Read This!! Reminder!!!

Just a Reminder!! Please Come and Support!!! It's Tomorrow Night!!!

My friend Shawn Hauenstein has cancer and spent about 75% of 2008 in the hospital. Having some issues paying his medical bills, we are having a benefit concert for him on January 31. The lineup is frankly a very good one! The info is below and I hope everyone can come, let me know if you need me to set aside some tickets as space is limited. Or you can email helpingshawn@gmail.com to also request tickets.

Saturday January 31 at 6:00 p.m.
Midvale Performing Arts Center
695 West Center Street (7720 South) in Midvale
Suggested donation price $10, though any donation is appreciated

A silent auction will take place as well that will contain baked goods and gift certificates for local services. 100% of the money raised will go directly to Shawn to help pay for a bone marrow transplant he had last year that insurance did not cover.

Cancer Sucks!

My friend Shawn Hauenstein has cancer and spent about 75% of 2008 in the hospital. Having some issues paying his medical bills, we are having a benefit concert for him on January 31. The lineup is frankly a very good one! The info is below and I hope everyone can come, let me know if you need me to set aside some tickets as space is limited. Or you can email helpingshawn@gmail.com to also request tickets.

Saturday January 31 at 6:00 p.m.
Midvale Performing Arts Center
695 West Center Street (7720 South) in Midvale
Suggested donation price $10, though any donation is appreciated

A silent auction will take place as well that will contain baked goods and gift certificates for local services. 100% of the money raised will go directly to Shawn to help pay for a bone marrow transplant he had last year that insurance did not cover.

Is he Drunk?

Last night I went to the Energy Solutions Arena to see Jeff Dunham's Spark of Insanity. Steph and I gave each other tickets for Christmas and then I got a ticket for Hutch and Steph got one for her sister-in-law's birthday. We had a lot of fun together. The opening comic was "The Guitar Guy" and he was hilarious. I laughed really hard. He's also an extremely talented guitar player. I'm going to look into him more and see what DVD's or CD's he has out. Then there was a 15 minute intermission and I hate the smell of beer. The people behind us were drinking and I could smell their cup of beer. There were also some people around us who went out for a smoke break and when they came back, they smelled so bad! Now it was Jeff Dunham's turn. He started out with his routine by himself before he brings the dolls on. He starts his story and I turn to Steph and say "Is he drunk?" she stops and listens and turns to me and says, "I think he is." I turn to Hutch and at the same time we both say "Is he drunk?" I laughed since we both said it at the same time. Jeff Dunham was slurring his words, rambling off on tangents and forgetting his routine so he had to pull out his notes. I've seen many comedians pull out notes so they can remember what they wanted to talk about but he seemed to do it because he couldn't remember anything. He was still funny but he kept slipping into bad humor. Like fart jokes and body part jokes, jokes you don't want to be sitting next to your mother during. I've always thought he was the kind of comedian who was funny for being funny, not has to stoop to inappropriate jokes. Oh well, maybe it was an off night. I still enjoy him and think he's funny. I did laugh really hard through the majority of the show. Jeff, just remember NOT to take a drink before a show.

Prohibition

If you were around in 1919 (just before prohibition started) and came upon the following poster...

I mean seriously, would you quit drinking?

Take a Look! It's in a Book! Reading Rainbow!!

Some of you readers that are my age or older know that the title of this subject is part of the lyrics of Reading Rainbow. I loved watching that show when I was growing up and even now, I will, on occasion, still watch it. It really helped kids to use their imagination in reading and showed how reading is a lot of fun. It was one show where if I wanted something they had on it, my parents didn't mind getting it for me or my siblings...because they were all books! Books have always been a big part of my life. I have fond memories of summer afternoons when my mom would sit all of us down for 30-60 minutes and read to us. It's where I met the Boxcar Children, had adventures in Terabithia, and saw the importance of family with Charlie Bucket. I would sit on the couch next to my mom and picture the wonderful adventures going on in these treasures my mom shared with us. The older I got, the less I read. It wasn't that I didn't like to read, I was just a bratty teenager that didn't want to read what I "had" to read. To my regret. Once I graduated from high school, my book reading started up again and I love it even more! With my busy schedule I haven't been able to read as much as I would like to. Luckily, audiobooks is a great invention! I can read a lot on my way to and from work. A book website that I'm on sent me an email with a quote from Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer,

"It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top becasue people don't read anymore."

He was talking about a device, like a palm pilot, that holds numorous books. Can that be true? Is there really that many people who don't read? I was shocked! This has lead me to one of my goals this year. I am going to read 50 books this year. The number of pages won't matter (but I'm not going to count books with only 10 pages). I'm going to keep track of the books I've read here on my blog. I invite all of you to take this challenge. You don't have to do 50 but pick what you think you can do. Try to make it more then what you read last year. 12, 24, whatever you can.

I've traveled the world twice over,
Met the famous; saints and sinners;

Poets and artists, kings and queens,

Old stars and hopeful beginners,

I've been where no-one's been before,

Learned secrets from writers and cooks

All with one library ticket

To the wonderful world of books.

~Anonymous~

Happy Birthday To Me!! (early)

Thanks Steph for putting this on your blog!! That was a lot of work for you to get Disneyland to dedicate the park to me. :) Love you!!

Happy New Year

What a great year 2008 was. There was lots of laughing, crying, singing, dancing, loving and more! 2009 can only get better. Nothing is better then starting the year off with a vacation! As most of you might know, my birthday is on the 14th and this year at Disneyland, you can get into the park for free on your birthday. What's a better way to spend your birthday?!? So I'm heading to California with my hubby, two of my best friends (Steph and my sis Liz) and my other really good friend, Mark! Yes, there's 5 which is an odd number but we're odd people. We're going to drive and stop in Vegas to eat at one of my favorite restaurants then onto Anaheim. We're doing three days in Disneyland, one day in Universal then driving to San Diego and doing one day at the Zoo and one day at SeaWorld. What a fun birthday!!! I want to tell my friends thanks so much for coming on this trip with me and I hope I don't make you annoyed with my birthday.

I hope this year is full of more time with friends and family with more laughs and fun!!