Work at home for 20 somethings, teleTwenties.com

I'm using affilliate links from time to time. I wanted you to know.

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:15:00 +0000

I realized that I used an affiliate link in my blog post yesterday about building niche sites without telling you. As a former newspaper reporter, I couldn't live with myself without posting about it.

A full disclosure policy is included in the footer of my blog. But, for those of you who don't scroll past the newest post, I thought you should know. And, for the newbies, an affiliate link is a link to a site to which I'm affiliate meaning I get paid if you sign up at the affiliate site or buy something.

I started including advertising and affiliate links in the sidebar of this blog this past summer. After all, this is a blog about making money and working from home. My newest interest, making money off my own sites is spilling into this site. But, at the same time, monetization isn't my main goal here.

The affiliate links are for services I already use or have used or just generally like and support. For example, yesterday I included my affiliate link for HostGator when talking about setting up hosting for my new sites.

From time to time I'll use these affiliate links. Sometimes I'll spell out for you it's an affiliate link, other times it will be obvious. Hope you can deal with it.

My newest online experiment: building niche sites

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:51:00 +0000

I still haven't been pursuing a full-time work at home career, but instead have focused on the impending birth of my first child. Cora Mae is due December 4, and I've managed to turn being pregnant into a full-time job.

I posted a couple months ago about hoping to create a passive income from home while pregnant. I've had some success at eHow. I've written about 45 articles and am averaging about $35 a month. Each article takes between 10 and 30 minutes to write so I've only put in about 8 hours of writing time there. If my earnings stay the same, I'll make about $420 this year for those 8 hours. And, could earn for years into the future. My investment there should pay off, and I love the flexibility of this type of income.

This month, I'm creating a niche Web site. A lot more work because I'll have to write the Web site content based upon keyword research and set up the back end stuff, but I'm interested to see how profitable this can me. Based on my keyword research, I've picked student loan consolidation as my niche. The research shouldn't be too bad because I've been thinking about looking into consolidating my own loans and needed to do some research any how.

I'm still learning much. For anyone who would like to create a niche site along with me, I've used this eBook from Caroline Middlebrook to learn about how to use Wordpress to create a static site and an eBook by Josh Spaulding to learn about picking a profitable niche and how to market the site.

I've set up the hosting through HostGator and bought a domain. This week I'm busy getting ready for a baby shower at my house, but next week will be all about content.

My goal is to have the niche site up and running by the time baby is here. Any advice?

A quick and easy post about a quick and easy way to make extra money. Cloud Crowd, a new MTurk type site pays daily.

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:06:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I read about a Facebook app that pays daily. I quickly filed the opportunity into my scam folder and moved on, but the buzz around this new site was too much for me to not check it out.

CloudCrowd is indeed a Facebook app that pays daily. The app works a lot like Amazon Mechanical Turk. Users complete tiny jobs and are paid for job. Cloud Crowd pays anywhere from $.05 to $1.50 per task.

I was especially leery, but have seen several posts with proof of payment. The application also doesn't butt into your normal Facebook stream and seems non-invasive in general.

After each task is approved, payment usually comes via PayPal within 24 hours, according to reports on forums and blogs around the web.

My only problem after signing up is a lack of available tasks. I'm curious about what this could pay per hour. I've read reports of people making around $10 per hour when constant work is a available.

The application also pays for referrals. In the interest of self disclosure, I've used my referal link in this post.

Anyone have more to report on CloudCrowd? I'm anxious to learn more.

Teletwenties is for sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:05:00 +0000

I'm selling out. The decision wasn't easy. As some of you might remember, I've been thinking of selling/stopping altogether Teletwenties for about 6 months now.

I started the blog for people like me. Only, my life has changed so much in the past year, I'm no longer a person like me. Teletwenties was for the childless telecommuter in their 20s who wanted to work at home just for the hell of it. Now, I'm a momma to be and no longer work from home.

Owning Teletwenties has been an awesome experience. I feel like I'm friends with some of the people I meet through blogging and whenever someone reports I helped them find a job, get a better or job, or become inspired to work at home, my day was made.

I'll save all the mushy gushy stuff for my goodbye post, which I'll be writing to transfer power of the work at home for 20 somethings world to a new owner.

