Funny Quote: Michael Kors disses dress

"... looks like toilet paper in a windstorm!" -- Michael Kors, Project Runway (about a designer's dress, pictured to the right -- which IMO, really did look like toilet paper in a windstorm and I'm not sure why the designer isn't "out".)

P.S. I haven't done one of these in a while ... and I'm officially changing the title from "Funny Quote of the Week" to "Funny Quote". Why? Because apparently I can't commit to anything permanent on this blog. My sincere apologies although I have a feeling now that Project Runway is back on, I will have many more of these.

Nature Boy

Lil' Monkey has shown his preference for all things green in recent months. Now that he's walking pretty well, we've been going outside more. He loves trees, especially their leaves. He also loves grass and the little weedy white flowers our non-manicured lawn provides. He also has a liking for flowers or things like them, such as dandelions.

Monkey will pull the dandelions up and yank the tops off. I haven't even taught him that rhyme yet! But I guess that's just what kids do. The oddest thing though, is his appreciation of real flowers. He'll carry them around the house with him for a little bit gently caring for them. But eventually, he'll rip off all of the petals.

Apparently the marigolds are particularly delicious ... I'm pretty sure fancy restaurants put them in salads ... so it's okay if he eats a little bit, right?

Anyway, recently in my effort to slow down, simplify and (pardon the pun) "smell the roses", I've taken some pictures of my lil' Monkey -- the Nature Boy, to share with all of you.

First Mother's Day

Technically, last year was my first Mother's Day since I was pregnant with Monkey then. But for me, this year was the one that counted. I wondered for most of last week if DH would remember and what Monkey would "get" me.

DH did a fantastic job (as usual with occasions). While I was in the shower Saturday, after huffing furniture quickly from our basement to the middle level, flowers were delivered to the house. I walked downstairs and started talking about the "plan" for the rest of the day when I saw them. I was definitely shocked --flowers and EARLY at that.

They're beautiful and the card was very touching. I was verclemp after reading it.

Thanks babe. And thank you, lil' Monkey, for making my first Mother's Day a very special one.

"So friggin' cute!"

Sorry, I know the title of this post is a little risque for a parenting blog. But that's what you will hear a LOT around our house from DH and I when discussing our lil' Monkey and his doings. In fact, we should blame Monkey's paternal grandmother who first started using the phrase (and yes, we use "friggin'" not the actual curse word -- not that friggin' is any better).

So anyway ... here are some recent occurrances which evoked this phrase from our mouths:

DAPPER GENTLEMAN
DH gives Monkey most of his baths and I when I'd give him a bath, I'd brush his hair afterward (even when there was hardly anything to brush). Now that Monkey has some hair, you can DO something with it. Therefore, DH has decided that Monkey needs a part and when he is done combing his hair, we sort of parade him around the top floor of our house saying, "Look at the dapper gentleman! Such a dapper gentleman!" and he giggles and we have fun. So the other night I took a picture of the "dapper gentleman" look which you can find above.

AT the "MILK BAR"
Lately, Monkey has decided that drinking from the bottle is no longer a family affair but something he only wants to do on his own. This is great sometimes, not so great other times like when he wants to keep knocking it from the coffee table onto the living room carpet below thus spilling little drops of milk everywhere.To the right, there's a picture of him being Mr. Independent at his "milk bar", otherwise known was our coffee table. But isn't he cute in his overalls?!

CHOPPING BROCCOLI!
This picture isn't that recent. It's from about 3 weeks ago when Monkey tried broccoli for the first time. Although, it made a COMPLETE mess and I'm SOOO glad we were at home when trying this for the first time, he was just too cute all covered in green dots.

With respect to the fact that we will need to stop using this type of language in front of our child, this will probably be the last time I use this phrase ...

SO FRIGGIN' CUTE!

... well, maybe outloud in front him or other people :)

Something Worth Forwarding -- Charity Navigator

Updated below

I recently received an email message about felonspy.com which deceptively tries to make its visitors believe that they can find felons in their neighborhood by typing in their address. I researched this on snopes.com and of course, it's a bunch of malarky. Basically, if you perform another search, you'll get DIFFERENT results and if you go their FAQ section and read between the lines, you'll realize that the results are FAKE.

Since this email was forwarded only to me, I decided not to forward an SWF solely to the sender. I save SWFs for emails where multiple people are copied. And THIS is probably why the sender sent it only to me because the last time she did this, I sent an SWF to all of her recipients.

