To Write Love on Her Arms

November 13, 2009 is "To Write Love On Her Arms" day.

Have you joined the group on Facebook?

Are you willing to write the word LOVE on your arms today?

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.

TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

To Write Love On Her Arms Day is a day where anyone can write the word "love" on their arms in support of those who are fighting against depression & those who are in recovery.

Today, just write "love" on your arms.

Show it off.

When others ask why you've written on your arms, tell them about this event.

WHAT WILL THIS ACHIEVE??

This simple action will remind others that there are people suffering, many in silence. For those suffering, it will remind them that they are loved, and that people care about their struggle.

There were over 500,000 people who participated last year. We're aiming for 1 million this year.

What if I stumble?

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today
is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelievable world simply finds unbelievable."
( I don't know where this quote originally came from.
Different sources attribute it to different people. Makes no difference
to me. It's still a good one. )

What If I Stumble - DC TALK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg6HedZ4xGs&feature=related

My blog just went green.

There. That was easy.

Now I'm wondering what all the fuss is about.

I'm just saying.

** ** ** ** (It IS easy being green, KERMIE.) ***

Found a new site SUNDAY COUPON PREVIEW

(TITLE LINE OF THIS POST IS A LINK!)

This is the easiest to read, easiest to access list of upcoming Sunday coupons I've found online.
Keep in mind your Sunday insert may be slightly different than what is listed here, but you should have a good idea from looking at this list if you are at all interested in buying extra
copies of the newspaper on a given week.

Filing Coupon Inserts - NEW (to me) SECRET STEP

First, I must say that
my mother-in-law, the

*ONE * AND * ONLY, * THE ORIGINAL, *

** MRS. AMAZING **

Really is amazing.

She clips my coupons for me.
Close your mouth. Quit staring.
She totally rocks.
And she's mine, so step off.

But I've been getting 4 newspapers myself lately.
Mrs. A clips the coupons that come in her paper,
and I file those in my coupon box.

Then I take the WHOLE inserts from the 4 newspapers I get
and I mark the front of each with the date and source,
like so:

8/2 RP = August 2 , Red Plum
8/2 SS = August 2, Smart Source
7/16 PG = July 16, Procter & Gamble

(Yes, smarty pants, it does already say
SmartSource, Red Plum, etc. across the top of the insert.
But when I'm in a hurry searching for coupons,
my simple mind and my failing eyes
are trained to look for 8/2 RP or 8/2 SS.
So... well... that's why.)

THEN, I do a quick glance through the inserts.
If there's a product I know I'm likely to use no matter what,
I will cut all of that coupon from my inserts.

If it's a product that I don't know if I will use or not, but
wouldn't pass up if it were free or very cheap, I will cut out
one or two.

My inserts get filed by date. All the inserts from a given
date will be in a file together.

Then, when I see something in a sales ad and want
to know if there's a coupon for it, I go to a coupon
database like the one on Hot Coupon World http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/coupon.php
(accessing the whole database requires registering, but
it's not painful).

There's a sad part of this story.
The database is not infallible.
:>( Can you even believe it?
Different areas of the country get different coupons.
It's a fact of coupon life.

The database might say there's a coupon
for hemorrhoid cream in 7/16 SS, but it might not be
in mine.
( Hemorrhoid cream... he he he... now you're all
wishing you had that coupon, aren't ya?
For the record, I made that up.
It was fun to type "hemorrhoid cream".
Easily, I amuse.)

Remember how I said I'll cut one or two coupons
for items I wouldn't want to pass up if they were free
or cheap?

What if I'm in the store and I see one of those items
at a great price, but you have to buy more than one
to get the deal, or I'd like to stock up, but I don't have
the coupons in my file box?

This happened to me a few times before I started doing
this new step that has already saved me tons of time
when I'm actually in the store.

I will now reveal THE NEW(to me) SECRET STEP
which works for me, but may not for you, and you're still ok,
and I'm still ok, and it's all ok, but ANYWAY...

