Make Money With Your Photos-Thursday Two Questions #55

I signed up at RedGage about two years ago when friends asked me to, and then I forgot all about it because I was swamped with too many things to do. However, I recently checked back in and decided to use this website to share my photos just for fun since I have so many in my archives.

I uploaded "A Flower Bed for Bee" below with my mind sets on the sheer joy of sharing the beauty in nature. After dropping JoJo off at school, 7:15 in the morning, I came back to find that my photo got picked for today feature. Wait, nothing hits yet, until I saw that I also earned $4.20 for feature bonuses. It was like winning a lottery. By the way, this is much better than trying to sell a photo at RedBubble, and I earned my keep!

A flower bed for bee

Many of you are fantastic photographers who took stunning pictures with your fancy camera, humongous lens, top of the line DSLR to be specific! I know because I have visited your blogs and was left breathless at times. If money isn't what you are after, then just do it for fun. However, if you don't want it, send it my way :-) I can use it to get a better camera.

Joking aside, here are my two questions for this week:

1) Would you be interested in earning some pocket money for your photos?

2) Why or why not?

Join others at Thursday Two Questions!

Jefferson Beach Harbor

My oldest son is a bartender for Infinity and Ovation Cruise Ships, which park at this Jefferson Beach Harbor. If you like to see boats and yachts, this is where to be. This is where the grass is greener, and there is no sight of recession in this area!

You can see rows and rows of sailboats, houseboats, and fancy yachts in different colors, sizes, and shapes. It was a beautiful day with sunshine, and calm water when I dropped my son off at work after a mayhem I've caused to his car. Well, let just say that it can't be driven after that incident :-(

Joining Watery Wednesday!

Express Suits For Men and Women

This post brought to you by Express. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you are one of those people that going back into the business world, have you checked out the line of suits at Express? They carried both men's and women's suits, so I was told by my niece who has recently returned to work after coming back to the USA.

They have beautiful, fashionable, and inter-changeable for you to create killer look at the office. You can dress up to impress for meeting, and dress down for after work gathering. The choice to mix and match is endless! If you want to learn more on this, click on the link in this post.

   

Better yet, enter Express sweepstakes for a chance to win $500 makeover. Would it not be fantastic to win a wardrobe updates?

My niece lives on a tight budget so she can only purchase a few necessities, such as pant, skirt, blouses, and jacket in basic colors of black, gray, and red. However, she is amazing in changing them up, and looks fantastic every day.

You can watch the videos on Express website to learn all the tips and tricks on how to create a fun, personalize, and fantastic look for both work and play. Now, go to Facebook, click Like and enter the sweepstakes, I know you have an account there.
Do you wear suits to work? Tell me how you feel about them in the comment section of this post! I would like to know.

White Zinnia Turning Color

This is the same White Zinnia With Pink Heart that I showed you last week. I was hoping that it would stay a white zinnia, but the petals began to turn into lavender.

I had many pink and orange zinnia flowers growing in this same pot, and of course a white one would add such a contrast to the colorful ones, but this white zinnia flower has its own agenda.

From a touch of lavender colors on the petals, it became completely pink. The heart of this white zinnia flower stayed amazingly pink. Now that is one nature's wonder, isn't it!?

Joining Pink Saturday, Today Flowers and Mosaic Monday!

Build Up Your Immune System Naturally-Thursday Two Question #54

This past week, I had to take my son in to see the pediatrician for his last two immunization shots. Although I was not fond of needles, JoJo did well, and had no allergic reaction to the DPT or the HIP vaccines.

While waiting, I noticed that there was sign "Get Your Flu Shot" on every wall of the clinic. Around here, we are going into colder temperature, and it seems that all kinds of stores carrying the flu shot vaccine. Beside drugstores, supermarket such as Meijer, and Kroger also have the vaccine. Kmart and Walmart have them too. The only different is the cost for the shot!

I haven't had the flu shot yet in my life! I told you I'm a "scardy" cat of needle! I build up the immune system the natural way, by cooking all my meal with added herbs and spices. Ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and onion are the common ingredients in my dishes.

