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Where do you house your computer? Does it have a room of its own along with the books in your home? If you have a study, we’re going to head there next. This is another reminder to take these tasks in small steps—you’ll not accomplish this in one day, even if you’re born-organized!

How does your desk look? Can you see the top? Are you convinced it even HAS a top? If not, let’s start here. Take one small area of your desk—to the right of your monitor, for starters. Sort through the paperwork you have—determine what can be filed (in folders and then a filing drawer), what can be thrown away, and what you need on your desk (bills that are due). Don’t whitewash yourself here—be honest and figure out what you can do without. The less you have on your desk distracting you, the better you’re going to feel. Remember— small steps here! Now work on the area to the left of your monitor. Leave space to be able to adjust the volume on your speakers and get to your printer.

If you don’t have a bulletin board, this might be the best opportunity to put one in to use. You don’t have to have a fancy bulletin board with ribbons—a standard corkboard with pushpins will do nicely. If you have paperwork that you don’t want to file away (yet) or things that you need to keep in front of you for memory-jogging purposes, a bulletin board is a great addition. On my bulletin board, I have things that I don’t need cluttering up my desk, but I do want in easy reach when I need them.

Take a look at your bookshelves. Are they organized so you can find things? I’m not saying that it has to be by the Dewey Decimal system, but as long as you can easily find things, that’s what counts. My shelves are alphabetical, but that’s me. Are your shelves dusty? You don’t have to take everything off of them to dust them—under the books is rarely dusty. Simply dust from the edges of the books to the edge of the shelf. Done!

How’s the floor in this room? Can you walk and not kill yourself? If not, use the laundry-basket method we’ve already discussed and sort through what you’ve got, what you need, and what you don’t need. Once you can see the floor, run the vacuum. Again, not the edges, just where you can walk and roll your desk chair.

Finally, dust the furniture in this room. Run your duster over quickly and pick up whatever particles spell out “help me” on flat surfaces. You’d be shocked how quickly dust builds up where your computer is involved and how effective the fans are in your CPU!

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When publishing your own designs, projects and/or patterns, you must first make sure that you are never infringing on someone else’s copyrights.

Many times I have seen crafters “adapt” a pre-existing pattern, and then call the project their own creation.

Making a few changes to another’s pattern, project or instructions does not make you the owner of the changed design no more than if I were to paint your house for you and call it mine just because I made a change to it.

Your house is your home, no matter what changes another makes, and others creations, patterns and projects are their own no matter what changes you may make to the finished product.

This is not only illegal it’s also dishonest and just plain wrong. For a project or pattern to be completely yours, then you need to design it from scratch completely, before you can proudly call yourself the owner of the projects instructions, and before you can claim the copyrights for yourself.

Yes I also know most crafters do not get caught, and some even brag about this on various crafting boards. Many even encourage this as a method for “quick creation” for projects that they can develop fast for submission to publications.

People who do this, or encourage others to do this are thieves plain and simple. Don’t be a thief, work honestly and it won’t bite you in the rear when you least expect it to.

If you use this method of stealing another’s work, you never know when you could find yourself facing severe penalties and a lawsuit that you probably cannot afford. The only way to protect yourself from suit is to make sure that you only use your own creations and original designs.

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CHRISTMAS TREE COFFEE CAKE

2 pkgs. of active dry yeast
1/2 cup of warm water
1 1/4 cup of buttermilk
2 eggs
5 1/2 cup of flour
1 1/2 cup of butter or margarine
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 teaspoon of salt

In a large mixer bowl, dissolve yeast and warm water. Add buttermilk, eggs, 2 1/2 cups of the flour, the butter, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed, scraping bowl. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Dough should remain soft and sticky. Turn dough onto well floured board. Knead 5 minutes. Shape dough into desired coffee cakes and rolls. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake at 375 degrees. GLAZE: Mix 2 cups confectioners' sugar, 2 to 3 tablespoons water or milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cream until smooth. Trim with colored sugar.

