Here’s the deal: Use the linky below to link up your giveaways, but remember, you’re linking only to actual giveaways. This means no affiliate links, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ profiles, or to main blogs or websites. Lastly, if you’re a giveaway linky-hopper you know this already, but as a refresher, here’s how to submit your link below:

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Lily’s Story

I had Max, my Shih-Tzu/Maltese mix, for almost 16 years when he passed away. Life felt empty without him following me around the house, barking at people walking down the street, even sleeping next to me on the bed. I was sad.

Initially, I thought I would wait quite a while before getting another dog. Then I thought about what I had with Max. We had bonded. It was then I realized that my love for Max didn’t end when he took his last breath. It was still very much alive and there were thousands of other dogs who deserved loving homes. I wasn’t replacing Max by getting another dog. I was spreading the joy and love he brought into my life.

I decided to get another dog about three weeks after Max passed. I wanted a rescue. As I scanned Petfinder for my new dog, I came across a two-year-old red-headed Sheltie mix named Foxy. She had been rescued by a woman who found her in a shelter, pregnant, and about to be euthanized. The woman had taken her into foster care, helped Foxy have her puppies, and now Foxy was ready for a forever home.

Two weeks later, Foxy rode a pet transport up the East Coast with other dogs who had found families in New England. She was home. The first thing I noticed was she had energy. Compared to Max, who had slowed down considerably in his last few years, Foxy was ready to power a city with all her extra energy!

That first weekend we must have gone on 10 or 12 walks just trying to get her to calm down. One of my friends who had owned a string of Shelties told me she would settle in. She was right. Foxy settled into a routine, but still needed hours of attention playing ball, taking walks–it was as if she was making up for lost time. Pretty soon, it became clear Foxy needed a friend.

Going back to Petfinder’s website, I spotted Murphy, also at a Tennessee rescue. He was blonde, naturally bob-tailed, and I fell in love. Murphy traveled north on the pet transport soon thereafter.

To say Murphy is unique is an understatement. He has scraggly teeth, a slightly under-slung jaw, the ears of a terrier, a blue and pink tongue, and, as the vet said, resembles an ottoman with legs. He also has a heart of gold. He and Foxy have been fast friends ever since they laid eyes on each other that February day four years ago.

Max had been paper-trained, which was convenient for me. I didn’t have to worry about rushing home to take him outside if I was a bit late coming home from work; he would just go on the newspaper we put down.

I had the idea we could train our new dogs the same way. Instead of using newspaper, I would going to buy wee wee pads, which seemed more sanitary with their plastic backing. At first, Foxy and Murphy had other ideas about using the pads–they rarely went on them, preferring to hold it until I got home. Had they been puppies when we adopted them–like Max was–they may have taken to the pads earlier. But I eventually won the battle!

Murphy definitely needed some assistance in the dental department. His teeth were atrocious! Brushing was impossible. Then I saw some Greenies for dogs at the pet supply. “Are Greenies good for dogs?” I wondered, as I looked over the ingredients. As a stop-gap measure–until he would let me actually brush his teeth–I decided to buy a bag. He gobbled it up and wanted more. Murphy loves to eat–anything.

Would I recommend getting a rescue dog instead of buying a dog from a breeder? Absolutely! I am so glad I could save an animal from being euthanized. And the costs were reasonable, especially when the puppy was brought to me. The adoption fee was about $400 each, including transportation, spay and neuter, shots, and a vet check. That was all done before they came home.

Foxy and Murphy are the most loving dogs I have ever met. Foxy loves to sit on my lap, give hugs, and have me kiss the top of her head. I cannot figure out why she ended up in a shelter! Murphy, who turned out to be a Shih Tzu/Australian Shepherd, or “Shihtzulian Shepherd” as I call him, is a natural clown, a dog’s dog who is enjoying the good life. Max would be proud!

Photo by jjgwarren

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This project has achieved amazing success; by just the end of 2010, it raised over $100,000 from $2,500+ grassroots contributors that has gone to increase support and resources available to teenagers in the LGBT community through the project’s affiliation with the Trevor Project suicide hotline, GLSEN (The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), and the ACLU LGBT Project. By the end of this month, the It Gets Better Project will reach an even wider audience with the premiere of the It Gets Better special that will air on both MTV and Logo on Tuesday, February 21st at 11:00 p.m. ET.

The 60-minute special will be anchored by Dan Savage and will follow the lives of three young people at pivotal and emotional moments in their lives: a young man struggling to tell his family and friends that he is gay; a lesbian fighting for parental acceptance; and a transgender man preparing to get married. In additional to these stories, the special will also include video messages full of hope and support from very well-known people, including Adam Levine, Zachary Quinto, Margaret Cho, Chaz Bono, Tim Mcllarth and Brandon Barnes of Rise Against, Vinny Guadagnino, Dave Holmes, Sia and Jake Shears.

