Apology

Okay look. I want to say something. Just before the holiday I was browsing the internets looking for a recipe my mom used to make.  Can I just tell you the amount of minutia I had to wade through just to get an ingredients list? 

I do not want a long, drawn out, boring ass history lesson about the food I'm about to spend hours cooking so my family can snarf it down in less than 10 minutes. 

I just don't.

I apologize to everyone out there for any recipe I posted that contains a college thesis. 

xo 

S

#Humbled #WhyAmILikeThis #GetOffMyLawn

Public Service Announcement: if you're thinking of law school

Don't. 

Seriously.  It takes up your whole life.

And you'll be in debt until you're two hundred years old.

And you won't have time for fun stuff like blogging.

Or Facebook.

Or Twitter (@whyrustalkingme).

Help Our Troops Until They Can All Come Home

Taste of Home will donate 10¢ to the USO for each unique visit to tasteofhome.com/flagcake from May 26, 2011 to July 4, 2011, up to $100,000.

Photo from Taste of Home

Because of you, Taste of Home is donating 10¢ to the USO. Every dime raised allows a service member to call home free for 2 minutes. Want to do more? Share this recipe with your friends and family.

Online Coupon Sites and Savings

Some of these coupon links will take you to a page where you can print your own grocery coupons. Some will offer online saving codes or coupons.



I print my coupons every Saturday morning so I can shop that afternoon. I save, on average, $30 to $50 per week just using coupons that I print. When I add in my store shopper card, I can get my total savings to at least $100.



I am working on becoming affiliated with other printable coupon sites so I can offer you even more deals!

Upromise is a site I have been a member of for years.



I've registered my store cards with Upromise, as well as bank cards I use. I earn money for using my bank cards at shops and restaurants, I can also print grocery coupons and add coupons directly to my store cards. The best thing about Upromise, in my opinion, is that I earn money that goes directly toward my student loan payments. According to the Upromise site members

enjoy the benefits of earning money for their child's education just by shopping where they normally do every day. When families join Upromise, companies will contribute a portion of their eligible spending with them into a Upromise account for their child, grandchild or any future college student they wish to support. Members can earn college savings when they buy gas, dine out, shop online - even when they buy or sell a house.

I will continue to keep you updated with coupon sites and affiliate opportunities. Thanks for reading!

Hard Candy's Lash Iink - 4 day lash stain

The below mentioned product, Hard Candy Lash Ink - 4 day Lash Stain, was purchased by me for my personal use.  I am not being monetarily paid for this review.  I will give my honest opinion and thoughts regarding said product.

While browsing the department store a couple weeks ago I came across Hard Candy's Lash Ink 4 day lash stain, a product I thought for sure would be something I not only appreciated, but that I would also come to love for its pure conenience factor alone.

According to the Hard Candy website, Lask Ink - 4 day lash stain is

Mascara that won’t quit until you do. Flatter your flutter for 4 days straight! Hard Candy four day lash stain defies the elements. Paint Lash Ink on and don’t reapply for up to 4 days. Shower, go in the pool, cry, rub your eyes, or get rained on – your lashes will stay flawless no matter the circumstances! Perfect for a weekend away or partying all night long.

The first issue I had with the Lash Ink was that it came with no instructions.  At all.  Even el-cheapo mascara comes with some basic instructions - like don't poke your eye out.   There was nothing at all with this product.  I assumed that it was lash INK, not really mascara, so I was surprised when I tried to apply it.  The first thing I noted was that this was more like a horribly thin ink/mascara substance that came with a short/hard bristle application wand.  The wand does not evenly coat the eyelashes, nor to my surprise, separate them at all.

Second, and even worse than the wand, is that the product dries super fast.  So fast that before I even realised it, I couldn't do a second coat.  Which is problematic because I did the bottom half of my top lashes, and when I went to apply the ink to the top half of my lashes, thinking again that it was an ink and I would need to stain both sides of my lashes, the product caused my lashes to stick together like glue.  I tried to comb through them quickly with an eyelash comb but the product was dry.

And I was cranky.

Next I attemted to wash the splashes of color off my eyelid and under my eye, becuase it is a very thin substances that tends to spray when it is applied.  Let me tell you, when they say this product lasts four days, they're not kidding.  I had the hardest time washing it off my skin and had to ultimatly use some baby oil.

Now I was even more cranky because oil and my skin, they're not friends. 

I realized that the product did not wash off my lashes at all.  Which meant I had to do my other eye, so I didn't look like an idiot.

