What a tangled web

I bet you think this is going to be a blog about deception and you would be wrong.  Actually it's about hair, my hair.  You see it's the time of year when the heater gets turned on in the house. Yes, I know I live in Arizona, but it does get chilly here.  Granted not as chilly as most other parts, but chilly none the less.  Now, Arizona is already a pretty dry state, not a lot of humidity, so when the heater runs it dries the air out in the house even more.  Have you noticed how when the heater runs in your car you tend to get shocked more?  Because it causes more static electricity being so dry, more friction.  Something like that, I just know in the winter with the heater I tend to get shocked more.

I have long, THICK hair that can tangle if you look at if funny.  Usually those tangles are "manageable", but when you add in the dryness from the heater and the static electricity those tangles tend to get a mind of their own, usually at the base of my neck and especially when I take a day off from brushing my hair.  What?  You've never done that??  Well, it was the holidays and there was noone to see, noone to come over, and nowhere to go.  Jammies all day long, I don't think I even brushed my teeth(don't tell my dentist), but that's a whole different blog.

Anyway! So this morning I realized I hadn't brushed/combed my hair in a couple of days.  DON'T JUDGE ME!!!  I got out my brush and began the strokes.  It started out well, the right side was done in a matter of seconds, then I started on the other side.  That was a whole different story.  Immediately I ran into resistance.  20 minutes later I finally had smooth hair, albeit a little bit less of it.   Mind you this was not the worst it's been.  While visiting back in Colorado at the beginning of the month, I got one that spanned the whole back of my head.....just by the end of the day.  I had to have my husband brush it out for me, because I just couldn't do it.

So, the lesson I've taken from this, one I hope to heed, is that I need to brush my hair EVERYDAY in the winter and I need to find a better conditioner....one for daily use to keep those tangles at bay. Anyone know a good one??   I'm not usually a tender headed sort of person, but those "rat's nests" as I call them sure do hurt.

FYI, I've already finger-combed several tangles out my hair that happened just while typing this out.  I told you it tangled easily!

A Garden For Daily Living

I received the following poem in a Christmas card this year and wanted to share it with you.  

I hope you enjoy it as I did.

A Garden For Daily Living

 by Imel Timberlake and Mary Helen Looney

 Plant three rows of peas

Peace of mind

Peace of heart 

Peace of soul

 Plant four rows of squash

Squash gossip

Squash indifference

Squash grumbling

Squash selfishness

 Plant four rows of lettuce

Lettuce be faithful

Lettuce be kind

Lettuce be happy

Lettuce really love one another

 No garden should be without turnips

Turnip for service when needed

Turnip to help one another

Turnip the music and dance

 

To conclude our garden we must have thyme

Thyme for fun

Thyme for rest

Thyme for ourselves

 

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.

There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

It's really not about blame, about who's right and who's wrong.

It's really not about blame, about who's right and who's wrong....

I heard that line in the Christmas movie, "An Accidental Christmas", last night while trying to think of what I was going to write.  The movie isn't anything special, but that line jumped out at me.  In this day and age we are always so quick to find blame, rather than take responsibility.  We are quick to point a finger, quick to tell someone they are wrong or it's all their fault.  But do we ever stop and think about what our part was?  It's so much easier to cast the blame on someone or something else than to take any responsibility upon ourselves.  Because lets face it, if we admit any responsibility then that means we would have to do something about it and it's so much easier to let someone else fix it and then complain when they don't.

After the devastating tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary the immediate reaction was to find a cause, a reason, someone, something....anything to blame so we could fix it and keep it from happening again.  We are saddened and outraged that it happened and demanding change.  It doesn't matter if the change will really help, we just know we need to change something, anything so that we can feel like our outrage has accomplished something, so we can feel better.

When we can blame someone or something else we don't have to personally do anything about fixing it.  It no longer becomes our problem, our responsibility.  It sure makes things easier doesn't it....or does it?  The problem is that when you think you aren't responsible then you don't think you need to do anything, change anything.  It becomes someone else's job to do that.

We've become a society that no longer takes responsibility for anything: "It's not in my job description".  A society that doesn't care about the unborn: "It's a fetus not a human being".  A society concerned about "what's in it for me" or "what do I get in return".  We've become a society that calls evil good and good evil. A society that idolizes people that have done nothing (Kardashian, Hilton, etc). A society that pays more attention to the bad things/people than to the good things/people.   A society that talks about tolerance, but that is it, just talks.  We no longer have discussions, we have arguments.  We no longer have love, we have hate.  We no longer have differences of opinion, we have name calling.  We no longer have "turn the other cheek", we have "how much can I win in a lawsuit?".  Gone are the days of helping your fellow man, because now if you do you might get sued.

So what am I trying to say in all this rambling?  Simply this: What if what needs to be changed is ourselves?  It's not about assigning blame, about who's right or who's wrong.  It's about taking responsibility, ownership, of ourselves, our lives and our decisions.  Remember when you are pointing that finger at someone else, there are 3 more that at pointing at yourself.  Rather than looking for someone else to blame, let's start looking at ourselves and how we can change.  It won't be easy, but then things worth having never are.

Matthew 7:3-5  
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect

It's not Thanksgiving until.........

Do you have a Thanksgiving dish that everyone one requests?  Maybe it's your stuffing or green bean casserole....maybe it's even the turkey itself!  I know for my family there are three things I HAVE to make.  One year I didn't and I never heard the end of it.....and really, it just didn't seem like Thanksgiving without them.

The dishes I am REQUIRED to make are: my stuffing, Yorkshire Pudding and blueberry cheesecake.   The funny thing is they aren't even my recipes, but over the years I've perfected them or at least I like to think I have.   Well, to be honest I never make them the same way twice, but they are all still delicious.

