Spring Cleaning

I spent the evening cleaning up the laundry room last night - it is almost completed. It is always such a mess because it is a dumping ground for stuff that has no other place.

I am doing all of my cleaning and arranging without shopping for anything. I am using just what we already have at the house.

I needed to reduce the amount of stuff we have in the laundry room and keep only the essentials. I moved one of the cabinets downstairs into the spare room. It will keep all of the sheets that we use. I moved the towels that were on that cabinet downstairs. That is what they are for anyway - they are the downstairs bathroom towels. I keep all of the upstairs towels in the cabinet in the upstairs bathroom. That freed up about 3 feet of floor room. I am going to move the boot mat into the garage so that will give us another 3 feet of floor room.

I am thinking about clearing out the sheets that are still upstairs and moving them all downstairs. That would free up the bottom of the cabinet in the laundry room. It has one of those laundry shoot type doors. If I actually used it as a laundry basket that would give me another couple of feet of floor room. I just thought of that as I was typing. I think it is a good idea and that I should do it. That would mean that the entire area between the toilet and the sink is free and clear. Wow!

I had to clean out the coat closet so I could put the steamer and the vacuum in there. I did not want them in the laundry room anymore (well, I never did but that is where they fit). Now the closet is clean and the laundry room is almost done. I will feel great when it is all done.

Then I need to get Joelynn's office cleaned up and then Braxton's room. I am going to reduce the amount of toys that Braxton has at our house. I am going to send some home with him or donate them. Probably both. I will probably put some in the storage area - the ones that I want to keep but that he has outgrown.

I also would love to get the server and the printer out of his room and into the office. I just need to make a plan to make that happen and find the room in the office. It should fit in there fine since I arranged the furniture in there. I can put the server across from the desk along the wall and then put the printer on the little table in there. That would make it convenient for Joelynn and add a lot of space in Braxton's room. A win-win.

I also need to get the roomba going in the basement. We have one for down there, too. I love the one upstairs. It will make me keep the basement cleaner and make sure that Braxton keeps his toys put away when he is done playing with them.

Boy - I have a lot of stuff I am working on. I can't want to get started. Maybe that is a little lie but it does have some truth. I will be super happy when I get it all done. It seems like I never get it done before it has to be re-done in other rooms. It is a never ending battle.

Children's Museums to Tattoos - My Saturday

So, Joelynn and I had a great Saturday. We started the morning waking up with Braxton at the house. He is awesome. He had been asking us about the museum and when we were going to go again. We decided that it was time to make it happen for him. We went and had a great time. He loves it. He runs around like a maniac playing in all of the different areas. His favorite is the one where you put gas and air into a truck. He spends most of his time there doing that. He also likes to get on the giant horse and scratch his neck. He tells the horse that he is a good horse. Adorable.

After we dropped him off at home, Joelynn and I went to the shooting range to test out a bunch of different 9mm guns. We tried a Smithson (or something), a Glock and an HK. Our favorite was the HK. Joelynn is a fan of the Glock. The one they have at the rental counter does not have a front site. She did some research on them and there are some with front sites. I was really freaked out to shoot the guns. I was shaking. I did it, though and had fun. We are going to go again next weekend. We are signed up for the chick gun class on April 20th.

Then after the shooting range, we were feeling totally awesome and tough. Joelynn said that we should go and get tattoos. I was down with that so that is what we did. We went to Southern Thunder and got new tattoos. I got a hibiscus flower and Joelynn got a seashell. She has wanted a seashell tattoo since she got back from New Zealand forever ago. 

I am uploading some pics of the shooting range and the tattoos.

Interviewee Smelled Like Pickles

I am not kidding you... This dude that came in for a job smelled like pickles. I am not fortunate enough to have been in the interview and experience it first hand. It was done by a couple of our team leaders because they are the ones hiring.

Not only did the dude smell like pickles, he was a rainman. He would answer his questions with a simple "yes" and be done. I am surprised that Rick and Shep did not ask the guy what his favorite show was - anticipating "Wapner."

Advice to those looking for a job... skip the pickle perfume. Save it for a special occasion with the one that already loves you or that has lost their sense of smell.

Hopefully this gives you as much of a laugh as it did for us here. We are simple people who are cold, cruel and heartless.

