Bloggerwave Cleared By Paypal & Paypal Overprotection

For those of us who have been blogging with Bloggerwave, the scandal is finally over. Brett informed us on the GeekySpeaky forums that Paypal has cleared Bloggerwave payments.

I spoke with the PayPal resolution department today.

They have cleared Bloggerwave and indicate that Bloggerwave's account is now OK. They changed their ruling on the reason that Bloggerwave's payments were reversed.

Brett also wrote a new blog post with all the new information he has gathered from both Paypal and Bloggerwave. I suggest you check it out if you have been concerned about any payments you have received or any work you have done for them. I received my payment from Bloggerwave today, and I now sympathize with the company. Being new to the paid blogging industry, I think they just weren't set up for business as well as they thought they were. I will continue to work for them in the future, and I apologize to Bloggerwave for everything they have dealt with from not only Paypal but the majority of bloggers who have worked for them as well. I'm sure this has seriously hurt them in many ways.

I agree with Brett when he states that Paypal may actually be overprotecting their customers. He also brought to my attention some of the flags paypal uses to protect you from a stolen account or debit card. If you travel outside of your normal purchase area and use your debit card, Paypal may flag the transactions. If you log in from another location other than you normally use to access Paypal, they may also flag those transactions. If contact isn't made and the transactions cleared by you within a certain time frame, you account may be locked and those transactions reversed. I understand this is to protect customer from stolen accounts and fraud, but overall this could seriously cause a problem for me.

I often travel, and I like to use my Paypal debit card on those trips. I can save money in my Paypal account for the trip, and I know it is readily available with my debit card. This also prevents me from carrying large amounts of cash with me. If Paypal flags my account while I'm on vacation, then attempts to contact me via my home phone with no luck, my account could be frozen. That would leave me stuck on vacation without a dime to my name! Just last night I visited my in laws, and I used their computer to purchase mailing labels from USPS because my printer is on the fritz. Considering they live a ways away, I have to consider the fact that Paypal could have flagged this. Thankfully they didn't, but now I know there is a possibility of that.

So Proud

My mother in law has worked as the co-assistant editor of a local newspaper for a few years, but she's really wanted a job in one of the government offices. We all agreed with her it was time for a change. The pay at her current job is less than adequate, and she really is over qualified for her job. Hubby walked in the door today and said he had news for me. My mother in law applied for a job opening with one of the county offices, and it looks like she's going to get the job. I'm so happy for her! She really deserves this job, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Now, if only I could find the job I really want. Do they hire people to sleep all day?

Free Review Of Your Blog

I've decided to put the offer out there again to review blogs for free. I did this awhile back, and I had quite a few responses, and overall I think everyone was happy with the reviews I wrote. If you would like me to review your blog, I will be more than happy to do it. All I will require is a link back here. Websites, products, and services will NOT be considered for a free review. If you are interested in receiving a review or buzz about any of those, please use my sidebar button to inquire about a paid post.

Any blogger who would like a review should follow these instructions:

• Leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog.
• Once the review has been written and posted, I will comment on your blog with a link to the review post.
• Write a small post including a link back to my site. The post can be something as simple as "Hey, Jenn over at Informal Critique wrote a review on my blog! Go check it out!" I don't care what you write as long as you provide a link back to http://informalcritique.blogspot.com.

Why would you be interested in a free review? If you would like a little buzz about your blog, this is a great way to do it. Not only will I be linking to your site, but my visitors will view the post, and you may pick up some extra traffic. Also, you want to know what needs improvement on your blog. I can provide a little constructive criticism about what I feel needs to be done to improve your blog. Then again, I may also love your blog so much that I think nothing needs to be changed!

Rehab Center For Women

It's time to share another great drug rehab facility with you guys, and I consider this one special because it is centered around women with drug and alcohol addictions. It has been proven that women normally have a harder time overcoming addictions. Women are also more likely to become addicted to the act of doing something more than the actual physical addiction to the drug. No matter what your addiction is, or how heavily you are addicted, there are treatment centers out there that will help you achieve the life away from your addiction.

Many times I've told you about how my husband was a meth addict when we met. Thankfully he was able to overcome his addiction. Two of my best friends were also addicted. One is still dealing with his addiction and refuses to seek help, but the other decided to enter a treatment facility, and now she has been drug free for a little over 3 years.

Seeking help isn't a bad thing. A lot of addicts feel that when they seek help, they're admitting things are out of control. That's true, but admitting is the first step to recovery, and Orchard Recover Center is a drug treatment center for women with a very high recovery success rate. I also like that their program isn't as expensive as most other private programs, and you can get a free private consultation over the phone, so you will no how much it's going to cost before entering the program. Don't let the costs of a recovery program scare you. If you are an addict, you know how much you spend on your addiction, and putting that money towards recovery is a much better investment.

Paid Blogging Series: Blogging Ads

I decided to talk to you about Blogging Ads today because this is one of the newer programs I have been using for paid to post blogging, and I'm quite impressed with it. First of all, you do have to meet certain requirements to have your blog approved. Your blog has to be indexed by Google, and it must be at least 3 months old. There needs to be normal posting, but not on a daily basis as long as there are no large gaps between posts. There are a few other guidelines that you should definitely look at before deciding to sign up with Blogging Ads, and most of your questions can be answered via the FAQ.

As for paid posts, this is the only service I have used so far that puts a limit on how many posts you may be paid for each month. You may place 3 posts on each blog you own per month, with a maximum of 10 posts per month. Most of the posts pay $5, a few pay more, and a few pay less, but it's very easy to make the max of $15-20 per blog each month. You can't get rich from it, but it's definitely a great place to make a little extra pocket cash.

I like how, unlike most of the other paid blogging sites, there aren't a lot of ads for debt management programs and plastic surgery to sort through to find good things to write about. Also, Blogging Ads gives you a choice as to how to promote their contextual links. You can either write your own post, or you can choose to use one of their pre-written posts for your blog. I personally choose to write my own posts that fit in with my blog. Also, I'm not sure if the pre-written posts may get you banned from Google. I haven't seen any minimum for the length of each post, but I tend to write at least 100 words anyway. There are post examples on the site if you're wondering what your posts are supposed to look like.

Also, I've had no problem getting paid. I've been paid via paypal for every post within days of its approval. If you're looking to ad another program to your paid blogging, or you would like to start blogging with an easy to use program, Blogging Ads is a good place to start.

Money Merge Accounts

A lot of have heard horror stories from people who purchased homes, but became overwhelmed with the mortgage payments. Hubby and I have wanted to purchase a home for a few years now, but we just haven't had the cash to even consider it, and we're just not quite sure we're ready to take on the responsibility that comes with a mortgage. Hubby's parents had a horrible experience with a mortgage that involved a large balloon payment hidden deep in the paperwork. Because neither of them quite understood what a balloon was, they ended up losing the house and having to file bankruptcy. I don't want that to happen to us, and I'm sure there are many others out there who have either had problems with a mortgage or who are scared of one.

If you have a mortgage or are considering buying a home, there is a program called Money Merge Account that you should really consider looking into. Money Merge Account is setup to help homeowners pay off their home in as little as 8-10 years with their web based system. Basically Money Merge Account works like a checking account, but the added bonus is you can really save yourself thousands of dollars in interest payments. Each time you make a deposit into your MMA, a large amount of interest is offset. This allows you to put more of your hard earned cash towards the actual balance of your mortgage instead of using a large chunk to pay off the interest.

Like I said the system is completely web based, and it's 100% secure. You can use the system to manage your finances by keeping track of your income and expenses without involving other personal records or financial institutions such a your bank.

