I am in the thick of Christmas shopping. For the first time in my life, I went out into the dark morning of Black Friday and all I can say to sum up my experience is that I was disappointed. I’m not sure I saved enough to warrant getting out of bed and being forced to witness the fist fights. I gave traditional shopping a try today, but I just can’t take the holiday crowds and the limited selection.

I’ve spoiled myself by doing most of my gift shopping online the past several years. Instead of having to get in and out of the car and from store to store to be able to look at a huge variety of items, I’ve done most of my shopping from my home office. And, as of today I am going back to my old ways.

One of my favorite types of gifts to give is a gift that is consumable. I’m not big of giving a figurine that will either collect dust or get put in a closet. I like to give thoughtful gifts that people use, like food or bath supplies. I’m not a fan of the big bath products chain stores. I prefer skin care products with minimal ingredients and pure simplicity.

Virgil’s Fine Soaps are a family-made product that contains simple moisturizing ingredients and a blend of pumice and loofah that makes them ideal for exfoliating. They contain aloe and vitamin E, so they are also fine for those of us with dry skin. And, unlike your favorite body products chain store at the mall, the scents in Virgil’s soaps are clean-smelling, not overpowering and flowery.

They have many varieties available, but what initially caught my eye was one of Virgil’s Gift Baskets – the Gourmet Gift Bowl. I have a lot of amazing cooks in my life and this is a quirky way to celebrate that fact. The bowl contains 2 bars of Cook’s Companion soap (Light, citrus fragrance), a jar of Hot Pepper Butter and crackers, stainless steel tongs, wire whisk, wooden soap dish, wooden fingernail brush, sisal Washcloth, and a chef’s hat (that’s the quirky part.)

If a full gift basket is not in your budget, or if you can’t figure out which of the soaps strikes your fancy – try the Virgil’s Soap Sampler.

Virgil’s products are made right her in the United States – Ohio, to be exact. In a world where it seems like every single item you pick up at the store has “Made in China” stamped on the bottom, giving Virgil’s Holiday Gifts is a great opportunity to support a small American business.

It’s that time of year again. Families are trekking out to cut down live evergreen trees, or buying cut trees at roadside stands or the nursery department of WalMart and Target. Unfortunately, I had to stop doing this about 4 years ago. My breathing was so wheezy while the tree was in the house that I finally gave in and went artificial, though I still miss the look and smell of a real tree.

I’m sure if you have a real tree in the house you found this blog entry because you are looking for ways to keep your tree looking fresh and green for longer. Old wives tales say that putting sugar, or 7-Up (which IS sugar), or aspirin in the water will do the trick. These have all been tried by many people and when it comes down to the truth – it seems that plain water works best. Just make sure to keep the water filled and to keep your tree out of direct sunlight. It is also best to keep it away from the fireplace and heaters. That dry heat will just advance the drying process of the cut tree.

Remember also that as soon as you get the tree home, you will need to re-cut the base, removing an inch or two of trunk. This gives it a fresh open spot to receive water. Stand it in a bucket of water until you have the time to put the tree in the tree stand.

I have this very old mantle clock that used to belong to my great-grandparents. I love it. The thing is in stunning condition and still keeps fantastic time. In fact, I usually only have to mess with it when I adjust it for Daylight Savings Time. I have it out on a table in the living room right now. It is the only really nice timepiece I own. I’ve got bedside clocks, and a wall clock in the kitchen. For the most part, I use my cell phone or the clock on the DVR to tell time around the house. Nonetheless, when it comes to a clock I actually feel like is worth displaying – it’s that mantel clock.

I’ve actually wanted to buy a grandfather clock for some time now. I never had one growing up, but I was fascinated by the one my best friend’s family had in their living room when I was back in school. When I was there for long weekend, I would often grab a book and sit and read on the floor in front of the clock so I could hear the pendulum. It was an ornate clock and I think that is why my eye is still drawn to intricate pieces.

In order to fit in with my home décor, though, a clock would have to have simpler lines. I’ve found myself browsing the Howard Miller grandfather clocks online on more than one occasion. In fact, I have a couple of my favorites bookmarked. I love their Hayes Grandfather Clock. It is simply designed, the cherry wood look very rich and the pendulum is shaped like a lyre. Plus, it has understated Roman architectural elements. It’s one of those things that comes to mind when you are thinking to yourself that you really have everything you need, but what is it you WANT.

As more and more reports are released that relate to Nick Bollea’s August 26 car accident that left his friend, John Graziano, in a vegetative state; the public is able to see a more clear picture about the events that led up to the crash. Nick Bollea has subsequently been charged with reckless driving with serious bodily injury.

