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November 27, 2006
A little help
I'm on the hunt for some Christmas songs. Anyone want to send me a few mp3s?
Posted by Cate at 12:28 PM | Comments (5)
November 26, 2006
Blogging from Hoboken
The family and I headed into Hoboken yesterday to visit my brother and sis in law (Tim and Maryellen). We had a great time. We ate an early lunch in their awesome apartment in Hoboken then took a ferry across the Hudson. Tim picked up tickets to the American Museum of Natural History. The last time we were here was when Eldest was about 3 years old and I was *just* pregnant with Olivia. We had a lot of fun in the museum. YoungestLOVED the butterfly exhibit. She desperately wanted to catch a butterfly. That was the only time she actually stood still! Eldest wasn't such a big butterfly fan. She didn't like the fact that the butterflies were all over the place and one might actually land on her. She got out of the exhibit as fast as she possibly could. LOL - poor kid.
We got back to Hoboken around 530ish and Tim whipped up a yummy (and kid friendly) menu. He and Mare challeneged Husband and I to a game of Trivial Pursuit - 80's style. At first, they were stomping us pretty badly. But, their tune soon changed when we caught up to them very quickly. They did win - just barely. It was still quite a bit of fun!
We're still up in Hoboken, relaxing and watching Spongebob. Eldest and Husband already visited Starbucks for us this morning. We'll be leaving in a little while and heading back to Ocean County. Yippie!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I'll be visiting you soon!
Posted by Cate at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2006
Gobble Gobble!
It's a great day to be an American and not so good to be a turkey.
Happy Turkey Day folks!
Posted by Cate at 10:21 AM | Comments (2)
November 15, 2006
Good!
CEO makes up with Girl Scout troop
(follow up to this story)
LA Weight Loss CEO Vahan Karian bought $2,000 worth of Girl Scout cookies on Tuesday to apologize to a troop that was shooed away from selling the goodies near a Raritan weight-loss center.
On Friday night, some LA Weight Loss clients were upset about Girl Scouts from Troop 1065 in Bridgewater selling cookies in front of the neighboring Blockbuster video store. Both are in the same shopping center.
The weight-loss center contacted Blockbuster, asking the store to make the girls leave. They agreed to move and to stagger their selling hours.
Posted by Cate at 07:23 AM | Comments (5)
November 14, 2006
My TV boyfriend
Check out what I got in the mail yesterday!
Did you all notice that it's autographed to me? This TOTALLY made my day! ::dreamy::
Posted by Cate at 12:26 PM | Comments (2)
Weight-loss center blasts Scout cookie sale
WTF??
RARITAN BOROUGH -- A Girl Scout cookie conflict with a local weight-loss center has resulted in a semisweet ending.
The conflict began Friday evening when some LA Weight Loss Center clients were upset that Girl Scouts were selling cookies in front of the neighboring Blockbuster video store, said an LA Weight Loss counselor who would not give her name. Both stores are in a shopping center at Route 206 South and Orlando Drive.
"It's a conflict of interest and it's in poor taste, but the girls didn't know who they were asking," the counselor said.
The clients told the branch manager, who called the weight-loss center's corporate office.
Dorothy DiNorcia of Raritan Borough was renting a movie in Blockbuster when she said she heard a clerk there tell his manager, "I have LA Weight Loss on the phone. They are threatening to call the police if we don't get them (the Girl Scouts) to move from in front of our store."
DiNorcia said, "It was ridiculous. Grown men or women can't say no to cookies?"
Christy Boyle, spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of Rolling Hills Council, said Troop 1065 of Bridgewater had permission to sell in front of Blockbuster for the fall cookie sale fundraiser but that after the complaint, the girls moved their table to the Blockbuster entrance farthest from LA Weight Loss.
The next day, Boyle said, the cookie manager of the Girl Scouts of Rolling Hills Council met with someone at LA Weight Loss to discuss the issue.
The two sides agreed to have the girls stagger their selling schedule to be more sensitive to clients attending meetings at LA Weight Loss, Boyle said.
