Decorating eggs for Easter is a long-standing tradition. It’s also a fun activity for kids and adults. Plus, you’ll end up with a basket of beautifully decorated eggs or you can hide them and have your own Easter egg hunt.

The first thing you need is either hard boiled or blown eggs. If you use hard boiled eggs hey must be kept refrigerated if you intend to eat them. Do not eat if they have been left out or painted with acrylic paints.

If you want to keep your decorated eggs it is best to use blown eggs. However, blown eggs are much more fragile and harder for young kids to handle. To make a blown egg poke a small hole in each end of the egg with a large needle. Push needle into egg and twist around to break yoke. Hold the egg over a bowl and blow hard through the hole until the shell is empty. Rinse eggshells well and allow to dry. (Save the raw eggs and scramble for breakfast).

Here are some of the things you’ll need to decorate eggs along with various decorating techniques:

Natural Dye
Various food and plant items
Sauce pans for each color
Slotted spoon
Strainer
Cooking oil
Soft cloth
Pour 1/2 cup water in each sauce pan. Add cut-up fruit, vegetables or plants (carrots, blueberries, grass, coffee all work well). Bring to a boil and simmer until water turns color you like. Remove from heat and strain reserving water. When water is cool add boiled or blown eggs. Let sit until they turn the desired color. Remove with slotted spoon and allow to dry. Polish with small amount of cooking oil and soft cloth.

Crepe Paper Dye
Different color crepe paper
Hot water
Small bowls or cups
Slotted spoon
Cooking oil
Soft cloth
Soak crepe paper in hot water in individual bowls or cups for each color. Add eggs and allow to sit in water until he desired color is achieved. Remove with slotted spoon and allow to dry. Polish with small amount of cooking oil and soft cloth.

Food Coloring Dye
Food coloring
Hot water
White vinegar
Small bowls or cups
Slotted spoon
Cooking oil
Soft cloth
For each color measure 1/4 tsp. food coloring in small bowl. Add 3/4 cup hot water and 1 tbsp. white vinegar to each color. Add eggs and allow to sit until they are the desired color. Remove with slotted spoon. Polish dry eggs with small amount of cooking oil and soft cloth.

Waxed Eggs
Wax crayons
Paper towels
Egg dyes in different colors
Slotted spoon
Cooking oil
Soft cloth
Draw a heavy crayon pattern on hard boiled egg. Dip egg in egg dye preferably a dark color. Leave in dye until desired color is reached. Remove with slotted spoon and place in 200 degree oven for a few minutes until wax is melted. Wipe with paper towel and dip again in lighter dye to fill in pattern where wax was. Polish finished eggs with cooking oil and soft cloth.

Dip and Dye Eggs
Masking tape
Different color egg dye
Slotted spoon
Cooking oil
Soft cloth
Stick a pattern of masking tape on plain hard boiled egg. Dip egg in egg dye and leave until desired color is reached. Remove with slotted spoon and air dry. Remove masking tape when dry. Leave masked areas white or dip again in another lighter dye. Polish finished egg with cooking oil and soft cloth.

Marble Eggs
Large glass jar
Crayon stubs
Vegetable grater
Hot water
Waxed paper or newspaper
Empty egg carton
Clear acrylic spray (optional)
Grate peeled crayons over waxed paper. Fill jar with very hot water. Drop bits of grated crayon into water. Add hard boiled or blown egg as soon as crayon begins to melt. Twirl egg in water with spoon. The wax should make a design on the egg. Carefully remove egg and set upside-down in egg carton to dry. Once dry spray with clear acrylic to seal.

Sponge Painted Eggs
Liquid tempra paint
Paper cups (for each color)
Small pieces of foam or sponge
Clothes pins (for each color)
Egg cups
Clear acrylic spray
Place hard boiled or blown eggs in egg cups. Partially fill paper cups with different colors of paint. Cut a piece of sponge to a clothes pin and dip into paper cups, use the clothes pin as a handle. Lightly dab the sponge over the top half of the egg. Let dry. Turn egg over and repeat procedure. Let the egg dry completely. If using blown eggs, spray with acrylic spray for a permanent finish.

Here are a few links that will save you money decorating the Easter Eggs in style.
1. Easter Egg Stickers

2. Disney Egg Decorating Kit from Current

3. Roll It Egg Decorating Kit from Current

4. Disney Princess Egg Decorating Kit

Tweet This Post

It’s often expensive to go out to a nice restaurant. But there is more to the dining experience than being served. You need to do your part to be a good customer. There needs to be mutual respect between waitstaff and patrons so that everyone benefits from dining out.

