Open Doors

When you open a door, many different outcomes may happen.

If you leave a door closed and do not see what the possibility is behind a closed door, what you have is what you get.

As a child, we open doors all the time. We are curious to see what kind of treasures are just waiting for us to find them. When presented with a new door, are you taking the chance to see what treasure awaits you or are you scared to venture out into the unknown?

Most of the time, as adults we don't seek out new doors. I wonder, are we limiting ourselves in order to stay on the safe, predictable and happy path of life? Perhaps it's time for us to look for new doors and show Little Guy what new treasures we find.

4th of July - Posts to come to let you know what's up. We have been busy looking for new doors and finding the right one for our family.

Somewhat related - the website has completely changed how it looks to create posts. This new door is going to take some time getting use to. :)

Millionaire Drawbacks?

This morning I was checking on my nephew (I both hate and like Facebook. I like that I can see pictures of those far away but hate how it the means of communication for some people - which is why I log in every 4 months and ignore "friend" requests people who would ignore me on at the party or on the street and this means, in my haste I have probably ignored real friends because I just don't look at the requests...but I digress), he had tubes put in his ears yesterday. Our homepage is MSN which is probably fairly common.

Now what do you think I saw as one of the scrolling headlines?

8 drawbacks of being a millionaire

Seriously!?!

Well MSN and Katie Adams, I think if given the opportunity, I would take on those drawbacks.
 

One Girls Take - Instant Replay

Quite frequently since the incident I have heard all about instant replay. There must be some pretty slow news days to have the debate last so long or, maybe, the average baseball fan is just tired of the human error factor...you know, real life where we make mistakes. It's OK for the human factor when it's the perfection of an athlete but the human factor in intolerable when a mistake occurs.

All this talk has me thinking - what would it be like to have instant replay in every day life? Just thinking about the possibilities brings a grin to my face. Now this just might be an idea I can get behind.

Just think about it. All those times your significant other uses a tone you do not appreciate (nothing Big Poppy would ever do of course). No longer will it be your opinion. Stroll on over to the replay monitor, gently place the headset on your loved ones head and watch with great joy when they finally hear the not so pleasant tone.

Or

How about the guy driving like a maniac. You could patiently follow him home, knock on the front door and with his family watch as he zips in and out of traffic 90 mph. Think of the gratification showing a maniac driver the road trouble they caused and know he will be getting an earful from his in home back-seat driver at the supper table.

Hmmm, I'm starting to get behind the idea of instant replay. This could really be useful in our lives.

There are more possibilities with instant replay.

Have you ever been in the heat of the moment and your words failed you? Hours or days later you have the PERFECT response. Fire up the replay, bring everyone back to the moment and BAM, hit them with your fitting remark.

And the time you were telling co-workers about the horrify yet funny article you read on-line about a family living out of their car and how you felt so bad because you couldn't believe this was happening but at the same time felt guilty because you could not help but laugh.... Well, it would never be brought up again because you surely wouldn't have been naive enough not to know what The Onion paper. There is no way, your own "you're so pretty" moment would be replayed over and over and over again. (This absolutely did not happen to me. I also have some ocean front property in Arizona for sale for a great price.)

Well, on second thought, perhaps instant replay isn't such a good idea. Maybe we should let people mistakes and own up to the blunder. It might just be OK to remember we are human and we all make mistakes. Besides, there is always Darwin's survival of the fittest theory. How long would we really last in a career if our mistakes were greater than our benefit.

Nevertheless, that's just one girls take. You can take instant replay but I'll leave it.

Taken the final season at the old stadium.

Seeing Everything

Sometimes, when I look into these big beautiful blue eye, I'm amazed how these eyes are seeing everything.

I wonder when is it when we start to see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear.

How soon does it start? When do we start looking around us thinking the grass is greener either here, where we are, or there, where they are?

When we go to Big Poppy's ball game, I want Little Guy to see every thing there.

If Little Guy only sees what he wants to see or hear what he wants to hear, he misses out on a lot of game. That might be a blue sky in the background of the playing field, but you still need to keep your eye on the field of action. If you only look at the playing field, you miss the beauty of the sky.

The world is full of sounds and color. To limit ourselves to only seeing what we want to see and hear what we want to hear limits our playing field.

What we see or hear might not always be great, without seeing or hearing it we cannot do much to improve ourselves. I hope, my Little Guy is able to see and hear all, filter what needs to be filter and love the world around him. It is a beautiful place and most days, people are doing the best they can.

And a great big hug or smile never hurt anyone.

Elevator Etiquette?

I admit, I do not really think about elevator etiquette all that often. Most days I try to take the stairs up to the office. Some mornings I'm lazy and call the elevator. Other mornings, someone was kind enough to hold the elevator for me...while I know taking the stairs is better for me I figure I should not slap someone else's random act of kindness in the face. When leaving the office, I normally take the elevator down - it's difficult to navigate the stairs going down in heels (too bad I am rarely wearing heels).

Once in the elevator, I am amazed when it is used to go up or down one flight of stairs. Elevators are slow. You have to wait for them. The doors open and close on turtle speed. I do not understand how some people going up or down one floor have that much extra time to stand around and wait.

