Jenyfer Matthews

I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of facial hair - in spite of the fact that hubby has sported a goatee for years now. Although some men actually look better with facial hair. I once had a boss who had a goatee when I met him. Apparently it was fairly new because no one else in our office liked it at all. He shaved it off a few months into my employment and I actually missed it. It was a good look for him. At this point I kind of think I’d have a similar reaction if hubby shaved his goatee off. He had lasic eye surgery a few years ago and I still sort of miss his glasses.

I can live with a well maintained goatee (obviously) but full beards and lone mustaches? Not a fan. And clearly from this tongue-in-cheek article, Great Moustaches of Rock, I’m not alone in my feelings about moustaches. Though I’m sure these guys couldn’t care less - they’re rock legends after all.

What do you think about facial hair? Love it? Hate it? A little goes a long way?

I kind of like the five o’clock shadow look but it’s not much fun to get up close and personal with - unless you yourself like to sport the red chin look…

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there celebrating today. My family and I are going on an overnight trip to an area of Egypt called Fayyum so our holiday meal will be postponed until Sunday. I’ll tell you all about the trip (with photos!) next week!

When you’re done with your dinner, check out this quiz and see how much you know about Thanksgiving.

And don’t forget to stop by over the weekend when J. L. Wilson is here with her book ENDURANCE from her paranormal romance series The History Patrol.

Looking for just the right gift for your little one this Christmas? Want something unique? Something that will stimulate their imagination? Develop hand-eye coordination while at the same time killing any spark of empathy or compassion they might have?

Have I got the toy for you!

(Click images to enlarge)

Not convinced it’s right for your little one? The blurb on the back speaks for itself:

Having trouble finding the Terror Game in your local toy store? Made in China by HAPPY BABY, request it by name!

Note: This game is not suitable for children under three.

(THREE??? I think they should have stopped after “not suitable”, full stop)


******************************
SSSHHHH!!! Don’t tell, but I’m giving this to my father for Christmas. Should be good for a laugh…

I went shopping for coach gifts for my son’s soccer team on Tuesday, thinking that if there were any snags I’d still have time to rethink and do something else. Am I ever glad I did - there were more snags than anything else!

The head coach recently became ill from eating out so a restaurant certificate as an idea, an old standby, was immediately thrown out. Though she is a recent arrival to Egypt I decided against buying her any arts / handicrafts because tastes vary so much with that sort of thing. In the end I decided to get a gift certificate to a local clothing store than sells a nice selection of items made from Egyptian cotton. Everyone agreed it sounded like a great idea.

Only when I got there, they don’t sell gift certificates. In fact, I had to explain what a gift certificate was.

So I made a few phone calls and it was decided that I should go to another shop in the neighborhood, one that sells arts/ handicrafts, and see if I could get a gift certificate there. They not only knew what I was talking about but had pre-printed cards ready. One down, one to go.

After a quick consultation with the assistant coach’s wife, I went to his favorite shop at the mall. They don’t sell gift certificates (Attention Egyptian retailers - you’re really missing the boat on that one!) I then went to a club to which he belongs, planning to get him a restaurant voucher there. Closed.

Keep in mind I was walking everywhere to do this stuff. I was certainly well exercised as I was defeated at every turn.

As it turns out, it seems what he would really like is a case of Corona beer so guess what he’ll be getting? Though he’ll have to pick it up - I’m not schlepping that to the field!

With coach gifts sorted I thought I was home free. Not quite. My daughter, soccer star extraordinaire, child with not one but *two* days of tournaments scheduled this weekend, is sick with a fever and throat infection. There’s something going around our building so I called the doctor at the first signs of illness (He came to us within an hour! Cheaper and easier than an office visit!) Fingers crossed the meds he prescribed will kick in by tomorrow. She’s determined to play for her respective teams. (And I’m more grateful than ever I went out and got the coach presents early!) I hope she recovers quickly because it wouldn’t be nearly so much fun to be out at the field all day Saturday for my team mom duties if my own child wasn’t even well enough to participate!

At present, I’m just determined to remain well enough myself to enjoy wine night tonight!

(click image to enlarge)

I see this chair every week when I go to my yoga class - look closely and you’ll see it’s chained to the landing on the stairwell. Why?? By the looks of it, it wasn’t terribly valuable even in its prime and now even the duct-tape re-upholstery job has seen better days. I will give it credit for being sturdy - I sat in it briefly while waiting for the instructor to arrive and open the studio - but really, is that thick chain really necessary?

