End of march or early April I will be losing Drama Girl. This means we will lose between two hundred and four hundred dollars a month.

I won't lie and say it will be an easy adjustment. We are in no danger of losing our house or going hungry, but the fact is that for three years we have had this extra money to "play" with. In most cases we used it to pay bills, so it is not really "playing" but that meant we had that extra amount in our other accounts to go on a date, or splurge on silly things.

We also used the Baby sitting check for Christmases and anything that needed saving up. The BS check paid for our new floors, our fence, and my new washer and dryer.

Hubs is making more an hour more than he was before we got DG, and we were doing fine bill wise then, although there was certainly not enough left at the end of the month for saving!

One thing I seriously need to do is sit down and budget. I always having running totals in the back of my mind and know approximately what I have to pay out of each check we get, but, things will have to change.

(I forgot to add in that when Blue Boy turns six, we will lose 100 dollars a month off of the baby check the government sends)

Does any one know of a good online budgeting place? Or some software I can purchase to make up an ongoing biweekly/monthly budget plan?

Labels: information, money, Money Matters, save money

Bloggers live off links, and a great way to get links is by doing meme's. Especially Linkloving memes like this one.

One thing I love about my browser set up is that If I have clicked a link, it changes color - For example, if I clicked a link on your blogroll and seven weeks later checked out a completely different bloggers roll, if that link is there it is a different color telling me I have been there already.

When Fracas tagged me for this Big Bang Meme, one part of me was excited becuase I really love meme's and another part was excited becuase out of the 140 links, Only three were grayed out! That means I have a hundred and thirty seven new blogs to check out!

Lets start the madness people!


You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules.

1. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*
2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post at each site you add.
3. Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the bigger the list will grow.
4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving a comment at Monday Morning Power. Mel will add you to the master list. (If you would like the scroll box code, leave Mel your email address and Mel will email it to you.)
5. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in.


1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Juliana's Site 3-Rusin Roundup 4-Grow Rich Along With Me 5-Comedy Plus 6-lynda's loft 7-Amel's Realm 8-MAX 9-Speedcat Hollydale 10-Mariuca 11-Complain Complain Complain 12-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 13-Life Is A Roller Coaster 14-Sugar Queen's Dream 15-First Time Dad 16-Life 17-My Life 18-The Painted Veil 19-My Thoughts 20-DatCurious.com 21-Little Aussie Cynic 22-A Nice Place in the Sun 23-DatMoney.com 24-The Down Side OF Up 25-Ladyjava's Lounge 26-Cat Tales 27-moms.....check nyo 28-Colorado Baby 29-It's a Woman's World 30-ENLIGHTENED BITS 31-My View of "It" 32-My Reviews and Finds Along the Way 33-Our Hep Chat 34-Rantings of a Woman 35-The Callalily Space 36-Mom Knows Everything 37-Hazel 38- Chronicles and Tales Unlimited (RED) 39-From the Mouth of Jabber Jaws 40-Sunny Side Up Foodie & Lifestyle 41-Carmel Corn 42-Daily Stock Picks 43-The Whole New World 44-Wifespeak 45-Slavery Bliss 46-Rooms of My Heart 47-Unpredictable Life 48-My Life, My World 49- At Your Service 50-All About Ebay 51-Everything Amazon 52-Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out 53-My So-Called Site 54-New Wife Blog 55-Tendre Poison 323 56-Nick's Bytes 57-My Scratch Pad 58-Choc Mint Girl 59-Life Is Just Around the Corner... 60-Amori, poseia, art... virtuali by Hanna 61-Maryannaville 62-monaco - monaco's 63-Nyumix's Blog 64-read my mind - my keyboard monologues 65-Shower You Children With Love - The Right Way 66-Secret Agent Mama 67-Pinaymama's Diary 68-Answers to the Questions 69-Work of the Poet 70-A Total Blog 71-My life, my hope, my future 72-NORTE 73-A Window to Our World 74-Life as a Mom 75-FIELD OF DREAMS 76-lisgold 77-See Me for What You 78-Caught in The Stream 79-Pinay Mommy Online - My Home 80-I'm Running To Win Two 81-CRUEL VIRGIN 82-Garden of Moments in Blog 83-So Cute 84-Love Everlasting 85-WeLcOmE To My CriB 86-WELCOM TO PINAYSMILE'S JOURNEY 87-Ice's Icelog 88-Jenny's Wandering Thoughts 89-Hobbies ans Such 90-Sweet Paradise 91-Mommy's Gibble Gabbles 92-Rusin Review's 93-My Small World 94-Little Peanut 95-Online Ramblings 96-My Mood My Feeling 97-BLOG it with ALLEN 98-Entertainment World 99-Let's Go Singapore 100-Firelynx 101-Catsy Carpe Diem 102-Every Beat Of My Heart 103-Always Da Fresh Princess 104-Listening.. Learning..Living 105-All About Mars 106-Syii From Afar 107-Some Thoughts I Have 108-From Here and Beyond 109-My Paid To Blog 110-Scholarship Corner 111-Cell Phone Review 112-"Apples of the Eyes" 113-It's All About Play 114-The Luttrull Journey 115-RennyBA's Terella 116-Unchained Melody 117-Out of the Blue 118-The Lure Of the Unknown 119-Maricel's 120-my blog 121-Spiff, the Spaceman 122-Living Well 123-The Dog Log 124-Catnip Corner 125-A Piece of Idea 126-Observations From the Back 40 127-Poetry by The Redneck Gypsy 128-Odd Facts 129-Juliana's Lair 130-My life is murphy's law 131-lisgoldsmemoirs 132-My memories, as time goes by 133-Somewhere over the rainbow 134-Blogging by Sandee 135-Our Journey to this so called life 136-Idaho Daily Photo 137-Memories that Never Fades.. 138-Anything goes 139-Fracas 140-Just Fracas 141. Where Was I?


