Years ago when I was a cosmetologist my hair was short, funky and every color imaginable under the sun. At least twice a month my hair was slathered with the latest color of vibrant reds, purples or blues. Towards the end of my career at the salon my hair was a hot mess and it took on the feel of dry grass. I made a promise to myself that I would no longer subject my hair to any more harsh chemicals and I would let it grow out. That’s exactly what I did.
Over the years I have let my hair grow and I found that I became deeply attached to it. It grew out thick, wavy and I fell in love with the natural color of a deep brunette with natural highlights. Eventually the length reached a few inches past my waist. Washing it was a bit of a project and I couldn’t shake the fact that the weight of it all felt as if someone was constantly pulling my hair. If I left it down for too long it would get tangled and my quick fix for that was to grab a few scrunchies and put it up in a sloppy bun. I ignored the constant headaches and the pressure on my scalp.
Just another day in the neighborhood so I thought. Took kid to orthodontist. Seems ok, but I have a broke back window. Dad fixed, but I hit a huge hole in IL and broke it again. That mishap is a whole other story. Soooo, while at orthodontist it starts pouring down rain. Kid has to sit in the back and make sure the window stays up. LOL.
So I’m thinking yeah, some rain, that isn’t so bad. BTW forgot to mention my mum called and told me there were some storms headed our way and to be careful. So we get home and it has stopped raining. We all head to the gym. Work out. Go to Walmart. Get supper. Start heading home. The sky is turning black.
I have two sons, ages 4 1/2 and 6. They are both such awesome children, I am very proud of who they are becoming. But, even these wonderful boys are tempted daily to do what their little heart’s desire. What I am going to share below is true and is something I will always remember.
The children and I were at Target. We were there with the purpose of buying a birthday gift for one of their friends. We went through all of the toys and pick out a couple of things their friend would enjoy. We went to check out at the register. There was candy and drinks that you could add to your sale on either side of the aisle. The boys wanted to get some candy for their friend, but I told them we had enough for his gift.
The stock market went up sharply recently. Lots of people, especially my friends are all talking about it and thinking about putting new money in. For me, I just don’t believe the recovery will happen in such a rapid way.
Yes, some companies do have good earnings. Lots of them report earnings with dropped revenue and profit however exceeded expectations, people liked it and price went up. Come on, that is not the whole story.
As you may already know, I have added a new addition to my family. After 39 weeks of pregnancy, my baby girl arrived June 10th at 11:14 AM. I will not bore you with all the details, but the overall experience was amazing. She was 7.02 lbs and 19 1/2 inches. Of course she is one of the 3 most gorgeous babies on earth (She is my 3rd I am only a tad partial). She was a very healthy baby and is, to this day, very laid back baby.
We are very blessed and happy to have her! There are no words that can describe the joy she has brought to our lives. Her brother’s are in love with her and are always trying to comfort and hold her. Her father is already wrapped around her finger. And her mother cannot get enough of her.
So, I would like for you to meet our new addition to the family and to DealTaker… my princess!
So my family (wife and 2 kids) and I went to NC last week for the wedding of my wife’s cousin. It was a great event and everything went wonderfully (my girls were the beautiful flower girls!). The wedding was actually in Mt Pilot which is where Mayberry is based off of. I love the Andy Griffith Show so that was very exciting for me. Anyway, I came home Monday night but my wife and girls are staying in NC with my wife’s mother until next Tuesday, so I am home alone! So, what do I do? So many possibilities! I did see Harry Potter last night, so that was fun, but when it comes down to it, I will probably just work, sit on my couch, catch up with shows on my DVR and watch some baseball. And you know what? While I do miss my girls, I am going to love it!!!
My girlfriend and I just purchased a 3 bedroom, 2 full bath, 1500+ sq. ft. home on a 1/4+ plus lot that was built in 1984. The house interior hasn’t been updated since then. Imagine a country motif with lots of flowery wall paper and drapes. So we will be doing a lot of work on updating the interior of the house, painting, flooring, etc. The outside hasn’t been kept up in what looks like a couple of years, so I’ll be doing a lot of work outside so we can get “Yard of the Month”. I’m pretty sure with all the stuff that we’ll be doing, I could come up with some “How-to” video’s and such for future posts. Keep an eye out for those.
