Don't get me wrong I love Twitter and Facebook. I even had a MySpace page for a while, but there is also the side of me that hates social networking. See it all started when I owned my first computer in 1997. I was still married to my first husband Shannon at that time.
He found a friend Candee in a chat room and had an affair that lead to the end of our marriage. I came close to having a nervous breakdown at the time. I just didn't have time for one. My husband left me with a 9 year old child to raise and all of the bills and I only had a part-time job. So, I had to put off my nervous breakdown to work two jobs. I think the work is what kept me sane while my life was falling apart around me.
After a few years of working and putting my self through school I received my degree and was able to only have work one job. I remarried, his name is Billy Joe. We had a beautiful little girl together, but all is not fine in this relationship. See he has found an old girlfriend on Facebook. They are texting and talking to each other secretly. This concerns me because since I have had our daughter I have gained a lot of weight and I already feel like my husband is ashamed to be seen with me.
He claims he loves me and that there is nothing between them, but see I have been down this road before. The only difference this time is I make more money than him, everything is in my name so I have nothing financially to lose. I just have to deal with a broken heart.
I wish I could trust my husband about this girl but it is hard to trust when has been lying to me about who he is talking to on the phone and who has been texting him. I have already went through a lot in our relationship that I know I will someday write about, but today my subject is the fact that I think married men should not secretly talk or text an exgirlfriend or anybody else they meet online.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Managing Debt- Debt Free in Ten Years
Debt is a subject that is close to everyone’s heart these days. There is not one day that the news is not focused on some sort of problem associated with debt. Now I would like to focus on how to manage household debt and to pay off your debt in ten years. Wow, how nice it will be when you can get your paycheck and know that you have enough to live on until the next payday, to know that you will not have to struggle to pay all your bills. Now let’s get started on how we are going to achieve this goal.
First we have to start with making a budget. In order to get the budget that is right for you I want you to keep a record for two weeks of every penny you spend. This will help you to see where your money is going. After we see where your money is going we can decide how to budget for gas, food, entertainment, and eating out. Your bills will be the easiest part of the budget to plan because they are reoccurring so we can look back over the last year and average out the bills that are not the same every month.
Back to your spending habits there are ways you can still have some family fun without spending much money. For instance you can rent movies for free from the public library. This will save you money on your entertainment budget. You can clip coupons for items that you use to save money on your grocery budget. Start a family game night and play boards games with your children this will be fun and save you money.
If you will take your lunch three days a week you can save about $96 a month on your budget. At the grocery store buy the larger sizes of Chicken, hamburger, & pork chops the price by the pound is better on the larger sizes and you can separate out into serving sizes for your family and then freeze. One other way to save some money is to buy the store brands instead of the name brands. In most cases you are only paying extra for the name on the label.
Now that we have come up with ways to cut your spending let’s talk about savings. You should have at least three (3) months salary in a savings account for emergencies at all times. You need to either start a savings account or start to contribute to your current saving until you reach your goal of three (3) months salary. You might be sayings where am I going to come up with extra money to save. You are going to find it by using the ideas previously mentioned to save money. You will also start coming up with your own ways to add to your savings plan.
The third thing we need to do is look at your credit card debt. We need to see how to budget so that you can get your credit cards paid off in the next two years. Our over debt free goal is ten years but the goal for the cards is two years. If your credit card debt is more than $5000 it may take longer than the two year goal.
The next thing that needs to be addressed is car payments. If you have car payments then let’s come up with a plan to add additional principal to your payments. Another goal would be to start additional savings for maintenance and for a replacement car to keep from having to go in debt again for a vehicle. You should also think about the depreciation of a car before you decide to buy another car. It is a lot cheaper to purchase a late model used car that is in good condition then to have to go into debt for the next 5 years for a vehicle that you may not be able to afford.
First we have to start with making a budget. In order to get the budget that is right for you I want you to keep a record for two weeks of every penny you spend. This will help you to see where your money is going. After we see where your money is going we can decide how to budget for gas, food, entertainment, and eating out. Your bills will be the easiest part of the budget to plan because they are reoccurring so we can look back over the last year and average out the bills that are not the same every month.