I have no idea how selling a blog works, so I'm going to keep it simple. Just the facts:

Teletwenties is PR3.
The blog has been around for 11 months.
I've been active in social media, branding the blog
I won't dissapear and will provide support during the transfer.
This is a blog from passion. I never tried to monetize it until this month, throwing up some AdSense ads so I can't answer many questions about the earning potential.
Last month, I had over 500 visitors and over 800 page views.

Email me for more info at teletwenties@gmail.com

Make any reasonable offer and I'll consider and get back to you!

I didn't wanna write this post, but I did it anyway. Work at home motivation.

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:04:00 +0000

I have to admit, without a work at home job and not being on the search has made coming up with regular post material a little difficult.

I am still trying to set myself up to make some residual income down the line through niche sites and a little bit of writing for some of the higher earning content sites.

Since I'm not full of wisdom about the daily work at home life right now or a telecommuting job search, thought I'd share a philosophy that stuck with me: Do one thing every day that you don't want to do. Not sure where I first heard it, but it keeps coming up in my mind when I start to think about my future success.

Awesome advice for telecommuters. Even if your days are structured and you work for the man, you don't have someone breathing down our necks or the sight of productive co-workers to drive you.

So next time you aren't in the mood to spruce up your resume for a job search, write a blog post, or write that follow up email, do it right anyway.

So even though I'm tired and don't really wanna, I'm writing this blog post.

On a side note, I'm working on a review for a site that's been in the works for some time. I'll talk about FlexJobs later this week. A must read for anyone in the middle of a work at home job search.

What happens when you don’t meet your weekly work at home goals?

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Working at home generally means less accountability to the powers that be. Since I’m currently unemployed, I’m accountable only to myself. So, who bitches at me when I grossly under produce and miss my weekly goals?

Last week, I shared my personal renaissance spurred from a change in the way I organize. I started writing out weekly and long-term goals and saw my productivity increase and my mood improve.

I can insert all the usual excuses here, I’m pregnant and lazy, was preparing for a visit from in-laws, had the starts of a cold. But, in the end, I didn’t meet the work at home goals I set for last week.

This made me start to spiral. Sunday, my usual goal making day, came and went, and I didn’t even consider taking time to write down my weekly to-do list.

Getting off track with my weekly goals is not all doom and gloom. I’ve gotten material for a post and more importantly, my experience might be helpful if you too find yourself drifting off course.

What I learned after missing my goals:

Get back on track right away. As soon as I came out of my stupor I decided not to use this experience as an excuse to permanently drift back off to unfocused worker land.
Set goals you’ll easily make for the next week or so. Maybe the reason you failed to meet all of your goals is you were over ambitious.
Create some outside accountability. Talk to your spouse or close friends about what you’re up to this week knowing they’ll ask about it later in the week.
Understand that sometimes excuses are valid. Life does get in the way and we won’t always make all of our goals.

How do your rebound after not accomplishing all your goals?

How to use goal setting to move past a work at home slump

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:25:00 +0000

Sigh. Another goal setting post on one of your favorite home office blogs.

Admit it, those were some of your thoughts when you saw the title of my post. There’s a reason every blog, probably even most of the splogs (spam+blogs) out there have written about goal setting. It works.

Not only does setting work at home goals bring steady success. I’m convinced you can’t succeed without constantly setting and resetting goals.

Hasn’t made me obscenely rich, yet. But, setting weekly goals for my telecommuting life did pull me out of a prenatal depression. Well more, of a quit smoking because I was knocked up depression, but I suppose that’s a post better left for my pregnancy blog.

I have a theory that most successful people set goals. Even Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter dominance started with a goal, to beat CNN for most followers. Not that having millions of Twitter followers just to have followers is really success, but Ashton is certainly successful in his eyes.

I personally write my goals on a legal notebook and keep them by the computer, doing a daily check in to see where I’m at and to set mini goals for that day. That’s the start of this week’s goal list in the not so good picture I look with my BlackBerry above.

After all, how are we going to end up anywhere if we haven’t put real thought into where we’d like to go. Setting long term goals keeps us on track and in my case shakes off my career blues when I think about how I’m not quite where I’d imagined myself.

