The Taco Bell Work Ethic

Has anyone else seen this Taco Bell commercial?  Wow - just a buck for those loaded grillers or any medium drink.  What a deal!  Notice anything else?


Yes, Taco Bell has set up their "Happier Hour" to run from 2-5 pm when these people are obviously supposed to be at work.  And Taco Bell is blatantly encouraging people to lie - or "say whatever you gotta say" - to get to Taco Bell for these deals.

I'm sorry, but that just seems wrong.  Is that really OK in today's society? 

Chat with a Real Video Psychic

I just found myself on a site that offers live chat with a real video psychic.  There's a guy - I guess he's the psychic - just waiting for someone to click and start a psychic chat with him.  They say you can start for FREE.  After that I don't know how much it costs, but they offer a money-back guarantee.  Does that mean if you don't like the answers you get that you don't have to pay?  Or if what the psychic says isn't true or doesn't come true, that you get your money back?

I'm not sure how it works, really, but they offer Intimate, Private 1-on-1 Readings and all advisers are screened and tested.  You can start with the free online psychic who is just waiting to chat or you can choose from hundreds of psychics listed on the site.  You can see their pictures, read bios, get customer testimonials, and even join the free public chat - which seems like a good way to get a feel for each person. 

However, I don't think this is something I'd ever do.  I guess I don't really have any questions I want answered - and I'm kind of leery about how these people supposedly know the answers.  They're either messing with some spirits I don't want anything to do with, or they're really good at reading people and saying the right thing - which would be harder to do via online chat than in-person, or so I'd think.  Either way, I think I'll pass.

How about you?  Have you ever or would you ever consult a psychic?  Are you more likely to do so knowing you can do so from the comfort of your own home with just your computer and your webcam?

Do These Pants Make My Butt Look Fat? Errr, Flat?

I always thought the question was - "Do these pants make my butt look fat?"  But now it seems women are worried about their butts looking flat.  They can even buy Padded Butt Enhancer Panties to 'give your figure a sexy shape' and make that butt pop.  Some of them are even called Booty Pop!  And here I thought I was exercising to keep my butt small...

So, what do you think - do these pants make my butt look fat?  Errr, flat?

And does it really matter?  It's not like I'm signing up for free online dating at Zyngle.com or trying to impress anyone, right?  I'd like to think my husband likes me the way I am.

Of course, before we got married, I made him promise me he'd love me even if I got fat.  I didn't think to ask him about the booty pop thing...

How about you - what do you think about these padded enhancements?  There must be people buying them.  Are you one of them.  Come on, you can tell me!

Is This a Problem?

Let's forget for just a minute that I talk to myself. 

I keep finding myself thinking about things.  I know what I'm thinking about.  Then I open my mouth to say something out loud - and something completely different comes out.  I'm thinking about laundry and the ironing I need to get done this week.  I start to say something about ironing, and instead I say something about doing dishes.  I'm thinking I need to vacuum the floor, and I say something about...  Well, it's usually something random - you know, a part of my everyday life, something that's in my brain, just not on the surface where I'm actively thinking about it.  And that's what pops out, instead of what I'm actually thinking about.

So what do you think?  Is this a problem?  Is my brain getting scrambled?  Is that an excuse for getting distracted when I'm trying to accomplish stuff?

Question About Milk

I need your help with this, OK?  Jeffrey and I were at Walmart the other evening, and this is what the milk case looks like.  I would have taken a picture of the 2% because that's what I always buy, but they don't have both brands together, so Vitamin D it is.
 

So, if you were going to buy a gallon of milk, which brand would you buy?  I know which one I'd buy, but I'd really appreciate it if you would take my survey and let me know.  Thanks!

Road Trip, Baby!

Image via Wikipedia

Here we are at the beginning of a long weekend, Memorial Day, the unofficial beginning of summer.  That means people all over the country will be hitting the road for the first road trip of the summer - whether visiting family or hitting the beach somewhere, hopefully one with NO SMOKING. (So irritating to set up everything at the beach only to have some stupid chain smoker set up camp right next to my blanket!)

Anyway, about that road trip.  This morning on GMA, they asked -If you could take just one CD with you on a road trip, which one would it be?

We always take plenty of CDs with us when we go on a road trip, but if I had to choose only one, it would have to be Pink's Funhouse.  I can listen to that CD over and over again.  In fact, there have been plenty of times I have done just that.

How about you?  Which CD would you take?

My Options are Limited

I was filling out a consumer product survey I got in the mail, and some of the questions were practically impossible to answer.  For instance, asking about storage bags, they wanted to know about various brands, and they wanted to know how often I buy each one.  The options were: 3 or more times per month or 1 or 2 times per month.  That's it, no more options.

