Ecostore $25.000 Gift Cert winner!

Congrats to CCakaJapan #25
I have e-mailed you!

Be back soon

Sorry to be such a bad blogger. I have been a tad bit depressed and anxious lately and just this week my Carpal Tunnel (or whatever it is) is acting up, my hands get tingly and numb and I cant type too long without having to shake my hands out. I am hoping a week or so of taking it easy will get me back into shape. Please excuse my many absences lately. I will announce the ecostore winner tomorrow~

Whose fault is it?

The US mails... always. and mine of course.


Chase pisses me off. They took over Washington Mutual whom I have a credit card with. Payment is always due on the 16th of the month. So, I log in and Lo and Behold!!! Its now the 13th! I pay and it processes on the 15th and I am charged a late fee of $39.00. Picture me upset.


Well, perhaps not that upset, but you can thank me now for the gratuitous Hugh Jackman picture. Yummy!!!

Moving on... I call, I explain it was not on my on-line statement that it would change and I am told that a Change in terms was mailed to me In January and it was not their fault but it was the "US mails" fault so I still have to pay. So I tell them I did not receive this notice, so why it it now not the US mails fault, but mine? Why can they use that excuse but not me? My answer:



Well, it was Silence...not this creepy guy...but you get the point.

So I now wrote to the company and I am hoping for a better outcome. I guess they would rather lose my business (I also have a bank account) rather than refund me $39.00
They sound like a bunch of

Wordless Wednesday

The first cousins at Easter...I am large and in center! LOL

Toni's Quotable Sunday!

Time for Toni's Quoteable Sundays! I love this and participate every week. If you want to participate then do your own, head to Toni's site and sign her Mr. Linky and visit as many others as you can!

Dont forget to enter my Giveaway for a $25.00 ecostore Gift Cert HERE

My quotes today are on warm weather... or heat! Cause its almost 90 degrees today and I am remembering how much I do not like Summer... but I am taking what I can from this day... its not as hot as it could be!

"At the entrance, my bare feet on the dirt floor, Here, gusts of heat; at my back, white clouds. I stare and stare. It seems I was called for this: To glorify things just because they are."
~ Czeslaw Milosz

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."
~ Sam Keen

"Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January."
~ Hal Borland

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."
~ John Lubbock

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." ~Author unknown, commonly misattributed to Mark Twain

"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world." ~Ada Louise Huxtable

ecostore USA Review and Giveaway!

I had the chance to review products from ecostore USA where all of the products are made from Plant or Mineral products.
Here is what the site has to say:

"Our eco friendly, plant-based household cleaning products are as effective as the leading supermarket brands, and our body and baby care ranges are gentle on your skin and are simply beautiful to use. Our pet care products let you spoil your pets with our nourishing, rich blends of ingredients and show them how much you care by reducing their exposure to unhealthy chemicals.

All of our products are made from plant- and mineral-based ingredients, free of toxic chemicals that bring people closer to nature with non-toxic, environmentally safe solutions that also help to reduce our carbon footprint."

I was sent a few items to try out. First was the Lemon grass soap WOW, the smell was so fresh, fragrant and clean, and pleasant. My skin was left soft and wonderfully scented.



The site had this to say:

"All ecostore USA soaps are created from pure vegetable oils and natural fragrances. They are gentle on the skin and perfect for the kids too. Our cleansing Lemongrass soap is the perfect soap for the whole family. Lemongrass oil is soothing and leaves a pleasant, light lemon scent."

I also reviewed the Manuka sandalwood Shampoo. This shampoo is helpful to people who suffer from Dandruff. Now instead of people asking me when I went to the mountains and why do I still have snow on my shoulders... people just tell me my hair looks shiny and healthy! LOL
It works, and its good for the environment. It is a win/win!

April is Earth month and orders of $25.00 or over at ecostore USA will have FREE SHIPPING! YAY

Overall I was impressed by ecostore USA and its products and its commitment to doing right by our beautiful planet! This company is dedicated to providing you with safe, natural and economical products that do not harm our Mother Earth. Thanks ecostore USA for this opportunity!

Now for the Giveaway...ecostore USA is offering one of my readers a $25.00 Gift Certificate to spend as they will!

