It's Just Me

I've always wanted to participate in the Self Portrait Challenge but never have. And it's not at all because I lack in self portraits. I am one of those people who like to take pictures of themselves. Yep. And apparently so do a great many other people so at least I'm in good company. Although I didn't officially sign up as a player this week, I took the challenge anyway and shot this sitting up my bathroom counter.

And then I was thinking, have you noticed how many bathrooms have fantastic natural light? I know mine do. And so did the one in my old house. I'm not sure if there's anything to that but I find it a little curious.

I Told You She Was Sassy

This evening I was giving my oldest daughter a little extra attention as she was having 'one of those days'. Our fish died, she hated the rice pudding she toiled over (new recipe) and she spilled water all over one of her favorite drawings. Things weren't pretty.

Once the tears were dried, we snuggled together on the couch watching the Angel game when my youngest bellowed from the other room.

"Mom, it's over!"

"OK honey."

"MOM! My movie's OVER!"

"OK, I hear you. I'm with your sister."

Long pause.

"MOM, COME TURN THIS DAMN THING OFF!"


A little comic relief never hurts to turn the evening around.

The Back to School Story

My preschooler.

From sad to sassy in 1 second flat.

Yes, that's the traditional comfort necklace I make for my children each year. Last year's model can be seen in the first day photo from last year. It's one easy way to send a little tangible love with them to school. Plus, I'm a crafty girl that actually really enjoys making stuff like that.

80

A special wish for my sweet grandma.

Does This Mean...

I'm an AlphaMom?

This interview was done for AlphaMom at BlogHer leat year.

It was such a pleasure working with Isabel and Leah on the project, I can't tell you. And I even passed Arianna Huffinton in the make-up room! If that's not Alpha, I don't know what is.

Wii Love

It's not big news to most of you that my family has and looooooves the Nintendo Wii. After my first Ambassador post it seemed the entire world wanted to know if in fact the photos of our party were even real. Like anyone would make this up. Because of my Ambassadorship we get lots of great games to check out and with each one we've tried, there is someone in the house that takes a liking to it.

For our latest go round, we got to test drive the new Wii Boogie for The Parent Blogger Network and let me tell you, my daughter has been dancing and singing ever since. And she does not sing so, it's a pretty big deal. Her karaoke schedule has changed slightly since school has started but the last days of summer began with early morning Wii Boogie sessions. I'm not kidding. I have photos to prove it,



That's my 9-year-old in her PJs, bedhead and all, doing her thang at 8am.

I might not have been able to say that I'm all that hip to hearing pop music streaming through my house in the ungodly hours of the morning but when you're talking classics from The Jackson 5, it's not as bad as it seems.

Because I'm not too big a karaoke fan/choreographed dancer myself and my youngest would rather be knocking people out playing the Wii boxing game, my oldest plays solo unless my husband is in a mood and then he'll dig up some crazy 80's song and go nuts. It's happened.

Her friend did come over yesterday and they had quite a time of it. As his mother and I sat in another room catching up, we heard a pretty hilarious round of "a little bit of Carla in my life, a little bit of Monica by my side..." Not bad for a 10-year-old. Heck, not bad for a 40-year-old either.

From what the other moms are saying, Wii Boogie is a hit in other homes too. Read all about the dance antics at The Parent Blogger's Wii Boogie post.

An Evening Exchange

Tonight as we walked from the pizza place to the shoe store (you can't go shoe shopping on an empty stomach) I said to my daughters something about really needing them to behave while we were shopping to make the trip as quick and painless as possible. Then I felt the need to drag it out with how unnerving it is for me when they constantly fight, bicker, moan and complain and how they were really out of control earlier and that it's just not OK. I think my ending line was "You guys are just really making me crazy."

As per the usual, my youngest didn't skip a beat when she answered back, "Having kids is really hard Mom."

What can I say but she's a master of deductive reasoning?

Random Radiance

The fabulous Gabrielle at DesignMom is in the midst of a Random Givaway and she is offering up the most gorgeous jewelry. Remember this?

Yep, Blue Poppy Jewelry is up for grabs and all you have to do is go visit the post at DesignMom and comment to be in the drawing. Yay! You only ave until Sept 10th at midnight, so get to it.

Free Stuff

And the winners of the Word World drawing are...

Maile and Laura.

