Thursday, September 26, 2013

Ways to Make Money Blogging

As blogs become more popular and main stream, more and more people search for ways to make money blogging. Blogs and blogging are becoming a great source of making money online for hunderds and thousands of people. And what makes earning money with blogs appealing, is that it sounds fun and interesting, which it is. But, it’s also a lot of work. Blogging is not as easy as many people would like to portray it to be. It takes time and a lot of efforts to make money with blogs. If you think you have got what it takes to earn money with blogs, here are 5 ways to make money blogging: Ad sense on blogs This is the most popular way to make money with blogs. You can ether register a free blog on blogging platforms such as blogger, or buy your own domain name and hosting. Whichever way you choose, the next step is to sign up wit Google ad sense for free and place their codes on your blog. After that, its all a matter of creating quality and useful content and driving traffic to your blog. The more click you get on those ads, the more money you can make with ad sense. Affiliate marketing using blogs Affiliate marketing in itself is a big topic, but to make money combining affiliate marketing and blogs, all you need to do is find a few products that you believe are useful, and can help solve people’s problems. You can write reviews about them or just promote them in your blog posts. The more people buy the product using your affiliate links, the more money you can make. Keep in mind that in order to succeed, its best to become affiliates of products that are related to the topic of your blog. For example, if your blog is about “making money online”, people come there to learn how to make money online, so products that can help your readers achieve that, are what you want to promote on your blog, not any unrelated product. Pay per post blogging One of the unusual ways to make money blogging, is writing blog ads or pay per post blogging. Pay per post is simple a method where you will get paid by a company to write a post about their products, services or whatever they wish for. There are few sites that are dedicated to per per post blogging. Sites like PayPerPost.com match bloggers with advertisers. You can register with these sites, and they will find you projects to write about. Its an easy way to make money with your blog. Of course the more popular your blog is, the more you can charge per post, since it will be seen by more people. Sell your own product or service on your blog If you have a product or offer a service, you can use your blog to promote it and find buyers/ clients for your product/ service. Blogging is an excellent way of getting the words out about your product or service. Write posts for other blogs You don’t even have to have your own blog to make money with blogs. You can simply write for other blogs and make money. Blogging is a time consuming task, so a lot of bloggers will pay others to write quality posts for them. Most of them offer a flat fee for each article you write for them. But, there are also so many blogs that will share a percentage of their revenue earned from displaying ads next to your published article on their blog, with you. Either way, its a great way to make some extra money without having to own your own blog. Although as it is, blogging is a huge success and its a big money maker for many people, it is only the beginning of it. As more and more people become interested and start reading blogs on daily bases, there will be more opportunities for making money with blogs. So, make sure you get in the game and try to learn different ways to make money blogging , so you can get your share of blogging money as well.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Steps You Need to Consider with Home Based Business Opportunities

:Lesson number 1: Time and flexibility matters a lot. Ask yourself about how much time you will be able to spare for the business. If you've got enough time in a day and you are sure that you can keep up with the peak and off peak hours, then you may want to work on virtual marketing. You can affiliate with eBay and other auction sites and market your products therein. Doing an online business requires you to have a flexible time since the rundown time may not entirely be in pace with your local time zone. Lesson number 2: Learn to control your temperament. You have to bear the fact about what you really want to do with your time. What is it that you take great interest on? Are you familiar with the latest movies of all genres? Do you like doing reviews of these movies? Do you have the potential to becoming a critic? Then you can absolutely work in this line. Why not search the net for websites that host movie releases and movie reviews? Your talent can become your ace! Add to that the fact that you may work on these movie reviews in the most convenient time you've got. Lesson number 3: Think about the investment that you can make. Before you plunge into any business venture, it requires of you to fix your budget. Your finances have a lot to do with the success of your business. You are not going to waste your time with these things if you will get no reward at all, right? It is always best to get a startup with the online surveys. Think about what you really want to engage in and start thinking about how you may profit from it. Marketing is an utmost step that you've got to take. If you will not let your business be known, you are running out of chances of earning your profit. However, always be realistic at all costs.Home based business opportunities will aid you in letting both ends meet. If you only know how to work things out , these home based business opportunities of yours will prove to be a success!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Make Extra Money Online With An Internet Business Or Working At Home

