Laura Bush - An Inconspicable Southern Lady
Growing up, my grandmother often said, “Ladies don’t appear flagrantly in public places.” At the time I wasn’t aware of what she meant. The older I get, the more often I recognize her statement as fact, and then I realize what she meant by her statement.
For those who are already getting up a good case of ire and dander over the comment, please keep reading and you’ll understand it isn’t a taunt against women, or even anti-liberation, but rather a deep seated statement of personal value and understanding.
When Grandma got upset over events of the times, she talked to Grandpa. She was often his motivation, his support and his conscience in political arenas. If Grandma said, “That ought to not happen.” You can bet your bottom dollar, the next day, Grandpa was out there voicing his opinion and making sure that “That not happen.” A simple “Tsk, tsk,” from Grandma set the wheels in motion and soon there would be “you know what” to pay if something wasn’t done about it.
Last night I read an article about George W. Bush visiting Fort Hood in a secret, un-publicized visit, offering support and encouragement to the families and friends of the victims of the recent terrorist attack. Laura Bush received a comment in the article “Laura arrived with former President Bush” in true southern lady fashion. While she didn’t make rave reviews in the article and there was no fashion statement about what she wore to the event, Laura’s presence there is acknowledged.
The comment about Laura brought back the word “flagrantly” because I hadn’t thought of it in a while… Laura’s actions are polite, recognizable and considerate, but never conspicuous. She simply goes about her business, supporting her husband and encouraging the nation, supplying the simple gift of hospitable motivation she’s become known and recognized for, but none would call her flagrant. All would recognize her easy smile, bright eyes and gentle personality and know, this woman is a lady - beyond all else. While Laura probably deserves the title “Coolest Woman on the Planet” I believe, I’d be remiss if I gave it to her, because she’s clearly the “Warmest Woman on the Planet” in terms of her caring concern and simple forms of encouragement.
Laura Bush - this lady recognizes and appreciates your influence on our lives. Thank you!
The Coolest Women Wear Snow Boots - Definitely YES!
Snow boots come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and styles. As women, we often try to make sure our foot wear is a sexy version of whatever is available. High heels, fancy edgings and non-slip soles, no problem… Or is there.
Seriously, I don’t know about you, but my backside is tender and doesn’t like landing on the snow and ice. I’d rather wear unattractive footwear and NOT have a sore rump. So, the coolest women wear better tracking footwear for the snow months and seriously consider changing shoes at the office.
Consider these moon-boot snow walkers for a cobalt moment! Give your feet a warm wrap around foam liner and some serious traction for the winter snow. Way back in 1969 when these became popular, it was seriously okay to trample through the muck and mud with high white wall traction and warm footwear. What’s changed now? Nothing.
Get yourself a pair of moon-boot snow walkers and enjoy a romp in the snow with the kiddos. You’ll have a better time chasing snow frizbees and snow angels, your toes will thank you, and your kids will love you.
So, YES the coolest women on the planet wear moon-boot snow walkers and play in the snow with warm toes and BIG feet.
For a more stylish, Alaskan Soccer Mom look, these High-tech St Moritz snow stompers will be more effective. You can always step on a few political toes and carry your own sharp shooter through the muck and snow wearing these lace up beauties. Your toes will stay warm and toasty and you’ll be a happy little camper standing around the frozen north.
Waiting for Santa, no problem. With these Icelandic models, you’ll be able to withstand icy temperatures and smile through the worst weather with flying comfort.
The best part, hiking through the northern tundra or down south to work, changing out of these into your favorite dressy slippers is no problem… You just carry in your office slippers and your toes are happy to slip back into these after a day of crunching on office floors. And you’re almost slip proof on the snow and ice. Check out those treads!
Sweater Season Again - Autumn Colors
The Coolest Woman on the planet definitely wears sweaters. I can’t think of a warmer addition to a wardrobe anywhere than sweaters and cardigans.
Recently, while visiting my daughter, I felt a chill. I hadn’t prepared for cold weather when packed for the trip two weeks earlier. Mid-September, even in Denver, usually means warm weather and shirt sleeves. Rarely does it snow that time of year in the foothills. We weren’t planning a trip to the mountains, but suddenly snow flakes were falling.
