November 19, 2014

Time for a good fall cleaning.

I'm interrupting your regularly scheduled blog reading to share some good news. We're doing some major housecleaning at This Is The Life I Have Chosen. The bad news - we'll be down for a few days. <wipes back a tear>

I'm moving from Blogger (where they own every post I've ever written and could delete them all at any moment, to WordPress (where I'll be self-hosted and I own my own words. I'll be the only one who can choose to take them down. Well, me and the hackers.).
None of this really means anything to you, other than I'll get to do much cooler stuff with my blog and it won't just one day disappear, never to be seen or heard from again. You have to do nothing new. If you subscribe, you'll still get posts and you'll still go to the very same website to find me. I'll just look a lot cooler.
I'm hoping we'll be back up and running by Monday. So go take a little bloggy vacay (I'll be hanging in Tampa this weekend soaking up the sun and hanging with some of my fav peeps), rest your eyes and we'll be back at it next week.
Hugs and you're welcome! post signature

November 18, 2014

Tech Stuff Tuesday * Holy Cats What Rock Have I Been Under?!

You're probably all going to laugh at me. Totally. And it's ok. I deserve it. Cuz I've kind of been an idiot. You see, I've heard about this Ebates thing before but never bothered to check it out. Have you heard of it? It's a website that you sign up with and when you shop online at your usual stores, you earn rebates and get some of your cash back. It's like free money. If by free money, I mean money you've already spent that comes back to you magically. It's kind of like a FSA plan but better since you didn't have to go the doctor to get the money back and you get cool stuff you already wanted.
Here's how it works:
1. Go to Ebates using this link (this is my personal "sign up my friends" link and yes <full disclosure>, I get credit if you sign up using my link. You can do the same with your friends) and sign up with your email address: Ebates Sign Up. That's it.

2. Ebates has over 1700 stores and vendors for you to choose from. Like Neiman Marcus, Sephora, Ulta, BlissSpa, Target (I possibly just listed all of my holy grails), Macys, Walmart, Kohls, ProFlowers, Amazon, Disney, Ugg, Overstock, TOMS, TheLadders (it's a job search site) H&R Block (yes, you can get a rebate for getting your taxes done. Finally . . . an upside). . . . you get the point. You start at the Ebates page after you've signed in and either look up a store or look up a product (like the Sorel Winter Boots I just bought. Hello warm feet while in Chicago next week for Thanksgiving). It will connect you to the store/product at a participating store. You make your purchase like you normally would and BAM. You just made between 2% and 50% back. The most common rebates are between 4% and 10% (I'll be getting $12 back on my boots purchase). And they even have the existing coupons that the stores are currently offering online for you. All in one place!

3. You can also download an Ebates button that sits to the left of your browser address bar. This makes the shopping even easier (and I've downloaded it myself, as you can see in the pic below). When you go to a website and the button lights up with a check mark inside it, that means you can just shop and that store will let Ebates know about your purchases for a rebate. If it lights up with an ! inside, then that let's you know to click the button so it can let the website know you're an Ebates subscriber. If it's neutral, that website doesn't participate.

4. Shop. Just like you normally do. If you're like me, you buy lots of the stuff you need online. Heck, I buy my favorite dental floss on Amazon because it's hard to find in stores. And now with little to no effort, I can get a rebate back for the shopping I'm going to do anyway (hello money back on floss).

5. How/why does this work? Think of Ebates as an aggregator. You know you want some Sorel boots (or new Hanes underwear or a coat. Whatever). You go to the Ebates website and either type in the item you're looking for or scan the stores that work with them. The stores love it because Ebates is going to help send you their way and they don't have to spend money on advertising to make it happen. Advertising is expensive, so they'll kick a little back your way instead. Much cheaper for them. And I mean come on - you're more likely to go to a store online offering you cash back for the very same product than you are a store that won't offer you anything back.

6. And you don't have to give Ebates anything beyond your email address and your street address if you don't want to. You can connect your Ebates account to a PayPal account or you can just have them mail you a big fat check or pay you in gift cards. So, your bank account is safe and sound and you're still earning cash back.

I'm pretty new at this, I'm ashamed to admit. So new that my boots purchase today hasn't shown up yet. I should have done this ages ago, but I just didn't take the time to learn about it. I have friends that have been using Ebates for a while now and they're making $100-$300 a month back! That's insane! Making that much back buying things that they would be buying for themselves and their families anyway.
I'm hooked. It's safe (no exchange of bank account stuff), smart (who doesn't want money back?) and I already know folks using it successfully and they have been for months. And just in time for all of the Christmas shopping. The Hubbs is even excited about it, and that's saying something when it comes to The Hubbs and shopping.
You can thank me by buying me something from Sephora with your Ebates rebate while getting another rebate because you're shopping at an Ebates store (utopia double dipping). And you're welcome. post signature

You Are Never Too Old * Your Daily Brain Vitamin v11.18.14

November 17, 2014

Monday Quickie * Now That We're Over Our Holiday Cocktail Party Blog Hop Hangover

I don't know about you guys but this past weekend went by way too fast. Crazy fast. Here it is Monday afternoon already and it was just Friday evening.

Last Monday we had the 2014 Holiday Cocktail Party Blog Hop where I gave you Mema's beloved and up until now tightly keep secret recipe for the Cherry Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Chip Frosting. I'm drooling just typing that. To. Die. For.

But there were roughly forty of us bloggers that got together to pull off this Virtual Cocktail Party and there were some other damn good recipes on that list. Like "get your tastebuds ready for an overload of awesomeness" kind of good.

So, in case you missed them last Monday, I'm going to round them up for you again right here. You should be all set for your holiday party recipe needs. Like, totally set. Even more set than that. Ok, ok. Here they are (be sure you scroll past the appetizers and cocktails, all the way down to the desserts! And click each recipe title to be taken to the recipe):

Appetizers:

Holiday Cranberry Baked Brie