A few years back, we had the chance to take a lovely grandfather clock from my husband’s grandmother’s home when she passed away. I had always wanted one, so when we were asked what we’d like to remember Nanny, we were in agreement that the clock would be it. Had I gone shopping for grandfather clocks on my own, I probably wouldn’t have picked the clock we ended up with from Nanny. It’s a lighter toned wood than I prefer, and the mechanism is out dated, but since it’s from family, I can overlook those things. Something like the Ridgeway Victoria II at 1-800-4clocks.com is more my style - actually, it reminds me a bit of the clock from Beauty and the Beast. The curve of the top of the clock and the rich, dark wood on the body of the clock appeal to me.

For now, we’ll keep the clock we have though. Someday, we’ll hand it down to one of our children. I need to get better about maintaining it for sure, especially if I want it to last that long. The site’s grandfather clock blog has some great tips on how to maintain your clock. I didn’t realize oiling was recommended every 2-4 years. We definitely haven’t been keeping up with that! I think I need someone out to take a look at the whole chime mechanism and make sure it’s working correctly, and then we’ll be in the know about caring for the clock going forward.

I was at one of our local malls (International Plaza) yesterday for lunch. I so rarely go into this particular mall, because, well, it’s too high class for me. A coworker made a remark about going into the Dillard’s there, and I said that must be the cheapest department store option at International Plaza. It has a Tiffany & Co. store, Betsey Johnson, Lladro, and a Louis Vuitton shop. It’s definitely NOT the place to go if you’re looking for a bargain, but it’s a great place to hit for lunch!

I got nosy this week and walked through one of the homes under construction in my neighborhood. With the prices being so much lower than they were a year ago, people are spending a little bit more attention to detail on the inside of their homes. We’ve seen more people optioning to get upgraded cabinets, and Corian, and we’ve seen a few homes with upgraded bathroom lighting, just like we did. The builder standard was a bar of 5 of those big rounded bulb lights - like a dressing room backstage in a theater. The direct light bothers my eyes, so we chose to get something with a shade over the bulbs, and we upgraded the lighting in all 3 of our bathrooms. The master bath and the kids bath match, and the powder room downstairs matches the dining room and foyer lighting.

Of course, had we not done it in the construction process, it’s something that’s easy enough to change out on your own. You also get a much larger selection than we had in our builder’s design center, and you save money by doing it on your own. Sweat equity, and all that!

In the 11 years my husband and I have been married, we’ve moved a total of 5 times. Our most recent moves were definitely the most stressful. In 2005, we sold our home, and moved into a rental home while our new home was being built. Knowing that we’d only been in our rental home for a few months, we left a lot of our things packed and stored in the garage, which made things interesting. I’d go looking for a certain cake pan, or a book I wanted, and then realize they were piled under 15 boxes in the garage. We didn’t use professional movers, but I sure wish we had checked into it, or at least gotten some free professional advice, like what you’ll find on HomeBulletin.net. They’ve got a neat moving checklist I could have used, and advice on how to pack your things correctly too. I’m guessing that my technique of shoving clothes randomly into trash bags isn’t among the tips they share. The site also gives you the ability to get free quotes from movers.

Every week, when I drive Matthew to hockey, we pass a dog training facility. Sometimes there are classes going on when we pass by, and I see the proud dog owners outside, leading their dogs by the leash, desperately trying to heel. I can sympathize, as we are puppy training dropouts. We took a class years ago when we got our lab and just quit going. It wasn’t a legit class - just a group meeting informally, but had we gone to a real dog trainer, with real dog training equipment, we probably would have had better results. Signature K9 is a site that sells dog training equipment to people and groups serious about training dogs. They even have equipment for training police, military, and search and rescue dogs, like dog harnesses.

I don’t need Bailey to sniff out drugs or find a lost kid in the woods. I just want her to stop eating food off the kitchen counter.

Since we built our new home last year, I don’t plan on moving again for a while. It’s a big hassle! Adding to the hassle last year was that we did 3 moves in the span of 6 months. In November of 2005, Jim and I moved out of our home that we sold into a rental. Then we moved my mother into her new home in April 2006. And then, in May 2006, we moved into our new home. Never again, will I try to make that many moves in such a short time frame. And doing it yourself? Forget it. We busted our humps for weeks to get all of those moves done. The next time I have to move, I’m hiring professional movers. Oh sure, you hear horror stories about so called professionals who charge sky high rates and hold your stuff hostage. Before hiring a mover, use a website like HomeBulletin.net to find licensed movers. Different companies specialize in different things - some do great with coast to coast moves in the USA, others do in town moves. Find the best one for your specific needs and let someone else deal with the headaches and hassles - you can even request a quote online to compare different companies in your area.

There’s a new shopping center being near me that’s rumored to have either a Target or a Kohl’s in it. Do you know how DANGEROUS that would be for me? My husband better lock down the debit card! Either store would be a great addition to our area, and much more welcome than the Wal-Mart that tried to build by the grocery store I frequent. When I was growing up in the small town of Tarpon Springs, our “big store” was the local K-Mart. Yes, I had a deprived childhood!

Vera Bradley fans in Tampa - listen up! I just heard about a store called The Paper Porch, which is one of only TWO authorized Vera Bradley resellers in Hernando County, and the only location to buy Vera Bradley at in Brooksville. The store is located in downtown Brooksville, at 510 Liberty Street, inside an old historic home, and in addition to the Vera Bradley purses and other accessories, the store offers stationary, sterling silver pieces, Waterford Crystal, and other unique gifts. It’s the perfect place to pick up something unique for a wedding, a friend’s birthday, or for yourself!

The pictures on the site show a wee bit of the store’s interior, and it’s just as charming and quaint as it sounds. I can’t wait to make a trip there to explore!