I can't really share my recipes for stuffing or Yorkshire Pudding, because well those all come from memory and don't really use measurement......you just have to know how to make them. LOL  However, the blueberry cheesecake I can, so I wanted to share it with you.  It's actually a well known recipe, so you may even know it already.

Doesn't that look good!!!  Of course it got eaten before I could get a good picture of it.  I'm stuffed, but I'm thinking I might want another piece.

As you can see my family can't keep their hands off of it either!!

My son took his bite of pie this evening and promptly said, "My Thanksgiving is now complete"....this was after a piece of 2 other pies!






So here's the recipe....enjoy!

No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake

1 Extra Large Graham Cracker Pie Crust ( the one that has 2 extra servings )

1 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 8oz Sour Cream

2tsp Vanilla

1 8oz Cool Whip thawed

1 can Blueberry Pie Filling

In large bowl beat cream cheese until smooth, gradually add sugar, mix well.  Blend in sour cream and vanilla.  Mix well.  Fold in whip cream and BLEND WELL!!

Pour into pie shell and let set in refrigerator for at least a couple of hours.  Top with blueberries and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do!  You could also try cherry pie filling if you are so inclined, but my family prefers the blueberry.

What's your requested item???

Mothra Attacks!!!

So I'm laying in bed, just about to doze off when it feels like a moth dive bombs the side of my head near my ear.  So I swat it away from ear and out of my hair, but it puts up a good fight.  Finally, I think I've won, so I turn on my bedside lamp to make sure it's nowhere around.  I don't see it and the coast looks clear, so I turn the light off and lay back down.

SUDDENLY, I hear this frantic fluttering sound in my ear and I realized the reason I couldn't find the little flying critter was because it took refuge INSIDE my ear!  Yes, you read that right, inside my ear.  Of course I immediately jumped up, screaming, "It's in my ear!! The moth is in my ear!!"  Needless to say the whole house was awake at this point and I was trying not to panic too bad.

We turned on all the lights in the bedroom.   I was pulling on my earlobe trying to make a nice easy path for the moth to get out, but by the sound of the fluttering in my ear I thought for sure it was never getting out and was only fluttering it's way deeper into my ear.  Finally, my knight in shining armor husband got a flashlight hoping he would be able to see down in the ear better so he could use the tweezers to get it out.  He turned on the flashlight, poked once with the tweezers and Mothra was set free!

Now, I thought for sure that this moth in my ear was HUGE, it sure sounded like it.  I was envisioning something at least about the size of my ear canal, but no, it was this teeny-tiny little thing, something similar to this:

So, what do I take away from this experience?  Nothing, other than I'm going to have a hard time falling asleep for the next few nights or anytime a I see a moth flying around my room.  Seriously, though, it wasn't painful and I can laugh about it now.  Also, I'll make sure my bedside lamp is not the last light turned out too!

Sweet dreams everybody!!!

Eat at your own risk

I was at Sam's Club on Saturday and if you've ever been there you know that you can get a complete meal between all the samples they give out.  Anyway, I was walking through the chip aisle and saw the Chex Mix Muddy Buddies and was interested but not tempted enough to buy.

Then I got to the end of the aisle and what do you know they were handing out samples. OH MY!!!  These things are the bomb!  So, I turned around and went back to get a bag of them, because they were just that good.

Which brings us to today.  I decided I would have a small bowlful this morning and they are so addicting....in fact I think I've made myself sick eating them, but they're really good!!!

So, if you are at the store and you decide to buy some, don't say I didn't warn you!

Dents happen.....Just play Halo!

So, I'm walking to my car after grocery shopping and when I get to it and start unloading my groceries the cart-collecting man comes up to me and wants to let me know that the guy that had parked next to me wrote my license plate number down because apparently I dinged his car.   To the best of my knowledge I didn't think that I had, but whatever.  I checked my door to see if I had lost any paint on my door and I couldn't even tell if I had.  If I had it was so minute it wasn't noticeable. Needless to say that is not how I wanted my day to start out and it definitely didn't put me in a great mood.

The more I thought about it, the more upset I got.  I mean, seriously, you're going to take down my license plate number?  It's a parking lot!  I was at a family wedding a couple of years ago and someone, have no idea who, didn't just ding my door, they put a dent in it.  Yes, I was upset, but dents happen and no one got hurt.

So I did the only thing I could think of to calm myself down.......I played Halo.  Nothing gets rid of frustration better than a little online killing of complete strangers.....am I right?

Nothingness

How do you write a blog when you have nothing to say?  Or don't know how to put it into words?  I sit down and start typing things out and then hit the delete key and start over again only to hit the delete key again and stare at the flashing cursor as it sits there mocking me, challenging me.  And  each time it wins.

The cursor just sits there....flashing.  Constantly reminding me of all the other blogs I've read and followed and someday hope to be like.  "You don't have anything important to say" or "Do you really want other people to read that?" or "Seriously, you're going to blog about that?"   And then I sit and ponder those statements and begin to believe them.  So, I write nothing....as evidenced by how long it has been since my last entry.

Even now my finger is poised on the delete key waiting.  Waiting for the cursor to have it's way again, but this time it won't.......

It's Okay To Be Where You Are At, It's Not Okay To Stay There*

I remember growing up and attending Sunday School and hearing all the wonderful stories about the mighty men of God and thinking Wow, if only I could be like them.  These mighty men of faith we were taught about in Sunday School, they sure did leave us with such a high standard to live up to.........or did they?

I'll admit that I never really read my Bible, all of it....Old and New Testament.  Sure I read a book here and a book there, a chapter here and a chapter there, but I had never really sat down and read it cover to cover until about 5 or 6 years ago.  I started with the New Testament, because well, I knew that would be "easier" for me to read then all those "old" books.  And it was when I was reading those "old" books that I realized all those years in Sunday School I had been lied to. Stay with me, don't start yelling at me yet.

