The Entrepreneur

That Catherine is quite a character. She's always looking for a new way to make a buck. However, as eager as she is to do something to make money, she is rarely willing to actually work for it. She's not interested in doing chores around the house to help me out. No, she'd rather just have someone give her something for...pretty much nothing.

An example. About a year or so ago, we were visiting at my mom's house. My mom, Alex, and Catherine were looking at some Pokemon stuffed animals on the internet. Catherine found one she wanted that was $7. So her lazy, creative mind went to work. She walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a bunch of bananas that were sitting there. She offered to sell them to my mom for $7. Hey, she saw something she wanted and found a way to get it! Well, actually she didn't get it. My mom refused her offer.

So the other night when I walked downstairs, I had to laugh. This is what I saw:




















She had opened up a little "stand" where she was charging a nickel to pet her bunny. She made a sign that said, "Pet the bunny! 5 cents only. Really soft bunny. You'll love how soft the bunny is. You'll know what you payed for!"

I went back upstairs and got some nickels to contribute to the cause. Jason added more, and then even Alex gave her one.

I hope someday she is actually able to come up with a creative idea that can make her some real money. But first, I think she'll have to learn the important lesson that youth and cuteness will only get you so far. I just don't see a stunt like this working when she's 30.

I am old

I turned on the Billboard Music Awards tonight, hoping to catch a couple of good performances. I had heard that Rascal Flatts, one of my favorite bands, was up for 5 or so awards, and also that Carrie Underwood was up for some as well.

I guess I've been spoiled by awards shows in the country music genre. The artists dress respectably. When they sing, you can understand what they're saying. During their performances, they don't have half-naked women gyrating all over the stage. Country artists are, for the most part, average, good, humble people. To me, that's the appeal. While I do like some other kinds of music, country is my favorite, and watching the Billboard Awards shows me why. I lost count of how many times I rolled my eyes while watching.

Shortly after I first tuned in, a group of 5 or so women and a man came out to present an award. I didn't catch who the group of women were or who the man was, but the women were skanky looking and dressed in what looked like negligees. Some of the negligees were really short and some were a bit longer, but all were skimpy, and the one woman in one of the longer negligees kept her hand right by her crotch the whole time, kind of pulling her dress back so she could show more leg.

If I remember correctly, they presented an award to some rapper guy whose name I can't remember, other than it was 2 initials, like J.T. or I.C. or something. Whatever. He came up on stage with his pants belted below his butt and his underwear hanging out. I can't stand that! (The "old" in me is starting to show now.)

After that, Gwen Stefani came out and shared the stage with some fake sheep and proceeded to yodel. Her outfit was interesting, but not completely outlandish. A bit later, Carmen Electra and Chris Kattan came out. Just watching her made me want to throw up. She kept tossing her hair around like the bimbo that she is. Then when Chris mentioned something about the sheep that were just on the stage, she actually asked him if he was going to hook up with one of them later! I think he was a little pissed off, and rightly so. What a moron!

As I was watching this horrible show, I knew that I was going to write a post about it, so I was kind of making mental notes about what I was going to mention. So when I heard that Courtney Love was going to be presenting the next award, I thought, "Jackpot! She'll be stoned out of her mind and I can totally trash her!" Even she disappointed me. She appeared to be completely sober and she didn't slur her words any more than any of the other idiots. What a letdown.

The one high point of the night was when Carrie Underwood won an award for Album of the Year. Unfortunately, Rascal Flatts didn't win the one award that was presented while I was watching. I don't know about the others that they were nominated for--I didn't catch the first part of the show. Somehow I feel confident that I didn't miss much.

I realize that it's only a matter of time until I'm yelling at my kids, or random kids at stop lights for that matter, to "turn that horrible music down!" That's fine with me. For the time being, it's my kids who are yelling at me to turn my country music down when we're in the van. But judging by the way they sing along, I don't think they really mind. And as long as I have control over the music they listen to, it will always be country music. I do have to admit though, that I find it very cute when Lauren asks me if I have any Metallica on my iPod. Jason is trying to corrupt her. I will prevail.