As a diner, here are a few way to improve your manners and hopefully your dining out experience.

Call If You Have to Cancel
Restaurant reservations are like any other appointment. If you make a reservation, stick to it. Call ahead if you’re going to be more than 15 minutes late, and cancel as far in advance as possible if your plans change so that someone else can get a table. It is fine to make multiple reservations for a single evening as long as you cancel the unwanted bookings, again as far in advance as possible.

Dress Appropriately
Casual attire to one person may mean jeans and a sweatshirt and a blazer and loafer to another. If you’re headed to a restaurant for the first time and are unsure about how to dress, call and ask the host outright what the dress code is. When in doubt, it’s safer to wear something more conservative and dress a little nicer. However, just because a customer is underdressed doesn’t mean he doesn’t have money to spend or fine taste in food and wine. You likely won’t be turned away for wear jeans and sneaker but are likely to be seated at a table out of the way.

Substitutions and Sending Dishes Back
Servers should make reasonable substitutions and accommodations to your requests without grumbling about them. Often the unwillingness to accommodate a diner’s request when ordering is driven by the kitchen and has nothing to do with the waiter.

If your food is served and not satisfactory, you should let your waiter know immediately. However, if you send it back, you’ll have to wait while everyone else eats and then the timing of the whole meal is off. It’s your right to say something about your dish in a polite way. Give the waiter and chef a chance to fix the situation without being hostile.

Cell phones
Telephones shouldn’t be answered during family meals at home, and it’s no different in a restaurant. Turn off your cell phone or switch it to silent mode before sitting down to eat, and leave it in your pocket or purse.

Wine
Bring your own wine as a backup if you must, but at least look at the restaurant’s selection first. Once you’ve factored in a $15 corkage fee, a bottle from the wine list might be a better deal. It’s best to call
ahead to inquire about the corkage policy. Don’t bring more than two bottles per table. And don’t expect the restaurant to waive the corkage fee.

If you think the wine smells or tastes off, you should be confident in telling the waiter or wine director. After all, you’re paying for it, and you should not subject yourself to drinking a corked bottle.

What happens when you order a bottle of wine and simply don’t like it? If you confidently ordered the bottle on your own, without consultation from a sommelier or wine steward, it is generally not appropriate to send it back – especially if it is an expensive bottle. However, if you requested assistance from the staff and don’t like what they suggested, it is within your prerogative to express displeasure with the wine and send it back.

Children
It’s never too early to start teaching good restaurant manners to children. Poorly behaved children can ruin the dining experience for other patrons, so if you bring your kids to dine out, make sure they are behaving properly.

Leftovers
Unlike most other countries, there’s nothing wrong with taking your leftovers home in a doggy bag, especially since portions are usually more than any human should eat in a single sitting. The same now goes for wine in New York and some other states – leftover bottles should be recorked and packaged for customers to take home.

Tipping
Tips are a customer’s way to provide feedback about the service in a restaurant, and should be used to reflect quality. If service is inattentive, forgetful, rude or careless, leave a smaller tip to indicate your displeasure. Only in extreme cases should a tip never be given. By the same token, if you feel your server would go to any length to make you happy, a 20-25 percent (or greater) tip is advisable. You should also tip on the wine.

Communicate
If you are displeased with the dining experience in any way, it is up to you to calmly and politely articulate that to the waiter or manager so they can have an opportunity to fix the problem. If you don’t say anything and just wait until the end of the meal to leave a sub-standard tip, the waiter won’t know what went wrong.

Complain to the Restaurant Before Spewing Online
Many people don’t realize the power of a bad review, even in an online forum. If you’ve had a really terrible meal, you have every right to spare others from suffering the same fate. But use your power wisely and justly. Even the best restaurants have off nights, which is why professional reviewers will typically eat at the same place several times before they publish their opinions. Be sure to get your facts
straight. Restaurateurs say that online reviewers often misremember details, to the point of criticizing items that aren’t even on the menu.

Follow our tips above and you’ll be on your way to get the best table and best service from the top restaurants when you head out for a night on the town. And before you head out, be sure to check with Restaurant.com and you can find 80% discounts on restaurant gift certificates and Dinner of the Month Club Purchases.

