Now Hiring!

I just had to post the incredible deal that Pampered Chef is offering for any of you that are fans and might want to join my team or just want to stock your kitchen with some of the best kitchen/entertaining products on the market FOR FREE!
In the picture above you can see the starter kit with over $500 in product/paperwork that you get for $155 and for doing 4 shows. (That includes catalog shows.)

If you sign up to become a consultant in May you can get an extra $400+ in free product of your choice!!!
Here is how it works:
*For every 4 shows you do in your first month you get $100 Pampered Chef Dollars to spend on anything you want. (8=$200 12=$300, etc.)
+For every $1250 in sales that you turn in you get another $100 PC dollars.
+Just for doing 4 shows in your first month you get another $100 PC dollars.
+June is Sale-a-thon month so just for having 2 shows you will earn one of the new Fall Products.
+If you turn in $1500 in sales for June you earn a lot of the new Fall Product. (easy with 4 shows!)
+If you turn in $3000 in sales you earn all of the new Fall Product! (it takes me about 6 shows for this level.)
NOT TO MENTION YOU GET A PAYCHECK! ($330 cash if you sell $1500.)

I love that Pampered Chef gives you the option of just trying out the business. If you do your first four shows and realize it is not for you, you're done and you get to keep all of your product and your paycheck. If you are like me and are instantly addicted you can keep earning a great paycheck for going to peoples parties. To all of you who say, "But I am not a salesperson!", it sells itself. All you do is start asking people what their favorite product is and they get excited and start selling it to everyone else at the show.
During your second and third month with the company you can continue to earn Pampered Chef dollars. $50 for every 4 shows and $50 for every $1250 in sales. Plus $50 for every consultant that joins your team. AND OF COURSE A PAYCHECK!!!

I have been selling Pampered Chef for 1 1/2 years and love it and can't believe I get paid on average $30-$50 an hour.

Like I said I couldn't help but post about this AWESOME deal because who knows who is out there that I haven't asked that needs a job and will love it as much as I do.

An Ode to Us!

So tonight Emily got out her "diary" and decided to write a poem.(She pronounces it pom).

She actually wrote it in this order:
Sam is so cute;
Sam is so fun;
Sam is so adorable.

How cute is that!
Well, then she decided she needed me to write one about her.

Emi Roo, I love you;
You're smart, you're funny,
and wiggily too!
I love how you sing;
I love how you dance;
Oh look! I can see your underpants.

Then of course Sam needed one:

Sam, Sam my cute little man;
Of you I am the biggest fan.
I love your eyes;
I love your nose;
I love your wiggily, wiggily toes.
I think you're smart;
I think you're funny.
I'm so glad I can call you Sonny.

Then Emi wrote one for me:

Mommy is so cute when she laughs;
it looks like a fan. (?)
I like it when she comes in my room and tucks me up;
it makes me feel like I am sleeping in her bed next to her.
I like to hug mommy and I like to look at her;
So much fun!
We buy webkinz together.
I like my black webkin.
Mommy thought she was not very cute, (the webkin)
but now she is.

And for Daddy:

I like Daddy so much because he yo-yos,
and he can do it.
I love to hug him.
I love to kiss him.
I can do it, why can you not?


Then Sam's turn:

Emi, Emi you're cute and funny
because you're my little sister
and also funny, funny, funny!



Dear Daddy,
I like you because you practise baseball with me
and also you look great because you're my daddy.
Dear Daddy,
and also you take carry of me and also you care about me.
I can see your underwear from your moushies:
I can see your skin from your tushies.
In case its almost Father's Day I made something at school,
but it needs to dry.

Dear Mom,
I'm glad that you're my mom because you are my mom.
And also you are always silly and you are great because
you are always great!

Are we destined for authorship or what?

Rainbows and Ribbons

Emily had her last dance recital with Miss Tracee. It was so cute!!! She of course loved being on stage and the whole performance aspect. They danced to "Drip drip drop little April showers," from Bambie and then, "The Rainbow Connections." They danced with umbrellas and then with little ribbons of colored plastic.

The Lost Stone of Inguania?

Sam's and Emily's imaginations never cease to amaze me. This afternoon as I was reading the last couple of pages of "The Scarlet Letter," (which I just finished for the first time, not sure how I got through high school without it being required.) I could hear lots of busy kid noises in the other room but I really wasn't paying attention to what they were doing until I heard Emily in an excited and very dramatic voice that could have come straight from a Disney adventure film,"Sam, I just found the lost stone of Inguania, in my closet. I'm serious. That is the land of the Penguins and the land where my friend Pengi lives. Hurry come see."
Sam: "I see. Now hurry we must create a protection for ourselves. We need a bigger tank to hold the potion."

(Mom enters stage right to discover almost every cushion, pillow and lightsaber, made of pool noodles and duct tape, that exist in the house crafted together into a barricade on the stairs.

Her darling and courageous daughter stands on the side of the tub mixing the potion, that is sure to protect them all, in the bathroom sink with a drum mallet. She takes an occasional sample with a small clear glass.

The heroic Sam is striped and ready to immerse himself in the larger tank of potion -the tub.

I stopped Sam from filling the tub and made him get dressed and then headed for my camera. (It was cute but I didn't want to deal with the mess that was sure to come when the larger tank of potion made its way to my bathroom floor.)
I am actually surprised they had any energy left after our crazy day.
9:00 Sam's baseball practice
10:30 Emily's baseball uniform pickup and pictures
11:30 Sam's soccer game
12:30 Emily's soccer game
1:00 Sam's baseball uniform pickup and pictures
1:30 Sam went grocery shopping with Mom and Emi went to the office with Daddy!
3:30 I took a nap!

