Tag Archives: family

What I Learned This Week – 2/9/14

Posted on February 9, 2014 by funnygurl2

This week I learned that my family and I have very different personalities.

We spent a little family time at Build-A-Bear (or cat) Workshop this week. All the animals we picked out are very different. But I think the ones we picked out represent us all very well. It would be fun to psychoanalyze us by our choices. See the picture below…

Our Build-A-Bear creations (l to r): Rainbow (my son's), Hootchie Mama Hello Kitty (mine), Lloyd (my husband's)

Our Build-A-Bear creations (l to r): Rainbow (my son’s), Hootchie Mama Hello Kitty (mine), Lloyd (my husband’s)

FYI–If I get 20 different people to comment on this post, you will all be rewarded with a video of Hootchie Mama Hello Kitty twerking!!!

Quite the incentive, huh? Send over your friends and family! All are welcome here! (Except Negative Nellies! That is why my mom has no idea about my blog. Shhhhh!)

4 Comments

Posted in What I Learned This Week and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

A Wonderful Discovery

Posted on November 15, 2013 by funnygurl2

A few months ago I was forced to get a new cell phone.

I could not use it anymore because of the screen. Oh, I know what you are thinking, but it was not PHYSICALLY broken. One day I tried to take a picture of my son in the middle of the grocery store, and the screen just went black. (My son didn’t break it. He is not ugly, he is adorable!)

Maybe he was SO CUTE he broke the phone...

Maybe he was SO CUTE he broke the phone…

It would display the phone’s start-up images, but after that it always just went to black and stayed that way.

I am a hard core fan of “slider” phones. I bought a Kyocera Rise. It is both slider and touchscreen, so that I can train myself to use those miserable touchscreen keyboards for my next phone, when slider keyboards will be impossible to find.

This is my first phone that has APPS! I was so excited to get 3 specific apps:

1. A QR Code Reader*
* It does not always work because my camera does not seem to have auto-focus 😦

2. Moonfrye – a scrapbook app from Ms. Punky Brewster herself**
**Only available for iPhones 😡

3. Weather app with doppler***
***I actually have two of these, but one now has “my current location” stuck on my work location, not my home :O

Since I loved my new phone so, I tried experimenting with using its calendar, rather than my hard-copy paper day planner. It was an excuse to use my new phone more often. Also, I kept finding myself needing my work schedule and not having it with me. I always have my phone with me though. It seemed logical. But I didn’t like the fact that I didn’t have any way to color-code or sort my events in my calendar. It just wasn’t quite as handy as I had hoped.

Then a brilliant idea hit me –> look for a calendar app with more features!

But then I was overwhelmed by the number of calendar apps out there. Luckily the first one I tried was Cozi. Because I LOVE IT!

Don't try to read my schedule. I am not actually going to do most of those things today anyway.

Don’t try to read my schedule. I am not actually going to do most of those things today anyway.

While I still can’t color-code events, I can sort them by who will participate (me, my husband, my son, my dogs). And it also has a separate area for To-Do lists, also divided up by person. I love that it is backed up on a real website [cozi.com]. I love that it is designed for the whole family to share it (although I can’t get my husband to use it…yet). Once I realized I was going to be spending a lot of time with this app, I went ahead and paid for the ad-free upgrade with more features. Now I can send my husband email reminders, and track birthdays too.

I do with it had a section for just random notes to myself. If I think of a potential blog topic, I have to put it in my To-Do list. In my day planner, I always jotted down what my total hours worked were in a week, so that later I could compare it to my paycheck. In Cozi, I had to bastardize the shopping list function to enter my total hours. (And for now, a paper list on our refrigerator works just fine for a shopping list.)

Besides that, I really do love it. There is even a journal feature which I treat like my own personal Facebook. I put the events that are too boring for Facebook on it!

I have run into a problem with Cozi though. Now that I have entered everything imaginable into it, including my weekly TV shows I watch, I don’t get to use it as much as when I first downloaded it. But they just added a new feature for Contacts.

Hmmm. That could keep me busy for like a day.

Comments Off on A Wonderful Discovery

Posted in A day in the life and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

What I Learned This Week – 10/13/13

Posted on October 13, 2013 by funnygurl2
Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

What I learned this week was how the PROs and CONs of my job really add up.

I had been out of work for almost 2 years. My husband had found a job, but it didn’t work out. He left like, literally, the same week I got offered this retail customer service job. I had no idea what he would find next or what I would do about childcare for M. I literally took the job and worked as many hours as I could the first week, because I really didn’t know if I would be able to keep it beyond that. (I, of course, never told my boss that.)

And since she was short-staffed, I kept working a lot of hours. My husband went through two more jobs before settling on the one he has now. Since he has been there, he has worked on two different shifts. Luckily, to her enormous credit, my mom stepped up to take up most of the babysitting duties required. But I can’t help but feel as though the novelty of seeing her grandson more often has worn off. She is a 69 year old woman who uses a cane trying to keep up with an almost 3 year old.

I have had this job almost six months now. And I am still very uncertain about if I will be there next week, next month, or next year. I am a planner, so I am always PLANNING to be there. But if something happened to my car or my mom, those plans could change in an instant. They are beyond my control (for the most part).

Since I first applied to the job posting (and never expected to get a call for an interview, let alone the job), I have had the same positives and negatives bouncing around in my head. I finally put them into writing to see how they stacked up.

PROs
1. I like the job and the people.
2. Looks good on my resume.
3. I am building good references.
4. Extra $ for a new car.
5. Helps with my anxiety.
6. If my husband loses his job, one of us is still employed.
7. My boss is a nice boss.
8. My boss is flexible with scheduling.
9. Has helped me get closer to achieving a personal goal.

