Garage sale

Wow. I'm nuts. I've started to dream about my garage sale -- particularly solving problems. (Not enough change . . .not being able to find the correct garage . . .signs covered over by construction workers . . . I hope I don't lose my garage in real life. That would be a serious bummer since it's attached to the house!) I haven't had that kind of dream since I did calculus in my sleep in college! (What's sad is that I think the calculus I did in my sleep was better than the calculus I did while I was awake . . .but I digress . . .)

Eric and I painted signs today. Let's say they're "campy" for lack of a better word (this is a family friendly blog! :)) but they get the point across. "Garage sale" and an arrow -- that should work :)

There are 3 6 foot tables in the garage now and they're all filled up . . .and I still have 6 families to go . . .including mine! Should be fun. 9-2 Friday and Saturday.

Freebies update

Since only the three most recent posts show up on the front page, I'll update the freebies here. "Hidden" somewhere in the previous posts are: Buy one get one blizzard at Dairy Queen; Free enzymes from Garden of Life; Really good odds for free cookies from Keebler; and Free marriage enrichment/amazon gift card from eHarmony.com. Have fun with the freebies!

Freebies and personal information

You've probably figured out by now I like freebies. Some of my friends have wondered how/why I feel so comfortable telling all of these various companies my personal information. Well, here's the way I see it:

1) I don't do blatently stupid things like send in my SS number to John Q "I'll send you a bottle of shampoo"

2) I have spam suitable e-mail addresses. My "real" e-mail and the e-mail addresses I send to companies aren't the same. I receive mail from all of my addresses, but what I read depends a lot an what address it was written to. If you need more e-mail address get go to yahoo or gmail or whatever and get a few :)

3) Most companies don't have the money to waste sending "nothing" through the real mail. Usually if they bother to send you something through the real mail it's going to at least have a coupon in it. Also, advertisers don't seem to have a problem getting my real mail address anyway, so . . .

4) Sometimes when I type my phone number I miss a digit. I don't know how that happens . . . . .

5) Most "real" companies really do try to respect your privacy. Why? They don't want you to hate them. It's bad for business.

Excema update

The three year old of one of my friends has had excema since she was about 6 months old. I suggested trying some enzymes and they seem to be working for her too. Maybe Mom was on to something with that suggestion :) In the meantime, my grandma mentioned that one of her sisters got excema when she drank cow's milk. Here I was blaming Eric for Candela's allegy and it turns out it may have come from dear old mom. I hope she's not crossed eyed! (Yep. You heard it here first, I was crossed eyed when I was little. I wore glasses from 2-17 and then outgrew them. Still can't see in 3D though . . .)

Weird freebie - Enrich your marriage

Here's an interesting one. Neil Clark Warren (Christian author and counselor turned founder of eHarmony.com) is trying to launch a marriage enrichment piece to eHarmony.com. He wants married couples to participate in a "preview" phase. $25 Amazon gift certificate (and free program) if you do it. Marriage enrichment preview

Garage sale, cookies, and no more milk allergy??

Added more things to the garage sale today. (I think Eric will go crazy if I make him do too much more of this!) Mostly garden and kitchen stuff today -- way too much fun . . . Got to scrub the garage floor too! June 3 and 4. Should be a good time. :)

I've also been using about 1/2 cow's milk 1/2 soy milk for Candela lately. As long as I put lots of protese in it she seems to be fine. No signs of the excema returning yet :). I haven't dared to try it without the enzymes though.

Won my 3rd bag of cookies from Keebler. I think according to the rules I'm maxed out now. Let's see . . . I played 3 times and won three times and I only had a 1/2 chance of winning, so .5*.5*.5 = .125 I only had a 12.5% chance of doing that. I'm feeling pretty special. Okay. I think when I'm talking about "feeling special" it's probaby time to stop rambling and get to bed! Mommy needs to follow her sleeping toddler's example . . .

Garage sale and freebies

Okay. I'm probably not going to be very good at this blogging thing for the next week or so. My students are working hard to wrap things up for the year and so am I! Eric and I and anybody else who I can get to help (thanks Mom!) are also working on setting up the garage sale scheduled for June 3 and 4. I think there will probably be over 1000 items! (I'm tempted to say 1000s of items, but they're not organized enough to know that yet :))

So, I know at least some of you are looking for the freebies, so if you hunt through the previous posts you'll find: Buy one get one blizzard at DQ. Excellent odds at winning Keebler cookies (I've already won my 3 pack max.). Free sample (and coupon) of Garden of Life enzymes.

