2 More Weeks....

So I've not been involved in the politcal craziness other than attending the McCain/Palin Rally a month ago, and being informed enough to know where I stand. But no matter which side of the fence you are on this is a super cool time to be alive. It could just be my age and to be able to see where our country has come from and where we are right now.

Just the possibility that a women could have been president. And now the very real possibility that a women just might be vice President, is amazing. The fact that it wasn't too long ago that a women wasn't even allowed to vote. Not to mention the idea that an African American could be president, that also is way cool!! They too weren't even allowed to vote not too long ago. Say what you want about whomever, the whole process is interesting to watch. I just hope my candidate wins, I am doing some serious praying about that, I'm slightly scared of it going the other way, and if it does, I am sure God has a reason, and we'll all be ok.

Why I'm Voting Republican!

It really doesn't take much more than this to impress me or get my vote.

No Seriously, I'm not playin' God is Awesome!!!

Ok so I've been praying everyday for God to not allow anything to steal the joy I feel from my after prom buzz. So maybe if I just keep posting stuff about it until the next time we get to do it again, I will never ever lose that joy.


Seriously people, my junior prom, the one where I got fixed up with some hoodlum that was friends with my neighbors, and God forbid I go to prom without a date. Dude drank beer (gasp, I was a good christian girl for real people) in the car all the way there, didn't even offer me any.....such the gentleman! Yeah this prom, a bajillion times better. Then there was my senior prom, and the boy I had a major crush on, although we were just friends, asked me to prom, "if we both weren't attached at the time." Then he got attached to a girl he knew he'd get a booty call from.....cause it wasn't going to be me. Then another one of my guy friends said he'd go with me and we'd have a blast, yeah that boy decided he'd rather spend his money on golf clubs......I've never let him live that one down, I've even told his wife that one!!! He's not changed apparently. So I ended up going stag, and had a blast!!! But not near as much fun as I did at this Prom no way not even close!!!!

Get some tissues before you watch this one!


So big shout out to Harmony, for once again making me cry in church, lets be real folks I've been a hot mess since prom ended. Most importantly thanks to Harmony for sharing her dream and allowing us to be a part of making it a reality. That night was a night I will never forget!!!

Overwhelmed by God

So I'm out here experiencing life. Just living like I always do. Being completely crazy busy, and pretty sure I can not fit another thing in my life. Being the wife of a scouter and a scouter myself to some degree leaves little room for much anything else.

Well then there was this little thing some peeps of mine started talking about. Pretty much non-stop they talked about this....Prom.....a to do they began planning at the beginning of the year, possibly before. Not just any prom, a Prom for special needs adults. This is when I heard the needle on the record scratch. Why? Well because I do have gifts in some areas of life. Special needs folks is not one of my gifts. Think of me as a horrible person if you will but it gets better I promise. Plain and simple I don't like unpredictable. I like to have some idea of what's going to happen next. With special needs folks you don't get that luxury. Ok whatever I got issues. Plus I had a cousin with special needs growing up and, he scared the crap out of me on more than one occasion, one of which was when he tried to drown me....so I got issues. So then the peeps, talk, and talk, and talk about prom. And when my church does things, they can't do anything small, so therefor they need help when they do things because it requires half a city of volunteers to pull things off. So I jump on board making it clear I should not be in direct contact with any special needs folks since I don't have those skills. So I help sort dress's, that was safe and fun. Oh and don't worry a thousand dress's at least were donated. Well then I had to be involved in the actual event. Again with the half a city needed to volunteer, so I sign up for Volunteer check in.....volunteers are not the ones with special needs, again I'm safe. Well then 800 special needs folks show'd up, expecting 600, I was officially out numbered....therefor was forced to interact with them.

This lady kept talking about her parents were looking down from heaven and smiling.
Soooooo......I'm here to tell you, not only did I survive, it's quite possible I'm a changed person. I don't see me volunteering at a group home anytime soon, however, I am certain the next time I see a special needs person at the grocery store or at church, I won't look away as if I don't see them in hopes that someone else will speak to them, I may say "Hi..." possibly even more then that, I will probably ask them how they are doing, what's their name......or what they did last night.

