How shaking your booty leads to a visit to the cosmetic dentist!

We were all young once, right? Don't leave me hanging here. We have all done silly things. The silly things I did as a youngster lead to me needing a cosmetic dentist NYC. I loved swimming. Swimming made my day. I swam as often as I could.

One silly, swimming day, I was getting out of the pool with my friends following behind me. I thought it would be funny to shake my booty on the ladder. I shook my booty so hard that I fell. Yes, that's right. I fell teeth first into the ladder. Teeth shards went flying everywhere. Of course, it was in a pool and I couldn't pick up the shards of my teeth. Sigh.

My grandfather had to come and rescue me. My friends had to watch me being carted off. It was so embarrassing! He rushed me to the cosmetic dentist and they had to file down my teeth. Then another appointment was made for me to have cosmetic dentistry NYC. That appointment took place a few weeks later. They had to put veneers on the front of my two teeth. If you were to look at me now you'd never know that booty shaking lead to broken teeth. Thank goodness for cosmetic dentistry!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for cosmetic dentist NYC and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Farsighted

Welcome Emlyn Chand to our little world. She is the author of Farsighted and was kind enough to grant us an interview. One more day left to enter to win her book on my giveaway. Here's a little bit of bio about Emlyn.

Please join romance author, Emlyn Chand, as she kicks off her FARSIGHTED (FARSIGHTED SERIES, BOOK #1) virtual eBook tour today.<br>

About Emlyn:Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she's not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. 

Visit http://www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!


And here's her interview. 

1. What gave you the idea for this story?

Everything started with a single image—my face in these tacky oversized sunglasses reflecting out at me from the car’s side mirror. I was daydreaming while my husband drove us across Michigan for my sister’s wedding. Something about my image really struck me in an almost horrific way. I felt the glasses made me look blind but found it so weird that there was still a clear image within them; it seemed so contradictory. At the time, my book club was reading The Odyssey, which features the blind Theban prophet, Tieresias. I started thinking about what it would be like to have non-visual visions of the future and began forming a modern Tieresias in my mind. Lo and behold, Alex Kosmitoras was born. I didn’t want him to be alone in his psychic subculture, so I found other characters with other powers to keep him company. Thank God for my poor fashion sense. J

2. How long have you been writing?

I was born with a fountain pen grasped firmly in my left hand, at least that’s what my Twitter bio says. But seriously, I do believe writers are born into the craft—we haven’t got much choice, but it’s a great calling to have. I’ve been writing since before I could write, if you know what I mean. I’ve always loved inventing stories or “tall tales” as my parents call them. I wrote and illustrated children’s books for my younger brothers when I was still in grade school. In fifth grade, I wrote a short MG novel. I tried writing screenplays in high school but never got very far with those. Really, I started writing seriously about two-and-a-half years ago when the local paper offered me a book review column. That gave me the courage and consistency to write novels. Farsighted is my second written but first published.

3. What was your response to your first rejection letter? How many rejections did you get before you got a book published?

First let me say that I chose self-publishing for Farsighted. I do have a literary agent and a condition of our contract was that I’d be allowed to self-publish Farsighted. I want the hands-on experience. I want the control. If this works out for me; I’m pretty sure I’ll stay indie forever!

That’s not to say I haven’t been scarred by the querying process. I shed a lot of tears over getting rejection letters, especially in the start. I ended up getting about 60 rejections before I got my agent, so don’t lose hope. It happens to pretty much everyone.

5. Any tips for us newbie writers?

My advice is this:  Have fun with your writing. Don’t put pressure on yourself or your story and don’t try to fit either into some type of mold. Not every work HAS to be published, but every work will teach you something, and it will make you a better writer. Find the joy in writing, and you won’t go wrong.

You can almost guarantee that you’ll receive a rejection letter, but this is an important rite of passage for us, and it really does make us stronger; it really does get easier with time. Sorry to be so cynical, but I find it’s better to have a realistic understanding of the insane query process than hopes that are too high. That first “not for us” form letter is like a dart through a hot air balloon. Prepare to crash and burn. But you can patch up; you can rise again. Maybe even float higher.

When my son was little he was so attached to his baby blankets.

We had about 3 baby blankets that we rotated through our stash. He would hold it against his face and love it while he watched tv. It was his source of comfort. I'm getting all nostalgic thinking about him with his fingers in his mouth and holding his favorite green or blue blanket. We think one got sent home with the wrong child at preschool and it never did come back. He still remembers that. He's about to turn 15. No baby blankets for him anymore. Sniff, sniff.

Do you do your shaving regularly in the shower or bath?

Me? Shower. I make sure that I have shaved daily. I'm rather OCD about many things. My hubby says I'm normal. My crazy mom says I'm OCD. I'm going to choose to believe him. I would not make it in France. I'd be trying to get laws mandated that said all must shave! Shaving is a good thing. No need to fear, good people, shaving is for everyone. France would probably kick me out of their country. Waving their little French flag and yelling obscenities at me... Je t'aime United States. Mais non, go home, no shaving here!