Prices for everything seem to go up every month, and when your salary or wages come, it is becoming harder and harder to make ends meet. What with the petrol price hikes, and interest rate increases, higher food prices .... and the list goes on.! How do South African consumers earn enough money to feed their families and maintain their households, when everything is going up except their salaries? The answer lies in earning extra money, and this can be done online! This make money online website for South Africa is dedicated to helping serious South African entrepreneurs achieving the dream of working from home, whether through building an internet business, or real work from home business that you can start at home! Although we do our best to select the top ways to make money in South Africa using the internet sometimes certain offers may not deliver the results that are hoped for! Mums and dads that want real home based businesses that can be started wwith a small investment, will find excellent solutions by visiting the links below. In addition to this, there are some top class offers for building a real internet business for South Africans to make money online. Many people that have full time jobs can start a home based business opportunity part time, and once the business is earning enough money to support their family, they can do it full time and be their own boss. South Africans should start realizing that making money online is for real and all you need to do is invest in the right type of internet business and follow through with it. what you should also know is that making money online programs from vendors are first checked for integrity before they are listed on reputable suppliers websites, like Clicksure, Clickbank, Paypal, and Paydot.com for examples. There are also many different types of home based business ideas on the internet to choose from, which makes it possible to find something to suit anyones tastes, and for the amount you wish to invest in your business. No matter what business you ultimately choose, make sure to give it the effort it requires and most importantly time to start earning you a profitable income, and build up a smart passive income by doing so. South Africa work from home business opportunities should offer you the right guides and tools, and if they do, then it is possible for a person to make really good money on the internet! It is a good idfea to invest in solid home based business training if you want to fast track your way to work from home success. Alternatively find a ready set up internet business make money online program that offers you everything you need to start earning in a shorter period of time.should you decide to begin a mini business from your home in your spare time. You can build your home based business up over time until it earns enough to cover your salary or wages paycheck, so that you can ultimately quit your job and achieve the dream of being your own boss. When choosing any business opportunity it is vital to read all the information carefully first or if there are videos take time to watch them completely. When you are satisfied it is suitable for what you want to do to make money online, then you can join it with confidence!

What You Need to Consider with Home Based Business Opportunities

Among the top rated home based business opportunities today are becoming online vendors, tutor, life coach, personal concierge, and money manager. There are at least a hundred home based business opportunities that you may want to consider which will of course become a nice avenue for you to earn financial rewards. Not all home based business opportunities may work for you. It is necessary that you recognize your own expertise. In which line will you be good? What tasks can you efficiently handle well? You must not become very ambitious as you may not be able to cover all things. Just have something which is parallel to your ability. It is essential that you are capable of handling the upcoming circumstances as they may rip you off of your temperament and other personal concerns. Choosing the line of home based business opportunity for you will include focusing on the points that will have to deal with your personality.Here are a few points that will help you decide firmly on what you want to be connected within the days to come. Watch this space.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Words Cannot Describe

We are really enjoying the pine country in northern Arizona. We have been leaving the front French doors wide open most of the evening while we enjoy the company of family. Last night was no different. We slept with all the windows open to allow the cool breeze to flow through the house.
That is, until I awoke around 2 a.m. to the most gosh awful smell I have ever smelled. After several minutes of bewilderment, I finally realized the awful stench permeating my bedroom was that of a skunk. The smell was so dense I could taste it. My stomach began to churn. I glanced over at Wifey and to my surprise she was sound asleep.
I got up and checked the entire house and found 8 out of 10 windows were indeed open. The smell was strongest in my bedroom telling me that the varmint must be right outside my window. It was so overwhelming I could almost lose my dinner right there. I walked around and closed all the windows..
Upon waking the next morning, I asked Wifey if she noticed anything last night to which she replied "Like what?"
OJD
//Just Dance!

