I’m Addicted To Swagbucks

I love Swagbucks.  For anyone out there who doesn’t know about Swagbucks, allow me to enlighten you.  It’s a search engine with perks.  As a writer, I’m always looking things up online.  Normally I’d just head on over to Google and type in the keyword(s) and/or phrase and go from there.  Nothing magical, nothing wonderful.  Then I got started on Swagbucks and I’ve been having a ball ever since.  Not only do I get to do the same thing as I did on Google, but I get rewarded for it as well.

The thing to keep in mind with Swagbucks is that you DO NOT get points for each search.  It’s random and only comes up every so often, but it does come up.  I usually get anywhere from 5 to 15 points within the first couple of searches, then I might not get another one for the next 50 searches.  But that’s not the only way to get points.  You can get daily points by voting in the daily poll, checking out the survey page each day, filling out special offers, and even by shopping in their online store.

So, what are the points for???  As I just said, there is an online store complete with items for sale that can be purchased with Swagbucks.  This can be anything from wallpaper for your computer’s desktop to a 32″ HD, flat screen television.  And yes, that one takes a heck of a lot of bucks to get.  The ones I’m aiming for are all the gift cards that can be purchased with my Swagbucks.  A $5 Paypal card is 700 points, while a $5 Amazon.comgift card is only 450 points.  My goal is to get either the $25 or $50 Amazon gift card.  Although I have to be honest and say that it’s cheaper to get 5 $5 cards than the one $25 card.  Why???  I have no idea but whatever.

So if you’re looking for a way to get rewarded for searching online, check out Swagbucks.  You won’t become a millionaire, or even close for that matter.  But you might be able to gain enough points to get a new t-shirt, a ring, or even a big screen TV.  And all because you went to search for something you wanted to find anyway.

NaBloPoMo Challenge September

Well I did it again—kind of an extension from yesterday’s post.  I’ve jumped in with both feet to endure another full month of the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).  The theme for this month is ART!!.  That’s cool because that’s actually a very broad subject and there are a lot of topics that can be covered under this category.  Art is more than paintings and pictures.  It can be about craft projects (my quilts), written arts, dance, music, and just about anything else that takes a bit of creativity to achieve.  That could even be in the form of work.  (eeewwww, there’s that word again).

I’m a huge lover of the arts.  I can’t honestly say that I understand some things that people consider art, but it’s not my place to judge.  If there’s one person who loves it, there’s surely more.  And that’s the key to being an artist, finding those people who share in your vision, your feelings.  They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there’s nothing more true in the world of art.  What one person finds as beautiful is hideous to someone else.  It all comes down to personal preference.

This could be an awesome topic for my blog.  Let’s see if I can keep it up for another month, seeing as how I’m also going to try and keep up another blog for the entire month.  My Redhead Rants blog has also been added to the blog pool for the month, so now I have to make time to keep 2 of them up every day.  I don’t have quite enough grey hairs yet, so this ought to do it.  LOL

I Did It

Holy Moley, I did it.  This is the last day of the month and I’ve managed to put up a post every day.  I can’t believe that I actually did it, but Whoo HOOO!!!!!  And yes, I kinda cheated on a few of those days by posting something that I’d written months and even years ago, but it kind of fit in with the whole “green” theme.  I was recycling old material and using some of my stranger works as filler to get me through the entire month.

And thank you Gina for all the comments.  They made it more fun for me to keep posting.  And reason to keep it going on again for next month.  I may not have gotten a lot of important stuff added, but I kept it up each day and that’s amazing for me.  And I can’t wait to see what next month’s NaBloPoMo theme will be.  Not that I’ll stick with that theme for the entire month, but it will be nice to have something to work from.

Plus I have to keep everyone up-to-date on the quilt.  I’ve almost gotten all of the last pieces cut out and am about ready to start on getting the last blocks sewn together.  Once it’s all in place, I’ll get the entire thing put together and post more pics.  And I also want to get started on those Christmas ornaments and see what else I can come up with.  It will be interesting.

So, thanks to anyone who stopped by on a regular basis this month.  It was a total blast, and I’m hoping to do it again starting tomorrow.  LOL.  We’ll see though.  I might use one of my other blogs instead, or I might try and keep more than one blog updated daily.  That would be something, that’s for sure.  LOL

My Kid’s Quilt Part 2

In the last post I did about my daughter’s quilt, I promised to post pictures as soon as I got them onto my computer and resized.  Well, I tried to do that the other night and my computer had other plans and totally crashed on me.  But I did finally get the pics resized and all, so here is the latest update my kid’s quilt.

I started out with 7 different colors.  My daughter wanted her quilt to be in all blues, but I had to work with what I had.  A little black and white here and there really set the look.  These were my original color ideas.  I used mostly fabrics I already had on hand, but let my daughter choose one fabric from Hobby Lobby.  That would be the light blue one with stars on the left.

Once I got things figured out exactly how I wanted the, I put all the pieces together.  I started with just one to make sure I was happy with the arrangement, but was thrilled to see it done.

Once I got to this point, I went ahead and made up several more and made a block of 4 squares. They looked awesome together. 

The problem was that I didn’t have enough of all these materials to make an entire quilt that would cover her bed.  So I had to improvise and decided to make an entirely different set of blocks–also in blue, black, and white—to off set with the ones I’d just made.  I had plenty of the black and white at home, but decided to go with 5 other colors of blue.   So, off we went to Wal-Mart (Who by the way has been keeping their remnant rack quite full).  I picked up a couple of remnants I liked and a couple fat quarters that looked cool.  Then I let my kid pick out another fabric that she wanted in this block.  I figured that it’s her quilt, she might as well have some say as to what it looks like.

