Saturday

Authentic Police Gear - for Great Cop Costumes and Rugged Wear

Authentic Police Gear -
for Great Cop Costumes and Rugged Wear


Looking for real-life law enforcement accessories for a costume party, paint ball game or other practical purpose?

Founded by actual Los Angeles officers, LA Police Gear supplies authentic law enforcement apparel and equipment to military personnel, security professionals, and the general public.

Here's an example of their real-life police merchandise:
5.11 Tactical Shorts. For a limited time, LA Police Gear is offering free shipping and a free hat to customers ordering at least two 5.11 product items.

From flashlights to footwear, holsters to handcuffs, boots to backpacks, gloves to gas masks, watches to work clothes, spotlights to shorts, this site has plenty of products.

The site is easy to navigate.
Shop by brand or category. LA Police Gear even offers closeouts for cut-rate prices on police items.








Thursday

My Graduate

My Graduate

Here's this week's entry for Wordless Wednesday (Thursday edition) and Inspire Me Thursday's "whimsy" prompt.


It truly does not seem possible that this little girl, who proudly held the flag for her kindergarten graduation, not so long ago, will graduate today from elementary school and enter the big leagues. To honor her academic achievement, here's a bit of creative whimsy.


My Graduate

My kindergarten grad has grown,
With tip-top talents, she has shown.
Look out, big world!
Her flag’s unfurled;
Her stripes, she’s earned, all on her own.


Related items:

Annual Affections (on Yearbooks)

Deciding to Hold a Child Back a Grade

First Day of School – And a Free Haircut Too

Four Big Years

Morning of Mournings (on Graduation)

Preteen Pretext

School Supplies

Top 12 Traits of a True Friend


Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts!

Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Does Blogging Pay?


A few trusted friends have begun blogging with Pay Per Post, so I decided to give it a try. This is my first item for Pay Per Post, as this blog (Practically at Home) has just been approved.

Apparently, that makes me one of the Posties. (Is that anything like a Post Toastie? I have no idea.)

Having just started, I am not altogether sure what to expect, but I am looking forward to doing more product reviews, web-site evaluations and similar practical consumer-related posts. Right now, it seems they have about 100 topics from which to choose, if eligible.

This site pays bloggers (with approved blogs) who accept specific topic assignments and produce blog posts related to those products or topics. Bloggers are paid through their PayPal accounts.

Watch here (Practically at Home) for more!

If the experience pays off, as I hope it will, I plan to add to The Mane Point Equine Experience Fund, a most worthwhile cause.

payperpost



Monday

Happy Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day.

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, because folks would visit the graves of fallen soldiers, who had given their lives in service to our country. On Memorial Day, survivors would place flowers, wreaths and other tokens of affection on the grave sites.

Each year, on Memorial Day, an American flag is placed by each of the 200,000-plus military graves at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Today, as we enjoy a day of rest and relaxation, picnics and parades, barbecues and bonfires, and the unofficial beginning of summer . . . may we remain mindful of the reason for the holiday.

Poems for Memorial Day

Apart – A Rhyme Hardcore on a Jungle War

Burning in Our Hearts

Memorial Day Poems - Dress Blues

No Picnic – Five Haikus on Paying Dues

Pearl of Great Price – A Rhymed Encore on the Start of a War

The Scout – A Saluting Scene for a U.S. Marine

Wave of Glory – A Poetic Manner on the American Banner

Saturday

A False Start at the Supermart


(For a Simply Snickers prompt on “hope” and “happens”)


What’s in store for us at the store? Although this certainly may not be the case in every supermarket or mega-store, the following lines describe what happened to us during one of our recent local outings.

Buyers, best beware! Apparently, good manners have gone missing in the local marketplace.

Perhaps it’s time for some of us to take stock in our selves, instead of just the shelves. What happened to common courtesy? Maybe good manners have simply been carted off, like so many lost memories and mysteries of the past.


