Snowing, snowing

It started snowing around 10:00 this morning and has not stopped as of yet. It may snow all night and into tomorrow, according to the radio. The station is in Branson, which is about an hours drive away, so sometimes the weather predictions are somewhat off. They let the schools out early and the grocery store was so packed I had to wait for a shopping cart to use! Everyone is stocking up in case they get "snowed in" for a few days.

Coming from Colorado, this all seems a bit silly to me. I mean, they have gotten over 50 inches so far this year in Denver and life goes on. Here, we get one inch and the whole town shuts down. I can understand when there is ice under the snow, but today it just started snowing with no rain before so there is no ice. The highway was dry and as long as the snowplows do their thing, the town should still be able to function.

On the ice

With the cold weather and some snow and ice around, I always think of ice skating. I don't think they could have an outdoor rink here since it doesn't stay cold long enough, but when we lived in Colorado I remember going to the outdoor rink in Evergreen with my mom. It is a whole different experience than skating indoors. They even have hockey leagues that practice outdoors there.

My mom is from Canada and her family is very big into hockey. I remember at my Grandpapa's house, there was always a hockey game on TV and we would play on an old hockey board game with movable figures. For people who are really into hockey, there are NHL Forums where you can chat with other fans about all the National teams and players. They have separate forums within the site for each hockey team, as well as general forums for discussion on different hockey-related topics.

They also have an arcade area where you can play games like Pacman, Tetris, Asteroids, Pinball, and others. This is a neat idea because when you post to a forum, sometimes you want to wait and see if you get any responses. What better way to spend a few minutes than to reminisce with some old arcade games from your youth?

And so it begins...

I made a prediction when school started back up after Christmas Break that someone would be sick within two weeks. Well, I was wrong - it took four weeks. I just got a call from the nurse and had to pick up my daughter from school. She has a fever and is complaining about head and stomach pain.

The nurse said she has had about 60 kids so far this week with the same symptoms, so this thing is very contagious. Which means our whole family will probably get it. I hope I hear back from the ARKids plan so I can have the office visits paid for when the kids are sick. The insurance we have right now only covers yearly check-ups and wellness exams. According to the school nurse, February and March are the worst months for sicknesses going around. Joy.

Cell phone popularity

I recently read that there are more cellular phones in use today than there are automobiles and personal computers. I guess this means that kids who are too young to drive have cellular phones and that a lot of people access the internet through their phones since most phones today have that option. I do not have a cell phone - gave it up when we moved to paradise. I found that always having a phone with me increased my stress level to a certain degree. Anyway, I am still amazed at the technology of cell phones and all the features they can fit in such a small package.

Case in point - Wirefly's top 10 cell phones of 2006 shows that the slim, colorful Motorola RAZR snagged the top 3 spots, and another 5 of the top 10 are based on Motorola phones also. I predict the new iPhone by Mac will be the most popular choice for 2007 - if there are enough people who can afford its high price tag. Of course, if you take into consideration that it is a phone, computer, organizer, and camera rolled into one, you might actually save money to buy just the iPhone rather than all those gadgets separately.

Time wasted

I often hear people say they wish they had more hours in the day to accomplish more things. You always hear people say "Time Flies" and talk about how fast the kids grow up. What I don't understand is why so many people continue to watch so much television. I know it's easy to get caught up in your favorite series - that's why we have given up television all together. We have movies that we watch occasionally, but I don't feel our time is wasted as much as when we used to watch television.

Television has so much filler with commercials, that you really only get about 20 minutes of showtime anyway. I think if people stopped watching TV and started spending some quality time with their children, the world would be a better place. People would have the time to accomplish those things that always get pushed aside, and children would be closer to their parents and less likely to get into trouble.

Jewish dating

There seems to be a barrage of new dating sites out there lately, and the newest craze is to have sites geared toward a specific group. As you may remember, I recently wrote about a millionaire dating site. Well now I found a Jewish Singles site.

