My Week In Pictures

Went out to eat and my niece MiMi had a rainbow on her arm.

MiMi posing for the camera.

 My son Cameron and MiMi at the Fontana Aquatic Center.

Me lounging by the pool.

My dog Trixie laying on the bed.

Cameron concentrating very hard on the computer.

MiMi with her ice cream and the iPad.

My nephew Jesse acting silly.

Me, officiating my first wedding.  Lol, yes I am an Ordained Minister.

My husband, son and niece acting silly at JoAnne's.

What I'm "Into" Right Now (Original Post 06/08/2009)

I have been trying to write some reviews, at least one a week, but that is not really working they way I wanted, so I decided to write about things that I am "into" right now.

This list changes all the time, so I may make this a regular thing. Maybe every month or so. We'll see. Here is the list:

Twitter - I am totally into Twitter right now. I know it is crazy, but it is so much fun. I love reading the updates on my friends, and I will admit, some celebrities.

The Impulsive Buy - This is a review blog. They mainly review new foods, but it varies from day to day. I read it everyday. I enjoy finding out about new products and the writers are extremely witty and sometimes it is just a riot to read.

Sweepstakes - I have been an avid sweepstaker for about ten years. I have won trips, TV's, movies, music, books, lots of things. My involvement in sweeps, vary. It usually depends on what is going on in my life and if I have the time. Here are three daily sweeps that I enter.
Bar S, Country Crock and Honey Nut Cheerios. You can click on each to enter. Make sure you read the rules before entering and good luck. If you win anything, let me know.

BeautyTicket.com - I have blogged about e.l.f. cosmetics and you know how much I love them, but Beauty Ticket is a great site to buy cosmetics also. They sell high end brands like Lola, Pixie, Pout and Smashbox for as much as 85% off the retail price. Their prices are amazing.

Taco Tuesday - Every Tuesday, my family goes to Del Taco for Taco Tuesday. The Del Taco near my house has tacos, 3 for $1.19. This is our "eat out night" and it is an extremely inexpensive meal out also. We even treat ourselves to "Happy Hour" at Sonic before, where we get 1/2 price drinks.

Books on tape - I guess it would be considered ebooks, since technically, I listen to them on my computer. I have a hard time finding the time to sit down and read a book. So, I started listening to books while I am working on the computer, which is all the time. This has given me back an appreciation for books.

Reading with my son - I have found time to read with my son. He is 8 years old and an excellent reader. We go back and forth with me reading one chapter and he reading the other. We are currently reading the "Schooling Around" series by Australian author Andy Griffiths. These are such fun books. I have really enjoyed spending time with my son and the books are great too. I find myself not wanting to put the books down and can't wait for the next evening so we can continue.

The Sun - I am so excited to see the sun. There are a lot of reasons for this. Summer is coming. My son is in his last week of school. We have family and friends visiting this summer. I get to swim. We live in an HOA and have a community pool. It is really nice to be able to go swimming and spend some time with the neighbors.

That is it for now. I am quite sure I will doing this again. What are you "into"? Let me know.

Why You Should Sign Up For Newsletters (Original Post 06/06/2009)

"I don't want all that crap in my inbox, besides, I don't have time to read it." That is what everyone always tells me about newsletters. I am going to tell you why you should sign up for these newsletters.

First of all, don't think of it as crap or spam. It's not. They are very informative and helpful on keeping you up to date on products and services that you use. When signing up for newsletters, open another email account. You should have an extra email account for freebies and such anyway. Nobody, likes spam and extra emails, and when you are trying to get through the important stuff, you don't want to go through emails that you can look at later. You can have the newsletters sent to the 'other' email address and go through them when you have time.

When signing up for newsletters, make sure that they are something that you want info on. Usually, you can look at a sample newsletter. The best newsletters to sign up for are vacations, stores, food, restaurants, services and recipes.

Signing up for these types of newsletters brings you a lot of information, bargains, deals, coupons, rebates and freebies. I am always getting lots of coupons, freebies, and great deals sent weekly to my email. I don't have to hunt around for them. They are there when I get on my computer.

Newsletters are an excellent way to save money and stay on a budget. Last year, my family was able to take a wonderful trip to Ireland, because I signed up for Sceptre Tours newsletter. Some grocery stores have newsletters, so you can check the ads and plan your meals and shopping trips. Certain products and restaurants will send coupons with their newsletters. You will be notified of company changes, new products, store openings, samples and sweepstakes.

