4UrWorld

How My Mugshot is Helping Your World Go Green

4UrWorld Mugshot on EcoMugs.

Green products are an economical and easy way to do your part in stopping global warming. Over time, Eco Mugs developed systems that enable them to create and ship single mugs in an economical fashion, all personalized with your logo and customers name.

I met Kirk Meyer, Founder of Eco Mugs, through the Mentor program for Affiliate Summit.  Kirk had my logo put on a couple of mugs and sent them to me, in appreciation for heading up the Mentor program. 

My daughter, Cari Caldwell, designed my logo, and is in the picture with me holding up the Eco Mugs.  I am so proud of the job Cari did, and the mugs that Kirk sent me.   

Cari Caldwell Designed Logo for Mug

Camping on Route 66, My Mom and Dad.

I got home from Affiliate Summit today and went straight to see my Parents. My Mom was excited because she said a couple came in to camp who video taped them to put them on their website. www.thelonglonghoneymoon.com. 

made this very high quality video of my Parents.  My Parents have never really understood how a blog worked or how it could possibly help a business.  I hope this helps them understand, maybe now they will “Get Me”.

Wow, It’s A Small World! Story #1

I cannot tell you how many times I have said this in the past couple of years, especially since my kids have ventured out into the world and called home with stories of how small this world really is. 

I am going to share with you a few stories of “Wow, It’s a Small World”

Story #1

My Husband has always kept in touch with his 1st cousins, and their families.  On my Husband’s, Mother’s side of the family, he had 2 uncles, and 2 aunts.  Well to make a long story short, his cousin, Bambi, had a son going to Texas Tech, and his cousin Ranay had a daughter going to Texas Tech.  Of course all three of of my kids lived in Lubbock and knew both of their cousins.  Bambi’s son had a get together, called my kids and invited them over there.  When my kids got to the house, they noticed that Ranay’s daughter was there also.  My kids thinking well these two knew they were cousins, just went about their business talking to both of them, until they noticed that Bambi’s son was hitting on Ranay’s daughter.  One of my kids just had to speak up, “hey dude don’t you know that is your cousin”. 

Small world !!  Good things my kids went to the party, kissing cousins?  Might not have set well with the parents. 

If you have any stories of “Wow, It’s a Small World” happenings, share them, who knows we may know the same people.  You just never know. 

I have several more to tell you in this series of “Wow, It’s a Small World”.

Fraggle Rock Mountain, and Tummy-Getter Hill

Tummy-Getter Hill 

Memories ! awwww wonderful memories.  I am so lucky to have had my Parents around when my kids were growing up.  My Parents made some really great memories for my kids, memories of love, fun, and laughter. 

My Parents own a campground, so they actually lived in the back of the office of the campground.  My Parent’s also own a farm.  Just east of my Parent’s campground is a hill, the hill has a lot of gypsum rock, and some actual caves.  It could be kind of scary to a small kid, to go near a large hole in the ground that leads to who knows where, especially in the imagination of a child.  My Dad would sometimes load up the grandkids (7 grandkids)  in his pickup truck, (no car seats or seat belts mind you, that is how us country folk do it !) and take them up on this hill, probably to get them out of the house and out of my Mom’s hair. 

After the journey up the hill, they started calling “Fraggle Rock Mountain”,  my Dad would then take them “Round and About on Buttercup Farm”.  I don’t know where that name came from, I remember it from my childhood, maybe there was a song with that in the lyrics, I’m not sure.   Well on with the journey….I don’t know how many of you have been down farm to market roads, country roads, or back roads, (whatever they are called) but they are usually just dirt roads.  Some are winding, some are hilly, some are both.  Here in Texas it is usually dry and when you drive down these roads the dirt flies up behind your vehicle, that is how you can tell is someone is comeing up the road, you see the dirt.  My Dad would take the kids from “Fraggle Rock Mountain”, then “Round and About On Buttercup Farm”.  Last but not least, the ultimate thrill, was going really fast on one of these hills on the backroads and when you came over the hill, it is kind of like a rollercoaster, it gets your tummy.  Hence the name “Tummy-Getter Hill”. 

