oops, She did it again! What did Oprah do now?

First, the meat industry. Remember that? After seeing cows being butchered she spoke off the cuff and said she wouldn't eat meat again. The meat industry was crippled after that remark. They sued Oprah!

And today, she had Suze Orman on the show. Suze suggested the following:

1. Don't spend any money for one day

2. Don't use the credit card for a week.

3. Don't eat at a restaurant for a month.

She had me until #3.


Ben: what are you doing?

Me: I'm writing to Oprah.

Ben: No, really, what are you doing?

Me: I am on Oprah.com writing her a letter about today's show.

In case she does not publicly respond to my letter and admit her mistake, I have included it below for you to read.

Dear Oprah,

I love your show, you always have such great advice. Although today's show with Suze Orman had more far reaching implications than I think you realize.

The suggestion to avoid eating out at restaurants for a month may indeed save people money, however those in the food service industry are GREATLY impacted by such a boycott of restaurants. The servers making less than $3 an hour rely on those tips from customers to pay their rent. The commission based food service salesmen,such as my husband, sell far less food if Oprah and Suze say don't eat out for a month. The truck driver delivering the food will have much less food to deliver, shortening his work day and paycheck.

You can see how this suggestion of a restaurant boycott will do more harm than good for the American economy. It may help your personal checking account for the month but the realization is, that if these food service workers lose that money in wages, that money will also not be circulated through the local economy, thereby impacted several additional industries.

I hope you can amend your suggestion and encourage people to eat out responsibly, not using the credit card to pay for the meal would be one example.
I look forward to seeing your next show.

Thanks,
Laura Ayotte


I think my friend Jean Chatzky would have had other advice. She would not make such a crazy suggestion that affects so many people.

I now have to end this post and sit by the phone waiting for Oprah to call and invite me on the show. If she doesn't call, Jean and I can just sit around making fun of Suze.

Wordless Wednesday ~ New Year's Eve PARTY ANIMALS

Oh yeah, we know how to party.

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out Seven Clown Circus

Too Many Updates TUESDAY

I have been feeling this way for a while.

After Auds posted this I knew I wasn't alone.

My brain started spinning, after all those martinis it actually hurt. Then I came up with an idea.

What if everyone did a blog post once a week with all their favorite updates, from Twitter, Facebook, or elsewhere.


You could get a quick look at everybody's week.
Let everyone know what else has been going on since there is less time for blogging!
Get more friends on Facebook.
Get more followers on Twitter.

Ok, the last two reasons are just the icing on top.

Then my mind started spinning again, ouch...

Facebook Friday, nah, Friday is busy enough without adding another commitment and it leaves out Twitter.

Let's see, today is Tuesday.....

And so we have Too Many Updates Tuesday!

I hope you like it and feel like joining in.


Here are my updates for the week:



Laura is glad the furnace IS NOT broken. Laura is NOT glad Hayden stuck the plastic tail from Griffin's new kite into the air return and mucked it up. Dec 30, 7:44am

Laura is having a hard time remembering it is only Thursday. Doesn't it feel like Saturday? Jan 1,9:54pm


Laura is ready for the kids to go to the bus stop on Monday! Oh wait, not until THURSDAY!! AWW, Come on! Jan 2, 5:59pm

Laura is finding it hard to believe Griffin is going to be 8 tomorrow. Jan 4, 7:04pm


Laura has submitted the park reservation application and is now in the planning phase of the Sue DiNapoli Ovarian Cancer Awareness Walk (and hopefully 5K run). Jan 5, 9:06am

Laura is regretting teaching Hayden an appropriate word for part of his body. His new favorite word rhymes with BESTICLES. Jan 5, 6:31pm

Laura is hopeful you will link up and join in! Simply write your post (or copy and paste from Facebook, like I did) and add a link to this post.

And you may have noticed this is my 200th post. I didn't plan that this way. I was thinking I would do something like this. That was my most popular post EVER. Maybe this will be just as popular, it can be with your help. LINK UP!

This isn't relaxing

Isn't yoga supposed to be a mellow, relaxing exercise?

You get in touch with your inner self and find peace.

How can I do that when every time I try to do yoga, this happens?








Mom and her yoga groupies. Notice the extra one, Griffin had a friend sleepover, he got right into the action with the rest of the boys.

I am excited for Friday when they are all back in school and I can do my Wii Fit by myself!

Random thoughts

I may have had one too many pomegranate martinis last night. Thanks to my good friends who helped celebrate a belated Happy New Year!



My Wii Fit scolded me for missing 4 days. Doesn't it realize I couldn't walk for two days because of the FIRST time I used the Wii Fit? I haven't missed a day since, I don't like to get in trouble.


