Eavesdropping

There is a customer who is waiting for her child to get out of class. She plopped herself in the classroom attached to my office and is making personal, very personal phone calls. Wonder if she knows I'm listening. Don't think so because she keeps saying, "Please don't tell... please don't tell.." Hmmmm. Well, it is entertaining while I am waiting for the fax to redial for the fifth time. So far I know the date of her next appointment to the nail salon, her problems with AT&T, all about getting ready for prom, the inside gossip in her Girl Scout troop (she does not like one of the moms). I can't help but overhear because I am at my desk "working."

Was hanging out at L's store today with her and Burt. Burt is an ex-FBI investigator. He and L are writing a book, which I cannot wait to read! Anyway, this young man came in and said that his friend (a female) was divorced with children and was in a new relationship, and he wanted to get her a book to help her spiritually because she was having some issues with dating/remarrying again. When he left, Burt said, "That young man is the other man, the one she's having a new relationship with." I said, "How do you know that?" He said, "I just know." And I believe him. From all of his time on the force, he probably senses those things.

R and I are going out to dinner tonight with some friends. The girls are going to hang out at church while we're gone and eat dollar dinners.

Dancing Again

Goodbye, Adam! I am SO glad to see you go! Sorry, but your dancing was the pits and I didn't find you funny at all!

Blah Tuesday

I am at the library waiting for K17 to get out of her first Compass class. I have felt really rotten the past few days, no energy at all, dizziness, just plain blah. I was supposed to go out with friends last night to Olive Garden but cancelled. There's nothing there I can eat anyway. Wednesday night we are going out with friends to a mexican restaurant. I am going to HAVE to slip off of my diet for that one! There is no way I'm going to be able to sit and watch others eat chips and salsa!

Well, last night on Dancing, I think Adam did the worst. What was with the unicycle? Marissa needs to be the next to go.

k.d. lang - Hallelujah

OMG! Is that k.d. lang below in a dress? Yes, it is. I've seen her perform barefoot before but NEVER in a dress! Listen to her rendition of Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah." Pure magic. No one can sing like k.d. lang. She got a standing ovation. She could not look at the audience; she was so humbled. I am going to have to go pull out my old Tony Bennett and k.d. lang CD. I am asking for her new CD Watershed for Mother's Day. People are really getting on to her about her weight, comparing her to the later years bloated Elvis. She is a vegetarian. Does kind of make you wonderhow she could be overweight in this video.

Edited to say: Saw a recent interview with k.d. today and she has slimmed down to her normal size!

National Anthem

It was the opening weekend of football season, 1979. We were visiting team. The home team's band did not show up. It was their job as home team to play the National Anthem. Since we weren't home team for another two weeks, our band director hadn't taught us the Star Spangled Banner yet. Those of us who had it memorized from previous seasons were few and far between. Without any warning, the announcer came over the loud speaker and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please rise while the Scarborough High School marching band plays the national anthem. The band director was in shock. Guess what we played? Disco Inferno from Saturday Night Fever.

I am soooo peeved at our new CPA!

he was no help at all when we went in to "protest" our tax return. turns out, he didn't do our taxes at all; he had an asst do them. we thought we were hiring him; we didn't even know he had an asst. it's his name on the sign. and if we wouldn't have said anything, he wouldn't have said anything, and we would have paid the $2,000, which we would have had to borrow. He said he will file an extension and that we need to hire someone with an accounting degree to figure out what's wrong with our Profit and Loss statement. Duh - doesn't he have an accounting degree? it says on his sign that he also provides accounting services. in the past, our cpa (who retired) would just get our information off of our QuickBooks CD. We gave this guy the CD this year, but he kept requesting us to print things out for him that were on the CD. Also, dh wasn't impressed because the CPA never offered a handshake when we entered or left. Dh finally extended his hand. on the plus side, he said we don't have to pay his fee until he actually files.

Color-Coded Chopping Boards for OCD Chefs

This is a very smart concept for cutting boards. The plastic base resembles a folder file that contains four cutting boards of different colors each one representing a specific food group. The green board is to be used for vegetables, the blue one for fish, the red for meat and the white for cooked food. In a manner of speaking, four boards into one. Pretty clever.

