Wordless Wednesday - Annual Bunny Pictures at the Plaza

Suck it in

We are on a roll here at my house. We just bought a new refrigerator! We bought our old refrigerator with our wedding money when we got married, so it’s coming up on 14 years old. The shelves on the door regularly fall out, and the ice maker produces hollow ice cubes which get stuck in the ice maker daily and I have to dig them out.

We had been discussing a new refrigerator for months, but we really looked them over recently since we were in the store buying a new microwave. This weekend, Home Depot was having a sale, so we decided to go for it. We chose a really nice side-by-side stainless steel fridge with the water and ice cubes in the door. It’s crazy how excited I am about that. I have never had a refrigerator with the water/ice thing in the door!

Now, buying it was the easy part. When we were measuring the “hole” in our kitchen where the refrigerator goes, it got a little more tricky. I never realized how much bigger the new refrigerators are compared with the old ones. Our old refrigerator is about 65 inches tall. The new one is 70 inches tall. We had to remove the cabinet above the refrigerator so we could get a new one to fit in there.

Next up is the width. The current “hole” is 36 ½ inches wide. The new refrigerator is 36 inches wide. That’s the part that scares me. I was afraid this was cutting it too close, but the lady at Home Depot said, “Oh, you’ll be fiiiiine!”

Uh-huh. The fridge is supposed to be delivered on Wednesday, so we’ll see. Either I’ll be happy as a clam with my brand new refrigerator, or I’ll have a stainless steel monstrosity in the middle of my kitchen because it won’t fit anywhere else. Cross your fingers for me.

Manic Monday - Drink

This week’s Manic Monday word is drink. Be sure to visit the Manic Monday HQ for more information on how to participate.

This is a topic for which I thought of many things I could write about, but one thing stood out. Anyone who has been to college has had one of those nights when you drink waaaay too much. I had one of those evenings my freshman year at KU, and years later, I still remember it with frightening clarity.

I lived in a dorm with my (still) best friends, Stacey and Andrea. My brother was working on his masters at a college about 30 minutes away. He showed up at our dorm on a Friday night with a huge bottle of vodka and said, “Have fun.”

At the time, I thought it was a nice gesture, but looking back, I think he was just evil. I was 18 years old, my first semester at college, and I had never really drunk much before. I had certainly never had vodka.

Stacey and Andrea and I started pouring, and realized that you could really mix vodka with just about anything you can get your hands on – Kool-Aid, Diet Pepsi, slushies from the QT, whatever. It sounds disgusting now, but I quickly found out that after you have a couple of vodka drinks, you can’t really taste the vodka anymore.

Dude! It was horrible! I don’t remember much about the actual night except for two things. 1. We drunk dialed just about everyone we had ever met. (Why is calling people so appealing when you’re drinking?) and 2. I threw up several times in our room because I was too drunk to walk down the hall to the bathroom.

The aftermath of that night is much clearer. I called my dad the next day to ask him what to do for a hangover. I vividly remember him laughing at me. Stacey and I decided that the best remedy was to eat bread to soak up the alcohol in our system. I’m not exactly sure where we came up with that logic but it made sense at the time.

I also remember that I didn’t drink vodka again for about 15 years (a.k.a. last summer). I couldn’t even get near vodka for a few years because the smell of it made my stomach lurch. But last summer, someone made me a drink with Absolut Pears. Yum! It doesn’t even taste like vodka! Which is probably the danger. Hmmm . . . I think maybe I’ll just stick with beer.

Where there's smoke . . .

So, my microwave exploded today. Dude! First, it was the furnace, then the kitchen faucet (did I blog about that one?), and now the microwave. At least if things come in threes, I should be done, right?

There I was at lunch, microwaving some Easy Mac for Georgia for lunch when all of a sudden, the microwave buzzed LOUDLY, and the light on the inside got extremely bright, and it started smoking.

Not a good thing.

Luckily, the Easy Mac was close enough to done that Georgia could eat it, but I still had yet to heat up my lunch, which were White Castle hamburgers. I had accepted fairly quickly that our microwave was going bye-bye (I think we’ve had it for at least 10 years), but dammit, I wanted my sliders!

