The .INFO extension was available so I bought it. For less than $4.

Yes, I did— the old NLH no longer exists, the name was available, so why not?

I have plans for that domain:

• it will belong to a Robocity character, Rasert Loff
• il will be used as a hosting and networking community… for Robocitans
• it will contain hosting and Internet marketing reviews
• it will offer a 200MB FREE hosting package to anyone requesting it

Poor domain, it’s too bad it got such a bad reputation. The domain in itself didn’t deserve it, you know? Unfortunately, people can ruin things‘ reputation too. Alas.

How have you been?

Pretty busy on this side of the screen. But happy.

On March 4th Simone and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary! *_* I will soon post an entry about it on Sweet-Loves.net!

Hi babes! Long time, isn’t it?

I hate it when it happens, but time hasn’t been kind to me lately. I have more things to do than available daytime hours! It’s incredible! I can tell you: I’m fully booked, at least for a month and a half. Perhaps I’ll need another two months to complete my ongoing site projects.

Wondering what am I doing to keep me ‘that’ busy? Uhm— let’s see:

• I was commissioned an 80-page length book to translate (English-to-Italian)
• I applied at a web hosting niche site as a freelance writer and I was accepted — I’m starting this week!
• I paid my second semester tuition for university and it’s going to be my last semester for a long time— so I’m trying to study hard and enjoy it until I can!
• I was commissioned 35+ sponsored reviews since February 10th
• I continue to work as a cartoonist (volunteer position) for CreativeWritingInstitute.com
• I continue working on my art commissions from DeviantART.com
• I continue working as an article writer for IlGeek.com (Italian niche blog)
• I’m working on my online portfolio— which I need to optimize to attract more clients
• I’m developing more story ideas (fiction and nonfiction) to submit to print and online magazines that accept freelance submissions
• I took up a free English test at the Wall Street Institute school of English of Albano Laziale (RM, Italy) to see which English level I’m at. I’m not sure I’m going to enroll there, but I’m looking around for opportunities (I seriously need to develop my spoken and listening skills!)
• I’m working on my novels and short story anthologies when I have some free time.

There’s a lot on my plate, but I do enjoy it all. It only leaves me with less time for personal blogging, that’s all. I won’t stop blogging though, so don’t worry… lil’ old Luana will stay to bug you for many, many years to come.

Ahah!

This post brought to you by Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hello babes, I have a pack of news – kind of obvious since I’ve been on and off over the last two months, but still… – and one of them is related to Walgreens, a prescription drugs supplier I mentioned in my last entry.

The news pertains to the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club, which is having another special offer for both individuals and families drug supply coverage, risk free, for a small annual fee – $35 for families (including spouse, children under 22 and pets) and $20 per individual. Subscribers get more discounts, of course, but I think this is a generous offer of its own. I wish it as cheap here in Italy too! Another nice thing is that, when you purchase Walgreens brand products, you get bonuses in your account. Really cool!

So, if you wish to learn more about the program, and take a look at the 8,000+ general medications and discounts (even the flu shots!) Walgreens has available, I suggest you follow Walgreens on Twitter (so you stay up to date) and that you ask questions directly to Walgreens on Facebook. Getting in touch is the best way to solve problems.

Now, the remainder of the news. ^^

Snow and a really bad weather messed up my personal and university life. I’ve been confined home for days  – terrible! >.< – and university is closed because reaching it by car or bus is too dangerous. There’s still a lot of snow in Rome, up to 60 cm. Crazy. O_O

It snowed here in Genzano di Roma too, but not that much. We had a lot of ice though.

What else? I miss Simone. Badly. I haven’t seen him since this snow nightmare started. I can’t wait for all the snow to be gone so we can commute again! Go to university and hugs my beloved sweetheart once more. Yes, that’s all I want.

I’ve been writing a lot of late. My novels and short stories, but fanfiction as well. I’m writing mostly in Italian: I love English but it’s time I dedicate some energies to my native tongue too. I don’t wish to get rusty, ahah!

I don’t know what else to write… I really need my blogging muse to come back and inspire me. Gah. I’m stressed these days, perhaps that’s the only real issue.

This post brought to you by Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

Good morning, babes. Today’s entry is going to focus on a sad news I learned about a few days ago. You may end up finding it weird that I actually care about a dispute between two companies, but trust me: when you’ve learned to love the initiatives a certain company does, seeing it in trouble takes your heart as a whole. It’s unavoidable.

It’s Walgreens and Express Script to be engaged in a controversy. And I am on Walgreen’s side.

You see, Walgreens had been through a number of negotiations with Express Scripts (its middleman to distribute Walgreens products) over the past year, but none of them went through, and Express Scripts’ verdict was to remove Walgreens from its pharmacy distribution network. It’s a big deal, one that Walgreens is trying to fight with discounts on annual memberships at its Walgreens Prescription Savings Club.

The fact is… that the issue does not just affect the companies and their internal politics… it affects customers, patients living on prescription drugs. Try thinking of yourself in need of certain drugs that your doctor wants you to buy from the Walgreens brand, and your local community pharmacy doesn’t have them anymore because distribution was interrupted. What do you do now?

That’s the real issue at hand… and it’s why I’m on Walgreens’ side and I’m writing this post. In its life, Walgreens has done a lot of good for people, starting with low cost drugs, extremely cheap annual memberships (what’s a $5-$10 for a year of drugs you need to live well?), the Way to Well Fund™ to bring sanitary information and medicines to the poorest communities across the US, plus Walgreens’ support to US troops through the Tricare health program. It’s ethically horrid to cut distribution to a humanitarian company of this kind.

I’ll tell you: I look forward to a quick resolution of this dispute, in favor of Walgreens. Or at least, that Walgreens can find another great middleman that will take its effort and humanitarian initiatives in consideration.

I added Walgreens on Twitter a couple of days ago, and just placed a ‘Like’ to Walgreens on Facebook last night. A tiny way to show my support. It needs some, really.

This post is a quickie because my connection is pretty poor today. There is an ongoing issue with my ISP since yesterday, which I hope is going to be fully solved tomorrow. >.<;

This week I donated a few bucks to four organizations I support wholeheartedly: one is NaNoWriMo (you all know about it ), another is Attachment Parenting International, a support association for parents to promote attachment to their kids. Another one is Wikipedia, to which I donated 10 Euros, while another 10 Euros went to UNICEF. Not a lot, but even a dollar can make a difference when it adds to donations from another million or more people.

