Save Money Doing Your Normal Online Shopping!

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=82sUDNftLG53MhAChpcGLw%3D%3D

Do you shop online to save money? Do you use PayPal? I do too. Now I do both even better, ever since stumbling upon Ebates. Their website pays you back a percentage of your purchase at most online retailers, just for using their site as a portal. I mostly shop on eBay, and we all know that eBay gives you eBay bucks back when you buy something. It's like 3% of the purchase. But now, if I go through the Ebates portal, I get up to an extra 7%. It's stupid not to. They deposit into your PayPal account, or if you don't want to give them that info, they will also send you a check in the mail. Payouts are every 3 months (just like eBay bucks), as long as you have spent enough on other sites to get at least $5 back, but if you shop online like I do, that isn't a problem. They even credit you $5 when you make your first purchase through their portal, so you are guaranteed a payout in the 1st 3 months. They have 1,200 other member stores to, like Newegg, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Overstock.com, plus a lot of little online specialty stores that have great deals that you might not normally visit. I bought printer ink and got 15% back for that purchase. If you do ANY online shopping, sign up with these guys, and use my link to sign up cause I get more $$$ when I refer people. So far I've gotten $10.80 back from Ebates, for doing my normal eBay/online shopping, and I'll keep updating this total as I receive more.

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=82sUDNftLG53MhAChpcGLw%3D%3D

Sign up. Make a purchase. Get $5. If that 1st purchase is $25.01 or more I'll get $5 too.

What am I going to DO?

So today, I have made a few lists. Making lists is not one of the things I like most in the world, but today I feel like I didn't have any choice. I am getting ready to start school again next month and I am in the process of re-evaluating my goals. What that means is I am trying to figure out what to major in. What am I going to do with the rest of my life? I have made three(3) lists to help me explore and narrow the possibilities.

(1) Things that are important to me:
Resources to support my family
Time to pursue other things -family/hobbies/church
Being creative
Build/make things
Working with hands/tools
Learning about how things work
Feeling like I contribute/accomplish something
Autonomy

(2) Things I enjoy doing:
Woodworking
Building things
Reading
Finding out how things work
Being outside
BBQ/cooking
Teaching
Playing games
Solving problems around the house with things I make
Swimming
Working on my VW

(3) Things I don't really like doing:
Complex Math
Repetitive tasks
Being micromanaged
Having to wake up too early
Radical change
Crowds
Being really social/outgoing
Driving

Some of you who read this might say to yourselves, "Yes that is Nathan to a T." Others might read these lists and have a few things to add. Let me know.

Potty Training

Today, we started potty training Ammon. I say we, but really it was just me and Ammon. Rachel took Noah out for the day and left us to it. Now my only recollection of potty training comes from my parents house when my dad was working with my younger brother. My dad would let my brother go off and play for a few minutes and then hurry off to go find him to remind him about the potty. He would ask, "Have to go potty? Have to go potty?" And my little brother, who was just settling down to play with toys, would look up and start crying because he knew that he had to get up and run to the bathroom to sit on that potty. But they kept at it and my little bro was toilet trained in a day. And when he finally got it, there were treats and praise and all that stuff.
So far with Ammon, this plan has not worked out so well. Ammon is happy to run to the potty, and pull down his "Boy Big Pants" and sit there for a minute. But that's all he is doing, is just sitting there. I don't think that he quite gets the idea of what he exactly is supposed to be doing while he is on the toilet. Every 15 min or so I'll remind him about the toilet and he runs and get on it. Then he squirms around and plays with the handle, or talks to himself, or flips the shield up and down... Anything except what he is actually supposed to be doing. Then 3 minutes after he is off the pot and doing something else, he starts crying and comes and tells me he's poopy and has urine running down his leg... He did that 3 times today, and never once in the toilet. We'll try again tomorrow I guess. Hopefully we will be more successful.

I Voted

Did you? Why didn't you vote? No not you, You! Don't you realize how important it is? And don't tell me that one vote doesn't matter, because it does... I don't care whether we agree on the issues, You need to vote! Take an active interest in what is happening to your country! More than just complaining about things when they don't go your way. If you don't care, why should you expect others to?
Oh.... You DID vote? Well good for you!