Monthly Archives: September 2011

Monday Memos ~ From Aboard The Ark

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Okay slight exaggeration but it IS raining, dreary and wet here.  Every creek I passed was up to the top, ready to spill over it’s banks and rushing and churning.

As much as 5 inches of rain fell last night…in other words TOO much.

Thankfully it seems to have stopped raining.

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Dear Count,

Thank you for another fantastic day.  I love history and historical places.  Touring a WWII Navy ship was indeed a neat way to spend a day.  I enjoyed the knowledge you shared from your own 8 years of experience in the Navy.  Every minute I spend with you is a treasure, you always make me feel very special. I’m looking forward to going back to Aurora next weekend to tour the mansion.

Love,

Me

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Dear Son,

I love you bunches, and nothing would be more relaxing than sitting around the fire pit with you, your fiance, your little sister and some beer.  However, not sure dear old daddy is ready to have me in his backyard hanging with the kids. Face it, I will need to use the bathroom at some point and I don’t think he is real comfy with me being in his house when he is not there. It is a respect thing so for now let’s not push his comfort zone.  But thanks for inviting me, that alone made me warm inside. You’re the best!

Love,

Mom

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Dear Colts,

I get that a huge part of your offense was Peyton Manning. But really, the team is far more than him.  Nice job keeping the score from being a complete humiliation at the hands of the Steelers, but let’s pull this together and get serious, time for a win.

Sincerely,

A new fan

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Dear Bengals,

tough luck….NOT!  Was not at all sorry to see you lose yesterday.

A former fan

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Dear Writer’s Block,

Take a hike already!  I NEED the therapy of writing and you are not helping me one bit.  Be gone, go plug up someone else’s creative channels for a bit.

Me

Saturday Morning Coffee Musings

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Today has started off great.  3 of us Divas met up with a fellow Avon lady and good friend for breakfast.  2 hours of laughing, sharing and brain storming, my kind of morning meeting!  I went to the credit union after and now I’m in front of my computer pouring over blogs and Facebook, soaking in the ideas while inwardly motivating myself.  Scary, I know.

One of the blogs I read is by Lisa Wilber, my Avon idol.  She started out in the trailer park, she is a millionaire now.  Yes, she is lipstick diva, she sells vanity crack, like I do, but she has a 6 figure income and gets to travel the world.  All because she believed in herself.  I  was reading her one blog post, Motivational vs. Instructional, and realized that part of my problem in life has been I didn’t ever believe in myself, in my own ability to succeed.  I spent most of my life buying the negative comments said about me rather than embracing the positive ones.  Oh, she has another post, The Bad Stuff Is Easier To Believe, that goes hand in hand with the motivation one and with my self destructiveness at times.

My self confidence is something I have struggled with all of my life.  Those few negative commentators throughout my life have done a number on me…because I allowed it.  My wonderful, amazing honey told me something important that I’ve had to work hard not to do, but has made a difference in how I see me.  He does not care for it when I speak negatively about myself.  He sees me as pretty, sexy etc.  If I focus on and verbalize the negative traits about myself, it’s like telling him that he is wrong, and it will effect how he starts to see me.  So, I no longer talk about my negative traits.  We both know that they exist, we all have them.  Instead I focus on the good stuff.

Right now, I am focused  on my personal success.  My mom and sister met one of the millionaires in Avon recently at a rally of sorts.  I follow one on Facebook and her blog.  These are real people, that really work hard and make a heck of a lot of money.  I plan to be one of those women.  Oh but not just one of them, one of the top 5 in the country.  I know that I can, if  I want it enough to work for it.  I know that I am good at selling things, promoting etc, and I know what I want.  I want to make 6 figures.  I want to be a success.  SO, I will be.  I refuse to fail, or even consider failing.

I realize to do this I need to be organized.  SURPRISE! I am very organized lately.  The past few weeks I’ve been getting my business in order, purging stuff and setting up things so that I can find them.  I have that side in order.  On my closet door is a white board and bulletin board.  I have a day planner, and I have several tote bags.  One is for meetings, one is for product and samples.  I also have a zip up organizer.  I have paperwork in order and put away.

Next is to set reasonable goals.  No use setting them if they cannot be achieved or that is just setting up to fail.  My goals are written on the white board where I see them daily, in fact many times through the day.  As those goals are checked off new ones will replace them.

I’m reading everything and anything written by successful Avon reps, why try to reinvent the wheel?  They all do things similar and yet have many different ways of making this work.  So, I am soaking it up and will try two or three ideas.  If they work, great. If not, NEXT?