Back to your spending habits there are ways you can still have some family fun without spending much money. For instance you can rent movies for free from the public library. This will save you money on your entertainment budget. You can clip coupons for items that you use to save money on your grocery budget. Start a family game night and play boards games with your children this will be fun and save you money.
If you will take your lunch three days a week you can save about $96 a month on your budget. At the grocery store buy the larger sizes of Chicken, hamburger, & pork chops the price by the pound is better on the larger sizes and you can separate out into serving sizes for your family and then freeze. One other way to save some money is to buy the store brands instead of the name brands. In most cases you are only paying extra for the name on the label.
Now that we have come up with ways to cut your spending let’s talk about savings. You should have at least three (3) months salary in a savings account for emergencies at all times. You need to either start a savings account or start to contribute to your current saving until you reach your goal of three (3) months salary. You might be sayings where am I going to come up with extra money to save. You are going to find it by using the ideas previously mentioned to save money. You will also start coming up with your own ways to add to your savings plan.
The third thing we need to do is look at your credit card debt. We need to see how to budget so that you can get your credit cards paid off in the next two years. Our over debt free goal is ten years but the goal for the cards is two years. If your credit card debt is more than $5000 it may take longer than the two year goal.
The next thing that needs to be addressed is car payments. If you have car payments then let’s come up with a plan to add additional principal to your payments. Another goal would be to start additional savings for maintenance and for a replacement car to keep from having to go in debt again for a vehicle. You should also think about the depreciation of a car before you decide to buy another car. It is a lot cheaper to purchase a late model used car that is in good condition then to have to go into debt for the next 5 years for a vehicle that you may not be able to afford.
The Paperless Office
The purpose of this paper is to inform you on how to set-up a paperless office. The set-up will include the evaluation and planning of the paperless office. I will use an insurance office for my paper. I want to show you why insurance office should scan their documents and keep their files electronically instead of the old fashion paper file.
Evaluation:
This is the stage where you will look at your current resources such as your agency management system, hardware, duel monitors, and the type of scanning that you will what to do in your office. There are three options as to when items can be scanned: 1-When paper is received; 2- as the paper is worked, 3- and after the paper is worked.
For this paper we will only talk about Front-end scanning- this type of scanning is when all mail is scanned into the system in the mail room and distributed electronically to the Staff. Since the greatest benefit of Front-end scanning is that no mail can be over looked because it is being scanned as it is received by the agency in the mailroom. This will protect the agency from missing any items. It will also help the workflows of the agency because the items will be easier to process if they are already scanned to the staff.
Planning Stage:
The planning stage is when you look at the different software programs that can help your office to process the mail electronically, you want to make certain that the system you choose is ser friendly, easy to integrate into your management system, and easy for your employees to retrieve information from.
This is also the stage when you will set-up the time frame to take your entire office paperless. It is easier to take the office paperless if you start with one department at a time. The easy department from my experience to start with is the Personal Lines Department because most of their policies are usually received electronically through a download, so this department is usually almost paperless when you begin this process.
You will also want to get dual monitors for all of your Staffs this way they can run their agency management system on one monitor while they have the paperless system running in the other monitor. Studies have shown that the implantation of dual monitors alone can raise productivity by 30percent in most offices.[i]
Remember for change to be effective it must be complete. You must be committed to the change. If you believe that there is room to hedge, cheat, or otherwise hang on to the past, the change will not succeed. This is an important to teach to everyone in your office start in the planning stage teaching that change is a good thing and it will help the transition to the paperless system.
Scanning can help bring productivity up by eliminating the need for staff to leave their desk to access information. With a conservative estimate that every trip away from a desk results in a loss of seven (7) minutes due to inevitable small talk with peers, coffee refill, bathroom and/or smoke breaks, mailroom stop, and any of the other myriad of possible distractions, these trips add up quickly.[ii]
Implementation stage:
The first thing you should do in this stage is to teach your staff to think paperless. This will help them to learn to process their mail in the new paperless workflow system. You want to stress to them that they still have the paper it is just digital now. The best way to start your staff into thinking paperless is to not give them any paper copies. If they have to access the paperless system to retrieve their mail and to process it they will start to embrace the paperless thinking a lot quicker.
