Margret Sloan

Funny how things turn out. Thinking back to the high school days and the way things were back then, I dismissed the idea of college and chose to get married and have a family. It never occurred to us to plan the pregnancies. After being married two years and seeing all of friends and siblings having babies and toddlers, we were glad to find out I was pregnant each time.

I know for some women, being pregnant is the LAST thing they want. For other women, getting pregnant is the ONLY thing they want. For young couple struggling with fertility issues, my heart goes out to them. I was blessed with 3 adorable sons and I can’t imagine my life without them.

There are specialists who can help couples with fertility concerns, like Dr. Randy Morris at the IVF-1 Fertility Clinic in Chicago and Naperville, IL. Dr. Morris is a friend of an ER doctor in Chicago that I’ve known for years, and he has an excellent reputation among his peers.

Dr. Morris has a website that can help answer a lot of questions about pregnancy and fertility or infertility topics, and if you register with his site you can download his special publication, the Consumer’s Guide to Infertility and IVF.

If you or someone you know would benefit from Dr. Morris’ expertise, I encourage you to contact fertility clinic Chicago and read through his website. He even writes a blog with great posts on a variety of helpful news items.

I was a cell phone hold out for a very long time and only began carrying a cell phone because my job required it. I traveled quite a bit and I admit it came in handy many time. If I was still doing that job today I would probably carry a PDA now, but that company folded up and I’m gone, which broke my heart.

So I decided to get my own cell phone and signed up with the company that has our home phone service. The phone was free with a 2 year agreement yadda yadda yadda. Well, I can see why the phone was free – it isn’t worth more than $5 in my book. I can’t hear it ring half the time no matter what setting I put it on. When I do talk to someone I can’t hear what they are saying unless I am in a closed room with absolutely no background noise. If I’m in the car or out in the yard, forget about it.

The phone has way too many extra bells and whistles that I’ll never use and don’t even want to have on there – to get to the couple of features I do want it is a long and laborious process clicking through too many menus and scrolling through too many submenus.  Even the voicemail stinks – it does not record the day and time of the voicemail message, so I have no idea when someone called.

My 2 year agreement is up in April – I have yet to decide if I’m even going to keep a cell phone anymore. This one doesn’t meet my needs and it’s an expensive convenience I might be willing to do without.

Found an interesting note today about people making plans to set a new world record for throwing backgammon dice. I didn’t realize that there was a record for this already and that is was a sought after record to break!

The operators of a website that holds backgammon games and tournaments has made plans to hold a backgammon tournament on a huge field with huge playing pieces and dice, then have the people in the tournament flying in helicopters to drop the dice from the air onto the field. Thus, the new world record, based on the distance from the helicopter to the playing field. Interesting plan, don’t you think?

Backgammon is a great way to play a quick game against either a live opponent, a computer opponent or an online opponent and there are some websites that let you wager money on the outcome of your backgammon game and online backgammon tournaments.

Most websites have free downloads of their backgammon game software and many have large communities of regular players who compete online in league games and online tournaments, some of them win points and ratings and serious players compete for money. After all, backgammon was originally a betting game, with doubling the bets a large part of the player strategy to increase their winnings.

The world record seekers, Backgammonmasters.com have online backgammon tournaments and also online blackjack games. If you need help getting started, read the online help for beginners and often an experienced player will not mind volunteering to play a game with you and help you along.

Corinne Bailey Rae put out her self titled hit album in 2006 and was nominated for three Grammy’s in 2007:

• Record of the Year
• Song of the Year
• Best New Artist

One listen to her album and you immediately know why she has gotten so much acclaim. This woman has a great voice and a talent for songwriting – she wrote or co-wrote every song on the record. Her song, “Put Your Records On” makes me smile and hum along every time I hear it. Her other hit song, “Like a Star,” is so easy to listen to, time after time. I love her voice and her songs.

Sadly, song very bad has happened in her world these past couple of days. Her husband was found dead in their London home. I was so sorry to learn that and when I came across her album at the store today, I bought it. I hope this in some small way encourages her to get through these hard times and continue working on her singing career – she is a bright star who needs to shine.

Our 10 year anniversary is coming up in June, so I have been dropping hints that I would really like a grandfather clock for our anniversary gift to each other. I’ve never had a grandfather clock and have always wanted one. I love the elegant cabinetry and the beautiful chimes they make on every quarter hour.

I’ve been surfing the internet for grandfather clocks and found the perfect site to order mine. I even sent the link in an email to hubby. There’s also an article in their website’s blog about shopping for a clock online that I sent him to read so he can be an educated consumer. Now, he will probably play all innocent and dumb about it, but he had better get busy and order it for me us.

I have been planning to totally redecorate our living room with new paint, new carpet and a new big flat screen TV. The grandfather clock that I picked out will fit perfectly on the narrow wall by the stairs and be a focal point for the room. The clock I chose is a Howard Miller grandfather clock in a natural oak finish to match my furniture. If he orders it now he can save over $1,000 on the clock plus get free shipping and free in-home setup.

If he wants another 10 years of married bliss, we’ll have a grandfather clock playing the Westminster chimes in our living room this summer.