My first goal is to achieve President’s club.  To do that I need $10,100 in sales in a year.  This is doable, it is on my horizon already, within my grasp and I WILL achieve it.  As soon as I achieve this, I start making 40% commission on my sales, fixed, for the next 12 months.   That also means I will make $4040 just on sales if I maintain $10,100 in the coming year of sales.  Not bad.  But NOT enough.  My sales WILL be higher the next year because there are a lot of great perks with that recognition.  Once I have those, I won’t want to let go of them.  This means some sub-goals that have to be met, like distributing brochures, and shameless self promotion wherever I go.  Done. Shirts with the logo, buttons, carrying brochures, samples and business cards and giving them to anyone that is breathing.  All on the board, all part of the making the goals.

I also have entered leadership, I’m building a downline.  There are women in this business with several hundred people in their downline.  With a larger downline comes more $$, promotions etc.  The two areas combined, sales and leadership, are how one makes it to those 6 figure incomes.

Go ahead, laugh and make the jokes about Avon ladies and soap on a rope.  The Lisa Wilbers of the world are laughing all the way to the bank with their millions in sales and profits.  Be skeptical, because I, too, will be laughing as  I cash those checks.

Wine & Cheese ~ 41st Serving

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Welcome to Wine & Cheese, my weekly, Wednesday whine session.

Every week on Wednesday I devote a blog to whining. Despite being a really happy, positive person, I do have things that annoy me at times.

I never let anything grate on my nerves for long but thought it would be fun to vent them periodically in my blogs.

I also feel that good things, the cheese in life, should be acknowledged as well.

I’m even going to throw in a bit of dessert, a piece of virtual chocolate, something that made me laugh or smile just a bit more than normal.

If you’d like to read the past editions of Wine & Cheese just click HERE for all of the past postings.

Sit back and join me now for the 41st serving of some wine and cheese!

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WINE

:( This morning I get up and what do I discover?  Facebook has made changes, AGAIN.  You know, if it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it.  Really, it is JUST fine and we do n0t need anymore  bells and whistles to complicate things.  PLEASE LEAVE MY FACEBOOK ALONE!!!!

:(   I am SO sick and tired of rain already.  It makes for a dreary day outside which only makes for crabby kids inside this little home daycare I run.  It makes it harder to be motivated to go out and walk in the evening.  I mean seriously, I might actually MELT out there, I am  THAT sweet!

:(   I think I may actually NOT have allergies and MIGHT have a cold.  Though I’m in heavy denial.  Also, I do not feel bad, just tired.  The nose is running (thankfully there is Musinex D), my voice is quickly becoming raspier as it fades (my daughter finds this to be amusing) so I am really not sure it IS a cold.  All this rain could  mean the mold count is up.  Either way, it makes me irritable.  Which isn’t pretty. Guess it is better than it hitting me next month when I’ll be camping with the Count and his family.  Communing with nature in a tent is NOT my idea of camping, mine is more like Holiday Inn Express, so this will be interesting.  Oh I grew up camping, not a stranger to it so don’t tell me how cool it is, I know better.

:(   While I’m on the whine bottle, might as well toss in the arthritis that is acting up because of the weather.  It is in my neck, feet and hands, though this round the hands are by far the worst.  Very difficult to un-hook child car seats with it sometimes.  Grrrrrr……

CHEESE

:)   Our television/cable system is so darn smart!  I set it up to record/DVR The Backyardigans every day at 4:30pm for the kids.  I told it to just record the series.  I had no idea that when I said ‘series’ it would record it anytime it is on that channel, so it grabs 2 episodes a day, one at 8am and one at 4:30pm!  This rocks, even I love this show!  Without a doubt one of the best kid’s shows ever!

:)   AVON – I  know you are all likely tired of hearing about it and the great deals, but I LOVE this business! I am having so darn much fun and actually starting to grow my business.  I cannot wait to see how far I can go with it, after finding so many women that are working for themselves through Avon and making fantastic money doing so!  Oh and yes, a few good men.

:)   PREMIERE WEEK!!!  Finally my favorite TV shows are back for the new season!  I am loving having a reason to curl up with some popcorn and watch TV again.  There are even a few new  ones that look promising.

:)   Kindle and library books? You betcha!  Seems you can now borrow books from the library via your Kindle and Amazon.com!  I am SO excited,  though my own library doesn’t appear to have this feature yet. I am hopeful they will soon. Click Here for more information!

DESSERT

Nostalgia: Device that removes the potholes from Memory Lane. ~ From Selah @athumper’s Twitter feed.

