TGIF, Dance like no one is watching.

I purchased a new CD this week. You are welcome for my help in stimulating the economy.

No, I am not a huge MJ fan, but I do LIKE most of his oldies.

Really, my main reason for this purchase was for for Linds. She is going to do the THRILLER in the fall with her dance group. This dance was planned prior to MJ’s passing.

As a bonus, it is nice for me to get some new songs on my IPod…nothing like some new music to get me moving on the tread torture mill.

Have you ever seen someone dance and walk quickly on an incline on their treadmill ? That is what I do. It is a really good workout…I sweat like a, like a, um like a girl walking uphill and dancing at the same time. If you want to see, click HERE.

Did you see how much I am sweating?I love dancing so much that I ignore the sweating part.

Pretty silly huh?

What? You could not see anything?????

You really did not think I would post that for the world to see did you? I am silly, not crazy.

Quite the joker huh? Yes, I need my own stage..darnit I need ONE. :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

I wish for you all to find joy in the little things in life; love from your family and friends, laughter whenever you can get it and remember to always dance like no one is watching, because in reality, NO ONE IS WATCHING!!! (unless you post it on your blog!!)

Happy Friday!!!

I wanted to be Kelly.

When I was around 4, my Mom took me shopping at the Palm Beach mall. She thought it would be a good idea to go into the Jordan Marsh department store and try on clothes.

Silly woman.

Oh, how I loved that store. Not only did they sell clothes, TOYS, perfume and shoes, they also had a lunch counter. I think they may have had the best girl cheese grilled cheese sandwiches ever.

On this particular day, as Mom and I were in the dressing room, and I already had my fill of grilled cheese, I decided that I was bored to tears with her trying on clothes.

So, I made a break for it. I easily climbed out of my stroller, for I am part monkey.

It was so easy to escape my cell underneath the door, especially when my captor was naked.

These are the things I did to her, but secretly I think she enjoyed all the chases I put her through. Really, how else would a young mom get her daily exercise????

I remember bits and pieces of this day, but as my Mom tells the story I think it gets better each time.

I vaguely remember wandering through the clothes dept.

I vaguely remember crossing over the little wishing pond in the middle of the mall, you know the area that I dreamt of falling into and collecting all the shiny coins from.

I vaguely remember the smell of burning candles, pretty colors and twinkling lights.

Then I remember people asking me questions: what is your name? where is your Mommy? How old are you?

Alas, I found myself in the Wicks n Sticks store.

"Why hello nice people, my name is Kelly and I am 9 years old."

YES, I was a big fat little liar.

According to my Mom, it took about 42 deputies and all of the mall staff to find me in about 20 minutes.

Prior to Amber alert days, you could get away with more stuff. Those were the good ol’ days.

I was a bad girl.

And the name Kelly? Who knows where that came from, at the time, I don't think we knew a Kelly yet.

A year or two later, I changed my name to Cindy.
Cindy Brady, that was me.

The funny part of this? Today, when I venture to the mall, I still end up in the candle store.

Minus security.

Hey!!! There is Cindy..or is that Kelly????

How did you traumatize your parents???

C’mon, I know you did, I was not the only trouble child...was I????

Blonde Moment #12

See this almost organized drawer?

This is the bottom drawer at my sit down ‘get all prettied up’ vanity.
It is directly next to the shower. This drawer contains all my hair stuff….well 99% is hair magic making items. Combs, brushes, gel, mousse, spray, goop etc…
The 1% of non hair stuff is my shaving cream.
I don’t keep the shaving cream in the shower, because, well, that would be clutter. You know how I feel about clutter. I keep the shaving cream with my hair stuff and on the rare occasion I shave my legs, I can easily reach it while showering.

Don’t these two items look identical? Yeah, right.
The one on the left is hairspray. I use it on very rare occasions too, living in hot, humid Florida, hairspray is kind of a joke!
The item on the right is my shaving cream.
Identical? not so much.
I learned a very fine lesson recently… I should think about wearing my glasses when I am doing my hair…that way I would not accidentally spray a shot of shaving cream into my newly ‘did’ hair.
If you could have seen the look on my face when I realized what I did….if you could hear the words from my mouth…well, you would have stuck a bar of soap in there for my own good!
I had a flashback of when my Grandma picked up the ‘scrubbing bubbles’ bathroom cleaner and thought it was her can of aqua net. She made a mess of her hair and laughed like a crazy person. I never let her live it down.

