Do you love anything having to do with your home or your garden? Do you think Rib Hillis (Ty’s carpenter on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition) is hot? Do you live in or near Orlando? Do you want tickets to the Central Florida Home & Garden Show March 13-15 in Orlando?

I have 4 tickets to give away! I’ll give 2 away to 2 different winners of this contest.

I want to get creative for my first contest on this blog. How about you write me a haiku about going to the show (actually any topic will do; it’s more for fun). Here’s a refresher on what a haiku is: a poem (doesn’t have to rhyme) with three lines; the first line has 5 syllables, the second 7 and the last 5. Here’s my attempt:

Home and Garden Show

A good way to spend a day

Not cleaning my house.
Haha that was fun. Ok, your turn. I’ll pick winners March 10. Check back to laugh at haikus!

PS If you know a Ty lookalike, he has the chance to win a $500 gift card to Sears by entering WFTV Ch. 9’s lookalike contest.  Here are the details:  http://www.wftv.com/events/18788228/detail.html

I could stand to build my self esteem. Many of us could, and it’s a hard thing to admit. Especially because

lately I see myself exuding total confidence while knowing inside I feel a little rusty in that department.

One of the guys I pay attention to, Chris Brogan, recently recommended a book to his readers called Self Esteem. So I checked it out. It goes into how we all have critics, even if they’re internal. It has taught me that I have several “shoulds” that I think I should be doing, but maybe I’m letting that critic impose those shoulds. Here are a few:

• I should be a better wife and mother (read: have the house clean, make dinner from scratch, bake brownies, join PTA)
• I should never get frustrated with my son
• I should have a more successful business
• I should lose weight
• I should save money

These are the things that eat at me, that whittle away my self esteem. But in reading the book and doing the exercises, I’m able to identify the fact that some of these (ok, all of them) won’t be possible. Because they’re not who I am. That’s not to say I can’t try harder, but having unrealistic expectations of myself doesn’t help me; it just makes me feel worse about myself.

So poo-poo to you, stupid “shoulds.” I am happy with who I am. Yea. Now I’ll go finish the book.

PS I highly recommend you read it. Even if you think you have high self esteem. I won’t tell.

Max has a playdate this afternoon. Which means I am a free woman until 5:30. I really have to make the most of it…everyone’s telling me to do something I wouldn’t normally do (so that rules out a fun-filled afternoon with laundry!)

Hmm…

Haircut?

Massage?

Nap?

Tv?

Stay tuned to find out how it went. Maybe I’ll pull out my spa manicure set and pamper myself. Why is that so hard to do?? Knowing me, I’ll probably be so antsy I pick him up early.