Yesterday, the Clearwater Police Department released 225 pages of information. This follows the 911 tapes that were released yesterday.

The day appears to have begun when Terry Bollea (wrestler Hulk Hogan) went to a local Alberton’s along with Nick and Nick’s friends. Receipts indicate Hogan bought two cases of Miller Lite, two cases of Corona beer, one case of Miller Cheer Beer, and five bags of ice.

Later in the day, Nick and some of his friends, including Danny Jacobs (the driver of the other car involved in the incident) docked a boat at Shephard’s Tiki Bar on Clearwater Beach. It’s your typical beach party kind of place. The group got out of the boat and headed toward the bar, but when asked for identification they declined and returned to the boat. Everyone on the boat was holding a beer, except Nick. He was holding a plastic cup. Jacobs admits to drinking, both on the boat and at Shephard’s. Blood tests did show alcohol in Bollea’s system as well.

That leads us up to just before Nick Bollea crashed the yellow Supra. Jacobs says the group was heading to Arigato for dinner. An affidavit names several eye witnesses who say the Supra driven by Bollea was racing a silver Viper. Keep in mind that the posted speed limit on that part of Court Street is a generous 40 mph. Witnesses noted the cars fishtailing, pacing one another as they prepared to race, and playing “cat and mouse”.

Danny Jacobs, the driver of the Viper, told police he was not racing. Later, the mother of Graziano’s girlfriend overheard Jacobs tell a pastor he was driving 113 mpr or 130 mpr before Bolla crashed. He saw the crash in the rearview mirror of the Viper, tried to get in touch with Hogan on the phone, and when he could not he left to go find Hogan.

The same affidavit reads, in part that upon being taken to Bayfront Hospital immediately after the accident, John Graziano “had minimal brain wave activity. In addition, John Graziano III was on a full ventilation system and he was unable to move his extremities.” Paramedics found him at the scene with a finger-size hole in his forehead.

By the time police arrived at Bollea’s hospital room, attorney Kevin Hayslett was already there. His eyes bloodshot and mumbling as he spoke, Nick stopped talking to the police once it was determined he was suspected of committing a crime.

Keep in mind that the police have been aware of this information since the beginning. Although it is just now being released to the public, these are not new revelations.

If you read the forums where the locals post online, residents who were once proud to have Hulk Hogan and his family living here are fast becoming disenchanted.

One of the many wonderful things about living in Florida is that we are surrounded at every turn by desirable places to visit. I live in a vacation destination. Can you ask for anything better? Today the weather was a perfect 72 degrees all day long and I have the windows open as I sit here typing after dinner beside the side gardens.

One of my favorite places here in the state (and I have many favorites) is Key West. I have visited there with my sister, my dad, with friends and even I even went there for my Honeymoon. And despite the fact that my marriage ended in divorce, Key West is still not spoiled for me. That’s how amazing it is down there. I’ve done a lot of touristy adventures things in Key West and I have also taken advantage of having local to guide me so that I could partake of several off the beaten path delights as well. You win either way. It’s fun to sit in a tiny diner in the middle of the key eating Cuban food from plastic dishes, and it’s just as fun to sit on one of the Conch Train tours. I think I leaned more unique facts about the city on the Conch Train than from any single other thing I did in Key West. I’ve done the glass bottom boat deal, I’ve gone on early morning snorkeling trips, I have toured museums full of shipwreck treasures, and I have traced the footsteps of Papa Hemingway (that delightful misogynist). I really wish I had gone on the Ghosts and Legends tour. I’m going to make a point of it the next time I am there.

Now, while I advocate the tours, museums, and day trips, they can get very expensive once you choose a few to enjoy. If you go through a site like Trusted Tours and Attractions, you can find discounted tickets to pretty much all of the cool stuff in Key West, as well as lots of other cities like Savannah and San Diego. Plus if you sign up for their Trusted Travels newsletter while you on their site, you will be entered to win 4 free tickets to attractions and tours in one of 21 different cities. That’s sure worth a couple of extra clicks. (Do it now, though. The give-away ends December 14, 2007.)

Beautiful little Riley Ann Sawyers
My heart is breaking. Every new detail I read about the shameful case of Riley makes me cry until my eyes are swollen and my cheeks are stinging. Tonight I just held my sleeping daughter, shaking as I cried silently.

How could a mother kill her child? How? What darkness has to be in your heart? How hollow do you need to be? What kind of monster beats a two-year-old, or ANY child, with belts, picked her up by her hair, throws her across the room, holds her under water, and in the end takes her innocent, helpless, trusting life away from her? And then – stuff her lifeless body in a storage shed for months, only to then put it in a storage container and toss it in the water.

