The True Power of a Shark

A funny thing happened today. I was talking to my fans about a story I wrote that involved a Killer Vacuum Cleaner brought to life. That story reminded me of just how powerful our vacuum is that we were blessed with a little over 4 years ago.




The power behind our Shark Professional True Pet Vacuum, is outstanding even to this day in my opinion. You can feel the power of the vacuum trying to move on it's own (I kid you not!) as soon as you turn that baby on! It has almost gotten away from me a few times. I swear that baby really does have a mind of it's own!

The Shark Professional can be used to clean hardwood floors, area rugs and carpet. I use it sometimes on my hardwood flooring, but I use it mostly for the two medium sized area rugs we have in our living room and bedroom.

I had to actually get out my video camera and show you just how powerful this vacuum actually is. Check it out here!

Right after the video, I decided to finish vacuuming both area rugs. I have to show you guys the photo I took of the dirt cup dispenser of the vacuum cleaner.

 Look at that!

That is just from the two area rugs that gets vacuumed on a weekly basis! That's a lot of cat hair for two cats and definitely the power of a Shark Professional True Pet vacuum!


DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE KNOW, I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Home Isn't Always Where the Heart is

I was going to title this post, "Home isn't Always Where the Heart is", but then I realized my heart isn't in the right place. It isn't at home. But that's another post.

Then after writing this post, I realized it does somewhat fit, so I'm keeping the title.

My concern is this. My hometown where I grew up just keeps getting worst. Straight to the point, they're greedy and what do they have to show for it?

Why not take that greed and make the town a better place to live. Promote your farmers market. Promote your library, your downtown businesses.

I know of a business that would do great with just a little rearranging and cleaning. Instead it just looks like a junk store right now. I could even help! Where's the love for your town people? Where's the love?

I Cheated On My Love, Magnolia Health and Home in My Home Town

Yesterday I ventured outside of my own territory and decided to check out a new tea shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma called, Teavana.I love teas and had this idea that I could find some new and unique flavors.

I had been a faithful customer of Magnolia Health and Home, where there are a huge variety of teas that I love, right here in Independence, KS. But I just had to venture out and find some new stuff.

Well it wasn’t so much of a true disappointment if not downright irked at the flavors or teas. It was actually the customer service experience. I have never in my life been very disappointed with a sales rep. Sure, I’m used to them telling fibs about how great a product is, but not when someone’s health could very well be in jeopardy.

I take my tea without sugar for a reason. Diabetes runs heavily in my family and I tend to get extremely dehydrated when I consume sweetened drinks. They make me very sick. I do not believe I need to go into a long lengthy story about this to a sales associate. It’s a waste of both of our time and boring. A simple, I cannot drink tea that is sweetened with anything, should be enough.

This sales rep was determined even after that fact, and claimed that their jasmine oolong tea was not sweetened. Okay, so I decided to put my trust in her. Took the sample she had offered and quickly learned that the tea was very sweet!

I then pointed out it was sweet and asked her if they put sugar in that one like the others she had mentioned. She then admitted they did, but just a little. A little is still enough to make someone who is not used to it, notice it! I noticed it alright and regretted it later.

After that swallow, I had to point out to her my long detailed reason of why I do not drink sweetened teas, then I walked away. I was nice about it, but still irked. She was playing with someone’s health! I can only hope after my little story, she does not do that to another customer. Always be honest in a situation like that. Always!

I understand the need to make a sale, but honesty is always the best policy if you want to make a sale and a customer. And for the sake of not getting sued. And the store should also  have teas available with sweetener as an option.

This is exactly why I tend to stick with the local businesses here in Independence, Kansas. Big businesses are only out to make a buck, not a relationship with a customer who will keep coming back over and over again. Big businesses just see us as a number. Nothing more.

My favorite and first love, Magnolia Health and Home, has exceptional and outstanding customer service. Brian and Ryan, and their crew go way above and beyond with a wonderful atmosphere,  customer service and their selection of teas as well as candles and bath and body products. They offer free samples of their teas, with sugar as an option on the side. They know my name and know my favorite teas. This is why I am a customer with them as much as my budget will allow me to be. They are my heroes!

Not Enough Income, Thieves Stole Our Lights and Terminal Cancer

These last three weeks have been nothing but hell for the most part for our family. It started off with my husband's job. He works at a place where he's employed 40 hours a week, but they've been VTOing due to lack of work, a lot lately. This means every hour he's not there, he's not paid. And unfortunately, it's the only work that's available in this area at the moment. So because of the work situation, it's causing bills to fall behind and a strict budget to where it's not enough for us to live on or keep our home at the moment. Yet because my husband has the job, the government considers it full-time work so we do not qualify for things like foodstamps.