I tag ANYONE who wants a new link for their blog. As you can see, you have the oppertunity to be linked by over 140 people for JUST this meme! This is TOO good to pass up!

Labels: blogger buddies, Linky Love, meme

I was reading Perez Hilton this afternoon, and he had a post up about a hotel in Las Vegas that was burning. During his post there were several updates :

The Monte Carlo in Sin City is ablaze, sources reveal exclusively to PerezHilton.com.

"There's a big cloud of black smoke above the hotel," a Vegas insider tells us. "It's very scary."

No word yet on what started the fire. Or the damage it caused/is causing the property.

Update: Sources tell us the hotel is being evacuated.

Four Monte Carlo employees are stuck on the roof.

Fire crews are on the scene.

The inferno first broke out around 11 A.M.

Update #2: The fire appears to be spreading. This is not looking good!

Traffic is backed up all over Las Vegas.

Update #3: No one is trapped anymore.

Update #4: The fire seems to have been contained.

But throughout it all, All I could think of was now I know where the cheap hotel Las Vegas claims to have, are!

How bad is that? A bunch of people, the four employees stuck on the roof in particular and all I could think of was cheap hotel rates!

I'm so bad! ( But I also want a vacation SO BAD!)

Labels: Holiday time, information

Our neighbors have been trying to sell their home since late last summer. Obviously by the fact that it is still on the market, it is not going well.

They have three boys and a sweet little girl, plus two very smelly bunnies. I will be sad when they leave, as their boys are great playmates (for the most part) with my boys, but I will not miss their real estate agent.

In between our two homes is enough room at the curb to park a full sized truck without blocking either persons driveway. So tell me, why does he consistently block my drive way with his teeny tiny car EVERY time he has an open house. One morning he blocked us in by PARKING IN OUR DRIVEWAY. Our vehicle was in the garage and we had to get into the city for shopping. We went over and asked him politely to move his vehicle as we had to go, and he REFUSED.

(we had it ticketed and towed btw)

For the sake of my sanity, I hope they sell their home soon!

Labels: family, oh noes, outrage

A while ago I submitted this Bed in a Box Mattress commercial into a contest.


One by one the winners are being announced and each day, waiting to see if our mattress video is one of the lucky winners I get more and more wound up! I have never been good with waiting. My parents still bug me about how I would sneakily open each and every Christmas present under the tree - even the ones that were not to me - and re wrap them.

I simply have no patience when it comes to the un-known!

There are six more winners to be announced and my finger, toes and everything else I can physically cross, is crossed!

Labels: contest, excitement, I'm Important Too

I had sent hubs out to the garage to get the ladder down and change the exterior light bulbs from the burnt out ones to the new blue ones we bought last Saturday. Unfortunately they did not fit and we will have to take them back. Even more unfortunately, when he was taking down the ladder he knocked over a box and we heard the unmistakable sound of shattering glass.