Check out the following clip from the It Gets Better special featuring Vanessa who is talking to her mother about her personal fight for acceptance:

This project came at a very crucial moment in time and this special is also very much needed in our society. Simply put, kids are dying. Every day, LGBT youth are being bullied by their peers as well as by adults and authority figures in their communities. They are paying attention to the 2012 political race to the White House and hearing from politicians that everything they are is what is wrong with society. They are being discriminated against, told that they are less-than, rejected and ostracized by their own families, and being cast out for no other reason than being who they are. The statistics are tragic: 9 out of 10 LGBT students have experienced harassment at school; LGBT teens are bullied 2 to 3 times as much as straight teens; LGBT youth with “highly rejecting” families are 8 times more likely to attempt suicide than those whose families accept them; more than 1/3 of LGBT youth have attempted suicide.

Kids are dying and the most important thing that we can do, that anyone can do, is accept everyone for who they are because that is enough.

When speaking about the It Gets Better special, Dan Savage said:

“The lives of these three young people will resonate with millions of teens–gay and straight–who are being bullied for simply being themselves. It’s so important they know that things get better and that living openly and honestly and being who you are makes it better. They have so many great moments ahead of them and they will do things they never thought possible–so long as they keep fighting, stay positive, and stay with us.”

The It Gets Better special is the second Dan Savage-centric announcement to come from MTV as of late; he will also be seen this spring in Savage U with Lauren Hutchinson, a show that will follow the duo as they travel to college campuses across the country offering a crash course to students on relationships, responsibility, sex, love, and life.

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A year later, and the film’s cast has only grown more impressive. Ed Harris plays an exhausted John McCain whose own campaign ran away without him once Sarah Palin was introduced to the American public, and Woody Harrelson plays adviser Steve Schmidt who tried to cover up Palin’s inexperience, limited scope of foreign policy knowledge, and incompetence by banking on her charisma to carry her through the campaign.

Check out the following trailer for Game Change; the film premieres on March 10th at 9 p.m. on HBO.

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Every time I think of the stress that accompanies finding the perfect wedding invitations and making sure they show up on time and without error, I think of an episode of Gilmore Girls. Granted, I can very well compare most of life’s events to an episode of Gilmore Girls because I am one of those obnoxious fan types, but bear with me here. In this particular episode, Sookie’s wedding invitations arrive at the inn she works at with Lorelai. When Lorelai brings them into the kitchen, Sookie immediately begins to rip open the box, eager to see them while excitedly telling Lorelai how they are pearly white with a beautiful lavender stripe and how she is going to love them. When she sees them, however, her name is misspelled, so it reads that “Susie St. James” is getting married. Sookie’s immediate reaction is to declare “I’m gonna choke somebody by the neck until brains ooze out of their ears.” When she calls the company’s customer service line, she goes completely ballistic, saying “How dare you do this to me! You’re ruining my wedding! It’s the most important day of my life! It’s my life, it’s not Susie St. James, are you listening to me?”

Yeah, that is a whole lot of stress and something no one wants to have to go through, especially when there is practically no time in between the time your wedding invitations arrive and when they need to be sent out to guests.

Avoiding a spelling error is just one of the benefits I see in personalizing your own wedding stationery online. Another great benefit of the right online retailer is the variety. Not everyone is looking for the standard, conventional wedding invitation that can be seen featured by traditional wedding supply retailers, so the fact that online retailers have a mix of classy and contemporary, out-of-the-box styles is only a good thing. Of course, finding the right online retailer can be a challenge.

Hello!Lucky has an awesome selection of unique and memorable cards and stationary for all occasions, especially for weddings, and include save-the-date cards and invitations to your big day. They also carry RSVP cards, place cards for your tables, menu cards, and more.

What I was really happy to see on their website is that Hello!Lucky offers 3 free samples of their invitations. Buying anything online also comes with a certain bargain, one that no bride-to-be is willing to make when it comes to the specifics of her wedding day. You want to know exactly what you are getting, and the fact that you can receive 3 separate samples of stationary to ensure the quality meets your standards is really great.

All of Hello!Lucky’s cards and invitations are customizable, but it’s often difficult to know how to start. For this reason, Hello!Lucky also has a wide range of wedding invitation wording examples regardless of how formal or informal your event is. You can use these examples on your invitations or simply use them as a jumping off point and inspiration for your own words.

If you’re looking for wedding stationary or even greeting cards, birth announcements, birthday cards, thank you cards, or more, check out Hello!Lucky and don’t forget to come back here and tell us what your favorite designs are!

