Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The apartment I used to live in, we affectionately called “the cave.” Believe me, I use the term affectionately with the most venomous sarcasm. We called it “the cave” because we just couldn’t get good cell phone reception there.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say we were the inspiration for the Verizon “Can you hear me now?” commercials. Reception was so horrible that we were lucky if we could get even just one bar! Most of the time, we’d have to step outside on our patio to talk and even that was no guarantee. Talk about frustrating!

I wish I had known then about this nifty little product called a cell phone repeater. It boosts a cell phone’s signal and strength. Depending on your needs, there are a variety of products for buildings, vehicles, boats and RVs. They even have a portable version so basically you can carry your WiFi with you.

Thankfully, I no longer live in “the cave” but now I know a great Christmas present for my friend who still lives there.

At first, I thought she’d paid too much for hosting, but once we started working on the Over 40 site and I saw all the features she got, I was stunned. Let’s just say, I was and still am impressed with Host Monster.

Regularly $6.95, right now they are running a special of $5.95 a month. With that you get:

Free, instant set-up
Free Domain included (or free transfer if you already have a domain)
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Host UNLIMITED Domains
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SSL, FTP, Stats
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That’s just to name a few. They have so many more free features as well.

I have to tell you, the unlimited hosting space, unlimited band width and the ability to host unlimited domains with unlimited emails on one account for one price, is worth the price of admission alone. I know when my own domain is up for renewal in January, I’ll be transferring to Host Monster.

So if you’re in the market for a new hosting company, Host Monster is the best bargain around. Check out their site and see for yourself.

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I first started soaping back in the early nineteen nineties, when I was in my ‘long haired hippy’ phase of my life. Okay, I’m STILL in my long haired hippy phase of life, but in the early nineties, I was just starting into that phase. I started soaping because I thought that it was more natural, more organic, less harmful to me or the environment.

I thought that stirring the soap pot for hours would be meditative. It was something, but I’m not sure “meditative” was the right word. However, even with the sore muscles, the failed first attempts at soap, I started to like the actual process of making soap.

This was something that I could do, when everything in my life was going crazy. I knew if I could control the process, I could control what the product was. It was very cause and effect. There is something very satisfying about being able to take a solution of lye water, a few different oils, some essential oil for scent, and make something that is strong enough to clean car grease off me (even when commercial heavy duty soaps don’t work) and yet still be gentle enough to be a daily facial cleanser.

Making soap helped me to keep my sanity when my then husband left me, and I ended up having to move cross country. I had the skills, I could always make soap.

Eventually, I moved up to the big time and bought myself a stick blender. OMG you wouldn’t believe the difference that made! Where before I was able to stir a batch of soap ’til it was done in three hours of vigorous stirring, now, it only took fifteen minutes! It was a godsend, let me tell you.

The convenience came with a price though. That three hours of repetitive exercise was time I was able to take to slow down, think about whatever I wanted or needed to. I worked through a lot of problems and insecurities during those three hour soap stirring sessions. However, with the stick blender, I could make more soap in a day. So somehow, it worked out.

I still had my time to work through things.

Finally, after years of making soap, I decided to start experimenting with the formula. I learned what oils made for better soaps, milder soaps, harsher soaps, and what oils to just never use because they really never worked. And I discovered the heaven that is chocolate soap.

That is a meditation all in itself, both making it, and bathing with it.

It has been at least fifteen years since I made my first botched batch of soap, and I’m still getting out the soap pot and the oils and the lye. The government has made it a little more difficult to buy some of my ingredients (lye is now suspect, and it’s hard to get local sources for it, but it is a necessary ingredient in soap), and sometimes, the batches still get botched, no matter what I do right. Humidity or lack of humidity, heat and cold all make a difference in the batches.

But whenever I’m stressed out, I still go to the garage and make soap. No matter how it turns out, it still is my time, to think, to work through issues, and to enjoy when the soap turned out perfectly.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go make some chocolate soap.

The problem is huge and planet-wide, and it’s easy to feel helpless and like nothing you do matters. How many drops does it take to fill a bucket? What can you do to be a part of the solution and not the problem? It’s easier than you think to contribute to the well-being of Mother Earth, and it’s the little things that count.

To save the planet and fight global warming will take a commitment to green living. It’s not as hard as it sounds, and there are little things every person can do that add up to making a big difference. A good place to start is to reduce or eliminate junk mail.

Americans receive almost 4 million tons of junk mail every year, costing 100 million trees. A quarter of a million homes could be heated by just one day’s supply of junk mail. Unsolicited junk mail that you throw into the garbage, filling landfills and eating trees at an alarming rate, contributing to the overall problem of pollution and global warming. According to the U.S. Postal Service, in 2005, 100 billion pieces of junk mail were sent by US companies. This is 300 pieces of mail for every man, woman and child. The cost for this junk mail is huge — 2.6 million trees every year! The Consumer Research Institute documents that 44% of bulk mail remains unopened, but the average person spends 8 months per lifetime opening junk mail.

How to get rid of junk mail? Even better than recycling or sending back the unwanted mail, preventing such mailings in the first place is a good plan. How do you stop junk mail? By registering with a company such as GreenDimes Junkmail Reduction Service. Not only will they work to get your name off the mailing lists, they’ll also plant a tree just for signing up. Now, there’s two more drops for the bucket for the price of one, and a subscription to their premium service includes the planting of five trees. To date, GreenDimes Junkmail Reduction Service has planted over a million trees.

