WFMW: The Best Hair Tie Ever

I have a little bit of really thin hair. Not so lucky for her, I passed this not-so-desirable trait on to my little girl. The problem is that I wear my hair in a pony tail 99.9% of the time (people actually remember me as "that girl with the ponytail"). Naturally, Jade also wears her hair in a pony tail 99.9% of the time too, except for when she pulls her rubber band out in the middle of a fit, or when she's sleeping, or in the car... basically any time I'd really like it to stay put.

Thin hair just won't hold.

As many of you also know by reading my blog, I'm really into horses. Well, in preparation for horse shows, we horsey people like to primp and braid our horses. No, we don't actually braid the horse, we braid it's mane and tail. Anyway. They make these great little rubber bands for holding horse hair. They're called "braid binders" and you actually have to work to get one of these puppies to break. That makes it really easy to get em nice and tight. Plus they stretch unlike any human hair rubber band out there.

I know you're thinking, why not just use office supply quality rubber bands? No, these are actually meant to go in hair, so they have that anti-stick, won't rip every last strand of hair out of your head quality. Not only that, they're pretty small, so you don't have to wind them 199 times to get them tight.

Believe me folks, they are truly a bit of engineering genius. Even better, they cost like $1 for a million of them. And they come in black (black), sorrel (brown), and grey (grey - for all of you out there with grey haired kids). You can get them at any tack store, Tractor Supply store, or similar location. If you don't live in a horsey type community, they are available from a plethora of retailers on line. And one bag will last you an entire year.

Works for me!!!

Check out my other great insights on WFMW posts:

Keeping your linens organized in one easy step...
Turning lunch bags into diaper bags (are those raisins you're having?)...

Visit Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer for other great tips and ideas!!!

You Guys Suck

Ok, either you guys just suck or no one is reading my blog. I thought I'd have copious replies about what a great idea an online blogger WW club would be, and all I got was one response, basically saying I was crazy for trying to start this right before the holidays.
Fine. I'll do it alone.
In other news, I had a day off today and again, I got an amazing amount of stuff done. Haircut, exchange cell phone, vaccinate horses, Starbucks for coffee. Of course, nothing got done at home. Oh well.
Tonight is pumpkin carving. Keep checking back for pics of that. I'm keeping this post short today. Remember to look back tomorrow for my next brilliant WFMW tip!!

A Better Idea

So I thought as I was posting, since the big Weight Watchers theme is the community aspect of it, why not invite other blog fans to join me. We can blog about our successes, failures, problems, and ideas. We can do our own little WW meeting, right here on the blog. And we can report weigh ins to eachother and offer support. Anyone in?

I can say from what little experience I have with this... it's the easiest "diet" I have ever done. I am totally satisfied throughout the day, and the "flex points" really allow me to not get anxious about going to a party, or out to eat. A lot of people criticize WW for offering that its plan allows people to eat small amounts of stuff that isn't good for you. Well, that's true, but if you do it and stay honest, if it appeals to you to eat a slice of cheesecake with strawberries as your entire intake for a day, go right ahead. I'd rather have the ability to snack, and eat real meals. If I want to do this and stay within my points, I am forced to choose wisely.

I have already found a great thing, too. Kraftfoods.com offers tons of great (and stupid easy) recipes, plus they post the nutritional information for every recipe they have. This makes it even easier to figure "points"- all you need to know is the calories, fat, and fiber content of any recipe. I made this one last night. Vincent ate two plates full and Brian commented "this is really good!" I snuck and used Splenda instead of sugar. With sugar, it's only 7 points per serving. Use Splenda, and take off AT LEAST one full point. That's 6 points for a very filling and great tasting meal. Add a cup of steamed broccoli or other veggie... it was fabulous. I had this for breakfast today. Very filling again, and only 4 little points.

I think I'm in love. And I'm really going to be in love when I'm a sexy, healthy, weight!!!

