The gift exchange game we played after the Christmas dinner was hilarious. Everyone was supposed to bring a wrapped gift to the party and we played a few games that had the gifts as prizes. Some of the gifts were actually decent gifts; one of my sisters got a T-shirt, another got a nice bracelet. My niece got a whoopie cushion, and I got a pair of little kid’s orange swimming goggles and a royal blue teddy bear adorned with a Santa hat. Cute, but not something that I can imagine myself using anytime soon! But everyone had fun, and that was the point!
Made in America
I’m trying to buy Made in America products for Christmas presents this year. I am finding it to be a very difficult task. Many of the gifts that people want are electronic in nature, and most of those items are made overseas. When I Google “Made in USA” very few items actually show up that would be things that the people on my gift list would really like to have.
I’d like to shop local, but I don’t want to pick up every item on the shelf and turn it over to see where it was made. I figure that if I look online first for the product itself, then I can go to the local store to buy it. If you have any suggestions about where to find items that are Made in USA, please let me know, I’m interested!
Open house
There is a fall open house today at one of the local greenhouses. I am going to check out the latest gadgets for next years crop. The employees there are always knowledgeable and friendly.
Maybe I will pick up some bulbs to plant as well. A few flowers to add color to my property is always a wise choice. I take pride in my property’s appearance and my family likes to see what I have done new every year.
Foliage
The fall foliage has started. This time of year is by far my favorite. The weather is much cooler and more comfortable. The best part of this year is going to be the use of my new tractor to clean up the yard.
There is always a ton of work to do in the fall at my house. Cleaning up the garden, home repairs and lawn maintenance all has to be done. I am going to try to plan a fall trip with Janice as well to go check out the leaves. As much work as they are it is worth it because they are so beautiful.
Packed up early
I was really worried about my friends and family with the hurricane Irene coming through. Almost all of my relatives live on the East Coast. I was really fortunate where I was the hurricane was very mild; it actually felt more like just a regular summer storm only without any lightning and thunder, So it was actually much milder than I was expecting! In fact I kind of felt silly about all of the desperate preparations I did the day before making sure all the lawn furniture was tucked inside and that there were no small pieces of anything lying around the yard.
I guess it’s just as well I had to pick up most of the stuff before too long with autumn coming up fast, since Labor Day weekend is really only a couple of days away now. I don’t think I’m gonna bother putting all the lawn furniture back out – I’ll just say that they are just the the packed up for the winter.