Really, Really, Really????

CNN's Anderson Cooper is cuter than cute and his sense of humor is firmly in place with this recent editorial. He made me laugh out loud-- Really, really, really hard.

But something tells me we haven't heard the last from Mr. Trump. Ugh.

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

Moving

It's been more than 17 years since I packed up my last home, married and moved into my husband's house. Moving was such a massive and exhausting job that I swore I'd never do it again.

But that hasn't stopped me from helping my BFF move six, count 'em six times, over the years. That's what friends are for, isn't it.

For the past two weeks we've packed, painted (and painted and painted and painted), schlepped carloads of possessions, directed movers for placement of the big stuff, painted some more, and unpacked her new home. And we still have miles to go before we sleep. Did I mention there's a lot of painting to do-- As in every surface of the entire house, some with as many as four coats of paint to cover the previous owner's love of very dark colors.

And it's going to be great when it's finished!

My BFF is a single, working mom of a young teenager-- my godson. This is the first home she has ever purchased and it's exciting and stressful all at the same time. She made a very smart purchase on a great house, albeit it paint-color-challenged, and I have no doubt they will live blissfully in what is really the perfect home for them.

She was pretty nervous about the move to a new neighborhood worrying that she'd be out of the loop for her friends to visit but that is far from the case. Every step of the painting way, gal pals have come out of the woodwork (No pun intended, but if you'd like to paint some there's plenty!) to help.

Bringing potted plants, casseroles and libations, gal pals have rallied around our friend to celebrate her new homeowner status. Every woman who crossed the threshold offered to paint, scrub or unpack to help make a dent in the task at hand. It brought heart-felt laughter, commodore and positive vibes to the home that filled Mom and son with joy you could actually see on their faces.

One afternoon, just after the move but with more boxes full then empty, Godson's school was dismissed at 12:30 so I picked him up on the way to a fast food run. When I explained to him that we needed to make a drive-thru detour for the houseful of mother hens back at the hacienda, his face lit up at the idea of "company" to "break in" their new pool-side patio furniture.

Upon arrival at his new home, Godson immediately went into "man of the house" mode and passed out burgers and fries to the all female gang and chatted everyone up about the joys of home ownership-- Which was actually thinly disguised as a pitch-- aimed at his mother-- for a new puppy.

The thing is, although they've known one another for countless years, some of these women have been email or Facebook pals with BFF but because life gets so busy sometimes, they haven't actually seen each other in way too long. All that changed when the home purchase was announced.

What was once a daunting task became a happy reunion between friends who rolled up their sleeves, pitched in, and reminded BFF that "girl power" is alive and well no matter where she lived and that they were only a phone call away. This knowledge renewed BFF's spirit and cheered her on through the emotional roller coaster of the process.

It reminded me of the importance of friendship and face-to-face contact too. I'm guilty of relying on email more than I pick up the phone to make a personal connection and I'll be working on that in the future-- Especially now that a landline with a speaker phone has been installed at their new house. I can talk hands-free.... and paint!

And that's a good thing because I'm pretty sure the paint color we put up in the dining room (all three coats of it) is going to be changed.

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

PS I've been reading you all and catching up but thanks to Blogger's recent meltdown I wasn't able to leave comments. I'll be around again soon.

Photo Credit: © Anjark - Fotolia.com

$902.64

It was an average day of blog reading, net surfing and email checking when all of a sudden my laptop screen started blinking faster than a strobe light disco ball from the 80s. The more it flashed, the faster dollar signs passed before my eyes, as I watched my computer's screen slowly fade to black with a little sighing sound for its finale.

My beloved MacBook Pro computer died. I said a prayer, or maybe I cursed out loud, because I had a very bad feeling about the likelihood that my 3 year old baby would live to see another day.

Around that time my allergies also kicked in, got wonky, and my eyes swelled-- really big. Allergy season in my 'hood is not pretty and this one truly had its way with me. I spent the next several days looking a lot like Quasimodo minus the hunchback, scaring small children and takeout delivery guys who got a peek at my sad eyes.

This delayed me several days in taking my Mac to the Apple Store to see if they could breath life back into it without costing me an arm and a leg. Finally, with improved but still nasty allergies, and clad in the biggest pair of sunglasses I owned, I strolled into the Apple Store and bellied up to the Genius Bar.

I seriously think the Geniuses were a little uncomfortable when they saw me looking like a loon in those shades in their store, but I did quietly mention to my Genius guy that I had a "vision problem". The look on his face immediately registered that he was having a vision problem looking at me too.

