Friday, February 29, 2008

Plays well with others . . . not

It’s been a long week. I know I’ve mentioned Georgia’s temper tantrums a few times, and everyone says, “Oh, it’s just the age.” Dude, seriously. How come I never see anyone else’s kids act like this?

Yesterday, for the second week in a row I had to remove her from Gymboree because she began fighting with another little girl over the big Gymbo doll. I only wish you could hear exactly how loud my daughter can scream.

Now imagine the other children cowering in fear of Georgia because of her ear-piercing screams. Meanwhile, she is chasing the girl with the doll and Georgia’s arm is raised, ready to slap the shit out of the other girl as soon as she gets close enough. Luckily, I managed to catch her before she caught the girl and took her outside until her screams subsided to loud wails. Then we went back in and I got “the looks” from the other moms. It would be freaking nice to see someone else’s child have the occasional meltdown for a change.

Today, I decided to take Georgia to music class in hopes that things would go a little better. For the first half of class, she stood off to the side and twirled around in circles squealing. Then, the teacher passed around a little kitten doll. When Georgia got a hold of it . . . well, I won’t go into detail, but needless to say, no one else got a turn.

Then this afternoon, I was on the computer trying to get some work done when I noticed that Georgia had wandered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. When I went in to see what she was doing, I saw that she was holding eggs in both hands. At my gasps, she dropped them and ran. Crap.

After all of this, I just wanted to sit down tonight and watch Lost, to which I am horribly addicted. At that moment, the children decided to stand in front of the TV, twirl around in circles and scream.

Dude. I need a Tivo . . . and a drink . . . and some chocolate.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

13 Things About My Week



1. My daughter continues to struggle with sharing. It’s a damn good thing I have quick reflexes or she would have smacked the hell out of many of the other kids at Gymboree by now.

2. While listening to my Juno soundtrack, I discovered that Eli seems to be a huge fan of The Moldy Peaches. Who knew?

3. My daughter cannot be left unattended with a marker.


4. I thought that after you got your eyebrows waxed a few times that you were supposed to get used to the blinding pain. I guess I’m not there yet.

5. Soap opera funerals make cry embarrassingly hard.

6. I think it’s slightly unhealthy the amount of pleasure I get from birthday cake.

7. Other people’s kids bug me.

8. I don’t get SpongeBob Squarepants. Seriously, I don’t get it. And I think I have a decent sense of humor, but I just find SpongeBob annoying, not funny. Of course, my son thinks it’s the most hilarious television show he’s ever seen in his life.

9. My son could manage to find mud if we lived at The North Pole . . . and he would still track it all over my house.

10. I’ve learned to handle public embarrassment quite well. (See #1 and imagine Georgia screaming.)

11. I have yet to find the upside of spending $1000 to get the furnace fixed.

12. Even though I haven’t been a smoker for 15 years, I found that spending $1000 on the furnace made me want a cigarette.

13. No matter what time of the month it is, PMS is always an effective excuse to eat your weight in chocolate.


Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Birthday Furnace - Part 2

If you read my blog last week, you know that our furnace gave out on Thursday, and we had to spend $650 on a new circuit board for the furnace. That was bad enough, but I thought it was fixed and we could go about our lives.

Little did I know.

On Friday – my birthday – we woke up to a nice warm house, but I noticed that every time the furnace came on, there was a whirring noise. Hmmm . . . I wasn’t too troubled about it quite yet. Maybe it was just so excited to be working again, it was making noise. I mean sometimes I make noise when I’m excited, right?

So, we went out for coffee and lunch and when we got back about 2:30, we walked into the house and noticed a strong burning plastic smell (that would be our brand new circuit board burning up) and a very cold house.

We called the furnace people again, and when they heard how upset we were, they rushed their little butts right over. It’s never good when the guy is looking at your furnace and says, “Huh.”

After about 30 minutes, the furnace guy discovered that we needed a new blower. Apparently, our blower was overheating and burning out the circuit board. They were able to save the new circuit board, but we did have to replace the blower.

To the tune of $400. On top of the $650 we already paid.

Dude! F*ck me running! Why don’t I just write a blank f*cking check?! I am so sick of people wanting money. At least they didn’t charge us the service fee to come out this time.

And the guy did wish me a happy birthday before he left.

