Mommy Always Wins

Let the good times roll...

2008-07-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

I've had so many moments that have made me happy lately I feel a little spoiled. My kids have been great and we've had time to all be together as a family and I'm officially off work as of this past Thursday afternoon - there's not a whole lot more I could possibly ask for. (See Sunday's post of pics proving how much fun we had on Friday alone.)

On top of it all, we're going on vacation AGAIN! (Is America great or what?) Actually, by the time this posts, I'll be long gone, off in the northwoods of Wisconsin to see the new house my Dad built. We leave the scenic, peaceful wilderness on Wednesday for the crazy bustle of the Dells area and a family-friendly restort with SIX indoor/outdoor water parks.

We'll be home on Friday afternoon in time for Saturday's family reunion here in town.

As I did for my last trip, I have posts pre-scheduled for this week, so stop back (or hey - subscribe in a reader!) cuz the good stuff ain't stoppin'. I'll share pics when we return next week!

Weekly Winners - Fourth of July Edition

2008-07-06T00:01:00.001-05:00

Jay just happened to have the day off on July 4th this year, and we had a wonderful day. We didn't have any big plans, so we decided to go out to the Greenfield parade because the 'burb we live in doesn't have their parade ON the 4th.

You know we all wore patriotic shirts.

The kids all picked up TONS of candy thrown by the folks in the parade.

Will got his first parade goodies, too!

After the parade, the fam headed off to the park for more fun.

We had some snacks

and the older boy played on the inflatable, uh, stuff.

Yes, I know this one looks really obscene. That's why I took it.
Hubby and I were laughing our butts off.

After a late lunch and free ice cream sandwiches, we wrestled shoes back on the kids

and went home for a rest.

Later, we went back to the park to eat dinner and snag our spots for fireworks.

The kids ran around and played and shared some cotton candy

but Will didn't like it. A consistency thing...

I amused myself by taking pictures in the long light.

Finally it was dark!

These were Will's first fireworks - he was only 4 months old last year.

He wasn't scared at all. He really liked them!

It was the perfect American holiday. Well, perfect except for Will peeing on my lap during the fireworks show, but I'll take it just the same!

Hope all of you had a great 4th of July!

For more Weekly Winners, visit Sarcastic Mom!

Photo Hunt - Pointed

2008-07-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

Mama gets a hair cut

2008-07-04T21:48:00.000-05:00

If you're new here, check this post for graphics and the rules - they're pretty basic. Doesn't have to be a post you wrote today; just link up using the permalink. Thanks!

That being said, I'm offering a theme for next week - music. Is there a song that meant something to you at one point in your life? A song to which you kissed your first boyfriend? A song that was really popular when you first moved away from home? Write about it - include a YouTube video (or not) - we probably know the words anyway.

So last week I posted this picture

and now looking at it I'm embarrassed.

Ugh.

At the time I actually thought this was a good picture. Wow I'm such a Mom.

But I finally got in to see my beauty operator friend and she fixed my head for me.

What do you think? Better?

Then I geeked out. The hubster was working a double.

You can fix my hair but you can't fix a geek.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, EVERYONE!

If I weren't a Mom, Summerfest would have gone like THIS.

2008-07-03T07:59:00.003-05:00

1) My entire Summerfest visit this year would not have been limited to the hours of noon until two on Monday, free day. Also called Children's Day, I would NOT have tried to fight the crowds composed of every day care in the entire city and their charges.

Looking at it now, this picture doesn't do the crowd justice. It was taken around 12:30 p.m. (30 mins after opening) on a Monday. Yikes.

2) I would have gone to hear a really grand band (or two, or three or 12). I would not have been content with the sounds of Rumbleseat I could hear from the Miller Lite stage while sitting along the Lake scarfing my lunch. I would have gotten tickets for Colbie Callet and John Mayer last night, or Tim McGraw for tonight - or Tom Petty for this upcoming Saturday.

3) I would have had a beer with my corn.

4) The new Harley stage would have had far more people at it when I visited.

You can't really see it in this photo, but there are motorcycles along either side of the stage.

5) I would have been standing on those bleachers, dancing along with the band.

6) I would not have waited 15 minutes for my three-year-old to get an airbrush tattoo of a snake on his leg. (I don't know why we did this period. Seemed fun at the time, I guess.)

7) I would have listened to Finger Eleven* at the Zippo stage and posed for an obnoxious photo afterward with friends in front of the giant Zippo car. But instead I took pictures of my kids next to it.

8) I would not have stopped to pose for a photo with the banana lady. She was just creepy.

Do you see Will's face? He was like, "WHAT THE....?!?"

9) I would have eaten far more than just the BBQ pulled chicken sandwich from the Charcoal Grill.

10) I most likely would have started a random conversation with a stranger about a tattoo. Two years ago, it was the guy who had a large portrait of a young Johnny Cash covering his calf. He was impressed that I knew who it was. Beer played no part in that conversation. At all.

11) Sunburn would probably have been an after affect.

12) And I probably would have shared a turkey leg with my girlfriends as we walked out of the grounds and to our car.

13) Instead, the only souvenirs I took home were these:

Eh, I think I'll keep 'em anyway.

*Sub post: So, last night I went out for pizza with the boys and my Mom and Tom. My mother, who by hipness standards is 187 years old, tells me my youngest brother is going to see Finger Eleven.

