Are you creepin' ?

That's ok!

What is a creeper? Someone who goes to other peoples blogs, facebooks, twitter, etc., and reads thier posts without being a follower

What is a follower? Someone who has become a "friend" of what they are reading.

This post is all about how to FOLLOW someone's blog and become a FOLLOWER of the blog. It's pretty simple and it really makes the person who's blog you follow feel really cool when they have 100's of followers!

So... to become a follower all you have to do is follow this easy tutorial:

1. Click off to the right of this post on the word "FOLLOW" ----->

2. You will then see a page pop up with something like this on it:

Sign in using an account you've already created

AIM Netlog OpenID

Click an icon to sign in with that account

3. You must have one of these accounts in order to follow a blog. If you have gmail- click google. If you have a yahoo account click yahoo. If you don't have any of them you can click on

Don't have any of these? Create a new Google Account

4. Then you will sign into the account you already have. (My example is with gmail)

Sign in with your Account
Email:
	ex: pat@example.com
Password:
	The username or password you entered is incorrect. [?]
	Stay signed in
Can't access your account?

5. You will then get to chose

if you want to follow publicly or

privately. Don't chose private-

it's just like creepin', the whole

point of this is so we can see

who is following us :)

Chose Public

Name: Lindsay Baker Photo: Follow this blog More options

Follow publicly This site will be added to your Friend Connect profile on all the sites you've joined. You can also see updates on your Blogger Dashboard. Follow privately Keep your subscription private, but stay updated with this blog's posts on your Blogger Dashboard.

6. Then click "FOLLOW THIS BLOG"

7. You get a congratuations screen and your DONE!

Congratulations, Lindsay Baker

You are now following The 311

Invite your friends - View Blogger Dashboard

Now wasn't that easy? Mom Verwys I want you to try this tutorial and see if you can follow your children's blogs :)

Everyone else- try it too and kick the "creepin'" habits goodbye.

Please leave your success or questions in the comments below or if you are super unsuccessful email me :)

Mackinac Island

First of all… is it Mackinaw or Mackinac? To see a good explanation click here

So this weekend we took a trip to Mackinac Island. It was a little unplanned, but Marvin has been helping out with the Soccer team at Concord Academy Boyne, my school.

Here are the weekend events with a little photo commentary…

Friday- depart for Island at 2pm

Arrive on Island, go to school (its located just before the Grand Hotel on the main road)

Team Photo, there are 18 players, 6 are girls, 7-12th grade

  

Shots of the Island- we had to walk from the school to the soccer field about a 20 minute walk.

 

Game Time- 6pm

  WE WON!

Head back to the school.

They give us pizza.

Spend the night in their gym.

Get up for breakfast- provided by Mackinac Island School.

Head back to the fields for another 10am Game on Saturday Morning.

WE WON, Again!

The players shook all the refs hands after both games- Great sportsmanship!

And of course like all teams- we had to soak the coach. It’s the first soccer team CAB has had, and now they are undefeated!

 Marvin and I had such a great time. We got to meet a lot of the parents. Just about all of the players had someone from their family go. It is a very conservative public school. It has a great family atmosphere and the parents offer a lot of encouraging support.
I think its going to be a great year at CAB!

Birthday Girls

Our beloved Fran the Cat shares her birthday with the most adorable 3 year old I know. Some call her Nora but we prefer the Norster, Norie and NoraBoraCloraDoraFlora :)

Their Birthday’s were actually Aug 22nd but we had to wait to celebrate Fran’s until her present arrived (more about that in a minute).

But first a collage of photos to honor them both.

Nora’s mom keeps a pretty cool blog and her father takes some amazing photos, you can head over to the blog to check them both out ~ Nora’s Family

So for Fran’s birthday, since she had made it 3 years into her long life, we decided to celebrate by getting her a small gift. She is never sure which item is the present because she loves the wrapping more than the gift itself.

CitiKitty is a multi-tiered insert that sits inside the toilet. You remove the rings as the cat gets used to using that as her litter box… 3 weeks later- Waaaalaaa … she’s trained. (results may vary)

Step 1: place the litter inside the bathroom… well, we skipped this step because fran is very laidback and adaptable.

She’s doing great… we will keep posting about her progress…But we want to leave you with a photo of encouragement!

It is possible that she is making the most disgusting face that a cat could conceivably make. Gross Fran! It took her all of 30 seconds to introduce CittyKitty to her rear-end. Per the instructions, we praised her and gave her a tasty morsel of grilled chicken.

out and about

We moved to Boyne City just last week. A little trivia for you about BC:

• BC is where BC pizza was founded
• BC has a population of 3,500
• BC is located just north of the 45th parallel (which is 1/2 way between the equator and the north pole)
• average annual snow fall is 119” which is almost 10 feet!

Trivia about where we live:

• It’s a historical home built in 1911
• It is located just across the street from the 3rd largest lake in Michigan- Lake Charlevoix
• Its set up perfectly for guests to visit :)
• photos of the home

Since we moved in we have had 3 different visits from friends and family.

