gmail tip

My email inbox is often overflowing. I recently started doing something that has helped a great deal! I receive many advertising emails from companies that I've done business with, or requested information from in the past. Often I am interested in these emails, but I don't want them cluttering up my box for years.

I have always loved the filter and label capabilities of gmail. It's one of the reasons that I primarily use my gmail account these days.

I created a label called simply "ADS." Whenever I receive an email that is advertising, I set up a new filter so that all future emails from that address are labeled ADS. Once a week or so, I simply call up all the ADS and hit delete. If I'm going to act on a specific email (those containing coupon codes, for instance) I usually have done something within a couple days.

This has cut down on the clutter in my inbox significantly!

Health Tracker

Have you ever visited Prevention.com? One of my goals in my 40th year is to become healthier. This site is packed with useful information for anyone and their journey to good health!

I have been poking around their site the last couple weeks and have been using their Health Tracker feature. It's completely free, and allows you to track your food intake, activity level, and even your mood!

We went to lunch today at PeiWei (one of my favorite places to dine!) and it was so simple to add the custom foods to my health tracker. I downloaded the nutritional information from PeiWei's website and input my lunch into Prevention's health tracker.

My favorite thing to eat there are the Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls. The salad rolls themselves are a pretty healthy choice, but I didn't realize how many calories (and how much sugar!) was in the sauces served with them! Even figuring that I ate 1/2 the sauces and a fortune cookie, my total calorie intake was about 450 calories.

The only additional thing I wish the health tracker tracked is sugar grams. I have a sneaking feeling that I'm on the verge of developing diabetes and I'd like to keep a good handle on my sugar intake.

I got the entire family up and out of the house this morning for a walk, back home for a swim, and I'm going to try and keep it up again! I let the heat chase me indoors this summer, but even though it's still hot outside, I need to get exercising again! I'll be 41 in just a few short months and I want to be in better shape than I was when I turned 40!

$5.97 e-book sale

Crystal Paine, of Biblical Womanhood and Money Saving Mom, is having an amazing sale on her entire collection of e-books, downloads and audio. Click Here! for a full listing of what's available!

I know you can scour the web for great ideas, and find many of them for free -- but this collection is an amazing deal and gives you grocery saving tips (who can't use a few more of those?), recipes, home management ideas, and craft ideas.

The $5.97 deal is only available today! Tomorrow the price goes up by $3, then Friday another $3, and then the sale is over. Go today and start saving more money!

Look carefully and you'll be able to pay via PayPal on the checkout page. Also plan to spend a little time downloading all the books - they are all separate so you won't be downloading one huge file containing everything.

15 months

Hard to believe that 15 months have gone by since L was born!

She is a busy bee these days! She walks very steadily and I'm sure we're close to running! LOL! The boys had a cooking class that met once/week for 4 weeks and I really noticed how her walking has improved during that time. We just waited for them at the community center during their class, so she wandered the halls and flirted with all the people visiting the community center (which is also a senior center. Those women just wanted to eat her up and she ate up all the attention!) I realized how 4 weeks ago she was still pretty wobbly and wanted to hold my hand quite a bit. Yesterday, she wanted nothing to do with holding hands and was raring to go -- up and down and up and down the long breezeway -- only stopping to wave and chat with anyone who might catch her eye.

She also loves going to the library, but she won't sit in her stroller while I look for books! She wants to walk, and take books off the shelves, and talk with anyone who crosses her path.

I mentioned a few posts back about how friendly she is, and it continues to astound me. Most other kids are completely taken aback by her - but she plows right on, trying to hug them, trying to talk to them, trying to play. She has no fear!

She eats heartily and pretty much anything. She sleeps a solid 9-10 hours a night and naps once a day (like her father, she doesn't seem to need much sleep.) She still nurses a few times a day. She's still short when I compare her to other kids, but she's solid.

She uses a few signs regularly (eat, drink, finished, more, milk, no.) She doesn't have many understandable words, but she gets her point across. She seems to have a special fondness for N, and the fondness is reciprocated. I think those two are going to get into lots of trouble together in the future!

good to know

Everyone reads those reminders "Make sure your insurance meets your needs" -- usually around the end of the year. Some people even remind you to "check what your policy actually covers!"

