Bath Time!

It's that time of year again! It's warm, and I try to give the guinea pigs a bath!  Today was Baby Crockett's turn.  Sometimes the pigs enjoy their bath, sometimes not, and I never know how it's going to go.  Today, Crockett treated it like a day at the spa.  I turned on the water, made sure it was a nice warm temperature, and then put him in the sink.  He was so happy.  I scrubbed him and he was doing lap talk.  He needed a bath so I'm sure he felt better for that reason, but I was surprised how much he enjoyed it! 

He's a little more dry in this photo than he was in the sink, but he's just as happy!

Friday Fotos -- my guinea pigs

I've had a super busy week and haven't been able to blog much, but here's a few new photos of my guinea pigs. :)

My Memory nightshirt

I'll be the first to admit I was a little weird and my friends were also a little, um, unique back in high school.

Well, I was cleaning recently and found the nightshirt I added to for about a year back in the day.   I'd take fabric paint and we'd write quotes and such, and it's now like a fabric scrapbook, although after about 20 years some of the words are peeling.  The glow in the dark paint still works, though, and the night I tested it, I would see "Shelly Lynn" lit up in my dark bedroom.

The above photo is to represent one of my friends' saying "Pin a Rose on your nose", but I then started saying "Pin a flower on your face" because that's the way it looked to me after I painted it on the shirt.

There's well over 100 sayings and each one means something (though with some the meaning has seemed to fade).I won't list them all, but here's some of them:

Whatcha been up to for the last year  *  Electric Slide   *  taters  *  4 dictionaries  *  clip on shades  *  my nose itches  *  greening  *  Daryll's  *  Name Your Poison  *  Memorial Mausoleum  *  Why don't angels play bongo drums?  *  Pretty Good Fun  *  She's secular  *  Visdom -- no Wisdom   *  The 70s are alive and well in that bag  *  I didn't know meatloaf made a noise  *  RF 501 Radio  *  Life is Like a Plate of Chipped Ham  *  Loof  *  26 Baked Potatoes  *  trench coat  *  Ezra  *  chocolate thumbprint cookies  *  Lucas McGraw  *  Swabie  *  Helga's Dowry  *  All's Quiet on the Western Front *  NIPC  *  Guys are the chili powder of life (oh my!  Which of my friends coined that phrase!)  *  There goes a REGULAR guy  *  Fabric store on the beach  *  Lot's birdseed  *  Camp GoNoWhere  *  Your library card is stuck to my foot  *  It's a towel, no it feels like curtains, IT'S BELLBOTTOMS  *  easy cheese  *  1972 penny  *  One person eating a tart is not two people eating a tart  *  make sure the candles are out  *  I'm giving birth to a headache  *  chicken bone love offering  *  Someone's sleeping Lord, Kumbuya  *  T Rex on PMS  *  Heraldina  *  broccoli soup  *  Ten in a A Taurus  *  The Galley Buffet  *  The Fingernail that works Wonders  *  I love your Smile (which I drew complete with missing teeth for a funny effect)

I have videos of some of these events.  But more important I still have some of these friends.  I posted the recipe for the chocolate pudding thumbprint cookies on Facebook a couple years ago.  One of my friends made them and said they weren't as good as they were 20 years ago.  I kind of doubt they would be.  Carrying eggs (not even in a bag, just an egg in each hand) from another street to my house, then to make a parody of a Julia Child cookie show. 

We may have been a bit unique, but we had fun.  Been there, done that, and I still have the nightshirt to prove it!



Just for Today!

Setting a goal that seems so far in the distance to achieve is often discouraging. That's where the concept of The One-Day Way: Today Is All the Time You Need to Lose All the Weight You Want
comes in. Instead of looking ahead to fit into a bikini for the beach next summer, look fantastic for your 20th high school reunion, or even be able to wear a certain dress to the company Christmas party, those goals are sometimes so long in the future or you have so much to lose that you give up before then.

What Chantel Hobbs teaches is taking one day at a time. Just for today you will eat healthy. Just for today you can fit in 30 minutes of cardio. It doesn't seem as daunting to think you will stay on track just for today. But when you start thinking of all those days between now and the bikini, that's often where failure lies, rarely in just today.