I had heard about Abraham and what a great man of faith he was, the father of many nations; Samson and his great strength;  Moses and the leading of the Jews out of Egypt and many, many more.  It wasn't until I started reading the Old Testament, really reading it, that I realized what flawed men they really were.  They weren't perfect and made a lot of mistakes, yet God still used them, called them and blessed them.

Abraham, the "Father of Faith", willing to sacrifice his own son, was scared and lied.....

Samson was arrogant, prideful and really not very smart.....

Moses stuttered, was timid and even dared to question God using him......

So, what is my point in this?  It's this NEVER think you are too much of sinner for God to love you, to call you, to bless you.  There was only one perfect man to ever walk this earth and God knows this.  He knows where you are, what you've done, what you've said and what you haven't said or done, but He still loves you.

We are ALL flawed human beings, but we should be striving daily to do what is right.  We may fail and fail badly, but tomorrow brings a new day and a new chance to try again.  It's not important how many times you fail, but that you keep trying.  It's okay to be where you are at, it's not okay to stay there!*

*Title credit goes to Bill Putnam

Traveling observations

Here some observations I had while traveling from Arizona to Wyoming:

1) Having to get to the airport 2 hrs before a flight even though you know security won't take you more than 10 minutes.....but you don't want to take the chance.

2) People having 12 carry-ons and getting away with it.....especially when you know there is NO WAY that one piece of luggage is going to fit on the plane.

3) The flight attendants that let them get away with it.

4) The people in boarding group 7 (out of 7) who think they can still board before their designated time.

5) The flight attendants that let them get away with it.

6) The people who as soon as the boarding starts are right there chomping at the bit to get on the plane, even though it's still another 20 minutes before they are going to call their group.

7) The people who put their luggage in the overhead bins at the front of the plane or as close to the front as the can find, even though the are sitting at the back of the plane.

8) The flight attendants that let them get away with it.

9) The people that stand as soon as the plane is docked even though they are at the back of the plane and the doors aren't even opened yet.

10) Those same people hurrying to baggage claim to stand and wait another 10 minutes for the baggage to arrive.

11) How people stake out their territory while waiting for their baggage.

What are some observations you have had while traveling?

What have I gotten myself into?!?!

So, I'm getting ready to go on vacation with the family to Wyoming.  We'll be staying in a small town called Pinedale.  It's a nice little town and I'm very much looking forward to going and just unplugging.....literally!  Now don't get me wrong, I'm still taking the laptop, iPad and Kindle for email, the teenager and reading, but I don't plan on being online much more than that.  Which hasn't happened in a long, long time!

Luckily with the Kindle I'll have plenty of books to read without the weight of all those books.......if you don't have a Kindle or some device similar I ask you, why not!  LOL.....anyway.........so I thought what else could I bring to do that would be relaxing, yet not require electricity.....and this is what I decided on:

Cross Stitch!  Am I nuts?!?!  I haven't cross stitched in years, but I saw someone else doing it last week and thought, gee I should start doing that again.  So I ordered these thinking, they are small things, so shouldn't be too difficult.....one problem, I've never cross stitched on a blank canvas before, it always had a pattern printed on it, so I ASSUMED that all were like that.....silly me!  Neither of these have the patterns printed on them, so, yes,  I panicked  after I opened them.  But after watching a couple of videos on Youtube, I think I can do this!  May not be as restful as I had wanted but I do think I'll still like doing it.    I did however order a couple more WITH the patterns stamped on them....at least I hope so!  We'll just have to see how far I get.  Stay tuned! LOL

Why is it?

Why is it with over 3 billion people in the world you can still feel like the only person in the world?

Why is it the people drive down the road with their blinker on when they have no intention of making a turn?

Why is it we know we shouldn't eat that candy bar so we get two?

Why is it we complain about our circumstances, but do nothing to try and change them?

Why is it we can put a man on the moon but we can't get decent cell service?

Why is it we keep making the same choices and expecting a different outcome?

Why is it that ice cold water tastes better than room temperature water?

Why is it with a wonderful marriage, great kids and everything you could possibly want yet still feel like you are missing something?

Why is it that commercials for anti-aging commercials use women that aren't old?

Why is it that with all this modern technology we still use paper to wipe our behinds?

Why is it that blondes are the "butt" of all the jokes, yet they are ones having all the fun?

Why is it that I no idea why I started this? 

What's your "Why is it?"

It's so much easier to put on!

I'm always full of good intentions.  I intend to start eating healthier. I intend to start riding my stationary bike.  I intend to eat less sweets.  I intend to do more exercising.  But intentions can only get you so far.  There needs to be actions with the intentions and that is where I have been struggling.

Three years ago I lost 50 pounds with just watching what I ate and walking 4-5 days a week for an hour/hour and a half.  It didn't happen overnight, it took the whole year.  Then my thyroid started to fail and I gained back 8 pounds in a month.  I upped my exercise routine, was still watching what I ate, yet I continued to gain.....so frustrating, so I gave up.  It took two years to get the medicine to the correct dosage and by then I had fallen into a lazy routine, gaining back a total of 20-25 pounds.   All that hard work sabotaged by my own body!

And now it's summertime, bathing suit season........time to get those pounds and the additional "hibernation" fat off.  The only problem is it's not as easy to take off as it is to put on and if you haven't already started, it's probably too late.   It's just doesn't seem fair that the mini snickers bar I ate will take me two weeks to work off.  So instead of not eating the snickers, I have two.  Instead of getting on my stationary bike, I'm sitting on my couch.  It's so hard to get back into the routine.  Once I get back into it, it's easy to stay there, but just step off that path for a day or two and it gets lost in the muck.

