Monthly Archives: August 2009

Everyone loves hearing or reading a great ghost story and sharing odd experiences of their own.  Now you can do both of those things on a blog by Christopher Ransom.  He’s asking everyone to Share Your Ghost Story on his blog by leaving comments.  You can read everyone else’s stories, including mine, as well as check out his book called The Birthing House which has just been released in the U.S.  There are definitely some creepy tales on his site that will have you looking over your shoulder at the oddest times!  Share your stories and read others by visiting his blog today — http://christopherransom.wordpress.com.

It seems like many people have a story of something bizarre that once happened to them.  People spend so much time trying to understand life but there are some things that are truly unexplainable.  If you’ve had an experience like this, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about!  More and more people are believing in things of the paranormal range of experiences.  I think that it’s great that there are still some mysteries out there in the world.  If we could explain absolutely everything, what would really be the point anymore of learning new things?  There would be nothing left to discover, nothing left to know or learn.

Some places themselves just harken back to days gone by, to people who have lived through trauma or died violently.  This pic by Tim Seuss on Flickr shows just the kind of place I mean.  This shot features an abandoned hallway in a school near Chernobyl.  Whether your ghost story is from near or far, somewhere creepy or in your home, go to the blog and share it!  Everyone likes a good scary story.

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Businesses can take the first step towards going green by buying environmentally friendly, sustainable business supplies.  Everything from pens to paper for the printer to cardboard displays for meetings can be bought in a range of eco-friendly materials.  It is not sustainable for companies to continue to make products from all new materials indefinitely.  This is especially true when companies clear cut old growth forests to make such trivial items such as paper, cardboard or toliet paper.  The planet’s climate may be permanently altered by the loss of the rain forest because of these sorts of uses.  Tree farms which are continually replanted and managed sustainably are an improvement over clear cutting but do not make up the only solution.

Recycling and reusing items is the only way to effectively and sustainably manage to keep a company going.  Corrugated cardboard, for example, can be made of virgin materials over and over when properly managed forests are used.  But what happens to the cardboard when people are done with it?  Sending things like this to the landfills indefinitely is no longer an option.  People need to plan for the end of a product’s life as well as for the use it is originally intended for.

Make the small first step required to start your business down an eco-friendly path by looking for recycled good in the products you buy.  Your customers and, more importantly, your planet will thank you for it!

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Getting ready for back to school this year has gotten a whole lot tougher for everyone with the economy in shambles.  In my house, we’re getting ready for school for two kids.  One’s going to her first year of preschool and the other is going to his first year of high school!  That means we need everything from new desktops to a new Barbie lunch box.  You name it, we need it.  Between getting ready for school, buying supplies, getting new wardrobes ready to go, hair cuts, organizing their sport schedules, buying ballet outfits, sneakers, coats, and trying to stay sane, I think the battle for sanity is definitely losing!  There are some tips to make September a less difficult month for everyone though.

Shop the sales.  Most stores have their back to school items on sale in August.  Shop early and read the fliers online — don’t get paper ones, they’re awful for the planet!.  This will save you a ton of time and energy running from store to store.  Not to mention the serious amounts of cash that you can save as well.

Make lists and stick to them.  I know that by now, I have a daily “to do” list.  Between working at the office, at home, the kids, the dog and the husband, there is just far too much to keep track of in my head.  If I have a running tally of what needs to be done by the day and the week, it’s much easier to stay on track.  Absolutely make lists when you are shopping so that you don’t end up with a bunch of stuff that you didn’t need to buy at the end of the day.

Do it early!  The schools here really make it tough because they don’t get their school supply lists until the first day.  There’s lots of stuff that can be done though — check online to see the styles of sports equipment needed for the classes the kids take.  It’s a good idea for the planet and your wallet to try to buy used if you can.  Check sites like usedeverywhere, kijiji and craigs list to try to get a deal.  What you can’t buy second hand, shop the sales for.  The sales start early so get that list done early.

Get shopping and good luck!!