This Time It's For Real

This time I'm really going to do it. And I need the eyes of the blogger community to make me stick to it. My goal is to lose 30 pounds.
Right now I weigh a healthy 165. I have back problems, and just feel sluggish. By all reports, I'm "overweight" and my BMI is too high. With all the heart problems and diabetes in my family, this is just not a good thing. I have been heavier than I am comfortable with my whole life and I'm tired of it.
I've tried thing after thing, and actually had success for a short time. Then I got pregnant. I was back where I started, and I didn't have the motivation to get low again.
My goal is 135. I don't have an "end date" in mind. I'm just going to follow my plan, not cheat, and see where it leads me.
I am trying the weight watchers plan, with 22 "points" per day and 35 "flex points" a week. I've heard that the meetings and weigh in's are what make it work, because you are actually accountable to someone. I'm not really into paying $40 a month to step on someone else's scale, so you are my audience. You are the people I'm going to be accountable to. And every Friday, you will hear of my progress (I've been doing this now for a few days already). I also plan on posting a "fat picture" of me too, so stand by. I figure if I make myself a national spectacle, I'll be more likely to succeed. If I don't do well this way, I'll probably bite the bullet and pay the $10 a month for the meetings. Stand by for updates.

Two Cute Links

Moms everywhere will be able to appreciate these.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/223/popup/index.php?cl=4274384 and http://youtube.com/watch?v=uISuvTiTYJA
Enjoy this bit of mid-day humor...

WFMW: Not so Diaper Bag

I got really tired of running around with this huge-normous type of diaper bag over my shoulder all of the time. Did I really need 20 diapers, a whole pack of wipes, half of our toy lineup, a half box of cheerios, two jars of babyfood, 3 spoons, and 2 new outfits just to run into Wal-Mart for 10 minutes. Answer: NO.

So when I was at Menards one day, they were giving away (after rebate = free) those smallish lunch bags. Ya know, the insulated ones that'll hold a sandwich, yogurt, and can of diet pop but not much more. I thought as I lugged around my 40 pound diaper bag, "What genius!"

So I picked up my new red lunch bag (much more stylish than pastel zoo animals), took it home, and proceeed to load it full of a few diapers, a half used squishy type of container of wipes, and a can of beer (for those really stressful trips - just kidding). It is marvelous. I now have room in my car for the actual kid. And the groceries, and whatever else I may want to put in.

I use it for all our in town errands, and actually leave it in the car most of the time. I've learned over the years, if the kid poops in the store and you're leaving in 5 minutes anyway, are you really going to take the time to change the kid there, or can it wait till you get to the car/home? Usually, I opt to wait, rather than expose my baby's butt to one of those fold down changing tables. They're so cheap (again, FREE), you can put one in every car so you never have to ask yourself when you get 2.3 miles from home, "Did I remember the diaper bag?" They are so unobtrusive, they almost go unnoticed in the car, that is, till you need it. And they come in a variety of designer colors.

It's my perfect solution to less clutter when toting baby/babies.

Worked for me!!!

Key Eating Shop Vac

We decided to go to Southern Indiana on Saturday to go to a fireworks show put on by the guy Brian buys all of his pyro stuff from. Instead of driving the gas guzzling Expedition, we chose to take the very gas friendly (like, free) Taurus. It's one of the major perks of having a company car. Anyway, due to the fact that we anticipated being in the car for extended periods of time and being in the car way past bedtime, we decided it would probably be in our best interest to install the DVD player into the Taurus, from the truck. No problem. I also had to clean out the trunk to make space to carry home a few goodies from our trip. Again, no problem. When I was at it, I thought if we were going to be in the car for a long time, it would probably be a nice idea to vacuum it out before we set off. Ya know, to make room for new french fries on the floor, cheerios in between the seats, and so on.

I was vigorously vacuuming and finished in no time at all. We packed up the kids, packed up the car, and were finally ready to leave. Brian asks, "Where are the keys so I can put some stuff in the trunk?" Me, in my smart ass fashion reply, "It stands to reason that since I just backed the car out that they'd be in the car."

And so the hunt began. We looked everywhere for the damn keys. I'm talking even in the laundry baskets. Jade has this big fascination for my keys, so I figured they could potentially be anywhere she could have been in the past 15 minutes or so. Great. That included the neighbor's house, too.

