Easter Egg? In August?

Posted on August 20, 2009 by anitacochran

Yes, my family is hilarious, so funny in fact I’m going to tell an Easter story in the middle of August, because their jokes live on long after the holiday is gone.

I’m not even sure how many Easters it’s been since we hosted the annual Steckline egg hunt at our house, but there’s lingering evidence it’s probably a good thing for it to be held elsewhere next year. During the recent inspection of our home, before we can sell it and downsize, one of the things the new buyers requested we fix goes like this. Have heater/air conditioner serviced, remove easter egg from vent….Um, what? Yes, that home inspector found an easter egg shoved up a pvc pipe outside our home. Seems to me I faintly remember someone saying it was stuck during the hunt, but I didn’t realize it had been left there indefinitely.

Luckily, the heating and air guy tackled it first and by breaking the plastic egg inside the pipe, he then managed to suck it out with a vacuum. In case you’re wondering the Bunny left a jaw breaker inside. While it’s a little bit embarrassing to tell someone you need an egg removed from your heater exhaust pipe, the memory that egg really brought back is worse.

My brother-in-law, Doug Wewe, a farmer from Pretty Prairie chose that year to be particularly funny …..why we let him play Bunny and hide any eggs is beyond me but we did. Not only did he apparently shove that one up the pipe, in several of the eggs he removed the candy and left a little something else behind. It was funny the first time an egg was broke open and dog poo was found inside, but considering my baby, six years old at the time, ended up with three poo filled eggs, it wasn’t so funny in the end. To this day Tanza isn’t real eager to open Easter Eggs….but I’m happy now that she’s the one who found them. Just think if all this time instead of a jaw breaker melting in my heater exhaust pipe, it had been poo…..Now that would have been a stinker. I’m Anita Cochran, and that’s what I really wanted to say.

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My Summer Vacation

Posted on August 20, 2009 by anitacochran

Back when we were working full-time and spending full-time, I’d look at other families and think, “How do they make it on ONE income?” Now, I know. They spend less than two income families (all of whom are also quite capable of racking up huge credit card debt, but that’s another story.) One thing that is among the first to go, vacations.

I fear for my children as they head back to school and are asked, “What did you do for summer vacation?”

I can hear the answers now. ”Clipped coupons, went to the pool with our unemployed Mom…..NOTHING!” Before we always had a story to tell from our last trip, whether it was a visit to Worlds of Fun, or a trip to New York as long as we travelled it counted. This year we went to Grand Lake, TWICE, but my kids have conveniently forgotten about those lazy days in the sun.

They also used to get left at relatives when Mom and Dad would travel. We make Las Vegas and Mexico stops regularly or at least we used to, and there was always a good story from staying at the Wewe farm while we were away. Well, not anymore at least not for awhile. I miss that, the getting away, the feeling of seeing something new, the feeling of having enough money to TRAVEL. Even if we charged all the souvenirs we brought home and didn’t pay it off for a year, there was this powerful feeling of, “I am a world traveller, successful enough to pay to get away from all the people I know and love.” Now, not so much. It’s the one thing that could drive me back to full-time work, the love of getting away for a much-needed vacation. Of course, mentally I’m sharp as a tack living this life of freedom and self-expression so I’m not needing a vacation, just a getaway….but Breaking News folks: I’m Broke so for now, I’ll just pull up some old vacation photos and pretend. I’m Anita Cochran

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Dress Me Baby

Posted on August 19, 2009 by anitacochran

I know most of us don’t want to follow the herd, but then again do we really want to be the only heifer out there not wearing something stylish this fall? That’s what I thought so as you know, my undying devotion to Pink Saloon and owner Brooke, has me looking for the scoop. While I’m keeping all the good stuff for myself, let me just share some not-so-secret tips with you if you haven’t done your seasonal shopping yet.

First rule of thumb, when it comes to your legs, cover them….with leggings. The most Gosh Awful patterns and colors are all very cool this fall, so don’t poo poo anything until you’ve at least worn it out and been made fun of.

When it comes to the pointer finger looking for jewelry, pick the pearls. Lots and lots of pearls. Actually that’s an old trick, even Mrs. Bush new how to rock the pearl, but its back so drag all yours out and wearing them, preferably all at once.

From what I can tell, the place to spend your money is on the denim. I know 172 dollars is more than I can afford right now for a kick butt pair of jeans, but my butt looks a whole lot better in the True Religions I’ll be wearing for my next photo shoot. I’m thinking about selling a couch or two when we move to finance a pair, because I’ve found you buy the best pair of jeans you can for the season, and you wear them everywhere. Trust me, you can buy a cheap pair too, but as long as it’s your favorite you’ll want to wear it every single time you get dressed, so at least you can justify the more expensive kind, IF and only IF, they make your butt look better. As luck would have it, I’m Anita Cochran, so of course, it’s gonna take at least 172 buckeroos to make my butt look anything but kickable. And that’s what I really wanted to say.

