Captain Obvious

I'm looking forward to posting a three part series about our Bermuda vacation. With the scheduled 4 full days/5 night visit that turned into 6 full days/7 nights (that's thinking we'll actually make our flight tomorrow), there is lot to tell. I'll write about the island and our hosts, the daily adventures, and our great traveling partners along the way. That "series" is to come... but for now, here is a cute story that happened today.

The hubby and I, along with our traveling partners: our cousin Courtney and his two boys Nolan (11) and Colton (7), were all enjoying a good meal for lunch at The Pickled Onion in downtown Bermuda. There we sat at the table, waiting for our meal when my hubby said,

Hey boys, do you know what is different about everyone at this table and me?

Ps. The answer Kelly was looking for at this moment was that HE was not wearing a hat, the rest of us were...

The boys looked around for awhile, seeming to evaluate things about us all and look for the answer. Some silence passed for a quick bit... and then Colton replied,

You don't have any hair?!?!

The entire table cracked up, to which my hubby HAD to do the same, and then collected himself enough to say, THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS. We've all chuckled about that moment more than once throughout the rest of the day.

Bermuda: First Thought, Wow!

I sit here on our Aunt and Uncle's beautiful veranda in Bermuda, feeling the comfortable breeze blow past me as the tree frogs call out in their chorus. The boats pass by the nearby water that's usually very visible from the place I sit, but instead the darkness of night only allows one to see their passing lights and the constant circular shine of the lighthouse. THIS is the definition of RELAXATION and BEAUTY.

The more I relax and calm my body, the more I continue to feel the rhythmic movement of the waves. The full day on the sailboat, has left my body reminiscing of the ocean's beat. I cannot wait to visit it again tomorrow. My tummy is full and satisfied after fresh tuna, fresh grown tomatoes and onions, and a delicious bed of rice. My thirst has been quenched with glasses of McGuigan chardonnay and a can of Heineken. I am on vacation!

I am reminded a bit that our relatives actually LIVE here. They work here, play here, and reside here... and abundantly open their home to us! I am in awe by the hospitality and so thankful for what we've experience in just 1.5 days because of their generosity! This place is beautiful!

Wow. I cannot help but think what an extremely different background to life this is than the background my hubby and I have at home. I can see why someone would come to stay indefinitely. It is still surreal to me that we're here... I cannot wait for tomorrow.

Guest Blogger: R cubed

There are some moments in a relationship where you have to just stop and say to yourself, “Wow, he really loves me.” Some of those moments are very sweet and romantic, the kind of moments you have to tell all of your girlfriends about so they know how amazing your significant other is. This story is not about one of those moments.

One day my husband and I were in his car heading to dinner. He was driving (as always) and chatting on the phone while I was sitting in the passenger seat trying to make myself comfortable. I ended up putting my feet up on the dashboard and as we journeyed along I noticed a bug, a very small bug, but a bug none the less, flying around the car. In a wise and completely thought out instant I decided to crush the bug on the windshield with my foot. So I did.

And then, under my foot, the windshield cracked.

Even with all my bug crushing skills, I hadn’t taken into account that there was already a small ding in the windshield where this particular bug had landed. Basically, I felt like an idiot.

At this point, I was completely prepared for my husband to be annoyed with me for destroying his windshield or at least make fun of me for the rest of the evening, but he just laughed it off. And in that moment I thought, “Wow, he really loves me.”

Confessions

Hi, my name is Mrs. McGoo,

and I'm a HUBCAP LOSER.

Yup, that's me. The Hubcap Loser. You might be asking yourself, what is a "hubcap loser", well, my definition is this:

an individual that has lost more than five hubcaps in their lifetime. They are under the age of 28.

I surpass this requirement probably by five to ten hubcaps, easy. Seriously, every car I've owned has had at least one hubcap missing at one time or another. My Altima was the worst. I owned it from eighteen years old (2000) until 2003. The running joke was that I had a "ghetto" looking car, strictly due to the one or two hubcaps missing at what seemed like at all times. It was inevitable, I'd make my normal trip over to Hubcap Annie, grab a new hubcap, throw it back on the car and before I knew it weeks later another one was gone! What's up with that?!

