Because Sometime? I’m Just All Shallow – You Know?

3 Things You Must Know About to Make Your Life Better

January 19, 2011 By kathilipp 16 Comments

This is my shallow list – but when I find something I love, I have to share it with the world.

When people ask me “Is that your natural hair color?” I always tell them the truth – “Yes, but now I have to pay for it.”

You see, I’ve always been a redhead – as a child I cursed it, (in THE ME PROJECT I have a whole chapter dedicated to my red-hot hate of my red-hot curls,) and now I pay big bucks for it.

There’s only one problem – my gray hair demands that I get it colored every two weeks – my budget says once a month.

That’s two weeks of frightening small children and woodland creatures…

But now, my hair guy, Franc, (yes, really) introduced me to this “Tween Times stick. All you have to do is find a willing husband to color inside the lines on your head and you’re good to go.

Love.

And yes – they have different colors to blend with yours. I stockpiled the red stick just in case.

My dad has been a collector of all things junk my entire life. Now I finally see the mentality of this put to good use.

This show is like validation for everyone who should be on Hoarders – two guys – Mike and Frank – stop by random houses and go “picking” through people’s stuff. The have an antique business and resell this stuff to dealers, collectors and decorators.

It is my most anticipated hour of TV.

Jamba Juice’s Peach Blackberry Smash Frozen Bar

70 Calories

100% addictive

Must. Go. Get. Now.

Now it’s your turn – anything you would like to share with the rest of the class?

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?, Uncategorized

And We Have Winners

June 2, 2011 By kathilipp 1 Comment

Thanks to everyone who participated in last weeks flirt challenge.

While you are all winners, her are the people I’m sending stuff to (because Random.org told me to…)

Monday The Me Project Jennifer S. May 22, 2011 at 7:44 pm
Tuesday DVD of The Husband Project Judy Parker May 24, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Wednesday The Marriage Project Catherine May 24, 2011 at 11:33 pm
Thursday Starbucks Card Rachel May 26, 2011 at 5:46 am
Friday Candle Chelsea at May 27, 2011 at 9:25 am•

email my assistant sunnie at kathilipp.com with what you won and your mailing address and we will get it right out!

Finally , I love that so many of you too on the Post-it Note day. I wanted to leave you with a different kind of note. This is from one of my favorite websites, www.passiveagressivenotes.com Enjoy!

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?

Because Sometime? I’m Just All Shallow – You Know? SYTYCD

May 30, 2010 By kathilipp 1 Comment

If you have not watched the first episode of So You Think You Can Dance this season go over and check the promo for it here.

Yes. Right now.

I’ll wait.

Amazing. Right?

I have to say I was an Idol drop off this year. (Not that I missed Paula, but it just wasn’t must-see TV for us.) We are cutting back on a lot of things – TIVO, cable, etc. But SYTYCD is going to be appointment TV for us.

You see, I’ve had quite an aversion to dance in my life. Oh I took the requisite Modern Dance class in Junior High. But, since I have become a Christian, the amount of bad worship dance I have been exposed to in my life is staggering. (Why is it that in order to lead worship in song you have to be gifted, but anyone who wants to dance can hop onstage whenever the spirit moves them?)

That is, until Easter, 2005. That is when I saw dance in the church done really, really well.

I was attending a church in Elk Grove and there were two young women (high school? college age?) who danced with two long pieces of fabric. At the end of the dance, they turned those two pieces of fabric into a cross.

I still get chills when I think of it.

That is often how I feel when I am watching SYTYCD.

There are dances that move me to tears. They are so beautifully (or sometimes comically) telling a story that it makes my brain think and feel in new ways. In our media-saturated life, it is rare that something can stand out, stand up and scream, “Look at me! Pay attention to me!”

So, so long Bachelorette. No rose for you.

Housewives from Jersey? I don’t need the drama.

Idol? I no longer worship you.

But today? We dance.

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?

