The basic storyline is about a middle aged couple who are living in Northern Virginia as undercover spies for Russia. They have to do a lot of surveillance and some dirty deeds and report back to Russia. Of course, the FBI and the CIA are always a threat and they cross paths a lot, without actual confrontations yet.

The couple are pretending to be happily married and have two children together, they run a travel agency, and they have a network of people in the DC area who help them. But the very cool part is that the time period is back in the 1980′s, so they have to be careful with wardrobe, sets and props to be period specific. It is like peeking into my own past sometimes, with old console TV sets, Tupperware, Harvest Gold kitchen appliances.

It’s an interesting show with a lot of twists and turns, some gun play and stabbings, and a lot of relationship drama. I really love this show and look forward to an exciting finale – but it will be bittersweet, because I don’t want the show to end.

We had to share a car to get back and forth to our jobs, which, of course, were all the way across town from each other. The store that i worked at was in a really nice neighborhood and had a place on the bus line where I could get most of the way home on a Metro bus, so sometimes I let her take the car to get back and forth to her job when we could work out the scheduling right. She learned about towels and linens and glassware, while I learned about produce and bakery items. She learned about Hotel Bar Supplies and I learned about rotating inventory and pricing canned goods.

In today’s world, hotel managers can buy what they need online and have everything shipped to them using UPS or Fed Ex. A quick search of Hotel Supply Online and you find the Peachsuite company, which sells all the same things that my sister used to sell from that little warehouse in Shirlington. It’s actually faster and easier to order online for many reasons, but I think sometimes you benefit from seeing new things or unexpected things when you walk into a store.

I think if you are going to shop online that you should search for the items that you want to order but you should also browse the site for other items. Sometimes you can be surprised at new products you never knew existed, and sometimes you can find bargains if you are flexible. I like to look around of the Atlanta Hotel Supply site and see if there are any bargains that I can use at home as well as at work. We have a little lunch kitchen at the office and we keep it stocked with real plates and flatware instead of wasteful and expensive disposables. And when we have big meetings in the conference room, real dishes and glasses are noticed and appreciated by the Board of Directors and our high value customers. So finding bargains on glassware or even napkins and serving ware can be helpful in keeping the kitchen well stocked.

I always get upset when someone sets a glass down on my dining room table without using a coaster, because I get a light colored ring on the table top from the condensation. I use tablecloths, placemats and coasters, but some people ignore those and are just careless!

I wish I could leave the table uncovered and enjoy the beauty of the natural wood all the time, but over the years I have learned that it makes more sense to keep it covered with a pretty tablecloth to protect it from scratches and water rings.

My favorite app that I’ve seen so far is the one that disables the phone ringer when you are sleeping. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to get some sleep and someone calls me and wakes me up. That makes me so mad, but with my old school phone there is no way to stop it from ringing unless I turn the whole phone off. So, if you want to use the cell phone as an alarm clock, you have to leave the phone on and take the chance that people won’t be calling you. With the smart phone, you can use the alarm clock AND the call block to make sure you get your sleep undisturbed.

The last tent camping trip I took was a long time ago but still fresh in my memory. The camp site was a primitive camping area in the George Washington National Forest, in Virginia. You get there by taking the Woodstock exit off I-66 and driving at barely 5 mph for about 20 minutes up, down and around a mountain on the narrowest, steep and treacherous road I’ve ever driven. It was exhilarating and frightening and totally worth it. The river winds its way through the mountains and foothills and eventually meets up with the Potomac River at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.

The time I go camping it will be in a RV and not a tent, you couldn’t pay me enough money to deal with all that goes along with camping in the wilderness (or even the back yard) in a sleeping bag in a tent. It’s RV or nothing at this time of my life.

Of course, there is never a good time to fun out of ink but there are worse times, so as soon as you have a critical, multi-page report to print, your printer will run out of ink and shut down. Usually this is with a looming deadline and long after the local retail stores have closed for the night. This happened to me once and I swore that I will not allow that to ever happen again. So I bought extra ink cartridges and keep them in a desk drawer, at the ready for the first sign of running out. Stocking up on ink and toner cartridges can be a significant expense, so I took that opportunity to save money and buy refilled cartridges that are on sale and if there is a coupon to use along with you can count on me using those as well.

This week I am going to make a huge effort to eat a salad for lunch every day and skip the fast food traps. I bought two bags of mixed greens for $6 at the grocery and want to add a few other fresh vegetables to the salad each day. So I chose a Vidalia onion, a green bell pepper and a cucumber. On one day I will added a chopped hardboiled egg. Then the next day I will add a small can of tuna packed in water. On the third day I will have to start getting creative. Perhaps there will be a small handful of meat left over from dinner that I can cut up and toss on top of the greens. After that I will see what is in the refrigerator that can be used up and added to a salad, and if I have to go to the freezer for salad toppers, that’s OK, too.

