How to make saline solution - eye wash

I am officially the dog lady.  Hence my long term 'break' from writing.  Some of you already know that I have 5 dogs (4 boys and 1 girl).  Well my girl had a litter of 4 boys and 1 girl.  What a coincidence!  My 2 oldest angels are 15 and 10 years old.  Shitzu doggies in general tend suffer from allergies.  It is normal to see skin allergies, skin tags, and eye allergies.  The older dogs sometimes have difficulty producing the tears needed to clear their eyes so some people notice an increase in eye boogies, eew.  The vet will give drops for the treatment of this but without making their own tears it is something that you will revisit.  

To avoid vet bills and needless chemical based medications, you can simply help your doggie child by providing the daily tears they need.  The cheapest way to do this is to make saline solution yourself.  You wouldn't believe how easy it is to do.  You can also use a few drops in their ears as an ear wash to prevent ear infections. 

Its for humans too!  Great to know for fans of contacts who run out of solution, those with irritated eyes, those who need a nasal rinse or ear rinse, and more.  

So here is what you will need...

Bottles

1 cup Distilled Water

1 Teaspoon Salt

Dropper (for eye drops)

I prefer to use multiple small glass bottles for a couple of reasons.  First of all, once you open the bottle you have 48 hours of use before it should be discarded to avoid contamination.  A closed container will have a shelf life of about a month.  The bottles I use a boston round 1/2 once bottles and this small recipe yields more than 10 bottles.  I don't need that much so I also fill one 2 ounce bottle for ear washes.

Here is the super simple steps.  I mix the two ingredients and bring them to a boil for sterilization.  I let it cool and pour it in.  That is it!  

Whew!  Time for a break.  

:D Worst Blogger Award

I am not a blogger.  I am more of a person with a blog.  I know you can totally see the difference.  This is more like a sporadic journal for me.  If you had to compare me to a blogger, than I would be the worst blogger ever.  I lack consistency in postings and topics.  I am not looking to make money nor am I looking for a niche.  I just like to write so here I am.  I have always had slight issues with authority so I would choose blogger to host my non-bloggy blurting.

Today I am contemplating which is yet another way that I take time away from the trillion things that have to be done.  Have you ever gotten an idea in your head that is not of grand importance or even worse it is something you have no business thinking about and it just consumes you.  It like as soon as the idea is in your head, even if it is a huge mistake (i.e. sky diving when you are afraid of heights) you still have to do it because you have become obsessed.  This is a flaw in humanity.  Its uncontrollable.  It doesn't even matter that you have heard so many horror stories from others.  You need your own.  Perfect example, I was reading somewhere about the world's soda fountain at epcot.  Apparently, there is one that is horrible.  It is described as tasting like vomit.  Almost every comment from those who have not tried it read something like 'ew, disgusting!  Can't wait to try it for myself.'   <--  See, we are hopeless against it.  I blame humanity!  :)  

Have a great June!

Pintastic Discoveries

I have to say that I love my relationship with pinterest.  I have pinned a lot in my short pinning career, but I would not say that I was pin happy or pin crazy.  I don't pin a lot of the stuff I like because some of it I don't intend to use.  There are things I agree with, things I think are funny, cute animals, and so much more but my goal is really to use pinterest to house things that I actually want to do.  It is my way of goal setting.  So, thanks to pinterest, my 'to do' list is ginormous and it doesn't even include all the things that I actually have to do in my home.

I think I am actually off to a pretty good start!



There are only 4 pins in my money savings section and three of them are my own so of coarse I did them all.  The one I didn't author was a lot of fun...

The pin recommended using a ketchup bottle as a pancake pen.  Ketchup is not something that we use in our house so I was really excited that we had just finished a bottle of Mrs. Butter Worth's syrup.  I mean how perfect is that!  It was a lot of fun to feed these to my little girl and I was surprised at how easy it was.

First of all, K and I decided that we didn't want to dirty more dishes than we had to.  We thought we should make the pancake mix right inside of Mrs. Butter Worth and use her as a shake bottle.  We used another pin about making a funnel out of a water bottle to do this.  The bottle had a big enough mouth that no ingredients got stuck and we cut it long enough that we were able to dump all the ingredients into it without back-ups or clogs.  A quick rinse and now that gorgeous peace of reused plastic stays in our pancake batter jar.

