You can win goodies just for commenting on this blog!

That Is right, I just joined the CommentLuv contest bandwagon and am now a registered site for the CommentLuv contest! This means if you are reading my blog and you leave relevant (non-spammy) comments you have a chance to win! I’ll delete any spam comments and Andy Baily says you’ll be banned from the contest for spamming so don’t try it okay?

The contest page FAQ says that when someone leaves a “comment on your blog and if they’re a winner, their last blog post will come back as a prize notification.” So that means when you comment you’ll usually see something like this:

If you win instead of seeing the title of the post from your own blog, you’ll see a notification that you are a winner. All you have to do when you see the winning notification is: “click that after it has been submitted and published on your site and enter their details on the claim page here to receive the prize.”

I luv my blog readers (and the helpful comments) so that is why you have this awsome chance to win just for leaving comments. Yay! Also, don’t forget to enter Talina’s Baby Weight Contest so you have a chance to win some cash. The more chances to win the better right? Consider it my economic stimulus package. Ha…

My neighbor Fred and Alzheimer’s

Over the weekend while we were working on our RV the next door neighbor came by, he is an older gentleman who only lives next door to us during the summer. They live down in the valley the rest of the year. This particular gentleman, Fred, was a key player in the development of this particular neighborhood we live in, you see he was the first person to buy land out here and put homes on it.

During our yard sale weekend we got the hear about how a real estate big-wig promised Fred all this stuff when he agreed to buy his land. Plumbing/ sewage was supposed to be installed shortly after he bought his land, that was the agreement so Fred sat tight and waited.

After 2 years there still was no plumbing or sewer line but this particular real estate big-wig was still trying to sell off the land in this area to people. He was throwing a big BBQ and trying to sell buyers on the area, some port-a-johns were being delivered for the BBQ and the party was starting to come together.

When Fred got word of this he was set on making a statement. Didn’t he matter? He had already bought land from the real estate big-wig and nobody was making good on the promises made. A person should not have to live without plumbing and sewage when it was promised in the details of the sale.

Fred marched down to the big BBQ bash to discuss his grievances right when the port-a-johns were being dropped off. Nobody was around and they asked Fred where to leave the port-a-johns. This was Fred’s chance to make a statement! So he had one of them dropped off right outside his house, he didn’t have his plumbing or sewage yet so this would just have to do right?

We got a kick out of the stories Fred has shared with us. Older people have so many tales and life experiences to share with us. I mean we have a person who lived through some significant times in history living right next door to us, their experience and memories are priceless.

Sadly Fred’s wife is suffering from Alzheimer’s, all those priceless memories and experiences are just disappearing from the mind and she had no control over it. Alzheimer’s is such a heartbreaking disease that we still know too little about and it impacts so many! Did you know:

• Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging - it’s a progressive and fatal disease.
• Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S.
• Every 71 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

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Alzheimer’s is most commonly known for it’s impacts on the memory. After the memory is impacted sufferers also experience a “gradual erosion of judgment, reasoning ability, verbal fluency and other cognitive skills”.

It is not right for our elderly to slowly loose their memories and other skills to a mysterious disease that ultimately leads to death. It is important to care for them and to find answers by research Alzheimer’s and finding ways to prevent it.

The Alzheimer’s Memory Walk does just that! It raises money for research on the topic and it is something everyone should consider taking part in!

“The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk® is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research! By teaming up with the Alzheimer’s Association, you can walk with a purpose – and move us closer to a world without Alzheimer’s. Together, we can MOVE a nation.”

Consider participating in the memory walk in your community or you can simply participate in a virtual walk instead. The whole point is to raise awareness and money to care for Alzheimer’s sufferers and to find ways to prevent and cure it. Can you imagine what our world would be like if we had to go without the priceless experiences and memories of people like Fred?  “Together, we can MOVE a nation” and we must!

The Pet Peeve Meme…

While I was making my peanut butter and honey toast this morning I looked in the sink and my blood started to curdle. Right there in the freaking sink the dish scrubber was chillin, this is a BIG no-no in my kitchen! The sink is the dirtiest place ever, food gets dumped in it and down the garbage disposal. When the scrubber or sponge lays in the sink dishes get piled on top of it, it gets covered with slimy food/ germs and after that who would want to use it or reach in to find it? Not me buddy! Honestly, how does it make sense to put the item you use to clean crap off of dishes in the bottom of the sink? You may as well be wiping your dishes down with a raw chicken breast or some old paper towel you found in the trash. Yuck!

