Will Moore reviewed the book, Online Millionaire…

“The Internet is no longer an uncharted business frontier”… the first words I read.

The Online Millionaire is a how-to that zeroes in on this idea.

Serving up lessons on everything from eBay to building your own website author Amy Joyner backs up theory with stories from the front lines.

Lacing each chapter with stories retold by online millionaires, Joyner’s 101 approach (with sub-chapter headings like The Lowdown and How It Works) may not appeal to the Internet enthusiast, or anyone under the age of 16, but will be a breath of fresh air to the web-challenged. Joyner keeps it simple and paints with broad strokes . . . so for me - a member of the latter group, Millionaire helped break down the intimidating and self-imposed barriers I have towards the Internet. I couldn’t build a website before reading the book and I probably won’t anytime soon, but the curtain has been pulled and the mystery revealed.

Do you find it fun to watch cool tricks on video? Do you also wonder how those cool tricks are accomplished? Did you know that people actually become champions and win tournaments doing cool tricks? You must see “The Book of Cool”. My children and I sat down and watched the 3 set of DVDs at the beginning of the New Year and really enjoyed it. What is “The Book of Cool”? Well, it is a classy looking set of 3 DVDs and a book. The DVDs feature people in various categories showing you cool tricks in their field of expertise. In each segment, there is a little video showing you the tricks and instructional videos showing you HOW the tricks are done. Warnings are mentioned for safety reasons for certain tricks that can be hazardous. The book follows up with step by step instructions including detailed angles, etc. Categories on the first volume of “The Book of Cool” include: frisbe throws, casino skills, street soccer moves, gun tricks, street basketball, pen spinning, freestyle football moves, ropes and whips, skate and blade, cards and magic, juggling, flatland bike skills, rugby kicks, golf tricks and skills, bar flairing, pool shots, footbag moves, break dancing, and more. Filmed from spots around the world, showing off beautiful back drops, this set of “Book of Cool” will please people who like to learn with audio, visual, and step by step written instructions. You can also just sit back and enjoy watching the tricks for fun!

- www.wendyshepherd.com review by © Copyright Wendy Shepherd

Ah, our lovely abode. For some it is a place to raise their family, and for some it is an investment opportunity. Either way, you should make sure that the book “Invest In Your Nest” is on your bookshelf as a reference in any home project. Part of the title on the cover of this book has the wording, “Add Style, Comfort, And Value To Your Home” Yes, you really should find ways to increase the eye candy of your home.

This book is written by Barbara K, who is CEO of Barbara K!, a comprehensive lifestyle brand that offers solutions for women through innovative home enhancement/repair and automotive products. She is also the home improvement expert for AOL Coaches and author of the inspirational fix-it handbook “Room for Improvement”. She has been featured in many large media outlets, television shows, and radio shows. She lives in New York with her son, Zachary.

As I read this book, I couldn’t help by think of how handy it would have been before I started some of our own projects around our home. But, I am glad I now have it to reference for the future. The book is nicely arranged with the topic and sections which cover “Go to the pros”, “On your Own”, and “Barbara’s Best Bet”. Each of those areas talk about time needed, project costs, how to do, and much more.

… My favorite parts …

1) On the topic of buying a home, one of Barbara’s Best Bets: EXCELSIOR! (EVER UPWARD!) Don’t forget the ceiling. Bumpy ‘popcorn’ acoustic ceilings are outdated and unattractive. I have two friends who walked away from two great houses because they were so turned off by the popcorn ceilings. That’s too bad because they are easily removed with a scraper attached to a long pole (be sure to empty the room of furniture and cover the floor with a canvas drop cloth before you begin, and wear safety glasses). Yes, it’s labor intensive and messy, but it’s worth it.

2) Another of Barbara’s Best Bets: WINDOW FILM: In summer, bright sun streaming through uncovered windows makes air conditioning work two to three times harder. You could draw the shades, but who likes spending time in a dark room on a gorgeous, sunny day? Instead, you can install a reflective window film over clear glass. It reduces cooling costs by 5 to 15 percent. Look for high-tech, spectrally selective film that permits daylight to enter your rooms while blocking solar heat. Most window film manufacturers offer warranties only with professional installation, but you can apply the film yourself. Professionally installed window films range from $1 to $5 per square foot.

3) I have a soapstone wood burning stove, so this was useful: Soapstone is extremely dense and only needs to be wiped with mineral oil every month or so. While it is heat resistant, cut marks will show and edges may chip if hit with pots and pans. The mineral oil brings out its natural coloring of black or dark gray with white veins.

