Connie Smithison – Page 18 – Connies Words While on the Go!

November 18, 2012

A Chance of Snow Tonight

Its been cold for a couple of weeks but we have not had snow yet. But I just heard the dreaded four letter word on tonight’s news – there is a chance of snow tonight. I don’t mind the cold weather, but I really do not like the sleet and snow that comes this time of year. I try to avoid driving in the bad weather and just stay home if there is any way to arrange things to allow that.

Last year we only had snow on the ground for a few weeks. It never caused any big problems for my house and my neighborhood, thank goodness. Sometimes we have bad snow storms that leave people stranded in their homes for several days, as shoveling heavy fresh snow is very tiring and not always productive when you spend hours out in the cold clearing your car and then a snow plow comes along and shoves a wall of snow back into your driveway or around your car. That always makes me very angry, and yet I know the snow plows need to keep the streets clear. I just wish they would remove or melt the snow instead of just shoving it over and packing it around the cars parked on the street.

November 14, 2012

Budgeting for the Holiday Feast

My favorite meal of the whole year is always the traditional Thanksgiving feast. I have always enjoyed a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, even the one year that I was so broke that I only had $20 in my budget to spend on the entire meal.

I remember going to the wholesale grocery that year and buying the cheapest possible brand of everything to be able to create a small but traditional Thanksgiving meal. I had to buy a frozen turkey loaf for $6, two white potatoes and one sweet potato, a box of stuffing and a can of generic green beans – I already had a can of mushroom soup at home in the almost empty pantry. I bought four apples and made a pie from scratch with flour and sugar and cinnamon already at home. It was a lot of work doing everything from scratch, but it tasted great and made me realize that I can create a great feast with just a little money.

This year I am spending $20 on just the turkey. It will be the biggest one they have in the store – I love turkey and there is not such thing as too much turkey in my house! The rest of the side dishes and fixings will be a combination of scratch and prepared, depending upon the brands and my taste preferences. And I think I will make an apple pie again – its not that hard to do and they always taste better than store bought pies.

November 7, 2012

PeachSuite for Hotel Supplies

Having a close friend who owns a resort hotel, I have heard her often complain about not finding the supplies she needs, until she discovered PeachSuite Hotel Supply. She was thrilled at basically the “one stop shopping” online and the expert and helpful and sufficient way the company handle the costumers who are looking for their hotel needs.

Hotel Catering Supplies are a must, as the resort is on a Lake Front with a events like dinners in the banquet hall or even on the lawn when the weather is nice. It’s a great experience and my friend makes it as such, but she does need plenty of supplies and a reasonable price, since during the winter she often has to deal with business being slow. During the warm months, her place is packed and she wants the best so her customers come back. Buffet supplies are a must for her and it makes it so easy for folks to have a good time and also for her to mingle with the guests without the hassle of having the dinners served by employees.

Hotel Supplies are also a big thing to try and save money on, yet get a durable product that is good quality. Her resort is doing very well, and when she needs supplies now she knows where to get them!

October 31, 2012

Only 6 Groups of Trick or Treaters Tonight

When I first moved here there were a lot of children in the neighborhood. Every holiday was a big deal to the neighbors. We all decorated our houses and yards with lights and yard ornaments and people used wreaths and yard flags to decorate. Halloween was a big deal with a lot of small groups of kids and parents going house to house collecting candy. I loved seeing the different costumes and happy, expectant faces of the kids as they held out their Halloween bags and buckets for their treats.

I guess most of those kids have grown up and there are not a lot of new families moving into the area. I was a little disappointed to only have my doorbell rung six times with trick or treaters. There were two groups of very young children, with parents and strollers walking down the street. The rest were older kids, and to be honest, one group of teenagers seemed to be a little too old to be going out trick or treating this year. i hope they did it just for fun, maybe their last hurrah, and didn’t cause any mischief for anyone in the neighborhood. The older kids make me a little nervous about causing trouble when it gets late and people stop giving out candy for the night. I hope that the fact this is a school night will send those older kids home early with the rest of the kids and that there is no trouble with vandalism and other tricks tonight.

September 26, 2012

Fall is in the air

The leaves haven’t started to turn yet, but the smell of fall is indeed in the air. There is a crisp feeling outside that this season brings, and at night it’s been getting down right chilly. No frost yet, but it’s to come sooner than normal, I have a feeling.

Though I love colors of fall, I don’t like the fact that it means summer is over and that winter is just around the corner. It seems like we didn’t have much of a summer, despite of the drought.

