End hiatus.

I hate this blog.

Wait, that's not true. It's more that I hate the name of this blog. I hate that the word "Mommy" is in it. I don't think my children have ever called me Mommy. I hate that the title of this blog implies that my life is 100% defined by my children, which it's not.

So half of me thinks I should rebrand this blog, half of me thinks "fuck it - that's how people know you", and half of me says "trash the whole thing and start something new." But two of those options would mean I'd have to come up with a new blog name and that's just too much damn work.

What's clear, though, is that I need to write. I'm a writer, that's what I do. I write things. And I've got to start somewhere. If I'm ever going to write anything of any meaning or ever (gasp) be paid for what I write I have to start somewhere. So here I am.

I think this is going to be one of those 'stream of consciousness' posts where I just sort of dump out what's in my brain onto the virtual page and hope it makes some sort of sense to anyone who might read it. I thought it was totally odd that I logged into this account only to be faced with my page-view stats and they're still pretty damn good even though I haven't written anything in months. What the heck, Internet? I beg you for attention and get mediocre results, then throw my hands up and walk away and get the same mediocre results? I'm not entirely sure how to take that... Like, part of me is proud that I must've written something of some value or people wouldn't still be reading it online, but the other part of me goes, "HEY. What the hell??? Does it even really matter if I'm here at all???" But mostly that last part of me gets told to go back down to the den in the basement and go back to watching reruns of Remote Control. Because clearly there should be a universe somewhere in which that's still on television. (See also: How the hell am I old enough to have loved that show?)

But I digress.

I wish I had a focused goal for this blog. I have good intentions. I sat down a few weeks back (you know, in those days when I told myself every day, "Hey, you know what you should start doing again? You should frickin' WRITE.") and wrote down a few key things that I knew I wanted to write about. The problem is that post-it is stuck to the back of my bill notebook at home. Not here with me. Which does me absolutely no good. I remember it said "family, technology and pop culture" but at the time I had come up with a really clever way of tieing all those things together. Is that right? "Tieing"? Or should it be "Tying"? That looks weird too. Spell check, you silly bitch, you know I don't mean "toeing". Thanks for nothing.

How sad is this? So far I've discussed the fact that I don't want to change my blog name to something more fitting because I'm too lazy, and clearly demonstrated that I also cannot come up with a list of valid topics I'll be writing about on this blog for much the same reason. And that I do not trust spell check. Which? Also? How the hell do you tell autocorrect on your phone to stop changing "so" to "do" every damn time? Because that is a pain in the ass. Seriously? "SO" is totally a legit word. On the other hand all I have to type is a "z" and it autofills to "Zumba". I guess maybe that makes it even.

Oh on another "did you know" note...did you know that in iOS 7 you can chance Siri to have a male voice? And you can set it to have an English accent? You cannot, however, tell the British male Siri that you'd rather call him Jarvis. Apparently that would lead him to have an identity crisis. Not that I've tried that or anything. But seriously, how awesome would that be??? "Jarvis - give me directions to the nearest Panda Express!"

OK. I am really getting nowhere here except to accomplish what I set out to do, which is get writing again. THAT TOTALLY MAKES ME WIN. Take that, MONDAY!

I should really write something.

My writing mojo has tanked.

I was clipping along there for awhile, writing -GASP!- two posts a week.

But then a big work presentation popped up.

Then prepping to audition for a show.

Then I hurt my back. Like really, really super bad hurt it. I couldn't walk without being near tears.

And then...I guess I'm out of excuses. I just haven't have it in me.

I question whether I still want to do this blogging thing, or if I should start a new blog, one that's less "mommy-centric". Or just rebrand this one. I guess I just don't care enough at this point to make a decision.

I have a things to write about. Just not today.

Today, instead, I give you this:

Source: weknowmemes.com via Colleen on Pinterest

...distracted...

I had all these things I wanted to write about tonight so I sat down on the couch, in my yoga pants and Old Navy t-shirt, with a stupid movie on in the background (more for company than for any real entertainment value), and began to wonder if the pictures I wanted to include with these posts I've been writing in my head are online yet or not and realized that I may have to upload them from my iPhone first but what's with my internet connection at home - its really slow tonight then realized that's probably because I'm writing this on my laptop while uploading photos to flickr from my phone and watching Thor on Netflix all at the same time and OH MY GOD CAT WHY MUST YOU SIT ON TOP OF MY KEYBOARD WHILE I TYPE?!?

Would you believe I was looking for the ecard about ADD that ends in "HEY MACARENA!" for the past 20 minutes and finally gave up and decided to use this one instead? You should.

A few weeks ago I did the Color Run...

 

 me before... (that's Miller Park stadium in the background)

 

and after...

Which really is the happiest 5K on the planet, even if you don't run it, probably especially if you don't and you instead walk along the route (which is approximately 3.1 miles for all you non-metrics out there) and laugh with your friends about all the completely crazy outfits you see on people along the way like the one on this guy, who we figured is either a die hard Where's Waldo groupie or who lost a bet. Maybe both.

Either way, that's far too much white man leg for my comfort.

At one point, despite my sunglasses, I got a shot of yellow powder to my right eye and was certain that I'd have to try and find a way to recreate those eyewash stations they have in high school Chemistry classrooms along the route somehow, possibly by fashioning something out of duct tape and a bottle of Aquafina or a can of Miller Lite, the latter of which I had better access to than the former. Instead I just blinked a lot until I teared it all out (that's a word, right? "teared"?) and then I hit the blue color station where I couldn't see five feet in front of my face with either eye and almost tripped over a grown woman who had stopped to roll in the extra color in the street. And she wasn't even anyone I know, though I did see my cousin Kari a few times and ran into Kat as well.

Needless to say I was cleaning orange out of my ears for awhile and had a green heel for about three days.

The morning of the Color Run, my nephew was born, and I took the kids to see him in the hospital the following day. You'd think I'd post a picture of him here, right? I mean, he's brand-squishy-new and unbelievably adorable, but I'm not really sure how my brother and his girlfriend would feel about me posting pictures of their infant son all over the internet while he's still so new. At one point during our visit, my five-year-old grabbed my phone and took a bunch of blurry pictures and one extreme close-up of the bottom of his brother's shoe, and then this one...which makes me look kind of angelic and peaceful and rather pretty with that natural light streaming in from the side like that and it may very well be one of my favorite pictures of myself of all time.