Thought This Was Cute From Crib Chick

Connubial Conversations: Tormenting the OCD Sufferer

Crib Chick (after considering the possibility for a long time, while looking at her toothbrush, and finally deciding to just ask the question): "You don't ever...accidentally use my toothbrush...do you?"

Mr. Crib Chick (rinsing and spitting): "Nope!" (Crib Chick sighs a little with relief) "Every time I use it...it's on purpose."

Mouse

You know it's 2008 when you Google search the image of a mouse (animal) and the only results are computer mouses.

We had a mouse in the classroom this week, living in the piano and pooping on the tables. I wanted to do a humane trap, but I was outvoted by everyone else. R set two traps, one on each side of the piano, and was caught during the night.

Tonight is our out to eat night. Probably going to Panera for chicken caesar salads or to Paul's Pizza. I love Paul's Pizza's spinach and mushroom salad. Their whole wheat pepperoni pizza and spinach crust pizza are my favorite.

Mr. Klein is out of ground turkey this week, so I guess I'm going to either have to use ground beef or go to Walmart for just that. Last night we had ground beef in the chili - the first time I can ever remember eating ground beef at home since we've been married.

Dancing

Hasta la vista, Gutt! I like your movies, but you are no dancer!

In Like a Lion

Yesterday for an April Fool's Day joke, I texted my friend, L, and told her I was pregnant! Boy, I really had her going there for about 15 minutes, her commenting how happy she was for us, that she hoped she would be chosen as a special aunt for the baby! Then I sprang it on her. It was hysterical. When I saw her sister yesterday, she said, "Congratulations!" I think she was just kidding.

What were some of the April Fool's Day jokes that you endured? My favorites were that Target is purchasing the "What White People Like" webpage and that J.K. Rowling has been given the okay by the estate of C.S. Lewis to write two new Narnia books. OHKim, you really got me with that one, and the employees of the store and my kids, too! They were all standing around the computer as I read it to them with their jaws dropped open. It was SO funny!

Well, last Wednesday, we went to see Mr. Klein to respectfully ask to be released from our five-year lease. Instead, he said that he wants us to stay, so -- get this -- he dropped the rent $3,000 for four months!!!!! I don't know if it will help matters any, but at least it will give us some time to catch up on bills and save us the hassle of moving again.

Have to go get dd17 a passport this week because she is going on a mission trip to Honduras in June. She will be out of the country on her 18th birthday!!!!

We should be getting our tax refund soon. Yippee!!! First things first -- we need to get the carpet shampooed!!! I would like to sock most of it back into the business, but R has some home improvement projects that need to be funded, especially the cut down of a tree in our back yard that is in a very bad spot (near the pool and a fence).

I would like to welcome Ice Mama to my blog. I hope she stops by often! I lost all my favorites in the computer crash, so I don't read many blogs right now.

Well, I have to go finish sending out 700 e-mails. Yahoo is acting up, so it is taking me twice as long.

~c'ya~

OCD POSTMAN

This video is not funny; it is just plain sad. Just think how this man's OCD interferes with his work day. He probably doesn't get back to the post offic until way after dark.

IS THIS OCD?

I LOVE this video!

Joking about OCD

I found this blog article at http://www.incertus.imntb.com/2005/06/08/not-a-joke/. You don't need wo click on the link. I was just posting it to give the blogger credit. Here is the article:

There really is nothing funny about OCD. Though, if you have OCD you do have to admit that some of our behaviors are, well, odd. And I guess I have come to a place where I can laugh at myself, some of the times. And usually only in retrospect. Hard to laugh in the midst of hell.
I know a lot of folks with OCD get pretty upset when people make all those casual jokes about OCD. And rightly so. There is nothing funny about destroyed lives, all that lost potential that is wasted away on repetitive closed loop fear. Though I do laugh sometimes when watching Monk and I remember I almost literally fell out of my chair laughing when Jack Nicholson got the Oscar for As good as It Gets and he put his hand in a plastic bag to take the statue. Still cracks me up. But not everyone in the OCD world thought that was funny.
I don’t know what it is but it is still acceptable in our culture to make jokes about mental illness to a degree that you do not see with other illnesses. And I think behind a lot of those jokes is your basic fear response. Something frightens you or makes you uneasy, you joke and it lightens that load. And joking about that kind of thing is pretty much human nature but society as a whole needs to learn about mental illness. Needs to learn a whole lot. We didn’t choose this you know.
The one thing I see a lot more of then jokes is the trivializing of OCD. Do a web search for weblogs referencing OCD and you will find thousands of entries were people talk about being OCD about a particular thing. And all they are talking about is being a little obsessive about this that or the other thing. Nothing even remotely close to OCD. That bugs me a bit. It just makes it an overused and incorrectly used word. Like depression. Most people say they are depressed when they mean they are sad. Try a real depression sometime. Sadness in nothing by comparison.
I don’t know where I am going with this, so I will stop now with this. There is nothing funny about mental illness but if you are lucky you can be mentally ill and still laugh at yourself.
It’s OK to do that you know.

