Got around to adding more deals to my Bargain section. I must admit, it’s a bit tedious at times finding things to put there, but then it’s lots of fun when I find a really good one. There are some really great deals out there.

Now that my schedule should be smoothing out (no more birthday parties to plan for a while!), I’m hoping to work on that one about once a week. The big changes will likely come at the start of each month, as that’s when many companies change their offers.

This is yet another section of this site that you can subscribe to using an RSS feed. I suppose I could transition the whole thing over, but I’d really rather not. It would be quite a bit of trouble and would mean changing all my links around. Besides, this allows me to emphasize the availability of feeds in certain areas.

For those who haven’t noticed the feeds, there are feed available for this blog, my unresearched work at home job findings, my forum and the bargain section. These are all separate feeds, so you only subscribe to those that hold your interest.

Many of the feeds already have links coded so that all you have to do is click on the link to add the feed to your My Yahoo, My MSN or Google home page. Those make it pretty easy to keep up with the happenings in areas that interest you.

EVerything went really well today. Not as many classmates were able to come as I had hoped, but I was so late getting the invitations out that it really wasn’t a surprise.

It always amazes me how surprised other moms are that I make my children’s birthday cakes. I don’t think it’s that hard, especially since I just use the cake mix, and buy the frosting in a spray can to do the decorations. It looks like more work than it is, really.

Ariel’s out with my husband now to choose her pet. We gave her a cage and told her she could pick the critter for it. Looks like it will most likely be a mouse. That’s what my husband favors, and every times he starts to say she’d like a hamster, all he has to say is “but Cinderella has mice” and she wants a mouse.

I have the cleanup mostly done already and the dishwasher running. Ariel loves most of her gifts. She’s got a lot of crafting supplies, which was deliberate because with summer coming she will constantly be asking me if she can do “projects.” With the supplies we now have on hand, we’ll be able to do quite a few.

Now it’s time to kick back and relax. Have to get back to my regular work on Monday, but I refuse to drive myself too hard today. I’m just too worn out from the party.

I’ve mentioned Google Pack before, but I’m going to recommend it again for those who missed it. Why? I love the software it offers. Some of it is useful, but some of it is just plain fun.

A free, six month subscription to Norton Antivirus falls under useful, certainly. If you don’t have an up to date antivirus running right now, this alone should be enough reason to download Google Pack this instant! Leaving your computer open to viruses is just dangerous to your computer. It also offers the free version of AdAware, which takes care of most of the spyware. Not all – no matter which antispyware you use, I recommend getting a second one to double check. None of them get all the spyware.

Google Earth is both fun and useful. Ariel, at 4 years old, already loves to look at different places with it. She has even learned to use the controls pretty well. This can be great if your kids are learning geography – they can see these places on more than a four color map. You can also show them places you are going to go on vacation – the Grand Canyon is really amazing on Google Earth, for example.

Picasa is a nice little photo organizer with some editing capabilities. Digital cameras are so common now I’m sure lots of you have pictures you could work on.

The one download I’ve always tended to skip is Google Desktop. It helps you find things on your computer, but I’ve just never needed help in that area. My computer is better organized than my paper files.

Google Talk looks fun, although I’ve never actually tried it. You can IM or talk to other people over your computer. It’s not a phone service, though.

If you like the way this sounds, you can see my link for it down on the left.

We bought a table from them and recieved it about a month and a half ago. On delivery, we noted, and the delivery driver noted, that there was a problem with a loose part on the leaf. He filed a report and I called it in as well, as he told me to do. Well, at two weeks out I called and the customer service rep said it took 7-10 business days to get an appointment for someone to come out and look. I pointed out that two weeks is 10 business days, but that didn’t matter to him. He told me to wait a bit longer.

Well, my own fault, but I waited another two weeks before calling. This time the girl faxed a new report to the repair department and we got a callback a couple days later. The tech came out about a week and a half later, and after a few moments of looking said we would get a call in a week to either replace the leaf or the entire table.

It has now been about a week and a half, so I called. The girl on the phone this time said they can’t do anything until they get the report in their system, and they can’t even check on it until it has been two weeks since the tech was out.

Is it just me or is this ridiculous?

I am so furious with them right now. This kind of customer service is utterly unacceptable to me. They have not kept to the promised scheduling to handle this problem at all.

Overall, I’d say this is pretty good news. As you probably know, childhood obesity has become a major problem in this country. Quite simply, a large number of children are obese at young ages.

A deal has been made that will keep the largest soda companies from selling sodas on most school campuses. As a matter of fact, they’re limiting elementary and middle schools to water, milk and unsweetened juice. High schools will be able to have sports drinks and diet sodas.

This goes well with the number of states starting to be concerned about how they have been feeding children at school. Many of them have realized that the school lunches they provide just aren’t that healthy. It’s so easy to give kids unhealthy food, but the long term consequences are terrible not only for the kids but for our society. It costs a lot of money to take care of people whose health is poor due to obesity.

Now, I’m not one to say we need to make laws limiting what people can eat. However, I see no reason for schools to encourage bad habits.

Even as a stay at home mom, it’s very easy to feel like just grabbing some fast food or cooking something easy but unhealthy. Fortunately, I have the fast food down to once a month or less, and I’ve found that if I don’t buy junk food I don’t eat it or give it to my family. That’s one of the easiest ways to eat healthy. I buy sodas only for birthday parties and such, which means I can go a long time without having any sodas. I have water in the fridge.

Getting over bad eating habits will benefit you and your family for a lifetime. Why not follow in the schools’ and soda companies’ footsteps and try sharply limiting your family’s soda intake?