Selfishly Offending Others

Submitted by tired_gardener on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 19:55
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Today I offended some friend by saying that suicide was selfish. A couple people in the chat room had survived attempts at suicide and I guess I hit a nerve. I don't talk about my own depression much, but if saying that suicide is selfish keeps me alive, then I don't care what you think of my selfish, self serving belief. I'm going to continue thinking that it is selfish. If I tell myself now how selfish it is, then when I'm in my darkest moments, I will likely remember that.

My father did commit suicide. I will never forget the pain from that. I've lived with it for 20 years and still struggle to keep my life together afterwards. I have first hand experience about how painful it can be to survive after someone has taken their own life. That memory has pushed me through my deepest depressions. I have forgiven him. It took me a long time, but I finally did. I still think he was selfish.

I realize that my depression is not as severe as many out there. I'm able to function, un-medicated. Diet and exercise has kept mine under control. Many people out there have far darker times that I've ever seen. I pray I never experience depression that deep. Many people out there have survived more traumatic deaths than I witnessed. I pray that they all have some straw they can grasp that will keep them grounded and alive.

There is nothing wrong with selfishness. It is human. We are all selfish. We do very little in life that does not have some selfish motive behind it. We go to work because we want money to buy everything we need. If you picked a job that makes less than another because it helps others, that too is selfish. I did that because it makes me feel good to help others. I donate because it makes me feel good to help others. I help others because it makes me feel good, and I know that if I help others I know people are more likely to help me when I need it. I'd have trouble finding something anything that a person does that does not have some selfish motive.

I feel bad that I offended them, but I don't care. Suicide needs to be talked about. We need to have the talks with open minds. Letting others have their beliefs while keeping our own. I'm not giving up mine. It has kept me alive. I don't expect anyone else to give up their beliefs, especially if they keep them alive.

If someone feels that their own selfish reasons for taking their own life is more important than their friends and families selfish reasons for wanting them around, that is their decision. It is not mine. But I do have selfish reasons for wanting to keep you from doing it and I will do everything in my power to keep you from killing yourself. If you do it, despite my efforts to stop you, I will be much quicker to forgive than I was with my father.


Pay Per Bid Auctions

Submitted by tired_gardener on Tue, 12/22/2009 - 11:57
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This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Bidazzled. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've been curious about Pay Per Bid auctions for a while, so when I was asked to write a review of Bidazzled.com, I took it as a good excuse for checking out the concept. Bidazzled is a newer site, but the concept has been around for a while.

What is Pay Per Bid? Well, when I first heard of it, I laughed. I thought it was a stupid idea. Basically, you buy "bid packs" and then you can use these to bid on auctions. So you are paying for each bid you make, even if you do not win the auction. If you make 10 bids and each bid costs a dollar, that is $10 for something that you did not even win. Seems a little crazy, huh? As usual, I wasn't going to stop there, I wanted to see what the deal was. There are lots of these sites, and there are lots of people that use them.

I watched at Bidazzled for a while. I saw several items won. At first I saw a $40 set of Legos go for $3.85. Shipping costs an extra $5.65. That is a total of $9.50. Not bad, considering that it is Christmas time and people are frantically trying to get some last minute gifts done (even though they will not be there in time for Christmas). However, he also spent $15 worth of bids on it. So he got it for half price. Not so great, but still not bad.

The next auction I watched was a Nascar Race Track. It went for 17Cents. The winner used 1 bid and also paid $7.65 shipping. $8.82 for an item that retails for $109. Not bad. Many of the auctions I have watched, went the same way. Some ended up a great deal (A Kindle for $13.87 total, the new Star Trek DVD for $5 total) and others, not so great, but still a good deal. Few items did the winner pay more than half of retails for. Some could be found elsewhere for similar prices, but rarely much less.

If you want to check them out, you get 5 free bids when you sign up, and if you use the promo code "BBP1202A" you will get 15 Bonus Bids. 20 bids should make you the winner on something cool, if you play your cards right.

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Flu Shots

Submitted by tired_gardener on Mon, 12/21/2009 - 13:13
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Today we took Emma in to get her second flu shot. Kids need to have two of them, first one, then 28 days later, a second. We she went in for her first, the were not offering the shots to adults. I was happy about that. I've never had a flu shot, and didn't feel like starting now....

Well, when we went back they offered them to us as well. I looked over at Emma, and while thinking "I don't want to do this" I told the receptionist "yes". It just would not have been fair to make Emma get the shot, as much as she did not want to do it and as good as she was being about having to get it and then say "no, I don't have to do it".

I only cried a little. :D


Frozen Worm Bin

Submitted by tired_gardener on Thu, 12/17/2009 - 13:49
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Worms don't like the cold. I made a new video for my worm bins and left the worms in the car port. I went to feed them and realized they were not in the office. Hunted them down out there and the contents were frozen solid. Not a great way to die. Poor little guys. I'll have to get some new ones now, because I only have the one bin


Veteran's Day

Submitted by tired_gardener on Wed, 11/11/2009 - 08:50

Today we celebrate the many veteran's who have served their country during times of peace or war. It does not matter your MOS. It does not matter when. It does not matter where. You serve, and for that I thank you. Your country needs people like you. You deserve more than you get when you get out. I can only give my sincerest thanks and prayers.

Lord, thank you for providing the many men and women who support their country through the armed services. Watch over them and their families. Guide those that have returned and help them through the pains of dealing with what they have seen. Protect those that are currently serving. Hold the families of those who have been lost. Mold those who will serve in the future. May they all do your work and follow your path. amen


Harvesting Worm Castings From Kitty Litter Bucket Worm Bin

Submitted by tired_gardener on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 22:29
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The second installment of the Kitty Litter Bucket Worm Bin series is out. In this installment I will tell you about harvesting the castings from an established bin.


