50 Book Challenge- Book 1 Daughter of the Blood

Staying true to one of my goals this year, I have completed the first book of my 50 book challenge. The first book of the year was Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop. Normally, I don't read these kinds of books but Raph suggested it and since I have ran out of all my own books to read, I gave it a try. This book is awesome and I am very upset that I can't pick up the second of the black jewels trilogy from the library until tomorrow. :(

This is what the publisher has to say about the book:
"Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life in her web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But she is still young, still open to influence-and corruption.

Whoever controls the Queen controls the darkness. Three men-sworn enemies-know this. And they know the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are hate and love-and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining..."

Wow. That is really all I have to say about this book. It is riddled with magic, sex, backstabbing and violence- many of the things that make up a good story. The only gripe that I have about the entire book is that the way it is written, sometimes you feel like this is present day while other times you feel like you are supposed to be in medieval times. That gets a little confusing but with all the great characters and background, it will seem like a small price to pay.

For those that love a good fantasy, I highly recommend this book. Since I am now taking public transportation to school instead of driving, that gives me 2 hours four days a week to read. I was a little shocked that it only took me 8 days to read this book as I am dyslexic and a slow reader because of it. The book is a good a good 400 pages, longer than what I usually can read in that amount of time. I loved this book and will more than likely read it again once this challenge is over.

Time Management

Time management is something that I have always struggled with. I never know when to stop working on a project and move onto the next. This quarter could also prove to be a huge challenge for me as I have a full course load with over 15 expected hours of homework and I want to work as well so that I can keep some sort of money flow in my home. Regardless of the fact that the household expenses have been taken care of through financial aid.

One of my classes is an online class, working to create my own virtual assistant business. this course will be hugely beneficial in my work life, hence the reason for taking it. Luckily, I was able to finish all my coursework for the week because it has all been light since it's the beginning of the quarter. I haven't worked in a few days, so I know my revenue share is low. Hopefully when I get home from school tonight, I will have some time to work on some articles I have been composing.

I guess, my overall question for everyone is this; how do I spread my time out to care for all my responsibilities- parenting, school, and work?

Back to School

Tomorrow I will be starting back to school since my Hail was born. I am a little excited and nervous all the same. While I am no stranger to being a student, I also am taking courses that I am unfamiliar with. Mostly first aid, health and then a virtual assisting course that will drastically help my current position. Next quarter, I am really interested in taking a course in professional blogging as I feel it could strongly help me gain readership, learn about successful blogging to make money and many other aspects that I probably have over looked. Right now, I mostly blog for fun, so it would be awesome to step that up a notch and learn to make money from it as well.

I thought that one of by biggest challenges in going to school was going to be transportation and childcare. Luckily for me, neither are going to be an issue. Portland has great public transportation with the light rail and bus system. I will be taking both to get back and forth to school. I was able to get a quarterly bus pass for $160- a $10 savings but definitely cheaper than putting gas in the car to go back and forth.

Also, luckily for me, Raph is going to watch Hail Mondays and Wednesdays while I am in school since he doesn't have to be on campus those days, Tuesdays and Thursdays when we both have to be on campus for classes, Raph's younger sister Rachael, whom Hail adores, will be watching Hail. We agreed to pay her $20 a week which isn't really a lot but it is only 2 hours a week as Raph will be with him one of those hours before he leaves for school. That doesn't sound too bad to me and it's pocket change.

I'm definitely excited to be learning something new this quarter and I hope that it goes successfully.

The Importance of Office Organization

This is an office. This isn't my office, but if I had one at the moment, I would hope that it would look as neat and organized as this. Since I moved to my new apartment, I am currently using the breakfast nook as my desk. I don't even have a desk right now. My apartment is only 800 square feet, most of which has been delegated to the bathroom and the bedrooms. I have a tiny dining room which would be my office if I had one. Right now, it serves as a play room for Hail while we are in the living room. Since he doesn't really have any playmates, he doesn't like to play in his room so he has a corner of the living room that he plays in.

My tiny "office" space is a mess. I have pens, books, diapers and all kinds of things strewn about my already tiny space. I was looking for something earlier and I kept thinking to myself how much easier it would be to find if I had an office and a desk to put important things on. Then, I realized that that is exactly what I said about using the breakfast nook. "Things will stay organized if I have a smaller space to work with." How I wish that were true.

If I had a whole office, I could have a desk to organize things. A bookshelf to keep the books on and a comfortable chair to sit in, where my feet will touch the ground, while I'm working.

I just filed my taxes the other day and I couldn't find any of the documents that I wanted so that I could do so. If I had more room I could actually sit comfortably and pay more attention to the work that I'm doing instead of worrying that my feet are asleep from dangling off the ground and is my computer going to fall onto the counter behind it. *Sigh* I wish I had an office so that I could be more organized.

Getting up, Moving on

Sad to say, last night I failed to blog. It was the 5 day of the New Year and I forgot to blog because I was so busy preparing for today that I forgot, ran out of time, I'm not really sure. Work wise, yesterday was a bust. I did not get anything done because I had to go all the way downtown to pay rent. From my house to downtown Portland is an hour drive round trip. Then, when I got there, I got a ticket! I parked in a spot that I got from another passenger car like mine. I have parked there dozens of times before, but I got a ticket because now this spot is a truck loading and unloading zone. I do not ever remember seeing any signage stating as much in the dozen times I have parked there. Therefore, now I have a $65 ticket that I have to pay sometime this month.