Trust me...he's a-freaking-dorable.

I got my baby fix and then happily handed him back to his parents, who were still, at that point, in that "I can't believe we have a REAL BABY oh my gosh isn't he beautiful," stage and not yet in the "OH MY GOD WE HAVE A REAL BABY WHO ONLY SLEEPS FOR TWO HOURS AT A CRACK AND CRIES LIKE A POSSESSED TERRORIST FROM 1 - 4 A.M. AND OH DEAR GOD WON'T YOU PLEASE JUST GO THE F*** TO SLEEP?!?" stage.

I tried to warn them.

And then lets see...what else have I been up to that should be summed up in a nice, neat, well-written post and not all jumbled together in this strange mash-up of Waldo adorers and more pictures of myself than I've probably ever included in one post ever? Um, the first day of school was yesterday!

Someone asked me if I cried after dropping my youngest off for his first day of Kindergarten, and when I realized I hadn't, I started to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with me. Instead I decided that I was most likely just more sane than the crying mothers and made myself feel better by remembering how I got all teary at something completely insignificant he did the other day that was really super cute and aw-inducing but for the life of me now I can't remember what he did but I know it was sweet and made me feel like I had succeeded as a mother.

Until I posted this to Facebook with a caption that read "First day of kindergarten and first grade!" only to shortly thereafter realize Nick was in first grade last year. #momfail

 

And holy geez-o-Pete I'm just tired after posting all of that. OH MY GOSH I HAVE WINE! How could I have forgotten? Here, look at some more pretty pictures...

we're still playing lots of baseball


Bald Baby is still kickin' - we had to clean his head with a 
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser the other day, but he's still Will's favorite!


OH! now I remember what was so cute it made me teary - 
Will rushing to his new cousin's side, offering Bald Baby for comfort at his slightest cry :)

 

Brain purge.

~ My little brother is getting married this weekend. Well, really, he's 6'4" but he's still my little brother and while I know he's a grown-up its a little crazy, you know? It should be a really fun weekend and I get to dress like a princess. :)

~ I'm really loving the new Tiger Suit CD by KT Tunstall.

~ I'm sick of the snow. I'm sick of everyone talking about snow. I'm sick of my dog tracking it in the house just after I've cleaned up after her the last time. Is it spring yet? Oh, that's right - we're getting 3-4" more of snow. Today. Grrr... (BTW my friend Sue did a little spring-wishing sprucing up that's really cute - go check it out.)

~ This past week at work I feel like I've done nothing but create SQL Reports. Oh...that's right...cuz that's all I've done. That might be why.

~ I'm working a half day today, then I'm going to get my nails done (see previous comment on princessitude) and plan to have them use this color, which I've already used on my toes. Pretty...

~ Oh, and did you hear? The Packers have made it to the Super Bowl. While I'm immensely pleased my home team has made the big gig, I'm a little sick of the parody songs that have been playing on the radio every five-danged-minutes. Like a Cheesehead? Really? Green and Yellow? The bang on the drum song is the worst OF ALL! BARF. Are they doing this crap in Pittsubrgh?

Yes, deep thoughts, I know...happy weekend y'all!

Winter weekend

I actually did make my cranberry cream cheese bread this weekend. Tis beautiful, no?

We got hit with a big winter storm this weekend! The weather forecast had predicted snow beginning after midnight Friday night, but when we woke up Saturday there wasn't any new snow. So I was surprised to find it pouring rain when I walked out of the grocery store Saturday afternoon. RAIN?!?

I opted to stay out of the rain and do some shopping online Saturday evening, watching the rain come down at a 45° angle. Sometime that night, the rain turned to snow and we got whalloped. By Sunday morning we had nearly 12"! I can only imagine how much snow we'd have gotten if that rain had instead been snow!

So Sunday I did what any good picture-takin' Momma would do: used my Christmas present to take pictures of the snowy mess from my warmth of my home.

Heh...realized as I took this that the neighbors might think I'm some creepy peeping Tom. 
Sorry dudes - just thought this was a great picture of all the snow!

Later, the boys and I took the 4-wheel drive truck down to my Aunt and Uncle's house for a little holiday get-together before my Grandpa heads to Florida for the winter. A lot of my family are really big snowmobile enthusiasts (I mean, what else does one do in January otherwise?) and my uncle got their "kitty cat" up and running for the boys. Nick is the perfect size and age for it - he rode that thing around the yard like a little pro! Will on the other hand, gets the idea but can't quite control the throttle. Its either wide open or nothin', as evidenced by this photo:

It didn't matter that he almost knocked himself off every time he hit the gas, he laughed the entire time!

So...it was a pretty good winter weekend even though The Hubster got stuck at work late Sunday morning and we didn't see much of him.

Hope you are all staying warm, wherever you are!

Clearly, I need a nap.

Taken last Friday, October 8th as part of my 365 photo project.

So -- there's this field by my house that I drive by every day. Don't ask my what the heck was growing there, because while I know it wasn't corn or soybeans or wheat, it just looked like some grassy-type substance.

It doesn't really matter what it was...cuz now its gone.

In place of that lovely whatevertheheck that shouted to me

"Grab a big ol' blanket, traipse to my center and lie down, hidden to the world where no one can see you to scream "MOM! HE'S LICKING ME!!!" and just look up at the sky...at the trees. Feel the sun and the gentle breeze on your face, close your eyes and let your mind wander and think all the thoughts you normally don't have time to think and just...BE."

there is now a huge patch of bald earth covered with sporadic bales of hay.

Or some grassy-type substance.

2010 (So far) according to the pictures in my phone

So. I finally got all hip and cool and got a phone this year that takes pictures. (I know.) Then it only took me 10 months to get a memory card so as to effectively get the photos off the phone.

Here's what's been important enough to need an instant photo so far this year.

~ January ~
Will was sick and fell asleep in my arms. 

I am well aware that I may not get many more moments like this. {*sniff*}

~ January ~

More sleeping, this time together, on top of one another in the car.

~ February ~
Will, playing with Valentine's balloons.

~ March ~
March madness for the basketball boy.

~ April ~
This was the same duck that gave him a HUGE bruise
two days before we had the boys' pictures taken.

~ April ~
There were a few weeks where I was only addressed as Catwoman.

~ May ~
I guess, at the very least, they were sharing.

~ June ~
We bought them new bikes...

