The Power of Baking Soda

There are so many great uses for baking soda! Aside from baking, you can use it to whiten your teeth, clean fruits and vegetables, and even repel rain from your windshield. In fact, there are at least 48 different uses for baking soda.

The power of household products and foods

For the next week/so or until I run out of ideas and motivation, I'm going to focus on the multiple ways you can use everyday products such as baking soda, garlic, oatmeal. I read a book this weekend, which inspired me to look up more information about how you could use foods and products for multiple purposes.

Bye Bye Goo

Get rid of sticky residue forever!
Get rid of gum on your shoe!

To get rid of sticky messes and more, try goo gone. You will be amazed by how effective this product is!

Buy stuff from artists on etsy!

Last week, my friend told me that I had to include etsy on my blog. I couldn't agree more! This crafty site allows you to buy great handmade stuff, including this fun bag!

Keeping all those take out menus organized

Like I've said before, it's difficult to stay organized. Although I try, I am always struggling to remain organized. Like most people, I have a million take out menus thrown together in a folder. After seeing these cute take out menu boxes at a store, I had to find them online. I have never seen anything like this before. I must have one!

More about on line photo editing

Check out this interesting article about online photo editing. The author mentions a bunch of online sites including Snapfish, Shutterfly, PixVillage. Personally, I like snipshot to edit photos and kodakgallery to share & purchase photos. Here's some more info about snipshot from the article:

This website allows you to upload images from your computer and edit them. Or you can enter the Web address of any photo stored online and get a copy with which to work. Snipshot uses nondestructive editing - the original image that is taken from your computer or the Web remains untouched. The site also keeps a copy of the uploaded image for 24 hours before discarding it.

Snipshot --love the name and the site!

This is a great site for editing pictures. It's so much easier to use than Adobe. Plus with a name like snipshot, how could you go wrong??

Choosing skin care and beauty products

With so many beauty products on the market, I am sometimes lost in a sea of choices! As a researcher, I appreciate research that helps people make decisions. One strategy for finding beauty products is to ask my friends with flawless skin about their products. Not very scientific but thankfully it led me to Paula’s Choice. In addition to research-based reviews of products, you can also purchase great products for yourself. Trust me, the sunscreen is the best I’ve ever tried! The packaging is pretty basic so it keeps costs fairly reasonable. For a comparison site and more tips, check out this site as well.

Check the latest financial rates

With online banking, it’s very easy to check my bank statements on a regular basis. When my husband and I opened our accounts, we chose our bank because of the high interest rates (i.e., around 4 or 5%). Since that time, the interest rates have fallen to less than 1% on checking and less than 3% on savings! Thankfully, bankrate can help me find a new bank, hopefully with better interest rates. This helpful site also provides financial information about auto loans, mortgage rates, credit cards, and more. With all this money I’m going to save and earn, now I can no longer feel guilty about after work shopping trips!

Bloglines vs. Google Reader

After seeing my posting about blog lines, my friend informed me that she liked google reader more. Now I am curious --which site do you use to organize your blogs? Are there other helpful sites that you use to keep track of web info?

A week of shopping!

Thanks to these great tips, I can plan my shopping and entertainment schedule to match the best daily deals available:

Monday: Buy new car

Tuesday: Go out to dinner

Wednesday: Go to the movies and buy airline tickets

Thursday: Buy gas for car, clothing, and books

Friday: Day of shopping rest

Saturday: Buy necessities at department stores (aka more clothes!)

Sunday: Buy groceries (which I typically do) and book hotel rooms

Keeping all those blogs organized

I hate feeling disorganized. Maybe it’s the Virgo in me or maybe it’s because my family is extremely disorganized. Unfortunately, since my husband and I are hoping to buy a house soon, some of my stuff remains packed away so I never feel things are quite in order. That’s pretty bad for a Virgo! Thankfully I figured out a way to organize my Internet life with blog lines. This great site keeps my favorite blogs organized on one site. I can also add as many blogs as I want. They will even recommend blogs for me based on my subscriptions! Thank you to blog lines for helping me fulfill my organizational needs!

Of the month clubs

Nowadays you can order anything you want for "of the month club." Beer, bread, wine, jewelry, tea and coffee, cheese, books --you name it. The options typically range 3 months to a year. Check out the gadget of the month club for new fun kitchen gadgets! These are great gift ideas for people who love surprises (aka ME!) but also to treat yourself. My coworker thought it would be fun to order a pie of the month for her friend. She mistakenly sent the pies to her address so now she's stuck with fresh baked pies every month. Hmm...I bet there's an ice cream of the month club!

