There are a few downsides to raising boys, though. I’ve mentioned many times that bathroom habits of males are mind boggling, especially to someone who never had brothers. It was culture shock and different, but I adapted. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever adapt to the high price of car insurance. Every since Chris got his driver’s license over a dozen years ago, we’ve dealt with the this ever increasing dollar amount.

Nick is covered on his own but Boomer is bugging me about getting his permit. He’s 16 and could have gotten it at age 15 but we delayed. And delayed. And delayed. The truth is, I didn’t want to insure him when we had full coverage on all three vehicles. Now that Brian’s truck and the Honda are paid off and we’ve given the Honda to Jesse, the cost shouldn’t be as bad. Well, at least I’m hoping.

I’ve been happy with my insurance company but I really want to find a better deal. With a 16 year old son about to drive, I really need cheap car insurance. There are a number of sites where you can compare prices but I like the GoCompare.com site because they are not insurance brokers, just a comparison site. There’s no charge to use their site, so that’s a plus, of course. Even better, they offer a 5-star rating scale so that you can see how well a policy meets your needs. Finding a great price is important but not if the policy doesn’t cover the things that are important to you.

GoCompare.com lets you compare coverage for all types of vehicles as well as travel insurance, pet insurance and now, even home insurance. The interface is clean and easy to navigate. Unfortunately for me, it’s also for UK drivers and residents while I’m in the US.

I’d love for GoCompare.com to open a US based website. I’d definitely insurance shop from that site rather than the ones currently available for US residents. I may just have to shoot off an email to tell them we need something like this on our side of the Atlantic, too.

If you’re reading this and live in the UK, do stop by GoCompare.com to compare insurance prices. I’d be interested to hear about any bargains you might find. And I suppose I’ll just keep comparing prices the old fashioned way, without really knowing how the different policies rate since I won’t be able to utilize the 5-star rating system.

But naturally, at some point I’d like to have a place to drop my bags, freshen up and lay my head. You know, I want a nice hotel room. And by nice, I mean clean, a small fridge, broadband inernet (hey, I’m a geek!), and room service. Oh, and a TV for the husband, too.

Sometimes you can get a great flight/hotel package at one of the online travel sites. usually, it’s better to shop separately, at least in my own experience. Besides, I like to get a good feel for the hotel. I’ve been in bad ones and that can ruin an entire trip!

Since I’m considering the PostieCon (convention of bloggers) in June, I’ve been looking into hotels in the Orlando area. There are so many sites for finding reservations that I was getting confused. That’s when I discovered theHotelsCombined.com – Free Price Comparison Tool. Wow! This is great.

I searched for hotels in Orlando and got back 7 pages of hotels. That’s a lot of hotels to sift through but the site also lets you sort by price, location, start rating or even user rating. That’s right, they use actual reviews from regular people and then let you sort according to those reviews. Maybe it’s just me but I always like knowing what other travelers think about a place. Sometimes the professional ratings just aren’t what I’m wanting.

This site gets even better, though. After I decided which hotel I liked, I clicked on it and got a page with 24 sites offering reservations for that hotel on my specified days. Imagine that! I would have had to click on 24 different pages – that’s 24 tabs opened up in my browser – to do the same comparison I was able to do with just HotelCombined.com Talk about a time saver.

Before I could get excited about this site, though, I had to try one more city. I typed in Kapaa on Kauai. It’s a lovely town about halfway between Lihue airport and Kilauea on Kauai. Sure enough, HotelCombined.com came up with two pages of hotels in and near Kapaa. I’m hooked.

I’m really hoping that I can talk my husband into at trip to Rehoboth Beach this summer, too. It’s been several years since we were there. I wasn’t very happy with our hotel at the time but I’m sure I’ll be able to find one more fitting this time, especially now that I’ve found such a great Hotel search engine.

Just give me a few minutes and I’ll think of more places to visit.

Now that I’m making a little money blogging I don’t mind spending some of that money on professional services to make my blogs better. Design is first on my list but I also want to look into SEO and perhaps talk to someone about market research for a few niche blogs I have in mind.

They say you have to spend money to make money. Yeah, that’s true. I spent money on my domain and now I’m making money from it. So it’s time to spend more money, in order to make more. I think I’m getting the hang of this.

An acquaintance mentioned to me that she and her husband are looking to sell their home and purchase some nc waterfront property. She has a realtor in NC but needed one here. So I gave her my cousin’s card.

I haven’t heard from my cousin or the acquaintance yet but I sure hope something comes of it. And when I’m ready to move to Hawaii (Ha!), you know who I’ll have listing my house.

My son is like that. He’ll blurt something out and I’ll just stare at him, wondering how his mind came to such a conclusion or developed such an interesting scenario. My son, though, doesn’t like to write. I suppose that’s because he’s dyslexic. Writing is as difficult for him as creativity is easy. Such a shame, really.

