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Birthday present list

Posted on November 15, 2009 7:01 pm by TheAngelForever

Each year at about this time, people start to ask me what I want for my birthday. Most of the time I have no clue. There are things I would love, but when it comes time to list them I draw a blank.

Today, we were out shopping and something caught my eye. I just had to take a photo of it with my cell phone (thus the reason the quality is not the best).

Even though I am a fan of the Twilight series, I can tell you this is something I do not want for my birthday. My friend had mentioned that these existed, but this was the first time I had seen them in person. They kind of scared me. Not the dolls themselves. The part that scared me was who they were marketed to. The usual Barbie fan is certainly not of the age that would be reading/watching the Twilight series. So who exactly are these for? Are teens, college age people and adults really going to buy these for keepsakes?

Now, let’s be serious for a few moments. What do I want for my birthday? Really, I have no major clue. I told TechyDad that we should finally purchase our tickets for BlogHer ’10 since we have the hotel booked. That worked for me. Perhaps a play that is coming to town would be nice. There are some earrings that I would like, but are probably out of price range. Not sure of anything else.

Please help. . . I would love some suggestions.

Categories:
birthday me moments shopping vent

Texting time has come

Posted on October 23, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

On Sunday, TechyDad and I took made some major decisions of the technological kind. We finally decided to to ditch our landline (which was with our cable company) in order to save a pretty penny each month. They were able to port our number over and we have an extra cell phone in our house to use for that purpose. In addition to this, we finally upgraded our cell phone plans to include unlimited texting and photo messages. Prior to this, I had probably sent out only a dozen or two text messages. Part of this was the cost, the other the horrible phones that made texting a pain.

We shopped around over the weekend at AT&T and Verizon Wireless. In the end, we stayed with Verizon because for the same price each month, we could keep our home phone number. They also had no hidden fees, no activation costs and the rebates for two of the phones did not require a $20 data plan for the first month (talk about strange catches w/AT&T).

The person that helped us at Verizon Wireless also told us to go online to purchase three of our phones for FREE! So I present you with my new baby. She is really pretty, shiny, new and allows me to text like crazy. . . wow this is addictive (thank you Twitter text). Sorry about the bad glare in the photos.

So my questions for you are inspired by my new fun ~~toy~~ cell phone:

Do you have a cell phone plan that gives you unlimited texting ability? Do you still have a landline phone at home?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #71

Categories:
Aloha Friday decisions jl photos shopping

Agony of da feet be gone

Posted on August 7, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I often joke and call myself an example of recessive genes. Growing up, I fully expected to be tall since both of my parents are six feet tall. Sadly, as I hit puberty and stopped growing, I realized that I was only going to be 5’3". As the vertically challenged member of a tall family (my brother is also six feet tall), I often tried to wear high heel shoes. Of course, the reality is heels are often uncomfortable and leave your feet screaming.

When I first started teaching, I would wear heels and then at night be close to tears. After I had my first son, I learned that nice looking comfort shoes were more important than adding three or so inches. Sure, I was able to get a few pair of heels that worked for more dressy occassions, like going to synagogue, but they were few and far apart. My trusty Aerosole heels are really starting to get worn out and look horrible. For quite some time, I have been searching for the new perfect shoes to have when I need something more than my flip-flops, sneakers, Teva and slides.

Several months ago, people started to chat a lot about the new line of wedges and heels from Crocs. Yes, you read that right. The brand that many connect with the bright orange shoes that Chef Mario Batali wears now sells stylish heels using their comfort technology. At the end of June I won a Twitter giveaway sponsored by Crocs (thanks George Smith Jr – you are the best). I was told to select a pair of shoes that I would like as my prize. I immediately went to look at the wedges and heels. I selected a pair of Sassari to try.

My shoes arrived on Monday. After I stopped jumping up and down, I put them on. It took me a few minutes to remember how to walk in heels, then I was able to run after the boys with my Sassari on. Please excuse my toes that are in need of a new paint job, but here are my cute new shoes.

I really love these shoes. I can see wearing them all town. I hardly feel like I have three inch heels on. All week I have been wearing them around the house to break them in. I can not wait to wear them to places and shock people when they find out that they are Crocs!

So my question to you this week is inspired by my new shoes:

Are you a creature of comfort or will you wear anything in the name of style/fashion? What is your favorite pair of shoes, fancy or not?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #60

Categories:
Aloha Friday customer service interesting me moments photos shopping

School supplies – what’s on your list?

