Renewal of Vows

One of my few closest friends is celebrating her 10th year wedding anniversary next year and they have decided to renew their wedding vows to mark the special occasion. Not only am I invited, I am also participating in her renewal of vows as a brides maid. I am so excited!! She said her motif is burgundy and gold and we have been emailing back and forth with ideas. She has been looking at bridesmaid dresses by bill levkoff and I can say the selection is fantastic! It's not hard to find something that will complement me and my style.

Now the only thing left to do is to lose weight. And I need to start real soon!

Presents

Oh My God! June is around the corner so that means I need to start looking for birthday gifts for men. Hubs' birthday is on the 9th, and I don't know what to give him yet. Each year, I buy him a a subscription at Sirius XM because he likes listening to Sports broadcast on his way from work. But it has gotten so expensive that I'm actually thinking about not renewing his subscription. Last year, I took him to Las Vegas for a mini-vacation but I don't think I can do it this year due to some budget concerns. I don't want to be stingy, but I have to find something that he can use and he'll like but not necessarily break the bank. Any ideas???

Niagara

I'll be driving to Niagara this weekend with my mom. She's here on vacation and I'd like to spend some quality time with her. We've both been to Niagara, but we've never really spent time there. This time, we are staying for two days. I booked a hotel overlooking Niagara Falls and I'm very excited to see the falls light up at night time. The hotel is a 4-star with rustic wood furniture I find really charming. I booked a maid of the mist tour and we'll also be spending time in the casino. My two friends from Toronto are meeting us in Niagara as well. It's going to be a fun mini-reunion with my girls. Exciting!!!

The Switch

That's it! I'm switching to porcelain switch plates! The ones we currently have are made of metal/aluminum sheet and it's hard to keep it clean. I'm tired of wiping the finger prints off of it all the time. Yeah, you might think it's too petty, but a few minutes saved is worth a lot for me. I do enough cleaning and it gets really old too fast.

Speaking of busy, I can't believe the month of May is almost over. I will work two more days and then I'm off for 10 straight days. Ahhh Bliss! I'm so excited!!!

Celebrate!

Doesn't this make you drool??? Alexis' birthday is coming up and I can't decide whether to get this or a cookie cake. What do you suggest???

Money pit

Speaking of summer, I need to buy a hot tub spa cover as soon as possible. The one we have is on it's last leg and we need to get a new one. All our patio furniture need to be replaced too. I tried replacing the chair cushions but they are costlier than getting new chairs. That's insane! Our grill is not functional either! The grates are chipping and getting a new set will set us back a couple hundred dollars. Geez, I don't know what else to do! Everything is so expensive and I'm getting tired of spending money!

Summer time

Summer is fast approaching. I couldn't decide last night if I want to turn the a/c on or not. It was hot and humid in the room and I had a hard time sleeping. My friend told me she had a hard time sleeping as well. Like me, she hates the summer months. Thankfully, she has an in-ground pool. I wish I have one too! She uses her pool in the winter time as well, and she only trusts pentair pool heater parts. All she needs to do is switch from winter to summer mode. I'm glad my friend loves hosting pool parties in her home or I'd be stuck sweating it all the time.

Baby stuff!

I was honored to be chosen a Godmother to my friend's son. I immediately scoured the internet for baby & toddler gifts. I couldn't believe how cute baby stuff are nowadays! When I had my first born almost 15 years ago, I bought mostly the neutral boring stuff, not by choice of course. Baby stuff then were not so trendy as the ones now.

I shopped online and was relieved to get some online coupons. Saved me a few bucks! I admit I went a bit overboard, but who can blame me?

habit?

Hubs is not smoker. So imagine my surprise when he agreed to have a meeting in a cigar shop. Well, it's not just a regular cigar shop. This one has a special room where guys can sit and discuss their agenda over a cigar. It was so funny seeing my husband's picture on facebook with a big cigar in his mouth. That prompted me to check out cao cigars for sale, thinking it would be a nice father's day present. Thankfully, hubs declined the nice gesture when he found out. He said it was a one time deal, just for fun, and he doesn't see himself smoking regularly. whew!

escape

ahhhhhh....sweet escape, even for just a few minutes.

Wandering

I am feeling so tired and uninspired. I prayed so hard to make this work day go by quickly and painlessly. I was relieved when it was over, to say the least. I haven't had a good night sleep in weeks. I don't know what's going on but I open my eyes at the same time everyday- 3am!

All I could think of right now is a few days for myself, in a Cabana far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Maybe I'm burnt out. Maybe I need time to relax. To recuperate, and let this silly gloomy thoughts pass by.