And I KNOW what you're thinking, the same thing my brother in law said to me last night when I pulled up in my Camry with ANOTHER hubcap missing... I DO NOT HIT CURBS! Seriously, I do not ride curbs, hit curbs, or run into curbs. So that is NOT the reason this happens. It's just inevitable it seems, I'm a FREAK HUBCAP LOSER!

I know I had at least 3-5 hubcaps lost in the Altima days. I specifically remember one day driving on Hwy 78 to Starkville, MS when I heard a certain sound that I now recognize as a hubcap coming off and hitting the pavement, I looked back at my side and rear view mirror and there it was, my hubcap running away from me. Gone. I do not remember for certain if any hubcaps were lost during the 1987 Camry days (my first car) of my sixteens through eighteenth birthday. I know I lost at least one hubcap with my Saturn that was my car from 2003 to 2006. And now my current Camry has had at least three hubcap replacements since we got it. Obviously, Hubcap Annie has become a frequently visited establishment. Thank goodness it's just down the road from our home these days.

Crazy isn't it?
Hi, my name is Mrs. McGoo and I am Hubcap Loser.

One of a Kind

According to HowManyofMe.Com, there are 306,966,445 people in the United States. Out of those 306,966,445 individuals, this website says:

• There are 517,238 people in the U.S. with the first name Heather.
• Statistically Heather is the 104th most popular first name.
• More than 99.9 percent of people with the first name Heather are female.
• There are 415 people in the U.S. with the last name McGugan.
• Statistically McGugan is the 53,191st most popular last name.

And last but not least... I'm apparently one of a kind:

HowManyOfMe.com

There is person with the name Heather Mcgugan in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

My boss showed me this website this morning and I had to share. I think it's pretty interesting. Look up your name and see where you stand statistically. Apparently, I'm also married to a one of a kind man - but I could have told you that even without looking at this website.

Something New: Happy Meal Desserts

After seeing these adorable burger desserts on my friend, Britt's blog, I was instantly interested in giving them a try one day. Brittany had made them for her husband on Father's Day and they turned out great. I just needed the right event to take them to and try my hand at the Betty Homemaker style presentation.

So the opportunity finally arrived this past week as my office has something called Fun Food Friday during the the months of June and July. We all split up into groups of five and when our team's day arrives, we supply our coworkers with breakfast and an afternoon snack. It was my team's turn to shine this past Friday and I was willing to do my best to make these burger desserts work. I went to the website that Britt referenced when she posted a blog about her burger desserts, and found out that Bakeralla not only did burgers, but she had a "how to" on making a full Happy Meal Dessert.

I was instantly hooked and determined to give it a whirl. So without further adieu, I'm pretty happy to say that my dessert presentation was a SUCCESS!

A quick shot of the burgers right after completion:

24 Happy Meal Desserts served:

Burgers = Cupcake bun + Brownie meat + Vanilla Icing mustard, ketchup, and lettuce.
French Fries = Sugar Cookies + Sugar salted

Proud "baker" after receiving many compliments on presentation, and even better, compliments on tastiness.

Getting proof of tastiness as model, Amanda shows the dessert actually being eaten.

Kellyism:

As the hubby and I talked about our Saturday activities and errands needing to be run, this conversation came into play...

Me: We need to eat first because if we wait to eat afterward, by then we'll bite each other's heads off.

My Hubby: I want to bite your head off already.

Me: Why?

My Hubby: Because you're you.

Me: You bought this ring and asked me to marry you because I'm me.

My Hubby: I was full then.

Guest Blogger:

So I am now (or at least for today) Verbal Vomit’s guest blogger. I really have no idea what I’m supposed to entertain you kids with, but since this has basically been forced on me by my older, much more talented blogging sister, I’m going to give it a try.

Alright then, let’s begin today’s story time.

I am currently employed at a certain chain clothing retail store. (I’ll let you all guess which one, but be warned, checking Facebook will be considered cheating.) Well, being in the retail business my day is always populated with either some very interesting characters or some extremely rude ones. The other evening I was blessed to come across one of the more interesting ones. A young guy waiting on his friend approached me with one of the better opening lines I’ve heard in my life.

