Someone Else’s Kids

During this time of year more than any other, it seems there are more and more demands on our time and resources.

You may come across various ads or direct mail pieces soliciting donations for charities. While anyone who can make outright donations to charities is always appreciated by them, there is another option you can consider – purchasing items whose proceeds go to charities. I have a friend who buys any item she sees that has the insignia of her favorite good cause.

At Christmas, I think this is the best of both worlds because the foundation gets its money and you can get an item that can be given to someone as a holiday gift.

For example, the Alzheimer’s Foundation runs a store directly on their website. All proceeds benefit the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. They have items which would make perfect presents for people on your holiday list. They have jewelry, calendars, T-shirts, stuffed animals, baseball caps, and more. Every picture on the site offers you the chance to enlarge it so you can get a very clear view of he item in which you are interested.

When talking about any illness or chronic medical condition, there are always two areas that need attention. One is finding a cure to eradicate the illness, and the other area is providing care for those who already have it as well as support for the people who take care of them. The Alzheimer Foundation’s mission is to “provide optimal care and services to individuals confronting dementia, and to their caregivers and families.”

I’m sure we’ve all had a relative or friend of the family suffer from this disease at some point in our lives. We know why it is so important for them to receive the best care they can. We want them to live their lives as fully as possible despite the condition.

You can feel good about your purchases in their online store because you know they go towards a worthy cause. alzheimers, alzheimers disease, alzheimers foundation, charities

With Thanksgiving just two days away as I write this, I first want to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy the day off from work with your families and an extra long weekend if you have also scheduled a vacation day off the day after Thanksgiving.

Also, for everyone who is traveling during the busiest travel time of the year, please drive safely and responsibly to your destinations.

Why am I calling Thanksgiving the forgotten holiday? It certainly seems like that in the retail world doesn’t it? It seems like stores go from pushing Halloween merchandise right into Christmas. The jack-o-lanterns come down and the Christmas trees go up. So many people overlook the harvest and autumn decorations.

It’s a shame because we’ve lost the true meaning of the holiday. In a more agricultural society, giving thanks for the harvest had real meaning because people felt a greater connection to the source of their food than we do today. Imagine giving thanks for your local, overcrowded and overpriced grocery store – not too likely!thanksgiving

Stop your holiday decorating plans in their tracks. This product will make all the difference this holiday season.

I just tried Insta Snow. It’s a fake snow powder to which you add some water and you suddenly have your very own snow produced right in front of your eyes. When they say instant, they aren’t kidding. I tried to capture the process on camera and we had to click the button really fast several times in a row to try to see the different stages. I have pictures below.

I was amazed at how much snow was produced. That’s why I included the picture of the little sample package I started with. I only used half the powder in the package and half the water! You can see how little it took to make that full bowl of snowflakes.

I can’t believe how realistic the snow looks and feels. Perhaps this is one of Hollywood’s special effects secrets! The kids (and you) will absolutely love playing with this stuff.

The website that sells this stuff also has other great holiday decorating ideas and gift items. I also got the DVD of fireplace scenes. At first, I thought it would be kind of monotonous, but they did an awesome job with it. There are several different scenes from which to choose and there are also different soundtracks with music options and fire sound options to mix and match with the scenes so you could play the DVD everyday throughout the Christmas season and have a different experience each time.

Believe me when I say there’s something for everyone on your gift list on the site too. They even have the Bodygard Emergency Tool Keychain!

decorations, fake snow, holiday decorating, insta snow

I knew it would happen. Just as I predicted in my previous entry Shattered Glass In The House, another piece of glass turned up.

I decided later that night to go over the whole kitchen floor one more time with a broom even though I had thoroughly cleaned up the whole area and the rest of the floor with a dustpan and brush right away. Sure enough, the broom swept up a surprisingly large piece of glass. I hope that is the end of the incident!

Here’s a tip I thought of to help locate any wayward pieces of glass if this happens to you. After your first clean up of the area, shut the light off and slowly use a flashlight beam to go over the floor. Remaining glass should shine in the light.

