My wife and I have entirely different tastes in furniture. I really enjoy the looks of modern furniture; my wife prefers traditional. It has been very interesting to see how eclectic our house looks with the mix and match furnishings that are in each room. At least I know one thing is for sure, if we split up we wouldn’t have many arguments over the furniture; I’d get all of the modern stuff, the platform beds and the wide screen tv. She’d get everything else.
It’s funny to see the expression on her face when I bring something new home that I want to put in the house. She doesn’t want to hurt my feelings because she sees how excited I am about my “find.” But I can tell by the way she pauses before speaking and the expression on her face that she really doesn’t want what I brought home. I wonder if I’m acting out some passive aggressive feelings when I do that!
I’m really looking forward to the party we’re planning to have this Labor Day weekend. Over the past several months we’ve lined up a DJ and a professional belly dancer to entertain our guests, bought several canopy tents, new Barbecue tools and cleaned up and tuned up the propane grill that we bought last year.
My wife bought a new outdoor swing that has an awning over the top of it and cup holders in the arms. She’s been wanting one of those for a few years now, and was using the party as an excuse to buy it. I wasn’t very happy about it at the time, but it sure is more comfortable than the folding chairs we’ve been using the past few years.
Now the countdown begins. I’m looking forward to a great time!
I can’t seem to get away from folks trying to pressure me into signing up with either Face Book or My Space. My social life is fine and I have enough to do rather than dealing with all that is involved with maintaining such an account. I hear good things about these sites, but I think I’ll still pass on them for now.
I have a few friends that are long time members of the local Elk’s Lodge #1870 which is in town, not too far from home. They have been on a recruiting mission these past few years trying to bring their membership up and to get some new blood in the organization as well. I have a lot of respect for civic organizations, I just never got caught up in all what goes along with becoming a member. But maybe the time has come for me to step up to the plate and get a bit more involved with our community. Me, the wife and the kids plan on living here for quite some time to come and I would enjoy the benefits that would come our way due to my involvement.
I’ll keep you posted.
I think that Seiko Automatic Watches would make great college graduation gifts! I can remember how grown up I felt when I got my very first watch. I was quite young, but my father gave it to me along with a speech about how time flies and how time is more valuable than money. I never really understood that until I got a lot older. But now that I AM older I think that giving a really nice watch as a graduation gift really would be fitting – a reminder of how valuable time really is, and how little of it we have to enjoy the gifts of life, love, and laughter.
When I was a kid, I really didn’t like hard boiled eggs. At all. I did not even like fried eggs where the yolk was hard. (Still don’t!) Yet I love devilled eggs! And egg salad sandwiches! Seems to me that if I liked devilled eggs and egg salad sandwiches, that I’d like hard boiled eggs as well! I was thinking about that this morning as my wife was boiling some eggs (to make devilled eggs) and I was trying to figure out why that was so.
After all, the major difference is that a little bit of mayo or salad dressing is mixed in. Maybe a touch of mustard. Then it came to me – I don’t like plain hard boiled eggs because they are so dry! I need that little bit of extra moisture! Whew – another one of the nagging mysteries solved!
My friend Candy and her hubby moved to Arizona about seven years ago. They moved to Arizona because they thought that the climate would be better for her hubby’s health. We keep in touch by email, which is nice. She was telling me that she was going to have some body sculpting done at a local sono bello center to have a Velashape procedure done to remove the cellulite on her thighs. She’s been self-concious about her legs for years! I hope she is happy with the results!
One of my wife’s best ideas ever was to buy my father a couple of Mayweather boxing tickets for the big fight coming up in March in Las Vegas. I know that Dad and Mom have been wanting to go to Las Vegas for a second honeymoon for a long time now, and we think that this is a good time for them to finally take it. Now we’re trying to get them a good rate on a nice place to stay and make up an itinerary for the rest of their travel arrangements. Dad has been a big boxing fan for as long as I can remember, and he’s really excited about the trip and the match!