~ June ~
...and Nick was ring bearer extraordinaire.

~ July ~
I work downtown - a great place to get a walk in over the lunch break.

~ July ~
We had dinner at a place out on Little Cedar Lake. 

~ July ~
Transformers 3 was shot at the Milwaukee Art Museum for a few days. 

This was the best shot I could get.

~ July ~
We had our bi-annual family reunion in Sparta, WI this year.

This is "downtown" around 11pm. 

 

~ July ~

I caught this pic near the tail end of my crazy ride home during a torrential downpour.

~ July ~
My boys are so good and here's actual photographic proof.

I had taken them out to eat by myself - brave, I know. 

~ August ~
Ground Zero

~ August ~
Trinity graveyard - NYC

~ August ~
Shots of Patron with Melissa

 

~ August ~

My car turned 10,000 miles

While I was at BlogHer, my brother took the boys to see a Milwaukee Iron game.

They now expect to get to go out onto the field at just about every major sporting event. 

In September, the kids started school. This was Will's first day of 3K.

 Dude I've been busy!

Just a little shout out to my friend "Other Colleen" who coincidentally also did a post of pictures from her cell phone on nearly the same day. Great Colleens think alike!

Hodge Podge

This week has been another tough one. Like, where did the time GO?

---

Nick was sick the other night. I got up with him four times. Sitting on a tiny stool in the dark in the bathroom, listening to him cry about how much his tummy hurt was miserable. It reminded me of the days when he was a newborn -- except even in his earliest days I don't think he was ever up four times in one night. And back then he didn't cry that he wanted his Daddy, making me feel both inept and miserable. We called Daddy instead, at 1:30 in the morning, but he was on his way to a call and couldn't talk long.

True to little boy form, he was back to his old self half way through the day on Tuesday. I called in to work -- which I almost never do -- Jay has almost always been around during the day for dealing with sick kids. This week, though, he was due to be "helping parent" in Will's 3K class after that overnight shift, meaning that he had to sleep sometime. So instead I stayed home, and let Nick choose which movie we cuddled up to watch while Jay and Will did the 3K thing. We watched the original Star Wars. It was pretty darn near perfect.

---

That's the killer thing about being a working parent. Obviously, you can't be all things to all people. So either you're the parent who gets up with sick kids in the middle of the night or the one who's up early in the morning to head to work. Its nice, sometimes, to get to be the parent on the other side.

---

Another of my cousins is getting married this weekend. I bought myself a new dress (yay BlogHer discount!) and new shoes. I pulled out both pairs of boys' dress shoes and made sure each boy had a pair that fit. I pulled out the 3T pants we bought Will for the weddings in June and made sure they still fit. I was ready to make a short list of stuff I still needed (paint my nails, pick up a new lipstick, pick up new sucky-in-Grandma-panties) when I realized -- Nick didn't have anything to wear at all. He's worn a tuxedo to the past few weddings. That left me with one option -- take both boys to Kohl's (I had $50 in Kohl's cash to spend - holla!) and get him to try some stuff on.

Utter nightmare.

There was exactly one rack of dress shirts and pants for boys in his size. Right next to the display of t-shirts that came with dinosaurs. And a direct view away from a display of baby toys. It didn't matter that they were for babies -- just that they were more interesting than looking at dress clothes. And that my children could lie on the floor in front of the display for reasons unknown to me.

It took all the patience I had to wrestle that boy into trying on a few dress shirts. Then I mentally tortured myself over choosing just the right tie, all while he could have cared less if I dressed him in a burlap sack. But the job is done and DANG IT we're all going to look nice.

---

Nick came home with a few things in his backpack yesterday that struck me with a wave of...sadness, I guess is the right word for it. His starting all-day kindergarten wasn't too hard on me. We've had a few rounds of practice. When he was three he did the same two-day a week, two-hour a day preschool program that Will is doing now. When he was four, he started out the school year in a 4K class, three hours a day, Monday through Friday. When we moved, there was no 4K program in our new school district, and it was clear over time that he was missing it and was ready to go back. Now he's in an all-day kindergarten, five days a week, and while he often comes home so ugly, attitude-wise that I sometimes threaten to have gypsies come pick him up and take him away, its clearly the right place for him. He's unbelievably smart and comes home with new skills every day, telling us stories about the kids who got into trouble.

But yesterday I opened his backpack and saw two things --
1) His very first school pictures. Ohmygod. He's like, a real KID now. You know? I mean, that's dumb. But he's not a baby. Not a toddler. Not a preschooler. There is no other child category for him but KID. We are now officially in the realm of class birthday parties and after school sports and buying clothes without a "T" in the size...{sniff}...I don't know if I like it. I mean, I love it -- I love that he's growing up like he should be and we seem to be doing things right -- but I hate it. You know?

2) His very first order of Scholastic books. I used to LOVE getting those flyers from the teacher. I would take a pen and circle all of the books that I wanted. Then my Mom would laugh and select one or two. It was always so exciting to get those books that we'd ordered. I loved to read when I was little and I always talked my Mom into ordering a few. While I was looking through the new books at the kitchen table last night, Nick began to read one over my shoulder. He got angry when I tried to help him with a tough word. *Sigh.* Its just so...he just wants to be so independent, which I should have expected. He gets more like me every day.

---

Will is probably one of the best children on the planet with regard to sleep. If toddler sleeping were an Olympic sport, he'd be Shaun White. (He's even got the reddish hair.) He's one of those rare kids that will tell you when he's tired. If you suggest a nap, he most often will go, "OK!" and run to his room, asking for you to tuck him in. He even prefers his bed over sneaking into Mom and Dad's, and when I try and get him to come cuddle with me on Saturday mornings, he'll shout from the warmth of his covers that no, I should come to him instead.

On the odd nights when he cries or shouts that "ITS NOT TIME FOR SLEEPING YET!" he'll eventually be in his bed, under the covers, ready to ask God to bless his Rollie Fingers bobble-head. ("And God bless the dog, the cat, the Brewers and the Packers and all the other bobble-heads, too.") And then? He just goes right to sleep.

And then and then? He'll sleep until 9:00 in the morning if you let him.

---

I have so many things to write -- things I've promised other people, things I want to write for other people, and things I want to write about here. But there just isn't TIME. I just wish I could erase the guilt that comes along with those broken promises...or just learn not to make them in the first place. Life's just too busy and I don't want to miss out on things.