Young Guy: “So, have you seen’ Paul Blart’?”

Me: “Uh, ‘Paul Bart Mall Cop’?”

Young Guy: “Yeah.”

Me: “Umm…Yes.”

The young guy then proceeded to ask me if this stellar film made me feel different about coming into work at a mall. Luckily, I had to excuse myself from this discussion to let another customer into a fitting room. As I walked away all I could think is, “Wow. That’s the best he could come up with?”

And for those of you wondering, no, ‘Paul Blart Mall Cop’ did not make me think differently about going to work at a mall. I mean, how often can bike riding & skateboarding thug gymnasts take over a mall?

Although, I guess I would feel safer if some of those overweight security guys were riding around on Segways.

Happy Birthday Verbal Vomit!

On this day, one full year ago, 365 days prior to today, on the suggestion of my hubby, I posted my first entry on Verbal Vomit. Now, 199 (counting this one) posts later, we are celebrating Verbal Vomit's first birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Since that time, I've confessed my HGtv addiction, proved that I'm a woman of good intentions but poor follow through on working out, expressed some of the truths the Lord has taught me along the way, tattled on my hubby about the funny things he does, posted pictures and more pictures and more pictures, and just let the verbal vomit flow. I hope this first year has been enjoyable for those that have started to read my blog either frequently or infrequently at times. I know I've enjoyed the journey so far and look forward to continuing.

Keep the comments coming, I love hearing from those of you that read this. Whether you agree with what I said, disagree, think I'm a dork, or whatever, I'd love to hear it and know you stopped by.

Something New: Red Beans & Rice

In honor of the upcoming movie (which I hope to see), Julie & Julia, I have decided to attempt something new. I say attempt, because I'm very aware that sometimes things do not go according to plan, imagine that. I will try to make one NEW meal I've never done before every week (posting the event on Monday). It should not be too difficult to figure out recipes to make because, let's face it, I either cook the same thing over and over or do not cook very well anyway. So this will go one of two ways: a treat or a disaster. Let the games begin.

Tonight I attempted Red Beans & Rice without a box that held all the ingredients except adding water and the sausage. This was one step up, a simple recipe that I found on Kevin & Amanda's Recipe Blog. I started with the following ingredients and then followed this recipe step by step:

1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups hot water
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pkg (14 oz) smoked sausage
1 can red beans
Zatarains Creole Seasoning

Add the rice, water and salt to a sauce pan with a lid. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, then cover & simmer for 15 mins. Meanwhile, thinly slice the sausage and drain the juice from the red beans into the sink. Add 2-3 tbsp olive oil to to a large skillet and begin heating over medium heat. Add the sausage, give a sprinkling of creole seasoning and stir occasionally for about 7 mins until the sausages start to get sizzly on both sides. Add the red beans and stir until warmed through. About this time, your rice should be done too. Serve the beans and sausage over the rice. Add extra creole seasoning as desired at the table. Serves 2-3.

I had my niece read the recipe to me while I cooked. She was my little helper. Isn't she adorable.


As easy as this recipe sounds and is... I was worried because I have an "issue" with rice. For some reason, whether it's instant or any other kind, it's a struggle for me. Either too watery or too chewy... so I was very thankful it turned out this go around. The hubby, the niece, and even I was pleased with the end result tonight. Adding this one to my recipe cards. Yum.

My niece even took a photo of me while we cooked (below). New dish #1 was a success... encouraging me to try again.

Unlimited Energy?

The hubby and I have the pleasure of taking care of our niece this weekend and part of next week. From this past Friday until this coming Tuesday, we are not only Aunt and Uncle but caregivers of our seven year old niece.

As expected, a seven year old has a bit of energy. I went into the weekend with this knowledge and therefore planned some events that would help focus such energy and maybe work it out of her a little bit.

Friday, we went over to my folks house and hungout with them, my littlest sis and her guy friend. We ate pizza and played a double elimination game of Ladderball. My niece played too, and when she lots twice, she then made her way into the living room to watch Monster House. After taking a quick shower before we left, she fell asleep on the car ride home.