The site design is simple and easy to navigate. There are no ads anywhere on the site - that is a definite plus. Upon looking through the pages, I noticed that the sign-up page doesn't ask what your religion is. I guess they assume that if you would check out a Jewish dating site, either you are Jewish or want to date a Jewish person. In addition to the dating stuff, they have articles related to dating and being a single Jewish person.

According to the site, the first 5,000 members to sign up will get full access to all features for free. I'm not sure what happens after the first 5,000 spots are filled. Do all the other people have to pay for membership? Or do they get some free features and only have to pay to upgrade their membership? Right now, they only mention free membership for the first 5,000 members.

Mommy woes

I have been getting a little annoyed lately because my toddler has been waking up crying in the middle of the night and sometimes comes up to our room. Then the dog wakes up and wants to go outside, which might wake up my daughter, and so on... Basically, I end up being awake around 4:00am for the day. I try to take a nap while my son naps, but then the dog needs to go out and I feel like I should play with her for awhile since she has been in her cage all morning. I can't wait until my son will play nice with the dog and we can leave her out of the cage all day.

So last night, I checked my son's teeth and realized that he is getting his 2-year old molars in. No wonder he has been waking up crying! Now I feel bad for getting mad about it. Last night he slept great all night and he's been in a good mood so far today. Maybe we are past the worst part and he feels better now. I hope!

Supplementology

Having been raised in the Catholic religion, both my husband and I have decided not to follow it or raise our own children in that religion. We have not found the right religion for us yet, and I would like to research different religions to see what is out there. With this topic fresh on my mind, I found an opportunity on PPP to review a religion called Supplementology.

Although I have never heard of this religion, it began in 1943 during WWII. Supplementology combines religion and science, stating that you don't have to choose one or the other. I have always thought the two should be taught together. As a child, it was confusing to learn one thing in Science class at school and something totally different at church. On the front page of Supplementology.org, they have a list of the Nine Norms of the religion - all of which make sense and sound like something I could believe in. I would like to research this religion further, and in addition to the information on the website, they have a list of books on the subject. I will definitely look more into this.

Underground Eureka

Previously, I mentioned the underground level that is below part of downtown. Well, upon doing some research, my husband found a group of people that explore caves, abandoned buildings, tunnels, and the like. They have been under Eureka, and have pictures on their website. There is also a picture of a plaque that is downtown that explains the history of the street and that they raised it in the 1890's. We'll have to look for the plaque - I can't believe we haven't noticed it before.

I hope we can explore down there sometime. Right now it is illegal, but I wish they could stabilize it enough to give tours. That would be a really cool attraction for the city.

Who was that?

If you hate getting "anonymous" phone calls as much as I do, then you can appreciate a Cellular Reverse Lookup website. They give the option of looking up unlisted telephone and cellular phone numbers. They also have civil records and background records listed on the website. You can find out anything about anyone here!

The site claims to have records for more than 70% of all cellular numbers and over 95% of unlisted phone numbers in the United States. With sites like this, pretty soon people won't even be able to have unlisted numbers - what would be the point if anyone could look you up?

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day Celebration and Basin Spring Clean-Up
This Friday morning (Feb 2) at 7:00am

Come one, come all!!!
Let's clean up the spring and make Eureka Springs worthy of her name
Per Mr. Carr, Eureka Springs Elementary students will be excused for the morning if they attend the clean-up with their parents.

Dress warm and wear grungy clothes - we may get dirty
All cleaning materials will be provided, just bring yourself and a good attitude.
Hope to see everyone there!

Get a laugh

So there you are, sitting at your desk at work, bored out of your mind. You have 10 minutes until a meeting. You don't want to start a new task because you would have to stop in the middle of it and go to the meeting. You don't want to make any phone calls because you might get stuck on the phone and be late to the meeting. What to do, what to do...

I know! You could watch some funny videos! If you have a few minutes to spare, why not get a good laugh? They don't only have funny videos, some are very interesting. Like the video of the prehistoric shark spotted by Japanese fishermen. Check it out!

ARKids First

The other day, I was talking with a couple other mothers and I found out about a health program for the state of Arkansas called ARKids First. It is basically a state funded program that provides health insurance for all kids under the age of 19. There are two plans depending on your income level. Plan A is for lower income families and there are no monthly premiums, no deductibles, and no copays. All health care, dental, and vision is free. It even includes prescriptions.