Right now is a great time to consider a Money Merge Account because you can get a free MMA analysis to help you decide if the program is right for you. The analysis will use your current expenses, income and mortgage to determine how quickly you will be able to pay off your mortgage. There's no obligation to getting a free analysis. There's also another great offer going on right now called the Sizzling Summer Promotion where you can make money for referring others to the program. Every time someone you refer enrolls in the Money Merge Account program, you receive $100. There's no limit to how many people you can refer, so there's no limit to how much money you can make!

If you're still not sold, take a few minutes to look around the website, and make sure you view the news video created by KVBC in Las Vegas about the program and how it works. The video works best with IE. Don't forget to check out the facts about how much money you could really save by avoiding large interest payments!

Bloggerwave Update

It seems that there is a new twist in the Bloggerwave story. If you read my post on the possibility of Bloggerwave committing fraud, please be sure to return to that post, and read the comment Bloggerwave left about their service. Bloggerwave is attempting to contact bloggers stating that Paypal made a mistake in thinking the payments were fraudulent.

Honestly, at this point I'm not sure who I believe, but I'm willing to provide all the information I have in order to allow other bloggers to make their own decisions. I linked to an article on Top 10 Tech about the blogger's experience with Paypal making contact to state the Bloggerwave payment was made from an unauthorized source. Then the payment was reversed by Paypal after an investigation. There has been some new light on the case, and Brett, the author of Top 10 Tech has been in contact with Bloggerwave.

I encourage you to read his update to the Bloggerwave situation. I agree that the situation is not resolved, and I cannot yet completely say that I believe Bloggerwave. Until Paypal can verify that they were in the wrong, I choose not to attempt any business with Bloggerwave. Actually, Bloggerwave even states in the comment they left me that the company has only been in business for 7 weeks. With a company that new, I can't trust that the what they are saying happened is really in fact what happened. The company hasn't been around long enough to build credibility in my eyes, but I've given you all the information I have for now, so if you have done any business or plan to do any business with Bloggerwave, you will at least know the facts from each side of the issue.

Market Research To Improve A Blog

In the past, market research was something only large companies conducted. These days businesses of all sizes are using market research to discover what products and services will best fit the needs of their customers. I've found myself conducting my own marketing research lately by gathering data about different ways to make money through blogging. A lot of people don't realize how much it can cost to maintain a website or blog, especially if it is very popular. I might not have any overhead costs on this blog for hosting, but I do have to pay for my hosting on my self-hosted blog, and I have other costs such as products I buy to review. In order to cover these costs, many of us turn to advertising of some sort. I've been gathering information on different types of advertising programs, conducting research on what others have made, and trying a few of the programs myself.

I thought about integrating my market research into a type of survey for readers of my blog. I
already gather information through statcounter about what posts are more popular, who tends to stay longer, who visits more pages and stuff like that, but integrating an optional survey might be a great way to gather some data to improve a blog such as what topics are more interesting to the reader, and what the reader would like to see discussed in the future.

Log Furniture

I may not always have the cash I want to spend, but I love shopping for home furniture. I might not have to shop around for much longer to find the log furniture I've been wanting. I've found a table I want for the dining room that's complete with old log benches, but it's just way too expensive for my budget. I took hubby into the store today to show him some of the things I want, and he finally agreed to make the table I've been wanting. Hubby has plenty of extra old barn wood at work that's just going in the dumpster if no one takes it home, so we're going to use some of it for the top of my table. Of course we're going to have to sand the top down smooth, but we'll be able to keep the old barn wood look for most of it.

He's going to make the legs out of some huge logs we have as well as the benches. It's so nice to be able to recycle the fallen trees on the land around us. My grandparents own about 200 acres, so it's not hard to find what we need. We already use a lot of the wood for heat in the winter since we use our woodstove, but there's plenty of trees out there to go around. It makes me feel better, too, to know that my new furniture is going to be made from recycled wood, so live trees aren't being cut just to produce something man made.

I'm already making a list of the other furniture I want him to make, but I'm lucky to get him to do this. Hubby might be a top notch carpenter, but he likes to leave work at work. It took me 2 years to get him to build my desk!

Fresh Look Friday: Camping Coop

I absolutely love camping, and that's why I decided to give you a glimpse of Camping Coop for this week's Fresh Look Friday. If you love camping, this is one blog you definitely need to visit. Learn how to camp the ecofriendly way from Julie as she tells you about her own camping experiences with her family, showcases great camping and vacation spots, and gives you the inside scoop on camping gear for your trip. I especially love some of the neat products she shows us like the iPood. If you want to know what it is, you're going to have to stop by and check it out! Don't forget to say hello to Julie what you're there!

The Police Launch New Online Store

If you're a fan of the band The Police, then you definitely need to check this out. ThePolice.com isn't just your one stop for all info on the band, full tracklistings, and samples of their music. The site is also a place to buy your favorite The Police memorabilia through the new online store.

I might be considered a "young" fan by a lot of other The Police fans, but I really love their music, and I want their new CD! The first tape I ever owned was a mix tapes of a bunch of songs by The Police. I absolutely loved that tape and played it until it finally broke. Just check out the tracklisting for the new police cd! It's going to be awesome, and I really really want it!

Disc: 1
1. Fallout
2. Can't Stand Losing You
3. Next to You
4. Roxanne
5. Truth Hits Everybody
6. Hole in My Life
7. So Lonely
8. Message in a Bottle
9. Reggatta de Blanc
10. Bring on the Night
11. Walking on the Moon
12. Don't Stand So Close to Me
13. Driven to Tears
14. Canary in a Coalmine

Disc: 2
1. Do Do Do de da da Da
2. Voices Inside My Head
3. Invisible Sun
4. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
5. Spirits in the Material World
6. Demolition Man
7. Every Breath You Take
8. Synchronicity I
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger
10. Walking in Your Footsteps
11. Synchronicity II
12. King of Pain
13. Murder by Numbers
14. Tea in the Sahara

I'll Get It Up...I Promise

Fresh Look Friday has been postponed for today. I will hopefully have it up later tonight, or tomorrow at the latest. I just haven't had time to find a new blog to write about yet. I haven't had much time online today, and what time I have had I've spent doing some peptide research. I headed over to Bio Girl because the blogger is a Biologist, and I got caught up reading up on things I've missed in her blog. A lot of you might not know that I originally wanted to work in the science/medical fields. Yep, I was a pre-med major in college with a minor in Biology, but I just didn't want to devote the time it took to complete such demanding courses, so nowadays, I do my own research on scientific and biological things as a hobby of mine.

Active File Recovery Software

Have you ever lost a file you wish you could recover? Maybe you accidentally deleted a photo that meant a lot to you, or you had an MP3 you loved that was damaged by a virus. Well now you can recover almost any file or folder you have lost with a simple to use program called Active File Recovery. Normally I don't like paying for a program when I can find a freeware one that will do the job for me, but I have tried many freeware file recovery programs and not one of them did the job. Active File Recovery starts at $29.95 for the Standard version, and is $44.95 for the Professional version.

What can each version do? Both versions can recover files that were deleted then emptied from recycling bin, lost due to a format, damaged by a virus or other malicious program, or lost during a power failure. You can also recover hard drive partitions that were lost during formatting or deleted.

The professional version includes Active Partition Recovery that can recover a partition that has been damaged. It works for partitions on FAT, FAT32, and NTFS systems. That's not all. You can also recover files on flash drives, memory cards, etc. Never worry about losing a photo again when the card for your digital camera dies! Just recover it! Both versions support all types of external hard drives, too. I really like the boot CD or DVD feature. You can recover any system that won't boot up by using the included ISO to burn a boot disk that contains a lighter version of Windows Vista.

