MzSerena’s Garden

The year is coming to and end and I for one am grateful that it is. This year hasn’t been horrible, so I can’t really complain a whole lot about it. I thought about doing a year in review, but I’m not sure I want to. Maybe a few bullet points of certain things.

Good Things

Bad Things

The good outweigh the bad, for the most part. Overall, I can’t complain a whole lot about the year. You learn from all of it and make the most of it and move on into the new year. I don’t make resolutions. I’m not even setting goals this year. I seem to obsess far too much when I set goals. I will do what I do, I will accomplish what I can accomplish. I will make the most of the year to come.

Made by defiant_angel

Every year, it’s a struggle to figure out what the best gifts are for people. Oddly enough, one of the coolest gifts I’ve ever seen is a cute set of magnets that were custom made. They were given to my mother and grandmother and have their names on them. This year, my mother got the prettiest gift from my sister, it’s a plate with a grandmother poem on it.

I think that the best gifts are the ones that come from the heart. Not the shiny expensive stuff, but the stuff that you had to put real thought into.

So, there’s a lot to say, but I’m not sure how much I want to say. I feel incredibly blessed to have so many amazing friends. I want to thank everyone for the lovely cards. I didn’t send out cards again this year. Time just got away with me, as did the blahs. Every year around this time, I get a major case of the blahs, especially when it comes time to start shopping.

I will say that the gifts for the nephews were a hit for a change. Eldest actually said.. get this.. THANK YOU for his! We got him a $25 Game Stop gift card and my mother gave him cash, so he had almost enough between the two to get his Gears of War 2 that he wants. Youngest was excited beyond belief that I actually found him and Optimus Prime Transformer, plus he got more Magnetix to add to what Santa got him. I have to say that family day wasn’t horrible this year. Michael was texting with his girlfriend, though, and I’m really surprised that my mother was okay with that, since she hates cell phones. He wasn’t rude about it though, since he had the phone on vibrate mode and kept it quick.

Our Christmas was quiet, we don’t do much in the way of gift exchanges, since we usually get what we want throughout the year. Mom did surprise me, however, with a new floor lamp for the bedroom, since we had taken our lamp to the living room and left it there. I like this one much better, since it’s 70″ tall and doesn’t reflect on the monitors at all. She also got us a wireless printer. I’m seriously psyched about this because we haven’t had a working printer in ages. I have one of the big all-in-one printers, but something happened that it wouldn’t print any more. I guess I left a cartridge in it too long. *shrug* It was huge and there was never room to keep it set up all the time.

There’s been some stuff going on the last week that has made me seriously question people, but that’s not fit for this post, so I’m going to say, I hope that everyone had a fabulous holiday.

It never ceases to amaze me how cheap and cheesy products can be when you buy them in a standard department store like K-Mart, Wal-Mart or Target. For instance, a year or so ago, I looked at tv stands for our living room because we got a larger television and it wouldn’t sit on our old stand. Well, I compared them and found one that I thought would be great.

Until I got it home. I assembled it, but it’s not stable. It wobbles, even with the back on it. The shelf does not secure to anything. What? I know that you get what you pay for, but come on, what happened to pride in your products? Shouldn’t you at least make it at least stable?

Remember when CDs were the new fangled form of owning music? I remember when having a CD player was only for the rich. Now, everyone who owns a computer or DVD player can play a CD. Heck, most of us have even gone so far as to not use our old CDs because we buy our music from download services like iTunes or Amazon. So what do you do with all those old CDs that are just collecting dust?

You can now trade them in for new items with Abundatrade. How does it work? You go to their site, type in the UPC or ISBN number from your used cds, dvds and books and they will tell you instantly how much your items are worth. Now, they don’t give you a dollar value, however, they give you a credit value. The credits are traded in for new items on their site. For Instance, if you’re interested in a new camera you can trade in 795 credits for a brand new Canon Digital SLR Camera with 3″ LCD and EF 28-135mm Lens (EOS-40D/28135). If you don’t have enough credits, you can trade in fewer, plus cash to purchase it.

