Is it sad that I went out today armed with a full size bottle of hand sanitizer? I swear I used it any time I touched ANYTHING! I hate to be such a freak but damn this flu thing sounds scary! I don’t even want to go out in most cases but you know you gotta live your life. We can’t sit under our bed scared of all of those scary diseases. You can’t let swine flu or freaky sounding things like Mesothelioma treatment keep you indoors … or can you??
UGH!
It’s not cool to be a germaphobe and then thrown these kind of scares. I worry about the smallest germs. Throw the word “pandemic” at me and I just about lose my darn mind!
I’ve been getting up super early lately. Partly because I have had to in order to make it to planned things on time but on other days it’s only because my son sucks! Oh my gosh. 6am is not wake time. Just because the sun is up doesn’t mean I should be. lol I don’t know what his deal is but lately I’ve had to send him back to bed at least twice before I give up and get myself out of bed.
I suppose there are some advantages though. I’ve been able to get a lot of stuff done before it gets super hot in the afternoon. When it’s pushing 90F being a morning person rocks! I’m not a big fan of sweat.
I’m also enjoying the fact that though he’s been a bear in the afternoons (because he’s exhausted by then) he has been going to bed without a fight once bed time comes. It’s just keeping him up until then that is horrible. But I’m not about to let him go to bed at 6pm like he tries or else I would be earlier and yeah .. we know I don’t want to do that.
Ever since I invested in a new waffle iron, a professional one, I’ve been indulging in waffles for breakfast at least twice a week. I am in waffle heaven!! I swear. I think I could eat them every single day. lol In fact, I’m eating some now, while blogging. 
I’m sure my family is sick of having these delicious things thrown at them every morning but .. yum! I can’t stop. At least not until the waffle maker loses it’s novelty.
I’ll need recommendations for the best fat burner soon because I’m not looking for more savory recipes that could be used in other meals, like dinner. After watching a very informative waffle themed show of Alton Brown’s I am now looking into the options. Fried chicken with waffles? Yum! Waffles for sandwich like dishes? Oh yeah!
I downloaded AVG, the free version, to protect myself from evil viruses a few months ago. Then earlier this week I decided that I would prefer McAfee so I bought that and went to install it. My problem? The AVG was un-uninstallable! I removed it with the uninstaller, thought all was fine because it was gone from my “add/remove programs area, then went to install McAfee and it was still finding traces of the AVG that stopped the McAfee in it’s tracks. They aren’t compatible so I had to get every speck of that AVG out of here before I could proceed.
I searched all morning long – and I’m serious, I spent ALL morning working on this. Hours of my life wasted. Every answer I found didn’t work for me. I downloaded program after program including one from AVG that is supposed to remove the software. No go! I even tried to re-download the AVG 7.1 that I had but of course it wouldn’t install because there were still traces on my computer. ARRRGH! Then I found a product that worked wonders – Revo Uninstaller. After it’s finished uninstalling a program you have the option to have it search for leftover files in your registry and what not. Magic, I tell you! So I had the idea of downloading a later version of AVG then using the Revo to uninstall it and hopefully hunt down anything leftover from the earlier version.
IT WORKED!
It’s gone, gone, gone! Not a speck of that darn program left and I am thrilled. I will also never install another thing from AVG. I just think that is incredibly dirty offering a product for free with zero tech support (unless you want to pay them for it) that is basically hell to uninstall. After all of my searching today I found that I am not the only one .. by far. So many people have had this issue and some had to reinstall their OS to get it out. That is just ridiculous if you ask me.
I just had to post this here in case anyone else is out there hunting for a miracle. If you are, I feel your pain.
Oh how I wish I would have really shopped around when I originally went on the hunt for webhosting! It was ages ago, before blogging was even that big and I didn’t really know what I was doing. So I got into what I thought was a great deal. Only it really isn’t. It’s not that great at all! Especially now that blogging is so big and there are so many deals to be had. But you know what? I’m still paying for it even though I don’t even have a website hosted with them. I keep a domain there simply for my email. It makes no sense and I really need to get on changing that! What I would love to do is get all of my domain names on the same service so I’m not paying separate bills each month. I end up forgetting one or both, getting my service suspended and then feeling like a total idiot.
I’ll likely browse webhostingrating.com to see what’s out there. It’s a site that I have used in the past for information from the best prices to general articles of interest. You know, I try to keep myself somewhat educated even if I am in the dark about all of this tech stuff most of the time.
April 15th, 2009
6:21 pm
Uncategorized
I listed a double stroller on Craigslist and as usual I got a ton of responses. Great. Good. Fantastic. But! Most of them annoy me. I get too many people speaking in “net speak” which drives me nutso. “Pls”, “OIC”, “Thx” .. no. No, no, no! Then I get people who want me to deliver it. Sure, you can have the $200 stroller for $20 and I’ll drive 45 minutes to get it to you. Riiiiight. Then I get the people who want me to call them. No, thank you. I’m not a secretary. I barely have enough quiet time to get phone calls made that NEED to be made. I’m not playing phone tag with strangers. That’s why I listed it online and not the paper.