Another way to start your staff into thinking paperless is to stop buying them paperless calendars. In learning to use the electronic calendar such as Outlook, the staff will learn to utilize more of the paperless technology that they already have at their disposal. You can also make a shared office calendar, to post vacations, birthdays, important staff meeting and etc.
One of the most important thing you need to do in this stage is to decide who will be your point person for the office, this person will be in charge of training employees and will be there to assist with questions. This person should not only be your troubleshooter, they should also be the person to work out the workflows so that everyone on your staff use the same workflows to process their mail. One of the most important things you will teach your staff is to be consistent.
Go Live Stage:
After you have taken your staff live on the paperless system, make certain that you have bins that your scanning operator can put the mail in everyday after it has been scanned. The mail should be kept 60 days at first the shredded. You can revise the amount of days that you are going to keep the scanned mail after about six (6) months. Make certain that you put all the scanning guidelines into your office workflow manual, this way all of the staff will know all the guidelines for your new paperless way of thinking and working.
Auditing stage:
You should start to audit your staff after they have been working in the paperless system for about 30 days. Randomly pick accounts for each staff member to make certain that they understand the new way to process. You will also want to start running reports starting after the first week of all the incoming mail and what they have processed this way you can track to see if the system is helping your staff to work more efficiently. The reports will also help you to keep track of what staff members are able to complete all of their job duties and the ones who need additional help or training.
Feedback stage:
This will be an ongoing stage that will help you to refine your workflows based on staff feedback. This stage will help you to know what workflows have to be reworked so that the staff can process more efficiently. It will also help you to know if you need to refine your processes for any internal audits.
[i] The Paperless Office By: Robert E Dunn III page 15
[ii] The Paperless Office By: Robert E Dunn III page 18
Evaluation:
This is the stage where you will look at your current resources such as your agency management system, hardware, duel monitors, and the type of scanning that you will what to do in your office. There are three options as to when items can be scanned: 1-When paper is received; 2- as the paper is worked, 3- and after the paper is worked.
For this paper we will only talk about Front-end scanning- this type of scanning is when all mail is scanned into the system in the mail room and distributed electronically to the Staff. Since the greatest benefit of Front-end scanning is that no mail can be over looked because it is being scanned as it is received by the agency in the mailroom. This will protect the agency from missing any items. It will also help the workflows of the agency because the items will be easier to process if they are already scanned to the staff.
Planning Stage:
The planning stage is when you look at the different software programs that can help your office to process the mail electronically, you want to make certain that the system you choose is ser friendly, easy to integrate into your management system, and easy for your employees to retrieve information from.
This is also the stage when you will set-up the time frame to take your entire office paperless. It is easier to take the office paperless if you start with one department at a time. The easy department from my experience to start with is the Personal Lines Department because most of their policies are usually received electronically through a download, so this department is usually almost paperless when you begin this process.
You will also want to get dual monitors for all of your Staffs this way they can run their agency management system on one monitor while they have the paperless system running in the other monitor. Studies have shown that the implantation of dual monitors alone can raise productivity by 30percent in most offices.[i]
Remember for change to be effective it must be complete. You must be committed to the change. If you believe that there is room to hedge, cheat, or otherwise hang on to the past, the change will not succeed. This is an important to teach to everyone in your office start in the planning stage teaching that change is a good thing and it will help the transition to the paperless system.
Scanning can help bring productivity up by eliminating the need for staff to leave their desk to access information. With a conservative estimate that every trip away from a desk results in a loss of seven (7) minutes due to inevitable small talk with peers, coffee refill, bathroom and/or smoke breaks, mailroom stop, and any of the other myriad of possible distractions, these trips add up quickly.[ii]
Implementation stage:
The first thing you should do in this stage is to teach your staff to think paperless. This will help them to learn to process their mail in the new paperless workflow system. You want to stress to them that they still have the paper it is just digital now. The best way to start your staff into thinking paperless is to not give them any paper copies. If they have to access the paperless system to retrieve their mail and to process it they will start to embrace the paperless thinking a lot quicker.
