August 2009 Edition of the Family Life Blog Carnival

Welcome to the August 2009 edition of the Family Life Blog Carnival. We have a variety of topics in this edition, all with the intent of making your family life better. Even if you're a family of one or a couple of with no kids, you're likely to find something useful.

Several months ago I decided to run three different blog carnivals (The Better Life Carnival, The Carnival of Productivity And GTD, and The Family Life Blog Carnival) with the HolidaySpirit Blog Carnival being run towards the end of the year. I started with an very aggressive schedule that wasn't realistic and needed to be adjusted (as those things tend to happen) and some other life events came along that influenced me to move some publication dates. This is a smaller edition than I would have planned but I was determined to get an edition out in August. With nearly 1000 submissions I just don't have the bandwidth to review them all in time for this edition. I am really happy to see that the submissions have grown for all the blog carnivals that I run and have been surprised to see that the HolidaySpirit Blog Carnival continues to get regular submission even though the next edition wasn't scheduled until November! I do like blog carnivals for a variety of reasons including the exposure to varying ideas, opinions, authors, and writing styles and the exposure that it can bring to the writers, so I hope that you'll continue to submit articles, read my blog carnivals (others as they meet your interests) as well as continue reading my blogs. You can also subscribe via email or by RSS Feed so that you don't miss a blog carnival or other post. If you have ideas for topics or subjects that you'd like to see in future editions feel free to post them in the comments section at the end of this post. If you have any other comments, feel free to leave them as well. You can submit your blog article(s) to the next edition of the Family Life Blog Carnival using our carnival submission form. Links to past posts and the dates of future scheduled editions can be found on our blog carnival index page. So without further adieu, here is the August Edition of the Family Life Blog Carnival....

Family & Parenting

Debbie Dragon presents US Moms Guiltier Than Moms in France posted at Empowering Mom.

Matthew Paulson presents Childs Play Keeping Your Kids Safe posted at American Consumer News. Some toy hazards to keep your eyes open for.

School Problems

Concerning Kids presents How To Handle A School Yard Bully posted at Concerning Kids. Are you concerned that your child is being bullied or maybe even hurting other kids at school? Here are some things to consider in this post.

Saving For College

Savings Toolbox presents The UnTruths About Saving For College posted at Savings Toolbox. Here are some things to consider about saving for your children's college education.

Health

Concerning Kids presents Tips For Parents Of Picky Eaters | Concerning Kids posted at Concerning Kids. I'm a picky eater myself, so here is some good advice for parents with one ore more kids that are picky eaters!

Goals & Self-development

Deposit Accounts presents A Wish is a Goal Unfulfilled posted at Deposit Accounts. Why wish, why not set a goal?

Travel

mom & dad presents Disney Cruise, Take Two posted at raising4boys.com.

Safety

Professor presents The Last Zebra posted at Professor of Protection. Parents can use this safety tip to keep kids close in crowds.

Money & Finance

KCLau presents Save money the stupid way posted at KCLau's Money Tips, saying, "Simple ways to save money".

Leave Debt Behind presents Helping Family Change Their Spending Habits posted at Leave Debt Behind. Advice on how to change your family's spending habits.

Ben presents Alternative Minimum Tax and Federal Income Tax Withholding Changes posted at Money Smart Life.

Savings Toolbox presents Money Saving Tips from the Grocer posted at Savings Toolbox. Some tips to save you some money at the grocery store.

Leave Debt Behind presents Facts About Debt Consolidation Loans posted at Leave Debt Behind.

Other

nickel presents Save on Healthcare: Cheap Immunizations at the Health Department posted at fivecentnickel.com.

I hope that you've enjoyed this edition the Family Life Blog Carnival. Stay tuned for future blog carnival editions as well as the other regular posts found here. You can submit your blog article(s) to the next edition of the Family Life Blog Carnival using our carnival submission form. Links to past posts and the dates of future scheduled editions can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Photo credit: Gosling... courtesy of 13dede.

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the family life, blog carnival.

2000 Listeners on Blip.fm

I recently paced 2,000 listeners at Blip.fm and thought that I'd take a moment or two to thank the DJ/listeners that helped me get there.

While my twitter numbers fluctuate and I'll see a lot of adds and drops shortly afterwards (I attribute this to the get 5 million followers on Twitter in one week type of programs that are all over the place at the moment) my listeners @Blip.fm have consistently grown. I've enjoyed Blip.fm since joining in February this year.  I did an 80's Party and have written about Having Fun On Blip.fm between my blogs.  I've played a bunch of different themed music from time to time including a tribute to the 40th Anniversary of the Moonwalk, Michael Jackson's death, a tribute the electric guitar creator Les Paul featuring some guitar greats, and many other themes.  Last weekend I went to Dresden, Erfurt, Weimar, and Meissen and I created a couple of slideshows of my pictures but didn't post the slideshows to Youtube because of concerns that the music or the slideshows might get yanked, but I thought that I'd blip the songs played with the slide shows so you can get an idea of what the slideshows look and sound like.  Look for a post about the trip and more information about this Blip event at the DC Heron Family Blog.

