It is that super special ESP...

at work again. So yesterday, remember yesterday, when I wrote about smells from the swimming pool and how they can transport me back in time faster than a picture. Well I received my daily email from Beauty Brains today and guess what the highlighted article was about???? Yep, smells and memory. It seems that our nose is linked to our brain in a spot that triggers memory.

So first let's talk about how smart I am that I just already knew this and didn't have to be a chemist to figure it out (LOL) AND I wrote about it yesterday and here it is today - in the news. Now if that isn't Super Special ESP I don't know what is. Seriously.

Here is a link to the article if you want to read more about it. Childhood smells

I feel so smart today (ha).

Getting ready for a garage sale on the home front. I love putting those 100's of hours of work in to make $60.00 - it is such a productive use of my time. But really I look at it as free money. Right??? Right??? Please answer me when I'm talking to you :-) (Dang, I'm really getting sick of the no smiley option on Blogger :-( )

That's it for now. I'll let you know if I have any more close encounters of the ESP kind :-)

TTFN

Tuesday, Tuesday…

I love it when I can cross Monday off my list and I didn’t even have to work to do it :-)

Memorial Day - the official start of summer. The white shoes and pants are coming out of the closet, schools are winding down, swimming pools are opening, flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing – ahhhhhh summer. Life just seems a lot more fun in the summer. Maybe it is carry over from school days when all I had to do for three whole months was make my bed, lay in the sun and spend endless hours at the swimming pool. Can’t you just feel the warm sun and smell the chlorine?

A friend of mine – AMY – has one of those wire baskets with the safety pin, you know the ones – they had the number hammered in it, attached just like the ones we had at our swimming pool. Seeing that basket, but mostly the pin, brings back so many memories. Of course when we were still too young to worry about being cool we’d pin those little pins right to our swimming suits but as we got older and it was all about appearances we started putting the pins on our towels. We were way too cool to have a pin hanging off our suits.

I loved the swimming pool. My siblings and I would be waiting in line by 1:45 p.m. each day, stay until supper time, go home for an hour and then head back to the pool until closing at 9:00 p.m. And sometimes my mom and dad would come down and watch us swim. We loved that. A chance to show off all our fancy dives and jumps and fearlessness by going off the very highest diving board. When we got older we were able to participate in the midnight swims. So much fun. Do pools still have midnight swims?

I had the opportunity to visit my hometown swimming pool one day last summer and you know what – some things have changed. They added a water slide and changed the diving platform a little bit but it SMELLED exactly the same. The shower room, the water, the air. I felt like I was 15 again with nothing more to worry about than tan lines and boys. Smells and music. Both of them can transport me back in time faster than almost any picture. It’s all good!

Oh, sorry, I’m back. Just drifted off a little bit there…

Sooooo and I’m almost ashamed to admit this, I watched the last 45 minutes of the Miss Universe contest last night. And there he was – My Magnificent Mario. WHAT? Is this his new venue? Beauty Pageant host? Is this what the countless hours of dancing and prancing have done for him? Beauty Pageant host? Seriously I’m feeling the blush wear off of this romance very quickly :-) I know I’m fickle but really how can I respect him after this? I mean he thanked Donald Trump for gosh sakes. I mean should ANYONE be thanking Donald Trump for anything? Okay well maybe that first apprentice Bill guy but after that – I don’t think so. Oh and in other Mario news I have heard from an unnamed source – okay it’s Kerry – that Mario and his Dancing with the Stars chick are cohabitating! I know I know you'd think I would be heart-broken but really it gives me faith that all those rumors about his sexual preferences are not true. Finally I can sleep again :-)

That’s it from me. But hey, I know, tell me your best summer memory. Really. It’s a good day for that kind of thing. Well that and looking at the clouds. Hey look at that one – it looks like Rob Lowe – on a bed…

If my dad read my blog...

