Ace Hardware Store Review

Celebrating 95 years of service

History

In 1924, a small group of hardware store owners in Chicago banded together to buy merchandise in bulk for their individual stores. This allowed them to save money by purchasing at the lowest possible prices, enabling even the smallest stores to compete. This was the beginning of the Ace Hardware Corporation. To this day, each store is owned solely by local Ace retail entrepreneurs.

Background

Today there are over 5,000 Ace Hardware stores around the world. These men and women owners are each part of your local community. As small business owners, they live and work locally and are knowledgeable about their store products and also about the local businesses and their needs. That's why they say a visit to Ace is like a visit to your neighbor. Customers call the owner by his/her first name and the employees know the names of all their regular customers.    

Ace is the Place

Ace stores are all sizes and shapes. Since 2016, I have worked part-time at two widely different sized Ace stores, yet they are basically the same; serving the needs of their local communities. 

I worked for a very large Ace store (Islands Ace) located on the islands East of Savannah, Georgia. This Ace serves local residents and many businesses and contractors. Currently I work for a small Ace store (Jerry's Ace) in a small town located just north of the Quad Cities in Iowa. While this Iowa Ace does not carry the large lots of lumber, or decorative paving stones for patios or the large gardening center that the Georgia Ace does, it meets the needs of the local residents and businesses.  

As with all Ace stores, you will find a wide variety of paint, lawn and garden, tools, and just about anything you'll ever need to fix, repair and maintain your home and yard.  If your local store does not have an item in stock, they can order it for you from AceNet, the online website. You can also order online yourself and arrange to have the item picked up at your local Ace Hardware. All Ace stores order from central warehouses and usually have deliveries of new products arrive once a week. The staff at your local Ace calls the arrival "Truck Day". Unloading and restocking keeps us busy. 

They also offer local niche services. For instance, the Georgia Ace I was with before my move to Iowa had the space for a gift department and a clothing department. Located just 10 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and the beach, their clothing department carries a variety of beach-related clothing and their gift department has locally made merchandise from the Savannah area. This Iowa Ace offers fishing and hunting licenses for local residents. Our Iowa Ace also carries snow blowers and snow shovels and other seasonal items not needed in Georgia! 

As you can see, any Ace store will be based on the needs of each individual neighborhood. Ace Hardware stores are most certainly the place with the 'helpful hardware folks!  Ace is such a 'friendly' place and a 'helpful' place, especially compared to the large, impersonal big stores. 

95th Year Birthday Celebration

On October 19, 2019, Ace Hardware will celebrate 95 years of service. Your local Ace Hardware stores will be offering special sales and events to celebrate. Come visit on October 19th, or any day you need a tool or a can of paint or a part for anything around your house or yard. You won't be disappointed. 

Ace is the Helpful Place! 

Quick Link:

Ace Hardware Website


(c) Wednesday Elf review of Ace Hardware Stores. (10/12/2019)

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Anti Fatigue Comfort Floor Mat By Sky Mats Reviewed

I would be the first to say, I am extremely surprised that these anti-fatigue mats actually work! 

When we visited our daughter a few weeks ago, she had several anti-fatigue floor mats in her kitchen.  One in front of her sink and one in front of the counter they use when preparing food. Honestly, I thought they were the latest gimmick to separate us from our money.  I stood on one of her mats and thought, "wow, this really is comfortable".

Back home, I promptly ordered two anti-fatigue mats for my own kitchen.  As soon as they arrived, they were immediately placed on the hardwood floor.  Since then, I have prepared two recipes that require a lot of standing time.  Shockingly, I did not hurt after standing for over an hour either time.

Anti-Fatigue Floor Mats By Sky Mats 

Make sure you buy the right brand!  I tried several in the local store and most of them slid to easily.  The Sky mats have a backing that holds them in place.  Plus, they have sloped edges.  Therefore, I won't slip and fall.  That non-slip backing is a huge difference when comparing anti-fatigue floor mats.

