Vegas Getaway

There is that famous saying what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, it is quite an aluring notion that you can have a get away and just go for the fun of it no worries.
I personally would really enjoy the show of the lights in Vegas and have been wanting to take a vacation to Vegas with my wife since we were first married. I think it would be something just to get there to see some of the Las Vegas Shows, stay in the best of hotels, enjoy some of the hot night clubs and casino's. We are approaching our tenth anniversary in the next couple of years and I'm thinking a second well maybe really first honeymoon trip is in the works. Of course with a trip that important I am starting now to plan things out to make it the best trip we could have.

Matt the tool man

What an exciting moment, today after a wonderful morning out with my wife and youngest soon door shopping we purchased a door for my workshop. We brought it home and with the help of my hot assistant(wife), pretty much like Tim the tool man, I'm the dummy and my assistant comes up with all the good ideas. It can be quite comical sometimes because I generally don't get very worked up about stuff and just go about my business (some my say non chalantly), I'm usually thinking things through trying to work a few steps out and re-thinking over and over, eventually I'll get something accomplished but anyway she can get a little worked up and basically lose it with me because I'm not getting it done quick enough. Anyway once we got past all that and got down to business it was pretty smooth sailing and now WE built this room and installed our 1st door, it was a proud accomplishment until I showed our oldest son and his reaction was "Dad what's the big deal it's only a door?" URRRR way to ruin the moment buddy.

Death and Taxes

There is an old saying there are only two things that you can not avoid in life...Death and Taxes. Taxes are part of everyday life and at this time of year we all have to file our returns. Everyone is different of course some of us get our paper work in order as soon as possible, file and get it over with. There are also those among us whom dread tax season or just enjoy the sport of procrastination and leave it right up to the deadline. Which ever catagory you fall into sooner or later you will have to break down and file your taxes . Efiling is becoming increasingly popular these days and the sites are becoming better and better with teach passing tax season. Fileyourtaxesnow offers a quick step by step system to guide you through the process just fill in teh blanks and go. You don't even need a credit card you can have the fee deducted right from your refund. With Efile you can have your refund direct deposited to your bank account, getting your refund even faster. Your tax account is password protected and you can try it our for free you only pay when you actually file. There is even online tax accountants at your disposal for any assistance or questions you need along the way.

Spring Time

It's five degrees at the end of January, there is barely a site of snow anywhere on the ground it's beginning to feel like spring here in Nova Scotia. Normally we don't see this type of situation until mid-March so it really is strange. I'm sure we are still in for a dose of winter, it will come back and I think it will be harder to accept when it happens because we are being teased by the warmth.

Eye sore or marketing tool?

I know you have all seen them on the side of the roads they are called glow signs and many business use them them scream deals out to customers passing by in hopes of luring them into their business. Large black boards with florecent colored lettering. What do you think of these, do they accomplish anything for you, do they draw you in or are they just a eye sore. I'm on both sides as the fence as a business manager I think they are usefull but when I drive down the road and see them every 20' it seems like they are becoming a problem.`

Small Business Solutions

Starting out a small busines can be a daunting task. One of the most important aspects to any good business is the communication system as this is a life line to your customers. Nimbus Call Center VoIP Phone Systems are specifically designed for small business up to 32 phones. This system provides a total bundle that gives you free local calling and free long distance minutes. This business solution can be set up to deal with any call situation your business can dream up. Nimbus also offers a customer contact autodial program that can contact your customers to remind them of things like special events, payment reminders and appointment reminders. Checkout these and many more great features to help your business grow and succeed.

A Refreshing Drink

I can remember about 10 years ago when the retailer I work for began selling this crazy concept of bottled water. We all stood back and said we must be crazy to think people will actually pay for water in a bottle. As the years have gone by this catagory has gone through exponential growth to become one of the most popular items available. It comes in so many varieties from single serve bottles to 18L jugs, the last few years have brought on the new fade of flavored water, to me we used to call that juice but anyway it works. I even admit to joining into the craze and buying water by the bottle myself. Sometimes it's the simplist ideas that work the best aren't they.

Going Green

It is becoming very interesting watching how green retailers are becoming, long considered monsters of teh environment. Recently many retailers have begun selling re-usable shoppoing bags which really are a great idea, the amount of plastic hat goes to the landfills every year from shopoping bags would really blow you away and of course the cost of these bags is filtered into the price we all pay for the products we want. This is two fold though as these bags also serve as a walking advertisment for the company you purchase them from, but Kudos for this initiative . I know I was very proud when the company I work for HBC began sellling these late last year.

