Abstract

"To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood visions and dreams." ::: Giorgio de Chirico :::

Austin was busy for 2 hours making this creation. I was happy because he gave me a chance to clean the house without a trail of toys being created behind me while I clean. I think I need to go to the store now and replenish my supply of paper plates, plastic knives, cups, and scotch tape.

The other day, Greta also was dedicated to making something cool. She spent a long time cutting out a mask for her to wear. She colored the whole thing black, then found a metallic silver sharpie of mine (not too happy about that on my table cloth) and continued to make herself an awesome mask. She taped it to her face.

Open windows!

"You must position yourself in front of a growth curve, not in the middle, and not at the end, but at the inception and then realize that the window of opportunity is always closing so work like there is no tomorrow" ~Warren Buffet



I love this quote, because this describes exactly what we've gotten ourselves into, and exactly what we are so excited about! I just have to share this, not because I really want to "sell" you anything, but because it's too cool to keep a secret anymore. In fact, I don't want people asking me in the future why the heck I didn't tell them about this at the beginning.

You see, Cameron and I are quite often presented with business opportunities. Some actually sound like a good idea (like Menchie's!), and some we are quick to pass on. I don't like gambling. I don't like taking risks. However, I like to be "in" on something new and upcoming. (like Menchie's!) I like to be the first one to start a new idea or trend. I like to be the first one to have the latest technology. Well, one day Cameron came to me with a business opportunity he heard from his trusted friend. It was a multi-level marketing idea.

I do not like to do these kinds of things.

I don't like to sell to people. I don't like to make people feel uncomfortable and feel obligated to buy things. Can you guess what I told Cameron? No No No NO NO.

And then he told me what people are saying about this stuff. And how crazy they were after they tried this stuff. And then he told me that the company hasn't even started yet and we would be at the top of the levels. That peaked my interest a bit. But, I'm a skeptic. Cameron was about to get his hands on some pre-production samples. It consists of a day cream, a night cream, and an anti-aging cream. I thought, "What the heck is so special about this stuff?" Cameron tried to tell me that it had no chemicals in it, blah blah blah... I still wasn't impressed. He said, "Just try it for 3 days". So I did. It smelled kinda funny. Not bad, but weird. I was used to cream that smelled like flowers, and fruit, and girly things like that. The night cream smelled like oregano. I smelled like a pizza. When I went to bed, I decided that smelling like a pizza wasn't all that bad. I've often thought that people should smell like food :) The day cream smells like chocolate. Not bad, either! After three days were over, I really did notice a difference, but I didn't want to admit it. I really didn't want to get into this "multi-level" marketing company that I have never heard of. I felt more comfortable getting into Scentsy or Pampered Chef because they were everywhere. After day four, though, I couldn't hide it anymore. I really didn't want to ever be without this cream. In fact, I heard from our friend that it worked on their child's eczema, and on their rosacea. Well, I have been struggling for 3 years to get Austin's eczema under control. I've tried everything. I felt really bad when his eczema was inflamed, because when I put lotion on it, he would scream in pain because I was rubbing chemicals on it! I tried the lotion just a while ago, and you know what? It's gone. I didn't hurt him either.

Enough of my conversion to the cream. Onto the actual money I could make with this stuff. Being at the beginning of a "wave" like this could mean two things: it could go really well, or it could totally flop. The first pioneers of many companies like scentsy and avon are not multi-millionaires because of their foresight and risk they took. Cameron told me that we would get our money back plus some if we just signed three people up. That was good enough for me. I didn't mind taking that small of a risk for something that potentially be huge.

Well, this is where I stand now. I am definitely going to buy the cream every month and use it on myself and my children. I feel good about it. It really is amazing stuff that took 20 years in Croatia to create.

I really do feel like standing on top of a mountain and telling everyone about it, though. I just feel as though people would think I'm being insincere because I'm just trying to sell something. This really isn't the case. I really just want to share this opportunity with everyone around me so that we all can be blessed with this knowledge before the company even launches!

I was really pleased to hear that our friend who introduced this to us is already getting checks in the mail for the people he's signed up in his area. He is already bringing in $3000/month. The product launches on the 11th. I can't wait to see what the bottles look like and what it will be named!

If you are interested in this, watch this video and it will explain it all to you a lot better than I can. I will have samples of the cream after the 11th to give out if you want to try it for yourself.

Skin Care revolution from Kevin on Vimeo.

Welcome to the weirdo's blog!

“Sometimes I wave to people I don't know. It's very dangerous to wave to someone you don't know, because what if they don't have a hand? They'll think you're cocky. 'Look what I got... This thing is useful. I'm gonna go pick somethin' up.'” ~Mitch Hedberg

Are you wondering why I chose this quote? Me too. It was just so funny and this post is really not about anything anyway. You can stop reading here if you want. The rest will be quite useless.

Oh. You're still here. You must have no life.

Someone mentioned my blog today. I was shocked that people actually read it! Well, except my mom. They have to be supportive and all. (hi mom!) Now I feel so much pressure to write something profound. Something witty. Something interesting. I have none of that, so I will just end with this.

Hey you! Yes, you reading this blog. Can you please look under there?? You heard me. Look under THERE. Right there!




... Did I make you say underwear? Ha!


Have I always been this weird? Youbetcha!!

