Chez Johnson's Blog

Link: http://www.thezaky.net.au/eNewsletterApril2009.htm

eNewsletter - April 2009

Hello

Wow, hasn't this year gone fast ! I hope you had a safe and happy Easter with your family - thankfully my boys cannot eat any more chocolate - they definitely have had more than enough. We have just gotten back from a week out west visiting ‘Poppy” aka a Grey Nomad going away fishing again.

What’s On?

Until the end of May, we are giving away a set of Zaky Infant Hand Pillows to one lucky person who subscribes to our quarterly eNewsletter, so if you know anyone who may want to win a set please forward this email to them.

New Business Plug

A request from Nathan at Very Edible Gardens - he and a couple of like-minded friends have started a business installing and maintaining vegetable and herb gardens in the Melbourne area. If you are interested in finding out what they can do for you check out their website - they are passionate about sustainability, good health, fun lifestyles and great tasting food!

(Note: if you know of or have a new Australian small business just starting out that could do with a free ‘plug’ email us - we are happy to help spread the word)

Local Premmie Hero?

L’il Aussie Prems are seeking nominations for Australia’s first award recognising the work of volunteers within the premature baby community. Every year in Australia, thousands of babies are born prematurely. Their families ride a rollercoaster of emotions as they watch their children fight to overcome the health and developmental issues facing them as a result of their early arrival. These issues continue long after the babies are discharged from hospital.

LAP is seeking nominations from around Australia of ‘local premmie heroes’ - the ordinary yet extraordinary people who give up their time to support the families of premature babies both during their hospital stay and afterwards, doing everything from sewing tiny clothing for very low birth weight babies to setting up local playgroups for prematurely born children to organising fundraising for research into the causes of premature birth.

Nominations of local premmie hero’s can be made via the L’il Aussie Prems website at www.lilaussieprems.com.au/hero - Nominations close Thursday 30 April 2009.

Netiquette (Internet Etiquette)

These are rules and regulations (relatively unknown) for the internet, which are usually followed, but as in all things, there are those that like to take advantage of our good natures. Here are some simple tips to secure yourself and your computer.

· Hotmail - sign up for a hotmail email address. This email address can be used for any online subscriptions, competitions, giveaways etc. leaving your personal email address for your personal friends and family only. Hotmail email addresses do not have an .au extension - making it less obvious which country you live in.

· Banks - or other Financial Institutions will never ask for your personal or banking information through email. Delete it straight away, do not click on any of the links. If you are concerned, contact by telephone the Company direct.

· If an email is not ‘addressed’ to you ie. Dear «FIRST NAME» or the like, you can be almost certain the email is not from someone you know or have subscribed to.

· Keep your Security program up-to-date. If your security program (ie Norton Antivirus) puts an email from someone you know in the junk folder, there is a reason. It may be an attachment, a line in the body of the email, or some other small thing, perhaps not dangerous, but better to be safe then sorry. Leave and read the email message in the junk folder, then delete it.

· Google Search - google is the leading search engine, if you see the warning message “This site may harm your computer” it is advisable not to click on the link.

If you would like to see more about Netiquette click here

Business Opportunites

I know, I know we are all sick of hearing about the World Financial Crisis (and Global Warming) but if you are looking for something to do from home, a new business opportunity, make a bit of extra cash, then check out the following:

LR by Nature - Contact Nicole Hore to request a Presentation of her business at a time mutually convenient. No pressure.

Avon - Everyone has heard of Avon, products are great quality and have a great price, you can register and receive their brochure at no cost.

Life By Design Today - A mother and daughter team with a “Revolutionary Home Business Opportunity” May be worth checking out? Let me know, if you do get further information whether it is a worthwhile investment.

Franchise ? There are many Australian Businesses large and small available now for Franchise, there are pro’s and con’s - so do your homework.

Please note: we have not joined any of the above, we are not affiliated or receive commission from them, we cannot guarantee they will make you money. Before investing any time or money please get all the information you can to make an informed decision. You can say NO at any time. Remember, nothing in life is f ree or easy - and do not be pressured to join.

Australian Made?

With the GFC, Bond’s sacking thousands, shares in free fall, Holden and Ford struggling, what will happen to the truly Australian made/owned products?

We are consciously checking whatever we purchase to find Australian products and to support our Australian businesses and workers. What have we found? Not much!

Please join with us in supporting the Australian economy, next time you make a purchase, try to buy Australian, it is not just the product you are buying, it is the extensions of it.

An example: Holden manufactured vehicle

· Each vehicle has hundreds of parts, each part is made by a different business, each business employs staff to make them, sell them, office workers, managers. Who in turn use paper and computers for everyday duties, use of the internet, telephone, electricity. These utilities employ technicians, electricians, line workers - the list goes on.

· By the time you have purchased a Holden vehicle, thousands of people have attributed to you doing so - truck drivers to deliver to dealers, who use fuel from Service Stations, who employ staff. Detailers who clean your vehicle prior to delivery, who use cleaning products from Australian businesses. The Dealership staff, from yardies, cleaners, salespersons, receptionists, service advisors, managers, technicians, apprentices - I think you get it, every facet of one loss of sale of an Australian Manufactured Vehicle effects the broader community beyond imagination.

If you know of an Australian Made product feel free to email us with the Brand Name, Name of product, website (if applicable) and if possible which part of Australia it is made. We will be adding an Australian Made web page to our website shortly.

