Great concept!

I've put on some weight during the course of my marriage, and so has my husband. I think most married couples would agree that between work, kids, church, and other responsibilities it's sometimes hard to make time for fitness. But if you want to live a long and fulfilling life, staying healthy has to be a priority.

When my dad started dating, he wanted to find a woman who was active and fit. If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have told him about FitnessDates. FitnessDates is the #1 fitness dating community on the internet.

And it's free! Just sign up, and immediately you can begin looking through thousands of profiles to find the men or women who have similar interests. One of the site features that I think is really cool is the "Little Black Book". When you add someone to your Little Black Book, you are then able to see information and photos that aren't viewable to everyone. It works the same way for you, if there is information you want to keep somewhat private, you can set up your profile so that only people who have YOU in their Little Black Book can view it. In order for someone to add you to their book they have to receive your approval, so it's very easy to control who has access to that part of your profile.

What are you waiting for? You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain by making FitnessDates YOUR site for fitness personals.

I prefer the word frugal.

I could spend hours browsing Overstock.com. It's one of those websites where you can find not only what you want at a good price, but even stuff you had no idea you "needed" before you visited the site. Why do I love Overstock? Because of their awesome prices.

Yes, I admit it. I'm a cheapskate at heart. I like nice things, but I don't like to pay full price. And that's why I just love this site for online coupons. They have Overstock coupons, Target coupons, even coupons for Restaurant.com, which is an awesome discount site in and of itself.

I mean seriously, can shopping get any better than this?

Striking it rich

I've blogged a few times about how much I like PayPerPost. Forgive me if I repeat myself. ;)

I signed up with PayPerPost in August 2006. Because my blog didn't meet all of the criteria I didn't actually start takings opps (paid opportunities) until February of 2007. Since that time I've really only made a small effort. I keep meaning to sit down and carve out some time to make this into a real part time job.

In the meantime, I've made over $130 just doing this sporadically. It doesn't sound like much, but I can't tell you how nice it is to get that extra $5 or $10 every week or two. I don't keep real close track of when my payments are due, so it always comes as a nice surprise.

Another benefit of working with PayPerPost is that I find out about cool sites and services that I might not otherwise run across. Sites where you can win prizes, price health insurance, even learn where to list free classified ads.

I've already decided to take a portion of what I earn from PayPerPost & reinvest it into blog marketing. The rest of the money is going towards my running gear fund.

Ever wished you could design your own sandcastle?

I know I did. As a kid I felt like I'd been cheated out of something, not living anywhere near a beach. The one summer we did go on a vacation to California, the weather was chilly and building a sandcastle wasn't even remotely an option.

I'm a grown up now, but I still love sandcastles. I still hope to build one someday, on a beach somewhere, on vacation. Until that time comes, I'll have to settle for building one at www.virtualsandcastle.com Tonight seemed like the perfect time to check it out, since the rest of the family is away at Scout camp.

The website has a fun interactive tool that allows you to Build A Sandcastle and decorate it any way you like. I know my kids will even get a kick out of this when I show them.

Building a sandcastle couldn't be easier. Everything is self explanatory. There's a click and drag tool, various flags and accessories, even a tool to color the sand. (I like the natural look, personally.)

If you want to send a fun e-card to family or friends, or if your kids just need an easy summer activity, send them to the website where they can Build A Sandcastle of their very own.

And now for the finished product.....drumroll please....



(Did I mention that the website is also a great source of information for your next family vacation?)

1-800-no-drugs

As a parent, I'm aware of the many problems that youth today face. There are some days that the idea of my kids growing up in this world just about scares my socks off.

As a teenager, I had several friends with severe drug addictions. In fact a boy that I dated for 3+ years eventually overdosed on heroin about 10 years after we broke up. So drugs is one issue that is close to my heart, and I wish there was more I could do to protect our children from its grip.

1800nodrugs is a non-profit rehabilitation referral program. You can call their number any time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and speak to a caring member of the staff who will help you to find a rehabilitation program for yourself, or for the person you love. The company prides itself on helping individuals find a drug rehab program that will meet their needs.

In addition the website offers information on various forms of addiction, resources, and relapse prevention. I am grateful that programs like this exist, and I hope that you will check out their website.

The Police: a group I grew up listening to, and they're still going strong

Win a New York fly-away to see The Police live!



