AA Blog

My cousin just moved here to the States from Europe and we finally finished moving him into her new apartment.  It took some time, but we finally did it.  This weekend we will take her shopping so that she can buy the rest of the items she needs.  She has made a list and is looking to buy a vacuum cleaner and a bathroom organizer for her new place.

This is the first time that she is away from home and on her own.  It is a huge step for her and she seems to be well prepared and adjusted for it specially considering the fact that she has even moved to a new country.  My wife showed me the list of the items she had written down and it even included a humidifier.  I assume that the climate in her home was such that humidifiers are needed and used, but we explained to her that she would not be needing it here.

I think it will take some time for her to adjust, but, in the same token, I am confident she will make this adjustment very quickly.  She is a very bright girl and has already made some friends in the one week she has been here.  I know this is a huge step for her, but it will probably end up defining who she will be.

Have you ever wondered what make a good shower? Is it the water? Is it the shampoo? is it the shower heads?

I have started to look into this because we are redoing our bathroom and the only thing left is the shower.  I know that a good shower in the morning is what wakes me up and prepares me for the day I am about to face.  I also know that, to me, a good shower is the equivalent of a good nights sleep.  This is why I went on takeashower.com to learn more about the products they have.  They had such a variety of products.

I looked at many items and did my comparison of the features each product had and I ended up deciding on the Fire Hydrant Presidential model because, simply put, this is the best shower head made today.  I truly believe in the adage of “you get what you pay for” so I was not aprehensive to pay a little bit more for something that is more superior.

I am now waiting for this shower head to arrive and am looking forward to testing it out.  I never thought I would actually look forward to taking a shower, but I am intrigued and will definately report back my findings.

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I would get a jump start this year and asked my kids what they wanted to dress up as.  To my surprise, they both wanted to be mad scientists.  So, I thought to myself, that having them make their costumes this year would be more fun for them and less expensive for me.  All I need to do is get medical uniforms and have them decorate those any way they like.  They could make them as gory and as bloody as they want.

I have already purchased a couple of scrub tops and will be buying some fake blood and make up next week.  I have told my kids about this idea and they are both very excited that they will be making their own costumes. Looking for and buying kid’s uniforms is a pain and always ends up being more expensive than originally anticipated.  This way my kids will be able to create and make their own medical uniforms and will have the option of dressing them up any way they like.  They can run wild with their creativity andI amhoping will be proud to wear something they created as opposed to buying something off the shelf and running the risk of some other kid having the exact same thing.

My kids and I are really excited about all this and are hoping that this becomes an annual thing.

My buddies and I made a last minute decision to go and play golf for one last time before the summer of 2010 is over….. The first order of business was to decide on where to go.  This discussion was very short because all 4 of us were all thinking the same thing of Myrtle Beach golf courses.  We had been there a couple of years ago, and we were all yearning to go back, and this was the perfect opportunity.  Since we were all in agreement, we quickly did a search for Myrtle Beach golf packages and fond the http://www.myrtlebeachgolf.net website.

I can not begin to tell you how simple, quick and cheap this whole process was.  It was 1:00 PM when we decided to have a golf road trip, and by 2:00 PM the same day, we had our hotel booked and tee times reserved.  All that was left was getting the plane tickets.  Which we did later that evening.  Now that everything is set, all we have to do is hurry up and wait for Thursday night so we can begin our trip.

It always ironic how when we talk about doing something it never gets done, but when we actually go through the motions, we always seem to get things done fast.  I guess we all needed this last vacation so no one was being difficult and planning became easy.

I just got off the phone with my friend in Seattle, and I gotta say, he and his family have really latched on to the eco-friendly movement.  They have even gone as far as using rain barrels to harvest the water from all the rain they get in the northwest.

They explained to me how a rain barrel works and how it will end up saving them money in the long run whil at the same time make them more “green”.  He told me they have about 10 rain water barrels that just sit in his back yard and collect the rain water when it rains.  It really is as simple as that. No kidding!!!!!  Each rain water barrel collects about 100 gallons of rain water and that water is ten reused however they want.

This whole concept of rain harvesting is something that people and civilizations have done since the beginning of time.  But, with the advent of modern technology, has been abandoned in recent history.  The “green” movement is starting to bring these old zero-footprint concepts back to a small number of eco minded individuals and will probabbly be something that the vast majority will adopt soon as well.  It is just like solar energy.  More and more people are starting to embrace it, and this will definately go the same route.

