Sunday, May 17, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Jeannie Toohey Announced as 2009 Mother of the Year
My friend Mel sent me the following video from CNNBC: "Jeannie Toohey Announced as 2009 Mother of the Year."
Watch it here
Watch it here
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Happy Cinco de Mayo - A Little Info...
| Cinco de Mayo | |
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Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a regional holiday in Mexico, primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico.[1][2] The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.[3][4]
While outnumbered, the Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had known no defeat for almost 50 years.[5] However, Cinco de Mayo is not "an obligatory federal holiday" in Mexico, but rather a holiday that can be observed voluntarily.[6][7]
While Cinco de Mayo has limited significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.[8] However, a common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day,[9] which actually is September 16 (dieciséis de septiembre in Spanish),[10] the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.[11]
Monday, May 4, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Staples: They have what we need...for "the flu"
It seems everyone these days are ca$$hing in on the Swine Flu Virus Epidemic. Shawn was saying the day before yesterday that CVS was selling those breathing masks that painters use for around $5.00. And now, Staples has this ad right on their homepage.Staples is now advertising that they have what you need to protect yourself from The Flu. Really? Seriously? Since when did an office supply store become a pharmacy? And by the way, did you notice how they said "Protect yourself from "the flu""? There is a difference from "the flu" and "The Swine Flu"...did you notice how they are capitalizing on "the flu" but didn't Capitalize "The Flu"? {:o)
Gotta love marketing!!
I am thankful everyone I know has not caught any of the flu's.
Inside Edition - Real Estate Infomercial Investigation - John Beck
If you are up late for any reason, you have probably seen these John Clark Infomercials. I have gone to bed with them on because that is the only thing on tv. (We have basic cable - $5.00 cable tv plan.) I remember thinking how great it sounded and what if it was really true? My husband never likes infomercials and thinks that they are all scams. I am beginning to think that he may be right. (Don't tell him I said that.)
And then it gets me thinking, what if there are infomercials that are really true, no gimmick. John Clark very well may have screwed up the integrity of everyone else's business. Because of this, people will always beware...thanks to all the snakes out there.
I am thankful that I don't have the money to invest in something like this because if I did, I may have been one of those unfortunate people that got caught in his scam.
I found it very interesting that Inside Edition's Video showed what the house REALLY looked like and interviewed the people who fixed them up. They said that the houses DID cost that much, but they were un-inhabitable. It costed the buyers 3 times the amount they paid for the house to fix it to make it inhabitable and look like the pictures the infomercial shows.
I also love that they went and interviewed the owners. The infomercial states that the cost of the houses was the amount they owed on the back taxes and the houses were up for foreclosure. When Inside Edition interviewed the owners, they said that was NOT true. They did NOT lose their house to foreclosure at all.
One woman they interviewed said that she paid her taxes, but the city had applied her taxes to the wrong property, the city's fault. They fixed the problem and she did NOT lose her house. She sold her house on her own, it did NOT foreclose.
It's funny (not really) how you can stretch the truth and twist it for your own benefit. It is awful and dishonest. Why lie?
I will be honest, though. I have seen the infomercial many times and they did a great job explaining how it was possible to buy a beautiful house for under $600. I guess next time, I will be better off just turning the tv off.
Thank you so much to Inside Edition for uncovering this story/scam. You have saved one person - ME!
The moral of this story; Buyer Beware, If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, Don't believe everything you see/hear, Turn the Boob Tube OFF!
Real Estate Infomercial Investigation:ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 4/28/2009
| "You're about to learn how you can start buying homes like these for just a few hundred dollars," says the announcer at the start of real estate guru John Beck’s infomercial. The infomercial airs morning, noon and night all across the country. In it, Beck says if you send him just $39.95 he'll teach you how to buy beautiful homes for next to nothing. According to Beck, buyers can get incredible deals when people fail to pay their property taxes and the houses are auctioned off by the government. The hostess in the infomercial says, "We could not be telling you about it on national television if it was not true." INSIDE EDITION’s Senior Investigative Correspondent Matt Meagher went to Oklahoma where every house featured in the infomercial is located. There, with just a little digging, Meagher discovered, how Beck misleads viewers about the homes featured in the infomercial. On his infomercial Beck boasts about how a big two story home was purchased at a tax foreclosure sale for only $521.56. However, INSIDE EDITION learned that it actually cost three times as much, which would still be an amazing deal. But what Beck didn't show is what the home really looked like when it was purchased. It was completely dilapidated and took ten years and more than $100,000 for the current owner to make it look as good as it did in the infomercial. The current homeowner tells INSIDE EDITION the house was “pretty much…uninhabitable” when he purchased it. Also featured on the infomercial is another dazzling house that Beck says was actually purchased for less than $100. But, that’s not true. County records show it was acquired for more that $2,200 and was a falling down piece of junk at auction. It took four years and $40,000 to fix up. Beverly Glover was shocked when INSIDE EDITION showed her the infomercial. The infomercial implied that she lost her home because of just $329 in back taxes. Glover says, “That's a lie.” In the infomercial, Beck claims "[Glover’s home] was purchased free and clear for only $329.90." However, she actually never lost possession of her home. A clerical error had applied her tax payment to the wrong property. The mistake was corrected and she never left her home until she sold it for $158,000. Freeman says that not one of the homes featured in the infomercial has sold for the price John Beck has quoted them at. As many as 15,000 people a week cough up nearly $40 for Beck’s instructional DVDs and booklets. But that's just the beginning. Everyone who responds to the infomercial soon gets a call from a telemarketer at a company called Mentoring of America. It's owned by the same people who own the John Beck infomercial and several others like it. This is where the company makes the real money. Telemarketers follow a script that says the potential buyer is being considered for a select team that will be trained by John Beck himself, but that’s baloney. The telemarketers urge people to put up to $15,000 on their credit cards to pay for private over-the-phone tutoring, and say they’re almost certain to make that money back in just a few months Dawn Zuvic of Mississippi and Lani Maplesden from California