Memories ! awwww wonderful memories.

My time to “BITCH”, !

This is going to be a long post, so if you don’t want to read it you better just LEAVE now!

Okay, so you don’t want to hear me complain.  Sure I hate getting freakin’ older.  Who doesn’t?  You think I like the fact that I can’t lose weight as easily as I used to.  I have to work hard at trying to stay fit.  I hate the word retirement, the next step is death.  The term “Golden Years” makes me want to puke!  “Life starts at 40″!  Who the hell came up with that saying?  Hell everything goes to pot after 40, you can’t read without bifocals or reading glasses, your kids leave home and your parents are aging. 

I worked hard at raising three kids and people don’t understand why I get emotional when they leave each time to go back to college, or continue their lives, not to give Mom another thought, until they need something.  They even do things just to “Spite” Mom.  What’s the deal?  The other day I told my kids to be careful in the pool, what they were doing was dangerous.  My daughter looked at me and said “More the reason to do it, because you don’t want me to”. 

I have been faithful to my husband, there for my kids, and I have been an obedient daughter.  I have done everything I could to please everyone in my life.  Just to hear words from them like “You complain too much”, “Just the more reason to do it, because you don’t want me to”, and “you need to get a job and quit feeling sorry for yourself”. 

You don’t think raising kids, putting up with a husband in his ”I’m not sure if I’m ready to settle down” years, and putting up with an old stubborn Dad who is never wrong, isn’t a job.  Plus I have worked, most of my adult life, I worked at a bank for over 18 years, ran a business for 5 years, and still kept up with being a wife, mother and daughter.  I was also a costume maker at Halloween, I created stage Props at my daughters dance recitals, I have been to every football, basketball, and baseball game (even coached) that my kids have been involved in.  I was a cheerleader Mom, but not like the obsessed ones, I encouraged my daughter but didn’t push her.  I made cookies for the class parties and was class mom a year or two.  I had to go and stand up to a freakin’ teacher when she told my son he was stupid.  “You don’t mess with my kid, woman”.  I have been the bookkeeper, the cook, the laundry woman, I don’t like to clean, but I have to sometimes.  I have been a peacemaker, a counselor to a sister (going through a divorce).  I have spent hours at the hospital when my Mom was ill.   

This morning my husband told me “I complain to much”.  I think all I said was “I have a headache”.  For his information it is a MIGRAINE, which he has never experienced.   

I have never been one of those wives who complain about my husband putting stuff off, like the floor tile for the kitchen, which he finally laid 2 1/2 years after the tile being bought.  I may have teased him.  I told him “it was Virgin Tile, it was never going to get laid”, but I never, not even once nagged at him about getting it done.  Hell I would have done it myself, but he would have found a reason to tell me I did it wrong.  So I put up with the nasty kitchen carpet until he finally got it done.  Believe you me; he is hell to be around when he is working on something like that.  He bitches and moans more than me. 

I am sorry to be so off the wall crazy with this blog post, but sometimes you can just take so much and you gotta “Speak Your Mind”.  Sometimes you even have to escape it all.  You wanna know a secret?  I keep a pair of shoes in my car.  I call them my “Run Away Shoes”.  When I am around the house I am usually barefoot, that is just how I am comfortable.  I want the security of knowing that if someone in my family pisses me off, instead of staying there and battling it out (they say I don’t know when to shut up) ((whatever !!)) I can leave for a while and cool off.  The shoes are in case I run out of gas or have a flat tire or something.  I consider them my emergency kit.

You know everyone I know complains about something.  My Dad complains about President Bush, do you hear me telling him he complains too much.  My Husband complains about his back hurting.  What do I do?  I usually rub it for him.  My Daughter complains about not having enough cloths or the perfect thing to wear.  OMG you should see her closet, so full of cloths.  My Son may complain because his cell phone doesn’t work sometimes, he thinks he needs to change carriers, shit all carriers have their problems, you can’t pick up service everywhere all the time. 

