Completely Spoiled

I recently celebrated my 37th birthday. I'm almost at the top of that hill! Heaven help me! But I just have to say how completely spoiled I've been.

First off, I didn't cook 1 meal over the weekend. Not a single one! We went out for sushi on Friday then on Saturday we went out for sea food. I guess we were craving fish! Sunday, we were tired...the kids made toaster waffles. I know. Pathetic.

Second, I was showered with gifts! I got some artwork for the family room, a new CD, some flowers and a bunch of clothes.

And Third, we all (meaning the 5 of us) spent a much-needed fun night together- complete with dinner, fudge, pictures, and topped off with bowling. Which, by the way, I scored my highest game ever... 120. Yes, I know it's not a score most people are proud of, but I am. It's great for me!

Thanks so much for the great birthday guys!

p.s. today's songs Thank You by Dido and Thank you by Alanis Morissette

I've got the power!

I've come to an important conclusion today. Hold on to your seats 'cause this is gonna be big!

Are you ready?

OK. Here goes. If I could possess just ONE super power, I finally know what it would be! I would be like Ursula and have the ability to take away people's voices. Sound mean? I don't think so. Think of the possibilities... Someone won't shut up in a movie- I take their voice! Kids won't stop arguing? I take their voice! Someone won't listen to my side of the story, I take their voice! I'd be sure to give it back though, once I made the point...you know...'cause I'm nice like that!

Anyway, I knew you had always wanted to know!

Which super power would you like?

Song today is The Power by Snap. Click here to see the video. It's pretty entertaining to see the clothes and dance styles. Reminds me of my yester-years.

They're playing MY song!

It's been awhile since I updated about my baby boy, so I thought I would take some time today to do just that!

• Rhino weighs 4.6 lbs.
• He's been neutered.
• He's climbing on just about everything. In fact, just yesterday, he figured out how to use the blankets on my bed as a climbing rope to get up.
• He's lost several teeth. We have about 4 or 5 in a little plastic bag, but those are just the ones we know about. (don't ask me why we are saving them)
• He's doing pretty well with potty training. He's down to about 1 accident a day, and that usually happens when the girls have him.
• He's learning new tricks! Loo has taught him to sit, lay down, roll over, and circle. He's also learning how to fetch.

And, he still has a fascination for underwear, socks, and well, just about anything you leave lying around or in small bathroom garbage cans that he can get into. So...we've made up a song about him. To Ariel's "Part of That World" from the Little Mermaid

Look at this stuff,

Isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm a boy, a boy who has everything?

Look and behold

Treasures untold

How many wonders can one doggie hold?

Lookin' around here you think,

Sure, he's got everything!

I've got wrappers and Q-tips a plenty

I've got flip flops and sockies galore.

Do you want a thong?

I've got 20!

But who cares,

No big deal,

I want more!

I want to be at the top of the pile!

I wanna dig, wanna dig in laundry

Walkin' around on those

Whadda you call em- oh, clothes.

Walks with the leash,

I don't get too far

The harness itches, itches like crazy.

But tryin' to be good for those... what's that word again... TREAAAAAAAAAATS!

Don't want to beg

But I'm being good

Being so good, just loo-ook at me

I'd like a treat

I'll do a trick

Life is so goooood!

Sometimes, I just feel so OLD!

Loo and Ash have actually been learning at school! I can't tell you how many times they've come home and told me something that they learned that day that I didn't even know! It's really great!
So, a couple weeks ago, Loo came home from school with a wealth of knowledge about the English and their medicinal practices as well as how they enforced good posture on their kids. (I believe they are learning about the 1600's or so.)
So Loo told us about the saying a frog in your throat and how they believed that if you put a frog in your mouth, the secretions would cure a soar throat or laryngitis. She told us about several other "cures" they had. Then she went on to explain how they believed good posture was of the utmost importance and told us some of the things used to insure the kids had it. One was a board attached to their back so that they had to sit up strait, another was a collar/board contraption that was basically a board attached to a collar and you would be choked if you didn't have good posture. The last one was a collar with spikes on the inside. Forcing you to hold your head up strait or you would be poked in the neck. Supe was just standing there taking it all in.
Fast forward to Monday of this week. Supe was getting ready for school, when she comes into my room and asks me "Mom, did you have to wear one of those collars when you were a little girl? 'Cause you lived in the olden days a little bit didn't you? At the end part of the olden days?"

Super-Quick Follow Up

I just wanted to quickly follow up with a couple of the comments about my previous post. First, I'll say that you don't have to be a baker to take over something to your neighbor. I have brought candy bars that were obviously purchased from the store over to neighbors before. I even put them on a plate with plastic wrap over the top and told them it was my "home made" treat. Of course they laugh. It's dorky and silly. And, here's the selfish part...I RARELY bake, so when I do, we usually keep it to ourselves. I know. Mean. Usually, when I'm feeling really baker-ish, I'll pick up a roll of toll house cookie dough from the store, and throw some on a pan to bake.

Next, I have learned time and time again, that if I have an abundance of something, and keep it all to myself, it usually goes to waste or if it's not perishable, I end up giving to someone in a few months anyway.

Because I have been given much...

