Disclosure: I can't wait to see what books my daughter will rent with the $50 coupon I will receive for sharing about this wonderful site and idea with all of you!
All of us who have college age kids know that it is very expensive when they attend college, especially at the beginning of each semester. You have move in expenses, room and board, tuition, personal items, and of course textbooks. I know what a large expense this can be and can remember when I went to college, so many years ago, it was always amazing, and not in a good way, at how much they cost.
But there is a great website out there that can help you and your student save money called CampusBookRentals . You can save up to 80% when renting textbooks, as compared to buying them. You can use a highlighter or write in them just as if you owned them! That is a must for any college student. You can keep them as long as you need them and when you are done and need to ship them back, you already have an envelope to ship them back in! This company has rented over 1,000,000 books in over 5,500 campuses nationwide.
What a great idea! I am all for saving money when it comes to college!
You can also check out their new program called Rent Back. This is a new program that lets students rent the textbooks they own to other students. I know when my kids were done with their textbooks and it was time to sell them back to the bookstore, they got a fraction of what they paid out at the beginning of the semester. It was frustrating for them and for me. Sometimes they would keep them and sometimes they found their way to garage sales. What an ingenious idea this program is. Think how it will help in those expenses while they are at college!
I am a big fan of supporting good charities and also a fan of supporting businesses that do, too. This great business is no exception! You can look here to see how they are Making a Difference . This year in 2013 they will continue with Operation Smile but also have set aside money for textbook scholarships to help out students!
It is almost time to send our kids to college for the fall semester. Whether its for the first time or the last time, it is always nice to save money whenever we can! Be sure to check out Campus Book Rentals and learn all about how to help you do just that!
That, my friends, is what is On My Mind Right Now!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Another Fatherless Father's Day
Spending Father's Day without your dad is something you eventually expect to happen. Sometime when you are older. After a lifetime of growing up with him.
This Father's Day will be my 50th fatherless Father's Day.
Wow.
50 of them. Most of my life. Without a father.
I was thinking about him the other day. As much as you can think of someone you don't know or don't remember. I can't remember how he looked or smelled or sounded. I 'think' I remember once when he took my friend from across the street and I, for an ice cream cone at the A & W in town. I say I 'think' because I am not sure if it really happened, or I dreamed it. If it did happen, it would be the only memory I have of him. He gave me life. Half of my DNA is from him. Yet, he is and forever will be, a stranger to me.
A few years ago, I obtained his yearbooks and they were a fascination for me to read! I was surprised, yet thrilled to see he was in Art Club, Choir, wrote for the school paper, was in the football club and he was in drama. I am sure there were other things he was in that I have forgotten. In high school, I was on the paper, the yearbook editor and have forever loved art. My kids....also artistic. One was always in choir, school plays and musicals, worked on the yearbook. I had kids in Art Club. My daughter was thrilled to know she had the same talents as one of the grandfathers she never knew!
I was looking through pictures the other day. I have very very few from back when I was young. And so very few of my dad. Not a one of them is color. I hear his eyes were sky blue. I would like to see a picture of that...I would like more to remember them. It dawned on me at the time that not only do I have very few pictures of him, but not one of them is me with him. Not one of them is a picture of father and daughter. Would it be easier to think of him as my dad if there was? Would I make that connection more? I don't know.
I often see the question asked , if you could spend one day or even 5 minutes with someone no longer here who would it be? Of course the answer for me is my dad. I would love to hear his voice, look into those eyes, know what it was like to feel like a daughter to a father. If even for 5 minutes.
I often tell people to find the joy, life is too short, tell those you love that you do. But I truly mean it. And this Father's Day, if you are lucky to have your dad around still, give him a hug! Make it extra long...just for me!
And that my friends, is what is on my mind right now!
This Father's Day will be my 50th fatherless Father's Day.
Wow.
50 of them. Most of my life. Without a father.
I was thinking about him the other day. As much as you can think of someone you don't know or don't remember. I can't remember how he looked or smelled or sounded. I 'think' I remember once when he took my friend from across the street and I, for an ice cream cone at the A & W in town. I say I 'think' because I am not sure if it really happened, or I dreamed it. If it did happen, it would be the only memory I have of him. He gave me life. Half of my DNA is from him. Yet, he is and forever will be, a stranger to me.
A few years ago, I obtained his yearbooks and they were a fascination for me to read! I was surprised, yet thrilled to see he was in Art Club, Choir, wrote for the school paper, was in the football club and he was in drama. I am sure there were other things he was in that I have forgotten. In high school, I was on the paper, the yearbook editor and have forever loved art. My kids....also artistic. One was always in choir, school plays and musicals, worked on the yearbook. I had kids in Art Club. My daughter was thrilled to know she had the same talents as one of the grandfathers she never knew!