The Sky Mats are not available in a lot of different colors or patterns.  Getting hung up on "looks" is what caused me to consider a different brand.  I am so glad I tried them in the store first!  I knew I would prefer comfort over appearance. After all, the reason I need the mats is because of the extreme back pain I experience after standing on my hardwood floors for long periods of time.

I purchased two different Sky Mats.  They are the same matching color, but they are different lengths.  As you can see in the photos, I have the standard size (20x32x3/4-inch) in front of my kitchen sink.  However, I opted for a longer (24x70x3/4-inch) that covers the area in front of my counter and stove top.  This is totally awesome!  I never have to leave my "cloud of comfort" when preparing, cooking, or cleaning.  Plus, the smaller mat is easy to lift and move if needed.

I enjoy cooking and always hated the subsequent aches and pains.  I no longer have to worry about hurting simply because I need to stand at the counter or stove-top for several hours. That makes the meal so much more enjoyable for me! 

I Highly Recommend These Sky Mats Anti Fatigue Floor Mats

(20" x 32", Brown)"> Sky Solutions Anti Fatigue Mat - 3/4" Cushioned Kitchen Rug and Standing Desk Mat & Garage - Non Slip, Waterproof and Stain Resistant
(20" x 32", Brown)Check Price (24" x 70", Brown)"> Sky Solutions Anti Fatigue Mat - 3/4"Cushioned Kitchen Rug and Standing Desk Mat & Garage - Non Slip, Waterproof and Stain Resistant
(24" x 70", Brown)Check Price

 

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Anti Fatigue Comfort Floor Mat By Sky Mats Reviewed by:

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Photographing Reflections

One of my favorite things to photograph is reflections.  They can add beauty and interest to any photograph.

The photograph  above shows reflections in a nearby lake.  It was taken early on a foggy morning.  In this post I will review reflection photography techniques and show you some of my results.

Where Can You Find Reflections

The good news is that reflections are everywhere.  As a photographer you just need to train your eyes and camera to look for them.  You can find reflections in water, metal, glass, ice and many other surfaces.  A rainy day when many people might avoid photography can also be a great time to photograph reflections.  

In researching tips for this article, I found many different ideas of how to shoot reflections.  In fact some were contradictory to each other.  So here is my best advice on taking reflections.

It matters more on how you look at things than the type of camera you use.  I have taken good reflections photos with my DSLR, a point and shoot and even my camera.  Train yourself to look for reflections in everything and Practice, Practice, Practice.  In doing this you will learn what works best for you.

Reflections on Water

Water reflections on a still, foggy morning can really add interest to your photograph.  As you can see in the photo above the air was very still and the water was like glass.

On the other hand a little movement in the water can add an interesting abstract quality to your photo as in the photos below.

Water reflections are also a great way to capture a different view of landmarks as you see in the photos below of the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

Reflections on Buildings

The cities are full of buildings  with lots of windows and other reflective materials.  When you are taking a photo of a scene take the time to look at the nearby buildings and catch the reflections in them.  In this photo, I was shooting the Old Courthouse in St. Louis.  I turned to go and noticed the reflection of the courthouse in the nearby building.  I think it gives an interesting look to the photo.

Glass Reflections

Glass picks up lots of reflections.  As I looked in store windows in historic St. Charles, I noticed the interesting reflections I was getting of the street and historic buildings along with the items in store fronts.  I did have to be careful as I shot so I did not capture unwanted images in the reflections.

Here is another interesting reflection in glass.  I was shooting a glass full of jelly beans.  When I look at the photo, I noticed the reflections of the jelly beans in the top half of the glass.  To enhance this look, I played with the sliders in Photoshop Lightroom to bring out the reflections.

Unwanted Reflections

Did you ever take a photo and capture yourself reflected in the item you were photographing?  Sometimes this is good, but mostly it is unwanted.  To prevent this you need to be aware of items that will cause these images and move so that you will not be in the photo.  Here is a photo I took of some Mardi Gras ornaments and captured myself in one of the ornaments.  It was not the look I was after.

Enjoy Yourself and Experiment

I do think that getting great reflection photos is a matter of taking your time, looking at your surroundings and experimentation.  So relax, enjoy your self and happy shooting!!

