This is a post that will appear on the blog associated with my new research/editing website.  It’s one of my serious pet peeves, though, so I’m posting it here first.

 

It’s an epidemic!  Many writers are using it’s and its improperly.  What’s the right way to do it?

This is one mistake I see over and over.  Writers use it’s when they should use its.  The confusion is understandable.  If you’re writing a paper for a grade, though, and your instructor is picky about grammar and punctuation, it’s can take points from your grade.

It’s is a contraction.  A contraction is one word that is short for two words.  One example is don’t, which is short for do not.  Another is can’t, which is short for can not.

It’s is short for it is.  That’s (that is) the only proper use of it’s.  If you can’t (can not) replace it’s with it is, because it wouldn’t (would not) make sense, then you shouldn’t (should not - do you get this contraction thing now?) use it’s in that sentence.

Its, with no apostrophe, is the possessive for it.  A possessive is used when you want to refer to ownership or belonging.  For example, you might say, “That is Sherry’s hat.” (Or, “That hat belongs to Sherry.”)  ”My dog’s bowl is empty.” (In other words, “The bowl that belongs to my dog is empty.”)

There’s where the confusion comes in.  All of those possessives have apostrophes.  However, for every rule in English, there is at least one exception.  For possessives, its is one of those exceptions. 

For example, you might say, “That train is taking its time to get here.”  Try to substitute it is in that sentence.  “That train is taking it is time to get here.”  Obviously, that doesn’t make sense.  But if you use it’s in that situation, that is what you are saying.

Here are some other examples:

“That car is really showing its age.”  (That car is really showing it is age?  I don’t think so.)
“This can of Coke has lost its fizz.”
“My textbook is missing its last two pages.”

When you’re about to write it’s, stop and ask yourself if you can substitute it is.  If you can’t, then its is the word you want.

Uh-oh.

One of my co-workers has the flu.

At least that’s what it sounds like.  He has fever, chills, hacking cough, headache, and upset stomach.  It might be something else, but it sure sounds like the flu.

And he came to work anyway yesterday!  Argh!  We told him to go home and stay home.  I asked him if he touched anything outside of his office!  He said no, but of course he had to get into the building through the doors, etc.

I’ve  been washing my hands every five minutes since then.

I harvested my second bell pepper yesterday, and there’s already a third one starting.  The per-pepper cost is dropping precipitously!  If I can get a couple more, I’ll get the cost below grocery store cost.  That would be a great success.

That plant really sucks up the water.  If I’m going to grow many more vegetables in the future, I’m going to have to come up with a better watering system.  I may invest in some self-watering containers.

The fruit trees are doing well.  The apple tree is really growing.  I don’t have it staked, and sometimes in the wind it bends quite a bit.  I think that will make it stronger in the long run, though.  The almond tree is getting a lot of leaves, but still sprouting from the bottom.  Weird.  The blackberry bush is still growing too.

The pepper I cut yesterday was smaller than the first, but it was starting to turn color at the top.  (They’re supposed to be orange.)  Maybe I can let the next one turn to orange.  This one is going into a recipe called Red Curry of Peppers with Cashews.  Mmmmm.

Whoever it was that invented stretch denim.

That person should win the Nobel Prize.

On the Fourth of July, celebrating an American invention

It had to be a woman. 

I went shopping yesterday for new pants.  I wear pants to work, almost exclusively, for a couple of reasons.  First, I never know when I’m going to have to get on the floor to search through our lowest shelf of books.  Second, it’s like a meat locker in my office, in the lunch room, and usually in the library itself.  Wearing a skirt would just be too cold.

The pants that I have are getting old.  I don’t know exactly when I got them, but it was at least 5 pounds ago.  My work wardrobe is built around black, brown and tan.  My black pants are old enough that they’re starting to get that bluish look around the waist and seams – they’re fading.  And, because I got them at least 5 pounds ago, they’re a little snug.  Just enough to be slightly uncomfortable.  It’s that stuffed sausage feeling, and I hate that.

I’m trying to lose weight, but what if I don’t?  I haven’t done very well with it.  While I’m trying, I need to wear clothes that fit.  Like they say on What Not to Wear: buy clothes for the body you have, not the body you want.

So, yesterday I went shopping for new pants.  I figured I would have to go up a size.  Usually, Dockers are my best bet.  So I grabbed every style of Dockers there were in my new size and tried them all on.  I found two different styles that fit, and was able to get two pairs of brown pants, and two pairs of tan pants.

