Make an Embellished, Denim Fold-Over Bag - Threads

Here is a great looking Threads Magazine website bag project. Make it in your own fabrics with your own embellishments to make it truly your own. Let's see some photos of your finished bag! Make an Embellished, Denim Fold-Over Bag - Threads

Saving For Retirement by Gail MarksJarvis

Saving for Retirement without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery by Gail MarsJarvis, Updated & Revised, August 2012 ISBN 0132271907 Kindle Edition.

This is copy of my review for this book for the Amazon Vine program.

I wasn’t exactly sure what this book would contain, secrets for how to get the money to save so you don’t retire penniless, or would it be about investing strategies? It turns out to be a well written guide book to the basics of investing in the different retirement accounts available in the USA. I was impressed by this book and even though I have read many books on investing, none were as clear and simple to understand as this book. I learned quite a few things, including what a Roth IRA can do for you. Any other time that I have read about a Roth IRA I never understood why it had such appeal. One simple paragraph or two and I comprehended. That is a sign of a good “How-To” book. Make it simple enough that not only can the reader understand, but they can also put the advice into practice.

One of my favorite things in this book was the constant pushing to remind young adults that starting to save now in a 401K or IRA would over the long haul leave them with a tidy retirement fund of somewhere in the vicinity of $1,000,000. Yes, we are aware of inflation on that amount over 30-40+ years, but how much better to have that million dollars even if its spending ability has diminished, than no money saved at all? This is a book every parent should read and then give a copy to each of their high school age kids or college kids at the latest, so they can secure a future for themselves. I will be passing my copy over to my son to read and I anticipate some good conversations with him about the book and what investing plan we both should come up with. I’m so late in the game but financial problems have reared there ugly heads for me way too many times, but I do look forward to trying to get our finances earning the best they can.

For anyone who doesn’t understand the stock market, how to invest in their 401Ks and IRAs, this book will help you to not only understand but make wise choices because of the knowledge they have gained. A must read book for the baffled.

One thing I was very impressed about in this book, is that it was written without ever once saying this or that fund is ‘sexy’. Somehow over the last few years, the word sexy has come to replace words like great, fantastic, etc. Since stocks and investing are asexual, they literally can’t be ‘sexy’ and I’m glad that this writer knew that. Unfortunately this bad habit of some writers tends to feel like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

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I've been on disability for about 8 years now, so effectively I'm retired, but that doesn't mean I have a nice little nest egg and with my hubby 9 years younger, he has almost 20 years to 'retirement'. Do self-employed people ever actually retire? Well anyways, I still want to try to squeeze as much out of what little we have invested as possible before his body gives up entirely. This book gave me lots of good ideas and ideas for things that I want to investigate. I hope you get a copy and study it yourself.

Here is one of my latest reviews for Amazon. It is for the book Get Up to Speed with Online Marketing: How to Use Websites, Blogs, Social Networking and Much More by Jon Reed. ISBN 0133066274

As small on line sellers at ecrater.com, our world has been rocked by Google deciding that they will no longer show listing of items for sale for free in their search. As small sellers, we can't afford to pay the cost of the product just to drive someone to buy from us. So getting this book and reading it was like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Ideas! Good ideas. I ideas I can use! Techniques I didn't understand. I have never marked up and highlighted a book as much as this one. I couldn't believe how much my understanding of the different social media sites worked.

One of my frustrations with the internet over the years is these new, neat things like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. hit our computers but nothing ever comes with instructions manuals anymore. It is difficult at times to truly understand how to use these programs to the fullest. That is what I liked about this book was the understanding of the different social media sites and how they worked and how a person can use them to drive interest and customers to their business.

Now that I have read the book, I plan on going through it and setting up a plan of action showing which social media sites I will be using (or using better) and how we will use them. This thing with Google could really be weighing us down, but after reading this book I feel hopeful. Unless you already have a PR team in place and lots of money to drive customers to your business, this is a good book to read for the basics. Even if you have a PR team, this book could help you know what they are talking about. The only thing that I missed with the book is Pinterest came on the scene in the midst of the book being published and so it isn't mentioned in the book. I guess I will have to figure that one out myself. I highly recommend this book to anyone running an online business of any type.

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NOTE TO THE AMAZON REVIEW TROLLS THAT LIKE TO DIS REVIEWS BECAUSE WITHIN 24 HOURS OF READING A BOOK LIKE THIS, OUR STORE HASN'T ACHEIEVED 1ST PLACE PLACEMENT ON ALL THE SEARCH ENGINES. I am not interested in your comments nor do I believe anyone else is. Online marketing involves work. We understand that. We will be working on our on line marketing along with everything else we do to run a business. This is a great book and will be helpful to many who read it. I know it will be helpful to us as we put many of its principles into practice.

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Over the bit of time that I have been writing book reviews for Amazon I have been astounded by the rude people that tell me basically that I'm stupid because if the book was so great why is my store, Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts, not ranking #1 in searches. Okay, well DUH! It takes awhile to work through new ideas and get them into practice! However, I think this book would be a great one for anyone who is selling on line to read. I plan to put a lot of the ideas into practice ASAP!