Girl Scouts from another troop will return to Blockbuster on Friday evening to sell more cookies, Boyle said.
Boyle said the girls have been selling cookies in front of Blockbuster for years but never had a problem before Friday evening.
However, rejection can happen, said Marilyn Siegel, CEO for the Girl Scouts of Rolling Hills Council. Girl Scouts can get shooed off the sidewalks in front of other businesses, Siegel said, and Boy Scouts have been booted for selling popcorn.
Some shopping centers have no-solicitation rules, which need to be applied equally, Siegel said. Sometimes, a fellow merchant may not believe in the cause someone else is supporting. Other times, a store may be concerned that cookies, or other such products, may pull away sales, she said.
The booth sales -- sales in a public place such as the shopping center -- supplement the girls' door-to-door sales, Boyle said. There are 684 booth sales scheduled this cookie season around the region.
"It's a safe place for the girls to get out there and show they are Girl Scouts and they are proud of it," Boyle said. "People generally welcome Girl Scouts. You'd hope if people weren't interested in purchasing cookies, they would smile and say 'No thanks.'"
This batch of fall cookie sales raises money for the 10,500 Girl Scouts within the Rolling Hills Council, which includes Middlesex Borough, parts of Somerset and Warren counties and all of Hunterdon County, Boyle said.
Last year, the Rolling Hills Council sold almost 500,000 boxes, bringing in about $350,000 for the troops and $1 million for the council. This year's cookie count has not been calculated.
Posted by Cate at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2006
My thanks
I won't forget..
Posted by Cate at 01:10 PM | Comments (3)
November 10, 2006
Beaucoup Butterscotch
Eldest spotted this gem while we were shopping in WalMart yesterday.
Of course, because she's a bit of a horse freak, she wants it for Christmas. Bwahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Posted by Cate at 06:45 PM | Comments (2)
Katespot - Silenced?
I had my appointment with the speech pathologist this morning. He had me pegged in the first 60 seconds upon entering his office.
"Vocal Abuse"
Vocal abuse is any behavior or occurrence that strains or injures the vocal folds (or vocal cords). This may include excessive talking, throat clearing, coughing, inhaling irritants, smoking, screaming, or yelling. Vocal misuse is improper voice usage such as speaking too loudly or at an abnormally high or low pitch. Frequent vocal abuse and misuse can damage the vocal folds and cause temporary or permanent changes in vocal function, voice quality, and possible loss of voice.
I done broke my voice.
Disorders of vocal abuse and misuse are the most prevalent and preventable of the types of voice disorders. Anyone, from infants to the elderly, who uses his or her voice excessively may develop a disorder related to vocal abuse. Lawyers, teachers, clergy, cheerleaders, and professional voice users such as singers and actors often develop these types of voice disorders.
In order to heal my vocal chords, I have to be quiet and modulate my voice. I can't yell, sing, talk quickly or loudly. I can't even chat on the phone for more than 5 minutes. I can't even talk a lot. :::sigh::: The kids are thrilled because I can't yell at them. Of course, I did tell them that I don't need to use my voice to beat them. JOKING
Husband is having a laugh over the fact that I was told to stay as quiet as possible. I know he's not being mean about it. As anyone who has ever spoken with me knows, I am pretty chatty. This is going to be very difficult for me for the next couple weeks. I will be living off emails for a while. I can speak, just not a lot.
Boy, I really have to choose my words carefully now, eh?
Posted by Cate at 09:59 AM | Comments (6)
November 08, 2006
Blogging Survey
I found this survey over at Mother Pie. It was intersting to fill out and it didn't take much time at all. Go on - help her out!
Posted by Cate at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)
Nutty Day
Today is our Service Unit's Nut Depot (Girl Scouts). Of course, the one year that I arrange to pick up the order for the Brownie troop (nut mom is in Disney with half of our school district), it's raining. No, not raining, POURING.
Damnit.