I scream for Ice Cream

I love ice cream! You cannot beat Ritter’s frozen custard. There’s nothing like a cool vanilla custard with warm hot fudge in a waffle bowl. Ever since moving from Indiana, I long for my Ritter’s! I guess I could recreate the experience by making vanilla custard and hot fudge in a store bought waffle bowl. Maybe I should just try something new like this layered ice cream cake I saw in my mother in law’s magazine. Pure bliss!

Epazote what??

Last night, my sister and I took a Mexican cooking class. We made some wonderful corn guacamole, an interesting poblano, spinach, and black bean lasagna with goat cheese, a flavorful chicken pilbil, and a decadent chocolate mousse. The most interesting thing I learned in the class was that people often use the herb, epazote, in recipes with black beans to ward off the evil effects aka gas. Perhaps, I'm the only one who didn't know this but it's helpful nonetheless!

Cherry Pitting

I am back from the Traverse Cherry Festival with a LOT of cherries! I could eat cherries morning, day, and night. In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing for the past couple of days. Unfortunately cherries don’t stay fresh for very long and after you freeze them, they don’t taste quite the same. If you are in need of cherry pie or cherry cobbler, don’t forget to purchase a cherry pitter. Unfortunately my fingers are still stained from all of the cherries I pitted this weekend!

Traverse City Cherry Festival

Summer festivals are the best! This weekend, my husband and I are traveling to the Traverse City Cherry Festival. This festival is located in beautiful Traverse City, MI, a great lakeside community with wineries, beaches, quaint shops. There's nothing like driving to Traverse City and seeing all of the beautiful cherry trees in July. The festival is a perfect time to sample everything and anything cherry!

Must Have Outdoor Games

Sometimes parties are really boring. We've all been to the party where everyone sits around and talks for a really long time about pretty much nothing. We eat, talk, and eat some more. How exciting. To avoid party boredom, show your guests a good time with some fun outdoor games. No one is going to pass up a game of bocce, croquet, badminton, or even horseshoes. If you're having a late night party, try a glow in the dark bocce ball set. Your guests will love it!

Fun Party Lights

No party is complete without fun party lights. I never thought about chili pepper lights until I first saw them at a friend’s house a couple of years ago.

Free Dunkin Donuts on Mondays in July

I'm not a big donut fan. I admit that I like the little munchkins a lot more than the large sugary donut. It's all about variety with 4 little munchkins instead of 1 same flavored donut! Either way, I am fine with having a donut every once in a while especially if it's free. That's right! Free donut every Monday at Dunkin Donuts in July. Yesterday, I seriously thought about grabbing a donut on my way home at the train station in addition to the donut I had already had that morning at the Dunkin Donuts across the street from my office. Now that would be a great way to begin and end the Monday workday!

Serving Great Food

Sometimes the most difficult part of a holiday party is serving all of your delicious creations. You can never have enough serving trays. Actually, if you do, please give me one since I never seem to have enough! Otherwise, I might have to sneak this great bamboo set (includes cutting board) into my house. This set would complement our bamboo place mats really well!

Trying something new for the holiday

Sometimes it’s easy to stick with the same tried and true recipes, especially for holidays. How many times have you had the same version of deviled eggs or classic potato salad? Sure, some people like these tried and true recipes. Some people like to experiment with the classics and add some new ingredients to deviled eggs and transform them into crab deviled eggs.

It’s fine to keep the classics, but if you’re bored with them, it’s fun to try something different. So, this year as you celebrate July 4, instead of the traditional July 4 flag cake, why not try something completely different such as a Black Forest Cheesecake Parfait or an Apple Pie à la Mode Parfait? I am sure your guests will appreciate your sense of adventure!

Picnic Essentials

I am going to share 1 of my biggest secrets....I hardly ever buy gifts from wedding registries. Sometimes if I don't know the couple very well or there's an interesting collection of items, I'll make an exception. Most of the time I stick with a picnic backpack. This is the best gift for any couple who enjoys al fresco dining. There are some high end packs out there but I have found some great deals in the past couple of years. Last year, I bought a reasonably priced pack & included with my gift --a bottle of wine and chocolates. Picnic world offers the best selection of packs and other picnic accessories. Now that I've told you my secret, you can expect a picnic backpack similar to this one from me!

Theme oriented weeks

Since it's more fun to think about about life and finds in themes, I have decided to devote a couple of weeks to themes. With the 4th of July rapidly approaching and beautiful weather, it's a perfect week to share some finds related to holidays & the great outdoors. I have some other "theme weeks" planned but let me know if something in particular interests you.