I was watching an episode of "Moving Up" this afternoon, because I'm a lazy bum. The one couple installed some fiberglass columns in their living room that they were renovating. I really don't think I thought they added much at all. Decorating is certainly different depending on an individual's taste! I just thought the house wasn't near "grand" enough to pull off something as elegant as columns!

Talk about a miracle drug! Leptovox claims to assist in weight loss, clear up acne, and even take away wrinkles! I wonder if it would also improve my eyesight so that I don't need progressive lenses anymore. Or perhaps tone up my out of shape body. Best of all, cure my high blood pressure so that I won't have to take so many meds! Then.... we could talk about hot flashes and mood swings!

I know that you can wear body stockings to smooth and hold in your shape, but I can't imagine how hot and uncomfortable they would be! Never mind, how nearly impossible it would be to get into those things!! I have a horrendous time getting into control top panty hose! heh Unfortunately in Canada, the winters suck, so if you are required to wear a dress, there's no avoiding donning the panty hose, as much as I hate them!!

Sarah had a great idea for a Christmas gift for her mother-in-law. She had one of those custom printed calendars made up for her with different pictures, taken throughout the year representing times and seasons. Pictures of Hawaii in January, wedding pics for the appropriate months, and harvest pictures in September. It turned out really great, and she was thrilled with it!

We're still waiting to talk to Sarah and Jay about what furniture they are leaving behind for Ben and Jess. Jay and Sarah will be listing their two condos for sale any day now, as they are hoping to move to the farm May 1. They will be living in the little old farm house, which is mostly furnished, until they build their own house. Consequently, they don't need to take most of their hand-me-down furniture which is currently in their condos. They have said Ben and Jess can have it, so we have to find out exactly what that entails, and then Ben and Jess will have to decide what they can fit in to move, and what they need the most. It's absolutely too expensive to rent a moving truck, so we're just going to haul down as much as we can, and send more every time one of their friends go down to visit. Then they'll have to visit the local furniture stores to get the rest.

Well Ben and Jess have set the date. Not for their wedding, but for moving to B.C. They went down there last weekend, and found themselves and apartment, which they're very excited about. Ben has also got a job nailed down, and Jess is applying for jobs. They're going to move for April 1. I'm going to miss them being around all the time. I'm somewhat nervous about their decision, but it's not something I'm going to interfere in. If it doesn't work out, they can always move back and start again. I hope they remember to pack the Curcumin. LMAO

Well Sarah just spent her last day in Quito, Ecuador on her first medical mission. She's had a fabulous experience, and a wonderful time, but now that the end is near, she's getting homesick, big time. Really missing her hubby. He is also obviously very lonesome too, as he's going to pick her up at the Calgary airport tomorrow night, sparing her the bus ride back to Edmonton. They're going to come out for dinner, and to pick up Miles on Tuesday. When she's here, I'm going to ask her what mesothelioma is!

My uncle lost his foot when he was 12 years old in a farming accident with the thrashing machine. He has some quite good prosthetics over the years, but his stump always caused him a lot of pain through the years. Especially when he reached his latter years. That's why, when his wife was diagnosed with Parkinson's he had stair lifts installed in their condo, so that the two of them could remain at home for as long as possible.

We're very fortunate here in Canada to have fantastic health care coverage. We're having a provincial election here, and one of the campaign promises is to eliminate health care premiums within 4 years. That's unbelievable! For instance, to have a baby here, it costs you absolutely nothing out of pocket unless you upgrade to a private room and rent a TV! Something to definitely keep in mind in retirement years. A far cry from medicare part d!

As I mentioned previously, we were considering a trip to Vegas in the Spring. We were even looking into Vegas hotels, to see what suited us the most. When we started calculating the cost of a 4 day trip to Vegas, as opposed to a 10 day trip to Mexico, staying in an all-inclusive resort, we decided the Winter get-away was a much better value for our buck for us!

Both Sarah and Jay are selling their condos within the next couple of months prior to moving down to the farm permanently. Depending on what the appraisals come in at, we're considering purchasing one of them as a rental property investment. Sarah's would be the more likely choice, as it's in a great building, with pool and hot tub, is immaculately maintained, and is in a primo location.

