My girl is smart!

My daughter is scared of dogs. It really doesn't matter what size dog it is. She'll claim that she likes little dogs. But if she is presented with a tiny cute little fluffy dog she still acts petrified. It's a pain in the butt because there are dogs everywhere. Lots of people have dogs as pets. Any outside activities in the park or wherever, usually involve dogs. And it prohibits her from going places too. If a new friend wants her to come over, the first thing she asks me is if they have a dog before she'll commit to going.

Some houses we visit have the philosophy that the dog is part of their family and should not be inconvenienced by being put away someplace just because one kid is scared of it. Or people try to reason with her and tell her that the dog won't bother her. But if you are truly petrified with fear by something (and you are five) no amount of logical reasoning is going to matter.

My BFF's family has a golden retriever and she is wonderful about putting the dog away when we come over so that my daughter is not scared. I think she just wants my daughter to be so comfortable at her house and have fun and knows she can't do that if the dog is around. She is so good about it that sometimes I forget they even have a dog when we are there because the entire time the dog will be put away.

So my BFF's family got a second dog. A new little puppy they adopted from the Humane Society. She emailed me some pictures of her kids with the cute little mutt. So I told my kids about their new addition.

My point to this whole post is that since my BFF and I already have my daughter and her son betrothed and he is a dog kid and she is not, I asked my daughter how this will be handled once they are married. I asked her "What are you going to do when you and your boyfriend get married and he wants to get a dog?"............

She said "Well...... I'll get to decide because I'll be the Mom."

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

I'm lazy.

I'm feeling so very lazy. I have several loads of laundry waiting for me in my laundry room. I have some tidying up to do in my kitchen. Both have been waiting for me all day. I just don't feel like doing it. And I shuffled around those papers in my in box. But I didn't really do anything with them..... I'm just too lazy today....

I love these commercials...

The new series of commercials for Orkin totally crack me up! The way the big ass termite talks in that low even tone is great. And the drive by at the end.... love it.

My latest obsession......

I have been obsessed with the iced nonfat chai latte from Starbucks. I went into Starbucks this morning to get a gift certificate and was very strong and abstained from purchasing one. However, I was chatting with the gal working there (not sure if she was officially a "barrister" or not) and I was telling her how I much I have been enjoying them. She said that she likes them too. Then she said how she likes to add a shot of vanilla to hers....... Well, what do you think I have been thinking about since then??? I'm going to have to get one tomorrow!

Gin In My Apron Pocket: Using my gym membership

As a member of Lotta's gin tipping club, I am proud to report that I went to the gym this morning for the second time this week!!!!!

I mentioned before that for Christmas my Mom gave me a year membership to a gym that I had been wanting to join. So I went a couple times in January, maybe once in February. I think I'm being a little generous with myself here. But the point is I have not been in quite a while.

So this morning and Wednesday morning both I walked on the treadmill for an hour. I have to play little mind games with myself. I start out slow for five minutes then increase every five minutes until I hit my maximum speed at 15 minutes. At that point I say to myself all I have to do is five or ten minutes at this speed. By the time I reach ten minutes I feel pretty good and can go for a little longer. So I went at my max speed for a full 30 minutes and then slowly decreased my speed by five minutes increments.

One of the lovely things I inherited from my Mother's side of the family is a little dizziness. All the women in the family suffer from a little vertigo here and there. Some worse than others. But for me if I don't slowly decrease my speed and baby step my way off of that treadmill then I am in trouble.

All the treadmills at the gym have televisions with cable in them. So you just bring your headphones and plug it in to the treadmill and you can watch tv while you walk. That makes a big difference to me. It really helps to pass the time.