But, seriously shaving isn't for sissies. It's for those, like me, who prefer a clean face and smooth legs. Get your shaving soap out, go to the loo (that's a bathroom in case you're not from around here), grab your razor and get to work! It takes less than 4 minutes to achieve that lovely smooth look. My father in law saves time and has a mirror in his shower. So, he can shave his face and accomplish it quickly all while multitasking. Nothing wrong with that. Smooth face = happy wives. Isn't that what we all want? Happier women in our life? It takes so little effort. A razor,shaving soap, mirror and bathroom to shave in is all we really need to keep happy partners. Look out France, this trend may continue onto other continents!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog about shaving soap and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Need a new internet marketing strategy? Newspapers and Yellow pages not working for you?

Not getting enough traffic for your business? Using newspapers and yellow pages for ads? Let's step into the 21st century and change our tactics for search engine marketing. Let's start simple. Do you have a website? That is the first thing that every company should do. No longer do people look for businesses in the yellow pages. I go straight to the internet. If I Google your business and can not find you, there is a good chance I will move on to the company in your same genre that has a website.

Then, get your business a Facebook page. This gives you access to your customers who you can give discount codes to and chat with on a daily basis. They want to know the person at the other end of the business. Let them! Another internet marketing strategy to use is bloggers. Bloggers get the word out to the average consumer. If you Google "does the xyz phone work well?", you are going to get an answer in your search results many times from a blogger. This is today's version of the "old days" where one person tells one person, they tell one person, and so on and so on. Before you know it, in one day 150 people have read about you and your business.

The internet is not 9-5. It is open all day and all night. Put that amazing marketing tool to work for you. You think you're a local business. That's ok you can be a local business but why would you want to close the doors to the customers who need what you have in the other 49 states? Here's the kicker, it costs less to advertise and use websites and Facebook than most other advertising you are doing now. Think about it. Search engine marketing covers lots of areas. Make sure you are on the cutting edge in today's world instead of the edge that is getting cut.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for a seo company and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

My Memories Suite Review and giveaway

I love this product. I have never been into digital scrapbooking nor have I been any good at making websites. I try, though. Here are two things I made with my new My Memories Suite. The first is my new header for my website. I love the polka dots! It's so girly and so me! :)

And here is the Diva album for my daughter. She has been bugging me to even begin on her baby book. You can definitely tell she's the 3rd child. Baby book? What's a baby book! lol. Introducing my diva.

So would you like to win this very cool scrapbooking software package? I should warn you...1. it's addictive 2. it's so easy 3. you will love it! So enter quick so that you can win and get to scrappin! Here's a video of how you can make scrapbooks. Now, let's get to entering. There are a few entries that are mandatory. The rest are optional. However the more entries you do the more chances you have to win. Good luck!

Merry Christmas friends

May your season bring you the best life has to offer. My plan is to get off this computer and enjoy the next few days with my family. Minus all my gadgets. I hope you all have a nice weekend and that we all remember the reason for the season. Much love and appreciation for putting up with my smart mouth for this last year. :)

Happy Holidays from my family to yours! Please enjoy a small concert song performed by my son's string orchestra from his high school. My boy is wearing the Santa hat while playing Pat-A-Pan. Merry Christmas.

4 Things to Remember Before Hiring a Bankruptcy Attorney

There are many decisions that go into trying to decide if you need to declare bankruptcy or not. As a daughter I had to make a very tough decision. My dad got very sick and was admitted to the hospital 2 years ago. He ended up being there for almost 6 months. During that time I had to pay his bills and decide what to do about his things. Since I wasn't sure he would make it, I made the decision to let his house go back to the bank. The doctors did not think he would live and I couldn't afford to make his house payments. I went back and forth with his mortgage company until I finally got them to understand that he wasn't expected to live. Well, he did. Thank you God, that he made it. But now we have tons of medical debt to deal with. He needed to file for bankruptcy and quick.
Hiring a Las Vegas Bankruptcy lawyer is not as difficult as it seems. There are 4 things to remember before you hire your bankruptcy attorney.

1. Make sure you take advantage of the free consultation so you can ask some questions of your attorney. Ask how much the fee will be to complete the bankruptcy from start to finish.

2. Find out how many bankruptcies this attorney has personally completed and been in charge of and if he will be the one to be in charge of your bankruptcy all the way through. You do not want to hire a lawyer who will then pass you off to someone else less qualified.

3. Ask if they have any special certifications like from the American Bankruptcy Institute or other places that will certify them. It's always good to know that they have taken classes beyond what is required to take care of you.

4. And last find out what this bankruptcy will do to you now and in the future. You need to know what you can expect after filing for bankruptcy.

