Decorative Wall Decals

If you're looking for something fun to do with a blank wall, try some cool wall decals! They're great if you're renting and can't paint, if you're looking for affordable artwork, or if you're like me and you just hate hanging pictures! 

These are some of my favorite sites for ordering them (that all also have a section for designing your own wall decal):

• www.wonderfulgraffiti.com 
  
• www.wallwords.com
• http://www.wallcandyarts.com
  
• http://www.modernwallgraphics.com/
  

If you want to try and make your own wall art or decal, I've found some information that suggests using contact paper, and stenciling/cutting your design out of that!

Free Shipping!

Here's a great website to check with before you order anything online:

www.freeshipping.org

It basically gives you coupon codes to get free shipping at around 1500 stores!

Hungover?

Here's a couple "natural" hangover cures!

• For the nausea, try a technique stemming from acupuncture. Take 2-3 fingers to the underside of your wrist just below the top crease. Just below where the fingers end, use pressure on both arms, and the nausea should disappear within 10-30 seconds. You can also buy products to do this for you, called nausea bands. This is the one that I use: http://www.sea-band.com/UK/uk_seaband.htm
• Also, for the nausea, try ginger root! You can try it in a variety of forms, including tea, gum, or even frozen ginger ice chips!
• For the headache, try magnesium (200-400 mg). It eases that painful throb. Also helpful to start taking it the night before as tends to work better if you use it to prevent hangovers.
• Also, to prevent a hangover, (before you go to bed) try taking a B-50 Complex. Alcohol depletes the B vitamins that your body needs to break down alcohol. So by taking the vitamins, it will help with the metabolism process. 

The Mighty Dryer Sheet!

Dryer sheets are definitely not just for the dryer... Here are some other cool uses for that powerful little sheet:

• They repel mosquitos! Stick a dryer sheet on your patio, in your pocket or even in your golf bag!
• Eliminate static electricity from your tv and computer screens, and even your clothing!
• They dissolve soap scum! Scrub the dryer sheet on your showers & bath tubs!
• Collect pet hairs. Rub a dryer sheet on your couch or rug and watch the hairs disappear!
• They loosen the grime from your pots & pans, let the sheet soak overnight and watch the gunk wipe away the next morning!
• Deodorize your trashcans, or shoes or gym bags (Matt...) Stick a dryer sheet in those stinkers!
• Stick a sheet in your suitcase to get rid of the musty smell when you travel!
• They also work like a tack cloth, they'll pick up sawdust, and even the dust from your blinds, lampshades, plants, etc...!

So much unrealized potential in those lil guys!

Design Online First!

If you're thinking of painting or redesigning areas of your house, did you know that there are a lot of stores or programs out there that will help you to visualize it online first? For free?

Here are some great ones if you're thinking of painting a room:

Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer: http://www.sherwin-williams.com/do_it_yourself/paint_colors/visualizer/

Benjamin Moore Personal Color Viewer: www.benjaminmoore.com/personalcolorviewer

Good Housekeeping Paint Preview: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/paint-preview/

Here are some good programs for arranging a room:

Better Homes & Gardens Arrange A Room: http://www.bhg.com/decorating/arrange-a-room/

Room Arranger: http://www.roomarranger.com/

Here's both: 

SeeMyDesigns.com: http://www.seemydesign.com/app/RoomChoicesPage;jsessionid=47647ED0FD4B370B70950FABE808D583

DesignMyRoom: www.designmyroom.com

iVillage Virtual Room: http://home.ivillage.com/decorating/0,,9pt69sx5,00.html

Reusable Bags

This image should say it all... It is astonishing how many plastic bags we have already used this year! Check out the counter at the top of this site:  http://www.reusablebags.com/

At the time of this post, we have already used about 152,992,153,419 bags this year!! The number grows at about 1 millions bags per minute!!

