A Little Laugh, and A Little About Me

***The chocolate giveaway is still waiting for one answer!!! Check out the new hint in the comments. I will send out the winners' chocolate as soon as it is all finished...

I found this sign at my local grocery store.
Really, inside of me there is a 14 year old dying to get out and make jokes...

This weekend, I took myself a personality test courtesy of this website because I was bored. Then, I thought it was so on the money that I thought I'd share with all of you (I know, you're all just dying to know, aren't you?)

Well with no further delay, here was my assessment:

INTROVERT While you may not be anti-social, you do need (and deserve) your private time and space to retreat from the world. Unlike extroverts, you need to develop a concept of the world or some aspect of it before experiencing it. Too much socializing may sap your energies. Your energies are derived from exploring the inner world of ideas, impressions and pure thought.

INTUITIVE While you do process information through your senses you add a twist to your processing by relying on intuition and serendipity. You look for undercurrents of meaning and abstractions in what you experience physically. You do not just see things just as they are, but as what they could be. While you may rely on common sense at times, you trust inspiration far more.

PERCEIVING You like to have as much information as possible before making a decision. Putting off a final decision until the last moment does not make you uncomfortable. Indeed once a decision is made, a course plotted, you may feel a bit uneasy, because you feel bound to a certain course of action. You would much prefer to wait and see what happens. You enjoy the opportunity to improvise. Commitments are not etched in stone to you, and are changeable.

FEELING You make decisions subjectively based upon your values and what is important to you. How people will be affected by your decisions is important to you. You are likely to make decisions based upon what you feel is acceptable and agreeable rather than what is logical. Your truths are founded in your values and those of the society you live in. It is important to remember that we are discussing how you evaluate data and make decisions, and that you rely on your feelings to do so in no way implies you are overly emotional.

Your Personality Type

Introvert/Intuitive/Feeling/Perceiving You are devoted and compassionate. You have a well-developed distaste for rules, orders and schedules. You are a natural born learner and can get so absorbed in your projects that you forget those around you. You are passionate about your beliefs and love ideals. You have very high standards for yourself. You are very creative, sensitive, reserved, and introspective. You respect the values of others and expect them to respect yours. In relationships you are loyal and totally committed. You prefer a few deep relationships over a horde of acquaintances. Because you are somewhat reserved, you do best in one on one and small group situations. When you feel comfortable, you can be very entertaining and capricious. You are nurturing and supportive by nature. You greatest social challenge is to balance your need to withdraw into your inner-world with your need to keep a strong connection with those you care for. .

The sentences in red I especially thought was funny, I had always known this about myself, I had done a "professional" personality assessment when I was a corporate gal, and one of the things that they said about me was that I had no respect for authority. I had to laugh, and since then I tell people that about myself all of the time. It is true though, I have never been interested in having a "boss" let alone have him or her tell me what to do. I have an entrepreneur streak in me that I get from my Dad, and I HAVE to be in charge.

As far as the projects go, that is so me. Another thing that I do is start new projects before I finish old ones. Case in point:

--I have so many knitting and crocheting projects that are currently underway that I have to purchase new craft bags to put them in.

--I am currently working on three quilts

--I am currently writing two novels

--I am about to go back to school in Photography

--I am seriously looking into doing some local voiceover work

--I just put into works a plan to buy a cello and relearn how to play

--I have a brand new business selling Shirley J products that needs to be kick-started

--I'm currently involved in a serious weight loss program (more about that to come)

--oh yeah, and then there's the whole kid thing... (Which includes but is not limited to my desire to help my son calm down by doing yoga with him)

The part in blue is really interesting to me, because I had just had a phone conversation with a friend of mine where we discussed both of our tendencies to think about how our blogs will affect everyone who reads it, and how that limits our posting abilities. Seriously, I run down the list of all of my known readers and I wonder if he or she will be offended by what I write. Now, that doesn't always stop me from writing what I want to, but I do always think about it. In fact right now I am concerned that all of you are thinking that I'm vain and narcissistic.

In orange, this is a part of my personality that is a blessing and a curse. Just ask my husband how much research I do before buying a new pet (I know everything there is to know about raising cats, dogs, guinea pigs, snakes and goldfish) or before I gave birth (I read so many books that I completely exhausted myself). Decision making is stressful for me, and honestly the way I console myself is to tell myself that I can always change my mind later. Even airplane tickets can be changed for a comparatively small fee.

The green part is actually very helpful for me to have defined, I was actually just barely wondering why it is that I was so backward and awkward at my new friend's halloween party (I literally stood in one spot the entire time), when I was the one dying to go and craving a social gathering of any sort. Now I can agree that it wasn't that I'm anti-social, it's because I only knew like three of the twenty people there. I love parties, but I hate being around people I don't know. Getting to know new people is a painful and aggrivating part of life that I have accepted because I love having people I know well that know me well. I wouldn't call this being shy though, because I'm not lacking self esteem, it's just a process that I don't enjoy, especially on a large scale.