However, it did make me think that I haven't posted an SWF since the original. So here's a topic you can forward to those annoying people constantly sending you fear-mongering emails.

CHARITY NAVIGATOR

My primary client is a non-profit organization who helps local communities across the country in various ways. They help the homeless, abused children, veterans, ecetera and through them I found out about Charity Navigator.

It is a web site database containing information on most (not all) charities. If you search for a specific charity on their site and that particular charity has been a non-profit for more than 4 years, they will most likely have information on it. They will show you:

• statistics on how much money the charity makes yearly


• how the charity spends that money


• how the charity is managed overall


• how the charity ranks against similar charities

They even breakdown charities into top ten lists such as "10 Charities Routinely in the Red" or "10 Charities Stockpiling your money".

I routinely use this web site when thinking about donating to a charity. We like to donate each year to one or more causes and this site helps me make sure the money we donate is not only going towards a good cause but actually being USED for that cause as promised.

Recently, I searched for Smile Train which provides surgery for poor children around the world who were born with a cleft lip. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time this charity had been classified as a non-profit, Charity Navigator did not yet have information about them BUT did know that they existed and stated they would have statistics in future.

I encourage you to check out your favorite charity today! You can even search for charities by category if you want to donate to a cause but don't know which charity is appropriate or best.

BTW, make sure your SWF emails follow the rules!

Massage Therapy, Spa vs. THERAPY

As I've mentioned quite a few times on this blog, I've been experiencing some neck pain recently. I've been seeing a chiropractor and that was helping a little. However, when I woke up Monday morning more sore than I was after Friday's chiro visit, I decided something had to be done.

At Monday's chiro visit, I mentioned this reoccurring pain and the chiropractor asked about our pillows. DH and I HAVE been meaning to get new pillows. A couple weekends ago we went to Macy's for them but they didn't have any extra firm for a king sized bed. I told the chiropractor I'd get us new pillows that day. And I did -- although STILL not from Macy's since their inventory department must not count pillows. That or there has been a frenzied need for king-sized extra firm pillows that I've missed.

He also suggested that I see a Massage Therapist. I had seen the signs in the reception area advertising the masseuse they have in-house. Normally, I would have thought this a ploy to make more money but I like this chiropractor and he seemed genuine enough. Plus, the pain in my neck was screaming, "For the love of all that is holy, make an appointment!" So I did.

That appointment was today. I feel SOOOOOOOO much better.

Going into the appointment, I was a little nervous because all of the other massages I've had in the past were at a day spa. What would this one be like? Do I get naked for this one as well? It's an hour long ... is that WHOLE time spent on my neck?

Well, as it turns out, a theraputic massage is QUITE different from a spa massage (I don't care if they advertise it as 'theraputic', I now know they're LYING). The environment was quite the same however. Dimmed lights, soft music, blankets to cover areas not being worked on ... and naked La Folle Maman. We're talking NOTHING. Not even undies. I was a little nervous about that since I'm still breastfeeding and I kept picturing two huge milk spots when I got up but they didn't leak a bit. But back to the massage ...

The massage was intense and deliberate. The massage therapist definitely knew how to find my trouble spots and work them out. Something I can't say for even the masseuse I had at the Bellagio while vacationing in Vegas (it was good, yes, but not this good). And yes, you guessed it, being naked means I got a full body massage which was good because it turns out there were some other trouble spots not located in my neck. They were in my ass! No, just kidding. But close -- my lower back had some tense areas as well.

I had my usual chiro visit immediately following and let me tell you, after those two appointments, I felt like my body had been renewed! Driving to pick up Monkey from daycare, I even felt a little high almost (probably all of that oxygen-rich blood circulating through my muscles and brain).

My neck is starting to ache again a bit now which is to be expected after such an intense workout of the muscles but it's still feeling pretty great comparatively.

So if you are considering a massage for MASSAGE purposes, not just a "day at the spa" kind of experience, I highly recommend seeing a true THERAPIST. Plus, it was cheaper ($70 for an hour -- deep tissue at most spas runs $90 and up)!

O'Reilly Book Cover Maker

Earlier today, I posted the Google Photo Meme which was quite fun. While compiling the photos for the meme, I looked for the book cover featuring my favorite animal, the least weasel (if they weren't wild, I'd probably want one as a pet). While looking for that book cover, I stumbled across the O'Reilly Maker. It is a site where you can make the cover of your own O'Reilly book!

