I’m Calling Myself Out

Ok, this is hard.  I’ve been languishing in sorrow for over a week and it’s time to snap out of it.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that grief is a bad thing and should be avoided, I’m saying that I still have a family to care for and a life to lead and languishing in “shadow comfort” isn’t doing any of us any good.

So, I’m going to start a new trend for us… well, for me - but the whole family can only benefit from it.  I’m committing, here and now and in front of all eight of my readers.  I’m committing to a half hour of aerobic activity, five times a week.  (Yes I know I’ll need to add strength training in there too, but let’s take it one step at  a time, shall we?)

I bought myself a copy of EAS Active for the Wii and I actually opened it today.  Then I decided to get in the pool instead.  I did a half hour of my version of water aerobics and quite honestly I think I deserve more than a half hour’s credit because the water was freeeezing.  But I’m glad I did it and I’ll do more tomorrow.

So, you want to join me?  Commit to 30 minutes of aerobic activity 5 times a week? Whatcha think?

The Best Dog Ever and the No Good, Very Bad Day

In September of 2004, we decided that it was time to get a dog.  We knew that we’d only consider a rescue dog and we thought that it would take lots of visits before we found the right dog.  We wanted a puppy as we had two children and we wanted them to “grow up together”.

Our first trip to the Humane Society surprised us, as there was a litter of pups that had been born at the shelter four months earlier.  They had just been released for viewing, because they had been born with fleas, to a neglected, malnourished mother and developed a skin condition, which they were still being treated for all these months later. Two of the litter were left, both of them boys, one looked like a shepherd with sharp, silver eyes and the other looked like a hound, black and tan with soulful brown eyes.  While the silver eyed pup was the more striking of the two, I knew that the brown eyed one was the dog for us.  He was so interested in the children, smelling them, licking them, running into them, playing with them; I knew that this was our dog.

We couldn’t finalize his homecoming until he was given a clean bill of health and had been neutered, but we brought him home on a “trial basis” and gave him his medicine and applied ointment to his skin and made him eat the awful smelling oil that the vet said would help him heal and checked his skin and fell head over heels in love with him.

Less than a month later we were struck with three hurricanes in a row and were left without power for five days.  Five days with a wet, smelly, hound dog…  I had some puppy remorse then, but we got through it.

When Riley was about a year old, we brought him to the groomer and they dropped him off the grooming table and he dislocated his hip.  Through the surgery and the recovery, once again we nursed this dog back to health.

For the next four years, Riley was the most incredible, loving, mush of a dog; the best dog I have ever known.

Last week he got sick.  We didn’t know what was wrong and we didn’t think much of it.  After a couple of days we decided that he needed to go to the vet.  He wasn’t eating and he wouldn’t go to the bathroom, he was listless and even though he seemed to be in good spirits and was wagging his tail, he didn’t want to do anything.  We figured he ate something funny, or worst case scenario had a blockage.

My husband took Riley to the vet this morning and news was worse than we could have imagined.  Riley’s gallbladder had given out.  Just like that.  No rhyme, no reason, his kidneys were shutting down and the vet gave him two days to live.  He told us that Riley was in pain and we decided to do what we thought was best for him.

Jim brought Riley home and we hugged him and held him and pet him and told him how much we loved him and what a good boy he was and we said good-bye and then Jim put him back in the car and brought him back to the vet.  He stayed with him till Riley was gone, and Jim said that he went very peacefully.

I don’t know why this happened and I can barely see through my tears and I can’t imagine coming home to a house without Riley wagging his tail to welcome us. I can’t imagine why we only got to spend five years with this beautiful dog, but even if I knew how it would end, I wouldn’t have missed it.

Sabra Giveaway We Have A Winner!

The winner of the Sabra, 4 VIP coupons for free products plus a $25 Master Card gift card is…

*insert drum roll*

Megs!

Watch your email Megs! We need an address.

Thanks to everyone who entered.

How (Not) to Build Business Relationships

Today I went to a local martial arts studio to sign my son up for classes.  I had done my due diligence and checked them out online, looked around for pricing and Googled them to see if anyone was talking about them online.  I couldn’t find anything, but it’s a fairly new studio, so I thought we were ok.

