Bumper Stickers That Annoy Me

The bumper sticker below is officially annoying. Someone at my son's school has this on the back of his Toyota Rav 4 and without fail, I always end up behind him in car line. I mean seriously, do you think this man put this on his car or is it safe to say his wife bought it and "surprised" him with it and one day he walks to his car and it's there?

"Surprise, honey!"

Even if he was out somewhere and found this bumper sticker and just had to have it, I always end up wondering about this man and the wife that he loves so much.

Now, I'm not hating on this man, or his wife. In fact, last year Mr. Jonesie ordered a personalized license plate with my name and the year we met on the front of his car. Needless to say, the plate is now in the garage.

This bumper sticker is officially annoying though. It's the gag me with a spoon type of annoying. Kind of like when people feel the need to engage in P.D.A. in front of others.

One word-- annoying!

The Story of the Starbucks Gift Card

During the holidays I won a $5 Starbucks gift card from Tippy Toes and Tantrums as part of the Yahoo! Kindness Project, or Yahoo! For Good. (Check out all the awesome things she did here.) Anyway, I received the card and tucked it away in my wallet for safekeeping. My original plan was to leave it in the mailbox for our mailman since we'd been experiencing some pretty crappy weather and I thought the prospect of a warm latte might brighten his spirits. Of course, given The Mommy Brain, I completely forgot about it and ended up buying him a Target gift card to go along with our baked goods for his holiday gift.

Then, when I went to New York to see MARTHA, I intended to leave it behind in my friend's husband's car since he was so kind as to pick me up from the subway late at night to bring me back to their place to crash since my friend was (is) very preggars and too sick to drive to get me. He is also a coffee addict. I think we were so busy talking about the baby, parking in NY and their crazy life as medical residents that I came and went without leaving the giftcard behind. Sigh.

Fast forward to yesterday when my friend and I ran across the street from our Junior League meeting to grab a hot drink amidst the latest snowstorm. I was gonna whip out my card and treat her to a cup of coffee, when she beat me to it and whipped out a gift card of her own and paid with it.

I thought to myself: "I'm never gonna treat someone with this doggone card!"

And so, on my way home from the meeting, Hubby called to tell me that my sister was stranded in the Target parking lot because her car wouldn't start. I headed up that way to see what I could do. [As an aside, I asked him: "What am I gonna do to help her?" and he said "Go into Target and buy jumper cables." To which I replied: "And then what???"] I arrived and we strategized about our next move. To our delight we saw a snow removal truck in the parking lot. My sister jumped out and asked him if he could give her a jump. The guy was so kind as to oblige. After we got her VW Bug up and running, he was about to get back into his truck. I screamed "WAIT!" and ran to my car and dug out the Starbucks gift card and ran back to give it to him in thanks. He was quite happy and honked as he plowed off.

At last! I was able to put the card to good use. I suppose the card was waiting for the right person for me to give it to.

The End.

An adult hit

So I got hit on yesterday! It's been a long time since I've been hit on and this was a pretty direct hit. First, allow me to indulge in the flattery for a moment. After being married for a few years and after being with the same gentleman for about 10 years, it's a confidence booster to know that there are men out there that still find you attractive. So, yes....in a sorta kinda shameless way, I liked it.

Now onto the hit... it came from out of nowhere. I was having a conversation with someone who visits our office quite often and is considered a friend of the office. He is a single gentlemen who likes to have a good time with multiple women, So, he asked me, as he always does, to set him up with some of my single friends, to which I replied "I have none." Thinking that was the end of the conversation I went about my business and then he continued to remark that if I didn't find him someone he was going to rely on me to fill the role [insert a sly smile here]. A pretty cheesy hit, but I think a hit no less.