Turns out our Propane lantern was int hat box and now, we will be shopping in the camping gear isle when we take the light bulbs back.

It may seem weird for us to replace the lantern right away when it is still so long from summer, but I know us, and I know we will forget about the broken lantern until the morning of our next camping trip when we are frantically trying to gather everything in one place to pack into the car.

So. Shopping here we come!

Labels: I'm Important Too, oh noes

Just take a look at my swing set - It looks like all the swing sets in the neighbor hood - covered in snow!

I am SO looking forward to walking Smokey each evening when it warms up, Taking the pool out of storage, and generally just laying in the sun!

I miss the mosquito slapping, the sun burns and the complaints of "It's too hot momma"

I miss camping and summer shut-down at Hubs work, I miss popsicles and sunflower seeds.

I miss the smell of fresh cut grass and the fact that it is light out when I wake up.

I just miss summer!

Labels: I'm Important Too

I was thinking today about family traditions. One that sticks in my head, and one I WILL continue with my three boys is this one.

When me and my sister graduated from High School ( My brother has not yet graduated) we came home after The ceremony to find our parents had gifted us with Samsonite luggage. I cannot tell you how many times over the past ten years I have made use of that gift!

Some people, when told we were given luggage said things like "Take a hint they want to get rid of you!"

And I think that my parents meant that to be the joke, but the truth is, a good set of luggage is supremely useful!

Labels: I'm Important Too

Though you cannot really tell from this photo, Stupermand had an AWESOME first experience at the dentist!

When we got there, I took his coat off first and asked him to play with the toys while I hung the other two boy's coats on the rack, instead, unbeknown to me, he ran right into the back room and hopped up onto the dental chair thingy. The nurse found him that way - mouth wide open, waiting and brought him back to me before I had even noticed he was gone!

Can we say excited?

When it was finally his turn - he had to wait about ten minutes, and three times he got up and tried to just go back and get started, he got madder each time I stopped him - he hopped up on his chair and giggled while the nurse showed him how the chair goes up and down and lays down and stuff. As soon as the chair was reclined, he laid back and had his mouth wide open. The nurse had to laugh, she hadn't even gotten any of the stuff ready yet!

She got her stuff together and was trying to show Stuperman what was what - this is a mirror, this is a tooth counter - and so on, so that he would not be afraid of the things she was using. He just laid there with his mouth wide open, you could tell he was thinking - Come on! Get started already!

She laughed again, and stopped her descriptions and started cleaning his teeth. He sat perfectly, with his mouth wide open the whole time, until Mr. Thirsty was brought out - thats when the fun REALLY started!

Mr. Thirsty is the vacuum sucker thing they use to collect the excess water and spit while they work. At first Stuperman was all WTF??! you want to put that in my mouth? he stuck the tip of his tongue on it to plug it - the Nurse asked Stuperman to kiss Mr. Thirsty, and reluctantly he did so.

Oh the giggles! He opened and closed his mouth over and over, gigglyng til I was sure he would pee his pants, I know I was darn close to peeing mine.

It was SO cute!

The nurse looked at me and said " You know, I think I'll try and get some x-rays since he is behaving so well" Whatever, I thought, everyone gets x -rays at the dentist office, right?

Apparently not. This office will only do x-rays on kids five and up becuase kids younger than that (and older) have a really hard time holding still for the x-ray.

Not my Stuperman! We got two perfect sets of x-rays - the dentist later said they are the youngest set she has in her charts!

And the best news of all? He has no cavities. Neither does Blue Boy.

As for rainbow Man, I have talked about his tooth troubles a million and eight times already. And I will probably talk about them again when we go on the 29th to have three teeth extracted, four cavities filled - oh and a bunch of spacers put in.

Sigh.

Pee ess: Stuperman has asked to go back to the dentists three times - just today!

Labels: boys, healthy living, YAY

Our phone and wireless router are both on the same frequency. Can you imagine the trouble this causes? If I am online and the phone rings, the internet cuts out. it's very annoying becuase several times a day I have to repair my internet connection which can take from seconds to minutes each time.

Our options are pretty clear. Either the phone or the router must be switched for one with a different frequency. We bought our phones on sale, they were the display models, but even so they were an expensive set - for good reason, they have loads of features on them. Including a phone directory of over 100 that I would have to reprogram if we got new phones.

On the other hand, the router is.. well boring. I have no attachment to it, other than I store my wedding rings on its antenna and I would miss the antenna should it go.