Then I thought, what a lovely and possibly entertaining thing to blog about! Something as small as a food covered scrubber that pisses me off is a perfect blog topic! So I headed over to google to search for a pet peeve meme that I could use to share my disgust. Over at Danielles Garden I found a top 5 pet peeves meme that just fit the bill. Here it goes, my pet peeves of the moment..

1. Dirty germ infested, food covered dish scrubbers that are all nastied up and left for ME to deal with! We might as well skip the dish washing and just eat off dirty dishes, that way we are exposed to LESS germs and bacteria.

2. People who are in constant need of your sympathy because “they have it so bad”, everyone deals with sucky shit and they manage to pick themselves and function in the real world. You can to, but if you choose not to don’t make everyone else out to be the bad guys.

3. Truck drivers who can’t wait for a clearing in traffic to pull out on to the road like the rest of us. What rule allows you to pull out in front of oncoming traffic (near the little america in Flagstaff) and expect everyone to stop and wait for you? Pretty sure you are the one who is supposed to be yielding to the flow of traffic not the other way around!

4. When you go through your day trying to be courteous and respectful of everyone around you despite the fact that nobody else does the same. Being respectful and courteous is damn annoying when everyone else is self centered and nasty but what can you do? Stooping to their level is not any better.


5. Loud or frantic eaters annoy me to no end! I don’t understand why people need to eat like someone is going to steal the plate away from them, take time to chew your food and enjoy it. Besides nobody want to watch or hear you inhaling your meal! Also, my skin crawls when people eat their fries like a “wood chopper”… Think about it, I know you have seen this done. They stick the tip of the fry in their mouth, chew on it then they move on to the next part o the fry… Ugh, it is hard to explain. Here is a video illustration fr ya! Watch the girl on the left with the white hat on, she is chopping fries!

So, want to share your pet peeves? You know you want to! Common do it, you will feel better- but link to me too okay? You can say something like, Talina over at Harvest of Daily Life shared her top 5 pet peeves and encouraged me to do the same. Here is my take on the 5 pet peeves meme!

Oh, wordpress users, get your image to show up when you comment by getting a gravatar! I just did, it is not that hard. all you need to do is: “begin by registering a Gravatar image on the Gravatars site by signing up and submitting an image.” or sign in to your “global dashboard” and upload your preferred photo! I just read a nice post about this over @ lorelle.wordpress.com and mine works like a charm now!

Bloggy Giveaway winners!!

I promised I would announce the winners of my bloggy giveaway soon after the contest closed. I’ll admit it was hard to figure out who was the most deserving so I decided to give two away instead of just the one. Here are the winners of the heartwarming mini message in a bottle gifts. Thanks for all your entries guys!

• Becky S
  

  Well, my message would sort of be for two people. I recently adopted our beautiful daughter from China. I would write a thank you to her birth mother for giving us life’s greatest gift. However, we don’t don’t who her birthmother is, so I would have my daughter hold onto it as a keepsake. Then she could someday add her own thank you, too and remember the special woman who loved her enough to let her go.

• witchypoo
  

  I would love to brighten my Grammie’s day because ever since she had to give up her car, she has been depressed.
  She’s 95.

I’ll contact the winners to get appropriate shipping address and to find out what message they would like written on the scroll. Now, don’t be to disappointed if you didn’t win, you can still buy one for your loved one over at Custom Gifts by Talina, they are only $10.00 plus S&H!

A day in the life of my pants! LOL

Lets see, my favorite pair of pants is my new black pair of Capri workout pants, they say “Guard” on the pant leg. I love these because they are comfortable and because they are durable.

What would a day be like for my pants? Hm, it would be hard I think. I wake up in the morning, have some coffee and then I spend about 30 minutes sitting in the car (dropping N off at work in town and driving back home). Once I get home I have some breakfast, sit on the couch and work on the computer for about an hour. So for my pants that basically means lots of sitting.

I head back into town to teach at about 10:30am, when I get to the school I dance my butt off so that means much stretching, rubbing and torture for the pants. I once had a pair of pants rip in the crotch while I was teaching, we do the splits, kick and all that fun stuff. It’s important that my pants be durable and stretchable. When I can I wear pajama pants or sweats so that I don’t ruin any good pants.

When I get home from teaching I run around the house cleaning, gardening and taking care of the house. That means my pants get dirt on them from the garden, dust from cleaning the house, soap from doing the dishes and an array of other stuff. Dockers contest wants to know what a day is like in YOUR pants, are you creative? If so turn the story of your pants into a video submission and then submit this content to the Dockers TV Commercial Contest. You could WIN and winning is FUN!