There are 31 exercises using a medicine ball included in this book as well as sample menus.
Overall, rather than a diet book, I would call this an encouragement to lose weight book. You can do this for today. Forget about yesterday, and don't worry about tomorrow. Just do this TODAY!

Here is a video about how the author lost weight:




Would you like to read chapter one?  You can do so right here! 


One Day Way by Chantel Hobbs (Chapter 1)


Like what you read?  You can buy it here:   The One-Day Way: Today Is All the Time You Need to Lose All the Weight You Want



FTC disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for a review. The opinions contained in this review are mine.

Saying Goodbye again.

I have dear friends who live in Russia. They are from the USA but their job takes them overseas for three years at a time. 

This week was the event I tried to pretend all year that would not happen.  We said goodbye until I visit.  (I visited for two weeks in 2009.) 

There's just so many things they miss out on living overseas.  And there's so many things I miss out on, too.  In 2009 I was able to be at my "niece's" 4th birthday party.  That was so special to be able to share a party with them.  It is a rare thing.

I'm thankful for 8 cent a minute telephone rates through our telephone company.  I'm thankful for Skype.  I'm thankful for the Scrabble site where he and I make a Scrabble play almost daily and might include some small bit of information.  I'm thankful for Facebook.

But there are times I just wish they lived closer.

I'll miss picking up the phone and seeing it's them.  (With Skype it says 'unknown number').  I'll miss the phone calls saying "We're going to be in -- what day works for you?"  (His parents live near me.)

I'm going to miss hearing "Aunt Jenn".  I'm going to miss the hugs.  The smiles of total and complete joy my infant "nephew" gives everyone.

But I'm looking forward to Skype chats, photos, and visiting again in a couple years.

Somehow, though, it doesn't seem as hard this time.  I've visited Russia.  When they say, "Our new place is near the school" I know where the school is. 

Rich Mullins wrote in a song "Far away is just somewhere you've never been."  May be.  But right now, Russia seems a very long way away when five people I love so much are moving back there. 

This is the last photo I'll have taken with my "niece" and "nephew" for a few years.

Couponing to a T.

I did an interesting deal today.

I noticed a while back I needed to replace some of my summer t-shirts.

And in the May issue of All You, there was a $5 coupon that was good on Just My Size shirts.

I had won a $50 gift card, so I used that to buy some extra All You magazines.

Today I purchased 5 t-shirts that were $6 each.  After coupons, today I paid $5 for ALL.  (Of course, I bought the magazines for the coupons, so at $1.88 each for those, I paid $2.88). 

But $2.88 for a new T-shirt isn't bad when you need them.  :)  I still have a few coupons left to use before they expire, too!  Might go with something more than just a plain t-shirt next time, but the plain ones were cheaper, and they are easier to pair with more items.

Book Review: Growing Up Amish

I felt a more appropriate name for “Growing Up Amish: A Memoir” would have been “Leaving the Amish: A Memoir”. I expected this memoir to be more about experiences as the author was a child, but I felt that instead he focused on the experience of trying to leave the Amish Church. Even so, it was an enjoyable read into the life of a culture that while they may live near me, I know little about them.


Ira Wagler was born in Canada as an Amish child. He recounts the moves, why they moved, and how the different Amish districts and bishops differed in what they allowed. The world was calling to him, and although he was afraid of what might happen if he left the Amish Church (meaning he would go to hell), the allure of the world beckoned.

He recounts tales of youthful reckless stunts and jobs across the western United States and into Canada.

He returns to the Amish Church. He gets baptized as a full member. His engagement is thought to be enough to settle him down. But it wasn't. He leaves. And returns. And leaves for good.

I appreciated he voiced his struggles. The Amish culture is all he knew growing up. Of course it has it's attractions, but so does the world with it's pick up trucks, radios, and blue jeans.

It may be considered another “Coming of Age” memoir, but this one is very different than any I've ever read. It is a good book, and I definitely enjoyed it.  It releases on July 1, 2011 and I encourage you to add it to your summer reading list.

FTC disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for a review. The opinions expressed about it are my own.