A couple of facts from reusablebags.com:

Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

One thing you can do? Get reusable bags for shopping! You can buy them now at most of the major retailers. I think they run for a dollar or two? Maybe buy a couple each visit and collect them as you go.  Also, here is a coupon for a reusable lunch bag from Whole Foods:

http://media.oprah.com/sterm/whole-foods-coupon.pdf (you can thank Oprah for that!)

We all need to do our part!!!

A Little "Hump Day" Inspiration

I can't tell you how important it is to not get "sucked in" to all of the negativity that's out there today... if you do, it will paralyze you. 

Here are some inspirational quotes about looking at the "brighter side" of things, to help get you through to the weekend:

• It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.
  Chinese Proverb
  
• That which does not kill you makes you stronger.
  Neitzsche
  
• When one door closes another opens. But often we look so regretfully upon the closed door that we fail to see the one that has opened for us.
  Helen Keller
  

• Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it

  John Maxwell

Want to Lose Weight? Try Moving to Alaska!

This might sound somewhat backwards, but a recent study just came out about a fat that you actually want in your body, called Brown Fat. 

Brown fat is present in infants (in their shoulder area), to help keep them warm, and was thought to disappear as you get older, until recently. Researchers have found that if you expose adults to a colder temperature, the brown fat kicks in and converts energy into heat. When in effect, it supposedly has a metabolism there that is 15 times faster than regular "white fat tissue." 

They've also noticed that leaner people have more brown fat than heavier individuals. I don't want to go into much more detail as I'm bound to either confuse you, or mess up the facts, so check out this article from the Discovery Channel: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/04/09/brown-fat-obesity.html

Pretty interesting stuff! 

Cool Keyboard Shortcuts

There are all kinds of shortcuts that I bet you didn't even realize you had access to on your keyboard! Here are a few common ones: (These are for Windows, not sure if they work for Mac's or any other set up?)

• Alt + Tab (Toggle): This allows you to alternate between programs that you currently have up and running on your computer. Keep pressing Tab to choose.
  
• Ctrl + N: Opens a new browser window
• Ctrl + W: Close Window
• Ctrl + C: Copy
• Ctrl + X: Cut
• Ctrl + V: Paste
• Ctrl + Z: Undo
• Ctrl + Y: Redo
• Ctrl + B: Bold
• Ctrl + I: Italic
• Ctrl + U: Underline

And here are some you may not have heard of:

• F6 or Alt + D: Selects the address field in your browser, ready for entry
  
• F2: Rename Files
• F3: Search in your current browser & desktop
• F5: Refresh
• Alt + Enter: Brings up items properties
• Shift + Delete: Deletes item totally, not just to Recycle Bin
• Ctrl + Esc: Gives Start Menu (if you don't have a Windows Key like me)
• Ctrl + F4: Close window within application
• Ctrl + D: Add to Favorites
• Ctrl + F: Find in page

What are some of your favorites???

Also, did you know that you can actually download a program (called AutoHotkey) that allows you to name your own shortcuts? Yep, you can name up to 200 shortcuts! Here's the link: 

http://www.autohotkey.com/

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day and in honor of it, I'm going to post an "Environmental Tip of the Day" on my page. You'll see it on the right if you scroll down a bit... 

It's always great to find new ways to help out our home!

Online Coupon Link

I just saw this on MSN and I thought I'd share, it's a link to a LOT of stores that have online coupons:

http://shopping.msn.com/couponstores/shp/?ptnrid=164,ptnrdata=304404&GT1=37003

Calories

Here are a few great online resources to find out more about how many calories you're really consuming and burning each day:

• Calculator for Daily Caloric Needs:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

• Calories Burned Calculator: 

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

• Nutrition Info, Recipes, Calorie Counter:
  

http://www.calorieking.com/

• Fast Food Calories: 
  

http://www.chowbaby.com/fastfood/fast_food_calories.asp

• Calorie Counter: 
  

http://caloriecount.about.com/