Oh my goodness, this is SO adorable I just can’t stand it. Look at this.

Look at those little bitty feet!!! This is an example of photo birth announcements that you can get from Bugaboo Announcements. This is a mom-owned store, so gals, she deserves our support! Every card is specially designed to perfection, just like your little darling, and customized especially for you and your new baby, in various styles. Bugaboo Announcements promises unlimited changes at no charge until you are completely satisfied with the design.

The announcements are real eye-candy. You MUST go see them, they are so adorable. I know I have a few expectant moms reading my blog– support a co-mom and check out her site. She’s been featured on a few blogs, including 5 Minutes for Mom. And Bugaboo Announcements also handles custom invitations, holidays, and other announcement photo cards. The designs are stunning, this mom has a real gift and does beautiful work. Plus, she has a ladybug as part of her website design!!! You’ll just have to stop reading my gushing and go see for yourself!

Before I joined Entrecards, I had no idea how many people were nuts about “beading.” I didn’t even know it was a crafting hobby in of itself. I just thought beads were for, well, beading. But not beading, ya know what I mean?

I used to do crafts as a kid and a young lady. Buying a rickety old house stopped all that, because now I spend a lot of time trying to fix it up. But someday I’d love to finish that crocheted blanket and that cross-stitched piece and that lovely heirloom necklace I was making. Seeing this website about wholesale gemstone beads is giving me the bead cravings again. Honestly, little plastic beads from the craft store are too plastic for me. I want REAL beads, lol! Oh my favorite is champagne freshwater pearls. They are sooooo beautiful– so feminine! Look at this photo, doesn’t it just make your heart melt?! These are from BeadsofCambay.com. If you are a serious “beader” (is that what ya’ll call yourselves, lol?) you really should see their gorgeous selection. Prices are terrific! They have big discounts on gemstone beads and freshwater pearls, because they are wholesale dealer. Items are up tp 30% off retial prices. You could make the heirloom piece of your lifetime with theses beauties! Check it out!

I’ve been using Windows Vista for about nine months now, which I feel is adequate time to finally give a little review. I admit, I was nervous about Vista after I’d read all the warnings about incompatibility with printers and networking, as a resource hog, etc. I waited (as is usual) until all the Vista hype ebbed and I could see how others were faring before I spent my money on a new laptop. I use my laptop for business (I’m a writer), so I needed a really reliable and maintenance-free OS in order to concentrate on my work (and avoid the Blue Screen of Death at all possible costs). I’ve experienced computer crashes and freezes in the middle of writing an article: NO FUN.

You know what? I just love Vista! Here’s the nitty-gritty:

1. I am madly in love with the Search feature at the Start Menu. Remember how I’ve said I’m such an organizing fiend that I lose my files within folders of folders of folders? How I often lose things because I organize them so well? Well, Vista’s Search feature is a God-send, believe me! I just type in a keyword, and it will search everything for me- documents, emails, images, text, anything. I absolutely love this feature. It’s worth getting Vista just for this feature alone.

2. Remember how previous Windows versions have that “Programs” menu, and if you have a lot of programs, then the entire menu fills up all your desktop space (and then some)? I always hated that. with Vista, the “All Programs” feature now has a scrollbar. Wowee!

3. It’s prettier. no doubt about it. I like a pretty and colorful desktop. The Aero does use a lot of RAM, so I’ve disabled it, but it’s nice to know that the option is there when I feel like dressing up my computer. The desktop appearance settings are waaay better than previous versions. There are a lot more choices, more colors, and it’s much more organized.

4. Better and more organized security settings. I love Windows Defender, I love the easy interface of the security features. It’s more intuitive and has more options than XP or past versions.

5. I LOVE the sidebar. I like the “virtual” analog clock (I’ve never liked digital clocks), the easily-seen calendar, and I am NUTS about the little sticky notes where I can post deadlines and quick reminders. The sidebar can be on the left or the right, and can be closed and opened with the click of the mouse. There are other gadgets you can add. This is a great feature.

6. Best of all, Vista is stable. I could count on my ME and XP versions crashing at least every other day. Not so with Vista. I have to say I’m very impressed. I think it’s crashed twice since I’ve had it, and once it was overheated and the other time Firefox froze on me.

There’s a lot more to like, but these are the things that jump out at me right away. I use my laptop for business and for pleasure (I like Minesweeper, lol). I think Vista fits the bill for both, and does marvelously well.

Oh, and all my older programs work just fine on Vista (including older Paint Shop Pro programs, whew!). I did have to download a new driver for my older HP printer, but when I bought a new Canon printer, Vista took care of it without a hitch. I also love the little SD drive on my laptop. I take a lot of photos for the blogs, and it was a royal pain using XP, a USB converter cable, and my camera to transfer photos. Now all I have to do is slip my SD card into the laptop, and Vista uploads them onto the hard drive. Love it!

