Earn Extra Money Using Great Eco-Friendly Products!

I'm always searching for ways to supplement my income so that I can make money from home and on my own time... Finally I found something that is working! There's a great company called Melaleuca, A Wellness Company, that sells natural, toxic free eco-friendly products. It's all things that we already use every day...cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, vitamins, makeup, lotions etc. Melaleuca doesn't invest money in advertising, instead they pay their customers to market for them. You don't even have to sell the products! All you do is refer other customers by asking them to buy the same products they use everyday from our online store instead of where they normally do. Their products are great and most of what they sell is concentrated, so you not only save money, but you help save on the millions of pounds of plastic dumped each year. That is important to me!

Another great thing about Melaleuca is that you work on teams, so you are not alone in doing this. I'm on a great team of energetic, motivated, supportive individuals and we are Rockin It. One person's success is every one's success! We are always looking for new team members, so if you...

• Want to supplement or replace your income,
• Would like to work from home, on your own schedule,
• Are interested in non-toxic, natural, eco-friendly products,
• Have a lot of friends that feel the same way,
• Hate plastic and wasting money,
• Are energetic, motivated and ready to make money!

Please contact Corrie at melaleuca.naturalproducts@gmail.com to join our team. To learn more about about the company visit http://www.melaleuca.com/.

Advice on making extra money...tips for the unemployed

This week was a very good week for me in making some extra money. I have a semi-permanent part time bookkeeping/personal assistant job for a contractor, but I only work random hours that average to about 15-25 hours a week, depending on the week. He, like everyone else, is struggling and I don't always get paid on time and it certainly doesn't pay enough to live on. This week was busy and I worked 25 hours.

I am of course always looking for a permanent full time position, but like way too many people its been tough. I lost my job of eleven years about 3 years ago and since have sent out at least 750 resumes. A week ago I even dummied down my resume thinking that's something I haven't tried. I have a Masters Degree and formally worked as the Executive Director and Curator of a historic museum and not-for-profit. Those jobs are hard to come by and fundraising is difficult as hell now. My job ending trauma really burnt me out on working for a board of directors and I think the only one I want to fundraise for now is myself. I'm trying to find something with a larger more stable company.

Last week I realized that I really need to be creative or I am going to end up homeless. I've been taking every opportunity to let people I meet know I'm looking for extra work and what my skills are. It resulted in my sister connecting me with a guy that needed his resume written and I shared a job putting together a 6,500 envelope mailing (hand collating and envelope stuffing). All this made me an extra $350, almost doubling what I've usually been making each week.

I also mentioned to the concrete guy that fixed my sidewalk that I do bookkeeping and he referred me to an electrician that he knows. I haven't hear from him yet, but its supposed to happen next week. Saturday before I went envelope stuffing I photographed and measured some furniture that I'm going to put on Craig's list for a family friend. If it sells I will get a commission. She's not good on the computer.

So my point of this all is be creative and don't be to proud to tell people you need to make money and what you are good at. I had a professor in grad school that told me once Sometimes you have to create your own job position.  I always think about that.

Keep at at it, but be prepared to sacrifice your time. I just worked 7 straight days, my house is a mess, my dogs are pissed and I'm totally exhausted. Tomorrow is Monday and a new week of working begins, but at least I can pay a few of more bills.

Erroneous Advice from IRS

We will remove your penalty if all of the following apply:

1. You asked IRS for advice on a specific issue,
2. You gave IRS complete and accurate information,
3. You received advice from the IRS
4. You relied on the advice IRS gave you, and
5. You were penalized based on the advice IRS gave you

This is actually written on the bottom of their Penalty and Interest Statement.
So basically, don't ask the IRS for advice!

Things That Make You Go Hmmm #3

There was a story on the news about a guy who had a worm living in his eyeball and he could see it wiggling! Hmmmm and ewwww!

Practical Advice on Living Poor #5

For about a year now I've been having trouble with the light for my aquarium. The aquarium bulb has been burning out way too often and there must be some kind of short in the light fixture itself. The bulbs run about $25 and a new hood is about $50.

