Through The Tulips Words of 'Wiz'dom

December 12, 2010

Time out for Tech

Filed under: Home,Techy — gardener @ 1:43 pm

Now that the cruise is behind us and we have a little more time to hang out at home, mom has asked me to spend a little time working on her old computer and the new laptop. She wants me to update her scanning software plus add a few new programs and show her how to use them. I’ve got to make a cake for my brother on Tuesday, so figure since I’ll be home then that I’ll try to take care of everything then.

Sometime or another, I also need to get a few Christmas cards sent out- and get the tree up. I can’t believe Christmas is less than two weeks away.

November 28, 2010

Packing and Getting Ready

Filed under: Techy,Travel — gardener @ 4:11 pm

We took an afternoon drive today to check out the docks and parking area where we need to go for the cruise next week. I’m getting really excited about it and I know my parents, Marcel and Desere are as well. It will be weird to be completely ‘technology free’ for five days, but in some ways I’m actually looking forward to it.

We’re hoping that the upstairs hot tubs don’t have spa covers on their tubs at night so that we an get in a little late night hot tubbing. Plus, Samantha filled me in on a great place on the ship to go for a little peace and solitude. I have a feeling I’ll be checking that place out daily.

Look out Mexico, here we come!

November 19, 2010

Hello, Are You There?

Filed under: Shop til ya Drop,Techy — gardener @ 2:47 pm

I noticed before Marcel and I left for our trip home that it seemed as though our telephone batteries were having issues holding a charge. We have two cordless phones in the house, one of which is on the charger at all times. I noticed after using each one of them that my talk time on a full charge had dropped from what was once five or six (maybe even more) hours to less than two. On the list of things to do when we return home will be either buy batteries or new phones. We’ve had the phones less than two years, and I wouldn’t think that they would be worn out already.

November 18, 2010

Simple Decisions

Filed under: Home,Shop til ya Drop,Techy — gardener @ 8:26 am

We didn’t make a decision on the computers yesterday while shopping. Mom wants laptops and diddy wants a desktop. His reason behind it is because he’s a creature of habit and some habits die hard.

We looked at home theater systems while we were there as well, since mom and diddy are considering an upgrade, but our main mission was computers. I thought we’d make a purchase yesterday, but that didn’t happen because there was still a question of whether it would be two laptops (my recommendation) or one desktop.

I was actually pretty sure that diddy wasn’t going to budge on the desktop thing, when this morning they started talking about getting the laptops. I guess some things do still surprise me. We don’t have them yet, so there’s still time for them to change their mind. I’ll keep y’all posted.

November 6, 2010

Brain Power

Filed under: Food for Thought,Life,Shop til ya Drop,Techy,Things I Love — gardener @ 9:13 am

This is going to sound crazy (or maybe not), but lately I’ve had so much on my mind that I find I’m forgetting more than I’m retaining. That may not be 100% accurate, but that’s how I feel. I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to do something to challenge my brain a little and allow it to think more, but wasn’t sure what I could do.

I was lying in bed a couple of nights ago when after I finished checking email on my iPhone (the ‘eye’), I thought I’d browse through the App Store. I found a cute little trial game called “Cut the Rope” and it had great reviews. I figured since the light version was free, I’d check it out- after all it was free. It’s basically a little puzzle game where you have to feed this creature in a box candies. The candies look like Life Saver Cream Savers and well- it’s cute. It also challenged me.

It didn’t take long before I’d played all the levels on the free version and that left me thinking that the full version would be perfect. It was only .99 so I downloaded it. I’ve been playing it every spare moment since. I’m not exactly sure that I’m feeling smarter or forgetting less, but at least the grey matter is working and I’m having fun in the process.

October 29, 2010

All About the Savings

Filed under: Holidays,Home,Shop til ya Drop,Techy,Things I Love — gardener @ 4:50 am

It’s no secret amongst my family that I’m the technical minded one of the bunch. I’m definitely no genius, yet somehow my family seem to think so when it comes to matters of the technical side. I say they are biased and would deem me brilliant no matter what, but I digress.

Mom asked me the other night what I wanted to do on our first day home for the holidays and my response was ‘find them a new computer.’ Technically, I’m hoping I can talk them into getting two computers, simply because I think they would benefit from having two ‘newer’ computers in the house. The ones they have now are lacking in speed, amongst other things. Even though the decision hasn’t been made yet, I’ve already been checking out computers at Best Buy, which is where we’ve bought the last four computers we’ve owned. I’ve always had great service, plus it seems that I can always find a Best Buy promotional code to add a little extra savings to the mix. I figure you can’t go wrong with that, especially since y’all know how much I talk about how I don’t check out online without first looking for a coupon code. It’s all about the savings, which gives us more money to spend on other technical goodies, such as WiFi Internet for mom and dad.