I am my Grandma now.

In hindsight, spraying hairspray onto my legs while in the shower would have been a bit easier to handle....

I hope by sharing this with all of you will save you some trouble later. I can only hope.

X is for….

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

X is for hardly anything. Right?

For this week, X is for Cross stitch.

Betcha’ never thought I did stuff like that did you?

My Aunt Debbie taught me how to cross stitch when I was about 13.

Here is one I started:

Obviously the early 80’s. I loved unicorns and Pegasus's….didn’t everyone? It was taking me so long, I remember joking that I would get it done by the time I had a baby…HA HA! Perhaps I could get the babies to finish it for me????

Then I later hit a ‘country’ phase…but didn’t everyone?

I made these little guys while I was first starting out as a hairdresser…I had some waiting time on my hands. Between cross stitching and reading Danielle Steele books, I was never bored those early days. Broke? yes! bored? NO!

I got the girls each a small kit to work on this summer. Lauren finished hers and then left it in someone else's car. Lindsay’s is still in the plastic wrap.

Maybe it is not a craft for everyone????

I do know this…it is a craft for someone with GOOD EYES as I already have issues just threading a needle!

To see how others used the letter X today, visit Jen at A-Z mondays

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

TGIF. But what day is it?

I have had time issues before. Time slips by me. Time zooms by me. Time sneaks up and pinches me on the butt. This happens to all of us.

But have you ever given yourself TOO much time. Perhaps, you forgot you had MORE time? I did this very thing. And the funny part, I took my girls with me on my little time trip. Have a clue what I am talking about? Nah. You can’t.

The girls and I are taking a trip. We are leaving Wednesday. I am almost all ready. Flights booked. Car rented. Animals taken care of. Prescriptions picked up. Newspaper stopped. Mentally packed my bags. (I need a much bigger bag)

Then it hit me today. We are not leaving until NEXT Wednesday.

And yes, I have TWO calendars in the house. TWO.

Lindsay was mad about this because she is ready to go. TODAY!

Lauren was happy because she has deadlines to meet before we leave concerning her AP school work. My child has had school work all summer in preparation for her Junior year and AP classes.

Poor smart kid. Or smart poor kid?

Have I ever mentioned that I loathe flying. It is my biggest fear.

Well, falling out of the sky is really my biggest fear. If only there was a way to sedate myself and be a responsible adult at the same time.

The Coach will meet up with us later as we are heading to another destination.

Yep. Another flight. But I will have my ‘protector’ beside me. Plus, he used to work on airplanes for a living. What good does this do WHILE we are in the plane?? Not much, except calm my fears. Example:

Me: Hey, Hon, what was that noise? as I am white knuckling the armrest.

Coach: oh, that was the fuselage radiator sonic calculator adjusting to the altitude blah blah blah….Then I order wine.

You know I made up the airplane words right? Yeah I figured you would.

*****

Anyhoo, We are very excited. I am going to see my Mom, Aunt, Uncle and my cousins Patrick and Chris in Atlanta.

Then we are off to see some other place…it starts with a C and ends with an O.

Oh, crud, I just gave it away.

This adorable boy with ‘wharf breath’ is going to miss ME!

*****

A big shout out to my Aunt Trisha for tomorrow will be her birthday...."it's your birthday, we're gonna party like it's your birthday"...I hope you have a fantastic day!

I owe you many thanks for helping to guide me through my younger years...teaching me simple things like the art of laughing at yourself, manners, making a bed (nurses corners) and for heavens sakes, if not for you, I would not know the proper way to set a table.....could you imagine our Thanksgivings without a proper table setting????

:)

We can't wait to see you!! XOXOXOXO

*****

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

I have read a few blogs this week with folks losing loved ones and family friends…this really breaks my heart and my thoughts and prayers are with you and your families.

