Related Video Collections
All Comments
What is a good gift for a 40-45 year old woman? Every year we draw for a grab bag on Thanksgiving, and I got my Aunt Judy. She is 40-45 years old, and you're supposed to spend no more than $20, considering you are buying other gifts, also. Yes, I have a local Walmart, Meijer, etc. She is a teacher for the fifth grade. | | You can buy her something to display on her desk, as well as a little bed bath kit, you know body wash, spray and lotion. | What do you think of this excerpt from my story, proofreading? Meanwhile, Elisha was in Florida hanging out with Mark and his cousins. She leaned over the balcony, inhaling the fresh scent of natural air. She smiled as she heard the sounds of seagulls flying by. It indicated her time away from her nine brothers and sisters. Being the eighth guy was annoying and frustrating. The fact that her parents paid more attention to her than the other siblings made her want to drown herself. She hated how her parents gave her all the work for her to do and then tried to make it up by buying her extravagant gifts. Prettier sister her ***. She knew she wasn't that special looking. So why did everyone make a big deal out of her.
"Leesh!" squealed Delaney, jumping up and down on her tiptoes. "Dinner!"
Sighing, she traipsed into the house. The kitchen smelled off turkey, pumpkin pie, macaroni and cheese, and cranberry sauce. Most people hated cranberry sauce, but that was the best part of the meal for Elisha.
All ten of the Carpenter guyren sat at a separate table. Since there was so many guyren of Bradley and Lisa Carpenter, Mark's parents created a special table for them. Elisha groaned as she sat down between Joseph and Travis. She wanted to sit next to Mark. Her boyfriend. The one she adored so much. If she was going to go to Fort Lauderdale with him for Thanksgiving, she could have least sat with him.
"You didn't tell me your girlfriend was so pretty." smiled Mark's Aunt Judy. A middle-aged woman who looked about sixty years old instead of forty.
Elisha smiled a thanks to her. She hated when people talked about how pretty she was. There was more to life than beauty. She thought about Savannah and how guys ogled her. They equally got the same amount of attention. Elisha felt sorry for Savannah. Being so beautiful and not even knowing how to deal with it.
"Let's say grace." announced Lisa, holding hands with Bradley and her father.
Elisha looked around and saw that there were over fifty people in the room. She was glad the house was big enough to fit a thousand people in it.
From across the room, Mark gave her a look, telling her that they were going to spend some time alone together. She was ecstatic. Mark was the best person she knew. He always made sure she was okay and never hesitated to kiss her. She felt herself getting goosebumps just by looking at him.
When they were done with the prayer, it was time to eat. Elisha waited politely as everyone else went to pile their plates with food. She loved the way Florida smelled. It always had a tangerine scent to it. Florida was better than being stuck in small town Indiana singing The Partridge Family songs.
Just then, Mark came over with two plates in his hand. He handed one to Elisha, giving her a warm smile. She watched him walk back to his table, put his food on the table, and went back to her.
"Thanks for coming." he said, rubbing her shoulders.
"You're welcome." she smiled sweetly. "I love spending time with you."
Then it happened. No one else but them were in the room. As if sparks flew, Mark leaned over to kiss her. The kiss lasted for a minute. But it was the best minute Elisha ever had. Mark was such a good kisser. She wanted to stay with him for along time. Her fifteen years of life had never been so sweet. Suddenly, a seagull flew past them.
"Aah!" she screamed, getting up and doing a chaotic dance. "What was that!"
"A bird." laughed Mark. "We must have left one of the windows opened."
Elisha wasn't amused. The bird could have defecated on the food. She watched Mark's father and her father try to catch the bird. They were successful. The seagull flew into the next room, making caw noises. Suddenly, two more birds came in. Elisha stared at the scene in horror as more people tried to catch the bird. Mark grabbed her, and showed her out of the room.
"Okay, maybe Florida wasn't a good idea to have Thanksgiving at." joked Mark.
"I love birds, but not in my house." said Elisha. "This is a freak accident."
"You're telling me. I didn't think I would be seeing seagulls around this time."
"Do you want to go somewhere private for awhile." asked Elisha. "I think it's gonna be awhile until the birds finally leave the house."
Without speaking, Mark took her by the hand and led her to the beach. Hardly anyone was there. They could see the sky turn different shades of orange as it was beginning to be that time of the day where it ended. They sat down in front of the ocean. Mark's hand trailed up her leg as Elisha spotted a few fishes jumping in the water. It was a beautiful scene. Elisha loved it the way the clouds moved along the sky. It reminded her of that scene in The Ten Commandments where it first started.