I must admit that I was a bit confused and scared for about 25 seconds because this was the sort of thing that I was so accustomed seeing on soap operas and I wondered whether this was an adult thing that I wasn't prepared for. You know, as a child looking at soap operas with my grandmother, there was always "adult" stuff that I didn't understand. The sort of things that only adults would do - sex in the office or smack in the middle of the day, cross relationships among the same group of people, crazy pick-ups like this one. Can you imagine this setting on a soap opera (Y&R, for instance)? That scene would end up with the two parties in a very compromising position, right. So, having never been hit on in such an adult way, I thought for a second, OMG....I might actually not be ready for these adult situations and what should I say, how should I react?

I laughed! Yup, I laughed out loud until I howled. It was my instinctual reaction because I really wondered whether he had lost his mind. I don't know whether that was the adult thing to do, but it just came out. Oh well ... maybe I'm not ready to cross into the adult world of soap opera life quite yet. Funny though!

Raise Your Hand If...

(Excuse me for just one second while I rant and rave and try to get some comic relief out of it.)

Raise your hand if:

1) You wake up almost every morning dead tired mad at yourself and wondering why the h*ll you stayed up so.late.again. only to go to bed even later that same night.

2) You really want a dog, your kids all want a dog, you had a dog before and the family did perfectly fine with him but one day, shortly after you had a baby and your mind wasn't really in the right place, you let your husband talk you into letting the dog go live with your parents "just until the baby got a little older" but when she did get older, your husband refused to allow the dog to come back and the dog has since gotten so use to living in his "temporary" housing, five years later, that he doesn't mesh well with the family anymore. And you and the kids have already found the replacement dog about five or six times yet your husband refuses to let the family have a dog. Even though he's the only one that doesn't want one. And he's outvoted 4 to 1.

3) You work about six or eight jobs with only one that pays the bills.

4) You sometimes wonder if you are the only person in the house that knows where the extra toilet paper is kept.

5) You can't help but wonder if it would be easier to just cut all but an inch or two of your hair and call it a day.

6) You go to the gym but don't lose weight.

7) You eat french fries even though you spent 1.5 hours sweating the hair out that you just spent 3 hours at the salon doing.

8) You want to trade your mommy car in for a two door BMW with no back seat.

9) You will never drive a minivan but you will drive a car big enough to fit a minivan in because those are the only cars that offer all the same bells and whistles that a minivan does.

10) You really should be working instead of blogging right now or reading other blogs.

11) You wonder why you seem to be the only one who understands the homework situation in your house.

12) You don't have a nice watch but your husband does and you're at least 32 years old and should have at least one nice one by now. (Fergie, we know you're hand is up for this one).

13) You always have several loads of clean laundry around the house that seem to never get folded and put away but instead, serve as the source of clothes that end up being used throughout the week. (Hey, it's much easier to keep everyone's clothes in one crumpled pile in a basket than to fold and put away all those clothes away, right?)

14) You drink wine with dinner because you need it to make it through homework and bathtime.
HAPPY HUMP DAY EVERYONE!

Random thoughts - Three things

If you came to my house right now there will be three things that I can promise you'll find: (1) trash can with a stinky pull-up; (2) a bag of washed but unfolded clothes; and (3) a bag of toys stashed somewhere.

(1) When princess stopped wearing diapers I had a hallelujah moment and took the diaper champ (which I loved for a hot second) out to the trash. Big mistake! I forgot that we were moving to pull ups at night and didn't think that they would be so stinky. So everyday there is an exposed pull-up in a trash can in the house.

(2) Laundry has taken over my life. By the time I actually finish washing all the clothes and moving them from the basement up to the bedroom, there's not only another bag of laundry ready to go, but there is usually still another gigantic bag of clean laundry to fold. I can't keep up!

(3) Princess is a hoarder so she collects randomly matched toys in anything that she can call a bag and you can be assured that there is a bag of toys stashed somewhere in my house right now.

Respecting the Nap

Remember Mamalaw # 7 - Respect the Nap. Well, this is exactly what I did yesterday: Respected the Nap. For about one hour I sat in the car in the parking lot at an outlet mall waiting for princess to wake up. Oh....the importance of that nap! I will admit though that the time I spent waiting does not compare to the value of a well rested and happy toddler. I was actually able to spend a couple hours shopping. Happy Memorial Day!

