Tag: Family

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Dawn’s Special Day in April

My one sister is the type that has to have the best of everything for her kids. No hand me downs or seconds for her and her girls, must be nice, right? Most new mothers would love to receive anything that they can get their hands on for free. Babies and kids cost a good chunk of change and most of us are really hurting for money these days, but she and her husband are still fairing fairly well and so she just keeps on spending money like it was nothing.

Her middle daughter, Dawn, my favorite niece out of the bunch is having her 3th birthday party come the middle of April. The invitations have been sent out and the plans are being made to have a real nice party for her on her special day. We can only hope that the weather is much better then and we can enjoy the majority of the party outside. My sister is talking of having a clown and pony rides. You never know what to expect, weather wise, in the month of March and April, with all of the spring rain that comes each year, so we can only hope.

I have gone online to find some good gift ideas for Dawn’s birthday present. I have a few years experience buying clothing for her kids and one website I can always count on to have some of the most unique, stylish and trendy clothing available. They have brand names like jellycat, alex, haba, barefoot dreams, skip hop, appaman and wow toys that are just fabulous and affordable. They offer free shipping with orders over $65 and are currently having a sale with sales up to 75% off, so I should be able to find a few good deals in time to have them wrapped and ready to go by April.

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Dad, My Handy Man

At some point I will take the time and look for some new exterior shutters for the place. Each time my parents come over my father points out what a difference a pair of exterior shutters would make for the front of the house. He has even offered to look around for and with me when I’m ready to commit, so that would be cool.

My father has always been handy around the house and the yard, so any time he wants to give me a hand around the place, I’m all for it!

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Finding The Perfect Boss Guitar Pedals

There was no way that I would have thought it to be such a challenge to find the right boss guitar pedal to give to my kid brother for his 19th birthday, which will eventually come this May 17th. I have  been looking online a bit here and there and I just felt that it was all over my head. I know that he really wants a boss guitar pedal, a tc electronic flashback delay toneprint  but there are just too many of them out there for me to choose from, so I am going to play it safe and give him a gift card for $100 and tell him to find the right one and put that money towards purchasing the correct one that he wants.

There is going to be a good sized birthday celebration dinner at our folk’s place. Not sure how many are expected to show up. But then we never know until it happens with this very large family that is know for last minutes circumstances. It’s such a drag that so many of us have moved so far away and we don’t get together much these past several years. So we will see who turns up to help celebrate Steve’s 19th birthday. This will be that last birthday that entitles him to be called and/or referred to as a teenager! It’s a pot luck dinner so I think that I’ll bring my well received meatballs to share this time around. I haven’t made them in a while and they are always a big hit.

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Sound Great On Or Off Stage

It really thrills me to hear from my youngest nephew Todd that the amplifier for the acoustic guitar is totally appreciated. And that it is being used, along with the beyerdynamic headphone set, so I am told, almost on a daily basis as well as providing a sound great on stage when they manage to actually land a gig.  I managed to get a few of my sisters and brothers, his aunts and uncles, to contribute enough of their hard earned cash together to get him a good quality amp that I found online for a real sweet deal. It arrived in plenty of time and we didn’t have to pay any shipping or handling, so that was a major plus that helped me convince some of these relatives that aren’t known for wanting to spend any money on anyone other than their selves.

It’s pretty cool that over the past couple of years I have been doing more and more of my shopping online. Last Christmas holiday, I didn’t have to go to the local mall or any of the other numerous brick and mortar stores in the area. The only things that I had to go out and purchase were the food and of course the gas that it took to get there and back. There are places that will and do deliver food products but they come with a price. It’s hard to get anything for free around this part of the country, except for online purchases.

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Make An Impression With Vistaprint

Who isn’t familiar, by now, with Vistaprint and their very affordable business cards that so many of us have ordered and are using right this minute, some where, by somebody out there. I mean think about it –  having a business card is a very big deal and business is booming for Vistaprint who is well established and well known from all the attention that it has received via the Internet and the TV.

What gets me is that I had no idea that they had other products and items for sale, which I found online at Vistaprint dot com only because I was looking at BestOnlineCoupons dot com, which is a site that I always look at before buying anything online. The have the best coupons and coupon codes, promotions, free shipping offers, all kinds of special offers for online shoppers like myself. So I’ve made it a habit to look there first and I can tell you that I have saving a good chunk of change by getting into that routine.

This time around I found Vistaprint coupons and tons of other listings for savings for Vistaprint orders, like a Vistaprint free shipping code along with some Vistaprint coupon codes that can add up to real savings. Codes are becoming the way to go online these days. It drives me crazy when I order something that I found on the Internet and when I’m filling out my name, address, etc it asks if I have any coupon codes and I find myself lacking one I just don’t feel right and take a peek at BestOnlineCoupons dot com and see if I can find one, most of the time I can, considering the sheer amount of online merchants that they have listed there to be taken advantage of.