According to their website, they had a special where your first month was $135.00 and included one class a week and your uniform.  I called the studio and spoke to one of the owners at length about their programs and we made an appointment for 4:30 this afternoon.

When I arrived the studio was empty, save for the husband and wife who own the place.  They were very nice and we talked some more. They, about what was expected of the student; I, about what I expected of them.  It seemed that we were in agreement and then they told me that it was $79. a month, with a registration fee of $99, which included the uniform (that they didn’t have in stock) and that we would have to make a commitment of at least six months.  I spoke to Travis about the commitment and he agreed that he would give it the full six months.  We all seemed to be in agreement, even though this was $43 more than I expected, but it’s close to the house and I thought it was worth it. As an aside, at the point where we’re trying to decide on the commitment, a strange dynamic comes into play.  I’m pretty sure the husband was trying to get her to lower the registration fee if we sign up for a year commitment, but she’s having none of it, so 6 months it is.   We started to fill out paperwork and as they’re taking all of my information they decide to inform me that, although they will take a check today, they won’t do business with us unless we agree to allow them do direct debit my account every month.

*insert sound of squealing breaks here*

They obviously know this is going to be an issue, as they’re not very confident in their presentation of it, and they’re right.  It is an issue.

At this point the wife starts to speak to me in a very condescending manner about how to do business (hey, I’m not the one with the empty studio) and the husband starts to talk to me about how I’m on direct debit with my cable company (which I’m not).  I let them know that I don’t give anyone access to any account like that and it’s really a deal breaker.  At this point, they have all my paperwork with name, address, phone number, birthdates, etc.  And I say, “Thank you, but I guess this isn’t a good fit for us, please let me have my paperwork back.”  The wife refuses to give me the paperwork and keeps saying to her husband, “It’s our contract!  It’s our contract!” I guess if I had signed up, they don’t give me a copy of the paper work?? Danger Will Robinson! Danger Will Robinson!

The husband is getting very aggravated now and I see a little more anger than I’m comfortable with (what happened to the control and self discipline that Tae Kwon Do teaches?) and is telling her to throw it out.  She decides to rip off the part with our information on it and give it to me.  At this point, she says “I’m so sorry Travis”, which really pissed me off, but I keep my cool and we leave.

We came home and I made ONE phone call and found another place that is less expensive, with no commitment, will take my checks and has been in business in Ocala for quite a few years.

I guess they’re a better fit for us.

Dreamboarding

I love to have a visual representation of the things that I’m working on.  I have a bulletin board in my bedroom and a white board in my laundry room.  I use them to write things on and pin things on. Whether it’s an article, an idea, a paint swatch, a piece of fabric, a picture clipped from a magazine or a piece of lace pulled off a garment, no longer wearable that I love and want to keep a piece of, I use these boards for my past, present and future.

I’ve been making collages for years!  I loved them when I was a child but then forgot all about them until I read Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance books.

I discovered her writing about the same time that I discovered the Franklin Covey system and I found that they worked really well together, keeping the left and right sides of my brain happy.  The creativity and the organized planning together, helped something “click” for me.

So the other day when I was running around the internet as I am wont to do while my children are finishing up their assignments, I came across a Dreamboard application available for FREE at Oprah.com.  I downloaded it and immediately started building!  It’s a lovely application, with terrific visuals and a huge library of images, but with the ability to use your own images as well. You can crop, resize, rotate, add text, it’s all very easily manipulated.  You can take snapshots of your board, to share with others as well and I am using it as my desktop background.

Click to biggerize in order to see it in all its glory!

The one caveat is that it’s a bit of a resource hog, so I found it best to just reboot when you’re done.  In all fairness I did have 7 other programs open, one of them being Photoshop, so your mileage may vary.

If you’ve never had a dreamboard this is a perfect way to get your feet wet, but even if you’re an old pro, this is a great little app to have on hand if you just feel like playing, or maybe want a little more privacy in your collaging.  Either way, I’m very glad that I found this app and hope that you enjoy it too!

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