Home and Vacation

If you’re a gambler and live in New Jersey you’ll be glad to hear this news. Law was passed yesterday that states casinos and racetracks will not be forced to close if the state government ever has a shutdown as it did in 2006. In 2006 a state government shutdown forced casinos to close for three days, which caused the casinos an estimated loss of about $55 million. The law now allows casinos to regulate themselves on a temporary basis if state inspectors are not available. State inspectors are not considered essential personnel so they don’t work during a government shutdown. Under the new law if certain laws are broken the governor could order the casino to close and fines of up to 10 times the normal amount would be issued.

What road sign have you seen that amused you? Have you seen one that set you into a fit of giggles? I have. Sometimes I see pictures of funny signs on the web and I can’t figure out how people driving take them. I’ve tried to take pictures of a funny sign twice myself and all I got was a blur. One of those two signs said “speed hump” and the other said “roadway pulloff”. I found a terrific gallery of funny road signs on the Road Trip America website. If you’ve got some time to kill, check it out. What’s the funniest road sign you’ve seen?

Whether you’re driving across country, taking a train to the Midwest or going on a domestic flight, if you’ve got an illness you need to be prepared no matter where you are. Here’s a few tips for long domestic journeys if you take medications.
Before beginning a long journey check the label on how to store meds. Be aware if meds need to be kept cool, shaded or kept cold before storing them in a bag for a long flight, drive or rides.
Be prepared for delays, no matter how you’re traveling. People always think of flights getting delayed, but road trips can also get delayed for extreme weather. The best way to be prepared is to keep your medications in a carryon or purse.
Be familiar with your medical coverage, and what to do if an emergency arises while you’re traveling.
Store your medication in the original labeled containers. Bring a few more than you need in case of delay or a decision to extend the trip.
Check with your pharmacist about what foods, if any, may have an effect on your prescription. We all tend to indulge a little more when traveling when it comes to foods and beverages.
That’s the tips my family uses. If you have any to share I’d love to hear them.

If you don’t know how to prepare yourself and your home for the first 72 hours after a disaster, you should visit 72hours.org. 72 Hours is a website run by the City of San Francisco but offers valuable planning tips that would be useful to anyone.

There are two main areas to the site.  The first area is How To Prepare. This area teaches you to create an emergency plan, and what you’ll need ready and waiting for you to get through the first 72 hours after the disaster strikes. For each of the different topics discussed there are helpful tips included on how to help make your home safer on a day to day basis. The different topics include home safety, children, seniors & the disabled,  pets, utilities, food, water, first aid, go bag, phone, volunteer, training and community. I never realized how helpful it could be to have an out of state emergency contact in case of a natural disaster. The suggestion there that I want to do in our home is to create a “go bag” for all of the members of our home.

The second area of the site is the What To Do If section. This area instructs you on what to do in certain types of potentially disastrous situations.  The different topics included here are earthquake, storm/flooding, terror, contagious disease, transit safety, evacuation, fire, no power, tsunamis, sirens and shelter in place. I found the evacuation tips very helpful.

I found this site to be a very valuable resource that anyone could benefit from visiting. Are you and your home ready if a natural disaster strikes? Would you be able to get through the first 72 hours? Check out 72Hours.org and see if you’re ready. Let me know which idea you found most helpful.

The time has come for me to plan our annual summer vacation. Typically we go camping in upstate New York for one week, traveling at the same time as my parents. We pull a tiny travel trailer behind my truck up to the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. While there we camp at the Watkins Glen KOA. This year I’m considering extending our vacation on one end, as well as not taking the travel trailer up. That’s because I want to buy a larger trailer. If I do this, I’ll need to get a hotel room near the racetrack and campground for part of the time. I took a look in the Finger Lakes Tourism site to see what other activities are going on in the area while we’re up there besides the Nascar race, in case there was something in a particular area we wanted to see. Ideally wherever we stay will be in the Watkins Glen - Corning - Elmira area.

There was one occasion that I had to find a hotel room in this area for a trip my husband and father took. Their needs were simple, all that was required was a clean, safe, affordable room for the night. I booked a room at the Knights Inn in Horseheads. That was three years ago and it didn’t end well. When they checked in the door on the room didn’t lock, the television couldn’t be turned on and the toilet was clogged. They had to go back out to the office and request another room, which in the end didn’t turn out to be much better. After they finally got the room problem solved they were hungry. Unfortunately there were no restaurants nearby so they had to have snacks from the vending machine for dinner.

This time around I’m being more careful with my search for a room. After all, the whole family will be in the room and I wouldn’t want anything less than clean and safe for my family. But the accommodations I make will need to fit some other needs we have. I’m bringing my laptop, so I want high speed internet. We like the ability to be able to watch tv in our room. We should be located near a restaurant, or the hotel we stay in should have one. We prefer to be able to have coffee in the morning before we hit the road. I’ve found two that look like they fit our needs and will be our best choices.

EconoLodge, Elmira

This hotel is in an area we’re familiar with and it’s about 20 minutes away from the racetrack and camping ground. My parents have actually stayed at this hotel and said it was very clean. It’s near the mall that my Mom goes to every year, a Walmart, a grocery store and a number of restaurants and attractions. It offers high speed internet, free breakfast and free coffee. I notice that the rooms have been remodeled and now include microwaves and refrigerators, which are terrific for a traveling family.

Super 8 Motel, Ithaca

This hotel is about 30 minutes away from the racetrack and campground. It has free high speed internet and free continental breakfast. It’s near a number of restaurants and attractions. I notice from the pictures displayed that their rooms look like they’re a decent size and they have a free fitness center for guests. It looks like these rooms were just renovated in 2005, so they’re probably in decent shape.