Barbara also includes some pages with lined columns and rows for planning.

Overall this is a book packed full of good advice. There are time when it is geared towards someone who buys up homes and remodels them just to resell them. However, there are other practical things to be learned by any homeowner. It also mentions the training and certification you should look for when hiring professionals, as well as the steps to hire one and how to work with contracts.

- Buy Here

- Review/Article Copyright © Wendy Shepherd - http://www.wendyshepherd.com
**May be reprinted with permission, credit, and link

I fondly remember watching the old black and white Lassie shows when I was real young. The story of a brave dog who protects with undying love. However, my own three boys have no interest in the show. Nope, no Lassie stories, until now.I screened a copy of the new movie Lassie which stars Jonathan Mason, Peter O’Toole, Samantha Morton, and John Lynch. The film was directed by Charles Sturridge and shot within the beautiful countryside of Ireland.

I wasn’t too sure about the film when I first started watching it. I still have pictures of the old shows within my head. However, I kept an open mind as I settled down to watch the film with my seven year old son.

Happily we both enjoyed this heartwarming tale! My son was wrapped up in the movie. Lassie will gain a new generation of young fans with this latest film.

The story dealt with many issues including how people can’t control everything in their lives. It starts off with a family who are barely making it financially. They sell Lassie since they can’t pay for her food any longer. The new owner who bought her to breed moves her far away. She escapes and travels an adventurous journey all the way home again to the little boy she loves.

You can find out more about this new Lassie movie at the Official website, plus…

- Enter your dog’s photo into a contest to win “15 minutes of Doggie Fame” and 1 Year of FREE Dog Food.

- Check out the Lassie Natural Dog Food.

Go to Lassie’s Official Website

-Article Copyright © Wendy Shepherd - http://www.wendyshepherd.com
**May be reprinted with permission, credit, and link …………………………………………
Comments: 1.

Remind me the next time we talk to tell you a funny story about my son and I with the Old Lassie programs!

I am a fan, and I am sure this is a great film!

Barb
:)

Comment by Xerraire — 9/26/2006 @ 8:39 pm
2.

Hi Wendy we cant wait to see it. Thanks for
heads up. Blessings, Stephanie

Comment by Stephanie — 9/28/2006 @ 11:02 am

Everybody Wants Your Money

Boy, does that title ring true! I also noticed on the cover of this book the wording, “Because that hand in your pocket… isn’t yours!” You and I know that everybody wants your money in one form or another. However, I discovered some new ways while reading this book that I just finished. It is Written by David W. Latko, who is the co-host for the national radio program, “Money and More”. Impressively, David Latko ranks among the nation’s top one percent of financial advisors. I can just imagine how ‘in demand’ he is. He started off in a middle class neighborhood and moved his way up by helping people.

Where do you usually turn for answers with questions regarding investing, real estate, divorce, automobiles, identity theft, and so much more? If you say your family, friends, neighbors, or your own financial advisor, then you REALLY need to read this book to make sure you are steered on the right path. Looks can be deceiving. Do your homework, starting with this book, because it is YOUR money and YOUR financial future you are looking out for. No one else has such a vested interest in your finances as you need to, except for the slime balls mentioned in this book that you have to watch out for who want your money.

David not only presents practical advice in this book. He also shares memorable stories that yank on the heartstrings and gets your blood boiling. Think you are safe from your own family members who are to inherit your money? Think again and take a look at the story examples in this book. If nothing else, you will at least be aware and prepared just in case.

This book would make great gifts for everyone in your life. What better gift can you give them than to make sure they don’t make wrong financial decisions that can destroy their future? I’m going to be buying and giving this book to some of my own family and friends as gifts. I am keeping mine to refer to and share with my children when needed. This book is definitely worth it!

… Story example: Willa and Tony, a retired couple who had a horrific experience with their first financial advisor. They came into some money. They had no idea what to do to invest or what to do.

So they solicited some advice from other retired friends. One of them had received a postcard in the mail a week before, and he passed it along to Tony and Willa. It gave the name and number of a financial advisor who worked in a branch office of a major brokerage which they knew of from hearing about it on TV.

In short order, their new advisor “handled” their prosperity problem. He put them into a range of investments that Willa and Tony did not clearly understand. Then, after a month or so of frenetic activity, he stopped calling–or returning their calls.

With their frustration mounting, they mentioned their problem to a person who happened to be a client of Davids. Turns out the other advisor had locked Willa and Tony into investments that carried staggeringly large up-front commissions; others carried long-term (and expensive) surrender charges.

