Fern's

Just Spotted at Fern's: Batteries

2007-10-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

Batteries used to strike me as something along the lines to flood insurance here in the high desert: Not something terribly crucial, not something forefront on my mind, durn handy to have in case of a flood (which happens more often than you'd think), more of an annoyance than a mandatory item. After all, if I want a light, I'll reach over and flip the switch on the lamp next to my desktop. Right?

Then we lost power for four days running. In the high heat of summer. In that same high desert where it floods about once a century. Suddenly, batteries weren't so much of a luxury item as they were a lifeline.

It started on a sweltering Wednesday mid-atfternoon when the substation up the road from us caught fire, although I didn't know at the time what the cause of the disruption was. I just stared at the blank, black screen of my desktop system, shrugged, ambled over to the laptop and powered it up. Or at least I tried to. The laptop battery was low, so I had only a few minutes of power left on it before it too turned into an expensive paperweight.

I assumed the power would be back on in a few minutes anyway, so I didn't really worry too much. After all, we've had rolling blackouts for a few years now as California's power resources have been stretched to the breaking point. The minutes turned to hours, and the house began to swelter a bit in 112-degree summer temperatures. The swamp cooler became a sorely missed necessity.

Darkness began to fall, and I reached for a flashlight. My Mini Maglite, faithful as ever, powered right up and got me around the house to locate a larger and more powerful flashlight - which was out of batteries. I retrieved the last few remaining C-cells from the recharger and installed them, then used that to find the supply of non-rechargeable batteries, which had managed to dwindle to four AA-cells that remained in a mangled, dusty sealpak that once held 16. I tested them quickly in the Maglite. Two were viable; two were barely alive.

So there I was, in the dark, two batteries left, no clue when power would be restored. I did the math.

The portable fan I got my husband for his birthday a few years back: 4 AA-cells to power up. No joy there, so I retreated to the coolest part of the house.

The big flashlight with the rechargeables inside: 4 C-cells, all dwindling. No joy there, so it would be saved for emergencies.

The laptop: one specialized battery, without a charge, without a backup. No computer work tonight.

Dinner was a handful of Triscuits and an unheated cup of soup. The stove top, though gas, takes electricity to light. Attempting to light it with a barbecue clicker failed. No batteries. Attempting to light it with a cigarette lighter failed, and I can rationalize that singed eyebrows are all the rage these days. The cats got tuna, thanks to a manual canopener. Good thing we kept it after we got the battery-powered one, which barely had enough of a charge to turn a quarter way around the can.

My beloved stack of unread books taunted me from the darkness. No reading until dawn, I muttered back to them. Must- save- batteries. Still way too hot to sleep, so I considered the portable CD player as entertainment. No batteries. We'd taken the batteries out years ago and used them elsewhere.

I considered driving into town for batteries, got back up and fumbled for purse and keys, then headed for the garage. Stopped, garage door opener in hand and feeling rather stupid. The opener runs on... you guessed it. Batteries. Oh well. I decided to get in through the locked side door and attempt to open the car door by hand. No joy. The manual override chain dangled far out of reach up in the rafters, and I don't do ladders. Didn't matter. In the heat of the moment, I'd forgotten that my husband had taken the car out of town anyway, and there was no way I could drive the vintage restoration project Datsun. No battery.

I briefly contemplated walking the 7 miles to town. In the dark. Down a remote highway. With a flashlight with dying batteries. I discarded the idea and fumbled my way back into the dark house.

With the careful deployment of eight small votive candles, judiciously placed in high-sided containers so that panicked cats couldn't knock them over, I switched off the flashlight and got in a bit of reading time. NO idea when I extinguished them and went to sleep. No batteries in the battery-assisted electric clock. We'd never needed them.

By the end of the four-day ordeal, I'd burned through 3/4 of my candle collection and the house was permeated with the smell of blueberry-vanilla-pine-sandalwood-cherry-pumpkin-ocean-spice aromas. The C-cells in the big flashlight were drained. The batteries in the Maglite were barely sputtering along. I would have called into town but the desktop phone runs on wall electricity even to get to a dial tone, and I don't own a cell phone, but if I DID, it probably would have needed a battery anyway!

