Designed by Krista
Web Design

I saw this sign in the lobby of the place we take our dog for grooming. Had to laugh!

Taking a moment away from more serious pursuits to note my favorite places to find free fonts. These are great for personal use: cards, brochures, scrapbooking, etc. You have to take care when using any of these for commercial purposes – sometimes it’s not allowed and sometimes you just need to get explicit permission and/or pay a little extra. Tips below on how to install these fonts for use. Have fun!

deviantART

Lots of cool, edgy, grungy fonts here. Great for Adobe Photoshop brushes as well.

18 Custom Cool Fonts

Chosen by You the Designer. There are only 20 fonts, title notwithstanding, but they are all very cool.

Divide by Zero

Created by Tom Murphy: Fun and quirky fonts, plus a font making tutorial.

1001 Free Fonts

The fonts are categorized by type, and you can get a commercial license for 10,000 fonts for just $20.

dafont.com

More free fonts, similar to 1001 Free fonts, but I like the site and selection a smidge better because new fonts are added frequently.

How to install your fonts

Download the files and then unzip them.

Windows Vista: Right-click on the font files and click Install
Windows XP: Copy the font files into C:\Windows\Fonts
Mac OS X: Double-click the font file, then click the Install font button.

Mid-winter break is upon us here in Puget Sound, and I found myself ill-prepared to entertain my 4-year-old! Turns out that there are quite a few options, and I thought I’d share. Did I miss some good ones? Let me know in a comment!

• Arena Sports Soccer Camps: All day and half-day soccer camps for Lil’ Kickers (3 – 5 yrs) and older.
• Everett Skate Deck: Ah, the lost art of rollerskating! “Skate & Bounce” every Wednesday from 10:30 – 1:30 (under 7 yrs) and special events on February 15 – 16.
• Imagine Children’s Museum: Everett’s children’s museum is fun any time of year, but they have special events set up during winter break, such as hockey carpet skating, crafts, etc.
• Jump Planet: Play on huge selection of inflatables and bouncy houses. Drop in times for Pre-K on Monday – Friday mornings.
• Lynnwood Bowl & Skate: Skating and bowling in the same place? Say no more.
• Lynnwood Ice Center: Many public ice skating times, plus basic skating classes for ages 3 and up.
• The Museum of Flight: Did you know that the first Thursday of every month is free admission from 5 – 9 pm?
• Pony Paradise Rides: Summer Camps for ages 4 – 16, winter specials for lessons (all ages), and guided mini-trail or arena rides. (yee-haw!)
• Pump It Up: Another huge selection of inflatables and bouncy houses. Drop in times for Pre-K on Tuesdays – Thursdays, in Lynnwood and Kirkland.
• Taproot Theatre: Mid-winter break acting camps February 15 – 19, for ages 4 – 18, with a performance on that Friday. Is this like when my friends and I did a remake of Grease in the backyard and sold tickets to our neighbors and only our moms came? Probably far better…
• Vertical World: Indoor rockclimbing, including classes for ages 6 and up.

NOTE: For Seattle area and Michigan only.
If you like Qdoba, you’ll enjoy this offer. Here goes: from now through 2/14/2010 if you order online at qdoba.com for pickup, you can get an entree plus regular fountain drink for $5! This saves an average of $3 – $4 on every entree. We normally eat in the restaurant, and it will be cool to show up and have everything ready. We haven’t tried it yet, but will post back here when we do. Offer Details

Update

We have now ordered several times using Qdoba online ordering, and it’s pretty slick. I found the site to be a little slow, in spite of having a high-speed internet connection. However, we often order the same things, so once I save those items to my favorites on their site, it was very fast to order them the next time around. We have not yet had the experience of walking in and our order is ready and waiting, and only once was our order “lost” because their fax machine was off. Even then, they gave us the order anyway, even though I didn’t bring my printed receipt, until they were able to find the record of it. I think it works very well now, and I look forward to improvements as they refine their systems.

If you haven’t heard of pet insurance and/or you don’t have a pet, you may think it sounds crazy. I know I did! However, our veterinarian’s office had a brochure for VPI Pet Insurance, and after looking at the costs, we signed up for this when we first got our labradoodle, Abby. I am about to renew for the third time, as we have really found their services beneficial. They do not pay as high a percentage of overall costs as “people insurance,” but we have appreciated that we get some reimbursement for minor or routine things (shots, exams, etc.). Plus, we don’t have to worry so much when the unexpected injury comes up – for example, when our toddler threw a fast ball at Abby’s eye from about three feet away. VPI allows us to use any vet, so there was no problem when we had to take Abby to the emergency vet after that little fiasco.

When we first got the policy, some fellow pet owners were asking me if the reimbursements kept up with the policy costs, and I was wondering that myself, so I did a little comparison, and I thought I’d share it with you.

As you can see, we have never made our money back, but I also didn’t realize until 2008 that they covered flea medication and some other handy things (included with the preventative care rider). Costs vary by breed and age of the animal, but I have so far found the extra money (i.e. premium costs that we didn’t make back in reimbursement) to be well worth the peace of mind in the event that Abby has major medical issues at any point. If you should decide to get their insurance, make sure to tell them Krista Ehlers sent you… and I’ll try not to spend my $5 all in one place.

A friend just collected a bunch of goodies for her birthday, and there were a few which were new to me. Here is a list of my favorites, including the new ones from Katie (thank you!). They all offer freebies for your birthday – mostly just for signing up for their mailing list. Enjoy, and let me know if you have some to add! (happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…)

Alfy’s Pizza: Free mini pizza the month of your birthday
Baskin Robbins: Free scoop on your birthday
Cold Stone Creamery: Free “creation” on your birthday
Denny’s: Free kid’s meal for children under 10
Duke’s Chowder House: Register for frequent coupons, 2 free dinners, and a free dinner for your birthday.
Gordon Biersch: Free offer for your birthday (I think it was “buy one, get one free”)
Hollywood Video: Free rental on your birthday (valid for everyone on your account)
The Keg: Free prime rib dinner during your birthday month. (Fill in the form and check the bottom to receive special offers)
Old Spaghetti Factory: Free kid’s meal on their birthday
Qdoba: Get a free Qdoba card in their restaurant, then register it online. After every 10 meals, you get one free, and a free meal on your birthday, too. (TIP: My husband and I each keep a card registered, so we can both have birthday meals!)
Red Robin: Free burger on your birthday
The Ram: Join MVP club to get “buy one, get one free” coupon right away, then a free Mile High Mud Pie on your birthday
Starbucks: Free drink on your birthday. I have differing info on this: some say you have to have a gift card, register it, and put your birthday on there. Their site says you have to have a Gold Card. One person said you just tell them it’s your birthday. In any case, I added my b-day to the account profile on my existing card.

Wildflowers embody many of my core values. They’re tenacious, growing even under bad conditions. Their vibrant colors symbolize passion. Also, these plants are considered weeds by some, flowers by others – all depending on perspective.

California poppies, in particular, are simple but still beautiful. Poppies love the sun, opening up at dawn and closing down at sunset.

But the real reason? I’ve tried to grow these flowers in my garden for 4 seasons now, and they won’t grow worth a darn. I ask myself, “Who can’t grow a blasted weed?”

Apparently, I can’t. And so, I will “grow” these flowers in the only place I can – on my website!

Update…. Finally! A year after I wrote this, I poured two packets of poppy seeds in a big pot and forgot about them. 6 weeks later, I have poppies blooming in my backyard. What lesson have I learned? Don’t try too hard! Also, poppies don’t like beauty bark.