1. She  was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup, under the watchful eyes of her young granddaughter, as she'd
 done many times before. After she applied her lipstick and started to leave, the  little one said, "But Gramma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!"
I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye....

2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 62. Mygrandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you start at 1?"

3. After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?"

4. A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like: "We used to skate outside on a pond I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods." The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!"

5. My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo and I said, "No, how are we alike?'' "You're both old," he replied.

6. A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather's word processor. She told him she was writing a story. "What's it about?" he asked. "I don't know," she replied. "I can't read."

 7. I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me and was always correct.. It was fun for me, so I continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, "Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these, yourself!"

 8. When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us i n. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use Grandpa.. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights."

 9. When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, "I'm not sure." "Look in your underwear, Grandpa," he advised, "mine says I'm 4 to 6."

10. A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today." The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's interesting," she said, "how do you make babies?" "It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' and add'es'."

 11. Children's Logic: "Give me a  sentence about a public servant," said a teacher. The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don'tyou know what pregnant means?" she asked. "Sure," said the young boy confidently. 'It means carrying a child."

12. A grandfather was delivering his grandchildren to their home one day when a fire truck zoomed past.Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's duties. "They  use him to keep crowds back," said one child. "No," said another.. "He's just for good luck." A third child brought the argument to a close."They use the dogs," she said  firmly, "to find the fire hydrants."

13. Grandpa is the smartest man on Earth! He teaches me good things, but I don't get to see him enough to get as smart as him!

14. My Grandparents are funny, when they bend over; you hear gas leaks, and they blame their dog.

Here is a great idea,  with the weather cooling now and the days still long enough to enjoy the outdoors, try this with friends and co workers to help Keep Austin Beautiful and feel like you have really accomplished something for your community.

After posting to various groups about local businesses and activities and events I thought it would be a fun idea to have all those in one area, besides of course Localism. 

     http://activerain.com/groups/shamelessplugs

When you post to Localism its wonderful and is directed to your state, county, city and community. What about also posting those great bragging reports into a group that will easily be found by the Public, Realtors, Mortgage folks, Inspectors, Appraisers and anyone else interested.

Maybe someone is going to be traveling and you have a good local cafe, that post could easily be found in the Shameless Plugs group.  So I am asking for you to post your shameless plugs to this new group as well as your local groups. 

While we all have a rant or two in us, this group is for really positive news ..  spread the news about your neighbors and friends and what you will get is some Google Juice back at you.  Now that is a good thing, anytime.

While your at it, help me think of a new logo, phrase, or any other creative ideas you have for making this a topten group.   So ActiveRain Bloggers, I am asking for your help to establish this group.  Now, go post something.

We need a PHOTO LOGO for the new Group SHAMELESS PLUGS

If anyone has a good idea or photo for our new group, SHAMELESS PLUGS please do submit it to me and I will add it.  Or if ya'll would like to submit and make a contest we can decide next Sunday, Sept 13,2009, which one has the most votes on it?  

Just submit the photo or logo in a post and lets see what happens.  I think the name is descriptive enough that you will have many many ideas ..  I will be looking for participation from many of you! 

Submit your ideas, logos, photos, what have yous.   If you wish to just email me something,  here it is..

gailnttexas@gmail.com

Announcing a new group here for all to use in Active Rain,  SHAMELESS PLUGS, please join me in adding your favorite and newly found businesses, referrals, and any person who delivers what they say they will, and often exceeds your expectation of Customer Service.

We all know how easy it is to "trash talk"  now lets all work on the positive side and bring it out to others, did a business or a service person go above what you expected? In this day and age of a falling off of Customer Service its time to celebrate those who remember what real customer service is and does.

Bring your blog postings here and let us all show that Customer Service is not dead but alive and well. Share the news and you will receive good Google Juice as a backlash.  Not a bad deal huh!

Welcome to all, lets keep this group positive and family ratings.  Thanks again to all and Welcome.

Longhorn Football is on Paid Service Only.