Off to tutor!

Garage sale

Updates will be coming here as I get them. Today added a crib and lots of baby stuff and artwork and a couple of trunks and . . . .

Today's the 26 . . .added jewelry, garden tools, and a turn-of-the-(last)-century dining room table and whatever I can get to tonight :) . . . I think I hear some noises coming from the not-so-sleeping baby . . .

Keebler - Good odds at free cookies

Hey. I just won 2 packages of free cookies (one for entering and one for referring Eric) and a cookie clip. Maybe you can do the same. Odds of winning = 1/2 not bad :) Per their instructions use the UPC code 30100-18396 Keebler - The Hollow Tree Good luck!

Insurance rant

I have a feeling this may not be the last you "hear" of this topic from me. I don't like insurance. I also wouldn't like living without it, so I have it. However, it seems whenever I deal with insurance, esp. medical or dental, it's just a big hassel. My husband has a likely case of strep throat. You really wouldn't think that in today's modern society this woul be a big deal, but it is. Where do you go? Who handles the paperwork? What do you do when it gets mixed up? It would be so nice if doctors just had real rates that they charged instead of "reducing" everything once it goes through your insurance. For example, I think my hospital bill having Candela was something like $18,000. After all of the "allowed" amounts went through the insurance company's payment of something like $5,000 was fine to pay it completely. Yikes! So then the people who don't have/can't afford the insurance feel the impact twice. Once because they have no insurance to pay anything and again because the doctor/hospital charges 3 times as much.

Funny -- coalition to ban dihydrogen monoxide

Okay, this is MUCH different than the headlice treatment post earlier. That was real. This is funny :)

Coalition to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide
BAN DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE: THE INVISIBLE KILLER

Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogenmonoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO
withdrawal means certain death.

Dihydrogen monoxide is also known as hydric acid, and is the major component
of acid rain. It:
* contributes to the "greenhouse effect."
* may cause severe burns.
* contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
* accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
* may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
* has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

CONTAMINATION IS REACHING EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS!

Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice. In the midwest alone DHMO has caused millions of dollars of property damage.

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:
* as an industrial solvent and coolant.
* in nuclear power plants.
* in the production of styrofoam.
* as a fire retardant.
* in many forms of cruel animal research.
* in the distribution of pesticides.
* as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.

Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical. Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal. The impact on wildlife is extreme, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer!

THE HORROR MUST BE STOPPED!

The American government has refused to ban the production, distribution, or use of this damaging chemical due to its "importance to the economic health of this nation." In fact, the navy and other military organizations are conducting experiments with DHMO, and designing multi-billion dollar devices to control and utilize it during warfare situations. Hundreds of military research facilities receive tons of it through a highly sophisticated underground distribution network. Many store large quantities for later use.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE!

Act NOW to prevent further contamination. Find out more about this dangerous chemical. What you don't know CAN hurt you and others throughout the world.

Send email to no_dhmo@circus.com, or a SASE to:

Coalition to Ban DHMO
211 Pearl St.
Santa Cruz CA, 95060

DQ Buy a blizzard get a blizzard

I think I was wrong on the expiration date on the DQ BOGO blizzard offer. I'll know for sure when Eric get his e-mail, but I think the expiration date is based on when you join and therefore not always May 25 :)

DQ Blizzard Fan Club :: Join The Blizzard Fan Club

Also, anyone with an e-mail can join. . . .:)

Yep. It is based on when you join, so don't worry about the expiration date I mentioned above :)

Scary for us moms

Stolen straight from Eric's blog. A scary story about headlice treatments causing Leukemia among other things. HeadLice.Org - Jesse's Project Oh if you want to check out Eric's blog Eric's blog

Survey finds average cost of wedding close to $30,000

Survey finds average cost of wedding close to $30,000 - May. 20, 2005 Yikes!!! These must be the same people that think it's a sacrifice to drive a new car for 5 years instead of 3. $26,327 for one day?? I wonder how much money these couples spend on getting ready for their MARRIAGE!!

Where to Find the Money to Save - Funny . . .I think . . . .

Where to Find the Money to Save: Money Matters - Yahoo! Finance

Okay, normally I kind of like Suze, esp. her whole deal on how money isn't about math it's about psychology. But I thought this article was pretty funny. It's an article about how to spend money if you're on one income. Some suggestions:

Buy the $45 jeans instead of the $150 ones. I think I can honestly say that none of the stores I shop in sell $150 jeans.

