Cheryl Beckham

I can’t believe that the owner of the restaurant and bar that I tend the bar at has, at the last minute decided to have their doors open and welcoming for the day of Thanksgiving. After finding that most of his employees don’t have immediate family members to celebrate the holiday with, he made his decision based on employee availability. He has been asked numerous times by the “regulars” if he would consider this possibility and he grabbed the bait and definitely ran with it. Just wish he had not waited until the last minute.

So the bad news is that I have to tend bar that day. A bar and restaurant filled with all of the other “loners” in the county will certainly be an interesting shift, they better not be stingy with their wallets, due to their loneliness and depression that is known to hit people harder during the family oriented holiday season.

The good news is that we are promised to be paid overtime for the inconvenience and all of our efforts in making this as pleasant as we possibly can.

Still trying to figure out a great gift to buy for my Dad as a Christmas present this year. Men are so hard to buy for and considering that my Dad is at the age where he has most of what he wants and needs all ready it can be a struggle. There is nothing worse that spending time and money on a gift that isn’t appreciated nor will it be used, so I am constantly trying to figure out what to get him each year for Christmas, his birthday and Father’s Day.

I have thought of one thing that I think he might like considering he spends so much time outside on his very noisy tractor, a pair on in ear noise cancelling headphones might be something that he would enjoy. He could also use them for when my daughter has the urge to crank up her teeny bopper music that he on occasion will make a remark on or complain about. So they would get used for several noise control issues. Guess I need to get off of it and get on to finding him a pair online today.

My good friend Janice has been a nurse for a very long time and really loves her job. She became a supervisor not too long ago and has a real good relationship with the other nurses that she has been given the responsibility to supervise. They have become what you could call an extended family to my unmarried and childless friend, which is really cool. Nursing has consumed Janice’s life and she claims that she doesn’t have time for courting and she has found that her professional very fulfilling.

For Christmas she wants to give all of her charges a Christmas present but doesn’t have a whole lot of money to spend since there are so many of them, so she has decided to look into purchasing a boat load of cute but appropriate nursing pins that she has found online at Pinmart.com. I decided to check them out and I have to say that they really do have a great variety of these pins that can be placed on their uniforms to display for the whole world to see and enjoy. And they certainly are affordable and I think that everyone will enjoy receiving one for Christmas.

These two are my favorites, cute right?

There have been a few people that have asked me if there is anything that I would like for Christmas this year which always makes me feel good but really awkward at the same time. There really isn’t much that I really want that I can come up with to tell people because all the things that I really, really want are pretty big ticket items that no one would ever consider or be able to purchase for me. You know things like a new car, a new motorcycle, a new stereo sound system that would just blow the walls out down in the basement where my bedroom is, things like that.

I have told a couple of people that I think are capable of finding and selecting some nice celtic jewelry pieces for me. I’m not into fancy diamonds and pearls, but I do enjoy some of the more unusual pieces that I come across from time to time. Ear rings are always welcomed! And then of course I think that gift cards are always welcome, am I right?

It’s not Halloween yet but the stores are putting out Christmas toys and decorations already. I hate that. I think most people think the same way. Yet the retailers persist in putting the Christmas things out too early in the season.

That’s probably a good indication of why retail is losing their asses and have been in trouble for the past several years. They don’t listen to what the general public thinks or wants.

I like to shop at Sam’s Club because most of the items in the discount warehouse are a good price. But you can’t count on finding the size and color that you want. You can’t count on the same thing being there next time you go to get it. You can’t check out quickly with just a few items in the basket – there are no express lanes. And you can’t use a VISA card to pay for your purchases.

But I found a nice little daily calendar for under $10 that would be a great Christmas gift for my mother, so I bought it. So I have reluctantly but officially begun my Christmas shopping for this year.