Now, feel free for calling me an idiot for not being better prepared. And, while you're doing that, take a quick mental inventory of everything in your house and garage, car and RV that you may take for granted will just work when you pick it up, start it up, fire it up. How many of those things run on, you guessed it... batteries?

And Furthermore, Yippykya'ness Spreads Fast

2007-09-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

Just Spotted at Fern's: Yippykya!

2007-08-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I joined a burgeoning community of people who are, for the most part, college age. The community is called Yippykya. This is a high-energy environment, and the developers spend a tremendous amount of time interacting with the members on an hourly basis. Every time I turn around, I'm getting a new notice of a Live Broadcast that often ends up being sourced from one of the Yippykya staff's desk or laptop, giving us a tour of the offices, chattering about what's going on, learning what's happening with their users, and giving back. This is impressive, for several reasons.

As I write this, I'm on a Live Broadcast on Jennifer's page (Member Services), talking with several of the team members as they consume a late lunch and try to survive power-tanking rains.

I've been on a few communities like this - hi5, Facebook, MySpace - and beyond the initial greeting from the one person chartered to great newcomers (sometimes the owner), I rarely hear a word from anyone actually involved in the back office of the place. Yippykya has come out of the gate with heavy involvement, and I hope the involvement continues as the network membership explodes.

Yesterday and today, they have a sign-up booth up at Austin's UT campus. The traffic was tremendous under the big white tent, as a line of students signed up as users, got their pictures taken by one of the MacBook cameras and launched their pages on the spot. Very effective - wish I'd been there in person. Instead, I watched from California as the membership numbers increased rapidly. Now, that's social networking.

I highly encourage you to join, no matter what age group you fall into. Just being around this high-power high-energy group has done wonders for restoring my sense of humor, building my appreciation of (some of) the current music of the scene, and getting a sense of hope that this generation is tapping into a power and flexibility unavailable to any generation in the past.

Just Spotted At Fern's: High School Musical Wildcats

2007-08-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to see High School Musical and its adorable sequel within the last week, and can definitely see why these two wholesome movies have captured the hearts and imaginations of America. It's a good time for a G-rated film to be the talk of the town, both small towns and large, and I'm pleased to be one of those new fans. Zac Efron is a joy to watch, literally the boy next door. Vanessa Ann Hudgens is captivating and extremely present in the role of Gabriella. Mix this with a stellar cast that breaks into song and dance quite naturally and the whole ensemble is thoroughly enjoyable, brats and all.

High School Musical Wildcats Pajamas for Girls
Price: 16.99

These fun girl's pajamas feature a High School Musical print. The fabric is 100% polyester and flame resistant.

High School Musical Spirit Pajamas for Girls
Price: 19.99

These fun pajamas for girls feature High School Musical. The fabric is 100% polyester and flame resistant.

High School Musical East High Pajamas for Girls
Price: 19.99

These fun pajamas for girls feature High School Musical. The fabric is 100% polyester and flame resistant. "East High" is printed across the seat of the bottoms.

Just Spotted At Fern's: Womens Plus Beach Hoodies

2007-08-11T05:14:00.000-07:00

There's just enough of a nip in the air here to remind us that Fall is definitely on its way, pushing back to school attire ahead of it like a billowing cloud. Since I love layering, this caught my eye as one of those must-have additions to the kaleidoscope.

Speaking of colorful layered attire, so far much of the newly arrived Fall fashions I've been seeing are chocolates, vivid royal purples, eggplant, and teal. Solids pairing with wild patterns seems to be giving away to solids paired with tonal matches and blends - a great deal more subtle than last year's swirls and prints. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this the Fall trend?

Ch-ch-ch-changes for the Perfectly Shaped World

2007-08-10T06:09:00.001-07:00

Visitors to Fern's have been noticing significant changes in the past few weeks. As the store itself has taken on its new direction and shape, its definition is taking shape as well, and what is coming into focus has been a surprise for a lot of people.

We've resized, in more ways than one. Along the way, we have gained and strengthened several new presences, including

Of course we are retaining our relationships with Sears, Target, Macy's, Amazon, and many others.

