HUGE Hornet Bee's Nest and Hive

Seven years ago we purchased an older home and have been renovating it for the past 7 years. There was a small Florida sun room that hadn't been updated or modernized since the early 1970's. We decided to demolish that room and build a new one.

Hubby started off by knocking down some of the walls and then was working on tearing down the ceiling when low and behold he found this....YES....a huge hornet bee's nest and hive up in the rafters. Oh my gosh!!! We had never seen one this big before!

After getting the ceiling panels down he hit it with bee spray to make sure that he killed all of the bees. He then waited for 2 hours and finally knocked it down and removed it. I hope you can see by my photograph how BIG that nest was!!!

We had noticed the spring, summer and fall the year before a lot of bee activity around the back side of our home but had never expected to find that up in the ceiling. Thankfully the room has been completely demolished and our new room is almost complete. I'll update the blog with some before and after photo's in a few weeks.

I'm deathly allergic to bee stings, so I'm pretty happy that the nest and hive is GONE. Plus, I don't have to worry about those bees attacking myself or my grandchildren anymore. Bye-Bye Bees!

Spring and Easter Home and Yard Decorating

Every year when the season changes I like to change up my home decor and my outside yard decorations to reflect the new season or holiday. When we had full-time children at home, we really went over-board with our decorating but have scaled it down quite considerably now that we are empty nesters.

This year I decided to get out just a few of our Easter decorations and most of them are ones that I've had for many years. Yikes...I need to update and get some new fresh things for next year. About 12-14 years ago my husband made me two 4 foot tall wooden bunny rabbits out of pine wood which I painted and decorated. Every year I put one on our porch near the front door and the second one on the little porch near our side door. They welcome holiday visitors into our home every year. I think once the holiday is over, I am going to give both of them a fresh coat of paint and new bows, they are starting to look a little shabby!

Right now the walkway of our front porch I placed a wooden "Easter Bunny Stop Here" yard sign since that is the walkway and door that my little grand daughter tends to use. Nearby that I have a few outdoor ceramic Easter eggs nestled among some flowers and grass.

In my family room I have a few stuffed bunny rabbits sitting out, a few ceramic Easter figurines sitting out and a small bunny rabbit throw rug in front the sofa. I love taking little plush bunnies and nestling them in and around my house plants which looks cute!

Last year I did pick up 2 sets of these resin bunny rabbit figurines after the holiday on clearance and ONLY paid $1.49 per set. I love bargains like that and I think they are adorable. I have one set sitting on an end table in the family room and another set sitting on top of our entertainment center.

Also outside I hung up a very large "Spring" themed house flag onto the flag pole that I got this year. I love the white daisy's and the cute red lady bugs on this flag! It's cute and I can leave it up until the start of Summer and then I will switch out the flag to another one. I also hung out on my little garden flag holder a small "Easter Bunny Welcome" flag which is way too cute too!

In our eat-in kitchen I did put an Easter theme'd table cloth, placemats and a centerpiece onto the table which looks really cute and festive. I did dig out a few of my spring theme'd kitchen linens and put them out on display too (dish towels, dish cloths, oven mitt and hot pads).

As you can see, I didn't go overboard this year but next year I really plan on going all out! Do you decorate for the Easter holiday? The spring season? Do you just do a few little touches or do you go way out with your home & yard decorating?

Christmas 2014 Holiday Decorations Part 2

Two weeks ago I shared some of our indoor and outdoor holiday decorations with all of you. You can read that post on Christmas Decorating to refresh your memory. We are getting close to the big holiday and I decided to put out a few more decorations and wanted to share those with all of you today.

First up, My new holiday wreath which I hung on our front door. I just love this fresh wreath and it is full & lush! We got this wreath from Creekside Farms and just love it. Right out of the box you can hang it up and it welcomes all of your guests this holiday season.

About 10 years ago I picked up this handcrafted wooden snowman from a local craft show. He stands about 1 1/2 feet tall and while he is plain...I think he has a lot of personality. I usually place him indoors but this year he is outdoors on my porch near the front door. Before I put him out there, I sprayed him with 2 coats of clear sealer to make him weatherproof. I love where I placed him and all of our guests think he is adorable...I do too!