I decided to chance it. I mean, they only had to heat up for 60 seconds. So, I put them in the microwave and turned it on. There was still smoke and the buzzing was getting louder, and this time the inside light got very bright and started flickering. Georgia was fascinated, but I made her stand behind me in case the thing blew up.

I know this wasn’t one of my brightest ideas, but I was really hungry, and I was standing right there ready for action in case I saw flames. I turned the microwave off after about 45 seconds because I was too scared to continue, and unplugged it. My sliders were warm and had a funny taste (probably radiation poisoning), but I ate them anyway.

I called Eric at work and told him that our microwave exploded (okay maybe I’m being melodramatic, but there was a lot of smoke). So, when he got home last night, we headed to Lowe’s to buy a new microwave. The kids couldn’t sit in the cart because we had to put the microwave in it, so that was fun. They climbed all over the riding lawn mowers, cabinets and fake toilets until finally I took them to wait in the car.

Eric checked out with the new microwave. I desperately wanted an over-the-range microwave, but we have cabinets above our stove so that’s not happening. But we did get a very cool microwave that has a child lock on it. Woo hoo! Even though I hate to spend money, it’s always fun to get new stuff. Hopefully this one will last awhile before I manage to set it on fire.

13 Things My Daughter Put In Her Mouth This Week

My daughter is 2 1/2, and even though she's out of the "putting everything in her mouth" stage, she's still quite adventurous. I'm a little concerned about her oral fixation. Yet I can't get her to actually eat food. What the hell?

1. My shirt – She will come up to me and either lick or chew on my shirt. Then she says, “You’re welcome!” and walks away. I don’t get it.

2. Play-Doh – Okay, I used to eat Play-Doh when I was little, so I really can’t fault her for this one.

3. Mud – After coming in from the backyard, she has mud all over her face, lips and teeth. Why exactly is that appetizing?

4. Chalk – As much chalk as this child eats, I should just serve it for dinner.

5. Markers – You’ve seen the pictures.

6. Cat food – She will actually push the cats out of the way if they are trying to eat because she gets mad that they’re eating her food.

7. Pennies – I try to hide all coinage, but if she finds one, she pops it into her mouth, shows it to me, then runs. I think she thinks it’s funny to have me chase her even though she’s in trouble.

8. Eli’s toothbrush – Eli has a suction cup Crayola toothbrush that Georgia loves to play with.

9. Candy from the floor at school – She can spot candy on the floor a mile away and usually pops it in her mouth before I can stop her.

10. Silly Putty – Again, I used to chew on this stuff, too. It’s an interesting consistency.

11. Wooden toast – She has a pretend toaster and likes to chew on the pretend toast that are basically wooden blocks. But I can’t get her to eat real toast.

12. Sour milk – She found a sippy cup under her bed and drank half of what was left before she handed it to me and said, “Yucky.” Dude! It was clumpy, yet she took several sips!

13. A toilet paper roll – Usually she uses it as a telescope. I’m not quite sure what the heck she was doing with it this week.

Wordless Wednesday - "Mama, can you see the blood in my eyes?"

Flashing Lights and Seizures

It seems like every other commercial on TV is for Chuck E. Cheese’s. Some of you may not notice this, but if you have a kid who is always begging to go, you notice it big time.

Since I have enough of loud, screaming children at home, I really don’t need to go someplace where there are hundreds of loud, energetic children in a concentrated area. Eli has been begging to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s for as long as I can remember, and up until now, I was pretty good at distracting him. That is until Eric hit me with a low blow.

When I was little, there was Showbiz Pizza. Anyone remember Showbiz? I would get to go with friends, but my parents absolutely refused to take me to Showbiz. Eric said, “Are you going to deny your son Chuck E. Cheese’s like your parents denied you Showbiz?” Well, mother f*ck! How can I argue with that?

Sunday was the big day, and we loaded up the kids and headed to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Dude! I don’t get how all of those bells and flashing lights don’t send children into flailing seizures the second they walk in the door.

