Bill Murray - Best scenes from the movie "Groundhog Day"

For Ellen

For Ellen

A great story written by a great girl.

Source: youtube.com via Rita on Pinterest

Please vote for my dream to someday live near the ocean! This is a contest by American Family Insurance who will help people achieve their dreams. I am really hopeful they can help me with mine. I thought I was doing pretty well with 400 views, but then I saw one entry had over 4,000! So I'm pretty worried. Please vote for me every day until February 17 and help me make my dream come true. Feel free to post it on Facebook or send the link to your friends. I really, truly appreciate your help! Click on the photo and vote today.

So, I am trying very hard to win a contest by American Family Insurance. I can win a trip to the 2013 Dream Camp with Kathy Ireland, as well as $10,000 to get my dream started.  If you're not familiar with her, here's an inspiring article about Kathy Ireland and her business acumen.

Basically my dream is to live near the ocean. I am currently in the midwest, which is lovely, but I truly love the ocean. I feel most alive and happy when I am near the ocean. I would like to live somewhere where I can walk on the beach everyday, and swim in the ocean everyday in the summer. Maybe even get a kayak and try ocean kayaking (sea kayaking?)
I understand that I have to make money to live. Especially near the ocean. My husband has always wanted to have a restaurant (he is an excellent cook!) So I got to thinking that we could combine our dreams and have a food truck or a restaurant near the ocean. It would be lovely to live somewhere not too touristy, as I love nature, however, I know we would need patrons. I do love the Outer Banks in North Carolina, but it would take some real research to find the right spot. I'm always looking for recommendations. Have you been to great town in the United States right on the ocean? Not a big city, mind you. Any input is appreciated.
So here's where you come in.
You can help me achieve my dream! If you would go to this link and vote for my dream to win, I would be forever grateful! You can vote every day up until February 17, 2013. You can vote on your smart phone, computer, or laptop. AND you can pass the link on to your friends. I know, this is basically "cyber-begging", but I'm not looking for money, really! Just a little bit of your time. You don't even need to register to vote!
And someday down the road, perhaps you'll be on vacation in a cute little beach restaurant and you'll have a fabulous meal from our restaurant. And you can feel great that you helped someone achieve their dream!
That's just good karma!

Thank you!
Here's the link in case you missed it!

Help raise money for program for kids

My fundraising page for the Black Earth Public Library program to raise money for live homework help. This Wisconsin library has a program that offers live online tutor help for local kids who need it. The service is offered for free, but the library has run out of money to keep it going. My daughter used this program a lot and it really helped her. I would hate to see it end. All money goes directly to the library to fund this program. Thank you! For more information on the Black Earth Public Library, and the wonderful programs they offer, please click here.

Okay, so I haven't been posting on here for a while, you know, things get busy... And I can see by all my email that I've been sorely missed. I will try to remedy this.
I have been working on some new designs in my t-shirt shops at Zazzle and CafePress, there's lots to do around election time! Here's one of my latest designs. Let me know what you think. More coming soon!
make custom gifts at Zazzle

iPhone 4s, how do I love thee? AT&T How do I loath thee?

