The Chocolate Lady

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

What if the gift horse pees on your leg?

Im feeling stuck. Emotionally, Im torn between being excited and annoyed. Happy and disappointed. It's like my limbic system is on a seasaw or something.

Recently, I did a phone interview with a popular, community magazine. The man asked me questions about my Dove Chocolate business (I know, what else, right?) I noticed during our conversation, that he quite frequently repeated things back to me INACCURATELY. I would gently correct him, and even asked if I would get to read the article before going to print, so that I could make sure the info was right.

Writer: Oh dont worry, a "Fact Checker" will call you and go over the entire article, and make sure all the details are correct.

Me: Ok, super!

Well, I knew the magazine was going to be distributed tomorrow morning. And, as of yet, I havent received contact from any, "Fact Checker". I wondered if perhaps, the article was postponed for another issue....and that bummed me out.

Tonight, I decided to search the magazine website, and guess what, Im in this issue!! Woo Hoo! And guess what else? I couldnt get past the first paragraph without stumbling through one error after another.

For example, In his introduction, he describes me as a "physical therapist" (Im a psychotherapist)...and he says I teach at my children's school (actually, Im a mommy helper that volunteers a few hours a week.)

I realize I should be grateful for the exposure, and I am, but, GEESH!

The writer goes on to say we have "heart shaped chocolate"....Im not sure if he got confused about our "heart shaped fondue pot" or how we have decorative heart designs you can imprint onto chocolate candies.

It doesnt help, that My Honey read it, and made a face. Not a happy, smiley face either! I was hoping he would say, "wow, that's a great article, dont worry about the little inaccuracies, they dont mean anything." Instead I got THAT FACE, and a mumbling about how poorly written it was.

By the way, a photographer even came to one of my Tasting Parties to take my picture. He stayed over an hour, snap, snap, snapping away. Nice guy. Imagine my glee when I see that the picture they chose to publish looks like I am lecturing about the dangers of Hamas or something. I dont look happy or fun! Was that really his best picture? Of the hundreds he snapped, that was the one they chose?!

I guess it doesnt matter, does it? I feel guilty even being annoyed, because, I shouldnt look a gift horse in the mouth, or whatever, right? But what if the gift horse gallops in the wrong direction or pees on my leg?

Tomorrow morning, I will call Dove's corporate office and let them know about the article. They like to be make aware any time we are in the media. Im hoping the company President, a darling lady named Betty, likes it, even if she's referred to as BETH!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

glimpses into a 43rd birthday

I think it was meant to be a gift, that My Honey left for work without waking me, I think.

My kids didnt mind waking me, not with birthday wishes, but with their typical morning loudness and climbing into my bed. I asked my daughter if there daddy had left anything special for me, like FLOWERS or something, she said NO. I pressed her, thinking she might have been covering for a surprise, but she assured me, there was nothing waiting for me. She remembered it was my birthday though, and then she and Pooper ran downstairs.....

I knew they were up to something, so I did what a good mom does, and checked my email. Periodically, Beauty would come up and chit chat, and remind me that nothing was going on downstairs, but gave me strict orders to stay in my room.

I poked my head out of my room, asking for permission to take a shower, and they got QUITE UPSET, thinking I might be coming out.....I assured them, I would just be in my shower, and they said, OK.

Midway through my shower, Beauty came up to tell me that if I heard a weird noise, they had it under control. At that point, honestly, it didnt matter...I was enjoying probably the only 45 seconds of serenity that I would get for the entire day, and was in no hurry to find out about noises.

Not long after coming out of the shower, I was greeted by my darlings. Beauty carried a tray (a special thing to grill veggies on the BBQ) that had a 1/2 eaten, left-over McDonalds Hot Fudge Sundae; an apple, some spice-gum drops, a bowl of freshly popped popcorn, and a nutri-grain bar. WOW! As she handed it to me, with her proud smile, Pooper threw home-made confetti at me, It was a party!

We all sat on the bed and ate breakfast together. Little One had dibs on the ice cream sundae, and nobody dared interfere.

They had made me a card, with glitter pens and plastic rhinestones, it's beautiful.

Pooper and Beauty sang their new favorite Bday song....which Pooper's heard for the first time from his teacher, just days ago, at his own Bday...and then it was sung again at Disneyland:

Here is your birthday song
It isnt very long.