After some greasy pizza, we took the kids out to play. We found that Eli loves to plunk tokens in machines even if he has absolutely no idea what they do. Georgia loves to ride the Big Red Clifford (whose claim to fame is that he vibrates slightly) over and over and over again.

Eric and I discovered we still rock at ski ball. The only problem is that it’s really hard to keep an eye on Georgia when I’m playing ski ball. First, she jumped in between a kid and his video game and took over playing. Oops. When I caught her and told her to come help mommy at ski ball, she thought the object of the game was to attempt to walk up the shoot and put the ball in the holes. It’s not like I can very well chase her up the shoot.

Eli was a little bit better at ski ball. We just have to teach him to throw underhanded. He chucks that ball overhanded like he’s pitching at the World Series. At one point, he threw it into the next lane and surprised the woman playing. I’m just happy he didn’t take off anyone’s head.

By the time we left, two hours later, Eli had collected 135 tickets to trade in for a prize. We found that 135 tickets were enough to get almost nothing. We had enough for two Airheads candies. Luckily, Eli loves Airheads, so he was pleased.

The second we left, Eli started asking when we were coming back again. Oh, sweet lord, I don’t think I can do that very often. That place wears me out – complete sensory overload. We decided we can do it maybe once a quarter. I just have to listen to Eli ask about Chuck E. Cheese’s every day for the next few months.

Manic Monday - Can

This week’s Manic Monday word is Can, and oh my, there are sooo many things I Can write about. It did make me wonder how many kids today are actually familiar with The Little Engine That Could. “I think I can. I think I can.” Hell, these days, everything is Thomas the Tank. But I digress.

The first thing I thought of was the way Georgia asks for something – anything. When she first started talking, and she wanted something, she would say, “Can I? Can I? Can I?” I thought that was the cutest thing ever.

As many of you parents know, as soon as you smile or laugh at something your child does, they keep doing it. Now that Georgia can talk, and we’re trying to teach her to use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, it’s much more frustrating because she still asks for things the same way. She puts a question in front of it, but it goes something like this:

“Can I have a bite? CanICanICanICanICanICanI . . .” to infinity until you give her what she wants. Or in the case that you interrupt her by saying no, she has a fit. Such as when Eric leaves for work.

Georgia: “Can I go? CanICanICanICanICanICanI . . .”

Me (interrupting): “No, you can’t go with daddy. Daddy has to go to work.”

Then, Eric leaves for work smiling, and Georgia throws herself on the ground screaming and kicking, “I WANT GO, TOO!”

When I try to pick her up, I get, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

This is how my week started last week. One of these days, I’m going to leave smiling and make Eric stay home with the kids all day. Hmmm . . . Now there’s a thought.

Giftventure Special!

Personally, I get tired of giving my children gifts only to have them ripped open in two seconds. Isn’t the whole savoring of anticipation thing supposed to be the best part? Anyway, I wanted to do something that was more special, and I have something new for everyone to try out.

The kind folks at Mom Central hooked me up with Giftventure. Giftventure is a way to make gift giving more special, and make it last longer so the gift-giving process lasts longer.

Giftventure is a personalized treasure hunt for your child! At Giftventure.com, you choose the Giftventure package you are most interested in. We chose The Treasure Map Adventure. First, you hide a gift around your house, such as in the back of your closet or your nightstand – someplace your child won’t find it until the right time. Then, you enter a few personal details into the Giftventure.com site.

Giftventure prints out and mails to your child a series of personalized letters and puzzles that, when solved, lead to the location you typed into the Web site. Your child receives the personalized letters from a fictional character – we chose Percy the Pirate – and each letter and puzzle is personalized with the details you entered. Over the course of the week, your child will receive three letters and has to piece together the clues. The final letter will direct your child to the secret hiding place of the gift.

Eli absolutely loved this. He’s only 5, so I had to help him with reading the clues, but he thought it was the coolest thing ever, and he filled out the treasure map all by himself. When he finally found his gift (Toy Story 2 DVD), I don’t think he was as excited by that as he was with the whole Treasure Hunt adventure. He keeps asking when Pirate Percy is going to send him another letter.