The pin above came out of our Greener Living section.  We have done another pin from that section and are working on a couple more.  I feel so accomplished and well, GREENISH...

Feel free to click on some of the photos to go to the pins you like or follow the links to the pin boards to see if there are others you prefer to try.

Some of these pins give you the I-can't-believe-I-didn't-think-of-it-myself feeling, otherwise known as duh...  The chip clip.  You know how many of these hangers come into the house.  I should never need a chip clip again.  Cutting them took some time because I didn't have the right tool so I had to use a knife.   

I have a section called cool tips.  I have tried a few in there and have authored one from this blog.

The berry pin talked about a homemade fruit wash that was really great.  I have adopted this in my regular routine.  My berries stay firmer and last longer.  The inside of the berry stays new even when the outside starts looking less new.  It is great.  

The bathroom mirror should look familiar.  That is the one that came from this blog.  I have been able to get a lot more accomplished using this and the best part is that I wonderful love notes from my little girl :D!  

Now for the cheese.  I froze cheese and it worked very well.  I froze our Sargento provolone.  It is not regularly on sale and has very few coupons so the idea of being able to have a little stock pile now is very appealing. 

The apple thing.  I have some explaining to do.  I didn't have a rubber band.  I tried it without it and the apple still got brown but not soggy or dark brown.  On my second attempt, still without a rubber band, I put the apple in a small plastic container and it had even less browning so I am sure that if I ever run into a rubber band it could work.

The homemade food section has a ton of things that I want to do.  I have onlly done a couple of them so far but I have big plans.  :)  I started with the grapes.  That will need a 'do over'.  I kept them in a plastic baggie and the sour powder got all wet and gooey.  I thought it would be perfect for halloween.  I just need a good name for slimey limey green balls.  Maybe ogre eyes or something?  Any suggestions?  

The oven corn was delicious and simple.  It was great not to have to fuss with the boiling of water.  It is also easy to make in mass quantities this way.

There are a few more pins that I have been able to try but this blog is already long enough.  I feel like I should get a badge like in the girl scouts or a belt like in wrestling.  I would love to hear about what you have tried from your pinterest account.

Poop on my shoe!

Thats right!  I have poop on my shoe and I feel very accomplished.  I am on, what seems to be the long road to a simpler life.  The yard needed attention and I didn't want to keep paying someone else to do it.  I also was not at all attracted to those big, bulky lawn mowers with their pull strings and thirst for gas.  I really wanted to try a reel mower.  I have wanted it for a while.  I remember talking to my late husband about it.  He thought I was crazy.  He was never interested in mowing.  :D

Being raised a city girl, I can't say that all the yard work is thrilling to me.  I mean, I fantasize about growing food and flowers, but at this point, I would be lucky to successfully grow grass.  I had many reasons for wanting a reel mower.  Maybe you can relate to some of these...

1.  If I had a gas mower, everything would be fine.  It would take less time and cut everything in its path.  Everything would flow until it was out of gas.  Then, I would procrastinate.  It is something that I am really good at doing.  I would forget to buy gas about a thousand times, since I am really forgetful by nature.  I promise, I don't do it on purpose.  The need for gas would give me another reason to roll my eyes at gas prices.  

2. Then there are the mechanical issues.  I am not mechanically inclined and I am on a budget.  I am not the most trusting person when it comes to mechanics of any kind.  I know, stereo typing is wrong but I completely buy into the whole careless, overpriced mechanic conspiracies.

3. My carbon foot print!  The reel mowers have no engine.  They run on the greenest energy available. They run on ME ENERGY!  Really, what is the point of being young and energetic (sometimes) with no outlet?  I don't have to pay for a gym membership.  I don't have many opportunities to get good and smelly.  It's exciting.  I don't need to have a clear side walk or path to walk.  I need to get my bum outside and mow the yard.  I like feeling just a little greener.  I am not super green but everyone loves a little sage.

4.  Thanks to you tube, the maintenance for a reel mower is simple.  I watched exactly what to do and how to do it.  Bonus, I only have to do it once a year.

