I Went To Target Today! A Few Observations. . .

Here are a few observations from my little shopping trip to Target.

-1-Today is Sunday and it appears no one goes to church anymore, at least young families with small children. They all go to Target! Yep, I know I wasn't in church either but at least my son is grown and I don't have to provide for his spiritual well being anymore.

-2-Next, as a few of my very close friends know and you know who you are, I have screaming kid magnetism. What is that you may as? It's when every child that is crying, screaming or going to scream finds their way close to where ever I'm standing in a store. I'll walk away and one minute later, there's another one or the same one has followed me. It happens in restaurants too. No matter where I'm sitting, if a child is going to cry or scream they will be seated next to me.

-3-Target has the widest aisles and the cleanest floors. (I bet you thought this was going to be an all bad list, didn't you?). I don't think I have been in that store once when it wasn't clean.

-4-They had a big sale at the "Dollar Spot" area. That's right, the dollar stuff was on sale and it wasn't just Christmas items.

-5-Valentine stuff was already being put out. They better hurry! It's only 48 more days until Valentine's Day.

-6-They had "Polar Express 3D". I want that movie!!!! It wasn't on sale though. Sooooooooo, if anyone needs any ideas for my birthday on January 16, well - hint, hint!

That's about it. There's probably more but I was distracted by all the crying, screaming children and must have missed anything else.

(This blog is dedicated to my friend Jenny who has screaming kid magnetism too. You can only imagine what it's like when we go anywhere together!)

It's Over! All Over!

Thank God!

I can't remember a Christmas when I have been so disorganized. I started shopping late and was very late making Christmas candy. I was making fudge an hour before I needed it. Of course it didn't set in time so I had to leave it behind when I went to my sisters.

The big kicker of it all though is the fact that I forgot to make the Christmas stocking for Christmas morning. I remembered today during lunch - the day AFTER Christmas. I had everything...just didn't put it in the stocking.

I can promise you one thing though. It won't happen next year. I have decided not to make all the candy I usually do and gifts will be bought before December. Plus I'm not cooking the big meal. We'll have Stuoffers!

Easy & Fun Christmas Recipes

This is a list of links for recipes that I've tried and really loved. I bet you'll love them too!

Easy No Bake Mice Cookies

Vanilla-Macadamia Nut Fudge

Chocolate-Dipped Brownie Bites

Mashed Potato Candy

Mom's Old Fashion Fudge

Hula Balls

Nibbles

Christmas Glitter Cookies

Let me know if you try any of these!

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1.02.28

Is Your Aluminum Foil Locked in the Box?

My friend Pam sent this to me in an email. It's such great info I just had to share it with all of you. After reading it I had to get up and go look at my box of tin foil and sure enough it was true.

What the email said:

"Who looks at the end of an aluminum foil box? You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time."

"Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. Written on the end it said, press here to lock end. Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one too. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too! I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up."

Go look at your wraps right now. You will see that it is true and yes I have activated the lock holes to keep my wrap in place.

Am I the only person that didn't know this?

My All Time FAVORITE Body Wash

I know everyone recognizes the Burt's Bees Brand but have you tried their body washes. I simply adore the Milk & Shea Butter Body Wash. The fragrance is wonderful - light and soft. I have a problem with strong fragrances which makes this perfect for me. It's fabulous for dry skin. It keeps the winter itchy skin at bay.

The price is not bad either, the website posts the price as $8.00 which is very close to what the retailers charge. It's easy to find locally. CVS has it, as well as Target. Never been able to find it in my local Wal-mart though. Boo Wal-Mart.

If you're in the mood to try something new, I recommend you try Burt's Bees Milk & Shea Butter Body Wash. You won't be disappointed.

If you want to read more about this body wash and all the other Burt's Bees products, click HERE.

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1.02.28

There are Places Cheaper Than Amazon

Yep, that's right - cheaper. I found a neat little web site that helps me locate the best price of whatever I'm shopping for.

Beat My Price is a great place to comparison shop. Just type in what you're looking for and the webpage where you found it and it will find other places that have that item for less.



Combine this with other sites like Shopzilla (another online comparison shopping site) and you can always find the best price. Try it out for yourself!

A Great Christmas Idea!

When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful, special people who have sacrificed so much would get.


If you think this is a good idea too, please let your friends and family know.

