Thursday Thoughts

At the moment, my thoughts are about my kids. Not too surprising, I AM a mom. Today I am an out of town mom. My girlfriend is keeping my two hooligans today. My thoughts are something like this:

"I hope they put on clean underwear." 

"I hope Z1 is not wearing more than one pair of underwear." (He did it again just the other day- put on every pair of underwear he owned! What's the deal? "Y" Chromosome, I rest my case.)

"I hope Z2 keeps her Aflac Duck voice under control."

"I should have packed more wine in her gift bag."

Here's hoping they all survive and a publisher likes one (or two or all) of my songs enough to pick it up,

Melissa

HACK, HACK, HACK…OY!

What in the heck is this world coming to? With every new product or service, come new criminals. And they are SMART! I’m on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, not to mention Ebay, Paypal and a few others. So far, my accounts on Facebook and Twitter have been hacked into, as well as my husband’s Ebay accounts. And not only do we have to deal with the actual hacking, but then we have to encounter CUSTOMER SERVICE (play Jaws theme music here).

So I’ll tell you a bit about the scams. On Twitter, it wasn’t so bad. Well, except for the personal violation of it all. But all the hacker did was pretend to be me and advertise some stupid “Get More Followers” system. Whatever. I deleted the tweets and changed my password.

But Facebook was WAY more personal. The hacker, posing as me, went online, found a friend who was also online and started IM-ing him. He tried to convince my friend that I was stranded in London and needed him to wire me $900 immediately. Luckily, my friend isn’t a total idiot, and called me first. But apparently this scam is so popular, Facebook has it’s own name for it – The 419 Scam. Here’s an article from MSNBC’s website on it. It also goes into how difficult it is to talk to Facebook’s Customer Service. Woops, did I say TALK? Forgive me for that blunder. Facebook has NO telephone support, only email support.

Okay, the business side of me says, “Well, it IS a free service after all.” But the personal side of me wants to know why, when they even have special names for scams, do they not have telephone support at least for these?

So let’s move on to Ebay. This has happened to my husband TWICE in a month. Somebody hacks into his account, sells a bunch of stuff under his user name, collects the money and never sends any product. So my DH gets bad feedback (and if you know anything about Ebay, you know that feedback is UBER important) and the threat of Ebay shutting down his account. BUT AT LEAST THEY HAVE TELEPHONE SUPPORT! (Okay, it’s in another country, but that’s a whole other blog post.)

Okay, I’ve ranted and raved enough about this. Thanks for indulging me. I do have a point to this though, and here it is:

To Hackers: You are so smart. Why not use your intelligence for good? You could be so successful in this technical world. I bet any of these sites would LOVE to hire you to protect themselves against people like you. I’m just saying…

Karen

Tuesday Debate- This Just P#!@%s Me OFF!

Okay, this just flat out pisses me off. Seriously, it makes me want to vomit.

Octomom just inked a Reality TV Deal. Somebody tell me she wasn't in it for the money. And I've got a bridge, or two, or eight, to sell you. Honestly. I could be wrong, but it certainly seems as if all of these kids were conceived and birthed for the sole purpose of satisfying this chick's need for attention and fame.  

Excuse me while I hang my head in the porcelain bowl. I'm thinking right now that Family Services should consider stepping in. Got an opinion? Let's chat.

Yours, 

Melissa

WEIGHT WATCHERS UPDATE!

I’ve been going to Weight Watchers for a month now and I’m up to 5 pounds lost. Woo Hoo!!!! Thanks to everyone who’s cheering me on!

But I have to tell you about my weigh-in on Friday and my subsequent weekend. When I got weighed last Friday, I had only lost 1/2 pound, which really depressed me. I thought I had been doing so well last week, how in the world could I have only lost 1/2 pound? (Okay, so I had my hand in the Lucky Charms box more than a few times. And I guess all those ZERO point foods start adding up, but still…) So I sulked all day Friday, feeling sorry for myself and wondering if it was all worth it.

But then Saturday afternoon I started to get ready for dinner out with the  family and thought I would just try on a couple pairs of capris that had been too tight. AND THEY FIT!!! Not only did they fit, but they were almost on the LOOSE side! I was so excited I was dancing around the house!

