Additional alternatives are sometimes the alternative answer to a problem, or the leverage to move the original problem to a more acceptable position.

    Example #1

    I know of a not for profit organization that leased a dormitory styled building for training temporary special needs residence, over the years the organization that owned the building and the organization which ran the program had become two separate organizations where as they had previously been one organization. Because of the long standing relationship there had never been a lease, just an understanding. As management of the organizations changed and they became more removed from one another the organization owning the property decided to one year, on short notice, double the lease on the property and transfer utility and maintenance responsibility to the group leasing the property, this was an egregious and punitive increase. The alternatives to choose between seemed to be to pay the increase and then look for alternatives, or close the facilities. Building another facility would have taken too long and other traditional dormitory or similar facilities were either too large or not available.

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  • Tax Advisers Can Be Wrong, Too

    >Tax Refund Time
    © Chert61|Dreamstime

    As Tax time rolls around we get the same advice every year.”If you get a large refund you are not managing your money well”. You know what? Tax advisers can be wrong, too.

    The mathematicians, the anally focused financial advisers, the tax accountants who are so proud that they can calculate the amount of their taxes to the nearest decimal point all rush to tell the rest of how to manage our money, how to maximize the return on our investment to the nearest nano of a percentage point. Technically, theoretically, as mathematicians they are right, and if you have excess disposable income and are not struggling paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet this argument may apply to you, but this position does not allow for the fact that we are people, we are not all the same and we are not perfect and we react to all the variables of our lives as needed at the moment.

    If you are the bread winner for a growing family and are lucky enough to occasionally earn a small bonus or a commission you will soon learn not to plan on spending that bonus or commission before you receive it, for most of my life every time I earned a bonus or commission on which I had designs, the unexpected occurred, braces for the kids, school books, back to school clothes, a school trip, a broken washing machine or oven, or a need to replace the family car. It was always as if a supreme being were giving me the money because he knew I would need it, and usually it had little to do with what I had planned.

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  • How I Ended Up Buying a Motorola Droid

    Motorola Droid Picture
    Motorola Droid at Amazon

    Here’s the story of how I ended up buying a Motorola Droid even though I hung up on a sales person who tried to sell me one a few months ago and told the salesperson in the Verizon store last week that I thought it was highly unattractive. Now, I wouldn’t trade it for any other phone.

    We got my oldest son (let’s call him son #1) a cell phone the Christmas he was 13 years old. The age of cell phone achievement in our household was then set. Reach 13, get a cell phone. Our youngest (son #3), who is 6, is pretty sure that’s the stupidest rule he’s ever heard. He’d like a cell phone NOW. Fortunately for him, we didn’t stick to it long. Instead of waiting until 13, we got son #2 a cell phone this past Christmas at the age of 12. At this rate, son #3 will have one by the time he’s 8. And so go the rules at our house.

    In either case, in December of this past year, I tried to order the phone for son #2 as a Christmas present through our carrier’s website (let’s leave out their name, shall we?). I love to shop online – especially at Christmas time – and I was a bit overly pleased with myself for getting my online shopping started in time to get the presents to my parents’ house where we’d be spending the holiday.

    I ventured onto my carrier’s website to order the phone and add a phone line. How hard could that be, right? There’s even a little button that says “Add a Phone Line”. Yup. That’s what I want to do! Click.

    Click….click…select….click….backup….click….what the *(#&$)(*&#!

    So much for making things simple. For the life of me, I could not add the phone line, much less order a phone.

    Oh, but there’s a cute little live-chat option. I’ll just ask someone to walk me through it. (I’ll save you the long description of that fiasco. Let’s just say that didn’t go well either.)

    Next, I call my carrier and tell them what I want to do. Sure, no problem, he says (evilly – I swear!) “The reason you’re having trouble adding the phone line is that you are up for a free upgrade on your main phone and you’ll have to use the upgrade before you can add a new line.”

    Pause.

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