Shoe on or shoe off?

I have made up a new universal rule. I think you will agree with me that it really needs to happen. The rule is that when someone puts out a party invitation, instead of including a dress code on the invitation, the invitation must include a shoe code. To make it easy to implement, I will include a sample invite. 

Friends and Family,

Please Join us for a Holiday Party

Saturday, February 23, 2013

7pm

Food and Drinks will be Served. It is a shoe-on Party

RSVP by 

See? Nice and easy. Let me explain why this needs to happen.

When you are attending a party at someone's home, it is always a question whether or not they will let you keep your shoes on. Personally, I like to have it both ways – off at my house, on at your house!  As hypocritical as this might seem, that's how I like it. You probably do too. Haha!

If I know whether it is a shoe-on or shoe-off party can I confidently plan the rest of my outfit. For example, I have some pretty rocking, high-heeled boots. Of course, my life consists of running to volunteer at the school and buying shaving cream at Target, so never is this girl going to wear these fun, festive boots to anywhere but a house party. If I wear these boots, I like to wear them with jeans that go down to the floor. Never does a high-heeled boot look good with floods. I know, why would I buy a pair of boots just to cover them up?  Doesn't make sense to me either. It just looks better!  Bare feet and long jeans make your butt look dumpy. Am I right? This is why God created high heels. To make our butts look better!

If it is a shoe-off party I will forgo the "long" jeans and just wear the "regular" length jeans. Because long jeans rolled up also make your butt look dumpy! Once the length of the jeans is determined, then I can pick the top. Then, the hair. Then, the jewelry. The shoe-on or shoe-off decision really is the key to all of this.

Then there is the question of socks or no socks. Summertime is easy. Most of the time during the summer, your toes are pedicured. However, in the winter, like the shape of your armpits and legs, toes are anybody's guess. If you have been married for more than five years, it's probably safe to assume that by Christmas only your big toe is sporting polish, left over from your summertime pedicure. As for the armpits? Probably the same deal.

I should also mention here that I can never seem to get the bottom of my socks clean! This is basically because I am afraid of bleach. Who knows where one, left over, little drop will land! I am always fearful that it will happily plant itself on the thigh of my favorite pair of jeans! (You know the ones that fit you perfectly even though they are titled "curvy"? The same ones that they don't make anymore. Probably because women all over the world don't want to be called curvy, especially every time they sit to go to the bathroom! Get a clue fashionistas, would ya! Yep, those.) So, I stay away from bleach. To add insult to injury, I throw white socks into any load. New jeans, red sweatshirt, whatever. I figure they already look rough so why bother. They are usually white enough-ish! But they are never white enough-ish for a shoe-off party. 

Don't even get me started on what it's like to be standing in someone's kitchen with a summer sundress, barefoot! Talk about dumpy...

So, for the foreseeable future can we all just agree to include the shoe code in our invitations? Maybe I should call e-vite and pitch this idea...hmmm.... 

Some fun, eye candy today!

  

Thankfully, I only remember the threat of the spoon. If you remember the belt, let me know how therapy is going. Haha! Not sure about that flip flop. Maybe that's a Florida thing...

Just funny!

Drum roll please... My ultimate favorite of all time. 

just fun stuff

Today, with some effort and caffeine, I rocked my Domestic Diva role!

 Went to the doctor for my annual (which also means I shaved my legs). I left my shoes on, while I got weighed, on purpose so when the number wasn't something I liked, I could say "ohhhh, I forgot to take off my shoes so it is a little higher than usual."

Was bummed that the paper gown only had a tiny bit left to tie. Wondered if I will seriously kill myself the day it doesn't actually reach and tie.

I kept house neat during a playdate and accomplished a healthy snack while simulanteously having the boys finish two pages of Everyday Math X2 without complaining, 

Only had enough space for one "C" but he didn't care! 

created lunches for tomorrow with spelling words on them (yes, it's edible marker), 

Kind of ran out of room for the T. Oops! Hope the kid doesn't forget it on Friday during the spelling test! 

I bought some partylite candles from a friend and finished two loads of laundry (tomorrow I will put them away). I made what my husband calls "the best lasagna he has ever had- including his grandma's!" and "Mmmmm! Just like a restaurant!" I did think about the calories but realized I have a whole year before I actually have to step on the gyno scale again! Yippee! (I think I said that last year too... Hmmm.... Nope, thinking too hard....think of a shiny butterfly!... Yep, moving on!) Let's eat boys! 

Touch the picture of the lasagna for the recipe. It's from a good friend of mine who got it from Giada. 