I got the dark blue with yellow flowers and the dark blue with light blue snowflakes at Wal-Mart, and had the white, black, and the dark and light blues used in the middle.  At the bottom of the picture, you’ll see my kid picked out the fabric with peace signs all over it.  Yes, peace signs.  It’s her favorite thing, which is okay with me since a couple years ago she was into skulls.  LOL

I was happy to see that the block looked pretty good all together, but quickly realized that I’d sewn my pieces together backwards from what I’d done with the first blocks.  Oh Crap!!!  Then my little muse slapped me up long side the head and told me that “it’s a special quilt and this was meant to be.  Now shut the hell up and get back to work”.  My muse is kinda bossy.

But when I put 4 of them together, I was almost heart broken.  Honestly, I wasn’t happy with it.  I thought it looked horrible.  But, it’s not my quilt and I wanted my daughter’s opinion.  She thought it was cool how the “black pieces make it look like I put an “S” in the block for Senter”.   Yeah, okay.  That’s what I meant to do, really.  hehehe.  As long as she’s happy, I’m happy.

That’s when I went ahead and got a bunch more blocks made and put together.  I’m still not done, but I have managed to get 10 full blocks done.  I have 2 more to go (one of each color scheme), and I’m going to add half blocks to each side.  I hope it will look as cool in real life as it does in my head.  LOL  Here’s what we have so far.  I’m happy!!

It’s not sewn together completely yet.  I want to finish up the last 2 full blocks and the 8 side blocks before I put the whole thing together.  Baby girl says she’s thrilled and can’t wait until it’s done.  Her birthday is on the 1st of October, and I plan to have this done by then.  Wish me luck and I’ll keep everyone up to date on my progress.

Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 Things That Will Make Your Waitress Want To Kill You

1.) Call her darling in a creepy voice and stare at her relentlessly.
2.) Constantly complain about the weather, the economy, the President……
3.) Order a huge amount of food, demand she pay attention to you and you alone, then only leave her a dollar as a tip.
4.)Scream at her from across the room while she’s busy taking care of someone else.
5.) Talk to her as though you’re better than she is
6.) Be sure to point out any and all flaws she may have in your loudest voice possible.
7.) Make snide references about her family members
8.) Eat all but 3 bites of your food then refuse to pay because it got cold.
9.) Leave more food on the floor than your 3 year old child.
10.) Pretend to untie her apron so as to cop a feel of her backside.

Why Smoking Is Bad For Your Health

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health, but when your young and dumb, you do things that you someday regret. That day came for me when I was about 20 years old. A friend of mine and I were getting ready for a night out on the town. We got all dressed up, had perfect make-up and perfect hair, and were set for a wicked night out.

Just after I’d finished getting my hair done, I made sure to apply an ample amount of hair spray to keep every preened strand in place. As my friend was adding the finishing touches to her hair, the phone rang. It was my then boyfriend (now husband), telling me that he was on his way and to be ready to go when he got there.

Being the cool rocker chick I thought I was, I decided to have a cigarette while talking to him on the phone. I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder, put the cigarette in my mouth, and flicked my lighter. The only thing I heard after that was a very loud WHOOSH. Because of all the hair spray on my head, the flame had set my head on fire.

In a panic, I began putting the flames out with the only thing I could grab, the telephone. There I stood, beating myself in the head with the phone receiver and all my friend could do was stand there and laugh at the sight. My boyfriend on the other end of the line said it sounded like I was banging the phone up against the wall. It didn’t take long for the flames to go out, but the room reeked of singed hair. My friend had laughed so hard that she had to sit down and catch her breath. And to this day, every time someone says they need a fire extinguished, my husband throws me a phone.

I learned that day that when they say smoking is bad for your health, they had no idea how right they were.

Preparing for the Holidays

Yeah I know it might sound odd, but I’m already starting to prepare for the holidays.  Seriously, I’m trying to get a jump on the whole thing and actually be ready for Christmas this year.  I posted about looking for Christmas ornament patterns, but I’ve also started getting some shopping done.  Nothing extreme yet, but I’m getting there.  I still have to get through the month from hell, or as everyone else calls it “October”, before I can really get into the whole shopping for Christmas presents.

I’ll probably end up making most of my gifts this year, especially for my friends and co-workers/customers/people that come into my restaurant and just hang out. (Gina-lol).  I’m the kind of person who wants to give everybody something, even if it’s just something silly.  Unfortunately, God decided to make me a poor person and I can’t give to everyone like I want to.  So, that means I have to improvise and do something creative.  The creative part isn’t the problem.  It’s the making-it-look-like-it-does-in-my-head thing that’s the problem.  I get a cool idea and in my head, it’s perfect.  When I’m done, it’s not even close and I get frustrated and I throw it away and I give up.  Yeah, I know.  Not the best way to handle the situation, but I never claimed to be the smart kid.

Anyway, if anyone has any cool ideas for home-made Christmas ornaments or gifts, leave me a comment and I’ll check it out.  I love Christmas and I want to pass that happiness on to everyone I meet.  Whether they be in person or online, I think we should all take one month out of the year to spread a little joy and friendship instead of hate and discontent.