There are a lot of good books on the market nowadays such as Fireproof and The Love Dare.  There has been a lot of talk about these two books being such great books to read.  These are books I eventually want to get.

There are also other good fiction books on the market, too.  I like to look at Christian books for these.  Janette Oke is one of my favorite authors in this category, and I have read several of her books and have more that I want to read.

With Spring Break just around the corner, some people are already making travel plans to take advantage of the week off from school.   Some will go by car and some will fly to their favorite vacation spot.  Whether flying or going on a cruise, it might be good to get travel insurance quotes.  Travel Insurance Center has the best travel protection plans available.

A lot of people are pinching pennies nowadays, so here are a few ideas for saving money:

• Refill ink cartridges yourself when your printer runs out of ink.  Instead of paying $27 for a new printer cartridge, my husband pays $11 for printer ink and does it himself.  The bottle of ink will refill the cartridge 4 times!!!  He saves over $100 when you count in the tax.  (Be careful when doing this, though.  It’s best to do it over the sink or newspapers.)  For even more savings, buy bigger bottles of ink.

• Refill toner cartridges yourself. Just like with the ink cartridges, you can save a lot of money here.
  
• Check  GasBuddy.com  to find the best gasoline prices. You can check daily for the best gasoline prices in your area.
  

• Sign up for free birthday dinners in your area.  Many restaurants do this. You can sign up online or in the restaurant. In fact, for my last birthday I received seven email certificates:  four free birthday dinners, one free appetizer, one free dessert, and a coupon for $5 off a $10 purchase.
• Buy a programmable thermostat or adjust the thermostat. We bought a programmable one for $30, and it will eventually pay for itself.  My husband programs it to where the heat will come on when we need it and then drop the temperature when we’re away or during the night.  (We’ve also been keeping it a little cooler this winter and a little warmer on warm days than we have in the past.  I know a lot of people do this.)
• Use energy-saving florescent light bulbs in lamps and lighting fixtures.   We have these in most of our lamps and light fixtures.  However, I brought in a lamp we never use that was in our guest bedroom and put it in the living room.  I was sitting close to it and started to feel warm.  It had a regular light bulb in it, and the heat produced from it was making me hot.  That doesn’t happen with florescent light bulbs.  Think of the energy saved!

My husband has a flash drive that he uses to transfer information between computers. It amazes me how tiny the flash drive is, yet it can hold so much data.   Decades ago, they would have thought people were crazy if they talked about something like that.  I remember hearing how computers used to fill up a room and used data entry cards.  Things have really changed since then.

PICTURED ON THE LEFT IS MY INDEPENDENCE IRONSTONE.

#1. Are your Kitchen utensils nylon, silicone, wood or other?

Mostly nylon.
#2. Do you prefer dishes washed in a dishwasher or by hand?

Dishes washed in dishwasher, pots and pans washed by hand.
#3. How many sets of dishes do you have?

Too many!  LOL  We have our everyday dishes, a set of china from when we got married that is only used on holidays, a set of pottery from when we got married that is Independence Ironstone with fruit and leaves on it (I hope will one day be a collector’s item.  Actually, it already is, only the price is low.), and four place settings of dishes that our daughter gave us that blends well with our everyday dishes so we could serve 12 if we needed to.

I also have my mother’s china minus all the dinner plates and my grandmother’s china.  They are stored right now because when my mother’s house burned down, they got a lot of black burned on them.  It will come off with vinegar, soda and a LOT of elbow grease.   All of Mother’s dinner plates from her china were broken in the fire.  They weren’t in her credenza but in a kitchen cabinet.  : (   All her cabinets burned and fell to the ground, including depression glass and other antique dishes that belonged to her grandmother, etc.

#4. Share a recipe that calls for only one pot or pan.

Green Chili Chicken Enchilada “Casserole” (fix on top of stove in 10-15 minutes)

Questions From:  FUN, CRAFTS & RECIPES

Need emergency lights?  If you have a business, even a small business, then you need to have an exit sign.  I think businesses are supposed to have them over every exit, which I think is a great idea.  If there really is an emergency, most people are not in “thinking” mode but are in “panic” mode.  An easy to read sign doesn’t require any thinking but guides people to where they can go out of the building.

(Some moms might want one of these signs for the friends of their teenager.  Just kidding!)

Some people want to know the best diet pills out there on the market. As far as I’m concerned, I try to lose weight by eating smaller meals, trying to eat healthy meals, having healthy snacks a couple of times during the day, and exercising. I allow myself to have small servings of things I like such as a special dessert or dark chocolate.  Each person has to decide what works best for them, and if they do use diet pills then they should first consult their doctor.