My mother’s birthday is coming up in the next few months and I have been trying to figure out what I want to get her. I have been looking at the redenvelope website where they have a wonderful array of personalized monogrammed gifts to choose from. I really like the idea of getting her a monogrammed wallet gift but there are so many good ideas to choose from that I am having a hard time deciding.

I didn’t know what cautery is until recently. It is some kind of a medical device use to destroy abnormal tissue by burning, searing or scarring, including caustic substances, electric currents, lasers and very hot or very cold instruments. According to my research, cautery is an excellent instrument to use for the office, ER and clinical procedures. You can find a wide selection of cauteries of different brand names at the linked website.

When my hubby bought this house in 1998, it was a fixer-upper that he planned to remodel and upgrade in between his contract engineering jobs. When I got here in 2006, he had still not put up drapes on many of the windows. That was a quick and easy improvement so we bought some drapes and I made some others from drapery fabric that I bought at a nearby store.

There are a few more windows that need drapes and I think that I will buy some more fabric and make them myself because they are not normal sized windows and it is easier to make them the way I want rather than to find ones that I like that will also fit.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am a not a regular customer of Walgreens but my hubby and I occasionally buy stuff there. The latest product that we bought from them was a handheld electric massager. We had tried a few massagers from several other stores but none of them had the aggressive action that my hubby wanted so he took them all back. When we finally found the one at Walgreens, we were well pleased because it has a very firm massage and two different settings. We are very happy with it and use it quite often. We had not heard about the dispute between Walgreens and Express Script until just recently and it will probably not affect us much because my hubby gets most of his medications direct from the VA and I rarely need any.

Express Scripts is a company that acts as a middleman between pharmacies providing health care service and employers and their health plans. Last December 31^st, 2011 the contract between Walgreens and Express Scripts expired. For the past year, Walgreens had been negotiating with Express Scripts but the talks did not lead to an agreement. Both parties couldn’t find common ground and as of January 1^st, 2012, Walgreens is no longer a part of the Express Scripts network. This means that all Walgreens pharmacies nationwide and Duane Reade pharmacies in the New York City area are no longer included in the Express Scripts pharmacy network.

This means that Express Scripts participants will have to pay higher prices or be forced to go somewhere else besides Walgreens. To help ease the burden to those who are affected, Walgreens is offering a special discount on annual membership of the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club so that members can continue to get discounted rates on their medications.

If you are wondering if this dispute will affect you, talk to your local Walgreens pharmacy. One of the clients who is affected by the dispute between Walgreens and Express Scripts is the Tricare system. Tricare is the health care system provided by the government for retired and active US military personnel. Walgreens has tried hard to negotiate with Express Scripts by offering guaranteed prices that would match or beat the average costs per adjusted prescription of all other pharmacies in the Tricare network. Walgreens took this unprecedented step to prevent the military personnel from being caught in the middle.Unfortunately, both of these proposals were rejected by Express Scripts.

To stay updated with the latest news and updates, follow Walgreens on Twitter or subscribe to Walgreens on Facebook.

Do you know what oleophobic coating is? Oleophobic coated eyeglasses are fingerprint resistant and anti-reflective. The technically advanced super-hydrophobic/oleophobic coated lenses effectively repel water, oil, dust and fingerprints while reducing annoying reflections. That means that the lenses stay clear and are easier to clean than ever before. For safety purposes, the anti-reflective coating significantly reduces reflections while driving or from overhead light reflection.

This new Zenni feature is also beneficial for someone like me who likes getting photographed. These hydrophobic/oleophobic coated lenses ensure less reflection in photographs and make your glasses less noticeable.

Zenni has great pricing on their eyeglasses too. At $6.95 you can buy stylish and high quality prescription eyeglasses. I bought a couple pair of prescription sunglasses from them and am planning to buy new eyeglasses soon. I want to give this new kind of coating a try. I am thinking about buying a couple of new pair of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses and take advantage of the free shipping they are now offering on orders over $50. I am a regular customer of Zenni Optical and am always looking forward to the new and improved features on their website. I like their frame fit feature and now their new oleophobic coating technology.

My hubby and I are thinking about buying a winter home in the Philippines. The house that we both like is a mini resort type with three rental apartments included. It has a swimming pool, an outdoor bar, a car port and two fish pools. The fencing pool is already completely installed and separate from the rest of the house and yard. We are planning to take a trip to the Philippines next year and will take a look at it. We may actually stay at one of the included furnished apartments while we are there. The house itself is too big for just me and my hubby but it is a great deal and would be terrific for entertaining friends and family.

The article written by Victor Flowers

I have a very bad dog. Mac, my twelve year-old lab/pit mix, has, over the years, become the source of many stories within my circle of friends and in my classroom. He provides endless material for status updates, and maybe one day, he will be the inspiration for the book that been simmering inside my soul for quite some time. Mac was a rescue from a job-site that my husband had delivered some pieces of heavy equipment to when he worked for a large equipment company. Based on his size and weight, he was probably no more than a few weeks old. We loved this dog as he was our “first baby.” And, like the birth of a first born-child, there is a period of bliss that overcomes new parents when they meet that sweet baby that can do no wrong. In a blink, something happens- call it sleep-deprivation, insanity, or demonic possession- something happens to shake you from this blissful slumber into the stark reality that you have a being that is dependent on you now and for the rest of your god-given life. At month two, Mac at the ball out of our computer mouse. Shortly thereafter, he ate an entire pack of cigarettes, a bar of soap, and an advertised “indestructible” dog toy. Each of these ingestions landed us at the emergency vet with the bills piling like a blizzard. This pattern has not stopped, and he is entering the latter part of his life. Many days, I have tuned in to Cesar Milan, “The Dog Whisperer” on Direct tv for some guidance and direction. Cesar Milan can surely perform miracles with canine-behavior, and I often wonder what our life would be like with his help. Maybe this month we would not be replacing the staircase he has gnawed to bits or the sofa pillows he annihilated into piles of feather and down.