Get a free phone! If you have a Disability and live in California you can get one too!

This is a great program that has been around forever. It gives people with disabilities specialized telecommunications products that allow them to use a phone. Whether you are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, and all other groups of disabilities are covered by their products.

All you have to do is print out the application, fill it out and have a doctor sign off on it. Then send it in to them and they will contact you and provide you with an appropriate totally free phone. They have hands free phones, phones with pictures for Alzheimers, and a wide variety of others.

I have used this program myself, so I can tell you it is legitamate and super easy to do.

http://ddtp.org/

If you do not live in California I would suggest calling their 800# and ask about other states.

Free Diabetes Testing Meters and Other Great Stuff for Diabetics!

Not everyone realizes that the way most companies make money from diabetics is charging their insurance company for the test strips that they use. You can usually get the meters for free and other related freebies. The companies all want your repeated business because they figure that once you get a meter that works well for you, they will have a customer for life.

Here are several free meters that you can sign up for. You can also often get a free meter from your doctor's office if you just ask! They also will often offer other freebies that are given to them by the drug reps.

Another resource for free meters is the drug store. So many times they offer free meters with a rebate. If you opt to do the free with rebate, make sure you send in your rebate form. A lot of people have good intentions to complete the rebate option and often forget or do it too late. Don't be one of those consumers.

Here are a few places to get free meters, remember to also use your insurance at the pharmacy if you have it. Also make sure to have your doctor do a proper prescription for an appropriate number of strips, a good doctor will have their office advocate on your behalf to get the necessary medical supplies covered by your insurance whether it is private or government based.

Fianally, remember that a lot of companies offer freebies to people without insurance whether it be for a prescription drug or related item like diabetic supplies. Usually the company will list an 800 phone number and if you call that number you can apply right over the phone. This service is subsidized by their other sales. So if you are in need take them up on the free offers.

Here are a few links to look at to find out if you qualify for a free meter, what the heck it is always nice to also have a backup meter if you already have one. Too, remember that they are always improving these devices so try a few and see which one works best for you!




Freestyle Freebie

One Touch Freebie

CDC Web Site with Information on Diabetes

Win a $50 Gift Card! Great New Fiber One Yogurt Coupon and Contest

My BlogSpark is doing it again! They are providing us with another great new product and a chance for you to win a $50 Gift Card for Safeway. If you do not have a local Safeway it is also good at Dominick´s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Vons, and Genuardi´s. They also provided me with a coupon to try out the new Fiver One Yougurt and an additional gift card, thanks!

In addition a great opportunity to try this yogurt would be from January 13th through February 9th, the Safeway family of stores has a special deal where you can purchase two 4-packs of Fiber One yogurt for only $4!

I also found a printable coupon on the Fiber One Yogurt web site for my readers, here is the link, http://www.fiberone.com/Product/Yogurts.aspx. This one printed out three coupons for me all Fiber One products!

According to what I have read, "Best-selling author and food expert Lisa Lillien, AKA Hungry Girl, has given her "seal of approval" to the new Fiber One yogurt, the only leading nonfat yogurt with 50 calories and 5 grams of fiber (20 percent of the Recommended Daily Value). It is also a good source of calcium and vitamins A and D, making this a guilt-free and all-around great choice for dieters and those watching their weights. Each cup includes the creamy, delicious taste you expect from Yoplait, and you don´t have to feel guilty about enjoying it. Fiber One is available in a variety of flavors including, Strawberry, Peach, Vanilla and Key Lime Pie (see what Hungry Girl thinks about the new yogurt here:
http://hungry-girl.com/news/newsdetails.php?isid=1772 "

I am looking forward to the sale at the Safeway family of stores to purchase the Peach variety of Fiber One Yogurt. That is my daughters favorite flavor. With the Fiber One Yogurt being on sale 2 for $4 that would make each package $1.25 after the coupon. What a fantastic value for such a great product that my daughter will love. Not only will I feel good feeding this to my daughter, but it will also be nutritious for her.

To enter the contest for the $50 Safeway gift card please add yourself as a follower to the Blog. This will allow me to contact you if you are the winner. To get a bonus entry put a comment on this blog post. Contest Ends Feb 14, 2010. Good luck!

“VIP coupon, gift card, information, and giveaway have all been provided by Safeway and Fiber One through MyBlogSpark.”

Free Eye Exams for Infants Under 1 Year Old of Age

This is a great opportunity to get free information and to have your infant examined by a real eye doctor. I took in my oldest and it was a great experience, now I am about to take in my next daughter, I was told that about nine months was optimun by the eye doctor.

The eye doctors all volunteer for this program from what I was told. It is a great experience and gives a base level exam on your infant for later comparisons, the exam can also alleviate your fears and concerns if you think that your infant has any vision problems.

The InfantSEE program is located at http://infantsee.org/ .