Well, I do buy storage bags, and I do buy several of the brands listed, but I do not buy them that often.  I buy them when they're on sale, when I have a coupon, when I need them - maybe once every 3 months?  If that.  So, how do I answer that question?  If I don't check either option, it seems that I don't buy the storage bags at all, which isn't true, but if I say I buy them 1 or 2 times per month, that's not true either.

The survey also asks how often our household uses 'cents off' coupons.  The options: More than once per week, Once per week, Less than once per week.  Well, since I only shop every couple, three weeks, the only answer I can check is Less than once per week.  However, that makes it look like I really don't use coupons, and that's not true.  I use a lot of coupons!

I know the people who build these mail or internet marketing or email surveys can't think of every possible option, but it seems that giving such limited options to their questions can't really give them a clear picture of whatever they're studying.  But, I'll still mail it in, because they're paying the postage - and I could win $10,000!

Just What do You Mean Review?

I know it's a little late to be thinking about this, since I've already done product and book reviews on this blog.  It just seems like every time I start to put together a review post, I have a hard time figuring out what to write.  I think it's because I get distracted by other people's reviews, and they seem to use all the right words - or maybe just fancy words - and I start thinking I have to do it like that.  Only, I don't have any of those words.

I can read a book, use a new shampoo or toothpaste, try out a new Asus computer*, or listen to a new CD, and I can tell you if I like it or not.  The words might not be fancy, but maybe that's not the point.  The point is real people want to know whether they should read that book, use that shampoo, or listen to that CD, and I get to tell them whether I think they should or not.

Whether they'll listen to me or not, that's another question.

*OK, so no-one has ever given me a computer for review, but I wouldn't turn it down...

Happy Birthday, Honey

One of my friends posted this on facebook today.  I'd seen it before, but it still made me LOL so I thought I'd share:

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his wife, who was looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her birthday.
'I'd like to be six again', she replied, still looking in the mirror .

On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Roller Coaster, everything there was.

Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake..

Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure! Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted.

He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being six again?'

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed.

'I meant my dress size, you retard!!!!'

The moral of the story:

"Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong."

What do you think?  Is that really true?  Are men really as hopeless and clueless as the media/movies/TV try to make them out to be?

Questions About Vitamin D and Calcium

I really need to read some of the studies I heard about on the news yesterday about taking calcium supplements and Vitamin D - because it was kind of confusing.  On one news show, I thought they said people don't need to take as much Vitamin D as has been recommended recently, and then on another show it sounded like they were still recommending large doses.

I don't take anything regularly, though I'm wondering if I should be thinking about whether I'm getting enough calcium or not.  First, though, it looks like I'm going to need to do some research - and maybe I'll just concentrate on getting more dairy products into my diet and get my Vitamin D in my preferred way, from the sun instead of a pill.

How about you?  Do you take supplements?  Will you continue or change what you do based on the latest studies?

Related articles

• Vitamin D, Calcium Supplements May Be Unnecessary (businessweek.com)
• Vitamin D: Cutting Through the Confusion & Controversy | 80beats (blogs.discovermagazine.com)

More Texting = More Sex

Teens who text 120 times a day or more — and there seems to be a lot of them — are more likely to have had sex or used alcohol and drugs than kids who don't send as many messages, according to provocative new research.

Read more on Yahoo News

 I heard this on the news the other day, and my first thought was, who came up with the idea to study this?  Second, with all that time they're spending on sending and receiving text messages, how do they find time for sex or any other risky behavior?

After reading through the article, I see they're not saying that texting actually leads to sex or other risky behavior like drinking and using drugs, but just that they found an apparent link.  Is it just a coincidence?  Or is it as the study concludes - that a significant number of teens are very susceptible to peer pressure and also have permissive or absent parents?

What do you think?  How do we find that line between keeping an eye on our teenagers and stepping back and letting them grow up?

No Time for Comments?

You might have noticed that I've got a giveaway going right now.  I've had the post up for about 4 days, and I already have over 100 comments.  Granted, I asked for separate comments for each entry, and many of those comments have been made by the same people, but still...

What I've noticed is that I don't get very many comments on my posts, unless I'm lucky enough to host a giveaway that people want to win.  Even the memes I participate in don't seem to get many comments.  It leaves me wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if people are just too busy to comment.  I know I definitely fit into that last category!  I do try to visit and comment when it comes to the memes, like Looking at the Sky on Friday and Camera Critters, but rarely comment on other posts.  Sometimes I read a post I really want to comment on, have every intention of commenting on, so I leave it open in a tab of my browser - and usually end up closing it at the end of the day, never having gone back to comment.  Of course, sometimes I do that when I'm planning to enter a giveaway, but usually it involves a regular (non giveaway) post.

