Peggy Lee Brown

Archive for September, 2010

LL Bean has been at the center of outdoor cool since 1912. It’s no wonder the company has stayed in business so long–offering a wide variety of coats for rain and snow, cozy house slippers, big cushions for your favorite furry friends and fun gadgets for the kids. This company has built its brand around that little part of each of us that yearns to live in a snug New England cabin where summers are warm but not hot and winters are downright frigid.

Therefore, if you want to capture your own little piece of the dream, you might buy a red and black checkered throw, a braided wool rug or a backpack for your kids, each one embroidered with your child’s initials. LL Bean does a particularly brisk business around the holiday season, when friends and family search for that perfect gift that evokes New England charm. Among the more popular gifts are Maine maple syrup (sent in little plastic jugs, of course), sturdy tote bags, handheld GPS devices, travel-sized binoculars, and embroidered Christmas stockings.

It doesn’t matter if you’re buying for yourself, your spouse, the kids, or a friend, LL Bean likely has something that will delight every person on your list. This company maintains its old-fashioned customer service by offering a toll-free phone number where you can place orders. LL Bean reaches many customers with its snail mail catalogs that feature new and sale items. However, more customers are shopping online, and LL Bean is responding by offering you the opportunity to have a live chat with a company representative. There’s also a FAQ section that may have the answer you need. Another bonus to shopping online is using offers.com. These usually come in the form of codes that you apply when you check out. Get your slice of New England at a fraction of the cost.

Summer recipes should be light and healthy. You might not want to spend a lot of time inside over a hot stove. Instead, head to the great outdoors to create meals the whole family will love.

Grilling

Grilling allows you to be outside and part of the party while you are cooking. Since this is a staple in summer cooking just change up the menu a little bit. You can search recipes for ingredients like lamb, shrimp, salmon, or pork. You can also offer your guests a variety of grilled appetizers so everyone can choose food that they like. The grill isn’t just for meat. You can grill your bread or vegetables for consistent flavors throughout.

No Cook Side Dishes

If you’re grilling meat then simplify the rest of the meal. Summer cooking should showcase healthy fruits and vegetables. Change up a fruit salad by adding in nuts or chocolate shavings. You can also mix up the basic ingredients to include mangoes or oranges.

Veggie and fruit platters are a staple at dinner parties, but you can reinvent this. Make a dip for the fruit using cream cheese or marshmallow cream. You can also make a series of dips for variety. This is also a way to entice kids to eat healthier. Vary up the vegetable platter with colorful red and orange peppers or olives. Vegetable dips can feature herbs and spices like chives or curry.

Dessert

It’s even possible to make dessert on a grill. You can also grill fruit like pineapples or peaches and serve it with ice cream or cheese. Dessert can be a chance for your guests to help with the cooking which is a fun group activity. Pick up an ice cream ball that your friends can roll around the yard to create a summer treat. You can also set up a fire pit to roast marshmallows for smores.

>We are trying hard to catch up on saving this year. Luck and hard work seem to come hand in hand as we are always not running out of money lately. We know better than to splurge them all so what we have been doing is we have been living on one income even if we are both working. So our savings are getting something substantial every month. However, we know it would not be enough because we have so many plans. That’s why we are thinking of investing some of them towards investing on precious metals, specifically towards the gold coin. Gold has been receiving a lot of nods from financial analysts lately, some of them really recommending that investing these days mean one should buy bullion.

They say gold has never depreciated in value (it was used to gauge one’s wealth even in the old days) and unlike bonds and real estate, can be pretty liquid. We are just looking where to buy gold bullion and we are investing!

With so many cell service providers in the industry and so many phone options available, consumers are inundated with marketing by competing mobile phone companies. This makes it hard to determine which carrier to use. The top mobile phone companies are AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, and T-Mobile, but there are many other companies that are offering competitive rates in hopes of competing with the bigger carriers. Here’s what to look for in a provider to find the best mobile phone deals:

Take time to research each company, reviewing ratings by consumers like yourself who provide honest reviews. Find out what people are saying, what complaints they have, what advice they share, and who they are raving about.