March Break

With March Break just around the corner we are starting to plan our vacation out for next years break. We are hoping to be able to pull of a family trip down to Disney World and definitely get Sea World Tickets as well to make it a full trip. We have been talking about taking this trip for years and now that our youngest child will be almost 5 next year we think it is about time to make the big trip. Of course we will be shopping around as a family of 6 we want to get the best deal possible on the accommodations, flights, car rental and most importantly the theme parks. I have never been to any of the theme parks but my wife made it to Disney World when she was younger and talks about it being one of the most enjoyable trips of yer adolescent life. I hope we all have great memories of our trip it will be a lot of fun for sure

The renovation continues...

Tommorrow will be an exciting day it is a day away from work. After the kids get off to school my awesome wife and I along with our youngest little buddy Blake will go off shopping for doors fro our new family room. We will be shoppoing around to get teh best price. I wouldn't be surprised if we sneak a little snack for lunch somewhere before we heas home but we'll see.

The Insurance Quest

With our recent move I was disappointed that our current insurance company couldn't cover us in our new location. I had built a good relationship with them over the years but we were forced to go out and shop around for a new company to represent us. Of course we were looking for car insurance cheap and after a bit of a search we were able to find it. It can be a challanging feat to find the best overall representation as there are so many things to consider, the amount of coverage you need, deductibles etc. It is certainly best to shop around when lookign for insurance and I was surprised to find I wasn't getting the best deal available even though I thought I was.

Crazy 8's

Coming up to the 50th running of the Daytona 500 one of the biggest question marks is how well will Dale Jr run know that he has moved to the powerhouse team of Hendrick motor sports. I personally have never been a huge fan of Jr's but with his change of teams I am really interested in seeing if it was the driver or the equipment that caused him to struggle the last few years. The hard thing must be that there is huge expectation for him to win, win a lot and win immediately now that he has arguably the best equipment in Nascar. I am excitedly counting down the days to the beginning of a new season and am hoping to have the time to watch more good races this year after a disappointing year last year. Gentleman...Start your remotes...oops I mean engines.

A Slimmer Smoother look for my Wife

My wife is always so hard on her appearance and body image and after having four children she has been wanting to find ways to get her slim look back. I think she looks great the way she is but until she is happy she will continue to look for a solution without having surgery. She has often mentioned to me about purchasing Spanx to help her slim down so that she can fit into her favorite pair of jeans. Hey, if it will make her look 10 pounds thinner and make her happy then yes buy Spanx I told her. She swears by this slimming shapewear that a lot of celebrities use which gives them their flat, smooth slimming look. Boost my wife's confidence in her appearance and bring Spanx to the rescue!

rec room renovation

Well over the weekend we re-framed in my work room, cut it approximately in 1/2 as it jetted into our new rec room too much. Luckily we hadn't done anything other than frame it in so it wasn't too bad to re-do. I decided to buy some sheet rock today so I can get it in place, once that's done my wife won't ask me to re-frame it again. Once the kiddie's are off to bed I will be down getting the walls up. I haven't done this before so it should be a fun learning experience.

Gentleman get ready to start your engines

I can almost smell it, less than 3 weeks to the 50th running of the Daytona 500. It should be an exciting event so many questions, who will qualify there is so much that leads up to that for this race. Will Toyota fair better this year than last, my guess would be yes with the new addition of JoeGibbsRacing team they might just challange for their first series win. Can Kevin Harvick repeat as Daytona Winner?, better yet will the finish be as close and exciting as last year's event. What about the car of tommorrow, which is now the car of today full time in Cup this year, how will it handle 500 miles of Daytona? I've had this date circled on my calendar since the end of last season. It will be an exciting evening in the house for me at least, I don't think the kids like the racing too much, I'll have to get them a new movie and have a snack fest for them.

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 23 January 2008
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Cold Snap!

Argh, the last 2 days have been the coldest days we have had all year, I'm freezing!
The oil man must be just loving this weather as my heaters are all cranked, just like everybody elses. Thankfully this is only supposed to last another day and then it will begin to warm up a little. It hit a low of -29 C this morning with the wind chill. Jack Frost is turning up his magic, well that is the joy of winter anyway, I have found 1 benefit to it being this cold, it's easy to get my wife in the cuddle mood come bed time.LOL :0)

It's getting colder out...

Today driving back to work from my lunch hour I noticed for the first time that the water was starting to freeze. This is a sure sign of the freezing cold temperatures that we have been getting. I can't really complain all to much about the weather because in all honesty it hasn't been to bad here and not a whole lot of snow. The forecast for next week looks to be on the messy side with lots of snow to come. Let's just hope it doesn't interfere with my out of town meetings for work.

