According to a survey conducted for Shop.org, more than 96 million people are expected to click, search and browse their way through online holiday shopping on Cyber Monday! So where do you begin? Here are some tips for online shopping, and hopefully, to alleviate some stress.
Compare prices. Use a site like Extrabux to compare prices, find coupon codes and get cash back for making your purchases.
Look for free gifts that you can turn into presents. For instance, you can receive a nice set of hurricane candle holders with any men’s or women’s fragrance purchase of $30 or more at Ulta.
Use Internet enabled phones. Technology is our friend! There are apps that will turn your camera into a barcode scanner, and in a matter of seconds it will scan the barcode and return information about pricing from any number of different online stores. I have the iPhone app called “pic2shop” that does exactly that!
Search for online coupons. Check out these links for deals exclusively for Cyber Monday!
Happy shopping!
Check out this pixelated painting created entirely from paint chips! Cool, right?! This clever, budget friendly project was the product of paint chip samples you can get from any hardware store.
For more information on how to create your own paint chip artwork, check out Re-Nest.com.
You might also be interested in my previous tutorial on Photo Mosaics.
I watched a movie with my boyfriend last night called 2012, about the world coming to an end on December 21, 2012. I wasn’t too impressed because I felt like I’ve already seen too many movies like this – Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, I Am Legend, and the list goes on. But the message I got from the movie was that we take a lot of things for granted. There was a scene where a father tries to get in touch with his estranged son but never had the chance. How many opportunities have been lost because you waited or made excuses to avoid it? They don’t have to be big excuses, but what have you told yourself lately that is holding you back?
“I’m bad at keeping in touch.”
“I’ll never be a good cook.”
“Who has the time for volunteering?”
“I’d exercise more if…”
“I don’t have enough time.”
It helps if you know the difference between your reasons and your excuses. Reasons are based on your priorities, where as excuses are covering up something you know you should be doing. Almost all excuses can be overcome, but it is our burden as individuals to either accept or break them.
Chocolate-dipped treats are really easy to make and great for the holidays! You can dip just about anything like strawberries, green apples, bananas, grapes and pretzels! Here’s how to achieve gourmet chocolate-dipped treats at home for much less than retail price.
You will need 16 oz of sweet, semi-sweet, bitter sweet, milk and/or white chocolate. I like to use chocolate chips because they’re the easiest to melt but chocolate bars coarsely chopped works too.
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until smooth. What is a double boiler you ask? I was pretty lost too without my friend’s help (thanks Mikey!)… A double boiler is a stove top apparatus used to melt chocolate without burning or seizing. It consists of an upper vessel containing the substance to be cooked which is situated above a lower pot of water. I simply used a metal bowl for the chocolate chips over a large pot with steaming water. When brought to a boil, the steam released in the lower pot provides heat against the bottom of the upper one, thus melting the chocolate!
Don’t overheat the chocolate because it will become grainy! Once the chocolate is ready, hold your treats and dip them into the chocolate mixture until they are 3/4 covered. You have to work fast because once the chocolate starts to cool, it’s harder to dip consistently!
Place your treats on a sheet of waxed paper for the chocolate to cool and harden for at least an hour. Have a little fun and sprinkle a little bit of nuts and coconut flakes to dress them up! If you’re really crafty, use a toothpick to paint buttons and a bow tie to create a tuxedo effect. The possibilities are endless!
I was shopping for some home goods today and came across a bundle of bamboo sticks that looked great in a vase. As I was struggling to pull the bundle out from the bunch, I caught three small splinters on my fingers and they hurt bad! Especially when its inadvertently touched or rubbed the wrong way. At that very moment, I wished life had a “undo” button because I hate splinters – nasty little things.
I’m pretty good about getting splinters out on my own but it was on the fingers of my right hand, and I’m a right-handed person. Two of the three splinters weren’t buried too deep and I managed to tweeze them out with ease. But the last one, the worst kind of splinter, was beneath the surface of the skin. I had to use a needle with my left hand working against me. I struggled with it for about 15 minutes but it eventually came out.
There are other ways to remove a splinter. I’ve heard, if the splinter is protruding from the skin, you can remove it by applying a small amount of glue to the area. Wait for it to dry and peel it off in the same direction the splinter went in. The splinter should come out attached to the glue. Scotch tape can also be used if you’re not a fan of glue.
Like any open wound, injuries caused by splinters can become infected so keep the area clean and look for signs of infection. If a splinter is too deep to remove at home, seek professional attention as soon as possible. You have nothing to lose besides a nasty splinter.
For more information about removing splinters, check out eMedicineHealth.
