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Thrifty Living 2012 – Daycations

February 23, 2012 at 9:24 am by Claudia

This week’s edition of Thrifty Living 2012 concerns an alternative to expensive vacations – daycations. Hey, we all love the thought of taking a week or two and jetting off to some wonderful destination. It’s a terrific idea. However, those vacations can cost a lot of money.

I’ve mentioned before that Don and I don’t take vacations. They are too expensive for us right now. We sometimes get the opportunity to visit a new place as part of a job and we grab the chance to do a little sightseeing. But those jaunts are work related and usually only one of us is doing the traveling.

Daycations, however are a wonderful alternative to the expensive vacation. We can leave our house in the morning and be back in our little cottage by nightfall. New York is an obvious destination for us as we live about 75 miles north of Manhattan. There’s so much to see and do there. We can drive in or take the train or the bus and we are instantly transported to a thriving metropolitan area with museums, plays, shopping and endless things to do.

Or how about taking a train ride to some new-to-you destination? You can sit back, read a book and let someone else do the driving. I did this frequently when I lived in Boston. I didn’t have a car. But I’d hop on the train and travel to Philadelphia or New York. Sometimes I’d rent a car and drive to Maine or New Hampshire or out to Cape Cod. There’s nothing like a day away to put life in perspective.

Don and I will sometimes drive to the Berkshires for the day. This gorgeous area of Massachusetts is full of wonderful sightseeing opportunities and it’s only a few hours away. Last fall, we took a daycation to Boston. I got to show Don a bit of the city I used to live in and love and we went to a Red Sox game that night.

When we lived in California, we could drive to the beach, the mountains or the desert in the course of a day. We had lots of opportunities to explore that beautiful state.

Daycations are a viable alternative to expensive vacations. And if you have pets and don’t want to leave them for too long, a day away is just the ticket. In our case, one of our dogs is ill and frail. A daycation is a way for us to travel….but not too far.

If the thought of saving up enough money for the annual vacation is overwhelming you, consider a series of day-long trips. You save the cost of a hotel. You save the cost of plane fare. I bet there are plenty of wonderful places to discover within a couple of hours drive.

Please visit the rest of the Frugal Five, Brenda, Elaine, Jen and Diane for their tips on daycations.

‘Seasoned’ Bloggers, Monetization & Comments

February 22, 2012 at 12:34 pm by Claudia

Sunrise. I’ve learned you have to quickly get the camera or all the gorgeous colors will fade in the blink of an eye.

The same goes for pretty cloud formations.

Everything changes, minute by minute, second by second. A camera gives you the chance to capture a moment in time before it’s gone forever. It’s a reminder to live in the moment. Something so simple but so hard to do, don’t you agree?

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my most recent posts. Well, thank you for your comments on every post. But lately, there have been some wonderful, thought provoking ideas shared on this old blog and I’m extremely grateful for them. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, your experiences, your views. Sometimes, all it takes is reading about another point of view to turn my perceptions around in a different direction. I may not always agree with you, you may not always agree with me, but the dialogue is the important thing. I love the conversation. I’ll go even further: I thrive on it. So thanks and thanks again, my friends.

Monetizing with BlogHer

Every once in a while I get an email asking about BlogHer ads and the process of applying for them. You have to go to this link and fill out an application. It’s not enough to register on BlogHer’s site.

As far as the approval process, I’ve heard about some bloggers waiting for up to two years for approval, some are approved in a few days and others, like me, wait for about a month and a half. BlogHer has a finite number of blogs that are part of the Advertising Network. I imagine, though I don’t know this for sure, if they are full up, you might not hear anything for a long while. If there are openings, things might move more quickly. I do know that BlogHer chooses all kinds of blogs; big, small and in-between.

If you are interested, I urge you to apply. But prepare yourself for a wait. I think BlogHer is fantastic and their customer service is the best. They have been nothing but supportive and there for me when I’ve had a question. And they really do a great job of highlighting our posts and our blogs.