"Maybe the seagulls were a blessing in disguise." | | That's actually not bad! There are a few mistakes, but you can fix them later, so don't worry about them. I like how you used more descriptive words, I guess, like instead of just "walked into the house", you said "she traipsed into the house". And, it was interesting the way you made the story original, instead of the typical "she hated being the one her parents mostly ignored," you vice versa'd it. This thing you have going on? It's original, and interesting, and really good! Good job, keep at it :) | Traveling from Texas to Vancouver, BC (Canada) for the 1st time? Hey everyone. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. Any feedback would be helpful.
Ok here is my situation. Christmas is coming and as of yesterday, my in-laws have invited myself and my husband to spend Christmas with them. Hubby is homesick after a year and a half of being here in Texas with me and would like to go home to see his Dad & Brother, we've seen Mom, and she came to see us a few months after we got married.
Now I haven't traveled internationally since I was 12 years old (15 years ago) and then I didn't have to plan anything, so I'm at a total loss.
1) Mom & Dad are paying for our airfare, so we don't have to worry about that.
2) How much money should we take with us? We're severely in debt now, but we understand they aren't' expected to give us living money while we are there. I expect we should be there approximately 2-3 weeks at the most. While I'm gone I will be earning no income, no vacation or anything, and no money saved up to pay for basic things like car payment. (Oh, and the painful thing is my job is giving me anywhere from 8-12 hrs per week @ $12.31/hr, that’s not even paying my car payment on a monthly basis, much less anything else.)
3) I'm not used to the weather there, hubby says it's cold. Well depending on the time of year in Texas it rarely is as cold as I expect it there during the winter. Should I buy clothes to wear there, knowing I will probably never wear them again? Should I buy them here, or there since I will be at least able to gauge what the weather will be like.
4) Presents! How do we decide what to get his family? In my house we don’t exchange presents. We spend the day enjoying the time with family, but everyone in the household understands that cash is tight with some of us attending college full time, others have low incomes and whatnot. How do you get present’s for someone you’ve never meet, or know very little about?? For Mom & Dad we thought getting a picture of the two of us together would be nice, we’ve just visited a local photography studio, I’m looking at $400 for a nice set of pictures, maybe more than we NEED, but I would like to share with my family as well as his, and we never did have a real wedding, so no pictures other than what my Dad took with his digital camera. For his 16 year old brother we figured we’d give him a gaming system, like a Nintendo DS Lite. His Aunt Judy is a very professional woman and living with them, I have NO IDEA what to get her. Also there is an “Uncle” Harry, whom has had a bad run of luck since all of his life savings were invested into the stock market, and it’s gone badly for the last several months. He’s also in the hospital, once he gets out… well with no job, who knows how he will survive.
Is there anything else which I haven’t thought of yet that I need to worry about? As soon as I get a chance to I am going to research how it will work if I use my Visa credit card in another country, to see how painful that will be. If it gets down to be THAT bad then I will have to take a loan to get the money to take with us on the trip, and we’ll just figure out a way to budget. I know that others have told me about traveling internationally with an AT&T cell phone. I don’t imagine anyone will HAVE TO call me, but in the event that they need to I would like to know it is an available option. Buying a pre-paid sim card there would probably be a waste, considering if we needed to make a phone call we could make it from the landline at home or from a pay phone to call locally.
OK! Sorry I know that was long. Thanks for helping! | If it were me, I would go for one week, let your husband stay for longer to be with his family alone, and come back to Dallas to work. Perhaps you can even pick up some extra hours over the holidays.
If you think you cannot be separated from him, well you can. When you've been married for 40 years you will be looking for ways to get away for awhile!
No you do not need to buy clothing. Take "layers" as it is not that cold in Vancouver in the winter. The Highs will be in the 40's and the lows in the 30's. Unless you are a way different size from his family, they will have plenty of coats and sweaters you can borrow.
It is very easy to call Canada and not expensive from the US. Just give folks his family's phone number. There is nothing to using your visa in another country - just use it!
As far as gifts are concerned, I would let it be known in advance that you are only doing a gift for the brother. Do the photo some other time.
All of us have been young and just starting out. His family will understand. Just tell them you need to talk about Christmas! |
|