A plea to the people

I have been watching DWTS (Dancing With the Stars) since the very first show. I thought it sounded hokey and dumb and that the celebrities on the show would make a complete spectacle of themselves. Well, after the first show I had to eat my words. I am addicted and the addiction is still strong today. I enjoy every version of the show that I have seen from the British version, to Spain’s to Mexico’s Bailando por un Sueno (Dancing for a Dream). I record the program and if a dance is really good I will watch it a couple of times. I act like I am one of the judges and look for mistakes and give my own critiques.

This season has been kind of different for me. I still love the show but there are more stars that seems to be lacking than seasons past. I will admit that I struggle to watch Steve Wozniak dance. I actually fast forward the recording because I am embarrassed for him. I almost feel pain in my soul to watch him dance and he continues to be on the show. I think his employees must be voting for him or he made some secret computer program that calls in votes for him from random telephone numbers. Holly Madison and Steve-O are starting to be grouped in that Steve Wozniak category.

The big surprise this season for me is Ty Murray, the rodeo guy/Jewel’s husband. I’m shocked every week that he actually can move because he was so stiff and cardboard-like the first week that I thought OH CRAP THIS SEASON IS GOING TO SUCK! But the cowboy has been surprising me he really isn’t stiff as a board. Another surprise is Lil’Kim, you know she isn’t getting votes just from her fellow prison sisters.

In case you wondered, I don’t call or email in a vote. I think I did once the first season but I’m just not into making that kind of an effort. I do clap if I think the dance was really good. So please it’s time to get down to business. If you are voting for Steve Wozniak, Steve-O, Holly Madison, or know someone who is please make them stop. I can’t handle it anymore. I am ready to focus on the better dancing that doesn’t require me to fast forward the recorded program. Plus it is hard to watch the low scores and the sort of mean comments.

Monday, Snow Day, and Costco Roses

It's the beginning of another week. Monday's are never fun, but waking up to several inches of snow on the 30th day of March is terrible! I admit, I do have a terrible case of Spring Fever. I bought these gorgeous roses at Costco to cure my winter blues. The colors were so great, I had to splurge and bring them home to live with me. On a snowy day like today, I'm glad I can smell the roses.

Real Estate Friday

If you have ever lived in an apartment you probably dreamed of the day that you would be able to move to a bigger apartment or a lovely home with a bit of a yard that you could relax in. I currently live in an apartment that is too small for me and my precious things. As I looked at these three different apartments that Monica found I have come to the realization that I need to move into one of these apartments and finally I would not be lacking for space. I would have an issue with apartment #2 and how the bathtub is right there in front of the clear glass so that all of the people with binoculars could see me. I would have to have curtains or a folding blind or something to block the eyes of the poor people that might catch a glimpse.

We hope that you will enjoy these three different apartments:

Apartment #1 - $23,750,000.00 in New York City

Apartment #2 - $14,500,000.00 - New York City

Apartment #3 - $10,900,000.00 - New York City

Harem Pants-Will You Wear Them?

To wear or not to wear, that is my question. The new fashion trend for spring is harem pants. These little beauties are going for around $200.00 and more. Where could you wear these to? Perhaps to a MC Hammer/Vanilla Ice concert? Would your friends and onlookers laugh with reckless abandon when they see you strolling into the room in your fancy pants? I suppose I could wear these if I was having a fat day. After all, they are baggy with a drawstring waist. On second thought, maybe not. They'll just accentuate the puffiness.

Temperley London $785.00

Alexander McQueen $1,085.00

Sir Alistair Rai $215.00

American Retro $225.00

Cerulean $198.00

Balmain $1,770.00

This is just for you #2 (you know who you are)

Back when we started this blog we had to beg people to read our posts and you were there for us at the beginning. But after a few months we, Monica and Kim, came to the conclusion that you (you know who you are) just weren’t interested anymore. You acted offended by the Burt Reynolds/David Lee Roth question but we know that secretly you really liked it. And, I think that secretly you want to be David Lee Roth. We have left you alone about reading the blog and we haven’t heard or received any comments from you for, like FOREVER! We dealt with it and decided that was okay. You just didn’t get our humor. But then, today you tell Monica that we have Benny Hill music on our blog. There has never been Benny Hill music until now.

For a limited time only . . . Benny Hill everyone. And do you (you know who you are) want to know what else? This is now your theme song and this music will be playing in our heads every time we see you, talk to you on the phone and get an email from you.

Thursday quiz

I was watching The Biggest Loser the other night. You know the show, where there are several chubbies competing to see who can lose the greatest percentage of body weight. Anyway, I had just ate a healthy dinner of vegetables and decided to make a little snack to finish off my dinner. I prepared my snack and took it with me to eat while sitting on the couch. The Biggest Loser program had begun so I sat down and started to eat my snack and then I realized what a loser I was. I was eating s'mores while watching the TV program about fat people.

