New Jersey Baby Boomer

It seems like nothing is immune from being tainted by politics, even the beauty of a holiday snowstorm.  New Jersey Governor Christie has to defend going away on a vacation with his family….a vacation he promised to his children that coincided with the Lieutenant Governor,  Kim Guadagno, former Morris County Sheriff being away on a Cruise.  She asked for special permission for time off to go on this cruise with her family, including her father, who is gravely ill with stage 4 cancer.  Who would have known that there was going to be a major snowstorm during that time?  And why does a governor have to be smeared because he wasn’t present during the storm?

There are plans made well in advance for storms, and the Governor generally doesn’t run a plow.  Technology allows the governor to be in constant communication.

For us, it was just a pretty snowstorm, but for others, there is good reason for upset as their streets were not plowed for days, and emergency vehicles cannot get to homes during times like this.  But does this mean someone has to be blamed?

I hope some of you out there are enjoying the snow, that none of you were harmed by it (share your story in a comment if so), and wish you all a Happy New Year.

Christmas was only 2 days ago, but feels like it has been longer! Here in Northern NJ we enjoyed a large blizzard, that is if you enjoy that sort of thing! It started Sunday around lunch time and finished this morning leaving over a foot of beautiful white snow to blanket the area. It is also my birthday, which was spent quietly at home. My husband took the week off between Christmas and New Years and spent it spoiling me…my son did the snow shoveling for us which was much appreciated.

I will find a picture of our beautiful snow to add later, but for now, offer my hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and my wishes for the coming New Year!

It’s black Friday…or grey Friday if you look out my windows. No, I didn’t run out the door to hit the midnight sales last night, or the 3 am sales at Kohls, or the early sales at other stores. Those days are done for me, for some they may be a tradition, for me, they were something I did when my children were young….and there was no such thing as “online shopping”.

I’m an online shopper but this year, with a challenged economy and how it has challenged us financially, I’m going to try to rediscover my creative side, and see how we can save.

Thanksgiving holidays…yes, we have lots to be thankful for, there is no doubt about that, but it’s a deeper more meaningful kind of thanksgiving, not the kind that is thankful because we own this or that, but the kind that is thankful that someone in the family who is aging is still with you, the kind that remembers those that are no longer with you with thanksgiving for the part they have played in your life. There’s missing, the missing of those loved ones, missing children that may be overseas in the military, missing children that have married and moved out of the area. Everyone’s circumstances are different, so their approach to the season varies.

This was maybe not the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had, not feeling well and various circumstances, but still, there are so many things to be thankful for, always…it’s a good exercise to take time to count your blessings, to count my blessings, especially if my mood isn’t lining up with the season as it should.

I’m thankful for you, my readers.

Just down the road from me a few houses, a former neighbor of mine went through an experience that is becoming more and more common, and more and more public…identity theft. It had such an impact on her that she was unable to access her bank accounts, or use credit cards until matters were cleared up, and that doesn’t happen overnight. Ultimately, it upset the finances so much, that she never quite got back on her feet, at least in our neighborhood…and eventually sold her home and moved out of the area. While not everyone may experience such a dramatic affect, this is something we should be taking seriously.

Thankfully, we have many things available to us to protect us from these predators, and whether we take advantage of them or not is determined by how seriously we take the problem. I have been doing some things, like shredding or burning (in our woodstove) papers with personal info on them, being careful about giving out my social security number, and using care when I make a Credit Card Payment online.

People who research identity theft that takes place when you make a purchase online are finding that often employees at the place where you shop online are the guilty parties in stealing identity. This means you need some form of protection when you shop online, something to think seriously about as we approach the holiday season (I do all my Christmas shopping online!).

I visited a very helpful site today, you can get to it through the earlier “live link”, the site is called Shop Shield®, and offers protection by completely hiding your identity when you make a purchase with your credit card online. Your name, address, phone number, credit card numbers, passwords and email addresses are protected through their unique way of replacing that info with anonymous info. Your personal information is never made available to the website where you are shopping.

I’d suggest you visit the site to find out how this works. A few more thoughts:

- Service is FREE when you pay with a checking account.
- Secure Site Registration included with each transaction.
- Shop Shield® is Guaranteed 100% Secure!

Wow did I ever leave you hanging, just stopping suddenly with events you could enjoy in New Jersey for the holidays!  The holidays themselves got the better of me, but I’m back, and ready to blog about New Jersey things and being a Baby Boomer.

We had a snow storm before Christmas, then the weather warmed enough for rain just before Christmas…but being in a higher elevation in NJ enough snow remained to make it officially a white Christmas.

Yesterday we had freezing rain most of the day, and the weather has remained cold enough for us to enjoy the beauty of ice on trees and branches, thankfully no branches have fallen or caused any damage, only the sound of ice breaking into pieces on the roof as it falls with the wind.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and send my best Baby Boomer wishes to all for the New Year!

Here are more Christmas events to enjoy in New Jersey…continuing the theme of the previous post.

Cape May, all the way at the opposite end of NJ from where we live has a lot to offer:

Dec. 12, 19-20 Enjoy the Lamplighter Christmas Tour – Self-guided, tour 5 beautiful B&B’s and Inns. They are beautiful, too! Adults – $15, Children – $7.50 Tickets at the booth at Washington Street Mall.

Dec. 11-12 Cape May Candlelight Hospitality Nights – Merchants offer treats to holiday shoppers throughout Town. For more information, call 609-884-9565

Dec. 13 Cape May Christmas Candlelight House Tour – Another self-guided tour of Victorian Inns, homes, churches and more all decorated in beautiful holiday splendor. $22 for adults, and $11 for children. There is a free shuttle service. Call 609-884-5508 for more information.

Dec. 13 – Ocean City will have it’s Christmas Parade on Asbury Ave, complete with Santa Claus. This will be at 7:30 pm. from 6th to 11th Street.

For a complete list of Cape May events, visit this link.

I’ll be back with more with some places closer to home…if you live in Northern NJ

Hope you’re enjoying the holiday season!

New Jersey has a lot of fun things to do around Christmas time.  I should have started this a week ago, because I’ve already missed the opportunity to tell you about the Cathedral Choir’s annual performance of the Messiah at Hawthorn Gospel Church, and how could I forget to tell you about the Holiday Open House at the New Jersey Botanical Gardens (NJBG), they were this past weekend, with the beautiful Ringwood Manor (pictured) decorated in Victorian Christmas splendor, especially since I was there for their wreath-making event, making a wreath for our home and another to decorate the botanical gardens.

Well never fear, there are a lot more things happening in New Jersey, I’ll try to post them as I stumble on them.  Here’s things that will be happening this week, and this is not a complete list by far:

12/11/08 in Clinton, New Jersey:

Don’t miss CANDLELIGHT NIGHT when luminaries line the streets, there are horse-drawn carriages, and the shops are open later than usual. This takes place from 6 – 9 pm on Main Street. For more information, call the Clinton Guild at 908/735-8614

12/11/08 in Morristown, NJ:

VIENNA BOYS CHOIR will be performing their holiday show at The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts from 8pm – 10pm. The price ranges from $32-$47. Theatre located at 100 South Street. Call 973/539-8008 for more information.

12/12/08 in Morristown, New Jersey:

THE DRIFTERS AND THE MARVELETTES will be celebrating Christmas from 8pm – 10pm at a price ranging from $27-47 at 100 South Street, the location of The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts  Call 973-539-8008
I’ll be back with more dates for you later…have to go get some lunch!  Oh, please, if you have an event coming up in NJ, please add it in a comment!