Holiday #6: Chill The Wine

Chill the wine and pour me a glass.

I like my wine. I usually prefer a nice pinot noir, but lately I've been enjoying Haak Vineyards Blanc du Bois which we brought home from our vacation. The trouble with white wine is that you have to plan ahead and chill the bottle. I'm more of an impulsive "I want it now" kind of girl so I found the perfect gift for me. Maybe it'll be perfect for you or someone you know.

It's the 10-Minute Wine Chiller I saw on KK's site. You just secure the frozen wine chiller around the bottle. In 10 minutes, your wine is ready to go.

Price: $13.95

Takeaway Truth

Wine should be chilled to about 60 degrees F. to thrill your taste buds.

Allen: This Hog's For You

I have a great brother-in-law named Allen. He reads my blog though he's not really interested in most of the topics I talk about. However, that will change with this blog because I'm writing it just for him.

You see the delight of Allen's life - other than his wife and family - is his 100th Anniversary Edition Harley Davidson Screaming Eagle Deuce Softail. I have to admit that it is a gorgeous bike. Gold and black and shiny. I guess you'd call it a macho guy's bling.

Guess what, Allen! I've got a tip for you. Next time you want to get some custom parts for your baby, visit Cruiser Customizing.com for all parts motorcycle.

P. S. Tell Bertha I said hi! (That's his wife who rides on the back of his hog.)

Takeaway Truth

Even chicks dig bikes.

Departing Visitors

Quote for the Week

Judith Martin, perhaps better known as Miss Manners, in her Guide for the Turn-of-the-Mllennium, said: It is a widespread and firm belief among guests that their departure is always a matter of distress to their hosts, and that in order to indicate they have been pleasantly entertained, they must demonstrate an extreme unwillingness to allow the entertainment to conclude. This is NOT necessarily true.


I'm Going to Get in Trouble for This One

Let me make some disclaimers. I completely adore the people who visited over the last two weeks. I hope they come again. Often. And stay as long as they want.

Now, having said that, and, just now sitting with my feet propped up after the last guests left late today, I must also say that having house guests is like boat ownership.

Happiest Days in Boat Owner's Life

Every person I've ever known who bought a boat and, subsequently, sold said boat have made this statement: The two happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day you buy the boat and the day you sell the boat.

So to apply this to house guests.... Well, I guess you get the picture. You're delighted beyond belief when your visitor arrives. Then, after several days of cooking three meals a day, shopping, watching movies, providing entertainment, staying up late, and generally playing the role of host, you're delighted they depart.

Seriously, I wouldn't take anything for the time I get to spend with loved ones. However, I'd give a lot to have extra energy. A LOT of extra energy.

Takeaway Truth

Why can't happy days give you tons of energy and subtract years from your age and depressing, mundane days be the ones that tire you completely?

AAFR Guest Blogger

In case you'd like to know more about funding your retirement, especially if you're a card-carrying baby boomer, check out American Association of Future Retirees.

Actually, we're all future retirees, right? You owe it to yourself to learn more about providing for the biggest expense of your life - retirement. The older you are; the more interested in this topic you should be.

We've tried to impress the importance of saving, saving, saving to all our children. I guess we've been successful in our attempts. In fact, one of our sons is a certified financial planner who is part of a notable investment management firm. I keep intending to list some of the radio broadcasts on investing and retirement which he's done. But, so much to do and so little time, yada yada yada.

In any event, I wanted to let you all know that I'll be guest blogging on the AAFR Blog from time to time.

When I do, I'll give you a heads up because everyone should be interested in this subject matter.

My first blog for AAFR is a review of the Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth bookYes, You Can Still Retire Comfortably. This should be required reading for every American who works.

Takeaway Truth

Most people have plans or dreams of embarking on a second career (one more fun than the first) after retirement from the first. It's great to have a dream, but you must also have a plan on how to turn the dream into reality.

File Extension: What's That Mean?

You know the signoff of the TV production company that goes: "What's that mean?" I don't know which company it is. The only signoff tagline I do know is: "Sit, Ubu, sit." That was Gary David Goldberg's signoff for UBU Productions, Inc. that did the old Family Ties sitcom. I always thought that was funny. Especially when he replied: "Good dog." But I digress.

