I’ve never understood the appeal of platform beds in a bedroom. I think that the only benefit is not having to dust under the bed! I think that is a huge waste of space! I’d much prefer a captain’s bed with storage units underneath, so I could use the area for storage.
Don’t get me wrong, I like contemporary furniture as much as the next person. And I really enjoy the sleek lines of modern bedroom furniture. But I’m also a very practical person who likes to utilize every square inch of space, and to simply seal all of that space off, well that’s just unthinkable to me!
I really like the local Barnes & Noble bookstore. That is one of my favorite places to shop for presents for my family. My mother, brother, and sister are all avid readers, and we always give books to each other for Christmas and birthdays. So I’m always pleased when I come across a great source for Barnes Noble coupons.
When my wife and I go to Barnes & Noble, we can easily kill several hours there, browsing all of the great bargain bin books. My wife is always on the look-out for new books on crafts and new cookbooks. Often she’ll take a few books over to one of the easy chairs and look through them to see if there are any good projects or recipes that she thinks she’ll actually use.
We’ve spent plenty of time looking through the CDs and tapes in the music section, too. Their children’s reading section is designed to appeal to children, to encourage them to stay and read. It reminds me more of a library than a bookstore. I wouldn’t expect a bookstore to encourage people to stay and read and relax, but the atmosphere there really does exactly that!
And I always love the smell of the coffee brewing in the coffee shop!
My wife has been on a mission to find comfortable shoes for at least the past year. She decided that a good place to shop for comfortable shoes would be a store that sells medical uniforms. After all, she reasoned, most of the people who work in the medical field and wear nursing uniforms are probably on their feet most of the day and have found the secret to comfortable shoes.
So she tells me that she is looking for a local place that sells nursing uniforms and medical scrubs and wants me to go with her to check out whether they have good comfortable shoes that she can wear to work. I agreed to go with her, but mainly to try to keep her from spending a fortune on ugly shoes!
It is funny how those all too familiar blue tarps really catch your eye, in people’s yards and on many trucks that are loaded with materials that can’t get wet. I personally have never liked the look of a blue tarp and I’m glad that they are now making them in different colors that aren’t as bright and gaudy looking. I mean really, if you have a bright green truck that you take pride in the way it looks, why would you want a bright blue tarp distracting from the way it looks.
Maybe I’m just a bit too picky, but I guess it’s just a thing with me. I much prefer a clear tarp, or a nice clean looking canvas tarp, they just look a bit more classy all the way around. Having access to the Internet you can even find numerous sites that offer custom made tarps that really look sharp. Next time I have a need to replace any of my tarps you can bet that I’ll be taking advantage of some of the good deals that I have seen online lately, much better than Home Depot, Lowes or Walmart has to offer, I can tell you that!
My wife and I are at the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to our decorating tastes. When we talk about redecorating, I’m always suggesting going with modern designs such as Minka Aire Ceiling Fans and lights by Hubbardton Forge or Artemide. I really love the clean and modern feel of their designs. My wife, however, prefers what she calls the “traditional” look.
Ever since I brought home and installed the super-modern ceiling fan in her studio, I don’t think she will ever let me shop for lights for our house again. She tried to act pleased, but I could tell that she was biting her tongue hard when she saw what I bought. I tell her that she just needs to think of our house as eclectic.
As much as I would love to be able to cruise the streets in a brand new bmw m5, my tax refund check wasn’t even being close enough to being hefty enough to afford that kind of vehicle, yet. My refund check was a good one this year and I have been doing a ton on research online ever since I sent in all the paperwork to the I.R.S back in March. At first I was pretty much dead set on purchasing a Subaru, whether its was a subaru legacy or a subaru outback, that took some time to figure out which would be the best choice for my needs and wants. I even went to a local Subaru dealership and took some test drives on several of their models that they had on the lot. They were some sweet vehicles, I can tell you that!
After talking up the Subarus with friends and family these past couple of months, I kept being told how great the toyota land cruiser is so I took the time to check into that make and model of Toyota. The Car Connection has a great website that made the whole process a much easier task to take on. The Internet sure makes things a lot easier when looking for a large purchase such as this. I remember the days of having to drive from dealership to dealership, in and out of town in order to find the perfect vehicle, what a long and painful process that was. I’m glad that I didn’t have to deal with numerous car salesmen in order to get all the information that I needed this time around!
Isn’t she a pretty looking SUV? She is big and she is powerful with her V-8 under the hood that will be sporting a nice denim blue color paint job on her.
One of the challenges of living here in Maine is maintaining our rural mailboxes. In the winter, many mail boxes are struck by snow plows as the plows are clearing the roads of snow and ice. And when that happens, the boxes don’t just lean over a little bit, they are usually completely knocked down. When that happens, the rural mail carrier cannot deliver the mail to those Residential Mailboxes. So then the poor sap has to go to the Post Office to pick up their mail.
