2010 August

Budget Boosters

August 15, 2010 By Big Binder 2 Comments

Welcome to my new Monday series, Budget Boosters. I aim to bring you two things each week to help your finances. One to increase your income, and one to save you from spending it. Enjoy!

If you read any blogs in addition to BigBinder, you have heard about SwagBucks. Therefore, this post is pretty much dedicated to my Dad and my sister and the perhaps one other person who has somehow missed out on this SwagBucks thing. It’s basically a search engine that rewards you for using it. That’s all you have to do – just download the toolbar and search the way you would your normal, un-rewarding, non-paying search engine. I have never cashed it in for anything other than Amazon.com gift cards, but after 450 SwagBucks you get a $5 card. It’s not that it’s lucrative; it’s just money for nothin’ and personally; I think that’s sweet.

Just click on “Sign Up” and you are good to go! You get 30 points just for signing up, and if you enter the code “BackToSchool” you’ll get an additional 40 points, too.

I went through and downloaded the toolbar with my account on all of our computers, so even my somewhat deal-averse husband’s notebook has the SwagBucks toolbar on it.

For the saving portion of this episode of Budget Boosters, I bring you something I found on the Grand Rapids Public Library blog. I’ve told you before about checking out passes to local venues from the Library; but move over bacon. Now there’s something meatier.

The Grand Rapids Art Museum is offering a free trial membership to West Michigan library patrons from July 15, 2010 to October 15, 2010. The awesome part? Art Prize is within those dates.

The trial membership includes
• Unlimited free general admission to GRAM for you and one guest per visit
• Access to ArtPrize Member Events (!)
• Free admission to Friday Nights at GRAM, featuring live music, conversations and events
• 10% discount at the Museum Store

Just sign up by filling out this form.

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Filed Under: Budget Boosters

Recipe Roundtable – Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

August 15, 2010 By Big Binder 3 Comments

We are totally in our harvest season here, and I am loving the tomatoes, peppers, peaches, squash, and onions I am seeing everywhere! I’m going to make good use of the jalapeños with this recipe and give a little nod to the fact that football season has returned and has a new set of snack demands.

I want to make a quick note that I am getting terribly sick of bacon. WHAT? No – it’s not how it sounds. I love bacon. I just don’t think we need bacon infused vodka, bacon cupcakes, or lollipops. A piece of bacon should know it’s place. And that place is gently snuggling a fresh jalapeño, stuffed with cheese.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
4 minced garlic cloves
24 jalapeños
24 bacon slices (not cooked), cut in half
Ranch dressing

Soak 48 skewers or toothpicks in water for 30 minutes; drain.
Meanwhile, combine cheeses and garlic.
Cut jalapeños in half. Remove seeds and membranes. Spoon about 1 tbsp. cheese mixture in each half. Wrap 1 piece of bacon around each half, and secure with a skewer or toothpick.
Place peppers on grill rack and grill 9-12 minutes until bacon is crisp, turning frequently.
Serve with ranch dressing.

Share a recipe with us! This weekly feature is co-hosted by BigBinder and Sarah’s Deals. Each blog will host it’s own recipe, but share a common linky. The co-hostesses links will appear at the top of the list and you are welcome to join in.

Please link to your ACTUAL POST and not just your home page so people can find it easier. Also please put the recipe title in parentheses to help out the other readers. Old recipe posts are fine. While we appreciate a link back or the addition of the button above, it is NOT required. Thank you for participating!

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DaySpring – Pass It On

August 14, 2010 By Big Binder Leave a Comment

Yesterday I told you about my involvement with DaySpring’s Back To School With Purpose campaign. There are two more ways you can join me in participating.

First, you can win! Always a good way to get involved, yes? There are twelve bloggers giving away $100 worth of DaySpring back to school materials. You can visit each of them and enter their contest – those are good odds! It’s a short contest and closes August 16, so go go go! Here are the links:

Living Rich With Coupons

Kingdom First Mom

Angry Julie Monday

Deal Seeking Mom

Fashion Cents For Mom

For the Mommas

GOOD LUCK!! Let me know if you win something!

