Pandora's Casket

For those that buy and sell on eBay saving some of those envelopes, especially the bubble mailers, can really be a life saver on shipping days.

I save any and all bubble mailers. I have a place set aside especially for materials that are being recycled for future use. Bubble mailers in all sizes can be used again no matter what the condition they are in. If you receive an item through the mail try to pull back the excitement when you are opening it. Gently opening it will give you an extra mailer to use in those times when you are low or out on your own shipping days.

Out of bubble wrap at the last minute? That can be a problem. Right? Wrong! If you have been saving those mailers here is a great idea. Taking the mailer that is in the worse condition open it on the sides. Inside you will find bubble wrap which can be used in a pinch for those small items (this depends on the size of the mailer you opened)! This has saved me time and a little bit of money when I was down to my last item to ship and suddenly ran out of bubble wrap.

Recycling is something that everyone should try to do. Every little bit helps!

So start saving those mailers today as you can use them in some manner tomorrow.

Today was a full day of planting. The weather was absolutely perfect so my grandson and I went out in the yard to prepare for the planting. The first thing I did was find my brightest and most colorful scrub tops that I have and threw it on over my top. These are so great to wear when you are working around the house and especially in the yard as they are roomy and have those deep pockets.

Being made of cotton they seem to wash out well also. I have had some pretty bad things drip or splash on them and to my amazement they come out of the wash looking like new! They are rather inexpensive and I have a couple of sites that I love to purchase the really pretty or holiday theme scrubs on.

Planting went well for our first real day out in the yard. There is a lot more to do so I am really hoping that the weather holds out for us to get it all done!

Every spring and summer we begin the restoration and redecorating of certain rooms. This year in my new bedroom I am having a tv stand with mount placed on the one side of the room. It blends in so well with the wall and is not obtrusive at all.

I will be moving and shaking the furniture up a little bit in there so it will be an exciting adventure!

The downstairs and upstairs bathroom is being focused on mainly though. I am restoring my room and the attached office all by my lonesome! haha We have plenty of sheet rock to start slapping it up. By August the rooms should be completed and checked off the list of needing to be restored. I have been trying to figure out colors and I am at a loss as to what I really want.

Surely wont be like the bright canary yellow that N. has in his two downstairs room! To bright for me that is for sure.

The best part of spring and summer? Restoring my house!!

The other day I had to begin a research on a few things. One thing that I ran into was the ITIL Books on the process of lifestyle processes. Offering single and for organizations that need multi users. The licenses are a little expensive but well worth it.

The research went well and I am finally about half way done so I figure another week and I should be completed with that. I will be so glad when I am done. Researching can give you such a sense of accomplishment when you have it competed. Although I should have been doing this project a month or so ago I say better late than never!

I have started to hand out helpful tips to my kids for Mother's Day gift ideas. In the past I just said either forget it or get me what you want. No more will I do that!

I have already hinted at flowers, a HUGE, and I mean HUGE wooden chopping board and finally some open heart jewelry that I have fallen in love with.

Now, this does not mean that I will get any of these gifts. Christmas came and went and my list was pretty well forgotten! I am hoping though that the flowers and jewelry will be high on the older kids lists. Nick will more than likely find a dolphin item as he tends to think that I am in love with them (I am not) so that will add to my Nick collection for Mother's Day.

Only a week to go to see what my lovelies will have chosen as gifts. Maybe one out of three? That wouldn't be to bad!

The past few days has been so chilly, especially in the morning. With the frost alert being lifted as of today one has to wonder when Spring will actually get here. The farmers have all begun preparing their fields for planting but the grounds are still frozen and way to cold for planting. Hopefully this late frost that we have had will not effect the crops and the prices of the produce. Last year the crops did not seem as healthy as in previous years so I guess its a wait and see what will happen.

All I know is seeing these farmers in the fields late at night and early in the morning knowing that they must be thinking about the weather and when the frost will be over also. They work such long, hard hours I can not imagine the stress that they must go through trying to plant just at the right time.

Driving towards the various towns though you see a change. A lot of the farmers have not even started to prepare. Some will not plant at all this year due to the financial crunch and the crazy grain prices that go up and down. Last year was not a great year and a lot of farmers deserve to have champagne hampers from serenata sent to them for all their hard work. I just hope that they all do well this year as this is our community and they are an integral part of that.


I am not an avid gardener. I try my hand at it every year but a lot of times work gets in the way. I look at all the gardening tips and hints that will help my poor little seedlings thrive. This year is the year for a bigger herbal garden. Planting has been pushed back again due to the frost. I am hoping all will be planted in the next two weeks. Well, weather permitting!

Last week while talking about graduations and the ending of school days it was time for that yearly talk of where to go and what to do this summer. Nick of course was the first one to talk about going to Disneyland. Looking up great prices for disneyland tickets is a snap. And it was not very long into the conversation that the prices were found along with some really great packages that are now available.

One thing is that if we do indeed decide on going to Disneyland this year we can visit some of our friends in Southern California that we have not seen in years! That would be so much fun. Along with saving money on buying the disneyland tickets in advance we can save even more money by booking flights and hotels also in the same area.

Colton would have to take a week or so off from work but this would be a fun way to celebrate his graduating from high school and entering college in the fall. I looked at a hotel that would be near the ocean also as that is one thing that I do miss seeing and being able to go to easily. I contacted a couple of my friends in Southern Cali and told them about the disneyland tickets and our plans. We will stay one night with each set of friends and one family is buying tickets to join us!

What a fun summer this will be!!!

Before we left for Hartford yesterday I hurried up and ran the xomax review for Norm to read. For some reason he wanted to know if this would be OK for him to take.

Along with all the other hundreds of meds that he takes I guess one more won't hurt him. haha

The information that I found was interesting and hopefully will help him make the decision on what to do. His doctors said it would probably help him in more ways than he will ever realize. I just think that he likes taking and bragging about medicines that he takes but that is just my opinion

Colton said that he was happy with receiving the info that I ran off and would read it over the weekend. Like I have said time and time before if he had a computer he could do all this on his own. He would not have to wait for me to get around to doing it for him!