"You know, you hear 'em on 99 WMYX."

Now, WMYX is a local station who's target audience is the 40ish set and specializes in soft rock. My 21-year-old brother would not have been going to see something on their stage. So I argue it with her. "Mom - there's no such band as Finger Eleven. I think you're thinking of Matchbox 20 and Mark would not be going to see them."

"Yes there is. Finger Eleven. You know, their song goes like this," and she hums some indistinct melody while swaying crazily back and forth. We're seated in the middle of the dining room and I start to feel like a 12-year-old again. I'm embarrassed by my mother in public.

"Mom, no there's not."

"Yes there is. They're famous." We argue for awhile - I must note that Tom doesn't think they're a band either - and finally she says, "Yes they are. I'm going to find their song on the Internet and send it to you."

Tom and I burst out laughing. My mother has an aversion to anything with buttons. She can't operate her own DVD player. The mere fact that she knows there are songs online impresses me. But she'd never be able to find them, let alone send them to anyone.

She called Mark and left a message - we made a bet of a bottle of wine. Guess I owe her a bottle of Kendall Jackson. Damn it.

The funniest thing? She gets home and has my *other* brother Jeff call my cell. I missed the phone cuz I had stopped at a friends' house to drop something off. The message went something like this:

"Uh hi Colleen. Its Jeff. I have some tickets to Summerfest tonight and Erica [his girlfriend] can't go. I was wondering if you wanted to go see Finger Eleven with me. Call me back and let me know or I'm just going to go by myself cuz I really want to see them."

I called him back and we had a good laugh about it - he didn't think Finger Eleven was a real band either. Neither did the friend who's house I'd stopped at while Jeff was leaving the message. DANG IT!!! If you want to hear one of their (probably their ONLY) famous songs, you can do so here. The one I recognize is called Paralyzer.

WET T-SHIRT CONTEST

2008-07-02T00:01:00.001-05:00

Apparently I won't ever be hired as a FOOD photographer

2008-07-02T00:00:00.001-05:00

The Works for Me Wednesday challenge for today over at Rocks In My Dryer was to share a recipe with five or fewer ingredients.

I thought, well, heck. I can do that.

My favorite cook book - strike that - the ONLY cook book I reference on a regular basis is the Four Ingredient Cook Book by Linda Coffee and Emily Cale. (Heh - you can buy it at my Amazon store here.) This book includes nearly 700 recipes, each of which has only four ingredients in it.

Most nights I don't even pull out the ol' cook book. I'm not all that creative when it comes to cooking. I make a meat, a veggie and a starch. They usually turn out pretty good; they're just not gourmet.

So what right do I have to respond to a cooking challenge? Well, despite my lack of creativity as a chef, I can do one thing well that many people avoid.

Cook fish.

As you know if you've been reading my blog for some time, I am a fisherwoman. Despite the fact that most people know how that fish is good for you, I know many that won't attempt to cook it. In reality its very easy. (Or I wouldn't do it either.)

On Monday night, I made the last of the salmon we had in the freezer. My cooking is so simple, you're getting a bonus. The entire meal in five ingredients or less.

Step 1: First, I sliced up some (1) red potatoes with my mandolin slicer and made a big foil pack. I seasoned them with (2) Rupena's Fish & Poultry seasoning and butter. (I'm not counting the butter as an ingredient cuz it wasn't real butter anyway. Sue me.)

Step 2: I let that cook for 10 or 15 minutes (I had set a timer for 10 but if I remember correctly there was an emergency involving a little brother trying to color on an older brother's sheet of paper.) Then I went to prepare the (3) fish.

Usually, when you catch fish and clean it, you leave skin on one side. (Don't go "eeew gross" like that - it makes you sound like a girl.) This way, if you get stopped on your way home from making your catch, the DNR can look at it and know what kind of fish it is and whether you and your fishing party are complying with rules as far as how many of each kind you can keep.

I mention this for a reason...stay with me here.

I cut the fillet into smaller pieces, then placed them skin-side-down on foil and seasoned the fish with (4) lemon juice and the Rupena's seasoning. If you have real lemons, one or two thin slices will do the trick. Make sure you close up the foil packs real good. The fish foil packs went into the oven next to the potatoes and baked for about 15 minutes. No need to turn them. Stir the potatoes, though, so that they heat through evenly.

Step 3: I took some (5) corn out of the freezer and put it in a microwave-safe bowl with a cover and nuked it.

Step 4: Then I dished it up. You'll notice when you go to scoop the fish out of its foil that the skin sticks and the meat lifts off of it beautifully.

Now here's where the failure as a food photographer comes in.

If I were a food photographing professional, I would have noticed before I plated it up that all the food was yellow-ish in hue. But I'm not. I mean, I could have made green beans for heaven's sake.

Yellow or not, that's it. If *I* can do it, you can do it, too. Trust me - it was good, and very healthy, too!

*I normally cook this sort of thing on the grill, but after getting the food prep done I realized it was raining. Phooey.

**A real "green" person would wash off the tin foil and recycle it. But I don't. Sorry Earth.

The book that nearly kicked my BUTT

2008-07-01T07:40:00.004-05:00

For the past several weeks, I've been faced with an enormous task. Updating the family phone directory.