If things were different, today would have been a day of celebration, because forty five years ago today, they did this:


Instead, tonight I sit filling out park rental applications for the Sue DiNapoli Ovarian Cancer Awareness Walk (and hopefully 5K run). I will be at the park office at 8am tomorrow to file my applications for the August 8th event.

Tomorrow is also Griffin's 8th birthday! He is celebrating tonight with a sleepover. Again, let me remind you I had one too many martinis last night maybe a sleepover wasn't the greatest idea....

Here are some fun shots of the Birthday Boy.

Where we've been, Where we are going.

I never make resolutions. If I make goals for the new year, I do not call them resolutions.

For better or worse, I posted the 2008 goals on the blog, it was the first post.

You probably missed it. Nobody read the blog back then.

As a way to achieve physical fitness, I decided to start a racing bib collection.

As a way to achieve financial fitness, I decided not to shop. Pretty unrealistic.

However, I did spend less time shopping, more time blogging.

Less time buying "great deals" that we do not need, More time hanging out with Jean Chatzky.

I think we finally realize what an "emergency" is and why you should only use your credit card for those. Unfortunately an emergency IS NOT the semi annual sale at Bath and Body Works....

The racing bib collection was also pretty vague. 1 can be a collection, right? As the year is now drawing to a close, I counted my racing bibs.

My favorite, you guessed it the Half Marathon!!

My least favorite, The Tortoise and the Hare 5K. I think I still need therapy from that day. Click the link to travel to the running blog and read the details. I can't even retell the story, too horrific.

So, how many racing bibs? Eleven! Not bad considering my forced break from May-July, and the ankle injury in February. For more running info and a list of my 2008 racing results, check out the running blog. I hope to update it more regularly in the future. ColoradoRunnerGirl.blogspot.com


I am so glad I started the blog. I look back to all the posts and realize I would have forgotten many of the little things. I love having a blog. It started as a diary really and has become a way to keep in touch with family and friends. And who knew I would make so many new blogging friends!

Who knows what 2009 has in store for us.

When asked by family what Ben and I got each other for Christmas, we said "Financial Freedom." Hopefully we can continue with that goal throughout the new year. I think we can do it.

One racing bib I am looking forward to wearing is the Pikes Peak Ascent. They will post the qualification requirements in January, hopefully my half marathon time is still good enough. The Pikes Peak Ascent is run the day before I turn the BIG 40! I really need to do it this year.

I hope 2009 includes:

No car payments
Happy, healthy family and friends
A better 401K
A great, big 40th Birthday Party
Several more racing bibs

Do you make resolutions? Set goals? What are your dreams for 2009?

Caught ya! and other news

On Christmas Eve, after everyone went to bed, Grandpa heard Buddy barking. He went upstairs to investigate and this is what he found.






(stop laughin' at our pathetic tree!!)



Now if you know my father, you must be thinking, He can't hear anything without that hearing aide, how on earth did he hear the dog barking?

Well, I don't know, but that's our story and we are sticking to it.

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10,000 Legos

It certainly feels like 10,000 Legos, maybe more. It has been a very Lego Christmas. Santa put smaller Lego sets in the stockings, great idea since it slowed down the mad rush to get to the tree.

The boys have been helping each other put the sets together and playing together. Live has been pretty peaceful.

They received a few Lego gift cards too, they are looking forward to placing that order.

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Christmas Day

Dad stayed over Christmas Eve. Susie, Alan, Dusty, Xander and Josh came over for brunch. Hillary, Scott and the girls came too. It was a fun time. We made the usual ham, broccoli and cheese dish, baked french toast had fruit and bloody Marys!


We had an empty house by 1:30. Dad decided to join his girlfriend's family in Denver for dinner. Susie and her family went to Alan's family for dinner. I was not looking forward to a small Christmas dinner, it isn't in my genes to be able to handle that! Our friends across the street came over and joined us at the dinner table; 4 adults 6 kids, it was great!

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You show us everything you've got

You keep on dancin' and the room gets hot

You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy

You say you wanna go for a spin

The party's just begun, we'll let you in

You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy

You keep on shoutin', you keep on shoutin'

I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day

I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day

I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day

I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day

You guessed it! The boys (Carter, Griffin and Ben) got Guitar Hero Aerosmith. And they are rock and rolling ALL Nite and partying everyday! Hayden even got an acoustic guitar. I have a house full of Rock Stars!

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New Year's Eve Plans

Comfy jammies
chips
dips
chocolate fondue
snacks
4 adults
6 kids
movies
card games
Guitar hero (heaven help me)
champagne
sparkling apple juice

What are your plans?