In My Bag

I can’t recommend the National Do Not Call Registry enough. It may take up to a month to get your phone number registered, but once it’s in, you’re good to go. At least once you’re hooked up with them you have the legal right to go after companies that call you without your express permission.

Speaking of which, I have two companies calling daily to offer me high risk life insurance and dish network service. But the pricks hang up before I can get to the phone to scream my head off at them read them the riot act. I’m going to have to manually call them myself on Tuesday to alert them to my registered status with the NDNC registry.

As much as I’m dreading it, my husband and I really need to rip apart our shed and put everything back together in an organized fashion. Since moving here a year and a half ago, we have simply been tossing things in the shed as we need storage for them, and not really being organized with how things are being put away. As it stands, a bunch of power tools and air tools are clogging up most of the shed, along with a bike, a few AC units, some yard tools, and a table and I think a few kitchen chairs. I’d really like to fix everything up.

So, I’m thinking utility shelves. A trip to Lowes is definitely in order. What do you think of these?

Last week I was asking on Twitter for a decent MP3 player that wasn’t such a resource sucking hog like iTunes. Klumsi recommended a Mozilla based program called Songbird. Songbird is built off the same platform as iTunes, but is optimized to be quicker, more efficient and kinder to a computer’s system resources.

I liked Songbird. Really, REALLY liked it. But there were three quirks that bugged me to the point that I sucked it up and made the switch back to iTunes:

• The playlist does not scroll to the currently playing song. If you want to view what’s currently playing within the playlist, besides looking at the media player section you’ll need to manually scroll to the exact line.
• Songbird by default does not minimize to the system tray. A plugin helps it to minimize, but then when it’s brought back up it’s beneath all other windows.
• Most music players will display what’s currently playing in the title bubble when you hover your mouse over the program name (when it’s minimized to taskbar or tray). Songbird does not do this.

Quirks aside, Songbird IS an excellent media player. Once it’s a bit more stable and ready for the mass public to enjoy, I will probably jump back to it.

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It’s back to school time, so that means it’s time to think about clothes shopping! I know, I know, back to school shopping is supposed to be about school items — backpacks, lunch boxes (well, if you’re in elementary school), binders, paper, pens, pencils, etc. But you and I both know that in reality, back to school shopping also includes a new hairstyle, new accessories and a new wardrobe.

If you’re like me and looking to save money, consider Heavenly Couture and their Discount Clothing. Everything on the site is $17.95 or less. And before you brush it off as just a bunch of cheap clothing, take a look for yourself at the nice selections that are offered.

Hoodies, sweaters, t-shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, even jackets and shoes… everything for less than $18! You see the photos; does that stuff look cheap to you?

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In an attempt to save money, I sometimes buy generic brand cereal. One brand in particular that I often pick up is Shurfine. Shurfine’s line of “knock off” cereals include Apple Rolls (Apple Jacks), Tootie Fruities (Froot Loops), Frosted Wheat Puffs (Smacks) and Magic Marshmallows (Marshmallow Alphabets).

Generally, the value is well worth the purchase of the cheaper brand. I paid $1.89 per 15oz - 18oz bag (volume depends on the cereal), which is almost a 50% savings on each cereal!

Look, taste and texture is identical. I honestly cannot tell the difference between Apple Rolls and Apple Jacks or Tootie Fruities and Froot Loops. The fact that the cereal is bagged makes it easier to save space, since the bags can be rolled down and crimped as more cereal is removed from them.

My one critique is of the Magic Marshmallows. The marshmallows themselves were not soft. They were on the hard side, and so they squeaked when you bit into them, and they got hard and almost like a tootsie roll when you chewed them. This happened even after letting the cereal soak in milk for ten minutes. Soggy grains, hard, squeaky marshmallow bits.

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onlinecheck.com claims to offer business loans with less strings attached than normal. The advantage to choosing them is quicker approval rate, less requirements, no fees or closing costs, and no paperwork.

Of course, you should always do your research before settling on a particular lender. There are many lenders out there, and each have something different to offer you. Research loan amounts, interest rates, penalties and due dates, and refinancing and increasing loan amount options later on, when you might need additional funds or working capital to keep your business going, or to make improvements or additions.

For more information on all of the services that onlinecheck.com provides, check them out at onlinecheck.com.

Original post: Kleargear

Well, I’m quite disappointed. PayPal canceled the credit card transaction on the evening of August 15th, since it was a pending hold that was never finalized. My money was returned to me, but what I really wanted was the shirt. I called Kleargear and left them a message, and sent emails to all of the contact email address I could find, but I never heard back. Wow. Way to drop the ball Kleargear!

So, with that being a finished and disappointing matter, it’s back to my search for a plus size “I’m Blogging This” t-shirt that doesn’t have additional wording or advertisements on the back. Wish me luck!