Boomer Empowerment

Phone Scams from a BobSled User

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Heidi Caswell

phone scammer using bobsled I just got a call from a guy with an Indian accent. He said he was calling from Microsoft and that they could see that our computer was full of viruses and he was calling to help us out before the infection got worse. I promptly hung up on him. I knew he was lying and I didn’t have time to mess with him. (However I am taking time to write this post). Why did I hang up?

Caller ID said BobSled, not microsoft
We have more than 1 computer, not all are windows microsoft, and we scan regularly for viruses “your microsoft computer sounds very fishy
I’ve never known Microsoft support tech to call me or anyone else saying my computer is infected. Like they have time to monitor all that? and make extra calls?

Curious, after hanging up, I googled the phone number and learned 2 things. This guy has been doing this for a while, scamming people out of $250 or some other amount. Bobsled is a service where people can make free calls to their friends through social media without even knowing their number. Bobsled is not the bad guy. This phone scammer is. Hopefully someone can track him down.

Here is how I checked him out, you should do the same with any questionable calls. If everyone did this, there’d be no profit in phone scams.

There may be others out there like him. Be aware of your callers. Check caller ID. Even if the id is who they say they are, don’t give any personal info over the phone line unless you can verify they are who they say they are.

My friend Claudia shares her story of another phone scam:

“Just a couple weeks ago my Mom was taken advantage of by the “Grandmother Scam” – called her saying that my son was in Mexico and had been in an accident and needed $, then put the “Mexican police” on to explain to her how to go about this, go to Western Union, etc., she told them she didn’t have a car and they pressured her to get a taxi, thankfully the woman there taking care of Mom took the phone and asked who they were at which point they hung up. Was very upsetting for my Mom.”

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Simply Cleansing Homemade Soap

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Heidi Caswell

I had a wonderful surprise last week in my mailbox. One of my twitter friends had sent me a package of cool homemade soap. Not just one or 2 bars of soap, but a mailbox full, each with a different scent (from essential oils). I was in a hurry, running errands before leaving town for my daughter’s swim meet near Houston. (they won regions and on their way to state!) Wanting to check out the soaps some more, I stashed them in the car with me. My car smelled awesome while running those errands.

I was blessed with an assortment of wonderful soap: tea tree, spearmint, peppermint, cinnamon, orange, lemon, cedarwood. Each in its own little bag. I was thinking what a great gift these would make if you included their oak soap rest, a natural sponge, wrapped up in a basket. Mother’s Day is coming up.

OK, why should you buy Simply Cleansing Homemade Soap?

You’ve been thinking of making your own homemade soap and never get around to it.
Support small business which doesn’t outsource overseas
Be kind to your skin, instead of all kinds of chemicals and stuff which dries out your skin, Simply Cleansing soaps uses naturally occurring vegetable oils
Essential oils are great, each with their own healing power, anti-fungal, antibiotic type properties. Look each one up to see their benefits.
So you can enjoy a nice smelling mailbox/house/car too

A question came up about the sodium hydroxide (lye) in the soap. I did a little research and it seems you can’t make bar soap without it. So I asked Simply Cleansing about the lye issue and got back this quick and helpful response:

People just don’t know that lye is the ONLY way to have soap. The only other thing you can use is maybe soap nuts which we will be getting soon, but it isn’t soap.

Lye
Saponification and Glycerin
Food Grade Lye

We use this soap for our children and WOULD NOT use anything harmful on them. Did You Know that Water Has Hydrogen in it? And Hydrogen is Flamable? But we use it to put out fires! Same thing with soap, there is a chemical reaction and the lye is no longer harmful. Don’t take me wrong, I am not trying to be sarcastic, that is just the best way I know to explain it. I would be happy to know of another way to make soap, but from all my reasearch this is the ONLY way and others just use deceitful ways around tell people there is lye in it because they know people will react to it.”

I was not asked to do a review of the soap. I did want to share my mailbox surprise. I planned on doing product reviews here so felt this was a great place to start. Thanks

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Keeping Your Sanity This Christmas

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Heidi Caswell

How to keep your sanity this Christmas season. Great reminders for myself.

play
stop
Keeping Your Sanity This Christmas

Create new family traditions if the old ones aren’t working any more.
Don’t borrow money for Christmas
Don’t compare yourself with others, it isn’t a contest
Buy locally and from small businesses
Avoid the crowds – if you don’t enjoy Black Friday crowds, don’t go
Shop online for items not locally grown or produced, let them do the shipping
Simplify
Use a greeting card service
Don’t expect perfection
Remember the reason for Christmas, and no it’s not stimulate the economy
Serve others
Smile

Bonus tip: If you have little ones around, have non-breakable ornaments within their reach. Let them help make ornaments, help decorate, and don’t get stressed when they undecorate the tree to play with them, simply remind them to hang back on the tree.

