Inside DealTaker

Confessions Of A Recovering City Slicker

Yesterday, mid morning, I was deep into work stuff.  I was entering in a coupon.  For no reason at all I looked up and gazed into the wooded area.  I do that often.  It’s my solace of sorts.  I immediately noticed something there and it was enough to make me get up, grab my camera and take a closer look.  I’ve seen hundreds of deer in my lifetime yet each time I see one, it’s as if I’m seeing my first.  We had a bit of a stare down.  I put my new camera to good use and snapped a few shots…then, back to work.

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Get Creative And Simplify Things

The first week of January changed my world a bit.  I became engaged.  The big question was popped.  I said yes.  The first thing we did, that night, was pick a date.  The second thing we did was run to Barnes & Noble the following night.  I was in desperate search for the book ‘From Beginning To End’ by Robert Fulghum.  I read this book the year it was published back in 1995.  It changed my entire perception about weddings.

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Happy First Day Of Fall

At 5:04 a.m. EST the Autumnal Equinox will take place and it will officially be the first day of fall.  Around here, the leaves are already changing to beautiful and vibrant shades of red, orange and yellow.  The heat and humidity of the summer has fizzled out.  Most of the places in my area have shut down for the season.  The pool is closed.  Pumpkins and mums decorate a few of the porches.  Dunkin Donuts is offering their delicious pumpkin spice coffee, donuts and muffins.  The caramel apple displays are set up at the grocery store beside the bags of apples.  County fairs are in full swing.  Some people even have their Halloween decorations scattered on the front lawn.  Spending any length of time outdoors now requires a hoodie or light jacket.  Yep, it’s fall…my favorite time of year. (more…)

Where The Heck Is Matt And Other Greatness

What 34 year old guy from Connecticut travels around the world and records himself doing some rather bad dancing?  Matt Harding does.  All he ever wanted to do was make and play video games.  He achieved that, but then realized there might be other things out in the great big world that he was missing out on.  Eventually he used the money he’d saved to travel Asia.  He created a site so his friends and family could keep updated as to where he was.

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Kids, Summer and Watermelon

Watermelon was the best treat ever when I was growing up!  Every watermelon was whole to start with then.  (more…)

Cracker Barrel

Seems like every time I eat at Cracker Barrel I have a story to tell.

We ate at Cracker Barrel in Knoxville this weekend after going the wrong way on I40 out of the Smoky Mountains.  We were lucky we got out at all actually.  It took forever, I mean at least an hour to go a couple miles.  The roads were just packed with cars all trying to get out and get home.

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Easter Holiday Memories

How many of you have Easter memories w/your family that you will treasure forever?  Is there a special something that you and your family always did/make?  I remember as a kid, my 2 sisters and I would dress up in our Easter dresses and go to church with our parents.  After church all my family; cousins, aunts and uncles would come over and we would have a cookout.   All us kids were always so anxious for our parents to hide the easter eggs.  We didn’t care about having lunch we just wanted to hunt and eat all the candy.

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A Child’s Heart

It is amazing what you can learn from children.  I recently had an event with one of my sons where he had a pretty severe injury.  While getting his treatment, I watched my amazing 6 year old stay calm, smile at his doctors and nurses, and joke wholeheartedly with those he loved.  When most people are scared and out of their element, the tendency is to clam up and act differently then who they are in their comfort zone.   (more…)

Basement From Hell

Okay, so the picture might be a slight exaggeration of what entering our basement was like, but in my mind, it’s a perfect match.  Part of owning an old house is contending with the basement.  For us, this also included a mess that had been down there for decades.  We had the works…mold, mildew, boxes of things that needed to be thrown away, 2 root cellars that had been a ‘catch all’ for various things, piles of junk and spiders. (more…)

Love Your House

The other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Clover Lane, and came across one post that caught my attention.  It’s titled ’40 Days Tips and Tricks: House Love.’ There are 9 pictures of homes at the top of the post…from small and cozy to a mansion that, I’m sure, costs several million.

“I think the secret to house love is to stop comparing your house to other’s…just pay attention to your house, wherever you may be right now, whatever it might look like, and work at turning it into the coziest, cleanest home it can be.” (more…)