The Little Wonders

Somedays we look at them and wonder
What have we done to be so lucky
These wonderful little ones
Bring so much joy
Their individuality, sometimes frustrating
Ultimately is what makes us love them so dearly
For they are themselves the challenge for us,
Remember to let them be little
To let them be themselves
Show them respect for who they are
Express Joy and Disappointment
Encourage them when they fail
Praise them in their success
Most of all be their friend
So they will trust in us
Allow us to hold them up when they need us most
Like a footprints in the sand,
as our Father carries us through times of trouble.
Our responsibility to Little Wonders!


Matt
01/17/08

My star is born

I was tagged by CareBear from Rantings of a Woman to do this Band Meme...It was lot's of fun!

This is what you do -
You are about to become a star and have your own band's CD cover.

Follow these directions to the letter.
Go to......

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Ok this is it...

The name of my band is THE HONG KONG MELODY MAKERS

The title of the album is CHANGE EVERYTHING OR NOTHING

and this is my album cover...

Good night

Well, it's time to go in only a couple of minutes my favorite show is back on the air after a couple of months off. Prison Break oh I've been waiting every Monday night seemed so wrong with out this weekly fix, well back on the air it is and off I go to watch.

Cutting out the Calories

A big paor to four diet success a couple of years ago was cutting out the pop. We used to drink a couple of glasses each a day. We switched over to diet brands which cuts out the sugar and the calories. Sadly I recently discovered that aspartame isn't healthy for you either so out goes the diet pop, now we are onto Coke Zero as much as possible which doesn't use aspartame but still is low in calories, at least until they find something wrong with that one too. Really we don't have pop in the house anymore and only have it on a special occasion.

Winter Storm

We are getting settled in for the night. The kids are getting ready for bed now that the homework is done and soon the house will be quiet and I can sit back and wait for the weather to come this way. The heat is turned up and I am looking forward to the return of Prison Break later on this evening. With any luck my darling wife will join me considering this is one of her favorite shows as well then we will head off to bed and see what this storm brings us by morning.

diet challanges

With the New Year upon us my wife and I decided it would be a good time to try and get back on track with our weight. A little over 3 years ago after our last child was born we gave it a go and working together we lost a lot of weight. Personally I lost over 50lbs going from over 240 to a low of 188 but as time has gone by and we had a couple of job transfers where we lived out of hotels for a while I've put about 20lbs back on. so it's time to nip that in the but, it sure is hard to get back into the routine of watching what you eat, well watching it isn't hard LOL, it's the choosing the right stuff. I usually do well through the day but it's that deadly time of around 9pm that get's me, I really need to find something better to do late at night. Humm??

Construction Skills

In the very demanding construction industry the need for skilled workers is becoming even more difficult to meet demand. due to new emphasis put on Health and Safety in today's industry there is more demand for qualified workers. Many construction sites won't even allow workers on site without proper cards to show their skill level. Your career development is an ever evolving process and knowing where to get the information you need to get the skill to advance is very important. Be prepared, get the information you need for courses to suit your needs and improve your career options. It's important also to know what locations can offer you the courses you need. If your looking to start into construction right away you can look into starting an apprenticeship with an experienced and qualified construction worker. You can even prove your skill and gain your qualification card via on-site assessment and training. there are hundreds of available training and assessment providers offering construction related courses and testing for you.

Gas Price Pain

With gas prices here hitting 1.17L and I heard today on the news it should hit 1.50 by summer I don't understand why our government won't step up and make a cut in the tax in our gas price. They could at lease remove the pst/gst from the price. I'm trying to support my family for 6 and by the time you keep food and a roof get some bill paid it's hard to drop $100 to fill the tank in the van and hope it lasts for 2 weeks. It could be scary if it goes up as high as they say $150 to fill the tank would be hard to swallow. I believe it is time for the government both provincially and federally to give us average joe's a real tax break at the pump where we will see it everyday.

The weekend is here

Well the weekend is here and now is a time to get caught up. Jay and Trin are having friends over tonight so that should keep us busy, nacho's later I hear. I made the mistake of peeking into the laundry room to discover it is full, well bursting so I am going to work on getting that caught up tonight so we won't have to worry about it over the weekend. Jay is planning to buy a pokemon diamond game for his ds so I assume we will be out shopping tommorrow at some point, funny I bet he won't have a problem shopping with us tommorrow. I'm sure we'll find some fun activity to do through the weekend too, I'll report back.

Beddy Bye Time!