A random club observation

I celebrated my 35th birthday yesterday - yeah! The day was jammed packed with activities because hubby did a really good job of making sure that I was happy.

I feel compelled, however, to make an observation about what I saw at the club last night - and yes, I said club (you see my mommy came for a surprise visit for my birthday so I got to see my mom, mom and princess played all day and hubby and I went out on the town ... just the two of us).

So, we were the very first people in the club (and I attribute it mostly to the fact that we were just about the oldest people there). Being the first there gave us our choice of where to sit/stand, so we got a great little spot near the bar and we spent the entire night there.

I saw very attractive and mostly fly young ladies, dressed to nine coming in BUT the guys were just okay looking and okay dressed. I think the best looking guy in the place was hubby (and I'm not being partial)! Really, the guys were not good looking and they all looked like they had just rolled out of bed and came to the club.

What I found interesting as I watched the flirtation throughout the night was that every single girl in the club was extremely self-conscious. I saw each and every one (white, black, latina) fixing, and primming, and adjusting, and re-arranging constantly throughout the night. I saw the multiple trips to the bathroom to reapply lipstick and fix hair. All the while, the guys were just laying back. The women strove to perfect their looks while the guys just didn't care much about theirs. I wanted to scream - "stop fidgeting ... look at him". If guys go through the same self-consciousness as women do, they sure don't show it. Why are we so critical of ourselves? And, when does it stop? Does it ever?

TGIF ... great!

Honestly...TGIF just means that I have to step up my game and find "fun" stuff to occupy daughter for the NEXT 48 HOURS. I will not get to sleep in, or read the paper, or get on the computer, or go shopping, or have a 20 minute shower, or get my nails done, or watch anything except Disney for two entire days. I adore my daughter but why are my weekends ALL about entertaining her? Thank goodness for pre-school, otherwise I would be bald and crazy!!!

What's for dinner

I was trying to figure out what I was going to cook last night for dinner and do you know where I checked first for ideas - Fergie's "What's for Dinner". Fergie....You always think of creative dishes and I know you do your homework so it was a great resource. Thanks!

To Do

As you know, I now have a lot of well-needed and overdue free time. And this morning I got a chance to do something that I've wanted to do for almost a year - spent some time with daughter at school -- (I know you thought I got to sleep in or go to the spa or something exciting - but this was a great accomplishment for me).

Daughter's school has a web-cam so I can peak in on her at any time of the day. I love this amenity and I quite often log-in during the day...you know...just to check in. Anyway, over the past 2 months or so I found that I wasn't even able to do that so one of the first things that I decided to do was spend a little time in class with her.

Her teachers were very welcoming and comfortable with me being there but I was a distraction to daughter and her classmates - they are not accustomed having a parent in the classroom beyond 9:00 a.m. So, I watched them eat, I danced, and did circle time and learned about fruit and shapes and colors and emotions, and I sat with them as they made fruit salad. It was fun -- but quite exhaisting and I only spent a little over one hour. Yes...I said one hour!!! Their hour was jammed-packed with activities so I can only imagine what else they do during the day.

I was so happy that I was able to see her interact with her teachers and her classmates and I was even more thrilled to see how much she's learning at school. I must say that I have a greater appreciation for her teachers because I know I couldn't do what they did for even 15 minutes.

So, I can check one thing off my list. Eventually I'll get to the bottom of the list ("Find a job") but for now, I'm taking my time getting through all the things that I've wanted to do for the past few years -- okay, maybe months.

Now..on to deep cleaning my house!

Real or Reel?

