Many people opt for contacts but I have to tell you, that’s not going to work for me.  I don’t even like putting eye drops in my eyes when they are red from lack of sleep.  I do not like putting a thing in my eyes.  Even when I do go and get my eyes checked out and the Doc does that puff of air in my eye, I question him on his “credentials”.  (Really, I do.  I ask him, “I understand you graduated but WHERE in your class did you graduate?  Were you near the top?") That is how much I hate things touching my eyes or anywhere near them.

So when the time comes, I’m getting glasses.  Besides, glasses can be a fashion statement just like your clothes.  You don’t have to get boring glasses, you can get some that send a message about your personality or character. 

Of course, no one wants to have to spend a fortune on glasses because they break, are lost, get scratched, etc.  And these days, people are looking for deals where ever they can find them.  So, I’m here to share that if you are in the market for a good pair of eyeglasses, you can find some cheap eyeglasses at Zenni Optical.

Now, let me tell you, the FIRST thing I noticed about this site is that they have a place where you can upload a photo of yourself and then compare frame shapes and sizes to your face so that you will know what kind of glasses look the best on you.  When you shop online, you pretty much take a risk that the clothes or shoes or whatever will fit and look good.  At Zenni Optical, they took that risk away.  It’s a great feature and reminds me of a “make over” CD I had a long time ago. 

Navigating the pages are extraordinarily easy.  You start off by narrowing the field down between children, men or women.  (You can even pick unisex if you don’t like the typical type for your gender.)

You pick your price range, prescription type, shape, (after you have uploaded your photo and played around a little), and then type.  You can also narrow the field down by color.

One of the more interesting choices in type is holiday themed eyeglasses.  Yep, holiday themed.  Here’s an example:

Pretty neat, eh?

How about these?

I would totally wear these types.  I would look awesome AND I would save tons of money.  They’re under $20! 

I can see you, laughing at me wearing snow man glasses but you have not seen me in them, one, and two, you might want to close the pie hole because with the money I just saved, I could buy you a better gift for Christmas than the one I was planning on getting you.  You wanted a cool travel mug or a nice warm Chamois shirt?  Alright then.  Unless you want me to buy you a holiday themed sweater with a horrid looking, crooked Christmas tree on it, I suggest you start oohing and aahing when you see me sporting my Snowman glasses, mmmkay?!

Course, some of you are like me and think holiday themes are cool as all and would like to get some for yourselves.  Ok, then click that link above and get over there.  Start searching.  They have themes for all kinds of occasions, not just Christmas.  How about you go take a look and come back here and tell me which ones you would get.

Then we can all look stylish and smart together.

One more day.  Just have to go tomorrow morning, race home, throw food at the pets and the hoodlums outside, get changed, go to the next one, work until evening, race to the third one, work there for a little bit and then, finally, at LONG last, after 28 days, I will have....

A DAY OFF!

In fact, I worked it so that I am getting four days off.

IN!
A!
ROW!

I have NO idea what I’m even going to do with myself.  It will feel like a lifetime.  In the extremely limited time I have had, I have done all my major chores like going to the dump, the store, etc.  All I will have to do in those four days is clean up the cat box and dishes but other than that?  I don’t have to do a DAMN. THING.

The first day?  I intend on staying in bed in my pajamas the entire day.  In fact, I’m going to bring my laptop up to my room so that I don’t have to get out of bed at all.  The second day?  I might do more of the same!  If it’s not horrible outside, I’m going to give the hoodlums a good bit of time out there since they have been so neglected in the “running around outside like morons for a good hour everyday” bit.  They’ve been REALLY good about it and I want to reward them handsomely. 

The third day, if it’s not snowing or the roads are not covered in ICE like they were today, I have plans and will discuss them later but that depends on weather.

And then!?

I STILL have another WHOLE day left!

I’m beside myself with joy.

Ok, on to the next paid bit.

You go to the store to get food or whatever it is that you need and look for the best prices that you can.  Even then, you still calculate, at the end, just how many hours you had to work to pay for those groceries or other items.

“Dang, that was 5 hours of work for that!”