So, next time you are asked to sign up for a newsletter, think about all the info you are missing out on, and go ahead and sign up. If you find, you don't like it, you can always unsubscribe.

My Soapbox For The Day (Original Post 06/06/2009)

Sometimes, I feel the need to stand up on my soapbox and vent about things that bother me. Today, is one of those days. You really don't have to read this if you don't want to. It is just me complaining.

Anyway, I was reading through some entertainment articles and it got me thinking. Why are some of these people 'celebrities'. They don't do anything. They are 'famous' (I use the term loosely) for being rich. They are certain people out there that are 'celebrities' because they have money, or their parents have money and they are in the limelight. Now, I'm not going to name any names, (not that I have a lot of people who read this blog, but I still don't want hate mail because I called someone's celebrity status ridiculous or useless, which I do believe in a lot of cases).

I just find the whole thing to be sad. We are going to have an entire generation of kids that look up to these people and think that if you are wealthy, then you can be a celebrity, and that you need to have money to be someone. This is ridiculous and I will say it again, sad.

It is bad enough that kids are made to feel inferior if they don't have the right clothes, backpack, shoes, notebook, pencil, whatever. But, now we have so-called celebrities that kids look up to because they have money, making it harder and harder to raise your kids with the values that money isn't everything and you can live a fabulous life without having to spend an arm and a leg, or by throwing your money around.

Well, that is the end of my rant. I am just sad that 'celebrities' don't have to have any talent anymore. They can simply be famous for their wealth. 

Use Rewards Cards As A Pot Scrubber (Original Post 05/30/2009)

I got this tip awhile ago from TipNut.com. If you have never been to Tip Nut, there are some great tips, and crafts there that I know you will love. You can use those old rewards cards or even the ones the hard plastic ones you get in the mail to clean the bottom of your pots. You simply scrape the bottom of your pots, pans or casserole dishes with the card. It doesn't scratch or damage the surface.

Make Money While You Search (Original Post 05/30/2009)

Some of you may know about sites that you can win prizes or points while you search. If you don't these are great ways to earn points and prizes for things like gift cards or other items that you can use for gifts.

The reason why I like these search engines is because, why shouldn't I earn points for doing something that I already do, search the internet. Another reason why this is great for me is because I work for ChaCha and kgb_ and I search the internet more than the average person would. So, I get points when I work. It is a win, win situation for me.

Right now, I really like using Winzy. The reason is because I think it has a lot more links that I am able to use. Also, I have been able to earn the most points from them. They also have these great little games, I usually get one or two a day, where you can earn extra points. The other two search engines I use areSwagbucks and Blingo. Swagbucks is great, but I really don't like their rewards very much. The search engine is nice, but it doesn't always have the info that I need. Blingo is my least favorite. Most the time when I use the search engine, I have to use another, because I can't find what I am looking for.

If you haven't already done so, sign up for one or all of these sites and tell me what you think. You can click on my links and those are my referral links, or you can simply search the sites and sign up that way.

Back To Basics Cooking & A Little Note From Me (Original Post 05/30/2009)

The past week I was in a pretty bad funk and didn't feel like doing much of anything, so that explains my lack of posts.  This week and next week, I am trying to get myself and my son ready for the new school year.  We are beginning a new school venture this year.  He will be starting online schooling and I will be his "learning coach".  This is so very new to us.  I plan on writing about our new journey, but need to experience it first. LOL   In the meantime, I'm going to just re-post some stuff so you don't start to miss me.  XOXO




Today, I started thinking about when I started cooking. When I was younger, my mom worked two jobs and I was left to make dinner for the family. As a teenager, I didn't want to spend time in the kitchen cooking, so I made really quick easy meals. Why don't I do that know? I think it is because I am an adult with my own family that I feel the need to cook a nice dinner every night.

Well, I don't. Why can't I make meals like I made when I was younger. It is OK, and it is also a wonderful and easy way to get my son involved in helping to cook meals. So, I am going back to basics. I am going to start making those meals that I made when I starting cooking. Now, I won't make these every night, but it will be nice and it might give me inspiration to simplify other meals.

For my meal tonight, I am going to make English Muffin Pizza. I am going to toast the english muffins in the toaster, so I don't have to turn the oven on and then melt the cheese in the microwave. Totally Old School cooking.

Other things I use to make were chicken nuggets, corn dogs, sandwiches and actually one of my favorites, cereal for dinner. When did that become wrong to do? I don't feed it to my family every night.

So, if you have back to basic recipes or ideas, please share them with me. I would love to have more suggestions.