Thrifty Tip of the Day - Recessed Lighting

Add more light to your kitchen while adding the look of under cabinet lighting for just $1 (plus batteries) each. I found these round LED lights that have a sticky back at the Dollar Tree and mounted them underneath my cabinets. Luckily my cabinets have a little space underneath so that they're hidden from sight (unless they're turned on). They require 3aaa batteries (not included). Just push them for light. Push them to turn off. 

Use them also for:

Dark closets

Inside cabinets

In book shelves to highlight decor

Cars?

Bathrooms

I need a public venue to express my concerns about our laws in regards to 16 year old defiant children.

I'm not well and I need to speak frank in order to counsel myself out of such deep hurt and hatred.  For the past 5 years, but more specifically the past few months, my family has been harassed by my own scheming, calculating,16 year old sister.  She continuously delivers false, inconsequential lies (which defames our character) to various agencies in order to seek temporary respect and sympathy.  The problem is that when one of these agencies is able to finally see her true colors, she seeks out another agency specifically designed to protect minors.  None of these agencies are able to combat her behavior, because she has so many rights my friends.  So many rights.

After experiencing what I have with this demon, I wish I were a minor for my entire life.  16 year olds probably have more rights and freedom than me and you.  Did you know that in the State of Connecticut a 16 year old child/adult can make the decision to leave his/her home without parental consent?  The only way a parent can file a missing persons report for said child is if the parents weren't told an address to locate their child.  If the child decides he/she wants to spend the night with his/her boyfriend, and he/she tells you that's where he/she will be, then guess what?  Your 16 year old is free to fornicate all. night. long. Oh, but then when your child becomes pregnant with a child, you have absolutely no say in the matter and you ARE responsible for the child your child decided to create.  Lovely system we have here in Connecticut.  What else does this mean?  You can't discipline your child.  Really. You technically can't.  As soon as you say, "You aren't going anywhere for a week (month, year, lifetime...)" the child can retaliate (and have the law support his/her retaliation) by walking out the door you pay a mortgage on.  Just don't let him/her back in right?... Wrong.  You are legally responsible to allow that "poor, innocent" child back into your home with welcome arms whenever the child decides to come home to **** your life over even more.

One of her more recent criminal activities, while she was away on a hiatus, was vandalizing my vehicle.  She engraved her very own name into the hood of my car.  See below.  She was arrested, but the charge will be dropped when she is 18. She now has a probation officer and I am seeking restitution which I highly doubt I will get (just based on my experience with her winning every instance in which you would think someone should be reprimanded). She has always hurt my family emotionally and mentally, but when she stepped foot onto the property of my apartment complex with criminal intent, I went out and bought mace for me, my mom, and my brother.  Oh yeah.  I bought a knife too.  She has been in contact with her biological family which has threatened my family (but where were they when she was 3?) and she has made friends with undesirable members of the community:  some of which have smoke clouds around their faces in their social media profile photos.  I am scared. I'm scared for my physical safety.  She has threatened to kill my family.  There's a police report on it.  But all that's doing is leaving a paper trail until someone gets hurt.

And all anyone seems to care about is if she's being hurt.  As soon as there is mention that someone wants to inflict harm on her, an investigation is under way.  What new clues are they going to get out of an investigation that they weren't able to get the last week or the week before that? Or the year before that? I'm tired! My other siblings don't want to keep talking to people about her and things she claims to be true!  What about their mental health?  What about my parents resting a full night without worry something is going to happen to them?  How is she allowed and encouraged to debilitate my parents' health again and again with no repercussions, even though every time these investigative agencies deem her to be a LIAR!!!!

(("Heheh I am under your bed with a knife"))

((But people are worried about her getting hurt?!))

And now you may be saying... "Poor girl needs help."  Which is true.  Except going back to the mention of 16 year old rights... they can refuse service!  16 year old children/adults don't have to receive mental health services unless they want it.  She is currently in Respite Care temporarily for 2 weeks. The psychiatrist will only get to see her once before she comes home, right before Christmas, because the doctor is only in on Wednesdays. Instead of intensive psychiatric services, she took a pottery class yesterday. Must be nice.  Meanwhile at home, my family isn't receiving their vacation from her.  So, again, she is rewarded instead of being reprimanded or helped. This is all one sided.