A Few Free Magazine Subscriptions

I receive about 10 different magazines a month. All for free. I didn't sign up for anything except for the basic subscription nor did I pay one cent for them. Anyone that knows me knows that it's completely free or it's not for me. I get Woman's Day, Better Homes and Gardens, TV Guide, Elle Decor, Cookies, Family Fun and several more. My son Lee gets about 3, two game related ones and Mad Magazine. (Remember that one?) I come across free subscriptions all the time but only subscribe to those I'm really interested in. It's unfair to the publisher to request magazines, especially if I'm getting them for free and never look at them.

So here's a few that is still valid. I can't guarantee they'll be valid tomorrow though. The offers can be withdrawn at any time. It's always best to sign up when you first see them. If you wait until tomorrow there's a good chance they will be gone. Just like any freebie.

PC Magazine
http://www.mercurymagazines.com/pr1/121/121121

US News & World Report
http://www.mercurymagazines.com/pr1/114/11426

Remedy
https://www.healthyupdates.com/register

Kraft Foods (I love this one!)
http://www.kraftfoods.com/magazine

The Family Tree Maker
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/magform.html

Field and Stream or Outdoor Life Magazine
http://www.easternsportshow.com/App/homepage.cfm?appname=100280&moduleID=3932&LinkID=30049&Date=2241&campaignid=61365348&iUserCampaignID=39534430

Forbes
http://www.retailmenot.com/forum/free-magazine-subscriptions/28280-free-subscription-forbes.html

Plenty
https://www.kable.com/pub/plen/one_year_sub.asp

Dime
https://dim.magserv.com/cgi-bin/subscribe?qt=new&ot=controlled&Keyed_effort=YWFL7

Strolling Down Memory Lane

I received this video from my friend, Silka and it brought back so many memories that I wanted to share it with you. I had forgotten about so many of the things mentioned in this video but was delighted to have them in my thoughts again. I bet you will too!

Please a take a moment to stroll down memory lane...........

Enjoy!




P. S. If you would like to shop on memory lane, try this website: http://www.retroplanet.com/

Cheap! Cheaper! Cheapest Gas!

I paid $2.95 a gallon for regular gas today!

I had to go to Roxboro to do a mystery shop and on the way I found this store about 5 miles west of Oxford on 158. It was an older gas station with a diner type resturant on one side that had gas pumps that still had the numbers spin around as you pumped gas. It was kind of fun. I was reliving days gone by when the pumps weren't digital. It was much easier to hit the even dollar too. No quick jump right at the dollar mark you want to stop. I can never hit that even dollar!

I knew gas was cheaper in Roxboro because it had been reported by WRAL.com a few days ago but I thought I had to go all the way into Roxboro for they cheap price. This place was not that far and worth the difference to drive if you need to fill up. Just a note, gas was cheaper every where I went in Roxboro. I just don't understand how or why they can sale gas so much cheaper than in this area. Actually everywhere is cheaper than here. If anyone can explain this to me, please comment. I would love to hear it.

A bit off topic but sort of not.... I watched Maximum Overdrive last night. One scene in the movie, diesel fuel is being pumped into a big rig - 15 gallons are pumped into the tank before the pump malfunctions and the total cost for the 15 gallons of diesel $9.50. That makes it 63 cents a gallon. The movie was made in 1986. Was diesel fuel or gas for that matter that cheap in 1986? It's hard to believe now..........

A Few Freebies For Fun!

(By the way, I signed up for all of these myself.)

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is offering free name and address labels.

http://www.cff.org/getinvolved/mailinglabels/

A free Oatmeal Dark Chocolate cookie from Kashi.

http://www.kashi.com/stealacookie/getmycookie

Receive a free sample of Head and Shoulders shampoo.

https://pgpromotions.archway.com/headandshoulders_leverage/

A free 2009 Calendar from Wildlife Gifts.

http://www.wildlifegifts.com/calendar.lasso

A free sample of the new Ultra Gain with Baking Soda plus money saving coupons.

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/100453/captureAddress.iphtml?item=100453&source=

Free Digilake’s Coffee Cup

http://www.digilake.com/as/shop_content.php?coID=47

Less Than 3 Months to Christmas!

Which means you don't have much time to start sending for your Christmas freebies. I've made a small list of some stuff that's fun and what I think useful. Best of all, it's all free. Enjoy and let me be the first to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas.