If you wish to donate to these organizations, here’s where you can send your help:

http://www.attachmentparenting.org/help/donate.php
https://store.lettersandlight.org/donations
http://www.supportunicef.org
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Fundraising

Another – small – thing I wanted to tell you is that if you run into one of my  imaginary daughters  – Asha (asha.bellachino.net) – and you see that I gave her a pair of ZENNI eyeglasses… well, just know that I often do that to my Characters. ^^ I fall in love with something and I adore that something? Well, I’ll assign it to a fictional character! Ahah, that happens mostly when I can’t use/afford the object in question. In this case, since I don’t need prescription glasses, I’m having one of my daughters need it. ZENNI makes cute girlish styles, which suit Asha pretty well. She’s a teen, after all.

Okay, I’ll go ahead and post this up, which I hope it will be followed by a longer post in a few days. Good night! :*

I’ve been wanting to update this blog for almost two weeks but, stressed by influenza and the need to catch up with studying and work, my determination to blog faded away.

I have to admit there’s yet another reason, though: I rediscovered the ancient pleasure of keeping a paper diary, which I didn’t anymore after 2005, when blogging replaced it completely.

Until mid November 2011.

I had just finished reading two novels by Kate Morton (in Italian translation), The Forgotten Garden and The Distant Hours, in which book and writing lovers talk often about their diaries, how these diaries are passed upon their descendants and how significant they are to them. I absorbed those emotions like a sponge does to water: there I found my old pleasure again; writing my heart and mind out on a paper diary.

Now I write on my diary almost every day, but never shall I forget about my blog(s). Now that I feel strong enough to be back to my old busy routine, I’ll be here more often– and share some thoughts from my paper diary too. Yes, I have no issues with that. ^^ My heart is an open book.

I’m kind of behind with my online work and with university readings, but I’m catching up on everything. For now, here’s my deadlines:

• Sunday 4th: hand in article for Education.com + 2 pencil sketches for CreativeWritingInstitute.com
• Monday 5th: submit short-story ‘See You Later’ to InTheSnake.com
• Tuesday 6th: finish taking notes from my Logic Networks book and slides
• Wednesday-to-Thursday: send art commissions updates to 3 customers
• Friday 9th: catch up on AI readings (uni)
• Sunday-to-Friday: finish and hand in package of SEO articles for IlGeek.com

I’m sure there will be more in the future, but so far my week is going to be pretty full. Without mentioning reviews and articles “on the go” that I get at least every other day.

Regarding NaNoWriMo, this year I didn’t even reach the 20,000 words with the influenza getting in the way, but at least I have a new story (Aresha)to work on in my spare time. I love working on my novels to relax, hehe.

Last but not least, some new projects for Honey-Babe.net:

• Honey Babe MB – Yes babes, my forum!  I accept board suggestions (email me or comment).
• Luana Spinetti’s Private Library – I’m still not sure about the choice of library management script, but so far it’s nice to experiment with it. I own a thousand books or little less, so cataloguing is a must! With it, as a complementary site, I’ll be working on Authors.VV.cc, a list of my favorite authors.
• Ask Luana! – Yes, my Ask Me page! Go ahead and ask, sweeties!

And now, I’m better off returning comments and write a review and an article I owe to my clients. See ya! 

It’s 1:29 AM, I caught a flu (*sigh*) and I’m hooked on NaNoWriMo, even though I haven’t been working on this year’s story – Aresha – regularly and therefore I don’t think I’ll win this year either. Who cares.

I’ve also fallen in love with more domain names, you know? In fact, I bought several this week.. Ahah. Anyway, it’s too soon to list them here; I will plug them up shamelessly when I have a few pages up on all of them.

I hope to have a longer update to share tomorrow (and time to return comments too!). Gonna sleep now, with a super-tired body (flu is terrible!). *yawn* Bye!

Going to college is one of the best experiences of your life. Students will be able to make friends, be on their own, and start preparing for the future. One of the most important parts of college?the education?is crucial to a student. Students will be able to choose their major and prepare themselves for the workplace. Professors are one of the most important part of a college education. However, many students overlook the importance that professors have in the students education. To be successful when it comes to college professors, students should be able to identify the 5 different professors there are. When I was in college?I had the pleasure (and sometimes displeasure) of being taught by these 5 kinds of professors.

1) The Smart Professor
This is a professor that most college students want to be like. This professor can talk about nearly everything under the sun. They have interesting, engaging lectures that everyone participates in. This is one of the best professors that you can learn many things from.

2) The Friendly Professor
This is the professor that everyone loves. Their classes are always full and they give the best lectures. This professor works hard to remember everyone’s names and always has office hours. This is a great professor to have when you are considering someone to ask for a letter of recommendation. Stay in touch with this professor.

3) The Absentminded Professor
This is the professor that comes to class late, forgets when class is, but is very intelligent. These professors are entertaining and you can usually buy yourself some time when they ask about the deadline for an assignment.

4) The Boring Professor
This is the dreaded professor. No matter what he/she is lecturing on, they can make it boring. It makes class painful. However, a lot of the times, this professor is an expert in their field and you need the class for your major. Try visiting with this professor after class, they might be a boring lecturer, but a really cool person out of class.

5) The “Prepare You for the Work-Force” Professor
This professor is one that you will encounter in your higher level courses. They will want to prepare you for your future career. They will require you to produce resumes and cover letters. If you are a freshman, try steering away from these kinds of professors. They are extremely valuable to seniors and upperclassmen.

Professors are a very important part of college. Take the time to ask other students about professors that you are considering taking a class from. Once you are in the class, make sure that you get to know the professor. You will have a more successful college experience if you do.

About the Author

Chloe Tren is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers helps many find the best online colleges for them.

My host, RewindHost.com, has been bought by a bigger company, so now we should undergo less downtime and less database errors. I hope so, at least. In case you saw your latest update disappear, see if there’s a copy in Google or Yahoo! cache, or on WayBackMachine.org, because there was a slight loss (a few minutes to an hour at most) during the server transfer. I was notified that all accounts were moved though, so make sure everything’s there. If not, email me at luana.spinetti@gmail.com and I’ll look into it.

I’m going to send a survey message to all my hostees sometime this week, to probe their happiness with my little web hosting service and to see if there’s anything they need and that I can add to the Network. Anyway, I’m updating the hostee and hosting rules page this week, so it should be easier to understand and follow, as it was a bit outdated (last update dated late 2008).

In case you’re not happy with my little service and you need another (paid) host, please read the hosting reviews and news listed on Webhostingfan.com. There is plenty of information for you to use there.

