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Finally able to claim blog

Brenda

Growing shrugs from cuttings

I have the freesias growing in the greenhouse but attached to the greenhouse is an unused shadehouse so on advise from a friend and a successful garden nursery owner I started a new venture. I am taking cuttings of any shrubs I can get my hands on that grow successfully in my climatic conditions and dipping then in a growing hormone then planting them in sand until they develop roots.

Once the roots have formed they are planted out in the shadehouse to grow a bit bigger then they will be onsold on the NZ auction sites.

I have several thousand cuttings growing at the moment and over the next few weeks I will explain the process of how i successfully did this

Brenda

looking after the grandchildren

Our three year old grandson often stays with us and its been a joy to watch him developing and becoming a well adjusted, happy child.

This particular day he took 10 years off my life. I had a phone call from a friend in a panic as she was attending a course the next day and couldn’t find a vital piece of equipment she had to take with her so wanted to borrow mine. I thought it would be nice to have a chat and a cup of coffee so offered to take it round to her.

I told grandson we were going to visit Ann but in my ageing years a quick visit to the loo was required first. Attending to this, when I suddenly exclaimed “hell” that sounds like my car starting. It sure was , trying to hurry and in my half state of undress ( its just as well we don’t have close neighbours ) I rushed down the hall to find grandson standing on the steps with a grin a mile wide . He was as proud as punch at being so helpful.

He had climbed on the bench and grabbed my set of keys, gone out to the garage, opened the door and standing outside the car put the key in the ignition and started the car. Just remember he is only three years old. I have several keys on the ring so how the hell he found the correct key as it was literally seconds I was away. Luckily the car is an automatic but I can assure you his life flashed before my eyes as what could of happened.

I was shaking when I said to him “Did you start Nana’S car “  at this stage I had to be careful what I said as he really thought he was being so helpful.

We did get round to friends place and managed to have a discussion of how it wasn’t a good idea to start vehicles it was an older persons job . He is coming to stay again this weekend  so lord help me lets hope he doesn’t take any more years off my life. I did tell his parents that he was too smart for his own good as he sure doesn’t miss anything.

I reckon there must be a moral in there somewhere but I guess its the trials  and tribulations of children

Brenda

A really late start

What a bad start to the flowering season it has been . We have had almost continual rain for the last month in New Zealand, hence lack of sunshine hours. I cannot remember a season where the end of winter is so wet  and the ground so sodden. It sure makes working out side very unpleasant

We have had sunshine the last three days and I hope we have a few more days before more rain appears. I have managed to get hay fed out to the cows today without the tractor slipping and sliding everywhere in the mud so not only do the paddocks have to dry out but the damage the tractor wheels have made will have to be repaired at some time.

I am normally supplying the florists the beginning of August but up until this week I haven’t had anything at all. I have managed to pick six flowers the last two days  certainly  not enough for selling but I guess its a start.

The white/cream freesias are always the first to flower and looking across the beds of flowers within the next two weeks I should have a variety of colours ready so I don’t expect to be in selling mode for at least two more weeks putting me a total of six weeks behind.

A shorter season will be the result of flowering late as I will still have to  think about  next years growth and the schedule I follow.

Brenda Baker

Updating my blog skills

Once again The  seminar that I just participated in was amazing , full of information and has given me more tools to go out and make my blogging a success.

To make money online as a work from home mum, the success is dependant on my skills and to update these regularly is a necessity.

Even though the training’s  aren’t in my time zone and it means I am up all night to participate, I feel they are so important and also allow the continuity of the blog script I am using as things are continually being updated. To understand all these new plugins and scripts a lot of time is saved by listening and understanding the information we are given.

A successful business will only succeed if you have an understanding on what your competitors are doing and always looking for ways to improve your products, skills, and methods of advertising .

The seminars are held monthly at a small charge but it doesn’t end there as follow ups are just part of the service and if there is anything you don’t understand then the time is taken to help you with this.These follow ups are not charged for but it is part of the service given by a dedicated group of people who want to see people succeed in what ever they are doing.

Join me in learning how to make your business a success as the August seminar is already underway in the planning.

