pajama-mama.org

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I’m still here! Unfortunately, I’ve managed to catch mono (aka, the epstein-barr virus) once again. I’m not sure which is worse, the sore throat or the fatigue. All I know is that it SUCKS! Hoping it goes away very soon. I’m certainly feeling much better than I was at the beginning of the week though.

I got my Kodak Easyshare in the mail yesterday. Haven’t gotten to use it too much, but I’m liking it so far. Hopefully my Flip will be here on the 26th or the 27th. I take my Sunfire to get inspected tomorrow and I’m hoping it won’t need too much work. Other then the mono, everything else is going pretty well!

Our New TV

Originally uploaded by missroguish

Finally! Our new TV came today. I’m liking it so far. After a couple of weeks of using it, I’ll probably be writing a review, so look out for that!

Vizio VOJ32 32″ LCD FHDTV

Since Randy got two things that he wanted with his income tax, I decided to splurge just a bit myself. Typically, I would just save the money, but we’re really in need of a new camcorder and I need a camera that isn’t so…bulky? I don’t know. Not like I need to justify why I’m spending the money. At this point, the dollar has been so devalued, that I might as well spend it on things while the money is actually worth something.

My first purchase was this Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra Camcorder/Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60-Minute in pink. I just wanted something small, portable, and easy to use to take quick videos and post them to my blog, vimeo, or whatever.

As for the camera, I wanted something pretty simple, wasn’t looking for excellent quality like a Nikon D40 or whatever the current flavor of DSLR is. My grandmother and my parent’s both have a Kodak EasyShare, which takes decent photos and is the perfect size. Definitely was looking for something I could just throw in my purse since my Olympus C-765 is just a tad too bulky for my liking. I ended up purchasing the pink Kodak Easyshare C813.

I did do some compromising with these purchases, though. With the Flip, I got a bit of a deal because it’s “reconditioned.” Reconditioned can mean a number of different things. Perhaps a customer purchased it from a store and returned it because they no longer wanted it or maybe the package was missing an accessory. I’ve purchased refurbished/reconditioned electronics in the past and they often outlasted their brand new counterparts, so I’m willing to buy such products. This particular Flip usually costs $199.99, but I got this reconditioned Flip for $89.99. The camera is brand new, so I paid nearly list price for it, $79.98, when it was originally $99.95.

So in the end, I only spent about $165 by opting to choose a slightly older version of the product. Hoping they arrive in the mail this coming week. I’m sure I’ll be writing a review and taking lots of videos and pictures now too!

Sorry the audio sounds kinda crappy. Just did a quick recording with the mic on my laptop.

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Last week I did a review/money saving tip on Tracfone’s prepaid wireless service. Now this week, I wanted to share my particular experiences with my phone, the Motorola w376g. I was going to make this a video review, but I have this cold/flu-ish like thing, so my voice isn’t exactly in best form. I think I may still make a video review, but possibly not until tomorrow or at the latest, not until this weekend.

One thing I didn’t like about most prepaid services was the fact that their phones literally screamed, “Hey, I’m not a real cell phone! I’m cheap!” But now after so many years, prepaid services like Tracfone are starting to offer more and more phones that are aesthetically pleasing. One such phone, the Motorola w376g is just an example.

At first glance, the Motorola w376g looks like a thinner version of the Motorola Razr. It does not have an exterior screen, but it does have a mirror strip down the front and center that, when necessary, has three indicator lights. One lights up when the battery is low or is charging, one for when you have messages waiting and one when a call is coming in.

This phone also has some other neat features. This particular model includes a VGA Camera and FM Radio (headset required.) One downside to this and most other Tracfone’s though, is the fact that you cannot charge or transfer files through the USB port. You can use the USB charger that comes with it, but it plugs into an ordinary outlet - the phone cannot be plugged into a computer to be charged. This also means that you cannot transfer files from your computer to your phone and vice versa. But remember, we’re trying to save money here. While the ability to transfer files and charge the phone from your computer would be great, it’s not a necessary function of the phone. It is however, blutooth enabled which means you can use a bluetooth headset or hook it up to your bluetooth enabled vehicles. But again, unfortunately, you can not use this bluetooth technology to connect to your computer.

Upon opening up the phone, you’ll find a vivid color display that shows your remaining air time minutes and the date you need to add more minutes before your phone is deactivated. The menus are that of any typical phone, save for one, the “Prepaid” menu. Here you can add bonus minutes right from your phone! Of course, there are the other standard menus for personalization such as changing your background, ringtones, and whether you want your air time balance and time remaining to show on the display.

