The little one’s birthday is fast approaching, so I’ve been looking for ideas for presents. She loves to read, so personalized children’s books have really piqued my interest.

I had a personalized book when I was a kid and loved when my mom read it to me. It was great to be the star of my own book. There’s so much variety at Personalized Stories to find just the right story for her to be the star. She loves going to the zoo, so the personalized book Goes to the Zoo is very tempting. Her name will be featured on the front in the title (“Raegan goes to the zoo”) and will also appear on every page. It’s also a learning game since she is challenged to find her name in camouflaged settings.

It’s definitely a great birthday idea or Christmas gift. She would enjoy it now and years to come.

We are working to be debt free sometime soon. We have been paying off our bills but still every once in a while one slips and then the commercial collection agencies begin to call. That’s always a disturbing reminder that something has fallen through the cracks.

I hate being the one that pays the bills. But hopefully this will get easier since we’ve enrolled in online bill pay. I really need to make time each week to pay what is due. It’s so easy to say but hard to do for some reason. Maybe once we are de-cluttered some tasks will be easier to do like bill paying. It would be nice to sit down and have a place to sort through the bills and then pay them.

Hopefully soon we will be finished with our de-cluttering plan, have less stuff, and a more organized system of doing things.

So this weekend I started feeling light-headed and dizzy. Worried about my symptoms, I, of course, turned to the Internet for answers.

While my self-diagnosis isn’t something serious like mesothelioma, it is something that could be a range of issues. The most simple is that I’m dehydrated or need to clean my ears. The worse case scenario can be more severe. That’s the bad thing about using the Internet to diagnosis symptoms is that you will run across several problems that you hadn’t even dreamed might be causing your ailments. So, we will try the easy route first.

It has been really hot and I know I don’t drink enough water. So today I will try to get in my 64 ounces. I’ll also clean my ears and then go from there.

Sometimes the Internet is good for getting answers and sometimes it can be quite scary to read some search results. It’s best to take it at face value and consult a doctor if symptoms persist, which is what I will do if I continue to feel this way next week.

It’s not great news like I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance but it’s still pretty exciting.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I can let my stuff go. Sometimes I hang onto things because I think I can sell it at a rummage sale and make a few dollars. The truth is that rummage sales might make me a few dollars they are a lot of work. My time could be better spent making money online than spending hours getting ready for a yard sale. Besides by donating items an organization can make a few dollars off my stuff.

It is hard to let things go but I really need to try harder. We have way too much stuff that we will never use. From now on I give myself permission to just let it go and not hold it for that bi-yearly rummage sale.

That’s one of the phrases from Fly Lady – a cleaning group that helps keep you motivated to clean house. One thing you are encouraged to do is shine your sink everynight. Now I’d probably be more inclined if I had one of these farmhouse sinks, but my sink is pretty plain and uninspiring.

All kidding aside, I wish I could get in the habit of shining my sink each night. The idea is that you have all of your dishes done before going to bed. That way whatever housework you have to do, at least you’ve accomplished something. I really do enjoy waking up to a clean sink.

My mom always washes dishes as she cooks and then usually washes dishes about 30 minutes after everyone has eaten. I just need to start making my own washing dishes schedule and stick with it. Once I’ve done it for a few weeks then hopefully it will become routine. I don’t mind doing dishes but I’m just a procrastinator – one area that I really need to work on.

A shiny sink sounds like a lot of work especially when dishes are in the way but it could be quite rewarding.

Have you been to Burger King lately? Have you heard about their new BK Apple Fries and the new kid’s meal? Burger King now offers apple fries in their healthy, low calorie BK kid’s meal that also includes mac and cheese and low fat milk. The new kid’s meal has only 350 calories, too.

The apple fries are sliced from red apples and are cut to resemble French fries. They also come with a low fat caramel sauce, which is really yummy. Sadly, I couldn’t talk my little one into eating any. She’s at this stage where everything is ‘no’ unless it’s her idea.

