From the library...

"Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depend upon it."—from "Last Child in the Woods," by Richard Louv.

I'm reading Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. It really is eye opening when you think about it... when WE were kids, we played outside until our parents BEGGED us to come in!! I remember playing outdoors with mud pies, climbing trees with my brothers, going fishing with cane poles, finding leaves and acorns, using a magnifying glass to discover, and creating my own outdoor adventures. There was no sidewalk chalk in my childhood! I've fell into the trap as a parent. We're reversing our ways, we're taking more time as a family outdoors.

We're down to egg timers on TV and Xbox time... and it's very minimal. I remember watching cartoons on Saturdays and Sundays, and as a preschooler I would watch Mr. Rogers or Captain Kangaroo in the mornings on weekdays after breakfast...after that brief TV time, I remember a day filled with endless possibilities of imagination in the yard, or doing things with my mom, or playing in my room on rainy days. We V-Chip the TV upstairs to only allow 'decent' cartoons and educational children's TV or we will watch Discovery or Science together as a family after dinner on rainy days. Our kids do NOT have TV's in their rooms... I hope we're on the right track. Living in the city, without a huge yard and woods, we're being as creative in our endeavors as possible. Most children I've personally talked to (neighbors, friends at school, and kids at the church) DO watch more TV then play outdoors and/or with their parents.... so we're really encouraging our kids to be a little 'different' these days!

I've found a new release that I plan to read once I'm done with my current read. Luisa's Nature, a book written in an infants/childs persepctive.. “Luisa's Nature” is based on real-life events. Split into four parts — one for each season — the story follows her throughout infancy as she discovers things many people may not ordinarily notice, such as leaves falling, a snow-capped mountain, a squirrel's tail twitching or a rainbow. Watching her mother prepare carrot juice, her parents engaging in a snowball fight and listing to her father tell stories about his own adventures with nature are among the personal experiences conveyed through the narrator. Birds, insects, flowers, trees, weather, fish and other animals are all noticed by Luisa.

LUISA'S NATURE is an insightful interpretation of life as viewed by the youngest of the young. With his daughter, Luisa, serving as the narrating voice of this creative non-fiction, Mark J. Stevens unfolds a playful and purposeful chronicle of a child's first year.
Following Luisa as she discovers the natural world around her will inspire parents to find new ways of using nature to nurture their own children. Readers of all ages will appreciate nature as an essential contributor to the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of family life.

Rainy day blues? Cut your hair off!! Worked for me!!

I've rid myself of the hair clips, rubber band bracelets, and the dreaded "mommy bun". Once again I let my hair grow below shoulder length... and once again it annoyed me. So after my haircut today, I decided to take a cue from Madonna and strike a pose... no more mommy 'do'! Fuzzy picture, and I look ever so cheesy!!

(I stand here proud that my hair for this moment has an actual style, and I'm glad it's not in my regular mommy 'up-do'.... yet, I still include the elmo couch in the background as decoration....HA!)

Wednesday's random 5

5 random things...I particularly loved Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy when SNL featured it.... someone recently sent me an email with a few of them, so here's 2 of my personal fav's along with some random news (true) from around the world this week:

1. The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.

2. If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down?

3. YOU HAVE TO WORK 113 DAYS JUST TO PAY TAXES
   As you head off to work this morning . . . preparing your heart and mind for another miserable day of toil for The Man . . . try not to think about how much of your paycheck goes to taxes . . .
   Every year at tax time, a group called the Tax Foundation releases a report that shows how many days you have to work in a given year to pay all your taxes. Here are their latest numbers:
   The amount of days you have to work on average each year JUST to pay your federal taxes is . . . 74 days. That's almost four months just to pay the Federal tax. Then you'll work another 39 days to pay for state and local taxes. In all, you'll work 113 days . . . just to pay taxes. That's about five-and-a-half months of your entire work year. (Reuters)

4. A LIBRARY WORKER GETS A PERVERT ARRESTED . . . THEN SHE GETS FIRED TWO DAYS LATER.

   On February 28th, 46-year-old Brenda Biesterfeld caught a man looking at dirty images of young boys on a computer in the library that she worked at in Lindsay, California.When Brenda told her boss about it, the boss told Brenda to tell the man to stop . . . but insisted that Brenda not call the police. The next day, Brenda went to the police station next door and told them what happened.The police told Brenda to call them if she caught the man looking at dirty pictures again. Well, a week later, Brenda saw the same man doing it again, so she called the cops and had the man arrested.Even though Brenda made the library a safer place for kids . . . her boss wasn't happy with Brenda because she said Brenda violated the privacy rights of the guy in the library. So, two days later . . . Brenda was FIRED.Now the town is furious. They're rallying around Brenda and saying that if the library is going to allow perverts to look at dirty pictures, they will stop using the library. Brenda has hired an attorney and she's considering suing. (LA Times)

5. Last one made me really laugh...

A GUY LEAVES HIS PHONE NUMBER AT THE SHOP HE'S ROBBING . . . SO HE CAN COME BACK LATER AND ROB THE OWNER WHEN HE GETS IN

On Monday morning around 8:00 A.M., 18-year-old Ruben Carate walked into a discount muffler store in Chicago wearing a mask and carrying a gun . . . and he demanded the employees empty the safe.

But the employees said that the owner was the only one who had access to the safe. So this idiot, Ruben, gave the employees TWO phone numbers and told them to call him when the owner got in . . . so he can come back later and rob the store. Then Ruben left.

About four hours later, Ruben got a call saying the owner of the shop was in . . . so he put on his mask and grabbed his gun and went BACK to the store to try and rob the place AGAIN.
But this time, the cops were waiting for him. When the cops tried to arrest him, Ruben allegedly assaulted one of the officers . . . so they SHOT him in the leg.

Now Ruben is in the hospital recovering from his wound. He's being charged with attempted armed robbery and aggravated assault of a police officer. (Associated Press)

eggs anyone?

