The third postie patrol - the HP Postie Patrol - looks like it was SO MUCH FUN!!

I love crazy, fun, hyper scavenger hunt type games! I guess that’s why I like geocaching so much - not that I scream “Wooo! Wooooo! Woooo!” in the woods or anything! Hahaha

But scavenger hunts/treasure hunts are so much fun - and to know it had the possibility of ending with such a FAB treasure — a digital camera, a printer, paper, and $1000 — oh man! That would just be way way way too sweet!!!

This is really silly, but, one of my favorite parts is when Ted says, “I just want some pizza, man!” So cute!!

I would so love PayPerPost and HP to visit the beautiful state of Alabama - and me - for a Postie Patrol!

What I wouldn’t give to sit in the Big Blue Monster!!!! I used to hang out at the International dealer/factory/warehouse, but, of course the nice guys that worked there couldn’t let us near the trucks - you had to be wealthy just to test-drive them! Not that I even expected them to let me test drive the beautiful beasts, but, I would’ve loved to at least sit in one!

So - obviously, being the truck junkie that I am, I would love to see the Big Blue Monster - but, I would love the chance to win some prizes, too! In a fun way -like Robyn did! I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to try to gag down a giganto pizza! LOL!

The fact that HP has signed on so supportively with PayPerPost totally rocks! They have such killer products! And not to mention, on their site they have great Digital Photography Tips - goodness knows I can use all the help that I can get!

Watch the video and see how much fun bloggers can have when two great companies like PayPerPost and HP team up!!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLyKuKGxkDE]

This post was brought to you by HP.

Love her or hate her, Angelina Jolie news is very sought after! We all seem to want to know what she is up to all the time!

I used to be a giant fan, and I am still quite obssessed with her, although I’m not sure I’m still a fan. I suppose I probably am.

Anyway, she and Brad Pitt spent Christmas day without their children.

They were in Costa Rica with Columbian war refugees, spreading her own personal message that, “the world has not totally forgotten them”.

I am not sure how old Maddox is, her oldest child - oh, wait - didn’t he start school this year? So he would be at least five, right?

I was going to say maybe the kids - her kids - are too young to notice that Mommy is gone on such a special day. But - Maddox would definitely know it!

I am not quite sure how I feel about this - I have known plenty of ‘do-gooders’ - or at least read of, who spend so much time ‘doing good’ that their own family is ignored.

I’ve been known to fall into the trap myself with PTA goings-on. It is indeed a slippery slope - everyone is praising you, and you really are contributing so much, and you don’t quite know when to say ‘No’.

So I don’t know - I think this could be one more smudge on my ‘I’m not really sure if I’m a fan’ decision.

Hmm…

I used to use a mail drop in Texas for My Very Own Mail. It was very convenient, in that it was right across the street from my house, and there was never a line. The post office always had this God-awful line that took forever!

I did pay for that convenience, let me tell you! I always had less than 10 subscribers back then, so it wasn’t so bad, but, now I definitely wouldn’t use them. I have, usually 18-26 packages to send out every month. And that convenience charge would definitely add up!

But another great feature of the mail drops is the mailboxes - if you’re planning on using a POBox and the maildrop is closer than the post office, that would definitely be a plus.

So I looked up my city on this great mail drop directory, and we don’t even have one. So I guess I’ll continue using the post office, even when I get my POBox.

…is nothing compared to what some of God’s precious creatures endure at the hands of some ‘humans’. I’m so upset I can barely type, I keep having to hit backspace!

I got this email from my mother today:

*********************************************************************************
Subject: [ACT] Anti-Fur Story Tonight on CBS Affiliates -8 PM & 10 PM - Please cross post

Tonight, the local CBS affiliate will run a story that evolved out of the recent Sean Combs/Faux Fur incident. Randy Turner/Texas Humane Legislation Network and Lou Guyton/HSUS each did an excelent job on very short notice.

