Get rewards for your favorite sport – Shopping!

We all shop, we all shop on-line. I have joined a few shopping sites but primary I use

My Points – you get points for shopping, reading emails, taking surveys – I have turned these points in for Gas Cards, Restaurants cards, I always check this and my other site to see which one is going to give me the better “bang” for my buck. Sometimes one will have the site and other won’t. I joined in 1999 and have earned 130,293 points.

I have tried other sites off and on and have always come back to My Points as one of the first and best sites.

Ebates – is another site I like because you get CASH back. I started using them in April 2011 and I have received $218.95 cash back from them, just buying stuff I usually buy thru their site.

She used to be sooo cute…. what happened!!!

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So small, so cute! of course we thought “she” was a “he” at first so I wanted to name her “Sir Fluffernutter III” but I got T’D by everyone so we call her Zues, the next door neighbors had a cat they thought was a “She” they named him “Lola”. When they found out she was a he they left the name…hee hee, by the time we figured out he was a she her personality had come out so she is “Diva” or more commonly called “damn cat”!

Reduce your Diet Drink Intake for Better Health and Wallet

There are a couple of reasons to reduce the amount of Soda, Pop, Soda pop, Coke, Cola, Pepsi, whatEver you call it.

It is expensive and going up

it is not good for you

I found out I had Ostopenia, this is a milder for of Osteporosis (when I was 40!!) I found out that one of the meds I was taking tends to block absorption of calcium and that when you drink diet drinks it leeches what calcium you have and you pee it out. Oh and on top of that calcium supplements make me ill. Woo Hoo for me.

So I switched from Diet Coke to Tea and Water. Now this was huge, I didn’t like tea, and water..meh. I found out that I do like tea if it is flavored, so I go to Teavana and get sample the teas they have out and if I find one I like, I buy the smallest about and then I make my Iced tea and the flavored tea and mix them together. Yummy and good for you.

I also stopped the meds, because the choice was, feel nauseous some mornings or break a hip when I get older. I think I will skip the broken hips thank you very much!

I try and get my calcium from the source, cheese, yogurt, milk, ect.

So when I got retested…wait for it…..I no longer have Ostopenia, thats right, my bones were denser. I have to go again and get tested, wonder what it will show.

The silver lining of not working is that I am no longer stressed so much so my stomach doesn’t bother me as much so I don’t need to take the meds that were messing with the calcium absorption which also reduces the money I have to shell out every month. (happy dance and Tea toast here)

Did I cut out diet coke altogether, NOPE, but I cut it way done which has increased my health and increased my pocket book. And so far my ass hasn’t gotten any bigger :)

Kitchen Mash ups

hmmm…. chicken from a few nights ago, apple pretty much ripe = chicken salad with miracle whip and apples and raisens.

Hmmm….. 1 small can pinapple juice, 1 mango pealed and unfortunately mangled :) 1 slightly overripe banana, 1 huge container of non-flavored fat free yogurt, I bought for a receipe I can no longer remember or find :( = Smoothie

I blend up the mango and the banana with some of the pineapple juice, threw in some of the yogurt and crushed ice and wala, cost a lot less then $4!! No artificial ingrediants and good for me. Yes I know my spelling es no bueno!

Why are we so unhealthy compared to the rest of the world?

Well, did you know that many “additives” approved by our FDA are banned in other countries? Try getting a Diet Coke anywhere but America and it isn’t happening. You can get Coke, Light Coke but not Diet Coke because the artificial sweetner isn’t approved.

Another thing is that compared with Europe they go grocery shopping almost every other day (of course in France when you can’t work more then 39.5 hours by law, you got a lot of time on your hands ;) there refrigerators and freezers are 1/2 the size of ours. There food it not loaded down with perservatives, so they have to go shopping more then 1 or 2 a month. They do a lot of walking and making fresh meals.

Also, there shopping is an Event, here we go to the grocery store, get everything we need (and a lot we don’t) and we are done. There if you want meat you go to the meat store, cheese, the cheese store, bread the bread store….ect.

So they walk a couple times of week picking up Fresh, food items with NO artificial preservatives or additives and they go home and cook.

And yes, if they have kids, they still have to do all the other stuff like we do, kids, sports, homework ect.

We are trying to get better, more and more Farmers Markets are popping up, more and more we are looking for fresh food items. But as long as we continue to contaminate our food with artificial ingrediants the Peanut Butter allergies and Gluten resistance and other food problems are going to continue to pop up. Our bodies weren’t made to handle this crap.

So while organic is good, additive free is even better, the down side is that stuff will spoil quicker, so buy less stuff more often. Grow a garden, go to the Farmers Market, get fruits, veggies and milk delivered. There are many more options now to get fresh food items then in the past.

The Food will taste better and you will feel better!

ok, here we go again…..hopefully no plantacide by black thumb this time :)

If you have been following my blog, or if you continue to follow, you will find that I have been cursed with a “black thumb” :( which seems weird since my grandpa had a freaking garden in our backyard when I was growing up, Corn, carrots, radishes, strawberries, watermelons, cucumbers, you name it he grew it.

I tried Hydroponic growing, blhehhh, I guess if it aint “grass” it aint growing, complete failure, which again I don’t understand because I got them to sprout, but then they all died :( My topsy turvy did grow some tomatoes, but then these GIGANTIC UGLY ASS WORM at the whole damn plant (bastards!)

I recently got all excited when I saw the “growables” by Miracle grow, basically a pod you put in the ground and it has everything it needs to sprout. So I dug up an area in my backyard where nothing was growing (this could be a bad sign, I know, but I am crossing my fingers.) I turned it over once a week for a few months, adding compost materials (fruit, tea leaves, and miracle grow potting soil. Then my husband was going to have one of the boys buy the Growables for me for my birthday, but nooooo, they don’t ship to CA. WTF!!!!

So today, we were at home depot and I found some veggies already growning in compostedable pots. You basically take off the bottom and sides and put in the bottom of the hole then you but the rest of the plant (pot and all) in the hole then put dirt around it water and then for me at least (cross my fingers!) so it continues to grow!

I got a cherry tomato plant (it already has some green small tomatos starting) cucumber and strawberry plant. I am hoping these have better luck. Here are my pics. Any hints on how to help them flourish would be appreciated, especially how to get the GUAW’s away.

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I hope they grow!

I hope they grow!

Get more Mileage Save Gas Save Money

These may seem like no brainers, but here you go, some where new to me:

I am not sure if running your AC effects Gas Mileage or not, there is conflicting reports, however, I always close the vents on the passenger side of my car for A/C, why cool the empty seat? The air blows better with those vents closed, so you can reduce how cold and how fast the fan blows.

Coast people, take you foot off that pedal and COAST. I used to take the toll roads, they are very hilly, I was able to coast about 10 miles round trip. Makes your gas last longer. Any hilly area is a great place to coast.

And I know some of you are like WHAT the Toll Road, that costs money, yea but you are sitting in traffic for 1hr to 1.50 hrs, stop and go. I go twice as far in half the time, no stop and go, almost always 65 mph or more. I save in gas what I pay in tolls, plus I am a lot happier not having to deal with traffic for so long.

If you decide to use the toll roads make sure to get a transponder, quicker and cheaper then cash.

Park your car in the shade, heat causes evaporation, it may not be a lot, but everyday adds up.

Keep your tires filled up and get a reflector for your windshield so your car doesn’t get so hot.