I'm thinking that next time I host a giveaway, I'm going to give extra entries for adding relevant comments to other posts on my blog - just so my regular posts don't feel so neglected.  Other than that, I don't know if there's any way to encourage more comments.  What do I have to offer that is more important than the tons of other things that people already have to deal with?  Usually.  This week I have a $75 CSN Stores gift certificate!

Related articles

• Week 6: Comments, Comments, and More Comments (blogging2learn.wordpress.com)

Double Standards

When discussing the new cast of Dancing with the Stars on The View, Barbara Walters asked, about Bristol Palin:

Why is she a star?  She's a 17-year-old who got pregnant

I've been asking the same thing about the idiot guy who got her pregnant!  The only claim to fame Levi Johnston ever had was getting his then-girlfriend pregnant.  So she happened to be the daughter of the governor of Alaska, who then became a Vice Presidential candidate.  So what?

And then they broke up, and suddenly Levi Johnston began making the talk show rounds, posed for Playgirl, and is even talking about doing a reality show.  And did he go on that Donald Trump show, too?  I haven't heard anyone question his involvement in all these things.

But Bristol does a community service commercial showing the difficuties in being a teen mother, and there were plenty of people questioning that.  "Did she say she regrets having her son?"  "How dare she say something like that?"  Um, hello - having a baby outside of marriage, when you're a teenager, is not the best life-decision in the world.  Once you have that baby, of course you're going to love him and make the best of the situation, but trying to get teenagers to think before they get themselves into the same situation is a good thing.  I don't think Bristol was saying she'd trade her son for anything, now that she's got him.  That doesn't mean she can't tell other girls to make better choices, while they still have the chance.

Not that that has anything to do with her going on Dancing with the Stars, and I agree she's not a star.  But people do know her name, and she has as much right to go on these shows as her son's father does.  If they're going to question Bristol's involvement, then they should have started ages ago by questioning Levi's too.

Does He Need a Locker?

On GMA last week they were talking about some things college students should have.  One of the things they mentioned was a security cable for the laptop, to keep it from growing legs and walking off.  I would like to think that no one would walk off with Cory's new laptop, but that got me to thinking that it's better to be safe than sorry.  So Jeffrey is going to look at some cables and maybe pick one up for him.

That, of course, got us to thinking about his other stuff and wondering if we should find some kind of Locker or safe for him to keep in his room and keep the small electronics in - like his Zune and DS.  So when he's not using them they can be locked up and kept safe.  Maybe the dorm room is pretty secure and no one can get in except Cory and his roommate, but I just don't know.  College doesn't come with School Lockers to keep all your stuff in, like high school.

Any comments or suggestions?  Should I be looking for Lockers for sale, or do you think his stuff will be fine?

How Do You Feel About Spying on Your Teenagers?

First let me say that I didn't really spy on my kids.  Too much.  It wasn't really that I thought it was wrong or an invasion of privacy - though Beth would have definitely complained about that if she had thought I was spying on her.  It's more that I didn't think about it until later.

Beth used to hang out with her friends in the basement, and there were times when it would have been really nice to have some kind of hidden camera down there so we could keep an eye on them.  As it is, we just randomly went down and checked on them once in a while, but with a camera, it wouldn't have been so random.  I wonder how long it would have taken Beth to figure out how we knew what was going on down there?  Or maybe she just would have figured that parents know everything, and she couldn't get away with anything.

After she'd been driving a while, I started thinking we should have installed a vehicle tracking device on the car, so we could have checked up on her and made sure she was where she said she was when she said she was.  There were some times I'm pretty sure she was lying, but there was no real way to prove it.   That tracking device would have answered all the questions.

So the question is - should you spy on your teenagers?  How do you feel about it?  Is it something you would consider?  I'm thinking that I would have done it, if only I'd thought of it in the beginning, but instead of hiding the camera, I'd put it right out in the open, and I'd tell her her car was being tracked.  That way she'd know we were keeping an eye on her - maybe not all the time, but she'd never know when.  Just a little incentive to make sure she was behaving herself.  And, of course, we'd have to keep an eye on Cory, too, or we'd hear about how unfair it was - though he never quite needed watching the same way she did.

Feed Your Passion

Image via Wikipedia

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Haagen Dazs. All opinions are 100% mine.

What's your passion?  At Häagen-Dazs®, their passion is creating the world’s finest ice cream.  I can get pretty passionate about their Rum Raisin!  But the ice cream really isn't what this post is about.

