Gift Hero

If you have little ones you must check out this website, after you finish reading my blog of course:

http://www.gifthero.com/

This site takes all of the guesswork out of buying the perfect gift for a child. After choosing the gender, age and price you would like to pay the gift finder calculates the perfect gift. The gift ages range from age 3 to 10. I will certainly be calling on help from gifthero.com for birthdays and Christmas gifts from this point on!

Weekend Recap

Friday:
After weeks of working overtime we finally had a Friday off and I took full advantage of it! Getting to spend the morning watching Good Morning America and the midday shopping may seem a little boring, but it made me perfectly happy. Friday night was a little more colorful:

Since my work outfits generally revolve around denim, I love getting to dress up. This weekend the occasion was the return of Cirque Du Soleil to our town.

This time the show was Saltimbanco. I love the Cirque Du Soleil shows. Each one is different, but they are all amazing in their own right. If you have never seen one of them I highly recommend that you do. They have many shows that tour the world as well as shows that are stationed in one location such as Orlando or Vegas to name a few.

Saturday:
Poor Gabriel spent Saturday at the dentist office and since he has a huge phobia about the dentist I spent three hours at the foot of his chair as he was getting four cavities filled. Although I had a stiff neck from sitting there so long reading the coffee table book they had about the architecture of castles, I was much better off than Gabe. He was not feeling so hot so we spent the rest of the afternoon and night at home. Barkley was happy since that meant I had plenty of time to play catch with his new toy:

(He is now missing an arm after the catch portion of our night).

Sunday:

This morning was spent doing boring routine things like grocery shopping. I have realized one thing on my quest to get in shape. When I go to the grocery store and do not try to purchase healthy things my total may add up to be around $75. Then on days like today, when I am trying to get in shape, my groceries end up being $125!

We ended up at the park since it was a very nice, albeit hot, day.

This area was largely affected by Hurricane Ike, but happily things are starting to look back to normal.

The weekend is coming to a close like many of those before it-with Barkley pooped and ready for us to get back to work on Monday so he can get some rest!

I Finally Feel Like a True Homeowner

We are approaching our four year anniversary in our home, but today I feel like a real homeowner. Why you may ask, after years of paying mortgage payments is this the day that I feel initiated? The reason is simple my friends. Today I received my first complaint letter from the dreaded Homeowners Association.

A little backstory-For the last several weeks we have been in a drought situation. Having no rain for weeks has forced mandatory water rationing and we are only allowed to water twice per week. Everyone had the saddest little brown yards. Finally, this past Monday and Tuesday we did get some rain. Out from the hay-like substance our grass had become, little green sprouts so proudly began coming out to see the light of day. I was so excited to see green after all of this time. I had already come to the conclusion that we would be spending a fortune to replace our entire dead yard.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem our Homeowners Association feels the same way. They sent us and many of our other neighbors letters stating that our grass needed to be cut. Cut is a very strong word considering it just started growing Monday! I personally think they are just jealous, because their yards are probably still brown and the little green sprouts I have are making them green with envy!

It reminds me of the time that my friend Diana was voted Yard of the Month and then the same week got a letter from the HOA telling her she had two much clover in her yard. First of all they obviously were not Irish and second I think the person that lost Yard of the Month was probably the one sending that letter!

Does anyone else have any HOA horror stories?

Introducing the Newest Addition to Our Puppy Family

This is Nugget. Isn't she a beauty! She is the daughter to my mom's pup, Charcoal.

Very Superstitious

A few months ago I wrote this post:

The image above may just be of a black cat to some, but to my friend Janice it is an image of something so frightening that it will cause her to make an illegal u-turn in the middle of a road

just to avoid it.

I have another friend that believes that if you compliment someone, for example you tell them they have a beautiful baby, and then you do not touch the baby then the baby is going to fall ill. I think I may have fallen victim to this curse the other day when a coworker told me they loved my shirt, only to have the button pop off after she didn't touch it to rid me of the curse! Okay, admittedly it was probably the fact that I've had way to many pieces of birthday cake lately, but you never know!

Crazy superstitions are also the reason that my friend Christine and I have vowed never to buy antique pieces for our homes. We are convinced that the previous owner may have loved them more than we do and may come back to visit them.

What seems crazy to some may seem perfectly normal to someone else! I would love to hear everyone else's stories about their superstitions!

Today I saw this on yahoo: http://omg.yahoo.com/news/celebrity-phobias-and-obsessions/25369. It reminded me of that US Weekly feature, "Celebrities, they are just like us." With an added,"They,too,have irrational fears". Billy Bob Thorton-I, too, fear antique furniture. I know it is silly, but I do. How else wants to share their crazy phobias? I promise we will not laugh!

Do Not Watch As Seen On TV Infomercials in the Middle of the Night!

Over the weekend, after waking up at 2 AM and not being able to fall back asleep, I found myself contemplating the SlapChop. Much like the time I was just seconds away from grabbing the phone to order the box set of the Best of Disco, the infomercial voice was pulling me in at my most vulnerable of times.