Tweet This Post

With Spring on the way, it won’t be long before you will hear the buzz of lawnmowers in your neighborhood every weekend. But before you fire up your lawn mower to give your lawn a cut, you’ll want to make sure it is ready for the task by giving it a tune up. This is something you’ll want to do every year to make sure your mower is performing at its best.

Here’s how you can do it yourself in three easy steps:

Before performing a lawn mower tune-up, you need to warm up the engine. Put just enough gas in the gas tank to get your lawn mower running. Start your engine and let it run until it runs out of gas. Finally, now that you’re ready to perform the lawn mower tune-up, you need to take a safety precaution: disconnect the spark plug wire so that the engine can’t start accidentally.

Changing the Oil
Make sure you purchase the right type of oil for your replacement oil. When in doubt, ask where you bought the machine or check the owner’s manual.

Clean off any dirt around the upper part of the oil tank (where you fill your machine with oil). An old toothbrush comes in handy for this task. Unscrew and remove the dipstick, if your oil tank has one.

Now locate the lower side of your oil tank – a plug found on the underside of your machine. You need to drain out the old oil, and unscrewing this plug will do just that. Prop up your machine accordingly with blocks, providing a tilt that will give you access to the plug. Stick an oil pan or like container under the plug to catch the oil. Unscrew the plug (you may need a socket wrench) by turning counter-clockwise and let that dirty oil pour out.

Screw the drain plug back on using a clockwise motion. Don’t over-tighten; so that you’ll be able to get it off easily next time you need a lawn mower tune-up. Rather than over-tightening when you work on your machine, it’s better to tighten moderately, and then periodically check during the mowing season to ensure that it hasn’t loosened through vibrations.

If your machine has an oil filter, replace it as part of the lawn mower tune-up and clean the gasket with which it comes into contact. Remove the blocks so that your machine is level again. Fill the oil tank with new oil to the correct level, replacing cap and dipstick. Refill lawn mower with gas and reconnect spark plug wire. At this point in the lawn mower tune-up, it’s time to start the machine. Let the engine idle and ensure that there are no oil leaks.

Changing the Spark Plug
Disconnect spark plug wire.
Clean the housing around the old spark plug.
Remove the old spark plug with socket wrench.

What you need to do is ensure that the new spark plug is gapped the way it’s supposed to be for your machine. Just measure the gap, and then see if the measurement matches manufacturer’s specifications for your machine. If it doesn’t match (or if there’s no gap at all), you’ll have to create/alter the gap.
Screw on the new spark plug (not too tight!).

Before changing/cleaning the air filter, first determine whether your machine has a paper or foam air filter. Paper air filters are replaced; while the foam ones are cleaned.

Changing the Air Filter
If you have a paper air filter, unscrew the cover and remove the paper air filter. Insert a new paper air filter with the pleat facing out.
Screw the cover back on.

If you have a foam air filter, unscrew the cover. Remove air filter unit and discard the old foam.
Clean the air filter unit with kerosene. Soak the new piece of foam in clean engine oil. Squeeze out the excess oil using a clean rag. Insert new foam in air filter. Ensure the lip protrudes over edge of the unit.
Screw the cover back on. Re-connect spark plug wire.

Simply follow the quick tips we’ve outlined above, and in about 30 minutes your lawn mower will be ready to be your weekend warrior.

Tweet This Post

Spring is nearly sprung and it’s time to start thinking about making your lawn look its best. Don’t neglect your spring lawn; you could end up paying for it the rest of the year.

Following are some easy lawn care tips. Follow these and you will have a lawn that looks like the fairway on the nicest golf course and have your neighbors green with envy.

Raking
Raking will be your first task of spring lawn care. A thatch build-up of more than 1/2 inch is considered excessive. Make the effort to rake deeply. Don’t just skim the surface to remove the leaves. A deep raking will remove thatch. Even if you raked well in the fall, a spring raking will remove grass blades that died over the winter — dead blades that are just waiting to become thatch. Start your raking when you’re pretty sure the snow season (if you have one) is over in your region. Lawn rakes have come a long way in recent years with ergonomically-designed handles, lighter materials along with other improvements to make raking much easier on your body. Rakes come in all materials, the most popular are metal , wood.

Aeration
If your lawn is subjected to high levels of traffic year after year, it may eventually start to show signs of decline. In such cases, your lawn is probably suffering from compaction, which includes the presence of moss and mold. Aeration is the remedy for compaction. Lawn aerators can be rented at your local rental center, or you may want to consider owning one. NorthernTool has a few yard aerators that you can connect to your lawn mower.

