Great Website!

I am by no means an internet expert. My web browsing usually consists of the same three or four sites over and over. But every now and then I do run across some cool sites due to my constant Jr. High research. One that I think is really helpful is budget101.com . Yes, it does offer financial tips as the title would suggest, but that's just a small percentage of info available. You can get coupons, free offers, gift and decorating ideas, recipes and tons of do-it-yourself instructions. Of course, the purpose of the website is to offer suggestions on how to do things in a nice but frugal manner. They definitely hit my softspot since I'm a tightwad.

What impressed me the most about this website is how unique and creative all the suggestions are. Here's a sampling of what you can check out today: free pumpkin carving ideas and templates, Halloween edible makeup, 10 Simple Steps to Conquer Problem Debt, A-Z Household Recipe Guide (for make-your-own household cleaners), Playdough recipes, tons of gift basket ideas for every occasion, jar mixes (i.e. brownies or cookie mix in a decorative jar; you've seen 'em), Baby Poop Poem, Expectant Father Survival Kit, gift coupon ideas... It goes on and on! There is so much great stuff on this site that you have to check it out. Of course, it is mainly geared toward people on tight budgets, especially people with kids at home. With Christmas quickly approaching, I appreciate all the creative gift and gift basket ideas. In my circle, everyone pretty much has what they need or want so gifts really do need to be unique or personalized. This website helps you do that without breaking the bank in the process. If you don't care about crafts, recipes and creative gift ideas, they seem to have some really good articles and forums on budgeting, getting out of debt and living within your means. Who can't use some of that info?

Budget101.com is really a great thing!!!

Great Gambling!

Having grown up in Vegas I'll admit that gambling does nothing for me. Sure, it's fun to put a few bucks in a machine every now and then, but it's definitely not the first thing to cross my mind when I enter a casino. So I never thought that I would become a regular gambler, but I have! Thanks to Josh and Natalie, Don and I are now Bingo players! Of course at first I was prejudiced against Bingo as a kids' and old person's game. Then I thought, "Well, who didn't enjoy Bingo as a kid? Hell, the game even has a song- sort of. Why should normal adults miss out on the fun?" So we decided to check it out. Ladies and gents, this isn't your kiddie game. Bingo is serious! We play at Red Rock Station where they begin games at 9:00am and
hold them every other hour until 11:00pm. You have to get there on time to play and the entire
game last about an hour. As kids we only played one card, but in "real" Bingo you play many cards at once! So, you have to keep track of a minimum of six cards at once and they call numbers fast. So, there isn't a lot of time to space out or socialize while they are calling because it gets cut-throat and you sure don't want to miss any numbers. If you fall behind you're screwed. Poor Don got overconfident last week and had twelve cards to keep track of. He was so frustrated! Natalie is our resident expert, so she buys more cards than the rest of us and helps us all stay on track. Oddly enough, she's never won when we've been there... The technologically advanced (or lazy. lol) will be happy to know that you don't have to buy paper cards and dob all the time. Red Rock has little Bingo computers available for rental. You can buy multiple cards that are loaded on the computer. The computer keeps track of marking all the numbers when they are called. So, basically, you do nothing but watch your computer screen, drink and yell out Bingo! (or Winner!, which is stupid.) if you get one. The computer beeps when you are one number away from a win. Chris is the computer Bingo king. He spends a lot more money than the rest of us to have more chances, but he wins a lot more, too. He's actually won the $1000 coverall and a bunch of others. Now, the rest of us aren't completely unlucky; Don has won $7.00 and Josh won $13.00 last night! Yeah Baby! See how excited Josh is! This is when they were verifying his winning numbers and I got in trouble for taking pictures. Oops!




So, what's so great about Bingo? For one it is the cheapest gambling entertainment you can find. What other game lets you gamble for an hour on seven dollars?! Plus, you automatically get two free drinks for playing! One drink in a casino is typically more than $7.00, so that's a great deal. Yes, gamblers are supposed to receive free drinks in the casino while playing, but in my experience it isn't a reliable assumption. I have sat at slot machines and never been offered a drink by a cocktail waitress if I even saw one! So, to get guranteed drinks for playing is truly awesome and a great deal. Also, it's just a fun thing to do once a week with your friends. So, seven dollars for an hour of play, two drinks and fun with friends is a really great thing especially for this deal finder. Our Bingo group plays at Red Rock Station at 9:00pm on Thursdays. If this sounds cool to you (all two of you who read!), join us next week. You have to get there a little early to get your cards and get settled with your drinks. It's really a fun time. All the cool kids are doing it!

Bingo is a really fun and great thing!!!