It might not sound like much, but for an extended family with hundreds of members, its a huge undertaking.

Every few years, the phone directory is updated by little old moi and printed for distribution at our family reunion. The last time we printed the book, in 2005, we boasted that we had (in addition to my Grandma, her five brothers and sisters and their spouses) 62 Third-generation, 98 Fourth-generation and15 Fifth-generation*. We're talkin' twenty 8 1/2 x 11" pages plus cover. This year, I'm not counting.

Over the course of 4-6 weeks, emails have come in to me from all around the state and country with folks' changes to phone numbers and email addresses and notes like, "Hey! So-and-so had a baby! Can we add the little tyke, please?"

Imagine your very worst French accent: But uv course!

I had set up a timeline for myself to have the disc in to the printer yesterday. But being the procrastinator that I am, I was up until midnight last night putting the finishing touches on this year's book. Its really OK; I had originally wanted to pick the books up from the printers' before my vacation starts this Friday, but the reunion isn't until the 12th so I can get someone to pick them up for me while I'm gone if they aren't done by Thursday.

And now, for your bloggie enjoyment, I present to you...drum roll...you are the very first people other than myself to see this cover...

TA DA!

What are you tackling this week? For more inspiration, check out 5 Minutes For Mom.

*I realize there is a first generation missing here. The first time we did a reunion phone book was in 2001 when we timed the reunion to coincide with my Great-grandma's (1st gen.) 100th birthday. One of the pages in the book includes a snap-shot of the family tree with the first two generations on it, then a count of the 3rd - 5th. Though like I said, this year I'm not including those counts. There are a lot.

Baby-sitter: $30. Gag gifts: $25. Drinking too much with old friends: PRICELESS.

2008-06-30T08:19:00.004-05:00

First - I must post my winner from last week's gas card giveaway. Somehow my post announcing the winner on Friday night was saved as a draft and not published, so I apologize! Drum roll, please...SUZIE from Up the Hill Backwards! My dear - email me your address and I'll make sure the place I buy the gift card from is in your area.

Now, on to our regularly scheduled "Moment for Me Monday."

This week's post includes no pictures since I was too ~~drunk~~ busy reminiscing with friends to take them. Forgive me - but it doesn't much matter as they would have been funny to me and not so much anyone else who reads my blog anyway.

We took the family to visit good friends in Green Bay and got a sitter for Saturday night. We almost didn't go - gas is expensive (duh) and well, we were invited to no less than FOUR different parties for various friends and family members for the same day.

But now that we all have kids, we don't get to see this group of people all that often. So it took quite a bit of juggling - but it was sooooo worth it.

We may all have more crow's feet than we used to, and more kids, but when we get together we might as well all be 22 again. Somehow, when you're with good friends you revert back to the true "you" - not the you-who-has-kids-and-can-successfully-juggle-potty-training-and-a-dinner-party, but the you who swigs beer and laughs so hard you nearly pee your pants over something so stupid as a fart joke. (Or a picture of a grown man's poop - not that we really did that.) The you who goes to Spencer's Gifts to buy the birthday boy a mohawk drink hat and thinks its the funniest thing you've ever seen.

Yes, admittedly, we headed home much earlier than we might ever have in the past, but we still went. And I can't wait for the "Hair Bash" in August.

Weekly Winners - June 22 - 28, 2008

2008-06-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

He's so proud that he's eating that push-up in his big boy chair all by himself!

There aren't many of these moments left...*sniff*

A kiss for the Mama

How do you keep two boys busy for 20 minutes? Give 'em a bucket of water, of course!

For more Weekly Winners, visit Sarcastic Mom!

Photo Hunt: Bright

2008-06-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

Check out other Photo Hunt participants.

I hope to stay off the "don't" list

2008-06-27T00:01:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been lovin' Mrs. Fussypants's Fight the Frump posts. I've shared before my issues with fashion.

Let's review some of the basic style rules I've learned over the years. Shall we?

1) Always wear a shirt.

2) Always wear pants.

3) Don't run around in your training pants with your Daddy's shoes on and who-knows-what on your head. Not stylish.

4) If your Aunt asks you to be in her wedding, tell her only ruffles on the hem of dresses is cool.

The style rules I've learned have gotten more sophisticated over the years.

Not to shabby for a workin' Mom, hey?

Did you write a Flashback post this week? Link up! Any kind'll do. Come back and play again next week - no theme! Review rules & get graphics here.

Random Rambles

2008-06-26T08:22:00.003-05:00

Have you entered my gas card giveaway yet?

Anyone else see Baby Borrowers last night? Damn. Tell me I was never that stupid. (I was, but not about babies. We had a few in our house and I baby sat for a lot more.) Just freaking ASTOUNDING how spoiled those kids are!

Summerfest starts today. Boy does it SCREW UP parking here at work but I'm giggling like a madwoman, rubbing my hands together thinking about all the good people watchin' I'll be doin'.

Enter day three of the great laundry moratorium at our house. What we thought was a slow-draining washtub has turned into a much larger project that involves smashing up said 1,000-year-old concrete washtub in order to haul pieces out of the basement and replacing it with a new plastic one. Trouble *now* is that hubby forgot one teensie weensie little part and when he went to get it last night the hardware store was closed. Damn.

