Gifting

Do you have a neighbor that is close to the family and requires a gift a little bigger than the normal "Neighbor Gift"? It makes life just a little more stressful! Should we get him a beer stein? Some Backwoods cigars? We have another friend from our Air Force days that makes homemade Moonshine! Mind you, we've never tasted it---but it smells like fermented apples!

I'm sure he'll end up with the usual dinner and a movie gift card...but I always try to be just a little more creative than that!

Husband Woes

Speaking of insurance...I would like to take this opportunity to send my husband a HUGE "I told you so!!!!" I'm not sure I've gotten it out of my system...but it will have to do! I just wrote about working on getting an insurance quote and something I didn't want to do--but that the husband wanted to do...has finally come back to bite us in the butt! Last year, there were several siding and roofing companies coming around giving free quotes on hail damage on our house. I was opposed to all of it. Our house was fine! No one comes over to see it--and unless the roof is caving in on me....I don't need a new one. But not my husband. They got him...hook, line, sinker! Last fall we had all of our siding replaced...and they've never come back to re-hang my shutters!! But I digress!!! Now hear I am looking into new insurance companies---and low and behold---every quote is at least $50 more per month because of our claim last year. Now---I couldn't afford the $60 a month it was before...how on earth will we afford the additional $50? But hey...the house looks great...if you ever come over to see it! Oh, and don't mind the fact that we are the only house in the neighborhood without shutters!!! grrrrrrrrr

Life Insurance

Am I silly to be looking into wholesale life insurance? Honestly, as long as it gets the job done in the end---should I care how much of a bargain it was to get? I've been up to my ears in insurance paperwork for the past week. Medicare is pure craziness!!! I've been looking into policies for my husband and I, not millions, we're old! Just enough to help defray the costs of our final preparations. How's that for speaking all politically correct! I'm just trying to cut the amount that my children have to pay when I die....there---a little dose of reality for ya...but there it is!

Christmas Gift Ideas

Oh how I wish we had gotten our kids rain barrels for Christmas! It has rained NON-STOP for the past week or two for them. Imagine the water savings that could have taken place, had we only been prepared! Live and learn right.

We are spending this Christmas apart for the first time ever! It's odd to be celebrating Christmas at the same time--but in different places. But like I've always said--the holiday will be whatever day we get to spend together, even if it isn't the same day as the calendar!

Protection

Do you ever feel like you live in a really bad place? I mean, we live in an amazing place. Our neighborhood is beautiful, and safe and new. But it feels like someone is always trying to take something that doesn't belong to them! We have two neighbors on either side of us, and both have been victims of identity theft. How is that? I mean, we do our best in regards to identity theft protection. We shred almost everything that comes to us in the mail, but what if someone took something out of our mail before it reaches our house? I'm sure there is a lot more that we could do to protect ourselves. I just hope our kids taking some of the same measures.

Keeping Everyone In The Loop

We have family spread all over the west! Some we get to see for the holidays, some will come see us after the holidays. We are thinking of starting an online newsletter that we can send from family to family to have them update what is new in their life and pass it on to the next sibling. They will read what the person before them wrote--and add their own family news after the first. It would work it's way around the family with everyone adding what's new. Then when it gets back to you--you read everyone's update, erase your entry and add what is new in your family--and send it on. It's not the greatest text alert system, but it's a fun way to get everyone up to date, and keep them there. I'm excited to get it started come January 1st.

Home Spa

I just saw my sister the other day. She has turned 50 and she looks better than she did 20 years ago. I asked her what was new, expecting her to talk about some new diet pills or health food item, but she just talked about daily skin care and different products she'd been using. It was amazing. She has this little spa thing that she keeps in her purse, and does this nightly facial and it keeps her face firm and wrinkle free. She does have wrinkles, but they are greatly diminished with this little machine. I may just have to invest in one of these for myself!

Keeping Up With The Joneses

I have a friend on Facebook who keeps asking questions about Disney World. What are some of the less expensive walt disney world hotels? How much would you plan to spend on food for a family of 6 for a week at Disney World? How long does it take from Disney World to the nearest beach? Yeah, we got it---you are taking your family to Disney World! It really may simply be the quickest way to get your questions answered by a number of people who may have the experience, but come on...15 questions in a 2 hour period is just showin' off!

Growing Up

We are quickly growing out of our need for preschool furniture. It's kind of sad to see, but it will be nice to send all of it off to good will, or to share with other family members. It was hard to see the baby furniture go when we moved a couple of years ago. No more cribs, or baby bath tubs. I do still have a Pack 'n Play, but that will come in handy someday I'm sure. To see the desks that my little ones were thrilled to play with be out grown, it's sad. They are all quickly moving into the age where computers and games become their favorites over the dolls and trucks of the past. Where oh where are my babies going???

