Sum It Up Sunday - Birthdays, Bicycles & Barbies, Oh My!

Topping off the birthday list: My baby turned 8 on Friday! No bad luck here! We decided to make it a birthday weekend with just the family. Friday we went to Colin's favorite restaurant for dinner. We were going to go shopping afterwards but it was late and we went toy shopping on Saturday. The older two boys wanted to buy their brother a gift and have him help pick it out. As we were wandering the aisles, I stumbled upon the Barbie collection.
Both Barbie and I turn 50 this year; although that Biotch looks soooo much better. note to self: get name of her plastic surgeon!

I decided I want a Barbie for my birthday next month. Is that weird? Having all boys, I miss out on all the princess and Barbie stuff.

As I scanned the aisle, there were so many cool choices: Tatoo Barbie, Birthday Barbie with an extra pink tiara for a human friend, Barbie in her Pink Bedroom, Pool Party Barbie.......my head was swirling. Too many options.

And then I saw her. The one I must have. A vision of gold and sparkly lovlieness. I want her!!!! 50th Anniversary Barbie
And then I looked at the price tag. $50! Holy crap! How do I justify this????

What to do? Maybe I'll have a Barbie themed party with a Barbie Cake ( I saw the cutest one in Meijer!)...... hmmm... I have a month to mull this over.
Speaking of birthdays.... This month I celebrate my second year of blogging. I'll have to do a special post. Not one of those 100 things about me. Just a simple year in review /bloggy lessons I learned this past year.





Spring is Almost Here!
We had a brief Spring-like day on Tuesday and I went for a bike ride with Alex. It's been a while since I had any real exercise. I was a bit sore afterward; especially going up and down the stairs!
note to self: better start getting in shape, summer is just around the corner.



Another WTF ?- On Thursday we started getting a series of unanswered phone calls, 8 in all from a phone number we didn't recognize. We were also left two puzzling messages on the machine.
The 1st message was left Thursday afternoon from a man wondering why our number showed up on his wife's phone. The 2nd message came at 12:05 a.m. on Friday morning when we were
sleeping. This time from a woman who was curious who we were. She saw our number in her caller ID & didn't recognize it.
The only possible explanation I could think of was the number I misdialed a week ago. I only let it ring 2 times before hanging up. TWO RINGS. I didn't hang up on anyone when they answered. I just let it ring twice before realizing I may have dialed the wrong number! The owner of that phone called back & I already said "Sorry, I dialed the wrong number."

WTF??? I was going to call them back at 6:30 a.m. but my husband stopped me and warned me not to call them. Instead my hubby called our carrier(Time Warner) to check the numbers they called from to see if we had called them.

Time Warner only showed the 8 calls they made to us. None to them. WTF? If it is the lady I spoke to last week, it was a different number. WTH did I call? Why would someone be that obsessed with a single unrecognizable number?

I was ready on Saturday to answer our phone but the calls stopped. As much as I want to call them back, I agree with my husband this is not a good idea. Then there would be a record of us calling them AND I'm not sure what kind of whackos we are dealing with.

Fill'er Up!


Finally, gas prices on still fluctuating below $2! I took this photo on Thursday and yesterday the same station was a nickle cheaper at $1.79!

And that's the week in review..... and now time for a breakfast of birthday cake and coffee. Yum!

Sum It Up Saturday - AHA Moments

In No Particular Order, The Week in Review:

The Path Less Traveled

I had to make a delivery this week to a place I have been countless times. I always take 1 of 2 routes. As I was coming up to the section of road where I needed to decide which way to turn, I suddenly took a slightly different approach; a path I had never taken before. This "new" route actually made much more sense. I had an "Aha Moment".

So many times we get stuck in a routine and don't look for other, potentially better options. With child-like optimism, I made a promise to myself to start taking the "Road Less Traveled".


PT Oh!:
I went to another PTO meeting. I had a few Ah Ha realizations:

1. It is far easier (and interesting) to sit through a monthly hour-long PTO meeting than to try to keep up with the flood of paper from school that hits our kitchen table daily. I learned information that I would have other-wise missed. There's also the layer of subtext that is not found in a newsletter!
   
2. Arrive early, and sit where you can see everyone in the room. Keep a smile frozen on your face and try not to make eye-contact unless absolutely necessary with the "Alpha-Moms". Remember, like wild animals, they are more afraid of you than you are of them.
3. Make at least one friend so you have someone to sit & chat with.
4. Count the number of parents in the room and divide by the number of families in your school. By my calculations, between 1-2% of the parent population is represented. I thought back to one of my favorite movies, Napoleon Dynamite, and realized that alienated and "outsider" parents like myself are really in the majority. I don't know about you, but I'm gonna vote for Pedro! I'm also going to keep attending these meetings for the rest of the year. It'll help build my character and give me the appearance of an involved, caring parent!

Cheap vs Values

I learned from my post on the SuperBowl / GoDaddy Ads that men like things that are "Cheap" (including "cheap" ads) and women are more value(s) oriented.


Fallen Hero

Speaking of values, I've been asked by a few people who know my boys are swimmers about my views on the Michael Phelp's scandal. It hasn't come up yet and I am hoping this blows over soon. My older two boys who have been through DARE would think this was stupid because drugs harm your body as well as being illegal.

These days, heros are hard to come by and we all make stupid mistakes. My AHA here is that I am grateful my boys are happy, healthy and quite average. We don't need Gold Medals. We prefer to celebrate small victories such as shaving a few seconds off our time or winning a heat. (like Alex did today!). I have no desire for fame or great wealth for there is 'baggage" that comes with this.

I hope this scandal has been a wake-up call for Mr. Phelps and he has learned his lesson.