Carol's random babble

There is one last chance to win My Memories digital scrapbooking software before the year ends. I use this software and love it. If you have been to my blog's Facebook page , the cover was created with MyMemories. It's very versatile. I do Facebook covers and similar stuff in MyMemories. My photos are not organized and a lot of them aren't scanned yet, so I haven't done any albums, but I have done single pages, especially with heritage photos. The current profile picture for Carol's Random Babble on Facebook. Time to change it, since it's after Christmas A new version I'll put up on Facebook later, since I also need to make a new cover. There are loads of free kits and quick pages, free font graphics and even a calendar template available. You don't have to buy a bunch of kits right off the bat. I do suggest that you follow MyMemories on Facebook, though, because they have giveaways and they tell you when a designer is having a sale. I p...

As I mentioned before, I will hold one last MyMemories giveaway before the end of the year, but I want to try something besides Rafflecopter. So I'm looking into other widgets that track entries. I signed up for Giveaway Tools alpha access, but I need people to go to my link . The more people who view my link, the quicker I'll get to try the Giveaway Tools widget. My link . I will still do the MyMemories giveaway today. I'll probably use Rafflecopter, just because I know how. I've had some real-life stuff interfering with my time and desire to post lately, but I'll start getting back into the giveaways because I know people like to try to win stuff.

I have mentioned before how much I love my Kindle Fire (as much as any inanimate object, that is - of course it doesn't compare to my kids). I use it every day. I read, play games, use it at church - I love when there is a scripture link in the lesson, I can touch the link text and it goes right to the verses, and they are highlighted. But ... the place where the charger is inserted has always been slightly loose. And tonight, it's not making a connection at all. So I contacted Amazon. They right away said they will send a new Kindle Fire, with two-day shipping. As soon as it is available ... It's Christmas season, and I think this is still one of the hot gifts, so they think I'll get my replacement after Christmas. It's only got 13% charge, and I have to retrieve personal information from it, so I won't be playing games or reading books on it any more. On the plus side, I'll have a brand-new Kindle Fire, and in future I'll only download some o...

I have a tendency to either rush into things or overthing them. I am definitely overthinking the photo a day challenge. The topic is favorite holiday movie. For starters, I couldn't pick one. I actually had to google "christmas movies" to find a wikipedia article with a list. I started going down the list and "like that one," "like that one, too, " and so on. Then when I would try to figure out how to picture that, I got stuck. So you get this: I checked this out from the local library and haven't watched it yet. I've seen it before, but it's been awhile. I got it to watch to help get in the Christmas spirit. I realize this is very late, but it's still Sunday for me. Tomorrow's challenge is "red" and I'll try to do better. 

I don't know yet. Danielle C. is the winner. She has been contacted and has responded. There were only 11 entries, only 4 people entered. You would think that it would be easy to pick. But, oh, no. You see, I discovered that a lot of bloggers verify every entry. Then they delete the false entries (someone says they liked on Facebook or left a comment, but actually didn't). Then they use Random.org to pick a winner from the valid entries. And here's my problem. I can't verify the Facebook likes except for one person I know personally. Also, out of the four people who entered, I got three comments, and two were from the same person. The fourth person didn't say that she left a comment, and she didn't. But that means one person said she left a comment but there is no comment from her. So I've got to try to verify the Facebook likes and delete the false entries, but it's late at night and I need my sleep. I will work on this in the morning (I hope...

I'm going to do the December photo a day challenge . I haven't taken today's photo yet. The subject is Your View Today. Flags are at half staff in Iowa today in honor of a young man from Algona who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. The challenges: There's a linky on the original page if you want to join in.

Well, kiddos, today is not a good day for me. I was up late and up again early. My brain is reeling with concern over a friend and replaying a weird incident from last night, so I'm all fuzzy-headed and not in the mood for scrapbooking. So today's project is a random thing I've already done ... let's look and see what we have: It's my great-grandparents, Walter and Augusta Burrell. I did this one back on April 22. I really like vintage-looking stuff. I think this was from a speed scrap on the MyMemories Facebook page . They do the speed scraps every Sunday, and occasionally at other times. They give you a few instructions (six or so) with time in between each one. Then people post what they've done. It's a good way to get inspiration. MyMemories has a YouTube channel , as well, with instructions on how to achieve certain effects. Don't forget to enter the giveaway !