Unfortunately, I had polished off the wine the night before. So I just sat down with my ice cream cake and sulked. That was almost as good.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Manic Monday - Explosive

First off, I want to thank everyone who stopped by to wish me a Happy Birthday! You all are the greatest friends in the blogosphere! Despite the furnace breaking down AGAIN on my actual birthday (that’s tomorrow’s blog), I did manage to have a good one.

Now back to Manic Monday, which this week is Explosive! I could tell you about some of the explosive diapers I’ve changed since I’ve had the job of M-O-M, but I really don’t want to think about my children’s poop right now, so I think I’m going in a different direction.

My best friend just called me this afternoon and said, “Does your child ever talk back in a tone that just makes you want to smack the shit out of them in the middle of Target?”

Why, yes! That actually happens all the time. From Eli, I get “the tone” and from Georgia, I get the explosive temper tantrums.

She’s actually getting better in the fact that they are getting a little less frequent. However when they do occur, you just can’t calm her down. It can be something as simple as me changing the TV from Dora to the News. That alone will send her running through the house screaming.

Or it can be something like the deli at Walmart being out of popcorn chicken. That tantrum will last throughout the rest of the store. Or if I don’t let her have a piece of candy when we drop Eli off at preschool – that will cause her to throw herself on the ground and kick. (Side note: I’ve learned never to let her wear Crocs on preschool days because they easily fly off during kicking tantrums.)

As bad as these tantrums are, I think I am managing quite well. Either that or I’m just developing a very thick skin. For example, I have become oblivious to hundreds of people staring at me at once. (The key is just to look straight ahead and don’t make eye contact with anyone.)

Second, I have no qualms about singing in public, since that is one of the few things that will calm my daughter. And third, I am completely oblivious to other children’s screaming. A child can be on the floor in the middle of the a store, screaming, head spinning around, and literally turning into the devil incarnate. If it’s not my child, I don’t even hear it.

As well as I can handle explosive tantrums, I do have some weaknesses. If anyone makes a comment about my child or my parenting skills, I will grab them by the neck. My other weakness is that as children get older, they learn how to push your buttons. Eli knows that throwing a tantrum gets him nowhere. But if he uses a sarcastic tone or mocks me, I want to smack the shit out of him in the middle of Target.

I need to work on that.


Friday, February 22, 2008

The Birthday Furnace

Since Friday is my birthday, Eric is taking the day off work, and we were planning to have a fun birthday extravaganza. He was coming home from work early today, so I was very excited about starting the celebration, when at exactly 4:45 p.m., our furnace went out.

First, I started smelling a burning plastic smell, so I walked around the house sniffing and realized it was coming from the vents. Well, that’s not good.

About that time, Eric got home. He went down stairs and checked the furnace. It wasn’t working. He noticed the thermostat was slowly going down and asked, “Didn’t you notice it was getting colder?” Well, I’m always freaking cold!

I then called the furnace people and tried to explain the problem to the guy. Then I tried to give him directions to my house, to which he flat out said, “Those directions don’t make any sense.”

Okay, when I’m already in a pissy mood, don’t question my ability to give directions.

He finally showed up, and it turned out that the circuit board in our furnace was fried. Great. Happy freaking birthday to me! A new circuit board, plus labor, plus tax, plus whatever the hell they charge for, came to about $650. That is not cool.

After we paid, I poured myself a very large glass of wine. I figured that while the house was heating back up, I could at least try to warm myself up from the inside out. Eric began wondering if it would be cheaper to turn the thermostat down the rest of the winter and just keep me liquored up.

I’m willing to give it a shot.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to celebrate my birthday, we plan to sit around the furnace and have a drink.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

13 Reasons Winter Annoys The Hell Out Of Me


1. The bone-chilling cold! Today, the high was 15. Dude! 15 is NOT a high!

2. People and their damn parking. For some reason, if there is snow anywhere in the parking lot, people think they can park wherever the hell they want. I’m sorry, but that does not give you the right to take up three spots. Don’t pretend you can’t see the lines!

3. Our gas bill. When it is this cold, I don’t think the heat even shuts off. It probably doesn’t help the fact that I turn on our oven and stand over the open door of it with my shirt up. (Don’t tell my husband I do that.)

