I’ve been trying to help my dad pick out an anniversary ring for their 50th wedding anniversary.
He’s been looking at anniversary rings in diamond styles and he has found a few types that are something we think mom would like, but we are considering having something custom made too.

Though he has looked at several diamond rings in platinum and some other finishes, she loves emeralds and we thought that maybe a combination of emeralds and diamonds would be very pretty. Dad is sparing no expense in this gift. He is very  appreciative of what mom has done to take care of him and his family over the years. He also can’t believe that she has put up with him for so long.

I tend to agree. He is not an easy man to get along with sometimes but he has given her pretty much whatever she asked for too. I’m very happy that he asked for my help in picking this gift out too and I hope she loves it as much as the thought we’ve put into it. 

If you’ve ever visited friends or relatives when a heated discussion arose between spouses, you’ll remember that desperate urge to tiptoe from the room. You’re embarrassed, you have no desire to be drawn into their verbal warfare, and you don’t care one way or another about the subject. You just want them not to argue in front of you

This happened to me when I visited friends in Chicago.

He said, “We have wood siding. I’m not installing vinyl windows.”

She said, “But I found a great Illinois window company. You love shopping local.”

He said, “You’re not listening to me. No vinyl.”

She said, “The window company says vinyl is about half the price for the style we want and there’s no maintenance. You’ve been wanting to cut down on the time you spend on the house. This would do it.”

He is silent. Finally he says, “Do they do vinyl siding, too?”

Now, I know usually most people get cash, or trinkets from their inheritance when someone near to them passes away.  Usually those types of things are convenient ways to split the wealth of the deceased, but sometimes things don’t work out that easily.

You see, when my uncle passed away, it turned out I was the one in line to get everything.  He didn’t have any children, and we were the closest out of all the family, so I inherited the lions share of his wealth  – his UK land.

Problem was, I don’t even live over there, so I had no way of using it at all.  So, I decided I would list it as land for sale on a few land investment websites.  I figured that someone would see the value of it and someone would have a better use for it.

It didn’t take too long before I sold it and made a tidy sum of money and I was able to put it to better use than the land.

For most of my life, I have suffered from mild sleep apnea.  Now, that usually isn’t such a big problem, but my challenge is that regular CPAP machines don’t work for me.  I really needed to find a solution.

When I went to talk to my doctor about my problems with my CPAP equipment, my doctor looked very concerned.  I guess that none of his patients with sleep apnea have had a problem with it, so he told me that he would have to look into it.

It took him about a day to get back to me, but he had a promising solution.  He told me that I should go purchase a Bipap machine, and that it was the recommended alternative for patients that had problems with traditional CPAP treatments.

I will be going to pick one up to give it a try – I just hope that it does the job.

All we hear about is how to conserve energy or at least make the energy we do use more “green”.
Apparently on the gadget news front, Apple applied for patents on technology recently. There is or has been some research done in recent years in regard to using solar panels to fuel mobile devices and it looks like Apple is the first to put it into play.

I, for one, am surprised that this hasn’t happened much sooner. After listening to a talk radio show over the weekend about the government, oil, and overseas wars, I’m just disgusted that we have had this type of technology available world wide but no one has made use of it thus putting our country in debt to others just for the price of oil. Without sounding conspiratorial, there is more than what we are told when it comes to gas prices and wars over oil country.

But back on topic. If you think about it, there are solar powered calculators. Can’t that same technology be used for our mobile phones and iPods? Apparently it can and thank god someone is trying to use it!

I am one of those people that can easily be swayed by people trying to get me to sign up for home based businesses. I have tried many of them. Some were successful and some were definitely not. In fact, I am a good source when it comes to wanting to know the best home based business.

I think the ones that are the best home based businesses are the ones that allow you to make a fifty percent profit into the product that is sold. I also think it is important that you really believe in the product that you are selling. In the end, though, my downfall is that I am not an especially good salesperson and I cannot convince people that they absolutely need what I am selling.

I keep telling myself that I am not going to be suckered in again, and in fact, it has been quite awhile since I have signed up for anything. I mostly do not even go to the home shows anymore. I guess I will start attending again when I meet the man of my dreams: Mr. Will Power!

I was listening in on a conversation in the school lunch room a few weeks before summer vacation. I was there to substitute for the high school vocal music teacher, and that day I didn’t know the teachers during my lunch period that well. Add to that the fact that I didn’t understand anything about the subject they were discussing, and you’ll understand why I finished eating quickly. It was like they were talking another language and no one thought to translate for me.

The conversation revolved around tickets for a concert to be held in Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. I’d never heard of the group, but that wasn’t the puzzling part. They kept talking about the best place to find free presale information. This one said he liked such-and-such website. Another said her husband’s employer gave them codes.

I was able to piece together enough from the context of their discussion that it’s possible now to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public, and usually these tickets are discounted. Don’t ask me for any details, though. That’s all I got out of the conversation before the bell rang. Saved by the bell?

My cousin, who runs an import business, brought me back some lingerie pieces from her last buying trip to China. They were really nice and they were such a hit that I decided to become a wholesale lingerie distributor. I made a large order and decided that I would try to sell them through a web site.

I thought that it would be a way for me to make some spending money and I never considered the fact that it might take off like a lightweight jet. I sold through most of my inventory in a little over a week and had to place a huge order from China for more inventories.

The orders kept coming in and I was worried that I was going to lose business as I waited for supplies to come in, but all of my customers were patient and said that they certainly did not mind waiting at the prices I was selling for. I keep it pretty stocked up now and am finally ready to quit my day job.

There is some controversy over MMA (mixed martial arts) and women fighters. Many believe that women can’t fight as well as men do in the arena of this sport. Mixed martial arts is exactly what it sounds like. Two fighters get in a ring or cage and use a variety of different martial arts skills to fight their opponent.

Many people think that women do not have the strength or the required skills in the various disciplines. Others have seen proof that that there are some great women athletes in this sport though.

The equipment involved is much the same for both sexes. Both women and men, wear the same fight gear with the only difference being that women wear a top or sport bra.

In spite of, or maybe because of the controversy regarding women in MMA, there are new leagues dedicated to bringing women to ring. UFC, one of the biggest recognized leagues doesn’t see women as a money maker though and so we won’t be seeing them there any time soon.

My daughter will be graduating from the 8th grade soon and going on to high school. Elementary and middle school wasn’t the easiest for her and I want to show her how much I care that she really did her best and got through school. She has worked hard through some learning disabilities to get through the last several years so she is well worth the money I’ll be spending.

We live in the Philadelphia area and I’d like to get a reliable Philadelphia limo service to pick her and some friends up after school and take them to the salon, the movies and dinner. I plan to pay ahead for certain services at the salon since we are regulars there, and the same for dinner. If they go over, no biggie, the owner knows I’m good for it.

I don’t want to do along though, so is it safe to hire a service just for them or should I plan to ride too? I don’t know….. just wanted to make it about her and her friends.