---

I've had the hiccups now for about an hour. All my typical remedies have failed. DANG IT.

---

I think that's about all the random things that are floating around in my head right now. Why is so little of it about me?

Lacking focus.

Its been a weird week.

I got home from New York on Sunday and The Hubster was at work, meaning I had two very crabby, hungry, sweaty kids to entertain for the afternoon. Monday after work was more of the same, except what with my children trying to drown themselves and all.

Tuesday the fam went to the state fair and we walked approximately 387 miles in 90 degree weather because it was the only day we could all go together. (And OMG how did I not realize today was bacon lovers day?!?) Wednesday night I was single-parenting it cuz The Hubster had his initiation into this police fraternity thingie. (He scoffed when I asked if they got to wear funny hats. I mean, what's the freakin' POINT of being in a grown adult club if you can't wear funny hats?) And yesterday the boys had doctor's appointments (six months and nine months overdue cough cough) so we hung out around the house and enjoyed the fact that for the first time ever we have central air.

I have basically done nothing at home except sleep and answer my three-year-old's questions. I feel like Uncle Buck.

I have a short mental list of things I want to post about, but at the moment that list seems neither interesting nor memorable.

And its the time of year where, at work, everyones vacation schedules overlap and I just can't seem to get anything accomplished in any reasonable amount of time.

Did I mention my suitcase is still sitting on the kitchen floor with stuff in it? OK, OK, give me some credit. I took all the dirty clothes out and the toiletries. Its the clean stuff and the miscellany that remain cuz I just don't have the energy to deal with them.

The Hubster painted the bathroom while I was away, which YAY FOR HUSBANDS WHO ROCK! but BOO FOR HUSBANDS WHO JUST NEVER CAN QUITE FINISH ANY PROJECT ALL THE WAY. I swear its a sickness...98% of the bathroom is done, the exceptions being the area behind the toilet and above the baseboards near the toilet. Which is just a huge pain in the ass because really? That would have taken him an extra 2.4 minutes and now I have to drag out the freakin' can of paint, find a brush, etc. etc. etc. sometime after the kids have gone to bed and suddenly I'm looking at painting after midnight again.

And btw - while looking for that post I found this one.

I told you I'm distracted this week.

So, what I'm looking at is a weekend without The Hubster (he'll be working) filled with chores like, oh, I dunno, grocery shopping with two kids because my refrigerator looks like either eighteen-year-old college kids or hobos live in my house, making my way through the mountain of laundry that I need to get through before I can reach the wall that needs painting (our washer/dryer are in a closet in that bathroom) and I. JUST. DON'T. WANNA.

Anyone want to join me on Twitter later for a wine/whine party? :)

The truth about snow

I come up with lots of good ideas for blog posts while I'm driving. If I could invent a device that would capture my thoughts as I have them I'd be a gajillionaire. I'd have so much money that I wouldn't have to work...or blog, I guess...anymore. *sigh*

So I was thinking to myself as I drove through the snowy streets on Friday night that what I take for granted as being a "given" with regard to snow may be completely unknown by some of my bloggie friends to the south. Even if you live in a place that gets snow, well, its a completely different ball game in places like Wisconsin or Minnesota that get FEET of snow at any given time.

This was the view of my car out the back door Friday morning, around 10 am:

One of the biggest problems when you get a crapload of snow like we just did ("crapload" being defined as a single snowfall equalling 10 or more inches - its a scientific measurement - didn't you know?) is that once its all fallen, you have to clean it up.

Well, duh, you say. But think about it. Let's say you have a driveway that's 10' wide by 80' long. (That'd be one narrow driveway, but go with me here.) You'd have 800 square feet of driveway. If you get a foot of snow, that means you have 800 cubic feet of snow to scoop up and move...someplace else.

That's enough snow to nearly fill an entire room in my house. (And by fill I mean to the ceiling.)

Once your driveway is cleared, that snow then makes banks, along the driveway and street, so high that you cannot safely see traffic to actually leave your driveway.

Oh, and don't forget the plow! Oh yeah...when the lovely city finally gets around to clearing the side streets, they'll take all the snow in the street and push it back up into the driveway that was just cleared.*

So if you do head out into the street that you can't see, you best be in four wheel drive or be going as fast as humanly possible, or you just might get stuck in that pile of snow between the banks at the end of your driveway. (I'd laugh, but it happened to me back when I owned my Saturn. The banks were so high that year that I actually couldn't physically open the door to get out. I had to push on the passenger side door with my feet for quite awhile before making an opening large enough to squeeze through! I'll never not own a four-wheel drive vehicle ever again.)

Then, let's say you head to the mall. Not only are the parking lots packed with morons people just like you doing their last-minute Christmas shopping, but that lot is much smaller than it usually is and some isles just...end...at a large, 20' high pile of snow**, forcing you to turn around in incredibly narrow parking lanes. Finally, after nearly 30 minutes of driving in the endless "parade" of morons cars circling the lot, you might just be lucky enough to make your own spot if you have four wheel drive.

I kick myself for not having a camera with me, but I foresee a post in the near future with photographic evidence of "creative parking". People who drive PT Cruisers pulled half-way up the side of snowbanks and Mini Coopers buried past the bumper. Obviously they won't be moving until spring. I, on the other hand, drove half out into boonie land and just stopped - the parking lot at the mall I went to butts up against the lot of a hotel and neither plow the section in the middle. I walked half a mile to the mall, but I swear I saw a familiar car still circling as I left a few hours later.

So, yes, its pretty. It makes things look peaceful, even. And yeah, we'll have a white Christmas. But trust me - it ain't all its cracked up to be!

*Not on purpose. They plow from one end of the street to the other, but snow gets left behind as it gets pushed.
**They bring in front-end loaders to pile the stuff at the corners of the parking lot. Every year, there's news footage when the last pile of the city melts, sometime in May or June. No lie.

Coffee Clutch: Baby, its COLD outside!

This morning I woke to find about 2" of snow on the ground and immediately started singing the above song. (Forgive the bizarre version with soap opera footage along with the music, its the only Dean Martin version I could find on YouTube. And its gotta be Dean.)

Nick asks to hear this song every day we're in the car. Its cute...when we get to a part where he doesn't know the words he just sings, "Baby its cold outside!!!"