I think everyone will be happy with one of these selections, particularly my hubby and father after the last experience. In case you’re wondering how I found these hotels, I searched on a great site called Hotels Combined. This site can search many hotel reservation websites to find you the best price for rooms in cities all around the world. I looked on the page for cities in New York, and then checked the pages for the cities in the area that we stay in. You can see what I mean by visiting http://www.hotelscombined.com/State/New_York.htm.

Take a look on the Hotels Combined site and see what lodgings are available where you’re going. Their search engine is sure to find you lodging that fits all of your needs and your budget. Happy travels!

If there are any beds in your home, this contest is for you. Metropolitan Mama joined forces with Protect A Bed to offer a contest with a fantastic prize - a cruise!

If you aren’t familiar with Protect A Bed, they make ultra thin mattress protectors in every size. These help protect your mattresses from liquids and solids, leaks and spills, and incidents and accidents. That means your house smells better and looks cleaner and that the hard earned money you spent on bedding doesn’t go to waste.

This contest will be running from June 1, 2008 through September 1, 2008. The grand prize winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip for two to a three-night, four-day cruise to the Caribbean (including airfare). There will also be one additional winner every week and one monthly winner every month of the promotion. The weekly winners will be drawn will each receive two Protect-A-Bed pillow protectors. The monthly winners will each receive a $200 gift card to Outback Steakhouse. All weekly and monthly winners remain eligible for the grand prize drawing.

There are three ways to enter.

1. You will receive 1 entry for every protect A Bed cover that you buy from myprotectabed.com, no limit on number of entries.

2. Linking to Protect A Bed and the contest, you can blog about the contest OR you can blog about any experience you have with a Protect A Bed product.

3. Complete and submit the online entry form.

What a terrific contest. I’m in! Since I have a child that’s still potty training, I’d be happy to even win a monthly prize. And I’d love to review the product on my review blog too.

I always recommend people travel with disposable toilet seat covers and a small package of wipes. The seat covers are particularly for those who have bad legs or knees, or if they have children. There are some people that have a hard time hovering. The wipes are because sometimes there is just no toilet paper where you are. These items are inexpensive and you can keep them in your glove box, travel bag or purse. You can buy low count packages of them in department stores and drug stores, and they can be bought online. I always keep a package of each in the pocket in the side of my truck door.

I was asked to review Alycat’s blog PhotogB-Log. When I agreed, I didn’t realize it was a photo blog. Once I visited the site, I was really glad I did. It reminded me that people ought to take more pictures. Visiting the site also reminded me that some people are very talented with a camera. Alycat is one of those people.

There really isn’t much I can suggest to Alycat as far as this blog goes. The blog contains photos that Alycat has taken from places she’s visited as well as where she lives. Included are pictures of family, animals, places and things. The pictures are gorgeous. They’re all labeled with location so you can view all photos taken from a single place. The only thing that I think might be helpful is if she can reorganize the archive. Since it’s a photo blog and she takes a lot of pictures, I can see that archive list becoming totally huge. I don’t know if there is a clean archives plugin available for Blogger like there is for Wordpress, but if there is one it might work nicely here.

You don’t have to be a photographer to enjoy looking at good photos. As we go through our day to day lives, watching our children grow, taking vacations and working on our homes, we should all remember to take more pictures. As Aly’s header says, a picture will last longer. Before we know it time will have passed, as will the opportunity to take that picture. Pictures can be enjoyed, passed on and shared, keeping family memories alive. If you want to see lots of terrific pictures, you’ve got to check out PhtogB-log. When you visit Alycat, please tell her that valmg sent you.

We’ve been reading up on mailing someone in the miliary, because my brother is in the Navy. The US Post Office actually recently came out with flat rate boxes just for shipping to an APO/FPO box. So here’s the scoop, in case you were wondering.

You can mail anyone in the US military servie for the same price as mailing to that person if they were here in the US. Miltary mail is processed through large post office boxes, so to speak. APO stands for Air/Army Post Office and FPO stands for Fleet Post Office. Military locations are assigned a unique zip code, no matter where in the world they are located. Mail going to an APO or FPO address usually travels overseas via international commercial passenger services and international cargo services. When the planes land, the mail is handed over to a representative of the Military Postal Service, who in turn
transports it to another station where it is processed for delivery to the service member’s unit. Letters mailed to someone in the military typically take between seven and ten days to be delivered depending on country of destination. Priority Mail will take 10 to 15 days and Parcel Post will take about 24 days. Of course, all transit times vary depending on conditions of the unit the mail is going to. Every country has its own restrictions on
incoming mail, so check with your local Post Office if you’re not certain an item can be sent.

My parents travel a lot and I usually pick up their mail. Not everyone has a person they can rely on to go to their home daily to pick up mail. If you’re going to be away or unable to empty your mailbox (think surgery, etc) for more than two days you ought to consider having any mail coming to your residence held at the Post Office until you return. The US Post Office will hold mail from anywhere between 3 and 30 days. If a request to hold mail is submitted all mail and postal packages going to that address will be held, not just that of one particular member of the household. Placing a mail hold is free and mail service will resume on the date you specify in your request. Mail held may be picked up from your Post Office or delivered with your regular mail (only what fits in the mailbox will be left). Requests may be made up to fourteen days in advance, and can be made and altered both online and by telephone. Holding the mail is a great way to ensure all of your mail remains safe and private while you’re not able to pick it up.