For anyone who isn't familiar with O'Reilly, they're a big publisher of techie books. Anyone who has worked on a web application in some capacity for any length, whether it be as a web designer or a programmer, they've undoubtedly either read or even bought a book from this publisher. So for geeks like me, this is hilarious.

Here are the two I created today (couldn't just settle for one!):

Programmer Ego

Code Snatcher

If you want to make your own, go to http://www.oreillymaker.com/. And if you want to show everyone your cover design, feel free to post a link to them in the comments!

Is this meant to be?!

As many of you know or have gathered from my previous posts, I've been having a little difficulty managing my work schedule and well, the rest of my life. Here's a quick recap, in case you're new to Cirque du Bebe or haven't visited us in a while. We've decided that getting someone to come to the house is not only a little scary (because DH doesn't want to leave lil' Monkey alone with them) but also a major pain since we'd be in charge of payroll and taxes for this new employee. Then I decided that maybe putting together an exact schedule in Excel would help me focus on a proper schedule and strive harder to get Monkey to stick to one. This plan blew up within a day.

So as I was scanning through one of the freebie local newspapers that litter our mailbox twice a week (looking for houses, in vain), I noticed the Child Care section and the ads within it. There were several ads but one in particular caught my attention.

The lady tends the nursery at her church, she is state certified and licensed and has, most importantly, an opening for P/T care (most want your kid there F/T). Without thinking, I called her late this afternoon at what was probably the most inconvenient time for her -- around the time parents would be picking up their kids. I didn't mean to call at a bad time but she handled it well, took my information and asked if she could call me back in the evening. I gave her my information and anxiously waited for her to call later. I just had a feeling about this one and desperately hoping I was right.

She called at 6:35 which on a normal Wednesday night would have been a nightmare for me since it's raid night for DH and he usually gets home just in time to give Monkey his bath and then head off for the game. But for some reason, DH got home early (could it have been my comment yesterday? probably.) and he was taking care of Monkey's solids and finishing up dinner. Perfect! I could talk on the phone with the lady and not have too many interruptions!

As we talked, everything she said was great. Certified CPR/First Aid. Check. State license whereby the state checks in every 3 months. Check. Opening on Wednesdays so I can attend the tech meetings at work. Check.

NOW HERE'S THE GOOD PART! As we were talking, she said "Do you know the NAME OMITTED Family Dentistry?"

I think my heart actually stopped, "Yes!" I replied, "They're OUR dentist!"

She said, "Oh then you know Greg? I babysit his kids for him." WOW. MY DENTIST takes his kids there! I mean, what more could you want?! I have to think that this was MEANT TO BE!

Monkey and I are going to meet her on Friday to see the house and see how he reacts and stuff. I'm hoping everything works out with this. I'm so excited!

Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for us that this is a good fit for us! YAY!

YAY, Yoga!

I finally made it back to my yoga. Today I went for the first time since lil' Monkey was born. It felt really good to go back and I SURVIVED my first class. I was really scared that I wouldn't. For those who don't know (I'm guessing everyone that reads this blog already knows this), I practice Bikram Yoga. It's the crazy hot yoga where the room is 100 degrees that most people think is completely, well, crazy. But it fits my personality perfectly. I am, afterall, the crazy mama. ;)

You see, I can't stand doing the "gym thing". You know, walk on a treadmill for a half-hour, then do some weight training, yada, yada. It bores me to tears. I've tried watching the televisions to make the time pass or bringing a magazine to keep me going. But in the end, I'm just not satisfied and never ready to go back. I've also tried what I call "incense yoga" and what Bikram calls "frou frou" or "furniture" yoga (or so said one of the teachers who had met him personally). Those types of yoga classes are just too ostentatious for me. Maybe I just don't think singing Kum Ba Yah with a bunch of strangers and burning incense is going make me feel better or to put me in touch with anything except the need to run out of there screaming.

