Do You Like to Plan Yet Never Seem to Have a Plan for Dinner?

If you're like me, you have to-do lists everywhere - on your refrigerator, cellphone, in your office, in your purse, etc. I plan my next steps for my daughter's upcoming class party, taking my mom to the doctor, buying school supplies, getting groceries for the week, ensuring I have presents for the upcoming birthday parties this weekend, calling back so-and-so, so-and-so, and so-and so, calling T-Mobile to correct my bill, following up with the doctor to get back results, you name it, I have a list for it.

But, before I know it, it's dinner time. Uh-oh. No plan for that. Gulp. Quick, what's my plan? Had I only thought ahead, I could have defrosted some chicken. Now what do I do? Here's a plan...I use a website that helps me tremendously in this area....although I'm not going to lie. I still find myself without a plan for dinner. But when I do use this website for weekly planning, it's great!

The website I use is called http://www.allrecipes.com/.

Allrecipes.com is a free website to get and post recipes. It's well established and focused on recipes and the people who use them. They also offer premium services for an additional $17.50 a year, but unless you're a foodie with a burning desire to blog about recipes and give personal reviews, its' not needed.

I'm a HUGE fan of this website for many reasons:

• Tons of recipes - it has a huge recipe database with everything you'd want to make.  In fact, every recipe is scalable to whatever number of servings you desire.
• My own recipe collection - I can create my own recipe database showing my favorite recipes from their database as well as add my own private recipes (for my eyes only).
• Recipe ratings - other people rate each recipe to tell you whether they liked it or not. Each recipe has a rating from 1-5 stars. I only choose the recipes that have 4 or above stars. I feel so comfortable with these ratings that I have often cooked things for guests without trying the recipe first. People almost always rave over the recipe.

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  Recipe comments - people comment on each recipe to tell you how they changed it to make it better. I have found these comments very helpful.
• Nutritional analysis - most recipes have a nutritional analysis - so I know how healthy (or not) the recipe is.

• Shopping list - it has a shopping list feature which captures all the ingredients in each recipe and places them in a shopping list to print and take to the store. What's even better, say you want to be super efficient and plan your dinners for the whole week. With each recipe just click "Add to Shopping List" and it will create a cumulative shopping list for everything you selected for the entire week. Wow! That's a great feature!

• Ingredient Search - To save time, avoid the grocery, and see what you can cook up with what you have on hand, just type in items that you have in the house into this little beauty and you'll get a whole slew of recipes to cook for the night.

• Daily Recipe Suggestions - every day I receive an e-mail from allrecipes.com which gives suggestions of sandwiches or entrees and items to accompany them. Now at first you might think, hmmm, I get too many e-mail's already. However, this is a valuable way to add recipes your recipe box so that when you're ready to cook, you already have many good recipes to start from. I've been adding recipes this way for several years and I have built up quite a good repertoire with little effort.

My "Squeeze" On It

Using allrecipes.com has been a great experience. It helps me try new things, establish new traditions and favorites with my family, and look like a cook who knows what she's doing. My friends think I'm a super cook because of the variety and taste of the items I make. I laugh every time they say that because I know the secret behind my success. And now, you do too!

Bon Appetit!

V-Tech Bugsby's Online Contest - My Daughter's First Book!

Being a techie mom, any chance to create excitement and a learning opportunity for my 6 year old daughter online is a must do! The chance to win prizes is the icing on the cake! So when I found out about the new V-Tech Bugsby's Great Adventure's Reading System and their contest for kids ages 3-7, I knew I had to enter! To enter the contest you simply need to create a story anywhere from 1-5 pages. V-Tech gives you characters, two backgrounds, various text boxes, and some clip art. The rest is up to your child's imagination.

Writing the Story
Not wasting any time, I busied my son with some blocks and placed my daughter, Kayla, on my lap. She immediately decided the main characters of her book would be Bugsby...herself and her brother, Coleson. She knew that Bugsby was familiar with the moon but she and her brother were not. So we decided to Wikipedia the moon to learn a few facts to incorporate into the story. I was impressed by some of the knowledge Kayla already knew about the moon. Kayla had some clever ways to incorporate the facts into the storyline such as pointing out that the moon has no water, wind, or animals on it. Kayla's responses to how her characters reacted to this information was amusing because it reminded me of how Kayla and Coleson react to things here at home.

The Results

Seeing Kayla's smile after completing her first online book was fantastic. I could tell she really felt accomplished. She couldn't wait to show her daddy when he came home. The fun part is that both my husband and I posted her story and the contest on our Facebook pages, asking our friends to vote for her. Overnight, she had over 30 votes! She was beaming when she saw her count the next morning...and the fact that she was in second place already.

The contest rules stated that the winner would be selected from amongst the most popular stories. So she doesn't need to get the most votes. Nonetheless, I feel pretty confident that her story will be a front runner due to the fact that it focuses on an adventure where kids learn interesting facts about the destination they end up at. Now, if I were to meet Bugsby, I have a feeling he'd be pleased with that!

So, you're probably wondering, what's the big prize, right? The winner will get a chance to have their book published as a part of the series of books that work with the Bugsby's Great Adventure system. So, in essence, Kayla would be a published children's author!

My "Squeeze" On It

Anyways, the fun doesn't stop here. It's not too late for you and your child to have a fun learning adventure with Bugsby too. There are three phases of the contest. Even though this first phase closes tomorrow, there are still two more phases. The second phase begins August 26th and the third phase begins September 23rd. Go check it out for yourself and enjoy the ride! Bugsby's Great Adventure Contest! Good luck!

What's the Best Way to Print My Digital Pictures?

