Checking In

I know, it's been a while. Since I am fairly confident that pretty much no one reads this I am not feeling too bad about it.

Let's see. Our lives did a bit of an upheaval since the last time. My son was kicked out of his day care. Apparently he has panic attacks and the day care interpreted them as temper tantrums and classified him as a horrible kid. The one worker there is close to my age and childless. She should stay that way after the way she treated my son. Grrrr.

Football season is over and basketball season has begun. Since I am not busy enough I decided to coach my daughter's Upward team. Yeah, I know, I am nuts. 2 jobs, 2 busy kids, why not add one more thing?

 I can't believe that we are already in December. It feels like time is just slipping away. One one hand it seems to go slow, but then I look at the calendar and 6 months have passed!

Let's see, current interests:
The Flash (last night's episode which crossed over with Arrow was AMAZING!)
Glee (ongoing)
Christmas music (getting into it slowly now that Thanksgiving has passed)
Origami Owl
Phone cases for my S4
Finding a new job

Wonderland!

The days after my birthday were spent in Gatlinburg, TN exploring the former Wonderland Hotal and Clubhouse near the Elkmont Campgrounds.  I had spent the week before googling and looking at maps and knew on a theoretical level exactly where it was, but getting there was another story.

Fortunately, I am good at maps. We found it almost right away.  I walked down the road because I wanted to go in via the steps.  The group with me didn't believe they were there so they just started climbing up the hill.  I walked for about a quarter of a mile and I found it!

Beautiful hair, right?  LOL!

While this isn't a big secret place, it was fun to explore knowing the history.  There were several homes in the area that were vacation homes back when the hotel was active.  They were beautiful homes (at least they were at one point).  It is a shame to see them in such a state.

So I came, I found, I conquered the Wonderland hotel exploration.  Now I need to find my next adventure!

Fall

I have been feeling a little down lately.  When I think back on past falls, I realize this is a common thing.  I find it slightly funny because on an intellectual level I LOVE the fall!  My birthday, the changing leaves, my birthday, cooler temps, and of course, my birthday.  It is interesting to realize that while this is my favorite time of year I am not able to enjoy it to the extent that I want.

While I cannot pinpoint why I feel bad, I can focus on what I can do to help me feel better.  Going outside as often as possible during this time of year helps, however working 2 jobs from 7:30am-9:00pm doesn't allow a lot of strolls in the woods.

I WAS working out almost every morning.  I would be at the YMCA right at 5am and would get my work out in before starting my day.  That schedule was disrupted when I started my second job however and I haven't been able to get back in the habit and I can feel my body getting lazier as a result.

One thing that is working is hobbies; easy ones like reading on breaks, journals where I am writing nothing of importance but practicing my handwriting skills, Christmas shopping (yes, already!), and sleeping.  Between working and still trying to be full time mommy I don't get a lot of time for the above, but I have to make time for it for my own sanity!

The good news is I get a break starting this weekend.  I am going to Gatlinburg and get to hike around the Smokey Mountains for a day or two, then an extra day off when I get home to sleep.  Let's hope that turns my mood and outlook around!!

The F Word

It is THAT time of year again where kids go around with their best Oliver expressions and violate no solicitation orders all over the neighborhood.  Nope, not Halloween, but fundraising season.

Having both kids in school means I get to hear both kids go on and on about the cheap dollar store crap prizes and how they HAVE to have the googly eye glasses that will be lost in less than 5 minutes and the inflatable sneakers that will pop the moment they take a step in them.   Not to mention the trip to Larosa's with their friends.  Can't I just organize a play date with their school friends at Larosa's next weekend?  No?  Ugh.

When B was the only kid in school, it was easy...one kid, lots of grandparents each buying a little and BAM: up to 26 items and lots of cool prizes comparable to that of goods you find at the dollar tree:  light up Shoelaces that weren't long enough and broke the first time he tied them; a key chain (really, he's in KINDERGARTEN; he doesn't have keys!) that went on his backpack and fell off the next day never to be seen again; and a water bottle "bag" that was impossible to clean out and stunk after one use with water causing it to be thrown away.  Sigh, totally not worth all the effort of mommy driving up to the school to pick up the stuff, deliver to family across 3 states, hold frozen items in my freezer for months, forgetting to give it out. I think I still have some in there. 

