I know how to do quite a bit on the computer when it comes to sending email, building websites and blogs and such, but haven't a clue about the technology behind it all. There are so many terms that I hear but do not understand. I know that it's important for my email and any attachments to reach their destination safely and securely...I know that the information is for the eyes of the recipient only and want to keep it that way, but don't always know how this is accomplished. But that's okay, I don't need to know all there is to know because there are good services that provide programs to help keep your incoming and outgoing email safe and secure.
One way this is done is through encrypting your email. Now there is a big word for you...let me see if I can explain....only because I took a moment to look it up. By way of example, lets take a look at a service that provides email encryption for Outlook. With a service like this, your email and pdf attachment(s) are encrypted, which means that the information in the email and on the pdf are put into a coded form. They are readable by you, the sender, and by the recipient, but are private during the delivery process.
An email encryption service seems like it would be a valuable thing to have to protect your business as well as your private email and attachments. You can read more on how to encrypt you email at this article by PC World.
Updated 11/28/18
Grandmothers, or those of us old enough to be grandmothers, have a unique lifestyle. We don't have to juggle being mothers with working from home, unless we are raising grandchildren.
I remember when my children were young, life was busy, and there was a lot of energy, and a routine during much of the year. I worked from home then, and always thought that when my children were grown, it would be so much easier to get even more done than I was at that time. I'm not sure that's so true. I find I need to be even more disciplined, and make my own routines. They are no longer "pre-made" for me by my children's activities and school schedules.
Following is an article written by a Joel Nickerson about finding a business that suits your lifestyle. It's not necessarily written for grandmothers, but maybe just reading it will spark some thought. I hope that you find something helpful in it!
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There are several different reasons why somebody would want to start a home based business. For some, it is a matter of necessity and they either need to replace work that they have recently lost or need to earn additional money in order to make ends meet. Other individuals look for work at home business opportunities because they like the challenge of working for themselves and enjoy making money on their own instead of making it in a corporate environment.
Regardless of why you want to start up your own home based business, however, finding the one that will work is the most important first step that you will need to take. Although there are many different choices as far as a home business opportunity is concerned, the Internet has really added some interesting aspects into the mix. In fact, there are many individuals who are starting up their work at home Internet business and fitting it directly in with their various lifestyles. How is this true?
First of all, an Internet home based business can be run at any time of the day or night. Next, you get out of a home based Internet business exactly what you put into it. Even if you don t have much time at all when you re first starting out, it is still possible to see results from small efforts.
Picking a home based business is something that should not be done on the spur of the moment. There are literally thousands of home based internet business opportunities out there. Some are legitimate, some are questionable. Once you find the right one, however, you will recognize it. When that time comes, do your research, talk to some people who are already involved in the program, and take the opportunity and make something of it. If others are happy with the program chances are you will be too.
Perhaps you have tried to work on the Internet before and have not really seen much in return for your efforts. It can be very discouraging if you are working in the wrong corner and trying to do something that is not going to produce any results, no matter who does it. The best thing that you can do in these circumstances is to find someone to follow in order to know which way you should go. As a matter of fact, having a mentor in front of you is one of the best ways for you to become successful with your own Internet business in a short period of time.
Although it may seem simplistic, having a mentor to follow is not something that should be overlooked. If you choose the right one, they have already forged a path to success themselves and can take you by the hand and lead you there as well. Sure, it is going to take some work on your part but it will be well worth the effort whenever you see it pay off and your home based business succeeds.
Author Resource: I have checked Joel Nickerson's links that were provided in the original article, and they are no longer active...but the advise is good.
Updated 11/28/18
Working girls, whether single, moms or grandmothers, can benefit from a few tips on how to mix work with housework. This can be especially challenging if you work from home.
I happen to work from home, but this can help even if you work outside the home. Personally, I came off the long winter months feeling down in the dumps. I wasn't able to balance my work with my housework, and always felt pulled to be doing money-making things when cleaning, and cleaning when working. At home, all of your responsibilities surround you.
