Amy Currioman

I’m the kind of person who loves to make lists.  I try to make a list of things that need to be done for the day, both for inside the house and for errands that need to be run.  It really gives me a sense of accomplishment when I cross off the item on the list!  And I try very hard to make my grocery list in the order in which the items are found in the store so I’m not zig-zagging around the store! When I make the list for running errands I try to make the list in a logical “full circle” list so that I’m not wasting time or gas by back-tracking.

I often use the clean backs of envelopes that I received in the mail to write down my lists.  I love how it reduces the amount of trash filling up the landfills!  And whenever possible, I use both sides of printer paper.  One good way to use the second side of printer paper is using it for shopping lists that I’m printing off from the computer.  Now you may ask why I would be printing a list from the computer!  And for good reason!  I found a website that I’m going to try out where it helps me to create and organize my shopping list. The website is called list2shop.com and I think that it has the potential to help me save time and money. And it’s free!

I was talking on the phone a few minutes ago, and was gazing out the front window, down towards the street.  I had opened the main front door (storm door still closed) to let in some light, and to let the dogs watch the view from inside.  It’s raining out today, and chilly; autumn has settled in for sure!  I noticed a doe and her fawn emerge from the woods on the east side of the house and start to graze on our lawn.  I enjoy watching the deer when they come out; there are often as many as six or seven at a time.  I don’t usually see them this time of day!  That was a surprise!

The fawn started to roll around in the grass, apparently enjoying itself!  A car drove past our house, startling the deer and they hurried back into the safety of the woods.  Apparently that was the first moment my dogs noticed the deer and went totally crazy!  It took several minutes for me to get them to calm down.  Peace and quiet shattered!

About three years ago we moved from one state to another – about 800 miles away!  We were on a very tight budget and could not afford to hire any National Brand moving companies to move our things, so we had to do it all ourselves, using rental one-way trucks.  We moved over a period of three months, packing a couple of boxes every day and then put them in a self-storage unit at the local self-storage business.  When we had enough to fill a rental truck we took the truck to the self-storage unit and filled it up and drove it to our new house.

During that period of time I tried very hard to find people who would help me with the process.  I needed some folks to come paint the walls of the house we were moving out from, and I needed some folks to come clean the house we were moving into before we actually moved in.  I had absolutely no luck in finding anyone to help with any of those things. 

The stress of doing all of this by ourselves took a huge toll on us.  I kept asking my son and hubby to help me and they would say they’d help me but at another time.  We just couldn’t seem to co-ordinate working together!

Since then, a new Internet service called HireAHelper has come into existence.  This service helps the consumer to find and hire local help to do just about anything that needs to be done!  From housekeeping to moving to day labor to landscaping, the website helps to match the consumer with the professional.

I sure wish that this service was in existence back then!  It sure would have made a huge difference in my stress level!  If we ever move again I will not hesitate to use this service to help us find movers and moving services!

My hubby and I are planning to go to the Habitat for Humanity Restore later today.  I’ve never been there; I didn’t even know it existed until a few days ago.  I’m a member of a Yahoo community group that was talking about where to get inexpensive things for the house and one of the members told us about the Restore.  We’re hoping to get a couple of new interior doors (hopefully in kits) to put in the basement!  It would be great if we could get some new doors at a good price!

I was recently reading an article about Federal Criminal Defense Lawyers, and it occurred to me that I don’t even know what qualifies as a Federal offense!  So with a little bit of research I found out that child pornography, computer crimes, and Internet offenses are all qualified as Federal offenses!  Of course, there are more categories than that, but it made me wonder exactly WHO should be contacted when you think you are the victim of one of those offenses!