Drinking and Driving - Just Don't...

The rule "don't drink and drive" is probably one of the most important rules to remember next to "keep your hands to yourself". But what happens when you ignore these rules? I got to experience this first hand, although it could've been a lot worse... And a lot less funny afterwards.

So my husband picked me up from my mothers house (I had been visiting most of the day) to take me on our Labor Day Weekend away with his parents. I knew something was wrong when our roommate stumbled out of his car, obviously very drunk. I asked my husband if he'd been drinking and he told me no, and that he was fine. Satisfied with his answer, I got into the car and we drove off.

My next warning came when I noticed the brightly colored cans that littered the floor of the car. "It's just energy drinks, babe." My husband had assured me, but I knew better. Shortly after I noticed how badly he was swerving on the road. Again he came up with an excuse that a lot of people had their brights on and it was hard to see... I demanded to be let out of the car at the next gas station.

My complaints were ignored but eventually I convinced him to stop at a McDonalds to eat. My plan was that once I was out of the car, I would call my mom to come get me. It was close to midnight by the time we pulled over at the gas station.

I immediately went inside and called my mom to explain the situation. I gave her directions to the McDonalds 45 minutes away from her home. When I got outside, our situation had become even worse. My husband had left the car keys with our drunk roommate while he went to the bathroom, and the drunk roommate locked them in the car.

After getting into a yelling match with my husband, I called roadside assistance. Hearing sirens off in the distance, I was told it would be two hours before someone could make it out to us... 2am. To make matters worse, my mother got lost in the middle of nowhere after driving to a completely different town thirty minutes away from where we were. Not wanting her to get lost worse, since it was now 1am and she had work in the morning, I apologized and asked her to just drive home, I would meet her there when the tow truck arrived.

By this time our roommate had gotten advise from one of the gas station workers to call the police to help us. He asked to borrow my phone, still drunk with his locked in the car, to call the cops. I of course turned him down, remembering the open beer cans in the car and obvious smell of alcohol on his breath.

He kept insisting and actually flagged down an officer while I was using the bathroom. By this time, I had come out... The officer asked if they had been drinking and asked about the cans in the car. I could feel my stomach sinking until she asked who had been driving. Knowing the consequences would be less severe for me, I offered myself as the driver. I told her she could test my breath for alcohol, as I didn't ever drink anyways, but she said that wasn't necessary.

She informed us we could get a citation for the beer cans but could tell we had a rough night and was going to let us go. Just then our roadside assistance showed up to save the day, but now we had a bigger problem. Our lady officer sat in the McDonalds with two other police, making it a point to watch us drive away.

This should be fine, right? I mean, I haven't been drinking... Except I didn't know how to drive a stick. Defeated, tired and upset... We argued outside of the restaurant for another 45 minutes while the cops watched us before giving up and walking two miles to the nearest hotel.

So that was my night and honestly I feel blessed. In some ways I believe God was looking out for us that night. My husband was swerving so bad, who knows if we would have ever made it to his parents house. Little miracles happen in all sorts of ways... But this whole situation could've been avoided if people would just remember not to drink and drive.

Blog Share: DandilyonFluff - More Chicken Ban Business

Sent August 21, 2014. A letter from Nathan Boyles, the commissioner who thinks we are smart enough to care for a few chickens if we want to. I’m glad somebody up there has confidence in us!

I thought it was a simple issue but by the time it was over, I felt a bit like I had been boiled and plucked. I was trying to repeal the rule in Okaloosa County that outlaws backyard chickens – even a single hen- in all residential districts, rural or not. In truth though, the issue isn’t really about chickens at all. It is about being true to core principals. That means ending government interference into our lives – and our backyards, unless our individual actions harm our neighbors. I assumed, wrongly, that with an all Republican “conservative” Commission the issue would be a homerun. I noted a government ad from 1918 – near the end of World War 1 – encouraging Americans to keep backyard chickens to boost the productivity and self-reliance of a nation at war. The ad featured two children building a backyard chicken coop. The children represented the same generation that would later become “The Greatest Generation.” Those children, raised in a time when self-reliance and duty to the greater good existed in harmony, would face down the greatest threat the world has ever known. And yet less then 100 years later, it is okay for government to outlaw a former virtue... Read the rest at: http://dandilyonfluff.com/2014/08/more-chicken-business/

Who needs TV when you have Pets

My dog, Tobi, is a bit of an only child in our home. He plays with his toys by himself, goes on walks by himself and doesn't have to worry about other dogs trying to eat his food. Socializing is important in a dog's life though and one mommy can't replace the company of another furry friend.

