19 Days to our Fun Ship Cruise!!!

April 29, 2008 By 2 Comments

Last night, Mr. Rojo reminded me that it will be less than a few weeks now before our cruise! So today I logged into Carnival website to complete online registration and print out necessary documents.

‘Your Fun Ship Cruise Departs in 19 Days’ This is what I saw on the site. And it now hits me that our vacation is only a few sleeps away.

-Fun Pass complete and print – checked
-Sail and Sign form complete and print – checked
-Cruise document review and print – checked
-Luggage tag print – checked
-Excursion choose and book – checked
-Shop for beach stuff – Not yet

Argg.. I have to go shopping! So far, I have already bought snorkeling sets for the kids. We didn’t buy anything expensive since I don’t even know if they will use them. But it’s good thing to have our own. I shudder at thinking of using a public one that is provided by the excursions. Mr. Rojo reminds me that he finds it disgusting that you have to rent bowling shoes. So, he goes and buys his own even though I can count on my one hand how many times he’s used to go bowling. So I think either this weekend or next weekend we will need to hit the diving shop or the sporting goods store to check out what we can find. I admit that I probably won’t buy the best one since we don’t even know how often we will do this. I’m sure my gadget hungry husband will want the most advanced high tech snorkel. I’m sure if they offer some sort of infrared goggles he’ll be sure to put in a case why those should be the ones that we get. He’ll probably say it would be used to spot sharks or something like that… Although, My diver friend said that it’s good idea to pay a little so we won’t have any leakage issue. Thanks Sue! Sorry Mr. Rojo, that does not mean that you can get those high tech goggles…

I probably will have to come up with a list of things to pack and things to buy. I still have a lot of stuff from previous cruise that I can reuse like beach toys, beach shoes. We bought $1 toys from Walmart and thought if we lost it then it’s fine. But we still have it all minus one beach ball that was carried away by the tide which Little Z always reminds us. Right now, I don’t even know what I need.. Ok… Stop and breath… Target here I come!
Filed Under: Adventures & Vacation, Carnival Cruise, Cruising

BOA customer – Free Museums admission

April 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

In today’s economic climate, it’s hard to find good deals or freebies that are of any use. Fortunately, I found a bank that is willing to buck this trend.

I’m actually not a customer of BOA. I already have too many credit cards to count in one hand so I don’t need another one to give me more headaches. Although, Bank of America does have a tempting offer.

As a Bank of America customer, you can take advantage of their promotion: “Museums on Us 2008“. This program is sponsored by BOA to give you the opportunity to visit over 70 museums nationwide.

As for Atlanta, there are 3 museums as part of this programs. They have included: Atlanta History Center, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, and Atlanta Botanical Garden. Not bad at all. With May coming up soon, summer vacations are right around the corner. It’s a good way to spend some quality time with your children instead of plopping them in front of the TV or video game du jour. Check them out and plan your weekend to take advantage of this free admission.

Just to clarify, you don’t have to own a high interest rate credit card from BoA to participate. You can have a regular bank account with them to be classified as a customer and participate in these deals.

Thanks to Free 2 Be Frugal for sharing this great deal.
Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Saving, Travel in North America

Be a Hero. "Save the Cash, Save the World"

April 25, 2008 By 3 Comments

Earth day is everyday as we should put it. We live on this Earth so we must treat our home with respect. Ok.. I may sound like a treehugger. Please take no offense. I love them! But I’m not totally green. I can’t forego travelling just yet or eat everything that is organic. But I believe that helping to save the Earth can also save your money as well.

I found several money saving tips that can be used as tips to go green.

- Pack your own lunch : By packing your own lunch you can save at least $10 a meal. In addition to the money saved, it will cut back on the usage of the food packaging used by fast food joints. For example, the cafeteria in the company I work for does not offer biodegradable plastic utensils and serves the food in styrofoam packaging. Both will clog up the landfills. I might need to get on my soapbox at my company and push for biodegradable utensils.