If your income is too high for Plan A, Plan B is just like Plan A, except you pay $10 per office visit. Still a very good deal and much cheaper than paying monthly premiums and copays for your own health insurance. The application is super easy and you can download it from their website We sent in our application yesterday. I think this is a great plan and it should be offered in all states.

Free money-making report

There are lots of money-making opportunities on the internet, right? We hear of so many people making a living from home using their computers. Many people claim to have the answer and are willing to give you all their secrets - for a price. Usually this price is quite large. We've paid $75 for an e-book, which is ridiculous.

Every now and then, however, someone is willing to offer their secrets for free. I found one of them on the PPP opportunities. You can Receive a Free Copy of "Flip Content for Profit!" Since it's free, what have you got to lose? I know I'm planning to read it. We've tried lots of other internet money-making ideas, some which have worked and some which haven't. But we still haven't found one that works great yet, so we're still open to new ideas.

Barter system

A new community website called Eureka Loop was just launched this week. It has a section called Service Loop where residents can post services they are willing to perform for cash or trade. In addition, residents can post services they need and get matched up with people willing to help them.

I hope this service helps the community, since people have a hard time making money in the winter. Plus, it will keep our money here, instead of people paying for services in other cities.

What war?

It feels strange to know our country is currently at war, yet you can't really tell. Everyone goes about their day and you don't even have to know about the war if you don't want to. We don't watch TV, so unless I look up the news on the internet, I don't hear anything about the war at all. It is kind of sad to think of our troops fighting over there, when here everything is just the same.

During previous wars, there were ongoing anti-war demonstrations and people actively trying to stop the war. I know most Americans are against the war going on right now, yet no one is doing anything about it. Maybe we are more selfish now and just want to go on like nothing is happening.

Cash Advance

Normally, I am totally against cash advance companies, or people getting Payday Cash Advance Loans. But when I looked at this website listed on the PPP opps, I noticed a difference between them and the usual cash advance site.

They actually have a Personal Finance Resource section on the left side of the front page that includes an article called "Repair Your Credit Wounds" by Kim Davey. The article lists credit tips, myths, and facts to help people keep their credit in line. It is refreshing to see this feature on a site of this kind.

Now I see Payday Loans more as something people have to do once in awhile if they are desperate and really need help making it to the next payday.

Planer Hill Parking

Today when I was riding the trolley home from the Library, I noticed they have started construction on the new parking garage on Planer Hill. I was pleasantly surprised to see a ton (probably much more) of limestone blocks stacked up on the ground. I really hope this means they will be building the garage out of limestone so it will match the historic buildings downtown. That would be ideal, since Planer Hill is the first thing you see when you are driving into downtown and the Historic District. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Fertility

It seems that infertility has become an increasing problem in the United States. I think some of it has to do with women starting their families later in life, at a time when it is naturally harder to get pregnant. Also we live with many more stresses in life and it is harder to get pregnant when you are stressed. The added kicker is when you realize you are having trouble getting pregnant, you get more stressed, and thus make it even harder on yourself to relax.

I've had friends who had a very hard time getting pregnant. They and their husbands endured a barrage of tests, the results often inconclusive. Then they tried In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and after a couple of failed attempts, finally got pregnant. Then she had a miscarriage. Then another miscarriage. Then another miscarriage. I can't even imagine how much emotional pain that would cause.

Some women would be willing to travel many miles if they knew they would receive exceptional infertility treatments. Chicago IVF offers much more than In Vitro Fertilization. They offer acupuncture treatments to help women with infertility. They also have an option where you can get acupuncture along with your IVF, which has been shown in some studies to affect the levels of pituitary and ovarian hormones. This may increase the success rate of the procedure in some women. They have several types of IVF, which include standard IVF, natural cycle IVF, and minimal stimulation IVF. Couples would be counseled on the different types and which would be best for them.

Clinton for president in 2008?