4. People who say things like, “Is it cold enough for ya?!” I swear to God, I’m going to bitch slap the next person who says that.

5. Warming up the car. Apparently, there has been a rash of car thefts around here. If you go out and turn your car on to warm up in the morning, people will take it when you go back inside your house. This means I have to warm my car up while sitting inside of it. That is not my idea of fun.

6. Fighting with my daughter. Because she would rather get frostbite than wear a pair of mittens.

7. People who like the cold. Yes, these crazy idgets actually exist.

8. It’s difficult to truly enjoy ice cream, and my hubby just bought me an ice cream cake for my birthday.

9. People who don’t wear coats, or who wear short skirts with bare legs and then complain about the cold. Would I legally get in trouble for smacking these people in the head?

10. People and their damn parking again. Just because it’s cold, you do not have the divine right to park directly in front of the door to the preschool. I don’t want to walk around your damn car to get in the building. Park in a parking space like the rest of us!

11. Did I mention the cold? I’m cold when it’s 75 degrees outside. At 15, I physically cannot get warm even when I wrap myself in a king-size heating pad, which I do most of the day.

12. The fact that the electric blanket only goes up to 10. If you’ve seen Spinal Tap, you know that sometimes you need an 11.

13. Ice. It snowed last week, and everything seems to have turned into giant ice chunks, or stealth ice patches which tend to appear whenever I step out of the car. Grrrr!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - What's up with Papi?

I was reading Georgia a story today, and this crossed my mind.

Why in the hell does Dora's dad look like a Mexican Tom Selleck?

I was just wondering.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Drip. Drip.

We have a leaky faucet in the kitchen. And it’s annoying as hell. It has been dripping for at least a year, and there has been an ongoing fight discussion on whether we need a new one. I think we do. Eric - who is the only person able to turn the faucet the one exact millimeter to the right to manage to turn it off - doesn’t.

Today, I finally laid it down. If we didn’t buy a new damn faucet, I was moving out. A little extreme, I know, but a woman’s gotta do what she’s gotta do. So we went to Home Depot, and stood in front of the large triple wall of faucets. I had no idea there were so many. I just wanted something simple, and not horribly expensive since I know I will have to pay for a plumber to come out and install the damn thing.

Well, Eric and Eli had other ideas. Between the two of them, they chose this large, curvy, ornate brushed nickel faucet that was ungodly expensive. Eric decided we could spend the extra money and he would figure out how to install it himself. Uh-huh.

Now, we have this large, ornamental faucet sitting in our kitchen. After one look underneath the sink, Eric quickly decided he was mistaken, and there was no way in hell he could install the faucet. “But that’s okay,” he said. Our next door neighbor used to be a plumber, so he can install it for free.

Uh-huh. And just how do you go about asking your neighbor, whom you don’t know that well, to install your new kitchen faucet?

So, my question to you is this. How long do you think the new faucet will be sitting on the kitchen counter before it is installed?

I will tell you. One week. Because that’s how long I give it before I call a plumber.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Manic Monday - Two


Hello everyone! I took a blogging break for a couple of days while recovering from the flu, but I wanted to get a Manic Monday post up because I haven’t missed one yet!

This week’s Manic Monday word is two. This makes me wonder how many of you believe in lucky numbers. I’ve always considered two my lucky number. My birthday is 2-22-72, so that started me off right there. I’ve already told Eric he better already be planning a big blow out bash of a party for my 50th birthday, which falls on 2-22-22. That will be fun!

I have two kids. Eli was born at exactly 2:00 p.m., and Georgia was exactly two weeks early. I could probably name lots of other “twos” in my life. But I’m wondering how much stock you all put in lucky numbers. Do you have a lucky number? And if so, why?

As far as lucky, “two” hasn’t exactly paid off yet. I consistently choose 2 or 22 as the Powerball, and so far I haven’t won. But it’s coming! I can feel it!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

13 Things About Having The Flu


As some of you know, I have had the flu since Friday. I think I’m finally on the upswing, but damn! This stuff is killer! So, here are 13 things about this week of the flu.

