Piggy Bank Giveaway

Lynn - the piggy bank painter is giving away 2 adorable piggy banks over on her blog, After the Dust Settles. You can either win this little guy, the Whole Melon Piggy Bank, or you can win the piggy bank of your choice. I looked through all the different ones on the site, and there really are some cute ones, but I like this new melon one best, so that's the one I want!

Is the Media Supporting Obama?

Here's an interesting site - it's called UberSpat. Here users can create and participate in active online debates. They can be on any topic, and users can post evidence or arguments, such as blog entries or articles. Evidence is rated, and the best evidence eventually ends up on top. It should turn out to be a good resource site on a variety of topics.

I need to either search out or start a topic on smoking in public places because I'd love to see what people come up with. For now there's an interesting and timely spat entitled: "The media is blatantly supporting Barack Obama's presidential bid". On this topic, I'm just going to say that my usual morning news show seems to be walking a fine line of balance. If they talk to one of the presidential candidates, they talk to the other one. They don't seem to be overly hard, or soft, on either one of them. I guess that puts me on the Oppose side of that topic.

Now, when Hilary was still in the race, they did seem to be on her side, but that may just be because the two anchors are women, and it seemed to be a women's issue. Me, I'm a woman, and I can't stand Hilary.

Calendars - Tabbed and Counted

We got the calendars back from the printer yesterday - all delivered to the high school at 1pm. Most of them needed one tab put on, to keep them closed for mailing. Luckily, this week is band camp, and we arranged with the principal and new band director to have the band come in and help us. Those kids were awesome and whipped through those calendars! We were supposed to have them for half an hour but ended up getting them for 45 minutes, and they got about 3000 calendars done. Last year we didn't realize how good they were and didn't give them enough calendars so there were just a few of us left to finish up, and we ended up being there until 9pm or so. This time, we had them tabbed, counted, boxed and loaded by 6pm!

Our last year, and we finally figure out how to get it done in a timely manner...

Then today we took them to the Post Offices to get them out in the mail. By tomorrow everyone should have their brand-new School District Wall Calendar - only a week into the first month. That's not so bad, is it? Last year's went through August, so it's not like anyone was without a calendar...

Fancy Jewelry

I was so excited to receive a strand of freshwater pearls from PearlParadise.com in the mail a few days ago. I've never had real pearls. One look at these gorgeous black pearls, and I was in love. Of course I had to show Cory, and do the Pretty Woman snap the box shut thing. I never even had jewelry that came in a fancy box like that.So I've been wearing the pearls around the house, wondering why I never had pearls before. Now I remember - I always thought they were too expensive to even consider, but browsing the PearlParadise.com site, I realize they come in a wide range of prices. And yes, they can be expensive, but Pearl Paradise sells them at significant savings over traditional retail. If you want to buy pearls, this looks like the place to do it.

There's also a lot of information on the site about how pearls are formed, the difference between natural and cultured pearls, how to choose pearl size and necklace length, and how to take care of your pearls once you have them.

Thank you so much Pearl Paradise! I love muscles - mussels - pearls!

Heads or Tails - Manner

Image via Wikipedia

Today's theme is:

HEADS - Manner

The first thing I thought of was that part in Pretty Woman where the hotel manager teaches her which fork to use for what. How do you learn table manners if there's no one to teach you?

"I definitely have the salad fork. The rest of the silverware is, a little confusing."

I wanted to include a video of just that part, but I couldn't find one and didn't know how to get just that, so instead I started looking up table manners and found this site - Table Manners in 20 Minutes, which looks like a very helpful site.

Visit the home of Heads or Tails to join in and to see more participants.

4 on Explore

I was scrolling down the page when I noticed my Flickr widget. I'm used to seeing 2 on Explore, so I had to go check and see what the other two were.

1. Glow, 2. Sunset, 3. Stacks of Waffles, 4. Beth and Balloons

Do I know why or how they got there? No, but it's still kind of fun to note. I got to 4 one other time, but then it dropped to 2 and has stayed there for ages.