3.  The reel mowers are cheaper than mechanical lawn mower.  They start at about $30 less than the cheapest engine mowers.  Add to your savings the fact that you do not need to buy gas and will only need a little oil for maintenance and you are saving tons.  The sharpening kit for the reel mower is only about $15- $20 and lasts for years.  I got a bonus deal.  I found mine on craigslist and paid half of what it sells for!  :D

There are cons to everything but they really don't apply to me.  Just for the sake of making this piece slightly less biased I will share some with you.  If you are a lawn guru, the reel mower may not be for you.  The reel does not get to everything in its path.  Uneven ground can equal uneven cuts.  If you do not want to pull weeds, the reel mower may not be for you.  It won't cut every weed out there.  Some weeds won't cut at all (the little white flowers proved this for me).  You have to pull them.  If you do not want to mow too often, the reel mower may not be for you.  Letting the grass grow in too long will beat up any push mower, but the reel will not be able to cut thru thick high grass.  It will take a long time since you will have to do it in stages.  For me, it is ideal.  You will have to see if it fits for your needs.  

Now for some comedic relief.  I was doing so well but there was absolutely no way that I was going to be able to get thru the entire yard without steeping is some dog poop.  I mean the odds are completely against me with 5 dogs.  Here are the suspects... 

The sweet looking bad girl - Mincha

The quiet one - Rusty

The oldest - Copey

The monster - Tobey (Mincha's Boyfriend)

The sweet rescue - Lucky

What do you guys think??? 

Teacher Appreciation!

My daughter loves giving her teacher gifts and I love keeping them inexpensive enough to do them whenever she wants!  This coming monday starts teacher appreciation week!  I have had the gifts done for a while but I didn't want to post it yet.  I wanted to wait until this week.

I didn't want any lurking teachers to get a sneak peak and I know right now is their 'no computer' time.

We got our eye on you!  Ha!

I know a lot of teacher gifts involve supplies.  There are so many wonderful ideas out there but I didn't want to give them more supplies.  They have a lot of it and the school year is almost over. I want to show appreciation by getting them something for their personal use.  Recently, we got these double walled, bpa free drink cups in different patterns.  K and I love them!  We use them every day.  We decided that these would be our perfect gifts this year.  They hold ice for hours and they don't sweat.  That means no mess on the teachers desk!  That is REFRESHING!  We put some Crystal Light drink paks in the cups with Emergen C and some hershey nuggets candies and we were done.  We attached personalized post cards with a picture on it and a little flower lollipop in the straw.  These gifts are intended to stay in between $5 - $10 although it cost us even less because I had all the goodies at home all ready.  I only spent about $4 each on the cup.

My modo for gift giving is to make sure it is useful.  If you use it regularly and it doesn't end up in a closet or on a shelf, I am excited!

Olive oil for swimsuit season!

Spring is great!  It's the ultimate prep time for swimsuit season.  We use it to start building all of our summer dreams and pick up all of our summer gear including swimsuits.  With all the short skirts, shorts, and swimsuits comes hair removal.  Nobody's favorite part.  For those of us who are honest and open with the girl code, we know that the razors don't get used as much in the winter unless we are prepping for something in particular or are going thru a hoochie stage.  You know, hoochie stages and new relationship/ new husband stages are when all your underwear matches and you have to be ready for any chance encounters after that everything is pretty much scheduled or can be put off for ten extra minutes while you 'get ready'.  Since most winter activities don't involve the potential risk of jumping into salt water, most of the time we can handle the 'hair care' the same day we need to show a hairless leg off.  Now it is spring.  It is time to try to get our skin used to waxings and constant shavings again.  Many areas are easy.  They adapt quickly.  No major issues.  Then there is the bikini line.  What a pain in the tukish!  It needs constant attention and is super sensitive for some which makes underwear a nightmare.  Lucky us, I know...


So here is a cheap, natural tip for minimizing discomfort and redness in any area that gets a little rashy for any reason.  Some mothers already use it for diaper rashes and chances are you already have it in your home.  You ready for it?...

OLIVE OIL!

This stuff just keeps getting better and better doesn't it.  All you need is a dab.  Use it the way you would a lotion, rub it in.  You can use it in the days following a shave or wax or opt for the daily regimen which will not only treat the skin but also condition the hair.  Regular use has helped with the future maintenance for some women.  You will have to let me know if it has that affect on you ladies/gents.  I would really love to hear your comments on this one.  