There was little that could be done. The couple were tied into investments that could not be changed without taking a significant financial hit, in the case of Willa and Tony, it was more than a $26,000 loss.

- Buy the Book

- Visit the Official Site

- Review/Article Copyright © Wendy Shepherd - http://www.wendyshepherd.com
**May be reprinted with permission, credit, and link

…………………………………….
Comments:    1.

Sounds like a very good and sensible book!

Comment by Barbara (Xerraire) — 8/20/2006 @ 4:49 pm

I am referring to a book that I have been reading, ” It’s A Girl ” Edited by Andrea J. Buchanan. I read and commented before about the book, ” It’s A Boy ” and ” Literary Mama .” I enjoyed those books immensely, and so I was happy to also read this book.

I don’t have a girl, I ended up with three boys. It’s not that we didn’t want a girl, we did! But, our lot in life was to have three boys and I love them endlessly. When we didn’t know the sex of one of our babies, we did wonder if we would have a girl. Before we had kids, we decided on two boy names and two girl names. The girl names we picked out were, Melissa Michele and Heather Lynn.

The notion of having a girl seems to worry many fathers-to-be. Yes, the girl will probably be “Daddy’s Girl” , but I think fathers really worry about the teenage years. By reading ” It’s a Girl “, I realize that mothers worry about things as well. Some mothers worry about their girls being too “girly.” Some wonder if girl preferences are taught or are natural. This book brings to light answers to those questions and other topics from the points of view of mothers raising girls.

” It’s A Girl ” contains essays written by many talented authors, so you get several points of view. To read the INTRODUCTION - click here

” It’s A Girl ” is a great read no matter if you have boys and/or girls.

I have been meaning to let you know about a very funny parenting book named, ” Just Because Your Kids Drive You Insane… Doesn’t Mean You Are A Bad Parent! ” by Lisa Barker.

Lisa has been contributing humorous articles to my Mom Shack website for some time. I knew I would enjoy reading her book when it came out. Sure enough, I found myself giggling out loud as I was sitting at the beauty salon getting my hair done and again when I would read during a hot soaking bath.

This isn’t some parenting book where the author is giving advice and isn’t even a parent! These antics are from a real live mom.

Chapters of the book include:
* Toddlers - The Daily Unraveling of Sanity
* Older kids - My Sanity Is Being Held Hostage
* Out In Public - What Was I Thinking
* Negotiations - What Experts Call Parenting
* Going Over The Edge - Nailing The Door Shut on The Padded Room
* Mental & Physical Health - Last But Not Least

If you ever wondered if you are alone in some of the everyday things you have to deal with, think again. Read this book and have a good laugh. Parenting is a roller coaster ride.

This very reasonably priced book can be purchased through Lisa’s website at http://www.jellymom.com Last I checked, the price was $9.95 - on this page.

I get asked many times, “How do you do it all”? Well, really, how does any mother or father do it? We take it one step at a time. We absorb every delicious memory and yet yearn to be our normal selves in the chaos of everyday parenting where our children can tend to suck our energy from us. With that in mind, it is refreshing to find the book, ” Literary Mama ” which is edited by an online friend of mine, Andrea J. Buchanan and Amy Hudock. The book was compiled from a featured collection of the best of LiteraryMama.comThis book holds a compilation of short stories and poems written by many mothers. They give you a peek into the window of their lives which includes the beauty and frustrations of motherhood. They share with you their memories, their children’s unforgettable moments, and their spousal relationships through the metamorphasis of parenting babies until their children leave the nest. The stories range from serious to humorous showing the true feelings of the writers.

“Literary Mama” is divided into sections which include:
1. Creative Arts
2. Mothers Raising Women, Defining Mothering
3. Mothers Raising Men, Exploring Mothering
4. Sex, Fertility, and the Body
5. Mothers, Fathers, Parents
6. Surviving Illness and Loss
7. Healing the Past to Live in the Present

It is inspiring to read the stories in this book. I felt I wanted to work hard to become a better writer. We really aren’t alone with our parenting anxieties and successes.

You can read the “Introduction” for the book - Click Here

One story I recall, talked about how a nursing mother would get “touched out” or overstimulated from nursing. The baby would look up at his mother and grab the breast and say “MINE!”. While weaning the baby, she mentioned going out on a date with her husband. They were relaxing by dancing and drinking. Quoting the story…

“My husband is pushed into me from behind, and I don’t push him back. He wraps his arms around my chest and yells something into my ear, but his words hit my neck instead. I shiver.

