This squirrel is on CRACK!

We tried this cereal and let me tell ya it's no Peanut Butter Crunch Heads, but it'll do in a pinch if you have a hankering for a peanut buttery taste. In TN we liked the store brand (Bi-Low) Cap'N Crunch knock off and here in Cali this is the best we found. The real deal is too sweet. This crack like substance pictured here is just right.

I can't believe this is at kid level in the Vons stores! What are they thinking? Are kids today just not hyper enough? Have a few yougnin's not yet been labeled ADD or ADHD?

Busy Week

Tomorrow night I'll be attending a networking function for Antelope Valley Business Women. I had some business materials printed up so I could distribute them. I'm looking forward to making new contacts .

Wednesday I have a meeting regarding a parade Nov. 11th. I was asked to oversee and organize some of the people, tasks, events, and details leading up to the event and of course on the day of the parade too. This will be an interesting endeavor and a great opportunity to meet lots of interesting folks.

Thursday night the High Desert Toastmasters meeting will be held at my house since our usual meeting location is not available. My sweetie has volunteered to make chili and other goodies. Should be a lot of fun!

Friday a few of us are trying to coordinate efforts to go to Mojave to check out the Sept. 30th Contest location. I'm in charge of the breakfast fare. I want to see the space before the 30th because I'll only have a 1/2 hour to set up. I want to know the layout and what resources are available before the big day so I can better plan for it. I need to be there about 7:30 am as things will kick off around 8:00 am. Unfortunately this is about 45 minutes from home so that'll be an early morning for me and Erik. He volunteered to help out with that too, what a guy! He wants to make little baby quiches. Whatever makes him happy. I like his quiches so I'm sure they'll be a big hit at the contest.

On Saturday, the hubby's birthday, I'm competing in the Toastmater's A4 Area Contest for District 33. That's from 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm. My poor baby will be left alone for a few hours, but then once the contest is over, he'll be stuck with me again. He said he'd attend the contest, isn't he the best?! I told him he doesn't have to unless he really, really, REALLY wants to. It's his b-day after all he should do what he wants.

I'm also gathering supplies this week for the upcoming events. The more I can do ahead of time the better!

LARRY!!!!

My buddy Larry from St. Louis stopped by yesterday to catch up and watch some football with the hubby. It was great to see him, the last time we got together was over a year ago... maybe even 2 years ago?! He's in CA on business and drove up from Irvine to see us.

It was fun to hear what's happening with him, his kids and life in general. He spent 3 weeks in Spain earlier this summer so it was neat swapping stories of European adventures.

He heads back to Missouri on Thursday and I'm afraid I won't be able to get together with him again before then... but at least I got to see him at all. I miss my friends in St. Louis. Hopefully someday the hubby and I can make our way East and visit them all.

Beverly Hills 90210

Last night the hubby and I attended a party in Beverly Hills. I didn't know what to expect and went with no agenda or preconceived notions (well, mostly). I have found that doing this prevents feelings of frustration and disappointment. Also, I usually have much more fun as I'm more open to just letting things naturally happen and occur as they ought to.

Last night was a blast! I met some incredibly nice and fun people. A hairdresser, personal trainer, a CSI, several lawyers, an interior designer, horse trainers/breeders, and many others. It was a very interesting evening to say the least. The open bar and food were great and the setting was amazing! Beautiful landscaped yard, cool blue pool, tables with candles, and soft yard lighting all came together to create a gorgeous scene.

I was initially nervous going to this party because I wouldn't know anyone there other than my spouse. After about 20 minutes we both mingled separately and found our own little crowds to gather with. We joined forces again late in the evening, not too long before returning to our Palmdale residence. We even met someone who also lives in Palmdale. Go figure.