And now there is TWO of them!

Both kids came home with big eyes full of all the prizes they would get and saying that we needed to sell as many things as we can (translation: MOMMY will be selling items).  They want to race in the inflatable shoes and squirt each other with the water gun shaped like a flashlight.  All for the low price of my time and sanity.

The problem is I have TWO kids selling now but our family has not doubled since the last fundraiser.  So now everyone has to choose which kid they like best or order less so they can help both kids out.  Either way, less orders each = less prizes.  How do families with 3, 4, or 5 kids do this????

After this ends, the word fundraiser is going to be banned from my house...until next fall when we start all over again!

Time to Catch Up to 2014...

Oh my, it's been a while.  Let's see if I can sum up the last 2 years in as short of a post as possible.

1) My kids are both in school now.  No diapers, sleeping all night, talking back, and generally being adorable little boogers 24/7.  They are active in sports and dance.  B can read and O is learning.

2) Family restored.  Nuff said.

3) I severed nearly all my internet friendships (except for the few I talk to almost daily) and have been focusing on people I know IRL.  Much much more rewarding and far less drama and back stabbing.  Granted, I have very few friends I talk to regularly, but I don't know if that is a result of my business in life or my reluctance to trust anyone.

4) I work part time at Best Buy.  I actually enjoy it.  It isn't hard; it is extra money; I know a lot more about cell phones and game systems and computers than I knew before.

5)  Still at same job.  Job duties are changing again.  New boss.  Still job hunting.

6)  I have given up the Pure Romance business.  I am currently still considered active but not for much longer.  I will miss some of the discounts on products but not the people at the company.

7)  I have aged 2 years since the last blog entry.  Still working on losing weight, which at this point I think is hopeless.  I work out regularly and try to eat right.  At this point I am just trying to keep the diabetes away.

8) I have a newer mini van.  It is maroon instead of green.  It HAD automatic doors but that broke.  I am sure I would have blogged constantly about my frustrations when it happened as it happened in the middle of the coldest winter in my memory.

9)  When I read back on my blog entries (some published and many never published) I did a lot of laughing and eye rolling.

10) We have a cat now.  He is adorable.  The kids named him Buzz.  He is now my third child.

That pretty much covers it!

National Training

I attended the Pure Romance National Training here in Cincinnati last weekend.  It is generally a good time.  This was my third national training, and the schedule is pretty set. 

Thursday:  I hightailed it from my day job to pick up the registration packet at Duke Energy Center by 4:00, then walked around downtown/find food until 6:30 when the big opening session began at the Aronoff Center.  We got to learn what the new products were and Patty Brisben spoke.  I am usually not fond of being surrounded by 2000+ hyper and chatty women, so this event, while informative to see the new product line, is not my favorite part of the night.  There was also an impromptu flash mob that I think I was the only one in the theater to NOT know about, and if I hear "Call Me Maybe" one more time I think I will pound my head into a wall now.  Okay, not really...I really love that song, but I don't like flash mobs.  Particularly when I am tired and I have to stand up and pretend to dance with everyone else.

Friday:  Normal Training Day.  I have always enjoyed Friday of training.  They have the best sessions on the first day of training, and there were several nationally recognized experts doing the trainings at this training.  I loved Dr. Logan Levkoff, who did a session about 50 Shades of Grey.  Really, I went to work to analyze 50 Shades of Grey.  Needless to say I was pretty happy at the end of that session.

Friday night I led a party, and I was never more grateful for that 50 Shades of Grey session because I got to demo my 50 Shades product line.  I don't think I have had so much fun at a Pure Romance party, well...ever!

Saturday:  Saturday sucked was difficult.  I was out at my Friday party until almost 3:00am, and the first session began at 9:00am at Duke.  When I arrived, the Cincinnati Police/Firefighter testing was going on so parking was at a minimum requiring me to have to pay 10.00 to park. Grrrr.  The first session was okay, but even after coffee I could barely stay awake.  I ended up leaving after lunch because I was too tired to process anything.   I went home and slept...then woke up with an even BIGGER headache.  Fun.

