Hi there everyone, I've been really busy lately but I just wanted to sign on quickly for a Public Service announcement:

Do not trust any mailing you receive from JGB Enterprises, Inc. (A Nevada Corporation). They usually target small business owners and woo them with the promise that "...you are absolutely guaranteed and must receive at least one of the awards in our JGB enterprises 29th Anniversary Promotion." When you read further, the certificate insists that no purchase is necessary and that this will be your final notice. All you have to do to claim your prize is to call a representative and give them your claim number. There is a small notice that you may or may not have to listen to a promotional speech but that you will not be required to turn over any money to receive your award.

Go here to read the real story!

Blah, these people are so full of it! I'm pretty sure the second they told me I had to purchase something I would have told them to shove it but it just boils my blood to think these people are ripping off Small Business Owners. Like it isn't hard enough to run a Small Business! Just thought I'd pass the word along. Stay well everyone!

TV Tuesday - Just the facts, m'am?

Whether it was Barney Fife with one bullet in his pocket, or Lt. Columbo's "Just one more thing?", we could be sure in the old days that TV cops would wrap everything up neatly in 30 to 60 minutes. These days it may take a few episodes, but TV's top cops still manage to right most of the world's wrongs.

1. Who is your favorite (past or present) TV cop?
Definitely Detective Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) from Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He's just so stinkin' smart!

2. Which TV cop do you think was the most crooked, or the most inept?
Vic from The Shield...the man everyone loves to hate!

3. Which TV show had the best ensemble cast of police officers?
Any Law and Order, I'm a junkie for these shows!

~Bonus~ You need to hire a bodyguard for yourself. Which TV cop do you choose?
Mmm, Johnny Depp back on his days at 21 Jump Street. (tee hee, remember the theme song to that show..."Jump! 21 Jump Street!"

Thanks for playing? Let's be careful out there!

Well, that's it...I am officially a member of the Klutzy Sewers' Club.

I was sewing a couple bags around midnight on Saturday and before I knew it, I had a sewing machine needle straight through my left pointer finger. I was so stunned for a second there that I kinda tugged at my finger, knowing that there was no way my finger was stuck to the sewing machine. I finally remembered about the manual feed but as I was trying to get the needle out of my finger, it broke, leaving a quarter of an inch of the needle above and below my finger. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't gone straight through my nail.

The funny thing is that as I was sitting there thinking how I was going to get my finger out of the sewing machine, all I said to Jim, who was sitting right behind me at the computer, was "James, I'm going to need your help here for a second." He said my voice was so calm that he thought I just needed him to hold some fabric or something. I've always been like that. When I got my finger caught in a hedge trimmer, I walked to the bathroom to wash it off, eventually realized that I could practically see the bone and then calmly told my mother, "I think I got a little cut."

Well, back to Saturday...after trying to pull the needle out ourselves, we made a visit to the Emergency Room, where they completely numbed my finger and yanked out the needle. Painful. It was funny sitting in the ER waiting room with a needle through one hand and playing Tetris with the other.

Before we left to the ER, I made Jim take a picture of the needle sticking through my finger so that I could post it on my blog! Just goes to prove: You never really stop blogging!

Klutzy Sewers of the World Unite!

Ahh, today is Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday, which means Kill Bill comes out, which means I'm very excited! The first Kill Bill was one of my favorite movies of last year (along with Finding Nemo) and I'm hoping the second one is just as good.

Jim called in "sick" today and we spent the entire day just hanging out at the house. We got up, walked to the corner store for bread and then had turkey BLTs for breakfast. We then worked a bit in the computer room until the bed distracted us and we decided we needed a break. Just chilled out in bed for a while (watch a little bird couple make a nest) and then came to the conclusion that we needed to celebrate with some Coke. We rarely drink the stuff so it really was a bit of a treat.

Ahh, it's amazing how good it feels to make time to do nothing.

