The ABCs of Reading

Yesterday Sparky was on a field trip with her daycare to an old-fashioned country school house. While there, she wrote her name with chalk on a small slate. This is a big step for her, because she is only 4 and because she wasn't asked or encouraged to do it by her daycare teacher, Miss Amanda.

She couldn't have done this a month ago, but Miss Amanda has spent a lot of one-on-one time with her. Although already knew, mentally, the importance of reading tutors, having the results right before my eyes just reinforced what I already knew.

I hope Sparky continues to have success in learning to read, and learns to truly love reading. But there may come a time when she doesn't love reading because she's struggling with it. If that happens, I won't hesitate to consider getting her a reading tutor. Her literacy is just too important not to.

This has been a sponsored post.

An Important Resource

As I expand the scope of this blog, I hope to add links to lots of resources that readers will find helpful in one way or another.

Part of living a simple, healthy and frugal lifestyle is living a life free of addictions and dependency. Addictions and dependency are expensive, not only in the obvious sense of the word, but also in terms of lost health, decreased productivity, relationship problems and/or counseling, medical bills and the cost of drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

I hope none of my readers or loved ones ever has to seek out drug or alcohol rehabilitation. But if they do, I hope they start their search with Rehabs.biz for a comprehensive listing of rehabilitation facilities in their area.

This has been a sponsored post.

Crafty Savings

In my spare time, I like to do crafts. My favorites are knitting, crocheting and cross-stitching. It’s always fun to go to a craft store and look at all the new things. But the next best thing is shopping online AND saving money on craft supplies using Joanne.com. coupon codes.

Joanne.com and many other online shopping coupons are easy to find at www.couponchief.com.

After all, who doesn’t like saving money?


This has been a sponsored post.

Vacation Savings

Our family recently took a trip to Omaha, and it took me quite a while to find Hotel Discounts for our stay. We were looking for a hotel that was both affordable and had the amenities we desired. Cheap hotels that are also clean and comfortable are often hard to come by. The hotel where we stayed was more than adequate, but in order to get the best deal possible, I had to book it “sight unseen”, meaning I didn’t know for sure which hotel chain we’d be getting. As it turned out, it did have the swimming pool we’d wanted, but it was an outdoor pool and the weather was too cool to use it. An indoor pool would’ve been more desirable, but all I was able to find out, in order to get that deal, was that it had a pool of some kind.

I had searched through several of the online travel/hotel locators, but if I’d been aware of Hotelreservations.com, my job would have been so much easier. Their website is a cinch to use, and allows searches based on city, address, or available amenities, like that indoor pool. The search results can then be sorted by best value, price, quality or alphabetically by name. Once a hotel has been selected, reservations can be made online or over the phone.

In addition to hotel reservations, Hotelreservations.com allows users to find and book flights, vehicle rentals, vacation rentals and vacation packages. Because of the nature of Spouse Guy’s work, we don’t have any plans for a longer, farther-away vacation any time soon, but I’m sure the vacation rental feature will come in handy in a few months when we plan a 2-3 day getaway for our 8^th anniversary. I’ve done a couple of quick searches already and have come up with some interesting possibilities. And I feel confident I can find the best rates using Hotelreservations.com.

If you’re planning a trip, check them out:

This has been a sponsored post.

Changes Are On The Way

Changes are on the way at Blogarita's Kitchen, and among them will be occasional sponsored ads. While some readers may be against ads on blogs, I've decided they're fitting on a blog that will soon be not just about recipes, but about living a frugal lifestyle. Feel free to read them or skip over them as you prefer.

A penny saved may be a penny earned, but a penny earned can easily be a penny saved. Ads on blogs are just one more way to make (and save) a little extra cash.

So many of my blogging friends have chosen Pay Per Post as a way to boost their income that I decided to give Pay Per Post a try, too. Why not make a little money doing something I love?

If you’ve been thinking about ways to make money while you blog, give Pay Per Post a try. You’ve got nothing to lose.