Monday, September 9, 2013

The Bourne Identity and HoJo

Our clan has grown by seven now.
Things are still happening at lightening speed. A day doesn't go by that I don't scratch down some blog post ideas and then, before I know it, two days have gone by and I have a scratch pad full of unwritten posts.

So, I'm up north staying at a HoJo while I muster through my first week on the new job. Just finished Day One of Orientation and glad it's over. You know how boring orientation seminars can be. All the plan changes and uncontrollable events lately have taken their toll on me in different ways.

For starters, when I got to my destination up here in the high country, I happily pulled into my "resort" for an expected comforting night of sleep. I thought I was being smart trading our timeshare week in Sedona for a place near my work while we wait for our move-in date (coming this weekend). After a cheerful greeting from the night desk clerk, I found to my dismay that I had booked this week...next year.

Yep. 2014. I suddenly found myself in need of a hotel at midnight on a Sunday night. With a trailer full of household crap waiting to be put into storage, I now had to figure out where I was going to sleep for the next week while I started my new job. Luckily, the helpful desk clerk called the HoJo down the street and negotiated me a nice price ($50/night). After calling the timeshare exchange company and requesting my booking fee refunded (I tried to charm my way into a stay at the same resort, didn't work), I will only be out about $50 when it's all over so not too bad...I guess.

Tired momma...
So, obviously, I was focused on something else when I reserved my room for this week. Nevertheless, it's working out so far.

CPS conducted their home visit at my house today. Our church stepped up and became involved. A friend of Wifey's stayed by her side for the visit. According to Wifey, they asked basic questions, quickly glanced into each bedroom and interviewed each child (including the 4 year old). Sounds to me like Wifey went into a bedroom and all six girls stayed together for the interrogation in the livingroom (nice move, honey!). I like that much more than little ones being interrogated alone with CPS. The whole thing was less than half an hour or so.

That chapter should be closed now and we can focus on moving. We will be requesting copies of all documentation from both CPS and the school. For the rest of the week, I guess Wifey and the girls will just focus on packing clothes to wear for the first week up north until we get everything unpacked.

I didn't get to blog about Sister's Sweet 16 birthday nor The Queen's 13th birthday but let the record show that they both had a great time and as parents, we didn't let current events prevent us from helping the girls enjoy their birthdays. Oh, and our German Shepherd had seven puppies Saturday night too. That was the first time Wifey and I experienced animal birth up close. And of course, I video taped the whole thing :-)

So I'm going to kick back and celebrate my first day in Management by watching the Bourne Trilogy in the local Howard Johnson's hotel. If I get bored, maybe I'll go hunt down a good 'ol Sonic rootbeer float.

~OJD

Friday, September 6, 2013

CPS Returns

Just a quick update to report on current events. CPS showed up at the girls' high school today. They interviewed all three girls individually and interviewed Sis twice. We were alerted by their presence thanks to one of our girls sending a text message.

Wifey headed over to the elementary school to pick up the little girls just in case CPS decided to head over there. There has been no sign of CPS at the elementary school... yet.

Wifey withdrew all three high schoolers today.  We spoke in depth about home schooling with k12.com last night.  We are one step closer to home schooling the teenagers.  Believe it or not,  they don't want to be home schooled... they say.  But,  they also don't realize that every time they report to us about something ridiculous that happened at their school, they are making the case even stronger to keep them home.

Like today,  Wifey and I were informed that teachers are becoming more strict about letting students use the restrooms during class because "someone"  is smearing blood and feces on the bathroom walls.

What the...? Ugh.

Anyway,  the big girls are pulled out.  School officials were even MORE apologetic today than during our meeting Tuesday.  They swore nobody contacted CPS today.  I believe it.  CPS is just now responding to the school's call last week.

I finally called the school nurse myself and asked her for her side of the story.  It was completely different than Administration's story.  I think they threw her under the bus.  She kept saying "I'm just a CNA,  not a nurse"  like it wasn't even her Scope of Practice to call the authorities.  She said that,  as a foster parent herself who had delt with CPS,  she concluded Sis was NOT  abused and that was why she excused herself from the whole situation early on.