DVR

I love our Digital Video Recorder (DVR). It's an evil contraption that I don't know how I lived without. The DVR allows me to record up to 2 shows at the same time?! Then, once recorded, I can fast forward, rewind, pause... whatever my heart desires. I can even pause live TV?! How crazy is that? Now I tape all the shows I like then watch them when I want - which is usually at 6:30 am during my 45 minutes of workout hell. However, my new best friend makes my morning workouts much more bearable.

I even tape shows that I think Erik will be interested in and sometimes we watch them together - or not, depending on the show.

I really love that I can just pause it whenever I want so I can ask Erik lots of questions. We did that last night during PBS's "Catherine the Great" which we watched "live." Since the hubby is such a history buff he tends to know lots about all sorts of stuff that usually I don't find very interesting. However, the History Channel, Discover, and PBS all seem to provide excellent and entertaining shows about historical events and figures that even I enjoy. Now thanks to DVR we can enjoy these programs together and rewind, fast forward through commercials, or pause at our leisure without having to record on the VCR or some other gizmo.

Of course now I'm probably watching more TV than I normally would... oh well, there are worse habits I could have.

Precious Stone

"A wise woman who was traveling in the 
mountains found a precious stone in a 
stream. The next day she met another 
traveler who was hungry, and the wise 
woman opened her bag to share her food.  
The hungry traveler saw the precious stone 
and asked the woman to give it to him. She  
did so without hesitation. The traveler left, 
rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the  
stone was worth enough to give him security
for a lifetime. But a few days later he came
back to return the stone to the wise woman.  
"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how
valuable the stone is, but I give it back in
the hope that you can give me something
even more precious. Give me what you have within
you that enabled you to give me
the stone."

-Author Unknown


A friend sent me the above and I thought it was too beautiful to not share.
"Precious Stone" is linked to this and other inspiring nuggets.

Surfin' Hippos

I like hippos. I think they're cute and who knew they liked to surf? O.k., me. But only because National Geographic had a special on surfing hippos. Surfing hippos! How crazy fun is that? Word to the hippo!

Wisconsin

This time next week the hubby and I will be in Wisconsin visiting the folks. I'm looking forward to it, it'll be a lot of fun. My parents are hosting a family reunion for my mom's side. I'll get to see my brother, who currently only lives about 1 - 2 hours away but it takes traveling out of state to actually "see" and visit with him. Oh well, if that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

Unfortunately we won't be spending much time in WI, just the weekend and there's so much I'd love show Erik. For instance Madison can be a lot of fun! And of course I'd love to be able to get together with friends, but that just isn't an option. Maybe next year we can plan another trip for a couple weeks to see the people and places that I miss.

Order Up

I've been working on my business plan and researching my new venture: Order Up.

I'm getting closer to being an entrepreneur. I'm so excited.

A friend is helping me with the website and soon that'll be launched.

Such a great opportunity and I owe it all to my wonderful and supportive best friend. Thank you Erik! I love you more than all the stars in the universe...

Say what?

This Thursday will mark my 3rd week of Toastmasters. I'm looking forward to it. It's a great group of people and the meetings give me lots of wonderful opportunities to learn and grow.

Last week I gave my first "official" speech. It went well. I spoke a bit too fast... which didn't surprise me in the least! But I seemed to do most other things well.

Apparently I have good facial expression, body language and hand gestures. Now if I can only figure out how to s l o w i t o n d o w n. I'm sure it'll come with time.

Today I attended a different club's meeting, just to check it out. It was run very similar to the Thursday night group. And being summer it seems to be difficult to get everyone to show up.

I helped out which was nifty since the "job" I had today is the same one I'll be doing Thursday night. Good practice! I was the Timer. My responsibilities included timing each speaker and giving them a heads up when a certain amount of time had expired. The speakers like to know how much time they have left, hence the purpose of the "timer" position. Each speaker has a time limit and if they do not make it or continue speaking beyond the limit they are disqualified. For each speech the audience votes on their favorite and the winner is awarded a ribbon. Therefore each speaker tries hard to not be disqualified - it is a competition after all.