Be sure and post some of the things you enjoy doing this holiday season.

Posted in Podcast | 7 Comments

Beware the Free Dinners

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Heidi Caswell

07.02.04-GKP EXCOMM-RC Dinner Meeting @ KL 017 © by gkpsecretariat

Free Dinner for 2!

Please Accept Our Invitation

Simply Attend Our Free Seminar

How You Can Become Wealthy Beyond You Dreams

I get these in the mail from time to time. Maybe not these exact words, but something similar. It may be how you can create great wealth from home running an online business, or how to no longer pay utility bills. Yes, people can become wealthy running an online business. Look at the Facebook crew. Yes, you can use alternative energy to lower your utility bills, something worth checking out. Dinner sounds great. Grab your spouse and go.

NOT BEFORE YOU DO SOME FACT CHECKING

One invite I’d received was about internet marketing, promising to get on the front page of Google. I searched online under the company’s name. Wow they sure do have many dissatisfied clients who plunked down thousands of their hard earned cash. Weird in that since they are able to get a website on the front page of Google how all these uphappy people pull up before their own website. I didn’t know if they were scamming people or not, preying upon the gullible, desperate or offering a legitimate service. However, if they can’t get their own website ranked above the complainers, they aren’t too good at their job.

A friend gave me a call. She was all excited. She attended the dinner, got a free cd player for her son. Lots of money to be made she said, and she thought of me. I know how to do things online, maybe we could form a partnership. But first she has to attend a second seminar a couple hours away. She was sad I couldn’t come as I missed the first meeting. She talked to the guys in charge. Sure she could bring a friend, they’d make a special exception for me.

What did they teach you I asked? First one promised how to get on the first page of Google. She thought for a while, don’t think they answered that. Seems they only showed various success stories of people making boatloads of money. I told her about my online research, the amount of money people spent. How I could get similar services as ones they were offering for so much less money. Why I wouldn’t be going. She didn’t go either. :)

So I checked out yesterday’s offer on getting rid of my energy bills. More unhappy people. In fact, just like the previous company, I see they’ve changed their name do to complaints but didn’t even change their phone number. Better Business Bureau shows complaints, most resolved but complaints just the same. My time in precious. So is my husband’s. We’ll stay home and possibly play with grandkids. Money? We’ll do our own research and work with companies people say good things about.

Today’s Tip

Research companies online for doing business with them, or even before attending their seminars.

Today’s Task

Share with us in the comments offers you’ve received, did you attend? did it change your life? Please share your stories.

Posted in Money | Tagged energy savings, free dinner, internet marketing, scam | Leave a comment

Garlic’s not Just for Vampires

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Heidi Caswell

Vampire teeth © by mollystevens

Remember watching the old Dracula movie? Garlic used to ward off vampires. Eat garlic, wear garlic, hang garlic over your doorway. Lots of garlic, garlic everywhere to ward off the vampires. In Panama, I’ve heard they rub garlic juice over exposed skin at night (if sleeping outside) to protect themselves from getting bite by the vampire bat.

Vampires and garlic may go in the realm or myths, yet garlic has been used throughout the years to ward off ills.

Benefits of Garlic

First, you have to admit. Garlic smells good. Tastes good. Maybe not on your breath, but doesn’t the smell of roasted garlic make you hungry? Where would Italian food be without garlic?

But did you know that garlic has also been for its health benefits? Now I’m not a medical doctor, nor a medical researcher, but history has long shown the benefits of garlic.

Garlic is a natural antibiotic. Unlike prescription antibiotics, the organisms don’t develop a resistance to garlic. It also builds up your immune system. Thus you can say garlic wards off both vampires and illness.

Garlic has also been said to reduce your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, balance your blood sugar. It also works as a natural antioxidant. Many other claim you can read in my list of sources.

Bottom line, eat more garlic, live healthier. Now raw garlic is better for you than cooked. If cooked, put the garlic in last. One of my favorite kitchen tools I got from Pampered Chef is a garlic press. I’d been doing it wrong, cooking the garlic with the onions from the start, now I’m learning to add the garlic last few minutes.

Have a garden? Plant some garlic bulbs this fall. Doesn’t it make sense to simply get garlic from your own yard?

One word of caution, simply chewing multiple fresh garlic cloves could irritate your mouth. Some are more sensitive than others. Thus my favorite way to use garlic is in my food.

Sausage Potato Soup

Garlic © by mdid

Feel free to modify the recipe I did.