In addition to the lack of income, yesterday in broad daylight, someone stole our walkway lights that upped the value of our home. Something we desperately needed. Homeowner's insurance will not cover them due to the high deductible and we cannot afford to replace them. So that was another blow to a very bad 3 weeks.

Then, we also learned yesterday that it's possible my mother may have terminal cancer. I won't know the results until Thursday, but we do know she has breast cancer in both breasts. However, the doctors are fairly certain that the cancer has spread to her liver and it would be in the last stages, making it terminal.

Everything has been like a slap in the face for me around here. I wonder what's next. Here's a photo of my once beautiful walkway that is now bare and an ill reminder that even small towns are desperate enough to steal you blind. So very sad. :( 









Joy Smith also known as The Insane Writer, is the author of the Sci-Fi novel, The Generation. You can email her at silent_beautie@yahoo.com She can also be found on Twitter @theinsanewriter.



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Organization, Baby! Organization!

A few weeks ago I was in a bookstore browsing books when I came across the book, Organizing Do-it-Yourself For Dummies. Now I'm a sucker for books and my first thought was, ohh you have to have this!

But then, I'm also a tightwad in a sense and the moment I looked at the price, I decided I was better off without it.

I'll be honest though, that book still sits in the back of my mind because today I decided to do some major cleaning and organization and my first victim happens to be my desk area and believe me it's a mess as you can see from the photo I took! It's no wonder I can never get in the mood to work on my novel!

So I'm off to clean and I will post an after photo here in this blog post when I'm done!

What area in your home needs a decluttering makeover?



Joy Smith also known as The Insane Writer, is the author of the Sci-Fi novel, The Generation. You can email her at silent_beautie@yahoo.com She can also be found on Twitter @theinsanewriter.




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Keyless Entry a Dangerous Game?

It never ceases to amaze me some of the products companies will come with to get a desperate consumer to buy, buy, buy. And, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly a consumer will buy that product without thinking about the dangers of that product.

Take for instance, a keyless entry keypad for your home's outside door. A quick and easy way to get into your home when you have your hands full and a quick and easy way for a burglar to as well. All a burglar needs is to watch as you enter the numbers or come back when your not home and play detective by dusting your fingerprints for those numbers. A pretty simple way for them to gain access to your valuables!



Joy Smith also known as The Insane Writer, is the author of the Sci-Fi novel, The Generation. You can email her at silent_beautie@yahoo.com She can also be found on Twitter @theinsanewriter and you visit her official website at www.theinsanewriter.com.WomenFreebies.com - Enter to Win Royal Secret II Perfume

Home Beauty Remedies

I don't know about you, but I'm all for things like acne home remedies. I have always believed that anything that is natural is much better than products that are chalked full of chemicals which can harm our bodies both inside and out.

It took me years however, to learn just that. Sad, but true and even though it's taken me years, it's never to late to start living a healthier life both inside and out!

The Mechanic

It was all old lady Hallod’s fault. If she hadn’t called the cops he wouldn’t be in this mess and he certainly wouldn’t have downed a six pack. What the hell did she know anyway. He slammed his fist into her front door and shouted her name.

“Open the hell up!”

“How dare you show up at my front door drunk and stupid.” He heard her say from the other side. Stupid?

“You. This is your fault.”

“If you don’t get away from my door I’m calling the cops.”

“Wouldn’t be a first you old hag.” He laughed.

“I called them for a very good reason. That child didn’t need to be in your home.”

“Why because I ride a bike. I work in a shop. Maybe you’d prefer I install walk in tubs for a living. Would that ease your mind.” He slurred.

“I don’t care what you do for a living Mr. Rouder. That child does not belong in your home.”

“That child is my daughter!” He shouted as he stumbled off her porch in anger. He was done talking to her. What he needed was a lawyer. He needed his little girl home where she belonged.

Household Goods

When it comes to stress and household goods, I'm beginning to think less is more in this household. I grew up with a mother and father who are both pack rats. My father's garage is filled with junk that he decides he has to take with him every time they move, which used to be quite often.

My mother on the other hand has their home filled wall to wall with knick knacks and pictures from magazines. Her kitchen drawers are stuffed with never used straws and silverware that she rewashes with every use. She has coupons that date back to the early 70's with no expiration date!

