Friday Fun- A Child's View

Kids have the funniest, yet most realistic view somedays. Sometimes, a little more honest than we would like to admit. :-) A first grade teacher used some wise sayings in her class. She decided to give half of a proverb to her kids and see how they finished them. Here are some of the results:

As you shall make your bed so shall you... mess it up.

Better to be safe than... punch a 5th grader.

Strike while the... bug is close.

It's always darkest before... daylight savings time.

Never underestimate the power of... termites.

You can lead a horse to water but... how?

Don't bite the hand that... looks dirty.

No news is... impossible.

A miss is as good as a... Mr.

You can't teach an old dog new... math.

If you lie down with the dogs, you'll... stink in the morning.

Love all, trust... me.

The pen is mightier than the... pigs.

An idle mind is... the best way to relax.

Where there's smoke, there's... pollution.

Happy the bride who... gets all the presents!

A penny saved is... not much.

Two's company, three's... the Musketeers.

Don't put off tomorrow what... you put on to go to bed.

Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and... you have to blow your nose.

None are so blind as... Helen Keller.

Children should be seen and not... spanked or grounded.

If at first you don't succeed... get new batteries.

You get out of something what you... see pictured on the box.

When the blind leadeth the blind... get out of the way.

There is no fool like... Aunt Eddie.

(you can find all of this and more here. . . )

Yours, chuckling all the way to the weekend,

Melissa

Thursday Thoughts-Birthday Boys

Warning! This is a completely sentimental and schmaltzy post. But it's our blog and well, come back tomorrow if you want humor!

Karen and I are hitting milestones this week. On Monday, my Z1 turned nine. On Wednesday, her twins turned nine. Where did that time go?

It went to bedtime stories, Boy Scouts, swimming lessons, preschool, puzzles and floor games. Car rides in the middle of the night so they could fall asleep. Hours of holding and walking the floor, rocking them in rockers. Days of chasing them around to protect them from things they were going to get into the moment we turned our eyes. It went to sloppy wet kisses and first utterances of "Mamamamamamamama!" Afternoons of them falling asleep on our chest, and us not moving an inch, trying to hold back a tear because it was just too sweet. It went to days of thinking,"I love you because I'm your mother, but I don't like you very much right now!" and afternoons of,"If I can remember who gave you that incredibly ANNOYING toy, I'm going after them!"And more moments of finding those sweet arms flopped over our sides at 3 AM and us scooting over to make room for that middle of the night visitor. Countless trips to the zoo, school parties, and playdates to burn off the endless energy at the park.

Can't believe they've gotten to this age. Love how far they come, walking with them every step of the way, can't wait to see how high they'll fly.

Happy Birthday to our boys!

Melissa

WHERE DID THE YEARS GO?

Somebody pinch me. Can it really be 9 years already? My babies are turning 9 today? How did this happen? I know it sounds so cliché, but I swear it only seems like yesterday that I was as big as a house (or two), yelling at my OB, “You said that if I made it to 37 weeks you would schedule the C-Section. It’s 36 weeks, so CALL THE HOSPITAL NOW AND SCHEDULE IT. NOW. WHILE I’M HERE AND LISTENING. NOW!!!” Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed that issue so hard. Hmmm, no, I’m pretty sure they would have come out by now!

So let’s look back to that fateful fabulous day. 9 years ago today when it was finally time to give birth (or in my world, get ripped open) to two beautiful baby boys. In the movies, the husband is holding the woman’s hand and stroking her hair and whispering to her what a great job she’s doing. (Yes, even when she’s having a C-Section, she’s still doing a great job.) Now, let’s compare that to MY reality that day. Yes, DH was holding my hand, but that’s pretty much all I got. Unless you call the play-by-play announcing a good substitute for whispering sweeties in my ear which, by the way, I do not. Here’s what I heard: “Okay, they are slicing open your uterus now. This is SO COOL!”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

SHUT. UP.

Pretty much, after that, he kept his comments to himself, but he was still standing up and looking over the little drape which (thank you) kept me from seeing everything. The only other things I heard were “Here’s baby number 1” and “Here’s baby number 2” and “They’re perfect” and that’s all I needed to hear!

So 9 years later, they’re still my babies. And although they may not always be perfect, they’re perfectly wonderful to me!

Karen

Tuesday Tidbit- And now a little something Yummy!