So how do we get back on the path, find the path again?   Well, we just have to take it one day at a time and look at the small achievements we've made and build on those.  Instead of two snickers, only have one.  Instead of sitting on the couch all night long, get up on commercials and just walk around, do squats, walk in place, do jumping jacks, do situps....do SOMETHING!!!  So, that is what I'm doing.  Instead of sitting while playing Halo with my boys(yes, I play....no, I'm not any good!) I get up between matches and jog on my mini trampoline or jumprope.  Instead of sitting and watching tv all night long, I get up on the commercials and move around.  I know I won't be a size 2 anytime soon, heck I won't be a size 8 anytime soon, but I won't put the rest of those 50 pounds back on and it's something!

So put down that snickers bar and get moving!

Seriously did not think this through!

Back in December we got a new car.  It was time, the other one was 10+ years and getting to the point of needing work done to keep it running and because of certain circumstances at the time we had money to get a new one.  So we looked and looked for a couple of months, but waited until the end of the year to purchase to try and get the best price possible.

Seeing as how we spend alot of time in Arizona I had said I didn't want leather interior, specifically black leather interior.  Really I didn't want black interior of ANY kind....and my own personal preference of no red car either.  The only other requirement we HAD to have was AWD for our trips back and forth between Colorado and Arizona and of course for driving in the Colorado winters.  We had narrowed the list to a Subaru Outback and a Mazda CX-9 after test drives with the Kia Sorrento coming in a distant 3rd.  I only test drove the Kia for my husband, I really wanted either the Subaru or the Mazda.  All three cars drove well and we liked them all.

Finally, we decided on the Subaru Outback, it seemed the most reasonable and practical of a car and we thought, heck we could get it fully loaded for about the same price as a base or just above base model of the Mazda....WRONG!!!  We could not believe how expensive the Subaru was turning out to be AND they didn't even have what we wanted in stock, we'd have to wait at least a month to get it!  So, we called the Mazda dealership to find out what kind of deals they had going on and that we were ready to buy NOW....never heard back from them.  (sidenote: we had been driving around all day already and this Mazda dealership was another 1/2 hr away, we did not want to drive all the way there and not walk or drive away without a new car).

After waiting about 15mins we decided we were tired and had had enough so we drove back to the Kia dealership, told them the price we wanted out the door and BAM we had a new car...fully loaded, minus the sun/moonroof.......and the new year model.  Now I went through all that whole story to get to this part.....Well, it's NOT a red car...it's a dark cherry, so it's more purplish/maroon.......BUT, and this is a BIG but, it has black leather interior!   The only reason I considered this was because the driver side has a cooling seat function.  We've tried it out a couple times it's like sitting in wet clothes almost.  It's hard to describe, but this past December-April it has been a WONDERFUL feature.  Which brings me to real topic of this blog!

Now that the temperatures are reaching the 100's....I don't care how good of a seat chiller you got....black leather is HOT and if you don't have seat covers yet (like me) you will burn your legs if you are wearing shorts! Go ahead, ask me how I know! LOL  Needless to say, seat covers will be on my wishlist this year for my birthday and/or Christmas.....I just hope I can survive that long!  In the meantime, there will be a towel left in my car on the driver's seat at all times.

That's my baby!  I really do love everything about the Kia Sorrento....except the black leather seats.  Now when I'm in Colorado, that won't matter.  Oh I also have seat warmers for the winter months and that IS nice!!

Death, a beautiful way to explain it

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave 

the examination room and said, 

'Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side..' 

Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know..' 

'You don't know? You're, a Christian man, 

and don't know what's on the other side?' 

The doctor was holding the handle of the door; 

On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, 

And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room 

And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness. 

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 

'Did you notice my dog? 

He's never been in this room before. 

He didn't know what was inside.. 

He knew nothing except that his master was here, 

And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. 

I know little of what is on the other side of death,

But I do know one thing... 

I know my Master is there and that is enough.'

I got this in an email this morning and thought it was to beautiful not to share.  I hope it touches you as much as it touched me, makes you smile as big as it made me smile, and gets you excited for what's on the other side of the door.    

Most people think of Psalm 23 as a funeral verse, but take the time to read it, digest it.  It's a wonderful picture of promise for the living.

Psalm 23(NIV) 

The LORD is my shepherd I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for His names sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; 

Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, 

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

As a Christian, I know I don't have to fear death and look forward to spending eternity with my Father, who is just as excited to see me and as I am to see Him.  Be blessed.

Distractions everywhere!

Distractions.........

Why do we allow things to derail our best intentions?  In this age of technology and getting things now, we've forgotten what it was like to actually finish things, to cross everything off our "to-do" list for the day.

Oh sure, we start out the day thinking "this is the day" we are going to get everything done and we actually make progress in crossing things off.  Technology has in some aspects made our lives alot easier, while at the same time complicating them.

Remember the days when you didn't have to work past 5pm because nobody could get a hold of you, they had to wait until the morning.  Ever since the invention of the cellphone and the internet my husband has worked pretty much until he goes to bed, whether it be answering emails or the phone.  And even though I'm a stay at home mom, I'm not immune to the draws of technology.  I mean the internet has alot of stuff on it.  This one day I was "surfing the world wide web" and the next thing I knew it was time to get dinner ready.   The internet has some interesting and funny stuff.   Yes, sometimes you have to weed your way through the crap that's out there, but the internet can be quite entertaining and educational.   There is this site someone showed me size comparisons starting with things you can only see with a microscope all the way up to galaxies.   It really makes you think about how insignificant we really are in this world.....this galaxy.  Which then gets you thinking about what our part is in this great big world, what's the purpose, can we really make a difference?

So, where was I going with this????  Um......I don't know, I got distracted.

