I had a falling out with my pest control company, and so far, everything has been okay. I’ve been doing a bit of pest maintenance myself, but there is one thing that the pest control folks did very well. They knew how to kill fire ants in the garden. They killed them off, and not only did were they no longer in my yard, but their fire ant friends decided that my yard was not a cool place to live, so they decided to live across the street instead.

So I have to find a way to deal with those fire ants before spring comes. I’m afraid word will get out that my place is safe again…

This year, I’m pretty much skipping out on Halloween and going straight to the Thanksgiving decorations. It’s fall, after all, and they will last a while, at least until it’s time to put up the Christmas decorations.

My family has pretty much dispensed with celebrating Thanksgiving. This is sad, but I’ve been thinking about a way to celebrate friends and family all year round without it having to be tied to the stress of the holidays.

I love the idea of a “moveable feast,” where everybody takes turns hosting a dinner party once a month. My dream dinner party would consist of six couples, and would be as fancy as possible. There are no fine restaurants in my town, so these dinners would pull out all the stops.

I would set the tone for the evening by cleaning and then decorating the house. I can see lighting lots of white candles, and having a cream-colored gauzy tablecloth. Gold and silver accents could be made with an assortment of vases, and sparkling charger plates could add to the effect. Stringing up white lights outside, as well as white Chinese lanterns would carry the ambiance outdoors. When it comes to ambiance, you’ve got to have the right music. I’d go for Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road CD. It’s exotic and classic at the same time.

My menu would have items that are impossible to find in any restaurant around here, such as cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup and marinated chicken kebabs. The dessert would be lush; I’d serve mocha brownies with a scoop of homemade coffee ice cream.

As far as who to invite, that’s where it gets tricky. Each couple has to like food as much as we do! I can think of three couples right off the bat who are absolute foodies, but no more. So my dinner parties may be a bit smaller than I’d like. If you’re going to go all out with decorating, I say invite a crowd!

I just got off the phone with a friend who was wondering if I had gotten the invitation to her baby shower. I had, via email, and I had completely forgotten about it. It’s a good thing she called me, because it was about twenty pages back in my email. I would have never replied without the reminder! Email invitations are good, but even better are invitations that come in the mail and have a date on them. Those are the ones that I hang on my refrigerator and end up going to because there’s no way I’m going to forget.

I found these save the date postcards that have been created especially for people who want other people to remember their occasions. They come in a variety of designs, and are absolutely affordable. The next time I have a party, I’m going to imagine what my invitation will look like on the invitee’s fridge!

I’ve been cutting back on a lot of things lately in order to save money. I’ve cut back on renting movies, my magazine subscriptions and even getting manicures. Last night, my husband and I were talking about all of the paperwork that one signs when a person buys a home. He got irritated at me because I admitted to not reading all fifty pages of it. Then I realized that I had purchased home insurance when I got my mortgage and that I have no idea how much I am paying for insurance since it’s in my mortgage payment. In other words, perhaps it is time that I compare home insurance and see if I could perhaps afford a manicure or two every month with the savings. I’d rather have that or rent another movie than pay more than I have to for insurance!

I was checking out Car Hire prices in Europe, and I found the easiest way to do it. I went to BestCarHire.co.uk and typed in where I was picking up the car, when I was picking it up and my age and immediately was treated to an entire list of prices for that time period from leading car hire places in the area. The list was automatically ordered from least expensive to most expensive, and the companies are all reputable, so what a treat that was! Can you imagine the time you’ll save using this service instead of calling every single car hire agency, or relying on package deals that may not have your best financial interests in mind? This site definitely goes in my bookmarks under travel!

I’m still losing weight, although I had a bit of a setback a month ago when I caught a cold and didn’t go to the gym for a week. Once I got out of my gym groove, it was really difficult to get back in it. So my weight loss seriously stalled for a while there.

One of the things I have been using to motivate myself is a new wardrobe. One of my favorite styles that I picked up in Austin is Rockabilly. The problem there was that none of the vintage clothes fit me. So I was out of luck if I wanted to wear Rockabilly Clothing.

Now I’m finally losing the weight, but I no longer live in Austin! Thank goodness for online stores, you know? There’s a good one called Stop Staring! that I particularly love. I found a gorgeous floral rockabilly dress on that site that I would love to wear with a pair of cowboy boots. I can absolutely see why they chose to name the shop Stop Staring! because the dresses are definitely stare-worthy. They’re also affordable, and they have them in plus sizes. I wish I’d been able to shop here when I lived in Austin!

I’ve got ten more pounds to go before I’m in the “regular” sizes. I can’t wait. I’m going to break out my boots and go dancing in a new dress. It’s that particular visualization that keeps me going.

I’ve been modifying my diet lately to include a lot more raw foods. I find that this gives me more energy. The other day, I was on a natural foods website, and I started reading about a variety of superfoods and supplements that people can take to enhance the results they get from eating a conscious diet. An example of one of the supplements I found is Beta Glucan, which is touted for its ability to stimulate the immune system, therefore fighting off a number of diseases.

Another supplement I’ve been hearing a lot about lately is Chlorella. It is an antioxidant powerhouse, and it has very condensed nutrients. This is one of the superfoods I’ve been hearing about in relation to detoxifying the body. These are two supplements that I want to try out pretty soon.

Today has been an incredibly rainy day. The creek is up, and I’m hoping that we don’t get flooding in our area. I also spent the day being bored out of my mind in an inservice. Right now, I could cheerfully pack my bags and go start a Utah advertising agency or something along those lines. As long as it was in the desert away from the drizzle and no inservices were involved!

I really would like to go to Utah. The rock formations out there just blow my mind. Also, if I ever changed careers, I could see doing advertising. It’s definitely a creative field, and I feel like I need that right now. Can anyone tell I’m just a tad unfocused at the moment?

Thankfully, the drizzle is going away this evening. Tomorrow should be cool and dry. It’s about time!

I’m an absolute sucker for comforters. Right now, there are some good sales on them, too. If you look at college bedding , you’ll find some of the cutest stuff around. I don’t like the stuffy “grown-up” comforters that have all of the brocade on them. That’s way too stuffy for me! I think the comforters for college girls are much cuter than some of the other stuff that’s out there. I’m really loving the pink trend, which thank goodness, shows no sign of letting up.

I suppose I have comforters on my mind since the one I’ve been using for the past ten years, yes, TEN years, has finally had it. So I’ll be looking for a new comforter. Hopefully I’ll find a cute pink one!

I’ve decided to make the big leap from teaching to working as a writer full-time. This means I’ll be looking into things like sacramento health insurance by KaiserQuotes.com. Well, that’s if I move to Sacramento, which I suppose is a possibility. You see, the only reason I am quitting teaching and going to writing full-time is because of a desire to homeschool my son. And the homeschooling community here is practically nonexistent! So moving somewhere else is definitely a possiblity.

At any rate, there are a lot of places I could move to and still be able to get a quote from KaiserQuotes. Getting the quote is easy, as all you have to do is enter your zip code, and you’ll be able to see a variety of plans that are available. It’s also easy to contact an agent. In other words, you won’t be waiting in an insurance office for an hour waiting to speak to some poor overworked person.

Kaiser offers the usual health insurance services. You can get coverage for doctor’s appointments, prescriptions, hospital stays…the whole gamut.

I’m glad that the insurance business is getting more competitive and offering services like this one. When you’re shopping for your own health insurance, it’s certainly welcome!