R.I.P Bhutto

Former two-time Pakistani prime minister Benezir Bhutto returns to her country after 8 year exile and falls victim to a suicidal bomb attack. She was 54. She was a beautiful, smart, liberal, secular and courageous woman. She could have easily chosen to live in Dubai in the upper class comfort, yet she chose to put herself in danger and returned to her country for democracy in Pakistan. It is a shame she is gone. My heart goes out to her and her people. I hope she rests in peace. I don't know much about Pakistan, but I hope the country doesn't fall apart and head for military rule.

I am still here

Wow, it's been a long time since I blogged. Let me catch up.

tons of things happened:

Sadly, was diagnosed with BC in 2007. Breast cancer? Yep, joined the sisterhood, a club no one wants to belong to. After the initial shock from the diagnosis wore off, I did what most cancer patients do, I got really busy learning all I could about the disease. It is amazing how knowledge increases your level of control over difficult situations. Anyhow, I battled the demon for almost a year with chemotherapy, radiation and numerous surgeries. it has been a difficult journey, but as cliche as this may sound, it really has changed my life for the better. It has taken me from the new friends I made to the challanges I faced. I appreciate medical science, the talent of researchers and the dedication of doctors more than ever now. It renewed my faith in the goodness of people, my relationship with my mother and sister has improved tremendously, it has made me a better mother, a better daughter, a better sister and a better friend. Honestly, my life is better today thanks to the wakeup call from the diagnosis. Of course it wasn't all a bed of roses, having cancer has been a challange and it also added a new stress in my life like deciding which scarf best matched my outfit!

A lot of people ask me how is my life now. Well, I feel great; I am enjoying life and I am disease free. There are no more IV's, ports, catheters, or getting zapped by the radiation beams, just a pill for five more years! I am just hoping and praying that cancer doesn't come back and crash my party.

Let's switch gears a bit here and talk about something more cheerful, shall we? Like the wonderful season of Christmas. I absolutely love Christmas. I love the lights, trees, wreaths, garlands, the spirit of giving, the fun of receiving, food, music, carols and of course having a legit excuse to shop. This year, I was totally organized. I decorated the house early, got my shopping done, and even sent out a few cards. My stress levels are low, yet I had an awful nightmare the other night. In my dream, I was still married to my ex. You can imagine my horror as this is something I thought I put behind me years ago. Waking up was obviously a great relief.

With that said, I hope you have a joyous and stress-free holiday season
-D

feeling crabby

I feel like I should have a lot to say having had a busy mother's day weekend and all, but I am feeling sort of mopey and disconnected today. I am too tired and feeling too pms-y and fatigued for my own good. I will be back once I get my head straighten out. I promise.

While you are waiting for my next post, you could go here and check out the latest celebrity photos/gossip. or if that's not your thing, you could answer these questions:

1. if you could only be remembered for one thing, what would you like it to be?
Making a life out of helping others.

2. what is the one memory that truly makes you squirm?
My very first job at a bank. too many awkard moments, like accidently dropping the entire typewriter(before the days of computers) to the ground.

3. if five of your closest friends were each asked to describe you in one word, what would those five words be?
I did research on this: free-spirited, friendly, nurturing, caring, compassionate, outgoing, dedicated and adventrous. I was hoping for " she's smoking hot," but I knew it would be hard to describe me in one word.

4. if you could tell any one person a particular thing, what would that thing be? include the person if you want.
Even though I tell her this all the time, I would tell my daughter, Angela, that I love her more than anything else in this world and that despite how difficult things may appear right now, just know that I will get back in the full swing of things after the treatments as we have so many exciting and new things to look forward to.

5. what draws you back to any particular blog?
That I can relate to the person's writing. I've scaled back the time I spend in the blogosphere quite a bit, so there are really only a few that I read nowadays, although I still check in on other buddies from time to time.

A quick rant before I sign off, gas prices have gone crazy and the government needs to work to bring down these crazy prices, now! I know the demand is high and blah, blah, but all I know is that I am a taxi driver mom who no longer can afford these skyrocketing prices. Will they ever drop down to a reasonable rate, like $2.25? I can handle that.