Disney Update and Mommy Guilt

January 20, 2011 By kathilipp 10 Comments

First off, I have had so much fun reading your comments from Tuesday’s blog post – I have had to restrain myself from hopping on to Ebay and ordering everything that you recommended… More on some of your obsessions next week.

Now for today. When my blog posts dwindle down to just a couple a week, you know that one of two things is happening:

I have a book due in days, not months
I’m traveling

And right now? It’s both.

I am in rewrites of THE ”WHAT’S FOR DINNER?” SOLUTION and on the road.

OK – don’t feel too sorry for me. We are at Disneyland right now. At the Disneyland Hotel. In their renovated suites. Pictured below…

Yes – the headboard lights up.

And plays the song, “A dream is a wish your heart makes.”

If it wasn’t so cool, it would make me gag a little.

So Roger is happy to be in Disneyland, and our daughter Amanda is here too. We are meeting our girl Kimber for a wedding on Saturday. Everyone is happy.

Except me.

Because in order to take this little road trip, we had to board our puggle, Jake. And that just makes me all kind of sad.

It’s like taking your kid to preschool. Will he get along with the other kids? Will he eat his food? Does he miss me?

So my wonderful husband, knowing the puppy anxiety I have around leaving Jake, did something that only a rock star of a husband would do. He paid the extra five dollars a night to have the webcam activated in his sleeping room.

Overnight puppy care? Expensive.

Nighttime webcam? $5

Mommy’s peace of mind? Priceless

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?

Feeling Like a Bad Mom?

February 26, 2011 By kathilipp 6 Comments

Well I sat at a red light at the corner of Pearl and Almaden Expressway here in San Jose, praying that the light wouldn’t turn green so I could snap this picture for you:

Your welcome.

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?, Relationships

How Not to be a Jerk – the E-mail Edition

January 11, 2011 By kathilipp 4 Comments

Ugh.

I hated to see that name come up in my inbox.

Do you ever have that reaction? You see the name on that email, and your heart just sinks. Ugh.

And of course, the email was jerky, pushed buttons, and made me ticked. I’m sure that was the desired response. So of course, I had my equally jerky response all written in my head.

“The next time you want something from me, perhaps you should choose discussion instead of declaration.” That was the nicest sentence in my reply.

I knew it would feel good to hit send. It would feel oh so good. But I also knew that sinking to their level would ultimately just let them win.

And I didn’t want that to happen.

So here is what I’ve did to not sink. (This advice is hard won after sending too many emails impulsively…)

Wait. Yes – it feels great to send off that nasty response in the heat of the moment, but it will feel even better to send a thoughtful response – or perhaps no response at all.
Pray. the reaction I have is out of the flesh – I want it to be out of The Spirit. Prayer is the only way I’m ever going to do that.
Consult. I wanted to send the nastygram. Roger talked me out of it. Roger was the one who reminded me that I needed to act Christlike even if I didn’t feel Christlike. I sent him the email and he congratulated me for taking the high road (this time.)

Any additional suggestions to not being a jerk?

Update as of 3:13 (about an hour and half after I posted this.)

OK – said person said something super-jerky in a follow-up email. And I ignored all the advice above and sent something back super-snotty. Sigh.

I am no longer engaging in the drama. This is officially being moved over to the Crazy File (a file that Roger reads before I do so that I do not escelate crazy discussions.) Sigh.

I will do better next time. I can’t promise. But I can pray.

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?, Me

How to Get Your Husband to do (just about) Anything

November 9, 2010 By kathilipp 3 Comments

On Tuesday Roger and I will begetting up at 4:30 in the morning, (have I mentioned that I am not a morning person?) to fly to New Mexico to teach at the Ghost Ranch CLASS Christian Writers Conference.

We must really love writers in order to get up before many farmers.

There has been a lot of prep work getting ready for this conference and that, on top of our every day jobs, (me, writing and speaking, Roger, working for HP,) has been a bit overwhelming what with the plague hitting our house and all.