Giftventure is perfect for Easter, Christmas, birthdays, or any holiday or occasion you want. We did our little treasure hunt just for fun, and it was a special treat for the kids, who had a great time figuring out the clues!

Now, here is the special! For Easter, Giftventure is offering 10% off the list price (19.95) to all my blog readers – that’s you!! All you have to do is visit their Web site and enter promo code momcentral when placing your order. If you sign up by March 14, you will also get reduced shipping!

Visit Giftventure today to learn more about the different packages they have to choose from for kids of all ages!

TGIF

Yippee skippy, it’s Friday! I’m wondering if my week could get any weirder. My freelance business is really picking up, so I have been busy. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to write SEO content while trying to entertain two children at the same time.

Georgia has spent the days spinning around in circles as fast as she can. She stops every once in awhile and screams “WHOA!” and then starts again. Then she stops again and screams, “STOP MAKING MUSIC!” Dude, sometimes I wonder exactly what beat she is bopping to. I’m not quite sure I get it, but she really seems to be enjoying herself.

Eli comes up to me and just says things out of the blue like, “Mama! Do you want to see the blood in my eyes?” and then makes a weird face.

Not to be outdone, Georgia decided to celebrate today with explosive diarrhea. Okay, she desperately needs to learn to use the potty. After three blowouts today, and lots of cornstarch and diaper rash cream, the poor girl was screaming in pain from her flaming bottom. Tomorrow, I may just let her run around without pants. Luckily, I just got a new bottle of carpet stain remover. So I think I’m ready.

Pop Tarts - Yum-o!

Is there anything better than when your one of your favorite treats becomes a health food? I don’t think there is!! Kellogg's just introduced its new Whole Grain Pop-Tarts! And the kind folks at Mom Central and Kellogg Company sent two boxes for my kids and me to try. Oh yeah, baby!

We received a box of the Whole Grain Strawberry Pop-Tarts and a box of the Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts. When I was little, I couldn’t seem to get enough sugar and I just used to lick the icing off the tops of Pop-Tarts before eating them. Eventually I stopped eating Pop-Tarts because as I got older, I thought they were too sweet.

Well, the Whole Grain Pop-Tarts are perfect. They aren’t covered with the sugary icing, they just they just have icing drizzled over the top, so it’s not as overpowering. The inside of the Pop Tart has a nice strong flavor, which I think tastes way better than the generic equivalents.

You can tell the Pop-Tart is whole grain because it looks whole grain, but that part doesn’t taste any different to me than the regular Pop-Tart. If anything, I thought it was a softer consistency and not as “hard” as a regular Pop-Tart.

Now, here is the best part – my kids LOVED them!! Woo hoo!! They are huge fans of Pop-Tarts. They never want them toasted, and just eat them cold. As soon as they saw me putting these in the pantry, they screamed “I WANT ONE! I WANT ONE!” Eli prefers the Brown Sugar Cinnamon, and Georgia is a girl after my own heart – she loves the Strawberry. It’s very satisfying to watch my kids happily eating something they think is a treat and knowing they are getting fiber and 16 grams of whole grains. I almost feel like I’m tricking them. Muwahahahaha!

I will definitely keep buying the Whole Grain Pop-Tarts. They get a big thumbs up from me because they are so tasty and not as sweet. Plus anytime I can get my kids to eat anything that’s remotely good for them, I am all over it!

Check out Kellogg’s Web site for more information on the Whole Grain Pop-Tarts, and look for them at a store near you!

13 Thursday Thirteens I Almost Wrote Today

I didn’t have time this week to sit down and compile a list of 13 anything, but I had a lot of ideas about TT’s that I could write. So here is a list of 13 Thursday Thirteens that I didn’t write today, but that may be coming at some point in the future when I have slightly more energy.

1. 13 reasons I want to run away from home (Did I mention that it was a bad day?)