We have friends in town who own a plumbing business, and recently went through the hassle of trying to find affordable health insurance for their business. While they don’t have any employees, they do have three small children, and health insurance was a must. I recommend a strategy that worked for us when buying homeowners insurance. Rather than going to the company, like Blue Cross Blue Shield directly, go to a broker - it’ll save you time and money. Instead of giving your information out several times to agents for each company, you can give all your information to the broker for a family health insurance quote. You’ll be provided with a range of quotes, at no change, from companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, United, and Aetna.

Florida isn’t exactly the right kind of climate for Christmas trees. Even when the trees are shipped to tree stands right after Thanksgiving, they risk being damaged by the heat before you ever get one home. I personally don’t want to put my tree up immediately following Thanksgiving, but sometimes, that’s your only choice. Otherwise, you can get your tree closer to Christmas, but chances are, it’s one of those trees that was delivered back in November, and it’s been drying out in the heat for weeks now. Did you know that instead of buying a dried out brown tree locally, you can have fresh, green Christmas wreaths and trees shipped right to your house, from the tree farm?

We typically buy our tree at the local home improvement store, and pay anywhere from $75 to $125 for a tree. And then we stuff into the back of my SUV and drive home. You can get a tree online from ChristmasFarms.com, starting at $89, with FREE delivery to your door. The trees are coming from a farm in Michigan, and it would only take 3 days to arrive at my house in Florida. So let’s see…a fresh tree cut down just 3 days ago for me, or whatever the local place has…dried out and brown. Tough call! HA!

It’s only July, but being the obsessive planner that I am, I’m already thinking about my Christmas card pictures! Last year’s picture is still on my fridge, in fact, it was taken a year ago this week! It was the night of my birthday and we went to Homosassa Springs for dinner, and had someone take our picture out on the dock. Sunset and water behind us, all the kids smiling, all 10 eyes open - it was a winner! I think this year’s picture will be one of our snapshots from Niagara Falls. I’m really liking the Christmas photo cards. They’re not the cheesy photo cards you normally see, where the photo IS the card. These are real cards, printed on nice stationary, with your photo, and you can get matching address tags to really show your friends what a Martha Stewart you are!

Back in my youth, I spent quite a few weekends at the beach wearing nothing but a bikini and some tanning oil. Yes, tanning OIL. It’s a wonder my skin doesn’t look like leather from all the sun damage I inflicted on it in my youth! I’m smarter now and use a sunscreen with a nice high SPF in it when I go outside, but I can see fine lines and wrinkles on my face that could be from aging, or they could be the start of that leather face. I’ve seen a natural skin care line called Shira in my salon. The product line is sold through spas and high end salons and the line can help with acne or wrinkle reduction. It contains natural products like sea weed and chamomile.

Spa and salon owners, as well as estheticians can take Shira classes at their NJ location so that you can return your spa and pamper your customers in style!

I watch a lot of home improvement shows, and it always irritates me when a “designer” comes in to redo a room, and ends up taking down a ceiling fan. Here in Florida, where the weather is consistently hot and humid, I can’t imagine not having ceiling fans in almost every room of the house. In fact, we DO have them in almost every room - my den, all of the bedrooms, and our family room. We even have two on our lanai!

If you want something a little more unique than what your local home improvement store is offering, you can check out ceiling fans online. You’ll find a much wider selection online, and some brands that the big box home improvement stores don’t even carry. We’ve got several hunter fans in our house and I love them. When you select the perfect ceiling fan, it’s not “just” a fan - it becomes part of your decor! Farreys.com also features another brand I like - Casablanca ceiling fans. They’ve got a neat fan search engine that allows you to find just what you’re looking for - handy if you want a 5 blade fan with a remote and a light kit. (Three guesses what I’ve got in the family room!) Shop by company or style, cool your home, and decorate all at the same time!

A locksmith is one of those things you don’t think about, until you really need one. No matter if you locked your keys out of your car, or locked yourself out of your house, a locksmith is one of those guys you want to come help you out quickly when you need him! I’ll never forget the time I locked myself out of my house when Catherine was a baby. I was pregnant, and in my pajamas. I had to walk to the neighbor’s house across the street and borrow their phone, so that I could call my mom, because she had an extra key to my house. If not for her, I would have been scrolling through the Yellow Pages for a Tampa locksmith! I like this particular Tampa locksmith because they started as a small family owned business. I think that’s a great foundation for good customer service! That’s how they became the guys to call in Tampa when you’re locked out - good service, quick response, and happy customers!

If you’re not using online storage for your PC, you need to get with the program! Why fill up your hard drive with pictures and videos and MP3s, or upload it to your server? The smart solution is to use an online store system like IBackup. It’s not just for personal use either, in fact, they’re an ideal solution for the small business (and don’t we have plenty of those, right here in Tampa) looking to save money while providing their employees with great tools. The system features online mapping as a drive or a web folder, and you can even schedule backups to be done at your convenience! Don’t just take my word for it - the software has won awards from PCWorld and PCMag too!

I was watching a show called Tori & Dean Inn Love last night. It features Tori Spelling, and her husband, and it’s all about how they’ve opened a modernized bed and breakfast in California. The furniture in this place is out of sight - I’ve never seen anything like it in the stores around here. Let’s face it - the chain furniture stores around Tampa aren’t known for their fantastic style and wide selection. If you want really unique bedroom furniture you need to shop online. At GreatPricedFurniture.com, you’ll find really unique pieces that you can’t find locally, from brands like American Drew, Kathy Ireland By Standard Furniture, Hooker Furniture, Pulaski, and Serta. Check out the brands in the local stores - unless you go to a high end store, you won’t find name brands that you know! I really love the selection of designer sink cabinets - one of those would look SO neat in our master bath!