Category: Useful Links 101

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Our Little Getaway

So we invested in a little cottage by the lake in Pembrooke – and this is our little getaway during the weekends – we just loved going there with our little bass boat and while PB and Chloe do their water sport thing, I just lazed around the sun and get a tan. But because Pembrooke is out of town, our cell phone signal isn’t the strongest but have no fear for in Canada – they have cell booster antenna that you can get from your local store in the mall – not expensive at all – and with that you will never have to miss a call. Although we say we are going there to relax, you all know that we need to keep our cellphone ready and available because of the store, so yes! thank God for gadgets like the cell phone booster else I doubt PB would want to buy this little cottage out in Pembrooke. The cottage was cheap and it has lots of potential, come spring next year, we are putting up a sunscreen porch and inviting friends over for more BBQ. woohoo!

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I Need Business Cards Too!

12 yrs as a owner by association to the spouse’s business – you would think that he would get the hint and get me some business cards right? well apparently, my hint wasn’t that good – so I am going to get some business cards by postcards and the price is so cheap – the spouse cannot even say I spend too much on it. For as little as $6.99 for 100 business cards – you cannot go wrong with it – i’ll say. One can even upload your own photo if you so desire – for example if you are a realtor or a mortgage consultant and even a banker – like I get all the time when I visit my bank.

1000 of templates to choose from and if you are not internet savvy – no worries – they have a live chat person to help you along the way. But it’s very easy to do – just follow the instructions – and you will receive your business cards from as little as 2 days. I liked that moms like myself can order as little as 20 business cards just to have when we want to give them out to teachers, principal or other parents for play dates.

And since Christmas is just around the corner – I too am looking at making some personalized greeting cards with our family pictures on it – just like the ones I received every year from friends and family. I admired those cards tremendously and since they are so easy and cheap to make online – I’m going to try it out this year. So friends and family look forward to our family picture in our greeting cards for this year.

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Inviting Play Dates & Mommies

Chloe is currently in Grade 2 and besides her school friends – we also make sure she has friend from other schools. And since she is taking up so many extra-curricular classes, it is inevitable to be asked out for play dates and vice versa. But my play dates usually involves the mommies as well – that way moms can get together and eat, chat and drink – and most importantly relax. Thank God for electric grills , because we can grill just about anything for everyone. So everyone brings whatever they want to feed their kids and just throw it onto the grills I have and it’s that easy. I make lots of ice lemon tea and lemonade for the kids – and for us mommies – I add in a bit of my special liquor – like the cranberry ones that I bought locally from Lunenburg. My play dates are always a hit – because we have the trampoline – the swings and those big inflated castles for the kids to bounce and slide.

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Watching Cantonese Movies On Youtube

I watch a lot of movies from youtube – and I found it really to watch because you don’t have to pay for watching time on youtube – plus I also get to watch some of my favorite concerts on youtube as well. But I would much prefer to be able to download it and watch it anytime I want on my laptop – and there was no way as far as I know whereby one can download a youtube video – until I found video download. It’s great for both PC users and Mac users – I haven’t used it myself but am game to try it out because it said that it was pretty fast downloads. It’s definitely a great app for someone like me who loves her cantonese movies.

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Ways To Save for Your Child’s Education

Saving for a child’s college education is something that takes certain level of dedication and commitment. Starting early and making wise choices will help to ensure that the adequate amount of money is available when the child is ready to attend college. There are a number of key factors to remember when looking at saving for college.

Image Source: http://forthemommas.com/articles/back-to-basics-saving-your-savings

Being Organized

People can have the best of intentions when it comes to saving money. Unfortunately, things get busy and schedules are often hectic. Something as simple as making a deposit into the college fund can easily be forgotten.
The best way to eliminate this problem is through the use of automatic withdrawals. Depending on the specifics, this can be set up so money is withdrawn from a checking account and placed into the college fund on a set schedule.

Regulating Debts

There are most likely going to be other factors that will affect the amount of money that can be placed into a college fund. This can include things such as credit card bills. If a good deal of money is spent simply on paying interest each month, it is difficult to save a substantial amount of money. When looking to set up the college fund, it might also be wise to look into things such as debt consolidation and paying down a particular credit card that carries a high balance.

Choosing the Optimal Savings Account

The type of a savings account that is used can certainly determine how good of a return can be had. For an education account, it is usually a good idea to have one that does not allow withdrawals to be made for a certain period of time.
This will eliminate the possible temptation when it would be easy to borrow money out of the account. Many high interest savings accounts will provide customers with a great interest rates and may feature this stipulation on withdrawals.

In addition to traditional savings accounts through banks, there are a number of different agencies and organizations that give individuals options when it comes to saving for college.

These can include state and federal agencies that offer the ability to set up tax deferred accounts and plans where all interest is not taxable. Looking into state and federal government agencies can usually provide a parent with a wide variety of options that many people might not have previously considered.

It is always best to start early in a child’s life when it comes to saving for his college education. With the right account and a good deal of dedication, any parent should be able to more than adequately provide for this.