So the moral of the story? How much I weigh is JUST A NUMBER. It all has to do with how I FEEL and how my pants fit!

Karen (still smiling!)

Friday Funny! My Son, the Problem Solver

So Sunday morning I was asleep in the basement. (Not to worry- it's finished. I was not sleeping in a cellar). and I awoke to the sound of the Aflac Duck. Except two octaves higher and five minutes longer. My daughter, Z2, was on the second floor, screaming at her brother, Z1.  Seriously, she sounded like a pterodactyl on attack. Not something you want to hear even on mornings when you have gotten sleep (which I hadn't, but that's an entirely different post).

So I trudge up the stairs and sort it out. Well, kind of, I think. It is hard to remember in my sleep deprived stupor. I feel my way back downstairs into the kitchen where I proceed to grope my way to the coffee maker.  Make some coffee, just getting ready to sit down when my son, Z1 comes up to me with duct tape and scissors.

"Here, Mom," he says. "You can tape her mouth shut. I'll help. I've always wanted to."

I am not even lying!   What the heck do you say to that?

Yours, wondering what day I will wake up and find a tape-induced silence in the house,

Melissa

Thursday Thoughts- I Mean, REALLY

You know, in the last forty years, we have put men on the moon, all but eliminated some diseases, have made staying connected a source of instant gratification through facebook and Blackberries. We can get almost anything instantly.

Yet for some unknown reason, we have yet to invent stay put underwear. You know- the kind that doesn't crawl up your hiney (yes, it is pronounced HI-nee) all summer long.

I mean, REALLY, NASA, where ARE your priorities?!?!? 

Sheesh! 

And don't even get me started on the fact that sprinkler systems don't come with motion detectors for the runners who run past them at 6 in the morning.  After all, garage lights have motion detectors. . .  it ain't rocket science!

Yours, trying to keep my underwear in the right place and my face straight,

Melissa

LET'S GET READY FOR KINDERGARTEN!

***THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED***

Do you know a child going into Kindergarten this fall? It’s a lot harder now than when we were in Kindergarten. Schools must comply with the “no child left behind” policies, so we, as parents, need to prepare them for this curriculum in advance.

Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten (in English and Spanish) and Let’s Get Ready for First Grade can help you get your kids ready for what’s to come in the year ahead. Each of these books focuses on the skills needed when entering these grades.

Stacey Kannenberg of Cedar Valley Publishing has put a great deal of research and thought into these books. From the Cedar Valley Kids and their teacher Mrs. Good guiding your child through the book, to the parent/caregiver tips helping us work with our kids, she has thought of it all. The books are colorful and appealing to children, which makes them seem less like schoolwork and more like funtime!. And best of all, the pages are designed to use a dry erase marker so each book can be used over and over again. Because these are such heavy-duty pages, it’s next to impossible to tear them. (Okay, let’s face it, if they REALLY want to tear the pages, they’ll find a way, but at least this makes it more difficult for them!)

Some of the topics covered in the Kindergarten book are the alphabet in upper and lower case, shapes, colors, numbers, money, and so much more. My kids loved these books, and I loved knowing they would have some of the necessary skills needed in the classroom.

Oh, and one more thing that this Mom-turned-author-publisher-consultant-public speaker does: She donates 10% of her profits to various literacy programs. WOW!

GIVEAWAY:

Stacey has generously offered a set of Let’s Get Ready books for one lucky winner. This includes the Kindergarten book in either English or Spanish and the First Grade Book. The contest will end on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at midnight CST, when the winner will be picked at random.

HOW TO ENTER:

Primary Entry: Go to the Cedar Valley Publishing website to check out what they have to offer. Let me know what part of either of the books is your favorite.

*This entry is mandatory to allow additional entries!

Additional Entries (be sure to leave a comment for each entry):

• Subscribe to my blog via email
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• Follow me on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway (remember to use @karmelpub when tweeting) up to once per day
• Blog about this giveaway and provide a link back to here
• Grab our button and place on your blog

This contest is open to everyone, regardless of where you live (how nice is THAT?).

(I will send out an email to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)