So...We could save a lot and just buy a used cisco router online...or get a cool batman shaped phone.

I wonder which will win in the end?

Labels: I'm Important Too, LOL, love/hate

Did you know that most retailers will mark up an item, on average, over 40 percent of what they bought it for? The do this so that the store can pay operating costs - building repair, electric bill, etc. and to pay employees while still making a profit off the sale. This is a smart business decision made by the company.

But as customers, there are ways to get around that 40% mark up, and one way is to go to a DirectBuy store. directbuy is a members only store where customers can purchase the products they are looking for directly from the source, thereby eliminating the mark up fees!

Buying from them? Its the smart thing to do!

Labels: business, I'm Important Too, information

It's bad business to jump the gun. I ordered a package on December 24th and this morning it had still not arrived. Getting worried, I emailed the seller to ask if they had a tracking code.

I briefly considered contacting eBay about what steps I could take to get back my money - thank goodness I did not! This afternoon, my package arrived in the mail.

Just now, I got an email from the seller, in response to my tracking code query. It seems as though shipping in their part of the world has been a bit slow and they begged me to be patient as they have had some bad feedback from other buyers for this exact reason.

My first thought was that I needed to email them immediately and set their mind at ease by explaining my order had just arrived. And so I did.

My second thought however, was that had I received their email within a few hours of my own, there would have been no need for me to worry. Their lack of response coupled with the fat I had sent them a shipping question email before our transaction that was never answered led me to believe I was not going to get my order at all.

This is a bad way to run any business, even one that is run solely on eBay. Keeping customer communications open and friendly will prevent a lot of problems later on.

Just the simple fact that I had two emails seemingly ignored was enough for me to assume that the business I was dealing with was shady!

If a business is too busy to answer emails in depth at the time it is received, a simple we are very busy right now and will respond ASAP is enough to keep the lines open!

In the end, I did receive my package, and I left a simple but positive feedback for the seller - I will not, however, order from them again - for the simple fact that there was unsatisfactory communication.

Labels: business

"The Lead Dogs is a lead development company that works with business-to-business marketers helping them manage inquiries, generate leads by phone and nurture interested prospects into sales-ready leads."

But why is this important to a business? ProperSales Lead Management Will save your company time and money, two things directly proportional to the success of your business!

For more information check out The Lead Dogs. They can help you :

• Captures leads from all sources into one lead management system.
• Responds to your sales inquiries promptly and professionally.
• Fulfills information requests in the manner requested by the prospect.
• Distinguishes those leads that are qualified as sales-ready today from those leads that should be nurtured over time – and sets the wheels in motion for that nurture.
• Gets sales-ready leads into your sales organizations hands quickly.
• Ranks and reports success metrics so you know which campaigns are working and where to invest future marketing dollars.
• Solicits feedback and tracks results from the sales organization to track ROI and sales satisfaction.

Labels: information

Over the last two months - ever since Google took away my page rank, I have been wondering how to up my visitor stats.

The problem is, I don't want to end up with a bunch of one second visits because someone followed a link and I wasn't what they really wanted.

I'd rather have ten new visitors who WANT to return tomorrow than 100 visits of people who leave upset they haven't found what they are looking for!

I am planning a few experiments for the upcoming weeks, to see what attracts and more importantly keeps a readers interests! Stay tuned for those posts!

Labels: blog building, ponderings

About Six weeks ago I decided to remove one of my blogs from free based Blogger to a wordpress platform. Because I wanted to own my own domain I then had the problem of trying to find a reliable and affordable host for my blog.

Trying to find the right host for your needs is a problem I am sure many of you have experienced. It always seems that when you find a host that can offer everything you need, it is way to expensive, or completely opposite, an affordable price, but without all the options you need to run your web site or web log.

And then there is the contract to consider. A LOT of hosting companies require you to join a contract - and that is bad because if they do not meet your needs and you want to change hosts, you are stuck paying off the rest of your contract!

I have some great news, however, if you are a DreamHost customer! Check out this article by Lunarpages, it details how DreamHost is robbing their customers and how Lunarpages have decided to make a coupon available for Dream Host contract holders to help get them out of their contract and onto LunarPages' servers!

Lunarpages Offer for DreamHost Customershas made a hosting offer you cannot afford to turn down!