I attempted at first to just use regular mascara on my other eye but that did not work because a) my mascara does not clump my eyelashes together; and b) my left eye looked great, while my right eye looked seriously wrong.   When I tried to apply mascara on the eye with the lash ink, that turned into Epic Failure part deux.

Finally, I ended up washing my face in an effort to start over, and surprisingly, the mascara washed off.  But not the ink, and even worse?  Washing it made my lashes slightly more clumped together.  So I had to quickly comb through them as best I could to get some separation.

I have used it three times now, and I've gotten a technique down so it is at least wearable and I don't feel like I'm wasting my money (I paid $7.00 US).  But.  I don't have particularly full or thick or long eye lashes.  So while the Lash Ink did add some color to my lashes, it still fails to make them look like I don't need mascara on if I'm going somewhere other than grocery shopping.  They were still thin and short.  They were just thin, short and black.

So, all in all, I would not buy this product again.  Don't get me wrong, there is an upside:

• I don't need to put makeup on all weekend if I don't want too AND I can answer the door without scaring the neighbor kids.
• There was no smudging on my pillow or under my eye when I wake up.
• This would be great for swimming, funerals or camping/boating trips.
• I have severe allergies and there was no running or smudging with the constant itching/scratching I was doing.

I give it one Splat:

Mothers for Ocular Melanosis Support (M.O.M.S.)

My friend Amy has the cutest nephew ever!  I want to grab him and kiss his little puffy cheeks right off! However, this post is not about his having the most kissable cheeks on the planet or the most stunning brown eyes I've ever seen on a baby. This is about something that lurks behind those eyes.

Ocular Melanosis

Sounds pretty ominous doesn't it?  What is Ocular Melanosis? It is a rare pigment disorder that could turn into glaucoma and in rare cases, melanoma of the eye.  You read that right, cancer of the eye. 

Ocular Melanosis is a rare defect of the eye that can either be congenital (present at birth) or acquired (happening later in life). Depending on the type, the outcome can vary greatly, from yearly monitoring by an opthamologist to enucleation (eye removal). In most cases the condition remains stable and nothing needs to be done, but in rare cases it has the potential to develop into melanoma, a form of cancer. This is most frequently seen in Primary Acquired Melanosis (PAM).

OM that is seen with bluish skin discolorations on the face and neck is known as Nevus of Ota, and is almost always seen in the Asian population. This form is less likely to develop into melanoma.

(reference)

There is no treatment.  There is no cure.

When Amy's nephew was diagnosed, Amy's sister, Tracy, did what all concerned mom's do, she turned to Dr. Google to find out all she could about Ocular Melanosis.  She tried to find support groups for other parents going through what she was, yet she came up empty handed.

Knowing that her son would spend the rest of his life being monitored and that someday there was the very real chance that her son could become blind or worst case scenario lose his eye to cancer, made Tracy all the more eager to find someone, anyone else with whom she could find support, who knew what she was going through and who understood the fear that lives within her heart. 

Coming up empty handed, Tracy did what any one of us would have done.  She started a website to grow attention to what few people know is a real problem. 

Tracy created Mothers for Ocular Melanosis Support (M.O.M.S)

Please check out Tracy's site and let her know she is not alone.  If you know anyone who is dealing with Ocular Melanosis, please tell them about M.O.M.S. too.

Stuffs (and gift suggestions I suppose)

I'm tweaking my template. It is borked in IE, but what else is new. I've tried everything I know of to fix it. I recommend looking at this site in anything but IE. I'm in Firefox right now and it's beautiful.

In other news, I've added a list of my Favorite Reads from Amazon over there to the left. I can honestly say I've read 90% of the books on my list. And I'm not done adding them. I'm a huge Peter Straub and Nicholas Sparks fan. I also love John Grisham and have a strong like for Stephen King. Something about him skeeves me out just a little. I have read all three of Eleanor Herman's books, well, I'm half way done with Mistress of the Vatican and I cannot wait to read King Peggy. And as you already know, I fell in love with Oogy.

With all this free time on my hands, Santa is bringing me a slew of new books for Christmas. I cannot wait to read You had me at Woof and Santa scored me a first edition, signed copy of Peter Straub's A Dark Matter and it's companion, A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter. He is also bringing me Room, Not Without My Sister, and Damaged.

I should be sufficiently busy until at least May.

Page Rank and why it shouldn't matter

I have been blogging since 2005.  I have learned a lot during that time.  First I learned that to get readers/followers, I need to read/follow others.  Makes sense.