When you finish using the equipment you are supposed to use this rag and spray to clean it up a bit before you leave. But they also have this guy that walks around wiping things down too. So I see him getting a little closer to me and he starts wiping down this treadmill next to me with a guy walking on it. I'm thinking please don't come over here because I just knew it was going to throw me off. Sure enough here he comes. He totally wiped all the edges of the track off while I was walking on it. I kept thinking "please don't let me fall".... I didn't fall, but it was a little awkward. I have my headphones on trying to find my zone and this guy is wiping down by my feet. Am I supposed to chat with him? Make eye contact? Smile? Just a little weird.......

Master Procrastinator

This is a picture of my "inbox"......

Do you think I should get started??????

Happy Mother's Day

I am up early showered and lotioned waiting for my family to get up. This is what is waiting for me in my kitchen. I wonder what is in there!

Actually I know most of it as my husband left the receipt on the kitchen counter yesterday and I looked at it. There was one thing I couldn't figure out by the description. I even went online and tried to figure it out buy couldn't. Is that bad? I just like to be ready.....

We are headed off this morning to the same place we had Easter brunch and had the chocolate fountain fiasco. I'm hoping we get out of there a little cleaner today. And then over to my Mother-in-law's for dinner.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there! Hope you have a great day and get all the accolades you deserve!

Blogging questions......

When I started my blog I decided to be vague about where I lived because I wanted to be able to post pictures of my kids. I thought it would be safer if I am putting their faces out there to not also give their names and location.

Now I find that there are a lot of things that I would like to blog about, but they would give away my location. So my question is, am I being paranoid?

Both of my parents were police officers. My Dad was a career policeman. My Mom was a civilian police department employee and then a policewoman for a couple years and quit when I was born. My Mother's Father was a criminal defense attorney. I am telling you this because it explains that I was raised to be suspicious, to be aware of my surroundings and recognize the possible repercussions from my actions. Therefore, I usually think things through before doing them. Now, I'm not saying that I didn't spend some time in college, oh hell let's be honest high school too, being totally irresponsible and reckless. But that is a whole series of other posts.

So, I am usually a cautious, observant and deliberate person. Unless, of course I am drinking heavily. But again, I digress. My question is am I being too cautious? I am totally stifling my blogging creativity with this being careful business. Am I being too careful? Usually I feel like you can never be too careful. I always tell myself I don't want to be in the position of saying "Oh, if only I would have...."

Now that I think about it, I also wanted to be vague in case I wanted to vent about any personal issues and not have it come back to me. Just in case I wanted to complain how much my sister drives me crazy or my friend has disappointed me. But so far I have not used my blog for that. I kind of decided that was too risky. If someone I know just happens to stumble across my blog and has any question that it is me, once they see the pictures of my kids they'll know for sure.

I have managed to not tell anyone about my blog except for my BFF and my husband. And my BFF's husband knows too. So I still have some anonymity for now. Should I keep it or let loose a little? What is your opinion?

Hooked on Houses

I was reading my regular celebrity trash on the internet and I came across a little snippet about Reese Witherspoon buying Kathy Ireland's "country house" in Ojai, California for $6.9 million. So for lack of anything better to do than cleaning my house or laundry, I thought I'd try and see if I could find pictures of the place on the internet.

Well, I came across this website called Hooked on Houses. Check out the new vacation digs for Reese and her kids. I think I could have a really good time there. And if my family had that place to retreat to for our weekends away, I'm sure I could lose my children for hours at a time. Who am I kidding, I'll never shake them.

The site is fun to look at though. I love looking at other people's houses. All the different styles. I like so many. You have to also check out Michael J. Fox's $6.3 million Southampton Home. So cool.

Finding this site is probably going to be a problem for me. I really don't need to find more things to waste my time on...........

Spring Concert review

Last night was my son's "Spring Vocal Concert". I was all stressed out about getting there early and getting good seats and getting the grandmothers in there the best route..... blah, blah, blah. I got it all done very well. We got great seats.

I don't have a good picture of my son singing because I was video taping it (do you still call it that?) for my husband because he was still out of town. But I do have a picture of my daughter attending the concert. She gave it a thumbs up!