October 26, 2010

Crossing Fingers and Toes

Filed under: Techy — gardener @ 9:50 am

When Marcel and I both bought our laptops last year we were both asked if we wanted to buy laptop insurance. I will be the first to admit that Marcel immediately said no, while I actually thought about it and considered whether it would be something that would be beneficial for us. If I was someone who carried my laptop with me everywhere, I’d probably get it, but since I keep it here and use it mostly for work purposes, I didn’t get it. I know that if I ever drop it though- I’ll be sorry I didn’t buy it. I’ll just cross my fingers and toes that it doesn’t ever happen.

October 8, 2010

Safety First?

Filed under: Techy — gardener @ 7:15 am

I have been seeing a lot in the news lately as to how parents are taking extra precautions when it comes to their children. It seems like everywhere you look in the world ther is some child who is being abducted or who has disappared and some parents have started using tracking devices as a manner of knowing where their child is at all times.

Some people believe this is going too far, but I personally think that when it comes to the safety of your child that you can never be cautious enough. So tell me what you think? Would you use a GPS device to help keep up with your child, if it meant keeping them safe?

September 24, 2010

Shopping Deals

Filed under: Holidays,Shop til ya Drop,Techy,Things I Love — gardener @ 11:06 am

I am one of those people who love knowing I’m getting a great deal and when I do, I find myself wanting to share it with everyone I know.   In the past two weeks I’ve found some deals on top of deals and thought I’d share with y’all how I happened to do that.  It’s a simple thing and it ended up saving me quite a bit of cash.

I’m not sure how many of you shop online, but it seems that more of us are doing it than ever- especially when more often than not we can get the same or even better deals online and don’t have to leave the comforts of home.   What I’ve learned is that there are some ways that you can save even more money at your favorite retailers simply by following a few simple steps.

  •  Sign up for online newsletters.    What I do is use one specific email address for things that I sign up for and that saves the newsletters from coming into my regular email accounts.    The reason why you want to sign up for the newsletters is for several reasons.   Many sites offer a first purchase discount (of up to 15% from what I’ve found) just for signing up for their newsletter.  Plus you also get an insider view on sales, plus often there are special discounts and offers that only those signed up for the newsletters receive.   Trust me, it can be worth the little extra email in your box.
  • Watch for Free Shipping offers.   Many websites offer free shipping with a minium purchase, while others have free shipping specials from time to time.  There are even a few that I shop at regularly that offer free shipping regardless of your purchase total.   Make use of that whenever you can and trust me- those savings add up.    I’ve skipped ordering from some stores in the past because I felt as though their shipping rates were just too high.  
  • Add items to your shopping cart and leave them.   I know- this sounds a little crazy, but I actually did this not too long ago on a website on a handbag I wanted.  It was on sale, and yet even at the sale price, I wasn’t sure I wanted to order it.  I forgot about it, and a week later they sent me an email offering me an additional 25% off my purchase.   Needless to say, I didn’t think twice and cashed in on that sale, plus got free shipping.   I’m not going to say it will work everytime, but some places monitor your cart.  Again, I think you may need to be signed up for emails on the site to get these kind of deals.
  • Never buy anything without looking for coupon codes first.    There are coupon codes out there that you may not realize.   Within the last two weeks I was about to buy some clothing on a website.  The items were on sale and then I received an additional 25% off the sale price (and free shipping) because I was signed up for the newsletter.    Then I did a quick search for coupon codes and found one for an additional 25% off that worked with the current offer.   I ended up saving yet another 25% off of the already low sale prices.    I ended up with 3 sweaters that were regularly $40.00 each for less than $7.00 each and again, free shipping.     The same thing was with a jacket at the same company-  I had it in my cart- had completely forgotten about it and decided since it was red and on sale it would be great for Christmas.   I paid $22.00 for an $80.00 jacket.        
  • I also had the same thing with some cards that I ordered online.  I wanted them to be shipped to the person, and again, I looked for a coupon code and saved 25% off each card and the mailing of the card was free.   

All it takes is a little smart shopping and you can literally save hundreds in no time.  If you need any more information- please feel free to email me.

September 10, 2010

Never Too Late for Change

Filed under: Life,Shop til ya Drop,Techy — gardener @ 12:27 pm

I love it when I log in over here and I find a list of spam waiting to be deleted. It’s amazing some of the things that people think will actually get approved in terms of comments. While it may pass in some sites, it definitely won’t here. I guess they’ll never learn.

In other news- Things have been pretty busy here in the Land of Never. I have really been off kilter for a while and my to-do list has grown to enormous proportions. I need to find some 108r00727, plus some new shoes, and work on the two domains that I have bought and haven’t done anything with yet.

I have to say that I’m tired of that scatter brained feeling I’ve had as of late and it’s time to do something about it. It’s going to mean a lot of changes in my life, but I think I’m ready. All I can say is that it’s about time. I love the fact that it’s never too late for change. That makes me smile.

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