When i had my first child my mother in law asked me a startling question. It was one I had not thought of it before. She asked me if i had a will and life insurance. Not particularly for myself, but to help care for my children should something happen to me. I never actually thought of what would happen to my kids if something happened to me. And its something every parent needs to think of.

Beyond every parent. Its something that every person needs to think of. What will happen when you move on. Will you leave debt? How will your surviving relatives pay for your funeral or cremation. It had never even crossed my mind that i should prepare in case something happened to me. That I should think about providing for my children if something happened to me. And its something I think is very important.

When i started researching insurance policies for my husband and myself, i turned to a website that i knew could provide many different rates for insurance quotes. I wanted to find a policy that covered my husband and I as well as our two children. So the first thing I looked at was a family plan that would cover us all. I didn't want term life insurance which expires after a set amount of time. My husband and I are in our twenties, I didn't think that would be appropriate. However whole life insurance covers every person for their whole life. While its more expensive then Term, the premiums do not increase over time. And if there was an emergency you could cash in on your policy and pull that money out. What makes advantage term life insurance online a nice site It compares rates of several different sites. For my family, its only $300 a year for this type of insurance.

However they don't just cover family life insurance policies. They have rates for smokers, mortgages, group rates for employers, universal insurance which incurs interest and joint insurance for your spouse and you. Because you can use advantage term life insurance online to compare rates, you can find the cheapest insurance policy for you and your family.

Having life insurance is almost necessary now a days. You never know what is going to happen to you or someone in your family. And you don't want to leave your spouse or your children without means to support themselves for a period of time, or with limited funds to take care of your remains. While thinking of life insurance is almost a morbid idea. Its actually a very smart one. I hope you look into it.

So my hubby bought me a new printer. Called it an early Christmas present! But its something I need. Being a photographer means needing to have a good printer around to print off proofs, and no to mention i like being able to print pictures of the kiddos off right at home. Rather then sending them off to the company i usually use for customers. Believe me, i take a ton of pictures of my little ones, i don't want to miss a moment. Not to mention those to die for sunsets, or once in a lifetime photo op while out. I like to print them off at home and frame them. I fill the walls with my art.   But god is ink ever expensive! I swear i spent more on ink then i did on my camera ( excluding lenses which are very expensive)  I think i go through an ink cartridge in 2-3 weeks.

I'm so happy i found this site called CarrotInk! They have awesome ink that is pretty inexpensive. What is REALLY nice is that they have ink for all printer types. I use an HP, and they have HP ink cartridges that go to my printer. Its only 15 dollars for a black cartridge and 19 for a color. Thats a huge savings over what they are in my local store.  And hey, im all about savings! Besides have you tried printing things off at one of those kiosks at say walmart? They get expensive pretty fast. Its much cheaper to buy your ink cartridges from Carrot Ink. Besides being cheaper online, can you imagine. It saves you a trip to the store, sometimes out of town to a store that sells the right ink. And it delivers right to your door. Or mail box, either way its a place you always check.

Not only that, but they sell DIY refill cartridges for cheap too! Including HP 56 black, which is what I use. If you didn't know, using refill cartridges can greatly reduce the amount of money that you have to spend on ink. It only takes a few minutes of your time. Once in a while you spill some ink, which can get messy. But all in all, its much cheaper then buying new cartridges. If your looking for yet another way to cut a corner, and who isn't, then maybe using ink refills is for you.

Another thing that is really nice about Carrot Ink is the help system they have. They have a pretty darn good one if you ask me. And you are, or you wouldn't bother reading my entry. They have an email service, phone service, help links and best of all 24 hour live chat! And a 100% no questions asked guarantee. If your not satisfied, then send it back. Its REALLY that simple.  Ah then there is the fine print. They take all credit cards ( and who doesn't have at least one, at least in the form of a debit / credit card hehe) Its only charged when your order is shipped out. They take it online and by phone.  So if your afraid of using your Credit card online ,there is your op! They also take check and money order by mail. They also do replacements and returns.

 So we all know about Ebay. The highest bidder wins the prize. Which is great, i mean you can find just about everything you are looking for and spend just what you want to spend. But wouldn't it be great if there was a way to spend less? What about winning Free Prizes?

I found this neat site called Bid 4 prizes. Where the LOWEST bid wins. And i hear you saying now " wait. thats TOO easy. All you have to do is bid $0.01 and you win right?" Not quite. You see its the lowest unique bid that wins the prize. Which means, that if more the none person bids at $0.01, then the next unique lowest bid is $0.02. Make sense? If more then one person bids $0.02, then the next bid is $0.03, and so on. The lowest winning bid COULD be as low as a penny, or it could be higher, as high as a person is willing to bid.

Its actually really easy to do! You just bid at their website, click the prize and enter in your cell number and your bid in cents. You can even bid from your cell phone. They then text you back to say if you have the lowest bid. There is a catch, you don't know what the lowest bid is. So it could take some time to get it down right.

But there is an awesome catch! And i mean awesome. The dollar amounts are fake. Literally, all they do is determine WHO wins the prize. Thats right. They give you the gift. Even Cash Prizes! You don't even have to pay for shipping. You get the prize absolutely free.  I don't know about you, but that sounds amazing.

Then like the cherry on the cake, there is more. There is a sweepstakes. Each bid you make, you get a token. The tokens can be used to play arcade games, which get you points. And each time you play, you are entered in a sweepstakes for money, from $100-$1000 and more. Plus the points that you do get, add up until you get a reward.