Having the good fortune to have attended the Vineyard for over 18 years I've experienced more than my fair share of HG moments. This by far was the absolute best. Everytime I even allow myself to think about how happy these people were just doing something most people get to experience in their lifetimes, often more than once, I cry. When Dave mentioned that we truly lived out this verse......"Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." ~Matthew 14:12-14 Seriously I fell the heck apart. That is it! We did exactly that, and it was the most amazing thing I've been involved in, thanks friends for nudging me to be involved. This was no luncheon my friends this was a full on Banquet!

Everyone walked the redcarpet, complete with paparrazzi.

I recruited some of my peeps to help out. Layni and Ashton went and helped folks pick out dress's the weekend before.

ETA: Go Here and fast forward to 53.28, and here how the prom went. You're sure to cry.

Cub Scout MADNESS

Ok so they say....(not sure who they are, but I'm sure they're experts) that those people who are the busiest make the best most organized leaders. Hello Sarah Palin, future Vice President. Oh and Hello Jodi, future cub scout leader BURN OUT. Not sure who it was that told me it would be a good idea for me to not only be the committee chair (my fulltime volunteer job, in charge of doing all that other stuff no one else is doing), do school night (apparently part of the committee chairs job), Cub-O-Ree sign ups, (I said yes to that too???), oh and then throw in Peterloon sign ups....ok did I mention all of this stuff happens ALL AT THE SAME DAMN TIME. Thank goodness Cyndi's doing Spookeree sign ups. And if you see "they" you know those experts, let them know I get what they are saying, but I'd like to know if they have any advice or leads on how one goes about cloning themselves, them being experts and all that would be some helpful info!

Who Turned off The Lights???

Mother Nature that's who! It's safe to say 48 hours is way too damn long to be without power. My hair can officially not be pretty without a blow dryer. Preferably I need a blow dryer and a flat iron but can make due with just the blow dryer. For those 48 hours I had neither. The good news is IKEA was kind enough to hook us up with official IKEA west chester hats a few weeks ago so I was able to hide away the fly away nonsense that is my hair if left to air dry.

So Sunday afternoon, Ron was out of town participating in Woodbadge, don't ask people you would not even begin to understand. Lets just say the man is in leadership heaven, and it's good he's found his niche in life. So while he's camping out with other woodbadgers (it's an actual name trust me on this one) P and I are enjoying lunch after church at Steak and Shake. It was slightly more windy than usual but nothing crazy yet. We had to Costco to purchase large quantities of frozen veggies, and our must have gallon and a half of organic milk. We inevitably ended up with other things that we had to have. We head to the car to fill the trunk with our buy in bulk goodness, as I step my foot into the parking lot, not only is it much more windy than usual it is pick you body up off the ground windy....what the heck is going on? Clearly it's the end of the world. Perry freaked the heck out by the wind that was trying to blow him away gets in the car with the quickness, as I am attempting to get the crap in the trunk, as I am putting the stuff int he truck closes on me....as in half my body was inside the truck....um....did anyone get this on tape? Kid completely oblivious to the fact that the person who gave him life has just been crushed by the trunk.....not to worry I got it off me, thank God I'm meatier than your average middle aged women. And proceeded with the task at hand, getting the crap in the trunk and me in the car before I lost my lovely life. I get in only to witness a girl (teenager with mother) who had a plastic bag of something possibly bell peppers, she was holding tight to the plastic bag and within seconds whatever was in it blew directly out of the bag and vanished...gone...she still had the bag, whatever was in it was now gone!

We had no trouble getting home but when we got there, it was a sea of distruction. I had to clear the driveway of ginormous tree limbs to get in the driveway. And when we got inside there was no power.....keep in mind I have a trunk full of frozen bulk happiness. We suffered through with no power for 24 hours heading into day 2 we took our food to moms who still had power. We didn't lose much. She cooked anything that appeared to be thawed, so it was all good and we have a ton of leftovers for our lunches the next few days. The goodness is that during BLACKOUT CINCINNATI 2008, IKEA remained open even though we were on partial power provided by a generator. So even if you couldn't watch TV at your home you could go to IKEA and buy a sofa. And they made some pretty decent sales with no power. And I got a lot of work done since I was hidden away at a different desk since my computer wasn't working and no one could find me. Woohoo to now power it was fun, but I'm glad to be back to business as usual.