That’s not to say that you can’t trade for cash because you can. Cash value is $2 per full credit if you opt to trade for cash. Think about it, did you get CDs or DVDs or books that you already own? Why not trade them in for something that you want with Abundatrade. Clear out some clutter and get some great products. I know I plan to.

Okay, so I have made 10 dozen truffles. 4 dozen chocolate oreo truffles, 6 dozen golden oreo truffles. They’re so damn good it’s not even funny. Every year, Mom makes peanut butter balls as well, but this year, she mentioned not making them. I was like, what?? She said that she preferred the oreo ones. o.O So we sat and talked and I suggested that I go to the store and get more cookies. The Dollar General and most grocery stores carry their own brand of ‘oreo’ type cookies in multiple flavors. What I was thinking is that I can get peanut butter, mint, strawberry and lemon cookies and the cream cheese. I have the chocolate and can buy more easily. Mom is making her traditional sugar cookies, I’m supposed to make Hershey Kiss cookies, plus we’ll have fudge.

I need to go out tonight and get the rest of the stuff for Christmas dinner and for the family visit Saturday. It should be fairly easy and painless, but you never really know. I kind of want to go hunt down a few things, but I dunno, since Rob doesn’t get home til after 4. I was going to go to work with him, but it’s too fooking cold for me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs all day. I get too restless.

I started this post *yesterday* and totally forgot about it. So I guess I’ll post it now and move on with it.

- Oreo Truffles
- Peanut Butter Balls
- Rice Krispie Treats
- Sugar Cookies
- Hershey Kiss Cookies
- Mom’s Fudge
- Pretzel Clusters
- Mexican Wedding Cookies

We’ll see just how many of these actually get made. If there’s time, supplies and/or money left in the budget, I want to make turtle candies too.

Okay, we all know that the digital transition is going to happen on February 17th. Well the other night, they turned off analog signal for 5 minutes so people could see if they are ready for it. I figured, no big deal, I just bought a new HDTV this summer for the main television in the house. So we’re watching television the other night and it came time for the ‘test’ to happen and lo and behold, my networks went poof.

Wtf? The only thing that we can figure is that the digital signals from our major networks aren’t strong enough for us to pull in. What’s weird, however, is that our PBS digital channels come in perfectly. Yeah, I’m *furious* about this. I can’t afford to spend money on an outdoor antennae that we’ll have to adjust on a daily basis. So now what the hell do we do? We need our local news.

You know what I say? Digital Transition this. Leave our analog signals alone!

The last two days have been a bit crazy, so lets play a little bit of Catch-Up. We’ll see how far we get. Monday, Rob had a dental appointment at 8:30am in a location I wasn’t quite sure of how to get to. Google Earth gave me a fairly good idea of how to get there, but we needed to make sure there was enough time to get there and not be late. So, we got up at OMGIT’SEARLY (6am) so that we could eat breakfast and I could have coffee to take. We headed out and made it with quite a bit of time to spare, which isn’t a bad thing unless your doctor is perpetually late.

Now, this appointment was for yet another part of Rob’s insane amount of dental work, so it’s not the first visit or just a follow up. Long story short is that they’re pulling all of his teeth, anywhere from 3 to 5 at a time. Because of the way his insurance is set up, it’s being done through the County Health Mobile Dental, so each appointment is at a different location. Now, the dentist is quite good, so I will not complain about him for his dental work, HOWEVER I will complain because his appointments have been at at 8 or 8:30, consistently. The problem is, however, the dentist usually shows up around oh… I’d have to venture to say 8:45 on average. I will give him credit, he’s not a slow dentist by any means, in fact, the second he walks in he gets straight to work and is done in a flash.