If you're interested in giving Active File Recovery a try, feel free to download the trial version. Don't forget to check out the Active File Recovery website for tons of useful information including screenshots, and a list of file types that can be recovered.

Freeware Software

If you like trying freeware programs, check out the Pricelessware site. I stumbled upon it tonight as I was searching for a good freeware organizer to use, and I've already found quite a few programs I want to try. The list hasn't been updated since 2004, but I've already found a few names of programs that I've used for years, as well as those few I want to give a try. You can browse programs by category or by year. Everything on the site is 100% completely free to use thanks to wonderful creators who decided to share their creations selflessly.

PPP Direct From PayPerPost

Have you heard about Payperpost's new feature called PPP Direct? It's all part of the the newest update and part 1 of the Birdo release that Payperpost made last night. PPP Direct is not a new concept. There are quite a few other paid to blog sites out there offering similar programs, but PPP Direct is unique in it's own way.

What is it? Basically PPP Direct is a program that allows you to get paid from blogging, but by using a button on your own blog without having to search for ops to take. If an advertiser sees your blog, they can fill out a request offering to pay you for a post about their product. You can set the minimum amount the advertiser can offer you instead of having to choose from a list of posts for a certain amount. Instead of an advertiser contacting a middleman as with Payperpost's marketplace ops, the advertiser is contacting you directly. You can then choose to accept the op, deny it, or negotiate the post and/or price.

A lot of other services run similar programs, but they take a 50-100% markup on your post cost. You might think that's pretty unfair since they're really not doing any of the work for you. Payperpost agrees, so that's why they only take 10% of the cash you make from the post. They work as your escrow service, charging 5% to cover paypal and credit card fees, and only making 5% profit. Using a service like this helps you to expand your paid posting by picking up advertisers who don't already work through the paid blogging services you use. Also, you don't have the 3 posts per blog per day limit like you do with the marketplace, and instead of waiting 30 days, you get paid as soon as the advertiser approves your post!

Really A Friend?

I listed a box full of the mini Neopets plushies from McDonalds a few days ago for sale as a large lot on Ebay. Before listing them I told a few people I know that I was getting rid of them. I even set them out for display at a couple yard sales, but there were no takers. I was happy when someone bid on my Ebay listing yesterday, and it still has a little over a day to go, but it will definitely sell.

My friend called me today and asked if I still had the plushies. She was at every yard sale I had and wasn't interested. I called her last week saying I would give them to her kids for free, but she wasn't interested. Now, she wants the whole set, and she's offering to pay me $30 for all of them. I can't cancel the Ebay listing. Not only would that look bad on my part, but it would cause someone else who has already bid to lose the opportunity. I told her about listing them on Ebay, and I made a point to mention they were going for $5 right now, so not only would she still have plenty of time to bid, but she could get them for a lot less than $30.

This is when she decided to really piss me off. She said she didn't want to go through all of that. I explained it's easy to set up an ebay account and only takes a couple minutes, and she had the nerve to say, "Oh, but I thought if I offered the $30, you would cancel the auction and just give them to me anyway for free. You did offer them last week." She just doesn't seem to understand that I offered them to her and she refused, so I moved on and listed them for sale. Now someone else wants them, she can't have them, so she's mad at me. She won't even answer the phone or attempt to speak to me. She's acting like a 5 year old because she didn't get her way. What kind of friend does that over a box of McDonald's toys?

Drug Rehab

I came across another drug rehab facility today that I am very interested in. You guys know I talk about rehab clinics a lot, and that's mainly because my husband is an ex drug user. My best friend is still a serious addict. I will continuously promote as many drug rehab clinics as I can because I want people to seek help, and I may only be one voice, but at least my one voice is speaking...or my fingers typing, same difference!

Stonehawk is a treatment facility that not only wants to help you, but they understand what you've been through. It is ran by people who have also faced addiction in their lives, but these people have overcome it, and they're ready to show you how you can overcome your addictions as well! Stonehawk promotes the Narconon program because it was proven to work for them. Although Stonehawk is located in Michigan, they will take addicts from all over the country. I am a firm believer if using a rehab facility as far away from home as possible. The farther you are from home, the farther away you are from those things that tempt you to continue the addiction and drug use.

If you are interested in more information, please stop by the Stonehawk website. There are tons of helpful articles to read that might help in the decision to seek help. You can also download an information packet with lots of useful information.

Snapshot Adventures

I love downloading games from Reflexive Arcade. I install the game and play it for a few minutes. If the game catches my attention in anyway, I'll play until the time limit is up, then I'll uninstall it and add the game to my "games to buy" list. If I don't find the game interesting within the first couple of minutes, it gets uninstalled and I return to Reflexive Arcade's site to mark that I didn't like it. That way I won't run the risk of accidentally downloading it again in the future.

Last night a friend of mine brought over his laptop so I could do a cleanup job on it. He knows I like the little reflexive games so he told me he had just picked up a new one from them. He had Snapshot Adventures: Secret of Bird Island, one of the new games! I told him I would check it out after I finished cleaning up his system, and I'd let him know what I thought about it, so he left. I spent 30 minutes working on his pc, and the rest of the night playing the game. I was finally drug myself away from the game at 6am to lay down in bed with hubby for a few minutes before he had to get up for work!

Basically, you run around snapping pictures of various birds. Each mission gets a little tougher, and when you complete it you can earn some cool gadgets for your camera like bigger zoom lens, flash, camera silencers, night vision, etc. The graphics are beautiful, and the birds are rendered smoothly. I found myself getting lost in the game. You get a field journal where you can choose your best shots of each bird stationary and in flight to keep. I found myself wanting to screenshot some of the photos I couldn't keep just because they turned out so well. I was quite impressed with this game. The graphics could be a little better, but overall they are pretty good.

There's also a section where you can design your own bird or download birds others have made. Then you can go to your special locations to snap shots of those birds. This is definitely a game for all ages. I already enjoy birdwatching, and I loved seeing the different types of birds. This game is not only great for kids because it is educational, but you can also teach children about photography. I highly recommend it to anyone!

Meme Break

I'm thinking about moving away from memes for awhile. I've been so busy lately that I just haven't had time to do them. I like doing the memes with a "day" theme, so by the time I remember it, I will be doing a Monday meme on Thursday. Because of these I'm going to take a "meme break". I'll still try to post Fresh Look Friday every week, and I want to get back in the groove of getting Supahstar Saturday up every weekend, but don't be surprised if you don't see many other memes right now.

WireClub: A New Online Community

If you're interested in a new online community where you can meet new people, check out WireClub. You can meet new friends from all over the world and interact with them. There are tons of features that you can choose from including Clubs where you can interact with people who share you interests. If you don't already have your own blog, but you would like to create one, you can also get a free blog to share whatever you want. If you like chatting online, have a free chat with others in the chat rooms!

If you're into online dating, there's also a dating section where you might just meet the person of your dreams, or at least someone to take you on a few dates! You can browse for other users by interests categories, or choose to check out a few of the members featured on the homepage! You can also use the community to connect with old friends or meet new people in your area. Share your photos with others, or check out some of the photos of other members! Best of all the service is completely free to use, so what have you got to lose by checking out WireClub?

Paid Blogging Series: PayPerPost

When I first joined PayPerPost, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I didn't know anyone who did any type of paid blogging, and I only had 2 blogs at the time. One of my blogs was located on myspace, and the other is the Freebies blog that I still maintain. When I heard about PPP, I decided to sign up with my freebies blog. I knew I would only be able to take opportunities dealing with free programs and services, trials, discounts, etc, but I signed up anyway. I was pleasantly surprised when I completed my first 2 ops. I think my first post paid $3 or $4, but that was last year. Since that time PPP has undergone many changes.