Kitty Litter Bucket Worm Bin

Submitted by tired_gardener on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 07:08
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Finally got around to making a new video. This one is on making a kitty litter bucket work bin. These allow you to get rid of your waste fruit and veggie scraps while getting great compost in return. Using kitty litter buckets makes since to me, since there are always so many of them around the house with nothing to do.


Grocery rebates

Submitted by tired_gardener on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 21:11
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As I have recently mentioned, coupons are a great way to save money. You can easily save 50%+ on your grocery bill with some work. It does take time, but not as much time as it would take to make the money that you save. Rebates are another great way to save some money. With coupons, you save the money at checkout, but with rebates you pay now and get a check later. You can get a rebates on a lot of things. Some companies now offer "instant rebates" which act like coupons, in that you get the rebate instantly, but there are still a lot of rebates that you mail away for.

When you go shopping, be sure to shop the sale items and be sure to use coupons to further improve those savings. Keep your receipts, and look for rebates. When you find a rebate, use you can further increase your savings by sending them in, but there are a few things you need to remember.

Read the instructions! Most rebates will ask for the UPC and the original receipt. Be sure to send what they ask. If you do not follow their instructions completely, you will have wasted both your time and the cost of the stamp. If you have multiple rebates that you want to get on the same receipt, ask the store for multiple copies, when you make the purchase.

You can find rebates in many places. You can find them at manufactures web sites, in newspapers or magazines, or with products you purchase in the store. Even if it is not a rebate you think you will use, you can hold on to it to trade with someone else, or in case you decide you do need it.


Saving on Eating Out

Submitted by tired_gardener on Sun, 10/25/2009 - 09:17
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Not wanting to work constantly to keep paying for the things we need or want, I'm constantly on the lookout for ways to save money. Do we really need cable TV? No, the digital converter box works just fine. Do I need internet on my phone? No, I have it on my computer. Do we need to go out to dinner once a week? No, but it would be really nice if we could.

Date night is important. We need the time together, to spend those couple hours with just Elizabeth make me feel nice. It is important to her too. But it gets expensive. Spending $35 on a meal really hits the pocket book. How many hours does it take to make that $35 and we blow it in an hour of leisure? Ouch. But we need that personal time... How can we cut the costs?

I've found a couple of options for saving. You can get one of the coupon books that has coupons for eateries or entertainment in your area. Some have 50% savings at restaurants, discounts at movies, plays, museums and more. They offer some great discounts. You should look through them though. Most of the coupons will never get used and you want to save more than you spend on the book. A lot more. Why spend $25 for the book if you are not going to be saving at least $100 off of the coupons?

Another option is to have deals delivered to you. Check out the web sites of your favorite places. They will sometimes have deals listed. You can also use services such as groupon or woot. These guys have a deal a day which is a great deal. With groupon, it only happens if enough people buy it, but you can often find meals at 50% off, and the like. Woot keeps the same deal going until they have sold every item, then they have another deal.

If you don't mind writing a report about you eat, go shopping, whatever, you can also be a secret shopper. There are a lot of places that offer secret shopping jobs to people like you. The DMOZ has a great list of mystery shoppers, but beware of scams. A legit service will never ask you to pay them for a job, nor will they ever send you a check to deposit and then ask you to send them money back.

If you save money on grocery shopping then you can spend that savings on fun things, but saving money using one or more of the above methods is better. Save money good.


Living frugally, but stil enjoying life

Submitted by tired_gardener on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 08:59
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While I'm still working hard at my paid jobs, I love writing here, so I thought I'd try to post once in a while. Just don't expect it often. Today I'm going to talk about frugal life, using coupons to keep enjoying life, as if you were not living frugally.

Coupons are a great thing. I'm sure you have all read about, or seen news clips about the coupon mavens that can buy $100+ worth of groceries for less than $5. It sounds amazing and a little far out there, but it is possible. I've started to buy groceries using some of their methods. Keep in mind, I've just started and have not harvested the supply of coupons that some of the experts have collected. I spent a couple hours collecting coupons from the internet, newspapers and magazines. I then went to the grocery store during a sale. Using the coupons I had, we purchased mostly things that were on sale, and we had a coupon for. We had over $110 worth of groceries and spend $60. On top of that we got $13 off of our next trip. Not bad, but I hope to do better next time.

A couple things I learned. If you don't have to bring a child with you, don't. One of the coupons I had was for some fish, which we wanted. It was also on sale for buy one get one. We got four, thinking that we could buy one, get one, twice. Well, Emma was distracting me, and I did not notice that we only got one free, total. I would have asked about this, had I noticed and if it was limited to the first two, I would have put the other two back. We would have saved more that way. Two bags of frozen fish was plenty, I just wanted to stock up.

Find an coupon organization technique that works for you. I kept sorting through the coupons to find the right one, read it and make sure that we were getting the best deal, sometimes the generic is still cheaper. It took a lot longer this way. I had them sorted by section, but it still took more time than we had expected. It was worth it though, for the savings. It was only an extra 30 minutes, for almost $60 in savings...

Sign up on mailing lists. I've signed up for all the mailing lists I could. Many manufacturers, as well as the food councils, have mailing lists. Sign up for them, and they will mail or email you coupons. File them away and use them to get even more savings.

Get rain checks. If the store is out of a sale item, even if you did not plan on getting it, or they are only out of one flavor, get a rain check. Later on when this item is full price, you might want it. You might also have a coupon for it later that you do not now. Then you get it at the sale price, that is no longer valid, and you have a coupon.

Just some ideas for saving with coupons. How do you save with coupons?