It cracks me up how much hummingbirds are like retirees from the Midwest. When it gets cold, they head down to Southern Mexico, where, no doubt, people have put out hummingbird feeders and there are plenty of yummy bugs to eat. Then, as soon as the United States starts to warm back up again, the hummingbirds start their journey back up north, where presumably, there are more hummingbird feeders and new yummy bugs to eat. You can even track their migration on a map!

I just hung up my hummingbird feeder last weekend. I can’t wait to see them arrive. They’ll love my porch, since I brought home all sorts of plants when school ended and have planted several pots of flowers. It’s literally like a jungle out there! If I started speaking Spanish, I’m sure they would feel right at home.

There are several varieties of hummingbirds that you can watch with a feeder. My favorite is the Rufous Hummingbird, because he has such a determined look in his little eyes! He’s cute–do go and look him up! He has to be determined, because he has to fly the farthest in order to migrate–almost four thousand miles! Another interesting thing about him is his good memory. If you put up a hummingbird feeder and he finds it, he’ll return to that same one the next year! I suppose it’s a bit like remembering where that good bakery was on your trip to visit your aunt in New York.

My brother is 6′11″. Not only is he ducking under door frames, but he’s substantial. No gangling arms and toothpick legs here. The man looks like a bodyguard, and has in fact, worked in the security industry.

It was no secret that he was going to be both big and tall. Seven years younger than me, for much of our childhood he was as tall as I was. At breakfast time, he would get out a large mixing bowl and pour a box of cereal in it, topping it with a quart of milk. My parent’s grocery bills were stupendous.

Twenty years ago, it was really difficult for him to find clothes. Everything was special-ordered, and none of it looked particularly snazzy. Since then, the clothing situation has gotten much better for big and tall guys. For example, look at this overcoat.
I found it online at Jacamo, a store that offers Big Mens Clothing that breaks the mold! This coat is a Henley & Knight Overcoat, and is surprisingly affordable. I really love the tailored look, which seems to be the most difficult thing to find in big men’s clothes.

They also have a great selection men’s dress shirts, ties and suits. I just love to see that, as that is what my brother has struggled with finding for years. This site is definitely getting bookmarked under “Christmas.” I’m thinking the coat…

The one thing that I don’t like about buying things online is the time it takes to have things shipped to you. What if you could buy something and receive it immediately? Well, that exactly what happens with these wow game cards. You get the key code in your email immediately and you’re good to go. You don’t even have to bother leaving your house, which is perfect if you decide you want a game card at 3:00 in the morning!

No one in my family is interested in becoming a vegetarian. Yet, we are all aware of the perils of eating meat that is produced on feedlots. It is fattier, has few healthy Omega 3 fats, and is loaded with antibiotics. I was excited when a store that offered Organic Meat opened up in our town. Unfortunately, they don’t get very much business because they are snobs, and who knows how long that meat has been sitting in their freezer!

Of course, there are other alternatives to that store. I will not shop at a store where the owners are not friendly people. I am stubborn like that. Fortunately, it is now easy to order organic meat online. You can also look for it at your farmer’s market, where people at least tend to be friendly!

I’ve found the perfect site for the soldier in your life. Of course, a soldier can be someone who is serving in the United States Armed Forces, or someone who is serving as a police officer, firefighter or on a SWAT team. We have all sorts of soldiers in our communities! Often, it can be really helpful to help that person out by making sure that they have the very best gear. We tend to assume that soldiers are provided with the best gear via their jobs, but this is not always the case. Military units and police departments face budget cuts just like the rest of us.

If you’re looking for some gear, such as a Blackhawk Holster to supplement your guy’s gear, it is easy to find at LA Police Gear. The site is easy to search and has a plethora of items that you won’t be finding in your local discount store, that’s for sure!

I had an impromptu lesson with my students the other day that I never expected to give. I showed them the receipt from my washer repairs and asked them to figure out how much the guy made an hour. Given what I was charged, which was $100 for labor alone, the man makes $200 an hour, factoring in transportation time. My total bill for fixing the washing machine was $130. Sickening!

I wouldn’t have had to pay that much to get the darn thing fixed if I could have had some help from the manufacturer. I found the part that I suspected was broken for only $18, but with no manual, no online or telephone support or anything like it, I ended up having no choice but to call the appliance repair guy, who apparently is one of the wealthiest people in our community thanks to people like myself and the general lack of repair manuals for appliances.

On another note, I’m trying to decide whether or not to buy a Mosquito Magnet. It’s actually pretty much a no-brainer. If I don’t get one, the back yard and front porch will go unused yet another summer. The mosquitoes are simply vicious around here, and I don’t want to have to slather on toxic chemicals every time I step outside into the yard. For what it does (kills zillions of the little buggers), it is totally worth the price. So I need to budget for one this month.

Fortunately, unlike the washing machine, if you need mosquito magnet repair, there is all sorts of support. You can chat online with an expert, call a toll-free number 24/7, get a list of dealers, find a manual…you won’t have to spend $130 getting someone to make a house call if there is an issue! That’s definitely a big factor in this decision. That, and not being covered with big red welts this year.

At this point, I’ve pretty much fallen off the whole Sugarbusters thing, and the amount of exercise I get is barely measurable. School is just crazy this time of year (my main excuse), and I am biding my time until it is over. Meanwhile, though, I have to admit that I’m having a great time teaching this year. I just wish there wasn’t tons of food at work every single day! It makes it so much harder.

I’m totally ready for summer to begin at this point. There are several things I have to do in order to make it a decent summer, though. I’m signing Sage up for handwriting classes and drawing classes. We’re rescheduling piano classes. We’re signing up for the rec center for exercise and swimming. Boy Scout camp? Check. Vacation? Dunno. It’s definitely going to be the summer of getting back in shape, though!

I’ve been teaching Romeo and Juliet, and this year I got a really good translation. I have to say that now that I fully understand it, I think it is one of the stupidest stories that I’ve ever read. My students think Romeo is quite the flake as well. I’ve now got students coming in after having seen movies where the characters fall in bed with one another and declare instant undying love for one another saying that these movies are incredibly dumb, “just like Romeo and Juliet.”

Far be it from me to criticize the bard, but is it possible that some of his works were simply the soap operas of his time? And the jokes are certainly as nasty as those shown in any rated R film. I wonder why we require this story for our ninth graders?

One of the things we’re doing with our house is adding on a bathroom. The beauty of doing this is that i can finally get a chance to work with stone mosaic tiles without having to bust out a bunch of old crummy tile first. And since we’re not in a hurry, I’ll be able to take my time creating a bathroom paradise!

I’ve been looking at the tiles at the Glass Tile Store, and they have a great selection. There are some red glass tiles that I would just love to have in my kitchen. The prices are reasonable, as most tiles are less than fifteen dollars per square foot. For me, this is very affordable, as my kitchen is tiny. And with those colors, I can get a lot of bang for my buck. The hardest part is deciding exactly which tiles to use. As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be using stone in the bathroom, but the kitchen offers up many more possibilities, art tile being one of them.

I also need to decide if I want the tiles to be small, medium or a combination of the two. Another possibility is smashing up some of the larger ones and making more of a mosaic splash, similar to the walls in the Mars Restaurant in Austin. Love that place! It’d be awesome if I could get that look in my own kitchen.