Think Before You Speak!!

Here are six reasons why you should think before you speak -
Have you ever spoken and wished that you could
Immediately take the words back...
Or that you could crawl into a hole?
Here are the Testimonials of a few people who did....

FIRST TESTIMONY:
I walked into a hair salon with my husband and three kids in tow
And asked loudly, 'How much do you charge for a shampoo and a blow job?' I turned around and walked back out and never went back. My husband didn't say a word... He knew better.

SECOND TESTIMONY:
I was at the golf store comparing different kinds of golf balls. I was unhappy with the women's type I had been using. After browsing for several minutes, I was approached by one of the good-looking gentlemen who works at the store. He asked if he could help me. Without thinking, I looked at him and said, 'I think I like playing with men's balls'

THIRD TESTIMONY:
My sister and I were at the mall and Passed by a store that sold a Variety of candy and nuts. As we were looking at the display case, The boy behind the counter asked if we needed any help.
I replied, 'No, I'm just looking at your nuts.' My sister started to laugh hysterically. The boy grinned, and I turned beet-red and walked away. To this day, My sister has never let me forget.

FOURTH TESTIMONY :
While in line at the bank one afternoon, My toddler decided to release Some pent-up energy and ran amok. I was finally able to grab hold of Her after receiving looks of disgust And annoyance from other patrons. I told her that if she did not start behaving 'right now' she would be unished.
To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening, 'If you don't let me go right now, I will tell Grandma that I saw you Kissing Daddy's pee-pee last night!'
The silence was deafening after this enlightening exchange. Even the tellers stopped what they were doing. I mustered up the last of my dignity and Walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow. The last thing I heard when the door closed behind me, were screams of laughter.

FIFTH TESTIMONY:
Have you ever asked your child a question too many times?
My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training and I was on him constantly.
One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch, in between errands
It was very busy, with a full dining room. While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny, So of course I checked. My seven-month-old daughter, she was clean. The realized that Danny. Had not asked to go potty in a while. I asked him if he needed to go, And he said 'No' I kept thinking
'Oh Lord, that child has had an accident, and I don't have any clothes with me.'
Then I said, ' Danny, are you SURE you didn't have an accident?' 'No,' he replied.
I just KNEW that he must have had an accident, because the smell was getting worse.
Soooooo, I asked one more time, ' Danny did you have an accident ? This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants, Bent over, spread his cheeks And yelled 'SEE MOM, IT'S JUST FARTS!!'
While 30 people nearly choked to death on their tacos laughing, He calmly pulled up his pants and sat down. An old couple made me feel better, Thanking me for the best laugh they'd ever had!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST TESTIMONY:
This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days And a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, In the future, likely think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow but don't get any! We had a female news anchor that, The day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, Turned to the weatherman and asked: 'So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?' Not only did HE have to leave the set, But half the crew did too they were laughing so hard!

Hunter is here!!

While my mom and stepdad are outta town we are watching Hunter for 9 days!! I picked him up on Friday. When he first came in--he spent about 2 hours just sniffing around--EVERYwhere! He is very good and respectful of couches, beds, floors and anything that is within reach, he just follows me around everywhere I go. Tomorrow we are going to introduce him to Molly--the American Bulldog that lives across the street. I love Molly--hopefully Hunter will too!! Sorry for the crazy eyes--apparently I don't know how to work my camera or do editing! O well...

Austyn Jane Assink

Here is a somewhat recent picture of my sweet niece, Austyn. My mom made this little bonnet for her--it's kinda big but she'll grow into it! I used to wear those when I was little too! I wish I could find a picture. It is part of the Dutch culture. I'm 100% Dutch :o) I can't wait to meet Austyn in 23 days!! YAY!!

Another 1/2 day!

I love being able to leave work at 11. Today I went to Razzoo's for lunch and had my fix of Rat Toes and a Hurricane. YUMMM! I was stuffed alllll day--until dinner time of course. Ha! I came home, watched Ellen made some cards and took a nap. It was nice. Mike came home a bit early and we went to Happy Hour at Blue Canyon at the Harbor in Rockwall again. This is becoming a ritual. The bartender even knows what we want to drink before we even sit down! Scary!?! It was such a nice night outside. I'm loving the cool breeze. I enjoy my morning coffee much more too!!

Last night I went to a "Southern Living Party" where basically you go through the catalog and buy stuff. I love to decorate BUT that stuff is pretty darn expensive. There were some REALLY cute hand painted pottery plates (to hang on the wall) but it was $99 for a set of FOUR! Yikes. I'm pretty sure my whole dish SET of 10 from Target was less than that. Ha! Anyway, I was suckered into buying stuff I didn't need, of course. I'm such a sucker for that. I always feel bad. I need to stay away from those kinda "parties". Is it really a party!?!? That's not really my kinda party!
My friend invited me to a cooking class for "Holiday Baking" in a few weeks! I'm so excited! We are also doing a 4-week cake decorating class together in the month of November. Get your sweet teeth ready!!! Here I come!!! Here are a few pics of my wedding cake...I wonder after my 4-week class if I can make this?!? Hehe!!

