Jeanette's Work At Home Corner: August 2006

Looking for jewelry?

If you are looking for designer diamond body jewelry, rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, pendants, and pins, then check out my sister's website Gembaby.com. They have an incredibly beautiful selection of jewelry. You won't be disappointed!!

Scored a.....taste test!!

A market research company contacted me today to see if I was interested in coming in for a paid taste test. I asked her what it was that I would be tasting and unfortunately she could not disclose that but she did ask me if I liked granola bars. So as intuitive as I am (being said sarcastically, ha ha) I figured I would be tasting granola bars. It will last about 20 minutes and compensation is $25.00. Not bad, considering the location is only four miles away from my home. So the next time you are looking on Craigslist.org and companies want you to sign up on their research database, take the time to sign up. Look what it did for me.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Transcribing

As a transcriptionist for the past six years, I obviously have put many miles on my fingers. About a year and a half ago, I found that my fingers would tingle and could feel a shooting pain going through both of my arms. I suffered from headaches and back pain. I suspected it was Carpal Tunnel Syndrome but was in denial. I finally did some research on the Internet and made a self-diagnosis. I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I made an appointment with my family care doctor. The diagnosis was confirmed. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication to help with the pain and he recommended that I wear braces on both of my wrists. I also went and had x-rays taken of both wrists. Results of the x-rays only showed history from a hairline fracture on my left wrist I suffered years ago as a child. My doctor informed me that there were other forms of treatment as well by means of cortisone shots in the wrists or surgery. I decided wearing wrist braces was much cheaper and easier than having shots or surgery. I headed to the durable medical equipment store and was fitted for braces on both of my wrists. They were strange contraptions and they felt uncomfortable. I could not even fathom how I was going to transcribe and wear these things at the same time. My sister came over one day and saw that I had them on and asked if I was going rollerblading. Rollerblading? Funny. Real funny. It was not too bad typing with them on and I got used to it. After about five to six weeks of wearing the braces, the numbness and pain gradually went away. I wear my braces off and on but mostly use my wrist rest. I make sure that I take short breaks from typing and have correct posture as well. I have adjusted my chair so that my keyboard allows my elbows to be at a 90-degree angle. These are simple things you can do to ease your symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. They have helped me immensely.

What?? I can get paid to Blog??

I am fairly new to blogging but have found a way to get paid for it. It's through www.blogsvertise.com. You register your blog with them and upon approval they will start emailing you tasks. In these tasks, you will start writing about the said product or service assigned to you. All you have to do is mention that advertiser's website url three times in your blog. You don't even have to like the product or service. Your entry must be at least one paragraph of 50 to 60 words in order for the blog entry to be approved and you do have one week to complete your assigned task. I had heard about Blogsvertise through a friend and just had to check it out. I’m glad that I did! Now I can add this to my list of extra income and don’t even have to leave my house. Click here to register: www.blogsvertise.com

Too bad I wasn't mystery shopping tonight....

Tonight we decided to go to Native New Yorker for dinner. We walked in and it said "Seat yourself" so we did. We waited for about five minutes before Kait asked someone for a menu. Five minutes later we see some guy showing a party of four to their table, menus in hand for all of them. The guy finally comes over to us and says "Did you guys want some menus?" Well, duh. He was apologetic and said that their Hostess had not arrived yet so he brought more menus for all of us to look at. We sat there for another 10 minutes and still did not have anyone come back to check on us. So, we finally got fed up and LEFT. Which brings me to the title of this post....Too bad I wasn't mystery shopping tonight. This would have been the perfect opportunity for me to give this restaurant an account of what happened while we were there (or lack thereof). Don't worry, I plan on contacting them and letting them know that it was their loss and we will not be returning to their joint.

Cha-ching...Scored another Focus Group!!

Most of you already know that I attend a lot of Focus Groups. For me, they are very interesting and it's a great way to make some extra money from anywhere of 20 minutes to two and a half hours. For example, Jenn and I went to a Focus Group about a month ago where all we had to do was lay on these mattresses, give our opinion and voila get paid $45. Quickest $45 I've ever made!!

I qualified for another focus group today and will get paid $75 for an hour and a half. It's about a new cheese product. I'm not that fond of cheese but for $75 I'll stomach it.

I have signed up with several Focus Group companies here in the area and get called on a monthly basis to see if I qualify for their studies. It's that easy. I search through craigslist as well. Kaitlyn and Madelyn have even done a couple of them too. They were asked to watch some toy commercials and give their opinion of which toys they liked best - they took a toy home as their compensation. I even got paid $15 just to bring Maddie.

This is something definitely I wouldn't quit my day job for but it's nice to have some extra spending money on hand. :)

Madelyn's been sick...

Poor Maddie has been home sick from school all week. I think I will finally let her go back to school tomorrow. She ended up getting some kind of virus...took her to see Dr. Salek because of her high temps - 103.5 - and he basically said it was a viral infection. Since school has started back up again he has seen an influx of kids back at the office. I guess arming the kids with antibacterial gel is not enough. *Crossing my fingers* Hopefully the rest of us will not catch it!!

Rocky Point 2006

We had a blast this summer at Rocky Point. I was somewhat hesitant to go as I'd never been before but was reassured by Maurice and Marsha that it was completely safe. The kids loved just hanging out at the pool or going into the ocean. You can see our condo resort to the left of the picture. It was a breathtaking view from our condo. It was quite relaxing to wake up in the morning and hear the ocean waves. We're hoping to make this an annual trip. :)

Abboud and Johnson kids Las Vegas 2006

This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids. My kids had so much fun with Xavier and Brielle. Even though Circus Circus was ridiculously busy, the kids had a blast. Hopefully we can do it all again. (Hopefully Jos you won't be sick!)

First Day of School

~Monday, July 24th, 2006 ~

First day of school for the kids. Brandon is now in 6th grade. He has the same teacher from last year, Mrs. Conti, and she in fact looped up to 6th grade with the whole class. She is an incredible teacher and had no second thoughts about moving Brandon up with her as well. Kaitlyn is in 4th grade now and has a brand new teacher out of school, Mrs. Banda. She enjoys her class and has one of her best friends from 1st grade in her class as well. Madelyn is now in kindergarten. It's hard to believe that the baby of the family is in school full-time. She thoroughly enjoys going to school. Her teacher's name is Mr. Gaillard (who by the way was Brandon's teacher for 1st grade) and really likes him a lot. It's quite strange being home alone without the kids. This is the first time in 11 years that I have not had a child at home with me. Boy, they grow up fast.

My first blog....

Well, I thought that this would be a great way to keep in touch with all of our family and friends and give them updates of what's going on with the Johnsons.

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