I was pretty excited when I heard that PayPerPost was giving away free copies of The Police's new album, The Police. Unfortunately I wasn't one of the lucky ones who got a copy of The Police cd, but the group has been on my mind ever since.

What took me awhile to do tonight will come easy to you if you're a die hard Police fan. Below is a list of ten scrambled song titles from the new album, which was released June 11.






1 ualtofl
2 ouon ttxey
3 oylselno
4 nnebhg ttrhigoni
5 e etvekruaeyrhta boy
6 ycirysotnicn
7 irs a kut tnepwyonoifglos
8 as poidi sit larhitletrmernw
9 c rtdeleganbat a
10 esblnvisiun i

To see the solutions, scroll down a bit.


















1 Fall Out
2 Next to You
3 So Lonely
4 Bring on the Night
5 Truth Hits Everybody
6 Synchronicity
7 Walking in Your Footsteps
8 Spirits in the Material World
9 Regatta de Blanc
10 Invisible Sun

Deciphering the song titles was kind of fun, and reminded me that there are even more Police songs that I like than I remembered. I thought it was funny that Synchronicity came up underlined in my spell checker. Perhaps it's not a real word?

It may be cheesy, but of the 30 songs on the new Police cd, I'll be missing you is hands down my favorite. I just love that song. I am pretty excited that this 2 CD compilation has so many of the songs I grew up listening to from The Police.

Even more exciting? You can Win a New York fly-away to see The Police live. Can you just imagine how cool that is going to be? And hey if you win? Remember who told you to enter the contest in the first place. ;)

How do I love thee, PayPerPost? Let me count the ways!

At the risk of sounding like a PayPerPost fangirl, I need to tell you that I'm really excited about their latest offering. PayPerPost Direct makes it easy for advertisers to contact you (me! any and all bloggers!) directly through your blog with an advertising opportunity.

By placing a PayPerPost Direct badge on your blog (see mine above) you indicate that you are willing to take direct opportunities from the advertiser. By cutting out the middleman you get more of the money!

Let me explain. Let's say an advertiser sees my running blog and is wowed by it. (No stretch there. ;) ) He wants me to write a post reviewing his website that sells running shoes. Rather than listing the opportunity via PayPerPost, he can now contact me directly via my blog and the two of us can hammer out the details.

Now some companies would like to take anywhere from 50 to 100% of the payout for their (limited) services. Here's where PayPerPost rocks. If I had accessed this opportunity via the PayPerPost site, I'd be giving up 35% of what the advertiser is paying. (Still better than the competitors, don't you think?) But with PayPerPost Direct, I'm only losing 10%! That means if the aforementioned running shoe store owner is looking to pay $50 for a review of his site, I'm keeping $45. Not too shabby.

PayPerPost makes the whole process easy, from installing the code for the badge to ensuring that I'll get my payment & the advertiser will get a fair and well written review of his site.

Thanks PayPerPost, for making my life even easier...and more lucrative!

Cool new twist on the contest idea

When I first heard of Bid4prizes I assumed that it was similar to eBay. (OK, I guess the word prizes didn't register in my brain.) But then I went to the website to check it out and realized that it's not an auction site at all. It's a site where you can get AWESOME PRIZES for FREE.

The first thing you'll want to do is figure out which prize(s) you want to bid on. I am drooling over the Panasonic 42" TV and accompanying Bose DVD Home Theater system. The plasma TV is HD ready & the Bose system is just plain awesome.

The person with the lowest unique bid at Bid4Prizes will be the winner. Understand that although you are bidding, you are not actually expected to pay for the prize. The prizes are 100% free (that's why they're called prizes!). I recommend checking out the website to understand how the bidding works and you can even get tips so you know how to place the lowest bid. And hey, don't outbid me on the plasma!

Person.com is a pretty cool site

I visited a new site tonight (new to me anyway). Person.com has webcams, chat, personals, and more. I admit I was intrigued by the things that make this site unique.

First and foremost has got to be the live video cam. As soon as I hit the site I was immediately able to view various people & get a feel for what kind of person they are. It's nice to know what someone looks like & head shots don't always tell the whole story. You can open a chat window and chat and view at the same time, even.

What was really cool in my mind was the hot or not feature. I mean, I have never seen such beautiful people from around the world in my lifetime. Some of them could have been celebrities, they are that beautiful. The photos in this section are broken down by personal photos, studio photos, or erotic photos. I like that things are classified that way; there are no unexpected surprises.