Zazzle Products from My Reflection Photos

Jewel Box Plaque
by mbgphoto

St Louis Arch Reflection Metal Print
by mbgphoto

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Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord: A Review

I took the photo of the book cover from my own copy and added the quote.

Released from Ravensbrück with a Message for the World

Corrie ten Boom's family worked for the Dutch Resistance when the Nazis occupied their land of Holland during World War II. Corrie wrote of their activities and their consequences in her first book, The Hiding Place.

Until she was fifty years old, Corrie had lived with her family above the watch shop her father owned. After the Nazis took power, the ten Boom family helped hide persecuted Jews in a specially built hiding place in their home. But an informer betrayed them. The Nazis arrested and imprisoned the entire family.

Corrie's father died after a few days. Some family members were released. But Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Germany and imprisoned in the Ravensbrück women's labor camp for several months, where Betsie died. A clerical error caused the Germans to release Corrie a week before all the women her age were sent to the gas chambers.

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1985-0417-15 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)]

While imprisoned, Corrie and Betsie had tried to encourage those who had lost all hope. The picture above shows the kind of work these women in Ravensbrück did. The photo above was taken at Ravensbrück a year before Corrie was imprisoned there. This link leads to more photos taken of the prisoners in this camp and their life there. You can see why most had little hope. Most did not leave while alive. They saw the smoke from the crematoriums as they worked. Could anything be more depressing?

In The Hiding Place Corrie explains how God was able to work among the women--even in the barracks of the concentration camp. The book was made into a movie. I recommend it. I saw it when it first came out in 1975.

Billy Graham Presents: The Hiding Place [DVD]

Corrie's Life After Release

After her miraculous release, for I believe God was behind that clerical blunder, Corrie spent some time regaining her health and reconnecting with the remnants of her old life in Holland. Then, for about twenty more years, she traveled the world spreading her message of God's love and forgiveness. She called herself a tramp for the Lord because she circled the world twice, living out of a suitcase, with no real home to call her own. I call her an ambassador for Christ, for she carried his message of reconciliation wherever she went. She chose the title for her book because it reflects her lifestyle during those years. It is the sequel to The Hiding Place.

Book: Tramp for the Lord

Corrie's Message Was Consistent

Corrie had suffered hardship and betrayal. She had watched as her sister died due to conditions in the concentration camp, illness, and the cruelty of a particular guard. She had slept with fleas and lice. She had almost starved to death. But still she spoke of God's love and faithfulness to her.

During nightly Bible times  in the barracks, she gave hope to many women without any. She had managed to sneak a Bible in and she used it for spiritual strength for herself, Betsie, and anyone else who wanted to participate. (That story is in this book.)

Corrie's message was one of reconciliation. She told stories as she shared the convicting and healing words of the Bible. One of her most frequent themes dealt with the bitterness that many have when they believe they have suffered injustice or betrayal. She taught that the cure was forgiveness. On p. 59 she says, "If we forgive other people, our hearts are made ready to receive forgiveness."

But God has a way of testing us so that we will know ourselves. Corrie was not exempt from that testing.

One night Corrie spoke about God's forgiveness at a church in Munich. She had told the assembled Germans that when we confess our sins, God casts them into the deep ocean and they are gone forever.

And then she saw a man approaching her in an overcoat and a brown hat. Except she suddenly saw him as she had known him before -- in a blue uniform and a visored cap with a skull and crossbones. The man had been one of the most cruel guards at Ravensbrück. As he thrust his hand out he said it was good to know all his sins were at the bottom of the sea. He seemed not to recognize Corrie. He told her he'd been a guard there, but had become a Christian now.

He said, '...I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips, as well....will you forgive me?' Out came his hand again.

All Corrie's memories of the terrible times and the way her sister died flooded her mind. Corrie wrote: "And I stood there--I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven--and could not forgive."

She wrestled with God internally over the hardest thing He had ever asked of her. She wrote "For I had to do it--I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. 'If you do not forgive men their trespasses,' Jesus says, 'neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses.' I refer you to Chapter 7 in Tramp for the Lord to see what happened next.

