October 6th, 2008
Do you take your full vacation? Or perhaps a better question is, do you get vacation time?
According to an initiative called “Time Back Your Time” vacation time for the United States isn’t a sure thing. More than that, a small percentage of people (14%) “will get a vacation of two weeks or longer this year.” The remainer of people either get less than two weeks or have no time off at all. Worse than that, some people don’t use their vacation for fear that they will be demoted or laid off.
I know a few people who would fit into this category, and it’s just crazy. If we don’t have time away from work, how will we ever truly unwind and get some balance?
Take Back Your Time is spear-heading a campaign to pass The Minimum Leave Protection, Family Bonding and Personal Well-Being Act of 2007. This act would establish a minimum three weeks vacation for any American that’s been at a job for a year, even if you change jobs.
Other countries have a national paid leave time, but somehow I can’t see this happening with the United States.
Do you think we should create a law that protects vacation time?
Image from Morguefile.
Tags: family bonding, holiday, mandatory time off, minimum leave protection, no vacation nation, personal well being, time back your time, Time off, vacation-time
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By Cherie Burbach -- 0 comments
October 6th, 2008
October is traditionally an exciting month for b5media’s Lifestyles Channel and their readers. Summer is over and the Holidays have not yet begun, so it is the perfect time for us to thank our readers for their continued loyalty. To do this, the Lifestyles Channel joins forces with hundreds of sponsors to create a two week extravaganza of giveaways, jump-starting the holiday season and allowing our readers to win gifts, both for themselves and for giving. This year’s Blogtoberfest is better than ever before. We have simplified the process and the sponsors have been extremely generous in the gifts that they are offering and as the result, we’ll be passing on in excess of $7,000 worth of prizes. Don’t miss a minute of the fun!
Blogtoberfest officially kicks off today, October 6, 2008
There are lots of great prizes to be given away. Prizes are available to U.S. and Canada residents unless otherwise noted. All you have to do is:
- Browse the channel or visit your favorite blogs
- Watch for sponsored prize winning posts wearing the official Blogtoberfest button shown above.
- Leave a comment on that exact post. Your comment IS your entry.
- Check back with that blog within a week and see what the prize is and if you’re the lucky winner.
Consider subscribing to the various blog feeds to make sure you don’t miss out on any exciting opportunities. Many blogs will be conducting between 2 and 7 giveaways and just where those will be appearing is a secret and half the fun! Each prize winning post will share links to other prize winning blogs for that same day. This makes hunting easier and improves your chances of winning! That’s it! Participating blogs found at the bottom of our channel hub: www.b5media.com/channels_lifestyles.html A special thanks to Randa Clay Design for our beautiful Blogtoberfest Button!
Tags: announcement, blog, blotoberfest, contest, free stuff, giveaways, prizes, win
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By Cherie Burbach -- 0 comments
October 4th, 2008
I had a business trip this week.
It’s an annual trip that I look forward to since I get to stay in a really, really nice hotel in a cool city (Washington, DC).
It’s a nice break from the usual routine, and except for the pesky times I have to work, I have a couple of days where I can do anything I want.
This time my agenda included some heavy duty slacking and marathon napping. I mean, I was planning the Olympics of Relaxation.
Only it didn’t work out that way.
An mix of guilt for being away during a busy week at home and control issues (e.g. Do they have lunch money? How is she getting home from practice?) made for a low level anxiety that made it hard for me to enact my plan of ultimate leisure and just made me antsy to get home.
However, I will add that my state didn’t prevent me from enjoying a steak from room service on my expense account.
I just missed my family, I’m not stupid.
Tags: business-travel, expense account, Olympics, steak, Washington DC
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By elizabeth -- 0 comments
October 3rd, 2008
I’m sure many of you can relate to this: some days you just feel like your life is on permanent fast forward. Everything goes too darn fast. And yet, there’s still no time. No time for hobbies, for love, for real relationships… Certainly no time just to sit and do nothing (without feeling guilty!)
This kind of hurried life can cause plenty of problems, too. For me, it added to health issues. I had to slow down because my body just couldn’t keep up. For others, it may mean you don’t have the same quality relationship with your spouse, or even that your kids are as stressed as you are.
I caught this interesting article that talked about the effects of a life zipping by too fast, and one of the things it mentioned was Hurried Woman’s Syndrome. It said:
“Women who try to do too many things at once—juggling work with hectic home life—complain of chronic stress, tiredness, weight gain, sleep problems, guilt, knackered self-esteem.
They suffer, according to Dr. Brent Bost, from hurried woman syndrome.”
The remedy for this is simply slowing down. But it’s easier said than done. It takes a concentrated effort. But once you master it, you won’t want to go back.
I had to adjust my life at first because of health reasons. But now, I protect my time and that of my family. I don’t over schedule. In some cases, that’s meant we don’t socialize as much as we used to. We had some friends that we saw once in a while that constantly caused us stress. But we worked to fit them into our social calendar. Now, we don’t. (And haven’t missed them.)
Instead, we focus on those rare friendships that are special. We spend quality time with people that care about us. We work to make our holidays less hectic. We even use caution when it comes to getting into new TV shows or hobbies. We also purposely don’t schedule activities as often as we did before. We choose plays or flea markets (or whatever we truly love) over those things that would have us stuck in traffic and feeling rushed. We rarely schedule anything for during the week.
Basically, we guard our schedule as if it’s the most precious thing around. It’s not something I’ve always done. But now that I have this mindset, I really see the difference in how much calmer I am.
What about you? Are you suffering from “Hurried Woman’s (or Men’s) Syndrome”? If so, what steps can you take to slow down?
