What's In Your Body Wash?

Okay, so I bought this yummy Vanilla Sugar body wash. It smells so good that if I was five, I'd prollie try to eat it. So anyhoo, I happened to notice the back of the bottle.

Here's the description (and I'm not making this up): "Toasted vanilla and sugar-dipped strawberries blended with sun-brewed sweet tea, fluffy jasmine petals and a touch of soft freesia essence." Doesn't that just cover all the bases? It sounds like a combination of every scent Bath and Body Works ever thought of.

But then I saw the ingredient list (I'm also not making this up!): Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Glucoside, Cocamidopropyl Betane, Fragrance, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Peg-6 Caprylic/Capric Clycerides, Sodium Chloride, Peg-150 Pentaerythrtyl Tetrastearate, Disodium Edta, Sodium Benzotriazolyl Butylphenol Sulfonate, Beteth-3, Tributyl Citrate, Acrylamide/ Sodium Acrylate Copolymer, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone

Good grief! I'm kinda scared to use it now.

What In The World: Still Can't Believe It

Mom in Fake Retardation Case Gets Jail

TACOMA, Wash. - A woman who coached her children to fake mental retardation to collect disability benefits was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday.

Rosie Costello, 46, must also pay nearly $288,000 in restitution after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to defraud the government and Social Security fraud. Last week, a judge sentenced her son, Pete Costello, to 13 months in prison.

The scheme was discovered after Pete Costello, now 28, was caught on surveillance video contesting a traffic ticket in a Vancouver, Wash., courtroom. Since he was 8, his mother had represented to state and federal officials that he was so severely retarded he could not perform simple tasks.

Earlier, she had used the same scheme with her daughter, Marie, beginning when the girl was 4. Investigators have been unable to find the daughter.

The sentence imposed was longer than the federal guideline.

U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton called Costello a "habitual offender" who "asked her children to do despicable things," according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle.

"I'm sorry for what I did," Costello told the court. "I had a very hard life. I have grandchildren out there who need me. If I could, I would take it all back."

I Thought This Was Sweet

[KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON]

It's safe to say Elna Marie Johnson will never forget her pen pal's birthday. Johnson, 71, who has lived in Klamath Falls for 43 years, was living in Colorado in 1947 when she spotted a notice in a newspaper that circulated in the Sunday schools of Lutheran churches. The notice said a 10-year-old Michigan girl named Elma Marie wanted a pen pal. Johnson's mother encouraged her to write to the girl because they had similar names.

After an exchange of letters, Johnson learned that her new pen pal's name was Elna, not Elma, and they had the same date of birth-- April 9, 1936. The two Elna Maries have stayed in touch ever since. Last week, Johnson went to Reese, Mich., to visit Elna Marie Kempff-- her third trip to Michigan since the two became pen pals. "I have a tenacious spirit when it comes to hanging on to my friends," Johnson said.

The correspondence began with the girls writing about their pets, schools and families. Over the years, the subjects changed to college, Kempff's teaching career and Johnson's marriage and four children. They first met during their freshman year of college, when Johnson took the train to visit Kempff at her small Lutheran college in Illinois. Johnson was enrolled in an Indiana college at the time.

When grown-up life intervened, the Elnas scaled back their correspondence to mostly Christmas and birthday cards. But when Kempff took vacations out West, she'd stop and visit Johnson. One time they unintentionally wore the same outfit.

Even with their similarities, the friends have their differences. Johnson thinks Kempff is more outgoing and talkative, and Kempff thinks Johnson is more domesticated. But they are kindred spirits, Johnson said, sharing a Christian faith, a love of family and sightseeing.

Heinous Shoes To Get You Through The Week

Y'all know I love flip flops. They're fun, cheap, comfortable, easy to pack, and just plain pretty. Flip flops are on my "things I heart" list quite often. However, these are NOT the type of flip flops that I mean when I put "flip flops" on my list.

Simply put, these are heinous. They're a combination of moon boot-floatie-rubbery paddle thingees.

Maybe The Heat Gets To Them

I lived in Florida for three months and I truly believe Florida has the worst drivers I've ever encountered. Almost every day on my way to work, I saw an accident or some other traffic calamity. If you are a resident of or visitor to one of these cities, what do YOU think?

MIAMI - For the second straight year, rude Miami drivers have earned the city the title of worst road rage in a survey released Tuesday.