There have been times when I’ve gone to a Fair and seen a few vendors who try to sell snow-plow proof mailboxes. Their products do look like they could withstand the snow plow, but they are expensive. I have not seen any of them on any of the roads that I drive down yet. I think that most folks around here would rather gamble on their boxes not getting hit than spend the extra money on a plow-proof box.
The annual Lobster boat races are supposed to be held tomorrow in Boothbay Harbor Maine. I’ve never gone to see one of those races, but my wife suggested that we might enjoy a day trip to Boothbay Harbor this summer, and I think going to the races would be a good time to go.
I always enjoy browsing through the shops for a few hours, and then having a lobster dinner at a Boothbay Harbor Restaurant. There is nothing quite as good as having lobster on the coast after a day of watching the many yachts and boats in the marina. I like to fantasize about being as wealthy as the folks who own some of those magnificent yachts. I know it will never happen, but a guy can dream, can’t he?
I’m always amazed when I hear about a friend of mine that passed away. I’m not that old, yet it seems that every few months someone else that I know has passed away. Some from illness, some from accidents. Fortunately for their families, most of them have good life insurance policies to help their loved ones to keep their lives intact.
My wife and I have been reviewing our coverage and have been thinking about getting some term life insurance quotes. The economic times are still too shaky for either one of us to feel comfortable without that safety net. In addidition to funeral insurance I want to get mortgage insurance. If something happens to either one of us, I don’t want the other one to lose the house. That would truly be devestating!
Getting older changes a whole lot of different things. I have started to notice that my taste in the clothes that I have been wearing is changing. I no longer prefer to wear my blue jeans day in and day out. They just don’t seem to fit the way that they used to and they don’t feel comfortable as they did back in the day. I never thought that I would not feel right in a pair of Levi’s, but that is now the case. I’ve taken to looking for pants with elastic waist bands that will allow my stomach some much needed freedom. Getting a thicker waist in life is inevitable and my time has come to have to deal with that issue, sigh….
At Blair.com I’ve found some pretty decent deals on their men’s elastic waist pants. I enjoy shopping online, I’ve never been the type that enjoys going shopping, especially for clothes. So online shopping is definitely the way to go for people like me. There are always good deals to be found and since I’m on the computer so much it is ever so convenient and really works for me. I think more and more people are shopping online throughout the year, not only during the Christmas holiday season.
Since this is supposed to be a really hot summer this year, I’m looking into finding some shorts with the elastic waist band. Hot legs was a good rock song back in the 80′s but having hot legs in the heat of the summer really sucks and not my idea of a good time at all, so I enjoy being able to wear shorts during the summer.
Thinking of placing an order with Blair.com when I get my next pay check. I’ll let you know how it all pans out.
I’ve noticed over the years that I have been able to pick out lots of people who wear contact lenses. I know that they wear them because they don’t want to wear glasses, and I can understand that. But a lot of people who wear the contact lenses sometimes have an irritated look around their eyes. I guess I really can’t describe it; I just seem to know. It makes me think that they are not wearing the right kind, or maybe they aren’t keeping them clean. Perhaps these are the folks who should consider changing to disposable contact lenses.
When I think of th hassle of keeping contacts clean, then buying daily disposable contact lenses make a lot of sense – you don’t have to sanitize them, you just put a new pair on every day and then throw them away.
There is no doubt about it – presbyopia has reared its ugly head in our family. My poor wife has had to correct her vision from single to multifocal and then progressive over the past couple of years. In the past her eye doctor told her that if she wanted to wear contact lenses for distance, she would still need reading glasses. So she said that she is reading almost all day, every day, so what’s the point? My sister tells me that she just heard that there are multifocal contact lenses available on the market now. I’m going to suggest that my wife ask her eye doctor about them! I know she’s tired of wearing glasses!
I don’t know which I hate the most – black flies or mosquitoes! They both will annoy me to no end! May is beautiful, but it is tempered with the aggravation of black flies. I’ve found, though, that if I try to do my work outdoors in the cool of the morning that they don’t bother me. Black flies like the hotter part of the day. Only rarely do the actual biting hurt me – it’s the swarming around the head that drives me crazy! I’ve tried a variety of insect repellents, and I think that the Deep Woods Off does the best all-around job for ticks, biting flies, and mosquitoes. I also like Ben’s 100, but I haven’t seen that in a spray that I can apply on my clothes.
My wife says that all of the repellents give her skin a chemical burn so she wears the netted hats and long sleeves when she has to be outside. Sometimes I forget that the chemicals burn her and I’ll give her a hug and a kiss; before I know it she is running to the sink to wash off the area that we touched because she says her skin is burning! It must be tough to have that kind of skin sensitivity!