- Change to CFL light bulbs : If everyone just changed one (only one) light bulb to the CFL light bulb in every household in the US, it will reduce the pollution as much as taking 1 million cars of the road for a year. That’s a huge impact! From our personal experience, I can say that our energy bill is less once we started using CFL light bulbs. I still have several light to change. If I can just get Mr. Rojo to get over his fear of heights, I’ll get those last few bulbs changed.

- Turn down your thermostat by 1 degree or more : We don’t need to set the thermostat to 74 degree during Summer to feel comfortable and we don’t need to set it to 70 degree during Winter to feel warmer either. By adjusting your thermostat by 1 degree, you will find that your energy bill will be reduced. The less energy you use, the less pollution generate from power company.

- Use less water : I live in Atlanta area where drought was and is a big deal for us. So I have become more conscience about water usage in our household. I wash the dishes by hand. I do our laundry in full load with cold water. I take a quick shower. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t water my lawn if Mr. Rojo doesn’t insist or the HOA won’t send me any letters reminding us that our lawn looks so pathetic.

- Wrap up water heater and lower temperature setting : A water heater blanket costs less than $15 from Home Depot. It took me about 10 minutes to wrap it up and I can see the difference in our gas bill from the previous year. We also lowered the hot water temperature to 120 degree. This is done to save money as well as for safety reasons. It will reduce the risk of our kids burning themselves if they play with hot water.

- Grow your own herb garden : This is one of my newest experience. I don’t have a green thumb. Unfortunately, I think every plant would rather die instead of live with me, but it’s worth the try when you can buy a $0.99 seed bag and grow your own herb like basil, cilantro or tomato. You will have your own organic veggies and save a ton on your grocery. Plus it’s a good science project to do with your school kids as well.

- Use reusable water bottle instead of plastic water bottle : I admit that we use to buy a case of water bottles for Miss J to pack for her school snack. With all the plastic bottles we went through with just one child in school, it would probably take 1,000 years for those bottles to decompose. So, we switched to use filter water and a reusable water bottle for her. A small step to take and a good opportunity to teach the new generation about the impacts of their choices.

- Use reusable grocery bag : Ok.. This option might not save you money but it sure helps save the environment. Plus you don’t need to spend an arm or a leg for a reusable bag. You can pick it up from virtually any grocery stores now for $0.99 in most stores. Plus you can get a free bag from various sources. I got 2 free bags from Whole Food Market from their Earth Day. I also waited for another free one from Earthbound Farm. You can get one by taking a quiz here. Or you can use your artistic ability that has been hidden to good use and submit a design at Kroger for a free bag here. You must have a Kroger card and the free bag will be loaded to your Kroger card for you to pick up at the store once you have submitted the design.

- Consume less : Oh.. What a concept! Consuming less, saves you money. Also consuming less will produce less waste. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. Except killing two birds wouldn’t be very nice of me and to do it with a stone would be so barbaric. Plus my hand and eye coordination is horrible. The likelyhood of killing two birds with one… Sorry…

So there you have it. Some ways to save your wallet and save the world at the same time.
Filed Under: Saving

Oh.. I'm jealous!!!

April 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Right now, my little brother and my mom are on  a trip of their lifetime in Europe. My little brother is a real traveller in our family. I believe he suffers from wonderlust.  Everyone in our family loves to travel. Though, he is the one who really makes it happen. Some might the reason is that he is single. Some might say that he is young. But no matter how we put it, he is living the life and I’m glad my mom benefits from his travel savvy. She so deserves it!

Yesterday, they just arrived in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Their first country in their 17 days European trip. My brother planned the trip all by himself. Normally, we like to take guided tours but not my brother. He did some work with the travel agents to help him book the tickets for hotels, hostels and airlines. But most  of the planning he did it by himself.