Before I file the cut coupons in my coupon box, I mark
the back of each coupon with the date and insert info.
That way, when I have one of a certain coupon but think
maybe I have more that I didn't cut, I can pull out my insert
file right there in the store (Yes, I often carry it, because OCD
keeps me from leaving it at home.) and retrieve the additional copies
of the coupon.

This is also good when I'm at home searching the coupon database
and I see that coupons for a certain product have been in more
than one recent insert. I can look at the backs of the coupons I
have cut to see if I have all the coups from all the dates. Maybe
I've cut all the 6/28 coupons but not the 8/2 coupons. I know
right where to look, because I have implemented the
NEW (to me) SECRET STEP!

CALLING ALL COUPON FEARERS!!!

This isn't a coupon blog. But it's mine. And I'm talkin'
about coupons right now.

I talk to people all the time who are totally intimdated by
coupons. They wonder aloud just HOW coupon people do what
they do. It overwhems them.

So here's a nice slow start for you.

If there's a Jewel-Osco (or any store that has Bic pens on sale,
but Jewel is my example, so HUSH!) near you
and you have a working printer, get yourself
over to http://www.coupons.com/ and print the coupon for

$1.00 off any 2 Bic stationery products.

It may require you to download a coupon printer. I assure you,
this is no big deal. Just do it. :>)

If you print no other coupons, go print that Bic coupon. When it
has printed, click the BACK tab at the top of your screen.
You might need to click it more than once, but you are backing up
to the point where it will print the coupon again.

It will only print two of them.

(Also good to know if you share a computer with someone
who might have already printed them.)

Now, take those two Bic coupons over to your local Jewel-Osco.

(Don't argue. I'm tryin' to get you some free pens,
so work with me here.)

Jewel has packages of Bic pens on sale 2 for $1.00 this week.
If you use these coupons, you will get 4 packs of pens for free.

The mechanical pencils are $1.00 each, so buying 2 of those
with the $1.00 off coupon gets you what???
Anyone? Beuller? (Paying respects...RIP, John Hughes.)

Right. It gets you 2 packs of mechanical pencils for $1.00.

If you've decided to use your coupon on just free pens, I'd
like to encourage you at this point
to choose one other small item to buy
so that your total is not ZERO. They hate that. And it could
create a hole in the time-space continuum. So don't do it.
You're new. I'm not sure you could handle it.
(Oh, how I slay me! )


Maybe you'd like another pack of pens for that last item.
5 packs of pens for 50 cents plus tax is not a bad deal, you know.
Or a pack of gum??

WAIT A MINUTE! What did you just say?
You don't NEED 5 packs of pens?
Tell me you didn't just say that.

Off the top of my head, without even trying, I can think of
several people/ organizations who would simply love it if I
were to hand them a pack of free pens.

- college student
- charity that accepts school supply donations
- struggling small business
- school nurse
- charity that has office supplies as an expense
- families buying school supp. for multiple kids
- church office
- bank and grocery store (as replacement
for all those pens I've accidentally stuck in my purse
over the years- ok, I'm kidding about this one.)


There are many deals to be had at Jewel this week, but just
try this one on first. See how it feels.

If you don't implode, if the sky doesn't fall,
if there's no major catastrophe as a result of your
using two coupons, maybe you should try
buying 5 cartons of the Breyer's ice cream
that's on sale 2 for $6 until Aug. 12th.

Something wonderful may happen.
But I don't want to spoil your surprise.
Or get your hopes up.

Go ahead, try it.
Then come tell me what happens.

Playing With Children Can Be Hazardous To Your Head!

It was a lovely day.
Moto K, Queen B, and I headed over to the park.

A quick game of catch, that's all it was.

Queen B played happily nearby.

My plan was to catch that ball in my mitt,
but it was not to be.

In case you're wondering,
there's an itty-bitty-bit
of a knot
on my forehead
still today.

That was 2 1/2 weeks ago.

It took a full 2 weeks for my gorgeous
black eyes to go away.

Isn't that special?

Now, get outside.

Play with your children.

Toss a ball around.

Wear a helmet.

Me? No, I'm fine here in the shade.

Really. Go on without me.