My 15 Years Of Fame....Or How I Could Have Been On Top Model

Ok, so I actually had a pretty interesting life when I was younger. I kind of "fell" into an acting/modeling career after my first daughter, Hailey, was born. I was working as a singing waitress at a Dinner Theatre in Salt Lake City, when someone came up to me after the evening was over and gave me a card.

"Have you ever thought of doing commercials?" she asked.

Well, I hadn't really thought of it, as I had had a whirlwind marriage and then got pregnant right away. (Can you say, nine months later?) I was also very young, had done musical theatre in high school, and minored in music and theatre in college, but hadn't done much with it since getting married.

But I thought, "Why not---what have I got to lose?"

So, that is how I got my start. I started doing commercials first and lots of voice work. I was the voice of "Connie Cougar" and got a Lincoln Mercury for that year. I was the voice of the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio, and did about every department store voice ad in SLC. I also started doing commercials and took some amazing commercial acting classes that changed the way that I did acting forever after.

Then I moved to Denver. That is when my career started taking off. I got with an agency that really liked me. Trust me, that helps in this business. The woman that ran this agency pulled me in one day, after I had tried out for a commercial. "How tall are you?" she said. "About 5 foot, 6 3/4 inches", I replied." "Well," she said, "You look pretty put together----you'll be 5 foot, 7 inches from now on and how would you like to model?"

So, that is how I started. I went to the next casting and got the job. I was the first from that agency to shoot with this particular store, so the agency was very impressed. That also helps in this business.

I started getting sent out for everything, and was working a lot...getting national commercials, national ads, billboards, boxes, national catalogs, and going strong. I got an offer to go to Milan and model, but I had one problem. I had just had my second child, Brinna, and she was very young. I had already started back working when she was just 6 weeks old, so I just couldn't see myself leaving her or Hailey for three months while I went to make it big in Milan.

So, I chose my children over my career.

There were many times over the years that I felt very blessed to be able to do what I did. I never complained about the business, because I always was so grateful for every job that I was able to do. I turned down several big jobs that were big bucks because of my beliefs., though.
I was asked to do a big cigarette campaign (when they still advertised regularly) with billboards and big money involved, but I turned it down, as I didn't agree with supporting what I was against. I also turned down a movie once because of the bad language that I was required to say. I didn't ever want to do something that my kids couldn't come and see. I also would not do lingerie unless it was a full slip---no bra and panties for this girl! And I would only do one piece swimsuits as I didn't feel comfortable doing bikini's----I was lucky to have agencies that respected my wishes and still sent me on go-see's, etc. Well, I made money for them still, so it worked out.

I actually continued modeling and doing commercials for 20 years---give or take a few years---I'm not telling! I worked in the Texas market---Houston and Dallas, the Denver market, the Chicago market, the LA market (this one was the WORST!) and then I worked in Boston until I had my little guy, Aydan.

I am not bragging about what I did----I still feel very humbled by the fact that I was able to have my 15 years of fame. It taught me a lot about life and people and stupid choices that people make (most of the photo shoots that I did---there were drugs available) and most of all, it taught me to be strong. I can pretty much stand up for anything that I believe in and can handle most situations in the world, so I see my modeling as a plus.

All of my kids modeled at one time or another----I would be doing a catalog and they would rather have kids that are already comfortable with the "Mom" in the catalog----so they asked what sizes my kids were and could they use one or the other... Sometimes my kids went on the auditions, but didn't make it. But I did. Did I ever tell them that I did the commercial? Actually no, if they didn't ask, as it made them feel like they didn't do well---when it was probably because another child looked more like mine. (Several of my children look alot like their father---blonde, fair skinned, and I was brunette as you can see).

All in all, its kind of fun to look back and see these pictures. I loved doing this, and sometimes miss it, I will admit. I can do it again someday, if I ever lose that dang 15 pounds that I have hanging over my head----it seems that even if you are a "classic" (another word for old) model, they like you to be slender. Oh, well, we'll see...

I'm not giving up yet.

One of my first shots during testing for my "comp." card

And here's the vampy one...

One of my many brochures---I'm the attendant/agent.

This was on the packaging for this product----great money if you get these!

My first clothing catalog.

Cover of a magazine...during my "high school phase" (I was really in my late 20's)

Loved to shoot for this store---more high fashion---I was pregnant with my second child here--
four months, I believe----I had strong stomach muscles!

I just thought that this was crazy, because I always had really short nails and they put these on me after the picture was taken---freaky!

