Today's Special: My Lusty List

Summer is finally here and I wanted to share with you the top five fashion faves that I am lusting after for the season.

1. Old Navy Striped T's: Nothing says Summer better like a bright, new boldly colored t-shirt or tank top to pair with shorts. This Old Navy top comes in several vivid colors and make looking fresh a breeze! The best part? It's $5.99!! At that price we can all afford to pick up more than a few of our favorite summer colors. Looking good means feeling good!

2. ANY and ALL things Jeffrey Campbell: These honkin', kick ass wedges are unbelievably fresh! If Louboutin is the King of the stiletto, then Jeffrey Campbell is the Duke of the wedge. There is nothing sexier or stylish than a pair of these babies. I actually own the pair pictured above, and they are my most favorite shoe. I just recently added two new pairs to my personal collection. They are always at the center of attention and the topic of shoe conversations when I wear them. Affordable in most shoe-loving circles, a pair of Campbell's will run you anywhere from $150.00 to $300.-ish. Check it out here: Jeffrey Campbell

3. Fringe!!!: Fringe bags are HOT! and there are a million styles and colors and prices to choose from. From luxe to bargain prices, some have a lot of fringe, some have a little fringe, so find your personal fringe barometer and rock this look. It helps if your pair your fringe with some RIDICULOUSLY large sunglasses. Jus' saying.

4. RIDICULOUSLY Large Hoop Earrings: Speaking of RIDICULOUSLY large, I am STILL on the hunt for the perfect pair of over sized hoops. Kim K and JLo made the look famous and I have yet to find my big hoop soul mate. I want to wear them with my hair pulled back for maximum effect and pair them with pretty, natural make-up and glossy nude lips. Haaay!

5. Cute, White Shorts: Aren't these the cutest??? Unfortunately for me, these are more for Frick than mom. But that's OK. At my age I can still rock a pair of white shorts, just not a pair of maxi-shorts. Give me a little more length on a pair of white shorts, a pair of honkin Jeffrey Campbell wedges, a fresh tank and a knee length neutral sweater vest. Aye mami!!

So there you have it. My lusty list! Now I gotta go to work to pay for it all!

Happy shopping bloggers!

No Sh*t?

So I'm having a conversation yesterday with a woman about dogs. The conversation inevitably lead to dog droppings in the yard, which in my house, are lovingly referred to as "land mines". She told me about a service that will actually come to your house to pick up your dog poop.

What? Really?

I have 3 dogs and I don't know about this? A company from Quincy, MA called, DoodyCalls has been "keeping Massachusetts clean since 2003".

No sh*t.

DoodyCalls offers it's pooper scooper services to most of Massachusetts and they take pride in scooping that poop. These guys are serious. A quick check on their website assures clients that they will receive the most thorough poop removal services with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

I wonder if they will they pay for my new Manolo Blahnik stilettos if I step in dog poop after they leave?

This is great, I think! DoodyCalls provides affordable services from friendly, uniformed "technician's" who drive branded DoodyCalls trucks. All scooping tools are disinfected between pooper scoopings so animal parasites and disease will not spread and DoodyCall will customize your waste removal services for weekly calls or monthly maintenance plans.

Wow, I never knew poop was big business. I think for a minute about the possibility of this for my yard and then I remember. While a "professional" pooper scooper service, for the owner of 3 dogs and a nice yard, is tempting, I already have 2 DoodyCalls technicians that live in this house. Yeah, and those technitians will be out of school sooner rather than later.

Maybe I will do some research of what the going rate is to scoop some poop and how much to pay per "land mine". Then the kitchen table negotiations can begin. This deal could provide fruitful for all parties involved. I'm beginning to like this idea more and more.

The tough part is going to be convincing them to do it. If money does not motivate them, I don't know what will.

They may think the whole idea just stinks.

Awakening The Sleeping Giant

Now I know that most of you out there could give a good rat's a** about Stanley Cup hockey today. But over here in Championship City, we are still in it to win it. We've been watching, hopeful that our Bruins could pull of a miracle. Careful and strategic hockey is what has been played but now it's looking like our boys aren't going away without a fight and that's just what we needed.

