Sunday's media madness...

I enjoy browsing the app store on iTunes for new fun stuff and was really in luck the other day when I came across Flipboard.  Currently it is for the iPad but the iPhone version will be launching very soon and is worth the wait.  I must have been under a rock because it was named one of Times top 50 innovations of the year in 2010.  (Figures I am a year behind.)  So what does it do?  I allows you to create your own digital magazine which includes articles of interest to you, full or partial newspapers like USA Today, FaceBook, Twitter, Tumbler, Flicker as well as many full magazines like The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Oprah and tons more.  It puts just what you want all in one place, laid you the way you want them.  So you get all this greatness rolled into one place what what could be better?  The price.  Its free.  This is my "go to" app before bed at night to catch up on things I may have missed during the day, a little fun, a little news, a little social media, all mixed together, the only think I don't like about this app is that I didn't find it last year!

Hope you all have had a great weekend.

C.Q.

Sunday's media madness...

I found a great deal in my emails inbox today that I wanted to pass along.  Brads Deals is offering a one year (12 issues) subscription to Bon Appetit Magazine for only $5.00!!  This offer is only good for today so you need to act fast to get it, even better, you can subscribe at this price for up to three years.  You can find the offer at Discount Mags who already have it on sale from $47.88 to $15.00.  Just add it to your cart and then enter coupon code BRADSDEALS when you check out to get the $5.00 price.  Your over all saving comes out to be a whopping $42.88!

If you are not a subscriber of Brads Deals I highly recommend it.  There is something for everyone and there are different deals in my email everyday.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

C.Q.

Sunday's media madness...

Recently I have added some new apps to my iPad so it is ready to take on vacation.  Surprisingly my favorite way to pass time now is playing UNO.  Gameloft has a great app for only .99 cents and it allows you to play against another person or play the AI in a single game or in tournament mode.  In the tournament mode there are a variety of rules to play through and win, standard rules, penalty rules where you can play a draw 2 on a draw 2 and so on until the last player standing has to pick up a bunch of cards, the 7-0 rules which require you to change hands with a player of your choice when you play a 7 and all cards go one person left or right, depending on the direction of play, when a 0 is played, and jump in rules which is just that, when you have the same card, both color and number as the card played you can jump in and play it.  All these variations make the game a ton of fun and can be hugely entertaining for kids or adults.  You can find the game on iTunes or at the Gameloft site.

The other app I found came to me in an email from Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, I currently subscribe to and love their magazine, now it is available to me on my iPad for free as part of that subscription.  You will need to enter your magazine subscription number which should be on your mailing label.  Some subscribers are having issues logging in, I had no problem however.  I was more than willing to download this app and wait for the fix if I needed to, its one of the magazines I look forward to being delivered!

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

C.Q.


http://www.shibleysmiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/SundayButton.jpg

Friday's Freebie...

Today I have a couple of freebies for Spring.  First head sign up on Roguemag.com to get your free subscription to Rouge beauty and fashion magazine from P&G, delivered 4 times per year.  This will give you a little something to read while you sit by the lake or pool this summer.

Next, we all know that the sun and tanning booths are bad for your skin but now you can try LiveSunless free with a Sunless Pass at a location near you.  This freebie is available for new customers only.

I hope you are all having a great week and are looking forward to a wonderful weekend!

C.Q.

Saving green while being green...

 Going green is the currently the “in” thing to do, its cool, its fashionable. For me its nothing new, growing up I was the teen pushing everyone I knew to recycle. I was considered the tree hugging kid on the block, turns out I was just ahead of my time. Now I’m older and I have discovered more ways to help the environment. Of course being the practical sort I have found economic ways of being green as well.

One of the best ways starts with the food we eat, if you have access to a farmers market you can get some of the best quality food while supporting your community of local growers, many of whom are also organic which means no pesticides in the air or ground water. Better still, if you are patient you can start your own garden and have a wonderful payoff at the end of the growing season. There is a fantastic charitable organization called The Dinner Garden that supplies seeds, gardening supplies, and gardening advice free of charge to all people in the US, if you have too many seeds they would be more than willing to redistribute them to people in need, also consider sending them the seeds your garden produces at the end of the year. If you need seeds yourself just let them know and they will get them out to you, you can find them at: The Dinner Garden.

Change the light bulbs in your home, I know you probably have heard it before but ENERGY STAR® Qualified Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs and indoor or outdoor hardwired light fixtures can last up to 10 times as long as regular light bulbs , use up to 75% less energy and save you up to $65 in energy costs. That’s $65 to do something fun with! Switching your appliances to energy star ratings saves a lot over the course of a year as well, check the yellow sticker when you purchasing an appliance and it will tell you how efficient it will be per year.