Until next time, Keep it smooth and comfy :)

Forgetful

I can't believe that I have not thought about this before!  I am hugely forgetful and little reminder notes are not working for me because I forget where they are.  Then there is that huge, ugly mirror in the bathroom that I am always plotting against.  It was not until a couple of days ago that I was able to look past it rough, massive, unframed, rectangularness to see a blank canvas.  What a perfect place to write.  I look at that thing every morning.  Forget the paper!  I have been taking an expo to it and loving it.  It wipes right off.  Bonus is that with all the wiping, that gargantuan mirror has been staying cleaner!  :D --> This is a kool-aid smile moment for a person who is domestically challenged.
Now this is a lot more function than fashion but lets face it, the monster mirror was not rocking fashion in the first place.
I have a to do list, a done list, a good job list for my daughter, and a loving good morning note for my daughter.  I am going to start playing with colored expos soon.  So far, if it is on the mirror it has not been overlooked.  THIS IS GREAT!  Plus, if ever the mirror and I have a falling out and I decide to do something to make it more fashionable, I can still use it as a board.  I don't have to see where a board would go or change my routine at all.  I can't stop smiling.  This is awesome!  I love how the pictures make it look like it is word art on the wall.  So far, this seems to have no cons.  I will have to keep you posted if one comes up.  Another tiny step to my becoming all organized and junk!  Woo hoo!

Time with friends

This month is full of ups and downs.  This post will be about the ups, namely friendship.  Being a widow is not an easy thing.  It is all too tempting to let go of everything.  After 7 months, I am actively participating in friendship again.  I have a very special person in my life.  She has drawn me out from the very beginning and it is because of her and her unwavering dedication to me and my daughter that I am able to move forward and be a little social.  I know that she has no idea how much she has done for us.

This month, I enjoyed lunch with her.  She took me to get my first pedicure ever.  I was nervous about it but it was great!  I always had the impression that pedicures were an acquired taste.  I was sure that I would get thrown out for accidently kicking the nail tech since my feet are sensitive.  Then there was the gross factor.  I didn't understand why the water was blue.  How often do they wash those tubs.  Some people have some really grungy, contagious toes.  So, naturally, I avoided it.  Here, I openly admit, I was wrong.  It is really relaxing.  I still wonder about hygiene but I really enjoyed it.  We went to meet another good friend's baby boy.  It was a great day, as usual.  Later this month, she will be helping me and my daughter with yet another huge step.  It will be another reason for me to be eternally grateful to her for her love.

I enjoyed a barbeque with some new friends this month.  They are wonderful people.  My daughter didn't want to leave :)!  Great food, pool time, karaoke, friends, and smiles.  Everything was awesome save for one awkward moment.  You know the stories that start with a friend of a friend brought a friend that no one else knows...  Hours of fun + 15 minutes of awkward weirdness = still a great day!
I also made time for lunch with a good friend that I had not seen since the service.  She lives as a woman but was born a male and her life is more difficult for it.  It makes me angry.  Why are we so nosey as a culture.  Life is hard for the lot of us, why do some people make it harder for some.  It makes me really sad.  My friend has struggled since he was a young boy.  He has always felt feminine.  Coming from a religious family, he has always struggled with feeling wrong and misplaced.  I don't think there is a need for the judgement of strangers.  There is a fierce, on-going debate concerning christianity and the gay community.  I am a christian.  I don't pretend to know everything about truth and righteousness because of it and I do not use religion as an excuse to judge people.  It is my honest opinion that God is great and does not need my opinion or help when it comes to his own judgement.  I can feel all the 'but the Bible says' comments now.  The truth is that not many people have read the Bible in its original state but for all of you who rely so much on what the bible says, please provide the versus where it gives you permission to judge, shun, and ridicule those that are different from you or the verse that states that your help is needed for judgement.  I don't mean this in a negative way.  I do not remember everything I read in the Bible.  I don't care to hear about interpretations of words and what they could mean, I want black and white here.  I know that the Bible says to love thy neighbor.  I mentions nothing about the prescreening process.  It does not tell me to analyze spiritual standing or sexual preferences.  I get pretty tired of those that boast the greatness of God and then insist that he is not powerful enough to handle things on his own.  So, is my friend's lifestyle right or wrong?  How am I supposed to know?  I don't even know if my lifestyle is right or wrong.  I live by love.  Whether I chose correctly is something that I will only know for sure in the end.  I am a friend, no matter what.  I won't cast stones.  I could probably go on about this forever, but I don't want to get too far off topic.  It's just something I wish my friend didn't have to go thru.