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High-end sports car aficionados Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno star in this spot for Acura where they are pitted against each other, competing to be the very first person in the world to have the yet-to-be-released Acura NSX. The commercial is hilarious and also features one of the most beloved characters from the show Seinfeld, the Soup Nazi.

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Here’s the deal: Use the linky below to link up your giveaways, but remember, you’re linking only to actual giveaways. This means no affiliate links, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ profiles, or to main blogs or websites. Lastly, if you’re a giveaway linky-hopper you know this already, but as a refresher, here’s how to submit your link below:

Blog Name – Giveaway Prize – End Date

Now link away!

Add Your Giveaways

Related Posts:

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Sean Ohlenkamp’s absolutely remarkable video The Joy of Books shows just how magical books can be, in a more physical sense, by crafting some amazing stop motion animation and seamless editing.

According to the video description, the creation of this video was made possible with the help of nearly 30 volunteers who spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto. The music in the video was composed by Grayson Matthews and is available on iTunes.

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Zoe is 8 years old and she is an incredible guitar player–and not just for being 8 years old, either. She has incredible talent, surpassing the skill level of people who have been playing the instrument longer than she has been alive.

You can also see Zoe in The Mini Band, a band made up of kids ages 8 to 10 who are all taught at Lets Play Rock in the UK.

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According to CNBC, there is an antitrust suit between five million retailers and Visa, MasterCard, and 13 large banks, including Citi, Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo. Retailers claim that banks and the payment systems have unfairly worked together to increase the amount of the interchange fee retailers pay on credit card transactions.

The amount that each retailer pays as a swipe fee varies widely but the industry average is approximately 2%. This antitrust suit could cut that figure by three-quarters down to 0.5%. That would be one more devastating revenue blow to the banks as well as Visa and MasterCard, leading to billions of dollars in lost income.

Last year, the Durbin Amendment went into effect on October 1, cutting the interchange fee on debit card transactions from an average of 44 cents to no more than 21 cents (plus 0.05% of the transaction, with the possibility of an additional cent if banks comply with fraud prevention procedures). Banks tried to make up for this lost revenue by implementing a monthly debit card fee which led to consumer outrage. Banks eventually rescinded this monthly fee.

If the retailers win this antitrust suit, it could have a significant impact on consumers:

• Banks will lose billions of dollars at a time when they have already suffered significant cutbacks in revenue. Whenever banks lose revenue in one area, they try to make up for it in another area and that always comes at the expense of the consumer. An increase in existing fees, the introduction of new fees, and an increase in the credit card interest rates are changes that could be pushed by banks.
• A significant decrease in credit card reward programs. The lucrative cash back and airline mile rewards will likely decline. Most banks eliminated debit card rewards when the Durbin Amendment passed. The same could happen with credit card programs if retailers win this suit.
• A likely decrease in attractive balance transfer offers. Currently, credit card issuers are offering 0% interest rates for extended periods of time in order to lure customers from their competitors. The Citi Platinum Select card offers 0% for 21 months; the Discover More card offers 0% for 18 months; and the Slate from Chase card offers 0% for 12 months with no balance transfer fee. If retailers win this antitrust suit, look for credit card issuers to scale back these balance transfer offers.
• On the positive side, a possible decrease in prices at store level. Retailers claimed the passage of the Durbin Amendment could lead to a decrease in prices since they would no longer have to pay high swipe fees on debit card transactions. It is difficult to see if this actually took place. However, retailers may face more pressure from consumer groups to cut prices if the interchange fee is also slashed on credit card purchases.

Photo by Helcim

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In the past month and a half, people everywhere took this idea of things certain types of people say and started creating their own videos. Some are based in observation, some from personal experience; some are in the name of awareness which lends to social justice activism (most notably, this happened with the Shit White Girls Say to Black Girls video), and some are merely a few minutes of someone indulging in poking a little fun at themselves and those who can relate to them. Late last week, I found one that sums up what I do here on Woman Tribune pretty accurately–Sh*t Mom Bloggers Say.

I have watched this video several times and I feel very confident in saying that it is impossible that it will get old any time soon. I also sent it to my partner who was very quick to point out some of the hilarious things he has seen me do in the name of blogging. Another great thing about this video is that it introduced me to Mama Knows It All. I began reading her blog very shortly after finding her video and as it turns out, she is pretty awesome, so you should definitely check her out–after you finish watching the video and laughing your ass off.

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Here’s the deal: Use the linky below to link up your giveaways, but remember, you’re linking only to actual giveaways. This means no affiliate links, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ profiles, or to main blogs or websites. Lastly, if you’re a giveaway linky-hopper you know this already, but as a refresher, here’s how to submit your link below:

Blog Name – Giveaway Prize – End Date

Now link away!