Last night I got caught up in the Real Housewives of Atlanta. I believe I’ve only seen one or two episodes in the past but Bravo was running a marathon and I was roped in. I believe I watched about 5 or 6 episodes last night!!! This happened a few weeks back and I was hooked on the Real Housewives of Orange County after that one cold Saturday afternoon/night while at home with hubby and our friend from school. Anyway…so I’m watching this show and after every break for commercial I asked myself – is this real? Do people really live like this? Are folks really this conceited and self-involved? I can only answer that it isn’t real. They’re not really friends and they really don’t interact with each other the way it’s portrayed on tv. I find that the OC wives and their stories were not so crazy and I wonder whether the ATL wives were putting on a show. I was fine with watching the OC wives go to lunch almost.every.day, but the ATL wives are big pimping (does anyone even say that anymore – but you know what I mean). It was the fabulous 12 year-old’s party, then Sharee’s grand 3/40-something bash, the charity event/flop and who knows what else they were up to. Is this how people really live in ATL? Is this how the black elite (as they self-describe) lives regardless of city? Or did Bravo just paint them in a less positive light?

My Aplogies, In Advance

Beth has asked her readers for help tackling some Tough Topics. Always one to lend a helping hand, I have selflessly decided to channel my inner Ghandi and give her the hard answers she so desperately needs. You, my friends, have the unfortunate task benefit of reading them. Consider it a (painful) exercise in getting to know me better.

1. How do you place the cups in your dishwasher? Directly on the prongs or in between the prongs?

I'm very systematic about this. First, I load as many things as I can in between the prongs. I like how I can get everything to fit just so. Undoubtedly though, I run out of space in the dishwasher before the sink is empty, so at this point I begin placing things directly on the prongs. It ain't pretty and it tends to make me itch, but it's only dirty dinnerware after all.

2. How do you hang your toilet paper? Hanging over or hanging under?

Hanging over. No if ands or BUTTS (sorry. sorry!) about it.

3. What are you feelings on Kanye West? Love him or leave him? (I may or may not be listening to him on my iPhone right now, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Ugh. I am so over him. And he needs to get over himself too. He continues to confuse me. I never understood what the hype was about. Newsflash Kanyeezy: It's not a good thing that you dropped out of college. It's also a little sad that you continue to wear a backpack like you're still in college. It's not too late though. There are plenty of cont. ed. programs that would take you. But then you'd have to actually accept the fact that you don't know everything and aren't better than everyone. It's called humility. Or living on Planet Earth.

4. Do you refrigerate your peanut butter or is it in your pantry?

Pantry. Though I suppose right now the best place for it is in the trash.

5. Do you refrigerate your maple syrup or is it in your pantry?

Pantry. And hubby never closes it back properly so the bottle is always sticky and makes the pantry sticky and it's not like he's gonna scrub the pantry so it's up to me to do it but who wants to scrub sticky syrup out of the pantry it's not like i don't have better things to do like answer these very important questions for Beth. Ahem.

6. Do you put your bread in the refrigerator?

Nope. Which is a huge departure from my childhood during which my mother used to freeze our bread. As a matter of fact, she still freezes her bread.

7. If you found salad dressing in your refrigerator that expired 30 days prior, would you use it or dump it?

Salad dressing expires?

8. Do you say tissue or kleenex?

Kleenex. Hubby says "tissue" and it just sounds weird. Doesn't it sound weird? It totally evokes a visual of post-nasal drip. And is it "tish-shoo" or "tis-sue"? WEIRD.

9. Finally, what are your feelings on cottage cheese? Scrumptious snack or disgusting sh*t?

Disgusting sh*t. Fo' sho. I don't even understand cottage cheese. Or rice pudding. Or tapioca pudding. Or grits. Makes me want to vomit.

Kleenex, please.

This & That

I lost 2lbs! I lost 2lbs! Not bad for the first week. I've been following the Weight Watchers plan and exercised twice. I even managed to survive a holiday party on Saturday amidst trays of cookies and dips without blowing my diet out of the water. Yay for me. I do have 2 holiday parties this weekend though, so hopefully I can do as well then too.

In other news, I finally dragged the Christmas decorations up from the basement last night and we started putting things up. Never mind that December is half over. We still need a tree and hubby and I are going back and forth about whether to get a real or fake one. I am totally over the real tree idea (vacuming needles, refilling water) - I have enough work to do as it is - but hubby is set on having "the real scent of fresh pine" in the house. I told him that we can get a fake tree and I'll get him a spray bottle of the pine scent :) He's never had an artificial treee before so I think he's expecting it to look like Charlie Brown's. We're still in deliberations.

