books,crafts,decorating

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

My name is Mary and I'm a shop-aholic

Yes, it is indeed true. I love to shop. As we drove through Branson to see where things were, I saw a lot of shops and am eager to go see what there is to buy there. Being in an RV puts space limitations on me, however. Drats!!

I love to shop AND I love a sale. I used to think anything marked down was a good buy, but over the years I don't get excited until I see at least 50% off. That's a sale!!!

A week or two before we left Texas, I was shopping and came across a wonderful winter coat that was marked down to $9.99!! Imagine that! It wasn't my size, but only a couple of sizes too large. The wheels were turning as I considered how I could take it in here, shorten the sleeves there, etc. etc.

Well, knowing that we would be in our RV for who knows how long, I passed on that wonderful bargain and left it for a sister shopper who maybe needed it more than I do. I keep thinking of that coat, though. I hope that whoever ended up buying it really needed a bargain like that.

My handyman husband

As those of you who follow my blogs know, we're giving full time RVing a try. So far we just love it, though we've only been at it a short time.

I really appreciate my handy husband and how he can fix anything that breaks. We don't have a lot of room to store a lot of tools, so my handyman has had to narrow down his "arsenal" to the ones that can serve his needs best. I really think that he would agree that the one thing he uses more than anything else is his box cutter. Believe it or not, this is true. The electrical wires in our RVs driver's seat came disconnected and so he set out to fix it. Out came his box cutter to strip the insulation off of the wire so he could reattach it and get the seat fixed.

That seat is working just great again, as is everything else presently. That may change, but lucky for me, my handyman husband will fix whatever it is that stops working as it should.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

An upside to a down time

Everyone I talk to is being more careful about money these days. Many have lost money in the stock market or watched the value of their biggest asset, their home plummet to a point of being worth less than they owe. That's hard to take.

However, something that I have noticed as I talk to people is that almost everyone is finding this time of not being able to afford extras is a good time to spend time with the family doing things that don't cost much. Having family movie night, as an example, and playing family games as well. More time with those we love is always a good thing.

Something else I have seen is that there are deals to be hand in most every area. An example of this is are travel deals that enable people to go to places that they normally wouldn't be able to afford. Bargains on air fares, hotels and so forth.

I am keeping my eyes open for a deal on a trip to Europe. Now all I have to do is convince my husband that we need to go there.=)

The best diet pill

Which of the over the counter products is the best diet pill? There are so many different varieties on the market today. I am wary of anything containing substances that I am not familiar with. So, I read the ingredients, do my research online until I feel I know all that I need to know about the product. Even then I won't take anything without showing it to my doctor and getting her okay. To me, that's just plain common sense.

We need to guard our health for all we're worth. Personally, I feel that keeping our weight down and getting exercise each day are the most important things we can do for ourselves. Add to that eating right, keeping a positive mental outlook, adding laughter to our day, exercise our brain ............... aw, forget it all. Just be happy. =)

Type 2 diabetes

I do believe that I qualify as being a "health nut". The older I get the more I realize how important it is to take care of our bodies. Keeping our weight down, getting some exercise, and making sure that we get all of the major food groups into our diet each day is my "job" and I take it very seriously.

My husband has recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, so that has made me even more mindful of what we eat. Getting his weight down was the first thing the doctor said he should do. At first we did some researched to try to determine which were the
best diet pills, and then decided not to take any, but to just watch what we ate. So far he's lost almost 20 pounds and his blood sugar is doing great.

Guard your health with all you have. It is one's greatest gift.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Household fixtures

I get so excited when we have a home redecorating project going. It is so much fun to pick out new fixtures. We aren't ready to make our final decisions, but I found a site that caught my interest. They sell Danze faucets. In my humble opinion, Danze is the gold standard in faucets. I have yet to find any other brand with the fine style that Danze fixtures have.

Have you seen the commercial on television where the lady goes into her architect, slams a faucet down on his desk and says, "design a house around this". I'm trying not to get too excited about any fixtures just yet. I don't think my husband would be very happy if I told him to design our kitchen around a faucet I fell in love with. =)