Mysterious 3 Letters

What I started to tell you about is that the "What's that mean?" pops into my head every time I see a file name with 3 letters I don't recognize after the dot. You know, the file name extension. I used to just groan and whine about having to figure out the obscure reference. But no more. I found a website that's a no-brainer. Even for a non-tekkie like me.

Rescued

Well, I found File-Types.com. It's another WordPress blog that you'll want to write down for your resource list. Why? I'm glad you asked.

The categories on the blog are letters of the alphabet. That makes it so easy to look up a particular file extension. If you have a dot asp file and you don't know what application to use to open the file, just select A in the category list. Then read about the asp file extension.

The post will explain:

• what it is
• how to open it whether you're running a Mac or a PC
• what any drawbacks to the file might be.

You see File Extension is a pretty comprehensive guide to the meaning of all those cryptic 3 letters.

Takeaway Truth

You can teach an old dog new tricks, like file extensions, even if the dog isn't named Ubu.

Holiday Gift #5: Give Me Light

I'm a little behind in doing the Holiday Gift suggestion each day. Chalk it up to lots of freelance clients wanting my incomparable prose, lots of holiday visitors, lots of cooking, and lots of eating. (I'm scarfing down some Banana Pudding as I catch up on blogging. My bad.)

New Label: Happy Holidays

So it looks as if these Holiday Gift tips will come at random times instead of once a day. Because of this, I've added a new label, Happy Holidays, so you can find them all together if you're interested.

Today's tip was created because of a repair I was trying to accomplish before our holiday guests arrived. I was trying to insert a screw underneath my desk into the slide out keyboard drawer. Now, I'm pretty handy and ambidextrous, but I can't wield a power drill and a flashlight while lying on the floor under a desk.

Need Light

I abandoned the project until my husband came home to guilt him into taking care of the repair. In the meantime, I surfed Kim Komando's site, a great resource for gadgets and gizmos you won't find at the mall. (She should pay me to blog about her since I'm constantly telling people about her store. Sadly, she does not.) I'd seen this particular item a while back and finally found it again.

Great Gizmo

It's an LED flashlight gizmo that attaches to a power driver. I know I could have used one. I think it will make a great gift - especially for guys who are hard to buy for.

Specs:

1.5" in diameter
tool & LED flashlight
3 strong magnets on back to hold on any metal surface
Shock resistant
LED bulbs last 100,000 hours
on/off switch
Powered by 3 micro alkaline cells, type LR44 included

Price:
$11.95

Takeaway Truth

When you know a good gift idea for the male of the species, pass it on.

Ultimate Shopping for Ultimate Hunter

You know that song lyric: "he's making a list and checking it twice?" Well, that was my husband today. You can't drag him to a mall on Black Friday and Saturday. By the same token, you can't drag him away from the computer on those days either. Why? He's discovered my smart shopping secret. Websites have Black Friday specials too!

When he found the Nikon Black Friday Promo, you'd have thought he'd personally scored a Hail Mary pass in a Super Bowl. Suddenly, he liked shopping. I mean, he can watch the football games on the TV in his home office and shop for the Ultimate Hunter's Package at the same time. (If I knew how to do that Tim Allen-Home Improvement man grunt sound, I'd do it because that would be so appropriate.)

(Uh oh. He just wandered in to my study. He's looking over my shoulder as I write this. I can't help it. I break up into giggles.)

Indignant at my snickering, he haughtily informed me that you didn't have to be a woman to know how to shop and get bargains. He said the Nikon Ultimate Hunter's Package helped him save big. He started enumerating all the ways you could save on the Nikon Promo site, but I kind of lost track after Riflescopes, Rangefinders, and Binoculars, until he mentioned gift cards. Gift cards always get my attention.

His new fave website offers an expanded program of gift cards. He thinks it's totally cool to buy a present for someone and get a gift card to spend on yourself. I could have told him that, but he probably wouldn't have heard me. He'd already abandoned shopping chitchat to return to his football game. And probably finding something on which to spend his impending Nikon gift card.

Takeaway Truth

Never underestimate the value of a good Black Friday promotion.