Hope everyone has a great summer!
-D

Plant Killer

Ahhh, I am so happy the semester is almost over. The last two weeks have been hectic. Like always, the school has been keeping me insanely busy. I had to take two tests on Friday (tests right before finals? Yeah, go figure) and I think I did pretty well on them. I either got them all right or all wrong, but I felt pretty confident walking away from the classes. Anyways, since I did well, I gave myself the rest of the day off from studying and I went to cheesecake factory for lunch with my good friend, B. We went mainly for appetizers and desserts. Great for sharing! I should go to cheesecake factory weekly. At least. After luch, we walked off our lunch by roaming around the Galleria. I spent waaay too much money for shit I don't need. I seem to do this a lot. I am getting a headache due to my increasing stupidity.

Let's see...what else is going on in my rather boring life besides the usual. Nothing spectacular really. While vacuming yesterday, I knocked over my fairly large " Rubber Plant." A huge amount of soil spread all over my beige carpet and sofa. Plant's roots were totally torn and ripped from the bottom of each shoot. The poor plant looked like it's been molested. It definitely was not a pretty sight for those with green thumbs. I stared at the mess on the floor and thought to myself, good thing I have not watered this plant in four weeks. Can you imagine cleaning wet dirt off the carpet and sofa? I have a black thumb. I kill all plants. I need to buy a plant that doesn't require dirt, impossible to kill or molest. Does anyone know where I can buy hard to kill plants?

Speaking of plants, with a friends help, I have planted a small vegetable garden yesterday. We planted peppers, cucumbers.tomotoes and herbs. I am very excited about this and am so looking forward to prepare a salad or meal with ingredents I have grown.

Okay, I'm off to school which has been running my life lately. fun fun fun.

someone call the handyman

It's just been one of those months where everything around here decided to break.

First, the sum pump died and my basement flooded. Dealing with a wet basement is no fun.

Then two front burners on my gas stove just went out and despite my best efforts to clean the the clogged burners, they still don't heat right.

Three of the electric outlets on my kitchen wall stopped working.

The hinges on the bottom of the lid for my bathroom toilet seat snapped and broke. ( just for your info: i am not the world's skinniest woman, but I am not a fatty either).

The glass pitcher for the blender fell onto the floor and broke.

And if that wasn't enough, vacum cleaner motor totally died.

Oh, you don't want to know what happened to my bedroom door. Let's just say that it has a good size hole in it. I guess that's what happens when contractors put cheap hollow doors in your house.

The latest disaster? The fridge died. After spending $90, the repairman told me that the compressor was dead and that since the fridge is 11 years old, I am better of replacing it than repairing it. Don't I love shelling out my savings for these unexpected expenses?

You think I am making all this up, dontcha? I wish I was, but it is true.

As you can tell, it's been one of those months. A good friend of mine had us over for dinner the other night since I couldn't do a lot of cooking with one burner and a flooded basement. Let me tell you, this woman is the best damn chef ever. We had salmon marinated in olive oil, soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic pepper, pastry filled with spinach and feta cheese, stuffed grape leaves, greek salad and homemade custard made with real butter and topped with crushed hazelnuts. Her food is amazing. If I were you, I'd be uber jealous too.

More soon, if I don't choke on my tea. Yeah, I almost choked on burning hot tea while blogging. Ah, the sacrifices I make for my few readers.
-D

PS: I know I don't blog everyday, but that doesn't mean I don't obsessively check comments. So please comment!

Little Getaway

After an unusally cold and wet weather, it is finally starting to warm up. Yes, it looks like spring has finally come to Southern Illinois. The forecast calls for a beautiful weekend, so I am planning on taking full advantage of the beautiful weather by traveling to Carbondale this weekend. I will be spending some time visiting my daughter who is a senior at SIUC. My daughter suggested that we go to the Blue Sky Vineyard in Makanda. I have never been there, but heard it is a very scenic and charming place that offers a little taste of Tuscany right in our backyard...and you thought Southern Illinois scenery consisted of flat croplands for miles and miles! Even though I am not much of a wine drinker, I am looking forward to exploring the vineyard and its grounds and am hoping that they have "real" Italian food.

A good friend of mine owns a lake house not too far from the winery and she said I could spend the weekend at her house. Yes, she gave me keys to her beautiful home which is right on the Lake of Egypt. Wasn't that nice of her to do that for me? Anyways, it looks like I will be spending my Sunday boating and relaxing on the lake. That should be fun.

Full trip report to follow when I get back. Oh, almost forgot to mention. If you enjoy cooking and baking as much as I do, you must try this recipe. You need to register (very fast, just provide an email)with America's Test Kitchen in order to access the recipe, but trust me, this is a really yummy cake that offers a wonderful baking and of course an eating experience!