If you are fond of having soup on chilly days, make a pot of soup with the ingredients below to boost up your immune system:

• Cabbage-(it increases your body's ability to fight infection)
• Shiitake mushrooms-(contain vitamins and minerals to help your immune function)
• Any type of seaweed-(seaweed cleanses the body)
• Any type of squash
• Carrots
• Fresh ginger slices-(ginger helps your digestion)
• Oregano
• Onion

If you don't like eating it as soup, then just make a pot to use as broth. Drink it every few days to build a strong and healthy immune system.

Here are my questions for this week:

1) What helps you strait away from getting the cold or flu?

2) Do you have natural ways to stay healthy during the colder months?

Join others at Thursday Two Questions!

Florida Vacation Packages to Sea World and Disney World

Have you met a kid, or an adult for that matter, who does not like to go to Sea Word? I do not think so! I have only been to Sea World in San Diego once, but I loved it, and always treasured the memories I had there with my family.

As many of you know, my son JoJo is now going into his pre-teen years, and he has expressed the wish to go to Sea World Florida package deals one of these days. I haven't figured out how to make this happens just yet, but I promise to look into it.

Giving the fact that we live in Michigan, I would love to have a chance to escape the winter time, even if it is just for a week, especially in February or March when we have had enough of snow.
Of course, I begin my search online whenever I have time. I found that the Orlando packages offer two, three, four, five, six, or seven day option.

The 2-Day Land and Sea would be the perfect package for us if we ever make it there. It comes with one day admission to any of the Disney Theme Parks, and one day admission to Sea World.

You might want to consider these same options at Kissimme vacation packages, since Disney World and other popular attractions are actually in Kissimme, and not Orlando as we often mistaken. You can tailor your Kissimme package to suit your personal interests, which could include: Fun Spot, Arabian Nights, Boggy Creek Air Boat Ride, Boggy Creek Air Boat Ride, and or Medieval Times Dinner Show.

I am excited just to read all of these packages that Orlando and Kissimme have to offer, and feel like a kid again. If I could make this trip a reality, JoJo's dream would come true and he would be ecstatic with joy.

Accessories For Your Mobile Phone

I usually do not bother with mobile phone accessories, since they seem to just add more expenses to my already limited income. However, I have changed my mind since then after we upgraded our phones. As you know, the newer phones on the market now required data plan, and can be a bit pricy. So naturally you want to protect your investment for the next two years and not having to go through the hassle of replacing it.

The cover for mobile phone can be one of the most important pieces in the safety of your phone. Why? With the added faceplate, it can protect your phone from scratching or denting should you happened to drop it as I did.

I am not at all clumsy, but accident happens, and could be out of normal control. For example, while I was on the phone talking, my daughter played basketball nearby, and the ball happened to fly over by my side, and knocked the phone out of my hand. It sent my phone in the air, and then landed about 50 feet away from me.

After recovering my phone, we found no scratches or dents on the phone itself, but rather on just the faceplates of my phone, and this was when I changed my thinking. The faceplate has absorbed the fall completely, and kept my phone intact. I saved myself some headaches and hassles of going to the store for replacement.

If you are interested, you can find cheap cell phone faceplates on this website. You will find an amazing numbers of offers for all types of phone, such as Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Nokia, Blackberries, Sidekicks, LG, Sony Ericsson, and Kyocera.  You will be happy to know that your phone has a protected layer just in case.

Now, everyone in my family with a mobile phone had the faceplates for it, plus the screen protector.

Debt Recovery Agency For Businesses

Debt recovery agency has been on the rise these last few years, and almost everyone has heard of it or has experiences with this booming collection services since the recession hit. Business, as well as individual, suffers from income lost, thus debt becomes bigger and harder for one to handle.

Have you been at a civil court lately? There are rooms and rooms full of people filing for bankruptcy, and people suing people for the debt owed every day. Many businesses can write off this expense at the end of the year, but many others have to enlist the help of professional collection agency with international debt recovery, especially when the debt is global.

If your business has claims of more than $500, check out Direct Recovery Associates, which is an attorney-based collection agency for national and international debt recovery. If they cannot collect, there will be no fee for you to pay. You will find the contingent rates, services, collection processes, or fill out an online collection placement.

Although Direct Recovery Associates is a California collection agency; they also offer services throughout the US, and internationally. We all know that each state has its own laws, requirements, and processes to handle different situations. It is often advised to find an agency that has thorough knowledge, expertise, and specialize in your state to handle your case. However, with Direct Recovery Associates, they can represent wherever you happen to be.