Lastly, congrats to Justice Ny on landing a fabulous new job! She is much too modest (and busy) to brag about it herself, so I am doing it for her. You go, Mommy!

That's all for now. Check back soon for another great giveaway...

On My Mind

Here are some of the random things on my mind today:

(1) I keep reading about how the Nebraska lawmakers want to amend the child safe haven law to make it clear that it only applies to abandoned infants. I fully understand the intent and purpose of that law, but there has been a total of 31 children abandoned since the broadly-worded law was passed. It seems to me that there is obviously a need for some type of help for parents who, for whatever reason, can no longer care for their child, no matter what the age. Now in no way am I encouraging parents to abandon their children, but it's apparent to me that a parent who drives from Florida to Nebraska to drop off their 11 year-old clearly has run out of resources and options. What will happen to the families (and children) in those situations once the law is passed? I guess what I'm trying to say that changing the law to apply only to infants won't eliminate the need that obviously exists out there for a safe alternative for parents of older children.

(2) Yesterday as we were walking into a bagel shop a (homeless?) guy asked us for money to buy breakfast. Hubby bought an extra bagel and cream cheese and offered it to the guy on our way out. Can you believe the guy looked at the bagel and said: "Nah, I'll catch you next time." Huh? What? You'll catch us next time? Think again buddy. Clearly he just wanted cash and not food. How rude!

(3) Anyone out there with a nanny that's in your house all day? How do you handle the food situation? Is she free to eat whatever she wants from your fridge/pantry? We never laid any ground rules so our nanny has been eating our food here and there, which is totally fine. But lately she has eating more and more of out leftovers which causes me to (a) have to make an entirely new meal for dinner each night and (b) buy more groceries. Any thoughts on how to navigate this? It's a delicate situation.

Friday Rundown

• I'm so glad it's Friday. I'm beat! Not that the weekend will be spent lying around the house - it never is - but at least I won't have to go to work.

• Tonight I'm going to a DC Metro Moms Blog event sponsored by the Chevy Traverse -- I'm sooo excited. Should be a blast.
  


• Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, we're taking the kids apple picking. I haven't been since I was a kid so I'm looking forward to it. Chatterbox has already decided that she wants to make an apple pie. I want to try my hand at apple crisp and apple fritters. Oh, and I can't forget caramel apples.
  


• The guy who hands out the morning paper at the Metro each day always gives me a chuckle. Everyday, without fail, he says: "You're looking gorgeous today, Miss!" I mentioned it to hubby who of course said "Yeah, but how many teeth does he have?" Well, if you must know, he has 4. But really, that is besides the point.
  


• Some fall/winter shopping is definitely in order. I desperately need new everything. Comfy winter boots, tall boots, a leather jacket, a winter coat, a tote bag for commuting, rainboots, shoes for work...I need it all.
  


• I need to come up with a fundraising idea for the girls' school. The goal of the Parents Committee is to build them a small playground in the spring. Any suggestions?
  


• I also need to decide whether I'm going to subject myself to taking the girls to Disney on Ice next month. Of course I haven't even mentioned it to them because if I did, I would never hear the end of it. I'm still on the fence.

What's on tap for your weekend?

My Kid's Too Smart and I'm Complaining

School is in session and we are in first grade this year. Six weeks into the new school year, I'm stressing. I don't think Oldest's teacher is challenging him enough. It's to the point that I woke up the other night at 4 am and tossed and turned about the situation until six am. Hubby said that one night while sleeping I started yelling out, "Who are you picking up from school!!!" He thought I was nuts but after I evaluated the situation, I believe my yelling is related to his teacher. I'm no dream analyzer but it made sense to me.