One week till my next vacation! WHOOT WHOOT!

Do you hate it when people say "WHOOT WHOOT" or type OMG? I do. I mostly write it tongue-in-cheek style and laugh silently in my mind. The way I do when I say SWEEEET. (Hubby gets the joke...that's all that matters, right?) Problem with this? The 3-yr-old says things are "FWEEET." We're workin' on it.

How many more social networking sites can they possibly come up with? I have a MySpace page, a Facebook page, I twitter, I stumble upon...but I can't quite get into plurk. People say its simple and addictive but I just don't get it. Maybe I'm slow. Maybe its my body's way of defending me from yet another time suck.

My one-year-old gives the best hugs! Yesterday I got home from work and he was so happy to see me he started calling "Mama! Mama!" in a really cute sing-song while bouncing up and down. I came into the room and his little chubby arms went up to me. When I picked him up he gave me the biggest squeeze, then a baby-style open-mouth kiss (lots of drool involved). Then he promptly twisted his body around and just about flung himself on the floor. Ah...to have a 20 second attention span again.

Hubby sold the Suburban yesterday. For awhile there we had three gas sucking SUVs. The two we are left with are much smaller and gas-efficient. We were sort of afraid that no one would buy the thing, with gas prices the way they are, but Hubster put it up on Craig's list and parked it on a semi-busy street and it was gone in two days. That calls for a "WHOOT WHOOT".

My new guilty favorite summer treat? Mountain Dew slushies from Speedway. MMMMMM....you can get a 44 oz. one for 79¢. SWEEET...and cold.

I found this one on CNN.com a few weeks back. Its the brightest spots on Earth at night. Its really cool. From there, you can read a story by astronaut Ed Lu that includes images he took from a module on the International Space Station.

If someone hands something to me I'll take it. Doesn't matter what it is. It's a weird sickness.

Will is going through a stage where he WILL NOT go into his car seat without a fight. The other day, he was twisting his body into shapes I didn't know the human form could take, while screaming his head off as though I was sawing off his right leg. Nick says to him: "William. Momma always wins. Every time." HA!

Wordless #17

2008-06-25T00:03:00.000-05:00

Playing along...

2008-06-24T23:44:00.004-05:00

OK, one more. Gail tagged me for the photo mosaic meme, and its just cool. Check it out!

1. Colleen, she is soo sweet., 2. Baby Shrimp Scampi, 3. Homecoming 1992, 4. wham:a different corner, 5. Pierce Brosnan, 6. likker, 7. Colosseum, Revisited, 8. ice cream cake, 9. Day 106 - I am a librarian, 10. Joy of life, 11. yawn, 12. Me

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

THE QUESTIONS:

1. What is your first name? Colleen

2. What is your favorite food? right now? Italian pasta with shrimp

3. What high school did you go to? West Allis Central High School (Believe it or not I found my own photo!)

4. What is your favorite color? blue

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Pierce Brosnan (Ok, I never remember actors names – we’re just going with James Bond on this one!)

6. What is your favorite drink? Cherry coke

7. What is your dream vacation? Rome

8. What is your favorite dessert? Ice cream cake

9. What did you want to be when you grow up? writer

10. What do you love most in life? My family

11. What is one word that describes you? tired

12. What is your flickr name? colleenv218

I'm tagging anyone else who thinks this looks fun! Just link back to me so I know you're playing along!

GIVEAWAY & Bloggie housekeeping

2008-06-24T21:44:00.005-05:00

Lately I have gotten a few awards, won a few prizes and been tagged for a few memes and just been too busy to reply like a good bloggie friend. So here goes - if you can stick with me through it all I'm listing my giveaway at the end, and its a goodie!

Ahem.

First: Melissa at They Are My Everything awarded me a Share the Love award. It was created by Memoirs Of A Mommy to honor the donor who saved her son Noah's life with a heart transplant. Her hopes are that in passing this award, we are creating more awareness of the importance of organ donation. So, now it is my turn to pass on the award and Share The Love and spread the word about Organ Donation. Thanks Melissa! I would like to pass it on to the following:

Marni at Marni's Organized Mess - 'cuz she kicks my BUTT at tackles every week and has a great list of songs playing on her blog. Go check her out and TRY not to open the page just to hear her tunes.

Laura at Lovely Lalo - 'cuz she deserves another award!

Melissa at The Suburban Scrawl - she's an AMAZING parent.

Penelope Ann at The Cafe at the End of the Universe - she's recovering from surgery and needs some love.

Kelly at Mom of the Year - she's a new blogger but she has a hot hubby so I don't feel so bad that at 8 mo. pregnant her toes "look like lightbulbs". (Her words, not mine.) :O)

But seriously, go read the original post from the award's creator. And try not to get teary. Good luck.

Next: An award from Laura over at Lovely Lalo.

THE RULES:
1. Chose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.
4. The award winner and one who has given the prize has to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. Show these rules.

THE WINNERS:
Suzie at Up the Hill Backwards - I love her sense of humor as she balances a working life with two kids, a hubby...wow...is she the NY contingent of ME?

Tammy at My Life - she started the Moments for Me Monday meme that gives me another reason to be good to myself once a week. I ♥ her for that!