Person.com also has a fun "Play and Flirt game". I haven't played it yet because you have to upload a photo to participate & I need to find one I like. But the idea behind the game is that you ask players of the opposite sex questions and then rate their responses. It reminds me a little of the Dating Game.

There are enough different things on the site to easily keep you entertained for hours. They have over 267,000 members from all over the globe. The site is free to join and loads of fun to experience.

I love Las Vegas.

Believe it or not, one of our family's favorite vacation spots is Las Vegas. Not the shows or the casinos, but the whole slew of other attractions to choose from. We're already planning our next trip, where we will visit the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, Circus Circus, and the Bellagio conservatory.

We like Las Vegas enough that it wouldn't take too much to convince me to move there. And if you're in the market for Las Vegas real estate, I recommend looking at this site for Las Vegas MLS listings. You can search by zip code, or by community. The site even lets you save your searches so you can come back to them later.

They even have a section for Las Vegas homes for rent and an entire knowledge center for sellers and buyers with tips on everything from getting your house ready to list to finding the right financing.

Days like today when it's cold and rainy outside moving to a warmer climate with plenty to do is very attractive.

Stone Hawk wants to make a difference

I wasn't a happy teenager. I drank, smoked, and used drugs that scare the pants off me nowadays. My parents didn't know what to do. They'd never heard of the Narconon drug treatment program at Stone Hawk.

Stone Hawk isn't your typical rehabilitation center. The Narconon program they offer differs from traditional drug treatment by doing more than just breaking the physical addiction. They also teach life skills that will enable the student to deal with the stresses of life once they've graduated from the program, so that they will succeed rather than return to drugs or alcohol.

The detoxification program at Stone Hawk is unique as well. They promote the use of saunas to help move the toxins out of the student's system. They utilize vitamins, a healthy diet, and regular exercise to help the addict's body heal from the damage caused by the alcohol or drugs.

The people at Stone Hawk were once addicts themselves, so they know the road that lies ahead and the challenges that the student must face. Their unique perspective, combined with their medical expertise, makes them a good choice when it comes to finding a drug treatment program.

Hotel Reservations made easy

The first night of our vacation we spent in a hotel. It was a last minute decision. We were getting tired, it was getting late, & the idea of a warm soft bed was very appealing. Had I known what the camping would be like on the trip, I would have appreciated it all the more.

Since we hadn't planned to stop anywhere, we didn't have any Hotel Reservations. Fortunately for us, March is not a big month for tourists in Southern Utah. We were able to find a room at the first place we stopped & the kids only complained a little bit about not having access to a pool.

Next time we take a trip, however, I'll definitely be checking out the Hotel Reservations website. First off, it's an easy name to remember. Not much chance that I'll forget the URL to that one. In addition to hotels, the site has info on flights, cars, vacation packages and vacation rentals. (Did I mention how many hours we spent looking for a vacation rental before deciding to camp?)

The site even offers a lowest price guarantee. If you find a lower price online for the same hotel and date, Hotel Reservations will give you a $100 rebate.

Hotel Reservations has fantastic discounts on world wide destinations, ranging from Algeria to Taiwan, Canada to Fiji. In fact they list 1360 destinations to choose from. With a list that long there's no excuse for booking your travel anywhere else.

I'm telling you, I could spend all day daydreaming about their vacation packages. It would have been nice to know about this website when we planned our trip, but better late than never. Next time we travel I won't have to worry about smelling like a campfire or whether there are any mosquitos in my rootbeer. I can shop for hotels in my jammies at 3:00 in the morning & know I'm getting the best deal on the net.

Something is simmering at PayPerPost

Once again, people are buzzing about PayPerPost. PayPerPost has devised a new way to increase site traffic, but what it is, is anyone's guess.

I have to admit, I really like PayPerPost. It's fun, it's relatively easy money, and I get to hear - and blog - about products, websites, and services that I might not have otherwise known about. Cool stuff like the Box.net widget and CouponChief, just to name a few.

I'm anxious to find out what this new idea is all about. PayPerPost set the blogging world on fire, in a manner of speaking, when they came out with the idea behind their business model. It will be cool to see what they've come up with this time.