Then, I talked my hubby "off the ledge" from a long, busy day at work and organized a whole bunch of posts for you in my head (they are going to be random, fun and helpful so make sure you keep checking back each day). 

Tomorrow? Well, tomorrow I write! My favorite kind of day!

Tonight, I am sharing a wonderful story from the Circle of Moms website that was taken from Today.com.  It is about two boys who were playing with each other at a local pool and found out they were brothers! 

Click here for the story. Watch the video too! It is so neat to see the two of them interact. They remind me of Rocco and Zeke. 

Wait! Before you go, look at these funny dogs and kids! 

And my favorite is.......

Now that you have the belly giggles, enjoy your day! 

dear domestic duties, mama's comin' home! love, mama

I have to admit for the past few weeks, I have not been present for my family. Physically, of course, but not mentally. Between having fun with the contest and working on my two other new part-time jobs (yay me!), I have glazed over my Domestic Diva responsibilities. Michael has not had socks in his drawer in close to a week now. They are in a big pile on my nightstand. Every morning, he patiently scrounges around for a matching pair. One day, I sent Rocco to school without his blood sugar monitor. Thank God I was close and dropped it off. The next day out of some sort of unconscious guilt, I sent him with two monitors.  Zeke, I have been doing OK with Zeke. I know this because he is so easy and I make a conscious effort a couple of times a day to spend one-on-one time with him. But, the laundry has gotten away from me. Forget about any kind of fun organizational projects. Dished have piled up. The family's crap is just everywhere! 

So, today I decided to come back into my body, attach myself to my real life again and kick some ass! Or at least, try to get it all checked off the list. Ha! 

I am also going to try to post helpful hints or great products each day. Once I figure out how, I am going to try to link these products on the right side of the blog. So, if you like something, you can just click, buy it and have the elves at Amazon or where ever send it right to your house! Merry Christmas to you! 

I am not Martha Stewart but I am "Shari who can pull off helpful and cheap"! Hopefully, that will be good enough for you! 

Maybe the buying part will be titled "Shari's Favorite Things!" That is about as close to Oprah that I will ever get. 

Some of the things I already have in mind are:

How to organize snacks, coats, mittens, boots, waters, and shoes for the morning rush.

Easy tools to wrap gifts

Organizational furniture for mail

Cute holiday school party foods

Chair pads for chairs

What the hell do you do with a pomegranate?

And much more. 

I am going to try to post every day like in November. 

It was fun and not as hard as I thought.

Anyway, tune in tomorrow. Merry December! 

Diabetes Awareness Month Day 23

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! I sure did.

I came across this Facebook page called Worlds Coolest Things.  Talk about everyone having a story... 

This little puppy's feet had to be removed due to frostbite. He used to drag himself around on his belly until some awesome person made him prosthetic legs. 

This dog helps out his friend because he has a rare blind disease. 

This little punkin didn't want her daddy to go to Iraq. So much so, that when they lined up to leave, she wouldn't let go. No one had the heart to pull her away. 

A mother is a mother no matter what kind of mother you are. She spent her day rescuing her cubs. 

This little cutie was born with chicken wing legs. 

This is a ten-week-old fetus. The mother had uterine cancer and had to have her pregnant uterus removed. A med school student held the baby and snapped a picture. She said she wanted to show how precious a life can be even at 10 weeks. 

Just plain old cute! 

This dog's master laid dead under the rubble after a tornado. This dog stayed here for a week. Right here. 

Totally random but we were looking at pictures tonight and I came across this one! This is a picture of my husband and I when we first started dating. First person to mention how skinny I look, is a rotten egg! 

Please, don't forget to vote! We only have 5 days left! Thanks for all your help. 

http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/Top-25-Family-Blogs-By-Moms-2012#_

Then, come back to Everyday Highs and Lows and hit this link to see more inspirational pictures

National Diabetes Awareness Day 22

If you asked me why I did it, I would say because I didn't want him to blow up. 

But, it goes deeper than that. 

Let me start at the beginning. 

I was driving and chatting on the cell phone with my friend. I drove past a house and saw an elderly man (80s at least) with a lawn mower in one hand and an oxygen tank on wheels on the other. I was instantly scared. 

I said to my friend, "Oh my God, I just saw an old man with an oxygen tank trying to mow his lawn. Do you think I should go back and mow it for him?"

To which she replied, "Oh my God, go back and mow his lawn". 

The boys were in the back seat and we were on our way to Toys R Us to create a Black Friday, oh I mean, Christmas list for Santa. 

Without thinking too much, I spun my car around. I kind of felt exhilarated. Probably how the fireman feel when they are on their way to a fire. I also had nervous butterflies in my belly. I have always liked helping but this one was a little weird, even for quirky, old me. 