The Nester's - An easy easter craft story.

These are The Nester's.  Are they not cute?...

I posted this super easy, super cheap craft up on my hub pages.

I kept it short and simple there, but here I can tell you all about my adventure.  Lets start with the craft.  When I say cheap, I mean cheap.  

Walmart had the Yarn for $1.77.  You could make a ton of these with the little ball of yarn.  They had hairspray for $0.94.  I didn't need it because I had some from like 2000 that I never use.  I am not really the hair and make up type.  I got a bag of little balloons for $0.94.  I had the double sided tape, but that can't be more than $2 and the tissue I had but I know that is about $1 or less.  Peeps are super cheap and the chocolate eggs were BOGO at Publix plus I had coupons so I used my free ones.  I only needed to make 2 for K's 2 teachers but I could have made enough for a small crew.

I thought it would be perfect if I ever decided to host easter brunch.  It would be really cute on the table at each seat.  Then, of coarse, that brings out even more ideas for using these in different colors.  I thought of baby showers and other things that other's can use it for.  These crafts came to me after I flipped out about another craft.  I wanted to make something a dear friend made for me a long time ago.  We are talking at least 4 years ago.  For a girl that has a memory issue, this was a crazy attempt.  She made this delicate little crochet egg.  It was so pretty.  Now that I think about it, what was I thinking?  It has been years.  I had no directions and she has not made them again which should tell me that they were a pain in the tukish!  I knew that I got the wrong string when I got it home.  K and I tried anyway.  What a disaster.  The string would not stay and it looked horrible.  A little bit later, frustrated momma stabs a couple of balloons and carries a soaking wet, messed up globe of hairsprayed yarn over to the garbage to be passionately disposed of while growling.  Honestly, I thought I used up all of my patience in the first 32 years of my life.
I wanted to enjoy crafting with my baby girl (9).  All of the sudden, it was bedtime.  I told her she would have something to share with her teacher and I didn't mean the wet mess in the trash can.  It was after my 2 minute tantrum that the idea for these nests came to me.  Thank the lord.  K loved them!  As it turned out, I still have some patience in me, my filters are just not functioning well.  So, now I have small tantrums here and there.  :D

Pinteresting!

So, all of the sudden, I started to pay pinterest some attention.  Now, I am not sure if this is the new me.  I don't know if I now become a temporary fanatic about new things.  I just LOVE pinterest.  It is freeing up some of my time and space.  For me, pinterest is an enormous memory bank.  There are so many things that I once wished I could bookmark and find at a later date.  So many ideas and inspirations for a future birthday, move, or what have you.  A lot of them are just gone.  I don't have a good memory.  I always had moments where I knew there was an awesome idea out there but I just didn't remember what it was, where I saw it, or how to find it.

It is also introducing me to a world of blogs that I never visited.  I am very new at it but I think I am pin happy.  Well, this is short and sweet.  Here is the pin page if you want to visit.  Feel free to leave yours in the comments so that I can see yours.  :)

http://pinterest.com/momssecret/

Runty, Trayvon, and Kony2012

I have enough thoughts in a day to support several blogs, so why do I not write?  Well, I am slowly getting over the stage of grief that keeps you in your place unable to move.  I am really happy about that.  It is a slow process.  Now that I am coming around, my eyes are being flooded by two main topics in the media today.  I don't even have cable and I can't help but be in the 'loop' about these two topics.  They are Kony 2012 and the Trayvon stories.

