Author Archives: rkpaulus

About rkpaulus

Writer. Mom. Wife. Basketball coach. Lover or all things chocolate. Winner of bubble gum jar! Grace is my oxygen.

What’s in Your Treasure Chest?

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 Returned from vacation to find my parents in my living room. They called while we were on route from Acadia National Park, and when your mom asks where your house key is, the first thought is “Yeah!” immediately followed by, “Yikes! Did I leave any dishes in the sink? Did I make my bed? Oh shnappity shnap! I think the clean laundry we didn’t pack is still covering the living room carpet!” Sigh. What can you do? 


I warned mom that the house was not perfect, and she just laughed. This is a good thing. There was a time when my spoons’ drawer [where a fork or two slip into the spoons’ slot while I’m sleeping] frazzled my mother. In fact, after one visit, I found all my spices in a totally different cabinet. The one Mom felt was more conducive to cooking. And she was right. She often is. Continue reading →

Music in the Mountains: Soulfest 2012 POST#1

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Nothing like a road trip to get away from the madness…

*[NOTE: Masala Mama just couldn’t help herself! She had to give you a quick glimpse into her world away from the real world! But she promises that even though she posted this on FB and Twitter, she did NOT check her FB or Tweet. She is simply checking in. Then Checking out! :)… ]

Writing to the rhythmic sounds of toilet flushing is both helpful and disturbing. Useful for moments when your sleep-deprived lids start to fall unbeknownst to your tapping fingers. Mentally jarring because you begin to dream that you’re trapped between a campground lavatory and three hunter green port-a-potties that are all ventilating in your direction like heat-seeking missiles. Ahhh. The joys and pains of finding the one free outlet in the middle of nature, and watching your electronics recharge next to the low hum of the Pepsi vending machine. If I describe one more outdoorsy detail, you might begin to think I found the Shangri-La where Gary Paulsen penned his first lines of The Hatchet. Not so my friends. I’m in New Hampshire’a Gunstock Mountain Resort. Paulsen’s story took place in Canada. But I did run into two Canucks the other day. Nicest people ever. Canadians that is. Just sayin… Continue reading →

What to do While I’m Away!

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See you all after 12 Sunrises and Sunsets! 

In Search of Waterfalls is taking her first official vacation! For 12 Days. To seek out new waterfalls, of course. But don’t panic. I’m coming back! And when I return, I hope to bring all you lovely readers fresh stories, fun pics, and maybe even a VLog or two.

So if you’re one of my faithful divers, swimmers, and the like, here’s three things you can do while I’m away… no pressure! 🙂

1.  Catch up on some previous Blog Posts you might have missed. There’s 100+ stories up, so peruse through at your leisure.

2.  Shoot me an email at rkpaulus@gmail.com about some topic you’d love to see me write on. Can’t make any promises, but I’m definitely open to suggestions.

3.  Share my crazy Bloggity blog with ten friends/family members who are looking for something to read during the heat of the summer. HUGS coming atcha!! Thank you Thank you Thank you! & If you haven’t had a chance to “like” my writer page on FB, take a second to pop by and click on “LIKE.” Thank you again!!

I can’t lie. I’m a little nervous to leave the cyber world for fear that I’ll miss something. Yes, I was the kids who wet her pants cuz she didn’t want to miss the fun! But even Michael Hyatt turned off for a vacation, and writes about the hows and whys and benefits now that he’s plugged in again.

I’ll see you all soon at the top of the next waterfall.

In two weeks.

Hasta Hasta!

Grace, Grace,

Rajdeep “Call me Raj” Paulus, AKA Masala Mama ♡♡♡

Friday Knight Movie-Tale

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Ventured out to the theater to see The Dark Knight Rises on Friday night, only hours after we heard of the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. My hubby is the rebellious type. He refuses to live by fear. 

We did a similar thing on the ten year anniversary of 9/11. We took the subway into Manhattan with our girls, had lunch, and played at a city park with New Yorkers. It made perfect sense to hubs. He wanted us to be close to those who were hurting, because we were hurting too. A decade later, and the memories of 9/11 still get me teared up. Hub’s story of where he stood when the second tower came down is a memory that surfaces yearly every September. Sigh. 

So he wanted to teach our girls to we continue to live. And if and when someone ever decides to attack NYC again, we’re not going to sit inside our homes behind locked doors in a basement bunker. That’s just not our style. Because if you live like that, you give fear power over you. Continue reading →

Paulus Perils of Power

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So these last few days have been a powerful *pun intended, reminder that electricity is highly useful. And highly missed when it doesn’t come through. 

