Mariannes Motifs

Review of Social Spark

Izea, the company that created PayPerPost, and that now owns Zookoda, has started a new online social marketing site called SocialSpark.  The gist of SocialSpark is that bloggers and advertisers get together in a marketplace and can create opportunities and profiles.  Here is a link to Marianne's Motif's profile on SocialSpark in case you want to check it out. 

One of the cool things about SocialSpark is that you can create an opportunity as a BlogUBack type, and bascially what that means is that someone will write a blog post and link to your site and then you will do the same back for them.  So its a great way for people with similar interests to get readership and links to their site.  All the links use the nofollow attribute that Google prefers so that they don't get spidered by their web indexers.

I've done three posts for SocialSpark so far - one paid and two free.  The paid one was the one from SocialSpark itself.  The two free ones were opportunities set up by other bloggers to get reciprocal links and visits to their blogs.

I like the community spirit of SocialSpark and the way they make it easy for bloggers and small companies to set up their own opportunities.  One thing I didn't really like about it was that the use a "waiting list" style system to sing up for opportunities and I signed up for a number and just never heard anything back from them.  Those were paid opportunities and I do understand that lots of people are trying to snag those up!

The site is still in beta, and I really think that it will be successful.  By the way - this review is sponsored by Izea.

Oh my gosh I almost busted a gut watching this video

Its a Swedish Microwave Ready to Eat Meals ad where the kid gets a hold of his Dad's Kama Sutra book.  Totally hysterical.  I love the European sensibility. Dad "why is this lady naked?" "She was sick, she had a fever.." LOL!

Friday Update

Ok, lets talk shopping.  I bought the most comfortable bra in the universe.  Its from Sassybax, and its a no-underwire bralette that is designed to eliminate back fat lines.  Its really comfy and supportive.  Love it!

Short of getting 511 Tactical Shorts we have to do something to reign in the back fat and whatnot for summer season!  I also got a tank top from then that looks cool too.  One thing I really like about their stuff is that they have up to size 2x.  I hate it when someone comes up with a fantastic idea and then leaves out the plus sizes.  Boo on them!

I also got a totally cute pair of ASICS sneakers in brown and pink that I am really excited about.  Super cute.

Really Easy Low Cost way to get into the stock market

There is a company called Sharebuilder (owned by ING direct) that allows you to invest in the stock market for a low entrance fee and also features the very powerful tools of automatic investment and dividend reinvestment.  This is a perfect entry point into the stock market and way to get started letting dollar cost averaging and compounding of value to work for you.

To get a $50 bonus applied to your account after your first trade use this link and use coupon code 50G028.

The way a service like Sharebuilder works is that you set up a direct withdrawal from your checking, savings, or even a direct deposit from your payroll.  There is no minimum - It can be as low as anything higher than the $4.00 commission fee!

With Sharebuilder you can get into the stock market without having to have thousands of dollars already saved up because you can buy fractional shares of stocks, or other investments.  They offer over 6,000 different stocks, funds, and other investment options.

Here is a quote from their website about the benefits of automatic investing.

• Long term approach
  Because your plan is based on a consistent schedule, you can build wealth over time.
• Dollar based investing
  Automatically invest any dollar amount, in any of over 6,000 stocks and ETFs on Tuesdays.
• Less hassle
  Turn your plan on and let it run automatically. You can invest on a weekly, monthly or bi-monthly basis depending on your goals and financial situation. Real-time Trade fees apply to all sales.

Speaking of Credit...

Have you heard about how Credit Reporting Giant Experian is suing LifeLock?  You've probably heard of lifelock as the company whose top executive published his Social Security number in the Wall Street Journal to show how confident he was of his companies product to protect him against identity theft.

Well, Experian is suing Lifelock - apparently the gist of the suit is that they say a third party does not have the right to put in a credit alert on someone's account even though the LifeLock members have paid to have LifeLock monitor their accounts and report any fishy business to the credit companies. 

To me it sounds like Experian just wants to avoid paying the money it costs to process credit alerts.  But to me, if it can stop a crime before it happens, it seems like it would save money in the long run.  I think its pretty clear that Experian is in the wrong on this one.

Preschool Graduation Yearbook

I've been working on the class yearbook for Ben's preschool class.  The parents emailed me a baby picture of each kid (or one to be scanned) and I am still waiting for the CD from the school photographer with the cap and gown pictures.

I plan to print the layouts as 4x6 photos and use my Bind-It--All to make 20-30 photo books.  That's going to be a lot of binding.

I have the 20 layouts for each kid all done and just needing the cap and gown picture added in.  I also need to complete layouts for the pictures taken during the year.  I need to finish this ASAP.  Ben's teacher got mad at me because it wasn't done yet.  Well gosh - I STILL do not have the CD from the photographer and my PC was in the shop after my house was hit by lightning.  I was pretty annoyed that the teacher seemed more concerned about the status of the yearbook project than she did about my well being after having had the fire department tromping through my home and hundreds of dollars worth of storm damage.  It is in times of disaster that you realize who your real friends are.  I learned a little lesson that day.  I am going to finish the project (provided the photographer ever does what they said they would) because I said I would and I am a person who follows up on promises.  I am doing it for the kids and the parents, not for the teacher, who really lost some of my respect by not showing caring to me when I was down. She did teach my son to read and I will forever be grateful for that, however.  And everyone is entitled to have a bad day so maybe that's what was going on.  (I know I sure was!)

I know that Vista Print is a great place to print graduation invitations and other types of printing projects.  You can even have your own Sticky Notes printed there!  But for this one I need the cheapest 4x6 printing available on the net so I am still looking.

10 Favorite Time Wasters

From 10 On Tuesday.

1.  Blogging!

2.  Loom Knitting

3.  Digital Scrapbooking.

4.  Reading cheesy romance novels.

5.  Shopping. I love browsing around the craft store - silk flowers anyone?

6.  Taking the kids to the park.

7.  Getting a manicure pedicure.

8.  Surfing around on the Internet - digishoptalk.com, ravelry.com, entrecard.com

9.  Making crafts with the kids.

10.  Just plain old chilling out.

What to do about too much debt?

Those who frequent this blog already know that I feel our society has too much focus on consumerism.  The two worst scourges of over-consumerism are consumer waste (garbage and environmental damage) and debt.

Today I want to talk about debt.  Its pretty simple: when you spend more than you earn you are going to end up in debt.  I am not going to place blame - it can easily happen to anyone.  Sometimes people even may have gone into debt for a good reason, in attempting to save their house from foreclosure for instance, tide the family over between jobs, or you may be in debt due to an emergency and not having the savings in reserve to handle it.

Or lets face it - a lot of times consumer debt is caused by poor money management, bad choices, tempting consumer goods, and easy credit.

Whatever the reason it happened - its time to deal with it. Here is a link to a pdf download How to Deal With The Calls Guide from Advocate Credit Assistance that may be of some use.

Services like ACS can help consumers negotiate a settlement with credit card companies and other debtors, consolidate loans, and can help you formulate a plan to pay off what you owe.  Be sure to check lots of reviews of any services you might use and compare the different methods and how they might effect your credit ratings and reports.

If you are not in debt take my (free) advice right now -

1. Have your paycheck direct deposited.  Once cash is in your pocket it will disappear.
2. Put 10% towards your 401k if you are eligible for one at your work. (You'll thank yourself later!)
3. Pay what bills are going to be due this pay period.
4. Plan for an unexpected car repair. (tires, brakes, whatever) Put this money in savings and leave it there.
5. Once you have paid the bills for the month and have your savings ready you can use what's left for your discretionary purchases.  Pay cash.
6. Any extra - pay down any debt you have starting with the highest interest rate first.  Mortgages and can be paid educational loans last.
7. When you are on your feet - then you can support your favorite charity.

Shimmy

I have decided to cancel my Curves membership.  Since my Crohn's diagnosis I haven't been regularly - I went back in January of this year but found that my knees were too achy to do the workout.

I am going to try working out at home instead.  I would love to purchase a Total Gym or similar exercise equipment.  But I found something really interesting I want to try that is totally free with my cable subscription - a new show on FitTV called Shimmy.  Its a Belly Dancing workout!  It has gorgeous production value with all different exotic sets, cool costumes, and voluptuous ladies belly dancing.  I am going to give it a try.  Now that the kids are old enough to give me a little bit of peace and quiet every once in a while I may be able to schedule a workout in.  So if I Tivo the show, and do some belly dancing, this might just work for me.

Don't be stupid out on the water this summer.

A few years ago Jin and I were invited to spend the day on a friend's sailboat.  There was another young woman on the trip as well, as she was hanging off the back of the boat and fell off.  While the young guy piloting the boat was turning it around in order to go back and pick her up she was treading water and looked ok, but when we passed by her she got scared and swam away from the (rather big) sailboat instead of toward it to get picked up.  By then I could see that she was getting tied and scared and not treading water as well. 

At this point the pilot had to turn the boat again and I got ready to jump in if she didn't get picked up this time around as I could tell she was starting to struggle.  Thankfully Mike grabbed her and all was well.

When I was a kid my parents bought a small sailfish type sailboat and my brother and I were not allowed on it until we passed all our YMCA swimming tests.  Although I am not a sporty person, I am in fact a very good swimmer, and know how to just float to conserve strength, which this girl didn't. 

As it is Memorial Day weekend my thoughts are turning to the number of boating accidents that sadly occur every summer on our lakes and waterways. The State of Arizona has produced some videos and information to promote boating safety and particularly to combat the very dangerous practice of drinking while boating.  It seems that too many people that would never drink while driving a car don't have the same compunction about drinking and driving a boat.

Even when alcohol is not involved people forget that kids and really anyone should wear a life jacket.  If my friend had been wearing one when she slipped off the back of the sailboat we all would have been spared a very scary experience!
Here is a great video about boating safety:<
And another:


And here are some links provided by the State of Arizona as part of their "Boat Safe, Boat Smart, Boat Sober" campaign.

Boating Operating Under the Influence
Arizona Boating
Boating Education Online