Get the $10 take out salad for lunch instead of spending $20 in the restaurant. Where on earth do you go to buy a $10 take out salad??

Drive you car for 5 years, not 3. I'm usually thinking more in the 10-12 year range, but if Suze says I can save more money by driving my car for 5 years . . .

$150 jeans or an iPod should be saved for a birthday . . .don't indulge your child. Wew! I least I don't have to worry about Candela being over-indulged!

Suze -- You were a waitress once, have you forgotten how real people live?

Dairy Queen Blizzard Free! Buy 1 / get 1

My sister hasn't read my blog yet. I think this will get her here :)

Dairy Queen Blizzard Buy 1 / get 1

Garage sale

Well, this year I'm embarking on holding my first garage sale. I just found out that my June 4 date is the same as the massive "River Hills" garage sale. I don't know if that's good or bad. River Hills is pretty close to me, so maybe I'll pick up exta traffic. It's a lot of extra competition too . . .so who knows. I never thought that setting prices would be such a nuisance. I'm used to eBay where you set the minimum and let it be bid up. This whole "set the maximum you think you can get and be bargained down" is a bit of a paradigm shift for me!! Garage Sale Pricing Guide This pricing guide helped a little, but I think it's kind of high. I have some friends helping out/ selling stuff too. Hopefully that will make it fun . . .Still not so sure about the whole process though . . .

PostSecret

Eric showed me this last night . . .PostSecret. It's a blog where people send in their secrets to be posted. It's very compelling. Really tells you how much our world is hurting. Several of them really got to me. . . esp. the one with the picture of the ultrasound.

Dandelions and toddler 1, Mom 0

Today, with Candela's help, I think the dandelions officially won. Luckily they were hurt pretty badly in the battle, so hopefully it will take awhile for them to regroup and once again reign over the lawn. Today Candela decided that Dandelions ought to be picked in a very specific way. Usually this way involves Candela having sole possession of the "dandelion picker". Sometimes it only requires Candela to have possession of the dandelions themselves . . .which get faithfully brought to the awaiting bucket. Either way makes for a very cute, "helpful", happy daughter and a very inefficient mommy. Oh well, Candela was the reason we didn't spray in the first place . . . I guess she can be the reason I let a few dandelions live to see another day . . . :)

Paypal competition Greenzap Free money??

Came accross this one and figured, "what the heck".GreenZap Site They're launching to try to compete with Paypal . . .and quite honestly I think Paypal needs some competition. Don't get me wrong, Paypal provides a valuable service, but in this capitalistic society of ours monopolies rarely do the trick. I also remember thinking the $5 refer a friend bonus from Paypal (eones ago) smelled fishy too, as it wasn't, so . . . Anyway, if you pre-register by June 1 they'll put $25 in your account that supposedly will be able to be used all over the place (that, of course, remains to be seen.) I think they put something in my account too, but I don't know what. They only ask for name, e-mail (I'd give them something worthy of spam), and address (and you have to create a password), so I figured I can't get burned too badly :)

Why is my "sleeping" toddler pounding on her walls?

Money, credit card payments, interest only mortgages, and foreclosures

Many credit card companies are raising their minimum payments. MSN Money - Your credit card payment just doubled For people making minimum payments on their credit cards life is going to get harder. (In the long run it's probably better considering they never meant to spend 30 years paying off their vacations, but I digress . . .). My sister, who's a realtor, brought up an interesting point that this increase will also affect what mortgages people can qualify for. (Since your monthy debt to income ratio can only be a certain percent and your debt is determined by your minimum monthly payments.) Hmmm . . . Seems like that will take out some buyers completely.

Add in interest only loans which are more and more of the mortgage market. So . . . the only equity that people are getting is appreciation.

Add in easy access Helocs . . .and all the sudden lots of people are inside out on their mortgages.

Add in a market correction or even a market slowdown and it seems we're looking at a lot of foreclosures . . .I think . . . .

Maybe it's time to dig more dandelions :)

Internet freebies and timeshares for sport

Do you ever click on those "we'll give you 8.7 million dollars if you give us your zipcode" internet ads? Well, usually I don't either, but occassionally . . . To my surprise $4 did show up in my paypal account. Wow. Who'd a thunk it? I had to ignore some e-mails about refinancing my mortgage, but all in all . . .it wasn't too bad. BTW, I love parentheses and ellipses . . .probably because my teachers never let me use them in "real" writing. Has anybody out there done the "bigger ones" for like $500 where you have to fulfill 6 offers? What were those like? (The terms of service on the ones I've seen are vague enough that I've never actually done one.) If you have, post a comment and let me know what it was like . . .and if you ever got your money.

