Haunted

Saturday afternoon I was thinking about SXSW. Specifically, I was thinking about what I would wear. I have only just begun to think about which bands I am going to see. Deciding what to wear is easy. Weather and how far you will be walking are the only factors. The music part requires research. (J3, when you make your annual list know that this year we want to focus on rock bands. If you know of some that we should see let us know).

Any-hoo, I decided to swing by Ross Dress for Less to see if I could find any treasures. When I walked into the store, I made a B-line for the dresses. At the end cap of the second dress isle, I saw a woman standing there. She had on a knit cap that was covering her bald head.

She had gone pale and was clutching her belly with one hand and the shopping cart with the other.

I passed her by.

Seconds later, I decided to see if she needed help so I swung my cart around and turned the corner to face her.

Me: “Are you ok?”

Lady: (looking a little surprised to see me) “Uh, ye—yes.”

Me: “you look a little nauseous.” (I figured she had been undergoing chemo or something)

Lady: “No, I’m just holding……pause… I’m just holding on.”
(at this point, I realize that her hand is not on her belly but on where her left breast is, or should be. You can tell that under her shirt there are bandages covering the area. I am not sure if she had a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, but something was taken from her).

Me: I smiled at her, gave her cart a little tap, and said “ok.” And then, I walked away.

What else could I do?
What I could not do any longer was I focus on buying a silly dress. She haunted me the rest of the day. When I woke up this morning, she was still in my thoughts.

“I’m just holding…..I’m just holding on.”

I think she was about to say “I’m just holding my breast.”
Or, “I’m just holding my wound.”

She could not have been older than 40.

I hope she makes it.

As Seen on TV

I broke down and bought the ShamWow. If it weren’t for Dale’s favorite news reporter, Quita Culpepper, I may have never spent my hard earned money on such a product. She gave the ShamWow a good review on her news segment “Does it Work Wednesdays.”

I trust Quita. How could you not trust somebody with that name? It’s awesome!


Vince Offer, the spokesperson for ShamWow is simply amazing. I think he is better than the oxiclean/orangglo/mighty putty dude (Billy Mays). I like your Style, Vince.


Vince is now hawking a new product, the Slap Chop:


I doubt that I will ever purchase this product….even if Quita tells me to do so. That being said, I LOVE the commercial.
Here are some things Vince says during the commercial for the slap chop:

“Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life”

“You’re gonna love my nuts”

“Lifes hard enough as it is, you don’t want to cry anymore”

“Guys were gonna make America skinny again one slap at a time.” T

“tacos, fretacini, linguini,martini, bikini.”

I am not sure what “Fretacini” is, but I want some.

I also purchased the Strap Perfect.

I have not tried it out, yet. I’ll let you know how it works. Maybe Quita will discuss it this Wednesday.

Oh, check this out:
I told you Dale's water glass collection would grow to about 8 glasses before I took them to the kitchen. I broke down at 7.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day!

I know it is a day early, but I work in a school and we celebrated today.

Let me tell you how my day started. As I was walking to the copier, my vice principal spotted me and said:

VP- “Hey, Sarah! You dressed 60’s!”

Me- “What?”

VP- “JRA (our principal) told me to dress in 50’s fashion for the party. You dressed 60’s style!”

**He was wearing rolled up blue jeans, converse, a button up shirt, and his hear was slicked back.

Me-“Um….nobody told me to dress 60’s. This is just what I pulled out of my closet this morning.”

VP- “Oh. HAHAHAHA!”

Yeah. Here was what I wore:

I guess it is sort of 60’s-ish. I wore it because of the red and pink…you know, for the holiday. Maybe I should have wore sandals instead of boots.

Here is a photo of the cards I gave to all the kiddies:

Most of the Deaf students that I know LOVE Spiderman. Why? Because he is often seen saying “I LOVE YOU” in sign language:



Other times, he is saying, “Hook ‘em!”



I received a few valentines myself. My favorite were the ones attached to the flowers. The students put your picture on the note so they know who to deliver it to. They are very visual. Here is what the card looks like:

That picture was taken on my very first day at the school. It’s nutty and I love it.