So they go on a leash or they stay indoors. I like the retractable leash that goes about 20 ft. out. This way the dogs can run a bit and get their exercise rather than just keeping pace with me. I used to buy retractable cord leashes, but evidently they aren’t being made any more and the long ones are a tape leash. The only problem with the tape is that it is extremely easy to chew through it. The cord leash has a leader piece of thick fabric that is durable and much needed on the tape leash. I’m going to have to figure out something to put over the end of the tape lease so they can’t chew it. That’s my current “pet” project. No doubt in my mind that they are worth every bit of all the time, work, effort and money that is constantly needed, but it is always something something!

Miami Area Executive Fantasy Hotels

Anytime I go to our local mall I can count on seeing at least 2 or 3 people who I got pretty close to and that I try to keep in touch with. You know, I kinda go out of my way to stop by and talk, I’m a good listener so people in general leach onto me and once they latch one it is such a struggle to get them off of me. People just adore talking about themselves! So today when I went in to exchange or return a blouse that I changed my mind on after getting it home. I made sure that I made my way around to the section of the mall that I spent so much of my time in, and see who is working, stop and chit-chat. The only way to find out what the latest gossip and drama that is going on at our mall that which is a large gathering place and plays such an important role in our community.

Brenda K. was behind the counter at the cell phone kiosk, that woman is there more oft than not and somehow manages to keep her enthusiasm and excitement that is fresh, sincere and believable. She has a loyal customer base and is very popular with other various fellow mall workers that she has come to know and love for I believe over 13 years or so. She had this website up and was showing it to the Evan, the guy that works at the kiosk with all the watches and other time keeping devices when I came up behind them and over heard a few moments of their conversation concerning the Miami Executive Motel that someone who Brenda K. knows is going to for Valentine’s Day! It caught my attention enough for me to go home and look up to see for myself and I have to say that it’s a heck of a place that I would love to be able to enjoy for a couple days and nights. I had no idea that these places even existed. Felt kind of foolish…

Personally, I think Tickmaster is one of modern day’s greatest scams and the fact that what should be a very low overhead and hugely profitable business enterprise is on the verge of bankruptcy just proves further to me that the entertainment industry if fraught with corruption and excessive greed, and I’m personally not inclined to support it any longer. You and I, the average citizen and fan, have almost zero chance of getting front row seats to any show, no matter when you show up in line to buy your tickets. We have to pay ridiculous processing and “convenience” charges on top of a high admission charge for the privilege of sitting in nosebleed seats. This is not fun to me and most definitely not a good entertainment value. Until I see some big changes to concert ticketing, I’m not going any more.

Eight O’clock Coffee

You know – you used to buy coffee by the pound. But now all the packages are 12 ounces for the same price as a pound used to be. In some cases, the outer packaging is the same size as the original pound, they have just put less coffee in it the package and charged the same as the pound price. So I got my groceries home, unloaded and all put away while I made the new coffee according to package directions in the same pot I use every day. I didn’t like it. I’ll find someone to give it to that might drink it as I hate to just throw it all away, but I have no intention of drinking anymore of it.

The very first ski trip that included my niece was when she was 10 years old and completely fearless. We went to Maine for a winter family retreat and booked several adjoining rooms in the lodge at Sunday River. The rooms were awesome – huge open rooms with plenty of closet space for storing ski gear and all the jackets and coats you need for outdoor activities. Each room including a small kitchenette, which we used for in room breakfasts and for soup and sandwiches for lunches. We ate out at local restaurants for dinner each night, and had a blast trying a variety of places. We even had one night at a comedy club that was completely family friendly and everyone had a blast. My niece took one ski lesson on our first day, and she headed off to the slopes full of energy and confidence. It was amazing to see her pick it up so quickly – she’s a natural. The entire trip was memorable.

People who love to snow ski have only a few options if they want to snow ski during the summer in the U.S. You can go someplace in the Southern Hemisphere where it is winter, or you can go to Oregon and ski on Mt. Hood. For people fortunate enough to live on the West Coast, Mt. Hood is huge recreational area that offers outdoor sports and activities all year. For people who love to ski or who compete in winter sports, Mt. Hood is an affordable domestic ski destination.

