Growing up is more hills and valleys than a climb up Mt. Everest

I always thought the maturing of youngsters into teens would be inevitable march forward and onward from the days where a little one will hold your hand ---and fast forward to the door slamming teen. 

Reality has proven to be different, yesterday the boys were being pre-teens, wanting to stay up late and play video games.  Oh the end is near, pimples are minutes away.

This morning, all three kids packed their backpacks and grabbed wooden swords to go outside and have an adventure in the woods.

Childhood isn't a straight climb after all, thank goodness.

Can you see that Patrick's hand is green? Kid thought he'd wash his hands and it would wash right off. --Not so much.

They are ridiculously excited for some egg hunting tomorrow.  I didn't have much cash for Baskets or Eggs, so I made 'Easter Coupons'.  Today I hyped the exciting and awesome Easter Coupons to the kiddos.

Hey Kids, instead of hunting for eggs filled with boring candy, we are going to have eggs filled with special prize tickets!  You can each get 4 eggs.  And one of them is filled with, wait for it, a "get out of trouble free pass!"

They started jumping up and down with excitement.  Patrick asked: "Are there three of those?" 
No, just one.  Bryce said: "I totally have to get that one, I'm the best egg finder."  Then Anna chimmed in, "No, no you're not."

And so it went.

 Easter Pics from 2009.

Im going to lose my Tree Hugging Accomadation from Al Gore.

We are on the cusp of Earth Day, and I have been a total EFG (Environmentally Friendly Girl ) Fail. Yesterday I had a one-on-one focus group downtown. Did I do the responsible thing and take public transportation? 

No. I drove down and I loved it.   I know it's wrong, but I was getting reimbursed for the parking garage fee and there isn't much traffic at 10 in the morning.  Driving into Downtown Chicago is luxury and I enjoyed every minute of avoiding running over bikers, being tailgated by cabs, and all the  red light tickets. 

About focus groups and market research, I highly recommend finding market research companies online and entering into their database. If you use google, all your online info is being tracked by advertisers anyway, why not get paid from time to time for your opinions.

Yesterday was a really great survey opportunity, because I have my own business I qualified to interview with a company looking for consumer feedback on their small business accounting software.  One hour of my time (plus commuting on a sunny spring day) and I was paid $150 plus $25 for parking. Woot!

There are focus groups and market research studies for many many things.  If you breathe  and you buy stuff, sooner or later you'll qualify for a study and get paid to share your opinion.

And back to my latest Earth Day Fail.  Today I was about to get into the shower, so the water was on, and the phone rang. I answered the phone and then I checked my email.  An indeterminate amount of time later I realized I was wasting one of our most precious resources--fresh water.  *hangs head in chagrin*

I know, the environmental police are flagging this post right now for further investigation. I will try and do better, maybe get a grass dress?  I do recycle, compost and reuse boxes that must count in my favor right?