Oceans Five

When I was young, my dad would often bring me fishing in the local river. As a kid, I barely appreciated this since I didn’t want to sit around waiting for some fish to bite; I was a restless brat that jumped and swam around. However, as I grew older, I began to grow more and more interested in this activity until me and my dad would often compete on who caught the biggest fish or who caught the most. When I had a family of my own, I subconsciously did this to my own son. At first, he was like me and didn’t really appreciate the beauty of fishing. However, just like me, he eventually fell in love with the activity. It even reached a point where he would be the one to invite me to go on fishing.

Now that he is engaged and is planning to get married, I’m thinking of taking him fishing to somewhere nice as a big gift for him. I want him to realize just how important this event is for our entire family. So I looked for some Lake Texoma fishing guides to make sure that we got the best fishing spot in the area.

It was a pleasant surprise to find out that my husband and I were going to have another baby.  My eldest daughter Andie is about to turn three, and although we really didn’t plan it, a new bundle of joy will be a welcome addition to the family.  Of course, pregnancies and childbirth amount to cost and expenses, specially in my case where pregnancies are on the dangerous side.  There are check ups, vitamins and a hots of other things to save up for.  Which means extra savings and being more careful with the budget.

I’ve been eyeing a really nice model of plasma TV stands for several weeks now and could not muster up the courage to go ahead and buy it.  It seems like a good buy but the Mom in me had to ask “is this really necessary?”. Is this something I cannot NOT have?  and I would almost always walk away.  But one afternoon, something nice happened.  I saw that the store had a red tag sale and almost all of the items were marked down – including the plasma TV stand I’ve been drooling over.

Now isn’t this nice? I told myself that I don’t have to feel guilty about spending if I bought plasma tv stands at a huge discount.  I quickly took out my credit card and made the purchase.  My conscience had never been happier!

Here’s part 2 of my brother’s mugging story. So after buying himself a used cellphone, his next concern was his favorite music.  The thing about Robert is that he is never seen without earphones on his ears.  This started since he was in high school and became a permanent thing when he got to college.  Everyone in the family is used to the fact that we have to grab his arm to get his attention whenever someone is saying something important. Either that or we yank one earphone out and say what we have to say directly to his ear.

Anyway, the kid adored the iPod touch (fourth generation I think) and he was so happy when the new IOS 5 came out. He immediately downloaded it and bragged about face time and sent me messages incessantly (since I own an iPad).  He spent hours upon hours copying songs and downloading videos onto the device only to lose it to some punk on the street.

Since I was the one who advised him to look for a phone online, I decided to look for a site where I could buy cheap iPods.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that these weren’t used gadgets, just models with lower storage capacity and not the latest generation.  I may not have been able to buy Robert a 4th generation model, but I’m sure he would appreciate the effort.

My brother Robert is 23 years old with a promising career as a game designer.  Since he’s in the tech field, more or less, he does love his gadgets. One of his pride and joy is his spanking new iPhone and iPod – the latest generation.  Unfortunately, he does not own a car. Not that he can’t afford to buy one, but he’s always been a fan of buses and trains since he was young. So one unfortunate Monday morning, he was mugged on his way to the office. The very high tech phone and iPod disappeared in the blink of an eye.

While authorities assured him that the items could be retrieved, trauma has set in.  This was one experience which I believe had left him scarred for life.  Of course, a mobile phone is necessary and important specially for professionals like himself.  He had to get one immediately so I told him to just buy used cell phones and mp3 players instead.

I tried to convince him that this was a good idea because the used cell phones can be bought for real cheap and the items sold online are in good working condition.  These are not old and dilapidated items, rather models which are not top of the line anymore or used only for a very short time by an individual who wanted to upgrade for a newer model.

Thankfully he followed my advice.  I told him to save up for a car instead.

Who doesn’t love sleeping on a good set of flannel sheets? They’re unbelievably soft and great at keeping you warm that is, unless they’ve piled.

Typically, piling occurs when these sheets they aren’t well maintained or washed properly. Flannel is actually quite low-maintenance, but there things that you have to do if you want to keep them soft and comfortable for a longer period of time.