Blocked

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I am experiencing a run of writer’s block the past few days.  Not sure why, just nothing is inspiring me to write, which frankly sucks because I feel the desire to attend my favorite form of therapy but I got nothing! SIGH…not good, not good at all.

Maybe it is because I am so deep in working on my Avon business.  Or perhaps it is because I am missing my honey after a nice weekend with him.  Or maybe even the fact that my allergies are all  out of wack? Who knows, all I am certain of is that my brain has taken total leave when it comes to writing.

Stay tuned, it won’t last forever….I hope.  Off to find a meme that might spark something!

DO NOT Put Your Loved Ones In The Closet!

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*Disclaimer: no this has NOTHING to do with my current love – he loves me and mine just as we are.

We’ve all done it…asked someone we love to ‘hide’ something about themselves when we take them around to be introduced to our friends or a potential significant other.  That or when we are bringing those individuals home to meet the family we ask everyone to temporarily (or permanently) exchange who they are to make sure we are putting forth a good first impression.  Examples I have encountered is guys removing earrings, or  girls  removing their nose rings, either sex removing ear gages or covering up tattoos.  Or if two people we love maybe aren’t married and are living together, or maybe are gay, we ask the ‘different one’, to keep their uniqueness unknown or in the shadows so as not to offend the new love interest or their family or our new friends.  On the surface this might seem okay, it certainly has to me in years gone by.  But after 48 years of circling the sun on this planet I’ve wised up in many ways.

The people that I love are important to me.  My parents, my siblings, my children, nieces and nephews, even dear friends.  No one I know or love is perfect, everyone of those that are priceless to me have quirks and imperfections.  And each is a unique individual.  I  know them by who they are INSIDE, not just outside.  Our exteriors are going to change, some for the better (don’t you just love those that look better as they age?) and others for the worse.  I don’t love my future sister-in-law  because she has tattoos, I love her because of the strong, amazing, wonderful woman she is INSIDE!  I also happen to have ink envy, I very much love her tattoos!

I  love my baby brother, not because of his ink down his leg, but for the incredible man he is INSIDE. I  love my other brother not because he doesn’t have tattoos, but because of the wonderful man living inside his inkless shell. I don’t judge one for his hair,  or the other one for the lack of it, I love these men for who they are and have become.  I love my baby sister for the intelligent, caring, giving person she is INSIDE, not the color of her hair this month, which is subject to change frequently.  Her worth is on the INSIDE.

There was a time in my life I judged folks by what I saw on the outside, that is until I began to ‘decorate’ my outer package to my own liking.  I triple pierced both ears, very radical at the time I did this.  Later I had the top of my left ear pierced and then my nose.  Just a tiny diamond but still it is ‘different’.  Then, when I was 40, I got my first tattoo.  I now have 3 of them, and I love each one.  My  ink and piercings do not define who I am, they are simply part of the wrapping paper of the package that is me.  That wrapping happens to have some scars in it, from surgery to enhance parts of me that I was unhappy with, again those changes do not reflect my inside person, my heart, they are simply dressing and bling so to speak. Sometimes, just for kicks, I put pink dye in my  hair and make some pretty pink streaks.  My hair, my choice, still the same old me underneath.

If you love me, then the people that I love and are important to me, should be important to you too.  I’m not saying you have to agree or even condone my choices in self decoration, or those of my loved ones and friends, but if you are going to be a part of my life, I will NOT leave my loved ones in the closet, hiding any part of themselves.  The closer you are to me, the more important those persons should become to you.  Not only is that love, but that is flat out respect.  And you will treat those I love with respect even if you don’t like them.

If your nose is so high in the air that you cannot date my daughter because her mother has tattoos or a nose ring, then you are not worthy of her.  If you parents don’t allow your offspring  to date someone in my family because of their living arrangements or one of their parental units has some ink, then kiss  our asses, you and yours are entirely too shallow to be significant to any one of us.  How dare you judge the book by the cover!  We won’t judge YOUR parental units or family members based on the color of their hair, if they have hair, if they wear earrings, what car they drive, what part of town they live in or how much money they make.  We want to know you and yours for who you are inside, that is the part of you that holds value.  IF who any of us are outside isn’t good enough as we are, then you aren’t anyone we care to know and you sure as hell don’t deserve to be in the life of any one of us.  And shame on anyone within our ranks for asking another to cover up themselves, exchange themselves or stay in the shadows.  We stand together, proud of the people we are on the INSIDE, and to hell with those that only see what is on the outside. We will NOT put anyone in a closet to please someone else.