One activity I hope they offer at Respite Care is for all 5 of her personalities to sit on the sharp object she engraved my vehicle with and twist.  But we all know she can only do this if she chooses, because it's her right as a 16 year old to do whatever she'd like.  And she would much rather prefer to sit on various other objects.  And just to be clear, I will not in any way, shape, or form be inflicting any danger upon her.  But I still have my right to religious freedom to pray that karma and justice will one day take its course so that my family can be healthy again, (which again, just to reiterate, will not be influenced by me or my family). So hop off or help us.

If you don't help us, you are enabling the children of society to jangle the keys to the kingdom.

Shopping Tip of the Day - I bought a...

Are times tough? Of course they are if you are an average American!  Do you still need to shop for household supplies, personal care items, and food? Of course you do.

Download the app: Ibotta (get it? I bought a) to get money back in your pocket after your purchase of one of their advertised items.  

For example:

You buy chapstick at the retailer you choose (many retailers participate).  You click the two circle buttons on the bottom and do what it says (very short tasks like post on fb wall or read a fact). Bam - $.50 for you, once you scan the receipt and scan the product.  Once both of those are verified, you will have a balance of $.50.  Once you earn $5, you can transfer your money to PayPal, and then transfer it to your bank account if you wish.  

Ibotta even has some restaurant incentives, such as spend $6 at Burger King, get $1 back.  They also have referral bonuses, which I am trying to earn now :) Sign up and save!

View this page through your mobile device so you can download the app directly to your phone.  Happy Savings!!!

My Christmas List!

I have an extremely large family and Christmas is one of our favorite holidays.  And despite my published online Christmas wish list that implies I love GETTING gifts, giving gifts is my favorite part about Christmas.  I enjoy the planning, list making, and shopping... and most of all seeing my family members happy with their gifts that I got them.  I actually hand out each gift separately so I can watch each person open his/her gift.  My family has a lot to be thankful for this year, so I expect this holiday season to be one of the best.  I will not be sad or mad if I don't get what I list below, in all actuality I very well may buy myself some of these gifts before December 25th... lol.  This is just my way of saying "Hey! If you wanna spend some moo-lah on me... these are my preferences!"

1. Knee High (or very tall) Leather Riding Boots

- Dark Brown or Black

- I already have a pair of brown ones, but they are worn

- Would prefer brown ones

- Will eventually get black too though

- Minimal amount of buckles and decor

- No suede!

-Size 8

-Prefer 19" shaft height

-All links are to Macy's but DSW may have some nice ones

Links to each boots (Left Column First - Then Right side)

1. Chinese Laundry Black Boots

2. Marc Fisher Brown Riding Boots

3. Guess Brown Boots

4. Clavin Klein Heel Boots

5. Steve Madden Boots in Black or Brown

6. My fav: BCBG Brown Boots

2. Large Face Watches in Gold Tones

-Gold or Rose Gold

-Large Plain Links (no intricate details)

- Not a lot of gems/rhinestones

- Other watch brands I like are Fossil and Kate Spade

- 37mm Face

- All links are to Macy's but TJ Max may have some too

Links to watches:

1. Marc Jacobs Peacock Blue Face

2. Marc Jacobs Turquoise Face

3. Marc Jacobs Rose Gold and White

4. Marc Jacobs Beige and Gold

5. My fav: Marc Jacobs Black Leather

3. Fragrances- Wall Flowers and/or Candles

 -No "fall" or "winter" scents please! For example - anything spicy or cotton! No thanks.

- Apple, lemon, and island margarita are good among many others!

-Anything fruity and clean!

-Would like 2 of these wallflower plugs from Bath and Body Works

-(1 for living room, 1 for bedroom - then I bring my hot pink one to school)

-Yankee Candles or Chesapeake Bay Candles (Get at HOME GOODS for cheap!)
- If Bath and Body Works only has fall scents for plug ins, a gift card will be good because they have the semi-annual sale right after Christmas where I may be able to get other scents.

4. MAC Creme de Nude Lipstick

- From Mac counter at Macy's or from Mac online

5. Turquoise Towels

- I can never have enough towels.
- I like to splurge on nice towels from Home Goods and Marshalls.
- The softer, not the better! A little roughness dries me up quicker!
- Personally, I never spend more than $10 each on a towel.

