Blue Jean Boomer

New Updates From the Blue Jean Boomer

2010-10-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, Life is crazy at times, isn't it. Plenty of time one month, too little for the next several months. Today I have more than the usual so I've been doing lots of researching and writing - very enjoyable, I must say!

At Debt Help Ideas, I found some great info to share with you about two very reputable Christian Organizations that help people in debt. Larry Burkett was my "mentor" through his great books decades ago, and I'm pleased that his good work and ministry is continuing and multiplying. You can read about both of these ministries at Debt Help Ideas.

Also at Debt Help Ideas, I have a fun Rednesday post up with ideas, information, and ebooks about starting a work at home craft job business! I was visiting a knitting store recently and was astounded at how busy it was early on a Tuesday morning. Knitting and crocheting is alive and well and looking GREAT!

I oooohed and aaaaaahed at some of the delightful knit sweaters and mens and womens scarves they had there and asked if they were available to purchase. The saleslady said, "No. You have to make your own." All well and good for my friends and family who are awesome at knitting. But me, not so much. Plus I'm staying too busy writing.

The same is often true for high-powered executives who are too busy pushing the glass ceiling to be able to have time to knit. But wouldn't they LOVE to wear some of these gorgeous hand-crafted fashions. A light bulb went off - what a fun way of earning money at home while taking care of the kids and grandkids. And just for you, I did a bunch of research and found others who have done exactly that and written about it. I'd love to hear what you think about them. You'll find the article at Are You Interested In Stay At Home Jobs Like Knitting for a Profit? After all, earning money at home is a great way to pay off your debts and start saving more! :)

Well, that's it for now. Off to find more interesting information and ideas to share with you - all about creative and/or practical ways to save money as well as making extra money at home!

Spring is Springing!

2010-03-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

The snow is gone, the sun is out, the rain is delightful, the thunder is loud, and the wind is WINDY! It's spring. Almost, anyway. It doesn't actually arrive for a few more days, but I am so ready for it! Are you?

It's hard to believe how fast time is going. A time change this week, official spring next week, St. Patrick's Day in the middle. And then Easter, followed by tax day, Mother's Day, and beyond.

I'm getting tired just thinking about it. Guess it's time to head for bed and let this sweet spring fairy say hello. :) Have a terrific week!

Merry Christmas! Having Fun With Cookie Cutters!

2009-12-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

Hello! How are you doing? I'm doing great! I just started another blog - this one is all about cookie cutters. My grandkids and I have so much fun with cookie cutters and I thought you might as well. We use them for cookies, we use them for Play Doh, we use them for playing with. They are very practical!

I'm Thankful for the Holidays

2009-11-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

I've got it. Do you? What is it? It's the sense of excitement brought on by the holiday season. We had a delightful time for Halloween. My little grandsons came over and wiggled and giggled while showing off their cute Super-Hero outfits and having fun adding goodies to their bags. My granddaughter got to go to on a longer trick or treat trek with her girlfriend. Then they, also, headed back here to help hand out goodies and treats.

Well, that's it for now. Have a GREAT weekend! :)

Bea

Websurfing Fun

2009-09-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

I had a great time surfing the net, reading interesting blogs and even left a comment or five.

My favorite sites tonight included:

Miniature Bibles Make Great Christian Gifts at Christian Career Tools. Those were the cutest and tiniest Bibles I'd ever seen. They could make great conversation starters for non-Christians or a special Christian gift for a tiny tot. :)

Red Palm Oil Popcorn at GNOWFGLINS had the great idea to use the very healthy Red Palm Oil for their popcorn machine. My son loves to cook his tortillas in that and they are tasty and healthier. I'm going to have to give this a try as well! :)

WebHomeUSA had a cute article, The Best Sayings In Real Estate: From "Location, Location, Location" to "Traffic, Traffic, Traffic", listing a ton of different quotes common to real estate and real estate agents. My favorite was "(After bringing in a rubber stress ball brain) When you go home tonight, take your brain with you." Very funny! :)

Well, I hope you had fun "websurfing with me." Now I'm off to finish my popcorn, while I bounce on my Ginormous stress ball desk "chair," and then I think I should start planning on a special Christian gift for an upcoming birthday party! What do you think?

Pool Toys And Fun In Our Inflatable Pool

2009-08-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

My grandsons and I just enjoyed a fun summer afternoon in their postage stamp backyard as they played in their inflatable pool which is 6 feet by 10 feet. It filled half their backyard but made for a full-sized fun experience for them.

Today's favorite swimming pool games included them taking turns throwing floaty pool toys in front of them, then jumping onto them. Sometimes they would choose to land hands first and sometimes chest first. My brave oldest grandkid even gave feet first a couple of tries, enjoying it immensely.

They had a delightful time playing this game and I had a great time watching them. Their inflatable pool is definitely worth its weight in gold.

This Baby Boomer is Always Learning

2009-08-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

I'm having a lot of fun learning new things this week. For instance, I just learned how to add TwitThis to my blogs, including this Blogger blog. Now, if you read an article you like here or on one of my other blogs, all you have to do is click TwitThis and, voila, it's easily done. Apparently TwitThis has also added an option to let you find new tweeple to follow that I'm also checking out. I'll have to let you know how I like that down the road. :)

Speaking of Twitter, I've been having a great time over there reading and sharing lots of interesting info. A few of my favorite items of interest include:

An interesting About site showing how to make all sorts of miniatures for model train enthusiasts (my husband LOVED his HO and would have loved to find his old O set. Plus he was toying with going smaller, to the N). Those who love miniature dolls and houses will also appreciate this site - Printable Doll House Scale Popcorn Machine and Popcorn Containers using free printables.