Another way to start your staff into thinking paperless is to stop buying them paperless calendars. In learning to use the electronic calendar such as Outlook, the staff will learn to utilize more of the paperless technology that they already have at their disposal. You can also make a shared office calendar, to post vacations, birthdays, important staff meeting and etc.
One of the most important thing you need to do in this stage is to decide who will be your point person for the office, this person will be in charge of training employees and will be there to assist with questions. This person should not only be your troubleshooter, they should also be the person to work out the workflows so that everyone on your staff use the same workflows to process their mail. One of the most important things you will teach your staff is to be consistent.
Go Live Stage:
After you have taken your staff live on the paperless system, make certain that you have bins that your scanning operator can put the mail in everyday after it has been scanned. The mail should be kept 60 days at first the shredded. You can revise the amount of days that you are going to keep the scanned mail after about six (6) months. Make certain that you put all the scanning guidelines into your office workflow manual, this way all of the staff will know all the guidelines for your new paperless way of thinking and working.
Auditing stage:
You should start to audit your staff after they have been working in the paperless system for about 30 days. Randomly pick accounts for each staff member to make certain that they understand the new way to process. You will also want to start running reports starting after the first week of all the incoming mail and what they have processed this way you can track to see if the system is helping your staff to work more efficiently. The reports will also help you to keep track of what staff members are able to complete all of their job duties and the ones who need additional help or training.
Feedback stage:
This will be an ongoing stage that will help you to refine your workflows based on staff feedback. This stage will help you to know what workflows have to be reworked so that the staff can process more efficiently. It will also help you to know if you need to refine your processes for any internal audits.
[i] The Paperless Office By: Robert E Dunn III page 15
[ii] The Paperless Office By: Robert E Dunn III page 18
Chilli Beans
3lbs hamburger meat
1 large onion chopped
2cloves garlic
2 cans Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes
2 Cans chilli beans
1 can tomatoe sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon redpepper flakes
2 tablespoons chilli seasoning
6-8 pieces of bacon
3 tablespoons Texas pete
Brown hamburger meat and drain
cook bacon in separate pan, set bacon aside then add onoins and garlic to pan and brown.
In large pot add hamburger meat crumbled bacon, cooked onions and garlic, and all other ingreditants. Also add about 2 cups of warm water. Simmer for a couple of hours then serve with warm cornbread.
1 large onion chopped
2cloves garlic
2 cans Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes
2 Cans chilli beans
1 can tomatoe sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon redpepper flakes
2 tablespoons chilli seasoning
6-8 pieces of bacon
3 tablespoons Texas pete
Brown hamburger meat and drain
cook bacon in separate pan, set bacon aside then add onoins and garlic to pan and brown.
In large pot add hamburger meat crumbled bacon, cooked onions and garlic, and all other ingreditants. Also add about 2 cups of warm water. Simmer for a couple of hours then serve with warm cornbread.
How to get parents more involved with their child's education
“The school’s best ally in the task of nurturing a student’s innate ‘urge to learn’ is, first and foremost, the parents,” says Bernie Poole in his online book Education for an Information Age.[1] How to get parent more involved with their child’s education? This may seem like a simple question, but with working parents, language differences, economic and cultural divisions, and a history of schools regarding parents as intruders and critics rather than partners.[2] The challenge that faces America educators today is how to get parents more involved with their child’s education.
Communication is an essential ingredient in parent involvement[3], It is important to set-up the communication with parents at the first meeting. Most of the time the first meeting will be at an open house at the school. It is good to try to spend a few minutes speaking with each parent to see the best forms of communication to keep in contact with the parents. Forms of communication for each parent can be different depending on their employment and education. Some parents may prefer email; where as other parents will want a phone call.
It is also very important that you let the parents know that communication works both ways and give them the best ways to reach you about any issues they or their child may be having in school. You should also let parents know early on about letters you will send home, test dates, what is expected of their child in your class. At the first meeting with the parent you can also ask if they would be willing or able to volunteer at the school in any capacity. The more you can get the parents in the school the more you will be able to get them involved with their child and sometimes it will even help other children who have uninvolved parents to have someone other than their teacher to look up to at school.