A False Start at the Supermart
(A Story in Song on a Store That's Gone Wrong)

Whatever happened to customer service?
I stopped at the store and, Heaven, preserve us!
A quick trip transformed me into an ill mood
With retailing rudeness and bad attitude.

As I walked in the door, a uniformed girl
Swerved a bevy of carts into me with a whirl.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!"
she snarled with a scowl,
Then uttered a long stream of verbage most foul.

I wanted to turn and stomp out of the store,
But I wondered:
would it be much better next door?
Above the door, words flashed in neon so bright:
"In our place, the customer is always right."

I gathered my items and crossed off my list;
Asked a stocker for help, and he held up a fist.
My patience unwinding, I raced with my cart
To the least lengthy checker,
who seemed so street smart.

With four-inch-long talons, she dialed her phone
And started to gab in a zone all her own.
Behind me, a baby decided to wail,
As the chatty cashier gnawed her long pinky nail.

Thus frustrated, glanced I at all of the rows,
Attempting to check out, or else come to blows.
Yet each of the registers offered no hope,
So how was a shopper intended to cope?

The guy in line seven had broken a jar,
And the one on eleven was simply bizarre.
But right in between them, cashier number ten
Was arguing prices with two older men.

At this point, I clung to my last final nerve,
For it surely was more than I'd come to deserve.
Then I heard a voice, though perhaps in my mind:
"Need an etiquette cleanup on aisle number nine."

Gee . . .
Next time, I think I'll go shopping online!


Related items:


Behind the Curtain: Fitting Room Etiquette

Courtesy Cleanup

Customer Courtesy

How to Make a Reusable Grocery Tote Bag

In the Market for Manners: Etiquette for Shoppers

Movie Manners

A Mug Shot

Public Etiquette Enemies

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts!

Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Thursday

Just for Fun – A Friday-Fill-in (#73)

Just for Fun – A Friday-Fill-in (#73)

(The prompts are in bold, and my responses are in italics.)


  1. On my laziest day I like to curl up with a lovely novel. (Of course, such days are rare and to be treasured.

  1. Hearing my computer printer humming merrily away makes me feel like I'm being productive.

  1. I love little gummy bears and big bowls of fresh, hot popcorn (not necessarily together).

  1. This summer I want to ride my young half-Arabian colt. Soon I will!

  1. Creative curiosity made me start my blog.

  1. “Red and orange do not go together, when it comes to fashion.” My mother told me that when I was a child. Of course, the sixties changed all that.

  1. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to the new Indiana Jones movie. (It’s our wedding anniversary, so a movie night is likely.) Tomorrow my plans include visiting family (and celebrate my brother’s birthday), and Sunday, I want to attend church, dig in my garden (planting impatiens) and give a few horses their long-overdue spring baths. (I simply love sunny Sundays.) As a bonus, Monday will be the Memorial Day holiday . . . no school or work. Aha!

Related items:

A Double-Dutch Treat

Grime and Grace

How to Write an Award-Winning Book Report

How to Write a Movie Review

The Library Life

The Mean Bean

Minis and Whinnies

Mystified

Out of My Mind

Spandex and the Ex

Stand-Up Guys

True Colors

Wrap Star

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts!

Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Just for Fun – A Friday-Fill-in (#72)


Just for Fun – A Friday-Fill-in (#72)

After a sunny day, which proved to be extremely productive in the fray, the field and the family, this seemed like a fun exercise.

(The prompts are in bold, and my responses are in italics.)


  1. There is absolutely NO way you can get me to stop writing. I am a rabid writer, and I love to play with words. Want to see an example of this? Click here.

  1. My children remind me that summer is almost here! (School ends next week, and the countdown started months ago.)

  1. I cannot live without my Lord Jesus Christ. How I love Him with all my heart. And yet, He loves me even more. What a wonderful Savior. (“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1)

  1. Scuba-diving and helicopter flight are two things I'd like to try.

  1. When life hands you lemons, pucker up. (Why not?)

  1. Skiiing amid moguls is my favorite childhood memory. (At least, it’s one of my favorites. Gee, why did I think of winter sports on May 22nd, when it’s finally warm enough around here to go without an overcoat?)