I would have told him Happy Birthday yesterday. But since my dad (and God forbid my mom) doesn't know about my blog he wouldn't have read it anyway. And for those of you that know my parents - keep your mouths shut - (that means you Kerry). What they don't know won't hurt them. Besides, would you want your parents reading this blog? It's embarassing.

So since I am talking about family - I found out my cousin Tanya has been reading. Hi Tanya! I didn't know you were lurking but thank you for telling me. I'll be checking on you now.

And of course I was wrong about the Dancing With The Stars winner. But I'm okay with Apolo winning. Really. Although I wasn't happy to see Emmet Smith tappin' his happy feet. Serves him right to have his dancing career eclipse his football stardom :-) But just think what a win could have done for My Mario...

TTFN.

It's Tuesday so this must be the end...

of Dancing with the Stars for this season. Who is the winner going to be this year? My money is on Joey Fatone and I Dream of Jeanie. Anyone with me? I guess we'll have to see what happens. I mean we all know I thought My Mario had it all wrapped up last year and look how that turned out.

So the end of the television season means I'll actually have to take care of those pesky little necessities in life - like keeping up with laundry and weeding the garden. Come on which would you rather do - Dance or Weed? Don't even bother answering if you are a guy! We all know none of you really like to dance no matter what some of you may say - seriously!

In case the pictures did not tell the story the girls had a fabulous time at their birthday. There was a parade and crafts and gifts and cake and play time. Wouldn't you like a party like that? And the entire thing was a four day celebration. I've already told Lauren & Syd that they will not be celebrating for 21 days when they turn 21. End of story.

So here are more highlights. I mean really can a person ever have enough birthday pictures???

Welcome to the Kingdom...

of Princess Lauren & Princess Sydney.
Much laundry and house cleaning today so I'll leave you with pictures...

How did I get so lucky? Seriously...

Do you ever just sit back and go WOW what did I do to DESERVE this life. And I don’t mean in a bad way (I have those days too - the ones where I go WELL what did I do to deserve THIS life). But today the emphasis is on the good.

I look at my wonderful kids, my good husband, my friendly neighborhood and my home that provides a safe harbor for family, friends, and soft furry pets. It’s a good life. It’s secure. It’s comfortable. It’s filled with love. It’s much more than many have (and yes less than some) and I can’t help but wonder how I got so lucky. What did I do to deserve this life? This life free of war and poverty and disease. This life that is blessed. How is it that I deserve so much goodness?

Actually, I have to admit that it all scares me a little bit. The good things could all disappear so fast. Life is precarious. Just when you are walking along, wearing rose colored glasses and singing to the sun BAM a bird could poop on your head. Or in my case it would probably be more like tripping over the crack in the sidewalk. And then everything changes. I don’t want things to change, not in a bad way anyway.

What can I do to keep my family safe? Protected? Hidden from the bad things that are lurking just over the rainbow? And it isn’t just the big things like drugs and guns and cancer. It’s the little things too; like broken hearts and bad friends and unfulfilled dreams. How do I protect them from these things – big and small? I know there are some who will say it is the struggle that make us the people that we are – but you know that doesn’t give me a lot of comfort – no matter how true it may be.

Yes, I want those in my heart to be strong and resilient. I want them to be able to get over the bad stuff and concentrate on the good but can’t I just tell them about it? Do I really have to let them experience these things? You know, I’m not going to if I don’t have to. Oh shoot now I just said that and I am probably tempting fate – so listen – fate, I didn’t really mean that. I’ll do whatever I have to if necessary but really just play nice – okay?

So that’s it. On the brink of watching my son take a step into High School and my daughters exit the baby years I’m feeling lucky but afraid. But I’ll do the right thing and I won’t let them know. Now that is one way I can protect them!

I'm not crazy...

So I have to admit that I look at my blog stats every once in a while and today I took a look. You know there is some interesting information to be found in those stats. Trust me. For example; don’t you find it interesting that there are many international searches for Tommy Lee Jones and the Miss America Crown? Or maybe they are looking for Tommy Lee wearing the crown? Or maybe they think Tommy Lee is a queen? I mean really there could be a million reasons. And I get a lot of hits from people passing my way from Maija’s blog and Deb’s blog. Thanks ladies for putting me in your links.