Second I learned that regardless of how much I might visit and comment and follow, if I don't have anything to provide a potential reader, I'm not going to have people come back for seconds or thirds or the current drama that I might be experiencing.  They may not come back to read about how I don't give secret family recipes.

Speaking of drama, the third thing I've learned is that people enjoy a good train wreck as long as they're not involved.  It's like a crash on the freeway.  You don't want to look, but you can't help it.  You might get to see some blood or a limb laying on the freeway.  You have to look.  Just like some people have to become involved in the sugar/corn issue or who is deceptive with baby formula.  Everyone has a cause or issue they feel strongly about.  And sometimes, that prompts some really good blogging.

Fourth, I have learned that blogging has changed.  Way back when blogging was the "in" thing, there were hundreds of blogs I visited.  There were new blogs cropping up every day.  Blogs of housewives and moms and people who just wanted their own little corner of the internets to say what was on their mind.  People blogged about what they made for dinner and how long it took them to clean the kitchen floor.  Now days I find less personal blogs and more bloggers who are wanting their piece of the commercial pie.  And why shouldn't they?  Hell, I have this review blog you're reading right now, as well as a personal blog over there.

I want to do something with my words too.  I hope to make a difference or give an opinion that can be trusted or even just give someone a heads up that Giant Cheetos are super yummy cheestastick and super gross, all at the same time.  I want to try new things and pass on that knowledge. I want to make a name for myself in the internet world too.  Law school isn't cheap yanno. 

I have developed a few relationships with advertisers and a couple non-profits (because I do believe in giving back).  I had a nice gig for some advertising that I lost because suddenly my Google Page Rank took a nose dive.  I don't know why.  I don't understand how or why.  All I know is that my blog and entries have stayed the same, but my rank went south.  This happened on my other commercial blog as well.  I've had that blog and this review blog since early 2007.  I have worked them both the same (this one considerably less than the other).  This blog has more hits and followers than my other blog and yet it has a PR of 1 while the other blog has a PR of 2.  The other blog has paid posts on it and at one point last year, Google yanked my entire PR. I was down to a zero, as if I had just started out new.  A virgin blog.  Except I had something like 750 posts at the time.  My personal blog, that is not indexed by the search engines, that has over 300 members and thousands of page hits per week, it has a PR 3.  And I've had it since 2005.  I don't get it. 

Mostly though, I don't understand why, if Google hasn't updated their page ranker since April of this year, PR people and companies are relying on such an archaic measure of popularity.  While my blog in no way compares to some out there, I certainly have a voice and followers and I can Twitter and Facebook and FanPage with the best of them.  Although I admit I have been slightly preoccupied of late.  That's all about to change however.  Because I want to be something when I grow up.  And while I'm in the process of that, I want to blog and review and have a little fun.  This is me joining a cause. 

To quote Lindsay at Lindsay Socializes, because she said it better than I ever will:

So, it’s time to educate the PR folks out there and remind them that just because I have a Google PR of zero does not make my blog worthless! I am still just as capable of working with your brand or reviewing your product as anyone else! As a matter of fact, let’s all get together and let the PR people know that we, as a blogosphere, do not want to be accepted or rejected based solely on an outdated algorithm. We would much rather be judged solely on our content, our traffic and our readership. If you like our work, then forget about PR and give us a chance!

Well said Lindsay.  Well said. 

World Habitat Day is October 4th

October 4, 2010 is World Habitat Day.

Habitat for Humanity World Habitat Day events

Around the world, many Habitat for Humanity local offices have organized World Habitat Day events. Habitat for Humanity’s 27th annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project is a World Habitat Day event this year. It will be held Oct. 4 – 8 in six cities in the United States. Held in a different location each year, Habitat’s Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project is an annual, internationally-recognized week of building that brings attention to the need for simple, decent and affordable housing. This year, the Carters will work alongside volunteers in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore and Annapolis, Md.; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.; and Birmingham, Ala. to build, rehabilitate and improve 86 homes.

* To see a list of other Habitat World Habitat Day events, click here.
* To view online resources available for download, click here.
* To join Habitat's World Habitat Day Photo Wall, click here.
* To donate, click here.

Health and housing
Habitat’s World Habitat Day efforts will focus on the link between housing and health, for example, through the release of the 2011 Shelter Report, which focuses on the need for more research on the connections between healthy homes and healthy families around the world.

