Thursday, July 1, 2010

Lip Balm is "Da Balm"!

Did you know that lip balm does so much more that soothe lips?   Yep, I share a few other uses for lip balm, you may be surprised to find what lip balm can do, things totally non-lip related.  There may be other neat uses out there that I did not mention, please feel free to share in the commments.  I gotta say, I hope you think this video is as fun as I do, I cracked myself up (literally, LOL) like 4 times while recording it!   These one-take videos are, raw, real, me ykwim?  So you get what you get.  Enjoy!



Have an amazing day!

Alethea Anderson
WAHM Reality Show
This is life...raw...real...it's me!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Ponderings of a Day Tripper! Awakenings on a Journey....

So today I drove to California, and back!  My journey began at 3:00 am when the alarm went off, and I hit snooze every 8 minutes until about 3:30, showered, gathered my things and was out the door by about 4:20.

It was twilight outside, I could see the soft glow of the sun tucked down behind the mountains to the East and the nearly full moon glowed in the crystal clear sky over towards the West.   There is something so serene about traveling in the wee hours of the morning...

Through 6 Mile Canyon and down Geiger Grade, I pulled over to take a picture of the Reno City Lights before I dropped down into the city to hop on I-80.  You can see the sky is brighter to the right, that is towards the East.

The sky was slowly getting brighter and brigher as dawn rapidly approached and the sun's rays started stretching across the landscape.

Into California near Boomtown I hit construction...good thing I left early giving  myself plenty of time to get to my appointment at 9 am in Sacramento!   Very narrow lanes, like columns of cement with little room to move right or left, while trapped between big rigs at the front and rear.  The only way to go was forward!  Two lanes condensed to one, the only speed was SLOW.  A mere 20 MPH for miles and miles with a short break in between only to be back to two lanes again.

Did I fret?   Nope!  I enjoyed the aroma of the sage and pine wafting through my window and was grateful for a schedule that allowed me to go on this journey.  When I saw workers in trucks, on tractors and driving rigs I sent each one peaceful vibrations and sent them thanks for working all night in order to make our roads better.  I also sent a blessing to our Mother Earth for these roads to cut through her hills and valleys, so I thanked her for this.

Onward I went, the road opened up and the sun was rising illuminating the hills, I took a picture at the beginning of the forest and the moon is dancing above.  :)

I continued on, I was listening to U2 on the CD player and singing, it was such a 'now' moment and I was loving every single second of it.  Sometimes we Moms just need that time for 'peace' you know?  So as I drove along enjoying the now-ness of the moment there were a few little awakeing moments...Some bright and cheery like the amazing bright yellow flowers with a purple vine floral twisted in between.

Some perhaps a bit morbid in a sense, but awakening.  A young Doe who had gotten hit by a car, lay near the divider to the left of the road.   Something like this really opens your eyes to how we each are 'temporary'.

Forward I went and the trees were so amazing, I LOVE trees!   Living in California for 30 some years I was used to an abundance of trees, now living in the High Desert of Nevada there are certainly more sage bushes than there are trees.  I LOVE trees, I LOVE water, I LOVE nature, and I absorb every bit I can whenever I can. Even if it's being barefoot in my own yard :)

So through the trees and into Sacramento and a wall of TRAFFIC.  Instantly, memories of my past 'commutes' from when I worked full time and commuted to my office job in Cali.  Crawling, crawling... I took the moment to reflect on my gratitude for not having to commute like that any more!

Once I settled into gratitude, I smelled a beautiful aroma, some sort of flower wafting on the breeze, it took me way back to my Montessori school days.  Funny how a scent can transport you to another time and place isn't it?  I started thinking about when I was a child, my childhood friends, school... my mind was on wander with a grin on my face.  I then realized how quickly my daughter is growing, wow... another awakening moment.   One moment I'm back 30 years, the next moment my daughter is 11.

So at this point I'm not taking pictures as I got LOST.  Yep, even with a printed map AND GPS and I still got lost.  But, I was grateful I left early and though I passed through a VERY scary part of town on my adventure, I arrived an hour early at my destination!   LOST is just a moment, and everything happens for a reason.  The others who attended the meeting said they passed 3 accidents on the way, I passed one, so, divine intervention was in place.

