Barbie Girls

A couple of Saturdays ago, Michelle brought her girls to my house for a visit. I've always wanted my nieces and nephews to visit often so I made sure I had toys to play with and things for them to do. I pulled out my old box of Barbies and let Abby and Ellie play with them. They loved it! Abby became fascinated with a wind up mixer and Ellie loved the Heart Family bike (you know the one with two seats for the Mom and Dad and two seat for the twins). I noticed how pathetic my old homemade (the ones I made) Barbie clothes were, but I have some great accessories. I also have the entire Heart Family (even if Ken's head keeps falling off). I loved those Barbies and had a very difficult time giving them up when I was younger. Now, it's so much fun to watch them being enjoyed by another generation. And every time they come over, that's the first thing Abby asks about. Good thing I saved them. :)

Why would you knit that?

Many of you will remember the email I sent several months ago with that horrible boob scarf that someone knitted. (If not here's the link). I hope you got a good laugh from that. For more horrible, tacky and gross things that people knit please visit http://whywouldyouknitthat.blogspot.com/. Just be careful of who's looking at it with you (some things are not appropriate for children). I promise a good laugh and you will definitely wonder, "Why would you knit that?"

Vote For Broccoli

I got this article in my email today and thought it was truly powerful. I have difficulty expressing my political views and the reason I vote the way I do. This article summed it all up for me. It also helped me to refocus on who I should be voting for and why. I hope you'll read it and reflect on your own decisions. Here's the link: http://www.thoughtsalive.com/2006/10/vote-for-broccoli.html

I'm not the most politically outspoken gal, but I feel a great responsibility this election more than any other (maybe its my age) to vote responsibly. I've come to realize that I must really research the candidates and even look outside the two party system (thanks for the challenge Mike). If I want the world to be better, then I can't sit idly by and watch it deteriorate. I have to do my part.

Oh My Wordle!

If you want to try something fun, go to http://wordle.net/ and type in random text or your blog address. It takes the words and creates fun word art. It give more prominence to the words you use most often. I love typography so I think its really cool. This is what mine came up with when I typed in my blog address. I never realized I use the word "really" so often. I changed the colors to be fall themed and the font to something I like. I guess this fits my mood right now. I hope to see one on your blog soon.

I'm Home!

I made the long, long trip home on Sunday. In all, I spent 22 hours traveling from the time I left the hotel in the morning till the time I made it home that night. Needless to say, I have no desire to get on another airplane any time soon. The flights home were awful since I was sick the whole way home. I'm so happy I had aisle seats, but all I really wanted the whole way was my own bed. My ankles swelled up nice and big. I was able to get a foot massage at the San Francisco airport so they went down a little before I got home.

I went to Mom's house for Sunday dinner instead of going straight home. I really missed everyone and wanted to talk to people about my trip. By the time I left, I was so exhausted and unable to think clearly. When I got home, I fell asleep quickly. I spent the whole day Monday sleeping and doing laundry. I hadn't planned to take a comp day, but I was just so exhausted.

It's so good to be home and to be with people I know and that speak ENGLISH. I really appreciate my life and all the blessings I enjoy living in the USA! Just a reminder that no matter how bad things get, we are still so very, very, very blessed to live here.

I walked and walked and walked and....

Yesterday, we drove two hours (each way) to Guanzou to attend the Canton fair. It is a gigantic trade show. There were so many Chinese factories and distributors exhibiting there. We walked 6 of the floors. There were 14 halls and each hall had 2-4 levels which amounts to 33 floors. I don't know if you can understand just how big that is so here's a picture:
As you can see from the picture, each hall has over a thousand vendors. Every so often I'd start to sing, "Pioneer children sang as the walked and walked and walked and walked and walked..." Each time I say "walked" it sounds more and more tired. By the time we got back to our rooms last night, I was so exhausted. Oh well, it really was a good day! We had a lot of fun too.

Too bad that today, I really don't feel good. Maybe it was that awful ham and cheese sandwich I ate for lunch yesterday.

Laundry Service

My clothes have never been treated so well. I had to send my clothes out to be laundered. They ironed my jeans and t-shirts (I never do this). At home, I'm lucky to get them hung up or folded before I wear them again (sometimes they come straight from the basket). Oh well, here my clothes get the royal treatment. Hmmm... laundry service at home. How would it be?

They hung my pants up in the closet and wrapped my t-shirts in tissue paper and placed them in this basket.