It's Tuesday, and here at The Caregiver Organizer, we are working hard to get that new website done. So there's little time for anything else like taking care of our families' laundry and cooking dinner. Being winter, I'm a huge fan of crock pot dinners. HUGE. (Did I mention I LOVE crock pot dinners?) There's something so comforting about them. Now, if your family is anything like mine, getting everyone to agree on the same meal is somewhat of a supernatural act. Seriously. What one loves, the other hates. What one welcomes, the other refuses to eat.

A long, long time ago I gave up being a short order cook. Call me mean, I don't care, but I stick by this rule: This ain't Mel's Diner. It's Momma's. You can either eat it or go hungry. Its rare that they simply refuse dinner, but there can be some grousing. I do have a few dinners up my sleeve that each and every member of my family loves, and I'd like to post one for you today.

Of COURSE, it's a Crock Pot dinner (did I mention how much I LOVE my crock pot?) The glory of the crock pot is you toss it all in, set it on low and in eight hours, Viola! Dinner! Here's a fabulous soup for you to try this week:

KANSAS CITY STEAK SOUP

3 cups water

2 small onions, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2-3 carrots, sliced

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tsp pepper

1 10-16 oz. bag of frozen vegetables

1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained

2-4 TBSP beef bouillon granules (or 4-5 cubes)

Put all ingredients in a crock pot. Cover. Cook on low 8 hours.

Make a roux of 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of flour (no, Karen, don't do this part. It will TOTALLY blow the Weight Watchers thing, but I think it makes the soup!) Pour it into the crock pot and cook on hi for another half hour until the soup is thickened.

Yes, even your kids will eat it.

Yours, hoping you enjoy,

Melissa

UH OH, THE TEACHER WANTS TO SEE ME!

Why is it that when my kid’s teacher asks to see me, I feel like I’m the one who did something wrong? For a split second, I wonder what I did! Then, when I snap back to reality, I wonder what my kid did wrong. And in the next split second, I’m back to wondering what I did wrong, because, after all, if my son did something, I’m sure I’m to blame somehow. Right?

Okay, that was confusing! But the question is this: Am I the only one who feels like I am being reprimanded by the teacher when she talks to me about my child? Why do I feel like I’m back in elementary school, sitting in those little chairs, with the teacher, glasses on the tip of her nose, shaking her finger at me? (Okay, maybe that’s just MY visual, but it’s how it makes me feel!)

Teacher: Your son is not following directions.

Translation in my head: You’re a terrible mother. You let your son play too many video games.

Teacher: He talks too much in class.

Translation: You’re a terrible mother. You let him eat too much candy.

Teacher: He doesn’t pay attention during class discussions.

Translation: You’re a terrible mother. He doesn’t get enough sleep.

You get the idea. No matter what she says, automatically I’ll think it’s my fault.

So today, I’ll be sitting in my son’s classroom, trying not to feel like a complete failure of a parent. Who knows, maybe she’s calling me in to tell me what a wonderful and exemplary child I have.

Do teachers ever do that???????

Karen

Friday Fun~

It's Friday. Time to let our hair down and let our cares be gone. Generally, I like to have a little funny something, and in being funny, I do try to stay away from politics, but this week, this is one of the funniest things I've seen.

Apparently, some people in Wisconsin have a huge sense of humor. And they're a little frustrated with the way the government is going.

Now, I'm not saying which way I lean, I'm not promoting one side over the other, but this is just stinkin' funny. These fine people of Wisconsin rented a billboard to let their thoughts be known.Now c'mon! No matter who you voted for, that's hilarious! Almost as funny as David Letterman's top ten list of things that have been said to Obama since he took office. I'm sure this was figurative, as Letterman can be known for his outrageous sarcasm. Number 2 on the list was Bush saying to Obama, "How you likin' it now, sucka?"

Somedays you're the windshield, somedays you're the bug.

Yours, hoping for a windshield weekend,

Melissa

Thursday Thoughts- What We'd Miss

Today I was talking to a friend of mine (yes, I actually have friends, can you believe it?). We were talking about meeting the needs of a large group of people with varying age levels. It seemed that there were some people within the group who wanted to do one thing, and another faction who wanted another way and so on. And it seemed that there was always a certain faction getting their way. It came down to age and the group wanting to be current. Youthful. Youth oriented.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with wanting to be current and relevant. However, when you begin excluding major sections of society in an effort to become more relevant, aren't you excluding the people who carried you there in the first place? I can't imagine not having the influence of an older generation in my life. Think of all the things we would have missed. The WWII generation is one of the finest generations of our time. Their work ethic, perseverance, rebuilding of the nation from what seemed like nothing in the midst of horrendous loss, their sense of dignity and honor. . . I could go on and on.