Overseeding
If your lawn is riddled with bare patches due to dog spots, heavy traffic or neglect, you may need to apply grass seed to fill in those bare patches. Apply a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer when you overseed. Five weeks after the grass germinates, apply a quick-release nitrogen fertilizer.

Fertilizing
Lawns can be fertilized organically by using compost and mulching mowers. But for those who prefer chemical fertilizers you can contract with a lawn care company. Many experts, however, recommend a lighter feeding in spring and a heavier one in late fall. Too much fertilizer in spring can lead to disease and weed problems. And if you have, indeed, already fertilized in late fall, your lawn is still “digesting” that fertilizer in spring. Ace Hardware is well know for having an affordable variety of fertilizers for every lawn type. You may want to consider getting a soil sample tested from a lawn care company to see which fertilizer is best for your lawn.

Weeding
For those who prefer weed-free lawns, spring grass care is as much about weed prevention as it is about fostering healthy lawn growth. Not all weeds are battled in the same manner. If you have a problem with the annual weed, crabgrass, then fertilization in spring should go hand in hand with the application of herbicide that address weed control before their seedlings can even emerge.

Pulling Weeds
Keep an eye out for the emergence of the weed, dandelion during the spring season. You’ll want to snap off their flower stems before they produce seed. If you’re more ambitious, you can dig them out by the roots. There are a few tools to help you with the task of pulling weeds, Ace Hardware is a store that has a number of options you can bu to make that job easier.

Tweet This Post

Ever wondered why everyone gets so “Irish” on St. Patrick’s Day? Why does everyone want to dress in green and drink themselves silly? Where did this holiday come from and why was it started? We did some research and have found the answers to your burning questions:

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 of each year. The holiday is a religious feast honoring St. Patrick on the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years.

The church calendar avoids the observance of saints’ feasts during certain solemnities, moving the saint’s day to a time outside those periods. St. Patrick’s Day is very occasionally affected by this requirement. Thus when 17th of March falls during Holy Week, as it did in 1940, St. Patrick’s day was moved to April 3 in order to avoid convincing with Palm Sunday. This also happened again in 2008, when it was observed on March 15. St. Patrick’s Day will not fall within Holy Week again until 2160, when it will fall on the Monday before Easter.

The day is a national holiday in Ireland; a bank holiday in Northern Ireland and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated (but not an official holiday) in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and the United States. The holiday in those regions have evolved into a celebration of “all things Irish – including shamrocks, leprechauns, wearing green, and eating corned beef and cabbage.

Although St. Patrick’s Day falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink, and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

St Patrick is known as the patron saint of Ireland, but he was not born of Irish decent. He is said to have been the son of Calpurnius, a Roman-British army officer. Still, he has become an integral part of the Irish heritage, because of his service across Ireland in the 5th century, where he converted the Gaelic Irish, who were then mostly Pagans, to Christianity.

Tweet This Post

The Irish are famous for raising a glass and offering witty words of wisdom. Here are some Irish blessings and toasts for you to use at a St. Patrick’s Day celebration or any other occasion that you need to make an impression and offer up some good cheer.

Drinking Toasts
Here’s to me, and here’s to you,
And here’s to love and laughter-
I’ll be true as long as you,
And not one moment after.

When we drink, we get drunk.
When we get drunk, we fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
So, let’s all get drunk, and go to heaven!

Here’s to our wives and girlfriends:
May they never meet!

Irish Toasts
I have known many, liked not a few, loved only one, I drink to you.

May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.

May the grass grow long on the road to hell for want of use.

May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.

As you slide down the banisters of life may the splinters never point the wrong way.

May your troubles be as few and as far apart as my Grandmothers teeth.

May your doctor never earn a dollar out of you and may your heart never give out. May the ten toes of your feet steer you clear of all misfortune, and before you’re much older, may you hear much better toasts than this.

May there be a generation of children on the children of your children.

May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight.

May your neighbors respect you, Trouble neglect you, The angels protect you, And heaven accept you.

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, may good luck pursue you each morning and night.

May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you’re going and the insight to know when you’re going too far.

Irish Blessings
May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

May St. Patrick guard you wherever you go,
and guide you in whatever you do–
and may his loving protection be a blessing to you always.