BUT today I noticed some new information. Someone from the New York State of Mental Health looked at my blog - and it scares me. I mean you know and I know that I am quirky but, well, now someone from the New York State of Mental Health knows? I can’t help but think that might not be a good thing. Right now they are probably doing a personality profile on me and sending out stalker warnings to Rob and Mario and and and what if they don’t see me as quirky at all but mentally unbalanced? I mean, really, it could happen. So Mr. or Ms. New York State of Mental Health, if you are coming back to check up on me – I’m okay. Really. I’m not crazy. I’m not a stalker. I’m just a little unique. Seriously, that’s the whole story. It’s how my life works. I can’t help it…

TTFN.

Why I should never sleep and other things to ponder..

Why is it that I wake up in the middle of the night and start thinking of something to write and then I can’t get back to sleep because I am so busy formulating my thoughts and then I finally do fall asleep but when I wake up I can’t think of a darn thing. Huh – why does that happen? And don’t even suggest taking a notebook to bed with me because I’m not doing it. I KNOW but I’m just stubborn that way.

So about the Dancing with the Stars elimination... I don’t know about you but I was not at all surprised that Billy Boy and his girl Katrina (is that her name – you know the chick I mean – the one that used to be with My Mario – the one that was just a poor substitute for me. I mean really if Mario had been my partner we would have won the sparkly ball - Mama Mario wouldn’t have had to worry :-) Okay fine but that is how it works in my head anyway). So they were in the bottom two with Joey In Sync and I Dream of Jeannie Kim (doesn’t she remind you of the I Dream of Jeannie chick?). I don’t think it was even a contest. Poor Billy Ray. Maybe he will quit whining now – it isn’t like he only had one leg to dance on!

Sorry I couldn’t remember the Pulitzer winning entry that I thought up last night I can’t tell you how good it was – really I can’t…

TTFN.

The dance is over...

well not THE dancing show but the girls' dancing for the year.

The big recital was on Saturday. Between rehearsals Friday night, the recital on Saturday and a forgetful mom (lost the tights, lost the spring jackets, lost the formal ballet portrait) I think we are all danced out. But it was fun and Lauren and Sydney are still talking about the "show" so I think it was a huge success in their eyes.

Here are some highlights of the BIG event :-)

And then there was Mario...

Did you see him? Didyoudidyoudidyou? Did you see him there, in the audience, sitting, with his mom, dimples flashing, eyes sparkling, last night on Dancing with the Stars. Did you see him??? My Magnificent Mario. He made a cameo appearance. I wonder if he was thinking “Man, that Billy Rae Cyrus is a putz – I was soooo much better than that guy”? I mean, isn’t that what you would be thinking? Maybe Billy R.C. is better as a solo dancer, I don’t know, but that man can not dance with a woman! Although I’d still like to see John “Cliff Claven the annoying mailman” Ratzenberg voted off first. That man just annoys me. No particular reason, he just does. So there it is, my review of DWTS for the week. What did you think? I know you’ve been watching :-)

Busy week. We have May Baskets to deliver and gymnastics and dance recital practice and swimming, and a house to clean, and a birthday party to plan, and I have a haircut – which my hair is totally aware of since it looks better today than it has in a month! Seriously, I like busy weeks but don’t tell anyone.

So about those May Baskets. Did you deliver May Baskets when you were a kid? And did you do it anonymously? We used to go to the door, put the Dixie cup on the porch, ring the doorbell and RUN! It was so much fun. I like May Day better than Halloween. Oh, and my mom would always pop popcorn and fill the cups half full with it before we added candy. I hated that. I mean really who likes stale popcorn. But everyone did it. It made the candy go further or something. Just like sometimes she would add oatmeal and egg to the hamburger before making patties. YUCK! Although I do think people were thriftier in the 70’s. All that fuel conservation and all :-)
Okay that’s it for today.




TTFN