I found out today that Hilary Clinton will run for President in 2008. Our local paper polled some residents and everyone thinks America is ready for a woman president and that Hilary would do a good job. Of course, since the Clintons are from Arkansas, they may be slightly jaded by that fact since their family has done a lot for this state.

Personally, I think she would probably make a good president and I would be curious to see how America would function under a woman. I think we are ready for a big change and maybe some female leadership would provide that for us.

Find your sugar daddy

My sister has been considering using an online dating service to meet someone, since she has had pretty bad luck so far meeting men in nightclubs and bars. I found this new Millionaire Dating service listed on the PayPerPost opportunities and naturally it caught my attention. Of course, who wouldn't want to date a millionaire??

The only problem is, the free membership form to add your listing to the site doesn't ask any questions about your income. Now, if a website claims that it is a Millionaire Dating site, you would think they would have to verify income. Plus, I don't know if millionaires would use a free dating website. But who knows, maybe that's how the rich stay rich!

End of an era

My daughter has had the habit of sucking two fingers on her left hand since she was two months old. She uses it for comfort, to fall asleep, and when she is relaxing (watching a movie, reading a book, etc). We have been trying to get her to stop by reminding her whenever we see her do it. But that has been going on for about a year and she still does it more than ever. We were afraid she would start getting teased at school, and her teacher mentioned it to me, so we decided to step in to help her quit for good.

We rubbed nasty tasting stuff on her fingers and let her have an ice cube in a washcloth to suck on if she felt like she needed it. I thought for sure she would have a fit trying to fall asleep or revert back to the fingers in the middle of the night, but she actually did great. She protested about the stuff on her fingers and freaked out thinking she wouldn't be able to fall asleep - but she did and it worked fine. I checked on her a couple of times during the first night and she was sound asleep with her hands under the pillow! She has been doing great during the day too and we are so proud of her.

I feel like this is the last part of her "babyhood" - like this will be the end of an era and it is kind of sad. But I know it needs to be done so she can proceed with her development.

Photo Gallery

Well, if you read my previous post you saw that I was in a quandary about what to do with all my daughter's digital pictures. I think I have found a solution - a PHP image and photo gallery script - Gallarific. This is a program that helps you create fully customizable photo galleries online. You can add the photos to an existing website, or create an album from scratch.

In contrast to other photo gallery software, it is very simple to use. They have a video demonstration on the site that walks you through the whole process. Here is a list of features straight from Gallarific:

-Create unlimited galleries and upload unlimited photos
-Bulk upload multiple photos as a zip file
-Automatic thumbnail image creation
-Tag photos with multiple keywords for easy searching
-Sort galleries based on views, date uploaded, etc
-Powerful text and/or tag based searching
-Easily customize the gallery to match your existing web site
-View an entire gallery as an automatic slideshow
-User registration and picture uploads
-Gallery statistics including popular photos

The lifetime license of Gallarific costs $127 and gets you free product updates and support for life, free product installation, and a 30 day unconditional money back guarantee.

Overall, the program looks very simple to use and they give you plenty of help to get started. This would be a good way to get my daughter's pictures on a website so she could look at all of them and share them with friends and family.

Daughter goes Digital

My husband and I got our daughter a digital camera for Christmas and she just loves it! She takes it wherever we go and takes pictures all the time. As a result, we have so many pictures saved on the computer, we don't know what to do with them. If we had them all printed out, it would fill a couple of photo albums - and it's only been one month! I guess she takes after her dad since he loves photography as well.

Computer Generation

My daughter has been using the computer to play little games since she was two years old. It's amazing how fast children pick things up when they are so young. Even learning to use the mouse was like second-nature to her. Since she was so young, there were only a few websites with games geared to her age group and we stuck to those.


Now that she is getting older, she may be ready for Dress Up Games. These are little avatars that you can create and "play" with online with other users. They can have their doll participate in a fashion show or join a club on the site. I think little girls would love creating a doll and dressing her up and picking the hairstyle. It's like interactive paper dolls and Barbie's rolled into one. A plus for parents - it's free and you won't have any extra toys to pick up around the house.