If you are a blogger, you can participate and support DaySpring’s $5,000 donation for Adopt-A-Classroom. DaySpring has partnered with Adopt-A-Classroom to bring needed school supplies to children and classrooms that couldn’t otherwise afford it. Adopt-A-Classrom increases opportunity for student success by empowering teachers with community partners and funds to purchase resources for the classroom.

Here’s how:

Creating a blog post about what it means to go Back to School With Purpose with specific rules described here.
DaySpring will donate up to $5,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom
You can tag as many people as you wish whom you feel live with purpose.
The DaySpring Back to School With Purpose campaign will officially begin at 12 AM EST on August 12 and end at 11:59 PM EST on August 21, 2010. Blog posts submitted before or after that time period will not be counted for.
The blog post link has to be submitted here for your participation to be counted.
In addition copy and paste the following text in your blog post:

DAYSPRING’S BACK TO SCHOOL WITH PURPOSE BLOG CAMPAIGN RULES:

Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
Create a blog post about what it means to you to go Back to School With Purpose and identify others who you feel are Living With Purpose in their lives – you can recognize as many individuals as you want.
Link back to person who gave you a DaySpring Award
Let each person you are recognizing know you have recognized them.
Leave your link at btswithpurpose comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #WithPurpose blog campaign, and more information about Back to School with Purpose with DaySpring there.
DaySpring is donating $10 for each blog participating in the Virtual Bag It Forward Donation to Adopt-A-Classroom (up to total of $5,000 for blog posts written by August 21, 2010).
Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation

Here is the photo you can use in your post, or create your own!

And with all that… I tag Glimpse of Sonshine. She has a huge heart and even though she homeschools I know she will want to help kids who can’t afford school supplies!

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Filed Under: PSA Tagged With: #WithPurpose

Back To School With Purpose

August 13, 2010 By Big Binder Leave a Comment

Did you know that I live in the second most generous city in the country? Salt Lake City thinks it’s so cool because it’s number one, but I’m still proud of Grand Rapids. When you think of Salt Lake City – what is the first thing that comes to mind? Mormons? Me too. Grand Rapids is known as the “Bible Belt of the North”. I don’t think the connection between lots of faith and high levels of giving are coincidence.

And speaking of thinking we are cool; Grand Rapids is always trying to get one of those stupid “Cool City” designations, which as far as I can tell is a sign the Governor mails to us after we open a certain number of coffee shops per capita.

Maybe cool and generous don’t intersect for some people. It does for me. I was truly honored that BigBinder was selected for Dayspring’s Back To School With Purpose Campaign. I received a stipend to shop for two back to school backpacks and fill them with school supplies; one for my child and one to give away. But you know what? My kids already have backpacks. We are not rich. Not by any means – not even by Grand Rapids means. But we have what we need, and I think living with purpose means walking the walk of generosity.

I also think it means spreading God’s word. The thought of “hiding the word” in these young hearts with some of DaySpring’s new back to school items is really exciting to me. Shopping for all of this was fun!

More check-ins at walmart

So - I decided to donate the entire amount to a back to school drive called ”Stuff the Bus“.

WLAV, 5/3 Bank, Dean Transportation, hand 2 hand Ministries, the Student Advancement Foundation and Amway (an amazing example of corporate generosity; I think they love Grand Rapids almost as much as I do) have joined forces to fill 2,500 backpacks for middle school students in the Grand Rapids schools as well as some surrounding districts.

The Back To School with Purpose campaign allowed us to give so much!

Are you fired up? Good! If you are in Grand Rapids, get some extra school supplies while you’re out and STUFF THAT BUS! It was super fun – and much to our surprise, there were Amway tote bags, cookies, and lemonade. In a can. Like pop. But it’s lemonade.

I hope you find that last part as exciting as my kids did.