When people fail to pay for services or products that your business offered, it puts you in a financial strand and slows down the process of flourishing. Cash flow management is the most important thing in any business or home. If this area is unbalanced, and money is short, we all know what kind of trouble one can be in!

Reflection In Water Drop

No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
~Taoist proverb~

Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.
~Hans Margolius~ 

Have you watched the fairies when the rain is done,
Spreading out their little wings to dry them in the sun?
~Rose Fyleman~

Joining Watery Wednesday

White Zinnia With Pink Heart

If you spend time watching or observing a flower grows, you will be surprised to see the transformation some time, if you are lucky like I had with this white zinnia.

This beautiful white zinnia flower starts out as pure white petals with pink center, and squiggle stems. I thought that was different and special since I didn't have any white zinnia before, or planted any seeds.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this white zinnia flower growing stages! Take a close look near the center of this flower and the tips of the petals, can you see the color begins to transform?

Joining Pink Saturday, Today Flowers and Mosaic Monday!

Thursday Two Questions #53-Treating Bee Sting

Summer is coming to an end, and flowers are bursting in full bloom to catch the last few days of glory. Thus, the bees, the flies, and other pollen spreader critters are out in strong force. This is usually the time when bees sting human by mistakes, or when human accidentally run in to this critter.

It happened to me, it happened to JoJo, and it happened to JoJo's friend Jacob. In my case, the bee flew straight to my lip and gave me a natural Botox while I had my lunch. In JoJo's and Jacob's case, they walked right straight into the bee's flying path. Luckily, none of us are allergic to bees.

Here are some natural remedies that I have used to treat bee sting, and they worked wondrously:

• First and foremost, remove the sting from the effected area
• Make a paste of water and baking powder then apply a layer of it on the spot. Repeat as often as you can!
• Making a paste of meat tenderizer with water if baking powder is not available
• If you don't have baking powder in the house, apply toothpaste
• If none of the above is working for you, dissolve one aspirin in water and apply to the bee sting area
• Rub some apple cider vinegar on the spot also work well

 So my questions for this week are:

1) Are you allergic to bees, if yes, do you have a treatment kit with you at all time?

2) Do you know how to treat a bee sting?

Join others at Thursday Two Questions!

QuickBook Is What You Need For Your Business

Having a business of your own means that you have to know the in and out details in every aspect of it. My friend, Teresa, runs a small store selling sodium free products online, and also in store to local residents.

She knows every nook and crane of her store area or where certain products are kept. If you ask, she will point you to an accurate location straight away. She knows what supplies to order, when to order, and where to order them. It is scary and amazing at the same time when Teresa even knows what her customer ordered and when she should send them out.

She credited her efficiency to today technology and software, such as quickbook point of sale. Now, this is where I lack knowledge. I have heard of Quickbook software over the year, but I did not know quickbook financial, restaurant pos software, barcode software, inventory software, and retail pos software are also available to help run a smoother business.

The QuickBooks POS Pro is what Teresa used at her store, and with just this one software, she is able to:

• ring up sales quickly and easily
• stay close to her customers
• control security
• manage inventory accurately and effortlessly
• sync with QuickBooks financial or work alone

With this software, Teresa can manage her paper work, her sales, recording credit cards/debit cards transaction, keeping track of receipts, and tracking orders. Technology is a wonderful, powerful, and amazing thing. It helps us moving forward and works more effectively as individual if we so choose.

Tagging alone with Teresa helped me gaining some perspectives, and opened up my mind. It is much harder to run one's own business than what I have thought or dreamed of. I have learned a lot these last two weeks with my friend.

Express Jeans For Fall

This post brought to you by Express. All opinions are 100% mine.

Boots are back, and knee-length boots are in as the trendiest part of this Fall. I say this because that was all I saw at our local shoes stores around my part of the world.

Express jeans knew this, and have provided many different cuts for women's jeans to accommodate different taste and preference. They have jean leggings, flare jeans and wide leg jeans. Any of these styles would fit beautifully with the hugging boots that are out there in the market this season.