Many of us work hard.  About the last thing we want to do is part with what we earned from that hard work.  But, there are things in life one must get and sometimes, it would be nice to get something fun or “just because”, as well.  What’s the point in all that hard work if you never get to treat yourself to even something small?

The best way to treat yourself and not feel guilty about it later, is to save up the money you didn’t spend when you paid the bill.  And the best way to save is to find the deals.  And a great way to find deals is to visit Savings.com.  You can find all kinds of deals at Savings.com.

For example, this year is the first year in ages that it actually feels like Christmas.  The weather outside is cold and icy, (hopefully snow soon), smoke wafts from chimneys keeping the occupants warm and spreading a smell of comfort through the air, festive decorations have been put up by the town and some of its residents at their homes so I thought, “This year, because it FEELS like Christmas, I want to get a tree and get presents for the pets.”

One of the best places to shop for pet supplies is at Doctors Foster and Smith.  I love that online store and I have shopped there a number of times.  If I go to Savings.com first, I can get up to 50% off of some of the cool stuff available simply by activating a coupon.  Fifty percent off!  I can buy the pets toys and collars and meds if they need them and save the money I have worked hard for this past couple of months.

With the money I saved by activating the coupon at Savings.com, I can buy WARMER clothes at either JCPenney, or KMart or the store that sucks me in every time, Target.  (You must pronounce it “Tar Jay”, (soft J).) Yah I got some warm clothes preparing for this winter season but the other day it was 9 degrees.  Nine.  Degrees.  And the wind was blowing.  It was a little painful.  So if I’m going to be out there being all festive this holiday season, I’m going to need warmer clothes and not freeze to death trying to spread holiday cheer.

The best thing is that I can go through Savings.com and YET again! I can save more money while I shop at Target looking for the warmest coat they have.

Take a look around.  They have deals not just on clothing and pets, you can find deals on grocery store items, home and garden, electronics, books, cell phones, etc.  You can also use the “local” feature by putting in the search bar what you are looking for and then your zip code.

Sweet, eh?

So this year, the pets get Christmas and I get to stay warm because Savings.com wants me to keep more of my money and anyone who helps me do that is A-OK in my book.

I don’t want a news article with quotes that say, “maybe”, I want someone to show me definitive proof.

I am disgusted with what I’m hearing from my fellow Republicans and the lame stream media saying we should just stomp on over and “take care” of Iran. 

On what grounds?

WHAT GROUNDS?

They MIGHT have one in the near future?  Where is the proof?

Also, let’s play that game, let’s say we all believe, without proof, that they have one.

Ok.  And?  What about it? 

Other countries have them...do we go and attack all the other countries who have them? 

We have them.  So we can have them but no one else can?

Did Iran make a threat to us?  If so, show me where that is.  Show me the evidence.

What, Israel might be in trouble?  Are you serious?  Israel?!  Do you know how many weapons Israel has?  Please, IF Iran threatened Israel, by the time we got our troops assembled, Israel would level them.

So, again, show me proof that:

a) Iran has or will have, “in the next couple of months” a nuclear weapon and that they aren’t just working on nuclear ENERGY

b) Show me where Iran has threatened us with that nuclear weapon

c) Show me proof that we cannot possibly defend ourselves against that threat AFTER it is made

d) Show me proof that Israel can not take care of itself should it be threatened

Please, explain to me how, exactly, “taking care of” Iran for a “maybe” is going to bring about peace?

And while we’re at it, please show me, exactly, how meddling in to RUSSIA’S affairs is going to be a good thing for us?

AND, please show me proof that if China gets involved, we won’t fuck ourselves royally?

This is all b.s. and fear mongering and people are eating it up. 

And also, please show me how us, the U.S. getting involved in “nation building” (what a farce), over the last 60 years has benefited us?  Please show me how this has worked? 

The argument is, we have to go there and be preemptive.  Ok...so for 60 years we have been preemptive. 

And yet we STILL GOT ATTACKED ON SEPTEMBER 11TH!

So how the hell did that work out for us?!