I love being modern, contemporary, forward thinking. But let's not forget how we got here, folks.

Yours, pondering this for a bit,

Melissa

SKIRT-WEARING BANDIT STRIKES TWICE!

I know we’re not a huge metropolis, here in St. Louis, Missouri, but we have our share of criminals. Sometimes, you just have to stop and say, “What is he thinking?”

We apparently have a criminal here who, although he sports a goatee, likes to dress up in a skirt and woman’s scarf, and rob stores. And not just any stores. The first one he robbed was a clothing store named The Hustler Hollywood Boutique. The next week, he robbed a store called Work Wear For Less. Not sure what kind of “Work Wear” they sell there, but I wonder if there’s a pattern here. He’s not stealing clothes, though, he’s stealing cash. He waits for the cashier to open the register, then he pulls a long barreled shot gun out of his skirt (haha, sorry, that just makes me chuckle!) and robs them.

So this story just begs one to wonder: Is he gender confused? Is he trying to “find himself” amidst criminal behavior and cross dressing? What was his childhood like? Does he have Mommy issues? What’s with the goatee? Does he just like the skirt because it hides the gun better? But wouldn’t a pair of sweats work just as well? And then why accessorize with a scarf also?

I NEED ANSWERS HERE!!!

Of course, others need to weigh in also on the newspaper’s website. The best comments both came from Charles Hendrickson who said “At least he hasn’t kilt anyone” and “He’s trying to skirt the law.” Way to go, Charles!

I am anxiously waiting for his next move. Maybe he’ll try wearing stilettos and trip while running away! We can only hope!

Karen

Tuesday Tidbit- It's always more than we think

When Karen and I first started our business together, it seemed so easy. Boy were we naive. Our deal was,"I'll write it, you sell it, we'll be a hit."

We honestly believed it. We should have known better. I , being a songwriter should have known better. After all, great songs are not written, they are rewritten and rewritten oh and one more time, rewritten. I can't think of a song where the first draft was perfect- unless you are Mozart, and that's a whole different league.

So here at Karmel Publishing, we've been retooling . Another draft, another idea, how do we make this better? That is the American mantra, isn't it? Better, faster, cheaper, easier, smarter. We want it all with the push of a button, the flick of the remote control, just give me a magic pill please. Watching the Olympics, I am reminded that it's just not that way. We see the ten minutes of someone's four to eight year dream. Ten minutes vs. four to eight years. . . .

We are definitely excited about the way the series is shaping up and how our new website is going to look. We've been at it this for a while now, and I'm beginning to see that what we now have is what we meant to have in the first place. Does that somehow make the other editions and versions null and void? Not in the least. In my writing world, we call it "Daring To Suck" so that we can get to the really good line, the amazing idea, the best version yet.

All this time, Karen and I have been hanging in there, and I do believe, yes, I really believe, this is the final, best version, the complete realization of what The Caregiver Organizer is supposed to be. And we can't wait to show it to you.

Look for our new website coming in early March,

Melissa

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE

It occurred to me that I haven’t given you an update on my weight loss lately. I thought about this for 2 reasons. One is that I hit another major goal, but I’ll tell you about that in a minute. The other reason is that in my Weight Watchers meeting last week, the leader asked us about “going public” with our weight loss journeys. She was talking about whether we share with friends, etc, but here was me, chiming up saying “Oh yeah, I tweet and facebook about it. Heck, I even blog about my weight loss!” When everyone stared at me like I had grown horns, I explained that the more people who know, the more accountable I am to them, and the less likely I am to gain the weight back. I just don’t want to be embarrassed basically!

So here’s my latest weight loss update:

I’ve hit 40 pounds!!!

Just for fun, I thought I’d post all my different head shots that I’ve used over the past year or so for my profile pics. (I really show my weight loss in my face!) So here goes:

LOOK, I went from 3 chins to only 1!!!!

