Category: Here And There

DEAL ALERT - Great Power Gadget For The Traveler

buycom philips travel power strip

My parents travel all of the time. Both of them almost always have at least one laptop with them when they travel, sometimes two. On the occasions where I travel with them we’ve had three laptops. As you can imagine that could lead to a shortage of electrical outlets in the room. We all use our laptops differently. Two of us will try going on battery power but as you know, that doesn’t last forever. I found a nice deal on a Philips travel outlet strip that would be perfect for our family.

What I like about this design is that everything folds and wraps into itself, taking up the least room possible in your laptop case or suitcase. The 10 inch cord wraps around the edges of the strip, allowing you to use as much or as little of it as you need to reach the outlet. My very favorite feature is that the plug swivels, allowing the strip to be used lying flat like a traditional surge strip or plugged into the wall like a traditional plug. This would be the perfect stocking stuffer for my father.

The Philips 3 Outlet Travel Strip regularly sells for $18.99. It’s currently on sale for $5.99 and it qualifies for free shipping with orders of $25.00 or more.

Jun 15, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

The Toolman Strikes Again

tim toolman taylor

A few years back we decided to get TJ a stereo for his room. Being the man he is, RB went out and found a great deal on one and picked it up. What I didn’t know until after it had been brought home and installed was that it was a powerful unit. Powerful as in loud. I told RB that TJ didn’t need anything quite that powerful in his tiny room in our small house but he wasn’t hearing any of that. See, when it comes to music RB is like Tim Taylor. More Power! RB connected the system so that TJ could hear everything through it, from television to Xbox 360 games. After that we had about two years where we could hear every sound coming from our sons room. The first time TJ was talking online while playing a video game was very strange for me because I heard more than one voice but only saw my son. Anyway. About a month ago we were informed that something wasn’t working correctly. RB checked it out and said that the system was working but that one component had broken.

Money’s tight so I figured we wouldn’t be replacing anything soon. After all, it was working. For my husband that wasn’t enough. He announced he had an idea and disappeared elsewhere in the house. He reappeared ten minutes later with a component from the system that he used in his last band. He swapped that for the broken component. Now everything is working again. Working and louder. The Toolman strikes again!

May 18, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Me And My Dolly

chair moving dolly

Yesterday I was on the couch most of the day, unable to move. You see, we spent the weekend helping my brother, LB2, move out of his apartment. He had a lot of stuff, considering it was only a one bedroom apartment that he’d only been in for one year. We’d arranged to get a truck from the storage place where he was storing his things. When we got there the truck was already out. Not having time to waste, we went to Home Depot and rented one of their trucks. The great move was on.

First out was the big furniture – couch, loveseat, bed, dressers, etc. My brother thought it would be easier if we used the freight elevator in his building. What the rest of us didn’t know is that it was about 180 degrees opposite his apartment. There were two looooooooooooong hallways we had to go down for each trip to that elevator. While the guys moved the big things I moved boxes. There were boxes on top of boxes. It took under a minute to realize we’d neglected to get a handtruck to move the boxes. I improvised and used my brother’s computer chair. That helped with the carrying but not with the temperature. The hallways were as hot as a greenhouse. I was there for almost six hours before I had to go home. I walked what felt like miles, pushing my chair full of boxes. I came home and collapsed on the couch – every muscle in my body was aching. The guys (RB, LB2 and LB3) were up there for a good fours hours more and they were sore too.

The apartment has the bulk of LB2’s things out of it. There is one larger trip or several smaller trips worth left, depending on whose vehicle is used. Then we get a break until he moves into his new place in the near future.

Do you have any funny moving stories? What would you use if you didn’t have a handtruck or dolly?

May 17, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

Bouncy Bouncy!

trampoline enclosure

Kids seem to always want to bounce. I don’t blame them, bouncing can be fun. Young kids seem to always be jumping on the bed. From time to time we still catch CJ trying to jump on the bed, usually in our bedroom. Somewhere in childhood the trampoline becomes popular. It’s certainly sturdier than a bed, don’t you agree? Trampolines can be a lot of fun. One of my clearest memories from childhood is going to a place full of trampolines while vacationing in Louisiana. You could pay by the hour and just bounce to your heart’s content. The latest thing rising in popularity are bounce houses. My boys love them and would love to have one in our yard. I wouldn’t mind putting some music outside and going on one myself and bouncing around if we had one. The activity would help burn calories and would be healthier than sitting around. Do your kids like to bounce? What’s their favorite place to bounce?