My anxiety really began about three weeks ago when I sent Oldest's teacher a very friendly email "inquiring" about suggestions for homework. For three weeks we were doing "silly work," as Oldest put it. At first I thought the teacher was still trying asses each child's strengths and weaknesses so I tried to be patient. But after three weeks of Oldest completing homework that resembled what he was doing the first week of the previous year, I was concerned. We are at the same school so I can't figure this all out.

For example, the goal of the math homework is to practice questions so that the student can complete 30 problems in three minutes by Thursday. He does all 30 on Monday in about 45 seconds. One time he was done in 32 seconds, no joke. The reading instructions are to first read the book to the child, second day, read every other page to the child, see if child can read the other pages, and Wednesday and Thursday the child should try to read the book alone with most words correct. He's reading the book from start to finish on Monday. I don't even bother to read the book past Monday because it's silly. Last year, his teacher had the children reading a series of books and each child moved on to the next book at his or her own pace. Oldest was done with the series for the entire year by March so his teacher moved him on to another series suitable for second graders. We were so proud. He didn't finish the series by the end of the year so the remaining books were on our summer reading list. We worked our booty's off to ensure that we finished the entire series by the end of the summer. This year, the entire class reads the same books. So now I've resorted to reading our own books at home.

Back to the email I sent the teacher, when I told her our situation and asked for tips on what to do, she said that she doesn't give separate homework to the children, but recommended some websites to do for "fun" and to read our own books that would challenge him more. Okay, I understand she doesn't want to custom fit homework for 20 children, however, how about she work on one program that allows the teacher to select different levels of work for various students? Why can't she by like last year's teacher?

So now what? I have no idea. But my kid better start coming home with homework he finds too difficult or else I'm going to have to send another email and I can't figure out how to make it sound nice.

So Long, Fairwell

Well folks, summer is officially over here at the Jonesie household. School starts this week for Oldest and the other two will start pre-school next week. It's been a wild and crazy summer here. Wild because my kids act like wild monkeys on most days, and crazy because there were days when I needed a stiff drink to make it to the next. We went swimming, fishing, swimming, the gym, fishing, swimming, and ran errands. The kids fought like wild monkeys on most days and then kissed and made up on the other days. All in all, we had a blast.

Even though my kiddies were gone for two weeks visiting my parents for their annual summer trip, I was not in town for most of that time which means I was not resting or at home pretending Hubby and I were two grown ups with no kids. There were maybe three or four days where I was home and we played grown-ups with no kids. It was fun but the grass is not greener on the other side, as they say. The house was too quite and it felt empty. It was an interesting experience considering we don't know what it's like to be a married couple without kids. We got pregnant six months after we got married and during that time I was in my third year of law school studying and tied down to that. So although this was a small tiny taste of what life without kids would be like, I can't imagine my life without my three babies. They complete me and Hubby.

On one of my trips I went to help my cousin who just had her first baby. She was having problems nursing so off I went to the rescue. For three nights and four days, I played the lactation nurse and by the time I left, that baby was sucking the life out of mama. I left feeling proud of myself, don't ask me why. Maybe what Nanny Joe feels like when she leaves a family. It also reminded me of just how much work a newborn baby is. PHEW!! When you are wrapped up in the moment, it's a lot of work yes, but you don't have a second to really stop and think about how much work it really is. My cousin's husband works in the hotel industry so he was at the hotel the three nights I was there. I ended up "co-sleeping" in the room with my cousin and her baby so I was up for all the feedings, helping to burp, change the diapers, etc. I guess I was the baby daddy for those three days (ha, ha). Anyhow, when I returned home, I passed out and slept for 11 straight hours. I don't think I even moved at all. I can't remember the last time I slept for 11 straight hours, college maybe? After a long night partying, I mean studying for an exam.

Anyhow, I was happy to help my cousin because she is like an older sister to me. During her pregnancy I did my best to offer her advice and of course, now I'm here for her and the baby.

Well, good-bye summer, hello another school year. I'll have to post pictures of us fishing which most people have hard time believing that Justice Jones fishes. Oldest and I actually really enjoy it. I hope everyone's summer ends on a great note!