But I thought they were really tasty, and I’m an apple snob. If it’s not sweet and juicy when it comes to apples, then I don’t want it. The BK Apple Fries were delicious. I’m glad I agreed to try them and also have some good news for you.

Want to try the BK Apple Fries for yourself? Then read on. I have two BK Crown cards to give away. Both pre-paid BK cards are worth $10 each. You can buy apple fries or anything on the Burger King menu with this card. I will have a random drawing for the two winners. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post(trackbacks and spam do not count). I will draw the winners Monday, August 25th and will contact the winners to get their mailing address. Sorry but open to U.S. residents only.

Congrats to commenters 2 and 4 as they were chosen at random to win. I’ve sent both winners an email. Thanks everyone for participating.

We live in an older mobile home which means there is always a home improvement project in the works. One of the plastic bathtubs has a few cracks in the bottom. Repairs to it did last a few months but now it’s in need of repair again.

My idea is to make the space a storage spot by ripping out the tub. My mom had a better and easier idea to place a board over the tub, giving a flat surface to store boxes on. My husband’s idea is to fix the bathtub. Here is what he’s done so far.

Appealing isn’t it? He took some spray foam and filled the cracks in the bottom. He then used some truck spray bed liner to hopefully seal the tub. He is going to use another coat before testing it out.

If this doesn’t work, then maybe I will have my storage spot, and he’ll admit defeat that it can’t be fixed. For me personally, I think I will be using the other bathtub from now on.

We have learned the value of home insurance after witnessing the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and the insurance debacle after it. Good home insurance is paramount when you need it. A lot of folks who were affected by Katrina thought they had the coverage they needed but learned the hard way that they didn’t.

Websites like Money.co.uk offer a glance of the top 10 home insurance companies for the United Kingdom. Having this one-stop shopping for insurance can help you get a good deal and the coverage you need. You can find out at a glance which company gives the best online discount or the charge to pay the insurance monthly. The top home insurance companies are laid out in a table that lists the aforementioned information and other useful information. Just click on the big quote button to get your insurance quote. It really makes it easy to find the best deal on home insurance.

Buying home insurance doesn’t have to be difficult as you can find what you need all in one spot. Good and affordable insurance is important to most, so a little research and time can produce a price that’s right and the coverage you want. Websites like Money.co.uk can make it easy for UK residents to find the right provider.

August 13th is National Left Handers Day. A lot of times southpaws just have to adapt to using products made for right handed people. Apparently left handers are prone to more kitchen accidents because so many products are meant for righties. But there are plenty of kitchen products that are designed for those who are left handed that could make being in the kitchen more enjoyable.

A left handed can opener can make meal preparation go a lot faster and easier. There are also href=”http://www.thelefthand.com/metalspatula.html”>left handed spatulas that are angle for left handed use.

This might not be exactly for food preparation not unless you are like my dad and use your pocket knife to cut up fruit. Here are some hand crafted left handed pocket knives. Now here are some left handed kitchen knives for food preparation.

And finally a product to help your little ones eat their meals. I think these left handed toddler utensils are a fantastic idea since it’s hard enough to get those little ones use to using utensils.

We are getting ready for a couple of cool PC video game releases within the next year. There is Diablo III and The Sims 3. Sadly, our current computer does not meet the minimum requirements to play either, which is sad since we upgraded right before Raegan was born. She turns three in October.

So, now we are looking to upgrade our computer and need to find a good deal. If we were flat out buying a PC, these interesting HP coupons from Savings.com would be very enticing. Savings.com is the place to find online coupons and deals. We plan to build our next computer just like we always have done before. Still if we change our mind it’s good to know we can find a good deal on a PC.

Newegg.com usually has great deals and looking through the New Egg coupons, I’m certain that we can get what we need for under our budget of $500. We will just have to keep an eye out for good computer parts deals. Our deadline for having it built is December, way before The Sims 3 is due to be released.