Sunday:  I love Sundays of training weekend.  That was the day I got to go to the warehouse sale for consultants and buy all the new and discontinued stuff.  I stepped out of my comfort zone and brought my mama with me for company.  She was uncomfortable for a few minutes but did very well being surrounded by bedroom accessories with her daughter.  The only awkward moment was when she picked up one of the new products and asked what it was and I replied with "you don't want to know." Such a bonding moment...LOL.

Next year, the national conference and training are going to be combined.  They are calling it "World Conference" since consultants from all over the world (we are in Australia and South Africa) are coming to this event.  Normally an event like this would be held somewhere really cool, like Vegas or Florida, or even New York City.  We will be in Cincinnati, OH.  Yay.

On the one side, I commend Pure Romance for keeping it local since the company is based here and having the world conference here will bring the revenue to my hometown, so for that, kudos Pure Romance.  That said...really?  Cincinnati?  Because we are such an exciting city?  I really hope the news of us being here hits the news agencies and the whole city knows.  I think it would make it a lot more fun if everyone around new there was going to be thousands of us wandering around the city for a week.  To all my single, female friends: I have a feeling if you wear pink and walk through downtown Cincinnati that week, you will find yourself with many dates!

And that was my weekend at National Training.  I am pumped to get going for the fall and get some parties in...seriously, demoing borderline BDSM products has got to be the highlight of my consultant career! 

Bad Business Practices

The title is something I hear about in my world as I work in business (kinda).  We talk about performance based budgets and best business practices on a regular basis, so this most recent news has me shaking my head.
 
I am going to keep the social issue of whether or not gay marriage is right or wrong completely out of this blog.  I am addressing this strictly from a business standpoint.  My personal opinion of gay marriage will not be addressed.

That said,

To Dan Cathy, President of Chick-fil-a:

ARE YOU A FREAKING IDIOT?!?!?!?!

Businesses should NEVER involve itself in political and social issues, at least out-right.  If you want to fund charities that support your ideals, go for it.  I had family members who did some research and decided to boycott McDonalds a while back because it supported charities that they did not agree with, so the message still gets out there but not so in your face to reach headline news.

But instead, you speak out about a social issue that is not only the hot topic of the year, you drew a moral line around your business.

The bottom line is, you screwed up.  By speaking out publicly, you just alienated a multiple groups of potential customers.  You alienated most homosexuals, those who support gay marriage, as well as those who do not agree with Christianity.  On the plus side for you, you have made Christians and those completely against gay marriage more inclined to come to your restaurant.  But I still believe this is going to hurt you in the long run.

Lets do an example.  Let's say that last week 10 customers visited your restaurant.  I realize there were more, just work with me here.  Of those 10, 6 were Christian and against gay marriage and 3 were for gay marriage while 1 was completely undecided and unaware.  This week, you just alienated those 3 customers.  While you may not think that is a big deal as the 6 Christians who visited last week probably came back this week with there friends to show support to you, that is not going to last.  Eventually, the customer flow is going to go back to that steady 10 as most people cannot afford to eat out all the time.  So you will go back to that steady 6 plus 1.  That is 30% of potential business lost.

Now some may argue (and is some areas of the country, rightly so) that the Christian customers who did not know of its existence prior to this week will choose Chick-fil-a because of their moral fiber.  My response to that is this...I do not know a Christian who did not already know Chick-fil-a's Christian affiliation.  Just because it wasn't headline news doesn't mean that churches were not aware or that their beliefs weren't communicated. 

And let's be honest...no matter how good a place's food is, people are going to burn out and want to eat other places some times, so while you may receive an immediate boost in sales in the coming weeks, that will eventually drop.  Then adding the 30% loss of sales (I will even say 20% if the theory that some Christians didn't know about Chick-fil-a before this week proves true), that is still a BIG loss.  Last year, Chick-fil-a reported 4 billion dollars in sales.  A 20% loss would be 800 MILLION dollars.  That is not pocket change, even to Bill Gates.

