May 24, 2011 by Leanne
He didn’t make it. Just a few days to go before he would have turned 16 he passed away on Monday, May 23. He died doing what he loved most – hanging out by the pool. He loved the water! Even in his old arthritic days when he didn’t swim much he would still go out and lie down by the pool, falling asleep. 
I thought he was going to be 15 but his original owner, Mike H., corrected me that he was going to turn 16! Wow, what a long life he had.
I can’t stress what a good dog he was. Faithful, obedient, calm, happy, friendly, and loving – he didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He had few health problems most of his life, until this past year when age crept up on him. He brought me so much happiness and love – I will truly miss him. Mikita loved him, too. She would sometimes go up to him while he was sleeping and kiss his face then lay down next to him and go to sleep. It was so sweet!
God bless you Jefferson. You were a great dog!
Category Dogs: Mikita & Jefferson | Tags: dogs,home,Jefferson,Mikita | 7 Comments
February 20, 2011 by Leanne
I find shopping for appliances gut-wrenching. How on earth am I going to make the right decision spending so much money?
My refrigerator is slowly falling apart and I want to replace it before it dies. I started online at Consumer Reports then check out retailer’s websites – looking at customer reviews, then check other online reviews to see if their sentiments are widespread. Turns out, apparently there is not a product around that everyone loves. Someone inevitably will have a complaint about something. Then there’s the other problem of having found the perfect product only to find no-one locally carries it in stock. Ugh.
So after much analysis, angst and anxiety – I decided on a Frigidaire refrigerator from HH Gregg. And that was another drama because I’ve never shopped with them before and don’t know anything about their customer service. I can only hope it is stellar. I’m waiting on a call from their delivery team to find out when my new kitchen addition arrives.
Category Daily Life | Tags: appliance,home,refrigerator | 1 Comment
April 18, 2010 by Leanne
I’ve been very busy the past month creating my new workout room in my home. My gym closed down last November with no notice. One morning I went to workout and the doors were locked with a sign stating they were closed for repairs. Then a week later I received a phone call that they indeed were permanently closed. This was a big loss for me. This was a boutique gym that was easy to get to, only 2 miles from my home and a place where everyone was familiar and comfortable with each other. It had every strength machine you could want and plenty of cardio equipment. For goodness sakes, even Tiger Woods worked out there. OK, maybe that’s not such a good endorsement. LOL.
Anyway, the club didn’t leave us high and dry. They worked out an arrangement with the YMCA to transfer all our memberships there. I was ecstatic about this and immediately went to the nearest Y to sign up. Did I mention that in October before they closed I had just renewed for an entire year? This news meant I have a year’s membership at the Y! While as exciting as this sounds, it turned out to not be so great. The closet YMCA is 6.5 miles from home, 3 times as far as the old gym. With the extra miles and stoplights to get there it would have added an additional 30 minutes in the morning to go there (round trip). Even worse, the Y was constantly packed with people at all hours of the day. This place was very popular. And I was also surprised to see how much less fitness equipment they had. The Y is great for families – it offers so much for them. Plus it has great amenities that I would probably never use. After about 6 or 7 visits to the Y, I gave up. 
All I want is a true hard-core gym with enough equipment that I don’t have to wait in line to workout.
So, after gaining a few pounds back I determined I needed to get things under control. I have a room in my house that is totally under-used. I call it my piano room. It also served as Mikita’s playpen when she was a puppy. I’ve turned this extra room into my new home gym. This is what I’ve been spending the past few weeks working on:
It has a treadmill, ab crunch machine, 5# 10# and 20# weights. A bench to do flies and chest press. A step machine. A TV and stereo. And of course, my piano should I just get the urge to sit down and belt out a tune or two.
I worked hard, too, to make it appealing to me to go in there. I’ve decorated it with a black and white theme. I got the beautiful rug from Overstock.com at a great price with $2.50 shipping. It’s one of the thick rugs, not the cheap kind you see at discount stores. I found the gorgeous curtains at an outlet store near the Florida Mall. And the photos on the wall above the bench are pictures of the ocean in Cozumel, taken during our 7-night cruise on the Disney Magic last December.
