It's Time To Get Ready For Winter

Here in the Texas panhandle it was under 40 degrees when I woke up this morning. That tells me winter is not to far away.

It's time to get ready.

I found a really neat way to cut down on our heating bills this winter. As you've probably read here before, we live in a pretty big house. It makes no sense to me to heat the entire house with the central unit when there are rooms we rarely go in. So instead we'll be buying a small ceramic heater to go in each room. After all, why pay to heat rooms we're not using.

Ceramic heaters are great. They are super cost efficient and very safe. Our friends did this last year using these and cut their heating bills in half. I suspect we'll see similar or even better results.

The one potential drawback I saw was having to go into a cold room and wait for it to heat up, but even that's not a problem. For instance I don't want to wake up in the morning and head down to a cold kitchen for my first coffee. But many of these heaters are programmable. That means I can set it to start heating an hour before I wake up, and when I get to the kitchen, it will be nice and toasty for me.

There are tons of ceramic heaters available and this website gives you all the details you'll need to pick out the perfect ones for you.

They review all the major brands too like Holmes, Pelonis, Bionaire, Honeywell, Lasko, Comfort Zone, Duraflame, Optimus, DeLonghi, Sunbeam, Sunpentown and others.

It's amazing how many there are to choose from.

Are you ready to watch your heating bills plummet?

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

Am I Having A Flashback?

Yes, I'm an old hippie. Emphasis on old. And no, I'm not one of the millions who claims they were at Woodstock when they actually weren't. But I went to more than a few Grateful Dead concerts right up until the end.

Which brings me to something I saw the other day. I saw a new mom wrapping this big cloth around here before putting her baby in what looked like some of the homemade baby carriers I saw back in the day.

But this was different. It wasn't tattered and it had a really nice design on it. Plus everything seemed perfectly in place.

If you know me, you know I had to ask.

It turns out it was a Moby Wrap baby carrier. There's now an actual brand that makes something our generation did out of necessity. But these things are really nice.

Through our conversation I found out what she liked best about it, besides keeping her baby close, was the fact that there are no narrow shoulder straps that did into your shoulders. Those I'm aware of. We had a baby carrier that I hated for that very reason.

So naturally I did some research and found out all there is to know about the Moby Wrap. I'd get one for my kids but they'd probably think it's just dad being an old hippie again.

1. Click To Buy A Moby Wrap From Amazon
2. Why You'll Love The Moby Wrap
3. The Moby Wrap Comes In A Large Number Of...
4. It's Easy Once You Get The Hang Of It
5. More Videos On Using The Moby Wrap Baby...
6. Tell Us What You Think
7. Have Your Ever Tried A Moby Wrap Baby Ca...
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Shopping For Valentines

I'll admit right up front. I'm probably the worst gift giver in the universe. I do fine with the grand kids. They're easy to shop for. But there's no question in the world that if you ask my wife or adult daughters who is the worst gift giver in the world, they would not hesitate for one second before pointing me out.

I hate gift giving occasions for that very reason.

So I hesitate to even tell you this, but I've been shopping for Valentine's day and came up with this idea. A mother daughter necklace.

Sounds pretty good to me. It's actually two necklaces, one for the mom (my lovely wife) and one for one of our daughters. They somehow go together.

I think it's a good idea, but what do I know. Not much if you ask them. But hopefully this year will be different. I look at it this way. They'll either both love me or both hate me together.

Here's what I'm talking about.

1. Click To Find A Mother Daughter Necklace...
2. What Kind Of Mother And Daughter Necklac...
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5. What Do You Think Of This As A Gift Idea...
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