My Mom is 75 years old. She has quite severe arthritis in her spine, so she doesn't dare take a bath anymore, for fear that she may not be able to get up and out of the tub. Since she lives alone in her house, it's a legitimate fear. She has often talked about having shower chairs installed into her tub. Then she could at least relax a little more while taking a shower. Could be a real great idea!

The next home improvement project that I want to tackle is our kitchen. It has been painted, and hardwood floors have been done, but now I want to look at the Kohler sinks, as ours needs to be replaced. I also want to replace our 25 year old built in stove, the counter tops, and the backsplash.

I just recently bought all new living room furniture, and then moved all the old living room furniture into the family room. I seriously considered home theater furniture for that room, as that's where our plasma TV is, but it just isn't big enough, so I scrapped that idea.Maybe it's something to think about in our next house.

Okay, a plasma lift, is a seriously great idea! You can have a beautiful piece of furniture, and then when you want to watch TV, you just push a button, and your plasma TV is lifted up out of the housing unit. It's a great way to make the TV disappear when not in use. I have to say these big TV's are a quite the eyesore on their own!

Have you ever heard of the brand of watches called Breguet? I know I haven't, but that doesn't mean much. I'm thinking of perhaps asking hubby for a really nice watch for my 50th birthday. I'm not certain that's what I want, but it's definitely one of the things I'm considering. I am also really thinking about asking for a good, digital camera, likely a Nikon D40. I'm just not sure I'd take the time to learn to use it to it's full advantage.

I'm sitting in bed with my laptop, smelling the coffee brewing downstairs. I don't think anything smells better, than the smell of coffee as it's brewing! Yum! The one thing I don't care for though, is my coffee maker! I had looked at a lot of coffee makers a couple of years ago, and decided on the one I thought I really wanted. Now that I have it, I don't particularly like it at all! I guess I'll have to start investigating again.

Last week I decided to make a few small changes in my life. One, was to make sure I stay on my BP medication, another was to start cooking dinner at home again, instead of doing take out, etc. The third change is to get some exercise. Since our treadmill died several years ago, we bought an elliptical, but I don't really enjoy the whole machine thing. Instead, I've been taking my two puppies for walks. They love it, and that makes it very motivating for me too!

We managed to get a few things done around the house/yard this year. Quite a few actually, considering we also had our daughter's wedding. We removed some very overgrown spruce trees from our yard, had our roof re-shingled, replaced our gas fireplace, re-did our upstairs bathroom, and got new living room furniture. Next thing on my to do list, is to review our home insurance coverage, to make sure the numbers are still valid at current prices.

I don't know if this ad is Canadian, or American, so it's hard to say whether or not you'll have a clue what I'm talking about! There's an ad for adjustable beds. The pitch man is a total goof who tries to talk (an obviously thinks he is) sexy. His look is enough to turn you off, but then he opens his mouth to tell you how he can adjust his bed for whatever he's doing, "Whether he's sleepin', readin', or watchin' TV." That type of poor grammar would turn me off if it was coming out of Brad Pitt's mouth! Geesh!

I spent yesterday cleaning the hard drive on my laptop. I installed a new program that automatically cleans all the junk and temporary files off your computer. You can set it to clean out what you want, and leave what you like. I also, finally got my anti virus program working again. I have no idea what was going on with it. So anyways, it's running much better and faster. It was getting seriously sluggish! I also re-set my popup blocker so it's doing a much better job of blocking those as well!

I don't know what it is about this time of year, but I always like to get things in order. The house, finances, etc. My house is in pretty good order due to hosting that party, and Christmas Eve. I need to get myself in order as well. I'd like to lose some weight, eat healthier, get some exercise for starters. I also am long overdue for a check up at the doctors, and a hair cut and color, a manicure, pedicure, brow waxing, etc. Fortunately our finances are in better order than I am! The only thing I might look into is how much life insurance I have on me. I know we both have mortgage life insurance, but I'm not sure if I have more than a pittance on myself through work.