So I'm callin' in a snow day and catchin up on a few meme's I've been tagged with. Here goes.

Melisa from Suburban Scrawl tagged me with this one-word challenge. Don't know if I can say only one word. Here goes.

Where is your cell phone? Purse
Where is your significant other? home
Your hair color? blonde
Your mother? patience
Your father? hunting
Your favorite thing? bed
Your dream last night? kids
Your dream/goal? house
The room you’re in? office
Your hobby? blogging
Your fear? poor
Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
Where were you last night? home
What you’re not? short
One of your wish-list items? laptop
Where you grew up? 'sconsin
Last thing you did? drive
What are you wearing? sweater
Your TV? flat
Your pet? black
Your computer? Dell
Your mood? Eh...
Missing someone? Grandma
Your car? blue
Something you’re not wearing? necklace
Favorite store? Target
Your summer? fun
Love someone? definitely
Your favorite color? blue
When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
Last time you cried? Hmmmm...

The seven people I'm tagging: Karen, Melissa, J, Cheryl, Life in the fast lane, Spice and Colleen.

Jess from How did I get here? also tagged me in a seven facts about me meme.

1) I was thankful for 4-wheel drive this morning.
2) I'm looking forward to putting our "coma sheets" on the bed tonight. (Those would be flannel. Yum.)
3) I plan on milking the two days I'm working this week. Can you say "cakewalk"?
4) I want a whirly pop maker for Christmas.
5) I have a strange love for cool/fun office products. My last "cool pen" ran out of ink and work is not as fun without it. Waaah.
6) I love sushi and have two friends that are my regular "sushi dates". But they're both sick and I'm contemplating placing a take-out order tonight and driving through the snow to pick it up. Ha! Guess I wouldn't have to worry about it getting cold, would I?
7) I think I need a mint mocha this morning. Or a spiced apple cider. I'll have to go down to the lobby and get one. (Damn you, Alterra for making such delicious drinks!)

I'm tagging Kate, Kim, Miss, Roger, Angie, Kat and Dawn.

Happy Monday, all!

Cream or sugar?

I'm mixing up my regular Monday Coffee Clutch post. Cuz I can.

What I'm listening to as I write this:

The truth about the birthday party:
Nick's actual 4th birthday isn't until next Wednesday, but Jay works every other weekend and it was easier to do it early rather than later. This has led the child to think the entire month of "Nomember" is his birthday.

I did actually think to do most of those things on the list I posted the other day - some just by accident...

The happy birthday boy

Mackin' on the girlies
BAD picture, but he was having a BLAST dancing with the girls.
Then he kissed both of them. Oy...Momma's got another thing comin' in about 10 years!

Darwinism? Damn.
Do your kids try to wear the little accessories that come with Mr. Potato Head? Mine do. And they don't stop at trying to wear those teensie tiny glasses. I think I commented somewhere about this last week, but my kids put the ear pieces in their ears, mouth piece in their mouth, etc. I had to laugh step in like a good mom and tell Nick it was dangerous when he stuck the little stick of the Mr. Potato Head nose up his own nose. The sneezing and snuffling and crying afterward made it hard for me not to laugh out loud. Oh, who am I kidding? I freaking LAUGHED which made him cry harder. Well, hopefully he won't do THAT again. (Again, who am I kidding? I know he will.)

SO unmotivated today.
I finished up a project at work this morning that I've been working on for like three days. I am now on to making out our Christmas lists. That is all.

Really, though. That is all. This NaBloPoMo thing has got my Google Reader at the point of near explosion. Good thing its not a physical inbox, or that baby would be burstin' at the seams.

OOH! One last note! Vote for me!!!
Uh, or maybe that should say, "Vote for Nick!"

I submitted a picture to 5 Minutes for Mom in a contest they're having for $500 in groceries. We made the finalists! Please pop on over to vote - we're #15, just to make it easier for ya!

Monday Coffee Clutch: Better late than never edition

Work's been busy this morning. Whatchu gonna do?

Today's Random Song Off Colleen's iPod:

Yes, I have Michael Buble on my iPod. Shut. Up.

What we've been doing
Will's officially in a big boy bed! He's not doing too bad...if "not bad" means that threats and bribes don't work and only taking away his brother (which results in MASSIVE tears) gets him to stay in bed, then he's doing not bad. Nick then goes to sleep in our bed and we move him after both are sleeping. Baby steps...

It was the cutest thing this morning when he walked into our bedroom timidly, carrying a ball (his most prized possession). He peeked around the door, saw Mommy and Daddy and got the BIGGEST "are you proud of me?" smile on his face. Like, "Ha ha! I got out of bed by myself, found this buh-ball by myself and FOUND YOU by myself! Yay me!" He then abruptly left the room to go play buh-ball. At 6:30 in the morning. (Damn time change!)

Say WHAT?!?
Who knew? Someone Googled "muscular men" and found this post. Have you read it yet? Its pretty durn funny.

Songs we sing in the car
Huh. I don't remember any particular song standing out as having been sung ad nauseum this week, just heard, "William, pull my finger!" from the backseat enough times to make me threaten to call the gypsies. Oh, you don't threaten to have the gypsies come pick up your children when they're not behaving? You should try it. I have no idea what Nick thinks gypsies ARE, but he's super afraid of them.

Moments for Me
Jay was able to add a day off to his weekend, so we had three whole days off together. At the same time. I feel so spoiled! We got sitters for Friday and Saturday nights and went to Halloween parties. It was great!

I'm not telling what we dressed as...I don't have my camera with me at work today but I'll get a pic up soon. All I'm saying is I stole the idea from another blogger and it was FUH-NEE. You'll just have to wait and see...

Bloggie stuff
OK, two things this week. First, an award.

Jean over at Moody Maria bestowed this one upon me, and said some of the sweetest things...its just awesome that she took the time to write up nice little blurbs about the people she passed this on to. (She even made me all teary-eyed, darnit!) So I feel somewhat bad that I won't be doing the same. If your name, or your blog's name or one of your kids' names starts with an "A", this award is for YOU! Yes, I realize this is a cop-out. Sorry, Jean. But I'm leaving the office soon, have a LOT to do tonight and just realized that I'll be working from home this evening as well. BAH.

