We are having a fundraiser golf tournament for a family in our church. The mother, a good friend of mine, has been diagnosed with cancer, and it has been very hard on the family. They have two small children, both under five years old who do not understand what is wrong with their mommy.

I decided that I would contact the marketing departments of some large companies and see if they would be willing to donate some prizes in trade for some advertising. It was a success and we got many great prize donations. It was actually quite a bit more than we were expecting to get.

The tournament was a huge success and I know that the family is very thankful for all of the support, prayers and encouragement that they have received. We still try to help out in little ways. I often take the little girls for the day so my friend can get the rest that she needs.

I was put in charge recently of hiring a limousine service to get our guests back and forth from airport to hotel and around town while here for a convention. These guests were speakers and presenters at our convention and I wanted to get a reliable service that would take care of the details once I hired them.

Lucky for me, I found a great one. Their owner made sure to have a driver at the airport, waiting on each guest as their flights arrived. The chauffeur also helped with baggage and I got great reports from the guests on how friendly and polite the drivers were, which says volumes for a company in my book.

They also had a driver at the hotel within ten minutes of any guest calling for a ride anywhere in the city. I do not know how they pulled that off because it is a pretty big town and their main office is pretty far away from where the guests were staying.

I will absolutely hire this company again.

When we first moved back to the States from Germany, after my military husband’s three month training in Arizona, we lived in a rural area in south central Pennsylvania. Our house was owned by a couple who had gotten themselves into financial trouble and in order to prevent their home being foreclosed upon, they entered into an arrangement with the local bank. The couple and their two children moved in next door with his parents, into a three-bedroom trailer. Talk about tight quarters.

It was an uncomfortable arrangement from the start, especially when the husband of the couple would regularly stop by and invariably say goodbye (long after over-staying his welcome) by saying, “Hey! Don’t take no wooden nickels.” But there were perks. A full size pool table came with the house, since Mr. Wooden Nickels had no place to store it. And, truth to tell, he didn’t think he could get it out of the basement since they brought it into the house before the doors were hung.

Another bonus was a water softener, which neither my husband nor I had ever owned. And that water definitely needed softening. But the chemicals were so expensive! Here’s a cost-saving tip if you live in an area where hunting is commonplace. By a salt lick at the local hardware store and drop that into your softener. Does the job at a fraction of the cost of the “standard” stuff. Just ask your hardware store manager.

When I first moved away from my parents, I was stunned at how much it was going to cost me to live. I had never had to worry about things like medical insurance and dental coverage and I don’t think that I really understood how much my parents had given up so that we did not have to worry about it.

I have been wearing braces for several years and I knew that visiting a dentist on a regular basis was absolutely necessary. We had always had Ameriplan coverage and I had never thought anything of it before. But, now that I had to pay for it myself, it was a whole other story.

I ended up getting myself onto a discount dental benefit and was able to afford to keep taking care of my teeth. I feel like this is only one hurdle and I know if I knew then what I know now, I never would have moved out.

1. I am a “nester.” This means that where I plant myself I tend to stay. When scientists defined inertia as “A body in motion tends to stay in motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest.” they had me in mind.

2. At age 17 I discovered the wonders of 800 numbers and availed myself of every toll free number I could find for airlines, hotels, and anyone else in the travel industry I could think of. I desperately wanted to see what else was “out there” besides cows, corn and manure.

3. I know how to swim and passed my required college course in swimming and diving, but I hate the water! I’m terrified of it. No matter how many times I dove under water, I never got comfortable with it.

4. I am unable to swim under water. No, this has nothing to do strange thing number 3 and being afraid of diving. See strange thing number 5.

5. I was the first girl in the fourth grade to wear a bra. There, I’ve said it out loud in front of God and everyone. And because of those, well, growths, my instructors determined I was naturally buoyant. Lovely. I come equipped with bra-encased pontoons. If that doesn’t qualify as strange, I don’t know what does.