Life is so fragile. We must handle it with care.

Makes me want to put those ‘Fragile handle with care!!’ stickers all over everyone. No, that would not be weird at all.

I wish for all of you precious time with your family & friends, an infectious song in your heart and a genuine smile on your face.

Embracing is hard work.

I realized lately that I have become a cat-basher. I used to be a cat lover.

I won’t link to all the recent posts that I complained about the 3 felines living in our home..

I am going to start anew; fresh.

I have decided to embrace the cats and see if this would change their attitude and in turn make my outlook about them a bit better too.

So, embrace I did.

I embraced Maisy.

I received a growl and a hiss.

Well, perhaps I am not doing this embracing the proper way, so I tried again…

I now embraced Krispy.

I received a squirm, a low growl and a weird meow type noise, followed by a ‘death stare.’

This embracing is tougher than I imagined. But I forged on, determined now. Maybe I am not embracing hard enough???

One last try, I then embraced Harley.

I received a growl, a hiss, a squirm and a weird gurgling noise, followed immediately by vomit on my foot.

I am done embracing them. Back to the cat bashing.

My arms are sore.

I have a peeping Tom. or Tammy.

When we remodeled our master bath a few months ago, we removed the blinds in the Water closet. (A polite way to say toilet room)

This doesn't bother me, I don’t think a human can see in…unless they are camping out in the woods next door with a fabulous set of binoculars.(or perched under the window waiting for me to enter)

9 times out of 10, this is the sight I see when I enter the water closet.

Can you see the reptile?

Do you see Tom? Or Tammy?

How about now???

Sometimes there are two of them and I can’t tell you what they are doing. Well, I could, but I don’t want to compete with National Geographic.

He/She is always there…just staring at me…on the pretense that he/she is only here to catch some bugs… yeah, bugs huh?

Me, being the 12 year old that I am, I ALWAYS come to the same exact thought when I see he/she…I always wonder:

How can you tell if A lizard is a boy or a girl?????

What do you think? Is this a he or a she??? I suppose I could research it and learn, but then what would I think when I went into the water closet?

I mean, if it looked anything like that Zebra at Busch Gardens Then I would not even have to wonder.

Why does my brain work like this?

Will I still have these zany thoughts when I am 90???

Y is for

The YO YO Man: Tommy Smothers.

I remember watching The Smothers Brothers comedy hour as a kid.

Tommy and Dick smothers were & are very funny, charismatic men. Their show was canceled by CBS because at the time, they were considered controversial. They combined their comedy acts and songs with up and coming musicians, such as The Doors, The Beatles, The Who and more..

Whenever I think of a Yo Yo, I think of Tommy Smothers...which in turn reminds me of their comedy!

I was never good at the yo yo, unless making knots is considered good!!!

Here is a you tube clip of them performing. Tommy starts his Yo Yo around 1:25.

I just love his expressions...too cute.

If the video does not show up on your browser (I am having issues with IE) follow this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR39tRbDcBk

While researching them, I found out that they are still touring today!!!!

I may have to introduce them to my girls!!

Nothing to do with YoYo’s but here they are on Craig Ferguson…still funny as heck!!!

They are so darn cute, I want to have them over for coffee and cookies.

Did I say cookies and coffee??? I meant wine and cheese, but you knew that!!!

If this does not make you laugh out loud, please call 911, you might be dead.

Again, if the video does not show up, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4qDZ4B1kww&feature=channel

Happy Monday!!!

To see how other folks used the letter Y this week, visit Jen at A-Z mondays!

TGIF, Takers Annoy Me.

*****

Every week, I seem to come to the same thought: I am not going to blog anymore.

I am not going to post. I am NOT. I am out of things to say. REALLY.

And here I am.

I wonder what the same 4 people who come here each day would do if I just stopped?

Live a fulfilling normal life without reading my muckity muck? Yes.

I just realized today is my 300th post. Gosh, you would think I would just *shut up* already.

But NO. I keep coming back just a babbling away.

*****

::::warning::::

I feel the need to take a load off my chest, a chip off my shoulder, an annoying pebble out of my sock.

