The Chronic Consumer

We currently live in a townhouse, but are saving up to buy a single-family home someday. Of course, with how bad things are in the real estate market right now, we will likely end up having to hold onto our current home longer than expected, otherwise we’ll surely suffer a loss if we try to sell.

Since we’ve been living here for eight years, with two dogs and a 5-year-old boy, the house is definitely starting to show serious signs of wear and tear. That’s why we’re thinking of making home improvements beginning this summer and continuing as we find money to spare. That way, we can fix the house up bit by bit, making it both more comfortable for us to live in now and more appealing for potential buyers whenever the market picks up again.

Towards this end, we’ve been shopping at various discount home centers looking for affordable products to use for our DIY projects. We’re going to start in the bathroom by repainting the walls and replacing the flooring. If we get really ambitious, we might even swap out the tiles in the tub area — but that would probably require more skill and know-how than we possess.

Then once the weather warms up, we’ll do some touching up to the exterior: fresh paint all around, some minor landscaping, and maybe even new concrete in the driveway. My head is spinning just from thinking about all this work!

I don’t know about you, but when I think of pearl jewelry, I immediately conjure up images of single- or double-stranded necklaces. I guess it’s because these are the pieces I most often see women wearing, so the association is firmly ingrained.

But yesterday as I was doing some window shopping at the mall, I noticed that there’s actually a pretty wide variety of pearl jewelry available to choose from. For example, I saw a gorgeous bracelet made from Tahitian pearls, as well as a matching pair of earrings, assorted rings, and lots of pendants.

Call me clueless, but I really had no idea that pearls could be worn in all these different ways. What can I say, I’m not a jewelry person!

If you own a PlayStation 3, then you’re definitely going to want to get the latest firmware update. It’s version 2.30, and features several improvements, including increased Blu-Ray audio support and new PlayStation Store functionality.

All you have to do to get the PS3 update 2.30 is log onto the PlayStation Network and follow the prompts. Hopefully, the update will go smoothly for you!