I-rish you a very nice place to live,
I-rish God’s greatest gifts he’ll give.
I-rish you health, and wealth, and more–
I-rish your smilin’ face were at my door!

May the friendships you make,
Be those which endure,
And all of your grey clouds
Be small ones for sure.
And trusting in Him
To Whom we all pray,
May a song fill your heart,
Every step of the way.

May you live a long life
Full of gladness and health,
With a pocket full of gold
As the least of you wealth.
May the dreams you hold dearest,
Be those which come true,
The kindness you spread,
Keep returning to you.

May the friendships you make,
Be those which endure,
And all of your grey clouds
Be small ones for sure.
And trusting in Him
To Whom we all pray,
May a song fill your heart,
Every step of the way.

Tweet This Post

The first St. Patrick’s Day didn’t take place in Ireland, but in the United States when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers to reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

Over the next thirty-five years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the rise of so-called “Irish Aid” societies, like the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group would hold annual parades featuring bagpipes (which actually first became popular in the Scottish and British armies) and drums.

In 1848, several New York Irish aid societies decided to unite their parades to form one New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Today, that parade is the world’s oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly three million people line the one-and-a-half mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours.

Here is a list of the 2010 St. Patricks Day parades in the US.

The Longest Running St. Patrick’s Day Parades:
Boston, MA: Since 1734
New York City: Since 1762
Philadelphia, PA: Since 1771
Morristown, NJ: Since 1780
New Orleans, LA: Since 1809
Buffalo, NY: Since 1811
Savannah, GA: Since 1813
Carbondale, PA: Since 1833
Milwaukee, WI: Since 1843
Chicago, IL: Since 1843
New Haven, CT: Since 1845
Saint Paul, MN: Since 1851
San Francisco, CA: Since 1852
Scranton, PA: Since 1862
Cleveland, OH: Since 1867
Pittsburgh, PA: Since 1869
Kansas City, MO: Since 1873
Butte, MT: Since 1882
Rolla, MO: Since 1908

The Biggest Current St. Patrick’s Day Parades:
Savannah, GA
The parade organizers have claimed an expected attendance of around 400,000. The parade travels through Savannah’s Historic District. One tradition that has developed has been the official “dyeing of the fountains” which happens several days before the parade.

Hot Springs, AR
Perhaps the smallest notable parade for being the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, it is held
On Bridge Street which became famous in the 1940s when Ripley’s Believe It or Not designated it “The Shortest Street in the World.”

Syracuse, NY
In the city of Syracuse, St. Patrick’s celebrations are traditionally begun with the delivery of green beer to Coleman’s Irish Pub on the first Sunday of March. Coleman’s is located in the Tipperary Hill section of the city – home to the World famous “Green-on-Top” Traffic Light and is historically the Irish section in Syracuse. St. Patrick’s Day is rung in at midnight with the painting of a Shamrock under the Green-Over-Red traffic light. Syracuse boasts the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration per-capita in the United States with their annual Syracuse St. Patrick’s Parade. It is a major annual event, typically drawing an estimated crowd of more than 100,000 visitors to downtown Syracuse, as well as 5,000 to 6,000 marchers.

New York City
The New York parade has become the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world. In a typical year, 150,000 marchers participate in it, including bands, firefighters, military and police groups, county associations, emigrant societies, and social and cultural clubs, and 2 million spectators line the streets. The parade marches up 5th Ave and is always led by the U.S. 69th Infantry Regiment. The parade is organized and run by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which on occasion has appointed controversial Irish republican figures (some of whom were barred from the U.S.) to be its Grand Marshal.

Holyoke, MA
This Western Mass factory town was the site of massive Irish immigration in the 19th Century, and hosts a Parade its organizers claim is the second largest in the United States. It is scheduled on the Sunday following St. Patrick’s Day each year. Attendance exceeds 300,000, with over 25,000 marchers, through a 2.3 mile route in this city of 40,000. A 10K road Race and many events create a remarkable festival weekend. Each year an Irish-American who has distinguished himself or herself in their chosen profession is awarded the John F. Kennedy National Award. JFK was a National Award Winner in the 1958 Holyoke Parade.

Scranton, PA
Due to the rich history of Scranton participation in St. Patrick’s Day festivities it is one of the oldest and most populated parades in the United States. It has been going on annually since 1862 by the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Association of Lackawanna County. It is estimated to be the third largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the United States. In 2008, up to 150,000 people attended the parade.

