more of a good thing

Because I'm all about passing on good information when I receive it, here are some things that might help improve upon your life.


My friend Lorie, always one to keep me abreast of all things hip and cool, informed me of the Free Family Film Festival.

From the Regal Theatres website: "When school's out, kids around the country visit selected Regal theatres for the Free Family Film Festival. It's a fun-filled nine weeks of movies for kids and parents. Since 1991, Regal has provided this service to the community, and best of all it's FREE! Selected G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. First-come, first-served seating is limited to theatre capacity. The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kids to spend a weekday morning in the summer."

What's that you say?

You have small children in diapers and there is NO way you'd take them to a movie theatre??

A while ago, I downloaded several Pampers Gifts to Grow rewards - in the form of Blockbuster Night Cards. The reward included the rental of two movies, a tub of microwave popcorn and two 20-oz drinks. ALL FOR 50 POINTS.

Let's grab our calculator for a moment ... shall we??

The cost of two movies alone is $9.00 (including tax in California). Add to that a tub of popcorn and two drinks and you are looking at around $15.00. Compare that to the LL Bean or Starbucks $10.00 gift cards which are 100 points and 110 points, respectively.

For 100 points, you can get a $30.00 Blockbuster value.

Hence I therefor to art proclaim that absolutely, positively, the Blockbuster Night Cards are the best value of all the Pampers Gifts to Grow rewards.

Quick!! Go buy them now. Supplies are limited and I just ordered 10.

You might be tempted to use your Gifts to Grow points to donate lifesaving vaccines to UNICEF - and if you do that - BRAVO!! But, if you feel like you really need to have a date night with your spouse and watch two Blockbuster movies and eat a tub of microwave popcorn while sucking down two 20-oz drinks, do not despair.

You can still make a positive contribution to the planet when you visit the Breast Cancer Site (a button is provided on the top left of my blog) because after you donate free mammograms ... you can peruse all the other charitable tabs that are available through this fantastic website.

For instance.

The Hunger Site. You click daily. Sponsors pay for cups of food. Funds are split between Mercy Corps and America's Second Harvest and aid hungry people in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America.

The Child Health Site. You click daily. Sponsors pay for health care. "Your daily click funds the administration of Vitamin A to prevent life-threatening childhood illness and disease as well as one preventable cause of childhood blindness; the manufacture and fitting of children's prostheses so that a child injured by a landmine or other accident can still walk, run and play and still has a fighting chance to be a productive contributor in his or her society as an adult; eye surgeries that can reverse one kind of childhood blindness; and HIV testing that will alert medical personnel that a mother may pass the infection onto her child at birth so that she can be treated and the newborn spared of this terrible disease."

The Literacy Site. You click daily. Sponsors pay for books. "Education is a lifelong gift that empowers people to ultimately improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries, and future generations. Through the opportunities that only an education can provide, we can break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time. Together, The Literacy Site and its international partner, Room to Read, provide books to children in some of the poorest regions of the world, including Tibet, India, Vietnam, and Laos."

The Rainforest Site. You click daily. Sponsors pay for habitat protection. "Your daily click funds the purchase of rainforest land by The Nature Conservancy, The Rainforest Conservation Fund, The World Parks Endowment, and Rainforest2Reef. These organizations work to preserve rainforest land in Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay and other locations worldwide."

The Animal Rescue Site. You click daily. Sponsors pay for food and care. This site provides food and care for a rescued animal living in a shelter or sanctuary.

As for me, after I watched The Miniature Earth video, I was reminded just how lucky I am to be one of the THREE that have an internet connection and I spent an hour on the Breast Cancer website donating food, books, and vaccinations.

I'd say that my daily visit to the Breast Cancer website has become a habit for me.

Each day, I go to the site and click on all the charitable causes FIVE times. Until I do that, I can do nothing else. Much like when I was in graduate school and I couldn't work on the next chapter of my thesis until I won three consecutive games of Spider Solitaire. Which, interestingly enough ... I haven't played since.

And no, even though I was suppose to ... I didn't go running tonight.

But after all this love I'm sharing, why do you have to go and try to make me feel bad?