  1. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to seeing my brother and sister-in-law, who are coming to town for a brief visit. Tomorrow my plans include writing, gardening, horseback riding and ground-training my colt and filly. Sunday, I want to attend church to worship the Lord and enjoy fellowship with friends.

Related items:

Abundantly – A Poetic Plea for a Closer Walk with the Savior

The Coming of the Light

Equestrian Etiquette: Let’s Ride Together

A Familiar Way

Gardening With Children: Growing Green Thumbs

Gardening and Writing

Green Lessons

Growing Young Horse Lovers

His Story – A Poetic Tribute to the King Absolute

Horseback Riding Basics: Have You Got What It Takes?

Into the Closet

Inviting Writing

Leafy Hope

Owning Your Writing (Copyrights)

Redeemed from Religion

Scripture Memory Techniques

Springing into Spring Cleaning and Office Organization

The “Why” Chromosome: Should a Woman Preach and Teach?

Words ‘R Me


Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts!

Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Monday

Work-at-Home Mom Week


This week (May 19 – 23) is Work-at-Home Moms Week.

Whether you are
a self-employed mom,
a full- or part-time working mom,
a work-at-home mom,
a home-based business mom,
or a stay-at-home mom,
this week is for you!

We hope you may find a few moments
of peace and rest,
even as you master
the multi-tasking
that only you can do.


In honor of Work-at-Home Moms Week, here are a few quotes of interest:

" I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet,
there would be no more wars."
E. M. Forster
(1879 - 1970)

“By and large, mothers and housewives
are the only workers
who do not have regular time off.
They are the great vacation-less class.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

(1906 – 2001)

“I hope my tongue in prune juice smothers,
if I belittle dogs and mothers.

Ogden Nash

(1902 – 1971)

Related Items of Interest:


Babysitting Co-op

Calling and Recalling

Can Anyone Be a Parent?

Destiny Rising

Dozing by the Bull

The Grandest Job

Grandmother’s Shoes

Hearting Up

Keeping Kids from Careless Kin

Parental Perfection

Steps to a Blended Family

Top Drawer

The Un-Mother in Your Corner

Who Says Moms Can’t Memorize Scripture?

Zoned Out

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Or click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Sunday

Bleeding Us Dry


(Posted in response to One Single Impression’s “bleeding” haiku prompt, Simply Snickers’ “raffle,” “rise” and “roulette’ prompt and Sunday Scribblings’ “soar” or “sore” prompt)



Have you ever been to one of those "Casino Night" fund-raisers? On such nights, participants may spend exorbitant amounts of money for formal attire and blow big bucks at the gaming tables . . . all in the name of a favorite charity. Honestly! Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just write them a check in the first place?


Bleeding Us Dry
(Haikus to Please for Charities)

Do buy a ticket.
Raffle prizes everywhere.
Come support the cause.

Spin the roulette wheel.
Watch the numbers rise and fall,
As we bleed you dry.

No sore losers here.
Gambling for charity.
Everybody wins.

Tax write-offs? No way.
But you might take home the pot,
If your luck holds out.


Click here for “Bleeding Us Dry (Haikus to Please for Charities)

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Or click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Saturday

Weeding Out Weeds from Your Garden

Weeding Out Weeds from Your Garden


A plant is growing fast and strong
Amid the blooms it can't belong.
If you didn't plant it, as
seedling or seed,
The chances are, it must be a weed!


Look! Is that a wildflower or a weed in your garden? It can be tricky to tell.

Exactly what is a weed?

Basically, a weed is anything that voluntarily or suddenly appears in your cultivated garden or lawn areas. You can spot these unwelcome plants quite easily. Weeds are the ones that seem to pop up in your garden and grow much faster than anything out there!