Lisa at Confessions of an Apron Queen - she has a great way of sharing a recipe AND a story with great pictures to boot. She's also shared a good deal of pics of her hubby in a grass skirt and his trademark cowboy boots. Guess he lost a bet or something.

Dawn at My Thoughts Exactly - her weekly guffaws always make me laugh. Think funny emails from your friends without having to dig through them for the good ones.

Gail at Squared Off - she was one of my first blog visitors and gave me my first blog award. She takes some great pictures while taking her beautiful dogs for a walk over there in the UK. Oh, and I'm jealous of her Wii Fit.

And last but not least: Melissa at They Are My Everything did a pay it forward contest last week and I won a cute little boo boo bunny. So I am giving away

a $25 gas gift card!!!

Leave a comment - contest ends at 10 p.m. Central this Friday night, June 27. The only "catch" is that you have to hold a contest of your own.

There - I think that's it!

Thanks again to all my bloggie friends...now I'm finally off to bed!

Let's take a look at that ol' list...

2008-06-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

So last week I talked about my need to get more organized with lists. This week's big project from that master list? I moved all the ~~toys~~ furniture in the boys' room and vacuumed those corners that don't get ~~love~~ cleaned ~~ever~~ on a regular basis.

The problem with projects like this? They make my boys instantly interested in whatever it is that I'm doing.

It didn't matter that I put Cars in the DVD player. Usually that's my ticket to at least eight minutes of freedom. Sippy cups full of chocolate milk? Should have bought me another three.

So I started my cleaning adventure (cuz that's when it ended up being) by picking up all the toys and putting them away. Cue Nick in the doorway.

"Mom. William pinched me."

"So go sit on the other couch."

"But he needs a time out."

"Honey, he's 16 months old. He's too little for time outs. If you move to the other couch and he goes over there to pinch you again, then let me know."

Toys picked up. I slide Nick's bed away from the wall. Cue crying.

I turn around and walk the 12 feet into the living room.

"What's going on?"

"He pinched me again and I pushed him."

"Did you sit on the other couch like I told you to?"

"No."

"Then go take a time out for hurting your brother and not listening to Mama."

I soothe Will and give him a book. This gives me another three minutes -- just enough time to pick up the 14 stray socks, 5 matchbox cars, 3 Lego's and various balls and broken toys that were hiding under the bed -- and turn on the vacuum cleaner, only to hear: "MOM!"

I turn it off. "WHAT?!?"

"Can I come out of time out now?"

"Yes. Now go sit over there," pointing to couch away from where Will is sitting, pulling all of the wipes out of the box, "and leave your brother alone."

Kids restored to original starting positions. Wipes put back into container. I go back and vacuum a strip the size of my son's toddler bed, then turn the vacuum off again. Hey - their room is small...there's only so much you can do before you have to move furniture again.

I push Nick's bed back to where it was and start to put clean sheets on it when I realize its a bit too quiet. I slowly turn around. No kids to be seen.

Now, the gate is up, restricting them to the living room only. What the heck?!?

"Nick? Will?" I hear giggling. They're sitting in their closet, which is the second place I look, knowing they've hidden there before. They must have sneaked past me in the 14.5 seconds I was vacuuming. Fine. Whatever floats your boat, children. Play in the closet, I don't care.

So I put sheets on the bed, vacuum the rest of the room and begin to pull Will's crib away from the wall. I hear crying from within the closet. Turns out they were fighting over who's turn it is to sit in the chair that's (for some reason or another) in the closet. Instead of explaining to my three-year-old that you can't reason with a toddler, I quickly realize what an exercise in futility that would be, and just tell them to go back to their movie.

Crib moved, totes that reside under the crib stacked on other son's bed, cue crying.

"MOM!"

"Oh my God, WHAT?"

I see that Will is red in the face he's crying so hard. He's been hurt.

"What did you do?!?"

Nick looks at the floor, knowing he's in trouble. "I jumped on him."

"YOU WHAT?!? WHERE?" I immediately pick him up and move his arms and legs and look for bumps. I begin to imagine internal bleeding. What is it you're supposed to do again? Don't let them go to sleep? Make them throw up? Then I have a moment of clarity, realizing that there is only a 5 lb. difference between my boys. The little ruffian can probably hold his own pretty well.

I ask Nick again, who's murmured an answer to my question in a language FAR other than English. "Where did you land on him?"

He waves his little hand in a big flourish. "I land on his whole body."

Oh.My.God. Don't laugh. Whatever you do, send that child away before he sees you fighting that smile.

"Go take a time out in your bed." He walks away - Will's tears have already begun to subside by this point, so I know it isn't as major as it originally seemed. I start to shake my head, realizing how dumb I was to try and clean something major while I was outnumbered.

I put Will down to go pick up my "cleaning" in the boys' room - I'll work on it another day - and laugh out loud.

There is my lovely three-year-old, lying in his bed, just like I told him to.

Squeezed into a 3" wide space, next to all the totes I'd stacked so I could vacuum.

Perspective

2008-06-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

Last week, I posted about a particularly hectic day at work.

For those of you who asked, that's NOT a normal day for me. I used to take the train to Chicago once a week, then I had my first son and it became once a month, now I have two sons and its maybe once every other month. My normal commute takes approximately 12 minutes. No traffic. No freeways. I'm lucky. I know it. And some days I can work from home.

