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If you own a car, you would be foolish not to own a set of jumper cables, and keep them in the trunk at all times.  You NEVER know when you might need them!

You can spend all the time you want online reading stuff like diet pill reviews. But you also need to go to this page, print it out, and keep it in your car, along with the jumper cables.  HOW TO JUMP-START A CAR.

Having jumper cables saved our asses more than once.  Several years ago, when we still had our old Ford Escort, the temps went WAY down, so cold that it killed our already old battery.  The car refused to start.  Luckily, our landlady was home, and was able to give us a jump, so we could get to Sears and buy a new battery.  She does not have jumper cables, but we do.  I doubt she bought any even after this, because she ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer about such things.

The second time we needed a jump was very recently…last weekend, when we went to Mystic Seaport for the weekend.  We were staying at the Hampton Inn, which does not have refrigerators in the rooms.  We have a mini-fridge which is something like this one…but ours is probably better, just can’t find the link to it any longer.  We were going to bring it into the room, but could NOT find the AC adapter, only the car plug.

So we said forget it, until we went out to eat and I had leftovers.  Mike swore up and down that the fridge would not suck up enough juice, so we could run it off the car battery overnight.  Bad move.  The next day, the car would not start.

Fortunately, the hotel staff was nice, and when Mike asked if someone could give him a jump,  they sent someone to do it.  We drove around a bit after that, to give the battery some juice.  Got to see some pretty sights we’d not seen before.  Then, we went to the museum and enjoyed our day there, got home just fine, no harm done to the battery.

But we won’t be running the mini-fridge in the car for longer than a couple of hours, when the car is not running, again.  Lesson learned.  I have since found the AC cord, so next time, we can run the fridge in the hotel room if need be!

So…make sure you have a set of jumper cables in your car, and that you learn how to use them!

Yes!  And it is happening in Baltimore right now!  Story here.

Basically, the city has set up a program in two neighborhoods that are low-income and lacking decent supermarkets.  Residents can visit the local library branch, order groceries online, pay (they take cash, credit/debit cards, and food stamps), and then return the next day to pick up their groceries.  The purpose of this is to make healthy foods more easily available.  Many low-income areas don’t have good supermarkets, but have plenty of fast food and convenience store outlets that are easy to get to (many of these people can’t afford cars).  So they are eating too much junk, which leads to many health problems.  People are getting heavier, and need to check out the 7 day fat burner extreme stuff. Poor eating habits not only lead to obesity, but to diabetes, heart disease, etc.

I think this is an awesome idea.  Right now, I live in an area that has easy-to-get-to supermarkets out the wazoo.  When we were broke and had no car, we could always just take the bus to the local Stop & Shop.  But I have lived in areas that lacked decent supermarkets, and it was always a production to get to a real store, and not have to buy my food from places like The Skeevy Corner Store.

Since this takes place at the library, I hope it will lead to getting more people to learn how to cook.  Buying fresh ingredients and cooking at home are not only healthier, but will save money.  Libraries have cookbooks that patrons can borrow, to get recipes and ideas for meal planning.  And since a lot of low-income people cannot afford to buy computers and internet access, they can also use the library’s computers to visit the many cooking blogs and websites to get recipes…all for free!

And maybe…just maybe…being in a library might encourage people to read more in general, and read to their kids, for those who have them.  I mean, borrowing books is free there!  Buying books is expensive.  And there probably are many people who never thought to go to the library.  But if they go there to do the grocery thing, they can also see all of the other services the library has to offer.  For free.

Eating healthier helps save money for everyone, even if they don’t use this program.  Better health means that the government won’t have to pay out so much for Medicaid/Medicare patients, many of who would use the program.  And some of that money could go to keeping the libraries open for everyone to enjoy…in a time when too many libraries are being forced to shut down.

Sounds like a win-win for everybody!

Yeah, I know I said I was going to make my own makeup box.  But that changed when Mike and I were at this outdoor store called Cabela’s, where I saw these fishing tackle box inserts.  They were pretty cheap, well under $20 for a four-pack, looked like a good solution for my BE makeup storage needs.  So I bought a four-pack.

I don’t own anywhere near as much BE makeup as some women I’ve met on message boards and stuff, so my collection only filled two of these boxes.

This box holds all of my eye shadows, as well as items also in the smaller containers.  I can fit a lot of them in here because I can set them sideways and still get the box closed.  At the top, I have sections for lip colors and eye stuff like mascara, eyeliner, brow gel, etc.  As you might be able to tell, the vertical dividers can be removed.  But the long horizontal ones can’t be moved.  If I had known that, I would have looked further.  But, oh well, I’ll make do with what I have, it’s better than what I HAD (which just involved throwing it all into a bag, where it was hard to see what was there).