In addition to the games, the site also has a forum, a guestbook, a diary, and shopping area. You can use your doll as the avatar on your MySpace page or on other community forums and chatrooms. You can create as many dolls as you want and use different ones on different sites. This is a really neat way for young girls to connect and get creative.

Trash has lessened

I am happy to report that the littering around the gazebo in my neighborhood has slowed way down. I think maybe it was just some party-goers on New Year's eve that caused all the littering and it took us a few days to find everything. Some of the trash was very old, but we've collected those and haven't seen anything new yet. I'm sure the trash will increase once tourist season starts in March. I can't believe people would just throw trash out the window of their car - it appalls me.

Try Bulgaria

One often overlooked area to visit in Europe is Bulgaria. It is a perfect tourist destination, however, from its white sandy beaches and clear blue water to its mountains and ski resorts. They have quiet rural villages, as well as modern cities.

If you are looking to purchase a Bulgaria Property, there are many developments to choose from. This site allows you to reserve an apartment in one of their buildings in a variety of areas of Bulgaria. If you look at their previous properties, you will see a mix of "Old World" architecture and modern-day convenience. Each of their properties has a different style and theme to fit the landscape, which I find a refreshing change from most tourist areas which all have high-rise hotels that all look the same.

Crescent Condo/Cottage Project

Update on the Crescent Condo Project:

There was a large ad in the Lovely County Citizen "help wanted" section the last couple of weeks for a real estate agent and broker for the condo project. The ad states that the condos are in the selling phase already. Contrary to the ad, however, the City Council members have said that the Roenigks will have to re-apply for rezoning and essentially start the whole approval process all over, since their PUD zoning idea didn't fly.

They have also started calling them "cottages" instead of "condos" since some people have a negative view of condos and cottages are more accepted here in Eureka Springs. I think this is just a cheap ploy to get more support for the project.

Soaps

Back when I was addicted to television (Junior and Senior High), I used to watch soap operas. The thing I like about them is even if you miss an episode, you can always get right back into the storyline - no matter how crazy it is. I actually had some friends who would drive home during lunch to watch General Hospital.

Even though I don't watch TV anymore, if I ever have the need to know what's going on with my old soaps, I can always visit a Soap Opera news website online. This site actually gives you daily updates on every show currently on air, plus other news about the actors or the show. You can find out all the actors birthdays, and there are user message boards as well for additional gossip about the Soap Operas.

Since the membership is free, there are quite a few advertisements on the website, but that is my only complaint. The site is laid out well and is easy to navigate.

Life without TV

I'm not sure if I've mentioned before that we are a non-television viewing family. We do have a TV, but we only watch our own videos and some we rent from the library. I immediately saw an improvement in my children and the "I want that" factor decreased instantly from lack of TV commercials. We save lots of money by not paying for cable or satellite TV. Even when we used to have cable, it was always on a kid's channel anyway. They would always fight to watch one of "their shows". Since we have so many kids' movies, why pay extra for kid channels on TV too - just let them watch their own videos. The nice thing is that kids this age don't mind watching the same movies over and over again, in fact they prefer it.

Anyway, we are very happy without TV, thank you very much. We get all our news from the internet and the radio (and our relatives). In the case of missing TV, I say "ignorance is bliss."

Encyclocentral

Along the same lines as Wikipedia, I found a cool new encyclopedia for internet websites and news articles called Encyclocentral. They include descriptions, history, as well as advantages and disadvantages on topics such as Business Web Site Hosting. There are articles covering many topics and include a search bar. If your search doesn't find any results, they give you the option of searching in Google for your entry.

My only complaint about the site is that the main page starts with the list of articles. I would like to see a description of the site or an introduction on the front page so we know where we are and what the site is for.

Got my canvas order

I just received my canvas order from my favorite online art supply store - DickBlick.com. They had a sale on canvases last week and they were discounted 50 - 75% off. I am so happy to be painting on canvas again! They come in packs of 10, which is perfect since that is my goal to have done before the spring when I can hopefully get some of my paintings sold.

I'm so glad there are online art supply stores, since we don't have any here in town and it seems silly to drive an hour away just to buy brushes, paint, or canvas. I love being able to shop online, compare brands and prices, and get my supplies in the mail!

