The New LG DoublePlay!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LG DoublePlay™ for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

The ever-improving technological advances of cell phones have not only made the average person's life more convenient, they have allowed for social connections of various sorts to come to fruition. The improvements in cellular technology have allowed for communication and connection in ways that were previously not possible.

There are a lot of cell phones on the market today, but the LG DoublePlay™ seems to stand out above the rest. Only at T-Mobile you can get the LG DoublePlay™ which is an impressive dual touchscreen with a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out. The LG Double Play works amazingly while watching YouTube on the bigger screen and texting on the smaller, or blogging and Facebooking, or watching and surfing the web. And if you want to switch which screen shows which app, no problem! There's a little upwards-pointing triangle that, when pressed, will switch apps and screens.

 

The LG Double Play is the ultimate social media smart phone and allows you to crank out communications via any social network or through Cloud Text or Group Text. I generally send out about 500 texts per month, but I do thousands of tweets or Facebook updates from my mobile devices so having a full keyboard is essential for me to communicate quickly and professionally.  
 

How often do you perform social media communications on your smartphone?  Have you looked at the LG Doubleplay yet to see what it can do for you?

 

Leave me a comment telling me how many hours you spend texting or engaging with your Social Networks on your phone and how you think The LG Double Play would change the way you interact.

The Ultimate Showdown: Puppies vs. Babies

This post brought to you by Puppies vs. Babies. All opinions are 100% mine.

It is time for the ultimate showdown! There is a Puppies vs. Babies online contest going on right now to see which is cuter? I get dizzy because they are all so cute, cuddly, and adorable and it will break my heart not to vote to all of them. I just can’t decide!  Why do they all have to be so darn cute!

However, since it is a contest we only have to vote for one. So, you must be wondering who I voted for. Well, I say babies are cuter all the way. Let me clarify why.

Being a mom, I just feel wrong saying that puppies are cuter than babies. I love puppies, but babies just have that way of making your heart melt! I also can’t help but get baby fever every time I see such a cute baby.

Check out the Puppies vs. Babies online contest to watch all of the adorable viral videos and GET YOUR VOTE IN! The winner be it a puppy or baby will win a prize of 5,000 dollars. So folks who are you voting for or if you choose who you think is cuter let me know in the comment here.

The deadline to get your votes in is November 23rd.

Thanks!

Anyone else feel this way?

Do you get closer to your mother after you have children?

When I was a child I did not understand why my mother did the things she did. I was very resentful and felt like she was being mean. Now as a parent I am more understanding. I know why she did and said the things she did. It has also made me closer to my mom. I think it is because we have something in common which is being a mother and having a daughter who does not understand. Anyone else feel this way?

Straight Talk phones are available now with an amazing plan!

This post brought to you by Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

Straight Talk is a registered trademark of Tracfone which is owned by America Movil. This company brags hundreds of millions of subscribers throughout North and South America. Straight Talk is a monthly plan offering, whereas Net10 and Tracfone offer minutes on a pay-as-you-go scale.

Pros: Straight Talk offers a cheap monthly plan which provides ample minutes, data, and messaging limits.

Cons: Customer service carries a poor reputation. There is only one plan offering.

Straight Talk cell phones are available now with an amazing plan! The new plan is Tracfone's version of unlimited for a great low price of only $30 a month for 1000 minutes OR $45 a month for full unlimited! This is one of the best new plans available to consumers considering the average cell phone customer uses about 700 minutes and spends over $70.

Straight talk is breaking the cell phone industry carriers by offering the best rates for Android on Straight Talk – with no contract required.  When other major wireless companies will nail you to the wall, Straight Talk does just the opposite; they offer flexibility and freedom.

Most of the real Straight Talk customer proved that it is way cheaper to Call a friend or a family member anywhere in the US or even abroad.    According to the few testimonial videos that I watched formerly, you won't get hidden fees or surprise charges with Straight Talk.  You won't even experience a Hook, line and sinker, but instead, you will get all that you need in a cell phone. 

There are many fake items in market

We must be careful before using cosmetics. Now a days most of the cosmetics comes with artificial products, they may be harm to our self. We must consult with our physician or beauty consultant before using any cosmetic. They know about our health condition as well as body type and nature, so they will prescribe a good cosmetic to us based on our condition.

Some new products is good for us, but it may have some side effects, so avoid trying new cosmetic products without the proper suggestion of your beautician. We all use cosmetics to increase our beauty, some times it may give some negative results, so we must be very careful before selecting a cosmetic product. Better to use the product after seeing the result, i.e we may use the produce which is already used by our friends or relatives, but ask proper suggestion from the expert before trying this kind of products, it is your safer side

Fact or Fiction?: Stress Causes Gray Hair

The link between gray hair and psychological stress is far more than a folk story rather than a fact, it has not been supported by scientific studies to prove this claim. Wisdom and intelligence go hand in hand, gray hair is not part of it either.

Genes are the main factor in hair color and changes to hair. In the middle years, individuals take on more roles and responsibilities coinciding with the natural process of hair aging, giving the perception that stress can cause gray hair.