Because of this, I try to take Tobi with me whenever I visit my mom. She has two dogs of her own (both twice the size of my miniature dachshund) and those three have a blast together. Her two, Dante & Chief, will usually start wrestling on the floor with Tobi trying to wiggle between them and nip at their ankles.

One time I was walking down the hallway of her house to suddenly be nearly knocked over by the three dogs racing each other. As they bolted down the hallway, I saw Chief try to leap over Tobi to gain the lead. Dante wasn't about to have that though and reached out to grab Chief's leg in his mouth to stop him... all while they were still running.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I watched Chief get thrown to the ground... right on top of Tobi and in a giant rolling ball of dog, I watched all three of them crash into a wall. They weren't hurt or anything, on the contrary. Tobi immediately hopped up to let his concerns be known with a squeaking noise, Chief bolted out the doggy door to win the race and Dante tumbled after him. Who needs TV when you have pets?

A Glass of Water a Day keeps the Doctor Away

What if we switched out all the soda we drink for water? Would we be happier, healthier and breath easier at night? Recent studies show the average American drinks 44 gallons of soda each year - yikes! That's like 44 milk jugs.

If you take into account that the average soda contains 140 calories of sugar alone multiplied by the 1.6 soda a day average... you're looking at over 100,000 calories of sugar alone in a year. So what would happen if we switched our daily soda for a bottle of water? Would we be happier, healthier and breath easier at night? ...most definitely!

Milestone: 100 Blog Posts!

100 posts and seven years ago, my mother started this blog to share her frugal experiments and savings tips with the world. No one knew at the time, not even her, that this small blog would help set her on track for the career she has today... Assistant Editor, Author and Part-Time Blogger.

When my mom began blogging in 2007, it was a hobby. She always loved writing but with her kids being a full-time job, it was often put on the back burner for things like soccer games and school field trips.

This post is the one draft and yesterday's post was 'Scheduled'

The Original 'Penny Pinscher'

With the help of our dog, Penny the Doberman Pinscher, she began to reach for what she truly enjoyed... writing. Her blog posts were featured on websites and in news articles, eventually prompting her to start the blog DandilyonFluff.com. When she let this blog go, her daughter (me!) picked it back up three years later and I'm here to stay.

I will never be the great writer my mother is, but hopefully I to will have interesting stories to share and helpful tips to give in the coming future. Congratulations Penny Pinscher on making it to 100 blog posts!

Blast from the Past

Pictures from posts over the years.

Coupon Brag Book

January 4th 2008

The Saturday Summary

January 12th 2008

My Dirty Little Secret

February 6th 2008

Scenes From the Backyard

February 15th 2008

Sunday, After Church

February 24th 2008

Stop the Train! I Wanna Get Off!

April 20th 2008

The Cost of Clutter

May 26th 2008

Paying Almost $500 Less Monthly...

September 10th 2009

The Pinscher Has Moved On

November 9th 2010

Advising a Friend

Children, the loves of our lives and the future of our country. Some would say family really isn't family without them... but what if children aren't a possibility for you?

A good friend of mine was asking me for advice today. He said that he's been with this girl for eight months now and couldn't be happier. While they were out having dinner she made a side comment about kids which lead him to ask if she wanted children one day.

"Of course! What woman doesn't dream of being a mother one day?"

Back in the present, my friend told me that he froze up. He had never told his girlfriend that he wasn't able to have kids; it had never come up in their relationship before.

"What am I supposed to do? She seemed so excited at the idea of kids and I really love this girl..." he had told me.

This situation is never easy and I'm not really the counseling, wise friend. But I told him what I would want in that situation.

"If you really love her and want a future with her, it's going to come up eventually. I know its difficult but you should be honest with her now. It will hurt her more if she finds out you've hidden it from her."

"Some people can't be in a relationship where children aren't an option and you have to respect her opinion. If she loves you in return and can accept that a life with you will be one without kids, then you know she's right for you. If not... well then she wasn't the one."

Did I give him the right advice?

The importance of “Looking Good”

Don’t misunderstand my title – None of us are super models. But there is some importance to keeping up with your appearance. Buying yourself a new shirt every now and then will have your whole wardrobe feeling fresh.