With so many companies having layoffs and going bankrupt, I’m sure people who are working in troubled industries are getting paranoid and worried about their job security and future career path. Some people who are holding onto their jobs by a thread are very likely spiffing up their resumes and discretely starting a job hunt. Others may be looking harder at their resumes and credentials and considering going back to school to finish that degree, enhance or even change fields of expertise. People considering going back to school might be interested in applying for scholarships and grants to help with the additional expense. I recently read about a free college scholarships program that involves some participation in a fun and interesting way. Your activities in their program earn points toward free scholarships. If free scholarships are something that interests you, check out their web site at scholarshippoints.com.

Everyone in our upper middle class neighborhood was expected to eat dinner at six o’clock except for my friend, Sandy. That family was headed by an Army General, and he required dinner at five o’clock. I suspect that a good part of that is because he had to start his day earlier than the white collar dads who had 9 to 5 jobs. The military runs on its own time, and the General leads by good example. As an adult in today’s world, I almost never get to eat dinner by six o’clock. Most nights I don’t even get home from work until after six. My dinner has been pushed back to seven o’clock most nights. I wonder if the kids from the ‘hood are finding the same thing happening in their lives, or if they have been able to stick to the six o’clock hour for their dinners now?

Personally, I think most people do care about how they look and they pay attention to proper grooming, coordinating their wardrobe and reflecting a certain amount of conformity to fashion and current styles, such as the new eyeglass frames or the length of skirts and even pants. That’s why businesses like “Make Yourself Amazing” at mya.co.uk are creating a strong internet presence, with informational articles and photos of before and after that help convince people to seek out self-improvement procedures. Did you know that the most common cosmetic procedure is for eyelids? The second most popular cosmetic procedure is rhinoplasty – also called a “nose job.” And the third most popular is liposuction surgery. All of these procedures have a reason they are so popular and are well accepted by society for both men and women. So the question remains – is it due to the media, pure vanity of this generation, or because the technology has improved to make it available at a reasonable cost?

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Anyway I ran across this really cool Infographic that I enjoyed reading. It had some pretty interesting wedding trivia that might come in handy to some body at some point here on my blog. Hope you get something out of it as well. These Infographics are starting to pop up more and more on the Internet and I always seem to learn something from the ones that I run across from time to time.

Believe it or not, there are people that don’t mind living in places that have a variety of seasons to offer and are not always hot and sunny! And Canada has a lot to offer.  My aunt and uncle are looking at Retirement Residences in the Ontario area, specifically and have turned to the Internet to help assist them in their search. With sites such as what www.senioropolis.com has to offer, with a large database of over 24,000 retirement residences up in Canada, this will be a much easier task for them. I’m so glad that they are computer savvy. Many seniors are intimidated by today’s computers, but thankfully they both jumped at the chance to learn how to get around on the World Wide Web.  I wish them luck and look forward to hearing and seeing what they come up with.

I hate sewing but my mother has always seemed to enjoy it for some reason, so she is kept busy tending to Dad’s needs and my 4 brothers as well, that all still come to her (even though they don’t live at home anymore) and probably will always do as long as she is around and able to.  God bless my mother who still to this day, she packs my dad’s lunch box for him, along with a large thermos of hot black coffee to last him all throughout his work day. She will also have his coat, sweater, jacket or even one of his rain suits all laid out for him to stumble and sometimes grumble, his way into in the early morning hours that construction field requires. In the old days she would make him breakfast and have the morning paper on the table for him. But the last couple of years, he hasn’t wanted a big breakfast and he reads most of his news online or on the television so that have let their subscription expire. But she still gets up with him and sends him off with a kiss; she has been doing this for 30 years and has no intention of ever stopping. I love it!

This year for his birthday mom and I went online and found a great looking mens coat/ jacket that we are seriously considering purchasing for his birthday, which is fast approaching in the fall. He has needed a new jacket for the last few years but won’t make an attempt on replacing it, so mom and I decided to make the effort and hope he likes it. I think my dad would look real nice in this and it isn’t getting any warmer these days!

I don’t actually know how to research song and songwriter data. I use the IMDB.com (Internet Move Data Base) for anything that has to do with movies and TV, actors, soundtracks – a whole lot of really good information in one place, cross referenced. I don’t know what this says about me, but I find myself looking up things in IMDB more than I use Wikipedia. LOL

When they were ready to go, I jumped on the opportunity and visited the families home to pick the sweetest one of the bunch. I decided on an adorable female puppy that took to me as soon as I walked into the door of the families home. She is at my mothers house where she will be staying until Christmas morning, when I plan to put a bow on her collar and have her waiting for my Daughters surprise first thing Christmas morning. I am so excited to see my Daughter’s reaction and watch them bond over the years.