              Join Here

Wishing you success in your online ventures  from a working mom

Brenda Baker

Home Business Success

Thirty- forty years ago it was quite normal for the wife to stay at home, be the main childcare support, look after the house and in doing so provide a happy loving environment for the family unit. The man of the house provided the earnings and it was quite possible to live comfortably on this one wage.

This is certainly not the case today.We live in a more materialistic society and certainly want more from life than being a stay at home mum. Woman are encouraged to get qualifications and compete in the business world more than ever before and they are doing this very successfully.

There are two points of view as to whether children are better off being in day care or having nannies rather than having a full time parent being the main child care . Its a very contentious issue and certainly offers some robust debate on what is the best for your children.

We all want the new car ,overseas holidays and the latest gadgets we see advertised but the trick is finding ways to get these without compromising our family values.

The Internet has provided opportunities never imagined so now making it possible to have the best of both worlds if you choose to stay at home with the children.

Being your own boss means you can work flexible hours and make business decisions but it also has a downside where you are accountable for those decisions and may have to suffer consequences if you make a mistake. If, however you are ready for the good and bad then a home business may be a great idea.

No business will succeed without passion and this means you have to be prepared to devote time and effort for probably little reward for a period of time.

Many people tend to think of working from home as something that can utilize domestic skills or online capabilities. There is certainly a lot of home business that subscribe to this but more and more online business is being set up that require highly specialised or technical skills and  creative abilities.

Working from home may require less in terms of capital but that doesn’t necessarily make it a risk - free investment. You may eventually have to make some tough choices which may directly affect your way of living, whether this be a short term or long term choice. These choices can be exciting and scary at the same time, but the challenge can also provide the drive to make a home business a success.

Brenda Baker

Editing with windows livewriter

This is a test for editing with windows live writer. I’m testing it on  my ycademy and semiomantics blog

  Brenda                                                                                                            

We are expecting stormy weather in the next couple of hours with probable power cuts and very strong winds along with the heavy rain.

We have moved our animals to a paddock where they aren’t so vulnerable from uprooted trees and given them extra hay to help with the chill factor with the cold winds.

Unfournately I can’t do anything more to secure the greenhouse and can only hope it will withstand these alful conditions with little or no damage to the greenhouse or my plants within.

We have our candles,and food all organised in case we are a long period of time without power.

I guess its a case of batten down the hatches and weather out the storm.

Brenda

It is becoming more apparent that more and more people are making money using the internet.The many websites are allowing anyone to make a living by providing information,products and/or services. The internet is becoming a primary source of income for more and more people.

In our daily lives the internet is becoming a more integral part of it with more and more things accessible and available to consumers. We probably use the net as our first point of reference now, our school children are taught at an early age to use this technology and we can search for just about anything with this technology.

The internet provides lightning quick information to almost anything you are inquiring about.There is no need for heavy phone books as you can access the white and yellow pages to find a phone number.

Up to date news is available at any time and you can also get all your television information. Nothing is more up to date than what you can access on the internet.

With the trend towards a paperless society and more and more people preferring to use credit/debit cards and not carry cash with them it makes it easier for consumers to pay online.Thats good news for internet marketers and for the environment!

It seems almost daily now that we hear of more advances in what is available on the net and its only a matter of time that all television programes will be available for viewing wherever and whenever online.

Why not get on the band wagon now and start making money. You will need to start off by branding your business or name then look for the opportunities available without investing your life savings and go from there.
Make a plan, set some goals,have some dreams,believe in yourself and the world is your oyster.

Brenda

Poor taste headlines

I just recieved an email to my main email address with the following headline "Pope killed by assasin in Vatican city".

 If the headline had been true that is one thing, but I do know that today the  Pope is in Australia and has appeared at the world youth day.

Unfortunately I opened the email and it was a virus. In my opinion the writer of this email not only has bad taste but could be offensive to a number of people and is the lowest to attach a virus to it .

Healines are very important for any email but they also need to be credible and relate to your topic. Im normally fairly careful with looking at emails but the headline did grab my attention hence why I opened it

Brenda