I'd she lying? Who knows.  Bottom line,  we aren't going back to that school. But now,  CPS is coming to my house Monday night to inspect our house and (my guess)  to interview the three little girls.

The worst part : I'll already be up north.  Monday is my first day of my new job.  Wifey has to handle the CPS interrogation herself.  My friend Mr Detective,  who specializes in Child Abuse crimes,  is coming over tonight to talk to us. I'm going to see if he can be here when the visit occurs.

This sucks.  Any advice or words of encouragement greatly appreciated right now.

OJD

Monday, September 2, 2013

Garage Sales... a Necessary Evil

Yeah,  so... I'm not a big fan of garage sales.  At least not HAVING them.  I enjoy perusing other people's though.  Today we are trying to sell (or give away) the rest of our stuff.
We are combining two households since Wifey's mom will be moving up north with us.  This is no fun task. 

Well,  it wasn't... until we found... 

The Wig of the Century! 


Are you ready?

I don't think you are!

Presenting...
 

The Orange Jeep SURFER Dad! 

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Front Porch View from Our New Home

Brought another load up north.  Finished unloading and enjoying the views from our front porch.

Breathtakingly beautiful...

Created by Photo Grid. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.roidapp.photogrid https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photo-grid-collage-maker/id543577420?mt=8

Sis Invoked the Secret Family Safe Word

Sorry for the delay in the follow up. We're extremely busy packing and running small loads up north to lessen the final moving bill.

So, here's what happened Friday.

9am - I head up north (solo) with a full trailer behind the Orange Jeep.

10:27am - The Queen texts me from school:

"Sis is up in the office. They think she got beat up because her lip. She's trying to tell them but they won't listen and they're calling the police"

10:30am - I call the school front office. I ask if my daughter is in the office. The Dean of Students is put on the phone with me. He informs me that my daughter had come to the office requesting ibuprophen for pain relief. (She has a viral rash on her lower lip, right humerus and left forearm). He concluded that she received the medicine and returned to class.

10:40 - Wifey calls me concerned about receiving the same message from The Queen. I told her I called the school and all was well. We discussed how the text message didn't really make sense and it was probably nothing to be concerned about.

11:30am - Sis calls Wifey on her cell phone from the girls bathroom and says:

(paraphrasing): "They keep asking me if you guys are abusing me. When I asked to call you they said "Not right now." and they won't let me go back to class." Sis is clearly in distress and Wifey now becomes extremely concerned.

11:45am - Wifey calls me and relays the above phone call from Sis. I am two hours north by now. My final destination is another 30 minutes farther. I pull into a McDonald's parking lot and call the school for a second time.

Secretary: "[school name]"
Me: "Is my daughter, name name in the front office right now?"
Secretary: "I'll check"
Dean of Students gets on phone: "This is Mr. XYZ..."
Me: "Yes, is my daughter Name Name in the front office right now?!"
Dean: "Yes, she is ."
Me: "Put her on the phone please."

This is one of the times we got lucky and the school screwed up. I NOW know that if a school suspects child abuse, they should not allow the student to talk to the parents until the police arrive. The school is also NOT suppose to notify the parents of the abuse investigation in progress (which they SUCCESSFULLY hid from us.)

Sis gets on the phone with me. We make a lot of small talk with me asking questions like "are you okay", "what's going on" etc but her answers are short and choppy. Something isn't quite right.

Me: "Is there someone standing near you making you uncomfortable?"
Sis: "Well, not really"
Me: "Is there something that you would like to tell me that you can't tell me right now?"

Sis: "Well...SECRET FAMILY SAFE WORD...maybe..."

And there it was. The secret family safe word that Wifey and I taught our three oldest daughters back when they were the only three kids we had. We picked a phrase that was easy to work into a sentence and would not immediately draw attention to the conversation should one of our children utter the words.

An example would be "PINK GIRAFFE." This is NOT our safe word but it is a phrase that would not sound suspicious coming from a girl. It could be referred to as a child's stuffed animal, or toy etc. If we had not established this safety protocol, we would not have had a clue that our child was in the middle of something  very wrong.