Now PPP is definitely a program I recommend to anyone who wants to get into paid blogging. Before joining your blog needs to be at least 90 days old. Once you join you can see a list of all the ops available to you as well as the ones you can't take. You can see the ones you can't take so you will know what things you need to improve about your blog. You might wonder why only certain ones are available. That's because PPP uses a segmenting system that allows advertisers to choose what types of blogs can write about their products and services. The segmenting is done according to Page Rank, Alexa score, categories, and hosting service. Don't worry. Even if you have a low PR and Alexa, there are still plenty of ops to take. I actually write more paid posts on my PR0 blog!

You can do up to 3 posts per day for each blog you register with PPP. The minimum payout is $5 with some ops offering $300 or more. Most of the really high paying ops like that require a lot from the blogger or high numbers for PR and Alexa. Most ops require between 50-300 words and 1-3 links. Payouts are made 30 days after your post is approved. Payouts are generally on time through paypal, and you won't lose any of your hard earned cash to paypal fees.

There's also a referral program for those who are interested, and PPP just added a new feature today called PPP Direct. You place a button on your blog, and advertisers can submit a job offer directly to you. Like I said, it's a new feature, so you can check the PPP blog for more info. I don't know much about it right now. Personally I'm very happy with PayPerPost. Not only have I made some decent cash, but I have also made quite a few friends out of the other PPP bloggers I have met.

Losing Weight The Healthy Way

If you're one of the many people out there who constantly struggle with weight loss, check out myfitnesspal.com. You can find tons of useful information to help you lose weight. You will also find a free calorie counter and program that will help you lose weight by learning what's in your foods, counting calories, and eating healthier. The best part is that this site is 100% completely free. If you already have a diet program that you prefer to use, the counter will work with it to count calories, carbs, etc. A lot of the diet programs out there aren't exactly healthy either, especially the ones that push you to lose as much weight as quickly as possible. With myfitnesspal, you will lose the weight with a healthy diet. If you are already happy with your weight, you can also use the same site features to help you maintain your healthy weight. You can keep track of the foods you eat with your personal food diary, and you can also talk to others trying to lose weight on the forums. Go ahead and check out myfitnesspal to see some of the other great features they offer.

Paid Blogging

I decided with the world of paid blogging evolving everyday, and new paid to blog sites popping up all the time, I'm going to start a little mini series of posts that tell about each one I've used, how I like it, and stuff like that. That way if you're interested in making a little money to blog, you will know what you're getting into before you attempt it.

I walked into all of it blind when I first started. I read a blog post about one of the first programs I signed up with, and considering I had just lost my job, I saw it as my opportunity to bring in a little cash. I looked at it as hey, this is free, so even if I don't make anything I've just wasted a little of my time. I can't even remember what blog turned me onto it, and I wish I could because I would definitely give them some link love, but that was a few months ago and shortly after I lost quite a few of my bookmarks.

After I completed my first few posts back when this blog was still a PR0 just barely eligible for most of the paid blogging sites, I read many blogs that condemned people for paid blogging. It caused me to have mixed feelings at the time and I wondered what I was getting into. Then I met a ton of wonderful bloggers like who do a few paid blogging posts each week like myself, and my thoughts completely turned back to the positive side. That's why I've decided to do this mini series. There is so much negative feedback out there that I want to contribute some positive feedback!

In the next few weeks I will be discussing the following programs.

• payperpost
• blogitive
• loudlaunch
• reviewme
• smorty
• bloggerwave (why I won't use this one...it's a scam!)
• blogsvertise
• bloggingads
• payu2blog
• v7n
• sponsoredreviews
• creamaid
• any other programs I try
  

Driving In Mexico

Did you know that driving in Mexico can be a lot different than driving in the United States? If you're planning a trip, or have ever considered planning a trip to Mexico, there are a few things you need to know if you plan on renting a car for your use across the border. If you're getting a rental car, you need to consider auto insurance for Mexico. I've always known that different countries had different laws when it comes to driving, but I didn't now that if you are in an accident in Mexico, you are fully responsible for paying for any damage that occurred. They won't accept the auto insurance you already have in the US. That's right, it just doesn't count, and you could go to jail until you get the cash to pay for everything.

Do you really want to have to call your friends and family to say guess what, I've been in a wreck. They won't accept my insurance. Now I'm in jail! Oh, yeah, can you bring me some cash? Where? I'm in Mexico! How many people do you know who would be willing to get you out of your bind? How can they get away with this? In the US, we work under laws that assume you are innocent until proven guilty. Mexican laws are quite different. They assume you are guilty until proven innocent. It's called Napoleonic Code, and if you don't have the cash on hand to cover the damage, or a Mexican insurance policy, you're going straight to jail.

It's simple to avoid all of this. All you need to do is get a Mexican auto insurance policy before you make your trip. Only one driver needs to be listed on the policy. Any other drivers holding a US license will then be covered as long as they have permission from the one listed on the policy. The insurance is good throughout Mexico, and it really can save you a lot of grief. Getting the insurance is simple. You can get a Mexican auto insurance quote now to see how much it would cost you.

Bloggerwave Possibly Commiting Fraud?

For a few weeks now I have been steaming over the fact that Bloggerwave should have paid me over a month ago for 3 posts written for them. I've spoken to a few other bloggers who are in the same situation. Most paid to blog services are setup to pay you 30 days after the post is available on their blog. Why do they do this? They do it because most of them require you to leave the post up for 30 days. If they pay you immediately, who's to say you won't go delete that post? Most bloggers are too ethical to do such a thing, but there may be those who would.

So, as of May 9th, my last post should have cleared the 30 day mark for Bloggerwave. At this point a lot of us bloggers were beginning to wonder about the services. A lot of us were already skeptical because the website looks almost like a carbon copy of PayPerPost. We were also concerned with the lack of listings available to us. Because of this, I had decided mid-April that I would no longer write anything for them until I received payment for the jobs I had already completed. We were all getting antsy, but then we started hearing from bloggers who were receiving their payments. One blogger also informed us that she had received a double payment. We all felt a little better, but then the payments stopped. I spoke with quite a few people who have also been wondering why they hadn't yet been paid. We've all attempted to contact Bloggerwave by email with no luck. I personally have sent them at least one email a week for the past month.

Then the bad news hit. Bloggerwave seems to have made some fraudulent payments to it the bloggers who accepted jobs from them. One blogger in particular has written about his experience with Paypal and the payment made by Bloggerwave from an unauthorized source. Paypal ended up reversing his payment back to the original source. This just proves yet another way people are taking advantages of those trying to earn a little extra cash. It has finally entered the world of freelance writing and blogging.

Thankfully Bloggerwave didn't require a Tax ID or SSN# during the signup process, and just as with everything else I join, I didn't give complete accurate information either. As a precaution with these companies, I wait to see how things are going to play out before I provide my accurate info. After all, they won't need it until I earn enough from them to require tax information. I'm also thankful that I haven't received payment for any of the work I've completed. I would much rather say I was taken by someone who didn't pay and delete the posts than have to deal with paypal and possible fraud. If you have done any writing for Bloggerwave, please be aware of this problem, and if you have received a payment I highly suggest you contact Paypal.

Just Another Monday

It's time for some Monday Madness!