To the AT&T Company, I cannot understand how you stay in business. Bravo for fooling the Apple people into letting you handle the iPhone. The iPhone is a wonderful thing. But your customer service is horrible. Actually, I think it should be called something else, because you’re certainly not serving the customer. I am appalled. My daughter’s phone that we’ve had since march broke. I pay for the insurance each month. Her phone just quit working. So, after getting the run around from several people, because apparently no one at your company has any records of a customer’s calls or issues, I went to my AT&T store. That’s right, 2 people in customer service said that since it was less than a year old, I didn’t even need the insurance, just go to the store and they’ll replace it. Well, when I went to the store, waiting a half hour and told them this, they laughed at me. I believe the quote was “who told you that?”. So then the guy at the AT&T store placed the order online for me for the replacement phone. I told him that my daughter is going to New York City and she HAD to have the phone by today, (Tuesday, October 25), so he asked if I was willing to pay $12 extra shipping to guarantee that. I said yes. I was told it would come in the mail by today. When I went to check on the order (they told me I could track it), my order said they were sending me a “headset”. I was concerned this was the case, so I called AT&T Customer Service (ha, ha), I talked to Stephen who said on his screen it said they were sending me a phone, not a headset. I have the screen shot of what mine said. He guaranteed everything would be fine. Said it would be here Monday, Tuesday at the latest. Well, surprise, my mail came today and it’s not here. I am just sick to my stomach. So I called AT&T (customer service ha, ha, that’s so funny), and I talked to Cynthia. She then, I guess, transferred me because after reiterating the entire story, I was suddenly back at the main menu (“if you are calling about a problem with a different phone, dial that number now...”). I really think it is polite to tell someone if you were going to transfer them. Next I talked to Ciera. Poor Ciera, I was pretty much a crying mess when I talked to her. I had promised my daughter her phone would be here by today. She is leaving tomorrow for New York City. I feel like I am going to have a heart attack, I am so upset. At least Ciera called the “shipping company” for me, she said they said it may be here tomorrow or Thursday. Well, that does me no good whatsoever. But, I’m pretty sure AT&T hasn’t done much good for anyone. Ciera did tell me I could take my new iPhone 4S back to the store and return it and only pay the $35 restocking fee. We’ll be seeing if that’s true because I plan on taking it back as soon as I leave work. And I’ll probably get AT&T’s signature line..” Who told you THAT?” Seems to be a way they can get out of actually helping anyone. I hear Verizon carries the iPhone now, I may check it out. Can’t decide. I so love the iPhone. But I will NEVER, EVER, EVER buy another thing from AT&T, and I encourage everyone on the planet to stay away from them. They are horrible. Their customer service is not even a joke. When we had US Cellular, they were at least very helpful. I wish they carried the iPhone. With Verizon getting in on the iPhone, I can’t imagine too many people with stay with AT&T. Truth is, people are going to need help with things and if your customer service and your website are so horrible, eventually people will go somewhere else. I know that’s what my family is going to do. Please feel free to repost, tweet or email this!

Tea Party Rally in Madison, Wisconsin

Politics in Wisconsin are pretty messed up right now. It seems like a historical time, especially in downtown Madison around the capital. People are passionate about their political views. It's inspiring to hear people dialog about their viewpoints so passionately, and reading blogs and watching television and Youtube videos is very enlightening. I had always thought it would've been interesting to be alive in the sixties, to see the riots in downtown Madison, to stick up for what you believe in. To be a part of history. After attending the Tea Party rally a few weeks ago in Madison and watching Sarah Palin and a few other conservatives try to speak about their beliefs, I think I may have been wrong. I think maybe politics bring out people's true nature, be it good or bad. I was stunned at the way people were behaving. I understand these are important times. I understand there's a lot at stake. I know everyone thinks their opinion is the right one, but I was stunned at the behavior I witnessed. A lot of childishness, rudeness, and people being downright mean. To be honest, it was the people on the left wing that I witnessed this behavior from. Oh sure, one or two people in the Tea Party tried to crowd ahead of me to get closer to Sarah Palin, but that was nothing compared to the swearing, jeering, yelling, mocking and noise making I heard from the Democrats. Was this necessary? Did this help them score points with anyone? Did this help get their viewpoint across? I don't think so. I think it made them look petty and stupid. I know times are tough. I know people may not agree with the laws and decisions our government is making right now. And isn't it a great country that we live in where we have the right to criticize our government openly? What a gift that is. But shouldn't we do it reasonably, out of respect for our country? And if you vote for something and you lose fairly, shouldn't that be it to a point? I mean yes, get involved, write emails, join a committee, participate in a peaceful protest. But really, things were just so out of hand at that Tea Party rally. There was no respect by the left. There was no reason for those protesters to try to drowned out Sarah Palin with their milk jugs full of change, even though they were obviously worried about what she was saying. I would've had so much more respect if they would've shown up and protested respectfully and quietly, not like a bunch of out of control rapid psychos.
But hey, maybe that's what they were going for.
They convinced me they're idiots.