We had a huge Valentine’s Day party. There was a dancing competition, a bingo game (a co-worker and I ran that game), and a crafts activity. The kids loved it and so did the staff. Next year, I must remember to wear my ear plugs because they turn that music up SO LOUD! It shakes the tables…seriously.

I hope you all have a good Valentine’s Day.
Shout outs- Laura, I know you have a bo-hunk this year and are excited about celebrating this day of love.

Colin and Laurie, this is your first Valentine’s day as an engaged couple. How sweet!

Kristi and PJ, this is your first Valentine’s day with your new baby.

Give your loved one a big hug and kiss. Tell them why they are special to you. Maybe rub their feet. Who does not like a good foot rub?
That is all.

Material Things

Would you like to be updated on my most recent purchases? (Well, they are not all recent.) I hope so because I can honestly not think of anything else to blog about. There are seven items that I would like to show you.

1.Let’s start with my new Chuck’s. Every once in a while, TJ MAXX will have a few pairs of Converse for sale. When I can find them in my size, I scoop them up. You see, anywhere else these low-top Chuckie T’s will run you somewhere between $40 - $50.00. TJ MAXX will sell them to you for a cool $25.00.

Bonus…they are green. Now I just need to find them in grey.

2.I got this cool aluminum water bottle from Ulta of all places. It was around $8.00 and well worth it.


Some studies have shown that drinking from a polycarbonate (plastic) water bottle may introduce unwanted chemicals into your body. The chemical that most people are worried about is Bisphenol A (it's actually a chemical building block) . I am not going to go further into this. You have google.

3. Check out my new measuring cup. It’s one cup to measure it all!


You can adjust the amount you want to measure by sliding that button back and forth. I got it from the “As Is” table at Bed Bath and Beyond. It was marked down to a couple of bones due to “scratches.” I can handle a few scratches.

4. Kashi Go Lean Roll

I love Kashi. I have tried almost all of their snack and meal replacement bars, minus this one. I found it at the corner store, today, and purchased it on the spot. I think I will have it for breakfast tomorrow. Kashi is mmmm-mmm good.

5.I have really deep cabinets in my bathroom. Before I bought this organizer, it was hard to quickly find what I needed. Problem solved.


There is my Mary Kay toner! I was looking for that.

6. I bought these mirrors back in the summer. Dale finally got around to hanging them last weekend. Those suckers are heavy and he needed a special “hanging kit” that he got from Josh Johnson (professional framer extraordinaire). I love them. I got them from Ross for a low, low price. I think they were about $34.00 a piece.

Our bedspread (in case you were wondering) is at the cleaners because somebody had a little accident. That somebody is in the picture.

**Side note, I decided to adopt Cooper mainly because he matched my bedding.

Ok, not really. I do like that he fits in with the motif but it was not necessary.

***Side-side note, Check out Dale’s water glass collection on top of this book shelf located near his side of the bed. The collection will grow to at least 8 glasses before I break down and take them to the dish washer for him.


7,I got this interesting shirt at my favorite thrift store. It was only a dollar and some change. If it were more than two bucks I probably would have not purchased it.

Somebody invite me to an Indian wedding so that I can wear this to the reception. On second thought, I think I would rather wear a Sari.

Hide and go seek

The other day, I entered my bedroom just in time to see my dog's rear legs sliding under the bed. He has to soldier crawl under the bed, basically pulling his lower half with his upper arm strength. I am not sure why he went under...it may be because he was upset that I was about to take a bath. He does not like it when I do this because I can't play fetch with him. Any-hoo, he would not come out from under the bed so I ran and got his favorite toy to bribe him with.


It worked.

Later on, I could not find him. I went from room to room calling his name to no avail. I checked the entire backyard but it was Cooper-free. It then dawned on me that he was probably in one of his favorite hiding places.

I crept into my bathroom, camera in hand, and lowered the laundry closet door...


Sure enough, he was in his cave amongst my dirty laundry.



He loves it in there. He opens the door all by himself and only needs to use his nose to push it open. Sometimes, he pretends that he can't get out and he will start crying until I open the door and save him. More than once, I have accidentally dumped laundry on him because I did not know he was in there.

Strange little guy.