I was visiting a website by Carolina Designs
Reality; they offer all kinds of vacations rentals. One of sections that caught
my eyes were the Outer Banks rentals.
If you are not familiar with the Outer Banks its beautiful coastal section of my
state of North Carolina. I have personally never been there, but I have seen
plenty of pictures and it is breath taking.

While I was surfing their site I saw a beautiful
home that would I would love to take my family too. The house is called the
Seahawk and it is 3 stories tall and has a ton of features. As soon as I saw the
house I knew this was a place I wanted to take my family. Its been many years
since my family and I have been on a family vacation. I feel after all that we
have been through this past few years we all deserve a vacation together as
family.

Back in Aug of 08 my uncle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, at that time my
parents, grandma and aunt were planning to move down here with me a few months
later in the spring of 09. They all came but my aunt, she stood behind so she
could take care of him. That's him in the picture on the right. We had many ups
and downs with him to eventually we were told that the cancer had spread and
there was nothing more they could do for him. In Nov of 09 my mom and dad went
back to New York to be with him, because they said he didn't have much time. I
was unable to be there because 3 out of 4 kids were in school and I didn't want
them to remember him in the state that he was in. In Dec of 09 he finally lost
his battle. I was not even able to attend his funeral which really made me hurt
for a long time. We all lost a great uncle, brother, father and friend. I still
think about him and wish I could of said my good byes. This past July he would
of been 58 years young. So with all this loss in our hearts we do need to laugh
again. I know that is something he would of wanted.

My husband and I managed to sneak away for an over night trip without the kids
to Wilmington, NC. Its been 13 years since my husband and I have been able to
venture out for an over night trip. And it was really nice to catch up on our
time. But I would love to be able to go away with not only my husband and I, but
my 4 kids, my parents, grandma who is 87 and my aunt.  Just to be able to
get away for a week and forget about everything would be wonderful and not to
mention be able to share that experience with the ones you love would be even
more special. I can't even remember how long its been since my parents who are
68 and 64 years old have been on a true vacation.  I think that is
something all families should try to do is go away and forget about everything.
I know for a fact that, that is easier said then done, but wouldn't it be
wonderful of we could all take some time to go away?

If you have a house or business that is built before 1978, the government states that your place must be certified lead free. You must also follow strict guidelines to prevent lead poisoning. Back in the days you had to hire someone to test your home for lead and it was very costly. Now you can purchase your own lead test kit and perform the test on your own. These tests allow you to know within a matter of minutes whether you have lead in your home or business. This something that everyone should do if you feel you may have lead. It truly is better to be safe than sorry as having lead poisoning especially in children, can lead to a host of health problems.

Do you know that if you have central air it is also a good idea to have a ceiling fan? I didn’t know that, but apparently it helps circulate the air in the room and it keeps your energy bills low (that is what I heard from a few people). Now a days you can get a ceiling fan for a very good price, also they come in a few sizes and name brands such as Minka Aire. Minka Aire is one of the leaders in ceiling fans. They have a wide variety of designs and styles to choose from. I may just start adding ceiling fans in my house to see if I can save some money too.

I can’t not tell you how many times I have used road side assistance, all the times I used it made happy that I had a roadside assistance plan over the years. It has saved us a lot of time and trouble, when your car breaks down who are you going to call? What are you going to do? Some of these tow truck companies charge you an arm and a leg and they won’t even take you far. When you have some sort of plan chances are the most you will pay is $100 per year for the plan which can include towing, rental car service and more. Of course you will have to pay for repairs to your car separately; some plans even give you a discount on car repairs. It is really worth the investment to have that piece of mine when you are driving to know if you break down help is only a phone call away. Come to think of it, I think I need to renew my plan soon!

One thing that I love to do most besides designing websites is designing graphics. I just finished working on some baby shower invitations for friend of mine. She was so happy with it and it made me feel good to make her happy. I have always loved the whole graphics thing, its just something about it that has always caught my eye, its really hard to explain. That is why I love designing t-shirts and stuff. So much so that I would continue to design t-shirts even if its not for me, that is how much I love graphics design. I did a project a couple of years ago where I came up with 15 designs for someone to sell on one of those t-shirt making sites and it was a lot of fun to do.

It shows you the signs of the times, we are having Christmas in July. Many, many stores are doing all these sales for back to school, Christmas and what have you. They are all trying to get our business. Now I am seeing Halloween costumes being sold infact I saw a whole bunch of pirate costumes on sale. What happened to the time where when it was September you saw Halloween stuff for sale, November Christmas stuff, Thanksgiving in October etc.. It seems like there is no order anymore when it comes to these things anymore. Right now I am trying to worry about getting my kids school stuff together and not worry about Christmas or any other holiday these stores want to have in July. How do you feel about this? Do you think the stores are going over board?

I met an insurance broker who wanted to put a website together so that she sells his insurance online. She sells all types of insurance including term life. She want to be able to give term life insurance quotes to her customers. So I have been looking at other websites that do the same and I am getting ideas together for this client. So like I was saying on my other blog I have been busy and that is good thing, but I am trying to get more time to blog, cause it seems like I have been slipping on the blogging part. But like I always say there just never enough time.