Seattle, WA
Seattle’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade travels along a 1-mile route through the Emerald City’s downtown financial and retail core the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day. Seattle’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration is the largest and oldest in the Northwestern United States. In 2009, some 20,000 spectators and groups from throughout the Northwest turned out for the city’s Irish shenanigans. Along with the annual “Laying ‘O the Green” where Irish revelers mark the path of the next morning’s procession with a mile-long green stripe, the Seattle parade marks the high-point of Seattle’s Irish Week festivities. The week-long civic celebration organized by the city’s Irish Heritage Club includes the annual Society of the Friends of St. Patrick Dinner where a century-old Irish Shillelagh has been passed to the group’s new president for 70 years, an Irish Soda Bread Baking Contest, a Mass for Peace that brings together Catholics and others in a Protestant church, and the annual Irish Week Festival, which takes place around St. Patrick’s day is enormous, including step dancing, food, historical and modern exhibitions, and Irish lessons.

Las Vegas, NV
The Southern Nevada, (formerly Las Vegas) Sons of Erin have put on a parade since 1966. It was formerly held on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, later moved to 4th street. Since 2005, the parade has been held in downtown Henderson. It is one of the biggest parades in the state of Nevada. It also consists of a three day festival, carnival and classic car show in Old Town Henderson.

Rolla, MO
Rolla is home to the Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly known as University of Missouri-Rolla, and Missouri School of Mines), an engineering college. St. Patrick is the patron saint of engineers, and the school and town’s celebrations last for a week or more, with a downtown parade held the Saturday before St. Patrick’s. A royal court is crowned, and the streets in the city’s downtown area are painted solid green.

Of course, if you are the adventurous type and want to experience these parades in person, you should check out the FlamingoWorld.com travel page, where you will find a number of money-saving travel discounts from Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia and many others.

Tweet This Post

Skip the crowded Irish bars on St. Patrick’s Day and instead host a St. Patty’s Day party at home. It’s a time for you and all your guests to be Irish and get your green on. Much like Santa does, you will want to make a list then check it twice to make sure you are throwing a party that is filled with shamrocks – not blarney. And don’t forget to visit the St. Patricks Day Coupons posted on FlamingoWorld.com to save money on all your St. Patrick Day Decorations.

Invitations
You can print them on green paper, or just use green ink. Use free clipart such as shamrocks, leprechauns, or a pot of gold images. You can also find cute, affordable pre-made invitations at Shindigz.

Along with stating the Who, What, Where and When…. . Remind your guests to wear green, or once they arrive, give them a St. Patty’s Day themed button, hat, or beads to wear; You’ll find all you need for decorating your party (and guests) at a2zPartySupply.com.

Food
Use your favorite search engine to hunt down recipes for appropriate party food, or go for the traditional Irish dishes such as corned beef and cabbage, Irish salmon, Irish lamb stew, lamb chops, Shepherd’s Pie, Irish soda bread, Irish brown bread. Woman’s Day has some great Irish recipes, as does About.com, and Your Irish.com.

For Dessert
You can make up a platter of lime Jell-O or plenty of green frosting over cakes, cupcakes or cookies. Don’t forget the Irish coffee to finish things off.

Drinks
There plenty of Irish drinks including Guinness Stout, and Irish whiskey. You can also add green food coloring to make green beer. If you’re feeling more creative search the Internet for party drinks made with popular liqueurs such as Irish Mist, or Irish Cream (Bushmills or Baileys). Or you use these links to find a variety of Green Drinks that you can make: hawaiiforvisitors.com, About.com, allrecipes.com.

Decorations
You can use Ireland travel maps, paper shamrocks, pots of gold, four leaf clovers, mylar leprechauns, green streamers, green balloons or anything else that is green. Dim the lights and set out green candles. You can also purchase St. Patrick’s Day confetti, in which you can sprinkle on tables and countertops. Shop at St. Patricks Day Coupons that are posted on FlamingoWorld.com.

Music/Entertainment
Create ambiance with CD compilations of traditional Celtic or Irish music. But don’t overlook contemporary Irish pop and rock music from popular bands like U2, The Chieftains, Flogging Molly, Hot House Flowers, Elvis Costello, The Pogues, Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats, Enya, Snow Patrol, Stiff Little Fingers, The Cranberries, Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison or Sinead O’Connor. You can also throw in a Drop Kick Murphy’s from Boston. You can find great Irish bands at iTunes.