But the main thing that influences us is: Will they dress us in the style in which we wish to become accustomed!?

That's right. Because (and repeat after me, anyone over size 9 and not afraid to admit it)...

We're curvaceous, audacious, bold, beautiful, voluptuous, sensuously shapely, and we dress to show off our beautiful selves! We live in our perfectly shaped world comfortably, fashion-forward and proud of it. We celebrate ourselves and our world.

We've kept several departments along with our growing line of womens plus fashions - come visit the new Fern's and see what we have to offer your perfectly shaped world.

Further on the Efforts to RightSize

2007-08-05T04:13:00.001-07:00

After analyzing traffic trends for the past year and determining where our demographic is aiming its feet, I spent most of my past two weeks' waking hours on complete renovations of Celtic Elegance and Nature To Go, two highly focused stores, each offering its own unique decor and branded approach.

Celtic Elegance offers Celtic traditional and contemporary home decor and gifts, and now offers a line of greeting cards, mugs and matching tiles, and other office accoutrements.

Nature To Go offers scenic photography and natural art on home decor and gifts, and was also expanded to offer greeting cards and postcards.

Thanks to Darren at ProBlogger.com and tremendous loads of encouragement from my friend Kate Hayes at Lawrence Hayes Photography, I have learned some very important and timely lessons about niche marketing, including just how far off in my approach I had drifted. I am deeply indebted to both.

Squidoocom lenses and PopShops remain my dominant weapons of choice.

What Do You Do When Your Blog is Attacked?

2007-07-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

This morning, a friend of mine was lamenting that his blog was getting some icky traffic (his words). When I asked him to elaborate, he grumbled and pointed me toward his site. "Read it now, before I delete this @#$%&..." so I did.

The post itself was normal enough, even bland and noncommital, and personally I didn't see anything in the content that should have triggered the slightest controversy. But trigger it did, and his comment page was cram-packed with venomous snipes. What made matters worse was that the comments had absolutely nothing to do with the post, which was about a recently released cell phone.

What made matters worse was that he had responded to the comment posts, fanning the flames even higher. Instead of doing the 'sane thing' and either ignoring them or moderating comments, he dug his toes in and talked back to the comment posters, first calmly and then with vigor and equal venom. Much name-calling ensued. Naturally this calmed nobody down.

I asked him why he had responded at all, and he came back with a most uncharacteristic 'well, THEY started it!' He proceeded to delete first the comments, then the post, then the blog itself.

So what should he have done? What do you do when your blog is attacked for (apparently) no reason? Any insights? Has this happened to you and your blog?

Lawrence Hayes Photography: The Perfect Solution to the Brown-Thumb Syndrome

2007-07-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make...

As much as I love gardens and gardening, and as much as I enjoy a breathtaking floral garden, riotous and rich and vibrant and radiating all colors of the rainbow...

I have a brown thumb.

Even my silk plants cringe and lean away when I approach. My curly bamboo (reputed to be one of the most bulletproof plants in existence) turns pale and fearful in my presence. (Ok. Curly bamboo is not really bamboo - it's a Dracaena Sanderiana of the Liliaceae family, not even related to the bamboo except that it, too, is a plant and therefore is wise to be scared of me.) Despite my nice green natural nickname, I'm far from gardener material.

I would dearly love to decorate my house with dozens of vases of my own homegrown fresh flowers. Even though I know that's not going to happen, I want my life to be colorful and bright.

So when I find a place like Lawrence Hayes Photography, I am overjoyed. I want to cover my kitchen walls with their brilliant creations, pepper my patio with their vibrant tile coasters and mugs. Here is a -very- small sampling...

Click on anything to get there.. you'll love the results as much as I do.

But this one became my favorite very early on, and I keep turning back to it just because I can't get enough of the rich velvety vibrance of a single shy flower: the Pansy.

That's the framed tile, and LHP also offers that photo on framed prints, magnets, pillows, postcards, tile coasters and much more.