Add Your Giveaways

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For starters, they look different, with true gelato resembling something more like frozen yogurt than ice cream, and in many displays, it looks like flavored whipped cream. Here’s some more detailed, delicious insight into the two treasured desserts:

American vs. Italian Ice Cream

American ice cream, we all know, has a pretty high milk fat content. Legally in the United States, a product must have 10% fat to use the label “ice cream.” Higher quality brands of ice cream have about 18% fat, which makes for a delicious ice cream, but a pretty pathetic gelato.

Gelato has a much higher milk to cream ratio. This means that the milk fat content is much, much lower, usually in the vicinity of 4% or so. The fat content difference influences the taste as well as your waistline. The fat in ice cream coats the tongue and saturates the taste buds, while gelato does not coat the taste buds as much, which allows the flavors to be stronger with a great depth of flavor.

Another key difference is the amount of incorporated air during churning. Ice cream can have 50% or so, while gelato only has about 25% trapped air. This is mostly due to the speed of the churning process, as gelato is churned slower, and this density has a decided impact on the texture and the flavor of the product.

Differences in Flavor and Texture

Regarding the flavor and texture, gelato should not be grainy. Ever. It should have a creamy texture that invites the flavor to develop and dance on the tongue. Usually this means that the mixture should have a chance to rest, allowing for the maximum development of flavor.

Ice cream is served frozen and gelato should be served slightly warmer. This allows the fats to mingle with the water, but not to freeze, which enhances the flavors. In fruit flavors, this can be a challenge.

Sadly, as home it is not possible to create gelateria-style gelato in an ice cream maker by just changing the ingredients. This is where the use of gelato makers come in. Gelato makers are different because they are designed to mix the ingredients at a speed which needs to be slower, so as not to incorporate too much air.

Northern vs. Southern Italy

Northern Italian gelato is predominantly milk and cream-based, while in Southern Italy, water-based fruit flavored gelatos are more common. This difference has been around for a few centuries and is nothing new. Fruit gelato offers the intense fruit flavors associated with sorbet, but the delightful creamy goodness of frozen yogurt–only much better.

Using Fresh Fruit in Gelato

When making gelato traditionally, it is important to use real fresh fruit and not fruit flavoring or syrup. If there is no time to chop the fruit up, simply pop it in a food processor for a fast way to prepare the fruit. There are some fruits that do work better than others in gelato; fruits that puree easily work the best, while others such as coconut can be considerably harder.

Using real fruit is a classic example of the importance of quality food in Italian cooking. The basic recipes are usually very simple but require high quality ingredients to yield the best results. This goes along with a great many other Italian dishes, such as pasta or panna cotta–simple to make but can either be breathtakingly amazing when done properly or a dismal failure.

While Americans in general love ice cream, if gelato was more well-known here, it would probably outpace the demand for ice cream in the summer. I know that personally, as much as I enjoy the ice cream truck trundling down my street with frozen confections, I would much prefer the Italian version: a gelato cart. That would be truly amazing. Relaxing at home and enjoying a skillfully-made gelato on a summer day–indeed–it would be a slice of heaven.

To use a common quote, “What is better than ice cream? Gelato!” and it really is very true.

Photo by missyjane20

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I woke up yesterday morning to a familiar winter chill filling the air. The kind of chill that makes its way into your home regardless of how high the heat is turned up and immediately consumes you before you even open your eyes. The kind of chill that becomes a part of you if you have always lived in a place where it snows, as I have, where as soon as you feel it, you know that while you were sleeping, nature was busy transforming every inch of outside space as far as you can see into the distance a beautiful, pristine white.

Whenever I wake up to newly-fallen snow, I get the same feeling: complete and utter excitement followed by a list of all the ways I could spend my day. You see, a day of snow still makes me feel like I have a personal snow day to take advantage of. It’s a sort of mental health day as commanded by the snow; nature’s little gift to the child in me.

When I look back on these days that I have spent doing very little besides playing video games, watching movies or old episodes of my favorite television shows, or reading a book and drinking freshly-brewed coffee, I realize that I really am lucky. There are a lot of people out there who can’t take that one day in the dead of winter and spend it doing only what they feel like doing. There are millions of people living in this country alone who do not have a home to keep them warm and protected throughout the winter season, and 1 out of every 3 homeless people are under the age of 18.

For the fifth consecutive year, DoSomething.org has teamed up with Aéropostale and P.S. stores for the Teens for Jeans drive.