The Saga Continues......That's not how you run a company, Pt 2

I hope you have popcorn!!  

If you've only just "turned into" my blog......catch up with Pt1 of the saga here:  http://ventingvebber.blogspot.com/2012/04/thats-not-how-you-run-company.html  (don't forget the comments too).....go ahead I'll wait.......

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Are you all caught up now?  Okay, so after much uproar from their endorsers, Calyp has relented and decided to give us all back the earning they had taken from us.  YIPPEE!!! Score one for the home team!  But, alas, the saga does still RAGE(emphasis mine, because it's really become more of a game it seems) on.  

You see, they still won't tell us how the pay has changed.  Although, we can't really call it pay, because as they say it's not a job.....yet they are paying me to do something, so I'm not really sure what to call it, a perk? a benefit? a reward?  an incentive??  Whatever you want to call it, they won't tell us what it is other than it will be "based on your social outreach".  Fine and dandy, so far so good.   But when you ask for more details such as: What are the levels? Where do the levels change? How do you figure the levels?  How much does each level pay??, well we can't get an answer, just the standard reply of we'll be sending out an email later.  Ummmm, but you've already changed my earning level so you obviously know the answers to those questions. 

Why is it so hard to get a straight answer from this company?!?!  When people first asked about the missing funds we were told it was "an early funding" (not true).  Then about 2 hrs after that we got the notice about the accounts that were shut off for abusing effecting our totals. Which, obviously by this blog and the many comments on their page, did not sit well with everybody.    Now we are trying to find out about the new system they have put into place.....it was implemented this morning.  And the only answer we get is: We'll be sending out an email at the end of the week.  We've already outlined how you will earn money.  Ummmm, NO, you didn't you only said and I quote from the email:  Endorsers will be awarded CALYP "Status" (Preferred, Gold, Platinum or Elite) based on their social reach. Reach will be calculated based on the aggregate community across all of the social networks you link to your CALYP account.  The more "influence", or friends or followers you have, the larger your reach is which in turn will give you higher status in CALYP.

All we want to know is how you calculated our "reach", where the levels begin/end and what the "rate" is for each level.  You've already changed our status, so you know the answer, can you not share it with us??

There is never been an instance when I have gotten a straight answer from this company.  I asked about my missing parts(a power chord and instruction manual) for a prize I won, a bluetooth stereo thingy.  For two months I get: We're looking into it or Let me check with the shipping department. Until I finally get an email that says I was shipped everything I was supposed to get, but here's an extra manual in case you need it.  Ummm, I never got it in the first place REMEMBER!!!  I know, I know, I can buy a new power chord, but that's not the point I'm making.....could they not have just told me that 2 mos ago?!?!

Today, I'm asking the same questions about the rate and levels on their Facebook page when I get a notification someone commented.  Only when I get there, there isn't any comment.....So I ask them what happened to it.  Their reply:  We move posts that  use hateful language, false accusations, profanity or attack CALYP or another Endorser  Great! But the only problem is there wasn't any of that....I then copy word for word what was posted so they can see what I was talking about, yet they still come back with the same line.  I even asked them to point out what I was missing....same line.

I'm really beginning to wonder if anyone at this company actually comprehends English at all.  Some of you are probably still wondering why I am even bothering with this company and at times, I've asked myself the same question and I don't have an answer.  I must just be a glutton for punishment.   




****UPDATE****  
To show their continued lack of communication they have resorted to deleting comments, blocking people from even posting on the Calyp Facebook page unless it is under one of their posts, blocking some endorsers from commenting at all(like myself) and they have also reported to Facebook that the people complaining were harassing them so that people couldn't even get into their Facebook account unless they agreed to remove their post entirely(not me, but several others).  So rather than answer the questions people ask, they silence them and continue to post that there will be an email later.  Is this how a company should behave??  Is this the kind of company that advertisers should even want to be associated with??  I guess that is something Calyp will soon find out.

That's not how you run a company!

As many of you are aware I have started finding ways to make money since I am home all the time.  One of the sites I found was called Calyp from the company Blue Calypso.  It's an advertisement based site.  They find companies like Coke, Body Glove, Crystal Light, Glade and many, many more who are looking to find someone to advertise their products.  Calyp then pays their endorsers(people like me and you) to share ads on their Facebook page, Twitter feed, Linkedin account, and blog.  They will also pay you if someone clicks on one of the ads to check it out.  I didn't make alot, but did manage about $40-50 a month.  Nothing that would feed a family or pay rent, but definitely helped with the non-essentials.

Today I log into my account to see what, if any, new ads were there for me to share.  Imagine my surprise to find that they had taken almost $30 out of my earnings for the month.  After sending an email to find out what was going on I find out that they did this to just about every other person who was doing this program.  Their reasoning: "We have identified both individual Endorsers as well as common locations which are abusing CALYP and have taken steps to stop the abuse. Accounts for those abusing Endorsers at such locations have been permanently locked out and have been blocked from further participation with CALYP. This includes the ability to interact with campaigns that are posted by any Endorser."

I've checked my account, I still have access, so I'm not blocked....why are you punishing me?!?!  Not only did they take back monies, they did it on the weekend, with no notice and no answers for over 8hrs and even that was the run-around for another 3 hrs.  If they KNEW about these problems, why did they allow them to continue, allowing our balances to increase??  Giving us a false sense of earning???   Why did they do it on the weekend if not to try and get it past their endorsers?? If they knew they were going to be doing this why did they have to wait to tell us about it???  And why on earth were they NOT ready to address the issue as soon as it happened???

