I had the “bright” idea that I should just take a road trip with a couple of buddies to Vegas when I was in college.  Now, we were not that far of a drive away, so it seemed like the perfect spot to take a break and go away for a weekend.

It was a spur of the moment trip, and we hopped into our car and went.  A couple of hours later, we found ourselves in Las Vegas and began to enjoy our trip with some fine dining.  Okay, maybe it wasn’t fine dining, but it was the best burger that I ever had in Vegas (and it was my first).

Things were going great until we tried to check into a hotel for the night - all the Las Vegas hotels were booked solid, with no vacancy in sight.  So, we ended up sleeping in the car for the entire trip - next time I will plan ahead.

Flea markets are an acquired taste. Lucky for me I married a flea market junky. He was a military man on orders for Germany. We discovered flea markets in Heidelberg and Mannheim, but we didn’t have much money, and living in government housing meant we had almost no space. But we weren’t there just to buy. The bargaining, posturing and feigned indifference were all as interesting as the items for sale.

One rainy Saturday in Heidelberg, a shriek split the air. All eyes turned to a woman in front of an opened box. She croaked one word, “Magicke!” and fainted.

I saw nothing special with the boxes labeled Magick Talismans, Magick Amulets & Charms and Magick Spells & Rituals. You can find Tarot cards almost every week. Turns out these occult items were Middle Eastern, potent and real, the dealer insisted. His price certainly was “real,” as in “real expensive,” but then that’s part of the flea market experience, even in Europe. Whatever the market will bear.

I started a new job last week and I am not sure whether I like it or not. I know that I have to give it more time before deciding I hate it, but it is a lot more difficult than I expected it to be. I am sure if I stick it out that I will catch on things will get easier, but it seems like I can’t do anything right.

One of the reasons that I took this job is because there is corporate travel involved and I love to travel, even if it is just for work. I don’t know how long I will have to work before I start getting benefits, such as the travel, but I am still sure that if I can just pull up my socks and work a little bit harder, that I can one day come to enjoy the job. At least, I hope so.

A few years ago, my cousin got married in Portugal and I had the opportunity to attend the wedding. I was really nervous because I knew that there was going to be a language barrier and I knew that my cousin would be so busy enjoying her day that she would not have time to explain everything to me.

I decided that I would hire somebody from a translation service to stay with me for the day so that I would be able to fully understand everything that was happening. It was a really god idea, as I learned things I would have never known if I had not had a translator.

I had a great time and I decided that I was going to be doing more traveling in Europe in the near future. I also knew that I would not think twice about hiring a translator so that I could get the full experience of everything. What a wonderful time I had.

When my daughter was in second grade, I made the mistake of sewing a Jane Jetson costume for her school Christmas play. From then on, I was known as the mother who could sew and I was contacted every time someone needed a costume for school plays.

That was not so annoying, but it was really annoying when parents would cal me and ask if I wouldn’t mind making their child a Halloween costume. I told them that I did mind because I had to make costumes for my kids and I also had a full time job.

I felt like I was being used and I got so angry that people would not leave me alone that I ended up switching my kids to another school. I will not make the mistake of admitting that I made their costume ever again. I will just say that I paid someone to do it from now on.

I have been helping a friend out with his graduate studies on the dating habits of the public in the information age.  He is doing it as his research product for his Masters in Sociology.

I would have never thought of doing such a topic, but honestly, I think it is a really good idea.  The fact that he couldn’t find any studies that have been done in that area of research almost guarantee that his work will be published, with the opportunity to continue to study it in more depth for hid doctorate.

In order to help him out, I have bought an e-book about free online dating, so that I could get the mindset of a person considering using such a service.  So far the read has been interesting and educational - I can’t wait until we develop some sort of experiment to measure the results.  I think at that point, the work will become really enlightening.

Winters never used to bother me. I’m like a little kid when the first significant snowfall hits. But in recent years, along about the end of January I’m bored with the whole winter thing and I’ve started getting downright cold. Must be my medication — that or living in drafty old houses.

I have always wanted to live on the California coast. When I was growing up, it was the ultimate location. I can still see Annette water skiing, the wind blowing around her bouffant hairstyle without moving a single strand. And there was Frankie on his surf board.

So this winter I started picturing myself sitting on a deck overlooking the ocean, reading my morning mail. Oh, look, here’s a welcome letter from Arnold and Maria. My California Medicare Supplement quote finally arrived. And there’s a royalty check on my latest bestseller. Hey — it’s my dream. Why not make it a good one?

I have a friend that has a ton of clothes.  When I say a ton, what I am trying to tell you is that all her clothes don’t fit in her two closets - she has way too much.

So, when I suggested that she could donate some of her clothing to charity, she thought it was a good idea - provided I helped her go through it.  Since she is my best friend, I was happy to help her out.

On the day of the cleaning, I sat there and helped her decide what should stay and what should go.  She even did a little fashion show for me on things that I knew would look good on her or were just plain ugly.  For example, she had some nasty plaid stockings that we both decided that they needed to go.

In the end, there was a lot of clothes, some bras, and tons of socks.  I don’t know what she is going to do with all the free space in her closet now.

One thing that I’ve noticed in life is that I tend to fill up the space that I am living in with junk or treasures (depending on your point of view).  This usually isn’t a problem except when you move to a smaller home.

This is a problem I found myself in and I had no choice but to rent a self storage unit.  I have never had to rent storage units in the past, but it seemed like it was going to be my only solution.

I figured that the easiest way to rent a self storage would be to find a location online.  I was familiar with the storage locations near my home, but I was unaware of self storage locations near my new home.

But with the help of the Internet I was able to find and order a self storage unit near to my new home.  The price was even discounted because I ordered online.  At least now I can have peace of mind knowing that my treasures are protected.

I have a friend that went to teach English as a second language in Japan and I thought that this was something that I would like to do.  I wasn’t too keen on moving to Asia, but I really thought that being a teacher for English as a second language would be a great occupation for me to go into.

In doing some further research I found that they were looking for teachers that would be helping others to learn English UK.  I decided that this would be something I would enjoy so much more, as I would far rather live in Europe than in Asia.

I applied at several English language schools in UK and after a long process was accepted at several of them.  My decision to go had been made up already and I had already started the paperwork.  My only decision left was that which school I was going to teach at.