BCAFA Blog

When my son first started school, I will admit that I was not looking forward to the many fundraisers that I knew we were going to be expected to donate so much money and time into. I was, however, pleasantly surprised that the fundraisers all seemed to be pretty good ones.

My favorite one was the Christmas raffle tickets. The prizes were great and the tickets were cheap. I actually won a free iPhone from this raffle and I was so surprised because I never win anything. I was actually looking forward to fundraisers after this, even if it did mean that I was going to have to offer some parental involvement.

The school actually did some really neat things, like building a haunted house and having a city-wide Easter egg hunt. We all had a good time and the school was able to make enough money to build a new playground.

As a business owner, why would it be a smart idea to get a toll free number for your customers to call? Think about your impression of other companies that do and do not offer toll free call in options. Do you call in to those companies without hesitating?

Toll free service, or an 800 number, shows that you are a professional and established business that has no intention of closing its doors any time soon.

If you are a small business, it will give the impression of a much larger operation as well. Toll free numbers also offer a way for international customers to contact you without all the phone charges. This can help increase sales and your customer base.

Another great thing about 800 numbers is that they can be forwarded to any phone, so if you aren’t in the office, you can have all calls forwarded to your cell phone or home phone if needed.

About ten years ago, I decided to go on a cruise with my cousin. I was young and I had never traveled before, so I did not know what to expect. I was really excited and I had the best time of my life. I was shocked and awed at how cheap I was bale to find diamonds in some of the ports of call that we stopped at.

I bought several pairs of earrings and a diamond watch for next to nothing. This was definitely the place to go and buy jewelry. I am sure that I could have sold those for enough money to cover the entire cost of my cruise.

When my wife started talking about engagement rings, I told her that we should take a cruise and get the engagement ring and our wedding rings down there. We went on the cruise, bought the rings and decided to get married while we were away.

My son decided that this year for his birthday party that he wanted to do something different.  He didn’t want to just have a little birthday at home with pin the tail on the donkey, rather he wanted to do something that the kids at school would talk about for a long time (who knew that it was on their minds in Kindergarten?).

So, we found a catalogue from the local party supply store in an attempt to find him something that would make his party extra special.  Out of all the things in the book, he couldn’t decide between the obstacle courses, or the inflatable slides.

In the interest of letting him learn a valuable skill, we left the decision up to him.  It has been a week since we had that discussion, but he still hasn’t come up with an answer.  Hopefully, he will figure out something soon as his birthday is only a couple of weeks away.

I have received a lot of spam email messages in my mailbox lately.  Not only does this tick me off, but it can become a waste of time as I am looking to find the legitimate messages that should be in there.

But once in awhile, there is something worth reading out of all the junk that I receive.  That happened to me today, when I received an email about car insurance.

I opened the email to take a look, and I was surprised to see that there were no links in it - just information.  They were talking about the possibility that I was spending too much money on my auto insurance and that I should check to make sure that I was not being over charged for the services that I have been receiving.

Searching for a site that offered free auto insurance quotes, I entered the information to see what I should be paying - and I was paying too much.

I guess I should pay more attention to my emails - maybe I can find more deals.

I would be the first to tell you that I am no programming expert.  In fact, if I were to code a website from scratch, I know it wouldn’t work.  Needless to say, I still need to get it done, so I have found a better solution: I use software to help get the site design done.

Thanks to the quick and easy web design software that I have found, making a website is no longer an ordeal.  In fact, it has turned into a pleasant experience, and thankfully it works properly every time.

The feature that I love the most about the software is that I can make a professional looking site, complete with a JavaScript menu without ever having to know how it works.  I just fill in some blanks, and I let the software do the rest.

Though the design part is done by the computer, I just wish that there was a way to have the content written by it too - it would make my life a lot easier.

With the success of our baby clothing store, we thought it was time that we increased our product offering.  Sure, you can make good money on just baby clothes, but we thought that if we carried a line of baby products, it would make a great opportunity for us to upsale to our customers.

So, we have been looking for a supplier of baby products for some time now, and I think that we might have finally found what we are looking for.  Not only do they carry baby bottles, formula, and baby food, but they also have a great line of baby gifts, perfect for a new born.

So far, the response to our new products has been overwhelming, and our sales are up significantly.  In fact, we might even expand the store to accommodate a larger section dedicated to baby products that are not clothing.  We should have really considered doing this sooner - we could have used the money.

One of the biggest problems with my self esteem comes from my receding hairline.  I know that it isn’t something new by any means, but it has become progressively worse over the past few years, to the point where it bothers me.

I have tried many hair loss solutions over the past couple of years, but I have had no luck.  In fact, I would almost guess that it made things worse instead of making them better.  I was just about to give up, when a good friend of mine (who is balding too) suggested I try what he is doing.

He told me that he has been going for scalp massage hair growth, and it has been working for him.  The place that he goes specializes in this type of massage has worked for him, and I can honestly tell that he has more hair on his head.  In fact, he is no longer doing a comb over, which is a step in the right direction.

So, I have made an appointment, and I hope to get the same results as he has been getting.  It would be so nice to have a full head of hair again.

As much as I hate looking for a new job, I almost consider it to be an adventure.  I mean, it is an opportunity to find something new, have some challenges, and have the opportunity to increase your skillset.  Sure, it is frustrating, but what in life isn’t?

So, I have been looking in the classifieds for a few days now, and a couple of listings have caught my eye.  There is a Limo Hire Kent and Limo Hire Surrey company looking for limo drivers.  Since I have my license, I think that this would be something a little more interesting than flipping burgers, not to mention, more classy.

So, I have sent of my resume to the limousine hire companies, and I hope that they will give me a phone call shortly.  I hope that I have the right qualifications, or at least they will train me.  I just need something different in my life.

As a child I never understood what my parents meant by hard water. Water was liquid. It was soft and splashy. The only time it was hard was when it was frozen and then we called it ice, not water. But when I asked what hard water meant, I was told we had iron in our water and that made it hard.

Now, I knew that iron was hard, but I couldn’t see any metal coming out of the faucet. Finally someone explained to me that the iron was so small we couldn’t see it, but we could see evidence of it under every faucet in our house. The telltale rust stains I was familiar with. I didn’t exactly understand how it all worked, but I got the concept.

Until, that is, one of our neighbors had us come down to watch their softener installation. It wasn’t until I actually felt their water that I understood. It really felt soft. I couldn’t explain it, but I could touch it.