Last summer I found this adorable very large outdoor house flag at the local flea market for $3.00. I quickly snatched it up and brought it home. It features a design of penguins out playing in the snow. We have it hanging from a wooden flagpole right above our second porch (yes, we have two porches!). I had seen very large flags like this in the store but they were always $20 and up, so getting a brand new one for $3.00 at the flea market was a treasured find!

About 3 years ago I got a little wrought iron black shepard's hook and as the seasons change, I change out my garden flag on that. This year I decided to put a snowman garden flag on that so that I have something different than the penguin one listed above. This is near our smaller front porch and right beside it I have the solar snowman light that I featured in the previous post (see link above).

I really love decorating for Christmas and every year I like to move things around and add new things to my holiday decor. I hope you like the items I featured today!

Happy Holidays!!!

Protesting at Family Christmas Tree Lighting Events

Just like most people in the United States I have been following pretty closely the issues surrounding Ferguson and New York when it comes to these protests and outrage regarding white law enforcement officers and the black community. For the purpose of this blog post & rant...I won't state what my personal feelings are on that specific topic.

I first want to state that I am all for the Freedom of Speech and the Right to Demonstrate/Protest when it is done in a peaceful way and in a way that doesn't interrupt the lives of those who are not participating. With that said, let's get onto why I am pissed off and angry today.

Last evening we went as a family to a local tree lighting event. This was to be a happy occasion and something fun to do with the family.These types of holiday events attract people of all ages...from little kids through seniors. They are to be HAPPY events for the family and the community to enjoy.

However, after being at this particular outdoor event for 20 minutes a slew of protesters marched right on in with their signs, chanting and yelling. What the hell? They were frightening people, especially the little kids who were in attendance. That just isn't right!!!

As I stated, I am for FREEDOM of SPEECH and the RIGHT to DEMONSTRATE but come on now, bringing that bullshit to a family-friendly, outdoor tree lighting event is totally uncalled for. You have NO RIGHT to ruin a family-friendly event and to scare the little kids who were in attendance. This was NOT an all-adult event...tons of little kids were there and were frightened by your behavior and you totally ruined this holiday event for families who were in attendance. Shameful if you ask me!

Please get some common decency and go protest, march, yell, chant and do the things you do at locations where families are not gathering together for the holidays. You had NO RIGHT to ruin that event!!! NONE!

On top of that....get off the damn roadways! Go protest & march on sidewalks and in parking lots but you have NO RIGHT to disrupt traffic flow for others who are not participating. It should NOT take normal citizens 1 hour to go 2 blocks in their cars because YOU want to protest and march in the middle of city streets.

Well, I am stepping off my soapbox right now but damn it, that totally pisses me off that people can't have common decency and respect for their fellow citizens. Thanks for ruining our family night out!

Our Outdoor Christmas Lights for 2014

Every year we look forward to putting out various Christmas lights and holiday yard art for everyone to enjoy. There are a handful of us here in the neighborhood that do it every year and some of my neighbors go all out. We keep ours pretty basic and simple.

One thing we like to do is to change up the look every year. This year we decided to put lights around all of the front windows on the house, along the rooftop on all four sides and we used net lighting on the bushes out front.

We decided to move our Christmas garland this year and used it on our front porch and mixed in some pretty LED lights with it. We have lit door wreaths on 2 of our entry doors and then just a plain wreath on the third.

I picked up these adorable glass snowman balls at our local Christmas Tree Shop for $10.00 (they are made out of glass) and included very nice black shepard's hooks. They are solar and I picked up four of them and have them sprinkled around the front of the house. I love them!!! The lights inside each snowman's head morphs into different colors. I wish I would of bought more!

At Kohl's we picked up this adorable inflatable snowman family for $39.00 and they are worth every penny! I had been wanting inflatables but wasn't willing to shell out $100+ so I was pretty excited to pick up this set for less than $40.00 on clearance at Kohl's last month.

Every year we add a few new pieces and/or items to our outdoor Christmas lights display and we are pretty excited about our ever-growing collection. This year everything looked nice and once Christmas is over I will be hitting the stores for some additional items on clearance to add to our collection for next year.

Do you like to decorate outside? Do you do just a little bit or do you go all out and really light things up? I would love to know! Got any tips for us? Thanks!

Pennsylvania Fall Foliage

It is amazing at how quickly the autumn season is flying by. Halloween is just around the corner and Thanksgiving follows shortly thereafter. While I do enjoy the Fall season, I really dislike what is coming after it...WINTER!