Neighborhood revitalization
In the United States, Habitat for Humanity will also focus on neighborhood revitalization. In a broad effort to help communities fulfill their aspirations, Habitat will expand its housing programs to include repairing more homes, rehabbing more vacant homes, and improving the energy-efficiency of homes. Habitat will work with partners to provide holistic improvements in a community.

We now resume your normal programming

I'm not dead.

I got hacked.

I'm tired.

I have a sinus infection.

I have 13 weeks of class left and then I get my life back until the holidays!

I have three posts in draft.

I'm too lazy to finalize them.

My life has gone to crap. Good thing it's 117 today and I have no reason to be outside and the dramas refuse to swim.

Posts coming soon. And they're food! Yummy food! nom nom nom

Fresh Air Fund

Your gift of $24 becomes $48, good for TWO round-trip bus tickets from NYC to camp.

Make a gift before June 30th – and two inner-city childrens' lives will be changed forever!

The Countdown to Summer 2010 is on and The Fresh Air Fund is in need of host families. If you or someone you know is able to host, please sign up now.


In 2009, The Fresh Air Fund's Volunteer Host Family program, called Friendly Town, gave close to 5,000 New York City boys and girls, ages six to 18, free summer experiences in the country and the suburbs. Volunteer host families shared their friendship and homes FOR up to two weeks or more in 13 Northeastern states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.

The Fresh Air Fund relies on donations to provide memorable summers to NYC children.

The Fresh Air Fund needs hosts for the summer of 2010.

More than 65% of all Fresh Air children are re-invited to stay with their host family, year after year.

Earth Hour - Will you participate?

My family has participated in Earth Hour every year. What we really enjoy is that our neighbors do too. We all congregate outside and chat while the kids run around or star gaze.

It really is the little things. John Lavallo from The Takeout Group sent me the following information in an email. I felt like it was something I could pass along to all of you.

Earth Hour occurs this Saturday, March 27th at 8:30PM (local time) around the world. EarthTV presents LIVE camera feeds from Paris (Eiffel Tower), Sydney (Opera House and Harbour Bridge), Berlin (Brandenburg Gate), and Munich (Church of our Lady). Tune in to earthTV.com to catch these landmarks turn off their lights to support Earth Hour. In addition to these live feeds, tune in this weekend for delayed transmissions from Dubai (Burj Kahlifa and Burjf Al Arab), Hong Kong, Amsterdam, New York (Empire State Building), Auckland (Sky Tower), and Melbourne (Arts Centre and Crown Casino).

About Earth Hour:

With almost 5 million supporters and a global network in over 100 countries, Earth Hour--organized by WWF--is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and build a future where people live in harmony with nature.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

Well This Sucks

The below mentioned product was purchased by me for my personal use. I am not being monetarily paid for this review. I will give my honest opinion and thoughts regarding said product anyway.

I have four dogs. They shed enough hair to build a new dog each week. I sweep daily (because the house is tile) and I vacuum the family room rug every day. Because if I did not, it would not look like a rug so much as it would look like one of those old hairy sweaters that used to be in style.

Gross.

I had a vacuum for over ten years. It was red and its name rhymed with Flirt Level. And one of my foster kids killed it. I think they may have tried to vacuum a sheet. Maybe it was the cat? I forget. Regardless, it died.

And it had served me very, very well. My husband, thinking he was doing me a favor, he went and bought a shiny new black vacuum. Now, a vacuum, by its very definition is an electrical home appliance that cleans by suction. So what he bought, well, it didn't really fit that description much. Oh it sucked, but not in the way a vacuum should. Not. At. All.

When we moved from Utah to the scorching desert, vacuuming wasn't really an issue because we had the tile floors. However, after five years, I'm tired of cold tile floors. They're cold in the mornings and they're cold at night; They are cold in the summer because the air conditioner stays on constantly, and they are brutally cold in the winter. So, I finally broke down and bought an area rug. Suddenly we had warm feet again!

I love it.

The dogs love it.

The kids love it.

The vacuum did not love it. In fact, the vacuum failed to suck, when again, sucking is such an important part of being a vacuum! So, I went to buy my own shiny new vacuum. I wanted the old red one, like I had before. Because I had nothing short of a major crush on that vacuum. But, I ran into this beauty first: so I bought it. It is a Bissell Clean View Helix. And let me tell you: This Thing Sucks!

And I love it!

And my rug loves it!

And my tile floors love it!

And my wooden floor loves it!