The part in yellow is very important to me, because I truly think that in order to be successful in any endeavor you have to be able to visualize a different reality. This has especially been helpful with my weightloss. When I am overweight--it is very challenging for me to imagine that I can look differently, and I personally think this is part of the reason why weight loss is so nebulous and difficult to achieve (but only part of the reason.... again, more to come later).

And lastly, a word about personality tests: Sometimes they are insightful, sometimes I worry that they are as limiting as giving someone a label, and sometimes I just wonder if they are like fortune cookies, deliberately vague and flattering. Oh well, it was fun anyway!

At least I was able to provide a laugh if the rest is of no use to you right?

The Candy War

(Sort of like the Crimean War, but with a lot more bloodshed, agony, and tears)

You know that limit that every reasonable person has within them to put up with things that they do not agree with? Well, I've hit that limit big time today about candy. Oddly enough, none of this has anything to do with Halloween.

My children are given enough candy throughout a normal week to put a gorilla into a sugar coma that would last long enough for his mate to think he was dead and nominate another to father her little gorilla-ings.

Case in point:

Sunday October 11-- children get full sized candy bars from Primary for watching Conference (for those of you who are not LDS, just focus on the idea of a three year old sauntering toward her mother with a full sized snickers bar given to her as a reward for doing something religious)

Every Tuesday and Thursday since September 1st-- Three year old daughter is given two gummi bears, a tootsie roll and two suckers each day from her preschool teacher

Parties at school -- more candy and treats

Birthdays at school -- candy and treats passed out to the kids from the precious birthday boy or girl because Mommy just can't bear the thought that little Johnny could go to school on his birthday without a truckload of sugar to give his friends.

The Sunday after Halloween -- kids are given candy hand over fist as rewards for saying their parts as they practice for the primary program. (Again, readers who are not LDS, focus on the candy...)

What is a conscientious mother to do? Am I the only one here that is aware of childhood obesity and diabetes and other related diseases that are rising at alarming rates? When did childhood become a spouse to candy? I know that for each of these people who are giving the candy it is easy to think that it's just something that happens on occasion, but for the parents of these kids who see the big picture, an "occasion" happens all of the time. Kind of like how it's always happy hour somewhere in the world. Little Johnny's birthday may come only once a year in that family, but what about the other 24 kids in the class? And my kids get treats for each and every one of those occasions.

The irony about all of this is the adults in this country that whine and complain because they just can't seem to give up their favorite foods in order to lose weight. Well, where do you think you learned to love those foods? For me, candy brings back memories, and often the same candy that I loved as a child, I love now mostly for sentimental reasons. This is a HUGE reason for me to want to limit candy for my kids, I don't want them to have health problems that originated because they were given too much candy as a kid! I have always looked at my children like they were a perfect blank slate when they were born, and everything bad that goes into their bodies sullies that slate. It makes me sick to think of their pure healthy little bodies being marred by all of that junk and crap.

Not only that, but it should be my prerogative to give my kids a treat, one that isn't as unhealthy and one that happens on a special occasion, and it pisses me off to no end that I have to curb that because some other unauthorized person stole that right from me by giving my kids candy.

Everyone--- just stop giving my kids candy!!

I want to make T shirts for my kids that say "Please do not feed the children candy."

I will say that I have decided to fight back though, I'm tired of passively hoping that this will resolve itself, so I have taken measures to coax the candy from my kids' hands. The most ingenious of these was inspired by my dentist who has a treasure box full of cheap toys that the kids get to pick from each time they visit, and my kids act like it's Christmas when they go to the dentist. So, I decided to hop on over to Oriental Trading's website and ordered myself 60$ worth of "treasure box" toys for my kids, and they can "buy" them from me with a piece of candy. So far, it's going over like gang busters. The afternoon that the toys arrived, my daughter and son came home from school with suckers, and when I told them they could trade it for a trip to the treasure box, they plopped them over without a moment's hesitation. Yeah, I felt pretty dang smart. I even have my son's friends bringing their candy over to trade! But since I don't care as much about the candy consumption of my neighbor's kids, I told my son that he can buy toys for his friends with his candy, not theirs (Hey, don't judge, I'm not made of money here). I think it's a great idea if I do say so myself, but the only problem with it is that they have to save their candy and hand it over instead of eating it instantly which they did today in Primary.

The war is not over though, I'll keep fighting the good fight, and I'm confident that I'll come out victorious in the end!

***by the way, the irony that this post comes right after a candy giveaway post is not lost on me.

Itty Bitty London--Giveaway!!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED, THANKS FOR PLAYING! I'LL BE CONTACTING THE WINNERS FOR THEIR ADDRESSES.