We all have those days where we might’ve slept in late and had to rush off to work without our morning shower. Heck, we’ve all had those days where some of our food spilled (or was thrown - *Cough* toddlers.) on our favorite white blouse and we know that stain isn’t coming out!

Those days we feel especially crummy and everything seems to go wrong; you miss your important phone call, you get splashed with water while trying to grab the mail… literally everything.

But the days where we’re looking good, (and we know it) those turn out to be some of the best days! So do your hair up differently, maybe even dye it – take some extra time to do your makeup or start moisturizing your hands with that wonderful smelling lotion your friend recommended.  Even the little things can brighten up your day and we all know a beautiful attitude is the first step to a beautiful life.

Does writing a compliment gain more than a complaint?

Recently I've been testing out my own version of the $39 Experiment with a few small changes... rather than writing companies to ask them for free samples or complaining, I've been sending them a short message about how much I enjoyed using their product in my own home. I have had a surprisingly amount of success with this approach and it makes you wonder, does a compliment gain more than a complaint?

I think of it this way... companies get complaints 24/7. If you release your product out to millions of people, more than likely someone is going to have a problem with it and want to tell you about it. If something bad happens to you, the first thing you want to do is tell someone else. However, if a product works as it should... usually that's not really big news.

But these companies work hard on their merchandise and are working to improve it every day. Don't they deserve some good feedback, where good feedback is deserved?

So I started writing different companies that made items that I use daily around my home and let them know how much I appreciated their hard work. The response was more than worth it. I have gotten coupons, freebies and thank-you gifts in the mail or through my email! My favorite was probably S.C. Johnson when I wrote to them about how much easier Windex made my life. They sent me a coupon for a free bottle of Windex and a booklet of other $1 off coupons for all their other merchandise.

A friendly word can go a long ways.

Have you had any success getting free stuff or coupons? If so, what did you do to get it?

Blog Share: DandilyonFluff - Defend the Right to Cheap eBooks

A call to arms for authors and readers of ebooks – I just read this letter from Amazon and I have to weigh in on the side of cheaper ebooks. All my ebooks are .99 or less and I don’t want to be forced to raise my prices. Ebooks allow me to get my work into the hands of more readers quickly. I can give them away without going broke. They are environmentally better with less wasted paper and need no shipping.

At the bottom of the letter their is an email address to contact Hatchette and tell them what you think. I urge all of us, reader and writer alike, to send a message defending our right to price our ebooks as low as we like. If we don’t watch out, next someone will be trying to regulate garage sale prices… now please, read, write and defend.

From Amazon:

Just ahead of World War II, there was a radical invention that shook the foundations of book publishing. It was the paperback book. This was a time when movie tickets cost 10 or 20 cents, and books cost $2.50. The new paperback cost 25 cents – it was ten times cheaper. Readers loved the paperback and millions of copies were sold in just the first year.

With it being so inexpensive and with so many more people able to afford to buy and read books, you would think the literary establishment of the day would have celebrated the invention of the paperback, yes? Nope. Instead, they dug in and circled the wagons. They believed low cost paperbacks would destroy literary culture and harm the industry (not to mention their own bank accounts). Many bookstores refused to stock them, and the early paperback publishers had to use unconventional methods of distribution – places like newsstands and drugstores. The famous author George Orwell came out publicly and said about the new paperback format, if “publishers had any sense, they would combine against them and suppress them.” Yes, George Orwell was suggesting collusion.

Well… history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

Fast forward to today, and it’s the e-book’s turn to be opposed by the literary establishment. Amazon and Hachette – a big US publisher and part of a $10 billion media conglomerate – are in the middle of a business dispute about e-books. We want lower e-book prices. Hachette does not. Many e-books are being released at $14.99 and even $19.99. That is unjustifiably high for an e-book. With an e-book, there’s no printing, no over-printing, no need to forecast, no returns, no lost sales due to out of stock, no warehousing costs, no transportation costs, and there is no secondary market – e-books cannot be resold as used books. E-books can and should be less expensive.

Perhaps channeling Orwell’s decades old suggestion, Hachette has already been caught illegally colluding with its competitors to raise e-book prices. So far those parties have paid $166 million in penalties and restitution. Colluding with its competitors to raise prices wasn’t only illegal, it was also highly disrespectful to Hachette’s readers...