1. Since my voice is so hoarse I can’t yell at the children.

2. They usually don’t listen to me anyway, but now they can pretend they don’t hear me.

3. I haven’t had the energy to do anything, especially cook, so my husband keeps bringing home dinner.

4. Unfortunately, since I have the flu, so I don’t want to eat anything.

5. I’ve lost weight. (woo hoo)

6. I also haven’t had the energy to clean the house.

7. I hate to clean the house, but at least now I have a good excuse not to do it.

8. The kind doctor gave me cough syrup with codeine for my cough.

9. You shouldn’t take this stuff before getting in the shower because you may not be able to stand for very long.

10. I get to “accidentally” cough on people I don’t like.

11. Your children have no sympathy for you when you are sick.

12. Even at 3:30 a.m.

13. Codeine is not enough to keep you asleep when someone is screaming, “MAMA!” at 3:30 a.m.

Yum Yum Yoplait - Free Sample!

To be perfectly honest, the easiest way to get my daughter to eat something is to slap a picture of Dora or Diego on it. I am just lucky enough that Yoplait Kids does this with their healthy sip-able and spoon-able yogurts!

The great people at Mom Central and Yoplait sent samples of both yogurts so my kids could try them out. We already spend gobs of money on yogurt, so I was very pleased to receive some samples for free!

Yoplait Kids sip-able and spoon-able yogurts provide calcium, vitamins A and D, and Omega-3 DHA, which helps brain development. They come in kid-friendly flavors like banana, strawberry, peach and vanilla.

My son, Eli, prefers the spoonable yogurts, and can have one gone in about 10 seconds flat. My daughter, Georgia, on the other hand, wishes that all of her food came in drinkable form. She loves her chocolate milk, juice, and she loves her drinkable yogurt! She loves the taste, and I love the fact that they are portable and nutritious! They come in a six-pack, and she can have all of them gone in a day! And it doesn’t hurt that they display her favorite Nick Jr. characters like Dora, Diego, Blue and The Backyardigans!

No doubt about it, Yoplait Kids yogurt gets a thumbs up on all fronts from my whole family!

If you would like to score your own free samples of Yoplait Kids yogurt, visit their Web site at www.yoplaitkids.com and sign up for a coupon for free Yoplait Kids yogurt!

* Please note: This coupon offer for free Yoplait Kids yogurt is not valid in some states, including California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota and Tennessee. Offer good while coupon supplies last.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Naughty Eeyore




Breakfast BREAKS!

So, my son is now opening my mail! When the kind folks at Mom Central sent me samples of Breakfast BREAKS last week, Eli had the box open before I could say “Boo!”

He was yanking the Breakfast BREAKS out, yelling, “I want one! I want one NOW!” Since my son barely eats, I get very excited whenever he finds something healthy he wants.

Right now, his favorite things to eat are Lunchables and Kid’s Cuisines, so Breakfast BREAKS were right up his alley. Imagine Lunchables for breakfast! Each convenient package contains a balanced breakfast, including a serving of cereal (my son’s favorite is the one with Cinammon Toast Crunch), Minute Maid 100% fruit juice, and a nutritious snack, like a fruit and cereal bar.

Lord knows my mornings are stressful enough as it is. It’s almost impossible to get the children to eat a healthy breakfast before it is time to head out the door. Anytime I find something to make my day a little easier, I jump on it!

Breakfast BREAKS are wonderful. They don’t have to be refrigerated. I store them on the snack shelf of my pantry. They can be enjoyed as a sit-down breakfast, along with a little milk on your cereal, or you can eat them on the go! My son prefers to eat his cereal dry, so if we are running late, Breakfast BREAKS are something he can enjoy in the car. He just sits back there and leisurely enjoys his cereal, fruit bar and juice box, and by the time we get to preschool, I am happy in the fact that we made it on time, and he has had a healthy breakfast. Breakfast BREAKS even come complete with a spoon, napkin and moist towlette for those extra messy mornings.

Besides breakfast, you can enjoy them for any meal, or they make a great snack for any time of the day. These pre-packaged Breakfast BREAKS are a perfect fit for your child’s backpack! You can choose from Breakfast BREAKS containing Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios and Lucky Charms, so there is one for everybody’s preference.

Breakfast BREAKS are available in grocery stores everywhere, so stock up now! Just visit www.breakfastbreaks.com to see where they are available in your area. Enjoy!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Movie Madness

On Saturday, we decided to go for an adventure. We took Georgia to her first movie! Our cable company was having some customer appreciation thing, and invited us to a free movie – The Bee Movie. We decided this was a perfect time to see how Georgia did at a movie because if we had to leave in the middle of it, at least it was free. Plus, they were giving away a Wii as a door prize! Win win!

