I do all the cooking. I mean, if I’m at home and someone needs popcorn or cereal poured, its all me. Amy tried cooking once and she managed to set an egg on fire boiling it, so I do all the cooking. I’m usually struggling for ways to make dinner for the four of us that would be eaten by all. Its tough with two under five year olds in the house and something that I’m only successful at maybe half the time. Until I discovered E Mealz.

E-MEALZ Easy Meals for Busy and Frugal Families makes things a snap. “But mcangeli, how can that be?” You ask. Easy. E-mealz knows whats coming up for sale at your favorite store (wal-mart, aldi’s, publix, kroger, ralphs and other stores) and creates a dinner menu for 7 days based on the sale items. You not only get good meals, but you *SAVE* money as well. They also have low-fat menus available as well! Can’t beat that with a stick.

The kicker? Its only $15 for three months (use the Coupon word DAVE and save on top of that!). So, here’s the scoop, for $1.25 a week, you get a 7 night meal plan (with a main course and sides) thats built around the sales of the week. The Publix Plan has been a good thing for us as I now have a good list for food shopping and know what we’re having every night! Try it for three months. I bet you’ll eat better and save some money too!

Popularity: unranked [?]

Dropping cards for traffic sounds like it is too good to be true doesn’t it? In fact, it is a little too good to be true, there’s more to EntreCard than just dropping yours where ever you feel like. This past week, I’ve taken the opportunity to visit a lot of the sites that Entrecard plays host to (and I’m no where near done yet) and its been amazing at the differences between sites that I’ve seen. I’ve come across some Really bad ones, some that are common wall flowers and others like The Gospel and Cigar Jack that have some cool stuff and good writing to offer that I’ll visit more often.

It astonishes me that the number of websites lacking proper design, writing and taste on entrecard is so high, but then, with the number of blogs that has sprung up lately, should I really be that surprised? It seems that everyone and their sister has a blog dedicated to making money on line that they fill with the “latest and greatest” money making tips that any monkey with a keyboard should be able to figure out. The number of personal diaries online has seemed to skyrocket as well. These two areas can probably be attributed to the rise in the number of paid blogging systems (yes, I do belong to several of them) that have popped up over the past year as well. One of the benefits of Entrecard is enabling more people to learn about your site through various means like advertising on other blogs.

Is it really worth it though when your “card” is going to be displayed at the bottom of a mile long page of mindless blabber about the weather and the fact that the site owner had to write about ladies undies you could at least do it in a better form than “well, a sponsor wants me to write about ladies undies but I’m a man!”. No its not. However, you shouldn’t let the bad sites ruin your chances to increase traffic.

As with any advertising media, there is a right way to choose whats best on Entrecard. You have every right to be picky about which sites you advertise on and which sites advertise on you. For instance, if I ran a blog about dogs, I would most likely not advertise on a blog about cats (or Vietnamese food) and I would not have a cat site advertise on mine. Do not be afraid to reject ads if they do not fit in with your topics. You don’t see want ads for window washers under the used car salesmen section do you?

Secondly, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, advertise on sites where the entrecard box is below the fold (the fold is an old newspaper term referring to the bottom half of the page which is usually not seen when the paper is folded. Here we’re talking about the bottom of a page where someone has to scroll to see it). If its not one of the first thing a person sees once the page is loaded, its a waste. Want proof? Ask around. I’ve found that in advertising on Entrecards, the ad’s I’ve placed that are above the fold perform better than those below the fold. You can drop your cards as much as you want on those sites, but DO NOT advertise on them no matter what kind of traffic they claim to provide.

Don’t be afraid to drop your card and even write recommendations for the site owner through entrecard. I’ve found that by dropping cards on sites I get more visits back in return. It does two things. One it lets people know about your site (and if you do it in your own category, you might gain new links elsewhere) and it encourages them to visit your site and drop cards. Dropping cards on other sites benefits everyone.

Lastly, and this is probably the most important, leave a comment on a post or two on the blogs you visit through entrecard. Not only is it free advertising to you, but many blog owners have the scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours mentality. If you comment there, they’ll come and comment on yours. Its an excellent way to gain friends, readers and comments which all helps in the traffic game.

If you want to see who all is on entrecard… Check HERE

Popularity: 33% [?]

Christmas (and boxing day for you Brits) has come and gone and little is left to tell that it was ever here at all. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the tree is still up, the decorations haven’t been taken down and there’s still a pile of trash to go out on Monday, but there are no left overs, no unopened presents under the tree and certainly no more Christmas music playing (at least not on my radio). Maybe it was the warm weather this year (we had weather in the 70’s two weeks ago) or the fact that we spent Thanksgiving at Disney and didn’t decorate right away, but this holiday season was more of a burden than a blessing.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed watching the girls as they played with their shiny new toys (Emma got a battery powered ATV that she loves and Grace hasn’t taken off the Ariel wig since she unwrapped it), and the dinners with family and friends were nice too. It just seemed there was too much work to be done for the holiday and not enough time to do it in. As far as my take for the holiday went, it was pretty good, I got a couple of books (from an author I have not read yet), 2 DVD’s and Banjo lessons. I’ve only been asking for the lessons since I got the banjo two years ago, and finally I might be able to do more with it than a simple forward roll.

Amy made out pretty good too. I decided to forgo the sexy corsets or naughty nighties this year and instead upgraded her iPod from a pink Shuffle to a 30gb Video iPod (Classic they call it these days). She also got a pretty cool alarm clock (though when you can’t sleep at night the fact that it projects the time on the ceiling makes it even worse) and a new Department 56 town piece. We didn’t go too over board for each other this year and in retrospect, we didn’t go that overboard with the girls either.

I was glad when I climbed in to bed on Tuesday night that Christmas was over for another year and now its on to Amy’s Birthday. Maybe we’ll do something lo-key.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Thirteen Facts about NEW YEARS!
In no particular order…

1. The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible cresent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).
2. During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years. January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.
3. The Babylonian new year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year’s Eve festivities pale in comparison.
4. The Romans continued to observe the new year in late March, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.
5. In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days..
6. The Tournament of Roses Parade dates back to 1886. In that year, members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers. It celebrated the ripening of the orange crop in California.
7. Although the Rose Bowl football game was first played as a part of the Tournament of Roses in 1902, it was replaced by Roman chariot races the following year. In 1916, the football game returned as the sports centerpiece of the festival. (Personally, I’d like to go back to the chariot races!)
8. Many parts of the U.S. celebrate the new year by consuming black-eyed peas. These legumes are typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham. Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage is another “good luck” vegetable that is consumed on New Year’s Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year’s Day.
9. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.
10. The use of an image of a baby with a New Years banner as a symbolic representation of the new year was brought to early America by the Germans. They had used the effigy since the fourteenth century.
11. It was once believed that the first visitor on New Year’s Day would bring either good luck or bad luck the rest of the year. It was particularly lucky if that visitor happened to be a tall dark-haired man.
12. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes “coming full circle,” completing a year’s cycle. For that reason, the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year’s Day will bring good fortune.
13. Other traditions of the season include the making of New Year’s resolutions. That tradition also dates back to the early Babylonians. Popular modern resolutions might include the promise to lose weight or quit smoking. The early Babylonian’s most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.