To Join or Not To Join?

Country clubs tend to get a bad wrap on TV and in the movies.  It always seems to be that they are portrayed as snobbish and uppity places that exclude people by race or income or standing in society.  To be honest, that has always been my take, but then again, I have never been a member of a country club.  Who am I to judge?

After some research there are some very nice benefits.  If you have a passion for golf or tennis, you certainly would benefit from a country club.  You would always have availability to play and would not have to bother to pay on a per use basis.  Your fees would be included in your membership. 

Another benefit is that some country clubs have various locations throughout the state, country, or even the world.  With your membership you are welcomed at any club.  So, while you travel you have the ability to use any of their facilities.

A country club membership does provide a certain status, and therefore can be very beneficial in both socially and in business.

I will never be a country club kind of girl, but I have gained a somewhat better understanding as to why some might like to join.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for Florida Country Clubs and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

The Debt of Christmas Past

Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year!  I absolutely love getting caught up in the holiday spirit!   There can be a price when I lose all my inhibitions, and become completely absorbed by Christmas.  I can get lost in the smells of Christmas in the time it takes one batch of cookies to bake.  And I never grow tired of cookies and milk, caramel, or fudge.  Sure, I will over indulge and maybe gain a few pounds, but it is so entirely worth it.  I don’t feel guilty or stressed in the least.  But lose my inhibitions in the mall, and then I have a problem.

Retailers are no dummies.  With all the decorations, the Christmas music, Santa, the smells of roasted nuts, the candies, the busy shoppers haven’t a chance.  Luckily, our family is not too engrossed in gifts, but I absolutely love finding the perfect gift for each of my children.  It does my heart good when on Christmas morning, they open a gift that makes them smile.  It is easy to go over budget when I look around and enjoy the atmosphere of the mall.  Then the holiday spirit takes me away to the land of credit card debt, which is wonderful until after Christmas.

After Christmas is when the true Scrooge should appear, pinching every penny to pay off the debt of Christmas past.  For me, the best way to handle this is by setting a budget where I set up a recurring payment from my bank account to my credit card.  This way I have no choice and I won’t be late or short on a payment.  I continue to do this until I get my tax return.  Usually, my tax return will cover the balance.

So enjoy those cookies, because dropping a few pounds is so much easier than paying off a huge amount of holiday debt.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Black Friday... Online!

Black Friday is serious business for our family.  Serious fun.  I have always scoped the ads and figured the game plan.  Early Black Friday morning, usually 3AM, I announce the teams, and give them their envelope with their assignment.

In making the teams, you have to pair the weak with the strong.  The announcing of teams is exciting, but nothing compared to the drama of knowing what item you are assigned.  To see if you were entrusted with a most important purchase.  A gift that was the only gift one of the younger kids had asked Santa for was always a high priority assignment.  Or a hot item for the year like Game Boy, $5 Art Kit, or a Pokemon back pack.  You knew it was do or die.  You had to return with your item.  Your envelope contained a visual (picture from the ad), a map of the store to show where your item would most likely be located, and the cash to purchase it with.  If there was more than one item at your store, you would have multiple visuals which you would split up among the team.

As years have past we have had to make adjustments to the changes in shopping.  Stores keep opening up earlier and earlier, until this year they opened on Thanksgiving at midnight!  And as the kids have gotten older, the objects of their desires has obviously changed.  This year the hot item was a Singer sewing machine for only $60 and three of the girls wanted one!  This was going to require some maneuvering.  I mean how can you dart in and out of the crowd, grabbing other items needed while carrying a sewing machine!  And how would we get one of them to NYC?  And then the latest in the shopping craze hit us!  What if they sell online?

We took a look for the sewing machine while the turkey was cooking and much to our surprise it was online, $60, free shipping, and had a promo code for $5 off!  We snatched up three before the mini marshmallows were melting on the yams!  Oh don't get me wrong... we still went out among the craze of Black Friday but even after going to one store where the line to purchase was a two hour wait, we looked at each other and all thought the same thing... online shopping!  We went home, purchased everything we wanted from that particular store, free shipping, and got our $10 for every $50 spent.  And we were fast asleep by 5AM that morning!

I am participating in a blog campaign for Bucks2Blog for an ecommerce
solution company and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are
my own.

My Obsession with Shoes

I have a problem.  Shoes.  It doesn’t matter how many pairs of shoes I own, there is still a pair that I need.  OK… maybe not need.  There is always a pair that I want.  If I based my purchases of shoes on need then I wouldn’t have a problem now would I?

I truly did need a pair of black flats.  Every woman knows that this is a basic in every girl’s arsenal of shoes and my previous pair was acquired by a daughter.  No matter, because I really wasn’t crazy about the old ones and they hurt my feet.  The black flats I found are perfect.  Super cute.  Comfortable.  And fit like a glove.  On first glance you would think this was no problem.  I performed shopping like a man.   Know what I need.  Look for it.  Purchase it.  Done.  Not so.

In my efforts to explore the shoe world of black flats, I came across my problem.  More shoes!  It stands to reason that I would come across other shoes in my search for black flats.  I think the shoe stores set up like a grocery store.  You know how they put the milk in the far back of the store so you have to walk past everything else?  Well, black flats are in the back so you have to walk by all the boots, the pumps and the sneakers.  It’s a mine field for a shoe junkie.  Now I feel the need for a beautiful pair of gray boots, a pair of barefoot like sneakers, and some killer red pumps! 

