you're a good man charlie brown

hahahaha I am still laughing, but this is probably one of those funny things that you had to have been there. After a long day running around town with me, I happen to notice that mr. Petals had a huge BROWN stain right on the back of his black shorts! So laughingly I say ..OH MY GOD.. Did u POOP your pants?? So he pulls his shorts down (we were in our private backyard) and realizes that he must have sat in bleach while cleaning up the yard. He can't believe that he's been out like this all day, because it really looks like... well you know what! haha SO, being Mr. frugal he says.. 'Oh well, I guess these are work shorts now... I really should Mark them so I don't accidently wear them anywhere' So I SAy... (are u ready?) 'Uhhh.. I THINK you already MARKED them. It's called a SKID mark. We cracked up for a long time! :)) but, I have a way of KILLING a joke.. so he will be hearing ALOT of skid mark/poop/ jokes till it's just not funny anymore! :))

serenity now

The Sunday Scribblings theme this week is Mantra.I don't really have a mantra I live by or chant over and over. I guess If I had a mantra it would be "STaY positive". Especially as I've grown older, I've seen that staying positive can really get you through many situations. Sometimes it can be the most difficult thing to do. When life is handing you some awful stuff... keeping positive can seem ridiculously impossible.
Another thing I do a LOT lately, When a situation is bad and I don't think I can cope.. I pretend that THIS problem is the smaller one of TWo that I COULD have had. I think of a much worse scenario and think.. Geez SO lucky it is this difficult situation OVEr that one! I know I sound nuts, but it helps me better than a mantra probably could.
Not sure if it's a mantra or not but one phrase that I do repeat often to my middle son is .. "I'm Right behind you!" This middle one worries me and when he was younger and would head out for a night out I would Constantly remind him to BE SMART and BE GOOD and REMEMBER... If you are wondering if something is smart or right to do or not.. think...'would I do this if MOM were standing right behind me??' If not... PROBABly not a good idea! haha As the years went by.. this LOoong warning became.. "I'm right behind you Nick!" It's become as much an affectionate term as I love you Nick. He knows what I mean and that I just want him to be safe and careful out in the world. BE CAREFUL is another phrase (WAIT! maybe THIS really is my mantra after all?!?) that I say to EACH of my kids as they leave the house. Wow..writing this post just made me realize I LIVE by 'be careful'. I am SO careful with EVerything I do.CAUTiON is my middle name for goodness sakes! Okay. I DO have a mantra.. be careful be careful be careful... oooh I feel so comforted by this. be careful be careful be careful... ohhmmm

Educating it forward

..for my friend Tammy.
this is the exact poignant message she posted on her blog.. I am educating it forward, hope you will too.

The dragon

lying in wait

would not go down

easily in the dark

but he was struck first

and weakened

surprised at the

fierceness of their hearts

as he was slain

in the darkness

of his lair. Later

gutted and skinned

his flesh cut into pieces

and shared. Now the fire

is in us: we are the dragon, the dragon's

strength is ours; we will live, free of dependence.

No more pain,and falls and wheelchairs for

we are made whole in our feast.

15 cases of ALS are diagnosed a day and most live 2-4 years. No time to fight and voices too weak to be heard. Do you know ALS? Educate it forward to be their voices.

Compassionate, Considerate FUN!

I'm seething... AGAIN. today I listened and welled up with tears and anger as yet AnOTHER incredibly wonderful woman sat and cried in my hair salon and told me how unhappy she is in her marriage. This 70 something year old woman is being verbally abused and taken for granted BIG TiME! Her husband sounds like a nasty, miserable bastard. He is ill and SHE takes care of HIM. Without divulging too much of her personal business, she does EVERYTHING for him. He is wheelchair bound and needs care in EVERY department. ( I'm divulging aren't I?)