A while ago Gnome G talked about how fond she was of being a girl and I couldn't agree more! It got me thinking so here are a few things that I love about being female:

- I get to do fun things with make-up (mmm, I love Daizy's Pout & Glo)
- I can own more than three pairs of shoes at a time (Jim seriously believes that he should be able to throw away a pair of shoes everytime he gets new ones. Just plain silly)
- that I can cook dinner, talk to my Mom, record Star Trek, and make a shopping list all at the same time
- stretching is not torture
- I can talk about the latest clothing trends one second and the motivations behind the American Civil War the next
- I love having serious heart-to-heart conversations with other females
- that I painted my toes before getting my tattoos on my feet
- I can take kickboxing one night and belly dancing the next
- that I strive to treat all people equal since I know how it feels to be discriminated against
- I get to pamper myself with pretty lotions, cute skirts and fun accessories but in the end would probably choose a good book over all of it

Male or female, I think all of the happiest people I know have learned to love themselves and can love others even more because of this.

What do you love about yourself?

Week 5- Is That Your Final Answer?


Game Shows have kept us playing along for years… From What's My Line? to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, we watch, yell at stupid contestants and generally feel superior, because we could be doing so much better! So let's see, do you have what it takes to play the game, or are you the Weakest Link?

1. Is there a game show (past or present) you think you would do really well on, as a contestant?
Oooh, "Win, Lose or Draw"!

2. Is there a game show you think is the stupidest thing you've ever seen?
I'm not too sure. I'm easily amused!

3. Is there a game show you watch, but don't like to admit to watching? (A guilty pleasure!)
I absolutely love The Newlywed Game

~Bonus~ Who is your favorite game show host? Who is your least favorite?
I love Bob Eubanks!

(This theme suggestion comes to TV Tuesday from the lovely Busy Mom, our self-proclaimed "Child of the 70's". Thanks Busy Mom! If you have any ideas or suggestions, please e-mail me or leave it in the comment box!)

Thanks for playing! Now let's see what's behind curtain #3!

Well, I hope everyone had a nice weekend, they always go by way to quickly over here. Saturday was pretty much entirely spent in our craft room. Jim was working on a new toy sculpt (that's his hobby...he makes toys) and I was stressing myself out with the new Gerbera site. It all became too much at some point and I decided I deserved a trip to the thrift store. Didn't buy anything but it was fun giving the evil eye to all the crazy ladies.

Easter was on Sun. and while I may be going through some sort of religious transformation, I can fully appreciate all the good food and company. My Mom, Gilbert, Jim and I went to eat at a restaurant about 30 min. outside of El Paso. It's kinda fun since it was converted from a cattle ranch and still has roaming animals all over the place. Gives me the hebee-jebees, though. I think the chickens outside were watching me as I was eating my chicken breast.

Afterwards, in what was probably the strangest occurrence of the day, my Mother and Gilbert decided to join us at a bar where our friend, Andy, and his band were playing. I can honestly say that this was the first Easter spent in a bar with my Mother. There was a velvet painting of some naked woman with her boobies hanging out. My mother said she wanted one to put in her study.

It was a good day to remember all that I have to be thankful for...boobies included.

Five for Friday!

Kitty (mouse over for picture titles, click for larger pics)

With The Switchboards up and running, I should have a bit more time to devote to getting the new Gerbera Designs up. I think I stare at the computer screen *way* too much (I'm sure a lot of you can understand!).

Jim got back from his shoot with The Daily Show. I guess the whole segment is about some professor who published an essay about the complete stupidity of the people from Alpine TX. Yikes, huh? I don't get why you would write this "scientific" essay about the people in a town and then expect to live there without any incidents. The working title for the show is "Stupidville." Hah, you've gotta love those Daily Show people.

Belly Dancing Update

I went to Belly Dancing (although Jim likes to call it Ass Shaking since that's what you're really moving) on Tuesday and low and behold! It's a beginners class! Turns out I was going to the Advance Belly Dancers' Class. Argh, why didn't anyone tell me? Did they not see that I was always five seconds behind everyone? Did they not notice the bruises I got from stumbling over my feet? Well, anyway, it was definitely a lot slower and the teacher called out the steps as we were going ("left hip, right hip, left, left, right. Now shimmy"...that one's my favorite). I'm still pretty bad at this but at least I'm in an entire room of somewhat bad dancers, right?!

