Grandpa adores his grandkids and of course he believes they are all handsome/pretty and smart! We were just sitting around chatting one afternoon and Grandpa was commenting about just how my 4 year old girl is absolutely beautiful. He just finds it amazing that we have such a beautiful child. No one in his family is that beautiful, he jsut can’t figure out where her beauty comes from.

I pipe up and say that she gets it from her mother. In a very serious voice he says, ‘Nope, don’t see it!’

Have you ever found yourself putting the cereal in the fridge or the milk in the cupboard? Well, here is a new one for me… Yesterday I was driving in the car and about to turn the radio down because the air conditioner was up too high!

On our recent drive down to Orlando we stopped in at Grandpas for an overnight stay. We also stopped in on the return trip home. It was a great opportunity to break up the drive and visit with family.

On the drive back to Grandpa’s place we stopped at the local cemetery to visit the family graves. Grandma died a few years back and was buried in a double grave site with the tombstone just waiting for Grandpa to add his death date and rejoin his true love of 50 years of marriage.

Death is a difficult topic for children to understand, and real names versus family titles such as Grandma, Grandpa can be confusing. On the headstone it says Victoria Grace . I explained that Victoria was Grandma Vicky. Then I showed them the adjoining headstone for Horace and my number one son asked me if I knew him. I again explained that Horace is Grandpa. In shock he asked, “Grandpa is dead?”

We quickly explained that Grandpa is alive and well and just has his place for eternal rest ready for when the time comes. We will then complete the headstone engraving.

We recently returned from 5 days in Orlando. I had the pleasure of taking my three children ages 8,7 and 4 to three days of Disney theme parks. Just me and the kids in Orlando in July! What fun

As I pushed the three kids around the park in a doubl stroller other tired, perhaps frustrated parents would look in awe and say “and she has three kids!” Perhaps my efforts made others feel a little better that day!

So we spent 6 hours on the beach yesterday. We take the big tent top for shade, the cooler full of food & drinks, water toys, the obligatory bucket and spade, and of course the sunscreen.

All items were used liberally throughout the day - except the shade and the sunscreen! Needless to say we are not heading back to the beach today. And 4 out of 5 of us are natural blondes! Today, the 5th has the dubious pleasure of being an honorary blonde (or lobster! )

My blonde 4 year old has her own way of speaking…

kapleece - people who keep the streets safe from crime
babatisim - religious act ….
Spongeabob - SpongeBob SquarePants
sunscream - protects your skin from sun damage
speed lemon - speed for vehicles and fruit?

GamblinTwo bored casino dealers are waiting at the crap table. A very attractive blonde woman from Alabama arrived .and bet twenty-thousand dollars ($20,000) on a single roll of the dice.

She said, “I hope you don’t mind, but I feel much luckier when I play topless.” With that, she stripped to the waist; rolled the dice; and yelled, “Come on, baby…. Southern Girl needs new clothes!”

As the dice came to a stop, she jumped up-and-down… And squealed… “YES! YES! I WON! I WON!” She hugged each of the dealers… And then picked up her winnings and her clothes, and quickly departed.

The dealers stared at each other dumbfounded. Finally, one of them asked, “What did she roll?” The other answered, “I don’t know… I thought you were watching.”

Moral —
Not all Southerners are stupid.
Not all blondes are dumb.
But, all men….. Are still men

So another rave about advertising/marketing… Yesterday I received a letter from ‘Stephen Brandt’ of Westlake Village, CA. on what looks like Countrywide Home loan official letterhead. We are a current customer of theirs (although after this I do question that!) The letter offers us the opportunity to refinance our home loan to a new 30 year fixed to save an “Estimated Annual Payment Savings” of $6,925.

What the letter ensures it does not say is that we currently have a 15 yr fixed. So for the savings of about $577 a month, I can refinance (to a higher rate!) and spread the payments over 30 years instead of 15 years and pay the monthly payment of $1961 for an additional 15 years! Lucky Me!

Let’s look at the numbers:
$1961 x 12 months x 15 additional years = $352,980 in additional payments
And I also get to pay 2 points on the refinance… all on cute yellow paper with a table of impressive looking numbers.

Now of course this $577 may save someone from filing bankcruptcy but that aint us…

To be fair I guess the small faint print at the bottom on the back of the letter should not be overlooked by the desperate:
“Important Information: Please Read…” It is even underlined.

I think we have wasted enough time on Countrywide… and I am a blonde!

Have you seen the latest ad? Yes, I know some will say that any buzz from a commecial is good buzz but I really hate the commericals that insult the intelligence or better yet make the merchant look stupid. What can I say except put the new A1 ad in the latter category. Any sauce bottle that takes that much effort for a single drop has three major marketing flaws (and possibly more);

1. The sauce bottle is suitable only for the physically fit, and possibly on a condiment diet!
2. Haven’t they heard of the squeeze bottle?
3. Use less = buy less!

I would think that the merchant would want us to use copious amounts of the sauce, using up the contents of the bottle quickly so that we need to purchase more.

Is A1 steak sauce REALLY that important? I don’t think so!

to the tune of auld lang syne seemed to be the anthem of many in their twenties (and on either side!) I was fortunate to visit the USA for 6 months and back pack around this vast country. To my surprise & delight I was just old enough to drink alcohol in public the day I arrived. This was not something I had considered when planning my trip as the drinking age in Australia was 18 years.

But I was a sensible drinker and often made the conscious decision not to over indulge in a country where I was most often travelling alone. So I would always order light beer! You see, in Australia, light beer was alcohol light not calorie light. I am not sure it helped me anyway as I still managed to again 35 lbs in 6 months! But I guess it could have been worse! And the 3 years drinking practice from 18-21 years kept me in good stead to not get drunk on beer. But the Bacardi 151 is another story…