Today we did the tradition and dyed eggs and I still have green fingernails! Then we had lunch w/ Jonathon's parents, and afterward went to let the boys spend a little money they received from grandparents in their cards. Shopping was interesting, with 2 impatient boys, one of which is getting in all four of his 2-year molars! I needed customer service on the toy isle, because of course the ONLY toy that Jesse kept going back too was opened and no bar code existed. After going to the nearest sales counter, and being told they paged someone, I went and stood and waited... 15 min later I used my cellphone to call customer service. Ironically, the person who answered told me that the sales counter I just went to for assistance was required to assist me! So, back to square one! Eventually we made a purchase (at a discount thanks to it being the only toy of that kind). Ezra bought a small Lego kit and some hotwheels.

A fun day for us all, ending in a scream fest for Jesse. So much stimulation today, a bit of sugar with candies (out of the ordinary for us!), a later bedtime then usual after just hanging out, and not wanting to stop playing with his brother... it quickly turned into complete sadness once realized. It was a rough 'get ready for bed' routine, but we made it, and once he was upstairs in his bed he was calm and quickly off to sleep!!

let's go out and play!

pretty much sums up our day... outdoors, and lots of FUN!

big brother...

The carpool line was interesting today to say the least. I thought I was lucky for parking 4th in line and sitting in the car with Jesse enjoying the beautiful spring day while waiting on Ezra to exit the school. Everyday I see this boy who is a perfect twin to Ezra, same super fair skin, blue eyes and platinum blonde hair... today though, Jesse saw this boy. When this other boy came out, Jesse kept his eyes on him saying 'Ezra, Ezra, Ezra' as he always does when he sees his big brother, he's always super excited to see Ezra after school. We were probably a good 25 feet from the boy and if I hadn't known what Ezra was wearing, I'd have worried he was being abducted by some strange man myself! This kid IS Ezra's twin in this world! Jesse became anxious to see this boy walking away from us and onto the sidewalk with some strange man. At this point, Jesse began to make a noise as if to say 'huh?' and kept looking at the boy and then at me with an expression that read "mommy, go get my Ezra!!". The anxious feeling began to overwhelm Jesse, and it turned quickly to true sadness and tears. He wanted his brother, and it looked like some strange man took him! I kept reassuring him over and over that 'no, that's not our Ezra, no Ezra is in school, our Ezra is in school still'... of course, today would be the day when it would be FOREVER before Ezra came out, and when he did Jesse was SO relieved that his Ezra was in the car with us safely. He high fived him, Ezra hugged Jesse to make him feel better, and after I explained to Ezra what was wrong with Jesse, Ezra told Jesse "I wouldn't leave here with a stranger Jesse, I'll never do that."

It nearly broke my heart to see the sadness and it warmed my heart to see the relief in my 2 year old's eyes. It was quite a tense moment, and then Ezra saves the day!! Ahh.... brothers. What a bond.

Again mommy, again!

We have fun each day of some sort, whether it be in our back yard with bubbles and sidewalk chalk, indoors with crayons and paper, playing with water or washable paint, or a simple walk in the yard to collect grass, flowers, etc. Today our fun time was at a play area for toddlers... this is the shortest video ever taken (with my cellphone), but it's clear that even though it's only about 15 seconds, it's filled with TONS of excitement!

Wednesday's 5, the late version...

Wow, this week has come and gone! Wednesday's 5 is basically my week review, I haven't posted much this month, it's just been so nice that I've spent alot of my time outdoors during the week! On the weekends, we just hang out with the kids outdoors and do some family stuff...we love spring!!!
5 things/happenings from around our house..

1. Ezra's learning some interesting things in 4th grade. His IB class is touching several areas including the holocaust, along with US government branches and how they operate... IB is his favorite part of the day!


2. We're painting tiny wood Easter eggs and a small wood Easter egg tree to use as our centerpiece this weekend... we ran out of white washable acrylic - so to the craft store I must go! I will post a photo of our finished project in our photo journal eventually!


3. Jesse has decided that he will take one of the major steps in potty training... telling me every time he goes. I'm super excited for him! Soon enough he'll graduate from potty training! I'm not the potty Nazi, he's doing this 100% in his own time. He's proud to announce the items of interest in his diaper each and every time.


4. Baby Trey was back in the hospital again this week, he's home now after a yucky virus that left him dehydrated. He's doing good now!


5. And I end my 5 things about our week with this.... it seems that Jesse is going through some serious developmental changes, leaving him feeling a little anxious during certain parts of our day that are consistently routine... for now it's bath time anxiety. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that as the pediatrician suggested, this will pass as quickly as it arrived! It seems that between 18 months-2.5 years that most children go through small bits of anxiety on occasion because everything about them is changing... makes perfect sense after researching it a little more by reading some reliable information written by the experts in child development as well as talking to our pediatrician. Mommy intuition told me it wasn't a huge deal, but it's always reassuring to hear it out loud 'you're not alone in this!'. For some kids it's bedtime/naps, diaper changes, car rides, or even bath time. We remember very clearly that Ezra went through a period of bedtime anxiety around 3 years old!

fun without the sun

It's been stormy today, with sudden downpours and even hail. We needed it, but the boys were itching to go outside... so we just made a mess inside instead.

Without fun outdoors, we have chaos indoors - but it was fine because they were having fun! Jesse was throwing balls at Ezra and Ezra was pretending to fall down. Hilarious!

This is what happens with 100 balls being spilled out of their container for fun!!!

Ezra is dancing and spinning around. We really do spend alot of our weekend outdoors now that spring weather is here, but today was a much needed rain, so we had to improvise! The end result, was two boys with ants in their pants all day! We ran a few errands to make up for being couped up in the house.

Jesse loves his new crayons (mommy does too, they're washable) and he's trying to decide which hand is his dominant hand.... will he be a lefty??? It is possible, Jonathon's family has leftys, and my brother Chris is a lefty!

5 random things from the past 7 days...

My Wednesday 5 for this week is just random; some serious, some not so serious...

