Drive-Thru Rage

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.

~ Author unknown

I have about had it with drive thru lanes at fast food restaurants. All I want in the morning is to get a large, black coffee and be on my way to work. But noooooo, there are those in this world who have to make that difficult. I happen to like the coffee at one of the better known fast food places in town, but for some god forsaken reason they had to go and make their drive thru lane something that now resembles a cornfield maze in October. I swear there are mornings when I think they need a flagger with one of the bright green vests to direct cars. What is so hard to understand about the concept of one lane splitting into two, with cars alternating turns to place their orders?

I have come to experience a new phenomenon that I have coined "drive-thru rage". There happens to be one woman who drives this goofy car with one of those goofy stickers on the back window with her kid's name on it, that I am certain is trying to push me over the edge. She drives right past everyone in line to cut her way into the outer lane,and then pretends to be totally oblivious to the fact that she drove past six other cars to weasel her way in. She does this all the time, and when it happened last I tried to be rational and figure out why she thinks she is so privileged. Perhaps she is a teacher,drops her own child- the one who's name is on the sticker- off at the high school and then has to rush to get to her own school. If this were the case, then why does she always sit and gab at the window for so long when she gets her food? On one particular day she happened to be right in front of me when I paid and I followed her out of the parking lot onto the main street. She certainly wasted no time driving away from the drive thru, maybe her schedule is tight in the mornings too. Was I being too harsh in my judgement of her? So I continued behind her for about a mile and a half, wondering which school she worked at, or maybe she worked at the hospital- that would require her to be on time, when suddenly she made a quick right turn and pulled over...into the driveway in front of her house! Are you kidding me??? Of course, she doesn't work, she had to rush home with her sugary, chocolate,fake cappuccino and sausage muffin to watch Good Morning America! Doesn't this woman know that I have to be in Sharonville to save lives and stamp out disease??? She is just lucky I have to unlock the doors to the clinic or I would have been tempted to stop.

My friend Shari says I can solve this problem by getting my coffee somewhere else...I say that would be just too easy.

Best in Show

Relaxing at home in Cincinnati.















Claiming the prize in New York.

If you don't own a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life.

~ Roger Caras

The Westminster Dog Show was held this past week and the picture above is the scottie who was crowned Best in Show. Her name is Sadie, but I am thinking she bears an uncanny resemblance to Shadow, the scottie shown above relaxing at his home with the Cobb family in Cincinnati. In fact, with the exception of the difference in gender, one could argue that Sadie and Shadow may be the same dog. It's hard to believe that Shadow is a rescue, he is quite handsome. Perhaps Shadow and Sadie were litter mates...we should start that rumor...

I love watching the dog show, I always root for the cocker spaniels to win, and I spend a fair amount of time protesting the fact that a cock-a-poo is not a recognized AKC breed. Of course, we haven't told McKenzie that, I don't think she would understand. I will be the first to admit that I don't have a clue how the dog show judges choose a winner. Did you ever see the movie "Best in Show"? It is hilarious, totally mindless, and if the truth be told, probably more accurate than we know. Honestly, don't you think sometimes the judge just picks their personal favorite?

So in the spirit of the Westminster dog show I am adding some pictures of my favorite dogs and their titles.


My prize winning group; McKenzie, Miss Canine Congeniality. Layla, Best of Show, plus sized dogs (aka big-boned). Chance, Best of Show, Dogs with Disabilities.


Leo, Best of The Sweetest Faces Ever (even if he is the only one on this blog who wasn't a rescue)



Maya and Marley, the big and the small of it... Best of the Aloha dogs and Santa's Helpers!

In case you haven't noticed, I've added The Daily Puppy (see right). I hope you enjoy it!

A dog is man's best friend, and woman's too.

~ Anonymous

Why me?

A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body is a prison.

~Francis Bacon,Sr.

I haven't had a common cold in years. And based on how I feel right now, I hope I never have another one as long as I live. I feel awful, my head feels like it is going to explode and I have zero energy. I am convinced I am currently afflicted with the worst cold anyone has ever had in the history of man.

Who came up with the term "cold" anyway? It sounds like such an innocent little name for what I would prefer to call the "viral death". My ear hurts, my face hurts, my muscles ache, I have a headache, cough and can't stop sneezing and blowing my nose. Surely no one else has suffered as much as me...

So I've stocked up on tissues, tylenol, advil, sudafed, hot tea and honey. (And quite honestly nothing is helping) I'm not much fun this weekend and I feel sorry for Mark that he is stuck with a shut-in on the weekend. I hate being sick, I have too much to do. I have a great blog coming up about the recent Westminster Dog Show and the dogs you didn't see but that will have to wait until the watery eyes subside.


Right now, I'm on a mission to find a kleenex.

Talk to me.

