Mar 14 2012

@ecostoreusa: Get them on the shelf!

I’ve been using ecoSTORE’s Pure Oxygen Whitener for several months now – actually it’s probably been at least a year. Then, just last month – when they lowered their prices across the board, I placed a $27 order for 10 bars of soap, more Pure Oxygen Whitener, the Laundry Liquid 32 detergent, and toilet bowl cleaner. Since I spent $25 my shipping was free, and I also received it within days. I was expecting it to take at least a week for free shipping. I was pleasantly surprised.

I love their products! Love them!

And now you can help this company get their healthy and non-toxic products on the shelves at Walmart. Just go here to vote. You can vote daily.

You can also vote from your mobile phone:

From your mobile phone, text 5413 to 383838.

Remember, you can only vote for this product once per day* from your phone number. Any extra votes from your phone for this product will be disregarded. Tell your friends about the product:

Voting ends April 3, 2012.

Can you help them?

Feb 1 2012

Problems with renting

So, we live in a townhouse and we’re renting. We’ve been in SC for 4 years and while I like the layout of the unit, the school district we’re in, and the location next to the cul-de-sac, plus the awesome deck out back, there’s a few problems on the inside that are just annoying.

The overhead kitchen light went out just a few weeks after we moved in. As far as I call tell, it’s not a fancy light, but the bulb was $30 to replace. 30 bucks! And then the light over the kitchen table. It went out the day we moved in. We tried to brand new replacement bulbs before it would work.

Then the garbage disposal seemed to stop working. It was always slow to drain, but it started getting clogged to where it wouldn’t drain at all. The landlord poured some drain cleaner in there and it seemed to do the job – for about 2 weeks. Now it’s back to slow draining. I’ve stopped using the disposal, and put our food waste into the trash, but that doesn’t seem to have solved the problem.

Then both bulbs on the front porch blew. We replaced both and one blew again the very next day. Seriously? More recently, the lighting in my bedroom starting having issues. For whatever reason, there are 3 spotlights in my bedroom. 2 of the bulbs have blown. For the bathroom lighting, one of the six bulbs has blown. The light in my closet has gone out. The light above the girls’ bathroom sink is out as well.

Really? We’ve only been here since the end of June. It’s a conspiracy. And since I replaced the bulbs (except the one over my bathroom sink) with more energy efficient ones, they won’t blow out for 20 years probably. Just my luck.

Jan 25 2012

Don’t’ forgot flowers for your boo

What do you call your significant other? Not that I have one, but “boo” was never one of the names I used. Boo reminds me of Halloween but I know many people who call their significant others “boo”. Kinda different, if you ask me.

Anyway, Valentine’s day is coming up and you don’t want to wait until the last minute – and then spend the day before or the day of scrambling for a delivery of valentines flowers. It’s just tacky, and probably more expensive, than if you ordered them earlier. I’m not sure which is more popular as a gift, flowers by post or chocolates. But what I can tell you from experience is that women like to receive flowers at work from their man, and that women who don’t receive any at work get a little jealous seeing other women get deliveries. Other Valentine favorites include going out to dinner, scheduling a spa day for your woman, and scheduling a massage for your man. Get a sitter for those kids and spend a romantic evening, just the two of you. When you’ve got children you don’t get much alone time, so Valentine’s day is a great excuse to spend quality, quiet time together.

I received flowers at work 2 years ago and it was the sweetest thing – and such a surprise. But another time I was also called the the receptionist’s desk to pick up flowers, and it turns out they weren’t for me. They were for another Monique. How embarrassing!

Do you have any embarrassing Valentine’s Day stories?

Jan 24 2012

Did you have a baby in 2011?

Was your baby’s name a popular name or a variation of a popular name? Although my girls turned 6 and 8 this month, I’m always interested in the popular baby names each year.

I usually don’t say my daughters’ full names on my blog, but since we’re talking about names I will.

Alijah, which was my way of making Elijah feminine, is the name I chose for my oldest daughter. Her little sister calls her ‘Lijah, and so do most other people, but I call her Lulu most often. I did find out after she was born that a college football player spelled his name the way I spell hers, and that a celebrity mom named her daughter Alijah shortly after I named my daughter Alijah. But every once in awhile, when we’re out, I’ll hear a parent call her son Elijah and it will make me smile. At the time she was born Elijah was the 31st most popular baby boy names.

Courtney is my youngest. Surprisingly, her name isn’t as popular as Elijah – for a boy or a girl. I thought it would have been more popular, but it’s okay that it’s not. Courtney is the name of one of my mom’s friend’s daughter, and also the name of one of the little girls I used to babysit. I’m not sure if either person influenced my daughter’s name, but it’s fun to have good memories of other Courtneys, if you know what I mean. It would be horrible to always associate my child’s name with a person I didn’t care for.

I wanted both of my girls to have gender-neutral names so that they wouldn’t be discriminated against when applying for jobs. But if I could do it all over again, I’d spell my oldest daughter’s name Elijah instead of Alijah since all the nurses at the doctor’s office keep calling her “Aliyah”.

If you had a baby in 2011 was your child’s name one of the most popular baby names 2011?

Jan 18 2012

Post-wedding etiquette

What’s the norm? I attended my co-workers wedding back in the summer. I gave a card with a gift card. I know – kinda tacky. But I stink at picking out gifts, and most of the items on the registry were out of my budget. Plus, the stuff that was within my budget was “filler”-type stuff like decorative pillow, cotton sham, classic pie server, washcloth. Really? Washcloth. Like it would be awful to buy someone 4 or 5 washcloths, but not the rest of the towel set, you know what I mean? That’s really tacky. Which is why they got a gift card from me.

Then a few days after he came back from his honeymoon, he was laughing and joking how he’d already spent one of the gift cards buying a video game. I’m cool with that. It may have been my gift card. No problem. That video game made him happier than any stray washcloth I would have bought, even if it was in his favorite color.

But I’m still waiting. Cause I don’t think the happy couple mailed to my home or delivered to my desk, any of the wedding thank you cards they must have labored hours over as they were opening the gifts. I’m absolutely, positively sure that the moment they arrived back home from their honeymoon and put the first load in the wash, they were opening presents and oohing and awwing over them. Except they forgot my thank you card.

So what is wedding etiquette for thank you cards?

Dec 31 2011

I like to write, but do you like to read it?

I lie to think that people want (and like) to read what I write. But ask me to analyze what I write, and you’ve lost me. Completely.

SEO? Keywords? Page rank? Web traffic analysis? I hear these words all the time, but I’m just a newbie when it comes to understanding them. So I’d like to think that I’ll continue to write about things that interest me – and you – and will rely on companies like Omniture to be there for me when I’m ready to join the big leagues. Because I’m clearly not there yet.

I’d like to make it a bloggy goal to increase my page views each month, but I think I’ll need to poll you all to determine exactly what it is that you prefer to see.

I started blogging by writing book reviews, which was exciting enough, and then to add product reviews sent me over the moon – but I’m not sure exactly what you’re looking to see or expecting to see or wanting to see, actually.

I think once I find out that information and do my best to meet your needs, that my traffic will grow, and I’ll be able to meet my 2012 goal.

And then I’ll be able to take advantage of a company like Omniture.com.

What do you think? What do you want to read about in 2012?

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