“What?” I yell back at him, the music pulsing through me like long-lost hormones and desires.

“Mine,” he teases huskily, his lips on my ear, his hand discreetly grabbing my breast.

For the first time in a long time it makes me hot, instead of not. And for the first time in a long time, I know I am my own to give.

I giggle and tease him back. “No way,” I say, turning my lips to his as we move together to the music. “Mine.”

When I was a nursing mother, my husband and I can relate to that story.

There is a sad story where a mother expresses her grief and guilt for not being able to warn another mother about how dangerous it is to let her daughter walk alone along side a road. It is a struggle that all mothers have to deal with. Mothers don’t want to overstep their bounds to tell fellow moms that they may be doing something wrong. However, the daughter who walked alone on the road ended up going missing.

“Literary Mama” is a keeper for any mom’s book collection. Grab a copy, cozy up with a hot drink, and enjoy the stories. I would love to know what you think.

It’s A Boy! I am not talking about ourselves or any other family member just having a new baby boy… I am referring to a book that I have the pleasure of reading. The full title is , “It’s A Boy : Women Writers on Raising Sons” .

There is a particularly funny part that Mike, a friend and I were reading yesterday. One of the authors, Andrea Buchanan, was writing about how she had baby girl dreams when she was pregnant the first time. Turns out she had a girl. She found herself pregnant again, and wanted another girl. Here is what she wrote…

———-
“When I first discovered I was pregnant the second time around, I hoped for another girl. I had visions of having two daughters, of seeing the special sister bond recreated in the next generation of my family. But I wasn’t as sure as I had been the first time. I had one baby dream early on in the pregnancy, and it was of giving birth to a boy. In the dream, he came out blond and big and more coordinated than a newborn really is; within minutes of giving birth, my room was populated with all the mothers I know in real life who have sons, all of them holding their boy babies and smirking at me because they knew I’d really wanted a girl. One of them asked me, “What’s his name?” and I realized I didn’t have a name for him. “Can you believe it?” the dream mothers said to one another. “She doesn’t even have a name picked out!” I started to panic. Before I woke up, I looked at my nameless boy baby and thought, At least he looks like Emi. The dream logic was, evidentally, that if he at least looked like his sister, it might make it easier to deal with the fact that he wasn’t a girl himself.

Even after this dream, I stuck to my conviction that I was having another girl. I contemplated girl names, I painted the baby’s room lavendar. But inwardly I began to doubt my firm girl-only stance. The dream nagged at me. I didn’t have the same fierce girl feelings I had had when I was pregnant with my daughter. I began to grudgingly acknowledge the possibility that this baby could be a boy.

At my nineteen-week ultrasound, the tech took her time, checking the kidneys, the heart, the legs, the head. She asked us if we wanted to know whether the baby was a girl or a boy, and I joked, ” Yes, but only if it’s a girl.” She said she couldn’t really get a great view, so she had the doctor come in and take a look.

“Well, look at that!” he said, right away. “Get a load of that scrotum!”

“What?” I choked back my surprise as I craned my neck trying to look at the grainy image on the screen. My husband gripped my hand tightly, warning me with his eyes that a freak-out would not be the most appropriate response.

“Yep, that’s a penis! We’re looking at a boy, here!” The doctor’s smile turned to an expression of concern as he tilted his head over to look at me. “Mom? Are we okay with this?”

My husband squeezed my hand tighter and looked at the doctor. He said, through gritted teeth, “She’s crying because she’s so happy.”
——–

I can’t wait to read more of this book! I totally understand the authors of this book since I have three boys of my own. With the first boy, we were very happy. With the second, we sort of hoped to have a girl. Turned out to be a boy and we were still happy. With the third one, who was a surprise, we and the entire family hoped it was a girl. Turned out to be a boy and the other family members seemed more disappointed than we were. I mostly just hoped all my babies were healthy. I didn’t mind that they were all boys. I had a bit of hope to have a girl, but it wasn’t meant to be. We will not be trying for a girl anymore! I just hope, even a little bit, that perhaps we may have a granddaughter someday.

This book is edited and co-authored by my online friend, Andrea J. Buchanan. She also has the flip side of this book coming out early next year called “It’s a Girl.” Get the “It’s a Boy” book - here and then check out her website - here.

Article/Review Copyright © Wendy Shepherd - http://www.wendyshepherd.com
**May be reprinted with permission, credit, and link

I have now taught all 3 of my children how to read. I have used the book, (more…)