I SAID CRAZY!

The previous blog, that was only a glimpse of things to come. Dooce, always says not to talk about work on your blog, however it's completely unavoidable since PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!

Raise your hand if you know where I work.....ok most....
Raise your hand if you know YOU GOTTA BUILD THAT SHIT.....yep all of you.
Someone neglected to tell the women who ended up on my phone on Tuesday evening. Somehow, no offense people, she thought because she was in a wheel chair her furniture once she set it up for home delivery, those flatpacked boxes would arrive at her home, as built pieces of furniture. WHAT? As in she was holding the delivery guy hostage at her house because he brought her boxes of flatpacked furniture as she requested. As in dude was unable to leave because she was yelling at him and me (I was on the phone).

Couple helpful tips. If you require a wheel chair, I'd suggest not coming to my place of employment unless you are going in to buy a skillet and then leave. Or if you have a willing servant to push you around the entire time. Don't come if you think that, the couch you see in the showroom will arrive at your home looking just like that, cause it doesn't. You gotta put that shit together. As in put the legs on, and put the cover on. It's called, You do a little, we do a little and together we save alot. If you want assembled furniture to arrive at your house, go to value city and be in debt for the rest of your life. PSA......ends here....don't make me bring it up again!

My life is Crazy

Plain and simple. It's the beginning of the school year. IKEA is coming out of the tail end of their busy season, my first to experience this and seriously people it was CRAZY. I was all over the place for the nonsense, but it was a good organized (somewhat) crazy. Our job has suffered since we were helping with the madness we couldn't address the madness that was going on behind the scenes, as in crazy angry people ringing our phones off the hook and we weren't there because we were dealing with in your face kind of craziness. So now we are dealing with the aftermath of lunatics who've been waiting for hardware for 2 weeks, it's all good people we'll get you your screws! So since I am unable to articulate an intelligent sentence and I am gearing up to recruit some Cub Scouts (go me)hopefully all of which will have super parents who are ready to carry a pack for 4 years, cause this white girls flying the coup in February....don't even ask me to stay, I'm out!....ok so the articulate an intelligent sentence part, yeah that ain't happening. So what I have for you is this......
CAUSE PUNK ROCK RULES!

I have to give Ron credit for finding these boys but all of their songs are awesome!

Nobama!

Thanks to my friend Ginger for finding this. It's nice to have all the nonsense accumulated into one video. I hate politics, hate it. I hate having to formulate an educated response as to why I vote. I'd just assume to get on with the business of living, and not think about it. But alas one has to make a decision.


Well it's perfectly clear. Ok Ok Ok....promise not another word on politics until after the first of the year promise.

MAMA MIA....

Saw Mama Mia with Cyndi last night. What a fabulous movie! Who knew what an impact ABBA music has made on my life. I could remember hearing these songs as a kid growing up, and often who would be singing them sometimes it was my babysitter, kinda fun. It was such a great movie. Except Colin Ferth being gay, wierd, wasn't necessary but whatever, his character was still great. All the characters were wonderful and the singing was great!


I might need to download the soundtrack when Ron's not looking!

My Baby's in 5th Grade

This handsome boy is a big time 5th Grader. I am happy to report I did not cry. I think I did enough crying last year to hold me a few years. Refer to the archives if you've forgotten. We survived, and he was blessed with awesome teachers. He's also been blessed with a great teacher this year. I really have a good feeling about this year. I hooked him up with special transportation so he's not riding the bus with Junior High kids. I remember Junior High and he's too little for that nonsense. No short bus jokes....cause it definately was the short bus, which gave me a giggle as I walked back home. I was extremely happy when I saw the 6th grader walk to their bus stop to take the regular bus, um the girls had boobies.....ewwww....yeah stay away from my baby. They didn't even say "hi" to Perry so whatever, he's got his own ride!

Cardboard Testimony

What would your cardboard testimony be?

Holy Crap it's 2am!!!

