Sam's Club vs Costco

We live about equal distance between Costco and Sam's. If I go to the end of our main road and turn left I am at Costco in about 4 minutes. If I turn right I am at Sam's in about the same amount of time. It is pretty sweet actually. I have always preferred shopping at Sam's as it is just quieter, less crowded, less frenetic, and I can find a parking place within walking distance.

Don't get me wrong, I love the variety and fun stuff at Costco and am much more tempted to buy things that we really don't need there. In that respect it is better (or should I say worse) than Sam's Club. At Sam's I know exactly where everything is and I am in and out in no time. In Costco I tend to wander, etc.


Well, Sam's has done something lately that is swinging my vote over to Costco exclusively.

They have switched to these insanely stupid milk containers with the flat tops. I hate them. It is impossible to pour milk without spilling it. Then they have also put this heavy foil thingy on it that does not peel off easily, so you have to cut it off before you can even get to the milk.

I cannot come up with any earthly good reason they have done this...they say they can be stacked for shipping easier and that it is cheaper, but...if we quit buying it, what is the advantage to them? They say they are passing the savings on to the customer, but fat free milk at Winco is ...$1.75, milk at Sam's over $2.00, so the savings they claim the consumer is getting are questionable. It's just the lamest thing ever. We have even been known to transfer our milk into old, normal, washed containers when one was available. Is anyone else done with Sam's milk, or is it just us?

The other reason I use to like Sam's was that they had a pretty good DVD department with cheaper prices than most. Now they are carrying less and charging more. I am going, going gone from Sam's Club very soon now; like right after the Christmas rush at Costco. Perish the thought of those horrendous lines during the holidays!

Maybe Sam's Club will come to their senses in the mean time! It is the little things that can wreck your day sometimes! I am seeing my glass of milk from Sam's half empty at the moment!

flickr

OH NO! There has been a sighting
in Costco in the Northwest and they
ARE coming to Walmart too!

How to Light Up Your Life & Home

I think we would all agree that lighting is very important to creating atmosphere or ambiance in a room. I would carry it one step further and say it is the most important aspect of any room. Don't we all look more lovely basking in the glow of candle light as opposed to the harsh glare of florescent lighting? So it is with our homes. In terms of decorating we have basically two types of light. Natural light that enters the windows from the sun and artificial lighting that we get from lamps, etc.

Natural light is so important to the way a home looks and feels and the most important thing regarding that is to keep your blinds and curtains open during the day. I cannot tell you how many homes I have done redesign or staging consultations in that look so uninviting and boring for this reason alone. If privacy is an issue there are several solutions~you just have to have natural light.


As for artificial lighting, it has come a long way in the last several years. If I needed to select one place where people try skimp and save, it's the under utilization of lamps. I have worked in very expensive homes that have the worst lamps imaginable. You do not need to spend a fortune on lamps but you do need to get enough lighting in each room. One of the best places I have found for great and affordable lamps is HomeGoods. They have some very fun and funky lamps with interesting shapes and shades. I love this one. I have gotten some gorgeous lamps for under $70 and most of theirs are under $40.00

They can be functional and fabulous
you don't have to sacrifice one for the other.

The details of your home...all of them, are
what make it interesting.
Think Disneyland~it's all in the details.

I am lovin' the fun shape of this whole lamp and
having two for the price of one by having it in front of
the buffet mirror.

This is our only expense lamp. I have found that the cheaper
pharmacy lamps usually do not hold the position you
want them in very well over time.
If you want one, get a good one.
This one was $200.00 at Pottery Barn.
The high quality was worth it. It has
been great for several years already.
It is a keeper.

Ambient (which literally means something that surrounds) light or task lighting is important in every home. We need lights to see what we are doing! Examples of this are most overhead lighting, desk lamps, reading lamps, etc. In this definition I would exclude lights that are recessed in the ceiling to give a dramatic look, spot light art, etc. These are more decorative although they can be ambient if placed over a counter or desk, etc.

Lamps are essential to create ambiance or a nice warm cozy feeling in a room. Often people are annoyed that their homes do not have overhead lighting in their bedrooms, this is a good thing. Bedrooms should have lamps to create a nice warm glow, not just stark overhead lighting. Various types of lamps that create ambiance are table lamps, floor lamps, up lights and torchieres and chandeliers. The nice thing about lamps is that you can vary the lighting in various parts of the room by simply switching them on and off or by using dimmers, 3-way bulbs, etc.