Notably, scientists haven't found a link between signs of aging and real aging in the body. They believe that it has something to do with genetics and very little to do with premature. Who among us here have gray hairs, by the way? :)

TRESemmé Fresh Start Dry Shampoo Cleans well and smells great!

This post brought to you by TRESemmé. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I first started hearing about this dry shampoo trend that was happening. I was really skeptical. How could anything replace a good old-fashioned shampoo? However, with two kids, one in school and one just a year old, any chance I get to save a little time when it comes to working on my hair, I like to give it a try. So, with much hesitation I bought the TRESemmé Fresh Start Dry Shampoo for Oily/Straight to Normal Hair and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I thought it worked fairly well in reducing the oiliness of my hair and it had a good smell to it. I would never use it to replace washing it with regular shampoo for an extended amount of time, but on days when you are in a hurry and just need a little refresher, it does the trick for sure. I definitely will keep it handy for those days that you need an extra few minutes and don't have the time to worry about what your hair looks like. Plus, it's not expensive, so I believe this is a really good product for the price.

The full line of TRESemmé Fresh Start Dry Shampoo includes:

• Strengthening Dry Shampoo: Formulated with B12 vitamins and keratin to help strengthen hair and leaves it full of healthy body.
• Volumizing Dry Shampoo: With mineral clay and citrus, removes oil while injecting hair with salon-gorgeous volume.
• Smoothing Dry Shampoo: Includes Vitamin H & Silk Proteins that refreshes your straight style by removing excess oil, impurities and odor to ensure your smooth look lasts.
• Moisturizing Waterless Foam Shampoo: Formulated with Witch Hazel, Citrus, and Aloe Vera that refreshes your hair by removing excess oil, impurities and odor while moisturizing hair.

Not sure how to use it? Here are some tips to get the best results from TRESemmé Fresh Start Dry Shampoo:

• Shake well before use and in between spray bursts for best results.
• Lift sections of dry hair and spray lightly at your roots
• Spray in short bursts, holding the container about 8-12 inches from your head
• Don’t spray it like hair spray (all over and continuously)
• Leave it in for 1-2 minutes
• Use your fingertips or a brush to distribute the product evenly
• If clogging occurs, remove and rinse the nozzle under warm water, then reattach. (It's very easy)

Elle Fowler, AllThatGlitters21 on YouTube made a video about the Top Hair Products for School that included TRESemmé Fresh Start Dry Shampoo.

Go check it out!

Upromise Celebrates its 10th Anniversary!

This post brought to you by UPromise. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have been a member of this site for years. I also have the UPromise credit card. I think this site is very helpful. Since the site is free to join, you get money for free. Some people have said it isn't worth the little bit of money you receive. But even the little bit of money is helpful. 

Plus the money they deposit toward a student loan is considered interest paid - which is tax deductible!

I have a few family members signed up, but they aren't as diligent as I am about using the site for purchases. But I am thankful for whatever they do to help!

I’m excited to let you know that Upromise is celebrating its 10th Anniversary by giving away $20,000 to users who share a story that tells how a parent has supported a child’s dream! Upromise members have received more than $600 million in college savings through their rewards program, and it wants to celebrate all of the ways it has helped to fuel those sparks that made children into the people they are today and the adults they will become tomorrow.

Users can participate in the sweepstakes by submitting a story, and can vote on their favorite stories by “liking” them. Upromise will give away $1,000 to 10 winners and a grand prize winner for $10,000 will be selected from the participants as well.

Be sure to visit the Dream Wall (www.upromisetodream.com) and submit your dreams for a chance to win!  Make sure to read the dream wall official rules before entering.

My dream for my children is to pursue their passion by getting a good educational foundation to prepare them for the rest of their lives.

What is a dream that you have for your child?

Tiger

Dratted cat. I had the peeing problem all cleaned up. Tiger was confined to the large bedroom because we were pretty sure it was him, and because I'm meal feeding him, trying to get his weight down.

Thing is, I'm "separated" in my own house, and R has the bedroom. Sometimes the cat gets hungry at 2 am. So instead of putting a wee bit of food down, or throwing the cat in the bathroom, he opens the door.

Sure enough, this morning, I find pee in one of the spots that had been a problem.

If I tell R, about the pee, I will get the predictable, "I don't have a problem putting the cat to sleep."

Well how about this? YOU sleep in the bonus room. YOU shower downstairs. I'll deal with the cat?

But I digress.

Tiger never, ever pees on the carpet in the bedroom. He uses the litter box. So I know it's not a medical problem. And we've used some pretty powerful products to get the urine out. I suppose I could put up another electric thingie. That kept the problem out of the living room for a long time. But I think I'm dealing with attitude here more than anything. Dumb cat.

Long wait at bank!

Just wondering ,why do banks have so many teller windows when only a few are used. Every time I go to my local bank I have to stand and stand in line and see at least twice to three times as many closed windows as ones that actually have tellers at them.