1. Name one thing you received as a gift on your last birthday.
My birthday was a while ago, so honestly I can't remember exactly what I got! I know hubby took me out to a nice dinner, and my friends took me to a club in Greenville, and wouldn't let me pay for anything. We hardly get to do that since it's an hour away.
2. What would be the "perfect" birthday gift?
Just getting to spend the day with my family and friends.
3. Do you look forward to birthdays?
I do, even though I'm starting to realize how old I'm getting! This year I'll have my first birthday where I have to say, oh no, I'm almost 30.
4. On your birthday, do you treat yourself to something special each year?
I hate to say it, but a couple of times I've waited until hubby went to work, then called in sick on my birthday just to enjoy the day for myself lol. That's why I had a habit of not giving out my bday at work. I normally at least do something, go shopping, or buy myself something online just to celebrate.
5. Do you bother keeping up with your horoscope on a regular basis?
Nope, but I'll read it sometimes for a laugh.
6. What zodiac sign are you, and do you think you fit the description for that sign?
Scorpio, and for the most part, yes. I've got almost all of the scorpio traits.

Wedding & Party Favors

Weddings are in the air this time of year. It seems like everyone I know who vowed to be single for life has recently gotten engaged. Of course most of those people have decided to have a long engagement, so I can expect to receive quite a few invitations further on down the road. My little sister however, was engaged last year. She and her fiance had planned to get married in May, but due to financial issues, they bumped the wedding to later in the year. She still hasn't officially set another date yet, but I've moved from being maid of honor to also being the wedding planner.

It's no big deal. I've planned a wedding before...my own, and I did it with a very small budget. I made most of my wedding favors and decorations. I even made my own bouquets out of some fake but very beautiful flowers. I wanted the bridesmaids to be able to keep their bouquets as another little gift. I also purchased a few things that I found for very good prices. One thing I was able to get for a good price were personalized candy bar wrappers. The candy bars were a big hit, and many guests requested extras to save.

They were such a big hit, I used them again when I planned my mother's 50th birthday party. All of her friends also loved the favors, and my mom kept a few to remind her of the day. We were able to turn a birthday that most women dread into something memorable!

15 Minute SEO List

If you're still a little unsure how to go about doing your SEO, check out the 15 Minute SEO List. It was shared over at the Geeky Speaky boards, and I felt it was definitely worth passing along. I know I have a time with figuring out exactly how to do SEO over at Everyday Randomness, but thanks to links like these I just about have it down now...I think!

Energy Supplements

As tired as I've been lately, maybe I need to start thinking about taking an energy supplement. I normally take vitamins, but I've been kind of slack on that lately. I've definitely notice I feel a lot more run down as busy as I've been, but I'm scared of a lot of the things on the market today. I was the girl in college who popped energy pills to stay awake and study, but as I got older, I started paying attention to the types of energy pills I took. A lot of them just aren't safe in my opinion. Now I'm looking for something that's not only safe, but it will help me with more than just energy, too. I want something that's going to stimulate me mentally as well. It doesn't do much good to have the energy if my brain is drained. I also want something that's not going to make my heart race or make me crash as soon as it wears off.

Crazy Dreams

Good morning everyone. It's definitely early morning here, but I just couldn't sleep. I guess when you sleep until 3pm because you're under the weather, then you go back to bed at midnight, it makes sense to wake up at 4 am. The bad dream didn't help, but at least I can have a few hours of peace and quiet before hubby wakes up to get ready for work.

The dream thing reminded me that Colleen is doing a sort of mini meme about crazy dreams. I had thought about participating a few days ago when she announced it on the Geeky Speaky boards, but I hardly ever have crazy dreams. I admit I have the occassional dream about a hot celeb like Ami James (drools), but I just normally don't have crazy ones.

Maybe it's because I've been kind of sick and worn down lately, but the one I just woke up from was really weird. I don't remember all of it, but I do remember bits and pieces very vividly. I remember constantly searching for my bulldog, Bubba, and making sure he was at my side at every moment. That could be because I kind of really do that. After we lost our American Bulldog, I've been a little over protective of Bubba, especially when we go outside. Hubby tells me to relax and have fun with him, but I'm constantly making sure he isn't going to sprint for the road or out the door when someone comes to visit.

I also remember we were in some sort of super awesome vacation home. It was a 2 story with a garage, kitchen, living room, dining room, 2 bedrooms and bathroom downstairs, and 3 bedrooms upstairs with another bathroom. You'd think there'd be more bathrooms with that many bedrooms, right? lol There was also a fouton upstairs in a sort of alcove. Our best friend was sleeping on the fouton, and another friend of mine was staying in the middle bedroom. I never saw her, but her young son was asleep in that room all the time. My parents were there, too, only they weren't my real parents. I don't know who they were. There was also another couple staying in one of the other bedrooms, but I don't know who. We were all being secretive about it, and they kept the door locked most of the time. I had a nosey neighbor, and she knew the couple in the guestroom. I'm not sure where my room was. I thought it was downstairs because my nosey neighbor was always snooping around my window, but when I went to bed, I had to go upstairs. The nosey neighbor was always going off to plot with a friend, then she would return to snoop around my house. I found her asleep on the patio furniture, and she was always asking me to open my windows to let a little light in, but I accused her of trying to see inside the house for some reason.

The last part I remember before waking up is the weird part. We all came back in some sort of charter bus or something, and when we get inside, the dog is on alert searching for something. I dismiss it, and keep going about my business. I go to walk upstairs, and I find a leash laying on the steps. I pick it up and start to walk back downstairs, but I realize it isn't my dog's leash. It's way too short, so I turn around and head back up the stairs, and I said "She found him." I run the rest of the way up the stairs and don't see anything. It's pitch dark. The dog starts sniffing, and I feel someone grab me. I look down to see the nosey neighbor crouched on the floor with a guy laying in the floor below her. I don't know who it was, if he was dead or alive, or what. I couldn't see faces. She grabbed my hand and bit me, and I woke up. Freaky right?

I woke up with the dog, who normally sleeps in the floor next to the bed, laying on top of me licking the same hand that was just bit in my dream. Maybe the dog "nibbled" on me while I was asleep? lol He does have a chewing and licking fetish. One of his rubber balls was laying on the bed next to me, so I'm wondering if maybe he was chewing on it next to my hand, accidentally got my finger, and that's what caused me to wake up. I don't know, but I know it was definitely one crazy dream!

Memory Upgrades

If you're looking to do a memory upgrade in your computer, why don't you check out the Memory Store? They have a simple setup that is easy to understand by anyone who can use a computer. Say you're looking for IBM memory. Just choose the make and model of your system and all the possible upgrades will be listed for you. How easy is that? This saves you from having to figure out what pin ram you have, then having to search for the right thing. With this site, it gives you all possible matches for your system without the hassle of searching for extra information before you buy.

CAPSTAR Product Review

I recently read a post over at Lisa's blog that made me want to tell you about a product I've been using for a few months. After all, this is my review blog right? Why shouldn't I tell you about something I know works!

With the warm weather in full swing, our pets are bound to run into some fleas. A few months back, while it was still cold, we had a flea outbreak in our house. We think the cat picked them up from the neighbor's cat, then he passed them along to the puppy. The puppy wasn't yet old enough for most of the meds on the market, so I started looking for something that was safe for him. That's when I found CAPSTAR, and I will never be without it again. It took one pill for the puppy, and two pills to clear up the cat.

Here's what I love about CAPSTAR:

• Safe for almost all pets. You can even give it to young puppies/kittens at least 4 weeks old and 2 lbs and nursing pets.
• It's not a once a month. It's a pill that cures an outbreak fast by killing the adults before the situation gets out of hand
• You can use it with your once a month treatment to clear up an outbreak if it's too soon to give another dose of the once a month stuff.
• Cats and dogs use the same pill. At the time both of our pets were under 25 lbs, so I only had to buy one box.
  