You can clearly see that I do, in fact, have a problem… but it’s nothing my Christmas bonus won’t fix!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for handmade shoes and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

The Gift of Cosmetic Dentistry

I was at a craft store the other day and a sweet looking young girl, probably in her 20's, was checking me out. She was very courteous and kind and was efficient at her job. She was not what most would call gorgeous, but a nice looking girl. I couldn't help bu wonder that despite all the pleasantries we were showing one another, she didn't really smile, She kind of did a half smile with her lips covering her teeth. It reminded my of the first smiles a teen does after getting braces. Our transaction continued and I said something that brought out a full smile which revealed her reluctance to smile. Her teeth were worn and rotted. I don't think there was single exposed tooth that did not have some kind of mark or decay. It broke my heart. We all know how incredibly expensive dental care is regardless if you have insurance or not. I've always wondered what I would do if I ever was rich. Would I be philanthropic and give to countless worthy charities? Would I buy homes for the homeless? Would I get caught up in buying hundreds of pairs of shoes? It's possible. But after seeing this sweet girl, I had a greater thought. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a moment like this where you could help a person right on the spot. Of course you would not want to offend, but in someway I would have loved to offer to take her to my dentist and get all the necessary work done first to make her comfortable, and then secondly, do any cosmetic dental work that would make her a million dollar smile.

The value of a smile is priceless. The confidence it brings is immeasurable. I don't have fantastically shaped teeth or all of the professionally whitening, but I have a decent smile and I love to smile! I can't imagine what it could do for a persons life to feel free to smile. Sure, there are other greater needs obviously like food and shelter, but to have the extra money to do a deed such as giving someone their smile sure seems pretty great.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for a franklindentist and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

A Flood of Online Marketing

I am grateful to work for such a kind and generous employer. He truly is one of the most giving and thoughtful men I know. Working for him and his company has and will always be one of the greatest blessings in my life. Despite the fact that he maintains all of these wonderful qualities throughout the year, every year, he still gives a Christmas bonus. I can honestly say that it is not necessary. Again, I am blessed beyond reason, but I will admit it is wonderfully fun.

I am very responsible with the vast majority of my bonus, but this time each year I will indulge and buy myself something I absolutely don't need. I buy the item I want, no matter how frivolous. It doesn't matter if I already have a pair of tennis shoes. If there is a really great pair that I just love, I get them. One year, I spent it on filet mignon and See's Chocolates... and it was fabulous! No guilt about spending the money when I could have easily gotten hamburger and a Kit Kat bar. This year I have had my eye on an e reader.

I have been searching the internet far and wide to compare and review The Nook, The Kindle, Kobo, and Sony readers. I start to waiver sometimes and think well... maybe another pair of shoes but everytime I am on the internet whether I am checking my email, doing my work, looking up an address in MapQuest... there is The Kindle.  I am not kidding! My MSN homepage has The Kindle. My email sidebar has The Kindle. I am not a push over with advertising. Beer commercials are stupid and do not make me think beer will add to my happiness. A diet Coke commercial doesn't convince me that I am a stick of a model. And Cover Girl commercials do not blind me into thinking that I will be as flawless as Queen Latifah if I use their foundation. And television commercials are in my head for but a moment. But The Kindle is always there... always prompting... always reminding... and seriously making me want to just click on it and buy it! The Kindle has open the flood gates on online marketing!

I haven't caved yet, but I predict when I get my bonus and I turn on my computer to look at what I might want to spend my frivolous portion of it on... The Kindle will be all smiles and jumping up and down for me to buy it!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for an internet
marketing company and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are
my own.

A Masterpiece

I have a daughter who loves art.  When she was just in elementary school, she entered every coloring contest we knew about.  And, in fact, she won many.  To her, it was never just coloring and staying within the lines.  She would make a dark outline with the color crayon she was going to use and then shade in the rest.  Her coloring book was truly beautiful.

She went into the Art IB Program in high school and positively thrived.  I know I’m her Mom, but she is blessed with an unbelievable talent.  She became the Sterling Scholar in Art.  She then went to Utah State to major in Fine Arts and then fell in love with Theatre Art.  She will graduate in May 2012 with a double major.  She even has a piece hanging at The Huntsman Cancer Hospital.

I give you this background so you may somewhat appreciate that I am not idling talking about a child’s school drawing, when I say that she has drawn a picture for me.  I have wanted a piece of art from her for quite some time and when I saw it, it brought tears to my eyes.  It is a drawing of the Savior’s hand reaching down, as if for me.  Those of you who know my health history will understand how deeply this artwork has touched me.  I want desperately to hang it, however, I have come upon the dilemma of framing this beautiful piece.

It certainly can not be put in a simple cookie cutter frame found in most discount stores.  I ventured out to have the piece custom framed, something I have never done before.  Without question, the custom frame was breathtaking.  It truly was perfection, until the price.  I am the queen of let’s make a deal, but there was no getting the price within reach even with my 50% off coupon.  I looked up framing online and I only saw more exquisite and more expensive custom frames.  It only opened my eyes further to what I could do to enhance the beauty of my daughter’s artwork.  Normally, I would never consider paying so much for a frame… but it’s my daughter’s.  I will begin my savings plan today so I can make this what it is… a masterpiece.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for custom framing NYC and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.