When I see one of the sweeping epics filmed in New Zealand, like The Lord of the Rings trilogy or parts of 10,000 B.C., I get it in my mind to book a trip to New Zealand. I’ve got a few friends who have moved there and they talk ceaselessly about the beauty of the mountains.

Flights to Auckland are ultimately quite affordable, especially going into the summer. As urban as Auckland is, it also sounds lush and sunny. I am curious about the Auckland Volcanic Field and would love to be able to see some of the Prehistoric earthworks that are found in some of the parks surrounding the volcano cones. They say the oldest volcano in the region is about 150,000 years old, but like all of the others in the area, it is dormant. The most recent eruption in the Auckland region was over 600 years ago. Still, it all sounds lovely.

It might be April Fool’s Day tomorrow, but it is also audition day for the Swashbuclers – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ cheerleading squad.

If you’ve ever thought it might be a great gig to cheer for the Bucs, head out to the Academy of Holy Names, 3319 Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa from 6 to 7:30 and from 8 to 9.

I’m assuming my two-year-old niece is too young to qualify, even though we bought her the cutest little Bucs cheerleading outfit for Christmas this past year.

Yep. I found these pretty suede knee high boots for only $17.95 on the Heavenly Couture website. Of course, everything on their site is $17.95 or less, but I honestly never thought I’d find such hot boots for such a cool price. I get a kick out of shopping on Heavenly Couture, because I’m a self-described frugal fashionista and when I can pick up a couple outfits for close to nothing and get free shipping on top of it all, I’m a happy camper.

I always find something I love, even if it is for someone else. I like to buy outfits from the site for my niece, because she is 16 and super conscience about wearing youthful style. But, I cannot justify spending the money that a lot of the trendier stores charge. I found a cute crochet cowl necked wraparound sweater she can use all year around, especially in the over air conditioned mall where she likes to hang out. Since Heavenly Couture specializes in junior clothing, I can feel confident that almost anything I choose for her will be cool enough to pass muster. And, if all else fails, I just buy her one of the plain Zipup Hoodies.

Anyway, my main point here is that you don’t have to spend a whole lot of money to get clothing that meets the most up-to-the-minute styles. Plus, when I get good deals like this I can justify changing out my wardrobe more often.

I was never much a Disney fan until I moved to Florida. And then, when I had my daughter the Disney-mania really kicked in and took over in my life. My daughter is obsessed with the Disney Princesses and we go to the annual Pirates and Princess Party at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando for her birthday every year. And, when we can afford it, we enjoy the other parks as well. My personal favorite is Epcot.

You may be aware that Disney has been doing this Year of a Million Dreams promotion for more than a year now. People win random awesome prizes on a daily basis. Well, a Florida teenager won the ultimate prize last year – an around-the-world tour of all eleven Disney theme parks.

Joshua Peterson of Eustis, FL is only 18, but a visit to Epcot last year put his in the right place at the right time and he was given the “grand marshal world tour” prize – which makes this teenager a world traveler. His whole family will go along for the ride. It all begins with a parade at the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. Then, the Petersons get to visit the three other Disney parks in Florida, followed by the parks in Anaheim, California; Hong Kong; Tokyo; and Paris.

Yep. I’m just a tad jealous.

I worked in the plastics industry for years. I was the director of the art department for a plastic bag manufacturer. Since I worked directly with customers who often knew nothing about flexographic printing and the properties of plastic packaging, I needed to know as much about the product as possible so I could be a point of knowledge and help the customers choose the best type of bag for their needs.

I remember the first time I went to the factory to the plastic being extruded. Most of the bags we made were High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), though sometimes a customer wanted bags with a clearer look, in which case we would use LLDPE (Linear Low Density Polyethylene). It was fascinating. The HDPE Granules were made from recycled plastic. They went into the machinery and what came out was this billowing tube of plastic sheeting. In turn, that was made into our very specialized style of plastic bags.

Anyway, working in the plastics industry really gave me an appreciation for the product. So much of what we use on a daily basis is made out of plastic, most often HDPE. Although some people want to make you think that only paper is recyclable, plastic is actually highly recyclable and knowing that it can be used over and over and over again gives me a very good feeling.

I have been wanting to get around to cleaning out the garage for a long time now. I very long time, in fact. It’s just that I never seem to wake up in the morning and say to myself, “Gee, this is a perfect day to pull everything out of the garage and spend hours sweating as I clean and reorganize!”

So, today fate took care of my motivation for me.

