Plan your strategy at home before venturing out on Black Friday

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Black Friday is coming! On Thursday afternoon - when everyone is kicking back and letting the turkey and mashed potatoes settle to make room for the pumpkin pie - I will be scanning the sales fliers and websites. Not for me (well, partly for me) but mostly as part of our coverage of the event which attracts shoppers from all over. 

One year I ran into a group of women from Windsor, Ontario who don't just shop but plan their pilgrimage to America weeks in advance.

They begin by booking two rooms in a five-star hotel. Since they are all close friends and because it is considered a holiday trip they choose accommodations that are enjoyable rather than just convenient. The hotel has to have a nice restaurant and lounge or pool area -- where they can relax when they arrive and chill once the shopping is done. Naturally it needs to be within close vicinity of all the action. Having celebrated Thanksgiving with the family back in October they are able to begin their holiday on Wednesday.  

By the time I ran into them that Friday morning they had already netted most of the big items on their wish list including a van full of video gaming chairs they got for 50 percent off. 

What makes their trips successful is they plan ahead. They look over their list of gifts they need to buy, browse through the fliers, then create a trip ticket with alternate routes in case things get crazy or the items they want are sold out. This also eliminates the urge to buy on impulse and ultimately end up returning the item days later.

The hardest part is making the list of gifts to buy, which they do at home before the big day. That being said here are a few of their tips for creating a wish list of bargains for Black Friday:

• Get some ideas from the people on your list - Look over the letters or emails for clues as to what's going on in their life. Did grandma take up a new hobby? How about dad? What's he working on around the house? You might also consider what's going on in your own life. If you're planning a Christmas party at your house you might want to think about the items you'll need for hosting the event.  The cost of holiday tablecloths, napkins and dinnerware is likely to go up afterwards.
• Consider care packages for teachers, coaches and co-workers - Some of the coolest items you can put in a basket are often less than $5. Assemble a spa package including something like Softsoap's Wintermint Wonderland and Enchanting Sugar Plum body wash, a Lush shower scrub, mini manicure set, mud mask and maybe a box of dark chocolate truffles. Another idea for a care package is hobby items - such as scrapbook or photo supplies. 
• Foodies love gadgets - Kitchen appliances are always a big part of the Black Friday sales. You'll see everything from donut makers and popcorn poppers to grills with surfaces big enough to cook flapjacks for the entire neighborhood in one sitting. Don't forget the bookstores. They will be celebrating the event as well with clearances on books for every taste. 
• For the traveler - You might want to consider gifts that make their travel time - be it the commute to work every morning or the long trip overseas more enjoyable. Stores such as Staples, Target and Brookstone carry a variety of electronic gadgets that can make working on the road easier and even more fun. How about something cool and unique even like a personalized passport cover or camera accessories and a mini alarm clock? These are not just great ideas but usually options that won't break the bank. 
• For the homebody or  DIY  - Those who work on projects at home are always going to appreciate new tools - which are also gifts that go on sale Black Friday. How about a new bride and groom? Do they have a tool kit? Maybe they're planning to fix up the bathroom in their new home. Consider gifts that might compliment the job such as a hamper or brass fixtures? A care package is also good for the DIY as you can fill it with lots of little items he or she might need including a gift card to their favorite home warehouse.

To comment on this column or share your home and gardening ideas, email gina.joseph@macombdaily.com

Flowers definitely have power

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“Color Me With Beauty” bouquet

I was not in the best of moods after work the other day. Yet as soon as I pulled into our driveway and saw a bright yellow rose peeking its head out from the side of our house, I had to smile. Despite the chilly temperatures we’ve had the past couple of weeks and the fact that most of the plants surrounding it have long since retired (for the season), this rose bush has continued to bloom. 

Michael Skaff

“Fresh flowers will positively impact one’s mood,” said Michael Skaff, head of floral design for FTD and one of the Color Marketing Group’s designers. Having studied the impact of color on mood, along with designing everything from individual bouquets for prestigious events like the Academy Awards and presidential inaugurations, Skaff has seen flower power in action.