So if casually mentioning in conversation to my Husband that I had a headache, gets on his nerves.  Maybe I should put more than “Run Away Shoes” in my car.  Maybe I should have a whole “Run Away Bag” packed.  

 Sorry I am usually the nicest sweetest person you wanna meet, I really try my hardest to keep peace, but tell me I am complaining too much, you better run for them there hills buddy!!!

Okay enough with my ranting.  I will try to go back to that Wife, Mother, and Daughter everyone expects me to be.  Now where did I put my bottle of Xanax?

Sorry, I’m just having a BAD Day !

My New Business Card Design

My New Business Card,

Designed by My Wonderful Daughter, Cari Caldwell.

The Many Beautiful Women Throughout My Family

This is a slide show of my Grandmother, Ferrol Annette Bradley Burkhalter and all the beautiful women in this world because my Grandparents fell in love so many years ago.  It is awesome because we have discovered the love letters, that my Grandmother and Grandaddy had written each other in 1932, they wrote these letters put them in the mail and it took several days to get to each other.  They only knew each other for a few months before they ran off to get married.  I also have a letter that her mother had written my Grandmother, I don’t think she was very happy about it all, yet my Grandparents marriage love and respect lasted their whole lives.  I have compiled a video of all of my Grandmother’s girls and their girls and so forth and so on.  We are all grateful for our slightly rebellious young lovers (Grandparents), if it wasn’t for them We wouldn’t be here.  Thank you Grandmother I love you and miss you.

The Life of a Procrastinator !! Now I am in Shut Down Mode !

Family Reunion Slide Show.  God why do I procrastinate?  It is who the freak I am.  Like it or not I procrastinate.  Then I get all this anxiety and want to go into “Shut Down Mode”. 

My computer’s slowing down because I have scanned so many family pictures for a slide show.  Everyone is depending on me.  It is like a puzzle now, who in this family belongs to who again?  hmmmmm…..I forget who the heck this person belongs to. (There is actually a Marth Lee and a Martha Lou who are first cousins, who confusing.)  So many pictures , so many people.  Can I just fake a coma and stay home in bed?  What songs to I put with these pictures?  What if I offend someone?

Can you guys tell I am no good under stress?  I’m supposed to do better under stress.  That is always how I have rolled.  Well crap, maybe I am getting…..No, No Way am I getting Old.  Screw that, I am not getting old.   I can do this….!!!

Wish me luck, or at least wish my husband luck. lol, he will need it when he comes home to this crazy emotionally unstable woman.    

But I must show you how pretty my Mom is . 

Family Reunions ! Time Goes By Way Too Fast.

 The little girl at the first is me…Sorry about the long periods where the video is focused on one part, like the babies, I hope you didn’t get bored.  It was just kinda hard to edit the video after I downloaded it.   

Who Am I ?

I was at Affiliate Summit and visiting with Mark Weiglus from 45n5.com, he was in charge of the blog room.  As we visited the question came up, “What is your Niche”?  “What are you interested in”?  I was almost embarrased.  “I have no idea.” I thought to myself. Everyone in the Affiliate marketing community talk about finding your “Niche”.  Oh my God, I have no clue who I am.  I have been a wife and a mother for so many years and I have no idea what I am all about.  Sure I am all about my kids, and I love my husband, but my kids are grown, my husband has gotten a promotion and is all excited about his work and that is his life now. 

My Parents live close, and thank Goodness, I am close as they are getting older and time is something you can never get back.  I treasure each precious moment with my Parents.

There are so many women who have blogs about their kids, being a mom, strong women.  Yeah, yeah, yeah,….whatever!   I am nothing special.  Who am I?  I am like every other woman in the world who has dedicated their lives to their family.  Which is so admirable, don’t get me wrong, I am proud of myself, and I love my family more than life itself. 

But Who Am “I” ?