Hey Noreen » General Life

Glasses or Contacts?

Noreen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:03:40 +0000

I can’t see well enough to read a paperback book without some kind of glasses. The big questions is whether I should get a new pair of glasses with bifocal lenses? Or should I wear contacts for distance vision and start carrying around a pair of reading glasses for just when I need to read?

Summer

Noreen — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:57:18 +0000

One day I will meet the person who thinks that this is what summer should be all about. Until then, I will make it happen on my own. Because I am worth it and this is what I like.

Baby Shower

Noreen — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:59:49 +0000

Everyone around me is having babies. Nothing makes you feel so old as seeing everyone else pushing baby strollers and realizing that pushing strollers was something you did over 30 years ago. I have to go to another baby shower next weekend. I might as well stock up on baby gifts and keep them at the ready.

The Fourth on the Lake

Noreen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:04:01 +0000

This year we are celebrating the fourth of July on the Lake. We have food, swim rings, bug spray and a great spot on the beach with a view of the fireworks. I miss watching the big show in Washington DC at the monument, but this show lasts 20 minutes and we don’t have to fight the crowds of people. It’s much more peaceful and refreshing to be at the Lake.

Transformers Sequel Rocks

Noreen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:05:24 +0000

After two months of hype and a bombardment of movie trailers, we took the 6 year old to the second day’s showing of the new Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen. He was so excited, he sat on the edge of his seat for most of the movie. We did it up all the way, with a big overpriced bag of buttered popcorn and a large coke that he plopped into the armrest cup holder like a pro.

The movie was great – a lot of fighting and destruction – just what the kids were hoping for.

However, I think the movie has way too much smutty reference and bad language for a children’s movie. Maybe the Hollywood suits were trying to also appeal to the older kids and young men by including all the sexual scenes and cursing. But in my mind, it was totally unnecessary and almost ruined the product for being appropriate to the younger ages that most appreciated the movie.

It could have been just as great a movie without the smut. In fact, if they had a financial incentive to do so, I bet if they stripped out the nastiness and replaced it with other clever dialogue then relased it, audiences would still love this movie.

Can He Dance?

Noreen — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:51:51 +0000

A group of women were chatting about a guy we all know. He seemed like the perfect man, by his own accounts. He claims to cook gourmet meals, has mastered housework and child care as a single parent with shared custody, has a ton of money from extensive education and a prosperous career, respects women. What more could we ask?

Well, I asked if he can dance and he reluctantly admitted that, no, he has never bothered to learn to dance.

Everyone left the discussion, bitterly disappointed. The search continues.

New Year Hopes

Noreen — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:43:54 +0000

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful New Year. I truly hope that 2009 is a year of great change and prosperity for my family and friends.

Love, good health, and peace to all.

Noreen

Happy Halloween

Noreen — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:46:10 +0000

We always get several dozen kids ringing our doorbell on Halloween night, looking for handouts. I like to pass out the fun sized candy bars. I make sure that they are all peanut free because I know that a lot of people have allergies to peanuts. I put all of the goodies in a large bowl near the door and I let the kids reach in with one hand and grab a handful. If the kid is really little I’ll let the kid take two handfuls. By nine pm the porch lights go out and I head to bed, hoping that when we get up in the morning the mailbox will still be intact and the cars un-egged and unvandalized. So far we’ve been lucky; but some of our neighbors have not been so fortunate in years past. I guess the kids didn’t like their candy!

Silk flowers

Noreen — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:41:22 +0000

I happen to like silk flowers. They are pretty, and they are very realistic looking. Better than that, they never need watering and if they get knocked over there is no mess of a pile of dirt you have to clean up! And even better, the cats don’t eat the silk flowers and then puke them up on the sofa twenty minutes later! A while ago I was watching a decorating show on HGTV and the designer was saying that no matter how pretty the silk flowers are, artificial flowers are always tacky. Well, I disagree completely! I think they are wonderful!

Mashed potatoes

Noreen — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:38:02 +0000

I love potatoes with my supper. I love them just about any way you can fix them, boiled, baked, nuked, mashed, fried. Whatever you do, don’t try to take my potatoes away from me! For several years now I’ve been relying on the instant dehydrated potato flakes to make mashed potatoes for supper. They were fine with butter and gravy. Recently I got a coupon to buy Bob Evans brand of mashed potatoes (not the instant flakes) and I gave them a try. I have to tell you that I liked them so much it will be very hard to go back to ever using the flakes again! Boy, were they yummy!