So I have wondered why even have that many if they never intended to use them? any
ideas? oh yes I could go to the ATM machines but again there isn't place to put my purse or bank book or ATM card while I am pushing buttons. And like most people I only have two hands. Also I have to use a quad cane to balance myself, so going to a teller window is easier for me if I do not have to wait in long lines for a half hour or more. Rant over.

Water Intake during Meals

You must not drink water after a meal; you cannot drink water before a meal? I first read a blog posts saying you will get cancer if you drink ice water after a meal, now someone else says you should not drink water an hour before a meal, I suppose next someone will make a discussion you cannot drink water with your meal, it will cause gout or some other thing. Where do these people get their information? Do you just believe a statement like that because someone says you should not do this? How about if it makes common sense or not? Your opinions please! I personally drink water before after and during a meal t o get my 8 to 10 glasses in a day as my doctor has admonished me to do so. Also if my blood sugar is too high I drink water to bring it down to normal.

Straight talk fits my life

This post brought to you by Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

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With a new mobile solution called Straight Talk, you get Everything you need without the lengthy contracts and large monthly bills.

I Have a Samsung straight talk phone and i love it. The monthly plan saves me alot money throughout the year and I am getting alot of features. Like mobile web, downloads, ringtones, apps, It also has a camera so I can take pictures.

For 45 dollars a month, I get unlimited everything, unlimited calls to directory assistance, unlimited text messaging, and all the talk time I want with no hidden fees. I love it! I am paying ALOT less, and do not regret getting this. I know that I don't ever have to worry about any hidden fees, I just go in once a month, and buy my 45 dollar card to refill. They also have plans where you can pay close to 200 dollars for like 6 months unlimited everything, that's less than one month of a contracted plan. I think I am getting the six month plan next, since I like it so much.

Straight Talk’s Hook, line and sinker deal gets even better as they use only the trusted phone manufacturers like LG, Motorola, Kyocera, Nokia and Samsung. So you can replace your old conventional cell phone with the latest smart phones in the market.

Straight Talk is available at all Wal-Mart locations. You should Call a friend and tell them to sign up with you.

Tracfone is OK!

This post brought to you by TracFone. All opinions are 100% mine.

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I count myself among Real TracFone customers.

When it comes to phones they have those brand name phones from leading manufacturers like Motorola, Kyocera, LG, Nokia and Samsung which was packed with So many features like camera/video recorder, web access, app capabilities, mp3 player, and full QWERTY keyboard, for $29.99.

Their phone plans range from pay as you go online, to one year of service for only $119.00, or you can get monthly plans that start under $30.00 a month. And on the monthly or yearly plans you can even double your minutes for the life of the phone for only $19.99.

I bought the cheapest little Nokia cell phone from Tracfone a number of years ago, and I loved it!

Later, I passed it on to my hubby, who had never had ... or wanted ... a cell phone. He has learned to appreciate its usefulness, especially when he is working out in the country, miles from anywhere.

I moved up to an LG flip phone with a camera, and enjoyed using it for a couple years, until it died recently.

I just replaced it with a Samsung slide model with a camera. It is totally different from my previous phones, so I have to learn how to use it from scratch ... so far, so good.

I don't use the cell phone all that much, but like having the ability to call for directions, or to let someone know I'm going to be late, etc.  And, after dark, in emergencies, I've even used it as a flashlight to help me locate things in my purse, or the keyhole in a lock, etc.

Reception with Tracfone has always been great, and I've yet to suffer a dropped call.  On car trips of several hundred miles, I've always had better luck with my simple Tracfones than my sister has with her fancy high-priced phones with all the bells and whistles! Several times, she's had to borrow my phone to make calls because her phone wasn't getting reception, and mine was!

Did I get your attention?

This is not butter; this is not whole wheat bread. Where’s the salad? Did I get your attention? Good as this is just the tip of the newcomer conversation at our table this morning.

Her name is Alice but I have already named her the bit#her. She just came two days ago. Her main conversation is like this" when do I get my coffee, I want it now? And where is the salad, I must have salad every day. This orange juice is not fresh squeezed. That’s ham, hams not good for you....on and on. This was the f first meal, and that’s all she said.

My take is why complain when you just got here, and remember this is just a retirement center, not the Waldorf Astoria. What is your take on this kind of behavior? She never talked about anything else in all the meals she has taken with us. Sure there are some things that could be changed here but it’s not all that bad a place to be. Sure beats being homeless. And instead of complaining to us, why does she not take it to the administrator if she’s that upset about everything?

How do you handle someone who never stops complaining at a meal, all meal long?

My internet history

My internet history started back in the 1990s. First I went on AOL and checked out all the chat rooms, checked out news sites, found shopping sites, and got connected to people on e-mail. About 5 years ago, I discovered Multiply, a social site very much like MySpace. A friend on Multiply referred me to Yuwie. A friend on Yuwie referred me to myLot, and another one invited me to MoraChat. I don't remember how I got onto Facebook, probably an invite from a family member. Also, friends from Yuwie have invited me to practically every social and earning site on the planet.

