Pawpaw Holler Home

It’s tax filing time and you can file them online at no cost, if you qualify!

If you earned less than $57,000 in 2009, you can file your federal income taxes online for free through the IRS’s FreeFile program. Plus, if you are expecting a refund, you can choose to have it direct deposited in your bank account and receive it in as little as ten days.

IRS FreeFile

There are 20 different companies to choose from, but be sure and read each company’s FreeFile information carefully as each one has different requirements to qualify (we use the TurboTax Freedom Edition and have been highly satisfied).

We have filed our taxes online since 1997. It’s a lot quicker and easier than doing them with pencil and paper –and cheaper than going to a paid tax preparer.

Blessings,

Denese

Tags: e-file, taxes

Learn HTML to create web pages with The Sofia Open Content Initiative –Web Page Authoring:

This is a beginning hands-on introduction to using Hypertext Mark-Up Language (HTML) to create web pages which can be uploaded and displayed on the Word Wide Web. Students will use HTML to create web pages with text in various sizes and colors, links to other sites, background color or patterns, graphics, tables and mailto links. Principles of design and color as they apply to screen presentations will be included.

There are 22 lessons with assignments and quizzes, intended for high school/college level.

Blessings,

Denese

For even more free educational resources, please check my educational freebies tag archive and my Free Homeschooling Page.

Tags: education freebies, HTML, web-design

Having technical difficulties this weekend.

Tags: Blog/Site Updates

66 through Sevierville is being widened to six lanes.

Widening of ‘billion-dollar highway’ to the Smokies begins

Now you can get updates on the road construction in Sevierville…on Twitter.

Info on Highway 66 project available by Twitter

@Improving66

There will be several roads, parking areas, picnic areas and trails closed in The Great Smoky Mountains Newfound Gap/Clingmans Dome area for the September 2nd 75th Anniversary celebration.

Closures are scheduled for August 31 through September 3. Backcountry campsites and shelters will remain open.

Smokies announces closures for 75th anniversary bash

Blessings and travel safely,

Denese

Tags: Great Smoky Mountains, News, road closures/delays, travel info, Twitter

That just about says it all, doesn’t it.

All of our electronics and appliances are plugged into surge protector strips, so I thought everything was protected from electric surges and lightning strikes –wrong!

During one of last week’s storms, lightning went through our telephone line and fried the modem on my computer! I had no idea it could do that!

Well. I guess I’m way behind times; I have since found out that they make surge protectors with a phone line plug-in –I even found one at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart doesn’t have everything, though. I had to go to four different places to find a modem; Circuit City is closed down and neither the Wal-Mart or the Office Depot in our area carries them.

I finally found one at Staples for $45 -the last one they had in stock! Thank you Mr. Zach at the Maryville Staples store.

I’m all hooked back up, but now I have over 3000 e-mails to go through…aaack!

I’ll have to get me one of those “round tuits”.

Another cabbage recipe coming up…and who knows what else!

Blessings,

Denese

Tags: computer tips, dial-up, electricity, modems

This is for all you new bloggers out there, you long-time bloggers probably already use it.

As most of you all know, I have dial-up internet and it takes an awful long time to do more than one thing at a time online.

I got to wondering if there is a way to post to my blog by some other means than going to my site, signing in, opening a new post, etc, etc.

Time for a Google search!

I found out that I can post updates by email, but the formatting doesn’t always turn out right, and I would have to create another email address just for that purpose. That didn’t sound so great to me.

I noticed that a couple of the search results mentioned “desktop blogging clients” – software that you install on your computer to write your posts in, instead of the editor on your blog.

That sounded more like what I was thinking of.

I found many blogging clients to choose from – and some are even free!

Desktop Blogging Clients: The Ultimate List

Why one should use Windows Live Writer or any other desktop blogging client!

Windows Live Writer is one of the free ones. It’s compatible with most blogging platforms (WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, etc.), it seems to have the most features and least bugs, and it’s highly recommended…so that’s what I tried.

It’s wonderful! I wish I had known about it from the beginning!

I’ve written all of this week’s posts in Windows Live Writer and the formatting came out fine, I can preview my posts before I publish them, I can add pictures and video – and I can’t tell you how much time it has saved me!  

Plus, if I had them, I can add more blog accounts. (I wondered how all the multi-bloggers did it!)

If you’re a blogger, you ought to give Windows Live Writer a try. It’s an easy-to-use, time-saving tool for bloggers –and it’s free!

Blessings,

Denese

Tags: blog tips, free software, time management

Don’t forget to check in every day this week for your free homeschooling resource from Homeschool Freebie of the Day.

This week it’s all about managing your time.

Today’s Freebie

Finding Time To Do It All: Homeschool Moms Share their Time Management Woes and Solutions -400 homeschool moms share their “real life” insights, frustrations, tips, and ideas for managing your time. Available today only.

The Rest Of The Week

Tuesday -Calming The Chaotic Life: How to Get Your Time Under Control

Wednesday -97 Motivators to Help You Get Things Done

Thursday -Time Saving Tips for Busy Parents and Families

Friday -Great Time Management Tips & Ideas FOR YOUR KIDS!

Remember, each of these resources are available for that one day, only at Homeschool Freebie of the Day; and if you sign up for their newsletter you get an extra "subscriber’s only" freebie each week. Don’t miss out, sign up today!

Update: There will be no new freebies for the week of April 5th. Instead, all of the Time Management resources will remain available .

Related Posts:

• Free Time Management Resources Still Available This Week
• Homeschool and Household Time Management and Planning Freebies

Denese

Tags: education freebies, organizing, time management

I really appreciate comments from all of my readers, even if you disagree with something I write (as long as there’s no cursin’!) or just want to say “hi”.

However, if you don’t even read what I’ve written and use my comment section for free advertising, I will remove it.

That’s called spamming.

I do have ads on my site, primarily to help pay my hosting, so if you would like to advertise on my site, contact me and we’ll see what we can do.

Thank you for understanding.

Denese

Tags: Site Info

March 8-14 is Read an E-book Week and to promote the use of e-books, many publishers, individuals and websites have offered some free e-books for our reading pleasure.

There are all kinds of fiction e-books and some educational as well, but get them this week, most will be gone after the 14th.

Read an E-Book Week Supporters

Denese

Tags: free e-books

Looking for a favicon for your website? I’ve added some cross favicons here:

Free Graphics

Right click,  save to your computer and rename file to "favicon.ico".

Please, these are free for personal use only, you may use them or give them away but not sell them. Thank you.

For more information on favicons, see this post:

Favicons and Logos

Denese

Tags: Blog/Site Updates, free graphics, freebies