Outdated Words of Wisdom

Recently, a friend of mine posted these OLD advertisements on her Facebook page and I thought they were WAY too funny not to pass along........

Ahhh, I beg to differ!

WOW.....

A dentist's dream!

Holy crap!!!

Another dentist's dream....

Even Santa??

Sick and wrong!

Ummmm......no comment!

Thankful Thursday

1. Keeping in touch with people who knew you when you were young.

Recently, my former neighbor, Marcia, from when I was growing up, posted a picture of my childhood house on my Facebook page. WOW - what a treat! It was great to have my childhood friends comment on it with their favorite memories of those days - and also of my Dad. I forgot how good it feels to hear stories of him from people who knew him.

2. Memories of childhood that make you smile just thinking about them

I suppose this kind of relates to #1, but who cares. I have wonderful memories of my childhood - games, toys, camping, swimming, summer vacation, neighborhood games, etc. I really did have a pretty ideal childhood and I am very grateful to my parents for that. I loved being a kid and I find myself smiling and laughing while looking through pictures or a photo album of those days. The feeling is absolutely priceless.

3. Good TV shows that start their season when the other shows end theirs

Isn't is a sad time when all of your favorite shows are done for the season and they start playing reruns every week? Well, I have several shows that start their seasons at the opposite time of regular shows and that makes for new and fun summer TV watching! Examples: Ice Road Truckers, Kathy Griffin's 'My Life On The D-List', Deadliest Catch (not totally a summer show, but it's still going and it's mid-June!), etc.

4. When a friend stretches you out of your comfort zone......and you actually thank them for it!

You may hate them for it at the time, but most times, you will thank them later. This past weekend, my friend April convinced me to go to a Greek restaurant with her friends. I have tried Greek food twice before and didn't like it, so I obviously was skeptical about going again.....but I had the lamb cheeseburger (on pita bread) and it was fantastic! I know, I know - it was the LEAST Greek thing on the menu, but still. I have never had a lamb cheeseburger and I also tried some hummus and it was actually good (I have tried it before and didn't like it). Kudos to April for pushing me to give it one more try!

5. Cologne

I don't even know if this requires explanation! What woman DOESN'T like cologne?! It's just such an awesome smell and I think it chemically somehow makes a guy more attractive! I actually just bought some body wash from Bath & Body Works that is made for men because it smells like amazing cologne. I might smell like a guy now, but it is just too awesome not to enjoy!!

Acronyms Can Do Wonders

I saw this story in an email that I received....I do NOT know if it's really true, but it's an interesting way to deal with a problem! Way to go, Texas!

Fighting litter in Dallas.....

According to Wallace there are six very large, luxurious new houses being built right next to their community. Trash was coming from the Mexican laborers working at the construction sites and included bags from McDonald's, Burger King and 7-11, plus coffee cups, napkins, cigarette butts, coke cans, empty bottles, etc.

He went to see the site supervisor and even the general contractor, politely urging them to get their workers not to litter the neighborhood, but to no avail.

He called the city, county, and police and got no help there either. So here's what his community did. They organized about twenty folks, named themselves The "Inner Neighborhood Services" group, and arranged to go out at lunch time and "police" the trash themselves. It is what they did while picking up the trash that is so hilarious.They bought navy blue baseball caps and had the initials "INS" embroidered in gold on the caps. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand what they hoped people might mistakenly think the letters really stand for.

After the Inner Neighborhood Services group's first lunch time pickup detail, with all of them wearing their caps and some carrying cameras, 46 out of the total of 68 construction workers did not show up for work the next morning -- and haven't come back yet.

It has been ten days now. The General Contractor, I'm told, is madder than hell, but can't say anything publicly because he could be busted for hiring illegal aliens. Wallace and his bunch can't be accused of
impersonating federal personnel, because they have the official name of the group recorded in their homeowner association minutes along with a notation about the vote to approve formation of the new subcommittee -- and besides, they informed the INS in advance of their plans and according to Wallace, the INS said basically, "Have at it!"

SO, FOLKS, I THINK YOU COULD SAY THAT TEXAS INGENUITY TRIUMPHS AGAIN!

Reminder: Don't forget to pay your taxes....... 32 million illegal aliens are depending on you.

