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It’s Not Just Me Anymore

Yeah seriously I am not the only one living like a rock star in this house anymore, I mean 52″ television, Xbox 360, fancy appliances and robotic vacuums aside the three cats are now getting a taste of the good life.

Yes I have three cats, and any of you with even one cat knows the smell you get accustomed to, it is not pleasant, and even if you get used to it others entering your house may not be. Thats the problem I was running into. I have plug in air fresheners, and sprays and even some strong candles, but in the end the prevailing scent is cat ass, and I hate it.

This weekend Chad made a purchase that may be the answer, he bought me and my kitties a LitterMaid Plus self cleaning litter box. This thing is awesome, all you do is plug it in add some clumping litter and a empty cartridge (like a rectangle bucket and lid) the cat does its business, it clumps, ten minutes later the litter box rakes itself clean and with three cats after about two days I go in lock the lid on the cartridge and dispose of it.

Our house has literally never smelled so clean, and our one cat Steve who was starting to get the idea that if the box was dirty he should mess elsewhere, well he’s (sorry she) has stopped that completely.

This thing is just to easy, and with three strictly indoor cats what can a person do? Like I said I have tried all the other alternatives to getting rid of the smell aside from letting my cats outside to go and thats how we lost our sweet Morpheus so early on so I’m not going to do that again. Nope a robotic self-cleaning litter box thats the only way to do it, like my mother said now all we need is a robotic toilet scrubber and the world would truly be bliss.

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Memories……

Lingering Joys- a poem-author unknown

The tide recedes, but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand.
The sun goes down, but gentle warmth still lingers in the land,
The music stops, and yet it echoes on in sweet refrains…
For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains.

Not to many people know this but one of my greatest fears is losing my memory, not knowing who I love or being able to recognize my own children, it literally scares the hell out of me. One of the things that really made this a clear fact in my life was my Grandmothers passing, now she was not diagnosed with Alzheimer’s but she was found to have inoperable brain tumors so even if they had diagnosed her she passed so quickly after her memory loss that I don’t see what the point would have been. What broke my heart was the last couple times I went to see her and a visitors book had been placed by her bed so you would know who she had seen recently, towards the end you could say something like “Oh Kay came to see you yesterday.” and she would say no it was someone else, she never knew I came to see her, and to this day that breaks my heart.

Memories are really sometimes all we have left during the end, people who have come and gone, places that were special, events only to be replayed in ones own mind are tragic things to lose. Alzheimer’s is a thief of the last threads that tether us home, it steals it from the minds of people each and every day. I don’t know all the facts about this horrible disease, I know they are doing more studies on the cause and finding ways to slow down the progression, but like so many other things theres just no definitive cure or answer yet.

There is a way for us all to help, Memory Walk from the Alzheimer’s Association are 2-3 mile walks all over the country, they are usually held in the Fall and they help to generate funds to help in the study to end this horrible disease. Alzheimer’s Memory Walk is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research, it calls on volunteers of any age to become champions in the fight against Alzheimer’s. There are walks in more than 600 communities.

Memory Walk is a new campaign, the first of its kind from the Alzheimer’s Association, its aim is to teach Americans and promote action in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. The champions campaign challenges five million Americans to become a champion, they want one for every person currently living with the disease to fight against Alzheimer’s.

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Blogging Has Its Privileges

Yes thats supposed to be Membership, as in the Amex card slogan but for my purposes it’s really blogging that has gotten me things not a credit card. I am really amazed at how much fun I have been having and how much loot I have been acquiring just from the simple thing I love to do.

I mean it all started out innocently enough last November with my first few posts, I thought “Hey this is kind of fun.” and after a few months I even started to make a nice little bit of money from doing my little ads and reviews, so of course that was really exciting. Lately I have been getting a lot of free samples and e-mails asking me if I will do some reviews for more samples. Hell yes! I love getting samples it’s like little mini-Christmas’.

For example I did a post for Maxxed Energy Pops (energy suckers!) and they loved it but at the time I was unable to get their product locally, so I let them know this and they sent me out an entire case, but then just last week they e-mailed me again saying they were sorry for the delay but they now had the t-shirts and samples in stock again, within days I received another case and an awesome black Maxxed t-shirt!