Holiday Fun

This is the time of year when the Christmas party invitations start rolling in. We usually have invites to several every year, which is nice, but I find we tend to eat a lot at each place we visit---and not all of it is healthy! I think the first party we have this year is the first week of December. Nothing like getting a rush on Christmas, eh? The last one, get this, is January 4th. That is for work, and since they cater to feeding people during the holidays, they decided to wait until their rush was over, and celebrate then. That's a full month of holiday celebrations...I'm not sure my waistline will survive!

Weight Is Still An Issue

Everyone around me seems to be looking for a good weight loss supplement. I'm actually looking for something to add a little weight. All of my life, I never thought there was "too skinny", but you know--the older you get--the more you need a little weight. Especially in your face. You can start looking skullish--and then the wrinkles can get really emphasized, so yeah, a little weight is good. I'm not sure my body will accept it, and I really don't need it too badly--but it's worth a try!

Learning New Stuff

I have been working with a business plan consultant. Mostly I'm just her personal web master getting her blogs and websites up and designed. But it has been a lot of fun. She has so many amazing ideas that I can really see why she's successful. But what she knows and brings to the table makes the people she works with successful too. I have been drowning in all of the stuff she wants done. From dynamic widgets in her sidebars (still figuring those out) to the actual design of a website, other than blogs and blogging software, all of this is very new to me!

Coupon Shopping

I have found some online coupon sites that have been so helpful. Especially with Black Friday sale listings and items like Medifast coupons. You can find coupons for any store you can imagine-and this holiday season you will be amazed at what you can save on.

It's funny you grow up having everyone buy you presents. Then you get married and it's just the two of you and your parents that you purchase for. Then you add kids in and then slowly their spouses and maybe you get to drop the parents off of the list (sniff) and then you start adding grand kids. By the time your my age---you have to save up all year just to pay for Christmas!

Eagle Country

I have been planning to fly back east to meet a friend of mine for the weekend. She normally works in Washington DC, but has these odd little philadelphia jobs every couple of months. I thought it would be really fun to be able to see all of the amazing historical sites around Washington DC with her--but then to also enjoy a weekend soaking up the history and culture of Philadelphia. Plus, the Eagles have LONG been my favorite football team, and I'm thinking we could catch a game while I'm in town---you know, catch a little team spirit--or at least a sweatshirt from the home of the Eagles. I do want to wait until the craziness of the World Series is over---just to avoid any "scene" that can come with either winning---or losing!

Stress

Do you have a technologically minded husband? I mean, for the most part, it's awesome. But there are times, like when I'm in a hurry, that it really can start to get on my nerves. We were shopping the other day--something I usually enjoy and usually take my time doing. I enjoy the process that is shopping. But last week we were late. And on this particular shopping trip---nothing was going right. The woman at the customer service counter couldn't get her scanner to work. And if it did work---it would beep that the coding was wrong. We tried and tried to get the codes in and finally she starts to enter all of the numbers by hand, then look through her little discount book to subtract the sale percentage from each and every item. THEN....there's a clearance code that needed to be input as well. She was frustrated. I was frustrated and a bit stressed and my husband is chirping on and on about how they should have the new Symbol LS2208 bar code scanner or this data entry software that would automatically calculate the percentages off---mindless chatter that really meant something---but not at that moment...and not with the sales girl! I nearly turned and asked him to head up stairs to the executive offices and speak with the GM. THAT would have gotten him out of my head!!!

Loving Life

When we bought our house they were converting it from the model home to a normal "neighborhood" home. Because of this, we have a lot of fun little upgrades that the other neighbors had to pay extra for when they built their homes. We have a pool, beautiful wall and window treatments. Huge 18 x 18 tile that goes throughout the entire "public" areas of the house. The bathroom fixtures are amazing--and you know what? I just don't know how we got so lucky! I LOVE everything about this house---and I didn't have to pay nearly as much for it as everyone else. Which is really lucky for me---cause we wouldn't have been able to afford a 10th of it!

Ooops

I was pulling into the drive way last week, and I clipped the side wall. It's the outer wall---which in comparison to the one attached to the house--I felt lucky! There wasn't much damage to the wall---a little stucco falling off and the sconce light is now askew. But the wall definitely fared better than my car. It totally took my mirror off of the drivers side door---and ya know....I really like to look at that mirror!

Double The Bandwidth....It's Good

I was looking up what ddr memory was--and you know, they say it achieves nearly double the bandwidth of the SDRAM!

Now---doesn't that sound better? Honestly--I had to look it up in Wikipedia, cause it's one of those things that I leave for my husband. Usually I leave him a little sticky note saying that we need more memory---and then he does a little research and comes back with three options and the scientific explanation of each one. As my eyes glaze over and I start to drool---all I can manage is..."Whichever one you think is best, Dear!"

Holy Cannoli, Batman.....it makes my head hurt!