First off, I want to say I'm so sorry I didn't have this posted yesterday. I sat down on Sunday to write my mommy moment, then couldn't think of what it was to save my life (and I had a good one too) BUT alas, I remembered this morning! Yay!!

So, last week, we bought some pizza from our favorite pizza joint. We picked it up and took it to the car. No biggie. Loo decided she wanted to play a guessing game. Guess which box has the ham and pineapple pizza. Ooo. The thrill! :) JK it was korky and fun. Anyway, Loo guessed right! (Yay Loo!) and for some reason she opened the other box to look at it. (I think we were very hungry.) When we looked in, we realized this was not the pizza we ordered. We had to turn around (thankfully we were only a few buildings away from the place) and go and get the right pizza. They made it, then threw in a bonus pizza of the kind they messed up- my favorite kind from that place "The Works". So, in the end we ordered 2 and got 4. I knew we would never be able to eat all 4 pizzas. So I called up my neighbors, to see if they wanted any, but they were on their way out to eat too. I didn't know what we were going to do with all of them. I looked out my back window, and noticed my neighbor (who we have never met or talked to) behind me was outside doing yard work. I thought, well, here's my opportunity. I walk over to my fence and ask him if he's had dinner. He hadn't. I asked him if he would like to have a pizza. He replied "how come?" I explained that they gave us too many pizzas. He agreed to take it, so I handed him the box over the fence.

My two youngest were making fun of me because I was so excited to have them agree to take it. I explained that there was no way we could eat all of them, and that we should always try to help people when we can.

Saturday, we were working in the yard, and the neighbor drove by and waved to me. It totally made my day. I turned to my kids and gave them the I told you so look. Hopefully now, we've made some new friends!

Anyway, happy be-lated Proud Mommy Monday! Hop on over to Shannon's place to participate.

Hey kids, stay in school!

To: School kids across the nation
From: President Barack Obama
"Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future." (sourse, Whitehouse Media Resources)

I thought his message was simple, well stated, and to the point:
Go to school
Stay in school
Do your best
You can be whatever you want to be
It doesn't matter who your parents are, it doesn't matter what your social background is, you are the one who controls your future.

Controversial message? I don't think so.

Give a Hoot!

Holy crap! I can't believe it's Monday already!

Last night, as Jason and I were coming home, there was a nice truck next to us at the stop light. I didn't think anything of it until out of the corner of my eye, I see a man's hand out the window dropping garbage out into the street! We couldn't believe it. As we started to drive on, he stuck his hand out again and threw out some more garbage! Unbelievable! Right then, I knew what my mommy moment was going to be!

I am VERY passionate about being a good citizen. I owe my mom for teaching me. We didn't always see eye to eye, and there were things she probably could have done a little differently, but she did teach me to be a good person. It's something that I'm extremely grateful for! And it's something I am very avid about teaching my children. My greatest hope for the future that my children will grow up to be good, useful, upstanding citizens who take pride in their country and their community.

They will:

• Be honest
• Follow the rules*
• Put away their grocery carts
• Take care of their homes and yards
• Throw garbage in the garbage can and not on the ground
• Recycle (we're still working on this one)
• Vote
• Work hard and clock out for breaks
• Give 2 weeks notice before quitting a job
• Purchase sensible vehicles that get good gas millage (and check consumer reports before doing so)

*More about Rule Following- Friday was school pictures. Now, school pictures aren't very exciting when they are uniform pictures. My kids were each told by their teachers, that they were supposed to wear navy that day. But I got an email from the school letting me know that the kids had to be in uniform, but it said nothing about wearing navy. When we were putting clothes out for the next day, I went to grab the outfit I planned for Super; which was not navy, when Supe said "No, I think I'm just going to wear my navy polo". I was like the devil's advocate. I said "Are you sure you want to wear that? The email didn't say anything about needing to wear navy" She said "Yep. I'm sure! I want to wear navy". Loo did pretty much the same thing. I guess maybe I am doing something right!

Well, that's about it for my mommy moment. I thought a collection of Garbage songs would be appropriate for today. I think I'm Paranoid, Milk, and Stupid Girl are among my favorites!

We would love to have some more participants for Proud Mommy Monday! Everyone is doing something right! Hop on over to Shannon's blog for more details. It's fun to read what other mothers are doing right! Plus, when you participate, it gives you 2 things: #1 a tiny pat on the back that you need and #2 something else to blog about! Oh, and if you do join us, add your link to the McLinky at the bottom of her post so that we can all read and learn from you!

Please come. Please come. Please come!

I'm just dying waiting for my book to come in the mail! I read the Hunger Games a few months ago. It was so good! Definitely a page-turner! I read about it on Stephenie Meyer's website. Every once in a while she gives book recommendations, and when she does, I usually read them. Anyway, the biggest problem with Hunger Games is that, on the last page of the book, it says "END OF BOOK ONE". I had no idea that it was a series! Ugh! So, anyway, I just thought I would share some of my impatientness (yes, that IS a word...MY word) with you! I'm crossing my fingers that when I get the mail on Tuesday, it will be in there! Remember the Mervyn's commercials, with the annoying open, open, open people...that's me right now, only I'm saying please come, please come, please come. Stupid three day weekends!

Low

This is sure to bring a smile to your face...or a tear (from laughter) to your eyes!