I want to thank all those people that have decided to become listeners and all those who have rebipped me or given me props.  Twitter has its #followfriday, so here are some of my listeners/my favorite djs that you might want to check out and think about adding.  

I discovered Dave_Malby tweeting his blips on twitter.  He had a lot of followers on twitter and he has a lot of listeners on Blip.fm. BarbieRay is a huge Stevie Ray Vaughn and blues fan. Of course, 1980s, likes to blip a lot of 80's songs.  BLUESBOOGIE is another blues fan. DeAnn is a big Rolling Stones fan. Here are some other Blip DJs that I've had a lot of interaction with over the past few months  ugogirl, Unfinishedperson1, Lysander, TopicsZ4. realtyman, sweetlilmzmia, ICEGIRL152, polarkat, sandraew, tygerbaby, McBud, Rella, DORKVADER, redskyy, UncleBallcoach, crispast, and MusicIsMySoul.  There are lots of great other DJs on Blip.fm. 

I generally will become a listener of anyone that is listening to me.  I receive notifications when I have new listeners so I try to check out everyone and if you've blipped some music that I like (and I like a lot of music) I'll become a listener of yours.  There are some people that join and don't ever blip anything, so I generally don't add those people.  I'm not able to go to Blip everyday, but I'm there pretty often.

Thank you to everyone that helped me reach 2,000 listeners.  I might not ever reach the stratosphere status of some of the top blippers but it is nice to see that I reached this milestone.  Hope to meet you at Blip.fm.

Photo credit: Burst Collage 5 courtesy of ba1969.

August Edition of The Carnival of Productivity And GTD

Welcome to the August 2009 edition of The Carnival of Productivity And GTD. This carnival, along with the other two blog carnivals that I periodically run, have been delayed a few times in the last few months, my apologies for this but various things in my life prevented me from having the time necessary to publish them with my past regularity. At the moment, I still have a lot of other things going that keep me from spending more time blogging than I'd like, but I wanted to get another edition out. There have been some really great submissions and I really wanted to share them with you without too much more delay. If you have any suggestions for topics you'd like to see covered in future editions, feel free to leave a comment. If you have a post that you'd like to submit, please do so via the submission from link. Thank you to everyone that submitted posts! Remember that by subscribing via your RSS reader or via email, that you won't miss the next blog carnival hosted here and you'll know when new material has been posted. Enjoy.

Education

John presents Is an Online Degree for You? The Pros and Cons of Online Classes posted at Ace Online Schools.

PicktheBrain presents 20+ Must Read Education Technology Blogs for Teachers, Students, and e-Learners posted at Online Schools.

Relax presents How to learn new software posted at The Wise Curve, saying "Learning new software can be challenging, depending on how steep the learning curve is"

Alvina Lopez presents 100 Free Ivy-League Courses for Aspiring CEOs posted at Clear View Education Blog.

Nancy Miller presents Top 25 Mining Engineering Blogs posted at Online Engineering Degree.

JoeDale presents Davenport University Online now offers Online Degrees posted at Online Accelerated Colleges, saying "Davenport University offers accredited, accelerated degree programs that are completed in 7 week terms and have 6 convenient start times per year. Earn a degree in a cutting-edge field without ever leaving the comfort of your own home."

Dan Miller presents Student Loan posted at Student Consolidation, saying "Student loan consolidation is a great way to get a lower interest rate, as a reputable consolidation company will buy each loan off of the original lenders, lump it into one loan and offer lower interest and even deferment plans. Consolidate student loans to get them paid off more quickly with financial advice from a guidance counselor in this free video on student loans"

Self-Improvement And Productivity

Broderick Allen presents The Different Areas of Life Support Each Other posted at Broderick Allen - Personal Growth and Enjoying Life's Journey.

Lionel Ebrahim presents Overwhelmed By Real Life Problems posted at lionel-ebrahim.com.

Daryl Furuyama presents How to Hack Behaviors posted at WhiteHatBlackBox.com.

Paul Dickinson presents 5 Bloggers give their top 3 tips on Productivitity posted at Live Without Work.

GeekMBA360 presents You must be a lazy man if it takes you ten hours to do a day?s work posted at GeekMBA360.

MoneyNing presents A Little Post on Leverage posted at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning.

Matt Goldenberg presents Avoid Burnout, Stay Energized, Harness the Power of The Recharge! posted at Life of Matt.