Why on earth am I still up and it's 2am? Well I'll tell ya, my child is in my bed and he now weighs 67 lbs. He was so much easier when he weighed only 52 lbs oh say 3 months ago. So I got sucked into the Facebook ebis, "oh look there friends with so and so, wonder what they're up to?" And then it spirals out of control.

Ok so Cub Scouts has officially started, someone remind me on a daily basis that it's for the kid, it's for the kid, it's for the kid. Right thanks for that. School is creeping up on us with Open house on Tuesday. Then officially starting on thursday, with an earlier start time........I HATE MORNINGS..........Art Class starts in a few weeks. Good news we're skipping basketball this year. Maybe we'll try tennis?? That's a one on one sport with no buzzer unless he goes pro, which by that time he could get over his buzzer issues. We'll see do 11 year olds play tennis?

Have I mentioned that so far Perry's been blessed with teachers who care enough to keep in touch and email me and tell me to keep in touch and let them know how Perry's doing......Future teachers have a lot to live up to. No pressure.
Ok I'll go to bed now.....after moving the large child in my bed, UGH!!!!

Oh I forgot to mention, POISON IVY IS STRAIGHT FROM HELL......

I have spent most of my 39 years running around in the woods. I was a girl scout. I am now what one would call a Scouter (cub scout volunteer) I have never in my life caught poison ivy, every. I know I've been in contact with in on more than one occasion, and never caught it. We camped last weekend, and the precious children we had with us Ben and Perry decided that burning poison ivy would be fun, dragging branches infested with poison ivy would also be fun, we all know what it looks like 3 leaves red stem, hello we're cub scouts. Although we were on a leasurely camping trip which apparently cub scouts rules do not apply one should throw caution to the wind, act crazy and not inspect what your children are throwing on the fire. Or what you yourself are breaking up and throwing on the fire Ben: "hey Jodi why is the inside of this branch red?" Knowledgeable grown up reading book (ME): "I don't know, that's wierd...." Get's tossed in the fire.





Here is what Perry looked like on Sunday after the camping trip, some redness on the nose, eye was slightly puffy. That was it.








Here is what my homeboy looked like the next day. (this was a week ago) Yeah we called the doctor immediately. He prescibed some steroids that cleared it up pretty quickly, along with lotion, and benedryl to make it stop itching.



Oh but wait it get's better. I was covered in what I thought was bug bites we all were. Then my bug bites began to multiply, and look wierd....bonus the mama has the poison as well. So investigated on Webmd. Poison Ivy may appear to be spreading, it does not spread off of it's own rash. You only can get it from direct contact with the plant oils. So if someone touches the plant then touches you soon there after. Or if you clothing touches it and the oils are on the clothes you can catch it that way. You can not catch it from the rash itself. (so quit looking at me like I got the plague.) I don't have it near as bad as Perry or Ben (his is all over his stomach....) I have a spot on my arm, some on my neck, and a few small spots on my other arm. So the bad news is it can take up to 15 days to show up???? WHAAAAA...it's only been a week people. Good news is they can't call me to cover Smaland, parents dropping their kids off for free childcare, don't believe you when you say it can't be caught from the rash itself, so it's best to stay away!

MIA sorry....

Ok I am sure in the history of this blog, August hits and all hell breaks loose. On top of the madness that is August, I now have a job that is busier in August than a Christmas time. True story. The new Catalogue....."drops".....in August, and all the sudden folks are like.....IKEA, a fun place to take 1000 of your friends and shop all on the same day. So not only is it crazy busy, at random times, like at 3pm on a Tuesday or something, but theres a whole lot of crap wrong with stuff people buy, I am sure it's not anything unusual considering the volumes of crap they are selling our case load isn't that outrageous it's just folks in my department are way too accessable and highly trained in all areas so we are pulled to do anything and everything in all areas of the store. Therefor we end up not tending to angry customers with busted up furniture which makes them more angry and that's when it's so so so much more fun for everyone involved.