It is good to know that there are options out there for folks that are “in the know” or take time to look around a bit online to find products and services at good prices. I don’t know what I’d do without the Internet. Hard to imagine life back in the 70′s and 80′s without the World Wide Web incorporated into our daily lives, as it is for so many of us these days.
The economy has been making life way too stressful for way too many of us. It is all about the money these days (or the lack there of) and how to make the best out of a bad situation. Having Internet access puts a lot of power at our finger tips and the paper version of the “Yellow Pages” will be out of business in the next decade do to the Internet. It is so much easier to Google “eyeglasses” then to find the Yellow Pages, find the correct section and then try and find a local place that sells good quality, but affordable, eyeglasses to check out.
Zenni Optical is a well known online retailer of low cost eye wear. They have complete eyeglasses that start at $8 and shipping is always $4.95 each order. Every pair of glasses that are sent out are fully UV protected, come with a hard case and a cleaning cloth as well. That is a great deal that would be hard to beat anywhere, check them out if you have the need for some new glasses.
Post Regarding Zenni
I’m always surprised when I go to the nursery and see the huge selection of fiberglass planters that are available on the market today. Fiber glass planters seem to becoming very popular recently, and I can see why. A fiberglass planter can be made to look like it was made from any kind of material, but the fiber glass planter is generally more durable and lightweight.
They are also easy to maintain. They don’t rot or rust. And if you want to alter their appearance in some way (like decorative paint on them) if you feel creative, they are easy to paint. Since they are not as porous as clay, the plants inside don’t need to be watered as often, yet they can look like clay. I think that using fiber glass in this way is a stroke of genius! I wish I’d thought of it and patented the concept myself!
OK, I know that pets really aren’t people, but our family loves our pets just as much as if they were actual people. We are very careful to pick out the best dog care products on the market because we want our dogs to live a good, long time. There is a lot of emotional investment in those guys, and we don’t enjoy the process of saying good-bye to them at the end of their lives.
Our kids have tried their hands at a variety of small pets, such as hamsters and gerbils. I don’t know why, but they didn’t have very good luck with them. They seemed to get sick and die very quickly. I don’t know if we used the wrong cleaning products on their cages, or what, but they seemed to die right off. After about six tries with them, we gave up. It got too traumatic for the kids to keep losing their little pets.
One of my favorite products for cat care is the self-cleaning automatic litter box. It was an expensive product to buy, but well worth the investment. We found that by lining the disposable trays with plastic shopping bags, the trays lasted for several months at a time. This was my wife’s idea, and I think it was a really smart one!
By this time next month I will have completed my 2 year obligation with my current cell phone provider. I am going to start looking around to find another provider who will give me a better deal, better reception and a new phone. I know of several websites that allow you to compare the current provider’s plans to see which one will suit my needs for the next year or two. But I also need to compare the coverage maps too! I don’t want to get stuck with a contract for a phone that doesn’t have good coverage! Where I live, I don’t know anyone who has a cell phone with great coverage. Must be because of all of the hills and valleys.
I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about the new contact lens technology that I’m considering urging my wife to go back to the eye doctor to talk about getting a prescription for the latest contact lenses. She tried wearing contacts back in the early 1980′s and had really bad luck with them. Her astigmatism was really bad, which made it hard for her to remove the lenses. And the floated around on her eyes, which was painful, and made her eyes water and her nose run constantly. She tried them for a couple of years but gave them up when she got pregnant because the doctor advised her not to wear them while she was pregnant. After the baby was born she just didn’t have the time to fool with them, so she gave up.
But now I’m thinking that with the new contact lens technology, she probably can go to the soft lenses which would be a lot less painful to wear. Although I don’t know if she would have the stomach to do what needs to be done to remove them. She gets really weird about her eyes – she can’t even put eyedrops in by herself!
I forgot to mention that while I was flea marketing over the weekend, I found out that one of my favorite markets will be closing down soon. It seems that something happened to the owner and now the whole deal is up for sale. What a bummer, it is a great market that has been around for a very long time. I always enjoy the people that I meet there and have found some really good pieces from time to time.
I have a niece who will be celebrating her 4th birthday in May. Her parents are putting together a great shindig for the occasion. The weather should be great by then, so they are planning on having the party outside. Pony rides, a clown and a Moon Bounce are all ready lined up and ready to go. We have a large family, so I’m sure that there will plenty of people attending.
I have turned to the Internet to find a Dollhouse for her, if I can’t find one that I think will be appropriate I look at the selection of Ride On Toys that are so readily available these days. You can’t seem to go wrong with something like that. We all enjoy being mobile at times. The days of the Classic Kid Toys are gone as far as I can tell. But that is OK with me, I just want the kid to have a good time and be happy for years to come.
Maybe one day I’ll have a nephew that I can buy Action Figures for. Now that I can get into. So I guess I need to get busy and start looking online for some good deals to take advantage of; May will be here in no time!