I did something that many can do. I set alarms in my phone to remind me to run and do various things around the house. Not only did it benefit me in getting work done, but also got me up from sitting regularly throughout the day.
Many have heard of FlyLady.net - this is a site that will set you on the right course...but you are responsible for setting up a schedule that fits your lifestyle. She has daily routines all set up for you and ways to organize your time. You can receive reminders by email and also encouraging stories, if you have time to read them. At this update there is a very helpful app that you can add to your smartphone to keep track of what you've done and what you still need to do.
For example, she has what she calls a "Home Blessing" where you go through your home in an hour in 10 minute segments get a number of things done. Some do each 10 minute task spread throughout the week, I like to do it in an hour, it's good exercise and starts off the week nicely. I do this each Monday, and have set alarms in my phone with each task - they go off every 10 minutes and I move on to the next thing. Having a small home, and being young..or I should say physically fit...helps too. If our home were larger, I may set each task for an additional 5 minutes and spread the tasks over the week a bit more, but for now, Monday's work for me. The wonderful thing I've learned is a lot more time is spent thinking about getting a thing done than actually getting the things done.
Another thing that I do from FlyLady is the weekly zones. You focus on a main room, and maybe an additional small room, each week. I've set an alarm in my phone at a time that is suitable to me for "flylady zone" and when it goes off, I look in the emails that come in for the "Flight Plan" of the day, and do what is suggested for that zone...it inspires me, and I may do a little more than suggested, or on weeks when I'm ill or days when my husband has days off, I don't mind as much when I don't get to a mission, because things in general are so much better than they were before I started.
I feel so much better about my home...it's not perfect...but it's also not my master any longer...I'm mastering it. I feel better when I'm sitting down to do my work because I know an alarm will go off to remind me to do a task around the house...I don't have to take up "brain power" that's needed to focus on work to remember, and it feels so good to get up and move around when the time comes to do that task, and so good to see the results!
You can do this too...even if you are depressed by your surroundings and situation now...push through it, the results will go a long way to helping your state of mind.
Updated 11/28/18
Another Mother's Day has come and gone, and changes in life circumstances can dramatically affect how you view the day.
I hope the day was a happy one for you, but the reality is, as years go by, there are Mother's Day's in the mix that are not quite all that you hoped that they would be. There may be the loss of a mother, circumstances surrounding one of your children, difficult memories from childhood...any negative happening in life can change how you approach the day.
I am blessed to still have my dear Mom, in fact I did a tribute to her this year, 7 Things I Learned to Love from Mom, and printed it out and gave it to her with my gift this year. She is such an example to me of how to view the difficult challenges of life, and live with the right focus, one day at a time. Her life has been both blessed and difficult, and she would probably say that the blessings mean all the more because of the difficulties. She views Mother's Day and any other day through this positive perspective.
This year was different for us. In past years I often had everyone here for Mother's Day. Now due to various things, my brother's, sister and I spend time with Mom separately...I like it as the focus can be 100% on her...not to mention she gets spoiled over an extended period of time. She has a little difficulty hearing, and being in a large room with many people, or in a restaurant around a large table, makes it easy for her to be in the background as everyone talks with one another...so we enjoyed lunch and a visit together during last week.
On Mother's Day my dear children joined my husband and I at church, and then we had a bite to eat out, then we came back to my home to spend time together. It was a beautiful day...and I'm a thankful Mom.
Updated 11/28/18
One thing I noticed when we received our Motorola WX345 cell phones is the lack of explanation in the manual as to how to set things up. The phone is capable of quite a bit for what we paid (nothing with Consumer Cellular's plan).
My husband and I wanted to figure out how to use the "playlist" feature, and it took a little doing, but once set up, it's great! I'll explain in a minute...but first want to say that I found Consumer Cellular in our AARP magazine, as they are already VERY low priced and have good coverage using the ATT network, and on top of it offer an AARP members a discount.
