Another random fact

Most who know me, know that I am not usually a big environmental person. Recycle if it's convienent, global warming still wonder about, but one thing I am sure of is there is a finite amount of oil on this planet and lives are lost daily because of it. (yep, that would be the first major political statement I've made on the blog in case anyone is keeping track). While this doesn't have me running out to by the latest hybrid car (although my next purchase will definitely be one), I do think about other ways to reduce my personal use.

Here's the latest random factoid...it takes the equivilant amount of oil to manufacture 14 plastic grocery bags as it does to refine a gallon of oil for my car. I always knew plastics were not friendly and have always 'thought about' buying some resusable cloth bags...but like many things in life 'thought about' = action about 40% of the time and I hadn't done it. However today's stat moved me over the top and straight to the online store Earthwise bags. Believe it or not the bags are pretty cheap 10 for $12.50 plus shipping via UPS so about $20 in all. If only I could turn all of the plastic bags in my house into gas for the car.

Random Trivia

In honor of my cool brother in law, I ran across some totally random trivia today and wanted to spread the knowledge.



Have you wondered where the term 'dog day afternoon' comes from? Worry no more...



Believe it or not dog days are not about or connected to the lovable cannines which many of us enjoy. Although looking at Tanner after a good play session on a hot afternoon I would certainly think so.



Let's begin with a slightly different phrase, "the dog days of summer." Dog days are actually referring to the star "Sirius", also known as the dog star, found in the constellation of Canis Major, deriving its name from the Greek word '"seirios", which means "scorching".The star sirius is most visible in our hemisphere during the summer months as the brightest star in the heavens (not Polaris, the northern star).So, "dog day afternoon" actually means nothing more than a hot summer afternoon.



So there you go...you can thank me when you when a trivia contest. :)

A true Olivia fan

So this is my first time trying to add a video...so much easier than I thought.
Check it out, it totally had Tanner. He kept tilting his head and watching the laptop with a WTF look on his face.

10 on Tuesday

I was inspired by the message board on two peas another 10 on Tuesday list. This week's topic:

10 Things You Love to Do in the Summertime

Here's mine
*walking barefoot in the grass or sand when I'm lucky enough to be by the beach
*flip flops (the next best thing to being barefoot)
*capri pants and cute summer skirts
*running threw the sprinklers (ok maybe not threw, but close enough to feel the mist)
*watching my sister's dog play with the hose
*sitting on the deck and watching the stars
*sweet corn on the cob
*flea and farmers markets
*looking at people's gardens
*garage sales

Denver's in the news again...and it's not for a blizzard. This time a crazy guy walked into the state capital with a gun and claiming to be the emperor of Colorado. Luckily for us,he didn't get the governor. Unlucky for him state troopers shot him. I was just at the capitol a couple of months ago and didn't think about security at the time, does anyone really think about it before it's too late? The building is beautiful and is probably a nightmare for security folks --- lots of offices, stairways, exits, etc.

A Creative Weekend

Back to teaching Scrapbook classes --- I'm really excited! The first is for a beginner series --- this one is all about adhesives/glue. I used more than I could ever imagine using on a page or project, but all the students will able to try them all and find their favorites. I think the pages are much cuter in person --- my scanner just totally sucks, I promise everything is straight. Someday I'll get a new one, after everything else on my wish list.

Not much more to the weekend...farmer's market and a few garage sales. Little bit of 'real' work and a little spot cleaning. It went too fast!

Seriously?!?

A light lunch break and some random trivia to fill your Friday.

From random website...
The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia (fear) of the number thirteen. Strangely, there is evidence to suggest that Friday the 13th is actually unlucky. Psychologists have found that some people are especially likely to have accidents or fall ill on Friday the 13th.

This has been attributed to such people feeling a heightened state of anxiety on that day. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina estimates that in the United States alone, $800 or $900 million is lost in business each Friday the 13th because some people will not travel or go to work.

Hmm...interesting, glad I only have to travel a few miles to get to work. Must be careful at lunch.

'ribe tuchus'

Remember that observation writing tool kit I picked up at a flea market a few weeks ago? It's full of cards that are supposed to inspire writing. I've had enough random stuff to say the past couple of weeks that it's been sitting lonely in the corner.

No more of that, today I broke it open and pulled out a card. it said simply 'ribe tuchus'...sit still. Apparently ribe tuchus means sit still in Yiddish. I thought what does this have to do with writing, I turned to the guidebook to find out more. And it was a huge challenge to sit still for an hour and do nothing else but write. I don't think I could ever do it --- I don't sit still, at least not completely --- ever. Not even when I was a little girl. I remember sitting on the couch and my mom trying to bribe me with a candy bar if I could sit completely still for 5 minutes. I put on a pretty good show, except I was moving my finger under a blanket. My mom tore of the blanket and I was busted. No candy bar --- heartbreaking huh.