Enjoy the weekend and have loads of fun!
-D

Happy Tax Season

Tax season is upon us again. Filling out tax forms can be highly stressfull, so I thought I'd post some tax humor to put a smile on your faces.. Oh, you don't have to thank me, I just did what every intelligent, highly educated, uber-geeky people do .... I just googled it!

I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means that I'm employed. ~Nancie J. Carmody

Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund. ~F.J. Raymond


'Ever wonder why the IRS calls it Form 1040? Because for every $50 that you earn, you get 10 and they get 40. ~ Unknown( My favorite, very funny!)

it's a good thing we don't get as much government as we pay for. ~ Will Rogers

on filing for tax returns] This is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher. ~ Albert Einstein

Isn't it appropriate that the month of the tax begins with April Fool's Day and ends with cries of 'May Day!'? ~ Rob Knauerhase

If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?

And a joke:

A businessman on his deathbed called his friend and said, "Bill, I want you to promise me that when I die you will have my remains cremated.""And what," his friend asked, "do you want me to do with your ashes?"The businessman said, "Just put them in an envelope and mail them to the Internal Revenue Service and write on the envelope, "Now you have everything."

Bet you didn't know tax time could be this much fun, did you?
May you be blessed with a hefty tax refund.
-D

Super thinness

My daughter is interested in majoring in fashion merchandising, and naturally she enjoys reading fashion and style magazines. I am really not into fashion nor do I follow trends, but the other day I was looking through one of my daughter's magazines, Vogue, to be exact, and I was absolutely disgusted by the pictures of super thin models and celebrities. They were too thin and looked very unhealthy. No, let me rephrase that. They didn't look thin, they looked like walking skeletons!

Do designers actually think that clothes look better hanging on rail-thin models that look like third world refugees? A clothes hanger would display their fashion just as good as these models if not better. Heck it would be a lot cheaper to use hangers. The sad thing is that the fashion industry continues to use these girls who look like they are inmates at a concentration camp. This sends a message to young girls that you must be a size O for your clothes to look good on you. Teenagers are following these examples and are starving themselves b/c they think that the skeletal thinnes is ideal. It is time for the fashion industry and the media to stop all this. It is not healthy to be fat, but being bones is not healthy either. It is impossible to be skeletal thin and healthy at the same time. We need to see real women with curves in these fashion magazines. They look good in fashionable clothes, too!

Dove is not a high fashion retail house, but the company is trying to bring a positive change into all this mess by delivering a message that all women are beautiful. Have you seen the Dove Ads for their Real Women Campaign? They are trying to change the way society views beauty by using curvier non-airbrushed real women from different ethnicities for their new skin line products. I’m not sure if Dove is really trying to improve women’s self esteem or this is simply a marketing trick for the company, but I’ll say, more power to them.

I applaud Dove for refusing to hire skinny models to promote their products. In any event, these ads are getting plenty of attention; both positive and negative. Men in Chicago complained that they didn’t want to see full figured women in underwear on billboards. Let me tell you, these women are hardly chunky! They are more like size 8-10. How said is it that we can’t even see a picture of a real woman (not even fat) in the media without having to hear negative remarks. Unless your bones are protruding through your skin, you’re not beautiful in this society! Then they wonder why eating disorders are on the rise.

John Edwards for president!

As many of you know Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer is back. I don't know if you have seen their news conference on TV, but I thought their apperance was stunning. I was deeply shaken and I have not stopped thinking about them since that day. The strength of their love for each other is incredible. They are such a great couple that bring inspiration and goodness to all. I wish the best in everything to both of them. I sincerely hope that John and Elizabeth Edwards make it to the White House because we need their integrity, courage, honesty, compassion and vision of hope. The country would be honored to have them as president and first lady. Please show your support and send them to the White House in 08!

Below is a beautiful editorial, so sensitively written by Eugene Robinson of Washington Post. Please take a moment to read it.

It was riveting to watch John and Elizabeth Edwards tell the world that even though her cancer has returned and is now deemed incurable, the Edwards campaign for the presidency will go on. No hiatus. No break from fundraising or travel. Just "keep your head up and keep moving and be strong," the candidate said.How could they possibly go on? I think there are better questions to ask. How could they not go on? What choice did they have but to continue with the mission they have set for themselves, and how else could they do it but together, as a partnership?