So, I was up past 1 a.m. and woke up at 4:30 a.m. - this isn't going well. I am concerned about a friend, and also had a weird experience at the gas station last night. I tried using my (prepaid) credit card, but it wouldn't go. The cashier said do certain things - I told Donna what the cashier said, Donna didn't do it exactly (got lost in translation, I guess), so the card didn't run. I told Donna to go ahead and get the gas. I walked up to the cashier to pay with my card - she ran somebody else's total. Ours was $20 - the other was $47. The guy didn't have cash on him, so we couldn't have him just give me the cash. The cashier called her manager - he said she couldn't reverse the charge, but she kept insisting she had done it before. In the end, she ran my card for our gas and gave me $47 from the till. Okay, so we left - I'm not out anything except that if I want to put the $47 back on my card it will cost me $4.64 extra. However, the guy with t...

So, I've been playing around a little with my new version of MyMemories digital scrapbooking software. I made a new timeline cover for my Facebook page, as well as a new profile photo. Timeline cover (not full size) Profile photo (full size) Most of the embellishments and paper came from a kit called Santa. MyMemories keeps track of your downloads, so you don't purchase the same kit twice. You can download them again, as well, if you get a new computer or have to reformat your current one (something I do from time to time). So the giveaway ends at 12:01 EST on Nov. 30, which means there is today and tomorrow to enter. No entries yet at the time I am posting this, so your chances are good. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

As I promised, here is the giveaway! One winner will receive a code for downloading version 4 of My Memories digital scrapbooking software. There are not too many entries and none are mandatory, so it should be fairly easy to enter. a Rafflecopter giveaway Now, I also want to show off what I did this morning. I did a short album of a few photos from Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's and sister's new apartment. My kids weren't feeling well, so they stayed home. Two of Donna's kids were there - Suzanna and Richard, and Suzanna's boyfriend, Chad. I mostly used the Thankful Mini Kit, but I also used embellishments from a couple of other kits. I'll be working on some stuff during the giveaway to show some of the kits and things you can do with My Memories digital scrapbooking software. Good luck!

If you are into scrapbooking and haven't gone digital yet, here's an opportunity to try MyMemories digital scrapbooking software. I've been using it for months and really like it. Now version 4 is here, with a lot of new features. And today, Cyber Monday, you can get a discount! To get the full version 4 at 50% off, use code CyberV4full ($39.97 value). To get the upgrade at 50% off, use code CyberV4up ($19.97 value). I have a My Memories affiliate code. I'm not sure if it works with the discount, but just in case: STMMMS22597. The discount code goes in the box in the middle of the page when you check out. I'm going to do a giveaway starting tomorrow and only until the end of the month. I don't have it set up yet, but I'll do that tonight after work or tomorrow morning. In the meantime, here's some of my work with MyMemories digital scrapbooking software version 3 (I only just now downloaded version 4 and haven't installed it yet). A pag...

Election Day! Americans complain about government, but many neglect their basic right and civic duty to vote. I've seen multiple postings on Facebook trying to convince people one way or the other, which usually alienates the audience. I've seen an ecard and posts which say, if you don't vote, you lose the right to complain about government. No, you can still complain - freedom of speech and so on. But we'll all think you are a whiny baby who should try to fix things instead of just talking about it. (Joking! I complain about a lot of things.) Anyway, my point in posting is to say - vote if you can. I just walked over to my polling place (no car) with my 19-year-old daughter, who voted for the very first time. We hadn't discussed beforehand who we were voting for, but we talked about it a little on the walk home. I voted for the maximum of everything possible - one in the races where one is appropriate, and the maximum for the nonpartisan races where more ...