When reviewing cell phone plans, look at not only the minutes and amount of texts included in the package but how much will be charged for excess usage. Find out how much media time is included.

Check out the rollover minutes policy; if you don’t use all the allotted minutes, will they be saved to use in following months? When do these minutes expire (how long do you have to use them)?

Find out if weekends and evenings are free and when evenings begin and when weekends start and end. Ask about holidays too.
Contracts. This is a very important point because once you sign a contract (other than the first 30 days you have to get out of it), you’ll be locked in for at least one to two years.

Research pre-paid plans; because this can be a more cost effective way to go and this market is expanding. Try TracFone, Virgin Mobile, Verizon, or T-Mobile.

Finally, compare pricing for each plan and provider. Find out if there are any other fees associated with each plan. Realize that taxes will be added to your bill every month.

The Nintendo DS gaming system is as much a fun educational tool as it is a portable online gaming console. This gaming device provides children with hours of safe and clean fun. It also is a great way to make boring topics more appealing to certain children. There are three different types of Nintendo DS portable gaming systems: the Nintendo DS Lite, the Nintendo DSi, and the Nintendo DS XL. No matter the particular version, there are a number of games that rank extremely high among child users. The following games are repeatedly noted to be in the top five DS games for kids:

Professor Layton and the Curious Village, a brain challenge game that requires the use of math, English, and logical thinking skills in order for children to advance to the end. The character renditions are vibrant and make the game appealing to the little eye.

Animal Crossing Wild World is a game with a virtual village that progresses along the same time span as the players’ life. Kids can create their own little homes and interact with other villagers living within, nearby or even far away.

New Super Mario Bros. is an old classic that was revamped and brought back to life for the new updated gamers. It’s a great game for young children due to the ease of play.

Pokémon is famous among children. Pokémon cards are a common find in any young child’s play chest. The game is a wonderful way for children to interact with Team Galaxy and go on a wonderful trip in Pokémon land.

Legend of Zelda, Phantom Hourglass is a game that continues the famous story of the Legend of Zelda, and gives kids a brand new adventure to embark on with some of their favorite characters including Wind Walker and Link.

Investing is a risky thing, most especially now when the stock market is still unstable and there are more losses than gains. Keeping your hard-earned money in the bank is just like storing your money at home, the interest rates have dropped so low. There have been talk that investing on gold coins is a wise investment. For one thing, gold has never been known to depreciate in value and the value of gold has been very liquid – there has always been a clamor and demand for it. In fact, isnt it gold has always been a measure of one’s wealth?

You can buy gold in bullion or coin form like this one:

Gold American Eagle coins first minted in 1986, the Gold Eagle is the #1 gold bullion coin choice among investors across the world. Buy American Gold Eagle coins as an investment in safety and growth.

Having convenient access to things is something everyone values. This is one of the many reasons millions of people reside in New York City. Not only is it the city that never sleeps, it is also loaded with fun activities and stunning landscapes. An easy way to have access to all of these perks is by living in Manhattan luxury apartments, which are close to the action and full of deluxe amenities. These apartments are close to plenty of eateries, unique shops, coffee houses, art galleries, local events, and much more. There is truly so much to explore right outside your door, you will never be at a loss for what to do and where to go.

The local attractions are endless in beautiful, energetic Manhattan. Take Grand Central Terminal, for instance. Since it opened in 1313 it has been a hub for shopping, transportation and superb dining. There is also the free Staten Island Ferry that provides excellent views of the harbor. For more than 150 years, Central Park has been a popular hang out in Manhattan. Residents come here to walk their dogs, go for a jog, picnic, or simply relax and feed the pigeons. Residents who live in luxurious Manhattan apartments enjoy easy and convenient access to this stunning park area.

When it comes to shopping in the Big Apple, there are countless high-end boutiques, clothing stores, jewelry shops and even thrift markets to choose from. You can be sure to find the apparel, accessories, or unique merchandise you want. There are even random vendors marketing goods on the street corners of Manhattan.

Regardless of where you live in New York City, there are plenty of local attractions and activities to keep you busy. However, you may appreciate your immediate surroundings even more if you live in an apartment in Manhattan that is designed with your comfort and convenience in mind.