Saturday, we woke up, had breakfast, and watched some morning cartoons. After lunch, we made our way to the new mecca of fitness centers in Collierville where my sister works. Because of my sis' employment there, we were able to visit the massive, mall like fitness center, and enjoy their ginormous outdoor pools for free to entertain our niece. You probably think I'm joking about the whole mecca or mall analogy about this place, but seriously... It is like going from a podunk town where WalMart is considered the big shopping to do, and then arriving into the luxury suburban mall of the large city hours away. A BIG contrast! And we didn't even tour the place, just walked into the entry and dressing rooms, and visited the pool. I'm sure everything else in that place is amazing. Anyway, so once in the mecca of fitness centers, we enjoyed the outdoor pools and waters slides for almost four hours. I was pumped, my hubby and I just knew that swimming all day would tire our niece out, and she'd be ready to rest at some point in the day.

So we made our way home from the pools, even taking the time to shower before we left and change back into real clothes in case our niece fell alseep on the car ride home. Uhhh, that did not happen. When we got home, we all three (hubby, niece, and myself) settled down on the couches to relax and unwind a bit before our next festivities of the evening. Forty-five minutes to an hour later, I was woken up by my hubby... apparently I FELL ASLEEP on the couch while my niece continued to bounce around and stay WIDE AWAKE.

Uhhh, can we say backfire? I'm learning more and more that I'm not as smart as I sometimes believe... swimming did not wear my niece out, but instead tired me out. Seven year olds have lots of energy I say... We're having fun!

a WEEK in the Making

It has been an eventful, fun, and extremely busy week already and it will continue AT LEAST until next Thursday, July 16th. I'm not complaining because I've definitely enjoyed the fun and entertaining stuff, but I am starting to hit that point of running on empty. BH (Before husband), I was a woman that never stopped: activity after activity, event after event, I was similar to the Energizer Bunny... keeps going, and going, and going. The only thing that would stop me was my body. I'd go so hard and so often for multiple weeks without rest and relaxation that my body would finally scream NOOOOO and I'd get sick to take me down for the count. It was like my body said, "Okay, I tried to tell you to stop and rest, you wouldn't, so I'm going to make you!" It was a cyclical way of life for me. A busy busy bee life.

And then the hubby came into my life, he ran on something we call "Kelly time". It was his own beat and his own timing for things. He knew the way of settling down and relaxing a bit to make sure you are running on a full tank. He began to teach me how to compromise into a life less Energizer Bunny like, but not necessarily tortoise like either. We began to build a life a bit more balance than the one I lived BH. He slowed me down a bit, and I sped him up a bit. And that's the life we now live.

This week however has transported me back into Energizer Bunny mode, and my balanced nature is screaming for a night of nothing... okay, maybe a glass of wine and a book.

It started with my boss and some other sales folks at work being on vacation all week. This means my work load is extremely increased for the week. Combine that and our schedule of activities (see below) and you have a week of running full speed ahead EVERY DAY for an extended period.

Monday: Work, Bunko 630-9pm
Tuesday: Work, Dinner with my hubby and littlest sis, and a 730pm showing of Wicked at the Orepheum, which by the way was absolutely AMAZING!!!
Wednesday: Work, Kickball Game at 730pm, in between the two I got a wild hair and completely rearranged one of the guest bedrooms
Thursday: Work, Jessica Harp concert on Beale at 730pm for the Country on Beale***

Friday: Work, Our niece comes to stay with us around 12pm, Possible dinner engagement with the family
Saturday: Niece staying with us, UFC Fight Night at a friend's house
Sunday: Niece staying with us, Sunday School & Church
Monday: Work, Niece staying with us
Tuesday: Traveling to Nashville
Wednesday: Work, Kickball Game

Needless to say, we have lots going on. ***Thankfully tonight, I decided to put bow out of the concert on Beale Street and instead sent my hubby and littlest sis out on their own. I had a long day at the office, and it's probably best that I have some down time to myself. It'll be best for everyone. So now I'm enjoying a BudLight with lime, some blogging time, House on TV, and a quiet night with the pups.

Note: And EVEN after a necessary night of "nothing" to relax and recoup, I STILL slept through my alarm this morning or turned it off unbeknown to myself and slept until 7:03, ran out the door to work by 7:08 to arrive at 7:33am. I was tired! Still am.