When I bought my current car, I was in a hurry. I didn't look under the hood because I don't know that much about cars and figured I wouldn't catch anything wrong anyway. I was wrong. There's this goofy thing going on with the radiator and overflow. At some point before I bought it, the hose to the overflow cracked or something, and it was repaired with some sort of putty or substance something like silicone glue but black. It didn't make a secure seal, though, so if it overheated, the coolant in the overflow couldn't go back in the radiator. So the low coolant light was on pretty much all the time and I learned to ignore it. I put coolant directly in the radiator from time to time (not often enough as it turns out). I even had an oil change last month and asked them to check the level and put coolant in the radiator. And yet ... On Saturday when the car was acting weird, I didn't notice the temperature until after I drove Cayla to church and was...

Yes, it's another Kindle Fire giveaway! This is an opportunity for bloggers to gain fans for Facebook pages or Twitter. There is no entry fee. Simply go here for more information (the link to the signup page is there) and make your post about the event. When the event is close, you will receive HTML to post on your blog. You must promise to promote the giveaway at least once a day when it is live. The giveaway runs from Oct. 10 to Oct. 24. There are also opportunities for bloggers to host pages and to win money. I've got a Kindle Fire and I use it every day. I like being a part of these giveaways. If  you sign up, please say that Carol's Random Babble sent you or use this URL: http://carolfoltz.blogspot.com .

Here's another giveaway! To be honest, although I love the idea and the look of the iPad, I can't justify the expense for myself. I am fairly content with my Kindle Fire. But if someone were to give me an iPad? I would probably pass along my Fire without hesitation. (Probably - the Fire does fit nicely in my purse, and I use it a lot.) And I've only held an iPad once, for a few minutes, trying to track down the owner at church when he left it behind. I have never really used one, so I don't have personal experience. But here's a chance for someone to win an iPad - no worry about the expense or whether it's better than a Kindle Fire or laptop. Just a lovely prize to enjoy. (I imagine watching videos and playing games would be much better on the iPad.) Good luck! Welcome to the iPad3 Holiday Giveaway Event! Hosted by Mom Blog Society Special thanks to our lovely co-hosts Mom to Bed by 8 , Thinking Outside The Sandbox , Moms Living Thrifty and Food ...

or a reasonable fascimile ... A "quick" rundown of the past few months: Around May 4, I learned that I would have to find a new place to live because the landlady planned to sell the house I was renting. On July 5, I signed a lease at an apartment. The next day Kent (future ex-husband) took Boo-Boo, our male cat, and my sister drove me to Des Moines to surrender our two girl kitties to the Animal Rescue League. I'm a firm believer that when you take an animal into your life, you need to be constant and not just pass them along on a whim. However, I had limited time and resources to find a place that would let us have any pets, let alone three cats. (The place we are living in specifically rules out every living creature other than human, except they allow one cat, with a $150 deposit and $25 extra per month, which I didn't know about until after we gave up our cats.) The next week, the girls and I moved in. We were in the process of getting settled and  unpa...

iPad3 Holiday Event is hosted by Mom Blog Society . Prize: iPad3 The event dates: 10/4 - 11/1 Free Event ~ Sign-Up Here Please say that Carol's Random Babble sent you.

Today could be your lucky day! I Heart Giveaways and The Coffee Chic present a brand new giveaway where you can get a chance to win $150 Paypal Cash. The rules are easy! All you need to do is to enter on the rafflecopter widget below to earn entries. Make sure to provide the correct details. Good luck! About the sponsors: Giveaway Scoop - Finding the very best giveaways that you'd be interested in entering and winning can be a frustrating task. Giveaway Scoop is attempting to change that by scouring the web daily and highlighting just the top 15-20 giveaways, contests and sweepstakes. Since all the prizes are presented in big, clear images, you can quickly narrow down just the giveaways you want to enter. Why not head on over to giveawayscoop.com and start finding the prizes you want to win? Tracky - Tracky is all about getting things done. Every day and every night. Meet doers. Learn from each other. And use the digital tools you love to accomplish your r...