Read the rest at: http://dandilyonfluff.com/2014/08/defend-the-right-to-cheap-ebooks/

My Ceiling Fan Predicament

So my husband and I moved into a new apartment a few weeks ago now. As much as I love it, there is one thing that irks me. None of our ceiling fans are attached to the light switches. This means that if you turn off the light switch, ceiling fan stays on.

I'm sure you're thinking, well why can't you just pull the cord to turn them off? Well I would if I could but this apartment was designed for giants!! I am a small woman of 5 feet and 3 inches so anything above the 4 ft range is out of my reach. Of course all the ceilings are vaulted which means my only hope of turning off any ceiling fans is to stand on one of my wobbly kitchen chairs and jump up to hopefully grab the cord (without pulling down the whole roof in the process) to turn off the fan.

My husband must've been a polar bear in a past life because he keeps everything in the house to near freezing when he's home... including turning on every ceiling fan. I keep telling him to turn them off before he leaves for work but he always forgets... sigh, men. So every day I sit in my room, tapping away at my computer, wearing a jacket, a hoodie, long pants with socks and a blanket over myself while I try to keep the shivering from messing up my typing. (And its the middle of fricken summer!) Maybe I've been living in Florida to long?

PAWS Dogs Need a Loving Home...

If you would be willing to open up your home and your heart to these rescued animals, please contact:

Panhandle Animal Welfare Society

• Phone: (850) 243-1525
• Fax: (850) 664-0445
• E-mail:
• pawsftwb@embarqmail.com
• Website:
• http://www.paws-shelter.org
• Address:
  752 Lovejoy Road
  Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548

My name is Corn Pop!

My name is Corn Pop. I am a 2 year old female Bulldog mix. I was brought to PAWS as a stray. I'm a lovable, sweet girl with lots of love to give. I just need the right family to give it to. I weigh 50 lbs so I will need a home with plenty of room to run and play. I have a sweet personality all of my own and would love a family to share it with. Please come to PAWS and meet with me today!

My name is Calypso!

Hello PAWS family, my name is Calypso. I am a 2 month old female American Bulldog/Labrador Retriever mix breed puppy. I was brought to PAWS along with my other 4 siblings because my owner was overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for all of us. I am sweet but I am in need of puppy training and lots of love and attention. Like all puppies we need constant care and supervision. If you think I am a good match for your family then please come and visit me today. Hugs from Calypso

My name is Luna!

Hello PAWS family, my name is Luna... I am a 2 year old 82 lb. female Labrador Retriever. I was brought to PAWS along with my sister as a stray. We are both very sweet and loving. We are looking for a family that can love on us and give us a great home. Please come and visit us today so we can bond. Hugs from Luna

My name is Dolly!

Hello PAWS family, my name is Dolly... I am a 5 year old 62lb. female Bull Dog mix breed. I was brought to PAWS along with my sister Molly because our owner is very sick and can no longer care for us. We are scared and don't understand why we are here but we need a new family that can care for us. Please come and visit us today... We would love to find our forever home with each other since we have been together so long now. Hugs from Dolly

My name is Baxter!

Hello PAWS family, my name is Baxter... I am a 10 month old 13 lb. male Dachshund mix breed puppy. I was brought to PAWS as a stray. I am peppy, fun and adorable. I have alot of energy so I would need a family that can keep up with me. I would make a great addition for any family. Please come and visit me today. Hugs from Baxter

Building the Future... Does it require College?

All my life, I had planned to go to college after high school. It was engineered into me by my parents and society around me. Often those who don't attend college are thought of as "Low-Achiever" or "Less-Likely-To-Be-Successful". But how true is that after reading in the news about college dropouts such as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? Surely the terms "Low-Achiever" and "Less-Likely-To-Be-Successful" can't be used to define these men, who some would say, set the standard for success.

I have never attended college. In fact, I left high school at 16 to get a GED. All my skills are self-taught and all my knowledge gained from free sources on the world wide web, which in recent studies has shown to be a better source of information than your average college textbook. Sounds like your paying for a diploma rather than actually learning any useful skills.

Currently I work as an independent 3D Designer who sells my models to entertainment companies. I'm faced with the option of going to college for a degree in Computer Science or continuing my work as is to hopefully gain permanent employment with one of my many clients. On one hand, I would spend the next four years getting into debt and (quite possibly) re-learning skills that I already have. On the other, however, a lot of job positions that I would meet the skillset of require a Computer Science degree. Is the debt worth the piece of paper stating that I can do what I have already been able to do for years, especially when the average student debt exceeds $26,000?