Long story short-- Apple's Genius saved my you know what and knew immediately what was wrong-- It had a fancy name for what sounded like a "recall" part but it needed several days to be ordered and repaired.

When I picked up my new-and-improved, cleaned and spruced up laptop yesterday, it included an invoice indicating the cost was $902.64.

Whoa!

Then I saw my "Amount Due" was $0.00 because of the recall. Let's just say I heard the angels singing.

I was still wearing my sunglasses when I took my computer home but this time I almost skipped out of the store. A free repair on a high ticket item and getting my laptop back beats allergy season any day.

It feels like I've been gone from Blogland for months but I'll be making the rounds and catching up with everybody over the next week. I've missed you!

How's life treating you?

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

Photo Credit: © Benn - Fotolia.com

Spring Break

Advice

Baby and bridal showers-- You either love 'em or you hate 'em. I for one, usually love the food, hate the games, and make a dash for the door after an appropriate amount of time with a fake smile plastered on my face while watching an endless stream of gifts being opened and passed around.

I know. I'm a party pooper. But for as long as I can remember, these loving rituals have left me colder than the Hawaiian Fruit Punch and Rainbow Sherbet concoction often served at these soirees.

Friends and family were threatened within an inch of their life if they dared throw me a shower when I got married. Same goes for birthday parties for that matter. I'm not a fan of being the center of attention or opening gifts in front of people. But I'm more than happy to pitch in and throw a rocking party for loved ones if that's what they're up for.

Recently, my family had a baby shower for my oldest nephew and his wife who are expecting their first child in late June. They've decided to keep the baby's sex a secret and find out in the delivery room so their shower was filled with lots of things yellow, mint green and very gender neutral.

Our Mom-to-be was specific about no games measuring the size of her belly or related to embarrassing photos from her youth. So we took a simpler, kinder approach to party activities-- We asked each guest to write a letter to the future Mom and Dad with parenting advice.

In attendance were two of the baby's great-grandmothers, both grandmothers, scores of aunties and numerous experienced mamas all loaded with fantastic advice. And then there was me-- The childless one.

I sat with pen in hand and racked my brain. I searched my mind for meaningful words of wisdom, cleaver advice and sure fire ways to spoil their child rotten. I'm telling you, steam was coming out of my ears I was thinking so hard. But in the end-- Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

My head was blank.

Shocking, considering I'm usually full of advice and opinions and never hesitate throwing them around at the drop of a hat. *ahem*

So instead of my Baby Scrapbook page being left blank, I'm asking you, dear blog friends, to please pass some parenting advice my way. Any tips, "dos", "don'ts" or "way-it-is" wisdom would be greatly appreciated by me and the future rug rat's folks.

I will print this post and your comments out as my "page" in the book. Thanks a million for your help!

What's your best parenting tip?

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

Photo Credit: © Jonathan Cooke - Fotolia.com

Sundays In My City #67 - Unannounced

Travel the world with

Unknown Mami's

Sundays In My City

One of the negitatives of having a swimming pool in your backyard is the all too often unexpected pool party. You know the kind-- kids showing up unannounced but ready for a dip.

Since Mother Nature teased us mid week with record-breaking high temps before she slammed us back into cold, gray skies with rain forecast for the weekend, I wasn't all that surprised that a swim on a hot day was an appealing idea for some.

These kids snuck in and spent the morning sunning themselves and taking in a lazy, kicked back day....

They didn't make too much noise but they were not too happy when they realized their presence was known and they were breaking the rules--Swimming without any adult supervision. They immediately hightailed it out of the pool...

But after a while they figured out this lady of the house was cool and welcomed them back anytime...

*******

Please join bloggers around the world by sending a postcard to a very special teacher and her preschool class. Mrs. H, a treasure of a educator, is retiring at the end of this school year and the beautiful Se'Lah of The Necessary Room asks...

To provide the children in her classroom some perspective about the global connectedness o

f humankind, and as a gesture of loving-kindness, would you please join me in sending the class a postcard from your corner of the world? They will track each postcard's point of origin on a world map kept in the classroom. At the end of the school year, the postcards will be evenly distributed to the children as a keepsake from their classroom experience with Mrs. H.

If you'd like to join me in sending these preschool children a *Friends of Makeda* postcard, please email me at necessaryroom@gmail.com and I will gladly provide you their mailing address. Please note that I have Mrs. H's permission to do this. She would like to thank you in advance for your thoughtfulness.

For more about Mrs. H and Se'Lah's postcard request, click HERE. Postcards due by May 2nd please.

How's your Sunday?

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins