I am a Dove user. I love their products. But I read somewhere that you should change your shampoo and conditioner every so often in order to rinse any buildup off your hair that your shampoo and conditioner cause. I haven’t notices this problem with Dove, but since I’ve been using if for a couple of years, I decided I’d switch it up a bit this time when i ran out. I’m also incredible frugal, and typically buy the cheapest stuff within the brands I like (which happen to be the cheapest brands, anyway). This time around, I bought Suave’s new Brilliant Blonde. You know, they have that new line of shampoos and conditioners out for blondes, brunettes and red heads. I’ve only been using it for a couple of days, so I haven’t noticed any difference yet. I’m wondering if any of you have ever tried a shampoo like that (Suave’s line is supposed to be comprarable to John Freida’s line of the same type of shampoos)? If so, did it work? That is, did it make your hair more brilliant, the highlights (if you have any) stand out more? Did you like it? Just trying to get a general feel for what others have experienced.

General, product reviews | 1 Comment »

Since the college football season officially begins tomorrow night, and the NFL season begins next Thursday, I have decided to embark on a new journey: fantasy football. Last year, I did fantasy NASCAR, which was fun. And this past spring, I participated in Brendan’s NCAA tourney pick ‘em, so I thought I’d try my hand at fantasy football. I am not doing college, although that’s probably easier. Brendan has a fantasy league, Irish Trojan’s Fantasy Football, that I’ve joined along with having my own league. If you are interested and want to join either league, leave me a comment and I’ll get you the info. I’ll periodically update on how I’m doing in each league. It’ll be fun and I’m excited about going against friends and family. But I think, in my own league, since we’re all Colts fans, we’re going to fight over a few players, lol. I bet it will all come down to who gets to draft first…

Colts, Fantasy Sports, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

As evidenced by my new blog theme, it’s football season! I am so excited! Unfortunately, as Bobbo pointed out, we won’t be getting the new Big Ten Network here. He’s got Comcast, but Time Warner isn’t carrying it, either. That is a bit of a bummer. I suppose the only way I’ll get to see Purdue play is when they play ND. Speaking of Notre Dame, if you’re a fan, and there are LOTS in this area, or if your a fan of USC, Brendan has the Irish Trojan’s 3rd annual Notre Dame and USC college football pick ‘em contest on his blog. No real award, other than bragging rights. I am not participating in this, as I detest both teams, ND moreso than USC since I grew up in South Bend, but I encourage you to join if you like that sort of thing. His NCAA basketball contest was fun, and I’m sure this one will be, too. See his blog for all the details on how to join.

I will likely be changing banners frequently. I may try to use my blog header rotator widget that I haven’t yet figured out. We’ll see how that works out. I’ve also added Purdue’s schedule to my sidebar and will update it with scores as I did last year. The Colts schedule will be up soon, also. So, be on the lookout for game day posts and analysis of my favorite team, and perhaps, your favorite team if they are playing each other

NCAA, Purdue, Sports | No Comments »

Day 2 of the new school year and all seems to going well. We decided to split Ryan and Zach up this year. There were several reasons for it, and it was a very hard decision. So hard for me, in fact, that I wasn’t entirely sure until yesterday (the first day of school) that it was the right decision. I’ve been preparing them for it all summer, and though they told us they were ok with not being in the same class, you never really can tell with 6 year olds, ya know? I felt better walking out of school yesterday morning after dropping them off after seeing that they each had friends in their class. In fact, all but one of the kids from their kindergarten class last year are split up between their two classes. Their teachers seem very sweet. Zach has a new teacher, or at least one that is new to their school. She’s even more bubbly and sweet than Ms. K., and I didn’t think that was possible! They see each other at lunch and at recess, and I think that helps.

One of the reasons we decided to split them up was for identity purposes. They were (and likely still are) affectionately known around the school by their last name, and I know that the biggest reason for that is that no one could/can tell them apart. I have always said that, even though they are identical twins, they are each their own person. They have completely different personalities and have different likes and dislikes (though they share many of the same likes and dislikes). They are two different people, and I’ve always vowed to raise them as such. Being twins is just what makes them special. It doesn’t define who they are. I try very hard not to refer to them as “the twins,” especially not within earshot of them. It’s hard to do, and I do sometimes refer to them as that, but I make a conscious effort not to. They have never been the kind to correct people about their names, but I think now people will start calling them by their first names, rather than by their last.

Another reason we decided to separate them was for academics. We’ve not seen them rely on one another to do their work yet, but I don’t want it to get to that point, either. They are very competitive by nature, and I think the less pressure they feel to compete against each other in school, the better. I expect that there will be a competitive nature throughout their life, and certainly they will feel that toward others in their class who grasp things either slower or more quickly than they do. But if I can give them a break from each other competitively, I will. Besides that, I think being together 24/7 is not necessarily a good thing for any siblings. Everyone needs a break sometime. And now they can be who they are without feeling like they have to be just like their brother.