We’ve been doing some home improvement around the house and outside in the yards. There were some walkways that needed tending to, as the stone was starting to get loose in places, so I hauled in some extra that I had saved, and made it fit where the loose ones were. I should say they aren’t really stone like most would think. These are actually flat rocks that the walkway is made of, and I’m glad I had the foresight to keep some back for just the purpose I needed them for.

All of the storm windows are now up and the glass windows are washed, the covered with padding and put away safely. Gutters will continue to be cleaned as the leaves come down and nearly all of my flower beds have been put to sleep for the winter. It sort of makes me sad, but it is what it is.

There of course is a lot more to do in order to make the house winterized and toasty for the winter, but I’m getting to it slowly but surely. Winter is not a good season for me, since I really hate snow and the cold, but if I have to live where we do indeed have lots and lots of snow and the temps get down below zero, I at least want a home that is warm and the next step is to start my winter survival shopping.

September 18, 2012

Is it taste or just a coffee habit

My husband drinks coffee by the gallon. To me, this is caffeine to the extreme, and since all of a sudden it’s found he has high blood pressure, I decided to make some changes that I’ll admit, isn’t that honest, but I haven’t been asked about it, so I don’t need to volunteer the information just yet. Okay, pure and simple it’s not being totally honest because I care.

I bought an off brand that has only half the caffeine and put it in the canister his normal brand comes in, which was a blend loaded with extra caffeine. Mind you, this I figure is for his own good. At least in my way of thinking.

So far, so good. he’s not noticed and even said he had made an “exceptionally good pot of coffee” the morning after I did the switch. Next is the sugar intake. I’m sure I can find something as a look alike substitute. I’ve never seen or even heard of anyone who puts more sugar in a cup of coffee. It’s expensive and once again, worrisome to me. Of course if I’m asked, indeed I will tell him about the switch in the coffee. But if he likes it now and I’m saving a great deal of money, we’ll just keep it a secret for now.

September 16, 2012

Getting home repair grants

Everyone could use help with home repair grants and it’s relatively easy to find them if you look in the right place. A friend of mine just moved to New Jersey and bought one of those kinds of homes that is in need of some big time TLC. When she called me the first night she stayed in her new home, she had a slew of things on a list that needed to be done before she could even begin to move fully, let alone get the house prepared for the winter months.

After doing some asking around, looking on the internet and then talking to the people in the neighborhood, she found that there is assistance with home repairs there and she is going to indeed find out more about this, so she can do the big repairs that have to be definitely done before winter hits. My friend is working a steady job, but it took quite a bit of her savings to not only buy the house, but the move there was pricey also.

I asked her if she could get insulation assistance in NJ, not only warmth for the winter, but also it helps the house stay cooler in the summer as well. I found that my friend, Sandy was right on the ball so to speak, about getting the information and the help she will need with improvements. I’m very happy for her and can’t wait to visit her in her new house, once she is ready to have guest.

September 15, 2012

A bit of mural painting

I have a spare bedroom that I have been using as place to go to when I want to just get away from the family. Yes folks, Mom’s do that every so often to regain sanity. I usually shut the door, read and listen to the music I want to listen to, since this relaxes me and my family respect my privacy there.

I was looking at the room as a whole and all but one wall has a window. It is a perfect wall to use as a canvas, and I’ve decided to either paint a mural on the wall. I thought about stenciling it, but I can indeed paint when the mood strikes me…not just general wall painting, but the artistic kind, so I’ve begun making sketches of what I would like to have on this “wall canvas” then I’m going to go for it.

This will be one of my winter time projects and after I paint it, I’ll continue on with decor and then perhaps turn it into a guest bedroom. I really like remodeling rooms as a sort of hobby, plus it is improving the look of the home, so this is going to be my kind of relaxation and fun.

September 14, 2012

Laminate counters from Kitchen Magic

Since I am in the process of starting some home improvement projects for the winter months, I took a good hard look at my kitchen counters and then started looking on the internet where I found Kitchen Magic. I am quite impressed with what this company has to offer. I love the durability of laminate counters and it seems while everyone else is choosing wood, or stone at exorbitant prices, I wanted to go for not only beauty, but something that would handle the wear and tear of a regular household and be affordable.

With laminate counters, there is no dangerous fumes that a sealant could be released, nor is there any worry about radon that can also be released into the air. I don’t think people think of these things while buying counter tops. To me this would be very much of a concern, since food is of course prepared on counter tops and one can never be too cautious about these things.

With Kitchen Magic counter tops, I found that I could get counters that look like real stone or wood, without any worry about ruining the surface if they were accidentally cut or something hot was put on them. I’m leaning to getting these counter tops for my kitchen and I really can’t wait to get started on my next projects!