Training at it's Finest!

I am so pumped. Yesterday I worked with one of our agents on his product knowledge about our newsletters. I helped him with his verbiage about asking for the credit card and overcoming the associated objections.

Today he was 1st on the board with a sale - on the hardest newsletter to sell. Yahoo! I went over to tell him that he was a rock star and he told me that it was all due to his credit card verbiage. I am attaching a picture of him being pumped on himself and of course being pumped on me!

I love it when the fruits of my labor are so quickly harvested!

Speaking of harvesting fruits... I have a ton of sprouts on my Jiffy seed starter. I took the lid off today and put it in the window. I made a spot just for it on the kitchen table so it will get great sun and keep growing. I got some potting soil and 2 window box planters last night. I am going to transplant the biggest ones soon and see if I can get some veggies before I plant them outside. That would be neat. I got planters that you water from the bottom so I won't over water and kill everything. I am pretty nervous about that.

Joelynn called this morning and is feeling great. She got some awesome sleep and is pumped for the Keep It Real presentations today. I am glad she is doing better.

What is Blogging a Full Time Job?

The answer is no, of course. So I have not blogged for a couple of days - I do it when the urge hits me. You can just wait with antici...pation (stolen from Rocky Horror Picture Show).

Now on with the blog... Joelynn is feeling much better. She still sounds bad but she says she is doing a lot better. She is packed and ready to go to LA tonight. I am dropping her off at about 7 pm tonight. Then tomorrow night she is going to Colorado Springs and then she'll be home Friday night. 

I am taking my mom to dinner for her birthday tomorrow. My brother and my mom's husband are going also. I am picking up Braxton and Randilyn is meeting us there. It will be fun. 

I have not done very well on my eBay business. I only sold one item last week and only made a couple of bucks. I guess I am going to return the other stuff and cut my losses.

I am getting ready to go the airport. Boo Hoo!!!! I am already counting down to Friday night.

Fun-Fest Chick Weekend

We are home from our weekend in Cedar. My grandma is doing better than the last time I saw her a couple of weeks ago. That made me happy. She spent most of our visiting time in her bed but we had fun. We talked and laughed about all kinds of things. She is a funny lady.

She asked me who was taking care of my dogs. I told her that Gage was taking care of Jake and that Petie was staying at my mom's house. My mom loves to have him there. When I picked him up tonight, he was so happy to see me. It was fun. She said that he was a really good boy for her. My brother said he liked having him there, too. I asked my mom's husband, Curt, if Petie was good for him. Curt said that he just kept an eye on him and tried to stay out of his way. Last time Petie stayed with them, Petie stole Curt's sandwich and in the process of stealing it, he caught Curt's finger along with the sandwich. They wrestled around and I guess Curt finally won the sandwich.  After all of that the last time, I was not sure if Curt would let Petie be over there again. I was happy when my mom said that he could stay and then that he was such a good boy for her. She said that he laid by her a lot and then even sometimes laid on her. She said he was sweet.

I sure do love seeing my grandma and my Aunt Rae. They are so sweet and I am so lucky. Randilyn went to the store with Aunt Rae. It was so helpful for my aunt. They shopped like maniacs. I could not believe it when they got back and had the whole trunk and part of the backseat filled up with groceries. Randilyn saved the day. My aunt really needed to stock up on stuff and she could not have done it without Randilyn. I was proud of her. 

I was proud of her during the whole trip. She was a pleasure to be with. It was really nice. It was a big difference from the Randilyn of the past. There was no drama and no weirdness. It was great. She seems to have really grown up a lot in the last little while.

When we got home I took a look at my seeds and was totally surprised that I already had some sprouts. I can't believe it. I just planted them a couple of days ago. I think my garden is going to do really well this year. I need to do some research and see if I am supposed to water the seeds while they are sprouting or if they just use the water that is already soaked into the soil. I worry about it because that is where I went wrong last year. Joelynn and I talked about it and we are going to have a truck load of dirt and bark chips delivered soon. I'll need to get it ordered. I want to get some railroad ties delivered too. That is what I want to use for the garden. Then we will line it with pond liner and fill it with dirt. I am going to make little water trails that I can fill with water to make sure that I just do a little water at a time. 