So the other day, totally frustrated to see the light not working again, I took off the hood and removed the "guts" of it so to speak. I took out the bulb, unscrewed the fixture from inside the hood and cut off the cord. Then I took some Christmas lights I bought over the summer at a garage sale for $1 (large fancy colored glass bulbs, but three didn't work). I taped the cord for the lights inside the hood with duct tape and then wrapped tin foil between the Christmas lights and the inside of the hood to prevent any kind of melting.

My tank looks very cool and colorful! Now I wouldn't recommend doing this at home and I certainly wouldn't leave these on when I'm not close by, but that's not really the point. The point is in these painful economic times, I can't afford to run out and pay $25 to $50 to light my fish tank, no matter how much I enjoy it. I made due with what I had and if you are reading this blog you should be too!

Things that make you go Hmmm, #2

Are there solar house lamps? If not they should make them with little packs that you put out in the sun during the day. Hmmmm

Practical Advice on Living Poor #4

Practical Advice on Living Poor #4

Sell your crap! Sell all the stuff you are not using and at this point won't ever use. It will be less you have to move if you get evicted. Have a garage sale, list it for free on Craig's list, put items on Ebay. There have been a few weekends that I was broke and made some quick money selling items on Craig's list. Its also a good way to get rid of your giant outdated huge tv, offer it for free, let them move it. Mine was gone in a hour. From now until January Ebay is offering free listing for regular auctions (no reserve, no buy it now) if you have a positive rating. I haven't used Ebay in a while because I couldn't afford to list the items, but will certainly do so now.  Try not to over price items, just because they have value to you, doesn't mean they do for someone else. It doesn't matter how much you paid for it ten years ago!

Tip #3 Online Dating For Men

Tip #3  Online Dating For Men

Do not, I repeat, do not use a ten year old picture as your profile pic! If you do this without adding a disclaimer, you will immediately receive The Look when meeting someone in person.

What is this look you say?

The Look is the immediate wave of disappointment that passes over the other person's face the first moment they lay eyes on you. If they are a polite person they will catch themselves and restrain before it turns into a full face contortion, but its there, you saw it, there is no denying it. At this point you are pretty much done, you're finished, go home.

Practical Advice on Living Poor #3

Coffee.... its so expensive!

Give up the daily ritual of stopping at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts or your favorite coffee shop. If an average cup of coffee costs $3.50, that's about $70 a month, $840 a year! More if you buy the $5 cup of coffee and a scone!

Invest in a thermal cup and make your own coffee to take with you. You are also helping the environment by using your own cup! Target seems to have the cheapest coffee, but it really irks me that the containers have gotten smaller, have you noticed? Its even cheaper if you can buy a bulk load of unground beans at Costco or Sam's Club.  If you grind your own it always tastes fresh, keep the unground beans in the refrigerator. To add some variety, put some hershey's syrup, flavored creamer or Baily's in your coffee. I only make as much coffee as I think I will drink, usually half a pot is enough to get my day started and to fill my thermal cup and take with me. Refill your cup at work if its free to get you through the rest of the day.

I also found that another cheap way to get coffee is to go over to my parent's house after they come back from a Sam's trip and fill up a container with some of their coffee beans! :)

Diet Tip #8 How I Lost 90 Pounds!

Have a talk with your pushers!

Food pushers, my mother is a great one. Although she isn't Italian, marrying my father inertly turned her into a great-cooking-motherly-Italian-food-pusher. Her famous quotes: Did you get enough to eat? Eat some more! Are you eating? Why aren't you eating? Eat some more! Eat! Eat! Eat!

Geez, no wonder my sister and I both struggle with weight issues! And now, after quitting smoking after 50 years, so does she. When she does this at a family dinner we all chime in and tell her to stop and try to make a joke out if to avoid hurting her feelings.

It is interesting that my boyfriend's mother, who is not a food pusher, has all healthy fit grown children. It makes me wonder if weight issues are genetics, conditioning or both? Hmmmm.

