I live in a very small town in Northern Michigan. The population of the entire town is less than a few thousand people. Living in a small town has it's pros and cons. It is relatively safe, that's an obvious 'pro'. You almost always see someone you know while out and about, and everyone is generally friendly. I do love living in a small town, and it is definitely where I want to raise my children.

With that being said, small towns do have a lot of 'cons'. One of them being lack of stores, restaurants, and things to do. Small town living is often a boring one. Sure you can drive 45 minutes to the next town, which is significantly larger, but it's not as convenient. I've been thinking lately about opening up a business, and have even been looking into business grants. I think a place that offered fun family things to do would be great for this town. I would certainly love it, and I know a lot of other people feel the exact same way.

Anyone else started a small business? Were you successful? Any suggestions?

I'm sitting here looking out the window at all the snow, and all I can think is "come ON spring!" We didn't think winter would ever start, and now it just seems to be dragging on. I need sunshine, and a warm breeze. I also need to be able to open my windows again. I absolutely love fresh air, and it is just way too stuff in here. I think I have seasonal depression. I get like this every winter, without fail. As soon as the sun starts shining again, I'll have a smile on my face and have a bit more energy. I can't wait!

Do you have any mementos from your childhood that you hold dear? Today I was sorting through some old boxes in my closet, and came across an old coin that my dad bought for me when I was younger. He's since passed, so these are pretty special to me. I tucked them back in the box and am planning on giving them to my kids when they're older. I think it'll be something nice to pass down through generations.

The problem is I only have one, and I have two children. So today I am going to buy gold coins online. I can't split the coin I have, so the next best option is to buy another one. I hope that someday my kids will appreciate them as much as I do.

Today is a big day. I have convinced my lovely dear Aunt to quit smoking. Today is also her birthday. What better present to yourself is there? Nothing. I of course realize that she has smoked a pack and a half a day for the last ...oooh...30 years? So this is going to be no easy feat. To start with she is switching electronic cigarettes. I'm sure you've seen them. They're advertised quite a bit. She can step down on the amount of nicotine with those and they are much better health wise. They also come in a variety of yummy flavors.

I love my Aunt and want her around for a long time, so I'm very happy that she's agreed to at least try. This will be her first attempt at quitting in 30 years. I think it's great that she's finally coming around, and realizing her health is important and that she's important to all of us. She's not the only person I've been hounding to stop smoking either, my friend is also a frequent victim of my nagging. I'm happy to report though, that she's doing really good! I love my friends and family, if I have to be the nagging friend or loved one, so be it! They can thank me at their 90th birthday party! :)

My niece is in college, which is hard for me to fathom since it seems like just yesterday she was 4, but she is. She's now 21, in college and living on her own, well technically with a roommate. She's studying to be a nurse, unless that's changed in the last five minutes. She was chatting with me the other night on facebook because she was completely frustrated with a paper that she was working on. It was due the next day, and she had hardly any of it done. With the vast amount of information that can be found on the internet, it seems funny that she was having trouble finding information, but she was.

I told her about Edu Brary. Which is The Educational Digital Materials Library. There's a ton of great educational materials there. I used to use it quite a bit when I was doing research for a job. It helped her out a ton and I pretty much sealed my win for "The Aunt of the Year" award. I know college is tough, especially when you're trying to do your best and others are dragging you out to party and such. Late nights and a diet of ramen is not easy. So this aunt's tip about EduBrary was a nice surprise for her I think. What should I wear for my acceptance speech? lol!

My daughter's class is going swimming today at our local community pool. I'm supposed to meet them up there at noon to help chaperone all the kids and help out. The kids were all super excited when I dropped my daughter off this morning. Hopefully they're not to rambunctious for us. I'm sure it'll be a fun time though. It's actually they're Valentine's Day party a day late...lol. I'm not really sure why they did it today and not yesterday, because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but whatever..lol. Wish me luck in watching 30 some kids in the pool! UGH!

The Author of this post is Velma Baird

Before I lived alone I never thought living alone would make me nervous. When I lived with roommates I was dying to get out on my own! I didn’t want to deal with their bad habits anymore, and I didn’t want to worry about being polite to anyone else. Over the years I had my fair share of horrible ones, and I just couldn’t deal anymore. When I moved into my new place I was really scared, but I thought I was just going through an adjustment period. I had lived with other people for so many years, and I thought what I was going through was normal. When the nerves didn’t wear off after a few months, I went to www.besthomesecurity.com and got a home alarm system set up. I still get freaked out when I hear strange noises outside, but I feel much better knowing that no one can get into my house without the alarm going off. Hopefully one day I’ll get married and have a man here to protect me so I won’t be so worried. Being a single woman out there on your own can get scary!

My mom is scrapping her car this morning for some extra cash. It's been broken down in the driveway for months and it's time for the thing to go! The mechanic has been nursing it along for years now, and it's just come to the point that it's not worth putting the money into it to fix it anymore. So to the scrapyard it goes! She'll be getting about 500 bucks for it, so that's not too bad, for a rusted heap of metal that doesn't even run...lol! Out with the old though! In with...... well nothing...cuz she can't afford a new car...lol!