countdown: 1 day

This is it. I'm weighing in at 12:15 tomorrow.
The first of 17 Weight Watcher sessions.
You can check up on my status as the weeks go by here.

Baby Pee Pee Doll

When I was about 10, the Baby Joey doll from "All in the Family" came out. Even though I wasn't into baby dolls and even if I was – I was too old by them. It seemed pretty cool, though.

Look what had changed in the toy industry in 30 years. As a kid, I really would've wanted one of these. No need to ask why. Love how they show the Dad's reaction to the doll.

Freebies

About a month ago, my co-worker, C introduced me to freebies online. She's a content administrator at work and a total web junkie. She's always getting freebies, knows all the deals, etc. – so I checked it out.

The site has free samples that are mailed to your home. You just fill out your info and a couple of questions concerning the free product. You can choose to receive email for feedback on the product, too. New products show up randomly, so you need to check every so often.

I also signed up my parents (1 per household, though) and my sister-in-law for the freebies. I had to warn them that something in a blue box or envelope is showing up in the mail. fun.

This week, I received a pull-up's sample. Mind you, we only have furry babies, so M was curious why they sent us a potty training diaper thingie. We gave it to friends that are potty training their son. Isn't that the point of a sample? To try it?

My bounty of treasures collected so far: deodorant, shower soap, face cleanser, pull-up, tampons and benefiber. Of course, I don't need any of these products, but the thought of getting one in the mail is fun.

Today, I signed up for a sample of men's shampoo and an alli book about weight loss. I don't know when I'm going to need those... but I do know they'll show up in a nice blue box in about a month.

Vacation days

I am really lucky because I have four weeks of vacation. The fourth week I earned a couple of years ago and it drastically changed my time off – as I am a hoarder of vacation days.

The fourth week means I now have an extra 5 days to save and then have to blow at the end of the vacation cycle. I have a bad habit of saving too much time at the end of the cycle. I even used to save them for funerals, etc. – not really understanding the bereavement policy. I was young and naive then, so what is my excuse now?

Every year, we like to go somewhere nice in January or February. So there is a week that needs to be saved. And I always take a week for the holidays, too. So, that time should be saved, too. We also like to vacation somewhere close for a long weekend, etc. in the fall. There is the third week saved. And one of my favorite uses of the time off is going to our pool. Week 4 steps in.

But this sounds easy, right? wrong.

Week 1: Will definitely be used to travel somewhere warm. This is my only sure thing as by January, I am crazy with crappy Northeast Ohio weather.

Week 2: I usually don't take a whole week off at the holidays. I end up just spending too much money shopping at the after Christmas sales on things I don't need. Plus, it is gross outside. Who wants to use vacation time with snow and 10 degrees? Not me.

Week 3: Our fall trip will be 5 days including the weekend – not 7.

Week 4: And I will not get in 10, 1/2 days at the pool in 3 months. I refuse to take off an entire vacation day when the pool opens at noon. No need to waste precious time, so I take a lot of 1/2 days, weather permitting for the pool days. But I have never used 10, 1/2 days at the pool.

So, with 20 vacation days planned, I will really use 15 or 16 instead. I seriously have to stop hoarding my time – as I regret saving too much and having to use it in February, with 5 degree weather, and alone because no one is stupid enough to use time off then – except me. And what am I doing? I am scheduled to take a half day today for the pool, but knowing it will be really hot, I am rescheduling it for another time. I'm sure I'll have a blast using it on Feb. 28th next year.

Meet Uncle Sam

As we spent July 4th Kalahari Resort, they celebrated with having some guy walk around as Uncle Sam. This man walked around the water park outside for hours in a silly suit and fake goatee. It was pretty hot that day, so I'm sure he was not too happy having to wear that costume.

He first visited us at the bar (us, not him). I said hi to Sam , he wised us a happy 4th and continued on. At dinnertime, we saw him again – this time, the whole family was there, and we were having our photos taken of us anyway. Naturally, we called him over. We thought this would be fun – but it was not to one family member – the littlest. He didn't like Sam at all. In fact, we had to avoid him later on he was so frightened. I guess old dudes in red, white, and blue costumes are scary – even on the 4th of July.

But his big sister had no problem jumping in and posing for the camera. And of course, she's also decked out in her patriotic shirt – too cute. (note the cool Birki's I bought for her birthday, too)

Being a good sport, I jumped in front of the camera, too. I don't know why Uncle Sam is giving the thumb's up... "Hey, I'm Uncle Sam", or "Yeah, July 4th", or "Check out this hot chick next to me"!

Here, Uncle Sam is giving us a two thumb's up with my sister-in-law and nephew. They're double cool.


And below, my brother got in on the fun. Only this time, HE showed a thumb's up. Notice where he placed his hand. And Uncle Sam noticed, too.

Kalahari

My parents treated the whole family with a stay at Kalahari Resort over July 4th weekend. They celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary with having all their family with them. We all had loads of fun – both the little and big kids.


(Above) On day 2 – the big guys checked out some tall ships thingy at the lake. It sounded like it would be cool (to them). Once there they discovered it was only a couple of ships and pretty lame. Check out the dude on the left. Is he a pirate? Arrgggggh! And no, he is not a member of the family. Weird how he posed and is smiling for the camera.


The big kids had fun playing at the water park – especially with the little ones... don't know who had more fun, though. Check out the littlest ones above playing with the bubblers. If they could only stay that little forever. Note: I was kind enough to edit the big kids out of the images in their swimsuits... as swimsuit pictures are no longer cool past age 6.


Here's the whole gang... notice that I'm smart now and stand in the back to appear skinny.

Ok, I lied about no swimsuits past age 6. If you pose like this in front of a huge gorilla, your image will be shown. Note: This is who I come from and why I am the way I am. (my Dad, not the gorilla)

Family traditions

My family has a thing about newspaper clippings – especially comics. When my Grandma was alive, she used to send sections of the local paper to us in the mail. It usually had updates on the Packers or information about one of my Mom's friends or just news about the town. I grew up with this as normal. The same Grandma also would send me cards and tape coins on the back for a "treat".


My Mom gave me the above comic yesterday. She cut it out and had saved it all week. It is a For Better or for Worse by Lynn Johnston. I'm positive Lynn saw me as a child and got her idea about this comic.

I was in first or second grade, living in Tennessee. I know it was spring time, as it was tulip and daffodil season – my two favorite flowers. I remember thinking that there were so many flowers throughout the development in the neighbors' yards. Surely, these were for me and no one else. I took my wagon and picked as many of the flowers as I could. Then, I thought it would be great to go door to door to sell the flowers... to the people who's yards I just picked my bounty from. Yes, I did this. And yes, my poor Mom probably got phone calls. My Mom knew it was me without even seeing my evidence. She was proven correct when she saw that I had all of the flowers in the wagon. And my real talent was picking flowers without the stem. I was busted.

To this day, when I see tulips I say to M: "I'm going to go pick all those flowers". He knows I'm kidding. I'm sure he feels safe that we don't own a wagon. This is a story I bring up annual with tulip season, but the comic reminded us of that day in Tennessee when I tried to sell flowers.

My Dad sent me the above comic from Florida this February. (I don't know who did the comic, so I can't give credit.) The tradition continues of mailing comics in the family. Dad didn't put any coins in the letter. But what he does do is use stickers on the envelope. These might be found stickers or even ones given to him for free from a charity. But Dad always puts stickers on my envelopes when he mails me comics.

I have inherited the sticker applying, comic cutting out and mailing traditions. I hope it continues because sometimes it is fun to relive a silly moment over 30 years ago.