making plans for spring break

It's Spring break week here for the kiddo. Do you remember Spring break? Where'd you go? And what'd you do? Okay, nevermind. Some things are better left unanswered.

Unlike some of his friends who are going to exotic places like Mexico, Hawaii, and Disneyland, we're staying local and heading up to Seattle this week. His aunt, uncle and cousin (from my ex's side of the family) are coming in from California on Tuesday and we plan on spending at least one day in the city doing "touristy" stuff with them. It'll be the first time we've seen them since the "big D" so should come with some interesting stories.

I thought about making some hotel reservations and just staying in the city, but the fundage is getting a bit tight right now, so we'll just drive back and forth. I have to say it's tempting though. There's some pretty good rates being offered for mid-week, and with the cost of gas it would probably equal out. Still, there's the dog to think about. He just hates it when we're away, and I hate having to burden the neighbors with taking care of him.

Of course right now I wish we were heading to the likes of Hawaii or Disneyland. A change of scenery would be nice. I really love to travel and would like to (some day) show WJ some of the places I've been fortunate enough to have traveled to over the years. There just never seems to be the right time. The worst part is when I have a job I'm too busy to get away. And when I'm not working, I don't have the money to spend on a vacation. Maybe I'm just making excuses?

We're bound and determined to have some fun this week. And maybe, just maybe, when I find that special rate for the perfect overnight get away, we'll actually stay in the city for the night. If you're looking for your last minute price savings, why not check out HotelReservations.com - great locations, great rates. Get away and enjoy your Spring break!

how cool is this?

As you all know, I started mixing things up here a few weeks ago---making a few blog marketing posts in between my usual rants, raves and banter. Well, let me just tell you how excited I am about this! With just 3 posts, I've earned almost $30. No kidding.

I was totally skeptical at first and acutally held off on posting too many marketing posts until I saw 1) I was doing it correctly, 2) my posts were being approved, and 3) you, my faithful readers, weren't going to start bombing me with tomatoes and raspberries. Thank you for understanding! But now I'm ready to take on more. The best part of it all for me is I can post when I want because the opportunity is something I'd actually want to research, or post about anyway.

There's only two downsides to this---trying to improve my Google page rank so I'll have a bigger variety of opportunites offered to me, and not jumping on an opportunity quickly enough. If you want to help me in my quest, and use Technorati, please add my site to your list. As for grabbing up the good one's before they pass me by. Well, I'm on my own for that one. I won't miss too many more good ones like the two I missed tonight already because I was off doing other things. Things where I'm not making that $30 that's coming my way!!

pay now, or pay for it later... it's up to you

There are a couple of items that, frankly, I don’t know if I could live without. The first being my computer obviously, and the second my phone. My cell phone is a great convenience, but could I live with out it? Sure. Do I want to? No.

The subject of kids and cell phones has come up several times in conversation with various people over the past few months. My neighbor’s teen son (age 13) was given a cell phone for Christmas and added to his family’s shared minutes plan. If there’s any kid out there that I believe would be deserving of and responsible enough to have a cell phone, it would be him. But still, I can’t help but wonder why a 13 year old needs a cell phone in the first place.

Another neighbor was saying her boys wanted cell phones because “all their friends have them”. Yeah – not a good enough reason. She goes as far as telling them to stop using their friend’s cell phones to call her, and to not call her cell phone unless it’s an emergency since her number is a different area code and there are charges from any phone to call it.

So, we started talking about prepaid phones. You know – the one’s that have no contracts, no hidden fees. And you can keep tabs on how many minutes you’re actually on the phone. If (and that’s a big IF in my book) a kid should have a cell phone, this would definitely be the route I’d go. You can put as little as $10 at a time on some plans, which is something kids themselves could actually afford to do if they saved up their allowance. Of course, the more you preload, the cheaper the per minute rate, but there are still a lot of options.

There’s no reason for my kid to have a cell phone, prepaid or not. But if you’re trying to decide whether to get your kid a phone, and whether they’re responsible enough to not use all your shared minutes in the first week of the month, take a look at the prepaid phone option. It might be just what you’re looking for.

just in case you're wondering

You might have asked yourself "What's up?" when reading a couple of new posts here in the past couple of days. Or maybe you just think I've gone off the deep end and am posting disclaimers for kicks. Whatever the case, here's the deal.

Last week Elizabeth over at Table for Five posted about how she found this site where she could make a few bucks just for blogging about stuff she might normally post about anyway. Since making money is on the top of my list of "must dos" I had to check it out.

PayPerPost works with bloggers (like me) by letting affiliates post "opportunities" to talk about their sites. There's so many opps out there, and the more I write and attract attention for the affiliates, the more opps I'll have to choose from. Some day (if I get enough traffic) I could even make $1,000 for a single sponsor post. Now wouldn't that be something? For now, every little bit counts.

Anyway, since Blogspot doesn't have tabs, I've added my disclaimer on my sidebar. As it states, this isn't going to influence my posts. I'll still be giving you my witty, sassy, and sometimes bitchy spin on things, but some of them I might actually get paid for. If this idea repulses you, I'm sorry. Feel free to skip over those posts. But I hope you don't. I hope you keep coming back, and tell your friends to come on by too. Cuz there's truly nothing better than getting paid for what you love to do - in this case ranting, raving and shouting out!