80’s Childhood Memories~via Pinterest

Posted on by Mandy

I love Pinterest because I can look at so many beautiful things and get so many ideas (even if I never try them myself), but the main thing I love about Pinterest is rediscovering my childhood. I can’t count the times I’ve smiled when running across things that remind me of growing up. Here are just a few things that I recall fondly.

Source: flickr.com via Mandy on Pinterest


A page from a sticker book. I coveted my sticker book as a child. My favorites were the Lisa Frank stickers and the scratch-n-sniff stickers. I could kick myself TO THIS DAY for ever getting rid of mine.

Source: google.com via Mandy on Pinterest


A Trapper Keeper was the ultimate in student organization back in the day. I had one with kittens on it. I like this one better.


I’m pretty sure I went through many, many tubes of this Kissing Potion lip gloss. I most certainly wasn’t kissing anyone at that point, but it smelled and tasted so good! I can remember begging my mom for this lip gloss everytime we went to the drug store.

Source: google.com via Mandy on Pinterest


A girl just couldn’t get her beauty products organized without her Caboodle! I had a purple and pink one and filled it to the brim with tons of makeup. I can remember toting it to sleepovers and on vacations.


I totally pinned these friendship bead things to my Keds tennis shoes.


I squealed with delight when I saw this phone because I had the EXACT SAME ONE as a teen in my bedroom. This was huge because (1) I had my own phone and (2) I had my own phone number. That was big stuff back then..

Source: 80smuseum.com via Mandy on Pinterest


And finally, I remember trading these plastic charms with my friends and cousins to add to our necklaces. Accessories were so fun as a child, even if it was nothing but plastic crap!

Have you run across things that take you back in time on Pinterest?

What I’m Learning From Twitter

Posted on by Mandy

I balked at using Twitter for the longest time. Sure, I signed up as soon as the blogosphere was buzzing about it a few years ago, and I tried really hard to like it. I tweeted a little. I followed people like crazy and tried to keep up. Still, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t keep up with what was going on, who was who, and why it even mattered in the grand scheme of blogging. Around the same time I signed up with Twitter  I had also signed up with Facebook and because I kept my Facebook account private, it just seemed more personable and user-friendly. I confess, I let my Twitter account flounder for a long while. I tweeted out the obligatory posts when I had to for PR campaigns and signed out. I was determined not to use Twitter unless I absolutely had to.

I recently became curious about Twitter again, and since I had a week off from work, I’ve been playing around with it more. I can see where I made some common mistakes when I first signed up. I’m working to correct them and learning a few things in the process. I thought I’d share what I’ve learned.

Be careful who you follow.

Following every single person who follows you is not a good idea. Whenever I received a notice saying someone was following me, I immediately followed them back. After all, it just seemed like the nice thing to do. What I ended up with by doing this was a slew of people in my Twitter stream who were mostly spammers. I suppose it’s all what you are interested in as an individual, but it’s no wonder I didn’t enjoy Twitter. I couldn’t see anything useful from all of the real estate, self-improvement, work-at-home, MLM, and grammatically incorrect sea of “nothingness” I was having to wade through. I’m a mom blogger. I like to interact with other mom and dad bloggers, people I know personally, and a few other bloggers outside of my niche. Once I started deleting the people/spammers I wasn’t interested in hearing from, things got instantly better. Real and relevant content was suddenly coming through my stream and I have enjoyed reading blog posts I might have otherwise missed.

Don’t limit yourself.

With all of the above being said about being careful about who you follow back, I also feel that you should give other people outside of your blogging niche a chance. Check out their websites and a few past tweets from them. You might just find out you have something in common and enjoy hearing different information from some of these people. Not everyone I follow is a mom blogger, and thank goodness, because variety is the spice of life. I enjoy hearing from other niche bloggers on other things I’m interested in, such as DIY projects, entertainment, and yes, even some who offer positive motivation on a daily basis. It’s definitely made my Twitter stream more diversified, and that’s important because it feeds my hunger for other news, not just all things parenting.

Twitter really is a great self-promotional tool in blogging.