Prepare

It breaks my heart when I see an old man or woman come in, informing the bank of the demise of their other half. I can't believe the number of spouses not prepared for the inevitable. Some have gotten so dependent on their spouses that they do not even know where to begin. They have gotten so relaxed, specially when the other spouse is the one handling the finances that they forget the basics called preparation. I know a funeral checklist is something most people don't want to face. It's something we don't really think of, but we must. Losing someone is hard enough, let's not make it harder by not being prepared.

Id Theft

Now, just what in the world are contactless cards? I've never heard of it until someone from work mentioned it the other day. I work in a bank and I see ID theft is getting out of hand. In fact, it is the fastest growing crime in the United States. I was a victim of ID theft and I fought hard to regain the credit it tainted. Now I do everything in my power to protect it. I signed up for identity protection that allows me to pull my credit report every month and it also monitors any activities in my report. This allows me to make informed decision on my purchasing power. You should do the same thing too. You can have peace of mind for less than $10 a month, just like moi.

Knife

If there is one tool you couldn't part with, what would it be? Now, don't be thinking about top of the line, expensive luxurious stuff you can only get at specialty shops. Think about everyday use stuff....just like....

Our utility knife is a fantastic tool we've used for several purposes. It doubled as a saw (when hubs couldn't find the saw), a screw driver, a hammer (yeah, just be mindful of the sharp blade), a ghetto style can opener, a cutter, a garden tool, and of course, a knife! :-) I knew it was a good investment when we bought it. We have to sharpen it occasionally but we already got our money's worth!

ID theft

It was a big surprise to us when a few years ago, I decided to check our credit report. We've always been cautious with our spending and we watch our bank accounts like hawks. Little did we know that ID thieves were already racking up high phone bills under our name. Needless to say, I was furious and livid about the whole situation. How can someone get away with it? How come companies are not checking the identities of people who sign up for their services fully?? Who is to blame in this situation? It took us two years to fix the big mess. We have learned a valuable lesson. We now have our identities protected. So thief, I dare you to mess with me this time! :-)

Ceiling fan

The family has been talking about a mini renovation project in our family room. Don't get me wrong, the place looks cozy and modern but my daughter thinks a ceiling fan lighting will help accentuate the room. We have a regular ceiling fan and it seems old and worn. It just doesn't fit in. We were at home depot the other day and we found a lot of ideas we can use. It's now just a matter of finding the time to actually do it ourselves. We are not skilled by no means, but it is a good idea to start with small projects like this than to mess up big time :-)

not looking forward to it

My daughter is turning 15 next month. That means she is eligible for driver's training. Really? Where did the time go? Am I ready for this??? Apparently not. I told my husband he needs to teach her to drive, not I. I just don't have the patience. I bet she'll get more nervous when I'm with her. This also means we need to be looking for a used car soon. Maybe I should make it fun and find one with a vehicle tracking device.

unexpected

We are still looking for an inexpensive wall mount we can use to mount our flat screen TV. It's been on the basement floor and we haven't touched it in months. Our plan was to pay somebody to do it for me but because there's a lot of unexpected expenses, it had to be put in the back burner for the mean time. Speaking of unexpected expenses, we had to take our pup to the Vet last night. He has ear infection and we felt really bad for him because he's in pain all the time. $128 later and we have the meds we have to put in both his ears.

Truck hitch

Can someone tell me what a curt hitch is? I came across the term in one of our truck magazine but I really have no idea what exactly it is. I dare not ask my husband because I'm pretty sure he'll just chuckle at me for my lack of know-how when it comes to vehicles.

But I don't really care. I have enough to worry about. When it comes to my car, I trust my mechanic, that's it. I'd rather pay the professional to do a good job rather than having somebody inexperienced to toy with it.

Gold

I made a lot of money last time I sold my unwanted gold jewelry.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I received the check.  I mean, the gold jewelry I sold were not only outdated, some are even broke.  I got more for the higher karat, less for the lower ones.  It was also the first time that I found out there's such a thing as 8 karat gold.  I thought the lowest karat was 10.  Anyway, I wonder how much money a gold bullion will sell for.  I bet a lot!!!!  

cautious much?

What would you ever do if you find a link on a website that saysread this to find out more?    Would you click on it even without knowing where it will take you?  Or would you be more cautious and ignore it no matter how attractive it looks??  I'm not exactly sure what I'd do to be honest with you.  Part of me says "yeah, just do it, like Pandora did".  But a bigger part of me says "listen to what your mother taught you".  Most the time, our fears are unwarranted, but without it, I wonder what kind of crazy world it'll be.  

Think twice

If you're wondering about what you should know about progene, you better start doing your research now. Just like with anything, one must really study and weigh the pros and cons before embarking into any treatment. Consulting your physician is one way to be informed. Not everyone though has access to doctors, specially those who lack the health insurance. So another way would be with the help of the internet. There are so many websites that can help with your research, you just have to find the most credible one, because as you and I know, information found on the end are not always accurate.