Extraordinary Mundane

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So this is completely free. All you’d have to pay for is for airtime. You can use it from your regular phone of course too!

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A Favorite Song: In the Deep by Bird York
Favorite Purchase under $25: Melitta Electric Express Tea Kettle
A Favorite Realization: Fitness is not torture
A Favorite Time Saver: Saying no to stupid obligations and commitments before I start them.
A Favorite Vacation Memory: Dinner in a deli in Times Square with my kids looking at the lights
A Favorite Album: Nine by Damien Rice
A Favorite Play or Musical: Wicked
A Favorite Goal Realized: Running 4 miles nonstop.
A Favorite New Thing/Techniques Learned: Digital Scrapbooking
A Favorite Splurges: New Sectional Couch and LCD TV
A Favorite Charity 2006: Save Danfur
A Favorite Way to Spend Free Time: Lunch/coffee out with girlfriends
A Favorite Life Lesson: I’ve learned not just to “think” but to “feel”.
A Favorite State of Mind: Peaceful Mindfulness
A Favorite Gadget: Garmin 305
A Favorite Design Trend: Geographic Shapes
A Favorite Appliance: HE Front Loading Washer and Dryer
A Favorite Funny Thought: When being chased by a bear. You don’t have to outrun the bear. You just have to outrun the other guy.
A Favorite Dinner: Salmon with Caper Sauce
A Favorite Book: Night by Elie Wiesel
A Favorite Stock: EWZ - Brazil Broad Market ETF

Love this Angels We Have Heard on High arrangement by the Seatle ac capella group The Coats.

Great movie. I think it’s the best Bond movie ever. A must see if you like the genre!

We had such a productive weekend. I wonder if it’s a sign I am getting old that I just so relish the staying home with my family and making my house more “comfy”. I love nesting. Especially when the weather turns cooler.

We did a bunch of things this weekend. The first was cleaning all our downstairs carpets. We bought a Hoover Agility, and it gets rave reviews from us. It did an excellent job on our carpets. What is so nice about it is that it has a power brush attachment for use on stairs with a long “hose” and it comes assembled ready to use.

We (uh.. that’s the proverbial we as in Dear Husband) touched up paint.

I cleared away all the old knick nack type things and put out some of our winter holiday decorations. We played Christmas Music and got rid of a bunch of stuff we no longer need including a couch that was in our kids playroom. Why is it that you feel just as good getting rid of stuff as you do buying stuff? I love the freeing feeling of that.

I also bought all the appetizer things I am having for my Purse party on Monday. This lady is coming and bringing a truckload of knock off purses and I’m having some friends over for wine and appetizers. Should be fun. Especially since I love purse shopping!!

Today was funny, because I was trying out some of the appetizers I picked. I decided I needed to do a test run. The one I like the most is that I took a cookie cutter and cut thin sliced sourdough and pressed it into a mini muffin tin coated in olive oil. Then baked them till crisp. And Im filling them with ceasar salad. My goal is to have all appetizers that dont need a fork.

I also went to Cost Plus and bought wine glasses. I only had like 12. Decided I needed to bite the bullet and have a slew of them. Least they were inexpensive.

My house in Florida lost it’s homeowners insurance. Can you believe it? We didn’t even turn in everything for the hurricane. Finding insurance is difficult for that house because we rent it out. I’m going to be spending a lot of time searching this weekend. Anyone have any relatives in the insurance business in Florida?

I’m working on a digital scrapbooking christmas card. Im wondering if I can create enough of a “year in review” story visually so I dont have to include a letter. Probably not.

I’m on the hunt for a puppy again. The breeder we were going to use has decided to keep the puppy we were hoping to get. So I am back on the trail for a show puppy. I was really disappointed this morning to get her mail.

This week is going to be insanely busy. It will lighten up by Tuesday Night…

Everyone should watch this video. And have your daughters watch this video.

Favorite drink this summer: Diet Green Tea from Lipton

Favorite songs to run to lately:
Soul meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie

I run for life by Melissa Ethridge

Buttons by the Pussycat Dolls

Delish easy summer dinner: Baked Tilapia baked with Trader Joes jarred Picatta Sauce

Software product we want to love: VISTA by Microsoft. We have a release candidate copy and luv the features but we’ve had too many blue screens. Perhaps it’s the drivers? I dunno.

Latest big purchase: Two new desks from Costco Home for our library. Now John and I can claim quality together time while we both feed our internet addiction.

What I’m looking forward to: School starting on the 5th.