I have good, honest friends who speak their minds and I love that.  I recently published an article to help save a dog from injustice and a friend of mine asked me why I was not compelled to write about the bigger stories out there.  I was blessed with many opinions and most of them I do not share.  I chose to be this way because I like to process information and see what new directions these stories are going to take.  The reason that I wanted to write about Runty is because the family who would be against him had he done anything wrong, spoke out for him.  Runty was removed from his home and is being held as a 'dangerous dog' without cause.  This is simple.  It is very black and white.  What is happening to Runty does not have the issues of missing information that the other stories have.  There is no 'what if' about it.  Runty can't speak for himself so I am simply doing what I can to help.  Another friend mentioned that Runty is in this position because his owner was negligent.  She has a valid point.  Now, that part of the story I don't have much to say about simply because this is something I will never know.  Runty got out of the fence.  I do not have details as to how long he was out or whether or not the owner new that the fence was being compromised.  I know that I have my own experiences with doggie jail breaks.  Fortunately, no one is afraid of my little shitzu monsters, but it took a few trials before I finally found a solution to her escape escapades.  She also shared a tragic story of loss at the hands of a pitbull.  I am not going on record defending the breed as a whole.  I tend to deal with things case by case.  The sad story of a wild dog killing is a terrible tragedy but the entire breed shouldn't be judged by the good stories or the bad.  I shared the story of a good dog.  Even if the owner were negligent, the dog has done nothing to earn the title of a 'dangerous dog'.  If it is okay to do it to one dog, then expect to see more of it.  For all of you big dog owners out there, the results of this case can affect you.  Your dobermans and pits that like to bark are all going to be in jeopardy.  Any scared kid or old lady can call your dog dangerous and have them taken from you even if they would never bite.  Add to this the fact that there are no reform programs for dogs they way we have for people and it is safe to assume that your dog could be put down for no reason.  That worries me.

Now for Trayvon.  The loss of a young life is always tragic.  I do not believe that we have to know everything about the person to agree on that.  Whether they made good choices or bad choices makes no difference.  17 years old is not a long enough life for someone who is not battling illness.  It is a useless death that didn't have to happen.  That being said I will not be donning a hoodie.  People are in an uproar about racial profiling that I fear is fueling the fire.  I am not saying that racial profiling was not part of the story.  Bigotry of all kinds exists today that will never truly be gone simply because as long as there are naive, close minded, and ignorant people in the world there will always be issues with one ism or another.  No laws, no amount of time, no progression will be able to wipe ignorance off the face of this planet.
So, whose side am I on?  I was never one to chose a side.  I have no religious preference.  I have no political preference.  I believe not siding myself allows me to have a clearer view with no predisposed notions.  It doesn't always work but I can't bring myself to claim my undying loyalty to anyone other than to those I love.  You can win me one minute and lose me the next.  It's based on actions.
My emotions are on the side of Trayvon's parents and family.  They were the ones plagued with the death of such a young boy and if there is something I am an expert on now, its the toll death takes on the ones left behind.  No matter what the outcome, this story is tragic and could have been avoided.
I do not feel sorry for Zimmerman.  Intentions are not enough.  He could have had the intentions to protect but the unfolding story tells me that he was overly vigilant.  This caused him to jump to conclusions and I believe that it made him look for trouble.  The thing is, what you look for most you are likely to find whether it is really there or not.  It is like having a self fulfilling prophesy.  This story is a great example of the reason that cops do not involve civilians in investigations.  Now you arm an all ready overly vigilant man and you will eventually end up with a body.  I honestly believe that this situation would have been in the cards for Zimmerman even if Trayvon was never in the area.  It is really, hugely sad.  Both sides of the story had the chance to back off and walk away.
Zimmerman could have fallen back after calling the cops.  He didn't have to play detective and follow anyone.  That behavior is offensive to anyone.  Teenagers especially.  Teenagers are passionate and dramatic by nature.  Don't you remember how many times the world, as you knew it, was over as a teen?  The class you failed, the guy you liked liking someone else, your friend is friends with someone you can't stand and all the other mellow drama.  Trayvon probably felt that he was being disrespected and instead of going to his families house to share the story, he went to defend himself.  No one every thinks that this person that ticked them off could do worse, especially teens.  Everyone knows that teens can do anything and everything.
I wish that the police got there in time to stop this from happening.  I wish that different decisions were made on that day.  I wish that people stuck to fist fights like they did in the 80's when they used to get you down then walk away but these days people don't stop and they come armed.  Zimmerman, being the adult in the story should have to account for his bad decision and the road that those decisions created.  That is as far as I can go because I was not there.  No one knows the true story and I am not a judge.