Of course, where there’s a will, there’s a way. And the way someone can express creativity despite barriers like learning disabilities is with a ghostwriter.

Yes, ghostwriting is typically associated with celebrities but that doesn’t mean that others can’t benefit from the service, too. The Penn Group is the largest ghostwriting firm in the US but has remained focused on individual customer care. Whether you are a business person, a celebrity or just an average guy with a story to tell, the Penn Group can assist you in finding the perfect ghostwriter for you. With a huge pool of authors, agents and publishers to select from, you’re sure to get the right people for your project.

The next time my son comes up with one of his wonderfully entertaining stories, I’m taking the opportunity to introduce him to The Penn Group. If you know someone who could use this service, why not pass the link along? It could open up a new and exciting career for someone.

Carrie is just a tiny thing but her hands are powerful and she was so very nice, too. I just love massages and I do know a good one when I get it. This was good. My feet didn’t hurt for two full days.

Carrie is trying to get her business up and running, too. The website she has is in dire need of work; she doesn’t even have any ecommerce software running. I’ve offered to help her with it but I’m a little stuck. She uses dreamhost so there is no fantastico. I’ve been trying to install zen cart but so far I just keep getting MySQL errors. Wonder if I can talk her into moving the site to Bluehost?

I’ll share the link to the site just as soon as I get it running. Then you’ll be able to look at the most beautiful handmade jewelry, using precious metals and gemstones, than you’ve ever seen! Stay tuned.

Well, if this was 1978, then you probably would do those things. But this is 2007 and promoting a first novel is much different now. Today you would probably start a website, right? And you’d make sure that your book is available at Amazon.com. Oh, and you’d give the audio version of the book away free, wouldn’t you?

No? Well believe it or not, that is exactly what Author Richard Harris is doing with his very first novel. Honest! If you’re looking for a great mystery/thriller/romance novel then The Capo’s Mistress by Richard Harris will fit the bill. But don’t take my word for it. Take the book for a test run and see for yourself how difficult it is to put this one down.

There are a few chapters to sample at the website but I’d have to recommend the interesting peek into male sexuality in Mike’s first night. It brought a smile to my face although I’m not sure that’s something I ought to admit.

But Richard Harris is offering more than a few chapters of his book to pique your interest. He’s offering the entire novel! Beginning on March 11, Harris began to post his book in MP3 format, one chapter per day. He’s going to continue to post each chapter right up until April 27. On that day, he’ll remove the MP3s and the book will be released at Amazon.com.

Okay, that just seems like a crazy plan to me. Why would Richard Harris let everyone download The Capo’s Mistress for free until April 27? And yet, it’s so crazy that it just may work. I know I’m downloading the chapters and listening to them. I’m not quite to Chapter 3 but I’m already hooked. I guess I’m a sucker for a good mystery and I just love cop stories about organized crime, mobsters and Las Vegas. Maybe that’s why I’m planning on buying the book when it’s released, even if I do make it all the way through the audio book. There’s just something about holding a book in your hands, turning the pages, you know?

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and start downloading those chapters. They’re all going to disappear from the website on April 27 so you better get over there now!

Mike, the other guy who is living in the house with my husband and sons in Hawaii, has a van and was looking to insure it. He asked me to search online for a good car insurance quote. It didn’t take long to find one that was several hundred dollars less per month than the quotes that Mike got locally.

Have any of you gotten insurance quotes online? Were they better than prices that were offered locally? And for those who bought car insurance this way, how is the service if you need to make a claim? I guess that’s the big question right now since the prices are obviously unbeatable! Let me know.

I think more and more about this every time I return from Kauai. Now I’m wondering about the cost of this plan. I know that cremation is less expensive than burial but the cost of taking my family to Kauai will probably soar above the cost of a traditional funeral. I think I need to research funeral insurance so that I can make sure my family can afford my last wishes.

Besides, they all love Kauai as much as I do. It will be like a last gift to them, covering the cost of sending them to our family’s favorite island paradise. Yeah, I think I need to look into a policy just to cover this expense.

For one thing, all my clothes were washed before I left. Yes, I do need to unpack but it isn’t like those clothes are going anywhere in the next few days. Heck, it isn’t like I need them so I can go somewhere in the next few days. They’re summer clothes and summer has definitely not found it’s way to this little corner of West Virginia.

So, for those who are interested, the best way to end a vacation is to pamper yourself after you get home, as you’re recovering from jet lag. And that’s what I’m doing tomorrow. I’ve scheduled a 30 minute foot massage for 11 am. My feet are already feeling happy and loved. Tomorrow, they’ll be dancing with joy.