Planning Your Final Arrangements

It’s not something any of us want to think about, but it’s an important conversation we must have. Many people do nothing to prepare for the time when their final arrangements must be made, adding a burden on to their already grieving and stressed family. Everyone should sit down with a lawyer and write out their will. In it you can spell out your final wishes for your estate and your final arrangements. To make things even easier for those you leave behind, you should look into prepaying for your arrangements. Most funeral homes offer pre-paid plans that include a plot, service and everything else needed to lay you to rest.

If you’re not sure you want a big funeral and burial, or just can’t afford the expense, consider cremation. Companies like Clevelend Cremation provide high quality services with dignity, respect and empathy. They will even provide a customized memorial service, with special options for religious requirements and veterans. Cremation is less expensive than traditional burials, and families that move often like being able to take their loved ones with them. You can even chose the exact type of urn you’d like. So don’t put off this important conversation any longer, plan your final arrangements and give yourself and your loved ones peace of mind.

You can find your health insurance online

For my dear friends in North Carolina, I wanted to let you know that if you are still desperately looking for health insurance coverage, my good friend Julie found insurance here that took care of her needs. You don’t have to spend much more time looking around and asking all of your friends and family what to do. Thank goodness for the Internet – it certainly is making a lot of things in life a lot easier to accomplish!

Touch of Homesick

My niece is a bit of a drama queen and frequently complains about feeling homesick when the family goes out of town to visit relatives or friends.

I have been away from the DC area (where I grew up) for several years now, and I have to admit that every once in a great while I feel a touch of homesickness. But I know in my heart that I do not live there anymore and there’s no “going home.” In fact, the house where I grew up was sold to another family within months of my high school graduation and the new people remodeled it. So that’s a closed chapter of my life.

Now it’s on to greater adventures, here in Nashville and beyond!

My father loved the band Kiss

I was looking at some old family photos, and saw one photo where my father and his band had dressed up like the Kiss musicians. Kiss has been really popular for a very long time now, and I thought it would be fun to see what kind of YouTube videos I could find about the band. I was surprised to see one of the YouTube videos about the band was an interview done for http://www.musiciansfriend.com/. The video I found was done by the drummer, and I decided to watch it for a little while. I found it interesting that he talked about how he started out as a little kid banging pots and pans in the kitchen, just like my kids used to do. Then he went on to talk about how he used to play the drums for his father’s band, and it really helped to make me feel as if this guy was a “real” person.

I was reading some of the comments below the video, and I was saddened to read that a lot of people were expressing low opinions of him as a person. I don’t know if he is a nice person or not, but I always feel bad when I read negative comments like that.

Sometimes I just want to scream

Don’t get me wrong, I love Alicia, I really do. But when we get together, all she can talk about is herself! She doesn’t even ASK me how I am, or how my family is! She talks about her work, her vacations, her new real estate checklist template app that she downloaded on her cell phone, and even how she is switching brands of pet food because her vet told her that the brand she was using wasn’t as good as the one he sells there at his office.

Sometimes I just want to scream “will you please be quiet for just one minute?” when I am around her, but I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Sometimes I wonder if she is simply afraid of silence. I enjoy companionship, but I also enjoy silence from time to time.

The long weekend

With the long weekend upon us and kids not having school Monday, on account of it being Martin Luther Kings day, my nephews keep calling me to beg me to stay over.

Just when I am finally getting so many projects finished around here and my house is so neat and tidy looking. What is an Aunt to do?

I’ve told them they could come and stay on one condition, that actually my Mom used to do, and that is to make a job jar. The boys totally agreed. I cut strips of paper and on each one, wrote a small chore for them to do for me. Easy stuff, that I really have finished already, but at least it will make them feel included in my projects, instead of me having to entertain them, since I’m pretty busy with the house and spare rooms still.

Nearly Here

My nephew called me this morning bright and early and informed me that Santa was nearly ready to pack up his sleigh. He sounded so excited. Of course I asked him how he knew this and since he has one heck of a cool imagination, he said he had all the dates and times figured out, at how long it would take him to get all over the world and his destination times, departures, and “rest stops” for the trip. Gotta love the kid. He indeed is going to do something really special with travel when he gets older!

Shopping with my niece

In staying with tradition, I took my niece Christmas shopping today. She is such a joy to spend time with and as she’s getting older, (she is 18 now) she’s become more like a friend to me. We did some shopping for her mom and her brothers, and I bought her some make up she’s been wanting. It was a great day.

Kids and flu

After having my nephews over for the weekend, I do believe one of them no doubt gave me a bit of a flu bug. My sister warned me that two of her boys were getting over colds, but I didn’t think I would catch anything. So much for that thought. I have a feeling by tonight, it’s going to be full blown.