Miami motorists said they saw other drivers slam on their brakes, run red lights and talk on cell phones. Other cities near the top of the rude drivers list were New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

South Miami resident Erik P told The AP he's probably seen every bad driving habit on Miami's roads. "You don't want to know what I've seen," P said. "I've seen everything. I'm from L.A., and we don't see the crazy drivers that you see here."

Portland, Ore., drivers were the least likely of the cities to see other motorists tailgating on the roadways, and St. Louis motorists were the least likely to swear at another driver, the survey found.

Minneapolis-St. Paul was rated the most courteous city in 2006 but slipped to the middle of the list this year.

The most frequent cause of road rage cited in the survey was impatient motorists. [Yikes! That's me!] Drivers also cited poor driving in fast lanes and driving while stressed, frustrated or angry.

The list, ranked from those reporting the most incidents of road rage to the fewest:

1. Miami
2. New York
3. Boston
4. Los Angeles
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Phoenix
7. Chicago
8. Sacramento, Calif.
9. Philadelphia
10. San Francisco
11. Houston
12. Atlanta
13. Detroit
14. Minneapolis-St. Paul
15. Baltimore
16. Tampa, Fla.
17. San Diego
18. Cincinnati
19. Cleveland
20. Denver
21. Dallas-Ft. Worth
22. St. Louis
23. Seattle-Tacoma
24. Pittsburgh
25. Portland, Ore.

Bloggirl, Interrupted

I'm sure y'all are tired of seeing the same old posts, but it's kinda like this....

visiting Texas granny +

working overtime +

brother getting ordained +

dad celebrating 30 years in the ministry +

Mother's Day +

normal stuff =

No time to blog!

Loaded Questions #4, The Answers

Okay, here are my guesses for this round.... whoever said I was stumped was right! :)

"It irritates me when people have absolutely no tact in what they say. It makes everyone in the room uncomfortable, even if what they are saying is correct."

Hmm.. I think this might be Friend X or Carrie.

"It irritates me when a group of people divide into two gender groups, and you are given "looks" if you go to the opposite gender group."

My guess for this one is akalinear or Rachy.

"Lack of tact!!"

I think this one might be Jared D.

"Someone who always has to do you one better. If you climbed K2, they climbed Mt. Everest."

Hmm.. and I think this is also either akalinear or Rachy.

Fun times! Thanks, guys. You can leave a comment to let me know if I'm right or wrong.

Wait! I think I just changed my mind. I think the 2nd Anon might be Friend X. So, basically that throws everything completely off. C'mon people, put me out of my misery. :)

Gnome Had To Stay Close To Home

There was a time when Gnome couldn't travel far from home and why was that?

Gnome had a little Gnomelet of his own!

Thanks to akalinear for sending me my own little Gnomelet!! And this one fits a little better in my suitcase for later adventures when he grows up! [Well, my word, he already has a beard, so he must be pretty grown up already!] :)

Waaahahahahahahahaaaa

So, the fam was having dinner the other night. We were eating and chatting and the subject of names came up.

Someone asked K1, "What's his name?" [pointing to her daddy]

She said, "Daddy."

"Right, but what do we call him?"

"I not know."

"What's his first name?"

"Hon."

At this point, we all just DIED laughing because that is, in fact, what her mommy calls her daddy.

Too cute.

Just Plain Cute

I saw these shoes in a catalog at one of my favorite stores. Aren't they just super cute? And guess what?

They're on sale for $16.99!! Might have to go shopping tomorrow.....

They Actually Made Them Worse

If any of you like/wear/own Crocs, please do not take this personally. I'm a believer in to each his own... shoe. I'm sure I have shoes that others think are ugly or weird.

I happen to detest Crocs. Why, you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'll tell you my reasons: (1) They are plastic. (2) There is no discernable difference between the men's version and the women's version. (3) They come in garish colors. (4) They are ugly.

I'm sure you've all seen the Original Crocs. But I came across this picture that astounded me. Mary Janes are cute. Crocs are not cute. Trying to blend the two styles together is like trying to breed a really cute puppy with a ferret. (Hey, that's the only thing I could think of.)

But then.... oh.my.word. Look what I found:

Again, I apologize if you like Crocs. I know a lot of people do. And I'm sure they are appropriate for certain situations. (Gardening?) But seriously, granny loafers and Crocs? These shoes are just wrong on so many levels.

Loaded Question, The 4th Time

It's been a while, but here we go again! Blah blah blah post anonymously first blah blah I'll guess blah blah you know what to do.

And now for the new question:


What irritates you the most in a social situation?


If you read this post, you probably know what my answer is. *grin* Okay, get to those answers!