1 lb ground sausage (or chorizo)
6 garlic cloves
1 c. onions
olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Sage Hill Farms Cajun Seasoning (organic, salt free)
8 cups chicken broth
6 red potatoes washed and cut
bunch of kale or bok choy washed and cut into thin strips

I cook the sausage in a large soup pan. Then I saute the onions in the oil from the sausage, if no oil I add a little olive oil. Add chicken broth (I use Better than Bullion) and potatoes. Cook med high till potatoes are almost soft. (25-30 minutes or so). Add cut up kale or bok choy along with the garlic minced. Cook another 10-15 minutes.

We like to add a spoonful of sour cream to each bowl. Enjoy!

Sources:

Garlic Health Benefits from antioxidants

Garlic Facts and Remedies

Growing Garlic

Posted in Health | Tagged benefits, garlic, growing, vampire | Leave a comment

What Kind of Home do I Want?

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Heidi Caswell

sandy bank

Raising 7 kids in a home with 1200-1300 sq ft has been a challenge. When we moved here we only had 4 children and had no idea how long we’d live here.

At one time I imagined as the kids moved out, my home would no longer be so cramped, it’d become the right size, except for the kitchen. I think anyone designing a home should have experience cooking for a family before they put the thing together. My kitchen is only practical for those who live from freezer to microwave. You can’t even put the dishes away with the dishwasher open. And there is little counter space or cupboards.

Trees grow with time and those cute little pine trees behind the back fence have grown into monsters. We have always wanted fruit trees, imagine if we’d planted some when we first moved in. Of course there is too much shade from those overgrown pine trees. I love trees, but I need some sunlight for my garden!

Last Christmas cinched it. This home just won’t do. 3 of my children are married and I had 3 grandkids at the time, one on the way. I love having my kids visit along with their spouses and kids, but talk about wall to wall people. Of course you have to add suitcases, places to sleep, change diapers etc. Imagine how big the crew will be in another 10 years.

It had always been our plan to buy some land in the country after retirement (not there yet, but it is getting closer). Course our bodies start falling apart before then.

Why not take some of that equity in our home and buy some land? We could start the fruit trees etc and have a nice place by the time we move over. Having a limited budget (part of the retirement plan is having everything paid off including our home by then) I went land shopping. Not such an easy thing to do. Eventually I was delighted when we bought 4 acres close by with the most beautiful trees and and a spring fed creek. And those Beech trees. . .

We are building a 30×40 metal shop out there, something my husband always wanted. He is making half of it living quarters. That will give us a place to sleep over, stash visiting kids/spouses/grandkids, esp those who are allergic to our pets. Then when we sell this place we can live there while building our new home. It doesn’t have to be bigger (except the kitchen) cause our visitors can sleep in the shop apartment.

What will my home look like? A work in progress. It will have decks and gorgeous views, paid for, energy efficient. Much will depend on what we can afford at the time and how much work we are willing to do ourselves. Check out our progress, ups and downs, learning experiences at My Land.

Question to ask yourself, do you want your retirement depending on Social Security, or your 401K? Me, I’d rather have the bulk of it in land. Guess I’ll always be land shopping. Share what kind of place you’d like to live.

Posted in Retirement Planning | Tagged home, land, planning, retirement | Leave a comment

Empowerment

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Heidi Caswell

Helping Hands

Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities. -Wikipedia

Each of us are gifted with amazing abilities. Each of us are unique. Problem is, we aren’t born with owner’s manuals, telling us what we are capable of doing, nor how to use such talents. Self discovery is part of the process. What fun is a puzzle if you already know the answer?

Back in high school, which as a babyboomer was a looong time ago, I had a conversation with a friend which I still remember today. It went something like this:

“What are you going to do after high school?”

“I don’t know, I suppose I’ll have to find a job”

“What would you like to do?”

“I really don’t have any skills. I’ll probably find some minimum wage job, flipping hamburgers or something. If I’m really lucky I’ll be able to get a spot at the blue jean factory. Pays better.”

“Isn’t there anything else you’d like to do? What kind of a life would you like to have?”

“It doesn’t matter, no use dreaming, I’m not like you, you can do anything, be anything.”

“So can you.”

“No I can’t! The best I could ever expect to do is something like a job at the factory.”

I tried, but I could not get her dreaming, what would she really like to do. She didn’t sound too happy with the idea of sewing blue jeans, yet that was her highest hope. Your hopes should be exciting, not something that you settle for.

One of our local schools had an irrate mother in their office. Her complaint? The school was teaching her son that he could be a somebody. How dare his teachers set him up for a big fall. He’d never be a somebody.

Thank goodness for teachers that care. And I’m betting that boy turned into a somebody.

This blog will be a way for me to share my journey as I try new things, gain confidence, build my dreams. Just as I’m inspired by others, I hope my journey empowers others.

Photo by Antonella Beccari

Posted in Empowerment | Tagged baby boomer, empower | Leave a comment

Phone Scams from a BobSled User

Simply Cleansing Homemade Soap

Keeping Your Sanity This Christmas