What I’m looking forward to besides school starting: Going to see Wicked with my sister next month.

Three exciting things that happened yesterday:
John spent the day with the kids so I could do whatever I wanted!
Dinara lost another tooth.
I went to the Container Store and bought cool stuff!

Goals I am thinking about working on next year:
Being more spontaneous. (Can you schedule spontaneity? Ha!)
Can I finish a scrapbook by January?
My fitness goals. Hire a trainer? Sign up for a 5k?

Three things I’m proud I accomplished this summer:
Purged and cleaned out 3 rooms.
Enjoyed my kids this summer - even when parenting alone before John could join us on vacation. Felt present.
Lost 4% of body fat this summer.

Three home improvements we want to do:
Refinishing our hardwood floors
Redoing our family room
Putting in a new deck.

Thing I have to do today I don’t want to do:
Go to hubby’s company picnic.

I am denying myself right now:
A more reasonably sized new purse because that Cole Haan behemoth I bought on ebay is too freakin’ big.

Look what came in the mail today! My new Cole Haan Purse from some wonderful seller on Ebay! Yipee! Isn’t she beautiful? This is only my third designer purse in my life…. so I am quite giddy over it. And the fact that I got it at a very good price also adds to it’s allure. It’s beautiful. And so soft. And I have been coveting the idea of getting one of these babies for more then a year. I first saw it in a Nordie’s catalog and have been pining ever since. And when I showed it to my husband on Ebay… he bought it for me!!!! Isn’t he wonderful?

I love my new washer and dryer.
What used to be two loads in my old machine is now one load in these machines and dries 25% faster.

Love them!
Just wanted to share that.
Move along.

So today I took Emma to Libby Lu for a birthday party. While she partied hard as a girlie-girl, mommy went shopping.

I bought a Double Play/Double Header Coat at Chicos and love it! I would link to it but I can’t find it on their website so it must not be part of their September collection. Anyway — it looks so great on. Very modern and has nice clean lines. Dare I say slimming?

So while I’m in Chicos I hear some kid quite loudly say to his mom as he enters the store “Welcome to Cheapos!” Obviously the mom is sheltering her son from the cold reality of shopping at Chicos. Heh.

Great lip gloss at Sephora. Only $10! Goes on like a cake pencil but shimmers like a gloss. I bought a handful. Also bought some Bliss Lid and Lash Makeup Remover but I don’t like it. Doesn’t work very well.

I think I’m going to be buying some TamiFlu online after reading this article. If there is one thing Katrina taught me, it’s don’t depend on the government. Right now they only have 2 million doses stock piled!!! And the disease has a 50% death rate. Scary stuff.

Snapfish is now offering digital picture development for only 12 cents a print…. We’ve ordered some so I can’t comment on service or quality yet, but the price is right!!!

We found this great new product on our vacation that is really convenient! Coppertone Sport Continuous Spray. It takes a good 30 minutes to lotion everyone up in our family before we hit the beach or pool. This continuous aerosolized sun block by Coppertone is just the ticket! It puts on a nice coat of sun block that dries pretty fast and doesn’t require you to rub it in.

It’s not cheap, and one bottle only totally coated five adults. We were able to use one can 1 ½ times for our family of five. But it works REALLY well and because it goes on so evenly, we found we didn’t have to reapply as often. Waterproof and you feel “assured” the right amount is going on. And… did I mention how fast it is now to coat everyone? Whoot!

Highly recommend it. It’s worth it just for the time it saves having to lather up kiddos. It’s a new product and hard to find…. But grab a few cans if you see it!

I’m busy finishing up PTSA First Week Packet Hell today so here is the latest and greatest on new products:

1. Those new 12 grain English Muffins from Thomas’s? Yummy. 9 grain tastes great too. We just got them a few months ago on the West Coast. I think you East Coasters have had them for awhile. My system does not process “processed” foods without complaint, and these cause me no problems. So I can get a nice bready carb fix every morning! Yipee! And I can buy them at the bread outlet for less then 2 bucks too…

2. There is a reason they tell you not to apply self tanning lotion to your knees and ankles. Heed the warnings. Do not think that your ankles and knees are any different then anyone elses. And Lorel makes two colors, really dark and medium. Really dark means pretty orange if you don’t apply it just right.

3. Star Wars Lego game for Xbox? Both Hubby and 5 year old kid give it a big thumbs up. Definetely going to pay for itself today in simply babysitting value so I can get this packet stuff done.