One of my kids is hoping to get some country property. If they do, I'm going to send them this site - from @LighterFootstep: A Glorious Gallery of Rot: Compost as Art (Pics). The compost pile is icky or beautiful -- or both! As a member of the Baby Boomer Generation with a grandpa who had a huge garden, I grew up watching my grandfather's compost pile. I am very aware of the beauty and the eww factor of a compost pile. But having seen, up close and deliciously personal, what that compost site can do to a garden, I know it truly is a beautiful thing! :)

I know my fellow members of the Baby Boomer Generation are probably very good friends with vinegar. @thriftylivngmom has some great suggestions for even more good uses for it.

That's it for today. Have a TERRFIC week! :)

Great Week With Family

2009-08-01T23:22:00.000-07:00

This summer has definitely been a busy one - what with writing, blogging, babysitting, playing with grandkids, and traveling. It's going quickly, and before you know it, AUTUMN will be here. As you might be able to guess, I'm HAPPY about that. Not JUST because of cooler weather (though I must admit I'm melting a bit as I type this), but because I LOVE Autumn, Harvest time, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!

How about you? What's your favorite season of the year? :)

What Do Popcorn Machines and Twitter Have In Common?

2009-07-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Popcorn machines and Twitter both have lots of popcorn in them! Granted, you can’t just scoop a bag of popcorn out of your computer directly from Twitter, BUT you might luck out enough to have some yummy popcorn mailed to you.

@KernelEncore is the Twitter name for Kernel Encore. Kernel Encore makes over 180 different popcorn flavors. That’s a LOT of flavors! They use their Twitter account to tweet some of the flavors hot off the press, err stove? When they have online or store specials, they sometimes make them just for Twitter followers. That’s when you get a chance to get a free goodie. If you live in Orlando, Florida, where they are based, you get to go into the store to get it. If you, like me, live a looooong way away, and you win, they will mail it to you. Now that’s my idea of a tasty tweet!

To enter their Wednesday drawings for 12-flavor sampler packs of their gourmet popcorn, just follow them on Twitter. After that, each week you have to tweet about them at least once. When you do so, make sure you use either @KernelEncore -OR- Kernel Encore. You can talk about their popcorn however you like. One new tip I just discovered last week, that I notice they’ve learned as well. When you want all your followers to read something, never put the @name first. Because of a change Twitter made, those will only go to the @name. By putting it further in the tweet, all your followers can see it AND the @name person still gets it in their mentions box. In other words, don’t put "@KernelEncore" at the beginning of your tweet. Put it in the middle, the end, but not the beginning.

That’s all you have to do. They’ll be searching, they’ll find all our crunchy tweets and they’ll pick one randomly. How great is that!

As they explained, “We'll announce the winner on Twitter sometime each Wednesday. The winner can stop in for a box of their own choices from our available flavors or we'll ship you a variety (our picks).”

I don’t know about you, but as soon as I post this, I’m going to go enter for their drawing next week. :)

Popcorn Machine Toppings

2009-07-16T19:52:00.001-07:00

Did you know that the Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa (D) has a popcorn machine in his Senate office? They use it to entertain guests from his home state of Iowa, where popcorn is grown. I'm sure it's great for parties to celebrate a bill being passed. And, as Senator Harkin likes to say, "in our office we gather around the popcorn machine, not the water cooler.
In fact, they have made such good use of their popcorn machine, that this past March they got a brand new machine. Not too shabby when you consider that their previous machine was 25 years old! Talk about reliable!

Unique Stress Balls

2009-07-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

A handful of cute and unique stress ball posts I thought you'd enjoy.

Here's a site where the stress ball is actually a hat with a cute little ball at the top. You can knit one yourself. Just the knitting may help you de-stress a bit:

Here's some stress balls to make with your kids .

LifeHacker has a similar set of stress ball directions but with slight variations, which is why I thought I would include both. I would use several balloons on any of the stress balls you make, as the commenter noted in the first article.

Some other fun stress balls I spotted include:

A globe-shaped stress ball that is also a yoyo! How fun! It would be a stress reliever on 2 fronts!
For those looking for interesting promo items, how about white helicopter stress balls with your company name and number right on top – The white color makes the company name very easy to read!
Have you spotted any interesting or unique stress balls around? If so, leave us the link so we can check them out.

Popcorn Machine From the Old Biltmore in Florida

2009-07-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

The Belleview Biltmore in Florida is in the process of a three-year, $100 million makeover and they're having a "yard sale" like you wouldn't believe! Would you believe it, there is even a popcorn machine for sale.

The grand piano is $5,800 and the mahogany bar is $3,800. That makes the red, pushcart popcorn machine seem like an out and out steal at only $175.

If you're interested in giving it a try, the Belleview Biltmore's liquidation sale is scheduled to last for 45 days and it apparently began on Thursday, July 9, 2009. The schedule is 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call (727) 441-9690.

If you go, let us know what you think of the sale, the popcorn machine, and the hotel itself.