Oh, To Be Young!!

Today we were in line to check out at a store in the mall. The young sales associate asked the woman in front of us, "Are you Colby's Mom?" Before the woman could answer she went on to tell about how she knew him from working somewhere else and how they have been out "clubbing" together a few times.

 The woman confirmed that yes, she was Colby's Mom.

 

The sales associate said, "I thought so! I saw you two together once and teased him that his Mom looked so young that she really looked more like his sister!"

 

Of course you can imagine that this woman looked really happy with that statement!

 

And the then the sales associate said, "Yeah, but I was really just joking; just giving him a hard time."
 

Ouch..
 

Reminds me of the time a hair stylist told me that she loved my hair style. And then followed up with, "When I get old, maybe I'll be brave enough to try that hairstyle too."
 

Double ouch!

 

But here's the deal. I still took the hairstyle comment as a compliment and the woman in line at the store really did look too young to have a son that was old enough to go out "clubbing"!  So it's all good!

Keep on smiling! 

God Loves Drunks Too!

Okay, this made me laugh so I had to share it!

A man and his wife were awakened at 3:00 am by a loud pounding on the door.

The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push.

 "Not a chance," says the husband, "it is 3:00 in the morning!"

He slams the door and returns to bed.

"Who was that?" asked his wife.

"Just some drunk guy asking for a push," he answers.

"Did you help him?" she asks.

"No, I did not, it is 3:00 in the morning and it is pouring rain out there!"

"Well, you have a short memory," says his wife. "Can't you remember about three months ago when we broke down, and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself! God loves drunk people too."

The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain.

He calls out into the dark, "Hello, are you still there?"

"Yes," comes back the answer.

"Do you still need a push?" calls out the husband.

"Yes, please!" comes the reply from the dark.

"Where are you?" asks the husband.

"Over here on the swing set," replied the drunk.

 

Keep on smiling! 

The Hot Pot of the 80's

No, I don't mean marijuana....

I went to college in the 80's. Just typing that sounds so bizarre, so very retro.  But it's true. I went to college in the 80's.

One of the appliance staples in a dorm room back then was the "hot pot".  You know what it is. It is one of those appliances that looks a bit like an old coffee percolator but it heats up hot water.  Those things were great.  You could boil noodles in them for macaroni and cheese, boil water for hot cocoa, etc. 

I'm not really even sure if ramen noodles had been invented yet in the 80's.  Or maybe their distribution channels had not reached as far as Wisconsin. Because I have to believe, if ramen noodles existed in the 80's, I would have been eating them in my little dorm room at UW-Whitewater! But I wasn't. So obviously they hadn't been invented yet, right?

My daughter is finishing up her senior year of high school and will be heading off to college herself this fall. I am so excited for her. I am also trying to prepare myself for life without her (my favorite person in the whole wide world) being here in this house everyday! 

We've been working on the prep stuff since summer; picking things up here and there on clearance, working through the list.  We have already purchased sheets and comforters that will fit the Twin XL beds in the dorms and are discussing the need for a refrigerator and microwave.  Today as I was wandering through Wal-Mart, I came across the "hot pot" appliance.  Ahhh, it brought back memories.

One of the memories that still makes me laugh pretty hard is starting up the "hot pot" one night to make macaroni and cheese while I studied. For some reason I had set it up on my roommate's dresser. I remember hearing this strange noise and I look over and water was shooting out of the spout of the "hot pot" and making a perfect arc directly into her closet!! Luckily, with some quick foot action and the grace of God, the macaroni-laden water didn't get on anything in her closet. Note to self, do NOT overfill the "hot pot" or the boiling water turns into a geyser of hot water and half-cooked macaroni.

So I see this similar device in Wal-Mart and picked it up to look at it. A cordless kettle. That's interesting. If there is no cord, does it run on batteries? That doesn't seem quite right. I read down a little bit further and it says, "Convenient Cord Storage". What? If it's cordless, why on earth do you need convenient cord storage? So I chuckled to myself and I took a couple of photos (see one below), put the "hot pot" back on the shelf and moved on. 

If my offspring, does indeed believe that a "hot pot" is something she would like to have in her dorm room, (I hope so!) we will do some comparison shopping and find a dandy one, fitting of the year 2012.

College...... it's funny the things you remember about those years!!  Wal-Mart..... it's funny what they sell!

Keep on smiling!

A Better Way To Keep Your New Year's Resolutions!

Keep on smiling!

A Very Boring New Year's Resolution Update!