She tossed me a sweater with an interesting shape, and I looked at it, but didn’t think I could wear it. I put it on anyway. The back of the sweater covered my back with sleeves to the mid arm length. The front had long woven tails that tied, wrapped, or hung down the front. As uncomfortable as the sweater looked, it felt amazingly comfy and warm. I wiggled around in it until I felt comfortable and realized I felt as if I’d been wrapped up snug in a cocoon.
The next morning when clouds still hovered over Colorado skies, I grabbed her sweater wrap again, to wear over my skirt and heals for church. It worked perfect.
Monday morning when I had a meeting at the high-rise downtown, I added it as a topper to my black slacks and summer blouse. I wore it off and on all week, disappointed on Friday morning when I headed home and she said, “Mom, you can’t take my sweater.” We laughed. I’d finally found an article of clothing, she owned, that I really and truly wanted.
I started my search online when I got home, fully expecting to have to make the sweater, to get one in my size and color choice. But then, finally I found one. Not just one, but a few choices in a variety of styles, colors and fabrics.
Sitting here at my desk wrapped in the cozy comfort of a micro-knit wrap in my favorite purple passion color over black leggings and a black tank, I feel comfy and warm, even with cloudy skies and the threat of snow outside. It feels good to be the coolest woman on the planet dressed in high style and fashion, just over the top edge of the hill, coming of age and enjoying the most magnificent view of my life.
Pick one, order it and join me in the cozy comfort of sweater season in one of Autumn’s most brilliant hues. You’ll enjoy the opportunity to be cozy and warm in high style fashion too.
Mega Moms - The Coolness Factor
You’ve probably seen one or two of them, a kid on each hip, a phone in one hand and dinner in the other, the laundry’s going and she’s telling her husband where to find his socks. Yup, she’s a Mega Mom!
The concept clattered to reality a few moments ago as I watched for the forth time today, my son stumble through the house with one item in his hand, informing me that he was doing his chores as fast as he could. I wanted to smack him, then I remembered… Mom’s do the Mega Stuff, Dad’s wait for Mega Mom to find their socks. ARGH!!!
Does it have to go another generation?
Can’t we stop the non-sense RIGHT NOW?
My son grew up in a home with older sisters and a mom, waiting to be told what to do… Until he got old enough (he thought) to tell them what to do. It’s not working. He tells, they don’t listen. And there we are, waiting for him to clear out his clutter, one item at a time, while the laundry basket sits waiting for action on the coffee table. So, I fill it up with his clutter… The video game, the video cards, the dirty socks, the shoes, the shirt, his belt (where did he get that belt buckle) and the three books still slung across the coffee table at the end of the couch where he forgot to take them back to the library - yup, three weeks ago. When he returned to pick up the next single item, I watched agag, as he picked up the next single item out of the basket and carried it across the room to put away - one sock at a time… OMG
So, then it occurs to me that there’s more training to do here. I focus for a moment on the option of carrying out my former threat of cleaning the living room myself. His video games are still wrapped in the laundry basket, which I picked up and carried to my room and placed in the closet. Done. The living room is now picked up and he has to go through my closet to get one item at a time.
With the chill of defeat wrapped around his little fingers, he re-enters the room, intent on picking up one more thing. It’s gone. He glances around the room and looks straight at me. He knows I’m the one who picked up his stuff. The only other person in the room is his brother, who just like him, picks up one item at a time.
I smile that wretchedly cool smile that says, “I dare you to ask, g’head, ask.”
He says, “I think I’ll go fix something to eat. I’m hungry.”
The coolness factor wins again. Mega Mom can make a statement without saying a word. It’s great to be the Coolest Mom on the Planet — go check out my daughter’s blog at Pages of Parenthood.
Coolest Woman on the Planet -
There are just a few significant things that identify the coolest woman on the planet. Although there are those who attempt to pursue the title without the credentials, the real coolest woman can prove her position.
The real Coolest Woman on the planet doesn’t have to prove anything. She just exists. Right there at the top of the mountain, she reigns.
So, what does she look like?
A mom with a house full of children, any ages. She’s dedicated to raising the next generation, loving them beyond measure and understanding all the while that she’s doing this without a moment’s hesitation, because she’ll NEVER get back what she’s giving.