Running has never been something I loved to do but recently I made the decision that its time to take that up as a hobby. I found a great aggressive plan that would position me to be able to run a 5k (roughly 3.1 miles) after 16 weeks of training.
I am now almost two weeks into the training, with new shoes on my feet, and I’ve been doing pretty well. In order to build up stamina the plan starts you out walking then transitions to walking and running with times spent walking being inversely proportional to time spent running. Eventually you end up with 30 minutes of running only. Right now I’m feeling pretty good about the plan but I’ll let you know how it is going in a future blog post.
Why do they call it canning when you are putting in a jar? My new term for it is “jarring” beans. As you guys know i am also FarmerFli. Today i am “jarring” beans. Right now i hear the jigger in there doing the jig. You young city folk may ask what in the world is a jigger. Well it is the round thing on top of this lid.
Pressure cookers are dangerous. I’m affraid every year that i’m somehow going to blow it up and have green beans all over the place. And yes that can happen.
Final product.
If you do anything with green beans do you say break beans or snap beans?
Does anyone “jar” any veggies or put up any food from a garden?
I’m always amused by magazine articles that offer advice on how to quickly ease stress. They offer insightful ways to instantly calm daily stress gently easing you into a peaceful state of mind. Some of the more comical suggestions I’ve read are ”roll up your area rugs and walk around your house barefoot like your on a beach house vacation.” For those of us who have a fully carpeted house and have never been to a beach house this suggestion proves to be absolutely useless.
“Blow up a balloon in slow puffs” was another option. Well, if you can get past the dizziness and the feeling that you’re going to faint, I’m sure this will work well for you. Another one on the list was “drink a large glass of cold water and go for a walk.” I was fairly optimistic about this one until I got down to the end of my road and had to rush home to use the little girls room. The urge to try that one again simply wasn’t there. My all time favorite suggestion was “crawl between your sheets after washing them with Tide Simple Pleasures Lavender.” I think it’s fair to say that most of us don’t have the option to walk away from our work or other daily obligations to do a load of laundry and take a nap.
A few years back my hubby and I took a trip to Minnesota. I had planned quite the itinerary – Mall of America, trip to Fargo, brief stop in Alexandria to see a small historical museum, then back to St. Paul to stay at a Casino for the night. But the brief stop in Alexandria turned into a day long event as we learned more about the Kensington Runestone recovered nearby in 1898.
The story is that a Minnesota farmer named Olaf Ohman unearthed the Runetone while digging up a tree stump. Roots were wrapped around it and could have given experts a very good indication of how young the stone wasnt. But Mr Ohman removed it and turned the stone over to the University of Minnesota. A debate over its authenticity began.
People that know me will tell you that at any given time, without rhyme or reason, I will break out in a silly dance if the mood strikes. I could be in a grocery store sniffing cantaloupe for ripeness and I’ll hear Barry White’s deep voice plastered on the overhead and I’ll break into a funky groove of some sort. I’ve been in JC Penney during the Holiday season and Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree starts playing and I drop what I’m doing to break out in dance. Even at home when I’m at my computer working a good song will come up and I take a few seconds to get my groove on. Sometimes people do tend to shoot me a weird look, but for the most part I hear giggles or they join me in my crusade to get my dance fix in for the day.
I’ve always been this way. Years ago, in my early 20’s, I worked for my Mom, who had a professional home daycare/preschool, full time. I spent my days with anywhere between 7-13 kids between the ages of 18 months all the way up to 7 years old. There were many days that we were stuck inside due to weather and the kids would be restless and cranky regardless of how many activities we had planned for them. My remedy for these days was to turn on some silly music and start dancing. The kids would laugh, jump up and down and eventually break into their own style of dance. I’ve learned throughout the years that kids think it’s cool when an adult dances and acts silly.