My husband and I do timeshare presentations for sport too. At first we'd just go for the freebies (never go for a trip -- they're practically impossible to take). After a few it became a competition of how fast we could get out of there. BTW, never ever buy a timeshare at a sales presentation. They're practically free on eBay.

Movies, diapers, printers, monitors, and customer service

I don't usually read too many of financial articles, but this one got my attention Blockbuster to Hike Prices. The article has a bunch of stuff in it, but one of my favorites was that Blockbuster had a "no late fees" policy that conveniently had a "restocking fee" if you were late. Hmmm . . .I wonder why customers weren't real thrilled with that one. "Oh no, sir, there's no late fee, just a restocking fee becasue you were late." This goes along with a friend of mine who recently compained to Proctor and Gamble about the total failure of both Luvs and Pampers (both Proctor and Gamble brands -- see you learn something new everyday :)) to do what they're supposed to. The service rep. explained to my friend that the two things that diapers are meant to contain are different. This was, of course, a huge revelation to my friend who evidently had the mistaken idea that diapers were meant to work with both things!! (Can we sense the sarcasm yet :)) Then there's Samsung who wanted me to pay $40 to ship back a $120 monitor so they could fix it . . .for the third time! Eric has a whole website devoted to his adventures with Lexmark. Check out Lexmarked.com. Regretfully that's just the beginning of our customer services adventures, but I think my not sleeping toddler is about to empty her bookcase . . .

Enzymes, excema, milk and soy

Well, today's adventures (along with digging out dandelions) include giving Candela some "real" milk. When she was about 4 mo old (and still being 100% nursed except for a tiny bit of rice cereal) she developed some moderate excema. (It looked bad, but it didn't seem to bug her too much.) Anyway, after some research, Mom suggested protease (an enzyme that targets protein . . .in this case cow's milk protein) and after some resistance on my part we tried it. Wow. It really worked! Her doctor was surprised, but he wasn't about to object.

Well, when Candela started needing milk (other than from me) I put her on soy milk and that's been fine. In the meantime I've been gradually introducing milk products -- yogurt, cottage cheese, normal cheese, milk in sauces, etc. I've even spiked her soymilk with frozen milk cubes. So far everything has been fine, so I'm hoping she has outgrown the allergy (I guess babies often do.) This morning I spiked her soymilk with about one ounce of fresh (from the grocery store, not the cow :)) cow's milk. What's scary is that swear she's got a tiny bit of excema flaring . . .Can a mom have a psychosomatic response imposed on her child??? I think I'll go back to 100% soy and see if it clears. I guess then I'll know . . .

I'll update in the comments section. Oh, if you want to read that, click on the "post time" at the bottom of this post and it will let you see the post and the comments. (Same for any other post on blogger.)

WCCO: Faith Helps Families After Tragedies

WCCO: Faith Helps Families After Tragedies
Okay. I took this one straight from Eric. Eric's blog It made me cry. A lot. And it's just a write-up. I didn't even watch the video. I think that's part of what being a parent does to you.

Another way to save money!

I guess Candela decided the puzzle pieces were enough to put her back to sleep. She doesn't like rainy days, maybe she just decided it wasn't worth being up.

Anyway, thanks to Norman's reply on my Cub post I've learned that Cub takes manf. and store coupons on the same item! Bonus!! I guess that means Eric (yep, now you know my husband's name too) will have to return to Cub to get the water softener salt.

Digital camera - blessing or curse?

I've come to a very profound revelation (okay, not profound to anybody who's been around a toddler for more than, say, 10 seconds): Toddlers are fast!! Being the cheap person I am (I bet you haven't figured that out by my previous posts :)), I insist on trying to take Candela's (yep, you know the name of the mysterious toddler) pictures at home. Again because I'm cheap I'm trying to do this with a digital camera. The problem -- pushing the button on the camera does not instantly lead to a picture. I have more pictures of where Candela WAS! Speaking of, I think I hear a toddler awakening (and probably dumping all of her puzzles in her crib . . .how does she reach them??)

Sales, coupons, rebates, and alligning of the stars

After an exhausting jaunt in the backyard Baby was out for the night. So, I did the grocery shopping thing. (Remember, this is very exciting :)) I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself :)

This week at Cub:
Got 3 jumbo packages of Huggies for $20 (I didn't even have to send in the rebate -- since they didn't have the form they just gave me $5 in cash. I like customer service at Cub.)

