Saturday Survey: Should British Singer Have a Makeover?

One of the controversies that has come up this week since Susan Boyle’s amazing audition for “Britain’s Got Talent” is whether or not she should have a makeover before vying for the title.  Show insiders are saying they don’t want to do a makeover because they want her to just perform, without the added pressure of worrying about her looks.  Others are saying she can’t win without being more photogenic.  Your thoughts?

Should Susan Boyle have a makeover?
( polls)

British singer wows Simon Cowell aka Judging a book by its cover

Did you happen to see NBC Nightly News last night?  I guess this video clip has gone viral on YouTube, as well.  This woman from Scotland entered an American Idol type competition in Great Britain.  I’m sorry, but there’s no word for her other than frumpy.  I mean, she’s older than me (and that’s pretty old!), she has some serious eyebrows, and she’s heavier than the people you generally see performing on TV.  (Not that I have any room to talk about someone’s weight.)

Anyways, the judges are asking her the usual questions before she performs, and you get the idea this is going to be one of the “throwaway” auditions for the beginning of the season, where they show all of the idiots who just wanted to be on television.

Then, she opens her mouth.  You guessed it – her singing voice is absolutely amazing.  The crowd goes wild, and the judges’ jaws drop to the ground – even Simon Cowell’s.  She gets 3 yes votes, and my guess is that she will win the final competition.

So, here’s my question to you:  how often have you pre-judged someone based on their appearance?   I know I have, at least once.  I had one of my foster daughters in the car when we pulled into the local drug store to pick up a prescription, when this old beater pick-up truck pulled up right beside us.  Out stepped an old woman in her housecoat and slippers and a man (apparently her son) who was in full Harley leathers, greasy hair, and bandana.

As we walked into the store, I held onto my daughter’s hand firmly, and tried to place myself between her and the man.  While we were both waiting for our meds, the man leaned down to speak to DeeDee.  It made me really nervous.  Then, she turns and looks at me and asks if it is okay if the man buys her a candy bar.

I was so embarassed!  Here, he was so gentle and nice to her, and I had only the worst suspicions based on his appearance.  I was ashamed of myself, and oh-so-glad he didn’t know what I was thinking.

And, I have to say, it did teach me a valuable lesson about judging people without knowing them!

How about you – have you ever formed an opinion of someone right off the bat, then been proven wrong?

Greetings for the Season

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter and a blessed Passover!

Shout-Out

Thanks to Condron.us for sending readers my way!

Introductions

I suppose I should start by introducing you to the family.  Debbie & I have three wonderful adopted boys, Robbie, Jimmy, and Billy.  We also have four dogs and two cats, as you might have guessed from the url.  The dogs are Maggie (an 8-year old Golden Retriever), Kayla (a 6-year old mutt-i-gree), Cooper (a 3-year old Vizsla), and Penny (a 2-year old Beagle).  The cats are both ordinary housecats, named Twiggy and Panther.

I’m writing this blog, really as a journal, to tell you about my life as a working mother in Canton, OH.  I work for American Electric Power, a large electric utility company, as a credit dispatching supervisor. I also have my own small business (Professional Business Associates).  So naturally, I decided I needed to take on something else, and decided to start this blog.

All of this is only possible because I have a FABULOUS wife, who does virtually everything at the house while I am working.  She is retired from making pretzels at the local Frito-Lay plant.  She cooks, cleans, cares for the animals, and in general, keeps our home life running.

This isn’t to say I’m lazy.  In fact, I work about 12 hours a day.  My “day job” (meaning it’s the one that pays the mortgage) takes up about 8 hours every day.  Then I come home and work on my small business.  My focus is on business support services.  Most of what I do is ghost-writing, where I help other people put their thoughts down in a book or online.  My biggest client is doggies.com, where I write the blog and many of the articles.

But this blog won’t really be about work.  It’s about the home front.  You see, Debbie and I adopted three boys after fostering more than 30 children.  The boys are the light of our lives, but they all have problems because of the environment in which they were born.  So, if you are interested in what happens in a home with three troubled boys, four dogs, and two cats, you might want to subscribe to this blog.  I hope to tell you how we manage all of the activity, as well as to give you a little insight into time management, behavior management, and the fun that results when you throw all of this together!

Welcome to the chaos that is my life!!