Getting Ready For Winter Heating Bills

I'm bound and determined to lower my bills this winter. It's amazing how high the gas bills were last year. No I'm not going to tell you, it would probably give you a heart attack. Suffice it to say it was more than I ever wanted to pay to heat my home.

Part of the problem is, our house is very big. But now that 4 of our 5 kids have married and move out, it's way more space than we need. But we're not going to move for a couple of reasons. For starters, moving is a pain in the rear. Second, we have seven grandchildren and we want a house big enough to accommodate everyone at family gatherings. And third, it's our hope that one day one of our kids will take over the house for their growing family.

So, what now?

Well there's no reason for us to heat the entire house all the time. Instead we are going to buy a few small ceramic heaters and place them in the rooms we actually use. I did the research and it's incredible how cheap it is to run a ceramic heater. And safe too.

I'm hoping the gas company will have to call because they suspect we've tampered with the meter this year because our bills are so small.

We'll see.

One More Travel Story

This is more like the kind of travel I like. Get on a plane, arrive at your destination with the rental car waiting and drive to a nice (no not necessarily a 5 star) hotel. In addition to our camping trip we also took a sort of vacation this summer. It wasn't really a full vacation because we were leaving for our son's big baseball tournament, but it was still a week away from home so that counts for something.

Luggage has always been a sore spot with me and planes. It's rare that we buy a new piece that the airlines don't find a way to damage or otherwise destroy after a single flight. One piece that has somehow managed to survive several trips worth of such abuse is our Victorinox garment bag.

I decided that if I have something that can actually survive the treatment of airline workers as long as this has, I should probably tell everyone about it. And that's what I've done with my new page over at SirGo.

You can check it out here.

Rest Comfortably While Camping

My wife always said my idea of camping was staying at a Holiday Inn. So I'm not one to be spending a lot of time in the "great outdoors". Still, every year we spend a weekend camping at a state campground somewhere here in Texas.

No RV's allowed either. We use a tent only for sleeping, and at my age that gets a little more difficult every year. Plus, I hate air mattresses. I needed to come up with a solution for our weekend this year, so without telling anyone I went out and bought myself a Hennessy Hammock.

Imagine the surprised look on everyone's face when we got to our appointed destination and I began to get this thing out of the bag. What's so cool is that I had my "bed" set up before their tent was even halfway done.

This is not your typical hammock either. Actually, it's far from it. And it still qualifies at "roughing it" in my eyes. Plus it's the best I've slept on a camping trip in years.

I have a feeling I won't be the only one using one next year.

Find out more about it at my new SirGo page http://www.sirgo.com/hennessy-hammock.aspx

Love This Fitness Equipment

OK, as is frequently the case, it's been a long time since I've posted here. So before I get into the meat and potatoes of this post, let me just say that I haven't been doing much online at all, especially when it comes to Squidoo. Lots of changes over there and a site that I once loved has made it so it's simply not as much fun to write there anymore. So I'm trying out a new site... SirGo.com.

And although summer is winding down, I thought I would let you in on my goal of getting fit over the summer. No, I'm not sporting washboard abs or anything like that, but I have lost 30 pounds and much of it is because I've been working out on a new Total Gym.

Let me say that the idea of going to the gym is not something that I've ever been too fond of, and lifting weights just seems like too much work, plus you need a spotter which means another person has to be with you. When it comes to fitness, I much prefer to go solo. That's why I like the Total Gym. It's not too difficult and I can really see the results after only a few months.

In short, I'm happy with my purchase. Normally that means I would make some form of lens on Squidoo to give you all the details. Not this time. Actually you can see more details over on Sirgo at http://www.sirgo.com/total-gym-xls-reviews.aspx