Since my early teens I have been the occasional vegetarian. Two years ago I decided to really try and be a better vegetarian. I'm doing pretty good at it, not 100%, but I'm trying. I never eat red meat or pork, although I must say I really really miss bacon! I occasionally eat chicken, eggs and shrimp, but no more then one of those once a week, if any.

A few months ago we had a family bbq at my parent's house for my dad's birthday. BBQ ribs on the menu. Aren't you eating ribs? Says my mother. No, mom, I don't eat meat. Says me. I made bbq beef, why don't you make yourself a sandwich. Says my mother. To funny! She's like the aunt on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, You don't eat Meat? I make lamb!

So here's my tip: You really have to be firm with yourself that you are not going to give in to eating what you know is in the contrary to your personal goals! Don't do it! Don't eat something you don't want to just to make someone else happy or to avoid an awkward moment. Be strong in your convictions! You can do it!

Diet Tip #7 How I Lost 90 Pounds!

Loosing weight is all about burning more calories than you eat!

Eat the bulk of your calories earlier in the day. I usually have a light breakfast, a filling lunch, and then a light dinner. Everything we do throughout the day burns calories, so if you consume the bulk of your calories earlier in the day you are more likely to burn it off before you go to bed, therefore loose weight. We are all tired by the end of our busy days, eating a big dinner, watching tv and then going to bed will keep you fat. 

Diet Tip #6 How I Lost 90 Pounds!

Don't let others bring you down!

My mother, bless her heart, always felt the need to point out how fat I was. It made me crazy, it made me angry, it made me eat! No one needs to point out your weight problem. You are the person carryng the extra weight around, you live with it every day and you don't need other people commenting on it every time you see them. You need to put your foot down and not allow other people to make you feel bad. Finally, I informed her that if she couldn't stop mentioning it that I would cut her out of my life completely. She stopped.

So tell those people in your life that if that can't love you for who you are, instead of how much you weigh, then you don't need them in your life. If you can't do it, give me their info and I'd be happy to do it for you!

Diet Tip #5 How I Lost 90 Pounds!

Write this down, memorize it, post it on your refrigerator door!

One pound of fat = 3,500 calories
Five pounds of fat = 17,500 calories

Yep, you need to eliminate or burn 3,500 extra calories to loose one little pound of fat!

There are lots of good web sites that help you calculate how many calories you need per day, but I found it very confusing. I determined that under 2,000 is good for me, I aim for 1,500 per day, but as long as I stay under 2,000 I think I'm doing ok.

Diet Tip #4 How I Lost 90 Pounds!

Weigh Yourself!

Whoever says don't weigh yourself is full of crap! Buy a scale, take a deep breath, and get your fat ass on there! Don't buy one of those talking ones, you don't need everyone in the house to know your business and you will end up hating that evil person living in your scale. As painful as it is, you need to know how much you really weigh. How else will you be able to gage your progress and brag about it later?

My scale also measures your percentage of body fat, you need damp feet to get an accurate reading (purchased at Target). Do not get one of these if you have a pacemaker, it measures through little electrical charges! Even after all my weight loss I'm still 55% body fat, yikes, 30% is normal.

I keep my scale in my bedroom and weigh myself right after my morning relief and before I go to bed. I usually weigh about two pounds less in the morning and about two pounds more on Monday mornings. We all go off our diets a bit on the weekends, but if I'm good on Monday those extra two pounds are gone by Tuesday. I also keep a weekly log of my weight and measurements. Its nice to see the numbers go down!

Don't get discouraged, it takes a while to see progress, but once you see some pounds come off, it totally motivates you. If your weight goes up, it just means you have to cut back a little more and work a little harder! You will see plateaus where your weight stands still. I just went through a month of that, but now finally, 5 pounds less. Keep at it, you can do it!!

Diet Tip #3 How I Lost 90 Pounds!

Soda Makes You Fat!