Our holiday celebrations this year have consisted of a dinner party at a local Greek restaurant with my staff. I didn't care for the food much at all, so that meal wasn't too harmful for me. Then I hosted a big 50th birthday party for my hubby a couple weeks later. I had tons of food, but didn't really eat an abnormal amount, and then I took a lot of the leftovers to work to get rid of them! Hubby's Christmas party was at a dinner theater. The food was just so-so, so again, I didn't really over do. Last night I cooked our annual steak and lobster dinner for Christmas Eve. I ate far too much! Now we're just kind of recuperating before we go into the MIL's for a big turkey feast! I'll be investigating diet pills after Christmas I think!!

My hubby's uncle just passed away from lung cancer at the age of 62. I believe he smoked years ago, but he hadn't smoked for at least the last 20-30 years! He didn't have jobs over the years that would likely be the culprit for an environmental cause. I can't imagine the horror, and rage if you found out you were terminally ill due to something you were exposed to over a long period of time! I often think about that, working in the old school building that I do. We even had the building tested several years ago, because so many of us suffer from eye problems, constant nasal issues, dry throats etc. Hopefully they can figure it out before a staff member is undergoing mesothelioma treatment from asbestos exposure!

We're hearing about how the bottom has dropped right out of the housing market in Arizona. In fact, my uncle walked away from his home, because it is currently worth less than the mortgage he held on it. Sad to lose it after all that time. It's making hubby and I think about keeping our eyes on the housing prices down there, and perhaps buying Condo Hotels to spend all or part of the winter in Arizona! We both think that eventually that might be something we're going to look into. We'd downsize here first of course!

Car Angel (www.carangel.com) is a non-profit company that uses car and other donations to make videos for kids and teens. They have given away over 2.4 million videos. Money raised is used to make the videos! Some examples of the videos can be seen here! You can choose the charity organization you want to benefit from your Donation of Cars . They help single mothers, orphans, homeless, teen and adult rehab, as well as prison reform.

The advantages to you, are:

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So if you've got an old car, and want to do something worthwhile with it, check out car donations.

As I've often mentioned, we waffle back and forth a lot about where we want to eventually retire. Sometimes we think we'll stay right where we are for good. Sometimes we talk about buying a property somewhere warmer to spend parts of the winter months. We've also discussed moving just a bit further down south so that we'll be closer to both Sarah and Ben once they all move in May. My thoughts now, are to stay where we are until I retire at least, because I'm not going to start a new job somewhere at this stage of my life. Maybe we should just be rebels and look into Wilmington NC real estate!

My Mom turned 75 last month. She's still in relative good health, but has to go about things slowly, as she has a pacemaker, and arthritis, particularly in her back. She still lives in her own home and does all her own yard work! She has looked into various senior living complexes, but they're almost as costly, as her house, so she is hesitant to make the move.

Naturally we had to buy hubby a new suit for Sarah's wedding. Then we had 2 other weddings afterwards. One 4 weeks later, with most of the same guests, and then another in early October. So he went and bought a new sport coat, tie and cufflinks to wear for those weddings. He looked pretty dapper for an old boy.

What on earth do you suppose they mean by outhouse bathroom decor??!! The only outhouses I've seen in the last few years, are nasty, old dilapidated! Old, wooden broken down structures! Other than that, all you ever see are portapotties! How on earth would you decorate any of those? Who knew you'd WANT to!?

When I was deciding what type of "man chair" I was buying hubby for his 50th birthday, I considered discount home theater seating, before I settled on the brown leather recliner I bought him. I just thought that theater seating would just be too bulky for the size of our room. I think I made the right choice, as he's absolutely thrilled with his chair!

My Mom is one of those hyper-efficient people that has everything that she can possibly have ready for the day she passes. She has her house completely de-cluttered, so we won't have that task, she has her papers all signed to suit her wishes should she become incapacitated. She even has checked out the burial policy, and paid for her funeral and plot! She doesn't want us to have any of those difficult jobs.

I'm hosting a little surprise birthday party for my hubby's 50th birthday in a couple of weeks. Needless to say, I've got quite a lot of work ahead of me before then! To start with I finally broke down and ordered some new contemporary furniture for the living room, and moved the old furniture into the family room. The other stuff went to the DUMP! I also ordered hubby a beautiful black, leather reclining "man chair" as his birthday gift!

