spooky links, 10-31-07

When I decided to do a weekly roundup, I didn’t count on two things. One – I enter a lot of carnivals nowadays. Two – I read a lot of blogs with a lot of articles that I feel everyone else should read. Normally I would highlight a few carnival entries for each carnival, but I decided that would just become overwhelming this time around. So get ready for a frighteningly long list of carnivals, roundups and links! Wooo! Booo! It is Halloween, after all. If you want to scare my son, all you have to do is pretend to be a balloon (after popping about 4 of them he suddenly got gun-shy).

Carnival Roundup

• Carnival of Personal Finance at Millionaire Mommy Next Door: My post follow the white rabbit to financial freedom was included. What is there you can’t say about this carnival or this blog, for that matter? A great theme, clever interactive features, a great way to take a massive carnival and ensure people really read it to decide on voting their favorites? Not to mention some “out-of-the-box-thinking” (I hate that term but still use it all the time) on the prizes. I was really blown away. Great job by MMND, and I was doubly grateful to be selected as an editor’s pick!
• Carnival of Positive Thinking at Widow’s Quest: My post stopping negative thoughts was included. As I’m trying to stay highly focused on positive thinking, this carnival provided me with a lot of food for thought.
• Carnival of Family Life at Little Legends: My post the myth of the parent that NEEDS to work was included. I still have some strong feelings about this post, so I was thankful to see it in the carnival and hopefully it will stir up even MORE comments!
• Personal Development and Happiness Carnival at The Next 45 Years: My post habits was included. Ditto my comments on the Carnival of Positive Thinking. I have participated in this carnival before and there’s always some very good pieces there.
• Make It From Scratch Carnival at A Penny Closer: My post tales of 3 grills was included. This was a slight departure for me, but it was fun to see my work surrounded by all of the interesting make-it-from-scratch recipes. Plus, Melissa picked me for a personal favorite, which was a pleasant surprise!
• Carnival of Money Stories at The Bag Lady: My post follow the white rabbit to financial freedom was included. And yes, I did submit it to more than one carnival – I honestly have no idea if that’s bad blog etiquette or not. Hopefully not since there might be different readers for each carnival. The Baglady did a nice job with this carnival, which is always interesting. I like the “stories” aspect.
• The Stock Market Carnival at The Investor’s Journal: My post Staying put in a rocky market was included. I don’t always have investing-specific posts, but fortunately I had this one for submission to this carnival.
• Personal Finance Money Tips at KC Lau’s Money Tips: My post 6 ways you are passing up free money was included. I just came across this carnival, and I’m glad I did.

linklingsHere are some posts from around the web. I could have listed another 20 but I had to draw the line somewhere!

• When Saying No Helps Your Family: A cautionary tale about the abuse that gets heaped on people who just can’t say no. (@ A Penny Closer)
• Reflecting on Mondays: A slightly mournful little piece, with a great observation. You can have a decent job, working with decent people, but it can still depress you. Why? Because you are giving up your freedom – you have no choice about going. Maybe it’s time to follow the white rabbit! Seriously, one of several articles from the past week I thought about highlighting at Mrs. Micah, but this one really hit home for me. Plus, I read it on Monday. (@ Mrs. Micah)
• Make People Feel Important: This is something I don’t do enough of in my day to day life. Giving people a sense of importance is a great way to build relationships. Who doesn’t like feeling important? Having children really feeds this need sometimes – my son looks at me sometimes like I’m a combination of Batman, Santa Claus and George Carlin – i.e. protective, generous and incredibly funny. It’s a nice feeling. It should be shared. (@ How I Will Be Rich)
• Clearly, You Are An Ass: First of all – great title – caught my eye and made me read it. Second – great article, yet another one of those kick-in-the-rear pieces I need to keep me focused on the future. Excellent bit. (@ Millionster)
• Quit Your Job Now. No Excuses. None.: In the same vein as Millionster’s article, this one includes – free of charge – a resignation letter for you to fill out. I may actually do this and put it in my calendar for a couple of years from now, just to remind me. A terrific blog name, too. (@ I Hate Your Job)
• Stay at Home Parents Pay a Professional Price: I wanted to highlight this article since I had so many comments (30+) on my article about stay-at-home parents. This is the opposite viewpoint, and worth considering as a good counterargument. It’s a slightly different angle, but you should definitely read both articles and compare. (@ Money and Such)
• Is College Worth The Cost for Stay at Home Moms?: Again, a slightly different take on stay-at-home parenting, but worth considering. I actually tend to agree – if you have invested hundreds of thousands in your education, you should probably get some sort of high-paying job. I guess my question is whether you should (a) then have children or (b) get such an expensive education in the first place. I’m prejudiced in favor of state universities – I got a great education for free. (@ The World of Wealth)
• How Sudden Was The Debt?: One simple fact – the gap between debt and income has exploded in the last 10 years. Credit card companies have never been happier. (@ Sudden Debt)
• Dave Ramsey Gives Bad Advice: OK, if you want to make a lot of people very angry or very happy, attack Mr. Ramsey, who is viewed by some as a living saint and by some as a hypocritical dope. I don’t know enough about him to judge, but plonkee doesn’t give me any particular reason to think he’s any different than the much-more-frequently-bashed Kiyosaki. (@ Plonkee Money)

DeclarationsIn line with my declarations meme I started, I thought I would highlight a few of the early entries, so if you’ve published something and it’s not here it just means it didn’t hit my Technorati links yet. I won’t publish all of them, but I will be keeping track and there may be more link love/highlighting to come. You should read these – some very thoughtful posts, which I appreciate very much.

• SF Money Musings is going to stop binge eating. This is a very heartfelt post and I was very touched – and impressed – by her honesty in making this commitment.
• Saving Diva is going to lose 10 pounds. It’s tougher than it sounds, but from following her blog basically since I started blogging myself I suspect she’ll manage to do it.
• Mike is going to lose 10 pounds, too. I can’t say enough about Four Pillars – now Quest for Four Pillars – Canada is cool, and I’m not just talking about the temperature.
• The Financial Blogger is going to work-out at least three times a week and reduce his monthly budget for eating out. Another great blog that’s in my reader and always warrants a thorough read.
• Guiness416 is going to finish her genealogy file. Check out her blog – she thinks only family and friends are reading – prove her wrong! I actually think she’s got a great writing style and I want her to feel the audience pressure!

Conclusion

That’s it – if you made it to this point, kudos! Plus, if you made it to this point, I have a small announcement that I’ll make again later. I’m just curious to see who reads all the way to the end. With over 200 readers per day, 10,000 visits, 20,000 views and (depending on the day) 150+ RSS subscribers, Brip Blap is hitting some real milestones. To celebrate I am going to make a completely arbitrary giveaway to someone in the next couple of weeks for “best comment.”

I plan to do two things: 1. make a “guest post” out of the best comment and 2. send the winner a prize. The population is all the comments made on Brip Blap since day one, so if you’ve never commented before, here’s your chance! More details to follow.

Happy Halloween!

Tags: children, family, happiness, income, investing, life, linklings, money, saving, wealth