Anyway, for my "almost" Wordless Wednesday post this week I wanted to share a photo with all of you of one that I took this past weekend while hubby and I were on a road trip. It features some of the gorgeous Pennsylvania Fall Foliage that we recently saw on a road trip up to State College.

If you have never visited the State College area or the Centre Hall area in Pennsylvania, we highly recommend it...especially during the Autumn season when all of the trees & leaves are changing color. You can really see some beautiful scenery while traveling through the area.

The photo was taken about 15 minutes outside of Boalsburg where several mountain ridges come together. We were down in the valley and I shot the photo while looking up. I love all of the pretty burgundy, yellow, orange, gold and green trees in that particular area. Luckily for us...we were visiting during the peak season!

Well, there you have it! Another "almost" Wordless Wednesday photo for this week! Next week I will share some additional photos that are really fantastic! Enjoy!

Some of My Favorite Halloween Decorations and Yard Art

Our Decorations During the Daytime

Fall is such a fun time of the year and Halloween is one of my favorite times to decorate our home for some spooky fun. When I decorate for Halloween I don't do anything evil, exceptionally scary, witches or devils. Sorry folks, I am Catholic and we just don't do that here.

I would call my decorations as a "Cutesy" Halloween style with a little retro-vintage thrown into the mix! I don't over-do it either because we have no small children at home. We do have a grand child, nieces and nephews who visit us often. Plus, the neighborhood kids like seeing it too.

In the top photo you will see some of our LED outdoor lighting on the bushes. We did an orange and purple color scheme this year. If you look close, you will see pumpkin and ghosts hanging in the windows, a pumpkin on the front door, lighted wooden ghosts & pumpkins on each side of the door on our porch, a small pumpkin stake & cement tombstone (near the walkway) and black spider hanging wind chimes.

Years ago when our daughter was 6 years old we purchased a big plastic lighted ghost and always put that in our front yard. Our daughter is now 29 years old so that ghost has been around for a very long time. Last year we got this little wooden pumpkin face yard stake and he is shown on the right in the photo above. Underneath him is a lighted scarecrow ceramic pumpkin that sits in our dining room window. I think he is adorable and I love putting him out every year.

Next is the wooden lighted ghosts that we purchased this year. We got them at the Christmas Tree Store and absolutely love them! We put batteries in them and their eyes glow a beautiful purple color. Not scary at all, but definitely cute! To the right you will see our hanging spiders wind chimes. When you walk by them they jiggle and make a creepy noise. The kids love them. Underneath that is my scarecrow flag which I think is cute...especially nestled among our fall outdoor flowers in the same colors.

Decorating for Halloween is so much fun! In the photo above is our stacking wood pumpkins that we also got this year at the Christmas Tree Store. Love those eerie glowing purple eyes, don't you? The wood pumpkin on the right is a new addition this year too! He is hanging on one of our doors.

A few years ago a family member who is no longer here with us (bless her sole) gave me this adorable fiber optic light scarecrow head which sits proudly on a table in our family room every year when Halloween rolls around. It is a memorable keepsake to us now.

Another new addition this year is this gorgeous Fall Harvest Pumpkin Wreath that I got at Kohl's which I absolutely LOVE! I have it hanging on one of our doors but when it comes to special Fall family dinners, I will put it onto the table with some LED candles in the center and use it as a table centerpiece. It is large and very pretty!

Finally, I picked up this adorable metal yard state featuring cute pumpkins at Kohls about 3 weeks ago and my little grand daughter loves seeing it every time she comes over. It's a great little piece welcoming guests to our home and sits proudly in our front yard.

We have several more Fall and Halloween decorations that we put inside and outside our home. For now, I thought I would highlight a few of our favorites! Do you have favorites that you put out every year? If so, what are they?

8 Months Post-Hip Replacement

About 8 months ago I had a total hip replacement of my right hip. Learning that I needed a hip replacement came at a total shock 4 months earlier. Leading up to my surgery, I did everything that I could to get healthier so that I would have a better surgical outcome.

The first two months following surgery were extremely hard, especially the first three weeks. Those first few weeks I was in god-awful pain to the point I just wanted to die. At the time that I was screaming and yelling in pain, we didn't know that I had a torn knee from the hip replacement surgery. All of that tugging, pulling and twisting to get the old hip out and the new hip in...caused my knee to tear.

