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Habits of Happy People Could Make You Happier

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Have you got a case of the blues? Are you feeling frustrated and upset by stories in the news? Try adopting some of the habits of happy people. Doing so could make you feel more connected to your life, give you a sense of purpose, and make your overall outlook a happier one. An article at MindBodyGreen points out seven of the habits that are practiced by the happiest people. You might not be doing them. That isn’t really your fault, though, because few people talk about how they manage to stay so happy all the time. The main idea … Continue reading →

How to Make Eating at Home Fun

Eating at home saves money. That is just a fact. I took my kids out to lunch at a family friendly restaurant for a treat, and with tip we spend half of our weekly food bill that feeds not only the kids and I but also my husband. Since we don’t often eat out, I had forgotten how much it really costs to eat out these days. Still, the kids love to do it. In fact, eight times out of ten that would normally be their choice. Well, it was that way, before I started getting more purposeful about making … Continue reading →

Would You Lease A Pet?

If you’re thinking about getting a pet but aren’t sure you can handle the responsibility, you still have a few options.  Consider volunteering for a shelter, pet-sitting for a friend, or fostering a pet; there are even some short-term fostering situations.  If none of these appeal to you, or if you have a little extra money to spend on your pet, you now have another option: lease a pet.  MSN has the details. A company called Hannah’s Pet Society has started a new business: leasing pets.  Here’s how it works: interested parties go to one of the company’s two stores … Continue reading →

Does it Make Sense to Charge Smokers More?

Health insurance companies tend to charge a higher premium for people who smoke. Employers may impose a higher premium on workers who are smokers than they do for workers who are non-smokers. Does this make sense? This is a question many are asking right now. It is a rather controversial concept. Should people who smoke, or people who are obese, pay more for their health insurance premium than people who are healthier? Is it fair to impose a higher rate on a group of people who are less healthy than the others? Does the penalty really influence people to change … Continue reading →

Two Small Budget Home Improvements that Make a Big Impact

Owning a home means that there is always something to fix or to improve. Living in our homes, we tend to see all of the things we would like to change. Homeowners can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars on home improvement projects each year. Most of us, however, don’t have the luxury of an unlimited home improvement budget. Does that mean that we have to forego improvements completely? Of course not! Small budget home improvement projects are quite possible. In fact, if you know where to apply your money, you can experience big changes in your home for … Continue reading →

The Difference Between Friendship and Marriage

Sometimes I wonder what the difference is between friendship and marriage.  Not casual friendship, or even good friendship, but really-close, best-friends, rely-on-each-other-for-everything friendship.  If we look to the media for answers, it seems to imply that the only difference is physical desire.  In movies and television, the only or at least primary distinguishable change in the relationship between two characters that are best friends, and then become something more, is that their relationship adds a sexual element. Those are usually my favorite types of stories (as opposed to ones where the characters aren’t friends but jump right to dating), only … Continue reading →

Generational Differences in Marriage Dynamics: Cooking

Due to all of my volunteering, I spend a lot of time each week with people who are more in my parents’ generation than mine. That’s normal enough; once we graduate and enter the work force, our pool of peers naturally expands beyond our age group. I have no problem with this most of the time, but once in a while I feel our generational difference, and that usually relates to our views on marriage. My friends don’t have extremely different views on marriage than me; they’re certainly not the types who think their husbands rule the roost. I don’t … Continue reading →

Find What You Love and Then Make It

Last summer, you would find us making a trip, almost every Saturday morning, to the local farmer’s market. In addition to the fresh fruit and vegetables, we would inevitably pick up a few snacks as well, especially scones. The problem is that one small package of two scones was priced at $5, and we needed several for our family, so this added up to about $20 for eight scones each week. This year, everyone still looked forward to scones, but instead of purchasing the scones, I decided to make them from scratch. Since I didn’t want to spend a lot … Continue reading →

The Difference between a Job and a Career

Do you have a job or a career? You might think there isn’t a difference between the two but there really is. Figuring out where you are might help determine the next steps you need to take. A job is generally something you do temporarily. It may not have anything to do with what you are truly gifted at or what you would really like to do. You generally don’t expect to last long doing it. On the other hand, a career tends to move you toward your ultimate goal. It is something you plan on sticking with. Of course, … Continue reading →

Special Needs Blog Week in Review – Week of February 26 – March 3, 2012

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Every week, the Special Needs Blog Week in Review gives you a quick description of each of the blogs that appeared on here in the past seven days. This is a good way to catch up on whatever you may have missed, or on blogs that you wanted to read but ran out of time for. The Special Needs Podcast Roundup went up on February 27, 2012. This week, I would like to point out an episode from the Hold the Gluten podcast that is titled: “Pizza Perfection”. It talks about a place that makes delicious gluten-free pizzas. As a … Continue reading →