First stop for them today in the Netherlands is Keukenhof. The famous Garden of Europe in Lisse, Netherlands. They travelled there by bus and spent a whole day there. The garden is the world’s largest flower garden and they picked the best time to visit in Spring. I sure hope my mom brings a very comfy pair of shoes to walk around. When I called them, they were waiting to get on a bus after they just packed up from their hostel to head excursion.
After Keukenhof, they head to Belgium.  Their stops there will be Brussle and Brugge.  Brugge is the World Heritage Site with a medieval historic settlement.. I wonder if any of the Medieval festivals here in the states can hold a candle to the real thing.  I asked Mr. Rojo if he would like to go to a Medieval festival if one were to swing by our area and he just laughed at me.  Though he laughs, I’m sure secretly he would like to go. If just to laugh at all the thee’s and thou’s.  Sorry. I digress…  My brother is on a neat journey. Gosh.. I can’t wait to see his pictures!
Filed Under: Travel in Europe

My Small Part for this Big World

April 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment

So Earth Day is tomorrow and I typically don’t even realize about it until it’s about 2 weeks after the fact. But for some reason, this year I have been reading and educating myself more about the movement. I won’t say that I’m anywhere near a greenie person at all.. But here are some of the small ways that I do in my house to help within my mean.

We switched several of our light bulb to CFL light bulb for a couple years now. I can’t afford to do the whole house so I did on the room that we use the most. The kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, outdoor light by the patio. I was never one of the type who can show you the real $$ saving so don’t ask me. Since I did it when I moved here so I don’t have a base line to compare anyway.

I bought Miss J a bottle water so she can use that at her snack time instead of plastic bottle. Not only it will save the environment, it will also save my money.. Woo hoo!!

When we went to Whole Food Market this past Saturday, we got free lunch bag and a few reusable grocery bags. I already had 2 reusable grocery bags from Publix. But this will help me to remember to use it in more stores not just in grocery store.

Also today I packed my lunch in my new lunch bag. Reduce the use of plastic bag. Checked! Oh! Now this one my friend will be proud. I took it from her idea to bring my own utensils to work. Typically, I will use plastic spoon and fork providing from my company but today I use my own. And I feel good to eat from real utensil. Thanks, Sue!

I also decide against my better judgement to start an herb garden. Ok.. All my friends who know how brown my thumb is you can stop laughing now. I have my secret in my back pocket. My MIL is an incredible gardener and she enjoys it tremendously. So I figure I have my back up for this. :) I will post more about this little project on my progress. But right now our little basil start to show sign of life. So that’s a good start!

Filed Under: Family

Five Finds For Friday – Earth Day

April 18, 2008 By 1 Comment

In honor of the Earth day celebration this week, I would like to add five blogs that I have been reading about going Green.

I’m not a crunchy mom by nature. But I do my best to work on incorporate more environmental friendly products into our house. It’s not cheap I can say that. But somehow, it’s doable if I do it little by little. One baby step at a time. So today, I have links for 5 blogs that have great info or just plain fun blog to read.

1. Organic Mania – I love it when I can find information about going green on a budget. I think it will help the Earth more if this alternative is more affordable. I think everyone wants to help but not everyone can.

2. Big Green Purse - Full with info on going green. She also has a book that talks about how we as a woman has a power to pressure the big corporation to be more eco-friendly. Now that’s my kind of gal.

3. Nature Mom’s Blog – A great blog with lots of green living tips and info.

4. No Impact Man – Tell it likes it is blog. With a very interesting experiment to live a year with No Impact. The project is done but there are a lot for me to read and catch up. Very fun reading.

5. The Green Baby Guide - A great blog for down-to-earth way to save time, money and our planet. I love the honest writing and so down-to-eart of this blog. It makes me feel like I’m not the only one who is struggle to balance between saving money and the planet at the same time.

There are more blogs out there but these are my favorite. What’s yours?

Filed Under: Family

What's for lunch?

April 17, 2008 By 2 Comments

Lately, I have been packing lunch bag for Miss J. In the beginning of the school year, I wasn’t so interested in yet packing another lunch for her as her lunch at school is pretty affordable at $1.75 per day. But after talking to her and checking with her on what she had for lunch each day, I realized that I didn’t get what I paid for for her lunch. There are a couple reasons I decided that it’s time for me to get off my behind and pack her lunch in the evening for the next morning.

Saving $1.75 per day doesn’t seem that much. But it sure adds up fast. For a year, we could have saved over $300 per school year. That’s not a little chunk of changes. That’s one of the reason of course.

