It’s My Imagination

Daughter’s Birthday

February 22, 2008 on 2:21 pm | In Family | Comments Off

My daughter’s birthday is less than two weeks away.  We have pretty much settled on what her plans are for celebrating with her friends, two of them anyway.  Most of her friends are back in Illinois, where we moved from, so it will be a small celebration.  Now, I need to figure out what gift she wants from us.

These are some items she listed off last night, just before she fell asleep.

1. a webcam (she would need 2, one for herself and one to send to a friend back in Illinois)
2. a new game for her Nintendo DS (this is the least expensive option)
3. an iPod (she currently has a nano, but she wouldn’t mind being able to download movies onto a regular size iPod)

I really don’t know what we’re going to give her.  If you have any suggestions as to what a 12 year old would enjoy, leave me a comment!

Tags: iPod, Nintendo, webcam

In Need of Tools

February 22, 2008 on 2:10 pm | In Some of This Some of That | Comments Off

Many years ago, when we lived in Southern California, we were accustomed to experiencing earthquakes and made sure we were prepared. We always made sure to have plenty of bottled water on hand as well as a first aid kit. We maintained earthquake preparedness kits in our vehicles as well as at home because we never knew where we would be if an earthquake hit. The most important item we had at home was a portable generator. We felt that if we should lose power, for any reason, the generator would allow us to at least run our refrigerator to keep our food from spoiling.

After relocating twice and having the generator move with us, we finally decided to sell it before our third move. Generators are heavy and we wanted to lighten our load.

Now that we’re living in Texas and are experiencing not earthquakes, but heavy thunderstorms on a fairly regular basis, we feel that it might be a good idea to once again invest in a portable generator. I’ve been considering Milwaukee Portable Generators as an excellent source of power tools for 25 years. I want to make sure that we have excellent customer service and support. I really just want the secure feeling of knowing that we’re prepared in case of an emergency.

What do you do to prepare for a major emergency or loss of power?

Tags: Ohio Power Tool, portable generators, power tools

Donations Needed

February 20, 2008 on 8:00 pm | In My Imagination | Comments Off

Do you support charity causes?  There are so many wonderful charity causes out there and here are also many different ways charity organizations can be supported.  Many people provide hours of volunteer time and of course monetary donations are always helpful.  I would like to draw your attention to two charities in particular, The American Heart Association and The Breast Cancer Site.  I’ve talked about both of these before, but in case you haven’t read my blog before, I’m going to talk about them both again.

The first is The American Heart Association. This is near and dear to my own heart because my father passed away 2 1/2 years ago as a result of heart disease. I mentioned this in a post last week and I feel it’s worth mentioning again. To help fund research and other projects for the American Heart Association, my daughter’s elementary school is participating in Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart the entire month of February. My daughter is participating and has set a personal goal of raising $200. As of today, she has raised $80. If you would like to donate to this wonderful cause, please check out her donation page at the American Heart Association.

My second favorite website that I would very much like to support is The Breast Cancer Site. I have a very dear friend fighting this disease. Early detection helped her to be a survivor. My simply clicking we can help to provide mammograms to those who may not be able to afford them. You may choose to click the button in my sidebar or click the text below, but please click.

Click here for an easy and free way to help fund mammograms for those in need at The Breast Cancer Site!

Tags: American Heart Association, Breast Cancer Site

Imagining Costa Rica

February 20, 2008 on 4:53 pm | In My Imagination | Comments Off

We had an absolutely beautiful morning this morning. The sun was shining and it was just warm enough that I even considered putting the top down on the car. That lasted until around noon, then we started heading back into the dreary gray that seems to be the trend here. I have to admit, I’m really tired of all the gray and windy days we have here in north Texas. I’m ready for a change.

If you’re one of the few people who reads this blog, you know that I often imagine myself being in other places. It seems to be a way for me to escape the dreariness. Today is certainly no different. I’ve been imagining myself in some of the most magnificent places and today, I found my imagination going to see the whales and dolphins on sightseeing tours, experiencing exotic animals and relaxing in beautiful Villas Costa Rica when I’m not out horseback riding or visiting the beach.

I love imagining myself on a luxurious, exotic vacation and hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to experience it for real.

Tags: Costa Rica

Fidel Castro

February 19, 2008 on 6:10 pm | In Some of This Some of That | Comments Off

81 year old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba’s President this morning.

That to me is an incredible headline.  Why?  Because Castro had been the leader of Cuba longer than I have been alive.  He came to power in 1959.   Do you realize that other than a King or Queen, Castro has been in a position of power longer than any other world leader?  That is astonishing to me.

Over the past two years Castro has been quite ill, and yet, he refused to relinquish his power.  He did cede power to his 76 year old brother, Raul Castro once in July 2006.   Raul is expected to take over as Cuba’s leader.  It will be very interesting to see if the reforms he has promised will come to fruition.  For the people of Cuba, I hope so.

Tags: Castro, Cuba

Imagining Spain

February 18, 2008 on 2:38 pm | In Some of This Some of That | 3 Comments

I’ve always imagined making a return trip to Spain.

