Back to school time is a popular time of year to pick up new computers for growing family members and children who are off to college.   Personally, we’re a Mac family (they have some special offers on their website at the moment), but my step-dad is a big fan of Dell’s.  That could be because he worked on answering support calls for them for awhile, but I do know he tends to prefer their brand.

Dell is fairly well-known for offering coupon codes and special sales, so if you are in the market for a brand-name PC-style computer, you can find Dell coupon numbers at this website. There are codes for laptops, desktops, monitors, cameras, and more – most of them are very current and expiring in the next few weeks

They even have deals on those tiny little net books with the batteries that last SO long (7 hours!  My laptop doesn’t last nearly that long…wish it did!)

There are also some Dell reviews for the company in general and for specific models, but they’re all mixed up – you’ll have to read through them if you need something specific.  The coupons also work best if you’ve done some research in advance and have an idea of what you’re looking for, because this page is mainly text (no explanatory photos.)

Have fun with your back to school shopping!

When I was a child my two big front teeth (sorry, I don’t know the technical term) overlapped each other quite a bit.  They still do VERY slightly, but I need to point it out in order for other people to notice it.  When I was a child I always felt like I needed braces but a dentist actually told us that my teeth were fairly normal and not to worry about it.

Now it seems that even very slight imperfections warrant hiring a Cosmetic Dentist to do some upgrades on a grin.  I think that there is a very big difference though, between a young child having to maintain braces and an adult choosing to have some refinements done to their teeth alignment.

I remember a sweet science teacher of mine in high school who had braces though she was easily in her late ’40s.  Now they have “Invisalign” which is a set of clear, plastic, nearly invisible teeth straighteners made from plastic – a great option because it’s so much less visible!

Some before and afters of cosmetic dentistry in adults are fairly subtle improvements, others are more dramatic and you can definitely see why the patient wanted some improvements.

So, how about you?  Have you had any cosmetic dentistry done as an adult (had any work done)?  Personally I haven’t had any cosmetic dentistry at any point in my life, and a big part of that is that I just can’t justify the cost when it’s simply an appearance issue!

Last time I wrote about hair-styling scissors I was mentioning that my husband’s hair was SO hard to cut because it’s fine, light, and bleaches out on the top layer making layers SO easy to see!

BUT, it turns out he actually wants to grow it out a bit more!  He’s aiming to be able to pull it back into a short pony tail, so that should be fairly easy to keep trimmed . kamisori shears will definitely be a bit more than we’ll be needing!

He also has dead-straight hair so won’t be needing a chi flat iron or any types of flat irons. (Though I doubt men go in for those in a big way in any case !)

Body piercing can be a pretty controversial topic amongst more conservative Christians (such as our family.)  Personally, I did have my ears pierced as a child, and after they grew in a few other times besides!  Now the holes won’t grow in, and I’m stuck with them, but I don’t wear jewelry in them.

We won’t be getting our girls pierced – that’s something they’ll need to do themselves once they are out on their own – it’s incredibly painful dealing with infections/maintenance etc. and I don’t want the struggle.  Still piercings that involve eye brow rings, tragus rings, and monroe rings (upper lip, off to one side like a beauty mark) are becoming fairly popular.

Where you once would never see unusual piercing, now even employees in highly visible customer service/service industry positions sport them. What do you think? I think it’s possible to do tastefully, and there is some cute jewelry, but I still think a HUGE number of piercings can look far too overdone and ‘off’.

Well, I just did a bit more research on the fires in British Columbia, and found some very interesting news articles.  If you are interested in learning more, here is a broad overview of the current situation that comes from a reporter in Australia.  Once you get an idea of the big picture, you can head on over to CTV (in Canada) for the current details, as well as some photographs.

I’m glad to hear that the fires are mostly in isolated cattle ranging areas, but it’s still a bit nerve wracking when the air quality is SO poor.

Sometimes renting to own just makes sense.  Unfortunately we made some very unwise credit moves before we were believers and our credit rating took a real nose-dive (yes, we’re still digging out from that).  For folks in the same situation renting to own is sometimes a good choice when you want to own a home but can’t qualify for a traditional mortgage.

Whether you’re in Canada or the UK (as this website hails from), the rent to buy process is much the same from country to country.  If we didn’t already have a farm I think that we’d be very likely to look into renting to own because my husband really hates the entire concept of renting without building any form of equity.

Our family is largely cut off from mainstream media, and have been even more so over the past week (no internet, no tv…you get the idea).  What we have noticed however is the huge amount of smoke we’ve had in the sky that is apparently drifiting this way from British Columbia.

I’m not talking a little bit of smoke.  There has been a major, major haze that has reduced visibility – to the point of not being able to see our neighbours.  I can’t imagine what things look like over B.C. way.  Here’s an article about reduced visibility here in Alberta.  Yesterday they were advising people with breathing difficulties (asthma etc.) to stay indoors.

Today in Edmonton we could hardly see downtown, and the sun was barely visible.  Very unusual when you’re used to clear prairie skies.

I hope and pray that everyone in B.C. is staying safe with all these forest fires raging.

This year we were blessed to receive some money back from the government after our taxes were filed and completed.    Now, we live in Canada so things are a bit different here than they are in the UK, but if you do live ‘across the pond’ you can check out this tax back website to learn more about how it all works over your way.

The longest we’ve ever stayed in an RV was during the time we were building the shell of our home.  We stayed from April through November, when it just got too cold to continue, even with the built in RV heater.

I’d really love to do some ‘road-schooling’ with the children once we get things a bit more settled around here.  An RV is definitely on the ‘must have’ list.  If you need one, check out the rvs for sale here.

Recently I read this statement “With the open carry movement, guns are the hottest new fashion accessory. Surprise all your friends at Starbucks by openly wearing your glock on your hip in a holster by Galco or Desantis.”

Now as a Canadian – that honestly sounds somewhat shocking to me.  Police officers openly carry arms, but that is really about it.  Even security officers don’t carry guns here in Canada.  With our gun regulations, I’m pretty confident that if you showed up at the Starbucks openly wearing a gun….the police might be called.

However, I know most of my readers are in the US, so tell me…is a holster a fashion accessory in your community?  Do many people openly carry weapons?  I’m not coming down on it, but culturally, it seems very foreign to me as a Canadian.