Summer Love

So we are over a month into our summer vacation. Oldest got out of school in mid-May. Nuts, I know. Daughter has been out since end of May and Youngest, early May.

Being home with all three all day five days a week has been, well, interesting. Fun, for sure, but as you SAHMs know, non-stop work. But it's very rewarding and I'm enjoying it. Many people can't understand how I can have a law degree and want to be at home with my kids instead of out there making money but it's really simple for me. They are my kids and if I have the option of being at home with them, I'll jump at the chance. I worked at the firms, I argued in court, negotiated settlements with opposing attorneys, blah, blah, blah. But I'm having a good time trying to wrestle the hot toy of the minute of out of my screaming two and three year old's hands. Try negotiating a deal between those two, almost impossible. Anyhow, I do have a job that is law related but I can't help enjoy the fact that I have the option of not teaching in the summer and taking THREE MONTHS OFF instead. Priceless.

So back to our fun filled summer--I'm trying to stick to a very loose schedule that ensures a nap at some point in the afternoon and meals when people are hungry. This is very good for me considering I used to stick by an hourly schedule that included time for every thing in the day. That's too much pressure. We go swimming a couple days a week, have a morning walk on most days, go to the library when it's too hot or too rainy, and play on the floor when we just want to stay in our 'jamas until lunch.

One thing I make sure we do is go to the gym. My gym has a great children's center and the kids enjoy going just as much as I enjoy my little break during the day. Some days I pack their lunch (which is very exciting for Daugther and Youngest), and the little crumb snatchers march their way to the play room holding their little lunch bags. It's so cute.

Don't let me fool you, not all days are sunny and rosy. As I mentioned, the younger two can fight like I don't know what and Oldest can complain about everything without any effort. On those days I feel like I need a stiff drink to make it until Hubby gets home.

Which brings me to the next thing I've been making sure I do, and that's spending some girl time with friends. Girl time normally involves a Martini of some sort at a time when our Hubbies are at home trying to put kids in the bath or warm up bottles. We drink our 'Tinis, enjoy a nice dinner, and can talk about anything from baby poop to sexy summer shoes.

So far I'm really enjoying my summer.

Odds & Ends

(1) A friend of J. Ny's and mine was interviewed for the Women for Obama website. Very cool. Check out her interview and leave a comment!

(2) I went to a hip hop dance class last night and it was big fun! I desperately need to do something to keep me active. The teacher, Lorenzo, is the choreographer for Chuck "The Godfather of Go-Go" Brown's latest video that finished shooting yesterday. So maybe you'll see me in a video soon. Just don't hold your breath.

(3) Something's up with Chatterbox this week. She loses her mind at the drop of a hat. Yesterday she threw a tantrum because I didn't cut her grapes into quarters. The day before that she threw a tantrum because she didn't want to wear tights under her skirt to school. We had the same battle Sunday when she refused to wear her tights under her dress for church. It was so ugly that she ended up not going. I'm not sure what it is, but I hope she's ok. Any thoughts?

(4) Giggles was crawling around the hallway yesterday (though she's been walking for over 8 months) and our nanny said "In my country (Peru), when an older child starts crawling that means that the mom is expecting another baby." HA. Giggles, you betta' act like you know and get to walking.

Did Ya Miss Me?

I know, I know, it's been forever since I've blogged. Life has been a little more than hectic these past couple of weeks and I just didn't have the time or energy to try to put together a coherent, witty post suitable to share with y'all. But, after a fortnight of chaos...I'm baaaack! And thanks to those who noticed and commented or sent me an email to check in with me to see how I was doing. You guys rock.

And since I didn't know where to start, and have so much to fill you in on, I've made a list to put on our sidebar of all of the things I need to write about so that I won't forget.

But right now I need to go and find a place that sells Barney party items. Have you any idea how hard it is to find Barney-themed stuff? And as much as I've tried to convince Chatterbox that a Spongebob party would be AWESOME, she's not having it. It's the purple guy or bust. And I've only got 3 days to make it happen.

Oh the pressure.