It’s My Imagination

Have You Been to the Skatepark?

June 22, 2008 on 8:50 pm | In Some of This Some of That | 3 Comments

During the seven years we lived in Illinois, the town we lived in tried and failed to pass a tax bond issue that would raise the funds to build a skatepark in the town. I realized skateparks are very popular, but I’m not sure the taxpayer should be paying for them to be built or for the insurance that must come with them to cover those using the park.

We moved last year and, to my surprise, the town we now live in has a very large skatepark. It is in use quite frequently. I’m glad to see it being used and to know that the taxpayers money is being put to use. Skaters do have to bring their own skateboards and gear, but there is no charge for them to use the park itself.

I don’t know the history behind this issue here or how it was payed for. It is part of the local Parks Department and I’m sure they carry insurance on the park as well. While I have nothing against skateboarding, in fact, I think it can be a fun sport, it’s a small percentage of the population that uses this park and I’m still not convinced it’s the taxpayers who should be paying for it.

What do you think?

Tags: skateboards, skatepark, warehouseskateboards.com

The Long, Long Trailer

June 22, 2008 on 6:28 pm | In My Imagination | Comments Off

My husband and I just finished watching one of my very favorite movies, The Long, Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

I absolutely love this movie! It was made in 1954 and it’s such a classic. The newly married couple opts to buy a 40 foot long trailer as their permanent home and then travel cross country with it. Neither one of them has a clue what they’re in for or what they’re doing and the entire movie is about their mishaps and adventures that revolve around the trailer. It’s really very funny.

I wish there was a movie trailer I could insert here, but alas, I wasn’t able to find one. If you would like to read a more in depth synopsis of this great and funny movie, head over to Turner Classic Movies and read all about it.

Tags: Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, TCM, The Long Long Trailer, Turner Classic Movies

Travel Planning

June 22, 2008 on 5:46 pm | In travel | 2 Comments

I’ve got mine and my daughter’s passport applications all filled out. I was able to download them online and complete them. Now, I just have take passport photos and then get my husband to take some time off from work so we can go in and submit them. He has to go along, even though he has his own passport all ready. Because our daughter is a minor, both parents have to be present when submitting her application.

We don’t yet have plans to travel outside the U.S., but I feel that it’s a good idea to be prepare. My husband travels internationally occasionally and, if the timing is right, we could go with him some time. I’ve also been receiving email notifications on really incredible travel deals to the Caribbean, including a beautiful Costa Rica resort that I would love to spend some time at.

Since we don’t yet have our passports, I’ve had to pass on those great deals, but hopefully that will change very soon.

What type of traveling do you do?

Tags: Costa Rica resort, travel

Showing True Character

June 19, 2008 on 8:10 am | In Family | Comments Off

I posted this video at The Sewing Mom, but I think the character that these girls showed during this game, on the field, is worth posting here as well. I can only pray that my daughter, or even I, would do the same given this situation. These girls showed not only the power of true sportsmanship, but a strength of character that is too rarely seen in today’s competitive environment.

Beware, if you’re like me, you will need a tissue or two when you watch this!

Tags: ESPN Video, softball, sportsmanship

Wordless Wednesday

June 18, 2008 on 2:15 pm | In Blogging, travel | 5 Comments

Tags: flamingos, Wordless Wednesday

What a Storm!

June 17, 2008 on 4:42 pm | In My Imagination | 2 Comments

WOW!  What a storm we had roll through north Texas today!

When I turned the news on this morning, the meteorologist told me that there was a big storm up in Oklahoma that “may” cross the Red River and affect towns close to the Texas/Oklahoma border, such as Sherman, Texas.   That was a big maybe and a big mistake!

Not only did the storm come down into Texas, it came all the way down into Dallas and surrounding suburbs.  Around 11 a.m. today, the winds picked up, some gusting up to 65 mph., and the thunder and lightening started.  It began raining super hard and then, almost as soon as the storm hit, we lost power.  Our power was off for over 2 hours.

We had orthodontist and other appointments today, so we did have to go out in this weather.  Fortunately, the worst of it passed before we had to leave the house.  With the loss of power, I even had to figure out how to open the garage door manually.  We got out and got everything done.  Softball practice is canceled tonight due to more storms heading our way.   Hopefully, these upcoming storms won’t be as powerful as the ones that rolled through here earlier today.

Tags: weather

Software Application to Help Get Rid of Junk

June 17, 2008 on 8:35 am | In Some of This Some of That | Comments Off

In the 7+ years we lived in Illinois, I probably held at least 4 garage sales. This was such a simple way of getting rid of unwanted or unused items in our house. Before we moved, I had a huge garage sale, plus, I had an “no longer used” furniture sale that I advertised through my employer newsletter. Prior to that, I had sold quite a bit through our local paper, particularly baby and children’s items.

Now that we’ve moved, I have no desire to hold a garage sale. For one thing, it is way to hot here. I have instead been donating items to charity. I have a box that I toss thing into as I run across them and about every two months, the local charity comes out to pick up my donations. I do have a few items though that I’m wanting to get rid of, but would rather advertise them.

Many people have taken to using Craigslist to sell and get rid of their unwanted and unused items. A downside to this though is the time it takes to create item listings, particularly if you have multiple items. As busy as we all are, time is not something we want to spend typing in online forms, listing items and doing follow up.

With that in mind, I’d like to provide you with this craygo review.