The High Cost of Friendship

This morning before work, I read a great article regarding friendship, the cost of building relationships, and the way our technological society is taking us in the area. I wanted to share:

Mrs. McGoo has sent you a link to view this publication: RELEVANT - July/August 2009
Read it now at http://www.mygazines.com/issue/1243/29

After reading this, if you have any thoughts, feelings, or comments regarding it. I'd love to hear them in my comment section.

July 4th Festivities

One of my favorite things about three day weekends is that you find the extra hours to get some specialty cooking done, rather than what you might normally do. Check out these ribs for example, multiple hours were put into the prep time, smoke time, grill time, etc and during regular weekends, the extra time is not always present to enjoy the luxury of such delights. But enjoy we did. Plenty of ribs and shoulder to share with everyone at our family gathering this weekend, added with some yummy fixins by all those in attendance. From baked beans, to green bean casserole, to potato salad (yuck, but everyone besides the hubby and I seemed to enjoy), to garlic bread, chips & salsa, pita chips & cream cheese with a red pepper sauce on top, and of course desserts - we were stuffed. Yum, I'm getting hungry again just thinking about it all.

Along with the food, we enjoyed the company of family, our doggies, and a few friends. From the distance we could see the Olive Branch fireworks from my brother in law's backyard. It was a great evening. Here are a few shots from the festivities.

Above: My Man and Me

Above: Our buddy Stev-O hanging out in the hammock with our pup, Dexter. Hilarious. Dexter loves to cuddle, all you have to do is ask him.

Above: The McGugan Men: My Father in Law, My Man, and My Brother in Law

Reminiscing

A dear friend of my hubby and mine is getting married in the next several months, November actually. Over the last few weeks since she became engaged, I have had the honor of sharing some of my wedding memories, vendors, and experiences with this friend. One of the things she asked me about today was our wedding website.

October 2006 (when we became engaged), the hubby and I put together a wedding website through www.weddingwindow.com, We thoroughly enjoyed the interaction with family and friends, as well as the information and story sharing ability it gave us. In addition, after all the work we put into the site and updating it reguarly, we were able to get a cd copy of our site before it went out of comisision online. I have looked over site today and want to share some of the stories we wrote there. My hubby and I just reread them and it put super smiles all over our faces. I hope you enjoy. These are simply copied and pasted from the site - so this was written over 2.5 years ago.

Our Story

How We Met:
The First Meeting

Ironically we officially met through a mutual love of the same sport... Soccer.

"Somehow" we ended up on the same coed soccer team. The first time we met, it was the first game of the season. Kelly and a couple other "new" guys to the team were on the sidelines. I was still recovering from a hairline fractured ankle (imagine that), and was wearing an ankle brace, plus had my ankle taped for good measure.

Kelly took one look at me after introductions and said, "Nice Cankle"

Needless to say, it wasn't love at first site or first words...

How We Started Dating:
The way we got to know each other...

About a month or so after our first meeting, Kelly and I began to talk a bit through emails, as he sent out the weekly reminder of our coed soccer schedule. The friendly banter began one day after I returned from a family vacation, and Kelly's weekly game reminder stated something along the lines of: "P.S. And Heather if you show up with a tan better than all of us, I"ll kick you in your good ankle". I replied, "Is that a threat?" To which, he in his quick-witted nature said, "Nope, because this is on paper."

The next week after a game, many of our teammates went to hangout. Both Kelly & I went with the group and began to talk more in-depth after figuring out that Laura Reddin was a mutual friend of ours, and we actually "knew" one another through her, without having ever met each other. Through the events of the night, we ended up spending quite a bit of time together and discovered that we lived in the same neighborhood, thus making the suggestion that we should carpool to games.

Over the next few weeks, Kelly and I rode with one another to games, and one night he tore his MCL, thus giving me an excuse to be at his house often to "help" him, and continue to get to know him better.

