Coffee addict or good deal addict?

I HAVE to have a cup of coffee every morning when I get up. Then I usually take a cup with me to work and since the days have been so bitterly cold, I have found myself drinking coffee throughout the day. Therefore I totally convinced myself that I was justified in buying the Starbucks Gold. The deal is you pay $25 to be a member of the club. You receive a free drink when you sign up, one on your birthday and then 10% off each purchase.

Since I drink either the pike place blend or if I am really crazy, I will get a tall americano with room for cream and I always bring my refill mug (also a discount), I save between $.10-.15 each time I grab a cup. I say that I average one trip to starbucks a week. At this rate, I will have paid for my gold card in a little under four years. Oh yeah, the $25 is an annual membership fee.

Can you say sucker?

There is only so much time

It seems these days that I find myself with less and less time to enjoy those things that I used to love like cooking, scrapbooking and the occasional movie. I feel like my days are spent looking at my watch, going from one event to the other and the whole time worrying that I will be late for my next engagement. Is it just me or has the pace of society really reached a tipping point?

Therefore I should amend my last post to include taking time each day to really enjoy one thing. As an example, I am savouring a mug of hot apple cider right now and trying not to think about all the work that I need to get done. There is always tomorrow, right?

Perhaps if we all band together we can collectively take back our lives and truly enjoy those moments that make us happy. What would you savor today?

December Resolutions

The overachiever in me has decided to end the year with a few resolutions rather than beginning the year. Last year I resolved that I was a) going to get in shape -- check, b) start reading more for fun -- check, and c) get my house better organized -- half check (I kind of do this and I hired a house keeper to keep me on track).

So what to do this year? I have decided to be more specific and I am getting started now.
Here's the list. If you have any suggestions for me and ways to keep me motivated let me know.

1. Train for a half marathon and I am going to start running and doing cardio in the mornings. I actually got up at 4:45 a.m. and started this morning. It was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be either. **If someone has a good training program, would you mind sharing?

2. This year, I will join a book club to help encourage me to read more for fun and no more baby reading. I seemed to get sucked into every childcare book out there. It's time for a little fiction.

3. To get better organized, I am going to attempt to use less stuff. This goal will prove to be the hardest for me because I love shopping and I am a total kid when it comes to new gadgets. I think that I am simply going to adopt a new rule at home, which is: If you buy something new, it has to replace something old and then I will have to give away or throw out that something old.

Check back with me in a few months and hopefully I will be able to report positively on my progress.

Granola meets comestics -- the perfect holiday gifts

I have fallen in love.

So I heard about this store, Lush from a fiend of mine over the summer. The concept sounded interesting, but I wasn't completely sold on it. It sounded like an earthy version of bath and body works so I was thinking the Body Shop. I was wrong.

After two friends bought me birthday gifts from this store ranging from bath fizzies, bubble bar slices and bath melts, I was smitten. The scents of their products are not only natural, but heavenly. I highly recommend a slice of the Bathos bubble bar.

If anyone has tried the body creams please share your favorites with me. I cannot wait to get to Dallas to explore the store in person. In the meantime, I will have to settle for for their website, which is easy to navigate and quite creative.

Gotta run. I am off to buying an emotibomb for the husband and getting other fun goodies for the rest of the fam. These are going to be the greatest little stocking stuffers.

Auto Bail Out

So now it appears that an agreement might be reached for a bail out of the auto industry. After struggling for days to come up with a concrete reason why we, the taxpayers of the US, should bail out this failing industry, I have decided to stop fighting myself and say "No. We should NOT bail out the US auto manufacturers."

I think these days I would be hard pressed to find someone who disagrees with me. (If you do disagree and can convince me to reconsider my position, please send me a note).

This concept of a car czar might be a good thing. Finally there would be a bit of oversight --but wait. We are talking about a private industry and should we really regulate them the way we do public sector businesses? This also means more government bureaucracy.

So they (the US car manufacturers) made poor decisions and chose to make gas guzzling vehicles (SUVs) for the US market. They were doing great when fuel was plentiful, cheap and secure. Heck, I think that I am the only person who has never owned a SUV or an American car since the mid 90's. Now that gas prices and the environment have changed, despite this short stint of $40 barrel crude, the US market demands more fuel efficient vehicles. Detroit should have planned much earlier for this.

So a few pieces of advice to this new car czar would be this:

1. Make the manufacturers pay by requiring them to build vehicles that get better gas mileage and require that the CAFE standards be raised by the end of the next two years. If they don't meet these requirements, have guidelines that outline a penalty system.

2. Make them develop a plan to recycle gas guzzling, air polluting heaps of junk with newer, more fuel efficient vehicles. Perhaps the government should just buy out all jalopies and replace them with more efficient automobiles.

3. Make their CEO's government employees, who are not eligible for bonuses.

If you think the US government should bail em out, let me know why.

When the east meets the west

When the civil war in Oklahoma breaks out, I will be a west sider. Growing up in the northeastern part of the state for the first eighteen years of my life, I had no idea what the heck was the BC Clark Christmas jingle. In fact when I came to college a friend of mine from this side of the state admitted to thinking that this song was actually a Christmas song and sung throughout the world. Oh, dear!

Therefore, in the event that one must show their allegiances to one side of the state or the other, simply ask them if they know the BC Clark jingle. If they do and can recite it from memory, there is no doubt that they are on the west team.

This jingle is a legend around these parts. For more info for all you outsiders, please visit the BC Clark website devoted to the jingle. The one question that I still have is: Does anyone know the actual date of their anniversary?