For a store in Aspen---gag, I was skinny!

One of my "Mom" looks for yet another baby product catalog.

Fun shoot---rolling around in the hay for jean ad.

Just had to show this one----its actually for a French catalog---hilarious!

Catalog nighties---woo-hoo!

Another fun shoot for a store in Aspen---I actually styled this shot---hair and makeup.
I would be a stylist whenever I was too pregnant to work---here I did it as a favor for the photographer...

Skiwear catalog---did tons of those!

I was a bit green on this shoot---I was barely pregnant with my second child and kept fainting....they gave me gum and kept shooting as I was passing out---thats the models life!

Another store ad for an Aspen store.

Ski wear again----of course, it was Denver!

This was a national poster that dentists all over the country would hang in their offices...

Ok,....wait for it...wait for it, guys....yes---its a swimsuit shot for a store in Denver---after I had already had two kids----sick, huh?

Another catalog shoot

I had to jump about 100 times to get this shot perfect between the backdrops!

National skiwear ad.

Can you believe this hair? They had to pin it forward on both sides to get this look! Heh, Heh.

Don't I look like someone famous here? Who do you think?

The same head tilt for a national ad that was on the back of Ski Magazine!

I lost a ton of weight after a few kids---crazy!

Hilarious pics of my several years of doing western wear catalogs. Yee Haw!!

Clothing ad for The Buccaneer, a store.

This was one of my billboard/taxi/bus ads that ran for about a year.

OK!!! This is it! The ad that made it into Playboy!! Pretty ris-kay, huh?

....And yes, you have it again---another ad from Playboy as well as several other fashion magazines.

A headshot for my composite.

Golden Bear jewelry catalog from Aspen and Vail----I always had about $80,000.00 worth of jewelry on me!

Gerry Baby catalog.

Golden Bear again...

....and again---I was their "muse" for about 6 years, so I worked with them a lot!

You guessed it, Golden Bear again...

Then there was work in Phoenix...hey wait a minute...that is the hotel that I stayed at just a few weeks ago in Phoenix---small world...

Say no more, say no more...

You guessed it!

Another store ad in Denver.

Magazine write-up for a store owner and his clothes.

Golden Bear.

Fun editorial shot.

Oh no, not western wear again---this time, I got the cover!

Back in Arizona...

They used all my own kids for this commercial ad for a cable company---Brinna, Clayton, and Hailey!

Then I moved to Chicago and cut my hair!

Another store ad with that new haircut.

Front Page News!

I have had lots of ups and downs trying to get my new theatre going, but today, I was on the front page of our small community newspaper.

Ok,....well, its a start.

And how else can I get free advertising for my auditions?

So, we will see how it works.

Check it out HERE!

Now, there are a lot of things that aren't right, but what can you expect? She took shorthand and didn't even have a tape recorder. (Sigh) Thats show business----you got to roll with the punches...

And if you want a good laugh, check out the blubbering idiot moment on the video at the end of the article. Gosh, I wish that she would have told me that she was doing a video earlier!

I doubt that anyone will trust me with improv. (not "improve", like the article states---geeze, where you been, lady?) after seeing my stumbling and bumbling over words.

Well, we all have to start somewhere.

Don't Care Much For Politics

I have really been confused about what to do at the election polls this year. I have not been happy with either of the presidential hopefuls---they seem full of hot air and false promises and lies, lies, lies.

So, then I read this article on another blog and I really liked it.

It seemed to make sense to me.

I don't know how you all feel about this dilemma, but I am reprinting this article. Thank you to Jennie for the great find...

This article was in Meridian Magazine by Orson Scott Card.

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?
By Orson Scott Card

Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist, and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current state of journalism.

An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

The goal of this rule change was to help the poor — which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house — along with their credit rating.

They end up worse off than before.

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay entitled "Do Facts Matter?" ( http://snipurl.com/457townhall_com] ): "Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury."

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?

Now let's follow the money ... right to the presidential candidate who is the number-two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae.

And after Freddie Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one presidential candidate's campaign actually consulted him for advice on housing.

If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was.

But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an "adviser" to the Obama campaign — because that campaign had sought his advice — you actually let Obama's people get away with accusing McCain of lying, merely because Raines wasn't listed as an official adviser to the Obama campaign.

You would never tolerate such weasely nit-picking from a Republican.

If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles, you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically selfish, and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including Obama.

If you who produce our local daily paper had any personal honor, you would find it unbearable to let the American people believe that somehow Republicans were to blame for this crisis.