A little back story on the Mobile Dental Van – The purpose is to go to the different schools around the county and do low-cost or free dental work for the children and the communities. They try to do all the adults prior to 9am, then students from 9am until noon, then adults from noon until 3. From 3 until 5, they do both. It works out so that adults can be seen before work, during lunch and after work, where as children are during the morning hour before lunch or recess with the school nurse, and then after school with their parents. The flaw, however, is that, invariably, Rob is still in the chair when they bring the first batch of kids in to be seen. Not exactly a good thing when you have that many people in a small space.

So yeah, I just realized I’d already posted about Monday. Guess I was sleep-posting Monday night. Onward to Yesterday. *laugh* Yesterday had a later start, thankfully. Rob had a 1pm appointment with the Ophthalmologist to see if he was finally done with his eye problems, so we headed out a bit before noon so we could get some lunch, since I’m a twit and didn’t think ahead. His appointment went well and he is officially free of that doctor! Hopefully for good this time. We headed to the store to pick up some baking supplies, then finished the good majority of our Christmas shopping. The only thing that needs to be purchased is a Game Stop card for my oldest nephew and something for my mother, since the slippers I bought yesterday were way too big. Yes I let her try them on to see, mostly because she can’t wear overly squishy slippers and I was worried about them being too big.

After we did our shopping, we went to the library for a bit so that I could pick up the book I had requested, plus I wanted to check my accounts so I knew how much money we had left so that I didn’t overspend and break myself. After we did that, we headed off to get some dinner and waste a bit of time before we went to see Twilight. It was a lovely, leisurely day, no rushing here and there. I quite enjoyed it, until we came out of the movie theater and the car was covered with snow. It wasn’t a ton, but it was enough that it had to be brushed clean first. We made it home easily though, so it wasn’t bad.

I’d write more, but I started this post around 10 hours ago and got sidetracked, repeatedly. I’ll write about Twilight later.

With all the insane amounts of icky, nasty white crap and rain falling out of the sky, I seriously think that it’s time to take a vacation somewhere warm. Ever since I saw How Stella Got Her Groove Back, I’ve wanted to go to one of those Jamaica all inclusive resort vacations. One of those trips where you don’t have to do anything but sit on a beach and enjoy myself.

I mean, really, seeing some of these great Caribbean weddings made me wonder what it would have been like to have my own wedding at some secluded vacation spot. I’ve dreamed about different romantic vacations in my life, but I know that it’ll be a long time from now before I get one.

I wouldn’t mind a vacation right now, no matter where it was to. I want a vacation from life, even if it’s just for a weekend. Some time where I don’t have to think about money, bills, groceries, holidays, family, and all that. I just want to get away and take some time for me. Ah well, a girl can dream, right?

Check out my recently published content on AC:

How Many Reality Show Contestants Don’t Survive?

We’re living in a world that is almost completely cell phone driven. There are even studies that say that computers are going to become obsolete because of cell phones. This really doesn’t surprise me, but I don’t think that it will happen any time soon. They have to change things about the way billing is done. But anyway, that’s totally not the point of this post!

It is nearly Christmas. Wait, what? It is?? Yeah if it crept up on you like it did me, you still have eight more shopping days. Want a great gift idea? How about a cell phone. You can even buy mobile phones online now and have it delivered to the recipient if they live out of town. What could be better than that? You don’t have to go out to the store, you don’t have to worry about shipping and you can pick from a lot more phones than you could at a store.

What could be better than special mobile phone deals even? I mean, it’s Christmas so everyone wants to get great gifts, while saving as much money as possible. The economy is in the toilet, so why not take the time to research and find the best deals possible on something that is becoming such a vital part of most people’s lives now.

One thing to remember when cell phone shopping, however, is that you have to be well aware of is that not every phone is available for every phone provider. Make sure you know what cell phone service you or the lucky recipient has before purchasing anything. Shop smart using Mobiles22 and you won’t spent as much money as you would have without them.

Letter to Santa leads to Texas molestation charge

This man disgusts me. Thank god the girl wrote that letter. Thank god this dirtbag was stopped.