CELEBRATING-CHRISTMAS MAGAZINE: FREE Christmas Magazine, Downloads, Crafts, Recipes and more! Everything you Need to Celebrate Christmas.

CHRISTMAS SPECIALS:
Watch 101 Christmas Christmas Videos Online for FREE!

CINNAMON ORNAMENTS:

CLAUS.COM: The Merriest Place on Earth!

DEBT FREE HOLIDAYS HANDBOOK:
Get a FREE Copy of the Debt Free Holidays

DESKTOP HOLIDAY LIGHTS:
Make your Desktop Shine for the Holidays

FEELS LIKE CHRISTMAS:

HERSHEY'S HOLIDAY RECIPES & CRAFTS: FREE Holiday Recipes & Crafts Using Hershey's Kisses!

HOLIDAY CALENDAR: Get a Complimentary Holiday Calendar!

JOY TO THE WORLD VIDEO:

MY CARD MAKER: Create and Print FREE Christmas Cards!

NATIVITY VIDEO:

NEW ORLEANS CHRISTMAS GUIDE: Sign Up for a FREE Christmas New Orleans Style Guide!

RED & YELLOW'S BRIGHT IDEAS: Get Fun Christmas Recipes from the Red & Yellow M&Ms!

REMIND YOU ABOUT CHRISTMAS BOOKLET: Get a FREE "He Asked Me To Remind You About Christmas" Booklet.

SALT DOUGH ORNAMENTS:

SANTA CHRISTMAS PUZZLE:
Get a FREE Santa Christmas Puzzle for Palm OS!

SANTA CLAUS LIVE: Check up on Santa for FREE! Santa Claus Live is a live Internet TV broadcast from The Santa Claus´ Office.

SUPER ELF BOWLING: This Aint Your Daddy's Elf Bowling! This year's elf fest is the biggest and baddest bowl-o-ramanow its payback time 3D style.

THE SINGING CHRISTMAS TREE: Click on an Ornament to hear a Christmas Carol!

America's Got Talent's One Million Dollars Payout

This week on Wednesday is the Finale for America's Got Talent. There are 5 contestants left. On October 1st the winner will be announced. The winner is to get a show in Las Vegas and $1,000,000.00 (one million dollars).

I don't know if anyone notices the fine print when it flashes on the TV screen but just the other day I did. Usually I don't pay much attention to the credits after a TV show but I happen to be sitting at the foot of the bed at the end of the show and got a good look close up. What I saw didn't really surprise me but I bet it's something not too many people know.

The $1,000,000.00 is paid out in 40 years. That's right 40 years.......

Since the money is winnings, the winner will owe tax on it which will be approximately one third. That would leave about $666,666.66. Divide that by 40 years and you have only $16,666.65 a year. Doesn't seem so impressive now, does it? Oh! Don't get me wrong. Extra money is extra money and where I come from that's a big hunk of change.

I don't know if the winner gets paid a fee for doing the 1 1/2 hour show in Las Vegas. That hasn't been mentioned and if it's in the fine print it's too far at the bottom for me to catch it when it flashes on the screen. If someone knows about this, please enlighten me. I would like to know.

Aphorisms

I received the following in an email today and wanted to share. I bet you will nod your head a time or two in agreement with some of these.

APHORISM: A SHORT, POINTED SENTENCE EXPRESSING A WISE OR CLEVER OBSERVATION OR A GENERAL TRUTH; ADAGE

1. The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.

2. Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.

3. If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.

4. Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.

5. A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.

6. How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?

7. Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without.

8. Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?

9. Scratch a cat and you will have a permanent job.

10. No one has more driving ambition than the boy who wants to buy a car.

11. There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.

12. There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 AM ...like, it could be a right number.

13. No one ever says 'It's only a game.' when their team is winning.

14. I've reached the age where the happy hour is a nap.

15. Be careful reading the fine print. There's no way you're going to like it.

16. The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket.

17. Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? (And rap music will be the Golden Oldies ! )

18. Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Corvette than in a Yugo.

19. After 60, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead!

Top Secret Recipes

Do you love Snicker Bars or Girl Scout Thin Mints? Would you like to know how to make them right in your own kitchen? All you have to do is sign up to receive the weekly recipe reminder email from Top Secret Recipes. All recipes are created by Todd Wilbur. There are also how to videos starring Todd himself. I've come to look forward to these emails and I'm always curious of what the next recipe will be.