What a strange power there is in clothing.

~Isaac Bashevis Singer

Clothes do have power don't they? How many of you own at least one pair of blue jeans that you just love? They fit well, they are the right length and when you have them on they have the power to make you feel like a super-model. Or at least a model for the JC Penney catalog...

And the power doesn't just apply to jeans. What about that favorite pair of pajamas (or for me, my favorite robe) or sweatshirt or sweatpants that define comfy and make the stress of the day fade away? Who doesn't know a man who has a favorite shirt that you'd secretly like to throw away, but he thinks it is the greatest piece of clothing ever manufactured? And...why is it that men think they have to have every t-shirt or hat sold at every sporting event or, in our case, car show, known to man? Is it really necessary to have a t-shirt for every annual antique and classic car parade for 12 years in a row??? I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that it must be the male equivalent to a woman having 10 different pair of black shoes...and that is another blog all of it's own.

Clothing doesn't hold this power for adults only. It applies to children too, and when you throw in the desire that most kids have to want to fit in, that power multiplies. I recently had the opportunity to meet an amazing couple who are providing gently worn clothing for students in the Lakota school district. Normally I would have thought how wonderful this is and gone on with my business.

For the past two weeks the thoughts of how many children in my own school district who could benefit from this has weighted heavily on my mind. After multiple, and I do mean multiple, talks with Mark, we are seriously considering starting an organization to provide qualifying children in the Hamilton City school district the same opportunity. There are still lots of particulars to work out, I am doing some research and interviewing others who are doing the same thing, including a group in Oregon, but the general idea is that we will organize donated clothing and through referrals from the schools provide clothing to children who need it to stay warm or replace what they've outgrown. More importantly it will provide them with power. The power that comes from knowing someone cares, that they too, can fit in with their friends, that they have something to wear to school.

So, I am asking for your feedback. I've talked to a few teachers and my friend who works for the school board, they are supportive and think this will be beneficial. What do you think? Don't be afraid of hurting my feelings, Kyle thinks I've lost my mind, I can handle it. If you have questions, let me know, it may be something I haven't thought of. Thanks, I will keep you posted.

Shave, hold the haircut...

When you are skinning your customers, you should leave some skin on to heal, so that you can skin them again.

~ Nikita Khrushchev

Is that one of the strangest quotes you've ever heard, or what? I don't know who Nikita is, but it makes me wonder what he did for a living!

In an earlier blog I mentioned that I, on occasion, have a procedure called dermaplaning performed. That's me in the picture above, last night at NVogue MediSpa. NVogue is in West Chester at the Streets of West Chester, close to PF Chang's and Bravo. For those of you who are looking for an upscale spa that offers personalized attention without being intimidating, NVogue is the place for you. The women who work there are personable, friendly and wonderful at what they do, be it facials, massages or nails. Please check out the website and give it a try.

The hands holding the scalpel in the picture belong to Rhonda Sternberg, the owner of NVogue. And yes, I did say scalpel...the kind they use for surgeries. If you happen to go to NVogue, make sure you ask to see Rhonda's "before and after" pictures, she is the best commercial for her services one could possibly ask for. I say she is really brave for sharing the before pic, the after pic though is so awesome it makes you want one of everything! Rhonda is beautiful, relaxing and fun to be around, and genuinely loves what she is doing.

But back to the dermaplaning, which is really just a nice way of saying shaving all the dead skin and fine hair off your entire face. I have a picture of the skin she scraped off my face, but it was just way too gross to publish. It doesn't hurt at all, once you get used to the fact that someone is taking a scalpel to your face. And yes, there is a huge trust factor involved here. After the face is dermaplaned, you get a glycolic peel, followed by an application of carbon dioxide. The CO2 immediately cools the skin, so there is none of the redness or peeling you usually associate with facial peels.

The difference in my skin texture is amazing and the result immediate. The sun spots are lighter and makeup glides on smooth and evenly. (my friends, Bobbi Brown and Mary Kay would be proud) One thing I've learned is to never say never, but I am 99.99% certain that I won't ever go under the knife to have a face lift. And as long as I have Rhonda and her magic scalpel I won't even have to think about it.

What's in a kuku name?

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.

~Welsh Proverb

The 12 plus inches of snow we've received has left my workplace a little on the quiet side, not many people are willing to brave the roads to have a drug screen or a physical done. So the girls and I have had a little extra time to chat about the more important things in life, like what will this new baby call her grandmother?

It is amusing to hear what everyone calls their grandparents or what their own children call them. My own children called my mother Granny when they were little and once they were pretty much grown they called her GG. We always told her it stood for greatest grandma, but in reality we lovingly called her goofy grandma. I do not really recall having any grandmother. She passed away when I was 7 years old and lived in another city, so I have virtually no memory of her.