Common Weeds

Chickweed, an annual weed, forms dense mats in the garden with shallow roots. Bright green leaves and small white star-like flowers are the keys to identifying this intruder. Chickweed seeds itself and spreads out with its creeping stems.

Curled dock, a buckwheat relative, is marked by its fleshy rosette-like foliage and its rust-colored taproot. The dark green heart-shaped leaves of this weed have frilly edges. The flowers are usually yellow, and they dry into a rusty fruit.

Dandelions, perhaps the most pervasive weeds, are also the simplest to recognize in the garden. The lobe-like leaves and bright yellow flowers may be spotted throughout the countryside from early May through the summer months. As the flowers dry into fluffy fly-aways, the wind-dispersed seeds repopulate elsewhere.

Knotweed usually appears in grassy areas, but this weed may encroach upon garden beds as well. This grassy weed has dark green leaves, which form a flat mat. Purple buds open into yellow or white flowers in midsummer.

Mallow can be an annual or perennial weed. Round or heart-shaped leaves are usually 2" to 3" wide. Flowers may be white with purple accents. Mallow produces flat disk-like fruit.

Mints and root ivies may appear lovely, but they are extremely invasive in the garden, much like weeds. Mint or ivy leaves may be round, heartlike, or kidney-shaped. They may be smooth, viney, rippled, or ridged. The roots may burrow horizontally under the ground, with new colonies popping up in unexpected places of your yard or garden. Most varieties of mints and ivies do produce flowers, which propagate through seeding.

Plaintains are cool-season perennial weeds. Their curly and veiny leaves naturally form rosettes. From May to October, plaintains may flower, with tall stalks of tiny blossoms. This weed reproduces by seeding itself and spreading roots.

Purslane, a summer annual weed, is marked by fleshy purplish leaves and stems. Purslane boasts five-petaled yellow flowers in midsummer. This weed multiplies by seeding itself.

Thistles are biennial weeds that reproduce by seeding themselves. These spiny-leaved weeds are extremely aggressive. From June to October, they may produce large spiny purple flower heads.

Yarrow may be a flower or a weed. The wild weed variety can be quite aggressive in the garden. Flowers may be white, pink, yellow, or other colors. The fern-like foliage and tiny clustered flowers of this weed are distinguishing features.

Wild clover, garlic, strawberries, and violets may look promising, but they can quickly become problematic in the garden.

If you do spot weeds in your garden, or other aggressive plants, you must pull them out by the roots. A fractional root may recover, and the unwelcome weeds vegetation may return with a vengeance!

You can also spray weeds with a broad-leaf post-emergent herbicide (weed-killer).

Be careful that you do not mist your flowers and other welcome plants when you spray the weeds in your garden.


Related Articles of Interest:

Bring Spring

Dandy Day

Flower Master

Garden Bugs: Friends or Foes?

Gardening: Cultivating to Control Weeds

Gardening With Children: Growing Green Thumbs

Home-Grown Fertilizer

Lovely Ladybirds

Wasting Walkway Weeds Without Whacking

Weed Worries

Zoned Out – Roars About Chores


Click here for “Which Weed Is Which: Picking Out Intruders Among Your Plantings.”

Do you love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Or click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Wednesday

Grocery Bag Bonus


Grocery Bag Bonus


“Paper, plastic or other?”
Remember our recent Grocery Bag Poll at Practically at Home?
At least 25 percent of the respondents indicated that they bring their own recycled bags along to the store to pack their grocery purchases.
Would you like to preserve the environment, reduce landfill load (from both brown paper and plastic grocery bags), economize petroleum (used to make plastic grocery bags), save countless trees (destroyed to produce brown paper grocery bags) and simply be a creative conservationist?
Many shoppers reuse paper or plastic grocery bags for errands and household tasks. Some even tote recycled bags to the store for subsequent errands.
Fabric Shopping Totes
Increasingly, shoppers are using more durable fabric totes to carry their purchases. Most grocery stores, luxury and discount retailers and large-scale department stores now offer logo-imprinted tote bags. Some are pricey, while others are more affordable.
Still, if you love to sew, as I do, you may have a big box of remnants and fabric scraps. Even if you decide to pony up and purchase new fabrics, you can still make your own reusable grocery tote bag without spending much money.
Why not make your own reusable grocery tote bag? It’s easy!
It’s Sew Simple!
 