Three hours in a meeting and by noon o'clock I was back en route towards home.  This time I decided to take Highway 50 through Lake Tahoe instead of Highway 80.  More of a scenic adventure!  

So when I left my house at 4:20 am it was 66 degrees, then dipped to about 51 in the mountains and by the time I got to Sacramento it waas 80 degrees at 8 am.  At noon it was 98, and on my way home I saw a high of 102 ~ wowsa!

I left my windows down the entire way, so many had their air conditioners on, I LOVE the heat!   How amazing our sun heats our planet! 

So I went from High Desert, to Trees, to Trees and Mountains and on the way back there were rolling hills of dry grasses....  The planet's landscape never ceases to amaze me.  Always, ALWAYS be in AWE of the world around you.  Never stop being amazed, never stop wondering about the miracles that happen around you.

This picture to the left here shows the dry grassy hills and just over those dry grassy hills soon will be the snow capped Sierra Mountains.    Absoloutely astonishing, no?

In 102 degree heat then within minutes you can see SNOW!

Zoom, zoom and I was back in the mountains.  Oh how I love it there!   The air is so clean from all those trees polishing the air!   As I acend the mountains I'm tripping out how HOT the climate was.  96 degrees in Placerville, crazy!

The road twists and turns, the cabin-like houses tucked off to the sides of the road are just gorgeous.  What a fun place to live along the beautiful river.  The river was rushing like crazy, so much snow run off, even though it was hot outside, that water is cold and dangerous and people can quickly get hypothermia in it!  Eek huh?  More wonderous aspects of nature!

The old fire damage looms on the naked areas of the hillside where all that remains are mere sticks from past trees and new vegetation starting a new life!   Nature's way  :)

As I near the Summit, my phone (and camara) battery bongs out.  So the final picture is of a section of pine forest.  Now this is a funny picture, you probably won't notice until I tell you.  All the trees appear to be tilting to the left, well this is because I used the one tall tree on the far left to attempt to align the camara, well that tree was tilted to the right, so when I 'aligned' it ended up making th rest of the trees look like THEY were tilting LOL

So due to low battery on the iPhone (I wiped out the batt with GPS and no I did not have a car charger ~ life, raw, real, it's me!  LOL)  I was not able to get some pictures of Lake Tahoe, but all things happen for a reason ~ and what a great reason to go back up to Lake Tahoe again, and soon!  I'm thinking next week, a day trip to the beach with my daughter. A picnic, some water fun and a spin around the cool park they have up there right on the beach!

So I dropped into Carson City around 2:30 and got my kiddo from her Auntie's around 3:00 and after chatting I was home sweet home around 3:30.  That's 12 hours after I woke up!  Now it's neary 11:30 pm as I writethis,  I've been up for nearly 20 hours straight, no wonder I'm going crosseyed as I'm typing this!   Well thankfully I can sleep in tomorrow :)

Any-who, a few little funnies I noticed along the way that I wanted to mention....

Funny Ponderings From Along The Trip:
  • Do the telecommunications people REALLY think the fake 'pine tree' cell towers blend in with the actual pine trees?  Maybe a better color match would help, the teal trees really don't mesh with the natural pine color!
  • Why someone who goes very slow (below the speed limit) on a curvy one-lane road, stacking up traffic behind them, suddenly finds the gas pedal when a passing lane opens up just to make sure no one will get in front of them. (?)
  • It's in the 90's, the group of younger kids are all in swim wear walking down by the casinos in Lake Tahoe, yet wearing thick, fuzzy winter hats?
There is my day summed up, an Anderson Adventure for one ~ to California and back in less than a day!   Oh and I came home, cleaned, cooked dinner and did yard work too!  LOL   A day in the life of a work at home Mom  :)

I hope your day was exciting like mine!