Also, I guess you could say I've never been very sporty. I was on a bowling league when I was really young (6 until I was 9, maybe 10?) and that was okay. My cousin got involved in softball and my mom thought it might be a good thing for me to do as well. I hated the pressure of being at bat or trying to catch the ball in the outfield. I prayed at each game that they'd sit me. Then the nail in the coffin for softball -- while at bat, I hit the ball very far and was so excited that I threw the bat straight into the catcher's stomach. She was on the ground for a very long time but recovered. I felt horrible. I begged my parents to take me out of the league. It was close to the end of the season so they convinced me to finish it. I guessed they were hoping I'd get over it. I still haven't really. Then I went to ONE team sport try-out in high school (field hockey) and immediately decided that I wasn't fond of doing sit-ups in the mud at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. So that was that for team sports.

However, I am somewhat competitive. Inwardly competitive. Usually, I'm just competing with myself and thinking I should be as good as someone else. I couldn't see myself talking smack or trying to compete for team position or ranking. I'd just fester inside. Therefore, Bikram Yoga is that perfect balance between of being challenging enough to keep me interested and not so competitive that I just implode due to the pressure of being good enough. I have only me to answer to and I'm learning not to be so hard on myself.

So today was a good day. And it's true what the instructors say about muscle memory! I've done this type of yoga off and on since 2001 but thought because I took 15 months off from it, I might not be able to do it any longer. However, I did pretty well. I couldn't get to the same point in the poses that I could prior to taking my hiatus but overall, I'm satisfied with myself. AND I didn't sit half of the class out due to the heat (this had happened previously when returning from a couple months break)! Now I just need to figure out a way to fit this into my schedule.

YAY, yoga!

A New Day!

I must say I'm not the biggest Celine Dion fan. However, the one song of hers I do like, A New Day Has Come, is pretty much what I'm singing in my head and hoping for this week.

Sure. I have a ton of work to catch up on. And I could use more rest to catch up on my sleep deficit. But I'm hopeful that I can make headway in both areas. Plus, at the end of the week, I'll be traveling to sunny Tampa for my cousin's wedding! Sun, sand and relaxation! And hopefully a glass of wine or perhaps a mimosa!

I feel blessed that Monkey is home finally and that it was just a virus. I couldn't imagine what it must feel like to be one of those families with a child who has to be in the hospital for a chronic disease or disorder. Must be heartbreaking and tremendously stressful. I'm extremely thankful for his recovery, the prayers of our family and friends, and for the people at the hospital who helped us through this.

Here's to a more positive, more productive and more pleasant upcoming week!

Apple Customer Service -- FANTASTIC!

Just before the Holidays, I had the unfortunate incident of my trackpad acting up and the button locking on my MacBook Pro. After some personal investigation of the computer and finding a post about battery "swelling" causing odd issues on MacBooks, I realized that I too had an ailing Mac suffering from just this problem (my battery pictured below ... sorry photo is a little blurry).

I performed a search within the support section of Apple's web site and found a knowledge base record with the suggestion to make a reservation at an Apple Store "Genius Bar". There were plenty of reservation spots and I made the reservation for the next afternoon.

So the next day, Mom and I packed up Monkey and headed to the Apple Store (which is in a very popular mall near here, so I prepared mentally for the crowded stores and general stress-making nature of this adventure). We went into the store and as I approached the Genius Bar, I noticed that it truly was a "bar", complete with stools for customers to sit on while waiting. When I got there, all of the stools were taken but within 3 minutes, a person's iPod issue was resolved and I had a stool!

At the Genius Bar, they place the first name and last initial of each person with a reservation onto a screen behind the bar showing who is next. When I arrived, I was third in line with a Tony S. behind me. Okay here the story goes into a tangent ... the Tony S. was Tony Snow! When I first came up to the bar, I saw him and said to myself, "Is that ...?" but after reading the screen I realized I was correct! Now the folks at the Genius Bar DID take Tony S. prior to me but I figured that's okay, since he's a bit of celebrity for those who have ever paid attention to White House press conferences.

Anyway, back to the real story ... shortly after they had worked on Tony S.'s laptop, they called my name. The lady who helped me (I wish I remembered her name) was very nice, knowledgeable and didn't give me any sales pitch or anything! She simply tried out the laptop for herself, immediately recognized the issue, found a new battery in their stock supply and popped it in (that took approximately 4 minutes total)! No fooling around! She even tested the new battery to make sure that it was indeed charging correctly. All of this wonderfull service and the new battery was free! Nevermind that the battery should have been free since this was a known issue. I've just had such BAD customer service elsewhere recently that I figured this might go horribly as well. However, I'm so happy with the experience that 9 days later I just had to post about it!