Tag: holiday

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Time Honored Family Traditions

I have to admit that the holiday season’s are still pretty tough for me considering that I am living at the homestead and farm that we all grew up on and our parents were running up until they passed away several years ago now. It is just me here, all though I have a ton of relatives that live close by. All of those holiday traditions are the hardest. My eldest sister and her family all try so very hard to keep most of these traditions alive and are always there for me each and every day and they go the extra mile during the holidays.

I haven’t spend a full Christmas day here at the house yet. So far I go over to my sister’s house and spent Christmas eve with them and spend the night there so that I can be there to see the kids eyes when they come down the stairs early Christmas morning. Then I am there dealing with the kids while my sister is busy in the kitchen preparing all the holiday foods for that evenings Christmas meal that she has taken over from my mom, with the rest of the family is on the road on their way to her house and the place gets filled up quickly through out the day.

One of the holiday traditions that we now have is going over to the family cemetery to pay our respects to our parents and all the other members of the family that are there with them as well.

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Dozens of Reviews

Afters looking at over a dozen different online reviews and music stores I have decided a Martin 12 String Acoustic guitar would be a great birthday/Christmas present for my nephew this year. He has been using an old beat up guitar that his father found for him at a flea market years ago and I think it’s time that he had a nicer acoustic guitar to play on. He is a good kid and if strumming a guitar keeps him busy and out of trouble then so be it!

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Nady-HM-10U Headset Mic

With the Nady HM-10U being marked down to such a decent price, as well as getting the headset without having to pay for shipping and handling, just makes sense to go ahead order it. My nephew has his 13th birthday coming up next month and I think, no I know, that he would be thrilled with this gift idea that I have managed to come up without having to do much asking around and/or digging.

I hope the look on his face when he opens this gift, will be an exciting one. Hopefully it will be a Kodak moment that could possibly be captured by someone with all the cell phones and iPads, that everyone has on their person most of the time.

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My Dream – A Gibson Les Paul

As much as I would like to think that on one of these Christmas mornings that I would wake up and find the awesome Gibson guitar that I have been drooling over for some time now, I don’t think that it will happen. First of all it is only me here at the farm, second is I don’t put up a Christmas tree anymore since it is only me here and third – no one has a clue that I would love to be able to play the guitar.

I have always wanted to play the guitar. I used to beg my parents to buy me a guitar, telling them that I didn’t need for them to pay for guitar lessons, that I would learn to play it on my own, it never came to be, which I never really understand. I come from a very musical family and if I couldn’t figure out how to play it on my own I would like to think that one or more of my relatives would certainly take the time to teach me a few things. Alas it never happened and most likely it never will as there really isn’t a lot of extra money for such luxuries these days and it doesn’t look like that will be changing anytime soon due to our lovely government and the election that just took place. But that is a subject for another time.

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Summer Vacations

A few close friends and I were talking a few months back about taking a summer vacation together, to spend a week or so relaxing, having fun and bonding. The idea got me so excited considering I haven’t actually taken a vacation in about four years now.

We never really talked about the subject too much afterwards until I had brought it up at a backyard cookout we all attended together about month later. I’m very happy that it was brought up at the time because our friend’s mother that was hosting the cookout had over heard our conversation about our interest in a much needed get a way for the summer. She recommended a site that she told us offers some unforgettable summer experience options.

I took a look at it on my iPad that I had brought with me, and found that planning this vacation that we wanted so ever badly, was going to be easier then we all had thought. Not only was it easy but the site had found the absolute cheapest prices compared to others. I’m looking forward to our time together doing something we never thought we would do in our lifetime and am eager to treat myself to an awesome time with my closest friends. You can bet that we will be taking a boatload of pictures to share with friends and family.

vacationing in the summer months
Summer Time Vacations
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Happy New Year

I wish you a safe and happy New Year to you and yours. Let’s hope that next year will be a much better one for everyone, every where. Gotta get used to writing 2014 everywhere now.