So I recommend Vista. It’s been extremely stable for me, it’s organized, I can get my work done and it is a pleasure to do so, and Vista is very pretty. And here’s a tip for you in the valley of indecision, still using old Windows versions: buy a new computer with Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate, you’ll get free support, compatibility assistance, and individual help from the Microsoft folks. This offer is good through September 30, 2008, so now is the time!

Thumbs up to Microsoft for this OS!

Is there such a thing as being too organized? I think I’m getting pretty close. I am an organizing fiend. I have files inside of files inside of files. I am starting to have to keep an index of all the files because I’ve been forgetting which files of files I placed my files in. Hoh boy. I think I may need some help. Not psychological help! :-O File folders help! Despite my compulsive organization disorder, I am not much of a labeler. I used to be able to remember all this stuff (remember those days, girls?), but I guess I have too much in my brain now, and the information is getting scrambled.

I love DYMO labels. Ever since my grandmother gave me her old DYMO labeler (that was back in the “olden” days when we manually pressed plastic strips with the labeler), I loved it. I haven’t seen one around in sooo long, but I checked out labelers, and talk about modern technology! DYMO now has the fancy robotic-looking labelers. They are actually like mini-printers– you punch in your information and the labeler spits out a printed paper label, ready for sticking on to your stuff. I love these things! I’ve got to get one. We homeschool four kids and the notebooks and pencil boxes and calculators and all the stuff that school creates gets very mixed up sometimes. See how nice and neat this label is?

DYMO is very affordable for frugal moms like me. There’s a huge, huge range of labelers– the electronic ones are around $30, but they also have a large range of labelers for industrial use, desktop use, and more. And they still have the “retro” plastic strip labelers, too, for as low as $8! I love those. I think my kids would love those– they can label their own stuff. (finally).

DYMO is number one when it comes to labels and household organization. They’ve been around a long time and I trust them for quality products.

Remember that Cascade dishwashing detergent I blogged about? Someone gave me some free Cascade, but I don’t have a dishwasher. That didn’t stop me from graciously accepting the Cascade, of course. :D So my daughters and I have been testing it out on other things. It is very versatile stuff.

For one, we found out that, if used as a laundry pre-treatment liquid, it removes stains from clothing. Then, I read that if you burn your cooking pan, just pour in a little Cascade gel with some baking soda and hot water and let it sit for a while. And then there was the day that we bought a new ceramic cooking pan (for lasagna) from WalMart– and I HATE it when the stores put all those nasty stickers and gorilla glue on the cookware, all to hold a sticker or paper?? We poured a little Cascade with water and let the pan sit– and voila! The gummy stuff came right off!

Yesterday, we ran out of Ajax scouring powder for our tub. I have to buy the gentle powder, because the tub is fiberglass and easily scratched. However, the tub is very old, and collects soap scum like molasses collects flies. It is a real chore to scrub that tub out, ugh. Well, we ran out of Ajax, right? My daughter got the bright idea to squirt a little Cascade gel in the tub. Amazing! It took the soap scum off! On the tough spots, she let it sit for a few minutes, and was able to buff it off. The tub is sparkling clean!

So I am loving the Cascade. Maybe someday we’ll get a dishwasher and try it out on actual dishes, lol! But for now, we’re experimenting with all sorts of things and trying to be as creative as possible (skipping things like horse supplies and animal shampoo, of course!). If you have any other ideas or requests about what else we should test it on, let us know.

I am ALMOST done school shopping. Ugh, I hate this time of year. The stores are absolutely stuffed with mothers and their screaming little banshees adorable little children. Sales at the stores are OK, as far as sales go, but I need a few extra things and I’m not finding sales on them! Wristwatches are a mandatory accessory for when the children take their tests. They are getting a little too old for the Little Mermaid and Buzz Lightyear plastic WalMart specials. Hubs and I decided to buy them things that will endure for a while. So I was elated to see some very cool selections at Movado.com. I love love love this TAG Heuer men’s watch. It looks like the dashboard of a BMV or an airplane! At $795, it’s, um, a little pricey for me. OK, on to more browsing, lol.

Movado watches are very classy. All watches are guaranteed authentic, and there’s a GREAT special right now — buy one watch get another free on specially marked ads. It is a great deal. Hmm, this is a Timberland ladies watch, very attractive. Guess how much it costs?

Come on, guess!

Try $38!!!! :-O Nice! And it comes with a free watch!!

Watches are actually as low as $32, and if they come with a free watch– that’s cheaper than Walmart prices for such quality, absolutely. All watches are brand-new– no refurbished watches here. The selection is outstanding; I’m very impressed at the prices and the free watch offer. You’ll have to check out the website to see, but if you need new watches, Movado is the place to go.