If you really want to have an authentic evening, splurge and hire traditional Irish Dancers to perform at your party. In most metropolitan areas, there are professional Irish Dance studios in which they will perform for free or a low fee.

Party Favors
Send happy guests home with Irish travel posters, Irish CD’s, “Kiss Me I’m Irish” buttons, packets of green jelly beans, lucky lottery tickets, or a live shamrock or clover plant. Click over to a2zPartySupply to browse the St. Patricks Day Party Supplies and you find everything you need to throw a St. Paticks Day party that everyone will remember.

Tweet This Post

You spend a third of your life on your mattress. Choosing the right one for you can make a huge difference in your day to day activities. And at a price that ranges from several hundred to several thousand dollars, purchasing a mattress should not be taken lightly.

There is a lot of confusion surrounding purchasing because the mattress industry is very unique. The system was designed so that the customer has limited bargaining power, because mattresses as labeled with different names for different stores – making it virtually impossible to price comparison shop.

However, if you do some research you should be able to get what you want at a decent price. Of course, we recommend using FlamingoWorld to find mattress and bedding coupons before you buy. Overstock and JCPenney are two great resources to find coupons on new mattresses.

Pick a Size
This is probably the easiest of the decisions you’ll need to make before your purchase. If you’re comfortable with the size you currently have, stick with it. Try to account if you or the person you’re purchasing the mattress for will be growing, moves a lot or has a confined space to work with.

Lifespan
You should only use a bed about 10 years. Don’t pay more for a bed just because it has a warranty longer than that. The one exception would be some of the memory foam beds, which come with long warranties and should last longer than 10 years.

Pricing
Beds are expensive. For a decent king size, you’ll spend anywhere from $1,200 to $4,000, depending on what you are willing to pay for. Realistically, it will likely be closer to $2,000 than $1,000. King sizes typically run about $300 higher than queens. Keep in mind that over 10 years a $2,000 bed will only cost you around $15 per month.

Select a Comfort Level
Do you like a soft bed or an extra firm one? It really all depends on how you sleep. So, first you should determine what type of sleeper you are:

A. Back Sleeper
If you are a back sleeper you can sleep on anything, the type of pillow you get is the most important, and, you need a mattress that gives you the support but lets your butt sink in. It’s almost like lying on the floor and lifting your knees to your tummy but generally this is what a soft bed can do for you.

B. Side Sleeper
If you are a side sleeper you need something medium. In most cases, every mattress should be strong enough to support you and the topper is what you really sleep on anyways. The topper always depicts the “comfort” we feel when we lie on a bed. Side sleepers need to make sure they choose a pillow that helps align the spine. Get someone to look at you from behind while you lie down and make sure your spin is aligned correctly.

C. Stomach Sleeper
If you are a stomach sleeper, you need something really firm and supportive, but this doesn’t mean you need a hard bed. You can still get a softer feeling bed – you just don’t want something that sinks and will feel like you are in a hammock. And pillow? Stomach sleeper? Do you even need one? If so, a soft polyester pillow or flatter latex pillow will suffice. I myself am a stomach sleeper, the smaller the pillow the better.

The Mattress’ Upholstery
When you buy your new mattress you will need to look at the upholstery layers (the padding) and the innerspring coil unit.

The upholstery layers account for the major portion of today’s mattress cost. Twenty years ago, the average mattress height was nine inches thick. Today the average mattress height is fourteen inches thick. The coil unit itself hasn’t gotten much taller, usually about six inches. However, the upholstery layers, commonly referred to as padding, are the reason for the thicker mattresses. Thru research, the mattress manufacturers have found that adding more quantity and better quality of comfort materials will provide a more comfortable sleeping surface and also a longer comfort life.

These layers can consist of manmade materials, natural fibers, and a variety of foams. Every bed will have approximately 3-8 layers of padding, with each layer of padding being a different material. Looking at these three major components, the padding alone will cost more than the innerspring unit and foundation/box spring combined. Trusted name brand manufacturers will give you better padding and more of it as you spend more. Wool, cashmere, silk, memory foam, and latex foam are more commonly known and usually signal a better overall quality of padding. As with most items, these padding layers also come in different grades, so don’t expect the wool in a $1,000 mattress to be as good as with a $3,000 model.