Things didn’t start off well because I woke up sick on Saturday morning. Eric was sick last week, and it finally hit me. The kids were so excited for the movie, and I couldn’t let Eric take both of them by himself. So off I went to the movie with 102 degree temperature.

The place was absolutely packed! Apparently a free movie is all it takes to get everyone out of the house on a cold Saturday morning.

Georgia actually did very well. We had to sit there forever before the movie started, and I was actually surprised that she was so content. She seemed to be having a lot of fun doing some people-watching. Finally, they did the drawing for the door prize (we didn’t win the Wii), and the movie started.

When it first came up on the big screen, Georgia said, “Woooow!” Then she was pretty much done. She decided it was more fun to climb mommy like a jungle gym than it was to sit and watch the movie. Then she started scratching my face, going “Teeekle, teekle!” Then she stuck her foot in front of my face and said, “I want do piggies!” (aka This Little Piggy Went To Market)

I said, “Georgia, don’t you want to watch the bees?” She laughed and said, “Noooo!”

I did finally get her to calm down and sit in her chair for a few minutes. That didn’t last long because she was holding her Sprite, which she promptly turned upside down and dumped in her chair. Crap! I feel really sorry for the person who sat in that seat for the next show.

Overall, I would say it went well. It may not sound like it, but she did a heck of a lot better than Eli did when I took him to a movie at that age! Next up, this summer we plan to take the kids to see Horton Hears A Hoo. That gives me a few months to rest up.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Manic Monday - Heart

This week’s Manic Monday word is Heart. Don’t forget to visit the Manic Monday HQ at It’s A Blog Eat Blog World for more information.

This week is not only Valentine’s Day, but it is also Eli’s Valentine’s party at preschool. I was trying to think of some really fun Valentines we could make for school, and last week I found the perfect little craft project.

These checkerboard Valentines open up to make little baskets! I thought they were perfect. They were homemade, you could put candy inside, and they weren’t difficult.

So I told Eli we were going to make Valentines. He said, “Hearts?” I said, “Yes, hearts.” I made a couple first to show him and asked what he thought.

He just looked at them and then glared at me. “I thought you said we were going to make hearts?!”

I said, “These are hearts!”

He said, “No, they’re not!” (Apparently the whole checkerboard theme didn’t go over well with him.) “I want to make NORMAL hearts!”

Well, hell! So much for me and my crafts. It doesn’t help that when Eli gets annoyed like this, he sounds just like Doug and Wendy Whiner from Saturday Night Live. Remember them?

So, we ended up making “normal” hearts – which were completely forgotten when we went to the store and Eli saw the Shrek Valentines that stink when you scratch them. *sigh* Scratch and Stink Valentines. The joys of having a boy!


Friday, February 08, 2008

Bad Timing

My day was going along just fine until I opened the mail. Eli will be starting kindergarten in the Fall, and we received a letter today from the school.

First, let me backtrack. Prior to today, I thought our elementary school offered all-day kindergarten and that was it. Everyone in the neighborhood told me kindergarten was all day, and the school’s Web site said it was all day.

Today when I received the school’s letter, it mentioned an upcoming meeting in which they would discuss the difference between their all-day and half-day programs, “including the extra fee for full-day.”

Extra fee? What? Apparently, if all-day kindergarten is your only option, there is no extra fee. If you have a choice, and you choose all-day kindergarten, there is an extra fee of about $300 a month!!!! Dude! I can’t afford an extra $300 a month! Crap!

So Eli will be going to half-day kindergarten, which is only offered in the morning. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. Georgia will be starting preschool next year, which is across town.

Let’s break this down.

Eli’s kindergarten starts at 8:10. Georgia’s preschool, which is across town, starts at 9:00. Not a problem.

Eli’s kindergarten gets out at 11:05. Georgia’s preschool, which is ACROSS TOWN, lets out at 11:30.

Problem!!

According to my friends, the whole pick-up process, including the kindergarteners getting out the door, getting them in the car, and getting your ass out of the “car line” takes about 15 minutes on a good day. That would leave me 10 minutes to get ACROSS TOWN to pick up Georgia!