• 1 pill normally does the job, but if it doesn't, you can safely give another dose the next day.
• Capstar is an OTC product. You don't have to obtain a vet prescription to purchase.
  

The product is really coming in handy for us now. Our vet recommended we keep a stockpile of CAPSTAR pills just because most of the once a month meds aren't working this year. The fleas have become immune to them, but CAPSTAR kills them all! I buy mine from Bullwrinkle.com because they have good prices, and of course I'm a bullie mama.

A Trip To Disney

Hubby and I are always receiving invites to Florida from our family and friends who live there, and this summer I'm seriously thinking about going. Staying with family and friends will give us more money to spend on things like Disney tickets. I was just checking out Orlandofuntickets.com because they offer tons of discount packages for Disney as well as a ton of other places like SeaWorld, Universal Studios, and NASA Space Center. I'm also looking at the dinner show packages they offer. I've always been interested in dinner shows, but I've never had the pleasure of seeing one. The Richard Petty driving experience would be fun for hubby, and I've always wanted to go to the Dixie Stampede. I bet I could really make a fun trip out of it!

EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 review

I've been planning to review some of the products we used for the Monster PC Build we did for hubby's boss, but I haven't had a chance to get around to it yet because of all the problems we've had. I finally decided it was time to give my thoughts on the EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 T1 Version. We originally decided to go with this board because the ASUS board we were looking at had tons of issues. After reading a few reviews and listening to recommendations from other PC gurus, we settled on the EVGA motherboard.

We ordered the first board in March from Tiger Direct. I've done a lot of shopping with them, and normally I don't have problems with any of their products. I wasn't too worried about it because they have a 30 day Iron Clad guarantee on their products. We installed the motherboard and had no problems for the first few weeks. about mid-April the second video card, used to power the 2 extra monitors, starting giving problems. Hubby's boss called to tell me the video card had died, and he was ordering a bigger card. I told him I didn't feel like it was the video card, but he swore it was and ordered it anyway. We replaced the video card with no problem, but within 2 weeks he called back to tell me the new card had died. He brought the system to me for a repair. It didn't take but a few minutes for me to determine that the lower pci express x16 slot was dead. I tried 3 video cards, all of which worked in the top x16 slot, but none would work in the bottom slot. I called hubby's boss, explained the situation, and although I offered to fill out the RMA report for a replacement, he decided to order a second board from Tiger Direct.

The second board arrived today. Hubby came in from work carrying it under his arm, and went right to work installing it. It only took 30 minutes to get the system put back together, but when we turned it on, we got the dreaded error code for a memory issue. We removed all the ram, tried each stick one at a time, and finally decided to call EVGA tech support. We spent 15 minutes on the phone with tech support, just long enough to diagnose the motherboard as DOA. I also took the time to ask about the first board, and technical support agreed it was a manufacturer defect that took some time to show it's ugly face.

So, here we are with two identical EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 boards, both of which are dead. I've never had a problem with EVGA products before. I've ordered many video cards from them and have been quite pleased with the performance, but I just can't offer a good review for the motherboard. Reading the EVGA forums just confirms how horrible these boards are. There are 100's of pages filled with discussions on dead boards and ram issues. I'm definitely not impressed. I expected so much more from EVGA and Nvidia.

We have RMA'd the first board, and the second is on it's way back to Tiger Direct for a full refund thanks to their 30 day iron clad guarantee. I'm crossing my fingers and sending up many prayers that the 3rd board received directly from EVGA will be a winner. 2 out of 3 is still a very bad sign, but I have also heard many many good things about this motherboard, so I'm hoping it won't be 3 out of 3. If it is, EVGA can keep the replacement board and I'll convince the guy to go with something else for his system.

Can You Seduce A Celeb?

There's finally a contest out there for all you guys in the world. It's quite an interesting concept, and I must admit I laughed when I saw it. How would you like to win a date with Actress Mirelly Taylor? I'm serious here. It might seem a little "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" -ish, but it's really going to happen! The contest is called Seduce A Celeb, and it's actually an online first for a contest of this type!

Who is Mirelly Taylor? You may have seen her in movies such as Serving Sara or Kiss Me again. She's also joined the casts of Las Vegas, Punk'd, and Numb3rs. She's a saucy brunette who knows what she's looking for in a guy.

If you want to participate, all you have to do is go watch Mirelly's videos about what she wants in a guy. You might also happen to see the Emmy Award winning producer Scott Steinberg or Andres Firestone from The Bachelor also appearing. Then you just respond with your own video message. Sounds easy enough right? The contest will run for 14 weeks, and all the entries will be uploaded and posted for users to rate as Free videos at GoFish.com. The top 3 user picks will be reviewed by Mirelly Taylor, and she will make the final pick.

If you want to check out your competition, vote for your favorites, or just have a good laugh, don't forget to watch the video entries like the one below!

Monday Computer Madness

This week's Monday Madness questions are good ones in my opinion. My computer is definitely a topic I can talk about anyday.

1. Which web browser do you prefer?
Firefox all the way. There are a few times I use Opera for certain things, and I'll use IE only when I absolutely have to. I hate all those sites that aren't Firefox compatible! 2. Are you a PC user or MAC user?
PC
3. Will your next computer purchase happen within the next year (do you think)?
Nope, because I don't "purchase" computers anymore. I build my own, so I buy one or two parts at a time when I can afford them, then I throw it together into a new one. I've currently got everything except the case and hard drive for my next pc sitting in boxes right behind me ready to go!
4. Will you purchase your next computer at a local store or via the internet?
well all the parts have been purchased sporatically all over the internet. I'll probably pick up my next hard drive at a store during a sale, but my case will be shipping to me from the wonderful online distributer in about a week.
5. Have you had any experience with Windows Vista?
Should Windows Vista allow you to answer this question? Cancel or Allow?
6. What are your feelings about this new operating system (if any)?
HATE it with a capital H-A-T-E. Don't ever expect to see me using it. It's a whole lot of fluff and bs stuffed into a small package with a large price tag in typical Gates fashion.

Happy Mother's Day

www.wishafriend.com

Happy Mother's day everyone! I just wanted to stop by and let all you mothers know how much I appreciate everything you do everyday. I haven't had time to post much this weekend due to the fact that I've been spending most of my weekend with my mother, grandma, and mother in law. I hope you've all enjoyed your Mother's day weekend!

What To Do If The Domain You Want Is Taken

With all the talk about moving off free hosting lately, I decided it was time to talk about domains. Most people would love to have their own domain name, but it comes down to it, we don't want to shell out the cash, we can't think of a good name, or the one we want is already taken. Everyone always assumes that when planning on buying a domain, you need to come up with something unique that isn't already taken. Most of the time this is true, but what if that one name you really want is already taken? What if you want to move your blog from a free host but the exact same domain name is taken? I know it's a lot of questions, but what do you do if you own the .com of your name but someone else has the .net and you want/need both?

There are still ways to get that name you want. Many services out there offer currently registered names for sell. Of course, you're going to pay a very steep price, but if it's the name you need for something such as a business that's booming, shelling out that much might not be a big deal.

Okay, what do you do if you have a domain that you don't need anymore? What if it's just sitting there, and you feel like you threw your money down the drain on a domain you're not using? Sell it! There might be someone out there trying to register the name you have right now, getting frustrated because it's already taken. Sure, they might be able to register the .net or .org versions, but if they need the version you have, they're definitely going to be interested in buying it. Buydomains.com offers you unlimited domain name listings a year for $19.95. You might think that's almost $20 to sell, but wait. Have you seen the prices that domain names sell for these days?