Too many websites. lol

I have a pattern, I guess. I get really involved in 2 or 3 sites and I don't get over to the other ones very often. And now that work has blocked some sites, I can only get to certain ones at night anyway. But the sites I am most active on are the ones that my closest friends are active on.

I haven't abandoned a site because of bullies or viruses or slowness or even boredom (except for PTCs - those bore me to tears). I have abandoned sites that just haven't taken off. But the main reason I become inactive is that people leave and the site just isn't the same any more.

Have you abandoned any sites that you were really fond of? And what were your reasons?

(Put it out with a perdurable)

Monitor went black Problems

Now What? My monitor went black. For a long time we have known one of the wires to my monitor has been partly broken causing strange blue lines to distract me when working here. So I just always jiggled it to get the lines away. Well unknown to me the line I was juggling was the darned power cable to the monitor. It suddenly went black, my monitor screen I mean. Panicked I phoned my son as I thought I must have jiggled that faulty wire too much and it broke completely.

Well as usual he gave me step by step instructions; take the black panel off in back and on and on. well I got my monitor face down, took the panel off and oh my G here is a big thick cable duh the power cable to the monitor so now I spotted the place where it was to be inserted, and phone under my chin I grabbed the cable plug and shoved it back in, taking some real strength to do it as my hands were shaking.

My question is do other people , regardless of age, get nervous and shaky when trying to repair a computer or monitor when your knowledge of the animals are limited more to using them than putting them back together? I have always been able to do some of the more mundane repair things after being shown the correct steps. But I am always rather unsure of myself.

I hate it that I am not a lot more computer savvy

One never misses the water til the well runs dry. or your email refuses to send! Do you get so used to being able to email anyone any time you want, and then have a problem sending it? And how irritated do you feel? My son tried to talk me into fixing the problem but the things he told me just did not work. He put an imap account on my iriswell.com email account, Somehow he did not change the name so the old email address is now longer valid and hence my email will not load and send. Frustration and impatience set in as I tried to do all the things he told me over the phone but I am not as technically savvy as he is, so he asked not to use thunderbird’ for my email but a different email client. Fine I got on to this client ' and it ran so slow that not only was I not able to respond to all my 'wonderful friend's blog posts but in a few minutes it crashed’ my computer completely. So I had no choice but to go back to Thunderbird and catch up if I can on some of the posts.

So until he comes to see me Saturday I cannot email out. gggrrrr. What does a snafu like that do to the rest of you? I hate it that I am not a lot more computer savvy.

This was in an advice column for teens

One teenager had called her parents for a ride home from a party, because her boyfriend had had a few drinks. The parents picked her up, but then they put her on restriction and wouldn't allow her to see her boyfriend any more because he was irresponsible.

Now the younger sister says that if she finds herself in the same situation, she would take the ride with her boyfriend who has been drinking, because she sees how hard not being able to see her boyfriend has been on her sister.

The older sister also says that given another opportunity, she would not call her parents, because of they way they handled it.

Should the parents have handled it this way?

I can really see both sides of this one. I remember being punished by my parents for telling the truth about something after they promised they wouldn't punish us if we were honest. All it did was teach me that I couldn't trust my parents and that I shouldn't confess to anything.

I also can see how the parents wouldn't want their daughters hanging around somebody who was irresponsible enough to drive under the influence.

But the point is that their actions have had the opposite effect. Do you think the parents should have handled it differently?

I couldn't locate the original column, but here is the follow up: (http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/17/2962912/readers-react-to-teen-drunken.html)

Did you ever get fooled by an envelope?

Can't judge a book by its cover or a letter by it's envelope...

We're having a heritage day thing at work in a couple of months, so I thought I'd get back onto translating my last couple German letters, and set up an exhibit.

For those of you who have missed all the excitement, I have 8 letters from 1922 & 1923 that were sent to my great-grandfather by relatives who were still living in Germany at the time.

The challenge has not so much been the German, since I'm fairly fluent, as with the old script that they wrote in back then. I got printouts from the internet, actually, and started working, and now I can actually read the stuff. And I haven't run into too much archaic German or dialect either, lucky, I guess.

Anyway, the first 6 letters are translated, and the 7th is deciphered except for a few words that are hard to read. Usually when I go back later, I'm able to get them though.

But Letter #8, now that is interesting. From the gorgeous handwriting on the envelope, I just figured this one would be a piece of cake. Nope. The writing on the letter itself is quite messy. I may need help with this one.

But I have learned a bit about that side of the family and what they had to live with, and it's fascinating. And also, heartbreaking! When I'm finished, I'll publish it all in my blog and link to it with a discussion here.

Did you ever get fooled by an envelope?

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What's your favorite food concoction?

I am the family garbage disposal. I am pretty much the only person in the family who will eat anything (if it's people food, that is, I'm not into eating toothpaste or whatever). I'm the only one who eats leftovers. There are few foods that I don't like, and I will even eat those (ie Brussel sprouts, teriyaki sauce) if they're placed in front of me.

