The Advantages of Participating in Institute Classes

This is the time of year to be thinking about enrolling in an institute class. Institute is a program that teaches religious classes on campuses throughout the United States. The institute program is also available for young adults who are not currently attending college. Many areas also offer institute classes to single adults. There may be women’s institute classes available in your area. Institute classes give you the opportunity to study a gospel topic in depth with a group of people. The class topics vary from studying the Book of Mormon, Old Testament, and New Testament, to learning about temples, … Continue reading

My Day on the World Stage

In 1993 the opportunity arrived for me to shut up or put up. There was a woman by the name, or rather using the name, of Deborah Laake. She’d written a book called “Secret Ceremonies: Diary of a Mormon Wife” – a work of pure and sad delusion. This poor woman, if she told the complete truth, was at the mercy of a father who took unrighteous dominion to new levels. Whatever the perceived truth, she became extremely disenchanted with the church and proceeded to betray every covenant she’d half-heartedly made with the Lord. Where do I come in? Well, … Continue reading

An Abbreviated History of Santa Claus

It is that time of year when all things holiday take center stage. For families with children, Santa Claus may be a topic of daily or almost daily discussion. Leave it to the youngsters to come up with endless questions about the mysterious jolly old man in the red suit. What is his favorite food? How does he fit down the chimney? What does he do at houses where there is no chimney? Don’t the reindeer get tired flying all that way? All these questions and more are probably familiar to parents, and they may even remember asking those questions … Continue reading

My Best Advice for Blogging

Content is still king: No matter how the winds blow or the tides change the most important factor in writing is content. You must put out quality content to gain and keep readers. What is quality content? Content that effects a reader. Does your content encourage, enlighten, or engage? Are you teaching something, informing, or making your readers laugh? Readers are probably not interested in your last trip to the grocery store unless you demonstrate extreme couponing or have some antidote that is worth mentioning a trip to the grocery story. A blog post is a gift to your readers. … Continue reading

Insurance Podcast Roundup – Week of May 7, 2012

Once a week, the Insurance Podcast Roundup brings you brand new episodes of podcasts that talk about topics that are related to insurance. Listening to these episodes is a good way to stay on top of the news that could affect the insurance policies that protect your family. NPR has an episode of “Weekend Edition Saturday” that was released on May 5, 2012. This episode is called “In New Orleans, A Health Clinic for Working Musicians”. Many of the musicians who are preforming at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival do not have health insurance. The New Orleans Musicians’ … Continue reading

No Insurance? Where to Get a Mammogram

As I mentioned in my last entry my friends sister is facing the possibility of breast cancer and was worrying about paying for a mammogram. Many people may not know there are organizations that help pay for these lifesaving tests for the under and un-insured. When I heard that I began to find organizations that serviced her town. The first place I called was the American Cancer Society their counselors were amazing. I gave them her information and within minutes I had a list of 5 organizations that offered free mammograms and if need be further diagnostic testing. After I … Continue reading

Should You Go Into Business Alone or With Others?

One of the choices that a person must make when becoming a home-based professional is whether to create your own business, buy into a business opportunity offered by someone else, or find a home-based job. If you decide to create your own home-based business, you may be wondering whether you should create a business run solely by you or whether you should involve other people in your venture. I must warn you that I am highly opinionated on this topic, so please be aware that this post is solely my opinion on the matter and should in no way discourage … Continue reading

Parenting Special Needs Magazine Celebrates Third Anniversary

Have you looked at this online magazine yet? Parenting Special Needs Magazine, or (PSN), has officially been around for three years now. The entire magazine is available for parents to read for free right from their website. In general, parenting magazines are designed to give advice, tips, and inspiration to parents of infants, young children, tweens, and teens. Unfortunately, the majority of these types of magazines focus on ideas that are not exactly relevant to parents of children who have special needs. That is why it is especially nice to find a parenting magazine that is actually dedicated to issues … Continue reading

Special Needs Podcast Roundup – Week of July 12, 2011

There are so many resources out there for parents who have children with special needs. Podcasts are an often overlooked source of information. This week’s Special Needs Podcast Roundup includes: author interviews, a glimpse into the life of a family with nine adopted special needs children, a conversation about stem cells, a parenting course, a lunch chat about a resource center, and more. The Parenting Plate Podcast released an episode on June 7, 2011. This episode has an interview with Jolene Philo, author of the book “Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guild to Raising a Child with Special Needs”. The … Continue reading

Need Some Parenting Help? Try S-O-S!

Every parent needs a little extra support, advice, or understanding from time to time. Parents who have children who have special needs may need that kind of help a little more often. There is a website called S-O-S that is an online special needs information guide that can be used by parents. Stage One of their program is being offered for free right now. There are many benefits to going online in order to get support for something. Online support is available whenever you need it, no matter what time of day or night it happens to be. You can … Continue reading