This is one of those touch lamps that has 3 settings...Love it!

I love the buffet lamps because they are actually taller than regular table lamps which helps with the scale with our bigger, taller furniture and beds. They are great on lower end tables so your light sounce is actually high enough to illuminate the pages of your book.

This is one of the homes we redesigned:
The lamps are too low and too small for this bed.

These are Perfect!
We found them in another area of the home,
not being used.

When you have placed your furniture correctly your lamps should always form either a diagonal line or triangle. What we see so often is a sofa with two end tables and a lamp on each one. This is not correct unless you have another lamp to form a triangle on the opposite side of the room. If you have a lamp on both side of your bed make sure you have another one on your dresser to form a triangle. It does not have to be an equilateral triangle. Two can also work if they are placed on the diagonal (one on the dresser diagonally across from the one near the bed.

It is also fun to have some smaller accent lamps throughout your home to cast some interesting shadows or highlight something special.

This has a sweet little glow at night and illuminates
the naughty and contented cat that ate
the canary in the bird cage.

This tin punched lamp casts a
wonderful fun light on to the wall.
Double click to see the pattern illuminated.

This little fringe lamp adds
a touch of light on top of the armoire.
You all know you can use books to bring
things up to the height you want.

And of course don't forget candles
and oil lamps for a cozy touch.
I will not be using this candle but have
blackened the wick to make it appear that I do.

Just a note on candles. Even if they are just decorative in your home, light the wick briefly to give the appearance that they are used. White wicks just look weird and are most often accompanied by a dusty candle top. Not good.

So invest in some nice pretty lamps and if your lamps are old...get some new ones. Nothing says outdated like a trendy lamp from the distant past. You can always change the shade, add some embellishments, paint it or do something to lighten and liven things up. Let there be light...lots of it.

A Simple Woman's Daybook~October 5, 2009

To join in focusing on the simple things and pleasures of your daily life or to read other people's entries, you can click here.

So, For Today...Monday, October 5, 2009

Outside my window...it is as dark as the middle of the night and pretty cold. I am thrilled to notice that our investment in our new windows not only kept the house cooler in the summer but is keeping it warmer now as well. I am tempted to put the fans away but will wait a little longer to make sure Summer is really over.

I am thinking...that just when it looks like my husband will get a break from his horrendous work schedule he takes on something new again. Now it is time to direct the region in collecting food for the Scouting for Food program. He must be going on 20 years of doing this. This man is definitely not going to be one that rusts out but he may wear out before his time.

From the learning room...Patience, it is all about patience with projects...the never ending home improvement projects around here this year.

I am reading...The Lost Symbol and The Time of My Life.

From the kitchen...I made a big crockpot full of Chili yesterday and in the next couple of days a big pot of vegetable soup, most going in the freezer for those days when cooking does not appeal.

I am wondering...how I lost 3.3 pounds this week? God is merciful!

I am wearing...jammies.

I am creating...a bowl of copper mini pumpkins. Well at least I do have the paint and the pumpkins. Now I just need to paint them.

I am hearing....the soundtrack from Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day.

I am going...to shop for groceries today, clean out the frig, and get organized for the new week.

I am quoting..."The world is a looking glass and gives back to each person a reflection of his attitude." .....unknown author

My spiritual thoughts include..how we need to be very valiant in our testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Around the house...Everything that was outside and around the house is now sitting on the patio looking somewhat dull by comparison to our shining white house with its brand new paint. I have a feeling that some spray painting will be happening soon.

Today I miss...Hazie. She said Gramma to me on the phone yesterday. That is always a heart melter. She has been signing Gramma for quite awhile but to hear their little voice recognize you for the first time...it is a heart print for sure.

I am hoping...to lose 15 more pounds before climbing the hills in Italy.

I have been procrastinating..Cleaning the bathroom floor...today is the day! Ugh!

One of my favorite things...Windows!

A few plans for the rest of the week...Keeping my hubby going with four evening meetings this week, making sure he has all he needs to do it. Whittling down my big pile of books I am reading, taking my friend's mom thrifting, doing some photography, blogging, and going to a craft day and luncheon with my friends at church on Saturday. Doing some genealogy and writing some letters to some older friends that haven't ventured into computers. I'll also be checking in on my elderly uncles that are still living to see how they are doing and working on my new church calling. Oh and getting some new mums for the front porch and making it look a little more like autumn out there. And housework, there is always that! We have some very busy cobweb makers coming out of the woodwork! I think I sweep the ceiling as much as the floor!