And then there are weird (from other people's perspectives) foods. Elvis Presley was famous for liking fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Well my favorite weird food is Spaghetti and chili. I discovered it as a teenager at Bob's Big Boy.

You boil up some noodles and plop some chili on top of it (I like mine with cheese, no onions). Sorry, Irish, I know it's probably a "Yankee" way of eating chili, but I like the stuff.

What's your favorite food concoction that most other folks would consider weird?

Heavy Books - Back to School

You know, your parents walked 10 miles to school, carrying books, in the snow, uphill both ways, bla bla bla.

Well I did walk to school. The elementary was close, but the Jr. High was a half hour walk and the High School was 40 minutes. We didn't have backpacks, but we did have lockers, so we only brought home what was absolutely necessary.

Dearra's schedule seems to be conspiring against her this year though. She has three classes with very heavy books and those classes fall on the same day (Monday is every class for 40 minutes, and then the classes alternate days). Her classes are very far apart, and that makes it hard to get to her locker and make it to the next class on time. So on Tuesday and Thursday she ends up carrying her three biggest books all day long.

Why they couldn't put one of the classes with NO book on the day with two of the three that have large books, I don't know. I doubt they take book size into consideration when they schedule classes. All I know is, Dearra isn't very happy about it.

It is definitely NOT the time for the "uphill both ways" lecture...

Dratted cat

Dratted cat. I had the peeing problem all cleaned up. Tiger was confined to the large bedroom because we were pretty sure it was him, and because I'm meal feeding him, trying to get his weight down.

Thing is, I'm "separated" in my own house, and R has the bedroom. Sometimes the cat gets hungry at 2 am. So instead of putting a wee bit of food down, or throwing the cat in the bathroom, he opens the door.

Sure enough, this morning, I find pee in one of the spots that had been a problem.

If I tell R, about the pee, I will get the predictable, "I don't have a problem putting the cat to sleep."

Well how about this? YOU sleep in the bonus room. YOU shower downstairs. I'll deal with the cat?

But I digress.

Tiger never, ever pees on the carpet in the bedroom. He uses the litter box. So I know it's not a medical problem. And we've used some pretty powerful products to get the urine out. I suppose I could put up another electric thingie. That kept the problem out of the living room for a long time. But I think I'm dealing with attitude here more than anything. Dumb cat.

Deal with the dentist

Thursday night, we had just gotten back from vacation, and Dearra and I were rushing to get to her high school orientation. The light we were at turned green, but nobody was moving. Some idiot was jaywalking against the light. So I said a few choice words, and then started driving as he was finally out of the way. As I get closer to him, I see that something looks familiar about him. I take a closer look and tell Dearra, "it's our dentist". We laughed so hard that the "jerk" was somebody we knew.

This morning I have a dentist appointment. When he gives me the usual lecture about flossing, I'm going to make a deal with him. I'll start flossing more if he gives up jaywalking.

whaddya think?

Does your worry have a purpose?

Of course you passed the test... so Dearra just texted me. That Spanish final that she had to re-take? She passed it. Well duh, of course she did. It would have been incomprehensible to me if she hadn't. But still there's always that small little worry, especially since the test they gave her on Monday was not the exact same final that she took in middle school last semester. She got slightly better than 90%.

And then today in class they all took the same test so her teacher could see what everybody remembers. So she had to take the silly thing twice. How dumb is that?

Anyway, there's always the silly little irrational worry. What if she gets nervous and messes up? What if the material's different? What if the pencil was too faint? What if the school counselor eats the last pages?

OK, a lot of those are silly worries. But when your mind gets racing, strange things can pop up. Worry has a purpose, after all. If you're driving, and you see a narrow curve coming up, you worry that if you don't slow down for it, you will be in trouble. So you slow down. Or you worry that you will fail a test, so you study. Or you worry that you will fall off a cliff, so you don't get near the edge. But sometimes you worry about things that couldn't possibly happen.

Have you ever worried about something that even though you knew it was silly? Or worried about something that other people thought was silly, and then it came true?

Does your worry have a purpose?

Bad habits

You and your stinking bad habits!!!!! OK, we all have our bad habits. And we all have bad habits of other people that annoy us. But how many of you are annoyed by something even though you do the exact same thing? Here's an example of one that I find myself doing. I ask the kids a question, husband butts in and responds for them, and I get annoyed and say "I wasn't asking YOU". But I do the same thing sometimes.

OK, your turn. Go!

The girl kept staring at her!!!!

We were at Home Town Buffet on Saturday and there was this other family sitting near us. Dearra told us later that a girl in the family kept staring at her. She was trying to ignore her, but I guess it really creeped her out. Later she went online (her favorite site, Wizard 101, has a forum) and posted about it. People said things like, "maybe she thought you were pretty" and "maybe you should have stared back at her".

I guess it would bother me too if I was out eating and caught somebody staring at me every time I glanced in their direction. What would you do?

