Category: Opinion

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Trendy Jewelry

I don’t know about you, but I am a big fan of inexpensive and trendy jewelry. I love things like monogram rings, and flashy necklaces that have your name on it. One of the reasons, I think, that I like customized jewelry with my name or initials on it is because that makes it less likely for one of my friends or relatives to borrow it!

You may think that is a horrible thing to say, and I might actually feel guilty saying it, but, let me explain. Over the years, many of my friends, and relatives, have borrowed things of mine and never returned them. At some point in time, I sometimes ask for the item back, because I want to use it myself. The majority of the time, they have forgotten that they borrowed it from me, and deny having it! This has led to hurt feelings, and damaged relationships beyond repair, which is very sad.

So, now, I try to purchase inexpensive (but trendy) jewelry items to wear “out in public.” That way, when one of my friends or relatives admires it, I will thank them. If they ask me where I got it, and how much it cost, I will boast about what a bargain it was, that it cost less than a certain amount of money, and they usually lose interest in it after that!

You know, thinking about it, I could probably start wearing my “good” jewelry out in public again (it has been about six years) and deploy the same tactic – claiming that it is cheap costume jewelry, even if it isn’t!

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What is on your mind?

Have you ever considered writing your own blog, but didn’t think that you would have enough to write about to make it worth anyone’s while? Have you become disillusioned with social media sites like Facebook? Have people on Facebook written nasty comments to you in response to you voicing your thoughts? I know I have been quite upset over the number of people on Facebook that take great delight in “trolling” other people. I really don’t think that was the original intent of a social media platform, do you?

The people at the On My Mind Daily website must have gotten tired of the social media trolling, too. I think that is why they decided to create their website. Their website allows people to vent, or express their thoughts and opinions, without having to sign up for an intrusive Social Media account, and without having to create their own blog. I was looking at their website a few minutes ago, and read a few of the posts that they have on their current home page.

As I was reading the article, I started to think about how many times I have wanted to “sound-off” about something, but did not want to put it on Facebook, or here, on my blog because I did not want to deal with being blacklisted, or trolled. I think I just MIGHT actually contribute an article or two, myself!

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Scary Times in Sports

When my brother was in high school, he was adamant that he wanted to join the football team. My parents were very worried about that. (Keep in mind, this was back in the early 1970’s.) They had heard in recent years how sometimes an athelete that seems to be in perfect health sometimes suffers a massive cardiac arrest in the middle of the field, and dies before ever making it to the hospital! Sure, the schools insisted on each of the kids getting a medical clearance before playing, but at that point in time, they did not even do any kind of diagnostic testing to make sure that the kids did not have any weird heart conditions that had been overlooked by previous physicals.

Times certainly have changed since then! There are entire businesses, such as Wimbledon Heath Partners, that are dedicated to sports medicine. Not just how to fix injuries once they happen, but to run tests to make sure that weird genetic conditions don’t raise their ugly heads in the middle of practice, or a competition. Sports medicine has come a very long way. I am interested to keep seeing whatever happens in the near future regarding American football and concussions. I know that new helmets have been designed, but I have a feeling that American football might just start suffer from this very serious hazard. I think that fewer parents will be giving permission for their kids to play it in school, and that will eventually lead to fewer professionals down the road.

As for my brother, well, he did join the football team, but he came down with mono during the school year, and ended up benched for most of the football season. That broke his heart, but I think that my parents were secretly relieved that he did not spend a lot of time on the field!

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Christmas Carols Already

This morning I got into my truck and clicked on my favorite radio station, fully expecting my country music to surround me, since it was a country music kinda day, right? *deep sigh* Not to happen. Out of my speakers came not only Christmas music, but the one song I can not stand!!! Something about a kids mom making out with Santa. Okay…push buttons to find something not Christmas, since it’s not even that close to Thanksgiving and a few days ago, I was still taking off Halloween make up that sort of stained my neck. The only station I could find was the one my guys listen to and play with their band. Since I can’t understand the vocals of Death Metal, for all I know, the songs could have been Christmas themed also.

I really dislike retailers and such pushing Christmas on me if I just got over Halloween, and have yet to start my lists for Thanksgiving dinner. It is one of my peeves, I don’t like to be rushed to do anything.

I got out of the truck, went into the house and grabbed a CD off the music shelf. Can’t win for loosing, since I had grabbed Christmas with Harry Belafonte.

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Kitchen Renovations

I can remember many years ago, hiring a custom cabinet maker to renovate my kitchen in a house that I used to live in. I had spent a lot of time looking through magazines and planning out exactly what I wanted. I spent several hours consulting with him, showing him the magazines, and going through his hardware catalogs, picking out exactly what I wanted. That was back in the early 1980’s, before I had a computer with Internet access. That was a lot of work back then.

From time to time, I day-dream about using some ideas that I found from here and renovating my existing kitchen. I love so many of the new ideas for cabinet storage! If only I was independently wealthy!

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Anticipation is the Worst

As much as I hate going the dentist, I am OK with it after I get there. My new dentist is very good and a nice guy. He does not hurt me at all and is very considerate of my comfort level. But I still get freaked out when I know I have to go, and I know I have to go on Monday morning. So I have all weekend to worry.