You see, my parents lived overseas during my high school years and so, I attended boarding school in the U.S. During one winter holiday, I flew to Madrid and met up with my parents, where we were supposed to have a wonderful holiday together. One problem, I got the flu. I was so miserable the entire trip and it didn’t help that it was damp and rainy the whole time, at least, that’s how I remember it. My memories may be fogged by my illness at the time, flu has a way of doing that. For that reason, I’d love to make a return visit.

I remember a few years ago, watching the Barcelona Olympics and thinking about what a wonderful place it would be to visit. My husband has been fortunate enough to have a few business trips to Europe, and although he hasn’t yet made it to Spain, there is always a chance that he will. To help him plan the trip so that my daughter and I could go with him, I’m willing to check out Hotels in Barcelona as well as other Spanish hotels. It would be so awesome to find accommodations in Barcelona and the surrounding area near sites like Casa Batllo, Montjuic Park and Castle, and Santa Maria del Pi.

Have any of you ever been to Barcelona and stayed in any Barcelona hotels? Any recommendations?

Tags: Barcelona, hotels, Spain

I Need A Task Manager

February 18, 2008 on 11:25 am | In My Imagination | Comments Off

I have been working diligently over the last few weeks to try to be organized. With family life, 2 blogs and my volunteer work, not to mention getting my daughter every where she’s supposed to be, I sometimes have trouble remembering what I’m supposed to be doing.  I’ve been using my calendar, writing to-do lists, sending myself email reminders and anything else I can think of. I was thinking how nice it would be if I could, instead of a white board or pen & note paper, I had to do software to help make my life more organized.

Imagine my pleasant surprise to find that it’s contest time at Lorri’s blog and I could WIN  Fruitful Time Task Manager software! That would be awesome! The contest ends March 6 and winners will be announced on March 7. You can enter easily enough if you want to, but I do plan on winning!

Tags: contest, task manager, to do software

Visiting Izea

February 17, 2008 on 9:45 am | In Blogging, Family | Comments Off

My sister celebrated her birthday on Friday by going to Florida with her husband to spend some time with her daughter and by visiting Izea. I think it’s cool that she stopped by to say hello and they took pictures while she was there.

She’s going to be attending a Social Spark user group review this weekend, joining other Posties.   Karen is one of PayPerPost’s top earners and has a lot of insight on how to earn money doing paid posts on a blog. Truth is, I can blame her 100% for my current addiction to blogging!

American Heart Association

February 15, 2008 on 11:53 am | In Family, My Imagination | 2 Comments

My daughter’s school is participating this month in the American Heart Association’s Hoops for Heart program. My daughter has set a personal goal of raising $200 to donate to this great cause to fight heart disease and stroke.

If you too would like to support this great cause with a donation of $25 or more, please click here and you will be taken directly to my daughter’s AHA donation page.

Thank You!

Tags: American Heart Association, Hoops for Heart

Utilizing the Garage

February 15, 2008 on 11:08 am | In My Imagination | 2 Comments

Yes, it’s been 10 months and I’m STILL unpacking boxes from our relocation. We had a basement in our home in Illinois, here in Texas, we do not. So, it’s a logistics issue, where to put all of the “stuff” that was in our basement, in our new house. You see, usually, things that are relegated to the basement are not the most important items or even the nicest items in your home. So, when the moving boxes were being unloaded off of the moving truck, many of them were placed in our 3 car garage, where they’ve been sitting ever since.

Unfortunately, those boxes are pretty easy for me to ignore, I just shut the door. Recently though, the Texas weather has really pushed me to see the importance of cleaning out our garage and using it more for what it’s intended, parking our vehicles. Right now, our car is parked in the garage daily, but our full size van sits out in the driveway, suffering with the elements. In Texas, those elements include hail which we’ve had quite a bit of lately, so I’ve been forced to a least shove the boxes over so, when a hail storm is coming, when can squeeze both vehicles inside.

What I’d really like to do with the garage is get all of those boxes unpacked and out of there. Then, not only will we be able to park both vehicles inside, but we can store the riding mower inside as well, it currently also sits in the driveway. I’d like to section of a part of the garage for all of my gardening tools and storing my bags of dirt and planting materials. Believe it or not, planting season in this part of the country is almost upon us and I would really like to get some seeds started.

Texas weather is so unpredictable though. I remember when we were here house shopping last April, it actually snowed! Yesterday it was in the 70′s and today’s high was 48 and it’s been dropping all morning. My point here is that if I want to have a garden center out in my garage, I really will need a way of keeping it warm so my seedlings can take off and grow. For that purpose, I’m looking into gas shop heaters that use radiant heat to warm the things around them.

I  am working on this project now. I just finished unpacking two smaller boxes that have been out in the garage, and I have three medium sized boxes stacked in my kitchen, waiting to be opened and unpacked. I’m looking forward to seeing the garage cleaned and emptied, ready to be re-utilized for both parking and gardening.

Tags: gas heaters