both say they fell for the pitch. “I know that there's always money to be made in real estate,” Maplesden tells INSIDE EDITION. Zuvic says, “I was always hoping that eventually that I would be able to be make a good living at it.” They each paid more than $10,000 for the tutoring and have had no success. “It makes me cry a lot,” laughs Maplesden. “I'm still paying on the bills.” Dawn Zuvic says her mentor talked her into buying a tiny piece of land in Pennsylvania at what was supposed to be a huge discount. But, INSIDE EDITION found property records showing the land had been bought for only $585 and then sold to Zuvic for more than $2,595 only five months later. That wasn't a discount, it was more than a 300% markup! The land was sold to Dawn Zuvic by none other than John Beck himself! She's never been able to resell the land and has now had to take a second job as a waitress. Zuvic tells INSIDE EDITION, “I felt like, like I was taken.” Bill Mitchell of the Better Business Bureau in Southern California says John Beck's infomercial has generated hundreds of complaints and the company has received an “F” rating. “Their real business is selling blue sky, hot air,” Mitchell says. When Meagher asked how his companies helped people, Hewitt responded, “Why are you confronting me like this?!” He says that Mentoring of America is not a scam. “It is not [a scam]. First, first of all...you have your facts wrong.” His attorney later supplied INSIDE EDITION with a list of 13 people who said they had a good experience with the program, earning between $550-$39,600. But Lani Maplesden isn't convinced. She's $20,000 in debt and in danger of losing her home. She says if she could talk to John Beck, she’d ask him, “How can you sleep at night? Do you have any conscience at all?” The company says they dispute the Better Business Bureau's ratings system and claim they work to resolve consumer complaints. As far as the houses, they say Beck never states in the infomercial that the homes were in the condition shown when purchased. |
The Story of Mother's Day
The Story of Mother's Day
The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter*), "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England.
During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers.
On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.
As Christianity spread throughout Europe, the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church" - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm.
Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday Celebration. People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.
In the United States, Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. How would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Massachusetts every year.
In 1907, Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day.
Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year, Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia.
Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessmen and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911, Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state.
President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Austrailia and Belgium, which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May.
Happy Mother's Day!!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
My Coke Rewards For Schools; Donate your My Coke Rewards!
My Coke Rewards For Schools
These days, our schools need all the support we can give them. Schools can collect points through donations from My Coke Reward members within the school community and will have a unique catlogue of rewards available only to school accounts.
Coca-Cola helps students to learn and grow stronger in all aspects of life. find your school, donate your My Coke Reward points and empower your favorite students to do, learn and discover more every day.
How does the program work?
Everytime you enjoy a Coca-Cola product, you can help enrich the education of children. Donate your My Coke Rewards points to the participating public or private K-12 school of your choice, and help schools get items they need to facilitate a well-rounded education for students.
To participate in the program, a designated School Account Manager must register their school at My Coke Rewards.
The School Account Manager can check the status of the account, change account information, and browse or redeem points for rewards exclusively for schools.
Schools can choose from creative supplies, athletic equipments, textbooks and many other rewards that allow children to learn and excel.
To donate, simply collect and enter codes from participating Coca-Cola products, then select the school(s) of your choice to donate the points.
If you're not already a My Coke Rewards member, it's fast and easy to join. Join us in enhancing the educational experience of students.
Eight Gifts that Cost Nothing
I figured with Mother's Day coming up, I would share this with everyone. It seems every holiday has turned into about spending money. I used to be asked what do I want for ____ Holiday. My answer has always been: I want us to be happy in life...and still do.
That's it, no hidden message.
1. THE GIFT OF LISTENING.
But you must REALLY listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.
2. THE GIFT OF AFFECTION.
Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.
3. THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER.
Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories. Your gift will say, 'I love to laugh with you.'
4. THE GIFT OF A WRITTEN NOTE.
It can be a simple 'Thanks for the help' note or a full sonnet. A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime, and may even change a life.
5. THE GIFT OF A COMPLIMENT.
A simple and sincere, 'you look great in red,' 'you did a super job' or 'That was a wonderful meal' can make someone's day.
6. THE GIFT OF A FAVOR.
Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.
7. THE GIFT OF SOLITUDE...
There are times when we want nothing better than to be left alone. Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.
8. THE GIFT OF A CHEERFUL DISPOSITION.
The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone, really it's not that hard to say, Hello or Thank You."
Google's offering 25 free Google Profile business cards to the first 10,000 folks who order them
Order profile business cards
If you're using your Google Profile page to have a say in what Google says about you, Google's offering 25 free Google Profile business cards to the first 10,000 folks who order them.
If you liked the idea behind previously mentioned Google Me business cards but don't like paying for things, these 25 free biz cards are just the ticket. The business cards look like the screenshot here, courtesy of Gizmodo's Jason Chen. Unfortunately when I tried following the "Order profile business cards link" on my Google Profile page, I was met with an Invalid Offer message, so your mileage may vary. I'm guessing that you need to have entered enough information on your profile so that it's eligible to be featured in Google search results before you can order the business cards, since the whole idea is that Googling your name will get you to the profile page.
To get your cards, either sign into your Google Profile page and look for the Order profile business cards link or, assuming you're already signed in, you should be able to follow the link below. Thanks Jason Chenzmodo!
Order profile business cards [Google]
Well, I did it...and it really is free! Go get yours!
| Thank you for creating your Google card on iPrint.com. A confirmation email will be sent to you shortly. |
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