If you're like me, you have digital pictures coming out of your ears! I'm afraid my pack rat endearing qualities have followed me into my computer organization as well. I'm the type of person who takes 16 shots of the same pose of the kids - hoping that one will be an award winning photo. Do I delete all the bad ones after I found the best one (if there is a best one)? No, I might want to remember those stressful moments trying to get them both to smile and look at the camera at the same time -- before they weasel away somewhere else!

Ok, I've digressed. The question is, what is the best way to print my digital pictures? Well, there are two main ways, the home method and the developer method.

HOME METHOD

You can buy a nice picture printer and good picture paper and print your own pics at home. I have some friends who do this and are quite happy about it. Here are some pro's and cons:

pro's:

• very convenient, you print whenever you'd like
• possibility of better touched-up photos as you're likely to spend more time touching them up before you print
• print one or many - doesn't matter, you can do it anytime

cons:

• if you run out of paper or ink, you can't print anything
• can be costly to replenish the print cartridges and paper. Pictures use up a lot of ink
• there's a learning curve in using the software to touch-up your photos and printing them
• when you have a paper jam or other printer complications, there's no one around to help
• there can be wierd lines or blemishes on the printed picture that does not appear on the screen
• without the best coordination of a good printer, good paper, and plenty of ink, the quality of your pictures can be less than optimal

DEVELOPER METHOD

The Developer method is no stranger to us. This is the way we used to dvelope our 35mm film. However now, developers use very expensive and well-maintained equipment to process digital photos. There are two methods to get your photos to the developer. 1.) bring in your photos on a memory card or CD and 2.) send your photos to the developer via their website. We will discuss the benefits of using a developer's online site later in this blog.

pro's:

• picture quality is typically better
• cheaper method to print your pics
• no printer is needed
• can use your photos to make all sorts of neat things like greeting cards, pictures on mugs, books, blankets, etc.
• a developer's website is open 24 hours a day - send in your order anytime
• almost any store can develop pictures now - warehouse clubs, grocery stores, pharmacies

cons:

• not nearly as convenient - you need to plan your trip to the developer
• sometimes you need to wait while other customers are being assisted
• if you use a memory card, thre store's machine can be confusing
• sometimes the memory card gets jammed or the machine can't read it
• if you use a memory card, you have to either wait or go back to the store to pick up the photos. Most photos take one hour to process

My Squeeze On It

So you see, both methods have their advantages and drawbacks. For me, sending my pictures online to a warehouse club is the best route. I use either Sam's Club or Costco. Their prices are very closely matched with the cost of one 4x6 costs a mere 13 cents. The price has dramatically dropped from the 19 cents from a couple of years ago. For enlargements, Sam's Club tends to be cheaper, but only by pennies for 5x7's (38 cents) and 8x10's ($1.42) yet Costco is cheaper for the larger sizes such as a 16x20 ($5.99) and 20x30 ($8.99).

Most of us only belong to just one warehouse club so regardless of which club you belong to, you can feel comfortable knowing you're getting a good deal at either one.

So dig those photos out of your computer and get them printed, they are just waiting to be seen!

Do You Like a Good Deal and a Little Suspense?

One of my favorite websites, Woot.com just birthed a new website called Kids.Woot.com. Both Woot.com and Kids.Woot.com are sites I check on daily for their "deals of the day."

Kids.Woot.com offers anything from toys to educational software to car seats to puzzles. It has all sorts of fun things your kids would love at prices you can get excited about. Gotta have a Little Mermaid musical toothbrush holder for your child? Don't forget upcoming birthday parties --- time to stock up!

Woot.com offers a huge variety of products - housewares, gadgets, garden equipment, hardware, DVD players, all sorts of things for a relatively cheap price. Shipping is only $5 no matter what the size of the product.

Both Woot.com and Kids.Woot.com offer a new product every day. If you want to get a jump start on the new product offering, visit the website right at midnight, central time. Things do sell out so if you're not a night owl, check first thing in the morning. Be sure to check out the posts by Woot community members before placing your order. Many people will post their experience with the product, price comparisons from the web, or questions about the product which you too might want to know about before you buy. Usually someone answers the question later in the blog. People are fanatic about Woot....you'll see!

Leave me your comments after you check it out and let me know what you think! Happy wooting!

Full-Time Mom Sets Out on New Adventure

I'm new to blogging. I've been a full-time mom now for over 6 years. I have a 6 year old daughter and a 3 year old son. After working in the corporate world for 12 years, I never would have imagined that I could enjoy being home with my children so much.



The kudos are much different as a full-time mom than when I worked - before kids. I no longer receive increases, promotions, praises, incentives, travel allowances, etc. I don't move ahead by completing more laundry loads than anyone thought possible. Nor do I get recognition for miraculously schlepping the kids from doctors appointments to gym class to art class to play date all in one day. However, the hugs, kisses, and "I love you's," I receive on a daily basis are priceless. I never got any of these working for corporate America.



My son will be attending part-time preschool in September. It will be the first time I will actually have "free-time" on a consistant basis since my daughter was born. Hence, now is the time for a new adventure. I LOVE technology and have always had a passion for new gadets, gizmo's, software that makes life more efficient and increases communication. So I am beginning this blog to provide other moms with information about resources they may not have known about or even had the time to learn about.



As I write this blog, leave me feedback about certain areas of technology you'd like to hear more about, for example the best smart media phones and how they can help streamline your life, why use Outlook or another online calendar, what are the pro's and con's between different online picture sites, what's the best way to print out your digital pics, etc.



Thank you for joining me on this adventure and let's enjoy the ride!



Lori