Goal setting paves the path from who we thought we'd be to who we're working on becoming. I might not be a successful newspaper reporter (what a time to enter that profession), but somehow when I accomplish a weekly goal, I can bury the old goals my old self made that I never quite accomplished and move on to what I hope are goals that better fit who I am now.

My residual income experiment, or boasting my unemployed ego

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Unemployment is soul sucking. Getting laid off while pregnant is soul crushing.

Even if I could find someone willing to hire a six month pregnant women (I wouldn’t even hire a six months pregnant lady), I don’t think I have what it takes to start a new job. Enter residual income. I'll talk about that below, but first the soul crushing.

The extra hours, learning curve, and new-job stress would be beyond what my fragile emotional state could take right now. As I see it, it will be about a year before I can juggle a new job. New job will almost certainly mean change of career and a move.

My husband and I aren’t rich, but through our low cost of living and my frugal ways, we’ve made it so I don’t have to work right now. But, I tend to be a hopeless moping mess without some sort of direction.

My reentry into the blogging world coincided with a search for something to do that would further my yet to be determined new career. Something without a commitment. While I thankfully — everyone knock on wood — haven’t had any major complications, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional issues, fatigue and total brain fog that accompany my pregnancy. I simply don't see how pregnant women function at work, but yet all over the world perfectly capable pregnant ladies are doing wonderful jobs everyday.

And, I’ll fess up that soul crushing I mentioned above cooled my job search enthusiasm.

With a journalism degree and print writing experience, my immediate thought was freelance writing. But, I worried about possible anxiety attacks from overly critical editors and clients. If you can’t sense a theme, this pregnancy has made me a stressed and sometimes depressed mess — the latter probably from giving up my smoking habit.

Enter my renewed interest in residual income. For those not familiar, residual income, or passive income, for a writer is money earned from articles based on page views or ad clicks or some other formula. Basically, the article has the potential to earn for months and years after originally written.

Some freelance writers shy away from writing for residual income arguing the site that published the article could one day close, losing any potential income. The fact that a published article isn’t guaranteed to make a penny also turns off some writers.

I don’t plan on turning this into a blog about residual income, but you will see the topic come up more. I’m adding a link to my navigational bar where I’m going to track goals and progress and talk about what I learn from my residual income experiment.

Any advice as I barrel down the residual income path?

UPDATE: I think the comments on this post about what is/isn't residual income are important. Jump in the conversation.

Mashable’s Weekly Guide to Web Development & Social Media Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:23:00 +0000

Found this awesome list from Mashable, and thought I'd try out Google Reader's new send to feature. The send to feature allows you to send stories to sites like Blogger, Facebook, and Twitter.

UPDATE: The "send to" feature made me a content scrapper. I didn't think it would post the entire post. I've edited most of the original post below. Visit Mashable for social media job leads.

Mashable’s Weekly Guide to Web Development & Social Media Jobs: "

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boards are a place for socially-savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space, and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards:

Mashable Job Board Listings

Connections Planner/Media Supervisor at Cole & Weber United in Seattle, WA.

The Connections Planner works closely with the Connections Architect to fulfill the strategic connections vision for how to carve new paths for how brands should interact with people and for how to drive ideas into the world in more powerful and impactful ways.

Do you have what it takes to make a living working at home?

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:05:00 +0000

I've had much fun spending the weekend reading blogs and forums. I suggest everyone take an entire day at some point to just read and learn. But, more than anything I've become inspired to pick up my working at home journey where I left off.

One of a ton of great blogs I found is No Job for Mom. This quote stuck with me and thought I'd share:

"Once you earn 1 cent on the internet, you know you have what it takes to earn $1. After you earn $1 you know you have what it takes to earn $10, $100, $1,000 and so on. The only thing that will stop you is if you quit."

I've definitely made my first cent, so here goes!

How are you keeping inspired these days?

Is working from home the end goal for you, or just a nice perk for now?

My newest blogging project. Introducing "Instructions Not Included."

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:57:00 +0000

Does the world really need another mommy blog? I've asked myself this question at least a hundred times over the past few weeks. Have you ever balked at entering a heavily saturated market?

Well, here's the conclusion I finally came to. A blog needs to be about something I'm passionate about. My friends are a little sick of the pregnancy talk, many of them aren't parents and just don't get that being pregnant takes over your entire world. So, why not combine my passion with a need to vent and have another outlet for all things baby momma related.