  

If you want to win a free pair of Express chance, click on this link Express giveaway and enter for a chance to win one of the 50 pairs that they are offering. Oh yes, you can enter everyday! On top of this, you also earn an extra entry, up to 20 in total, when you share this sweepstake with your friends and they enter too.

You can shop Express straight from Facebook for the men or women in your life, saving you time jumping from website to website. The new arrival line includes shirts, dresses, suits, sweaters, pants, skirts, plus accessories, handbags, jewelry, fragrance and so much more.
Personally, I like Express Jeans merchandises, since the materials used holding up much better than others in the long run.

Now, share with me what type of jeans do you love most, and why! You can leave me a note in the comment section below this post!

Jefferson Beach Marina

Who said Detroit is in a ruin? It's not so and it depends on the areas that you're visiting! There are still many wonderful and beautiful spots around or nearby Detroit to enjoy. Take this Jefferson Beach Marina for an example, you can see the wealth and gorgeous view here!

There are rows and rows of fantastic boats at just this one location. If you go into the heart of Detroit, of course you will see devastation and ruin, but there are plenty of histories in them as well. However, if you go to the other areas, you will see it is still a bustling and richly in livelihood.

Joining Watery Wednesday!

Colorado Is On the List

Colorado is the designated State on my daughter's agenda in the near future! She is currently working on a plan to move there within a year. After a short visit with a childhood friend, her heart has found a home, and her aim is making that dream a reality.

Although I'm not happy that she will be so far away from home, I have to do what I can to help her. Part of being a parent is learning to let go, and allows your child to grow into a happy mature adult! Therefore, I have been searching for a place in the Denver real estate area.

I learn from my searches that Colorado has a stable economy, and is number eight in the nation per capita in income. The job rate in Colorado is also growing, nearly double the national average. Thus, I would not have to worry about my daughter finding a job there once she is done with her study. When the economy is thriving like this, houses will remain in higher value should she decide to invest in buying a home or a condo!

Another spot that I'm also looking is in the Boulder real estate area, which is not too far away from Denver, and is also known that you are about five minutes walk to either a hiking trail, or biking trail.  The Colorado Rocky Mountains stood as the background of Boulder city as a bonus!  

She wants us to move with her, of course, tempting us with Colorado's 300 days of sunshine, beautiful Rocky Mountains, seven national forests, six wilderness areas and, five river systems, plus over 200 parks within the city limits.

I cannot imagine having 300 days of sunshine a year, for in Michigan we have more gloomy days than blue sky. It is impossible for me to move right now, but that does not mean that I am not dreaming about that 300 days of sunshine!

Pink Hibiscus

To avoid confrontation, I declare that I'm in a stage of confusion at the moment in identifying this flower. It could be a pink hibiscus, but it could also be a pink rose of sharon! Either way, I just love the color pink of it!

I don't usually like pink but on flowers it's absolutely stunning. The color pink starts to rub off on me, and my eyes are now drawn to it.

Now, I have some questions for you: how can you tell the difference between hibiscus and rose of sharon? They look so similar to each other and finding their special marking would be a great lesson to learn.

Joining Pink Saturday, Today Flowers and Mosaic Monday!

Put TracFone On Your List

This post brought to you by TracFone. All opinions are 100% mine.

School is now in full session, and my Middle School son is happy to be back with his friends, facing the new challenges of a new year. He is now in band and has joined the Art club. Therefore, he has to stay after school for practice and meeting sometimes. With his TracFone, he is able to call me for pick up whenever he needs too.

A few moms have asked me about this plan since no one wants to sign a new contract, or pay for activation fee, or worry about credit check and cancellation fee. TracFone has So many features, one of which is the pay as you go monthly plans.

You can choose 50 minutes for around $10 dollars, 200 minutes for $30 dollars, or double the minutes for the life of your phone with a separate purchased for around $20 dollars. This is one of the most inexpensive plans to stay connected.

I have successfully recruited Shannon and Lisa, the two moms of my son's friends. We are now Real TracFone customers, and the boys could talk to each other whenever they want.

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The best thing about TracFone is we can make over 60 international destinations for the same price as domestic calls. Think of all the money you save, especially for those that make regular calls to Canada or Mexico. I love deal like this, and always take my opportunity to pass it along.

