The Star Tribune is in the process of migrating all blogs to another blog platform and spiffing up their design.

The gray Kara is even going away and being replaced with a color Kara!

If you have the blog on an RSS feed, you’ll need to update the link once the migration is complete. Find the new and improved design at www.startribune.com/kablog.

You’ll also need to be a registered member of the Star Tribune site to comment. I hope you’ll jump through this hoop to keep the conversation going.

Thanks for your patience while the new, improved Ka-Blog! is in motion.

Three months on maternity leave. Two weeks in the office. Then two weeks vacation. Now that’s what I call a civilized work schedule!

The family is heading on a two-week camping trip with our shared new/used pop-up camper.  We’ll spend a couple hundred bucks on gas and a couple hundred more on camp sites, with plenty of money left over for beer, cheese and brats.

To make this a true vacation, I don’t think I’ll tweet every penny I spend. Then again, it might be a fun way for me to say hello from the road. I’ll decide in the next couple of days.

Until then, wish me luck packing and I’ll be back to Ka-blogging on Monday, July 27.

This just in: The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (aka NAPFA) is starting a year-long series of free webinars for consumers.

The hour-long programs cover everything from investing to insurance to kids and money.

The first one, held Aug. 7th, is “Money 101: Knowing the Basics.”

“We want attendees to take something away from the sessions that helps them tackle these issues at home. As an industry we have done a poor job of helping consumers increase their financial knowledge,” NAPFA National Chair Diahann W. Lassus, CFP®, CPA/PFS, said.

I agree. I also think the industry does a lousy job reaching lower and middle-class families. These webinars, which will be archived if you can’t listen live, are a start.

I’m sure the series is also designed to improve public relations. Can anyone say Bernie Madoff? Three former NAPFA members have also been nailed by the SEC for various wrongdoings such as accepting kickbacks for putting clients in inappropriate investments. Lassus wrote in a letter responding to the incidents that he feared that the organization was “lulled into complacency” over the years. I’m guessing the leaders did their due diligence when selecting the webinar presenters.

That’s the message of these new Federal Trade Commission videos promoting www.annualcreditreport.com.

Yes, I haven’t blogged since Monday when I wrote about entertainment deals during the recession.

Frankly, I can’t believe that you opinionated, resourceful people don’t have more ideas for fun in recessionary times. Or are you keeping them to yourself? That’s not very Kit Kittredge of you.

I wish my excuse for not blogging was some tropical vacation, but all I can say is that I was nose to the grindstone working on stories about financial service company execs in Aspen and Arizona, an oft-used credit score that will be unavailable to consumers come Feb. 14, working on next week’s Dollar Duo about setting a budget for Valentine’s Day (Tune in Tuesday to find out whether most people think it’s unromantic or sensible in this economy), and Twittering every dull penny I’ve spent this week.

Now I’m turning my attention to companies that are suspending their 401(k) matches in light of this economy. Big companies are making the choice to cut expenses by cutting their matches at a time when workers are feeling bushwhacked by the stock market. If any of you work for a company that’s suspended its match, let me know.