CONs
1. I am burdening my mom with babysitting.
2. Wear & tear on my car.
3. I spend more impulse shopping than I make.
4. M being shuffled around.
5. Doesn’t pay well for the schedule hassle.
6. Feel like family/house is suffering.

Well, there you have it. With a score of 9-6, the PROs have it. But that is quantity. Does quality count? And how would one ever begin to calculate that?

I implied to my boss this week that I would be open to less hours. Which stinks, because I already am a very part-time employee. But working less hours would only eliminate #4 from the PROs list and it would lesson most of the items on the CON list.

What does the future hold?

Who the hell knows.

Comments Off on What I Learned This Week – 10/13/13

Posted in Job hunting, What I Learned This Week and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

What I Learned This Week – 12/30/2012

Posted on December 30, 2012 by funnygurl2

The Valastro Family

The Valastro Family


I learned this week that I am addicted to watching the TLC show Cake Boss. I started watching it when I was my making my son’s Thomas birthday cake to get cake-making tips. But I continue to watch Cake Boss for the people.

It is a family business and their family is huge! Being an only child, I am fascinated by watching how they negotiate their roles as family and employees (one sister doesn’t do so well at this. She is herself, and it doesn’t matter who she is interacting with). Buddy (the Cake Boss) has a very big ego, but I love it when something surprises him and his eyes bug out and he gets all worked up.

I am also addicted because I watch it on streaming Netflix and Cake Boss has closed captioning. Other shows, like say Hot in Cleveland, do not. I need closed captioning so I can watch while my toddler naps or sleeps at night & I will not wake him.

But today, today is a sad day. I have watched all the seasons of Cake Boss on Netflix (all four seasons:( Now, what will I do?

“Not” stalk the cast members on Facebook, perhaps?

Ralphie Boy on Cake Boss

Ralphie Boy on Cake Boss

1 Comment

Posted in What I Learned This Week and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Museum of Spam?

Posted on September 5, 2012 by funnygurl2

Behold, The Spam Museum!


In 2004, my husband and I were trying to buy our house. (Yes, as you may guess, it is now valued well below what we paid for it.) The sellers had accepted our offer and we were waiting to hear on a closing date. We were already approved for our mortgage. So what is a couple to do? Take a trip out West for a week!

It was the most ambitious trip we have taken to date. We left Michigan by car ferry into Wisconsin. We toured a submarine. We played at Lake Winnebago (Maybe I will write another post on that someday). We camped every other night in our Pontiac Aztek (with optional tent) and stayed in hotels the rest. We panned for gold. We saw the Badlands. We saw the world’s largest prairie dog. We went all the way to Mt. Rushmore. While Mt. Rushmore was awesome, that is not what we remember most from that trip. We remember the fun we had at the Spam Museum.

The Spam Museum is located in Austin, Minnesota. (I always have to think Austin, Texas to remember the name of the town.) We heard about it because my husband saw a brochure at a freeway welcome center. He insisted that we needed to go. I was very reluctant, as I usually am (sometimes unfairly) of his suggestions. I think he probably purposely steered our route through the town of Austin just so we could go there. And we had a flippin’ blast.

The Hormel factory (makers of Spam) is in Austin. The Spam Museum is next door. Now, I was there 8 years ago. So, if you travel there upon my recommendation, please realize some of my information could be dated.

Spam Museum parking lot


The parking lot spaces were all painted with the Spam logo. A giant metal statue of a farmer and a pair of pigs stood outside the front door. We walked in not knowing what to expect.

Spammy, the Spam Mascot


We were first welcomed by a statue of the Spam mascot, Spammy. He invited us to take a picture with him. There was also a giant floor-to-ceiling wall of Spam. There was a short movie that plays about the history of Spam. There were audio clips and memorabilia from pop culture and historical (war) references to Spam as well. There was a hands-on area that was quite fun. You could dress up like a worker at the Spam factory. You could see how fast you could can Spam (not real Spam, but a Spam-colored bean bag). My husband and I ran around and laughed our heads off.

Can you spot the “fake” Spam worker?


They have a huge gift shop at the museum where you can buy almost anything you can imagine, embelized with the Spam logo. We bought a T-shirt, and of course, some Spam. We ate it that night for dinner while we camped at Lake Mitchell (home of the Corn Palace). It totally cured my usual issue of vacation constipation.

Su-eeey!


We have never forgotten the Spam Museum. We are not real big Spam eaters. My husband will have it occasionally. I mostly love the kitsch factor of it. My husband outgrew the original Spam shirt, so I ordered him a new one from the Spam website (and a pair of sweatpants) for Christmas one year. He handed down the original shirt to me, which, being 8 years old, has now been sewn up about 10 times. Last year, I bought my son his very own Spam shirt for Christmas. We usually do not wear them all at the same time, but someday I would like to get a family picture taken that way. It would be wonderfully cheesy. And maybe we would end up on Ellen or something. Maybe that could be our Christmas card this year. People might think we are weird. But those who know us well already know we are weird.

Our collection of family Spam shirts


A few years ago, we went to a friend’s wedding in Minneapolis. We were right near the Spam Museum and hoping for a return visit. But we were on a tight schedule and the timing just wasn’t right. Man, just writing this, I yearn for another long, leisurely vacation like that one we took out West. We really had no plan when we began, but it turned out nicely. It would probably be a very different experience taking the little one along.

Cute lil’ Spam boy!


So, if you find yourself in Southern Minnesota, for a good time look up the Spam Museum:)

The Spam Museum
1101 N Main St
Austin MN 55912
800-LUV-SPAM

The End


I’m not stalking you. is NOW ON FACEBOOK! “Like” that I’m not stalking you and get an update when there is a new post to read. (It is sort of like YOU are stalking ME.)

4 Comments

Posted in A day in the life, UnProfessional Photography & Artwork and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →