Book Bub

I LOVE to read. Not so much the really deep intellectual stuff, but the light and fluffy, take me away for a few hours novels and short stories. I used to go to the library. A lot! But I am very forgetful, books are always late, and I always end up paying pretty hefty fines. So for a while, I would just pick up a new book or three every week when I went shopping. But that gets expensive too. Then there came the wonderful world of self-publication on Amazon. A lot of new authors are publishing e-books for 99 cents. It takes a while to find the deals though.  Luckily for me, and you, there is a website called Book Bub that does the searching for you.  Sign up at their site, and every day they will send you an email with new free and discounted books in the category or categories that you are interested in.  You can find discounted books by well known authors as well newly self published authors.  Check them out.

Little Free Library

I LOVE to read.  It is my absolute favorite past time.  I'm not a scholar.  I don't read Tolstoy or Homer.  But I do love to get lost in a good story.  I came across this project the other day and thought it was a great idea to share the love of reading.  The program is called Little Free Library.  You build (or buy) and set up a weather resistant box in a common area and leave some books there.  The idea is other people will take a book that interests them, and leave a book they have already read.  Great idea for sharing literature.


Here is the Mission statement for Little Free Library:

• To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.
• To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations. 

text from their website

For the Chronically Forgetful

You remember that old Mystery show "Columbo"?   He is always losing his wallet or keys.  This new gizmo called the Tile would be perfect for Columbo.


You can put these little tiles on your keys, on your purse, basically anything that is portable, and use your smart phone to locate missing items.  It also has a tracking system that will help you find lost or stolen items.

I think I could use this for my keys and the remote.  For some reason we are ALWAYS losing the remote.

Zombie Exercise Game

Although I enjoy random Zombie movies, like Shaun of the Dead and ZombieLand, I'm really not a huge zombie fan.  However, this new Zombies, Run! app for iPhones and Android seems like a great idea.

The main idea is that you have to get active and move around to collect necessary items needed in a post-apocalyptic, zombie infested world.  You can fortify your base with collected items when you are finished with your run/walk.  If you don't physically move, you can't collect items.  

I was psyched on the idea of hearing hordes of zombies following me with the garbled "graggla aaaaah" noises as an inspiration to speed up and "get away."  I've only played the game a couple of times, and so far, I only encountered zombies one time.  Very briefly.  

So the next step is to take a few minutes to figure out the settings to see if I'm "playing" the game correctly. It has the potential to be a fun game and inspiration to exercise.     

My Fitness Pal

It's a new year, so I'm on a fitness kick.  Trying to lose weight and get fit. I started looking for a way to track calorie count on my cell phone.  The app that I found that I like the most is My Fitness Pal.   It is very user friendly and best of all it's free.  Yep.  FREE!

If you use your phone there is a feature that allows you to scan the bar code of foods you eat to track the nutrition information.  It also has a quick calorie entry, which can come in handy.   I used it when I made some home made enchilada soup.  I found the recipe on line.  The website listed nutrition information, but I didn't want to take the time to add the info into my account.  So I just added the calorie count.

Programs that track your daily calorie consumption are really helpful.  Once I started writing down everything that I ate during the day it rally surprised me how many calories I was consuming on a daily basis. It made me start evaluating everything I put in my mouth.  It also affected my trip to the grocery store.  I started looking at the labels of items before putting them in the cart.  It blew me away how much sodium and fat I was consuming.  Little wonder I am carrying around the extra weight.  Typing in everything makes you aware and feel more accountable.

More Free Icons

Found another place for free icons.  http://www.iconfinder.com/

Make sure you check the license.  Most are free but not all.  There are over 100,000 icons to choose from though, so great find!

Septic Cleaner Alternative

We've had a major septic eruption this past week.  It's still not all taken care of yet.  We've had the plumber out a couple times and the septic guys out a couple times.  We still need an excavator to come out and check our septic field. Although we still have problems, we did learn about the wonders of Buttermilk.  So there was something good that came out of cleaning up piles of poo for a week. (right?)

Apparently instead of buying chemicals like Ridex or Eagle Septic Clean, you can pour a gallon of buttermilk down your sink or in your toilet once a month.  The butter milk has the same enzymes to break down the waste with out the chemicals.  I haven't been to the store to check for the price of buttermilk compared to Ridex.  It may be cheaper.  Even if it is a little more expensive, I think I like the idea of something natural to take care of... well something natural.