Christmas Card Review

I've gotten Tiny Prints Christmas cards 2 years in a row and liked them very much. The pictures turned out beautifully, the colors were great, and the the cards looked high quality. Last year I even reviewed them in return for free cards.

This year I didn't have that same reviewing opportunity and decided to buy a Living Social deal from a new company: Simplytoimpress. I like the cards we got. They're nicely done. However, the card stock, printing and images don't strike me as high a quality as Tiny Prints (and I believe they were the same price.) They also do lighting etc "fixes" on your images, which I thought would be a good thing. But the lighting changes that were made to the photo of my son seemed overenthusiastic. I felt the photo looked more overblown than "lightened." Perrhaps they think he's whiter than he is? ;-)

On the pro side for Simplytoimpress, the packaging was delightful (see image below), and their customer service seems good too. We got not only 2 extra envelopes (like Tiny Prints), but 2 extra cards along with a little note explaining that they understand how easy it is to miscalculate, so here are two cards just in case. I liked that a lot.

Overall though, I think I preferred the look and the options for Tiny Prints cards. I was getting a special deal through Living Social, so it's fine, but I will probably go back to Tiny Prints if I have the money or if they offer me a deal again. Note that I was offered nothing for this review in particular. I often look to others for advice on these sorts of choices, so I try to review when I can.

Tired. What else is new?

I have started posts/photos about my new batch of hard candy, trying a new card service and various other adventures, but it hasn't gotten done. I've been just so tired. I haven't even been commenting much on Jen's posts. You KNOW something's wrong now right?

Ever since we got back from our home trip, I have been completely wiped. I chalked it up to travel fatigue, and then not eating right, and then not sleeping well, but nothing I do is making it any better. So today, only 2 mos after my last Endo visit, I called them and asked them to check my thyroid. We were going for a year between checks this time. Sigh. The change in seasons generally does screw with it though. I really hate this. Can't it just be stable?

Hard day. Don't you hate those? Too bad I'm not home with my family for Thanksgiving.

Things I've Learned Recently

We've just returned from our trip to visit family. I did well with the hard candy! It's much more like cooking than baking, so it was more up my alley. I'm not so hot with the baking. This has been the year of trips. I really should include some photos from California, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. I'm a very negligent blogger.

In any case, here are the top things I wanted to share with you that I learned in the past few weeks.

1. If you unknowingly brush your teeth with whitening Sensodyne, it will not help your sensitivity. In fact, you will end up with very painful high sensitivity that you then go to the dentist about without realizing you caused the problem in the first place. Smart.

2. If you think to yourself, "Huh. My car windows seem to go down and up really slowly these days," check your battery. What? I've never had automatic windows before!

3. When making hard candy, if you cook it slighly too long into caramelizing, then add teal food coloring, it will be forest green... 'cause, you know,  yellow and blue make green.

4. Here is a lovely photo of my actual teal candy. The photo makes it look more true blue, but trust me, it was teal.

5. I handle the cold much better than I used to, and I seem to have less tolerance for heat. So weird. I don't know if it's having my thyroid and PCOS under control or what. But while I still lean heavily toward Virginia, I could possibly live in Pittsburgh as well. E blossomed incredibly around all his family. He particularly loved his "cousints." 

Branching Out

And then we get the Florida fall and winter, and I never want to leave.

In other news, I'm attempting hard candy from scratch today. I'll let you know how it goes. I remember "helping" my Grandma as a little girl, but that's as far as my experience goes.

Please Please Help Me Understand

It's no secret that I lean very liberal socially. I'd say I'm a little more moderate fiscally but not much. I wasn't always that way. I grew up in a very isolated, rural area where being liberal would get you scathing looks at best. To give you a snapshot of the isolation, I remember kids dressing up with "welfare bum" signs (spelled incorrectly on purpose), wearing black face, and marching in our towns Halloween parade complete with entry tags and to gleeful cheers and laughter.

I questioned some of my town's influences before that, but I remember that as a pivotal moment of, "If I feel so strongly that most of these social beliefs here are wrong, that the environmental ennui is scary and that the dog eat dog environment here is not making our poverty situation any better, what about this town's commonly held political beliefs? Should I be on the same page?"

But I want to understand so badly. I want to understand thoughtful, intelligent people who believe strongly in conservativism... Particularly the newer Tea Party type that makes me flinch on a regular basis. I firmly believe that only through understanding (not power grabbing) do we really have a chance at making things better.

So, in that spirit, I would like to ask a few questions. I would love if someone could help me understand. In return, I will state some of my beliefs and please please ask me questions on them. I don't even care if they are rude. I just want to understand us both a little better.

1. I honestly don't agree with abortion for myself in most situations. However the landscape of abortion before it was legalized was not a pretty picture. I also can't understand the "no exceptions," stuff, and the new restrictions that are in place in many states now that make them horribly difficult to do even under extreme circumstances. I also can't get away from the fact that women can be forced by the government to go through a life changing event (pregnancy) that has the potential to ruin her in many ways (again, not my view) with or without the man bc he can walk away with nothing. Even if he's charged with paying child support, it's easy to dodge, and he can be completely unaffected and provide no support for the pregnancy.

2. Would early induction of the pregnancy be allowed if the fetus isn't viable or there's risk to mother or both? Or should they just die because it's God's will?

3. Which leads me to, why is separation of church and state bad? (i know why i think it's good, but I want
to know the other side) Currently, I kind
of get the feeling that people want to make it so that Christian dogma is ok but nothing else, and that isn't what our country is founded on. (to me)

4. Why can't gay people have a legal civil union? How does it destroy marriage when they already have a union that isn't on paper and can be married by churches that are ok with that? Stable families are good right?

5. Why do you think trickle down/supply side economics works? Have you benefitted from it?

6. Do you really think this is an "entitlement society?" Why?

7. Do you think we can meet needs o the poor/middle class individually without social programs?

8. Do you think climate change is a myth? Why?

9. Does the environment always come second to energy development or human needs other than recreation/nature enjoyment? Why?

10. Do you support something like the Blunt Amendment? Why?

11. Is de-regulation of our markets as they currently exist ever helpful? How?

I only picked the things I have a harder time with, and I tried not to get too much into what I think and why, because that's for you to ask. And please just to help me stay respectful an open-minded, do not cite Fox news sources. There may be a few nuggets in there but amidst so much name calling, inaccurate reporting and craziness (the Obama birth certificate crap anyone?) that I just can't abide it. Thanks.

This isn't the post I had planned about being more fierce, but it's one that has weighed on me for a long time. And one last question...

If you only vote for a party for fiscal reasons, but you are completely opposite their social platform (in either direction, and I hear it a lot), how can you deal? Why is that the right path for you?

Politics Fun Day

-Waiting in line to vote.

-Freezing instead of roasting. I kinda like it.

-Hub had to stop for Obama's motorcade today and says he saw him inside. Cool.

-Working on a post about the loss of my boldness in blogging. Hoping you will like me when you see it