Congrats ladies! I'm sure your kids will dig the DVD.

And thanks everyone for your comments. The words your kids love melted my heart (except for the poop ones...those just made me laugh).

Word Up

It might be the season for getting back to school for the older set but if you've got younger kids you might instead be looking forward to a season of new tv shows. As in PBS perhaps? If you're looking forward to that kind of thing (I am, I am) then you'll be glad to hear that come September 3rd PBS is offering a new show for the younger set called Word World.

I got a DVD for my daughter to check out via The Parent Blogger Network and it's proved to be a big hit. My daughter has always been quite a little linguist so a show like Word World speaks volumes to her. She is barely four but seems mad at the world that she is not able to read yet, let alone write. To my delight, this show has been something that has actually helped her to get a few spelling words under her belt. Empowerment like that for a frustrated preschooler is worth it's weight in gold.

It's a clever show with smart animation and characters my daughter seems to really enjoy. And, I know it goes beyond mere entertainment which for me (and I'm sure most parents) makes it that much better.

If you'd like to win yourself a Word World DVD (with 2 episodes on it) for your child, just leave a message here and you'll be entered in a random drawing. There's just one thing...you need to post your child's favorite word in the post. Why? Why not? And if you want to up your chances of winning, go visit Picture This where I am offering the same give-away. You know you want to.

Word.

40 Things

Inspired by Janine's list at Destinations and in honor of my 4oth Birthday I have decided to attempt the 100 Things list. Remember that one?

I'm starting off with 40 (of course) and I'll eventually build on that.

Here goes-

I drink milk with dinner.

I read Oprah Magazine cover to cover.

I like doing crafts.

I have never lived anywhere outside of So Cal.

I’ve watched baby sea turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean.

I will always love the Grateful Dead.

I’ve broken 3 bones.

I was a cheerleader in High School.

I wish I could play the piano.

I don’t like lattes.

I still miss Sex and the City.

My first concert was to see Journey.

I put notes in my daughter’s lunch everyday.

I believe in magic.

I live for my 50mm compact micro lens.

I gave birth twice without an epidural.

I’ve been to Key West.

I actually like Chuck E. Cheeses.

I’ve shot too many weddings to count.

I’m a published author.

I don’t brush my hair.

I’ve been called a beer snob.

I’m a Nintendo Ambassador but I’m not a gamer.

I cry every time I read On The Day You Were Born to my kids.

I keep a stash of MnMs in my office closet.

I love my minivan.

I hate to mop.

I order oatmeal at restaurants.

Nature is my sanctuary.

My first car was a VW Bug.

I touched Justin Timberlake.*

I couldn’t live without my girlfriends.

I lost the diamond from my wedding ring and then found it.

I had a blood clot after the birth of my second child that went undetected for a week.

I wear slippers but not a robe.

I used to sing at open mic nights with a friend.

I like to watch golf on tv.

I traveled across country in a VW once when I was 5 and again when I was 25.

I eat ice cream almost every night.

I am 40.



*Just on his shoulder as I was trying to get by. And no, he didn’t touch me back.

The Count Down

Four Days Until Forty.

The necklace was an early birthday present from my sweet friend Jill (of the lovely blue poppy)

Scrumptious Spatulatta

A key ingredient to our summer this year has been my daughters love for cooking. Let’s just say she has definitely taken it up a notch. She scours the cabinets looking for what she needs to make whatever culinary concoction that strikes her fancy. Her approach is reminiscent of a scientist; experimenting, mixing, pouring, measuring, tasting (OK, you don’t taste your science projects but you get the idea).

On many a morning the first thing out of her mouth is something like “mom, do we have any cream of tartar?” For the record I do not share this love affair with cooking. It’s taken me most of my adult life to even find any satisfaction out of feeding my family a home cooked meal, even though (to my credit) I do it almost every night. I chalk it up to being creative in other ways and for this reason perhaps I don’t have enough juice left for the kitchen. All that said, I would never let my culinary malaise damper my daughters enthusiasm. Heck, if she can make the meals around here (and love it) then I can check it off my own list. See, I’ve got motives—can you blame me?

