I Used to Sit in the Stairway to Talk Privately

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Claudia Meydrech

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Net10 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was very young, telephones had one color, black, and they were big and cumbersome. We had one that sat on my Dad’s desk. Only one phone for the whole house. I remember how modern we felt when we got our first push-button wall phone. Back then if I were to give advise, I’d be telling you how to untangle that long cord that the handset was attached too…maybe some of you still use a phone like that. That cord had to stretch a long way so that I could talk privately with boyfriends for hours while sitting on the stairway behind an almost-closed door.

Obviously everything has changed. Now your home phone can be battery operated so you can carry it around the house with you, or you don’t even need a home phone…you can use a cell phone. We recently got a home phone again, but for a few years used only cell phones…with contracts…and a monthly rate that was fairly high. Now we are with a service similar to NET10 that does not require a contract. Rates are much better…but not quite as good as NET10, so since we don’t have a contract we can explore other phone services. Competition is wonderful because it keeps prices down.

I will be taking a good look at this Cute NET10 commercial as I’m always looking for ways to save money. Who isn’t during challenging financial times? And since I work from home, it’s good to have a way for people to contact me anywhere I am, and the phone service can be a business expense.

Advice from a Real NET10 customer is always the best way to go when your looking for a service. Being told that unlimited text, web and talk time is $50 is a great start…or you can pay as little as $15.00 for 200 minutes.

Phones sure aren’t what they used to be, but it’s nice when a service has a great selection of phones too. I’m off to check out this service, hope you will too.


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The Smell of Rain

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Claudia Meydrech

I used to love the smell of rain as a child, watching it fall on warm summer days from the window or jumping in puddles. I remember either my mother or grandmother telling me that raindrops looked like fairies or little ballerinas dancing when they hit the road…look closely, you will see that she is right, they do as they “jump” up after hitting pavement or surface of the water.

It is raining as I type this…again…and after a summer of too much rain in the northeast and flooding, I am looking inside to find that little girl who liked to watch the rain, walk in the rain on warm summer days, smell the rain. My sense of smell isn’t as keen as it used to be, but the doors are open, I am watching, and yes, rain is still beautiful. I know so many in other parts of the country and world would give so much to have the rain we have been experiencing…I will be grateful for the rain.

Image Credit: natureondesktop.com


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From Wall Phones to Cell Phones

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Claudia Meydrech

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Reaching way back in my memories, the first phone I remember is a cumbersome black table or desk top phone with a dial, and phone numbers that started with 2 letters. Now and then Mom would pick up the phone and someone else would be on the shared party line, but that didn't last long. We moved on to a wall phone with push buttons…wow that was a big step up back in those days. I think that phone MAY still be hanging on the wall at my mother's home.

But times have changed, and people are falling for cell phones hook, line and sinker. My husband and I got our first cell phones 6 years ago. We each had one and shared the minutes with the plan we had, which worked out fine for us. We aren't much for talking long periods of time on the phone. This year it was time for a change. So we started to look for a new plan. We discovered that with services like Straight Talk, you could get everything you need and without a contract. We NEVER want to be tied to a contract again. I must admit that we started another service with no contract before hearing about Straight Talk, but I'm going to look into their plan, because you get EVERYTHING UNLIMITED for about $45 a month…we have a good plan, but this sounds even better.

They also have great international rates so you can call a friend anywhere for a reasonable price. All the best phones that you are accustomed to are available, from smart phones with all the extras to reconditioned phones for about $10…good for those on a budget or young cell phone users.

So, I'm going to look and see how the coverage is, and see whether there is a plan that is better than what we have now. If there is, we'll be changing!


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Massachusetts is only a Memory..almost

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Claudia Meydrech

When summer rolls around I start to remember the summers from the past…summer vacations from childhood. For our family that meant leaving our home in central New Jersey and heading north to spend a couple of weeks with my grandparents. They had a nice home surrounded by woods, which may be why I love trees so much. I loved my grandparents and was always happy there. There were times when I stayed with them alone, just me, especially treasured memories. When my life with my family was challenging, which at times it was, I would tell my grandmother I just wanted to live alone in the woods with the animals…my young mind wanting so to escape…but she told me that you need people in your life. She was right, you do, and when the times come that those old childhood thoughts come and tempt me to want to escape, I remember her words. When it came time to go home, I would cry, not wanting to leave what I thought was the peaceful environment of my grandparents. I clearly remember standing next to my grandmother’s bed as she made it, crying and telling her I didn’t want to go home, and she said “all good things must come to an end”. For some reason I’ve never forgotten that.

For so many years that house in Massachusetts was part of our lives, but when my Grandfather passed away at 97 within the past 10 years, someone purchased and completely transformed the house and the property. I thought of my grandmother’s words, “all good things must come to an end”. Of course both my grandmother and grandfather are enjoying something that doesn’t come to an end, eternal life in Heaven, together with Jesus and all the friends they taught me to love in one of my favorite books, the Bible.


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Remembering Pregnancy – My Girl, My Boy

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Claudia Meydrech

This month my first-born will be 30 years old, it is hard to believe that much time has gone by so quickly, but it has. Though we live in Northern, New Jersey, my husband is from Colorado. We met a year after he moved here to work for a company that hired him out in Colorado. During our first year of marriage, we had an extended business trip in Colorado, and lived in Boulder for about 7 months.  It was not only the first time that I really got to know my husbands wonderful family, but also where are son was conceived. I never did a pregnancy test, am not sure what was available at that time, but knew, just knew deep inside before there was any “real evidence” that I was pregnant. I had two weeks of morning sickness that lasted more than the morning, but didn’t want to go to a doctor until I got home to my own Ob-Gyn. The long drive home in the cold of the winter of 1980 I didn’t feel feel well at times, but we made it home safely a few days before Christmas. I went to my doctor just a couple days before Christmas, and sure enough, my pregnancy was confirmed. In fact, he did tests and saw two tiny fetuses…I was only about 2 months along at the time. Only one of those was born on July 30th, my son.

A little less than two years later, I “just knew” I was pregnant again, but this time was able to get a pregnancy test…at that time it was a test tube, you combined urine with something given to you with the test, and if the sediment formed a little ring at the bottom of the test tube, you were pregnant…amazing. That was the first “sight” I had of anything that told me I was going to have a baby. I didn’t now whether it would be a boy or a girl. What is even more amazing is that now you can get a test that tells you the baby’s gender. Some may want to wait and be surprised, like I was, to find that my second baby was a girl, others may want to know whether they are going to have a boy or girl ahead of time to plan. How amazing that you can test for that now…remarkable the progress that has been made! And wonderful to take time to remember my pregnancies, my babies, among the best of memories!

This post contains both personal and sponsored information.


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What is Nostalgia?

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Claudia Meydrech


What is the real definition of Nostalgia? How often do you use a word, but never really dig into the “depths” of the real meaning of that word? I guess nostalgia is a word like that for me…I’ve casually maintained this blog for years, and know that nostalgia refers to the past, and it sounded good in the url. But today, I decided to take a closer look at the meaning of the word.

Nostalgia can mean at least a couple of things. It can be a “light and airy” interest in things of the past, and not necessarily the depths of history, but things in recent history…events that happened, toys from that era, celebrities, decor, and more from that time.

It can also mean a more intense type of feeling…a longing for things in the past…that longing you feel when you think back, and no matter what reality may have existed at the time, you see that time as positive, and long to be back there again.

Now if you really want to pick apart the definition of Nostalgia, and who first use the term, Wikipedia can help you with that…I’ll stick with the basics:-)


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