To me, there seemed nothing forced about the smiles they wore as they made their announcement yesterday. Perhaps if Elizabeth Edwards had faced a less certain prognosis, we wouldn't have heard that quality in the couple's voices that sounded almost like serenity. But the fact that the breast cancer for which she was treated following the 2004 campaign is now established in the bone does not leave much room for ambiguity. Doctors say she can be treated -- perhaps for years -- but not cured. So this isn't quite the same thing as facing death -- Elizabeth Edwards has a better idea of what she'll die of than most of us, but not of when. She and her husband are facing life, perhaps quite a few years of life, but with cancer an ever-present third party, an intruder who cannot be sent away.The question, then, was not how to go about dying, but how to go on living. John Edwards noted that they had faced this question before. "We know from our previous experience that when this happens you have a choice," he said. "You can go cower in the corner and hide, or you can be tough and go out there and stand up for what you believe in."

When I've spoken with John Edwards in the past, I've been struck by how much passion he has for the issues he cares about, especially the continuing blight of poverty. Edwards grew up poor, and through his own intelligence and determination he made himself a multimillionaire trial lawyer, then a U.S. senator, then a major-party candidate for vice president.The other candidates believe in themselves and their ideas, too, of course. And the other candidates, like Edwards, have spouses who believe just as fiercely as the candidate does. It takes a partnership to win the White House. But there has always seemed to be something special about the Edwards marriage. Let me rephrase that: There has never been a scintilla of doubt about their commitment to each other, never the slightest public hint that, even for an instant, they found themselves on different pages. There must have been private doubts -- every marriage has them, and the Edwards union has withstood crises and strains that would have torn some couples apart. They have been married for 30 years. When their teenage son died in a car crash in 1996, they decided to have more children, born when Elizabeth was 48 and 50. Then there was the 2004 campaign. And then the initial cancer diagnosis, announced the day after John Kerry and Edwards conceded to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Then radiation, chemotherapy and a clean bill of health from the oncologists -- followed by nerve-racking checkups, where they always find some little anomaly, some little shadow. Usually, it's nothing.Unless it's something. The cancer is in the bone, but there are treatments. "I will have what will be a less debilitating kind of chemotherapy . . . for the rest of my life," she said.Having shared so many triumphs and defeats, having endured innumerable rubber-chicken fundraisers, having shaken hands and kissed babies and done all the endless things a candidate and his spouse are required to do, Elizabeth and John Edwards had to make a decision. They don't know how her health will progress over the next months and years. They could spend that time nesting with their family. Or they could spend it amid the exhilarating chaos of a presidential campaign, grabbing for the brass ring they've long had in sight. Do they really have a choice?Run, John and Elizabeth, run. Enjoy the campaign, every thrilling minute. Enjoy it together.

Madness, baby!

March Madness has arguably become the biggest sporting event in the country. I love the Superbowl and the World Series, but I think March Madness is more fun. I don't think there is anything more exciting in sports than March Madness. It is a fun time of year and I look forward to it every year. I love watching every minute of it and I also spend about 15 minutes each day surfing the hoops websites. What can I say, I am a huge March Madness fan.

To give you a little history, the tournament began in 1939 when the University of Oregon beat Ohio State for the first NCAA championship. Over the years upsets and heroics have characterized the tournament. In 1957, the University of North Carolina, a prohibitive underdog, beat Wilt Chamberlain and the Kansas Jayhawks in three overtime to win the championship. In the 1960s and early 70s college basketball had its version of a dynasty. John Wooden and UCLA won 10 championships in 12 years with players like Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton. The 1979 championship matched superstars "Magic" and Larry Bird. It was in 1985 that the tournament expanded to the current 64 teams, offering a chance for smaller, less well-known schools to enter the elite field.

But that's enough history. What about this year's games? Who are you rooting for? Who do you think will win this year's tournament? Are your bracket sheets still alive? Or are you not paying much attention to the tournament? Although my predictions are not very good, I think KU will go all the way. They are looking beautiful and if they continue to play the way they have been playing, it is possible. Florida just doesn't seem as hungry.

I was sick to my stomach after watching top-seeded Ohio State beat Xavier in overtime yesterday. Buckeyes survived a major scare and edged Xavier, 78-71 . I was hoping for a major upset, but it didn't happen. I always love it when the underdog team wins, but Xavier just couldn't hold on in overtime.

