Apparently I'm thisclose to old, really, old

12 called me this morning while I was driving to work. She said “mom, did Michael Jackson die yesterday from a heart attack?”

I said yes.

She said “oh, I feel a little sad.”

I said she wasn’t alone, lots of people were sad.

She said “wasn’t he only like, 30?”

I said no, he was 50.

She said “oh, well, 50. That makes more sense.”

*rolls eyes*

I said, “uh, sweetie, I’ll be 50 in like, 8 years.”

She said “oh, mom! I didn’t, well, I mean, um, yeah, okay, well love you mom. Bye!”

Thankfully, she doesn't have a brother

My daughter is nine. She has asked for a skateboard for her birthday. While I’m not opposed to her having a skateboard, I am opposed to her request for, of all things, skaetboard ramps and a video camera. She is NINE people. This girl falls at the thought of putting one foot in front of the other! She built a ramp once out of cinder blocks and an old piece of wood for her bike. At the last minute, she was afraid to make the jump and ended up wiping out on the neighbors driveway. Two skinned knees and a cut chin later, she decided her bike was stupid and parked it for at least a month. Eventually she got back on it, however, in the meantime, she drove me nuts staying in the house and reminding me every fifteen minutes that she was bored. Sadly (or not so much), I do not see a skateboard in her future anytime soon.

I'm almost done...

I have three days of class left. I'm not sure I can contain my excitement!

I'm dropping my kids off this weekend for a three week visit with their aunt in California.

I am taking a week off between classes. I'm so stoked for that small token gesture alone that I might become giddy with joy and blog every. single. day.

I said might.

Don't get me wrong. I like to blog. But I also like to nap and watch television.

Horses and riding and wind in my hair

If I won When I win the lottery, after I pay off my credit cards and house and cars and get a pedicure and manicure and get my hair done and the kids' hair, fingers and toes done, and after we travel a bit, I am going to buy some land. On that land, I will put up my dream house. On the land surrounding my dream house, I will have horses and a barn and stables and I will spend every day riding and looking the part of a very wealthy woman in very stylish equestrian apparel and when my kids come home from school, they will change and ride with me and at the end of a long hard day, we will go into the large dream home and a meal will have been prepared by my very good chef and we will dine in the luxury we have always deserved.

And when I wake up, I'll get the kids ready for school and then I'll go to my 9 to 5 job and think about the day we win the lottery...

U.S. Physician's Purchasing Group

If you are a physician, work for a physician, or know someone who does, please pass this information along. U.S. Physician’s Purchasing Group (USPPG) serves medical offices and physicians nationwide by offering up membership in a program that allows the office or physician to receive discounted prices on vaccines, medical and surgical supplies and other medical services.

Thousands of practices comprise USPPG’s leveraged purchase power and these benefits are passed on to members for free! If you want to keep vaccine costs down, become a member by visiting USPPG and registering. Make sure you check the appropriate boxes and you should receive an email indicating your acceptance into the program within a couple days.

USPPG has partnered with GlaxoSmithKline which allows its members to purchase Glaxo vaccines at preferred pricing and rebates. Aligning a practice with other members ensures a decrease in overhead and increase in bottom line because the low prices obtained by USPPG are not based on any one individual purchasing product, but rather, the entire member base nationwide.

Buried

I have been so buried in homework the past five weeks it is not even funny! Every week, a huge paper, a huge group project, hundreds of pages of reading and then there is the answering of the homework questions that come in multi-part so even though there are only two questions, I really have to answer eight of them.

Who new a Master's Degree would be so involved? LOL.

I guess I did. Anyway, that's where I've been. Working on the Master's so I can attempt the LSAT again next year. All this counseling has really cemented the thought process for me and law is my calling.

Now, I just need to get there...

BugZip - Finally something that works!