For those of you who buy MP3’s. I highly recommend this song from Rob Thomas’s new album Something to Be. The name of the song is My, My, My and I’ve included the lyrics. It’s a bluesy ballad and very memorable. The whole album is great. Highly recommended.

My, My, My

The light from the window is fading
You turn on the night
The sound from the avenue’s calling you
Open your eyes

And when you find
You’re spending your time
Wanting for words
But never speak
You tell yourself
That the things you need come slow
But inside you just don’t know

My, my, my
Let your bright light shine
Let your words live on
Far beyond this life
Beyond this life

Hold on to anything
Everything’s over and done
Has the fear taken over you
Tell me
Is that what you want
To make up your life

Time after time
You’re falling behind
Hold on to me
Never leave
Forever be what you mean to me right now
Don’t you feel better now

Ok… don’t hate me for sharing this… but this Kellogg’s Mini-Swirlz Cinnamon Bun cereal is pretty good! And you can feel good about it being whole grain to counter act the sugar guilt! It’s really yummy.

Finally a cinnamon cereal that really tastes like a cinnamon roll. You know you’ve been waiting for it!

I am reading the book BLINK by Malcolm Gladwell. The book covers many fascinating experiments and Malcolm takes what could be really dry material and makes it very compelling and personally relevant. One that really was interesting to me was one in the section called “Secrets in the Bedroom”.

To paraphrase, imagine you are looking for the best candidate for a job. I offer you two choices: meet with the person twice a week for a year to have lunch, go to dinner etc to the point you become good friends. Or instead you can drop into their house for half an hour when they aren’t there and nose around. Which opportunity would better measure how good a candidate the person is?

Amazingly, the second choice would. You would think wouldn’t you that getting to know someone over a “year” would give you a better sense. But that’s the whole point of the book… that sometimes “thin slicing” making decisions with seemingly more limited info gives you a more accurate picture of the person. Sometimes, quanity of information isn’t as important as it’s quality.

Gosling (the researcher) says that the bedroom gives you insight into first identity claims. Like how we would like to be seen by the world. For example a framed copy of a college diploma on the wall. Then there is be behavioral clues like dirty laundry on the floor or an alphabetized bookshelf. Finally there are the thoughts and feeling regulators which are changes we make to our personal spaces that affect the way we feel. Like a scented candle in the corner or a pile of decorative pillows or a soothing water fountain. If you see all these things, you *know* certain aspects about an individuals personality instantly.

And just as important is that you don’t get all the additional information that shouldn’t “count” towards measuring the best candidate for the job, things like race, height, weight, etc. What you don’t see is just as important as what you do. It also filters out what people say about themselves. Because sometimes what you say isn’t what how other’s perceive you.

Isn’t that fascinating?

I love this book Blink. Real thought provoking book. I highly recommend it.

I have a new guilty pleasure. It involves two men. They are both doctors. They both are exciting and make me think about naughty things. They are both gorgeous. Yes, this is a two at once kind of thing. Life is so sweet sometimes. I am sure you want to hear all the details.

Yes they are good looking but it’s more then that. Oh sure, I’m a fan of a hard body as much as the next girl but folks who know me know that it’s not the physical that tends to attract me. Physical is just icing. I love the cake. It’s the exploration of human psyche that tends to do it for me and these two keep me guessing. Yes, I am one of those rare women attracted more by personality then looks. I just didn’t want you think I’m only in this for the eye candy. I’m not. It’s deeper then that. I mean really – do you really think I’m that shallow?

But you are probably thinking… who cares! Get back to the details woman! Ok Ok. You are not very patient. So let’s talk cake.

One is a bad boy. A sex addict. A narcissist. And my, oh my, he has every right to be one. He looks like he comes straight from the pages of GQ. (Sorry, it’s just the icing is so exquisite, it really did deserve special mention!) He’s a cliché in every sense of the word. A surgeon. An arrogant plastic surgeon. Pretty boy. Pretty boy who drives Lamborghinis and appreciates luxury. A man who objectifies women. But at least he objectifies women with great boob jobs.

The other man is also a surgeon. He’s more traditional. Married. Two kids. Ambitious but conflicted. Good father. Sensitive and more in touch with his feelings then most guys I know. He is every woman’s “need to be needed” kind of guy. Loves his wife but has a gentle longing that hangs about his neck and flashes needy and love me like a neon sign. He’s supposed to be the “good one” but has just enough character flaws to keep things interesting.