Camera Critters (#17)

My Camera Critters post is really late this weekend because we had friends over and played Mexican Train dominoes. I really need to get to bed because we have to get up early in the morning and take Cory to work at the State Fair, and then Jeffrey and I are going to spend the day there while he works. That means I have to get up at 6am on a Sunday. Whose bright idea was this, anyway?

I should be able to get some critter pictures at the Fair, so that will be a good thing. I thought about skipping Camera Critters altogether since I wouldn't be around, but I really can't let an opportunity to post a picture of Tillie go by without grabbing it, right? I probably won't get around to visiting any of your CC posts until later Sunday night or sometime Monday, but I do look forward to seeing them.

So, here she is, Tillie Cat, outside.

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in.

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My House Smells Fresh

I recently received a package that contained a Renuzit TriScents scented oil starter kit with Seaside Breezes™ scented oils. As a rule, I avoid scents because so many of them bother me - perfumes, colognes, air fresheners - so I probably never would have bought and tried this. But, I was willing to give it a try.

Cory put everything together and set it to low. There are three settings on the Renuzit^® TriScents™ fresheners so you can decide exactly how much scent you need. We decided to put it in the hall bathroom because that's where the cat's litter box is, and we thought that would be the best room.

I have been pleasantly surprised by this freshener. The scent is not too strong. Actually I should say the scents are not too strong, because there are three different scented oils, Relaxing Waves™, Beach Breezes™, and Ocean Oasis™. The scents transition every 45 minutes. I'm going to be honest and tell you that I'm not really sure which scent is which, and I haven't spent a lot of time trying to see how they are different from one another. All I know is that they are fresh, pleasant scents, and they keep not only the bathroom smelling nice, but the rest of the house too. I would probably be happy with an even lower setting, and I'm not going to try the higher settings. For me, personally, I think that would be just too much, but it is nice to know there's the option, just in case that litter box gets too bad and Beth really needs to take care of it.

The fresh scent is supposed to last up to 60 days if you use it on the lowest setting, and then refill kits are available at your local retail store, suggested retail price $4.99. I can either go with the Seaside Breezes™ scented oils again or try the other fragrance, Morning Meadow.

If you'd like some extra freshness in your house, too, look for Renuzit^® TriScents™ fresheners where you shop.

Smoking in Public Places

We've been to two concerts in the last week - Styx and Boston on Saturday night and REO Speedwagon last night. The bands were great. I enjoyed listening to them. What I didn't enjoy was the fact that I had to breathe tons of cigarette smoke simply because I wanted to be there. It gets me to wondering - who decided that only the smokers get to have fun? Any kind of event like that and the smokers come out - huge throngs of them. The rest of us have to decide if the event will be enough fun that it's worth exposing ourselves to that. Do I really want to breathe that, probably get a major headache, burning eyes and sore throat? Or would I rather stay home?

And, seriously, why should I have to make that kind of choice? Why should my desire to see a concert mean I also have to be packed in with people blowing smoke in my face? And, no, they can't just smoke and get it over with. They have to constantly light up - first this one and then that one - never stopping, and each time it's like a new slap in the face. Do they honestly not know how rude, inconsiderate and obnoxious the whole thing is? Sure, they have a right to smoke, but what about my right to breathe? Who decided my rights are less important than theirs?

Couldn't we just cluster all the smokers somewhere together - downwind from the rest of us? Let them all breathe each other's smoke and let me actually enjoy something for a change?

I Need a Title for This Post

Poor Cory. First he had to work all day at the fair, and then since we were going to the concert last night, he had to stay at the fair until that was over. Talk about a long day with a lot of standing and walking. He was moaning about needing some kind of gel insoles or something for his feet. I can sympathize because I used to be on my feet all day, too. I remember it took me at least a week to adjust and not have sore feet every day.

Also, since he's used to sleeping in, getting up at 6am yesterday, then not getting home until after 11pm and having to get up again this morning at 6am was hard on him, or so he thinks. But he's young, he'll survive. Any ideas whether lack of sleep causes blackheads or not? Still, he won't die. We're the parents. We're much older than he is, and we got up early and got to bed late and got up early again, too.

You know? I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday so we can sleep in.