My wife has asked me what my New Year’s resolutions are going to be. I don’t have any, do you? I haven’t made any resolutions in years. I don’t mean to sound vain and imply that I am so perfect that I can’t improve. … I’m saying that I’ve never been able to keep a New Year’s resolution, so why bother with the facade of making them knowing full well that I won’t have the willpower to keep them? I just keep on doing the best that I can, being the best I can be. I don’t think it is fair for anyone to expect more of me than that!
I”ve noticed that my wife has a large collection of broken watches. Now to be honest, some of them are not really broken, they are in her jewelry box with dead batteries. I asked her why she doesn’t replace the batteries in them and wear them and her answer has been that the replacement battery cost more than the watch did! And then she explains that she just can’t bring herself to throw them away.
She always has been one to keep things beyond their useful life. Sometimes that frustrates me, sometimes I think that’s a good thing! Maybe she’d be tossing me out the door too! I know there are times she thinks I’m past my useful life!
For our next wedding anniversary I’d like to buy her a really nice seiko diamond watch. She deserves to have a watch that isn’t a “throwaway” watch like the rest of the watches that her brothers, sisters, and parents have given her over the years. I’d like to buy her one that is nice enough to wear when we go out someplace nice, but not so fancy that she can’t wear it every day. I’d like for her to think of me whenever she looks at it. And I’d like for her to consider that our time together has been time well spent.
Today is Black Friday, but I cannot bring myself to go out and brave the crowds at the stores. Being pushed and shoved by the throngs of women desperate to get the best deal lost its appeal to me long ago! But at the table last night Mom hinted to me that Dad needs a new pair of golf shoes for their vacation coming up in a few months. She thinks that they would make a fine Christmas gift for Dad this year. Mom is always asking me to buy Dad’s shoes for her because we wear the exact same size shoes.
Sometimes that is a convenience, sometimes it is an inconvenience. It’s really convenient when I need a pair of dress shoes and don’t want to go buy a pair because I know that Dad has several pairs just sitting in his closet. On the other hand, however, there have been several times when Dad has asked me to lend him my best sneakers for a weekend and when they get returned they are completely ruined! I try to be very respectful and careful of his shoes when I borrow them; I am beginning to think that he doesn’t realize just how expensive casual shoes are nowadays!
My niece and her fiance have been looking at a apartment. They haven’t signed the lease yet, but they are pretty sure which apartment they are going to be taking, and now they need some furniture to put in it! They’ve been asking other family members for hand-me-down home furnishings to help them out, and they are getting quite a bit of luck with that, but there are still a few items that they are going to be needing!
I’ve also suggested that they check out the local thrift stores and freecycle, but there are a few items that they want to get brand new. I’ve suggested that they go to some local furniture stores and see what they like before buying something online. I’d like to make sure that the brand that they get is going to be comfortable and well-made. I’d hate for them to buy something sight unseen and then be upset because it is not the quality or comfort level that they want to have!
My family has always invested in several different ways. In addition to stocks and bonds, they have always put some money aside in silver bullion and gold bullion. We’ve always felt that by spreading the money around a little bit we don’t run the risk of losing all of our money. Don’t get me wrong, we are not wealthy people by any means. We just try to have a nest egg in case we need it! And by putting some of our nest egg money in gold and silver, we think that is a good way to ensure that if and when we need money we can cash in whichever makes the most sense at the time!
I also think that gold coins are a good investment. Bullion is fine, but I also like the coins. My father got me started in investing in the precious metals on my 18th birthday by giving me a gold coin as one of my birthday gifts. And he gave each of our kids a gold coin on the day they were born, too. Naturally I keep all of those in a safe deposit box! Although pretty to look at, I don’t want to risk losing them!
Bill loves the rodeo, and he has been encouraging me to go to a rodeo with him. But not just any rodeo – he wants to go to the Houston Rodeo next March. Naturally he wants to tie it into a family vacation so we all go down for several days and include the rodeo as part of the vacation. He says he can get the best Action RodeoHouston tickets online for all of us. He explained to me that the Action seats are the ones where the audience get the closest possible to the ringside action without actually becoming part of the show themselves!
