Sites To See for November 9

What a busy week for our country!  The election is finally over.  I was really impressed with both of the speeches the candidates gave that night.  I was truly proud of both of them.  I hope that we can all put differences aside and support our country’s newly elected President regardless which one received our vote.

This weekend this site will be down for small periods of time to take care of some maintenance issues on the back end.  If it is down when you try to check in, give it a few minutes and try again.  Unless I run into some problems, the downtime intervals should only be for fifteen minutes at a time throughout Saturday morning to Sunday night.

Now, Look and Enjoy!

New (to Me) Sites:

Change.gov.  Office of the President Elect.  Take a minute to check it out.  His media staff has been on the ball utilizing text messages and other current technologies throughout his campaign. This site was up and done fast after the deal was done. I am very impressed with the layout of the site.  There are links detailing policies, agenda and all kinds of opportunity for interaction.  There is even a blog.

Strength for Caring.  For all of those out there who are in a position of taking care of someone who can not fully take care of themselves.  A community for those caring for people needing assistance due to age or medical condition (including asthma).  Interaction and resources for all caregivers.

Random Articles:

20 Little Attitudes Of Gratitude from The Inspired Room

Aging Gracefully Is Not Always Easy from Insightful Nana

The Price Book: The Best Way To Cut Back Expenses Without Changing Your Lifestyle from The Chief Family Organizer

Curbly Recession Busters: Cleaning Your House on the Cheap! from Curbly. Several Tips and Helpful Links.

Working from Zero Base from Tools for Thought.  This is a good walk through of a basic GTD principle.  For those wanting to add to their personal productivity.  If you are not ready to jump on to the band wagon, but want a little help right now, this is a good one to read.

The Jesse Tree: a Family-Oriented Way to Focus on the True Meaning of Christmas from Simple Mom

Eliminating Distractions is Easy from Cranking Widgets.

5 Easy Ways to Simplify Your Life from The Positive Life.

Time to Make the Long Johns from The Persnickety Palate.  A guilty pleasure recipe. Yum!

To Make:

“Holidays by Hand” Festival. Various handmade crafts on display hosted by various blogs each Tuesday through December 9th. I missed  last week. The remainder of the schedule is here on Small Notebook who will also be hosting this week. You still have until the 10th to submit a paper craft for the festival if you would like to participate in addition to looking.

Making Lavender Sachet Gifts from Insightful Nana. A great tutorial. She even has a printable for the tags! (You must subscribe to the newsletter to receive the link to them.)

Bean Bag Chair from Making it Fun

November’s Embroidery Pattern from Badbird’s.  Each month a new free embroidery pattern is available. This is SO cute, and quite frankly, I’m glad it is not a turkey.  It can be used year round, since I know I will not be able to do it before Thanksgiving.

Techy Stuff and Useful Software Applications:

MediaMonkey Standard 3.0.5.1187 from Cnet.  For serious digital music collectors.  This freeware will help you to keep all of those MP3 files organized.

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: November 2008 (for your computer desktop) from Smashing Magazine. There is a new one each month. Smashing has all kinds of computer freebies.

Keep in Mind:

I came across each of these websites and stories either from Stumble Upon, RSS subscriptions, SITS, search engine pathways or from others on Plurk! I am passing them on to you as I found them – in good faith. I can not guarantee the validity or accuracy in any manner. I enjoyed reading them and I hope you will, too.

Your Links:

Let me know if you did enjoy them in the comments. If there is an article or website you would like for me to consider sharing next week, send me an e-mail using laurelplum [at] laurelplumonline [dot] com (the spelling out is to avoid spam) or send me a Plurk!