Lots of suggestions were offered up; Grandma, Granny, Gran, Mamaw, Meme, Nan, Nana- I don't really have a preference. Mark says he already knows what the baby will call me. "Stranger". Ha,ha, little does he know that I have no intention of letting that happen. It was during this discussion that I recalled Heather telling me she wanted the baby to call me the Hawaiian name for grandmother. For the life of me I couldn't recall what it was, but with the assistance of google I had my answer within seconds...

It was Kuku Wahine. After the laughter died down and I picked myself up off the floor a momentary bit of panic set in. Kuku Wahine??? Seriously??? I went back to google and read further, convinced that there must be more to this story...or was this karma for calling my own mother goofy grandma? So I read the article again and there I found my explanation. Although Kuku Wahine was the traditional name for grandmother, the contemporary version is Tutu. Unconventional yes, but I can live with Tutu, in fact I like it very much.

So goes the name game...however, I am old enough and wise enough to know that the best laid plans sometimes go astray. My dear friend Brenda told me she went through the same thing when her granddaughter Kaylee was born. Brenda advised me not to worry too much about what my own granddaughter will call me. She said "It doesn't matter what you choose. That baby will decide, and whatever comes out of her mouth the first time will stick forever". Let's just hope it isn't Kuku. :)

The secret of the universe.

There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.

~Maria Mitchell

I know I've mentioned my friend Mary who has the food blog, but I have two other friends I want to mention. One is another Mary and the other one is Bobbi. That would be Bobbi Brown and Mary Kay. If you aren't familiar with them, let me introduce you.

I love makeup. Mostly because for me it is an much a necessity as toothpaste and deodorant. I was not blessed with a flawless complexion, and I find my self jealous of women who have porcelain skin. It has been a vicious circle these 50 years. My teenage years were plagued by acne, which in my infinite wisdom, I thought could be cured by over exposure to the sun and (God forbid!) sunlamps. Of course in the 70's everyone knew that if you wanted to be tan you soaked yourself in baby oil. That did nothing but clog my pores even further and offered no protection against the dangerous rays I was exposing myself to. For a long time I skated by, unscathed by my errant ways. I did not give up the sun, I just used sunscreen...of course i thought an SPF of 4 was plenty. For a long time I managed to look younger than my age, at least that what everyone said...then one day I woke up and it had happened.

Where on earth did these spots come from?!? And these lines and wrinkles? Who was this woman staring back at me? And so it began. Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I am not afraid to try something if I think the results are worth it. They have listened to my detailed explanations of laser procedures, peels, and dermaplaning. Dermaplaning is exactly what it sounds like it is. They take a scalpel and scrape off the top layer of skin on your face, this then is followed by a CO2 peel. Maybe I will be able to give you pictures of this as I am scheduled to have another one soon. Once this is all done there is a special bleaching lotion that has to be applied to the particularly stubborn spots. Sometimes I feel like I am Lady Macbeth chanting "out damned spot, out I say!". Can I give another piece of advice, especially to you younger girls? WEAR SUNSCREEN EVERYDAY.

So this is where my friends Mary and Bobbi come in. They both have wonderful products and thankfully both can be ordered online, my favorite way to shop. I particularly like Bobbi Brown's corrector (shown above).It conceals, covers, colors and blends beautifully. Spots, blotchiness, little veins and that occasional blemish that I can't outgrow disappear when I use it. On her website, Bobbi says it is the secret of the universe, but I am sharing it with you. If you are brave you can go to Macy's at Kenwood or Nordstrom and have a makeover by a Bobbi Brown artist. Trust me, they won't hesitate to tell you what you are doing wrong and will point out what "Bobbi says" is the right way. Mary Kay is a little less intimidating. You probably know her favorite color is pink, although in an effort to appeal to the modern woman, they are using more silver and black for their packaging. Mary has some great skin care products, but I do admit that sometimes I think it is confusing there are so many. I love their toner and oil-free eye makeup remover.

So I continue on my quest for amazing products. And all the while I try to remember that I need to eat right and get plenty of sleep and never forget that there is no cosmetic like happiness.

It is nice to look at.

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful.

~Alice Walker



I think snow is God's way of telling us to stay put. So today I listened. The roads ended up not being that bad, I am told, but I didn't really care. I was happy to stay home. I got so much done, cleaning- including steam cleaning the bedroom carpet, income taxes filed, some tasty bbq chops in the crock pot and most importantly, a nice long nap. No need to get dressed up for any of this, so I've hung out all day in my pjs. I did manage to take a shower, but pjs seemed like the best attire for a day spent at home with a fire going.

