Articles

As we head into 2025Dec 31, 2024


2024 had some wonderful highs and some terrible lows. Here's hoping for smooth sailing, and a safe, healthy, and prosperous 2025!

Merry ChristmasDec 24, 2024

This year has been full of ups and downs, but at this time of year I hope you can be surrounded by friends and family and memories that fill you with joy.


I'm proud to present CHRISTMAS TREE CONNECTIONNov 29, 2024


CHRISTMAS TREE CONNECTION is exclusively on Amazon at the low, low price of only 99¢. Even better - it's in Kindle Unlimited, so if you subscribe, you can read it for free!

What is it about, you ask? Why, it's the origin story for North Pole Unlimited's #1 matchmaker. 

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Everybody needs a Christmas tree in December. In the groovy year of 1971, Adelaide and Victor are going to turn a seasonal evergreen gig into a dreamy happily-ever-after holiday romance.
Victor Klassen is counting on December’s holiday spirit when he opens the North Pole Evergreen tree lot. He needs an edge over his competition, and the groovy stained glass ornaments made by the cutest bank teller in town will be just the ticket to make his Christmas merry and bright…if he can ever work up the nerve to talk to her.

Adelaide North has big plans. She just needs a little help to get them off the ground. When Victor comes to her with a Christmas proposition, she sees a way to nab three partridges from the same pear tree: she can find new buyers for her ornaments, earn money to get her dream business off the ground, and encourage the cute lumberjack to take advantage of any nearby mistletoe.

Now all this festive duo needs is some help from Santa to sell some Christmas trees and make a little cookie-fueled holiday magic together.

If you want to check out some of the rave reviews it already has, you can find them on Amazon or Goodreads. 

Chocolate DropsNov 17, 2024

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine (125mL)


1/2 cup milk (125mL)


2 cups granulated sugar (500mL)


1/2 cup cocoa (125mL)

2 1/2 cups rolled/quick oats (625mL) 

Put first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 full minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in rolled oats. Drop by teaspoon full onto trays covered with waxed paper. Let harden. Makes 4 dozen. These freeze well.

Coconut fans can replace 1/2 cup of oats with 2/3 cup of coconut.

Confetti SquaresNov 17, 2024

Ingredients: 

¼ cup butter

½ cup smooth peanut butter

1 10 oz/280-gram bag of butterscotch chips 

1 8 oz/230-gram bag of multi-colored (fruity) mini-marshmallows

Melt the butter and peanut butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Remove from heat and add butterscotch chips. Stir until melted. Fold in marshmallows. Coat thoroughly. Press into a lightly greased 9″ x 9″ pan. Chill in fridge for 1 hour.

You can line the pan with parchment paper for easier removal. Cut and serve.

These freeze really well.

How Tariffs Work and Why People Are Worried About ThemNov 14, 2024

The following very, very rough and simplified example of how enforced tariffs work and how they may impact prices for consumers. I've used round numbers for easy math. If after reading this you are still not clear on how they work, I encourage you to contact your accountant to see if tariffs will affect you and your business. Or you can call a local news station and ask to speak to an economic reporter. With enough questions and interest, they may run a story.

Disclaimer 1 - if you don't like the numbers, run your own, but the theories and math are correct. If the incoming administration only institutes a 60% tariff (or doesn't do one at all), obviously the prices and results will be different. This is for example only.

Disclaimer 2 - I'm not claiming that enforced tariffs automatically cause inflation. I'm saying that they generally increase a product's cost. Inflation and in-depth economics are WAY too complicated to cover in a basic post like this. 

TARIFFS 101

ChinaCorp makes a widget and sells it to US-Megamart for $100. US-Megamart puts it on the shelf and sells it to US customers for $200, earning $100 profit per widget.

What happens if the US government puts a 100% tariff on Chinese-made widgets?

Tariffs are paid by the importing company, not by the exporting country. (This is what trips most people up. China pays NOTHING to the US government.)