I’ll  be around this week and take care of your needs. Follow me on Twitter too, @luanatf.

I own many beautiful domains, I know — but sometimes I still love having my Characters hosted on free subdomains. I love the feeling of being hosted, that’s it — of being part of a family.

So, THANK YOU to Kya, Jennifer, Iris, Misaki, Isi, Meaghan, Lissa, Olivia, Kitty, Shukaku, Jaa, Amanda, Zoe, Ariel and Rae for respectively hosting the following Characters of mine:

Eve @ eve.bubble.nu
Seana @ seana.moon.nu
Jeyor @ pure.snowbubble.me
Sarina @ sarina.littledancer.net
Chromia @ chromia.hyrule.nu
Mana @ mana.sky-song.org
Arina @ arina.secretkiss.org
Kae @ kae.faded-aeterna.com
Elien @ elien.candyholic.net
Danielle @ danielle.so-pink.org
Mexier @ mexier.nekonette.com
Jahi @ jahi.hyouri.org
Gigatron @ gigatron.unwinded.com
Chromestar @ star.daintyhearts.org
Speedfire @ fire.innocentsky.com
Rider @ rider.snowblush.com
Reisi @ reisi.haneuri.net

I deliberately chose not to mention domains hosted for free by other wonderful people — because I will do in another post. Still — thanks!

A Medicare program for our grannies

Thought of concluding this post with something helpful.

I found a medicare plans guide (Medicare is a US government health insurance program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) for seniors to balance finances and good health, and I thought of sharing the link (up here) for anyone living in the US. You may be young and not needing that, but it’d be good if you could pass the link along to your grandparents or older relatives.

I’m selling 3 domains: ilovesnuggles.com – fixxi.info – adeep.org, $2/each or $6/all Contact me!

A week of influenza — no, two weeks! — really drained my energies. I tried to keep up with work and subjects no matter the headache and the stay in bed, but now I feel even more drained. I need a full day of relax soon, hehe.

I’m taking care of a few very special domains I bought recently, which include:

stardrops.net
heartdrops.info
lovesnuggles.com
fadingkiss.com
dulce-splash.net

… and many more.

I remember these domains from the past, and I was surprised to see them available. So happily, I bought them. ^_^ Can’t wait to really begin working on them!

Also, I’m soon taking on Beloved.nu, so anyone who was hosted there in the past and wants to reapply, can contact me. Thanks.

I’m considering trying out audio books. I never liked the idea before, but when I feel tired reading turns into a difficult task, so I need to fulfill my reading needs… some other way. Audio books are revealing pretty interesting so far — well, from what I read about it online, as I haven’t tried for real yet. Can’t wait to get started. Must choose a book first though, maybe Asimov’s.

Well, I’m back to watching my Star Trek DS9 episodes now. ^^ They keep me company when I’m confined in bed, hehe.

See you tomorrow with another update.

This post brought to you by TracFone. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’ve been considering the purchase of a new phone. No, better – a TracFone.

I know you must have heard enough of TracFones already, since they’re a trend this year, but I really can’t be blind to their cuteness and Senior Value: when I’ll be old, I still want to use my cellphone without problems! Hehe. ^^

Really, Get into Everywhereness with TracFone! Heh, sorry if that sounds advertorial, but that’s my opinion on the phone. I love it!

Wanna see a video testimonial?

What is it that I like so much in a TracFone?

Oh, that’s easy!

First of all, with only $119 I get unlimited minutes.

Secondly, I can call internationally to over 60 countries at no extra cost.

Oh, and what about unlimited text messages and web access?

Now, tell me if all that doesn’t sound appealing. Hehe. I’m gonna buy a TracFone as soon as I get a chance to fly over the US and stay a few weeks. That’s gonna be my local phone, yep!

I know the day of my trip to the US is going to come in a very long time… Not my fault: my parents don’t want me to fly overseas even though I’m 26 already…. *sigh* But that won’t be forever, right? Once I get married, in a few years I hope, I’ll be able to achieve my goal. There are precious people I long to meet in that beautiful country!

According to Domaintools.com I own over 205 domain names. Amazing.

Yes, it truly is, especially if you consider that I lost count. Ahah! XD I’ve been buying and selling domains since 2007, when I used to rely on a very low budget. Now, I have at least $150 a month I can spend on domain names — or alternatively on books, clothes and computer accessories… sometimes e-courses too!

Looking at promo codes on sites like Retailmenot or Domainpromocodes made me wonder…

Why do I keep buying domain names?

Answer #1 ~ Because of a Domain.
There are domain names I’ve loved for an entire life. They used to belong to bloggers and friends I had in the past, whom are now on different domains or have quit blogging for eons; or alternatively, domains I had floating in my mind before they were finally registered. In all these cases, each Domain I bought had something to remind myself, a piece of my life — or one of my Characters, which fit perfectly.

Answer #2 ~ Because of Domain Coupons.
Take the current Network solutions promo code, for instance — it allows to buy domains for only $6.99, which is a steal price compared to the $10-$15 of many registrars. Domain deals are always something that touch an inner button, that pushes me to buy those domain names I’d been thinking of. By using coupon codes, sometimes I manage to save up to $20 per order, depending on how many domain names I purchase.

Answer #3 ~ Because of the Pleasure of Domain registration.
This is something more visceral, I guess, like a fetish… Of course, I keep it under control, but sometimes I have to admit registering a new domain names is more similar to eating a delicious meal than performing a simple operation: the sheer delight of pushing buttons and completing an order. I don’t know… it might just be another form of shopaholic-ness. ^^”

Guess what? I even bought Apple-Crunch.org, a memorable domain that used to host a beautiful forum community. I used to be a member there, so many good memories… Now I have one of my Characters managing it, turning it into a beautiful fairy tale. Certainly better than leaving it in the hands of domain spammers, no?

Written by my friend Betty Walls

My grandmother is coming to visit in two-weeks and I only recently told my wife that she was going to be making a trip to stay with us. I know that my wife likes to have advanced notice on things like this but I had totally forgot she was even coming. My wife always explains that there are a million things that she has to do in order to get the house ready for my grandmothers’ visit. I feel like she stresses about too many little things but there is no way in the world I would ever tell her that. I simply apologize for not giving her more advance notification and then I get out of her way and let her clean everything that she feels like cleaning. The good news is she only gives the house an extreme cleaning when she knows people are coming over and if I had more courage I would give her a couple false alarms ever month or so just so the house would be cleaned thoroughly. I know that my grandmother is gong to think the house is spotless because she doesn’t really care about those things and I also know she’s going to really get a some use out of our new satellite TV, simply by referring me to Satellite Tv Texas. Since then I’ve been nothing but happy with our new line of programming and our amazing customer service.