LIFE TODAY--Women of Faith

After work today I drove out to Euless to see a live taping of the TV Show LIFE TODAY. I was debating if I should go or not, since it's so far & didn't end until 9:30 (my bedtime) and I would still have to drive all the way home--by myself. BUT, I went and I'm SO glad. I had a great time--another one of my nights to myself (& strangers).
The guests on the show tonight was: Sheila Walsh (WOF speaker/author), Marilyn Meberg (WOF speaker/author), Lisa Whelchel (from the "Facts of Life"/WOF speaker), Mandisa (WOF musician & from "American Idol" and Josh Hamilton + his wife...(he plays baseball for Texas Rangers and was once addicted to drugs and basically hit rock bottom. His wife was one of the very few that stayed by his side and he pulled himself out.)
Everybodys stories and testimonies were great and just being on a Live TV set was fun in itself!! It reminded me when my dad took me to see a live taping of "Home Improvement" and we got to meet JTT!!! I'm pretty sure I almost peed in my pants & I didn't know what to say! To this day--I remember everything I was wearing that day. HAHA! Anyway, here are the pictures I took tonight...
I really wanted to RUN up to Merilyn and give her a huge hug (she is my FAVorite), but I had to stop myself--I didn't want to get kicked out :o). She is the one with grey/white hair.

This weekend...

This weekend was great! Friday night Mike and I went to Chili's for din-din and drinks.
Saturday I had to get up stupid early for the Race for the Cure 5k. It was fun! I went with my neighbor friend--Timarie, she is so fun. We took the train down to NorthPark Mall and the route for the walk was through the beautiful neighborhoods down in that area. I love the long, ranch-style houses down there. Everybody was out in front of their homes with coffee in hand...cheering the runners/walkers on for encouragement. Some even had fresh water tubs for the doggies that were "racing for the cure"! Cute!
After the race, Timarie and I went to see our friend (Karen) that had her sweet baby girl last Sunday. The baby's name is Fiona and she is SOOOO precious. We got the WHOLE scoop on the [all-natural] birth and asked probably way too many questions. But it was fun to have girl talk for a few hours while passing the baby around. :o)
Mike and I went to dinner with some friends to Silver Fox--it was pretty much DELISH. Kinda pricey--okay, really pricey...but it was really good. The same friends we went to dinner with took us to see the Canadian Brass Show. It was sooo amazing. I love dressing up and going to musical events like that! Musicals, symphonies, orchestras...Love it all but forgot the camera. Darn.

Today has been very relaxing--I cleaned out some drawers, ironed, laundry and rested. Mike is cooking dinner as I type. Baked chicken, green beans and wine. It smells so good. I'm so very thankful to have an amazingly wonderful husband.

New Cards

Here are a couple of cards I made tonight. The first is for my friend who just had a baby girl on Sunday. I get to meet sweet Fiona Kathryn tomorrow! The other is a Thank You card for a friend. :o)

I keep telling myself that I need to just make a bunch of cards so I don't have to stress out at the last minute when I need to send a Thank You or B-day Card...but now that I think about it, each card has a personality. It sounds corny--but for some reason I actually think of the person that I make the card for and it seems to be more special that way. Not like these are anything fancy--but it at least makes sense to me! Ha!

I'm headed to bed now since I have to be up in the FIVE o'clock hour tomorrow--that's gross for a Saturday! I'm pretty sure the only people in the world that will be up at that time will be me and the other million people WALKing in the Susan G. Komen thing tomorrow--oh and Ters surely will be up then too! Ta-Ta for now!!

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BUT PROBABLY DON'T

1. Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.
3. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a 'tittle.'
4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
5. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.
6. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
7. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
8. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was albino.
9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily.
10. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
11. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small sized dog
12. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
13. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww).
14. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
15. Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine.
16. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.
17. Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time (hence, multi-tasking was invented).
18. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
19. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
20. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before!
21. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, and silver!
22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.
23. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death.
24. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original 'Halloween' was a Captain Kirk's mask painted white.
25. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar (good to know).
26. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless).
27. The phrase 'rule of thumb' is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
28. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
29. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples.
30. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
31. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
32. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
33. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it.
34. George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart. 'Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's behind bars. O. J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the ONE woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and they haul her fanny off to jail.'