Arctic Wargame by Ethan Jones Review Part 2

I reviewed Artic Wargame by Ethan Jones a bit ago and he asked me to let you all know that:

"I'm running a three-day promotion for Arctic Wargame. Readers can download their free Kindle copy during July 10-12 at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0084FH6M8 "

Here is your chance to pick up a FREE Kindle book! Don't miss out.

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks, to be published August 21, 2012, ISBN 125000621X

After having both the pleasure and honor to read and review Matthew Dicks first two books, I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of his next. I I had some moments of despair when it was published across `the pond' and we in the US had to wait. So I was very excited to yet again be offered the chance to review the advance reading copy of his book Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend. Matthew's work just gets better and better and this book is excellent. Perhaps it stands out as even more special to me because I have my own "Max" and got to see the astounding way he grew and learned even if it was with the friendly help from the imaginary friends on "his planet" from which he even gave us daily weather reports. It is obvious that Matthew understands the hearts and souls of those that are special among us. I think that is what makes his books so brilliant. His characters with so many of what are normally called flaws, he brings out the things that make them so strong and special.

There is no point in giving a book report telling what happened in the book as the author has done a very good job of that. Suffice to say the story revolves around, Max is a different type child, with parents that don't really understand him or how to help him, and Max's imaginary friend Budo. Much of the activity takes place at school as well. Budo is Max's voice in this book since Max rarely speaks.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It makes for a terrific read and most especially would help those who would like a greater understanding of an autistic or developmentally delayed child. This book brings into focus so much that this type of child `live on the inside'. The title of this book sounds like this would be a book for children and it is, but it also can hold an adult's interest. I could just see teacher's reading this book to their students just as Mrs. Gosk reads to her students.

Keep up the good work Matthew!!!

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I have noticed something interesting as the early reviews from readers who received an actual copy of Matthew's book and those that received the book on CD. I have never liked listening to books on tapes and such, so when I was half through with the 9 CD set and had a chance to get the book to actually read, I jumped at it. Reading this author's work brings out so many of the subtle nuances that seem to be missed and even the different voices on CD aren't what the book itself would imagine them to be. For instance, Mrs. Gosk's voice sounds silly on the CD but when reading the book you can imagine it any way you want. Anyhow those 'readers' that accessed the story on CD have given it poor reviews, while those of us that got to read and wallow in the characters of Budo and Max are giving it stellar reviews. My suggestion, read the book!

Arctic Wargame

Here is a review of a book by a new independent author, Arctic Wargame: A Justin Hall Novel by Eathan Jones. ISBN 1468152297 This book can be purchased as a Paperback or a Kindle download. Take your pick!

I was asked by the author to read his book, which I am always happy to do. I love to read and due to disability have a lot of time to read and books coming to my mailbox are always a happy event. Right before I was ready to read this book, Ethan emailed me to tell me that there was a short story he had written that was a prequel to the book that I could download and read on a Kindle. I didn’t own a Kindle but was happy to find I could download the reading app to my computers. I have been having a great time downloading some of my favorite old books and know as long as my computers hold up, even if I read every books on my bookshelf, I still will have access to books. I get fidgety if I don’t have something to read. I realize for some that the Kindle is old news but this was an exciting point in my week and I appreciate the push from the author to figure it out.

If you like, you can read Carved in Memory (A Justin Hall short story) before reading Arctic Wargame as it is a prequel to the book, but it is not truly necessary. It does however explain why our book opens up with Justin Hall sitting at a desk doing boring desk work instead of being out and about working as an operative for the Canadian Intelligence Service. So when an opportunity to go to the Artic circle to investigate ships in Canadian waters he and his side kick, Carrie, jump at the chance to go. This is where things get a little strange for American readers. While most of us know that Canada is “up there”, most don’t recognize it as a real country. During my 4 years of college in Canada, I learned that this really annoys Canadians when people act like they are the 51^st state, which they aren’t. So to be reading a book where the main characters are wondering is the US is pulling a fast one on Canada was a bit of a strange experience. Or was it the Danish or the Russians? It was Justin and Carrie’s mission to find out and stop any terrorist threat if at all possible.

This book is a great combination of a suspense novel but also one that shows the pride that people have in their country. Also the pride and closeness those that live in small isolated villages far up north have with each other that most of us rarely see any more. I’m not going to give away the story, but it was a good one with different players and attitudes than usual. I trust the author will continue with his writing and hope that he grows his ability with each new book. I don’t think he has hit the big leagues yet, but I think he has the ability to get there. I would especially like to see more books based in Canada. I know I am really getting into a book when I take the time to pull out my atlas to fully understand where the action was happening. Although if I read too many of his books, I may just have to buy a Canadian atlas so I can track where the action is. I have found reading with an atlas by my side a real help to understanding the books I read.

Carved in Memory

If you have a Kindle and even if you don't, you can pick up this short story Carved in Memory (A Justin Hall short story) at Amazon June 12-14 for FREE. I don't have a Kindle but was able to download a Kindle App to read the story on my computer. This story is a short prequel to Artic Wargames which I will be reading and reviewing next! Check it out.

With my Kindle app I got three free books, one is Pride and Prejudice. Didn't expect that.