Christmas surprise gift wrap

There was the friend who gave me a Christmas gift in advance, and told me I should keep it in the freezer until it was time to open it. Turned out, it was socks. hahaha

The same friend gave me a gift that was wrapped in something like 100 layers of wrapping paper. It wasn't only a gift, it was an hour's worth of entertainment.

Then there's the sister-in-law who used to put lots and lots of confetti into gifts and cards, so that when you opened things it would fly at you. This continued until her grandmother sent a whole envelope full of confetti back to her.

I myself used to wrap teeny, tiny little gifts in huge gift boxes, so that the person had to really hunt for them.

I think the funniest one that we got was from Richard's sister. It was a shirt and a really heavy wooden rhino with a broken horn. He liked the shirt, but we thought the rhino was kind of odd. Then one day his sister came over, saw the rhino, and wondered where we had gotten it. "Oh haha, I used it to weight the shirt down. It wasn't really part of the gift." So we gave her the rhino back, so that she could cause more mayhem with it.

I used to work in a Hallmark store, and pick up the prettiest wrap on discount. I especially liked the reverse-a-wrap. You could do cool things with it. Now, I pretty much can't be bothered. No time.

OK, so do I win for the funniest gift wrap stories? Or can you beat them?

Cotton Picking this or that

Hi! Just a cotton picking minute, I asked if my cotton picking cotton picker was trying to think of a topic that had not been used, I just now remembered the years I lived in Tempe Arizona where this term "cotton Picking this or that" was used so much. Seems there was quite a bit of cotton grown in Arizona at that time, this was long time ago. But I was wondering if that slang was ever used in other states? I know I have never heard it used here in Southern California. But one time when my hubby and I and our daughter, my son was at Grandma’s, were waiting in the lobby of a service station for our car to be repaired, I heard a man using that term cotton picking. He was yelling, "Damn did you get my cotton picking cotton picker repaired yet? I need it like yesterday."

What did this person mean?

Some women are black, not beautiful." What did this person mean? I wonder sometimes if we posters really are careful enough in wording our discussions. I read this sentence in and out of context and still do not know what the poster meant; now this person is posting this in a discussion of why do women want to make up and make themselves look beautiful, etc. Nothing wrong with the topic but in making a statement about some women are black and putting not beautiful in the mix of the sentence, does this not come close to putting down black women on a global forum where there must be lots of black women. Do we have any right to discriminate here in a forum open to all people from all over the world? I really do not know if this person meant what it appears to mean or if it was just carelessly worded. My question to all is would all of us not need to be more careful not to word any discussion to sound like we are discriminating against any race, religion or what have you? I do realize when you have English as a second language you may have problems translating but given the touchiness of racism is it not best to have someone who can help you translate and avoid sounding racist?

Alliteration

I was out walking by the lake today. It's a glorious day. Second day in a row where it was crystal clear and I could see the Sierra Nevada in all its snowcapped glory. And I was happy. And I just thought, life may be crap - medical problems, relationship problems, money problems, kid problems - but it's good. And I want to live it. Not the way I've been living it, but some way that makes me happy more than it has been. Dawn dances around and sings a corny old tune:


Big changes coming, scary changes, good changes. :-)

We are having a heat wave

"We are having a heat wave, a tropical un not tropical heat wave?" Melting and dripping sweat, I am typing in an air conditioned room with a fan going full tilt. Day before yesterday I was saying how wonderful here in Garden Grove ca it was just a nice balmy 75. Yesterday it was in the nineties and I think its going for the hundred marks today. I went shopping this morning and the heat really hit me. Just wondering how all my friends are faring today temperature wise? I knew it was going to hit hard when it came and it sure did come. But my poor roomies is still cold and now she is in the throes of Alzheimer from what I can see. She had forgotten so much but she still knows me. Are you all nice and cool or sweating it too?

Breakfast

Goldfish eyeballs for breakfast? Or perhaps a midnight snack?

Double the crayfish is now a murderer. A couple of mornings ago, we came downstairs to find that she had eaten the goldfish's eyes, and some other parts too. R had taken the tank partition out, because the crafty crayfish had been using it to climb out and escape, and we were tired of finding her in Naomi's shoes, under Naomi's bed, etc.

Sadly, the goldfish did not live to tell the tale. At least I assume it didn't die first of natural causes and get eaten later. No more goldfish as long as the crayfish is with us.

And on another subject, I hear that our neighborhood beavers, beaver lodge and beaver dam have been removed because of the fact that their dam causes the area to flood. Sigh, I didn't think they were causing any harm, and I kind of liked having them around here. I hope they were just relocated and have found themselves a nice, new home.

And that's the animal bulletin for August 14, 2010. Does anybody else have any crayfish stories, opinions about beaver removal or other animal tidbits that they'd like to share with me?

Do you see very many butterflies?

I realized this week that I do not see as many butterflies as I used to. I do not know if there are really fewer of them, or if I just do not notice, or if I am never outside. Do you see very many butterflies? I had the caterpillars of a black or blue swallowtail on my parsley, but they ate it all and left. I had looked the caterpillar up in a book. I think next year I shall plant more flowers that bloom all summer; maybe I will see butterflies again. Maybe they have all been at your house this summer.