I think I can attribute a large portion of the 60 pounds I lost between March and August of 2007 to finally breaking my addiction to Coca Cola. I drank it every day, loved it, needed it, even worshiped it. I thought I could never give it up. "I need my fizz" I would say. But we all know it isn't good for you and it makes you fat.

So slowly I started weaning off of it. It was so hard to do! I began limiting myself to only one can a day (as opposed to it being my only fluid during the day), then every other day, etc. Finally I cut it out completely. But I still missed it! When I needed a fizz fix I drank La Croix mineral water, with lemon, so it didn't taste so bland. They also make a berry flavored version. Eventually the cravings went away! I don't recommend switching to diet soda, it isn't good for you, many artificial sweeteners are know to cause cancer. Don't drink it.

I'm not going to lie, I do have soda once in a while, an occasional sprite or ginger ale, but no more than one a week. The last time I tasted a Coke, I really didn't like it, it was so syrupy and sweet! I no longer keep soda in the house because I know if its there I will probably drink it. If I'm at a Walgreens I buy the black cherry soda (Orchard Farms I think is the brand) as a special treat, only one. It doesn't have high fructose corn syrup in it.

Now I drink mostly water, lots and lots of water! First I got a water cooler service, then later cancelled that (budget constraints) and bought a filter for my faucet. I always have some water chillin in the fridge. I also bought a reusable water bottle to fill and take with me when I go to work. I can't advocate buying water bottles every where you go because the empty bottles are no longer recyclable. I heard we throw away about 25 million bottles a day, but I do buy them occasionally, then try and reuse the bottles for a while.

I only drink water with meals especially when dining out. Why add another 150+ calories? For variety I pour some cranberry juice in the water to give it flavor, or add lemon.

So hang in there! The cravings do really go away and if you are a heavy user you will begin to see some weight loss almost immediately!

Diet Tip #2 How I Lost 90 Pounds!

Edy's All Natural Fruit Bars (with no sugar added)

I think these really helped me drop some pounds this summer. I eliminated ice cream and made it a point to always have these in the fridge. These are made from real fruit and do not have any of the cancer causing fake sugar additives. They are only 25 calories and very yummy! You can even have two a day without feeling guilty!!

Since 2007 I have lost 91 pounds! I lost 60 pounds the first year, held that off for another year and have lost another 31 pounds since June 2010. I have 49 more pounds to loose in order to reach my goal! Can I do it? Not sure, but I'm sure going to try.

Follow my blog to see how I did it and what worked best for me. These are real practical tips that actually work! It might seem hopeless to you, but once you get going it is life changing! Feel free to ask questions or make comments. Let me know how you're doing! 

Practical Advice on Living Poor #2

Mow your own lawn! Lawn services average about $25 per week. Depending where you live that's anywhere from $600 to $1,200 a year. Use some of that money to buy a new lawn mower (now is a good time, they are all on sale) or buy a used one at a garage sale. An added benefit is that its good exercise!

Diet Tip #1 How I Lost 90 Pounds!

Diet Tip #1

You don't need to pay money to not eat! Forget about weight watchers, nutra systems etc. Count your calories yourself.  Read your packages and look up other items online. Once you start learning how many calories are in food items you will make better choices. I was shocked to learn that a slice of bread is about 100 calories! Two slices are more than a can of soda or a candy bar. Think I'd rather have the candy bar!


Since 2007 I have lost 91 pounds! I lost 60 pounds the first year, held that off for another year and have lost another 31 pounds since June 2010. I have 49 more pounds to loose in order to reach my goal! Can I do it? Not sure, but I'm sure going to try.

Follow my blog to see how I did it and what worked best for me. These are real practical tips that actually work! It might seem hopeless to you, but once you get going it is life changing! Feel free to ask questions or make comments. Let me know how you're doing! 

Practical Advice on Living Poor #1

Don't bundle your services!

Keep your cable, phones and internet on seperate carriers. This way if you get behind on paying your bills and one gets shut off, you won't loose all communication with the world. Don't forget you can always watch tv on the internet or get online from your cell phone.

How You Made My Day #2 Thanks Target!