I think most bloggers and website owners are looking for any ethical way to drive traffic to their site. The more traffic the merrier, I always say! I have an online jewelry store that I'm forever trying to promote in order to bring in new business. (If you are in the market - or even if you're not - check it out!) I also maintain several blogs, like this one and my running blog.

Whatever they've got in store for us, I'm fairly confident it will live up to the hype.

Why Wirefly?

There's a mini war going on in my house. Not about George Bush, not about religion, no, this war is about something really important. This war is about which cell phone is best. Like politics and social issues, we are never all in agreement.

Until the Apple iPhone is released, my vote for the most awesome phone ever is for the Sidekick 3. My husband loves his Treo. In fact, I think if he'd met the Treo before he met me he may never have proposed. (I won't muddy the issue by describing its - at times - unwelcome intrusions on our dates. My teenager disagrees with us both. (What else is new?) Her vote for best phone is the red Motorola Razr.



I think red is her thing, because a close contender is the LG chocolate in cherry. Hmmm, maybe I could talk her out of needing an iPod if she gets one of these.



Lucky for my daughter, we can either of her favorites at Wirefly, the best choice online for free cell phones. I can get two MotoRazr phones for free with a Cingular family plan. (My son would love that.) Cingular has the largest wireless community in America. For only $69.99 a month you can get 700 national minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, free roaming, 2 lines, voicemail, caller ID, call forwarding, & call waiting, all with only a $36 activation fee.

This online shopping can be a dangerous hobby, though. Now I'm thinking that I might even get a Firefly for my 6 year old.



The Firefly is small, just right for a child's hand. It has flashing lights, 12 pre-loaded ring tones, 7 screen colors, & 5 animated graphics. Parents can pre-program numbers or screen calls. And did I mention it's free with a Cingular calling plan? Razr - Firefly - iPhone come June - Cingular is looking better and better!

Wirefly is the top source online for wireless plans and cell phones. They offer unbeatable prices, free shipping, and a satisfaction guarantee. Why would I look for cell phones anywhere else?

PayPerPost adds Review My Post, an easy way to make money

If you've been reading here for very long, you've already figured out that I like PayPerPost. When it comes to blog marketing, they know how to make it work. PayPerPost pays bloggers like you and me to write about all kinds of things, from food, to shopping, to technology, to social issues...the list goes on and on.

PayPerPost recently added yet another way to earn money with your blog. It's called Review My Post, and it's perfect for anyone who doesn't want to be bothered writing sponsored posts (although it's no bother at all, IMO). With Review My Post you blog about whatever you want, and at the end of your post, include the Review Me badge, which invites readers to review *your* post and get paid for it! (See the bottom of this post and you'll know what I mean.)

The more reviews you get, the more incoming links your site will have. And we all want incoming links, don't we? The more people that blog about (review) your posts, the more hits your site will receive.


It's an easy way to generate a little extra income, without any extra work. How could anyone complain about that?

The box.net widget

Now here's something cool. The Box.net Widget lets you share files with anyone and everyone. What I like about it - besides the obvious fact that it rocks - is that it's super easy to set up. Case in point, my widget.


Get your own Box.net widget and share anywhere!

I harbored some concerns that it wouldn't run on my Mac, but it did. It took me almost no time to upload my test files, and it automatically generates the code to put on your website. This is a keeper, and it's going on all of my blogs.

PS. Did I mention the unlimited bandwidth and the fact that they will host 1 gig of files? For free?!

It just gets better and better.

So I'm pretty excited about blogging for PayPerPost. I think there's a lot of potential, and their blog marketing ideas are top notch. Of course, I'm not going to get rich doing this but how can you beat getting paid to talk? That's right, you can't.

PayPerPost is the way to go whether your blog gets a little traffic or a lot. High traffic blogs can make as much as $1000 a post! Heck, for that much, I could shut down my work-at-home business and do nothing but blab. I mean blog.

PayPerPost only charges a 35% service fee, too. Compare that to ReviewMe, which has a 100% markup, and you'll see there really is no comparison. With PayPerPost more of the money is going in your pocket. And the more you blog, the more traffic you'll eventually see, and the more traffic you get, the better the PayPerPost opportunities.

PayPerPost requires full disclosure from all bloggers. And with their new review program, anyone can get paid for reviewing posts as well as blogging. This has got to be the best blogging bargain in the business. Say that three times.

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 1 February 2007


This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact nofakeprada at gmail dot com.


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