Now let's look at who your words hurt.  No, I am not referring to all the members of the LGBT community who were offended.  I am talking about your business owners.  Chick-fil-a, like McDonalds, are not corporate owned facilities for the most part.  They are individually owned.  I have seen the owner of the Chick-fil-a near me.  I don't know if each owner personally agrees with the President's statements, but I know it is their businesses who are going to suffer.  In more liberal thinking areas, the chick-fil-a restaurants will lose more than that 20-30% revenue.  Mr. Cathy may not be aware of this as the restaurants located in more conservative parts of the country may see an INCREASE in sales, making his bottom line even out.  What does he care that a few owners who were unfortunate enough to place their restaurants in liberal areas lose everything?

I feel bad for my local chick-fil-a.  I really do.  And for the record, I don't boycott restaurants over social issues.  If that makes me a hypocrite, so be it.  But I recognize that corporate leaders do not always represent the individual owners and workers in the establishments where I choose to eat.  This is the same mentality people have with cars.  They boycott Toyota and Honda because the CEO's are out of country, but most of the cars are actually MADE in America, while Chevy and Ford CEO's, while American, send plants to Mexico and Canada.  But they are "American Made"...NORTH America maybe, but not USA.

Sorry, the automobile rant kinda put itself in there. 

The moral of the story is Mr. Cathy, while affirming his spiritual beliefs, hurt his business and his owners in practice.  There were other ways to go about sharing the Gospel that didn't send your company into the political hotseat.  My sympathies go to the small business owners who will suffer the consequences of your actions.

TDKR

I went to see "The Dark Knight Rises" on Saturday afternoon.  I had bought the tickets online on Tuesday before the movie even opened and was really excited about seeing it.

The tragedy of Friday morning's shooting in Aurora, CO had me without words for the victims.  I saw the news post on my phone Friday morning when I woke up at 6am, and woke my husband up to tell him about it.  At the time there were very few details, so it was hard to tell what in the world was going on.  Then, I saw remembrances and  posts with cute photo-shopped images all day on my facebook feed, but I couldn't bring myself to join in, thinking it really wasn't enough to express how saddened I was by it.  The more details emerged throughout the day on Friday, the more I saw it was the act of a crazy individual and as awful as it was, there would have been little anyone could have done to prevent the action from happening (maybe his family or the school, but I don't know the whole situation to really make that determination so I will say at this time NO ONE could have known). 

A few years ago, I would have been in the Friday morning crowd seeing that movie.  I still see a few movies at midnight (Harry Potter and Twilights most recently) and considered seeing this one, but ultimately decided against it because of babysitting issues.  Since Saturday was hubby's birthday, it was a combined movie/birthday day out instead. 

I went with my dad and husband to see the movie.  I haven't seen a movie with my dad in ages.  It could have been a kids movie for all I cared, I was happy to be at a movie with my dad.  I posted my little check in on facebook saying I was seeing TDKR.  I was pretty happy.  Then I turned my phone off and spent the next 3 hours in Gotham City.

After the movie (won't be giving my opinion of the movie yet as most people haven't seen it yet), we went out to dinner.  I was a little surprised that a comment was made to me about my post about seeing the Dark Knight Rises and how it wasn't very tactful in leiu of the events on Friday.  Huh???

I didn't realize that the movie was responsible for the shooting.  I didn't realize that we are supposed to boycott a movie because of the actions of one crazy individual or that we weren't supposed to be happy about anything related to the movie.  How is that respecting the dead?  Because I am lost on that.  Those people were at a MIDNIGHT showing of a summer blockbuster.  I think most of them were fans of the franchise and would not want to see a movie completely flop that they wanted to see themselves.

I wasn't trying to disrespect the dead by being excited about seeing a movie I have waited years for, but I cannot let myself stop living because of it either.  I could have posted pictures of the dead like I knew them as I saw all over my update wall all weekend, but I think that was a bit tacky so soon after the shooting.  I think we are only bowing to the murderer by letting his actions determine how we act.  I won't let some crazy keep me from enjoying my life.  I will mourn the loss of those killed and pray for the recovery of the many injured.  But I will not, nor should any of us, let that tragedy stop us from living our lives to the fullest.  We disgrace the dead more by letting him win in that way.