Today’s my brother’s and sister’s 20th birthday!!! They’re real grown-ups now. ^-^ *big sister’s pride*

Work and University

I’m doing a lot of both lately. I’m attending classes almost every day, and working every day too, between lectures, on breaks and then home, at night before sleep. That leaves little room for relax, but since this big amount of work comes in only once in a while, I need to take full advantage of the opportunity. There’s gonna be time to rest on days off and then on weeks when there’s only little work to do.

Last month I grossed $669.73 between articles, reviews and advertising. I saved around $200 for my tuition fund from that amount, then spent the remainder to renew over 30 domains, purchase books I need for work (freelance writing guides, Writer’s Market, freelance community subscriptions, etc.), lunch out with my fiancé and send small donations. Money well spent after all. I like to invest.

Since the Nolimisthost.info issue of last year, I’ve been at loss for months. On some months I’ve been almost in red too. >.< Gladly I developed the guts to bid on more and bigger online jobs and got published on a couple of prominent online publications like TheSexCipher.com and FreelanceSwitch.com. My collaboration with Bosmol.com is paying in terms of readership for now, but I’ll get paid as soon as I reach my 6th article. Not bad. I wish that paid more, but $5/article is not an amount to spit on. It’s still a big help.

This month I look forward to submitting an article to Smithsonian.com and Entrepreneur.com. They’re big magazines, so wish me luck! I hope to get my ideas accepted, but even if they won’t, it would have been still worth trying.

Little things: Watches

All of mine are battery dead at the moment. The problem is that I don’t know where to buy those tiny button-like batteries to make them work again. >.< I’m even considering the purchase of a Nixon Tide watch, which I adored the very moment I discovered its dedicated webpage. The Nixon 4220 is my favorite. You can see a photo here on the right. I know it’s manly and kind of tick too, but I love its robustness and its resemblance with Sci-Fi movie wrist communicators. Ihih. Actually, all I care about is that the metal won’t cause an allergic reaction on my skin, as that’s a very annoying downside of metal objects with me. Bad enough, since I love technology and robots so much. *sigh*

When I was eight I wanted to be a pediatrician.

The birth of my siblings had caused the sudden change: from a talented artist, I wanted to enter the medical field and take care of children. It took a few years to get that ‘obsession’ off my aspirations.

Having nurse parents (both!) didn’t help; their library was full of medical books, encyclopedias, manuals and seminary reports. I went through all those mysterious pages — and scared the heck of my life — and still wanted to be a pediatrician.

When did I change my mind then?

Oh, that was when I realized (or better, I was told) that I had to study medicine for several years and work on corpses too. Ugh! That realization signed the end of my childhood dream chimera job.

I’d be a liar, though, if I said that was the end of the fascination children had on me. Every time my parents went to the scrub store or at the hospital and I followed along, I felt both fascinated and eager to be of help. Yes, making children happy was something very special to me. If I couldn’t do it as a pediatrician, I would still do it in other ways. By taking care of my siblings, for instance, or by becoming a nursery school educator. That of becoming an educator was another chimera that accompanied me to the teen years… but was it a real chimera? Still nowadays I know that, if I ever need to find a quick job one day, I’d candidate myself to be a nursery school educator. That’s why I studied Psychology, Sociology and Pedagogy for five years, after all.

I’m an artist, a writer, a translator… and potentially an educator too.

Thanks to http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/ for the inspiration.
Thanks to Scott Bauer, U.S. Department of Agriculture for the picture.

I’m considering the purchase of Dell laptop to replace my old, low-performance Olidata. I have a very efficient Asus netbook too, but I’d rather leave that one for out-of-home work (library, university, grandma’s). I really miss using a good performance laptop at home, and it angers me a little that my Olidata lost on performance over the last year. Even its AC Adapter is faulty.

I heard the PDell AC Adapter by TechFuel® can meet or exceed the OEM specs, therefore I shouldn’t worry about efficiency there. Dell netbooks are known to be quality and high performance, and so are the accessories.

I’ve been advised to purchase a spare Dell Laptop Battery too, to use in case the other one goes faulty. I think such things happen over time, over years, so there’s nothing I can do to avoid them; a spare battery would save me from the headache. – If I think of my Olidata battery, which lasts only 4 minutes now… *sigh*

As a last item, I’m may be getting a spare Dell DC Adapter too. That wouldn’t hurt.

Questions:
~ Do you own a laptop or a netbook? Or both?
~ Did you consider buying a new laptop/netbook when your current one loses performance?
~ Did your laptop/netbook battery and AC Adapter ever go faulty and you had to replace them?

My posts have been kind of scattered all over the last weeks, spaced by guest posts that were kindly offered by awesome writers from the MyBlogGuest.com community. Thank you, guys. I loved your work!

Life has seen its ups and downs here. Unfortunately I didn’t make it to pass any exams this year, for how much I tried, so my parents gave me an ultimatum: I must pass at least 2 exams on February, or they’re not going to pay my tuition anymore. I’m saving up for that eventuality, in case some trouble comes up and I can’t pass two exams. I will pay the second semester with my own money, I don’t care. I’m not giving up on this course, although I don’t want to burden my parents forever. Paying second semester tuition with my own money sounds exciting to me.

What makes me sad is that my parents think I can’t pass my exams because I’m lazy and I don’t study, and that I spend all my time working freelance online instead of doing homework. So wrong. I’m not that kind of person. I put my heart and soul into my studies, working freelance during breaks only, or on some days off (when I need my brain to rest from all that notion learning). Everybody does other things other than studying, don’t we? It doesn’t mean studying less though. All it means is living.

‘Unfortunately’ – single commas are intentionally used here – Computer Science is not an easy discipline for me to study: I had little background in Math and Programming when I enrolled, which means I take longer to pass my exams. That’s just natural though, that’s human. When I enrolled this course I accepted the challenge it put out: studying a brand new bunch of subjects for the first time in my life, starting from zero, a tabula-rasa. Well, you can’t expect someone at that disadvantage pass their exams so easily. That’s work for genius people, not ordinary people like me.

No matter what, I’m not giving up. I’m still up to the challenge, and in love with these disciplines more and more every day.