If you live elsewhere, be sure to check out DaySpring’s Back to School With Purpose website. You can can read what other real life moms have to say about questions you submit. Tune in tomorrow for some more opportunities to get involved – and also, chances to win!

PHEW! That’s a lot of giving. And that, my friends, is cool.

I did not receive compensation in addition to the stipend from Collective Bias, DaySpring, or Wal Mart for this project. Well, I guess I kind of did, but I gave it away. Still – the new DaySpring line is awesome and that opinion is 100% mine.

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Filed Under: PSA Tagged With: Back To School #withpurpose, DaySpring

What to do Wednesday

August 11, 2010 By Big Binder 1 Comment

Well, tomorrow might just be a trifecta of family fun in Grand Rapids. First, check out the Family Literacy Day Parkapalooza at the Library. From there, head over to the Zoo and ride the swan boats. Try not to hit Nessie. Then, cruise right into the Zoo for Sundaes at Sundown.

Get your fill of outdoor goodness this Saturday at Blandford learning all about Frogs and Toads. Need more to do? Check out the full event listing of fun and frugal family events on BigBinder!

August 122:00 – 4:00 PM Parkapalooza Family Literacy Day at the East Grand Rapids branch of the Kent District Library. This is a kick off event for the Early Childhood Essentials Parent Education program.

August 12 Sundaes at Sundown, a special after hours event at John Ball Park Zoo. 6:30-9:00. $15 per person, but since it’s a benefit $10 is tax deductible. Go eat $5 worth of unlimited ice cream and you have yourself a deal.

August 14 Frogs and Toads program at Blandford Nature Center. 2:00 – 3:00 PM. Do you know the difference between a frog and a toad? You will after this program. $3.00 per person.

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Filed Under: Things to do Thursday

Top Ten Tuesday – Miserable Failures

August 10, 2010 By Big Binder 17 Comments

Apparently I have over-estimated my abilities several times in the past few months. Perhaps ability isn’t the correct word. Perhaps the correct word is discipline. Whatever it is, I’ve clearly haven’t had nearly enough. How do I know? Because it took me almost no time at all to come up with the Top 10 Things at which I am currently failing pretty badly.

This weekend, someone asked me if I was still running a 10K. The answer – it’s complicated. Yes, I am still running one. But no, I am not running one in October like I said. See, I called to get tickets to a vineyard tour and the only day they had left was the day before the race. And in my world; wine trumps running. Every. Single. Time.
Losing weight. Three pounds down, two pounds up. One pound down, two pounds up. The math averages about a net loss of a (big, fat) ZERO.
Getting my kids up earlier to get them ready for school. In fact, we are going in the wrong direction here. My son slept later today then he ever has in his whole life.
My friend Melissa had an awesome idea – let’s do a Bible study in the summer! And I thought for sure I would be able to do a little of the reading every day, rather than jam it all in the night before our weekly meetings. Nope. We are on week four and it hasn’t happened once. Apparently, something in me believes I can cram for eternity.
Giving up bleach isn’t going so hot either. I go strong for about three days, then cave in and can’t stop until I get a whiff of a sheet that smells like Clorox. I am trying so hard. I can’t quit you, Clorox.
I have an idea for a series I want to write that I have so much material for in my head I think I might start another blog. That is, if I ever get it out of my head.
Scrapbooking. I set up my little table, with my cutters and fancy paper. And there it sits. And sits. If you asked my scrapbook, not only do I not have any children, my husband is actually just my boyfriend and we are on vacation in Toronto. And it’s 2001.
A few weeks ago the carbon monoxide detector ran out of batteries and started beeping crazily to let me know. In the middle of the night, naturally. I swore at it, took it down, and left it on the counter where it sits presently; quietly detecting absolutely nothing.
My kids turn 5 and 7 in a few weeks and not only do I not have gifts chosen for them, I don’t even have any tangible plans for a party yet.
I switched my domain for Big Binder two months ago. I continue to cross off the old one on my business cards, write in the new one, and hand it out. Because that’s classy.