Downsizing cuts costs!

Posted on August 19, 2009 by anitacochran

As I was freaking out over the size of our new house, which I lovingly refer to as our Barbie House, I have been gathering the goods to make the move. I remember now, why I decided to do it in the first place.

The whole point of downsizing, for me, was cutting costs, most importantly those monthly expenses that tie you to working whether you want to or not. Well, let me just say, we’ve yet to see the lower costs but they are coming! We will begin with property taxes. We will save about three thousand dollars a year on our property tax alone. Then when we got the quote from our insurance man for the new house, we cut our annual insurance premium in half, there’s another thousand.

I’m now whittling away at the monthly drains, keeping Cox but cut everything but a clear signal and 911 access will save another 30 bucks a month. I’m pretty sure it takes less electricity, gas and water in a Barbie house, if it doesn’t I’ll be turning all those things wayyyyyyyy down, and since it will be winter soon it should be easy to keep warm in that little place, well just breathe on each other.

I’m learning that if you TRY, you can live with less and on less money. The question remains, once we get down to a more manageable size, and frankly, dudes it took me about three months longer to do that than I expected…..will life still be good? I’m wondering how different the lifestyle will be? Right now, it’s drastic, my children are hearing things like, “Don’t eat that hot dog, that has to feed all four of us,” and “What do you mean you need underwear? No one sees them anyway.” Well, Breaking News Folks, I’m Broke, and being Anita Cochran anything is fun for awhile, but am I really ready to do this forever? Stay tuned, it shouldn’t be long now before we find out.

Best job ever!

Posted on August 18, 2009 by anitacochran

Monday was the first day of the rest of my life. When I left TV News last spring, I was so busy making the transition for my family, and then summer came, and my freelancing jobs kept me at shoots and meetings, and blah blah blah, Did I mention all the time I spent at the pool, well let’s just say even if I was with the kids, I’ve really had very few “Mom” days. The days when the kids are at work, and I’m at home. My first one flew by.

The BFF and I starbucksed, yes, I do get credit for making that a verb….and while I really wanted to go back to bed, we’re moving in two weeks so we did a little gravel shopping, a little tree shopping, and then I had to grocery shop, by the time I got home, got the groceries put up, ran to pick out a light for the new house, stopped by the new house, came home got the chicken on for chicken noodle soup, cleaned the kitchen and sat down to do MY work on the computer I have only an hour left before Lexy gets home. I MUST be done before she gets here. The one thing I had always missed out on was that after school blabbering about what they did all day. By the time I got done with the news at 7, they no longer remembered what they did. So I’m writing this at the speed of light, and looking forward to tomorrow. I have found the best job EVER, I love being a Mom now that I actually have some time to do it right, I’m Anita Cochran, and that’s what I really wanted to say.

Best Deal Almost EVER.

Posted on August 18, 2009 by anitacochran

Okay grocery shoppers, at the risk of sounding like a commercial, I can’t help but point out my favorite, Breaking News: I’m Broke buy of the day. I’m telling you, one of the areas hitting our budget hardest since we’ve been pinching pennies is my daughters ice cream habit. They both have to have it almost every night. We used to go out for ice cream but that can really add up, so more often than not we just buy it and keep some at home.

Since Braum’s made their packages smaller, we’ve opted not to drive over there, because we run out to often. We recently fell into Baskin Robbins yummy chocolate chip, it’s more shaved chocolate than CHIPS, and if you buy the already packaged you can get several servings out of two cartons, for the price two people could get a dougle dip. However, hold the phone, we’re eating Breyer’s these days.

I was strolling down the ice cream aisle looking for a bargain, and I spied my pretty Breyer’s fat free vanilla, which I wasn’t going to get because I eat it, and LOVE it, and I’m back on the skinny jeans diet….anyway, I saw the price 2.27 and thought, wow, I can save 2.27 off a carton of ice cream, then I looked again, no darling, you’ll save 3.72 and just pay 2.27. I think I squealed with delight. Then I picked up two fat free vanilla, a cookies an cream, a snickers, a chocolate chip cookie dough, and another vanilla for the rest of the family….I saved, almost 20 bucks and those kids are gonna swim in ice cream at least for next couple of weeks. Breaking News folks, I’m Anita Cochran, and while I may be broke, you don’t have to be, Breyers Ice Cream, Dillons…NOW.

Habits Are Forming

Posted on August 14, 2009 by anitacochran

Okay, there’s a little bit of good news in my Breaking News: I’m Broke story of late. But, Twitterfession, let’s start with the bad news. I’m using the debit card in an UN-Dave Ramsey like manner these days just to get the kids back into school fully clothed. Let’s just leave that be, it’s a temporary fix, to what I hope is a short term cash flow problem.