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Memories of Beauty Pageant Contests

I spent the afternoon cleaning out my closet. After I got the clothing situation under control, I just had to do something about all the shoes that used to be so organized, but has turned into one big pile of smelly footwear that just gets on my last nerve, so I took control over that real quick like and moved onto the shelves that I had so much crap crammed on that I’m surprised they hadn’t fallen down from it all.

I found a box, way in the back of the top shelve that I haven’t seen in so many years. It has the home made crown and banner from my oldest daughter’s first beauty pageant that she was in. The youngest age bracket for that pageant was for 3 and 4 year old girls, my daughter turned 3 only 2 days before the actual pageant so she just barely was old enough and was the youngest contestant by far in the entire pageant. We video taped it and I wish that I had put that video tape in the box along with the other mementos from that wonderful day. She did so well and actually came in and blew the other toddlers away, many of which had all ready been in pageant contest and came home with the largest and prettiest crown of the day.

I still have the little sailor suit and hat that my mother purchased for her to wear, but some how the pageant fancy dress has disappeared throughout the years, it cost me $48, a lot of money back then for a new mother to come up with at that time, but it was worth every penny of it and at least we have the video to watch and enjoy for many years to come.

 

 

 

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Turkey Day – a yearly hassle

Even though I have been divorced for some time now, the kids and I are still having to deal with the decision of which grandparents we going to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with. The kids adore my ex’s folks and I get along fairly well with them also, which makes for the holiday season a stressful situation even though my ex is well out of the picture and doesn’t attend any family functions in an effort to avoid any hassles that may arise during these celebration events.

It really sucks that each and every year we end up playing this game of who will win out with our attendance, and their is no way to please everyone, no matter what. It would be so much easier if they all lived a bit closer to each other, that way we could try and make both dinners, but a 4 hour drive between the two is just too much to deal with.

Time is running out, Thanksgiving is next week, a decision needs to be made soon, what to do, oh what to do!

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Clocks, Clocks & More Clocks

My oldest niece is a dolphin fan. She wants to go to college and become a marine biologist and I think that she can do what it takes to make that dream come true. She gets good grades, has a great attitude and is all in all a real good kid. She has a birthday coming up and I want to get her something that she will like and appreciate, so I’ve been looking around at dolphin related products and found a really nice dolphin wall clock that I think would look good in her room, it is only $58.77 from 1-800-4clocks.com.

dolphin-clock

They have a huge selection of clocks to choose from at 1-800-4clocks dot com, grandfather clocks, grandmother clocks, wall clocks, mantel clocks, atomic clocks, old antique and new clocks as well. It was fun looking through them all last night. I saw many that brought back memories from my childhood. My grandparents had the most wonderful mantel clock that I’ll never forget and wish that it had been left to me, but alas one of my cousins beat me to it, sigh…….

I have to tell you that they also have the most wonderful blog on this site as well. I don’t usually spend too much time reading companies blogs but I found the most interesting post there titled “Clocks White House History Throughout Time” that I would encourage anyone to take a few minutes and read. With the White House in the spotlight so much these days, I’m surprised that I hadn’t heard about all the clocks that have graced the White House’s walls and mantels, it really is an interesting read.

 

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The Nopal Cactus

It is amazing to notice that the older I get, everyone gets older as well. I know that sounds silly but with age seems to come so many health issues and unfortunate deaths from so many people in my life. At work we seem to always be discussing and researching so many medical issues that keep popping up in our immediate and not so immediate families and circle of friends. And with all of these medical issues always landing in our laps we are constantly trying to figure out and understand what types of medicine and therapy can help.

Right now we seem to be hearing a lot about a product called Nopalea which is supposed to help reduce inflammation which is a main concern with so many health related issues. One of my co workers found that by calling 1-800-203-7063 you can receive a free sample of this natural health product that is becoming so popular today which is derived from a cactus. Pretty cool huh?

Since my father suffers from aches and pains in several of his joints that keep him from doing a lot of things that he used to enjoy doing, I’m going to go ahead a call and have a sample of these wellness drink sent to him and see if it helps him some. It’s the least I can do for the man that has always done so much for me all my life.

 

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We Have Each Others Back

There are so many ways that I see my sister healing with the help of a very interesting and creative Jungian Psychoanalysis that she has been working with for a few months now. Even though she lives so far away from where I live we are still very close and manage to communicate several times a week, so I know her pretty well.

We have lived together several times throughout our adult lives. It is great to know that my sister always has my back and she darn well knows that I’ve got hers as well. We do talk about how lucky and blessed we are to have such a great relationship despite all the other wacky family members that we have in the ever-growing family that we were born into. There are so many brothers and sisters that don’t remain close as the years tumble by.

I wasn’t all that knowledgeable about this particular New York Jungian Psychotherapy method, but I took the time to research New York Jungian Therapists as much as I could online and she seems to be flourishing, so I am thrilled. It really bites that I can’t see her as much as I would like to. A seven hour drive might as well be all the way across the country. But if need be it could and would be done, that much I know.