There are precedents. Even though President Bush and his administration never said that Iraq sponsored or was linked to 9/11, you could not stand the fact that Americans had that misapprehension — so you pounded us with the fact that there was no such link. (Along the way, you created the false impression that Bush had lied to them and said that there was a connection.)

If you had any principles, then surely right now, when the American people are set to blame President Bush and John McCain for a crisis they tried to prevent, and are actually shifting to approve of Barack Obama because of a crisis he helped cause, you would be laboring at least as hard to correct that false impression.

Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That's what you claim you do, when you accept people's money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie — that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad — even bad weather — on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth — even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

Because that's what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth even when they don't like the probable consequences. That's what honesty means . That's how trust is earned.

Barack Obama is just another politician, and not a very wise one. He has revealed his ignorance and naivete time after time — and you have swept it under the rug, treated it as nothing.

Meanwhile, you have participated in the borking of Sarah Palin, reporting savage attacks on her for the pregnancy of her unmarried daughter — while you ignored the story of John Edwards's own adultery for many months.

So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know what honesty means?

Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?

You might want to remember the way the National Organization of Women threw away their integrity by supporting Bill Clinton despite his well-known pattern of sexual exploitation of powerless women. Who listens to NOW anymore? We know they stand for nothing; they have no principles.

That's where you are right now.

It's not too late. You know that if the situation were reversed, and the truth would damage McCain and help Obama, you would be moving heaven and earth to get the true story out there.

If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its lending practices.

Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which put our nation's prosperity at risk so they could feel good about helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama's door.

You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a Senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis. You will tell the truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.

This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.

If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe — and vote as if — President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis, then you are joining in that lie.

If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats — including Barack Obama — and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants were Republicans — then you are not journalists by any standard.

You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a news paper in our city.

This article first appeared in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, North Carolina.


So, what do you think?

Hmmm. Its definitely worth thinking about...

I Learned Something New

While I was on another one of my whirlwind insanely idiotic trips where everything went wrong with the airlines, I happened on a new word. I found this interesting, as I usually know most words or have read them at one time or another.

The word is synecdoche----pronounced sin-eck-de-kee.

"A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific or the material for the thing made from it."

Cool, huh?

And....what does that mean....really....some examples?

Well, you know how we say "Better watch out for the law!" What we mean is watch out for the police. What about if we say "That guy is a big mouth" What we mean is that the guy talks alot.

Get it?

Got it?

Good.

Hold the "press"! Where is my new "set of wheels"?

Guess you will have to use your "head" to figure it out.

An Observation

A few days ago, I was looking under my bed for the stash of books that I want to read next. I had just finished a book and I keep the next ones that I want to read under there. Well, I brought the books out and..... whew!..... there were huge dust bunnies curling on top of them. I blew them off and wiped the books down and went over each of them to decide which one to start on next.

I couldn't believe the amount of dust that had built up since I had put them under there. It had only been a few weeks, but there was a small colony of dust bunnies residing under there.

In the same week, I decided to take all of the socks out of my sock drawers to sort them. I have a dark sock drawer and a light sock drawer, but lately it seems that I have to take forever to find a mate, so I decided to put them all together in mates and throw the rest out.

Well, this proved to be rather fruitless, as I laid out sock after sock after sock after sock after sock that didn't appear to have a mate.

What? I couldn't believe that even some of my favorite socks, ones that were fairly new, were with out a mate! Where had they gone?

So, I started thinking about how this world sometimes gets so crazy and that we spend so much time and energy cleaning up and getting rid of one thing----that seems to grow and have a mind of its own and at the same time, something that we really need has a mind of its own and just walks away and we end up spending countless energy looking for it.

All right, so it sounded pretty sane in my head while I was mulling it over in frustration. But, come on, now....really.....don't you have the same problem?

Theres A New Hottie....Er.....Botti In Town

Last week my husband surprised me with a night at the Boston Pops. He had planned it for weeks and loves to surprise me----and I am a hard person to surprise, as I am picky about what I do when I have some time off. I don't get a lot of time off, so I prefer doing things that I love to do.

So, I was worried.

But, as we came up the subway stairs, we were right in front of the Boston Symphony Hall, so I kind of had an idea where we were going. I was excited, as I really like the Boston Pops. Bret showed me the poster as we were going in, grinning a bit as I took it all in.