So now we're running late, and I have no idea where the keys are. Not only that, but it was parked behind the truck, so if we just gave up and took the truck, we couldn't get it out of the garage anyway. It became plainly clear that we were just going to have to keep looking. Or drive the truck straight through the living room and out the back side of the house. And yes, I have a spare, but the keys on this car are those new kind that have the little receiver in them. My spare is just a key, no receiver, hence, it will unlock the doors quite nicely, but it will in no way shape or form start the car. And I'm not about to pay $100 for a key for a car that isn't mine.

I just needed my keys, damn it. We got so desperate that Brian had the sense to look INSIDE THE SHOP VAC. You know, a perfectly natural place for a set of keys. Not only that, but I actually thought of that possibility, and thought, "No, they're on a lanyard. That would have made a hell of a racket going thorough a shop vac. Plus, I'm not that dunderheaded that I would have sucked up the keys without noticing it."

Nonetheless, the keys were inside the G.D. shop vac. And we were exactly 50 blood pressure points and 1 hour late in leaving. Now that's what I call suction.

Cheap Wine

I'm sitting here waiting for pictures to download from my most recent photo shoot. I took senior photos for my neighbor. We shot for almost 4 hours, and I took over 425 pictures. I have never experienced this before, but my "off" eye actually got fatigued. From looking thorough the camera with one eye closed. It was the weirdest thing ever. When I was done shooting a particular set, it felt like I had two different heads, and that my eyes weren't working together. Bizarre, but I'm better now.
One has to appreciate, however, taking so many damn pictures that your bodily functions and senses can't keep up. Impressive. I'll post some of my most recent work on my website, so be sure to check it out (if you care) and leave comments here if you want. I really appreciate critiques, but only if they're good :) Just kidding.
We are going to Indy this weekend. Brian's fireworks supplier is having a big annual barbeque and fireworks show for all of his customers Saturday night, so we're going to eat and see stuff get blown up. It'll be a regular pyro-fest. Not your ordinary fireworks show. Because everyone there will be obsessed with the stuff, like my husband is. That's fine with me though, I'll get to take more pictures.
We are also going to stop by Trader Joes to get another case of Two Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw Chardonnay). If you've never tasted it before, I highly recommend it. Wine Spectator rated it like a crazy 98 points or something (right up there with the $100 California wines) and the shit is mass produced and only costs like $2.99/bottle. That's what I call a bargain. Bottoms up!!

I guess I just suck...

My friend Amy tagged me, which means, according to the rules, I must abide and come up with 7 random things about me that won't embarrass me or get me fired. The only problem is that I don't know 7 other bloggers to attack, except for my attacker, so I will have to break rule 3 and 4 right off the bat. Sorry, like I said, I guess I just suck...

Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

So here goes, 7 useless tidbits of information about me...
1. I am often referred to at work as "homes" and "dude", and I am perfectly ok with this.
2. I played polo (yes, on a horse) intercollegiately.
3. I have never seen Star Wars... any of them... in their entirety.
4. My husband calls our daughter "scooter"... unknownst to him, this was my nickname for many years in high school.
5. I am absolutely terrified at the thought of going scuba diving.
6. I still sleep with a security blanket that I've had since I was a baby.
7. I could eat plain cheeseburgers from McDonalds for every meal, every day.

Ok, so there it is...
That wasn't so bad...

WFMW: How to keep bedsheets organized

So some of you may be wondering, what the hell is WFMW? It stands for "Works for me Wednesday." I don't know it's origin, or even how to make my WFMW post part of the WFMW pool of good ideas that people share through blogging, but here it is anyway.

I have always hated trying to sort through bedsheets to find the matching topsheet, and then the two pillowcases, only to find that the queen fitted sheet is exactly the same tone of red as the twin topsheet for my kids bed...

You get the idea.

So to solve this problem and save you major headaches, when you wash your sheets, fold them neatly. Then place the fitted sheet, the top sheet, and any extra matching pillow cases into a pillowcase (the idea is to use the pillowcase that matches the sheets inside). Then you can store one pillowcase, full of clean matching sheets neatly in one stack. No more sorting through the entire linen closet (or wherever your linens are thrown - I mean, stored) to find a matching set! It also saves headache when you pull that towel out from under the sheet stack, tipping the sheet stack all over the floor, never to be as neatly folded again as it was to begin with. That is, unless you really just like folding sheets!
Works for me!!!