A good bankruptcy attorney will be able to tell you all these things without blinking an eye. They will like the fact that you are making sure your bases are covered and they know where they stand with you. It's your life. Make sure you ask the questions that need to be asked to get your case handled correctly. Good luck. Bankruptcy can be such a trying time. Hopefully with these few questions as safeguards you will be able to have a smooth transition to the life after bankruptcy.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for a Las Vegas Bankruptcy Lawyer and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

800 Numbers are good for business!

I owned and ran a small business out of my home for over 5 years. As a small business owner and consumer, I noticed that if I was going to purchase something from someone, that is not a big name company, I want to know I can trust them. Having 800 Numbers is one way to give your customers confidence in you as a business. This one factor influenced me in whether I would or would not buy from a company. I wanted to know that I could trust them to be there when I needed help or customer service. It should be on their dime and not on mine. I feel that it's part of running a business.

As a business owner you should take the hit on your wallet and make sure you have a toll free number. This will drive more customers to your site than to one of your competitors. You will see an increase in your business and your customer interactions because of this one little change that you can make. A positive increase in your business leads to more sales. More sales leads to more customers, more customers lead to word of mouth advertising and even more customers. Do you see where this is going? Make sure if you are running a small business that you make it very easy for customers to get in touch with you. You will not regret it and you can thank me later! I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for 800 numbers and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Farsighted Virtual Book Tour

As someone who's studied visual impairments I'm so excited about this book! Here's the blurb from the book.

Alex Kosmitoras’s life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all. 

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival—an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to “see” the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future. 

In this enthralling debut novel, Emlyn Chand creates a world in which friendship, perseverance, and a handful of psychic powers come together to fight against what appears to be the inevitable and all-too dangerous future. This is a book you won’t want to put down—even after you finish it!

Win this book by filling out the rafflecopter below. One winner will be chosen on 12/30/11

Here's the book tour stops for Farsighted.

"Farsighted" VBT Schedule:

12/5: What's Beyond Forks?: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/6: Close Encounters with the Night Kind: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/7: Hardcover Feedback: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/8: She Who Blogs Behind The Rows: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/9: Sharon Hamilton Author: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/10: Guilty Indulgence: (Giveaway/Review)

12:11: TO BE FILLED

12/12: DowntownYA: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/13: TO BE FILLED

12:14: TO BE FILLED

12/15: Curse of the Bibliophile: (Giveaway/Review)

12/16: Hardcover Feedback: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/17: Practical Frugality: (Giveaway/Review)

12/18: TO BE FILLED

12/19: TO BE FILLED

12/20: Lindsay's Scribblings: (Giveaway/Review)

12/21: TO BE FILLED

12/22: Book Talk: (Giveaway/Review)

12/23: Simple Clockwork: (Giveaway/Review)

12/24: From the TBR Pile: (Giveaway/Review)

12/25: TO BE FILLED (OR ANOTHER DATE TACKED ON TO THE END TO BE FILLED)

12/26: Release Notes: (Giveaway/Review)

12/27: Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem: (Giveaway/Review)

12/28: My Un-Entitled Life: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/29: BookBreather: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/30: Cocktails and Books: (Giveaway/Interview)

12/31: Lindsay's Scribblings: (Giveaway/Review)

1/1: Dawn's Reading Nook: (Giveaway/Interview)










Please join romance author, Emlyn Chand, as she kicks off her FARSIGHTED (FARSIGHTED SERIES, BOOK #1) virtual eBook tour today.

About Emlyn:Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she's not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. 

Visit http://www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!

Be careful with your credit this holiday season!

Identity theft is on the rise. Identity theft protection is a good thing when you are using debit or credit cards. You can never be too careful. One late December after the holidays we had our credit card company call us to determine if we had put $2500 worth of luggage on our credit card. Uh, no! I can not imagine trying to pay that huge bill. With IdentityHawk you are protected with their identity theft protection program.

Having your identity stolen is a crippling event in the life of any person. Your credit can be frozen. Sometimes your bank accounts are frozen too. It can take up to 3 months to get your credit sorted out and that's if you are lucky because I've also heard that it can also take longer. Make sure you are covered. It's worth the piece of mind. Trust me!

About your only other option would be to go to a cash only basis. In this day and age not many people are cash only any more. But that is another way to protect yourself. However, as a person who does some shopping online that is not always feasible. You need some credit and you need some protection for your identity. Are you protected?

This article was sponsored by Blogsvertise and I was compensated. However all views and opinions are my own.

Merry Christmas to all!

Don't forget to enter yesterday's post to win a $50 gift code to be used at dayspring.com. I hope you all have a blessed holiday.

Who can use a $50 gift to Dayspring.com? Starting tonight at midnight!

Who can't? Everyone knows and loves the Dayspring.com website for their books, mugs, cds and so much more. What would you buy if you won? You have to enter to win. But you get lots of entries for little energy! Leave a blogpost telling me what you'd like to buy on the dayspring website. Enter to win but your purchase with the coupon code must be made before December 31, 2011. So use it right away!

Naked floors

We put down laminate flooring in our house a few years back. I love it. I can tell that my dust in my home is less and that I keep my floors much cleaner. We decided at one point to put a nice rug in the living room under our couch. This rug was given to us and not a bad rug. However, lately I've been looking at designer rugs.

