2008 May | She Scribes

May 23, 2008 By Kimberly

Can you believe that it’s almost SUMMER?! Where has the year gone? The year is almost half over already. It seems like only yesterday we were putting up Christmas decorations and watching “A Christmas Story” for the 8,000th time (ha ha). And now here it is, the start of Memorial Day weekend. The “official” start to the summer season. Yet here I am wearing jeans and a sweat jacket to take Espn out for a walk, and our community pool opens on Monday. That just seems so weird.

So what are your summer plans? With gas prices going sky high (we have seen gas over $4+ locally already) and now the airlines jacking up their prices and even charging for luggage (that is so wrong!) I’m sure many Americans are going to be staying close to home this summer when it comes to family vacations. That is what we plan on doing. We are going to do “day trips”. Not only because of the money factor but also because we have Espn and he can’t be left alone for more then 7-8 hours maximum. So our plans will include a water park about an hour away from us called Splash Down, Point Pleasant Beach which is in New Jersey and the New York City “Duck” tour which is a bus that turns into a boat! It picks you up in Times Square, gives you a little tour then drops into the Hudson River for a tour on the water, then back up on land. I’m sure the kids will love that.

As much as we’d love to hop on a plan and spend a week in Disneyland we know that from a financial standpoint that is not possible right now. So our next best bet is to find things local here in NY, NJ and CT to do a day trip to. I’m sure we can find a lot of things to do even if it’s just to go hiking at a state park or have a picnic along the Hudson River.

I found this really need photo book site. They have 5″ x 7″ photo books (20 pages, .50 cents for each additional page) for $7.99 (plus shipping). That is not a bad deal at all. I’m thinking this would be a great idea for summer pictures rather then have them disappear on the computer or on a CD. That way the kids can look back fondly on their summer adventures. The site is called “My Pic Tales” and it looks like it could make a great gift too! The above picture is of the photo book I was referring to.

Now to get myself one of those super cool digital cameras with the awesome zoom lenses so I can take professional quality pictures. Something like the Cannon EOS Rebel. Oh to be rich!

Anyway… I’m off to enjoy the day with my children who are home from school today for an extra long holiday weekend thanks to a mild winter and left over snow days.

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The Tick Saga Continues…

May 20, 2008 By Kimberly

The tick saga is still continuing in our home. So far we found six ticks. They all appear to be baby ticks because they have six legs and adults have eight legs. It’s the adult ones that cause the most problems so hopefully that is a “good” thing in a way.

After spending a ton of money on flea and tick sprays (for both the dog and the cats), room spray, carpet power, flea and tick bath, the groomer and the vet we are hopeful what we have the tick situation under control. They are certainly nasty little creepy crawlies!

My beautiful camera bag that I won from Tracy Joy arrived yesterday. It’s gorgeous! I have to take a picture of it. It’s so nice and soft and VERY roomy. It’s not only great for cameras but it would make a great diaper bag and even an everyday bag because it’s a perfect size and has lots of room on the inside. It is made WONDERFULLY too! I highly recommend her bags. They are gorgeous!

I found this very interesting blog earlier today. It’s called Mouse Print and the blogger exposes some horrible things companies are doing to consumers and we are not even aware of it! For example they highlight how some companies like Edys and Breyers are down sizing their ice creams but they are still costing the same amount of money. I never even realized that until that post brought it to my attention. I highly recommend everyone checking out that site.

Another great site I found today is on the Kraft Foods web site. The page is called “One bag, Five Dinners” and they have A LOT of great dinner ideas for the week. They have six weekly dinner options and provide you with a shopping list and recipes for some DELICIOUS sounding dinners. Most of the dinners look as easy as 1-2-3 too! The concept is to be able to make five dinners with ingredients that would fit into one shopping bag. In this day and age where everyone is concerned about money I think this is a great idea.

Nothing too exciting came in the mail today but I did receive a free Icy Hot Patch. It’s a full size patch great for large areas, such as your back. It lasts up to eight hours too! I know I’ll have a need for this. I’m interested in trying it.

It’s always fun to get a few freebies in the mail. You should check out Walmart’s web site from time to time for some interesting samples you can get for free. It’s a great way to “try before you buy”.

Well I’m off to see what other interesting sites I can find on the ‘net.

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Attack of the Ticks!

May 17, 2008 By Kimberly

Well today started out pretty well. We actually were able to motivate the kids to get up and get ready to do some food shopping early today so that later on we could go out and do something before the rain came. Usually we’re heading out to the grocery store for our bi-weekly food shopping after lunch. This time we were actually home by lunch time.

We decided to go to a local park called Peck’s Pond. It’s about a mile to walk around the pond and the kids like to ride their scooters as we (my husband and I) walk. We decided to bring our puppy Espn with us too so that he could get some exercise and enjoy the nice afternoon.

We had our usual fun time at Peck’s Pond. We even met a young couple with a cute little girl who was taken with Espn. We started chatting with them and found out that we are neighbors. Small world! Of course the kids didn’t mind. They had fun in the playground and Espn had fun digging for “goodies” in the mulch around the playground (he always finds gum… it’s so gross!).

It started to get very cloudy so we decided to head home.

On the way home Espn sat in the front seat with me (passenger side) and hung out the window like he always does. Of course I was clutching his collar and leash to make sure he didn’t fall out.

While I was holding his collar I felt something under his fur. I figured it was a piece of mulch so I went to pick it out and noticed it was a TICK!!!! Oh my goodness! How disgusting!

