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Tag: happy new year

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Happy, Healthy, Prosperous – all the things a new year should be!

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It has been an amazing 2012 for this family.  After several years of serious health issues, teetering on the brink of death times too numerous to mention, my mom is finally battling back and getting around.  My sister added the most amazing brother-in-law to the family in July.  This is the first year in the last four that I haven’t spent at least some time in the hospital.  My husband is awesome, my children incredible.

The year was not without it’s bitterness.  This year, we lost two powerful women who were important in our lives to breast cancer.  We almost entered the new year without our beautiful Lusi, who suffered serious physical damage in an end of year attack by another dog.  Andy Reid was fired as coach of the Eagles.

But regardless of the pills we’ve swallowed, the promise of the new year is too great to ignore!  We’ve got a Bilbrough wedding to look forward to in the coming months, and friends will be welcoming a new baby that I hope I get to spoil a bit.  Jim has an appointment at the VA that we believe will bring terrific results.  I will be a certified teacher by the end of this new year, and will hopefully find my way back into the workforce.

Eilis is starring in her show at school; Granuaile remains, in her own words, awesome; and Brighid has a very good plan for her own academic and professional future.  Harper and Lusi will both celebrate second birthdays; Granuaile will make her First Holy Communion; and we will ride into the new year in a new car.

I know the new year won’t be without it’s bumps and hurdles.  But you have to taste the bitter to know the sweet, and we’re ready to tackle whatever comes out way.

I shall close this year with these words from Helen Keller –  “Your success and happiness lies in you.  Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.”

This is my New Year’s Resolution.

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Jester’s Supply Company Kissimmee – Surely You Jest!!

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For $35.00, if you go to Jester’s Party Supply Company in Kissimmee, FL, your party of 10 can have a craptacular New Year’s Eve celebration with their party in a box.  For this astronomical amount of money, you get 5 paper hats, 5 tiaras, 10 blow-out things, 10 plastic leis, a bag of metallic confetti, and all the regret in the world come 12:01 on New Year’s day. 

New Year’s Eve is a big party night for a lot of people, but there are probably just as many people like us who have kids and prefer to spend New Year’s Eve at home.  This year, we were fortunate enough to spend the holiday with my in-laws, and as we do each year, we wanted to make it an event for the kids by supplying all of the New Year’s Eve paraphenalia.  At home, we would run to the Party City store in Deptford, where we would either pick up the pre-boxed party kit or a few of the inexpensive items that they sell separately.  With no party city to be found, we went to Jester’s, where my in-laws have gotten fairly priced party goods in the past.

For Jester’s Party Supply Company, New Year’s Eve must be like Black Friday.  The store is hopping – people running in and out, perusing the aisle loaded with the stuff they’ll need to set the mood for a festive ringing in of 2008.  They have individual items, like at Party City, but where we might find things for .25 or .50 at Party City, here they are $1.50 or more.  We turned immediately to the party boxes.  The ones we have purchased in the past at Party City are about $10 for supplies for 10 people – more than we need, but hey, what kid can have too many horns and noise makers?  You could have knocked us over when we saw the price on the box we picked up was $35!!  To compare, if you visit the Party City website, you will find for $7 a New Year’s Eve package that included 5 paper hats, 5 tiaras, 10 horns, and 10 plastic leis.  Jester’s must be making their bag of metallic confetti out of real gold, because that’s the only difference between their $35 package and Party City’s $7 package!

I totally understand gettin’ while the gettin’s good.  Make hay while the sun shines.  I get it.  But come on – ripping people off to the tune of $35 for a few cheap hats and plastic leis?  The Christmas spirit doesn’t live too long at Jester’s.