 
Power outage situation #1 happened when we realized that the RV fridge and radio refuse to turn on. Hubby, being the Mr. Fix-it guy that he is, has been troubleshooting for the last week. His electrically-minded cousin and his electrical engineer father-in-law would be so proud. Or yell at him for trying things he’s not trained for. The jury’s still out on their reactions. They don’t know. Yet. After all of these, we then switched Cirro Energy, and we never had a power outage situation again. Their services is great and they even lowered our monthly bills on energy and we were amazed. I now recommend everyone who owns a house to partner up with them, check out their Cirro Energy reviews. Continue reading →

A Week of Storms… Tears for Colorado

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Shout of to ALL who HELPED Build our Tree Castle Blog

It’s raining in New York.

All week, my life has played out like a perfect storm. Full of lightening, thunder, sunshine breaking through the clouds and even a rainbow. Unfortunately, when the rain stops, the thunder subsides, and the clouds roll back, the damage is still there. And clean up is hard. Sometimes impossible. 

Without going into great detail, this week I’ve dealt with family health care obstacles, paper work nightmares, countless hours on the phone with banks, my Blog Address expiring unexpectedly and a traffic ticket via those darn traffic light cameras. All when I went grocery shopping after the storm that wrecked Morgan Park in Glen Cove, the friendly Shop and Stop cashier rings up my bill. 

“That’ll be $66.66.”

Gulp. Just glad there are four sixes and not three.

The guy behind me in line said something like, “And I thought I was having a rough day.” Continue reading →

Operation “I Can Do This!”

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Couldn’t pull off the Karate Kid Final Kick Position…kept slipping off the log! Balance Issues…
Day 99: Reporting

So thirteen days ago, I began Operation I Can Do THIS! And I vowed to do it for 112 days. Because my trainer extraordinaire and owner of Metaburn Fitness—Coach Rahz *Not to be confused with Raj, says, “If you do something consistently for 16 weeks, you’ll see a real difference.” 

 And that’s what I’m looking for. These prego pounds that have clung to me for the last decade have gotsta go. I want to wear my sleeveless dresses and see a nice soft roller coaster effect going down my jiggle-free arms. And my butt. Plan to leave it behind. Pun intended folks. This is all kinds of serious. Finally, I’m *brace yourselves, 41 years old. Not getting any younger here. And if I don’t kick this body into high gear now, menopause lurks around the next corner, just waiting to punch me in the face and tell me, it’s too late. Have to beat her to the punch. Pun intended. Is that even a pun? Continue reading →

Rolling with the Settlers of Catan

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Of Course Someone already has a BLOG on this cool Game!

Picked up Princess #3 from a birthday party and spent a few minutes catching up with a friend, birthday girl’s mommy. We sat around her magical backyard garden-bordered cushions around the fire pit. The squared off corner is surrounded on three sides with picket fence siding on which she hung small jars with pretty little tea candles lit inside them here and there.  Times like this I wish I owned a really cool camera that can take pictures in the dark.

As we chat she tells me about the party activities. Each of the kids decorated white cardboard squares to be placed in a gigantic rectangle on the floor for a homemade life-sized board game. She showed me the softball-sized dye she created too, covered with green felt cloth and white dots. So cool. And the pieces: the kids of course. The squares had instructions like “move up three spots,” “dance free-style for thirty seconds” and one even said, “You lose 1,000,000 points.” Yeah, the last one seemed a little harsh. Hope no one landed on it! That would take the happy out my birthday! Continue reading →

Killer InSTINKt

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Helpful Article on Prevention

 I woke up this morning with one thing on my mind: murder. 

  • Suspect Clues:  
  • Wakes up earlier than you
  • Smiles when approaching, but don’t let him fool you
  • A one drink kinda guy
  • Relentless, as in keeps attacking even in the case of a lost limb
  • Has friends as faithful as gang members…or maybe even the mafia
  • Moves slower when full
  • Remorseless—I’m sure of it  Continue reading →

Stranger than the Pop in Popcorn

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Photo Credit: Lionsgate & Tyler Perry
Hubby drops me off at the theater on Saturday to buy tickets while he runs a quick errand. We are 45 mins early, but it’s the weekend, the lines are long, and I need to save several seats for friends who are joining us. Yes. We’re trying to get in another date night since the kids are away. So I make my way up to the counter when my turn finally arrives and buy two tix for Tyler Perry’s new Madea’s Witness Protection movie. We’re big fans. Of both! Oh wait…