From now until February 12th, collect your gently worn jeans, any brand, and drop them off at your local Aéropostale or P.S. store. Your jeans will be donated to local homeless shelters and charities that will directly impact a homeless teen’s life. So if you’ve been putting off cleaning out your closet, or if you’re still holding on to jeans that are either too small or too big, give them a new home with someone who will greatly benefit from your contribution. When you drop off your old jeans, you will also receive 25% off a new pair of Aéropostale jeans!

In four years of the Teens for Jeans drive, over 1.5 million pairs of jeans have been collected. To help and motivate youth to have an even bigger impact this year, DoSomething.org has some amazing prizes available for schools who sign up to host a Teens for Jeans drive. As of this writing, over 7,500 schools have signed up and the school that collects the most jeans will win new Aéropostale jeans for every student, a party for their entire school, and $5,000.

Visit Teens for Jeans to sign up your school (make sure it’s okay with your school principal first!), or donate your old jeans on your own at your local Aéropostale or P.S. store and get 25% off a new pair of jeans.

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Even more interestingly, did you know that during the 15th century green was the preferred color choice for wedding gowns because green has long symbolized fertility? White wedding gowns were not always the norm, which is a pretty radical thought when you look at the wedding industry today.

There is an unspoken psychology behind colors and how they make us feel–whether we like it or not. The following infographic explores color psychology, including what specific colors have long symbolized and why, as well as what colors are best suited for the walls of a particular room in your home, which I will definitely be taking note of when I move into my new home next month.


Courtesy of Painters of Louisville

Click image to enlarge in new window

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How you prepare your garden for winter will have a huge bearing on how easy and successful gardening is the following spring. There’s still time if you haven’t already winterized your garden. Plan to spend a few hours outdoors the next time it’s mild and dry, even in the dead cold of winter you do get a few scattered warm days. Here’s the to-do list that I follow each fall and winter:

• Trim back damaged or diseased plants and tree branches. Do heavy pruning any time between early and late winter, when the tree is dormant and the leaves are gone. The benefit of pruning during this season is that you can see the tree’s form very clearly, making it easier to prune accurately. You’re less likely to spread disease when trees are dormant, as well.
• Fertilize the lawn in late fall, according to Cornell University. You don’t want to fertilize while the grass is still actively growing. Wait instead until growth slows down, but before the ground freezes. The fertilizer will reach the roots, providing food for healthy growth in the spring.
• Clean out rain gutters. This is an absolute must so water drains properly from your roof. Remove debris with a broom or rake, and wash the gutters out with a pressure washer set on low, or a garden hose with a sprayer attachment. Seal any holes or leaks with a silicone caulking, and replace nails and screws.
• Clean outdoor furniture with water and a gentle scrub brush. Remove rust from metal with a steel brush and apply new paint, if necessary. Some wood furniture may benefit from oiling and restaining as needed. Store all outdoor furniture, such as benches, propane fire pit tables that are now a backyard fixture in most yards, in a shed or garage, or cover them with plastic tarps. Exposure to rain and snow will rust or warp outdoor furniture, reducing its lifespan.
• Clean and sharpen your garden tools before storing them. Here’s how: Brush off dirt with a brush or your hand. Mix 3/4 quart motor oil with sand in a 5-gallon bucket, adding sand until you have a mixture that is moist, but not wet. Place your tool blades in the sand to remove remaining dirt and condition the blades. Remove rust with a steel brush. Wipe the blades with motor oil or W-D-40, and sharpen them with a file or whetstone at a 20-degree angle. Store tools in a dry shed.
• I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost wooden-handled spades or weeding forks in the garden because I can’t see them from the dirt and grass. Last year, though, I got smart. I bought a can of bright red spray paint and painted all the handles after I had cleaned them for the winter. Voila! Cute, attractive garden tools that never get lost.
• Remove garden debris. I sometimes leave perennials in place to insulate the plants’ roots or provide shelter for birds and rabbits, but I always clean my vegetable garden out. Leaving garden plants through the winter results in a slimy mess to clean up in the spring. It also promotes disease and provides shelter for insects to overwinter–two conditions I try to avoid.

While this seems like a lengthy list, you can easily complete most of it in a weekend. Although I’m always sad to tuck my garden in for the winter, I enjoy snuggling indoors with a warm fire or watching the snow fall on my bare trees.

As William Blake once said, “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”

Photo by meganpru

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Today, some of your favorite websites will not be displaying or functioning fully. They will not be at our collective disposal with just a click of a button, and their content will not be there, ready to entertain us, or inform us, or make us better citizens of the world. Instead, these websites will be dark or possess very little other than a message of protest against proposed U.S. legislation that threatens internet freedom: the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

As it stands today, the U.S. has laws in place to fight online piracy and copyright infringement. You see this in action every time you go to watch a YouTube video and instead of the video, you see a notice that it has been taken down due to some form of copyright infringement of [insert big name corporation here]. SOPA/PIPA would do surprisingly little to actually put an end to online piracy and copyright infringement. What it would do, however, is give the federal government the authority to censor and shut down entire websites on a media company’s say-so and put innovation, creativity, and freedom of expression severely at risk.

