Are you looking for some fairly inexpensive trips or places that you can take the family on weekend getaways?? Here are a few that I have found that do not require much travel.

MS Children’s Museum

Mississippi Children’s Museum joins over 300 other children’s museums around the country to address the urgent need of children to find ways to engage in active play that unleashes their curiosity and allows them to explore and discover in ways that ignite their imaginations. Come be a part of our community by being a part of the Mississippi Children’s Museum.

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Wednesday: Noon – 5 p.m.
Thursday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday: 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Admission: $8.00
Kids Under 12 Months: Free

For more details check out their website at http://www.mississippichildrensmuseum.com/

Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
The mission of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science is to promote understanding and appreciation of Mississippi's biological diversity through collections, research, scientific data bases, education, and exhibits; and to inspire the people of our state to respect the environment and to preserve natural Mississippi.

Indoor Exhibits
Mississippi is home to a unique—and uniquely varied—natural heritage. The remarkable Mississippi Museum of Natural Science assembles that heritage and places it on display for the education and entertainment of visitors from across the nation and around the globe. Visit our online interactive guide for a preview of our interior exhibits, or download a pdf version of the Indoor Exhibit Guide.

Outdoor Exhibits
The Museum's outdoor exhibits are designed to give visitors opportunities for nature walks, photography, the study of living things in their environment, and interactive exposure to special topics via an outdoor maze. Visit our online interactive guide for a map of our trails and natural areas, or download a pdf version of the Outdoor Exhibit Guide for your convenience.

For more details check out their website at www.msnaturalscience.org

It has been said that happiness is a state of mind.

Well, visit a Mississippi State Park for a new mind-altering experience. Leave your worries at the gate and allow your mind to enjoy all our parks have to offer. World-class golf, fabulous fishing, abundant bird and wildlife viewing, hiking on nature trails or mountain biking in the hills are just a few of our offerings. And yes, just a quiet place to relax and perhaps read a book, or reflect on the day. Mississippi's state parks are conveniently located along most major travel routes in the state. Five Mississippi State Parks were listed among Reserve America's Top 100 Family Campgrounds, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP).

A reservation is just a click away, so put your mind at rest today, and reserve a visit to a Mississippi State Park.

For more details check out their website at http://mississippistateparks.reserveamerica.com/

The Manship House Museum

The Manship House was built on a four-acre lot in a sparsely settled area of Jackson when it was a city of about 3,000. Although the city has grown up around the house, it stands in its original setting of native trees and shrubs, some of which may have been planted by Manship himself.

One of the few examples of Gothic-Revival residential architecture in Mississippi, the Manship House was inspired by a design in A.J. Downing's Architecture of Country Houses, a popular nineteenth-century pattern book in which an almost identical house is pictured.

For more details check call 601.960.4724 or out their website at www.mdah.state.ms.us/museum/manship.html

By the way... This one is a FREEBIE!!!

This guy can afford a Z71, 3 four wheelers, & $500 worth of coolers and straps but not a trailer….

With the end of the year fast approaching why not conduct an office waste audit...

What's in your trash? Whether you're rustling papers in a cube farm or working out of the spare bedroom, you can streamline business operations, while slashing garbage-disposal costs, simply by conducting a waste audit.

A waste audit determines how much trash you're generating, how it's disposed of, and what percentage gets a new lease on life at a recycling plant. Once that's squared away, you'll be able to figure out how much you can eliminate, either by reducing the use of certain materials—say, by making double-sided copies, or printing in draft mode—or by reusing supplies such as packaging. We've boiled down the audit process into three basic steps.

1. Watch what you ditch: You can begin your audit by visually taking stock of what you're tossing out and in what quantities, including paper, printer cartridges, printer cartridges, aluminum cans, glass, plastics, and packing materials.

2. Go deep: With permission from the relevant authorities, including your office manager and building superintendent, sort the contents of all recycling bins and garbage containers on premises. This provides a more granular breakdown that could make it easier to identify missed opportunities to roll those three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. For your own protection, be sure to gear up with gloves, a face mask, and coveralls.

3. Analyze business processes: Examine purchasing records to weed out extraneous supplies you're overstocking on, as well as to identify items that can be replaced with eco-friendlier options—using recycled printer paper versus virgin materials, for instance, or replacing disposable Styrofoam and paper cups with reusable mugs.

It's also helpful to speak with employees about business processes and activities that could be made more efficient and less waste-intensive. Instead of distributing hard-copy memos, for example, cut down on waste by notifying co-workers via e-mail.