We waited patiently for our contract with the service we had to end in order not to be penalized, then joined Consumer Cellular...a service with no contract, and easy-to-follow website, and reasonable prices with minutes my husband and I can share between our phones....we are saving $30 a month over our previous plan, some may save more depending upon what service and plan you have. You can get $10 off your first bill, and so can I, if you contact me with a comment I'll tell you how...your comments are moderated, so won't post if you don't want them to, I'll just find them and respond to you personally so give me a way to contact you...I don't spam, I promise...I'm just happy to help someone else save during times like this when things are so challenging.
What I love most is that we signed up for the least expensive plan, and can upgrade it and downgrade as needed, any time. They even have a feature that warns you when you are reaching your minutes limit so you can upgrade as needed and thereby save over what it would cost to pay for the extra minutes individually. We are not heavy cell phone users, but even if we were, we'd be saving LOTS over our previous plan.
So, back to the Motorola WX345....it's the free phone being offered right now, with a reasonable charge to activate. We chose the free one not only because it is free, but the battery life is amazing. However, the manual is VERY basic, not bad, but leaves out some helpful details, and we've done a lot of discovering on our own.
The phone has an MP3 player, and 1 GB of memory, so we purchased microSD cards to expand the memory a lot in order to save music, and in my case, music and audio books. But how to listen? I started out by saving my music and audio books directly on the microSD from my computer to the phone with a usb cable (another extra we purchased)...but had to listen to each song and section one by one...no continuous play...right from the SD card.
So I got the manual out to try figuring out the playlists. It got me started, and the rest I figured out myself. Here's how it's done, for those of you who, like me, find it a little challenging to figure out technical things:
Before you start, you'll want to have some mp3's saved on your phone in the phone storage itself (it only has 1 GB) or on a microSD card (I believe you can get as much memory as your like...we got 8 GB). They aren't hard to insert into the phone.
Here's how to set up playlists:
1) Open the phone and go to "menu" by selecting black button surrounded by "silver" square on top of keypad.
2) Go to "multimedia"...should be the top left corner icon on the screen, select
3) Go down to "music player", select
4) Go to "my playlists", select
5) Select "options" by pressing the button on the top left of your keypad
6) Go to "new playlist" and select
7) Type the name of the playlist you want to make on the screen then press the select button...."done" should be highlighted, select again.
8) You will now see the title of your new playlist on the screen.
9) To load your music or other mp3 selections into the playlist, select the playlist title, select "load", and you will have the option to get music from your phone or SDcard storage, choose the location where you have stored your music files.
10) Go to the file with the music you want to load and select it, then select the mp3's individually one by one, and select - it will say "done" as each is loaded to your playlist. When you've loaded all the songs you want to, back out, or close the phone.
How to play:
1) Repeat steps 1-4 above
2) Choose the playlist you want to play and select
3) Select "load"
4) Select the first song or whatever song you want start playing from
5) Select play
And now I'm going to have to tell you how to do the settings so that it will play continuously through the songs and repeat them or stop at the end of your list.
How to set up Playlist settings:
1) When you have chosen a playlist you'd like to play following the steps just above, select "options" using the upper left button
2) Go down the list to "settings" (it is out of view on the screen) and select.
3) Select "player settings"
a) You can select "all" or "off" depending upon whether you want the playlist to play again when it gets to the end or not.
b) You can turn "shuffle" on or off, I think this means that the music plays in random order, but have it off, so don't know.
c) Here's an IMPORTANT setting - in order to keep the music playing when the phone is closed, you need "Background play" ON...otherwise music will stop when you close the phone.
That's about all you need to know, you'll find that you can fast forward and back using the right and left side of the "silver thingy" surrounding the "select" button at the top - first go to "now playing" by pressing the top of the silver square, and from there you can stop what you are listening to by pressing the button in the center of the silver square, or you can fast forward and back using left and right of the silver button.