Seriously, if you have a name you need to buy or one you need to sell, there are services out there to help you out. You might have an extra cost in the beginning when buying a "used" domain, but in the end, you're most likely going to be rewarded more from having the right domain for you instead of settling for the next best thing. When selling a domain, you can sometimes make back double and triple what you paid!

Fresh Look Friday

It's been quite awhile since I've had time to write a Fresh Look Friday review due to all the weekend trips we've been taking, and I'm so sorry for that! But, it's time to get it rolling again, and I've got the perfect blog to share with you guys this week!

If you've never stopped by RPSoapworks, you're totally missing out. If you love girlie things, especially of the smell good type, follow Lisa as she tries new products, and shares her feelings about them with you. I just can't get enough of her site! From candles, perfumes, to even scented laundry detergent, there's something for every woman! Lisa also shares a list of sales codes in her sidebar to help you find a great bargain on great things we all love! Stop by and show her some love, read up on some products, and find something you really like! I can promise you, you won't leave her site without finding at least one thing you want to try for yourself! I'm definitely going to see if hubby will let me get some of the candle sampler boxes for myself!

CRM Software

No matter how large or small your business is, you may need customer relationship management, crm, software at some point. There are many companies out there, but choosing the right one for your business might be difficult. Take a look at Aimpromote as your software solution. Integration is easy, and making your business flow smoothly after implementation will be a breeze. Support is at your fingertips through email, the toll free telephone number, or through the support forum. Aimpromote also carries considerably lower costs than most other crm solutions, including free setup as well as free integration into their website. If you want to increase sales while improving your business, consider trying the 14 day free trial of Aimpromote.

Getting Your Own Hosting

Most of my readers know I'm working on getting all of my blogs moved to my own hosting. I've finally got my main blog set up on my hosting, and I will be posting most of my content there, but my free hosted blogs are still being updated as well. One of my readers is searching for hosting as well, and emailed me today asking for information about my host, so I thought I would share it here for all of you who are looking to make the big move.

My hosting is from one of my very good friends who hosts for bloggers only. He's got a great package, and a 99% uptime. I haven't had a single problem since moving my main blog, and not once has my blog had any downtime. He will pre-install wordpress for you if that's the platform you choose to use, and tech support is always just an email away. If you have any problems he works hard to get them fixed for you, even if it's something as simple as installing a plugin wrong, or not knowing how to change your blog colors. You can check out his packages on his blog for more info.

If you're still debating on moving off your free host, read my entry to the ProBlogger community writing project, the Top 5 Reasons To Move Off Free Hosting.

Research

Where do you go when you want information that wikipedia isn't offering? Maybe you've already found information on a subject, but you would still like to do a little more research. Encyclocentral is a collection of articles found online dealing with many different subjects. When you need a little information on tops such as Legal issues, gadgets & gizmos, or even something such as site promotion, encyclocentral is a great free resource. You never know what you might find!

Jumping On The Moola Train

Have you heard of Moola? It's a great new service in beta right now that gives you a chance to make money. Okay, this is how it works. Moola is a games server that uses advertisements, shown at the beginning of each game, to generate revenue. Then they give you a penny to play games with. You bet that penny, and if you win, it doubles. You move on to the next round, betting 2 pennies, and if you win, it doubles. If you lose, you lose everything, but you can cash out at anytime, and Moola always gives you another penny to start over with. You can also receive bonuses from searches through Moola, and taking offers in their booster zone. The booster zone contains some paid offers, but there are also trials and free offers as well.

Here's the catch. You can't sign up for an account at Moola, yet. Their beta testing is running along the lines of how Gmail worked, and how Joost is working now. If you want to join, you have to find yourself an invite. You can post on the invite forum and wait for someone to send you one, which is honestly the quickest way to get one, or you can add your name to their list to receive future invites.

I also have a few invites left, so if you're interested in one, leave your contact info in a comment, and I'll gladly send you one if I have any left. As of right now I only have 3, so it's first come first serve! If you don't want spammers grabbing your email addy, just enter it as yourname AT youremail DOT com to prevent this!

Win With The Lowest Bid

If you haven't heard about bid4prizes yet, you should check it out. The concept isn't like any other auction type site out there today. You try to bid the lowest bid to win the prize. If you win, you don't really pay anything. The dollar amount you bid just determines who the winner is. You can bid one of two ways, either online or from your cell phone.

Right now there are quite a few prizes I would be interested in winning, but I would really love to win the Panasonic 42" TV and Bose DVD Theater System. Hubby and I are always fighting over my 37" tv when we really want to watch something, and most of the time I give in and watch my show on his smaller TV with bad colors. I've tried to adjust it many times, but it's just not worth trying to fix it. If you bump the TV the slightest little bit, the colors go all whack again. We just really need a new TV for the living room, and this would be a great one to win!

Smokey Mountain Hideaways

This has been such an interesting week. If you've stopped by my Everyday Randomness blog, you know I went out of town for the weekend. We took the motorcycles to Deal's Gap, but we were rained out on Saturday, so we found a nice little cozy lodge in the mountains called the Kickstand Lodge. I really wanted to share with everyone my experiences at this place because I have never stayed anywhere before like it. If you're ever in the Smokey Mountains, particularly around Robbinsville and Stecoah, NC, I really suggest stopping by this place to check it out.

The Kickstand Lodge might be a small campground and resort revolving around Motorcycles, but anyone is welcome there. We started out on our trip Saturday morning with full intentions of camping at Deal's Gap, but an hour into the trip we realized the rain wasn't going to let up, so I called the Kickstand Lodge hoping for a couple openings in the bunkhouse. The lodge has 2 cabins, a bunkhouse that sleeps 4, mini camping cabins that sleep 1, and camping sites set up for both RVs and tent only. When I called we were lucky enough to get a cabin with 1 full and 1 single. There aren't bathrooms in the cabins. Instead you have a community bathhouse that I must say has the cleanest bathrooms I have ever seen. It was perfect for the 3 of us. Anyway, I talked to the owner, Mo, on the phone and she wouldn't even hear of letting me put a deposit on the room before we got there. She said she had my name, my location, and that's all she needed to know. We got there a little over an hour later, and we knew we had found a great place.

The entire lodge is focused on people getting to know each other and having a great time. Mo learns everyone's names before you walk out of the office, and she makes sure you're as happy as can be. We settled into our cabin, and then we spent the next hour hanging out at the big community outdoor kitchen just chilling with Mo and a few of the other regular guests. Everyone is very friendly, and instead of hanging out at individual cabins and campsites keeping to your own, everyone is basically expected to get to know the other guests.

For each meal, Mo gets everyone together and cooks a huge outdoor BBQ. Everyone chips in and helps cook in some way, even if it's as simple as looking something up in the cookbook. We had the best burgers ever, clam chowder, taco soup, the best grilled corn on the cob I've ever tasted, and some really good slaw. Mo feeds everyone for free, but takes donations to help her pay for the food. It was great. The prices at the resort are extremely cheap, especially for the area, and you can't beat awesome food for donations only.

There's a community bonfire after dinner, and Mo provides all the smores you can eat. If you're a beer drinker, she recommends it. We played horseshoes, fished in the pond, fed the ducks, and chilled by the Bonfire making new friends all night. We met an awesome group of guys up with Mountain Bikes. They were a nice group of cops from Charlotte, and I look forward to running into them again. We had so much fun we didn't want to leave Sunday.