Small Change, Big Results

"Sara Reistad-Long has a little list of tiny but powerful life tweaks that will make you happier, healthier and--yes!--better!" --Oprah article

• Eat an apple before lunch. New research found that people who did consumed nearly 190 fewer calories during the meal.
• Brush you teeth with your other hand. Using your nondominant hand to do simple chores can improve your mood and your memory.
• Drink filtered Coffee. Unfiltered coffee has higher levels of both LDL and total cholesterol.
  
• Power up your walk. Targeting the abs and back, core work develops supple muscles and decreases the risk of injuries.
• Have a few walnuts. They contain liver-healthy omega-3's. In general, try to replace junk food with fruit, veggies, fish and whole grains.
  
• Pick your beat. Musical beats per minute roughly correspond to a person's heart rate during exercise. This dramatically improves motivation.
• Time major decisions. During the week before ovulation, both estrogen and testosterone increase in order to help prepare the egg. Make sure to take a few days to think about major decisions.
• Wake up with a plan. Rather than dwell on how awful you're feeling, make a goal you want to achieve before lunch.
• Practice the phrase "I forgive you". It's easier said than done, but after an argument, try thinking about forgiveness.
• Chew gum. The jury is still out on whether gum stimulates the appetite, but it seems to improve the thinking process.
  
• Purge toxic possessions. Dwelling on regrets and negative memories fuels depression, which is why clearing out the tangible reminders can give you a lift.
• Stand on the balls of your feet. Simply shifting your weight to the balls of your feet will help you feel more grounded.
  
• Add umami to your diet. Most kids can reel off the four basic flavors: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. But in 2000, a receptor for a fifth taste was identified: umami, which is a loosely defined as a savory, meaty flavor derived from the amino acid glutamate.
  
• Take ten minutes for daydreaming. Science is now supporting what many brilliant people already do: When you are stumped on a problem, the best way to solve it is to let your mind wander.
  

Extra Long Weekend

Thursday Night: I hosted Bunco at my house. It was such a success! I was nervous because I had 12 people coming to my house at 7pm and leaving my office at 5 puts me home at 6--6:20 depending on traffic. I was able to leave work a measley 10 minutes early! But in the end it DID help. I was lighting the candles in the guest bathroom and on the back porch literally ONE minute before the doorbell rang with the first guests!! Everything was perfect! Everybody left by 11pm-ish. Mike went to one of our neighbors houses to drink beer and hang out (his wife is in Bunco too), so that worked out great!

I was so happy I took off work on Friday--I think I needed it. It was nice to have the house to myself and sleep in! I went to see the movie Nick & Norah's Infinate Playlist...I wouldn't recommend it. It was cute but not as sappy or romantic as I hoped for. :o)

Saturday: Mike took a day road trip to College Station with his friend to see the A&M vs. K-State game. K-State won so he was excited. Sooo, again, I was able to sleep in and have the house to myself!! I went to get a pedicure and lunch with a friend down at the Harbor. It was fun. After that I came home to relax, went to church then to eat Sushi--all by myself. It was perfect!

Today: I slept in again and then I read my book all day and finished it! Mike and I are about to go to the new Ghengis Grill here in Rockwall--they just opened a week or 2 ago. Mmm.

Cheers!

My handsome nephews!

Here are my 3 nephews that live in California. They are all so adorable! I love them and miss them!



Aiden Allen




Skylar Sheridan



Logan Scott

New Card

In addition to reading 62 pages in my new book, stressing about hosting Bunco in 3 days, watching 'John & Kate Plus 8', reading more TTC articles and eating the DELISH dinner that Mike made (grilled chicken, new potatoes and wine), I found time to make a new card to add to my collection...




Time for some chocolate milk and some good S...leep! ;o)

It's October!!!

I love October! It does not quite feel like it yet--since today was 92 degrees and we went on the lake--but I have a feeling that in the next few weeks is when the temperature will start to drop and the cool breeze will come through...at least that's what I'm hoping for!
Mike went into the attic to dig out my (very few) fall decorations while I went to Lowe's to get some Fall flowers and tulip bulbs to plant. I'm excited. I think I'll save the digging for tomorrow morning. :o)

Pictures Below:

• Pilgrim Girl with pigtails--she hangs on the front door. I love her.
  

• Big orange pumpkin (I have 2 of them) go on each side of the sidewalk in the front yard...they light up at nighttime. The neighborhood kids love them and last year I came outside to 3 kids petting them like they were dogs?!? Crazy kids, ha!

• Ceramic pumpkins of various shapes and colors. (Thanks to my friend Amy for the idea!)

Just Amazing.

I took this picture when our cruise ship sailed through Juneau, Alaska. How amazing is this?!? The various colors of blue contrasted with the white, snow-filled mountains is just so beautiful. Every site was so breathtaking to me. My favorite moments on the cruise was sitting on the balcony with a glass of red wine while watching the amazing views of life! God is so good!