Oops, gotta run, the Saluki game is about to start. It would sure be nice if SIUC could advance to sweet 16 today. Wouldn't that be beautiful?
Enjoy the Big Dance!
-D

UPDATE: Yay, the Salukis advanced to the sweet 16 with a 63-48 win over VA Tech. Sweet.

Busy weekend

As the title says, I had a swimming filled busy weekend and was able to get away for a couple of days. I spent the weekend in Columbia, MO due to my daughter’s swim meet. The last and the most important swim meet of the season (State Championship Meet) was held at Mizzou’s wonderful Aquatic Center. I picked up my daughter from school at 2pm on Friday and headed to Columbia. Traffic on 70 West was horrible. It was jammed all the way from downtown St Louis to 10 miles past St Peters. It took us almost four hours to get to Columbia. My daughter was 20 minutes late for her swim practice, which is not a big deal, but it makes me angry that I couldn’t get her to the pool on time even though I picked her up from school early.

After practice, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. I ordered a chicken dish that had a portabella mushroom and melted mozzarella cheese on top. It was served with spinach orzo pasta. It sounds delicious, right? Well, I was actually disappointed. It was a mediocre meal at best. I think Macaroni Grill is as overrated as a restaurant can get. I didn’t care for the atmosphere either. It was crowded and dark inside. I felt like I was eating inside a bat cave. After spending mega bucks on mega bad meal, we came back to our hotel room and hit the hay right away since we had to be at the pool at the crack of dawn.

The swim meet ran incredibly smooth due to the efforts of the organizers. They did a great job. My daughter had an okay meet. She was hoping to get personal best times, but she swam kind of flat. I think her nerves got the best of her, plus she was still worn out from the District Meet, which was held only a week prior to the state meet. But I was still very proud of her due to the fact that she qualified for a state meet at such a young age. It amazes me that she has so much power, strength and endurance for an 11 year old (shamelessly bragging!). My daughter got a big kick out of competing in the same pool that Michael Phelps did. Yeah, Phelps was in Columbia three weeks ago and broke his own world record in 200 fly at Mizzou’s pool. How awesome is that! My daughter and I actually went to Columbia to watch Phelps and other world record holders swim at MO Grand Prix Swim Meet. It was a great opportunity to see so many world-class athletes perform right in front of our eyes. We ended up getting quite a few autographs, including two from Phelps.

After a long day at the pool, we went to Shakespeare’s Pizza on Saturday evening and had a pretty good meal. This place is Columbia’s landmark restaurant and claims to have the best pizza in town. While I thought the pizza was tasty, I didn’t think it was anything special. I think I am becoming a food snob, but that’s a story for another time.

Now I am home and staring at 4 loads of laundry that is calling my name. I think it is time to get off the computer and do something productive, like housework. Fun, fun, fun.

Hope you all had a great weekend!
-D

Restaurant Review

I am really not a big fan of chinese food, but I sure do enjoy eating at P.F.Chang's. I have been there a numerous times and I have never had a bad meal. Their food is amazing. Their portions are huge, the price is decent and the servers are always friendly. This is the only chain restaurant that I feel like I am finally paying for QUALITY in a chain restaruant.

For anyone who is a vegetarian they have lots of choices like their signature dish veggie lettuce wraps. I always get their chicken lettuce wraps or veggie spring rolls for an appetizer. They are so tasty. But of course they have lots of choices for meat lovers too. I have never tried it but I heard their mongolian beef is very good. One recommendation is Mu Shu chicken, which is served with thin pancakes and wrapped by your server right in front of you. Once for dessert, I had the "Great Wall of Chocolate. It is a very rich chocolate, rasberyy cake. We had a group of 5 poeple and one slice was plenty for all of us. They are also famous for their martinis. I highly recommend their key lime martini. It is is excellent. It is like eating a dessert. Yum.

They have two locations in St louis, one in Chesterfield and and the second near Brentwood across from the Galleria. I usually go to the one accross from the Galeria since it is closer. The Galeria location is cozy and the atmosphere is great, but it is not very big, so it gets really packed on the weekends. They accept reservations though.

Trust me, if you go to PF Chang's you will walk away from dinner feeling very satisified.
Well, that's all for now. I need to get out of this house before "I have done nothing for too many hours" feeling sets in. Off I go.