Free play!

“The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping up and down.” ~Rita Rudner


A wonderful friend of mine had a trampoline in her backyard. Her kids were grown, so she suggested that I take it for my kids. Sounds like a great idea, right? After all, it's free. That's what I thought. Now I know better.

You see, Cameron, myself, and my brother went to her house to pick it up. She lives nearly behind us, but it's a different neighborhood. We took ol' blue. That's a big, blue truck that we use to haul things. It's been in the family for many many years. Anyway, we walked into her backyard to see a gigantic trampoline. It was quite overwhelming. Now, before I go on with this story, you need to know that I'm lazy. And optimistic. Those two things didn't work in our favor that day. Cameron also likes to do the least amount of work as possible. My brother, however, is a bit smarter than the two of us, but we don't listen to him. That would involve too much work. Ok. Back to the story. I figured there must be an easy way to get this trampoline into our yard without taking it apart. The bolts were tight at rusted. It looked like more trouble than it was worth. After all, she did live VERY close to us. Sort of. Many thoughts crossed through my little brain. I had a vision of us just carrying it through the neighborhood. Down the street. That was quickly knocked down. Then, I thought of carrying it down the street to some stranger's house who happened to live right behind us, and asking them if we could just "throw" it over their fence into our yard. That was also quickly knocked down (whew!) Where did this leave us? Ol' Blue. Trusty ol' blue. It didn't need to be taken apart! We just had to somehow carry it out of her yard, (over her fence!) and then somehow prop it up onto the truck! For some reason, this idea was not knocked down by my compadres. Did I mention that this all took place at dinner time? Our stupidity was driven by hunger. That's my excuse this time. Well, our friends yard consisted of a huge grassy area where the trampoline was located, then a short 3 foot tall rock wall that led to a wooded hill that led to the fence. The truck was parked on the other side of that fence. Now, I don't know how the three of us actually managed to pick this thing up and get it over the fence, but we did. That's all a blur now. I told you, I was not thinking clearly. (did I mention my kids are also with us running in circles in her yard screaming??)
This brings us to the truck. We now have a huge trampoline sitting in the middle of the street next to the truck. The truck suddenly looked very small compared to this massive trampoline. And yet, we continued. The hunger was too strong. The kids were too crazy, and what were we supposed to do now anyway? It was in the middle of the street! We strategized for a while. We figured out which way would be the best to lay this thing onto the truck. Our conclusion was to set the trampoline at the end of the truck, and lift up the far end of the trampoline and flip it over onto the truck. Our idea was for the edge of the trampoline to actually be resting on the roof of the truck, while the rest is resting over the bed. This was a heavy trampoline. I'm not in shape. *sidenote* I am feeling a little embarrassed at what you might be thinking right now about my intelligence. I assure you, I have many strong qualities. Moving trampolines apparently is not one of them. *end of sidenote* Well, we went through with it. My brother and Cameron picked up the end of the trampoline. As it was standing up, it was towering overhead, and I had a bad feeling. Oh well, we continued anyway. I was at the side of the trampoline guiding the whole thing. As it started tilting toward the truck, gravity finally took over and it fell onto the truck. No big deal, right? It will just fall on the stretchy part that we jump on, right? Nope. Not this time. Our aim was so excellent, that the metal edge of the trampoline was perfectly in line with the back window of the truck. We all watched in horror as it fell in slow motion right into the window. Glass was everywhere. All we could do was stand there in silence. I heard gasps. I swear I heard the neighbors peeking through their windows enjoying the free entertainment. I smiled nervously. Oy. All we could do after that, was adjust the trampoline and slowly drive home in shame. Somehow we managed to get it off the truck and into our backyard. We had to buy a new pad for it, and a new net. That was 100 bucks or so. Then we had to buy a new back window for the truck. That was 200 bucks or so. Isn't that the cost of a new trampoline at Walmart?


It's amazing what we will do for our kids.

Our own potential

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential” ~ Winston Churchill


I heard about this video at Church today. It makes you think a lot about our real potential. Maybe we should all be blindfolded.

Disney here we come!

"Ya see...the most fantastic, magical things can happen...and it all starts with a wish." ~ Jiminy Cricket


My kids are so excited. I'm so excited. Even Cameron is showing some excitement. (unheard of)

I can't contain my excitement! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If any of you remember, I went to Disneyland two years ago for my very first time. I left the kids at home. Did I feel guilty about that? Nope. Not one bit. I got to experience Disney for the first time without my kids dragging me down. I could act like a kid and go on all of the "big" rides. My mom and I went on Soaring over California 20 times. Why? Because we could! Oh. And I just couldn't get enough of that orange grove smell.

Do I loook guilty here?? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I don't think so.

Now that my kids are 5 and 3 (almost 4), I think they're ready to experience Disneyland for the first time. Now that I got my experience out of my system, I'm just excited to see Disney through their eyes! It will be really fun meeting princesses with Greta, and seeing pirates with Austin. This will be a trip they never forget. Oh. And I guess I might just take a little time to myself to enjoy a pineapple drink at the Tiki Room!

Arrrr!

“Life's pretty good, and why wouldn't it be? I'm a pirate, after all.” ~Johnny Depp


This is what Austin wears when he is a pirate. Should I make him walk the plank?