Cheryl Beckham

With the weather just being so wacky this winter, the past couple of days have been in the high 70′s, there are plenty of people taking advantage of the nice weather to get a good amount of outside projects done that normally don’t get done until spring. And if they aren’t busying doing outside work they are busy having outside fun. Heck my neighbor is just itching to start getting his swimming pool cleaned up and ready for water fun in the sun.

He was looking at swimming pool liners back last summer and but actually purchased a new pool cover so he is excited at the prospect of enjoying all that having a swimming pool in your back yard has to offer. His close friends, family and neighbors are looking forward to it as well, I can tell you that.

I have a feeling that we are going to pay dearly for having such a mild winter by having an extremely hot summer, so having a neighbor with a pool might possibly be one of the ways to help beat the heat that we are in store for real soon here.

Now is the time of the year that I start looking at getting my hands all in the dirt and thinking more and more about Gardening. Today it was so nice outside that I was so tempted to start doing some digging and tilling, but of course that would have been a waste of my time and energy since we will most likely be dealing with “Old Man Winter” for a few more months and anything could happen with this crazy weather we have been experiencing this winter.

I’ve been finding seed and plant catalogues in the mailbox lately and I’m enjoying looking at all of the varieties of plants, trees, bushes, flowers and shrubs that you can order these days. I can’t wait to order flowers for my new window box planters which I bought at the end of the season last deal. Man did I get a sweat deal on those babies. My mother used to have some of the most beautiful window boxes that she always took such pride in. So I’ve always wanted to give them a try and now that time has come. I just hope I can do them justice by looking even half as good as my mother’s did. I’m excited.

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.

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.

I’m so sick of drinking soda and iced tea, so I picked up a few packets of one of my favorite drinks as a kid, Black Cherry Kool Aid and I’m thrilled to have something different to drink on these hot summer days. Kool Aid, Kool Aid, Tastes Great, Wish We Had Some, Can’t Wait!

A neat trick that I learned as a kid is to fill an ice cube tray with the Kool Aid flavor that you have just made and use them instead of the plain water that we are accustomed to using. That way the Kool Aid doesn’t get watered down. This is important for me because I like my Kool Aid strong, so strong that I actually use 1 1/2 packets to make my 1/2 gallon jug of Cherry flavored Kool Aid, I can’t stand a weak glass of any iced drink.