6. Electric Blanket

- Beige/Tan, White, or Teal Please
-The color above is nice
-Found this online at KOHLs
-Please buy from wherever the sale is
-Queen Size (if they sell in sizes)

7. Sally Hansen LED Nail Lamp

- $49.99 / BUT please do not buy if for this price or else I don't want it.
-$10 off coupon at Walgreens for November
-Can find at drug stores or Target or Walmart

8. Gift Cards
-Home Goods
-Marshalls
-Loft
-Target
-Walgreens
-Sams Club (if they take it for gas)
-Groupons to local restaurants (Italian, American, Mexican, Night life like wine/fondue)

9. Coupons
-I've been having a blast with my coupons
-Look for coupons in stores that don't expire before Christmas
- Tearpads, Peelies, and Blinkies (all are coupons in store)
-This is free for you :)

STAY TUNED AS I UPDATE ;)

I already asked the little kids (my youngest 5 brothers) in my family what they wanted for Christmas... I asked them to tell me three things: 

1. A place, activity, or restaurant they'd like to go to 

2. A specific kind of clothing or shoes (for example: Long Sleeve American Eagle Shirt) 

3. A book or book topic/Magazine

This way they get what they want, and I get to shop for what I like :) Win Win

Mommy, Daddy, Billy, Danny, Timmy, Nikki - Give a girl some options for things you may want for Christmas time!  Like anything on Groupon or at Home Goods? lol

This is the only time of the year I wish I had sisters instead of brothers!

Teaching Tip of the Day - Zip Grade

For an updated, more in-depth review, and step-by-step picture guide, click here to see one of my newest posts!

I know scantrons aren't the rage of education these days, but I found a way to make them less of a hassle for when you do use them.  Download the app: Zip Grade.  It acts as a scantron machine on your smart phone device.  Need answer sheets? No more begging colleagues to help a sista out and give you a stack of scantrons OR no more hoarding scantrons for when you "really need them" and they're no where to be found.  Go to zipgrade.com to print answer keys directly from their site.  For the first 100 graded papers, it's free.  If you want to grade more than that, it's only $1.99.  I think yes.

How I used it today: I hate assigning reading for homework (even though I teach English) because assessing who read the next day is always messy.  Not this time.  I made a multiple choice quiz for the rest of the reading selection and handed students a scantron as they walked in.  When they settled down and were quiet, I handed out the questions.  When they were done with the quiz they were to read their AR books.  While they read I "graded" their quizzes just by using the camera on my class iPad over their answer keys.  The app graded all the quizzes in less than a minute.  I also had immediate results on how students answered the questions... meaning, the app provides data as to how many students chose letter A, B, C, D, or E for each question. For example, if 9 students guessed the correct answer was A, but the real answer was really B and only 3 students got that question right, it's worth looking at why this happened. This really helps with knowing what you might have missed while teaching.  I will, for sure, be purchasing this app.

Pros:

• Easy Access - on my phone or iPad
• Less Time - I don't have to go anywhere to do my grading and I don't put off the grading because of a dreadful walk (Funny story - ONE time I had to throw out a stack of student response scantrons because I waited too long to grade them because I never felt like getting out of my flow and going to the room that had the grading machine... awful!!!)
• Immediate Data- It was easy to review today after the quiz because I knew exactly which questions students struggled on
• Easy to use - not that a scantron is hard to use... but it's a dying breed.  Some veterans don't even know how to use the machine - let alone newbies.

Cons:

• Money out-of-pocket - Not a large price to pay though
• Negative Rep - Scantrons don't get much respect these days in the teaching field, but can be used for quick feedback

Tip of the Day - "Back-to-School" Night

My school just hosted a "Back-to-School" Night for parents to come to each class to get an overview of what to expect from each class for the year.  At the very last minute, I remembered how I bought picture frames from Ikea for class stations.  I whipped these bad boys out and quickly created signs using MS Publisher.  Near every handout, I had a sign to easily identify what it was.  I received a lot of compliments (from other teachers).  I guess I can assume that parents liked it too.  I may do a survey with the names I received to get feedback on the night as a whole. Just speaking out loud here...

Idea of the Day- Ebates

Get a $10 gift card and cash back for doing something you already do through Ebates!

The site is easy to use - sign up for an account. Choose where you want your gift card from (I chose Target). Browse through their extensive list of online retailers (I mostly use LOFT) and click the store you were already going to shop from.  Make your purchase... That's it.  You'll receive cash back every time your cash back amount hits $5.

This isn't a get rich scheme - but its a good way to take charge of the purchases you already are making online.  With Christmas around the corner, it would be nice to see some of your own money back in your pocket where it belongs.

If you sign up through my link, and make the $25 in the allotted time (it was a couple months I believe) then I get $10 cash back.  And then you can solicit your own friends and family too to get $10 back for each of them!

Here are only a few retailers that are associated with Ebates:

• LOFT - 6% cash back
• WALMART - 1% cash back
• Bath and Body Works - 2% cash back
• Macy's - 6% cash back