I’m so excited as the NeatReceipts I won from 5 Minutes for Mom arrived via UPS yesterday. I quickly unpacked everything and surveyed what I would need to do to get the NeatReceipts Scanalizer working.

I was surprised at how light and compact the NeatReceipts is. It was easy to install the software as I just put in the disk and it did the rest. I hooked up the scanalizer when prompted and then it was ready. I scanned my first receipt just to see how it worked and it was very easy. I plan to do a full review either later today or tomorrow, just really depends on how much the baby lets me do. I want to do a little video to go with my review so that will take a little longer but seeing this thing in action is quite impressive.

Now I really have no more excuses for not going through all of our saved receipts. Thanks to NeatReceipts, at least scanning will be the biggest battle and even that won’t be so painful as it scans fast and easy.

My full review of the NeatReceipts is coming later today hopefully.

My tackle for today is to round up all the codes into one place. I have a huge popcorn tin that I plan to put all of the caps in, then we can just count out ten to enter for the day. Here is just one pile of caps we have.

I’ll add my barrel of caps later when I’ve added as many as I can find. oh and yes, we do drink waaayyy tttoooo much Diet Coke!

Here is me celebrating winning an XShot by taking my last picture that I will hopefully ever have to take at arm’s length.

Thanks to Drew at Benspark.com for having such a great contest and for everyone who voted for me.

There is still time to use the special promo code XSHOTVOTE and receive $5.50 off the price of an XShot. The code is good until 7/31/2007. You’ve heard me talk about the XShot all month so you know you want one and under $20 is not a bad price to pick up this great camera accessory.

Full review and more pics with the XShot when it arrives.

I found a yummy recipe for crockpot lasagna and can’t wait to try it. Lasagna is one of those intimidating dishes because it contains a lot of ingredients and there are many steps in preparing it. For these reasons I usually just buy my lasagna already prepared.

To cook it in the crockpot is bound to be simpler than making it the traditional way, so I’m willing to give it a try.

This was taken in New Orleans. Two brothers who are both artist make these handmade books and sell at the open air French Market in the French Quarter.

Have you ever thought about just selling everything and taking to the road? The dream of many is to explore this country of ours in an RV. Many are already living that dream including the folks behind the RV Cooking Show. The first episode covers how to make guaucamole the Tuscon, Arizona way.

Technorati Tags: RV cooking, RV cooking show

We have a mosquito problem. It doesn’t matter the time of day you travel outside, those pesky insects are waiting to attack. Mosquito spray works for a while but it doesn’t deter them for very long. We live by a creek, so the problem is not likely to go away anytime soon. So, this has us checking into options to control the mosquito population.

There are a couple of natural enemies of mosquitoes. There might be more but the ones I’ve read about are bats and purple martins. I’m not sure I’m interested in attracting bats to my house, so purple martins sound like a better bet. One tip I read said the purple martins like to make their nests in gourds.

My parents usually grow some gourds, so I’m pretty sure I can get a few from them. Now once I have them I will need to make a gourd birdhouse that is the right size for purple martins. I will have to study up more on making a great environment for the purple martins if I want to really attract them to our yard. I can start right now with gourds since they certainly won’t be that interested if they don’t have a place that is their own.

My husband reading this weekend. I’m still on Order of the Phoenix. *sigh* He finished Deathly Hallows last night when he should have been sleeping.

One of our recent playdates was making a hairy caterpillar. The caterpillar is made with one knee high stocking and potting soil mixed with grass seed. Fill the stocking with the mixture and then take ponytail holders to form the body. Glue on some eyes and use pipe cleaner for antennae. Place your caterpillar outside and water everyday. Here is ours, although he was a little lumpy in the middle.

Here is he after a week in outside.

A hint to get the dirt into the stocking: use either a funnel or make your own. At our playdate they used empty plastic yogurt containers. Just cut out the bottom and place the stocking on the smaller end to fill. It was a fun craft even if I had to do most of it.

Remember those “I could have had a v8″ commercials? Well, since I’m entered in a contest to win an XShot from Benspark.com I’ve had several “I Wish I Had an XShot” moments.

The most recent one was last night at my niece’s graduation from nursing school. Naturally there is always someone sitting in front of me at these events. It would have been nice to be able to stick just the camera above the crowd to get this shot.

Right now the XShot is $19.45 when you use the promo code XSHOTVOTE.