I need a life!

I love finding new products that work!

A friend told me about Shout Color Catchers. I have to admit, I have kind of taken it easy being a little skeptical.

Well, this week, I had a new pair of $2.98 shorts to work out in (frugal me!) and they were bright red. Now, normally, I would do a whole load just for one red item. But my friend told me about the Shout things, so I thought ok, here goes nothing!

I put them in with jeans and even He-man's baseball pants. (It would have been ok since his colors are maroon and gold, haha)

Whala! There was no red on any clothes. The Color Catcher came out pretty red though!

So I'm here to tell you, Shout Color Catchers are the bomb. And, yes, I'm easily amused!


(Thanks Lynn!)

Want to stir up some emotions? Read this.

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw

This is a short version on Oprah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

This is the full version of the actual lecture. Worth the watch if you have the time.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html

This is like a blog update on Randy's condition.

This was so very powerful to me. It reminded me that I want to be a Tigger :)

I really liked the quote, "Experience is something you get when you don't get what you want."

Also, "If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you."


What a wonderful legacy to leave to his children. I hope he sees many more 6 month milestones!

Losing the inhibition

Remember I had a hair story to tell?

Some of you have heard it, but others haven't. Plus, it's one of those things I never want to forget.

Remember too, all things happen for a reason.

I'll try to make the long story short. It starts back when I got a horrible perm and it burned my hair and bleached it to a wonderful shade of orange. I chopped most of it off, and it has been growing out. Every one of my family when they saw me said not one word. They just busted out laughing when they saw me. No, they really weren't being mean, it was just that funny. I had the nickname of Bozo the clown for a few days :)

Fast forward about 6 months. We had the sales conference, and I really wanted to have hair. I decided that many people wear wigs for one reason or another, why shouldn't I. I found a nice darker wig, close to my natural color, and it was long and had curls. I just loved it.

I asked around to find out, should I wear it all the time I was there or just for the big gala. My friends said, yes, it looks good. Wear it the whole time. So that's what I proceeded to do.

I got it all in place and away we went. We were all of 50 feet out of the driveway, and I noticed a neighbor's dog in the middle of the street. Always thinking that if it were me, I would hope someone would help me too, we stopped the car to get this dog back home.

Hubby went to the door to let the people know the dog was out. I called the dog. He was soooooo excited to see someone. Boy was he ready to play! He ran circles around me a few times, and when we realized nobody was home and that this dog wasn't going to let me get ahold of him, I decided to walk closer to the fence to put him in.

Come on, boy! I was walking and calling him. He would run up and run circles around me. The next thing I know, this dog charged at me (I swear he was laughing and smiling as he ran at me) and he jumped up and grabbed my hair!

Here I am in all glory, standing in the middle of the road with a net on my hair and my long curly locks laying on the ground.

Hubby said the race was on between me and the dog to get the wig back. I won of course because all I could think of was to get that thing back on my head!

I think it would have been easier to do had I not been laughing my A$$ off! I really don't know how we got the dog in the fence or what really happened after that. We were both laughing so hard. I still laugh when I think about it.

Straight from there, I went to get bobby pins :) I didn't lose my hair in the San Francisco wind, but I did lose the inhibition I felt about wearing the wig in the first place.

Many people did double takes. We had decided to joke if anybody said anything and say that I was hubby's "pretty woman" for the weekend! Nobody really said a lot except that they really liked it. Funny, at age 37, I am still learning the life lesson that it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, if I like something, that's all that matters!

You can sleep when you're dead

I'm gonna need it!

I had big plans this morning. No school. No class til 9:30. I was going to sleep in!

Suzi had a friend sleep over last night. Evidently, she felt that they should use the guest room since she had a guest. Hubby said last night, if you're wanting sleep, you better get the girls out of there. I hollered up there but was half asleep. I asked hubby to go settle them down, thinking he would tell them to get out of there.

Ohhhhh, I guess about 6 this morning, I start hearing footsteps. Thinking someone was just going to the bathroom, I was ok with that. Noooooooooo, the footsteps kept going. I swear I would just get back to sleep and here they'd go again. Hubby of course heard nothing!

Did I mention the guest room is directly above mine?

Grouching, I reasoned with hubby that since he was supposed to tell them to go out of there, and since he was going to work in a bit, he should go tell them to go to her room. Well, I tried for about 10 minutes and realized I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep.

I asked hubby why he didn't tell them last night. He said they had blankets, etc. in there and were going to go to sleep.

Oh, well. I guess I can sleep when I'm dead!

Apples and trees

This apple didn't fall far from the tree :)

3 Generations of Korndogs

Jack thinks he is one of the guys!

