Check your Rings

I am named for my paternal grandmother, Mabyn Gordon Kean. She died when I was a youngster so I only remember her through photographs now. My father loved her so much and I loved my daddy. Yes, I was a daddy's girl. When I was a young adult, my parents gave me Mimi's diamond wedding ring, which I loved. It was one of those pieces of jewelry that you never take off. It was simply beautiful with the emphasis on simply. My mother wore it for years before me and I always expected to give it to my daughter when she got older. That dream vanished into thin air at our church fair ten years ago when my thumb made its normal pass over the top of the stone on the ring and all I could feel were the prongs. I can still feel it in my mind. Horrified, my entire family along with many friends searched the football field to see if anyone could find the diamond. Searching the ground for a diamond is quite a task. We searched our car and our home. We went back to the grounds and combed the sidewalks and grass. It was gone. These many years since I still long for that ring. It was so wearable and meant so much to me. I've always felt guilty that it occurred. It didn't feel like it was mine to lose. It was a family heirloom.

The morale of my story is to have your local jeweler check the prongs on your rings (no matter what stones) at least twice a year. If your ring snags things like hairs or threads, go immediately. I thought I was having it checked often but obviously I did a very poor job of it. I'd love to get a replacement for this ring one day. I would make it Mimi's replacement ring and the story would follow.

There is a contest going on at Sokobe.com for a diamond ring. It will be an 18 carat white gold ring with a gorgeous diamond in it. You can also enter the contest by following my link. I hope one of us wins. :)

Walk down Memory Lane

While walking through Washington DC over the Memorial Day weekend I talked about wishing I had a pedometer. I would have loved to have known how far we walked that day. (In fact, I may invest in one since I really would like to know how far I "move" on a weekly basis.) We walked up and down the National Mall, through Chinatown, past the White House and up and down Pennsylvania Avenue several times. Tennis shoes would have been easier on the tootsies that the flip flops I had on but the weather was perfect and the day was a delight. The photo above is walking from Pennsylvania Avenue to the Mall area.

It was amazing to see the National Mall and realize how many thousands of people went to see the inauguration of President Obama. There is so much power in that city.

In the South, we travel from place to place via air-conditioned automobile. From the University of Maryland, we caught the Metro (Greenbelt) and rode it into DC. That would be great to have in the Denham Springs/Downtown Baton Rouge/LSU/New Orleans areas. It is a cleaner, faster, less hassle way to travel. The last time we rode a train was in England. Now those people know how to "do a train!" There were little tables you could sit at and have a very well prepared meal. I cannot see that ever happening here but I really like the idea of the Metro. Way to go DC! Being in DC reminded me of something that has probably happened to you. When I was a child, my parents drove there and we vacationed. About a 1/2 hour out of the city I realized I did not have my blue bear "Yum Yum". I had left him in the room. According to my daddy, he phoned the hotel to see if they had found him but...like with most things left, Yum Yum was long gone.

Flying High Today

Traveling via airplane has changed dramatically. My husband and I commuted every weekend long before frequent flyer was offered by the airlines. He worked at a tv station in Pittsburgh and I kept the home fires burning in Louisiana. It was expensive to say the least. However, so much more than that has changed. The once cute, trim stewardesses have been switched out for Denny's waitresses, it appears. Back "in the day" being a stewardess was considered a glamorous sought after job. You no longer hear of girls aspiring to be stewardesses do you?



The services offered by airlines, which we used to take for granted have diminished. We paid Delta the obligatory $15 for a bag we were jointly packing. Upon arrival at the airport we learned that we needed to cough up $90 more dollars due to the bag being too heavy!! NINETY DOLLARS ONE WAY! So, we took out two pair of my husbands shoes and away we went...

The stress of going through check-in is unbelievable and I personally have doubts about the real security in it. Will my new foundation in my make-up bag be flagged as contraband and be thrown away? Ah, no, this trip I just had to toss my new Diet Coke. Then, steps inside there was another gift shop where I just purchased a new bottle. You'd think that the softdrink manufacturers had something to do with it. Luckily, this drink and my husband's water quietly made the trip in my purse, unoticed.

Times change and many times you do not notice while it is happening. I remember loving to fly and thinking it was such a treat. I imagine if a poll was run today, people would not be thinking so highly of it. Far too many airplane accidents are occurring. That is another topic for another day. I hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend wherever you are.

Twitter a Soap Opera?

It is not where 'social media' is but where it is going. Twitter is fun but who can do that continually other than bored housewives or kids? It appears to have taken the place of the soap opera and days at the park. God Bless employers these days. The influx of this social drama into the workplace must be a huge drain on resources.

Tonight on Jay Leno I heard a longer haired Ben Stiller talking about Twitter. He said something like "yeah, people write things they wouldn't necessarily ever say to someone...the mundane." That is so true. People tell you what they are cooking, eating, when they can't sleep and when they are going to sleep.

