Gift Suggestions

My youngest sister Becky has emailed me desperate for some gift suggestions for our eldest sister (Briannah) who moved away years ago to the great state of Maine. Becky and Briannah didn’t really get a chance to establish much of a relationsip due to the large gap in ages and then living so far apart, so Becky is stuck with trying to figure out what would be a good gift to send to Briannah. So I’ve been spending some time looking around at all the various sites that sell good quality shoe, since Briannah has always been a shoe freak.

I have ordered several items from Zappos.com in the past and have always been very happy with the experiences and the products that I’ve ordered. Cole Haan has always had some awesome shoes, clothing and accessories that I’ve enjoyed and I’m sure that our sister Briannah would appreciate and enjoy their Cole Haan Air Melanie Rain Boots since she is always complaining about the cold and wet weather that she deals with up in Maine. It makes me wonder why she moved to such a cold environment the way she carries on about the cold.

Anway, Zappos offers free shipping both ways and guarantees delivery before Christmas, so I hope that my suggestion will make both of my sisters happy for the up and coming Christmas holiday that will be here before you know it.

Check out these Cole Haan Air Melanie Root Boots, aren’t they awesome looking?

 To see a video about these boots you only have to click here – Cole Haan Air Melanie Rain Boots

Squash – A Great Recipe for Summer Squash

I really enjoy getting all the veggies from people who have a garden and end up with more than they can handle so they start passing the extras to friends, family and co workers. I just received a nice basked of some yellow and green squash from one of my neighbors that I can’t wait to cook up. Squash has always been a favorite of mine and I have several different ways to cook it that I have always enjoyed preparing and serving during these hot summer months.

Many years ago I took a trip with my mother to Massachusetts, which is where she spent some time as a child and we visited several relatives all around the Boston area. One such relative served us a wonderful squash dish that I ranted and raved so much about she decided to go ahead and share the recipe with me to take home and try. So I thought that I might pass this wonderful recipe along for you to try, I hope you like it.

  • 2 lb (6) Cups) Sliced Yellow Summer Squash
  • 1/4 Cup Chopped Onion
  • 1 Can Cream of Chicken soup
  • 1 Cup Sour Cream
  • 1 Cup Shredded Carrots
  • 1 8 oz Herb Seasoned Stove Top Stuffing Mix
  • 1 cup Melted Butter

Boil Squash and onion for 5 minutes and drain. Combine chicken soup and sour cream. Stir in shredded carrots. Fold in squash and onions. Combine stuffing mix and melted butter. Use a 12 x 7 casserole dish. Put half of stuffing on the bottom of the pan, then the squash mixture and top with remaining stuffing. Bake at 350 degree for 25 – 30 minutes or until heated through.

Serves 6

Let The Games Begin

I just heard that the Redskins are gearing up for tomorrow which will be their first pre-season game of this up and coming professional football season. I can’t believe that football season is so close to starting all ready. Next thing you know it will be Thanksgiving and then of course Christmas will be consuming us all in no time. Really the only good thing about fall and winter is football, I’m glad that I have subscribed to the sunday ticket with my satellite provider, Direct TV. I always enjoy having friends over on Sunday’s for a good game and a good time with plenty of munchies and loads of cold beer. I have a good sized flat screen TV that makes watching the games a much better experience then it was before I invested in a big screen like I did.

My good friend, Donna from work also enjoys football, she has the Cox cable sports package and she likes to have people over on Monday for the Monday games, so it works out real well for everyone involved. We have a lot in common, other than just working at the same place and we have become pretty darn good friends these past couple of years.

So which ever is the most convenient – be it cable sports or satellite sports between the two of us we’ve got it covered. I hope the Redskins start the year with a major win over the Buffalo Bills, guess we will find out tomorrow, let the games begin!

Become.com is Becoming

I’ve never been much on worrying about brand names. I know what I like and what I don’t like, a name attached to something doesn’t make it or break it for me. My sister on the other hand is crazy about things like that. Right now she is re doing her master bedroom and master bathroom and has fallen in love with the Candice Olson furniture that she has found online. She is quite good in finding great deals online and has found a cool website called become.com that brings power shopping to your finger tips with price comparison and  product reviews, which is a great product shopping and research tool for online shoppers that are becoming more and more popular each year.

She found become.com when she was pregnant and was looking for the best baby related products that she could find while waiting at home, on bed rest for the last 2 months of her pregnancy. She had twins and it was hard on her then and still hard on her now three years later and she still has 15 years to go. LOL

I’ve used become.com a few times myself. I found some great women’s jewelry by using their search engines. I usually buy most of my costume jewelry at the thrift stores or the local flea markets. But when I find a company that has low prices and has free shipping I’ll keep buying online and not deal with crowds at these various markets.

It’s A Wrap

My niece loves playing dress up, she has since she was three years old. Her favorite colors are pink and purple, which I believe is pretty normal for most little girls. When I was growing up my favorite color was red and then as I matured it some how turned into blue, I’ve never been a fan of the typical pinks and purples that are so popular for little girls.

Anyway she is a fan of Doodlebop and I have found some really great Doodlebops Costumes online today that I’m considering purchasing her to use as dress up and for the up and coming Halloween trick or treating. This particular costume usually runs almost $40, but is currently on sale for $15, that’s a nice deal there folks. I think that she will get a kick out of it or not, even if she doesn’t use it for Halloween. She has a trunk full of costumes and dress up clothes that she has collected through out the years. Her mother has done a good job keeping this young one’s creative juices flowing in many ways, I can give her that much. She is a pistol and I love her dearly. She has me (and plenty other relatives) wrapped right around her little girl finger!

Sunglasses For Father’s Day

For Father’s day I wanted to get my Dad a nice pair of men’s sunglasses. He has a habit of losing his sunglasses and is always needing a new pair, so I knew that he would appreciate a nice pair as a gift. At the mall there is a kiosk that sells only sunglasses, so I took a trip downtown to take a look and see what they had for sale in the line of mens sunglasses. OMG I couldn’t believe the prices they were asking. I mean I know that anything that you buy at the mall is going to be a bit more expensive, due to the overhead that is required by mall management, but there just has to be a limit some how where they aren’t taking so much of people’s hard earned money.

Anyway, that turned out to be a dead end, but I did get a good idea of some of the styles that are popular these days. So I took that information and went online and found a great website that had some great mens sunglasses at some pretty decent prices at menssunglasses.com and found some nice looking Aviator sunglasses for only $14.99. And since they offer free shipping for orders of $25 or more I ordered two pairs. They don’t even charge a sales tax, which is a bonus. At that price I could afford two pairs for my Dad to enjoy and since he loses them so quickly I’m sure two pairs won’t last long.

My order came in quickly, so I got them in time for Father’s Day and everyone ended up happy.

sunglasses

PowWow

I promised my niece that I would take her to a Pow Wow over the weekend, the same one that I took her to last year. It’s a 2 hour drive over several mountains, but worth the time and effort. We left early this year in order to get there nice and early, to get good seats. Took a cooler full of cold drinks, a soft blanket and a tent for shade. We learned our lesson last year and wanted to come prepared this year.

It was a blast, but the temperature was in the high 90’s and we really were very miserable, along with the other several hundred people that attended. It didn’t end until 6:00pm but by 2:30 most people had left due to the heat and we headed out early as well. This heat wave has been horrible. I mean it is only June for heaven’s sake, not mid August!

Next year if the weather isn’t decent we won’t be attending. I’ll be looking for a Pow Wow that is held inside where we will be nice and comfortable in a controlled environment.

Piano Lessons – Tickling the Old Ivories!

My niece, Tracey, is wanting to take piano lessons via the Internet. My sister is having a fit, but I’m all for it. Tracey is a good kid and spends a lot of time on the computer and I think that she could handle the online piano lessons. She is a pretty smart kid and usually follows through with things that she starts so I’m surprised that my sister isn’t as positive about this request as I thought she would be. Tracey approached me about the piano lessons first (we are pretty tight) and I urged her to talk to her mom about it, thinking that it wouldn’t be a big deal. Boy did I call that one wrong, ugh…….

Looks like I will be going over to their house over the weekend and see if I can patch things up between them. I will even offer to help pay for the piano lessons, although they make a lot more money than I do, but that is how strong I feel about the whole things, although I don’t think it is the money that is the issue. Most of our family members can play at least one musical instrument and Tracey would like to be included in the music that is made at our family functions throughout the year. I’ve never been able to play an instrument or sing, but I can sure dance circles around most of them!

You Tube

I’m really not all that much into Country music but this song done by Lady Antebellum has just taken be back a few steps. Some songs just do that from time to time. This is a keeper for my YouTube Playlist which is ever growing. Thanks YouTube.com

Way Cool!

Years ago my sister and I used to go to several Rodeos a year. We really got into the whole Rodeo scene. We had our cute little western outfits, with girly cowboy hats, boots and even a bandanna once in a while. I run across parts of and pieces of our outfits here and there around the house, in the back of a drawer or in a box downstairs and it always puts a big smile on my face. We even made a cool scrapbook that my sister keeps at her place, from all the pictures that we had taken back then. I’ve got to see if she can take a moment and dig it out next time I go over to see her. It would be fun to see them again with her.

A good friend of mine just went online at work and purchased Tickets to the National Finals Rodeo that is being held in Las Vegas this December. Man what I would give to be able to go with her. Attending the National Finals Rodeo is cool enough, but to attend it in Las Vegas, way cool! Oh well, there is still time to purchase tickets, who knows maybe I’ll win the lottery, or the major football pool at the office by then! The tickets to the Rodeo aren’t the pricey issue, it would be the transportation and lodging that would be a pain. Looks like I need to start picking some lottery numbers, you can’t win if you don’t play.