Then there was a little post I did for Renuzit Tri-scents and a contest they were having where entrants made a video about how the Tri-scents helped transform part of their home and the winner would get a 10,000 dollar makeover from Tanya Meme, all I had to do was talk about the video I liked and embed it in my post. Well the other day they e-mailed me for my address and a couple days later I received my very own Renuzit Tri-scent. Sweet!

Alright these may not seem like the most extravagant things in the world to some people but to me free is awesome because it’s just a few more dollars I didn’t need to spend so I can use it elsewhere, and like I said I have been contacted by a couple different companies now to do more sample reviews, so there will be more to come, and more free stuff to talk about.

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I Can’t Believe It’s Almost Here

Our road trip that is, Markus has been informing me of how little time we really have. With July almost over (where the heck did it go?) and August and September being the last two months to plan our trip I feel I am starting to panic a bit. I was going to buy tickets to a big Vegas show, but when I saw what is was going to cost for the three of us I about passed out, I mean we are talking hundreds of dollars…a person!

Okay so I need a new plan, or plans, I mean everyone keeps talking about all these free and reasonable shows in Las Vegas but know one can seem to tell me where, so thats why I am turning to my friends at Trusted Tours & Attractions, I mean five minutes after going to things to do in Las Vegas on there site I already found a wax museum I am totally going to take the kids to, its no Metropolitan museum of art but it’s something the kids and I can both enjoy.

They really have online travel guides
for just about every area in the country so you can plan for your next trip.I know next time I go visit my brother I will look at the things to do in New York section on the site. I have said before how I really haven’t taken many vacations, so I don’t have some great summer vacation to tell about but this upcoming trip is going to be the beginning of a new part of my life, I have already started thinking about taking a cruise to the Bahamas in the spring of 2009. It’s time I started doing what I have always wanted and that’s traveling.

Another thing Trusted Tours is doing right now is giving away $150 dollars in iTunes, all you need to qualify is sign up for there newsletter and you could win! With all the new iPhones out there and me I just purchased Markus’ iTouch, that could really come in handy, I’m already thinking about what movies and videos I could buy to watch on the road trip.

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Where The Deer And The Antelope Play

Well I don’t think they technically have Antelope but they do have Elk and free roaming Deer at Fawn Doe Rosa in Wisconsin. It’s a place that I have gone since I was a child and I brought my son when he was little and now I bring Katrein every year, it’s kind of an annual summer trip for her. The amazing thing about the place is the beautiful tame deer that love to be fed corn from your hand and have there ears rubbed.

Fawn Doe Rosa isn’t just filled with Deer, they have Horses, Pigs, tons of goats and geese, Timber wolves, Otters, Beavers, Cougars and Lynx, and some really cranky Grizzly bears.

It’s just a fun and educational place to take kids, so if your ever lucky enough to get out to western Wisconsin look them up, otherwise find a place in your area like this because it’s really a great time for people of all ages.

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Wordpress 2.6, Oh Come On Already

Well I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything this week but it’s been a real sh*t of a week so far. First off my leg has been numb on the outside and like a wild animal is chewing on the inside, of course I just kicked my usual 2 mile a day walk up to 3. I know some of you are like WHA? but in case you weren’t aware I broke my back about 4 years ago and herniated 4 disks which even with my amazing doctor (he’s one of the leading spinal surgeons in the country) he refuses to even attempt surgery on such a large portion of the middle of my back. (he would have to fuse 6 vertebrae, never been done) So getting back to the walking, three miles is huge for me, at the end I generally feel like someone has taken a stick and smacked me repeatedly across my back, but my doctor really wanted me to have a walking program and I really wanted to improve my shape so I now sit here with what is most likely a pinched nerve and I got more pills and another MRI tomorrow. *rolls eyes*

Okay so the next jolly part of my week started with the new Wordpress 2.6 upgrade which in case you hadn’t noticed ATE MY SITE!! Yes, we were going to start a design change, and yes this moved it along, but it ate my entire sidebar and everything I try to put back on it is all jacked up. AAAAAAH sorry had to yell releases pressure, so I have spent the last two days putting things back, then seeing they don’t work ripping them back off again. And I have been reading about a lot of people who are less than thrilled about the new upgrade, but my problems were more the age and incompatibility of my theme and sidebar, hopefully after this weekend some of these issues will be sorted out, then maybe I will feel more inclined to blog if I don’t feel like everything is damaged all around.

