Saturday, February 27, 2010

My favorite places to shop for Christmas gifts

GreetingSpring.com  I have found out that I really like to do my Christmas shopping online. I can have my coffee, or my wine, depending on what time of day it is, or I can be in my p.j.'s in the comfort of my own home and not be standing in long lines or being in overcrowded stores, or trying to carry to many bags around while I shop. My feet won't hurt or my back. Technology, isn't it wonderful!


Before I check out, I always look for coupon codes for discounts or free shipping on the item I want to purchase. I type in coupon codes for ebags, the place I'm visiting, or coupon codes for handbags or whatever the item might be that I'm interested in purchasing. There are a lot of coupon code sources out there. Two I usually try are:http://www.couponcabin.com/, or http://www.promotionalcodes.com/?gclid=CNGzjvP4kaACFdx05QodLzqmeA. I love when I can get a deal! Now I don't think you can use coupon codes for QVC, which is one of my favorite places to shop, but the prices there are quite good and you have thirty days to return your product, no questions asked. If the product is defective you don't pay to ship it back. I also trust them with my information...they don't give it out to anyone. http://www.iqvc.com/ In July, on the 25th, they do their Christmas in July all day.

 I have ordered wreaths, garlands, 4ft. trees to put in urns outside my front door from the Bethlehem Lights people at QVC, and the quality is great. The lights are made to last a long time before needing to replace them. They also make battery operated wreaths and garlands that have a timer on them if that's the way you choose to use them. If you turn it on at 6:00 p.m., it will stay lit for six hours, shut off, and turn back on at the same time the next night. They actually last clear through the holiday season. I put mine up on Thanksgiving weekend and they stay working to the New Year. Wonderful!

Some of my other favorite places to shop are:
http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=honeysuckle&origkw=honeysuckle&sr=1, I always get my two grandchildren something from here every year. They love it.

http://www.nutsonline.com/, all sorts of nuts, dried fruits, chocolates, coffee, teas, seeds, snacks, gift baskets, tins, etc. You can pick your delivery date and it gets there fast!

http://secure.ebags.com:0/handbags/department/index.cfm?sub_site_id=14, Here they have any kind of bag you can think of: handbags, wallets, luggage, laptop bags, duffel bags, backpacks, etc. They have a lot of sales and you can return your item free if you're not satisfied. Love this website.

http://www.amazon.com/, You can get a lot of free shipping items here if you spend $25.00 or more and we all know this is easy to do at Christmas.

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=HOME&cid=20205&fp=f, Shipping is always $2.95 on your entire order, but sometimes it's only a dollar and sometimes it's free. Big selection of items.

http://www.zappos.com/?gclid=CJ_hq5aDkqACFQ1N5QodyBzCfA, Shoes & Clothing with free shipping both ways.

http://www.ulta.com/ulta/index.jsp?s_kwcid=ulta|974910690, for cosmetics and fragrances, etc.

https://www.thecountryhouse.com/Default.asp, If you're into the country decorating, this is the place to shop.

So that's it. It's always a good idea to check out the return policies for any place you shop so there will be no surprises. Another good idea is if you set up an account at places you shop, to frequently change your password to keep your information safe. Each credit card company has different ways for you to keep your identity safe for shopping online, and don't forget those coupon codes.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Bit of a Dilemma

My game collection seems to have grown a bit since coming to live in Austria. When we first came we bought two bookcase like units that I thought would house my collection and leave plenty of space for it to grow. Well......it seems to have grown alright.

My very full game units

As you can see from the picture there isn't a lot of space left. Tina said that once the units were full, that's it. Mmmmm, I've wiggled the games around to fit in what I have got and can't see anyway to make more space. Now that means, a) don't buy any more games or b) work on Tina to buy another unit. The first option is not an option, and the second option is not likely.......as I say A Bit of a Dilemma!!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Amazing Grace Christmas Light Show


This is truly the best light show I have ever seen! Enjoy.

The Amazing Grace Christmas House. Designed and programmed by Richard Holdman in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

You can find out more information about this display at http://www.holdman.com/
The display has 50,000 lights and is computer controlled by 180 channels.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Some thoughts on Justinian

Justinian was a game I purchased recently, at only 2.99 Euro. As you can see from the picture the theme is Roman....primarily trying to get more influence for the characters you hold in your hand. The mechanics are pretty straightforward and can be learned fairly quickly. Basically you place influence tokens face down on the characters on the display you wish to influence, either positively or negatively. Or you place tokens on the display under the main one to gain enough points to trigger a scoring round. This is where the problem lies, and has been discussed on BGG. The number of points you need to trigger a scoring seem to be much too high. As you can see in the picture it's 5 for the first round, then 9 and lastly 12.

When we played at first we ran out of tokens either in the second or third phase before having enough points to trigger a scoring round. After about 3 games of this we just adjusted the numbers down, to 3, 5, and 7. This seemed to make the game flow much better. The look and quality of the components is top class and for the price I paid I am happy to have it on my game shelves.



Today we played a couple of games of Oltre Mare. Tina hadn't played before and we shared a victory apiece. This game was one of Emanuele Ornella's first offerings and is still a good game. Again the rules are fairly straightforward and after a couple of turns it all becomes clear.

Happy Gaming!!