Dude! I am soooo f*cked!

Thursday, February 07, 2008

13 Pictures My 5-Year-Old Took With His Camera


Today, I decided I should download the pictures from Eli's camera. There were 561 pictures on there! First, I went through and deleted all pictures that were just of the floor, ceiling, or otherwise completely unrecognizable. That brought it down to 325 pictures. Now, Eli LOVES to take pictures of the TV when one of his shows is on. 100 of the remaining pictures were of the Teletubbies on TV.

Somewhere in there, I decided this would make a great Thursday Thirteen. It was really difficult to narrow down the pictures. In fact I could easily do this as a weekly feature, but I'll just start with this.

1. Daddy always looks so excited to have his picture taken.


2. Close-ups are Eli's specialty. This is a great picture he took of the Valentine's cake we made on Tuesday.


3. Eli takes a picture of every single thing he watches on TV. I'm always amazed at how well they turn out. Here is a very nice shot of Blue.



4. Most of the shots Eli takes of me are at his eye level, which would be my ass. When he tilts the camera upwards, he gets nice shots of my boobs. Here's a rare picture he took of my face.



5. Our cat, Coconut, is one of Eli's favorite models. Unfortunately, he ususally runs off when he sees Eli coming at him with a camera.



6. Here is one of Eli's more common shots - his lovely feet.


7. Eli loves to snap pictures of his little sister. Here is one of her that actually looks great!


8. But most of them look more like this.



9. Eli feels the need to have photographic evidence of every single toy we have in our home. This is the Little People Farm.


10. And this is the infamous sound tube that Eli used to break my crystal angel.


11. Since Eli took more than 100 pictures of the Teletubbies, I thought I should at least post one. For those of you who don't know, this scary-ass creature is Tinky Winky. *shiver*


12. This is how Eli looks when he takes a picture of himself and actually manages to capture his face!

13. This is what Eli looks like when Georgia grabs his camera and starts taking pictures.


Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Where exactly is my sanity?

Today was one of those days when I wondered every minute, “Why are my children so crazy?!” It started this morning when we went to the grocery store. Georgia was looking at the crane game as I got a shopping cart right next to her. All of a sudden, she turns and runs from me and starts climbing in the cart of some strange man. WTF?! I said, “Georgia, what are you doing?!”

She just replied, “I want in that one cart!” *sigh*

Things only went down hill from there. We came home, and our goal today was to make a Valentine’s cake. Of course, the children want to do everything themselves. It took all my energy just to keep Georgia from burying her face in the flour, and to keep Eli from throwing the eggs in the bowl, shell and all. (You have no idea how long it takes to get all that damn egg shell out of the batter!)

In between all of this, I was attempting to make a few phone calls. First, I had to call the doctor’s office. I turned Noggin on for the children. They were quiet. Yet the second I had someone on the other end of the phone, Georgia emitted a blood-curdling scream. God only knows what Eli did to her. But Georgia didn't just scream once. She kept screaming. Loudly. And she chased me around the house while screaming . . . while I was on the phone, and unable to get away from her.

Of course she calmed down as soon as I hung up. But when I tried to call the accountant at my doctor’s office to contest a bill (that’s a whole ‘nother story), she started the exact same “mommy’s-on-the-phone-I-better-f*cking-scream” scream. Dude!

After I finally gave up making phone calls, I found Georgia over by my laptop with the cord in her mouth. What the hell?

And to top it all off, Eli just ended the day by swinging a big sound tube above his head and knocking off a crystal angel I had on my mantel. It shattered into about a zillion pieces. And it took every ounce of willpower I had not to beat him senseless. Yay for self-control. I certainly hope tomorrow is better.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Froose It!

As many of my readers know, my children are picky eaters to say the least. Luckily, they guzzle down beverages throughout the day. I swear, if it wasn’t for drinkable yogurt and fortified Ovaltine, I don’t know how those two would keep going.

Needless to say, I am always on the lookout for healthy, low-sugar, low-calorie options that my kids will love – a difficult feat for any parent. Luckily, my job just got much easier!

The kind folks at Mom Central sent me 12 boxes of Froose to try out. Froose is a delicious whole-grain beverage that is a great alternative to juice! I have never run across a juice that is actually a “whole food” beverage, which means that Froose combines the best of organic whole grains and fruit. Sound weird? Well, you’re going to be amazed because not only is Froose nutritious, but it tastes incredible!