I’ve always marvelled at the skills of the rodeo participants. It’s hard to tell which event is my favorite. I enjoy watching the skills of the contestants in the roping contests; I’ve always wanted to learn how to rope! But I think that the bull riding contest has to be the most exciting because I just cannot even imagine being in the right frame of mind to climb on top of a bull who is intent on getting you off of him as fast as possible!
I’d also really enjoy going to see one of the concerts after the rodeo. I went online to see what concerts are lined up, and I guess it is too early right now to make that decision because there are a lot of performances still to be announced.
Ealier today I noticed a couple of very large wasps nests in a stand of trees about forty feet away from our back yard deck! These seem to be at least as large as a football! My wife asked me if a wasp spray would reach them to kill the wasps. I told her that I just wanted to shoot them down with a shotgun! My wife thought that might not be a very smart idea, thinking that would rile them up and I’d get stung. I assured her that the wasps had all vacated the nest for the winter. She asked me where do they go? I have to admit that I don’t know! That would be an interesting thing to google and learn about!
My sister Julie tells me that she wants to take advantage of the Accor Hotels 3-Day Super Sale Asia Pacific to take a vacation to Japan. She’s always been fascinated by Japan, and all things Japanese. Her entire house is decorated with Japanese motif, and her gardens are done in the Japanese style. She has even taken Japanese language classes!
So when she found out that she could get a bargain on hotel rooms because of this super sale she jumped right on it. She asked me if I wanted to join her, but I can’t get away from work on such short notice. So she is going to go with our other sister Sherri.
I’m glad that she has the chance to go and fulfill a travel dream of hers. And I’m glad that Sherri is going to go with her. I get nervous just thinking about one of my sisters traveling to a foreign country alone!
So for now I’m busy trying to help them find a good deal on plane tickets to get them to Japan for their vacation. After all, what good is a bargain hotel room if you can’t get a decent air fare? I have to admit that her excitement is contagious; I’m a little bit jealous that I can’t go with them!
When I was younger my father took the whole family to a local rodeo one hot summer’s afternoon. I’ve always been fascinated with everything rodeo – from the trick riding to the roping to the bronc-busting and bull riding! I loved watching the rodeo clowns do their work, too. Those rodeo clowns work hard to help make sure that everyone is as safe as possible – and they are grossly under-appreciated (in my opinion, anyway!)
I’ve never tried my hand at roping anything, although I’ve always thought it would be really great to learn how to rope. I just never even knew of a place to go to learn how to rope! My own attempts to self-teach were totally laughable! Phil called me the other day and told me that he was given four Houston Rodeo concert tickets and asked us if we’d like to join him and Angela on a short little vacation trip to the rodeo! I sure would love to go, but we need to find out if we can get the time off of work before we say yes. It sure sounds like a wonderful trip!
Knowing how much my wife loves horses, I would be really surprised if she said she didn’t want to go. I hope she can get the time off from work!
My brother has been telling me that he wants to open a catering business in his town. He thinks that there is a strong market for it because there are a lot of “high end” businesses that he thinks that will use his services. So he’s been looking at ways to advertise his new business and was thinking about using the justclicklocal.com website. So I went to the website to check it out for myself. I saw that the website can be used to find just about any kind of product or service anywhere in the country. For example, I can find a dog walker in Miami FL, a dentist in Pittsburg PA or an auto mechanic in Charlotte, NC just by typing in the keywords and location!
So, just to try it out, and to help him out I was looking around the site some more and found that he could list his business for free! I thought it seemed easy enough to do. So I recommend that you give it a try yourself if you are looking for a local business, or want to advertise your own – give this site a chance!
Pumpkin patch time! Today we went to the local pumpkin farm to pick out our pumpkin. They were giving free hayrides and selling hot apple cider. The kids went a little crazy trying to pick out their pumpkins. I told them that they could each pick out a pumpkin for themselves and then we would bring them home and decorate them with markers. We will be decorating them tomorrow!
Today is my baby sister’s birthday! She’s had a rough year, adjusting to life with her daughters after her hubby passed away. I’m glad that she’s finally started to date! I hope this coming year is full of love and laughter for her; she deserves it!
General life, Home and Garden, Relationships, Shopping | Dean | 
September 2, 2010 10:41 pm | 
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