Joelynn is really sick with the flu. She spent most of the weekend in bed. She is in bed right now. She had to cancel her trip to Colorado Springs in the morning. She is going to LA on Tuesday and then Colorado Springs on Thursday. She has bee traveling and working so much. She has not had any rest on the weekends, either, because I drag her all over on trips. I have promised her that we will stay in town for at least the next couple of weekends so she can get better. I feel bad that she is so sick. She is hardly ever sick so when she does get sick - she is really sick. I will nurse her back to health and she'll be good as new. Hopefully soon!

Poop Scoop Duty

So I came home from picking up Braxton from school and we met Randilyn and Mitch in the driveway. They wanted to see Braxton for a bit and then Randilyn is staying over.

We went into the backyard to play because it is such a nice day. I looked down at the grass when we got outside and about passed out. I have not done Poop Scoop Duty since the snow started... I know sweet visual. Well needless to say, I had some work to do so we could play out there and not get our shoes all messed up.

Braxton likes to help. He carries the bucket around and helps me hunt down the poop. He is really good at. We got started and then Randilyn took a turn while Braxton and Mitch played with the yard toys. Then I took over again. We picked up a lot and have only scratched the surface. We got tired of doing it and so we decided to play inside.

I am guessing that the dogs are entertaining a lot of the other neighborhood dogs during the day when we are at work. There is no way that only 2 dogs created that much poop. I am thinking about installing "nanny cams" so I can bust the dogs having friends over. They know the rules. They should at least clean up after them selves and hide the evidence. That is what I used to do when I was younger. Not that it happened a lot but I did my fair share of cleaning up at my friend's houses.

Well, now Randilyn and I are just hanging out at the kitchen table. I think she is blogging on her site. Braxton's grandpa picked him up about 20 minutes ago.

I need to get some stuff packed for the trip. I have not done that yet. I did get the dishes done so that is a good thing. I need to put the laundry away but I am procrastinating on that one. Lame!

Green Thumb Granny

I am pretty excited. Last night I got our garden going. I am starting the seeds inside and then when it is time, I'll move everything outside. In the next couple of weeks, I need to get the garden bed built. Last year I was not so sure about doing a garden. I was afraid of the commitment so I did it in a kiddie pool. That way it would be easy to get rid of if I hated it. I ended up loving it. I did not get much out of it in the way of veggies but that is because I did not really know what I was doing. I over watered. We got several tomatoes so that was cool. I love tomatoes right out of the garden.

I got one of those Jiffy seed sowing things that will handle 72 plants. I ended up with more seeds than that could handle so I need to buy another one. I split my seeds into 3 types - sunny, part sun and veggies. I got the veggies and sunny stuff planted and will do the part sun stuff when I get another Jiffy thing. I am supposed to have some sprouts in about a week and a half or 2 weeks. I am excited to check it out. Once I put the lid on the Jiffy thing it got a bunch of condensation - it was like it was producing heat in there. Maybe it is. I will have to check it in a couple of days and see if it looks good in there. I probably should not take the lid off too much because it is probably supposed to stay on there and keep the heat and condensation.

I am excited for Braxton to come over tonight. I think he will be interested in checking it out. He loves to dig in the dirt and help me plant things. He has his own tools for the garden. I almost bought him some new ones last night. They had a really cute rake and shovel. I am sure he will end up with it but I had to exercise some discipline and willpower last night. There is also a really cute chair that I want to get for him. I probably want a set of the chairs - let's not kid ourselves... it's not probably :) It is a yard chair but could be used in the house too. It is a blue plastic chair. He loves to have furniture that is his size and just for him.

The house is just about ready for us to go on the trip. I need to put a couple of dishes in the dishwasher and run it tonight and get some laundry put away. I always take out the garbage and recycling before a trip, too. I like to come home to a clean house.

Joelynn is coming home tonight so that makes today my favorite day of a travel week. I like to have the house clean when she comes home so she does not have to come home to a pig-sty. I got the laundry done last night from this week so now all I have to do is put it away. That is my least favorite part of laundry. I am not sure what the deal is but if I don't stay on top of it and get it done as each load finishes, I don't do it and it just sits around. It bugs me so bad but I still just let it sit there. Not sure why - I guess it is my laziness. I need to stop that.