But every time I realize the need to spend a day in Chi-town, I sigh and my shoulders slump and my upper lip does that Elvis thing - "Eh."

But a comment from Tammy made me stop and think about it:

It didn't make me tired...it just put a smile on my face!

I'm imagining a day full of train rides, Chicago, and hot dogs in the park.

You rock!

I almost sent her an email back, griping about picnics in the park and how they sound really good but when you figure in the prep time, the set up, the keeping two small kids from falling off the picnic table, the chasing of napkins that are blowing away, the spills, the "MOM! I dropped my hot dog in the DIRT!"...well...its easy to throw your hands up, toss the dinner in the trash and throw your hands up and just shout, "FORGET IT, JUST GO PLAY!!!"

Not that I did that or anything. But if I had, it wouldn't be as bad as if I had brushed the dirt off of said hot dog and told said child to "just eat it". Cuz that would just be wrong.

But then I realized - yeah. That day DID rock. In so many ways.

Know what? I have a good job. A job that almost sounds GLAMOROUS to my some of my friends. I have friends that ASK ME about what I do. Cuz they want to know. (The reality? Its pretty boring. But we do have occasional run ins with racing wieners. So I've got THAT going for me.)

And doesn't it somewhat sound like a movie to be "taking the train in" every ~~day~~ once in awhile?

But my kids? Could they *BE* any cuter? (Chandler Bing reference intended.) And they're GOOD KIDS. I haven't goofed them up yet. I mean...look at the great pictures I took that day! (Click to see the entire set, or click on each pic to see it larger.)

They didn't care that dinner wasn't perfect, or that we had to stop in the middle of eating it, pack everything up to take Nick to the bathroom (that was absoLUTEly disgusting). They were happy as clams, because Mama took them to the park. And they ran their silly little heads off, and were good enough to pose the ~~1,387~~ times that I asked them to.

So why did it take me days to finally get to the point where I realized all of this?

I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately, and I've realized something:

The ONLY thing I ever knew with any certainty in my entire life was that I wanted to be a Mom. The only thing. Shouldn't I be spending the most of my time doing that thing?!?

I took six years to finish college because I kept bouncing around, changing my major. I realized a long time ago I wasn't one of those people with a dream job - there are lots of things I could enjoy doing well enough. So long as it pays well enough, heck - I'm in!

But since I've become a Mom, I've tried to be Super Mom...I've tried to balance the career and the home and the kids and the hubby. And you know what?

I can't do it.

I'm sure some people can, but not me. You know something, though?
I think I'm fine with that.

For the first time in my life (yes, I'm slow...I know) I've come to realize that following your dreams doesn't necessarily mean advancing your career or taking a globe-spanning trip.

And this is scary for me...because I was poor for so long growing up that I'm afraid that if I don't work full time we won't be able to make ends meet. Yet I know that's silly.

But I think the solution lies in working less. And I have every intention of doing what I need to now to make that happen. Whatever the outcome...whether I find in three months' time that I need to go back to working more hours or that I was silly to have waited so long...I think its finally time to make a change.

Otherwise I could breeze through hundreds of more days like the one I mention above and miss everything.

Weekly Winners - June 15 - 21, 2008

2008-06-21T00:01:00.004-05:00

MMMMM...

Little cuties

Nick & the big tree
Greenfield Park

Will flirting with girls

Will & the gnarly tree
("LEAVES!!!")

Sunset in the park

For more weekly winners, check out Sarcastic Mom's!

Photo Hunt: Water

2008-06-21T00:01:00.003-05:00

Taken May of '08 - Lake Kitschi, MN

Check out more Photo Hunt participants.

The worst stripper ever

2008-06-20T00:01:00.002-05:00

Tammy wrote a post a few weeks back about an experience with a stripper that reminded me of one of my own. Now, I don't say this to appear prudish, but strippers just aren't really my thing. I mean good looking muscular men = good, same good looking muscular men slimed up with oil nearly naked rubbing themselves on every woman in the room for money = eeew.

But I've been at more than one bachelorette party where said slimy naked man was also invited.

A good friend of mine was married in the fall of 2002 and her sister, who was nineteen at the time, planned her bachelorette party. Now, the fact that she was nineteen was only part of the problem - I mean, there are probably very few women in this world that are "stripper experts", right? (Lets hope so.) Anywhoo...she first was unsure of the idea, so she called to reserve the guy (would that be the right word - "reserve"?) a week and a half before the party. And with that sort of notice, the only time he was available was at 6:30 p.m.

Yeah. Big fun.

So, while it was still daylight, we headed to the Bride's Sister's apartment. Someone mentioned that maybe we'd have more fun if we had a few drinks. Only, like I've already said, Bride's Sister was only 19 and didn't have any liquor.

Except one bottle of vodka.

And there was nothing to mix it with.

Someone started to do shots.

I politely said, "No thanks."

Now, I know what it cost just to get the guy to come through the door. Bride's Sister had asked each of us girls in the wedding party to chip in to cover the cost and like a good friend I did. I mean, that's what the Bride had wanted, right? I don't remember specifics now, but I think I pitched in around $40.

So, Sir Stripper gets there with his Boom Box Attendant Man and goes into the bathroom to change. Boom Box Attendant Man (BBAM) tells us to find a chair for the Bride to sit on and we put it in the middle of the room for her.