I don’t think that Roger was expecting quite so much prep work and kind of shut off his brain to the influx of all the e-mails that were coming in. Which worked for him.

For a while.

That is until one or two people were trying to get me to get him to respond. One of those people, Gary Chevalier, had requested an interesting fact from each of us to use in his role as emcee for the event. He was getting desperate and sent me the following email:

I’ve sent him (Roger) the email about telling me an Interesting fact for Introductions, but I haven’t heard back from him yet. Can you give him a gentle spousal reminder to do that? Maybe over dinner tonight, you can give him a little something like this,

“Oh Roger! I had so much fun today coming up with an interesting fact about me to send to Gary Chevalier (pictured left with his adorable wife Andrea) for the Writer’s Conference.
Remember when I flashed those trick-or-treaters?
It was sooooo hysterical!
What interesting fact did you tell him?
What?
You haven’t sent him anything yet?
Roger Lipp, I’m appalled!
No nooky for you until you send Gary that interesting fact!”

Roger sent Gary the interesting fact about 30 minutes later.

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?, The Husband Project, Uncategorized

How to Keep Your Purse Clean and Make Your Butt Look Smaller at the Same Time

April 12, 2011 By kathilipp 11 Comments

I have a giant purse. Huge.

I was even given the cocktail napkins at a retreat after people heard me talk about my undying devotion for oversized bags.

I remember one time telling Roger that I needed a purse with wheels to lug around all my stuff.

Roger told me, “That’s called a suitcase and you have a problem.”

I will always have a giant purse (because I love them and see the napkin above…) but I don’t need to have the back and shoulder pain that go with an overstuffed purse.

So once a week I do my three step method (I use this all over the house, but here it will apply to handbags,) to keeping my bag from overflowing.

1. CLEAR IT OUT I simple take my purse and dump it out in a grocery bag.

Anything I want to keep (but doesn’t belong in my purse) gets put away. (This is when I go through receipts in my wallet – or the ones that have been thrown in my purse, pieces of paper, etc.)

Anything that is garbage stays in the bag and gets thrown away.

2. PUT IT BACK Anything that belongs in the purse, stays in the purse. This includes

Wallet (I like the kind that has a place for a checkbook because I still have to write a couple of checks a month, plus, it keeps my business receipts better organized.

Make-up bag

Lipstick and gloss
Eye liner
Powder
Sunscreen stick
Blush and brush
Eyeglass cleaner wipes
Hand sanitize

Sunglasses case

Cell phone
Keys
Emergency kit

Hollywood Tape
$20
Needle and thread
Nail glue

3. KEEP IT UP If I do it once a week, it really is easy to stay on top of it.

Also, have a small bag for makeup, and an emergency bag, it makes it easy to transfer the contents of the purse into my computer bag.

So tell me – do you have any fab tips for keeping your bag clean and light?

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?, Home, The Get Organized Project, tips and ideas, Travel

I’ve Missed You

December 5, 2010 By kathilipp 1 Comment

I’ve really, really missed you.

It has been a whirlwind month with racking up flights on Southwest, meeting new friends in New Mexico, Missouri and hanging out with Mickey in Florida.

But with all that traveling, and the time changes and the altitude (who knew that New Mexico was so high…?!?) I just plain left the my real world (bloggy and home) behind.

Here are some of the things that I missed, in no particular order…

1. My dog Jake
2. Being able to share random thoughts on the blog and having all of you share back with me.
3. My mattress
4. Sharing recipes here
5. Facebook (ok, I did a little of it…)
6. Starbucks (the didn’t have it at the Ghost Ranch in NM and the coffee at Disneyworld is atrocious…)
7. Tivo
8. Cooking
9. Writing

Oh, and did I mention the coffee?

Glad to be home. I will be working on finishing up my next book, The What’s for Dinner Solution. I’m excited to finish it up and be home for a while.

Filed Under: Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?, Christmas