MAKE A NOTE!! -- February 1st, 1999

CIRCULATION 1910

A Free Twice Monthly Newsletter with Useful Information on a Wide Variety of Topics

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In This Issue:

NOTE: Each entry has a "Post It..." suggestion at the end. If you post it where you might use it, then you are less likely to forget it. So cut out each entry that you are interested in & post it in the best place for you.

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VALENTINES FOR VETERANS

This program has been around a number of years now and I think it is a wonderful thing. Make or purchase a Valentine card. Write out a little note of appreciation for the service of the veteran receiving the card. No last names, addresses, or phone numbers on the cards themselves. Then send to Valentines for Vets, C/O your local VA Hospital. If you don't want to look it up, or don't have a VA near you, you can send it to our local one at VA Hospital, 2300 Ramsey St., Fayetteville, NC 28301 POST IT...on your shopping list & calendar.

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VALENTINES FOR THE FORGOTTEN

Perhaps you have no one to remember you on Valentine's Day & other special holidays. Perhaps you have someone special, but they aren't big on holiday celebrations. That doesn't mean this has to be a wasted lonely day, or any other holiday for that matter. A few years back Focus on the Family magazine had a one page article about a woman who had one child, & her husband went on a business trip for 10 days. She was sure that since it was over Independence Day that someone would ask her over for a picnic & ask her how she was coping alone. Now being a military wife who, like many other military wives, has a husband who can be gone for MONTHS, I will admit to having a pretty good laugh at the thought of 10 days being a big deal (everything is relative :)). So after all of you military & other applicable wives have picked yourself off the floor where you were laughing hysterically, keep reading. No one invited the woman over & by the end of the 10 days she was going nuts & felt like everything was falling apart.

===Pause for more hysterical laughter=== BUT she realized that there were a lot of people out there that SHE hadn't been inviting over. Widows with small children, elderly widowers/widows, people whose spouses had left them, single civilian/military people far from home, college students far from home, and as we mentioned before, wives whose husbands may be on work related trips, they were all there and SHE had been ignoring THEM. She decided that she would start inviting them over. You can't MAKE someone appear to make a day, any day, special for you, BUT you can make someone ELSE'S day a special one with cards, gifts, or invitations. And I think it might even bring you more joy than you realize. So look around you & see who YOU can help. POST IT...on your calendar.

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VALENTINE POSTMARKS

Want to make that Valentine EXTRA special? You can put your stamped-and-ready-to-mail Valentine card into another envelope & mail it to one of these towns which usually have an extra nice cancellation stamp for them. Address them to POSTMASTER, ATTN: VALENTINES, then the city, state, & zip of town you choose. No need for a street address. Here are the towns: Valentine, NE 69201; Loveland, CO 80538; Valentine, TX 79854; Loveland, OH 45140; Loveville, MD 20656; Lovelock, NV 89419; Valentines, VA 23887. POST IT...with your stamps/greeting cards.

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VALENTINE/BIRTHDAY/SPECIAL OCCASION GIFTS

Okay, I'm about to make a generalization, so no flames if you are the exception to the rule. In MOST husband & wife relationships, it is the wife you remembers the special days and seems to know just how to make the day special, and the husband who forgets or doesn't know where to start. OK, let me pull these arrows out of my back, and we'll get to the helpful part. Too many wives expect their husbands to be able to read their minds about what kind of day or gifts they want, they also usually have enough perfume, jewelry, appliances, and odd clothing to last them a lifetime. And when our husbands say, "What do you want for your birthday?", we feel uncomfortable saying exactly what we want and so we say, "whatever you get will be fine", instead of saying, "BE SENTIMENTAL!!!!". We have to help them out a bit ladies. So fill out a card for them with info about gifts & things you like. Tell them what kind of flowers you like (remember carnations are cheaper & last a lot longer than roses) & if you have a cubbard full of old vases, mention a bouquet or box of flowers would be better than another vase. What about a corsage if you have a nice place to go? Tell them your favorite restaurant for family meals, & meals for just the two of you, breakfast, lunch & dinner places. If you don't want jewelry or perfume SAY SO! If you are on a diet, say "NO CANDY". Give them your clothing sizes, favorite colors, & things to avoid, or tell them not to try to buy clothes if they are hopeless. If you want something sentimental ASK on the card. Tell them to send you a card with their recollection of a special memory, take you back to a special place, a simple seashell that reminds him of the weekend at the shore. Tell them you would like him to handle all the housework & kid stuff that day. And here's an important one, write down the name of one or two of your friends who he can call to get ideas from for gifts or parties, or guest lists; the friends can grill you if they don't know. If you can't stand the attention of a singing telegram, SAY SO. Put down the name of a good bakery to get a cake. Put all this info on a card and give it to him to put in his wallet (or if it is reversed at your home, put it in her purse). Ask a friend to remind you of those special days coming up, or use one of the internet reminder services mentioned in a past Make a Note. Your husbands will thank you ladies, & it will save them the frustration of all that guesswork. Just let them know that it isn't a schematic, just something to help them with those ideas they are always requesting. Just because they want some ideas ladies, doesn't mean they don't love you. Maybe they would like to make a card for your wallet? POST IT...in your wallet.

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EASTER BANNER & BOOK

Ann Hibbard has written a wonderful book called "Family Celebrations for Easter" which has the directions & patterns in it for an Easter version of an advent calendar. It is called the Road to Calvary and starts several weeks before Easter, so now is the time to buy it and get started. It is really beautiful and you can do it in paper or felt, or cloth. You put up a circle with meaningful picture every Sunday before Easter & then finally every day during Holy Week. POST IT....on your shopping list.

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FREE DOG/CAT CELEBRITY OWNERS WALL CALENDARS

Purina has a nice site for dog & cat owners with lots of good info. If you fill out a little online questionnaire then they will send you a free wall calendar with photos of celebrities & their dogs or cats, depending on which calendar you choose. You can also sign up to receive free coupons/offers in the mail. To enjoy their complete web site go to http://www.purina.com To go straight to the calendar section click on:

Dog Calendar

Cat Calendar

POST IT... near your computer.

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JOKE (from Laura H.)

Well, actually it is a quote (which I did confirm w/his office), but I thought it was funny. Representative Dick Armey was asked if he would resign if he were in the President's place. He responded with this quote: "If I were in the President's place I would not get a chance to resign. I would be lying in a pool of my own blood hearing Mrs. Armey standing over me saying, 'How do I reload this **** thing?'" :)

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QUOTE

"There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve." ---Mike Leavitt

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FEEDBACK-FEEDBACK-FEEDBACK

~~ Peggy U. wrote about the car buying article. If you do not wish to do it all yourself, there are car buyers, who for a fee (varies w/buyer) will do it all for you. You can find them at http://www.aaacnet.com Her husband does this for a living & saved his last customer over $7000.

~~ Alisa R. wrote about the Christmas recipes. She said everyone at their church dinner liked the Fake Brie, and she enjoys the Make a Note "immensely".

~~ Melissa wrote about several things. She said they now have the telemarketer speech "posted" next to the phone, printed out the car buying info, and will be trying to recharge those markers.

~~URL CORRECTION...Amy P. wrote to let me know the web site address for the MSN Neighborhood Finder was incorrect. The correct one is http://homeadvisor.msn.com/dl/neighborhoods/finder_dl.asp Sometimes they do not allow you to go directly to certain web sites, you go to another & get to it from there.

~~ Editor's Feedback about dog food. I debated whether to mention this at all because I had feedback from both sides of the fence. First of all Connie N. wrote to let me know that her dog does get more than 1C/day of the Flint River Ranch, the scoop she was using was larger than she realized, but the dog still gets by on a small amount compared to other brands. After 2 weeks on the Diamond, my dog became unable to keep it down & we had to switch foods. Our vet, and another reader's recommended using any WIDELY ADVERTISED brand of food. That these vets were not as convinced as the breeders that this food was all that great. However, I also got emails from people whose dogs had been on Diamond for years & loved it. We switched back over to Purina Puppy Chow, as our vet recommended and our dog is back to normal. One nice thing about the Purina is that they do offer a lot of coupons (and calendars :)). So, this is one of those cases where folks need to decide what is best for each of their pets.

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All for this issue. This was one of those months that there were so many good things to pass on, I had to weed things out. So stayed tuned for future tips & let me know if you have any you would like to pass on. And a special thank you to all of you who provided so much wonderful info on the Fort Collins/Loveland, CO area. We may have found our after-the-Army home town. :)

God bless,

Sharon ^i^

Editor, Make a Note

Make-A-Note@worldnet.att.net 

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