Cheryl Beckham

Thanks to Lemuel Craft

One of the greatest things that happened when my husband and I recently moved into our new house is that we switched our television providers. Up until then we’d been cable television subscribers, because that’s what both of our parents had always used. We were looking around at our options for television in the new house and we discovered directstartv.com. We gave them a call, the installation was free, and we are now enjoying tons of television stations, as well as music stations and movie stations. It’s pretty great. We’ve been spending date nights in and ordering movies, and we love to curl up on the couch and watch our shows on DVR. There’s nothing better than getting home after work and knowing you have plenty of time to relax on the couch and watch television. With our DVR, we’re able to record movies from the movie channels too and enjoy a completely free date night. We love it so far, and with the money we’re saving on our monthly subscription plus the money we’ve saved on date nights, we’re planning a pretty phenomenal trip. We’re pretty excited.

This year my tree only has strings of popcorn and cranberries wrapped and draped around it. Wasn’t into doing the whole kit and kaboodle this year. This way when it is done and over with I can simple undo them and put them out back for the birds and other animals that will enjoy eating them for a few days.

The snow is bad enough, but the wind is totally out of control today. I’ve had to go outside numerous times so far today to retrieve several things that have been blown out of their proper place. So far, two box tops, one trash can, one lawn chair and just now I picked up several plastic trash can liners that blew in from somewhere in the neighborhood along with some other trashy items. The wind about blew me away, and I had to come running inside quickly and calm myself down a bit.

It will be a good day to stay by the blazing fireplace that I just started a nice fire in and watch all the football games that are being aired today. I have a good sized flat screen T.V. that makes watching the games so much more enjoyable.

What a cold and nasty Saturday, and the bad news is that tomorrow is supposed to be worse, oh what a wonderful Monday that will be.

My daughter really only wants one thing for Christmas, that is a PlayStation 3. I wish that I had that type of money to be able to purchase her one, but they are running for all most $300 and then of course there are the games that are needed to go along with the new system. So far she has received all most $125 from some of our relatives that they want her to use for Christmas, so I’ve been thinking that we should be looking at Prepaid Cards and start applying all the money onto one so that when she has enough on it that she can either use it online or at a local retail store in town when she finds the perfect one.

I don’t like using my debit card for online purchases, so purchasing a Green Dot card is beneficial all the way around. I have bad experiences with several transactions that my debit card was involved with, which of course is connected to my bank account which then caused havoc there as well. What a mess, so I’ve gotten into the habit of using Prepaid Cards and I think this is the perfect opportunity for my daughter to utilize a Green Dot card as well for this particular experience.

I’m currently in 2 disputes with PayPal right now due to two separate purchases gone bad. After all the return shipping fees involved it has left a real bad taste in my mouth right now. Been kicking myself in the butt for not going with my gut and using one of the numerous Prepaid Cards that are available everywhere you turn these days.

There is a good chance that a few more folks may throw her a few bucks in the next couple of weeks. So many relatives float in and out of here that we know we will not be seeing on Christmas day that they tend to just give her cash when they see her in the up and coming weeks. She likes it that way. Instead of getting a bunch of junky gifts that she really doesn’t want or need or even like, she gets to save up for something that she really, really wants and normally we would not be able to afford between to two of us. Even though tips are usually up at the bar during the holiday season you can’t rely on that these days.

Today is December 1st, the beginning of the the last month of the year 2011. The first of the month always brings the task of paying the majority of the house hold monthly bills for me and what a bummer it is this last month of the year to see what little is left to use for buying the Christmas gifts that we find are so necessary to give each and every year.

I didn’t brave the Black Friday shopping frenzy, that isn’t something that I’m into at all. Just thinking about the whole horrible process involved in that event makes my stomach uneasy and gives me a head ache.

This year, now that I know how much I have to play with, most of my shopping will be done online. This is something that a good amount of people are doing and I intend to be one of the statistics for this year. No crowds, no parking issues, no rude sale associates, no lines, no freezing my buns off outside and sweating to death inside all the stores and no holiday music being drummed into my head that is being played in every store in the country.