Men At Any Age

I found this in an email recently and I thought it was so interesting how our priorities, values and desires change over time. This list is comprised of the things that women want in a man - at different ages in her life.....Enjoy!

At 18:

He should be compassionate, at least. There have to be some teenage boys with compassion!

He should be good with the parents.

He should have a goal.

He should know how to whittle wood.

We don't expect very much, to be honest.

At 27:

He should be reliable.

He shouldn't rely on text messaging as a tool of courtship.

He should have a "way" about him.

He should have traveled the world.

He should know how to cook one thing really well.

He should have a political affiliation.

He should, every now and then, substitute a light beer with Scotch on the rocks.

He should behave as if his mother raised him correctly — even if she didn't.

At 35:

He should not have a belly.

He should have decided on a sexual preference.

He should possess the thoughtfulness required to help a mom with a stroller and two kids up the stairs.

He should not have mommy issues.

He should have moved on from pickup lines to conversation starters.

He should want the party to end at some point.

At 44:

He should be a real partner.

He should still be eager to learn.

He should be able to sing along to all the songs on Boston's first album.

He should be financially secure.

He should understand the importance of jewelry in a woman's life.

He should take out the garbage without being asked.

He should be sexy.

He should be a gentleman.

At 53:

He should work out.

He should smell like something: aftershave or cologne.

He should know politics.

He should be faithful.

He should like Bob Dylan.

He should dance.

He should not be addicted to his work.

He should admit his mistakes.

Ladies - anything to add to the list??? I bet I could come up with some....maybe I'll do this post at a later date with my own list!

Toilet Surgery

OK, so I'm not mechanically inclined. It's just not something that comes naturally to me....but since I bought my house, I have forced myself to learn to do some of these 'scary' things (especially since hiring people to do these jobs gets expensive!).

My master bathroom toilet has been 'running' for a while now and I decided to finally attack it. I researched what to do online and then went to my favorite Lowe's to get the parts (a new flapper).

I came home and got everything situated and had my laptop handy for instructions. It was scary to do plumbing since I know nothing about it, but I did feel better that I could shut off the water to the toilet while I worked - no flooding or anything!

I removed the old part and successfully installed the new part - in just a matter of minutes - AMAZING!

Here's the 'pretty' new flapper. WOW - am I old and geeky or what? I'm excited about a new toilet flapper!

And for the whole rest of the day, my toilet didn't run ONCE! Aaaaah - music to my ears!

.............However, after that magical first day, it started running again.........so now I am trying to figure out what else is wrong with it. It totally burst my bubble after thinking that I had saved the world - errrr......fixed my toilet!

Any ideas?????

Out To Lunch

My team at work (the Finance team - there's 4 of us and then our boss, the CFO) goes out to lunch every quarter and then on all of our birthdays. Well, this past Friday was our quarterly lunch and we went to Pappadeaux's. It was fun, but relatively uneventful.

On our way back from Dallas (my boss always drives, so all 5 of us were in one car), my boss suddenly swerves into a parking lot and we were confused. It was Big Daddy's liquor store! Now, in DFW there are 'dry' cities and areas, so you can't just get liquor on every street corner or gas station here. You have to go to specific places to get it (you can get beer and wine almost anywhere, though).

Anyway, he said that he wanted to make margaritas over the weekend, so he decided to whip in there and get some tequila. FUNNY! Team lunch = liquor store run. I've never experienced that before!

Here they are, posing for the camera!

And here's my boss, Allen - doublefisting bottles of tequila. Gotta love that!

And I just couldn't NOT take a picture of this sign......"Red Mullet" wine! WHAT?!

And some more weekday lunch randomness: my friend April got a new car last week and it was pretty cool!

I can't remember what it's called, but it looks like a mini hummer and it's a Toyota. Here she is in the driver's seat!

It's very nice inside and it's a souped up version. They are going to be putting in leather seats and it has a "back up" camera and it shows the screen in your rearview mirror!

Oh - and the freaking best part is that she has a factory SUB-WOOFER in the back! WHAT?! I'm bringing my Sir Mix-A-Lot "Mack Daddy" CD on our next roadtrip so we can be pimpin'!! WORD.

And I really really liked her gear shifter - super cool design and shape!

Awesome dash - nice job, April - can't wait for our next roadtrip to Waco!!