The Boston Pops were welcoming a trumpet player named Chris Botti,---well, he is someone that I had never heard of, so I read on. There on the next line was a name that I was intimate with.
After all, we have had many discussions together and hung out numerous times.....well,....in my dreams.

Yes, you guessed it----it was Sting! He was going to be joined with several other celebrities, such as Steven Tyler and Yo-Yo Ma. (who is unbelievable in his cello playing----cello is my favorite string instrument, by the way)

I felt a little bit more of a zing of excitement then, as I anticipated the evening----and I was feeling great as we looked for our seats.

They were up in the balcony, but that was ok, because we had a great view of the entire hall---which is so beautiful, with its gilding and old archways and seating. Then it was really intriguing seeing the big cameras and the large booms that were swinging back and forth in front of the stage. Oh, right, I guess that I forgot to tell you that this was a "special" night, as they were taping a PBS special as well! So, everyone had to be aware that they could stop the concert at any time to do a part over or change something that they didn't think was right.

It brought back lots of memories of my commercial days, so it was fun to watch.

So, we sat quietly waiting to start the show. The orchestra started to play and this thin, blonde man comes on stage, impeccably dressed in an Europeon cut tuxedo. Of course, he was carrying a trumpet, so I knew who he was immediately.

"Wow!" I thought, "Wow." He was quite a hottie, this Chris Botti.

And then he started to play.

There was something ethereal about his playing----transporting one to another world. Beautiful. Lyrical. Transcendent.

Ok, so I have to admit that I was in heaven. I then remembered that I had heard Chris's playing on several of Stings albums and had loved his haunting style. So, I just sat back, closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment.

The evening turned out to be fantastic. Sting came on (AAAAAHHHHH----he is the COOLEST MAN EVER!) and sang a number with Chris, then several other girls came on and sang with him....ho, hum....not so great, and we only had to stop one time when they had to re-powder Chris's nose, and he had to re-tell a joke and told us to laugh the next time.

Oh, yeah, there was that incident when Jon Mayer was singing---oh, did I forget to mention him? Yes, he was doing some jazz number when the producer lady came and tapped him on the shoulder and stopped his song about halfway through. Oh, it was PRICELESS, the look on his face! I hope that someone captured it for a great You Tube moment!

Apparently some older gentleman in one of the first few rows had passed out and they needed to get him medical help. So, they stopped the show for about 15 minutes until the paramedics could come and wheel him out. It was pretty exciting, and after it was over, Chris and Sting and Yo-Yo Ma came out and played one of my favorite songs of all time: "Fragile" by Sting. It was a beautiful moment. Apparently they had been doing a show together when 9-11 happened and after they found out, they asked the crowd if they should go on----to which they played this number. So perfect.

So, now I have discovered a new voice. I, of course, will have a bit of Chris's playing on my music line-up, so take a few minutes to listen.

Close your eyes. Go to that happy place.

Its really nice.

I Want One Of These!

A few months ago I was visiting a woman from my church. She and I were in her dining room talking, when all of the sudden, I heard this small motor start up in the corner. I was a bit perplexed as I noticed a small round object start to move around the edge of the room.

"What is that?" I exclaimed.
I was intrigued.

"Oh, that...that's my vacuum".

Huh? What?

Ok, I knew that there were robots doing things out there, but I didn't realize that they were SERIOUSLY cleaning, and ALL BY THEMSELVES!!

Now....we are talking a dream come true. This amazing little vacuum can be scheduled to do its vacuuming, coming off its charger and going around the room or rooms, and even raising up to go into another room, if that is what you program it to do! I was in love...

So, I started hinting to my family as Mothers Day was right around the corner. ("I Robot, I Robot, I Robot," I said. I sometimes even answered questions with "I Robot")

Mothers Day came and.......I got a kayak.

Now, don't get me wrong----I do like to kayak, but I REALLY need this little vacuum!

So, I thought that I would hint some more and maybe on my birthday?

Well, you guessed it----I got a great surprise party, but no amazing vacuum.
Now I have a friend that told me her theory on why women don't get vacuums for gifts from their significant others:

*They are worried that it will look like they are trying to tell you that you are a slob and need to clean. (Which is a viable reason, because I don't HAVE a vacuum that works right now, and a lot of carpet to vacuum, so I am a slob!)
*They think that women will be upset if they get them a domestic gift.
*They are worried that you will start to love your vacuum robot more than them. (Hmmmm..... viable point)
*They won't have anything to complain about if all the dust bunnies are up off of the floor.