Craygo is an automatic posting software that allows you to maximize the time you spend posting ads on Craigslist. Craygo helps you reduce the time you spend posting an ad by almost 50%. This software has many time saving features including allowing you to store your ads for future posting, automatically entering your ad data into the correct forms on Craigslist and properly submitting the ads on your behalf. Craygo software is simple to use and comes with a manual that explains every feature and how to use them. This is a screen shot of the Craygo software in action.

Craygo has more features than any other Craigslist posting application out there and Craygo has more features than Easy Ad Poster (EzAdSuite), AdsOnCraigs, AdBomber and AdMaster. Features include:

• automatically publish your ads
• captcha reading capability (in the elite version)
• send email reports of posting activity
• can specify a posting delay
• manual and email support 7 days a week
• user friendly

If you’re a Craigslist user, you should really check out this software. If you have more questions, there is a live chat available to answer your pre-puchase questions.

Tags: Craigslist, Craygo

Drink Coffee – Live Longer

June 17, 2008 on 7:51 am | In Family Health | Comments Off

The television was on this morning as I was standing at the kitchen counter making my coffee and ironically, a story came on the news with the headline that there is no higher death risk from drinking coffee.  Shew!  What a relief!

In fact, not only does drinking coffee NOT increase the risk of an early death, a study has found that drinking coffee may actually CUT a person’s risk of dying from heart disease.  This same study also found no connection between consumption of coffee and cancer.  The study found that drinking two to three cups of caffeinated coffee per day had a 25 percent lower risk of death from heart disease than women who did not drink coffee.

This is really good news to me, especially as I sit here drinking my very large cup of coffee.

Tags: coffee, heart disease

Protect Your Face

June 16, 2008 on 1:39 pm | In Family, Family Health | 1 Comment

I recently received some samples of facial sunscreen in the mail from Screen, Inc. and so my family and I gave them a try.

We received four different types of facial sunscreen samples. The first, Man Screen was tried by my husband. He’s typically very skepticle when it comes to needing sunscreen, he is a man after all. He typically will put sunscreen on his shoulders and neck, but only after I’ve insisted or after he’s started to burn. But, because we had yard work to do, he used the man screen sample with an SPF of 16 and was pleasantly surprised. He liked the non-greasy formula and the lack of fragrance.

The second sample was Chic Screen. I personally used this one this morning. I don’t like using anything with fragrance on my face, or anything that feels greasy and so I was definitely pleasantly surprised to find that not only did this creamy formula not feel greasy, but it also had no fragrance. It really was perfect for me. I mowed our entire 1/2 acre and jumped in the pool twice. I felt that it protected and did not wash away while I was sweating or swimming.

The last two samples, Teen Screen and Tweeny Screen were both used by my 12 year old daughter. Again, both of these formulas were found to be non-greasy and went on smooth. The Teen Screen is designed for acne-prone teen skin and is non-irritating. The Tweeny Screen is our favorite. It has all of the features of the other 3, but also has a wonderful tropical fruit fragrance. I could really smell pineapple in it. My daughter used both of these on several different occasions, including swimming and softball practice.

We have been experiencing very hot temperatures here in North Texas and the sun has been beating down on a daily basis. It’s difficult to go outside without sunscreen on our skin for protection, even if it’s just to go to the park. We also drive around in a convertible, so it’s even more important that we always wear our sunscreen.

We all found that all 4 types of sunscreen from Screen, Inc. are very effective and easy to use. Because they are a creamy formula, they are very easy to spread on your skin. They do not feel at all greasy and so I didn’t feel the need to wash my hands after applying the lotion to my skin. All four have an SPF of 16+ and all have been approved and are recommended by the Skin Cancer Foundation.

I too give these facial sunscreens my recommendation. Whether we’re going for a walk, doing yardwork, or going for a swim, w’ll be applying these creams to our face on a regular basis, if not daily.

Tags: Chic Screen, Inc., Man Screen, Screen, Teen Screen, Tweeny Screen, www.screenroutine.com

Mom vs. Dad

June 14, 2008 on 12:48 pm | In Family | 4 Comments

I took my daughter to pitching practice today so my husband could spend more time with my step-daughter and family.  They leave to go home to California tomorrow and I want him to be able to spend as much time as possible with them.  He usually takes our daughter to meet with her pitching coach, but I offered to step in today.

Our daughter has reached a point where she wasn’t enjoying pitching and was beginning to question her abilities, particularly as a pitcher.  She cringed whenever I would remind her of her scheduled pitching practice and always looked for excuses to cancel.  Today felt different.  She wasn’t really too happy about having to go, but was somewhat chatty on the drive over.

I sat and watched and the pitching coach was very complimentary and even surprised at how well she was throwing today.  I even saw my daughter smiling while she was working with him.  She seemed to be enjoying herself and she was pitching quite well, doing everything the coach told her to do.  She even threw a few curve balls that went right over the plate, exactly as they should, and the coach had just shown her that pitch minutes before.  He was thrilled, my daughter was happy and I felt everything was right with the world.

As we were leaving to head to the car, my daughter mentioned how she felt that she’d done a really good job today and that she hadn’t felt that way in a long time.  She commented that she never feels like she throws good enough for her dad and since he wasn’t there she felt more relaxed.  Interesting.

So, how to I talk to my husband about this?  I want him to continue to support her, but he can be very critical and, while he’s trying to provide constructive criticism, it can be interpreted as negative.   I think I’d like to see him working with her, but he needs to keep his mouth closed.  She knows what she needs to work on, she hears it from her coaches.  She needs him to just put his glove on and catch for her, not instruct her.  He needs to relax and then she will relax.  Now, how do I tell him this?

Tags: fastpitch softball, pitching