New Years 2014 Resolutions: I'll Tell You Mine, If You Tell Me Yours

The time of year has come where we all look at the start of a new year as the perfect opportunity to improve -- and with that comes the New Years Resolutions list. I'm not going to lie, for years I skipped out on the whole list idea, simply because I felt that waiting for the start of a new year to change was well, silly. But, as I get older I find that the start of the year makes it easier to meet a lot of goals -- mostly financial goals -- that I wouldn't be able to start mid-year as well as I can on January 1st.

Getting Into the Christmas Spirit - Holiday Treats, Presents Under the Tree and Keurig Coffee

Christmas is here and even though December 1st rolls out and everyone has their lights up, trees out and festivities going on, it takes me a few weeks to really get into the Christmas spirit. Usually it takes a combination of setting up the house, baking off the holiday treats and using the right Keurig cups -- yes, you heard me right.

This year I did all of my holiday baking extra early. Normally I wait until the week before Christmas, so we can enjoy the treats during Christmas, but this year my goal is to do absolutely NOTHING the week of Christmas. Well, perhaps I'll open a few presents, add on a few pounds, and go to family events, but my services are done for the year as of December 20th.

Christmas Shopping 2013: I Thought I Was Done

Wikimedia.org

This year the man and I hit the stores and did a power shopping session, picking up gifts we needed for everyone on a single Sunday. In Utah, Sunday's are prime for Christmas shopping, because no one is out. Also, we didn't feel like fighting the crowds -- because we all know how insane those lines can get the closer it gets to December 25th. We finished and were satisfied we were done, until I realized this morning we forgot two people. Darn.

It was too good to be true! I'm tempted to shop online for these last two gifts, but already the gifts I ordered last month are slowly trickling in now, December 12th. I don't think I want to risk it.

You can thank Walmart for that. They offer "free shipping" that is supposed to arrive in five business days, but what they don't tell you is that it takes 5-10 days for them to assemble your package and ship it. Then it's FIVE MORE DAYS on top of that. I have gifts I ordered November 30th and December 1st and they won't arrive until December 20th!

What is the Lowest You Would Charge for Your Work?

There is nothing worse than reading a job offer that contains the following question:

"What is the lowest you're willing to charge for your work?"

While I understand there are writers out there willing to stoop to less than a penny a word, I have over 10 years experience; therefore, I deserve my dues. I research, I'm thorough and I'm a darn good writer. No I'm not tooting my own horn, I'm stating the facts.