Found Not Lost

If you have kids like I do, I’m sure you’re familiar with school fund raising. It seems like we are constantly raising money for one thing or another. Selling one junk after another. Here at work, parents are always going around selling stuff for their kids. That’s why I don’t do it. It’s annoying as heck because they don’t buy from you when it’s your turn to sell junk.

We’ll I’ve never been a salesman anyway. I hate selling. That’s why I love how my daughter’s school earn money just by having parents partner with a grocery store and every time parents make a purchase, the school gets earns money! That’s kind of the same premise that they are doing at SchoolPop.com. Only they are doing it through the internet. You can contribute to school fundraising programs simply by shopping online as you normally do, from the stores that you normally shop from.

SchoolPop has partnered with many major retailers who will donate a portion of the sale to the school or nonprofit organization you designate. Some of the retailers who have partnered with SchoolPop are JCPenny, Amazon, WalMart, Eddie Bauer, and more. To start fundraising for your school or nonprofit organization, simply call the customer service team at (888) 200-2088 and ask about getting your school involved, or becoming a Supporter for your favorite school or nonprofit organization.

This weekend, I finished the second book in the House of Night series, Betrayed by the mother/daughter team P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

In the first book, Marked, we are introduced to a world where vampires always existed in the human world. Vampires don’t get ‘turned’ but rather they are ‘changed’. They start out as humans who are chosen by a tracker (it hasn’t been explained yet how people get chosen) and marked by a symbol on their forehead, signifying their new status as fledgeing vampires. From the time they are ‘marked’ they then have a day to get to the vampire school, the House of Night, to start learning how to be a vampire and where their physical transformation can be monitored by adult vampires.

Zoey Redbird is a sort of a prodigy fledgling, having been chosen by the vampire goddess Nyx to be her eyes and ears, gifted with multiple affinities, previously unheard of among fledgling vampires, which gives her an advantage over all the other vampires. These affinities and the obvious favor of the goddess makes her a candidate for high priestess.

In this second book, Zoey has finally settled into school and has made great friends. She is torn between three guys vying for her favors; yes, Heath is still in the picture. Worse, he and Zoey have imprinted on each other thanks to a super hot make out session. In the meantime, she is still with her vampire boyfriend Eric but also enamored with a young part-time teacher, Loren. All of this happen amidst the turmoil of humans, most of them previously connected to Zoey, started disappearing and being found dead later. The first suspects are vampires.

Zoey, in this book finally finds her footing, so to speak, and is slowly growing into the blessings she has received. Her journey is not smooth though, not only does she have to deal with the usual teenage growing pains, she also an suffers incredible loss, and as the title implies, betrayal. With her loyal friends beside her and supporting her, she slowly comes in to herself as she learns to harness the power she was gifted with.

This was a good book, overall. Engrossing. But now I have to wait a few weeks before the next book comes out. The next book, Chosen, will be out on March 4th.

I just love the name of this website, EMS Jane! That’s not really the name of the company, it’s National Paramedic Institute, and they do just that, they provide a comprehensive online training for continuing education for first responders, EMT’s and paramedics. I work for a health related company and I work closely with medics. I also get calls all the time from people who are interested in employment in our company and would like tips on how to get the training and education they need to qualify. I am glad I found one more place to point them to.

If you’ve ever taken a CPR course from a place like the Red Cross, you’ll realize that this isn’t a skill that you learn once and keep it at that forever. You need to renew your certification every year. Which is a good thing because things in the medical field change all the time. The CPR technique that I learned when I first took the course eons ago, for example, has changed and it is quite different now.

Well professional first responders like paramedics have to renew their certification yearly too and in addition, they have to continually educate themselves regarding new advances in medicine by taking seminars and other refresher courses. The CPR course for professionals is called the Advance Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) training and they are required to renew this certification. ACLS recertification is one of the things offered at the National Paramedic Institute and once completed, is valid for two years. They also offer other continuing education courses like Bloodborne Pathogens, AIDS training, SIDS, Pediatric Trauma, Myocardial Infarction and many more.

All these courses can be taken online and are CECBEMS approved for First Responders, EMTs, and Paramedics and recognized by the National Registry. Most states recognize CECBEMS approved credit for state license renewal.

Have you gotten your special person a Valentine’s Day present? I haven’t and I’m sure my husband hasn’t gotten anything for me either. That’s because we don’t  really celebrate Valentine’s. I find it superficial so we did away with it a long time ago. I would much rather that we have a special dinner as a family and spend time together.

Oh wait, but we do that already anyway! So I guess we’ll just be doing what we usually do anyway

I did receive a Valentine’s day card from my dad yesterday. That was just the sweetest thing. He’s always good about things like that. He will always be my first love.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how I’m not the decorator in the house. Anything that requires any kind of creativity falls to my artist husband. Lately he’s been complaining about our blinds. I’m not just saying that. He really has been complaining about the sad state that they are in. We have those cheap plastic kinds and we’ve had them for almost a decade now and they are falling apart and discolored. It’s really sad. It makes you just want to take them down completely. If we didn’t like walking around half naked half the time, we probably would.

Seeing as we live in a pretty crowded neighborhood and our neighbors are within sight, privacy is just somethign we can’t do without. So we’ve been looking at levolor blinds and shades to replace what we have now. I’m favoring the shades especially for the bathrooms. Blindcentralonline.com seems to be the perfect place to find just what we need. For one, they will send free sample swatches of the material and colors they have to offer. They have free shipping on most orders, and their prices can’t be beat. The selection they carry, from wood blinds, vertical blinds, to pleated shades, is comprehensive. They carry just about every style and color you can think of. Their sales team is available to help you and answer your questions, and they also provide detailed instructions on how to install every type of blinds they sell. The best part, all their blinds are covered by manufacturer’s limited lifetime warranty!