BlogHer Conference Disappointment

Do you know that BlogHer has their conference in NYC this year? Since I live so close to the city, it would be wonderful to take part in it. But I can’t really afford the registration fee. So when they issued a call for volunteers I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to attend the conference, help out wherever needed, and save money on the fees. I applied. To my disappointment, I got an email yesterday saying I wasn’t chosen. There were a lot of applicants. I’m bummed.

I also submitted an idea for a panel discussion. I thought there should be a panel about bloggers who are 45+ years of age. There’s a whole lot of us out there. We are consumers. We have life experience. We know a lot. And I think we’re sometimes a tad marginalized in the blogging world, just like in the real world. 30-something bloggers and mommy bloggers are everywhere. And I say, good for them! But we’re here, too. And we have much to contribute. It would be nice to take part in something that spotlights us – our challenges, our blogging audience. I often look at photos from these conferences and see a sea of young faces. Here and there, I might see a ‘seasoned’ blogger, but for the most part, I don’t. Maybe it depends on whose taking the pictures.

Anyway. I heard back from BlogHer. They passed.

Who knows? There may already be a panel scheduled to discuss this topic. Maybe there has been a panel about just this thing at previous conferences. Most likely, my presentation wasn’t strong enough. That’s my fault.

Do you remember being younger and looking at people who were in their forties or fifties, thinking they must be dull and old? I do. I now realize what my parents and elders felt when they were my age. I may be in my fifties, but I’m smart, savvy and still very hip, if I do say so myself. I have a lot to contribute. I’ve learned a lot in my lifetime. In fact, I’m full of ideas and am more vital than ever.

Take heed, world. We’re out there and we’re creative, smart and strong.

And now for a little Etsy advertising:

This is the latest scarf. The yarn is made of silk and bamboo. I think these are perfect for the warmer months because they are so soft and silky to the touch and they aren’t made out of wool. I wear these scarves with a T-shirt and jeans all year round. I’ve already decided to make another one in this color for me. Update: Sold.

Love to you all on this Wednesday morning.

Walking Together

February 21, 2012 at 9:48 am by Claudia

On a not-a-cloud-in-the-sky Monday, Don and I took a walk on the Rail Trail.

There is such beauty in the stark landscape of winter.

A splash of red berries against the browns and grays.

It felt good to be walking in the woods with my sweetie.

We, like everyone else I suppose, tend to get in a rut. Don works until late in the evening and I’m usually asleep before he gets home. I rise early. If we just let the time go by, Don doing his thing, me doing mine, before you know it, it’s time for him to leave for work and then our little window of opportunity is gone. We’re going to make a concerted effort to change that.

Yesterday we talked of camping, the smells of the forest, childhood memories, being a camp counselor, lashing together a lean-to. You know, the kind of exchange that doesn’t happen on just any old day. It was special and we need those special times together.

Then last night, I spoke with my dad. After our usual early evening conversation, he called me back. He’s so sad nowadays as he watches my mother drift away. He wanted – needed – to share some memories. Good memories. And some of them were of our family camping trips, days at the lake, driving us back to our respective colleges after a weekend at home. He talked about having very little money when my brother and I were kids. I assured him I never felt deprived. And that he was and is a good father. I’m crying as I write this, because my heart was touched so deeply by his need to talk about happy memories. His days now are about visiting my mother, hoping she might feel like talking, hoping to catch a glimpse of the wife he once knew. He’s devoted to her. He takes her magazines, and plays her favorite music, sometimes just sits there as she sleeps, holding her hand. Such sadness nowadays.

Don and I have been together over 17 years. My parents have been together 66 years. I don’t know how I would feel if I felt Don slipping away from me. I can only imagine the heartbreak, the realization that the end of our days together was near. How my parents, together so many years, can even begin to face this is beyond me.

Sometimes life is so beautiful. Sometimes it is absolutely heartbreaking. All in the course of one February day.

Thrifty Living 2012 – Daycations

‘Seasoned’ Bloggers, Monetization & Comments

Walking Together

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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