1. I'm baffled by a phone call I recently made.

   Here's the scenario: I'm driving down a heavily driven main road in the city and standing appx 10-20 feet before a stoplight is the same homeless who usually stands on the corner w/ his sign. He's standing in the middle of the road, on the dotted line, in between passing cars (45mph). He seems to be a bit unaware of his potential suicide mission standing there... so I call 911. This is NOT a joke, this is exactly the conversation: automated answer "we're sorry, all emergency operators are assisting other calls, please hold and your call will be answered in the order it was received, please do NOT hang up." this played 4 x's over about each 30 seconds. In a REAL emergency, 30 seconds means ALOT!! Finally, the operator answers, and asks if I need police/fire/medic. I said 'not sure, police I suppose', the operator then proceeded to take my info, which included me describing the man as a 'homeless Caucasian male holding a sign'. Right after that the operator asks me 'can you tell me what he looked like'? Didn't I just do that????? This phone call took a total of 6min 37sec on my cellphone. Honestly, it left me concerned. Not to mention that our city just budgeted a pesticide spray by air for canker worms, $2.6 million - shouldn't we focus on emergency response??? The article here about the air sprayed pesticide clearly states 'minimal effect on people, plants and other animals'. All this to save some trees?? I think we should first focus on how we're going to help the people who are 'minimaly effected'... it would definately make sense to add some funds to hire some extra people to man the 911 calls.

2. Are the baggers at grocery stores now trained to use as MANY bags as possible? Before my eco-friendly bags were put to good use, I found myself feeling a little put off when they asked me 'is plastic ok' and I'd say 'yes, please load them full' at which time I get a look like ' oh no, she asked us to load them heavy, can we do that??' Seriously? I worked at Food Lion for 3 years during highschool and just after, and I was taught to bag them full... what's with the individual bag for grapes, the individual bag for banana's? Can grapes and banana's not easily co-exist in the same plastic bag... and just to shake it up a bit, maybe they could place the grape and banana's on TOP of ... say some BOXES or CANS????? This plastic bag wasting bugs me! I now use reusable bags mostly, but when it happens that I have to use plastic, I still get a little nutty and ask them to load them as full as they can...I'm the crazy lady who doens't care if her bread is bagged on top of her eggs.... HA!

3. Gas prices frustrate me. Why can't we just copycat Brazil's ethanol production? Oh, yeah, that would impact the economy (esp for oil producers), but isn't what is going on right now impacting lives and the economy??? I see that there are some serious talks about increasing our production of Ethanol; you can read that here and here. Big crap shoot there. Hmmmmm, what to do?

4. Is it me, or do you often see police officers on cell phones??? Isn't it ironic that this lands in the top 6 causes of automobile accidents? I use a hands free set, but 4 out of the 6 police cars I saw today on patrol had officers chatting away on a handheld cellphone! These 5 states have laws against handheld... I admit, I am a car/cellphone talker - but I try my best to use my head set most of the time!

5. Tonight, we agreed that we will write letters of support to soldiers in Iraq, and send a box with them. We also will write a letter of thanks to our local Fire Department. A recent tragedy in a city that I spent much of my childhood and young adult life in has more then opened our eyes to the reality that these guys risk their lives, and I doubt they hear 'thank you' enough. Salisbury lost two of it's finest, may peace be with their families and friends. Quoting one of the citizens interviewed during live coverage this week "it's a heroic loss, it's a terrible loss", that sums it up, it's so sad for the city. One of these guys was 40 and served with NYFD as a medic before coming to Salisbury, the other was a 19 year old.

unaware

How is it possible? 7 months ago today, right about now, I was talking to my brother on the phone about my son. He had called me to talk to me about an allergic reaction and rash on Jesse's face that happened on the day before (Aug 5). I had no idea that would be our last phone call. I was completely unaware during that phone call that a few short hours later he'd lose his life. I wonder sometimes - if I could have somehow known, would I have said anything different? There's a peace in knowing that we always hung up the phone with each other and said 'love ya'.

7 months feels like forever. 7 months, and it still hurts just like it was yesterday...

5 on Wednesday

I didn't make it last week... but here's this week's 5 random facts/discoveries about my life!

1. Yogurt, when presented in a cute cup (see photo), with fresh fruit, topped with a sprinkle of crumbled Oreo, makes a 9 year old boy smile from one ear to the other...that smile, my friends, is what moms call a paycheck.
   


2. Children have no idea that there are such differences in race, gender, size, shape. Not until we (society in general) put that idea there - it's up to us to keep focused on what counts, what makes a person who they are. THIS is what makes the world go round.



3. When you give your camera to kids, you are opening your world to true art. These photos were taken by a 6 year old! I love the moments captured, even the fuzzy ones!



4. Boys will keep anything, and everything, in their pockets... This is what I found in my dryer after I heard an awful noise clanking. A compass, a poker chip, and an acorn - what were his plans I wonder?



5. A little slice of yummy. This bar comes w/ 12 yummy pieces... I found organic chocolate and it's pretty darn tasty! This is a special mommy treat that will likely last me a week or more!! Well worth the 1.75 spent on it!!
   

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You must be 18 years or older to participate on this Website (bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com). Some of the content on the Website may not be appropriate for children. CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13 ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THIS WEBSITE. We strongly recommend that children between the ages of 13 and 18 ask for their parent's or guardian's permission before viewing the Website.

9. Links
These Terms of Usage apply only to this Website, and not to the Websites of any other person or entity. We may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other worldwide Websites or resources. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and do not endorse (and are not responsible or liable for) any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such Websites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that, under no circumstances, will we be held responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage that is caused or alleged to have been caused to you in connection with your use of, or reliance on, any content, advertisements, products or other resources available on any other Website (regardless of whether we directly or indirectly link to such content, advertisements, products or other resources). You should direct any concerns with respect to any other Website to that Website's administrator or webmaster. bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com staff will strive to be diligent in the removal of outside links and spam found on this website. We will not be responsible for the timing of these removals.

10. Copyright Complaints
We respect the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. We may, in appropriate circumstances and in our discretion, terminate the rights of any user to use our Website (or any part thereof) who infringe the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement or are aware of someone doing so, please contact our designated agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement by using the contact form provided in this website.

11. Your Password and User Account
Registered members are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of passwords and user account information. You must notify us immediately in the event of any known or suspected unauthorized use of your user account, or any known or suspected breach of security, including loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your or anyone else's password. You are entirely responsible for any and all activities which occur under your user account. In the event of someone using your user name and password, you will inform bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com immediately. You will not share your username or password with any friend, family or outside parties collectively.