Kimberly Dawn Trenor. She was able to do those things.

I think of how hard I worked to have Gigi. I think of my friends who have gone through years of painful and expensive fertility treatments just to have the honor of being a mother, entrusted with the life of a child. I think of the love and longing and joy my daughter inspires in me.

Riley’s dad was quoted as saying Riley was hyper. Two-year-olds are hyper, pretty much by nature. They are difficult, full of energy and often exasperating. And even so, they inspire love and wonder in those who have the ability to give love.

It is my fondest wish that people who give birth to children they abuse and cannot love fully will find the wisdom to walk away and give these children to loving, responsible, safe adoptive families.

When you have family members who are sport enthusiasts, Christmas shopping is an easy task. I always know my step-brother will like a jersey or some other goodie sporting the Bucs logo. I’m even getting my niece a little Bucs cheerleader outfit. And then there are my cousins, who share my love for hockey. Of course, we don’t cheer for the same team, but as long as we still see eye to eye on a love for the ice; all is well.

I love a good discount and I’m feeling pretty psyched about finding Hockeyoverstock.com. They carry skates and sticks and pretty much anything else a hockey player might need – as well as NHL apparel at surprisingly low prices. It’s hard to find licensed apparel at reasonable prices, so I consider this website a real find. So, I am currently up late combing through the deals on Rangers apparel for myself, Columbus Blue Jackets stuff for the cousins, and the token Lightening jersey to show my local spirit.

Most of the NHL stuff is over 50% off (a lot of it is closer to 75% off) of the regular retail price and if that’s not a good enough bargain for you, here’s a coupon code, too: ppp001107 gives you 5% off.

I don’t like seeing news of another celebrity death, especially when the person who died is young. Kevin DuBrow, the lead singer Quiet Riot, died over the weekend at the age of 52.

Quiet Riot gave us one of the greatest anthems of the 1980s with their cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noize”. I can still remember kids shouting the lyrics at junior high school dances.

DuBrow died at home in Las Vegas, Nevada. The cause of death has not been released.

One of the more oddball things that I received after my divorce was a massive collection of Xbox games. My ex moved on to a new system. In the meantime, I had this huge box mostly filled with games I was not interested in playing. Yes, some of the games had been mine, but for the most part I was just watching the things collect dust.

I had taken a stack of the newer games up to one of the stores in the mall that gives credit for trades, but I was offended by what they offered me in credit. I’d rather give the games to some of the neighborhood kids than accept pennies on the dollar.

I have wished for awhile I could find a site that allowed me to do video game trades the same way the book trading sites I use do trades. Enter PlayerChain.com.

They allow game-for-a-game trade. You post games you want to send out into their inventory and when another player requests one of your games, you send it out and receive credit. Use your credit to request any game in their system. Once you receive the game, it’s yours to keep forever or to play and trade again later.

Membership is free and right now they are offering 20 free Game Bucks. Plus, the credit you receive for games you send out is the full market trade-in value of your game.

This is big news nationally and massive news here in Clearwater. In fact, the headlines on this side of the Bay have been more sensational lately than the ones in Tampa.

Today, the Pinellas County 911 center released the recordings related to the car crash on in Clearwater August 26 that involved Nick Bollea (the son of Hulk Hogan) and John Graziano (who is still in critical condition and may possibly remain unresponsive or in a vegetative state for the rest of his life).

Bay News 9 obtained the recordings from Pinellas County and you can hear them on the St. Petersburg Times website.

The most telling piece of information to come from the tapes is that two of the callers say that they witnessed the car participating in a drag race. That is out of the six calls I listened to on this recording. The last caller says three times that they were drag racing, even identifying the lanes both cars were using and that the other car continued in the direction Tampa (though I assume he stayed in Pinellas County, as the driver lives in Dunedin).

Of course, the police have been aware of the witnesses reports since the night of the car crash. I think most of us can see more clearly now how serious this issue really is and how amazing it is that the Graziano has not yet filed a suit.

Ironically, I drive right past the location this morning after a dermatologist appointment.

I love being able to recommend Florida businesses on Suncoast Scribe. I’m especially thrilled to be able to present you with a company who has their headquarters in Gainesville, Florida – which is where I used to live before I moved back here to the Tampa Bay area.

More significantly, telling you about the 352 Media Group feels like a good fit for my blog, because I have so many people who come here looking of information on starting their small crafting businesses. I get multiple e-mails each day asking me for input about starting a business website. When I find out that the business owner has no experience in web design or site promotion, I always recommend that they hire professionals to help them.

