You Have to Love ebay!

I just read an article that a woman from Chicago bought a house in Saginaw, Michigan for $1.75! She was the highest bid (of 8 bids) but she will also have to pay about $850 in back taxes and yard cleanup costs. How crazy is that? I cannot imagine buying a house sight unseen and not knowing if there were any liens on it or what the potential damage was to the house..not even for less than 2 bucks! I guess that goes to show the power of ebay. You really can buy or sell just about anything on there, I swear!

Craigslist!!

I swear I *love* Craigslist! (For anyone who doesnt know, it is the website www.craigslist.org) I swear I can find anything on there, so I decided to start putting some stuff on there and it has been nuts. I started posting things last week and since then have made almost $300! I put up baby clothes, a jumperoo, double stroller, jogging stroller, play mat, etc. etc. Mostly baby stuff and just junk in the garage I needed to get rid of. It was a nice way to make some extra money adn not have to have a stupid garage sale. I was thinking of putting all that on ebay, but posting on Craigslist is free and I dont have to deal with shipping or anything, people just come pick it up. And, for all the stuff I can't sell on craigslist, I put on freecycle and someone always takes it. Just a thought, if you are trying to make some extra money--see if you have anything around the house you could sell and post it on Craigslist! You never know!

Sick-Sick-Sick!!!

Well, I have been gone forever because it turned out I was still sick! I ended up with Bronchitis from the hospital and it ended up turning into Pneumonia. The last 8 weeks have been incredibly rough and I am just so glad to finally feel better, have some energy back and be back to blogging and working! I missed it!! I learned a very valuable lesson that when you do not feel well you need to trust your body and take care of it so it doesnt get out of control. I am going to be updating like crazy the next few days and hopefully be back on track!

Not Enough Hours in the Day!

I *LOVE* Friday and Saturday, probably because they are my days off! I promised myself that I would get a lot done today (and yesterday) because I was out sick for over a week, summer is almost over, and things just keep piling up! At the top of the list was to go through the garage and get things organized! I planned on going through all of the clothes, books, toys, and random things and whatever does not fit, does not get played with or is not used was getting put up on ebay (a new venture for me), Craigslist or freecycle. Well, do you think any of this got done? No, of course not! And tomorrow is Back-to-Work! I spent the last 48 hours doing a whole lot of nothing, lol. I probably needed it though. Now I am going to have to figure out some time between the kids, the job, the dh, and the housework to get that garage cleaned out! I know my neighbors are sick of seeing the cars parked in the driveway and I am sick of seeing stuff stacked to the ceiling inside!

I guess my spring cleaning doesn't happen until the end of Summer, lol!

Work at Home Transcription Jobs

I know several people (including family members) who work as transcribers from home. Some positions do require experience or education, but others are simply entry level. Here is a list of several transcription companies that hire people to work from home:

Accurate Typing
BTC
Caption Colorado
DRS
eScriptionist
Fantastic Transcripts
Fast Chart
Focus Infomatics
MedQuist
MT Jobs
NTI
Oracle Transcription
OSI
RapidText
Thomas Transcription
TigerFish
TransHealth
Transcription 2000
Type Write
Ubiqus
Vitac

There is also a great thread on this with more companies at wahm.com. I would suggest checking that out as well!

I'm BACK!!! (With Focus Groups)

Well, the last week has been insane! Finishing up classes, working, taking care of the house and kids wasn't enough...my life needed more excitment, so lucky me, I got seriously sick! I was so out of it and busy I thought I was just exhausted and stressed out, turns out I had a kidney infection and ended up needing to be hospitalized. So, I have been on bedrest the week, but I am feeling much better now and am trying to get back into the groove of things. I am really lucky that my Professor was so incredibly understanding and gave me time to get better. As soon as things are going well, something always happens, isn't that how it always goes? LOL!

So, I got a phone call today and wanted to share. A focus group company called and said they had a study they wanted me to participate in next week, it was in the evening and would last 2 hours and for my participation, they would pay me 300 DOLLARS! Can you believe that? I think I am probably still too sick to run around and do that, but just to have the opportunity is pretty cool. Bascially focus groups are a group (obviously) of people brought together to discuss a product or idea for a couple of hours and you are compensated for your time typically with cash or a prepaid gift card. Companies want people's opinions on products or concepts so they can get an idea of what mass consumers might think. The following is a list of focus group companies you can sign up with (FOR FREE of course). This is a great way to make some extra money on the side!