In a sense she's saving the environment, but at the same time she must clean on a weekly basis every knick knack and paper clippings, etc. Of course she never complains, but in a way I am not my mother.

I've grown tired of having to wash every dish in the house because the family refuse to pick up after themselves. So I started putting away all of the dishes, for good. We are now down to a few plates, cups, bowels and silverware, which means I'm no longer washing a piled sink full of dishes every 30 minutes.

A few days ago my sister mentioned that we need a dishwasher. Of course, what a great idea! But do we have $200 for a dishwasher? Not, me, myself or I. So that will have to wait! For now I will continue weeding things out of this house and hopefully someday I'll wave goodbye to my stress as it walks right out the front door.

Everything But the Kitchen Sinks

When I went to yard sales today, I think I found everything, but the kitchen sinks.lol It's amazing what you can find at yard sales and I kept thinking this would be a great way to remodel a kitchen if you could find things that you really needed.

I know a while back I was really excited about working on my kitchen. I ended up putting it on hold for both financial and personal reasons.

I really don't know if I'll ever get started on the kitchen again, but when I do, I already know I don't just want anything and everything going into the kitchen. Especially when it comes to cabinets and sinks. I actually thought about just using the cabinets we have to save some money and I think the sink might be the same situation.

It really isn't in bad shape at all and all it would need is a new faucet. Maybe, who knows!

Mid January Financial Update

Here is my update for mid-January. It was a decent few weeks despite the fact that much of our paychecks went towards car insurance, tags, taxes and titles. Things will become even tighter soon due to my husband's recent notification of a lay-off. I'm still not sure what his plans are, but I'll post about them as soon as I know more. Right now I believe he is hoping that this lay off is all one big joke. He's not one to accept the worse. Here are my online earnings as promised.

January 15th - 31st

Payperpost $4.50
Youdata $1.55
Payu2blog $38.00
Private sales $320.00
Slicethepie $0.50

Total: $364.55

Working on the Kitchen

One of the things I have been doing lately is remodeling the kitchen. Just repainting a shelf right now. The reason for this is because the house is slowly fall a part and it needs new things like kitchen faucets, etc. Right now the kitchen sink faucet only leaks when you turn it on, which means it probably just needs a new seal, but eventually I'd like to change out the faucet into something a little nicer.

The husband has already said he doesn't want to spend a lot of money remodeling this house and then talked about get windows that cost $3000 each.lol But I don't plan on spending thousands of dollars on one simple thing. I think that's a bit too much and would never sale in this neighborhood.

However, I don't see any harm in spending reasonable to make improvements on the home. And right now I don't think we'll be selling this house anyway since we don't have any plans to move. But in the future, who knows!

Who Called Me?

Lately I have been getting a lot of numbers calling my phone and I have no idea who they are. Sometimes I will answer the call and sometimes I will let it pick up by voicemail. That is if they decide to leave one. Other times I simply miss the call. When that happens and there's no voicemail, I do get curious and want to know who called me.

To cure my curiosity, I go online and use a reverse phone book service similar to TraceNumber.com. Since tracenumber is new to me, I decided to give them a try verses my old service. The idea behind tracenumber is that when you type in a number they can give you the name and address of the person that number is listed under.

I don't have any recent mystery calls so just for the fun of it I did a search on my own phone number. While they didn't give me my address or name, they did show where the carrier comes from and that it is a cell phone. But since it is a cell phone, the results I kind of expected. See for yourself:

State: Kansas
County: Montgomery
City: Coffeyville
Line Type: Cell Phone
Phone Carrier: Kansas City Smsa Limited Partnership

Since the above is typical for cell phones, I decided to give them a go again with my aunt's house number and found the same problem.

State: Kansas
County: Montgomery
City: Coffeyville
Line Type: Landline
Phone Carrier: Southwestern Bell

Then I had a friend try his house number. The results?

State: Missouri
County: Jackson
City: Kansas City
Line Type: Landline
Phone Carrier: Southwestern Bell Mo

Also, the phone carrier is wrong. Southwestern Bell is now AT&T. So while all of the above had very minimum results I was wondering how someone would be able to get the address and name of a person if they needed it?

Well, as it turns out, after the results of the phone number lookup are given, you are able to get the name and address for a fee. I guess this might be okay if you really needed the information. For me however, it's not really worth my time. What do you think? Would you be willing to use TraceNumber for a price?

ClearVoice Offers $97 studies and Surveys

Here's another opportunity I thought at home moms and dads might be interested in.