Second, a meme. Maria (Wow, its a good week for Marias!) at Mommy Melee tagged me for a seven random things dealie. Ha-ha-ha-hem (that's me clearing my throat) here goes:

1) I hate planning meals. When I plan meals a number of days in advance, I never feel like making/eating the item(s) I've planned to make for that particular day. But I'm sick of eating completely uninteresting, bland things, so I wrote out a menu plan yesterday. I'll probably only make half the items on that list this next week, and NOT on the days I have them scheduled, but at least I'll have all the ingredients to make them.

2) I once dressed as a die for Halloween. No, not dice, that would imply I had a partner in crime. I think I was like 9 or 10, one of those awkward ages where I was clearly much older and taller than my little brothers. I'd like to think that people gave me more candy cuz they saw that not only was I hugely tall, but my bangs had a cowlick in them that even superglue could not remedy. On top of it? I was in a big box, painted white with black spots on it. I couldn't get my hands around the front of the box to even feed myself a piece of candy as we were trick or treating. When we stopped to rest? I couldn't sit down. Great times. Thanks Mom.

3) Last week Tuesday, Jay was getting the boys ready to go to the Y. Nick has preschool for a few hours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Will goes to the onsite child care and Jay works out. He started the car (it was cold out) and left it running while the boys milled about the yard, he grabbed their bags and locked up the house. Only when he turned back to open the car door and get the boys in their seats, he found he'd locked the car while it was running. SO glad this was him and not me. They missed pre-school that day, but he was able to get back into the car on his own whereas I would have sat there and cried instead. Now Nick has a new story to tell the checkout girls at the grocery store.

4) I just got a blue screen of death error on my other PC here in the office. DAMN.

5) Do you ever feel like there is a dis-proportionate number of handicapped spots outside the mall versus handicapped people? I seem to shop at places where there are always TONS of open handicapped spots, forcing us folks with little (heavy, wandering) kids to have to carry them from the far side of the moon. I've seen them, rarely...I'd love to see more "parking for expectant mothers and parents with small children" spaces.

6) I found this site while Stumbling the other day - its just cool. Oh, and your kids will like it, too.

7) I hate chunky peanut butter.

I'm tagging Supermommy, Kat, Red Lotus Mama, Kim @ Jogging in Circles, Angie at A Whole Lot of Nothing, Mama Smurf and Marni. If you need a little fodder for this nablopomo business, consider yourself tagged as well! Would love to read more aboutcha!

Monday Coffee Clutch: Got yer java?

Today's random song off Colleen's iPod:

What we've been doing:
Trick or treating!

Sure fire way to get your 1-year-old to let you draw freckles on his face -
BRIBE HIM WITH TOOTSIE ROLLS.

And not a moment too soon - woke up this morning to temps in the 40s - brrr! - and it should stay that way all week.

Say WHAAAAT?!?
Nothing all too funny showed up in searches for my blog this week, so let me just throw a few words out there to help the Googlers out: smelly feet, jelly beans, rutabaga, toothpaste and jell-o.

Songs we sang in the car
Nick's been learning some new songs in pre-school, but doesn't know the words all too well. I regularly hear him in the back seat, mumbling under his breath in a musical way, a recognizable word jumping out every here and there. I just try not to laugh - its so cute!

Now, are your kids like this, or just mine? Nick will hear a song on the radio and almost instantly know if its from a kids' movie and which one. He doesn't know the name of the song and doesn't care - he just wants to know which movie it was in. Some 80's song was on the radio the other day and he couldn't think of what movie it was from. He all but had a coronary because I couldn't think of it either. Shortly after, Dancing with myself by Billy Idol came on, which he knows is from Flushed Away so the world was right again.

Moments for me
Not many, sadly. This past week was making up for all that did not get done last weekend. Eh, but you'll have that.

Bloggie stuff
This week, I have a request of YOU dear bloggie friends. Please, Please, PLEASE but an e-mail address on your Blogger account.

I completely understand not wanting folks out here in the World Wide Interweb to know your first and/or last name, but set up a dummy account (such as mine, mommy_wins [at] sbcglobal.net) and have it forward messages to your real email account. You'll still only have to check one email account but this way, when you leave comments, the blog author can reply directly to you. I can't tell you how many times someone leaves me a comment and I could love to ask them a question about it, or answer a question of theirs but there is no email address for me to do so. Lots of times, I'll either A) go to their blog but forget what I was going to say after reading their most recent post or 2) not have time to go to their blog.

I'm in no way saying I get so many comments I can't reply to them all, but rather real life calls and that laundry ain't gonna fold itself! I used to feel a HUGE amount of anxiety about replying to each and every comment but my family threatened to commit me.

So, that being said, have a great Monday - don't eat too much of your kids' candy this week, eh?

Weekly Winners - October 19 - 25, 2008

Didn't get too many shots this week. Had a lot of stuff to catch up on after being gone last weekend. And it seems we've entered perpetual cold season.

Poor baby...


Then, the other day, one of the snails in the fish tank caught my eye.

We'd thought he was dead - he hadn't come out of his shell in a few days.

Then I saw this...I wondered if he had outgrown his shell or wanted to mate.


A short time later, he sorta sucked himself back in,

but I realized he'd picked up a pebble from the bottom

of the tank and was, uh, sucking? on it.

Maybe he was just bored.

I know you wanna check out more purty photos. Go check out Sarcastic Mom's site.

Monday Coffee Clutch: E-I-E-I-O!

Good morning! Its Monday - have you had your coffee yet? GOOD! Happy Columbus Day, peeps.

Today's "Random song off Colleen's iPod" is being temporarily replaced by this commercial, which is both completely LAME and hilariously funny:

What we've been doing
A lot, actually, as evidenced by yesterday's photos. And this was all AFTER I said we'd be slowing down a bit after my near breakdown. But really, the whole week had a much more relaxed "air" to it, so maybe it was just my mind that needed "resetting".

Nick has been getting more conversational lately - that's a weird way to explain it, but he's definitely been growing in the vocabulary department. When you ask him a question and he doesn't know the answer, he'll rub his chin with his hand and say, "Hmm...let me think..." instead of just getting upset about it. His new favorite show is Super Why! on PBS. He now reads off just about every letter on every sign he sees while we're in the car. He's definitely getting close to ready to read! If we could just convince him you really need to read left to right every time...

Will is talking more and more. He now says "more" and "peeese" and his little dimples pop out when he says it...why yes, dear, with cuteness like that you can have almost anything you want. Almost.