Not only did they take people's money, they have also changed the way they are going to pay people for sharing now....no notice, nothing. And all of those that have reached a certain level will all start over.  So all the points we earned to reach different earning levels will be gone.  All the posting we have been doing will be for naught, nothing, zip, zilch.  Now, I am sure they get paid a fair amount of money by the advertisers to use this program and have already been paid for past ad campaigns.  So they've been paid, but aren't going to pay us.  I'm sorry, but to me this doesn't seem like the way to run a company.  I'm fine with them wanting to change things and make it better, but you don't screw the people that work for you in the process.  You don't take back that what you have already promised you were going to give.  I'm okay with changing how the payout is figured, but you don't do it without warning and without taking into consideration the people that have already achieved certain levels.  How would you feel to have worked to achieve a certain pay grade and then they said, sorry, we're going to start you at the beginning rate?  I'm not looking for things to just continue the way they have been.  It's apparent it wasn't working, but you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I have also noticed a problem with communication in this company. They tell us the money is being loaded to our debit cards, it shows it's been taken out of our earning account, but it takes 4-5 days to show up.  They've told us each time it would only take 2.  They tell us the bank is responsible for loading the cards with our funds, we call the bank and they say they don't have anything to do with it.  We ask about it and they reply with "We're looking into this".  I was fortunate enough to win a prize from them on February 14th, only it was missing pieces and to this day I still have NO IDEA where they are.  I sent numerous emails, posted numerous times on the Facebook page and get the same answer: "We'll look into this".  After checking their Facebook page it looks like this is a continuing problem as several people are trying to find out about the prizes they have won.  This is how's it's always been since day one with this company.  I was willing to put up with it because it really was an easy way to earn a few bucks.  But when you steal what was owed,  when you take back what I have earned, you no longer deserve my patience and understanding.

To my friends and family on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin I apologize for bombarding you with those ads, for wasting the space I used, for encouraging to you to even look at anything you were interested in.  Please avoid having any dealings with the following: Blue Calypso, Inc., formerly JJ&R Ventures, Inc and Blue Calypso Holdings, Inc and please pass the message on.

I hate spiders

I hate spiders!  I especially hate spiders that crawl up the inside of my car windshield.......while I'm driving or while I'm in the car at all!  I had to drive to the airport yesterday to pick up the husband.  I got there a little early, so I sat in my car and decided to read on my kindle while waiting.  Out of the corner of my eye I see movement, a shadow.  I didn't really think anything of it, figured it was the traffic outside.  After about 5 minutes I looked up and there it was.....a spider, a big brown spider, maybe a wolf spider, I don't know...it was a spider......on the INSIDE of my windshield right in front me and crawling towards the top of the window.

After searching my car, while keeping one eye on the spider I realized I had no standard spider killing utensils.  As the panic began to intesify....did I mention it was a big spider........I finally found a small notepad.  Thankfully, yet not really, the spider moved down the window a bit and was in the perfect position for my death trap.  After lining up my shot, I squashed it!  But now I had another problem, what on earth was I going to do with it?  As the calm started to overtake me, I realized I had one lone kleenex in my purse.   So, Bev -1, Spider - 0.

I'm just thankful it didn't decide to come out of hiding as I was driving down the highway on my way to airport.  It wasn't the ideal driving conditions to begin with, what with the hail, terrential downpour and strong wind gusts. Okay, so that was only for about a 5 minute stretch, but still!   I had another spider incident a couple of years ago.  Only that time it did occur while I was driving down the interstate and it was one of the jumping spiders!!  Needless to say, I pulled over for that one.  That one unfortunately disappeared into the plastic of the car somewhere and I had to continue driving knowing it was there....somewhere.   Get the shivers just thinking about it!

I HATE SPIDERS!!!

It must be Sunday....I need a nap

What is it about Sunday afternoons that make us want to take a nap?   It seems like without fail by 1 o'clock in the afternoon everyone in my family is asleep somewhere in the house....with the exception of my 13 year old son.  He apparently has boundless energy.

We don't get tired on Saturday, but always on Sunday.  Saturday we relax, have some family time or game time or yardwork....or for me laundry, but we never really get sleepy.  But Sunday, it's like we just ate a huge turkey dinner and it's put us to sleep.  Or in my case makes me really tired, but I fight it the whole time and then end up with a migraine!  Well, not today.  Yes, I'm tired, but this time I'm going to actually listen to my body and take a nap!  It's a beautiful day outside, so I'm going to go soak up some rays and re-energize.......at least that is what I am telling myself.

So, ask yourself, why do we get tired on Sundays?  We must just not want the new week to start and are just trying to get as much "last-minute" rest in as possible before hitting the daily grind again.   Go grab a pillow and take a nap....your body will thank you.

Part 2:

Okay, so I went outside with all the intention of napping in the sun, but it's never that simple is it?  No, first I had to clean the pool that was full of leaves and a rat that decided it wanted to learn how to swim(it didn't succeed).  And since I hadn't been on the pool deck really since October I had to clean everything off before I could even sit on it.  There was about an inch of dirt over everything from all the Haboobs(that's a story for another day, but it's basically a HUGE duststorm).  But before I could clean everything off I had to go on a wild goose hunt for the spray nozzle. An hour later I had found it, cleaned off the deck and the chairs, cleaned the pool and got some water going on the orange tree.  Then I could layout the towels on the chair and relax.....it was short and I didn't really nap, but it was peaceful.  At least now I can make it until it's time for bed.

I don't want to be the mom/teacher!

I think I say that once a month or more.  Homeschooling a strong-willed teenage boy can be frustrating.  Not only is he right about everything, he knows it all too.  Was I ever like that?  No, I was a perfect angel and politely obeyed my parents at all times......................um, yeah like that's the truth.