What's your opinion on the issue? Should our youth settle for lower paying jobs that will eventually promote up into higher paying ones or sit back for four years working on a degree which has a high percentage chance to land you in that same low paying job?

The Makings of a Memorable Story

What makes a good book? Is it the relation between the reader and the main character? Is it the funny jokes or tragic moments? Is it the haunting mystery that leaves you starving for the answers? Perhaps it is all of these things that makes a truly well-written story, but for me... it's the struggle.

There is a part in every great book where the main character has hit an impossible obstacle, an insurmountable wall that seems to travel for miles in either direction. A challenge so fearsome that the character finds himself collapsing to his knees in defeat as he wonders how he could possibly overcome such odds.

But that is not what makes the story great. The turning point is where the character pulls himself to his feet and decides to climb that wall. No matter what difficulties arise, he is determined to see it through to the end. That moment in the book where the character breaks out of his previous chains and conquers the impossible.

"I always wanted to be brave... I thought, do the brave thing and bravery would follow." - Belle, Once Upon A Time

Now that is what makes a truly inspiring tale; one you can carry with you the rest of your life so that hopefully in your own moment of weakness... you to can find bravery.

Blog Share: DandilyonFluff - 1,440 Chances to Try Again

From Dandilyonfluff.com:

If everyone were rich, no one would be. If everyone were happy, there’d be no joy. If everyone were sad, it wouldn’t exist. Both sides must exist for there to be a coin.

Today wasn’t the best of days for me. An alarm malfunction caused me to wake an hour late on a day when I needed to be a half hour early and plenty polished. I felt two steps behind, fatigued and spent. Friday is when the challenges stop coming and we get a break but knowing my Saturday was crammed full made me feel trapped. I drove home, a human time bomb. My left eyelid twitched to count off the seconds before I blew up...

Read the rest at: http://dandilyonfluff.com/2014/08/1440-chances-to-try-again/

Ferguson, Missouri Police Chief releases Officer's Name who shot Michael Brown - Thoughts?

For those of you who have been following the Ferguson, Missouri Shooting, today the Chief of Police Thomas Jackson released the name of the Officer who shot and killed Michael Brown last Saturday. I was sitting in the waiting room of a small office when I saw the report broadcast live on CNN. I would definitely say that the Police Chief seemed nervous and upset by the news he was giving, but I would be as well with all the threats and anger that has been aimed at the local police.

Nearly every report paints this whole ordeal as a hate crime or black vs. white. I don't believe that to be the case. What transpired last Saturday would have been just as horrible if it had been a child of a different race that had gotten shot.  I'll be praying for the family tonight along with many other Americans across the USA. Losing a child is a parent's greatest fear, regardless of what race or background you come from. I can't possibly imagine what the Brown Family is going through right now, especially with how everything has blown up.

Reports say that riots have broken out in the Ferguson area as protesters for Michael Brown are looting stores and attacking other civilians. As the Brown Family has already stated, this needs to stop. How can you possibly protest against violence by committing more violence? Those shopkeepers and their staff are innocent; they had nothing to do with Michael Brown's shooting. Why are you targeting them?

"Don't take that to riot; don't take that to loot. The family has made clear that it doesn't want that," - Attorney Anthony Gray, Representative of the Brown Family

As the case drags on into a week now, people are getting more and more anxious to find out what happened and what will be done in consequence. With all that said, what are your thoughts after learning a little more information on the officer who fired the shot and with how the city of Ferguson is responding in kind?

Camping Out with our Favorite Desserts!

He wants me to share but he knows he's on a diet!

It's Friday and what better way to spend your Friday night than camped out on your living room couch with some of your favorite desserts! The guys decided it was time for a guy's night out so that just leaves the dog and me. (But who needs stinky guys anyways?) We were about to curl up in front of the TV to watch some shows but not before I prepared a box of HERSHEY'S s'mores dessert bar mix. Everyone needs s'mores at a campout!

And what goes better with s'mores than REESE'S peanut butter cups! (Or in this case, bars) That's right! Two boxes of desserts, a marathon of movies and my best friend in the whole world, my little dog, Tobi - Is there a more perfect way to spend the evening? 

The dessert bars were really easy to make, just stir... stir... and bake! (As well as easy to find, you can pick them up at your local Target) It only took about twenty minutes before I had two glass pans with warm, sweet treats and boy, were they de-lish! I do have to admit I've been craving s'mores the last couple days so that might've influenced my opinion just a tad when I decided that the HERSHEY'S s'mores dessert bars were my absolute fave!

