Thursday Thirteen

13 things that make my life easier right now...

1. BLOCKBUSTER ONLINE (IF you have a blockbuster near you). Their rates are the same as netflix, with the additional bonus of returning dvd’s instore and exchanging them for one on the shelf. Also, you get a free rental coupon emailed to you WEEKLY. If you are obsessive compulsive about this, that is a LOT of free rentals!
2. BLOGLINES. Seriously, it’s so easy to use, I don’t know why everybody doesn’t. I used to keep all my blogs in my bookmarks, but checking them daily (sometimes multiple times daily) and not seeing updates was frustrating and time consuming. Now, I just log into bloglines and all my blogs are listed in one column, with the updated blogs in bold. it’s not always completely accurate, especially with typepad accounts, but it’s still way easier than randomly clicking on blogs, hoping for updates.
3. dvr. I can’t say enough about how wonderful dvr is if you enjoy watching tv without loud people in the room with you. I no longer watch any television before 9ish pm, and dustin and I can find stuff that we enjoy together. Before dvr, we didn’t watch anything together other than the occasional movie when he was home. It’s also great to record children’s shows, fast forward through commercials, and not have to let them watch more tv than necessary while waiting for their favorite show to come on. (we watch lots of curious george and Charlie & Lola)
4. sidewalk chalk.
5. itunes
6. Tylenol pm. I would seriously never sleep if I didn’t have this to use a couple of nights a week.
7. cocoa. I am not a tea or coffee drinker, and I find one mug of this a few nights a week makes me feel deliciously relaxed.
8. crossword puzzles. I attack our daily paper with a pair of scissors, and collect the crossword puzzle. I keep them stapled together until I finish one and then toss it. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and my dad would be so proud.
9. washable markers/paint/colors. A must in this creative little house.
10. crockpot. I’m finally figuring out how to use it and it’s wonderful. I am starting to have crockpot envy, when I see bigger ones, with self timers and different settings.
    
11. picasa2. one of the fastest, easiest (*free*) ways to store photos on your computer, plus you can send them to friends, upload to web albums, crop and edit photos and upload to your blogger account. again, why doesn't everybody use this?
12. caller id. Do you know how many phone calls a day I get from people that I don’t want to talk to?
13. online banking. I haven’t bought stamps in months, which is great b/c that’s one less place that I have to try to navigate with kids in tow.

so what about you??? do you have some must haves to share? :) please do.

posted by mindi11 @ 11/02/2006 10:02:00 AM