Mariannes Motifs

Free Sample Acidophilus Pearls from enzy

Manufacturer Enzy is offering a Free Sample of Acidophilus Pearls.  I usually use Primadopholous Reuteri Pearls by Nature's Way but I will gladly give this brand a try.

Thanks to the Freebie Reporter blog for the heads up on this Freebie!

Club Penguin - worth paying for?

I'm hearing some buzz about the Disney owned website for kids called Club Penguin.  You have to pay for membership though which I would personally want to avoid doing. 

I'm not sure how this compares with the ever popular Webkins or the new Build A Bear site BuildaBearVille.  I know my niece used to really like playing on Neopets.   (You should see what she's up to now - check out her Disco Alien T-shirt for sale on Cafepress.com!)

I am not ready to have to pay for a site membership for my rugrats, I think there's some really good free content out there for kids without having to pay the Mouse.

Il faut souffrir pour etre belle

Il faut souffrir pour etre belle is the French equivalent to "you must suffer to be beautiful."

Is it true that you must suffer for the sake of beauty?  Well, high heels shoes definitely do hurt so maybe so.  I call it the price of fashion.  The fitness gurus do say "no pain, no gain" and there is probably some truth to the saying.

On the other hand, if true beauty comes from what is inside you, then perhaps we would all be better off wearing some comfortable flats and working on developing inner peace.  Self-confidence is the basis of real beauty and is the number #1 most attractive personal attribute.   Being self confident and happy means you are giving off pheromones like nobodies business, and the opposite sex (or whatever you're into) is going to be all over that stuff.

Bunions aren't sexy anyway.  I'll stick with my flats unless its a special occasion. 

Under Armour for the troops

I was listening to a really interesting piece on National Public Radio today about a woman who runs a coffee shop and has a board up listing the names of local soldiers who have died in Iraq.  She was quoted in the article as saying that she walks a fine line in a military town of supporting the soldiers but being against the war.

This is pretty much how I feel.  Its a real shame that some people have made it seem like disagreeing with the president or not liking the way the war was started or ran, is the same thing as not being patriotic and not supporting our troops.  I truly think the United States of America is the greatest country on Earth, and one of the major reasons is that I have the right to write this blog post saying that I do not support President G W Bush, and I think he and some of  his buddies bamboozled the American people into going into a war that could have well been avoided.  And once there, they didn't even run it properly.

I do support the troops, however!  Some of those guys and gals are my personal friends, in fact.  Did you know that alot of family and friends of soldiers will buy gear and send it over to their loved ones who are serving?  I have heard for example that Under Armour brand clothing is a favorite for wearing under the heavy bulletproof vests and fighting gear as it stops the chafing in the heat.  This place that  sells SWAT gear,  including Under Armour, might be a good place to get it.  They even direct ship right to an APO address.

Saving Money

I've been thinking alot about saving money this week.  I went a little overboard (no pun intended) on the girls getaway cruise and now its time to for Jin to go on his getaway trip.  In order to be able to afford our weekend getaways we have to tighten the belt where we can.

Here's a frugal lifestyle blog I came across via Entrecard that looks well written and interesting.  Its called Sense to Save.  She doesn't seem crazy.  Have you ever noticed that some of the "frugal living" people are just a teeny tiny bit nuts.  Like, if it involves me having to wash my own maxi pads or feed my family hot dog stir fry, count me out.  But I digress.

I got a great deal at Walmart - SteamFresh frozen vegetables were $1.00.  They are normally at least double that at Publix so to me this was a great deal and I stocked up.  These Birds Eye veggies are great - you pop the whole unopened bag in the microwave for 5:00 minutes and you get nice crisp-tender steamed veggies.   I will cut open the bag, put some butter and or Mrs Dash, or seasoning that will go well with my entree and there is my veggies all taken care of.  I really strive to serve a nutritious yummy veggie side dish every day and these make it so easy.  And for a dollar!  Wow to Walmart.

I got some other deals of the day at my local lunchtime shopping haunt - you guessed it - Goodwill.  Its actually pretty funny because the other day I blogged about "Things you don't understand,"  a post on Seth Godin's blog.   He's this Internet genius marketing guru guy - founder of  Squidoo.   And right there on the Goodwill shelf what did I see - Seth's book "Purple Cow."  The list price being $19.99, I was pretty happy to buy it for $1.50.

