Through The Tulips Words of 'Wiz'dom

November 9, 2010

Little Pleasures in Life

Filed under: Food for Thought,Holidays,Home — gardener @ 8:26 am

My Friend Maggie- wrote on her blog -“MaggsWorld” about some of the simple pleasures that bring a smile to her face and warmth to her heart.   I became inspired by her list and decided that I’d share my own list.

Feel free to join us by doing the same!

  1. Waking up this morning and knowing that I have one week until my two month vacation.
  2. The bright and vibrant colors of the fall foliage making its way to the ground.
  3. Complete silence with the only sound being that of me tapping on the keyboard.
  4. The smell and flavor of steel-cut oats with cinnamon and a hint of cloves.
  5. Doing my best and finding that I’m being rewarded for it.

November 3, 2010

Thanksgiving- More than a Holiday

Filed under: Gratitude,Holidays,Inspiration,Things I Love — gardener @ 11:01 am

I was thinking a few days ago about Thanksgiving- and how it really is more than a holiday of indulgence and football. The significance of that day is how people of different cultures came together and shared a moment together and were thankful for all they had been blessed with.

Even though some countries don’t celebrate Thanksgiving- I believe that we all have something (or many) things that we are thankful for and that we should spend the month of November and December focusing on those things that are of importance to us. Be grateful for the little things in your life- and in counting your own blessings- look around and see how you can reach out and help another, a perfect stranger possibly.

When we reflect on the richness of our own lifes- I personally believe giving and doing for others are the things that make our lives even richer. I challenge you all to spend the holiday season in love and in service to others and see how it impacts those around you and also who you are. I bet such an act would change all of our lives in a positive way and couldn’t we use a little more of that?

Gifts to Leave Behind

Filed under: Holidays,Shop til ya Drop,Things I Love — gardener @ 10:01 am

Marcel and I won’t be spending the holidays this year with his family so we’ve been trying to come up gift ideas to leave behind for them. They aren’t really big on gift giving, but yet I happen to love seeing a person’s face light up when they have been given something they love. I know how much Marcel’s nieces would love to get their hands on some Taylor Swift tickets and I’m thinking if we can make it happen that it will be their favorite Christmas gift ever.

October 30, 2010

Started Packing

Filed under: Holidays,Home,Travel — gardener @ 11:41 am

This is my new carry on.  I bought it about a month ago so that I can carry extra goodies on the plane.   I figure if they are only going to allow me one ‘free’ piece of checked luggage, but yet will allow me a personal item and a carry on, then I’d just buy the carry on and stuff it to the brim.  After all, it can weigh 40 pounds. 

We have another waiting on us at mom and diddy’s.   Samantha used it when she visited because she ran out of room in her luggage.   It works out perfect for us, because we’ll have two coming home and trust me- we’ll need it.

This morning I started packing this bag.  It’s almost full-  Time is ticking-  I’m SO ready for this trip.

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 28, 2010

Should Have Known

Filed under: Health/ Fitness,Holidays,Life,Life's Little Hiccups — gardener @ 11:28 am

The past couple of days my hormones have been on a major rampage and wouldn’t you know it- yesterday ‘that time’ showed up and at least I understood why I’ve been so much more emotional than usual. I know- for any guy who may be reading this, you really don’t want to know about girly things, but you can always choose to skip this entry. I’ve known that I’m going through peri-menapause for a while, but the hormones (or lack thereof) get uglier every month. I know it sounds crazy, but I honestly feel like Jeckyll and Hyde at some points.

Along with this has come some pretty nasty cramps to the point of me taking Tylenol with Codeine to get relief. I have to do it every month and all I can say is Thank the Lord for it otherwise I’d probably be driven to drink haha. Marcel literally laughed out loud today when I looked at him and told him that I thought I’d be having my period Thanksgiving night and how with cramps like these it would hinder my ‘Midnight Madness’ shopping spree at the outlet. I know, stop shaking your head- I seriously love that Midnight Madness shopping THAT much that I don’t want anything to get in my way.

October 16, 2010

One Month

Filed under: Holidays,Travel — gardener @ 7:54 am

Today marks one month before Marcel and I head home for the holidays and as you can tell by some of my previous posts, I’m ready for the trip.   I love traveling and it’s even more special when I’m going to be spending time with family and friends.   I find myself in a festive mood and have spent most of the day so far today enjoying the weather and whipping up some things in the kitchen.  

I do want to sit in the sunshine, so I think I’ll make this short.   The daylight hours are getting shorter each day and it won’t be long before we’re setting our clocks back an hour.  It will give us a little extra daylight time, but not nearly enough.   I’m planning holiday parties and I’m getting excited about one that I’m doing for the young and old alike on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It’s going to be fun planning games for the kids and coming up with prizes for them.  

Marcel told me this morning that he’s going to pull out his suitcase and start packing.  He’s so cute.   Even ” I ” haven’t started that- yet.

October 1, 2010

Back to Basics

Filed under: Holidays,Shop til ya Drop,Things I Love — gardener @ 8:45 am

I was thinking not too long ago about how I used to send cards for everything. I think that I got out of the habit and switched to only sending birthday and Christmas cards when e-cards became so much easier, but I’ve started thinking that maybe it’s time to get back to basics and start sending cards more often. I used to send halloween cards every year to my family and a few close friends, and I think it would be fun to start doing it again. I know I don’t have to do it on the scale that I do when it’s Christmas, but a card every now and then to people that I care about is a great thing.

After all, I know how much I love seeing mail in the box that isn’t a bill, so why wouldn’t everyone else? I think as this year winds down I’m going to start making a list of things that I’d like to change and begin the process now so that when the first of the year comes, it will come easy. I see a lot of things that aren’t working the way I’d like them to in my life, and I know that it means it’s time for change. After all, the only person who can create change in my life- is me.

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 22, 2010

No Place Like Home

Filed under: Holidays,Home,Memories — gardener @ 11:29 am

I didn’t realize until I logged in here that I haven’t written here in five days.   I thought it had only been two or so, but as life flies by at warp speed I guess days seem to pass and I’m not quite sure where they went. 

I’m on the countdown until we head home for the holidays and I have to say with each passing day, I find myself getting more and more excited.    I also realized today that this visit won’t come without it’s moments of heartache, as I was thinking today about Carol and it hit me that I wouldn’t see her.   For a brief moment, I thought that I was stuck in a dream that she’s no longer here, and when I realized that pinching myself couldn’t make me any more awake than I already was- I went into a panic for a moment.  I found myself wanting to scream and cry- but I knew that while they may not go unheard- it wouldn’t change a thing.   It makes me heart heavy knowing that when I see her grave that the part of me that sometimes believes her death was all a bad dream will be no more.  

Even with that being said-  I still can’t wait to be ‘home’.   I’m blessed enough to have two places to call home- but no matter what location on the map I may call home- my heart will always be in the Deep South.    There truly is ‘no place like home.’-  wherever that may be.

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