*promotional products*

Last summer I went to a friend’s wedding in Quincy, Illinois. The wedding was lovely. We were especially impressed by their invitations. They used professionally imprinted promotional products to create the invitations. We also stopped to visit Mark Twain’s home in Hannibal, Missouri nearby. It was a beautiful wedding, and we wish them the best.

a special note to the one who calls himself "anonymous"

Dear "Anonymous",
I am quite sorry that you seem to be offended by my blog. However, I must ask you... if you find my blog to be so offensive, why do you return to it? You are free to leave my blog behind and never return again. I promise not to be offended.

I am quite sorry that you are offended by my "cheapo 'blog for cash' technique" and "obvious advertisements". However, those "obvious advertisements" make up approximately half my income, and since I know you'll assume, I am not homeless or white trash. I live in the suburbs, I have a healthy savings account, and I invest in the stock market. I pay all my bills on time and have no debt whatsoever.

I am sorry that you believe I do not "have some integrity for the products you are linking to". I can only conclude that you do not know much (if anything) about SEO, and possibly you are employed by the competitor of one of the companies I have advertised.

I am sorry that you consider me to be a freak. I recommend that you visit Sphere and find a blog that you can enjoy. However, if you choose to stay around here, you will always be welcome - even if you want to continue leaving negative comments.

I do hope that you will choose to leave your name and, hopefully, your email or website. You sound like a passionate person.

*corsets*

It wasn’t too many years ago that women wore corsets in an effort to achieve an impossibly small waist. Today, it seems, sexy corsets are coming back in style. Personally I just don’t understand this. I mean, medical professionals have proven that corsets are not healthy. Of course I want a smaller waist – who doesn’t? But work hard through diet and exercise – don’t wear corsets in an unhealthy attempt to get a small waist.

*auto insurance*

Auto insurance is a vital element of American life. However, it’s important to find affordable auto insurance. I’ve been thankful, on more than one occasion, for my fantastic insurance. When you get a ticket or have an accident – and I say “when”, not “if”, because you can’t control other drivers and you will inevitably have car issues at some point – at that time, you will be thankful for good insurance.

*fashion jewelry*

My sister somehow seems to have a knack for finding homes near wholesale fashion jewelry warehouses. She used to live in Hong Kong, which is where many of our products our made, and where they can be purchased for a lower price! She also used to live in Ft. Worth, Texas, near a street of wholesale importers. She lived in Thailand for a time, where you can buy “real” jewelry – with real gemstones – for a remarkably low price, and I guess some of the street vendors also sold fashion jewelry.

*business funding*

Starting a business is not easy – I speak from personal experience! In addition to the great investment of time and energy, most start-ups require a great investment of business funding – as in cash, dough, moola! Hopefully if you are starting a business, you will not have to worry too much about funding. Money is a huge stress and it’s never pleasant to worry about that.

*pens*

I’m an office supply junky. I find a strange joy in buying a variety of pens, pencils, and notebooks. The funny part of it, though, is that over the years I’ve discovered my office supply favorite brands, and those are all I use when I need office supplies. But I always have a large stock of those office supplies ready to use!

*checking accounts*

I got my first checking account right after I graduated high school and right before I went to college. I haven’t had any other checking accounts, but lately I have been seriously considering switching banks and/or creating another account with a second bank. I haven’t made up my mind yet, though. There’s advantages and disadvantages to both. Also it kind of depends on what the future holds.

*alarm system*

I don’t have an alarm system on my house. I see commercials for alarm system monitoring, but I’ve also read studies that show that alarm systems only prevent a small number of crimes. There’s a TV show – I think it’s on the Discovery Channel – where two ex-thieves will demonstrate all the insecurities in your home – including how to get past a security system. That’s enough proof for me to not pay for home security!

brrr!

It is cold here, and has been cold for several days. Today we received a thick layer of ice. It is generally uncomfortable to be outdoors, and the road crews have been working hard! Virtually all of the school’s in the area – including the school at which my mother teaches – have given their students a snow day today. I’m personally hoping the weather clears up enough to eat out for lunch or dinner!

*cerebral palsy therapy*

I have a friend with Down’s Syndrome and a friend with multiple sclerosis. I also knew a gal who had cystic fibrosis, but who has since died. I don’t know anyone with cerebral palsy. I know that all those diseases require a lot of therapy! I bet cerebral palsy therapy is expensive, like the others. That makes me thankful that I am healthy.

*hdmi cables*

As I’ve learned more about computers, one thing I’ve learned that underscores everything else is that there are a lot of cables! Like power cables, an HDMI cable, cables that connect everything to everything else! Where there aren’t cables (i.e. wireless) there’s a lot of batteries. Since it’s wireless, it’s not connected to a power source, so you need a source of cheap batteries!

*travel health insurance*

I still remember the challenges of getting travel health insurance while I moved overseas. The vast majority of insurance companies don’t offer insurance for other countries, and some don’t even offer insurance outside of a particular state or region. Overseas insurance has to include a lot of things that we don’t usually think of, like coverage for bringing your body back if you are killed, or coverage for an air ambulance to move you to a “western” country if you are injured, or even sometimes coverage to move you out of the region if the local government becomes unstable.