I'm buying a video game system for Ben and Jess for Christmas. I was having a rough time deciding which system I wanted to give them! Sarah and Jay just bought and xbox, and Ben used to have a Wii, shared with his old roomate. I also considered a playstation 3 at the recommendation of some people at work who play. I finally decided on the Wii, because I knew that they liked that, and wasn't sure about any of the others!

I wish there was some type of fitness equipment that I actually enjoyed. We owned a treadmill for a lot of years, but I never particularly enjoyed it. My hubby on the other hand loved it! He'd turn on the TV and away he'd go. Me, not so much! When the treadmill wore out, we purchased an elliptical, and I thought I'd really enjoy it, but sadly, I don't. It's just more of the same. Lots of steps, getting no where!

We still have checking accounts , but I have to say, I maybe only write 1 check per month now. It seems with the use of automated bank machines, and cards, that there is rarely a time where you can only use a check. If I was better at keeping cash on hand, I'd get rid of them altogether.

I wish there was some type of fitness equipment that I actually enjoyed. We owned a treadmill for a lot of years, but I never particularly enjoyed it. My hubby on the other hand loved it! He'd turn on the TV and away he'd go. Me, not so much! When the treadmill wore out, we purchased an elliptical, and I thought I'd really enjoy it, but sadly, I don't. It's just more of the same. Lots of steps, getting no where!

We have good friends that just retired this year. They bought a house in Vancouver, where they are going to spend the winters. They have a house at the lake here, that they will live in the other 6 months of the year when they are here. So they drove their little sports car to Vancouver (where it will stay, nicely protected with car covers to protect "his baby" from the elements). Then, they'll fly back and forth the rest of the time. Would be a nice life, but I'm not certain I could handle the cloud and rain in Vancouver.

Have you ever noticed how much advertising on television has changed over the last 20-30 years (depending on your age)? When I was a child, advertising cigarettes and liquor on television was totally common place. I'm not sure what year it came into effect, but the government put a ban on any and all advertising of such products. Another thing, you never saw advertised back "then" was legal services! Did you ever hear ads for Raleigh personal injury attorneys back in 1970??

Seriously. It's time I get some well lit, makeup mirrors! I put my makeup on in the ensuite to my bedroom, but half the time, I will end up in work in the good light with black socks on with navy slacks, or brown socks with black, etc! Lord only knows how bad my make up looks! heh!

I have a few hobbies. Mostly I get so caught up online, that I neglect them all! I have to say that I've become a FAR LESS productive person since the appearance of the worldwide web into my life! I enjoy scrapbooking, taking photographs, reading, and working out, and now all I do is take photos from time to time! I know I'd feel so much better if I'd "vary" my life a lot more! I need to reacquaint myself with my hobbies, I won't go so far as to buy any rock tumblers though.

Among my co-workers, you can really see how women's tastes and preferences differ. A lot of it comes down to how you feel about your body I guess. Since I've let myself get very overweight, I wear my shirts very loose. Sometimes I buy things TOO big, which just serves to increase how big I look. I'm so paranoid about anything being "snug" to show off my extra curves, that I tend to exaggerate the opposite direction. One of my co-workers is about 5 years younger than I am, and she's got a very nice body. BUT she wears all her clothes at least one size too small! She's gained a bit of weight over the last year, but still looks great, but because she wears her tops so small, you see every little roll and bulge she has now. I don't get it! If she wore them the right size, she'd look fabulous!!

I can't believe it! (well actually I can) We got snow last night! ewww I am not ready for another Canadian winter just yet! Now I completely understand why snow birds live the life that they do! Retire. Buy a motor home, go to Florida for the winter. Escape all the snow driving, blizzards, winter clothes, snow shoveling, etc. Sounds pretty good to me! Maybe a Orlando rental home would be an even better idea than a motor home!

I've been pondering my Christmas list somewhat. It's not hard to figure out what to get Sarah, Jess is a little trickier, and Ben is usually pretty specific as to what he needs or wants. Hubby and I usually don't buy gifts for each other, because if we want or need something, we generally just get it. I'm thinking about getting Jay some body shop supplies. He can always use things like that on the farm!

