It is terrible here in Illinois.  This is what my house looks like this morning:

We broke our back door trying to open it this morning.  My house is a sheet of ice.  We have about 4 inches of snow.  On top of that, we have freezing rain, so it is definitely an interesting combination we have going on out there.  We watched the traffic report starting quite early this morning, and at this point, Bill isn’t even going to try and go to work.  The bad thing is that he left his laptop at work, so he’s trying to do what he can from his cell phone.  It actually was hailing and snowing at the same time this morning if you can believe it.  We are hoping to take the kids out a tad later and maybe build a snowman.  However, the snow is more like ice chunks, so I don’t know how easy that is going to be.

Copyright © 2011 My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact mythoughtsideasandramblings.com @ gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.

Okay, I am putting myself on a diet.  Ok, not quite a diet.  It is a new product called Sensa.  I’ll be honest — I’d love to lose about a hundred pounds.  However, at this point, I would like any sort of weight loss.  My goal is to do an update post each week.  If I don’t, somebody clock me upside my head and remind me.  Sensa is a product that allows you to eat whatever you want.  However, it helps with your portion control.  All you do is shake a some of the Sensa on your food everytime you eat, and it does it’s magic.

I weighed myself this morning, so I know my starting weight (no, I am not listing it here) and I took some pictures (well, my mom was here and took them):

So I guess we can call these the “before” pictures.  I’ve watched the DVD that came with the Sensa, and it said that some women don’t see a change until 3 months into this.  I hope that isn’t me.  I am all for instant results.  The first thing I have noticed is that the Sensa makes my food taste better.  Now, I plan on mostly keeping to my normal lifestyle, and we will see if this works for me.  If you’d like to join me on this journey, use ROCKETXL to get 15% off your order (no minimum order either) and you’ll get free shipping too.

Copyright © 2011 My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact mythoughtsideasandramblings.com @ gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.

I blogged recently on Lisa Reviews about how much I can’t stand the Chicago Tribune.  Yes, my favorite paper since I moved down here has made me cancel my subscription.  I know, hard to believe.  I have been through many, many, many changes to the look of the paper.  However, this last one I cannot stand.  It drives me nuts to the point that I swear its giving me acne. I can’t find the sections that I like.  I swear there is less content.  Some of pages look like a blog page which would be fine if I was looking at a blog.  However, I read the newspaper for more content not less.  My husband has always wanted me to subscribe to the Chicago Sun Times, so I finally did.  Today, our first paper came, and I loved it!  Their articles had real content and weren’t just all pictures.  I could easily find what I was looking for.  I only have two complaints.  I am not sure how I am going to share the paper with Bill.  We tend to read it at the same time.  The other problem I see is that I get less coupons.  However, the Chicago Sun Times is a third of the cost of the Tribune, so at least I am saving money there.  If I remember, I’ll just ask my mom to keep her coupons, and I’ll go through them when we go up to Green Bay.

Copyright © 2011 My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact mythoughtsideasandramblings.com @ gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.

Oh the joys of having a four year old (who is almost five and cries almost everyday because she is not five yet).  Madison has finally started noticing things – especially things called commercials.  Every single commercial she sees she wants whatever product their are selling be it a pancake ball maker to a baby that swims (though she said she wanted that and a towel to dry her off too so she is able to think beyond the commercial).  It has gotten to the point that she actually will take the remote and pause the TV to make sure you see what she wants (and no I am not kidding about that).  Needless to say, we have started talking about money.

I will be honest — Madison has no concept of money whatsoever.  However, we have explained to her that daddy goes to work to make money so we can buy things we want.  (Madison asks every morning where daddy is and why does he have to go to work).  This conversation is daily so hopefully one day she’ll get it.  She is too young to understand that 5 pennies is the same as a nickel.  In her head, more coins equals more money.  I am hoping that because we are starting to talk about money now already that she won’t fall into the traps so many of us have.  I don’t want her to be one of the many Americans who carry loads and loads of credit card debt (which her parents do not.  We pay off ours every single month.  If she does choose to have credit cards, I want her to be smart about it.  For example, the one credit card we have gives us 1% of purchases.  That 1% is then directed to the principal on our mortgage).  I want her to be able to live within her means and be happy (which her parents also try to do).

Capital One has stepped up to the plate and has developed a Moneywi$e eLearning tool to help us teach our kids about money.  It is more for teenagers than my little ones.  However, there are definitely some tips on there that I can start teaching my children now.  I have to thank Parent Bloggers for bringing this to my attention.

When did you start teaching your children about money? Over at Bargain Life, there’s a great article on the effects of couponing and the family.

Copyright © 2011 My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact mythoughtsideasandramblings.com @ gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.

When your phone number is one number off from the cab company, you get a lot of annoying calls (especially on New Years Eve).  I just got one now at 11:30 at night.  However, what annoys me more is the telemarketers that call.  It gets to the point that you pay for caller id just to get their number.  However, the annoying telemarketers have gotten smart, and a lot of the time it the number is the only thing that shows up.  You never know if you should answer the call or not!  That is why I like sites like AnnoyingCalls.com, because you can enter the number in and see if anyone is having a problem with that number.  You can also put the number on the site with your complaint about them.  If you have problems with telemarketers, you should definitely check this out.

Copyright © 2011 My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact mythoughtsideasandramblings.com @ gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.