I was looking through pictures the other day. I have very very few from back when I was young. And so very few of my dad. Not a one of them is color. I hear his eyes were sky blue. I would like to see a picture of that...I would like more to remember them. It dawned on me at the time that not only do I have very few pictures of him, but not one of them is me with him. Not one of them is a picture of father and daughter. Would it be easier to think of him as my dad if there was? Would I make that connection more? I don't know.
I often see the question asked , if you could spend one day or even 5 minutes with someone no longer here who would it be? Of course the answer for me is my dad. I would love to hear his voice, look into those eyes, know what it was like to feel like a daughter to a father. If even for 5 minutes.
I often tell people to find the joy, life is too short, tell those you love that you do. But I truly mean it. And this Father's Day, if you are lucky to have your dad around still, give him a hug! Make it extra long...just for me!
And that my friends, is what is on my mind right now!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
When I Grow Up, I Want To Be....
What? Do you know yet? Have you thought about it all your life? Did you end up doing what you wanted to? Did you end up doing what your passion is?
My kids are at that age. You know, the age, the world expects you to know what you want to do! I have one who has always known what she wanted to do and is almost through with college so she can do just that. I think, she is in a minority. I think, she is one of the lucky ones.
I know I struggled with knowing what I really wanted to do. I never had the guidance and the backing, nor the encouragement. I went to different schools, took different majors. I majored in business, was going to be an art teacher, fashion design, thought about social work, pursued accounting at one time, was accepted in to a Commercial Art program that I never went to, and did go to cosmetology school and got a license in that.
So were any of them my passion??? Commercial Art was close. So why didn't I go, although I had to show a portfolio and was accepted? I still didn't feel good enough. To this day, I regret it and wonder what direction my life would have taken if I had gone.
When I went to an actual 4 year college, my major changed so much. I just didn't 'know' what I wanted to do, what I could be good at. Thinking back, the classes I enjoyed the most, I did the best at, were my English and writing classes. Yes, I even thought about journalism, but that isn't the writing I wanted to do.
I wanted, and still want to, write books. Sure, I wrote one, but that was like a big long journal, a story of part of my life. Yes, I have another one to do, but those aren't the kind I am talking about. I am talking about writing books of fiction. The ones you get lost in, the ones you can't put down because you need to know how the story goes, and how it ends. So why haven't I? Can you guess? I never felt I wrote good enough. Lately, the book my sister and I started working on has been majorly on my mind. I think it is time to find it and finish it and if I have to self publish it, I am fine with that. I want it done. It feels like it needs to be finished.
So, anyhow, back to my topic. Here is my question and I hope you will post your thoughts in the comments!
What did you want to be when you grew up? More importantly, are you NOW doing what you always wanted to for a job. If you are, it is more than a job, isn't it? If you are, when did you realize what you wanted to do and how did you get to this point? If you are not, why NOT? What was it that stopped you from doing what you really wanted to? What is stopping you now?
That, my friends, is what is on my mind right now!
My kids are at that age. You know, the age, the world expects you to know what you want to do! I have one who has always known what she wanted to do and is almost through with college so she can do just that. I think, she is in a minority. I think, she is one of the lucky ones.
I know I struggled with knowing what I really wanted to do. I never had the guidance and the backing, nor the encouragement. I went to different schools, took different majors. I majored in business, was going to be an art teacher, fashion design, thought about social work, pursued accounting at one time, was accepted in to a Commercial Art program that I never went to, and did go to cosmetology school and got a license in that.
So were any of them my passion??? Commercial Art was close. So why didn't I go, although I had to show a portfolio and was accepted? I still didn't feel good enough. To this day, I regret it and wonder what direction my life would have taken if I had gone.
When I went to an actual 4 year college, my major changed so much. I just didn't 'know' what I wanted to do, what I could be good at. Thinking back, the classes I enjoyed the most, I did the best at, were my English and writing classes. Yes, I even thought about journalism, but that isn't the writing I wanted to do.
I wanted, and still want to, write books. Sure, I wrote one, but that was like a big long journal, a story of part of my life. Yes, I have another one to do, but those aren't the kind I am talking about. I am talking about writing books of fiction. The ones you get lost in, the ones you can't put down because you need to know how the story goes, and how it ends. So why haven't I? Can you guess? I never felt I wrote good enough. Lately, the book my sister and I started working on has been majorly on my mind. I think it is time to find it and finish it and if I have to self publish it, I am fine with that. I want it done. It feels like it needs to be finished.
So, anyhow, back to my topic. Here is my question and I hope you will post your thoughts in the comments!
What did you want to be when you grew up? More importantly, are you NOW doing what you always wanted to for a job. If you are, it is more than a job, isn't it? If you are, when did you realize what you wanted to do and how did you get to this point? If you are not, why NOT? What was it that stopped you from doing what you really wanted to? What is stopping you now?
That, my friends, is what is on my mind right now!
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