Cute Kids and a Well Behaved Quarter Horse

I haven't been very good about updating the blog. No excuses this time. I'm just lazy. My sister came into town the other week. I haven't seen her in quite some time, so it was nice to be able to hang out and let the kids play and stuff. Her girls (my nieces) are getting so big. It's so strange to only see them here and there... it really makes you realize how much they grow, and grow up, over time. Anyway, Marley, the younger one, really likes horses. The only problem is that my sister is truly DEATHLY allergic to anything with hair and four legs, so that presents a problem for the girls when they want to go horseback riding.

I thought I'd take the opportunity to take them myself, where she could be counties away, and hopefully not affected. To give you an idea of how deathly allergic she is, I was in a horse show. I won a few ribbons and thought the kids would like to have them. These ribbons didn't even touch the horse, mind you. In fact the closest they came to a a horse was just being at a horse show, and then touching me after I touched the horse, but only long enough to put each one in the truck. Well, roughly 5 hours AFTER I touched them, she touched them (the ribbon) and had an allergic reaction. That's impressive.

Kinda makes you wonder just how much information you leave just by entering and exiting a room, dosen't it?

Anyway. I think the girls had a good time. At least they acted like they did. Did I mention Harley was well behaved? At one point, we had three wiggling kids on him at the same time, and he just went about in his ho-hum manner. Ya gotta love a nice Quarter Horse. I don't think I would trust too many other 4 year old horses to handle kids like that!

So we got them home, where they were promptly disinfected, washed down, and cleaned before coming into contact with Sis. I'll post again soon...

"Two" Cute

Well, we survived Jade's 2nd birthday party without a hitch. This year we decided to go with only inviting family, since I am still recovering from the chaos that ensued when we invited the whole neighborhood for Vincent's 2nd birthday. It was nice... we grilled out, had a decent meal and a damn good cake, and opened gifts for a few minutes, not hours. Maybe next year we'll look into having friends attend. Until then, I highly recommend the "family only" 2nd birthday party. Not that we're doing it again, anyway. I included a few pictures for those who continue to complain about how they never get to see pictures because of digital photography.

I think we are going to be investing in a new bedroom set for the scooter bug with some of the money she got. We planned on doing bonds, but we really need a bed, dresser, nightstand, mattress, etc. That stuff is expensive, when you add in all the pieces and the bedding and stuff. We'll see, I guess.

In other news. I did my first non-family photo shoot yesterday. The pictures turned out really good, if I say so myself. You can check them out in the "weddings and engagements" tab at my website (for those of you who haven't bookmarked it yet). All right. I've got other stuff to do as I take advantage of my day off... have I mentioned what a brilliant idea that was?

Why Nextel Will Never Survive

So, I sat on hold forever. Literally, after over ONE MORE HOUR, I still didn't have anyone who knew how to send me a return label for the phone. I told the rep that I thought this was the most ridiculous adventure I have embarked on in some time, and strangely, she agreed. In fact, she was trying to patch me through to person A and person B, and getting the same types of responses I was getting. No one knows anything about anything. I asked her what would happen if I just threw it away. She replied, "Nothing." They had no record of my order, clearly, anyway. I told her I had to go, as I had spent the better part of my day not paying for their shitty service. I told her that if she could figure out how to do it, and if she wanted to generate a return label in HER time, I would gladly affix it to the box and ship it back to them. I said I'd wait a few days before putting the thing in the fire pit. Her response was a humble, "That's fine. Sorry for your trouble."

And so it ends.

We subscribed to Verizon, and I have already dropped 35% off my blood pressure reading. This phone is pretty cool, too. It has a camera (yeah, I'm in the 21st century like everyone else now) and GPS. All this on TWO phones (Brian's is the same) for only dollars/month over what we were paying Nextel. Awww, but damn, I don't have the "walkie talkie" anymore! Yeah, boo hoo. I have free unlimited in network calling. And it actually works. Take that, Sprint Nextel.