Multi-Million Inheritance & Penis Enhancement

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Here I sit, while moderately successful at my Avon business, just a tad broke at the moment.  See, I turn my profits around back into the business right now trying to build it up.  The childcare I provide  pays my bills but not much else.  I don’t mind really, just still getting caught up on a few things from being laid off from the past 2 jobs (no unemployment).

I often dream of financial freedom, enough wealth to pay off my bills entirely, be debt free and live a comfortable life.  Not a ritzy one, pretty much right at the level I am now minus the bills.  This being the case you’d think I would jump at the offer of $39,500,000.00 (yes, 39 million, five hundred thousand dollars).  Who  in their right mind would pass up this opportunity???  ME!  I am sure  I am going to disappoint Mr. Maroz Walter of Auditing and Accounting section manager in AFRICAN Development Bank (A.D.B.) Ouagadougou Burkina Faso, he is no doubt thinking I must have taken complete leave of my senses.

Here is the email I received just yesterday, alerting me to my potential fortune, EXACTLY as it was  written:

From Mr.Walter.

I know that this letter may come to you as a surprise, but you need not to worry as I use this way tc ontact you, it is due to it is the only means I can use to reach you confidentially as a foreigner to seek for your assistance in this matter as the transaction need top secret that is the reasons of contacting you through Email.
 My name is Mr.Maroz Walter the Auditing and Accounting section manager in AFRICAN Development Bank (A.D.B.) Ouagadougou Burkina Faso.

 Infect I kindly made up my mind to contact you to use your account to transfer the sum of (THIRTY NINE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND US .DOLLARS, $39,500,000.00 US DOLLARS) into your bank account within 7 or 14 banking days and this fund has been dormant for years in our Bank with out claim.So this is the reason why i contacted you in a good manner so that the bank can release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer.

If your really interested in this transaction,Facilitated and get back to me immediately for more informations and personal discussions and transmission of documents, 

I am expecting a positive response from you via return mail.Contact me in this my private email address for security purpose {marozwalter@voila.fr}.

Best.Regards,

Mr Walter.

I know I know, here I am next of kin to a deceased customer that has all this money just  waiting to be released into my needy little hands….and I’m passing on the deal.  I cannot help it, I’d feel so…selfish taking that kind of money when I know there are starving masses of people in Africa that could use that money.  In fact, I’m writing back to Mr. Walter and suggest that he use those multiple millions, with my permission since it is my inheritance, to feed those starving there on his continent.  I  know, what a wonderful, kind gesture on my part, right?  Hey, it’s just how this marvelous chick  rolls!

As it happened, I also received an email offering me, at a significantly reduced price, penis enhancement drugs that can only be purchased through this particular vendor, who hand selected me as a privileged customer, something few were going to qualify to obtain.  I’m flattered, that must be one hell of a drug if it can enhance the male sex organ that I DON’T HAVE BECAUSE I’M FEMALE!  A miracle medication, no doubt about it.  I almost forwarded that to Mr. Walter, but they have enough problems feeding the hungry over in Africa without enhancing their males and their performance anymore than they already accomplish on their own.

Seriously, is there really anyone out there that buys into this crap that someone even spends minutes of their  life, that can never be retrieved, to dream up and write these emails???

Continuing in financial struggle,

The Marvelous One

Tomatoes In The Toaster

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I love the  imaginations of toddlers, they never stop when they play.  Their world is one of pretend, and there are days I envy the little people that I care for during the week.  A world full of fun and play where the biggest problem they have is when the plastic, play tomato slices from the toy kitchen get stuck in the toy toaster because they have crammed 6 of those pieces in the slot.  Then it’s “help me, I need help, it not work”.

Some days I feel like my world is full of my own tomatoes in the toaster, and it just “not work”.   The ‘problems’ and complications are nothing major, small compared to what I see on the news, but those slices crammed and stuck in the toaster of my life still unsettle and disrupt my peace and harmony.  Especially since they aren’t plastic pieces, these tend to be a bit more messy.  I want to yell “help me, I need help” .

For example, trying to get breakfast on the table for a 1, 2 and 7yo first thing in the morning before they are coming in the door to spend the day at Miss Marti’s little in home daycare, while watching for the other 7yo’s school bus to arrive.  The infant is crying to be fed or changed, coffee pot is now empty and those 3 that need feeding are due any moment.  I open the cabinet to get out cereal bowls and there are none.  The dishwasher is full of dirty dishes because no one noticed the night before, we were all gone or busy.  Not sure why I thought it would be easier, but I opted to make scrambled eggs and toast so I could use plates that were already clean rather than wash 3 bowls by hand.  Getting the baby settled down, full tummy and cooing at her cousin who is here waiting for her bus to come to take her to school, was one less slice of tomato in the toaster.