This stinks.  I have been a University of Texas at Austin Longhorns Football team fan since my youngest grandson could say, HOOK EM  Gran!

That a few years ago.  Last fall I heard about this was going to happen, but ya know sometimes one just has to see it happen before they believe it.  In this case that is true.  

First UT Longhorn Game is tonight, kickoff was at 6PM .. what am I watching on the Television?  Alabama vs Virginia Tech.  Not to say its not a great game, I'm sure it will be but how do I say HOOK'EM?

Don't my taxes pay for the University here?  Real Estate taxes, county taxes, road taxes, retail taxes and you name it taxes?  School fees and etc? Why do I have to pay a  cable company to get a special channel to watch the LONGHORNS play football?  This Stinks!  I am one disgruntled gran.

The City of Austin has an Ordinance with a  new proposal to ban TEXTING while driving.

The Austin Business Journal of Friday Sept 4,2009 carried an article about the proposed ban along with an informal poll of 1,048 votes in the poll. 56% voted to ban texting while driving,  while another 29 percent said the use of cell phones should be banned altogether. Only 15 percent said the city should not ban texting while driving.

It is expected the Ordinance will come before the City Council this fall for confirmation.  Recently it was in the Austin American Statesman that talking on a cell phone when in a school zone will be a traffic violation subject to ticketing.  Sounds like Austin is getting serious about their traffic laws.   From this drivers perspective, that is a good thing.

This is a Shameless Plug for Aspen Tree Service and Landscaping here in Austin Texas.  This week Eddie and the crew came out and trimmed several large oak trees, removed the ball moss from many of the trees on the property, took out one maple tree and a dead oak tree.  Cleaned it up into a brush pile at our direction and left everything neat and tidy. 

Our property in Southwest Austin is over 2 acres and has more than 100 oak trees, of Spanish Oak, Pin Oak, Live Oak and various other trees like Maple, Sumac, Juniper and Pecan, over the past 14 years some of these have gotten beyond just a mere trim here and there. 

In the photos you can easily see the before and after differences and what a big impact it made on the house viewed from the street.  Don't be surprised to see more work being done soon, since now we can see what we are working on.

Aspen Tree Service and Landscaping does Residential and Commercial, they have an Certified Arborist on Staff and also do 24 hour emergency service.  Call for a free onsite quote.  512-552-5966.The photo to the left was taken inside the gate/driveway area before, the right photo was after the cleaning trimming taken from another angle but the same gate post is in the photo.

 I ran into Mad Cakes of Central Austin yesterday and got the surprise of the week.  I am sure this is a local secret but it's time to let the cake out of the bag!   I stood in line and watch people pickup orders, place orders and take away various cookies, cookie bars and cakes.

Check out the photos I took yesterday to see some of their latest designs.  Of course they are not limited to these designs.   Speaking to Anne Marie, one of the co-owner along with Rebecca who was working in the bakery room,  Anne Marie told me they have been in business about 4 and a half years and currently also have a mobile truck for catering events and corporate functions around town.

Now let me tell you about those award winning Lemon Bars, just the right tartness, perfect weight of crust, not too thin and not overthick.  This was undoubtably the best Lemon Bar I have ever tasted.  The sizes were generous, I took some back to the office and we cut them into 4 parts.  That was more than enough if you wanted to try another flavor too.  We also sampled the Bourbon Pecan, it was absolutely awesome, just a hint of a great agood southeern Bourbon in a pecan pie with the thickness of a cookie bar, it was so scrumptious those of us at the office will definitely order more of these.  And the double chocolate bars... let's not even try to describe that piece of heavenly delight.  All I know is when you have your next chocolate craving day you must run not walk to the Mad Cakes store and get one or two of these delights.  You will not be disappointed.

The Lemon Bars are an old family recipe of Anne Marie and Rebecca's mothers.  The new LONGHORN ORANGE is a local recipe and sure to be a real favorite with the football and fall season starting up.