Instead of the old woven rugs that were in an oval like my grandmother used to have, they now have art inspired rugs, conservative rugs and so many beautiful choices of rugs. It will be hard for me to choose just one to use in my living room.  That means that I need to choose rugs for my 3 bedrooms as well, right? I like the way you think!

The new designer rugs are made in many different fabrics. They come in wool, leather and Hyde, sheepskin and even hemp. They come in different price ranges from bargain to more expensive. You can get them for a variety of rooms. Kids rooms, dining rooms, living rooms and you can even get smaller ones for a bathroom. They even have the hallway runners I remember from playing as a kid in my grandmother's house. I think I may just be in the market for a new hallway rug. Do you have a room in your house you need a rug for? Do you remember those rugs of the 1960's thru 1980's? Good times!

This article was sponsored by Blogsvertise and I was compensated. However all views and opinions are my own.

How a billing system changed me!

I have always prided myself on my excellent credit. The last time I checked my credit it was an even 800. Which is an amazing score. So, it's Christmas and I try all year to not use credit cards too much. I don't want to get into debt now that we have crawled our way out of it. I went into a nice store to get some clothes for my children for Christmas. At the register she asked if I would like to apply for their card and get a 10% discount. I said, "absolutely." We have very few credit cards and the last time I checked we had really good credit. 

Oops. In the last 2 years we have had lots of major hospital visits. I have done our bills for the last 20 years and have done an excellent job, if I must say. Well, the bills have been piling up quickly. And I was feeling like I was swimming in quicksand. I couldn't keep up with all the different bills for all the 3 different people who have been to different doctors, cat scans, orthopedics, orthodontics, hospital radiologists, university radiologists and so on. 

I stood in this line so confident that I had this. Their billing system at the store was very efficient. They had me pull out my drivers license and used that information to pull a credit score. Then they had me talk to an operator on the phone (which the associate told me never happens...ha!) only to find out I was not approved. What? Ok, that's ok. I had the money to pay for my presents so I did and I left. The store sent me a letter later on telling me that I had insufficient income to debt. This cracks me up. They added more information on a second page.

I pay my bills and I pay on time. The reason they listed for me not getting my account with them was too many people looking into my account (not sure how I control that), lack of bank revolving information, lack of revolving account information, lack of installment loan information and my medicals that are more than 30 days past due. Ok, so what you are telling me is I don't have enough "credit" that I am using to allow me to use your "credit". Wow. I'm just stunned. We have 3 credit cards. I have one department store card that I pay off when it's used monthly. I have used it consistently for the last 3 months and paid it off every month. We have one paid off home hardware store (and was just paid off recently). Then we have one discount store card that we put our gas on and pay off monthly. 

So, we are being punished because we don't carry a balance and pay off every obligation monthly. Wow. Guess it's a good thing we really didn't need to use credit. We have no car note either. We only have our regular monthly bills. Our house note, water, electric, health insurance, insurance, property taxes, gas, groceries, phone and internet. Shouldn't this make us a better candidate? Dave Ramsey says it's better to have a fico score of 0 because it means you are paying cash for everything. Interesting thinking. I'm not sure he's wrong. If I need to carry lots of debt to keep getting credit. I'll pass. Thank you very much.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for Recurring
Billing Software and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are
my own.

Dating 911 giveaway and excerpt

BLURB:

Emergency room nurse, Roxanne Carter is a loser-magnet wishing she could enjoy her single life. Commiserating with girlfriends over butterscotch martinis creates the idea of The Dating Manifesto--a not so scientific research project which promises to point the way to dating success. While gathering data to find the most suitable single men available, she wades through a series of unsavory, stale dates, which literally places her back at ground zero. Just when she is ready to give up, sin personified in the form of sexy firefighter Jett Avery, arrives tainting all of her previous data.

A traumatic warehouse fire, in which firefighter Jett Avery's closest friend dies, has him suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Attempting to stave off the worst of his depression, he decides to use his brand of therapy...Sex. The remedy has lost luster until he encounters ER nurse Roxanne Carter.

The pursuit of Roxanne by Jett's twin brother, Doctor Cruz Avery, complicates her research and interferes with Jett's therapy. Does Roxanne choose the brother who by analysis is the perfect match? Or the broken, dark and irresistible one?


Follow the form below to win a free ecopy! Good luck and hope you'll win.

It's almost here! Win $50 tomorrow (tonight at Midnight)

Everyone loves cash, right? How would you like a chance to win $50 EVERY FRIDAY? Well, I am very excited that I have joined with an amazing group of bloggers to offer you a WEEKLY cash giveaway! Cool, yes? 

Well, there is only one catch, the giveaway begins THIS FRIDAY and is ONLY opened from 12:01 am  and will close at 12:01am on Saturday, so it is only OPENED ONE DAY!

Looking at kids toys for Christmas

I'm always looking for quality instead of quantity. I want them to be meaningful toys that they will cherish and I will be able to hand down to my grandkids (someday...not anytime soon!) As I continued looking for the educational toys for kids for Christmas I went to many different toy websites. I found the constructive playthings had many of the items that I had gone looking for.