To cheer up a little from the stress my parents put on me, I looked for a cheap site to print custom posters from my and Simone’s photos. I found Poster Brain and I’m thinking about placing an order before Christmas to make it as a present for my fiancee. They have a new technology to make “posterizing” photos into 24×36″ format and poster printing very easy. Just do the upload, select design, wait for print to be done (overnight). Really neat.

I also thought $19 to be cheap enough for a Christmas present, especially when compared with local copy shops… custom poster printing shouldn’t be expensive. Sometimes  $20 is not even enough here.

I had some reviews and posts to complete on Honey Babe these past weeks. I will edit this post with the URLs as soon as I’m done with them, hopeful for your feedback. ^^

Guest Post by Mare Ward.

Grad students have a long hard road ahead of them so they can use all the tips and advice that they can get their hands on.  Luckily, there are plenty of forums online where grad students convene and talk about all aspects of grad student life.  Here are 8 amazing forums for grad student tips and advice along with some of the types of helpful tidbits you will find in them.

Choosing A Program

You can begin by getting tips and advice on choosing the right graduate program to apply to if you haven’t already.  This is a big part of having a successful grad school experience so this advice is priceless.  Once you’ve chosen a program to apply to then you may require more help.

Application Tips

You will find all kinds of tips for making your application as polished as it can be but the help you receive doesn’t end with tips.  You can actually ask others in these forums to review your application to give you feedback.  This level of help is sure to take at least some of the pressure off of the application process.

Admissions Advice

There is more to admissions than the application and you can see what other grad students have to say about the whole admissions process.  Again, you will find information and guidance so that you can improve your chances of being admitted into your first choice of programs.  In this type of forum, as in any forum, you can also pose your own specific questions if you don’t see them already answered somewhere.  This will help you to be more confident about every move you make.

Funding Your Education

This is one area in which you can never get too much good advice.  Once you have made it into the graduate program of your choice then you need to find a way to pay for it.  The tips and advice that you will get from other grad students on funding your education could save you massive amounts of money and a lot of time wasted on fruitless efforts to secure the necessary funds.

Your Studies And Research

These forums will give you endless amounts of information on how to best complete your studies and your research and how to fit it all into your busy life.  There are plenty of tricks that can help you to save yourself a minute here and there.  These few spare minutes could help you to retain your sanity as you try to cope with being a grad student.

Jobs

These forums can also help you to start thinking about finding a job.  Or they can help you to bypass the thinking stage to just land one.  You are going to need a job so why not take some help from a forum that gears its content to grad students who need jobs?

8 Amazing Forums For Grad Student Tips And Advice

1. GradSchoolForum
2. Grad Café Forums
3. PostGraduate Forum
4. Graduate Junction
5. Chronicle Forums
6. About.com Graduate School Forum
7. Graduate Students Jobs Forum
8. College Confidential

Mare Ward is quite interested in helping students research various online programs, mainly schools that offer a masters degree online.

Tomorrow my fiancee is coming over for a visit, so I’m probably going to update this blog again in the evening, after I’m done with my daily studies. I can’t wait to hold my lovely sweetheart once again!

Anyway, I looked up CD Rates at Banktime.com. The site is trustworthy, easy to navigate and get information from, and I learned that a lot of credit cards offer great interest rates: Discover, Orchard Bank and American Express, along with Visa and others. Good to know.

There are also various types of CD, but the one I see more fitting my needs is the Bump Up CD, as money will increase over time.

Now that I think of it, I need to renew my prepaid PostePay card (Visa Electron). I keep on forgetting with this incredibly high rate of humidity and heat… a killer mix. I need to act as soon as possible though, since my card will expire completely by September 1st.

As for Banktime.com, it offers more guides, not just on credit cards: mortgage, home equity, auto and life insurance. It’s a complete resource center, and from what I saw, each guide is written in simple, understandable English (no difficult/rare words) and there is room for users’ comments and feedback. I like that.

To my friends who accept Guest Posts on their blogs, like I do: there is a SEO blog, realtimetricks.com, that is open to Guest Post Writers right now! Take a look if you need to publish an article. Thank you.

I caught myself looking up Online Universities lately. As funny as it might look, apparently, it ends up being something very serious into my life. My curiosity is boundless – I’ve been called an eclectic:

(citing from Wikipedia): “Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.”

I can’t stop to a single area of interest, a single field of study: I need to widen my studies to different area, find connection, ramifications, make ideas grown between the gaps that separate a discipline from another.

One reason for enrolling to a Computer Science course is its inter-disciplinarity. Don’t be surprised if I tell you I would be really happy to attend to an online degree programs in psychology as well. It’s part of the game, and there are many connections between Computer Science and Psychology.

Anyway, in general, there are so many universities, online and offline, that sometimes choosing – or even dreaming! – looks like an impossible task. There are a few websites that can help though; I guess students living in the US could look up their http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ (National Center For Education Statistics College Navigator). For Italy… well, we have so many universities that www.universitaitaliane.it would represent the best helpful resource in my opinion.

Guest Post by Janice Oliver.

What is Aromatherapy?

In a basic sense, aromatherapy is the use of essential oil extracts
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oils) from medicinal plants through the olfactory senses (the nose). Just as one might use the flowers of a plant (think chamomile tea) to have a physical effect on the body, inhaling the essential oil of the plant also has a physical, and possibly psychological, effect on the body.

Sometimes the effect aromatherapy has on the body is something intangible like relaxation. Sometimes the effect is actually something more tangible, like healing from an injury or getting over a respiratory infection.

The best way to learn more about aromatherapy is to see its use in real people’s daily life.

Nighty Night Little Sheep

I have 3 little daughters. Two of them sleep pretty well, but one does not. We had been looking for different ways to help her calm down at night. One thing that we tried with some success was infusing some cotton batting with lavender essential oil, then inserting the batting into a little pillow. We gave her the pillow and we ask her to smell it for a couple of minutes. We have also used a salve with the lavender oil in it and put it under her nose. However, sometimes the aromatherapy is not effective by itself and other natural methods may be used in conjunction with the aromatherapy.

If an adult wanted to use the lavender oil for sleep, they could setup a device called a diffuser, which lightly heats the oil and allows the aroma of the oil to permeate the room.

Help, I Can’t Breathe

Another great example of the practical use of aromatherapy would be my own story of using eucalyptus oil. I suffer from respiratory issues, especially sinus congestion. Because I use a CPAP to sleep at night, it is imperative that I am able to breathe through my nose at night. I sometimes use a natural inhaler that is infused with eucalyptus oil. This usually works to open up my sinuses enough to breathe and get sufficient air with my CPAP.

Some people have successfully used eucalyptus oil with mild asthma attacks.