Beyond changing a light bulb or getting a new dish washer the government offers tax credits for consumers who purchase and install specific products, such as energy-efficient windows, insulation, doors, roofs, and heating and cooling equipment in existing homes; this credit is for 10% to 30% for improvements "placed in service" starting January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2011. See EnergyStar.gov for a complete summary of energy efficiency tax credits available to consumers. (per the Department of Energy’s web page)

Bring your own bags to the grocery store, there are a lot of them now that are offering discounts if you have your own bag. One thing to remember though is to make sure you have a bag designated JUST for meats and poultry. I usually use a plastic bag from the grocery store and re-use at home to empty the cats litter box, then I know its not going to get used again and cause a potential problem. If you don’t want to wash the bags after each trip to the grocery store then it’s a good idea to at least spray the inside of the bags between uses lightly with something like Lysol just to make sure there is no cross contamination with other raw foods you may be eating. Let the bags air out after you use them and don’t use them for anything other then groceries. Here is a cool way to give an old T-shirt a second life by turning it into a shopping bag: T-shirt shopping-bag If you get enough of these you will never need to buy a store bag again!

 

Paying too much for your city water bill? Consider putting in a rain Barrel or two. What you pay for the barrels you will get back in what you pay the water company in the summer. In a year with average rain fall you should be able to water your garden as well as your lawn. Rain Barrel Source has a 40 gallon flat back rain barrel available for only $89.98, they also carry a wide rage of other varieties, even one that looks like a large rock.

Love reading a magazine every week or month? That subscription costs cash and even recycled its hard on the planet. Check out the free eZines available on line, one of the best that fits right in with the cause can be found at: Living Green Magazine It is full of helpful and sometimes surprising information as well as ideas of things you can do to help the environment.

Considering buying a green product but don’t know how well it performs or if you will get your money‘s worth? Try this site, its considered the consumers guide to the green revolution and should have useful information on almost anything your considering: The Daily Green.

Have a wonderful day!

C.Q.

Remember to enter the contest/giveaway going on here until Friday March 11, 2011.



Friday's freebie...

This weeks offer is three free months of Food and Wine magazine from Pepcid.  I have a subscription to Food and Wine myself and really look forward to its arrival in my mail box.  It of course features great information on Wine and has some scrumptious recipes, but it also has feature articles on travel, kitchen design, and cooking style.  Its also a lot of fun to see the Top Chef feature at the end of the shows season.  To receive the three free issues all you need to do is check the three free issues box and fill out the on line form from Pepcid.  If you would like, you can also check the box from Pepcid requesting their emails which will on occasion include special offers.

Have a great Friday everyone!

C.Q.

Friday's freebie...

I know I always post a freebie here each Friday but today I am going to give you a great tool to get a freebie EVERY day if you want.  Just go to All You Magazine's daily freebie web site, enter your email and they will send you a daily freebie you can take advantage if you want.  Yesterday's was Maggi Onion Soup Mix, today's isn't out yet so it will be a surprise.

Have a great Friday everyone! 

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

proselytize ~ verb

DEFINITION(s):
1: to induce someone to convert to one's faith
2: to recruit someone to join one's party, institution, or cause

EXAMPLESE: Liza is a staunch environmentalist who always feels the need to proselytize to anyone who doesn't recycle or drive a hybrid automobile.

"There is also no denying that in some of its iterations, the pacifism that [John] Lennon championed can seem truly beautiful. So long as the world is plagued by hate and war, people are going to look fondly upon those who proselytize for peace and love." -- From an article by John McMillian in the Boston Globe, December 5, 2010

DID YOU KNOW? "Proselytize" comes from the noun "proselyte" (meaning "a new convert"), which comes from the Late Latin noun "proselytus." "Proselytus" means "stranger" or "alien resident," and comes from a similar Greek word ("prosēlytos"). When "proselytize" entered English in the 17th century, it had a distinctly religious connotation and meant simply "to recruit religious converts." This meaning is still common, but today one can also proselytize in a broader sense -- recruiting converts to one's political party or pet cause, for example.


~THE REBATE~

From now until February 28th you can get a free $10.00 gift card via email by March 4th from Amazon when you order $20.00 in magazine subscriptions.  One publication I love is All You which is full of coupons and great money saving tips every month.  You can get it right now for 6 months for $10.00 or dive in for the full year for $19.95.  If you are looking for some great new recipe ideas check out Taste of Home for only $12.98 for 7 issues. This magazine is full of great easy ideas for great cooking on a budget and limited time. 

Hope you are all having a great week!

C.Q.

Friday's freebie...

Are you or someone you know someone who is getting married this year?  Here is a great deal, get a one year subscription to Bridal Guide Magazine, courtesy of WeddingStand.com, just fill in the on line form and wait for the issues to start rolling in.

Have a great Friday!

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

quincunx  \KWIN-kunks\ ~noun

DEFINITION: an arrangement of five things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the middle

EXAMPLES: The tables were arranged in a quincunx, with the hosting family at the center table and guests at the four corners.