It's about an original online series called Passion Profiles that Häagen-Dazs® is sponsoring.  In this series, ET Canada's Cheryl Hickey takes you into the lives of some of Canada's most entertaining personalities, people who are living their passions.  Chefs Anna & Michael Olsen have already been featured, and coming up next on August 11 is designer and HGTV star Sarah Richardson.  I think Beth might really enjoy that one and perhaps get some inspiration and ideas about how she can turn her interest in interior design into a career she loves.  And that seems to be the purpose behind this series, not just to entertain but to inspire people to live their own passions.

It's something I've been thinking about recently as I try to figure out what I'm going to do when Cory goes off to college and I don't have any kids left at home.  We've got to help put the boy through college, so Jeffrey says I should get a job.  And, since I've been mom for all these years since the kids were little, I don't really know where to start.  What do I want to do?  What can I do?  I keep coming back to something dealing with food.  Maybe I could bake bread somewhere.  That would be awesome.  Somebody's gotta bake the bread, right?  I'd be happy with a knife and a cutting board chopping vegetable somewhere.  I don't really know, but it would make it a lot more enjoyable to be doing something I like to do instead of just working somewhere because I have to.  Maybe all the stuff that isn't getting done at home won't seem so bad then?

Be sure to visit www.passionfiles.ca and check out the Passion Profiles series.  Perhaps you'll be inspired to pursue your passion.

Now, about that Rum Raisin...

The Trend in Cell Phones

Cory has been looking at new cell phones, hoping he can upgrade his phone next month before he goes to college.  His phone has been having some random issues like not holding a charge as long as he thinks it should and shutting itself off sometimes.  The problem with so many of the available cell phones these days are that they're all Smart Phones or phones with internet access.

It does sound convenient to have all that on your phone - email, facebook, google, whatever.  If you want to look something up, you don't have to wait until you get home to your computer.  The only problem is, these internet phone plans cost $20-$30 or more per month - on each phone.  And that's in addition to the regular calling plan.  I'm not convinced it's that important to have internet access on a phone.  Now, if it was an additional $20/month for all the phones on the plan, that might be worth it.

What I'm afraid of is that pretty soon they won't even have phones available that don't require the internet plans, and then if you want to have a cell phone, you have to pay for the plan.  Or, if they do have phones that aren't internet-capable, they'll be ugly or cheap-looking, and no one will want them.

Do you have internet on your phone?  How much do you use it?  Is it worth the additional cost?

Care Instructions

Spot Clean Only

90% Cotton, 10% Textile by-products of undetermined fiber content.

Due to the nature of this fabric and possibility of dye transfer, avoid placing on light colored surfaces.  If this product becomes wet or damp, dry immediately.

Exert caution when using on wooden, vinyl or tiled surfaces.

KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE

Any idea what kind of product I'm talking about here, and why these care instructions are ridiculous?

They Grow Up Fast Enough

Did anybody see this story on GMA this morning?  Apparently there's a video spreading like wildfire around the internet.  It features little girls, 8 and 9 years old, dancing the the Beyonce song Single Ladies.  These girls are dressed in skimpy outfits and dancing in a way that seems completely inappropriate for their ages, or any other age for that matter.  They'll grow up soon enough and be learning to drive, looking for the best acne treatments, and worrying about boys.

Honestly, I don't even like watching Beyonce and her girls dancing to this song, but at least they're adults.  The parents of these girls don't seem to have a problem with it - except for the fact that the video has gone viral and there has been taken 'out of context' instead of just being part of a dance competition.  I just think it's really disturbing.

What do you think?

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Things I Didn't Blog About

This week:

• Beth & Tim signed a lease for an apartment, so she'll be moving out soon.
• Jeffrey got a new motorcycle.
• Pick 'n Save doubled 10 manufacturer's coupons on Wednesday, instead of the usual 5 - and I made sure I had 10 $1 coupons.
• Cappuccino Heath is my favorite Blizzard flavor - coffee, chocolate and Heath bar.  We had to make sure we got to DQ this week for the buy one Blizzard get one for 25¢ deal.  And a large Blizzard is good for at least two nights - just don't freeze it with the spoon in.
• They found out today at school that one of the students has scabies.  She's in the play with Cory and was trying on all the costumes yesterday.  Everyone was freaking out at school.
• Tomorrow we have to go to Whitewater for State Solo & Ensemble where Cory will be singing a solo and playing with the Sax Quartet.
• and, I've been spending way too much time researching flights to and hotels in Vegas - trying to decide if we really should go and, if so, where we should stay.  It would be nice to get away, because we never do anything like that, but then again - Jeffrey bought a new motorcycle this week.  Do we really want to spend the money on a trip?  Or do we just stay home, buy those Santana tickets and ride the new bike to Summerfest so we can park for free?