My father called me up today to say hi, and ask me how I was doing.  He likes to call me a couple of times a week, just to keep in touch.  We don’t live very far apart, but we still don’t see each other very often anymore since I moved into the city.  He’s out in the suburbs, and since I don’t have a car I don’t get out to see them very often.  Of course, a busy schedule of work, evening college classes, and my own social life keep me busy and I don’t have a lot of time to go out there right now.

Dad tells me that he is thinking about buying a gmc yukon .  His neighbor bought a 2008 gmc yukon recently, and Dad has been quite envious of it ever since.  He was telling me that he has been reading all of the gmc yukon reviews and the 2008 gmc yukon reviews that he can find and likes what he has been hearing about it.  I suggested that he check out thecarconnection.com website for their reviews and take them into consideration before making any commitment. 

I am a freak for flashlights.  I have a flashlight in every room in the apartment, I have one on my key chain, and I keep on in my purse and my briefcase.  I even keep one tucked under my mattress and one in my office desk at work!  They give me a sense of security; if the electricity goes off at night, there is always a flashlight close at hand.   I recently learned that there are explosion proof flashlights available for sale!  I had no idea that there was a need for such an item until my friend Dave explained that there are times when people need lighting in areas such as paint spray booths and mines where there might be a build up of explosive gases, and that’s when the explosion proof lights come in. 

The  explosion proof lights are safe  for use in these types of areas because they don’t create the spark that regular flashlights do when the switch is turned on and off.  Then Dave proceded to show me a website called magnalight.com that sells a variety of  portable and explosion proof lights.  Whenever I find a new website I like to browse around for a few minutes and see what is on it.  I was very surprised to see that they also sell plastic universal handcuff keys! Who would have imagined!

I learned a few years ago that it really is not a smart idea to wait for the guy to call you back after that first date.  Those calls often just never happen, and waiting at home by the phone, willing it to ring only crush your ego.  I’ve learned that the best thing to do is to let the guy know that you might not be home, and to please leave a message on the machine and you’ll call him back when you return.  Then, actually DO go out and do something fun!  It sure beats moping around and wondering why he isn’t calling you!

I think that a guy should not even say he’ll call you if he’s not going to call you.  That’s just unfair, and it’s a lie.  People should be upfront and honest, and if they don’t think they’ll call you, they should at least say “well it’s been fun (or not) but I am not planning on calling you again for a while.”  And if the girl gets pushy and says “well when will you call me” you simply say “I’m not sure, my schedule is pretty busy.”  If the girl keeps pushing after that, that would be a good time to say “I don’t like pushy women, so I don’t think you’ll be hearing from me again!”

Anyway, I am so grateful that the answering machine was invented - it gives me the freedom to go out and not worry about “what if he called?”  If he calls and wants to talk to you, he’ll leave a message.  Case closed.

I never realized how difficult it is to find large size shoes in local shoe stores and even on the Internet until I went shoe shopping with Missy last weekend.  We spent several hours going from shoe store to shoe store, looking for shoes that fit Missy.  Missy wears Size 12 womens shoes and she tells me that she has had this problem since she was about fifteen years old.  I guess I’m fairly lucky in that regard; I don’t have trouble finding shoes that fit me at all!  Missy told me that she learned that many fashion models wear size eleven shoes; it seems to me that if that is the case that there would be more shoes in fashionable styles in the stores!  I guess the stores in our area just haven’t caught up with the need to accommodate that market niche yet.

Well, I resolved to help Missy find shoes that looked stylish that would fit her, and after quite a bit of searching I found the Samanta website.  Samanta specializes in hard to find larger sizes for women and men.  They focus mainly on really nice shoes for women, but they also have a selection of wide and narrow shoes.  I’ll be emailing that site’s URL to Missy later today!

I love to go to Florida during the winter.  I’ve been going to Florida for winter vacations ever since I can remember - even as a small child.  My parents always took the entire family to Florida to visit our grandmother, who lived in a town called Deltona.  Deltona is a short distance from Orlando, and we would take advantage of that location to go to DisneyWorld and SeaWorld and Universal Studios.  We try to go for two weeks so we can get a lot of visiting and a lot of fun things into that two week period.