Some Words to the Wise

Although aromatherapy is a relatively safe natural medicine, some of the oils used can be very irritating to the skin, so caution needs to be used if one is putting oil into a delivery device like an inhaler or diffuser.

Also, the research is limited on the effects of aromatherapy use during pregnancy. I have used the eucalyptus oil inhaler during pregnancy and administered the lavender oil to my daughter, but I limit my contact with the oil itself.

Research & Give it a Try

There are so many more uses of aromatherapy. Start by identifying some area in your life that would benefit from aromatherapy, research the appropriate oil and delivery method, and see what it can do for you.

Janice Oliver is a home decor consultant and content contributor for candleluxury.com, a shopping destination for Seda Candles and hundreds of other scented accessories in the Luxury Candles line.

Guest Post by Sarah McCarthy.

If you’ve ever taken your family to a theme park, you know how expensive it can be. Admission is steep and as you add transportation, lodging, food and souvenirs, costs can quickly spiral out of control. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to rein in the cost of your trip without sacrificing the fun.

Plan

Careful planning is the most powerful tool you have to ensure you stay within budget on your trip. Find out the prices of park tickets, lodging, and travel so you have a good idea of how much money to earmark for your trip. You should also plan where you will eat each day and figure out the approximate cost for each meal. Include the cost of souvenirs, snacks and incidentals such as sun block or bug spray. Add money for miscellaneous expenses and at least $100 for emergencies. If the grand total comes to more than you planned, you will have to make some adjustments, such as finding cheaper meals or lodging, or staying fewer days. Don’t forget to scout out deals and discounts online.

Make a Daily Budget

Once you know how much you are going to spend, it’s time to plan your trip. Make an itinerary for each day and include the cost of each thing on it. Divide the money you set aside for miscellaneous expenses by the number of days you will be gone and add that to each day’s expenses. These figures will provide your budget for each day. If the total is over budget, you will have to make some adjustments. Once you are on vacation, remind everyone that if you don’t stick to your daily budget you won’t be able to do everything you planned.

Choose Your Accommodations Carefully

Where you stay has a huge impact on your bottom line. It doesn’t hurt to look for discounts on places to stay, but the most important factor that impacts the cost of accommodations is their location. Generally, the closer to the attraction you stay, the more expensive it will be. Of course, more luxurious accommodations cost more. Chain hotels a bit farther from the park may provide you with a clean, comfortable place to stay at considerable savings over a similar room near the gates.

Travel Smart

If you are flying, book as early as you can, and carefully compare prices. Feed the children well before you leave home to help avoid exorbitant airport food prices during layovers. If you are driving, fuel will be your biggest expense. Leave room in your budget for possible gas price increases. Your next biggest expense will be food and snacks for the drive. Packing healthy snacks to eat in the car between stops and a picnic cooler for meals will save a small fortune on food and give the children a chance to expend pent-up energy at rest-stop picnic areas. If you do eat out or stay overnight during your drive, stop at welcome centers and check out their publications for discounts. Don’t forget to do the same when you get to your destination.

At the Park

Most parks won’t allow you to bring food inside the gates, but many do have picnic areas outside the gates. If you drive to the park, you can take a cooler and have a nice break when it’s time to eat. Don’t forget to take empty clip-on water bottles to fill at water fountains.

Souvenirs

Encourage children to take pictures and make scrapbooks using menus, attraction brochures and notes about the trip rather than buy expensive mementos.

Image Source Page: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Megafobia_Oakwood_Theme_Park.jpg

Sarah McCarthy is a mother of five and always checks for discount Theme Park Coupons before heading out with the kids. This site offers specials for just about every theme park in the U.S., including
Walt Disney Coupons for all 9 of their U.S. parks.phoenixkiosk.com (5 posts)

Dear Jhoice, you have always been so passionate about casinos, online and offline, that sometimes I really like looking into websites and stuff just thinking of what you may or may not like. It’s fun, and it makes me thing of my dear friend. <3

I have something for you to enjoy, a newly discovered casino review directory all for you: onlinecasinoproject.

Here you can see a screenshot of the site:

The site is structured like Web Hosting Geeks and review directories of that kind, but it’s all about casinos and poker rooms here. I bet you’re going to like it. The design is very essential, pleasant on the eye, but never disrupting of a reader’s focus. On the left sidebar you could find the type of casino game, location or other attribute you’re interested into. For instance, I took the screenshot above from the Online Casino Reviews page, because I was looking up online casinos, preferably with no deposit feature. I just believe them to be safer, you know, but that’s my opinion. I usually like playing stuff for free, hehe.

Still on the sidebar, you can navigate various gaming rules, including Craps and Roulette. Not sure what you prefer, but you’ll find everything you need there, to learn about each game and how to play it.

Another interesting feature of the site is the section dedicated to Gaming Tips, which I found particularly interesting to read through (it’s on the end of the sidebar). Let’s say it: that’s stuff for the passionate player. I’ve never played before, only lurked around, so you know… but I’m sure you may find all of the tips very interesting and inspiring when you go to a casino and play games.

Good luck babe!

People have been keeping journals and diaries about their traveling experiences since the dawn of time. Today, everyone seems to keep their journals in online blogs on WordPress and elsewhere for the world to see. On the web, appearance is at least as important as content. Juanita Harrison and Jack London may have published their fascinating world tours in plain, ordinary-looking books, but today people are much more likely to read something if it’s attractively packaged. Your readers don’t just want to read what you have to say about trains in Istanbul or hotels in central London; they want images that provide an atmosphere.

Traveltastic

Demo – Download

Take a look at Traveltastic. The antique-looking map, colourful postcards and postmarks give the site a unifying ambiance. Links are placed in graphics shaped like luggage tags. At the same time, the way the images are arranged attract the viewer to the text at the centre of the page. It gives the reader a sense of being in on something. This theme is brought to you by Expedia.co.uk.

WordPress offers many customizable themes with text and images beautifully balanced. One of the nicest themes for a travel blog is Adventure Journal. With this style you can easily control the number of columns per page, insert your own header images and backgrounds, and display photos and art showing places you’ve been or would like to go. It even has support for French and German. Travelogue and Trans-Travel are less customizable but well-arranged and inviting, while Khaki Traveler uses colours and images that evoke a sense of backpacking and “roughing it”. Word press offers a variety of widgets and plug-ins that allow you instant access to your Flickr photos, maps, and even Youtube videos.