Silly Facebook Survey

I found this on facebook and thought it would be fun to fill out.  The last time I saw it was in  2009.  Feel free to copy and paste for yourself. :)

The Bucket List. Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not, then send it to your friends.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, do the list and tag 10 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.) If you don't see the Tag people in the upper right hand corner you are in the wrong place.)

Things you have done during your lifetime:
(X) Gone on a blind date
(X) Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die
(X) Been to Canada
( )Been to Mexico
(X) Been to Florida
( ) Been to Hawaii
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been on a helicopter
(X) Been lost
( ) Gone to Washington, DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only
(X) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't.
( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose & elsewhere
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( ) Danced in the rain-naked
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies
( ) Been deep sea fishing
( ) Driven across the United States
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
(X) Been sky diving
( ) Gone snowmobiling
( ) Lived in more than one country
(X) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets,
(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish
( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
(X) Seen the Statue of Liberty
( ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
( ) Been on a cruise
(X) Traveled by train
( ) Traveled by motorcycle
(X) Been horse back riding
( ) Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR
( ) Been to Disneyland
(X) Truly believe in the power of prayer
( ) Been in a rain forest
( ) Seen whales in the ocean
( ) Been to Niagara Falls
( ) Ridden on an elephant
( ) Swam with dolphins
( ) Been to the Olympics
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
( ) Saw and heard a glacier calf
( ) Been spinnaker flying
(X) Been water-skiing
(X) Been snow-skiing
( )Been to Westminster Abbey
( ) Been to the Louvre
( ) Swam in the Mediterranean
(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game
(X) Been to a National Football League game
( ) Jumped in the ocean when it was 20 degrees

I Love to Snope...

This morning while I was avoiding, stalling, mentally preparing myself for the day at work, I ended up on snopes.com page.  I haven't been there in a while.  I forgot how much I enjoy reading it.  I love to jump on the cause bandwagon, but I have made it a habit to check out the cause on snopes before committing as I have been burned before.

Today I read through a few things I hadn't seen before, including a letter (that was true WOOHOO) from a man overseas chiding the British for their anti-American attitudes after 9/11/01.  That can be found HERE.  While I realized that there was a lot of negativity towards Americans all over the world, back then and still today, I hadn't realized that England was one of the more vocal in their dislike.  I have never been there and really do not talk to anyone from that country, and my only experience is that my parents were stationed there when my older biological brother was born.  I distinctly remember seeing the footage from all over the world SUPPORTING the US after September 11 (and took great comfort in it if I am honest about it), so hearing that it wasn't all true was a little disappointing.  While I was a little hurt by the opinion that the US deserved what happened, it was heartwarming to read this man's words defending our country, and being very point blank in the fact that we are the strongest country in the world and could have really kicked ass and the fact that we restrained ourselves as much as we did was praiseworthy. 

Another story that had me laughing this morning was a Harry Potter article.  I remember when the first books came out.  I didn't read them.  I wasn't interested in them...at all.  It wasn't that I thought they were full of witchcraft and satanic stuff; I just wasn't interested in my college years in a children's book when I had enough mandatory reading to do for my classes.  And the Left Behind series was calling my name back then as well.

A year or two later I remember reading an article where a religious group tried to condemn the Harry Potter books as evil.  Well, little miss oppositional defiant's ears perked right up at that and the books quickly moved to the top of my reading list, which fortunately happened after I completed my Master's degree.  After reading the books and becoming obsessed with them a fan of them, every time I heard an in-law or someone at church start spewing about how bad they were I told them to read them before they judged and rolled my eyes.  I happened to scroll across THIS ARTICLE this morning on my, er morning wake up time, and found it hysterical that the entire argument all those years ago started from an article from The Onion, a website who's purpose is to mock and distort the news.  And people bought it.  HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Now, on to work...eventually.