Remember when you were a kid and said things like: "I'm never going to say 'because I said so' to my kids!" or "I'll never been mean to my kids" or "I'll never act like that when I'm an adult" or "I can't wait to have kids of my own"??????  Oh, to be young and foolish again.  To think we had all the knowledge we would ever need, and that our parents were squares.  Thinking why on earth do I need to learn Algebra or how to diagram a sentence(well, I still wonder that one! LOL)  That all this "stuff", this "time-wasting stuff" was nonsense and unnecessary.  I mean what did it have to do with life anyway?  I was never going to need it.

They've always said youth is wasted on the young and they are so right, but you don't realize it until your older.  If only I could go back and tell myself then what I know now.   So how do you get that across to the kids today?! They really are no different than when we were young.  Sure, probably more spoiled and soft, but the attitude is the same.  So how do you get through to them??  All you can do is your best and sometimes THAT doesn't even seem like enough.

Which brings me to today, a day where I just have to buckle down and be the tough guy.  I am called to be their parent first, then their friend.....not the other way around.  I have to be okay with my child not liking me at that particular moment, knowing that this too shall pass.  That this one moment in time is just that a moment....and a passing one at that.  Doesn't make it easy......I don't think I've ever heard anyone say being a parent is easy and if they did, I would question their parenting skills or if they've ever been a parent.  As parents we are entrusted to make the hard decisions, the tough calls.....and it's not always fun.

So........I DON'T WANT TO BE THE MOM/TEACHER......too bad, I have to be.  Why? Because I said so!!

Homeschooling has it's good and bad days

I've been homeschooling for over 14 years.  14 years!!!!  My oldest son is 19 and a junior in college.  He was  an ideal student to teach.  Sure, we had our frustrating days, what homeschooling parent doesn't, but he was also self-motivated.  For homeschooling this is a wonderful trait and makes your life so much easier.   I wouldn't come to truly appreciate how much until my 13th year of homeschooling.

My two boys are wonderful boys, but two very different personalities.  My oldest is a mild-mannered, easy-going, nothing phases him kind of guy.  My youngest is completely the opposite and I mean COMPLETELY the opposite!  Having the first child you homeschool be so mellow lulls you into a false sense of security and how easy homeschooling can be.  I honestly think, that if I had homeschooled my second son first, I probably NEVER would have attempted it again.  He has no motivation and sees no benefit to his future from doing school.  He wants to draw and doesn't understand what Science, History, and Algebra have to do with Art.  But unfortunately, as we all know, there are certain requirements to graduate from high school.

One thing I have come to learn though is flexibility and adaptabilty.  It's taken me a long time and there have been many struggles, but I've learned that my boys do not learn the same way.  My oldest was okay with the hands-off approach and even preferred it.  My youngest, well he likes the hands-off approach as well, but that didn't mean he would get his work done.  If left to his own devices he would pass the time doodling and drawing, ask me how I know.  LOL  Needless to say, when school is in session with my now 13 year old son, we are at the kitchen table, with me repeatedly saying, "Focus", "Read", "Do your work" or some other command.  If I don't, then nothing ever gets done.

This year has been my hardest so far.  So hard that I've considered throwing in the towel.....numerous times.  There were more days than not in the first 3 months that ended in tears and frustration on both our parts.  I had no idea how I was going to make it through the year.  My only glimmer of light was that at least we were a year ahead, so if it was too big of a struggle, we could always do it over.......not something I really wanted to consider though.  It would make me feel like a failure if I did and I knew it.......it didn't mean I was, but it's hard to convince yourself of that.  Then came Christmas break, well December break.  We travel back to Colorado in December, so we just take that month off, or most of it off. (With homeschooling, you have that flexibility.  I start in August so that we can do this.) 

It was over this break that I had an epiphany, if you will.  I was talking to a good friend of mine, who is a Pastor's wife and homeschooled her three boys as well.  She pointed out that he doesn't need to take all those hard Math classes and Science classes, just the basics.  Especially since his interests lay in the artistic field.  I don't know why I didn't think of that myself.  I had been telling people for years that homeschooling is flexible to the needs of the child, yet here I was not being flexible about what I taught.   Sometimes you are just too close to see the big picture and I had never even considered NOT teaching him the higher and harder classes.  All I kept thinking was HOW was I ever going to teach them to him.  It was after this realization that the fog began to clear and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I could continue homeschooling my boy, I could make it work and everything was going to be all right.

Now, mind you, we still have our struggles, and frustrations still happen, but they don't last for as long and we are able to work past them.  I've learned, well, I'm learning to adapt my teaching skills to his ability and learning style.  I haven't gotten it all figured out, probaby never will, but knowing that I don't HAVE to teach those upper classes makes it that much easier to handle.   As always, I try to take it one day at a time and now it's easier to do just that.

Why you dirty rat?!?!

Rats!!  I hate rats!  I didn't used to hate rats, in fact my older sister had two pet rats: Socrates and Ben....just like in the movie "Willard"  I used to love to hold them when I was younger.  Unfortunately, those aren't the kinds of rat I'm dealing with while living in Arizona.  We have Kangaroo rats out here, called that because they have big back feet and sometimes jump/hop around like a kangaroo.  They really are kind of cute in their own way.

We also have pack rats, they aren't as cute looking and they are the ones I dislike the most!  They have the same big ears as the kangaroo rat, but definitely have those beady little eyes rats are famous for!  These rats are the trouble-makers!!



They like to build nests....in air conditioning units, engines, rat poision containers.  That's been my experience at least.  We used to have a pest control service, but decided not to continue it($235/yr!!) and I'm beginning to think we might have to take it up again.  Did you know that dog food counteracts the poison in those green rat poison tablets?  I didn't until the day the pest guy came and said that the rat was building a nest in the poison container and asked if we had any dog food left outside.  At the time we had a dog which sometimes couldn't keep her food down, because as it turns out she was very sick, but I digress.  Needless to say he had to switch to the "strong" stuff that you couldn't even handle without gloves.  I'm not paying to feed rats after all! 