Seing and hearing about their first two days of school has put my mind at ease about splitting them up. We’ll probably keep it this way until they are old enough to make that decision for themselves or if we see that it’s causing problems in school (since they are so super close). Honestly, it seems to be drawing them closer together. There is less fighting at home after school, and more cooperation. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s only the second day of school. It may not last. But then again, it might. Only time will tell.

Family, blogging, the kids | No Comments »

Is it just me, or does the Steeler’s new mascot look an awful lot like my Alma Mater’s mascot?

No, it’s not exactly the same, but it’s similar. What, they couldn’t come up with something original? They had to use a college mascot instead?

They do say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so I guess I’ll just go with that, and be flattered. I’ll ignore their lack of originality. For now.

NFL, Purdue, Sports | 1 Comment »

I am always interested to see where people come to my blog from. Upon looking at yesterdays stats, I found an incoming link from boxxet.com. I went to check it out and I am listed as #3 on their “Elmo” page, apparently for the toy recall post that had Elmo in it.

Interesting…

blogging | No Comments »

When I first saw this headline on Drudge, I thought, why would they be so opposed to GPS in their taxi’s? Only an illegal would really have a problem with it because they don’t want to get caught. Sure enough, I was right. I had to read the whole article, but it was there.

(emphasis mine)

Many drivers fear the IRS will use the data to audit drivers and alert the INS about illegal immigrants driving cabs.

The main complaint in the article is that it breeches their right to privacy. But, how much privacy can you expect in a cab? I suspect that the line I quoted is the crux of what’s really bothering them. They don’t want to be caught breaking the law by being here illegally. All I can say is more power to the Taxi and Limousine Commission! Don’t back down. If this can help get some of these free-loading illegals off our streets and back to their own country where they belong, it’s all right with me!

News | 5 Comments »

No, I did not nickname him that. Paul Bedard of US News & Wolrd Report did. From CBS News’s website:

Aug 24, 2007
(US News) A round of applause, please, for former Virginia Sen. George Allen, who finally got likely GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson to hint when he plans his big announcement. Filling in for Richmond’s WRVA morning host Jimmy Barrett, Allen just came out with it, asking the Law & Order star what’s up.

Said the Fred, who’s been testing the political waters: “Well, the water is pretty warm. I like the temperature a lot.” He also told Allen, “It won’t be very many more days” before he declares.

YAY!

National, Politics | No Comments »

The Daily Mail, a UK newspaper, had this story this morning:

As Nicola Delemere struggled through the pain of contractions, she was gripped with greater fears than the average expectant mother.

She and her husband were 30,000ft in the air on a plane to Crete, she was 25 weeks into her pregnancy – and there were no doctors on board.

The jet had been diverted when her waters broke but Mrs Delemere knew that Alfie couldn’t wait for landing.

Somewhere above Dusseldorf in Germany, as she sat in her seat with an air hostess and a passenger acting as midwives, he arrived, barely alive and weighing only 1lb 1oz.

Wow! That part of the story in itself is amazing. What’s even more amazing is that he lived! He came home from the hospital yesterday, 4 months after the mid-air birth.

Thankfully, flight supervisor Carol Miller was there. The woman described as “Alfie’s angel” used a drinking straw to clear the boy’s lungs, before carrying out mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and heart massage for half an hour.

That was true professionalism. I can not imagine how freaked out I would be. For her to have a clear enough head to use her knowledge to save this baby is amazing! Kudos to her! It warms my heart to read a story like this

News, Prematurity Awareness | No Comments »

ALl this rain has me feeling blah. The kids are like cooped up little rabbits….so much energy and no place to expend it. Needless to say I’ve gotten a lot of cleaning done this week. And laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. Just in time, too, since our basement is leaking again with all the rain. So, today I decided to resize the pictures I took at Celebrate Erie Sunday night. The kids and I went to see Emerson Drive, since we love their song “Moments” so much. I can’t say all the pictures are exceptionally good. I was trying different setting on our new camera, like night, no flash, etc. The rain didn’t really help, either. The lights on the stage also proved a problem when it came to trying to get pictures of the band. Not to mention that any photo I was able to get was half of Brad Mates’ face and half an umbrella. I’m just too short to get a good picture over the umbreallas, even though I was fairly close to the stage.

However, the camera has a firework setting, and I got some rather neat and interesting pictures. I’ve never worked with a camera that has the option of a slow shutter speed, so it was a new experience for me, for sure. Some of the firework pictures remind me of the photo of Papua New Guine’s Tavurvur volcano (as pictured on page 14 of my September 2007 issue of National Geographic Magazine). Here are the pictures.

Erie | 6 Comments »