Since the great folks at Lunar pages say it so well, let me share this quote with you :

On our basic plan just increased and is massive and ideal for bloggers! You get 15,000GB of Transfer & 1,500GB of storage, free domain name & 10 add-on domains for $6.95 a month + loads more. When considering web hosting there is only ONE option, Lunarpages.com! We have been in business for over 8 years & we provide beginner (LPQuicksite), basic, business, windows, Linux, VPS & dedicated hosting services.

Our plans support Ruby on Rails, JSP/ASP & we have PHP5 & MySQL5 servers & our plans all come with unlimited databases, email accounts, FTP accounts & parked domains.

And to top it off, if you decide to become a Lunarpages affiliate, their commissions are - from what I have seen and read online, way above average - ranging between 65 and 180 dollars!

Labels: blog building, information, interwebs

So Stuperman is sick. Again. This kid has the worst immune system I have ever seen. Friday night he began to run a fever just before bedtime, I gave him a bath and some childrens' Tylenol and sent him off the bed. He was still sick in the morning, and of course, the fever was back.

We gave him more medicine and his fever receded, only to come back a few hours later. The weird thing is, Smokey will stick to him like glue the minute his fever reaches 99. I can tell the tylonol has brought it down just by watching Smokey. If his fever is lower, Smokey runs off to ply, but as long as it is high, Smokey will not leave him.

Has any one else experienced this?

Labels: boys, healthy living, puppy talk, stuperman

Winter is long and boring. At least in my part of the world it is. My in laws break it up by becoming snow birds for six to 12 weeks a year, but with kids in school and hubs having a job, that’s impossible for us. Maybe when we are older we can think about becoming snow birds, but for now we have to limit ourselves to two week vacations in the summer.

I have long been a fan of renting a vacation place as opposed to staying in hotels. The number one reason is privacy, but the fact that in a vacation rental home you can cook your own meals means that you can cut your food budget in half - if not more!

For me, the perfect vacation involves water, which means that Oregon Beach Rentals would be perfect! I can see myself sunning on the beach while the children play in the waves. Of course I would bring my camera and take six million pictures, and at night, under the stars, with the sound of the waves crashing, Hubs and I would take a romantic walk on the beach!

Yup. A vacation on the beach is just what I need!

Labels: I'm Important Too

Ive decided I need to make an appointment with a dermatologist. I have spots of exema on my arms, and now they are spreading to my cheeks. The itching is horrible, and I hate that the scaley skin patches are now visible becuase they are on my face.

I want to see a dermatologist NOW before they get huge. (they are really small, kind of like a zit size right now)

In the mean time, Any idea what I can do about it at home?

Labels: sigh

My sister has spent a considerable time in a wheelchair. The bad part about that is our bedrooms were down stairs, so each night she would have to struggle out of her chair, scoot down the stairs on her butt while someone would carry her chair down to her.

I wonder how expensive it would have been back then (ten, fifteen years ago) to get a stair lift* put in, cus now they are under 2000, which is a pretty affordable price considering all the time and energy it would have saved my poor sister!

( stair lifts are like roller coasters that are hooked up to the stairs. its a very nice way to allow someone confined to a wheelchair the ability to move around the entire house!)

Labels: I'm Important Too

Long long ago, me and Jittery Joe started dating. he spend money he could not afford to buy me the most beautiful flowers. I loved the flowers SO much, a dozen perfect red roses. I still have one of the blooms, dried and pressed into a book.

As much as I loved the roses, I told JJ they were sweet, but I wasn't a huge flower fan - I did not want him wasting his money on somehting that would die in a few days, not when he had other things - food, gas, bills, that he needed the money for more.

My lie was made with good intentions. I wanted to help him save money without making him feel like a pauper. But how do you clear up a 1o year lie? We can afford flowers now, but I never get them .... he still thinks I don't like flowers.

I wish I knew about things like wholesale flowers ten years ago. Knowing how to get cheap flowers back then could have resulted in me getting them now!

Labels: I'm Important Too

The other day I stopped at a gas station to pick up a scratch ticket to play while I waited outside the school for the boys. When i parked I stopped to read the sign at the gym. or whatever you call it. It said they have a kids room, and while I was reading htat part, a heavy set woman, with flushed cheeks - she had obviously been working out, came out of the building with four little kids. The kids all looked happy - and the mom looked Really happy. Like she had had a blast working out.

It made me pause to read the price list on the window . They have all sorts of machines in there, and for a minute I could picture myself on a treadmill, my iPod blasting, losing weight.