I’ve held onto this for my entire life. I’ve learned that adults think it’s cool too when another adult acts silly and breaks out into a Brady Bunch style dance in the middle of the local grocery store. I look at these people and I know deep down they want to drop their loaf of bread or gallon of milk and join me, but this little alarm goes off in their heads with that cautionary message: What Will People Think?
My most memorable moment was at a mall back when I was in my late 20’s. There was a vendor selling audio equipment in the center of the mall and swing music was playing. The vendor was trying to demonstrate that music from the 50’s and 60’s could sound just as good as modern music today on the speakers. Out of blue, in a loud voice, I asked, “Who wants to dance?” An older gentleman, who reminded me of my Grampie, stepped forth and said, “I will Miss.” He took both of my hands and led me into a dance that was probably popular back in the era of the music. People watched and smiled. When the song was done he told me that his wife had passed away two years ago and hadn’t danced like that since then.
A few days ago a friend of mine sent me a video to something called, “Where The Hell Is Matt?” I sat there watching the video completely intrigued by this man dancing a silly dance in various areas of the world. In some portions he danced alone, but in most of the footage a large group of people are dancing with him. Everyone, regardless of the location, appear happy and they are smiling. There is something about this concept that moves me and I am completely inspired by this.
I looked into it a bit further and there have been accusations that the “Where The Hell Is Matt” videos are some sort of marketing hoax. I had a hard time believing this and watched a video of Matt himself confronting this issue. His response was exceptionally brilliant and, with the use of gentle sarcasm, he addresses this to the skeptics who have made these claims. At the end of the video Matt asks if there is anyone that wants to dance with him. People get up and the dance begins.
To Matt and to all of us who sporadically break out in dance, keep doing what your doing! Dance I say! Dance!
I am not one of those fans that is at the Rangers game every time that they have a home game.
What it means to me is youth baseball. I am a commissioner of our local youth baseball league and I coach. Being on the board is usually not so much work (most of the time), but coaching is. Every Spring and Fall (we have a fall season) I am looking at about four nights a week at the ball field. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it. I think I have more fun that the kids do sometimes. Watching kids play baseball and eating hot dogs with chili and jalapenos while you watch (in their mind) is the next Babe Ruth or Nolan Ryan.
I am not one of those coaches that screams and yells. If a kids makes an error he knows it and will be harder on himself than you can be. I try to teach them the fundamentals of the game as well as good sportsmanship. To me a bad day playing baseball beats a good day at work anytime. (Sorry Kevin, I do love my job but it’s not baseball. )
The end of season playoffs are this week then we have about three weeks of All Stars then we are done until Fall season at the end of August. At least I will have a little time to recover before the Fall season.
It’s 11 o’clock and I send the kids outside to play. I’m at my desk and see one of them riding a bike across the lawn. No big deal, right? Here’s a peek at what goes on when mom is in meetings.
I didn’t make it out in time to catch her on the bike with this on. There were five kids here total and they for some reason think they can do as they please when mom and dad are busy. So not only is the mask being worn while at play the water hose was also going at the same time. My next meeting I had dinosaurs were involved. I have a whole summer of fun meetings ahead of me.
You did it! You accomplished your goal and I am so very proud of you! I know there were times when you didn’t want to study or write that 20 page paper, which you may have put off a little longer than you should have (no worries Mom and Dad she got it done just in time). Sister, you’re awesome at cranking it out when you need to and now you are a Master of Criminal Justice with a 3.917 GPA. I wish Brian and I could be up there to help you celebrate, we are just going to have to plan a fun weekend so we can all celebrate together.
Two seasons ago, the Boston Red Sox, took a step in the right direction by dumping off Manny Ramirez. Much of the media bashed the BoSox for letting a premier player go and then bashed the organization even more when he was replaced by Jason Bay, a solid outfielder from Pittsburg.