Say WHAAAAT?!?
This week's funny search results that led people to my blog:

• most absorbant disposable diapers
• messy baby
• dirty baby feet

Not the most exciting or funny, but I'm glad I can be providing a service to the world.

Songs we sang in the car this week
Barack Obama had a farm. E-I-E-I-O!
Seriously, I'm not making any reference to my political affiliation one way or another with this one - I just report what the kid sings.

Moments for Me
There is a special place in hell for pilates instructors. Which is why I switched my yoga class at the Y to a class called PiYo. Half yoga, half pilates. Just enough to keep the instructor from burning for all eternity. (Wow, religious AND political references all in one post! Let me just write 'abortion' so I can get in the trifecta. Geez I'm edgy this morning! Hey-oooooo!)

While in the class I thought I was going to wake up the next morning and feel like I'd been hit by a truck. Instead I just felt like I had a good workout. It was glorious. So I'm going back this week.

While Googling to find pictures of 'side plank' I found this site that uses a Kermit the Frog doll to show yoga poses and stretches. How great is that?!? I ♥ Kermie.

Bloggie stuff
I moved my Project 365 to its own blog. I know I put up a poll about it - thanks to all who responded - but while I really want to do it, I felt like it was cluttering things up and there were just too many posts! The link up in my nav bar links to that new blog, and I'm sure I'll refer to it regularly.

I was tagged by One Mom for a six random things meme. Just in case I haven't shared enough about me lately, here goes:

1) I am absolutely IN LOVE with Minute Maid's Cherry Limeade. MMMMM.
2) My Mom bought us a 5 lb bag of apples from the farmer's market last week. I intended to make apple crisp or something with them, but my kids have already eaten half the bag! And they're small kids!
3) We bought two snails for the goldfish tank over the weekend. Nick said to me on the phone this morning, "MOM! You haveta come home right now! There's one snail up here and one snail down there and they're playing a game!" Riiiight...
4) I want to paint my kitchen.
5) I took three boxes of stuff to Goodwill on Saturday and found more in my "computer room" that should have gone with it. Eight years in a house will do that.
6) I can't wait to go to Blissdom this weekend!

Happy Monday, everybody!

MMCC #4: The TMI Edition

Today's random song of Colleen's iPod

Hope that got you groovin'!

What I've been doin'
Pooping. TMI? Sorry. That "stomach thing" Nick had last week? Well, he was pukin' one day, the had diarrhea the next, and like everything else, I decided to multitask and do both at once! Yay me! And it happened at the absolute worst time. (Does it ever happen at a GOOD time?) Jay stood up in a wedding on Saturday, and after juggling two kids by myself through the service (which was especially hard because they could see Daddy but couldn't go to Daddy), then finding something to keep them busy before the reception started, then juggling them further when we realized that dinner was not going to start at 6 p.m. as announced, I suddenly felt I was being turned inside out.

We had plans with friends to hit a pumpkin farm yesterday, and like the trooper I am, headed out in the rain to pick pumpkins. I figured everyone would probably get pneumonia from the cold rain anyway, which would totally trump the typhoid or whatever it is that I have. It was pretty miserable, but the boys had a great time, tramping through the mud and couldn't care less that they were completely soaking wet. I manned the wagon, waaaay off to the side, where no one was likely to breathe my air.

Say WHAAAAT?!?
How folks have found me via searches this past week:
snack before bed
crazy roadside attractions
sister sucks brother (which is disturbing because we don't have any sisters here)
calgon take me away
best songs to sing in the car

Because folks have found me via that one lame post from April AGAIN, I present to you:

Songs we sang in the car this week
Wheels on the Bus, 147 times. By the way - if cheese is on your bus, it apparently just says "hello".

Moments for Me
Absolutely zero. Well, I take that back. I took the day off from work on Thursday so Jay could work on finishing the windows he's replacing on our three season porch. (*Ahem* Still not done.) Nick has preschool at the Y on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I packed up stuff so I could work out, like Jay normally does, and dropped a screaming Will at the day care place. I got 20 minutes in on a stairclimber and a few reps of curls in, when a poor stunned day care worker walked in, carrying a foul-smelling child in her arms. Uh, that would be MINE. Cuz I forgot to pack a separate bag with diapers and wipes. CRAP. End of workout. Good thing I always have extras out in the car!

That makes Universe = 5, Colleen = 0.

On another note
Who's going to the Blissfully Domestic event next weekend in Nashville?!?

Mommy screwed up AGAIN. (Seems like I can do everything to about 80% these days - its that other 20% that I don't get to that'll kill me.) My boss has been asking me to take a SQL Reporting class for months and it finally works out that there's one offered next week. Normally I don't work on Fridays, so I've got arrangements to drive down to Nashville with Kat for Blissdom '08 next Friday.

As someone who regularly fails at domesticity (see this post and this post and oh, just about every one I ever write) but strives to be better, I was really looking forward to going. Not to mention getting to meet some great bloggers. Only that class? Is on Thursday and Friday of next week. ACK!

There is the possibility that I could get the training center to move that class to Wednesday/Thursday, but that might be pushing it. Plus its in Chicago, so even if I drove back and forth each day, that would mean I'd be away from home five days straight, which might just put me over the edge right now.

It majorly sucks that I finally try and do something for myself and it doesn't end up working out. I need your help, bloggie-land. What should I do?!?

MMCC #3: Why Mondays sometimes RAWK.

First, a RSIPOYBMIISIMGB song*

What I've been doin'
We had a busy weekend - Friday we were out of town. Jay is continuing to apply for jobs and he had a phyisical test (which he passed - yee haw!) and we were lucky enough to get to go see some great friends of ours, who live in the city where he was testing. We went to eat Friday night at a country club with an all you can eat seafood buffet, and if it weren't for the fact that there were four tired little children with us, we probably would have been there all night.

Saturday we had a surprise party for my Aunt and again the kids were up late and were overtired.

But yesterday the surprise was on ME!

At 5:30, Jay's at work, I'm making dinner and I look up where the boys are arguing over Thomas the Train track pieces to see Nick stop abruptly and vomit onto said pieces, himself and the floor.

Oh lordie.

I'll stop right there in providing details to you, but let's just say that Jay came home from work early and I'm glad to be at work today.