And once across the carpet, I no longer have one of those gross fuzzy hairy sweater things. I have a pretty area rug once again. The upside? As if there could be something more exciting about this new friend of mine: It cleans carpet, upholstery, bare floors, cars and stairs (which I don't have anymore but if I did, this would clean them too). It has a HEPA Media Filter and one of those cool cups that gathers all the dirt so I can dump it and rinse it out and wala, no sneezing for me. It does not have the microban protection, but I don't care because hello?! I have four dogs. They bring in plenty of micro-everything and I have no plans to vacuum them off upon entry.

Another great thing, it has a 13.5 inch wide cleaning path. This means fewer strokes shorter vacuum time because I need only cover an area one time. And another thing? I seem to be dusting less because I'm not sweeping the tile anymore. I change the setting on the vacuum and wipe out the whole house in minutes!

I have used it successfully on my tile floor, my wood floor in the kitchen and my area rugs. I have nothing but nice things to say about this new member of our family.

If you're in the market for a new vacuum, I could honestly recommend this one. It has done me well. I might even have a crush.

Fresh Air Fund and OneSight

As you know, I have posted here before about the Fresh Air Fund and the great things they do for disadvantaged children in the United States. Fresh Air Fund has recently teamed up with OneSight to offer free eye exams and eye wear to thousands of children each year.

Both of my daughters wear glasses and for years, I had to pay out of pocket because we did not have insurance. We were lucky because we were able to afford the glasses and eye exam. So many others are not that lucky.

OneSight has a traveling optical clinic that goes to all five Fresh Air Fund camps, along with a team of local doctors and volunteers and services the children.

This summer at Fresh Air camp, OneSight's staff screened 3,295 children and counselors, gave 1,757 eye exams, and made 1,629 pairs of glasses, with 1,458 of them on-site and 171 specially driven in. The team stayed at Camp Hayden-Marks for two camp sessions, to make sure every child who needed the gift of sight was screened.

Some people might some children would be reluctant to be prescribed glasses, but I know from personal experience that they are delighted. They've been missing out on the world around them for too long. They miss seeing simple things like words on the board at school, the definition of leaves on a tree, the people across the street. Being able to see is a huge relief to these kids.

Thank you OneSight, for helping inner-city children receive the services they need.

If you can, please help give a child the experience of a lifetime with your gift to The Fresh Air Fund.

Every year, The Fresh Air Fund gives thousands of inner-city children the priceless gift of fun - and opens the door to a lifetime of opportunities.

Whether it's a two-week trip to visit a volunteer host family, or a fun-filled and educational stay at one of our camps, our programs make for unforgettable memories - and open a world of new friendships and fresh possibilities.

Fresh Air Fund is a not-for-profit agency and depend on tax-deductible donations from people like you to keep our vital programs flourishing. Donate online if you are able.

Vote for your Hero

World Habitat Day 2009

Few people know this about me, but growing up, my family was homeless at least five times that I remember. We lived in a camp trailer outside an uncle's house once; we lived in an abandoned, condemned house that my mom decided to squat in for a while; we lived in a camp trailer outside another uncle's mechanic shop once; we lived in another campter trailer at an HOA facility for two months; we lived in our car for a short period of time; and then, after I was married, my mom, step dad and three brothers and sisters were homeless again and I made them stay with me. I know what it is to be afraid to fall asleep at night. I know what it is to have nothing to call home. Nowhere to take a shower or cook a meal. I know how hard it can be to find somewhere to live. I get it. And, because I get it, I believe in the Habitat for Humanity cause.

Let's stand up on World Habitat Day and let it be known that affordable, adequate housing should be a priority everywhere—in our communities, in our towns, in our country, in our world.

This year on Oct. 5 in Washington, D.C. and around the world, please join Habitat for Humanity in support of this global observance as we come together and declare that the lack of decent, affordable housing is unacceptable.

U.S. Housing Facts

* About 95 million people, one third of the nation, have housing problems including a high-cost burden, overcrowding, poor quality shelter and homelessness. (National Low Income Housing Coalition: 2004)

* One in three American households spend more than 30 percent of income on housing, and one in seven spends more than 50 percent. (Joint Center for Housing Studies: 2006)

* The number of low-income families that lack safe and affordable housing is related to the number of children that suffer from asthma, viral infections, anemia, stunted growth and other health problems. About 21,000 children have stunted growth attributable to the lack of stable housing; 10,000 children between the ages of 4 and 9 are hospitalized for asthma attacks each year because of cockroach infestation at home; and more than 180 children die each year in house fires attributable to faulty electrical heating and electrical equipment. (Sandel, et al: 1999)

What can you do?