But the black pants in my size were sold out.

Rats.  I’m going to have to find them somewhere else.

In the meantime, I’m going to petition for a new Nobel Prize category: the Nobel Prize for Textiles.  And the first prize should go to that stretch denim inventor. 

I did some weeding this morning, particularly around two new plants: the elephant ear plant I got at the farm, which is going great guns, and the beach sunflower I planted on my slope.  It’s really spreading, and doing just what I wanted it to do: taking over that whole area.  When I get more of that slope cleared, I’m going to transplant some more from around the mailboxes.  Eventually that whole section of the yard should be under cover.  We’re getting just enough rain that everything is continuing to grow well.  A little too well, in the case of the weeds.

I was dreading getting my electric bill this month, and it was in today’s email: $136.63.  Argh!  I’ve got to turn the thermostat back up to 78, I guess.  It’s been very comfortable at 77, though.  I get hot so easily, and it’s really hard to get cooled back down.  You wouldn’t think that one degree would make such a difference, but believe me, beyond a “certain age,” it definitely does.

Chicken dark meat was on sale this week for $0.99 per pound, so I got about 2 1/2 pounds.  I’m going to try it in the solar oven tomorrow.

We’re halfway through this year.  I can’t believe it.  Where does the time go?  The older I get, the faster it goes.  I guess that’s true for everyone.

Back on January 1, I set a few goals for myself for this year.  I figured I’d better check on them at the halfway point and see how I’m doing.

Goal #1: lose 15 pounds.  I weighed 175.5 at that point.  This morning I weighed 179.  Definitely not progress!  But at least I’ve stopped gaining weight.  I’ve switched from a daily Coke to unsweet tea, and allow myself a Coke on Fridays.  I started walking, then stopped, so I’ve got to get back to that.  I am not going to get to 160.5 by January 1; at this point I’ll be happy with 170.

Goal #2:  have six months of food and essentials stored for disaster prep.  I have about 3 months stored at this point, and I’ve discovered that I don’t have room for 6 months worth.  I’m about at capacity now.  I’ll add a few more things over the rest of the year, but I’m going to have to be satisfied with 3 months.  That should be enough for a natural disaster or a huge flu pandemic.

Goal #3: Come in under budget every month.  I managed that for two months, but then in March things started going south.  May was a disaster.  I’ve done okay in June, but not great.  I have a new budget starting tomorrow, which I think will help me be more successful in saving money and not spending so much. 

Goal #4: Pay an extra $100/month on my car loan.  I did that for the first three months, but didn’t manage to do so for April, May and June.  I haven’t budgeted for that for the rest of the year, but if I have that money at the end of the month, I’ll put it on the car loan.

Goal #5: No food waste.  I’ve done well with that.  My compost pile is thriving.  I can’t say that I haven’t thrown anything away, but it’s been very little.

So – the report is not a positive one.  Nothing to do but get back on track.

I read several personal finance blogs, and their basic advice is very similar: Spend less than you earn.  That’s the best way to stay out of debt and build savings.  Given that, there are two ways that you can achieve that goal: spend less, or earn more.

I drew up my new tentative budget, although I still don’t know for sure what my take home is going to be starting July 1.  It’s got everything covered, though, whereas before I didn’t.  I didn’t have a monthly amount budgeted for kennel expenses, for instance.  When I had to be out of town and Ralph had to go to the spa for a few days, I’d just take it out of savings.  Now, I have an amount to set aside per month for the kennel.  When a big trip comes along, I’ll already have a large chunk of change saved up to give Ralph a good vacation as well. 

There were several other categories like that, where it seemed I often had expenses, but no budget for it.  I’ve fixed that now.  I think it will keep my spending well under control, and I won’t have to dip into savings nearly as often to cover unexpected things.

Earning more is a little more problematic.  Due to the budgetary problems in Florida, we didn’t get raises last year or this year, and it’s very likely we won’t get them for 2010-11.  My next chance at a raise will be July 2011, when I come up for promotion again.  (We have a set schedule for faculty promotions.  I was hired at the instructor level, so after three years I was eligible for promotion to assistant professor, where I am now.  I’ve been at this level for two years, and after two more years I can be promoted to associate professor.  With a promotion comes an automatic raise.)

In the meantime, the cost of everything keeps sneaking up.  Gas prices are climbing slowly again, which means that food prices will follow before long.

