We went down to the Rt. 30 Post Office to get a passport for our son.  It was not the best of experiences. There was a poster with information about which forms to use, but no one manning the passport counter.   A gentleman in the line mentioned to the person behind him that he was…

We admit it.  We do a fair amount of returning merchandise we changed our minds about keeping.  But we work within the return policies and deadlines, and always have our receipt ready. Lately, probably due to the economy, we have seen more people returning things when we are shopping.  From the looks of some things, we…

The empty store front in Shoppers World on Rt. 9 W where Linens N Things was has signs announcing that Nordstrom Rack will be opening there. Nordstrom Rack is the company’s off-price retail division offering discounts on products from their mainline stores, Nordstrom.com, and special purchase items.  A big focus is name brand shoes.  Sounds a…

We have been cleaning and purging clutter and things that we just don’t need anymore.  We loaded up the pickup and took the useful items and clothes off to the St. Vincent de Paul store on Franklin St. After dropping off our donations, we wondered around.  A woman was talking to anyone who would listen…

Within the last week or so we went back to two restaurants that we hadn’t been to in a while, Bertucci’s and California Pizza Kitchen. Bertucci’s still has those great Tuscan rolls.  The small house salad was fresh and generous.  The Sporki was as good as we remembered it. California Pizza Kitchen was OK.  The…

Inspite of rainy day after rainy day, which some people tell us reminds them of summer in Seattle, we are cheered by our pots of flowers. An abundant pot of yellow mums that we picked up for $ 5.99 at Trader Joes is flourishing.   The $ 3.99 pot of  bluish petunias from River’s Edge is also settling…

Hubby went to the Saxony Barbershop in Saxonville on Saturday prepared for the usual long wait.  Not so.  Barbers were standing around waiting for customers.  They said they had never, in all their years in business, seen it so slow.  Due to the economy people are letting weeks go by before getting a haircut. Sounds like…

As we were driving down Rt. 9W thinking about the Farmers’ Market opening today, we realized that we were running out of time to get an oil change before a long trip on the weekend. We pulled into The Clean Machine/Kwik Oil Change lot, right into a spot with a sign about parking there for…

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Metrowest Non-Profit network is hosting brown bag breakfasts for small-staffed/single-staffed/no-staff nonprofits. As executive director or head of the board of a small nonprofit, do you… develop programs? Balance the checkbook? Write grant proposals? Evaluate programs? Get the mail? Deal with accountants? Water the plants? File 990s? Talk to clients? Handle public