Do you have any tips to share?broken glass

Sometime ago, I wrote a blog entry talking about Hannah Montana coming out on DVD. At the time, it was the first time I had heard of the character and didn’t realize she was taking the tween world by storm. Time Magazine even did a feature about the character and portrayer Miley Cyrus a couple weeks ago so the word is definitely out among parents and the general population know.

I had wondered what happened to Billy Ray Cyrus since I hadn’t heard about him in a while. It’s hard to imagine a music industry star as a stage father, but no doubt he brings a unique perspective to the role as he oversees his daughter’s work on the show.

Knowing that Miley is performing around the country as Hannah, it doesn’t surprise me to learn that she will be appearing at the Houston Rodeo. Of course, if this is a performance that you don’t want to miss, you can easily get your Hannah Montana Houston Rodeo tickets online right now in plenty of time. In fact, they may be ideal Christmas gift for young music fans in your household. (Don’t worry, even if you or your kids misspell the character’s name as “Hanah Montana,” I’m sure you can still call yourselves fans!)hannah montana, rodeo

Think back - remember how excited you were when you were a child and you received a personalized letter from Santa Claus? Did’t you want to tell all your friends and relatives? It made Santa so real that it may have even extended your belief a little longer.

If your kids are going to write to Santa this year, he can do much more than write back. Thanks to modern technology and the Internet, it’s easier than ever to give your kids holiday memories of Santa that will last a lifetime. In fact, you wil be able to preserve your memories electronically. They’ll be able to share what you did for them with their own kids someday.

You can get a live personalized phone call from Santa Claus! Can you imagine the lool on your child’s face when you hand the phone to him or her and he or she hears Santa’s voice? Teh company that produces the call makes a permanent recording. One option is to get an ornament with the CD enclosed so you can hang it right on your tree.

Another company makes a personal video from Santa for your kids. They will be thrilled to receive an answer to their Santa letters by video. There are samples on the company’s website so you can see for yourself what the DVD’s are like.

The Internet makes it so simple for parents to set all this up. You’re able to provide whatever information about your child or their Christmas wish lists / your holiday gift plans that you want so you can be sure that you and Santa Claus are on the same page! Your kids will be amazed and it will be much easier for you than trying to whisper it into the ear of the elf helping the Santa at your local mall.

For all you parents who tell the kids to behave because Santa is watching…now you’ll have “proof” because you can get Kris Kringle himself to mention something specific that you have been getting your child to improve upon.

This is also a unique Christmas gift that any grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, neighbor, or family friend can get. When Santa calls or a message from him arrives at your home by DVD this holiday season, you can be sure you’ll be creating unforgettable Christmas memories.

I recently wrote a post about buying a dream home in a planned community. Even if you have your dream home, you will still want to take dream vacations and what better place than in Florida holiday villas?

A lot of people buy a home in Florida as both a vacation destination and an investment because there is a thriving industry for renting out homes there to make money. No doubt, people use their rental income to pay for all or part of the mortgage payments on the houses.

Purchasing property like this can also be part of a long-range retirement plan. The home could be used much more frequently during retirement or can become the primary residence at that time and the original home in another part of the country could be sold off.florida

I was thinking today that household glasses should be made shatterproof like windshields. Unfortunately, that would make each glass cost a fortune, but at least you wouldn’t ever have to replace them.

As you might have guessed, what brought this on was a glass that fell from the cabinet today. All I did was open the cabinet door and the glass suddenly tumbled out. I never even touched anything on the shelf. I can only assume that something inside the cabinet shifted and pushed the glass to the edge. When I opened the door, that was all it needed to completely move off the shelf.

Did you ever notice that no matter how carefully you clean up each little shard, you will always find another one later that day, the next day, or even weeks later? It’s so frustrating. You have to be extra careful if you have pets or kids running around the house too because you know one of them will find that last stray piece of glass before you do.broken glass