THIS SATURDAY, SAY AWE...

I don't know if there's any shared DNA going on here. One thing I do know, you don't have to be an animal lover to feel the sweet harmony between these furry friends. Do you have a favorite? I do!

FRIDAY MATINEE

*****Update*****
I have to say, I loved, loved, LOVED this movie! It was nothing like I imagined. Well maybe a little, but really, it had substance, a story line, and the humor was very funny. Another surprise for me was the number of men who came to see it too. I purposely arrived early and took a seat in the top row so I could check of the ratio of men to women. I have to say there were men who came without women, as well as with them. I don't know what all the hype was about, but this movie has something for everyone! Go see it.

Today I'm off to see the mother of all girlie girl movies....
I'll be honest with you, I've never seen even one episode of the HBO series. The whole premise was a bit too superficial for me, and I don't have HBO preferred something with more substance. It's one of those things that made me feel out of the loop. Like when I would go to work in the morning and all the buzz was like "Hey, wasn't Miranda hysterical last night", or "I want my hair just like Carrie's." I mean really....was I the only one watching reruns of Raymond?

There's a gender thing going on though. It seems as though men are shunning this film big time! At the opening men were noticably absent. But that's not true...see?
Leave it to me to find them!

But today, because Sex And The City is getting great reviews and because it's all the buzz lately, I'm going..and I'll probably like it. Besides, I refuse to be left out of the loop again.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

I kid you not. It seems the Space Station crew has a new challenge. The four words you don't want to hear in space: "The toilet is broken." Some of you are saying to yourself, does she have to talk potty stuff two days in a row? My answer to you is hey, I don't make the news, I just pass it on. The bit of good news is the problem is only with one of the collectors...no, I'm not going to explain it in detail because frankly, some of you don't have the stomach for that kind of talk, so I will let Nasa explain it to those of you that need to know. Pretty extravagant potty isn't it? Thank goodness they have a back up supply of these diapers made famous by this astronaut.

I have my own little astronaut to model one for you so you get an idea about how they fit. See what I mean? Being an astronaut is not all fun and walks in the park on Mars.
I get a great sense of satisfaction when I can bring something educational and newsworthy to y'all.

IT DOESN'T LEAVE PIECES

I like commercials. Not all commercials, but the ones that go over the top to get your attention with catchy phrases or visual images that become timeless, and when you hear them or see them you automatically know the product.

For instance "You're In Good Hands" - Allstate; "Can you hear me now?" - Verison; "It's finger lickn good" - KFC. Visuals would be things like the Energizer Bunny beating his drum, or the Purina cat doing the cha-cha. One that I thought was timeless; "Please don't squeeze the Charmn'". I know Mr. Whipple died, may he rest in peace, but the catchy phrase stuck around didn't it?

Yesterday a Charmn' commercial, one that I've seen often, but never really paid much attention to, had a phrase that struck me funny.

Funny as in, Who came up with that phrase? The phrase I'm speaking of is, "It doesn't leave pieces." The animated commercial shows an adult bear noticing "pieces" of toilet paper on a cubs bum, and scrubs them off with a push broom.

Now I like Charmn' toilet paper, it's soft and feels like it's bathed in lotion. I don't mind paying more either because I live alone, and don't have a house full of people who need half a roll a day to stay "fresh". I did some checking to see just how far Proctor and Gamble would go to promote a product. How about their own friggin bathrooms....be honest, don't you think this "visual" of the two bears squirming to keep from wetting themselves cute?

Or, how about this? Instead of a family picture on your Merry Christmas Card, you can have a Charmn' Christmas picture on your cards.

Oh, and finally, for those of you who are super-saver shoppers, here's a little something for you.

A GROUP VACATION...
That was all about ME.

I spent a good portion of the holiday weekend booking flights for an Alaskan cruise I'm going on in early September. I wanted to wait to book the air travel until a good fair popped up, maybe in July or August. But with the uncertainty of fuel prices and the airlines adding charges for checked luggage and an actual seat that's not on a toilet other things like food and headsets, I decided to just book it and be done with it.

I'll be meeting up with eight friends in Seattle, then we'll rent a few cars and drive up to Vancouver, BC together. The ship departs the next day, late in the afternoon, so we'll have time to party all night see a bit of Vancouver. The cruise ends in Anchorage, Alaska, and I'll be flying home from there.

So, this isn't a round trip ticket I'm trying to book, it's a multi-destination ticket. Of course, I'm flying out of that small little regional airport that goes nowhere outside of Texas. Because really? Why would you want to go anywhere else? I am flying to Seattle, then I have to change planes in Dallas, worry about my luggage going to the same destination at the same time. I will be on the first plane out of the small regional airport at 5:30 a.m. to arrive in Seattle by 11:30 a.m. to meet up with my friends. Don't forget the two hour time difference, making my not so simple trip from Texas to Washington eight hours.

