Right up the street from where I live is a building that used to be a Fannie May candy store. Started in Chicago in 1920, Fannie May stores used to be all over Illinois and here in Michigan. It’s a family-owned, privately held company, and although many stores had to be closed due to bankruptcy, you can still buy Fannie May’s original recipe candy online.

Fannie May’s dark chocolate candy has to be tasted to be believed. It is delicious! Unfortunately there isn’t time to get delivery by standard mail before Easter, but if someone you know really loves Fannie May candy, you can pay for Expedited Delivery or even One-Day Delivery. Don’t you know someone who would love this?:

Go on, you know you want some. Browse the Fannie May site, request a catalog, and treat yourself to some really good quality, delicious chocolates!

The eighth annual Weblog Awards winners were announced on March 10th at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. I was happy to see that many of the blogs I voted for won. Because the award site is non-profit, the “big prize” was $20.08. Hah! For a complete list of the winners, visit the Weblog Awards site, here are a few of my favorites:

• Best Canadian Weblog: Attack of the Redneck Mommy
• Best American Weblog,Best Designed Weblog, Weblog of the Year, and Lifetime Achievment: Dooce

GO, Dooce!

• Best Photography of a Weblog and Best Topical Weblog: I Can Has Cheezburger
• Best Art or Craft Weblog and Best Community Blog: PostSecret
• Best Food Weblog: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
• Best Writing of a Weblog: Confessions of a Pioneer Woman

-GO, Ree!

I was sorry to see that my sweeties Mrs. Fussy Fussypants and Sarcastic Mom didn’t win Best New Blog, but they deserved it! I especially think you should check out Ree’s blogs Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and The Pioneer Woman Cooks, her writing is fantastic, her recipes will make you gain weight just looking at them, and her photos are fabulous. And no picking on Heather from Dooce, she works very hard and deserves her success and recognition. IMHO, of course.

Are you planning to take a vacation this year? We are, if we can ever get caught up on our bills that is, and we’re still trying to decide where to go. TravelStoreUsa.com is a searchable site where you can search for deals on vacation packages, hotels and resorts, all managed by a travel expert you can call or email directly.

The site also has a special CruiseLocator, so for example, if I wanted to book an Alaska cruise tour, a cruise expert could help me navigate through all the different packages available.

I just wish I could figure out where to start-what can a family of five afford to do on a limited budget? I need a travel expert! If you are thinking about taking a special vacation this year, check out TravelStoreUSA.com for help.

Google just really loves us bloggers, don’t they? First they took away our Page Rank, now they have announced that the loading time of a website will directly affect it’s search rankings, the price charged for Adsense ads, and even the Page Rank.

I’m not going to pander to Google, but it’s never a bad idea to check to see how long it takes your website to load. WebSiteOptimization.com has a Web Page Analyzer you can use, just type in your URL and in a few minutes you’ll get a report back of how long it takes your page to load at different connnection speeds. I ran my blog Table for Five and found that most of what was on my sidebars (badges, buttons, etc.) was really slowing down the load time for people using slower connections. So I moved those to their own pages and that seemed to help. Just thought everyone would like to know

The other day (on a different blog), I did a review of a service that provides online laundry pickup, cleaning, and delivery. In the comments, someone said that it seemed that there was nothing you couldn’t get online. In the good old days, if you wanted to apply for a loan to purchase something, you had to gather up a pile of documents and make an appointment to go down to the bank or credit union and sit in front of a loan officer. Sometimes you could get approved right away, sometimes they needed more time to decide and you had to go home and sweat it out before going back for the verdict.

Nowadays, all of that can be done online in a matter of minutes. Even people with bad credit from bankruptcy or other financial problems can apply for loans online. CompleteLoanSource.com offers Bad Credit Auto Loans, as well as other types of loans that can be applied for and approved quickly using a secure online application.

Regardless of your past or current credit situation, you can get approved for money for a purchase, consolidation, college tuition, whatever you might need-that is what Bad Credit Personal Loans are for. Whatever your situation, however bad your credit is, you can get the loan you need, and you can do it right from your own computer. No more having to sweat it out in front of the loan officer at the bank! You really can do everything online these days.