The house is once again filled with children laughing and running about, up and down the stairs, in and out every door in the house, the phone is ringing off the hook, which tells me that school is out and summer vacation time is here again. I really like this time of year, for the most part I enjoy my children here at home and their friends are for the most part good kids that behave very well while under my roof. We always have the house in the neighborhood that kids are attracted to, we have always had play houses, tree houses, trampolines, bikes, scooter and all of the outside toys that kids love. We have a nice big yard, a nice long paved driveway and just all and all very kid friendly and we like it that way and wouldn’t change a thing. The wife and I decided a long time ago that we would like it to be this way, this way we know where our kids are and what they are doing and who they are doing it with and why. It works out well, most of the time.

My teen age daughter showed me a site that her friends use a lot, that lets you upload your pictures, graphics, logos, or anything else that you like to use on Gift Cards that are oh so popular now these days. It has made purchasing gifts for people that are hard to please a whole lot easier, you give them a gift card and they can go and get exactly what they want and need.

The web-site is http://www.giftcardlab.com/ and they could not have made the process any easier in any way, your create the card, add it to your shopping cart, personalize it, send it out and then all the receiver has to do is activate it on-line. They way you personalize it is either select a design from their “Shop Design Gallery” or you can upload your own image that you have.

I’ll bet that kids would get a big kick out of receiving a gift card with their picture on it. And after they use the funds all up you can keep the used gift card, and do what you want with it, tack it up on a bulletin board, or refrigerator, or in your photo album or scrapbook or send to Grandma and Grandpa. Most companies throw the used up card away, but you can ask for it back and they have to give it to you. My sister in-law keeps all of her used cards and paints pictures on them, punches a hole in the top, places a piece of yarn or string through the hole and uses them as Christmas ornaments, cool huh! My wife saves all of hers and gives them to her when she sees her, the sales associates always ask why she wants her card back and she explains the Christmas ornament arts and craft idea and they always love it.

I seem to have the worst time with weed eaters, it seems that every year it is the same thing, I take the thing out of the shed and it won’t work. I have bought so many of these things that I really am tired of it all. I’ve bought them from friends, family members, yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores and did purchas a few here and there brand new. Just last week I went to the shed and got my latest weed eater out, went to start it and nothing, nada, zero, zip and the big 0, and nothing that I did helped the least, man I was pissed, went inside and hollered my frustrations out at the wife, got a cold glass of iced tea and a smoke and then listened to the wife about going on-line this year and do some comparison shopping before purchasing a new one that our yard so desperately needs.

I did go on-line and spent some time looking around and found that Wal-Mart once again has the better price, no surprise there these days. So the wife and I drove on down to the local store and purchased  the one that I wanted, it wasn’t the cheapest one that they sell, but a few notches up the price ladder a bit. We got it home, tried to start it and nothing and after 20 minutes of fiddling with the stupid thing I gave up on it and asked the wife to take it back and exchange for a new one, which she did the next day. Well long story short, that one will not start and it is now sitting on the back porch, box and all awaiting for the next trip to Wally World. They say the third time is a charm, we shall see about that, if the next one doesn’t work I guess I will have to pay more money to find a decent weed eater that will work.

When working in any type of business, one is subjected to numerous meetings and conferences, some people seem to enjoy them, the majority of folks have no use for them and dread them fiercely. I’ve seen so many attempts made to make these necessary functions more tolerable and exciting, to keep people’s interest and their attention going, playing games, exotic foods, luxurious locations, things like that, people put a lot of work and effort into these meetings and it costs the company money in many ways to hold these functions so they want the best bang for their buck out of the deal, understandably so.

The company that I work for has installed video conferencing products from a company by the name of Lifesize, that provides a stunning experience at a price that is affordable and accessible to anyone that needs to communicate with their colleagues just across town or state, or across the country, virtually any where on this earth. The product that our company just recently purchased allows us the opportunity for up to six participants to connect in high definition, for our conferencing use. Video clips and other types of multimedia are now able to be exchanged with intricate details and creative ideas to be heard and seen.

We just got ours up and running last month, and we had the opportunity to use some of these services and I was amazed on the quality of the whole thing. The picture is crisp and clear, and the audio was much better than we ever could have expected and are very pleased with it so far.

If you think that your company would benefit from this experience I give you the web-site address of www.lifesize.com, I high recommend their service and products, I hear from the office pool that they are friendly people that provide good customer service, which is a plus for them.

With all of these extreme weather conditions that we have been experiencing as of late, I have been concerned for the garden that we have learned to enjoy every year, and have been getting better at each and every year that we plant again.

The wife’s favoriet is the strawberries and the thornless blackberries, the strawberries are all done with all ready, they did real well this year, the wife has been tickled with being able to go out the back door and pick a cup or two of fresh berries every single day for over 2 weeks worth. The strawberry season is a short one but at least we have the variety that will produce once again in the fall, so we will get two good helpings of them each and every year.

The blackberries are looking healthy but have a ways too go before we can start picking them and enjoying them right off of the vine and also freezing them for future use, friends and families always get a good amount brought to them when we visit during the late summer months all the way into October, I do believe.

We have been dealing with thunder and lightening storms for weeks now that keep taking out the electricy here and there, and have provided the lawn and garden with a good amount of water which is keeping our water bill lower, you gott love that extra help.