Overstock.com is a great place to shop for apparel, outdoor gear, and even furniture at discounts. Overstock buys the “extra” inventory from a large amount of sellers, so they can give their shoppers the best possible deals. eBay com is another great website for the online shopper on a budget. eBay is consumer driven,  because shoppers “bid” on products to get the best deal. eBay.com sells almost anything you can think of, from antiques and other used goods, to furniture, computers and more. Zappos.com is known for selling designer label clothing and shoes at slashed prices, and they carry all the latest styles. With so many options for online shoppers, and so many discounts to take advantage of, you can avoid the mall, and department store prices.

For the past 7 years or so, on August 27th, a huge hoax has been plaguing email victims by the thousands. This widely spread hoax is one where unsuspecting people on the internet are made to believe that every single August 27th, the red planet known as Mars will pass so close, that from earth, it will appear as if there is a second moon in the dark sky.

This widely spread hoax, which is typically spread via email, typically says that at 12:30 am anyone peering into the night sky should be able to see the red planet and the moon side by side. It is supposed that together they will be roughly the same size and right next to each other. It also says that Mars is only going to be thirty-four million miles away from our planet. This email is written in such good format that its almost impossible not to believe!

Nearly all of the astronomists say that if Mars actually did make an appearance, and was that close the human race would probably seize to exist. If any planet got that close to Earth it would greatly affect our orbit as well as our distance from the sun.

Skip the movie theater, and have movie night at your house. Let your kids invite a couple of friends over and rent themed movies (Disney, musicals, comedies, etc). If you’re looking for an evening activity, have a pizza party without the expensive delivery charge. Buy premade dough and lots of toppings and let your kids create their own pizzas. Too hot to turn on the oven? Heat pizzas up on the grill and beat the heat! Avoid long lines at the water park and purchase a slip and slide for your own backyard to cool off in the hot summer heat. It’s easy to enjoy time with your family before school starts. This summer, get creative and save money while keeping your kids entertained.

When you get groceries, ask for paper grocery bags, and re-use them as wrapping paper. The sturdy quality of the paper makes for a great wrapping, and can be decorated with stickers, markers and glitter. Old newspapers make for a great wrapping paper too. Remember to use as little tape as possible to further reduce the amount of waste. Save the fronts of old cards you’ve received and create new cutout cards from the unique pictures and designs. In no time you will be creating wonderful wrapped presents that are eco-friendly and cost effective.

If you are planning on being in the sun, be sure to take plenty of breaks to sit in the shade. Don’t wait until you’re overheated and/or tired, as these are the first signs of heat exhaustion. If you’re playing sports or hiking in the sun, rest every 15-20 minutes and drink water to avoid dangerous heat exhaustion. Lastly, don’t sit in a hot car during blazing summer months and NEVER leave pets and children in a hot car. Not only is there no ventilation, but cars also heat up at an accelerated rate during hot summer months. Stay out of danger this summer and stay cool.

Foods that are “certified organic” are often made in environmentally responsible ways. Many organic companies fashion their facilities with alternative forms of energy, such as solar power or wind power. Also, organic produce and grains are grown with the future of the Earth in mind, and cared for in a way that provides sustainable growth for years of crops, rather then the shortsighted way many corn and wheat crops are grown in America today. Nowadays, it is possible to enjoy a diet rich in nutrients, with ingredients that were grown with the future of the world in mind, as well as the health of our mind and bodies.

Simply cut some floral tape or electrical tape to crisscross and create a grid at the top of the vase. Take one strip and secure the grid by wrapping it around the top. Use the grid to arrange the flowers the way you like with your favorite cut flowers and finish it off by wrapping the vase with a nice ribbon of some kind. Once you experiment with this several times you will see how quick and easy flower arranging can be!

Edward, Bella and Jacob are boring as they brood over each other. Edward is cold (he is the undead) and Jacob is warm in his wooly wolf buff body and both have the teens and some adult females swooning over them and I get it. What I don’t get is whatever do they see in Bella? My girlfriend spent thirty minutes telling me why Bella was so intriguing to these two guys. I finally got it after what she told me but that didn’t come across in the movies at all. If I don’t care about the characters then I don’t really care about the movie. But since I do have a Twilight lover as a lover, I can’t wait for the fourth and final movie in the series. If for no other reason, so she can explain to me the rest of the story.

First, let’s start with TV. If you pick up your remote on any given day and scroll through what is being shown on regular and cable TV you will understand what I am talking about. Shows like The Bachelor and Jersey Shores that everyone at work talks and obsesses about are asinine at best. We are under one of the most difficult financial struggles in our nation’s history and we are debating TV shows or Edward VS Jacob? And I am talking about adults not teens!

Why don’t we feel safe to discuss the hard questions? I believe it’s because the answers to those questions have direct consequences to our situations and we are afraid of them. It is easier to put our heads in the sand when it is important than to risk someone disagreeing with us and, heaven forbid, challenging what we think or believe. It’s just easier to not think about those things and hide in the entertainment and dummy down.

Our Republican dominated government ran up a deficit from 2000 to 2008 that far exceeded anything we have ever seen in the past and yet these same Congressman and Senators are now screaming to balance the budget and making the very people who paid for the banks and wall street to be saved starve and go without? Yes, we have a deficit problem but I say it’s a deficit of ideas, of common sense and of truth. We need people of both parties who are more about Americans and less about party lines. Until we get those people into office, I am afraid we may all loose at the expense of partisanship.