2. 13 reasons why I’m completely exhausted

3. 13 places where Georgia has thrown a tantrum

4. 13 things the kids picked up at the grocery store when I wasn’t looking

5. 13 books I wish I had time to read

6. 13 songs I put on Eli’s new mix CD

7. 13 things I said that made Eli scowl at me

8. 13 toys Eli has taken for show and tell

9. 13 expletives I uttered when I found out I had to pay $500 for Georgia’s preschool enrollment

10. 13 reasons I need Supernanny to come to my house

11. 13 things I say to my kids that make me sound like my mother

12. 13 things I’m doing when I want to be sleeping

13. 13 things the kids are doing when I want them to be sleeping

Go Green With Green Works

As a mom, I have been extremely concerned since my children were born on how household chemicals are affecting them. Children can get extremely sick from the cleaners you use around the house even if you are very careful.

I can spray my countertops down with 409 and wipe them off well, and two seconds later my kids are climbing up on the counter looking for a snack. I desperately wanted to find a cleaners that were not harmful and non-toxic. I tried a few different ones, but the problem I always ran into was that the “green” cleaners I tried weren’t effective. Until now!

Clorox just introduced a new line of products called Green Works. Green Works is a full line of natural cleaning products, and includes everything from glass cleaner and all-purpose cleaner to toilet bowl cleaners. Green Works cleaners are made from plant-based ingredients, so they are natural cleaners, and they smell wonderful!!

Mom Central together with Clorox sent us bottles of the glass cleaner and the all-purpose cleaner to try out. The glass cleaner has a nice clean citrusy smell, and the all-purpose cleaner smells like lime! This is a nice change from having to open the windows in my bathroom every time I clean because the toxic fumes are about to make me pass out!

But the big question is – How well does Green Works work?

It works wonderfully! I am not kidding. I LOVE these products, and I’m not just saying that because they sent me samples for free. First, I tried the all-purpose cleaner on the kitchen counter. It got off marker! And something red and sticky that I never figured out what it was. And the coffee stain on my stove. Then, I used it to clean up cat spit-up from the hardwood floor. That’s right, if a cleaner says all-purpose, it better mean all-purpose! It worked great on the floor. Next, my husband used it to clean the inside of his car. It worked great for that, too!

Next up was the glass cleaner. I am picky about glass cleaners because many of them are streaky. I took this bottle and went around the house. I cleaned the bathroom mirrors, the TV screens, the computer screens, the doors on the entertainment center, the doors on the fireplace, the top of the coffee table and the front door. Then I got tired. But guess what? No streaks. And no rubbing and rubbing and rubbing. I was amazed at how well it worked. Dare I say, the Green Works glass cleaner worked better than Windex! And the citrusy smells of the cleaners are awesome!

Like I said, I am constantly worried about the chemicals my children are exposed to. Green Works helps to take a load off my mind, and does a great job at cleaning my house! Visit Green Works’ official Web site to read more about this new line of natural cleaners, and look for them at a store near you. You will love Green Works because it is environmentally friendly, kid safe and effective.

Go green, people!!

Wordless Wednesday - Yee haw!

Do you see what I see?

Okay, I think I’m psychic. No really. I’m not crazy. Okay, maybe I am, but not because of that.

I know you all know what I’m talking about. Have you ever had those moments when something pops into your head, like a song, and then two seconds later, it’s playing on the radio? That kind of things happen to me all the time, but it seems to be increasing lately.

Every time I have a song stuck in my head, it never fails that within about two hours, Eric starts humming it. We have sat down and tried to do it on purpose. I’ll think of a song and make him try to guess it or vice versa, but it never works when we do try that.

On Saturday, I turned on Noggin for Eli, and every time a show would come on, it would pop into my head what it was going to be about. For example, when Eli said that Oswald was going to be on, I started thinking of the Oswald episode where he caught fireflies, and sure enough, that was the episode that came on. After that happened three times, it started to freak me out. But the second I start consciously paying attention and trying to guess, I couldn't do it.

Then, yesterday I started thinking about this woman named Kathy that I worked with about 12 years ago. I didn’t work with her closely, and I wouldn’t say we were really friends. I hadn’t thought about this woman in years, but for some reason, she just popped into my head yesterday and I wondered what she was doing these days.

