Back in the Day

Here is a video that an old buddy of mine from my days in the United States Marine Corp (wow... that makes me sound like a REALLY OLD MAN, which I am not... a man that is!). The video is pretty fantabulous!

This video represents what he is doing now.

Your Cleaning Lady product review

On a recent shopping trip I was looking for steel wool pads. I was just about to grab my usual box, when I saw a new one by Scotch Brite Never Rust Soap Pads they look just like steel wool but they are made of plastic. My first reaction was... so what, plastic scrubbies never work for the real cleaning jobs. But I thought I should try it, to know for sure.

When I got home I opened it up, they look the same except for they are blue. I set out on my quest and grabbed my cast iron skillet from last nights dinner, I had burnt some taco meat into it, and was just too tired/lazy to look at it. I brought it over to the sink added water and started scrubbing. And WHOA! It was coming right out fairly easily too! Amazed I ran place to place, scrubbing, it is pretty good stuff, it even worked on old soap scum.

I am still nervous about using it on things like metal sinks, or scratch sensitive areas, but otherwise A+ for sure. My favorite part of this is it is made from recycled material... specifically, the pad fiber is 100% recycled (100% post-consumer material) and the box is 100% recycled (35% post-consumer material). So it is also good for the environment.

I found mine at the 99 cents store, however they are in new packaging in many stores, hardware stores, and online

this blog is in no way associated with Scotch Brite its company and its affiliates.... its just a review ya'll

The power of cash... another day at Financial Peace

Why do you think cash carries so much power when you’re looking for a bargain?

Though I don't have a particular moment that sticks out in my head from my personal experience where I was the purchaser; I do however remember my cash customers.

When we had the glass shop store front, we decided not to carry credit card, which some tell us they would have been able to purchase alot more glass. But it was a personal decision long before Dave Ramsey, that was stimulated because of our discontent with credit card fees etc. Even then, when a customer came in with cash rather check, there was a feeling of security. Because cash is solid. Cash doesn't bounce or come back as fraudulent, well as long as you have one of those nifty pens, and it doesn't get a hold put on it.

It also helps purchases move faster to, no waiting periods or wondering if it will go through. Cash is trustful, because credit may be good but temporary, at any time decisions can be made and payments put on hold, and lets face it when we can't make a payment, it doesn't really matter how many fees are added on... it still stinks.

The other nice thing about cash is that it is a way to stay within the perimeters of spending. If you can really tell yourself and believe that $20 is all I have for this purchase, because your looking at a $20 bill and dust in the wallet, then 1 of 2 things will happen; if you really want it you will negotiate or find it for that price, or 2 you will just have to wait.

... and waiting doesn't kill you and neither does negotiating!

A taco without cheese!!!!!

So yesterday, I was at Taco Bell, and they have all these signs up with this incredibly scrawny chick, describing her 50 pound weight loss with her "drive thru diet" I was thinking to myself, how incredibly fat I felt at the moment. Of course they made a life size version of her next to the line. Now as you may have remembered I had been on a challenge and had lost some weight, the bad news is, when the challenge stopped, I also stopped challenging myself. I let myself go back to the old excuses using my pain issues, time, family, etc. The good news is I still remembered the things I learned, and have not gained, my pants size is still the same too. I'll take that.

However, As I was standing there I realized I need to push myself. So I ordered the Chicken Ranchero soft taco, it has something like 140 calories and minimal fat I think about 9 grams. Now this taco has only chicken, lettuce, salsa... thats it nothing else, no cheese, sour cream, yummy red sauce, nothing!!! You see, when I order say a bean burrito, I get extra cheese, extra sauce, and easy on the beans, so everything fits.... that means I raised the calories from 370 to 410 and the fat from 9 to 12! Thats just the burrito, interestingly the fiesta bean burrito is 340/8 so not much off from the regular item.

So does this new fresco menu release us from checking labels and making thought out decisions... no, while researching this article, I learned that, Christine aka... scrawny chick (I can't wait till one day I am scrawny chick) has a favorite, or so says all the marketing for this newish menu, and that is what I ordered the Chicken Ranchero soft taco. According to the the Taco Bell Nutrition Calculator which is awesome, the Fiesta version is 170 calories to 4 grams of fat while the regular version is 270/14. I think that is pretty significant a difference.

Now this thing was pretty good, surprisingly! Once I mentally got over the cheese hang up, I enjoyed the flavor of it. So it is something I will order again, and again. And the nutrition calendar was pretty easy to use, and you can customize it to include all the special things you do to it. So check that out for sure, just not on your iphone while you are at the counter ordering, cause that would stink for everyone else... just sayin'