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The Incident At The Fair

Or Why my daughter got to ride $20 worth of rides for free.

I love county fairs, the food (corn dogs and mini-donuts, YUM!) the games, lights and rides, I just have to go, I have always loved them. The first of many fairs I like to visit began this last weekend and we were there at 10am Saturday to get Chad a pork sandwich and put Katrein on a couple rides. We had plans to return in the evening for the demolition derby and night rides which are lit up so they are way cooler.

It was an extremely windy day, with the news even saying strong wind gusts to be expected, so as I stood at one of the small metal ticket booths the awning (really just a big metal door that folds down to cover windows) is making a heck of a noise with the wind hitting it, and all of a sudden WHAM…. it comes down and smacks me in the head.

The ticket seller comes running out asking if I’m okay, and I tell him I think so (still rather stunned) he tells me not to move, then the owner and him are in front of me asking if I’m okay, (Chad had returned and asked if I wanted to just fall down at this point) I didn’t feel more then a small bump forming on my head at this point so I continued to tell them I thought I was fine, suddenly the owner is stuffing a sheet of tickets into my hand and telling me “This won’t make the bump on your head feel better but maybe she can forget about it and have some fun.” meaning my daughter, like she wouldn’t have, she didn’t get hit, although she was eyeing the booth like it might attack at any moment.

So that was my adventure this weekend, makes you wonder what I would have got if I really got hurt? Maybe free rides for life, a years worth of corn dogs? MMMM maybe life time mini donuts? *licking lips* Okay now I’m just hungry.

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Gotta Have It!

My high speed internet connection that is. I really couldn’t live without it at this point, if a page takes more than a second to load I start getting fussy. The only problem is who we have to go through to get it, we have to use our local cable company and I hate them, they are a bunch of over priced unreliable jack asses. Therefore I won’t mention who we have, but who I wish we had was Charter internet, I would be thrilled if we could get them in our area.

Why you may ask? Not only are they offering the fastest internet speeds at an unbeatably low price right now, (yeah 14.99 a month) they are reliable, they offer a 30 day no risk cancellation if you are not satisfied, free virus protection with Charters High-Speed Security SuiteÆ with the fastest response to new virus threats and best virus detection,10 e-mail accounts,20mb of web space, plus, hold onto your hats but right now they are giving away a $25 Shell Gas gift card for any online orders. So really you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by signing up now if you have Charter in your area.

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Kids Say The Darndest Things

Especially mine, I keep thinking she is going to outgrow that adorable little kid phase, like when they start really talking and they say so many funny things. Well she still cracks me up, last night we went to our little local eatery for dinner, now normally Katrein has what the waitress there refers to as her usual, grilled cheese, French fries, no pickle on the plate (pickle juice infects the bread!). Last night she felt like something different, she thought she would like chicken, so I asked if she wanted the chicken fingers, “No, don’t they have any other types of chicken?” she says, and I say “yes they have broasted chicken.” She looks at me all confused and says “They have chicken that likes to brag about itself?” Needless to say I almost fell of my chair I was laughing so hard.

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Are You Financially Fit?

This is the question they ask at Bills IQ a website that offers to help you get your future and finances in order. Now I know what my answer would be to that quetion its a big resounding NO, my future in a credit based world is pretty bleak. I do have a couple goals one would be to own my own home and the other goal would be to have a retirement plan in place, with owning my own business thats one thing I need to take care of for myself an IRA or some sort of retirement savings, the problem is I cant seem to save fifty bucks let alone enough to retire.

I originally went to Bills IQ to do this little article for them but after doing there free survey and seeing the areas I need help and how they could help me I stuck around for my own personal benefit. Not only do they offer Debt consolidation they have Debt help and they offer Debt relief and a life plan so once you get your debt figured out you are not just left hanging , they stick with you for the long haul, helping you to start saving for your future goals.

I was very impressed that they offered Credit counseling thats something you don’t find with some of the other debt consolidation services, it seems once they get done consolidating your bills they are done with you, I want to know what my options are and have someone help me with a future plan, at Bills IQ they have all the help and resources I need to get my future financially fit maybe you should see what they can do for you.

Oh and don’t be afraid to see your score, I am not very proud to say I scored a D, my bill IQ is a lame 69%, but I feel optimistic because they gave me a lot of tips and advice for free on how I can start to make improvements, hey if I can do it anyone can especially with these guys helping me out.