This phone features some more interesting games compared to their more expensive counterparts. The Motorola 376g comes with Soccer, Sudoku and Tetris. As for utility programs, it comes with a calculator, alarm clock, stop watch, calendar and a lantern. The lantern mode has actually come in handy quite a few times. This basically just turns your background white and allows the backlight to become more bright, in essence turning your cell phone into a mini flashlight!

But ok, enough about the vanity features. How’s the sound quality? How loud are the ringtones? What about battery life? The important stuff! I’ve only had the phone for about a week and I must say that all of the above common concerns with cell phones have at least been either met or exceeded my expectations with the Motorola w376g. The sound quality is clear. I get 4-5 bars of signal in my rural area and I actually have less dropped calls in my house than with my previous phone, the Motorola Slvr. The ringtones are plenty loud, in fact, I think they can be too loud if you don’t have the proper volume set. So far, the battery seems to be hanging in there. I usually tend to charge my cell phone every night anyway, as a force of habit, but it has gone 3 days without being charged and still showed a full battery.

I’m sure there are tons of things that I’m forgetting to put in here, but this is a bare bones phone. It makes and receives calls - it even sends and receives text messages. So all of the important methods of use are taken care of. The price is definitely right and the price to continue to use this phone is just equally as right. I didn’t pay $300+ for the phone and I don’t pay more than $20+ per month to use it. All in all, I say Tracfone and this particular model may be the way to go if you’re looking to cut some costs, especially with the current state of the economy.

To wrap this up, I’ve listed the pros and cons below:

Cons

♥ The user guide that is supplied with the phone is more of a “quick guide” and does not go into great depth on how to use your phone. If you need a better manual, the Tracfone website has a more in depth guide at - http://www.tracfone.com/images/en/phones/TFMTW376/manual.pdf

♥ You cannot transfer files from your computer to the phone using the USB or Bluetooth connectivity.

♥ The only way to transfer files is through MMS messaging.

♥ The FM Radio requires a non-wireless headset in order to work.

♥ Buttons are somewhat small and close together, often accidentally hitting buttons you don’t intend do. This really becomes a problem when hitting the browser button. Once you open the browser, units are immediately deducted.

Pros

♥ Overall costs are inexpensive. The phones are priced low and the monthly charges are equally as low.

♥ The size of the phone is perfect and is also aesthetically pleasing.

♥ Comes with common vanity functions such as a camera, bluetooth technology, FM radio, and a (somewhat slow) web browser.

♥ MP3 ringtone compatable.

♥ Double minutes for the life of the phone!

Of course this was just a quick, nitty gritty review of a phone and service that I have found to be invaluable in this time of needing to save money. If you would like to know more about the features of this phone, check out the tracfone product page or just google other reviews of the w376g.

Let me know if you make a switch to Tracfone and what phone you decided to go with!

Responsibility has been a huge problem within our family. Not so much paying the bills and making sure we show up for appointments on time, but more the responsibility to each other. It would seem the attitude in this house, more often than not is, “I didn’t do it!” This is driving me absolutely insane because now all the responsibility and “taking care of it,” immediately falls into my hands.

Just to name a few examples: my eight year old daughter constantly needs to be reminded to clean up after herself. If I’m not there to belt out orders, chances are, whatever I asked her to do will not get done. The same can be said for my husband, though he’s not quite as bad as Olivia is. It’s just the little things that aggravate me. I have no problem cleaning up the house, doing laundry, cooking dinner, doing dishes, helping Liv with her homework, taking out the garbage, fixing odds & ends around the house, cleaning the fish tank, playing with Liv, paying bills, taking care of problems that arise with those bills…and so on, but I wouldn’t mind doing it even more if I wasn’t treated like a maid. The problem isn’t in the position of maid, the problem is I don’t get paid maid wages. My work here is done for free and usually without much appreciation or thanks.

The common attitude is that mom doesn’t work a full-time job and she doesn’t go to school - so she can pick up our slack. I don’t think my family intentionally thinks this way, but it is what they’re inadvertently saying to me.

When the last of the toilet paper roll is used, the person who used it last rarely bothers to put on a new roll. The next person who wants to use the bathroom thinks, “well, I didn’t use the last of it, so I’m not changing it!” and proceeds to use the other bathroom. Then I go to use the bathroom and I’m stuck replacing the roll because if I don’t do it - it wouldn’t get done!

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours with Olivia helping her clean her room and Randy sometimes harps on me about helping her. She’s 8 and she can do it herself. That’s right, she can do it herself but no matter how much I punish her, it still does not get done! I want it done in a timely fashion so I at least offer to help her, otherwise, I’d probably never see the carpeting on her floor ever again.