Color Your Day with Joy

“Green shades convey joy and health and create feelings of tranquility and renewal,” said Skaff. Pinks encourage love and warmth, and instill feelings of calm and appreciation. Purple signifies a sense of beauty, creativity and imagination.”
 
As for yellow, like my roses and the bright sun, it sparks feelings of cheer, happiness and high spirits.

Color Your Day with Happiness

 

Flowers are also a form of art. Dutch Post-Impressionist Vincent van Gogh was famous for his still lifes of flowers as was French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir who loved to show the effect of sunlight on flowers.

An arrangement of fresh flowers in a crystal vase is not unlike that of a painting -- except those blooms will expire. As with a powerful image on canvas, the arrangement’s colors and design (flower variety used) can evoke a number of emotions. This is one of the reasons why certain flowers are traditionally used for certain events, although today’s designers think outside the box, designing bouquets with everything from orchids and carnations to cactus and lilies (commonly associated with funerals).

Color Your Day with Sunshine

This is also why it’s important when sending flowers to consider the person on the receiving end. “I know my grandmother’s favorite flower was pink roses, so naturally that’s what I would send to her,” Skaff said. So every time she sees the flowers and smiles – she’s going to think of her grandson Skaff.

Having living material in the home – especially during the dark days of winter – is another reason flowers have an impact on our mood. They’re alive, when everything outside is dead or slumbering over winter.

For those of you looking to cheer up a room or a member of your family, here are a few ways to incorporate fresh flowers in your everyday home décor:

• Fill a basket with fall gourds and add a splash of white to the orange, yellows and greens with a few daisies.Gather some pine cones and glue them to the end of florist spikes. Add the spikes to any floral bouquet to give it a new look.
• Fill the bottom of a tall glass vase with beautiful stones and add a bouquet of flowers and fill it with water.
• If you cut down your own tree this Christmas, keep the branches that are trimmed off the bottom and add them to a bouquet of red roses or white hydrangeas.
• If you receive fresh flowers as a gift, trim the stems and add fresh water periodically to extend the life of the bouquet.

For more information about the upcoming winter and Christmas collection by FTD, visit www.ftd.com.
Send your comments or home and garden tips to gina.joseph@macombdaily.com; @gljoseph.

Elections create 'binders full' of quotes

The presidential candidates have spoken and today it is the American voters who will be quoted. It is during the quietness of voting and as the race begins to unfold -- that we often reflect upon what has been said of past elections, candidates and the democratic process. Have a look at what's been said:

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter -- Winston Churchill

 Thinking isn't agreeing or disagreeing. That's voting -- Robert Frost

Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters -- Abraham Lincoln

 Elections determine who is in power, but they do not determine how power is used -- Paul Collier

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work.  Of course it doesn't work.  We are supposed to work it -- Alexander Woollcott

I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant --

John F. Kennedy

The politicians were talking themselves red, white and blue in the face ~ Clare Boothe Luce

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be -- Sydney J. Harris

A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election -- Bill Vaughan

It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting --Tom Stoppard, Jumpers

Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against -- W.C. Fields

Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right? -- Robert Orben

A politician should have three hats.  One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected -- Carl Sandburg

Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least -- Robert Byrne

Our political institutions work remarkably well.  They are designed to clang against each other.  The noise is democracy at work -~ Michael Novak

I like the smell of a dunged field, and the tumult of a popular election -- Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare

I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy: "Dear Jack, Don't
buy a single vote more than necessary.  I'll be damned if I'm going to
pay for a landslide -- John F. Kennedy

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry -- George Eliot.

General Motors, General Mills, General Foods, general ignorance, general apathy, and general cussedness elect presidents and Congressmen and maintain them in power -- Herbert M. Shelton.

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people.  Of course, that is not true.  Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing -- Walter H. Judd

The most important political office is that of the private citizen -- Louis Brandeis

Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor -- James Russell Lowell

I know nothing grander, better exercise, better digestion, more positive proof of the past, the triumphant result of faith in human kind, than a well-contested American national election - Walt Whitman.