Once the third month rolled around the pain got better. I quit physical therapy which was making the hip and knee pain worse. Totally worse! Once I quit, I did my own therapy at home and got busy taking walks with my outdoor mommy walking group. We started out slow and then increased our distance and pace as the weeks went along.

At the six months post-op mark I was finally able to sit on the floor again and get up with some assistance. I was also able to bend down and pick things up off the floor. Furthermore, it took an entire six months before I could sleep on my right side again without having any pain. Finally, I was getting some decent sleep again.

It has now been eight months since I had my hip replacement surgery. The limp that I had immediately after surgery is getting better. I walk with no limp for about 20 minutes or so and then the limp kicks in again. I am not happy about that. I still can not get myself up off the floor by myself without assistance and I have to be careful on how I bend or twist my hip. If I do it the wrong way, the pain immediately shoots down my leg and up my right side of my back.

While things are not perfect, they are getting better. I am recovering a lot slower than most people due to my other health problems, Porphyria. With that said, I am determined to improve even more and once the winter weather breaks, I will get back outside to walk and do some light, short distance hiking.

A total hip replacement at age 45 is not fun and it certainly is not easy. Anyone who tells you that it is easy and that you will feel better immediately is a liar. It is a recovery process and for some...it can be a LONG recovery process.

I will update you all again on my progress once I hit one year post-recovery. To Your Health!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I wanted to take a few minutes out of my busy morning and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! It is a busy morning here in our household as I finish baking up some breads, rolls and various desserts. I have been in full baking and cooking mode for three full days now!

We are going to pack up the car and head over to the Assisted Living Center where my great auntie now lives. Last year we started a new tradition and every Thanksgiving we go into the nursing home aka Assisted Living Center and spend the day with her.

They cater in a delicious tasting dinner but I always bring a lot of extra freshly prepared food with me that the senior ladies can enjoy later in the day or even tomorrow. They love freshly made goodies from home!

Tomorrow we will be going back in to the center and will be decorating 4 public area rooms for the upcoming Christmas holiday with items donated by local businesses, family and friends. We did this last year for them and they absolutely loved it!

The holiday season is here and if you can donate a few hours of your time I suggest you donate them at your local nursing home and/or assisted living center. Many seniors are simply dropped off in these places and don't get regular visitors! It's the holiday season and they really appreciate all of the volunteers they can get!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday and remember, we all have a lot to be Thankful for!

Pennsylvania Weather - Winter Storm November 26th 2013

Weather here in Pennsylvania has been pretty wicked over the past 2 years and it doesn't seem to be letting up. Just in the past 2 years we have been hit with 2 hurricanes (Irene and Sandy), numerous severe thunderstorms, ice storms, snow storms and all kinds of other things that mother nature has thrown at us.

Just this past year we have had damage to our property 7 times with the most recent one being yesterday and last night. A nasty winter storm slammed us with some winds, sleet, freezing rain, ice and a few minor snow showers.

For the 7th time this year our trees on our property have taken a big hit! One of our 50+ year old pine trees lost a lot of its limbs! Hubby said it is so badly damaged that he will have to have people come out and chop it down to remove it. Sad really because I used to play under that big old pine tree when I was a little girl.

Our garbage cans and patio furniture blew down the street and we had to go snatch those up earlier this morning. On top of that, hubby's work truck has a nice big dent in it that wasn't there the day before. We are not sure what slammed into that. 

So, instead of shopping this Black Friday and holiday weekend...we will be cleaning up our property for the 7th time this year. This is becoming a REAL PAIN IN THE ASS these days! I am hoping mother nature and old man winter will cut us a break soon!

Holiday Gift Wrapping Tips for a Stress-Free Holiday

The holidays are on the way and before you know it the holiday will be here. Like millions of people I used to wait until the very last minute to wrap my gifts which always stressed me out before the big day.

Last year I got my holiday gift wrapping in-order and figured out a system that worked really well for me. Every weekend leading up to the holidays I spent one hour wrapping gifts & addressing holiday cards, so that I didn't have to give up an entire weekend right before the holiday to get them done.

Here are a few tips that I wanted to share with all of you.