How’s it going so far? It has only been fully put together for about a month but I’ve been faithful. I miss the variety of equipment found at a normal gym, but this is serving a good purpose. It’s really all about commitment. The mirror is my motivator.
Category Daily Life | Tags: Gym,home,personal,Tiger Woods,YMCA | 3 Comments
January 10, 2010 by Leanne
Temperatures in the 20′s this morning across Central Florida. This has been a cold weather record-breaking week in the Sunshine state. And in my life-long Florida resident memory, I don’t recall as long a stretch of cold weather as we’ve had so far in 2010! Whodathunk I would actually need my near-floor length, quilted long coat that I bought for my trip to snowy Paris 3 years ago. It sure came in handy these last few mornings.
Ice droplets formed on my trees and bushes Sunday morning. I woke up at 2:00am remembering I forgot to turn off the sprinkler system which runs every Sunday morning at 4:00am.
I am actually very “ok” with this palm tree biting the dust. I’ve wanted to get rid of it for years because it grows faster than weeds and takes over the yard. Maybe, hopefully, the freeze got to most of it and I can finally yank it out of the ground.
Category Daily Life | Tags: Cold,Florida,Freeze,home,Ice | 2 Comments
October 26, 2009 by Leanne
Ring… Ring…
Me: “Hello”
Caller: “Hi. I’d like to know if my 3 suits and curtains are ready yet?”
Me: “Yes. Come pick them up tonight”
Ha!! Now those were the kinds of phone calls my grandmother used to get. I would answer her phone in the afternoons. But I can say it’s very doubtful that I will ever be talented enough to get those kinds of calls.
I decided to revisit my sewing talents. I used to sew quite a bit back in the 80′s. I made blouses, skirts, dresses for me and my mom. The garments were never award winning, but I had the honor of telling everyone that I made them myself. As time went on, my life got busier and I let go of the hobby. I remember selling my old sewing machine at a garage sale and wondering as the new owner walked away with it if I had made a mistake or not.
But worry no more. I lucked out in getting my new machine. I purchased it through an airline mileage reward program. It arrived last week and I couldn’t be more excited! I picked up the sewing table for it at our neighborhood garage sale this weekend for $10 bucks. What a deal.
I went to Joanne’s Fabrics this weekend to browse around for fabrics, patterns and ideas. Oh my – the price of patterns have definitely skyrocketed since the 80′s. I remember the average price being around $3 each. Not anymore. The going rate per pattern was $15 – 17! Yikes! Fortunately, the store was having a huge sale with all the McCall’s patterns on sale for $.99 each. I purchased the maximum allowed – 10 patterns. Note to self – keep an eye out for those kinds of sales. Whoa!
I’m ready to start my first project. I bought three different fabrics – all really pretty in the violet/fuchsia/blue color family. You can be sure I’ll post something here on the outcome.
Mikita insists on being part of my new hobby.
Category Daily Life | Tags: dogs,home,Sewing | 2 Comments
September 7, 2009 by Leanne
I have an unofficial tradition I impose on myself every birthday weekend. It’s been more of a tradition in the past decade or so, but I honor it nonetheless and it involves self indulgence and total “me” time. I shop. I shop all day. I go to stores I may not visit for another year and just have a dang good time browsing, trying on clothes, shoes, looking at curtains, dreaming of what could be, and just absolutely having a blast – by myself. This kind of shopping is not something I can do successfully with anyone else. Guys will get frustrated with all the girly stores and frankly, I don’t want the peer pressure of someone else (male or female) making me feel guilty if I really want to buy something I absolutely don’t need.
So, today was that shopping day. I hit DSW Shoes, Off Broadway Shoes, Stein Mart, Ikea, Petco, and Marshalls.
The coolest thing I got and probably the most fiscally responsible (read cheapest) was this napkin holder. I know! A napkin holder! But just look at how cool it is. It’s from Ikea. The napkins (also from Ikea) lay on top of a black plate and there’s a weighted arm that holds them in place. I love it! (P.S. Hey, did you notice the awesome photo in the background?)