Here is what happens when you meddle in other countries for political reasons...learn your history:

Seriously, watch the entire thing.  I dare you.  Don’t be afraid of the truth.

UNLESS, you heed my words here and start shopping smart and stop stressing.  First of all, you have at least another week to get a handle on things so relax, have a cup of hot cocoa, add the marshmallows if it will help, sit back, and clear your head.

Is your head cleared?

No?

Go get another mug of hot chocolate.

Ok, NOW is your head cleared?  Ready to listen?  Good.  You do not have to worry.  No need to panic.  The answers are here.

The very first thing you need to do is head on over to BestOnlineCoupons.com.  You can find coupons for all kinds of places such as DELL, (awesome), Target, Best Buy, Tire Rack, etc.  Ok?  They have coupons for jewelry, electronics, toys and games, cameras, etc.  They have coupons for interesting gifts such as event tickets, gifts for your pets, movies, music, flowers, cell phones, shoes, and even eco-friendly items.  You are bound to find something for everyone on your list.

Alright, you’re starting to chill out, you’re thinking you just might have this but I see the anxiety rising again...."But...how will I get it in time!?!?!”

Did I not say to heed my words?  Listen.  On the same site, they will tell you not only which stores have what deadlines but also still help you out in the coupon department.  Interested in gifting something from Apple?  No worries!  Check out the Shipping Deadlines for Christmas 2011 page and you will see that for some Apple products, you have between December 20 and December 22 to get your order in.  That is a week away.  You have time!  In addition, you can save up to $100 on a New Mac and printer!  It’s insane the savings!

“Gasp!  I forgot to get something for my brother’s new step daughter!  Oh noes!”

Again...relax.  Scroll down the page, see there where it says Toys R Us?  Yes, you can still find toys to buy and ship off up to December 22.  Not only that, if you use the coupons available to you through the site, you can get up to 50% off or you may find some items are “buy one get one free” and you can get FREE standard shipping.

Disney, (up to 40% off of your fave Disney items!), Fashion Bug, Baby Phat, Cabelas, (for the sportsmen...$440 off Humminbird 798 Ci Si Side-Imaging Sonar/50-Channel Internal GPS Receiver Combo Now: $759.99....seriously?  Do you have any idea how happy you will make someone with this gift and you saved over $400!!!!!  (But hurry, you only have a couple of days left for that deal)), GODIVA, (free shipping on $60+ and up to $75 off on some items), Golf Galaxy, (99 cent shipping, up to $75 off on some items)...the list seems endless.  There are gifts for men, women and children all with coupons, all with deadlines a week or so away, all ready for you to calm down, think clearly and start ordering. 

It’s going to be ok.  We move fast in this country, remember?  This isn’t how it used to be when you had to have everything done a month in advance, in some places, you can shop up to THREE days in advance and still have it arrive in time.  All you have to do is click your mouse a few times, use Best Buy Coupons, and you will have a handle on this year’s Christmas shopping.  This site makes it easy, you don’t need to sweat it.  Make everyone believe you have it together and are well organized. 

It’s the website that is well organized, you just have to click and have it shipped.  What on earth could possibly be any easier? 

Now, because I told you about this and because BestBuyCoupons.com put together such a fantastic site, you owe the both of us a nice plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk.  You are welcome. 

And to be honest, I think it’s BECAUSE of those highlights that most days, I just do. not. have the energy to go out and do more interesting things.  It seems most of the “interesting” things happen to me by complete accident and against my will. 

Most days I just want to chill out, do boring things and sometimes, the highlight of my day is sitting back and watching the fish swim around in their little fishy world.  It really is calming....once things are back in balance after a move and fish stop dying on your watch.

The dogs are high strung and don’t bring me peace.  Sure, they make me laugh.  Sure they are fun.  Sure, they are cute.  But peace?  Ha!  Forget it.

The cats are relatively peaceful until they get all uppity with each other and start hissing contests and swiping at each other or hacking up hair balls or climbing my fricken black out curtains leaving little claw holes all over them making them NOT black out curtains any more....growl!