20/20 Research Incorporated · Online bulletin board and focus group (chat) capabilities. In person available for Nashville and Charlotte, NC.

A La Carte Research, LLC · Focus Groups in New York City and Syosset, NY.

Accurate Data Marketing, Inc. · Focus Groups in Glenview, IL.

Adler-Weiner Research · Focus Groups in Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA.

Alan Newman Research · Online surveys. Focus Groups in Richmond, VA.

ARG · Focus Groups in San Bernardino/Riverside, CA.

Ask Miami Reseach · Focus Groups in Miami, FL.

Atkins Research Group, Inc. · Focus Groups in Los Angeles, CA.

Boulder Focus Center · Focus Groups in Boulder, CO.

Campos Market Research · Pennsylvania

Consumer Logic, Inc. · Focus Groups in Tulsa, OK.

Consumer Opinion Services, Inc. · Focus Groups in Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Boise, Salt Lake City and Chicago.

Consumer Research Associates CRA/Superooms · Focus Groups in San Francisco, CA and Dallas, TX.

CQS Research, Inc. · Focus Groups in Houston, TX.

Delve · Focus Groups in Appleton, WI; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Kansas City, MO; Los Angeles, CA; Minneapolis, MN; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Seattle, WA; St. Louis, MO.

Digital Research, Inc. · Online research is a specialty. Web surveys and moderated chats. (All North America)

E-Jury · Participate in mock juries and trials conducted online.

Ecker & Associates · Focus Groups in San Francisco Bay/San Jose, CA

Elliott Benson · Focus Groups in Sacramento, CA.

Fieldwork Network · Focus Groups in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Lee NJ, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle, and WestchesterCounty.

Fleischman Field Research · Focus Groups in San Francisco, CA

Focus On Boston · Focus Groups in Boston, MA.

Focus On Miami · Focus Groups in Miami, FL.

Focus Pointe Global · Focus Groups in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA, Manhattan, NJ, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis, London, Paris, and Frankfurt.

Focusline · Conducts web based surveys, one-on-one interviews, and group sessions.

McMillion Research · Conducts interviews on a variety of different topics, with a variety of respondents from youth to senior citizens. Charleston and Barboursville, WV.

Pragmatic Research · Internet surveys and in person focus groups in St. Louis, MO.

Qualitative Insights · Focus groups in Sherman Oaks, CA.

Shifrin~Hayworth · Telephone interviews, One on One interviews, focus groups

FocusGroups.com · Marketing Research Services listed market by market. Database of many companies. Not all want to hear from you as they do not keep a database. This list is for clients to hire companies.

I collected this information from various websites including one of my faves: volition.com.

I'm Tired!

Oh my goodness...what a L-O-N-G weekend! My mom had to have surgery last week, so on Thursday I packed up the kids, the husband, the dog, and my laptop and made the 3 hour drive out there. The surgery was on Mom's ankle, and part of her Achilles tendon had to be cut, so needless to say, she can barely get out of bed. I felt it was important to help take care of her and do whatever I could to make her more comfortable. Needless to say, it is times like these that I am so grateful for my job. I could be with my kids, with my mom and still be able to work without worrying about taking time off. Of course, I didn't want the kids bothering "Grandma" so my husband and stepdad kept them entertained. They went to parks, went out on the lake in the canoe, shopping...I guess for them it was almost a mini vacation, lol! I, on the other hand, am exhausted. I was on-call for mom and she has her days and nights mixed up a bit, so she needed a lot of help at night. I also did all of the cooking for everyone and made some extra meals so Stepdad could just heat them up since she will be out of commission a few more weeks. I tried to clean up the house some too, (even though I HATE cleaning!!) because I know she is proud of a clean home.

I felt so empowered to be able to take care of my family and support my mom and still be able to work. I do not think any mother should have to choose between her family and children or her job and this weekend really reinforced that belief for me. And I am not sexist, Dads too of course! LOL! If I can give just one person the resources to be home with their family and still be able to work, I will have met my goal.

I am finishing up my summer semester courses right now--I have a BA in Political Science/Pre-Law but I am finishing up my Paralegal certification--and I am just swamped! I took 12 hours (4 8 week courses) so I am overloaded! Luckily, all the projects and all the finals will be finished after the 31st (my dear daughter's 1st birthday!) and then I will be able to spend a lot more time researching and posting leads!

Happy Monday to Everyone and I hope you have a GREAT week!!