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As I posted on my other blog, I'm looking at ways to get rid of my belly pudge, so I'm doing a lot of reading on the internet about all of the different methods to try and help me get rid of it.
I've been reading about fat burners, different exercises, and all kinds of different medicines that may help me lose my belly pudge like phentermine.
It works to suppress the appetite just like the name brand prescription one does.

I don't really need something to suppress my appetite, I'm already doing very well losing weight, I've lost 38 pounds over the course of a year, down from 196 pounds, and I've managed to keep it off for a whole year.
Soo yeah, I really don't need an appetite suppressant, I need a way to decrease my belly pudge.
And believe me, it is pudge.
It's like a little bit of fat mixed in with flabby, hanging skin because I've lost a lot of weight.
If I could exercise, do sit-ups or crunches, I would probably be able to reduce it, tighten and tone it, but I can't because of the rods, I can't bend at the waist.
I just really need to find a way to get rid of the pudge without having to exercise which I can't.

I was told by some technically inclined friends on the local forums, that if I had a  vga cable with audio cord, that I would be able to connect the tv to the internet, and then I'd be able to watch stuff like youtube videos, on the tv,  and do other stuff on it too.
I know that we have widgets on the fios that allow us to use things like Twitter, although I haven't quite figured out how to use it yet.
I admit that it totally confuses me, but I would like to hook up the tv to the internet and be able to do stuff on it, Ive seen it hooked up at friend's houses, and it looks awesome.

Did any one else Mom or parents call rain or snow boots, galoshes?
I was just thinking about that when I was searching for some slip in
women's rain boots.

It is officially the rainy season here, it started on June 1st, (Sebastian's birthday) and goes through until November 30th.
All I have to wear are sandals, open-toed sandals, not exactly good shoes for rain, so I was doing some window/internet shopping to see if I can find some slip-on rain boots.
I need slip-ons because I cannot bend over to lace up or tie any shoes.
The only other pair of shoes that I own are a pair of fur indoor/outdoor slip-on slippers.
Those are not exactly good for rain either.
I wore my sandals all last year, all through the rainy season, and it really sucked.
Massive puddles everywhere, no matter where I needed to go, puddles everywhere and no semi-dry spots to walk on, so my feet got absolutely soaked in the nasty, muddy, and sometimes garbage and debris strewn puddles.
I do not want to go through any puddles this year, so if you find a pair of women's size 10 slip-on rain boots, (galoshes) let me know OK?
Thanks!

I've spoken about my friend Mindy here many, many times, about how her and her family are just really great people, any time that I've needed help, a ride, or to be taken to the hospital, there they are, ready and willing to help me.
Well now Mindy and her family need my help, your help, our help.
Her post explains in detail what is happening, but if they don't get some help, Mindy and her family, husband, son Jeff, and daughter Katie, they will be homeless.

Things have not been good recently around here. Chris and I just recently found out that our landlords must sell the house that we have been renting since October of 2008. It wouldn't be such a big deal because normally tenants are allowed to stay until the house does sell. Not in this case. They have asked us to leave by the end of this month. They are in the midst of a foreclosure and are wanting to sell asap and the easiest way to do that is get rid of the occupants so that it will be a smoother transaction for all parties involved. Except of course, US.

We may have first months rent but nothing more. We have been looking and most renters now are required to pay security deposit, first and last months rent up front. That is a lot of money to come up with in just a few weeks. A goal that we will not be able to make on our own. Our parents are all retired. They receive their social security and are budgeted to that alone. They are willing to help as much as they can but the reality is, it will not be enough. My biggest fear is that if we do not come up with enough funds that we need, we will be homeless.

Mindy and her family need our help, whatever you can spare, even if it's just $1, they need our help to come up with a security deposit, first, and last.
Mindy has always been there for me, they never ask anyone for help, they are always the ones helping others, but this time, they really need help.
If you can help, please, please, please, go to Mindy's blog and click on the PayPal donate button and give whatever you can.
And please, spread the word, link to her post on your blogs, Twitter, Facebook, wherever.
Mindy and her family need our help, I am begging for help for them.
They are really great people, so kind, loving, and generous, always helping everyone else.

Jenn at Blogging Girl is asking bloggers to help spread the word about what a bunch of scammers Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post are.

You can read Jenn's post for all of the details, but basically, Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post, get bloggers to do work and then they don't pay for it.
Basically, Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post are a bunch of scammers.
To quote some of Jenn's post,

Well over a year ago I signed up for Blog Advertising Store, though at that time they were calling themselves Paying Post. Between then and this past February I have written $109.00 worth of opportunities. I followed the instructions on each opportunity, included the required links, wrote relevant, high quality content, and submitted each opportunity on time. Every opportunity that I did was approved, and as of April 2010 I was eligible to receive payment, as my balance had rolled over $100 (that is Blog Advertising Store's / Paying Post's minimum payout amount). Only...I didn't receive a payment in April. I didn't receive one in May, either, despite Blog Advertising Store's / Paying Post's dashboard stating that I would be paid $109 on May 1st, 2010.

She followed all of their directions on how to receive her payment, and has sent them emails requesting her payment, and they still haven't done it.
She even sent them an email about how she had heard from other bloggers about their business practices and their handling of payouts, and they still did not reply to her or pay her.

I have been a bit wary completing posts for your company, as in the past I have read some unsavory things about your business practices and the handling of payouts. Please ease my anxieties and compensate me with the money I am rightfully owed. Again, the balance due is $109.00, and my PayPal account is x@jenn.nu.

She has sent them an email every single day requesting her payment of $109.00 for the work she completed and was approved to be paid for.

I forwarded the May 11th email to them on May 12th, May 13th, May 14th, May 15th, May 16th, and May 17th.