I promised to share note worthy items as I stumble upon them, and today I have two things I want to mention. One is Turbo Tax. I know, I know, it's been around forever, but I was a skeptic. After paying our accountant what I considered to be an inflated price for filling out our taxes last year, only to get audited and have to pay interest on his mistake did I seriously consider Turbo Tax. So I paid $49 for the Deluxe edition at Costco and I was set. It is super user friendly and unless I really screwed it up (time will tell) I was happy with the refund we are getting. The second thing is the flat rate priority mailing boxes at the post office. These boxes are meant to be stuffed as full as you can possibly manage and the price doesn't change except for the size of the box. And while I'm on the topic of post offices...I have some advice. Find a small, little post office that only has a couple people working and get to know them. The one in Trenton and the one in West Chester on Cin-Day Road are great examples. They will take care of you and always make sure you get the best deal.

The pork chops were awesome. They have a slightly smokey, bbq flavor and fell apart when I stuck a fork into them. By the way, if you haven't read Mary's blog Casa en la cocina lately check it out. She has had some really yummy stuff on there, and I LOVE the new format. (fancy, schmancy)

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl, but tonight we're home with a movie, if I can get NASCAR turned off :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Here's the recipe for the pork chops.

Slow Cooked BBQ Pork Chops

1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
4 boneless pork loin chops
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (I add a little extra)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder*

Mix paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper together. Rub pork with olive oil then with spice mixture. Spray a skillet with nonstick cooking spray and sear chops on both sides.

Transfer chops to a plate and add onion to the skillet, cooking until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato puree, ketchup, honey and chili powder. Spread half the sauce in the bottom of the crock pot. Top with the pork chops and the remaining sauce. Cover and cook until pork is fork tender, about 4 hours on low.

* If you do not have chipotle chili powder you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon paprika and 1/2 teaspoon your favorite hot sauce.

In a perfect world...

If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.

~Yogi Berra

It has been pointed out to me by two of my children that I am a slacker. And based on this week alone, I would have to agree with them. I have been missing in action when it comes to the blog, but I am back and have a lot to blog about. In all fairness, I had posted a blog mid-week about Kyle's new dog, who turned out to have some issues and unfortunately had to be returned to the shelter. I removed that blog and had some evening work commitments, but I am back...and snowed in.

How many times have you heard the expression "in a perfect world..."? My perfect world changes on a daily basis, but here are a few of the items that would make my list right now.
1. You only have to have a job if really want one, it would be totally optional, and if you do choose to have one, you love it.
2. Airlines would be required to provide free tickets for family members living more than a 4 hour drive away from each other.
3. Chocolate would not have any fat or calories.
4. Your metabolism would stay the same at 50 as it was when you were 20.
5. When you find the perfect haircut, color, style etc, you could "freeze dry" it for as long as you want so it would be a good hair day everyday.
6. Thinking about exercise would be as effective as actually doing it.
7. Dinners would never take more than 15 minutes to prepare and you would always have all the ingredients you need in your cupboard, even it is something you've never heard of.
and prompted by the current weather situation...
8. Temps would never vary more than a low of 60, and a high of 80.
9. Snow would only occur when you wanted (preferably weekends) in the amount that you desire and it somehow would magically not fall on any sidewalks or streets.
10. Dogs could go out in the snow or rain and come back into the house totally dry (see pic above) and free of ice, snow and general crud. Oh yeah, their poop would magically disappear from the yard too!

So for today this (the list, not this picture!) would be my perfect world. What would yours be?

Stressed spelled backwards

I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert.

~Jason Love

I love dessert, especially when there's chocolate involved. Figuring out how to squeeze dessert into my weight watchers plan, however, was proving to be a challenge. I am trying to stay focused this week, as I lost another 5 pounds when I weighed in Saturday. Unfortunately I have a track record of losing, then gaining, then losing...I am determined to lose again this week, even if it just a little.

This is where having five kids all over the globe comes in handy. I get the scoop on all kinds of products. Chris recently wrote on his blog about a fat-free brownie mix called No Pudge. Since Chris lives in New York City I was skeptical that I'd be able to find the mix locally, but I forgot, I live close to Jungle Jim's! (By the way, I think I'm becoming addicted to the Jungle) Was I ever in luck. No Pudge Fudge Brownies come in an original mix, along with 3 flavors- mint, raspberry and cappuccino. I chose cappuccino. The only thing you add to the mix in a 6oz container of non-fat vanilla yogurt. When I fixed these I warmed the brownie for a few seconds in the microwave, added one small scoop of fat free frozen vanilla yogurt and drizzled it all with chocolate syrup. Entirely fat free and only 160 calories, or 3 WW points. Absolutely lick the plate delicious!



No Pudge Fudge Brownies have a website. You can find recipes and a listing of where you can find the mix. Like I said, I found it at Jungle Jim's for $2.69. Enjoy, and be forewarned, they are addicting!