 I needed art activity sets for my daughter. She loves to paint and use glitter. The easel looks very sturdy and like a great idea for her. She would love any of their art sets and craft activities. I do believe that she could stamp and glue to her hearts content with these sets.

 For my 9 year old son I was looking that the Star Wars lego sets. He can build for hours. It is so amazing to watch. He would also love the microscope and slides and the 3d solar system. He's my science boy, for sure! Using the cp toys will help shape my kids as they grow. It encourages them to look at what they love and explore their interests.

This article was sponsored by Blogsvertise and I was compensated. However all views and opinions are my own.

Give Love On Christmas Day Charity Event Giveaway

Welcome to Give Love On Christmas Day Charity Giveaway!

This giveaway is hosted by Alice of Bay Area Mommy and Christine of Life's Cheap Thrills. Half of the funds collected for this giveaway will go to the funds of Shekinah Christian Church in Manila, Philippines as they hold a feeding program for kids in the slum area this holiday season. The other half will go to this giveaway's cash prize.

 

Prizes up for grabs are:

$120 PAYPAL CASH (open WorldWide)

 

"THE FASHIONISTA" package (US only) includes Trendy Boutique watch, Fumi Pursehook/Bracelet, Designerliners, Crazy Dog Shirt, and Mom4Life Babylegs.

 

"THE FIT" package (US only) includes Running Divas shirt, BreathSlim, Lipo In A Box shapewear and UgLee Pens.

 

If the 1st winner drawn by Rafflecopter resides within the 48 contiguous states, he/she will get the $120 Paypal cash AND his/her choice between the Fashionista package or the Fit package . If he/she resides outside the 48 contiguous states, he/she will only be eligible for the Paypal cash prize since our sponsors do not ship outside the US.

A 2nd winner will be drawn and will get the other package that the 1st winner did not choose. If the 1st winner resides outside the US, the 2nd winner will get to choose between the Fashionista package and the Fit package. A 3rd winner will then be drawn and will get the package the 2nd winner did not choose.

Giveaway will be open from December 14 12:00AM EST to December 28 11:59PM EST. An email notification will be sent to the winner/s on December 29th. The winner/s will then have 48 hours to respond, otherwise, a new winner will need to be drawn.

 

Click HERE to like all the Facebook pages.

Click HERE to follow all the Twitter handles.

Click HERE to add all the Google+/GFC pages to your circle.

Such an amazing theme: Love Came Down

I was browsing the dayspring website the other day. I stumbled upon a verse that is straight out of one of my favorite songs. "Love Came Down" is the verse that has inspired them this holiday season. It reminds me of our family going to church and singing this song. Look at the cute items they now have.

I have this item and it is as beautiful as it looks in the picture. It is a nicely made wooden star. This will be going on my mantle as soon as I get my tea light candles this afternoon! 

They also have these two mugs. Beautiful and versatile and would make a great gift for your family and friends. The top mug says "Love Came Down", after all Jesus is the reason for the season. We must remember all he gave for us. The second latte mug gives all Jesus' names. He may be called by many names but he is the one and only, the Great I Am. I love this series. It makes me happy to be able to give gifts that have meaning and remind us all of the special reason during this holiday season.

Thank you Dayspring for giving us the reason to remember this holiday season.

Disclosure: DaySpring gave me the Star tealight holder to review and that all opinions stated are my own. The gift did not sway my opinion of the product.

Sprint has some great holiday deals going on

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sprint for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

just in time for Christmas. For a limited time you can get the HTC EVO 4G or the EVO Shift for free only at Sprint.  I need a smart phone. I'm looking at the HTC EVO 4 G. I love that Sprint also has the deal where you can trade your old phone in for $250 credit towards a new phone. what a great way to get your new phone and have your old phone be recycled. 

In addition there are some amazing holiday deals on Android™ powered EVO 4G devices. With any of these you get your activation waived and free shipping from Sprint on new lines of service. The free shipping and new lines of service are for a short time here from Sprint. My husband would love the new Android for Christmas. He had the older one and can't wait to see what the new phone brings. With the Sprint Smartphones they offer the everything data plan. With their Everything Data plan you get unlimited phone, texts and  data to or from any US mobile phone nationwide on the Sprint network. Their plans start at just 69.99 (add $10 for the data plan). 

What a great deal. Thank you Sprint for making my Christmas shopping easier...and cheaper!

Did you know that a lot of things collectors do

are against the law. Stop collection harassment now. Here are some things they are not allowed to do.

They can not:
call you repeatedly
call you at inconvenient times
use profanity
accuse you of committing a crime
use deceptive practices to get you to pay
call and use your information with other 3rd parties against you

Make sure you know you're rights. Get all the details and let those collectors know that you are not going to take it any more. You should find out how to stop those harrassing calls. Did you know that some collectors make up fake debt? Do not pay for debts you do not owe. Arm yourself with knowledge. You will not be taken advantage of or made to feel bad ever again.