Petie is going to stay at my mom's house while we are gone. She likes to have a dog to squeeze and he like to be squeezed so it works out perfectly. My brother likes to have a dog around, too. Petie knows he is the king of their house, too. He goes and gets in bed with whoever he wants when he wants. My brother told me that he woke up one night the last time Petie stayed with them and Petie was in bed with him burrowed down in the covers. He thought it was cool. It made me smile to think about it. I love it when the dog is snuggled in the bed.

Gage takes care of Jake while we are gone. Jake likes to stay home so he can be familiar with his surroundings and have his own backyard to run around in. He needs space to roam around and he does not have that at Gage's apartment. Jake is not an apartment dog - even thought I wish he was and that Gage would take him to his house. Don't get me wrong, I love Jake he is just so big and it drives me crazy when he jumps on me. I like small lap dogs. Jake tries to be a lap dog but it does not work out so good.

Lipstick or Butch?

Yeah, that is the question of the day. I was a little thrown off when I put on my lipstick this morning and then tucked the tube in my pocket. I am not one to carry around make up and re-apply during the day. When I leave the house, I am ready for the day. That is why I was so surprised when I tucked the lipstick tube in my pocket. I did that because my lips have been dry. I think that is because I have not been using the top coat and it is drying out my lips. I have to wait until the 1st coat dries before I can do the 2nd coat (top coat). It seems totally un-worth it. I love the color though. So today I decided I needed the top coat. The funny thing is that I have not even put it on yet. I'll have to soon because my lips feel like they need a drink of water.

I am usually not the girly girl type or the super tough chick type. I am a good mix of both - in my own mind at least. Today I was a bit too much girly girl for my comfort. Maybe I will feel differently after I get that top coat on... Let's see. I'll do it now and report back.

Ok, so it has been about 30 seconds. I put the glossy top coat on. It is pretty thick. I have not used it before. I have a high-shine factor going on and my lips feel like they got a much needed drink. We'll see how long it lasts. It made the color look brighter and nicer... a huge bonus - a great lip color goes a long way.

Humm, maybe I am the type to carry around the lipstick and re-apply. Nope, I doubt it. I am way too lazy for that. Hopefully this top coat lasts a while 'cuz it seems like it won't get another one until tomorrow morning if I am patient enough to wait for the 1st coat to dry.

Budding Investment Genius

I am getting ready for a new hire training class. We sell newsletters for an investment research company. I am not all that smart in the ways of investing so I always try and mess around and learn more before a new class.

We are super lucky because we have access to all of the information that the company provides and I have that at my disposal for the training groups. Yahoo! I set up a mock portfolio with the companies I do business with. Thanks to my training access I am having fun and learning a lot about the market. I am really pumped because it was easy to set up the mock portfolio online and it is even easier to track it's success.

I set up the mock portfolio on Monday and as of today I am up about $700. that is pretty good for a couple of days. I added 1 stock today and that makes my total "investment" just over $19K. That is a return on my "investment" of about 3.5% in just 3 days. I think that is pretty great. I'd be willing to take that - especially in this wildly volatile market.

Now I am planning our retirement. Let's see... If I can make $700 every 3 days and there are 365 days of the year... that means I will "earn" $84,700 in the next year. I guess that is not really realistic because the market is not open every day of the year. There are about 20 days of the month that are business days and then probably another 15 days that are holidays... I will do my new calculation on an average of about 18.75 work days each month for a total of 225 days in the year. Now with that said, here is my much more realistic estimated "return" of $52,500. Not too shabby. I guess I can't retire on that unless I am moving to a box on 5th and Main.. An option but I think I'll pass for now.

Back in Business

As you may know, I have been running an eBay business on the side. I have done pretty well. I put it on hold for a while because I was stressing myself out and I did not want to distract myself from my regular job.