The U.S. legal system is held up by a fundamental idea: that people are innocent until proven guilty. The passing of SOPA/PIPA would make it so that those who own and operate websites would not be protected by this same right, as their websites could be taken down based on accusation alone and without due process.

Woman Tribune will not go dark today because as much as I support this protest and every single person doing everything they can to raise awareness about how much damage can and will likely be done with the passing of these pieces of legislation, I cannot afford for the ads you see on this website to go down for the day. And that is really the point, isn’t it?

I Work For the Internet. I have been blogging since I was 13 years old–nearly half my life–and exactly four years and one day ago, I published the first post on this website. While I love writing more than doing anything else in life, I did not start Woman Tribune because of my love of writing; I started my other blog, Menstrual Poetry, because of that. I created Woman Tribune with the hope that it would become a stable, full-time job. As a person who lives with clinical depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a debilitating disease that started as minor dental issues that has over the years caused my body to start attacking itself, I am not what one would call a reliable employee under normal, society-approved circumstances. It is because of the internet and its accessibility that I have been able to make a living by writing, editing, and freelancing as a web designer and developer. Without it, I would very likely have had little to no other options, and honestly, I have no idea where I would be today. If widespread censorship of the internet were to become an everyday reality, people who live in this country who rely on their blogs and internet businesses to keep them alive could lose everything.

Our society has been heavily influenced by the tech industry; how so many of us work and live has been strengthened by the tools and the platforms that have been made available to us because of the creativity and innovation that has been fostered through this industry. By having any aspect of that forcibly oppressed, we would all be affected.

Take action against SOPA and PIPA. Educate yourself about these two bills and what their passing would mean for every single person who goes on the internet every day. On January 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate. Until then, write and call your lawmakers and make sure your voice of opposition is heard.

If you run a WordPress-powered blog and want to participate in the internet blackout today, there are numerous SOPA blackout plugins to choose from. If you don’t use WordPress, there are other apps and codes you can use. You can also follow news about the strike on Twitter using the hashtag #sopastrike.

Photo by SOPA Strike

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Being frugal does not mean you have to sacrifice every little thing that helps you get through the day. It just means using your creativity to maintain your lifestyle as best you can through any economic turmoil. Even if there’s no turmoil, what does it hurt to have a little extra money lying around?

When it comes to keep your food habits, you can absolutely get imaginative without sacrificing quality. With the exception of having an unnatural daily craving for caviar, you can follow these three dollar-stretching steps to eat just as you always have, even if your pocket’s running on empty.

Learn Culinary Basics

This is far less intimidating than it sounds. Just like Michael Jordan or Larry Bird had to master the free throw and jump shot, the culinary elite got where they are by mastering the basics of cooking. That means they can make a mirepoix, prepare fresh pasta from scratch, and whisk up the most delicious salad dressing with their eyes closed.

Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? Fret not–we’re here to help.

Mirepoix is the standby combination of aromatics that go into making sauces, soups, roasts, and stocks. All it takes is three simple (and inexpensive) ingredients: onion, carrot, and celery. To make it, cut the vegetables based on how long they’ll be cooking (the longer the cooking time, the bigger the cut), and use the following ratio:

2 parts onion : 1 part carrot : 1 part celery

That’s it. Nothing too terrible, right? Neither are the following ratios for the stuff you think is “out of your league.”

Fresh pasta:

3 parts flour : 2 parts egg (by weight)

Keep a tablespoon or two of water to drizzle in little by little, and there you have it.

And that salad dressing you love?

3 parts olive (or canola) oil : 1 part acid (vinegar)

Here’s the best part: once you learn and develop these ratios to your liking, you will be creating restaurant-style dishes in your own kitchen for quite literally pennies on the dollar.

Buy Fresh and Buy in Bulk

With rare exception, fresh ingredients cost less than prepared foods. Take salad mixes, for instance: they fall into the three-dollar-per-bag range, and typically include several lettuces and a salad dressing. But can you get a head of Romaine and loads of tasty vegetables for well under three dollars? Probably not.

What about that vinaigrette above? Costs about eight cents.

Also, as a price-conscious society, grocery stores everywhere are making bulk purchases readily accessible, and that’s something that can benefit you greatly. You can get coffee beans, loose-lead teas, flour, quinoa…just about anything you can imagine, all without paying for the expensive packaging and labeling brand names must include in their costs.