Me to Sis: "Put the Dean of Students back on the phone please"
Dean: "Yes?"
Me: "I'm not sure what is going on up there but you can go ahead and pull all three of my daughters to the front office and my wife will be there in 20 minutes to collect them. We're going to talk as a family tonight about whatever is going on up there and may be requiring a meeting with administration on Tuesday (the next school day).

Dean: "Okay..."

He never sent for my other two girls and never intended to. When Wifey arrived at the school, she was asked to wait for a bit in the front office. She finally spotted Sis in another room through a window when Sis stood up. They saw each other and Wifey motioned for Sis to come to her side in the front office. That's just about when the police showed up.

Wifey was then informed that this was a child abuse investigation. That's when she called me. I asked her to put the Police Officer on the phone.

Officer: "Hello. This is Officer XYZ."
Me: "Hi. I'm the father. This escalated rather quickly, didn't it?"
My ice breaker didn't get recieved well. The Officer's quick retort worried me that I might have a jerk on the phone.

Officer: "No, not really."
Me: "Okay. Well, here's the deal. My daughter has a rash. She's been seen by an Emergency Room physician in the past. It happens a few times a year. She has been prescribed antibiotics in the past but we do not know EXACTLY what the virus is because it has never been plated out in an agar plate at a lab to determine exactly what it is.

So, when they asked her what happened to her face, she correctly answered that she wasn't sure. This lack of an answer, apparently set the school nurse in motion to suspect child abuse."

Officer: "I see. Do you have the prescription?"
Me: "No, we're moving. Everything is packed. I have no idea where it is. It was an old prescription that only had two pills left in the bottle. She has not seen a physician for this latest outbreak because I have no insurance for about two more months."

Officer: "Okay. Well, do you have anything that I can use to confirm your story?"

At that point, the only thing I could think of was a text message conversation between that ER Physician and myself from the day before. I had text her, she is a family friend, and told her the rash was back. I asked if there was anything over the counter that Sis could take for the burning pain. She told me to get Sis some Solarcain.

It was this set of messages that I forwarded to Wifey's phone and she showed the Officer.

Officer: "Okay, I see the messages. It certainly DOESN'T look like signs of abuse to me. I think we're all done here."
Me: "Are they free to go home or is the school holding my children?"
Officer: "Oh no, they are free to go. Can I have the ER doctor's phone number and place of employment?"
Me: "Certainly"

Wifey immediately took everyone to Sonic for some comfort food and headed home. After speaking with the Officer, I continued on my mission. I successfully unloaded the trailer and headed back home. I finally walked in the door at 9pm.

We had a family discussion around the dinner table.

After a full debriefing, the summary to this story is this:

-The nurse suspected child abuse based on these facts (but I will attempt to confirm these on Tuesday when we meet with school officials):

-Sis skipped a class on Thursday to hang out with friends in another class before we moved. She was caught, Admin called us and we agreed to 30 minutes of detention after school on Thursday. The next day, she shows up with a scab on the lower lip. The school nurse assumes this is a result of a punishment by her father for getting detention!

-School nurse calls Child Protective Services even after Sis repeatedly denied any abuse. According to Sis, this nurse continuously asked LEADING questions like:

"Does your father not like your boyfriend? Is that why he hit you?"
"Did you get in trouble for receiving detention? Is that why he hit you?"
"It's okay. This is a safe place. You can tell me."

And it went on and on, Sis says.

So, CPS says (luckily) that they can't do anything. The police have to be called first. So the nurse calls the police. It took the police three hours to respond with an officer. Sis had been pulled out of her first hour class (9am-ish) by the school nurse and the questions began at that time. For some reason, the school nurse left for other business and did not return for over four hours. In that time, two male school administrators (Dean of Students and his assistant) questioned Sis over the same things.

Occasionally they switched her to different rooms but she was never left alone. It wasn't until she asked to go to the bathroom that she snuck a text and call to Wifey. She had asked to call her parents and they told her "not right now." They denied her lunch at noon. She missed all her classes and was never fed until Wifey showed up and demanded food for her well after lunch time. At one other point, the school Counselor interviewed her as well. Sis ended up in the front office (and whatever other rooms they took her to) for a total of 4.5 hours.

