Tag Archives: The Courier Sentinel

There’s A Day For Everything!

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Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf posted in Albert Lea Tribune and Courier Sentinel week of November 17, 2014

Today is World Peace Day. Yesterday was United Nations International Day for Tolerance and National Fast Food Day.kindness day

We all know that for us every day is a special day in our lives because it is different from the day before. I hadn’t thought much about the days that people have named for us to celebrate until I picked up one of my AARP newsletters.

There are the days that we all remember: Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter Sunday, Grandparents Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, but I hadn’t realized how many special days there are until I picked up that magazine.

According to my AARP magazine these are the special days for the month of November:

November is National Family Caregivers Month. Nov. 11 is Veterans Day, Nov. 13 is Embrace World Kindness Day. Nov. 23 kicks off National Game and Puzzle Week, and the 26th kicks off National Deal Week. Nov. 27 we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, and then we move on to the 29th and Small Business Saturday and on the 30th Senior Sunday.

The two I mentioned when I started this column are not mentioned in the AARP magazine but are two I found on investigating days celebrated.

Since the month is half over and you might have missed celebrating some of the days I have mentioned, here are some days for you to celebrate the rest of the month: Nov. 18 is National Adoption Week, Nov. 20 is Name your PC Day, Nov. 21 is World Hello Day,  Nov. 22 is Stop the Violence Day. Here’s one I have no idea what it is and that is on Nov. 23, and it is National Sinkie Day. I would like to give credit for finding some of these to Jill Badonsky, writer of “The Awe-manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder.”

I have a feeling that if we wanted to name a day and we could get the world to catch on through social media, we could add another day to the November calendar to celebrate.

There may be days when you wake up in the morning and feel kind of blah and you feel you have nothing to celebrate. I am telling you that there is always a day to celebrate. If you look hard enough, you will find one.

Remember, there is also your birthday. I had a friend who never liked to celebrate his birthday because he didn’t like to think about his age. I always told him that celebrating his age was better than the alternative. The alternative happened, and I would guess he would tell you to celebrate your life on your special day.  You can celebrate your life each day just because we wake up in the morning.

I decided to check out some more days to see what I can look forward to. I like June 18 because it is National Splurge Day or June 21, National Wandering Day. I am very good at splurging and wandering. It is cold where I live and Dec. 3 is one day I am going to celebrate, it is National Roof-Over-Your-Head Day.

If you can’t find a day you like to celebrate, then make one up and shout it the world and let others celebrate with you.

I think I will declare Dec. 26, Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt Day. She is my character in my Fuchsia, Minnesota Series, and I think she should have her own day. Why Dec. 26? It is a special day for her. I can’t tell you why — it’s a secret until my new book, “Granny Snows a Sneak,” coming out this month, gives it away.

Find a day to celebrate. Share that day with others and remember the turkey. He gives his life for us this month.

“You’ve to celebrate the good days because there are brutal days that make the good ones sweet.” — Brian O’Driscoll

Granny Snows A Sneak To Be Released Soon!

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COVER REVEAL!        GrannySnows

JULIE SEEDORF’S new book GRANNY SNOWS A SNEAK, the next book in the Fuchsia, MN Series published by Cozy Cat Press will be out soon.

Here is a little sneak peak at the story.

Granny may be retired as Fuchsia, Minnesota’s one-woman undercover sleuth for the Fuchsia Police Department, but that doesn’t mean she still doesn’t need a trusty weapon. Her weapon of choice? A pink snow shovel. When Granny runs over a dead body with her snowmobile, she unwittingly sets off a chain of events that involves mislabeled corpses, empty graves, and stolen money—lots of it! Who’s at the bottom of this years-old crime? Granny has an idea, but she has little time to investigate, when in just days she’s scheduled to marry the love of her life, Franklin Gatsby, in a post-Christmas ceremony. So, Granny decides to enlist the help of her friends and neighbors. Add in Christmas Holiday excitement and the arrival of Granny’s family, who are all there for her wedding, and mayhem ensues. Of course, Granny can always count on her many furry friends to provide her with moral support, but it’s quite possible that Granny—that is, Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt—has a secret or two of her own, which may very well be revealed as Granny Snows A Sneak.

Author Julie Seedorf is a columnist, author and dreamer. She lived her live as a wife and mom, experiencing various careers including that of computer technician, retiring from her computer repair business in January of 2014 to follow her dream and transition to that of full-time writer. Beside her Fuchsia, Minnesota Series, she is the author of the Granny’s In Trouble Series bringing mystery to the life of young readers along with sharing who Granny is under the wrinkles, so her grandchildren will always know that Granny can be forever young. Her column Something About Nothing, is written with the idea that under the nothings we all talk about there is a hidden something waiting to get out.