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It seems like everyone is shopping for a deal in this economy.  The recession has hit everyone hard — from every walk of life people are looking for ways to earn more and spend less.  Many people are turning to the internet to add income to their households.  Fortunately, it’s a great way to make some much needed cash!

Having a professionally designed website is a vital tool to increase your recognition and professionalism in the industry of your choice.  Everyone has their own site now, from stay at home mom’s to models to photographers to students.  The problem is that most sites are poorly designed and don’t do their owners any favours when it comes to increasing your visibility.

Web pages need to be laid out in an easily understandable way with properly formatted and constructed content to gain the exposure that they are designed to obtain.  Many people simply lack the skills and time needed to make such a website a reality.  These folks are also very wary of the cost of hiring a professional to do the job for them.  But what if you could get it for only $99?

Getting a Professional Website Design doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg or even your firstborn!  Reflect studios is offering a sale, $99 for a html/css website with up to 5 pages.  This package comes complete with the design, code, and install to make it easy for people to start up a website of their own.

Simply go to their site to check it out for yourself www.reflectstudios.com.  Click on “The Brand” and look at the red label section for affordable website design.  Click on “apply for red label” and enter the promo code of REFLECT09.  This design studio really has a flair for fashion and design.  Their website features an array of their work as well as the services that they offer.  It’s definitely worth checking out, regardless of what kind of website you are trying to set up.

This is a sponsored post with 100% real opinions.

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Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to eat correctly.  We live in a world that is extremely fast paced.  No time to eat breakfast.  Working through lunch.  Grabbing something quick for dinner before running kids around to lessons or running errands.  It seems like it’s just one thing after another all day long!!  What do you do when you’re trying to lose weight?

For some people, weight loss supplements can be a great way to ensure that they are getting proper nutrition while trying to shed pounds.  Make sure that you talk to your doctor or pharmacist before beginning any weight loss program and read consumer reviews of different products so that you know which one has been most successful in the real world.  Some supplements can help to build lean muscle, suppress appetite, burn fat or even block fat absorption by the body.

Another good tip before taking any weight loss supplement is to ensure that there is a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the product.  Producers with guarantees like this are more willing, and able, to stand behind the products they make.  They don’t want to have to give you your money back and they want satisfied customers to tell other potential customers about the benefits of their products.  Safety should always be the first priority when taking any type of medication at all so ensure that the ingredients are high quality, from a reputable dealer and will not interact with any other medications that you may be using.

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Well, if you have ever wondered what shepherds do to kill time, here is the answer.  You get a viral video of “Extreme sheep LED art”.  It must have been a lot of work for them, so I hope that it makes you smile!

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Everybody is looking for a way to save money right now while the recession seems to be hitting new bottoms every day.  Online coupons can be a great way to save some serious amounts of cash when you’re shopping for virtually anything.  If you look around enough online, coupons are available for almost anything.  And right now coupons are definitely “in vogue” instead of being simply embarassing.  Everyone is trying to come up with creative ways to stretch their budgets a little further as the recession brings a feeling to the western world that we’re all in this mess together.

New Egg is a supplier of all kinds of electronics.  These electronics may seem like an unaffordable luxury to some but to others, an absolute necessity.  Especially when people nee to have their computers working properly to earn an income!  The truth is that if you look around, you’ll find ways to get their products at discounts by a variety of NewEgg promo codes that are available online.  Did your laptop just die and you need a new one right away?  You can get up to $350 off of select notebooks at New Egg simply by finding the appropriate promo code online!  That’s a substantial savings that would make a big difference to anyone’s budget whether in a recession or not.

For those of you who don’t consider computer stuff a “necessity”, how about if your microwave goes kaput and is finally unfixable?  You can save up to $120 on selected home appliances as well as getting free shipping!  That could add up to quite a bit for some heavier appliances.  They have a ton of free promo codes available for your use.  All you have to do is check it out!

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There are some things that are just decidedly NOT eco-friendly.  Unfortunately, the ubiquitous I-pod falls into this category.  Sure, it may be RoHS compliant but they are made by the thousands out of my least favorite material — virgin plastic and then shipped overseas!  Everyone seems to has one from grandmas to toddlers and they come out with new versions of them all the time which make the older models virtually obsolete.