So now I surf the net, watch tv and snack all at the same time or tap my feet while scrapping. Based on the mess my sheets are in the morning, I'm not even still in sleep.

10 Favorite Things

There is a thread on the Two Peas Pub board that asks people to list there 10 favorite things. Seemed like a fun thing to blog so I thought I'd post it here too. Disclaimer:These are my 10 favorite things at this moment in time and likely to change the second I hit post.

1. My furniture
2. The beach --- any beach you can put you can stand and let the waves wash the stress away
3. Creative Projects
4. Tanner running in the field
5. Discovering new music
6. Fresh flowers
7. Getting anything other than bills and promo material in the mail (hint, hint)
8. A perfectly cooked steak
9. Cabin at the lake (not quite the beach but the next best thing)
10. A clean house (especially if I don't have to clean it)

Eye/Brain Candy Part 2

Finally! I must have whinned enough --- my sister finally broke down on Sunday morning and went to see Ocean's 13 with me. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a great movie, but definitely entertaining. The plot doesn't change much from the previous movies, who cares these guys are mega hotties. I'm sure I'll have to watch it about 3 more times before I get everything. One of my favorite things about this series are the camera angles --- so retro. Funny, because I'm not usually a retro girl.

Back to work today--- tougher than normal. Just couldn't hit my groove, hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

Weather update --- 11 days of 90+, grr...the weather man is promising that it will be in the low 80s tomorrow. Oh, I hope. I hope.

From the random observation category: diapers and condoms are on the same aisle at King Soopers. Interesting --- an aisle I don't usually go down, but needed a pacifier for the baby project I was working on for the store.

I'm Meeeeeelting!

Yuck! 100 degrees --- one of those days were the steering wheel burns your hands. No fun. I took Tanner out for a morning walk at 7:30 and it was already hot.

I took him along to the Paris Street Market we saw lots of cute things but nothing that I couldn't live without at the time. Of course now that I'm home there are a couple of things I wish I would have bought. Tanner was a great sport in the crowds, he staying in a perfect heal postion most of the time and made some new fans.

At last a creative post...w/pic!

Yep going into work a little bit later than usual this am. I just finished these letters last night and wanted to post since it's been so long since I shown anything creative. We're getting ready for a marketing event at the store --- giant baby shower at Babies R'Us. My assignment was to alter wood letters for a baby girl's room. Eventually these will be going to a co-workers daughter. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out...although as usual I got a little carried away with the bling. You know I have this tendency to 'over-do', I should probably take these to the store so I'm not tempted.

And in case your curious...I did not add the flowers and matching table cloth specifically for this little photo shoot. Pure luck that everything is so coordinated. It's my everyday table cloth ---Garage sale bargain $3.00 and the flowers were a little splurge to myself earlier in the week also on sale.

Happy Friday!

Happy Indpendence Day!

(totally not my pic, I found it online here --- lots of great photos but many are copyrighted and tough to share)
Hope your day was great! A little bit weird to have it in the middle of the week...but nice to have a midweek break. I spent most of the day getting my house back in order, it's been about a month and a half from my last super clean. Plus LOTS of laundry!

Spent more time trying to get my scrap room organized. I broke down and went to Wal-Mart to look for a bookshelf I can afford. Sure enough I found one for around $30 --- looks just like the $99 one a Target. I put it together and started loading it full of stuff. Now I just need to put the finishing touches on the room. SOOO excited to almost have it done.

Curiosity killed the cat...

Ok so I was pretty sure that only my mom, my dearest AK friend Charlene, and occasionally Rachel read my blog on a regular basis...but I was curious to see how many random hits I had so I added one of those silly (but ego boosting) counters to my page and there appears to be a few more consitent readers.

So fess up...who are you?

Even if you don't want to 'come out' and post a comment, I just want to say thanks! Thanks for caring about the silly random things I like to talk about and thanks for caring about ME! It means more than you can know.

For all of us(ok, mostly me...creative therapy) I'm trying to be more consistent in writing and will try to stretch to find more ideas.

The good news...did you notice I set a new record for blog entries in one month...Hooray!!! Here's hoping July will be even better!

