There's one thing I am still working on....

..and that's about being judgmental...

I'm better than I used to be..but not as good as I'd like to be.

And it's not the BIG things I'm judgmental about..I've gotten pretty good at that...

It's the littleteensytiny things...like..

..it drives me crazy to see sloppy curtains..

{...and NO, this is NOT my house..}

See how easy that was??Or how about this one?? {no, not this one either...they are for..effect.}


..or blinds that are all catywhumpus..If you can't afford new blinds, then try to fix the ones you have or pull them all the way up..


I tend to think people with sloppy curtains have messy houses..what's up with that?.

Magazine maker-people are cheap....


..Those card-thingys in magazines??...I have to spend time ripping them out, then tearing out all the creepy medicine ads with 3 pages of "possible side effects" before I even get to flip through the magazine..then the magazine that was soo fat and yummy..is now a flat, skinny magazine..I think if we PAY for a magazine, we should get it ad-free..if they want to bombard us with ads - the magazine should be free..




Oh Oh Oh...when they decide to put different covers on the same magazine?? I have many times purchased a magazine, only to find out the innards are the same as the one I have at home..yeah...


And, I judge a book by it's cover...and recipes by the photos. Then I am disappointed when the book's not all that good..and I probably missed the recipe that didn't have a photo that has "1/3 fewer calories and half the fat!!"


If I see someone not carrying baggies with their pups..I think they aren't cleaning up after them.. they probably have pockets, right? { Not for the poop, silly, to carry the bags in..}


So, am I a curtain-profiler? A poop-bag-biddy?? A blinds blaster?

Maybe..

..but don't judge me, OK?

Geeze...what now?

So, now we're havin' Mondays EVERY week??


What's up with that??


" Oh bother"...{in the words of Winnie the Pooh...Old Pooh..not new Pooh...}


{Note good gravity lesson in the imagery...'what goes up....must come down'..

..or maybe it's just a drawing..}
No wonder Pooh was soo befuddled..his head all bouncy on the stairs and all..

So for today, this will be my mantra:

Yes. I. Will.

How about you? In the words of Dr. Phil..

"Whada you tell yirself to git yir self goin'? And how's zat workin' fir ya?"

-Monday me...soon to be Totally Tuesday me.....actually, Sunday night me if we're being honest..

Is is cold in here..or is it just me??

Not a lot of snow {yet} but really c.o.l.d. Cars were slipping all over the road...

photo from a flickr thingy - not mine..

I'm always afraid of slipping (read: falling) ..

Maybe it was the time when my daughter Brandi and I were in Park City prior to moving to Utah..

We were out here looking for a house.............in Salt Lake...........Park City is where the rich & famous live..not the mediocre and infamous......

not that the people of Salt Lake are either mediocre OR infamous.....uh....just moi..just to be clear...

Anyway, were were coming out of Denny's (free dinner for my daughter's birthday..wonder if they still do that?)

....when I fell in the snow-ice-freezy-dangerous-filled parking lot..much to Brandi's embarrassment.

But wait..it gets better.

I got to laughing..and she got to laughing..and it was slippery and I couldn't get my footing..

..so I'm kinda wallowing and slipping and laughing..and people are going to their cars..looking..and smiling..and staring..and...

I giggled so much that I...uh...well, after having a lot of water with dinner...I ..I ..


Yes.. I did. And when I did, because of the cold and the snow, STEAM started rising..

And somehow, despite my embarrassment {and Brandi's horror} I kept laughing..and steam kept rising...

And a nice gentleman came over and asked if I needed help.....which we both thought was soo hilarious..I couldn't talk.just kept laughing and shaking my head "no"...I'm pretty certain he thought I was either crazy...or drunk..


Finally Brandi gave me a hand and I took my now-near-frozen self and drove back to the hotel..

Maybe those Depends commercials need me for a 'spokes-model'..

"I'm dreaming of a DRY Christmas.."

-me

Well, this can't be good....

Wait..no I mean weight....

Christmas time is usually such a great time for all the ...stuff.


You know, the home made candies, the cookies at work..

Yeah..the good stuff.

So now it's a really hard time for me. I want some..


And yes, I can have some............as long as I have some in mo..der.a.tion..

"make smart choices"...

"keep your eye on the prize'..


Yeeeaaah..about that..

OK, yes, I can have just one measly-lonely-sad-forlorn cookie..

But I want more..maybe 2..uh oh..