Watch for Granny Snows A Sneak in the upcoming weeks. This is what reviewer Kate Eileen Shannon of the blog, Rantin’ Ravin’ and Reading, had to say about Granny Snows A Sneak:

Dead bodies.  Dead bodies in other people’s clothes. Dead bodies where they don’t belong. And two weddings coming up. Granny does not need this! Ms Seedorf has hit it out of the park with GRANNY SNOWS A SNEAK. I’ve called this series like Lemony Snicket for adults. And it still is. But this time out we see another side of Granny. We see her in her family life instead of her “professional life” as a snoop for the big guy. Well her family life is just as crazy. And with a wedding to Franklin just days away, a new man enters her life. Of course they hate each other… there’s a fine line… Anyway, prepare yourself for an all-nighter because once the action starts, you won’t be putting down GRANNY SNOWS A SNEAK until you are done.

To learn more about Julie’s books visit her at these addresses: http://www.julieseedorf.com, her blog: http://sprinklednotes.com. Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/julie.seedorf.author or on Twitter at julieseedorf@julieseedorf. You can also catch up with Granny at http://www.facebook.com/grannyfromfuchsiaminnesota and watch for more updates on the release of the book on http://www.cozycatpress.com.

Her books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other independent bookstores. http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Seedorf/e/B009WAAANQ/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

And…..feel free to share this with your friends so they don’t miss out on the release of Julie Seedorf’s new book, Granny Snows A Sneak.

Coupons and Store Cards Entice Us To Spend!

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Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf published October 2014Coupon Pile Stock Photo
I have an inquisitive mind. I also like contests and coupons that give you something free. You know what they say: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. You would not think that it would apply to coupons from your favorite places such as grocery stores, clothing stores, etc.

Each week there are coupons in the newspaper. Each week my Sunday paper comes with those colorful enticing ads. My mailbox, both snail mail and email, are full of exciting offers that tell us we can’t pass up the latest and greatest deal.

This week, as I was sorting through all the paper I have accumulated, I looked at all the receipts that I have that offer you something if you go online and take a survey about your visit. I usually toss the receipts. I decided to put my receipts in a pile and actually take their surveys.

At one store, after taking the survey, I received $5 off my next purchase of $25 or more. It has an expiration date. Another receipt gave me a free cookie on my next visit. I missed the deadline on two receipts. I decided to try it anyway. One of the receipts registered me for their drawing and another told me I was too late. The other receipts registered me for drawings for a prize of anywhere from $500 to $1,000.

As I looked in my billfold I also sifted through all the cards that I have that are reward cards. If I would carry all my reward cards I would need another wallet to carry them. Many of the cards I have, I use when I take my grandchildren to places such as Orange Leaf and Cherry Berry and more kid-friendly, fun establishments.

I have reward cards for Erbert & Gerbert’s, Lego, Ulta Beauty, Shopko, Panera, Hy-Vee Gas, Lowe’s, Caribou Coffee, Pizza Ranch, Petco and the list could go on. I sift through my cards before I leave my house if I know I am going to be going to one of these establishments. I admit, I do frequent some of these more often because of my rewards cards.

I used to be the coupon queen when I had kids at home. No grocery item was bought without a coupon. I carefully planned my shopping trips.  Now that we are empty-nesters, except for the Meow Twins that inhabit my house, I am not so careful. I do find myself looking at the coupons each week and cutting them out, thinking I should buy something. If I look at the coupons when I am hungry I cut out the coupons for things I would never buy, but look good on the coupons. That is probably the reason for coupons.

Moving on to store cards. I love birthdays because the store cards send coupons for $10 and $15 to use in their store. There is no catch, you do not have to buy anything else. If you have a lot of will power that works. You visit the store and spend only the amount that they have given you. There is one store that used to put the coupon in the paper. I would suspect there are more people that don’t have willpower and those coupons bring people into the store and they buy more than their $10.

I love the store that gives you $10 for every $50 you buy in the store. Of course, you need to come back and spend that $10. It is my version of going to the grocery store to only purchase one item and coming out with a cart full of groceries. How many times have you heard the comment in the checkout line, “I only came in to buy one thing?”

J.C. Penney a few years ago tried doing away with sales and it almost did them in. There is something about a coupon and a sale that brings the I-need-this out in people. Although for me, I loved the prices that J.C. Penney offered, but I did not like the ads so I wasn’t drawn in.

I have always been baffled by people camping out to get the sales on Black Friday. There will always be another sale. That item will be back. The hype feeds people into thinking they need something because of the price. “It’s a good deal so I better buy it now.”

I thought it was interesting that when the iPhone 6 came out there was such a frenzy to get it. I love my iPhone 5 but I also know that quirks and bugs usually come with something new.

On Sunday’s as I read through the ads I find so many things that I know I need. I am very lucky that I have to drive for miles to get that product I absolutely can’t do without. By the time I get around to driving those miles I have usually decided I don’t need it.

The key word to all of this is time. How much time do we spend trying to save money but only end up being tempted and succumbing to buying more because we have a deal? I am going to continue taking the time to register with my receipts as an experiment. Will I be a winner? Tune in for updates.