Weight Surgery in Tampa

Noreen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:11:02 +0000

My aunt moved to Tampa a few years ago, to be closer to her kids. They moved there a few years before then, and my aunt just could not bear to be so far apart from them, so she finally packed up her things and moved there too. I just got an email from her that she is going to look into having some weight surgery done. She is thinking about the lap-band procedure. She found a doctor to go talk to about it by looking up “lap-band tampa” in a search engine on the Internet. I hope she does some thorough research on the subject before making any decisions!

Firewood falling from a truck

Noreen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:07:10 +0000

My neighbor told me today that his car was struck by some firewood falling from the truck that he was driving behind. It did over $800 worth of damage! I’m glad it wasn’t me!

Pay Day Loans are in the news a lot

Noreen — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:52:43 +0000

While my nephew has been visiting, we have been talking about how some of his friends have been looking for ways to get their hands on some cash to help them make ends meet while they are in college. Some of them have had credit problems in the past, largely because they are college students and it is hard to go to school and make ends meet. I told him that they might want to check out the completeloansource.com website and see if they might be able to help them. They offer a lot of different types of loans for almost any need, including High Risk Personal Loans for Bad Credit, auto loans, debt consolidation and Pay Day Loans. I’ve been hearing a lot of articles on the news about how many people are using pay day loans lately to help make ends meet.

Nephew is visiting for the weekend

Noreen — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:47:55 +0000

I’m so excited that my newphew is coming for a visit! I’m looking forward to showing him around town!

A dream vacation

Noreen — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:50:38 +0000

When I was just sixteen, my parents bought me a motorcycle. I loved riding that bike! I found a Motorcycle Tours company called Eagle Rider that rents Harley Davidson motorcycles for dream vacation trips! I’d love to rent a Harley on a vacation and be an Eagle Rider for a few days! According to their website they also rent ATVs, dirt bikes, watercraft, snowmobiles, and scooters. I’ve bookmarked the site for future reference when planning my next vacation!

Water filters

Noreen — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:10:00 +0000

I think we need to upgrade our water filter system. The water tastes too salty, and the water softener guy says there is nothing we can do about that. I don’t believe him, so I have to do some research on the issue.

Selling arts and crafts on Ebay

Noreen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:46:16 +0000

My sister was telling me that she was thinking about starting to sell some of her arts and crafts work on Ebay. Lots of her friends have been encouraging to try to do that, insisting that she could make a killing doing that. She has several friends that DO make a lot of money on Ebay, and they have told her that they will help her with the red-tape if she has any problems or questions. Their enthusiasm has got her all pumped up about making money selling her crafts.

Towards that end, she is going to need to buy a Shipping Scale to help her to determine the postal rates of items that she will be offering for sale. Scales are vital because she needs to know how much the item weighs (including the shipping box and stuffing) in order to calculate the shipping charges that she will have to quote on Ebay. She has already accumulated enough boxes to get her started as far as that end goes, and she has lots of old newspapers saved up for stuffing the boxes.

I suggested that she try to find one that is compact so that she can tuck it away into her cupboard when she doesn’t need to use it.

Taking Europe by storm

Noreen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:40:20 +0000

I find it absolutely amazing how Barack Obama seems to be winning over the entire world on his tour to Europe. He seems to be rapidly becoming as well loved as just about any American Politician could be! Very interesting, considering he hasn’t been elected President yet!

Planning weddings

Noreen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:16:04 +0000

I love to plan weddings. A wedding is a time of hope, romance, and excitement. Girls start planning their weddings almost from the moment they are born! I love looking at the different wedding favors and gifts that people can buy to give their guests or their bridesmaids and groomsmen. Personalized Money Clips are a great idea to give as gifts to the groomsmen!

It’s really a shame

Noreen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:01:50 +0000

I was reading on the Time.com website that the International Olympic Committee is upholding a ban agains Iraq participating in the Olympics. I didn’t realize that there was a ban in the first place, so I was surprised and interested enough to keep reading. The story was talking about how the government was interfering too much with the country’s Olympic Committee, and how their Olympic Committee was disbanded last May. And then it was talking about how four of the Committee members, including the chief had been kidnapped two years ago and are still missing! Good Grief!

It’s really too bad, but certainly understandable!