Yes, there really is a Santa Claus.

`Twilight’ sequel speeds ahead for November 2009

Okay, I’m super excited about this prospect.  Having just gotten home from seeing Twilight, I can’t wait until New Moon is out.  I, like many, was not expecting much when watching it.  I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the film.  It wasn’t the way the books were, but it was well done.

My concern about New Moon, however, is that there is a new director (Chris Weitz) for it.  The actors are apparently going to be the same, which makes me happy.  I was impressed, for the most part, with the casting.  I didn’t like the casting for Eric and Angela.  Otherwise, they nailed them pretty head on.

I can’t wait until November now! I also can’t wait until July for Harry Potter.  Whee!

Today was… not horrible. I really can’t even complain about getting up at 6am, since I actually had coffee waiting for me when I got up. I was actually awake before we left the house. Usually it takes me at least half of the morning to wake up when it’s that damn early. Why was I awake that early? Rob had a dental appointment at 8:30am and was nearly an hour away. Yeah, not fun, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected, since it was somewhere I’d never been. Now he’s done til February.

After his appointment, we went to see a friend so that I could drop off her gift. I couldn’t stay, since Rob was in complete misery and we had to get back home so Mom could go to her appointment. I also had to make a stop at the grocery store to pick up a prime rib roast for Christmas dinner. Rare indulgence, but it’ll be so good. We got home with about an hour for Rob to relax before having to leave again.

Me, I stayed home. I was waiting for a package in the mail. Of course, she didn’t come with the mail while I was sitting in the living room. No, that’d be too freaking easy. Mom brought the package in when they came in, so she must have shown up with the mail while I was in the bathroom. Go figure! Oh well, I’m not the proud owner of a knitting loom. We’ll see if I can get the hang of it and make anything with it. AFTER I finish my crocheting. I’m still not done with the two blankets that I wanted to get shipped before Christmas.

Anyway, I started this post hours ago, so I’m going to bed. Clickie my eggs?

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I keep looking at Amazon for different books to read, knowing full well that I won’t be buying anything until after the holiday is over. One thing that has caught my attention, though, is the wide selection of Christian books as compared to what there is for other religions, especially for New Age.

Is it that hard to understand that not everyone is a Christian? Not everyone will have the same belief system. I know it’s all about the authors writing books, but I know there are quite a few writers out there that focus on New Age religion, but there aren’t nearly enough of the books out there for people to get hold of without knowing exactly where to look for them.

As a Wiccan, I find it disturbing that I can’t just go into a book store or to Amazon and pick up the book I want without hunting for it.

I wonder sometimes how companies decide who to target for their ads. For instance, for someone who is not a horse enthusiast, ads for horse supplies won’t get their attention. Yet, I’ve seen them on a lot of non-horse related sites. I thought the way ads were targeted better, but apparently, sometimes, the targeting doesn’t work.

I have to wonder if it’s because sites end up overloading their keyword tags with everything possible to get traffic. Who knows.

Will Smith: It’s all about helping others

“If there’s a message, it’s ‘you gotta help somebody.’ Even if it’s somebody’s car breaking down, use your cell phone. Something little like that. We gotta help one another to get the quality of life we’re all striving for,” he said in an interview with the Star Tribune.

Should this really be a shock to anyone? I mean, honestly, he may have had a bad reputation when he was younger and rapping, but he was just a kid and has long since grown up.  Having grown up in the spotlight, it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that he’s making movies that have such a strong message.

“It’s cool to have the goal of being the biggest movie star in the world. But why? It’s been revealed to me that the question is: Whose life is better because you woke up today?”

Everyone needs to ask themselves that question.  Whose life is better because I’m in it.  But also, ask who makes your life better by being in it.  I know that without my husband, mother, friends and family, my life would be so much worse than it is now.  Without some of the people in my life, I don’t know what I would do.

