Edit; OK, that was weird. The previous entry for this went wonky and I hadn’t edited it or anything. What in the world.

Are you ready for Macro Monday? I sure am!

If you feel like joining us, check out the information page by clicking the button below. Let’s see those macros!

And the winner is….Kecia! I used a random number generate to generate a single number out of the number of entries, excluding my own comment and the extra comments left by a few people. I figured this was the easiest way to select the winner rather than going through and printing off the list of those entering, cutting them and so forth.

Congratulations Kecia! I’ll be sending you an email shortly regarding shipment of your bag, as well as your selection between the two available!

Thank you to everyone who participated. Since everyone seemed to enjoy the handbag thing, I actually have another bag I purchased several months back, that I’ll be using in an upcoming contest. For those who didn’t win, you have another chance!

Well I’m going to be spending my day getting caught up on a few things, including; working on the announcement for the handbag contest winner, finishing up a couple of free Wordpress themes, Macro Monday (almost done with this) and upgrading to Wordpress 2.5 for the rest of my blogs. Speaking of Wordpress 2.5; I’ve got to get used to this sucker. I’m so used to the way the previous version displayed the dashboard that when I log in, I find myself trying to click areas that no longer have links. Ha, ha.

I’ve also just spent an hour or so browsing for apartments in the Savannah area, so that when we get back to Georgia we’ll have a fairly decent idea of where we’ll begin with that. We’ve pretty much narrowed it down to a few that we’re really interested in, all of which are actually closer to Tybee Island. We’re so excited, yet there’s still a piece of me that wishes he’d consider NC so I could be closer to my Staceykins. At one point he’d actually planned on getting transfered to NC with the company he previously worked for in Georgia. We’d even gone as far as checking out listings with a Wilmington NC real estate agency. A few months later we wound up going to Calgary.

Well, back to getting caught up I go!

First off, don’t forget to turn off your lights at 8PM tonight, for Earth Hour.

Second, if you planned to enter my latest contest, you may want to go ahead and do that soon. I will be closing the comments tomorrow at 11:59PM EST. In other words, you have just over 24 hours to enter. I will announce the winner on Monday.

Third, GO, FLAMES GO. I get to watch the Calgary Flames game tonight. They’re playing the Edmonton Oilers. I sure hope they get a spot in the playoffs. Man, sometimes I wish we still lived in Calgary. Ha, ha.

My dad refinanced his house about a little over a year ago. At the time that he did the refinancing, he managed to lock into an interest rate of 4%. It was the perfect time for him to do so, especially considering the interest rate he locked into originally was nearly 10% and that was on A grade credit. His rate is lower than the 6.25% rate we got for our old house in late 2002, which was a fairly decent rate then. By refinancing his mortgage and getting the lower rate, he managed to knock off 5 years from the term, as well as about $80 a month from the monthly payment. Having a mortgage of $434 isn’t so bad, especially considering that Jo and I had a mortgage of $698 for a house smaller than my dad’s and not in as good of a neighborhood as my dad’s. My youngest sister works for a bank in my hometown and even as an employee, she couldn’t manage to get a rate as low as my dad got!

Mortgages scare me, even after having one previously. I don’t think it’s necessarily the idea of the mortgage itself, but more so the fact that the economy has been so unstable. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the foreclosure rates in the US skyrocket in the last year or so? I guess I am just a little worried about stuff like that at this point in my life. I’m sure Jo and I will eventually buy another have, where we will undoubtedly have another mortgage. Though I have admitted to being afraid of them, the idea of renting for long periods of time makes me nauseous - I hate putting money in someone else’s pocket! The idea of buying a house somewhere between Savannah and Tybee Island (never on the island, too expensive) sort of excites me. I have always wanted a house near the beach.

Will you be joining me, and hopefully millions of other people, in Earth Hour today - Saturday, March 29? At 8pm your local time, turn off your lights for an hour, no matter where you are at that time. Think of the difference a movement like this will make, even for a day. Now think about the difference it would make if we did it every single day.

We have been doing several things to live a greener life. For instance, we drive less and only when it is actually necessary, which is usually once a week. We have also switched to energy efficient light bulbs throughout the house. Some may be turned off by this, but we also follow the “if it’s yellow, let it mellow” thing. Recycling is also a part of our life, as is making it a routine to turn off the things in our house that aren’t being used: tv, lights, appliances - things like that. These are only a few of the things that we do.

This is our Earth. It’s time for all of us to take responsibility for it’s upkeep.

So, what do you say - will you join me for Earth Hour?

It has been so nice not having someone stomp around the house and fussing about any number of things, or just being rowdy in general. My sister in law and her boyfriend are away for the night and it has been a really delightful night thus far. No drama, no stress - good times. I think she was angry that we played dice tonight (I would explain but I rather not.. it’s just a game lol). I am not exactly sure what was said but my mother in law made a comment about her (sister in law) saying something along the lines of “you never want to play when I’m home.” This, of course, is a load of bull. I am always up for a game of dice, bullshit (card game people) or even Guitar HeroIII. In fact, I have asked my sister in law and her boyfriend on many occasions to play and they always turn me (and anyone else) down. Yet it’s funny, when they go to his families, they always have a game of at least one of those three things (or Rock Band). If anything, we should all be upset about it. Heck, on Jo’s birthday I had the entire night planned. It was going to be a movie and game night combo, with my sister in law and her boyfriend too. My sister in law and I sat down together and planned it all out. Guess what? They both bailed out, went out on the snow mobile to a friends to get their “fix” - if you know what I mean.