Then reality kicked in. We have one vehicle. In order for me to get to the gym for a work out, I would have to walk to it. Probably pulling hte wagon with me, becuase it is a long walk for a three year old.

Sigh.

Why pay good money to go to the gym to work out when the walk TO the gym would be a hell of a work out in the first place!

Some days I wonder about my IQ score...

I wonder if my sister uses her treadmill still, or if she would let me borrow it...

Labels: I'm Important Too

In four years, well, thre years and three months, Hubs will have an extra two weeks of paid vacation a year. When that happens, we are going on vacation, just me and him. No kids, no pets, no worries.

Three and a half years is a lot of time to save money. I really , *really* want to go on a cruise. Somewhere that the water is see through, somewhere we can jump off the boat and go snorkeling. Somewhere where the sunset is so romantic, we can sit ona balcony and kiss as it disappears into the ocean.

Sigh.

We could just go to jamaca or soemthing, as in fly in and stay soemwhere, I have heard that Condo Hotels are a good choice, especially when you are on a budget becuase you can have a place with a kitchen and save money by eating in.

But still, with three plus years to save, I think I would rather go on the cruise!

A long time ago I figured out how to manipulate the simpler things with blogspot templates, but my main blog moved over to wordpress in December. Pretty scary stuff I tell ya!

Just today my designer delivered my re coded template, my Coffee Girl Template which I LOVE, but I had no idea how to get it into the wordpress ,,, thing.

I asked my bud Sheila if she would work her magic, and she did. Again. She's always got my back!

Tonight thought, I went in and finally had the courage to play with a bit of the CSS. or whatever it is called! I put my Gravatar photo back in the About Section of Bluepaintred.com, and I also made the contact me link more visible.

I have done NOTHING else cus, i have no idea what all of it means. Yet. I am sure that with time, I will be able to figure it out, for tonight however, I am pretty pleased with what I have done!

Labels: I'm Important Too, YAY

I can see, but unfortunately my glasses cost me so much that I can no longer afford to go to school and learn how to spell!


It doesn't have to be that way though! If only I had heard about this Great Discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com before I spend 350.00 on a new pair of glasses - LAST WEEKEND!

Thats right, just last weekend I ordered my new glasses to the tune of almost fourhundred dollars - after taxes, but if I had done a bit more online research I would have known that there is a site that lets you buy perscription glasses with case for $8.



My timing sucks! Yours doesn't have too!

Labels: information, save money, sigh

*I think I should do a search to see just how many posts I have titles Le Sigh!

So this morning I took the boys to school, which is a hassle unto itself! I had originally thought to leave Smokey to free roam - after all, how much trouble could she get into in ten minutes, but when the time came, I chickened out and put her in her kennel.

Thank God I did!

I came home, undressed the two little ones and went to Smokey's room to let her out.

I smelled it before I actually saw it. I am not sure if she just had to go, or if she did it to get back at me - she HATES her kennel, hates when we go out, but she crapped all over, it was ground into her belly and paws - and some how without the use of fingers, she managed to fling it all over the wall as well!

Tres annoying!

Labels: I'm Important Too, puppy talk

There are SO many things that we need to look out for. Especially as parents - we have ourselves as well as our children to watch out for! With poisoned foods and toy recalls (due to lead) and that this is an election year, it is getting harder and harder to find a way to *know* all the things you need to know to keep those you love safe!

The PharmaWatchDog is a blog that exists solely to help us make informed choices about the things we use. With the current regulatory system, this blog keeps consumers informed about the very real public health dangers surrounding us!

Labels: information

Some days I take for granted everything my in laws do for us. Every morning I get a wake up call from them - much needed I assure you, and every morning and afternoon, my father in law takes the boys to school.

This week they took off on a mini vacation to Manitoba - they left their car for me to use to take the boys to school - it is very cold here in the winter time.

This morning is the first morning for - oh - two years, that I have had ti have everyone up fed and dressed so that we could make the run to school, it was stressful and annoying.

I will be happy when the in laws get back home :o)

Labels: sigh

Today while I was siting outside the school waiting to pick up the boys It occurred to me that in two more years I would have three kids in this school. And then? two years after that I would be back to having only two in the elementary again.