I may not have a lot of people close to me in RL, but I have friends whom I wouldn’t trade for all the money on earth and without them in my life, I’d not be the person that I am today.

I have to wonder sometimes, how many people who wear watches even look at them any more. With all the time we spend on the computer, using a cell phone or any other personal device (it seems to me at least) do people really need to own a watch? Sure, it could be said that you don’t have access to those devices in a doctor’s office, but that’s not true. You don’t turn off your cell phone, do you? I don’t. My iPod even shows the time on the top of the screen.

Now that leaves me with the question of why someone would want to buy an Audemars Piguet watch for someone. Yes, they’re fantastic watches, I don’t deny that. Hey if I had expendable cash I’d buy myself one. But in general, why would a person with budgetary constraints buy one?

The things people do…

So, I’ve sent out two blankets in the last year, which is more than I’ve shipped in my life. Seriously, I rarely send out packages, but I have 3 more to send out soon. You would think that I would learn, however, to keep shipping boxes on hand. Am I that bright? No. I have to go get one each and every time.

The sad part is, it costs me over $10 to ship them most of the time. Oh well, that’s what I get for wanting stuff there fast, with tracking. I shouldn’t complain too much, it could be MUCH more expensive to make people smile. I need to get to work, however, on the ones I need to finish so they can get shipped off. They’re almost done, but I’m slacking.

Hugh Jackman a departure from recent Oscar hosts – Yahoo! News.

LOS ANGELES – He sings, dances, acts on stage and screen, and he’s the “Sexiest Man Alive.” Hugh Jackman does everything but standup comedy — and that’s why the first-time Oscars host fulfills the academy’s promise to shake up the show in a way that’s as tough to predict as the winners.

Having Jackman host certainly fits with that theme.

We got our first real snow of the year. It was ice underneath, too. Meh. I’m not really all that happy about it, but it wasn’t so bad that we didn’t get out of the house today. I managed to procure a gift for the 8yr old child. I still need to get a gift card for the 18yr old. I’m debating between GameStop and iTunes. I know he wants Gears of War 2, but I refuse to shell out that kind of money. I know that my mother is giving him cash, but I want to do something separate myself.

I have to buy a gift for my mother yet, but I have absolutely no idea what the hell to get for her. I have to finish up two gifts to send out, but they won’t be sent out until after the holiday unless by some miracle, there are another hundred hours in a day. I can’t wait until next week is over. Well Monday and Tuesday, that is. They’re going to be busy days. Rob and Mom have appointments Monday, then Rob has one Tuesday afternoon, plus I need to go finish Christmas shopping.

For now, I’m gonna go finish listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and do some work.

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Obama calls for Illinois governor to resign.

You know, I have to say, he should have already resigned. His resignation should have been immediate after he got arrested. It wasn’t a false arrest, he doesn’t even deny that he’s an idiot.

I just hope that it doesn’t come out that Obama had any part of the corruption. I don’t think that he was involved, but I’m afraid that he will be implicated since it was his former Senate seat that was suddenly for sale.

It’s sad what the world of politics has come to now. There is absolutely no excuse for it to be such a corrupted mess. But it does reinforce the point that there are problems with the government that need to be worked out. There needs to be a better system in place so that things like this don’t happen in the future.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, our government is one giant, screwed up, mess.

So, it’s Winter, my least favorite season of the year for oh so many reasons. The only good part of it being December is that I can use it as an excuse not to go out of the house. However, I’ve noticed that when I do get out of the house, I’m much happier than when I stay in all the time. What sucks the most, however, is that I was going to go to the school Christmas concert tonight, but it’s too icy to go out.

It’s supposed to storm tonight and tomorrow, which sucks because if it storms too much, I won’t be able to go Christmas shopping. I hope that isn’t the case, since I need to get it done. I want to get it done. The sooner the shopping is done, the better. I know what I want to get, so it won’t be that big of a deal to do the shopping.

I dislike when the weather changes this quickly. I wanted to go tonight, damnit. :/