Penny Satterwhite Blog

My over night stay with my sister and her three year daughter Nichole, my favorite niece of all time. Believe me I have a whole slew of nieces and nephews and Nichole has stolen my heart since the day she was welcomed into this world. I have witnessed and have played an important role in various births, family and a few close friends, but this one was an experience that I’ll never forget.

Nichole is starving for attention. Having a single mom is a difficult situation on everyone involved with the whole world seeming to be at your door wanting to come in and make things worse. Each one with their own agenda and expecting something in return, simple as that.

Anyway, I try to visit them as much as possible, it’s only a two hour drive but I have to go over 2 mountains to get there and often the roads are way too dangerous to drive on. I always bring several “presents” to surprise and delight her. I can’t seem to get enough of seeing that wonderful and totally pure excitement and the ear-to-ear smile that just lights my life up for several days after leaving them to head back over the 2 mountains to where I now call home.

This time I brought a soprano ukulele from musicians friend and gave it to her so that when I play my guitar she can play around on her ukulele so that we can sing and play together. This girl is just exploding with musical talents, loves to dance and sing and is able to keep a beat no matter what type of music comes on. I would love to encourage her in any way possible to explore and find at least one musical instrument that she can play for the rest of her life. Music = Life while Life = Music, simple as that.

Taking pictures has always brought me great joy. For as long as I can remember I have had a love affair with various camera’s that have allowed me to capture a moment in time with just a quick push of a button. When I was around 9 I ordered a “mini-spy camera” from the back of a comic book for something like $6, which was a chunk of change back then. I got it in the mail just a few days before we were going on a class field trip to Harper’s Ferry, in West By God Virginia so I was so excited to be able to take it along and show it off to all three of the 4th grade classes that were all going by school buses to this wonderful place that is so rich with history before, during and after the Civil War.

I did get a lot of attention from the other kids, I was snapping away at all the interesting points of interest as well as many shots of my class mates in various settings along the way. It was one of the best field trips that I can remember going on. I was so excited to take that little piece of crap “mini-spy camera” down to the local photo store to have the pictures developed and was devastated when I went to pick them up only to find that only 2 of all of the pictures that I took came out. I still have those 2 pictures in a scrapbook somewhere, they always leave a bad taste in my mouth when I run across them or think of that camera and/or that field trip.

As much as I love taking pictures there are some really great photographers in the Raleigh NC area that I check their website(s) every so often and just kick back and enjoy their ever growing portfolio(s) that they have put together for folks online that are looking for photographers in their area. I actually have about a dozen websites of photographers and photo blogs that I have bookmarked that are constantly adding new and unique photos from all over the world. It’s a great way to spend an hour or two online if you are like me and appreciate quality photos that are available to us for absolutely free.

An uncle of mine came from Italy to visit family last month, it ha been a good 4 years since any of our family had seen him. He stayed at my parents house for most of the visit, and had surprised them with his newly found habit he had picked up during his stay in Italy. He had started smoking cigars, and not just one type of cigar like many people attach themselves to, I mean like oodles of different varieties of cigars.

He lit one up in front of me at one point and was quite upset about the lighter he was using. He had mentioned before he needed a new lighter that would work wonders verses the standard lighter, for his cigar smoking. I snuck off into the computer room when my mother started a conversation with my uncle, so I could search the net and try to find a lighter that would fit his needs and wants.

I came across a blog on a site that mentioned that a torch lighter is the best to use for cigar smokers. With that mentioned I began my search for a new torch lighter that I could quickly purchase and have it sent to my home before he left to go back to Italy. I had came across some fantastic deals that caught my eye immediately, and it didn’t take me long at all to find the best cigar lighter for my uncle.

It was shipped to my home in no time and I had the chance to see my uncle’s face when I handed him his new torch lighter. He was so happy to have a lighter that works 100 times better and is reusable. I’m going to miss him terribly. I sure hope it isn’t another 4 years before I see him again.

I’ve heard that you can get prescription eyeglasses for as low as $7.00 a pair at ZenniOptical.com but I haven’t really checked into it, up until now. Money (or the lack of) is a serious issue right now and I need new glasses. I saw a clip on the Internet last night about a new book written by a well known money expert, Howard Clark, entitled Living Large in Lean Times”, filled with his writings on tips on how to improve your finances in just one week! One of his tips is to take advantage of the savings for prescription eyeglasses by utilizing all the Zenni Optical has to offer. I’m glad that he stressed the point of making sure that the “PD” is on your prescription from your eye doctor. I’m not sure what the “PD” is, but I can guarantee that if they need it that my eye doctor and I will make sure that it is written clearly on the script that I will be getting from him next week after my eye exam is over and done with.

I’ve all ready taken a look at ZenniOptical.com and have found several frames that I think I’d like to try out. I uploaded a head shot of myself and used their virtual Zenni Frame Fit option to see what the ones that I like would look like on me, which is a pretty cool feature to use to help ease the worry of not being able to try them on before committing. I’m going to ask a couple of people what they think of my picks as well and then I’ll be making my order real quick like, getting new glasses is always exciting and knowing that I’m not having to spend a fortune on them makes it even more exciting.

Another tip that I’m anxious to try out is for my straight razoers that I have to use each and every day. Mr. Clark tells us that if you completely dry off your razor blade each time you use it that it will extend the life of your razor, big time. And considering how much the razors are that I like to use, if there is any way to make them last longer and something as simple as taking 5 seconds to dry it, I’m all for it!