The Midlife Woman

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Shopping Alert: 4 Day 4G Sprint Smartphone Sale

This post brought to you by Sprint. All opinions are 100% mine. Being a satisfied Sprint customer for twenty plus years, sharing this smartphone deal is my pleasure. In my opinion, Sprint is a sound phone company, who has provided me many affordable opportunities. In fact, one such deal resulted in owning a smart phone. Oh boy, I do love my new smart phone!! This special offer has two options, which came as no surprise to me. Typically, Sprint offers multiple deals because I do believe they realize customers needs vary. Both deals require a new line of service or add on to an existing Sprint account. First on the deal list is the Nexus S™ 4G. You can get this smartphone FREE when you open a new line of service or add to your existing Sprint account. The Nexus S™ 4G features include built-in Google apps, integrated Google Voice™ service, 4G speed, and a fast processor. The exterior has a...

Dig, Drop, Done – Think Spring Flowers is February

This post brought to you by Bulbs. Dig, Drop, Done.. All opinions are 100% mine. Do you love the gorgeous flowers and their wonderful springtime colors? It’s only February midlife woman, have you lost your mind? DigDropDone.com ignited the spring garden planning idea for me. The onset of February truly is time to begin planning that spring garden. I found the information about bulbs to be fascinating and more importantly, quite doable with little more than planning and water. A flower bulb is a marvelous self-contained bundle that transforms into a brilliant, colorful bloom. Within the bulb is practically everything the flower needs to grow and bloom! In laywoman terms, a bulb contains baby flower bud, leaves, roots, stem and food supply. Place it in the ground at the right season, offer up a liberal amount of water as required, and tah da beautiful flowers soon follow! Dig, Drop, Done provides all the information you need to grow breathtaking...

Valentine’s Day is only a few weeks away. I prefer not to “go big” on this ancient, and nowadays excessively commercialized, day of love. You see, our wedding anniversary is barely one month later, and to me a more appropriate reason to splurge. This year we are celebrating 25 years of marriage, woo hoo! I‘m a practical woman or perhaps midlife has matured that youthful dreamy romantic gene. Either way, I never was a material girl. An expensive yet beautiful bouquet of roses is a waste of money in my opinion. Moreover, my thinking is diamonds are appropriate for long lasting love occasions. An expensive anniversary or engagement-sized diamond is an excessive gift for Valentines Day in my humble opinion. Rings or another jewelry piece with sparkling diamond accent chips is more acceptable for a Valentines Day gift. After all, how many pieces of fine jewelry do I really need? In fact, when hubby and I married, my diamond...

The Best Meals Happen at Home is a true statement and one that I personally support for a variety of reasons. I love to cook and believe there is nothing finer than a home cooked meal. After all, Food is a universal language. Many a problem has been solved around the dinner table. In fact, Hubby and I insisted the family eat dinner together. This afforded everyone time to share daily experiences. My boys, and the other youngsters that we helped raise, support family dinners now even though they protested at the time. It is rewarding and amazing to discover the true impact of our dinnertime rule. So, when myblogspark offered the opportunity to join Publix, General Mills, Campbell’s and Unilever in this promotion I simply couldn’t refuse. Furthermore, personal experience has proven a delicious and nutritional dinner can be prepared both quickly and economically. Looking for a super quick dinner recipe the kids will surely enjoy. Try this...

Make-do-and-mend has taken on a whole new meaning in recent years. Fast throw-away fashion made the original make-do-and-mend culture virtually obsolete. Why get the sewing machine out to fix a hem when we could pop out to the shops and buy a new dress for the same price as a trip to the movies? Now though a growing number of people are going back to basics and taking responsibility for their own style. Customising clothes and making new from the old is a great way to save money and get your creative juices flowing. Whether you get involved out of necessity to make your money go further, or because you are fed up of wearing the same thing as everyone else, there is a form of customisation of everyone. You don’t even need a sewing machine; you can start with a basic sewing kit of needle, thread, scissors, ribbon and sequins. For a super easy way to jazz up...

Traveling on a budget usually gets a bad rap. When people hear the words “travel” and “budget” sandwiched next to each other, their minds immediately flash to eating potato chips and gas station hot dogs for dinner, staying at a hotel that looks like it’s straight out of Hitchcock’s Psycho and watching other tourists partake in exciting tasks like helicopter tours and zip lining. Sure, that might be the portrayal of traveling on a budget, but it definitely doesn’t have to be the reality. There are ways to be budget savvy and still travel like a high rolling pro, to an extent, of course! Check out these tips for how to have an amazing trip without running your bank account clear into the ground. Home Swaps Why pay for lodging when you could just have it for free? Home swapping is the latest and greatest way to have permission to stay in a stranger’s apartment in Paris, nose around...

Carving Out “You Time”

Every year, you find yourself saying that you want to do more things that make you happy. But, instead, you spend your days working, catering to the needs of others, running errands, paying bills, filing taxes and completing all of life’s endless obligations. There will always, always be tasks to finish. Putting them off for just a bit won’t hurt. They’ll still be there when you get back. Check out these simple ways to indulge yourself for free, or even cheap, and enjoy a little ‘you’ time more often. Movie Marathons or a Television Series Snuggling underneath a blanket with a bag of popcorn, a few chocolates and your cat or dog, turning on a movie and staying put for a few hours is one of life’s simple pleasures. Do your best to block off one Saturday afternoon a month to spend reconnecting with your favorite movies, watching new ones, or going through a television series on Netflix...

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. Don’t you just hate it when insurance companies make network changes? Oftentimes even when the changes improve ones health benefits they still have a negative affect. For many people, changing their doctor or pharmacist is more than a simply driving to another building. Relationships and trust are a very important aspect of health care and wellness. Being forced to alter ones health care choices based solely on money driven motives is an outrage! One example of this diminishing of wellness is the Walgreens and Express Scripts contract negotiations. For the past year Walgreens has been in negotiations with Express Scripts to continue as part of its pharmacy provider network. Those contract negotiations were unsuccessful, and the contract expired on Dec. 31. Beginning January 2012, Walgreens is no longer part of Express Scripts’ pharmacy provider network. This includes all Walgreens pharmacies nationwide...

The retro look is definitely back in fashion. Interior designers are turning back to the 1950s for inspiration when it comes to art, colors, and furniture, but would they like to actually live in those times? Many of us dream of a simpler time, when it was possible to disconnect for a while, and not feel like you’re always connected to work thanks to the Blackberry, email, and social networking. However, we forget about all of the other technological advances that we enjoy these days. If we had to give up our Siemens appliances, electric showers, dehumidifiers, and zip taps, would we really be happier? The Daily Routine In the 1950s, people had to work a lot harder. Husband and wife would both arise early. The man of the house would leave for work while the woman would get the kids ready for school, and make a start on the housework. 1950s women were encouraged to take pride in their...