I will be bringing the girls long with me to help carry boxes. I've got another mom who said she'd help too. So, between the two of us and the combined amount of four children, it should take approximately a week to load up all those boxes. I kid. I've been delaying to go outside and clean out the back of my Hyundai. I've got SO much crap stored in it. There's no way I'd be able to load anything else in there. So, heading out to dodge the raindrops and clean out my car.
I've got to update later and share my adventures at Lenscrafters yesterday. Oy.
Posted by Cate at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)
November 06, 2006
Vacation - all I ever wanted...
The girls have a full week off from school this week. There is a teacher convention in Atlantic City on Thursday and Friday. Our schools don't close for Columbus Day. So, add that with Veterans Day, it somehow works out to the whole week off for us! Of course, half of the girls' friends are all down in Florida for "Jersey Week" in Disneyworld.
I have a bit of a rant about that. Why do people go to Disney more than once a year? What is SO darn exciting about another overly-priced theme park? Even if I *could* afford for the family to go to Disney 3-4 times a year, why would I *want* to go 3-4 times a year? OK, so maybe it is a little bit of sour grapes but I am really enjoying my week with the girls just by staying close to home. Eldest had a sleepover last night and today, we bowl at 4pm! Actually, the girls are pretty excited about bowling with their friends. Well, that and the promised McD's trip afterwards. LOL.
I had a dentist appointment this morning for a cleaning. Man, I hate having that friggin' iron hook in my mouth. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. :::shudder::: But, I have awesome teeth and I do love they way they feel so darn smooth after my cleaning. LOVE IT! I have to tell you that the hygenist (whom I vaguely remember from a Girl Scout event) kept asking me questions while her hands were in my mouth.
Hygenist: So, are there any trips to Radio City Music Hall through Girl Scouts?
Me: Humppht thftpt brpllyr newthyt yrkthy thrpits
Hygenist: Really!
Me: ::insert more gibberish:::
Sounds like fun, eh?
Posted by Cate at 02:33 PM | Comments (3)
November 03, 2006
BOO!
Just thought I'd surprise anyone who decided to pop on over for a visit by actually updating my blog.
Imagine that.
What can I say? Things are extremely busy around Casa de Katespot. Halloween was fun. The girls had a great time. We visited a very creepy house and trick or treated with some friends. A good time was definitely had by all. Check out Spy Girl and Lil Cutie Witch ::View image::.
What else, what else?
Oh, I might be losing my assistant leader for my Junior troop. That sucks since I don't have anyone else who can step in her place. I'm kinds bummed about that. I understand her reasons for stepping down, one of which is that her daughter isn't into it anymore but there is a really large impact on the rest of the troop. I must have two adults (myself and another) at the meetings. Crap. I might have to change my meeting time, place and/or day in order to get someone else to help. That *really* sucks. ::sigh::
I've got my appointment with the speech therapist on Friday. I'm looking forward to that - if anything, it will be interesting! Especially since I am starting to get another cold. Ha! At least I don't sound all loverly like Eliza Doolittle. (LOVE this movie!)
While writing this, my computer tanked. LUCKILY, I had saved a copy of this post in MT and MS Word. Go me.
:::sitting back down:::
Ok, had to get myself a glass of wine second cup o'swill. I'm sitting in the dark computer room, drinking white zin from a water cup (Yes, I know I really need a set of wine glasses.), catching up on some of my long lost pals. I miss my daily reads. I've just been burned out and needed a chance to recharge. I think it worked....
Anyway, off to have more wine then pass out. G'nite!
Posted by Cate at 08:28 PM | Comments (4)
November 01, 2006
It's OVAH!
I am so frigging happy that Halloween is over. I can now assure you that the girls must have collected about 7 pounds of candy. Youngesthas TONS of candy and she can't eat about 95% of it. No big deal. We've got some goodies for her and she'll be collecting some cash for giving up her candy.
I'll be posting some pics on Flickr so check back soon!
Posted by Cate at 08:35 AM | Comments (2)