So, if time or a brown thumb conspire to keep riotous cascades of sunshine and color out of your life, or if what you need is a rich burst of vivid pansy reds and oranges to bring a brilliance to a breakfast nook or too-plain hallway wall, then this is the place you want to go.

A bit about the people behind this lovely place:
By day, Larry Hayes is a service technician, repairing commercial restaurant equipment. I wish I'd known him when I had the kitchen in my tavern - the ice maker was demonic and acted as a constant challenge for nearly ten years, and the Wolf stove had a mind of its own. As a hobby, Larry deploys his Canon S3Si into the garden and great outdoors, and choreographs these lovely shots you see.

By day, Kate Hayes is (her words!): "a typesetter/word nerd/techie, and a Cafepress shopkeeper by evening, night, and wee hours (except when I'm spending time with my husband and my cats, and occasionally watching TV or reading part of a book I've been reading for months)." (She's also become an avid Squidoo Lensmaster.) She's the one taking Larry's exceptional photography and producing exceptional home decor, greeting cards, and so much more.

I give them both NINE ferns.

This Just Came In from Old Navy

2007-07-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

We just received this from Old Navy a few minutes ago. The sales event has started and is strictly online.

Exclusive Old Navy Women's Plus fall trunk show. Shop now and save 10% off your Women's Plus purchase of $75 or more. Valid through 7/26.

Old Navy's Women's Plus is online only and the trunk show prices will be available only through 7/26. This is your chance to shop early and find the best in Fall fashions in womens plus sizes. Again, this special offer and the Old Navy Plus Size fashions are ONLY AVAILABLE ONLINE.

BlogCatalog: Wups..

2007-07-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

I did not vanish (intentionally, at least), but when I pushed the button to make the name change, I glanced down and saw the small print that warned me that my blog would vanish back into the queue of approvals, perhaps to re-emerge at some point. So while I was muttering things like 'oops, I surely did not mean to do that' and other swearwords, off went my blog to get its paint job approved. My bad.

Squidoo To Present Amazing Content

2007-07-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

(Sorry, I would have gotten back to this earlier, but ... Cow Patty Bingo is so addictive that I couldn't pull myself away from Bloggrrl's great site. Every time I tell myself it's time to make some progress on my own work, I find more great stuff of hers to read!)

Where was I? Ah yes. Squidoo. Squidoo and well-researched lens content are an ideal match if presented properly, polished well and kept up to date.

To paraphrase the presidential: It's the Content, Stupid ...whether you're writing a lens to sell some books, or to discuss a philosophy, or to raise money for your favorite charity. Not just any content, though - fresh, accurate and involving. Pardon me while I belabor the painfully obvious.

Almost anything can trigger a lens into being. A humble cup of coffee, brewed after opening a particularly aromatic bag of beans, kicked off Coffee, Caffeine, Java, Joe, Mud, Buzz Juice. A trip to the dish cupboard turned into Kitchen Retro - Everything Old is New Again as I hunted down where to find those brilliantly colored icy aluminum cups of my youth (yep.. found em!).

A great example of content presentation is Michelangelo's David by Margaret Schaut. It is feature-rich, eminently readable, focused, thoughtful. This lens has made it to the top of the Arts & Literature group in Squidoo, and gathered numerous awards and accolades for many reasons, but the biggest one is content.

Some lenses show that their lensmasters don't make the extra effort. I'm not going to provide links (and traffic) to lensmasters who feel that the bare minimum number of modules is enough. Squidoo's new WIP setting is doing a great job of weeding out those lenses that aren't ready to see the light of day. Even so, there are lenses with the requisite four or more modules which make to published status that shouldn't. (I'm not sure how many more four-module lenses containing nothing but links taking us to places to buy Levitra I can take stumbling over. I mean.. c'mon.)

On that note, it's off to put the finishing touches on Top 50 Worst, Most Boring Sight-Seeing Trips in America Part 1, following the Mundane family from Alabama to Missouri. (Part 2 goes from Montana to Wyoming.) Feel free to pop on over if you want and get caught up with their misadventures.

Good Monday, y'all.

Some Nice Friendly Person Suggested...