Getting back home is the fun part. We dock in Anchorage at 12:30 a.m., then have a 2-3 hour ride to the airport. The first flight I can get on back to Dallas is too late to catch the last flight to the small regional airport near home that day! I decide not to go home, but stay and become an Eskimo fly from Anchorage to Orange County CA...and start my next vacation. See? Kill two birds with eight stones.

All these details and time-lines were giving me a headache. The airlines aren't as user friendly as they used to be. In fact, I called the airlines to see if they could help me coordinate my flights, and they told me there is a fee for that service. Huh? In the past couple of years I haven't had a trip that didn't have a cancelled or late connecting flight, making me miss my flight. American Airlines has had to put me up in a hotel three times in two years. Not good.

I was reminded of a group trip I took in the eighties. When the airlines cared about their image and your travel experience. My vacation tale is one I should keep to myself, but because you guys are all close personal friends, I can tell you...and you won't be judgemental, and realize what a selfish, self-centered person I am was.

I loved skiing, and wanted to experience good skiing, not in the crowded expensive slopes of Southern California. Spending more time in traffic and long lift lines, than actual skiing had lost it's appeal to me.

The local community college had a ski class with a trip to Banff, Alberta, Canada for the final exam...dirt cheap. The class met two nights a week on the grassy slope backing up to the football stadium. For the purpose of the class, it was covered with AstroTurf,then sprayed with WD-40 to make it slick and fast. Hey, don't laugh, this is surf country, sometimes you have to fake it.

The morning we departed for our Canadian ski trip, I was supposed to meet my instructor and forty classmates on campus, then travel to LAX on a bus. Well, I over slept, and missed the bus. I took my own car to the airport and met the class in time to board the plane. The instructor was a bit ticked at me, but hey, these things happen.

So, now we're all on the plane, finally settled in for the flight. Not so fast, readers! The flight attendant makes an announcement that the flight is way over booked, they want volunteers to give up their seats.

After much back and forth offers, yep, I give up my seat for $200 and a seat on the next flight to Calgary. SWEEEEET! Of course my instructor was ticked...AGAIN. No one told me that once we landed we still had to travel about 90 miles to the Banff Springs Hotel.
So there they were, waiting for me, for four hours, to take the charter bus to Banff because we were supposed to travel as a group.

So, I have to say, the airline was very accommodating. Not only did they pay me $200 to take a later flight, they sent me a voucher for my inconvenience. Air travel sure has changed, hasn't it? Or maybe bad Karma finally caught up with me.

Oh, and the instructor gave me a failing grade.

TO HONOR THOSE WHO SERVE


Today we remember those who have served and sacrificed to protect the freedoms we enjoy. Cherish the day, celebrate, and given the opportunity, thank a service man or woman. I know I will.

SUNDAY CRUISN'

Almost like the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.....but instead it was a hot, humid, sticky weekend of air conditioned car rides.
I spent an overnighter with my favorite guy.....yep, "The JJ". We took several car rides,trolling the hood for bad guys and stray cats.

On one of our outings we drove through What a Burger. For those of you readers in California, including lurkers, and I know who you are who have never heard of this fast food drive-thru, let me clarify how you say it. It's like, "Hey, What a Burger!", not, "Waterburger".

INDIANA JONES and CINEMARK review

I have to confess something. I have never seen any of the Indian Jones movies before, and I probably wouldn't have seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, if there wasn't the promise of a free "surprise". This was also the grand second day opening of our sixteen screen Cinemark Theatre.

You can tell by the crowd in the parking lot that Grandma J arrived at the crack of dawn early so she could be one of the first 100 people and get a surprise.

Inside there were several people waiting to buy tickets. Doing the simple math in my head, I knew I was one of the first hundred. After I purchased my ticket for $6.50, because they only have a senior discount on Mondays, I wandered over to buy a double scoop of butter pecan ice cream.


I don't know why, but I always feel compelled to ask for hot fudge get a double scoop.

I must say, Veronica was right, Cinemark has the best seats in town because guess what? They recline a bit, and I swear there is memory foam in the seats. The arms don't rise up, which is a negative in my opinion....like anyone asked.

Now, I mentioned that I've never seen an Indian Jones movie before. I don't think I will see another one any time soon. The special effects where great, and Harrison Ford is a good looking talented actor but it was very unrealistic in the fact that no matter what, Indiana Jones' hat never fell off. Not even going over waterfalls the likes of Niagra Falls. Speaking of which, five people in a topless military vehicle circa 1950, go over three huge water falls and no one falls out, and the vehicle always lands upright in the water. PUH LEEZ!