So that’s my self-pat-on-the-back for the day! Anyone else who needs a pat on the back, just post it here and you’ll get one from me!

Karen

Friday Funnies!

Sorry I'm a bit late today. Z2 came home from school today after throwing up. She seemed absolutely fine until about an hour after she ate. She came running up the stairs and before she could make it to the bathroom, well, it was over. All over. Everything and everywhere. Poor girl. No fever, so I think it's just a bit of the stomach flu. Hope it passes quickly and without infecting everyone else.

You know, when we had Z2, I thought,"Wow, a girl! All ribbons and bows and pink and polite and. . . " I could go on and on, but you get the picture. I had no idea- NO EARTHLY CLUE- what little girls could be like. That child can out burp her brother and match him step for step where bathroom humor is concerned. Imagine this scene that took place earlier in the week. . . .

I'm sitting at the kitchen table, minding my own business. My bouncy girl comes bounding in and says,"Hey Mom! Slideshow!" As I turn my head her way she drops her pants and flashes me and pulls them up quicker than a blink, laughing hysterically the entire time.

Mmmhmm. . . sugar and spice and everything nice. HA!

Yours, hoping my Z2 will bounce back soon,

Melissa

Thursday Thoughts- I agree, Karen

Valentine's Day- yep, it's definitely for us women. I, too, made the mistake of telling him not to get me roses for Valentine's Day. I mean, why would I want something that is three times its normal cost that will die in 3-5 days? This year, I'm telling him I want a rose (in addition to whatever other gift he chooses. A diamond will do just fine, honey!) . Just a single one will do. He can bring me another bouquet next month when flowers return to their normal price. :-)

I'm wondering if he has remembered that this Sunday is Valentine's Day. He should. I mean, he took our son out to buy a special Valentine for a girl in his class tonight. Just a small heart-shaped sucker, but if he forgets it now, DH is doomed.

I already have his gift, wrapped even, in my bedside table. I even have a card. I'm wondering if he will wait until Saturday or do something like take us away for an evening. Don't get me wrong- I do like getting away for an evening. And maybe I'm wrong or being selfish or whatever you want to call it, but somehow, when the gift benefits both of us, I feel a little bit like I got the short end of the stick. Is it wrong to want a gift that is for me and only me? Call me crazy, but I'm betting there are some ladies out there who know what I mean.

Anyone?

In the meantime, I'll be making sure Karen's DH has this Sunday covered. Even if I end up being the one who does the ordering for him. We women have to stick together.

Yours, wondering what Sunday will bring,

Melissa

VALENTINE’S DAY IS FOR THE CHICKS!

How is it, that after almost 15 years of marriage, my husband still does not get this?

VALENTINE’S DAY IS FOR ME!

NOT HIM!

HOW MUCH MORE CLEAR CAN I BE?

This is a girlie holiday, no matter how you look at it. I mean really… hearts, flowers, cuddly stuffed animals, mushy cards. What man wants these things?

Yet every year I have to remind him that Valentine’s Day is coming up and yes, I am one of those women who expects things. It doesn’t have to be big or expensive. A small, yet fragrant, token of his love is fine. (Do you want me to actually pick it out and charge it to your credit card for you? Would that help? Sheesh!)

One year I made the mistake of telling him not to get me roses because they died too quickly. Somehow he translated this into not getting me flowers of any kind (amazing how the male mind works) and it took me a good 5 years to rearrange the brain cells back into the correct order to know that not all flowers are bad.

Now, in his defense, I have to tell you that since we have had kids, we are not a gift-giving couple. We generally don’t exchange gifts for birthdays or Christmas, etc., unless the “kids” are giving it to us. But to me, Valentine’s Day is different. Why? Because the commercials tell us that we have to show our love by buying stuff, that’s why. Duh! No really, I have no idea why it’s different to me, it just is! It’s sweet somehow, amidst the commercialism of it all.

So if any of you out there know my DH, please clue him in. After all these years, I’m really tired of having to do it myself!

Karen

Tuesday Tidbit- An Organized Snow Day?

All day yesterday I kept waiting for it to start snowing. There's something about snow days that just brings excitement. You would think I was still in third grade, the way I love snow days. I wait at the window like a puppy waiting for their best friend to come home. Waiting, peering, looking, searching. . . And then I see it. The first stray snowflake. It slowly drifts downward, followed by a few friends, eager to be the first to fall to the ground. And within seconds the sky is transformed into a magical place, full of wonder and mystery and the beautiful, magical crystals begin covering everything they fall upon.

