I made it!

Remember last week when I posted about the jellybean monogram? Well, I made it! I did go with multi colors. I love it.

Ravens photos from Game 5 3-27-10

My Favorite New Cleaning Product

I love the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Bath Scrubber!

You don't have to use much elbow grease with this baby and it's great at getting that anti-slip texture at the bottom of the tub nice and clean.

Trust me, get a box and be happy!

April Fools!

A friend and coworker reminded me of an April Fools joke that we played on our old boss a few years ago. She sent me these pictures to remind me. I forgot how utterly thorough we were. Have you ever done anything like this? If not, try it on your boss, it'll provide lots of laughs for years to come.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I am...(gulp!)...37!

Hopefully the year to come brings peace, happiness, and joy.

Thank you to all of my well wishers! Especially the two little ones this morning that gladly gave me some of their Easter candy (I had no idea they had snuck some and hidden it somewhere) and sang me a Happy Birthday song while I was in the shower.

Tonight it's dinner with the whole family after swimming practice at my favorite Chinese restaurant. I am looking forward to ordering the Pupu Platter! Yum!

Home Movie Night

I am REALLY liking this idea that I found at My Mix of Six! She gets generic tickets that her kid have to earn by doing extra chores around the house. Then she sets out her concessions. To watch the movie, get pillows and blankets, snacks, soda, etc, costs so many tickets each. What a fun and encouraging way to encourage a few extra chores!

Jelly Bean Wreath - Future Project

Love this idea that I found on 'A Little Great' today. I've been needing something Easter on my front door. The problem is keeping everyone from trying to pry the jelly beans off of it...

Ravens photos from Game 4 3-20-10

Ann Landers - The Station

One of my favorite articles of all times. I would read Ann Landers every single day in the newspaper as a young adult. One day this was in her column, and to this day I still have it posted on my refrigerator. I often think of this when my plans get too lofty for the future. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.Dear Ann Landers: In July of 1985 my wife was diagnosed as having terminal cancer. Shortly afterward, your column on the Station by R. J. Hastings appeared in Newsday.

For years, we had talked of "someday" going to Paris, a city I fell in love with as a GI. The day after I read the poem, I realized that it was time to pull into the "station".

As soon as the doctor OK'd the trip, we went to Paris and had the most beautiful vacation of our 43 years. My lovely wife passed away a year and half after the diagnosis.

I have since taken the liberty of passing copies of that column to friends. One purchased his "someday" car, another went on a long-delayed trip. But it can also mean visiting a sick friend - and that "someday" should be now.

There is so much hurt in looking back and remembering those things we intended to do and didn't.

Thank you, Ann Landers, for Paris - Irv Gaiptman, Plainview, N.Y.

Dear Irv: You were dear to let me know what "The Station" meant to your life. Here it is for all the others who haven't as yet learned that lesson:

The Station
by Robert J. Hastings

Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.

But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering - waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.

"When we reach the station, that will be it!" we cry. "When I'm 18." "When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes Benz!" "When I put the last kid through college." "When I have paid off the mortgage!" "When I get a promotion." "When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!"

Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.

"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Palm 118:24: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.

So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.

Eat Pray Love

I am still reading Eat, Pray, Love.

Yes, Still.

I know, you must think I have some kind of mental challenge that it takes me so long to read a single book.

But, really I don't.

My challenge is sleep.

I'm a night owl, so I stay up doing other things, like Facebook, and then when I finally head to bed, I start to read where I left off in the book last.

And, yes, I dog-ear the pages...sue me.

The problem is that I am so tired by the time I get to bed and I very rarely have a hard time falling asleep, so I can usually get only a couple of pages in at a time.

Basically, I read books two to four pages a day, at a time, if I'm lucky, so it takes me awhile.

But, I get there. I have always loved to read, and still do, but I also love my sleep.

Back to Eat, Pray, Love. I love this book.

There are parts in it that describe, almost to a T, some of the darkest moments of my life. I feel as if I rally behind this woman seeking...herself, God.

Love it.

Love it even more now that Julia Roberts is in the movie coming out. I saw a preview tonight and I just can't wait.

Go, read it.

But, try to read it faster than me, or you won't be in time for the movie.