I finally took the plunge, and wrote my first post and (attempted) to create a design for Instructions Not Included. I've learned so much as a preggo lady, and hope to learn more through this blog. So, stop over and help out a clueless first time momma to be.

Telecommuter's first Christmas, my crazy work from home holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:33:00 +0000

I promised myself I'd never do it.

I would never sit down and type an "I'm sorry, I'm really lame and haven't updated my blog in forever post." I vowed to line up guest posters and have a slew of posts written and ready to go in the event I became otherwise occupied.

Hopefully, after you read about my crazy first holiday as a telecommuter, you'll excuse my lame blog post so that I might go on with life.

I took full advantage of my work from home status this holiday season. My sister called in late October with a request. Could I pick her up for Christmas? After 10 years of holiday flying, she's had enough and also worried about what to do with her two dogs. I eagerly signed up for the chance to get out of the Midwest and make the drive to New York City with the excuse made to myself I'd work 15 hour days the rest of the week.

Soon one trip turned to two and before I knew it I was making the trip to and from New York twice in one week. In between, I was smacked with the usual Christmas craziness. I need a new word for exhaustion to explain how that felt.
But, we did manage to have much fun. I lived in NYC for a bit and enjoyed acting as a full fledged tourist this trip. Pictured above are my sister (on the right) and I in front of the tree in Rockefeller Center.

As for lining up guest posters, I did, I promise. But, shortly before I left for the trip, my blog started to reject Internet Explorer, and I didn't want to shortchange my next day in the life guest poster, Web Betty from 10 Things I Hate About Your Site fame.

Now that I'm up and running in IE, I'll be posting Web Betty's day Monday to make sure her posting gets the attention she deserves.

I do some great thinking on road trips. A few random rambles from the road:

On the trip to NYC, my partner in crime, Nicky, did manage to work from the road. He brought his laptop, plugged it into the car cigarette lighter and tethered it to his Blackberry Pearl for internet access. Nothing like rolling through the hills of Pennsylvania with internet access. The web really is world wide.
I've been seeing more work from home job leads lately. Are companies turning to telecommuting to cut costs during the recession?
During the 12 hour car trip, Nicky was telling me about success his sister has had with Associated Content. Apparently in one month she made enough money to finance all of her Christmas shopping. I'm in the process of begging her to do a guest post to fill us all in on her success.

A note to my Internet Explorer visitors

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:56:00 +0000

Thanks to all who left comments. I was able to get the site to appear in IE by removing the expandable posts from the front page of my blog. Until I figure out why this impacted my IE visitors, we'll have to deal with a long front page.

Apparently, my site doesn't like Internet Explorer and hasn't been showing up for about a week correctly. I recently took a road trip to NYC and attempted to fix before I left and between catching up on everything, will attempt to fix today.

Any suggestions? I'm no pro with this stuff.

Update: The site isn't appearing in IE 7 or IE 8 if this helps any of you techies out there.

A day in the life of a telecommuter...

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:21:00 +0000

A day in the life of a fellow telecommuter, a vignette of home life intersecting with work life. Today, we travel to Switzerland to join Chantal, a part-time freelance writer. Chantal wrote me a note offering up a diary of her day. I was ecstatic for the offering and at the chance to feature an international telecommuter. Chantal commutes to her morning job as a copywriter, but spends her afternoons as a remote worker.
I am a part-time freelancer living in Switzerland and my days are often divided between copywriting and more traditional freelance writing, so I thought I'd write about one of my days when I work as a copywriter in Zurich in the mornings and as a freelance writer in the afternoons. To be really authentic, I have written the time Swiss style.
7.29 Radio alarm goes off to the Swiss-German commentary, "Gute Morge. Es isch halbi-achti…"
7.30 Clock tower across the street dings twice.
7.31Pull the pillow over my head in denial of yet another day in a country where I feel like a 2-year old when it comes to understanding everything from my mail to the grocery store cashier.

