Amy Currioman

I am so lucky to have a brother who is self employed as a comptuer technical support expert.  Whenever I have any trouble with my computer at all, I call him up immediately!  Thank goodness that isn’t very often!  I could certainly imagine him seeing my caller ID on his phone and saying “Oh no, not Amy again!” and then just letting it go to voicemail!  One of the most awesome things he has ever done to help me is to install some great remote desktop software on my computer.  The reason why it is so awesome is that it enables him to help me with my computer issues without even coming over to my house!

There have been a few times when I’ve called him on the phone and complained about an issue.  He would tell me to launch the remote access program and within a few seconds I would see the computer pointer moving around without me touching anything!  The first time I saw that happen, I thought it was spooky for a few seconds, but then I thought it was great!  The only drawback that we have ever had with something like that was there were a few times that I had to restart the computer myself when he was fixing things that required a restart.  And then I had to relaunch the program.  But overall it was really great to have that; much better than my brother having to drive over to my house to fix the problem!

I went to Joann’s Fabric Saturday afternoon and found some really pretty striped fabric that was on sale for $3.00 a yard.  I simply fell in love with it and bought the entire bolt.  I know that it would make a gorgeous dress.  The issue I am having now is decidind whether to acutally follow pattern directions and cut on the grain or against the grain.  If I use the pattern the way it is intended, then the stripes will be horizontal, and I would prefer the stripes to be vertical.  You know, weight issues! 

I just don’t know if there is any repurcussions about fabric stability if I cut against the grain.  So I guess I’ll have to be doing some research on that subject before I actually cut into it!  If you have any advice on the subject, feel free to share!

I am not the kind of person who like shiny hardware around the house.  I prefer the toned down looks of pewter and tarnished/burnished metals for the most part.  Well, ok I like copper when it is shiny.  But I don’t like shiny brass fixtures.  When we moved into this house, one of the first things I noticed about the house that I wanted to change was the Cabinet Hardware in the kitchen.  It was very large shiny brass.  We had just replaced the kitchen appliances with stainless steel and the shiny brass was just too garish for me!  So I wanted to replace the hardware with something a little bit less shiny.  I ended up buying some hardware from the great selection at CabinetParts.com that looks like pewter, which I like a lot better.  I’ve been surprised recently when I have had occasion to go to other people’s homes to find the exact same hardware in their kitchen!  That certainly makes me feel validated!

I am most annoyed today with a vendor on Ebay.  I was looking to buy a red bikini bottom and bid on one that was advertising FREE SHIPPING!  Well, I bid on it, was outbid so I raised my bid and I ended up winning it.  When I went to Ebay to pay for it, the vendor is charging $4.50 for shipping!  What happened to FREE?  Well, two days ago I sent a message to the vendor asking for a revised invoice to show the shipping charge removed so that I would get the free shipping as it was advertised.  No answer, no revision.  I only have three days to pay for the purchase, and I don’t know what to do!  What would YOU do?

I love a good hot tub spa.  Some of my favorite vacations have involved spending time relaxing in a hot tub.  One of my favorite memories of a vacation hot tub is after a day of snow skiing up in Maine with my sisters we decided to indulge in their pool that starts out indoors but goes outdoors, and once you are outdoors it is next to a large hot tub.  We started out in the indoor part of the pool and made our way outdoors.  I had never been in a heated pool in the winter time before!  It was a very odd feeling to be seeing the snow just inches from the pool, and yet being perfectly warm! 

After a few minutes of swimming we decided to move over to the hot tub.  There were already several people in the tub, but they made room for us.  I just sat on the edge of the tub and dangled my feet in the water most of the time.  When I actually got into the tub I couldn’t believe that I was too warm!  After all, it was only about 20 degrees outside!  So I was content to sit on the side of the hot tub and dangle my feet.  It was really wonderful to look at the stars in the sky, enjoy the Northern Lights that were playing overhead, and enjoy the novelty of sitting outside in my bathing suit with the snow all around and being perfectly warm!  What a great day that was!