I think just knowing that I have an appointment on a certain day just adds to my stress. I sure wish we could just walk in and have a chance to get treatment instead of having to make appointments. But I know that will never happen unless I end up marrying a dentist.

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Personalized jewelry

One of my favorite types of jewelry is the necklace. I love the new, trendy look of layering necklaces because it allows me to wear several of my favorite necklaces at the same time! I have a very large peg-style rack (think old-fashioned, accordian-style hat/coat rack) hanging on the wall behind the door in my bedroom that is overflowing with necklaces. At the time that I put the rack there I thought it would help me keep them from getting all tangled-up, but to be honest, they still get easily tangled. I find that frustrating.

But, I digress. I was writing about how much I love the necklace. I especially love the personalized necklaces that I have been given as gifts over the years. I enjoy them so much that I have made a point of buying some for my nieces over the years, and they always tell me how much they love them, too. I especially like the ones that include a gemstone that represents the birthday month of the person that I am giving the necklace to.

I used to buy sterling silver necklaces because they are so pretty when they are new and clean. I have found that they tarnish quickly, however, even though the so-called experts say that if you wear the silver frequently they won’t tarnish. I find that my sterling silver still tarnishes, and then the tarnish rubs off onto my skin or clothing. I have stopped buying and wearing sterling silver now, and buy white gold instead because that won’t tarnish.

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Staying in Apartments While Travelling

My family originated in London, and I have always dreamed of visiting my relatives that still live there. For decades I have corresponded with some of them, even though I never met them face to face. Originally the correspondence started with U. S. Mail, and then eventually it went to email. Now some of them are even Facebook friends!

Apparently many of them live in the London area, and have offered to let me stay with them for a few days if I ever do go over to London. I think that is a very nice offer, but I think that I would rather stay in one of the many London Apartments that are available to rent on a short-term basis.

I don’t mean to sound snobbish, but I do remember when a few years ago I went to visit my son that was going to college in New Jersey, and I stayed with some relatives that I had never met before. I was on a very limited budget, and it was very nice of them to take me in. The problem was that they guest room was full of sketches that their very artistic daughter had done, and I found the sketches quite disturbing. And the relatives themselves insisted on feeding me supper both nights that I was there – and their food was awful! On top of that, they were drunk the entire time I was there!

When I recall that experience, staying in a neutral place when I travel, like the furnished London Apartments that are available, sounds better and better every time!

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News on the fly

Most people agree that following the news and current events is important, yet as many as one third of people don’t keep up with the news on a regular basis. Among reasons cited for NOT following the news are the time required, difficulty in understanding the topics, bias of news sites, sensationalism of the headlines, negativity and fear mongering by the media, and the annoyance of click bait and video ads.

Informucate.com is a different kind of news site that seeks to address these issues by providing All the News in Just 12 Views, leaving out the bias, bloat and bull!

Informucate synthesizes the news into just 12 current stories, each only a paragraph or two, with explanations of jargon, concepts, and key terms right alongside the stories.  Not sure about ISIL ? Don’t know what FOMC means? Can’t remember who Rand Paul is? Don’t understand the terms Triple Crown, Grand Slam, or March Madness? Anytime you read a story with terminology, jargon, abbreviations, institutions, or names and places that might be unfamiliar, there is a quick explanation right alongside the article.

Informucate is not a news aggregator. All daily stories are selected by editors and written by journalists.  Compared to bloated and biased news sites, as well as other “explainer” sites that in actuality do not explain, informucate allows viewers to get their news in just a few minutes a day, and more importantly, understand what they have read.

The 12 stories cover the top news of the day, as well as health, trending, entertainment, money, technology, and the popular ‘bad behavior’ report. By presenting a mixture of news that runs the gamut from serious to entertainment to trending, the 12 stories give everyone the information they need to stay informed and be more confident at work, school and in social settings. Best of all, it takes just 5 minutes a day to get informucated.

In addition to news stories, there’s also a fast facts video encyclopedia that includes fun daily trivia and other short videos on subjects including, dogs, cats, US Presidents,  colleges, holidays, and more.

 

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Mail order brides

Have you ever watched any television shows where the theme of the show revolved around mail order brides? I seem to remember a movie a long time ago called “Seven brides for Seven brothers” that revolved around that theme. I remember a Star Trek episode that was dedicated to the adventures of the crew that was transporting a man who was delivering mail order brides to his customers. Every now and then I watch a more recent television show that features the story line around russian brides. Usually the story is a murder-mystery type of show like Law and Order or Elementary.

When the more recent TV shows started to feature stories about mail order brides I have to admit that I was surprised to think that this type of match-making was actually really going on! I find myself wondering how many of these types of marriages become long and happy marriages, and how many of them end in a more unhappy way. I guess that as I gotten older, I’ve become more skeptical about other people’s motivations.

I don’t know how I would react if someone in my family told me that they were getting married to someone they had met online but had never actually spent face-to-face time with that person. I would be very concerned about how they will feel after a few months of reality. I would strongly encourage them to date for as long as possible, and maybe even get a pre-nuptial agreement before the marriage took place. But then that would be meddling, wouldn’t it? Oh dear…