12. Disclaimers of Warranties
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTIES:

THE PRODUCTS, OFFERINGS, CONTENT AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, COMPATIBILITY, SECURITY, ACCURACY OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

NEITHER BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM, ANY OF OUR AFFILIATES, NOR ANY OF OUR OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS, LICENSEES, SERVICE PROVIDERS OR SUPPLIERS WARRANT THAT THIS WEBSITE OR ANY FUNCTION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THIS WEBSITE OR THE SERVERS THAT MAKE THIS WEBSITE AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

ANY PRODUCT, OFFERING, CONTENT AND MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THIS WEBSITE IS DONE AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH PRODUCT, OFFERING, CONTENT OR MATERIAL.

NEITHER BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM, ANY OF OUR AFFILIATES, NOR ANY OF OUR OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS, LICENSEES, SERVICE PROVIDERS OR SUPPLIERS WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE PRODUCTS, OFFERINGS, CONTENT AND MATERIALS IN THIS WEBSITE IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

FURTHERMORE, PLEASE NOTE THAT NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM OUR PERSONNEL OR THROUGH THIS WEBSITE, SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THESE TERMS OF USAGE.

14. Limitation of Liability
YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT WE AND OUR AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), ARISING OUT OF, OR RESULTING FROM, (A) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM SITE; (B) THE USE OF ANY CONTENT OR OTHER MATERIAL ON THE BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM SITE OR ANY WEBSITE OR WEBSITES LINKED TO THE BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM SITE, (C) THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES RESULTING FROM ANY GOODS, DATA, INFORMATION OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED, OR MESSAGES RECEIVED OR TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO, THROUGH OR FROM THIS WEBSITE; (D) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (E) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON OUR WEBSITE; OR (F) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO OUR WEBSITE. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING OUR WEBSITE. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH ANY PORTION OF OUR WEBSITE, OR WITH ANY OF THESE TERMS CONDITIONS, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS THE DISCONTINUATION OF YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE.

15. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, hold harmless and, at our option, defend bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com and our affiliates, and our and their officers, directors, employees, stockholders, agents and representatives from any and all third party claims, liability, damages and/or costs (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys fees and expenses) arising from your improper use of this Website or our products or offerings, your violation of these Terms of Usage, or your infringement, or the infringement or use by any other user of your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity.

16. Miscellaneous Terms
In any action against us arising from the use of this Website, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover all legal expenses incurred in connection with the action, including but not limited to its costs, both taxable and non-taxable, and reasonable attorney's fees.

If any provision of these terms shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. These Terms of Usage, together with the Subscription Agreement (if applicable), are the entire agreement between you and us relating to the subject matter herein. If you are a subscriber to one of our online subscription offerings or products, in the event of any conflict between these Terms of Usage and the Subscription Agreement, the Subscription Agreement shall control. These Terms of Usage may be modified only by our posting of changes to these Terms & Conditions on this Website, or by written agreement of both parties. Each time you access this Website, you will be deemed to have accepted any such changes.

We may assign our rights and obligations under these Terms of Usage. These Terms of Usage will inure to the benefit of our successors, assigns and licensees. The failure of either party to insist upon or enforce the strict performance of the other party with respect to any provision of these Terms & Conditions, or to exercise any right under the Terms of Usage, will not be construed as a waiver or relinquishment to any extent of such party's right to assert or rely upon any such provision or right in that or any other instance; rather, the same will be and remain in full force and effect.

©2008 BassAckwards & Frugal. All Rights Reserved.

TOS

By using the BassAckwards & Frugal website, you agree to these Terms of Usage. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of these Terms of Usage at any time and without notice. You should check these Terms of Usage periodically for changes. By using this Website after we post any changes, you agree to accept those changes, whether or not you have reviewed them. If you do not agree to these Terms of Usage, you should not use BassAckwards & Frugal website and cancel your registered user membership, if applicable.

1. Scope of Terms of Usage
Unless specifically indicated elsewhere in this document, these Terms of Usage apply to your use of the Websites which are owned or operated by the writers of the BassAckwards & Frugal website (http://bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com/) and our affiliates (collectively, "we," "us," or "our"), including, without limitation, this Website and any other Websites that we may own or operate currently or in the future. For purposes of these Terms of Usage, "affiliates" shall mean any entity or person, directly or indirectly, owning a controlling interest in, owned by, or under common ownership control with, BassAckwards & Frugal website.

2. General Terms of Usage
By using this Website, you agree to be legally bound and to abide by these Terms of Usage, just as if you had signed this agreement. If you do not comply with these Terms of Usage at any time, we reserve the right, if applicable, to terminate your password, user account, and/or access to this Website (or any part thereof). At our sole discretion and without prior notice or liability, we may discontinue, modify or alter any aspect of the Website, including, but not limited to, (i) restricting the time the Website is available, (ii) restricting the amount of use permitted, and (iii) restricting or terminating any user's right to use the Website. You agree that any termination or cancellation of your access to, or use of, the Website may be affected without prior notice. If you do not abide by the provisions of these Terms of Usage, you agree that we may immediately deactivate or delete your user account and all related information and files in your user account and/or bar any further access to such information and/or files, or our Website. Furthermore, you agree that we shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination or cancellation of your access to, or use of, our Websites.

From time to time, we may supplement these Terms of Usage with additional terms and conditions pertaining to specific content, activities or events ("Additional Terms"). Such Additional Terms may be placed on the Website to be viewed in connection with the specific content, activities, features or events and shall be identified as such. You understand and agree that such Additional Terms are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms of Usage.

3. Use of Materials - Restrictions and Limits
Unless otherwise specified, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right to access, use and display this Website and the material provided hereon for your personal, non-commercial use, provided that you comply fully with the provisions of these Terms of Usage. You acknowledge that The BassAckwards & Frugal("BassAckwards Mom") website may contain information, software, photos, video, text, graphics, music, sounds, questions, creative suggestions, messages, comments, feedback, ideas, recipes, notes, drawings, articles and other materials, quiz answers, meal plans (collectively, "Content") that are protected by copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets and/or other proprietary rights, and that these rights are valid and protected in all forms, media and technologies existing now or hereafter developed. All Content is copyrighted under the United States copyright laws (and, if applicable, similar foreign laws), and we own a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such Content. All trademarks appearing on this Website are trademarks of their respective owners. Our commercial partners, suppliers, advertisers, sponsors, licensors, contractors and other third parties may also have additional proprietary rights in the Content which they make available on this Website. You may not modify, publish, transmit, distribute, perform, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works of, or in any way exploit, any of the Content, in whole or in part. You do not obtain any ownership containing any Content which is downloaded onto your computer from any websites of BassAckwards & Frugal Website (http://bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com/). Modification of the Content or use of the Content for any other purpose, including, but not limited to, use of any Content in printed form or on any other Website or networked computer environment is strictly prohibited unless you receive our prior written consent.