If you can come up with 1/2 yard of sturdy woven outer fabric (and 1/2 yard of sturdy woven lining fabric), you can stitch up a reusable grocery tote bag in a flash.
Here’s the cutting pattern for your reusable grocery tote bag.
Once you get started, you will probably choose to make several reusable grocery tote bags. How about keeping them in your car, so you can grab them when you head for the grocery store?
Now, let’s ask once again: “Paper, plastic or other?”

Related Articles of Interest:

Do you love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Or click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Tuesday

Final Exam? Thank You, Ma'am


Here's this week's entry for Two for Tuesday’s prompt (“color” and “dust”).


Final Exam?
Thank You, Ma’am.

I'm not going to buy my kids
an encyclopedia.
Let them walk to school
like I did.”

Yogi Berra
(1925 - )


How I have missed my student friend,
As her semester came to end.
She sat beneath a pile of notes:
Equations, glossaries and quotes.

Then, finally the testing stopped;
As bottles waited to be popped.
My sleepless friend returned to life,
Thus ending academic strife.

With flying colors, Kady passed,
Her finals, from the first to last.
In math and science, she excelled,
And every word, correctly spelled.

She left the others in the dust,
And hurried homeward, for she must.
Her loved ones waited, holding breath,
And wringing hands, like Dame Macbeth.

Our happy scholar shared her news
And quickly banished all their blues.
She’s stored her notebooks all away.
Can Kady now come out to play?


Related items of interest:


Alma Mater


Classics Class


College Entry Applications: Choosing Your References


Death by Sorority


Four Big Years


How to Write an Award-Winning Book Report


Leaving the Nest – Off to College


PC College


Popular Christian High School Graduation Songs


Writing Winning Essays for College Applications


Writing Wrongs

Click here for “Final Exam? Thank You, Ma’am.”

Love poetry? Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink. Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

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Saturday

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day Greetings

If you are a mother, a mom, a grandmother, a stepmother, an adoptive mother, a birthmother, or any sort of motherly soul at all, may you have a blessed Mother's Day. Know that you are loved and special and honored, particularly on Mother's Day.




Here are a few items that may bless your heart:

Calling and Recalling (A Mother's Prayer)

Calmed by the Storm

Can Anyone Be a Parent?

Destiny Rising - A Rhyming Sight on Taking Flight

For Our Birthmother

The Grandest Job

Grandmother's Shoes

Hearting Up

The Un-Mother in Your Corner

Toddler Talk

Top Drawer - A Mothers' Mirth on Things of Worth

Untouched Items (My Grandmother's House)

(Please note that these original poems and other items are copyrighted. You are more than welcome to share the URL address links, but please do not copy-and-paste and forward the contents. Thanks so much!)

And here are a few links to related articles of interest:

Adoption: Making Room in Your Heart and Your Home

Celebrating and Enjoying Mother's Day with Members of Blended Families

Gardening with Children - Growing Green Thumbs

How to Help a Child Write a Personalized Mother's Day Poem

Make One Yourself - Best Books to Give Mom for Mother's Day

Name-Calling and the Blended Family

Parents of Preteens - Unbelievably Uncool

Secrets Are Scary (Should Adoptive Parents Tell Kids They Are Adopted?)

Steps to a Blended Family - Tips for Stepparenting

Thank-You Notes and Family Quotes

Top Ten Mother's Day Bible Verses for Cards and Letters

Top Ten Mother's Day Gift Certificate Ideas

Who Says Moms Can't Memorize Scripture?

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Or click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!


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