Added for You - Home and Family

Attracting Clients With Ease
Whether you are already running your own business, or still thinking about starting your own business, I suspect that deep down you know you have gifts and talents that can really make a difference to others. In an ideal world, you'd spend the majority of time doing the work you love to do, with a steady stream of clients knocking at your door as and when you want them. The reality, however, can be somewhat different, and the whole process of finding new business can be a time consuming challenge full of uncertainty. Some would be entrepreneurs are so intimidated by the idea of finding clients that they never put their dreams into action. Others start promising businesses, yet give up disillusioned by the frustrating lack of clients. Some die-hards persist, but at great emotional and financial cost as the uncertainty about attracting and maintaining clients takes its toll. But it doesn't have

r sister could use it. She also knew the paper would keep it nice and cool on that long trip. It still felt cool! She unwrapped the jug, and unscrewed the lid to find fresh.......churned butter! The back roads of Newton County, Arkansas had churned mother’s fresh milk to fresh country butter!

Betty Jean would remember the dismay on mama’s face as long as she lived.

WAIT! Aunt and Uncle vowed as how one thing they could use more'n fresh milk was fresh churned butter!

Betty Jean was so happy they had decided to come. She had already forgotten about how tired she felt when she arrived. Everyone should be as lucky as Betty Jean to get to ride in a cramped old red truck and ride over "wash board roads” to visit an "Arkansas Aunt and Uncle".

The morning arrived. They were to leave the mountain. Betty Jean wondered about her Mother…she had been different all during their visit. Before she was quiet. But, when she came to Ark, Mama was different. Mama and her sister talked all day. and Betty Jean suspicioned all night!

All of a sudden, Betty Jean knew! She knew without being told. Mother was home. Maybe that is why they didn't come real often. The coming was wonderful; it was the leaving that wa

Strategy Games - Classic Online Games are Back
We are in the age of fast action first person shooters, but once upon a time, there were turn-based strategy games. Before the dawn of efficient processors, large hard drives, and a large computer savvy consumer base, a type of game existed where intellect and strategy were king. Trigger happy teenagers were beat by patient methodical adults, and time could be put into making the right moves, without fear of a mouse failure, a broken keyboard, or a faulty internet connection. Yes, these were the days of true strategy games.Chess is a classic example of a turn based strategy game that has lost relative popularity. In chess, there is a clear objective, there are set rules, and planning is paramount. It is played between two individuals looking to have a battle of the wits. In the early 1980s, a series of games were made for early Macintosh computers and DOS machines, based off the same fundamental c

Many years ago I knew a little girl named Betty Jean. One summer, something special happened to her. She discovered something about her mama she had never known before.

First, let me tell you that Betty Jean lived near the Verdigris River in a house built before Oklahoma became a state.

Think about it…. no electricity. no running water, no TV, no electric iron, no toaster, no microwave, no hair dryer, no indoor bathroom….. Get the idea?

Why their mailbox was even 2 miles away, on the highway. Betty Jean lived two miles farther than the U S Post Office could deliver mail!

When the rains came, as they always did, she was even more isolated. The school bus could not cross the low water bridge. Sometimes weeks went by and the only person Betty Jean saw was her mama or her dad or her brother.

She was sometimes very lonely; especially as her mama was so quiet.

This summer mama seemed especially quiet.

Betty Jean had moped for days 'cause it looked as though there would be no trip.

Take most of the day to get there in the old truck, but that did not matter. Just cause she was eight years old did not mean she did not understand. She understood all right. They did not get to go every year. Surely, Dad and Mama would decide they could pay for the gas for the old red truck.

The dust billowed as Betty Jean danced in the dusty road in front of the house. Mama said, "Get your clothes packed. We’ll be leaving for Arkansas in less than a week."

Betty Jean knew to get a couple of changes of clothes for herself, just as Dad, Mama, and brother would do. Oldest brother would stay at home and look after "the place". You could not just up and leave the livestock; someone had to stay behind. The old wooden wagon seat was put in the bed of the truck up against the back of the cab. Middle brother would ride back there as usual.

