My Education Junction

Trying to run a business can be difficult, especially in the beginning. You want to present yourself as a well run organization with the man power to address the needs of you customers. But if the truth be known, you are in fact a one woman/man show.  How do you juggle the marketing, sales, and production end of your business while doing  front end things such as answer phones or retrieving faxes.  Hopefully, you’ll be able to hire an assistant soon, but in the meantime there are options. Have you ever considered an telephone answering service?

The role of the secretary has gone virtual.  So now you can have the help you need at a price you can afford.  Answering services, such as Efls, offer a variety of services to fit your needs.  Aside from answering calls, they can dispatch technicians, send pages, collect faxes and in some cases process sales calls. You can focus on growing your business while your answering service helps you maintain the clients that you have.

***This is a sponsored post***

Filed under: Sponsored on August 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

I hate to say it, but I have become a bit of a carny. Head over to the 89th Edition of the Festival of Frugality. There are many interesting, insightful and entertaining posts to be read. What are you waiting for ? Get over there!

Filed under: Good Reads on August 28th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

I am a fan of Etsy. It is pure eye candy for someone like me. Little did I know there was a blog called Etsy Labs which gave you little tidbits of advice and instructions for projects. One day I stumbled upon this blog by way of Fusing Plastic Bags. Just Marvelous! I love to find new ways to use old things, and this was right up my alley. After experimenting with fusing a Target bag, I started to consider other possibilities.

My children are soon to be 4 and 7. They may not be babies, but I do remember when they were. One of my constant complaints was that I never had enough bibs. When we were on outings, it did not matter how many I packed, I was bound to lose a few, ruin a few and run through all of them. This lead me to the practice of buying “bibsters”-something I should not be admitting to amongst frugal folks. But I did it. It was a relief not to worry about staining them, the subsequent washing of them, or worrying that I would not have enough presentable bibs to make it though the day. The problem is that one goes through many disposable bibs and aside from being wasteful they become costly. That lead me to thinking that any mom could have an endless supply of “bibsters” for free if she wanted to make them by fusing bags.

CareBears need bibs too:)

Just for the fun of it, I made my own bib. After I was done, my son asked me if I was making a cooking apron for him. Now I had not thought of that, but surely I could make a cooking apron out of plastic bags. And so I did.

Here’s Ava using her apron as she goes to work to make mud pies. It would also work well for as a painting smock.

If you would like to try your hand at fusing plastic bags, stop by Etsy and check out the directions. It is a very simple process. All you need are disposable plastic bags, wax paper and an iron. Many people create totes out of fused plastic. You can also make pillows and placemats. Just imagine, if you set your mind to it, you could probably create a whole wardrobe out of fused plastic bags!

More thrifty fun: Kitchen Picasso, 10 Easy Recipes for Playdough, 10 Things You Can do with Empty Plastic Bottles,

Coffee Can Ice Cream and Decorating on the Cheap

Filed under: Arts & Crafts on August 27th, 2007 | No Comments »

The Carnival of Family Life is now showing in Dubai.  How cool is that? Go check out all of the great posts listed at  Sandier Pastures!

Filed under: Good Reads on August 27th, 2007 | No Comments »

I don’t have the slightest idea of how to teach my children about money. In theory I do but making it sink into their thick skulls is something entirely different. If you ask Nick, anything and everything he wants is inexpensive. Whether it be $10 or $150, he looks at mother as though she were a stick in the mud. “It’s only…”

Recently, he wanted a set of toy dinosaur eggs which hatch and result in 6 collectable dinosaurs. For all practical purposes the eggs were basically bath bombs. The contents revealed small dinsosaur toys you have to put together yourself. The cost of this high quality merchandise was a mere $17.88 at our local Walmart.  If I had to guess, less than $3.00 of materials went into manufacturer our toy of the week.  The back of the box states you can collect all 24 dinosaurs. This of course has Nick hooked.  The sun will not rise again until we have all 24.  I try to explain to my son in every way possible why a toy of this nature is a complete waste of money, but his 7 year old brain will not process my logic.

Virtual school begins next week, and I have been searching for a way to incorporate money lessons into our schedule. I’ve been Googling and looking for resources when it comes to this subject matter.  In the process I came across a site about parenting teens that had some excellent articles and resources about money that could pertain to children of various ages. I am glad I found it, because it will give me some direction. Direction I desperately need before dinosaur dreams become something far worse- like flat screen tv’s and nintendo wii’s.

How do you teach your children about money?

***This is a sponsored post***

Filed under: Sponsored on August 26th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

I love Dale Chihuly!  We often go to the Franklin Park Conservatory to see the permanent exhibit.  As many times as I have seen it, I never tire of it. 

 A few weeks ago I received my first edition of the magazine School Arts. I was thrilled to see a project the kids and I could do to create a magnet that looked much like glass art.  The project was created by an ingenius art teacher by the name of Christine Grafe.

The project is very simple. I purchased a package of Arlene’s Shrink-it at our local craft store. Then I cut the sheets into 4 rectangles. You can experiment with the size and shape of plastic you wish to use. We decorated our rectangles using permenant markers. While you decorate, preheat your oven to 250 degrees.  Once you are done, place your shrink plastic on a cookie sheet and put them into the oven for 3-5 minutes.  In order to achieve a warped shape it is important that you watch the progress of the plastic. When it curls in such a way that it suits you, immediately remove it from the oven. The plastic tends to cool quickly, but always check it before you allow your children to handle it.  Once the artwork has cooled a magnet can be attached to the back using a hot glue gun - I always do the hot gluing, because if you have used a hot glue gun, you know how easy it is to get burned.

So go release you inner Chihuly! It’s a lot of fun, and your refrigerator will thank you.

Filed under: Arts & Crafts on August 25th, 2007 | 4 Comments »

More and more mothers are opting to work from home. Many are freelance writers, web designers, consultants or virtual assistants. While the start-up costs for a home business are relatively low, you might find yourself in need of a new computer, software or even marketing materials. Unsecured Business Loans can help get the cash you need to start your business. Many lenders offer an easy, hassle free process so you can get the unsecured line of credit you need. Funding is fast so you can start growing your business and stop worrying about how you are going buy the things you need.

***This is a sponsored post***

Filed under: Sponsored on August 24th, 2007 | 1 Comment »