May 9, 2008
A few weeks ago, I mentioned my infamous summer chore chart. With less than a month to go in the school year, it’s time for me to revamp last years chart. Technically, it’s a list, but I’m making it into a chart and the kids will need to cross off or check off their chores each day during the summer. I’m also going to switch up the chores too. For example, Catherine has been vacuuming the upstairs, and Gracie has been doing the downstairs - they’re going to switch. Since everyone is a year older, we may even add additional chores! ::claps hands with glee:: Leave it to me to make my kids start dreading summer now, right?
I decided to make my life easier by using the free pre-made printable chore charts available at ChoreCharts.com. My plan for now is to have a separate chore chart for each kid - maybe the “Messy” theme for Catherine, “Rocking” for Gracie, and “Sports” for Matthew. I love the layout of the messy chore chart, because it lets you assign a number to each chore on the left hand side, like “Vacuum downstairs” as #1, and so on. Then, on the daily portion, you just bubble in the number of the chore or chores you want completed that day! It leaves room to write in something extra too, like, “Do a good job on the carpets, Love Mommy!” Hee, hee!
9:22 pm
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I’m cleaning off my desk, where I’ve let years worth of crap and months of dust accumulate. Tucked away in a corner, I found my day planner from 1994, which I’ve kept all of these years since it’s got sentimental value. Inside the planner, I found a pay stub from my job at the grocery store, which is where I worked from 1993 through 1996 while attending junior college.
On this particular week in 1994, I worked a total of 23.25 hours at the store, earning me a whopping $120.90! Let’s not forget the $1 per hour extra I made for working on Sunday for 5 hours, which brings my grand total up to $125.90. When I’m longing for the good old days, when gas was 99 cents a gallon, I’ll try to keep in mind that I was only being paid $5.20 per hour. It’s funny to recall that I thought I could LIVE on that back then…HA!
9:02 pm
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We’re finally firming up our summer vacation plans!
We only have enough time for a quick getaway. With Jim and I both attending school full time through the summer, and the kids starting back in August, we’re almost going to be too busy for a vacation. I think we’re going to do a cruise, but it got me thinking about the great vacation we took last summer to Canada. I’d love to go back. Toronto was fab, Montreal was amazing, and Niagara Falls was incredible. If we ever went back, I’d love to go further north into Quebec City!
One of the reasons we’re not taking a big trip like that, aside from the time factor, is that I’ve already got a weekend trip to Orlando in the works for September, and another trip to New York City for October. The Orlando trip is for IzeaFest, which was held in Las Vegas last year under the name “PostieCon”. I’m so excited that it’s going down in Florida this year! Not only does it mean I can drive there instead of fly, but Orlando is home turf for Izea, meaning all of their staff can attend! I’m planning on hooking up with quite a few bloggers there, so my peeps better be on the lookout for a cheap flight to Orlando! Those of you entertaining the thought of coming from the U.K. should check out the deals on DialAFlight.com. Come for IzeaFest…stay for Disney!
9:00 pm
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Caution: Survivor spoilers ahead…avert your eyes if you haven’t watched last night’s episode!
After 16 seasons of Survivor, I don’t think I’d be going out on a limb when I say that this is the BEST.SEASON.EVER. The game of Fans Vs. Favorites got off to a slow start, what with Johnny Fairplay dropping out right away (I was hoping he’d bring the drama!) and great players like Jonathan Henner and James the gravedigger being sidelined for injuries. Finally though, with the last four episodes, things have gotten HOT! Four blindsides in a row - FOUR! Ozzy, then Jason, then Alexis, and now Eric? Huge, HUGE props to the remaining players for FINALLY pulling it together and having an all female final 4. That’s never happened, right? Usually, the girls aren’t smart enough to pull it off, but the finally did it. I can’t believe Eric fell for giving up his immunity idol - he really is a wide eyed innocent kid after all!
(Best quote from last night: “I don’t want to be an ice cream boy. I want to be an ice cream man!”)