Hold on to your Mumu. Run on sentence alert!!

I realize this world is made up of many different types of people…but sometimes people can be summed up as 2 different types:

The givers and The takers.

I am a giver. My husband is a giver.

I have issues with takers always taking and never giving and taking so much that when you scale back your giving to the takers then the takers pout. Catch my drift?

I know being a giver is the best way to be, but I get annoyed sometimes.

Takers should be appreciative of the givers. Takers should realize that THEY are takers.

I will leave it at that.

Ok, now I almost feel better. almost.

But my fingers hurt now.

And you thought I was all rainbows and lemon drops. Fooled ya. :)

*****

ON a happier note, we had some aliens in the pool this week.

Happy Friday ya’ll!

I wish for you a weekend full of fun times, surrounded by people who don’t suck the life out of you and folks who appreciate you!!

Anything fun and exciting that I will be missing???

A very special person…

I may have mentioned a time or two or three how I hit the jackpot with In-laws.

No? well, I hit the jack pot with in laws.

Coach’s Mom has a birthday on Friday.

She reads the blog on occasion, to see what we are up to. She recently upgraded to a laptop and has wireless service at her lake house…So, I hope she reads this!!!

For Sue’s birthday ..

Thank you for being a wonderful friend to me, from day ONE.

Thank you for being so patient, kind and ALWAYS available to us and the girls.

Thank you for setting such a great example of being such a giving person…all the time.

Thank you for not holding it against us for moving to Texas on your birthday way back in 1991. (you have forgiven us? right?)

Thank you for thinking that I am a very patient Mother.

And mostly,

Thank you for raising a wonderful son who is a fantastic husband and devoted father.

It is all because of you, that I now have this amazing family. Yes, you.

ps. I also realized I don’t have many pictures of you. With your eyes open. :)

Happy Birthday!!! We love you!!!

I wish for you a great day and a fantastic year to come!

Tootsie Toes...

Can you guess which toes are mine?

Ok, maybe the fur gave it away.

If you have Podophobia (fear of feet) I apologize immensely.

The birthday Party(s) !!

When your sweet 16 party plans fall through, you move to plan B.

Plan B= a nice dinner party with your family and a few good friends at a Japanese teppan-style restaurant….

…You know, where they cook it SO hot and close, you feel like you might lose your eyelashes!! I swear, if I had a cooking surface like this…I could do damage wonders!

Our chef ‘Kenny’ was amazing, he really entertained us and we all ate well.

Gosh, she is so darn cute!

After a great dinner, we stopped at the store to pick up some ice cream.

Back home…the girls ate ice cream and opened gifts…ROCK BAND 2!!!!

They played rock band until Dad sent them to Bed at 1:30 am.

They are abruptly woken up (at 10:30am) on Sunday morning by 2 happy boxers and then are dragged taken to breakfast.

What? no one cooking our breakfast food AT OUR TABLE???

geeze what a let down.

This was only Saturday…her real birthday was not until MONDAY.

Poor kid. ;)

On Monday...her actual birthday we had some family and close friends over for dinner, swimming and dessert!!!

Just so you know…it is sooooo exhausting being 16…sometimes you can’t even hold up your own head!

The tired parents and the sweet 16 year old….well, the sweet part will come soon..right????? I kid, I kid, she is sweet….most of the time.

I love you LoLo…you are Da’Bomb!

Z is for…A very blonde moment?!?

Really, Z is for Zebras.

Zebras always bring to memory one of my biggest blonde moments ever, at least, according to my Mother. And to some unknown innocent bystanders.

When I was around the age of 19 my Mom and I took a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida. We were having a great visit this day, when we found ourselves near the Serengeti area and were mesmerized by all the large beasts that were all roaming together.

A large zebra was really close to us at the fence line and before my brain could tell my tongue to shut up I blurted this out:

“OH MY GOSH what is that hanging down by his belly?“

I think this is when reality set in for my Mom as she NOW realized she had forgotten one important step in my childhood:

THE TALK!

PS. Of course I knew what it was…I was just shocked by the mere size of IT!