The Mattress Coils
The innerspring coil unit is the base of your mattress. It allows for even distribution of your body mass while you are lying down. The innerspring, often called the coil, will hold its strength for many years. The coils are what offer support to your body where you need it most. Many of the major brands offer three or four different grades of innerspring coil units in their lines, usually giving you more coils as you go up in price.

More coils are better when the manufacturer spaces the same size and type of coils closer together providing more coils in the same size mattress. Trying to compare the quality of mattresses between brands based on coil count is not applicable. Realistically, there are just too many variables in coil design, function, and durability for consumers to understand what they are getting without spending days on coil research. So you really should focus on selecting the right comfort feel and particular model for your needs.

Try Before You Buy
The most important thing is that you lay on the bed for a couple minutes the same way you would lay on it at home. If you don’t like the mattress in the store, you won’t like it at home.

Box Spring or Foundation?
Some manufacturers still use a true box spring that will have a coil or modular coil spring system within it. These coils act as little shock absorbers, so when force and weight are applied to the top of the mattress, the box spring will give slightly underneath. In many cases, a good box spring will extend the life of your mattress and help to prolong your investment. A working box spring has long been considered the best way to build a premium mattress set.

Recent technology changes have some mattress manufacturers using a foundation. Framed in either wood or steel, foundations look like box springs but have no give or shock absorbing abilities. The non-flexing base makes for a great “do not disturb” sleep. The base has no components to wear out, and provides a more rigid feel. The box spring has been around longer, but the change in today’s mattress design allows for the use of a foundation in many applications.

Bed Frames/accessories
If you need to get a bed frame, it’s going to run about $50 at the low end, to $100 at the high end.

You may also need a “mattress protector” or “mattress pad.” If you are buying a pillow top or cushioned mattress then skip the mattress pad. But if it is a waterproof style that comes with a stain warranty for the bed, then it is worth thinking about. Some place will give you a mattress pad with a 10-year warranty on the mattress pad, so if the bed gets stained through the mattress protector, they will give you the purchase value of the bed so you could get a new one. You should
visit Sealy Bedding coupons, oBedding Coupons, MoreBeddingSets.com Coupons and Bedding Style Coupons to save you money when it is time to make your new bed.

Tweet This Post

Everyone is looking to save money these days. One place we can all look to save a few dollars is in your grocery store. Don’t just think that buying store bought items or brands on sale is the only thing you can do to save a few dollars in your frequent trip to the grocery store. Follow our tips below and you can start on your quest to save money.

Shop every 10 days to weeks. Skip the trip to the grocery store each week and save more money because you won’t be tempted to buy things you don’t need or that might spoil. Your family won’t go hungry; you may just have to look in the back of pantry or freezer to find something to eat. Of course, you may need to make a weekly quick stop at the supermarket for staples like milk and bread.

Stick to the list. Make a list of items you need and stick to it. Having a list helps you avoid impulse buys.

Never shop hungry. Going to the grocery store if you are hungry will lead to buying items you don’t need and your bill will likely be far more expensive.

Combine coupons. Print out online coupons http://print.coupons.com/couponweb, and combine them with store discounts and coupons. Or better yet, for maximum savings shop at supermarkets that offer double coupons for major savings.

Be willing to experiment: Try new brands if they are on sale. You may find a new favorite.

Look at the top and bottom shelves. Supermarkets are paid by the brands to place their products at eye level so you can’t miss them. But often the best deals are on the top or bottom shelves.

Compare prices before you buy. If you see a sale table or special product display, you might not be getting the best deal or the discount you think you’re getting. Brands often pay to have special in-store promotional tables. Heading to the aisles where all the same types of products are sold gives you the best chance to compare prices and see what is really a good deal. The end-of-aisle promotions are not always the best deal.

Avoid purchases at the register. Merchandisers know that shoppers often make impulse purchases when they are ready to check out. The highest mark up items – candy bars, refrigerated sodas and other goodies – can be found in those locations. If you are set on getting a candy bar, head to the candy aisle. You’ll get more bang for your buck.

Be cautious of sale signs. These sale signs are designed to attract your attention, but might not be the best deal. The same is true with in-store circulars. Often the products on sale are the highest priced items, so the discount isn’t really a savings when compared to similar brands or other products in the same category.

Don’t take a cart or basket. If you are running in for just a few items, you’ll grab less if you have to carry the goods in your arms rather than loading up a shopping cart.

Tweet This Post