Now I must tell you, Sir Stripper is about 5'2". Bride is about 5'8" and there are many "tall-ies" in the room, so this clearly wasn't the man Bride's Sister originally ordered. But we decide it doesn't matter. He tells us his name is "Sugar Shane" (I'm not making this up) which sort of makes the whole situation more laughable. But I digress.

By this point, Bride is on the downward side of drunk. She's worked her way up to drunk and has kept drinking, over the precipice of the hill and is on the other side. She is whooping and hollering and yelling things like, "BRING IT ON!!!"

Now, again, Bride's Sister - like almost all of us have been at some point in our lives, let's not judge - was in the "whatever cheap furniture I can find and afford" stage. So the chair we found for the Bride was one of those that didn't have four legs, but sort of looked like a "C" from the side. (See highly artistic depiction of said chair. I don't know what those things are officially called, so I couldn't find it via a Google search. Instead I drew my own.)

BBAM begins to play something like "Pour some sugar on me" and Sir Stripper emerges, writhing and thrusting and the crowd of women start doing that "WHOOOOOO!" thing, waving their arms above their heads like women do when they're drunk and see a stripper. Another good friend and I stand near the back, completely enjoying the humor of the entire spectacle.

Sir Stripper gyrates in front of the Bride, removing clothing until he gets down to the leather g-string he's wearing under whatever the heck costume he originally had on and he's slimy and sweaty, then walks around the circle of chickies, taking random peoples' hands and rubbing them up and down his chest. Gag me.

Then he goes back to face the Bride. He gives her a wry smile, as if to say, "Hmmm...does this smile make you wonder what I'm up to next?" then whirls around, his back to her, and squats down on the floor. In one swift movement, he does a sort of donkey kick, and (the Bride ducking) does a hand stand, then rests his legs on the Bride's shoulders. What a view.

Only a few seconds later, there's a shriek from the Bride and they crumble into a pile on the floor.

ACK! - Gasp! - clutches for invisible pearls - "OH MY GOSH!" - and finally someone rushes in to see if they're OK. Sir Stripper is still laying on top of Bride, and he struggles to get up. Bride's face is red and we're horrified until we see she's laughing.

The chair Bride was sitting on had collapsed; the "C" was now more like a "V" (but sideways - I'm not drawing another picture, you'll just have to close your eyes and imagine it). Sir Stripper apologizes and we laugh, and he goes on with the rest of his routine.

This entire time, money is flying about as if it will start our pocketbooks on fire if it is not spent. When all is said and done, the time is about 7:30 and we're nearly broke and ready for dinner. Sir Stripper goes into the bathroom to change.

A few minutes later, he emerges, looking MUCH better with his clothes on, thank you, and crosses the room to the front door while telling us where he'll be "dancing" later and that we should come and see him.

Before heading out he turns to us, our money making a~~nother~~ bulge in his pocket and says, "Can anyone bum a smoke?"

Join me every Friday for Flashback Fridays. Review the rules here.

Thirteen hours - and whadda ya get?

2008-06-19T00:01:00.001-05:00

Not your typical day, but a brief glimpse of my day this past Tuesday.

5 a.m.
Alarm goes off. Too.Tired. Must.Get.Up. I smell coffee and I'm up and running for the day. Or am I? Do.Not.Hit.Snooze. I.Repeat...too late.

6 a.m.
I'm standing in a line at Milwaukee's Intermodal station, sipping coffee and balancing my laptop bag on my shoulder, waiting for the line to start moving to board the train. There's a guy trying to bum $17 to buy a ticket to Chicago. I feel bad for him but don't offer to help.

7 a.m.
On the train reading when guilt seeps into my mind. Maybe I should have just bought the guy a ticket. Who cares why he wanted it?

8 a.m.
Walking through Union Station, hoping I don't have to wait too long to get a cab. I get one right away - #3763. A man of unidentified African origin is my driver and I tell him where I want to go. I notice a sign letting me know of a $1 gas surcharge imposed by the city. *sigh*

9 a.m.
Conference call of non-epic proportions.

10 a.m.
Chit chat with co-workers I hardly ever see. Amuse them with stories proving how cute my kids are.

11 a.m.
Second meeting of the day ends. Gripe to boss about co-workers. We share a laugh at their expense.

Noon
Off to a user group meeting. Hope they're serving something good for lunch that's easy to eat while chatting with people I don't know. I remember the lunch meeting I went to that served TACOS. Bad.

1:00 p.m.
I'm sitting in a chair in a conference room of another law firm, balancing my lunch in its box on my lap. Note to self: If I ever organize a user group meeting to be held at our firm, 1) make sure there are tables on which to eat and B) no tacos. Check.

2:00 p.m.
Meeting went well and was attended by representatives from the software company from London. They make me want to say "Cheerio!" I learn that Brits (at least these Brits) like to end emails to each other with "Ta!" A few minutes later I'm walking through the Chicago sunshine, watching the tourist boats cruise through the teal green water. (Unnaturally so because the Chicagoans dye it green each year for St. Patty's Day.) Thinking its a beautiful day - too bad I have to head back to the office!