How we began dating:

One night soon there after his MCL tear, Kelly and I went to the loop. Upon our return to his house, I got my stuff together to leave, and said goodnight, as Kelly "crutched" me out towards my car. We said goodnight, with a hug, and I made my way to the car to go home. When I got to the car, I realized that I had forgotten my keys inside (kind of necessary to drive home). Therefore, I turned around, Kelly still standing outside, went back inside, grabbed my keys, and headed back out to go straight to the car.

Kelly stopped me, "Heather, can I tell you something?" To which I smartly replied, "I don't know, can you?" (not the correct response there, lol)

Kelly then went on to tell me that he liked me... ... ... ... ... ... I was definately interested, attracted, but still unsure, and kind of scared... 2 days later (Thursday), we began dating.

How Heather Freaked Out:
Disclaimer:

Okay, so to be honest, I was going to leave this part of the story out... but Kelly is correct in reminding me that this a necessary piece of our little puzzle. Plus it gives him definite props for being a man & putting me into my place. (did I just say that?) Or maybe, I meant it exemplifies his faith and believing that this was right and I was just being a freak - imagine that.

The attempted break up:
One week into our relationship, a week into a very good relationship, all going well, really well... I freaked out - can't explain it any other way.

On a Thursday (exactly 1 week into our relationship), I had an intense unsettled feeling like something was wrong. I went to bed with the feeling Wednesday late night, and woke with it Thursday morning, and it stood all day. I can't explain this well enough to make sense, because it really doesn't... I felt smothered, like things were going too fast (we hadn't even kissed, how could it go any slower?!), I felt my independence had been stripped, I felt unsettled, uneasy, and couldn't pinpoint why. My immediate idea was that there must be something wrong with the relationship. Is there a reason I shouldn't be with this man... ... ... ... NOTHING - I couldn't think of an excuse. But the unsettledness was there anyway... I ignored Kelly all day in an attempt to understand... until we finally spoke that night, at which point he knew something was wrong!

I went to his house that night with the decision that I couldn't do "this", I couldn't date him, I wasn't ready, and I knew I cared for him already & would probably hurt him, something I didn't want to do. So I went to say, "I just want to be friends." The talk began, I verbally vomited all the craziness in my head, probably talked in circles forever... and then finally said my piece, "I just want to be friends".

Kelly looked at me with those deep eyes, we sat there in silence for some time (felt like forever to me)... and finally he opened his mouth to reply... He said: "Well, Heather, I don't want to be your friend. I want to date you." He went on to describe how I didn't have a real reason for not wanting to date, I couldn't give him ANY reason, except some "feeling" I had... how was he suppose to go off of that? He then told me that he knew he was suppose to pursue me as more than a friend, but if that wasn't what I wanted, then we'd have to part ways for awhile before a friendship was ever possible.

Then and there, I knew I hated the idea of not having Kelly in my life in some form, and we hashed things out for awhile, and decided... let's keep giving this a try.

I praise the Lord for giving Kelly the strength, faith, and courage to say those words to me that night. Had he folded and said "okay" to me, as I thought I wanted, I don't know if I would be writing these words today. God gave Kelly faith that it was time to take a stand, guard his heart, and take the chance. Those "harsh" words, "Heather, I don't want to be your friend", are now some of the most beautiful words ingrained in my memory.

Independence Day

Fireworks, barbecues, parades, time with friends, time with family, and being fully thankful for our FREEDOM!!! Independence Day, often referred to as the 4th of July, is a day in which we celebrate the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, 1776 it all began, we adopted the Declaration of Independence and declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. The rest is history. Thank you to all the soldiers that have fought and continue to fight for our freedom! We cannot thank you enough!

Everyone enjoy the 4th!
Be safe and have fun!
I can't wait for more fireworks and of course the McGugan barbecue, yum!

Preying on Children

About a week ago, a dear friend of mine's grandson had an incident on the computer at her house. The boy, only 10 years of age, was attempting to help his little sister find the Care Bears website. As he typed in the web address, he accidentally misspelled the carebears portion of the web address and instead put in carebares. Without noticing his error, he pressed enter so that the website could be found. Instead of the safe and fun children's website of Care Bears, the ten year old boy and his younger sister were exposed to pornography!