I was outside watering the plants in the front flower gardens when I saw a snake sunning itself underneath one of the shepherd’s hooks that holds some red petunias. I hate snakes. I have a fabulously irrational fear of snakes that makes my hands and feet go numb, I can barely breathe, and I start seeing dark spots in front of my eyes. It is terrible.

So, without my much thought, I aimed the hose at the snake. I have no idea where I thought the snake would go, but it promptly disappeared around the corner. I did not see it cross the driveway, so there was only one place I thought it could have gone – into the garage!

We just had a new garage door installed and it has a rather good seal at the bottom. Nonetheless, I could not figure any other place that snake could have gone. So, with white knuckles and questionable breathing, I set about dragging every single thing out of the garage to find that snake.

I never did find the snake. I suppose it actually slithered off into the yard somewhere and I just did not see its getaway. I did, however, find tons of stuff to throw away. I also loaded the van full of things to bring to a women’s shelter. And, now all of the bins and shelves and boxes in the garage are logically organized into rows. It’s quite nice out there.

And all that, thanks to a snake.

I put off getting my daughter involved in activities. I finally called around about dance classes, and most are not really taking new students until the fall. However, I did find some summer ballet camp events for her. I am also looking into Daisy Girl Scouts, which is the Brownies/Girl Scouts for little kindergarten girls. Back in my childhood, I had to wait until first grade to start Girl Scouts. I waited too long to get Gigi involved in things. She is a very active child and loves being around other people. We do a lot here at the house, out in the yard, and around the community, but I think organized events will do her good.

My nephew is heavily into his karate lessons. In fact, my sister has him here for the weekend so she can work on the little trophies and engraved plaques for an upcoming tournament his school is involved in next month. I know she enjoys the fact that she does not have work fulltime so she can do things for his activities, volunteer in his kindergarten class and just generally be there for him after school. I will miss that once I start working.

I think I have talked before about how I love watching the local news with the volume off and the closed caption turned on. It is fascinating to read how wildly inaccurate some of the captioning is at times. The local news is mostly depressing and focused on crime and government corruption. When I reading the captions, though, everything is suddenly a laugh riot.

I’m sure if I were actually hearing impaired I would be able to read lips and combine that with the captions to get the full story. Well, let’s hope that is the case. Otherwise, there are a lot of people here in the Tampa Bay area getting a wacky version of the news on a daily basis.

Even though I had to leave my 55” HDTV behind after my divorce, it all worked out in the end. That TV stopped working a couple of months ago anyway and my ex was forced to replace it. It made me all the more glad that I got the dining room set instead of the TV.

And, my brother-in-law just bought a new system and on Easter Sunday he brought over his old HDTV and hooked it up here at my house, complete with HDMI switches so that all of the peripherals output at their optimum. Of course, the “new” TV out in my family room is not as large as the one I had back when I was married, but it’s bigger and better than the little 19” I had from back when I was single.

Looks like I won in the end.

I took a look at Google’s Street View program way back when it first came out. I was kind of impressed, but wondered how I would feel if my apartment window was in one of the images, complete with a look at my bedroom. Or, what about the shots of the men coming out of strip clubs? Not too cool, really.

Anyway, Tampa finally made the cut and you can see ground-view, 360-degree images of hundreds of square miles of Bay area roads are in the system now. I took a look and although major roads in outlying areas are covered, things like my street are not included. I was actually pretty happy about that. Nonetheless, if someone coming to visit me wanted to see the roads right up to one of the intersections near my neighborhood, they could.

I am fascinated at how different states in the U.S. handle different issues, like smoking, driving, prostitution, gambling, and the age of consent. These are just a few of the issues that change when you move over state lines.

For example, in Florida you cannot smoke in any restaurant or workplace. In West Virginia, though, the state leaves the issue of smoking up to the counties. You might find that you cannot smoke in a restaurant in one county, but drive a few miles and find that you can. Gambling laws also differ from state to state, with more states allowing it as time goes by. Here in Florida, you pretty much just see gambling at the Indian Casinos and race tracks, as well as offshore on cruise boats.

The world of gambling for sport has really exploded online. In fact, I think most people who enjoy gambling have moved their activities to online casinos. And, despite what you might think, there are online casinos that welcome American players. Some individual states still prohibit online gambling and you can easily find out if your state allows you to gamble online by looking at the terms of play on most any website. Again, I am fascinated by how different states look at gambling, even when it is online. The laws tend to differ dramatically. Additionally, instead of searching all over the place you can find various websites that have done the footwork already and list the casinos that will welcome U.S. players.

