Green Thumb

It is my personal opinion that green thumbs are hereditary and that they also seem to skip a generation.  (Very much like having twins.)  My paternal grandfather Harry was a fantastic gardener.  He always had a huge vegetable garden filled with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, horseradish, and tons of other things I can't even recall.  He had grape vines and some of the most beautiful flowers.  My maternal grandmother Doris was a bit of a gardener as well.  She never had the elaborate veggie garden but always had beautiful potted plants.  She grew flowers from seeds.  She nurtured those plants like they were her babies.

My parents dabbled in gardening when my sister and I were little.  I think we grew corn once, potatoes, and always the random tomato plant.  For a long while my mom had the most gorgeous gladiolas.  As we got older the flowers and veggies were less and less.  Mom has started gardening a little bit more recently.  I convinced her to plant some of my extra green bean seedlings and she still comes up with a random tomato plant.  Her flowers are nice too but if things need any more maintenance than watering she isn't going to grow it.

I would like to thank my grandparents, Harry and Doris, for my green thumb.  I'm lucky when it comes to plants.  They just like to grow for me.  There is something magical about sticking a seed in the ground, watching it, watering it, and loving it while it provides you with something delicious to eat.  In my veggie garden I grow a lot of normal things, tomatoes, peppers, cukes, zucchini, and green beans.  Every year I try and branch out and do something out of the ordinary as well.  This year I'm trying out brussel sprouts.  I've also turned last years dud melon patch into a pumpkin patch.  Of course I couldn't go with normal pumpkins.  We are going to have pretty reddish orange giant pumpkins.  I have raspberries planted on the side of the house.  Only three out of nine made it to their second year.  The ones that came back are growing rapidly and look like I may get a pint or two of berries.

My flowers out front this year include white and red pinwheel petunias, yellow, orange, and red gerbera daises, purple and yellow pansies, and marigolds.  I think the marigolds will be yellow and orange.  I started them from seeds so you never really know for sure til they bloom.  My  yellow and red rhododendron are all bloomed out.  They were beautiful.  My lilac is currently in bloom and I'm waiting to see if the pink hydrangeas I planted will stay pink.  We've got a lot of pine trees so the soil might be acidic enough to turn them blue.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they do not.  The bleeding heart put on a beautiful show this spring as well.

I'm anxious for summer.  I can't wait for my little plants to start flowering and for those flowers to turn into tasty treats.  I look forward to the therapeutic calm that comes from playing in the dirt as well as the excitement the children and I will share while we're picking big red tomatoes.

Avon: I don't do it for the money.

Exactly one year ago I got an e-mail from an old friend of mine asking me if I'd like to sell Avon.  I thought about it a little while, talked to my husband a bit, and after a little research I set up a meeting with her and my new manager to get started.  It was really easy.  After $10 and one hour, I had all my supplies and owned my own business.  I dove in head first distributing books to my friends, family, and neighbors and had over $200 in sales my very first campaign.  I started attending the local meetings and making new friends. 

I've always been bad at approaching new people.  When I meet someone new small talk has never come easily.  Avon has taught me to put myself out there more.  Talking to new, random people still is a challenge for me but I feel like once I get a conversation started I'm much more at ease.  I would stumble before suggesting Avon to new people, and now I find that I'm handing out brochures in obscure places like shoe stores.

I also love my job with Avon for the products.  I've gotten a wide array of skin care and make up products now that I never would have gotten for myself otherwise.  I'm getting more experimental too.  I never would have dreamed of wearing eye liner any color besides black or eye shadow outside of the natural brown selections.  Never ever would I have been a red lipstick gal.  Now I wear my red lipstick, purple eye liner, and pink eye shadow (not all together mind you) with pride!

Avon has boosted my confidence, my self esteem, and my ability to meet new people.  The added income is nice, but I love my job for all of the perks that have come along with it.  I look forward to building a team of women to work with me so that I can give these great gifts to them too.  I hope to have many more years as an Avon lady!

If you're interested in joining me, drop me an email Jcook1207@verizon.net or if you'd like to check out the products go to my web store.
www.youravon.com/jcook1207

I ate it.

When I was in high school I was a cute little band geek with cute little band geek friends.  We played our instruments and sang all the fight songs and made fun of the jocks and cheerleaders.  We also spent a lot of time on buses traveling to football games and band shows.  As every one knows large amounts of down time is bad for teenagers.  While select band members slunk away to make out in a corner, my friends and I found new and exciting was to get on people's nerves.  My friend Michelle and I sang Brak songs long and loud enough to make your ears bleed.  Renee and I had hand made sock monkey puppets that we used to joyously announced "Sock MON-KAY!" like Harry from 3rd Rock from the Sun.  (I still have Alihandro.)  Beans coined the phrase "your mom!" for anything and everything.  Which brings me to the all time, irritate the hell out of your parents phrase, "I ate it."  I'm not sure exactly who was responsible for that one but I adopted it and used it copiously.

"I ate it."  Drove my parents crazy.
"Jenn, where is the vaccume?"
"I ate it."
"Jenn, where is the remote?"
"I ate it."
"Jenn, where is your homework and why aren't you doing it?"
Yup, you guessed it, "I ate it."
It's said rather lackluster, completely bereft of enthusiasm.   This phrase drove my father to the breaking point.  Every time I uttered the words "I ate it." (unless referring to food that I was specifically asked about.) I was to run the sweeper.   Needless to say we had the cleanest carpets around for about two months til I could break the "I ate it." habit. 

My children are young and haven't picked up quite the same caliber of obnoxious habits (yet anyway.)  But today I asked Conrad where something was and got a hearty laugh when his adorable little face looked up at me and said, "I eated it."   Yes Mom and Dad, I have children just like me.  Thanks for that curse.

While you're here, go check out one of my favorite Brak songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt0YnVrfzGM