Find out your rights and what the Fair Debt Collection Practices says by doing your research. Your knowledge about your rights will help you when speaking with the collectors every time they call or try to contact you. Stop those collection harassments before they get out of control. Let them know you know what they can and can’t do and you will be listening carefully to what they have to say. It will make them think twice about coming after you in ways they are not allowed too!

Frugal gift ideas

are all over pinterest. I love them. Some very cute ideas I am going to make were gained from there.

Here's a few cute gift ideas.

http://pinterest.com/pin/1125968626460670/ Cool letter painted and put on scrapbook paper and framed. So cute!

http://pinterest.com/pin/1125968626356532/ Looks like they took a glade candle jar stood cinnamon sticks around it and tied it with a ribbon. So sweet!

http://pinterest.com/pin/1125968626354026/ this one looks like a wreath of small pictures in round frames with red bow on the top. So unbelievably cute!

What are your cute ideas for frugal Christmas gifts? I really want to know so please share with us by commenting here!

Don't forget my romance ebook giveaway ends tomorrow!

Click here to enter! Very low entries. Hope you win!Giveaway

Remember if you don't win tomorrow come back on December 16 to enter again!

Disney World is my favorite place to go

with my children. I love to watch their sweet little faces light up with excitement when we enter the park. Our family enjoys getting the food plans for our children 12 and under. What a great savings! Eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner with all the characters is one of our special family traditions we carry on every time we visit. As a frugal parent I am always looking for deals so that I can afford to take my family there. Disney vacation specials has some great deals going on now. Their beautiful hotels and all the accompaniments are what you would expect from a quality hotel. There are discounts for nurses, teachers, military and even a Floridian discount.

This lovely Disney hotel offers transportation to the park, longer park hours, on site character dining and so much more. The rooms look spacious and inviting. This hotel is top notch. They have spa services, over 17 dining establishments, activities for customers to participate in and a beautiful beach to lie on or play volleyball at. You will not regret going to the Disney Swan and Dolphin. You can thank me later.

This article was sponsored by Blogsvertise and I was compensated. However all views and opinions are my own.

Kidney stones stink

They caused me to say words I've never said before. Take me to the hospital. I thought I was dying. I knew surgery was in my future. I know I'm not dramatic at all. We wait all day in the ER in a state I do not live in only to find out that the nurse who signed me in diagnosed me 6 hours before. The dr never looked at my tests or blood work and said I think you have a twisted ovary. Not the first time I was told I was twisted. I asked if she looked at my bloodwork? No I need to do that. Uh, I'm no Dr but duh, you think?

Finally after 6 hours in the ER with me dozing off and on the whole time I was allowed to go home. This after I was supposed to be making a 9 hour drive that day. I'm so glad we left later then we thought as I wouldn't have wanted to go through that in a town we didn't know.

Yesterday more symptoms of kidney stones. I'm hoping that they hurry along and pass. Here's my symptoms: pain in my left quadrant over my ovary area, nausea and vomiting and both the pain and nausea came in waves. They asked me how my pain was on a scale of 1-10 and I said an 8. The thing about kidney stones is that unless you have had one before you have no idea what is going on. I've never said the words, "take me to the hospital".

I was with my mom. She wanted to take me to a walk in clinic. No, take me to the hospital. I was certain I would be having surgery that day. Something had to come out! Pain like that can't be tolerated long. Anyway at the moment I'm feeling fine. Hopefully I can get some groceries bought later today and not be on pain meds so I can drive. Drinking water now in the hopes that I can get rid of them mean stones. :) How was your weekend?

Identity Theft could be a nightmare for your family.

During this time our country is in a tough recession. It's hard to get a job and stay employed. If your identity was to be stolen and they were to use your credit cards it could cost families lost time and lost money. If you are worried, one way to set your mind at ease is to check your free credit score and make sure all of your credit companies have put down their and your information correctly.

Your credit report is so important. You must make sure you know your numbers so that you are able to purchase a house or even get better insurance rates. If you have good credit then that is great. Keep it up. If your credit is not so good just keep paying your bills and plugging along. Your credit rating will improve as you are able to pay your debts down. Make sure that you check your credit score yearly. Even if you have good credit it's important to know what they are saying about you and that it is correct.

Any misinformation you find you are able to dispute. Just send a letter to the credit companies saying that it's not your bill/account, etc. Obviously only do this if it's true. Your credit report is a good way to know how you are doing financially. So check your score regularly.

Have you ever redone a room?

I was thinking the other day on my long ride home about redesigning a room. There's nothing better than decorating...other than redecorating. What did you use as your springboard for design? There are a few things I've been looking at and can't decide which one to go with. I'm thinking of different rooms like the kitchen,  living room and/or a bedroom. Or I could just add one new, nice element to each room. Hmm, something to think about. But here's some of what I am looking at. I love this theater couch. How awesome would that be in the living room to watch dvd's on. Pop the popcorn and let's go to movies...I mean the living room.