Customer Service Score Card

I have always thought that it be a great job to be travel writer --- visit fabulous places for free and be super critical, what could be better? Since my paltry writing skills will never land me that job, I'll have to play out my fantasy on my blog and you all will have to indulge me(or click to the next blog)

Notice that I said being critical is part of the fun. So I developed my own little system for ranking the vendors and services I encountered on my latest trip.

1. US AirwaysTwo out of four legs were more than 30 minutes late, out of all of the people I encountered on my four leg journey greeted me with a smile and said hello. However, a savvy travel writer picks up on the feelings of other travelers and US Airways was failing in a big way. Northwest has been getting lots of media heat for cancelled flights, but it seemed like US Airways was in the same boat, we heard of at least five cancelled flights on the western us during our journey and not once did I see a helpful positive employee, stranded passengers were sent to wait in line after line. I would recommend avoiding this company, I know I hope never to fly with them again.

2. Greyline Disney Shuttle Hooray for consistent reliable service. I think I have taken this shuttle from LAX to Anaheim at least four times and feel comfortable recommending them to all. It runs on a regular schedule and the drivers are always nice. The return trip was over the top in customer service and I feel horrible that I didn't get the driver's name(my excuse is pure brain exhaustion after 3.5 software training days). She gave a running commentary on the way back including key sites for movies and a general overview of where the various cities around LA are. The kicker was that instead of dropping us a the airport where we were planning on taking another shuttle to our LA hotel --- she went out of her way to take us directly to the hotel! Great job!!!

3. Disneyland Hotel Just because it's Disney doesn't make it great. I can't quite give it two paws down because there were a few good things --- check-in desk staff super wonderful! Banquet waitstaff fantastic!! Steakhouse 55:spendy, but they know there way around a steak Prix Fixe menu was a great bargain(on Disney Standards ie less than $30/pp) Housekeeping --- friendly with average service(wilted flowers left for two days, I threw them out and they were replaced the next) The bad: banquet food yuck (I know you can only expect so much) day one was great and set the standard high: eggs well cooked with cheese and chives for condiments, plus a cereal and yogurt bar. Unfortunately other breakfasts fell short with runny scrambled eggs (with no condiments)and dry baked goods. Other hotel food venues: overcooked shrimp, less than friendly waitstaff. Lifeguards at pool: scary. Don't go thinking that I spent a lot of time at the pool because I didn't, but my room overlooked and every time I looked out side the lifeguards were all standing together with backs toward the pool.

4. Disney Store in Downtown Disney: Disney is full of lines, everyone knows that. But it's no excuse for poor customer service. At any other retail store in the country (ok except Wal-Mart) 10 customers would not be left in line while clerks counted cash in not one but TWO drawers. I of course made a comment --- to which the response was --- 'were pickup, we have to do this.' And while I understand counting one drawer, I totally disagree that you had to move on the the second without apologizing to customers or searching for another clerk. It's so UN-Disney.

5. Pearson Learning: Pearson is the parent company of Powerschool. The swag was good, the trainers knew their stuff. Second City evening event was fun. But a couple of key things kept this crew from a paws up rating: Trainers didn't know where bathrooms were located and the first day sent participants far off into another building. On the end of the second day I heard rumors of a closer bathroom and confirmed. This in my mind is event planning 101 --- label your bathrooms and make sure the trainers(especially those in opening session) know where they are. Other major flaw: No trainers gave out contact information --- I believe this is on purpose as Pearson charges a support fee and while I recognize that some folks may take advantage of trainers hospitality, after paying $2000 to attend I believe I have the right to contact a trainer to ask a couple of questions specifically related to the training when working with my live data.

6. Camp BowWow I would give these guys 10 paws up if I could (well I know I could, but a good travel writer sticks to her rating system :)). I was totally addicted to the webcams --- I saw Tanner have lots of fun and gets lots of love from the staff. I honestly think he is depressed to be home or maybe just plain tired. If I didn't know better I would think he was sick, but watching him run around day after day I know he's just plain pooped. He didn't even give the bunny a good chase this am --- poor guy.

So there you have it, my trip in a nut shell. Now back to normal life...

A quick greeting from California

Classes are going well although the one today was a bit over my head. I was happy to tread water for most of the day and discover a few good tips.

It's very hard to sit in class when the SoCal sun and lovely pool are calling your name, my only saving grace is that the pool is full of kiddos. Just one thought about the number that pee in the pool will keep me far, far away.

After all of these years, i have a deluxe room at the disney motel --- 10th floor w/balcony overlooking the afore mentioned pool. It's a long way from the 'not even a' Motel 6 or trailer park we stayed at when I visited as a kid. Not that I'm complaing I wonder if the kids that are here can truly appreciate the luxury.

The best part about my room is the balcony doors slide open so far and it's warm enough to leave open at night. It's my own version of high-end camping. Open air on a king size bed w/cable and internet --- although not wireless.

For some reason my card reader doesn't work so I'm not able to share and pics---boohoo, but I will when I get home.

Have you been watching Tanner at his Camp? It's slightly addicting --- it cracks me up to watch. He's such a people guy and a busy body. I haven't seen him sit in one place for more than a minute and he's always where the people are --- if they move, he moves.

Update to yesterday...

I forgot my hairbrush and any kind of pain medication...ACK! You would never believe I used to travel 30% of the time. My excuse is that the toiletry pack used to just stay packed all the time and I didn't worry about anything. Clearly I need to restock my bag...I think my small brush is in my glove compartment(does anyone ever put gloves in there?) in my car. Lots of help...

Disney is great! Even for all my whinning as soon as the bus pulled up 'the disney magic' put a little spell on me and I couldn't help but smile.

Looks like Tanner is doing well...hooray!

More from the House of THE Mouse later.

Overpacker's Annon.

If this group doesn't already exist it should and some one who cares about me should drag me to a meeting.

Even with all my traveling, I still have a tendency to overpack. It's crazy...I make a list, I count the days, coordinate clothes all the right things, but when I get to where I'm going I always have too much stuff.

Finally this morning I had an ah-ha moment and realized how it happens...I stick to my plan up until an hour or so before hand. And then I walk around my place and think ooh I might need that and shove it in at the top, and then something else and then something else. Must learn to stop this craziness.

Off to conference in Cali for most of the week, check out Tanner on the web cam at Camp BowWow...he has group play from 9-11 am and from 1-5 before he retires to his private 'room' to sleep it off.

The things you know...

but forget you know until it's too late.

I have no doubt this will be a reoccuring theme as I start to blog regularly. Maybe if I write them out it will help me remember when the time is right.

Here's the first few items to the list...
1. Never wash anything else when washing new towels. Yep did it just a few weeks ago and everything had little pieces of lint on it.

2. Too many cherries = tummy ache

3. Sunscreen is your friend...luckily I've been able to remember this regularly this summer, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I forget this on

4. Mountain folks don't work on Fridays...this is a great thing for meeting planning that requires travel from Littleton to Arvada via C-470, no commuters to deal with YAY!

Relief...

Relief is the theme of the day...

I have a brand new appreciation for graduation and diploma certification after the past couple of months. Today was a special day for about a hundred kids in our program --- high school graduation. I've been working with the teachers and other admin staff make sure the graduates were indeed 'ready' to graduate. The jury is still out for a few who need to finish their course work --- but today was a happy day as they walked across the stage to accept their diploma (well the cover anyway) I'm glad to have the bulk of this tough project behind me. Finally!

Even greater relief Tanner passed his 'boarding school' interview today and will be able to stay at Camp BowWow while I'm at a conference in California next week. I was starting to really stress last weekend where my three possible in home sitters all realized they couldn't watch the T man for various reasons. So I went back to my original plan of boarding him. The tough part was waiting all week for him to have this intro visit. I honestly don't know what I would have done.

The best part of Camp BowWow (for me at least)? WEBCAMS! I can watch him play with other puppies all day long. It was so neat to watch him settle in and play. The best part for him, based on the webcam viewing this aft it's probably a toss up between the other dogs and the number of folks that are in the play rooms to pet him --- he's such a sucker for a butt scratch. Even if I couldn't watch him play I would know he had a great time because he is exhausted right now.

Clicking through the blogs

I think lots of us now have regular blogs of friends and family or interest that we read on a regular basis. But...Have you played Blog Roulette? Have you ever tried the next blog link...I've become slightly addicted...it's like going around the world in 60 seconds.

I've found a few gems, I only wish I would have bookmarked a few at the time so I could find my way back.

Fashionist...wonderful shots of everyday fashionable people in San Francisco
Pearl Jam in Spanish...with a fantastic pic of eddie veder
Other scrapbookers
Interesting business thoughts
Amazing photos from everywhere...

To all these folks I've seen and the many more I have yet to read, I say THANK YOU!
Thank you for...

• expanding my horizons
• sharing your world
• keeping me entertained
• inspiring me to write often
  
• accepting life for the wonderful random qualities

If you've never done, go ahead a spin the roulette wheel. And it is a roulette wheelword of caution...this is not for the weak of heart or easily offended. I know blogger works hard to keep out the offensive material, but on more than one occasion I've come a scantily clad lady.