Joshua Seth presents Time Management Tips posted at Joshua Seth Blog, saying "Before I give you these three powerful time management tips, have you thought about why people need to manage their time effectively in the first place? Why can’t we just get everything done that we need to do on a daily basis instead of letting things pile up and get out of control?"

g presents A Housewife on Steroids « Manely Montana posted at Manely Montana, saying "a day in the life of an innkeeper"

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 Terrific Productivity Tools for the Bored or Unemployed posted at Online College.org.

Anne Siomne presents 100 Essential Web Tools for Any Side Business posted at Management Degree.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Book Announcement: The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness posted at SharpBrains, saying "While most of us have heard the phrase “use it or lose it,” very few understand what “it” means, or how to properly “use it” in order to maintain brain function and fitness. Here's the story on how my interest turned into a blog and now a book!"

Travis presents Getting Stuck in Negative Patterns posted at Personal Web Guide, saying "Nothing can shut down productivity faster than being stuck in a monotonous routine"

Flea presents Simplify For Less Stress posted at Be A Survivor.

Broderick Allen presents Overwhelmed? posted at Personal Growth From the Bottom Up.

Stephen Martile presents How To Set The Right Goals posted at FreedomEducation.ca by Stephen Martile, saying "I think goal setting is one of the more important elements of personal growth. If you’re going to set goals, you want to make sure they are the “right” goals. When I say the “right” goals I don’t mean that I’m right and you’re wrong. There is no right and wrong, there is only what works and what doesn’t work. You want to set goals that work."

Craig Harper presents Taking Back Your Personal Power (Part 1) posted at Life Coach - Craig Harper, saying "Perhaps you feel like you’re trapped in some kind of on-going poker game where you’re never dealt any decent cards. As a result you feel like you have no real power or leverage… just the occasional bluff."

Randy Cantrell presents Effort & Focus (And Their Enemies) posted at Bula! Life Is Good. Note: the first link ( Effort & Focus (And Their Enemies)) is to a video hosted outside of the blog, the link submitted gave me a 404 error message so I replaced it with the first one mentioned here, the video is also viewable within the blog mentioned in the second link (Bula! Life Is Good).

Scientific Living presents Fearlessness posted at Scientific Living.

Mindi Lyons presents Trashing Your Future posted at Mindi Lyons Life Makeover Blog.

Fitz Villafuerte presents How To Stop Being Lazy posted at Ready To Be Rich, saying "Feeling lazy to work? Here are some tips on how to combat laziness and become more productive."

OPTED Magazine presents Identify high energy times for maximum productivity posted at OPTED Magazine.

Ralph Jean-Paul presents A Bugs Life: Applying the Success Principles of Ants posted at Potential 2 Success, saying " Even though ants are responsible for so many tasks, they always seem to accomplish everything they set out to do. Because of their success principles, if ants were human, they would be the most successful group of people on the planet. Learn their productivity habits and apply them to your own life."

The Smarter Wallet presents Develop Skills For Managing Your Life So You Can Save Money posted at The Smarter Wallet.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Investment Tools, Software and Resources You Can Get For Free posted at The Digerati Life, saying "Improve your investing efforts with these tools!"

Managing Email

Celes presents 9 Steps To Email Management posted at Embrace Living - Personal Development Blog, saying "Is managing your emails killing your productivity? Here are 9 easy steps you can use to manage your emails and increase your productivity."

Simple Llama presents Consolidate labels in Gmail posted at Simple Llama, saying "Gmail is the best online email service. Don't let clutter overrun it!"

Organizing

Tamlyn presents 3 simple steps: clear out your wardrobe posted at Simply Blissful.

Twitter

Jacques presents Twitter Tips And Abbreviations posted at Monkeyprofit.

Jacques presents Making Money On Twitter posted at Monkeyprofit.

Alvina Lopez presents 100 Entrepreneurs You Should Follow and Learn From on Twitter posted at Associate Degree Blog.

Career

nissim ziv presents How to Decide on a Career? How to Choose a Career Path? posted at Job Interview & Career Guide, saying "This article covers the main aspects you should take in mind for deciding on your career and also provides examples on how to choose your career path."

Nissim ziv presents Preparing for a Job Interview – Tips for Job Interviews posted at Job Interview Guide, saying "Each of us have experienced this question sometime or the other in our lives – how to prepare for a job interview? Whether we are novices or even experienced employees, there come this particular job opportunity, and therefore an interview, that is quite different and lucrative than other job offers. For that reason, make sure you are ready and well prepared for the interview."

nissim ziv presents What to say in an interview & What not to say in an interview posted at Job Interview Guide, saying "Interviews are short, crisp, and very important part of your lifetime. A good interview can make your career and a bad interview can either offer you progress at the best and seriously hamper your progress at worst."

