Archive for June, 2006
June 8, 2006
Bargain Hunters R Us and a Useless Fact of the Day
So, I’ve been procrastinating on my writing searching for travel deals on the Internet on the trip to Ireland. First order of business: air fare. A few years ago, my air traffic controller brother-in-law recommended this site for cheap international fares. Fabulous deals! Even still, finding overseas fare to Ireland in the summer is like hunting for diamonds. I need to do this NOW so we can figure out the rest. Second order of business–grouping the tours we want to take and then figuring out where we’ll stay. I’m voting for Dromoland castle, but the $500 a night fee is just a wee bit out of the budget. There has to be a way! (Just stay alive! I will find you!–Last of the Mohicans). Ahem.
So far we have: Cliffs of Moher, Bushmills, Guinness, Dingle Peninsula, Waterford Factory, Giant’s Causeway, Aran Islands, Bunratty Castle, and Enniskillen on the agenda. I’m hoping to find some Anglo-Norman castles or ruins and take lots of pictures. Research, don’t you know.
When we visited Europe on our second honeymoon five years ago, AAA set up some day tours for us from Rome where we were picked up at our hotel, dropped off at the tour bus, and dropped home again at the end. I’m going to see if they have any of those in Ireland. The only tricky part is the transportation. But I’ll do what any stout-hearted wife would do: Make my husband drive.
So what are some great Internet travel discount sites that you know of? Any ideas on where I could find the super bargains?
Useless bit of random information: So, I’m a coupon-clipper. I always see these coupons for versions of my favorite products. Example–I might buy Edy’s ice cream. The coupon will be for Edy’s Super-Churned-Light-Doesn’t-Make-You-Gain-an-Ounce-But-is-Three-Times-More-Expensive brand. But my motto is, if you’re going to eat ice cream, eat the full fat version.
And yet! There’s a coupon! Must use it! So, here’s your useless fact for the day. You can use the aforementioned coupon on any Edy’s product. Same goes with any coupon. As long as it’s a product manufactured by that company, your coupon will work. Who knew? So you can keep your apple-cinnamon-flavored dental floss. I’ll use the same coupon on my mint-flavored, thankyouverymuch. 
Michelle posted in
Writing @ 6:35 am |
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June 5, 2006
Inching toward the end
I’m inching my way forward with this new book. It’s getting there, one page at a time. I can’t wait for two weeks from now when I get to blast forward at warp speed. Summer, here I come! In the meantime, I’m trying my darndest not to throw things at my middle schoolers. Papers, pens, flaming torches. You get the idea.
You see, this is the SLACKER phase of the school year. This week marks the point when nobody cares any more. There isn’t all that much left, just one more unit to finish teaching, one more test, and then exams. The kids are at the stage where I give the directions once, repeat it for those who didn’t hear me the first time, and then proceed to increase my blood pressure as another child asks, “What were we supposed to do again?” Daggers and swords start shooting from my eyes at that point. I don’t like repeating myself. It’s such a waste of effort. Once or twice, fine. Sometimes people don’t get it. But by the fifth time, look out!
Ahem. Yes, summer break is coming. And I am drooling because the dh and I are talking about going to Ireland. Bliss! Rapture! Guinness, Bushmills, and Bailey’s Irish Cream!
Okay, so there are priorities here. Although technically, I think drinking Guinness is like sucking on dead hay. Others may disagree.
Planning vacations are so much fun. I can’t wait to see what we come up with. The one thing that concerns me is driving in Ireland. The left side of the road intimidates me. And those narrow roads! Scary thought.
For those of you who have toured/traveled through Ireland, how did you solve the driving dilemma?
Michelle posted in
Writing @ 7:49 pm |
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June 2, 2006
Fighting my age
I’ve noticed lately that a curious aching has started to happen from both wrists down my forearms. Uh oh. It happens more toward the end of the day when I’m writing, :typing:and I have a suspicious feeling that it may be preliminary signs of carpal tunnel.
Not good. The last time I had carpal tunnel, I was pregnant with my son. It got so bad, I couldn’t even hold a pen and sign my name. Thankfully it went away a few months after I gave birth. I don’t want to go through that again, needless to say.
My hubby had a simple solution: “Just stop writing until it gets better.”
It’s rather like telling an engineer–”Just stop using the computer and do your work some other way.” Or telling a teacher, “Just stop talking for a while.” Er, while it probably would work, the idea of not writing is akin to horror. How else do I shut up the little voices in my head?
There’s just no way.
But I’ve developed some bad posture habits, and they’re catching up with me. Has anybody found any ways to combat this problem? What are ways that I can reduce the discomfort and still write?
I’m too young for this, I swear. 
Michelle posted in
Writing @ 6:41 am |
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