May 15, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

Shopping For Savings, Mom Style

clearance sale banner

My Mom has always been a careful, frugal shopper. She only buys things when they are on sale. She gets to know the sales patterns in the stores, and sometimes the sales people, so she’ll know in advance when items she wants to buy are going to be marked down. When she finds something that she really likes she’ll buy multiples of it. I’ve seen her buy tops and pants of the same style in six colors.

Another thing she does to save money is buy ahead. She has even been known to buy seasons, on occasion even a year, in advance. She doesn’t only do this for herself, she shops for everyone this way. When my two youngest brothers were in high school she got them suits and even a tux, saving hundreds on rental fees for the proms they went to. My Dad and my brother LB2 tend to go to a lot of dress functions so she’s always got her eyes open for clearance men’s shirts. She’s always got an extra so if someone else in the family needs a shirt she can probably help them out. Just this past week she gave my son a brand new dress shirt for Confirmation.

Mom’s style of shopping doesn’t just apply to clothes. She heads out to the stores on the day after any holiday looking for mark downs on leftover merchandise. Each year on the day after Christmas my Mom sets out looking for everything – clothes, decorations, gifts, food, you name it. Holiday decorations are very high on the list. Each Christmas my parent’s decorate their house in a big way. It’s their way of showing the Christmas spirit. My Dad really does gets the yard looking great. Mom gets pieces they’re missing for the front yard, or starts planning the next thing she wants to add to the growing display.

May 10, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

It Seems Like Just Yesterday

tj confirmation pic

My son made his confirmation yesterday afternoon. We had a bit of a difference of opinion on clothes. He wore a Confirmation gown, but obviously needed to wear something underneath. I told him he needed to dress nicely. He went in his room and came out in suit pants, a t-shirt and sneakers. I told him he needed to finish dressing. He didn’t seem to understand why a fancy dress shirt would look better than a colorful t-shirt with a skull on it. I have no problem with the shirt itself but it just wasn’t appropriate for Confirmation. He finally put on the dress shoes my Mom had dug up for him and changed the shirt.

The Bishop started out funny but faded over time. At work we had been wondering if the kids would still have to answer questions. The Bishop said if he asked the kids questions and they didn’t know the answer he was going to put the sponsors on the spot. I saw more than a couple of panic stricken faces when he said that! Anyway. He really didn’t ask the kids any questions individually like they did when I was young, instead he asked the whole group the question. The Mass and ceremony were relatively quick, finished in under an hour. On the way out of the Church I couldn’t help but remember when TJ had been baptized in that very Church, in what seemed like only a year or two before. How time flies…

May 08, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

iVillage Food For Quick Recipes

ivillage food logo

From time to time I feel like I am in a cooking rut, making the same things over and over again. I’m sure many of you have felt the same. After working all day I don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen, which is why I am constantly on a quest for tasty, quick recipes. I recently discovered the iVillage food section, which is full of all sorts of great recipes, ideas and how tos.

iVillage Food is easy to read and reasonably easy to use. Ingredients are all clearly labeled and recipe instructions are easy to understand. Most of the recipes include a picture of the finished dish, something I love.

Recipes are broken down into categories, marked by colorful icons. Some of the categories include Chicken, Pasta, Quick, Vegetables, Kids, Budget and Easy. The categories seem to change a bit depending on where you are on the site. I realize that there can’t be a category for everything but I would really like it if they added categories for Beef, Pork, Dessert, Soup and Gluten-free. You can search for these items but it would be much easier if they had a category of their own. Speaking of the search feature. I was able to successfully search using ingredients and the name of the dish.

The site offers a section of videos. I found the “Cuts of Prime Beef” video very helpful, as I’ve never been quite clear on the differences between some of the cuts. The other feature you might be interested in is the community. From surveys to the ability to comment, the iVillage food site offers many chances for you to interact and be heard. There are also numerous message boards, broken down into categories making them easy to navigate and use.

Check out some of the yummy sounding recipes that I found:

Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce
Creamy Tomato-Stuffed Chicken
Spaghetti with Parmesan and Bacon
Italian Sausage and Cheese Stuffed French Toast
Meatloaf Cupcakes With Cheesy Mashed Potato Frosting

Don’t they sound yummy? I’m going to be making all of them. Check out iVillage Food. I’d love to hear about recipes that you found.

