I Love Spring Cleaning!!

I got up this week and opened the window and realized Spring is here!!!! In my quest to get ready for spring I decided to do some spring cleaning!

I put on my flowered head scarf (like they do on TV) and grabbed my broom to get started. Now for those of you who know me I do not love cleaning up... let me clarify that before my momma gets to bloggin'... I was taught how to clean and keep things clean but... I can be a little, shall we say, "unorganized" at times.

As I stood in the middle of my apartment with my bucket and mop, I couldn't remember what to do next! I decided to do some dusting... what's the most obvious thing to start with? The TV, of course! I dusted the screen but since I really wanted to see if it was clean, I turned it on. I was so proud of myself! I made sure that I could see at least 3 shows on my new clean TV screen! This cleaning isn't so bad.

After I turned the TV off I figured I needed some motivation so I turned on the radio and blasted some music. While trying out some new dance steps, I got so tired I had to take a little break.

On to the kitchen. I decided to tackle the stove, but just to make sure it was working right I threw in a frozen pizza (soy, of course.) I was relieved to find out that the stove was working quite nicely but realized, "Hey, it's lunch time!" As I looked in the sink I decided to quickly wash the dishes, well, the dish and the glass I needed to drink some juice with my pizza. Okay, now lunch was over, time to get back to this cleanin'!

I went to the bathroom (always a good place to get started.) I knew I needed to tackle that tub and I did... spotless! But, as I did the gleam from my newly polished faucet glared in my eyes, so I decided to turn it on to get the light out of my eyes. Would you believe the water filled the whole tub? Now since I try to be environmentally correct I couldn't waste the water so... in I jumped for a nice mid-morning relaxing bath (with my Pooka of course!)

After an hour or so I was out of the tub and decided to change my linen (always a wonderful way to start spring cleaning.) My fresh new bed looked great but I noticed some bumps in the covers so I pulled them back to remake the bed but had to crawl around to smooth out all the bumps and you won't believe what happened!!! I fell right in the middle of my bed!! Now my window was open and there was a breeze comin' through and you know what happened... so let's just say 2 hours later I was rested, relaxed, cleaned and fed. I love spring cleaning!

p.s. Look out for the May newsletter which includes home recipes for natural cleaning products.

The Baby beats the Babysitter!

Hi everybody!
I just had to write a quickie blog. I was so delighted to hear from a good family friend that she got engaged!! Now mind you this young lady was actually my first customer for one of my first entrepenurial endeavors, babysitting! That lets you know how long I've know her and now she's getting married, wow, what does it say when they baby beats the babysitter to the altar?!
Congratulations DeVona! Love you!

The Pooka World Tour - Howard U.!!

Ahhh… the blessings keep coming our way. We were invited to go down to Howard University for a book signing and product demo in the bookstore… nothing too big but nice still the same.

We were excited… they are already carrying some of our products and we figured it would be nice to get out and meet some of the students. This felt like the beginning of the Pooka World Tour! Getting out among our people at a historically Black college… there would be no stopping us after this. We decided to kick it up a notch and invite Robert from Just1Touch to give massages… y’know make a whole thing of it. We packed up in my trusty truck and the five of us headed down 95 South with a good feeling in our hearts. We went down on Thursday so we would arrive on campus Friday refreshed and ready.

We got up had a great breakfast and made our way to campus. The students were great, the staff of the bookstore was great and everyone who received a massage was overjoyed. It was a really nice event and we were glad to make it.

Here is a quick video snippet of our way into the bookstore:

Here is another quick peek of us inside:

Tour Cancelled!

Okay, so my truck is not so trusty. in fact, right now I am not feelin it!! We broke down on the way back.

Fortunately, Donna has AAA so we called for help. After an hour [during the middle of the night mind you] a tow shows up but can't take my truck, why?, because there are five of us and we can't fit in the cab of the tow truck!!

He leaves... more waiting... next truck comes, it's big and thank GOD, Tricia has AAA Plus which gave us a tow of 100 miles. Fortunately, I have a cousin in South Jersey so I tell the driver to tow us there and we'd pay for the overage in mileage. We figured we'd crash with cousin Chrystal, get the truck fixed, head back to Jersey the next day.