How do you win? All you have to do is head over to ecostore USA and tell me what you might spend the gift certificate on, BUT, it must be something other than the items I reviewed, or your entry will be invalid. For extra entries you can: 1. Subscribe to my blog and/or 2. Put my button on your sidebar (Button and code is on the top right of my blog) 3. Follow me on Twitter (Click on icon on my left sidebar) AND tweet this contest and show me where ya did it. Make sure you make a separate comment when you do those things.
IF YOU DO NOT GO TO ecostore USA AND PICK AN ITEM FIRST, THESE WILL NOT COUNT. USA ONLY AND CONTEST WILL END ON APRIL 27, 2009 AT 6:00 PM PST

So get to it! Thanks again ecostore USA for this opportunity!

There's a sucker born every minute

And I don't really care if its me.

I was heading out to lunch after I went to the bank to deposit my work check... I saw a man on the corner with a sign saying "Will work for food" Typical... you see it often. What got me was he looked "normal", Lucid and he had a dog. Animals always get to me. I am sure they get others too.

Yes, I have heard the stories about how some of these people have nice cars, nice homes and their job is to stand outside and act homeless. I know this, and being in a hurry I just thought "how sad" and went by... but in a few minutes I turned the car around and went back and handed him $5.00... because I thought "what if this was me and my dog (or cats)" "What if he really is hungry?" So, I handed him the money and told him to please feed his dog too. He thanked me, said he was having a hard time right now.. he acted and spoke just like anyone else you would meet in the store, in a line, on the street. And I felt like I did the right thing.

But I know... he could have been scamming me. But I also know that that is on him if it is so. I did my part to brighten up someones day...to make their load a little easier. And I hope that the spirit moves him when he gets back on his feet, and I hope he does.

Doing good things doesn't require going to another country... doesn't require your life savings... doesn't require your life.
It requires your compassion, your caring, your empathy. It could be holding a door, helping in a soup kitchen, donating food and clothes... or handing $5.00 to a homeless guy and his dog. And hoping that your good deed will go full circle and come back to you if you need it.

So today... I felt good, I felt sad, I felt glad. I hope he feels the same way, but I hope I helped eased some of the sadness I saw in his eyes and his dogs eyes. If only I could ease it for the many others out there in the same situation. I can only try my best to do so. I will do my best. I can make a difference, even if its only a small one. Will you?

Wordless Wednesday

This is one of the best from Easter... sad.
I am awaiting pics for a family member...

Tuesday tidbits!

First of all, let me assure you. I am not in the "Crazy House" AKA Mental Hospital. I did not need a straitjacket... nor did my kids freak out, scream, cry, fight ect... on the 2.5 hour trip to and from my cousin's house for Easter. In fact, I think someone cloned my kids and left in their place those impostors. Because they were sweet, well behaved and quiet in the car. and out of it too. Too bad the next day they took the clones away and brought back the originals. They probably couldn't handle it. I barely can, and I am "The Mother" LOL

I do have to apologize for my lack of posting and visiting lately. I promise I will be back to normal soon. We have been thinking of moving, so I have been focusing on that. We are planning to move into a cheaper rental and they are hard to find and those damn applications take about 10 hours to fill out and a PHD. UGH

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!!! I will be checking on you all out as soon as my boss starts working again!!! LOL

Quotable Sunday!

Time for Toni's Quoteable Sundays! I love this and participate every week. If you want to participate then do your own, head to Toni's site and sign her Mr. Linky and visit as many others as you can!

Today my quotes are on Childhood... since *to me* Easter is about Spring, joy, and the innocence of childhood. Its so hard to believe that we all used to believe in the Easter Bunny!

"There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again." ~Elizabeth Lawrence

"Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now."
~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"

"There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in." ~Deepak Chopra

"If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older." ~Tom Stoppard

"Old age lives minutes slowly, hours quickly; childhood chews hours and swallows minutes." ~Malcolm de Chazal

"If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life."

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." ~ Rachel Carson

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." ~
~ John W. Whitehead

Have a wonderful Easter!

Fantastic Friday!

Well, lets hope so!

Ive been a bit lax on writing and visiting blogs this week... I am sorry to all the people who visit me and whom I usually visit. Work (How dare they!) takes up time lately and my mommy forum too. Throw in a dash of drama and things just need my attention.