I know all of her problems stem from her boyfriend. My mother in law said that when she got with him, things got really sour with her (sister in law) and I can honestly see how that might happen. I’m sure the guy has good qualities but I have yet to see them in the time I have been around him. I think she would be so much better off without him, especially because I see things in him that I saw in my youngest sisters ex (who was hooked on everything in the world and cared about no one but himself). This guy has no motivation to do anything and I personally full like that has brought down her self esteem. If he doesn’t get his act together, I doubt it will improve either.

Ah well. Let her be upset. I honestly feel like she hates that Jo and I are here. Jo and I both get that vibe and considering the way she has treated me a couple of times in the last couple of weeks, I think she is pushing our buttons to make us leave sooner. But hey, you know what they say - you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone - when we’re gone, she’ll be sorry she tarnished the relationship, not us.

I have been telling myself for months now, that I would sit down one day and work on creating an mailing list but had no idea what service I would use for it. I mean, it has seriously been years since I actually had and used a mailing list, but it is something I want (and probably need) to implement since I update so often and do so many different things with my blog these days.

People visit my blog for many different reasons; blog themes, blog banners, my random babbles, however amusing they may or may not be, contests which I hold a couple of times each month and of course, for my photography. I have recently registered with Zookoda, which is a free email marketing tool, and will start using it to send out regular summaries of my latest blog additions. For instance; I update my contests a couple of times a month, as well as my themes section. With Zookoda, I can send out a weekly summary of the updates that I have made to my blog, including the regular content and special features like my contest.

When you register with Zookoda you will be able to create and manage newsletters that can also be designed to to match the current design of your own blog - something I, as a designer, really enjoy. You will also have the ability to schedule a broadcast, review reports of your newsletter and easily create and add the subscription form feature to your own blog so that your visitors can subscribe to your newsletter. You can send your visitors a daily, weekly or even a monthly summary of the latest updates to your blog - and it goes straight to their inbox. I think this is a feature that my own visitors will really enjoy, especially the ones who are not always able to check my blog on a daily basis and hate the idea of trying to get caught up.

My memory may not be the best but I cannot recall ever using a similar service and not only having so many nice options, but also being so user friendly. Being easy to use is a big plus. I can’t wait to get started with my newsletter.

All of this, for free? Oh yeah, and you should have known that I would be game!

I’m going to be starting something new soon, a weekly photo meme. I’ve been thinking about this for about a week or so and it just seems fitting, especially after hearing “Manic Monday” while thinking about it. It just all came together.

You know how much I enjoy photography, like many of you. And you know how much I love, love, love macro photography (or as I like to call it, macrotography). I shall call it “Macro Monday” - it’s just another macro Monday. I’ll start it this coming Monday, March 31st and I really hope you’ll all participate. There will be no subject requirements, only the macro requirement. It sounds pretty fun to me. I don’t know how you feel about it, but I hope it’s sort of the same.

If you think you’ll be interested in participating, just check back here early on Monday, March 31st. Maybe I’ll be able to stick with it for a full year, though I failed miserably at other “like” projects.

Also, need I remind you about my contest? Hey, look! I just did.

With money being fairly tight around here, my husband and I have had to resort to different ways of saving money. Before, when we both brought in nice incomes, we could just stash some into our savings account. That, surprisingly, worked for many months. After moving here to Newfoundland we realized that we’d have to figure out how to save our money in other places in order to keep our savings account plump. I find it hard to believe that there was a time in my life when I turned my nose up at the idea of using a coupon. That time, of course, was a time when someone else paid my way. At this point in my life, there’s rarely an occasion where I won’t or don’t use a discount coupon for a purchase. I guess I’ve become the bargain shopper I never thought I’d be. I would rather find a good sale or discount than just toss extra cash someone else’s way.

I’ve just learned about a new website that caters to my (and anyone else who likes to save money when making a purchase) discount shopping needs: WebbyPlanet.com. Here, when a consumer makes a purchase online at their favorite stores, they can save with instant discount coupons. Consumers can also occasionally find printable coupons for purchases made in-store. Browsing for deals, coupons and discounts is easy. You can choose to select by category (categories like; electronics, pet supplies, web services, health and home and living), which after choosing will take you to a list of stores that fit that category or by scrolling down further and selection “All Stores” and searching directly for your them. Some of the stores you’ll find include; Dell, Sephora and Eddie Bauer, to name a few. WebbyPlanet.com keeps you up to date with all the latest information and updates regarding sales and discounts, daily.

I won’t pay full price for something if I don’t have to. I don’t know why anyone would pay full price for anything if there’s a discount, sale or coupon available.