I took the photo of the book cover from my own copy and added the quote.

Each chapter of Tramp for the Lord is short, but Corrie doesn't need a lot of words to share what she has learned through her suffering and from the Bible. I was impressed most by the fact that Corrie was an ordinary Christian quietly making watches and doing her best to obey God when she was arrested. She had learned to trust God before prison, and she kept trusting Him during those months at Ravensbrück in spite of the horror of her surroundings and the cruelty she suffered and witnessed.

She continued to trust him on a daily basis as she traveled the world as a tramp for the Lord. He remained faithful in providing her needs until her death on her 91st birthday in 1983. When she said "He made me rich" she didn't mean materially rich. He supplied all her needs so she would not have to ask for money. He gave her peace, forgiveness, and the victory that comes with obedience.

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Kathi Daley Books Reviewed

Prolific Cozy Mystery Author

I'll be reviewing one of my newly found Cozy Mystery authors today, Kathi Daley. From the list of books she has published, she may be one of the most prolific Cozy authors I have come across. I've read many of them by the way but none who have published as many as Kathi Daley.

Living with views like this seem to inspire Kathi Daley
image courtesy of pixabay.com

According to her bio, Ms. Daley lives near Lake Tahoe. I wasn't too surprised when I read where she lives with her family because as I read Answers In The Attic which is book four in her Inn at Holiday Bay series she describes a few scenes at the shoreline. Her words formed a description in my head that made me think, she has seen that scene. She had lived it. It really isn't even an integral part of the plot but it is descriptions like hers that polish a story. I read that she uses her picturesque surroundings as inspirations for many of her books and the series she has created.

A Little Something For Everyone

After reading one of her books, I decided to check out what else she had written. Currently, I'm reading Romeow and Juliet (book one) in the series Whales and Tales. I'm enjoying it even more than the Answers In The Attic. So, out of curiosity I looked to see what else she has written. Mainly to start a list of other books to possibly read. Let me tell you, there is a series by Kathi Daley for just about anyone's taste. I read that in 2014 she published twelve books in that one year. That is a book a month, people! Being an author myself, that is impressive, very impressive. I thought I was cranking mine out in a fairly rapid pace but it takes me longer than a month to finish a book. I digress.

To date, she has twelve or thirteen cozy mystery series to choose from:

• Zoe Donovan Mysteries
• TJ Jensen Mysteries
• Whales and Tails
• Sand and Sea
• Writers Retreat Southern Seashore
• Tess and Tilly
• Seacliff High
• The Inn at Holiday Bay
• A Hathaway Sister
• Haunting By The Sea
• Rescue Alaska
• A Cat In The Attic

I'm probably going to have to sample at least one in each of her series. She has even written a cookbook featuring recipes from one of her main characters Zoe Donovan. I haven't read any in that series yet but I probably need to. There are something like thirty-two books in that series alone. 

I mentioned that the first book of Kathi Daley that I read was one of the books in the Inn at Holiday Bay. I'm not certain but I think her premise in that series is to be able to feature the holidays celebrated throughout the year. The book I read was number four in the series and featured July 4th with mentions of fun things they planned for Halloween. Personally, as an author, I think that is brilliant! I have be honest, it actually has inspired me. There is a new character in my head who is screaming for me to write her story but I hadn't come up with a solid idea for what the series would revolve around. She seems to want to have a bookstore or at least I think she does but nothing solid has come to the left hemisphere of my brain just yet. It just might be fun to have a sub-theme of holidays in whatever shop my new character decides to do business in. I'll let you know when she and I come up with a plan.

Anyway, I thought I would introduce you to this Cozy Mystery author today. I think you will find at least one of her series to be to your liking. Caitlin Hart, the main character in the Whales and Tails series is pretty funny, I'm really enjoying her a lot. If you are looking for a new book to read, I recommend taking a look at her books. I seriously don't think you will be disappointed in any that you might choose.

Answers in the Attic by Kathi Daley

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