The rewards are fun too. From money, to the new Apple I-Phone, designer bags, watches, jewelry, and yes even more money.

God im so selfish.
All i want to do is blow several hundred dollers on camera stuff. New lenses. Get it cleaned.
Hell while your at it lina just buy another camera. After all the one you have isnt good enough.
Im mad at myself because i bought warrenty for it, and NOWHERE in alaska honors the warrenty. Its so stupid. Waste of money. But right now i need to get it cleaned and I want to get a new lens something different better. Not as big as my 300 persay, but something with a good range of options. Something that will do great for inside with the kids and outside with scenery...
GOd i need 500 dollers..
Im so selfish. I should be thinking of what to get my sons for chirstmas... and all i can think of is a camera lens.... i need a reality check.

So one thing that people tend t forget is journaling when doing a scrapbook.
A photo can be a great focal point. But it can also be the embellishment. The journaling or quote could very well be the center of your piece.

If your child says something funny, the story could be the page, using some pictures as side decorations.

Adding quotes and sayings to your page can also bring in a bit of creative difference. Pick a picture and the find a quote to go with it. Or find a quote that fits or sounds great and match a picture to it. Sometiems i start with the quote and work my way backwords. I have a wonderful quote about boys and dirt. Im saving it for this summer when both of my boys will get muddy. A piture will be perfect and ill have my page.

You can often find little treasures in magazines. Sometimes a title is great, clip it and you have an embellishment to add to your page. Letters from people also make great scrapbook pages. Include a picture of them to remember what they looked like.

Remember to add a few words to every picture that you scrapbook. You might always remember the picture, but you might not remember the story behind it. Be sure to preserve that memory as well with words.

Ive dreamed of going to Paris for as long as i can remember. The city of lights. Long associated with romance and love. There is just something very appealing about a place that sounds like that. At least for this small town girl. Not to mention the shopping opportunities. Now that appeals to every girl out there. At least on some level.

I think the key to hitting Paris is a good game plan in advance. You want to know which hotels in France are good ones. You want to have enough money saved up to really splurge. Planning your vacation a year or so in advance gives you plenty of time to set up a route and save up money. I would suggest getting a map and highlighting your desired path, making sure that you hit important and interesting landmarks. Some places that i would choose would be Haute Couture, Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre. You should find a hotel in Paris that is centralized to the attractions you want to see. There are plenty of nice places for you to visit and shop. Places such as the Nouvelles Galleries. ( pictured below) Its a massive shopping and department center. Which has english translators, great for us American visitors.

One thing that is kinda important for you to know. The french don't use the same measurements that we do. Everything is converted to metric. If your planning on going there. Use the link to brush up on some of the typical food measurements in metric. You don't want to miss out on something.Wineries are something France offers many of. Places where you can go to test the wine. Most places offer a free sample of their work. and sell wine by the bottle. However they generally only ship within France. So if you plan on buying wine, be sure to include extra for any shipping issues that may come up going through customs.

One of the best place to stay is Nice. Nice hotels are some of the prettiest. With generally speaking good prices. Of course at the moment prices are cheaper, its considered the " off season" Come summer they may be more expensive. For that reason, I encourage everyone to consider taking their vacation in the fall or winter. The weather can still be pleasant but prices will be cheaper and there is often less people there as well. For a map of Nice. Click here.

Paris is home to one of the most famous museams in the world. The Louvre is one of the most impressive in the world. Hosting some of the most famous works of art within. The museam fetures the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo statue. More then 8 million people flock to the museam each year.

I really want to go to Spain. I think it would be absolutely amazing to see some of the sights there. Not to mention the history, the culture. I wish so much to visit the Golden Triagne of Art, which is 3 huge art galleries. One of the largest and most diverse in the entire world. Not to mention the classic bullfighting. The La Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid, is a stadium built in 1929 and is huge, accommodating 25,00 people.

Speaking of old, Madrid itself was actually built sometime between 853 and 886. Arab Emir Mohamed I ordered the construction of a fortress. Its now the capital of Spain built in the center of the Castillan plain. Its the home of the Spanish Royal family, government and the Spanish Parliament. I'm a sucker for old architecture, places that look like castles. Statues carved by hand. Not to mention the beautiful fountains that Madrid offers. From parks and bazaars, Madrid has something for everyone to see.

To give Tony an idea of what it would cost to go to Spain, ( and let him know how much we need to save) I checked out several travel sites. And my gosh but the airfare is insane there! But because i wanted to get the whole picture of what i might need, i checked out hotel accommodations. Amazingly enough it was terrifyingly expensive. It the price of hotels in Madrid was about the same as a hotel in my own small town. That surprised me. Although it took a few minutes for me to search out a converter for the price difference. All in all it wasn't too bad. Much less then what i expected for a out of the country vacation. Of course it does get expensive when you stay there for long, but hey, what is a over seas vacation good for, if not lots of money.

One thing i did see that was interesting was the Hotel news page. It has a bunch of neat little articles written up that give you a bunch of little interesting tidbits about different destinations. From articles about pets in hotels, to kid friendly destinations. Check it out for some neat travel tips and fun ideas. I know i saved about 30 different ideas. And for sure I've got about 10 new places i want to visit!!
While the husband said no to a Madrid vacation right now. I for see alot of begging in the future, and hopefully the trip of a lifetime!