Asha Anujeeva's Attitude

For years I’ve heard that eating chocolate releases a chemical in the bloodstream that gives the consumer the same “rush” that they get when they are in love. Maybe that is why giving a woman birthday chocolates or Valentine’s day chocolates is such a popular gift. I’ve read that eating dark chocolate is actually supposed to be healthy for you, but to be honest I don’t care for the bitterness of dark chocolate. My favorite chocolate is white chocolate, which I understand isn’t really chocolate at all, but is almond paste.

Whenever I make a batch of brownies from a mix I like to add some semi-sweet chocolate chips in the batter. If I have some white chips I’ll add them too. I think that it just makes the brownies a little bit extra special. You should try it too sometime; your family will love you for it!

Guest post written by Cheryl Hunt

One of the things that I wanted to do before my husband went back to work after the holidays was to organize our home. Well, I think I’ve basically run out of time to get his help on that, but I’m just going to move forward and try to tackle all of this on my own. I thought a good starting place would be the kids’ playroom. That’s one area that’s always messy, so I thought it might be good to get that worst room out of the way first. Plus, my kids will get to start enjoying it more again that way.

I looked online to find some tips about that and while I was looking, I ran across some info on new doors. Our front door looks so beat up and awful that I decided to use that site to get it replaced.

I’ve already started sorting through the kids’ toys, which is kind of just where you have to start out with this. It’s going much easier than I expected and I just hope that it keeps going that smoothly!

Tonight we are going to eat out at the Golden Corral.  We are celebrating my sister’s wedding anniversary, so we are joining several other family members there.  I like the Golden Corral; it is an all you can eat buffet with the best tasting yeast rolls I’ve ever tasted in my life!  I sneak a zipper storage bag into my oversized purse that I bring just so I can bring the leftover yeast rolls home to eat later!  They are the best!  And I really like their mashed potatoes and their macaroni and cheese, too.  Oh, and I love hush puppies!  I’d really like to eat there EVERY DAY!  Their salad bar and dessert bar is terrific, I like to eat a little taste of everything!

Do you enjoy shopping online? As consumers find that their spare time is becoming more precious, many of us are turning to shopping online instead of going to the local shopping mall. Within just a few minutes, the consumer can order a wild variety of goods, like leopard print plates for a housewarming gift, bamboo strands for making placemats for a craft class, and a
God Bless Our Home Cutting Board, all while dinner is being cooked in the microwave in the room next to the computer.

Using the Internet to shop has opened up the entire global shopping market to everyone that has an Internet connection. Many companies now offer free shipping, and having the goods delivered to your doorstep, or if it is a gift they offer giftwrapping, a gift card, and delivery to the recipients address. How’s that for convenience?! And best of all, there is no worries about finding a parking spot, or locating your car in the parking lot after a long day at the mall! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy shopping at the mall from time to time, but sometimes the mall just does not have what I’m looking for, and sometimes I just don’t have the energy to deal with it.

Contribution by Saul Martin

I try really hard to be an example for my children, and to show them the importance of saving money. We have a “coupon clipping hour” every Sunday afternoon, where we all gather around the table and cut out our coupons for the week. We make our grocery list based on what’s on sale, and we’ve turned it in to a little game. The person who can make the most creative meal plan with the fewest amount of ingredients wins. Bonus points if all of those items are on sale, and extra bonus points if the meal ends up being delicious. I think it does a lot to really instill the value of money in them, and we actually all have a lot of fun every Sunday sitting around the table together. I was talking to a friend recently though who convinced me that saving money is not only about clipping coupons. It’s about making wiser choices with your money across the board. She even called shop electric companies in texas to see if she could get a more affordable energy provider, and she ended up saving a ton of money. I wonder if I could convince one of my kids to make the call for me…they really love to save money!