1. Set up a small area in your home to be your gift wrapping station. In my case, I have a large rectangular table set up in my basement near one of our large basement windows. You want to make sure that your area has proper lighting.

2. Head out to the store and buy everything you think you will need in one shopping trip. For me, I headed to my local dollar store and picked up numerous rolls of wrapping paper, several packs of holiday print gift bags, ribbons, bows, gift tags, colored tape and regular gift wrapping tape. I also picked up a pack of fun colored gel ink pens for doing my gift tags in fun colors. I always make a point to buy a little more supplies than what I think I will need, so that I don't have to run out again.

3. Organize all of your supplies onto your table so that things are kept neat and tidy. I purchased small plastic bins (at the dollar store) and have all of my ribbons in one, gift tags in another, bows in a third and so forth. If you are organized, the gift wrapping will go much quicker and you won't get stressed out trying to find something.

4. Designate an area in your home for the wrapped gifts to go! I have four large plastic bins in that room (our laundry room) and each bin is labeled for the family. ie. Hubby's Family, My Family, Friends, etc. Once you got the gifts wrapped, you want to place them into the appropriate bin to keep things organized.

5. Once a week (for me that is on the weekend) I spend 30 minutes to 1 hour wrapping gifts and addressing holiday cards. I play Christmas music or I will pop in a holiday DVD while I am wrapping gifts, addressing cards and doing other necessary pre-holiday tasks. Setting the mood, reduces the stress!

By the time the Christmas eve rolls around you should have all of your gifts wrapped, sorted and be ready to go come Christmas morning! It's a great way to cut down the stress and a fantastic way to get the most enjoyment out of this important holiday season.

Stealing Blog Content is Unprofessional and Illegal

I have been online networking, chatting, promoting various businesses and blogging for over 15 years. Matter of fact, I own or co-own 7 very successful blogs. Over the years I educated myself on copyright laws and learned about Intellectual Property Rights...if you write articles, write content for websites and/or blog, you need to educate yourself on all of this immediately!

Over the years I have caught way too many people to count stealing my content! That's write, people have stolen my professionally written articles, web site content, blog content and even images that I have had on my sites.

I have spent a lot of time and money over the past few years hunting down these content thieves and getting my content and/or images removed from their sites. While this is time consuming and at times expensive, it is very important to pursue losers who are too lazy to product their own content.

Why is important that you pursue these losers you might ask? Well, several reasons!

1. Having duplicate content all over the web can hurt your ranking in search engine results.

2. Even if the thief who stole your content rewrites a few things within it or edits it in some way, it is still content theft if they did not change enough of the content to make it "uniquely" theirs. Some thieves call this content "respinning" and I call it just plain laziness!

3. You write your own content to make yourself unique and to set yourself up as a leader within your niche. When someone steals your content and republishes it or respins it to suit their own purpose, it makes them look "worthy" when they are not!

There are a ton of reasons why you can NOT ignore the problem but these 3 are important reasons on why you must pursue those who steal your content or respin your original works! It can't be tolerated and it certainly should not be ignored. You have legal rights and you need to exercise them when you come across a content thief.

Just yesterday I was alerted to a blog who was stealing my ideals, tip sheets and blog posts and publishing them onto her own blog. WTH? Can ya say unprofessional and lazy? Some of my content was published whole, some she took chunks out of my original post (then respinned it) and others she completely respinned and reworded to suit her own needs.

I am not talking about 1 or 2 posts...try over 40 different posts! Those that she did respin and reword she didn't do enough rewording to make the content uniquely hers. People who know me and my professionally written work...recognized right away that she was stealing my content and/or respinning my original content.

To all of you out there who cruise blogs, social media sites and web sites to grab your content...Stop! You can not steal another person's work!!! While you can cruise around for some topic ideas, you certainly can not cruise around and grab whatever you want for your own site. You can NOT respin someone else's article and/or blog post unless you rewrite it from top to bottom and add something new, fresh and/or unique to it. That post has to be changed by at least 70%.

I don't condone content respinning and personally...it's a very unprofessional thing to do. Most professional ghostwriters like myself don't practice that at all.

If you are stealing content...STOP immediately! If you are a victim of someone who has stolen content from you...exercise your LEGAL rights! Don't ignore it! Get that content taken down and if they don't cease and desist...you hit them LEGALLY!