Smart choices? Riiiight..so I can have one cookie...then eat my weight in veggies for the next 3 days...somehow that doesn't really seem fair..

You can be sure I'm keeping my eye on the prize alright. It;s just that right-now, the 'prize' is a piece of pecan pie, eaten from the pie tin, standing up in front of the sink and slowly rocking back & forth..

Did I mention bliss? Youbetcha..

Hmmm...while in Arizona with the Sisters of the West...Arizona order..(which is not cloistered..yes, I had to look it up too..) I was told by Sister Kathleen to try eating with a baby spoon..

{and what, the teaspoon is the Mama and the table spoon is the Daddy??} so my food, such as ice cream and anything remotely good, would last longer and seem...bigger.

And buy little bowls and plated so it appears to be FILLED (!) with copious amounts of food...


..thereby tricking the eye and the mind into thinking you were actually eating a lot..

Seems they forgot about my not-so-tiny tummy..it knows. It's not fooled.

So, this holiday season, I'll pretend as I use my tiny utensils, and eat from my tiny plate, and enjoy a tiny amount of candy, cookies and pie from my tiny bows, that I really am a little tiny kid...and just to be clear, Mr. Santa, I am expecting a lot of not so tiny toys..after all..

...I have been very nice... {and just a tiny bit naughty}

So, how do you see yourself....

Yeah, that'd be....

-me

Re-Run: The "toddler rules" just became "Lulu's rules"....

{this is from my very first year of blogging..thought some of you may enjoy this one }

You've probably read the 'toddler rules' before.

And they do pertain to toddlers.

But even more, they apply to "Lulu, Princess Warrior"

Case in point- went to Einstein's for bagels and saw the doggies ones.

We have 2 dogs.

I bought 2 bagels.

I gave each dog a bagel and they started eating them.

Braxton ate oh, about 1/4 of his when Lulu darling spotted it...and took it.

I now have 2 dogs and one has 1/4 bagel and the other has 1 3/4 bagels.

Seems fair enough.

In Lulu's world...

Here's the "rules" -edited by Lulu herself.....

1. If I like it, it's mine.

2. If it's in my mouth, it's mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.

5. If it's mine, it must NEVER appear to be yours in anyway.

6. If I'm doing something and look like I don't want it, it's mine anyway.

7. If it looks just like mine, it is mine.

8. If I saw it first, it's mine.

9. If you are playing with something, it automatically becomes mine.

10. If it's broken, it's yours. No, wait, that's mine too.

But, by the end of the day, Braxton (aka Eeyore) and Lulu (aka Princess Warrior) love each other and are the best of buds.

Ah, the rules of the game. Sounds familiar on so many levels....

g'night...

-me

Oh boy...I must be getting old(er)..

So, I'm driving to work listening to the radio and I have it on the "All Christmas" channel..

Um, yes, I have had it on since right after Halloween..but I love love love Christmas music..

or what used to be called Christmas music.

Not every song that has the word 'Christmas' in it is a Christmas song.

"Last Christmas I gave you my heart the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I gave it to someone special.." {repeat several times..like you're trying to memorize the lyrics..}


This has nothing to do with Christmas except maybe showing their complete lack of judgment during the holiday season..


And why the heck to some of the big names think they need to re-invent the classics? I mean Alicia Keyes is pretty & talented, but she not only messed up The Little Drummer Boy by singing it in HER style...

..she changed it to The Little Drummer GIRL..

What's up with that?? Shikira trying to be all suggestive singing Santa Baby?? I like Betty Boop's version better...

And 'riffs' may very well be cool on American Idol, but not so much in Christmas carols..

Miriah Carey - bless her heart - really doesn't need to change the arrangement to Silent Night if you ask me..


Keep the lyrics and the arrangements in tact- they are called classics for a reason..


What's wrong with you people??


Bah Humbuger...

Yeeeeah...this is just creepy....

-me

Can something be so beautiful...

..that it actually pulls on your heart? That you can feel the tug of heartstrings?

Listening to Sometimes When It Rains by Secret Garden.. { or just about anything from Secret Garden..}


And looking at our on-line photo albums of the past year...

Seeing and hearing..

Tugging.

Little faces, beautiful sunrises, good times, beautiful mountains, darling dogs...sisters, brother, Arizona, Colorado...weddings, parties, scenery, song...melody..

So sweetly it hurts.

So beautiful..so painful.

So lucky..

So blessed.

-me