That’s where 352 Media Group comes into the picture. They are a Florida web development company with offices nationwide –Atlanta, Gainesville, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Jacksonville, FL. They specialize in custom web design, web application development, CD/DVD production, web marketing, e-commerce solutions, and more. Plus, they won 14 Addy Awards in 2006 alone.

Give them a look and see if they might be the right fit for your business needs. . Don’t forget to check out their blog. It’s amusing.

All the hype over the divorce petition filed by Linda Bollea (wife of wrestler Hulk Hogan) here in Clearwater is just ridiculous. As far as I can tell, she is not going for the jugular. She is asking for only what is standard here in Florida. Except for the fact that the property involved is worth way more than what was in question during my divorce, her petition sounds much like mine.

Asking for life insurance for all child support owned for a minor child through their 18th birthday is also standard, even though the media is having a heyday with this little tidbit. It just insures that Linda received everything Hogan would have paid her through the end of Nick’s eligibility in the event that Hogan does before Nick turns 18. That’s a drop in the bucket, since Nick is 17 already.

Bollea’s petition stated that the marriage is “irretrievably broken.” Again, this is standard. Florida is a No-Fault state. If one partner files for divorce here, all you can do is file a reply. If you fail to reply, the judge is just going to grant everything asked for in the initial filing. You cannot fight a divorce in Florida, though you can take the terms to court. But, as I have said, the terms in Linda’s petition sound standard: 50-50 splits, one parent with primary custody, etc. It’s also perfectly typical for a non-working wife to ask that the working husband pay the legal fees for the entire case.

I feel bad that media wants to make such a huge news item out of this filing. There is nothing exciting contained in the papers. It looks much like any other divorce petition you might find in Florida.

I’ve written before about how more and more of my friends are coming to me to have me plan their weddings. I am even starting to charge a fee. Yes, I was doing it for free, but as word got out my time became more difficult to schedule. Most of the weddings have been local, here in the Tampa Bay area. When I helped with Chelsea’s wedding, which was in Maine, I found that not actually being in the area where the wedding was happened was a huge handicap. So, I started taking only local weddings.

Well, my very dear friend Laura got engaged in September. She and her fiancé live here in Florida, but her family is in Laramie, WY. I’ve never even been to Wyoming! I did not want to turn down the chance to help Laura and Ted plan their wedding day, though. So, I started looking for sources in the Cheyenne area. I was finding a good source here and another there, but the search was wearing me out. I called Laura’s mom to get some ideas, but she is so busy in her teaching job that she was pretty much unable to help. Besides, it’s my job ? Finally, I came across the 1Weddingsource website. Holy cow! What a life saver.

1Weddingsource has an entire site devoted to Cheyenne Weddings, which is where Laura wants to have her wedding, even though she is from Laramie. The site lists a lot of national vendors, but they also have local listings for caterers, florists, hairdressers and other wedding service vendors in the area. I found some local limo services, which is one of the vendors I want to go ahead and get reserved – that, and the photographer (of which there are several listed on the Cheyenne Wedding Mall site). There is just so much I can plan from my location here in Florida. Though, on a side note, the site is telling me it is currently 37 degrees in Cheyenne. I’m happy to plan what I can from Florida, since we have weather in the 80s today.

Talk about a flakey friend. Ok, so I should not be making light of this topic, but when I read the story about two friends in Clearwater who made a pact to jump off of the Memorial Causeway Bridge early Sunday morning, I could not help but think that if you’re going to make a dangerous pact you better not jump first.

Two men, ages 20 and 25, were hanging out Sunday morning around 2:30 a.m when they decided that jumping from the bridge would bring them notoriety – or, on one of their words, make them “king of Clearwater.”

The man who did not jump ended up being Baker-acted (a law that allows for someone to be held for psychiatric evaluation up to 72 hours).

As of right now, a full-scale search using divers, sonar technology, and boats has not turned up any results. The jumper is still missing.

The lesson in all of this? Never jump first.

I was just out in the garage trying to better organize my tangle of cords and computer parts I am not using right now. It’s a bit of a mess. I left a lot behind for my ex husband when I moved this past summer, but I do believe I brought just as much with me. There are monitors, old PCs and even my old Mac G3, which would be a fine old thing for some of my design work if I would just take it in for a power supply repair.

I think the biggest reason that I am keeping so many old computer parts is that I have been reading more and more about how unwise it is to jump electronics into the landfills. We need to dispose of these things properly, and I am not always sure how to do that. Our county does have a day, several times a year, which you can go to a centralized location and drop off hazardous household waste like computers, TVs, stereos, telephones, transformers, batteries, fluorescent lamps and ballasts, and the like. They also have a webpage that lists companies that will pick up, for a fee, hazardous items.