Monthly Archives: July 2011
Fotolia Review & Giveaway!
When Macy and I first started our blog, we wanted to make the posts look neat, readable, and fun. Our posts came easy to us because we had so much to talk about. But the problem we found was that it’s really hard to find that perfect image to use for your specific blog posts.
Sure, you can go through Google images and find some good ones, but I never use those because I get too worried about copyright stuff and credentials, it just gets to be too stressful and too much work.
And then one day, our fairy godmother stepped in and emailed us. Okay, she wasn’t the fairy godmother but she somehow knew that we were struggling for images. Her name was Jenna and she introduced us to the wonderful world of Fotolia. It’s so similar to iStockphoto but different at the same time. You can find great, scratch that, AMAZING photos for your posts all in one spot and there are a ton to choose from. If you’ve noticed my posts look a little high in quality lately, it’s because of Fotolia.
Now let’s get down to to basics. Fotolia has to somehow distribute the royalty-free images so there are some costs involved. The good news is, I’ve found it can be cheaper than iStockphoto. True story! Here’s the breakdown I put together:
| Number of Credits | iStock Cost | Fotolia Cost |
| 12 | $18.50 | $14.40 |
| 26 | $39.50 | $31.20 |
| 50 | $75.00 | $60.00 |
| 120 | $175.00 | $144.00 |
| 300 | $430.00 | $360.00 |
| 600 | $800.00 | $720.00 |
Now of course, these numbers can change, but generally speaking – those are the numbers given when I ran them through each of their sites.
Personally, I’ve had a great experience using Fotolia’s images. There’s been a huge selection every time I’ve gone to search for a certain keyword or topic. Just for kicks, I searched both sites for the word ‘sun’. Istockphoto gave me 205,695 results, and Fotolia gave me 551,113 results. It could vary depending on the keyword I’m sure, but that’s just an example.
It’s also very easy to check out once you’ve gotten the hang of it. It took me a little bit to figure things out, but that might just be me. Lol! They also feature HD videos but I just haven’t had the use for it yet! One more thing to note is that all of Fotolia’s images are royalty free and there is no limit on time or copies you use.
According to Fotolia you are free to use them on:
- Advertising media
- Professional documents
- Press articles
- Websites, newsletters, blogs like ours, web banners
- Multimedia documents
- Illustration / Decorations on TV shows or movies
- Etc.!
AND! To make things even better, (I know you’re probably thinking woman is rambling on about Fotolia for nothing). But I’m not! Because… Fotolia gave us the opportunity to share the wealth! Now you are lucky because you get the chance to join the other 2,631,260 Fotolia members and get photos for free!
Here’s the scoop!
We are giving away FIVE free, two-week subscriptions to our readers! (A $210 value!) To enter, leave a comment below that includes your email address (don’t put your email address in the comment, but in the info for the comment) and we will use the random number generator to choose our winners on Wednesday (August 3, 2011)!
Update: This contest has ended! But head over to Fotolia and check them out anyway 
Disclaimer: The Real Housewives of Minnesota were given a one free month subscription of Fotolia to review. We were not paid or compensated in any way and all views expressed in this post are our own.
Current Money-Maker Coupons
Ever since I started extreme couponing (if you could call it that! lol) I have become obsessed with these money-maker deals. They are my favorite, and for good reason. Now if you have no idea what money-maker couponing is, it is basically where you use coupons and sales to score items for free with money still left over! This is huge because you get the item(s) for free plus more money towards your purchase of other items. LOVE it! Sooo, naturally I’ve made it my mission to seek out these deals and snag em for myself! But I also want to share the opportunity with you because they are awesome and well worth it! So without further ado, here are some of the current money-maker deals that are running right now! Get ‘em while they’re hot!
1. Free Skintimate, Schick and Softsoap at CVS. Use the sale prices, coupons and promotions to score this hot deal plus make $3! I’m not going to even start to explain, but MojoSavings.com does an amazing job. Props to her!!
2. John Frieda Products at Rite Aid. Using a $10 rebate plus four $5/1 coupons from SS 5/6, you’ll get $25 worth of free product plus make $3.04! See all the hard details at the Krazy Coupon Lady blog.
3. Cascade dishwasher products at Walmart. Use $1/1 any Cascade coupon from 7/3 P&G insert and get the product for free plus make $.03. I know, it’s not a huge moneymaker but you get the stuff for free! Kwitchyerbellyachin. See more details on this deal at Samplesnfreebiesndealsohmy.com!
4. ReNu Sensitive Solution deal at CVS. I’m a little angry that I don’t have a closer CVS for all these amazing money-maker deals, but I’ll get over it. Make $0.11 plus get free product when you use some hot coupons, The Krazy Coupon Lady explains how.
To prove my frugality, I have to share the deal I got yesterday. I went into Walgreens equipped with their July coupon book coupon ($3/2 Carefree pantyliners) and walked out with two packs (qty 20) for $.08! I know, you should be impressed. I also used the Skintimate coupon that everyone was raving about last week for $1.00 off products (where Walgreens had them already on sale) and got the shaving cream for $0.99! Let’s just say that the old hubby was very impressed with my buys. Not that he could use either one, but I think he was pretty proud of my coupon use improvement.
If you have any hot coupons, leave them here and share them with us!