"Bear"necessities!

We had the greatest night last week with a little visitor from Kindergarten. In Sam's class this year every student got the chance to be the "star of the week." They got to wear a special crown and sit in a special chair and even got to bring in a show and tell item everyday of the week and a treat one of the days. Sam loved it and made sure to take his crown back every day.
Well, when that was finished and every student had a turn, Baby Bear joined their class. At first Baby Bear just watched the kids in the class and then would choose which table or student was being the best at listening and then he would go and sit with them. After awhile though it was decided that he would like to go home with each Kindergartner but only after each student had written a letter to Mama Bear to ask permission. Sam's letter said, " Mama bear I em gunu tak cir uv bab bear. I wl brnk hm bac. Sam" (Mama bear, I am gonna take care of baby bear. I will bring him back.)
Sam waited with much anticipation and not much patience for his turn. We even had an emotional breakdown one day when he made a wrong choice and was sure if Mrs. Bell ever found out about it that he would never get to bring the furry critter home.
But alas, the day finally arrived and when I picked him up that afternoon I could tell from the joyous look on his face that something big had happened.
He was carrying a cute little diaper bag in one hand and his backpack in the other. Inside that diaper bag was Baby Bear, a note from Mama Bear, a blankie, Baby Bears favorite book, 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' and a disposable camera that we could take 2 pictures with.
Sam had a great conversation with the little guy in the back seat on our way home. "Baby Bear, I can't wait for you to meet Tiger. He's kind of just like you except he is a tiger. His tail is just like yours, cept it is kind of skinnier and kind of longer. He has paws exactly like yours cept yours are so bigger then his. Oh and he has stripes." (Tiger is Sam's favorite baby animal at home.)
That night we took Baby Bear to see Spiderwick Chronicles at the dollar theatre. While Danny and I were busy whispering back and forth about whether we ever should have brought them to something that was so scary and whether we should even stay, Sam was busy covering Baby Bear's eyes and watching with his wide open. (We did decide to stay so they could see the conflict resolution and know that the scary all worked itself out - and then chalked that experience up as another entry for the mother and father of the year award.)
Baby Bear also took a walk to the park with us and then Sam let us know that Baby Bear would really appreciate if he could watch Sam play video games even though Sam still had 4 days of being grounded from them. Sam reminded us several times that we should respect that request because, "after all he is the guest." (Nice try buddy :-)




That night Baby Bear got his own bed in a giant Pampered Chef Box that he shared with all of the stuffed friends that live at our house. I think he got scared and crawled in bed with Sam that night because the next morning we found him cuddled up next to our little guy. Sam said, "Maybe he just got cold."
It was a little sad to pack up the diaper bag and send the two of them off the Kindergarten the next morning, but Sam seemed pretty contented.

23 Cent Pizzas?

Ahh, life in Metropolis! Last Thursday we planned on having pizza for dinner as did all of Northeast Ohio. For 23 cents! If you haven't heard this story yet you are in for a treat and here is a little run down of what happened.

Papa John's made some t shirts that were given out at a Wizard's game with #23 (Lebron James' number), and CRYBABY was written where Lebron's name should have been. Well Cavs fans when nuts and called for a boycott of the popular pizza chain. Papa Johns Corporate had not approved the t shirts but to make amends decided to choose a day and offer 23 cent pizzas (Large one topping). For more, read this article..

I don't think Papa John's really knew what they were getting into. The local newspapers wrote about it for days before, and the anchors from most of the news stations had already broadcast what their personal topping would be. Everywhere I went I heard people talking about how they were planning on getting two or three with the help of family members. Schools were planning pizza parties (no clue how they thought that would work) I don't think that Papa John's could have served everyone who intended to be served if they had offered the deal for a week.

The doors opened at 10:30 a.m. and the lines started hours earlier. When I watched the new that day this is what I saw. Make sure to check out the last link to the story by Michael O'Mara. Some people think that this could only happen in Cleveland with our poverty level where it is but human nature is such that I think it would be a repeat in any location big or small.

Thousands of people lined up throughout the day and waited sometimes over 5 hours for pizzas. A couple locations went out and gave coupons for a free pizza when they knew they were going to run out but most franchises just shut the doors. Fights broke out, people were arrested and chaos ruled at times just for a bubbly, little pizza pie. 23 cents is a good deal but in my opinion not worth trading a day of my life for.

Way to go Papa John's!

Needless to say we just ate leftovers from a lunch I hosted that day and were all the better for it :-)

How many Sarah's does it take?

I thought this was kind of fun. Their are 270 Sarah Parks in the U.S. but I thought it would be interesting to see how my maiden name would rank!

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

How fun is that to be one out of how many million? Does it still count that I am no longer just Sarah Pead and that there is now a Parks at the end? I think so.

Turning 5!

This happened a couple of weeks ago but for some reason slide.com decided it no longer likes my computer and I decided I no longer like the time the website has sucked from my life. So I went back to smilebox and love, love, love how easy it is and that I can make a slide in less then 5 minutes.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

How lucky am I to have this precocious child in my life with all of her silliness, charm and love of all things dramatic, pink and princessy! I love her giggles and smiles and flare for words. I love that she has to take things and make them her own. I love that she knows what she wants and rarely compromises (Did I just say that?)I love her creativity and imagination and the conversations she has with all of her invisible sisters and cousins. (They can be quite funny, who needs a radio or television?)I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending this one to me. How did I get so lucky? What fun that I get to see her grow up. I know that amazing things are in store with this one. How do you say, I know all of this? In Emily's words - "Because my heart told me."