I quickly removed it from his fur and tossed it out the car window. Needless to say we were all pretty creeped out.

When we got home we decided to look all over Espn just to make sure there were no more ticks. We were still in the car when we did this. As we looked we found ANOTHER tick. I quickly picked it off and tossed it out the car. We went over and over and over Espn as best we could. We did not find anymore.

Needless to say I went over my family to make sure no one else brought home an unwanted guest from the park. And because of this we are no longer going to Peck’s Pond. At least with Espn anyway.

So as a friendly reminder PLEASE make sure to check your pets and yourself for ticks. Even if you don’t think you are in an area that is prone to ticks still check. We didn’t think there would be ticks at Peck’s Pond. Obviously we were VERY wrong thinking that.

After dinner we decided to head out for ice cream at a local ice cream place called Hoyers. By then it was dark and drizzling. Of course we were practically the only ones there. The last time we went to get ice cream from Hoyers it was FREEZING outside. We never seem to crave ice cream when it’s nice and sunny out.

Out of the blue after ice cream we decided to go to the pet store to check out hamsters. My husband was seriously considering buying a hamster. As if the four cats and puppy were not enough. Ha Ha. However we almost left with a fish tank and fish instead. We didn’t though. We decided to sleep on it and maybe go back tomorrow and get the set up. We used to have fish until Hurricane Hugo killed them. We lost power for three days and they died because they didn’t have their air pump.

So that is my eventful day. I’m still totally grossed out by the tick and I think I need to check Espn out one more time just to be sure.

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May 14, 2008 By Kimberly

WOW! This has got to be the first time on record that I was having a happy “hump day”. It’s Wednesday. The week is half over and the weekend is almost here (not that I have plans this weekend). So why am I so happy? Because I won two AWESOME prizes yesterday! I pretty much never win anything so to win two great prizes in one day – that is AWESOME!!!

First I received an e-mail from Deborah at SheKnowsParties that I won her Bloggy Giveaway Carnival prize of a Bliss Chocolate collection from Hershey. I won three bags of chocolate! Oh! I can not wait for those yummies to arrive. I guess with three bags I can share a FEW (ha ha). Hershey Bliss comes in three flavors which include dark chocolate, milk chocolate and milk chocolate with a melt away center. Talk about an indulgence!

Late last night I received another e-mail from Melanie and Bloggy Giveaways that I won a prize from Tracy Joy. I won her “Kristine Bag” which is the image seen above this post. It’s a $79 camera bag! My camera is going to be so nice and comfy in it’s new fabulous bag! I chose the fabric design called “Ebony Ironworks” which is black with a wonderful funky white swirly design. My bag will look funky yet chic at the same time.

When the bag arrives I’ll be sure to take a picture of it and share it here. Now I just need to get my Rebel XT camera with all the attachments to put into my wonderful new camera bag.

So needless to say I am THRILLED over my awesome prize winnings. If only every day could be as wonderful.

Today is Wednesday which means one thing… the new episode of “Ghost Hunters” is on. I’m so addicted to that show! If you haven’t seen it yet and you get the Sci-Fi channel you must tune in.

My favorite TAPS team member has got to be Steve. He looks so tough with all his tattoos and all (and he used to be a police officer) but when it comes to spiders he turns to Jello! He’s deathly afraid of spiders, yet he’ll run after ghosts and chase them down into dark and scary basements. I love that quality about him.

Enough rambling for the day. Enjoy your day!

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Happy Mothers Day!

May 10, 2008 By Kimberly

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there, and mom’s to be… even grandmas too! I hope you all have an extra special day.

We have nothing planned for Mother’s day. I have already received my presents which consisted of several books I have been wanting to read for ages now including “Tuesdays with Morrie” (GREAT book!), “Marley and Me“, “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Escape“. I have A LOT of reading to do the next few weeks.

I’m finally receiving some free magazine subscriptions I have earned through various sites answering surveys and product reviews. So far I have received “Star” magazine, which I was very surprised about since it’s a weekly publication. This afternoon I received “Vibe”. “Vibe” is not my thing. I thought it was about music, which some of it is, but mostly it’s ads and many of the ads are VERY suggestive and show half naked women. Needless to say I’ll be calling to cancel this subscription.

I have to say I am very “addicted” to survey sites and product testing. It’s an easy way to earn a few extra “goodies” just for answering a few short questionnaires. I’m still totally shocked over being so lucky to do a product review for the Logictech Harmony One universal remote (it’s so cool!) and the Aveeno cream. I hope I can “earn my stripes” so to speak so I can do more product reviews. It’s fun to get to “test drive” things before my friends and family get to.

Aside from that the weekend has been pretty quiet and low key. We went to the animal shelter today to talk and pet the animals there. We try our best to do that at least once or twice a month. Sometimes we come with treats for the animals too. Over the summer my kids take the dogs out back to the dog run and run around with them. We love animals and it breaks out heart to see so many homeless animals out there who want and need someone to love them. I wish I could adopt them all. But I think with four cats and a dog we fulfilled our “quota” of adoptees for a while.

If you are thinking about owning a pet PLEASE take a moment to check out Pet Finders or visit your local animal shelter before spending hundreds, if not thousands, at a pet store where the animals come from puppy mills. There are so many wonderful animals out there who need you. Even if you can’t adopt please consider donation old blankets, sheets, towels, pillow cases, food, treats and cleaning supplies to your local shelter. Better yet, volunteer your time. Even if you can spare an hour a week to walk the dogs and tend to the animals that would be great!

Enjoy your Mother’s Day!