If I had the attitude that my family has, absolutely nothing would get done around here. I didn’t dirty most of the dishes in the sink, so I’m not going to wash them! I didn’t dirty your clothes, so I’m not going to wash them! I didn’t leave the milk out on the counter, so it can just sit there! I didn’t throw all of that trash in the garbage, so I’m not taking it out! Ugh!

My point here being, everyone needs to take their part. Just because I stay at home, doesn’t mean my work here is any less valuable. I could just sit on my ass all day, watch TV, cook crappy TV dinners, only get around to cleaning when we can no longer see the floor and only do laundry when the clothes start smelling funky. But no, I cook and clean because I love my family and I have the ability to use my time towards ensuring that they have a clean home and clean clothes to wear and a warm (made from my heart and hands) meal to put in their bellies. I do it for free and often without thanks.

If you’re the husband or child of a stay at home mom: we’re not your personal maid. You still have personal responsibilities, to yourself and to your family! If you’re a stay at home mom and have or are experiencing this same treatment, pat yourself on the back and know that you’re not alone in your frustrations! Everyone needs to take responsibility and stop pointing the finger.

Typically, most businesses make use of advertisements to put on publisher’s websites to increase sales and spread awareness of their products or services. But did you know that you can get a share of the profits by blogging articles about companies, products, or services through sites like PayingPost.com?

Companies value the opinion of the very people they’re working for: the consumer, so blogging about the company and what they have to offer is a great way to get your opinions heard!

My personal experience with blog marketing has been great! It has been an invaluable source of extra income and opportunity. As a side bonus, it has also helped my writing and communication skills! As you receive more traffic and continue to write, you can open up other opportunities in order to get paid to blog! Many people, especially us stay at home / work at home moms, have been able to contribute monetarily to the family by taking such blog marketing opportunities.

One of my main goals with this website was to offer product reviews. The only problem some reviewers have, is connecting with those advertisers who are actively seeking bloggers to post content for them, and that’s where payingpost.com comes in. They present to you, companies who need content written, the blogger creates the content and once the content is approved, the blogger gets paid! It’s really a simple process. Coming up with relevant content also gets easier and easier as you get some writing opportunities under your belt.

If you’re looking for some extra, easy income, why not give paid blogging a try? If you already have a blog, you might as well earn some extra money! If you do not have a blog, consider starting one and take advantage of these and other opportunities!

Mmmkay, so pajama-mama is supposed to be about saving money and being a bit frugal with your purchases. This weekend, I failed miserably in that department.

Randy got his income tax check last week and we were doing pretty good saving it for one of those “just in case” moments. It didn’t last too long before we wanted to start buying things though. Afterall, what good is the money going to do in the bank if it’s not being spent? That’s something he said, not me! I would much rather save that money and keep adding to it with Randy’s paychecks. We could have a good amount saved up if we did that, but impatience took over the Morrison household this weekend.

First, it started with our purchase of a Nintendo Wii. I think we’re probably one of the last ones in the area to get one. (haha, not really, but seems that way!) So far we’ve been having a lot of fun with Wii Sports, waking up super sore and our arms feeling like jello. That’s one of the reasons we chose the Wii over the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 though, you have to actually participate in the games and you even get a little workout along the way. Eventually, we’re also going to get the Wii Fit and DDR 2 games, so that’ll be nice to get some extra exercise without seeming like we’re actually exercising.

Only problem that we have been having is…our TV isn’t big enough! We currently have a 20″ inch flat screen that is just not cutting it. So to remedy that problem, Randy ordered a 32″ Vizio flat screen LCD. We’ve been checking out our local Walmarts for one, but they’ve been out all week and they have no clue when they’re getting more. So in typical, impatient form, with a little bit of mine as well, Randy just went ahead and ordered one off of katerno.com.

We ordered the Vizio VOJ32 32″ LCD FHDTV - VOJ32LF model and I’m really looking forward to getting it. I’m sure I’ll be posting a review about it in the weeks to come! Many people ask why we want a Vizio and the number one reason is the quality for the price and the second reason is because it’s American made. Apparently, this particular model is a “Java” one which is in reference to it’s dark brown color as opposed to a typical black color. We didn’t know it at the time of ordering, but I think it’ll look nice with our primitive decor anyway.

Hoping to get some more reviews in this week. Been kinda slacking with all of the work I’ve been trying to get done around the house and with the Valentine’s Day weekend. Speaking of which, hope everyone had a great V-Day! Mine was well…ok. Randy, in typical Randy fashion () forgot that it even was Valentine’s Day, so I didn’t get anything other then an evening out to eat at Friendly’s. Hope he doesn’t forget our anniversary in two months!

Just making a test post from the Wii! Yeah, we finally jumped on the bandwagon and bought one. At least it incorporates some physical exercise unlike some other gaming systems. More later!