Lately all the health magazines are talking about the hoodia patch. Hoodia is the plant that when ingested is supposed to suppress your appetite. I wonder if it works! I don't think it would help me out too much, as I eat largely because I love the taste of food! It seldom has anything to do with being hungry, or not. That would explain the extra large size of my ass!

My in-laws watch their money! I mean they WATCH their money! As a younger couple, raising a family, they chose to go on camping excursions mostly. Definitely the most cost efficient type of vacation. As a retired couple, they tend to go on cruises! If what they have to say, is any indication, I'm thinking I might be intersted in that type of vacation too!

We have a cordless phone set, that is awesome! For one thing, there are 3 handsets, you can use them as an intercom, and they "tell you" who the caller is. That in itself, is quite amusing, as they read the names of callers, phoenetically. The biggest problem, is when more than one of the handsets reqiures a <cordless phone battery at the same time! Then we really realize how reliant we are on these phones!

The weekend was pretty low-key. For the first weekend in a while, we didn't have things going on. Saturday I was rather dismally lazy, other than doing laundry and picking up, but Sunday I made up for it! I cleaned the house from top to bottom! Cleaned the fridge, and shampooed parts of the carpet, stripped beds, etc. There's still tons more that I could have/should have done, but I also had a lot of paperwork to get through, and the school website to update. Between all that, the kids were all out for dinner. I finished the majority of the paperwork, and then lights out!

Greenandmore.Com carries also carries a line of eco friendly furniture. Much of it is made of bamboo, as bamboo, regrows so much quicker than trees, and other wood products. One thing I will mention, is that this line of furniture does not come cheap! But the savings to our environment makes it worth the cost.

There is also an entire line of solar powered products. From lighting and batteries, to cooking equipment and miscellaneous solar gadgets! The cookware is state of the art, and energy efficient as well. They even carry a line of baby linens all made from organic cotton.

If you want more information, there is a blog, a learning center, and more green living links. Everything you need to start living an ecologically aware existence, is only a click away.

We just got home from a Catholic wedding. They had full mass. It was 1 hour and 20 minutes! Ughh! Us protestants can get married in 20-30 minutes! Heh! Now we've got 3 hours to kill until we go for the cocktail hour. Sarah, Jay and hubby are watching a movie, and I'm watching "Moving Up" on TLC. The couple redid their whole house, but what I noticed was that the home lighting fixture they chose for their renovated bathroom, looks very similar to the one we have, which is ugly, and dated! Hmmm

Last year, I got one of my best purchases ever, on EBay! I won an auction for over 200 pieces of costume jewelry. Every style, every color of necklaces and matching earrings that you can imagine! It was like Christmas! Of course with such a large amount, there were several that I didn't care for at all, so I let Sarah choose what she liked, and then I donated the rest to our classroom for the dress up center!

It won't be long before we bring in a real estate agent, and get a proper appraisal on this place. We need to get an idea of what this house is currently worth, in order to determine where we want to consider retiring. Fortunately, we have many options with my husband's company. We can request a transfer to a specific location, and if he gets it, then the company pays for the whole move.

When our kids were tiny, the first Nintendo system came to town, and along with it, Mario. Sarah was about 7 or 8 when we got it. We all enjoyed it, and I even enjoyed playing back then. It was never a problem for my kids, because they were always so involved in sports, and their friends, that they never spent unreasonable amounts of time planted in front of a video game. Now, so many kids, are just ridiculous about it! That's all they talk about! The teacher can be in the middle of a lesson, and the kids are talking about the latest PS2 game!

Hubby has been in his element ever since he got his laptop. I set him up to get wireless access to our internet. He has remote access to his company intranet software, which enables him to do things like his payroll, scheduling of staff, etc, all from the comfort of his recliner!

There is a 30 Day free trial of their software. Contact them to get it setup. Epazz works with you from start to finish.