I have never been so HOT

in my Zaggora's hotpants! No, really they made me so hot. I received these as a product review and am very impressed. I walk my dog twice a day every day. These pants claim that you will lose inches. I am sure that if you wear them everyday even doing your everyday activities and nothing else you will lose some inches. They are very comfortable and not tight or binding. I know that they are working because when I take them off I am sweating and my skin feels cold after the pants are off. That's just from working around the house. Imagine what it would do for you if you did it daily while you worked out.

Hotpants are just that. They make you look hot and that in turn makes you want to work out. You work out and you lose that weight and those inches. We, as women, don't care how we lose weight we just want the weight gone. Me too! These pants are a great start to a diet and weight loss program. Just be sure to check with your doctor. Next I want to hear how you look in hotpants!

We just moved houses

and it's always amazing at how stuff accumulates so quickly. We moved from one vacation home to another.  We were sure it would take us no time to move from our vacation home. We are hardly there and there's not time for stuff to accumulate. We were so wrong!

Dating 911 giveaway and interview with the author

On December 16 I get the honor of hosting a stop on Kathleen Grieve's book tour for CBLS. Her book Dating 911 will be given away by me on December 23 picked from Rafflecopter. Lots of ways to enter~Sign up for my email newsletter to get the reminder or like me on facebook,  google + or gfc. Here's Kathleen's story.

I'm so excited to be hosting my first giveaway

book giveaway and interview with the author! On December 16 she will make a stop on my little old blog and talk about her book Dating 911. I'm so excited to hear her responses to my interview questions.

Am I Mildly Irritating? Don't answer that!

I noticed something as I was vacuuming today. My dogs look at me as if I'm irritating. Then it occurred to me that my whole family gives me this look. Hmmm. Not sure what to make of that. lol Ever feel that way sometimes?

Hey Blogger friends

Diamond Candle Campaign is looking for some bloggers who would like to review their candles and host a giveaway too. You can find out more about them and their candles.

Hope you enjoy the candles and the giveaway for your blog!

Dating 911 I have 2 chances for you to be a winner!

of the book. I forgot I have 2 stops on this tour. Fill out the rafflecopter form and win a copy of Kathleen Grieve's book Dating 911.

Don't miss out. Enter the giveaway today! Lots of extra ways to earn chances to win! Come back on December 12 to find out if you won!

I am so tired of my kids lunches not staying cold!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PackIt for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

My kids take their lunch everyday to their school. I always include a water bottle, sandwich usually with cheese, fruit and chips. Their lunch is usually not cold by the time lunch rolls around. I went looking for a better solution and finally found it. PackIt lunch boxes keep lunches cool for 10 hours. Compare that to my kids lunch boxes that maybe stay cool for 2 hours. Those cool packs are constantly being lost and not brought back home. It's a frustrating thing to be a mom and pack lunches every night wondering if their food will be safe to eat. 

Jeannette and Melissa, both single moms, decided there must be a better way. They are the makers and designers of Packit Lunch Boxes. These lunch boxes work like the gel pacs for the freezer...with the exception that they are lunch boxes! You place your folded down Packit in the freezer and then in the morning pack your lunch in it. You can use them to take drinks to ball games, soup and sammies to work, fruit and cheese crackers for a quick lunch on the go. And the best part of it is that there are no cold packs to lose! The Packit is the cold pack and lunch box all in one. 

 

Check out the \ and let me know which color you'd like and what you'd be using yours for? If you go to the PackIt lunch boxes website you can take advantage of a deal! Buy one packit and get one free. That's a $19.95 savings! Order yours and then come back and tell me some unique ideas for using your Packit. You can thank me later. 

 

Crossing off items on my Summer Bucket List

I posted this in June as our plans for the summer! Here's what we actually accomplished...or not!

Ever get the feeling the guys in the little white coat

are coming to take you away? Some days I wonder! If they were going to take me away...to be their nurse, of course, then I'd have to purchase new scrubs. I could get them here: http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/. I love that this site has kids and baby scrubs.  So, the people with the white coats could have little children nurses in scrubs sets!  You could think of them next halloween and let your children be a baby nurse in a cute scrub set and an older sibling as a nurse in their scrub set. They could then be like mom and dad! The kids would love that! Blue Sky Scrubs also offers jackets, shirts, earrings and lanyards, too.

The scrub sets at Blue Sky Scrubs are in a variety of styles and colors. I saw some that even looked similar blue jeans. The scrub hats are my personal favorite. You can really show your style by wearing a funky scrub hat with your plain hot pink scrubs. Their lab coats are wrinkle proof, teflon protected 100% cotton. So you know the value you are getting for these scrubs are excellent. Add those earrings and really show your style. Or add a funky scrub hat like the one called Grand Bahama pixie print hat. Here's the swatch:

 How cool would you be in this scrub hat? I love it!

This article was sponsored by Blogsvertise and I was compensated. However all views and opinions are my own.