How do I know this is true? I know tweeting out your latest blog posts works as a tool for driving traffic to your site because I click on links when people post theirs. The traffic may not be a significant amount, because I hardly get any to my own blog from Twitter, but when someone I follow posts a great teaser or lead-in to a post they have made with a link, I take the bait and click. This is how I discover other great blogs I may not know about. When someone I follow re-tweets a link from someone else I don’t follow and I read and like what I read, nine times out of ten I start following that someone new. It works for gaining traffic and gaining an audience.

I’m definitely not a Twitter expert and I’m still learning my way around, but I can see the error of my ways and am working to correct them to make Twitter a more meaningful experience. I’ve suddenly found myself checking Twitter much more often than Facebook, which is a big deal for me considering how I used to loathe Twitter and loved Facebook. I suppose it’s because Twitter constantly offers up something fresh, and not just post after post telling me where you are and what you are eating. Not that I’m not guilty of that myself.

Good Blog Reads: Saturday Edition

Posted on by Mandy

 

This will make you want to throw every parenting book out the window.  What a concept!

This is how I remember growing up.  I wish more people felt like this towards children.

What to read if you think you’re naked.  It’s rated G, I promise.  Throw off that shame and get ON with your life!

Run to what you love.  Don’t let others knock the wind out of your sails.

I have so been enjoying this series on praying for your children.  Be sure and check in there each Sunday.

The one and only thing to do to improve your blog.  Again, I say, what a concept!

I admit I might slightly border on being a sort-of helicopter parent when it comes to my child’s safety.  I remember when life was this simple.  I want this for my child.

Cable & Internet Service- What Do You Pay?

Posted on by Mandy

Because we live in a small town, we’re pretty much at the mercy of one cable company and two cell phone companies to meet our communications needs. I’ve thought about switching our cable to satellite, but I don’t want to lose our local programming, so I won’t make the switch. We also get our internet service through our cable company, and since we don’t have a land-line phone in our home (we strictly use cell phones), I have no idea where we would get our internet service from. Not having options is really frustrating, especially for the amount of money we have to pay each month to enjoy these services.

Right after the holidays, programming changes were made to our local cable service that has upset many, many customers. There have been town forums held on this and our city is currently trying to decide whether or not to renew their agreement with the local cable company. Having more options as far as internet and cable packages would be great. We only watch a few channels anyway, so possibly getting new service that would be more economical as well as offering more channels we might enjoy and actually watch is exciting to me. Of course, having our internet service tied in is very important to my family. From reading the newspaper reports about these public forums held recently, I’m not alone in my thinking.

Do you have lots of options where you live? What do you typically pay on a monthly basis for internet and cable? I’d love to hear from my readers to see if what we pay is about right or if we’re overpaying.

Coupon Codes 4 U- Discount Codes and Deals

Posted on by Mandy

Before shopping online, I always look around for coupon codes to help save a little money. Whether it’s free shipping or just a percentage off, every little bit helps.  Finding discounts at so many stores in one places is just one of the many ways Coupon Codes 4 U makes shopping and saving money online so convenient.  Not only are the best deals broken down by category and store, but they also list the top sales and deals of the day.

If you’re looking for a deal on a service, Coupon Codes 4 U has those, also.  You can find great deals and discounts on many of the services you might use, such as a Sitter City Promo Code, and even savings for doing your taxes.  Of course, there are also many of the top stores you probably frequently buy from, such as Target and Amazon.  You’ll be impressed with the many, many stores listed.  You might even discover some new stores you may not have known about.  WebUndies Coupon Code, anyone?

Coupon Codes 4 U really is a one-stop site for finding the best deals and discounts to your favorite online stores.  Be sure and check them out before you make your next online purchase.

 

This is a sponsored post.

hungry hungry hippos= winning!

Posted on by Mandy

hungry hungry hippos

Well, it’s day 2 of Spring Break and so far all I have accomplished is cleaning out a bookshelf in the living room, cleaning out the bathroom drawers and cabinets (which I am very proud of, by the way), and whooping my 7 year old son at Hungry Hungry Hippos.  I know.  I should be totally ashamed for not purposely losing each game we played, and yes, there were many tears and angry accusations of me being a “cheater”, but I am the Hungry Hungry Hippos Spring Break Champion. Boo-yah!