A winter wonderland. An ice kingdom. A cozy home with a fireplace, hot cocoa and two children who have the day off from school.

Aw heck. What do I do now?!?!?!?! It was all sounding so fairy tale until that last part of the sentence. Never fear, I've come up with snow day solutions.

Things to do on a snow day:

Make them go outside and sled, build snowmen, forts and whatever else they can do. If they complain, they can stay inside and clean baseboards. Odds are, they will happily, cheerfully make their way outside. Or you'll get clean baseboards. Either way, you come out ahead.

Pull out every game you own- BOARD GAMES, that is. I'm holding off on the electronics until I am absolutely desperate. This is always a good day to sort through your toy piles as well. They'll play with things they haven't seen in months and before you know it, they are completely occupied. you'll get some toys sorted and weeded out and they will enjoy playing with some toys. And if they refuse to give something up, wait until they go back to school to put it in the give away pile. Chances are, they'll never miss it.

Puzzles are a great way to spend time together and still not be a complete vegetable. And it's easy to take a break from and come back. All day long. Before you know it, it starts coming together and everyone is trying to finish it.

Do a kid switch if possible. I have a couple of families close by that have kids the same age. I trade my son for their daughter and instant playdate. It's a snow day dream.

That's about as organized as a snow day gets around here. Beyond that, I say it's movies and coca as much as you want. :-)

Yours, waiting to see the school closings list for the day,

Melissa

SUPERBOWL RECAP

In my opinion, there are 3 reasons we watch the Superbowl, or go to Superbowl parties:

1. The Game

2. The Food

3. The Commercials

So now that it’s the day after, let’s see how we did!

The Game: It was a GREAT game! Even though Peyton The Colts didn’t win, I think that New Orleans really needed this more than Indie did. It was much more emotional for them and for Drew Brees, and I’m really happy for them. And how cute was that when Drew was holding his 1 year old son, who was wearing a little Brees jersey?

The Food: Most of you know that I’ve been on Weight Watchers over the past year or so, so the food at our house wasn’t great. Not awful, but could have been better! I let hubby buy a platter at Sam’s with turkey, ham, pepperoni and different cheeses, and I bought some big shrimp to go with it. Then for the kids we got these mini burgers which were just AWFUL (so at least I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything!). Notice a theme here? Get everything at Sam’s, and there’s no cooking!

The Commercials: TOTALLY DISAPPOINTED!!! Okay, first of all, since I don’t watch too much TV, I have to wonder: are the only shows on CBS the CSI and NCIS series? Because that seems to be all I saw EVERY. COMMERCIAL. BREAK. Secondly, what happened to all the funny Superbowl commercials? E*Trade and Doritos were about the only ones who made a real effort to make me laugh. My personal favorites: E*Trade’s baby one with the “girlfriend” and Dorito’s one with the little boy. (Thanks to Angie and Margee for reminding me about that one!)

So all in all, it wasn’t one of my best Superbowl Sundays, but it faired okay. Maybe by next year I’ll be able to eat more of what I want (within reason, of course), the Rams might be playing in the Superbowl (BWAAAAHAHAHAHA… tears streaming down my face!!!!!) and the economy will be picking up so companies will spend more on the commercials!

Until then, thank goodness for the NFL channel so we don’t have to go without until next August!

Karen

Friday Funnies!

My children have been relatively tame lately (she said with the greatest of caution in her voice), so enjoy a few of these anecdotes. . . .

While I sat in the reception area of my doctor's office, a woman rolled

an elderly man in a wheelchair into the room. As she went to the

receptionist' s desk, the man sat there, alone and silent. Just as I

was thinking I should make small talk with him, a little boy slipped

off his mother's lap and walked over to the wheelchair. Placing his

hand on the man's, he said, 'I know how you feel. My mom makes me ride

in the stroller too.'.

* * *

As I was nursing my baby, my cousin's six-year-old daughter, Krissy,

came into the room. Never having seen anyone breast feed before, she

was intrigued and full of all kinds of questions about what I was

doing. After mulling over my answers, she remarked, 'My mom has some of

those, but I don't think she knows how to use them.'

