Chick Chat

How to Mail Your Love to a Man

11 Care Package Treats No Man Can Resist!

Whether he’s gone for business, pleasure or in this case, a military operation away from home, there’s nothing like sending a care package to show a man how much you care! And no one knows more about sending love via the U.S. mail than the wives and girlfriends of U.S. military men, so take a look at their top tips (collected from members of the iVillage Military Wives and Dating a Military Man message boards) for sending a care package any guy would be grateful for:

Essentials
“I pack beef jerky (since it doesn’t melt), toilet paper (just in case the provided stuff is like sandpaper), batteries, gum and pictures. That’s about all I get to send my husband when he is gone, but he gets excited over anything that smells or looks like home. Which is why putting my perfume on the letter is a hit.” –hlilmom

Mementos
“Any little reminder of our time together is nice. I especially like to include ticket stubs from the last movie we saw. Because he doesn’t even know I saved them.” –txmom3071

A Letter a Day
“I write him notes, but include the dates when I want him to read them on. Just in case the mail is slow I know he’ll have something new from me every day!” –militarygals

Cute and Cuddly for Him
“Once, I sent my oldest teddy bear with a note saying ‘It’s for the lonely times. Big boys need stuffed toys too!’” –txmom3071

A letter for every situation
“I include letters in separate envelopes. Each envelope has a certain theme to help him along: sad, lonely, sick and always a funny one — the ‘angry at me’ stack.” –txmom3071

A Song in Your Heart
“I’ve made tapes of all the songs that reminded me of my boyfriend as well as songs that make me think of our relationship. I even included some songs that we just had fun with on a road trip, even though they’re not particularly romantic. For a little extra surprise, I record a message at the end of the tape so he could hear my voice.” –velvet_ice

Redeemable for Love
“I like to include coupons for things he can redeem when he gets home, like a night away at a B and B. Most of the ‘prizes’ have something to do with spending alone time together since time itself is such a precious gift for us.” –lizzbert2000

Lots of Laughter
“I burned some CDs with comedians doing stand-up because I didn’t want my husband to be depressed or grumpy on a long flight. He’s already put in a request for more!” –emmadaisy

Memories
“Our private jokes, stories about times we shared and anything else memorable go on 3×5 cards. This way, he can read about them — and remember me — each day.” –hlilmom

Toys for Big Kids
“Novelty items are great, no matter what the age of the person receiving them. One of the first gifts I sent my husband was a yo-yo. It was just an impulse buy, but the whole troop loved it! I hear they passed that thing around until someone dropped it and it broke. This was before we were even engaged, and he still has it in his drawer as a reminder that love can be shown in many ways.” –brandielynnw

Baked Treats
“Cookies! Two dozen fit right inside two Gladware containers. I make his favorite kind and let cool. Then, I line the inside of each container with Saran Wrap, leaving enough to cover the cookies. I pack them inside (carefully), then cover with the excess Saran Wrap. They will stay fresh for days and days that way. I’ve even sent them overseas! Trust me, every man appreciates cookies.” –butterflyqueen7

Today’s featured seller is eCloset Clothing and More with this Plus Size Flannel Maternity Shirt.

Feel comfortable without compromising on style in this black and white gingham flannel shirt designed especially for pregnant women during and after those 9 months of waiting.

More info here!

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Until they all come home . . . .

We are proud to offer this special Support Our Troops Military Care Package for the soldier who likes to read.

This care package features BOOKS! We’ll stuff a flat rate box full of great popular fiction for your special soldier, airman, or marine to read and share with his buddies. We guarantee at least a dozen books in each pack – more if they’ll fit! You solider’s reading care package will include authors like Clancy and Cussler and feature lots of great action thrillers!

Buy it here!

Make your own face paint this Halloween!

Save money AND get the reassurance that comes from knowing exactly what is in the product you are placing on your child’s skin.

FUNNY FACE MAKE-UP

2 tsp. white shortening
5 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. white flour
4 drops glycerin (found at your
pharmacy)
Few drops of food coloring

In a small bowl, mix shortening, cornstarch and white flour. Add four drops of glycerin. Stir to a creamy consistency. Add any food coloring that you wish. For brown makeup, add 2 1/2 teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa instead of food coloring and you’re all set.