Baseball update

He-man had a home game today. They won, YAAAAY!

He pitched 2 innings. I think they are still feeling everybody out.

He had 5 strike outs, 1 true hit, and another kid got on base because the ball was hit to him, he turned to make a double play, and there was nobody to cover second base. The coach was a little loud on that one :)

He batted 1 time. I saw a lot of growth there too. While he watched 2 good pitches go by, and normally he would swing and strike out with an 0-2 count, he waited on the curve ball to come and smacked it. As a norm, you could always count on a strike out if he had an 0-2 count, especially if either strike was something he didn't feel was in the strike zone. He would swing at anything then just to try to avoid striking out.

His year-old baseball pants also looked like they were about to fall off him. His teeth are getting straight, he's getting all buff working out for football. I think I am the one who needs the baseball bat to fight off the girls that are going to be falling all over him. Thank goodness the one he likes is in another state :)

*Note to teenage boys*

You know how you look at girls? You see curves? You see nice jeans? I'll let your mind wander instead of saying more.


WELL, don'tcha think maybe GIRLS like to look at a guy and see a nice pair of jeans? A cute butt? Have things changed that much since I was in high school?

So your jeans hang off your hips and you wear plaid boxers. Who cares? I mean, really?

Please someone tell me what the attraction is to wearing baggy jeans that hang off your butt with your underwear hanging out.

Maybe I'm just old, but I don't get it. I'm not too old to enjoy a cute butt in a nice pair of jeans. (YES, I'm talking about adults here, not teenagers)

Yogi Detox Tea

This is my infomercial for Yogi Detox Tea.

Hubby switched from drinking coffee in the mornings to drinking tea. Just plain ole straight tea. His preference is Awake tea, but he also drinks this Detox stuff as well.

I kept getting a whiff of something today and thinking, man! It's a good thing it's trash night. Something's smelling pretty ripe in there.

After the trash went out, I still smelled it. I then thought I might need to bleach the sink.

When I realized what it was, hubby's half a sip left in the bottom of his cup from the morning, I figured out why it is called Detox.

It made me want to hurl just smelling it!

A chain letter you can relate to.

*I do try to think like this*

John is the kind of guy you love to hate.

He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.

When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply,

"If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!

You can't be a positive person all of the time How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy", I protested.

"Yes, it is", he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied,

"If I were any better, I'd be twins..Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked

He continued, "..the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything… 'Yes', I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'"

Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything.

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Attention, He-man

When you go back and read this one day, one day when you have your own children, I want to remind you what a hard-headed person you were when you were 16 :) (I won't mention the prior years!)

One day when you have to get onto your son and reign him back in, you can read this and say WOW, my mom and dad really loved me. This is hard work!

Actually, I do realize how tough it is to really still be a child but to have to think like an adult. There's a reason you're not officially an adult yet, even though you've been the size of one since you were 13!

This isn't the most fun time in life, but if you realize we are all on the same team, working together to succeed, life is so much easier :) And, yes, feel free to use this line one day on your own child!

Deja Vu

The thing about marrying your high school sweetheart is that when one of your children does something goofy, and it's just like something your sweetheart used to do, it makes you remember your youth. (okay, it usually makes you laugh too)

George Porge was always the odd man out. The other two look just like hubby. George on the other hand looks like my side of the family. The other two are ginormous, and he's average sized. While my mother didn't want to claim He-man as "our baby" because he was a month early, yet he was soooooo big, Hubby's grandmother didn't want to claim George because "where did he get that blonde hair?"

Well, George never ceases to amaze me, and he always reminds me that he is Hubby's mini me.

I am trying to make sure these teeth are good and clean with the braces on, and it's a little more difficult with George. While I am up there, the boy is flexing every muscle he can in the mirror, WHILE I am trying to floss his teeth.

He tells me, I have to do this every morning before I get in the shower. I said, what? He said make sure I look good.

It will be 22 years ago this year that I remember My Studmuffin walking around flexing his muscles. He was about as big as George. Somewhere I have a picture of George and Hubby standing by the pool, both flexing their muscles. I think George was about 3.


AAAAAAAAAAH, Good times!

Her Father's Daughter

When I tried to get Suzi to try the asparagus, she said ewwww, no. It looks like baboon.


HUH?


I told Hubby. Without any explanation, he laughed and said he knew exactly what she was saying.

She said you know, baboon, the stuff panda bears eat :)

Of course, the little attorney that she is, when I said, do you mean bamboo? She said no, I mean baboon.

She has some oceanfront property in Iowa she wants to sell you too, if you're interested :)

Green? Yuck!