That's it!! That was my birthday song...so fun!!

The day was marked by a Field Trip to the Fire Dept. I was a chapperone for Beauty's class, and we had fun holding hands most of the time.

After housework, chocolate work, and taking the kids to swim practice, I called My Honey to figure out what he wanted to do for dinner. He was going to be working late, so the kids and I had Del Taco. Hurray!

I ended the night by passing out Yes On Prop 4 signs..... I had the gift of a birthday, the least I could do is pass that on to the unborn.

Thanks for the birthday wishes.....My best birthday present was 8 years ago, when I took Pooper home on my bday. Every year since is a precious gift, God healed his cancer and each year that he is here for my bday, is amazing. I was lucky to spend my bday with all of my kids. No need for fancy restaurants or jewelry..... I have the most precious things a mom could want!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Warning Signs

Ok, Im a total blogging flake, Im sorry........

Now that I have that out of the way, I figured I should write SOMETHING, since Grandma J has linked folks here.

For those of you that are younger than me, I thought I would just warn you about a few things that lie ahead;

1. Your personality might change. As a professional in the psychology field, we were always taught that certain personality characteristics never change, one of them being introversion/extroversion. I have always been a 10+ on the Myers-Briggs, as a full on extrovert. Being in crowds was such a thrill, I love concerts, Fairs, chaos and people....it was an adrenaline rush. The idea of being, for example, in Time Square at midnight, sounded SO.EXCITING. But guess what, at least for me, this has all changed. Im now about a 4 on the scale, at best. I no longer like crowds or even noise. Take for example, our recent trip to Disneyland. It bugged me to all heck to have people breathing on me in line, or with their knees poking into my back as we waited on Main Street for the parade. We found a spot on the parade route 2 hours early, for the express reason of getting a large area. I spread myself, my things, my children, the stroller, etc. to make sure that we have ample room. My Honey does not understand why I take up so much room, and I remind him that if we give people an inch of space, they will take it, and we need A BUFFER! Sure enough, by the time the parade starts, people are touching me and pushing on me, I DIDNT GET THERE 2 HOURS EARLY TO HAVE MY BOUNDARIES VIOLATED PEOPLE! Even in the movies, I can not stand people being directly behind me, because they will inevitably talk, kick the seat, and....CHEW LOUDLY! I no longer like to go to crowded places, but prefer to just sit on my fat rear watching events on TV. Im telling you people, personalities do change, people do get old and crochety, Im living proof!

2. Wrinkles happen. I vividly remember looking in the mirror when I was 28 and being so troubled by my first crows feet. Hello, now, I think of that day and shake my head. Because that was nothing compared to today. I now have deep trenches and valleys etched across my forehead, and I appear to be a smoker, thanks to my mouth wrinkles (even though I am a staunch anti-smoker!) Somehow, over time, the wrinkles happened, slowly, slyly, and it would take a lot of botox to even begin to make things better.....but Im not ruling it out....

3. Which leads me to another thing that happens....if you are one of those people who adamantly opposes plastic surgery and stuff....dont go making any costly bets that you'll never do it. Trust me people, it stinks to have wrinkles, bags, dark circles and sun damage. Not to mention, a lap band wouldnt hurt. So, personalities change, and so do opinions on plastic surgery.

4. Even if you feel like you could dance on the table, dont do it, your back will hurt in the morning, if you dont fall of the table first and break an ankle.

5. If you join the Fan Club of a certain HOT BAND (INXS), you have now become like the blue haired, Wayne Newton fans. Even if you feel like a teen, you arent.

These are just some of the things that happen when you age....in case you were wondering.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Aye Maties!

I know, it's been awhile....

but let's cut right to the chase, there are PIRATES off the coast of Somalia, holding a Russian boat, and it's crew...demanding a $20 Million ransom.

This has been going on for days now, and while the US and Russia close in, it's turned into a stand off.

I kind of thought, that since we were a major super power, that we could just wipe a Pirate Ship right out of the seas, apparently, not that easy, especially with hostages on board.

In any case, it's keeping my kids highly entertained, they are excited (if not a tad bit nervous) to know that Pirates exist.

any other interesting tidbits in the news? share them here, and give my reader something to do, since Ive been so behind in blogging. :)