Got 4 24 packs of Coke/Diet Coke for $4.77 each plus there was a mail in for "$5 off and a free 2 Liter of Diet Coke with Splenda". I got two of the mail in certificates so I had to check out in two passes, but the clerk actually seemed to get that.
I figure if I have extra Coke (yeah, like that's gonna happen!) I can sell it at the garage sale. (Oh . . .there's a whole different topic!)

Got 2 bottles of salad dressing, 2 bottles of hair conditioner (they were out of shampoo . . .whatever . . .) and a tub o margarine (even with added calcium . . that seems weird to me . . .) for about $1.50 total. Thanks Unilever for your recent promotions :)

Got 2 tubes of the extra fancy Aquafresh (including sensative for my hubby) for $2.50. I love that Cub takes expired coupons.

Got the normal stuff :)

Got 2% off the whole thing because my credit card company is trying to promote "small" purchases and since it was divided in two, both purchases were under my CC's $50 small purchase (2% back) limit.

Yep. Stuff like this really does make me happy. Scary huh? Off to bed for Mommy too.

Dandelions, coupons, and funding the savings account

Okay, after almost an hour of practicing her vocalizations in her crib (not crying, just cooing and eeeping and whatever else) Baby finally fell asleep. (She'd be very unhappy to realize she fell asleep right as the sun came out, but I doubt she'll bother reading this blog when she starts to read . . .)

So, I got to do my daily dandelion assignment. My neighbor across the street has proven it can be done, but the whole "fight the dandelions" without spray thing . . .wow . . .I always thought I could beat a plant. Now I'm not so sure. I've been digging up 100 a day minimum for the last two weeks or so. They finally seem to be getting kind of under control, but at least 1,400 dandelions later they should be oblitterated!!! And they're not!! Okay, here's another weird thing. I think I have dandelion envy. If you've ever dug up dandelions you realize there a certain pleasure that comes with pulling up a really big one and getting the mega root that comes with it. Well, most of those kind are gone from my lawn, so now I'm left with the stupid little ones that will just reproduce into more stupid little ones if I don't dig them out. Anyway, I was looking across the fence where the dandelions are much bigger and greener and I actually considered crossing the fence to dig them up. How crazy is that??? The grass is always greener I guess.

Also on the agenda today is figuring out the grocery list. I'm very thankful that my husband does 90% of the grocery shopping, but I think this trip is simply going to be waaaayyy too complicated. You know how there are people who use coupons? I've always been one of those. But there are also people who USE COUPONS and rebates and sales and don't buy anything until the stars allign and you can get all three. Well, it looks like the stars alligned right for me, because I'm finding myself factoring in all three. It helps fund the savings account I guess, but I'm beginning to wonder if my math minor is sufficient to get it all figured out :)

Wow. Dandelions and groceries . . .and you thought your life was exciting :)

My favorite savings account

Well, baby isn't sleeping per se, but she is happy putting her scraps of paper in her peanut can . . .and car . . .and hiding them in the coach . . .Yep. Yesterday I found the upstairs remote in a kitchen drawer. I still wonder where the downstairs remote is. . . .

Anyway, you know you're pathetic when you have an emotional attachment to a savings account, but this one is the best IMHO. I've had great luck with ING DIRECT. 3%. Opening was easy. It links straight to my normal checking account. No fees. No minimums. FDIC insured. If you send me your e-mail I'll send you a link that gets you a $25 opening bonus (and me a $10 referral bonus). (You can then send that same bonus to each of your kids if you have them!) I also have an account with emmigrant direct. They pay a little higher rate (3.25%), but it's been one hassel after another with them. . . and I have to preserve my sleeping toddler time!

bajablast

bajablast

Yikes! Baby had to be asleep for an awfully long time for me to learn that I didn't win a bunch of money (or anything for that matter) from Pepsi. Am I sensing some desparation for e-mail addresses and consumer information??

Why am I here?

Hi! Want to know why I'm here, check this out:emlarson weblog. It's my husband's blog and he insisted that I ought to have one. Why? To be honest, I'm not sure. However, have you ever heard of the idea that women have more words to use everyday then men? Since my toddler's English is so far limited to "okay" and "no" (or more often "no no no no no") I'm left with an abundance of words at the end of the day when my husband comes home. I think he's hoping this gets some of them out beforehand.