But what that significant other just doesn't realize that this wonderful tool would be more than just a domestic item in the house. It would be a friend. It would be a play toy for the cats and puppies. It would be a fascination for my son. It would be a conversation piece for anyone visiting or dropping by. It would become part of the family, and yes, I would probably name it....

Have I mentioned that I want one?

And, I need to find something that can do toilets.....and does that Robot come in green?

A Bad Smell

As I have painfully made it clear, I have an acute sense of smell.
It can be my downfall sometimes, as I will come into the door of my house and sniff out a bad smell until I find it!

BEWARE if I ever come to visit!!

Well, about a month ago, as I was getting ready to go on yet another band trip, and I got in my new car (you remember, Honeydew) to leave, I turned on the air conditioner, because,....well....it was a hot day. Imagine my surprise when the air blowing from the clean new car air conditioner smelled like a dead fish!

EEEEWWWWWW, you may say. (That's what a new friend of mine said---she's really cool---read her blog here!)

Yes, it was indeed an EEEEWWWWW moment and as I tried to ignore it, and not compare it to the smell of briny shrimp that had been left out for several days, I bravely pulled out of the driveway and went on my trip.

Every day I had to go through this same ritual. Sometimes I would have one of my band mates in the car, and they would curl up their noses (how does one "curl" up their nose, by the way?) and make some remark about how I was getting stinky for a girl, or some such other disgusting banter about the smell. My poor son, Aydan, would just hold his nose and say "Yeeecccchhhh, Mom! What is that smell?

Now, you may ask why I just didn't take it in to the nearest Toyota dealer for them to take a gander at it. I wanted to, but as I said----I was traveling every weekend and sometimes during the week, as well as doing the theatre camps, etc. Oh, you know all about it...unless you haven't read my blog before or live on Mars. Or time travel back and forth through an anomaly. Hang on, that is in one of my favorite new shows from the BBC, Primeval...

So, back to my smell.

I finally got my car in on Friday.

Oh, yes, they found something. Some little curmudgeon had eaten its way through my air filter, and left lots of feces and foodstuffs, etc. Of course, IT was no longer there---dead and rotting. Noooooo, it had made its escape long ago. I thought that for sure it would be a dead fish in there, maybe flopped there during a big rain, or some large dead shrimp, hiding out after escaping from a shrimper here in the bay near Boston. My mind had conjured up all sorts of things, but it was just a rotten chipmunk or mouse---leaving behind a mess.
And a mess it was. In fact, the Toyota place had to charge me $135.00 just to clean up that mess and replace the filter.

The filter was only $10.00, the rest was "labor". It still doesn't smell that good, so I am kind of concerned. And I have to admit that I think that my car is now going to be the "new" nesting area for every rodent and chipmunk in the area.

It'll probably be a big party place. Perhaps they'll serve shrimp.

Tricky Maneuver

Every season I change the colors and look of my house.

I like change.

I crave change.

I get so excited when it is getting close to the time when I get to change my bedding, curtains, pillows, towels, etc. to the next "season". Most people think that I am crazy, but I don't care.

I like having a whole new color palette!

Well, along with this new palette, I sometimes change out things like baskets, (you know, white ones just don't go with the fall browns, golds, maroons and beige's.) Well, one such basket is in my bathroom atop my toilet.

Now, let me first say that my family doesn't really care about all the change---and they don't complain when their bed sheets have mysteriously changed to a new color and even consistency. Even my youngest, Aydan, just gets used to whatever decorative changes that go on.

Until Saturday.

It happened like this:

(I was walking on my treadmill,----I've been trying to walk for a half hour a day) Aydan walked up to me and said, "Mom, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Me: "Well,....sure....hang on." (I got off the treadmill----he looked very serious)

Aydan: "Well, I wanted to let you know that that new BASKET that you put in the bathroom isn't going to work!" (this said with lots of drama)

Me: " Oh,....why?"

Aydan: (looking at me as if I am stupid) "Well, its too BIG!"

Me: (I'm just not getting it...) "Why?"

Aydan: "It sticks out over the toilet top and the lid won't STAY UP!"

Me: (I don't get the problem, I'm thinking---just hold it up) ......

Aydan: (a bit exasperated) "Mom! It keeps falling down when I am trying to....well....you know......

Me: (Getting it finally) "Oh,....oh....I'm so sorry! I didn't even think about that when I put it there! So, what did you do?" (thinking that I was in for a mess to clean up)

Aydan: (still very serious) "Well,......I just.......(and here is a long pause)....used my head to hold it up..."