Hanging on by our teeth is what the Bruins were doing in these final days of NHL hockey, and we have been watching, ever faithful, ever hopeful. We've been cheering the boys on and watching some good, but not great hockey being played. Low scoring games and games played right down to the wire is how this series has been playing out. Our boys on the loosing end of those paint drying hockey match ups.

Then early in the first period last night, Canuck Aaron Rome layed down a dirty and dangerous hit on fan fave Nathan Horton. It was an unforgettable moment. A moment that made every hair on the back of your neck stand at attention. We, at home, knew immediately he was down for good. It was surreal. They, the medical personnel knew it too, because they came out with a stretcher immediately. This was no ordinary hit. Horton was whisked away to the hospital.

It was then that something changed. In all of us who were there in mind and body. The sleeping giant was awakened. Passion and power were all they needed to secure a commanding win and being at home didn't hurt either. The Bruins let loose on a team that didn't see it coming. Just like the hit on Norton. An 8-1 blowout was the result and this time we were on the winning end of things.

Professional sports can be a dangerous occupation, but the show must go on and go on it did. The rest is history. While I'm not sure that the dominance displayed last night will continue throughout the rest of the series, I am sure that the Bruins needed to know that they were capable of that power against the team with the best regular season record. Momentum has pendulated (is that a word?) our way and we need to take the next one. Then it's a fair fight, on even playing fields.

The giant has awakened. The question remains if he can bring home the cup.

Spring Fever

I got it bad.

It's that fever that makes you want to run outside and play in the grass like you were a kid. When the weather is good and the temperatures get hot, the fever is quick to follow. All of a sudden I don't want to go to work, I don't want to cook, I just want to get outside and enjoy the day.

My kids have it too. They are SO done with school. Books and pencils, at this point, been beaten to death and boys and girls and summer fun is all they can concentrate on. But finals are fast approaching.

I can't say I blame them as I myself am having a hard time concentrating. And the experts believe it too. Some say that after a winter of near-hibernation (not really) your body stops producing high levels of melatonin, which govern your sleep-wake cycles. Longer periods of daylight cause the body to produce less melatonin and more serotonin which elevates your mood.

Try explaining that to a bunch of "all done with school" teens. I bet none of you feel much like blogging these days. Not when the beach is calling.

Either way, there's still work to be done and none of us feel like doing it.

We got the fever.

I Used To Be A Brunette...

Here's a Friday Funny for you:

There was a brunette walking on a railroad track saying, " 22, 22, 22, 22..."

A blonde walking near-by heard the brunette. So, the blonde asked if she could join the brunette.

The brunette said sure and together they said, " 22, 22, 22, 22.."

Later on a train comes down the track. The brunette jumps off, but the blonde is not so lucky.

So, the brunette jumps back on the track after the train is gone and says, "23, 23, 23, 23..."

Hee hee...Happy Weekend Bloggers!

You're Not In Kansas Anymore

So we had a tornado hit Massachusetts yesterday. In fact we has more than one tornado hit Massachusetts yesterday. It was some wild stuff, I gotta tell you. This is how it went down for me:

5 PM: I'm at the store and I get a call from my mom. She's worried and telling me to get home, as they just issued a tornado warning for our county until 7pm. I am scheduled to meet a friend for dinner, so I, of course, pooh pooh her pleas, laugh, and think to myself that it would never happen here.

6 PM: By now everybody in the store is talking about the tornado warnings and watching the TV news. Western MA has been hit by these fast moving storms causing severe damage. I call my friend and tell her that I'm going to go home and wait till 7, because they are also reporting that traffic is at a standstill. I tell her I would wait to see what happens and that I would stay in touch.

6:30 PM: The news stations are showing all weather reports with heavy rains and wind and hail moving close to our area. They are also reporting that there is more than one area that has been hit with funnel cloud tornado's. In all 19 communities have been affected and at least one death has been confirmed.