I also picked up Eats Shoots and Leaves, the bestselling book about punctuation.  (might help if I'm having trouble sleeping at night?)  I've been wanting to read that and hoping it would show up at the Goodwill.  :-)  You know my theory - all bestsellers eventually show up at Goodwill and Garage sales.  Its just a matter of time.  For my favorite author, Jayne Ann Krentz,  I don't have that kind of patience; I buy her books in hardcover the day they come out.  But the book on punctuation, well, I have a little more patience.

Photoshop Express sneak-peek

Adobe gave our a sneak peek of the upcoming Photoshop Express at Photoshop World.  It looks like its going to be a free web based limited function photo editor intended to bring the basic features to the general public.  Great idea, Adobe!  The more people learn about your products the more chance they are going to end up trading up after awhile.  Keep the market leadership through giving it away!

Here's a screenshot I snagged from the John Nack Adobe blog.

Earth Hour

What are you going to do for Earth Hour?

On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

According to this  Sunrise/Sunset chart the sun will go down at about 7:00 PM here in ATL so what will I do with the kids that does not require any power?  Perhaps we will play UNO by candlelight until bedtime.  The boys have really been enjoying playing UNO lately.  Adam calls the Wild Card "Bonus" and he won't play unless he has one.  Nor will he play the card - he just wants to hold onto it.  Its pretty funny to play a card game with a 3 year old and a 4 year old.  You have to be kind of flexible, if you know what I mean.

Things I don't understand but would like to

Seth Godin had a really interesting blog post entitled "Things you don't understand," the idea being to make a list of things you could understand if you put your mind to it, but never have gotten around to.

To me, life should be a constant process of learning new things.  I think that if I learn something new every day, even if its something small, I feel like I have made an accomplishment. 

What's on my list?

• How to make weblog trackbacks.  *I think I just learned!*
• How to increase and decrease stitches in loom knitting.
• How to make a blog site map to submit to google.
• How to increase my blog's readership and achieve a pagerank above 0.
• How to restore MS Exchange mail stores and mail files from tape backup.  *yep - gotta do this for work*

Simple Dinner Recipes

2 Super Simple Dinner Recipes

Smoked sausage with mac and cheese

Slice low fat smoked sausage on the bias.   Cook according to package instructions with just enough water to cover about 10 minutes on each side in a large pan.  After the sausages are cooked through add your favorite barbecue sauce and heat through until the barbecue sauce thickens and coats the sausage.

Great served with mac and cheese and microwaved frozen broccoli.  (This is from my buddy Jodi)

Pasta in Garlic Sauce  super fast one dish meal

Pasta of your choice  - Bows, spirals, whatever
Knorr Creamy Garlic sauce mix (from the sauce mix aisle in the grocery store)
Frozen peas - drop a few servings of frozen peas right into the pasta water right before the pasta is done
(optional - add chopped ham to the mix if you need meat in it)

5 Money Saving Tips

Let's face it, the fat days are over.  We all need to save money.  Here are some of the ways I am trying to save money right now.

1.  Eat out of the freezer and pantry week.  Just buy as few fresh items as you can get away with (milk, etc) and try to make meals out of what you have in the freezer and pantry.

2.  Shop your local thrift store.  My faithful readers know I get books and kids clothes at my local Goodwill.

3.  Don't go anywhere.  If you don't go anywhere you won't spend as much.

4.  Don't neglect your freebies -  I check the slickdeals.net freebies forum as well as fatwallet.com. Check it every couple of days.  Sign up for a free email account such as yahoo.com, excite.com, etc. and use that email account when you sign up for the freebies.  This will limit the amount of email spam you receive.

5.  Want to buy a "nice to have" item?  Put it on your gift list and wait for your special day to roll around.  That nice to have item is going to seem more special when you receive it as a birthday gift, anniversary gift, etc, than if you just ran out and bought it as an impulse purchase.  The item is still going to be there.  Wait for it.  Impulse control and planning ahead for the future is what separates humans from animals!  By saving and planning ahead for the future you can make a secure life for yourself and stop living from paycheck to paycheck.  Kaboodle is a great web site for keeping an online shopping wish list.