* * *

Out bicycling one day with my eight-year-old granddaughter, Carolyn, I

got a little wistful. 'In ten years,' I said, 'you'll want to be with

your friends and you won't go walking, biking, and swimming with me

like you do now. Carolyn shrugged. 'In ten years you'll be too old to

do all those things anyway.'

* * *

Working as a pediatric nurse, I had the difficult assignment of giving

immunization shots to children. One day I entered the examining room

to give four-year-old Lizzie her needle. 'No, no, no!' she screamed.

'Lizzie,' scolded her mother, 'that's not polite behavior.' With that,

the girl yelled even louder, 'No, thank you! No, thank you!

* * *

On the way back from a Cub Scout meeting, my grandson asked my son the

question. 'Dad, I know that babies come from mommies' tummies, but how

do they get there in the first place?' he asked innocently. After my

son hemmed and hawed awhile, my grandson finally spoke up in disgust.

'You don't have to make something up, Dad. It's OK if you don't know

the answer.'

* * *

Just before I was deployed to Iraq , I sat my eight-year-old son down

and broke the news to him. 'I'm going to be away for a long time,' I

told him. 'I'm going to Iraq .' 'Why?' he asked, 'don't you know

there's a war going on over there?'

* * *

Paul Newman founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children

stricken with cancer, AIDS and blood diseases. One afternoon he and

his wife, Joanne Woodward, stopped by to have lunch with the kids. A

counselor at a nearby table, suspecting the young patients wouldn't

know that Newman was a famous movie star, explained, 'That's the man

who made this camp possible. Maybe you've seen his picture on his

salad dressing bottle?' Blank stares. 'Well, you've probably seen his

face on his lemonade carton.' An eight-year-old girl perked up. 'How

long was he missing?'

* * *

His wife's grave side service was just barely finished, when there was

a massive clap of thunder, followed by a tremendous bolt of lightning,

accompanied by even more thunder rumbling in the distance. The little

old man looked at the pastor and calmly said, 'Well, she's there.

Yours, wishing you happiness for your weekend,

Melissa

Thursday Thoughts- THAT'll Clear Your Arteries!

Wednesday afternoon, 4:15. The sitter is walking in with Z2 from the bus stop. Wait a minute- where's Z1? He's not with you? Didn't he get off the bus? No? Are you sure you didn't see him? Oh no! Where is my Z1?

Complete panic attack ensues. I immediately call the school. The School Secretary Extraordinaire answers. "Now just calm down, it will be okay. I haven't lost a kid in over 20 years."

Breathing. . . .

Not really.

In those few moments my world was completely turned inside out and I couldn't think straight. All I could think is,"Where is my baby?!?!?!?"

I started calling my friends who I thought maybe he went home with their son. No one had seen him.

It seemed like forever, but it only took about twenty VERY LONG MINUTES to find him. He has gotten on a mislabeled bus that his regular driver was driving for another route. Thankfully she knew exactly who he was, where he lived and radioed in immediately and brought him straight home. Of course, during those 20 VERY LLONG MINUTES the only thing I could think about was Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Owenby- two area children who had been abducted (and thankfully, exceptionally, they were found).

Nothing like separating a mother and child to get the blood moving to every part of your body and clear out the arteries. After it was all over, I was glad I had filled out those pages on Child ID. Because it would have taken me precious, precious minutes to regain my thought process and think about all of those details about my baby.

Go write it down now. Today. And hug your kids for all they're worth, because they are worth so much more than we realize some days.

Yours, thankful- just really thankful,

Melissa

HOW NOT TO PLAN A VACATION…

A day in my life of vacation planning…

Yesterday morning (on the phone):

Me: Based on the condo availability and airfare rates, we can only go to Miami from late Monday afternoon to Friday evening, which would give us 4 full days there.

Him: Would the kids rather go to Orlando?

Me: I’ll ask.

(10 minutes later, I call him back.)

Me: The kids would rather go to the beach.

Him: Okay.

Me: Are you sure?

Him: Yes (distracted, since he’s at work now)

Me: Are you REALLY SURE? It’s only 4 days.

Him: It’s fine (still distracted).

I buy the tickets on line, but have learned my lesson with the whole Sister’s Trip to Mexico During The Swine Flu Craze, and purchase the insurance for $100.

Dinnertime:

Him: I don’t know, 4 days isn’t very long.