I was gawking around Target, you know my home away from home when Joelynn is out of town. I found some really sweet deals on some video games, web cams and SD cards. I decided to invest a little into myself and my business and get it going again. I figure the worst case scenario is I end up returning some of this stuff in a couple of weeks if it does not sell. The best case scenario is I end up making tons of money and Joelynn and I can retire. My guess is that it will end up somewhere in between :)

I decided that I wanted to have my own cute little camera while I was at Target, too. You know I have to get some thing that is sassy. I stuck with our favorite brand and got a Kodak. It is cute. It is dark blue. I used it to post some pics of my eBay merchandise. It works great. I am happy. Hopefully Joelynn is happy, too. I am sure she will be. 

I also got a couple of cute new notebooks and some pens for work. I am excited to go to work and give them a whirl. The guys at work will be pumped that I got some new pens. They love it because I usually share with them. 

Tonight when I got home from work, I unloaded some flower pots that I brought home from Cedar City that my aunt gave us. I put them around the yard. I am getting excited for Spring. I guess the actual 1st day of Spring is coming up this weekend. That is great. I am looking forward to it. It already has been pretty amazing weather. I love the weather to be just a bit chilled so you can wear a sweater but it is not cold. I like layering and not being too hot. Being hot sucks! 

The week is going by quickly. I am happy about that because the weekend will be fantastic. I am picking up Braxton from school on Friday and he is going to chill with me for a couple of hours. Then Randilyn is coming over. She is spending the night because she is going to Cedar with us on Saturday. We are going to stay in St. George because the Cedar Marriott is booked up. I like the St George one, too. The pool is great because there is a waterfall. The Cedar pool is cold. Joelynn comes home at about midnight on Friday so that will be good to see her. She'll sleep on the way to Cedar. Randilyn will probably sleep, too. That is what she used to do when she was younger. I think it will be a fun girls weekend. I am looking forward to it.

In the Market for a Pearl Handled Lady Pistol and a Washer

How does that title grab you??? I am sure I grabbed your attention with that one. The scary part of it... it is true.

I am researching the purchase of a gun. Joelynn and I are going to learn how to shoot guns as a hobby. I was looking around on the Internet last night and was pretty freaked out. I was amazed that regular people can buy machine guns and stuff like that. I never really thought about it before and was shocked when I realized it was possible. I am not in the market for anything crazy. I want to learn to shoot as a hobby. I don't want a gun for protection or anything like that. I just think it would be awesome to shoot one and be killer (so to speak) at it.

I found a place that has a range and teaches you how to do it. There is a class for chicks that we will probably do. It is a 4 hour class that will teach us all about the gun and how to be safe with it as well as how to shoot it. The requirements for the class are a gun and 100 rounds of ammo. Sounds do-able. I am putting it on the calendar to go and look at the guns and check out the range. It will probably be Saturday, March 28th. That is the next available weekend. I am not sure what the waiting period is to get one so once I know that I can get the class scheduled.

Joelynn wants to get Glock 9mm guns. That is what she shot in Manila. She loved it and really rocked at it. I am cool with something wild like that but I think it would be pretty neat to have a sexy chick gun. You might be able to tell that I know absolutely nothing about guns and am not even sure what a sexy chick gun looks like but it sounds good to me. I like the sound of "pearl handled lady pistol" it has a nice ring to it. We'll see. I am excited.

I am also in the market to upgrade my washer and dryer. I have been wanting one of those sweet front loader deals in dark blue. It needs to have steam. I am looking at the LG Elite or the Electrolux. The price is about the same. I am looking at the reviews. I got through the reviews on the LG and need to get some on the Electrolux. The LG seems to have love-hate reviews. People have said that the machine breaks down and is kind of a piece... others say that if you follow the directions they are awesome. I guess they can get musty and stinky if you close the door after the last load of laundry. The directions say to leave it open. I don't know about that... I am not a fan of open cupboards and it might bug me to have an open washer door. I am going to talk to my aunt this weekend. She has a set and seems to love them. I am not sure what brand she got. With all that said, I am not ready to buy yet. I want to make sure I get the right ones and that I am super happy with them. I have waited so long, I would hate to be disappointed. I might be limiting myself with the color, too. I really want the dark blue because the laundry room is a light sky blue and I think the dark machines will look awesome in there. I am hoping they will give it a real kick of sass. I am excited just picturing it in my mind. :)

Quality Time With My Girl

So last night I brought some work home because I could not get it all done at the office and was tired of being at the office. It is so crazy to me that my "to-do" list keeps getting longer and longer even though I am diligent about crossing things off once I complete them. Anyway, I realized just before quitting time yesterday that I had not prepared the activity for my Management Book Club meeting today. Yikes! It was not only that I had not prepared the activity, I had not even finished reading the chapters. Slacker...

