April 7, 2008
Junior is on Comcast OnDemand right now. I’m an Arnold fan. I feel compelled to apologize for that, yet I can’t quite bring myself to do so. I can’t think offhand of one of his movies I don’t like. I guess the Conans are my least favorite. I like a little dialog in movies.
Saturday I watched Junior. OK, so it’s not exactly a Mother’s Day film. But in a way it is. It’s all a bit confusing. Arnold does have a dream that he has a baby who looks just like him: scary. In the dream the baby calls him mama.
Don tells me he heard in the news that there is a guy who is pregnant. This person had a sex change operation awhile ago from male to female. They left the uterus. When the person’s partner learned she couldn’t get pregnant they decided that the guy with the uterus should carry the child. I’m not sure where the fertilized egg came from. As the witch in The Wizard of Oz said, “What a world.”
A happy Mother’s Day goes out to all mamas. My favorite MD gift is a rose bush my son gave me a few years ago. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. It produces glorious red blooms as much of the year as full sun shines on it. Wow.
My least favorite MD gift is, well, nothing. But that rarely happens. If you’re overwhelmed at the thought of finding MD gifts for mom, wife or grandma, I can help you put the puzzle together because I’m all three of those things so I know what they want: something. Yes, we definitely want something. You can look over Personality Gifts to find the perfect site, or you can pick up something here according to the amount you want to spend on the gift. I’ll make it easy, with two in each of three price categories.
$5-10
January 11, 2008
When the Superbowl was in January I became accustomed to thinking that the holiday season wasn’t really over until after the game. I remember many years watching the game at a ski resort. I remember watching President Clinton’s famous “I never had sex with that woman…” on a ski vaca too.
This year the Superbowl is February 3. So the holiday season runs right on into Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day is an easy holiday for which to select gifts. Anything that makes people feel loved will work. Cologne and flowers are perfect ideas. Chocolate is great because it simulates a feeling of love. But even better is to really experience love. If you want to find some special ideas on making people feel loved, check out the Love Language gift selections. We have some links to quizes that can help determine what love language someone speaks, but to make it even easier to learn your special someone’s love language, here are some descriptions that will help.
If your loved one…
- Would rather get a massage than eat a steak
- Has stuffed animals and / or fuzzy slippers
- Prefers silk or flannel sheets to regular ones
- Begs for foot-rubs, back-rubs, manicures or hair brushed
- Wants to snuggle even when it’s hot
He or she probably speaks TOUCH as a love language.
If your Valentine…
- Wants to share a quiet dinner rather than see a movie
- Loves spending time with friends and family
- Asks you to go for walks or drives alone
- Prefers board games to video games
His or her love language is likely QUALITY TIME
A sweetheart who…
- Shies away from a friend who is critical
- Is very easily hurt by angry words
- Likes to tell you how much you mean to him or her
- Becomes angry when you forget to tell him or her how much she or he means to you
May very well speak the language of WORDS of AFFIRMATION
Would your sweetheart
- Be heartbroken if you didn’t bring a gift home on your anniversary?
- Feel devastated if you let a birthday go by unnoticed?
- Go to great lengths to choose special gifts for everyone on a list?
- Feel slighted if you gave him or her a gift in a color she or he didn’t like?
- Wonder why a family member neglected to bring a hostess gift to a special dinner?
He or she must speak the language of GIFTS!
A person who
- Wants to come home to find everything in order
- Can’t wait for the weekend so he or she can work around the house
- Would rather have you clean the garage with him or her than anything else you had planned for the day
- Warms considerably when he or she comes home to find chores complete
- Can’t rest after dinner until the dishes are done
Is probably an ACTS of SERVICE love language person.
Check our Love Language pages for special suggestions for each type. Here are some gift suggestions perfect for Valentines of every love language:
December 8, 2007
Do you feel the Christmas noose tightening? I hope not. There are still more than two weeks until Christmas. I hope you have a lot of your have-tos completed so you can do many of your want-tos.
If you are behind in gift-buying, you can likely finish up in one session on PersonalityGifts.com, and have some fun while you do it, by reading up on personality types and growing in your understanding of your loved ones. If you get stumped in choosing gifts, email me and I’ll jump in to do my best to help you choose the perfect gift.
If you are ready for some want-to activities, I have one to suggest: make your own wreath (or one to give as a gift). Begin with a form. I like to use grapevine wreaths because they are natural and easy to work with. Lay greens over the form. You can usually pick some up free at a Christmas tree lot–they are usually glad to get rid of them so they don’t have to process and move them somewhere.
1) Wrap the form with floral wire, catching the greens so they stay in place. Leave your wreath as-is with the beautiful greens, or
2) decorate with ribbon, tree decorations, pine cones, and other naturally beautiful ornaments such as fronds from rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, pepper tree fronds with pepper berries, bittersweet, red autumn leaves, and whatever captures your fancy. This year I added some silver jingle bells for sparkle and music.
October 16, 2007
The discussion board will have more detail about ideas for a memorable Christmas that doesn’t require spending untold thousands, but here is a list of some gifts that are very inexpensive–or nearly free:
Epsom Salts scented with herbs in attractive empty glass bottles decorated with beads makes a pleasant gift of bath salts.
Give works of art and literature that are in the public domain because of expired copyrights: you can burn e-book CDs, record audio CDs by reading aloud, and place public domain works of art on canvas totes or cotton clothing with ink jet transfer paper.
Film a DVD of a family event, or have the family perform a dramatic rendition, burn copies of the video onto DVD, and give as gifts.
Fleece scarves made from inexpensive Christmas-patterned fleece at the fabric store make snuggly gifts. All you do is cut the fabric into scarf size and fringe the edges by cutting with a scissors.
Grunge chic gifts can be achieved by visiting local thrift shops. You may find some treasure, or things like candleholders or baskets that can become treasure when you decorate them with beads strung on wire.
Used records and video can sometimes be purchased for little more than a song, and make great gifts. Check out Second Spin.
You can make photo gifts on your computer. Family photos can liven up calendars and other household docs and booklets. You can even make family history booklets. “Who Am I” books that tell about childhoods of parents and grandparents are great gifts for kids as they grow up.
Estate costume jewelry can be picked up at thrift shops and given as-is, or taken apart and re-worked into new designs.
Here are some creative staples to use for your made-with-love gifts:
BeadRoom.com
Hewlett-Packard Color Inkjet Printer Paper
DVD-R Recordable