2007-07-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

Apparently this didn't look enough like a blog for several people. It should now. If it doesn't, I suppose I can put a big sign at the top that says "THIS IS A BLOG" - hopefully it won't come down to that.

More on Squidoo and its incredible power in a bit, after I get the rest of the setup of this BLOG done.

Squidoo to the Max and Beyond

2007-07-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

What Squidoo has allowed me to do, with much less time and effort, is create a library of lenses (sites) with both niche focus and broad categorization.

One of my favorites to work on is focused on Micro-Green - Small Steps to a Greener Environment. I add little bits to it once a day, but the majority of the non-research work was in and showing within an hour.

Now, the reason this is remarkable (to me, anyway) is that without having to spend hundreds of hours hunting down the code to get similar functionality in place, I was able to get completely operational lenses (sites) up and running and publically accessible in a matter of minutes. This doesn't count the time spent on pure information-gathering and research, but that is an investment I would have to make no matter what platform I use.

Simply stated, the combination of Squidoo and Popshops ( http://www.popshops.com ) expanded my capacity to Get Stuff Done in a dramatic fashion. In the time it used to take me to put up a single content-rich page on other site projects, I have been able to write and present two or more lenses. Here are the step by step instructions to go from nothing to a fully-formed shop showcase full of products in a matter of minutes.

Embedding it in Squidoo took a bit longer, mainly because it was my first time making an iframe on Squidoo. But once I had that figured out, it was smooth sailing.

It takes no time at all to get signed up, then I will walk you through setting up a lens and finding help and information.

Haaalp! I've been Squidoo'd!!

2007-07-10T00:50:00.001-07:00

If you're a regular reader of this blog or any of the others I write, you may have noticed a strange silence on almost all but Totally Cats and What Do YOU Believe, where I have been able to make regular posts.

Silly as it sounds, that's rather on purpose, for three reasons.

1 - I figured out where I was spinning my heels in the Blogosphere. One of the major problems I was having was trying to cram 36-40 hours of work into each day, and boy was I burning out fast.

2 - One of the reasons for that cramble was that I tried to manage too many projects that should have been focused on full-time. After a month of trying to maintain it all, I crashed - HARD.

3 - I lost stuff. After searching through a dozen saved files full of bookmarks, I am still missing a blog. Honestly I don't know how that happened. How on earth does one lose a blog, of all things?!

Suffice to say, the major wake-up call was the post-month crash, two straight days of sleep, and waking up feeling like someone had pushed my reset button.

I spent the next day trying to decide where to cut back and regain control of my waking time. Several blogs need to go, and a few have been deleted already. This isn't one of them that's going to go, but the focus will change.

The number of affiliate partners I had signed up was insane. My own fault - when I started this venture, I didn't know how much of a time sink affiliate marketing truly can be, nor how fast it can run away with things once the reins are loosened for even a minute. The partnerships got cut back, almost in half, in such a way that nothing at Fern's is impacted. We still have the fully searchable departments, the display shops, the Shop By Color, the articles archive - still a fully functional place to shop and browse and compare prices.

As I was cutting back on things, I recalled that I had signed up for a new little place called Squidoo. At the time I signed up, I didn't have a ton of spare time but I got the registration process out of the way and spent a moment looking around - it was rather bare walls and a bit of hesitant writing at the time - but oh wow has it grown and improved.

Not only has it improved, it has evolved into a massive repository of information that rivals anything of its sort. Think blogging with several dramatic enhancements.

Sure... blogging has its definite community spirit and a gazillion ways of reaching out in hopes of finding someone to listen. It's a great way to develop a wonderful feeling of communal friendship and find kindred souls. I've been blogging for several years now, and I doubt I will ever stop.

But with Squidoo and its amazing utilities, I can write in stages, get to a point, save a version of the lens (that's what they're called instead of blog posts), go away and do some different lens work, come back and add more modules to my first lens, publish, add modules to the same lens, publish again, tuning and tweaking and polishing. It's more of a coil-forward motion than a strictly linear effort. That is a very positive thing™.

In a blog entry, if I change my mind and go back in time to modify an entry, that entry is isolated in archives or back there someplace. The change has no cohesion to the whole except as an afterthought. NOT SO WITH SQUIDOO.

