My biweekly gig at Get Rich Slowly took on the pulpy plague of phone-book bundles. What to do with directories you didn’t ask for and won’t use?
Don’t toss those phone books just yet.
Donna Freedman
Teacakes: You know you want them.
Or maybe you’d rather have chocolate chip cookies or sugar cookies, or both. Or a batch of pralines. Or some brightly iced Easter cookies.
This week’s giveaway is a package of freshly baked goodies shipped to you from Abeeya’s Bakery in Zachary, Louisiana. Head sweetie pie Donna M. Butler offers you a true dilemma: Which of the above-listed goodies to choose? 
My words, elsewhere.
Write what you know, right? Thus my most recent post at Get Rich Slowly was called “Prepare to get sick.”
In it I explained how I stay relatively ready year-round for illness or injury, from having basic foods and OTC meds on hand to figuring out a way to telecommute in case of a longish period of immobility. Specifically, I noted that one reason I could have surgery on really short notice was that I already had most of my ducks in a row.
I also got to work in a reference to the exchanging of body fluids. This pained one reader, who left a comment asking if this were truly necessary. My reply: “Yes.” After all, it was Valentine’s Day when I got sick.
Win this book.
Lately it seems that all I publish are giveaways, with relatively little real writing. I blame sudden illness, a new job and some additional freelance opportunities.
Not that I don’t like giving things away. I do. That’s why I have a weekly contest. This week it’s, “Be CentsAble: How to Cut Your Household Budget in Half,” by Chrissy Pate and Kristin McKee
The life I once led.
Eight years ago today I headed west. I had no idea what I might do, no idea that I was about to be reborn. In fact, I couldn’t see any kind of future for myself. The only thing I knew for sure was that the life I’d lived up until that moment was no longer bearable.
I left while my then-husband, also a writer, was covering an event several states away. The day before I’d flattened a rear tire in my Chevy Cavalier to keep him from driving it instead of his own vehicle. (Mine got better mileage.)
After getting the tire repaired, I packed what would fit into the little sedan, put Liz Phair’s “The Divorce Song” on the CD player and peeled out.
In less than three days I drove from Chicago to Seattle, a trip made notable by the fact that I somehow managed to get a speeding ticket in Montana.
Giveaway: $20 Amazon gift card.
I had planned to put up a book for this week’s giveaway, but two days of computer glitches have left me unfit for rational thought. I’m so frustrated that I’m ready to fling myself out a window.
Of course, since I live on the first floor it would be a largely ceremonial gesture.
Since I can’t write up an interesting screed about the book, a $20 Amazon gift card it is.
The latest from elsewhere.
After two full weeks of writing the Frugal Cool site for MSN Money, I’ve learned that a five-times-a-week deadline can be less intimidating than a once-every-10-days deadline.
I’d been writing a biweekly personal finance column since spring 2009. Initially I thought this would be easier than my previous job at MSN Money, the three-times-a-week Smart Spending blog. It wasn’t.
Win a T-shirt with attitude.
This week’s giveaway is sponsored by Stacy Johnson of Money Talks News, a website that produces a personal finance television news series. You’ve probably seen these pieces on MSN Money (among other places). If you have, you’ve also seen Stacy, who stars in many of these programs. He also writes PF articles to go along with the film work.
Two other important facts about Stacy:
He syndicates my stuff over at Money Talks News. Bless his heart.
He designed a heck of a funny T-shirt — one which you get six chances to win this week, rather than five.
Gall-less in Seattle.
On Sunday an old friend asked me when the gall bladder situation might be resolved. I replied that I’d be talking with a surgeon on Tuesday, “but it’s not as though he’s going to say, ‘I have an opening on Thursday’.” My situation wasn’t acute, so I figured it could take weeks to be scheduled.
After discussing the reasons to choose (or opt out of) cholecystectomy, I asked how long it might take for me to get an appointment.
“I’m operating on Thursday,” he said.
Frugal-hacking my way through a month without pay.
Two dates for you:
February 7 – The last direct deposit for my day job
March 11 – The earliest I can expect to get paid again
I’m not saying this because I feel sorry for myself. For reasons I’ll detail below, I’m doing fine. I’m bringing it up to remind other freelancers – and fully employed folks – to get creative about meeting your needs.