4. Registered Membership Rules
Membership to the BassAckwards & Frugal Website ("BassAckwards & Frugal") is available to you free of charge. You may visit all parts of the Website for free, including news and articles, discussion boards, local support groups, and online buddies. You must register in accordance with instructions that you will find on this Website to participate in, and to contribute to, any support group message board and live chat, recipe swap or similar interactive activity that may be made avilable on bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com.

When registering as a member, you agree to provide us with true, accurate and complete information about yourself ("Member Data"), and to maintain and promptly update the Member Data to keep it accurate. Without limiting any other provision of these Terms of Usage, if you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, or incomplete, or we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such is the case, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your member account and refuse any and all current or future use of our Website (or any portion thereof). You agree not to assign, transfer or sublicense your rights as a registered user of this Website, or share your username or password with anyone for their use.

5. Privacy Policy
We are committed to protecting your privacy and security. For more information, you should review our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms of Usage by this reference.

6. Community Standards and Conduct Guidelines
You are entirely responsible for all Postings that you post, email or otherwise transmit to this Website. We do not control the Postings posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted on our Website by others and, as such, we do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Postings. You agree that all Content and all information, software, photos, video, text, graphics, music, sounds, questions, creative suggestions, messages, comments, feedback, ideas, recipes, notes, drawings, articles and other materials posted, emailed, or otherwise transmitted to or on this Website, whether posted at our request or voluntarily, and whether publicly posted or privately transmitted (collectively, the "Postings"), are the sole responsibility of the person who made such Postings. Our adopted standards and code of conduct for members is important, but you acknowledge that there may be posts that you find offensive and that you may not agree with. We will not, under any circumstances, be liable in any way for any Postings, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any Postings, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Postings posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted to or through this Website.

You agree not to use any part of bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com (including any published posts, private messaging, invitations and email) to:

a. Upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Postings or other materials that are unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable (at our sole discretion);

b. Harm minors in any way;

c. Impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a director, officer, employee, shareholder, agent or representative of Coolmomguide.com, our affiliates or any other person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with Coolmomguide.com, our affiliates or any other person or entity;

d. Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Postings or other materials transmitted to or through this Website;

e. Upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Postings or other materials that you do not have a right to upload, post, email or otherwise transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as insider information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);

f. Upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Postings or other materials that infringe upon any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of privacy or publicity or other proprietary rights of any party;

g. Upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of commercial solicitation, except in those areas, if any, that are specifically designated for such purpose;

h. Upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Postings or other materials that contain software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

i. Disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to "scroll" faster than other users of a Forum (or other portion of this Website) are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users' ability to use any Forum;

j. Interfere with or disrupt this Website or servers or networks connected to this Website, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Website;

k. Intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, any regulations having the force of law;

l. "Stalk" or otherwise harass another member or employee of this Website;

m. Collect or store personal data or attempt to collect or store personal data about other users of the Website; or

n. Use bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com as a way to meet individuals with the intent to harm them physically or mentally.

o: Post your personal email address in any message board, comment section, or private message.

p: Promote other products, Websites, chats, message boards, or events taking place outside of bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com, without written consent from bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com.

Your privilege to use this Website and contribute to discussions depends on your compliance with the community standards and conduct guidelines set forth above. We may revoke your privileges to use all or a portion of this Website and/or take any other appropriate measures to enforce these community standards and conduct guidelines if violations are brought to our attention. Further, if you fail to adhere to our Terms of Usage, we may terminate, at our sole discretion, your use of, or participation in, any Forum.

All website communications, including, but not limited to, published articles and user comments, are public and not private communications. We reserve the right to monitor some, all, or no areas of this Website for adherence to the Terms of Usage and conduct guidelines set forth above or for any other purpose. You acknowledge that by providing you with the ability to read and comment on published articles, we are acting as a passive conduit for such distribution and we are not undertaking any obligation or liability relating to any Postings or activities in any Form. Although we reserve the right to remove, without notice, any comment posting for any reason, we have no obligation to delete Postings that you may find objectionable or offensive.

7. Submissions
If, at our request or on your own, you send, email, post or otherwise transmit to us or this Website information, software, photos, video, text, graphics, music, sounds, questions, creative suggestions, messages, comments, feedback, ideas, recipes, notes, drawings, articles, stories about yourself or your weight loss, or other materials (including, but not limited to, posting, emailing, or otherwise transmitting Postings on any Forum) (collectively, the "Submissions"), the Submissions shall be deemed, and shall remain, our property. Except as provided in our Privacy Policy, none of the Submissions shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on our part, and we shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Submissions. Without limitation of the foregoing, you grant us and our successors and assigns a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right (including any moral rights) and license (as well as consent) to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, communicate to the public, perform and display any Submissions (in whole or in part and with or without the use of your name) worldwide and/or to incorporate the Submissions in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, for the full term of any copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual and proprietary rights (collectively, the "Rights") that may exist in such Submissions. You also warrant that any third party holder of any Rights, including moral rights in such Submissions, has validly and irrevocably granted to you the right to grant the license stated above. You further acknowledge that we and our successors and assigns shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Submissions for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the provider of the Submissions.

8. Parental or Guardian Permission
You must be 18 years or older to participate on this Website (bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com). Some of the content on the Website may not be appropriate for children. CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13 ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THIS WEBSITE. We strongly recommend that children between the ages of 13 and 18 ask for their parent's or guardian's permission before viewing the Website.