Thankful Thursday

1. The feeling you get when you clean out a closet and purge a bunch of stuff.

I just got a notice that ARC is going to be doing a drive-by pickup of donation items, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to clean out the closets and drawers in my house and purge a bunch of stuff that I wasn't using....and it goes to a great cause.

Well, not only do I love the extra space in my closets and drawers, it just gives me such a great feeling to get rid of stuff and also help people at the same time. Hurray for cleaning!

2. Doing something I know my Dad is watching from Heaven, and knowing he is proud of me.

My Dad could fix anything, so growing up I never had to fix a thing. That was both a blessing and a curse. I had a great resource in my Dad and all of his mechanical knowledge.......but now that I have a house of my own and I'm an adult, he's not here to fix it for me and I also don't know how to do it for myself. Ugh.

So when I conquer a mechanical problem or "opportunity," I find that when I succeed, it is a HUGE MASSIVE victory for me and that my Dad is smiling from Heaven and patting my back and saying "Job well done, Laur." That feeling is priceless.

3. The resiliance of petunias.

Like I have mentioned in many other posts, I do not have a green thumb naturally. I happen to have found the perfect flower for those of us that have to work at keeping things alive. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the WAVE PETUNIA! I love mine and it's the second year in a row that I have successfully kept one alive. They grow very easily, they come in very bold pretty colors, and they can take the abuse of strong Texas winds, extreme heat and sun and sporatic waterings. They are fantastic and beautiful!!

4. Being totally enthralled in a book.

I haven't done much pleasure reading in the last couple years, but I have a bunch of books piling up and I am engrossed in the first of many. It's called Ransom and it's by Danielle Steele - I'm hooked already! I forgot how much I love to read. It is looking like I'm going to have lots of reading material for the pool this summer. YAY!

5. Traffic being lighter in the summer now that schools are letting out!

I drive 20 miles each way to work every day and so traffic has become a regular part of my life in Texas. I wanted to live in a big city, well then I have to deal with big city traffic, right? Well, I think God wanted to give me a little break (to make up for the insane summer heat), so he made traffic a lot lighter in the summer when schools are shut down. YES!

Heroes - Continued

I normally would call today's post "The Outtakes" from the National Cemetery, but that would take away from the power of what these pictures captured during my morning of gratitude on Memorial Day in Dallas.....but I think they are interesting, so I wanted to share.

Here are some mounted cops in the cemetery - man, they really were beautiful horses and I just love seeing them. They also had a bagpipe player and that is just the BEST.

OK, so I am still human (and a 32-year-old single woman) - I was driving out and I saw these Marines gathered......and I had to take a picture of their hotness in uniform!

And the family members occasionally took some liberties with humorous inscriptions on the gravestones......this man was obviously a proud Texas A&M graduate - they put "Aggie" before Marine! HA!

And this stone I just loved - "I have finished my course."

Something they did at the visitors center was to give out flags to put next to graves (if you didn't bring your own). I didn't think of it at first, but then I went over and asked the man if I could have one to put on a grave that didn't have a flag. He gave me one and I went out into the rows of graves (and there are a LOT of rows) to find "my soldier."

How do you pick which soldier to give your flag to?? I didn't know what to do because I thought every single one of them should have one. I was hoping that my relatives in Minnesota at Fort Snelling had a flag on their grave. Maybe a random person put one there in honor of their service like I was doing in Dallas? I hope so.

Anyway, I found a grave and I just knew it was "the one." LANCE KORFF DREWES. The inscription just got me and I knew he was the type of guy that I wanted to honor with my flag.

It read: "Gentleman Daddy and Friend". Nuff said. He was my guy. Here is his gravestone with my flag to honor him.

I saw this at one of the rows of cremation graves - a Pepsi bottle! I really really hope that it wasn't just litter, but I don't think it was. It was sort of deliberately set in a specific place and I also noticed that it was opened and little bit was gone......as if they were sharing a Pepsi with their loved one and left the rest for their buddy. If that's the case, then I think I might cry, even just typing this and remembering it!

And this lady just struck me when I saw her. I took this picture with full zoom, so I wasn't standing close to her at all or disturbing her peace. But she looked both sad and comfortable all at the same time. I'm guessing that she was there visiting her late husband's grave, but for some reason, it just really moved me. It was like watching two people on a porch, passing the day away together. Wow.