Well, I'm here to remind you all to do just that -- and it's the middle of the year!

B had quite a bit inside his truck when it was stolen. We knew our car insurance wouldn't cover the items, so we made a claim with our homeowner's insurance.

Before I talk about the homeowner's insurance, though -- let me make a comment about our car insurance. We had an after-factory item installed on the truck after we purchased it. We had a solid, folding, locking cover put across the bed, which cost about $700. This was important to keep DH's samples and work items safe. Did you know that unless you specifically tell your insurance company about items like that they're not covered? Even if you have the original receipt from the purchase? No, we didn't either! In the future, we'll be sure to add endorsements, but as it stands now we won't be replacing that cover for a long time -- if ever!

When we spoke to our homeowner's insurance agent, we were told to compile a list of the items in the truck, the date of purchase, and the replacement value. We knew that we had purchased replacement value insurance vs. original cost of item insurance -- so we thought we would be in pretty good shape.

The first surprise came when we were told that anything DH used for work wouldn't be covered, except for $250! Our homeowner's insurance would cover personal items in the truck that were stolen, but would only cover $250 of work-related items because they weren't at home. We had NO idea that this was part of the policy.

Then, they wanted proof of the items we had in the truck. Thankfully, DH keeps boxes. I am always trying to throw out boxes, but he likes to keep them, and because we had the boxes we shouldn't have any problem being reimbursed for those items. I guess I never thought much about how to prove what we actually owned before. There are some items that were a bit pricey, but since we don't have a receipt or the box, we won't receive compensation.

Looking around our home, I realize that if something catastrophic happened, I don't know how I'd be able to prove what we had! We've been working on creating an inventory (something that has been on a myriad of to-do lists over the years but never actually done!) and I plan to leave a copy with my sister as well as upload it online (probably in my gmail account.) The tricky part will be updating it as we purchase new things . . . but I doubt there will be many purchases in this house for a while! LOL!

We're grateful we had insurance, because our loss would have been much greater without it. We've just learned that we need to be a little more aware about the details of our coverage, as well as creating a detailed home inventory! Hopefully our loss will help you without any loss of your own!

books

Hey, remember those children's books I've been talking about for over a year? And how I needed to get them organized?

WELL, I'm about 75% done with that project. Wooo Hoooo!!!!!

I emptied the kid bookshelves (3 of them) and did a pretty good job of sorting them into categories again and removing books that I really didn't want to ever read again. I ended up with a large box of books to get rid of.

Then, I went through 4 more bookshelves of miscellaneous books and got rid of 2 more big boxes of books so I could free up some room on those shelves. B had a short day yesterday, so we lugged the boxes to Bookmans (where they only purchased SIX books for a whopping total of $16.00 in TRADE . . . ugh, much worse than last time one box garnered me $65.00 in trade. I think they were too busy yesterday.) We then lugged the remaining books over to Half-Price Books and they took them all for $24.00 in cash. At least we didn't have to bring any books home! They even kept the boxes. At a rough guess, we got rid of about 120 books.

I still have books stashed in various places around the house, so I need to gather them all together and put them on shelves. I also have to reorganize the other shelves so my categories are together again.

I was so gung-ho when I got started, but now that I can clearly see the end, I'm suddenly not interested in finishing. What's up with that?

Well, DH is home, so he can wrangle the toddler, and I really should finish this project. Do you organize your bookshelves by categories? Or am I just kooky? With the very large number of books in our home, it makes it easier to find books, though.

for my cloth diapering friends

I love blogs that help me save money! One of my favorites lately is Baby Cheapskate. They are currently running a contest giving away 12 BumGenius 3.0 diapers (retail value $200!) I've used lots of different cloth diapers in my diapering days, and these look like great diapers to add to the rotation!

Click on over and enter for your chance to win! The contest ends August 6!

Snacktivate!

"Snacktivate!" sounds like something a cartoon character would yell before changing into a superhero! LOL! It's actually Kellogg's program to help families create healthy snacks.

