MUCHA LUCHA

I feel a little bit out of the cartoon "loop." This afternoon there was some down town between my nephew and niece getting home from school, and dinner being made, so I figured we'd see what the cartoon networks had to offer while they ate their snack. Sponge Bob Square Pants was on (One of my favorites, mind you. He's a sponge that lives in a pineapple under the sea! Genius!) but I know Crystal's not a huge fan, so no Sponge Bob. As the FAVORITE AUNT it's important that house rules be followed, even when mom and dad are out of town. Never mind that the dinner vegetables were replaced with ice-cream. Meanwhile, I turned to a cartoon called "Mucha Lucha" and McKay was pretty pumped. I've never heard of it, but it appears to be the cartoon spin-off of Nacho Libre, and all of the characters wear wrestling outfits. Loved it! Today's lesson was on what happens when you steal things from your friends. The best part were the accents, the visits from donut yielding Lucha Saints, and the occassional Spanish words thrown in for dramatic content. Seriously! Where were these cartoons when I was growing up?! What happened to the smurfs, ninja turtles, g.i. joe's, and care bears? Cartoons have been taken to a whole new level, folks. Good thing or bad thing? I can't decide......

MISS AMERICA

Last month my friend, Karissa, called and said that she had an extra ticket to the Miss America pageant and did I want to come. Tickets are ridiculously expensive, and she got hers for free, so of course I wanted to go!! The small print, however, was that we were going to be "fillers." If people didn't show up or had to get up and leave, they used fillers to sit in the seats so that when the camera scanned the audience there would be no empty seats. Here's the picture version of our adventures:

Traffic was INSANE as we got closer to the Casino. We spent a good 10 minutes sitting at one light and then as we were trying to turn down the street towards the parking garage I was almost hit by the same car, twice, when I refused to let him in after he illegally went around about 10 cars to get to the very front. Megann don't play that game! He had some choice words for me, but I just smiled politely and waved (using all 5 fingers, mind you).
So we finally get there only to find a huge, long line of hundreds of people waiting to do the exact same thing that we were prepared to do. Special thanks to Calvin for standing all alone in a line going to a Miss America pageant!

After about an hour of waiting in line with everyone, and slowly making our way to the front, we were finally at the front doors with our little paper and ready to do our jobs! What's that, you say? We're in the wrong line?!?!

Needless to say, there was no Miss America pageant that evening for us. Apparently more people showed up than anticipated so the people directly in front of us were the last ones let in. So much for little girl dreams.....

WISH LIST

I've now added the Kindle 2 to my 'list of things that I REALLY want to get, but theoretically don't need, and probably shouldn't even consider until I'm financially secure enough to purchase a home and be able to live independently.' Sigh.

DO IT ANYWAY

I was at a conference this weekend where Mother Teresa's quote 'Do It Anyway' was shared. I hadn't heard it before, but am a BIG fan. Martina McBride obviously got her inspiration from this little diddy......

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

ONE MORE

I'm acutely aware of the fact that I talk about my dog a lot, but until I announce an exciting new job, have a child that learns to say "mama," win an abnormally large sum of money playing BINGO, or something else of equal substance, I'm going to focus on what makes me happy....and Jack makes me REALLY happy! Anyhow, he's still a puppy so when there are long moments of quiet when I don't hear him or see him coming in and out of the room, I know something is up. This is how I found him the other day:

Better his toys than my shoes - I'm glad to be past that stage!

IS IT A PICKLE? NO! IT'S A CHIP!

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with such an annoying stomach ache, probably brought on by the fact that I ate almost an entire container of Dill Pickle Pringles while I drove back from California. Pickles? Love them! Pringles? Love them! Stomach ache? TOTALLY WORTH IT!

SAN DIEGO

Charla and I decided to have a "girls weekend" in San Diego, so we splurged a bit and stayed at the Hilton Resort and Spa. Here's what made it so phenomonal.....

1. Being able to relax and enjoy some down time. Hot tubs, movies and junk food, over-priced dinner - Awesome!



2. Spa day: I went on a "Journey to the Himalayas" and found that I LOVE the Himalayas. Life is a lot better after hot oil treatments, foot scrubs, and a really good massage!


3. Fun sights: We went to several beach towns and went out to Coranado Beach to do some exploring. Driving over the bridge still makes me nervous, but such fun places to see!



#4: Being outside: I love not being at a desk or in an apartment!! We had rain while we were there, but enough sun between the showers to let us walk on beaches, play around on rocks, and feel tired at the end of the day :)

Truly a successful weekend. Thank you, San Diego!!

DOROTHY AND TOTO

So I've been going to the gym at 5:00 in the morning for the past few weeks as part of my "training" for the Sprint Triathalon coming up in May. Fingers crossed! Anyhow, after a few weeks of early mornings, congruent with a week of late nights at work because of our state survey, I have started to feel spent. This morning there was NO WAY I was dragging myself out of bed to go sit on a stationary bike. As luck would have it, I was all the way caught up at work this morning so I decided to take the afternoon off to make up for my abundant amount of accumulating over-time. Since the weather has been phenomenal this past month I decided to go on a bike ride outside. Jack the Dog had spent most of the day sleeping under my desk, so I strapped his little basket to my bike (only a girl could get away with it and even then it looks a little gay) and took him along. What a sport! He sat facing forward, his ears flapping back in the wind, looking half dog/half bat. The whole thing was good times until I was between mile 4 and 5, and I realized that my front tire was almost all the way flat. Awesome!! Riding a bike with a six pound dog, a five pound basket, and only one good tire is fabulous! One more day of training completed AND I didn't even have to take Jack out for a walk. Apparently sitting in a basket with the wind blowing in your face is also quite a chore. Within 5 minutes of getting home he was out. Whatever works!!!