ADVOCATE for decent housing for all by submitting a photo of yourself holding a sign that says “It all starts at home” and submit it to Habitat’s photo petition on Flickr.com Habitat’s goal is to collect a minimum of 500 photos to deliver to the White House. Submit your photo by Friday, September 25, 2009.

Today, 1 billion people live in slums, and that number is growing rapidly. The U.S. can be a leader in the fight to help reduce global poverty and improve the lives of people living in slums. Urge your legislators to support the Shelter, Land and Urban Assistance Act of 2009. Tell Congress to pass the SLUM Assistance Act!

EDUCATE your community with Habitat for Humanity’s World Habitat Day handbook to learn more about the importance of secure tenure and neighborhood revitalization. Get even more information about the issue of insecure tenure by reading Habitat’s Shelter Report: building a secure future through effective land policies.

Brainstorm ways to get more people involved. Learn from the successes of last year’s campaign, and come up with brand-new ways to celebrate and publicize the important work of Habitat for Humanity.

Take a virtual tour of the Capotillo informal settlement in the Dominican Republic and put yourself in the shoes of those who live in a broken community of violence, poverty and danger.

Link to Habitat for Humanity’s World Habitat Day 2009 resources page on your social media pages, personal web site or blog to spread the word and raise awareness.

DONATE to be a part of making the world a better place and support Habitat’s efforts. Donate online today!

Fresh Air Fund Still Needs Families

Hey all. Remember a while back I posted about the Fresh Air Fund? Well, they still need hosts for the month of August in the following states:

Connecticut
Delaware
Massachusetts
Maine
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Ontario
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Virginia
Vermont

If you are willing and able, please call (800) 367-0003 or click here to fill out a host inquiry form.

Zing Zang Zoom! The Circus is Coming!

Hey kids! Guess what? (don’t you hate it when people say guess what and you have absolutely no idea what the heck they’re asking you to guess about?)

The Circus is coming! Zing Zang Zoom! The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus is coming to Phoenix, like, right now. This month!

The following dates and times have been scheduled for the Phoenix showing at US Airways Center:

Wednesday, June 24, 2009, at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, June 25, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Friday, June 26, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 27, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 28, 2009, at 1:00 and 5:00 p.m.

If you would like to attend any of these showings, here is deal you cannot resist:

Purchase a family 4-pack of tickets for only $44 at www.ticketmaster.com and enter the coupon code: MOM

The best part of all? As if the circus coming to town wasn’t cool enough: You can win tickets right here! Simply leave a comment here telling me your favorite circus memory (or lack thereof). I will choose a random winner Friday, June 19th, at 8:30 p.m. Arizona time. I will email the winner and you must get back to me that night with your name. You will be able to pick up your tickets (with a valid picture ID) at Will Call the night of the show.

Fresh Air Fund

The Fresh Air Fund needs hosts for the Summer of 2009. There is no right or typical host family. If you have an extra bedroom and a big heart, you can host a child also. (there are geographical considerations)

If you cannot host a child, perhaps you can donate to what could be the opportunity of a life time. The Fresh Air Fund relies on donations to raise the funds needed to give these children the experiences they deserve.

The Fresh Air Fund is a not-for-profit agency. Donations are tax deductible.

Spring Cleaning 2.0

I had a neighbor who used to fill up her gas tank every weekend and go out trolling garage sales. I've never been one to go to a garage sales because I just don't have the desire to drive around until I find that good sale. My neighbor however furnished her entire formal dining room via garage sale for under $300 and you wouldn't know it to look at her stuff. She also furnished her family room the same way and I must say, she did a fine job.

I was approached by the folks over at GarageSalesTracker and asked to give my readers the information on the product they provide. Here you go:

The traditional way of advertising a garage sale in the past was to place an ad in the newspaper, post signs around the neighborhood and wait for visitors to pour in. Today that has changed thanks to sites like GargageSalesTracker.com which allow users to post their sale on the internet and get instant exposure to millions of viewers. In these tough economic times, having a Garage Saleseems to be a prudent way to raise money while cleaning out the old junk in the house. In other cases families have taken to these thrifty sales as a means to save money and find household items, children s clothes, toys, and appliances at bargain basement prices.

Thanks GargageSalesTracker for providing a service such as this. Where I live, garage sales have to be approved through the home owners association and generally, they must be community sales. I am sure that even sales such as those will benefit from the services you provide.