Today is National Cotton Candy Day!!

Alson known as Spun Sugar and Fairy Floss, Cotton Candy was introduced to Americans at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.

It is also National Jelly Bean Day!!

Today is National Wings Day! Free Chicken Wings!

July 29th is National Wings day!!

Search your area for specials or free chicken wings!

Buffalo Wild Wings is offering 1/2 price wings!

Other specials include:

Wingstop offers 5 free wings with their order of wings
50 wings for $25 at Texas Steakhouse
59 cent wings at Arioga's Grille House
A coupon for 5 free wings when you buy wings today at East Coast wings

And many many more specials!!

Two more FREE Kindle ebooks for the next few days!!

Right now, two of my ebooks are free to download. These are great recipe books for the Summer!! Get them while they're free!!

How to Make Chick Fil A Sauce at home

If you have ever been to Chick Fil A and had their sauce, I'm sure that know how delicious it is! I love to have it even on plain chicken. Whenever I go, I always get a couple of extra packets to take home with me.

You can by the sauce at the counter at Chick Fil A in larger tubs, which is nice. But what if you don't have time to go to the restaurant? What if you don't live near a Chick Fil A?  Wouldn't it be great if you could make it at home?  I'm sure it is a lot cheaper than going to a restaurant every time that you want to eat the sauce.

Well, I'm going to tell you how to make it at home and it is real simple.

Drum roll please...

It's mayonnaise and barbecue sauce.

That's it!  The amount of mayo and BBQ depends on your taste.  Smokey BBQ sauce is best.  Start with a few tablespoons of mayo and then add the baarbecue sauce a few drops at a time.  Taste test it as you go.  Enjoy!

For more great recipes, see my recipe book:

Super Awesome Barbecue Sauce, Spice And Rub Recipes For The Grill Or Smoker

Free Raspberries and Blackberries

It's that time of year again!  If you live in the midatlantic region like me then the wild raspberries are now here.  Some of the blackberries are in but a lot of them are not ripe yet.  Check again in a couple of weeks.  But definitely look for raspberries now.

If you live in a wooded area, look along the woods edge to find them. Be careful picking, since they grow on vines covered on tiny thorns. The leaves grow in groups of three so they may be mistaken for poison ivy. However, poison ivy doesn't have thorns and the leaves of poison ivy are kind of shiny.

If you don't live in the woods like me, go to a park that runs along a wooded area.  You may find a lot there.

My #1 Philadelphia Recipe book is now FREE for a short time!

My book is currently the NUMBER ONE recipe Kindle ebook on Amazon for Mid-Atlantic Recipes and it is FREE for the next couple of days!! Get it while it's free!

Today is National Hotdog Day!

August 23rd is national hotdog day! Get $1 hotdogs at Burger King, 7-Eleven and many other places today only!!

Free Kindle recipe Book

These two books are free on Amazon for the next few days. Get them while you can!

New Free Kindle Books on Amazon

These two books are now on promo and are free to download. The special lasts until midnight tonight so get them while you can!

I am on a quest to eliminate my mortgage PMI

In this day and age you probably already know what PMI is and you are probably paying it. It stands for "private mortgage insirance" and it is an extra payment that you pay to the bank to ensure that you won't default on the loan. Unless you put 20% down when you bought your house then you are paying it. I pay an extra $290 per month for mine and I am on a quest to get rid of it.  Banks are notorious for trying every trick in the book to keep you paying that PMI. The first hurtle... the invisible PMI Office!!!

Try this: call your mortgage lender and ask to be transfered to the PMI Office. After the snarky rep stops laughing she'll tell you that they can only be contacted in writing. She'll give you the address but she'll swear that they don't have a phone. Of course the address is a PO Box number. Honestly, for all the money that you give them they ought to be required to have a phone!!!

In order to eliminate PMI you have to either have paid down the loan to 80% loan to value (LTV) or have the house appraised to see if it went up in value. Of course, they pick the appraisers. Isn't that special? Since my house is not quite at 80% then I'm going to look into getting an appraisal to have them raise the value. All that I want is a list of the appraisal companies that they use. I don't have high hopes in them giving me this information. What I expect them to say is that they will send me that list after I send them a check.

Another way to eliminate PMI is to refinance the loan. But since closing costs are in the thousands then I am going to try contacting them first.  I'm at the point now where the reappraisal is cheaper than refinance. However, I will have to refinance anyway soon since I have a variable interest rate.

I'll keep you readers up to date as things happen and maybe this can help some of you too if you are trying to get rid of your PMI.

Thanks!!

Mortgage PMI Elimination Update

I did some more research. PMI is attached to all FHA loans. This stands for Federal Housing Administration. I guess my mortgage is an FHA loan. They are not a lender they are an insurer. So if you put less than 20% down then it is an FHA loan and you are paying that PMI and they want you to pay that for as long as possible because that is how the FHA makes its money.

There don't seem to be any clear cut rules as to how to get rid of it if you have an FHA loan. It is up to the discretion of the lender.

Well, here are the ways the law says you can get rid of pmi:

1. You can get your house reappraised (by using one of their appraisers) and maybe they'll say ok (doubtful).

2. You can pay down the loan to 80% and then "request" they take it off. Again, I've read enough blogs where this didn't happen so again (doubtful).

3. You can wait for the date when it will be scheduled to be at 80% loan to value and then, again, kindly request that they take it off. Again, doubtful. I've read enough blog posts where the mortgage company says that you have to have the house reappraised anyway to show that the house didn't drop in value.

4. The last way is to wait until the mortgage is "scheduled" to be 78% LTV. They will give you this date over the phone. My date is an entire year after my loan is scheduled to reach 80% LTV.

So, here is what I think their game is...they drag their feet every step of the way, from responding to a request to have it removed to getting it appraised and responding to an appraisal. In the mean time you keep paying that PMI and you get closer and closer to the scheduled 78% LTV date anyway when they are required to take it off.

Yeah, don't argue with me on this, I'm pretty sure that's the game. I've worked for insurance companies before and it doesn't matter what type of insurance you are dealing with, they all drag their feet as long as they can legally get away with it to postpone paying claims or in this case, stop collecting premiums from you. That's why when you file an insurance claim and they put it "under review" there will be some language in the letter that you get that says that they are "allowed" that time to review. They don't need that time they are just dragging their feet.

I think that I am going to look in to refinancing this house to get away from the FHA loan.  However, this story isn't over yet! Because, I have a rental that is under water and which I am also paying PMI. So I will be trying to get rid of the PMI on that.

Stay tuned!!

Happy Anniversary to my husband!

Monday July 18th was my 7 year anniversary with my loving husband, Bill so I just wanted to give him a quick shout out to him and say I love him and Happy Anniversary!!

I ate barf!!

Ok, so it was really a jelly bean but it sure did taste like barf! I got this jelly bean game at Five Below where you spin the spinner and then each have to try the color that it lands on. The jelly bean could taste like something gross or something good. And, yes, they actually had a barf flavored one!

I have put a link to the game below.

Free Kindle Book!

My new book is now on promo and is free to download for the next few days on Amazon.

Get it free for the next few days!

Free Sandwich at Chick Fil A today

Today was Chik Fil A's customer appreciation day. If you dressed like a cow you got a free sandwich.  The effort could be minimal as well. They had signs that said "Eat More Chicken" and cow hats to put on so you didn't even have to bring anything with you. You could pick it up there.

Chick Fil A is great for having promos like this. Keep checking their website and then put it on your calendar.

I suggest keeping a couponing calendar to remind you of specials and promotions.

Keep checking back here for more ideas of where to get freebies and deals!