Testimonials

We are seeking some more testimonials, and would like your personal experiences, uses and photo’s of your baby using The Zaky included on our Testimonials page? You can submit a review – first impressions, about packaging, information received, other peoples reactions, when and how you have used the Zaky. Or simply a short note about your experience with the Zaky – your opinions are greatly appreciated.

What do you want?

If there is something you want to know more about, or want to see in this eNewsletter please let me know. Do you want more Competitions, Sales, Holiday Ideas? Or would you like to share something with us - email us at any time.

I hope you have found something interesting or informative.

Take care till next time.

MEDIA RELEASE

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Do you know a "Local Premmie Hero"? L'il Aussie Prems website seeks nominations for Australia's first award recognising the work of volunteers within the premature baby community.

Every year in Australia, thousands of babies are born prematurely. Their families ride a rollercoaster of emotions as they watch their children fight to overcome the health and developmental issues facing them as a result of their early arrival. These issues continue long after the babies are discharged from hospital.

L'il Aussie Prems (LAP), an online support site for families of premature babies, is proud to sponsor Australia's first award to recognise and celebrate the dedication of individual volunteers within the local premature baby community.

LAP is seeking nominations from around Australia of "local premmie heroes" - the ordinary yet extraordinary people who give up their time to support the families of premature babies both during their hospital stay and afterwards, doing everything from sewing tiny clothing for very low birth weight babies to setting up local playgroups for prematurely born children to organising fundraising for research into the causes of premature birth.

"As a community of parents, we understand the premmie journey and how hard the road can be. We want to recognise and pay tribute to those people who go out of their way to make things easier for other families travelling that road." said Julia Toivonen, founder of the L'il Aussie Prems website and mother of two premature babies.

Nominations of local premmie heroes can be made via the L'il Aussie Prems website at www.lilaussieprems.com.au/hero Nominees do not need to have any premature children of their own. Nominations open Friday 20 February 2009 and close on Thursday 30 April 2009. Details of the winners will be announced in May 2009.

Our major sponsor is Practical Parenting Magazine.

For more information please contact:


For more information please contact:

Mrs Julia Toivonen
Telephone: 0412 248 583 (mobile)

Email: admin@lilaussieprems.com.au

OR

Ms Danielle Siler

Telephone: 0403 218 473 (mobile)

Email: laphelpers@live.com

DONT FORGET: Check out the Specials Page for The Zaky Infant Hand Pillow at L'il Aussie Prems

Need a Hand to help baby sleep & you de-stress

The Baby Calmer - endorses The Zaky Infant Hand Pillow

If you are lucky enough to be living in the Brisbane area The Baby Calmer aka Anne Thistleton (B.Ed, M.REd, Cert. EF & TTh, Cert SP & SW, CHBE, M. Couns) is a qualified Educator, Parenting Consultant, and Family/Relationships Counsellor, with over 15 years experience working with babies, toddlers, children, parents and their families in both educational and in-home contexts.

See more information under The Zaky tab above...

Who knows what this year will bring !!!!

Some say doom and gloom, some speculate but wont give a view, and of course others like me want to be positive...

Isn't it about time prices stopped skyrocketing, being overpriced, interest rates coming down, fuel price lowering - if this is doom and gloom - I hate to think what would be worse.

We all know house prices are or were getting way beyond the average persons budget, hopefully prices will keep dropping to an acceptable level where the Great Australian Dream of owning your own home is not absolutely out of reach.

Share Market worst in many, many years !!! Really, for the mum and dad investors, shares are long term investments either for retirement or for their children's future. So maybe you have lost some money NOW, wait for another 5, 10, 15 or 20 years - they are going to be worth more.

Interest Rates - finally a bit of relief, from what I am to believe, the Reserve Bank takes its figures from peoples spending and inflation etc. Considering only about a quarter to a half of the Australian population has a Mortgage, we were the one's suffering from the high interest rates, but in my opinion it was the other half to 3/4 of the Australian population doing the spending - correct me if I am wrong.

Fuel Prices lowering - Yay, I think we all need to have a party !!! Shame we rely so much on other greedy countries for such a resource. Australia really needs to get behind an alternative...whatever that may be???

Here's my Opinion - Stay in Australia, Holiday in Australia, Buy products that are in Australia whether it be food, clothes, cars or anything else you can think of. Try to stop buying from overseas websites. Now is probably the best time to be doing so. International product prices are going up with the $AU exchange rate.

We need to keep Australian jobs - number one priority. If we can do that then everything else should fall into place.

2009 WILL BE A GOOD YEAR - We will get our priorities in order, find the simple things in life are free, take a step back and think about how out-of-control things were really getting, keep spending money to keep jobs - but instead of a 48inch Plasma TV, get something more affordable and practical. We dont have to 'have the best', just what we CAN afford without going into more debt.

Let's ALL endeavour to make 2009 a memorable one - for all the right reasons...

Great to finally have a ‘blog’…
Apparently the latest ‘must have’ for any website.

What’s on my Blog - well, basically what is happening around me, whether it be my business, my family, my opinions or the world around me.

Hopefully it will be Entertaining, Informative, perhaps a little Controversial - we will just have to see. Please feel free to agree or disagree with my opinions…

If things look a bit weird, please forgive me, I am learning - it can be so confusing. (sigh)

Thankyou and welcome for visiting by BLOG.
Hopefully you will find some fun and interesting information here…