Having to move

Thanks for the article from Rubin Osborne

Having to move wasn’t something that was in the cards for me but I’m really glad we did. It’s been a great way to force our family to come back together and at this age where the kids are both about to be teenagers it’s nice having something we can all go through together. I sure wish I had more of a hobby but sometimes I get online on the Satellite Star Internet in South Dakota during the day and talk to my sisters and stuff…my husband’s new job is working out well though and he really likes it which is good since it’s the whole reason we moved out here in the first place! It’s nice being able to find time to spend as a family and I know my kids will adjust just fine after a few more months so I’m just going to keep plugging ahead towards a new life for all of us here in South Dakota where we’re living!

Freecycle

I think Freecycle is great, but it has its limitations. We get (and give) some great stuff for free, but there are times when it can be aggravating. For example, when you are trying to negotiate a pickup or dropoff, the other party involved doesn’t seem to want to exchange telephone numbers, they simply state that they are leaving something by the curb for you to pick up at a certain time. But sometimes that certain time is simply impossible to meet, and when you send them an email about it to try to let them know (and renegotiate) they don’t always respond. So it can get quite frustrating!  And if you are trying to give something away and the person doesn’t show up to get it, and doesn’t call you to let you know that they aren’t coming (or got lost) or to renegotiate a different time, that is very frustrating as well!

Maybe they ought to develop a rating/ranking system like e-bay, where feedback is given.  I think that would make it a lot easier to use!

So very convenient

Every now and then I run into somebody who still spends hours on end writing checks out to pay their bills. Ever since my own bank offered Electronic Payments service (they call it Bill-pay) I signed up and have been delighted ever since! I don’t have to spend any time writing out the checks, so it saves me time. I don’t have to buy the blank checks, and I don’t have to buy stamps, so I save money. The Bill-pay is absolutely free, so it saves me time and money; how can you go wrong?

When I run into those people who say that they still do their bill paying by hand, I ask them why they don’t use their bank’s Bill-pay service. Sometimes they say that they don’t have a computer, or Internet service. Those folks tend to be senior citizens, so I can understand that. But the people that are my age or younger, when they say that they don’t own a computer, I really have to wonder why. I don’t get the impression that they are hard up for money. I wonder if they are afraid of computers!

The world is shrinking

One of the things that I really like about the Internet is how much smaller the world seems to be getting. For example, when my Aunt Susie moved to a different part of the country forty years ago she really had very little information about where she was moving to. She wrote to local chamber of commerce’s for help and information and they did send her materials but it was still a very difficult endeavour.

With the Internet at our fingertips in today’s world all of that information is available at the push of a button. For example if I wanted to live in Calgary for a year or two I could easily find a listing of houses for rent in Calgary, information about schools, restaurants, and local businesses in just a few moments time using my own computer and the Internet.

Getting housewares from flea markets

Guest post written by Lindsay Holt

I know that buying some of your house wares from a flea market can sound really sketchy. But when I say that I’m actually talking about getting things like dishes and coffee mugs. I love to have the eclectic look in my home, so that type of stuff really appeals to me. I can’t remember the last time that I had some matching dishes! But I like that.

There are a few things though that I like to look for while I’m buying these things. For one thing, I make sure that there aren’t any cracks or chips in the dishes. That’s very important. While I was looking online for some new markets and shops to check out for dishes like that, I ran across some cable and internet packages. After I looked through it a little bit, I decided to change over my home internet to one of them.

I have some really fantastic vases that I’ve picked up over the summer. One is this lime green transluscent one with a diamond pattern on it. It’s kind of kitschy, but just enough to make it work with the rest of my decor.