GreenDimes Junk Mail Reduction Service offers a free plan, plus a premium and bundle service. By utilizing their services, you can fight global warming, save trees, protect forests, reduce clutter and get organized. It’s a win-win situation, and many drops in a bucket eventually do make a difference.

The planet is everyone’s responsibility, and while global warming remains a volatile subject, the truth of the matter is, the solution is in our own hands. When millions of people choose to opt out of receiving useless junk mail, the impact will be felt to the center of the millions of acres of deforested land. Green living is easier than you think, and the small changes by all of us are what will lead to a healthier place to live.

Sign up for Free and we’ll plant a Tree! Stop junk mail and catalogs.

Is there anything better than sex?

Just like a sexual relationship between two people, both coffee and chocolate are passionate partners. You can have one or the other, but put them together and that’s where the real magic begins.

I can’t start my day without coffee. Sorry, can’t do it. It’s ugly and people get hurt. I have two coffee makers, just in case one malfunctions. I’m picky about coffee, too. I need it fresh, I need it hot, and I need it now. Fresh roasted coffee beans are preferred. All I desire is that first cup in the morning, and I’m good to go. Now and then, I indulge in a pick-me-up in the form of a latte or cappuchino during an intense writing session, but normally I practice moderation. Although, I can be tempted, and bribed, by the enticing aroma of roasted coffee beans or the heavenly fragrance of gourmet coffee perking in my coffee brewer.

The same goes for chocolate. I consider chocolate in a class all by itself, above and beyond simple “snacks”. It’s like sweet caviar, or a rare and smooth scotch. Something to be savored and lingered over, not something to be crunched and swallowed in haste. The velvet way it melts on your tongue, the sensuous, silky, chocolaty taste igniting the fires of flavor and bliss.

Aaahhhhh.

There’s a secret that many fancy chefs know and utilize – the flavor of coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate. Oh, what decadence! Adding a shot or two of expresso to brownies, or to a Death By Chocolate Cake brings out the best in chocolate, a marriage of flavors not only memorable, but legendary.

Boca Java provides both, and to take advantage of a great offer, Click here to have some chocolate with your coffee. You’re worth the indulgence, and you can Click here for a 20% off coupon on your order with Boca Java.

How many people have you known that has remodeled their house and ended up going through “Contractor Hell?” A lot, I bet. When my sister remodeled her house she kept complaining how the contractor would show up one day and then not come back for a week. The cycle was repeated over four months or more.

If you’ve ever watched a “Flip This House” or “Flipping Out” episode on one of the home improvement channels, even professionals who deal with contractors of all kinds everyday have problems.

Even if you talk to a friend and ask about a certain service provider, that person may have gotten great service when the majority of people didn’t. The exception always proves the rule.

In 2006, consumers lodged 9,380 complaints against general contractors with the Better Business Bureau-14th place out of 3,578 industries rated. And home-improvement contractors racked up 2,568 complaints, placing them in 61st place.

In 1995, Angie Hicks founded Angie’s List with 1000 members in Columbus, Ohio. Since then it’s grown to 124 cities with over 165,000 members.

Over 5000 reports are filed on Angie’s List each month. More importantly, no contractor can pay to be ON the list. Ratings are strictly member driven.

Angie’s List includes 250 service providers. Everything from Architects, Plumbers, Florists, Pooper Scoopers, Physicians, Insurance Providers, Appraisers, to Watch Repair and more.

Membership includes access to the List anytime you need it by signing in to the website. You can also give us a call to start your search. Neighborhood Specialists are available via phone six days a week to answer questions and help you search the List. You’ll also receive their monthly magazine, which contains articles, interviews and advice. If you paid for your membership you will receive a hard copy of the magazine in your mailbox. If you sign up for a free membership you’ll receive our e-dition in your email inbox. Your membership also includes access to our complaint resolution service if you ever run into problems with a service company.

So why take a chance on the phonebook when you have reviews and ratings from thousands of everyday consumers just like you? Angie’s List is an affordable solution that in the long run will save you time, patience and most of all, money.

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Years ago, my husband and a friend had an idea to make islands, such as Aruba, a “connected” nearly wireless place. Although they had the brains and idea for it, they didn’t have the connections or business knowledge to know where to start.

Now, a mere ten years later, if you go to Aruba, you can have internet in your room.

A few years ago I signed up with my bank’s “rewards” program. We initially signed up with United Airlines, in the hopes that we could earn enough points to fly somewhere, anywhere. The hubby and I used to joke when we visited our favorite restaurant/bar, “we’re drinking our way to Russia.”

What I later found out was that those points expired after 18 months! 18 months? Are you kidding me? No way the average American, who doesn’t fly or stay in hotels can earn enough points in 18 months to do anything!

This is cool! Enter Points.com
. A place where your hard earned reward points will not go to waste. I love the idea of this and wonder, as someone who’s been “internetting” for years…what took so long?

There are people out there that I know have wondered the same thing. Maybe we didn’t have the contacts or the business knowledge to figure it all out…but someone did, at last.

Points.com
allows you to trade your reward points with anyone in the world! At the very least, you can swap your points for a gift certificate from a retailer.

Honestly (and trust me, I’m a cynic) this is one of the coolest things I’ve seen come along in a LONG time.

Points.com

I gave up my rewards card long ago, frustrated that my points wouldn’t amount to nothing. If I had a rewards card, I would definitely check this place out.