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Chapter 7 - Advertising Your Web Site

Now here comes the fun part or I should say fun part(s). In this section we are going to focus on advertising the web site you set up and in the next section, we will focus on advertising your free course.

The main focus of this section will be on reciprocal linking, IE swapping links with other sites in your market.

Reciprocal linking is an important tool for web promotion. Reciprocal Linking increases the link popularity of the web sites. Sites dealing with same business can join hands to have reciprocal linkages.

Reciprocal linking is an "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine" activity. Effectiveness of reciprocal linking is growing and is sought after as the new medium of advertising on the Internet. You can set up a Links Page with link access from your homepage, and promote your URL address for the specific Reciprocal Links Page in all the major search engines.

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91. No Place for Abuse

Regardless of how much you love your mate and believe in who they are, there is NEVER an appropriate time for abuse, whether physical, emotional, or verbal. If your mate shows aggression or any form of abuse toward you, seek counseling for both of you immediately to try to work through things. If your mate refuses to go, even if it is hard, leave. First is your safety. Second, it is possible for people to learn ways in which to manage their aggressions. If this is the case, the life of the relationship has a much better chance of surviving!

92. Open Your Eyes

Do not drive yourself crazy with this, but take notice of how your relationship is going. Open your eyes and take stock of what is and is not working in your relationship. Are there definite things missing or definite problem areas that need to be worked on? Think about it. If you invest in the stock market, you pay attention to what is going on so you can make changes if needed. Your relationship is far more than the stock market but requires some of the same strategies.

93. The Grass is NOT Greener!

Too many times, people get tired of working on the relationship they are currently in and feel that by moving on to another person, they will find greener pastures. This is just not the case. What happens is when you move to another person, things are fresh, new, and exciting just as they were in the beginning of your current relationship. Within time, that relationship will also start experiencing differences and bumps in the road. Unless you are being abused or your mate is doing something illegal or completely irresponsible, perhaps the efforts you would put into starting a new relationship would be better spent fixing the one you have.

94.Start a Journal

Keep your personal feelings and discoveries about your mate in a journal. This will help to remember what special things he or she likes or dislikes, track the wonderful times spent together, and help you to feel better when you hit an obstacle in your relationship. When things get a little tough, refer to your journal and read through all the terrific emotions and time together and you will find plenty of reasons to make things right again.

95.Be Flexible

Remember that relationships are give and take situations, not competition between two people who love each other. There will be times when your mate is right and times when you are right. When you feel the conversation getting a little on the edgy side with each of you trying to hold ground, do not forget that there can be many ways to accomplish the same task. The result is that each of you might learn something new from the other person. Put your heads together and do what makes the most sense instead of battling for ownership of the solution.

96.Cut out the Excuses

A major turn-off in many situations, not only relationships, is people who have an excuse for everything. Forget that. Do not make excuses in fear of your mate not liking, loving, or respecting you. Be yourself and if you messed up with something, just admit to it. Say you had promised to make dinner, got home exhausted, and just did not feel like making it, do not tell your mate, “I had to work overtime.” Be honest and say, “You know, I got home after a busy day and I was too tired. What sounds better, Chinese or Pizza?” This has taken you out of the situation of lying and reconfirmed your honest nature to your mate.

97.Spirituality

Statistics show that couples that spend time in church together usually have strong relationships. Bringing spirituality into your relationship is important. Allow the love of God to be your ultimate guide and spend time having devotions together at night. If you are just starting out dating, religious preference may not seem like a big deal at first, but soon into the relationship, it can be a big trouble spot. Make time for God in your life and consider dating someone who shares the same faith!

98.Learn to be Successful

Many couples are starting to go to counseling or relationship/marriage classes much earlier in their relationship rather than waiting until after the marriage is in trouble. This is a great option for learning how to have a healthy, lasting relationship and develop open communication.