Dragonfly and 2-ce: 2 new drugs teens are doing (PARENTS MUST READ)

Are two new drugs that are popping up everywhere. These drugs have killed young people and killed them quickly. It's the new replacement for bath salts. These designer drugs are not going to yell at you...I'm here and on drugs. You can't tell. There is no test for it. You have to watch for signs and sometimes the signs are so very subtle. It is a sneaky drug.

Custom framing makes memories last a lifetime.

When we went on our honeymoon 19 years ago we bought prints at our little island destination. They were beautiful prints. I didn't want a silly tee shirt that would be thrown away after a few years. I wanted a keepsake that I could hold on to for a lifetime. I went with the prints and then decided after we returned from our honeymoon to have them framed. Today I can look at them and smile. They are still hanging in my home bringing me joy all these years later.

Our pets cause carpets to need cleaning...ugh.

Other peoples pets do too. We bought a house the other day and it's a great one, even if it is so unbelievably filthy. We cleaned and cleaned walls, floors, counters and sinks today. Then we noticed we needed to have our carpets cleaned. To get them cleaned we called lots of companies. After looking around we decided to have our carpets professionally cleaned instead of getting someone off craigslist. Because of the dogs we would need extra help getting out the pet odor and stains left behind by the previous owners. We went with professional carpet cleaning company Austin.

Our friends had mentioned that when they had pet odor removal service in Austin they contacted the Steam Team and was able to have it done for a reasonable price. I can't wait to see my newly cleaned and freshly dried carpets tomorrow. As a parent of children and a parent of dogs I know the problems that animals can cause to carpets. It's nice to know that I can get it taken care of at a reasonable rate. After looking at all their options on their site I noticed a natural pet odor remover that looks like a good green alternative. Make sure you check out the site to see all their options. They can also do duct cleaning, marble cleaning, smoke and water damage restoration and so much more. You can thank me later after you put the Steam Team to work. Check them out here: http://www.thesteamteam.com/pet-odor-treatment.shtml

This article was sponsored by Blogsvertise and I was compensated. However all views and opinions are my own and my dogs really do mess up my floors!

We had to go mattress shopping

last year. We had our mattress for over 20 years at the time. We looked at many places and wish that I had known about Coast to Coast mattress store. They have Sealy mattress deals at a better price than what we paid. They offer free shipping. I can not believe I said that. But they do offer free shipping on an item as heavy as a mattress.

Thankful Post

All month long people have been doing these thankful posts. Which I love to read everything we are all thankful for. I am going to do mine all at one time. :) Here's the 30 things I'm thankful for.

1. my husband
2. my kids
3. my parents and his parents
4. my dogs who bring me such joy.
5. my legs that get me everywhere I need to go for all that shopping I have to do
6. my hands that make and prepare so many meals for my family
7. my home that brings us all rest
8. my husbands job that provides all we need
9. my kids school and that they all 3 love to go
10. exercise and the release and peace it always brings
11. my van that gets us all where we need to go
12. books for me to read
13. writing...another release!
14. my health
15. my family's health
16. laundry (means we have clothes and a family to wear them)
17. nice warm weather (ok somewhat rainy but lovely most of the time)
18. diet pepsi/coke
19. a home in Florida...even if it is a lot of work!
20. a blog that is making part time money for me
21. being able to almost always work at home for the last 15 years
22. music and the peace it can bring me
23. readers who help me by giving me feedback and help
24. a new blog started (clearly I needed more to do!) :)
25. cable (we went without for 8months and it was fine but i am loving having it again!)
26. healthcare (which is terrible and we have lots of bills but at least we have it)
27. my husbands health so that he can go to work every day
28. giveaways for my blog
29. winners for my giveaways
30. and most of all God for all he is!

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Seniors make sure you take care of your insurance

As a senior it is your responsibility to make sure your needs are taken care of should you pass away. Leaving it up to your family can be a terrible burden when they are already going through a troubling time. Make sure you have burial insurance so this isn't a burden to your sweet loved ones. I know it's hard for seniors to begin to think about end of life issues. But it really is a precious gift that only you can give your loved ones.

Medicare supplement insurance is another way to take care of yourself and your needs. Make sure your supplement has what you need. Ask other friends, go to a senior citizen center and see what they recommend for your medicare supplement. Ask someone who knows and has already been there. You want to have good coverage as you age. Healthcare in this country seems to only be getting worse. You are the only person who has your best interest at heart. Make sure you do your research before you pick your supplemental insurance policy.

If you are worried about your finances make sure you check out their financial guide. It would be a great help in showing you your debt to income ratio. How you are doing with your budgeting or even how to create a budget to manage your money. Money and insurance are just as important later in life as they are when you are just starting out. Make sure you have covered all your bases. It's truly a gift to your family.

This article was sponsored by Blogsvertise and I was compensated. However all views and opinions are my own.

What to do with Thanksgiving Leftovers

Our favorite thing to do with leftovers (after sandwiches and reheating just plain turkey and dressing) is to make turkey spaghetti. Just pull your turkey off the bone and set aside.