Special thanks to Target for selling me not one, but two of your exclusive mops that you now no longer sell the mop head refills for. I can't say your mops "suck" because they can't without the spongy heads! Thanks! You made my day!!

Things That Make You Go Hmmm #1

I wonder why all the people who owe me money are no longer friends with me? Hmmm.

How You Made My Day #1: Thanks AT&T!

Many thanks to AT&T for leaving me on hold for twenty minutes only to get a recorded message that the offices were now closed. Thank you AT&T!! You made my day!

After thought: I wonder if its because I kept saying "f*** you" over and over during the voice automated session.

Tip #2 Online Dating For Men

Lower Your Expectations

If you are balding, short, overweight, cross eyed, disfigured, nerdy, creepy or have a blue collar job you probably should not be seeking a "skinny model type".  A "skinny model type" will never date you.  It doesn't matter how funny you are. Your only hope is if you make a lot of money and she's doing a search by income level and even then your chances are slim. It is totally unnecessary for you to describe how "well hung" you are because that won't help. Work on developing more realistic expectations.

To the guy seeking a "skinny model type" that wrote in his profile "40 pounds overweight isn't average":  Um, if you live in America - it is dumbass.

3 Simple Ways To Get Your Resume Noticed Online

Applying for jobs online can be very difficult. Companies that are hiring receive hundreds or even thousands of responses for each job posted. Here are three simple tips to help get your resume noticed.

1. Don't send just one email, send about 50 consecutive emails. If you fill up their inbox with your resume employers will see you as enthusiastic and are bound to review it at least once.

2. Write HIRE ME OR I'LL KILL YOU, I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE in the subject line. This is sure to get you some attention!

3. Take the time to write an interesting and thoughtful cover letter. Include a picture showing you with your empty pants pockets turned inside out and a sad face. If you are a well-endowed woman, take a pic of yourself working at the computer with your breasts resting on the keyboard. Prospective employers will definitely notice that you are a great asset to any company!

Tip #1 Online Dating for Men

If you want a woman to take you seriously 

it is not recommended that you use any of the following screen names

TommytheSalami

HungFu

GiganticJohnson 

Penislicious

DickFitsWell
BoobyPatrol
ScooterShooter
LooserAndLiar
ButtUglyCowboy
Prick4Life

(Please check back, more to be added later.... yep, these are real!)

Hey There Supercurvy!

Today a man I didn't know called me super curvy. It wasn't just a comment like you are super curvy, he saw me and just blurted out Hey there supercurvy! It was funny how he said super curvy, like it was one word.

First Superman, then Spiderman, now Supercurvy!
I am a Super Hero!
Protecting the world with breasts of steel, hahaha.

How does one respond to that?

Hello to you slightlybaldingbeerbelliedman.

Define Happiness

Today I decided to start a blog in order to chronicle my ongoing search for happiness. Like many people in the world I don't feel like I'm completely happy and sometimes I feel a little down. I think that most of the time my life is good, but something's missing..... just not sure what. I'm hoping that other people can relate to the ups and downs of an ordinary life and follow me through this journey, maybe together we can find what we are looking for.

But what is happiness exactly? I guess if I'm searching for it I should know what it is just in case I run across it. So I asked the google god to please define happiness...pleasure, joy, exhilaration, bliss, contentedness, delight, enjoyment, satisfaction. Sounds like a Viagra commercial.

Happiness results from the possession or attainment of what one considers good.
Huh? That doesn't help.

Bliss - unalloyed happiness or supreme delight
Somehow that makes me think of Chinese food. Yum Sum Bliss Supreme Delight is our special today.

Felicity - a formal word for happiness of an especially fortunate or intense kind. 
Searching for felicity would just be confusing, can't help but think of that one actress who cut her hair, can she help? Don't think so, keep going.

Contentment -  a peaceful kind of happiness in which one rests without desires, even though every wish may not be gratified.

That's it! I'm not looking for happiness, just contentment. Hence my blog title In Search of (ISO) Contentment. Well that seems like a very good start.