After we added a deck to our home, I convinced my husband it was time to have his coworkers over. When he agreed and they accepted — even his boss — I got a little intimidated. I didn’t know these people well enough to be certain how important their military rank was to them off duty.

I was six months pregnant, so we divided up the preparations. I took care of the food; he took care of the outside. That included a thorough deck cleaning. The new brand of deck cleaner I’d bought took care of all the deck stains, and everything looked beautiful.

For something a little different, I prepared a Puerto Rican feast. The pinchos (beef shish kabobs) , rice and beans, plátanos (fried green plantain) and sliced avocado were all a hit. Everyone was delighted with the food, with the ambience and all our guests were gracious. One of the wives gave me this advice. “Take care of yourself for two years after your pregnancy. It takes that long for your body to return to normal.” And she was right.

I was surfing the Internet the other day trying to find some information for my sister on Autism. Her daughter was recently diagnosed and my sister was scared, mostly because it was something that she knew very little about.

In my searches, I came across a medical community that consisted of parents of autistic children and doctors that specialize in autism. I told her about it, as I thought it would be a wonderful resource for her. It would be a place that could answer a lot of her questions.

She loved it. She told me that it was a great resource because sometimes she will think of a question at three in the morning and, although she can’t talk to her doctor at that time of day, she knows that she can get the answer she needs right away. I am glad I came across it because I think it has helped her cope with her reality a little bit better.

When I was a kid, my absolute favorite TV show was a cartoon called Astroboy.  Astro was a robot boy who was extremely strong and he always saved the world. It was probably the beginning of Japanimation and the show was incredible for an eight year old.

I do not know what happened to it, but when I found a T-shirt with Astroboy on it, I knew that I had to have it. The funny thing is that I do not even want to see the show now because I think it might ruin what I thought was great as a child.

I was going through a vintage store the other day and I found an Astro costume. I didn’t care how much it cost. I knew I had to have it. It ended up being very cheap and it fit me perfectly and best of all, I don’t need to worry about Halloween now.

For years now, my husband has been fascinated with solar power. A couple of years ago, after he converted our house completely to solar power, he decided that he was going to start his own business, helping other people to make the right choice to go solar, as well.

The business was slow at first, but as the word got out there about solar power and how good it was going to be for the environment, more and more people decided to switch. It makes my husband feel good and he has started teaching classes about solar power and its positive effect on the world.

He has even incorporated a solar system incentive in an effort to get more people to switch. He has offered free installation to anyone purchasing a system in the next two months and the response has been overwhelming. I think that every little bit helps and it is up to us to make sure the earth is here for our grandchildren someday.

We made a big mistake last year when we went to Las Vegas - our trip cost way too much money.  Part of that was definitely our own fault as we kind of went a little crazy with our spending.  We spent so much money that it took us just about three months to recover.

So, this time when we decided that we are going to go to Las Vegas again, we have decided that we are going to make sure to be a little more conscious of the money that we are spending.  I have even been able to find some Las Vegas coupons that we can use for meals and hotels.  Hopefully it will help enough to keep the costs down.

But there is still some time for us to find other deals before the trip.  I am hoping that we can find some cheap tickets to some Las Vegas shows as I loved the one we watched last year.  Needless to say, no matter how much money that we spend, it will be all worth it.

We are constantly trying to come up with ideas for our children for Christmas presents.  I think kids these days have way too many toys and I refuse to buy any more for my children.  This leaves us in a bind for coming up with unique ideas for things that they would enjoy that are not toys.

I think the best one that we have come up with so far is to give them circus tickets for the circus that would be coming to town a month after Christmas.  It gave them something to look forward to after Christmas was done and it was something that was not only lost and forgotten in the bottom of their toy box.

They love the idea and they loved the circus.  We all had a pretty amazing time and I think that I will start keeping my eyes and ears open for events that may be coming to town that would hold my children’s attention, as I think this will be the best gifts that we can get them.

Sometimes I wonder if people are just unwilling to try new things, or if they just value tradition so much that they don’t think to try something else.  Or perhaps it is just that they don’t think to try something else if what they are doing is not working.

Take for example dating: most people go about it the traditional way where they go out and ask anyone to see if they would like to go out with them.  Sure, I guess that they would make their decision based on looks, but just like your mom always said, beauty is only skin deep.

Most people using the "traditional" method of dating usually have to go through a large number of  candidates, try them out, and then break up and start again.  It is a tedious process that can take up years of your life.

I urge you to consider the quicker and easier way to find love by using free online dating websites.  I would say that the biggest difference by going this route is your ability to pre-screen potential life partners by going through their profile, much like an employer does with resumes.  It lets you narrow down who would be the best fit for you, and then try dating the best of the best.

Not only does online dating save time, but it helps you have a better chance of finding your soul mate - isn’t that what you are looking for?

When I first decided to start marketing my websites, I knew that I wanted to make sure that I was engaging in ethical SEO.  With so many websites out there trying to cheat the system, I didn’t want to become like them - I wanted to keep my integrity intact.

The one thing that I found was that it was really tough to market doing the right thing instead of cutting corners.  I saw some of my competitor’s and friend’s websites increase in rankings a lot quicker than my own, and thought it made me a little jealous, I knew that their sites would eventually suffer.

It wasn’t until I took advantage of a directory submission service that my sites started to get traction online.  Sure, it took a lot more patience, but my site still receives traffic today, whereas my friend’s and competitors sites are gone.

So I know that I made the right choice.

I know that it really isn’t that late in the evening, but I am beat.  You see, it was a terribly busy day at work and I had to stay late - so it made the day even longer.

But, I didn’t have to make supper for a change, so that was definitely a sigh of relief.  Sure, I guess I had to do dishes, but thanks to the dishwasher, it really isn’t that bad.

So, I am sitting on my recliner, reading my issue of Motorcycle Trader, in an attempt to find myself a "new" bike.  Really, I am looking for a used motorcycle to replace the aging one in the garage.  It makes me a little sad that it has made it to the end of it’s useful life, but we did really have some great times together.

I am making a list of people to call before I go to bed - maybe I can get a new bike this week.  That would be great.

I have decided that moving to the UK would be a great opportunity for me.  Now that I am working online, I can live anywhere in the world that has Internet, and I am sure they have it, right?

Of course they do.

I have always loved the United Kingdom, so I thought it would be the perfect place for me to begin my new life.  But, I would need to setup a limited liability company in the UK so that I could continue my business operations.

Reading through the process of forming a corporation in the UK, I found that I would need a UK registered address - something that I didn’t have right now.  Until I did have the address, I would not be able to proceed with registering my company.

So, I guess it will have to wait until I get there.  That will still be a couple of months away - I just can’t wait!