I promised to blog about this, and kept putting it off. My procrastination is not a measure of the importance of this post, but rather, just me. So there's this family at church, the Browers - Delmer and Ann Michelle. Their children are adopted (yay adoption!). When you adopt a child, you don't know what you are going to get. Any child is a mystery, but adopted children are more so, because the medical history of the parents is usually unknown, or sometimes incomplete. This is what happened with the Browers. Their second son, Kennan, was adopted as a baby. He had some issues that they dealt with, or if they had questions, they were told it was "terrible twos" or something that kids grow out of. But Kennan didn't grow out of the behaviors, and continued to have problems. His profile said that his birth mother didn't drink or do drugs during her pregnancy with him. After years of problems with Kennan, Ann Michelle learned about fetal alcohol syndrome a...

My daughters are Amanda, 19, and Cayla, 16. They are both in high school. They are reasonably intelligent creatures, with a good sense of humor. However, they are not the most helpful children around. Cayla used to be. But around the time she officially became a teenager, her attitude changed. She didn't become surly, exactly, but started giving out these "put-upon" vibes. Now, this may be legitimate, as I had relied on her helpfulness quite a bit, especially since her sister is the type to simply ignore commands, suggestions and orders. Now, they've both got it. Before I left for work yesterday, I asked for a few simple tasks to be done: Empty the dishwasher. Fill the dishwasher (and start it, although I didn't actually say that). Do one load of laundry for me. Take out the garbage (from four wastebaskets). How much of that do you think got done? Well, when I got home from work, I emptied the dishwasher, filled it and started it. I put a coupl...

Things are still rather unsettled since our recent move and Mom breaking her leg. She's going to stay at the nursing home for several months at least, so Donna and I (and any of our offspring willing to help or at least coerce-able) have to pack up her apartment. She can't even supervise, as it's not practical for her to come back for any length of time. For example, if she would need to go to the bathroom, we wouldn't be able to help her and make sure that she doesn't put any weight on the broken leg. So we are flying blind, so to speak. Donna and I met with Mom on Sunday and made a list of certain items and categories of items and sort of decided what to do with them. Donna wants a specific bookcase. I think Mom should be able to have a different bookcase, so she can have her books (as many as will fit) with her. Mom also has a dresser and some smaller chests/end tables/what-have-you, and other pieces of furniture. She has many, many cookbooks and other bo...

Update: this signup is over, but the giveaway begins on Sept. 10. Please come back to Carol's Random Babble on Sept. 10 to enter. Here is another FREE event for bloggers worldwide! Participate in I Heart Giveaways and The Coffee Chic 's upcoming $150 Paypal Cash Giveaway. One winner will get a chance to win $150 Cash sponsored by Giveaway Scoop ! All you need to do is to make an announcement about the FREE sign-up on your blog. This is a good way to gain more followers on your Facebook page. Co-hosting spots are also available! Click here or on the banner above to sign up.

I follow a lot of blogs - well, by follow, I mean on Facebook. As you may know, Facebook restricts page posts to a small percentage of the page's fans. When I post things to my Facebook pages, only about  5 or 6 percent of my fans can see them. (Which is why I repost things a lot - to reach more people.) So it goes with other blog pages. I only see a small percentage of the posts. I don't take the time to go to each Facebook page to check all their posts. So I am happy when a good post shows up in my timeline. The blog Life: Full of Unexpected Happiness is holding a fan giveaway for a $50 gift card. (They don't do Paypal, but they do use WePay and Serve.) Conditions: One entry per person. Winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to the place of their choosing. Gift certificate will be given to winner within 2-3 weeks after winner states where they would like. It's very easy entry - if you are already a fan on Facebook, click I'm a Fan! If you are no...

Have you played the TV Dinner app on your iPad before? So FUN! You get together with other fans, friends or family and chat while watching your favorite TV shows. Like the show So You Think You Can Dance ! Are you a fan? It's more fun watching a show when you can comment on your favorite dances or boo the judges because they didn't like it but you did. ;-) There's other shows too besides SYTYCD ... lots of fun to be had! Don't have an iPad? Not a problem! The TV Dinner app is now available ONLINE! Now we can all get together online or on our iPads and chat, comment and cheer while watching our favorite shows. Madame Deals Media has teamed up with TV Dinner to introduce you to TV Dinner online. **Powered by Madame Deals and Mommy Needs Her Coffee ** Join us this Wednesday 8/15 during SYTYCD (8-10 EDT) and have a chance at a $100 CASH Prize!! (On the west coast? It's OK, you can still join us for TV Dinner and chat even if the show isn't...