Now these were not your regular s'mores because I did not have a bar of chocolate to put on the graham cracker and marshmallow delight. I went high class and replaced the chocolate with Nuttella. If you don't know what Nutella is then you are missing out on a tasty piece of heaven that is here on earth. (By the way, nothing beats a delicious croissant with nutella spread on it. Sigh. Yum)

I wonder how many s'mores the people on The Biggest Loser have eaten while sitting on the couch and if they could feel their butt getting bigger by the second like I did in that moment when reality hit so hard?

The question for this week is this: have you ever caught yourself in a moment where you realized that you were completely contradicting yourself or the situation your were in? (You know what I'm talking about. You complain to friends and family that you don't have any money and then you spend $100 on a new pet animal.)

Little leprechauns are about today

Once again, my kids came to the kitchen for their breakfast. Every St. Patrick’s Day, a leprechaun (me) shows up and turns the milk green. My 9 year old daughter has a new breakfast beverage choice, Crystal Light Lemonade. This year the leprechaun turned the lemonade green as well. It’s fun to see how she still falls for the leprechaun routine. I know my 14 year old son secretly likes when the leprechaun comes, even though he thinks he is way too old for that sort of thing. I will be going to the grocery store to purchase some chocolate gold coins for some more tomfoolery. After they arrive home from school, I’ve decided to tell them (and try not to laugh) that I managed to catch the leprechaun while he was up to his same old shenanigans and demanded that he give me some of his gold. Then the coins turned into chocolate when I let him go. I know, it’s totally lame. It’s amazing the stupid things you do for your kids!

Enjoy the pictures from Irish Blessings & Ireland History and Landscape.

Real Estate Friday

Sorry, the price wasn't listed for this lovely home. I can definitely see myself living here with my husband, Mr. Knightley. I know what you are thinking, Knightley didn't live in Scotland but I don't care. Maybe he got a job and we had to relocate. Sigh. He is my Mr. Knightley.

Exceptional Scottish mansion house in the Kingdom of Fife

An exceptional Grade A Listed , Neo-Palladian mansion house in a beautiful country setting. Original forecourt garden. Walled garden. Extensive lawns including a cricket pitch and enchanting tree house.

Nearing the end of a substantial restoration project Melville House is one of the most significant houses in Fife. With 11 main bedrooms, a staff flat, two self-contained wings and charmingly converted Pavilions the accommodation is entirely flexible. Commercial kitchens in the basement allow for outside catering.

The adjacent courtyard stables and coach houses were converted sometime ago to provide classrooms with a central stage and games hall but these are now in the process of being upgraded to provide a cinema, gymnasium, showers and treatment rooms. The cricket lawn and tennis court are being upgraded and the most enchanting treehouse has been built to keep lookout over the front drive. Melville House has an attractive countryside setting in north east Fife. It is surrounded by farmland and woodlands with a back drop of rising hills behind.
North Fife is a popular and attractive area south of the Tay Estuary famed for its beautiful countryside.

There is both national hunt racing and polo just beyond Perth at Scone which also hosts the Scottish Game Fair. Perth is the gateway to the highlands and there is hill walking, skiing and water sports within easy reach.

I love winning

Those of you who know me know that I can be a competitive person. My favorite competitions are the ones that are secret; for example, Monica and I decided to read the book P.S. I Love You. We both secretly tried to finish the book first just to rub it into the other person. (Monica beat me by a couple hours.) When I was in high school I worked at a local movie theater. Working the concession stand can get boring after bagging so many bags of popcorn a night. So one night my friend Becky and I decided to have a competition with the other two workers (they didn’t know about the competition) to see who could bring in the most money in their drawer. We worked harder and faster and made tons more money than the other two people. Actually, they thought that Becky and I were crazy because we begged people to let us sell to them and told them that our popcorn was better than theirs. One guy heard our claims and ran over to us to buy popcorn. When by standers participate in my made up contests I find even more enjoyment in winning.

So last night we had a Relief Society dinner at the church building. The committee decided to have eight ladies sign-up to decorate one table each. Out of the kindness of my heart I decided to participate in the table decorating and secretly thought to myself that mine will be the best. Since it was a church dinner, I felt that my table should reflect a religious theme. I thought for a few days about it and it finally hit me, Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the World.” If you read on we are told that our light should not be hid under a bushel so I decided that I would have the centerpiece be a tall candelabra surrounded by greenery (bushel) and some live flowers that could be taken home as a favor for sitting at my table.

When the time came to sit my table filled very quickly. I told the ladies that they could take the primroses home and they were giddy. Their favorite part was the candy dishes with Peanut M&Ms and the Cadbury Mini-eggs on the table. It was a nice evening. I did take pictures of all of the tables so I will let you decide if I won the imaginary contest or not.

The first table is mine.