Saluting The Heroes

This year on Memorial Day, I did something I have never done before. I actually celebrated the holiday the way it was intended: paying my respects to those that have fought for our country, our freedom and America's honor. I went to Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, which was surprisingly only 11 miles from my house - in Dallas.

Here are a few facts about the cemetery:

1. It was opened in 2000 with the first burial happening on May 15, 2000.
2. It covers 638.5 acres.
3. It serves 460,000 veterans in the north Texas area.
4. More than 3,000 burials are conducted each year.
5. When fully developed, the cemetery will provide approximately 280,000 burial sites.
6. Each site is 10' x 5' exactly - so that they make a formation, as if they are soldiers.

The cemetery was breathtaking, sad, and humbling all at the same time. I went alone and I'm kind of glad I did. It gave me time to reflect on why I wanted to come, why everyone should come, and how grateful I am for the sacrifices that these soldiers and their families have made.

Obviously since I am not from this area, I do not know anyone buried in the cemetery. But I do have relatives that fought in WWII and they are buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in St. Paul, Minnesota. My grandpa Larsen's brother was on the beaches of Normandy in WWII and his bunkmate in the war ended up marrying my Grandpa's sister. So I have 2 great uncles who deserve the respect and gratitude just like everyone else in this cemetery and others like it across the country.

I found it especially moving to see loved ones grieving or honoring their family member's grave. How powerful. Some just stood there solemnly, some sat next to the grave on the ground and kind of hung out, some were sobbing. WOW - that just tore my heart out to see.

Everything was so perfectly aligned - it really did make a powerful statement....

And something I saw several times as I walked up and down rows of graves, reading the names and inscriptions was: school buses! A lot of kids in DFW had to make up a snow day (from when we got 12 inches of snow and schools were closed down for days) on Memorial Day, so I guess some Dallas schools decided that an appropriate "lesson" for this school day was to bus them out to the National Cemetery and teach them what Memorial Day is all about.

I absolutely LOVED seeing those buses drive through and letting the kids out. What a great way to teach children about those heroes that came before them - that they weren't just robots in uniforms, but REAL people with REAL lives and REAL families that were left behind when they died. Kids need to learn these things so they can appreciate everything they have and know who to thank for all of it.

Here's one of the buses:

I went at about 8:45am and had no problem getting in - just drove in and found a spot to park along the winding road that goes through the cemetery. But by the time I left, the line down the street to get in the main entrance was 2 miles long - just sitting there. I'm glad I went early (I wanted to get there early because it was going to be 95 and sunny and it would be cooler in the morning) because it was packed by the time I left at 11:00am!

It was so great to see that so many people in this area were flocking to this place of honor to pay their respects. I hope I wasn't the only one that came without knowing someone specifically that was buried there. It's EVERY American's duty to do this, in my opinion.

Here, the cars kept flowing in, one after another, for the whole time I was there and it was so great to see!

This was one of the banks of 'mausoleum-style' burial plots for cremated remains. They were little markers in these long rows and there were SO MANY rows. This is where I saw the woman just SOBBING for her loved one earlier. It just tore my heart right out.

And as you can see, this row is not totally full. It's waiting for more heroes to die in order to fill up the spaces. Thank God there are so many heroes in our world.

And here's an "empty" marker on the wall, but it won't be for long. It looks like someone has died and has a 'reservation' for this spot. It was just very sobering to be right there looking at it.

Here are some loved ones, searching for their family member's grave. It was really neat because at the visitors center, there is an electronic kiosk and you can enter the information you know about someone who is buried there and it will pull up their record and then print out a cemetery map and show you were their grave is. What a wonderful idea!

There is a pretty lake right next to the cemetery - this is a shot of the entrance and the lake across the street.

There is also this little pond in the middle of the cemetery - very pretty resting place, if you ask me. They also had kind of a bandshell/stage and there were military bands playing patriotic songs and a TON of people were gathered down there.

I really want to come back to this cemetery on a quiet day as well, to reflect. It's a powerful experience and I would recommend it to EVERY SINGLE American to do this, even if it's a regular day and not Memorial Day. The lady at the visitors center told me that a ton of people come out on Memorial Day, but hardly anyone comes out for Veteran's Day. I think I might just do that!

I'm so glad I took this opportunity to experience pure gratitude and just stood in awe of the bravery and service that was all encompassing at that one place. Truly AMAZING.