7.35 Take shower with the lights off. What are skylights for?
7.45 Clock tower dings three times.
7.52 Debate between last year's Ann Taylor and Italian jeans with Swiss sweater. Either way, white socks and comfortable shoes are out of the question unless I want to scream "foreigner."
7.54 Put off the decision, as it's too early to decide on things like wardrobes. Go for plaid 1996 Land's End robe instead.
8.00 Clock tower dings four times and then eight times.
8.01 Pour some boxed milk over Fit Flakes and pretend they are Cheerios.
8.15 Italian jeans win. Clock dings once in approval.
8.30 Clock tower dings twice. I run out the door dressed Zurich style-all in black.
8.35 Arrive at train station. Grab free German paper. Try to read.
8.38 Train arrives. Continue to read paper to avoid having to stare at person facing me. Get tired of German after four minutes. Put on iPod to drown out all foreign languages. Close eyes to avoid having to stare at person facing me.
8.54 Arrive in Zurich. Hold breath walking through smoky train station.
8.59 Take tram to advertising agency. Realize I miss eavesdropping.
9.11 Try to speak German to colleagues. They answer back in English.
9.30 Write headlines for billboard. Geneva office calls with project. Frankfurt office wants copy for ad. Everything is "extremely urgent" making me feel "extremely stressed."
11.00 Bells go bananas reminding housewives to prepare lunch for their husbands and children.
13.00 Agency wants me to work additional half day but I need to work on column for Swiss News (www.swissnews.ch), which is, to put it in terms they'll understand, "extremely urgent."italic;">
13.15 Run to catch the tram before it leaves me pondering my 10-second tardiness.
14.32 Check e-mail. Post link on facebook and blog (http://onebigyodel.blogspot.com) to recently published Christian Science Monitor essay. Check www.writtenroad.com, www.urbanmusewriter.com, and my yahoo writing group. Finish procrastinating by googling myself. Yes, I still exist on the Internet. Whew. You never know.
14.45 Start writing Swiss News essay. Write two paragraphs. Revise. Keep writing. Figure out title. Keep writing. Change title. Check my blog, One Big Yodel, (http://onebigyodel.blogspot.com) for past ideas I could include in essay. Get distracted by comment from reader about how she is scared of Obama.
15.45 Check e-mail. Get rejection from Skirt! Magazine. Read over encouraging August 23^rd e-mail from Washington Post editor for 50^th time to soften blow of latest rejection.
15.50 Devour Swiss chocolate. Read David Sedaris for inspiration and comfort self with the fact that last Monday, even he admitted he still gets rejected.
17.30 Finish draft of Swiss News essay. Log on to ECM to look for new releases to review. Put on a recording. Think about organizing stuff to avoid offending husband with "piles." The soprano starts singing Italian art song I know. I sing along. Forget all about organizing anything.
18.00 Have idea for Classical Singer Magazine. Write a quick query to editor.
18.20 Jog along the river and try not to take it personally when people ignore me and don't smile back.
20.00 Check e-mail. Tell myself to stop checking e-mail. Check my web site (www.chantalpanozzo.com) instead. It's still there.
20.15 Watch Swiss rip-off of America's Top Model. It's in two languages not including English. Get a little overwhelmed. Reach for laptop for relief.
22.15 Get in bed. Enjoy week-old International Herald Tribune husband picked up on airplane.
23.00 Clock tower dings four times, then 11 times. Turn off light and pray for loss of consciousness.

What I've been reading all about. Telecommuting headlines.

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:26:00 +0000

Seems Barack Obama isn't the only government figure telecommuting these days. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, 88, telecommutes from his Florida home most of the work year. He only ventures to Washington D.C. when the court hears oral arguments.

Want to make your home office more Eco-friendly? Thrifty Thoughts offers up green tips with some fresh ideas. I personally had never heard of a "staple-less staple."

I was happy I'm not the only one in a rut, Chris Bogan, power blogger wrote about his yearly attack of the seasonal blues. His lasts from Thanksgiving until Jan. 2. Too bad mine sometimes trickles into March.

Have you checked out the "Craigslist ad of the day" feature at Freelance Writing Jobs? Anyone who has ever used Craigslist for job searching will relate to the site's take on bad Craigslist ads.

People love me...

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:06:00 +0000

I owe an apology to several of my favorite blogs. I was honored they thought of me with awards over the past month or so. I kept thinking I'd wait and do one post to thank everyone, but didn't want to wait this long for some of them. All who awarded me are great blogs on my daily reading list.