"As we walked along the geometric beds -- many of them planted in an ancient Roman quincunx pattern -- I made notes on the beautiful crops I had never grown." -- From an article by Anne Raver in the New York Times, June 30, 2010

DID YOU KNOW?As our second example sentence suggests, today's word has its origins in ancient Rome. To the Romans, a "quincunx" was a coin whose name comes from the Latin roots "quinque," meaning "five," and "uncia," meaning "one twelfth." The weight of the coin equaled five twelfths of a libra, a unit of weight similar to our pound. The ancients used a pattern of five dots arranged like the spots on a die as a symbol for the coin, and English speakers applied the word to arrangements similar to that distinctive five-dot mark.


~THE REBATE~

Febreze has a pretty cool rebate going until the end of this month. Buy one specially marked item from the Febreze Home Collection and they will give you a one-year subscription to Glamour, Bon Appetit, Conde Nast Traveler or Allure magazine. If you don’t want a magazine subscription, you can request a rebate of $12.00 instead.  Best of all there is nothing to mail in, the products have a redemption code located on the package that you can enter on the on line rebate form together with you name and address for the magazines or rebate check.  If you are already a subscriber to one of the publications you can use this promotion to extend your renewal date.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

C.Q.

Friday's freebie...

So its mid-January and you got the blues?  Nothing cheers me up like planning my garden for next summer and with the price of everything going up at the grocery store I know my vegetable garden will be bigger and better this year!   First its important to plan your space so you don't over buy, and I found a great tool for just this purpose.  It's a simple planner that is pre-set for specific types of gardens at Gardeners Supply, just pick which one closest fits what you want to do, click it and then use their interactive tools to plan out your 12x12 garden plot, there is even a plant encyclopedia designed to help you find things that will work best in your area.

Now that you have your garden mapped out its time to get some catalogs to help you save some money.  By ordering seeds now and starting them indoors you will save quite a bit over buying pre-started plants at the nursery, plus its the only way to get some of the heirloom varieties.  Typically, seed packets contain a lot of seeds so a great way to save even more is to order with a friend or two and split the cost and the seeds, it cuts out waste and everyone wins.  Here is a list of companies with free catalogs for you to peruse while the snow/rain/sleet falls in your area:

Gardeners Supply (currently having their after holiday sale, which ends 1/30/11)
Burpee (currently offering 2 free seed packets with a $30 order and free shipping with coupon code FSHP)
Cooks Garden (not sure what to do with all your bounty?  Check out their great recipe section!)
Park Seed (be sure to check out their web specials when you are there, they change all the time)
Stokes (check the sale section to find great deals on things you need to construct your garden)
Gurney's (AWESOME deal alert!!!  save $25 off your order of $50 or more with coupon code 0514685, but only until January 16, 2011)
Nature Hills (coupon code FBOOK10 will take 10% off your order when used at check out)
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (if you are interested in Heirloom seeds be sure to check out their magazine The Heirloom Gardener which you can subscribe to for only $12 for the year)

Have you grown a garden in the past?  I would love to hear about it and any tips you might have to share.

I hope everyone is have a great Friday!

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

farraginous \fuh-RAJ-uh-nus\ ~ adjective

DEFINITION: consisting of a confused mixture : formed of various materials in no fixed order or arrangement

EXAMPLES: The large box at the hotel’s lost and found desk contained a farraginous assortment of hats, umbrellas, cell phones, and other personal items.

"Like the Habsburg empire, the kingdom of Sweden encompassed a farraginous set of languages, including Swedish, Finnish, Latvian, Estonian, and German, the language of administration." -- From the book A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present (Third Edition), by John Merriman, 2009

DID YOU KNOW? "Farraginous" is the adjective connected with "farrago," a word we featured in September. In Latin, the stem "farragin-" and the noun "farrago" both mean "mixture" or (specifically) "a mixture of grains for cattle feed." They derive from "far," the Latin name for spelt, a type of grain. In the 1600s, English speakers began using "farrago" as a noun meaning "hodgepodge" and "farraginous" as an adjective meaning "consisting of a mixture." The creation of the adjective was simply a matter of adding the adjectival suffix "-ous" to "farragin-" (although at least one writer had previously experimented with "farraginary," employing a different adjectival suffix).
~THE REBATE~

Redbook Magazine has teamed up with Walgreen's to offer a fun rebate for the holidays.  Instead of cash, when you shop at Walgreen's and purchase one of the qualifying products you will receive a free gift wrapping set which includes gift bags and a book of limited edition gift labels.  Qualifying products are GarnierJergens Ultra Healing Extra Dry Skin Moisturizer, Arm & Hammer Advance White Toothpaste, Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller, Listerine Total Care Plus Whitening Mouthwash, Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds Perfume, Oscillococcinum, Suave Naturals Body Lotion or SlimQuick.  To redeam just go to the Redbook Walgreen's web page and click the link, you will be taken to a web page where you will need to fill in your name and address and enter the RFN#  from the top section of your cash register receipt.  You must be 18 and over to take part in this offer and the receipts must be received between 10/19/10 and 11/16/10. This offer is good only while supplies last,  as soon as the Sponsor has received the last eligible entry, the Sponsor will post a notice on redbookmag.com/rboffers so that all consumers are notified that there is no longer a chance to receive the prize.

