Celebrate!

I am finished! Once again, pleased with the many "things"! Even though I won't use them all, it's nice to know at least a little of what's out there! This helps me as I consider my personal use and school use. Thanks!!!! I can't wait to see what you all come up with next!

#46 - WebJunction

Being a transplanted elementary teacher, I am always thankful for any and all kinds of help I can get. The teacher in me has no shortage of lesson plans. The missing piece is being able to see what others are doing in their libraries and get ideas and advice. This is a good place for me - opportunities in many and varied areas. I will definitely be checking out WebJunction often. This is a great way to end "the things" - so very practical!

Really in the Clouds w/ #45

This thing has me feeling, initially, intimidated. While I sit with suitcases full of family photos since my mom's passing, the dilemma of how to protect this "stuff" has been going on long before my time! I suppose the monthly fees are in the same category as a safe deposit box. Me? I have my iGoogle page with tabs for what I want and need. I recall trying to use Google Doc with a few folks on a joint project. No response. I guess I'm not the only one intimidated. I have put lots of pics on FB - more so than flickr since I spend more time on FB. Parts of "me" are in lots of clouds out there! So I suppose that the next step would be to consolidate everything. Just not sure I'm ready for that yet. I keep asking: how much is enough?
Concerns are lack of knowledge, security, and sheer time to do everything.

#44 - show me the money!

This was very interesting to me - as my husband and I are nearing retirement! I checked out mint.com - was hesitant to enter in all of our financial info. The privacy aspect still makes me nervous! I recently started online banking and that has stretched me enough for now! Feed the Pig definitely has a creeper pig! Looks aside, it was a pretty practical site. I also checked out the FuelEconomy.gov site. Had to laugh when I was finished reading all of the ways to save money driving - it was based on gas prices of $2.08/gallon! Still, some helpful advice that was a reminder, not much new. Skipped the cell phone since we just went through all of that when buying new cell phones. It takes tons of time and then it all is for naught since we have such limited service for we live! Not much choice - eh? Wisebread was okay - lots of ads to work around. Craigslist got my attention-mainly because of the negative publicity it's received. Found the list for Duluth - wonder if my hubby would let me buy that Farmall tractor? FarWallet earned my attention because it had a cool name. We are shopping today so I got coupons from Penneys! My one act of rebellion was the gardening sites. It just makes me laugh that all of the sudden we are all supposed to garden because of these horrible economic times. Good grief. I grew up with grandparents and parents who put in a garden, hauled my siblings and I to the u-pick strawberry field every year, and the first year of our marriage and 29 yrs. following, we have always had a garden. This is a sensible way of life, not a fad.
Helpful sites: I am hoping the coupons are a help. Most of what I buy in food items is generic, but coupons for clothing would make a big difference. I can't recommend any sites because this was new to me!

#43 - one up!

I was very excited about this thing because I actually knew about it! (my confidence is building!) I have Hulu set up on my Google home page. This feature is very useful for us, since we live "off the beaten path". We already have Netflix and I love it. Now, with Hulu, football games, baseball games, and various meetings won't keep me from being able to watch my favorite shows. Case in point: we had family stuff last night and I totally missed the finale of Grey's - and The Office. Now, my daughter and I can huddle around the screen and catch up at our leisure. Considering the lack of quality of 95% of TV, I am not the least bit concerned about the impact of these sites! When I have written about various concerns about programming over the years, the response is always the same: you can always shut it off. Now I don't even have to turn the TV on!!! Summary: this service is great for us.

Who Knew? #42

I liked this thing! Naturally, I was not aware of this option for music listening. I'm thinking if I mess around with this enough, it can lessen the $$ spent on buying music and then saving it on my laptop or flash drive. Save space and cash! Randomly picked a widget just to keep you teachers happy - :) . I created my music account in Pandora. I like the options of "banning" artists if I don't like more than 2 of their songs; not playing certain songs; and refusing all music with filthy lyrics. It really lets me pick and that makes it worthwhile. I'm looking forward to staying with this "thing" and further refining my music.

Tunes Rock #42

More Mashing #41

This was one of those things that had me wondering when is enough enough. I created an account with hellotxt. I can track the different sites I usually visit every day - seeing updates and adding my update in one place for each site. Not sure if this is something I will keep doing. Part of the enjoyment of Facebook is the pictures and chatting. I am not that "in to" Twitter so it will be goofy to have updates on there! Right now, I like my system that I use within iGoogle. Yikes! Am I a creature of habit with this too? Not sure what else to do or think. Time will tell.

Mash Potatoes #40

I messed around with lots of these and they, unfortunately, confirmed what I already know: I live in the middle of nowhere! Tried a couple of the lunch mashups - no businesses located for lunch! Obviously, city dwellers would find these wonderful! By the way, the closest restaurant is nearly 20 miles away. Poor Orr didn't even register as having any businesses! Also tried out the Flickr memory game - took awhile, but I finally created a game. Finally went to BigHugeLabs and clicked on the Warholizer. I think my toes look wonderful! Can't figure out how to make it smaller. At this point, I feel fortunate to just be able to download different items to the blog. I haven't been able to control the size. sigh. Uses? Not a clue in an educational setting - maybe a memory game with pictures of the kids would inspire them to work harder. Personalizing the content and all. The YouTube video was very helpful for me. There is so much I don't understand and it was extremely informative.

Finally