Today was a PD day. So, there were no classes. Usually us support staff, don't have to participate in any of these, but today, it was a team building day, since it was the beginning of the school year. The teachers had work and meetings to tend to in the morning, and then we all met at the golf club for an excellent lunch. After that, we watched the movie, "The Secret". As soon as our "duties" were finished, I took off shopping. I picked up some things for the pups, and then hit the clothing stores. I had great luck, and was really happy with the items I found! I browsed some office desks, but didn't find what I'm looking for. I finished up finding a really sharp pair of shoes, and a great new bag. Whoo hooo for blowing cash!

I definitely need to go shopping. I haven't got many clothes for fall.I need slacks for sure. I don't think I can wear my capris and flip flops all winter long. I probably could because of my internal thermostat, but the snow would make it a wee bit uncomfortable! Especially if I got stuck in a snow bank!! I think a North Face jacket would be a great addition as well.

When Jay had graduated from high school, he and his best friend set off to Australia for 6 months. They worked their way across the country. Experiencing all the country had to offer, bungie jumping, the beaches, the wildlife, etc. Since both were farmers, that's how they worked for their keep.

Sarah has also talked of going somewhere like that, and getting a nursing job for a year. It's rumored that most countries are desperate for nurses, so that should be easy enough to do. They are thinking of going to Hawaii, actually. I guess if I want to go to Australia to work, I'll have to get Nanny jobs Melbourne!

For the past year my hubby has been driving to a town 45 minutes away from home. I realize in big metropolises, this isn't a long commute, but here, for a highway drive, it is a long drive. It also cost a small fortune in gas. Yesterday, he finally got transferred back to a store that is just 10 minutes away from home. He's beyond happy! In about a year, we hope to get a transfer to a town several hours south of here, but close to where Sarah and Jay will be living on the farm. Because of their great love of boating, and water sports, they're really hoping we buy nc waterfront property so they can come and visit, and boat!

I hate the fact that halfway through the summer, the Halloween candy comes out. Even before the back to school supplies. Then, by the first of November, the Christmas decorations will be all over, and for 2 months we'll have to be inundated by Christmas carols in the mall. So much so, that by Christmas time, you don't even enjoy what used to be such a special part of the season. Sarah is lucky this year, in that christmas gift ideas for her, are almost already taken care of, as she is giving most people wedding photos!

I've mentioned before that I want to come up with something really cool for our anniversary after this one in December. In 2008, we will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. Isn't that amazing?? It is to me! So between now and then, I'll be willing to take any and all suggestions for anniversary gifts!

About 2 years ago, our big screen TV died, after MUCH use. Hubby was, of course very excited to go about the process of choosing a new one! The first choice he had to make, was did he want to go for the best lcd tv or for a plasma tv. He opted for the plasma.

The reason he made this choice, was because the salesman that he was talking to, indicted that if you are a sports lover (which we are), the plasma was the way to go. He stated that with a lcd screen, you sometimes have "trails" following the puck or the ball. Definitely not for us then!

I grew up on a dairy farm. We had a 2 bedroom house, which meant my brother and I shared a bedroom. When I was about 7, Dad finished the basement and made me a bedroom downstairs. Mom wall papered it with ballerina (WTF.... should have been horses or puppies!) wallpaper, and got it all fixed up nice! Every night she'd tuck me in bed, and I'd be fine, but sometime, between the bedtime and morning, I'd end up back upstairs in my bunk beds! haha The things you remember!

I've gotten incredibly lazy about cooking since we became emptynesters! As long as you have kids living at home, you feel the responsibility to "feed the family". Since they moved out, neither hubby or I feel that inclined to do much cooking. So today, I've been surfing around chefs site trying to get inspired to get back into the routine of cooking!!

What I found I was doing, was doing my weekly grocery shopping, as usual, but over-buying, and then we'd decide we'd go out for dinner, etc. and I'd end up wasting a lot of food. What I discovered,worked best was just to stop and shop each day after work for exactly what I needed to cook for dinner.

When I decide to finally go and buy some newoffice furniture, the first thing I'm going to look at are the modern desks! I need a much smaller style than what I currently have. I also need a much more attractive file cabinet to finish off the room.

I've been surfing around tonight, looking at vacation possibilities as I posted earlier. I found places at the Outer Banks which look absolutely fabulous! For now I'll just dream about it.