Your Next Choice

One of the things that my husband and I had always dreamed of would be that we could retire and open a bed and breakfast one day.  We both retired from our jobs last year, and after six months of travel, we are ready to settle down and get working on our business.

But, there are a number of things that we have to do before we can open our doors.  A lot of them include setting up the place, receiving the four western bedding sets that we ordered online, develop a marketing plan and figure out what we should be charging for a rate.

It has been hard for us to figure out the rate that we want to charge since we have never operated a business before.  So, we have been calling around to see what the competition charges as well as figure out what a typical stay would cost.  We might have to consult our accountant about the details, but we need to make sure that we do make some money.

I can’t wait to see bill in his western wear fashion – I think that he will be a mighty handsome fellow when he is all dressed up.

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My neighbor owns several dogs of the breed known as Pembroke Welsh Corgi. If you’re not familiar with the name, you probably know the dog as the ones that are favored by Queen Elizabeth II of England. Anytime you see her with those cute, short and fluffy dogs, you instantly know the breed.

photo credit: Phil Romans

While I enjoy playing with them when invited over to my neighbor’s back yard for parties and barbecues, I tend to think I’d like to have something a bit bigger in stature.

Of course, I don’t want to go overboard and bring something like a 200 pound Great Dane in to my life, but they are sort of cute in a small horse sort of a way!

I may be leading towards getting a male and female Bernese Mountain Dog breed. I like their overall size, though they appear smaller than they really are due to their long haired coats and relatively shorter than average legs.

Mostly, though, I think I like them because the seem to remind me of the Corgis somehow. Most likely it has to do with general characteristics that all dogs share, but I know I enjoy their colors and the look they tend to always have on their faces. Both breeds seem to say to me, “Hey, what’s going on, dude?” Silly, I know; but what the heck!

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Have you ever tried shopping online? Have you ever gotten frustrated because you couldn’t seem to find the item that you wanted to get? It’s an annoying situation to be in since you know that what you’re seeking surely has to be right there on the web somewhere but you just can’t locate it.

Follow these tips to find what you want when shopping online:

• Search using synonyms. For example, let’s say you’ve been searching for gravel screening machines. Try searching for topsoil screening machines instead. They’re the same thing but the results you get from your search may differ.
• Try different search engines. Even if Google is the site that you always use to do web searches, consider trying another search engine such as Bing or Yahoo. The results might be better in some cases.
• Search in shopping search engines. Don’t just do a basic web search in Google. Go to Google’s “shopping” section and search there to find items that are for sale.
• Ask around. If you can’t find what you want online, ask around. Take advantage of social networks like Twitter and Facebook to ask other people where they would go online to find the item that you want to buy.

Shopping online doesn’t have to be difficult even though it can get frustrating sometimes. Hopefully these tips will help you out!

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This past month things got really tight for me. I’m in the service industry. That of course is the politically correct way to say that I am a waitress. And while I really do like doing what I do, it is not one of the best paying career choices. But hey, at least I have a job. And that is a lot more than many people can say these days.

Last month I was playing in a recreational league softball tournament. And as I slid into third I twisted my ankle up something fierce. I had to be helped off the field. When I woke up the next morning I knew that I was going to need to take some time off of work. My boss was cool about it and got all of my shifts covered. But I’m in the kind of business where if you don’t work, you don’t get paid.

Well my landlord doesn’t care if I have a sprained ankle and can’t work. I still have to pay rent. And that’s when I saw an ad on TV saying I could sell gold for cash. What a brilliant idea! I have a jewelry box full of stuff that I never wear! Of course with the sprained ankle I wasn’t going anywhere. So I got on the computer and found an online pawn shop where I could hock off some jewelry. It worked out great and I was able to pay my rent on time.

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Hubby and I have talked about trying to get pregnant later this year, after I finish up a diabetes study that I’m doing right now that specifically requires that I don’t get pregnant.

We’ve actually been talking about having kids for a couple of years now, so I’ve had a lot of time to think about what being pregnant will be like.  I’m reasonably active, which I have heard is supposed to relieve a lot of the more negative side effects.  And — I’m sure the doctors are going to love this — I am going to continue to ride my horse as long as it is comfortable to do so.

I’ll take pretty good care of myself when I’m pregnant.  I won’t take vitamins or anything — the darn things aren’t really even digestible by your system — but we already eat quite well, so it won’t be difficult to make sure I get certain things, such as folate.  And being type 1 diabetic, I’ll also be checking my blood sugar almost constantly to be sure my control over my diabetes is as tight as it can possibly be.

The other thing I plan to do is to continue to dress as nice as I normally do.  I see so many women who totally go grunge when they are pregnant, and while I don’t plan on spending a fortune on maternity wear, I’m also not going to let myself go like that.  I’m always at the barn, so a few good pairs of maternity jeans will be a necessiity once my regular ones don’t fit anymore.  And I just love the darling selection of tops you see online.

What about you?  How did you handle being pregnant?  Did you eat well and dress cute, or did you find that it wasn’t really such a big deal?

Technorati Tags: diabetes study, maternity jeans, maternity wear