Back in November I had to renew my yearly antivirus protection for my PC.  I’ve been using Norton for the last several years so I decided to renew it thinking it would be an easy process.  And, Norton has done fairly well at protecting my computer and I’d never had any major crashes like I did with McAfee.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Before I could install the newest version of Norton I had to uninstall the older version.  So I make my purchase and try to uninstall the old and install the new.  It’s not working.  I keep trying and its still not working.  I call customer service and in order to figure out what is wrong I must give the customer service agent full access to my computer.  I sit watching as the agent clicks away going through places on my computer I never knew existed.  I have no idea what he is doing and I am honestly horrified.  He manages to fix the error blocking the installation only to find another error that still will not allow my antivirus to work.  I ended up purchasing a registry cleaner so I could finally get my antivirus up and running.  After all the frustration I’ve had with antivirus software I may try a new service for my renewal in November of 2008.  I’ve been seriously considering PC Security Shield after reading some reviews on other sites.  If anyone has tried this service please comment!

I just tried to register for my free trial of the Best Life Diet and I suppose I need to buy another box to get my second code.  Today is grocery shopping day anyways so I’ll have to get my 2nd box of cereal.  On the back of the FiberOne box I have there’s a website called www.eatbetteramerica.com so I decided to check it out.  I registered on the site and printed coupons for FiberOne cereal, Cheerios, and those delicious chewy FiberOne cereal bars.  They had coupons for other Best Life Diet products as well.  They also have tons of articles on weight management, low calorie snack ideas, portion control, healthy recipes, body toning exercises and much much more.  This site is a great tool if your resolution is to lose weight in 2008.  Check it out at www.eatbetteramerica.com.

When my husband first purchased our house (before he knew me) he installed mini-blinds on every window.  Mini-blinds aren’t a bad way to start out when you first buy your home but now that we’ve been here for 7 years we are in serious need of a window treatment upgrade.  So, about 2 years ago we rescued an abandon newborn kitten from my in-laws backyard.  Little did we know the damage and destruction he would cause in the time we’ve had him.  He has completely destroyed the mini-blinds.  I don’t know how he does it, but behind our backs he chews the individual blinds in half and then rips them from the threading that holds them together.  So now that our blinds are destroyed and useless at keeping our privacy I am faced with ordering new ones.  A task I have put off as long as possible without people on the street being able to peer into our windows.  I procrastinate horribly when it comes to “do it yourself home improvement projects.”  Nevertheless, it must be done since I don’t want strangers rubber-necking into my living room window.  Does anyone know of cat proof blinds?    

Yep, its that time of year again when everyone starts thinking about their New Years Resolutions.  According to USA.gov the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions are (not necessarily in this order):

1.  Lose Weight/Get Fit/Eat Right

2.  Pay Off Debt

3.  Save Money

4.  Get A Better Job

5.  Reduce Stress

6.  Spend more time with family & friends

7.  Quit Smoking

8.  Take a Trip

9.  Volunteer to help others.

10.  Get a better education.

My resolution this year is to lose about 20 lbs.  I’m currently 5′5″ and weigh a healthy 160 lbs. so my goal weight is to be 140 lbs. by Spring of 2008.  So this afternoon I was grocery shopping and discovered a box of Fiber One Cereal that offered a free 2 month membership to the Best Life Diet with Bob Greene (Oprah’s trainer).  All you do is find the specially marked boxes of Cheerios (regular & honey nut), Total, Fiber One, and Wheaties.  Then, go to www.startyourbestlife.com and enter 2 codes from the cereal box.  When you register you do have to enter credit card information so you can continue with the program if you like without interruption.  To cancel the membership after 2 months simply go to www.thebestlife.com.  I’ve tried several other diets like South Beach and The Zone, but this one seems more flexible with what you can eat.  I lost almost 10 lbs with Phase 1 of The South Beach Diet but wasn’t able to keep it off or continue eating the narrow food choices.  

Update:  You only need to purchase one box of specially marked cereal to get your free trial to The Best Life Diet.  Just enter the same code twice at www.startyourbestlife.com

I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I first saw snowboarding on TV.  All I remember thinking was how cool I thought it was and that one day I just had to try it.  Almost 10 years ago my best friend married an Army man who was stationed in Germany for several years.  During that time he began snowboarding and rode the ski slopes all over Europe.  So in late November of 1998 we all planned our first snowboarding trip to Winter Park, CO.  Lucky for me this guy I worked with had an old snowboard he wanted to sell.  It was a Burton 155 and I think I paid him like $20 for it.  The board was too big, the bindings were huge, but I didn’t care I just wanted to snowboard.  Our trip to Winter Park was incredible except the last day we were there I was coming down the slope, caught my edge, and flew through the air with outstretched arms.  My right hand slammed into the hardpack and I fractured the distal end of my radius.  Bummer.  I don’t remember much on the flight home but I’m certain I was drooling from all the pain medication.  Anyways, since we live in the Midwest, we went on snowboarding trips as often as we could and wherever we could in the years that followed.  One winter we were so desperate to ride we hooked our water skiing rope we used to wakeboard with to my friends Dodge Durango.  We found the best un-plowed back country road in Indiana we could find and towed each other on our snowboards.   