What is this affair (of the mind) you ask? NipTuck. Season 1 is out on DVD. It’s something along the lines of soft-core dramatic vanity porn. It’s engaging. And not just because the first six episodes covered everything from cheerleaders who discover they are lesbians (I thought my husband was going to jump for joy when they actually showed them on the bed feeling each other up in their cheerleading outfits) to a swinging sex club to an illicit affair - or the fact that every episode has some gratuitous hot sex. Lot’s of forbidden on this show. I think that’s part of the appeal. But it’s more in what isn’t as obvious. It’s more in the moments you think… Damn - my life is so boring and now I can recognize its ok to be glad it is!

I’m as engrossed in it as I was in Sex in the City, Sopranos, and Six Feet Under. It’s the perfect escape. I guess other people like it too because it won a Golden Globe this year for Best New Drama. Really, it’s hard to believe this is on regular network TV. It seems like an HBO or Showtime production. But it’s on FX.

You can rent this on Netflix. I’m setting my digital recorder to catch season 2. Season 3 should start soon. I highly recommend it and you too can savor a guilty pleasure that won’t get you in trouble with your spouse.

Ok… so I admit it. I am not a hair product kind of girl. I am cheap. It’s not that I haven’t tried a bunch of products. Seriously, I am always hoping. I have tried all kinds of salon products and truthfully, haven’t seen a big difference. Especially in shampoos. They just aren’t worth the added extra cost. For shampoo, I use Suave Clarifying… and in conditioners, I usually rotate different products.

Till now.

I HIGHLY recommend Brilliant Brunette by John Frieda Salons. You can get it in your local drug store. It changes the texture of your hair. Smells WONDERFUL. Really makes your hair shiney. Doens’t have color in it but the products are geared towards different hair colors. I use the one for dark brown hair and I love it. Seriously.. not too heavy, not to light. Feels wonderful. Makes my hair really soft and shiney.

And… just for you.. I found a place online, from Real Simple Magazine, to get a free sample! It’s the conditioner I think is really fabulous. I don’t know if they are sending the conditioner or the shampoo… but the conditioner is wonderful. Worth the money!

Which is saying a lot coming from someone as cheap as me.

Here are my latest product recommendations.

I am a sheet slut. Did you know that? I love good sheets. And I thought I’d share my secret for a great deal on some 1000 thread count sheets. EBAY. Check them out. (If you are reading this after the ad is pulled, just do a search on “1000 thread” on ebay) I figure if you spend 1/3 of your life in bed… Make it count. Life is too short to not have some luxury. If you want to spoil yourself… buy some of these.

There’s this picture my husband took of me in Disney on Kali River Rapids. (No I’m not putting it up.) I have bags under my eyes and although I look very happy… I look like I’m in mid forties. My skin looks a bit sallow, I see fine wrinkles and did I mention the bags? So I have started experimenting with different creams. The one I am really liking the best and seems to make the most difference with my skin tone is Olay’s Regenerist. It has some amino peptide thing that really seems to make a difference. After using it for two weeks, I’ve had two people comment on my skin. So I’m sold. I saw improvement in about 3 days… and remarkable improvement after 10 days.

Lands End makes a rug that is made out of recycled plastic called Olefin. What’s so cool about that you ask? Well for starters it’s spill resistant. This is big news if you have kids who tramp in snow or mud or popsicle juice. I love these rugs!!! Now I will say that these rugs aren’t thin enough with the floor gripper pad to have in front of your front door because of pile height. But I have one in front my sliding glass door and one where I stand to cook… and I just love how cushiony it is and how well it’s wearing. So if you are in the market for a durable, kid-friendly, pet friendly, easy to clean rug… this is for you.

Ok… it’s not like I have a following or anything but I wanted to plug a few products I think are great. Is that narcissistic of me? To think my opinion really matters to those that happen to stumble across my little piece of the internet? Hmm. Well you can’t say I don’t give you anything useful dear readers… because if you click the first two links, you can sign up to get a coupon for a buck off!

Have you tried the new product: Magic Eraser? That stuff really is magic. I use it most for removing crap that builds up on my stove burners. It even works well on glass and keeps things from looking streaky! Awesome thing.

Have you tried that new Glad PressnSeal Wrap? You’ll never use regular cling wrap again. This stuff is fabulous. You can even make little envelopes with it!

I am not a big face powder person, but Physicians Formula makes this green translucent face powder that really even out your skin tone and takes away any reddish look to it. It doesn’t look green on your face, but it really makes it look smooth and even. And it’s not expensive either – it’s under $12 bucks.

What about you guys? What products do you like? Let me know so I can try them out!!!