I remember when Febreze first came out. It was amazing! Before, the only real recourse for removing odors from fabrics and furniture was to douse the thing in baking soda and water. And HOPEFULLY the stink would leave. I don’t know about you, but I am a frugal shopper. That means, I buy used furniture! Our “pre-owned” couch, which is beautiful and in perfect condition, stunk like the Dickens of cigarrette smoke. Unbearable. We spent the early part of the summer doing things the old way– I doused the couch with baking soda and we let it sit outside for a few days. Then we vacuumed and vacuumed. All our efforts did very little. I bought an industrial-size bottle of Febreze and used it all up on the thing. The couch now sits in our living room, and doesn’t smell like an ashtray. But every once in a while, that nasty stench rises up on humid days, so we break out the industrial-sized bottle of Febreze and squirt the couch again. But really, I hate lugging the bottle out to the living room, so I tend to just leave it there, but it does look awful. Tell me, doesn’t that big blue bottle look a little out of place on the coffee table?!

Yeah, I think so, too.

But see that little bottle of liquid neat to it? That’s my latest “bright idea.” :-D That’s Febreze, too. It’s the new Febreze Refresher “Decor Collection” and they made it to look inconspicuous, like a vase, for those moments of little stinky “indiscretions.” I LOVE this stuff! It’s not too expensive, either– they come in 3-packs (8 oz. each bottle) for a little less than $10. I keep mine in my living room and in the bedroom (when the humidity rises, the carpet by the window smells like an old dog). A few quick squirts, and the furniture and room smells heavenly. I have lavender and vanilla, and it is glorious! My husband, who is averse to the heavy “air freshener” gadgets, does not mind my Febreze fix. I have sprayed some on my couch (again) and living room chair, and the scent is wonderful. Even with the windows open, the scent remains. It’s a light scent; I like it. It doesn’t burn my throat and nose like Lysol does, either.

So this new Febreze Refresher Decor Collection gets a thumbs up from me! It’s not expensive, it’s way better than the big blue Febreze bottle, and it leaves a nice, light scent on the fabrics and in the air. It’s also very nice to have in the room for a quick squirt before company arrives.

P.S. This is not a paid post!!

I must be CRAZY but I am thinking of starting up another blog. Yes, yes, I’m crazy! I already have, what, seven that I already post to, but I really have ten total. I just love writing! Anyway, I’m wanting to experiment with a different web host. One of my wise friends had told me not to have “all of my eggs in one basket.” I currently have Bluehost for my main blogs. They have good tech support, but… they have a lousy CPU quota limitation. And if ONE of my blogs goes down, they ALL go down, because they are on the same account. I cannot relay to you how much I think that stinks! I wish I had seen this article before I went with them:

If you are building on a shared server that is hosting a number of other sites, the performance of your site may eventually endure issues and thus function much slower. This is because the server uses CPU to compensate for each individual site on the server. Shared hosts with limited resources typically monitor CPU usage and restrict those use too much.

Now I find out. :-p

So, I’m looking for options and am scouring web host rating websites. Check out that site, it looks terrific! I have bee reading the articles and already I feel my brain getting smarter. They say that Globat is one of the best budget web hosting companies; I’d never heard of them before, so I’m glad I checked.

Feel free to leave a comment about your web hosting company and how you rate it. I’m weighing all my options!

My Internet ISP charges have been slowing creeping up. We have DSL broadband, and I don’t really know for sure if it is me or not… but our connection just seems to drop every once in a while, and stay disconnected for 1-2 minutes. It especially happens when I drop Entrecards. It is REALLY annoying. Since the costs are going up anyway, I’m looking around.

Anyone have Charter High Speed? I hear they are very good. They have an extremely tempting deal going on right now (I am a real sucker for deals): a Charter Laptop-a-Day Giveaway. If you order their service, you are entered to win 1 of 30 Presario laptops valued at over $600!!! And if you order from them online, you get a $100 Shell gas card for free! See the sweepstakes rules for yourself. Charter has tremendous speeds: there’s the 5Mbps plan, the 10Mbps plan, and the 16Mbps. This is mind-blowing because I get, uh, 700Kbps. Charter is offering their High-Speed service for $19.99 for 6 months. I already pay that for my stinky DSL service!!! :S

Anyway, the free gas card and the computer giveaway looks so good. Check it out if you like.

There must be a baby boom or something! Am I missing something? (lol… NOT). A lot of my blogger friends are expecting babies! Hey ladies, you’ll be needing some maternity clothes soon, right? Check out this sweet little outfit. Cute, isn’t it? The stuff is pretty inexpensive, too– prices start as low as $9.99, and the inventory is rotated so there’s always a new selection to shop. The store also has great discounts on Junior and Junior-plus clothing! Use this coupon code for free shipping on orders over $75: freeship.