I’ve always loved animals and was always so happy to go to SeaWorld!  I love watching the water ski show (because I water ski too!) and I also love the animal shows.  I especially love dolphins and whales and seals.  I’m hoping that my folks pay for us all to go to Florida again this winter.  I’ve discovered a website called orlandofuntickets.com that sells discount sea world tickets, and they are offering a special where if you buy a one day ticket you get the second day for free!  That website sells discount tickets for all of the popular Orlando attractions, so I’m going to be advising my parents to check there before buying any tickets anywhere else!

Several months ago I saw an infomercial on television about a skin care program called resurgence that really piqued my interest.  I’ve seen a lot of skin care infomercials before and just did not pay any attention to them at all - I don’t know why, they just didn’t impress me very much.  But this resurgence informercial did, and yet I didn’t take the time to call the telephone number, or even write it down because my finances were too tight then to justify spending any money on anything other than paying the bills that were piled high up on my desk.

But this Christmas I got a few nice gifts of checks and cash from some wonderful friends and relatives, and I was trying to decide what to do with the money.  I wished I had written down that phone number from that infomercial!  All I could remember was that it featured Joan Lunden.  Strange that I only saw that infomercial that one time - wouldn’t you know it that the only infomercial I really thought I’d want to actually use the product and I couldn’t find it again!  So it was with great joy that I read an email from a friend today that was telling me that she had just received her own order of murad resurgence, and that it was the product from the infomercial with Joan Lunden.  I emailed her back and asked her how I could get some for myself and she gave me the website.  So now I can order some for myself!  I’m really excited about it, I hope it works as well as they say it will!

I got an email today from an old friend that her grandmother died suddenly yesterday from a massive stroke. My friend, and her mother, are devastated; they were very close and had just seen the poor old dear the day before she died. I hope the fact that they had just seen her is some comfort to them both, but I know that they are very upset because she was alone at the time that she died. So many people think that it is such a bad thing to be alone when they die. I have never given that much thought, myself, but I guess I can understand why - people are afraid of dying and they usually don’t want to be alone when they are afraid. Being with someone that they love gives them courage to face the fear. Anyway, you never know when your time is up. Treat your loved ones gently, please.

My Aunt Suzy is talking about moving to Jacksonville in the near future.  She’s wanted to move further south for a long time, and she recently visited an old college friend of hers that lives in Jacksonville.  Well, she fell in love with Jacksonville and is looking into moving there.  She is retired now, and has a pretty good pension so she doesn’t have to work anymore. 

So we have been looking for Realtors in Jacksonville using a new website called clicksmart.com. It’s a really handy website that helps you find certified experts in a wide variety of fields, using their search engine.  It was easy finding Jacksonville Realtors though their website and we’re confident that these realtors will treat Aunt Suzy right.

My brother Tim is starting a new business in London.  He’s pursuing his lifelong dream, opening up a new restaurant of his very own.  He’s worked long and hard for many other restaurants in various positions, from bus boy to waiter to cook to manager, and now he’s finally saved up enough money to strike out on his own.  He’s been looking around for the perfect place to locate his business, and is even considering buying some existing restaurants and just doing them over.  As part of the process, naturally he’s looking to buy some business insurance for his new restaurant that he is starting up in London.

The autonetinsurance.co.uk website offers a wide variety of insurances, from home insurance to commercial insurance to motor vehicle insurance.  They offer discounts of up to 70% off for new policies, and up to 35% discounts for their on-line customers!

I was looking at their website earlier today and was amazed at how many different insurance policies there really are!  I had no idea that there was so many kinds!  It certainly looks like they are prepared to offer insurance for almost any need whatsoever!  And they offer you the choice of getting a price quote online, or by calling their toll free number.

With the economy as bad as it is, I have cut way back on luxuries like eating out.  But I have been invited to join some friends (at their expense) at the local Red Lobster for dinner tonight.  They are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary and want me to join them in a small dinner party.  So, I was MORE THAN happy to say YES YES YES to the invitation!  I haven’t eaten at Red Lobster for about seven years, I really LIKE it a lot, there just isn’t one that is really close by where I live, and my budget is tight, so I don’t go often.  Our friends are picking me up and taking me there, so I am thrilled with the arrangement!

I LOVE lobster AND shrimp, I plan to order a meal that has BOTH!