After driving the other 7yo to school and coming home, settling the rest into play time and getting a load of laundry in the washer, I was unloading the dishwasher and laughing at myself.  I am a bit OCD when it comes to coffee cups.  I get attached to one in particular for a while and I HAVE to have my coffee in that cup.  No, it does not taste any better, it’s just that I am attached to a particular cup.  There I was unloading every single one of the cups I have been stuck on, wondering if  I’m just a major odd ball or do other people have to have their coffee in a particular mug to make their morning better?  When I had went for that first cup of java this morning, none of the favored cups were clean, which totally set my morning off all wrong.  I also had slept  in 30 extra minutes, so my routine was out of sync.  More tomatoes in my toaster.

From the outside, my toaster in life looks pretty cool to most.  I am home all day, get to write, play computer games, watch TV, read, get cleaning and laundry done…what they do not see is that inside my colorful little toaster, are a lot of tomato slices jamming up the inner workings.  Diapers, bus schedules, school car pool, feedings, dishes, laundry, “help me”, baby spit up on my shirt, someone is fussy, a nose is running, and many days just out and out chaos.  In the middle of it all I’m trying to build my vanity crack (Avon) business into something big.  But, I’d not trade my colorful little toaster of chaos and juicy tomato drippings for a clean, chrome, boring toaster for all the toast in the world.  Pass the tomato slices, please!

Sunday Coffee Musings ~ Of Dogs & Football

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There is a reason my daughter tells me to not give her puppy, a 9yo Yorkie, anything that is not on her strict little diet….because when I do this it results in middle of the night,  gotta go potty NOW trips to the backyard.  But I am a slow learner with a big heart that melts for those beautiful brown eyes that plead with me for just one piece of kettle corn, or a puppy treat from the ‘unapproved list’.  Yes, I am a softy…

Yesterday I spent 14 hours at Harvest Home Park for the annual Harvest Home Fair, working our Avon booth.  Seems at some point I had agreed to also watch my granddog for my daughter this weekend so I had no choice but to make an executive decision that Penny, the dog, was the booth mascot.  She looked so dang cute with her little patriotic bandana around her neck, sitting on one of the bins on a pink towel over seeing our activities all day.  Unfortunately, she doesn’t really handle loud noise well, and with live bands, rides, tons of people, and folks in the booth next to us over filling and popping balloons she was a basket case.  She also feels it is her duty to protect her pack, and I am the number one person she thinks she needs to protect.  Sadly, she doesn’t understand that people approaching the booth are not trying to hurt me, and she launches into a barking frenzy and even chased one guy away.  It was rather comical to observe this 20 something kid running from a 7 pound dog, but hey, she does sound pretty ferocious when she wants too.  She only could run so far, her cable had her boundaries within our booth, which she quickly established as our ‘den’ for the day, that needed her watchful guard.  But with so many approaching at once, she was a mess trying to observe everyone to determine friend from foe so she is grounded with me to the house today to rest.  I think the few pieces of unapproved food yesterday were less of an impact on her belly than the stress of the day on guard duty.  Either way, her digestive track is a bit upset over it all.

So, today, rather than working the booth, I am home trying to fight what might be a cold, or might be allergies.  Being at a fair with a bunch of barnyard animals nearby, hay, and being outside all day when my guess is the mold count is likely high due to the damp weather lately, has left it’s mark  on me.  My sinuses are out of control.  Doubled up on the allergy meds for the day, and flushing my sinus cavities multiple times with a Netty Pot in hopes of keeping away whatever is trying to knock me down.

This year's jersey

That brings us to football.  First Sunday of the regular football season!!!  I used to be a dyed-in-the-wool Bengals fan but I just cannot do it anymore.  For the first time since they came into existence they are NOT my number one team.  My number two team, the Indianapolis Colts, has taken over the top spot, bumping the Cincinnati Bengals off their throne.  The Bengals play in Cleveland today so the game will be on my TV and not the Colts game which airs at the same time.  This irks me.  I will have to find the Colts on live stream on my computer so I can watch them and the Bengals at the same time.  I think we need to get Direct TV and the NFL package they have so I can watch any game I desire.