In fact, one of the ravishing beauties about Squidoo lenses is that I -can- go back and change them at any time, update them, refresh them, polish them, republish them, and constantly improve them.

There is also the power of tight specialization. If I decided to do a blog on four-quart copper mixing bowls, I could make one, maybe two entries, and that's about it. Even a dozen weeks of research would still leave me hard-pressed to find a huge quantity to say about four-quart copper bowls by any and all manufacturers. Therefore, that blog would have an extremely short shelf life and a very limited way of keeping an attention span (I can't go back in time and polish with a blog).

With Squidoo, I can take that same body of knowledge, place it in a series of modules, add pictures, add information, add links to places to buy, add recipes, add feeds, change tags and keywords at any time long after the lens has first been published, tend it, care for it, and publicize it quite similarly to the way I would publicize any other blog. In fact, I can place an RSS feed right here so you can look at all of my lenses without twitching out of this window... well, maybe you will want to open new tabs.

You can decide to donate a percentage of your earnings to a charity or group of charities, keep the cash yourself, donate it all, change your mind for each lense - it's completely flexible. Squidoo is open about their method of calculating who gets what and why, and a Squid U / forum keeps lensmasters directly in touch with the Squid Inc team, and they DO read the forums.

Ease of use? I don't have to tell you. I'm going to show you.

It takes just a moment to sign up, then I will walk you through setting up a lens and finding help and information.

PS: By the way, thank you to AAACopywriter for the advice, and for helping me recognize the directions I needed to take.

Comparison Power Shopping Is Key

2007-06-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Rather than repeat all of the information on the importance of comparison shopping and different things to consider, I'd like to invite you to visit a Squidoo Lens on Power Shopping and read the section about comparison shopping. Doing your homework ahead of a purchase can pay off both immediately and in the long term.

Viral Marketing at its Collaborative Finest

2007-06-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

Viral Marketing at its collaborative finest - View Source and Start Copying Here:

Below is a matrix of 120 stars, I have already added a link to my blog onto one of the stars, all you need to do is copy and paste the grid into your blog or website and add your own link to one of the other spare stars, and tell others to do the same!

Viralink

********************
********************
*******************
********************
********************
********************

When I receive a ping back once you have added the Viralink to your site, I will add your link to this grid, and each person who copies the grid from this blog`will also link to your site!

Rules:

No Porn Sites

One link per person only! (do not hog the viralink!)

DO NOT change or tamper with other individual url’s.

Enjoy!
Here are how the numbers add up, I will use the term saturation to describe the spread of the Viralink with Zero being your blog 1 being 1 link down, 2 being 2 links down and so on.

Saturation -

Backlinks 0 - 0

1 - 3

2 - 12

3 - 39

4 - 93

5 - 336

6 - 1065

7 - 3252

8 - 9813

9 - 29,496

10 - 88,545

The above numbers rely on 3 people copying and pasting the Viralink onto their blog and that being replicated 3 times continuously 10 times. The numbers are quite staggering, there are 119 spaces left on the Viralink from this page and I expect that there will be allot of clones which begin to pop up. The best strategy with this is to start early and tell all of your blog and online friends! You may be wondering what happens if you are at the end of the chain when the Viralink is full ? What would be the benefit to me? Well there is no reason why you can’t add another line of dots to the bottom and keep the process going. You also can start another form, but please retain a link to this site.

It will be interesting to see how this works!

Now: Stop Copying Here

Hats Off to Dad.. or is that hats on!?

2007-06-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Woah... I just found a hat shop! Immediately stumbled onto several great things to put on my dad's head, including this beret. Click for details...

Not only do they have some pretty cool stuff, but they also have some pretty cool information to read, like Hats in History. I got so engrossed in reading their Information section that I almost forgot to finish ordering! For instance, did you know that the fedora, a men's hat, is actually named for a woman??

Naturally, they have MUCH more than berets. In fact, now that I'm browsing around, I'm thinking a Greek fisherman's hat..

or this cowboy hat

... or this one...

Well, ok, maybe not the Viking one, but you get the drift. Hats!

