Sweet Home Productions Blog

Have you been following the Sweet Home Adventures of Scoop, in The Weekly Star and on-line?
I hope so.  But if not, now is a good time to start.  There are more than 2 months left in what we feel is one of the most unique community promotions in recent memory.

It’s a community calendar.
It’s a treasure hunt.
It’s a jumble.
It’s a first-time ever partnership of The Daily Star and Sweet Home Productions.
And best of all – for me – it’s an opportunity to spend time at the art table again.

In another life, I was an illustrator for any number of consumer, trade and educational publications.
My move to Oneonta from NYC some 27 years ago, has provided a wealth of creative possibilities.  And while I wouldn’t change a thing, one effect of that relocation has been a gradual, but relentless move to digital communications and away from pen and ink drawing.

What a delight it is to create these weekly cartoon strips! (…back in the saddle again.)

Every Friday through the end of July, a new strip will find its way to print with the publication of The Weekly Star.  That same strip (and those of the previous weeks) can also be found at www.thedailystar.com and www.sweethomesavings.com.

If you miss a week, or don’t find the clue… no worries.
The previous week’s clue will also be published on-line.

This has already been a lot of fun for us.
We hope you’ll have just as much fun playing along!

admin General

Big News!

The latest edition of our magazine, Sweet Home Careers, is in distribution.

As it makes the rounds to the 4-counties’ high schools and colleges, various vocational training programs, workforce development professionals, libraries, chambers, agencies and sponsors, the odds are pretty good that you will see a copy.

If you’re looking for a job, a change in career, or know someone who is, I think you’ll find it to be a pretty useful publication.

Here’s a snippet:

———–

Help Is Just Around the Corner

In these turbulent times, with jobs in short supply and unemployment approaching double digits, one could be forgiven a lack of optimism.  As we write this in the first months of 2009, the news is bad, and seemingly getting worse.  But, to every dark cloud…
There is good news, to be sure.

For the first time in a very long while, there is consensus among the leadership of business and government that the practices of a privileged past must end, that the path to solvency is paved by the middle-class, and that the struggles and successes of the impoverished touch us all.

This epiphany has launched wave upon wave of initiatives, new and resuscitated programs, and a clear sense of purpose without precedent in the last 80 years.

There are new commitments to literacy, employability and vocational training.  Agencies whose focus had been lost to years of bureaucratic indifference have been reenergized and their staff rededicated.  Other stalwarts of workforce development and assistance, whose budgets were routinely slashed with each new year, suddenly find themselves the beneficiaries of economic “stimulus.”

The infrastructure of support is growing.  Help is just around the corner.

An even more gratifying by-product of the economic crisis is the return of grass roots, community-centric volunteering.

Your neighbors have begun rolling up their sleeves and doing what government cannot, providing physical, emotional and spiritual assistance to those in need.  And everyday those efforts are assisted, coordinated and publicized by a growing number of on-line resources.  (See www.sweethomecareers.com for a list.)

Although these efforts don’t create jobs where there are none, they arguably do something of equal importance.  They provide education and support, so that when the opportunity presents itself - and it will - we’ll be ready!

—

For more, and a printable pdf version of the magazine… see our Careers web site.  www.sweethomecareers.com

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These are hard times for sure.
Money is getting tighter, and budgets are being stretched to their breaking points.

But, still our local economy struggles on…

With each passing day, retailers and restaurants, lodging and entertainment venues are becoming increasingly creative in their pricing and their promotion.  They NEED your business, and for the most part, they’re willing to do whatever is necessary to help convice you of the value of their goods and services.

If you are a thrifty and informed consumer, these hard times can be good times for you and your pocketbook.

At Sweet Home Productions , we’re proud to announce a unique, on-line resource for DISCOUNTED local shopping.  Check out our latest web site: www.SweetHomeSavings.com!

The new site features an ever-growing number of printable COUPONS - plus merchant information, videos and more.

Do you want to put some extra green in your wallet?

If have something you’d like to sell, you can post a listing on-line.
Buy, Sell or Swap.  We’ve created a community bulletin board that’s easy to use and FREE.

www.SweetHomeSavings.com

We can’t end these hard times, but we can make them a whole lot easier to endure.

And… as always, if you have ANY ideas on how we can improve our web sites, we would LOVE to hear from you!

- Mark

admin General

Every day it’s something new.

How to tell you about it?  How to keep you informed?  I guess it’s about time we use the technology at hand.

So… a blogging we go.

Welcome to the Sweet Home Productions web site.

If this is your first time here, you have a lot to explore.  If you are an Oneonta or Cooperstown resident, I’d like to suggest that you start with a tour of Sweet Home Oneonta or Sweet Home Cooperstown.  Both sites are searchable and their data is indexed telephone directory style - ‘A to Z.’

Once you have found the listings you were looking for, click on the hyperlinked entries for sponsor pages.  Many include slide shows or videos, which give you the opportunity to do some “virtual window shopping.”

There’s so much more to tell you about.  Discounts and coupons, bulletin boards, help wanted, careers information, calendars… but, I don’t want to overwhelm you.  It can wait for another day.  Another post.

Meanwhile, explore, enjoy, and let us know what we can do to assist in your (re)discovery of your Sweet Home.

- Mark

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