So, I’ve been thinking about other ways to earn more.  Interestingly enough, there was a related post at Frugal Dad this week called Everybody Needs a Side Hustle.  It’s a good post.  One of his points is that when considering a second

My tools of the trade

income stream, it should be related to what you already do.  Well, what do I already do?  I do research.  I edit most of my boss’s letters.  I proofread our departmental documents before they go out or get printed.  I help students find sources for their papers, and help them write their works cited or bibliography pages.

All of those are things that I can do from home, or from anywhere, any time.  All I need is my computer.  So what I’ve decided to do is set up a website, and do research/editing/proofreading/citations/etc. for people who need those services.  There are a lot of sites out there that write term papers for students; I’m NOT going to do that!  But I can fix grammar, spelling, wording, paragraphs, citation style, whatever for them, and they’ll get better grades.  I can do research for people who are working on their dissertations (I already do this for our faculty at work).  I can help people with books, theses, proposals or presentations for work, whatever.

I’m working on building the website now.  It’s going to be called A+ Research Services.  It may go nowhere; it may not bring in a penny.  But I’m going to give it a try.

I spend a lot of time on Google.  Librarians use Google a lot, although some might not want to admit that.  There’s no secret to searching the Internet; the secret is knowing what to use and what to discard.  That’s one of the many reasons the world still needs librarians!

Google is my home page at home.  It would be at work, too, but we can’t change our home pages from our intranet portal.  (Ugh.)  I use iGoogle, which is the one you can customize to put all kinds of gadgets on your home page.  I have the news; the time and weather, the financial market summary for the day, The Daily Puppy, and a customized search engine that I put together myself, of all of the open access journal sites.  (I’m going to do another search engine, to search the deep web.)

But my favorite Google gadget is something called “My ToDo List.”  I just found it recently.  It looks just like a yellow legal pad (but smaller), and I can make a list of things to do that’s as long as I want.  I use it to set my goals for the coming day at work.  Then, they’re right in front of me, and I can delete them as I do them.  When I make lists in calendars, or on sticky notes, they always tend to disappear under something else.  This list is always on my desktop, and that’s what I’m looking at a lot of the time.

It’s the most convenient to-do list I’ve ever found.

We haven’t had any rain for a while.  It rains inland in the afternoon, but the serious rain doesn’t make it back to the coast.  The grass growth has slowed down, which is good.

The honeysuckle vine is blooming like crazy.  It smells great in the back yard.

My second bell pepper is getting nearly ready to harvest.  I’m keeping that plant well watered.  It looks like I might have at least two more peppers starting at the top of the plant.  The price per pepper is dropping fast!

The apple tree is growing well, as is the blackberry bush.  The almond tree is sprouting from the bottom, which seems weird.  But it is sprouting.

The transplants in the front yard are doing well and taking over.  I have to get out there and do some weeding.  I’m losing my edging along the sidewalk again.

I’m eating the mango-banana bread that I made in the solar oven for breakfast this week.  It’s pretty good.  Since it doesn’t really form a crust, I’m slicing it in half and toasting it before I eat it.  It’s thin, since it doesn’t rise much, so it’s hard to slice. 

North Carolina blueberries are on sale at Publix this week.  I see fresh blueberry muffins in my future.  Mmmmm…..

The end of the month

My fiscal year ends June 30.  The college’s fiscal year ends then, so mine does too.    That’s when our benefits change, any raises go into effect, etc.

I don’t know what my take home pay will be yet, and I won’t be able to find out until June 29.  There weren’t any raises this year, so my base salary won’t change.  But I’ve increased the amount of money that will go into my flexible spending plan every month, and my health insurance premiums have gone up by $3.00/month (not bad!), so my take home will be somewhat less than before.

My budget will have to be adjusted, too, to fit the new paycheck.  I also don’t know yet what my car insurance will be.  It shouldn’t change much, but it’s always a few dollars different.  I also have some spending categories that I haven’t budgeted for in the past (eating out, for example).  I always end up spending some in those categories, so I have to start budgeting for that.

I’m also going to set up a separate website in an attempt to bring in a little extra income.  I’m still working on the idea, but I’m going to go ahead and establish it, so that will be an extra $6.95/month. 

And, the costs of food and gasoline continue to climb.  Higher expenses, lower paycheck.  Just like a lot of other people.  Sigh.