Birthday Ideas

Why is it when you ask a man what he wants for his birthday it's either truck accessories or Harley accessories? Really--I'm not sure I've ever gotten a different answer from the hundreds of times I've actually asked the question. In fact, I think from now on---I'll just save the hassle of asking--and just get them a gift card!

Me---I always have a laundry list of things I'd like. Mind you, no one ever asks me!!

Homes Away From Home

My sister and her husband have been looking at real estate here in Arizona. They are true "snowbirds" who come down every winter in their RV and stay for 2 months in Yuma. They love it but thought that with the real estate market so depressed here--that it might be worth putting the used rv for sale and actually buying a brick and mortar!

Do you know what stopped them??? Scorpions! The fact that we find them in our house all time was the deal breaker. So they will just continue to pull their RV home to Yuma every year until they can't pull it anymore---then they'll just park it and leave it---and then drive to it from then on.

Not too shabby, eh?

Fastin' & Prayin'

This week is the first week of the month. Which means I was supposed to spend the day Fastin'! Not so much fun I have to say. But you know, if I would just buckle down and do it--I'm sure it would get easier.

We didn't do much today. We watched Conference--and then a football game. How is that for Sabbath entertainment? It wasn't so bad---we did manage to sneak in our leisurely Sunday afternoon naps as well. What good is a weekend without a nap??

Catching Up

Are you on Facebook? I'm LOVING it! From all of the people I get to catch up with to their chat software where I can have immediate contact with others, it's heaven!

I have been a member for nearly 2 years now, and I have to say that it only picked up about a year ago. Before that I had like 7 friends and they were never on. Now I have nearly 500 and am finding new ones everyday!

The most fun I would have to say, is catching up with family members that I knew growing up but that gone on to get married and have their own families and not really get a chance to keep in touch. We are all connected now, and it has been amazing to catch glimpses of their everyday lives----really, if you aren't a member.....go sign up right now----it's awesome!

Needs Me A Steamer

Have you seen those cute Lady Bug steam cleaners on TV? Oh I WANT one!! Especially for the areas that are hard to get to around the faucets in the sinks in kitchen and bathroom---and ugh, especially around the base and seat of the toilet. That has got to be the hardest thing to clean EVER! But with the cool wand like handle---it's steam cleaned in seconds---and it just looks so simple. We have a vapor floor cleaner in the kitchen--and I would be happy to replace that with this--because it does everything that one does---plus it will clean that nasty toilet!!

Bad Skin

Do you remember back in the olden days when they would put a girl on birth control pills for acne treatments? Yeah---I was one of those girls! It's amazing how far we've come in the last 20 years. There are so many new and amazing products for this problem. I always had bad skin, and I don't think there has been anything so self esteem shattering as that. So I'm glad that my kids and grand kids will have an easier time getting through this period in their lives!

Living Life

We are retired, and I have to say we have enjoyed every facet of retired life! We've been able to travel and see many parts of the world that I never dreamed I would get a chance to see. In the coming weeks we will be in Chicago, New York, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Last year we had the chance to visit Canada, and if I can book us a great rate at one of the Isla Mujeres hotels maybe we'll have a chance to hit Mexico this year!

Growing up I always thought that once the "Empty-Nest" stage started there was nothing left. But truly--Grandparent status is wonderful--and the freedom to roam is un-toppable!!

Can't Wait For Winter

When we first moved into this beautiful house, we didn't worry about changing any of the air filters or swimming pool filters. No one had lived in it before--it was a model home---how bad could they be? Well, with the cooler weather coming on here, it was time to tidy up the yard, and get things ready for our fabulous Arizona Winters. So we changed all of the filters in and out of the house. And to our amazement...they were FILTHY! We knew we were late in changing them, but truly thought that with no one around they would be fine. We never took into account all of the dust from the neighboring subdivisions under construction. It was shocking to see them in such bad shape!

Just A Few Nerves

In our new home we have one of those wireless alarms. The coolest part is, since we have a pool--it actually talks to us and lets us know when a door opens. Now this new contraption has been the source of much entertainment---and many heart skippings as well. You see---our TV is in the front of our family room, the speakers for the doors just outside the door in the hallway-and the voice, is male.

So the other night we were watching a murder mystery show full of suspense when all of the sudden--there is a man talking outside of the room. It startled me immediately--until I realized what it was. The door was a jar to let in a little of the cool night air. It did it three or four more times before we had had enough and had gone in and bolt locked the front door. It was only funny that we love this little alarm/reminder about the doors---until it just starts talking to you in the middle of a murder mystery!!! Then it's just creepy!

Lots of people want our home

All the prospective buyers love our home, and many said they would write us a check on the spot if their homes were sold.

There were only about two or three that really looked like they might be interested enough to write an offer.

One couple came back twice and said they definitely want it. The man is suffering from three different cancers and is in and out of the hospital often.

They are too worried too commit to an offer at this time.

We expect them to make a decision soon.