Hang with me here, here comes the good news. What I am doing, while absolutely necessary, is making me sick to my stomach. I know I shouldn’t be spending the money, I know that I’ve been preaching wait until you have the cash until you blow it, but at least now that my new habits are forming, I recognize when I’m doing something wrong, and what I need to do to correct it. Back in the free spending days, I’d just wait till the credit card bill came in and then give myself a tongue-lashing. Alas with debit cards, you get to beat yourself up that much faster.

Really though, while my accounting skills are shaky at best, and I’m playing with financial fire, I’m just a payday away from being back to just being broke. Thanks to my recent broker days, broke itself doesn’t sound half bad, it’s beginning to sound like my life. I’m Anita Cochran.

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Hermit Tendencies

Posted on August 14, 2009 by anitacochran

I’m staring at a blank page, thinking I can say anything I want. Oddly enough, I don’t want to say anything. Sometimes, I don’t even want people to see me.

I joked before leaving TV news that I was going to become a hermit and live out my days on the beach. At the time, me going anywhere alone and without an audience seemed almost impossible, now I’m starting to worry that it looks better every day! Not that I’m thinking of escaping my home life, I wouldn’t want to do that….but there are times where I just want to be alone, all alone.

I couldn’t find a soul to lay with me in the sun yesterday, so I went alone and it was delicious. I thought what the heck is wrong with me, here I am alone and quite enjoying it. Maybe I am experiencing hermit tendencies after all….too bad, I don’t have enough money to be a really good one like Howard Hughes, or enough talent to disappear like Johnny Carson did and be missed by millions, I guess a hermit I’m gonna be pretty mediocre. Unless of course, you never hear from me again. I’m Anita Cochran, and that’s what I really wanted to say.

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I Get It NOW!

Posted on August 13, 2009 by anitacochran

For the longest time, I just didn’t get it. When I’m goofin around and cracking jokes, honestly, the kind of stuff normal people would laugh at, my 12 year old daughter Lexy merely glares at me and says, “You’re soooo embarrassing.” Earlier this week, one of her friends had my back, and said, “Lexy, I don’t know why you think you’re Mom’s embarrassing, she’s cool!” I’m like, yeah….LIKE SHE SAID.

I proved both of us wrong when we toured the new Maize South Middle School where Lexy will be a Cheerleader, Go Mavs. I’ve already been in the building three times, so I really wanted to take advantage of the tour night, and catch all the highlights, didn’t plan on a low light, but I got one of them too.

Need to set this up for you, for it to make sense. You know how in an airport restroom, you can walk in because there is no door, and you can go to either side, and find a line of toidies…..well, I saw the Women sign, and thought, cool, this place is huge, and instead of making a sharp right I went around left. Dang if there weren’t urinals hanging on the wall!

Worse yet, my BFF and her family, watched me do it, and told my kids to just let me go. So when I came out, going, what the heck, why is the men’s room labeled WOMEN, they’re already laughing their arses off. I will bet MONEY, I’m not the only one who will do that, because the next hall I went down, same no door entrance, but the women’s side was on the OPPOSITE side, so again, creature of habit, I would have been close to an arrest had I gone on the side I expected to be the WOMEN’s. One things for sure, whoever designed that bathroom thing might want to rethink the no door entrance idea. Afterall, if someone as smart as me can end up in the men’s room, don’t you think some 13 year old chick will too? That said, when Lexy said, “You’re so EMBARRASSING.” I got it, and while it isn’t what I really wanted to say, I will admit, I have to agree with her. I’m Anita Cochran.

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I Want SHORT Hair

Posted on August 12, 2009 by anitacochran

I think every woman has a story of when they decided they wanted SHORT hair, only to cut it off and feel like the only way they would have said that was if they were on illegal drugs or had a gun held to their head. Several years ago, I discovered something even worse. That’s when your four year old daughter says she wants SHORT hair, and afterwards, didn’t mean THAT short.

Tanza was in preschool the first time it happened to one of my offspring. Let’s just say, I took her shopping afterward, and she hid behind my legs because she didn’t want to see herself in the mirrors that when you get your hair cut seem to be EVERYWHERE. When my husband came home that night to see the new do, Tanza was hiding behind the chair.

Fast forward five years later, for her 9th birthday, I let her get blonde highlights and a new do, because after all my BFF is a hairdresser, and the price was right. I have to say, I knew we were in good hands, but I was still so scared, much more than Tanza was, scared that baby girl of mine might cower in the corner, and that it would have been me that failed her once again.

I know there are worse things in life that you can do to your child, but the fact that I didn’t protect her from that first shocking cut was my real introduction to motherhood. One that I will carry with me always, so the fact that Tanza wheeled around in that chair today, and said, I LOVE IT somehow made me feel like my Mom card wasn’t going to be revoked. Granted it should have been five years ago, but this time, we did okay, and Tanza you look MAHHHHVELOUS. That’s what I really wanted to say!

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Anita Cochran

Breaking News – I'm Broke! Follow along as former news anchor Anita Cochran downsizes her material life to upsize her spiritual life. You can take me off TV, but you can't shut me up!

Category Archives: Within The Sound Of My Voice