Please email your commendations to Kimberly Ball/Reporter and the station after the story airs, as follows:

8 PM on Channel 21. Contact info: http://ktxa.com/contactus/
10 PM on Channel 11. Contact info: www.cbs11tv.com

The station will focus on the fact that consumers are being defrauded into buying canine fur, when they thought they were buying a synthetic. In effect, the consumer is being forced into complicity with those who skin animals alive.

I supported this story angle, because I believe that the average person would not buy fake fur if s/he knew it wasn’t synthetic and/or about the atrocities in the fur industry.

We want local media to know animal stories are valued by the viewing public. My thanks to all who email the station. Margaret

P.S. Graphic footage of the true nature of how fur is torn from the backs of living beings may be viewed on www.HSUS.org. Please send a link to all your friends. I promise you that after watching this film, only the truly evil will ever again turn a blind eye to the wearing of fur.
************************************************************************************

Obviously, your channels will be different, and maybe your times - this message is from Dallas, but, hopefully is not exclusive to Dallas. I am definitely going to try to watch it.

And I am definitely enraged enough not to have to subject myself to the video footage on the HSUS site - if you can handle it, though - I would definitely suggest you watch it. I know that it would just freak me out too much!

I did, however, go to their site and read the article about P.Diddy - who I am now officially a fan of!!!!!!

Seriously, how can you be human and carry through with an action like that? I cannot begin to fathom it…

It is mind-boggling.

With Mark and I both being self-employed, I am always on the lookout for tips and advice and this Small business blog has tons of it!

They talk about bookkeeping, taxes, payroll, retirement - you name it! They cover so much on this blog!

Running your own business is great - Mark remodels, I sell mail packages to children, among other things. And Mark is very good at remodeling - some of the praise from his clients is truly nauseating! And I am very good at getting kids motivated to read - which is my main goal with my personalized letter business.

But all the other crap that goes along with running a business can be truly daunting.

One of those things would be procuring health insurance for yourself and your family. And IncParadise.com has a great article on it called, Managing Your Healthcare Costs.

Check it out if you are in business for yourself like we are - lots of helpful information!

….through my first ever Christmas without her!

I’m 36 yrs. old and my mother and I have never been apart on Christmas…..

It was pretty rotten, except for the morning part and celebrating with my kiddos - our little family unit stuff - that was just as nice as always.

But then, when all the hullaballoo died down, and I realized that the rest of my day would be quite different than usual….it took me quite a while to pull myself together.

But, I did. And the inlaws came over…and we had a nice time. It is kind of hard entertaining with very little furniture, but, apparently everyone prefers the gatherings to be at our house.

See, our ‘living room setup’ is in the basement, and the two rooms upstairs are just empty and waiting to be remodeled - I finally got fed up at one point and brought up a camping banquet-style table so that we could at least have a table. So we have that table and a hodgepodge of chairs.

So, anyway, we got through the day, and although quite different, it was not completely unbearable.

I definitely miss my momma and my daddy and my brother and my sister-in-law and my precious nephew, though. And Buddy and Scruffy - two of the Dallas menagerie!

My husband formulated a plan for all of the computers in the house, which I was none too happy with.

First off, he decided to give his computer to the boys. This means that whenever Mark wanted online, he would have to use my computer, and my computer is the one thing in my world that I am just not into sharing. Well, whatever, Mark is rarely wanting on, anyway, so that part is not turning out too terribly.

But the other part of the plan included putting the boys’ computer in the basement, which will eventually be their bedroom, but, is now serving as a living room/video game room. The bad part of this is that he was going to hook the boys up to the internet. My intentions were to have them be in a main family room to be on the internet. I like to hover, and constantly check with them - what site they are on, that they’re not downloading stuff they shouldn’t, etc.

Poor boys - they love to play Runescape and in those ‘chat rooms’ all that is discussed is the game itself. I, however, am constantly asking them, “What are the people talking about? Are they still just talking about the game?” “Yes, MOM!!” “What? It’s only the third time I’ve asked you in an hour!” ROFL

So I’m quite a bit leery of their being downstairs and online - especially when they have friends over. You know how it is when you have your friends around - and you suddenly grow two feet taller, much stronger, and MUCH cockier!!!