Happy New Year 2014
Have a Safe and Happy New Year

 

 

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Burlap For The Dining Room Table

One of the many touches that my mother had around the old homestead was the amount and usage of burlap. In just about any of the rooms in this house had something burlap in it. Some people collect unicorns, but my mother collected many things. One of them being burlap.

I came across a fitted faux washable burlap tablecloth on line this morning and it took everything that I had not to immediately order one. I mean the price was right and I do believe that it would great on the dining room table, but I have bigger things and items that are waiting for me to get around to.

I have bookmarked the site for further reference. Who knows maybe if I put it on my Christmas wish list, I just might find it under the Christmas tree this year. It might help if I tell people that is one of the items that I would love to receive. Lord knows I don’t need any cookies, candies, slippers or a new tie! Burlap would be wonderful compared to some of the yearly presents that are purchased and given with out any thought or consideration.

 

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Med Students

My neighbor called this morning in a panic and asked if I could please drive her and her teen-aged daughter to the hospital. She didn’t want to call an ambulance, but she had no transportation until her husband got home late tonight with the family car. Of course I agreed to drive her. Her daughter looked very pale and sweaty and I was very concerned for her health. I suspected heat exhaustion – but it could have been something even worse.

We got o the hospital quickly and without incident and I helped them get in the ER entrance. She asked me to not bother staying at the hospital – she just need the ride to get there. That is not the way I was raised – I felt a duty to go inside and make sure she would be treated and taken care of – not just drop someone off and drive away. I don’t care how many white lab coat doctors, med students and nurses were milling about – I needed to know that she would be seen.

It has been a couple of years since I’ve even seen a lab coat or pair of scrubs anywhere. Thankfully I’ve been healthy and not been around hospitals much. In fact, the last time I saw anyone in scrubs is when I went online and ordered a Halloween costume for my nephew, who wanted to go trick or treating dressed as a med student flunky, with fake blood smeared all over his shirt and gloves.

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New York Flower Delivery

Normally I would ask one my sisters for her assistance with the ordering of flowers. These days there is no excuse for me not to be able to tend to this task myself right online. No more calling around blindly asking for price ranges and verbal descriptions for the available arrangements by the numerous florists found in the local phone book. Within a matter of minutes you can have all that information put right before your eyes to feast and ponder on.

There are deals to be found online. Petercooperflowershop.com is offering free delivery for all online orders and has low prices, no service fees, and same day service as well. Since they live in the upper part of New York, using a local New York Flower Delivery only makes sense.

Our great aunt and great uncle are soon to be celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary and I think that sending them a nice arrangement of flowers will do quite nicely. My great aunt’s favorite color is purple and I’ve found the perfect flowers that I’m looking forward to putting a smile on her face for and on their special day. It is too bad that my parents aren’t around to help celebrate this huge anniversary with all of us. I know my mother was very tight with Aunt Pearl back in the day. I consider this $45 to be money worth spending on this particular celebration.

purple love and laughter for under $45
Love and Laughter

 

 

 

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The Learning Of Using The Right Tools For Marketing

It is surprising to find that there are so many businesses that aren’t utilizing all that the Internet and other modern technologies that are so important to check out and use. I kn ow that the computer can be intimidating, especially with so many senior citizens that didn’t grow up with anything like what we use almost on a daily basis for work and personal use.

It really took a lot of effort for me to get my Aunt Dottie to understand Mobile Advertising and Mobile Marketing for her small business that she and my uncle are trying so hard to hold onto since the economy went all crazy on us over 6 years ago. It is a mail and packaging store that they have put all their time and energy into since finding themselves retired and nothing to do to keep them busy and hopefully help with their finances that is most of the time a concern when someone retires and doesn’t have close friends or family to help along the way.

Once she took a course at their local community center that offers senior citizens classes on how to understand and to use their computers, she was like a kid in a candy store! Right now they are working on utilizing Mobile Coupons that they hope will help generate some business to tide them over until the Christmas holidays start. That is their busiest time of the year with so many people mailing gifts all over the world. They even have to hire someone part-time for the month of December it gets so busy. It’s just too bad that they only have one good month out of the year while the rest of the months they find themselves desperate for business.