But the night's not over yet! I have a giant black book of DVDs that I plan to go through in less than 14 hours and not a minute sooner. Guess I'm pulling an all-nighter. :)

|  Betty Crocker on Facebook   |  Betty Crocker Official Site: http://www.bettycrocker.com/  |

Disclosure: The information and prize pack have been provided by General Mills through Platefull Co-Op.

Sex Tape (2014) Review Cameron Diaz & Jason Segel

From the beginning of the movie, I was able to connect to the storyline on a personal level. It starts out as many of my days do, typing away on a blog. She goes on to describe the passion her and her husband had felt for each other when they began dating and how it had faded over the years with having kids, getting married and sinking into their daily routine.

I’m sure a lot of us feel that way about our own relationships from time to time, but don’t let that part sink you down as the movie takes a sharp twist to hilarity. As they attempt to repair a unsaturated love life, one trial leading to another, they finally settle on making a sex video together. What happens next will surely WOW you as this unbelievable domino trail comes crashing down in a series of unfortunate events.

I can surely say I was on the edge of my seat for the entire film and I could completely see where that Mother was coming from. (And perhaps, faced with those same decisions, I would have done the same thing!) The only disappointment that I had was you never really find out if the mother sells her blog or where was that creepy, cocaine-filled relationship with her soon-to-be boss was headed.

All in all, I can say that Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel did a wonderful job. I knew from the start that this movie was going to be fantastic when I recognized the Jason Segel from Wedding Crashers and The Five Year Engagement paired with Cameron Diaz. What a hilarious combination! Again, applause for Director Jake Kasdan for making another fun movie to add to the collection and keep up the good work.

Why do I write?

My mother made a promise to herself when she started blogging, “I will post once a day, every day.” She then went on to publish several books starting with End of Mae and No Money Marketing: All You Need is Like, as well as the popular blog Dandilyonfluff.com. I don’t claim to be my mother… or anywhere close. She is an amazing and unique woman with a passion for writing.

I’m not a writer, just a kid who writes.

So why do I write? I’m not hoping to get famous or publish any books. I think I realized it today as I was taking the trash out to the dumpster (Which is a very inspirational moment) I write because I crave that stability that it provides my life.

I live in a world with fast cars, fast money and temporary homes. People come and go in my life and I’m never in one spot for more than a few months. Writing on this blog has become the only stable thing I have. I don’t post on here religiously, every day… but it’s the consistent routine of jotting down a sloppily written post about an experience or thought that helps provide some calm.

You could say blogging is my cigarette and I’m a stress smoker.

Internet Survival - How long would you last without it?

How long could you survive without internet? No, I’m serious. How long do you think you could make it before you cracked? How about without your cell phone? For the past few days I was faced with such a challenge. You see, I recently moved into a new apartment, and after that fiasco with AT&T, I had to call Mediacom to come out and install… which means I’d have to wait another week without internet.

No worries… I can do this. I mean, I still have a cell phone… right? WRONG!

Yet another great thing about this apartment… It’s on the third floor. So one night while I was texting over the edge of our balcony, my husband decided to scare me… you know, like they do on those prank videos. Well it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye or in my case, my phone.

Over the edge it went, three stories down as I screamed in slow motion and tried to grab it. (Maybe if I hadn’t been moving in slow motion I would’ve caught it too.) It was no use… My phone landed with a loud thud against the grassy lawn below.

Now I wasn’t ready to kill my husband yet. I still held out hope that the soft grass below might’ve broke my phone’s fall enough to save it from harm. After nearly sprinting down the three flights of stairs and darting out into the lawn… then searching the lawn for my phone… I discovered nothing but a black screen with a wicked bright crack in the screen that was no thicker than a strand of hair. That was enough though. My phone was out of commission permanently.

How long did I survive without my phone or internet? How long did I make it before I cracked? …Not very long.

But I still made it and besides the hours of laying on the couch, staring at the ceiling and wondering what the point of my life was (Or how the lines on the ceiling formed shapes… like clouds!) I don’t think it went to badly.

Don’t misunderstand though… it’s an experience that I never want to relive again. Thank God for internet!!

The Case of the Missing Squeaky Toy!