9. Links
These Terms of Usage apply only to this Website, and not to the Websites of any other person or entity. We may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other worldwide Websites or resources. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and do not endorse (and are not responsible or liable for) any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such Websites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that, under no circumstances, will we be held responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage that is caused or alleged to have been caused to you in connection with your use of, or reliance on, any content, advertisements, products or other resources available on any other Website (regardless of whether we directly or indirectly link to such content, advertisements, products or other resources). You should direct any concerns with respect to any other Website to that Website's administrator or webmaster. bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com staff will strive to be diligent in the removal of outside links and spam found on this website. We will not be responsible for the timing of these removals.

10. Copyright Complaints
We respect the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. We may, in appropriate circumstances and in our discretion, terminate the rights of any user to use our Website (or any part thereof) who infringe the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement or are aware of someone doing so, please contact our designated agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement by using the contact form provided in this website.

11. Your Password and User Account
Registered members are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of passwords and user account information. You must notify us immediately in the event of any known or suspected unauthorized use of your user account, or any known or suspected breach of security, including loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your or anyone else's password. You are entirely responsible for any and all activities which occur under your user account. In the event of someone using your user name and password, you will inform bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com immediately. You will not share your username or password with any friend, family or outside parties collectively.


12. Disclaimers of Warranties
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTIES:

THE PRODUCTS, OFFERINGS, CONTENT AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, COMPATIBILITY, SECURITY, ACCURACY OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

NEITHER BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM, ANY OF OUR AFFILIATES, NOR ANY OF OUR OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS, LICENSEES, SERVICE PROVIDERS OR SUPPLIERS WARRANT THAT THIS WEBSITE OR ANY FUNCTION CONTAINED IN THIS WEBSITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THIS WEBSITE OR THE SERVERS THAT MAKE THIS WEBSITE AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

ANY PRODUCT, OFFERING, CONTENT AND MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THIS WEBSITE IS DONE AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH PRODUCT, OFFERING, CONTENT OR MATERIAL.

NEITHER BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM, ANY OF OUR AFFILIATES, NOR ANY OF OUR OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS, LICENSEES, SERVICE PROVIDERS OR SUPPLIERS WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE PRODUCTS, OFFERINGS, CONTENT AND MATERIALS IN THIS WEBSITE IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

FURTHERMORE, PLEASE NOTE THAT NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM OUR PERSONNEL OR THROUGH THIS WEBSITE, SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THESE TERMS OF USAGE.

14. Limitation of Liability
YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT WE AND OUR AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), ARISING OUT OF, OR RESULTING FROM, (A) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM SITE; (B) THE USE OF ANY CONTENT OR OTHER MATERIAL ON THE BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM SITE OR ANY WEBSITE OR WEBSITES LINKED TO THE BASSACKWARDSANDFRUGAL.BLOGSPOT.COM SITE, (C) THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES RESULTING FROM ANY GOODS, DATA, INFORMATION OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED, OR MESSAGES RECEIVED OR TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO, THROUGH OR FROM THIS WEBSITE; (D) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (E) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON OUR WEBSITE; OR (F) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO OUR WEBSITE. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING OUR WEBSITE. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH ANY PORTION OF OUR WEBSITE, OR WITH ANY OF THESE TERMS CONDITIONS, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS THE DISCONTINUATION OF YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE.

15. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, hold harmless and, at our option, defend bassackwardsandfrugal.blogspot.com and our affiliates, and our and their officers, directors, employees, stockholders, agents and representatives from any and all third party claims, liability, damages and/or costs (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys fees and expenses) arising from your improper use of this Website or our products or offerings, your violation of these Terms of Usage, or your infringement, or the infringement or use by any other user of your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity.

16. Miscellaneous Terms
In any action against us arising from the use of this Website, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover all legal expenses incurred in connection with the action, including but not limited to its costs, both taxable and non-taxable, and reasonable attorney's fees.

If any provision of these terms shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. These Terms of Usage, together with the Subscription Agreement (if applicable), are the entire agreement between you and us relating to the subject matter herein. If you are a subscriber to one of our online subscription offerings or products, in the event of any conflict between these Terms of Usage and the Subscription Agreement, the Subscription Agreement shall control. These Terms of Usage may be modified only by our posting of changes to these Terms & Conditions on this Website, or by written agreement of both parties. Each time you access this Website, you will be deemed to have accepted any such changes.

We may assign our rights and obligations under these Terms of Usage. These Terms of Usage will inure to the benefit of our successors, assigns and licensees. The failure of either party to insist upon or enforce the strict performance of the other party with respect to any provision of these Terms & Conditions, or to exercise any right under the Terms of Usage, will not be construed as a waiver or relinquishment to any extent of such party's right to assert or rely upon any such provision or right in that or any other instance; rather, the same will be and remain in full force and effect.

©2008 BassAckwards & Frugal. All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Statement

BassAckwards & Frugal Web Site Privacy Statement

Last Updated: February 1, 2009

SCOPE OF POLICY

At BassAckwards & Frugal ("BassAckwards & Frugal website" or "The BassAckwards Mom" or "we" or "us") we respect your privacy rights and are committed to protecting the information we collect from you online. To further this commitment, we have developed the following Website Privacy Policy ("Privacy Policy") which explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information you provide to us on any of the websites covered by this agreement (each "Website" and together the "Websites"). This Privacy Policy applies only to information submitted and collected online through a Website we operate or authorize. It does not apply to information we collect offline unless, with your permission, that information is combined with information collected or submitted online. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected on websites operated by our parent, subsidiaries or other third parties.

UPDATES TO POLICY

Occasionally, we will revise and update this Privacy Policy. Please check back from time to time to ensure that you are aware of any changes to our privacy practices. If we revise this Privacy Policy, the "Last Updated" date above will be changed. If we make a major change to this Privacy Policy, we will post a notice of the change on all of the Websites.

INFORMATION COLLECTED ABOUT YOU

In order to give you the best experience on our Websites, we may collect personal and non-personal information about you. Non-personal information includes anonymous information such as demographic data. Under all circumstances, we will only collect the information deemed reasonably necessary to fulfill your online requests and our legitimate business objectives. Please read below for a description of each type of information collected.

# Personal Information is information that can be used to identify you such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address. We do not collect any Personal Information about you unless you choose to provide it to us. If you choose not to provide Personal Information, you may be unable to use certain features on our Websites.

