Tony Brewer View

Teri and I really try to recycle as much as we can. It’s tough in this area to do that, we’re not lucky like a lot of people that have curbside pickup of their recycling items. So we sort our items into bins here at home and when the bins get full we have to make a special trip to the recycling center. One of things that irritates me about that is that it is out of the way and uses a lot of our time and gasoline to take the items there, so I wonder about how “efficient” it is to do that.

But as much as possible we will recycle what we can. I was thrilled to learn that Home Depot is now recycling CFL bulbs! The reason I am thrilled about that item of news is because there is noone else around that takes them, and I just recently had a CFL bulb “blow” and I didn’t know how I could safely dispose of it! Now I know I can take it to Home Depot the next time I go there! Since I go to Home Depot several times a month, it’s not an inconvenience at all!

Teri and I are thinking about buying a robot vacuum cleaner for her mother for a Christmas present.  We have one ourselves, and we use it almost every day.  We just love it!  It is so nice to be able to let it clean the house while we are doing something else that we want to do.  As long as we run it frequently, it does a pretty good job.

We’ve been looking at the shop.com website to see what kinds of robot vacuum cleaners are available to sale, and what the price ranges are.  We were very surprised to see that there are quite a few companies “out there” that make those types of machines!

I’ve asked Teri to take a few minutes and check out the coupons and their free shipping offers from their website and see if any of them might apply to what we want to buy. Those kinds of deals can make a big difference!

I also noticed that the company is holding a special giveaway now through December 14th, giving away prizes every day! I’ve told Teri to make sure and sign up for the prizes too!

Frequently Teri and I are asked to participate in fundraising activities such as bake sales. These requests irritate me. Not that we are unsympathetic to “the cause” but most of the time whatever fundraising product they are trying to promote is in my opinion, worthless. When someone asks me to look at their catalog and order something for a fundraiser, or buy a candy bar or something else I just want to scream! I KNOW that a portion of what I spend has to be given to the company that makes the candy bar.

I would much rather just donate that entire amount of money to “the cause” than buy something I don’t want and can’t use. For example, if someone asks me to bake a cake for a bake sale I would rather just figure out how much it would cost to make a cake, and how much it would sell for, then just donate that amount of money to “the cause.” Much less effort, and “the cause” gets all of the money. And the entire amount of money donated is tax deductible.  Doesn’t that make sense to you?

One of the things I like to do is go to trade show exhibits.  I especially enjoy going to boat shows, home shows, garden shows, and recreational vehicle shows.  I like to fantasize about buying a new boat, or a new recreational vehicle.  Some of those RVs are amazing, especially the ones that have slide-out sections that make the rooms larger!

Teri enjoys going to craft shows, and I go with her to keep her company.  I have to admit that seeing their trade show displays and seeing what people do with their hands and how creative they can be is simply amazing!  The stained glass artists make some gorgeous things!  There are usually some trade show booths in the different shows that offer food samples, too, and I really enjoy sampling the different foods.  At the craft fair Teri and I go to there is always someone who sells dried candied pineapple, and we always buy a bag of that.  I’ve noticed that the bag is always empty before we even get home!