Easier Living Tip: Handle-Tie Garbage Bags

2007-06-07T03:22:00.000-07:00

This has little to do with anything else, but it's a tip that has proven so durned handy, I thought I'd share it while the idea is still fresh.

Know those handle-tie bags they make for kitchen trash these days? The ones we buy have pale yellow handle-ties. Since the bags themselves are white, and since my vision is terrible, I find it nearly impossible to locate the places that the little handle-tie things are accessible.

I'm also a total and complete pack-rat. I save a variety of things, since I know in my heart of hearts that someday, if I am patient enough or clever enough, they will come in very handy. I've been saving the little hard plastic bread closer things for years, tossing them into a ceramic bowl by the sink - just in case. Not the twist-ties... I'm talking about the keyhole-twist things, which have now found their true function in life.

Before I put a new kitchen trash bag in place, I find the two nearly invisible spots where the little handle-tie things are accessible, and slip a bread closer thing through each one. I do this before the bag gets half-full of garbage, so I can hold the whole assembly up close enough to see it without getting my nose into old coffee filters. Then, when it's time to take out the trash, I just run my hands around the outside edge until I find both the bread closer things, pull gently, grab the handles and ta-daaa.. closed and tied trash!

Oh YUMMMM...

2007-06-07T03:13:00.000-07:00

My downfall is chocolate. I admit it.. I am a total and complete addict. My second downfall is gorgeous wooden presentation boxes, and when I saw this one, any and all thoughts of Fathers Day presents or grad presents or even possibly giving this way just completely flew out of my head. Take a look and see if you agree...

Now, THAT, m'friend, is a box of chocolates. If that is life, I want more!

T'is the Season to Get Married...

2007-06-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different.

It's four days into June, the month known as the beginning of summer vacation. If you're over 35 or so, you probably recall that we were out of school around this time of the year and contemplating summer jobs and careers as beach bums. Nowadays, I think the school year extends too far in either direction, making summer vacation a matter of weeks instead of months. Such a loss...

It's time for a well-needed break for everyone, that is, except brides. If you're one of those traditional 35% of the US couples who is aiming for a wedding in June, July or August, you've got your work cut out for you.

PLAN. Even those who got all the planning out of the way by the end of April are still likely going to have the last minute changes and panic to deal with. Now's the time to make a wedding plan checklist. As I recall, my checklist ran about 180 lines in an Excel spreadsheet, and by the time the day arrived, I'd rewritten it a few dozen times, lost it twice, printed it out three times, and totally changed my mind about almost everything (except the groom, of course!) - give yourself enough time to change your mind and rethink things.
LEAP. If you are one of the bold crowd who turn to wedding planners and consultants, you may be breathing a bit easier, but even the most talented of wedding consultants can't stop the vagaries of weather, accidents and late airline flights. Planning ahead to plan ahead is never a bad idea. Here's some guidance to finding a wedding planner.
REGISTER. If you're not so far down the planning road that you can't remember the proposal, and if you're not so close to the actual wedding that you can't see straight, now's a great time to get a few items on the checklist checked off and out of your hair. Whether you're 20, 30, 40 or beyond, make sure you REGISTER at a gift registry. Why? It saves you from having to answer a dozen questions a dozen times. If you're a bit older, were previously wed, or are combining households, the odds are great that you have a fully functioning toaster, microwave, blender, etc. Do you really need a third coffee machine? Get on the lists now, so that when people ask (and they will), you can tell them where you're registered. Take the time to fill out all the forms so you can help those who wish to gift. Register at some of the more popular spots, or make your own gift registry that anyone can find from anyplace.
SHOP. Find the theme, then the dress, rings, favors, and the like. Browse, comparison shop, sit back with a cup of tea and think a few minutes, then browse again. Don't feel pressured to make decisions, but let the process develop slowly and at its own pace. It's your wedding, after all!

Here are just a few things to start browsing.

Happy Monday, Everyone!