My Problem with Nextel

Ok, so this post is to not only vent, but to document the insanity I have dealt with in dealing with Sprint/Nextel. I have a feeling this needs good documentation, as it will probably be going to the Better Business Bureau... yeah, that's how mad I am. Ok, I have spent (since last friday, September 28) roughly 5 hours on the phone with various people from Sprint/Nextel (SN). I've talked to retention agents, their supervisors, activation agents, account agents, technical support agents, and just about everyone in between. The only person who isn't answering the phone is the CEO, who is probably out filling out applications at WalMart, because in all reality, the popular opinion is that SN will no longer exist, very soon. I've had Nextel service just about since the "direct connect" inception. This was around the time that hard wired "car phones" were cool, and that the latest handheld models were roughly the size of a brick, with a foot long antenna... yeah, it's been a while. Well, ever since this time, the service (read: bars) has been shoddy, at best. Downtown Valpo, not a small town, has numerous areas where you go from full bars to none, it the blink of an eye. Go into a building, and forget it. Dropped calls, missed calls, no calls at all, these things are daily issues.

Everyone I used to direct connect with (with the exception of one lonely holdout) has cancelled Nextel and moved on to a service that's at least partially reliable, within reason. Yeah, in the outback of Australia, I don't expect to be able to dial my mom to see what's for dinner. But in downtown Valpo, I do. And I can, with my work-provided Verizon phone, consistently.

So I cancelled my Nextel about 2 years ago, after they came out to my home and did all kinds of diagnostics, held antennas up in the air, and a host of other things. Brian kept his because he still used it for work, when he had a signal. At that time I was assured that SN was putting up new towers every day, and it should only be a matter of a few short months that I'd have the best coverage of any cellular provider. That was 2 years ago, and my service continues to be marginal, at best.

So I tried to call Brian Friday. He was between Crown Point and Valpo, a very busy, metropolitan area. No signal. I got the tell tale, all to familiar message in the friendly female voice "please hold while the Nextel subscriber youre trying to contact is located..." then... voice mail. That was it. This is 2007 people. iPhones, smart phones, phones that clean your house for you and take care of your kids... and I can't even place a damn phone call.

I called SN. They said they regretted that they were losing me as a customer (yeah, probably because I'm only 1 of 30 left) and that they'd cancel my account. I should see a $200 cancellation fee on my next bill. Pardon me. I am paying $60 a month for a phone that dosen't work. When I signed a contract, Nextel agreed to provide me with service.. I was in the "covered area" afterall! Nextel is not providing me with service (that I'm paying for) and now wants to charge me to go away? I don't think so. For those of you who know me... that just WAS NOT going to happen over my dead body. It's a matter of principle. So after fighting with SN reps for the next 2 hours, I got one sympathetic to my cause. He said he'd waive the $200 fee if I agreed to try SN's new soulution to the problem, the "hybrid" phone for 30 days. If that's going to get me out of the contract, bring it on. I can live with anything for 30 days. So they sent me my brand spankin' new ic503 hybrid. It arrived (a day late) and I attempted to activate it as per my rep Winston's instruction. After talking to a clearly asian female for one hour, she assured me that my new super phone would be up and working in 1-4 hours. The message "in progress" read on the screen. This was at 4pm Tuesday, October 2. It is now Wednesday, October 3 at 5:26pm, and it is still "in progress." I have been attempting to contact Winston all day, as he told me that in the future, I would only have to deal with him.

No reply. So, I called technical support. I was told the system was "backlogged" to the tune of 80,000 customers, and it should be up in no time. Uh, I don't think so.

So I call again, fight with 2 or 3 more customer service reps who claim they can't do anything. They say, cancel the account, the $200 fee will be applied, then you can dispute it. Now, I wasn't born yesterday, which is something SN seems not to understand. Do they think that I believe for one minute that they will have any sympathy for a now non-customer? From a business holding on to every last penny they can keep before going under? Give me a break. Yeah, I'll sacrifice my great credit so SN can cash in on me a little more....