Other forms of communication that are used to help get parents involved are websites and newsletters. Teachers can set up their websites to show weekly updates of homework assignments, classroom projects, and publish students work. The websites can link to the school and district websites. You can also link to educational sites for games, trivia, and world knowledge. Make the site useful for parents and fun for the children so that the whole family will enjoy going to your website. Almost 96 percent of U.S. schools now have Websites.[4]
Newsletters are another way to keep parents informed of what is going on in their child’s class. You can decide on whether to do a weekly, bi-weekly, or a monthly newsletter and have the students help with putting the newsletter together. You can include the lunch menu, items your class is studying, writing projects of the students.
Communication can also be used for good reasons. You can call a parent to tell them how well their child did on a test, or just to let them know they have a polite and considerate child. Parents will appreciate the good news and it will help to keep the lines of communication open between the teacher and the parents.
After many years of intense effort to increase parent involvement in schools, the results are beginning to appear in the educational research. The news is good for schools where parent involvement is high, and the benefits for children are encouraging. Where parents are involved in children’s schools and education, children have higher grades and standardized test scores, improved behavior at home and school, and better social skills and adaptation to school.[5]
Parents can be involved in many ways, volunteering at school, PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization), homework, after school activities, dinner conversations, reading with the child, and keeping the lines of communication with their child open. Parents would care enough to talk to their child and to spend time doing positive activities with their children will see more positive results from their child at school. Teachers give kids more attention when they know their parents from school visits.[6]
[1] http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev124.shtml
[2] http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev124.shtml
[3] http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev124.shtml
[4] http://www.education-worls.com/a_curr/prodev124.shtml
[5] http://childparenting.about.com/cs/parentinvolvement/a/parentschool/htm?p=1
[6] http://childparenting.about.com/cs/parentinvolvement/a/parentschool.htm?p=1
Communication is an essential ingredient in parent involvement[3], It is important to set-up the communication with parents at the first meeting. Most of the time the first meeting will be at an open house at the school. It is good to try to spend a few minutes speaking with each parent to see the best forms of communication to keep in contact with the parents. Forms of communication for each parent can be different depending on their employment and education. Some parents may prefer email; where as other parents will want a phone call.
It is also very important that you let the parents know that communication works both ways and give them the best ways to reach you about any issues they or their child may be having in school. You should also let parents know early on about letters you will send home, test dates, what is expected of their child in your class. At the first meeting with the parent you can also ask if they would be willing or able to volunteer at the school in any capacity. The more you can get the parents in the school the more you will be able to get them involved with their child and sometimes it will even help other children who have uninvolved parents to have someone other than their teacher to look up to at school.
Other forms of communication that are used to help get parents involved are websites and newsletters. Teachers can set up their websites to show weekly updates of homework assignments, classroom projects, and publish students work. The websites can link to the school and district websites. You can also link to educational sites for games, trivia, and world knowledge. Make the site useful for parents and fun for the children so that the whole family will enjoy going to your website. Almost 96 percent of U.S. schools now have Websites.[4]
Newsletters are another way to keep parents informed of what is going on in their child’s class. You can decide on whether to do a weekly, bi-weekly, or a monthly newsletter and have the students help with putting the newsletter together. You can include the lunch menu, items your class is studying, writing projects of the students.
Communication can also be used for good reasons. You can call a parent to tell them how well their child did on a test, or just to let them know they have a polite and considerate child. Parents will appreciate the good news and it will help to keep the lines of communication open between the teacher and the parents.
After many years of intense effort to increase parent involvement in schools, the results are beginning to appear in the educational research. The news is good for schools where parent involvement is high, and the benefits for children are encouraging. Where parents are involved in children’s schools and education, children have higher grades and standardized test scores, improved behavior at home and school, and better social skills and adaptation to school.[5]
Parents can be involved in many ways, volunteering at school, PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization), homework, after school activities, dinner conversations, reading with the child, and keeping the lines of communication with their child open. Parents would care enough to talk to their child and to spend time doing positive activities with their children will see more positive results from their child at school. Teachers give kids more attention when they know their parents from school visits.[6]
[1] http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev124.shtml
[2] http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev124.shtml
[3] http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev124.shtml
[4] http://www.education-worls.com/a_curr/prodev124.shtml
[5] http://childparenting.about.com/cs/parentinvolvement/a/parentschool/htm?p=1
[6] http://childparenting.about.com/cs/parentinvolvement/a/parentschool.htm?p=1
Friday, February 6, 2009
About Me Part 1
I still live in the same small town in South Carolina that I was born and raised in, and I can not see myself ever living anywhere else. I love my hometown. My parents divorced when I was young and my sister and I lived with our mother.