This make your own and save recipe is from the 949 CRAFT TIPS IDEAS 4 KIDS eBook available from Iron Chick’s Treasures! This eBook is a great resource for homeschoolers and other families as well day care providers and anyone who works with children.

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Articles, blog posts, and analyst coverage have taken note of seller grumblings about eBay’s new fee increases for stores and eBay’s rationale that it was needed to “rebalance” the inventory levels between stores and auctions. eBay built its business off of core auctions, and developed a strong business model with the addition of stores. The addition of eBay stores was the very reason hundreds of thousands of businesses could run off of the eBay platform each year. By hitting these businesses where it hurts, eBay is forcing them to re-think their long-term business strategy, and the company is underestimating the ability of these businesses to sell off of the eBay marketplace. As someone who speaks to hundreds of eBay sellers each year, what’s surprised me in the coverage of this recent issue is what is not mentioned:

1) They don’t discuss the inevitability of where this big eBay debate is heading: that some sellers will strongly focus on building their businesses outside of eBay. This is healthy and shows a maturing of the e-commerce market.

Multi-channel selling is the future- and it’s often misunderstood by the mainstream media.

2) They don’t understand seller motivations- or at least they don’t seem to accurately report on them. As the quote above echoes, eBay sellers are businesspeople (many are quite sophisticated and are former investment bankers, lawyers, accountants, etc. with MBAs and other advanced degrees). Some articles have been quite patronizing in their discussion of eBay sellers and their reactions to fee increases and other new rulings such as the removal of many sellers’ stores listings.

Read the entire blog post here!

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Great SEO article using analogy for the non techies – like me!

Just for a change, rather than a technical article, I would like to tell you a story. To begin, imagine your website is a little country bar, now let’s go back to when the internet began, and reciprocal linking was being done properly. Now just sit back and picture the following…..

There you are running your bar, it’s a fairly busy little bar with plenty of regular customers. You also get other customers who come from all directions. Some make their way to your bar using all the little country back roads (from links on other websites), others come on the big highway (the Internet) from the big bars in the city (The Search Engines).

Read the whole thing here!

I love coffee. But I have a passion for Starbucks. They know me by name (and drink – venti bold brewed with 5 splendas and non fat milk) at my local store . . . sometimes I get cute notes on my cup when I’m driving through the window.

For those of you who are not as fortunate as I am . . . who still don’t have your own Starbucks (ours just opened a few months ago!) . . . here’s a coupon for free shipping!

I love these folks!

endicia does media mail, international mail, customized labels . . . even macs. It makes tax time a breeze by tracking all of your postage expenses for you and keeps a log of every item you ship out!

They offer a 30 day free trial. Use my account number – 550564 – as a referral and you’ll make my day!

The holiday season is right around the corner. Now’s the time to streamline your shipping process!

Click here!

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Many on the eBay Stores Board have long loved chopsueysisters’ spunky kitty. Now the cat is taking on the Megster!

Does this mean we get SIS again?

Current Stats

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We have a great line up of 2007 Wall Calendars this fall. These are 16 month calendars so you can start using them now!

In our family, calendars are a traditional holiday gift and we feature calendars for folks of every age and interest.

Our current inventory includes:

• Family Organizers – great for home schoolers and every busy family
• Golf Calendars – great for the golfing enthusiast in your life
• Critter Calendars – great for all you pet lovers, featuring dogs, cats, and horses
• Gardening Calendars – both a Farmer’s Almanac and another calendar featuring gorgeous photos of flowering gardens
• Business Calendars – our Reflections calendars make great professional gifts
• Americana Calendars – we have a wonderful Americana calendar that has been a big seller for folks temporarily overseas. It has a very patriotic feel to it.
• Betty Crocker Cake Recipes Calendar – for the baker or the baked goods lover in your life
• Classic Cars – featuring a vintage Corvette – this one is a hit with teen boys

Buy them here!

Some folks have asked (OK, a total of two so far but that’s some, right? ) who I use for hosting. AQHost is the host for the blogs, forum, and classifieds here at ASM as well as my own websites. The link here is an affiliate link for me, so if you check them out, I’d be most obliged if you use it.

AQ Host