Tag: family

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April Fools day

April Fools Day or, All Fools Day, is supposed to be (according to some ) the most light- hearted day of the year. To me, it’s kind of scary. In my years, I have had some pretty harmful or frightening April Fools jokes/pranks pulled on me. I know that the family and friends who have done this in the past, did not mean for them to be terrible to me, but they were, none the less.

I can be light-hearted like the next person, but my problem is, I used to believe people when they tell me things sometimes. Especially when they say things with a very straight face and seem to be honest and sincere. I have adopted the, “Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear” attitude. So, have a fun filled and day, people.

Myself, I’m going to go out in the gardens where I’m “safe.”  Hopefully some of my early plants and the weather won’t play any pranks on me!!

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Valentines Day, no surprise

As sad as it is to say sometimes, my husband is not and never has been a romantic of any kind. Zip, Nada, Ziltch. In other words, we don’t do Valentines Day. I don’t even think he remembers when our anniversary is, since he’s never said anything after all of these years.

All this has caused me not to even try to make any plans or even attempts at trying to go out of my way with cards and such for him. It’s not really out of my way, but I don’t think it would mean anything. So, instead…I still get Valentines and candy and such for the kids, despite they are nearly all grown. Just something a little special.

When they were small, I’d make cookies and decorate them, and get balloons and have party with cake and Valentines. Now they all have plans it seems and so I just make supper for who ever happens to be home, and call it good enough. I might start volunteering at the school for the 1st and 2nd grade classes. Little kids still really like holidays and I think it might be just what I need to pick up my spirits.

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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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Chocolate gift ideas

All of my friends adore chocolate. I’ve been letting my fingers do some shopping online and have seen some great gift ideas. I usually don’t eat sweets or much sugar at all, but every once in a while I get a craving for some chocolate. It’s a craving that usually strikes believe it or not, in the middle of the night. My mom is the same way. She keeps a chocolate bar in the drawer of her night stand and in the middle of the night, will break off a piece and eat it, then go back to bed. In fact, my oldest daughter is the same way. I think we get it from my mom!

Online I found some great gift packs to give my friends and family for Christmas. Usually my mom will always get a box of chocolate covered cherries from all of “us kids” (I have two brothers and three sisters), but she secretly gives most of them away, I found out. But we have been giving her boxes of them since we were young. It’s sort of a tradition. I like them, but only if they have the clear liquid in them, not the white kind.

My youngest daughter always asks for her stocking to be stuffed with chocolate. She loves the dark chocolate, so she’ll be set for sometime. I found a great sale on it and the chocolate mint is my favorite!

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Chirstmas candy

I’ve decided to start making Christmas hard tack candy again for Christmas gifts. Everyone who remembers years ago when I made it has been asking for it. What a compliment, I think. I’m going to go to get the flavoring and ingredients tomorrow, and since I collect various jars, and have plenty of old blue Mason jars, that would also be a gift, since they are really hard to find now.

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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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Welcome September

September (free clip art)
September (free clip art)

September is one of my favorite months. Temperatures start to cool off, and there are a lot of family birthdays to celebrate. Fresh apples are readily available to use to make caramel-candied apples, and fresh apple cider is available in the stores (no preservatives added – my favorite!) Fall festivals abound, and the whole world seems to start getting ready to hunker down for winter. Some evenings and mornings I can smell one of the neighbor’s wood fire wafting in the air. There is a clean, crisp feel to the early morning air, and I love watching the squirrels gathering their acorns and the leaves on the deciduous trees start to change color.

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Skin Care

Sometimes my friends and family tell me that they think I am crazy. Over the years I have tried several different Natural and Organic Skin Care and Makeup products, and when they come in a pretty jar, when the jar is empty, I wash and save the jar. (Yes, I am a packrat, but not a hoarder – yet! I actually DO throw some things away, and donate other things to charity organizations like GoodWill and local thrift stores like hospital auxiliary thrift stores!) I have a nice collection of pretty jars.

These jars don’t sit empty forever, though. I like to buy hand and body lotions that come in a pump-style plastic bottle. I like keeping them on the counter-tops beside the bathroom lavatory and the kitchen sink, and pump some lotion on my hands (and rub the lotion on my throat, neck and elbows) after I wash my hands. The lotions that I use are so thick that once the level of the lotion gets too low to pump out, turning the bottle upside down to drain into another bottle does not work.

Rather than throwing out the remaining lotion (there is often more than 1/3 cup of lotion left!) I will take a very sharp kitchen knife and cut the plastic bottle open. Then I use a spatula to scoop out the remaining lotion and deposit it into one of the pretty, empty jars that I had saved. Then I will use that lotion from the jars until that runs out before putting a fresh plastic pump bottle on the counter-top! I like how this saves money and reduces waste of product!

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Decorating Ideas

Although I don’t have a lot of money, I love to look at magazines and websites that showcase interior decorating. I like to fantasize about how beautiful my house could be “if only” I had plenty of money and the kind of family that wouldn’t break everything within two hours of the arrival of the items I had purchased! Today I was looking around at the domestications bedding section of a website that sells home and patio decor and was surprised to see that they were selling melamine serving ware for what I would consider a hefty sum of money!

I can remember when I first moved out of my parents’ house, my first set of dishes was melamine. I bought them because they were the least expensive set I could find. I was really pleased with them because they were not likely to chip or break, and they lasted a good long time. (I don’t remember whatever happened to them – did I donate them to charity?) Anyway, I was surprised to read the descriptions of these particular melamine products, how the descriptions said that melamine was highly valued for their durability. Made me wish I still had those plates (maybe they would be worth some serious money!)

But continuing to read the fine print about melamine, I saw that it is not recommended for use in the microwave, and that hand washing is recommended. The description said you could wash them in an automatic dishwasher but over time it would ruin the finish. Thinking about how almost all of my cooking is done in the microwave, and how much I use my dishwasher to wash my dishes, pots and pans, I was quite surprised to learn that there really is still a market for melamine dishware at all!

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Memorial Day garage sales

Around this area, Memorial Day weekend is the biggest yard, garage, estate and what ever type of sale one could ever want, weekend. I try to get up at the crack of dawn and get whoever is going with me around to be on the streets and roads by 8:00 am. It’s fun to make a girls day out of it. I’ve found though, lately my two sons have been wanting to come along. The problem with them going, is that they get tired of looking and road cruising, and then we have to take them back home.

This weekend, my daughters and I are planing on going to the sales and do some other shopping and errands that need to be done. It should be nice if the weather holds. Even if it doesn’t, I know of a lot of barn sales that are going on also. There are at least three flea markets we can hit that are inside, but with the temperatures staying on the warm side, it’s doubtful many garage sales or even tented sales will shut down.