I’m going to be so impressed if Amanda and Parvati and Cirie can keep it together to end up as the final three. Amanda has played an amazing game - she’s a completely different person than she was last time.
3:26 pm
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Do you remember reading my blog posts about the Renuzit TriScents “Transform Your Home with Tanya Memme” Promotion? 
The semi-finalists were announced this week, and you can log onto the TriScents website to view the semi-finalist gallery!
I just took a look at the 10 semi-finalist submissions and picked my favorite, which is pictured here. I could identify with the story about pets and a home needing a cosmetic makeover. When we bought our last house in 2003 I couldn’t wait to rip up the icky carpets and get painting, and thankfully I had my husband to help me. The story this user shared (I wish it had listed her name!) mentioned how after she and her husband bought their home with the intention of remodeling, her husband suffered a stroke 
If she wins, she’s planning on making their home more wheelchair friendly!
Be sure to visit the semi-finalist gallery tov vote for your favorite before the competition ends. Someone is winning $20,000 for a home makeover with Tanya Memme!
3:16 pm
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I’ve had this YouTube page open in my Firefox tab for the past week, intending to post it. Best intentions and all that…what if Firefox had errored and I had lost this little gem forever? Where would you all be then? You’d all be without the comedic genius of Eddie Izzard doing his Death Star cafeteria big. You don’t need to be an Eddie Izzard fan to appreciate this bit, and someone has cleverly done the video using Lego people to go with Eddie’s audio. This is sort of Star Wars meets The Office…
2:20 pm
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May 8, 2008
I recently discovered that BET is airing reruns of Diff’rent Strokes, and I’ve been recording them for a few weeks. I grew up watching Arnold (what choo talkin’ bout?) and Willis and seeing all of these episodes sure does bring back memories! My kids have been enjoyed them too, and while the plots are acting are a big…well, amateur compared to today’s TV standards, there are some great messages in the shows. We recently watched the creepy episode where the bicycle shop owner turns out to be a child molester, and the episode I’m watching today is about drugs being sold in Arnold’s school.
In this episode, Arnold’s principal doesn’t want to enter Arnold’s story about drugs in school for a journalism contest, because Arnold won’t name names. When Mr. Drummond asked Arnold about it, Willis chimes in that Arnold can’t rat on his friends because that’s the “lowest of the low”. Kimberly, aka Dana Plato interjects saying when drugs are concerned, it doesn’t matter!
(I’m obviously evil for spotting the irony there, given that Dana Plato died of a drug overdose.)
Ooh, 1st Lady Nancy Reagan just showed up at the Drummond’s doorstep about Arnold’s personal war on drugs! I can’t think of any other first lady who has done a cameo on a TV show or in a movie - can you?
1:15 pm
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May 7, 2008
Aside from taking my final exam, which isn’t available until 2 days from now, I am completely done with one of my classes! I just submitted my last assignment for Essential Business Skills, and I plan on doing the final exam as soon as it becomes available. I’ve got an A in the class, too! With that class completely out of the way, I can finally focus on writing the paper that’s due in 2 weeks for Principles of Management. It’s a business analysis of a real business, and at 6-10 pages long, it promises to be a real snooze fest!
8:57 pm
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May 6, 2008
I’m making the drive into the office tomorrow for a special event. We (we being the IT geeks I work with) are spending the afternoon at Gameworks in Ybor City, courtesy of the company! Lunch is included too, and I can’t think of a better way to spend four hours or so on the clock. Sure beats working, right? I’m not a huge Gameworks geek, but my kids loved it when we went there a few months ago for another event my office put on. As long as they’ve got skeeball (and I think they do!) I’m a happy camper.
10:18 pm
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Why is it that every time I watch Medium, I end up staring at Patricia Arquette’s huge rack? Technically, it’s not even that huge, but it seems huge on her frame. I end up being mesmerized by it, and the wardrobe her character wears does everything to maximize and nothing to minimize the girl’s natural assets. Speaking of the wardrobe on Medium, why does Allison DuBois always wear long sleeved shirts to bed? Don’t these people live in Phoenix?
2:05 pm
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