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Finding Work After Migrating

Most people write and ask me about finding work in Canada after migrating here – and they also want to know how difficult it is to look for the kind of jobs they are trained for back home. There are lots of jobs to be found around Canada – it’s the matter of finding the right one for you – assuming you speak fairly well in English as well as write in English too. Restaurant Manager Jobs may not be as easy to land – but the hospitality industry has plenty one can opt for. Like I tell everyone – as long as you are willing to work hard – and speak fairly well in English and is computer literate – you should have no problems landing a job in Canada. Places like Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver are more likely to have Asian bosses but even the Canadian bosses have no problems hiring an Asian worker here. But of course – you need to have a Permanent Resident status and not a tourist/visitor status.

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Celebrating Grandparents’ Day

This weekend is Grandparents’ Day – although some may argue that it’s a way commercial business make you buy more gifts and spend money – I think it is important to acknowledge Grandparents who played a very important part in your child’s life. After all, Grandparents are the next closest relative besides the parents right? and even though grandparents don’t look for gratitude – I think it’s important to show Grandparents how much we appreciate their help, love and gifts they pour onto your kids. While I had gotten my mom gifts at Shari’s Berries – for grandparents’ day – we are going to order some cheese and flowers. So for those who are not aware that Grandparents’ day is this weekend – you still have time to order your gifts now – it doesn’t need to be a whole bunch of gifts – just chocolates, cheese or flowers are very nice gestures to show you appreciate them.

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Hurricane Irene

So Hurricane Irene is coming our way – everyone in the East Coast was warned and told to be prepared. We don’t know what is going to come this way – it’s a hit and miss around here but everyone is busy putting away their patio furniture and swing set – and anything that is left out in the yard. We are very lucky because we have a wooden swing set that is nailed deep down into the ground – and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. So each time we have high wind or bad weather – the only thing that doesn’t need moving around is the wooden swing set. We bring in the trampoline, the patio set, the cloth hangers and even the mosquito net comes right down. I hope we won’t get a lot of wind and rain – because it can get nasty – so are you prepared for Hurricane Irene?

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Boating Safety Tips for Kids

As adults boaters, we learn a great deal about safety on the way to earning our boat license. What we often don’t learn, however, is how to share these skills with our children. This can be tricky business because kids tend not to learn well when they’re disinterested and when we overload them. The key then is to seize their attention and to expose them to the information in bite-sized chunks.

Image Source: http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/news/last-call-for-kids-safety-program-72624.aspx

Here are a series of tips that should help:

Tip #1: Teach the kids to swim, and make sure they have ocean experience. Swimming in the ocean is a very different experience, and those with pool-only practice may freeze up in an emergency.

Tip #2: Once the children know how to swim, introduce them to personal flotation devices (PFDs), and explain to them why a PFD is so important. Stress the importance of wearing a PFD at all times, and give them experience wearing the PFD in and out of the water before their first boat trip.

Tip #3: Don’t wait until the first time on the water. Acclimate kids to your boat while you have it on the trailer parked at your house. Make a game out of understanding the terminology, safety locations, danger zones and so forth.

Tip #4: Ensure that they understand the risk of horseplay while on the water, and a great way to avoid this type of behaviour is to give children seated responsibilities while you are driving. If they are having fun and feel as if they are doing something important, they will continue to focus on that activity.

Tip #5: Stress the importance of sitting at all times while the boat is in motion. Standing is only OK when the boat is stopped, and stress that it is never all right to sit or stand on the sides of the boat.

Tip #6: Expose children to all of the equipment on board, and let them learn how to operate it. Begin teaching children how to operate and drive the boat at a very young age. This can prove invaluable in an emergency, and the safest boaters are self-reliant boaters.

Tip #7: However, stress that it is never OK to use that equipment without adult supervision unless there is an emergency. It also important to be strict about your rules, so if the child breaks them, they should lose boating privileges.

Tip #8: While on the boat, always set a good example. Don’t let kids be around adults who don’t take the experience seriously. Keep your eyes on them at all times, and consider using a safety harness for particularly young children who may stray on larger boats.

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Owner By Association

As owner by association to the spouse’s business – I still have to worry about what is going on in the store – and our financial situation and dealing with customers as well as suppliers. Although I tell people that it’s all about PB – it’s not true as we all know it – my ears and eyes are always open and when I am at the store – I play both the good guy and the bad – while PB plays the boss. If you’ve ever run a business – you will know that there is more than meet the eyes – those that think that we are sleeping on money – must be crazy. I wished we had a friend or a business lawyer – like the raleigh business lawyers who handles all aspect of dispute and negotiation for businesses. But in a small town like ours – PB don’t think that there is one that specializes in doing just that. And even though we are a small business – it is always good to have someone who knows all about dealing with irate customers – or what we can do at our store and not do. There are so many little things that I would like to ask our business lawyer if we had one – and since we don’t have one – we are always worrying if we can do certain things or if the cops came for somethings that were sold to us – that were reported stolen – what are our rights as store owners. So yes! being an owner by association – is not as easy as some of you might think – I still worry a lot about the ins and outs of the store.