Well the hour has offically past my bed time, I have my toothpicks beside me here but I feel that it is time to give up my blogging for the night and go get some shut eye. In only a few short hours, I predict 6 my two favorite young boys in the whole world will be jumping on my head looking for "cuddles". They don't quite have the same thought of cuddle that I do, they feel cuddle means crawl on top, start jabbing and poking and ranting about breakfast desperatly trying to wake everyone in the house. To me cuddle would be quite and I'm desperatly trying to get a couple more minutes before I get up. Aw little boys you gotta love them while they're small and loving.

TGIF

That's right Thank god it's Friday, it's been a long week at work and it is now offically 12am on Friday so I only have 1 more day and I'm off for the weekend. WHOO HOO. It will be nice to be able to kick back and spend a nice quite weekend with the kiddies. I'm a little :0( because most of the snow melted away over the last couple of days, we were planning on taking the kids to the local sledding hill but we will now have to find something else to do. Perhaps we'll hook up the skates and go to the rink if there is a public skate time.

Valentines Gala

I was apprehensive when I was offered 2 tickets to a valentines gala being put on here by the hospital. The issue was knowing that neither my wife or I had much in the way of dressy clothes. Luckily the friend whom gave me the tickets assured me that it is a casual/dress type thing and that shirt/tie would be fine for me and something nice for my wife but not gown type. So we are now excited to be attending this event. Time to break out the old dancing shoes, oops buy new ones and break them in before I go. I hear it will be a wonderful meal and tons of great prizes and also it gives the kids a night of fun with the babysitter instead of stuffy old mom and dad

Lunch time Dad

Well part of our routine around the house is that I make the kids lunches for school. I'm not sure how I got volunteered for this project, I'm sure it's not because the kids think I am a great lunch maker. More than likely it was from our old home when the kids school was so picky with the kids lunches that my wife was constantly frustrated trying to make a lunch that would meet the schools approval. Anyway it has just become habit now, I line up the 3 lunches and try to make them all interesting enough that they will eat them up. Today disappointment when I opened up my daughters lunch box it was still full I must have missed bad on this one, although I heard she was going out with friends for lunch today so maybe that was the case. I got home after everyone went to bed so for my peace of mind I'll believe that.

January Thaw!

Well what a couple of days we have had here in Nova Scotia, yesterday it was as high as 16 and here local it was up over 10 in the afternoon, I would say pretty much a repeat performance today. It sure has melted most of the snow away at this point. Of course knowing it is only early in January I fully expect Old man Winter will rear his head again and soon. It was really nice to have the break from the cold though while it lasted.

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 09 January 2008
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Train of Life

Some folks ride the train of life
Looking out the rear,
Watching miles of life roll by,
And marking every year.
They sit in sad remembrance,
Of wasted days gone by,
And curse their life for what it was,
And hang their head and cry.
But I don't concern myself with that,
I took a different vent,
I look forward to what life holds,
And not what has been spent.
So strap me to the engine,
As securely as I can be,
I want to be out on the front,
To see what I can see.
I want to feel the winds of change,
Blowing in my face,

I want to see what life unfolds,
As I move from place to place.
I want to see what's coming up,
Not looking at the past,
Life's too short for yesterdays,
It moves along too fast.
So if the ride gets bumpy,
While you are looking back,
Go up front, and you may find,
Your life has jumped the track.
It's all right to remember,
That's part of history,
But up front's where it's happening,
There's so much mystery.
The enjoyment of living,
Is not where we have been,
It's looking ever forward,
To another year and ten.
It's searching all the byways,
Never should you refrain,
For if you want to live your life,
You gotta drive the train!

~author unknown~

back to basics

Now that the holidays are over we are trying to get things back on track around the house. The kids are back to school, so we are getting back on bed time routine and the kids are getting back into the homework and activity mode. We are about 3 days into school and things are starting to get on the right mode. The kids are still catching up on sleep as I find myself waking them up every morning but hopefully they'll catch up on that this week.

Scrabble time

This has got to be one of the most clever E-mails I've received in Awhile.
Someone out there either has too much Spare time or is deadly at Scrabble.
Wait till you see the last one)!

DORMITORY: When you rearrange the letters: DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN: When you rearrange the letters: BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER: When you rearrange the letters: MOON STARER

DESPERATION: When you rearrange the letters: A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES: When you rearrange the letters: THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH: When you rearrange the letters: HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE : When you rearrange the letters: HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange the letters: CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY: When you rearrange the letters: IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS: When you rearrange the letters: LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS: When you rearrange the letters: ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S

A DECIMAL POINT: When you rearrange the letters: I'M A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES: When you rearrange the letters: THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO: When you rearrange the letters: TWELVE PLUS ONE

AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:

MOTHER-IN-LAW: When you rearrange the letters: WOMAN HITLER

Yep! Someone with waaaaaaaaaaay Too much time on their hands! (Probably a son-in-law).

terrible two's?