It’s time for me to evaluate my progress on my New Year’s Resolutions! Let me warn you. The resolutions sound weird and random standing on their own so if you haven't read the original post on New Year's Resolutions already (Kari's New Year's Resolutions), you may want to go back and take a peek!

No Gluten: I would give myself a C. Better than I have been but I haven’t made it to “No Gluten” status! Baby steps!

Drink More Water: A!! I recently read an article that diet soda drinkers are 44% more likely to suffer a stroke, heart attack or heart disease. I read that article a week ago Friday and stopped my Diet Pepsi habit the following day. Just like that! So far so good!

Make a Dinner Menu: A! I have been making a menu almost every single week! Feels good!

Exercise: B. I had to take a slight diversion. Doctor #3 told me that perhaps I should consider biking or swimming instead of walking/running. So although I have fought it for a few years, I bought a stationary bike. Back on the road again!

Drink Coffee: A!! I drink a big mug of coffee on the way to work every morning! Lovin' it!

Bring My Lunch To Work: B. I have been pretty good but could be better!

Use My State Park Sticker: F. :( I haven’t been to a State Park yet…

Volunteer Less: C. Still volunteering but I did turn down an additional opportunity to volunteer!

Better Balance Between Work and Home: D. Long, long days but I have been able to use my flexible work arrangement a couple of times. My dreams are consumed with work. :(

Spend More Time With Friends: C. I can do better!

I’m looking back now thinking, “Was I crazy to put down 10 New Year’s Resolutions?”  Yes, I think I WAS!!  I must have been caught up in the moment!

All good things though so I’m going to keep on trying!!

Thought Number 2: I think this is the last New Year's Resolution update!!  BORING!!!!

For those of you who have your own New Year's Resolutions, I hope this finds you successful and beating the odds! :) Or simply being odd. Whatever makes you happiest!

Keep on smiling!

Nothing Says Love Like....

Last week I went Valentine’s Day shopping for my husband. I never know what to get him but I thought I would give it a valiant effort so I went to Gander Mountain.

My husband enjoys hunting. He’s not a crazy hunter that goes all the time. But he does participate in many seasons like turkey hunting, bow hunting, gun hunting and muzzle loader season.  And he has all the toys that go along with hunting.

So Gander Mountain seemed like a good place to go. Well actually, I was really close to Gander Mountain so it seemed efficient too!

I wandered through the clothing section, wondering if I could find something that seemed like a good gift. I couldn’t. So I decided to wander over to the camping section. Not because he likes camping per se. Just because it looked interesting.

On the way to the camping area of the store I wandered through an off shoot of the hunting department and something caught my eye.

One of the things my husband uses is Scent Lok clothing. He has special detergent to wash the Scent Lok clothing that takes any smells out and then he stores them in and a Scent Lok bag once they are washed. After all, no one wants to smell like a human when they are hunting!

And right there in the aisle, it jumped out at me. Dryer sheets that remove human scent. Wow! I didn’t even know they made scent sucking dryer sheets and I know he doesn’t have any!

So then I started looking at the other products and this one jumped out at me.

Scent Killer Liquid Clothing Wash for high efficiency washers. Read the label. “Autumn Formula – Washes Away Odors and Adds a Light Scent of Leaves and Dirt”.

 Sooooooo, you use this detergent to purposely smell like dirt. Nice.

Anyway, I found a gift for my husband!! A 6-pack of scent killer products from Bone Collector.

Because nothing says “I Love You” like products that make you smell like acorns, dirt, rotting leaves or simply smelling like nothing at all.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!  I hope there is a moment today that uniquely says “I Love You” to you.

 
Keep on smiling!

Sealed With A Kiss

We have instant messaging capability at work, to communicate within the company. Today a fellow HR Manager asked me a question via IM. My response to him included information on the 401(k) plan. So I typed in 401(k) in the response and when I hit send, a funny thing happened. Big red kissy lips came up on the screen. Whaaaaat? There it was staring at me. 401 and then a big pair of red lips.

(In case you haven't figured this out yet, I'm not always wise to the ways of this newfangled technology.)

I quickly typed in, “Wow, I don’t know how that happened?” No response.

Then it hit me. The (k) must turn into the big red kissy lips. 

So, just me being me, I typed one line with just (k) on it and when I hit send, there were the lips again. (Brilliant, right?)  I quickly typed an IM that said the k in parentheses must be producing the big kissy lips. This whole time, my peer is not responding. I am starting to panic.

I typed, “Truly didn’t mean to harass you! I had no idea that would happen!!” 

He finally responded with, “OMG, I am laughing too hard to type!” 

Whew!!  

What am I thankful for today?  That I work with people who have a great sense of humor!

Keep on smiling!