After my morning coffee here I will be getting dressed  in my Colts jersey, the personalized one, and my sparkly, blue sequenced tennis shoes, in team spirit!  Then I will turn on the Bengals on the TV and the Colts on the laptop and keep track of both.  I may regret throwing my loyalty to the Colts, since Manning is out for the season but I’ll try to survive.  Even with a second string quarterback the Colts have a better shot at a win than the Bengals ever do.

I AM READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!!

Join the meme/hop, Tiki Hut Sunday, come over and have a virtual drink while you watch the games!

Wishful Thinking Thursday

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I found this great new blog meme/hop, Wishful Thinking Thursday.  It’s a chance to express what your perfect Thursday would be right this moment if resources were no option.  On a rainy, dreary day here in the Queen City, with 2 of my babies fussy and one with a roaring ear infection that is making her miserable, I decided while it is quiet it is time to grab a cup of coffee and muse over what this day  would be like, ideally….

Wishfully thinking….Taking a sip of coffee from a heavy, stoneware mug, sitting in the hot tub on the balcony of a cabin in Gatlinburg, TN.  The Count is behind me, I’m sitting between his legs, with his free arm wrapped around my waist, hand on my stomach, under the water, his coffee in his other hand.  The sun is just coming up and the clouds are low, a foggy covering over the mountains.  As the fog lifts more and more of the majestic view of the mountains is revealed.  The jets are on low, soothing us awake.

Later we shower, and he cooks breakfast.  A big, hearty one like only a true culinary artist can produce.  Just us, sounds of the birds chirping outside, fire in the fire place, we sit on a blanket in front of the fire, hand feeding each other, exchanging kisses between bites and love is in the air.

Lunch will be at No Way Jose’s, margaritas  and tacos, then strolling hand in hand through town, window shopping mostly and enjoying the time together….

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yep, it is wishful thinking.  He is working today, tile job, and I’m changing diapers and craving a Chipotle steak bowl.  We won’t see each other this weekend, both working.  But next weekend, we’re getting away for a few days, just us.  I cannot wait!!!

Empire Avenue

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I have NO idea exactly what I’ve gotten into with this, but please, feel free to join Empire Avenue, something WordPress has prom0ted, and buy stock  in me.  Drive my value up, please.  How is that for shameless self promotion?  It is free, and if you let me know I will buy shares in you too.  :)

BEAUTY ON A BUDGET ~ Beauty Bucks!

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Yes I am giving away Beauty Bucks!  $1 in Beauty Bucks for every $10 spent in this current (#19) campaign!  These Beauty Bucks are valid for 6 months toward a future campaign order.  You can collect them and use them all at once, or $1 here and there, your choice!

Refer a customer to me that spends $30 or more and I’ll give you $5 in Beauty Bucks!!!!  Just be sure they tell me you sent them and I’ll mail you $5 in Beauty Bucks to spend on the future campaigns over the next 6 months! Remember, Christmas is coming and the holiday brochures will be full of beautiful gifts and decorations you can spend those Beauty Bucks on!!

Click the Avon Catalog on the side bar or the beauty buck below to go to my site to place your order!

Monday Memos ~ Lazy Day Edition

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Okay so yes it is Labor Day, but I’m having a lazy day, so it’s my lazy day edition.  Lazy because I have NOTHING at all to do.  No kids to watch, no where to go, been there, done that, have the day OFF.  Sadly that means off from The Count too, as he has to work.  Ripping out and tiling a bathroom doesn’t sound like the way to spend a holiday to me but the money is too good to pass up.

Dear Self,

Okay sweetheart, off the pity party bus.  I have been having myself a bit of a pity fest over the lack of time I get with my kids,  and the amount of time their dad, daddy’s girlfriend and others that frequent the marital residence and pool/hot tub get to spend with my babies.  Seeds of bitterness that  land on the soil of my heart are usually quickly eaten up by birds of positive thoughts.  I guess it was my ‘blue’ day of PMS, but I let it get to me yesterday and the day before a bit, causing some of those seeds to take root and become seedlings with the potential to be seriously rooted weeds that would be no good to anyone.  A few tears and a pep talk from The Count and I grabbed a virtual garden tool and yanked those growths by the roots.  Not prudent to allow that.  After all, if hate starts growing that is free rent space in my heart and mind granted to the former prince who deserves no space, even at outrageous prices, right?

Love,

Me

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Dear Cats,

The food in all of the food bowls is exactly the same.  Poured from the same bag into the bin, then scooped from said bin into each food bowl.  It most certainly is NOT different nor does it taste better from the oval bowl than it does from the round one.  When the oval one is empty, eat out of the other bowl!  Do not lay in the upstairs hallway carrying on like you are dying until we fill the pink bowl.  Get a grip on yourself, especially you, Noel.  The 3 of you are worse than a bunch of children!