Well I have to say the Tornado Threes as I call them could even top the terrible two's in my house. Our youngest little fella is the busiest, nosiest little one we have had, out of 4. He climbs everything, the counter, the dresser, the fridge, if he can find a nook for a hand he's going up it. don't get me wrong he's a wonderful little boy with lots of love in him but he has some urgh moments for sure.

dog tracks

Something that really bothers me are dog owners who walk their dogs but refuse to scoop their poop. It is especially bad here during the winter months when the sidewalks aren't perfectly cleared and you see the little piles all the way up the street. It is incredible how disrespectful people can be and the real kicker chances are they'll walk that sidewalk again and have to dodge the doo doo too.

dance revolution

For Christmas the kids were asking for the video game Dance Revolution. I thought well it might be fun for them for a couple of days but would get boring fast. I was surprised at what a hit this was not just with them but the whole family. We even took it to the New Years Eve house party my wife and I attended and we danced the new year in. It was a lot of fun and I find myself wanting to play it every night, it's that much fun!

Christmas Wish

One of the gifts my son Blake actually asked for this year was his own computer for the tv. He's 3 so he was looking for a click start computer, luckily Santa was able to deliver this wish on late notice. It's pretty neat he can type in letters and it tells him what they are and asks him different questions and games all related to learning his letters and numbers. As an added bonus there are extra cartridges available so he can learn more fun stuff. Of course Blake being Blake he showed up the other day with the information pamphlet from the machine with all the different cartridges on them and told us he needs them ALL!

Good night Everyone!

Well I believe another day has come to an end as I find myself drifting off to dream land as I am working on the computer. I think a full day has been put in, from painting, cleaning up, going to a movie, doing some laundry, playing table hockey and reading to the kids tonight for bed time. I will now go and get some shut eye on our super new mattress and get ready for another day. I hope all is well in your universe and I'll be back tommorrow for more perspective

The woman's tool kit

Recently on one of our shopping trips we came accross this awesome little kit, I fondly call the ladies handywoman kit. When my wife and I first got together she had her little red tool kit that her dad gave her and she was very proud of it as she is a do it yourself kind of gal. Now over the years the kits parts went missing or got broken probably mostly my fault so when I saw this kit I new we had to get one for her to have. It is so tempting when I am looking for a tool just to go try and grab her stuff as I know exactly where it will be unlike my tool bench which is hit or miss.

Turkey Stew

One of my favorites Christmas left over meals is a great Turkey stew, my wife made a tremendouse turkey stew this year I would be daring to say it was actually one of the best turkey stews I have ever had, luckily she made such a big pot that I even got to have it 4 times. The sad point, tonight the pot is empty :0( and I have no stew left, the good point there is still turkey meat in the freezer so if I am lucky I might get another pot of stew or I might get another post holiday favorite which would be hot turkey sandwiches. Either way the belly will be the winner in that one.

Today we decided to take the kids to a show at the theater, we decided to go to Water Horse and it was a pretty interesting show, the story was based on the loch ness monster and was set in the WWII time frame. It followed the journey of a young lad who has lost his father in the war and finds a mysterious egg one day while playing on the shore, it turns out to be a mystical Water Horse and the journey goes from there from the tiny little horse to the giant water horse that it grows into. It was well worth the trip that is for sure.

The snow hill is calling!

Well with winter officially here the kids received new sleds for Christmas and they are excited that there is finally some snow down on the ground. Not far from us is a hill that everyone uses to catapult down so we are planning on making a trip down there in the near future for some fun. Driving by it looks pretty steep so I'm guessing it will be a quick ride down...better hold on tight kids it could be a bumpy ride!

Christmas is over ...till next year

Well I had time this morning to get the last of the decorations down. I pulled down all the outside garland and lights and changed the outdoor lights back to regular bulbs. Now all the docorations are back in the storage room and Jay was able to get his room back together. It was a busy morning that's for sure. I had some inside jobs too and my good helper buddy Blake was there to assist me with building the hockey net. Anyway a lot of jobs got done this morning and now I am off to work.

Back Home

After a long visit out of Province with family it is nice to finally be back home and slowly getting things back to normal. We have had lots of snow to deal with over the past few days but the kids are excited to have lots of snow for sledding. Now what comes next? I'm back to work and the kids are off to school tomorrow and then we will start seeing things settle down. It was a great Christmas and I am looking forward to what this new year will bring.