Pumpkins

While at work today I saw the very first sign for the many pumpkin farms in this area, and I can not wait to take David to let him pick out his pumpkin for our porch jack-o-lantern. It has become a family trip and party to pick the correct pumpkin and to get it carved and set up on the porch, just right.

I like to pick one smaller pumpkin to make us some pies and we will get this done on this trip too. I love this time of year, the weather has cooled off and we have so much to do this time of year.

Christmas Shopping

Although it is still summer, I can’t help but think about how winter is right around the corner and all of the things that come along with the winter months. I am not a fan of winter. The cold, the snow, the icy roads and then of course there is always all of the holidays that come along with winter. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.

Now is a good time to start thinking of who I am going to feel obligated to purchase Christmas presents for and how much money I plan on spending on it all. I am going to start now. There are a lot if things on sale right now because stores are trying to get rid of their summer stock and make way for items that are needed for back to school and for the cold weather that we all have to prepare for.

Last year I managed to purchase every single gift online. I got a lot of my shopping done at musiciansfriends website since so many of my friends and family are into playing music. I didn’t have to actually go to any of the old brick and mortar stores, except for the food items that I needed for the various family holiday dinners. I would love to be able to brag about doing the exact some thing about for this year’s celebrations.

Social Studies

I don’t talk about politics on my blog, however this is not really politics, but my sons Social Studies class and what they are learning. Right now my son is learning about the United States government, the Constitution and how we govern ourselves.

I really enjoy this particular class the kids take. It gives me a common ground to actually help teach my children about their responsibility within our society. I get to explain to them the importance of voting, as well as the ethics and morality of certain laws. Teaching them why somethings are very important to hold onto and why others should be changed.

I have a little ritual that I do every Fourth of July. As it is our Independence day, I read the constitution and keep myself familiar with it. It is an important thing to do for any American, but for me it is a reaffirmation of my freedom. As the kids get older I teach them why this is important to them and one day to the children they may have. I hope that they follow in my footsteps and make this a ritual of their own and pass it along to their own children one day.

Happy 4th of July!

I wanted to tell wish everyone a great big Happy 4th of July ! I hope you all have a wonderful day with lots of BBQ and fireworks. Be careful when light of your own fireworks and keep safe. Also, make sure you have a designated driver if you are going to drink. There will be the ever present road blocks and I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt or into trouble.

Emery Boards

As a child I was given a manicure set as a Christmas gift. I didn’t know how to use any of the tools in that set except for the nail clippers and the nail file. I used a nail file for many years. Then I discovered emery boards. What a great discovery! I love the emery boards and keep one in my purse at all times.

Interesting how they are being used for advertising, what a concept!

Communicate Gap

It would have been a lot easier for me to understand what exactly it is that my niece Alice is wanting for her birthday if the email had said “a mouth piece for her saxophone”, instead of “a Vandoren Optimum Series Saxophone Ligature” which are the exact words that my sister wrote. I had asked her what her daughter Alice would want and appreciate for her 13th birthday that is coming up in the middle of July. Thirteen is a very hard age to buy for girls or boys.

There is such a big difference between the way that my sister and I communicate with the world. I am a whole lot more kicked back and straight forward, while she has a much larger vocabulary and has a blog that she has been working on since forever. Just by looking at her blog and then mine you wouldn’t even believe that we are related, much less know each other.

Anyway, back to the vandoren optimum sax. I found one online at the website. Now is a great time to get deals. Memorial Day is a heck of a holiday for consumers so I might as well jump on the bandwagon and save some hard earned $$$ as well.

Bartolini Original Bass Series

It looks like the 5 string bass pickups that I have found are in the price range from just under $100 all the way up to $200, which to tell you the truth is lower than I expected. Most of the money that got back from Uncle Sam last month is long gone but I managed to keep a bit of it for when I found the perfect 5 string bass pickup online.

This particular one, a Bartolini Original Bass Series, is about mid range and I think it will work quite well for what I want and need it for. It will be great fun to find something good in the mailbox instead of the usual junk mail and the endless stream of bills that manage to find there way there on a regular basis.

If I am not home when our mail carrier delivers it she will bring it all the way up the driveway and leave it by the door instead of down by the mailbox on the side of the road. Even though we live in the boonies things do go missing from time to time and our mail carrier does her best to keep that from happening to any of us.

Cinco De Mayo

On May the 5th every year everyone who needs an excuse to drink and have fun uses this Mexican holiday as an excuse. Add this to St Patrick’s Day and New Years Eve as days that I will not go out at all if I can help it. All of the armature drinkers are out and so are all of the cops looking to add to the DUI total for the day.

There is no need for all of this nonsense, I can celebrate on July 12th just as well and will not be in jail for DUI. I hope every one is safe today and when I get home from work I will be safe indoors.

Dating Happens For Free

Can’t believe Wendy met so many great guys on our ski trip and I came up empty. Although that lawyer from LA was really nice, he was very very married and I’m not going there!

While I’ve got clothes in the dryer, I thought I would surf the net for the online dating sites. Then I ran across a site that reviews all the popular ones and gives you the basic info so you can zero in on the right site to meet your own needs or interest. Each one has a different approach to the methods and the processes to find the right special someone.

I thought about reading through some profiles or ads on a personal ad services site tonight – just to see if anyone looked worth contacting and maybe getting to know a little better. Not all of these dating sites let you do that.

I ended up choosing. I like that it is free, with no charges to send and/or to receive any messages sent. Being able to post Up to 30 photos on your profile page is a great plus as well. We’ll see how that works out! And I’ll keep you posted from time to time.

Time To Remove The Tree

Today, I finally took down my Christmas tree. I figured three weeks after Christmas was just about the right time.  It always seems to me that the holiday decorations go up more quickly then taking them down.  And every year  the task of taking down these decorations appears more daunting of a task.

Perhaps next year I will put up less decorations to make it easier come the month of January.  However, with this being said I probably will not take my own advice and will have my place looking like Santa’s Village once again next December.