Needless to say that when the new Spatulatta Cookbook came in the mail, my daughter and I were equally thrilled and I am pleased to report that we are giving this kid’s cookbook two yummy thumbs up! The chefs that are featured in the book are the young, lovely and talented Liv and Belle (who are also the hostesses with the mostest at the website of the same Spatulatta name). My daughter appreciates that they are girls, just like her; playful, energetic, funny and real. I love that they are obviously and genuinely really into food and are passionate about getting other kids into it as well.

I will admit that my daughter has complained that, “eeew, Shepard’s Pie sounds disgusting” among a few other recipes she’s cringed at, but that make me give this cookbook even more credit. Unlike some other cookbooks for kids, the Spatulatta recipes go beyond the typical kid’s food (like peanut butter, plain noodles, or sweets). I am happy having my daughter look to these young foodies as role models that offer excellent resources (the book and the site) to encourage her love for cooking in a way that I really can’t. The fact that these girls provide real meals for their family proves that my daughter can do it too and that fuels her passion even more. And to my delight, her enthusiasm about working in the kitchen with is rubbing off (except maybe when she is begging me to try the new quick fudge recipe at 7:30 in the morning). Because of books and websites like Spatulatta, creating fun, festive and yummy meals together is becoming a family activity for us that nourishes body and soul. It doesn’t get more delicious than that.

The Good Morning Fairy

Is it just me or is there something magical about waking up to Tinkerbell flying through your kitchen?

Soul Sisters

Here's me with my heroes (blog and otherwise) in the photo booth at BlogHer 07. Jen Lemen and Myriam Joseph are just plain kick-ass women. It's as simple as that.

This shot has been posted especially for the Cool Mom Picks BlogHer 07 Scavenger Hunt.

Can You Feel the Love?

Melody over at Slurping Life (who for the record is one of my favorite virtual friends) is sharing lots of love with Parker (of Praying for Parker) and because of her example, so are a lot of other people in Blogville.

I urge you to go visit Love for Parker and be prepared to be inspired by a courageous little boy and his family! And take your checkbook.

Snappy Kids

Do you have a little shutterbug living under your roof? If the answer is a resounding yes, like it is at my house, come get the scoop on A Little Perspective, the Kid's Photo Contest I'm hosting over at Picture This with the help of my partners in contest crime Sheri of The Little Zygote that Could and Susan of The Snapshot Chronicles.

It's going to be lots of fun. I hope you join us as we learn a little something from our kids.

Noah and His Animals Pals

Considering there isn't a day that passes that at least a few members of our family are not engaged in playing a very important game of "animals"of one type or the next, when the chance arose to check out the latest Caboodle! Collectible Toy (of the animal kind),I knew my youngest would be all over it. I had a hunch too when I heard about Noah's Pals that my oldest might want in on the action. When the delivery came and we caught a glimpse of these wonderfully packaged hand painted animals (that come in pairs...hence the hint Noah) each couple in their own boxes, it was my oldest who indeed seemed most interested. Second to me that is.

The animals themselves are delightfully detailed and each one has it's own name. My favorite is the tiny and totally adorable Derek and Delilah Dove, Universal symbols of love and peace (you can't take the hippie out of the girl). The dove pair came with an ID card (like very nifty membership card) as does each of the Noah's Pals pair. The cards are full of educational info like the animals habitat, stats, scientific name, etc. My kids love that kind of thing. And what adds to the fun is that each card has an ID code that you can plug in online at the Noah's Pet's website so you can keep track of what you have collected and what's left to collect. That's one more feature I really like about them. And that they are toys that I feel good about giving. Collecting things is cool. It gives the toys more perceived value somehow and I think helps kids take batter care of them. Or is that just me?

And speaking of...if you think Noah's Pals are something your child would like to start collecting (like mine have) they are offering a discount when you buy the whole set now (think gifts worth giving for the next year--or two). Visit amazon.com for those details. And when you do collect them all, you get a prize. Not too shabby.

Read more about Noah's Pals and what other Parent Bloggers have to say about them at the Parent Bloggers Network.

Kaboom! Kaboom!

I am not a mom who takes pride in how clean her home is, just so you know. Yes, I try to have it look nice and tidy, but really clean? Um, not really. Unless we're having company over and then, I'll clean it. So, as soon as I heard that some cleaning product called Kaboom Neverscrub was up for review at The Parent Blogger Network, you had better believe I was trying it. Although, I was skeptical.