Katy and Ryan from Trapped in the Office gave me three awards over a month ago. So, my biggest apology goes to them.

Piera from Jolly Mom gave me a rock star award.

Lyla from Mom to Tweens awarded me the Butterfly Award.

Lori from Confessions of a Baltimore Housewife gave me my first award in Spanish, the Proximidade Award.

My apologies if I missed anyone. Please do leave me a note as I didn't intentionally do so.

Don't forget the telcommuter in your life. What's on my Christmas list.

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:15:00 +0000

Ahh, it's Cyber Monday (I never cared for the phrase personally, sounds like the world is taking a day off to surf for porn or something). Chances are you have a part-time or full-time telecommuter on your list. Thought I'd share my Christmas list to give you some ideas for the remote worker in your life. And, if you feel gracious, I wouldn't object to actually recieving any of these in my mailbox.

Kindle: Amazon's Wireless Reading Device, $359. I know the Kindle is yesterday's news in tech gadget circles and has some downsides in cost per downloads. But, supposedly reading from Kindle is like reading from paper. I have constant headaches from all of my online reading and love the portability.

Clocky, $50. An alarm clock for the non-morning person. I've never been a morning person. Since I started telecommuting with no reason to wake up, my sleep schedule has gotten ridiculous. Clocky gives you one try to wake up and then rolls off your nightstand and hides around your room until you get up.

Homemade gift certificates, priceless. I understand times are tough. Give something within your budget, a certificate to "not bother me" for a day (I really want this one from my fam hint, hint). If your telecommuter is a work at home mom or dad, offer up a "babysitter for a day" certificate.

Anything that gets me out of the house, again priceless. Movie theater tickets, restaurant certificates, or a spa gift certificate would all force me to leave the house. Better yet, plan a day to go out with me. I spend much more time talking to people on twitter or forums than I do with my real-life friends. But, as a computer-obsessed teleworker, making the first move in planning a date isn't something I think about. Force me to leave!

Pantone flash drive, $9.99 to $79.99. Backing up my work has never been a strong suit. I bought my first flash drive last month. But, these are customizable and stylish. You can engrave up to two lines. Your name and contact info would probably be a good idea.

A Charity Gift Card, varies. I admit it, I sometimes cry at the evening news. It's the only TV program that makes me cry. I hear about starving children in some far away country or see images of horrible natural disasters and wish I had more to give. With a charity gift card, I could donate to the charity of my choice the next time I read about shortages at a food bank or see a devastating house fire. At TisBest, you can customize your card by uploading your own image, and for the environmentally friendly, skip the plastic card and send an e-card.

What's on your wish list?

Update: Seems remote workers want a lot of stuff. Opening my reader, I found more lists for your gift-giving inspiration. Steph, a freelance writer and self-professed "word nerd," posted stocking stuffer ideas for writers. WebWorkerDaily, one of the newest additions to my daily read list, fills its wish list with plenty for the geek in all of us.

Cha-cha-changes...

noreply@blogger.com (Kristine) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:54:00 +0000

Decided to undertake some major blog construction work to coincide with my announcement of a big life changing event. And, no I'm not pregnant, engaged, or joining the circus.

Soon I'll be a bit of a poser. I'll be leaving my home office twice a week to take classes all in my quest for my second bachelor's degree. I'm majoring in secondary education and then hope to teach for a few years before going to law school. I applied earlier this year, but just decided to go for it and registered for classes this week.

My life changes inspired me to get around to the blog changes I wanted to make forever. April from April Showers made the awesome new header for me. She ran a promotion for free headers so I expected something slapped together quickly and was pleasantly surprised when she took her time, communicated with me, and was even willing to make changes. The promotion is over, but her prices are definitely reasonable, I recommend her for any design work. Next, I'm hoping she'll make a new 125X125 card for me, at only $5 with a header it's a steal. I customized my theme based on the inspiration theme at Our Blogger Templates.

I still have much work to do getting my old widgets updated and am thinking about what I really/want need. My goal is to play off of the "teletwenties" name by including pics and graphics from the 1920s. It fits my personality. I've always thought I was born in the wrong generation. I love listening to records curled up in my favorite vintage sweater.

What do you think of my redesign work so far?