Or perhaps the owner is afraid the chair will escape…

You might have to be over a certain age to appreciate this, but I ran across a list of the 25 Cheesiest Hits of the 1970s the other day and found it hysterical. I actually liked a lot of these songs. I defy you to look at - and listen to - the songs listed and not get one of them caught in your head. Some of them were pretty catchy

I think the author of this list missed some great tunes though. What about “Lola” by Barry Manilow (or any of his others)? “Muskrat Love” by The Captain and Tenille? How about “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor or “Afternoon Delight” by Starland Vocal Band? “Fernando” by Abba? “Stayin’ Alive” by the BeeGees?

What was your favorite or least favorite 70s song? Which ones do you think were the cheesiest?

It’s pomegranate season again and I’m loving every minute of it. But it is peculiar if you think about it - who was the first person who cut one open and looked at all the seeds inside and thought yum! Maybe I’m just odd, but there are lots of foods I wonder about. Like:

How ever did someone look at a pumpkin and say, “I’ll bet if I cut that up, boil it, mash it, and mix it up with a bunch of spices that would make a great pie!”

Who first looked at mushrooms and thought “Oh that fungus looks delicious! Maybe I’ll toss a few in the stew tonight!” (And how long before someone started keeping track of which were safe to eat??)

Lychee - like eating a large hairy eyeball…

White asparagus - why why why? I love old-fashioned green asparagus, but the white shoots? They look like some sort of deep sea grub to me…yuck…

Chocolate, coffee - how did anyone make the leap from collecting the seeds to grinding them up and processing them for two of the world’s most popular legal pleasures?

If seedless watermelons are really seedless, how do they grow new ones?

I could go on and on like this all day but I’ll stop for now. Tell me - What do you wonder about?

Always good advice, no matter where in the world you are!

I am in Italy at this moment. Send me good vibes for the conference please. And don’t forget to drop by this weekend when Margaret Carter will be here with an excerpt from her paranormal/thriller romance Prince of the Hollow Hills. See you next week!

You also find out interesting things when you have sons, like…

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq.. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old Boy’s voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20×20 ft. room.

5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn’t stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words ‘uh oh’, it’s already too late.

8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9.) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.

10.) Certain Lego’s will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.

11.) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12.) Super glue is forever.

13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool,you still can’t walk on water.

14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15.) VCR’s do not eject ‘PB & J’ sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

16..) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.

20.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.

21.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

22.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

23.) 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.

24.) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

I mentioned a little while ago that I was turning over a new leaf and that exercise was a part of that. I’ve done so much exercising this week I’d be lucky to be able to lift a leaf right now.

I have activated the Curves membership I won over the summer. Curves has an interesting concept - you do all of their machines as fast as you can for 30 seconds then their soundtrack tells you when to “switch stations”. You go round the circuit twice and in half an hour you’re done. It takes a little getting used to, and I had sort of hoped that I could listen to my own music, but I do like the half an hour bit. And hey - it’s a free membership. What’s to complain about?

They asked that I try to come in three times a week and I said fine. It’s half an hour - no biggie, right? Even with the currently abbreviated hours (for Ramadan), going three times this week should have been doable, and yet life got in the way.

I went on Sunday but was busy on Monday so skipped it. I planned to go on Tuesday afternoon but had a spur of the moment haircut instead, and by the time my husband got home from work there wasn’t time to go before the gym closed. Wednesday morning I went to a yoga class, thinking that I could go home, have lunch and then hit the gym. After an hour and a half of twisting myself up into tortuous positions, all I wanted was a shower and a nap. I went to a water aerobics class this morning. Who knew you could sweat while you exercised in a pool?

Needless to say, I’m not going to the gym today. I’ll be lucky to get myself out of this chair. Every muscle in my body hurts!

You’d think that it wouldn’t matter, that no one would notice how often I go to the gym. But this being a new location, there aren’t that many members yet AND they track your workouts with a scanner. I’m sure I’m going to get a lecture next time I go in. Which will be two times at most next week because I’ll be in Italy for five days starting Wednesday. Oh well.

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of headlines about the wonder of pomegranates - full of fiber and antioxidants and apparently also helpful in weight loss. I love pomegranates and lucky me, they’re in season here now. My new favorite ways to eat them include sprinkling them on top of hummus and throwing a handful in a salad. YUM.

I’m off to take a nap now. Stop by over the weekend when Jane Beckenham will be my featured author.

I appreciate the comments you guys left on my hair-cut dilemma. I wavered briefly but then my bangs got in my eyes once to often and I decided to bite the bullet.

I called the new hair dresser.

He took one look at my shaggy mane and took action. I admit, I was a tad nervous when I saw the length of some of the pieces that were falling to the floor around me, particularly in the front. I’m going to a conference for romance writers and I didn’t want to show up with a mullet!

I’m happy to report that all is well. It’s a little different than it was, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s more sexy-messy now than just plain old messy. One less thing for me to worry about.

On to wardrobe decisions now…