Save paper and money

Greeting cards sent via email have become increasingly more popular lately, and for good reason. There are many advantages to sending ecards. Some advantages include: cheaper cost for the sender (no need to pay for the card plus the postage), saving paper (for us "tree-hugger" types, this is a big plus), convenience (you can send them immediately or choose a day in the future to send any card), and personalization. You can customize the images and text to truly create the perfect greeting card. For holidays like Christmas, you can create one card to send to a group of people to save even more time.

There is a free 30-day trial period, and after that the yearly subscription is only $13.99. You can send as many cards as you want per year, which makes it a pretty good deal. I send at least one birthday card per month in my family and the cards alone cost more than a yearly ecards subscription would be.

In the past, it seems people were skeptical about using ecards, or considered them impersonal. But now they are accepted by most people in the same way that a paper card is. These days, people check their email before they go outside to check their mailboxes anyway - so they'll get the ecards quicker!

A little snow

We got a slight dusting of snow last night, bringing our total snowfall this year so far to less than one inch. I heard Denver has already had over fifty inches so far this year! I can't even imagine that much snow.

Even though we didn't get much, it still managed to ruin one of the evergreen bushes in my front yard. The bush couldn't hold up the weight of the water freezing on the the branches, so it split in two right down the center. Now it looks like a flat-top about half as tall as it used to be. Hopefully when the ice melts, it will perk back up a bit. But I'm sure I'll have to cut off at least 1/3 off the top.

Find a free phone

As many people know, we have not used cellular phones in my family for the past six months and plan to keep it this way. We don't get very good reception here in the mountains and woods. But I know of few families who can live now-a-days without at least one cell phone, and most have one phone per member. One of my favorite things to do is save money, or better yet - get something for free.

I found a website through the PPP opportunities that helps customers find the best deals on phones, and even lists all the free cell phones you can get. You can view the phones by brand or by carrier, in case you want to stay with your current provider. They also have a 100% satisfaction guarantee that lets you try the phone, test the reception from your home, and just see how it feels in your hand. If at that point, you are not completely satisfied with your new phone, you can return it within 30 days for a full refund in a pre-paid envelope they include with each new phone.

PBS "House" shows

I have recently seen many of the "House" series shows on PBS (checked out from library) that originally aired between 2000 - 2002. There was the "Frontier House", the "Pioneer House", the "Colonial House", and now I'm in the middle of "1900 House". My conclusion after seeing most of these is that we humans have apparently become increasingly "soft" and wimpy over the years. With all of modern technology, we don't rely on our physical strength hardly at all - hence the need for so many gyms around the country to keep people fit. People think that life was so simple back then, but when they try to live it themselves, they find themselves rudely awakened to the grueling task of just making it through another day.

In today's world, we don't have to worry about where our next meal is coming from or if we will have enough growing in the garden to sustain our family for the season. We just open the pantry and choose between pre-packaged meals. I think it's good for people to step back and appreciate how much "simpler" life is today and realize that our ancestors went through a lot just to get by. We should be able to accomplish so much more since we don't have to worry about the daily stuff as much, but it seems the everyday "advances" have snowballed and over-stressed people to the point of exhaustion. I think it is time to slow down and lose some of the technology we don't need in everyday life. I recommend a book called "Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology" for anyone interested in living in today's world with less technology.

Design counts

As a designer, I gravitate to websites that have a nice design. If I am searching for something and I find a website with a poor design that hurts my eyes or is difficult to navigate, I will leave the site - even if they have what I was looking for. There are many websites that offer loan assistance, tips, and quotes. But the most pleasing mortgage site to look at is definitely Fast Home Loans.

The site is simple with striking colors and has only the information you want on the front page. There are no annoying advertisements and navigation from the front page is very straightforward and easy. If you are in the market for a first or second mortgage, home equity or home improvement loan, or even bill consolidation loan, I highly recommend Fast Home Loans. You can get an instant quote and they have many tools like a home value calculator, instant credit report, and helpful mortgage articles.