It reminds me of when I was in Spain many years ago and I received a package from my father. In it was a cassette recording he had made for me. At the time, the cassette recorder was brand new. (We thought eight tracks were great.) To be able to actually record yourself talking on something "so small and contained" was fascinating. His recording was actually about ten minutes of dead air where every once in awhile he would say something as he drove on his way home. It was his new toy just like Twitter is ours.

Don't get me wrong. I like Twitter and feel that it's ultimate use is just around the corner. Perhaps their will be more designated levels so that if you don't want to know that somebody's baby just screamed or pooped, you won't have to.

Laptop Giveaway

I love sharing links to great technology and sweepstakes. Yesterday I found a site called Metropolitan Mama that is giving away a Toshiba Protege M750. The laptop is different than laptops I am familiar with since it can convert into a tablet. Also impressive is that it is digial pen and touch screen capable. For a sales rep it sounds like heaven plugged in. You've still got time to enter so click on my link and you'll get there quickly! Good luck to you!

#GNO

Momma or as most would say, Mama, used to say alot of things. When I dawdled, which must have been frequently, she used to say in a very strict voice "Time is Marching." I always felt that she lived her life in the fast lane. She would have gone nuts with these "gadgets" we have today. She hated the technology era. She was an avid reader. It makes me wonder if I could have convinced her to use a Kindle. The Kindle seems like such an awesome piece of equipment. I hate lugging books around. With the Kindle you are able (so they say) to download your books and just have them with you...a traveling bookcase of sorts. I hope to be able to get my husband one...me second.

I wondered what #gno stood for as I watched literally hundreds of tweets go by but no one answered the question. Message after message asked but the question remained until this morning when I read this article. Girls Night Out! Twitter language needs a definition bank so people will have a destination to figure out just what people are talking about.

Well, time is marching. There is still sunlight out so I need to get to work.

Mommy Blogs!

To be a young mom in 2009 must mean to blog. There are oodles of "mommy blogs" all over the internet. Many appear to be doing well and have a readership. Perhaps I was born in the wrong decade. I think technology is fabulous. What I would have given to have had the internet's searching capabilities 24 years ago!

If you are looking for a good blog that reviews products well, then take a test drive at http://www.themombuzz.com . I signed up for a couple of her giveaways...any of which would be quite exciting to win. Of particular interest is the Bissell Versus Bare Floor Vacuum. We have hardwood and brick floors. According to her article, this little beauty does not need filters - YAY!

On her blog is a giveaway and review for a teeeny video camera made by JVC called the JVC Everio GZ-MG630 camcorder. It appears to be quite a camera. In addition to the compact size, this camera has a great lens and is easy to use (yay!). Our camera was purchased in the 1980's. Can I tell you that it is like a suitcase? The advancements are just crazy. Oh! It doesn't use tape or DVD. I am seriously thinking this camera must be a miracle.

There are actually several blogs involved in a SUMMER BLOCK PARTY. (I think it should be Summer Blog Party myself). The first blog I ran across was As They Grow Up. She has a calming style of writing. Then I found The Mom Buzz, which I discussed earlier. Look at What Mom Found seems to be geared to infants more than the previous two. I did not stay there long. Life in a House of Blue is a hoot! Her site is fun and her humor comes through. I would definitely make a stop there. In fact, I'm going back in a bit to look around more.

I have had many people ask me "how do I win so many sweepstakes?" I have not won "many sweepstakes nor do I win often" but I was fortunate to win computers and from great sponsors like Hewlett Packard Most of these companies work through some type of marketing company like ePrize. You can see their live promotions at http://eprize.com/portfolio . There are numerous sweepstakes letters out their that you can subscribe to. The good ones will not be free but so much in life is free, what the heck? Lastly, these days the social media is all the craze... especially for Generation X'ers and Millieniums - and that is a great segment of the buying audience! Blogs, especially mommybloggers, are giving away lots of merchandise. I hope to find things that Baby Boomers like.

If you look around the blogosphere, you will notice that many of the current blogs are penned by stay-at-home moms about their life. Specifically they are about women with infant to school aged children. If there is a giveaway, it is usually a baby item.

What about the rest of the female world? What about women who choose not to have children or ones, like myself, who have raised their kids already? If there are blogs by women like me, I have yet to run across them. I'll keep looking.

Life is definitely easier now that the kids are grown. When our youngest child went off to college, I could once again remember why I married my husband. We could finally have time to be just the two of us again...have "alone time."

Looking back, there are many things I am very glad we (or I) did and very few things I regret. (What good is regret anyway?) Most of the things I regret were circumstantial and, if I had it to do all over again, I would probably still make most of the same choices.

My belief is that in every relationship there will be one spouse who is 'stronger' than the other. One person will have the final say or, at least, have the loudest voice. It really is imperative that parents "stay on the same page" when it comes to discipline. There is usually a good cop/bad cop scenario but before problems arise you need to decide what is important so you will have one voice. Kids love to get in-between parents and play them against each other. What a game!

Promised a Rose Garden!