To sign up just click on this link:

http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/home.asp


Once at the Top Secret Recipes website look to the right of page about half way down and you'll see where to sign up. Enjoy!

A Trip Down Memory Lane - Remember When?

I was organizing some photos yesterday when I came upon one that was taken in December, 1995. It was a birthday wish for my son who was turning 14.

Our local Shell station allowed personal messages to be placed on their gas price sign and I had taken a picture of the Happy Birthday message as all moms do to remember each special occasion for their children.

Take a good look at that picture. 99 cents for a gallon of regular gasoline! And to think I complained about the price - a whole dollar for a gallon of gas. What was the world coming to?

Well, gasoline around here is anywhere from $3.49 to $3.79 a gallon. What's that, more than a 300 percent increase in only 13 years? Too bad my income didn't grow with the gas prices. . . .

It's Time To Order Your Christmas Catalogs!

That's right, you need to order them now so you will get them in time to order and receive your items before the big day. Here's my list of my favorites. I will update the list as the catalogs become available.

Sears (What's Christmas without Sears' Wishbook?)
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/ordercatalog_10153_12605_Wish%20Book?adCell=A3

Discovery store
http://shopping.discovery.com/CS/RequestCatalogView.html?section=s

Hasbro
http://shopping.discovery.com/CS/RequestCatalogView.html?footnav=catalogrequest_cat

Miles Kimball
https://www.mileskimball.com/MilesKimball/CustomerService/CatRequest.aspx

Swiss colony (I have to have this catalog before it's time to decorate for the holidays.)
http://www.swisscolony.com/catalog/request_catalog.jsp

Lakeside
http://www.lakeside.com/catalogreq.asp

Country Door
http://www.countrydoor.com/catalog/request_catalog.jsp

Current
http://currentcatalog.com/CatalogRequest.asp

Lillian Vernon (Lillian Vernon has many unusual items.)
http://www.lillianvernon.com/custserv/signup.jsp

FAO (This is the ultimate WISH book!)
http://www.fao.com/custsvc/request_catalog.jsp?PIPELINE_SESSION_ID=2078dbe9d89d484b0148c02ffbcc357c

Harry & David
https://www.harryanddavid.com/gifts/store/BECCatalogRequestView?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10002&krypto=ru72cy17cbrLICeRSo4z8g%3D%3D&ddkey=http:BECCatalogRequestView

Things Remembered
http://www.thingsremembered.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/RequestCatalog?storeId=10001&catalogId=9951&langId=-1?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&langId=-1&topCat=1

Vermont Christmas Catalog
https://www.catalogs.com/order.asp?id=1696

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1.02.28

Giveaway of the Day

I receive an email from this place everyday with a free licensed software offering from their website. If you're interested in little programs to make your life easier, I would suggest signing up for this email. Now I'm not talking about screen savers and games. These are mostly what I call work programs as organization type software, tweaking software, photo editing, music and movie software and yes you will get a screen saver here and there but they are far and few between.

The only draw back with this is that you have to down load the program the day you get the email. It will not be available the next day. I have a bad habit of planning to do it later and forgetting and then missing out because I didn't remember to do it later. Of course if you decide you don't want to keep receiving the email you can always unsubscribe but I bet you won't want to.

If you would rather receive it by a feed reader you can sign up that way.

Here's the link if you're interested:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/







I wonder what the giveaway will be tomorrow.....

Who Doesn't Like to Get Things Free?

I'm sure there is a least one person who would not like to get anything free. I don't know why but that's the way it always is. One person that thinks there's always a catch. Don't get me wrong, sometimes there are hidden fees or shipping charges but what I'm talking about is free. No monies paid, no self addressed, stamped envelope or the cost of a phone call.

There are many online web freebie forums that you can visit to find the free items that you can get free. I have found most of them will have the same thing on them because if a freebie gets posted to one forum, it's not long before it's posted to the other forums. Which is actually good because it saves you, the freebie seeker, time and effort in your freebie search.

It's easy to find the freebie forums. All you have to do is a Google search for free stuff, free samples, free stuff forums, freebie forums or free stuff lists. You can also search for what you are actually seeking like free baby samples or free pet treats.

To start you off in your freebie hunt, I'm going to post the link to my favorite freebie forum. It's called







There are always great and fresh freebie links plus many great deals listed that fellow freebie seekers like yourself have found and are willing to share.

So here's the link:

http://www.bigbigforums.com/


Happy Hunting!