My 10 year nephew loves to spend the night at our house.  We play Playstation until 1 o’clock in the morning and in the summer we play football in the backyard.  However, this morning the midwest winter storm dumped a fresh batch of snow on the ground so we had a snowball fight instead.  Great fun.  I enjoy these moments because one day he will grow up and spending the night with Aunt Jen and Uncle Bryan won’t be cool anymore. 

I just read an article on msn.com about ordinary people with relatively low incomes paying off huge amounts of debt in a short time.  While I can’t complain about my situation I do have student loan debt that just drives me crazy.  Sometimes I feel like I’ll never get it paid off and then I just give up hope the debt will ever go away.  I really try to not let it get me down but staying positive about it is a hard thing to do.  After reading this article I have new hope that if other people can pay off their debt then I can do it too.  One couple mentioned that by just making sacrifices and cutting back on spending they were able to eliminate their mortgage. 

“It has been great to be so young and live in a paid-off house,” Bethany said. “We can be more flexible with our lives since only one paycheck can easily pay for our necessities. We can choose to stay at home when we have kids and aren’t chained to our jobs if, for example, lower-paying but more rewarding career options open up for us.”

Wow.  That is huge.  Can you imagine not being “chained to your job?”  I really think that is the reason so many are unhappy in life.  Feeling stuck in your job because of that black cloud of debt hanging over their heads.  This is exactly how I feel.  So, read the article and make your own plan for getting out of debt.  I have. 

Huge Debts Paid Off Fast  

If your like me two of my favorite things are writing about cool stuff and getting paid.  So why not get paid to write about cool stuff?  That’s exactly what people all over the internet are doing with their blogs.  Writing what inspires them and earning cash for doing so.  How many of us will fulfill the dream of becoming a famous best-selling writer and retire in the South of France?  Well, dreams are great but lets get back to reality.  The next best thing is signing up with a paid to blog site like Bloggerwave.com.  All you do is register on their website, wait for blog approval, then review available opportunities to write about.  Each opportunity will show how much you will get paid before accepting the offer then the cash is deposited right into your paypal account.  To learn more just visit Bloggerwave.com for details.             

The mortgage crisis in the U.S. has made a few headlines lately with the highest foreclosure rates we’ve ever seen.  The numbers are astounding and I can’t imagine anything more devastating to a family than losing your home.  With all the negativity going around there is some good to find in all this.  I worked in the mortgage lending industry for over 5 years and knew all along that the business practices of mortgage companies would eventually fail some over-extended homeowners.  The sales tactics that I personally saw were not illegal but were just unethical.  I won’t go into details here, but the good thing is that maybe the mortgage crisis will bring more awareness to the lending practices of mortgage companies.  They need more regulation to hold them accountable for those over-extended consumers in order to protect them from foreclosure in the future.  There needs to be more education for potential home-buyers on how they can plan to purchase a home in the future if they can’t afford it now.  The other good thing about the morgage crisis and the high foreclosure rate is that people who have never been able to afford a home can now buy a foreclosed property at a reduced cost.  My sister is a working single mother and has never been able to afford to buy a home until now.  Just last week she closed on her first home at a reduced cost from the lender because it was a foreclosed property.  This in no way makes up for all those families losing their homes and I truly feel terrible for them.  When Hurricane Charley hit Florida I had a few customers with roofs blown off and debris from their home everywhere.  Unable to complete a mortgage loan for them all I could offer was some words of encouragement.  So, this too shall pass.                      

As I mentioned before in a previous post, I am honestly a horrible shopper.  Out of everything I need to shop for I seem to have the most trouble finding clothes for myself.  Since I’m in my early 30’s I can’t shop in the junior section anymore and the misses section looks “too old.”  Over Thanksgiving weekend my husband and I did some serious shopping at Circle Centre Mall where I found a great turtleneck sweater at Gap.  The sweater is called the jersey turtleneck and I got it in ”ivory frost” for only $29.50.  This sweater is great because its not too thin, too thick, too long, or too short.  In fact, its just right.  It is a soft stretch knit cotton with ribbed cuffs & ribbed turtleneck.  Today I wore it to work and got a lot of compliments.  My co-worker even asked where I got it and was going to buy one for herself.  For once, I shopped and found something great.  There’s nothing like a great sweater.  Find it here at Gap.com