7 PM: Nothing has happened where I am so I decide to go meet my friend, to which My Guy says, "Are you nuts?" I, again, laugh and decide to think for a minute whether or not I should risk it. The TV news reporters are talking about emergency preparedness, going into the basement or the lowest level of the home, turning up the TV and staying there. The Emergency Broadcast System is popping into the telecast about every five minutes with that annoying beep, notifying us that in the event of an emergency....blah, blah, blah.

7:15 PM: I decide to cancel, to which my friend laughs, but it's no big deal. We re-schedule. (in hindsight, we would have been FINE)

7:30 PM: We are transfixed on the TV because now they are showing live shots of some incredible devastation in the Springfield area. It looks not too different from some tornado pictures of Missouri last week. What the? This is New England. Stuff like this never happens here. I thought it only happened in other parts of the country.

7:40 PM: Gov Duval Patrick comes on TV declaring that MA is in a state of emergency, and that Springfield has been devastated by tornados. A reporter ask him about whether or not this is the worst weather the state has ever seen, to which he replies, "Well, it's not over yet. These storms are still strong and the threat is still very real."

8 PM: I switch to the Bruins game. I got my priorities, ya know. But during the commercials, we were flipping back to the news. One of the huge storms is headed in our direction. We figured if we were in danger the Emergency Broadcast System would keep us posted, but we have one eye on the game and one on the news.

8:50: The dogs are going berserk, the light show outside my window is amazing coupled with some nasty, banging thunder. I see rain beginning to hit my window in a way that is not ordinary.

9 PM: Full blown wind and hard rain are now pelting my home. We are still in Bruins mode, but the outdoor events are hard to ignore. We are now watching both the storm and the game.

9:30 PM: We see blue, flashing lights go by the house and turn onto the street where my parents live, then go right into their driveway. Red lights then follow up the street, as a fire truck then pulls into my parents driveway. Their phone goes right to voicemail. My Guy gets a call that my parents alarm went off at their house, so we waste about a nano-second getting into the car to go check it out. It's still whipping rain and wind.

9:31 PM: My dad opens the door to his house, laughing. (thank God) Their house was hit by lightening and it set off the alarm. My mom said it was so loud that it scared the Bejesus out of her. They are fine. We check the house, like the fire department asked us to, for any smell of smoke or smoldering. Check. They are all set.

9:50 PM: The rain, lightening and thunder have stopped. It's over. We were lucky. Just some wild wind and rain and save from a few branches scattered around we got nothing.

4 confirmed deaths in the aftermath of the storms. The photos from Springfield are unbelievable. Unbelievable because tornados don't happen here.

It was some wild stuff, I gotta tell you.

You Are What You Eat

A genetically engineered mutant like creature?

So we were chit chatting over at the hen house yesterday and someone told this story. Seems a fast food company, who shall remain nameless, but goes by three letters-one of them being the letter C for chicken, has been called out on the Internet for not using real chicken in it's product being sold to consumers. What is it, you ask? It is the stuff of Internet legends.

It has been said that this company had to change it's long time name to the heretofore three letters because it does not use real chickens. The claim is that it uses "genetically manipulated organisms" to complete their menu items. It goes on to say that these organisms are kept alive in laboratories by a tube inserted into them to pump what they need to sustain some form of life. It also claims to know that these "organisms" also have no feet, no beaks and no feathers. This, the claim says, is why the government made the company changed it's name to the letters. There is no chicken according to this claim.

A Google search into this issue produced all sorts of interesting fodder on this topic, for both fact and fiction. What was consistent throughout is that this company has issued strong DENIALS that this Internet legend is true.

This website seems to have done their own investigation into the matter and actually had the meat tested. Their findings? The meat was NOT chicken and evidence of "genetic splicing" were detected.

What the hell does that mean?

One thing I know for sure. I very rarely eat fast food, but if I do, I will think twice before ordering a salad that's probably made from genetically engineered heads of lettuce. My biggest fear is for my children. Frack has a taste for any and all things fast food, as most 15 year old boys do, I need to give him the information and help him to make a decision on the matter.

And if I'm having chicken, I'm going to my local butcher shop.