I love Oscar Night

I just got done watching the Oscars and I am not much surprised about the results. Here's a quick rundown on the current Oscar winners:

And the Oscar goes to...

Best Film: The Departed
Best Director: Martin Scorsese
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker
Best Actress: Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson
Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Best Animated Film: Happy Feet
Best Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth
Best Original Score: Babel
Best Original Song: An Inconvenient Truth

And of course here's the running commentary and I am reporting live from the comfort of my living room in pajamas.

I guess I should watch the Departed sometime soon, but I don't see how it could be better than Internal Affairs.

I am not surprised Scorsee won. He was passed over so many times that it was his " due."

It has nothing to do with any Oscar moment, but I just love Kate Winslet. Someone give this woman an Oscar, please.

Congrats to Jennifer Hudson. Who doesn't love a good Cinderalla story? Oscar was just the icing on the cake.

Beyonce trying to outsing an Oscar winner? Sorry Beyonce, it can't be done . Better luck next time.

The winner of Live Action Short Film, West Bank Story looks like a great movie

They won me over with the Snakes on a Plane interpretation.

What was up with Will Smith's gray hair?

Paltrow looked pretty but I could see her nipples poking through her dress.

Hated the Celine Dion song.

Jack Nicholson is bringing baldy back. No wait, Britney alraedy brought baldy back.

Eddy Murphy lost to Alan Arkin in the best supporting actor category, and Melissa Etheridge won in the best song category. I think Hollywood really hates Dream Girls.

I love Will Smith but those ears are a bit... ( feel free to insert your own joke here).

Did Forest's speech make you tear up a little? We all love him now, don't we?

How old is Helen Mirren? She still looks very faboulus and sexy.

Jerry Seinfeld needs to host the next year's Oscars

The Academy cannot distunguis between Japan and Hong Kong?

And for the dead people category, this is the part where I always go, "He died?"

Okay, this concludes my coverage of the Oscars. Don't forget to check out the oscar fashion moments

Have a good night.
-D

Random facts

I think Wikipedia is a great site to peruse subjects of interest. I rely on wikipedia a lot especially in areas such as Geopraphy, History and Math. I know it is not 100%accurate, but I don't need 100% accuracy. Pretty accurate is good enough for me.

Here are 10 things I learned from Wikipedia today.

1. The United States tops the world in plastic surgery procedures. Mexico comes next.

2. Libya is the only country with a single color flag

3. In all the countries surveyed, women do more housework than men

4. The United States has the world's highest marriage rate as well as the highest divorce rate.

5. Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world

6. People in Germany, Belgium, Hungary and Sweden pay half their salaries in tax.

7. Candice Bergen was the first female guest host on SNL and she dated Henry Kissinger.

8. France is the top destination in the world for tourist

9. Per capita, South Africa has the most assaults, rapes and murders with firearms, but in number terms more crimes are committed in America than any other nation in the world.

10. Gerald Ford's running mate in the 1976 presidential election was Bob Dole.

On a side note, I finally got some sleep last night after two weeks of sleepless nights. I slept for about 10 hours,which felt good, and I made sure of that. Because one more late night and I would have looked like my kids grandma rather than their mom. Another good thing with getting a good night sleep is that I feel 75% less like an ass than I did yesterday.

Did you hear that? My stomach is growling with hunger. I am losing the ability to type coherently too. I need to feed myself like in one minute or it's entirely possible that i am going to pass out from hunger. Which might explain the loopiness.
-D

P.S. I have added a few more links to the right hand column, and one of the links is for my youngest daughter's website. Some of the pages on her site has not been updated in a long time, but it will still give you a little glimpse into my family's life.

Celebrate and share the love

Tomorrow is Valentine's day. People always talk about how it has become so commercialized and that it is just a some made up Hallmark holiday to sell more cards. I agree that it is commercialized, but again which holiday isn't? And what is wrong with people celebrating being happy and in love? This is a day that centers around love, so why not show everyone you love that... well you love them. Everyone needs that reminder sometimes. My kids always loved coming down the stairs on valentine's day and finding little boxes of chocolate and stuffed animals. Seeing the smile on their face is why I really love Valentine's day. Sharing warmth, love and gifts with our family, friends and loved ones can be great deal of fun. That's what holidays are about. They are fun and give us an excuse to step away from the mundane routine of our daily lives and Valentine day is no different.

