Thinking Outloud

Three years ago today I received the news that my mother unexpectedly passed away.  It was a great shock to the family as she hadn’t been sick and actually was 1000 miles away from home when this happened.  It was bad enough to lose her so unexpectedly, but this time a year was extremely rough.  So, this will be my third Christmas without her.  When it first happened, everyone used to tell me that as time went by, life would get easier.  And, you know what?  It has.  This year, although I miss her very much, the pain isn’t as bad as when it first happened.  So, life really does go on.  So today I will set aside a little bit of time to think about her and all the wonderful past memories of her that I have.

Because I am a stay at home mom, I am always on the look out for different types of money making ideas where I can earn a little extra income off the Internet. And, when I find an opportunity that looks promising, I always like to share. So this is why I would like to tell you all about a site I found over at www.abalancedlifestyle.ca. Over at this site you will find information concerning getting involved in a Home Business Opportunity. Not only will this opportunity insure that you enjoy a Better Future, but because of the types of products that are involved with this business, you will also be able to enjoy are more Balanced Lifestyle. By supplying healthy products to consumers, you will also be giving them the opportunity to enjoy a balanced lifestyle as well. So, if you’ve been searching for a home business opportunity to try out, why not check out this site and see how they can assist you in your working from home dreams.

Finally after almost three weeks, I am driving legal again.  A couple of weeks ago I took my car into one of the garages in our area for it’s annual inspection.  Much to my dismay, it failed.  It need a couple of new parts and with the labour costs attached, it was going to cost me quite a bit of money to get it back on the road.  So, my husband bought the parts and I took it to a different garage to get the parts put on (a whole lot cheaper).  So this morning I headed back down the road to the original garage to have it re-inspected.  I am happy to report that this time it passed and at least for the next year I am legal again.  I did learn a valuable lesson this year and that is I will not be taking my car back to the first garage next year, but will take it to the second place I went to.  As the prices were a whole lot better and so was the service.

Over the years I have found that purchasing a gift for my father-in-law has become quite a challenge. As he gets older, it is become more difficult to purchase something that he doesn’t already have. Well I noticed last weekend that he wasn’t wearing his watch and when I asked him about it, he told me that last week his watch finally gave up on him. He doesn’t plan on purchasing another one until after Christmas when the sales start so I thought this would be a perfect gift for him. So I have been checking out the different prices and styles of ebel watches. Finally this year I will be able to purchase him a product that I know he will be sure to use.

Well I have to say that I am extremely proud of myself this year!  I have all my shopping done (hubby did most of it), all the wrapping done, and yesterday did all the shopping for our Christmas dinner.  As this year, there will only be the four of us here for Christmas dinner, I bought a chicken instead of a turkey.  I prefer chicken over turkey as I find it is not so dry.  And you can still have all the trimming with the chicken as you would have with the turkey.  So yesterday I bought a chicken, vegetables, stuffing and of course cranberry sauce.  We will have our Christmas dinner on Christmas day and then on boxing day we will be headed out to my husband’s fathers.  So this year we get two dinners.  Now if I could only get all the cleaning done that needs to be done, we will be good to go.

How about you guys?  Are you almost set for the big day?

Last night we attended our daughter’s first violin concert.  I have to say it was a huge success.  The school gym was packed full of family members and friends.  There were so many people there that you couldn’t even find standing room.  You could tell that the children had really practiced very hard and their playing of the instruments reflected this quite nicely.  I was very proud of my daughter and I could tell that she was very proud as well.

Not only was it a violin concert, but it was also the choir’s concert as well.  And yes, they did an amazing job as well.  You could really tell that they were having a wonderful time on stage.  I am so happy that this was a positive experience for my daughter and I can’t wait to see her future performances.

Yesterday I was reading an article in one of our local papers about a new treatment center that our government would like to build in our area. It really scares me to think that drug addiction has gotten so bad in our area that we need a new facility for people to go to to receive mesothelioma treatment. We have only lived in this area for about eight years an it amazes me how much this area has grown up as well as how much crime has erupted. If the problem in this area is as bad as they claim it to be, then I am quite happy that they are considering a new facility. I just wish that it had never had to come down to this.

Honestly guys, I just can’t win!  Yesterday it was probably the coldest day we had here this season.  It was -19 degrees and it was cold!  It took me all day just to warm up from just going down to the bus stop first thing in the morning.  Today it is a lot warmer with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark.  So, this is pretty good.  Unfortunately for me, I had to go to the skating rink first thing this morning.  So yes, it was back in the cold for me again.  I have found that when it is warm outside that is is seriously cold inside of a rink and this morning was no different.  So although it’s fairly warm outside today I am now freezing again and I know it will probably take me the entire day to warm up again.  By that time it will be freezing outside again, and… you all know the drill.

I don’t know if you all know this, but I am highly addicted to owning as many singing and dancing Christmas animals as I can get my hands on. Usually every year my husband will purchase me at least one to add to my collection. This year he purchased me three. The only problem with having a collection like this, is that I am running out of room to display them. So, before next Christmas I really think I am going to need to purchase some discount furniture to display all my animals. You know your addicted when you going out to purchase furniture so you have a place to show off your entire collection.

I have to say that when people offer to do a review of any of my blogs, I tend to get a little nervous. But when Val over at one of the forums that I frequent offered to do a review of this blog, I jumped at the chance. This blog is only a little over six months old and I know it could use some work to get it up to snuff. And, this is where Val comes in. She is an experienced blogger with an eye for detail, so I figured that I could use any constructive criticism that she may give me.

You can find this review over at Val’s Blog. It is a very fair and comprehensive review. Not only does she point out ways that I may improve the blog, but she is is generous with her praise. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her kind review. And..if any of you guys in here have any more suggestions on how I may improve this blog, I would love to hear from you!