Have a great day everyone!

C.Q.

Sunday's media madness...

As I have mentioned in the past I love to read, and as you may know, after books I love to read my travel magazines.  Although I enjoy them very much I actually get more out of reading magazines on where I live, they keep me informed on the things going on in the area and great deals I may not find elsewhere.  I currently subscribe to the Duluth Superior Magazine which is specific to my area but there is also a great publication called Lake Superior which encompasses a larger area and is great when we plan our one day adventures and over night mini vacations.  On occasion I like to check out the Minnesota magazine as well for travel ideas within the state. All the Magazine sites I like, Magazines.com, SubscriptionOffers.com, DiscountMagazines.com and MagazineBargains.com have the same price of $14.95 with-in pennies for a 12 month subscription.

So where do you live?  I have a great friend in Billings Montana and they have three publications for the state, Montana Magazine, Distinctly Montana Magazine and Montana Outdoors.  The lowest price for the Montana Magazine was at Discount Magazines, $22.99 for 6 issues,  The lowest for the Distinctly Montana Magazine was $19.99 for 4 issues, also at Discount Magazines, and a Montana Outdoors six issue subscription is $9.00 at all of the providers.  For something more localized they have a magazine specifically for her area, Billings, called Magic, it is $29.00 for the year and like the Duluth Superior Magazine it needs to be purchased through the company that prints the magazine.  Going the other direction, I have a Nephew that lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and while they don't have a magazine specific to the location he is in, there is a wonderful periodical for the Boston area called simply, Boston Magazine, you can get a 12 issue subscription for only $9.99 at Magazines.com, there is also a nice publication for the outdoor enthusiast called Massachusetts Wildlife Magazine, a 4 copy subscription is only $5.99 at Discount Magazines.

One of the other publications that is wonderful if you live in an area that they are offered is the Time Out series, they have grown quite a bit over the years and offer weekly information on Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York just to name a few in the US as well as internationally from Vancouver to Sydney to Dubai to Paris, if you are planning on traveling or just what to find out whats going on in your neck of the woods these are great and the company is growing each year to include more place.

I was also able to find some coupon codes to help you along the way, Magazines.com is offering $5.00 of a select list of magazines, use coupon code fall_5off and MagazineBargains.com has a coupon listed for 10% off your purchase using coupon code SAVE10.

I hope this encourages you to check out some of the publication in your local area and start seeing things you never knew were at your own back door.

Have a great weekend all!

C.Q.

Sunday's media madness...

For me one of life's little indulgences is laying in bed at night looking at my magazines. Don't get me wrong, I adore a good book, but magazines offer me the chance to invest a small amount of time and still get something wonderful in return. If you have been reading this blog for awhile you know that I have eclectic taste, and its no different in the magazines I read. I love my Victoria and Tea Time subscription just as much as my Taste of Home and Food and Wine, but when it comes to reading before I go to sleep, nothing inspires better dreams than my travel magazines.

The three I get each week are Vacations, Budget Travel and Travel and Leisure. Of course being as budget minded as I am I have never paid full price for a magazine in my life. There are many companies offering discount subscriptions, you just need to find the best price among them. Here are the sites I look at when I am looking for a deal; MagsDirect.com, Magazines.com, MagsCheap.com, Magazine Deals Now and Subscription-offers.com.

As an example, Vacations is my least expensive publication and it varies in price at each outlet; at MagsDirect.com it is $14.00, at Magazines.com it is also $14.00, at MagsCheap.com it is $9.95, at Magazine Deals Now it is $10.95 and at Subscription-offers.com it is back up to $14.00.

I checked on Retail Me Not and there is currently a 10% discount for Magazine Deals Now if you enter the code MPS10, that would bring the price down to $9.86.

Also, when I place an order for a publication I keep a record of it in my computer; whether you do this on index cards, your smart phone/iPod or in your computer is up to you, but its very helpful when ordering from different outlets. All publications will try to get you to renew, many of them way before your subscription is set to expire, this can get very confusing and is exactly how I ended up with my Better Homes and Garden superscription running through 2012. For each publication I note the name of the magazine, where I purchased it, the price of the subscription and the date it is set to expire, then if I choose to cancel the subscription I know where to go or if I want to renew I know exactly when to do that without having lost an issue or having it run through the next millennium.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

C.Q.