I know there is elevator etiquette. I probably don't follow it most of the time (gasp - I talk to strangers and tell them to have a good day). I am also a modern woman. I don't expect special treatment because I am a girl. I wait for the blue hairs and the rude to get off the elevator before me.

Oh, do you see where I'm going.

The other day, on my way home, I jump into the elevator with about 6 guys. The only floor pushed was 2 (the walkway to the parking ramp). I was the last on the elevator. Now mind you, I'm modern and I'm conditioned by these young guys (most of whom I work with) that the "new elevator etiquette" is to exit youngest to oldest (and some young men wonder why they are single). The 6 guys I joined on the elevator appeared to by my age or slightly older. I am also conditioned to believe men of this age always wait for the ladies to exit first.

Imagine my surprise, when I am the last on the elevator - picture me, front and center of the elevator waiting for the doors to slide open - to have not one but two guys jump out in front of me while the doors were sliding open. There was a quick "excuse me". As I walked to my car, I was struck by this rudeness for some reason.

My Little Guy better follow proper elevator etiquette.

Don't touch my food!

Happy Mom and I figured it was about time Little Guy try something new to eat, so I made him an avocado and cream cheese spread, at the recommendation of Happy Mom. If you're interested, the recipe is quick and easy.

Scrape the insides of a ripe avocado and mash with a fork in a bowl; add 1/3 cup of cream cheese and mix together; spread the mixture onto a slice of bread and enjoy! It is recommended to cut into pieces, after putting the spread on, if giving to a little one.

Little Guy accepted the challenge to feed himself. When I asked if he wanted my help, cause you know he's kinda missing his mouth, I got this look:

If you touch my food I'm gonna hurt you!

Okay, okay you do it yourself Little Guy:

Haha, I like how it feels on my skin. Who needs to pay for a facial when you can do it yourself? :)

                                                                      

Cryptic Codes, Strange Events and Truth or Fiction

I have a problem. According to a few friends, I like boy books. Now, through book club I have found another "boy" book series to read. On the down side, The Doomsday Key, written by James Rollins, is the sixth book in the Sigma Series. On the up side, this means there are five books I will need to figure out when I can read them (and what fake holiday I can make up to get others to gift these books to me - in hardcover, because sometimes I am a snob).

The Doomsday Key offers up cryptic codes. The historical is interwoven with an adventure to find the key, the antidote, to a long dormant strain of fungus. I enjoy seeing the historical symbols and the play on what these symbols may have meant and the clues it may lead your imagination. The way James Rollins brings together fact and fiction to develop the race between good and evil can make your heart pump.

I have struggled to tell you about this book. Partly out of guilt, I waited to read and did not finish before book club met but also because I do not want to do the book injustice. All I can say, if you enjoy Vince Flynn, Dan Brown or Robert Ludlum books, you will not be disappointed picking up something written by James Rollins.

There may be question or two regarding how my boyfriends Mitch Rapp and Edward Cullen are handling this new series. As of today, Mitch is still my number one and Edward number two (and thank goodness Big Poppy takes me serious enough to talk to me about my boyfriends). My favorite player in The Doomsday Key is Seichan, even though I am unsure if she's a good guy or bad guy...my guess good guy who uses means you do not expect from a good guy. What can I say, I'm a sucker for the misunderstood.

Counting The Days

Well if you live in the Midwest it may look like winter will never end. I'm here to let you know there is an end in sight and it's only 54 days away. I'm talking about opening day for our favorite baseball team. No, I'm not talking about that cute little club in the Upper Midwest, who's filthy rich ownership fails to invest a fraction of their billions in the team. I'm talking about the New York Yankees. On April 4th, 2010, they begin their journey to back to back Championships, starting with the hated Boston Red Sox. They don't deserve to have their own link. I wouldn't want to subject you to mediocrity:)

Little Guy says: "Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks, I don't care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root for the Yankees, if they don't win it's a shame. For it's one, two, three strikes your out at the old ball game."

Time Management aka Choice Management

I received this in an email at work. I have always firmly believed this and thought it would be useful to pass along. I cannot give proper credit to the author - if you know feel free to let me know I'll update to give credit. I know it comes from a monthly newsletter.

Time Management aka Choice Management

It's a great time of year to write about time management, especially since I don't believe there is such a thing. How many hours in a day do you have? 24? I know that to be true! So...how can you ever say, "When I have more time..." or "When I make the time..." or "When I find the time..."

I'd like to meet the person with that formula and retire rich.

What you do have is choice! You choose to get up an hour earlier and work out or you choose to sleep in. You choose to stay up an hour later and read a book or you choose to go to sleep. You choose to work on the weekend or you choose to stay home and play with your kids. Let's call a spade a spade here and admit that what you do or do not "have time for" is merely an excuse for owning your choices to not make it a priority. OK, OK, you can call it priority management or choice management but for heaven's sake get off the time management bandwagon. Stop buying all the books, all the organizers and own your time choices. When you do, magic will happen. You will see that you have miraculously "found" the time to accomplish more meaningful things in your life. It's all about life management. Now that's shrewd!

What choices are you making with your time?