The morning finally arrived. Betty Jean had been so excited she tossed and turned all night.

Before daylight, Dad and Mama loaded the truck. They even tied a package to the outside of the cab, as there was not enough room inside the cab for one more thingl The old red truck groaned and creaked for might near seven hours.

Betty Jean was so tired of being jostled on those roads. Dad called them "washboard roads".

"Only have to ford one more creek and go up the mountain and we will be there" said Dad. Aunt and Uncle lived on the "flat" of the mountain. (The top of the mountain) Betty Jean wondered if the "town kids" knew things like that.

She saw a few scattered cabins. Occasionally she would glimpse kids and grown-ups peeking around the edge of broken windowpanes and from behind the trees and corners of the buildings. By the time they arrived, neighbors knew strangers were on the mountain.

Mother was quiet… never did talk much. Sister sort of raised her after their mama died. Mama stayed with her older sister lots of times after their mama died. Frankie was such a lonely little girl after mama died...being the youngest and all. Mama told Betty Jean about her mama’s beautiful long hair and how pretty mama was; but she got sick and was in bed for a long, long time. Her papa even took mama to the Mayo Clinic but they could not help Margaret.

Betty Jean knew her Mama had happy times when she was a little girl. Mama told Betty Jean that she visited her older sister, Floy, or played with the cousins up and down the valley. Losing her mama was sooo sad, but going to school and church and playing up and down the valley with so many cousins was lots of fun; and sometimes, she even forgot, for just a little while, how much she missed her mama, Margaret Houston Casey. Betty Jean had seen the pictures of her grandmother with her hair so long she could sit on it.

FINALLY! "Ohh, Sis!" Aunt was watching for them and saw them coming.

Betty Jean thought her Aunt looked so tired. But, that didn't stop Aunt! She ran and threw her arms around Betty Jean's mother. There were times that Betty Jean wondered what it would be like to have a sister. The two women held on to each other for a few minutes, not saying a word. Were those tears coming down mama's face....

Betty Jean’s Mama told Sister, "I have brought something for you."

Betty Jean could not imagine what it would be. There was not money to buy anything they did not HAVE to have.... And, her Mama had brought a "present!"

Mother turned and walked proudly back to the old red truck and untied the package from the outside of the cab. What was going on?

It looked like a jug! Mother had wrapped newspaper around a glass jar before putting it into several brown grocery sacks. There was string wrapped around and around the paper wrapped jug.

They all went inside the log cabin. Mother was smiling so sweetly as she cut the string from the outside of the package, Mama said the jug held fresh milk. and knew her sister could use it. She also knew the paper would keep it nice and cool on that long trip. It still felt cool! She unwrapped the jug, and unscrewed the lid to find fresh.......churned butter! The back roads of Newton County, Arkansas had churned mother’s fresh milk to fresh country butter!

Betty Jean would remember the dismay on mama’s face as long as she lived.

WAIT! Aunt and Uncle vowed as how one thing they could use more'n fresh milk was fresh churned butter!

All of a sudden, Betty Jean knew! She knew without being told. Mother was home. Maybe that is why they didn't come real often. The coming was wonderful; it was the leaving that was

Before You Go Shopping To Buy A House, See Your Lender
You've decided to take the plunge. It's time to become a homeowner instead of a renter -- so you begin reading every real estate ad, driving around neighborhoods, and getting a good feel for where you want to be.You may even contact a Realtor and begin looking.But that's not the first step you should be taking.The first step should be finding a lender. There are three good reasons for this. The first is that not all lenders are created equal. In fact, there are vast differences. For starters, different companies offer different programs and different fees and costs.Some charge a minimum, and some add on "junk fees" until your eyes blur.You want to know what that loan will cost in terms of fees - not just the final percentage rate your loan will carry. A lender may not want to give you a good faith estimate until you've chosen a house, but you can ask for a run-down on

o every year. Surely, Dad and Mama would decide they could pay for the gas for the old red truck.