Late Fall Foliage Photos from the Susquehanna Valley

Hubby and I took a road trip up to State College in Pennsylvania last weekend and got to see some of the pretty Fall foliage that the Susquehanna Valley has to offer. Next year we are going to take the same road trip but go 2 to 3 weeks earlier so we can see the Fall foliage at peak time. This year we were a little late on seeing it but still...it was a beautiful drive. 

We took route 322/22 from Harrisburg up to State College which is a beautiful drive (except during the winter where you have to deal with snow and ice). Taking this route will take you through many of our beautiful mountains and valleys, as well as through several small towns. You can easily do a round trip on a 1/2 tank of gas which is really nice.

If you take this little day trip make sure you take a good look out your car window right before you hit Dauphin, PA. on 322/22 so that you can grab a quick peek at the Statue of Liberty that sits out in the middle of the Susquehanna River on an old stone column leftover from an old stone bridge. Yup, that is her above and trust me, she stands 25 feet tall (she looks small in the photo).

Hubby and I took our road trip on a Sunday and we specifically picked that day because trucker traffic on route 322/22 is a LOT less on weekends, especially on Sunday. We wanted to take our good old time and stop off the road to take in the scenery in several places along the route. You can click on the photos in this blog post to enlarge them to see better details. 

If you love looking at mountains and beautiful Fall foliage then Pennsylvania is one state you need to consider for a road trip every Fall. If you would like to learn more about traveling in Pennsylvania, I would like for you to visit my travel blog called Pennsylvania and Beyond. You will find 100's of travel photos, articles and blog posts for seeing many of the travel destinations that Pennsylvania has to offer. If you have any Pennsylvania travel questions, please free to leave me a comment on this blog or on my official travel blog. Enjoy!

Halloween 2013 - Neighborhood Halloween Decorations

Witch coming out of chimney!

We had been patiently awaiting the arriving of Halloween and this year...we were ready! Now that we are all moved into our new home, we went out of our way to put up some great outdoor decorations. We put up spooky bat wind chimes that chirp when motion is detected and matched them up on the other porch with black spider ones.

Halloween Yard Decorations

We put out various corn stalks, pumpkins, gourds and a scarecrow. But the best part of our Halloween decorations were all of the festive lights and light up ghosts, etc. that hubby put in our front yard. We didn't go over board with it but did put out several nice things to make our house look festive.

My grand daughter lives 5 minutes away but in a different township so we took her out Trick or Treating. She was dressed as Tangled and looked darling in her princess costume. Once we were done, we headed back to our house to await the arrival of the little Trick or Treaters.In a matter of 2 hours those darling little kids wiped us out of 9 bags of candy! That's right, 9 bags of Hershey's chocolate candy went out the door!

Love the Inflatables!

One of our neighbors went way out this year and really decorated up their front yard & house. They had a large witch popping out the chimney on the roof and it was fantastic! They had various lights all over their trees and shrubs and various other "light-up" things through out their yard.

Our neighborhood goes WAY OUT when it comes to holiday decorating and that is always nice to see! Next year hubby and I plan on adding even more...after all, we need to keep up with the Jone's.

The Fall Harvest Season - Halloween Decorating

It's that time again...another week which means another "Almost: Wordless Wednesday post! This week I am featuring a photo of some colorful looking pumpkins and gourds.

We are definitely into the Fall season now here in Pennsylvania and a few days ago I had to turn on my heat for the first time this season. All of our trees are changing the color of their leaves and many of those trees are getting naked (leaves are falling to the ground). Pretty soon we will be busy raking up and bagging leaves from our yard.

Last week I hit up our local farmer's market for some Fall gourds and pumpkins and have them sitting outside on our porch and in our flower garden. Looks cute but holy heck, the cost of buying that stuff is through the roof. I think next year I will do something different to keep the costs down.

Hubby is working on a scarecrow and that is the only thing left to complete in our Fall outdoor decor. This year we did spider webs, spider wind chimes, orange and lime green outdoor lights, pumpkins, corn stalks, gourds, plastic light up ghosts by our front door, a skeleton hanging from one tree, etc. I think the Trick or Treaters will like what they see when they come visiting in another week! ha!

Well there you have it. Another almost wordless Wednesday post! Enjoy!

A Visit to the Local Pumpkin Patch in Harrisburg PA

Last weekend we picked up our grand daughter and daughter for our annual tradition of visiting the local Pumpkin Patch together. Every Fall we get together and go apple picking, pumpkin picking, visit a local corn maze and go on a hayride.