Bonus Pic: Josh as the Rabid Bingo Bunny! If you want to see the Rabid Bingo Bunny, his Vegas engagement ends next week. :(

Great (Easy) Pictures

Although I am a recent convert to digital photography, I've been taking advantage of a lot of the conveniences that come along with the technology for quite some time. My very favorite thing is that picture processing and sharing is sooooo easy. Snapfish is my favorite site for this. Uploading is very easy and so is sharing. Unfortunately, you have to sign up with a password to see the photos that have been shared with you. Yes, that's kind of a pain, but there are benefits to signing up and using their service. They have great deals on prints which are already priced very reasonably. They have tons of personalized gift options available, too. For example, Lisa makes a book every year for Debbie that is a pictoral history of Lacey's year. I guess she'll have to add Daylen this year. That's a pretty cool and unique gift for family members who have everything. I also enjoy the convenience of doing everything online. You just order what you want and they send it out. Very easy.

If you need pics faster, the next most convenient service is through Wal-Mart. I absolutely hate to give them a plug since I totally hate Wal-Mart and am trying to boycott their stores. But, I can't deny that they have made photo processing quick and easy too. Just go to walmart.com and upload your pics to the photo section. You can even process pics that you have doctored up in PhotoShop (we did that with our Christmas card photos last year and the invitations for my mom's party.). Then you can choose to pick up your photos from whichever Wal-Mart you want in an hour. That is a quick and convenient option. Wal-greens might do something similar. I doubt Target does since they took out most of their one hour photo centers. These are two options that are much easier than using the Kodak Picture Maker kiosks that have popped up everywhere that always have a line and seem to be a general pain for people. I have been very happy with the pics I have received from both Snapfish and Wal-Mart.

Extra tip: If you are new to computer photo editing and PhotoShop kind of scares you, a good beginner's option is Picasa. I have it and it does a nice job at basic color correction, cropping and effects. You have to download the software. Once you do, it is very easy to work with. Hey, it's a Google product so it must be good, right?

On-line photo processing is a great thing!

Happy 20th Birthday Katie Marie!

Shocking, hu? Welcome to your 20s! It sure beats the teens... I hope you do something fun and exciting to celebrate. I wish I could be there with you, but you know I love ya'! Happy, Happy Birthday!

Godbye Summer You Were Awesome

Here's my on-line scrapbook for the best summer I've had in a long time. Enjoy!

Great Presentation!

For my birthday I received a cupcake tree/stand. I absolutely love it! It creates such a fun and cute way to display cupcakes. I'm not a huge cake eater, so a cupcake is usually the perfect amount of cake for this girl (and most people, I think.) The cupcake tree can be found at Michael's , Bed Bath & Beyond and I've heard Target. I predict that the cupcake tree will be this year's chocolate fondue fountain; before you know it everyone will have one! But, as you can see, I am an early adopter like my husband.

I had a blast baking and decorating these. Thanks to Melea for the flower idea: The center is a plain m&m and the petals are colored marshmallows cut in half. Too cute! They were a big hit.

The cupcake tree is a great thing!

Ava Marie

Well, I'm an aunt again. This time it's my brother's baby, Ava. She was born this morning and weighs 7lbs, 6oz. Everyone should be going home tomorrow.

In this pic I think that she looks like Anthony did as baby. Most likely she'll be a blondie like the rest of us. It's too soon to tell on the eyes. Hopefully, they are blue.

For Former Macys Employees

Why didn't they have fun stuff like this when we all worked there? Geez. I would have worked this thing in a heartbeat! Although it is hard to beat an evening of sizing rounders. We ran into the Macys Mobile Saturday night when we attended the 51s baseball game. I still think of them as the Stars mostly because the 51s is a retarded name. Even the Aliens or E.T.s would have been better.

We had great seats on the first base line. I actually watched the game for a change and guess what, we won! I don't think I've ever seen that day before. They had an awesome 3rd inning (told ya' I watched.).
Is it just me or is Cosmo maybe the ugliest mascot ever? Actually, the Runnin' Rebel is pretty bad, too. I don't think we will get any pro teams until we fix this awful mascot situation. Yuck!
The fireworks were pretty awesome though. All in all it was a nice evening out and about.



These two pics have no purpose other than me playing around.

This is a birthday card that Jessica gave me. I totally cracked up when I opened it.

Most of my animal pics are crap because they move so fast, so this one surprised me. Every now and then you get a good one! As you can see I'm having a blast playing around with my camera. I'm sure there will be more to come...

Great Cleaning!

Yup, good old Mr. Clean. I love the Magic Eraser. I don't use it all the time, but it is the only thing I've found that can get hardened red candle wax off a flat (paint) white wall. That's tough. It also does a great job at dirt and scuff marks that magically appear on walls, especially on corners and places that hands are placed often. If you have pets or kids, you know what I'm talking about! I'll admit that it gets a little gross and flakey at the end, so throw it out before it gets to that point. It functions like it says: as an eraser, so it gets yucky like an eraser when it's all used up. But, they are inexpensive and come in multi-packs.

Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser is a great thing!

P.S. Simple Green is a pretty awesome all purpose cleaner too. It can lift some yucky stuff like nobody's business! So if you don't have them already, add the Magic Eraser and Simple Green to your cleaning arsenal for those tough jobs we all hate to do.