Remember the little baby boy who would see green coming on the baby spoon and turn his head? The one who if you smothered the green in another color fruit, he would suck the fruit off and spit the green back out?

To this day, we get him to SOMETIMES eat green beans, SOMETIMES eat peas, not often, and he will eat okra that is breaded, and he can't see the green.

I said, why don't you try this asparagus.


NOT HAPPENING

(that's He-man for those who don't know)

He loves me, He loves me not?

I think he loves me :)

My Studmuffin went to the store that has my favorite mango salsa. They had NONE!

He improvised. He bought grilled pineapple salsa. I LOVE IT! Imagine that :)

I also have a new craving (besides cottage cheese) It's asparagus. I don't know why, I had never tried it before. I tried it at the conference and have been wanting it since. I made 5 pieces tonight just to piece on because we had breakfast stuff for dinner. I figured I would eat a couple pieces, Hubby would eat a couple and we MIGHT get the kids to try it. I ate all 5 pieces and had to cook more :)

I even looked up recipes online for it. Who knew there was an asparagus festival so close to us? haha

http://www.asparagusfest.com/

So mark your calendars because this should be good!

Jackitude

I normally leave for the gym before Studmuffin leaves for work, so he normally puts Jack in the crate before he leaves. Today, I had to put him in there. Nobody else is here. Because he went in so nicely when I told him to, I got him a piece of cheese as a treat.

It was a small piece, but it wedged in the squares of the door of the crate. He got excited because he thought I was letting him out already. When he saw it was JUST CHEESE (his favorite) he snubbed his nose and laid back down. I like to call it Jackitude.

Finally, it's spring!

This is one of the most exciting times of the year for me. That blue is the color of sky I wake up to every day. I think the rainy season is done (I hope) The trees are blooming, and soon we will see what all the fields around us will be producing in a few short months. I can't wait!

Ice, Ice, Baby

Okay, it's not really ice, but when the wind blows cold in San Francisco, it feels cold enough to freeze a fountain.

More on the hair, soon ;)

Way to go!

This is the 2nd year now that we left our kids at home by themselves when we went to the sales conference. I came home to a clean kitchen, swept floors and things were pretty well kept in order.

I am a very happy mom to know that the kids do know how to take care of themselves. It means we are doing our job as parents.

He-man got a fever and basically the flu on the second day we were gone. I was worried, but he did fine.

When you guys read this, Mom and Dad are very proud of you!

National Sales Conference.

I have to admit, when I heard that this year's NSC was in San Francisco, I had very mixed feelings. While I was estatic that I did not have to do the cross-country flight to Florida, I was kind of disappointed that we had to stay in "the city." I'm just not a city kinda girl.

The first 2 days we were there, we had activities non stop. We had to do all the visiting and dinners and all that stuff. There was a huge gala, and everybody looked awesome. I still was a little blah about being there.

Thursday afternoon, we took some friends on a tour since they had not been here, and we were lucky enough to have our own car. We got some beautiful pics of the Golden Gate and the city behind us.

Friday, everything changed. My Studmuffin went golfing and left me on my own. Not that I was happy to be without him, it just gave me a little down time. I got up and had to walk to get a phone charger. I HAD to get out there. I passed a very nice little photography shop, and I went in there and browsed the beautiful pictures.

The girl I work for, her office ended up being not even a city block from the cell phone store. I located that because we had a lunch date later that day. I went back, charged my cell phone, and away I went. It was a very beautiful day. Had lunch with Teri at her office (which I had never been to. Worked for her now since about 2000, I think.)

From there, I went in a few more stores and then the good part, my massage :)

I won't go into that, because I could write a magazine article on the good that the massage did me!

Hubby was back from golf after my massage, and we hurried and tried to get sunset pics. Of course, the bay didn't quite cooperate with us. The fog had rolled in, so our pics weren't too good.

Funny thing, we had to go back down to that same area one hour later for dinner. It was perfectly clear then!

I did find out why it was meant to be that way, though. Saturday, we decided that since we didn't have to be anywhere and the kids were happy, we could just play around in the city all day.

I think I took about 200 pictures yesterday. I got better sunset pics than I would have the day before, so it was all fate. We went with some friends to Alamo Square and to the Golden Gate Park.

I was absolutely in awe when I drove away from there. I can't wait to have visitors to take over there to show them around. My father in law is coming in a couple weeks or so. I know all the good places to go now :)

Where to begin?

One of our guest speakers at the conference was this guy. WHAT A TALENTED PERSON!!

His name is Terry Fator, and I guess he won a show called America's Got Talent.