This blog should be dedicated to hobbies and all of the fun things in life...things I sneak moments in to do. I love to watch my husband steal moments to do some of his. Grant you, they are brief moments but it is really good to see him get to play a game of golf or work in the garden. Those are two such opposite things but he derives pleasure from each. Over the weekend we drove to a local nursery where my cousin Susan works and purchased four rose bushes. One is a climber, two were recommended by Silvia Weatherspoon on the set with him and the other was yellow and smelled divine. He said, "I want to plant a rose garden for you." He knows how to be romantic. So much for that old song in our household because I was promised a rose garden in April 2008!

Sign up at Spotwinner under me!

I should have updated my website more frequently. Brandport changed it's name to Spotwinner. You can reach Spotwinner through the banner on this site or you can reach the site from my personal link:https://www.spotwinner.com/Default.aspx?refcode=1265232. They don't spam your email which is great.

I've won twice so far. I won a $50 American Express gift card and a $1000 American Express Gift Card. YAY!!! Naturally I've won lots of points and I'm now over 10,000 which I'm quite excited about. A win is a win. You'll get a few extra points just by signing up under me. Then, get your friends to sign up! It takes me less than 15 total minutes a week to watch the Spotwinner commercials and rate them so I've definitely done well. I highly recommend it! mabyn

Winning $$ at Brandport now!

I'm still having fun playing Brandport probably because I tend to be winning on a regular basis. (That makes it more fun.) Since the site is still so new, it may still be a viable option for anyone running across this to hook onto it now while it is still in the newness phase.

Also, as an update...The Winzy website has really grown and their prize list has gotten great! Here is a new link for Winzy:


If you use Winzy as your search engine of choice during the day, you'll rack up alot of points and probably find yourself getting credit cards in the mail from them. Winzy has been around since last summer. The name of the game with either of these will be to find some friends who have not yet signed up. Both are good, just Brandport is newer. :) mabyn

Brandsweeps is a bit of fun

For years I worked in advertising. Running across this BrandSweeps websitehttp://www.bpsweeps.com/Default.aspx?refcode=1265232 lets me review commercials weekly. I really enjoy that. And now I have won twice. Admittedly, I do it ala "Rush Limbaugh"...with the sound off. I figure if they can get their point across to me that way then the spot is good.

New Sweepstakes appears to be worth it.

I found a new sweepstakes site that has you look at commercials and then tell if you like them or not by answering one, maximium two questions. Brandport Sweepstakes The weekly prizes are GREAT. Check it out. I play it weekly and it doesn't take much time. The points seem to keep adding up and they remind you to play and tell you what that weeks prizes are. I'm game!
mabyn :0

Smell like Christmas?

Christmas Season is here and we went artificial. The kids don't know yet. Ahhh, the fresh smell of rubber. Yes, rubber! Well, it's time for Xela Christmas Tree scented aromasticks and they can be purchased at numerous retailers across Louisiana - lucky for me. I know where to go because I sold them to the stores so, this afternoon, I'll pick a store and go get a 4ounce size that has the atomizer spray on it and voila - instant Christmas tree smell.

Have you heard about Barefoot Parties?

Shopping at home or by computer is great and pretty much the norm these days. Having a personal connection to the company, someone you can talk to about your purchases much less the ability to EARN merchandise or cash, is so refreshing. That's why I became a consultant with Barefoot Parties. There are so many opportunities with this organization, starting with buying great gifts straight from the heart. Take a look at our online catalog and please, if you order use my consultant id # 1044 (Thanks!)
Barefoot Parties Online Catalog If you want more information*, please contact me and I'd be happy to send you a catalog and tell you all about everything. :)

*about hosting a party (there is a painless "un-hostess" way to do it!)
*about becoming an Ambassador
*about becoming a Consultant
Mabyn

Something for Nothing

theFreeLot - Cool prizes, Totally Free!"> It is hard to get something for nothing... I enjoy trying. One of my new hobbies is sweepstakes and it is fun to win, although I've never won anything really big. This website has a new prize ever few days and they keep YOUR odds of winning posted which is fun to watch.

I have to admit... spam increased a bit so I stopped playing.
mabyn :)

Winzy, win Prizes to search

Click on this button to sign up for a new search engine that you will actually earn points daily everytime you happen to search for something. Occasionally when you do, you might win a prize! The rules are on the site. It's fun... why not?

Cheney and Nightline

Martha Radditz and Terry "Whatsyourname?" it is time to stop SPECULATING and start just getting the news. For several years I have heard right wing news groups talk about the the political agenda that the big three networks have. I have disregarded it and always been able to come up with another answer. Not this time. Each of the three major networks are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Everyone in this city are saying, "Thank goodness it wasn't Bush!" This is Yellow Journalism at its best or is Nightline a new fiction show and you just forgot to tell us?

ABC, NBC, CBS - Get a Life!

It appears that the "big three"* got their feelings so hurt or egos so bent out of shape that they don't know anything else to do but to make up stories. Vice President Chaney accidently shot a friend while on a quail hunt. The man will recover. That is the story. However, since he did not alert the national media first through the White House sources, they got their panties in a wad and are taking it out in every newscast and printed word possible.

*HA! NBC even led with this thinking it was the most important news story of the day!!! ABC also looked incredibly lame.