The desired effect is that US-Megamart cancels their ChinaCorp contracts and buys widgets from elsewhere. Or even better, that US-Megamart finds a US supplier to keep all the money in the US economy. But the US government can't guarantee that US-Megamart will be able to source a widget for $100 outside of China. It's up to US-Megamart to find a new supplier.

Best Case Scenario

US-Megamart finds similar widgets available for $100 each from the India Widget Company and from Eagle Widgets in the US. No cost increase to the customer from either supplier. Business as usual.

Mildly Bad Scenario

US-Megamart finds a $110 widget from Widgets of Japan, and eats the extra $10, thus reducing their corporate profits to $90 per widget. No cost increase to the customer, but the corporation's bottom line is impacted, which affects their dividends and market values. (Big economics - we aren't going to get into that in this post.)

Moderately Bad Scenario

US-Megamart can't find a similar $100 widget anywhere. However, they do find an identical widget from South Korea, but SK-Widgets sell them for $150. Now US-Megamart is paying $150 per widget, so in order to make the same profit on it, they turn around and sell it to their US customers for $250. The customers pay that extra $50. That's a 25% price increase.

Worst Case Scenario

What if nobody else makes that kind of widget? Now ChinaCorp sells their $100 widget to US-Megamart for $100.  The government adds their 100% tariff, and US-Megamart must now pay $200 for it - $100 to ChinaCorp and $100 to the US government. In order to make the same profit on it, US-Megamart turn around and sell it to their US customers for $300. The customers pay the extra $100. The retail price has now increased by 50%.

US-Megamart is already going to take a huge hit to its profits when a good number of their customers don’t buy widgets because they can’t afford that extra $100. Do you really think their shareholders will approve of cutting their profits by 50% by selling the widget for $250 to encourage people to buy from them? Even if they did, it's still a 25% cost increase for the customer.

HOW TARIFFS AFFECT THE WHOLE MARKETPLACE

Unfortunately, tariff costs don’t always stop with the initially impacted company or manufacturers and may have another, less-desired outcome. This is also what people are afraid of (in addition to a general price increase on some products.)

Let’s say that US-Megamart competitor Ameri-Stuff buys their slightly inferior widgets from Narnia for $115 each. They sell them to their customers at $215 for a $100 profit. A Narni-Widget is more expensive and not as good, and therefore Ameri-Stuff sells fewer widgets than US-Megamart.

But - Ameri-Stuff won’t be affected by the tariff against China at all – hurray!

If US-Megamart can’t find an equivalent supplier at the same cost and decides to switch to SK-Widget, they will need to sell their quality widgets at $250 to keep their profits the same, and that means they are now much more expensive than Ameri-Stuff.

More importantly, Ameri-Stuff may see this and realize that they can increase their prices by $25 to sell their slightly inferior Narni-Widgets for $240, and still be cheaper than US-Megamart. Why wouldn’t Ameri-Stuff increase their profits by 25% if they can? People need widgets and our economic markets are based on capitalism. Companies take the most profit possible – as much as the consumer is willing or able to pay.

So, prices across the board may rise, even if all companies involved are not directly affected by the tariff. It's nice to imagine that corporations will lower their prices to help out Joe Buyer, but they are responsible to their shareholders, not their customers. That's how capitalism works.

And I reiterate - I'm not saying this WILL happen. I'm saying it's what a lot of people are worried about when they consider their finances and future purchases come January.

Christmas Tree Connection is coming soonNov 1, 2024

Coming November 29th!


CHRISTMAS TREE CONNECTION is the origin story of the #1 Christmas company in the world. If you loved matchmaking granny Adelaide in the North Pole Unlimited sweet Christmas romance series, see her where she gets her start!

"Christmas Tree Connection" is the first of twelve short and sweet Christmas romance in the Christmas Kisses and Cookie Crumbs series. Every book comes with a sweet holiday romance AND a tasty Christmas cookie recipe at the back!

Pre-order your copy at Amazon now and be sure to check out the other books in the collection!

Happy HalloweenOct 31, 2024


Join Aaron and Brooke as they dive into a new sweet romance during the spookiest time of the year! Also available in paperback.

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