2007-06-04T00:23:00.000-07:00

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Well, did everyone miss me over the extended weekend? Yeah, that's what I thought.
That's ok. My ego is intact and I'm well-rested after a long time reading beach novels and thinking about the best way to get a tan without actually seeing an ocean. But don't let that stop you - while I've been away, I've been hunting for even more bargains and special deals to get you going on your summer vacation, toast your grad, thank your dad, and get ready for the hot hot hot weather that is coming our way. (Oz, just kidding - you're about to embark on winter, of course!)

Meanwhile, PacSun comes back at us with even more crazy deals to get our summers going right. Try this one on for size >>

PacLoot is on! Spend $50 now and get $25 off your next purchase.

So grab your browser buttons and click away, find that hot summer outfit that gets you in the zone for your favorite summertime sport, from surfing to boarding to beach-novel reading - it's all right there - and you just can't go wrong!!

Urban Life Fusion

2007-05-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

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Yes, it is officially summertime. The first scouts from the backyard colonies of red ants have been spotted by the cats and reported as patrolling the pantry near the dryer outlet. The alerts have gone out and the ant traps are spread, awaiting the main attack which, if all things stay on schedule, should be Saturday at 11:45 AM.

For those who revel in the wildlife life, and don't mind biting bugs and stinging nettles, t'is the season to shove the tent into the back of the van, compress a week's worth of food into the Coleman cooler, brush last year's dirt out of the map case, and head for the hills, or at the very least, head as far as the nearest store to pick up what you will need to do camping right.

With a great enough effort and patience, you can convince your 13-year-old daughter that hair dryers cannot be plugged into the trunks of pine trees, thus saving enough luggage space to pack the camping necessities, like jeans, jackets, clean socks and underthings. While you're making the list, remember that you can get free shipping on purchases of $100 or more at gap.com!.

For those who have to drag screaming teens away from their laptops and cellphones, we humbly recommend checking out Mom's Summer Survival Guide from the Gap.

And for those who are going to do this anyway, our straw hats are off to you and yours. We'll be out back by the pool, and I promise we'll keep a pitcher of iced tea waiting for your return.

Three Cheers to American Dads Everywhere!

2007-05-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, now this is cool beyond belief. What father could resist a pair of American Dad boxers? Moose slippers?? Well all right, perhaps big black bear paws for his feet is more his style, but we're sure you'll find something to get him laughing. Take a look... even new Dads and soon-to-be Dads will enjoy these!

Hunter Green Cotton Terry Bath Robe This beautiful bath robe is a major department store's brand. The fabric is a soft 100% cotton terry. The robe features a shawl collar and ties at the waist. $29.99	Superman Flames Boxer Shorts These 100% cotton knit boxer shorts feature a funky Superman flames print. $10.99	Ziggy Like After Coffee Boxer Shorts These fun boxer shorts feature Ziggy. The fabric is 100% cotton knit. $9.99
Spider-man 3 Boxer Shorts These fun boxer shorts for men feature a Spider-man 3 print. The fabric is 100% cotton knit. $10.99	American Dad Cotton Knit Boxer Shorts These fun boxer shorts for men feature an American Dad print. The fabric is 100% cotton knit. $10.99	Hanes Blue Striped Broadcloth Pajamas These Hanes broadcloth pajamas are 55% cotton and 45% polyester. $15.99
Black Bear Paw Slippers These adorable black bear paw slippers fit women and men. These slippers cover the entire foot. The sole is made of one inch thick foam. They are a very fine quality slipper.These slippers were seen on Good Morning America! $18.99	Moose Slippers These adorable moose slippers fit both women and men. These slippers cover the entire foot. The sole is made of one inch thick foam. They are a very fine quality slipper. $18.99	Black Terry Velour Bath Robe This beautiful bath robe is a major department store's brand. The fabric is a soft 100% cotton terry. The robe features a shawl collar and ties at the waist. $29.99

Kohl's Father's Day and $5 Standard Shipping

2007-05-28T02:41:00.000-07:00

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Shop Kohl's.com for a variety of Father's Day gifts. Go to the 'Pop Shop' to find gifts for every dad: the big and tall, the entertainer, the techie, the sports lover and the chef. Also be sure to take advantage of Kohls' $5 standard shipping on all orders now through June 2nd.