Moving companies employ people who are experts at moving, but there are still a few things you can do yourself to make the move go more smoothly. Your large items, furniture, beds, and mattresses should all be packed in a way that can help the moving company protect your belongings.

The first way to help moving companies protect your furniture is to obtain the right materials to aid in the movement of large items. These include bubble wrap, plastic stretch wrap, corrugate cardboard, sealable plastic bags, furniture blankets, sofa and mattress covers, packing tape, and old blankets. All of these items will make it easy to cover large items, tape the covers on them, and make moving the items that much easier.

Furniture such as dressers, beds, and cribs should be broken down as much as possible. Drawers should be taken out of dressers. If you can’t remove them, then take out all the items from the drawers. Bed frames should be disassembled, and mattresses need to be covered with plastic sealing to avoid rips, tears, and dirt. Cribs should be taken apart as well, as they may have more fragile structures that could break in the moving process.

Anything fragile or made of glass should be bubble-wrapped and clearly marked. This includes mirrors, picture frames, glasses, china sets, and vases. If these items are in boxes, don’t make the boxes too heavy, as they can be difficult to pick up and move.

Finally, be willing to have large items strapped to hooks in the truck, and be willing to let the movers pack the items the way they choose. They are professionals at loading trucks and know what items should be strapped in, stacked, or left loose. Patience and flexibility are vital to helping the moving company protect your furniture and other goods.

Just because you can buy a home does not necessarily mean that you should. Aside from the financial considerations—of which there are many—home ownership is a fairly permanent decision. If you don’t like your home, your neighbors, or your neighborhood, you can move, but selling the house might prove difficult. And for many new home buyers, renting out the property does not bring in enough income to cover the mortgage combined with other expenses. With this in mind, here are a things to consider before deciding to purchase a new home or condo.

Who Are Your Neighbors?

Assuming you like the house or condo, the next consideration should be the neighbors. Once you live there, these people are virtually impossible to get away from. Consider the scenarios. If your neighbors are a young couple, does the prospect of babies crying in the middle of the night bother you? Of course, it’s also a good idea to spend some time in the property at varying hours of the day to check the noise level from neighbors. How’s the soundproofing? Taking the time to do this might annoy your real estate agent, but it can give you invaluable information.

There Goes The Neighborhood

If you’re okay with your neighbors, what about the neighborhood? To get a feel for your surroundings, make sure you visit the neighborhood at different hours of the day and night. Pay close attention to the kinds of people you see and consider what kind of vibe you get, because you may be spending several years or more amongst them. Later, when you’re on the Internet searching for “mortgage refinance Virginia” (for instance) so that you can refinance and save money, you’ll feel glad that you did your homework before buying.

After you move into a new place, everything is hard to find. Disorder, chaos, and clutter rule the day. That day turns into several days, which in turn becomes weeks. It gets hard to find things you know you own. It seems that boxes are everywhere, and stacks of stuff are everywhere in between the boxes! Even reaching into the closet is a bit of a guessing game. Just trying to find that favorite black top is a five minute ordeal. Whatever semblance of organization you usually have is gone, until that day that you manage to unpack the last box and re-create the order of things.

Fortunately, as long as you’ve got your laptop somewhere within reach, the rest of the clutter is tolerable. That’s because with a bit of wireless access, you can easily find your usual sportsbooks to place a bet on your favorite teams. Just because you’ve moved doesn’t mean you’ve lost interest in your usual pastimes. So whether it’s football, baseball, or basketball season, place your bets and forget about that mess. After all, if you can’t prioritize the things you enjoy, what’s the point in moving to a better place?

So as the moving truck rumbles into the driveway, and the sound of tape sealing off boxes of your stuff for shipping fills the air, just remember a few things. You’ll want to know where your power cord is located, where your laptop is stored, as well as the new password to your wireless Internet. Last, but not least, you’ll want to have your usual scribbles of what teams look strong to you. To ensure they make it through the move safely, just tape your winning picks inside your laptop. This way, the moment you open your computer, the statistics sheet is available and ready for updating. Don’t let a move interfere with your time to play!