Take a look at the stuff in my "surpise bag". Jealous, aren't you? The plus for anyone in SoCA, there is a new interactive feature at Disneyland with Indiana Jones. I was one of the first to partake, even if I am in Texas.

FRIDAY MATINEE

This week I'm excited about going to the movies. A new multi-screen Cinemark just opened last night with a whole lot of circus atmosphere of celebration. Free surprise t-shirt gift, clowns (which I have a weird fear of), face painting and blah, blah, blah. So, I'm going this morning for the first showing of:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

There will be goodie bags and other stuff everyday for the first week. If I get any freebies, I'll post them. My big thing is trying the new stadium seating. The current theatre in town has stadium seating, but they are pretty low-end. Seeing Harrison Ford in another Indiana Jones movie is another plus! That man is still pretty hawt.

FOOLERY'S THURSDAY CHALLENGE
That was supposed to be on Wednesday

One of my favorite bloggers is Laurie at foolery. Her blog is one of the first ones I read every morning, and today she had a challenge. The challenge is to give an award to three newer bloggers. The fun part is, you just make up any award you want...silly, serious or down right mean just plan interesting, and bestow it on some unsuspecting soul.

I'm taking your challenge, Laurie.

My first award should go to one of two bloggers, and since Laurie can't participate, I present the coveted BEST MORNING READ AWARD to the two sistah's at Holy Crappers. Relocated from Philly to the Florida Panhandle, these sistah's talk about their garden, beer, offspring, beer, boyfriends, and guess what? Beer! Keep it coming!! My next award is my HOT BLOGGER AWARD, presented to Madame x at Letter W. Madame x is chili pepper hot in more ways than one. Her humor is cutting edge, and if anyone can make me laugh she can. She also has no problema, calling out any TV news anchors with potty mouths.
My final award is the prestigious FAMILY SANITY AWARD, to Kim at heart shaped hedges. OK, you busted me, Kim is my daughter...but seriously, she knows more parenting blogs than I do. She blogs about issues that other mom's care about like poop, laundry, kids groups, breastfeeding and childhood cancer. I know she will be a better judge of just who this award should go to next.

So blog award winners? Go forth and share the love. And blogger friends? Go take foolery's challenge. Knock on another blogger's door and say Boo! "I like your blog".

DIVA UNLEASHED
or Lady And The Tramp, the sequel

I'm a dog lover. I don't own a dog anymore, and I don't plan on getting one any time soon. I don't have a yard for a dog to play in, and I think a dog needs a place to romp. I also have some travel plans that would take me away for up to a month at a time, and dogs are pack animals, they thrive on being part of a family. You can't train a puppy in increments either. Besides, I have JJ to play with, have sleep-overs and car rides.

Last Christmas, I was staying at my daughter's home. Her mother-in-law, Marianne, came for a week to celebrate the holidays with her son and his family. This was a special Christmas because she arrived in Texas the same day her son (my SIL) arrived home from Iraq.

I always enjoy seeing Marianne. When I drove to Texas from SoCA last year, I stayed at her beautiful home in Tucson for two days. Now, a bit of background...Marianne is the mother of six grown men. That's right, six boys, and no daughters....until she got Tabatha. So how excited were we when Tabatha came to spend the holidays with her big brother us too?

Now JJ is quite hyper, and neither he nor Tabatha are used to being around other dogs, let alone share the same territory for a week. To our surprise, they couldn't get enough of each other. Romping and playing, chasing each other, even lying down together when they got tired. Luckily they were both fixed, so we didn't have that worry. JJ was so attached to Tabatha that he threw a fit when Tabatha and Marianne went to bed at night and shut the bedroom door. He won that battle and wormed his way in to sleep with them every night.

So fast forward to this May. I emailed a picture of JJ to Marianne. One that I took with my cheap digital point and shoot camera. Similar to these two that I took today.

JJ loves to dare me to take his toy..within seconds of my arrival.

And he listens when I ask him if he wants to see Tabatha.

Yesterday, I got a lovely note from Tabatha and Marianne, with these pictures.

Can you tell "someone" is thrilled to finally have a little girl? Does JJ have good taste or what? and really? I don't think I could be as dedicated to a dog as Marianne is to Tabatha, but I'm tickled pink that she gets so much enjoyment from this pampered little princess. It fulfills a small little void, and she has her little baby girl to spoil. And my son-in-law has a cute little sister (oh, yeah, he will love me saying that). Tabatha is a lucky little lady. JJ like so many guys loves him a high maintenance lady!