To properly wash and maintain your flannel blankets or sheets, you first have to remember to sort them by color. Some sheets may run if mixed in with sheets of other colors, and you definitely do not want that to happen.

If you are washing a particular sheet for the first time, wash it on gentle cycle, using a cup of vinegar in place of detergent. It would also be advisable to use only cold water because water that’s too hot may cause your sheets to shrink in the wash or the color in your sheets to fade.

On the succeeding washings, you should keep doing the same. You no longer have to use vinegar (although some people still choose to), but it would be good to use minimal detergent. Lastly, it would be better to hang your sheets out, but if you use a dryer, be sure to take your sheets out of the dryer as soon as it finishes, to avoid piling, wrinkling and creasing.

One of the best memories I have of my time as a kid was going to the carnival with my childhood friends and riding on the bumper cars. As a kid, those were one of my all-time favorite carnival rides. They were colorful, loud, and pretty much the only way a kid could get away with driving a car at such a young age. Plus, it’s something can you do with a large group of people, and what better way to enjoy carnival rides with all of your friends than to ram into each others bumper cars?

Now that I’ve gotten older, bumper cars aren’t quite as popular as they were before. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t still have as much fun as before! One really great way to relive those good memories and just play around or feel a bit like a kid again is with remote control bumper cars. These cute little toys are everywhere now!

They’re inexpensive, requires very little assembly and runs on batteries. And compared to their older counterparts, these are also very safe for young children to use, so kids (and kids at heart) need not worry about getting hurt while playing with these bumper cars.

The kitchen is one of the busiest spaces in any household, especially when there are guests over or when there is a party being thrown. I know my own kitchen looks like a hot mess when that happens – ingredients are all over the place, used utensils strewn about, random food stains appear on different places. So even when the kitchen is supposed to be the tidiest place in the house, it often ends up being the dirtiest and the grimiest.

But not to worry, there are lots of ways to keep your kitchen furniture clean! Here are a couple of simple and effective ways to do so:

If your problem is a greasy wooden table, blot the greasy spot with an absorbent material (like a sponge, or even fresh cat litter, for bigger splotches) and rinse off whatever remains with a mix of white vinegar and warm water.

Another thing we should keep extra clean in the kitchen the inside of an oven! It is often neglected, but since food is directly placed in it, it is important to keep it clean and sanitary. To effectively clean the racks of an oven, make sure to wipe up any stains as soon as you see them. For stains that are still hot, put a dash of salt on it, them wipe it off. Then, remove the racks and soak them in warm water in (yes!) your bathtub.

Getting a DFW pool fence can be less of a hassle if you decide to get them online. Thanks to the internet, buying online has become quite a norm these days. You can already expect to find lots of possible options for such fences when you buy them straight from the internet and the best part? You are given the chance to better compare and contrast prices.

Speaking of prices, when you buy stuff online you have bigger chances of getting entitled to have a discount. You can avail of this discount if you buy in bulk and in this case, you are most probably going to do so because fences do not come in just two’s. Online shops are also known to be more generous with discounts because their operating costs are far lower than local shops. Special offers also abound and most of the time, the owners or sellers offer to give you free shipment for meeting a certain amount of items bought in one transaction.

Also, you get the benefit of simply staying at home to wait for the fences to get delivered. This way you no longer have to worry about bringing all of them home all by yourself.

The nice thing about jobs disability is that it gives hope to people who might find it hard to get a regular job elsewhere. It’s because most of these types of jobs are geared towards getting the job done, rather than a person’s physical image. Most of these jobs are also offered on a work from home basis, so safety and security need not be an issue.

You would also be surprised to find out that these jobs range from clerical ones to creative ones. So if you are someone who doesn’t have any disability but looking to find a way to have some additional income, you would do well to keep in mind that the pool of competition might be bigger than you think it would be.

Most of these types of jobs can also be done online. This is also the reason why so many people get enticed to try them out. Even if they do have a full time work, they are confident that they can also fulfill these.  Through sites like my employment options, handicapped people or people suffering from any form of disability are welcomed back into the workforce with open arms.  They are no longer discriminated upon or looked down by their fellow citizens.