The situation has now gotten even worse.
Not only have they still not paid her, but they have now locked her out of her account on Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post, they have blocked her emails, and they have banned her home ip address so she cannot access the site at all.

Seriously, y'all need to go read Jenn's post about how Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post are scammers, and help spread the word.
If you are a blogger who is working for them, you may want to seriously reconsider that, and if you have a blogging friend who said they were thinking about signing up to work for them, send them the link to Jenn's post.
Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post are scammers, plain and simple.
DO NOT work for them.
Blog about this, post about this to Twitter, (to make it simple, you can use this to Twitter it; Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post is a scam! http://bit.ly/basppscam #paidblogging #scam) and post it to Facebook, everywhere.
Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post are scammers and they need to pay bloggers for the work completed.

They need to pay Jenn the $109.00 she rightfully earned and was approved to be paid.
They are being totally unprofessional by blocking her emails, banning her ip address, and refusing to acknowledge that they owe her this money.
Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post are scammers and they need to pay Jenn and all of the bloggers who work for them, the money they have earned.

I have updated my contact page with new and important information regarding my contact information, since learning of fraudulent activity taking place with another blogger who also does product reviews on her blog.

Emily at Busy Mom, and her blog, were used to obtain free products from a  popular baby store and website.
Emily was able to track down the person(s) responsible for this thanks to the baby store and some of her friends, but this story has shown us all the lengths that people will go to to try and get something for free by any means necessary, including fraud and impersonation.

My contact page has been updated to inform everyone of the ways that I can be contacted, and how I would contact you.
I, Kat Cooper, am the ONLY person who writes on My Single Mom Life and KatScan.
I will ONLY ever contact you, or reply to you, from the email address mysinglemomlife-AT-gmail.com
If you should ever receive any type of advertising request, product request, or a PayPal invoice, from ANY OTHER email address, it is NOT me.
If you should receive any of those types of emails, or any email, from someone claiming to be me, or someone claiming to work for/with me, please forward the email to me at mysinglemomlife-AT-gmail.com so that I may investigate and prosecute the impersonation and fraud attempt.

Thank you.

I have a PayPal debit card, a State of Florida child support debit card, and an Amscot card.
They are all used for various things, like Paypal is for work payments, the child support card is for obvious reasons, and the Amscot card is for my SSDI to be direct deposited.
I had to get both my SSDI and my child support checks direct deposited to cards, because someone once stole a child support check from my mailbox, and even though it was a piddly little $21.05, I couldn't risk someone stealing those every week as it's court ordered, (not that he pays every week as court ordered) and I certainly didn't want to risk my SSDI checks being stolen.

I can deposit any kind of check or money order, in any amount, deposited to my Amscot card, but I can't always get there, so I usually have to wait until I can get a ride there to deposit things like that.
If I get cash, it's the same thing, I can deposit it, but I can't always get there to do so.
I don't like carrying cash with me, I don't like using cash, it's really dirty and I already wash my hands (OCD) a lot so yeah, I don't like to carry or use cash unless I absolutely have to.
I also don't like banks.
I take great issue with the government being able to access all of our private financial information if they feel like it, if they decide that you or I are a threat, or have possible ties to terrorism.
I don't like that banks require so much of your personal and private information to open an account, and for you to update your information so that they comply with the regulations of the governments "protect the home front" policies.
None of the cards that I currently use, have ever asked me for the same kind of information that banks do, as a matter of fact, I think several of the cards only have my name, date of birth, and phone number(s).
Banks also charge crazy fees for every single transaction that you do no matter how small, and now some even charge you a fee (I've heard this fee can be as much as $10)  for physically going in to the bank and interacting with a human teller, whose job it is to help you deposit or withdraw your money. 
So when I had some cash this week that I didn't want to carry with me, have it sit in my wallet driving me crazy that I can't get up to Amscot to deposit it, so I decided to try a new pre-paid debit card that I can get re-load cards from right at 7 eleven.

I bought a Green Dot pre-paid Visa debit card at 7 eleven for $4.95*, and a money pack re-load card, also for $4.95*
I gave the cashier the amount of cash that I wanted to load onto my pre-paid Visa debit card, and he added that amount through the cash register's POS systems card reader.
I came home, logged onto the Green Dot website, entered in the Visa debit card number, the expiration date, created a password, and logged in to load the card.
Loading the debit card from the money pack was really easy, and now I have all of my cash, all of my income sources, on debit cards, 2 of them are pre-paid, and 2 are not.
I only have to touch cash when absolutely necessary, when I get it, and when I hand it to the cashier, so now I don't have to be grossed out by the thought of handling very dirty paper money for too long.

Once I've used the Green Dot card for awhile, I will give it a proper product review, but so far, it gets 4 out of 5 stars for it's ease of use, fast money transfers from the money pack to the debit card, (the time it takes you to type in the numbers from the debit card and money pack) and the fee refunds.
The only downside is that they are not available everywhere yet.
While they can be purchased at over 50,000 retailers nationwide like CVS, 7 eleven, Kmart and Walgreen's, it will/would be really nice if they were also available at grocery stores as I go to Publix far more often than I go to 7 eleven, and I hate that place because while convenient, they charge excessive prices on almost every single item that they sell. 

* The $4.95 that you pay to buy the card and the money pack re-load cards, are credited back to your account (refund!) in about 1 business week, and the only fees for using the Green Dot pre-paid card is a monthly service charge of $5.95, and fees if you use an ATM, and those fees are just .50cents per transaction.
I don't plan on using any of those, so just $5.95 per month to help me control my OCD is ok with me.

**EDIT
My first fee (bought on 3/2/2010) refund was posted to my account today, 3/6/2010.