The “medium” sized containers will not fit sideways, not if I want to close the box. So they go in this way. These are foundations, Mineral Veil, Bisque, etc.  I also made spaces for my Kabuki brushes, which will not fit into the brush roll (which you will see in a few moments), as they don’t have long handles.

Now we have the large containers, which do not fit at all, since I can’t move the horizontal dividers in these things. They are a foundation, a 25 SPF Mineral Veil, and a Soft Focus Glee.  If I were to use one of these boxes for travel, I’d leave the foundation and Mineral Veil at home (since I have  a smaller 25 SPF MV), and dispense some of the Glee into an empty smaller BE container.  I have a foundation that’s about to run out, I’ll just use that container, and put in in the same place in the box where that old foundation was.

This is my brush roll case. I got it for free when I was in the BE club, where I was getting foundations auto-shipped to me. I’ve since canceled that, but the freebies were nice. This came with a couple of brushes that I didn’t already have.  You can also purchase a similar brush roll at a BE Boutique, Sephora, or any other good cosmetic department or beauty supply store.

And this is what it looks like when it’s opened up. One of each brush I own, except for the Kabuki brushes that are in one of the boxes, are here.  I have a few duplicate brushes, due to getting them in kits and all, but I keep them aside until the old ones wear out and I need to use them.  No need to waste valuable space in the brush roll on them!

So I only used two of the four boxes I bought for almost my entire BE collection.  No doubt I will need more boxes someday, and I can always buy more if necessary.  But my plan for now is to use one of the empty boxes for my travel kit.  I can take whatever makeup I want to use on the trip out of the other two boxes and assemble it into a kit that will fit easily into my suitcase.  The brush roll can just go into the suitcase as it, it doesn’t take up much space.  This will be nicer than them all jangling about loose in a bag, they will be easier to find and use.

So there you have it!  And you don’t have to go to Cabela’s to get boxes like this, any place that sells fishing supplies will have these.  My only suggestion is to get them slightly larger, if you have more of the large BE containers than I do.

I’ll be going to the one in Manchester, NH this year.  At first, I wasn’t going to bother, but the way things are scheduled, it works out that I can go.

The event will be held at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Manchester on April 30-May 1.  We already had plans to be in Manchester on Sunday, May 2, only, for a New Hampshire Fisher Cats game; I thought about getting a hotel room and coming up on Saturday, but decided against it.

But then, we decided we wanted to see “The Full Monty” at the Palace Theatre in Manchester.  The Hilton Garden Inn in town has a special theatre package, where you get a room, two tickets to whatever show is playing, breakfast the next day, and free shuttle transportation to the theatre.  We opted for the May 1 show, so we’d be in town the next day for the ball game.  We also got an excellent rate for the package, just $129.

Then, I got an email reminding me to register for CKC Manchester if I wanted to go.  I looked at the dates…the show is in the evening, the convention is in the daytime (well, the shopping part and some of the classes are)…so May 1 was doable.  So I registered…no classes yet, but that could change.  I’m more interested in just walking around in the Vendor Faire and seeing what they’ve got for sale.  I don’t want to pressure Mike to get moving so we have to get there in time for me to take any classes, plus, I don’t feel like lugging a kit of supplies along.  All I really want is to have a couple of hours to look around and shop.

Mike doesn’t have to go in with me, I just registered a day pass to the Vendor Faire for myself.  He doesn’t like going to these things, just as I don’t like going to his model train shows.  If we get into town before 2PM, he can always just hang out at the hotel bar and have a beer.  Once it’s 2PM, it will be time to check into the Hilton Garden Inn, he can go and do that, and I can just walk over when I’m done with the show.  It’s not a long walk, but long enough so that I won’t be wanting to use the fitness equipment at the hotel.

The reservation is in my name, though…would they let him check in without me?  I’ll need to find out.  I guess I could check us in at 2PM, and then go to the convention.

Anyhoo, it’s been a few years since I’ve been to one of these things, and I am greatly looking forward to it!  If you are interested in attending a CKC convention, here’s the website where you can see if and when there is one near you!

…to go back to school and get a degree.  I’ve heard of people who graduated from college at age 100.  They really didn’t do anything with the degree at that age, they just wanted to be able to say that they did it.  I think that’s cool!

Sometimes I wonder if I should consider going back to school, so I have something to fall back on if something should happen to Mike.  I can’t really go back to restaurant work, too strenuous for me now.  But what about an online business degree?

I spend enough time online anyway, maybe I should actually do something useful with the time, and study.  And who knows, with an online degree, I might just be able to get a decent job, and help us save up for retirement all the faster.

In addition to no commute, another big advantage of online study is that it’s less expensive. I was reading about how Western Governors University is one of the most surprisingly affordable online colleges out there. So if I did decide to work toward a degree, I would not have to go heavily into debt.  We’re just getting Mike’s student loans paid off now, I wouldn’t want to run up too much debt of my own.

Something to think about, maybe…