Apr 11, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

Get A Year OF Free Hosting From DotEasy

doteasy logo

When I started blogging years ago I tried a number of free blogging platforms including blogger, blogspot and wordpress. It didn’t take me long to realize that I wanted to make my blog truly my own, not somethingsomething.com. So I bought my first domain. Not long after that I heard horror stories from bloggers whose blogs were hosted on other people’s subdomains. One or two lost their entire blog because their “host” didn’t like something the blogger had written. Now you may be thinking that couldn’t happen to you. It might not. The friend or relative that hosts your blog may not have a nefarious plan. It’s possible that, like everything else in life, stuff could just happen. They could have a tech problem, making your blog unavailable. Yep, when theirs is down, so is yours. They could have a financial issue and be shut off. No matter why you blog or what you blog about, one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is to take control - buy your own domain and get your own hosting.

DotEasy is a company that I have not personally done business with but one have heard of many times. If you’ve been thinking about setting up your own little space in the blogosphere you may want to check this out. Right now DotEasy is offering a special – purchase any .COM/.NET/.ORG domain registration for only $7.95 and can get one year $0 free web hosting service. To take advantage of this offer just use coupon code 1003BPM.

This Basic package is a great deal for those of you wanting to get your feet wet with your own hosted blog, or perhaps you have a small business that you want to put a site up for. The package offers 1000mb of storage and 1 gb transfer. It offers up the ability to host up to 10 domains, as well as the ability to have up to 10 email addresses. Should you find the need to upgrade, there’s no worry about the next package up costing an arm and a leg, it’s quite affordable.

Apr 11, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

Big Foot - No, Not The Monster, Me

duo boots ankle boot

I hate shoe shopping. It’s hard to enjoy shopping for something you can’t find anything of. It becomes a chore. As the weight has been coming off I have wondered if my shoe size would change much. I am sorry to say that it has not. I’ve wanted a pair of cute boots for a long time now. Unfortunately when I find ladies shoes or boots that I like I can’t get them in my size. When I am lucky enough to find footwear in my size I either don’t like the style or they just don’t fit. I’m difficult to fit because my feet are both large and wide, plus if the calf and top aren’t just right they won’t fit either. This morning I found a site that carried nothing but wide calf boots. They actually have a pair of boots (pictured above) that I think are cute. They have the right width but not the right size for me. Maybe if I lose a little more weight my feet will get a little smaller and I’d be able to wear something like these. Do you love or hate shoe shopping?

Apr 06, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post

Why You Should Send In Your US Census Survey

census 2010 banner

Have you received your census form yet? Ours came yesterday. I have seen the census mentioned a number of times online and on television and it made me realize something. I think that there is more focus and attention on the census this year than there was ten years ago. Yes that’s right, it’s been ten years. Our Constitution requires a new census be taken every ten years. Growing up I heard about the census but paid no attention. Now I have my own family that I want to make sure is accounted for and included. Some ask why answer? Besides being your legal responsibility to answer a census, there are other reasons. You might know or have guessed that many statistics are extracted from census data. Did you know that they help determine where to allocate funds and services? That’s right. More than $400 billion will go to communities for things like hospitals, job training centers, schools, emergency services and public works projects?

Wondering what a “Snapshot of America” looks like? Take a look.

WPvideo 1.10

Make sure your voice is heard, and that you are included. Send in your US Census Survey.

Mar 23, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post

Thrown Out Of Bingo On Date Night

bingo time sign

Friday night was date night for us. Date night meaning that we had a sitter arranged. This week we weren’t going out together. The plan was for RB to do stuff around the outside of the house while I went to bingo with a friend. RB didn’t want to go to bingo so he decided he’d stay home and get some yard work done. We had a lot of tree limbs that broke in the last two storms that needed to be taken care of. CJ couldn’t help with this and we thought he’d have more fun with the sitter than sitting by the sliding door watching his father.

I left early for bingo, so that I could stop at a friend’s house and drop off her Christmas gift. Yes, I said Christmas gift. I’ve had the gift since November but haven’t seen her to give it to her. From there I went to bingo, which started at 8 pm according to the internet. I met my friend and her fiance in the parking lot at about 7:50 and we headed to the door.

As we reached for the door handles we noticed that the people seemed to be playing already. We waited a minute and a woman came to the door. She told us that the game had started at 7:30 but that she’d let us in. We sat down and got ready to play. A few minutes later another woman came over and said that there was a rule that once the first game had started noone else could play and that we’d need to leave. She gave us our money back and we headed to the door. We felt a bit like criminals or something on the way out and noticed everyone staring at us.

Once out in the parking lot we determined that there wasn’t really anything else we could easily do at that hour. The movie we wanted to see was sold out. So we ended up standing in the parking lot of the church bs-ing for about an hour. We had fun anyway. On the way home I stopped at the grocery store, so that I wouldn’t have to go out on Saturday. When I got home I discovered that RB had spent most of his date night bs-ing with the sitter, so he didn’t get anything done either. What a funny coincidence!

