Salad A Day Challenege

I'll be joining Stacy and blogging about eating a salad every day starting October 1st.

Now, I'm no culinary artist, especially since my tastes are pretty simple, but I'll try to update every day like Stacy on my progress and what I eat.

I'm doing this to help support and encourage her ;) Plus I could stand to eat more leafy greens myself.

Salad A Day Challenge

2009 Indiana State Fair Photography Entries

I Am The Light Of The World
Human Interest, Natural Color



A Hard Day In The Life Of A Cat
Insect/Animal, Natural Color



Window To The Soul
Portrait, Natural Color

Hopefully they all get displayed. I think they are pretty strong, but I don't know if any will win anything. Photography can be found on the third floor of the Family Arts building next to the Midway entrance. Also check out my scrapbook entries (if I manage to get them done, lol).

Frugal Friday #3

Summer is a great time for cheap getaways.

Camping at your local state park is a great way to save on accommodations. While camping has a bit of an upfront charge when starting out, in the long run it saves a lot of money and gets you out in nature.

My husband and I picked up a nice 2-3 person tent on sale one fall from a discount store for less than $50. Add some blankets or sleeping bags, a cooler, some firewood, a flash light, and some bug spray and you are all set to camp.


Check out
http://www.indiana.reserveworld.com/, or find your local parks department for more information.

Happy Camping!

Frugal Friday #2

One of the appliances with the most energy consumption is your water heater, regardless of whether you use gas or electricity to power it. When the water enters the tank it is cool and is heated by the heater. Once it reaches a threshold set by the thermostat the heating element turns off. It doesn't stay hot forever though, so periodically it is heated back up. The higher your water heater thermostat and the more you use hot water, the more energy is needed to heat it.


One way to decrease your hot water usage is to do laundry with cold water. There are even products out there geared towards cold water laundering. Since moving into the new house, I've been doing laundry in cold water and have not noticed any difference in cleanliness.

Bonus Tip:
Turn down the temperature of your water heater thermostat to 120 degrees.

Since I have a strong dust mite allergy, I have to wash bed linens in water that is at least 127 degrees to kill the offending boogers. Since I wash bed linens one day a week, I think it might be beneficial to turn up the thermostat for just one day a week and turn it back down to 120 when I am done.