Ruby
What You Do During Pregnancy – Long Term Effects on Your Child
So, many of you know I am at a Maternal Nutrition conference at the University of Minnesota this week. It is so interesting and I am learning a lot from some of the top people in their given field…And lucky you, you get the information too!!!
The topic that really struck me today was about the effects of a pregnant mother’s glucose levels on the likelihood of her child developing obesity. We all know that gaining too much weight during pregnancy is not recommended, but do we know why? Welp, besides the initial thought of “I don’t want to gain too much weight while I’m pregnant because I’ll never be able to lose it all,” we should be thinking about what impact does MY weight gain have on my developing child???
Here is a list of things I wish I would have known while I was pregnant (and gaining enough weight to be pregnant with a small elephant):
1. Children of mothers with higher levels of glucose during pregnancy, on average, are bigger and fatter.
2. Intrauterine exposure to high maternal glucose is associated with lower insulin sensitivity and more insulin resistance…(In English – insulin sensitivity is good and insulin resistance is bad).
3. High Maternal glucose may lead to insulin sensitivity of a child independent of child adiposity (aka the amount of fat a child has)
4. Gaining too much weight during pregnancy may over-feed you child in utero, leading to an increase in insulin production by your developing baby’s liver –> This can cause your child’s liver to prematurely “burn out,” leading to type II diabetes
5. Excess fuel from mother crossing the placenta to the baby may cause a greater capacity for fat storage, lower insulin sensitivity and central insulin resistance (aka brain is unable to recognize “full signal” and those children are more susceptible to overeating)
6. At least a portion of childhood obesity may NOT be caused by children’s lifestyle but rather by the mother’s habits during pregnancy
Ugh! Sorry in advance to my little one for giving her an unfair disadvantage by stuffing my face while pregnant :- Obviously none of these things guarantee that a child will develop childhood obesity and there are a lot of other contributing factors. But I figure anything we can do as pregnant mothers to decrease the likelihood of our children becoming an unhealthy weight, the better.
I hope some of you found this beneficial! I know I did… I guess there is always room for improvement with the next pregnancy…
Love, Macy
P.S. Read More here:
Mom’s Glucose Affects Child’s Insulin Sensitivity
Overweight pregnant women are ‘condemning children to lifetime of obesity’
Low Glycemic Foods – A different type of diet and the science behind it
If you don’t mind, I am going to “nerd-out” for a post. I am at a Maternal and Infant Nutrition Intensive course at the University of Minnesota and we got some awesome information on losing weight, getting healthier and staying that way! The best part about it is this isn’t presented by fitness experts or at a conference about losing weight. It is presented by Doctors and scientist to inform women how to be healthy before, during and after pregnancy by eating the right foods. I’ll start out by posting a visual (I’m a very visual person):
This is the Low-Glycemic Food Pyramid. There are different variations of this pyramid but they all point to a very common conclusion: The more fresh, un-processed, un-packaged foods you can put in your diet, the better!
Here are some examples:
How does this work?? And what is with all the fat and sugar you now say is okay to eat?? I’ll start by saying, not all fats, carbohydrates and sugars are created equal. Without getting too scientific, your body breaks down your food in different ways. Some things are easier to break down than others. The breakdown of different foods results in different actions in the body. The main science behind the Low Glycemic Food Pyramid is the effect food has on insulin and inflammatory factors.
Here is the gist:
•Glycemic index → measure of glycemic response caused by a food (related to insulin)
•A High glycemic index meal causes surge in epinephrine (also seen in stress) → More hungery sooner
•Glycemic Index and Metabolism:
High GI decreases metabolic rate
Low GI decreases metabolic rate much slower during weight loss → more energy during weight loss than high GI diet
• Low GI diet may be less stressful on body than a low fat diet. May be best for long term weight loss (see fewer subjects in study increasing body weight after 6 months of weight loss)
Some tips straight from The Glycemic Index:
- “Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran”
- “Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough”
- “Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat”
- “Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables”
- “Use Basmati or Doongara rice”
- “Enjoy pasta, noodles, quino”
- “Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing”
List of such foods (Buzzle.com):
Artichoke
Avocado
Broccoli
Celery
Cherries
Grapefruit
Peas
Pearl barley
Whole milk
Dried apricots
Butter beans
Low-fat fruit yogurt
Apples
Pears
Tomato soup, canned
All Bran
Peaches
Oranges
Green grapes
Kiwi fruit
Ok… I’m done “nerding-out”
But basically, this is the science behind why we are told that fruits and vegetables are good for us and fat from nuts are “good fat.” Kind of cool. And the best part, pasta is a low glycemic index food!!! Score! (But I don’t think that means I can run to Olive Garden and stuff my face – haha).
Additional Resources:
The Glycemic Index
Buzzle.com
New Online Shopping Coupon Codes
If you’re an online shopper, you probably appreciate the fine art of coupon codes. Here are some hot ones that you might appreciate for this week, courtesy of Save.com.
Kohls – $10 cash card for every $50 spend (no coupon code needed)
Shoes.com – Code: SECRET20 gets you 20% off plus free shipping!
New York & Company – Get $30 off $75 (Code: 6547)
Restaurant.com – Get 80% off most certificates when you use the code: SAVE
6pm.com – Has up to 70% off Lacoste items
Enjoy!
Ruby
