The Sewing Mom

I am so tired of scraper sites stealing content. It seems to be a losing battle. I have cut way down on spam since adding akismet and the math plug-in, but scrapers steal whatever they want.

I have to thank Kate for her recent post and providing the link for the RSS footer plug-in which places a piece of code, either before or after, your post that adds a link back to your site. So, if a scraper steals my content, they inadvertently give me not only credit for my post, but a link back.

If I can’t put scrapers out of business, I can at least make them give me credit for my work.

We lived in a suburb of Chicago for over 7 years before moving to Texas. We definitely enjoyed going downtown and loved taking guests downtown whenever we could. While we always enjoyed going to the museums, particularly the Field Museum, we also like doing the more touristy things. One of our most memorable Chicago tours took place while some of my husbands buddies were in town on business.

We met his friends at Navy Pier and decided to take a boat tour of the Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful April day, as long as we remained on land. We were dressed in light weight jackets and pants, but when we got out of the harbor, on a speed boat, we were all freezing! We wound up huddling together to stay warm and every one of us was wishing the boat ride would come to an end. I think at warmer times of the year, this would be a perfect thing to do, but for us, it was the longest, coldest boat ride we’d ever experienced.

After the boat tour, we headed to the giant ferris wheel at Navy Pier. I’m afraid of heights and tend to become dizzy, so I opted to keep my feet on the ground and watched. I don’t know the dimensions of that ferris wheel, but it’s certainly one of the tallest ones I’ve ever seen. My daughter, who was about 4 at the time, completely enjoyed herself and wanted to do it again.

Following the ride, we headed over to one of the tallest buildings in the world, the Sears Tower. Like I said, I’m afraid of heights, but I did go all the way up to the observation deck and got a wonderful view of Chicagoland, the lake, and the shorelines of Michigan and Wisconsin. It’s really quite a view, well worth the ride up the elevator.

While getting around Chicago is pretty easy, I think if I didn’t really know where I was, it would be worth going on sightseeing tours to see the city. Consider signing up for Trusted Tours & Attractions newsletter for more sight seeing information. Sign up now and be entered to win a handheld GPS.

I read today that Whole Foods is eliminating the use of plastic bags in all of its 270 stores beginning on Earth Day, April 22 of this year.  That equates to 100 million plastic bags being eliminated!  That’s amazing!

Customers of Whole Foods will be able to choose from free paper bags made of 100% recycled materials, reusable bags made from  80% recycled plastic bottles at a cost of 99 cents, or canvas bags ranging in price from $7 to $35.   Whole food also offers a discount to customers who bring their own bags.

I like this idea and I commend Whole Foods on taking the lead in getting rid of plastic bags.