Posted on July 19, 2009 8:41 pm by TheAngelForever

If you have been inside any retailer like Target, Walmart, CVS, Staples, Rite Aid, Walgreens or the like, you have probably seen the sale. Yes, even though it is still July, the Back to School craze has already started. We are over a month away from the start of school here (after Labor Day). Still, NHL’s 1st grade school supply list has been on my brain for a while. Not that I mind since I really love getting bargains this time of year. Here is what we have to purchase:

The following should be labeled with your child’s name:

Pencils – at least 5
2 large erasers
2 large glue sticks – NO liquid sticks or bottles of glue
Standard size pencil box – NO pencil bags please
Box of 16 crayons – NO larger
2 solid color folders
A book bag

The following should not be labeled with your child’s name – they will be community supplies:

Box of tissues
A set of 4 Dry-erase markers (the brand "Sharpie" works best) *black
Package of baby wipes
Package of plastic spoons
Package of small paper plates

Not really a horrible list. I believe there were supplies for Pre-K and K. We have most of the items, but need to get a few more. So far the most challenging item has been the 16 pack of crayons. Of course, you should know that I am a Crayola snob. As a teacher and parent I will do nothing else. Sure Rose Art are cheaper, but they are not the same quality and man they do not clean as nicely if they get on items. We finally found a 16 pack of crayons in stock for $1.16 – compared to 20 cents for a 24 pack of Crayola crayons. Sick I tell you!

We are stil debating a backpack. I am leaning toward an L.L. Bean bag since the quality is amazing, they last and have a wonderful warranty. At the same time a lot of people love their Lands End bags. Whatever we buy will be something that will be used for several years. I had a Tough Traveler bag that I received in 5th grade (’87) and used it on my honemoon (’01).

NHL really likes the Nautical Red Grid Camo back that I showed him in the L.L. Bean catalogue the other day. Check it out:

I can definitely see this lasting, but which size do we get?

This is now the third year that I have been on the school supply receiving list end. I think it was much less stressful making the list for my students to get when I was teaching. Of course, I am sure they probably shook their fingers at me too!

So what is on your child’s school supply list? Is there something in particular that you find strange, hard to find or that you really like purchasing? Please share your thoughts. It is always interesting to compare with each other.

Categories:
decisions nhl school shopping

Bakerella style cake balls for kindergarten

Posted on June 16, 2009 12:58 pm by TheAngelForever

Tomorrow the kids in kindergarten are having an end of year celebration. They have ponies and other animals coming to visit for rides thanks to the school PTA. This will be also be to culminate their transportation unit. Parents have all been invited to come for the fun. After the rides there will be a pizza lunch. We were asked to sign up if we are coming and also let them know what we could bring. I told NHL’s teachers to let me know what they needed the days before.

Yesterday when I picked NHL up from school I was told that they had plenty of paper products and drinks. She asked me to bring in a dessert item. Immediately I started to think about things. Cupcake cones would be fabulous, but it may be for both classes and all of the extra adults. That would be too hard to bring. Then I thought about making bonbon cookies like my friend J’s mother used to always make. These are easy to make, but very time consuming and not inexpensive thanks to the Hershey kiss filling. Of course I asked my Twitter followers for suggestions. Lots of great ideas came in. Then I had an idea. What about making something from Bakerella?

After looking at all of the options, I thought the Bakerella cake pops or cake balls would be a great idea. Today JSL and I went out to the store to get items to bake them. Here is what we bought:

Some of these items were already on hand at home. I wanted to have the lollipop sticks just in case I try to make those. I think they may be a little more work than I have time for (especially on my first attempt). There is also the worry about how to take them to school if I have them in pop form. In addition to this, I have since changed my mind on the frosting that I am going to mix with the cake. I had planned on using the cream cheese kind seen above, but now I think I am going to use the Rainbow Chip by Betty Crocker. I think that will be more fun for the kids. On the outside I have the yellow melting chocolate and a variety of sprinkles. I had thought about the blue ones to make it the school colors, but will see what NHL thinks when he helps me contruct them later on.

On that note I am off to check the two cakes. Both of them are now baked and cooling. Will update later with more photos of my experiment a la Bakerella. Oh, if you have time check out Bakerella’s fabulous collection of special cake pops. – amazing!