# Demographic information is anonymous information such as your age, date of birth, gender, hobbies, interests, zip/postal code or country. If demographic information is collected for an activity that also requires Personal Information, we may combine the demographic information with your Personal Information. Combining data allows us to customize the notices we send you and the content we provide you according to your interests and preferences. Demographic information is not considered Personal Information unless it is linked to Personal Information about a specific user. If you choose not to provide certain demographic information, you may not be able to use certain features on our Websites.

# Aggregate information is anonymous data about individuals that is grouped together to study a group or category of services or users. Aggregate information is not considered Personal Information unless it is linked to Personal Information about a specific user.

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may request Personal and demographic information to respond to your requests and provide services to you such as: registering for and participating in the BassAckwards & Frugal website; sending email newsletters; participating in online contests and sweepstakes; and sending email correspondence. Each category below describes how we handle the requested information.

Newsletter(s)

To subscribe to our newsletters mail from us, you must subscribe to the email RSS feed, located in the sidebar of this site.

Online Contests and Sweepstakes

To enter our online contests and sweepstakes, you may be required to provide us with certain Personal and/or demographic information about yourself. To learn more about the information collected and used for a specific contest or sweepstakes, please see the official contest or sweepstakes rules.

Email Correspondence and Other Communication

We may respond to your email correspondence and communications if such correspondence includes a return email address. Because an email address is Personal Information, we protect the privacy of the sender by limiting access to these email messages. Only administrators with a legitimate business need to access the emails are allowed to do so. For quality control purposes, email messages may be kept for a period of time. There may, however, be certain cases where hard copies may be kept on file, such as emails concerning forum questions or complaints. Information from email messages will not be used for marketing purposes and will be maintained in a secure location.

Online Interaction

Some of our Websites may make chat rooms, forums, message boards, and/or newsgroups ("Public Forums") available to users. Please remember that any information disclosed in Public Forums becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding whether to disclose your Personal Information in these Public Forums. We do not individuals under the age of 18 to participate in Public Forums.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We do not sell or rent Personal Information to third parties. We may share Personal Information with vendors who help us perform various internal functions necessary to operate our business. We may disclose Personal Information (a) in the good faith belief that we are required to do so by law; (b) if doing so is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to any claims; (d) to enforce the terms and conditions of our Websites; or (e) to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of BassAckwards & Frugal, our readers, or the public. We also may disclose your email address to our partners solely to send you email messages you have requested, or to ensure that you do not receive such messages if you have opted out of receiving them. Any vendors or partners with whom we may share Personal Information are permitted to obtain only the Personal Information they need to deliver the services requested. They are required to maintain the confidentiality of the information and are prohibited from using it for any other purpose.

In addition, information about our customers, including Personal Information, may be disclosed as part of any merger, sale, transfer of company assets, or acquisition, if permitted by and done in accordance with applicable laws.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use cookies on some of our Websites. Cookies are small text files that a website places on your hard drive whenever you visit the Website. These files identify your computer and record your preferences and other data about your visit so that when you return to the Website, it knows who you are and can personalize your visit. Cookies may be linked to Personal Information about you. Specifically, we use cookies to prevent you from having to reenter your registration data (such as user name and password) at each connection. In addition, we may use information collected by cookies, for other purposes, such as helping us determine how to improve our Websites by seeing which areas and features are most popular; personalizing the Website and making recommendations based on sections you have linked to in the past; and completing transactions you have requested. Most browsers are automatically set to accept cookies. If you disable this function, some areas of our Websites will not function properly.

Please note that cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer.

We maintain log files, which contain Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses. An IP address is a numeric address that is assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider. We do not link IP addresses to Personal Information, unless we notify you or unless necessary to enforce our Websites' terms and conditions. In general, we use log files to monitor traffic on our Websites and to troubleshoot technical problems. In the event of abuse, however, we may block certain IP addresses.

NETWORK AND INFORMATION SECURITY

The security and confidentiality of your information is extremely important to us. That's why we have technical, administrative, and physical security measures in place to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access and improper use. Personal Information is stored in firewall-protected servers. We will notify users of a data breach involving unencrypted Personal Information by email or by posting a notice on the affected Website. We also strive to limit access to Personal Information to employees performing a legitimate business function. We review our security procedures periodically to consider appropriate new technology and updated methods. Despite our efforts, no security measure is ever perfect or impenetrable. It is your responsibility to keep your password confidential. Do not share this information with anyone. If you are sharing a computer with anyone you should always log out before leaving a site or service to protect access to your information from subsequent users. If you forget your BassAckwards & Frugal website password, we will authenticate your identity by sending an email to the address in your account profile.


THIRD PARTY WEB SITES

If you decide to provide Personal Information to any third party website linked from one of our Websites, the sharing of such information will be subject to the privacy policy of that company, not our privacy practices. Be cautious before providing any Personal Information to any third party.

INTERNATIONAL USERS

Visitors to our Websites from outside the United States or Canada are advised that this Privacy Policy is intended to meet the laws and regulations of the United States and Canada, which may not necessarily be the same as the laws and regulations of your home country. By using any of the Websites, you agree that any information that you provide to us will be treated in accordance with the laws and regulations of the United States and Canada.

CONTACT US FOR PRIVACY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS OR CONCERNS

If you have any questions, complaints or comments regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact the BassAckwards & Frugal Privacy Policy Administrator via email at BassAckwardsMom@gmail.com.

Privacy Statement

BassAckwards & Frugal Web Site Privacy Statement

Last Updated: February 1, 2009

SCOPE OF POLICY

At BassAckwards & Frugal ("BassAckwards & Frugal website" or "The BassAckwards Mom" or "we" or "us") we respect your privacy rights and are committed to protecting the information we collect from you online. To further this commitment, we have developed the following Website Privacy Policy ("Privacy Policy") which explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information you provide to us on any of the websites covered by this agreement (each "Website" and together the "Websites"). This Privacy Policy applies only to information submitted and collected online through a Website we operate or authorize. It does not apply to information we collect offline unless, with your permission, that information is combined with information collected or submitted online. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected on websites operated by our parent, subsidiaries or other third parties.