Right now, at eight and in grade three, RM still needs an adult to run roughshod over his butt to get his homework completed, but I assume (and hope) that by the time he is in High School, he will have developed enough of a work ethic that he will get it done on his own. When that time comes, we are ready for it, you see, when we built their bedrooms we built in an alcove perfect for a desk. Don't get me wrong, the spot isn't big enough for somehting like an executive desk, But there is enough room for a lamp and all the things he will need ( pencils, rulers, calculators ect.) to get his homework done.

I kind of wish though, that we had wired in some of those wall lights right then, because that would be perfect for when they have homework, plus it would add a lot more light to their rooms - which with their tiny basement windows, is very little!

Labels: I'm Important Too, ponderings

Turns out that the first Friday of every May is NO Pants day. That amuses me to no end. I wonder though, can you participate and still be "in the spirit" of things if you wear a skirt or a dress? How about guys? Can they just toss on a pair of shorts?

In most places, going out in public with no pants, regardless of the day, is a crime. It's called indecent exposure, no matter how nice your butt is!

I know for a fact that I will forget all about no pants day by the time May crawls along, but what they hay, maybe one of my readers was desperately trying to recall the day.

Pee ess: I expect pictures from anyone who does this!

Labels: LOL

Summer in Six months. Bikinies, shorts. Light tee shirts. Does that depress you? We have six months to lose our bellies. Can we do it? Without feeling starved all the time?

If you are looking to lose a great deal of weight, fifty pounds or more, please look into lap-band Houston.

Lap Band surgery, is a safe and very effective way to lose weight. The simple act of making your stomach smaller means you need less food to feel full. Of course we all know the less you eat, the less you weigh!

Labels: information

After begging - which is WAY different from whining - to be tagged for this Meme, Sheila Who blogs mostly here, but was posting here, tagged me for a meme. (Just read it a few times, I promise it will make sense!)

Teh Rules

Here’s how it works:

Link to the person that tagged you: Sheila

Post the rules for the meme on your blog. And here they are:

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. If you want to be tagged, leave me a comment!

1. Wow. I typed out something and realized that if I published it people, you included, would be incredibly hurt by what I was writing. I do care what people think, and I do not like intentionally hurting people so I deleted it. And no I won't tell you what it was going to say!

2. I love socks. A lot. Some people consider it a sickness how attached I am to them. Here is an example. If I am wearing a pair of socks and something bad happens, I NEVER wear that pair again. However, I cannot bring myself to throw that pair away. I have a special drawer for Bad Time Socks. The only time that drawer is opened is when a new pair is retired to it. It bothers me to open it becuase seeing each pair will immediately bring back the memories and it is like it is happening all over again. One pair is in there full of blood. I could not even bring myself to wash them, I needed them out of my sight immediately.

3. I am tired of owning snakes. All they do is slither here and slither there and sometimes eat a rat. They bore me. Hubs loves them, so the will stay. Snakes live for a long long time when they are healthy. Ours are very healthy and will be around for at least 12 more years. Sigh.

4. I have three kids, a dog who chases the cat and a husband - yet I hate noise. When it gets noisy I can feel my heart beginning to race and I start to panic. If the noise lasts too long I will start to have trouble breathing. This sucks becuase my boys are boys and they are noisy and I will not take their childhood away from them by freaking out when they are making the appropriate amount of noise. Hubs, I think, is part deaf. He has the volume on his games, the television and his music on high. Constantly. - my chest is tightening up just thinking of noise btw - Most of the arguments Hubs and I have are me asking him to turn it down and him not wanting too.

5. I am a hypochondriac wannabe. The only think stopping me is that I am too damn lazy to Make a doctors appointment for all the things I think I have. It doesn't stop me from worrying about them though!

6. I cannot spell. It does not bother me in the least, yet went to university to become and English teacher.

7. I have had an ear infection since Grade eleven. This might have something to do with fact number 4. A bug flew into my ear while on a school fishing trip. Two days after that my ear problems started. I believe the two are connected. I have been to five different specialists who can see that something is wrong and as of yet, nothing has helped to fix it. My ear infections do not cause pain. Intense itching, and a periodic acid like discharge, yes, but no pain.

Remember, If you want to be tagged, tell me!

Labels: blogger buddies, meme

Sometimes, not by plan or design, you run into money trouble. In such cases, payday loans may be just the thing to help you out. A pay day loan is a short term loan. There are many different kinds of loan services, check out which one is right for you!

Labels: information

His tooth has been loose since this summer, and it has killed me, absolutly killed me to leave it be. Especially Christmas Eve. I thought it would be so cool for the tooth fairy and Santa to meet up!