Image from Morguefile.
Tags: avoid overwork, busy life, declutter, free up calendar, hurried woman's syndrome, reducing stress, saying no, schedule less
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By Cherie Burbach -- 0 comments
October 2nd, 2008
With cold and flu season upon us, when you work outside the home and you have a sick child, one of the first things you have to ascertain is, “Are they really sick?” Not that you should doubt your child, but when it happens you have to arrange your whole day differently and you have to know the facts.
Even the best kids have their faking moments, my oldest has recently confessed a few to me, and even though they were several years ago, she was gooooood, and I’m even a nurse.
Sometimes, when kids are slightly ill or recovering, you have to decide if they can go to school or not.
ABC News has some tips on sorting things out Sick Kids: Keep Them Home? Or Are They Faking?.
One of my favorite strategies is mentioned in the article.
If one of my kids is home and it’s a little questionable, I make sure to emphasize that they must be simply “too exhausted” to watch a lot of TV or use the computer and that I’m sure they (child in question) needs to get right to bed. That usually sorts things out pretty quickly.
Tags: cold and flu season, faking sick, home from school, Sick Kids
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By elizabeth -- 0 comments
October 1st, 2008
I don’t know about you, but without my crockpot there are some days when my family would not have a hot meal. I’ve used my crockpot for a long time, and when I was single it was nice to come home to hot dinner just waiting for me. Now that I cook for my husband and mom, I especially appreciate the ability to “cook” dinner without having to do more than just throw a few items into the machine.
I have several crockpot cookbooks now, but I tend to shy away from those that require any prep work. Call me lazy, but I can’t see frying up meat and onions or whatever, and then throwing into the crockpot. I want to throw it all in, and walk away. That’s it.
I’ve come across a few good recipes for this, many of them from right here at b5. For example:
I created a recipe myself and can direct you to many more free crockpot recipes over at Simply Thrifty.
Lately, I’ve finally discovered that you can cook rice (and pasta) in with your meal as well. (You guys probably already knew that! I’m slow sometimes… :) I can’t tell you how delighted I was to learn that! It meant I could truly make a one pot meal right in the good ole slow cooker.
What’s your favorite crockpot meal? Is there a recipe online you can share? Or better yet, add it to the comments below!
Image from Morguefile.
Tags: cook dinner while at work, crockpot cooking, crockpot recipes, fix it and forget it, making dinner, Save-time, saving on energy, slow cooker recipes, work and life balance
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By Cherie Burbach -- 4 comments
October 1st, 2008
Congratulations to Deborah W. and Janet F. who were the winners of the Walk Family DVD giveaway! I’ve sent emails to both of you so be sure to watch your inbox.
For those that entered and didn’t win please keep reading here, we’ll have some fun stuff coming up in the next few days and weeks.
Tags: blog, contest, dvd, free stuff, leslie sansone, prize, walk family, who won, winners, workout dvd
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By Cherie Burbach -- 2 comments
September 30th, 2008
I may be violating some “Blogging While Hungry” rule, but the Super Fast Fettuccine Alfredo over at Busy Family Meals is looking delicious right now.
In the evenings after work, I’m forever asking, “What should we have for dinner?” (Yes, I know I should plan meals. I don’t usually. Don’t judge.) and inevitably, my husband will say something like, “beef wellington” or “fettuccine” just to be smart.
Next time, I’m going to say, “OK” and whip up some fettuccine!
But, he’d better not get too used to it.
Tags: Fettuccine Alfredo, quick evening meal
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By elizabeth -- 1 comment
September 29th, 2008
I’m always looking for work-at-home opportunities, so lately I’ve become very interested in a few companies that hire work-at-home employees for call center jobs. I first became aware of these types of jobs through an article I read on MSN Money.
For years we’ve been hearing about call center jobs that get sent to another country. Recently, however, employers have stated a preference in having their calls handled within the United States to avoid language barriers or time delays. I think this is an interesting development in the work-at-home movement.
Companies such as Alpine Access and Live Opps have gained popularity and pay workers anywhere from $8-14 per hour. Both of these companies also require a drug screen which costs approximately $50 and the worker may have to order equipment which could be another out-of-pocket expense. However, these two companies are legit.
Before applying to any work-at-home opportunity, of course, you’ve got to do your research. Ensuring a company is legit is the first consideration. Determining how they pay employees (via actual calls vs. minutes online, for example) and which types of hours are required are key questions to ask. For example, it’s one thing to say you can work from home, and yet another entirely to say you’re required to work overnight or every weekend.
Still, I’ve heard of people applying to these jobs and being happy with the result. So this begs the question, have you done a work-at-home call center position? And if so, what did you like or dislike about it?
Tags: alpine access, alternative to gas prices, call center, five minute commute, infomercials, jobs you can do at home, live opps, taking calls, telecommute, work at home
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By Cherie Burbach -- 4 comments
September 27th, 2008
Dropcard is a virtual business card you can easily text directly to someone’s e-mail address. It’s free, or you can pay a nominal monthly fee for sending extra cards. Regular texting charges apply depending on the sender’s and recipient’s mobile phone accounts.
Say you meet someone you want to give your contact information. You send their email address via SMS to DropCard. DropCard then immediately sends the person your contact information including social network profiles, name, email, etc. It can also handle multiple profiles so that you can have a work and a personal profile or multiple profiles for work and a side business, etc.
It looks like it would be a convenient, quick way to exchange business cards or even a way to give a new friend your number to schedule a playdate for the kids.
(via Web Worker Daily)
Tags: Dropcard, virtual business card
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By elizabeth -- 0 comments