1st up was a over night stay by the Bakers and Uncle Dave. We drove into Charlevoix and took the Ironton ferry.

View Full Album

 

2nd in line were the Hoogendyk’s who also enjoyed an over night stay. We walked downtown and enjoyed the flea market and antique car show.  We ate at Cafe’ Sante’ – European meets traditional goodness!

View Full Album

3rd was a pleasant surprise visit by the Verwys’ parents. They came up just for the day and we enjoyed Whitefish and chips at the Villager in Charlevoix.

Walking around Charlevoix we found some great signs that were top contenders when naming our blog:

View Full Album

Marvin and I have been busy unpacking and checking out the town. It seems like every other night there is something that is going on in town. We’ve eaten at a few of the restaurants already. Marvin found a local shop that was selling coffee mugs and you could get them refilled for 50 cents. Needless to say, he is now a daily visitor to Water Street Cafe’.

The newest thing...

Our blog changed because we have! (we are not going back the the DR... in case you haven't heard)

More to come but first we HAVE to go get ice cream :)

Top contenders

Regarding the recent submissions for the blog title change… the top picks are as follows, in no particular order:

1. Sunshine to Snow ( The travelling adventures of Marv, Linds & Fran)
2. M&L freeze their buns off
3. We’re Hot then we’re Cold
4. I’m still thinking for a title while I fold laundry
5. 0 to 45 (parallels)
6. Trash Heap to Back Woods
7. The Great Downsize (population numbers)
8. Smogville vs. Pure Michigan
9. Can we drink the water or not? ( where are we now)
10. Boyne-ing Around
11. Boyne-ing, Boyne-ing, Boyne!
12. What is Boyne? A river in Ireland?
13. Ohhhh, we’re half way there…

Please vote for your favorite, new submissions are still welcome.

Because everyone loves photos on blogs…

new title

I need help thinking of a new title... something with the following , or something else if it is good :)

• Boyne
• Mountains
• Sunshine to Snow
• On the road again
• moving a lot

If your title is chosen I will do a spotlight blog all about you... I know some of you are so pumped about the prize! :)

Grocery Outlet

Today I found a sweet little place to get a great deal… Morrie’s Grocery Outlet. This store is located on Chicago Dr in Hudsonville.

What is a grocery outlet… well in short its a cheep place to buy your groceries that you might otherwise get a Meijer, Wal-Mart, or your local Mom and Pop shop. These shops sell in their items at discounts ranging from 30% to 50% off what the same item would sell for in your local supermarket. Sometimes these are no frills stores that resemble a warehouse more than a store, sometimes not. Some are stores that usually sells all the groceries returned by a supermarket to their warehouse. Why were they returned? Sometimes due to a case getting dropped or punctured which ruins one or two cans or boxes. Sometimes due to a manufacturer overestimating how many of an item to produce. Sometimes due to a label change or warehouse closing. For whatever reason these excess goods must be sold. Items whose packaging is compromised are discarded and the rest sent out by the truckload to end up for sale at your local salvage grocery store.

A few of the deals I found today include the following, but their inventory changes daily!

• candy bars  $0.25
• flips pretzels $0.50
• Natural Valley Granola Bars –6 pack $0.99
• Starbucks frappuccinos- 4 pack $1.49
• Orbitz gum 2 for $0.50

List of Michigan outlets, list is not exhaustive, but it’s a start:

Michigan

Allegan

Specific address unknown but I have plans to visit on Monday- will post a report :)

Bay City
Blue Knight Salvage Foods, 3286 South Huron Road, Ph 989-686-5540

Bear Lake
Bear Lake Discount Grocery, 11740 Chippewa Hwy., Ph 231-864-4640

DeWitt
Mor For Less, 16795 S. Business 27, Ph 517-372-5096

Evart
Wieler's Food Mart, 5938 W US-10, Ph 231-734-9730

Farwell
Hook 'em Discounts, 199 W. Main, Ph 989-588-3200

Grandville= rumored to have closed today!
M & B Foods, 2900 Wilson Avenue SW #5, Ph 616-249-0081

Haslett
Sav-A-Lot Food Stores, 16912 Marsh Rd., Ph 517-339-9670

Homer
Kryst Farm Market, 8451 Van Wert Rd.

Hudsonville- this is the one I’ve visited
Morrie's Grocery Outlet, 2410 Chicago Dr.

Lansing
Sav-A-Lot Food Stores, 3222 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Ph 517-394-0396

McBane
Pineview Discount Store, 9200 S. Burkett Road, Ph 231-825-2892

Mio
Country Corners, 1284 W. Kittle Road, Ph 989-826-6063

Newaygo
Brookside Discount Grocery, 3701 W 72nd St., Ph 231-924-9118

Sand Lake
Verns Wooden Nickle, 70 2nd Street, Ph 616-636-5795

Scottville
The Mercantile, 707 W. US 10, Ph 231-757-9130

Sturgis
Misfit Foods LLC, 116 North Centreville Rd

Research curtious of Andersons and Cart Challenge and Savings Addiction