A woman with a job, a life, children, a spouse and a future. She’s dedicated to living well, being free, having liberty and choices to make. She’s one who makes choices knowing they can’t be changed, standing on the past to make the future better, yet living today at the fullest she can, because once a moment is passed, it never ever comes back again.
A wife or lover, who knows the value of touch, of feeling someone close to hold onto and love in the ways only she is able to love them. She’s an exception to the rule. She knows the value of the person next to her and understands that perfection isn’t part of the game. She accepts them as they are and loves them in spite of their imperfections.
A woman, funny sometimes, sad sometimes, heartless and driven at times, tender and emotional at times, but always a woman of spirit. Her kindness and gentle touch bring family together, join friends and fellow mankind with a richness that only comes from one who can believe fully in God and trust in the Hope of God’s Son.
And she’s so much more…
The Coolest Woman on the Planet is probably close to you right now.
Declaration of Independence
“When in the course of human events…”
Those words, the first words of the Declaration of Independence, spoke terror into the hearts of English Magistrates who read them, understanding for the first time that the Colonies that later became the United States of America stood alone. Through no fault other than the change of heart, a strike for independence, the men who settled the eastern seaboard, understood the value of becoming an independent nation and allowing men in this nation to independently govern themselves. Those men understood that FREEDOM meant owning land, owning businesses, and working for the love of working, at the career of their choice. They understood that their reality of life was to stand up for freedom and make a difference for the many generations that would come in the future.
Beyond the secrecy of establishing a nation within the confines of their citizenship with England, these men stood out and focused their efforts on FREEDOM, knowing that it would cost them their lives. They still committed the act of treason, betraying England, their homeland in an effort to achieve greatness and FREEDOM in a new land. Their efforts weren’t self serving.
Their efforts made a difference.
Now, 233 years later, we have an opportunity to stand up for FREEDOM, be counted and fight for our own liberty from a tyrannical government. We can Make a Difference, but standing up and declaring the importance of FREEDOM, LIBERTY and JUSTICE within this nation, stopping the tyranny of socialism that we’re facing, and speaking out, in our local neighborhoods, in our communities, and in our hometowns.
Determine to declare your independence and make a difference in your own life, this 4th of July.
Coolest Woman on the Planet Contest
Do you know an outrageously COOL Woman?
Nominate her by adding her name in a comment below this post, and adding in your information so we can choose the most popular COOLEST Woman on the planet in our poll (and have a means of notifying you of the choice). I’ll be taking Nominations through April 15th, 2009.
A coffee basket from The Coffee Clatter will be the reward.
Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head
Sister squabbles and sibling rivalry often take up the better part of a life time, and this one song brings back a torrential flood of memories. My little sister was not quite three years younger than I and during those precocious teen years, a veritable thorn in my side. We shared a room.
We truly could not have been more different.
I liked to stay up late at night and listen to WSM Radio from Dallas and she preferred getting up early in the morning and listening to Tom Jones. Even in my wildest dreams I was NEVER a Tom-Tom girl. And hearing “Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head” every morning, a minimum of 43.7 times with my sister dancing on top of the double bed where I tried to sleep (or later on her twin bed, while I slept on the other one) just didn’t do a thing for me. When dancing was replaced by the gyro-athletics of hool-a-hooping I was even less impressed.
And to say that I had the hool-a-hooping skill of a walrus would have been giving the walrus undo credit, which only served to make matters worse.
Ear plugs weren’t even half the solution. There had to be bigger waves of answers coming across sibling airwaves. I wanted more than earplugs to get me through those years of rivalry.
No matter what I attempted, my little sister’s job at that time was to one-up-me, drive me crazy, and irritate me beyond recognition. To admit at any point that I actually liked the song and believed whole heartedly in the principle it proclaimed would have been the demise of my personal integrity.
To find out more than thirty five years later that my sister felt somehow less than superior during those challenging years of sharing turf was a bit surprising on one hand, and on the other hand a startling realization that we’ve come a long ways since Tom Jones. This morning when Tom Jones belted out “Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head” over the airwaves, I allowed a small grin of accomplished pride, I know now, I can listen and enjoy the song without any admissions screwing up my reputation.
No red eyes here boys, I’m a happy Girl!
So, what have you learned about sisterhood in the last thirty five years? Has it changed your life? Will it change your life?