We see articles often enough talking about how one medication or another has been determined to cause different health issues. It’s not too often that one of those medication is actually one I am taking. I think the last time a medication I was taken was pulled off the market was 8 years ago.

I have been taking Merck’s Singulair for over eight years. My daughter has been taking the pediatric version for about three years. We both do well on it. For me, it is the first medication that treats both my asthma and my seasonal allergies without giving me a racing pulse. In fact, I have nee r had medicine work better for my asthma or my allergies. I have often said I think Singulair is a “life saver”.

And now, there are reports that Singulair is linked to suicidal tendencies. The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) say they are looking at a handful of reports that focus on mood changes, suicidal behavior and suicide in patients who have taken Singiulair.

Merck has updated the Singulair’s label four times recently to include information on side effects like tremors, anxiousness, depression and suicidal behavior.

Merck says the FDA’s inquiry is based on reports, not clinical studies. They say none of the 11,000 patients enrolled in 40 Singulair trials has committed suicide.

Nobody is suggesting that anyone stop taking Singulair in the meantime. And, for that I am glad. I worry a little that a medication that works so well for me would be pulled off the shelves. I might consider taking my daughter off the medication. I was never convinced it was a wonder drug for her, anyway.

I don’t thank my reader enough. Some leave comments. Others e-mail me. I almost always pick up some great tips or new insight about a topic. Earlier this week I was talking about finding a Vegas hotel for a girls’ weekend away and one of my friends suggested an alternate hotel, giving me new material to research. I’m often handed viewpoints about news issues that did not occur to me when I initially wrote my articles. I’ve received a lot of insightful e-mails regarding the teacher-student sex scandal in Pasco County, FL. They have been eye-opening, to say the least, and have shown me more than I ever wanted to know about my old neighborhood. (I don’t miss Longleaf at all!)

I love the interaction of a blog, and I want people to know I enjoy the input and comments. If you disagree, I enjoy knowing about that as well.

It feels so crazy to me that I have to begin planning vacations around a school schedule. Once I decide to actually start teaching (someone please light a fire under my rear), then this will be even more important. For now, I just have to get used to the fact that I cannot just pull my daughter out of school for a week because I feel like seeing the Grand Canyon.

Everything involves planning now. Back when I was single gal,…wait I AM a single gal now. OK, back when I was single and childless, I would often pack a carry-on, buy last minute plane tickets, and join friends in New York to see a play at the drop of a hat. If I felt like driving to Key West, I tossed some makeup and a change of clothes in a tote bag and started driving.

Now, not only do I have to plan around Gigi’s school schedule, I have to make sure the trip will not be too long for her to handle, that there are snacks and water available, remember that I cannot drive three days straight with a 5-year-old in the car, and ponder buying one of those luggage containers for my van racks. Better yet, I just bit the bullet and buy two seats on a plane, so my daughter won’t have to sit in a car for 15 hours at a stretch at all.

And, because traveling with a little one can be taxing, the only thing I am actually planning to do this summer with her is go see my dad at his house on the Shenandoah River. Now that Gigi is five, we will probably also take the MARC train into DC and walk around some of the Smithsonian museums. Unfortunately, the American History Museum is called for renovations until this fall and I really think that would be one of the museums Gigi would like best. They have a fabulous display of first ladies dresses, an old-time store, the old post office, just tons of stuff for kids to see. I do think she will enjoy natural History, too, so that will have to be part of the plan.

I grew up just outside of Washington, DC so we went to the Smithsonian all the time. I know most of the buildings like the back of my hand. I wish that were something I could give Gigi.

My sister’s wedding anniversary is coming up. Last year was their 10th. That was right about when they hit the threshold where they stopped liking frou-frou gifts and instead wanted to give one another very practical gifts.

My brother-in-law used to buy my sister jewelry for their anniversary. Last year he bought her a new medicine cabinet for the master bath. She bought him a tonneau cover for their truck. They were both happier than pigs in pie.

This year I am helping my sister shop for a new spreader for her husband. He wants a better way to spread seed and fertilizer on the yard. Pretty romantic, yes? I’m not privy to what he is planning on buying her, but my sister did mention to me that she asked him to think about replacing their atomic clock. At least a clock is a pretty traditional anniversary gift.

Don’t get me wrong. I love practical gifts. When my ex-husband and I were dating, I asked for a blender for Valentine’s Day. I use that more than I would a new necklace. I just get a kick out of what people buy one another after they’ve been married a while.