Oh where, oh where can she be?

I'm still here. Last week I wasn't, however. I was here instead:



It was a last minute trip South of the Border. Threat of hurricanes and tropical storms be damned! We had an opportunity to spend a few days in paradise and we jumped on it like a starving dog on a raccoon carcass. Or like me on the complimentary minibar and all-you-can-drink margaritas.

(No mas tequila. No mas.)

For three days we were treated like royalty. I thought it was hard coming home from BlogHer this year but it was nothing compared to coming home after being able to open up the shades in the morning and stare at the ocean all day while ordering room services and doing nothing any more taxing than having a small Mexican man named Gabriel massage my shoulders or read a book a day.

Reality doesn't bite, it sucks. It sucks hard.

But all good things must come to an end and so did our short stint in paradise. Back to the toil of laundry and waiting for the school bus and needing to schedule things like haircuts for my children who decided to play hairdresser while on their grandparent's watch.

Maybe I'll take some more of that tequila after all.

(Pictures taken from the extensive patio off our suite with the Hipstamatic app for iPhone, under the influence of sunshine and tequila and comfortable chaise lounge chairs. Which is why I couldn't be bothered to stand up to take the pictures.)

Recycling Your Kids Halloween Trick or Treat Bag

I promised you all some unusual stuff to recycle well how about recycling your kids Halloween Trick or Treat Bag? My oldest daughter has a cute stuffed pumpkin that my sister carried from house to house on Halloween when we were kids. My sister's only complaint was that she had to loop back to our house more often than she wanted to empty the pumpkin so she could go out and get more candy. Since my little girl is incapable of carrying large amounts (read: pounds) of candy it works just fine for her. This treat bag has been recycled more years than my dear sister would appreciate me typing in this article.

If your kids are older and capable of carrying as much as 25 pounds of loot at a pop might be interested in the earth friendly, reusable Chicobag that claims it can handle just that amount of candy. Some helpful person did the math and they concluded that that translates into as many as 781 snack sized KitKat Bars.

This green bag company has teamed up with the nonprofit organization, greenhalloween.org,, for its annual trick or treat bag contest.

Children age 13 and under can e-mail their own eco-friendly designs to Halloween "at" chicobag.com before November 5th for a chance to win. The winning design will be featured on next year's carrier's.

For more information on the contest or to buy this year's design please visit the website that inspired me to recommend recycling your kids Halloween trick or treat bag in the first place,chicobag.com. Who know that finding stuff to recycle would extend to finding recycling tips to include one of my favorite times of year, Trick-Or-Treat!

Baby picture justin bieber

Baby picture justin bieber - Baby picture justin bieber

Justin Drew Bieber (pronounced /ˈbiːbər/, BEE-bər; (born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian pop-R&B singer. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who happened across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher,and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid.

His debut single, "One Time", was released worldwide during 2009, and charted within the top 30 in over ten countries. It was followed by his debut release, My World, on November 17, 2009, which was certified platinum in the United States, at the time giving Bieber the highest debut by a new artist in the year and making him the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. His first full studio release, My World 2.0, was released on March 23, 2010 and has since received similar success; it debuted at number one and within the top ten of several countries and was certified platinum in less than two months of release in the United States. It was preceded by the worldwide top-ten single, "Baby" in January 2010.

Drugs, Alcohol and Cell Phones

Who knew we had to actually tell people not to drive under the influence of drugs, alcohol and cell phones? Why should there have to be laws telling people that they can't drive down the highway at 70 plus MPH texting? You would think that common sense would kick in on the nineth or tenth time they hit the soft shoulder, wouldn't you?

You have no idea how difficult it is for me to type without using every four letter word known to man because I just attended the funeral of the second friend that has died with texting as a cause of death. At the visitation someone made mention that he should have known better than to be paying more attention to sending messages than watching the road. Do you want to know what the trophy winning response was? "Well, there is no law against it in our state".

What the HELL!!! Do you really need to be told that you are going to be fined unless you act like you have good sense? Since when do we need Oprah to tell us to turn our car into a no cell phone zone before we put the damn phone down and drive!

Leave it to us to make a device that should be a lifesaver in emergencies into a killer ranked right up there with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Whoever said birthdays were all candles and party hats never dared enter my head

Today is my birthday. I'm 38 years old.

Let me start by saying, 38 is not old. I don't feel old, though my knees might think differently, and compared to the lifespan of the average American woman, I'm in the prime of my life. But I can't help but compare myself, and where I am in my life right now, to where my mother was at this age.

My mother was a child when she got married, she was barely nineteen and less than a month after her 20th birthday she had me. Which means, when my mother was my age, she had an 18 year old daughter entering college. Therefore, adding it all up and carrying the one, I am old enough to have a child in college. But fast forward twenty years and I have a daughter entering kindergarten. My mind, it is significantly boggled.

I don't know how to process this. It has less to do with the biological possibility of having a child old enough to be considered a legal adult and more to do with grappling with my feelings about my mom and the way she and my father raised me compared to how I'm raising my children.

My parents were so young and naive and without modern conveniences like the internet to help them with their parenting choices (there is some sarcasm in that last part). For better or worse, they relied heavily on their families, specifically their parents from a far more removed generation, to lend guidance and share wisdom.

I don't agree with most of what they did, but here I am today - the first of my family to attend and graduate college. I've never been arrested and have never mixed up in drugs or criminal activity. Whether it was nature or nurture, and regardless of the negative things which I really don't feel like getting into, something went right.

My husband and I have years and experiences my parents didn't have. We have the education and the income they only dreamed of. Time will tell if the outcome is any better but I know what I'll be wishing for when I blow out the candles on my cake.

Then I went home and listened to Cat's in the Cradle while eating an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's

She...



Can swim the length of a pool and back unassisted.

Can ride a two-wheel bike without training wheels.

Is learning to read and write at an amazingly fast pace.

Is constantly running, jumping, speeding around on her scooter, doing cartwheels.

Knows how to use a computer and an iPad.

Started Kindergarten last week.

Gets on a bus that takes her away from me every morning and to a place that encourages her to run and jump and learn and make friends.

Has friends I’ve never met.

Is growing up.

I...

Am not as ready as I thought I was.

STUFF TO RECYCLE

I was talking to my neighbor today and she said she never had stuff to recycle. I said, and I quote "WHAT"??? Not wanting to get on the bad side of my next door neighbor, but I bet her a ($100) that I could go through her garbage can and come up with a huge pile of recyclable garbage.

She didn't jump at my offer and whether or not she has a dead body in her dumpster that she needs to hide is between her and the law but it did prompt me to start making a list of stuff to recycle in case she happens by my blog.

EVERYDAY STUFF

Who doesn't get more than enough junk mail? I get stacks upons stacks of the stuff and even though I try to go through the proper channels to get my name taken off of lists. The special papers from local stores and the like still get put under my mulch to block weeds so nothing goes to waste.

Other items that we toss before thinking things through (that I'll bet you were hiding in your garbage can...you know who you are) are blown out flipflops, old VHS video tapes, prescription bottles and styrofoam shipping peanuts.

Here's more stuff on my list to recycle:

JEANS: If they are so threadbare they show my buttocks, I cut squares to use in crafts projects and then recycle the rest.

And there's more! You can recycle everything from your shredded bank statements to your old car tires. Even your old sheets and shower curtains can be given a second shot at usefulness if you are creative, resourceful and will allow somebody to advise you as to how best reduce the amount of household garbage that you throw into the landfills!

Here's a list of stuff to recycle that has 50 items that those who are not up to snuff on green living practices might toss in the garbage.