Kony 2012 -->  This about fell out of the limelight because of the Trayvon story.  There are a lot of questions as to the urgency of this issue.  This represents an important cause that may or may not be a bit dated.  The video put together was awesome and very inspiring.  The rebuttals were equally interesting.  There are concerns about where the money raised is going and how it is being used.  There are doubts by a huge amount of people.  Is this a pertinent enough issue to involve troops?  Are there underlying interests?  Some will support, others will not.  Whether or not they are misguided, I was happy to see the amount of people that stepped up to help with something.
You have to admit that we live in a self centered world.  This inspired masses to get involved in something.  I do hope that it is not a disappointment for the masses and is the start of new things for society as a whole.  If it is not a worthwhile cause, the cost was not too high.  I looked up there site.  The most common thing sold is their little kit with posters and such.  It's $30.  I don't see that as a huge, risky cost.  I think it is funny that some thought they should know what percentage of the cost was being used for what services.  The humor came from the fact that most of what we pay for is grossly over priced and no one asks what percentage of the $100 pre-broken in jeans are going to good causes.  How much money of your restaurant trip is being used for worthy causes?  The truth is that it doesn't matter.  People go through $30 bucks in no time and really do not care what retailers do with their profits.  So those who do not agree with any particular campaign do not have to find ways to discouraged those that feel compelled to help.  Just as I said before, I will wait to see where it goes before I pick a side on the Kony situation.

So there it is my friend... this is where I stand on your important issues.  I will see where they go...
Thanks for inspiring me to write.

Solivita Class Tuesday!

I love this part.  Tuesday's class has over 40 people reserved!  I love sharing the knowledge.  I always get the questions about it being free.  The class has so much to offer people.  These classes are sponsored by The Simple Truth Foundation whose goal it is to help people save money on groceries, help support local food pantries, and save you money on your newspaper subscriptions.  The revenue they build thru providing you with discounted newspapers pays for the classes and supplies.  The classes teach money saving strategies for the normal everyday saver.  They aren't really training courses for extreme couponing, although some have sharpened their skills enough to have achieved extreme savings.  

On average, those that apply what they learn save 50-80% on their groceries.  They also apply what they learned to save big on everything else that they buy.

Classes have been held in local schools, churches, businesses, charities, homes, and anywhere else you can think of.  The groups have been as small as 12 people and have gone over 100.  

It's a unique satisfaction for me to know that I have put an extra $100 or $200 dollars a month back into the wallets of some families.

If you are in the Central Florida Area and are interested in a class, send me your information and we can look into some dates.  Now, I have to go prepare for this upcoming class.

Many Blessings!

ORLANDO SENTINEL ONE YEAR Subscription for ONLY $20!

There is a special offer on the paper that I have never seen before and I wanted to share it with you.  I suggest you get 2 orders.  Don't forget to put my name in as the affiliate so that I get my brownie points ;).  I so wish I would have known about this one sooner.  I paid like 80% more but can't complain.  I have saved a ton. 

Feel free to share it with whoever you like!  The best part is that you are supporting an amazing local non-profit foundation.

Copy this link into your browser and access the offer.  It will only be there for a couple of days!  New Year, resolve to save!  http://www.simpletruthfoundation.org/products-a-services.html   

The Couponers Special, Wednesday through Sunday, is just $20 for the entire year.  Yes, that’s not a typo, just $20 for the entire year!  Only 39 cents a week to enjoy the paper delivered to your door! Room service for savings!

It is finally out! - Our Book

http://sbpra.com/LegacyReims/

After a long time waiting, my book is finally available for purchase at the above link.  This book was written for my husband.  He loved psycho-thrillers.  He always watched cop shows on television.  We had intended for him to read and own the first printed copy.  That copy came in my mailbox exactly one month after he died.  The entire thing is bittersweet and heart breaking for me.  

The goal is to hit 500 copies to give my Prince's book a fighting chance.  Much work ahead for someone who is tired and broken.  Thank God for God.  He is never broken.

Finally

AHA!  I finally got the password.  I have memory issues and honestly have not been writing much about this topic.  My current status is an obstacle to say the least, but I am not too far.  I have a couple of classes that are private but am expecting to book some more public ones soon.  People find it odd that I enjoy doing the classes but am not a coupon blog site like couponers united and such.  I am not the reinventing the wheel type of gal and love teaching.

Oh well, I am just happy that I got back into this thing.  We will talk more soon...