Category: Life

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An Engagement Ring Like None I’ve Ever Seen

With all of this wedding talk I realized I never said anything about Jill’s ring. It’s a beautiful scott kay ring. Her fiance really did a great job picking out a fantastic ring for her. He didn’t get her something that looks just like everybody else’s rings.

The band of her ring is not plain at all. It has carvings all along the sides of beautiful shapes that look almost like leaves. It’s very elegant. And, the mount is not plain either. It’s set in a giant circle of white gold that is further encrusted in a ring of 30 diamonds.What more could a girl ask for? It’s beautiful.

I wish I would have snapped a picture of it to share with you all. It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before. I can’t wait to see what they choose for their wedding bands. I didn’t ask him if he got a matching wedding band with the engagement ring or if they plan to get matching bride and groom wedding bands. I’m pretty sure no matter what they chose it will go very nicely with the gorgeous engagement ring he spent a while choosing for the woman he loves.

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Ruritan Community Service Clubs

When my friend Linda Bradshaw was talking about different ways to promote the Ruritan community service clubs she is involved with, we started talking about how she could buy a vendor table space at area vendor shows and create a display with a nice a custom printed tablecloth covered with brochures and flyers, and run a power point presentation on a laptop, or with a projector onto a screen. She’s really excited about her role as Lt Governor and Publicity Chair in the Rapidan Ruritan District of the community service club. I just hope that she gets some help with all of her good ideas and doesn’t end up burnt out from doing all of the work herself!

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My Best Friend Is Getting Married

My best friend, Jill, came over tonight for dinner. It was really great to catch up with her. She went home for the holidays and we haven’t got to spend much time together since before Christmas. We filled each other in on our New Year’s resolutions and updated each other with news from over the holidays.

Well, Jill had the biggest news of all. She is getting married and she asked me to be her maid or I guess matron of honor. I’m soo excited to help her plan her wedding. It’s not her first wedding but she has been divorced for 10 years and is starting over with an incredible man.

They want to have a big bash and invite all of their friends and family. Her first wedding was very small and just a few family members and very close friends. I think she wants to go all out and have a big giant party this time around.

I’ve been married now for 12 years myself. Some days it seems like we just got married yesterday and were sending out the wedding invitations. Other days it seems like we’ve spent more than an eternity together already.

I’m soo happy for Jill and Chris. I know it’s going to take a lot of planning and preparations, but that’s what best friends are for right?

 

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Online Book Club Using Audio Books

I recently thought about joining a book club. Well, now I’m thinking that would be great but it would also be great if I could listen to audio books online free. I would love to be able to the books as I’m doing other things at the same time like doing the dishes, folding laundry, or even sweeping and mopping.

I’m a busy mom and I have a lot on my plate. I’d like to be able to get in some reading and still take care of all my responsibilities. I’ll have to see what books I can find online and then maybe start a book club myself based on the books I find. I know I can’t be the only one out there that has the same dilemma that I do, and wants to be a productive mom and still get in some fun entertainment time. Audio books sound like the way to go. Pun intended.

Here’s an idea. Do any of you want to join a book club with me? We could do an online book club and check in with each other here or maybe in a Facebook group or something. Any suggestions on books we should read?

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Planes, trains, and automobiles

Guest post by my friend Linda Bradshaw

To be perfectly honest, I never saw the movie “Planes, trains, and automobiles.” I know it was a comedy from 1987, and I guess the reason why I never saw the movie was because I was too busy working full time, taking college courses at night, and raising two young children. But from what I understand, the movie is about a few people that started out as strangers that were thrown together by chance when their plane trip “home” for the holidays went awry. Misadventures and hilarity and cussing ensued.

Personally I have great empathy for people that have been having troubles with their travel plans. One time when I was scheduled to fly on an airline that was called “People’s Express” I had to fly from Washington DC to Newark NJ to catch a connecting flight to Portland ME. When I boarded the plane at Dulles I was assured that the connecting flight in Newark was “on time” so I was confident that all was going well. I had a baby with me, and I did not want to be stranded in Newark with a baby. Lo and behold, when I got to Newark I was informed that the connecting flight had been cancelled and I had to wait for five hours for the next flight. Let me just say that was the last time I ever flew on that People’s Express airline! And from that point on I called that airline “People’s Distress!”