If you have a child who grabs juice boxes throughout the day, this is perfect for you. It is easy to let your children have juice rather than to engage in an all-out war with them just to try to limit their juice intake. Did you know that regular juice consists of simple carbohydrates, which come primarily from the sugar in fruit, and does NOT contain any of the other nutrients found in fruit?

Froose was created by mom inventor Denise Devine who, like me, was frustrated by watching her young children drink fruit juice all day and kicking aside other healthy choices. She got tired of her kids filling up on empty calories and not being hungry for dinner, so she decided to do something about it. Denise set out to develop a nutritious, smoothie-like alternative to juice that incorporated whole grains, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The resulting beverage is Froose!

Froose comes in three delicious flavors – Cheerful Cherry, Playful Peach and Perfect Pear. (My favorite is the Cherry. My son is leaning toward the Pear.) Froose comes in grab-and-grow™ 4-oz. juice boxes, which makes it convenient as well as tasty. One box contains only 80 calories, and 3 grams of fiber! Froose is sweetened with organic brown rice syrup, which is a complex carbohydrate, which means this will fill your kids up, without providing them empty calories or putting them on a sugar high. And best of all, Froose is wheat- and gluten-free!

Froose is currently being rolled out in retail stores across the nation. However if you want to try Froose now, you can conveniently order directly on the Froose Web site! I hope you enjoy it! The fact that my children love it should be a ringing endorsement. Yum-o, people!

Manic Monday - Blue


This week's Manic Monday word is Blue. Don't forget to visit the Manic Monday headquarters at It's A Blog Eat Blog World for more Manic Monday information.

This is a pretty simple post for me because when I think of blue, only one thing comes to mind . . . okay, make that three things - my blue-eyed sweeties!!

First is my gorgeous hubby (who was not pleased to have me right in his face snapping pictures). His eyes were the first physical feature that attracted me to him.



Next is my sweet boy, who I think looks exactly like his daddy. He would only let me take his picture if he could put a Valentine's sticker on his face. This photo soooo captures his personality.



And my precious baby girl. She looks deceptively angelic, doesn't she? Everyone says she looks like me, but I think she has her daddy's eyes.

I decided to go ahead and throw in one of myself, too. Dude! Next time I take a picture this close up, I really need to remember to put on make-up!





Friday, February 01, 2008

Congrats to the winners!!


Congratulations to the winners of the My Fruit Roll-Ups Giveaway! Each of you will receive a promo code to get a free box of your own personalized My Fruit Roll-Ups! Woo hoo!!




Desert Songbird at The Ice Box

MamaGeek at What Works For Us


Congrats, ladies!!

Parking Rage

It’s no secret that I have a slight temper. I think I have done much better learning to control it over the years. You should have seen me when I was Eli’s age. Not. Pretty.

Anyway, for the most part, I control my little bursts of anger fairly well, and I think yesterday was the perfect example of that. Georgia and I had about 20 minutes between dropping Eli at preschool and heading to Gymboree. We stopped at Hen House to buy milk, baby wipes and fruit roll-ups. We were right on track to make it to Gymboree on time. I bought the groceries, got out to the car and strapped Georgia in.

Then when I was walking around the car to my side, another car pulled in right next to mine on the driver’s side. The guy was way over the line on his parking space, and his passenger side mirror was close to touching my driver’s side door. Dude! WTF?! There was no way I could get in my car.

Here’s the part where I have to remember to employ that filter between my brain and my mouth. The oblivious guy got out of his car and started traipsing into the store. I shouted, “Excuse me, sir!” Then I gave a half smile. “I can’t get in my car. You parked over the line.”

Now, what I really wanted to say was, “Hey, asshole!! Who the hell taught you how to park?!”

I get points for not saying that, right?

The guy turned and looked at me . . . no, glared at me is more like it, and sighed loudly. That’s right – he sighed loudly! Are you freaking kidding me?! This guy doesn’t know how incredibly lucky he was that I was not PMSing or he could very well have lost a testicle in that instance.

Instead, he got back in his car without a word and backed up. I drove away without incident. But seriously, what is wrong with people?!