So amazingly, again another 2 hours later, I finally get through to Winston's office! The new retention guy I'm talking to knows Winston... and transfers me to his desk!! Winston sounds glad to hear from me. I explain the problem (again) and he confirms with technical support that there is a "backlog" whatever the hell that means.

My $200 is credited back to my account now closed account (or so they say), and now I sit on hold waiting for someone to tell me where I need to send my high speed ic502 and how to do it. Yeah, in the time I've been on hold, I've drafted this post. Impressive, isn't it? I'll let you know how it all pans out...

Western Dancing

Alright, well if you reference the last post, I thought "maybe something cool will happen tomorrow." Tomorrow came and went, and clearly nothing cool happened. This weekend was fun filled, however.
Friday we went out to dinner at Applebees. I have never really been impressed with Applebees, and the sole reason we chose it is because we had a gift card from Brian's birthday. I thought maybe with a new menu (since we probably haven't been there since his last birthday) or something, things would be different. Au contraire. It was the same ol' same ol' mediocre food. And $60 worth, with two kids meals and two beers each. Even the beers weren't good.
Attention retailers: If you advertise Guiness, and it's not draft, you need to let someone know this BEFORE they order. For any of you beer drinkers out there... Guiness really is not good (or at least $5.00 good) from a can, and even worse from a bottle. This is because Guiness draft is dispensed with Nitrogen instead of CO2. Apparently this has something very important to do with the taste. So, that's the Applebees story.
Saturday, we went to the NIHPA tractor show. This is an annual outing for us, as you can imagine. It's also where the title for the blog comes in. Aside from tractors, NIHPA also hosts other groups to provide fine, hillbilly entertainment. The good time cloggers, and some something Western Dancers. The western dancers were performing at this particular time. They are apparently part of some cult, and all wear telling bright yellow shirts as they are doing their dancing. Anyway...
They were performing the "electric slide" - very contemporary western dance, mind you - and caught Jade's attention. She ran over to the gazebo, and felt it necessary to participate in the line dance. Funny thing was that she was also clad in a bright yellow shirt (no, not the cult shirt, a John Deere shirt) and cowboy boots. She fit right in, and really enjoyed cutting a rug. I'll add pics later, so check back - they're pretty cute. This turned out to be a very expensive day for us. Aside from the $10 admission, Brian felt it necessary to visit the flea market, where he purchased $30 worth of "collectables." Of course, then Vincent wanted a toy too, and chose one of the most expensive, metal combine tractors they had. We are now up to $90. Believe it or not, we walked around that show, danced, took pictures, shopped, and went on hayrides for almost 3 full hours. Incidentally, we ran out of money half way through, at which time I was directed to the ATM at a nearby gas station. Brian and the kids stayed behind. As I was about half way to the car (read, 1 mile or so from where we were) to go get more money, I realized the car KEYS were in the stroller, with the kids and Brian. I walked back, and then looked for them for roughly 30 minutes. I couldn't exactly ask anyone, "have you seen the guy with a stroller and two kids in John Deere shirts?" as that was just about every one there. This is also probably the same reason why I must have walked right past them at least twice, as Brian claims he never left his post where I left him. Oh well. I needed the exercise. Oh, yeah make that total $94 now that we had to add bank fees for two banks for a "non-Chase" ATM. Geez.
That was about it for Saturday, except I made some really kick ass hamburgers for dinner. This is a really interactive blog, isn't it? By the way, kraftfoods.com has great, easy, dummy proof recipes.
Sunday was ok. I got up in the morning and taught a body safety class at a church in LaPorte. As I was driving home, I happened to see Downtown Dawgs, the business my first customer bought that canvas fireworks picture for the grand opening. I stopped in and viewed my work, as it was prominently displayed in a very conspicuous place in the restaurant. Yay.
Brian sealed the deck when I got home. Vincent played literally ALL DAY with the neighborhood boys, so that was good. I rode Harley (see photo, right), then came home and watched football. Oh yeah, I made a pork roast for pulled pork sandwiches too. Then I mourned at the Broncos horrible loss to the Colts. Of course, the first Bronco's game that is actually broadcasted in this area, and they perform miserably. Actually, the first quarter wasn't bad at all, then all hell broke loose. Oh well. It was still a decent weekend.