According to their web site, "InfantSEE®, a public health program, managed by Optometry's CharityTM - The AOA Foundation, is designed to ensure that eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care to improve a child's quality of life. Under this program, AOA optometrists provide a comprehensive eye and vision assessments for infants within the first year of life regardless of a family's income or access to insurance coverage."

All you need to know is a parent is to look up eye doctors call their office and ask if they participate in the program. We had no problem finding lots of doctors who participate in our area even though we live in a more rural area. They do not ask for any money or anything like that. I have no vision insurance on us and the eye doctor does not care about that, instead they are screening for missed items that may impact the childs life. Without these types of exams I have heard horror stories of children having some problem that was missed and if it had been treated earlier it is possible that they would not have been impacted as dramatically as they were because the problem was missed by the pediatrician.

Remember that you only get one set of eyes and that it is important to take care of your eyes. So check into this great free opportunity to have your infants eye sight checked by a real eye doctor for free!

Free Kids activity Saturday at Home Depot

These weekend on Saturday from 9:00 am- noon the participating Home Depots are having a great free event for families. You can bring your little tykes and they usually get a free apron and project to make on the spot. It is reported on their web site that it is a #20 car display, on the site they have a picture of a preview of what it should look like.
Home Depot Link with More information

We have gone to several of these events, each one being different. Some better then others. Once they ran out of the kits and sometimes there are too many kids, so depending on where you live you may want to find a quieter Home Depot. We have three to choose from, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, and the Paso Robles/Atascadero area.

If you call the local store they may be able to give you more information and tell you wheter it is an oversell or if it is a calm event.

One time we went and they had popcorn, snow cones, a character in costume, face painting and other activities going on with the event. This was great fun for my older daughter. I think this was at the Santa Maria store.

Also, I have seen Home Depot often at the local housing fairs where they show off items for your home. They will usually have some project for the kids at these events too which is a nice addition.

Remember too that these are usually the first Saturday of the month. So next month, March they are supposed to be making a rain guage, bird house looking item, see the site to check it out!

Let us know too how your Home Depot is for these activities, are the employees friendly? Is it well stocked? Are they too busy? Do they offer any special items for the kids or parents?

PSA-IMPORTANT HEARING REMINDER

"Did you know that when MP3 players are purchased as gifts, the majority of purchasers are moms? That finding emerged at the Mommy Tech summit at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show.

But do you know about the potential risks? Kids often don't know how to use audio technology safely and they can harm their hearing as a result. In fact, hearing loss among young people is reported to be on the rise and there are strong concerns that a generation of young people could end up with prevalent hearing loss.

"For some time, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has warned that hearing loss in the United States could rise significantly due to the misuse of personal audio technology," ASHA President Tommie L. Robinson, Jr. explains. "Unfortunately, a report released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation cites some alarming trends about excessive entertainment media consumption among our nation's children, indirectly supporting ASHA's concerns. This should be a warning to parents that they must regulate children's exposure and fully understand the potential health threats associated with misuse and over exposure to such technologies."

"ASHA will continue to bring these issues to the forefront and appreciates the Kaiser Family Foundation's contributions to the national dialogue," Robinson adds.

According to a 2004 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children were reported as being exposed to 6 hours and 21 minutes of media (TV, music, internet, etc) per day. By 2009, this statistic had increased dramatically to 7 hours and 38 minutes per day. When media multitasking is taken into account, this leaps to 10 hours and 45 minutes per day. This massive consumption of media has led to decreased grades in school and ASHA contends it puts kids at an increased risk of hearing loss.

One thing that is clear from the study is that parents can be very positive influencers on how their children use entertainment media.

How You Can Help - Spread the Following Message

Whether your child received an MP3 player, gaming device, cell phone, laptop, or any other device with headphones, don't overlook the important health threat of hearing loss. Now is the time to reach out to other parents about the importance of hearing loss prevention, the damaging effects of excessive media consumption, and the resources available to them through ASHA.
Here are two simple ways to protect your children's - and your own - hearing.

· Keep the volume down. A good guide is half volume.
· Limit listening time. Give your hearing 'quiet breaks'.

Find more information and statistics at ASHA's website. You can also follow their Twitter feed or fan them on Facebook to get real time updates on their work."
-Amy Lupold Bair

Valentine's Day Lollipop Flowers

Here is an easy item to make and lots of fun to give and to receive.

First start by making a pattern on plain paper, I like to fold paper over and cut to make symmetrical hearts.

Here is a test flower with the lollipop inserted.

Looks good!

Here is one made on printed scrapbooking paper.

Here are the girls enjoying the final lollipop flowers. Bet they don't last long!

These lollipop flowers are not only fun to make they are fun to give, receive and eat. Very fast project that does not take long to make. Just fold paper in 1/4's then cut out hearts. Next either use uhu glue or some other tape to hold the flowers together. Then punch hole with hole punch in center of the flower. Finally insert the lollipop and tape flower to hold the lollipop in place.

Enjoy!

If you try this send us your results and we will post them or you can comment on your success.