This ungrateful louse should be kissing her ASS! (not calling her FATASS) I swear I can't even take how upset and angry I feel! He screams at her all day long, puts WAY too much pressure and stress on her, insults her, tells her he doesn't want friends dropping over. He listens on her phone calls or worse asks her for blow by blow details after she is done talking on the phone. I feel like she is in a place worse than prison. I'm also worried that SHE will drop dead before him from all this stress! Through our tears and hugs I had to confess to her, that even though I want her to feel she can always confide and unload on me, I have a deep DEEP hatred for this F*** and would like to go chop his cojones off! (At least this got her to have a hardy laugh) But I am serious, I want to kill this bastard. I tried to give her the best advice I could. (after all I'm only a hot blooded sicilian hairdresser) I told her to please see a therapist for her OWN health and sanity, I even recommended my friend who wrote that inspiring book on my side bar. I advised her also to constantly SPeAK up and STAND up to this piece of crap husband and PUT him in his place! (after all, it's not like she can't out run him if he gets super crazed). I finally suggested she push him down the stairs in his wheelchair, but she didn't think that would work since she lives in a ranch. She won't leave him, because NO one else would care for him and she loves her family and doesn't want to rock the boat. Paaa L E A S E! I hear this one a LOT! And I am so bothered by this too! We only Go around ONCE! WHY is she going around for everyone else's feelings and not hers?? I will tell u why... I see this a lot too! Many Women DO NOT value who they are! NO ONE sees their beauty and worth and wonderfulness. I see women each day with astounding qualities and it breaks my heart to hear how inferior they seem to think they are.
My friend just told me about a super book for women in the 2nd half of life called queen of your own life
I plan on picking up a copy and putting it in my waiting area. We women need to help each other value ourselves. Oh I am all pumped up and fuming and talking all big here aren't I?? but I am JUST as guilty for not TRULY valuing my own worth and gifts. My husband is constantly giving me genuine compliments, attempting to help build my self-esteem. After 30 years of this, I am doing much better than when we had first met.

Yesterday as we did our cool down in my zumba class the teacher got all Zen like on us and asked us to think of a quality we loved about ourselves and focus on that all day.
It was the first time she has done that and I am looking forward to having a chance to speak to her to tell her how much I loved that idea. I want to share with her how important I feel it is that women like us, who work predominantly with women, help them to value themselves. (We should also have access to the number of a good hit man)

If you've read this rant and ARE a woman yourself... PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT TELLING ME A FAVORITE QUALITY YOU LOVE ABOUT YOURSELF. Hell, tell me even more than that if u want... tell me ALL about how wonderful YOU are! I put mine in the title!

Is there something in the air?

Everyone in my family, all my clients and friends... EVERYONE I speak to is basically saying the same thing.
I feel so tired. I feel like shit. I feel so sluggish. I need a nap. I don't want to do anything.

I kept thinking it's these rainy days or the pollen in the air making me feel so lethargic.
But today when my client Bev told me that EVERYONE in her office and in her life was feeling the same and that she is worried the terrorists put something into our atmosphere, I began to wonder.
Is that possible?? Is ALL of america feeling like crap?? What could be causing this? It doesn't take much of a paranoid suggestion to get me worrying! So how are YOU feeling?? If someone out there, especially in NY, actually feels UP and energetic and ...conscious! Can u please let me know, so I won't be up all night worrying! I'm off to check the batteries on my carbon monoxide detector.

My Favorite Recipes

Recipe for Love

Ingredients

2 Hearts Full of Love
2 Heaping Cups of Kindness
2 Armfuls of Gentleness
2 Cups of Friendship
2 Cups of Joy
2 Big Hearts Full of Forgiveness
1 Lifetime of Togetherness
2 Minds Full of Tenderness

Method

Stir daily with Happiness, Humor and Patience.
Serve with Warmth and Compassion, Respect and Loyalty.

~ Author Unknown ~

Another Recipe for Love

Ingredients

1/2 a cup of Affection
A pinch of cuddles
3 tablespoons of pure sweetness
A great big kiss

Method

Dim the lights then mix them very slowly together.

~ Author Unknown ~

visit sunday scribblings for more on recipes!