The voice from the TV starts telling me very quickly all of the things that I can do with this contraption. I will be able to chop fruit in seconds, never need to change the blade. It comes with a free Graty for cheese and I LOVE cheese! If this man has to talk with so much urgency about this chopper it has to be amazing. I mean if he has to talk 10 words per second just to fit in all of the benefits it is bound to be worth a mere $19.95!

Thankfully, I fell asleep before I could make a purchase and when I woke up with all of my sense, well as much sense as I can usually muster, I realized a few things about these infomercials:

• I have at least two kitchen gadgets that do the exact same thing as the SlapChop.
• I do not need a Graty as I usually buy cheese that is already grated anyway.
• Furthermore, I do not appreciate the fact that these As Seen on TV people are using my love of cheese against me!
• They talk fast to get you to purchase quickly before you fully wake up.
• You can find 99% of these items at Target even though they swear you can only buy them through their number at the bottom of the television screen.
• As much as the Pedi Paws looks like a great money saving alternative to the groomers, I know that Barkley would attack me and the Pedi Paws the second I came after him with it.
• There is no good time of the day for a commercial containing the words "colon" and "cleanse" in the same sentence!

Have any of you ever been pulled in by the fast talking As Seen on TV guys? Please do tell!

Glambassador Video

My video is now up on glamalert.com along with many of the other Glambassadors for 2009. I am so happy to be included with so many great girls. I didn't know exactly what to say for my welcome video and now I have everyone in my family saying I sound like I was trying out for the Miss America pageant. LOL! Oh well, and just for the record I do want world peace! I really need to stop watching Miss Congeniality!

Vegas on the Cheap!

This is your friendly blog personal shopping announcement! Southwest Airlines is currently offering some awesome deals to Las Vegas. They are offering buy one ticket and your friend flies free, plus book 3 nights at a MGM Mirage hotel and get the 4Th night free. With rates like that you will have lots o money for the blackjack tables!

Just follow this link to check it all out: http://www.southwestvacations.com/specials/detail.asp?xmlFile=FS0441&src=sta_info&disc=0:9:1247527759.548338:7286@C8F71E1AE8A904466B4A64F681020B9A6F750DFD

PS If you do not have DING from Southwest Airlines downloaded on your computer I highly recommend it. Every time they have a special it pops up on your computer and you can get some great deals from time to time. I once flew to Los Angeles using a DING special and only paid $100 round trip, compared to over $300 normally! You can't beat that!
http://www.southwest.com/ding/ is the site for those who may be interested.

42ND Street

I hope you all had a terrific weekend! Thankfully, I didn't have to work Saturday like I thought I was going to have to. Instead I was able to sleep late for the first time in FOREVER and spend a night out at the park. Luckily the 100+ degree weather did not seem as bad since there was a nice breeze!

One of our local parks has an outdoor theater and offers some really great shows every year. We saw 42ND Street. I really enjoyed the story and the costumes were so cute. It was set in the late 30's which is an era in fashion that I adore. I love seeing musicals and the fact that our city offers them for free at this location makes it even nicer.

5 Reasons I Love Dolly Parton

Recently I created a Facebook quiz and had to choose the celebrity I would most like to meet. My answer-Dolly Parton. For some reason none of my friends guessed that I would say Dolly. Instead they picked George Clooney. Go figure on that one! ;) While he is cute I still have to go with Dolly who has always been my favorite and here is why:

1. I credit her for giving me my love of all things sparkly, sequined, glittery and shiny.
2. She is proof that blonde with a fun personality does not equal stupid.
3. Dolly came from a little town in Tennessee and made millions. I love people who defy the odds.
4. She sounds exactly like my cousin Lynn and since she lives many miles away Dolly always makes me think of spending time with my family.
5. How can you not love someone who is responsible for these hilarious quotes:

"It's a good thing I was born a girl, otherwise I'd be a drag queen."

"I wanted to be the first woman to burn her bra, but it would have taken the fire department four days to put it out. "

"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde. "

"You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!"

It Must Be Hot When...

my weather pixie is wearing a bikini at night! Either that or she is a real exhibitionist!

I Finally Have My Portal to the World Back!

My poor little computer finally went kaput. Thanks to the promptness of UPS, I am back up and running and no longer have to do all of my internet tasks on my iPhone. I really needed to upgrade my computer anyway after having it for nine years so I am acquainting myself with this new one now.

I know I am a little late, but I hope you all had a great 4Th of July. It is one of my most favorite holidays! I decorate the yard and have family and friends over for lunch. Then we always go to downtown Houston for fireworks. It was a lot of fun, but very hot this year. Even if there is a breeze and the sun is going down, 100 degrees is HOT!

I have some other news! I made it into Glamour magazine. It may not be as big as getting my book, Girl Wake Up and Get a Freaking Life, (a guide to being smart in the dating world), published one day. However, it is certainly better than the last time I was in print-in my high school newspaper. As part of the Glambassadors, I have been included on one of the pages in the August issue. I know I am a goof, but it made me really happy to be in the magazine that brings us Glamour Dos every months.