Aaron Ewer
Aaron Ewers thoughts about everything

Last weekend was a holiday for most people but I had to work all three days, so it wasn’t much of a holiday for me. I did donate to the veterans group selling poppies at the Kroger and I watched fireworks Sunday night courtesy of the lake’s water park, so I had a little bit of celebration. Didn’t get to take advantage of any of the Memorial Day sales at the stores - actually didn’t even get to read the newspaper to see what was on sale until yesterday.

So this weekend we’re going to go shopping and do all the honey-do list items that we can cram into two days. I’ve already checked the internet for discount coupons and my favorite site had some great deals. With the price of gas at $3.85 a gallon, we’re looking harder for ways to save money on other purchases and coupons are an easy way to save with just a little forethought.

We have to buy a baby gift for the new little nephew. Right off I found discount code promotions from Fisher Price, TikeTech, Safety 1st, Kiddopotamus, Evenflo and Kidsline and we’ll be giving that top priority on Saturday morning. The hospitals send new mothers home so quickly now that it is hardly worth ordering flowers for the mother, but I wanted to send something to my sister-in-law on the good chance that they will deliver the flowers this afternoon or at the latest tomorrow morning before she heads home with the baby.

We have to do a lot of yard work on Sunday - there’s little chance of rain and the weeds have taken over parts of the lawn. I’ll get some gardening and lawn care supplies and tackle those chores Sunday morning. If all goes well, I can be finished in time to throw some steaks on the grill and settle down for the NASCAR race in Dover with a couple of cold ones. Or, if the yard work takes too long, we’ll still have the steaks but we’ll cozy up on the couch to watch some movies to wind down.

With both sides of my family ancestors from England, I have hundreds of cousins in the U.K. Thanks to the internet I’ve actually corresponded with about 2 dozen of them, exchanging emails and reading each other’s blogs or web sites. So I stay on top of all thing U.K. with the thought that we’ll go over to visit when my youngest is ready for that kind of extended travel.

Cousin Harold has mentioned on his blog that he was in an accident recently and missed a lot of work due to the hospital stay and recovery period for his injuries. Over here in the U.S. we would search out a personal injury attorney to help negotiate a settlement with the other party’s insurance company or possibly represent us in court. In the U.K., they retain a personal injury claims management company for help settling traffic accidents, accidents at work, and other injuries.

One of the leading personal injury claims companies in the U.K. is the Claims Squad, where Harold went as soon as he got out of the hospital. Harold likes their No Win No Fee Solicitors reputation for winning large awards.

Since the wife has to lay off caffeine for a few days while she battles a bladder infection, we’ve been trying to find something for her to drink besides water. We got the brainstorm this morning to head over to the local Sonic Drive In and she ordered a watermelon slush. That really hits the spot when the temperatures outside hit into the 80′2 or 90’s, and today we with 84, last I looked.

I love the Sonic Drive In for the basic hamburger and chili cheese dog kind of quick meal, and the types of beverages and multitude of flavors is awesome. It can be hard to make up your mind just which one you want to order!

I wish we had Sonics when I was a kid, but I never saw one until we moved to Tennessee back in the 90’s. Witht he Sonic version of a drive in, you pull into a stall and stay in you car, then order through a car-side menu and speaker system, then a carhop brings your food out to the car. Some of them still have carhops bring the food to your car while skating on roller skates. That’s a lot of fun - reminds me of American Graffiti.

Around here a trip to the beach is a major undertaking, as it is an 8 hour drive, one way, and with the cost of gasoline it will probably cost as much as $250 or even $300 just for gas to get there and back. The beach means Panama City or Destin to the people here, and many have regular beach houses or condos that they rent on an annual basis for their summer vacations.

On the other hand, the beach to me has always meant Virginia Beach, in the Norfolk area. And now that Southwest Airlines flies into Norfolk with direct flights every day, it makes sense for use to just fly to Norfolk, rent a car, and enjoy the familiar beachfront of my childhood.

If we have to rent a car, I want to get something small, good on gas and a cheap daily rate. I was searching the online discount coupon site for cheap deals on daily, weekly or monthly auto hire and think I found what we need.

I found some other deals on the coupon site that we’ll want to use, too, such as a new portable DVD player for my son to watch DVD’s on the airplane. My daughter wants to get a couple of new outfits from Banana Republic before she “can be seen in public,” and the wife wants to get a couple pairs of new sandals to go with her beachwear.

So even though this trip is going to cost me some money, we’ll be saving some by using the online coupons and we can use that savings on fun at the beach this summer.

Over the weekend I had heard a news item about Senator Kennedy having a seizure and transported to a hospital in Boston. This morning I learned that he has been diagnosed with a malignant tumor in the brain. This was quite a shock and very sad news. Our thoughts are prayers go out to him and his family.

I remember when he first took office. Back in 1962, when his brother John F. Kennedy was elected President, his vacant seat in the Senate was filled by Edward Kennedy. He’s held that seat ever since, making Sen. Edward Kennedy the second longest serving member of the Senate.

Although I don’t always agree with his stand on certain issues, there’s no denying he has been a powerful force in our Government for over 45 years.