We piled into the car and got there in the early afternoon. Oh my gosh..we were not prepared for it being 91 degrees in early October and sweated our butts off out in the apple orchard and pumpkin field. Princess had a great time picking apples and then we finally headed over to the Pumpkin Patch.

We spent about 35 minutes walking the filed and she finally decided on the 5 pumpkins that we would get. Such hard decisions for a little 4 1/2 year old girl. She was particular on the ones she wanted but we ended up getting 5 great pumpkins for our Halloween decorations.

It was really nice that they had some areas set up around the Pumpkin Patch and at the nearby Farmer's Market where you could pose for some family photos...great Fall displays and since I am a big time scrapbooker, I took advantage of those and got several nice photos to celebrate our day.

Next weekend we are going out on a hayride and we are all looking forward to that and we are going to visit one of the local corn mazes. We do those during the early evening hours when they are kid-friendly and not all spooked out for the adults. We don't like exposing the Princess to scary things just yet!

Early Fall Foliage in Central Pennsylvania

I went out earlier today for a walk through my neighborhood with the gals from my Mommies Walking Group. Today we went on a 1 1/2 mile walk and as we were walking around the neighborhood getting our exercise we noticed how pretty the trees are starting to get.

Fall is definitely here in Pennsylvania although we hit a high temperature of 85 degrees today. I wish October was always like that for us up here in the North East but sadly it's not and the cold temperatures are coming. Many people around here are calling this our "2013 Indian Summer" and I believe they are right. All week long we have been in the upper 70's and lower 80's and it has felt great!

I am not a fan of late Fall weather and Winter weather so I have been trying to hold on to the warmer sunshine filled days of late Summer and early Fall. I do have to admit though...I love looking at the trees as their leaves change to orange, yellow and bright red. Soon though those leaves will all drop, the trees will get naked (hate seeing naked trees) and winter will be here!

In two weeks I will get some new photos and really show you how beautiful our trees get once the Fall foliage really kicks into high gear. We are about 2 weeks into it now and in another 2 weeks it will be a pretty awesome display of nature. Enjoy!!!

How NOT to Pitch a Professional Review Blogger!!!

I own or co-own 7 highly successful blogs online and turned all of my blogs into businesses. All of my blogs are at least 3 years old with established readership and I am highly visible on several social media channels.

One of my businesses is that I review products and host giveaways for the same products that I reviewed on several of my blogs. I do not do any copy & paste, I insert proper keywords, I write in great detail and I promote the heck out of my professionally written reviews on numerous social media channels. I get companies a HECK OF A LOT business exposure.

I have been dealing with hundreds of PR and Media companies for the past 4 1/2 years. I would say that 80% of these companies are a real pleasure to work with and I have formed great relationships with them. These PR & Media companies appreciate the value of a professional blogger and what the blogger can bring to the marketing table.

With that said, about 20% of the PR & Media companies that I come into contact with are a BIG JOKE! Seriously, I get over 50+ pitches a day in my email box from companies here in the US and a few in Canada. I love working with companies & PR firms...but lately, I am getting really disgusted with the behavior of 20% of these PR firms.

Here is an example of what I have had to deal with in the past 3 weeks.

1. Hundreds of pitches of PR firms wanting me or my business partner to review products from sent .jpg images? Oh really!!! Hmmm, NO ONE can review a product from a high-quality image and be honest with their readers by doing that. Not only that...what is in it for the blogger? Nothing tangible at all.

2. Pitches roll in that offer one of us a product to review but....and yes there is a but...they want us to return it to them after the review!!! Sometimes this is at our expense and other times at theirs. What the hell? Again, nothing for the blogger's time, writing skills, social media pull, marketing efforts...etc. NOTHING!

3. We often get "pitches" that are labeled as "guest posts" and/or "story ideas" where they want us to give their client (the company) FREE advertising on one of our blogs by labeling it as a "story idea" or as a"guest post". What the hell is that about? Why not be honest and say "Hey, will you give my client some free advertising on your site?" Please quit disguising that junk as "guest posts" and "story ideas". Trust me...we are NOT desperate for content on ANY of our blog sites and we would rather give that CONTENT SPACE to a company who is compensating us with either a product or money. Get real folks!!!