It is a fantastic Friday because of it being Friday at last!!! YAY!!!
Even though the market is closed I still have to work which is a bummer. But I feel good because I got something done at work that I was putting off. Its easy for me to "talk" here... to make a remark, be witty (in my mind at least...hahahaha) but its hard for me to be like that with people I do not know in "real life" But I was able to call someone and get what I needed with minimal embarrassment and/or stumbling over my words. I hate that I do that.

Easter is the time we spend with my cousins... so in essence we drive 100 miles in order to feast, visit, egg hunt and enjoy being together. The visiting is awesome (except for my posturing and snobbish cousin-in-law) but the drive is not so fantastic... fights in the first 5 minutes followed by this:




AHHHHH, the joys of having children.


What more could I ask for?




HAHAHAHA
Totally kidding... right now. Ask me again on Sunday night.

Have an awesome Easter my bloggy friends!

Wordless Wednesday

Rocks in the Monterey Bay

Not me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. do yours and head on over to sign the Mr Linky!

Ahhh, Monday again...

Just a little list of things I did NOT do this lovely weekend.

1. I did not eat entirely too much, and eat all the Pringles, Peanut butter Easter Eggs ( I also did not hide them from my kids) Popcorn, Ice Cream and crackers. I would not do that since I am watching my figure... watching it expand!

2. I did not take those Pringles and instead of throwing away the crumbs, I did not... I would not put my mouth to the can and pour them into my mouth. How uncouth!!! That's something *I* would never do. Maybe those other ghetto people would. Not me.

3. I did not obsess on my fluff friends Easter Hunt... I am so not an obsessive person. Just ask Olivia Newton-John, who does NOT have me on her list of potential stalkers... (just kidding)





4. I did not dye my hair using 2 different brands and colors of dyes cause I was too lazy and cheap to go to the store and get a matching pair. (I use 2 since I have thick hair) I did not get the dye all over my ears, my cheek, my elbow or my cleavage cause I was in a hurry and annoyed that I have to cover my grey hair and I am not that old. Well... maybe 41 IS old. My hair does not look like this:




5. I did not wear the MuuMuu my mom gave me around the house and outside. I would not do that. I mean, MuuMuu's are very flattering and all... I would not wear it for the simple fact that I might get attacked for being so hott... and so fashionable. Jealousy sucks. Just ask Kristina and her Snuggie...

Quotable Sunday!

Time for Toni's Quoteable Sundays! I love this and participate every week. If you want to participate then do your own, head to Toni's site and sign her Mr. Linky and visit as many others as you can!

My quotes today will be on intelligence.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson (1958 - ), cartoonist, "Calvin and Hobbes"

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare." ~ Harriet Martineau (1802 - 1876)

"To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires brains." ~ Mary Pettibone Poole, A Glass Eye at a Keyhole, 1938

"Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun." ~George Scialabra

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." ~ Albert Einstein

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." ~ Bertrand Russell

"Intelligence appears to be the thing that enables a man to get along without education. Education enables a man to get along without the use of his intelligence." ~ Albert Edward Wiggin

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination." ~ Albert Einstein

"Wit is educated insolence." ~ Aristotle

Industrial Joe coffee review

First of all a big thanks for the wonderful girls over at Extraordinary Moms for hooking me up with this opportunity. Check them out!

I had the chance to review Industrial Joe coffee and despite my hesitation to give up my bland and boring store brand coffee (bought for budget purposes) I decided to give the Bold Roast Ethiopia a try!



Ahhh.... my nose was the first one to perk up and take notice...it smelled DIVINE! I was hoping that the taste could live up to the smell. I was not disappointed! This is what Industrial Joe had to say about this blend:

One of our favorite coffees, it is grown at an altitude of over 5000 feet, hence, the beans are quite small and the flavors and aroma very concentrated. You will notice the Blueberry and sweet, citrus-like acidity. Ethiopia is the land where wild coffee was originally cultivated, fertilized naturally with bananas and other fruit shade trees.

WOW! I feel very high class and very Cosmopolitan now. Thank you Industrial Joe!

There are may other blends and strengths. Wanna try a few? Then get the mild/medium/bold Sample Pack



All in all, I was impressed by the aroma and the flavour. It was bold, but not bitter. I enjoyed every drop and I think you should head on over and try Industrial Joe coffee yourself!

Wordless Wednesday

Friends... I hope they always are.