You know, it's not the first time that the state has been divided in half -- remember old Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory? Well, I used to be a part of IT and now I'm OT.

Another way to settle the debate on which side of the state you might team up with can be determined by defining the word "puredee." If you know what the heck this means, then you most likely grew up on the west side of the state, or at least anywhere other than northeastern Oklahoma.

Last week T. Boone Pickens told a story about his wife and this okieism. She asked him to define and spell puredee. As he was telling the story many in the audience started chuckling, while I sat there trying to figure out if he was trying to pronounce pretty with an Okie accent. Since I now know the meaning of puredee (despite my east side upbringing), I don't want to give it away in case I am asked to identify my allegiance. So if you don't know what it means, you're on the other side.

If there are an Okies out there that feel the need to add any other items which might identify you as an east sider or a west sider, feel free to share. I'm back to humming this silly tune that has warped my brain.

All kinds of potpourri from politics to mommyhood

So many things and not enough time -- this is the mantra for my life these days. These days it takes too much energy to be super mom, super wife, super volunteer and super friend, so something has to give. Where should I carve out my time? These days I have totally neglected my dear husband. Last week, he even made me breakfast and did the laundry and dishes most of the week. Thank God for great men. Next I have neglected my volunteer work; however, this is the lowest hanging fruit and is the easiest place to cut back. Either way, I feel like crap when I do have to say no. Does anyone out in cyber land feel the same way?

This leads me to a thought that I had this morning as I was contemplating the job of this country's next President. How do they do it? How do they balance, work, family, and the world's problems like the economy, energy policy and foreign affairs? Well, it appears that the key to success in this area is to surround oneself with confident and capable leaders to assist in the job. And that is just was our President-elect is doing. He had named a few cabinet leaders and has set up his White House staff with people who are not completely agreeable and simply going to say, "Yes" to everything. Good for you President Obama.

So if I were to assemble my own cabinet and house staff advisers for my household, here is who I would pick:

Secretary of Interior: Could this be anyone other than Martha Stewart? She's tough, but she keeps a great house and yes, is a bit of a hero to me. Let her come keep the interior of my house groomed and welcoming.

Secretary of Commerce: If I was going to run my home as a business, I would want Warren Buffett on my speed dial. Honestly, I could also fit him in under Secretary of Treasury as well. He's a smart businessman and he's frugal as well.

Secretary of Agriculture: If my home had to put bread in America's basket, I would want the folks at my local food co-op to assist me. Therefore, I would name a local friend, Bob Waldrop as the Secretary of Agriculture. What Bob has done to create the OK food co-op is remarkable.

Secretary of Energy: This is easy, I would put my boss in this position, Secretary Fleischaker. He's a visionary and is always looking for ways to stabilize our energy resources while looking for alternatives. Perhaps he could get me a deal on some smart meters on my home and figure out how I could curb our house's demand during peaking times (all while helping reduce my carbon footprint)

Secretary of Environment: Two words that need no explanation -- Al Gore.

Secretary of Justice: To keep the peace in my household and restore justice I would want, Sandra Day O'Connor as Secretary. She has three boys of her own and I am sure knows exactly what to do to keep things as fair as possible.

Secretary of Defense: Arnold -- he scares everyone away. Seriously, does he really think that he is a Republican?

Secretary of Labor: To make sure that mom doesn't have to over-do-it and is provided with equal, if not better pay, I would appoint Gloria Steinem.

Secretary of State: The most diplomatic person I know with plenty of influence is Oprah. Oprah could negotiate any kind of deal from anti proliferation treaties to getting the US to join Kyoto. She'd take care of my home and my neighborhood in the most diplomatic of ways.

Secretary of Transportation: In order to manage my family's fleet of foreign cars and to improve the home infrastructure, I would appoint billionaire, T. Boone Pickens. While I may not agree with him about everything (I love my hometown Sooners) he is a man with a transportation plan. Whether that be for vehicles or electricity transmission, he's got an idea and is doing something about it.

Secretary of Treasury: Mark Cuban -- he's a self-made billionaire and seems to be wise with his finances. I believe that he could be trusted and if he wants to help made me billions, I would be ok with that.

Secretary of Homeland Security: SuperNanny can save our household from outside attacks -- I am sure of it!

Secretary of Health and Human Services: Bill and Melinda Gates. If they can buy vaccinations for the rest of the world, they can help me keep my family healthy.

Secretary of Education: Who would I want to oversee the education of my family? I would appoint the comedian, John Stewart. He's smart, witty and from what I can tell has a love of learning.

Bah Humbug

What I meant to mention in my last post is that I should be thankful that Christmas comes only once a year. I hate to be all "bah humbug" about the holiday, but honestly it reminds me of weddings. Weddings seem to bring out the worst in people and so does this overly commercialized holiday. So here are a few of my complaints and issues with Christmas.

What says "Merry Christmas" like getting trampled by a stampede on Black Friday at WalMart?

Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like getting flashed the bird in the Target parking lot by someone who was mad that I was waiting on a parking spot. I would love to let this foul gestured man try and walk with a ton of stuff in his hands and have toddler in tow. I prefer to find spots near the cart corral and if that means waiting a precious 30 more seconds for that perfect spot, so be it.

Why can't people be thankful for the homemade gift (i.e. cookies, etc.).? Is the holiday as special when you get a list of very specific items which you are to buy your family members?Where did the surprise and fun of shopping to find that special gift go?

Better yet, why gifts? Isn't the presence of family and friends gift enough?

Not sure about you, but I am looking forward to December 26.