Yesterday morning he woke up determined to have his tooth out. Seven AM and he asked me to tie a string on it. I didn't do it. It was seven freaking AM, I was sleeping. He wiggled and giggled and giggled and wiggled all day - then his brother explained that simple back and forth would not cut it "You have to twist it off your mouth"

And so Blue Boy went int he bathroom, No one else was allowed in, he twisted and then he squealed "It's OUT!"

So cute. He was shaking with excitement!

After all this wait? I;m just glad it's done and out - except he has two more wiggly ones in there!

Labels: boys, excitement, healthy living, YAY

One thing I love about going to the Theaters is the movie posters. I often wonder what they do with them after the show is out of the theater. Do the employees get to take them home? And what about the huge displays they often have up? The one for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was awesome! I would have loved to have that in my son's room.

Another one that I loves was the set up for the Simpson's Movie. It was the Couch from the TV series' opening Scene with the family sitting on it. There was even a place for people to sit with them and get there picture taken!

What do they do with all of that stuff?

I know that a lot of people collect rare movie posters, do you think they got their start when they were teens and worked in theaters?

As an aside, I think that being able to see the movies as soon as they come out, for free, is a great benefit and would be worth dealing with the nauseating smell of popcorn for eight hours - If one had to have a job, that is!

Labels: In My Opinion

About four years ago we stopped paying a yearly lump sum for our car insurance. We had just gotten another vehicle and had two licenses due months apart. There was no way for us to gather the almost 1500 it was going to cost to insure them.

We licensed the van for a year and switched the car to monthly payments of fifty dollars. We were able to set it up to automatically come out of our account on a certain day of the month. When a drunk driving teen smucked our van and our transmission was ruined we got rid of the van and now only had the car.

But we did not change how we do the insurance. I find it way easier to pay every month than to try and save the $$ to pay yearly. It works out to just about six dollars more a year we end up paying, but convenience wise? Stress wise? It saves us a bundle!

Labels: In My Opinion

The eldest started school this morning. After two and a half long weeks of Christmas break, it's good to have him gone. I love the summer months when they are home becuase we are able to play outside all day, and normally the winter break is fine too, but this time, Rainbow Man forgot his ski pants at school over the break and we were un-abel to go outside and do anything due to the cold.

Thankfully, this last week has had some pretty nice temperatures, around minus 10, so we got some good snow time in there!

Thats when we moved into this house. With our eldest sons Birthday falling on the 29th of October and us moving to a whole different town, we decided to celebrate his birthday with his school friends on the 26th of October. The day before we moved.

needless to say, the whole week surrounding the move was very very hectic and un organized. I wish I had known that home.bulletin,net offers free moving tips - plus they are a great resource for finding Moving Companies ( and quotes!).

Imagine how much easier that week would have gone had we thought ahead and had a moving company come in on the 28th to help out!

Labels: information

Taxes went down here in Canada by one percent. Down from Six percent to Five. Two years ago it was Seven Percent. I wasn't sure the Government was going to keep their promis to lower taxes - they so very rarely do keep them, so this was a nice surprise.

The tax drop coincided with out television purchase on New Years Day, so we saved about five bucks just from that one percent. Yes it doesn't sound like much, but that five bucks will buy me eight litres of milk, and in the long run it sure does add up.

Just think, purchasing a new vehicle you will save about 250 bucks on taxes. Thats pretty cool, especially considering our car is starting to make noises about dying.

Loud grating noises.

Sigh

Labels: I'm Important Too

When I was in grade school I failed piano class. it was the only class I ever failed. My niece however is a piano genius. at the age of sixteen she received an award fro excellence from the Governor General in piano.

Now she has 80 students that she teaches piano to. I wonder if she knows she can get an email about Piano lessons & piano chords. They come out every five days and last for 101 issues.

Seems like something she would be interested in getting. I think I will email her a link to this post!

Labels: family, information

In November we got a new postal code to go with our new postal drop boxes.

I love getting my mail delivered practically to my door, I really really do, but the new postal code seems to be an invalid code for damn near everything online.

When I go to Canadian tire dot com, they ask for your postal code so that you can see the store stocked nearest to you. But my new postal code doesn't exist to them. I have to use my old one.

While it is not that inconvenient, what happens if the mail delivery system itself decides my postal code is B0rked? Will I still get my mail?

Im going to contact Canada Post and ask them whats up.

Labels: information