My dog’s absolute favorite chew toy would have to be this little blue loofah dog (Shaped like a dachshund of course!) with a squeaker right in the center. He proudly carried this loofah dog all over the house and buried it under the most special of couch cushions. I know this is my dog’s favorite chew toy because one day he had torn off the head… and I threw it away.

I didn’t think anything of it at the time. He has tons of toys, some even like his loofah dog, but that toy was special. I didn’t notice at first, but he started wandering around the house over the next couple days; sniffing and digging as if he were looking for something.

He searched under the couch cushions… He searched in the closet… He searched in the laundry pile…

But what was he searching for? Finally he flopped down onto the couch with the most distraught look on his face… that’s when it dawned on me. That was days ago though, and that little loofah dog was long gone in trash land somewhere. You can’t tell a dog that though, so I had to come up with a plan.

It was simple really… just go to the store and buy him a new one. Except when I returned to Walmart the next day, they had a completely different set of dog toys out for sale.

I asked one of the saleswomen if she knew when that toy would be returning or if there were some in the back but she only shrugged her shoulders. “Products come and go… for all we know it could be a discontinued toy.” Well I was a mommy on a mission and I had a sad puppy dog to go home too if I failed.

I set out then, checking all the local retail and pet stores in the area to ask if they had a little blue loofah dog in stock. My friends thought I was nuts when they texted me later that day to ask what I was up to, but they didn’t know the power of the puppy eyes. Finally one of my friends texted me a link to an Amazon.com listing… Ta Da! She had found it!

Within a couple days my dachshund was bouncing around happily with his BRAND NEW loofah dog! (Which makes it so much better) Hooray for happy endings J

Strangers Again

When was the last time you felt in love with your husband? I'm not talking about the "I love you" he sends in a text after you've finished discussing what to make for dinner or the "Love you!" that you say to him right before he leaves for work. I mean that deep happiness that one feels when they realize they wouldn't want to be with anyone else at that moment.

The answer for my husband and I? Well... I can't remember.

When was the last time you fought with your husband? Well we all know that one.

It was last night - He had come home late from work and the first thing he did when he walked thru the door was make some snide comment about the dishes. (Which the sink was only about 1/3rd of the way full)

It grew from there into a screaming match about how he had to work all day while I was probably at home doing my nails or playing on a Facebook game like Farmville.

Of course he would have known, had he been home, that I spent 5 hours on the phone with the internet company's customer service, took the dog to the vet, went grocery shopping and still managed to finish my many other house duties... with the exception of the four plates and one pan that sat in our sink.

Our night ended with him sleeping on the couch and myself viciously finishing the dishes.

In fact, it seemed most of our night's ended that way now. Sure we tried to watch a movie together now and then (if we can even agree on one.) But it wasn't the same.

We had both sunk into a routine of stress and blame... lashing out at eachother as we only had eachother to lash out at.

Its going to be tough getting out of this cycle but I'm hoping that recognizing it is the first step. Our marriage of three years already seemed to be winding its way back to where it started... strangers.

Maybe one day I'll be able to remember the last time we were truly in love... and hopefully it'll help me remember how to get back to that.

How To Make Italian Cream Soda "Books-A-Million Style"

Yesterday I found myself browsing the wares of a Books-A-Million in another city an hour away from home. Why is this important? Well the Books-A-Million close to my home doesn't feature a Joe Mugs Cafe with such a wide selection of drinks.

Now the reason I found myself so far from home in the first place is that I had agreed to take my younger brother on a date at the mall. Mother had been booked up at work and he offered gas money, so how could I say no to love?

So I sat in the nearby Books-A-Million, staring up at the drink selection, as I tried to kill time until he called for a pickup. I finally decided on what would soon be my most favorite drink ever - Italian Cream Soda with Irish Cream as my flavoring.

Delicious! Creamy and yet refreshing at the same time. I quickly found myself finishing it and ordering another. How had I not heard of this before?

Lucky for me, the cafe prepared its drinks in an open bar so I could memorize her methods to attempt making this drink at home.

Ingredients:

2 Cups
Cream
Irish Cream (Alcoholic or Non-Alcoholic)
Shasta Club Soda
ICE

Take your cup and fill it with ice.

Then take your Irish cream and fill up the cup until the fill line would be equal to the first digit of your right hand if it were pressed against the cup. (These were complex measurements that she performed.)

Next fill the cup with cream about double the amount of Irish cream.