If you have never had bed bugs, consider yourself lucky and be GLAD! About six years ago, we took in a foster child who was covered in what we thought were mosquito bites. They were all over his arms and legs and they itched. We applied cream and took him to the doctor and got a newer, different cream. The bites would disappear and then new ones would appear daily. Within a matter of days, our other foster boy was covered in the bites. I had never heard of bed bugs in the United States. I thought they were a foreign country problem. It was not until we moved the bunk beds from downstairs to the upstairs bedroom that my daughter came down one day covered in bites that I made the connection. The kids down stairs were no longer being bitten and the kids upstairs were. I did some internet research, went into her room at night to check the mattress and that is when we saw the culprits. About 10 or 15 little bugs were crawling about. They scattered like cockroaches when we shined the light on them. We took the mattresses out and encased them in airtight covers but the bunk beds were a loss, as were the beds we moved downstairs.

After that, I became well versed in bed bugs and how a person can get them. I am very careful now. I never set my luggage on the bed or floor in a hotel room. I use the bathroom counter. I also buy those really big ziplock bags for our clothes while we’re in the hotel and then when we get home, our luggage stays out in the garage (I live in Arizona where it gets in the triple digits easily) and they are sealed in large bags.

Until recently, this was the only way I knew that would protect our family from ever contracting bed bugs again. Everything I read says they can be in any motel or hotel chain, any reputable place could have them. Now, there is a product made for our protection that is affordable and in my opinion, worth the money.

The makers of BugZip have come up with an ingenious bed bug encasement which actually protects our luggage while we travel, and our clothes while we are staying at a hotel or motel! In my opinions, BugZip is an affordable manner of battling bed bugs because the cost of taking our bunk beds and other beds to the garbage dump, buying airtight mattress encasements and then buying new beds was a huge dent into our budget.

This is the clothing encasment that goes in the drawer of the hotel/motel/cruise cabin that protects our clothing:



This is the luggage encasement that protects our luggage while our clothes are safe in the drawers:



Bed bugs are nearly impossible to trace. They are impossible to see during the day unless you have a magnifying glass and know what you are looking for. They leave small, tiny specks of feces on the mattresses in the seams and on the bed frame where the mattress rests as well as any joint or place where two edges meet each other. Watch this video for a glimpse at the pesky little critters.

The beauty of BugZip is that you encase your luggage and/or clothes upon arrival and then leave the potentially infested BugZip behind for disposal. It is important to note that when you encase your luggage and/or clothes, make sure you go around the corners of the BugZip careful so as not to ruin the zipper and render your BugZip useless. Bed bugs attach themselves to the outside of luggage so it is important to only use the BugZip once. Additionally, the cost of the BugZip makes this a reasonable request and preventing the spread of bed bugs is something we all appreciate.

I was provided a BugZip in four different sizes to try in order to complete this paid review. This is an honest review and I would suggest this product to others.

THIS IS A PAID REVIEW FOR THE BUGZIP PRODUCT WHICH WAS PROVIDED TO ME FREE OF CHARGE.

I need I mean want new furniture.

At my old job, we used to get bonuses twice a year. My bonuses were nothing to complain about. In fact, they were what I liked to call buy a nice piece of furniture events. I completed my bedroom one piece at a time working there. Then we moved to Arizona and my new job and bonuses aren’t something that go in the same sentence. It’s simply not that kind of job. Which really sucks because right now, I could use a new sofa. I’m debating, a new kitchen sink (which I really, really want) or a new sofa (which I don’t need, but I want one anyway). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, sometimes, it’s hard being the grownup.

Ever heard of Liporexall?

I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago to have my thyroid and other hormone levels checked again. I do this every year and every year they come back normal and the doctor tells me I am healthy. The problem I have encountered is that I turned forty last year and since then, I have packed on a whopping forty pounds. I didn’t realize how much weight I had gained until I was at the doctor. Apparently, I was in total denial as to the weight being broadcast across my bathroom scale. The fact that I stepped up and heard a heavy sigh from beneath my feet probably should have been some indication. When I got back from the doc I wrote down every time I had exercised in the past three weeks. That was disappointing to say the least. You see, I like to exercise. I feel good when I’m doing it (except the sweating part. That grosses me out). My problem is that I lack any motivation or desire to start exercising. I want to, I just don’t want to get off the couch to do it. That is when I decided to start looking for something that would give my metabolism a kick in the butt as well as help curb my appetite. Looks like Liporexall might be the thing I am looking for. I used to take a supplement containing ephedra until it was pulled off the market. I hoarded my last bottle until a few years ago and I haven’t found anything comparable yet. Hopefully, Liporexall will change that.