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Pros and Cons

All right. We have two buildings to choose from at this point. I am going to list the pluses and minuses of each.

106 Commerce - 2500 square feet. - pluses, 200 square feet larger than the other building we are looking at, has its own bathroom, has about 8 parking spaces that we would share with about 3 other stores. Minuses - is on a back street with nooooo traffic, has several different rooms (makes it easier for shoplifters), no room for expansion

210 West Main - 2300 square feet - pluses - is on a major street (more traffic). -- interrupted to say that we have been taking a poll the past month on how people found out about us, and the majority say they were drive bys -- both walls are inside walls (translation-less electric bill), room for expansion if people next door move out. Minuses - people would have to park on the street or in parking lot in the back., would have to share a bathroom with the store next door.

Round Hole Square Peg

Question of the week: How do you make 9,000 square feet of inventory fit into a space of 2,500 square feet? Answer? You drastically mark down everything in the resale section that belongs to the store. You put everything you possibly can on the wall. You turn all books on bookshelves to the side. You cut the size of your kiosk in half, get rid of the classrooms and work table. You put all your extra fixtures on E-bay or Craigslist and pray you don't have any left over to have to rent a storage space.You consolidate workbooks down to 2/3 of current racks and make the play area smaller. This is my challenge over the next month. Wish me luck.

There is a wasp in here, and out of the 12,000 square feet in this building he chooses to hang around me. Maybe he likes the smell of my 3 Muskateers that I am not supposed to be eating.

K17 is on her way to draw the name for the free Easter bunny. As soon as she is done, I am closing up shop. It is way too hot in here, but why turn on the air for no customers?

Some of the meals we had this week were: chicken spaghetti, turkey roast, turkey sausage, pasta salad with canadian bacon and turkey pepperoni. Tonight we are having turkey turkey chili dogs (yes, that's turkey turkey chili) with sweet potato fries. Thursday night we went to Paul's Pizza for the first time in a looong time. Cost us $42. Can't do that every week. Next Thursday I think I will crockpot because the finale of Celebrity Apprentice will be on and I want to see Trace kick Piers' butt. Go Marilu! You are one classy lady!

David Larible

Here is a current photo of David Larible. Looks like he may have lost a bit of weight. He will be doing a one-man show in Spain this year. I would LOVE to go! I had the privilege of meeting him and having my pic taken with him years ago. I also have a David Larible doll somewhere in a closet. He is FANTASTIC! David speaks five languages and plays about a dozen musical instruments. He and his family travel together for 11 months out of the year and spend December at their home in Italy. I looked him up on youtube, but was not impressed with the performances that were recorded. I did enjoy seeing him living it up on his birthday, though.

I TOTALLY disagree with the statement below. David made the Kaleidoscape experience for us.

He may have been good for a single-season-novelty. Beyond that, Larible hogged too much ring time and overstayed his welcome by too many seasons. I avoided one edition of Ringling because of him. I couldn't take it anymore. I have always argued that Larible's presence, by then old hat to most circus goers, did not help Barnum's Kaleidoscape; to the contrary, had Larible not been there, Feld might have been forced to engage more acts.