I realized it might not go well. What if he started yelling at me? What if he was a mean, old man? 

Oh well. 

The thought of being spontaneous and doing a good deed made me feel needed. It felt better than being scared, so I pushed forward.

I stopped the car and told the boys to stay in the car. I put on a movie for them in the back seat (spoiled kids of today...)  because I wasn't sure how long it would take. I knew they would be safe inside. The man could barely stand so I could tell he wouldn't hurt us. But, I jumped out of the car and walked up to him. 

By now, he literally had the oxygen tank on top of the bag of the old mower. Both the tank and the mower were running. I tapped him on the shoulder. I was lucky I didn't scare him into a heart attack. He turned to look at me. He had light blue eyes and the oxygen prongs in his nose. 

I shouted, "Hi, I am a complete stranger but can I cut your lawn for you?" 

It took him a minute to collect his thoughts. I got nervous. Oh, God I am weird and I have done that thing where I go too far... 

Then, he yelled something back. 

I said, "WHAT?"

He took a deep breath and struggled.

He said, "I'll pay ya."

I told him no and grabbed the handle of the lawn mower. He stepped back. I pushed it. It was hard to push. He tapped my arm and leaned over to grab the handle. He squeezed the metal bar which turns on the self-propelling, automatic part that made it easy to push. I laughed, embarrassed and realized I hadn't mowed a lawn in 31 years. 

While I mowed, he leaned on his own car. His head was looking down and you could tell he was tired. I couldn't believe he actually would have had the strength to do this today.  I wondered why he might have needed to do this today. I wondered what his story was. Did he have family? Why weren't they mowing the lawn? Was he married or alone? I was impressed after seeing the state he was in. The outside of his house was extremely neat. You could tell he had pride in his home. The garage was immaculate. I thought of my own garage which, at the moment, was overflowing with too many "things". 

But, as I mowed I wondered to myself, why was I doing this? 

I think it was because he looked like he needed help. 

I like the elderly. I respect them. They have lived a life that has journeyed from outhouses to iPads. That has always impressed me. 

I wanted the boys to witness me actually being uncomfortable for the benefit of someone in need. 

I wanted to give them permission to do something strange, if their heart told them they just had to.

I wanted to give back to someone in my community. I miss that part of the world today. It is fading as fast as people wearing American flag pins and knitting. 

I wanted to feel the feeling of doing good not just buying good. 

I thought about the four years of my life after my own heart failure and how hard it is to struggle to breathe even though your brain still works. Having the will just not the way is hard. I also remembered how hard it is to actually call a loved one over to help you.

I thought about how healthy I was now and how good it felt to get back to physically being able to power through something.

I thought about old school America. 1950's type America.

I thought about the time my dad moved three hours from my mom, my sister and I, for three years, because there was no work in our area. And how the neighbors would come over to cut our lawn, for us, when my dad had to work on the weekends, too.

I thought about my own father who died alone in his house. I wished he had someone help him or be kind to him on his last day. I will always wish it was me.

I decided as I finished that this was really the reason I stopped to help him.

As I left, the man offered again to pay me. I, of course, shook his hand. Thanked him for letting me do this and walked away. 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep this moment private or post about it. I am not writing this post to get "credit" for helping him. I decided to write it in hopes of inspiring a "pay it forward" type thing. Selfishly, I miss the world I grew up in. I miss people being kind because it is just the right thing to do, not because they will are afraid of being sued. 

I only ask that if you comment back to me on this post that you don't say anything about me being kind or nice. I realize now after typing it all out, I mowed his lawn not for him actually but for me. So, that does not make my deed selfless but kind of selfish. I think I got more out of it than he did. 

If you would like to make a comment, please, tell me/us about a good deed you did.  That would be the best holiday present for everyone. Big or small. Whatever you think may inspire someone. If there are no comments, that's ok. I know people are shy. Especially when it comes time to talk about yourself. However, if you would like to, please understand your comments are safe here because I have really nice readers. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am thankful for you! 

Rocco snapped this picture of me when I was done.

National Diabetes Awareness Month Day 21

Ok, so everyone seemed to like the funny pictures so here are some more for tonight! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Thanks to my sissy for sending these to me this morning!

Enjoy your family tomorrow! 

Also, tomorrow if you find yourself bored, after turkey dinner and between quarters, would you mind asking your family members to vote? They will be probably all be playing on their phone anyway! Lol! Thank you! 

Here is the link! 

http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/Top-25-Family-Blogs-By-Moms-2012#_