Sincerely,

The Staff

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Dear Self,

Never again ruin a cup of perfectly wonderful coffee by putting creamer in it.  GROSS, GAG, PUKE!  Stick to black, it is far better that way.

Love,

Me

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Dear Schleprock,

Look neighbor, this is the 4th time in 7 days that you are cutting your grass.  The yard is huge and you own a riding mower, yet you use that old push version.  All of the neighbors are onto you, this is a way to avoid being stuck in the house talking to the wife, isn’t it?  Trust me sweetie, if we all figured it out, she has too.  No  one’s grass grows this fast.  You are not fooling anyone when you shovel .5 inches  of snow over and over, same reason we get it.

Whatever you finally used to make your shutters stay attached to the house, seems to be working.  But we did find it very entertaining to watch one fall off in every storm and you out there angrily tossing it into the garage, along with the down spout that fell off the roof onto the wife’s car.  Sorry we so easily amused at your antics and bad luck at upkeep on the homestead,  but we simply cannot help it.

The Diva Den

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Dear Count,

Thanks SO much for another fantastic weekend.  You rock my world and I am enjoying this relationship so very much. Watching it unfold at it’s own pace and relaxing and soaking in your attention and affection has been nothing short of amazing.  The way you look at me gives me butterflies and turns me inside out.   Be careful and gentle with my heart, it is a fragile thing but I entrust it to your care.

I am having so much fun and have such sweet memories in simple things like the festival and bingo with corn, being hand fed french fries in the rain, and watching  turtle races.  I still want to know what made those little things run that fast! :)

You are by far the best!

Love,

Me

*for the curious, I added the Count’s photo (with his permission) to the Supporting Cast page*

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Morning Coffee Musings ~ Holiday Weekend Edition

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Y..A..W..N….  it felt SO good to sleep in this morning.  Weekdays for me are truly more of a job than I think even I realized.  My hat is off to the stay-at-home moms, not sure how they do it with no break on the weekends.  Face it, MOST dads out there don’t have a clue what their partners do all day and rarely think to give her a break.  Not to mention that trying to sleep in, in the house with all the activity, even if the other parent is handling it, is likely close to impossible.

While I do manage to find moments to check Facebook, proof a blog before I publish it, etc, most of the time I am busy and don’t have time to concentrate on anything in depth.  Between 7am when the first one arrives, till 5:30ish when the last ones leave, I’m busy!  Feedings, changing diapers, getting breakfast fed to 3 of the 5 that will cross my day, putting one on the school bus, packing 4 in the car to take one to school, coming home and changing diapers, kids from pajamas to clothes (on 2 of them), feeding the baby again, holding and burping her, keeping the toddlers occupied and not fighting over toys, cleaning up breakfast, unloading and loading the dishwasher, wiping down the kitchen, start some peppermint iced tea brewing on the stove,  put the baby down to sleep, change the litter box, feed the cats, start some laundry, break up a toddler squabble, check Facebook, stamp  and date some Avon brochures, get mini Try-it kits together to give customers, flip the laundry, get the 1yo a bottle, feed the baby, burp and change the baby, get baby settled in bouncy seat or in the front chest carrier because she is gassy and wants to be held, fix lunch, feed the toddlers….. yes that is just the morning.  It is why my blogs have not been posting as frequently.  I work on them at night but it is rare I have them ready to submit and during the day my brain is just too occupied with other things to devote much to them.  My idol is Mama Kat over at Mama’s Losin’ It, she is one of the best bloggers and runs an at home daycare as well.

In between there I do manage to keep the fun, loving,  flirty texts going with the Count as he is working, which is keeping our relationship FUN.  Somewhere in there I even manage to eat something and keep the coffee flowing.  On a good day, my sister is around working on her Avon business and will pick up my slack somewhere when she is able.  That is a huge help.