That seemed to do the trick and we were lulled back into a sense of peace with Mother Nature, so we stopped the Pest service.  BIG MISTAKE!!  Over the summer they decided to make nests in our air conditioning units. Yes, I said nests....plural!  As if that wasn't bad enough they also decided to chew the wires, causing the air conditioning not to blow any cool air.  Do you know what it's like without air conditioning in August?!  Thankfully, they could repair it the next day!    The hubby set up a nice electrical fence around the units to help keep them away.  We just have to remember to turn it off, when we get the units serviced.  I don't think the a/c guy would appreciate that "shocking" finding.

Then this November the rats decided since they couldn't get into the air conditioning unit they would make their nest in the engine of my van.  I only found this out when I went to get an oil change and they checked my cabin filter and came out with two handfuls of junk(leaves, seeds, cactus, cloth).  I  had noticed my car smelled like popcorn and never knew why.  Apparently the seeds for the Saguaro tree smell like that as they get roasted on a hot engine.   Upon further examination under the hood by the husband found a mish-mash of wires, that about an hour or two later he had fixed.  Thankfully, none of those were wires that had to do with my car working.  This is similar to what we found:

I started parking my car in different spots after this hoping to keep the rats at bay!  If only it was that simple.  Then in January, we traded the van and got a new vehicle.  I parked it in a different spot, but apparently not often enough.  My engine light came on last Friday.  Great!  What's wrong with my new baby?!  Took it to the dealer who politely informed me I had a rodent problem!  Not again!!!  They had apparently started chewing one of the wires, but hey, no nest building!  $175 later(that's another story....ripoff artists!) she is running fine and I have put mothballs in my engine! That is supposed to keep them away.  It better!

On a side note, did you know that all new car's wiring systems are coated in vegetable oil?  They used to be coated in chemicals, but not anymore.   Which begs the question, who's bright idea was that!



Football season is over! Bring on Nascar!!

For those that didn't today was Super Bowl Sunday or what I like to call Commercials and Pizza day!  Every year I look forward to the Super Bowl, not for the game...well, sometimes for the game, but mostly for the commercials.   I did watch the game today and enjoyed it.  It was a good game and definitely a nail biter at the end.  The half-time show wasn't half bad either.  Madonna did a good job for a 53 year old doing cartwheels and dancing while singing.

I was disappointed in the commercial selection though.  I remember when the commercials were memorable through the whole game and you talked about them for weeks after.  Now, we are lucky to get 1 or 2 that we might remember for a day.  I miss the days of the Budweiser Clydesdales, frogs and chameleons.  This game really only had the good commercials in the first half.  The second half...well, I don't really remember them.  Is it that hard to come up a good commercial, a funny commercial?

Oh well, football is over for the season which means it's almost time for NASCAR!!!  As Darrell Waltrip says: Boogity, Boogity, Boogity!  I always get excited for it the beginning of the season, but it wains as the season goes on.  I'm the only one in my family that watches it, so it makes it hard to keep the interest and let's be honest.....sometimes it is just cars going in a circle for 500 miles.  When there isn't any passing going on, it can get boring watching follow the leader.  I tend to get a nap in on Sunday's.  LOL  Hopefully, this year will have some exciting races to watch.  Would you believe I've never been to a race though and I'm only about an hour, at the most, from a major racetrack.  One of these days, I really should go......could this be the year??

Let's go racing boys!!

No more braces!

Today ended the 2.5 year process of my youngest's (13) adventure into orthodonture.   He went in as a little boy, well a little boy to me, with a crew cut and came out a teenager with shaggy hair!  He got to start his adventure with the ever popular palette expander.  He's not big on pain or discomfort, so I was concerned with how it was going to go.  Other than the application(and removal) it really wasn't too bad for him other than some minor achey-ness.  He only had to do that for 6 months, but he talked funny the whole time! LOL

Next came what I like to call the Terminator stage.  As soon as the palette expander was removed, we moved right onto the Herbst device.  It's used in place of  head gear.  Head gear pushes the top jaw back, or keeps it from moving forward, so the lower jaw can line up.  The Herbst device actually pushes the lower jaw forward, allowing the back of the jawbone to grow into the space, therein keeping the jaw in the proper position.



The Herbst device also is not condusive to opening your mouth too wide, otherwise the hinge and pin come apart.  Thankfully, that only happened 3 times in the year that he wore this.  My poor son was in pain for almost the whole entire 1st month.  The little screws on the bottom ended up almost making holes in his cheeks.  It was a long year and he was glad to see that go!

Finally, we moved onto braces, phew!  The hard part was OVER!  Other than slight discomfort after wire changes, this was a piece of cake.  Even the removal was easy.  I left for 10 mins to make a phonecall, came back and they were off!  So now we are to the wonderful world of retainers, which his looks more like Invsalign, than a retainer.

Now if he would only get a haircut!

It'a a Brand New Adventure

Welcome to my adventure.  I've finally taken the leap and joined the wonderful world of blogging......I know, I know....you've never heard that line before have you?  I won't make any promises, but I'll try not to bore you.

I'm a stay-at-home mom who has been homeschooling for over 14 years.  I have two boys, 19 and 13 and currently sing on my church's worship team, which is lead by my oldest son.  The title of my blog is a favorite saying of mine that my husband says he's going to put on my headstone:  Here lies Bev, pretty much for the most part.   I'm pretty easy going, but do my best to not compromise my beliefs.  God comes first in my life followed closely by my family. I'm not perfect and will never claim to be.

Topics will range from God to earning a little extra money to Nascar to homeschooling to food to........well you get the idea. So sit back and feel free to talk back to the screen.