Would you like to promote your blog with a free giveaway? Signups are going on for the TV Dinner flash giveaway on Aug. 14-15. Sign up here and please say Carol Foltz sent you. There is also a referral contest and the blogger whose blog or tweet the winner came from will also win.

Welcome to the Back to School Bash Giveaway Event, hosted by mommyGAGA.com! A great group of bloggers have teamed up to bring you some of the latest and greatest products geared towards elementary aged children - more than $200 worth! These prizes include cool school clothes, shoes, healthy lunch snacks, school treats, personal labels, paper and other essential classroom supplies. Famous Footwear - Known for their awesome shoes for all ages, Famous Footwear is getting families ready for the back to school season, in style! They carry brands you know and love, such as Nike, Converse, Stride Rite, Puma, DC Shoes, Steve Madden and more all at affordable prices! Shop for footwear for the whole family in stores or online at FamousFootwear.com. Enter their " Rock Your School Contest " where you can win cash towards your dream enhancements for their child's school. Prize: $50 Famous Footwear Gift Card Office Max -  This retailer carries the best in school and o...

Do you ever have times when you just don't want to cook? Of course you do! This giveaway is a chance to indulge that feeling. Dinner's on Me! $300 worth of Restaurant Gift Cards Giveaway The Prize(s): 1 Grand Prize Winner will get: $150 worth of Gift Cards (1) Olive Garden $30 GC, (1) Chili's$30 GC, (1) Pf Changs $30GC, (1) Red Robin $30 GC, (1) AppleBee's $30 GC 10 additional Winners will get: (1) $15 Subway Gift Card Event Hosts: ATD Surviving Mommy Hood | The Lucky Ladybug | One Sleepy Mom | Roasted Beanz | Nearly Nothing | My Frugal Wife | Kimberly's Thoughts   Rules : Open to US residents. If you click "Done" on the rafflecopter please do that task. All winning entries will be verified before announcing as the winner, if there is a discrepancy and the winning entry is not verifiable, a new winner will be chosen. Verified Winners will be announced on the Rafflecopter on or before 9/5/2012. The winners will have ...

That's how I describe how I feel right now. But let's go back about 24 hours ... At 9:43 p.m. Friday, there was a fire call to the Bohemian Hall, southwest of Fort Dodge. Bill Shea and Hans Madsen went to cover it (Bill was at work, Hans was at home already). The building burned nearly to the ground. (There was enough left to have hot spots today and they had to call out Callender FD again.) So, because of the fire, I left work around midnight. I came home, played around on the computer for awhile and then went to bed. About 10 minutes later, there was a phone call. Mom had activated her Lifeline, they called Donna and she called me. I got dressed and went over. Mom was on the floor in the bathroom. She had fallen and her foot hurt. I called 911. They came, got her out to an ambulance and took her to TRMC, where she eventually got X-rays and a diagnosis of a broken leg. She has a tib-fib fracture (that's what they call it on the medical shows - and by medica...

Another chance to build your business/blog. A free link (Facebook or Twitter) for promoting, or $3 for another link (no affiliate links, voting links or Google+). The August 2012 Event! This event is Hosted by ATD Surviving Mommy Hood . Event will run from August 5th - August 30th 2012 Event will be open to US residents. Dinner's on Me! $300 worth of Restaurant Gift Cards Giveaway The Prize(s) 1 Grand Prize Winner will get: $150 worth of Gift Cards (1) Olive Garden $30 GC, (1) Chili's$30 GC, (1) Pf Changs $30GC, (1) Red Robin $30 GC, (1) AppleBee's $30 GC 10 additional Winners will get: (1) $15 Subway Gift Card Links FREE link: In order to get a free facebook or twitter link. You must promote the"Dinner's on Me! event" through a blog post. The html to do this quick and easy can be found here . If you choose NOT to post about this event you may pay $2 for the 1st link. Additional links up to 3 fb, twitter, pinteres...