Other themes are not specifically designed for travel blogs but can be used for this purpose. You can use any clean, simple style that lets the reader know instantly where he is and what to expect. If you customize the header image, make it something that immediately tells the reader what the blog is about. Show a picture of railroad tracks, country roads or a view of fields and houses from high up in an airplane. Use colours that entice but do not distract from your words and pictures. Give the reader a sense of exciting journeys to exotic foreign locales, or to little-known treasures of the American landscape.

Be sure to provide information about the best ways to get there, restaurants and shops, cultural exhibits, historic landmarks and natural wonders. Upload photos of the unusual, less well known sights, or find hidden treasures in otherwise well-travelled spots. Write about the interesting people you meet and tell their stories. An entry or two about forms of politeness in foreign lands is a good idea, along with a list of the best language lessons or guides.

Guest Post kindly submitted by Sergio Santos. Thank you!

Guest Post by Deborah Petersen.

Wind chimes bring beauty and relaxation into our lives with their simple, wind-driven musical notes and variety of styles.  Wind chimes range from simple sets of small chimes that tinkle delicately to art objects of copper and brass, with large chimes that produce deeper, soothing tones.  Today most people use wind chimes as outdoor decor, but they were originally meant for much more serious purposes.

Origin of Wind Chimes

Wind chimes are also called wind bells.  Bells have been found in archaeological sites since 3000 B.C.  Wind bells are believed to have originated in India.  Around 1100 B.C. the Chinese created wind bells called feng-lings, to attract good spirits and drive away evil ones.  The Japanese call their glass wind bells Furin.  Wind chimes are commonly used in the Asian practice of feng shui, a system developed in China 3,000 years ago to correct the energies of a dwelling and bring good fortune and good health to its inhabitants.

Buddhist Use of Wind Chimes

Buddhist hung wind bells all over their temples and shrines, and even in caves.  In some Buddhist traditions, wind bells were believed to facilitate communication with the gods and to announce their arrival to the place of worship.  In other traditions, wind bells were used for ceremonial and meditative purposes.

Types of Wind Chimes

Wind chimes and wind bells were originally made from clay, bones, shells, brass and bamboo, then of glass and finer things.  Today’s wind chimes are still made from traditional materials as well as modern materials, and are created in every design imaginable, from plain and undecorated to large sets of chimes incorporating religious symbols.

How Wind Chimes are Made

A chime or bell’s frequency is determined by its dimensions and the materials used to create it.  Thus, small chimes and bells make delicate sounds, and large bells and large, tubular chimes make deeper tones.  A mixture of multiple sizes of chimes on a porch or patio can create a pleasant atmosphere.

Religious Symbology and Wind Chimes

Wind chimes are often used in “New Age” practices and neopagan religions such as Wicca.  Chimes may have central decor such as pentagrams or dreamcatchers and hanging objects like crescent moons, stars and mirrors.  Mirrors have the traditional association of warding off evil spirits.

Wind Chimes and Music

Wind chimes are also classified as percussion instruments and have been used in music since at least the nineteenth century.

Wind chimes have a long, rich history of religious and artistic use and there is much more to them than just being pretty baubles for hanging on the porch or patio.  Enjoy!

Deborah Petersen is a content contributor for Design 55, a designer and online retailer of Design 55 Modern Furniture.

The last few days have been hectic. I had a lot of work to get done, guest posts to write, studying sessions to organize, short stories to get back on track. I’m glad that my planning is resulting in more time for book reading, though. I’m currently into a work by Julia Llewellyn titled “Love Nest“. I bought it a week ago, during a bookshop visit in Rome with my boyfriend, whilst we were waiting for cinema to open (Cars 2, yep! ^^). The back-cover presentation of the book completely fascinated me: a four women’s story, each one getting in the life of the other for a strange plan by destiny, all apparently caring for weight, fame and outfits only, but really just as complicated inside as every other human being. They admit their own faults, recognizing that their frivolous side is often misleading and that attention to others’ feelings must be given in order to live on this planet and build relationships. A great book in my opinion, but I’m not yet half through it, so I will post a proper review on my Writing Journal as soon as I’m done with it.

Switching subjects now, do you believe in psychic powers? I don’t, unless it’s dead family members appearing in dreams or Saints apparitions that take messages to the person. Anyway, I thought it’d be interesting a peculiarity to apply to one of my Robocity Characters. I visited an online psychic experts’ website this morning to collect information to use on my Character; I also read an article that says human beings possess verified psychic abilities, which I’m going to use that as a model for my Character, which most probably will be a robot or alie woman in her thirties with a kid and a mysterious past. Have you ever talked to an online psychic? Just curious. I’d find it funny.

Right now, I’m typing from my aunt’s house at the sea. I’m spending a few days here with my dad, to relax and focus on writing (other than studying of course). Aunt was so nice to let us stay (she’s one of dad’s sisters). I’m on a crappy USB Internet Flash Drive connection though, so I can’t chat, but I can reply to a few comments or emails when I get online for work.

Just for sake of completeness, here’s my To-Do-List for these beautiful sea days:

• Complete short story Evergreen and get started on Caretaker (for my collection “Lights of Metal and Sky”)
• Color my already drawn Blogging Characters profile pictures in Photoshop and get others sketched
• Finish inking a few old art commissions
• Write summaries and exercise procedures from my Linear Algebra book
• Summarize chapters from university library book “Networks and Algorithms – And Introductory Approach“
• Read Love Nest
• Read Scrivere (a book that collects thoughts on writing from various authors; in Italian)
• Start reading my new HTML 5 book
• Write reviews, articles and guest posts (work)
• Plan work on new (and old) Characters’ Blogs.

I’ll be back home on Saturday, July 2nd. Good night.

The Roman pantheon is an opulent structure to say the last, which is what causes hoards of tourists to flock to this location day after month after year. There are so many things to see within and without the pantheon that most guests tend to get over whelmed by it all.

Whether it is being seen from the front or back, this one of a kind structure has a lot to offer the guest. As one approaches the building from the front the first thing that they will encounter is the Corinthian columns, which have been used to hold up the roof of the pantheon.

For the novice in architecture, these columns can be recognized in several ways. First and foremost the columns tend to become slightly thinner as they rise and they taper off in a bell shape at the top. In addition to this, the top of the columns are usually adorned with flowers to add to their opulence and grandeur.

At the very top of the facade there is an inscription that reads” M.AGRIPPA.L.F.COS.TERTIUM.FECIT. Translated into direct English, this sentence gives the modern day tourist and inkling into who built this magnificent structure. He was Marcus Agrippa one time ruler of the vast Roman Empire.