Fortunately, I have had really good luck whenever I have used the US Airways airline company. Although there have been a few times when the flight was delayed for about thirty minutes, the airplane was usually able to make the arrival gate close to “on time.” That has always been important to me because I usually have friends or family waiting for me at the destination airport to pick me up and I don’t want them to have to wait for hours for a delayed flight to land. Especially at airports that are not set up with comfortable waiting areas for customers that are stuck there waiting for the delayed flights to arrive.

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Health Insurance

I don’t know about you, but I think that insurance is a very important thing to buy. Life insurance, automobile insurance, homeowner insurance, dental, vision, and health insurance. They are all very important things to have. So when Lucy told me that she didn’t have any health insurance for her, or her kids I was pretty passionate about encouraging her to contact a north carolina health insurance agent first thing Monday morning to get some price quotes on health insurance for her and her kids. I am a firm believer in insurance.

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Our Family’s New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year Sign
photo credit: katerha

Every New Year many across the world set new goals to achieve or habits to form over the next year to come. This year is no different, except for the fact that we’ve decided to work really hard to hold each other accountable for what we’ve decided to do.

My husband has decided that this year he wants to commit to exercising at least 3 times a week. He usually says he wants to get in better shape. This year he changed it up a tiny bit and is going to set up a routine. He told me that he wants to work out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning before work. He doesn’t think he would be very successful adding a day to the weekend because the weekends we are on a different schedule and he wants consistency.

For myself, I spoke to my husband and I think it would be really great for us to work out together. So, like my husband, I too and going to commit to exercising 3 days a week. I know that having an exercise buddy will help keep us on track and motivated. I can’t wait to see how we feel once we’ve been exercising on a regular basis. I’m excited to feel a difference.

My children have determined that they are going to work hard at listening to what my husband and I say and do what is asked of them without complaining. I’m skeptical about this one. I don’t know where this came from. I love my kids but this doesn’t sound normal. I guess I shouldn’t complain.

I’m excited to see what the new year will bring for all of us. What are your New Year’s resolutions?

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What’s For Christmas Dinner At Your House?

What was for Christmas dinner at your house? Is it a repeat of the meal you had for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago or is it something completely different? I guess another question I could ask is when if your holiday meal? Do you have it on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

In my family we have our holiday meal on Christmas day. We usually eat our meal in the mid afternoon around 3pm. We kind of do a copy cat version of everything we serve at Thanksgiving with the addition of ham. This year we had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, broccoli, peas, cheese sauce, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, and crescent rolls.

I know in some families they make tamales on Christmas. A family friend of mine does this and it’s a whole family process that all of the family participates in. I love tamales and would love to do this one year in our family. My neighbors always make a big giant lasagna on Christmas Eve for their holiday meal. That’s another holiday treat I would love to devour. Don’t get me wrong I love to have turkey but sometimes I wish we ate it stretched out over the year instead of all in November and December.

What did you have for your Christmas Dinner or holiday meal this year?

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Cute little gift

Jim has been dropping hints all school year that he wants a drum set for Joshua for a Christmas gift, and that he is hoping that the whole extended family will chip in a buy one for him. Most of the people in our family is completely ignoring him; they are tired of him expecting us to furnish his kids with presents every year while he gives our kids nothing! So this year I decided to buy one of the affordable cowbells at Musicians Friend and give that to Jim towards the drum set that he keeps talking about. I’ll smile sweetly and tell him that was all that I could afford, and that I hope it helps in some way to get him closer to the drum set that he wants. And I hope he doesn’t act indignant that I didn’t get him more.

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Giving Back to the Community

As a part of giving back to our community this year we have put together a few baskets to donate to families in need. We picked out a few toys to donate to children that don’t have any. We also did a culling of all of the toys in our home to make room for the new ones the kids will get for Christmas. We cleaned out three big bag fulls of toys to donate. The kids were happy to do it because we talk to them about how they can help others and make a difference even though they are so young still.

In addition to the toys we are donating, we’ve also put together food baskets and toiletries for men and women. I used coupons and got a large variety of health and beauty items for free or next to nothing. I always use these items to give to shelters. It seems silly not to take advantage of the sales when there are people in need that can use these things. Each toiletry basket has tooth brushes, tooth paste, body wash, deodorant, as well as a comb and a brush.

We’re taking everything to be donated this afternoon. We enjoy giving back to the community. How does your family or work give back the community you live in?