New feature: Say WHAAAAT?!?
I'm just calling it that cuz I like to say 'WHAAAAT'.
I've been lousy lately at creating interesting, thought provoking posts. Oh well. I'll just put that on my 'to do' list in the 'some day' column. But people continue to find me via searches. And its funny. Well, here are the funny ones, anyway.

i love ghetto booty
muscular bride
what to do if you fall off a ladder and hit your head
colleen from biggest loser

Also, I wrote a lame-ass post back in April about songs we sing in the car. At least one person finds that post via a search every week. Last week? THREE HITS on that post. Really, its not that interesting. Maybe I should write a new post called 'songs we sing in the car'. Or a new post called 'songs we sing in the car' every week. Maybe I'll get more hits that way. Hmmm...maybe it'll be a new part of this MMCC feature on Mondays.

Moments for me
None. Bad. Unless you count my hour of yoga and 20 minutes of stair climber workout I did on Friday morning. And this yoga class at the Y? Its like using sugar free creamer. It kinda tastes the same, but is not nearly as satisfying, so what's the point? The last place I took yoga had classes that were an hour and 15 minutes long, and you got in an hour and 15 minutes of good yoga. At the Y? Classes are an hour long and you get maybe 35 minutes of yoga in, and a lot of it are the same poses a dozen times. Really...how many times do you think we need to do downward dog in one session? Bah.

Alright, that's all the rambling I can stand. In case you were wondering, my coccyx is still boring and I still have no fruit bowl.


*RSIPOYBMIISIMGB = Random song I pulled off Youtube because my iPod is still in my gym bag. This temporarily replaces RSOCIP (Random Song Off Colleen's iPod).

Monday Coffee Clutch #2

Good morning! Today's Random Song Off Colleen's iPod (RSOCIP) is:

Hope that got your toes tappin' this morning!

One more call for all you Cheeseheads: if you haven't found my Wisconisin Bloggers' Network site yet, hop on over! I'm surprised at how popular its become in such a short time, and we're putting together a directory of Wisconsin bloggers as well as a little get-together this fall.

I was given this beeeyoutiful award from my pal Serena over at Zip 'n' Tizzy.

I'm honored. Truly. A thousand thank you's! I almost never follow the rules when passing on awards, but feel I should this week. You gotta every once in awhile! So...the rules are to answer the following questions with one word and then pass it on to seven others. Here goes: *ahem*

Where is your cell phone? purse

Where is your significant other? home

Your hair color? blonde

Your mother? skinny

Your father? away

Your favorite thing? kids

Your dream last night? restful

Your dream/goal? unworking (yes, that IS a word, thankyouverymuch)

The room you're in? office

Your hobby? photography

Your fear? poor

Where do you want to be in 6 years? elsewhere

Where were you last night? home

What you're not? motivated

One of your wish-list items? house

Where you grew up? 'sconsin

The last thing you did? call

What are you wearing? underpants

Your TV? flat

Your pet? sheds

Your computer? lappy

Your mood? eh...

Missing someone? Hubs

Your car? SUV

Something you're not wearing? make-up

Favorite store? Target

Your summer? over :-(

Love someone? yep!

Your favorite color? blue

When is the last time you laughed? yesterday

Last time you cried? hmmm...

And the award goes to...
1) Holly at June Cleaver Nirvana
Holly's blog is filled with funny stories, most often about her three boys. Love it!

The following two bloggers are awesome photographers and inspire me to take better, more creative shots.
2) Mishelle who blogs as Secret Agent Mama

3) Rebecca at Ramblings by Reba

4) Gail from Squared Off is probably one of the first readers I had. I ♥ her for that (and she's still around!)

I've also recently made a few new friends in the blogosphere - amazing women, all of them. I raise my coffee cup to you, ladies (and realize its empty - darn it! Need. More. Coffee!)
5) Colleen who blogs at Wine Please

6) Holly, a.k.a. Anglophile Football Fanatic

and last, but certainly not least:
7) Michelle, who shares really funny stories about her Burgh Baby

Congrats, ladies!

Also, before I hop off to get that second cuppa joe, I'll be changing some things in my blog's layout over the next few days. So if you see something looks odd or isn't working properly, please, shoot me an email and let me know I screwed it up...THANKS!

Have a great week, all!

Monday Morning Coffee Clutch: The first edition

Holly at June Cleaver Nirvana does these great "Pot Luck Mondays" - an amalgamation of updates on various topics, including, but not limited to "What's in Holly's fruit bowl?" and "What's up with Holly's coccyx?" Because I don't have a fruit bowl, my coccyx is rather dull, and I have a hard time talking about myself in the third person, I can't completely copy her. Besides its "imitation is the most sincere form of flattery", not copying so I'm morphing my past "Weekend Updates" into "Monday Morning Coffee Clutches". And if I don't get them posted until afternoon, well, its 8 a.m. somewhere.

Moments for Me
My friend Tammy used to host these on Mondays, but then her Mr. Linky broke and well, I think most of us let them fall by the wayside. But dang it - I'm determined to not just become some Mom with frumpy waist-high jeans and a Pooh t-shirt!

Friday morning I went to my friend Emily's new salon and had my hair done - I'm letting it grow a little longer than usual, and she put some 'copper' color in it. I'll have to take some pictures when its not greasy and tied up for ya. Tryin' to stay purty for the ol' man, ya know.

Awards

Recently, I got the above award from Penelope at the Cafe at the End of the Universe and Kelly, the Don Mills Diva. I want to thank them, and award it to the following peeps:

1) Rebecca from Ramblings by Reba

2) Melissa at Green Girl from Wisconsin

3) Vodka Mom from I Need A Martini

4) the brains behind Zip 'n' Tizzy

and last but certainly not least...

5) Christy at Cakerwalkers

Other Random Bloggie-relatedness
A few months ago, Lotus did this contest where the prize was the travelling t-shirt. Entrants needed to send in a shot of their bewbs to enter.

Guess I was bored. I did.

No, not nekkid boobies. Clothed boobies. It was all in good, clean, PG-13 fun.

But she lost the shot of my bewbs and so sent me a consolation prize, a 'floating picture frame' from Brookstone. I haven't put pictures in it yet but my boys are MESMERIZED by it. Just wanted to give a little shout out to Lotus to say 'thanks!'

Random video of the week
Saw this on Vodka Mom's blog! I ♥ Craig Furguson and he makes a VERY good point. Enjoy, and I hope you have a great week! (OH! And come back tomorrow for a big announcement!)