$$ Baskin Robbins 31 Cent Scoop Night $$

On May 2nd, Baskin Robbins will be offering scoops for only $0.31. It is a great deal and for a good cause. See more on their site.

I hope you enjoyed this Mark's Remarks Frugal Moment.

Online Shopping Tips

I'm known for my frugal ways and get asked for advice all the time. I thought I would share a few things I've discovered about shopping online.

PriceGrabber.com
A little over a year ago we were shopping for a camera. We found a Kodak we liked at Wal-Mart. I used Pricegrabber and saved $100 over Wal-Mart's low price. We received free shipping and no taxes.

PriceGrabber is a search tool that will search the web for you and find the best prices. You can also ener your Zip Code and it will include the shipping as well. We will try Pricegrabber for everything just to make sure there's not a better deal.

Half.com & Ebay
I have been using these two sites for years. I started with Half.com in 1998 selling books. You can find good deals and shipping isn't too bad. Ebay bought Half in 2003 and I started using Ebay more. Ebay is a great way to make extra cash. You can get some deals too but you have to be careful when it comes to shipping. Some sellers charge way too much for shipping.

Online Discounts
One things I have learned over the years is that everyone is always having a sale. Before I check out at any online site, I will search for a Discount Code. You can use any search engine, but I always stick with Yahoo and Google. Just last week we saved 10% by searching for a Target Discount Code. These codes are out there for many different places. Give it try.

Buy.com
When it comes to Computers and Electronics, I like Buy.com. They always have deals on software, memory, and accessories. I recommend that you sign up for their Best Deals Alert. They will send you an email once a week with their sales. I take advantage of their great prices and rebates. I buy a lot here and resale on Ebay.

Frugal Living Journal
I recently found this site. They have been sharing great information. You should check it out for great saving and financial ideas. I have added the link to my side bar for future linking.

I hope this will save you a little cash over time. I would love to get your feedback. Let me know if these help you or other saving tips that you have.

Funny Ways to Save Money

You know me, always looking for more ways to save. How about trying some of these! I came across these here.

Funny Ways to Save Money

- Unplug your clocks at night to save on electricity.

- Carry powdered drink mix and add it to water when eating out, to save on buying drinks.

- Eat dog food. (Dry dog food tastes much better than canned)

- Tell everyone you'll be out of town for Christmas, so you can shop the after-Christmas sales for presents.

- Ask your friends to save the labels for you off any new products they buy, so you can put them on your thrift-store purchases when you are buying gifts.

- Run around the house and close the heater vents in all the rooms except your bedroom before going to sleep.

- Encourage mice in the house by leaving crumbs around - so your cat will have a free food supply.

- Learn speed-reading and read books for free while in the aisle at the book store.

- Leave everything in the same place in your house, so you can easily get around at night without turning the lights on.

- Bring back rolls of coins from Canada, to use at the laundromat and in pop machines, saving you 20% or more, depending on the exchange rate.

Flowers From San Diego's Balboa Park

California Sunset ~ Our First Night

From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised.

Psalm 113:3

Easter Celebration

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ~Matthew 28:1-6~

Why this scientist believes in God

Taken from CNN.com:

Editor's note: Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. His most recent book is "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief."


ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- I am a scientist and a believer, and I find no conflict between those world views.

As the director of the Human Genome Project, I have led a consortium of scientists to read out the 3.1 billion letters of the human genome, our own DNA instruction book. As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan.

I did not always embrace these perspectives. As a graduate student in physical chemistry in the 1970s, I was an atheist, finding no reason to postulate the existence of any truths outside of mathematics, physics and chemistry. But then I went to medical school, and encountered life and death issues at the bedsides of my patients. Challenged by one of those patients, who asked "What do you believe, doctor?", I began searching for answers.

I had to admit that the science I loved so much was powerless to answer questions such as "What is the meaning of life?" "Why am I here?" "Why does mathematics work, anyway?" "If the universe had a beginning, who created it?" "Why are the physical constants in the universe so finely tuned to allow the possibility of complex life forms?" "Why do humans have a moral sense?" "What happens after we die?" (Watch Francis Collins discuss how he came to believe in God )

I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds. My earlier atheist's assertion that "I know there is no God" emerged as the least defensible. As the British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, "Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative."

But reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one to think with the spirit as well as with the mind. You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page. Ultimately, a leap of faith is required.

For me, that leap came in my 27th year, after a search to learn more about God's character led me to the person of Jesus Christ. Here was a person with remarkably strong historical evidence of his life, who made astounding statements about loving your neighbor, and whose claims about being God's son seemed to demand a decision about whether he was deluded or the real thing. After resisting for nearly two years, I found it impossible to go on living in such a state of uncertainty, and I became a follower of Jesus.

So, some have asked, doesn't your brain explode? Can you both pursue an understanding of how life works using the tools of genetics and molecular biology, and worship a creator God? Aren't evolution and faith in God incompatible? Can a scientist believe in miracles like the resurrection?

Actually, I find no conflict here, and neither apparently do the 40 percent of working scientists who claim to be believers. Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.

But why couldn't this be God's plan for creation? True, this is incompatible with an ultra-literal interpretation of Genesis, but long before Darwin, there were many thoughtful interpreters like St. Augustine, who found it impossible to be exactly sure what the meaning of that amazing creation story was supposed to be. So attaching oneself to such literal interpretations in the face of compelling scientific evidence pointing to the ancient age of Earth and the relatedness of living things by evolution seems neither wise nor necessary for the believer.

I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.