peskypippi.comBecause I have a lot to say…

Take me home to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty…

And so go the lyrics of the famous Guns N’ Roses song. Which, interestingly, was playing on the radio as I was driving my kids up to the mountain for a day of snow tubing.

My seven-year-old son asks me, “Mom, where IS Paradise City?”

Brace yourself. This gets kinda sappy.

I said, “Well, I think Paradise City is where you think it is. You kinda make your own paradise, don’t you think?”

It was a Saturday; a day off. I was spending the day with my kids. We looked around: It was a sunshiny, blue-sky, crisp day. Glistening white snow banks on either side of us. The fir trees were laden with snow. We had full bellies from our stop at Subway. A day of snow tubing ahead of us. The radio blasting. We were singing along.

Yep. We were IN Paradise City.

You gotta make your own paradise, eh?

Oh and here I am tubing. Duh! The #PeskyPippiTubingCam.

I have a friend who is always saying “it’s all good.”

But is IT all good?

She has a positive view of life. She seems to shrug off the bad. Or deals with it without dwelling on it.

Her attitude is contagious and inspiring.

Her husband was a soldier in Iraq. He came home, fortunately. Yet, an errant mortar had exploded when he was on duty, damaging his eye and breaking his jaw. He now has a glass eye that he can’t see out of. Yet despite all that has happened to him, he once said, “All things considered, I’d say I’m pretty lucky to be here.”

Instead of dwelling on the eye he can’t see out of, he focuses on the other eye. And the fact that he is ALIVE.

I am inspired.

He is a hero. She is too. Both, for their incredibly positive attitudes.

Tomorrow is National Day of Service and Remembrance, marking the anniversary of September 11. I encourage you to do something positive. Do something good.

One word for Oscar Pistorius, the South African Olympian runner with artificial limbs: awesomeness.

I mean, I tear up at the Olympic athlete stories. Their stories of struggle. Their stories of sacrifice.

But Oscar Pistorius?

This guy has no legs. He had both legs amputated below the knee as a baby and wears prosthetic limbs.

And he ran the 400-meter semi-finals in the Olympics.

Awesomeness.

And I’ve been complaining that I have callouses on my toes.

Dude.

There are naysayers who say his artificial limbs give him an advantage over runners with regular Olympic legs. Are you kidding?? Maybe those naysayers need to walk in Oscar’s shoes for awhile.

Oscar is a true athlete, with amazing ability, attitude, confidence, inspiration, and spunk.

I will never complain about my toes again.

I bought vegan shampoo on accident. Whoa! My hair got all demanding on me, like the mouse in If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. In fact, my hair turned righteous. Here’s what happened.

If you give your hair vegan shampoo,

She will demand vegan conditioner.

When you smooth on vegan conditioner,

She will want an Egyptian cotton towel to dry.

When you rummage around to look for an Egyptian cotton towel,

She will ask if you washed the towel with a low-water washing machine.

When you tell her you washed it with a low-water washing machine,

She will say it’s time to go shopping via bicycle, with no emissions.

After you bike to Whole Foods with your freshly-washed hair,

She’ll demand you use your recyclable bag to buy organic berries from local farmers.

After you buy organic berries from local farmers, she’ll insist on buying some antibiotic-free chicken.

When you buy her some chicken, she’ll remind you that she is a vegan and only uses vegan shampoo.

And she will demand vegan conditioner to go along with it.

Sheesh! Whatever happened to plain old milk-and-honey shampoo? #simplertimes

I’m hanging out at Yeah Write with other cool bloggers, with my shiny hair. How about you?

Are you having a bad day?

If so, just watch a grueling video of penguins. As they huddle together enduring an Antarctic winter. The male Emperor penguin stands around balancing a single egg on his feet and starves for up to four months as he waits for the female to return from the ocean with food. ‘

Did you catch that??

• Four months WITHOUT food
• Standing around ALL day
• In temperatures like 30 degrees BELOW zero

Watching penguins. You not only learn a little bit about nature, but you also might feel a little less sorry for yourself.

#winwin

April showers bring May flowers. But when you live in the Pacific Northwest, the saying goes more like this:

April showers bring May showers and May showers bring June showers. Sigh.

I thought I’d post some pictures I have taken, to sprinkle a bit of cheer in the gray, that we call Spring. Because around here, if I relied on the sun for my happiness, golly, I’d have to change my name to Debbie Downer.

I heart power naps.

I don’t know why little children hate naps so much. Is it because they think they are missing out on the action? Or because they don’t like being told what to do?

When my kids hit 2 1/2 years of age, they decided they were done with naps. Bummer.

Well, I love a good nap. And I haven’t had a nap since…was it June? You know, the kind when you rest your head and then you pass out and you dream and you wake up drooling out of the corner of your mouth? Because you are able to shut off all the “to dos” in your life and you just don’t care for an hour?

I had one of those naps this afternoon, sans drool (too bad, because that’s half the fun). It was blissful!

After two weeks of being short on sleep, averaging five hours of sleep a night—for a gal who prefers eight hours—I was simply wiped. And turning into Crazed Honey Badger Woman.

But today was a day off for me, so I made the most of it, despite my tired-ass, drooping face. Oh and don’t you hate when your face droops from exhaustion? Oh and when people tell you “Wow, you look tired.” (More on that later.)

So here is how my day went. Played indoor soccer (football to you worldly folks) with my peeps this morning; went with youngest son to buy him a very sporty winter coat that channels bad-boy-snowboarder; lunched with my family at the gourmet restaurant Carl’s Jr.

Side note: I threw a little fit about “I ordered fried zucchini, not French fries,” and she goes, “No, you ordered fries,” and I’m like “No, I did not order fries,” and she challenges me and arguing with me and I’m like, “I’ll TRADE you my fries for the zucchini I ordered.” Sheesh. Finally got my fried zucchini with ranch and I am grateful she did not spit in them. Or did she?

Oh and then, I went on a brisk walk my husband in the pelting rain; and then…

NAP TIME!

No work deadlines to worry about (my email even said “I am out of the office today; will be back Monday”); kids were playing Xbox 360 in the other room; load of laundry humming…

I woke up refreshed and ready to take on life again. And probably ready to stay up until 2:00 a.m. again. Sometimes you just have to miss out on the action. And just maybe, you’ll lose a little bit of that Crazed-Honey-Badger-Woman-attitude. And just maybe, everyone around you will be grateful that you did.