MoneyNing presents Side Hustle, Self Employed, Entrepreneurship posted at Money Ning, saying "There's really not many overnight success. Work hard and take it one step at a time!"

Carl Bond presents Want to Get a Job? Be willing to Work. posted at First Job Blog.

Other

Ruoall Chapman presents Online Spyware Removal posted at Online Spyware Removal.

Nissim ziv presents How to start eBay business from scratch posted at eBay Business Guide, saying "Starting an eBay business requires commerce planning and handling many business aspects. This article provides essential list of do’s for those who want to learn how to start an eBay business from scratch."

Ben presents Eight Ways to Beat Bad Customer Service posted at Money Smart Life.

EE presents 5 Things I’ve Learnt About Making Money on the Internet posted at Web Career Girl, saying "A few important lessons learnt on my road to making money online through writing and blogging."

Matthew Paulson presents A Resource for Getting Debt Free posted at American Consumer News.

Leave Debt Behind presents Quick and Easy Ways Your Teen Can Make Money posted at Leave Debt Behind.

Apply4-credit presents Are Credit Card Protection Plans Worth the Money? posted at Apply4-Credit.com.

GP presents Murphy’s Visit is Just Part of Life « Manely Montana posted at Manely Montana.

Erick Simpson presents MSP University Selected as Strategic Training Partner for HTG Groups posted at Managed Services Blog.

Craig Fenton presents Next To Your Dog This Powerful Tool For Writing And Speaking Can Be Priceless! posted at Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Starship Take Me To A Circus Tent New book by Craig Fenton, saying "Craig Fenton is the creator of the ultimate speaking and writing course with written, audio, email, and phone coaching. He is the author of books on the Jefferson Airplane/Starship. Craig lectures with a one time member of the Greatful Dead and a legendary American Rock & Roll Photographer (http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com)

Rick Foreman presents The Virtue of Laziness posted at Waiting for the Singularity.

Caterina Christakos presents USA Telephone Directory ? How to Find Anyone in the US posted at People Finder Pro.

Jacques Groenewald presents Make Easy Money On Ebay posted at Monkeyprofit.

Jacques presents Millionare Mindset- How to think like a millionare posted at Monkeyprofit, saying "A guide to understanding how you should think if you wish to become a millionare and prosper in life"

Ruoall Chapman presents Everything you need to know about how to Make Online Beats posted at Make Online Beats. Note: beats mentioned in thes title of this article is referring to making music online.

Joshua Seth presents Book Writing and Self Publishing Teleseminar posted at Joshua Seth Blog, saying "This month’s teleseminar training on how to write and self publish your book in a month went great. Lots of positive feedback on the content and lots of eyes opened as to just how easy and fun this whole process can be when you understand how it really works."

Joshua Seth presents How to outline your book posted at Joshua Seth Blog, saying "Sometimes you just need a little push to get started. That’s what I’ve found with my coaching clients in the “Your Book In A Month” program. Every single one of them had wanted to write a book for years but never knew how to get started. Now that they have, they’re flying through the process with relative ease."

Name SJ presents Ruling Number 7 - Numerology - Your Ruling Number posted at Free Horoscopes, saying "What does it mean if you were born on the 7th, 16th, or 25th of the month?"

Mary young presents Environment Friendly DVD Cases: The Greening of Music and Film posted at Security DVD Cases.

Deborah davis presents Thing You Should Know About the Modern Ways to Keep Your Store Safe posted at Anti theft security systems.

Jacques presents Effective Email Marketing posted at Monkeyprofit, saying "Effective email marketing tips and tricks to increase conversion and email subscribers"

Edan presents Park City Ski Resorts posted at Park City Condo Lodging, saying "Find out all about Ski Resorts in beautiful Park City, Utah, site of the 2002 Winter Olympics."

Rod Presnell presents Best Fishing Net Born Of Frustration posted at mybasslasso.com, saying "Are you tired of reaching for a fishing net and finding it entangled in hooks, line, and other things found in your boat? You are not the only one, and now there is a solution to this fish-losing, fun-ending problem. Rod Presnell, of Tallahassee, Florida has developed a product that solves the issue."

Mikkal Travvis presents Ron Paul And The Federal Reserve posted at The Truth.

That concludes the August edition of The Carnival of Productivity And GTD. You can submit your blog article to the next edition of The Carnival of Productivity And GTD using our "Submit an entry to “The Carnival of Productivity And GTD” submission form". Links to past editions, as well as the current scheduling of future editions can be found on our The Carnival of Productivity And GTD index page. Thank you to everyone that submitted articles for this edition! If you have any topics that you'd like to see covered in a future edition, or any feedback in general, feel free to leave a comment. Thank you.

Photo credit: Jump for Joy courtesy of susiet.

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the carnival of productivity and gtd, blog carnival.