If you stop the music and close the phone, return to "now playing" as described just above, and continue from there any time, it will save your place...great for audio books. If a call comes in, or message, it will pause for a moment and continue when your done.
That's about it for now, I hope this helps you figure out how to set up and use playlists on your WX345 Motorola Cell Phone and play music or other mp3's with the flip phone closed.
Updated 11/28/18
Someone has decided that March is National Craft Month, so Grandmothers, what crafts do you enjoy? National Craft Month isn't exclusively for Grandmoms, of course, and what can be more fun than spending time doing crafts with the grandchildren?
I am not as "crafty" as some, but do enjoy crocheting...picked it up again after a long break from it, and am working on an afghan and prayer shawl. I'd like to make some smaller things as soon as the shawl is done, a few shamrocks to decorate the Norfolk Island Pine that we purchased for Christmas and is still growing nicely.
It has been a LONG winter, and as soon as the weather is nice enough, you won't find me inside doing crafts, but outside enjoying the weather, which I hope will be nice this summer. But here in the northeast, we still have a couple more months to wait until it is warm.
Updated 11/28/18
A great woman was born 191 years ago today, which is why today is commemorated by some as Susan B. Anthony day. She was born in Adams, Massachusetts. She never married, so never had children or grandchildren, but she was a woman who was passionate about the things that she stood for. The foundation for the things she was passionate about was based in her Quaker upbringing which provided her with a moral base from which to view the world, and a desire to change the things that she saw as unjust around her.
Susan was an abolitionist, and became deeply involved with the American Anti-Slavery Society. She was passionate about Educational Reform...we still need people to be concerned about this today, as we see our standard of education decline, in my opinion. She was involved in the labor movement; she wanted to see people buy American made; and an issue that is controversial today, she promoted immigration in the south to populate the area and increase industry. I'm sure she would be a proponent of LEGAL Immigration if she were alive today. Being raised a Quaker, she believed the Bible taught that liquor drinking was a sin, so she was involved in the Temperance movement. She promoted the right of woman to vote as part of the Women's Suffrage Movement. And as if that wasn't enough, she stood up for woman's rights, cutting her hair and changing her clothing style in an effort to promote her message.
She is a great example to those of us who sit about doing little to change the world around us, and I'm thankful that somewhere I saw it was Susan B. Anthony day and was inspired to get to know this woman a bit better.
Updated 11/28/18
I have special memories of my Scottish Grandmother at Christmastime, and had wanted to share this with you last month. Time got away from me, the post was written, but never made it to this blog, but I'm going to go ahead and share it with you now.
I think of my maternal Grandmother at this time of year, because each Christmas, for as many years as she was able, not only did we sit and polish silver with her for the holiday dinner, but she made Scotch Shortbread.
She came to America from Scotland through Ellis Island when she was 12 years old. Her father came over first, and set up a business, then sent for my great-grandmother, my grandmother and her 2 sisters and brother. I have letters that my great-grandmother and great-grandfather wrote to each other...she was unable to come over as quickly as great-grandpa hoped she would, because their little 5 year old daughter, my grandmother's little sister, contracted Leukemia, and did not survive. It is heart-wrenching to read the letters, and how my great-grandfather wished he could be home with his little girl in her last days. But that wasn't to be, and very shortly after her passing, my great-grandmother packed up my grandmother, her sister and her brother and boarded a ship for America. Can you imagine doing all that? I can't.
It was a treat each year to have my grandparents with us for Christmas as they lived in the suburbs of Boston, 5 hours away. I have carried on her tradition of baking shortbread each year.
I did write more about this, and have our recipe at another spot on the web, "Grandma's Scotch Shortbread and Scotland". It includes the story above in a bit more detail, if I remember correctly, and a video of Scotland, the only way I've been able to visit so far. It would be nice to one day visit the land of my ancestors.
Updated 11/28/18