So now we're snuggled in the large cab of the tow truck, April, Tricia, Donna and Robert were all in the back seat, which left, yeah, me in the front with the driver. After about 15 minutes on the road, I looked back and only Tricia was somewhat awake, her eyes warily on the driver, after a minute she hits Donna and says, "Keep your eyes on the driver, he's going to sleep!" and then proceeds to fall into a sleep coma of her own. Donna is now on the job, for about 3 minutes when she pulls at my sleeve and says, "Keep your eyes on the driver he's going to sleep!" and then down for the count she went. Now here I am almost in a deep sleep when I look over at the driver, who now has on his pajamas and night cap!! Okay, I figure, now I'm hallucinating.

I begin to talk to the driver about anything, I don't know this man but realize I must keep him awake. "So, do you like lemon icys?... There's nothing like a pretty rainbow!... Sometimes monkeys eat their young..." On and on I went for 2 HOURS!!!! Talking about anything that would keep me and the driver awake. He finally agrees to stop for coffee and comes back with... A SNAPPLE!!! I'm thinking, "Okay, that's not going to help you!" I said, "Where is the coffee?" He says, "Oh they were out!" "Hmm... a rest stop out of coffee???!!!?!?" I thought to myself, "Does he have a death wish? Are we about to die?" Well that little Snapple kept him fresh for about another 10 minutes and then I was at it again, "Did you know that 4 leaf clovers are rare?" "Do you like alligators?"

Finally, thank GOD, we made it to my cousin's house. We proceeded to pass out [well actually I passed out, the rest of the Pookalitas had their little naps!!!] We got up in the a.m., got the car fixed and got home.

Let's just say the Pooka World Tour will not be coming to a town near you, at least until I get a new truck!

A view from the road (did the tow truck driver have jokes?):

Your girls do this for the love of all of you:

Celebrate Earth Day!

On April 22, 1970, 20 million people across America celebrated the first Earth Day. It was a time when cities were buried under their own smog and polluted rivers caught fire. Now Earth Day is celebrated annually around the globe.

Through the combined efforts of the U.S. government, grassroots organizations, and citizens like us (well, really our parents and our grandparents because we were really just babes at that point), what started as a day of national environmental recognition has evolved into a world-wide campaign to protect our global environment.

There are lots of things that you can do at home, at school, in your community and at work that can make a difference. I personally plan on NOT buying any more paper plates (Yes, I have been known as the PPQ) but you know I have to wash dishes anyway, a few more plates shouldn't t hurt me. I am also going to buy myself a large glass container and carry water around in that instead of buying plastic bottles of water every day (or if we finish eating the jelly first I'll just use that instead :0) and I'm going to learn how to use a sewing machine so I can make clothes for me and the kids... OKAY, Okay that is so NOT going to happen!

The point is to just TRY to do something so we can leave our kids with a better tomorrow!

No Cheese Please!

In the wake of all that is going on in the world - politics, the recession, rising gas prices, unemployment - I need to discuss something of equal importance... my TEETH! Yes, everyone, my teeth.

While shopping at the mall a few weeks ago, a young man (don't I sound old) looked at me and said, "Wow, you have such a nice smile...", as I smiled sheepishly and thanked him, I was feelin' myself a little. I kept walking through the make-up counters with a little extra pep in my step until I caught a glimpse of my smile in the long mirrors. I was HORRIFIED! My teeth looked like I had been sucking on a block of cheddar cheese! Now, don't get me wrong I brush and floss, but as we get a little older sometimes it's just not enough. My teeth were just plain yellow!

I quietly tucked my lips together making sure a smile would not be seen in this mall again and made my way to a drugstore. I decided to try one of those whitening strips you see on TV (yes, this is a testimonial) I bought the Crest White Strips 10-day program, well... can I say FANTASTIC, after about 2 days I noticed a difference and by the 9th day I was almost ready to stop out of the fear of blinding someone with my new white teeth.

I am usually not a big believer in stuff like this, but if you need a little bump in self-esteem and appearance, try these strips! Now of course I never turned the box over to see what was actually whitening my teeth, I'm sure it wasn't organic, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! No more cheese for me!

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes...

After extensive independent research, viewing all of the debates and careful consideration, 2 year-old Wesley gives his choice for the Presidential election...