The first one is him singing Friends in Low Places
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDoKF1NZ8P8&feature=related

The next one is where he puts a face on a man and uses him as a Cher dummy. He did this to one of the big wigs at the conference. VERY FUNNY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfsEqUex-A0

And the last one is him doing a Michael Jackson impression.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jztlvgaync8&feature=related



He does a bazillion impressions, but remember too some of the impressions he is using his ventriloquism too, and still makes them sound like the person he is imitating.

The acoustics on these videos are not good, but in person, he sounded so much like the original person.

Fair Warning

I have lots of new material! When I get some sleep, I'll be posting!

Spent the last 3 days in San Francisco. We had a wonderful time and the most beautiful weather.

Will post soon!

Mini Me

Suzi's little friend was just here. She brought her PB&J and her bottle of juice with her.

She came in and went to the table (a good thing)

I did happen to notice that red (cringe) juice.

She got up and they were deciding where to play. The little girl saw Jack and called him and started walking towards him.

In two steps, I was thinking, you need to stay in the kitchen with that drink.....

In three steps, Suzi was telling her, you need to stay in the kitchen with your drink. :)


So one could conclude that they DO KNOW THE RULES. Following them is optional!

Rehab Might Be In My Future

Being the junkie that I am, I am always looking for great new combos to feed the addiction.

As some may or may not know, even though I am a junkie, I am going to the gym and getting healthy.

Well, part of that getting healthy is cutting out eating certain things, but DANG, do you know how much sodium is in the things you eat?

My happy little body likes to hold water, so I have been trying to watch that salt thing.

Well, therein lies my dilemma. While I did start just putting salsa on everything so that I could eat it, and avoid the chips (lots of sodium), it still just isn't enough. Forget chocolate. Salsa is my new addiction!

Even mango salsa (if you haven't tried it, you should!) I had it at a restaurant with rice, chicken and mango salsa.

We trekked to the other side of the mountain yesterday, so it was the perfect opportunity to raid Whole Foods and stock up on mango salsa and regular salsa.

3 out of 5 of us are still recovering from our cold/arabian bird flue that hubby called it :) So last night was kind of a fend for yourself and grab whatever leftovers you can.

I opened that fridge and there it was.....my stash :)

I didn't feel like making the chicken, but I did go ahead and make rice. Delish. I could have eaten the whole tub. I refrained though.

I did, however, learn that rice and mango salsa with no chicken is VERY YUMMY.

So, my mind went to work. I have figured out that I will probably like just plain rice with regular salsa over top of it too.

My question is, do you think my California surroundings are creating this phenomenon? Just plain white rice (Asian) and salsa (Mexican).

Oh, probably not! I'm just weird!!

The Three Stooges

And, no, I am not talking about my children :)

Suzi is eating her breakfast and someone had a channel on the TV that had The Three Stooges on it.

She said, "Why is there no color on the tv?"



To quote Edith and Archie Bunker..... THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!!


Yep, her next question would be who is Edith and Archie Bunker!

Yesterday, Leave it to Beaver was on. Imagine the amusement around here when Wally was THRILLED with his birthday present (a package of handkerchiefs) and Beaver was sorry he couldn't get him more, but he only had $1.25!

Suzi is asking how in the heck we could stand watching TV like that! The princess wants to change the channel!

Mom, I told you to stop taking Dad to Wally World!

BANNED FROM WALMART...........

This is why women should not take men shopping against their will.
After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to WalMart.
Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and out.
Equally unfortunately, my wife is like most women - - she loved to browse.
Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local WalMart.

Dear Mrs. XXXXXXXXXXX,
Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite a commotion
In our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to
Ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against Mr.XXXXXXXXXXXX are
Listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's
Carts when they weren't looking.

2 . July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in House wares to go off at
5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the
women's restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official
Voice, "Code 3 in House wares. Get on it right away."

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&M's
On layaway.

6. August 14: Moved a "CAUTION - WET FLOOR" sign to a carpeted area.

7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other
Shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets
Fro m the bedding department.

8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began
Crying and screamed, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"

9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it
As a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he
Asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly
Humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.

12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his "Madonna look"
By using different sizes of funnels.

13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed
Through, yelled "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he
Assumed a fetal position and screamed "OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!"

And last, but n to least

15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited
Awhile, then yelled very loudly, "Hey! There's no toilet paper in here!"


Regards,
Tom Richards

Walmart Manager

Always the Optimist

Have you ever wondered what kind of day you are going to have when you pull out a pair of socks, and you open them up and find out they are close, but don't match?

I decided, no biggie. I'll just get another pair.

Guess what?! It was a match to the first pair :)

Good day!