Throughout the day I am hunting down and thinking up new ideas for working my Avon business, and now contemplating doing Thirty-One Gifts as well.  I know, when? LOL.  My goal is to one day be one of those ladies in Avon that doesn’t do anything else. She is a beauty consultant and sales representative full time and making BIG money!  I watch the Avon stories, chat forums etc, there are women making 6 figure incomes at this, I want to be one of them.  No wait, I WILL  be one of them.  I realize it takes a few years of dedication and training, along with hard work, but that is okay with me!  It is something I love doing and want to be a success.  Sometimes I start to get discouraged, forgetting I have only been at this 6 months.  I lose sight of the fact that I am on the fast track to making President’s Club, the first major level of achievement in sales.  I just want it all, NOW!  :)

I wish I was able to spend a bit more of this holiday weekend doing NOTHING but enjoying the presence of the Count. But he is working some of it, and I have to work too.  Instead of 2 days, I have 3 to work on Avon, keep taking the online training so I can indeed be a beauty and skin care expert and consultant that knows her stuff!  But I will be with the Count too, and get to enjoy being the center of someone’s attention and love for a while, and make him the center of mine.

Life certainly is no where I even imagined it being this time last year.  I was an office manager for Color World House Painting, had been living in the Diva Den with mom, sis and 2 nieces for 4 months, divorce final for 1 month and hurting badly.  I didn’t think I’d ever love again, especially not deeper and better than anything I had known before.  I had no idea where my life was headed and I was a mess.  Who knew so much good was headed my way and so much happiness with a new love?  Who knew I’d finally ditch corporate America and do something I had often thought might be rewarding (daycare) and start into a job in sales with products I absolutely love and believe in?     I am the most blessed, and fortunate woman I know.  AND the most loved by the most wonderful man.  I love being me, I LOVE MY LIFE!

Dear So And So – Stretched and Exfoliated Edition

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Dear So and So...

Dear Weekend,

TGIF!!! (wonders  if  I’m getting any AMENs out there?)  You sure took your darn good time arriving this week, and not a moment too soon.  I’m tired, okay more like exhausted.  It began on Monday morning when,  if I stood on a box, on my tip toes, shielded my eyes with my hand and squinted really hard, I could see you.  Every day I watched you come closer and closer, anticipating your arrival and all you will bring with you on this 3 day, Labor Day holiday version of your end of the week madness self.  HUGS!!! I missed you so much!

Love me

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Dear Daycare Darlings,

I love you all…everyone from the tiniest of chubby little feet up to the two, 7 year olds that are not here very long for the day.  Mostly I am addressing you, the infant and toddlers.  Okay really you two toddler types, the 1 and 2 year old.  What is up with all the whining this week???  Is there some kind of conspiracy to send me over the edge?  See just how much I can take before the very kind men come with the straight jacket and haul me off to a padded cell?  Lord love a duck, baby girl and baby boy, can we please please PLEASE stop. the. whining???

Thank you with much love,

Ms. Marti

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Dear Noel,

You are the alpha cat, top feline, the 4 pawed  boss of the furry kids in this house, and I love you.  You are indeed pretty, though you are shedding like you are being paid to do so.  You rarely come to my room, you seem to respect that it is Pixel’s domain.  But last night you came for a visit in the middle of my sleeping.  Your furry self wrapped around my head, your front half looking like a cat version of the Sphinx, tail periodically sweeping across my cheek.  I am flattered that you felt the need to come and watch protectively over me while I slept, considering you seem skittish about entering my room at all.  So of course, this morning, a lint roller was needed to remove all of your gray fur that you shed on my black pillow cases.  Thanks bunches.

And really, you are too kind.  Nothing quite like having my nose  exfoliated by your tongue.   I knew that cat’s tongues were kinda spikey feeling, but wasn’t really prepared for how that felt as you licked my nose from bridge to the tip.  Interesting.  Sweet of you, really.  Don’t do it again.  Really, I mean it, do not do this ever again.

Sincerely,

One of your human staff

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Dear Self,

You are starting to take this multi-tasking thing a bit  too far.  It is okay to set REALISTIC goals for what you need to accomplish in the day.  But trying to feed a 1yo, while emptying and loading the dishwasher, while carrying the infant in a front/chest style baby carrier, while flipping laundry….well sweetie no wonder you are hurting!  Lugging 12 extra pounds around while doing it all is good exercise.  But don’t stretch  your self so thin, you are NOT Super Elastic Bubble Plastic.  I’m fairly certain that stuff is toxic, and while the Count says you are intoxicating, that isn’t really on par with his thoughts.   Relax, no one is going to steel the dirty laundry or dishes while you care for the wee ones.

Kindly,

Your aging self

Beauty On A Budget

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If you live in the greater Cincinnati area, I have a deal for you!  I have an  inventory of bargains at the moment, and I will deliver, same day  delivery at that, cash and carry items!!

Check out my Avon blog, Beauty On A Budget Cash And Carry Basket to see my current bargain inventory.  Quantities are limited so act fast!!!!

These are available through me only,  these are my own personal specials, no shipping, service charge etc!