Glen Brammell

It seems that everyone went a little overboard with the gift buying this year. The tree was stacked with presents from everyone to everyone. There is a mountain of torn gift wrapping all over the floor and ribbons and bows everywhere. I think everyone is happy with their gifts and it’s been a good morning.

The preparation of the food will soon be the next thing on the agenda. There has been some baking going on over the last several days but the real serious cooking will soon start. As usual, I feel blessed to have so many people I love around and hope that everyone out there is having as great a day as I.

Thanks to Olga Quinn

Small business owners across the country are hurting, it’s not just me, but these times are tougher than I’ve ever seen in the last 30 years I’ve been doing this. We’re just not as busy as we’ve been in years past but that’s given me an opportunity to really try hard to make this business better and more efficient for when things do pick back up. I got us some http://smallbusiness.xo.com/ solutions to streamline things a bit and I did an allover audit of our spending and all that so I could make sure we weren’t hemorrhaging money in places we shouldn’t have been. There are only so many things I can do right now to help business pick up and after that’s done I really just have to wait, you know? Things will come back like they have before we just may have to wait a while longer this time around for it to happen…nothing’s easy in this economic crisis and that’s the end of that story. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.

The news out of Washington is not good. Today the white house announced that nearly one out of every two Americans are living from week to week and are being classified as low-income. Those without jobs are being hit hardest. It’s been years in the making but now it is true.

Senators and congressmen are busy blaming each other. That leaves the American people with a huge problem. What will happen to those who have some kind of mishap in their lives that will put them over the edge? I hope that congress and regular Americans will wake up and start to deal with this problem.

Sometimes in life, we must accept the inevitable. This is especially true with my cousin chip. While he is truly a great guy, he is not what you would call physically gifted. In fact, he is a bit ungainly when it comes to physical activity. That’s why there are some areas where I believe he will not be able to find a job. The good news is that he is very smart and has the attention to detail that is needed for the career he wants to pursue.

He wants to become a tax preparer. I think that this is a job that is ideally suited for him. He will be able to do most of the work from home and will not have to strain himself physically. He will be able to use his mind in order to do his job. I also happen to know that this is something that he wants to do. I think this will be good for him.

Another good aspect of this potential job is that he can learn everything he needs to know online. There are websites that offer the courses needed so that he can get a tax preparer certification. He will have access to study guides and will also be able to take practice exams. I know that my cousin will be alright and will have a gr4eat future doing what he loves. That’s always a good thing.

There are some people out there who are willing to take a risk. These people are hoarding pennies. It turns out that pennies minted in 1982 or earlier are made with 95% copper. This makes the pennies worth more than their face value. Some are hoarding these pennies in order to cash in if federal laws change.

It is now illegal to melt down U.S. coins. Some feel that the laws may soon change and they will be able to cash in their pennies for a huge profit. Pennies made after 1982 are made of mostly zinc that has far less value.