Fear not though my eco-friendly compadres — there does seem to be a new range of eco-friendly Ipod accessories which are at least a green choice that you are able to make while using your ipods that are seemingly necessities for so many people.  Check out this I-pod docking station made of salvaged wood.  With some knowledge of electronics, a drill and some wood, some earth lover made this more earth friendly docker.  I’ve also got to point out that from a design point of view, it’s much more aesthetically pleasing than the typical white plastic box with assorted wires.

There are also eco-friendly options when it comes to the carrying case for your i-pod.  This one is made out of scrap pieces of wool felt stitched together up the sides.  It is available for purchase but would also be pretty easy to DIY a version of it.  Ensure that any material you use will not scratch the Ipod or Iphone that you store inside of it though.  Oh, and that it is a scrap piece of material that wouldn’t have been used for something else.

My personal favorite, when it comes to eco-friendly ipod accessories, is this set of speakers which can be plugged into the ipod.  The speakers themselves are made from 70% recycled materials and the box is as well made up of recycled paper and cardboard.  Another eco-friendly feature of these speakers is the range of uses that they have — you can plug virtually anything into these speakers as they’re universal and simple plug and play to use.  My favorite part of it, of course, is that it comes with 6 pencil crayons that you can use to customize the speakers yourself.  It’s like a sketch pad stuck on the outside of a speaker so that you can rock out while you get your art out!

There’s always a way to make your life and consumer choices more eco-friendly.  It doesn’t mean that you “can’t have” something.  It just means that while you’re not so green in one area, maybe you should be more green in another.  Living an environmentally responsible lifestyle is a series of steps, not one giant leap.  The important thing is to start walking!

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All that is needed to make this light fixture is a pickle jar, a light bulb (LED of course!), a wiring kit and something to cut the glass with.  I’ll admit that it doesn’t look like much of much on it’s own but 6 of them hung as pendants over an island really produces a stunning result!  Repetition, especially in groups of threes, goes a long way when decorating.  Three of something  produces the most eye catching result because you are neither trying to go for a “too symmetrical” look by pairing an accessory with a match or by not creating enough of an impact by having a lone type of accessory.  Too many kinds of one thing can be distracting and create more of a hodge podge sort of feel than a calm and serene eco-chic look.

The trick to getting people to become more eco-friendly is to have it be very fashionable to do so as well as economically wise, especially as we are still in the grips of this recession.  Environmental choices should also be affordable choices when the goal is to encourage more people to be making green choices in their day to day lives.  A solution such as these re-purposed pickle jars, or cider jars as seen below, makes green economic sense as well as environmental sense because the cost of buying a similar fixture from the store would be at least three or four times what it would be to do it yourself.

These light fixtures really start to spark creative ideas in the mind as you look in your garbage cans and recycling bins for creative re-use ideas.  Think sexy, chic and economical when repurposing items as well as practical.  It’s useless to make an item that you wouldn’t use out of another item that you were going to recycle.  Get out there, get creative and get crafting folks!  This economy and world could really do with more people who are “making do” with what they already have.  The trick is making people ask you “Where did you GET that light!!  I love it!”.

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This picture really caught my eye because of the easily recognizable re-purposed ironing board.  It actually ends up looking like some kind of medical chair or table.  Weird…  It was made by Donna Walker and is ironically called “Irony”.  She constructed the chair from a found ironing board, reclaimed MDF, leather pieces and buttons.  The juxtaposition of the feminine and male design features in this chair really come together to make it more than just an environmental piece.  The “femininity” of the ironing board combined with the “masculinity” of a Lazy Boy styling of the traditional recliner give the chair both a yin and a yang.  Wow, I just wrote lazy boy and masculine in the same sentence.  I’m not a sexist, just a realist!  Kidding.  When I mention the gender issues in regards to the chair, I’m not only quoting the designer but harkening back to traditional gender roles from days gone by (mostly).  Anyways, this is a really neat piece that shows what creativity can do to our junk piles.  Great work!

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