The biggest purchase of the day was my 4 new pairs of shoes. Yes – 4 pairs! For you shoe-nistas I am so going to disappoint you. I buy frugally and purchase based on 1) comfort 2) usability 3) need and lastly 4) fashion. Don’t come here expecting to see me in Jimmy Choos – it ain’t gonna happen.
But I am excited about these pretty shoes:
The photo doesn’t do them justice. They’re really dark black suede pumps and look amazing on my feet. I got some really fun shoes today between DSW and Off Broadway.
Back to cool stuff – I also got a pretty new duvet from Ikea. It’s really lovely in person.
One last note, nothing to do with shopping. The other exciting thing that happened this weekend was Mikita jumping into the pool all by herself, no pushing by me or Mike. Last year she learned to swim.. this year she’s learning to jump in alone. Yea for Mikita!
Category Daily Life | Tags: Florida,home,Mikita,personal,shopping | 7 Comments
September 6, 2009 by Leanne
I wanted a dinette set for my breakfast nook in the kitchen. I kinda knew what I wanted – a tall-boy set with comfortable chairs. For weeks I had been scouring the circular ads in the paper hoping something would catch my eye and also give me an idea of what items like that are costing these days.
About two weeks ago I started the search in the stores. And lo and behold, I found “exactly” what I wanted at badcock Furniture, the first store I went to. The sales lady told me I was “in luck” because the 5-piece set was on sale for $659 marked down from $800. Eeeek.. it was a little more than I had expected but it was so exactly what I wanted. What to do? Thankfully, the smart economical side of me took over and I walked out knowing I needed to check out more stores for other deals. But – it was just what I was looking for!
Over the next few days I hit more stores like Pier 1, Rooms To Go, American Signature and even tried Bed Bath and Beyond. None of them had anything close to the perfect set I saw at Badcock. Ugh - I so didn’t want to spend that much money.
On a whim, I stopped at one more store to see if there was anything else that would work. I visited Kanes Furniture. The salesman, Guido, led me around the store showing me all their dinette sets. They also had one that was really pretty but too big for the nook area. As we went upstairs to see the final sets he said, “I’ve only got one more to show you.” And wouldn’t you know – it was the identical set that was selling at Badcock. Same manufacturer, same name. Only $160 cheaper for all 5 pieces! How about that!! I found my perfect set at another store at a much better price.
Ok, it actually doesn’t “pay” but it definitely saved me some dollars to shop around.
Category Daily Life | Tags: Florida,home,personal,shopping | 2 Comments
September 5, 2009 by Leanne
I woke up this morning and remembered I was out of half & half. With company here I had to take care of this before they woke up and poured their coffee. So I grabbed the car keys and headed to Publix. I should have only spent under $2.00.
As I’m walking in the store I remember I needed to grab some eggs. No problem, eggs and half & half. Then as I pass the breakfast meats I see my favorite brand of Canadian bacon is on sale – $1.00 off the regular price. So I pick up bacon, too. Then I look down the next aisle and remember we nearly finished the lime juice yesterday (it was tequila Friday) so I grab a new bottle of lime juice. That made me remember I was on the last bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper so I’d better get a bottle while I’m here. The dog food aisle was next and of course the babies were on their last bag of treats so that got added to the basket. It so it went on and on as I continued to remember things like – we needed food for lunch today, snacks tonight, and Excedrin to help get through the tequila headache.
And as I was leaving the parking lot with my 4 bags of groceries totalling $33.96, it dawned on me I needed to fill up the gas tank before we head to my moms house tonight on the other side of town. Add another $30.50 to the tally.
That folks, is how a $1.50 carton of half & half ended up costing $64.46.
Category Daily Life | Tags: economy,Food,home,shopping | 5 Comments
I can’t stress what a good dog he was. Faithful, obedient, calm, happy, friendly, and loving – he didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He had few health problems most of his life, until this past year when age crept up on him. He brought me so much happiness and love – I will truly miss him. Mikita loved him, too. She would sometimes go up to him while he was sleeping and kiss his face then lay down next to him and go to sleep. It was so sweet!