If you want to explore the Smokey Mountains, I really suggest staying at the Kickstand Lodge. You've got great people, great food, an awesome experience, and most of the good tourist attractions like Maggie Valley, Gatlinburg, Cherokee, Deal's Gap, Bryson City, and Cherohala Skyway are no more than an hour and 1/2 away. You've got mountain biking, hiking, whitewater rafting, motorcycles, scooter rentals, and awesome scenery all around you.

A Cell Phone For Mother's Day?

We all know how special our mom's are, but sometimes we have a hard time figuring out what to get her for Mother's Day. My mom is especially hard to shop for. She doesn't like expensive jewelry (must be where I get it from), she's not interested in learning anything about computers, so anything computer related is out of the question, and she's got too many clothes to even consider going that route. One thing my mom doesn't have is a decent cell phone. She's got a cheap pre-paid that she uses for emergencies only. Even when she does use it just to call while she's on the road, she'll leave me a message, then turn it off, so I can never call her back. It drives me crazy. Then if my sister runs out of minutes on her phone, my mom will hand hers over so my sister can run those minutes out, so half the time she doesn't even have the phone with her if she needs it. My mom complains about not wanting a contract where she has to pay $50-60 a month, but with a pre-paid, to keep her phone activated she's still paying that for half the minutes she would get with a plan.

I thought about getting her a new cell phone. The way I see it, paying about $60 a month for a cell phone bill is much cheaper than constantly buying pre-paid cards she doesn't use, and right now, if I go with a Cingular plan, I can get her a free pink RAZR cell phone including a free H3 Bluetooth headset. I might arrange it with her in advance, so she knows it's going to have a contract, but I would pay for the first couple of months for her, and then possibly pay for a portion of it again when Christmas rolls around.

Locks Of Love Contest Extended

I wasn't too happy with the results of my Locks of Love campaign. Okay, let me rephrase. I wasn't too happy with the results of my online part of the campaign. I've talked to many people offline and convinced them to donate in some way. Hubby got a haircut last week, and while we were there, I convinced two women to donate their hair. When our hairstylist asked if I was ready for a cut, I told her not this time. I'm trying to grow it out again for locks of love. Both women sitting next to me were all ears, wanting details on how to do it, how much to cut, and all that. Both of them had their hair braided and cut before we left!

As for the online portion of my campaign, it's not going so well. I asked for my readers to support the cause in some way. I didn't ask you to cut your hair. I just asked for some form of donation, whether it be by donating hair, purchasing something from their store, or even just blogging about the charity, but only a few of you participated. I agreed to give away a gift certificate to one of the participants once I reached 10 people, but sadly I've only had 3 people participate. I really thought a lot more people would be willing to say a little something in their blog about Locks of Love!

I'm not giving up yet though! I'm still supporting my charity with all I've got, and I'm still going to give away that gift certificate. I'm just extending my deadline for the contest. Instead of saying I'd give it away in May, I'm completely ditching the deadline for entries. The new rules are that I will give away the gift certificate when I finally have at least 10 people helping me to support my cause. It's very simple people. All you have to do is write a small blog post about Locks of Love. Then link back to my Locks of Love contest so others can learn more about the charity, too.

Cell Phones & Accessories

If you're looking for a new cell phone or cell phone accessories, I have found a site with tons of great stuff, and great prices. Cellular Blowout offers over 300 types of unlocked cell phones, and over 17,000 cell phone accessories for just about any needs you could have. If you don't know what an unlocked cell phone is, it's a cell phone that isn't locked specifically to one carrier. Most cell phone carriers lock the phone specifically to their service so you can't use it with another service.

There are many benefits to having an unlocked cell phone. It will work with any carrier, so if you change your service provider, you don't have to buy a new cell phone. Also, another benefit to having an unlocked cell phone is you are able to purchase any type of cell phone you want, not just the ones offered by your carrier. Say your a fan of Miami Ink, and you want the Motorola V3 Dragon designed by Ami James, but your service provider doesn't offer the phone. You can order the unlocked version from Cellular Blowout and use it with any service provider you want! This also means you don't have to purchase a new contract, or extend your current one, just to get a decent price on the phone! You can buy it already unlocked at a discount price!

The accessories you can find are awesome. There aren't many sites that carry repeaters and signal extenders, and most of those sites have priced these products extremely high, but through Cellular Blowout I can get a cell phone automobile signal repeater for as low as $30! I also like the selection of college cell phone cases. I'm definitely ordering the Clemson case for hubby's phone. Don't forget to check out all the ringtones and games, too. You don't have to settle for basic ringtones or just the ones your carrier makes available for purchase anymore!

I especially like the fact that all orders are processed through yahoo shopping. I've purchased through many stores that use yahoo shopping, and I'm extremely pleased with how secure and easy ordering is.

Rolling The Change

Every week I roll tons of change. DH never EVER spends his change. Well, okay, he does, but rarely. Most of the time he comes home, throws his jeans in the floor, and change falls everywhere. If he actually makes it to the couch with his jeans on, the change ends up beneath the cushions. If the change actually manages to stay in his pockets, when it's laundry time he transfers the change to the nearest table or countertop.

Hey, I'm not complaining. The less change he decides to spend, the more money I have saved up that he doesn't really pay attention to! This means I'm rolling change on a weekly basis. I roll all the silver, and I put the pennies aside for a later date. Once my big penny jar is full I'm going to take it to one of those coin machines that does it for you, but I'm not paying the prices they charge for the silver. On that note, I need some kind of automatic change counter machine thingy. I'm getting seriously tired of counting it all out and doing it by hand each week, and I just happened to remember I had one of those little plastic penny banks as a kid that looked like a bank vault. It sorted your change and rolled it for you. All you had to do is stick another paper roll in the slot and drop in your change. I also remember it broke like 2 weeks after I got it, so does anyone know of any really good change counter/roller thingies like this?

Natural Beauty of Hawaii

Hubby and I have talked for quite some time about wanting to visit Hawaii. If we ever get to make the trip, it will definitely be a dream come true. I've always wanted to go to one of the quieter resorts on the islands. I want to see the natural beauty of Hawaii that makes it so special without all the hustle of the big city. I was looking at some resorts, just dreaming about how nice it would be to take the trip, and the beauty of some of the more nature friendly kauai condos is outstanding. A recent press release about the condos stated:

We have traditionally specialized in providing our customers with alternative trips to Hawaii allowing them to stay in unique places and helping them coordinate the details of their dream vacation, be it romantic, active or relaxation focused.

I would love to be able to take a trip there! The prices are definitely more reasonable than I imagined, too with some condos as low as $100 a night. I'm starting to see this trip as a definite possibility for us in the near future. We want to take our trip to Hawaii before we have any little ones on the way, and this would be the perfect honeymoon for us since we never had a real honeymoon.

Help For Drug Abuse

I have been on my anti-drug campaign for quite awhile now. I'm not one of those little goody two shoes girls taking on a campaign for which she knows nothing about.

I have first hand experience with drug abuse through my husband and friends. I watched my hubby deal with an addition. We began dating at the time when he was looking for an out, and when I gave him an ultimatum, he took the help offered and walked away from Methamphetamine while he could.

Our other friends weren't that lucky. One of them is so deep into his addiction that he lives from meth house to meth house looking for his next fix. He's lost his home, his job, and most of his family and friends. If he had gotten the help he needed, he wouldn't be in this situation now. If he had just tried drug rehab he wouldn't be living in his car or meth houses. He could go home to his family every night, and he definitely wouldn't be killing himself with every needle he puts in his arm. If you know someone who has a drug addiction, please help them get the help they need. All it takes is a phone call to 1-800-NODRUGS or a visit to their website at 1-800-nodrugs.com.