Here's a different report on Kaleidoscape:

Kaleidoscape wastes no time in introducing its star (Larible). He makes an appearance sans makeup before the show even starts; then, in a clever opening number, the entire cast helps Larible get into costume and in character. It's like seeing one of the great mysteries of the circus revealed before your eyes.
There is no ringmaster in Kaleidoscape. Instead Larible and his foil, the classic European whitefaced clown Pipo, act as introduction and interlude for the show's wide range of acts. Larible is perhaps at his best when interacting with the crowd, constantly pulling audience members into the show to take part in his world. Larible is an excellent improviser, and whether the shanghaied volunteer is willing or disagreeable, the result is almost always hilarious.

A quote from an interview with David Larible regarding Osama Bin Laden:

Interviewer: So we need to figure out how to get Osama bin Laden to the circus?

David: I hope so. Bring him over here. And I'll take him for the knife routine. [laughing] And I'm gonna throw real knives at him.

PLEASE come back to Texas, David! I miss you!

OCD Cartoon Time Again!

For those of you who can't read the second cartoon (I can't), the caption reads, "She's going to six different psychiatrists for her compulsive comparison shopping problem."

What the heck? A man and his two children keep walking past the door to our store. The youngest one even tried to open the door. But they don't come in! My open signs are up, my lights are on! I just don't know how a parent can bypass a children's bookstore and game store! Even resale children's books!

A VERY prominent doctor in our town just dropped in. Guess what she wanted? A bell, like you ring in a bell choir. The congregation of her church is going to ring bells in church on Easter.

Well, you might want to ask how the diet is going. I have lost about eight pounds so far, only about 50 to go! The hardest things for me to give up are cherry cokes and Easter candy that one of my employees insists on putting on the counter in basketfuls. Nestle Crunches, 3 Muskateers (my favorite), small chocolate caramel, crunch and butterfinger eggs (the caramel are my favorite of the eggs.)

Send good thoughts our way. We are looking for another location (translation: cheaper) for our store. This will be our fifth move. - UGH! We (the employees and I) have a bit of a disagreement on locations. Ultimately, it is mine and R's decision, right? We are going to go look at places Monday afternoon. We still don't have permission from Mr. Klein to get out of our lease, but I don't see what he can say. It's either stay and not pay rent or leave at this point..

Hey, guess what? As I have been typing this, the man and his two kids finally came in the door! And they are buying a few things! (Sorry I misjudged.)

Today is the drawing for our giant Easter Bunny. I will be sad to see him go and so will the kiddos that come in here and pet him over and over and over again. Trying to think what our gimmick will be for next month. It's tax month, which is usually our slowest month of the year.

I'm glad that blogger now has an auto-save, because I typed all of this up and my computer decided to shut itself down for some reason.

If you are on the Teaching Mom Special Mom's Board, could you check in at the board? That board is all but dead. I'm going to go put a post on there today and try to drum up some conversation.

Well, I hope everyone has a happy Easter!

"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures...And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."(Apostle Paul - 1 Corinthians 15:3,4,17-19 NKJV)

One Day to Go

Well, tomorrow we start the South Beach Diet again. I am dreading Phase 1. It lasts for two weeks. Here is my menu for the week:

Monday - baked chicken breasts
Tuesday - salmon
Wednesday - turkey roast white meat minus the gravy
Thursday - eat out - chicken caesar salads with no croutons
Friday - ham
Saturday - pork chops
Sunday - turkey dogs no bun

for breakfasts we will eat eggs and turkey bacon
for lunches - leftovers, tomatoes and cottage cheese, red pepper dipped in hummus, lunchmeat/cheese wrapped in lettuce
for snacks - almonds, peanuts, homemade meatballs, string cheese, homemade beef jerky

dd17 is doing it with us. so all i need to do now if figure out lunches for dd14. the grocery bill today was enormous, but I bought some $5 DVDs, too.

I bought Jerry McGuire, Look Who's Talking and a Knight's Tale.

Tomorrow I have to weigh, and I am NOT looking forward to that at all! Wish me luck!

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake. ~Author Unknown

In the Middle Ages, they had guillotines, stretch racks, whips and cahins. Nowadays, we have a much more effective torture device called the bathroom scale. ~Stephen Phillips

Reality check: you can never, ever, use weight loss to solve problems that are not related to your weight. At your goal weight or not, you still have to live with yourself and deal with your problems. You will still have the same husband, the same job, the same kids, and the same life. Losing weight is not a cure for life. ~Phillip C. McGraw, The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom, 2003