To my delight, I have literally only had to scrub my toilet twice since installing the little miracle cleaner over 2 months ago. I know it's called Neverscrub but when you live with 2 young children and a husband...well...things happen. I won't pretend I was 100% comfortable "installing" the little doohickey in the toilet at first. I was going to save the job for my hubby BUT I decided to be a real woman about it and empower myself (yes, conquering something as silly as this makes me feel empowered--say what you will) and it really was easy to do. My favorite part about Kaboom Neverscrub is the fresh scent it gives the bathroom after every flush. No, I'm not kidding. My office is right off the main bathroom of the house so I will tell you , I appreciate the fresh smell. I really do! And I only have to replace this baby every few months which is only makes me love Neverscrub more. I kinda thought the refills might be expensive but no way. Like 6 bucks a refill (they last 3 months). Hello clean toilets!!

I got a bottle of the Kaboom Shower, Tub & Tile cleaner too and find that equally as effective. Since I'm not hip on deep cleaning, we shower with water stains at our feet. I know. Eeew. SO, I thought "what better a test for this purple bottle of Kaboom than my shower floor." I tried it once, waited a few minutes and wiped it off. It lifted the stains a bit. But since they have been there since we moved in practically (which was over years ago--double eeew) I gave it one more spray and a little elbow grease (only a little) and KABOOM! It worked. My shower floor looks as good as new! And I wasn't all dizzy and sick from the toxic stench like those other miracle cleaners because there isn't one. Another big plus. In other words, I'm pretty much sold on Kaboom now and from what I've heard around The Parent Blogger Network reviews, you might be too.

Dream Weaving

My oldest daughter has always been an avid reader. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly she can devour the latest “chapter book” (that what kids call the books the graduate into after the early readers). And she’s big on books in a series. She goes from start to finish of each one and then begins a whole new group. It's awesome to watch her fly through the pages. I am impressed with her enthusiasm as I was never one of those loved to read kids. It was excruciating for me to sit still long enough to get through a chapter, let alone and entire chapter book. I’m not proud of that, and I do like to read more now but I will admit I still have some issues with sitting down for any extended period of time. But, this isn’t about me. Not today’s post anyway.

When The Parent Blogger Network put the call out to parents with kids in the tween category (9-12), I was thrilled to give my 5th grader a chance to crack Nick Ruth’s mysterious tale, The Dark Dreamweaver. This one in particular seemed right up her alley. With a name like that, any tween would be intrigued. And it’s the first offering of The Remin Chronicles which makes it that much more appealing. Anything with the word Chronicles sounds good to me. So, I was snagged on the title alone.

As I expected my daughter jumped in as soon as she got a hold of the paperback, which proudly dons the “Mom’s Choice Award” seal on the front cover. I probed her as she read asking her about the story line, the characters, the main gist of this magical adventure chock full of wizardry, suspense, a little spook factor, and endearing players like David the main character who is a child living in the present day and the caterpillar wizard Houdin who although is little is in some “big trouble”. “It’s great mom, I love it, it’s cool,” She offers as she peeks her eyes up over the cover briefly, in more like a “leave me alone and let me read” tone than the book review I was hoping for. But, I think it speaks volumes (is that a pun or what?) when your kid doesn’t want to put the book down to chit-chat.

From what I can tell, The Dark Dreamweaver is a classic tale between good and evil, reality and fantasy, truth and imagination. What’s not to love? My daughter really enjoyed the book and is certainly looking forward to the next Chronicle (Book 2- The Breezes of Inspire—sweet title!). As a mom, what I appreciate most about The Dark Dreamweaver is that this “normal” kid David is challenged to dig deep, rely on his inner powers (courage, strength, determination, wisdom, imagination, and compassion) to help not only his caterpillar friend but the whole state of the world. And he travels into the unknown to do it. Totally awesome! And after doing what he set out to do, he gets plopped back into his regular life where he recognizes that he his indeed extraordinary. Isn’t that what every parent wants their child to know?


The Parent Blogger Network is giving away copies of both The Dark Dreamweaver and The Breezes of Inspire via a random drawing. All you have to do is comment on this post to be entered in the drawing. Free books for summer reading is good thing!

edited to add....
WHOOPS!!!
To enter the drawing you must comment at the post that is on the Parent Blogger Network. I realize my last paragraph explanation was misleading. So sorry!!