Monday Mail Call - freebies!

Many online sites offer free samples so if you share your's I'll share mine! :) Today I received a sample from Sam's Club.

http://www5.samsclub.com/InHomeSampling.aspx

It took less than 2 weeks to receive my 4oz ProForce Heavy Duty Degreaser, 2 oz ProForce No Rinse Floor Cleaner and 3 ProForce Foodservice Towels.

I must have missed about the towels because I only anticipated the cleaners. Not a bad surprise at all!

Life is a Circle

While watching television the other night I saw a commercial that instantly brought me back to my youth. For those reason I need to add that my youth occurred WAAAAY back in the 80's. Back before the internet and cell phones. So long ago that people wrote letters and put stamps on them and played their music on large radios they would carry around with them. Some had smaller versions that had headphones - the age of the Walkman.

Television then was different with classics such as Knight Rider, Hawaii-Five O, The Dukes of Hazzard...wait... you KNOW those shows? Even Starsky and Hutch is familiar to you and that's even before MY time! Yes, the idea of original thought in the world of entertainment has seemed to have hit a dead end.

The latest return is Dallas. Memories of kids wearing "Who shot JR?" t-shirts still come to mind as I watch a commercial for the show so many were glued to each week. Amazing how these 'classics' return. I just pray that it's a worthy return. As with most - the original has set a standard.

I admit, many of my favorite films were based on earlier versions but it's amazing how the 80's have been returning or at least attempted to return on many occasions.

Cyndi Lauper - Girls just wanna have fun

Let us just pray the neon colored clothing does NOT return though I would love to tease my hair up and get the crimper out one of these days. Totally!

Mom Clubs - the return of the high school clique

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I originally wrote this in 2011 after some 'drama' I was involved with in a mom club. After being told when I was taking a break that I would be welcomed back (and she told me that I had her word on that) I wrote her asking to rejoin and was told no. I was told to start my own club since younger kids were the club's future (until they grew up apparently) and the fact that I had known these women for a year and was friends online with them meant nothing. I didn't post it at the time because I wanted to stop, take a breath, count to 10 and all that. Almost a year later I read it and . . .it's not mean in any way - it's honest.
*~*~*~*


I've debated this blog topic for years to be honest. In high school I wasn't part of a clique. I was friends with anyone and everyone and was myself. If people didn't like that - so be it. Over those four years I went from a shy and quiet girl to a rather confident young lady who wasn't afraid to join a new club or do cartwheels down the hallway.

I never really dealt with cliques back then personally. I saw them of course but stayed away from that 'life'. Enter the mom years.

At first being a stay-at-home-mom wasn't bad. I liked being home and being able to get laundry and shopping done whenever rather than rushing to get it done over a weekend. I loved that I was able to keep the house tidy and spend the day with my little guy. I wouldn't miss anymore firsts. One of my saddest moments was when he was at daycare and the teacher for his room started yelling about him trying to walk and she had HER camera ready. I was in the next room and was devastated that this 'person' was there for my baby's moment. It didn't help that I couldn't stand her but it just got into my head and was another reason I loathed working while being the mom of a little one.

But happy days came when the decision was made for me to stay home because the money spent for his care was a crazy amount and I wasn't losing all that much financially for me to quit my job - and family time was so much better than money.

After a while I realized that staying home stunk. I looked into a few local mom clubs and found a few. the one was great and I ended up a manager in no time. I should have known things were too good to be true. Of course as with any time where you have too many females together you have drama and KABOOM. I was in the middle of it. I quit seeing as how we were moving anyway and made a graceful exit.

My next ventures into the land of mom clubs were just as 'successful'. The first time you host something EVERYONE comes. They want to check out your house and such. Some decide then whether they like you while others take a bit longer and actually get to know you. Some get mad when they ask a question and you're honest. Sorry, but that's just me.

I have a very laid back way of raising my son. From the time he was little I let him do things on his own. I now have a very independent 5 year old who makes me proud every day. He handles kids throwing tantrums as well as I do and homeschooling him has been amazing. I've been told the way other moms turn on me is jealousy. I have a kid but wear a size 0. I'm going to be 30-something and look late 20-something. I'm Betty Crocker and June Cleaver while they have maids and can't make spaghetti.

I'm just me. I try to be a good friend, wife and mom. I do speak my mind and have found that some don't appreciate that but I just can't bite my tongue.

Come out and support Peaceable Kingdom this Sunday, May 6th! The weather looks to be pretty nice so get the family including those fur-kids and head to the park!! 

According to Bark in the Park's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LVBarkinthepark) there ARE still spots available! Make your appointment for your little one since they ARE required!

It's Beginning to Feel a lot like the Tropics

I just can't quite get a handle on the weather lately. One week I'm covering my delicate garden vegetation in fear of them freezing to death (rip one each cucumber and broccoli plants) and the next (today) I'm looking out into a squishy yard with overcast skies and a high temperature in the 80's anticipated. All I can think is, "Thank goodness for central air. Bring it on!"

I've neglected writing for some time and have much to catch up on so today we'll talk about my garden plans for this season and maybe give you a few hints/tips for your own. Please note: if you haven't begun yours yet you're not too late. Most seasoned gardeners warn against planting anything until after Mother's Day. With the unseasonably warm/hot weather we've had here in PA I got a bit ahead of things but no worries. It may be a bit late to start from seed but plants are available anywhere from Sam's Club to Dan Schantz to Somerset Nursery.

I started my garden adventure back in January. Yes, January. I found a website where you could plot out your garden. I loved the idea and went to work adding in tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, peppers, spinach, onions and beans. I based starting seeds on the frost dates (which turned out to be wrong) and had my list all written out:

2/5 Start pepper seeds inside
2/26 Start tomato seeds inside
3/4 Start spinach seeds outside
3/15 Start bean seeds outside and plant onion sets
3/18 Start sweet and Indian corns inside
3/25 Start cucumber seeds inside
4/5 Start bean seeds inside for second batch and plant second batch of onion sets
4/15 Start second batch of cucumber seeds inside
5/20 Plant herbs

Well all of that went out the window with the weather as it's been. I did start the seeds inside but all of them...I was petrified to start the beans out there and the onions...yep, never even got them.

I currently have all corn, 1 bean, 5 broccoli, 3 cucumber and my rosemary in the garden and it's doing well. I hope to transplant tomatoes and peppers in a week or two but I need to make the garden a bit bigger since as usual I ran out of room. Yes, I plotted and used that website but when I was out getting the garden set up I realized I really needed to leave paths to walk around out there and had to replan a bit. No worries as it's a big hill with plenty of possibilities and plenty of vegetation to tackle so I can extend the garden area. Every year I say that it's big enough and every year it grows. My original 5 ft garden is now 4 times that size and will be even larger by the end of the season. Just think of all those fresh veggies though! YUM!

Photos to come of both the garden and what comes out of it. Spinach is starting to come up (yum again) and hopefully soon the other plants will take off and grow like crazy. All this rain will certainly help!