The good news from this change was that the club house was happy to see him go. It seemed that he wasn’t much of a team player and only cared about his personal progress and goals, overlooking the leadership duty he should of portrayed. As true team players know, it’s about how the team feels and gels with one another, making playing and winning fun. You want to be sure that no one’s just in it for the money or the fame. Look at Manny now. Do you think he got what he deserved? (50 game suspension)
And for Bay, well, he’s hitting .277 right now with 16 home runs, the most on a team that can hit’em far. Bay will be an integral part of answering why the BoSox make it back to the World Series this year (buy a baseball ticket). Give the man a chance to shine and he will. Encouragement is the key.
10. Cotton Jenny by Gordon Lightfoot – I remember it playing one summer when I was a little girl and is one of the first songs I memorized the words to. One of the lyrics is “I ain’t got a penny for Cotten Jenny to spend” so I called it the Penny Song.
9. Touch too Much by AC/DC – Starting around 13 or 1979 I couldn’t get enough of AC/DC – I remember being at a party with this song playing and when the words “when you turn out the light” came on in the song one of the guys turned the light off. Everyone loved it and some major energy was created to which AC/DC just helped to make stronger.
Growing up I didn’t spend much time with my dad. My parents divorced when I was 2, so from then on it was just me and mom. Every year when Father’s Day rolls around I just celebrate Mother’s Day again. I think of how my mom worked so hard to provide me with the best life possible and how she did such a great job of being both mom and dad to me. She was and still is a great example of how to live a life that is meaningful.
Every time she got knocked down by circumstances she found a way to overcomeand better herself from the experience. Her parenting was the perfect balance of encouragement and motivation.
I have always been a fan of puzzles. Whether jigsaw, crosswords, word searches, mad libs etc. I find that it is very calming or relaxing for me when I just need a break from life. I get so engrossed in them I completely lose all track of time. I have actually tuned everything and everyone out while doing them. I recently searched mad libs online and on occasion do one (or two, three…lol) I find I enjoy doing them on paper much more than on laptop. Just something about the smell of paper and the flow of the ink. Here is my most recent online mad lib. Yes, it is corny, but that is the purpose of them.
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I am only a tad partial). She was a very healthy baby and is, to this day, very laid back baby.
My girlfriend and I just purchased a 3 bedroom, 2 full bath, 1500+ sq. ft. home on a 1/4+ plus lot that was built in 1984. The house interior hasn’t been updated since then. Imagine a country motif with lots of flowery wall paper and drapes. So we will be doing a lot of work on updating the interior of the house, painting, flooring, etc. The outside hasn’t been kept up in what looks like a couple of years, so I’ll be doing a lot of work outside so we can get “Yard of the Month”. I’m pretty sure with all the stuff that we’ll be doing, I could come up with some “How-to” video’s and such for future posts. Keep an eye out for those.
Running has never been something I loved to do but recently I made the decision that its time to take that up as a hobby. I found a great 
I’m always amused by magazine articles that offer advice on how to quickly ease stress. They offer insightful ways to instantly calm daily stress gently easing you into a peaceful state of mind. Some of the more comical suggestions I’ve read are ”roll up your area rugs and walk around your house barefoot like your on a beach house vacation.” For those of us who have a fully carpeted house and have never been to a beach house this suggestion proves to be absolutely useless.
A few years back my hubby and I took a trip to Minnesota. I had planned quite the itinerary – Mall of America, trip to Fargo, brief stop in Alexandria to see a small historical museum, then back to St. Paul to stay at a Casino for the night. But the brief stop in Alexandria turned into a day long event as we learned more about the Kensington Runestone recovered nearby in 
People that know me will tell you that at any given time, without rhyme or reason, I will break out in a silly dance if the mood strikes. I could be in a grocery store sniffing cantaloupe for ripeness and I’ll hear Barry White’s deep voice plastered on the overhead and I’ll break into a funky groove of some sort. I’ve been in JC Penney during the Holiday season and Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree starts playing and I drop what I’m doing to break out in dance. Even at home when I’m at my computer working a good song will come up and I take a few seconds to get my groove on. Sometimes people do tend to shoot me a weird look, but for the most part I hear giggles or they join me in my crusade to get my dance fix in for the day.
Spring always means baseball to me.
My Ten Favorite Songs
