Over the course of the winter, the breezeway has become a cluttered “catch-all” mud room.  I want to clean it up and fix it up so that we can put a small dining table and chairs out there so we can eat a few meals out there and enjoy looking at the garden while we eat.

I need to put in some window treatments to make the room look finished.  Currently the windows have no coverings at all.  I’d like to put in some kind of attractive Window Blinds or shades.  I really like the looks of Roman shades, but I also like bamboo blinds a lot.

I’ve been looking at shades from www.selectblinds.com and I think my favorite is bamboo shades with a Roman fold, which is the best of both worlds!

Posted: April 12th, 2008 under Home and Garden, Shopping.
Comments: none

I always try to go to the Bangor Flower show in early April.  After a long, cold, dreary and very snow winter, it is always a spirit-lifting pilgrimage for me.

I love to see the landscaper’s displays, of all of the gardens that they create.  It makes me hunger to get out in my own garden and start digging and planting and weeding (yes, even weeding!)  Working in my garden soothes my soul.

I also enjoy going through the vendor’s exhibits, stopping at a booth here and there to buy some dried pineapple, and taste some free salsa samples on crackers. 

I’ve gone to the Portland Flower show a few times, but I always liked the Bangor show better.

Posted: April 12th, 2008 under Home and Garden, Life, Travel, Uncategorized.
Comments: none

I am constantly amazed by how often I have to buy ink cartridges for our Lexmark printer!  It seems like I am buying ink every week, and that sure does get expensive!  I have come to realize that the printer companies sell their printers for a song, probably not even making a profit on the sale of the printer, just so they can make a lot of profit on selling ink!  Sometimes I think it is cheaper to buy a new printer (because the printers often come with one or two (one black, one color) ink cartridges in it than it is to keep buying more ink cartridges!

Every time I need to buy a black and a color cartridge, it seems that I am spending close to $60!  That adds up really fast!  So lately I have been shopping around for the best price that I can get on ink.

My brother tells me that he buys toner cartridges on line.  He uses a www.inkjetdeals.info to help him find the best prices.  I’ve just gone to that website and found that it is a good resource for more than just finding a good price on ink, it also has a couple of good articles worth reading.  One is on saving ink; another is about troubleshooting printers.  There is also a good link to coupons on their website.

Posted: April 12th, 2008 under Computers / Software, Home and Garden, Life, Shopping, Technology.
Comments: none

Yesterday my hubby was in the garage, changing the oil in his car.  The weather was on the warm side, so he had the garage door open to let in some fresh air.

He heard a strange noise from the direction of the open door, and glanced up to see a large moose staring back at him!  The moose was so big that he had to “duck” his head down to poke it inside the garage door to look at my hubby!  Boy was my hubby startled!  The moose stood there for a few moments, then turned around and nonchalantly walked away.  It was funny to see how excited my hubby was when he came running into the house to tell me about his experience!

Posted: April 12th, 2008 under Home and Garden, Life.
Comments: none

I have a younger brother who is a computer expert.  He makes his living as the System Administrator for several local companies.  Whenever I have a computer question, I shoot of an email to him, asking him for help.  We have set up a remote access so that he can access my computer here without him leaving his own house, which is really great because he can sometimes fix my problem(s) in a matter of minutes without me having to take my computer out of the house and without him having to leave his house!

Anyway, he has sent me an email advising me to sign up for a free Online Backup service that he is recommending to his clients.  I didn’t even know that such a thing existed!  I mean, I expected that there were online backup services, but I didn’t know that there were any free ones!

My brother told me to check out IDrive(http://www.idrive.com).  IDrive is a leading online backup service that offers online encrypted backups for free (up to 2GB.)  They also offer an online backup service with unlimited storage for $4.95 per month. He says that it is fast, secure, and easy to use.

PC World listed IDrive as one of the ’101 best freebies’.  So, I guess I will be checking them out!  Backing up my computer is a top priority for me!

Posted: April 12th, 2008 under Home and Garden, Life, Shopping, Technology.
Comments: none