Completely surprised and afraid, the boy attempted to shut of the site as quickly as possible. Once he shut it down once, it returned again. He then proceeded to tell his grandpa and became extremely upset as to what he saw and feeling that he did something bad.

Thankfully my friend's husband was able to remove the site from the computer and talk to the ten year old boy about the situation. He assured the boy that he did NOTHING wrong, that it was an accident and he was not in trouble. He thanked him for telling him what had happened immediately and expressed that computer time would be suspended for a little while until he and my friend could put a filter on that would allow the same situation to not occur again, hopefully.

Fast forward to days later, after the boy's mother wrote the FBI regarding the disgusting incident in which her boy and daughter were exposed. The FBI officer graciously replied that he received hundreds of calls on these same type incidents regularly, and that there was nothing they could do regarding the name of the website. He said the name of the site was protected by constitutional rights.

To be quite honest, that kind of stuff ticks me off!!! Obviously such sites are thriving on and preying on children. Why else would they make their web address so closely associate with children's things??? Care Bears, Disney stuff, there are tons of sites that are just a letter or two off safe websites that a mistyping can cause you to see images you do not desire. A ten year old boy should NOT have to see such a thing!

So I say... if you can't have disgusting pornography sites change their names due to constitutional rights, then let's at least mandate a sort of HOME PAGE on each porn site that is not allowed to expose images. This would alleviate children from haphazardly falling into these sites and being damaged by their imagery. Why not have a law that makes porn sites have a home page that makes you take one click more to reach the dirty pictures. The people that desire to see such will not be hindered by a simple extra click, but the innocent people that stumble accidentally on sites will not be victimized by the images from the start.

I'm planning on working up a letter regarding this for my friend and her daughter. I hope that my letter is compelling enough to have them, as well as some others send this type request to their congressman. We have got to do something beyond computer filters to save our children from such things. Not every computer a child has access to is filtered appropriately, a home page rule such as I've described would help alleviate those accident and innocent misspellings.

Grrrr. Some people are sick, I say!

Still Got It

Last night a dear friend of mine sent me a text after work to inquire if I wanted to go have a drink with her later that evening. Considering that I had not spent any quality time with this gal in awhile, who is one of my favs and a buddy since were were playing sports together at the age of five, and that I had a very rough day at work, I jumped on the opportunity to get out of the house.

She invited my hubby too, but he knew my day had been rough and thought that I might benefit from some extra girl time, so he sent me on my way without him for the night. I'm so thankful for him making that decision for me, because I had a fantastic night with my girlfriend.

We went to a local bar around the corner from where we live, and made our way to our seats for some good conversation. We figured we'd stay for an hour or two and head back home. While we were there, we ran into two of our buddies. One was there with his girlfriend and a group of friends, and the other was out celebrating a big sale with his coworkers. We were able to visit with each of them for a bit and enjoy that addition to our night.

Before we realized it, three hours had passed and our one beverage turned into a few, along with a spinach artichoke dip with tortilla chips - yum, yum! Finally aware of the time, we asked to tab out and head on our way. That is when the bartender let us know that our tab had been taken care of by a gentleman that did not want to be named. "Uhhhhh, what?!"

Here we were, an "old" married woman and a girl committed to her boyfriend, and we just got our tab picked up after not speaking to another person in the bar minus our two buddies! What? We pressed the bartenders further to try to figure out who the "admirer" was, but the only information we were given was that he supposedly sat in a certain section. After being sure that the tab was truly picked up and that the bartender was taken care of tip wise, we scooted our way out as quickly as we could before the "admirer" changed his mind.

Once outside we cracked up in disbelief that our tab was picked up by an unknown gentleman, and then went to guessing as to who was the culprit and the generosity and sweetness of the gesture. Turns out it was one of the buddies we knew, and happened to be one of the gentlemen that is not currently dating someone, which blows my friend's mind. She made two comments throughout that night about that fact because she agrees with me that he's good looking, funny, and a fabulously great guy. Perfect example of his greatness and generosity is found in his act last night.

But regardless if it was a buddy or not, we still got it.

Oh, and to hit the point further, we were whistled at after we left the bar while we stopped to take a right hand turn on the way home. You know, the nice "hey good looking" sound whistle. Yup, still got it. ha ha