Me: (silence)

Him: What if we just went back to Tampa?

Me: (after long pause) Well, you DO realize that I already purchased non-refundable tickets (not letting on that I bought the insurance) and it took me forever to find a condo to rent because everyone is already full since it’s spring break?

Him: Why don’t you just take a look anyway?

Me: (silence, with evil eyes)

Him: Well, it’s just not really worth going for only 4 days there.

Me: You do this EVERY time, you know.

Him: (totally innocent) I do WHAT every time?

Me: You say you want to go somewhere, I research and research, I wait for you to look over what I’ve found to get your opinion, you wait and wait to even look at it, let alone give me any opinion, which usually is just a quick “fine”, then at the last minute you complain about what I have booked. Wouldn’t it just be easier to give me your opinion while I’m still making arrangements?

Him: I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why don’t you just look into Tampa? (Avoidance? A little bit!)

Me: Fine. Whatever.

Him: I don’t know why this is such a big deal.

Me: Just stop talking now.

Him: Are you trying to make a fight out of this? (Is he kidding me?)

Me: Really, don’t say another word to me.

I spend the rest of the night researching airfares and condos.

The moral of my story? It doesn’t matter how organized I try to be sometimes; DH can be there to mess it up for me!

Karen

Tuesday Tidbit- Punxsutawney Phil!

Today is Groundhog Day. I'm looking forward to see what Punxsutawney Phil has to say. For once, I wouldn't mind if Spring came a little early. Here in The Lou, it's mostly cold and very, very little snow. Snow, I love. The frigid, bone chilling cold without the beautiful white stuff? Well, it makes me a little cranky.

Ever see the movie with Bill Murray by the title of Groundhog Day? HiLARious. But the point is wonderful. Getting to have a do over until you get it right and find out what really, truly matters. Today, February 2nd, 2010, I declare it to be "Do Over Day!" Fallen off your New Year's Resolutions once again? No worries. It's do over day, and we get to get back on track. Still trying to get organized? We're here to help. Still holdin' out for that dream? We'll hold out with you. Whatever you find yourself discouraged about or feeling like you are failing at, take heart. Today is DO OVER DAY (also known as Groundhog Day) and we are believing for an early Spring.

Yours, making my own Do Over list,

Melissa

P.S. This just in- Punxsutawney Phil SAW HIS SHADOW. This means six more weeks of winter. Wasn't what I was hoping for, but on the bright side, maybe I'll see a few good snows (that means 3-6 inches of a snow that packs for making snowmen) after all.

GYM ETIQUETTE!

I know it’s January, and all you people have made these grandiose New Years Resolutions to lose weight and get into shape, but do you have to do it at MY gym? Let me tell you, I am NOT HAPPY when I can’t get a bike at spin class, even though I show up a good 10 minutes early. (Well, okay, maybe only 3 minutes early sometimes, but that’s not really the point here, is it?)

So even though I know that most of you will be gone in another month or so, I feel it’s my duty (for my own sanity) to give you some Gym Etiquette Guidelines:

1. In the locker room, mind your space. This means, do not spread your stuff out on the bench like you’re the only one there. There is one bench in each row for about 75 lockers, so YOU ARE NOT ALONE! If you go to the shower, either take your stuff with you, or put it back in your locker. When you leave, put your towel in the bin. Nobody else wants to touch your sweaty towel, believe me! Oh, and I know it’s a locker room, but please cover up. It makes some people a bit uncomfortable when you walk around in the buff. Save that for home.
2. If you are saving a bike or a place in a class for somebody else, that’s perfectly fine, up until 5 minutes before the class starts. Then give it up for someone who really wants to be there. There is nothing more frustrating (okay, there are a lot more frustrating things than this, but I’m trying to make a point) than your friend not showing up and a bike or a space going unused in class.
3. This one I cannot stress enough: wipe off your equipment after you use it. Nobody wants to use your sweaty barbells or get on a wet cardio machine after you. Really!
4. You all know to use deodorant, right? Here’s another one. Do NOT try to cover up body odor with perfume or aftershave. Sweat and sweet do not mix, and we really don’t want to smell it. Ever.

Okay, I think these are the high points. As somebody who has been working very, very hard to lose weight and get into shape, I applaud all you newbie's at my gym. Really! Just remember your manners and we’ll get along just fine!

Oh, and keep up the good work!

Karen