This summer we decided to give our son a head start with his 5th grade math coursework by making sure he had at least 2 pages of problems to solve every day, even on Saturdays and Sundays.  Now that school will start in about a week my wife and I are looking eagerly to see if all that extra work of Solving equations helped.

The majority of the math we did was based on Algebra solver problems and my hope is, that when this subject is presented to him in class, it will be more of a review as opposed to an introduction of a new subject matter.  The idea is that if it is a review, it will be more of a re-iteration of the concepts and formulas he learned and he will be able to really understand the concept.  And, as we all know, in mathematics understanding and knowing concepts is what is important.

We started the summer off with a thorough review of the 4th grade math he had just completed, and then moved on to the next grade level math.  In short, we basically went through the same steps he will be going through in class, but we just did it in three months as opposed to nine months.

College and football season is right around the corner and I for one, can not wait.  I have already purchased my sunday ticket and plan on sitting in front of my television on opening Sunday and watch all of the games that are being aired.  I have a feeling this football season is going to be a ver exciting one and I do not want to miss any part of it.  Specially considering that I will be playing in a fantasy football league for the first time, I want to be able to follow all of the players on my fantasy team.

In addition to football, cable sports programming offers so much variety that I will also be able to watch a lot of the MMA and boxing matches.  I normally only watch sports on television and having Cox cable sports will give me so much more options and programs to chose from.  I already have planned watching parties for a couple of upcoming MMA and boxing matches which I am certain are going to be epic battles between two warriors.  Having this has made me feel like a kid on Christmas day.

With all this sports programing available to me, I know there are going to be a lot of sleepless nights.  But, what can I say, I enjoy watching my sports and can not seem to get enough of it.

With remodeling the kitchen we never thought that glass racks would be the the thing that would add that “final” touch in making the kitchen perfect.  Were we ever wrong!!! We started out looking for a hanging wine glass rack and ended up looking at a slue of other styles.  We really went back and forth a lot because we did not realize that there were so many options to choose from.  I mean who knew there are wine glass racks, stemware racks, bar glass racks and so many other types of racks?

I know the process of selecting the final glass racks to use in our kitchen was a lengthy process and yes there were times that it actually led to arguments, but in the end I am really glad that we had all the choices.  Because of the variety of glass racks that were available we were able to select a couple of things that went excellent with the new kitchen decor, are functional and extremely well built.

Remodeling a kitchen is not something we will do often, so I believe it was important for us to take our time and do it right by paying attention to the details.  In this particular case, the glass racks were those details that made the difference.

So with the summer coming to an end, I have decided to go on one last golfing trip down in Myrtle Beach.  I am actively and feverishly looking for a Myrtle Beach hotel that is kid friendly and offers golf amenities.  I want the summer to a finish on a high note both for me and my family, specially the kids.  We were in Myrtle Beach a while ago and everyone had a great time, so we are all up for doing it again.

A friend from work suggested I use http://avistaresort.com to search for resorts in Myrtle Beach because I should be able to get some discounts and more importantly I will be able to plan my entire trip online so when I get there I do not need to do anything accept enjoy the amenities, the time with my family and of course the rounds of golf.  I am really beginning to enjoy our family and golf vacations to Myrtle Beach.  It has everything we need and is fun for everyone.  We as parents, enjoy the luxuries and pampering in the resorts and our kids just love being by the pool as well as the beach.  They are never bored and always seem to tire themselves out early.  ANd, as a parent, you know that is a good indication of the amount of fun they are having.

So, once again we will be off to Myrtle Beach and I am certain that once again we will have a great time!!!

This guest post from Werner Rogers

I’m really happy that fall is coming back around soon, because my seven year old son can’t wait to rejoin his local soccer team. He gets to work on his physical skills, his social skills, and his teamwork skills, while just getting outdoors and having a good time. All the parents always come out, watch, and cheer for all of the kids, even if they don’t really keep score closely and sometimes the little ones aren’t even completely sure who has won the game at the end. We get to meet families from our town whose kids don’t necessarily go to the same school as my son, so it’s also a great way to broaden our social horizons.

My son is always excited when Monday afternoon comes around. He hops off the school bus and immediately starts putting on his soccer uniform and cleats, and then walks around bugging me with his soccer ball under his arm until it’s time to turn out the lights, set the adt safewatch near Buffalo, remind him to bring an extra bottle of water, lock the doors, and go out to the field for a practice or game.

He’s not a great athlete by any means, but our local soccer league does a good job of making every child feel important and included, whatever their skill level, while still fostering the spirit of healthy competition. And hey, it gets me out of the house myself on a weekday afternoon or a Saturday morning. Maybe I should try to join a soccer league myself!