Tales From Another Planet

So, you may have noticed that Fiction Friday posts are initial chapters or prologue chapters for various stories. None of these are completed manuscripts (although some do have more chapters or writing available). Over the next two weeks, I will be taking votes, and the manuscript with the most votes will be the one I focus on over the next few months. I will try to post a new chapter or part of a chapter every week until it is finished! When I actually finish, I will then go back and clean up any major editing errors and I may even decide to self-publish the completed manuscript. Wouldn't that be exciting? So, if you want to participate in this "fan fiction" adventure, vote now! Take the Poll! View the Results! If you need to go back to see what you've missed on previous Fiction Fridays, you can either click the "writing" link at the top of the page and scroll down, or click the links below to go directly to the chapters. Contemporaries Breaking...

April 7 th , 1878 Bedfordshire , England             Angie rested in the drawing room, her lessons over for the day, bored beyond imagination. At nearly 14 years old, she was too old for the playroom, and her over-protective father thought to protect her from the brisk wind and light rain outside. Her half-brothers were grown and long gone. She had already read all of the books in her father’s extensive library. She was too young to be part of “society” and too rambunctious to sit quietly and sew like most girls.             Her foot tapped anxiously as she waited for something exciting to happen. She heard a quick rap on their front door. A caller had arrived! Her personal maid, Lottie, ran in to the room, her hair escaping wildly from under her small white cap.             “He’s a fine one miss; I declare this i...

Next week, I'm looking at "officially" starting our first week of homeschool (although my oldest is telling me that I have to wait until after his birthday, because he can't go to school when he's still only 4). I thought I would post our "light" schedule for August and then what our estimated schedule will be for September. I plan on keeping August as a gentle introduction to "school". The first week, I will only do the 2-year old Hubbard's Cupboard curriculum with James (two days a week) and continue with storytime, gardening, and reading lots of great books. I'm sure Daniel will want to join in this as well. Then, I will add in some fun "school" activities that I know they both like (playing with Cuisenaire rods and Clifford Science Kits). The second week, we will start adding in a few things at a time. I will try to do 2 days of our Kindergarten curriculum as shown in the schedule. I'm planning on waiting until Sep...

Because I have some financial background in investments and financial planning, people will occasionally come up to me with investment or budgeting related questions. The biggest problem is getting people to follow through on my advice. Every individual person has their own investing or budgeting personality. Finding out your own personality and investing to supplement it, will help your retirement accounts in the long run. Here, I will list a few of the "investing personalities" (without the ubiquitous questionnaire) and how to supplement rather than support them. Next week, I will post a few "budgeting personalities". Day trader. You may not call yourself a day trader, but you at least check your stocks everyday. You want to know whether your balance is going up or down and what the stock market in Japan is doing on a particular day. The problem is, if you are checking all of your retirement accounts and all of your stock portfolio (which if you want it to be ...

One of the greatest examples of political failing is, I believe, the Healthcare Reform Act. First, it's hard to imagine that a document so incredibly large actually did so very little. Second, it's hard to believe that no one has tackled the issue of tax reform yet. Third, everyone is now frustrated that their insurance premiums and out-of-pocket cost are going up so quickly. Rather than beat a dead horse, however. I have a solution to both. Reform the outdated and over-complicated income tax system. Reduce the loopholes and smooth the graduated tax system. If we got rid of the Earned Income Tax Credit, then the "Penalty to work" would be greatly reduced. Here's my quick solution (obviously some actuaries somewhere would need to do some calculations to see how much money would be "saved", but I think it's a pretty good solution without going to a flat tax system). First, get rid of all the "married" "head of household" and ...

I've been thinking about it, and I've made the decision that when "school" starts, I'm probably going to try to take a break from Facebook. I don't think it's really good for me personally, and it's definitely not good for our society. Just as a couple of recent examples from both sides of the political spectrum. First, I saw a picture that has been shared around on Facebook since January 2014. It stated that the county with the highest percentage use of a food stamps was a rural area in Kentucky that was approximately 98% white and 94% republican. They seemed to think it was ironic. Here's the thing, that's not irony. That simply goes to show that even the people that are receiving food stamps don't think it's a long-term solution. If you visited their houses, I'm sure they would tell you that what they really need are jobs, and that's what the republicans have been promising them (plus in that region of Kentucky most jobs ...

            On a rainy Tuesday morning, Karen’s attitude took a turn for the worse. Normally an easy-going and relaxed person, she felt irritated at the unexpectedly heavy rainstorm and her lack of any rain gear. I should have gone back inside for my umbrella, but I could have sworn I had one in the car. Maybe I should have stopped at a drug store. She sat, listening to the rain beat steadily and heavily against her car’s windshield as she waited in the parking lot.             Any of her friends would call her “thrifty” in a heartbeat. They loved her, but she hated to spend money on herself. Of course, her choice of parking lots matched this particular personality trait. Working as an administrative assistant, she didn’t feel like she could splurge on a closer parking spot or even a high-quality umbrella. Living with a roommate helped defray some of her normal living expenses, but she still scrimpe...