Strangely, listing all of these out doesn’t make me depressed. In fact, I am pretty darn happy these days. I just have this “to-do” list I’d like to be able to refer to as a “done” list sometime soon. Maybe tomorrow. Or next week…

This post was linked to Top Ten Tuesday at OhAmanda.

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Budget Boosters

August 9, 2010 By Big Binder 2 Comments

Last week, I tried to come up with a clever name for my new Monday series about money. I’d like to thank An Open Book for the suggestion to stop being hung up on the alliteration idea and jodimichelle for the name “Budget Boosters”. It totally works.

Sarah’s Deals has some great bargains this week (along with about a bajillion giveaways on her Blogiversary Bash). Here are some highlights:

Meijer

Smart Balance 1/2 Gallon Carton $1.99 use $2/1 coupon from 7/11Red Plum insert = FREE! There is also a $1/1 SQ on Meijer Mealbox, but not all stores will allow the overage.

Ragu $1.49 use $.75/2 coupon from 8/1 Red Plum insert and $1/2 coupon from Meijer Mealbox = 2/$1.23!

Welch’s Grape 32oz 3/$5 buy 3 and use 3 $.55/1 coupon from 8/1 Smart Source AND use $1/3 coupon from Meijer Mealbox = 3/$2.35!

Aldi

Gallon of milk for $1.59.

Family Fare

Coffee-Mate 16oz 10/$10 use $.75/1 Coffee-Mate Printable Coupon = $.25 each!

As far as making money, this week, I have an idea some of you think is gruesome. It took three different people telling me how easy and lucrative it is for me to give it a go. Several years ago, I broke down, and headed off to BioLife, which is one of those plasma selling places. It’s hard not to hang my head a little when I admit that. Shouldn’t I be donating blood, instead of selling plasma?

Except every time I try to donate blood, they say, “Oh, you little waif of a thing! You don’t weigh enough to donate!” . OK that actually happened once, and I was in high school, and they didn’t call me a waif, because I was only one pound under. It was after Pom Pon practice, and I was probably just dehydrated.

No; waif-ness is not the problem anymore. It’s teeny, tiny, roly, poly veins. Getting blood drawn for me is a nightmare. Getting an IV is more difficult than whatever procedure follows (with the exclusion of birthing babies). I beg for pediatric needles and occasionally, run across a kind and resourceful phlebotomist who obliges me. I wish I could tip them.

Yet I tried to sell my plasma. At the time, they were paying $25 every time you went. They did a really thorough physical, and the place is very clean and clinical-looking. Some of the donaters were a little scratchy, but most of them were fine. There is a little daycare room, and they watch your kids for you. It takes most people about 45 minutes. It took me two hours. I went through two phlebotomists and a nurse. I bled all over the floor and freaked out the other people with normal veins.

They gently asked me not to come back. That was not necessary, on account of it sucked.

However... I mentioned that three people told me they didn’t have any problems whatsoever with it, which is why I am mentioning it. They make several thousand dollars a year, and they donate blood, and their arms don’t look like those of an addict. It didn’t work for me – but it does work for some.

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See You In The Sandbox

August 8, 2010 By Big Binder Leave a Comment

This is a big election year for Michigan. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but our state is a mess. And of course you’ve noticed. It’s easy to get so frustrated you just want to give up. Or so depressed you have to shut it out and stop listening to the bad news. Or so discouraged by the ridiculous politics played by our Legislature in the past few years.

Well, I’m sorry. You can’t.

Michigan has some big decisions to make. Letting special interest groups in Michigan elect the next set of officials is too dangerous; but that’s exactly what is going to happen if we don’t pay attention. The primaries are over. It’s time to learn everything you can about these people who are going to Make A Change and Bring Back Jobs and Give Everyone A Pony.

I’m going to ask you to do something radical. I’m going to ask you to help me break the cycle of apathy. If your kids grow up going to the polls with you; hearing you talk about contacting your State Rep or writing a letter to the Governor I promise you we will return to what we are supposed to be:

A democracy.

Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry. I believe so strongly in this I will keep posting different ideas for you as we get closer to the election. I am not worried about what party you vote for. I just want you to go to the sandbox party with me.

Huh?

On Thursday, August 26 at the Breslin Center at Michigan State University, Great Start is hosting the Sandbox Party. It’s from 1-4 PM. It’s free. The Verve Pipe will be playing. There are 40 exhibitors, and the event is kid friendly. In fact, you are supposed to bring your kids. The gubernatorial candidates have been invited to speak, and there will be a ton of voter information for you.

Bonus for Kent County folks: the Great Start Parent Coalition has chartered a bus and will be providing transportation, pizza, and a fun trip (I’ll be on the bus after all…) to and from Grand Rapids. Call them at 632-1007 by August 16 and let them know you’ll be on board.

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Recipe Roundtable – Greek Tortellini Salad

August 8, 2010 By Big Binder 1 Comment

This weekly feature is co-hosted by http://www.thebigbinder.com/ and http://www.sarahsdeals.net/. Each blog will host it’s own recipe, but share a common linky. The co-hostesses links will appear at the top of the list and you are welcome to join in.

This is a great recipe for summer entertaining. It’s more filling than regular pasta salad, and it can be made a day ahead. Enjoy!

Greek Tortellini Salad

2 - 9 oz packages refrigerated cheese tortellini, cooked and or drained

2 red and/or green sweet peppers, cut into strips

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup sliced pitted ripe olives

1/2 cup rice-wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

3 tbsp snipped fresh mint

2 tbsp dry sherry

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp Morton’s Season-All Seasoned Salt (need a coupon?)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

In a large bowl combine cooked pasta, peppers, onions, and olives. For dressing combine all remaining ingredients except feta. Pour over salad/ toss gently to coat. Cover and chill 4 to 24 hours. Add feta cheese. Makes 12 servings.

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Things I Love Thursday – Taking the Train!

August 5, 2010 By Big Binder 3 Comments

A while ago, I told you about our friends Jen and Greg, who rode their bikes across the country; and popped in to see us. Well, they have added another member to their family and I was itching to see their new baby. She’s only four months old, but I knew I had to act quickly before she started training for some infant marathon or baby bike race or whatever crazy thing this child is going to do first.

Lucky for us, we didn’t have to travel far to see them. They were in St Joseph, because Greg was doing a triathlon. Because, all fathers of four month olds have time to train for a triathlon, don’t they? The truly remarkable thing? He does it all before Jen and the baby get up in the morning.

Why do these people even let me be their friend?

We decided to be all cool and whatnot, and take the train from Grand Rapids to St. Joe. And you know what? It was cool. You know what wasn’t cool? Something about a signal going off line and making a two hour trip a two hour and 45 minute trip. That’s a LONG TIME when you are 4 and 6 and have already been to the snack cart.

Oh, the snack cart. That was my absolute favorite part. There is nothing special about it, really. It has a pretty limited menu and was completely un-remarkable as far as quality. Getting something from the snack cart just seems like such a train passenger-ish thing to do. However, bear in mind that the train is moving, and try not to fall down on your way to the snack cart. This seems obvious. It’s not.

My absolute least favorite part was the first 10 minutes. As we headed out of town, we went past the scrap yards, junk yards, junky scrappy yards; it made me wonder if that version of Earth from Wall-E was a little closer than we thought.

And because I’m Dutch By Association (thinking of switching my blog name to VanderBinder). (Not really.) I need to tell you that you can get a AAA discount if you buy your tickets more than 3 days in advance. 20%! That’s enough for several crappy-but-delightful muffins from the snack cart.

And as far as St Joe? The town reeks like money. I loved it. There is a splash pad right in the middle of everything, and a block from the beach just in case having a beautiful, sandy beach on Lake Michigan with a nice playground isn’t quite enough. We were focused on our friends, their baby, and the race but there is a lot more going on in that little city. We’ll definitely be back, although, next time no one will have to have a baby or swim, bike, and run for 5 hours to get me there.