Another reason is more about nutrition than money. When I pack her lunch, I know exactly what she will eat and how much she ate. At school, there are good choice and bad choice for the food. Kids tend to choose what they like rather what they should eat. Also if she will eat PB&J at school why would I want to spend $1.75 for a PB&J that I can make for a fraction of that cost.

So with that, I started packing her lunch. It’s a very simple process. At night, I just get everything ready in the lunch bag and put it in the fridge. Her typical lunch will have Jelly Sandwich on whole wheat bread (no Peanut butter – weird kid) that I use the cookie cutter to cut it up. She doesn’t like the crust so not only it looks cute but it guarantees that she will eat it all. Then I add a roll up of ham, cut-up strawberries, steam veggies (leftover from dinner) and yogurt drink. Voila! I’m done.

Well, it’s better late than never. So at least now, I can save a few bucks toward our vacation. :)
Filed Under: Family, Saving

Wordless Wednesday – Phi Phi Island

April 16, 2008 By 3 Comments

Our Trip to Thailand on 2003 visiting Phi Phi Island.. What a great trip! I can’t wait to go back.

For other WW participant check out WW Hub or 5 Minutes for Mom

Filed Under: Family

Songkran in Atlanta

April 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
This past Sunday we headed down to Decatur for a Songkran Festival in Thai Temple in Atlanta. Songkran is a traditional Thai New Year that celebrate by all Thais on April 13 and the festival is lasted for 3 days. It likes a Christmas of Thailand. People will go home and celebrate with their families. The festival in Thailand is a combination of religious practice and party. In the morning, people will normally go to temple to give the offering to the monk and receive the blessing from the monks. Then they will go out and celebrate by giving water to each other. In my youth years, it was all fun. We would pack a water balloon and waited out by the street and threw it to the pass-by pedestians or vehicles. It was a fun and wet day indeed.
We went to Wat Buddha Bucha (which is the only Thai temple I know in Atlanta area) for the Songkran festival this year so that my kids will get to experience Thai culture. I have to say that I was overwhelming with the crowds and we didn’t get to spend much time there. The place was rather small. I guess being from Florida where there are a rather large group of Thais there. The temple there has more supports and donations so they can build a rather authentic Thai temple that reminds myself of Thailand.

In the morning, people lined up to offer food and other necessary items to the monks and receive the blessing. We walked around to check out some of the local Thai food. I was rather disappointed at the quality of the food. The taste wasn’t as good as I expected. Plus the varieties are minimal at best. However, I managed to pig myself out for the whole morning. What can I say.. I can eat anything even if it’s not that great!
Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Food Around the World

Five Finds for Friday – New Blogs I Discovered

April 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I’m pretty much a newbie in the blogsphere. So everyday I discover brand new (for me) blog that has been around for a while. These are my new find for this Friday that I digg!

1) Money Hacker Network – A place for Personal Finance Blogger to share and discover each other. I just recently join this group.

2) Cheap Healthy Good – Great blog for food and tips on grocery shopping. With detail recipe and picture, I will sure go back to visit weekly.

3) Get Rich Slowly – Personal Finance blog that tells it like it is with no sugar coated.

4) Wise Bread – A blog community with a group of writers focusing on Frugal Living, Life Hacks, Personal Finance, Deals and more.

5) Are We There Yet – Away.com Family travel blog with loads of information.

Filed Under: Saving, Travel Tips

Get out and enjoy free admission in Atlanta

April 9, 2008 By 1 Comment

There are a lot of things to do around Atlanta that doesn’t cost much. But when they give out free admission on the special day it’s even better of the deal! I have found several free admission days for several popular attractions around Atlanta. So clear your calendar and plan your Summer or weekend accordingly.

Imagine It! Children Museum - Target Free Second Tuesday : This is a year long promotion sponsored by Target. Every 2nd Tuesday the Children Museum will give out free admission from 1-4pm. I went there this past Tuesday. It was a long wait but it was fun! Check out my experience there here.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden – Earth Day in the Garden (April 22) : Celebrate Earth Day in the Garden with free admission to the Botanical Garden all day long. There will be series of fun and informative activities throughout the day. What would be better than start your Spring outing in the Garden?