V-day is all about expressing love and showing that you care. So go ahead and celebrate this day whether it is with your family, friends, sweetheart, loved one or even your animal. Or be your own valentine. Just celebrate the power of love. After all, everyone needs some cheering up in the middle of dreary February.

With that said, happy love day to all!
-D

Friday Five

These two Friday Fives made me laugh because they seem so applicable to my life today. Feel free to copy it to your blogs. I'd love to read your answers. But anyhow, here they are:
Friday Five 1:

1. Would you rather have a fun job that doesn't pay well or a boring job that does?
As cliche as it may sound, I'd much rather to have a fun job that doesn't pay well. I am usally very unproductive when I'm bored. Though, I need a job that pays enough money for me to be able to at least pay the bills

2. Would you sacrifice your morals for a job?
Nope. I know I'm too idealistic, but it's possible to become succesfull without sacrificing morals.

3. Would you ever take a job that requires you to be in costume?
I'm going to say it depends. If the costume is wearing pajamas, sign me up.

4. What is your fantasy job?
I want a job where I can eat faboulus meals at finest restaurants and get paid for giving my opinion on food. Doesn't that sound like the most delicious job ever?

5. Would you like fries with that?
Do you remember Bill Gates' Rules for Life #5? Well, Bill says: "Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity." I don't know if this is an urban legend or Bill Gates really said it, but I totally agree with this statement. However, I absolutely loathe fast food, so let's hope I never have to flip burgers.

From the Friday five 2:
1. What was the last question someone asked you and what was your answer(not including this one)?
My sister who lives in Turkey just called a few minutes ago and asked how I was doing? My answer was, oh....surviving.

2. What was the last question you asked? What was the answer?
I asked my daughter what she wanted for breakfast and the answer was, "something besides cereal." My answer," How about Eggo's? Her answer, "No, I want chocolate chip pancakes." Make long story short, I gave her a bowl of Cheerios. Who has time to make pancakes on a school day?

3. Do people often ask you questions? Why or why not? How many questions would you estimate you get asked in an average day?
OMG, my day consumes of probably 50%answering questions. My friends are nosy.

4. Do you often ask questions? Why or why not? How many questions would you estimate you ask in an average day?
Yes, I ask a lot too, but not as many as I answer.

5. When you hear a question, do you feel compelled to answer it?
No, I have a choice to respond or not to respons.

In sad news, Anna Nicole Smith passed away at age 39. I know she was a messed-up nutcase, but it is still a tragedy. I'm saddened to hear the news and I hope she's happy and at peace now.

Good News

This is a bit old news, but for those of you living under a rock, John Kerry has decided not to run for the presidency in 2008. I think that's good news! I am glad he had the sense not to run again because he'd never win. I think he's best at the senate. I wish him a happy career of service in the senate. I heard that Presidential hopeful Obama is trying to snap up some of Kerry's advisors from the 2004 campaign. I sure hope that's only a rumor. Speaking of Obama, he's an intelligent man and has a lot of charisma, but I am not sure if he's qualified for the job. I mean the guy has a very limited political experience, he's just too untested. I think he would make a good VP. Well, needless to say, the 2008 presidential race is going to be very interesting to watch with all these well-known candidates. I think there is going to be a good fight between Hilllary and Obama.

On a completely unrelated note, I have a message for that inconsiderate , rude jerk who parked like shit on campus yesterday morning:

Dear Big SUV owner,
As there is not an adequate number of parking places on campus, please be courteous and do not take up two spaces when you park your gas guzzling vehicle. If you have a vehicle, you should know how to use it, which includes parking in tight spaces. If you are worried about someone parking next to you and scratching your vehicle, then leave your precious toy at home and take the bus. I know your big and manly SUV is so much better than my little girly toyota, but please remember that parking lot requires manners.
Thank you,
Annoyed fellow student
-D

Super thinness

My daughter is majoring in fashion merchandising, and naturally she enjoys reading fashion and style magazines. I am really not into fashion nor do I follow trends, but the other day I was looking through one of my daughter's magazines, Vogue, to be exact, and I was absolutely disgusted by the pictures of super thin models and celebrities. They were too thin and looked very unhealthy. No, let me rephrase that. They didn't look thin, they looked like walking skeletons! Do designers actually think that clothes look better hanging on rail-thin models that look like third world refugees? A clothes hanger would display their fashion jsut as good as these models if not better. Heck it would be a lot cheaper to use hangers.