I am usually not a big fan of surveys that pay you money, but this one looks promising and so far they haven't filled my email box with a bunch of junk. I have heard that they offered $97 for a focus group. That's really good. I did a focus group last year on step-families and made $250 from it. Not through ClearVoice, however. This was through another company that only does private studies.

I'm giving ClearVoice a try and we'll see what happens. I am told they send 3-4 surveys per a week for 5-10 questions that are quick an easy. Unfortunately it's only 25 cents per a survey. Still, that's 75 cents a week if it only take s a few minutes to complete. $3 per a month. Not much, but it all adds up. Plus if I'm able to get into one of the focus groups, that's a lot more money that can go towards a car and debt!

Get $5 for giving a quick Opinion!

I'm not getting paid for letting people know this, but I thought it would be a good opportunity for at-home parents who are looking to make an easy few bucks. Miller Piano is looking for feedback about their website. You can fill out a quick survey and they will send you a check for $5 for your time. Nothing to purchase, ever. Pretty simple.

Click here for details http://www.millerps.com/ and then click on the little click here for details link on the page.

Deep Cleaning the Air

One of the things we may very well eventually need for this home is an air purifier. One reason is we have cats and another, my husband is a smoker. So my house is in need of a serious deep cleaning. So eventually I will probably get an air purifier like the one Blueair has to offer. But, I'm just not sure about the prices. $900 for an air purifier? Is it really worth it? I think right now I can find better things to buy than a $900 air purifier. What do you think?

Toilets. The Centerpiece of Tomorrow.

Since when did toilets become the centerpiece of a bathroom? I guess some places are hoping for just that. And it certainly can't be any worse than the toilet restaurant that John Chow talked about. Eating out of toilet bowls and sitting on them. Yeah I'd probably go there. But for now.....



Ummm well, I just need a toilet that won't cost a ridiculous price, use a lot of water and works! Is that too much to ask for?

Right now both of our toilets have gone down the shitter, literally. One doesn't like flushing and the other likes to constantly run. So either way we go it's a bad deal. So one of these days we're going to need to replace both toilets. I'm sort of dreading when that time comes because I already know they're going to cost at least $100 a piece. Unless, I can find them at a garage sale.

Clocks. It's as Simple as That

Grandfather clocks can be fascinatingly beautiful. A friend of mine had one before she moved away. She kept it in the corner of her dining room and although it never chimed, it was still a beautiful clock.

I don't own a grandfather clock, however. Not because I really don't want one, but because I haven't found the perfect grandfather clock that suites me and the decor of our home. I don't just want any grandfather clock. I want one that goes right along with my life. Does that make sense?

I mean why buy a clock that you don't really like? You wouldn't buy an outfit in that manner, so why buy a grandfather clock that way? I somehow doubt you would. Hmmm. I just realized something.

There are really no clocks at all in this house. I don't just mean grandfather clocks either. I am talking about any kind of clock. Well, no. I did buy a Shrek Clock for the boys' room a while back. It was simply because the boys love Shrek. Also there is a simple alarm clock in our bedroom for work. Other than that, no clocks.

Now my mother's home. That's a totally different story. She has a clock in every room in her house. Even the bathroom. I think she loves clocks. Either that or she needs to know the time everywhere she goes.lol But, that's okay. The idea of a unique clock isn't such a bad idea. How many clocks do you have in your home? Do you go crazy with clocks in every room like my mom or do you keep things simple? Do you care what the clock looks like? Does it fit your home, your style? Or do you buy whatever is cheap and looks like it will last forever?

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

1. Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold the vegetables while you chop.

2. Avoid arguments with the females about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.

3. For high blood pressure sufferers ~ simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure on your veins. Remember to use a timer.

4. A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

5. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives. Then you'll be afraid to cough.

6. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

7. If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

Dream Homes in Florida

In the future we were suppose to have moved to Florida. However, that has all changed now. Still, it would have been nice and I am pretty sure we would have bought a home in Florida since our contract there would have been for at least a minimum of 4 years.

Well, maybe someday. In the meantime, it's nice to see all of the wonderful homes available in Florida. Like the Homes for sale in Jacksonville Florida from Codwell Banker. If Codwell Banker is anything like the one here, they're a great real estate agent to go through. Yep just found my dream home. See photo at right.

I have a few friends who live in Florida. I wonder what they think about the Jacksonville area? Do you live in Florida? If so, what areas would you recommend? What about those of you who are interested in moving to Florida? Where's your ideal area to live in Florida?