Through Mom Central, Kellogg's sent us 2 boxes of frosted mini-wheat cereal and a really neat to-go cereal cup. The idea was that we would use the cereal to try out some of the fun recipes they have posted on their site. To my surprise, my boys decided they LOVED frosted mini-wheats (who knew? not me, since I had never purchased it before!) and ate them up greedily for breakfast and after-pool snacks.

I loved the ideas they presented about snacking well, especially since it dovetails well with my thoughts about snacking. Snacking is a great way to ensure you have steady energy throughout the day and get all the necessary nutrients. We try to have healthy snack options, and limit sugary treats to special times. We clearly define snacks vs. treats and they are NOT the same thing in our house. Check out their site for other fun ideas and great recipes.

Even though the kids ate up the 2 boxes we received in the mail, I will buy it again to try out the sunflower cookie recipe. I had already purchased the cookie/lollipop sticks!

Thanks to Mom Central and Kelloggs for including us in this blog tour!

birthday parties

Last year was the first year my oldest had a birthday party with friends. It was a small affair at our home, with a couple of his closest friends. It was simple and they all had fun.

We were at the local community center recently, and I noticed they offered climbing wall parties. I asked him if he would like to do that this year and he looked at me like I was an alien. I pressed him a bit and he said "Noooo. What if anyone is afraid of heights? Or they couldn't find the place? Or they just didn't like climbing?" I said I thought it would be fun and he disagreed again.

A couple days later I noticed they offer birthday parties at the local children's museum. Again, I was told that wouldn't be a good idea. I asked if he wanted a party, and he replied that he did - but it should be at our home.

A few days later, the boys were playing with Legos and I said "Hey! How about a Lego-themed birthday party?" He was VERY enthusiastic about that idea and told me that I could make a Lego person cake! I said that I thought I'd make a Lego-block cake (remembering that I've seen them around the 'net) and he said "Naw, that's too easy for you. I want a Lego-person cake!" I guess that's what happens when you've made volcanoes, swimming pools and bulldozers in the past for birthdays! LOL!

I think it's so sweet that he would prefer to have a party at home. He attended 3 birthday parties last year, and none of them were at anyone's home -- 2 were at bounce places and the third was at a laser tag place. He had a lot of fun at all those parties. Even so, his first (and only) preference is to have a party at home.

Part of the reason I'm blogging this is because when I told my parents, they responded with "Yea, wait until he's 15! Then he'll be saying how he always wanted a birthday party at a special place, but you always made him have them at home!" I responded with "Well, I'll blog this and then I can go back and show him!"

Review: Schlage Keyless Lock

When Mom Central asked if I wanted to be part of a blog tour for Schlage's Keyless Locks, I couldn't respond fast enough! I confess, I already have a keyless lock on my front door. When I lost DH's keys a couple years ago, we replaced our house lock with a keyless lock, and it has been the best thing ever! The kids are able to lock the door easily and also open the door. I don't have to fumble for keys ever! We can change the codes easily and have multiple codes in case someone is feeding the fish, for example. And, perhaps most importantly, I CAN'T LOSE THE KEYS!

So, why was I excited about trying out another one? Because my parents own the house next door to mine and I am always in and out of their house. They live here part of the year, but we often go into their home (um, we use it for storage!) and my sister usually does her laundry there (keeps the water flowing!) I'm pretty good about putting the key back in the same place, but I can't say the same for other people in the family.

I wanted to put one on their door to make everyone's life easier. My parents are currently living next door, and just last week my dad walked out of the house, locked his door, and realized all of his keys (truck and house) were IN his house. I wasn't home, but he was able to call my cell phone. I was able to tell him the code for MY door and he was able to go into my home and get the spare keys for his house. It saved him waiting 30 minutes for me to come home in the 110 degree Arizona summer heat.

My parents are thrilled to have one on their door, now. It was very easy to install and my dad only needed a single screwdriver and about 30 minutes. The keypad lights up so you don't have to fumble if you forgot to leave the light on after dark. The lock requires a single 9volt battery, which comes included in the package!

I can't recommend this type of lock enough! I tell everyone I know to change their lock to a keyless lock and make their life easier!

You can check out more information on the Schlage website. If you have been thinking about ways to make your life easier, and your home more secure, I would consider a new keyless lock!

Many many thanks to both Mom Central and Schlage for sending me this fabulous new lock!