Iowa Geek

>> Friday, July 24, 2009

>> Monday, May 25, 2009

After much work and frustration (and a lot of help from my in-house super geek- thanks honey!) the new site is up and running!

I invite you to visit the brand-spankin'-new Iowa Geek. Check out the new theme (Lifestyle by StudioPress) that has been tweaked and made my own (with a lot of help from their great support staff). Check out the super cool Featured Content gallery on the main page and my new series Make Me Over, which is just beginning.

And don't forget to change your RSS feed so you don't miss anything! Here's the new feed: http://www.iowageekonline.com/?feed=rss

I've got a couple giveaways ready to hit the blog- you don't want to miss them!

Check This Out!

>> Wednesday, May 20, 2009

For Local Blog
in Des MoinesI'm not quite sure how I ended up on this list, but I'm pretty honored to be there. Do me a little favor and vote for me. You can vote once a day... Just click here... Thanks!

Live Like No One Else

I want to introduce you all to Eat, Scrap, Love, a fellow Iowa blogger & Dave Ramsey convert (yes, it's my fault). She's got a great motivator for the first few comments on this post.

I've got one on the way...

Progress is Being Made

>> Sunday, May 17, 2009

Slowly but surely progress is being made at my new bloggy home. It may be a few days before it's completely fit for habitation but if you want to take a look at what's going on over there here's the link.

I'll be trying to get on schedule again, so posts will be showing up on my sites. Now that I have a better handle on what I'm dealing with I hope to have the switch complete sometime this week.

A Bit How I Feel...

>> Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I'm working on switching to Wordpress and I think I am making things more difficult for myself than they need to be. I feel a bit like this:

OK, back to work...

Ugh... It's Time to Move

>> Monday, May 11, 2009

I have no idea what is up with Blogger... For some reason posts aren't saving, photos aren't loading and I can't seem to do much of anything. I think I may have a serious virus.

My sincerest apologies. I'm going to be making some changes behind the scenes this week so I probably won't be around much.

Revisiting My Moleskine Hack

>> Saturday, May 09, 2009

Remember when I did a Moleskine hack for scrappers back in January? I utilize my Moleskine all the time and love it.

If my hack isn't for you, I want to direct you to the Definitive Collection of Moleskine Hacks. It icludes my hack and many, many others.

Mom's Night Out in Des Moines

>> Friday, May 08, 2009

OK, I've been a bit busy & haven't even downloaded photos from last night's event yet. And I'm not going to do it tonight. But when I do I have a giveaway to go with it!!

So I'll just tell you all to head over to Paula's very humorous post about our event.

Des Moines National Mom's Nite Out : The Lineup

>> Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Wow... It's finally here! My dining room is packed with great bags that need stuffed and the giveaway list has grown! This should be a great event and if you're a mommy in the Des Moines area (or any part of Iowa) I hope you can join us!

Thursday, May 7
7-10 PM at All Play (formerly In Play)
A Nite Out for Mom's Only
(There will be no child care and the building is expected to be quite busy. Please do not bring your children)

First, the big list of "many thanks":
All Play for giving us the space to get together and play!

Kangaroo Boo and WalMart for supplying tote bags for all the swag!

Veridian Credit Union for sponsoring some of the food.

Little Debbie 100 Calorie Snacks for the boxes of goodies!

Hip Mamas Des Moines & Des Moines Moms Like Me for their support & help.

And, of course, BSM Media, Mom Select, Mom Talk Radio & New Baby.com for sponsoring the national event and coordinating so much!

Here's what you can expect at the Iowa event:

Representatives will be on hand from the following companies to pamper & indulge you. Many will also have items for sale (remember, Sunday is Mother's Day!) And ALL will be offering a great prize to give away!

Godiva Chocolatier in Jordan Creek Town Center
Brown Bag Party
Lia Sophia
Salon de Vallon
TAIslim
Hair West
Uppercase Living
Tastefully Simple
Mary Kay
Pampered Chef
Partylite Candles
Beijo Bags
Discovery Toys
Premier Designs

More door prizes from:

You can see we have a lot going on! We should have fun, so please come join us if you can!

The Des Moines Mom's Nite Out is locally hosted by moi (you can also find me at Have Kid Will Travel) and Paula from Boogers & Burps.

It's NOT Our "Dave Car"

>> Monday, May 04, 2009

Doug and I went to Kansas City this past weekend to see Dave Ramsey speak live. We had taken the FPU course last summer and have done incredibly well on it... But after being away for 3 months, having half of our expenses covered by an expense account & not using our envelopes... Well, we needed a kick in the pants.

And boy, did we get it.

Did we learn anything new? No, not really. But we were able to get our minds back in the "no more debt" frame, which we really needed.

Our general admission seats were quite good. I was able to see Dave's face without looking at the big screens over his head.

Kemper Arena was packed... Seems lots of people are interested in dumping debt...

We got to "meet" Junior, the star of Financial Peace Jr. We picked up the great kids' set for the girls- books, CD, commission & savings charts... I wish I had known about money when I was young. Since my family didn't have any I suppose it was difficult for them to teach us about it...

But what we really went for was the jolt to get us back in gear after being lax for three months. And we got it.

As you may recall, we have had only one vehicle for the past 4 months. While we were in Massachusetts it wasn't a problem. But, since we've been home, it's been difficult. Friends & family have helped out, but there are days that it just doesn't work out.

We had been discussing taking out a small loan, $6000 or so, to get a "decent" vehicle; one that would last a couple years and we could pay off quickly. Well, Dave got us thinking straight again- no more loans! When we got home Doug went to work looking for a vehicle we could pay cash for.

And here it is... Doug is now the (proud?) driver of a 1994 Nissan. It's clean, it runs nice, it has about 160,000 miles on it, and we paid $1600 cash. Oh, it has no radio (but it does have Bose speakers!) and the lock on the door has half a key broken off in it... (But at least there's no radio to steal!)

It should easily last 6 months. By which time it won't have depreciated much more and we will have another $2400 in cash. We'll slowly upgrade until we have our REAL "Dave cars", which, at the moment look a little like this:

Which we will pay cash for, too! (Maybe we'll even go crazy and buy them NEW! OK, not likely, but we will be able to if we want to!!)