The Switchboards!

After a lot of hard work and more than a few cuss words, Leah and I are happy to present The Switchboards, Your Connection to Creativity! A new community to support and learn from creative women in business.

If you get a chance, do stop by! Let me know if you see any problems.

Also, how much fun does this sound like?!@#$ :

Executive Decisions

The Networks are getting ready to announce their new fall schedules. Imagine what would happen if you could play programmer for one day!

1. What shows would make up a perfect night of TV viewing for you?
Most Extreme Challenge, The Real World, The Road Rules, Any sort of Challenge between the two, Star Trek, America's Next Top Model, The Shield, Gilmore Girls, Nip/Tuck

2. What show(s) would you cancel without a moment's hesitation?
Televangelist Shows

3. Is there a show (previously cancelled or just no longer airing) that you'd bring back, original cast and all?
Farscape, The Fall Guy

~Bonus~ You get to create one show to put on the schedule, with any stars you choose. Who and what would it be?
Wow, I have no idea...this producer thing is harder than it seems!

Thanks for playing "Programmer for a Day", now don't let the power go to your head - you know what Donald Trump says... "You're Fired!"

Humph, it's all rainy outside...kinda reflects how I'm feeling right now. Jim's taking off to shot something for The Daily Show in Alpine TX after work today. You would think after four years of marriage we'd stop acting like newlyweds. We love spending time together and still get kinda sad when we're apart.

On the positive side of things, perhaps I'll finally get the Gerbera redesign done. I'm surely going to miss Jim but it'll be nice having the good computer all to myself!

On Saturday, Jim and I were laying on the floor, goofing off when I started to see a color-changing splotch on the right side of my vision. This has happened once before and usually last for about 20 min. Does anyone know what this could be? We looked up the symptom on WebMD and the closest thing we could find was a Migraine Aura. They usually occur 30 min. before the onset of a migraine. I had a pretty bad headache afterwards but not "migraine" bad. I dunno.

The barometric pressure is making me feel like Andre The Giant is sitting on my head. I think I need to lay down and pamper myself a bit. Speaking of pamper, The Walrus and The Carpenter has the sweetest products. The Monogrammed Eye Pillows are looking like heaven right now.

Well, I *was* going to come and write about how crappy yesterday's visit to the dentist was (about $1000 dollars worth of crappy) but it's a beautiful day outside, it's Friday, I woke up to the most amazing man humping my side, we're going to see Hellboy with some friends tonight and possibly have a Game Night afterwards. I'm pretty freakin' lucky, even if I do have some cavities. :0(

To make things even better, I'm wearing the necklace Mariposo sent me out of the blue, just because she noticed I had it on my birthday wish! Not only is the online creative community amazingly talented but the majority seem to be so nice. A couple of weeks ago, Ex Libris Anonymous sent me a scarf that had Gerbera written all over it. How sweet was that!? Such random acts of generosity always remind me that the road to happiness is often paved with kindness.

Have you guys seen Craft Product? I absolutely love their crocheted home accessories section is a modern twist on an old art. Good stuff.

Yesterday was such a crazy day! I woke up planning on taking Jim to work, come back for a good run, work on the computer a bit and then go thrift shopping with my grandmother. Instead, I took Jim to work, ran to the hospital to visit with a sick Aunt, took my Grandmother to a doctor's appointment and attended the rosary for a Great Uncle. As a wise man once said: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around every once and a while, you just might miss it."

On a happier note, I received a mysterious package from Kraft yesterday. I opened it to find a super cute, "gargantuan-arm sized" t-shirt (see March 2 entry)! It was a perfect pick-me-up for an otherwise sad day. Thanks, Jordan!