skittlie dee skittlie da

Today as I was grocery shopping in Stop and shop, I get a call from my youngest son.
He is on the school bus on his way home from school. He very excitedly says... MOM? I Just won 10,000.00!!!! Being that he is the youngest of three, You will believe me when i tell you, I've had my share of pranks pulled on me. I calmly said.. Oh really! And how did u do that? He starts rapidly explaining that his teacher was selling skittles to raise money for a charity so he bought a bag. On the bag it said... Find the Gold skittles and win $10,000. He screams in my ear.. I have the gold skittles Mom! my whole bag is full of gold skittles!! I won! I can't believe it!!... STILL suspecting this can't be... I ask... Are u just joking with me? He's never been a good liar and he is so serious that I should have known he wasn't fooling! So now, I begin screaming and Crying in the middle of stop and shop! "OMG OMG it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person! This is going to help you pay for college! I'm so excited!!" Then I quickly get into Mommy mode... JO! DON'T LET ANYONE ON THE BUS KNOW THAT YOU'VE WON THIS MUCH MONEY, THERE ARE HORRIBLE PEOPLE ESPECIALLY ANY DRUGGIES WHO WOULD HURT OR KILL YOU FOR THOSE GOLDEN SKITTLES!! (Aren't you just picturing Charlie Bucket right now from Willie wonka and the chocolate factory?)
I tell him to get home safely and don't do anything till I get there!
I flew through the rest of the aisles Not remembering the food I had come there for due to my excitement! As I am loading my groceries into my car, he calls me again..
ARe u okay? I ask... VERY quietly he says... Mom... When i got home, I dumped out the skittles and opened up the bag... I only won $50.00.... The fine print of the label said Find the gold skittles AND YOU COULD win $10,000.00. Boy did that misunderstanding take away what would have been an exciting 50.00 win if that's what he told me originally! Mean while.. Crazy me... I had called my other sons and told them, I interrupted my busy husband at work to tell him. EVeryone was so shocked and excited they told many others too!!! How sad to have to make those calls to say... It was a tasty misunderstanding.

Moms and their kitchens

Happy cinco de Mayo everyone! In case I don't get back to blogging before sunday... just wishing All you Mommas and VERY happy Mothers Day! Here's a post only a mom can appreciate!
I'm sure many would agree that the kitchen seems to be the nerve center of the home. It's the room we congregate in whether we are eating, playing board games, doing homework, celebrating birthdays, painting pictures,having heart to hearts, writing bills, and oh yea.... cooking.
My children have had more meaningful, heart-wrenching conversations with me in the kitchen while I'm emptying the dishwasher... than anywhere else. My kitchen has also had it's fair share of things being flung. What do plates, pork roasts, Clogs and pastina all have in common? Yep, they are just some of the items that have hit the walls of my cute kitchen. When my middle son was younger he couldn't swallow pills. His asthma was very bad and the doctor prescribed steroids. Little pills that HAD to be swallowed. After many hours spent trying to put them in applesauce and pudding and even pizza. Crazy momma got very frustrated and as embarrassing as it is to admit. I whipped off my clog and flung it at him! ( No, Not child abuse.... Last second I came to my senses and aimed high and have the hole in the wall to prove it) It didn't help the situation, he still didn't take those damn pills, but it made me feel better.

When my oldest was a baby in the high chair, he decided it would be fun to take his full bowl of pastina and throw it in the air. I had pastina dripping off the walls the furniture and the chandelier! ( Do you know how that shit sticks to everything?) I'm sure you moms know what I mean when I say it was the last straw that day. It was one of those times where daddy had to intervene. Momma couldn't take it that day, and had to leave the room in tears while one wonderful dad cleaned baby and house top to bottom. (gee, I didn't think talking about my favorite room would make me loook like a lunatic) To hear of my misconstrued lunacy though you must read further about the infamous pork roast story.....

When I was pregnant for our third son, I was nauseous almost the whole nine months. Looking at food and cooking it was a nightmare. One day I left it up to my husband, who decided to buy and cook a pork roast. For the two hours that thing was cooking I was complaining relentlessly. He finally LOST it and opened the oven and threw it in the garbage. I got so angry at him and we had an argument, which included me flinging a few plates off the table and into our walls . Well, my 5 year old was unfortunately a witness to this whole terrible, but thank god extremely rare fighting. The following school year, the teacher was talking about how everyone fights and all the kids were telling stories. My little boy gets up in front of the class and interprets the pork roast story with his fast moving body and speedy words like this......" One day my mom was so mad at my dad that she picked up a chicken and threw it at his head"! the class couldn't control their laughter. My girlfriend called me hysterically laughing because her 6 yr. old who was in the same class got off the bus and told her this story. Again, everyone thinks I'm a looney. I didn't throw meat at his head! But the visual of Nick telling this chicken story is worth the bad rap.
photos of some of my favorite things in my kitchen #1 a hutch that my husband refinished #2 a madallion he painted #3 my duck house and #4 a picture my third son drew in the 3rd grade