THE PARTY'S OVER...
....evidently

When I woke up this morning, reality was hovering over me like....well, reality! I had been living a whirlwind, fairytale life for the last several weeks. Events swirled around me like the tornado that almost came close to my home.

Then there was Mother's Day when I was showered with gifts like "Forget-me-not" pajamas from Pooper, Beauty, and Little One, great book from my daughter in Colorado, Starbucks coffee, travel mug, brunch and a movie from my daughter and her family here in Texas, several theatre tickets from JJ and these from my son and his family.

Which shout, "Hello, it's time to say adios."

Then of course there was the time I spent offering support and tweezers comfort to these women, which, by the way, is ongoing. There were endless hours planning and organizing my Major Road Trip to see Cortney and Briana, leading up to the Major Road Trip Finale

So, with the air temporarily sucked out of my balloon, it's back to the daily nitty gritty of sleeping in and watching The View. Yesterday, I drove 56 miles round trip to the closest fabric store to me. And I bought this material to make two more soft furry blankies for the kids in the Pediatric Oncology ward.

My nose is to the grindstone, which must really hurt, to get these done this week. After that I'm free to start planning my next junket to Las Vegas, BABY!! And I may need your help.

MAJOR ROAD TRIP FINALE....
or day one

because really? That's it in a nutshell. A very big nut shell. I was very excited to finally meet Cortney and see Briana again as well as meeting her family.

When I arrived at Creekside Gathering, Briana was looking out for me to pull up. Her parents where there too, and it was nice seeing them again! Just a side note...not only does Briana run marathons, along with century bike rides and triathlons, but her MOM runs marathons! These are my kind of people because, and this might come as a shock to some people, but I walk .46 miles every night. It's something I don't like to brag about.

Cortney and her good friend Amy are big time organizers for this particular casual worship service, and boy can we say inspirational, upbeat, fun service with a message....and great music.

I sat between my two blogger friends which did nothing to make me look young like them...can't you tell?

Three more favorite people that I finally got to meet where Briana's husband Joel, who we didn't get a picture of...what happened? Her (recently confirmed and heading to Italy) daughter Madison, and her adorable super soccer player son Dalton.

After the service I met Pastor Terry. He was nice enough to let us take some pictures because no one told him where they would end up.

Cortney and Briana, along with Briana's family took me out to a fabulous Mexican restaurant. I immediately said "dibs" to sit next to Dalton, and across from Madison.....because we have so much in common with stuff like the wii, and Guitar Hero III. I also had to remind Madison to throw some coins in the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy.

Needless to say, I am very thankful that my friends from Pflugerville/Austin gave me such a huge, warm reception. That's one thing about Texans...everything is done up big! Thank you!

*Please note, this Major Road Trip in no way resembled or cost as much, or took as long as any Excellent Road Trips. Full disclosure is noted.

MAJOR ROAD TRIP....day one only

I don't know where the time has gone, but today's the day I head down the road to meet two great blogger friends, Cortney and Briana at Creekside Gathering.

I'm all packed and ready to travel south on this infamous highway to the beautiful city of Pflugerville Texas.
The world will be a condensed version our oyster in a nutshell for one glorious day. I'm excited and can hardly wait. Hasta!

*please note that this Major Road Trip is in no way meant to resemble any Excellent Road Trips. Besides, Bossy doesn't read my blog, everyday and what she doesn't know won't hurt her...too badly.

THERE'S SOMETHING
IN THE WATER

Every once in a while a simple thing like taking a parcel to the post office takes a sharp left turn...into the world of weird. Our post office is in a fast growing town next to a larger, older town. The small post office is crowded, really crowded, all the time. But I like it because it's newer and not a hassle to get to, it's also near Wally World close to shopping. Here is an idea of what our post office looks like.

Because I like to go at odd times, when working people should be working, the clientele at the post office is made up of senior citizens, stay-at-home-moms, and normal people like me. But then, out of the blue, we can count on someone like Tom to come tearing in just like the Texas tornado that almost killed me.

Tom has a complaint, "the stamp machine in the lobby is still broken....and I'm back with a new sign, y'all." So we all just sort of stare at Tom. Tom is loud and he comes in every day...and plans on coming back every day until things change around here. Jack is the only postal clerk working on this Friday afternoon. This doesn't make Tom happy, but Jack ignores Tom. Tom doesn't like being ignored so he points out the fact that Jack has a hickey..."did y'all see the hickey?" Oh yeah, some people nodded, because maybe Tom will shut up...um yeah right . When it was my turn at the counter, Tom mentions Jack's man-boobs to everyone. Jack said, "why don't you just take a picture."

So, I grabbed my camera out of my purse and said, "may I?" Jack, laughed and said, "sure"

I left the post office, and wondered if there wasn't something in the water in this cute town.