However, even though the exterior of the building is a work of art in its own right, it is until you step into the Pantheon that one truly comes into contact with its beauty. This is the real reason people travel thousands of miles to take images of an ancient building.

This old time temple that was later converted into a Roman catholic church has exceptional interior. However, it is not just the art work on the walls that appeals to the onlookers, but the intricate marble work that has been around for over 2,000 years. This aspect of the pantheon will have the onlooker staring skywards for the duration of their voyage into the pantheon. From the pillars, to the marble walls, to the tombs there is something to be imaged every which way the guest looks.

These tombs do not just house regular folk, but they are home to Raphael, one of the most renowned artists of all time, as well as kings Umberto l and Vittorio Emanuel e ll.

To crown it all, there is the oculus at the very top of the dome. Though it baffles many, this opening serves the dual purpose of lighting and ventilating the dome.

The Roman Pantheon has been a source of inspiration for numerous architects across the planet from the United States all the way to Beijing. Therefore, kudos goes to Marcus Agrippa for leaving this architectural master piece for all generations to enjoy.

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I’m officially twenty-six. June 17th signed the milestone: I’m one the way of the 30′s by now. I know, I’m probably too pessimistic about age, but sometimes I feel like I’m split in half: half of me is still the same child as I used to be up to 5-6 years ago, the other half is fully conscious of time passing and tries to remind me of that every day.

You know what? I don’t care. I’m twenty-six but I will never stop sleeping with my dolls, collecting and playing with robot toys, watching cartoons, sneak in toy shops and look at Barbies in absolute fascination. The little girl in me will never die.

Snuggling with my doll Arianna. ^-^

The little girl in me is MYSELF.

Now for a summary of the events:

June 17th

The day of my birth. I woke up at 8 AM to finish my freelance work so I could be free of any duties to celebrate my birthday with my family, at grandma’s. I dressed up in casual clothes to stay comfy in a countryside house, and I left with my dad and brother at 12 PM. Mom and sister were at grandma’s already: mom preparing lunch, my sister studying for her diploma. As soon as I arrived, everybody greeted me, and lunch was ready after minutes: sitting around the dining table, mom, dad and grandma told me tales of my birth. Looks like I was born at 1:30 PM and I was so hungry as soon as I came out. LOL. That could be a reason while I love food so much, ihih. Anyway, after lunch I spent some time with my aunt Annita, helping her sort out an issue with her PayPal account, and then I left with dad to come home, at 3:50 PM, as there would have been too many packages in the car later in the day for all five of us to fit in. I enjoyed some reading and some extra freelance work in the evening, even though I wasn’t feeling well with my tummy (been sick for a week already with a flu that hit my intestines *sigh*). Of course, I had a good long chat with my sweet fiancee Simone, my greatest blessing in this life.

June 18th

This is the day I celebrated my birthday with Simone. He arrived at 12:40 PM, and I was ready to go out for lunch. We spent a little time with my parents and then left for the Tinello eating house. The little trattoria is located about fifty meters from my quarters, so it wasn’t a lot of walking, but guys! Their food is delicious! We ate really a lot (in fact, I ate again at lunch of the following day, ihih!) and all that for only €55! *_* Truly amazing. To keep it short, we ordered one appetizer to split in half (a delicious ham and mozzarella dish), two first-courses (a portion of pasta with salmon and cream and half a portion of a special recipe, square-shaped pasta with a ricotta plus pine nuts cream inside), mixed grilled meat as a second course and some asparagus to complete the meal. For a dessert, we had a creamy pudding with some Nutella on the top. Oh my, writing that way makes it seems like we ate mountains of stuff, but they were a tad more than regular portions in the end, since we split in half most portions (to taste everything, you know). But hey, it was my birthday, so I was entitled to eat a lot, ihih! That eating house makes delicious food, I hope I can eat there again in a few months.

That ends my twenty-sixth birthday tale. Uhm, 620 words… perhaps I exaggerated here. XD

Guest Post by Stephania.

Putting together a new home for a growing family is no easy tasks.  You’re considering a lot of different purchases and deciding which ones you should make first.  Should you expand your wardrobe to fill up that big empty closet?  Should you decorate first before you get the furniture settled against the walls?  There are a lot of different ways you can start, so here are some tips to take care of the basics.  Take care of your family needs before anything else and then spend the rest of your time focusing on making your house a home.

Hand-Me-Down Baby Clothes
Some kids don’t always have the advantage of having older siblings or cousins from which to inherit a gold mine of clothing and toys.  For those kids, Ebay provides a wonderful solution by offering up good quality products from people who’ve found them useful and don’t need to hold onto them anymore.  Kids grow like weeds, and it’s a hard task keeping them in clothes that fit and look new all the time.  The best way to keep up is to find the best deals on kids supplies that you can.

Ebay has a great selection of real supplies from real people.  Prices are very decent, certainly comparable to what you’d pay in stores, and you have the added convenience of having the goods delivered right to your door.  And with an Ebay coupon specially designed for shopping online, you can even get discounts or promotional codes for free shipping!  When there’s a little one running circles around your new home, the convenience of having baby supplies shipped to your front door means quite a lot.

Furniture
If you move into a new home from a smaller place, you’ll quickly find that you probably don’t have enough furniture and general, household stuff to fill up the new space.  And just as you’re looking for new furniture pieces, someone one Ebay is getting ready to part with their old ones.  It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for mattresses, dining room sets, coffee tables, or home office furniture: somebody somewhere has it and wants to sell it to you.

With Ebay, you have the added advantage of being able to shop from the comfort of your own home.  Take your time to look at your new space and choose the pieces of furniture that are right for you.  With the online shopping portal, you can see exactly how long some pieces have been on the market, how many people have bid on them, and how much the price has changed.  One of the worst things you can do is to go out furniture shopping, see your new favorite living room set in the showroom floor, and go back the next day to find that someone else has bought it.  With Ebay, that kind of thing never happens.  Take the length of the auction time to make the right decision for you.

Tools and Equipment
Whether you want power tools or gardening equipment, Ebay has something that you’ll need.  They organize their auction pieces in a way that makes them easy to find.  Shop for big tools like lawn mowers and grills or smaller fix-it equipment like door knobs and drawer handles.  When you shop on Ebay, it’s definitely a bit of a grab bag in terms of selection.  You may not find the pieces that you need immediately, so that’s the time to go to your local hardware store.  But if you keep an eye out and watch the listings from day to day, you can find great deals on the supplies that you really want. Patience can really pay off with a site like Ebay.