UPDATES TO POLICY

Occasionally, we will revise and update this Privacy Policy. Please check back from time to time to ensure that you are aware of any changes to our privacy practices. If we revise this Privacy Policy, the "Last Updated" date above will be changed. If we make a major change to this Privacy Policy, we will post a notice of the change on all of the Websites.

INFORMATION COLLECTED ABOUT YOU

In order to give you the best experience on our Websites, we may collect personal and non-personal information about you. Non-personal information includes anonymous information such as demographic data. Under all circumstances, we will only collect the information deemed reasonably necessary to fulfill your online requests and our legitimate business objectives. Please read below for a description of each type of information collected.

# Personal Information is information that can be used to identify you such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address. We do not collect any Personal Information about you unless you choose to provide it to us. If you choose not to provide Personal Information, you may be unable to use certain features on our Websites.

# Demographic information is anonymous information such as your age, date of birth, gender, hobbies, interests, zip/postal code or country. If demographic information is collected for an activity that also requires Personal Information, we may combine the demographic information with your Personal Information. Combining data allows us to customize the notices we send you and the content we provide you according to your interests and preferences. Demographic information is not considered Personal Information unless it is linked to Personal Information about a specific user. If you choose not to provide certain demographic information, you may not be able to use certain features on our Websites.

# Aggregate information is anonymous data about individuals that is grouped together to study a group or category of services or users. Aggregate information is not considered Personal Information unless it is linked to Personal Information about a specific user.

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may request Personal and demographic information to respond to your requests and provide services to you such as: registering for and participating in the BassAckwards & Frugal website; sending email newsletters; participating in online contests and sweepstakes; and sending email correspondence. Each category below describes how we handle the requested information.

Newsletter(s)

To subscribe to our newsletters mail from us, you must subscribe to the email RSS feed, located in the sidebar of this site.

Online Contests and Sweepstakes

To enter our online contests and sweepstakes, you may be required to provide us with certain Personal and/or demographic information about yourself. To learn more about the information collected and used for a specific contest or sweepstakes, please see the official contest or sweepstakes rules.

Email Correspondence and Other Communication

We may respond to your email correspondence and communications if such correspondence includes a return email address. Because an email address is Personal Information, we protect the privacy of the sender by limiting access to these email messages. Only administrators with a legitimate business need to access the emails are allowed to do so. For quality control purposes, email messages may be kept for a period of time. There may, however, be certain cases where hard copies may be kept on file, such as emails concerning forum questions or complaints. Information from email messages will not be used for marketing purposes and will be maintained in a secure location.

Online Interaction

Some of our Websites may make chat rooms, forums, message boards, and/or newsgroups ("Public Forums") available to users. Please remember that any information disclosed in Public Forums becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding whether to disclose your Personal Information in these Public Forums. We do not individuals under the age of 18 to participate in Public Forums.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We do not sell or rent Personal Information to third parties. We may share Personal Information with vendors who help us perform various internal functions necessary to operate our business. We may disclose Personal Information (a) in the good faith belief that we are required to do so by law; (b) if doing so is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to any claims; (d) to enforce the terms and conditions of our Websites; or (e) to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of BassAckwards & Frugal, our readers, or the public. We also may disclose your email address to our partners solely to send you email messages you have requested, or to ensure that you do not receive such messages if you have opted out of receiving them. Any vendors or partners with whom we may share Personal Information are permitted to obtain only the Personal Information they need to deliver the services requested. They are required to maintain the confidentiality of the information and are prohibited from using it for any other purpose.

In addition, information about our customers, including Personal Information, may be disclosed as part of any merger, sale, transfer of company assets, or acquisition, if permitted by and done in accordance with applicable laws.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use cookies on some of our Websites. Cookies are small text files that a website places on your hard drive whenever you visit the Website. These files identify your computer and record your preferences and other data about your visit so that when you return to the Website, it knows who you are and can personalize your visit. Cookies may be linked to Personal Information about you. Specifically, we use cookies to prevent you from having to reenter your registration data (such as user name and password) at each connection. In addition, we may use information collected by cookies, for other purposes, such as helping us determine how to improve our Websites by seeing which areas and features are most popular; personalizing the Website and making recommendations based on sections you have linked to in the past; and completing transactions you have requested. Most browsers are automatically set to accept cookies. If you disable this function, some areas of our Websites will not function properly.

Please note that cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer.

We maintain log files, which contain Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses. An IP address is a numeric address that is assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider. We do not link IP addresses to Personal Information, unless we notify you or unless necessary to enforce our Websites' terms and conditions. In general, we use log files to monitor traffic on our Websites and to troubleshoot technical problems. In the event of abuse, however, we may block certain IP addresses.

NETWORK AND INFORMATION SECURITY

The security and confidentiality of your information is extremely important to us. That's why we have technical, administrative, and physical security measures in place to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access and improper use. Personal Information is stored in firewall-protected servers. We will notify users of a data breach involving unencrypted Personal Information by email or by posting a notice on the affected Website. We also strive to limit access to Personal Information to employees performing a legitimate business function. We review our security procedures periodically to consider appropriate new technology and updated methods. Despite our efforts, no security measure is ever perfect or impenetrable. It is your responsibility to keep your password confidential. Do not share this information with anyone. If you are sharing a computer with anyone you should always log out before leaving a site or service to protect access to your information from subsequent users. If you forget your BassAckwards & Frugal website password, we will authenticate your identity by sending an email to the address in your account profile.


THIRD PARTY WEB SITES

If you decide to provide Personal Information to any third party website linked from one of our Websites, the sharing of such information will be subject to the privacy policy of that company, not our privacy practices. Be cautious before providing any Personal Information to any third party.

INTERNATIONAL USERS

Visitors to our Websites from outside the United States or Canada are advised that this Privacy Policy is intended to meet the laws and regulations of the United States and Canada, which may not necessarily be the same as the laws and regulations of your home country. By using any of the Websites, you agree that any information that you provide to us will be treated in accordance with the laws and regulations of the United States and Canada.

CONTACT US FOR PRIVACY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS OR CONCERNS

If you have any questions, complaints or comments regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact the BassAckwards & Frugal Privacy Policy Administrator via email at BassAckwardsMom@gmail.com.