Consider sibling rivalry for a moment and see if you can’t identify the need to be superior in one area or another of your life… Coolest Woman on the Planet works!
Coolest Woman in the World -
Making the grade as coolest woman on the planet wasn’t really too difficult. It’s an easy mark. I know there’s nobody off the planet voting, and I only had to consider the Google Analytics when I thought about the concept of Search Engine Optimization. However, Coolest Woman in the World - could actually be outside the realm of planet - if in fact there are other women in the world. So, how can one achieve such a grand position?
1. Assume a position of power…
This seems a bit audacious, but it’s been working and who wouldn’t want to be the Coolest Woman in the world? It’s been a really fun exercise in SEO to develop a following and maintain the position while various others attempt to steal it away. Although, seriously… None could be trying too hard, or they might have succeeded.
2. Put the word out and invite others to add your links…
Just hand out the links and ask people to share your link, add your button, or give notice on their websites that you’re the coolest woman on the planet, or the coolest woman in the world, whichever you happen to be promoting at the moment. And DO promote one or the other, please.
3. Give yourself some power over the concept…
Write a few stellar articles pointing to your website and invite others to repost your content. It’s a great way to drive power links back to your website. Give them credit for driving traffic, building links and sending folks your way - there’s a whole option of gifts they could receive if they sign up for your ezine while they visit.
4. Compel more visitors by giving away something of value…
Gifts? You mean REAL live gifts? Give them something of value and call it a FREE Gift. Ahem… Yes dear, I mean REAL value.
5. Encourage your visitors to make a difference…
Each one could vote for you to be the Coolest Woman on the Planet or the Coolest Woman in the World - let them decide how you should be recognized. It’s fun. It grabs attention and drives traffic to vote.
Are you ready to conceed? I’m definitely the winner of the Coolest Woman on the Planet award, but you can try to change that…
Go see who you’re challenging at Coolest Woman on the Planet and see if you don’t agree.
Coolest Marketing Guru - Is a Woman! YAY
Okay, so there may be some who disagree with that, but it’s been said… This morning while talking to a client, he referred to me several times as the Coolest “something or other” and to my knowledge he doesn’t know about my campaign to be the Coolest Woman on the Planet (Although, I’m sure he’d agree to that too). But, his comment got me to thinking about some of the ‘coolest’ keyword optimizations I could have some fun with, and later sparked a conversation with my son. At 13, he’s got the COOLEST GRASP of what COOL means, so I asked him if I could apply “coolest” to any of those other titles and get good results.
Of course, he suggested I try it.
Way to make a difference Kenton! You know, I love it when my kids think in daringly new ways, like me. So, there I have it… Besides the fact that he thinks I’m the coolest mom on the whole wide planet, he says I could have the rest of this stuff tied up too.
What makes someone cool?I polled a group of folks over the past few days and these were some of the answers I got to that question. I won’t tell you it was an even poll across a wide variety of Americans, but it’s pretty well directed toward cool people (okay, people whom I believe have a spectrum of “coolness”).
*** You could be the coolest person in the world if you listen to Dolly Parton.
*** You’re cool if you can sing the Star Spangled Banner all the way through and hit the high notes.
*** You might be the coolest person if you’re funny, have a sense of humor and know how to chill with your friends.
*** You could have a larger measure of COOL than the next guy if you wear what you like instead of what’s IN style.
*** You’re definitely cool if you have a facebook.
*** You’re talking cool if you can make a point in 140 characters on Twitter.
*** You’re cool if you feel real gratitude for who you are and what you have.
*** You’re really cool if you make a difference by being the best person you can be, no matter what your circumstances.
*** You’re a cool marketer if you make a living with your business online.
*** You’re an awesome cool person if you travel along the back roads of yesterday.
*** You’re a cool person if you know a Charger Mom.
*** You’re a cool person if you impact the earth little by living green.
*** You’re cool if you’re a Country Boy.
*** You’re one cool Okie if you remember Silver Wings.
*** You’re the coolest if you’re inspired to greater achievements.
*** You’re cool if you bake cookies with kids.
*** You’re awesome cool if you encourage others to achieve great things.
*** You’re the coolest writer if someone reads what you have to say.
*** You’re cool if you do the little things that life requires to help an angel earn his wings.
*** You’re the coolest in the world if you Pay it Forward.
Are you cool?