Buying in bulk means less processing, and that brings us to…

Process Your Own Foods

Don’t buy pre-chopped vegetables or pre-minced garlic when shopping. For every hand that touches your product, labor must be paid…and covered. Plus, the minute vegetables are cut, they begin dehydrating and losing their nutritional value–you pay more for significantly less product.

Same goes for meats: buy large hunks (which typically freeze well), and portion it yourself. Bake a whole six-dollar chicken, and use it for two or three meals with recipes like chicken soup, chicken primavera, or even chicken tacos. Try cubing a large roast, and throw it into an electric meat grinder for burger night–talk about quality food!

From baking your own brioche to chopping vegetables for a cheap Italian recipe like Pasta Primavera, when you process your own foods, the sky’s the limit!

So as you can see, you can easily cut food costs without sacrificing your food habits or personal integrity. In fact, mastering the steps above could actually give you bragging rights!

Photo by NourishLife

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As much as I love a good smoothie, I don’t always have the best and freshest ingredients that I would like. In those cases, Yoplait Frozen Smoothies are a great backup plan that I have gone to again and again, without losing one ounce of nutritional value. Yoplait Frozen Smoothies contain real fruit, live and active cultures, and 50% of your daily value of calcium, and can be enjoyed by just adding milk and blending.

Yoplait Frozen Smoothies have just recently introduced the newest flavor, Chocolate Banana. To give families just a little incentive to go out and pick up a bag of the new flavor, Yoplait has also issued a coupon for $1.00 off any bag of Yoplait Frozen Smoothie. Just print it out, bring it to your local grocery store, and save!

This coupon is not valid in the following states: California, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Tennessee.

This is a sponsored post. Information and coupon offer were provided by Yoplait through MyBlogSpark. All opinions are my own.

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Adore Me is a new trendy lingerie club that offers a personalized shopping experience. The process is simple: Start by taking a quick style quiz where, through a series of multiple choice questions, your particular style preferences are determined. The Adore Me stylists use the results of your style quiz to hand-pick a selection of lingerie, including bra and panty sets, babydolls, slips, and hosiery, all of which compliment your unique style. Every month, your showroom will be updated with a selection of new lingerie to choose from.

I have been a member of Adore Me for a little over a month now–long enough to see two showrooms that had been put together for me based on the results of my style quiz. I was happy with my first showroom; it contained a few pieces of lingerie that I really liked, as well as a few other pieces I didn’t really care for, but I still saw style characteristics in these items that I typically like, and knew why they had been chosen to take up a space in my showroom. Upon seeing my second showroom, I am fairly certain that Adore Me is getting better with each passing month (they have only been up and running since November, after all!) My second showroom was amazing, with only two bra and panty sets out of ten that didn’t make my jaw drop.

What I like about Adore Me, as opposed to some other monthly subscription programs I’ve seen, is that they do not operate on a “grab bag” sort of premise. With some services, you pay a fixed price per month and receive one, a few, or even a whole box of goodies that have been selected for you. While it’s true that this is the closest one can get to Christmas coming once every month without any of the usual stress that accompanies the holidays, I have always been a little weary of any service that expects me to pay for something without telling me what that something is first. Why hand over money for something that you aren’t picking out yourself and maybe you won’t even like? Adore Me is different. While there is one fixed price for every piece of lingerie on their site–$39.95–you can choose to purchase your favorite pieces of lingerie from your showroom each month or not. If you don’t see something you like during a particular month, or if money is tight, you are never obligated to purchase a thing. Additionally, there is free shipping with every order from Adore Me, and free returns if your lingerie doesn’t fit you in all the right places or if the piece of lingerie you selected looked better in the picture on their website than it does on you. Don’t you hate it when that happens?

We will have a few lingerie reviews from Adore Me in the coming months, which I am really excited about. In the meantime, check out their website, sign up for a free Adore Me membership, and get started with your own personal lingerie showroom.

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Teachers and Other Caring Adults

My son had a fabulous student government teacher that believes high school is about more than algebra and college application essays. He believes that high school teachers can, and should, teach students lessons in integrity, service, and community involvement. Instead of asking continually for donations and pledges from community business owners, he constantly looks for opportunities for the students to serve the community.

Students are expected to complete at least 30 hours of community service on their own. Additionally, they complete several service projects every year as a group. The highlight of the year is the Make a Wish fundraiser in connection with Homecoming. Last fall, students hosted a barbecue and concert that raised over $2,000 so a child in the community who has leukemia could go with her family to Disney World.

