Yesterday Fuller and I went to the Southside Rec Center to register Fuller for swimming lessons. Fuller is very excited about swimming, but I don’t think he understands the idea of lessons. And I hope it isn’t too much of a shock to him when I am not in the pool with him (but I do plan on having my camera near by).

Before we went to the rec center, we went to the bank to deposit an Ebates check, which was almost the amount we needed to pay the registration fee (we were short by a few cents). It is almost like all the online shopping we I did was just so we could sign Fuller up for swim lessons.

Right now, if two people sign up under us AND make purchases through Ebates, we can get $30 in Target gift cards. The way it works is you go to ebates.com (or click on this link to sign up) and then any time you want to start shopping on line, go to ebates first and then go to the online store via the ebates link. You can earn rebates from 6% back (or higher) or coupons from various stores.

Personally, I have the Ebates Moe Money Maker installed, so when I am browsing an online store in the Ebates system, it automatically registers my purchase in the Ebates system.

It isn’t like we are making hundreds of dollars, but it is nice to get back some money on purchases, and be able to use it for fun things like swim lessons for Fuller. You should try it too!

Disclaimer- I’m not paid for this post, I just hope people will sign up under us so we can get the $30. And you can save money too!

Technorati Tags: Ebates, online shopping

I have been getting some interesting emails recently from friends and family members. They usually have a variation of the words, “So, I started a blog…” and then I jump up and down with glee because I love reading blogs and keeping in touch with these friends and family members is really on a level I can relate to. Even if they aren’t into blogging as much as I am, I can throw their blog address into my google reader and see when they update.

Here is my list of new blogs:

The McBlog- the blog of Doug, Samantha, and new baby Mac! Doug and I are cousins. I think Mac is precious!
Satts Stats- the blog kept by my SIL, Vicki. I am loving keeping up with my nieces and nephew.
One Man and His Girls- the blog kept by Damons’ cousin’s husband. We can glean information from extended family from this one.

The Tarnished Teapot, Full Tummies, and LiterariTea are all blogs that have my friend Betsy as a contributor! Damon and I blame thank Betsy Blue-Eyes for being an integral part of getting us together. I’ve been having fun going through the archives of these blogs and am now planning a day trip to visit Betsy in April or May. I miss her so much!

I have tons of other blogs I love to read and have a random blogroll over on the right side of the blog if you want to catch even more. And if you are a family member or friend who lurks and wants me to know you have a blog, then leave me a comment! I would be happy to add you!

Technorati Tags: blogrolls, family blogs, friend blogs

If you care about such things, I am giving away picnik premium memberships to commenters on my Always, Alli blog. Just leave a comment on my Best Shot Monday post and you are entered to win 1 of 2 3 month premium memberships or 1 year long premium membership. So head on over there and tell me how much you love my picture and you are entered into the drawing!

Also, if you are wanting to check out my many pictures from Florida, I have a collection up. It was a trip full of photographic opportunities.

And finally, I am wondering about the amount of ice cream Fuller’s father allowed him to have while I was gone. Suddenly Fuller is asking for ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And if he could have chicken nugget flavored ice cream, he would be thrilled. I just made Fuller dissolve into tears because I told him for the fifth time in two hours that he couldn’t have ice cream.

Technorati Tags: picnik, flickr, ice cream, family

November is usually reserved for several events like my birthday, Thanksgiving, National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), and National Blogging Posting Month (aka NaBloPoMo). I participate in three out of the four, two since birth, and NaBloPoMo since last November.

NaBloPoMo has decided to make it a monthly challenge, letting members decide when to participate and when to not. And to make it even more fun, each month has a theme! You don’t have to use the theme, but as long as you post every day of the month, you are golden.

This month’s theme is list. Post a list, how easy is that?

1. Easier than pie.
2. Easy peasy.
3. So simple, Alli can do it.

George Bernard Shaw said, “Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage — it can be delightful.” I hope this month of NaBloPoMo is going to be delightful!

Technorati Tags: NaBloPoMo, lists, easy, George Bernard Shaw

Just some bloggy business here:

If you have our old blog address (crumleydotorg.chattablogs.com) on a blogroll, can you please update it to this one (crumleyblog.com)?

Well, here we are. In our new blog home.

This weekend Courtney and I spent some special skype time devoted to moving all entries and comments from the old blog to this one. Chattablogs was a good starter home, with great neighbors and support, but we had to move on. Needed more space and the ability to be in more control.

We still have to pretty the place up, switch out old permalinks, and other technical mumbo jumbo, but we are open to visitors. The Daily Fuller Fix will remain in place for now, but eventually it will have a new home as well.

Welcome, we hope you come back soon!

(alternate title: This might be only interesting to me.)

I am a big flickr fan. I love it mainly as an easy way to organize and share our pictures. There is a flickr community that I really haven’t spent a ton of time getting to know, but every once in a while I’ll add pictures to groups or pool in an effort to share.

Yesterday the flickr blog announced the release of flickr stats. Since we have a pro account I went ahead and activated our stats.

Today my friends and I were talking about our stats and someone said she had no exciting stats to report. I replied I was happy I had no exciting stats. I was worried I would find out that someone had linked to pictures of our son in an unfavorable manner or someone else was using our photos and profiting from them somehow.

Fortunately nothing of that nature surfaced, so I was happy.

Then we started looking at the other stats, like how many views certain pictures got. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I offer to you the most viewed picture from The Crumley Family’s flickr photostream (as of today):

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Working on something, if it looks wonky then come back later.

When I was a working stiff, our company had the benefit of staying connected via the intranet. It was an in-house creation that needed a lot of help to be truly beneficial to employees. They were working on it, but had a ways to go.

They could have used Epazz, a intranet software that allows integration with backend systems, powerful collaboration, and improved communication. Right now they have a free 30 day trial available, when you contact them directly.

A while back I was given the option to review a company and receive a dog tag in return. I was interested because I like the option of dog tags for identification. We already had one dog tag we got Fuller when he was little, but I knew another one wouldn’t be a bad idea.

The website, Quicktropy.com, was very easy to use. They focus on all kinds of activities, from football to ballet. They even have items for cricket. I think the programming of the site could use some work. I am used to clicking on the picture and going straight to the category instead of having to pick from a drop down list- especially if the drop down list only has one item.

I picked the football themed dog tag, which makes sense as we are football fans and grooming a tiny football player. I liked that I could put whatever I wanted on the tag (3 lines max).

However, I think it would only be worth it to buy dog tags from Quick Trophies in bulk. The reason is this one dog tag would have cost me almost $9, with shipping. The dog tag we already had was engraved in Wal-Mart, for about $2. I also think the Wal-Mart dog tag looks better, with bigger letters and a much more noticeable engraving. The Quick Trophies dog tag looks printed at first glance, but after running my fingernail over the letters I could tell it was engraved. It just looks a bit wimpy next to the other dog tag.

Overall, I would suggest using Quick Trophies if you were ordering in bulk. And they have plenty of activities to choose from, so you are not just stuck with sports only. They have academic too.