Traditions

Trying to set a tradition so the kids have something to look forward to. For us, it's Pizza Night Fridays. Now, we have started making our entire pizza from scratch. Needless to say, we have our ups and downs with how it's turned out. Last week the pizza got a little brown, all right, black on the bottom. Tonight, although it took longer than usual, it turned out great. Too bad I can't say the same thing for the homemade ice cream. Guess it would help if we planned ahead. Remember, freeze the container. Cold is apparently important in making ice cream. So next week starts a new tradition. Pizza and Ice Cream Night Friday. At least that's my hope. Traditions aren't quite the same when they implode on you. Hope all your traditions are good ones.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On

Yes, I am dating myself, but oh, well. Kool and the Gang's song came out around the time I graduated. With that said, who wouldn't want to celebrate life. More so, who wouldn't want to live in a town called Celebration. I was just just informed that this town existed. After much research, the is the ideal town to live in if possible. The town was created by Disney back in the 90's. Has its own school, banks, post office and has very little crime. Ultimate small town Americana. Beyond that, it has its own road straight through to Disney World. If I could manage it I'd move there tomorrow. Too bad I didn't know this town existed earlier. Would have changed a couple years of my life. So, if I had to live anywhere, it'd definitely be in the town that the mouse built. My cats will enjoy their twilight years with the rodent. Here's to the celebrations in your life.

A Day at the Zoo

Yesterday was family day at the San Diego Zoo. We had not done something unique for quite some time and we were really looking forward to it. I forgot how much walking is involved in touring that zoo. You could walk all day and probably still not see everything. Now we couldn't beat the price to get in - it came to a whopping $10 for the four of us. This was thanks to my son's school. Field trips rock!!! Now what we saved in admission, I think we more than made up for it in food. One soda is $4. I think we ended up spending about $50 in food. And we didn't really buy anything. A few sodas and lunch. That was it. Good grief, did I buy rib eye steaks with a margarita? I had a sandwich. Oh well, at least it goes to a good cause. Support the zoo. Now we did find some interesting animals. Some make you scratch your head. What is the purpose of a naked mole rat? That poor critter is probably one of the ugliest rodent out there. Sorry Rufus... We did enjoy the meerkats. And of course the red panda, which looked more like a fox than a bear. And of course, my ultimate dream bird. The hyacinth macaw. Someday, sometime, somewhere, I am going to own that beautiful bird. Not that it could ever replace Bandit, who I still miss terribly.

Now this account of the day would not be complete without a shout out to my son, who rescued the fuzzy duckling. Yes, spring was in full force at the zoo, with lots of baby ducks racing behind their moms. One little guy escaped from his fenced enclosure (that small, fit through the bars), and wandered into the walkway. Poor thing was sitting there crying pathetically for his mom. My son, inheriting the pet lover gene from me, picked him up and tried to put him back in. He was successful, but it took some doing. The fences are not only designed to keep the animals in, it is also designed to keep the people out. He thought that was so cool, handling this baby duck. Baby was ultimately reunited with mom, but she had to come back and get him, as she had taken the rest of the troop to the water. Unfortunately my 2 year old daughter could not figure out why a duck would not come to her and willingly climb into her lap so she could hold one too. Poor thing was heartbroken when we finally had to leave and she was unable to convince a duck to be held. Maybe next time...

Twists and Turns

Sometimes in life the course takes some twists and turns. It may not be the way we want it to be, but alll we can do is follow it through. Just be true to yourself and that's all that life can ask from you. Life sometimes brings some unexpected surprises, but if you ride it out, you may be surprised at what lies around the corner. Let's just hope it's a good surprise....

Good Intentions

Have you ever had good intentions go terribly awry? Seems to happen to me on a daily basis. Last week I tried to help my husband from making, what I thought, would be a very bad business decision. I didn't want him making a mistake by reacting on emotions and not using his business sense. Yeah, that worked real well. Made for a very long weekend. Just this week I try to use my business side and not emotions and provide assistance. Yet again, that went over really well. At this point I can't win. I always seem to forget the Ames Factor. Whenever you think something will work well, trust me, it won't. It's ironic that right after my good intentions had just gotten revealed as being not helpful, my son had one of his own. Sat down at the table to eat lunch. When I got up I wondered why my pants were all wet. Daughter down for a nap so no one else was around. Those of you with pets, especially old ones, will always jump to worse case scenario. I asked my son if he knew why the chair was sopping wet and he looked up at me with these big brown puppy dog eyes and said that the chair was dirty and he was trying to clean it. As I stand there with soaked pants all I could think of was "good intentions..." and what good timing. Just had to laugh and give him a hug. Sometimes in life that's all you can do...

Brother Can You Spare A ....

With rising costs everywhere I can understand the need for being frugal with money. Gas prises are up, food costs are up, utilities are up, and of course wages are down. It is hard to get people to part with their hard earned income. You see people outside the stores trying to get people to even contribute 5 cents to their cause, yet they rush by ignoring them, hoarding that 5 cents. And yet I understand that, who knows how long it will take to earn that 5 cents back. What I can't understand is why people are so frugal with things that are free. What happened to volunteering? Now I know time is money, but I am referring to that extra time people can always seem to find that would otherwise get wasted doing inconsequential and meaningless things. That is not to take away from quality time spent with kids, but what about teaching them the value of volunteering? Giving of oneself. And what about something as simple as a smile? It's free, people!!! Yesterday, I was at the grocery store and spent 13 minutes just in the checkout line (and there were only 2 people in front of me). During that time the checkout line I went through did not crack a smile once. She looked miserable at being at work that day. Didn't acknowledge customers in the least. The checker in the next lane was flagging down every employee she could find to tell them it's time for her to go home. I get off now, come and close me off was being chanted over and over again. She even left her spot to walk around and close her lane down. And what was sad was, there were only 2 lanes open and a minimum of 5 people standing in each lane. Again, customer service, people. If you are so unhappy with your jobs that it spills onto your customers I think it's time to find a new job. Oh yeah, there aren't many jobs out there. Then grin and bear it. It doesn't cost anything and who knows, after a while, a chain may start. Customers may smile back and you may find your job is not so bad as you thought. Pay it forward people. Starts with a smile.

Need Help

Well, as many of you know I need help on multiple levels. I will settle for input regarding dieting. I followed through and went to the Biggest Loser site and typed in the requested info. Boy was I surprised. I never thought I actually looked like some of the women who are on the show, but apparently I am. I need to lose 20-30 pounds to be at a healthy weight. Now I need to come up with a plan. I do like to cook, but don't have a problem cooking healthy if I need to (which I apparently do). Exercise is difficult even though we have the treadmill and exercise bike. The problem is it is in our bedroom. Doesn't seem like a problem but it is, especially with a 2 year old. Using them while she is asleep causes her to want to jump on and join in leading to potential injury. Using them while she sleeps is another problem. She naps in our bed and the noise from them will wake her up. I am not a big eater and tend to eat for the first time after 2:00. What will help me to lose the weight I need to be healthy? What are your thoughts?