Alethea Anderson
WAHM Reality Show
This is life...raw...real...it's me!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Anderson Adventures "First Boat Trip of the Year, 2010"

Greetings on this beautiful day!   This is a new video series I call "Anderson Adventures",  more family-adventures, but also these tie into the WAHM Reality Show as they are 'life'!  This one is our first boating adventure in 2010,  we went to Lake Lohanton in Northern Nevada.  This is a little 'gem' up here as locals say it's an icky lake to keep non locals away!  LOL

Enjoy the beautiful song called "She Dreams in Blue" by Josh Woodward while going along along on our evening adventure from dusk to sunset...



Alethea Anderson
WAHM Reality Show "Anderson Adventures" Series
This is life...raw...real...it's me!

How My Garden Grows 2010 : Summer

Greetings, my garden is exploding with color...  it's been awhile since I posted a garden video.  A bit of video mixed in with some stills I've taken of flowers in the yard ~ and a butterfly too!   You can also explore my album on Facebook for more flower pictures from my 2010 Garden :)



Alethea Anderson
This is life...raw...real...it's  me!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

WHOA - that's a freak'n BIG Spider!

So today I walk into my home office...  and sitting there staring at me with all 8 of its beady little eyes is the the mama jamma of spiders, right there, mid wall.  Can you handle it?

Not for the squemish!



Alethea Anderson
The WAHM Reality Show
This is life...raw..real..it's me!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Nooooo I Did NOT Fall OFF the Face of the Earth

Greetings Folks!

Okay seriously, WTH right?   You're following this blog/vlog...vlbog...blovg...   Anways, you're here to see what's up in my life as I share my interesting (well interesting to ME) stories of the happenings within my day to day activities. (ummmm, month to month lately)  And here you sit, waiting, and NOTHING!  

"WHERE did she GO?"  You ponder... LOL  Well maybe I just think people are pondering, many may not even care.  But for sake of this post we'll say you've been pondering where I was, HA!

Let me summarize the past month's activities for you!  I've watched it go from warm to cold, hot to snowing, windy to sleeting, back to HOT, and now were mid 70's again.  Summer is working on appearing here, but not 'quite' yet. 

The garden grows gloriously!  All things are in bloom, watch for a new garden glow video soon.  No, I have no idea how many weeks it has been since the first day of Spring (weren't we counting weeks at one point?)  At this point we'll just say LOTS of weeks since Spring, time flies, we must be having FUN!

Here's something scary, ready?   You are nearly half way to Christmas already!  BAH HA!  LOL

OH, I geocached for the first time, now THAT was super fun!  Have you ever done that?   Well if you are like me you are saying 'what the heck is geocaching?'   In a nutshell it is where you use GPS coordinates to find little treasures someone else has hidden.  There are like zillions of these around the planet, totally a short explanation.  For details visit geocaching.com, that'll help clear any confuzzling I just did there.

So my daughter, my niece and myself spent 45 minutes wandering around the sage brush in the desert and found a hollowed out bone with a match in it, our first find!  We were quite proud!   More geocaching adventures to come this Summer.

Okay onward!   I was in a bit of a FUNKOLA you could say.  I was unhappy...I was blue... I was down in the dumps... Depressed?  Mayyyybe a wee bit.   I tend not to be in blogging and vlogging mode when I'm in pondering mode.  This is the juicy stuff most people don't know. (well, they don't really ASK either) But here is the WAHM Reality Blog, so I'm just being REAL.  Only those reading this will find out this valuable little insight into my life.  Mrs. LOA, Mrs. Sparkly Positive Person was in a low and it was not fun!

You see I had been deeply researching different home business companies for awhile because I was not so happy in the company where I was.  Not going into details as to WHY I was not happy with the company, so "not happy" will sum it up quite nicely. 

N-E-WHO, when I realized it was 'time' to make a huge change, I really sunk.  It was scary.  It's like standing on the ledge of the bridge, looking wayyyy down at the tiny stream of water, getting ready to jump, but you are scared. What if the bungee cord does not work.  (Oh Emmm Gee YES there would be a bungee cord, I was not THAT down!)   As you stand there on the verge of bismirching your britches, imagining that feeling of plummeting down, down, down and thinking what happens if you don't bounce back up?