Aren’t you???

For more Z words visit A-Z mondays.

TGIF; babies are blooming, parties are happening??

I mean, my crape myrtle babies that I planted back HERE are blooming.

5-27-09 7-7-09

About 8 of them are covered in flowers. Imagine my high pitched squealing delight when I saw all the color in the back 40.

I am sure in a matter of months years they will look like their older siblings in the yard.

You can also imagine my high pitched squeal when I saw what I think Carlos and his weed eater did to one of the babies…ughhh.

There will be a shanking next week when I see him!!! Poor baby myrtle.

It could not have been one of these THREE boxers…who did the damage….could it??? I don’t know…that Bartholomew looks pretty guilty with that green coat of his…

We will be celebrating Lo’s 16th birthday this weekend. The plans for a big party have fallen through…too many people out of town and busy this weekend. She was a little disappointed, I was a LOT disappointed.

Time for Plan B.

Plan B came to me in the middle of a restless night’s sleep (worrying over big stuff like curing cancer, world peace and my girl’s party) and the family is on board with me. Gotta think fast sometimes and come up with something equally as memorable, plus now I don’t have to lock up the liquor cabinet or hide the jewels.

Kidding. I don’t have a liquor cabinet or jewels.

Gotcha again, I don’t have jewels.

Pictures to come next week!! Maybe. Probably. Most likely.

I wish for everyone a great weekend full of friends who are available to you, a family that loves you and cake, ice cream and possibly some Japanese food!!!

I have moved to California…

But just for today.

I am guest posting for Jenn at her blog ‘Juggling life’ today.

She is off enjoying her family on a much needed vacation.

Juggling life is hard work, as we all know.

If it does not exhaust you too much, just click HERE and see what wisdom nonsense I was sharing with Jenn and the rest of you today.

Go ahead. It won’t hurt, pinkie promise.

Happy Thursday!!!

Living with Comediennes.

I have come across some unusual objects in my fridge:

Empty tea pitchers.

Empty butter dishes.

Fake crickets.

Milk containers with not enough milk to drown a real cricket.

Imagine my surprise when I went to use my non-dairy, vegan, non-hydrogenated, omega 6, (now with flax oil) buttery spread to smear across my 100% natural light whole wheat toast and it was smiling back at me.

Not even a boring breakfast around here. ….

Any surprises at your breakfast table today?

Holiday Pictures from the lake…

I was not going to post today, but then I thought: “what will my Mom have to read this morning if I don’t???” So I will share some pics from the weekend.

We spent the weekend with Coach’s Mom and Step Dad at their home on Lake Okeechobee. We had a great time. The kids looooove it there.

Linds brought a friend who has not been there and she really enjoyed it too.

Not much going on there…Okeechobee is the epitome of slow paced life.

Just fishing and hanging out. And more hanging out.

We were not here but 10 minutes and the city girls had their poles in the water. Girls can fish and Lo rocks at throwing the cast net and is learning to drive a boat too.

My MIL is an amazing gardener. She blows me away with all the green stuff she can do. She has these new flowers (I think alamandas??) that she is training them to vine from the ground up to her 2nd floor deck.

This gorgeous orchid? It fell out of the tree about a year ago. She left it there and it has rooted in the ground and blooms like crazy all year round!!!!!

This is Freddie. He hangs around the dock while the kids fish…they always throw him a snack or two. They are cool like that.

My In Laws have 3 dogs themselves. All labs. One of each color. They have a ‘no couch rule’ for their dogs. Do you think Cocoa cares? Nah. That is what Grandparents do, spoil the kids AND the dogs. I can only imagine the thoughts running through her dogs brains: “what they hey?”

What do you do first thing when you wake up in the morning?

Brush your teeth? Get dressed? eat breakfast?

NO, you get in the boat silly. In your PJ’s. Then you mosey over to the paddle boat for some exercise.

If you are really lucky, Grandpa will take you for a long boat ride and you can stop at Burger King for a milk shake!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great weekend!!!!

I hope everyone was as lucky as us and had a nice relaxing weekend with people you love!