I've been wanting to do this since I got back from my trip to London in September, you see, I bought some extra chocolate over there with the intention to give it to you, my beloved readers! So here's the gag: Answer the question that correlates to one or more of the lettered pictures in the collage and I'll send you some of my favorite British Chocolate. Each picture is taken in London, England and nowhere else--there are no trick questions. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Questions:

A. What Building is this? London's Transport Museum -- Juli Congrats!
B. What Building is this? St. Paul's Cathedral -- Raelena Congrats!
C. Where is this sign found? Covent Garden -- Melinda
D. Where is this Statue found? Trafalgar Square -- Lisa L. Congrats Lisa!!
E. What is this? The London Eye -- Raelena Congrats!
F. Where is this Picture taken? By the river Thames -- Sarah
G. Where is this Statue found? Picadilly Circus -- Raelena Congrats!
H. What is this from? Wagamama's dessert menu -- Sarah
I. Where is this picture taken? A fountain at Trafalgar Square -- Melinda
J. What is the name of this fountain? The Diana memorial fountain in Hyde Park -- Kara

K. Where is this picture taken? Wagamama's -- Sarah

Rules:

-- Contestants may use any means to find the answers to the questions, so long as it is honorable and legal (honor to be determined by me)

-- Each entry must be entered as a comment to this post (no email entries will be valid) with the letter clearly typed first, and then your answer

-- Each person can answer for as many pictures as they want, but can only win for the first three correctly answered.

-- Winners will be determined on a first come first served basis, i.e., first correct answer to the picture question wins.

-- Contest is only open to US residents, each winner must be able to provide a valid US address, or the next chronological winner will be chosen.

-- Contest is open for as long as it takes to determine winners for all of the questions

-- I reserve the right to make judgment calls or to alter the rules as I see fit

-- None of this is legally binding, and should not be treated as such.

So everybody, take your time, do your research, and enjoy yourselves because I have some to-die-for-chocolate just waiting to be eaten by you! Good luck! I hope this isn't too easy or I'll be totally embarrassed...

Happy Halloween!

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My Sister-in-law did this, and I just couldn't resist copying her!

Oh Ralph.

Take a look at this awful thing that popped into my "salemail" email today. Ralph Lauren--what were you thinking dear old man? This skirt is so dowdy that I can hardly even imagine my Grandmother wearing it. Do the designers for Ralph really think that a young hip woman wants a skirt with horse bits printed all over it? I mean even if you like horses! This is right up there with Christmas sweaters. If one of the contestants on Project Runway had sent this down the catwalk, they'd be prime for an "Auf Wiedersehen" from the fabulous Heidi herself.

Almost as bad, is the Nordstrom buyer that actually put that in the store. Honey, two wrongs do not make a right, and not everything that comes from a designer is fashionable. Think for yourself, or hey Nordstrom, hire me!

What do you guys all think?

UGG Boots Giveaway!!!

As you all may know, I live in my Ugg Boots in the winter and winter is coming up, if you don't have Ugg Boots, well, you just haven't been living properly.

Here's your big chance to rectify that, follow this link to enter an Ugg Boots giveaway from Whooga. It's so simple, all you have to do is post their badge on your public blog or website and send them a link (the instructions are on the link above). And hey, if you already have a pair or two, you know how fantastic they are and you'll be wanting another because they're getting lonely...

This giveaway is open to people in any country, and I believe they have one every month, so get to it!

Seriously, why are you still reading this?

An Ode

Last night I saw a movie that moved me.  A movie by the name of 17 Again.  I've been wanting to see this movie for some time, but as you can probably imagine, Jon (my husband) was less than interested, so I had to wait until he went out of town.  And bless his hardworking heart, he has been gone all week, so last night after coaxing my oldest child and the last of three into bed and ignoring his emphatic complaints about his arm hurting (my son suffers from very mysterious pains that come on suddenly and without relief whenever he has to go to bed or do homework or chores or whenever he gets in trouble...), I bounded up the stairs, plopped on the couch and rented 17 Again from my cable company's way over priced on demand movie database.

Now, I've never seen a Zac Efron movie, and I've never really been a fan, but I am a sucker for any movie that deals with time travel in any form--especially those which feature people going back to High School.  I don't know, maybe the whole I'm-back-at-high-school-but-I-have-the-perspective-of-an-adult thing appeals to me.  At any rate, there I was watching this movie, almost half expecting to not like it because it seems that more often than not these types of movies are not done well and lack "heart" if you will.  Almost instantly I found myself falling in love with Zac Efron's character, and I continued to fall deeper as I watched him stick up for his kids, tell off the resident bully, fumble geekily through this generation's culture, and his inability to take his eyes off of his wife.  Is there anything sexier than a man who can't stop thinking about his wife??

It was the kind of movie that makes you think about it for the rest of the night, and into the morning and then on to your computer to blog about it...

I now understand the appeal of Zac Efron.  I get it.  He's a hottie, I'll admit it.  (Don 't feel bad for Jon, he has his own Hollywood crushes--Kate Beckinsale and Lucy Liu to name a few)

Looks like I'll be renting High School Musicals 1-3 this weekend.  And purchasing 17 Again so that I can swoon anytime I want to.

I still don't love the perfectly coiffed hair though--I like something a little messier thank you.