Oh, but wait theres more....school starts in a week, so wheres the dang bus card thing? I requested special transportation so P doesn't have to ride the bus with thugs that are 3 times his size. And he's not on a bus that makes several stops at other schools before it arrives where he's suppose to get off. I can just see him in that instance ending up at the high school or something........ Hopefully they don't mess that up.....Oh but wait theres more. Cub Scouts...oh cub scouts gotta love some cub scouts, crazy non-volunteering cub scouts.....God bless the folks who do volunteer, but good heavens we are tired and burned out and need some folks to help out so if that's you, help a sister out would ya! So with all that going down at once how about we not think about it and just renew out love for Jars of Clay, shall we?

Discover Jars of Clay!

Yes before there was Switchfoot love there was Jars of Clay love. Sorry to say, I just might like Jars of Clay more, they have a sweeter more worshipful sound. However, Switchfoot is definately hotter.....and those boys know how to rock out at a concert.

Ok ok, calm down people I'll represent for both. Geez, how's Deezer not going to have switchfoot? Haters!

Colors that make me happy

This is for Stacie.....

The rest will come later. It won't be anything overly exciting or inspirational but it makes me happy!

Best Day Ever.....

If you have been reading my blog for some time now, you pretty much know that Stampaway is the highlight of my summer! Love it! I may never use the stamps I purchase, but the smell of rubber, and the possibilities it all brings, just brings me great joy! I always come away inspired and ready to conquire a multitude of art project that all involve, ink, rubber, paint, embossing powder, and the possibility of catching something on fire. I always haul in my lute spread it out, sniff the new rubber that now needs to be mounted and catalogued, and then begin to make plans for my stuff! Heres to hoping that this year I actually do great things with my l lute and not find it in the same bag it came in just before stampaway next year.

You will see in the picture above my lute from this year. I didn't buy as much rubber as I usually do, as you can see the only random rubber pieces are on the left and then the sheet on the right....which are cute little christmas stick people called inklings.....oh I got big holiday plans for those little guys. In the center you will notice some chick tracts, this was a total impulse buy, I already have a collection of these from when I was in high school. I knew exactly where that collection was, but the fact that they were being sold at a rubber stamp convention in an assortment pack made me need to buy them, and in the event I had duplicates I could use them in some sort of altered artwork, possibly mail art. (yep I had them all....) These tracts now crack me up, they always have a "turn or burn" message, which I'm sure is what some folks need, but I think the majority of folks want to feel loved, and not be told they might burn in a firey pit called HELL! Oh.....sorry read one too many from my collection......Oh and yes that is a stripedy sock monkey purchased at Carmens Veranda, along with the plastic screaming Mini.....you squeeze her and she screams REALLY LOUDLY....I'm taking her to work when someone calls and is freaking out about their furniture that is likely made out of sawdust, cardboard and glue. Ok, Ok, Ok what is the recipe for BEST DAY EVER?

Awaken at aproximately 7am

Depart home alone with approximately 50 premade ATC's, a small amount of cash with the Visa back up.

Stop at Starbucks, Grande Cinamon Dolche please!

Recieve phone call from Julie, wondering if I was in line yet? Thank you technology...no need to wonder when I get there if Julie is here yet.

Find Julie...set down Latte.....begin trading.....trade half.....Connie arrives, I'm officially tired of ATC trading, why'd I make so many?

Finally we get in......we agree to head to the top floor first....good thing cause that's where all the good stuff was. We spent 3 hours on the top floor and nearly all of our money. Met up with Jennifer, Jana and crew....ooo'd and aaaah'd over the over abundance of Owl stamps....resisted the owls and went for some cute birdies instead.

After 3 hours on the top floor, and rubbing booties with way too many ladies with large butts, I wasn't sure I could do the bottom floor. Caught up with Stacie on our way downstairs...got all chatty....then headed to the bottom floor.

Ran through in record time....we were out of money and out of steam....and lets be real folks Connie's a nursing mother she was losing something else if you know what I mean!

Ran through the bottom floor in record time....again tired and hungry.

Julie went home to help the teenager get new jeans. Connie and I headed to Lu Lu's, and split a plate of noodles.....(heaven)....

I head home access the damage I did to my wallet, stayed well within my means.

Head to Kenwood Mall (why?). Didn't intend to buy anything just window shop.

Went to Dewey's for dinner.....MMMMMMMM.....favorite food round 2. Then came home.

What a fabulous day.