The time change has not helped matters at all.  We’ve been staying up late (because, really, an hour was stolen from us) and sleeping in, which will be quite interesting to figure out when 4:30 A.M. comes calling on Monday morning.

Clyde helped me sit down and pay some bills.  Clearly, he was a *huge* help.

Going…..

cleepy cat 3

Going….

sleep cat 2

Gone.

sleep cat

 

My dad took the training wheels off of E.B.’s bike today and thoroughly ticked my son off.

training wheels off

He was NOT happy.  We finally convinced him to get on and give it a try, so Daddy took him down the street.  All I could hear was screams of, “DO NOT LET GO!!!  DON’T LET IT GO!!!!!!!”.  Naturally, this will require more practice.  And screaming.  But we have the rest of the week!

And, sit down, but I took the back vent cover thingy off of my hairdryer and cleaned all the trapped lint out of it!

hairdryer

Have you ever looked into the back of your hairdryer?  Eww.  I’m pretty sure that cleaning alone shaved two minutes off of my drying time.

Clearly, we are off to the start of a wild and crazy week around here.

Use It Up And Wear It Out

Posted on by Mandy

I’m about to show you my tennis shoes.  But first, let me tell you about these shoes.  I’ve had them for three years.  Yes, I said three.  I wear flats to work in and these shoes are pretty much only worn around the house and to do the grocery shopping.  I paid $29.99 for them and, although they aren’t the latest style or anything, they aren’t completely unfortunate looking.  I can’t promise I haven’t been patting myself on the back for how frugal I am for hanging onto them for so long.  You know, the whole “use it up and wear it out” thing.

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But then this started happening:

2012_0311fairreading0151

The plastic in the heel started wearing through, and yet, I still wore them.  They weren’t digging into my skin, so I figured they were still good.  Isn’t that hideous?

A couple of weeks ago I ordered E.B. a new pair of tennis shoes and figured I would poke around the website and check out the Fila brand for women.  I used to be a die-hard Fila tennis shoe freak.  They were so comfortable and stylish back in the day.  However, a few years after I got married, it seemed like their designs changed drastically and they were just flat out ugly.  It made me sad, so I switched to New Balance.

Well, lo and behold, Fila has finally impressed me again, and now I’m the proud new owner of these:

2012_0311fairreading0148

Can I just tell you how amazing my new shoes feel?  I don’t know why I waited so long.

This shoe immediately relieved so much joint pressure in my hips and knees that my legs almost felt like Jell-O because suddenly they were so cushioned.  My back feels so much better.  I feel like a brand new woman.  Almost.  And maybe any old brand of tennis shoe would have done this, but all of this rambling and gushing over new shoes is just to say that I can finally understand why people invest in good shoes, and often.  When I was younger (and free from Rheumatoid Arthritis and possibly Lupus), it was all about style.  Now, it’s all about comfort.  I will never try to wear another pair of tennis shoes to the ground again.  I’m also checking out new dress shoes for work.  Standing up on flats all day is not helping matters, either.

Do you have a comfortable pair of shoes you just love?  Tell me about them!

***I purchased these shoes myself and I am not being compensated in any way to write about them.  Just showing off my new kicks, that’s all, and shouting from the rooftops that I feel SO much better.

Spring Break

Posted on by Mandy

Today officially marks Day 1 of Spring Break for me. I haven’t had a Spring Break since 2006, so I’m really excited about 9 whole days of doing nothing. Well, I’ll definitely be doing things, but Spring Break just isn’t quite the same since growing up.

When I was a teen, Spring Breaks were spent watching MTV’s Spring Break on television. Remember when they actually played videos but you looked forward to the Spring Break coverage because it was “special”? I laugh thinking about that now. The bands were way cooler back then, the girls in their bikinis actually had some meat on their bones, and it was just fun-looking. When I was in my early twenties, my girlfriends and I had a couple of not-so-wild Spring Break trips to Florida and the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I thought we would shop until we dropped. We were big power-shoppers back then. We also dined on seafood and hit the beach. Good, clean fun.

Flash forward almost twenty years and my 37-year old Spring Break will be spent hanging out with E.B., tackling some organizing projects around our apartment, reading, blogging, and spending time with family. At my age, this sounds perfect to my tired body. Back then? I would have thought this would be a complete snore.