I’m going to try bingo again next week. If we play it’s a pretty sure bet that I’ll be the one yelling bingo, whether I have it or not. It’s been known to happen.

What did you do Friday night?

Mar 21, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post

Eyeglasses, Then And Now

purple eyeglasses

I have worn eyeglasses for most of my life, since I was a young child. At about the age of eight or nine something prompted my Mom to take me to the eye doctor. He did an exam and found that I had extremely bad vision. He put me in some very ugly tortoise shell frames and sent me on my way. I was shocked at how different things looked with glasses on. The first time I went bowling after getting them I said “look, they put stripes on the bowling pins!”. That’s when we all realized just how bad my vision really was.

As years went by my vision never improved. By the time I reached my teens I’d grown very tired of wearing prescription glasses. I did not feel attractive when wearing them. I convinced my parents to get me contact lenses. I immediately felt better about myself once I started wearing contacts.

The only time I don’t wear contact lenses is before bed, because the eye doctor I went to when I first switched to contacts told me you should never sleep in contact lenses, no matter what the packaging or manufacturer says. Because of that, I still keep a pair of glasses.

One of the things that surprises me about eyewear now is that it doesn’t look anything like it did when I first started wearing glasses. Twenty some years ago most people were wearing frames that sort of blended with the face, in neutral, brown or gold tones. Today frames are bright and colorful, standing out from the wearer’s face. There are so many styles available now that shopping for glasses online is growing in popularity, because of the variety.

I love the color purple but don’t imagine myself ever wearing purple frames. For those of you that wear eyeglasses, do you prefer a more conservative or a more colorful frame?

Mar 21, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Deal Alert On 8GB Micro SDHC Card With Adapters And USB Reader

buy micro sdhc card reader

Tech and media items are getting smaller and smaller every day, while their capabilities are getting larger. Take removable media, for example. In the beginning there were only one or two types, including compact flash. As the technology and need evolved, more types of cards were introduced including SD, microSD and microSDHC. Are we supposed to have a different reader for each? Are we supposed to buy new media each time we upgrade our camera? Not necessarily.

Thanks to items like this Kingston 8GB Micro SDHC Card with Adapters and USB Reader, one card can now work with many different devices. This package combines a single card with dual adapters and a USB card reader, making it the perfect accessory. It’s versatility makes it ideal to share between devices including digital cameras, laptops, mobile phones and more. It even comes with a keychain, so you can always have it ready to use.

Buy.com has the Kingston 8GB Micro SDHC Card with Adapters and USB Reader on sale for $19.83, a 50% discount from it’s usual $40 sell price. It’s also eligible for free shipping.

Mar 13, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Mail Call!

my mail

Upon arriving home last night one of the first things I encountered were two GIANT piles of mail and packages. Both the kitchen and dining room tables each had a pile. I usually get our mail but since I was away RB got it. I couldn’t believe how much of it there was, until I remembered that RB had also been taking in my parents mail. He had thought to split the mail, ours on the kitchen table and my parents on the dining room table. My parents pile included a lot of mail and two boxes, one of which seemed to contain commercial kitchen parts. I couldn’t understand why my Mom would be ordering frymaster parts for her built in stovetop fryer until she reminded me that she’d gotten a new stove a month ago. I have to finish opening and sorting our mail tonight. My Dad is going to have so much fun opening all that mail. I’ll never understand why my Dad loves to open the mail, it’s a fascination he’s always had. He actually rushes out to the mailbox to get the mail before my mother. In the end it’s usually bills so I’m not sure why he does that. Who gets the mail in your house?

Feb 15, 2010 | 12 comments | View Post

Mysterious Neighbors

tall grass

Do you have any mysterious neighbors? We do. They bought the house a number of years ago. They were good neighbors, the kind that don’t bug you about things and don’t have wild things going on at their house at all hours. This couple came and went and about all we saw of them was them getting in and out of their cars before and after work. A little over a year ago the couple moved, apparently to a house up North. They did not put their house up for sale. At first they came down from time to time to check on the house. Then, they stopped coming. Grass and leaves are everywhere, even in the rain gutters which have no gutter protection. The weather has not been kind to the house, which could really benefit from vinyl siding and replacement windows. The mailbox broke in the storm two weeks ago and was in pieces on the lawn when I left. We don’t know what’s going on with the house. We know nothing about the people that used to live there. At one point we wondered if maybe it was some sort of relocation house for witnesses or something. If anyone ever does move in there they’ll have a lot of work to do. I can only imagine how bad the yard is with the most recent snowstorm.