I throw food out to the squirrels and birds outside, (holy crap I’m getting old...that’s what old people do), and watch them scamper about but it’s not necessarily peaceful because I have dogs in the house, behind me, whining behind the closed door because they want to eat the squirrels, please, open the door, let us out so we can chase and eat the squirrels.

No...the only ones who are peaceful and calming to watch are the fish.  So, I hope this substrate change over works.  I’ve been studying how to do it with minimal damage and I think things are going to look much better, stay cleaner longer, (and easier), when I get the corys they will be in heaven and the plants will hopefully thrive beyond belief in the sand.  If only I could get a job working from home where I could sit next to the tank and work, and not have to commute, it would be just about perfect.  If I made enough, I’d send the hoodlums off to “doggy daycare” to get out of my face for a few hours so I can just relax.  Don’t take that wrong, yah I dig ‘em but there was a reason I did not intentionally seek dogs...I’m not sorry I have them, I’m just fricken tired.

Ok, on to the next one.

I can’t even tell you the number of sunglasses I have gone through when I drove the air boats and even plowed through a few pair here in Maine.  By the time you add up all the money I’ve spent on cheap-o shades, I could have easily afforded a pair of Versace sunglasses.  For one, the color, meaning the coating, isn’t going to peel off easily, if at all.  I have walked around with flecks of coating on my FACE because of my cheap shades.  (Not that anyone bothered to INFORM me!) Also, while any glass can scratch, again, these sunglasses are high quality and won’t scratch nearly as easily as others. 

What makes Versace different is simple, and succinctly put by someone, somewhere:  In Your Face Luxury

The style is very distinctive, creative as well as more artistic than any other glasses, being inspired by the Greek culture, making it highly recognizable.  Many of the big name celebrities wear these glasses making them even more sought out by people around the world and in Europe, Versace is the king.

If you want sunglasses that last, that won’t leave you with flecks on your face, (that’s so much fun), that look better than any other sunglasses out there, stop spending your money on garbage.  Save it and invest in an exceptional pair of shades that not only protect your eyes from the glare of the sun but make you look good, as well.

I’ll bet you didn’t know I have an aquarium.  Yep.  I have cats and dogs and it’s easy to talk about cats and dogs to just about anyone but unless you are really in to aquariums, no one seems to be interested.  But, I have to fill some space so today, I am going to talk about my aquarium. 

Isn’t this exciting!?

To start, it’s a 40 gallon tank, what some may call a “breeder” tank meaning it’s not tall and it’s not what they call, “long”.  Anyway, it is ever changing as I’m always thinking of new ways to design it.  Right now I have gravel, black gravel, but have some sand I’ve had and never opened and am thinking I’m going to change it over to sand.

That ought to be loads of fun.  And I hope I don’t kill any fish in the process.  And I wish I would have started out with sand in the first place.  We’ll see what happens.  I’m thinking I’m going to do that when the Christmas weekend gets here because I’ll finally have time off to be able to do it and monitor and not have to rush off to yet another job.  For four days, I get to sit on my butt, at home, and do whatever I damn well please.

Actually, I have some plans for Christmas but you don’t get to hear about them yet.

So, I have live plants, I know some of the names of those plants.  I don’t get hung up on names, never have.  Even back when I was really in to music, I knew the name of the bands, of course, but didn’t give a crap about the name of the band members.  Everyone around me was all, “Oh that’s Jello Biafra” or, “That’s Morrissey”.  Yah, who cares.  I don’t give a crap what their names are, I just like the music.  Same with clothes.  Don’t care about the name.  Do I like the way it looks?  Ok, then I’m getting it, who gives a shit who designed it.

Same with my plants.  I like the way they look, I try them out, I see if they do well, I keep them if they do.  I don’t give a crap about names.  I have a couple of them that are thriving to the point that I’m thinking I may have to sell off the cuttings.  I don’t remember what they are called, (I’d have to look it up), but I love the look and they grow well so I can take cuttings and plant those and basically have a nicely planted tank for the price of a few plants.