I thought I had posted about this a while back

I double dog dare you. I thought I had posted about this a while back, but I can't find the discussion. I probably used a weird title. I like using weird titles, but it's probably not real efficient for searching.

Anyway, growing up we lived on a cul de sac. We were right at the spot where the straight part ran into the circle. And we had these neighbors who lived in one of the two houses at the end of the circle, sort of diagonally from us. The mom liked to back out of her driveway in a long arc in the direction of our driveway.

One day we went out and saw that our mailbox had been knocked over. No big deal, my dad was pretty handy, so he went and bought a new pole (or straightened the old one, I forget), put the mailbox on it, and cemented it into the ground.

All was well until one day we went out, and the mailbox had been creamed again. Well this time dad got smart and cemented a hollow pipe into the ground, and inserted the mailbox pole into the pipe. That way, if the mailbox got clobbered again, he could just pull the pole out and either replace it or fix it without having to redo the cement.

We were suspecting this particular neighbor, because we knew how she backed out of her driveway. And then one morning I was up in my bedroom, which faced the street, and BOOM. I looked out the window, and there she was, her car pretty much on top of what was left of the mailbox. Caught!

I told my parents what I had seen, and dad went over there and asked her about it. She denied having anything to do with it. Next time dad put the mailbox up, he put a large target on the front of it. She must have gotten the point, as the mailbox was never clobbered again, at least not by her. Some years later, one of our next door neighbors had her accelerator stick, her car got out of control, and she banded into a lot of things, including our mailbox.

It wasn't a good spot for a mailbox, I guess.

Anyway, I bring this up because my sister just recently joined Facebook, and she e-mailed me that she had located the two sons of the mailbox lady. So I evilly suggested that I might send them a friend request, and mention that we all forgave their mother for the mailbox.

She double dog dared me.

I sent the older son, the one I remember, a friend request. Seem to have forgotten to mention the mailbox. (insert chicken noises here)

PS Some years later, we bought this fancy shmanzy looking mailbox for our house in West Hills. My father-in-law creamed it...

Do you walk?

I actually took a walk this morning. Hubby leaves at 6:15 am and I went for a walk. It was kind of slow. I am so out of shape. Do you walk? Is it for pleasure or for fitness, or some of both? For me I would say it is some of both. I want to get fit, and I really enjoy walking. I took some pictures of downtown McPherson. Do you do other fitness activities, and are they inside or outside? I like to swim, but seldom does it. We have been to the lake two or three times this summer. Sometimes I like to do yard work, which is also a way to keep fit. Mostly I am just here at the computer.

What's your latest "not fair" story?

Tomorrow I have the day off work. The twins have no school. Teacher development day or something. So I get a four day weekend.

Dearra's little nose is bent out of shape. She has school.

I pointed out to her that she gets out of school a week earlier than the twins. That didn't help. It was sort of like, "what do I get NOW?"

What can I say, life doesn't always deal exactly the same thing to each of us, and we need to learn how to deal with it.

What's your latest "not fair" story?

WARNING: Female topic, guys you have been warned...

So I went to the OB/Gyn today. I had this stupid, annoying bleeding problem, and it got bad enough last weeks that it freaked me out. So I called on Friday, and she told me to start taking iron supplements, come in for a blood test and make an appointment.

So I did all that, and it slowed down over the weekend, thank goodness, and I went in for my appointment this morning.

So the nurse has me undress, and she puts down one of those big incontinence pads for me to sit on.

Well I don't know why this struck me so funny, but after she left the room, and I had undressed and sat down on it, I just broke down in hysterical laughter. And then I remembered a funny incident from the past.

We had a big party for my father-in-law's 70th birthday, and his sister Isolde was coming from Germany. She had never gone farther than 20 miles in any direction, and my in-laws had to lie to her about the length of the flight, and the distance of the drive from Northern California to Southern California, or she wouldn't have agreed to come.

Apparently, she had a wee bit of an incontinence problem, and was a bit worried about how she was going to hold up. Well she made it here, and never once said word that I heard about how the supposed 2 hour flight and 1 hour drive were more like 11 hours and 8 hours.

When she arrived, my mother-in-law pulled out these incontinence pads that she had bought (just like the one in the doctor's office), and some Depends. The Aunt looked at them, and started laughing, and said she wasn't nearly that bad.

Ah yes, well that side of the family is ever so helpful and always prepared. I wonder what MIL ever did with that stuff. Probably asked around and found somebody who needed them.

I became lazier ever since I discovered how to cook rice in the rice cooke

I must admit that I became lazier ever since I discovered how to cook rice in the rice cooker. I usually have monstrous disaster when cooking rice in a stove. When I'm doing it in the rice cooker, I have more peace of mind and more time on my hands. I agree that the power outs forces me to cook back again to the stove but it cannot be helped. I remember the first time when I tried to cook rice - I put the rice and the water in the caldero in the previous night to cook it later in the morning. I got an earful and everybody got an extra helping of rice..

