I got my all time favorite board game for Christmas. It is called the Settlers of Catan and I would play from morning until night if I could find someone to play with me. I was introduced to it a couple of years ago by some friends and I was hooked from the very first game I played.

In the game, the goal is to get points by buying towns and cities. You use commodities to build different things and you can get ahead by trading commodities with other players. I am not sure whether I believe that one commodity is better than another, but I know that wood and brick are important commodities at the beginning of the game.

I would consider myself a pretty goo strategist when it comes to this game, but it is also very dependent on luck. You can have the greatest strategy in the world and if your numbers are not rolled, you are out of luck.

As the mother of three grown up boys, I feel that I have seen it and done it all. Each one is very unique in his own way, but they all also have a lot in common. The one thing that they all had in common more than anything else was their great love for anything involving mixed martial arts. It was a strong bond between the three of them and it was a great thing for me as a mother to watch them unite to watch fights on TV, even if they were not talking to each other the hour before.

Because of this great love for the sports, they also had a great love for tapout clothing. It was hard on my pocketbook, but since they all liked it, I knew that they could all share the clothing. That makes it a little bit easier than if they were all into completely different things.

I have always been a bit of an entrepreneur, and I have made it a point in my life to find new opportunities whenever I can.  I have done many things like work at trade shows, start a restaurant, and even had my own line of post cards.

But the latest venture that I am in seems to be providing the best return on my investment yet.  You see, I have been going to truckload auctions, purchasing large lots, and then selling them on online auction sites.

So far, it has been very lucrative, and I have been able to make anywhere from two to five times my initial investment even after my expenses have been paid.  My most successful sales to date have been the lots of VOIP PBX hardware that I picked up and have been selling at a good price.

At the rate this is going, I might just drop the other businesses that I am involved in and just focus on the buying and selling of goods.  You should stick to something you are good at, right?

It may seem kind of crazy, but I like to call myself a marriage saver.  Now, I am by no means a counselor or offer couples advice.  Instead I provide them with something that most married couples need:

A good night’s sleep.

You see, in most marriages one or both spouses snore.  I know that there are some that don’t have this problem, but they are few and far between.  When one (or both) of the spouses don’t get enough rest, you can usually find that there is a lot of fighting and discord in the marriage.

But I can help them solve that.

You see, I sell them a white noise machine that effectively cancels out the noise caused by snoring, ensuring that everyone gets a good night’s rest.  With the proper amount of rest, most couples have a better time in their marriages and they tend to get along better.  Isn’t that what every couple wants?

    “So I says, ‘Myrtle, ya wouldn’t believe it. This guy is ta die for!’ And she says, ‘I’d believe it. Look at his fahthuh.’ And–”

    “Earth to Ma. Take a breath! I’ve got something to tell you.”

    “All right, but that story about Myrtle is really funny.”

    “I’m sure it is, Ma. Okay, brace yourself. I’ve got a date!”

    “Hallelujah! I’m gonna live to see my grandbabies after all.”

    “It’s just a date, Ma.”

    “Maybe so, but we’ve got to start planning right now.”

    “Ma!”

    “Trust me on this. Oh, I just got something in the mail about wholesale lingerie. We’ll have to start building your trousseau.”

    “People don’t build trousseaus anymore, Ma.”

    “Well they do in this house. So you hush up and listen.”

    “It’s just a date!”

    “There is no such thing as ‘just a date.’ What’s wrong? Are you cryin’?”

    “No, just whimpering. I’ve got to go, Ma.”

Our business has always had a long standing policy of not accepting credit cards.  I don’t know why we instituted it in the first place, but I think at the time (many years ago) it was going to be more trouble than it was worth.

But recently, we have noticed that many of our customers have asked if we could add credit card processing to our list of payment options as a convenience to them.  Since the customers are the lifeblood of our business we listened to them on the condition that it was going to be a trial run.

As it turns out, it was the best decision that we could have made.  You see, our sales have already doubled in the past month with the majority of those sales being paid by credit card.  So far, we haven’t had any chargebacks, so things have been good, but I think we need to try it a little longer before we decide that it is going to be a permanent fixture to our business.

I run a PR firm and we have celebrities come in quite often for special events. Our firm hires everyone from caterers to the hotels and we are quite strict about the level of service that is provided to us and to our clients.

We recently hired several cars through a Philadelphia limo service and found it to be a great company to work with. Our client was a high profile politician who needed security on top of a car service.

The company provided us with not just limos but with options for SUVs also. Our client had specified that he wanted both. They were on time, the drivers courteous, and my client was able to take his whole entourage with him safely. The cars were immaculate and very current in styling also which is one thing we insist on for all our clients unless they specify otherwise.

This is the level of service and quality that we expect with every company we hire to work with us and this is what will keep us calling them again.

My 41st class reunion is this year. I know. They’re traditionally in five–year increments. Well, someone goofed up last year and we missed it, so we’re celebrating this year. I’m wondering what surprises are in store this time. I was shocked out of my mind at our 35th reunion.

You must first understand that I went to school in a small town. We’re talking town proper, population -1500, entire school population K through12 -1500. My graduating class consisted of 93 seniors. Second, the community has an agriculturally-based economy.

So I never expected to overhear conversations about a hot new FOREX trading system, the pros and cons of hedging farm output with futures options and the difficulty in finding an aggressive but diversified mutual fund.

For awhile I thought I’d come to the wrong reunion. But there they all were, The Geek, The Jock and The Wallflower all hanging on every word The Head Cheerleader had to say. My how times have changed.

I have had the opportunity to be involved in the sale of a commercial building.  You see, I have been working for free in exchange for having a real estate investing mentor.  I have learned a lot so far, and it has definitely been a worthwhile experience – I have been learning more than what you would in a book.

So, today I have the dubious honor of getting a building that we are selling ready for commercial building inspection by a potential buyer.  It sounds a little funny that I am "getting it ready", but mainly we are just moving some of the junk out of it.

We have been doing renovations on the building for the past couple of weeks, so there is a bit of garbage and debris in there – we just thought it would look a little nicer if it was taken out.

So, I better get back to it – the inspector will be here in a couple of hours.

I am a big sucker for playing games on the computer. I found a website that creates games that I especially enjoy and I found that I was spending a lot of money there. I would play the sixty minute downloads and then be hooked on the game and had the need to finish it, so I would go ahead and buy it.

I spent a lot of money there before I realized that they had access into perpituity. For a large sum of money, I could have lifetime access to all of their games. This was great for me, as I had already spent far more than that on games and had to turn around and buy new ones all the time.

I think that it was a great deal, but my husband may argue about that. I spend so much time playing games that I get sore forearms from sitting and doing that. I know I am addicted, so I have started setting myself limits. I think, though, that it really does not hurt anything.