3:00 p.m.
I catch a cab from outside the office driven by one Wahabi Afolabi, cab #5143. (How could I make up a name like that? Note to self: Wahabi Afolabi is a good name for a minor character in that future novel of mine. Second note to self: Start writing novel.) I make it back to Union Station with just enough time to hear my train's boarding call. I'm thankful to not have to sit in the plastic, chained-together seats watching FOX News, which is blaring at a deafening level on a TV suspended from the ceiling. Its trying to compete with the volume of the overhead departure announcements and losing. I pass an Amish man and think it strange to find him in the middle of such urban chaos.

4:00 p.m.
My seat is facing backward, but feel pride in the fact that I've been successfully able to remember which side of the train will be in full sunshine on each leg of my journey so as to avoid a trip in the heat. Something smells like saukraut and I'm hoping its not the elderly people sitting behind me.

5:00 p.m.
Train arrives back in Milwaukee on time and I head home to take the sitter home and pick up something quick for dinner for me and the kiddos. Its beautiful - sunny and warm but not hot. Thinking that hot dogs in the park sound good. I drive with the windows wide open, my hair blowing wildly and am happy to be home.

So...that's me in a nutshell on an atypical Tuesday. Does reading about it make you tired? Me too.

Wordless #16

2008-06-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm the list, I'm the list, I'm the list...*

2008-06-17T00:01:00.002-05:00

I used to be such a list maker.

I don't know why I ever stopped. Making lists gave me some sense of control over my life, and a way to measure that things were getting accomplished.

Did I just become too busy to make lists? When Will was very little and I'd get up in the middle of the night to feed him, I often times couldn't fall back asleep without writing all my "to dos" down on a sheet of paper.

But some time during this past year, with Jay in school full time and both of us working full time (opposite shifts, I may add for new readers) I stopped making lists -- it very well could be due to the fact that so little was getting crossed off them that the prospect of looking at so long a list was overwhelming.

Well, I started to jot things down again, and my list is getting longer and longer. So what I decided to do instead was to keep a "master list" of all the bigger home projects (as if we'd forget this stuff!) but tuck it away to visit periodically. For daily stuff, I'm going to keep shorter lists -- of "to dos" that can be accomplished in a single day. I'll take items off of the bigger list and put them on my daily list as I can, and my thinking is that eventually I'll see some progress!

The above is the list I made Monday morning at work.** I'm happy to say that most of these items are done. (Making the hair cut appointment had to wait until today; the salon is closed on Mondays. I should have known!) In addition, I got to Target to pick up the additional totes I needed to put the rest of our winter clothes away. (Turns out there were some items in the wash that I've discovered over the past few days!)

My ultimate goal is to get to at least one of the larger projects each week. This past Friday night, before heading out of town for the weekend I put the gate up in the doorway of the boys' room and washed the living room area rug. It needed it BAD! (See how pretty it is now? I can't believe my poor kids were playing on that thing! You should have seen the water I dumped out of the carpet cleaner! Twice!)

So...today's list will be shorter because I'm off to Chicago to work for the day. But with any luck when I get home later I'll have enough energy left to play with the kids!

*To the tune of the world-famous "I'm the Map!" from Dora the Explorer. 100 points if you got that reference without me telling you and you are now singing the tune in your head. Sorry.

**In case you've never heard of threading, its an ancient middle eastern hair removal technique. (Check it out on YouTube.) Since I break out INSANELY from waxing, this is for me!

Priceless...

2008-06-16T13:05:00.007-05:00

I'm writing this post quite a bit later in the day than I usually do, solely because I'M TIRED.

We had a wonderful weekend - finally beautiful weather and NO RAIN! Jay had the weekend off and had scheduled, for the 2nd Father's Day in a row, to head out on a fishing charter on Lake Michigan.

The chartered trip, which costs around $110/person, was also his gift last year. In 2007 he brought home enough salmon (each of which were the size of my friend's three-year-old) to last an entire year. Only we got the sad news this year (can you hear me boo-hoo-hooing? ya, real sad) on Saturday afternoon that the boat's engine went out and they needed to get a part to fix it that won't be in until this Wednesday. They had a back-up boat they could offer, but given the crazy weather and rain we've been getting in this area, the fish weren't biting all too well anyway.

So the guys decided to forgo it, but the weekend was far from a waste! The same two cute blondies pictured with that monster fish are our friends' girls, and both have June birthdays. So Saturday afternoon they had a great big joint birthday party for them and we all had an awesome time. (Nick especially loved their "jumpoline".) The "call to cancel" the trip came during the party, and the decision was made to instead spend Sunday afternoon at our friends' Dad's house, on a private lake in Suamico.

Boo hoo hoo - do you hear me crying again? Cuz the weather was in the 80s, just a few fluffy clouds in the sky and we were with friends playing in the sand, watching the kids swim. Good times, good times...

We got home late last night with two kids who were running on fumes. They got put in jammies, sand and all, and finally made it to bed around 10 p.m. (And I don't feel guilty about that at all - that's what summer's all about some days!

Tonight I have to work on the rest of unpacking, but I guess its these kinds of messes I look forward to. Nick is only three and a half, but soon these types of weekends will stick with him as he grows up. He'll remember these outings with our friends and family - the weekends when he ate more candy than he usually gets in a week and he got to skip his nap and got to jump on the jumpoline until his little legs were exhausted.

Building memories...I love it!