I suppose from now on, when I list an item on Craigslist, I should be super specific so no one annoys me with their emails. For now I’ll sift through what I have and choose the least annoying person. Just watch, that person will end up being a no show. lol
I just can’t seem to focus on NOW. It seems like the next 6 months are going to be spent alone, a lot. Then the husband will deploy and I’ll be alone again, A LOT. 6 months straight of A LOT. Last night we were discussing homecoming. Yes, 6 months before he has even left, a year before that date will even be here. Our main decision? Whether or not he will come home with the ship or take leave from a close port call and fly home earlier. I prefer the second choice for obvious reasons. You get your sailor much sooner and you can avoid the mess of homecoming. While emotionally charged and always interesting, it’s not my cup of tea. I hate crowds, I hate waiting, I’m not a real big fan of people. The list goes on!
But then there’s the fun stuff that I started thinking about after our conversation that may make me choose the first option. Our kids will be a little older by then and possibly more mature. They may get into that crazy atmosphere and enjoy it. It would also give us a chance to go crazy and do it up right. You know, with custom banners and custom shirts to greet Daddy with. I’ve found all kinds of deals on these types of items. My neighbor got a free banner from a company that donated them to military families a few weeks ago. And T-shirts? Easy! Whether I made a custom graphic or used a favorite photo they could be made very inexpensively using VistaPrint. You don’t have to buy hundreds to get a great price. I love that. I could easily blow the same amount of money buying supplies to make my own iron-ons, but why? Let someone else do the work!
And not the rashy kind.
I’ve had to truck myself to the rental office the last two days to pick up a pile of boxes. The office manager here asked if I got tax money since I have had so many packages delivered the last couple of days. Like I would be too broke to buy things otherwise? I would hope that if I were that down and out I would be using my tax refund for a savings account and not shopping. Hello!
I hate that. I hate it when everything I have ordered over the last month comes in the same week. It makes me feel like a shopping addict when I am not. I ordered a new waffle maker from QVC almost a month ago and it was advanced order so it didn’t come until today. I also bought some plants two months ago that don’t ship until the appropriate growing time for your area, which is this week for us. So those came this week as well. I got a couple of packages from companies wanting PR. Not shopping – freebies and product info. But no one else would know that. I bought the kids a few books for Easter from Barnes & Noble and some super cheap soup from Amazon that were ALL shipped separately. MORE BOXES. You see where this is going! I am sure that I do come off as a little shop crazy.
Hmm .. what else can I complain about?
Oh yeah! I get so tired of people asking me why I don’t put the kids in pre-school. Like it is a requirement. Why don’t I? Let’s go over it! Mainly because I feel like most pre-school settings are like glorified day care. Not all but a good majority that I have looked into. Being a stay at home mom, I would feel horrible blowing hundreds of $$ per month for someone else to watch my kids. I’m here every day, all day. That money could be spent on food, bills, clothing, saved. They get plenty of interaction with other kids since I get so bored when the hubby is gone. I seriously don’t spend one entire day at home, ever. We’re at parks, the playground, at the mall, at playdates, etc. Lots of kids. Almost too many for my liking but I do it for them. Because that’s how I roll.
Then there’s the fact that you seem to have to sign up for pre-school the year before you want to attend. Me? I do not commit. It’s a wonder that I am even married. I seriously can’t sign on to something that far in advance. The thought gives me the hives. So even though I had wanted to send Will for a couple of days this fall, there’s no openings left at the schools I was really interested in. They are done with sign ups and I’m not messing with waiting lists. I didn’t go to pre-school and I turned out ok. Mostly. lol
Oh and then there’s the fact that most, not all, are at churches with religion thrown into the other learning activities. While I love me some Jesus and don’t worship the devil, I feel uncomfortable sending my kids to anything religiously based at this time. They aren’t old enough to have chosen a belief system and I’m not about to push anything on them. Call me weird but that’s the way I feel.
So yeah .. how’s that for a full on tangent?
Every time Spring rolls around I begin to think about birthdays. Well, one birthday in particular. That of my eldest child and princess. She’s just like her mom in that she loves birthdays, holidays and any other excuse that warrants a party or theme. She really gets into it and she is already hounding me about this year’s cake and gifts. Total planner!
I feel a little badly that we don’t do the birthday party thing. I would but I’m afraid of having no one show up. We don’t really have close friends here and the people we do know don’t seem like they would be interested, if that makes any sense. But I will always cherish the memories of her first birthday and ONLY birthday party so far.
I really tried to make it special by doing it up right and the first project that I completed was her invitations. I sat down for hours going over what I wanted and then I brought it to life in my paint shop program. It turned out wonderfully. I created and then had printed a batch of personalized custom postcards with photos I took of her, all in pink. I was pretty proud of it and honestly? I still am! I have a few leftover and I’m hoping they last a lifetime with careful storage. We’ll see!
I have used the idea a few times since then as well. It’s so easy to throw an attractive font in with a few great photos and make a piece of art. Along with the birthday invites, I made personalized postcards for my son’s birth announcements. I have also done Christmas cards this way for the last few years. It’s amazing how much more you can get compared to store bought cards. Especially if you use a good, inexpensive company like VistaPrint. Normally business mailings come to mind, I’m sure, but you just have to think outside the box! Especially in times like these when saving money is all we’re thinking about.
I found these and thought they sounded great so I’m sharing! Everyone loves a good tip, right?
Take your bananas apart when you get them home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
Store opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and won’t mold.
Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
Reheat crispy pizza: heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
Easy Deviled Eggs: put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done, easy clean up.
Expanding frosting: when you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
Newspaper weeds away! Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
Reducing static cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and … ta DA! … static is gone.
Foggy windshield: Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth.
Conditioner for legs: Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair.
Goodbye fruit flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2′ with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever.
Get rid of ants: Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it ‘home,’ can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed.
