Have a Better Life

Seasonal Buys
One to three days after a holiday, stores mark their holiday items from 50% to 75% off. This is an ideal way to stock up on next year’s Christmas or Halloween decorations. This is true for stores that sell seasonal clothing as well. Shopping for jackets or sweaters in the summer will provide you with great deals.

Pocket Change
Keep a jar or some type of container handy and each time you come home, drop in your change.
Every time you break a bill, put the change in your container. You will be amazed how quickly your money will build.

Image by Glen's Pics via Flickr

Today it was the first day I was able to be on the computer to write a few posts.

My father died last Sunday and his funeral was Monday. As you might imagine, I went through rough days, even after the funeral I had a lot to take care of.

The last three days of his life were really terrible, he was suffering a lot and well…it was his time. The nurses did an excellent job, they did all they could to keep him with no pain, he was on painkillers, antibiotics, I don’t remember the names but one was similar to apidexin or apicox but that is no longer relevant.

Now life goes on, my mother is very sad of course but I know she will go on with her life. During 3 years she was my father’s nurse and she had to stay by his side almost 24 hours a day. She has some health problems that she needs to treat, and now she has free time to take care of her.

Today I’m going to write here a personal post.

As I wrote before, my father is in hospital and he’s getting worse everyday that goes by. I continue to spend my days going from home to hospital and hospital to home, picking up the kids at school, attending shows from my kids at school, as you can imagine I’m exhausted.

Right now my husband is making lunch and in one hour I will be on my way to the hospital with my mother. At 17.15 I have to be in my city again (the hospital is a nearby city) to attend my daughter’s school show and than I will go back to the hospital.

Although it has been a though week yesterday at least I received two good news:

• My insurance quotes request ended up in a decrease of my annual life insurance payment
• Social Services approved my request to help me with the Court expenses of my process against the company I worked with. Now my lawyer can go ahead and process the company. Hopefully I will receive what they owe me.

Almost time to go to the hospital again.

When I have everything in order to start blogging everyday something always happens.

These last days I was away from the computer most of the day because since last Friday that I spend most of my days in the hospital where my father is trying hard to breath and beat death.

He’s 80 years, Parkinson and Alzheimer and now a pneumonia. Things are really bad. Yesterday his condition was considered critical, today, the doctor told me that he has become worse during the night. Right now I don’t know how to call his condition, hyper critical perhaps.

He is suffering a lot; he makes a huge effort to breath and fever is always rising. Let’s see how he will be tomorrow.

A plastic sleeve can be used as a pooper scooper bag, travel bag, or a yard sale bag. It can substitute for work gloves or an umbrella cover and serve as an extra beach bag or shoe holder. A plastic sleeve can provide dry feet protection, be used as a CD container or photo sleeve, and act as a covering for small appliances.

A plastic sleeve and plastic pouch are simple things that are utilized for protecting different objects. They comes in various sizes, thicknesses, and colors. The ways you can will use the depend on the finish of the plastic sleeve or pouch. Use one that is finished clear or polished clear if the pouch or sleeve is used for presentation or storing things like collector items and documents. Other finishes are rough, are waterproof, and have a low visual distortion. You can also find plastic sleeves with a thicker cover. Those are ideal for holding menus or any other important things that need durable, see-through packaging. Without a doubt, plastic sleeves are a money-saver.

Travel bags
Avoid spillage in your luggage by placing stuff like shampoo, lotions, and other liquids into a plastic sleeve. Don’t forget to tie the bag shut!

Yard sale bags
Organizing your yard sale items is a great way to attract customers. Place little things in a plastic newspaper sleeve so you don’t have to spend money for plastic zipper bags. Just a simple tie around the bag will do the trick.

Work gloves
Do you need gloves for gardening or other household chores? Just put on two plastic newspaper sleeves and voila! You now have free, instant work gloves.

Umbrella cover
A plastic newspaper sleeve is a good substitute for lost umbrella covers. Before tucking your umbrella in your bag or glove compartment, secure it inside a newspaper sleeve with a rubber band to keep water from leaking out.

Extra beach bag
After a swim at the beach, we always have to deal with wet clothes and where to put them. Plastic sleeves are good tools for this purpose.

Shoe holder
Travelers can surely use this tip. Use plastic sleeves as containers for shoes. They will protect your clothing from dirty soles.

Pooper scooper bags
Plastic sleeves, especially plastic newspaper sleeves, can be reused as scoopers for your pooch’s droppings. They are great for leisurely walks at the park with your dog. Leaving droppings in a public place is a big no-no. Just simply slip-on the plastic sleeve and pick up the dog droppings. Turn the bag inside out and toss it in a garbage bin.

Dry feet protection
Protect your child’s feet during rainy and muck days through sliding a plastic sleeve over each foot after putting on his socks. This will provide him an extra layer of protection and dryness. It will also help him avoid stinky feet.

CD container
There are plastic sleeves that are especially designed as CD packages. They will protect your precious collection from scratches and dust.

Photo sleeve
We all want to have our photographs look the same for years. Plastic sleeves can be a neat way to store photographs. You can store photos individually, back-to-back, or as albums.

Coverings for small appliances
There is a type of plastic sleeve that can be used for covering small appliances such as game consoles and remote controls. This is preferred compared to coverings made of cloth because dust can’t seep through the plastic and they are lightweight.

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It’s time for a Healthy Recipe and again I’m going to post a dessert. I just love Tiramisu and I’ve been coming across some variations of the original Italian recipe. This one is absolutely delicious, it’s easy to make and you have to try it, after all it is a Healthy Recipe as well as Light Recipe.

Here we go:

Tiramisu Parfaits

Ingredients

• 4-1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 2 cups cold fat-free milk
• 2 packages (1 ounce each) sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 ounces fat-free cream cheese
• 1 package (3 ounces) ladyfingers, split and cubed
• 2 cups fat-free whipped topping
• 2 tablespoons miniature chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon baking cocoa

Directions

• Dissolve coffee in boiling water; cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. In another large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually fold in pudding.
• Place ladyfinger cubes in a bowl; add coffee; toss to coat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
• Divide half of the ladyfinger cubes among six parfait glasses or serving dishes. Top with half of the pudding mixture, 1 cup whipped topping and 1 tablespoon chocolate chips. Repeat layers.
• Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Just before serving, dust with cocoa.

Yield: 6 servings.

Recipe and Photo Source: Taste Of Home

My garden has been full of flowers. Sometimes I just admire their beauty and forget to take pictures. They are so beautiful that I think photos won’t be able to express what they really are.

I don’t use fertilizers, they just grow as they want and the only thing I do is to out salt on the soil or around the flower pots to keep the snails away. Although there are appropriate products to kill the snails I prefer to do it the natural way. Here is a little slideshow made with the SmileBox program which is really easy to use:

This free slideshow design personalized with Smilebox