When my sister left for college I moved in with our father because our mom moved to the next town over and I did not want to move away from my friends. I lived with my dad and step mom until I was 16 years old. See I got pregant by my high school sweetheart and even though it was 1987 at this point my dad made us get married so we would not ruin his good name.
So, on September 22, 1987 I became Mrs. Shannon Keith Pennington. We lived with his parents for the first 18 months of our marriage. It wasn't so bad but it was a lot better after we brought our house.
On March 16, 1988 I became a mother to Carrie Marie Pennington. She was born 4 weeks early, but she was very healthy. She weighed 6lbs 6oz. I on the other hand almost bleed to death and had to have 3 transfussions before I was able to leave the hospital.
Shannon and I separated after 11 years of marriage and Carrie and I moved to a smaller house. I went from being a stay at home mom to working full time and putting myself through college.
It was Carrie and me against the world until December 2002, when Billy Joe took us on our first date. He took Carrie and me to see 8mile (Carrie picked the movie). Billy and I have been together ever since.
I married Billy on March 27, 2004 and we had a daughter Patricia on August 14, 2004. We are happy most days just like most married couples, but he really is my other half. He is the half of me that makes me silly.
I am a worrier and I have a hard time just having fun. Billy loves to be silly with our daughter and to just roll around in the floor and act like a 4 year old he brings out a side in me that makes me feel young again.
This is just a brief overview of my life. Hope you enjoyed reading this, and I will write more later.
When my sister left for college I moved in with our father because our mom moved to the next town over and I did not want to move away from my friends. I lived with my dad and step mom until I was 16 years old. See I got pregant by my high school sweetheart and even though it was 1987 at this point my dad made us get married so we would not ruin his good name.
So, on September 22, 1987 I became Mrs. Shannon Keith Pennington. We lived with his parents for the first 18 months of our marriage. It wasn't so bad but it was a lot better after we brought our house.
On March 16, 1988 I became a mother to Carrie Marie Pennington. She was born 4 weeks early, but she was very healthy. She weighed 6lbs 6oz. I on the other hand almost bleed to death and had to have 3 transfussions before I was able to leave the hospital.
Shannon and I separated after 11 years of marriage and Carrie and I moved to a smaller house. I went from being a stay at home mom to working full time and putting myself through college.
It was Carrie and me against the world until December 2002, when Billy Joe took us on our first date. He took Carrie and me to see 8mile (Carrie picked the movie). Billy and I have been together ever since.
I married Billy on March 27, 2004 and we had a daughter Patricia on August 14, 2004. We are happy most days just like most married couples, but he really is my other half. He is the half of me that makes me silly.
I am a worrier and I have a hard time just having fun. Billy loves to be silly with our daughter and to just roll around in the floor and act like a 4 year old he brings out a side in me that makes me feel young again.
This is just a brief overview of my life. Hope you enjoyed reading this, and I will write more later.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Messy Rooms
When is a child too old for mom to still have to clean up their room? I ask this questions because I have a daughter who is almost 21 years old and if her room gets clean it is because I have cleaned it. I hate the mess. It smells. and I have been refusing to clean it but I might breakdown this weekend and donate all of her stuff to Goodwill.
She has always been a messy child, and now is a messy adult. She is a full-time college student but she still has plenty of time to organize and clean her room. Does anyone out there have any suggesstions on how to make her clean her room? Please help!! The mess makes me break out in hives just to look at it.
She has always been a messy child, and now is a messy adult. She is a full-time college student but she still has plenty of time to organize and clean her room. Does anyone out there have any suggesstions on how to make her clean her room? Please help!! The mess makes me break out in hives just to look at it.
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