*festool*

I have always wanted a kitchen with a counter that has barstools. I can’t explain why, but I think all kinds of stools, like a festool, are really neat. I think it would be great to have a kitchen where I could sit on a stool by the counter to eat. It’s way better than standing around in the kitchen, and I can’t explain why but I think it’s more fun than an ordinary chair.

*why buy.com rocks*

I had a lot of fun creating this video. I don’t have a lot of experience with video and video editing, but once I had an idea, I just ran with it, and I think it turned out pretty well.

Let me tell you why buy.com rocks. Buy.com has a huge variety of items on their site, but my favorites are easily the technology items. Their prices are great, and they have a tool that allows you to compare their prices with their competitors. Buyers can review their products, so you can read reviews written by other people who already own that product. You can get free shipping on many products. All new customers get an exclusive $10 coupon valid on any purchase. Buy.com has been endorsed by Howie Mandel and Ryan Seacrest. If you are preparing to purchase a computer, mp3 player, portable GPS, or any other technology item, accessories for a technology item, a book, or a CD, you should definitely check out Buy.com. You’ll find great products at great prices. That’s why buy.com rocks!

microcenter

Yesterday my family and I drove to Overland Park and went to Microcenter to shop. It was a lot of fun, definitely more entertaining than our usual weekend routine. Microcenter is a computer store, similar to CompUSA, and the last of its kind in the Kansas City area. Naturally it’s a lot of fun to shop there, even if I can’t afford everything I would like.

*treadmills*

Today my family went to Microcenter, which is across town but is the best we can do for a local computer store. I had a lot of fun shopping, finding the things I will need to perfect my treadmill desk. Treadmills are such great pieces of exercise equipment, especially because you can exercise at a treadmill while you work on a computer or read a book.

*rare movie posters*

Great movie posters are such a fun way to decorate a room. But I’m not talking about posters for the modern movies, the movies with poor plot lines and mediocre characters. I’m talking about rare movie posters, from the great classic movies. The posters may be hard to find but once they are found it’s totally worthwhile – these movies are a part of our history!

*chanel j12*

I’m so basic when it comes to jewelry and watches. I don’t wear much jewelry, and everything I do wear is very cheap. I have one watch, which I wear most of the time, which cost me $5 at Wal-mart. I’m picky about my watches – I want features like Indiglo light and the date – but once I find it I am very devoted. I don’t like to wear fancy watches, like Chanel J12, or fancy jewelry. I lost a (cheap) ring once, and I don’t ever want to lose an expensive piece of jewelry.

tornadoes

Have you heard about the tornadoes yesterday? How tragic, and what a fitting metaphor for the political elections. I have a good friend who is a weather junkie, and who was talking to me about the tornadoes yesterday. She said that one of the tornadoes actually tore a semi in half. It didn’t just flip the semi over – it ripped it in half! Now that’s a powerful tornado. I wonder if they will decide it was an F4 or F5.

*car prices*

Buying or selling a car is tough, especially if you are buying or selling a used car. You have to research Car Prices, and of course you want to get the best price possible for your vehicle. However, a great price is useless if you don’t have a buyer or seller, and a great price is impossible if it is not accurate. Luckily there are many resources online to help people like you and me figure the accurate price of our vehicle!

post super tuesday

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, and it was also “Super” Tuesday. Primary or caucus elections were held in something like twenty states, and with all those elections, still no candidates received a clear lead in either party. No nominees were finalized, and the political bickering will continue in both parties. What an election this is becoming! At the very least, I hope this is drawing more people into the voting process and convincing more people to become educated citizens.

*captioning*

Closed captioning on television is so handy. Not only is it useful for the hard of hearing, but it is very useful for me when I am in a restaurant, store, or other noisy place. It is still easy to watch television. I don’t know who had the idea for the first TV with captions, but I think they were quite clever.

*winter park real estate*

My parents are both from Colorado. When they were first married, they had an apartment and later, a house in Colorado. They don’t life there any more, but I know from my relatives still living in Colorado that their homes are worth a lot of money. It’s hard to find a home in the mountains! Luckily there are great real estate companies like Winter Park real estate to help you.

lemon drops

Today I bought some lemon drops from the grocery store. I have a new plan. I’m going to (attempt) to use the lemon drops and other hard candy to break me of my addiction to diet coke. I feel like I’m quitting smoking! But seriously – when I have another flavor in my mouth, diet coke tastes awful. Hopefully this will work!

*buzzfuse*

Anyone who operates a website or blog understands the continual challenge of driving new readers or customers to your site. You are constantly pushing yourself and trying to find new ways to reach out and find people who are interested in what you have to say or sell. Buzzfuse aims to make that easier. By creating a free or low-cost profile, Buzzfuse helps you to better market your content and drives interested customers to your website. As a webmaster, you can access a portfolio of tools worth up to $100,000 that will help you improve and market your site. Plus, in the not-too-distant future, you may even be able to earn money with Buzzfuse. How can you turn that down?

blogging

Blogging has been such an adventure lately. I am, frankly, out of habit, which is never good when you are trying to build up a blog. I have also spent a lot of time exploring Wordpress and teaching myself all the different things I can do on my blog. Also I’ve been learning the truth about paid blogging and learning as much as I can about that. It’s not easy but it is a lot of fun.