Me: (speechless)

Needless to say, I took that basket right off and put a smaller one there---in the right color tone, of course, but I couldn't have my little guy stressing over tricky maneuvers.

Aydan, trying to keep afloat in my wacky world!

Honesty....Is Such A Lonely Word

I have a very bad habit. Or maybe you would call it a weakness.

I am a trusting soul.

I tend to always believe what people tell me and trust them.

As usual, it has gotten me into trouble again.

Of course, you have read about my search for the perfect place for my new theatre ventures. Or maybe you haven't; if not, you can read about it here. I still haven't found someone to share the space with, by the way----even though I have a belly dancer who is renting it by the hour----two hours a week, anyway. That doesn't make much of a dent in the rent, but I will take what I can get...

But back to the subject at hand. I did have a successful summer in the space, doing Musical Theatre camps there, and ended up with a record number of students in my last camp, with 17 students! It was a lot of work, as I write the shows that we do and then choreograph them, and the students learn them to perform on the last day---this while trying to do acting exercises, vocal exercises, teaching costuming and stage hair and makeup! Its crazy....and STRESSFUL!

So, naturally, the week with the 17 students was the most stressful, and I now swear that I am NOT going to put more than 15 in a class----EVER!!

Well, this brings me to my weakness. There was this Dad that had put his daughter in the camps last summer. Two of the camps, actually. But he is one of these kind of Dads that show up on the first day----never pre-registered, no paperwork, hands you a wad a cash and says that his daughter is ready to take the class. Well, of course, you don't turn him away, and you scramble to get a folder and supplies ready for the girl. She is a cutie and talented, so no worries.

So, this year I got an e-mail from him at the first of the summer. I guess that he had found my e-mail on my Facebook page. (He is one of my "friends"----this is where I am making a face...)
He wanted to see when the dates for the camps were for this summer, and was interested in having his daughter take them again. Well, I was rather surprised and excited that he was trying to enroll her BEFORE the class started, so I wrote back...

He then wrote back to me a few weeks later, telling me that his daughter did, indeed, want to take my camp again,---and he told me which one----and not only that, but his other two daughters wanted to take the camp also! "Wow!" I thought, "Thats great!" He then went on to inform me that he had to figure out how they would get there---he had to arrange the rides for them, etc., as he was no longer living with them, as he was going through a divorce, etc.

"Hang on," you are saying. "Did I just read a 'red flag'?" Divorce? And what is he doing for a living? Well, he said that he was bartending, so I thought that was probably why he paid in cash.

I'm sure that you are way ahead of me by now.

You are very smart.

You are not the trusting type like me.

I already admire you for that.

So, he then wrote me to tell me that he wouldn't be able to bring the girls, as their Grandma was going to, but that he would see me on the last day, when he came to see the show, and HE WOULD PAY ME THEN.

Oh,..........no..........not that, Shawn. You are obviously not that stupid and moronic.

Yes, I am. I believed him. I spent that week going through the worst stress of any theatre camp I had done---busting my buttocks to work with 17 students. And when he came on the last day,
(YES, HE HAD THE NERVE TO COME AND SEE THE SHOW!!) and I asked him about the money, he had the gall to say, "Oh, my wife didn't pay? I thought that SHE was going to!"

So, he took my address and promised to send it in the mail...

Its been over three weeks now, and of course, I have not seen any of the money. I have e-mailed him, and we even went by the Grandma's house to harass her. (Bret did that, not me----I could NEVER!) We got his number----he was living with his Dad,----puh-leeeze----but his Dad said that he had moved out and didn't know how to get ahold of him----RIGHT, uh, huh... I even wrote a Facebook reminder----something like----"this is your conscience speaking".... Nothing....

The problem is that I was counting on that money to pay my rent on my new space for Sept. I have been trying to make a go of this business for about three years now----never getting any money from grants, (I'm too brain dead to know how to write to get one) and never have had a loan (my credit is too bad---because of my first marriage, but that's another story)----so I have used every dime that I have made to put right back into my business. My dream... (Cue the teary-eyed music)

Blah, blah, blah....you are saying...I don't want to hear your sob stories any more... There are people with a WHOLE lot more problems than you! I know....I hear you....

But here I am, SCREWED over again and all because I am a trusting person.

So, what is a girl to do?

It sucks.

So, do any of you have stories about your trusting nature? I could so use a few....

....to make me feel better.