Another Kindle Fire giveaway! I love being part of these because I enjoy using my Kindle Fire every day. Good luck everyone! Bay Area Mommy is celebrating her 1st blog anniversary with a giveaway for a Kindle Fire (or $200 Amazon gift card) and 2 Diamond Candles. The Kindle Fire giveaway is open worldwide but the 2 Diamond Candles giveaway is restricted to the US only since they don't ship outside the US. Giveaway will run from July 25, 12:01am EDT to August 15, 11:59pm EDT. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclaimer: This blog is not responsible for prize shipment.

A brand new giveaway is now open for all our valued readers! Get a chance to win $200 Amazon Gift Card. Only one lucky winner will be chosen on August 15, 2012.  You can choose to use the gift card in so many ways. I have a Kindle Fire and download a lot of free books, but there are a lot of books I want but can't afford right now. You can buy actual books, as well. They sell software and games for computers and game systems, as well as computers and game systems to use the software on.  One of my favorite kitchen tools is the Wilton Silicone Spoon Scraper . It's supposed to be used for scraping the batter out of the bowl when you bake, but I use it for stirring things when I cook. I use it all the time. And it's available on Amazon.com, along with a million other things you could choose from if you win. This event would not become possible without the participation of these amazing co-hosts: I Heart Giveaways , Zoes Printable Coupons , My Charmed Mom , Kee...

Well, here we are. Or some of us, anyway. The bishop made arrangements for people to help us move the last of the stuff from the house, plus the mattresses he had in his commercial building, to the apartment. They were to be at the house at 9 a.m. Cayla had an appointment at 9:30, so we rushed out there, stayed for a few minutes and then went to her appointment. After the appointment, we went to the apartment, where the stuff from the house had been unloaded. We were leaving to go to the library to drop off my overdue (they had been packed!) library books when here come the helpers again. They had gone to the bishop's commercial building and brought our stuff. So Cayla and I stayed to help bring stuff in. I made a pizza for the missionaries, but it didn't turn out right and I couldn't figure it out. (Amanda realized later that night that the Pizzazz Plus was set on top only, not dual. Duh! I went to the library, dropped off the books and picked out three DVD sets (...

How long and drawn-out is this story? Well, it's not over yet ... But at 4 p.m. today, we sign the lease on the new apartment. Yay! Then comes the moving-in part, and I'm still not done with the house we're in. So lots of work left to do. I'm trying to move up the date for taking the cats to the shelter in Des Moines to tomorrow instead of Saturday, so maybe if people can help on Saturday, we can move in then. Otherwise, I'll work on the house Friday morning and take the cats on Saturday and we'll move in next week whenever we can get helpers. Part of my stuff is in a rented storage space, part is in storage in a commercial building owned by someone at church and there's still stuff at the house. Also, all this moving stuff has gotten me inspired to make a move with this blog that I have wanted to do for some time. I'm going to encourage people to go to one of my other blogs: A Wiser Steward . I haven't been actively updating that one, b...

It's another exciting giveaway! This time one lucky winner will receive a third generation 16 GB iPad. I would love one of these - I do have a Kindle Fire, but, while I am really happy with my Fire, an iPad would probably blow it away. Mom to Bed by 8 , the Iowa-Mom is proud to present the The New iPad Giveaway Event, sponsored by BeeSavy . Special thank you to our co-hosts VoiceBoks , Pardon My Poppet , What's Up? - Contests, Freebies and Everything Nice and To Sew With Love . BeeSavy is the first website to combine comparison shopping with coupons, cash back discounts and referral cash back. Compare prices on millions of products from hundreds of trusted online stores. No matter where you shop or what you're buying, you'll save $: I know what I want... but where should I buy it? Search for any product in BeeSavy's search engine. BeeSavy show you all the stores selling that product along with the total price at each of tho...