Then take your Shasta Club Soda and fill your cup up the rest of the way. (Hope you grabbed a tall glass)

Finally take your second cup and pour the drink mixture back and forth until it turns a champagne color, sort of a creamy white.

Now I think I'll go have a glass! Enjoy!

Staircase to Success

A Leap of Faith... that's what most people use as a definition for the most terrifying decision of your life; one that could be a huge payout or a disastrous mistake. This decision could make the difference between chaos or success.

As I found myself at this decision in my life, I tried to picture what my leap of faith would actually look like if I were physically there. A dark pit, that's where I'd find myself, seemingly bottomless as I stand hopelessly on the edge of what could quite possibly be suicide.

No... to me success is nothing like a leap of faith, at least not in my situation. Its hard to picture anything good coming out of leaping blind into an endless hole with no destination in sight. What sort of message does that send?

Metaphorically, I imagine it to be more like a staircase and I'm standing at the bottom looking up. In fact, its nearly exhausting to try and view myself at the top. That is how I could see my risky choice laid out in front of me.

As I reached this epiphany, other questions began to surface. If success is a staircase, what if one of the floor boards are loose? What if I trip and fall? What if I don't have the strength to climb all those stairs?

In the end the questions came down to, what if I fail? I would have to climb all the way back down those stairs to where I started, nursing my injuries, left to sit in anger and frustration about all the time I had wasted even attempting it in the first place. That time could cost me my relationship or my job... I could end up in an even worse position than I had started.

Failing was not an option so why even begin climbing those stairs in the first place? Stay with your comfortable lifestyle of safety away from the unknown. It's what you've spent all your life doing anyways.

So I did. I sat there at the bottom of those stairs, looking up at success with frustrated tears in my eyes until my mother came along and answered my questions.

What if one of the floor boards are loose? You nail it back down.

What if I trip and fall? You stand back up.

What if I don't have the strength to climb all those stairs? You rest until you've caught your breath.

What if I fail? You try again.

Time to climb those stairs.

"The Rep laughed and hung up on me." - My HORRIBLE AT&T Experience

I'm not even sure how to start this one... honestly I never thought service with such a well known company could ever be so terrible.

I called on the 25th of July to get internet service for our new apartment. Hold times were a bit annoying but that's the usual with any service. After getting to speak with a representative I was put into a no-contract plan (Trust me, she tried really hard to put me into that contract.) for DSL internet.

She gave me little to no information over the phone, saying it would be emailed to me and said I'd get my internet modem sent to me on the 30th and my service would start on the 31st.

I was excited at first, thinking previously that the only internet provider in my area was the infamous mediacom and it's 1.2 online star rating, but that enthusiasm began to fizzle out when I checked the front office for a package on the 30th... nothing.

I waited and checked again on the 31st before I finally called the AT&T customer service line. After a string of holds and transfers taking around 2 hours, (Apparently the order number that was emailed to me didn't exist) I was told that there was a small mixup with my order and my internet boxes would be here on the 2nd.

No big deal, right? Until on the second when my boxes had yet to arrive and I found myself calling AT&T's customer support AGAIN. More transfers, holds and promises of callbacks with one representative actually laughing and hanging up on me (Yeah! SERIOUSLY?)

When I finally got through to a person who spoke English, I was told that there were no boxes coming at all. My order had been put on hold to wait for a technician to come out and run a line - BUT no technician had ever gotten an order to be sent out. Both the representative and I were completely baffled and I was told to call back on Monday to get a technician sent out there since they were now closing. (Since the many transfers and holds had pushed me past their business hours.)

Monday comes and I still have a shred of hope that the problem will resolve itself. That shred was squashed after the first person their customer service line put me in touch with said that my bill started on the 31st and my service was completely fine. She didn't seem to be able to understand that I had NO AT&T MODEM to use MY INTERNET.

And so began the transfers and holds while we attempted to get to an English speaking representative who might understand what the word "internet" means.

I was on my final straw when the last woman told me that in order to fix my service I would have to start the whole process over again and re-run my credit. She asked for my social and after how unprofessionally they had handled everything else I told her just to cancel the order completely.

Another transfer to a woman who tried to con me into keeping my service but I was done talking. I told her you better wipe your systems clean of my name because if I get a bill in the mail from AT&T I'm going to flip. Within seconds she told me my service was cancelled and the nightmare was over... I hope.

Now I think I will call Mediacom and admit defeat - 1.2 star service is better than .5 star service which is what I'd rate AT&T at.