Well, if you don't GO you'll never know.  So I put a statement out to the Universe, if (A) happens, I'll do (B).  We'll (A) happened and that was my sign, putting the wheels in motion to manifest (B).

I resigned from one company that I had been with for quite some time and where I had built a comfortable income, and I started fresh with another.  Have you ever done that?  Change careers because you wanted something fresh and new?  Because you were seeking something different, something more?  It's like totally scar-ex-citing isn't it?  (scary/exciting)   Leaving something behind in the past to start a new journey!

So I've been moving forward on my new journey.  I've done a lot of soul searching these past weeks.  I've really dove in deep wondering why I've done some of the things I've done in the past decade.  Life is about lessons, yes, but life is also what we each create.  So I really had to analyze why I created the path I've traveled leading me to this point in time.

As one who loves psychology, I get so curious why it is that when someone makes a major change such as a career switch or company switch, that other people around you get really perturbed. They cut you off, slice you out and dissapear into the abyss.  I thought these people cared about me, only to find I was a mere pawn in their game of life. 

But, that is their choice, I don't judge, to me each person is a be-ing of light and their choices reflect where they are in their lives, and that's okay  :)

Most important is that I'm glowing and growing some place new now and guess what?   I'm HAPPY, YAY ME!

Alethea Anderson
The WAHM Reality Show
This is life...raw, real, it's me...

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Seriously, where have I been? My Garden Keeps Growing

Greetings Folks!

OMG I KNOW what the heck, right?   Well it is the WAHM Reality Show and the reality is, I've been being real!  LOL  Never fear, a new garden video is coming soon, it seems every day I intend to film I'm struck by the weather, excuses, excuses I know, everyone has one.... HA!

But the garden is coming along quite nicely, it's now been 6.5 weeks since Spring 2010 Sprung.  The one nekked yard now has gorgeous Fruitless Plum trees in full bloom (I have to video before the flowers are gone!), the 'evil' Honey Locust Trees are starting to bud, all rose bushes but one have shoots coming up, the Alyssum is sprouting like crazy and my Japanes Maple is getting gorgeous purple foilage, the Columbines are starting to bloom and my mini pine in my mini zen garden has budded and opened up new sprouts too.  PLUS I started my container garden with some goodies too!

Keep an eye out, video coming this week!  (weather permitting {wink})

Alethea Anderson
This is life...raw, real, it's ME!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

How My Garden Grows 2010 : Week 4

How my garden grows... week 4!  Well it's video 3, but week 4.  I skipped a week and boy-oh-boy are you going to see some delightful changes in this Northern Nevada back yard garden!

So yea, the same as the other two, but more green.  A surprise Raspberry Plant pops up and, well, the battery died, thankfully towards the end!



Check out my garden's progress...  Week 1  ::  Week 2

Alethea Anderson

The WAHM Reality Show
This is life...raw, real, it's me...

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Move over Princess and Frog...

...here comes the Prince and the Dog!   Seriously, the love this man has for this little boxer of a beast is just funny in a sick, twisted and distorted way.  As a matter of fact he just came in the door and said "awww Astrid" as he greeted her first when  he came home!

This dog, the one who crawls under the covers and dutch ovens me, creates a speed bump in the King Size Bed as she spoons with the hubby. 

Serioiusly though, I love them both to pieces, and I'm having a little fun.  You see for yourself how the Mr. showed Astrid to sip gently from a straw, awwwwwww, how cute!  (gag)



Alethea Anderson
The WAHM Reality Show
This is life...raw, real, it's me!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Reality, Some Videos just NEVER Happen!

There has got to be a point... where you just STOP recording!  My lanta yesterday it seemed like hours when I was attempting to record a video for my Candle Business Tips Vlog.  Blunders, bloopers, then cell phone rang {TWICE}, kids playing loudly in the background... Now I know why I do those ones while the kidlet is at school, for my sanity!

This WAHM Reality vlog is so simple, one take, it is what it is!  A training website, well, requires a bit more perfection. 

In this vid you'll see several 'out takes' of the video that never was...It's kind of weird, I added some spooky music for fun...Enjoy!



Alethea Anderson
The WAHM Reality Show
This is life...raw, real, it's me...