Badge Holders For Your ID Cards

I don't know about you, but my wallet is filled with ID cards, and I am always in need to weave them out. There are health insurance cards, driver license, social security cards, child safe identification card, credit cards, plus numerous other cards from local stores.

As a volunteer in my son's school, I have to wear my ID every time I am in school, and my son also has to keep his ID available on him in case someone asks. With safety being first priority in school around here, I am thinking of getting badge holders for both of our cards. Something that is convenient, protected, and accessible.

I found a perfect solution for us to carry our ID cards, and that is the Carabiner which easily hooks onto our belt. We do not have to worry about misplacing the cards, or how uncomfortable it is to have it in our pocket. You can see it in the below photo!

Since the cost for this Carabiner is very affordable, I am also recommending this product to our PTO president as an option at our Christmas Santa Workshop this year. If all students have this, there will be no more excuses whatsoever, and school officials would be able to locate the identification card straight away.

Security is number one on everyone's list nowadays; therefore, if you are a business owner, you should also check out the HID Card. This card offers a printable surface for customizing, with a magnetic strip, and photo identification for your employees.

With the HID prox cards, you grant convenient and secure access for both door entry and networking entry. Moreover, you are still in control and will be able to monitor all activities with these encoded cards. Click on the link to see many different styles of HID cards and prices to meet your budget or your desire.

A Watch to Keep Time

Now that school is back in full swing, I am having a hard time remembering the dismissal hour to pick up my son. Since I rely on my cell phone to tell me the time, I haven't worn a watch for many years.

That will change soon as I often forget to bring my phone with me while running errands. It happened yesterday, resulting in late picking up and the school had to call me. My son is devastated being the very few left at school. Therefore, I'm looking into purchasing an Aquaswiss watch. I have to wear it or else I would forget all about it.

My favorite name for watches is Seiko because I used to have them in the past, and always had great experience with them.

However, you will find an amazing collection of watches by clicking on the link in this post. They carry many different popular brand names, and types of watches for you to choose from. If you like diamond watch, military watch, pocket watch, dive watch, or strap watch, Blue Dial have them also.

I like this site for these simple reasons: they offer PayPal payment, Google check-out, and free two days shipping to Continental US. It makes buying much more pleasant, and eliminates the need to fill out credit card numbers.

Thursday Two Questions #52-Follow Up On "Create a Link to This Post"

Blogger offers many options and gadgets for us to run our website smoothly. Some of them are quite useful, but some just leave us puzzle. I still don't fully understand the function of "Create a Link to This Post" at the end of our post, but after discovered the endless linking from one particular blogger, I'm more vigilant about links.

I have to thank Amanda @ Self Sagacity, and Judy aka SquirrelQueen, for pointing out ways to fix this problem. To help others, I'm doing this follow up post for those that want to eliminate the dilemma.

Simple steps to forever banned the option of "Create a Link" to your post:

1. From your dashboard, click on Design
2. You are now, looking at the layout of your blog, look at your blog post area and locate "edit", click on it
3. A window pops up, now look for "Link to This Post", and un-check that square
4. Make sure you save your changes

You are now done! No more links will show up on old posts and new post at all. You're safe and piggy-back-riders will have to find a new blog to infest.

Here come my questions for the week:

1) Do you think Create a Link helpful or hurtful to the blog?

2) What is your understanding on this subject? I would love to learn more about this, so please tell me!

Join others at Thursday Two Questions!

Rain On Grass Seeds

Hopefully these are grass seeds and I got it right. I have become a fan of this sort of grass branches since last summer since they are quite interesting to observe, especially after the rain. They turned brown as they got older.

Beautiful things in nature some times need us to pay careful attention to see, and some time we even have to get down and dirty to discover what's under our feet.

Joining Watery Wednesday!

Different Pink Shades of Moss Rose

I had these moss rose flowers for a while, but didn't know the name until now. They are known as moss roses, and they are found in the flower beds at Metro Park. I love the different shades of pink color in these flowers.

There were so many people going to the beach area of the park that taken these pictures I had to wait in the burning sun for a while. The different shades of pink color altered in the intense heat, and transformed the colors a bit.

Since this is a big weekend for many of us, I wish you a great one! Enjoy your time with family and friends!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Joining Pink Saturday, Today Flowers and Mosaic Monday!