I know that cooking rice is supposed to be easy, however, I still find it to be a challenge for me at times. I have not yet perfected it and usually end up with either too much rice or too hard rice. I realize that cooking it is all about balance. Can you cook rice? Are you good at it? What's your technique?

Dear Abby

The first Dear Abby is about a mother who confides in her son, tells the son not to tell anybody including his wife, and is not happy when the son not only tells the wife, but the wife tells people too.

The second Dear Abby has to do with a couple where the wife is paying far more attention to the cat than to the husband.

And how come my newspaper didn't even print the third one? :D

Read all about it here:

(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucda/20100902/lf_ucda/sonsnosecretspolicyirkshisconfidingmother;_ylt=Av4RW110CgDyxd9yoZOB1XnNbbUC;_ylu=X3oDMTNoMWVic3BxBGFzc2V0A3VjZGEvMjAxMDA5MDIvc29uc25vc2VjcmV0c3BvbGljeWlya3NoaXNjb25maWRpbmdtb3RoZXIEcG9zAzEEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDc29uc25vc2VjcmV0)

I think in the first case, the mom should not be asking the son to keep things from the wife, and the son should straight out tell his mom that he's not going to do that. He should also have a word with the wife about her blabbing, and tell her he's not going to confide in her if she can't zip her lip.

In the second case, I think what the counselor said was very interesting.

People turn to excessive engagement with animals because animals provide warmth in easy, reliable ways.

and what Dear Abby said:

when a spouse (of either sex, by the way) feels ignored, unappreciated, unloved or unimportant, it is not uncommon for him or her to seek validation elsewhere

Sounds actually a lot like my marriage early on, and I wish I had known enough at the time to see the signs. I suspect the husband and the wife were not meeting each other's needs in some way, but it does sound more like the wife turned away from the husband. They need to figure out what the problem is before it's too late.

Opinions?

awesome w-o-m-a-n,

So it's lunch time, and we decide to have sandwiches for us, Lunchables for the kids. All but Naomi. She doesn't like the bologna Lunchable I bought for her, go figger, I mean she likes hot dogs for heavens sake. So we're eating our sandwiches, and Cary and Dearra are eating their Lunchables, and Naomi says, "where's my lunch". And I said, "well Miss Picky, I guess that Lunchable that I spent money on is going to end up in the trash unless I eat it, I suppose you want a hot dog?" So I put the hot dog on to boil and put the bun (frozen) into the microwave. A bit later I get the bun out, and I go to get the hot dog out, and she says, "so where's my lunch?" R says, "do you want me to make you a hot dog?" And I say, "yeah can you make her one?" As I take the tongs and put the hot dog into the bun. So he gets up, and turns around, and I hand him the hot dog and say, "can you give that to Naomi?"

Lunchable that probably won't get eaten - $4.99
Hot dog and bun probably less than - $1.00
Look on his face as I hand him the already prepared hot dog - PRICELESS

hahahahahahaha

Arguments

Interesting dynamics in the family with R and me and Dearra. Couple of times he has snapped at me about something and I've spoken up and defended myself. Dearra's gotten right in my face about it, almost as if it's my fault or as if it's my job to calm him down.

Ex. 1: R - "You didn't put the honey on the table for me."
D - "You didn't bring out the mayo for me the other night when you made
burgers, what's your point?"
Dearra - "Stop it, it's just a jar of honey, what's the big deal?" Goes
and gets honey.

Ex. 2: D - "Oh, we forgot Cary's haircut." Goes upstairs to get SuperCuts card to
call.
R - Comes upstairs and says something about taking Cary.
D - "I was just going to call and see what the wait was."
R - "DAWN I'm taking him to my place." Said in loud, you should have known,
kind of voice.
D - "Hey, I didn't know you had plans to take him."
Dearra - "Stop arguing about such stupid things." And she was very in MY
face when she said that.

Well the nice counselor (one time when I was in there alone) did say that I was the voice of calm in the family. So I'm sitting here wondering if Dearra has this idea that it's my job to calm Dad down.

I spose I could ask her, but I'd have to find a way to do it without criticizing her Dad. Hmm...

Back in my day

I got to hear a full blown Dearra rant this morning. I saw in the newspaper that the school districts were not going to require all 8th graders to take Algebra. Apparently that was last year's failed experiment. Now they determine whether the child is ready first, and only the ones who are ready have to do Algebra in 8th grade.

That started Dearra on a rant about all the torture she had to endure last year for no good reason. She's also ticked about the fact that this year's 8th grade science project has been canceled, because "it puts too much stress on the students". She had to do hers last year right in the middle of her anxiety mess.

Full blown Dearra rants are so much fun. If you're standing back about 6 feet.

She got me back too. She said something to Naomi about something she'd seen online, caught me rolling my eyes, and said "I see you rolling your eyes" just as I was swallowing some pills.

Don't make me laugh when I'm swallowing pills...

Anyway, I'm glad the school district has decided to be more sensible about Algebra, but why did they have to experiment on my kid with the Algebra aversion?