On a side note....I am not a big Reds fan, at all so how do I end up going to the game twice within a few weeks for free?? Because it's the only way I'd go that's why.....

SUPER FAN!!!!!!

A Great Day for Blogging

It is 8/8/08 so that's pretty stinkin cool. Heres why, 8 is my favorite number. Yep sure is, people go through their list of "what's you favorite?" When they get to number I say 8, always have. Not because the amount, not because of anything except for the way it looks. Apparently from what they say on the web, and you know anything that's on the web is FACT....it's a lucky number.

So I snagged this sweet picture from Flickr, cause no good blogpost is complete without a picture. Just so you know if I read you blog and you go for more than a paragraph without a picture, um you lost me. Just saying. I call that too wordy. Keepin it real here folks! Ok 2 days off Ashton's here and we're gonna go kick it. How you might ask? By going to my work, (yeah the place that is my day off from) and picking up heavenly cookies for my BFF and her roadtrip. Oh and a storage device for P's stuffed toys. Wish me luck, and send up some words that the folks who got their catalogue have not made their way to the land of plenty of inexpensive furniture.

Random Summer Fun 08

We had a fun week. If it wasn't enough that I got to see a Beth Moore Simulcast this past weekend, which was so so good for my soul. We had a fun weekend on top of that. Perry hung out with Ben 3 days in a row which made them both quite happy. Perry had fun at Maddie's birthday party. He was 1 of 2 boys. Connor kind of stayed clear of the girls or was shooting them with a super soaker, Perry just hung out and played with them. Oh and his world became complete when WALL E arrived in the mail today at Geegaws. This was kept a secret from me by everyone so Perry could surprise me. I have to say WALL E is my favorite Pixar movie so far. Perry agrees.

Need for Speed

So we purchased an external hard drive almost a month ago. Ron's fear of most things electronic leaves the task of moving stuff to it to me....."hello free-time".....So I've been dragging my feet since I know that moving 9 days worth of music and podcasts to the external hard-drive would in fact take hours out of my life. WHICH IT DID.....to ensure proper moving of all files and to not lose any of our precious music, a check and re-check had to be done. I am happy to report everyting itunes related is now on the external hard-drive, and I feel the need to lock it in a safe or something. I'll definately feel that way when I move the pictures there....yikes.

Glad to see everyone enjoyed the mail-art fun! I must repeat the banana was not real.....it was plastic people. Oh and don't worry if you responded to the previous mail art e-mail there will be something 3 dimensional landing in you mailbox soon, remember the free time....not a whole lot of that going around, besides Guitar Hero must get played!

Spent some time with my friend Connie the other night, we made some ATC's for Stampaway. She was in much need of some adult interaction, a 2 year old and a newborn, oh and the 6 year old, all girls....and the husband was out of town for a week....yikes she was quite desperate for some grown-up time. I'm happy to report she's in better spirits, and looking forward to Stampaway!!! As I am, love the smell of fresh cut rubber.....mmmmmm.....

Produce Mail???

That's right people, that's exactly what happened I put a Banana directily in the mail after I decorated it with STOLEN banana stickers. I had some help in this quest. Ok so they weren't necessarily stolen. It doesn't say anywhere that you actually have to purchase banana's to get the stickers.....besides who needs 4 stickers on one bunch of banana's anyways??? No one, so whoever purchased banana's on the Friday or the Monday a few weeks ago, may have been shorted a few stickers. Do common folk even appreciate the funny stickers anyways? Mail artists like myself however....see them as a challenge and subsequently ART! Oh and the helpers.....my BFF Layni and Fam, she got about 12 stickers during her weekly visit to her grocery establishment, and I went to the same place a few days later and got about 12 more. Don't give away the place since I am in the process of investigating them for a Cub Scout fundraiser, they may find me untrustworthy if they knew I was part of the banana sticker bandits. Oh by the way it ain't real....it's one of my favorite things.....plastic food!!! Ok time to panic, Cub Scout planning meeting was this evening which means time to buy school supplies for Cincykids and my own kid and that also means SUMMERS ALMOST OVER and my tan has faded.......OH my heavens which means it's almost Christmas!!!!! I'm so over being a grown up!