So the perfect solution for me and my sanity might very well be computer monitoring software!

I’ve looked over the site, and the one that I see that would most interest me is only a one time payment of about $100. Not bad, for a little security during these crazy internet times.

And really, the creepy thing is - the creeps might not be some dirty old man, it could be some bully from school - *shivers*

So keeping an eye on things would give me great peace of mind!

Silly me! I forgot those dirty, rotten, stinkin’ clouds mess up the satellite signals to my GPS unit!!

Shawn and I went looking for two Geocaches on Christmas eve, and TOTALLY could not find them!

First I took him to one I’d already found - it was on one of those cool one-lane bridges near where an old mill used to be, and was just a really neat area, so I wanted him to see it. And he is really good at and enjoys finding them - so we went to that one first.

And I handed him the GPS, and it was sending him 80 ft. in the exact opposite direction - I really should’ve figured things out right then! I haven’t hunted for caches in 2 years, though, so I forgot about the clouds.

And I noticed my battery was getting kind of low, so I thought maybe that was it!

I had to just lead him with hints to the cache.

Then we went to the other two, and as we were searching for the first one - I remembered:

“Oh! Shawn!”

“What?”

“The clouds! It’s the clouds! That’s why you were being led 80ft. in the wrong direction on the bridge!”

We cursed the clouds, and kept hunting, as the first one had really few spots we thought it could actually be in, and the second one was in the woods, and we can never pass up an opportunity to go hiking around in the woods! I swear, if Grizzly Adams had a family - that’d be us! LOL! All five of us just love the wilderness!

Anyway, we didn’t find either of them - ah well! I had some nice mother-son time with Shawn, and enjoyed telling him about the Geocacher who hid these last two - he’s a chemist with the Army - a genius! Very cool!

Swiped from my good friend, Super-Mommy:

Dear Santa,

I’ve been a good mom all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on
demand, visited the doctor’s office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two
cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school
playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several
Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son’s red crayon, on
the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when
I’ll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I’d like a pair of legs that don’t ache (in any color, except purple, which
I already have) and arms that don’t hurt or flap in the breeze; but are
strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the
grocery store.

I’d also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of
my pregnancy.

If you’re hauling big ticket items this year I’d like fingerprint resistant
windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn’t
broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a
secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, “Yes, Mommy” to
boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don’t fight and three
pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting “Don’t eat in the
living room” and “Take your hands off your brother,” because my voice seems
to be just out of my children’s hearing range and can only be heard by the
dog.

If it’s too late to find any of these products, I’d settle for enough time
to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of
eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a
Styrofoam container.

If you don’t mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten
the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a
vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you
could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment
as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under
the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.
Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come
in and dry off so you don’t catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don’t eat too many or leave crumbs
on the carpet.

Yours Always, MOM…!

P.S. One more thing…you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my
children young enough to believe in Santa.

*Santa has asked that this gets passed on to all the mommies you know
——————————————————————————–

I remember reading that last year - and I just love it!!!! One of the ones that is definitely worth repeating! Especially the P.S. - we could use some of that around here…reference this post to see my point!

And the purple legs - aaaaaggghhh!

Rockstartup Episode 3 is a good one - Rockstartup is the reality show chronicling the trials, tribulations, joys, and successes of PayPerPost.com.

But, aaaggghhh!! Those messy contractors - I can’t take it! My hubby is a contractor, and I am telling you, that is one thing that drives him crazy! Mark is so completely Type A, that I bet most of the customers that sing his praises do so because of his care and attention to details….like not standing on $700 chairs!! Agh! Have you no ladders? Are you not contractors?

Good heavens! That’s horrible! And to leave the mess for the customer? Uh, no. That’s not good.

Ted and the gang would’ve loved it had Mark done the job - that place would’ve been spotless when they got there!

But how great, anyway, that they got in their new digs! Room to breathe - and fix things up nice for us posties and the advertisers! Heehee

And how totally cool that they are going to do radio spots - I think that is a great idea!!

Cheers to all the folks at PayPerPost!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTQoJoVoS_c]