The sad thing is that the fashion industry continues to use these girls who look like they are inmates at a concentration camp. This sends a message to young girls that you must be a size O for your clothes to look good on you. Teenagers are following these examples and are starving themselves b/c they think that the skelate thinnes is ideal. It is time for the fashion industry and the media to stop all this. It is not healthy to be fat, but being bones is not healthy either. It is impossible to be skeletal thin and healthy at the same time. We need to see real women with curves in these fashion magazines. They look good in fashionable clothes, too!

Dove is not a high fashion retail house, but the company is trying to bring a positive change into all this mess by delivering a message that all women are beautiful. Have you seen the Dove Ads for their Real Women Campaign? They are trying to change the way society views beauty by using curvier non-airbrushed real women from different ethnicities for their new skin line products. I’m not sure if Dove is really trying to improve women’s self esteem or this is simply a marketing trick for the company, but I’ll say, more power to them. I applaud Dove for using loud Dove for refusing to hire skinny models to promote their products. In any event, these ads are getting plenty of attention; both positive and negative. Men in Chicago complained that they didn’t want to see full figured women in underwear on billboards. Let me tell you, these women are hardly chunky! They are more like size 8-10. How said is it that we can’t even see a picture of a real woman (not even fat) in the media without having to hear negative remarks. Unless your bones are protruding through your skin, you’re not beautiful in this society! Then they wonder why eating disorders are on the rise.

Dinner conversations

So, I had a couple of my single girlfriends over this past weekend for a dinner before I got really busy with school. The food was awesome, the conversation was interesting, intelligent and filled with lots of laughter. Overall, a great time was had by all.

Here are some tidbits from our conversation around the dinner table:

My Friend S: Having M's babies yet?
My Friend D: Oh, stop it. it's nothing like that.
Friend S: Right. you're just "friends"
friend D: friends without quotation marks, thank you.
Friend S : so when are you and your firend without-quotation-marks getting married?
Me: Stop this nonsense now! Let's have another slice of cheese cake.

I told you the conversation was intelligent.

Here's more:
Friend S: So what's wrong with your car D?
Me: When I press the break I can feel is going vvv-sshoo vvv-shooo!
S: : Ha ha ha, is that what you're going to tell the mechanics?
Me: Maybe!

BTW, I told them it makes a creaking noise, no sound effects.

On a side note, I read somewhere that a movie about the legendary rock band, Queen is in the works. The rumor goes that Johnny Depp wil be playing Freddy Mercury. Can you imagine Depp as Freddy? Depp is a versatile actor, but I don't know if he can pull of AIDS striken, overly flamboyant gay Mercury. Johnny Depp is far from that. No, Johnny, don't do it, please. Don't part from your pirate thing. They really need to get someone else. I think Borat would be perfect for the role. I just can't imagine Johnny Depp, one of the sexiest man in Hollywood wearing a mustache and kissing another man. I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

Nothing else to report at the moment. Oh, almost forgot to mention, my blog is one week old today. :) Speaking of my baby blog, what am I still doing here? Gotta run, I am late for school.
Bye for now!

PS: Hello Friday, please be nice
-D

All about moi

This is my first stab at blogging ever. I hope it goes well because I am quitting my day time job to start blogging with google ads as my new source of income. Ha! Who am kidding, with millions of active blogs out in cyberspace, who is going to be interested in my musings, rantings, opinions and wanderings? Okay, a hand full of SWIC students might possibly read my blog, but that's because they have to! See, this blog was created for a class assignment. Speaking of which, my dear Eng 101 classmates, this is my forewarning: This is going to be a boring read b/c I am boring beyond all possible measures. Now that we got the warning out of the way, lets talk about moi, shall we? So here's me in a nutshell, in no particular order:

I'm a(n)... mother of four girls, avid reader, good cook, cardinals lover and cubs hater, glass is half-full believer, people person, natural flirt, free- spirited, a bit stubborn, avid exerciser, food lover, coffee hater, curious, loyal and dependable friend and... always a work in progress. Oh, cannot forget, goodlooking, smart and fun.

I am NOTa(n)...smoker, drug user, church goer, gym rat, the camping type, intolerant, mean-spirited or sarcastic, conceited, the jealous type, sharped tounged bitch, loser

Thank you so much for stopping by the site, I'm really touched (tears are falling onto the keyboard). I don't want to short-circuit my computer so I will sign off for now.
-D