This morning, I had a doctor’s appointment. When I walked out of the doctor’s office to leave, there was Kathy sitting in the waiting room. I almost fell over. Now you have to admit, that’s a little creepy. I went up and started talking to her and did the whole “Remember me? We worked together at Daniels Publishing?” She said, “Oh, of course” even though it was quite obvious she didn’t know who in the hell I was.

But here is my question. How do you harness the power? I mean tap into your psychic potential. Seriously. And again, I’m not crazy. But I was thinking that if I could really figure out how to do this, I could use my powers for something good. If you read my blog yesterday, you know that winning Powerball is high on my list. Or maybe I could get one of those booths at the Renaissance Festival and charge $40 for a 15 minute psychic reading. Dude! I could make some bank!

Manic Monday - Want

This week’s Manic Monday word is Want, and my brain is overwhelmed with the possibilities. Because I’m a greedy bitch.

It’s probably pointing out the obvious to say that I want to be able to take my daughter into a store without her getting upset over something and screaming so loudly they can hear her in the next state. But I digress.

Here is what I want. I want to win the lottery. I may have mentioned this before. I want to win the big lottery – the Powerball. And I want to win it when it is upwards of $150 million. So far, I am investing $1 almost every week and it hasn’t paid off yet. I’m starting to get annoyed.

If I won, I would seriously try to do some good things with the money. Really! So why is it never the deserving? The last big winner I saw on the news was some white trash woman missing a few teeth. When asked what she was going to do with the money, she answered, “I’m gonna buy myself a Harley. Yeee haw!”

Dude. Seriously. I can’t believe these people keep winning. I have decided that God has a very twisted sense of humor.

I have thought often about what the first thing would be that I would buy. And I think I have decided that I would buy new bath towels. Yes, really. New towels. And not just regular bath towels – I want a bath towel that’s the size of a small country. I think those are bath sheets, right?

Anyway, my question to you is this: What is the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery?

Baby Einstein: Baby's First Moves Review

Recently, the folks at Mom Central sent me the new Baby Einstein DVD – Baby’s First Moves. My 2-year-old daughter, Georgia, has always loved the Baby Einstein DVDs, so I was excited for a new one.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I never quite got the Baby Einstein DVDs myself. I remember when Eli was little and someone gave me Baby Mozart. It seriously looked like someone sat in their basement, dropped some acid and made a video. Then again, that’s the feeling I get from a lot of kid’s shows. But I digress.

As much as I don’t get it, my kids (especially Georgia) absolutely LOVE Baby Einstein. They sit in front of the TV completely transfixed whenever I turn it on. It’s amazing.

The Baby Einstein DVDs are an interactive way for parents to connect with their children, engage their babies, and create moments of discovery together. Baby’s First Moves is a great DVD for children developing those gross motor skills, such as walking, running, clapping, and dancing (my daughter’s favorite thing to do). This DVD helps children develop those moves and helps parents work with their babies so they can develop physical strength and self-confidence.

My 2-year-old did express interest in this DVD because she LOVES watching babies. But I would say that if you have a child under 18 months, Baby’s First Moves is perfect for you. I lent this DVD to my best friend yesterday, and her 8-month-old began imitating the babies and really getting into it. He loves it!!

I know there has been a lot of discussion in the news about whether or not young children should watch TV. I am all for it. I think that educational programming like those featured on Noggin, and educational videos like Baby Einstein, have had a huge effect on my children. It amazes me how early they learned colors, numbers, shapes, animals, and how to speak Spanish just from watching educational programming.

If you have young kids, and you haven’t checked out Baby Einstein yet, run to the store or visit their Web site at http://www.babyeinstein.com/ to see their complete line of videos and DVDs, and to learn more about the parent/child interaction campaign.

Baby’s First Moves is perfect for little ones and gives you ideas of activities you can do with your baby. You will love it and so will your child!

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.

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.

Wordless Wednesday - Firestarter

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

Wordless Wednesday - "Look what I made!"

Dude! How gorgeous is that?!

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.

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!

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!!

LBC at Lady Bug Crossing

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?!