I went home and Joelynn volunteered to help me. It was a really fun and productive night. I told her how much I was digging the book and asked her if she would like me to read it to her. She said that would be cool. I read to her while she made dinner then after dinner, she read to me while we ate our sugar-free Popsicles. Yummy! It was cool to read the book together because we were able to chat about it and put it into perspective for our businesses. It is easy for us to do that because we kind of do the same job... mine is just a much smaller scale.

She helped me decide that reading multiple chapters in the same week would probably not get a lot of participation from my group so we decided to do just 1 chapter per week. That made it good for me - less reading and less stuff to create activities on.

The book we are reading in the group is called "The Carrot Principle" and I dig it because it is all about recognition and how to do it properly. It talks about money not being the end all - be all recognition tool. I agree, I just have not been sure what to do to recognize people.

If I continue to read my book and have the weekly discussions, I should know how to do it soon. I am pumped because our department (Telesolutions) has been chosen to pilot a company-wide recognition program that is based on this book. Hence, the book selection. We rolled out the program last week in the monthly department meeting.

I created a couple of activities for the team leaders to complete so the book will be more meaningful. I am excited to get this one rolling. I guess I left that part out... today is the launch of this book for the club. I read ahead and create the assignments so the group has things to work on and then we can use it during the discussions the following week. It worked really well for our 1st book, "Leadership and Self Deception."

Wish me luck for today's MBC meeting (Management Book Club). Ta-ta for now.

My 1st Time Blogging

So, I am trying something new... I guess I am now a "blogger." I feel pretty cool about it but am a little intimidated by it.

So what is my purpose? I just think it will be neat to keep up with my family through the blog. I don't have my own Facebook page - Joelynn has one and she uses it to keep up with everyone. I am on there but don't take the time to do my own. It seems like too big of a commitment. Joelynn is always updating her status using her iPhone. I don't have any iPhone and don't want one. I can't see myself spending a lot of time setting up the Facebook and then keeping it updated. So, long story... I think blogging is the best option for me. Using the blog, I can kind of keep a journal or whatever and then let people check it out and leave comments. Seems simple enough.

The part that intimidates me is that it is online and who knows who is reading it. I guess I will get over that.

We had a super fun weekend. Joelynn got home from California on Friday night and we went to Sizzler for dinner. It was yummy. Then we just went home and went to bed. We were both sleepy. I love to sleep! Saturday we picked up Braxton at about noon and we went to Cheesecake Factory with Joelynn's family for lunch. It was cool. I had the best cheesecake - it was a carrot cake and cheesecake mix. I know... can you believe it!! I shared with Braxton. He loved it too. After lunch we went home to play with Augie's new puppy. It is a boxer puppy. His skin and fur and so silky smooth. He is fun to squeeze. He is a hyper puppy and likes to lick. I loved him, of course. Then we went to Joelynn's mom's house to set up her new Roomba. We were totally bummed because it will not work on her carpet - I guess the dark color patterns freak out the sensors or something. We are going to use it in our basement instead because it does not work for her. It is lame because it was going to save her the hassle of vaccuuming. Their rugs are tough to push a vaccuum on. Sunday we met at the Olympian for breakfast with my family and the kids. It was cool to get everyone together. The kids have been missing Joelynn and wanted to get together. My brother wanted to hang out because Braxton was talking about him and he thought that was cool. It worked out to get everyone together. Then Sunday night I played my new Wii game - Second Opinion. At first it kind of sucked because I could not fugure out how to play it. Then I took a look at the directions and was able to do it. I passed my 1st 2 surgeries with C's but failed my 3rd surgery like 5 times. I finally gave up and went to watch the Apprentice with Joelynn. I think Donald should have fired, both, Tom Greene and the basketball guy (I can't remember his name). They both were worthless and lame. Donald fired Tom. I suspect that the basketball guy will not be far behind.

Well, here's my 1st stab at a blog. We'll see if I keep it up. Ta-ta for now.