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with live plants.  I don’t do the CO2 b.s.  I don’t fertilize.  I just stick the plants in and hope for the best and thus far, the best is happening.  So anyway, I have about 20 plants...some of those are the cuttings of the one I mentioned earlier.  Some of those are sword something plants...grassy type stuff that is supposed to spread and cover the bottom...excuse me, official lingo:  substrate, (eye roll), of the tank.  Not sure how those are doing because they don’t seem to be spreading.  Hence, why I think the sand might do some good.

So, black gravel, 20 plants and I also have driftwood, (dark), a medium sized rock looking decoration, a castle, (it’s not complete without a castle), and what I call my Lord Of The Rings Rock.  It’s a pretty tall decoration and it always reminds me of LOTR...that scene where...Gandalf...wait, wrong movie...whatever, see?  I don’t do names.  Anyway, the good wizard, is up on that tall, dark rock mountain fighting with the eyeball guy.  Mordor comes to mind.  Anyway, it reminds me of that rock mountain.

I also have, not in tank but soon will be in tank, a rock formation that will “elevate” some of the sand so it looks like I have different levels.  I anticipate this to look really cool and it’s high time I put it to use.  And then I have another rock formation that I have not used yet, either that I think I’ll add after doing the sand.

Ultimately, I wanted to start aquascaping and make it look all artsy and cool so my fish feel like they are not in a tank but out in the wild.

Speaking of fish...I have:

Six panda platys

And those panda platys had babies, (scuse me, official lingo:  fry, (eye roll)), and I did catch four of them and put them in the breeder net for a week but have let them go out in the tank and we’ll let nature take its course.  It sounds mean but wtf am I going to do with a whole bunch of panda platys in the tank?  If some survive, I’ll have to find a way to sell them.

I have four glo-fish Danios.  Need to get two more.

I have four flying foxes.

I have one bristlenose pleco.  (So he won’t get too big.)

I want to get four panda corys.

And corys like sand so another reason to finally use my sand.

In the past I’ve had a betta, in the huge tank and he was awesome and was going to do well but when I moved here, I couldn’t get rid of my cloudy water and panicked and put too many chemicals in and killed my betta.  That sucked.

I finally said, “screw chemicals” and got a UV light and now the tank is crystal clear.

I would show you a photo but I’m going to be changing things up and I want the plants to really take off with the sand substrate and then see what happens.  Plus, eventually get my other fish and have everything settle down and have been cool for a few months and THEN I will take a pic.  By that time, most of you will have forgotten I ever mentioned having an aquarium so I won’t ever have to actually share the pic.  Isn’t that neat how that works?

Ok, on to the money makers.

I love the layout, I love the stories, I love the science of it all.  It is going in to my bookmarks and you will, undoubtedly, see reference to it in the future.

From lightning research to rats to worms that have been successfully grown for 12 years in space, this is an amazing site for extraordinarily interesting, cool and awesome science. 

The site has been around since 1998, (think of all the science news I’ve missed...gah), and hopefully will continue to be around for a very long time.  They do talk science but they are also now offering coupons for travel.

Sounds weird?  Not really.  Think about it, scientists do a lot of traveling around the world looking for things, digging up bones, snapping photos of rare leopards, or attending conferences to learn and discuss with other scientists.  Well, they want to save money, too, just like you and me so SciTechDaily has a nice page set up filled with Orbitz promo codes.  They also have an entire page filled with Hotwire coupons. 

With these, scientists, or just those who can’t get enough of science, are able to travel around in rental cars, book hotels, flights, cruises, (what better excuse to get some research done), etc without spending more than necessary. 

And who knows...maybe on your travels you’ll discover something or photograph something that will baffle the science community and maybe, just maybe, you can end up on SciTechDaily featured in your own story.

Only 11 more days...then I finally get to have a full day off.  Not only a full day, but if I can wing it, I might actually get 4 days off IN. A. ROW.

It will feel like a vacation.  I won’t even know what to do with myself after running around from one job to the next for 28 fricken days, sometimes doing three jobs in the same day.

I’m exhausted.  I’m spent.  My sense of humor is pretty much NILL at this point.

Just make it through the HELL of this week, a little bit extra next week and then four. glorious. beautiful. long. days. off.

I can not wait.