I start school again on Monday for the first time since Hail was born. I plan on finishing up my degree with some business courses so that I am more prepared to go into anything baking related, business/ clerical related or English related such as copy writing, editing or basic journalism. One of the classes that I'm taking is called becoming a virtual assistant. I knew nothing about what this was until I logged onto a work at home forum that I joined a few years ago. Apparently, what I have gathered about this course is that I can be an office assistant or continue doing what I do most of the time by updating company's blogs, and writing their web content but get paid more for it because I have a fancy title. After doing some basic research on a few freelance sites that I also have joined, I am a little intimidated because I am going to be competing with people overseas that are willing to do entire jobs for $2 an hour. This is completely unacceptable pricing even for a beginner like me. What most people fail to realize while they take on jobs is that they have to make a profit. Doing this work is their business and if you are selling yourself for $2 an hour, you must not think very highly of your own abilities. If people want the work done correctly, they will pay your fees.

The workload for this course is a minimum of 10 hours a week, not to mention the rest of my courses I have elected to take. Because of this, I do not know when I'm going to be able to work again, simply because I do not know when I will have the time. Thank my lucky stars I get financial aid from school to help with room and board as well as household expenses so that I can still keep my condo without worrying about rent being late or stressing out about the bills.

The first assignment due before class starts is to write your online resume for those that you want to market yourself to. In working on this assignment, I was a little clueless. I have a resume that shows all the work I have done online, but it was very basic and I really wanted to jazz it up. Here are some tips I found online for creating an effective resume for working online.

* It is not necessary to detail every job that you have ever had. Instead, only include jobs on your resume that are applicable to the job you want to obtain. This is called a target resume and it works great.
* Always start with the most current job you have had. This will show that you have been recently employed.
* When detailing online work, it is not necessary to say where you did the work. It really could have been anywhere; while you traveled, where you live, where they live, anywhere.
* Have samples of your work available upon request. Do not include them directly on your resume because they will take up space that you may need for other things. Simply state on your resume that you have samples available upon request.
* If you have applicable experience from volunteering, awards, or education, be sure to include this on your resume. It is all about selling yourself and anything that you can include that will give you a leg up will give you an edge over the competition.
* Always use spell check! This may sound stupid, but I can't tell you how many times I have looked at others resumes as well as my own with horrible spelling errors and other grammatical mistakes that make it sound like you are uneducated. This is the last thing that you want when presenting yourself online for a job. Keep in mind, this resume that you are sending out is your first impression. Most people that work online will never meet their employers; therefore, their resume must stand out from others and say, "Pick me!"

I hope that these tips have been helpful for anyone that is looking to spruce up their online resume. I found them to be extremely helpful.

Laundry Help From the Anti-Laundry Fairy

It is no secret that I hate doing laundry. I get no enjoyment or satisfaction from washing, drying, and folding clothes that I will inevitably have to re-fold because Hail has tried to "help" mommy. Doing laundry stresses me out, frankly. No matter what I do, there is always at least one sock missing. Right now, I have five errant socks sitting on my armchair because they have lost their mate. I have looked in the bedrooms, in the laundry basket, behind the couch and furniture, behind the washer and dryer- everywhere they could possibly be. I am sure that the laundry monster has eaten them.

Because of my overall dislike for doing the laundry, I have even started hanging my clothes. Unless I can stuff it in a drawer and not worry about folding it, I will not, everything hangs. However, I cannot do this with my socks. No matter how hard I try, I cannot avoid sock folding. I tried just loosely stuffing them in a drawer, but it seemed as if I was losing more socks than I did in the washer/ dryer. Then I learned of a few nifty tricks to help keep socks together. When I tried it, I was relieved to find that all my socks were there, but displeased that I still had to fold them all. Here are the few laundry tips I learned;

* Throw all your socks in a mesh sack before putting them in the washer. The sack can be washed, your socks get clean, and they all stay together.
* When you want to make your clothes fluffier while cutting your dryer time in half, put a few tennis balls in the dryer. They act as a dryer sheet and you do not have to buy new ones once you have established your dryer ball.
* If you have a problem with your animals, especially cats, trying to sleep in your laundry basket, place a few dryer sheets in there. My cat used to try to pee in the laundry basket because she was mad that I would put things in her bed. Cats hate the static and will choose somewhere else to lie.

All these tips have helped make my laundry experiences a little easier; however, I still have not found the cure for completely avoiding laundry. If anyone can help me here, it would be appreciated.

Out With the Old, In With the New

One of my personal goals this year is to get rid of the old; people that don't deserve my time or aren't there to support me, things I want to change such as paint colors, wardrobe and habits as well as many other things.

One of the "old" things that I am for sure getting rid of is my couch. While it has served its purpose by providing me a place to park my butt, but we did find it on the side of the road the day before we moved into the condo. Also, it has broken in the center so 3/ of the couch can no longer be sat on. One of the many reasons that we chose this couch, nearly by fate, is because it matched the green wall from the previous tenants of the condo. Before finding the couch, the only piece of furniture to sit on was a red overstuffed chair. This makes me feel like I am always waiting for Christmas; what, with my red furniture and green walls.

When the couch goes, the wall paint will be changing too. We found a great blue sectional couch that we want to take up the living room. If we get this, the blue and green are going to clash badly. Not to mention, the paint job is less than stellar, with lines of green on the wall and corners unevenly painted. I am unsure as to what color I want to paint the wall, perhaps just a plain white. No matter which, I know that I am going to dread the process. While the paint dries, I am going to have the daunting task of keeping Hail out of the living room. I do not want him to touch my paint and I do not want him inhaling the paint fumes either. I did learn a nifty trick though that many people will be happy to know. When you are painting your home, room, floor, whatever, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract into your paint while you are stirring it. No matter the color, it will remain the same but the extract takes away the paint smell that we all know and hate.