Finally, a little before 2pm, the Principle (who had been off campus all morning) entered the room and apologized to Wifey. The nurse never showed herself nor spoke to Wifey. Wifey gathered up the kids and headed to Sonic as mentioned earlier.

Now came time for the family meeting. I had a few hours to mull over what had happened on my drive back from up north. I walked in the front door to the house and immediately called a family meeting. As everyone sat around the kitchen table, I praised everyone for their role in the events today.

Queenie did a terrific job of checking on her sister. She knew something was up and left class to gather intel. With a NO CELLPHONE policy in the school, she snuck off to the bathroom and secretly passed the intel to me. We allow our girls to keep their cell phones out of site and volume off (no vibrating) during school. Communication was paramount in this situation.

Sis did a commendable job staying calm and invoking her safe word. She did not panic, cry or lose composure. I praised her repeatedly for her part in helping us figure out what was going on. So PROUD!

Wifey also kept her composure. She could have gone Super Nova on the staff when she was accused of child abuse. Instead, she recognized that in this type of situation, things can go VERY wrong, VERY fast. She knew that just the mention on involving CPS meant that there was a remote chance her children could get taken away from her for no good reason at all. It happens and we've seen the stories in the news. She stayed in control and kept on eye on her flock.

Aside from having initiated the safe word concept at home, I also performed well. I thought of the text message history. I contacted both the aforementioned ER physician during this scandal AND one of my best friends who is a police officer for advice. I helped keep Wifey in check and relayed a few messages to Macky and The Queen during the ordeal. This potentially horrifying event turned out to be rolled in blessings and our family came together and worked like a well oiled machine.

Nobody was terribly upset by the event. I took the opportunity to explain exactly who the CPS is and what they are capable of. I congratulated everyone on a job well done and we concluded that we are truly blessed for the way the whole event unfolded. I was meant to be out of town. Having never been in this situation before (and therefore uneducated on the school protocol for abuse), I immediately thought the school was guilty of false imprisonment. Had I been able to get to the school, I might have done the wrong thing like insist I take my children home and leave the school grounds. My officer friend explained how the school followed protocol by protecting the child from the parent until the allegations were proven false. I understand that now. It is also the school's "right" to not notify the parents in the case of suspected child abuse.

Wifey feels that the Holy Spirit told her everything would be okay. That "feeling in her gut" said not to panic and that everything would work out. This is a HUGE step for her. She usually requires me by her side for important events like this. She instructed me on the phone as she headed up to the school that she was okay and that I needed to continue on my path to the north. We had a schedule to keep and she would be fine. I was a little shocked to be truthful...and very proud. Honestly, I think me being away for two months in Oklahoma has made her a stronger woman. For the first time in our 15 year marriage, she handled EVERYTHING around the house all by herself for over two months. What a woman!

My remaining questions:

1- Why is this career nurse (I found her FaceBook page along with more details about her than I need to know) not capable of distinguishing the difference between abuse wounds and something that looks like a cold sore on a lower lip? The PROPERLY trained Police Officer could easily tell the difference.

2- According to my Police Officer friend, the only school employee that should have been involved with this event was the school nurse. The other three male administrators should not have been involved. The nurse should have investigated the situation and call THE POLICE, not CPS. The Police call CPS after their investigation, if warranted.

3- Does the school nurse FULLY understand the repercussions of alleging a child abuse case before she starts calling everyone? She didn't interview Sister's other two siblings at the school (both are teenagers). There are other teachers at the school that know my children very well. One music teacher has taken Sis to choir practice before school for the past YEAR. She could have told her there had never been signs of child abuse.

4- Why was my teenager denied food?

My girls have gone to this school going on three years now. Personally, I think this nurse is an idiot. I intend to have a meeting with school officials on Tuesday and we are ALL going to learn from this experience. Along the way, I am going to voice my opinion that this nurse be fully trained before she accuses any more families of child abuse.

~OJD

PS, if you don't have an established family safe word...what are you waiting for?