4. We will get pitches saying "Can you post this for my client about their new product launch or sales promo and tomorrow I will ship out some products to you to thank you?" The problem with this is...we have been burnt WAY TOO MANY TIMES by never receiving the goodies!!! Oh yeah...people lie to get what they want!!! Well, we are now smarter about that!!!

5. I just love getting pitches from PR firms and companies offering to send me XYZ product to review for them, seriously...I love that!!! However...way too often these days when that product arrives to your home to be reviewed it is a sample one-time use packet of something! Wow...so the company can only send you a swipe pad or one-time use packet and not be honest with you that you are ONLY getting a one-time use sample? The reason they are NOT honest is because they know bloggers will NOT work for a .02 cent sample! Ugh!

I am really getting beyond irritated now with all of these unprofessional PR pitches hitting my email box each and every day!

PR & Media companies are being paid to push those press releases & pitches around...YES....getting paid! If you want to work with a professional review blogger who is also a professional ghostwriter with years of experience... well then...you have to offer me something in return! That is the bottom line!

Just like you all...I have a family to feed, a roof to put over our heads, medical bills to pay and so forth. Your ridiculous PR & Media pitches do NOTHING for me and my family!

Our Summer is Coming to an End!!!

Wow, it's hard to believe but today is August 21st and that means that Summer will be coming to an end soon! Across the nation many kids have already went back to school and here in our area they head back on Monday. Wow, this Summer has really flown by and it seems like yesterday that I was moaning & groaning about Summer getting here after having a cool and rainy Spring.

Luckily for us...there is still a little bit of Summer left! We will be leaving on vacation soon and spending 10 days down at the Jersey Shore. Usually by now we have been down at least twice during the season but this year is different due to my hip replacement surgery back in late April and being on traveling restrictions.

We are really looking forward to our upcoming vacation as it will be our first one for this year. My mother, daughter, her fiance and our grand daughter are all coming along. They will stay with us for 1/2 of our vacation and then they will head home so that hubby and I can have some alone time. Yay for that!

In early October we will be heading to Gettysburg for a few days and then in early November we will be hitting Lancaster. We love touring areas here in our own home state and are looking forward to both of those mini vacations later this year. Perhaps we will throw a weekend in there some where to head up to New York City too!

This summer has been great because I have managed to stay out of the hospital (knock on wood) after having a long stay in there over the Christmas holiday and then a 5 day stay in April when I had my hip surgery. Hopefully, I can stay out of that dungeon for the remainder of this year too! (That's the plan).

While I am on vacation...keep checking this blog and my Travel Blog as I will be doing a lot of blogging on the things we are seeing, doing and enjoying down at the Jersey Shore!

Terrified of Severe Thunderstorms & Bad Weather

When I was a little girl I experienced first hand at what an F1 tornado can do and ever since that time I have been terrified of severe thunderstorms. While I am okay with regular thunderstorms, the severe ones with a lot of thunder, lightning, high winds, hail and tornado watches or warnings totally freak me out! Yes...freak me out!

I contribute all of this from my tornado experience as a little girl when my family and I crouched in a basement for over 2 hours in the dark while a weak tornado ripped a part our home. Once it was over...we climbed out and everything was gone...GONE!

We are very lucky that we all survived and none of us were hurt badly...just a few bumps, bruises and minor scrapes. Yes, very lucky and eternally grateful that the Lord spared us all and had bigger plans for each & every one us. For everyone who has ever been through one...please know...the Lord has bigger and better plans for YOU!

With that said...to this day the severe storms freak me out and I have to medicate with anti-anxiety meds every time one comes knocking on our door. While these meds help me get through the storm, I really wish I wouldn't have to take them. I have tried meditation, yoga and bio-feedback exercises but yet my anxiety continues when storms arrive.

One thing that has recently been helping me is noise reduction when storms hit. By that I mean this...when storms arrive, I put on noise-reduction earphones and play music through my iPod. I go into a room that has no windows (so I can't see what the weather is doing outside) and listen to soothing music until the storm is over. I have learned that if I can't see it and can't hear it...I can get through it without medication.

The only time I have been taking my anti-anxiety medication now is if we are out & about somewhere where I can't escape the sight & sounds of a severe thunderstorm. I consider that great progress & I am happy to have made it!