Free Samples from Walmart

You probably don't realize Walmart gives away free samples on a regular basis. I didn't know until a few months ago.

It's easy  to get your samples and they are really free. The site asks you sometimes if you would be interested in taking a short survey in the future having to do with the sample you receive, but it is not required and they don't always ask.

There are usually three or four samples to choose from every week and from what I see, they have at least one new sample each week. I've received about four so far and they usually arrive within a few weeks. Everything is something you would find in Walmart, usually hygiene related (bath and body) or food.

When I get a sample I set it aside in my bag of goodies, unless it's something I really really wanted. Every month or so I send a box to a soldier overseas. Soldiers deserve samples too! If I were far from home I know I would miss my samples.

Don't forget to check back to the Walmart site every week to get your new samples. Here is the link to go to sample page directly.

More later on the boxes that I (and so many others) send overseas.

Go forth and sample!

Dirty Jobs and Mike Rowe

Dirty Jobs - Who doesn't love them? Well, I'll tell you who does - Mike Rowe!

If you haven't heard of this Discovery Channel hit show, then check to see if you still have a pulse, and perhaps a TV, then go find a TV schedule and tune in!

Mike Rowe will try just about anything once, and he always tries his best to do a good job, but I think he holds the unofficial world record for failing at the most jobs.

One job he doesn't fail at is voice overs, that's narration to some of you, or just "the voice you don't see and don't really pay attention to (if they are good at what they do)."  Have you seen the "Swap Your Ride" commercials for Ford? Listen to the voice. Have you watched Ghost Hunters on the Sci Fi Channel? That's him! Good ole Mike Rowe doing his "serious and somewhat urgent" voice at the beginning of the show. ("Tonight on Ghost Hunters... Jason and Grant investigate...." Couldn't have done it better, Mike!)

I'm not sure if this voice over bit is something new that has opened up for Mike Rowe or if I'm just starting to notice his voice all over the place, but it does pretty much guarantee him a nice income and future when he finally flubs up the last dirty job on the planet.

Head on over to the Dirty Jobs section of The Discovery Channel website and be sure to click on "Write your own caption." It's below the Vexcon box. See if you can find my caption!

Until next time, go forth and get yourself dirty ala Mike Rowe!

NaNoWritMo - National Novel Writing Month

It's  NaNoWritMo or "National Novel Writing Month" or just November to most people. I found out about this website about a week before the 1st and signed up immediately.

This website helps increase your chances of writing (and finishing) a novel. Writing is usually at the bottom of someone's list and life almost always gets in the way so November is a "no excuses" month! That is the spirit of the website. You don't win anything, but you can connect with fellow writers, including locals, for moral support and helpful tips. There aren't many rules, except that you weren't supposed to write anything more than an outline before the 1st of November.

I checked out the website, I believe it was under FAQ, and they had a list of people that signed up at their website, wrote a novel and have subsequently been published. Sounds promising. Sounds like the place to be if you want a chance at being a "real author"! Perhaps being a part of the program wins you brownie points in the eyes of some publishers... who knows!

I have a whole couple hundred words written, even though I should have about 5,000 by now. I could blame it on any number of things (namely spending five days fussing with a new DSL connection that doesn't want to work, and finally a wireless router, just to find out that my 3 year old computer that is out of warranty did not contain the internal wireless adapter that was supposed to come with it!) But I won't. I could also blame it on the fact that I have to count my words manually because I don't have any fancy "office" programs to do it for me. But I will not blame any of these things.

I hand counted words back in high school for those fussy teachers that didn't want pages but a set amount of words. Really, 500-600 words, 2000-2200 words, these word control freaks needed to rethink what they were doing to stressed out teenagers. And then there was the teacher that marked me off for supposedly quoting someone and not providing a footnote! For the record they were my words Mr. H! It didn't help he waited until the grades for the last report card of the year were already calculated.. I took the hit and took it as a compliment.

He doesn't know I wrote the whole thing the last night, all 13 pages, staying up all night, and had just enough time to get a shower and get on the bus. The report required 5-7 pages and he asked me if I knew that. I said yes, but that I couldn't get the point across in 7 double-spaced pages; it was impossible. My topic? The Church-State Debate. I was an angry young teenager with a chip on my shoulder. Those were the days, fired up and ready to pound out a few thousand words in one night; edit; edit again; and again; and feeling alive as the words poured out of my fingers. I need to get that feeling back to write this book.

I don't have an outline; I have no idea which way the story will go. I only have a few ideas and a history of the main character. She will need to take on a life of her own, as well as the story, bit by bit.

Do you have vague dreams of being a published author? Now is the month! Go forth and write something, anything... like before November ends... no excuses... go... scoot... make me a novel to read!