High Museum of Art – BOGO ticket on Mother’s day (May 11) : Take your mom out for a day in the High and save the admission fee by buying one adult ticket and get one free.

High Museum of Art – Target Free Family Fun day (June 15) : Celebrate Father’s day with your dad in the High and free admission for the whole gang.

So that will get you busy for a few days. :)

Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Saving, Travel in North America

Imagine It! Kids..

April 9, 2008 By 1 Comment

Oh! What a day we had today! I’m exhausted just to think about it. Today we went to the Imagine It! Children Museum Atlanta. As I have posted previously here about Target Free Second Tuesday admission. I knew that it will be quite a challenge since when it’s free there will be a lot of people. Plus spring break doesn’t really help when everyone is out at the same time. But I didn’t think it will be this long. We got there around 12:15 and by that time the line was already a block. So we were literally at the corner.’

Fortunately, I have packed several snacks and drinks for the kids so they weren’t so hungry. We had gold fish, mini carrots, brownies, cookies and sandwiches. But one thing I forgot was packing for the mommies. My friend and I were starving but I knew that there were Chick-Filet inside so that was our goal. Got in and ate.

Not so fast.. We waited and waited.. From a pretty chilly noon to fairly hot afternoon. We saw several families gave up and head to somewhere else.. That thought came to my mind as well. Luckily, the kids were pretty well behaved. Finally, we got in around 2pm. So we waited for about 1 and a half hour. I have to say it’s pretty fun considering!

Once inside, we didn’t waste any time. Mission #1 – Food! Red alert! The Chick-Filet was already closed. Bummer.. So my friend resourced to vending machine. My kids weren’t that hungry anyway. Plus with all other stuffs there they were too busy trying to get to each of the station.

First, they headed for the folk lift machine that they can control the ball. Yet again.. waiting in line. Growing up in Thailand, I’m used to that. Plus we are regular patron in Disney World. So I think my kids are well trained in waiting. This is nothing.

The favorite station for Miss J I have to say is the Moon Sand table. She was there for a really long time and even went back there for a second time. We ended up buying the moon sand bucket for her.

As for Mr. Z, I don’t have to guess.. He loved the train table. Funny that he could have played that at home as well. I guess the tracks here are longer and it was more fun to play with other kids.

The station that surprised me was the grocery and loading station. They were running around loading grocery and produce for a good 15 minutes. Good for me to rest nearby.

By 4pm, I’m spent.. So we rounded up the kids and headed to the gift shop. There were several cute things there. I let each of them pick 2 items since we saved money on the admission. I know…I know… It’s supposed to be free day out. Hey! I need an outlet for this long wait!

Overall, we had a blast and the traffic back home wasn’t as bad as I thought. We headed out right at rush hour but I guess spring break save the day. I’m glad though that I didn’t have to pay for the tickets. The place is much smaller than I imagine. So I wouldn’t want to spend that much money in there.
Filed Under: Activities, Family, Travel in North America

Our Cruise Cost so far…

April 8, 2008 By 1 Comment

Budget friendly vacation is always my top priority. But I have never been the type who can totally stick to the budget. Hence, I’m really attracted to cruising since the cost is pretty much fixed. Unless, we go on a shopping spree at the port or have $100 meal. Typically, I don’t really budget on how much we want to spend on vacation. For this trip, I will be happy if we can keep it under $3000. Let’s see what is the cost so far:

Carnival Cruise cost for 2 adults and 2 children : $2,012.40
Port Excursion – Grand Cayman (Stingray City Tour) : $132.00
Port Excursion – Orcho Rio (Bamboo Club) : $168.00
Port Excursion – Cozumel (Chankanaab National Park tickets) : $48.00
Transportation in Cozumel approx. : $20.00
Food and shopping : $120.00

So I think this will be the first time that I will have rough idea of our vacation budget. So far if I can keep everything in this range we will come under budget by $500. Not bad for a 7 days vacation in the carribean for a family of 4!

Filed Under: Adventures & Vacation, Carnival Cruise, Cruising, Saving
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