Here is a picture and a thought I am sharing with you...

click click it

Jennifer entitled this one "Dino Meal!" Chloe is fearless but look at little Hazie...she is not too sure about this at all! She is definitely checking out those teeth! What a fun place for kids and photo ops!

The Resistance

About over 1200 Jews that did resist and escaped
the gas chambers as a group that hid in
the forest and became a strong
community of good people trying to stay
alive or die with dignity.

One of our all time favorites about how the pre-war & war times
affected and shaped the lives of young German kids.
Love the music and dancing in this movie.
Their struggles were a nightmare.

This one was interesting because it was about the war
from the Greek and Italian point of view. Sometimes
we just get the American perspective and it is good to
remember that many nations suffered during this
terrible time on the planet. Nicholas Cage had a hard
time convincing us he was Italian..they should have cast
an unknown for more authenticity we thought.

Lest We Forget

Recently I received an e-mail and at the quotation marks you will find part of it. There is nothing that perplexes me quite as much as the way people have treated others over the centuries. I have always had a really hard time thinking that the Nazi atrocities occurred just a few years before Jim and I were born. It is hard to imagine what our parents must have felt bringing children into such a world. It makes me shutter. They had to be people of great hope and faith.

We once had the opportunity to visit the home of Anne Frank in Amsterdam and that had a very profound effect upon me. I read voraciously about the Holocaust for about two years after that just trying to understand it..I never did come to that point. Man's inhumanity to man defies understanding was my conclusion. No matter what our differences may be, killing is never the answer. When I think of this I try to be more grateful for the freedoms we enjoy in our country.

My brother and his wife recently returned from a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp memorial. We had our sisters' lunch on Friday and as Emily and I returned home we had an opportunity to discuss it and the sobering feelings they felt both there and at the Holocaust Museum in DC. When I arrived home this just happened to be in my mailbox from a friend. If you ever think that you cannot make a difference as one individual just read and remember the story of Irena Sendler. She recently passed away at age 98. She was a German lady who requested a position as a plumbing specialist in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII.

IN MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER

She had an 'ulterior motive' .... She knew the Nazis' plans for the Jews. Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she kept in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..)

She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar. She had buried it under a tree in her yard and after the war she tired to locate any parents that may have survived so she could reunite families. Most had not survived. Most of the kids she helped got placed in foster homes or were adopted."

A Little Piece of Heaven

The Christus

After taking a few days off of my blog, I have realized more than ever that I need to be writing. It is just so healthy for me and such a habit now that when I am not doing it my life feels out of balance. When I am writing I feel like I am connecting with all of you and I think about you as I am writing. No woman is an island~even though I felt like one while holed up in this house with the plastic shutting out the world. I love my solitude occasionally but not solitary confinement!

I did take the time to do some reading and that was great...and some organizing of future events. Also we have been watching General Conference from Salt Lake City and it has been wonderful and renewing. There seems to be a thread of LOVE and the pure love of Christ running throughout and it has been so uplifting to realize how it can change us all and the world around us. It is exciting that through modern technology, in just a few days we can watch and read the talks as many times as we want at http://lds.org

One of the things I love so much about our General Conference sent via the media is that it is such a unifying moment for the Latter-day Saints. I think of our family and dear friends all over the world watching and being lifted up together. I think of friends I have not seen in so long and rejoice in knowing we are all doing the same worthwhile thing at the exact same time. It is wonderful~a little piece of heaven. I think of all of you singing from your chapel, your family room, your computer desk..."I Need Thee Every Hour" and it is heartwarming. Happy Sabbath to all of you that are celebrating the life and gifts of Jesus Christ today!

The last session is starting now and I am exciting because Elder Holland has to be in this session...I have been waiting, ever so patiently, for his words that always pierce my heart and teach me more about the Savior and His plan for our happiness and salvation. What a happy day!

A Crazy Time

It seems we are so busy right now...that I think I am going to slow down my blogging pace a little for awhile. Jim is home today and the painters are starting and my quiet little hideaway is abuzz. We are trying to think about the family reunion for Jim's family, Thanksgiving away, getting Christmas ordered up on the internet for shipping to Utah and Italy, starting our bathroom remodel. We are also working on the details of our Italy trip and all that involves so I can't seem to concentrate on any one thing for more than 10 seconds right now. So don't forget about me...I'll be back...maybe even tomorrow. I'll miss you!

Love, B