But not every service should be highly visible or rewarded with praise. After we have bad weather, this teacher texts his student government students and issues an assignment: find a neighbor who needs some help and help clean up their yard.

This attitude of service has become so ingrained in my son that he doesn’t wait for a text from his teacher anymore. Bad weather or a snowy day means more than just a day to sleep in. He’s up and putting on his boots and gloves without any reminders.

This is just one example of how children’s lives have been blessed by caring adults. My neighbor hires my son to care for his pets when he goes on vacation, and doesn’t shrink from teaching opportunities. The first time my son watched the dogs, he did a less than stellar job and my neighbor kindly told him so. He hired him again, though, and my son improved, learning how to care for dogs and use training puppy pads on days when it was hard to take them out. My neighbor rewarded him with positive encouragement and a nice payment. Lesson learned. Later on he even taught him more about taking care of his dogs, including dog dental care. I hope that made an impression on my son, who thinks very little about his own oral hygiene!

Family and Community

Extended family members are a great resource for teaching kids lessons in character. We don’t have extended family close by, though, so I’ve had to create an extended family for my kids in my own community. Here’s a few of the ways we’ve found to create an “extended family” for our kids:

• Join a community church and become involved in youth activities.
• Get to know neighbors. We hold annual events, such as a Labor Day picnic, but the real bonding moments are every day happenings. We frequently sit on our neighbor’s porch visiting or inviting them to dinner. When my neighbor’s pipes froze, every person on the block was there with buckets, shop vacs, and towels. These types of activities unite a neighborhood, form strong bonds, and leave a lasting impression on kids. As P.D. James said, “What a child doesn’t receive, he can seldom give later.” Early opportunities to serve set a foundation for later community involvement.
• Regularly visit a senior citizen center. Most kids today are alienated from the older generation. We visit the local senior’s center to sing songs, help with a craft, or provide a meal. The kids were apprehensive at first, but they’ve learned to appreciate the stories and wisdom of their elders.
• Form friendships with people outside your regular circle. Most of my friends are people who I share similar interests with, but kids need to become acquainted with people from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and walks of life. I have a dear friend who is a widow that we regularly have dinner with. When my dog died, she was the first one at my door with a potted plant and a hug.

Photo by MZM-Photo

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Orman is the latest celebrity to jump into the prepaid card market. As a well-known financial adviser with a strong following, she just may have the clout to capture a significant portion of the market.

Prepaid cards have historically targeted consumers with poor credit who could not qualify for a standard credit card. These cards were easy to get, but were loaded with exorbitant fees. That began to change last year when American Express introduced its own prepaid card with fewer fees.

There are some nice advantages to Orman’s Approved Card. It has fewer fees than most prepaid cards: there are no loading fees, no fee to transfer money to another card, and no fee to make electronic bill payments. The card comes with free identity theft protection and also gives the cardholder unlimited credit reports and scores from TransUnion, one of the three credit reporting agencies.

As with any card, consumers need to read the fine print to be aware of the fees that will be charged.

The Approved Card costs $3 to purchase and then has a monthly fee after the first month of $3. ATM withdrawals are free each month as long as they are made from the Allpoint network and you make a direct deposit of at least $20 each month. Otherwise, the ATM withdrawals will cost $2 per transaction.

If you get cash back when making a purchase at a retail store, that will cost you $2.

Your first call each month to a customer service representative will be free, but subsequent calls will be $2.

The opportunity to receive unlimited credit reports and scores from TransUnion can be beneficial for consumers, especially those trying to build their credit. However, the score that will be available will be the TransUnion score, not the FICO score that most banks use when deciding a consumer’s credit worthiness. Orman says TransUnion plans to collect Approved Card user data to determine if it should include prepaid card data on its credit reports in the future.

“A debit card linked to your checking account is much better than a prepaid card for most consumers. A debit card will not have the monthly or usage fees that are common with prepaid cards, even this new one from Suze Orman,” says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com. “But for people who don’t have a bank account, or may have some credit problems, her card may be a good alternative.”

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This year marks the 45th anniversary of the Consumer Electronic Show, which started today and is being held in Las Vegas until January 13th. Over the past 45 years, the CES has grow immensely. In 1967 it had just 17,500 attendees, over 100 exhibitors, and was held in a space of 150,000 square feet. In 1995, it was officially the largest electronics show in the country, and last year, 149,429 people visited the 1,700+ exhibitors, approximately 20,000 new products were debuted, and the event was held in a space of 1.6 million net square feet.

Check out the following infographic for some more interesting history on CES and why it is the place to be if you’re a tech enthusiast.

Click image to enlarge in new window

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Now link away!

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Chex Party Mix-Change Prize Pack & $20 Gift Card — ends January 11th

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