Wordless Wednesday... and a few words

My first time knitting a hat. The color is called Grape Jelly. Yummy!

Rogers Family Christmas Cards a la Shutterfly!

Family Wall Noir Christmas Card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Wordless Wednesday... and a few words

A boy and his first motor. Ah, true love.

Creative organized holiday greetings amidst utter chaos? Totally Doable.

As the days counting down to Christmas dwindle away, many of us find ourselves wondering what in the world we are going to do and how the heck we are going to pull it off. With the current economy still wreaking havoc on many of our pocket books, this can be even more stressful and anxiety laden. I know. I wake up nights wracked with concern, sweat pouring down my face, many times screaming "SANTA! STOP!" Ya, probably something I need to bring up in therapy...

Anyway, my point is, I GET IT! And I'm here to tell you (and myself) that it doesn't have to be this way! We live in the age of technology and it's a wonderful thing! It can save us not only money, but time and most importantly save us from ourselves!

Case in point. How many times have you said "I would LOVE to get a family portrait done of my beautiful wonderful children and send it out as a Christmas card, maybe with our year updates for the family members we hardly ever see." And then your oldest starts "cooking" for your middle child who wants to help and sets off the smoke alarm, waking up the baby, who starts SCREAMING because her diaper is full and her stomach is empty, while your darling hubby (with out missing a beat or looking up from his game)asks "Honey, will get the baby? I'm on level 40 and this guy has me locked in battle." Then you realize, there is NO WAY I'm going to be able to get these kids to sit still and look cute all at the same time, let alone the big one virtually taking his aggressions out on a dwarf!

*deep breath* OK, probably not that often... but you get my point. Right?

Well, this year I know exactly how I'm going to handle it! I have several great pics of the all the family, just not of all of them together. And with the awesome holiday photo cards they have available at Shutterfly.com, I can just pick the best of each of them and BAM! Precious holiday photo-card greeting done! I can even get them in a folded card so I can add updates about our family, like Libby's birth, Liam starting school and all about Cait's awards. Come to think of it, they also have gifts you can personalized. I know Nana and Papa would LOVE a calendar loaded with pics of the kids. And my Dad would totally get a kick out of a mug with their precious faces on the side so he could brag all day at work. :0)

Well there ya go! Christmas solved! Stress relieved! Scary Santa nightmares... I'll work on that one. Until then, stress less and have a great holiday season everyone!
;0)

I Voted ... in my underwear.

I know. Big deal. Right? Yes, it IS a big deal! We are privileged to live in a land where we get a say and many times this is sadly over looked. Does that mean I vote every time? No. And that might be bad of me, however, I do have the right not to if I so chose. That too is something we should realize is a privilege. In some countries, you are forced to vote in the name of democracy (whatever) but there's only one name on the ballot.

But I digress... *quickly gets off the soap box before she is kicked off* The point is, I did it IN MY UNDERWEAR! I know. Not quite the vision you wanted, but still. That is the life. Voting in my own room... chillin'... with my coffee... in my underwear... watchin' my favorite morning news program. And it go me thinkin', if the public officials could pass the freakin' budget in their rooms... in their underwear... shit might get done! Or not. It was a thought. A gross one, now that I think about it more. Could you imagine CNN covering that? *shudder* Ya, OK. Never mind.

Anyway, to the point I wanted to make to begin with: When you vote, you get one of these!!!!

Some places give you freebies or discounts if you wear this on election day. I would comprise an awesome list of said goodies, but I'm tired now from voting and blogging (both in my underwear, of course) and now the baby is screaming AND both my other kids have homework they need help done. I did try to do a search to share with you, but honestly, all I found were from the presidential election back in 08 and several articles on how its illegal to give away freebies for voting. *shrug* I tried.

Super Yummy Teether! (a way over due review)

A couple months back, my daughter started teething. Big Time! At the same time, my girlfriend's son started teething too. Coincidentally, I won a $25 credit for Discovery Toys in a giveaway sponsored by fellow blogger and mom extraordinaire, Jennifer Bellucci a.k.a. Mum2Abby of "Home is Where They Send Us...". With my credit, I scored 2 of the greatest teethers ever! Bright red, very tactile stimulating and smelling (and I am assuming tasting) of yummy vanilla, this great toy was the instant favorite with my friend's son. It's easy to grip and has several chewable nubbies to choose from. It's name: The Super Yummy Teether. Perfect.

Now, I wanted to include pics of either or both kids going to town on their teethers. This proved to be impossible. My daughter still has not mastered holding it on her own very well and my friend's son never has it when I have my camera at the ready. I will get pics and when I do, they will be posted. Promise.

Other Great Points of the Teether:

* Bright Red! Can't miss it!

* Hole big enough to attach it a stroller, carrier, play center, etc. with links.

* Smells good!

* Decent size. No losing it in the diaper bag.

* The price! These great teethers were very affordable at $10 each.

* Very Durable!!

* Soft and relatively light weight. I say that, because it is a lot bigger than I had expected it to be. In fact, I was sure Libby was going to bash her own face with it upon her first fumble. Not so. Despite its hammer like appearance, it is very baby friendly, even for those new to the whole eye-hand thing.

So, in short: 5 stars, 2 thumbs up, and the very first, not so coveted, KidLit's Keepers Award to Discovery Toy's Super Yummy Teether!! And another to Jen for her outstanding service! If you like Discovery Toys, show her some love and send your business her way. Oh, and her blog is awesome and worthy of your attention too. ;0)

For those who give two shakes, this was an unsolicited review. I was not asked nor was I paid to give it. While the teethers were free to me, they were a result of a blog give-away and were given with out any requirements. The views of this blog are of mine and mine alone, unless otherwise specified. Yadda-yadda-yadda. Blobbity blobbity. Bippity Boppity Boo!

Ramblings of a Mad Woman

This will most likely make no sense. If you walk away and make a sandwich while I vomit the thoughts from my head, that's fine. I'll probably still be rambling when you get back.

I started this blog back in.... crap, I don't remember when I started this blog... a while ago. It just sat here! Had, maybe one post? Don't bother looking for it. I deleted it. But then, a member of my mom's group started blogging. Then another. I figured it was worth another shot. After all, I was spewing enough books on our mom's site, might as well re-direct my efforts to one place in the event I wanted to re-read them at some point or share them with non-mom-group-members. That and most of the mom's were scanning my rants at best. I was feeling bad about all the eye pollution I was creating there. I mean, it was usually on topic and only a a little self centered. ;0) But where else was I going to spew my brain spittle?!? So, ya. The blog made sense for my sake and the sake of my fellow mama's. (Note: some of them would be quick to argue and say my stuff was funny/well worded/on topic/blah blah blah... but they are my friends and pay them to say that. Others said it was skim worthy at best, so... You be the judge. Read my stuff and either follow my blog or leave "YOU SUCK" in the comments section and kick rocks. Ok, maybe not that last part.)


I like creative writing. However, my definition of "creative writing" doesn't seem to be the same as my previous instructors definitions, because my papers always came back marked up with mountains post-it arrows and miles of red ink pointing out all my grammatical, punctuational and spelling errors. (Not to mention lengthy run-on sentences) I mean, isn't it creative to manipulate punctuation, spacing and what not in order to write like you talk? I always thought so. Apparently, what I saw as "creative", they saw as just "wrong." This quickly sent my love of writing out the window. My love was rekindled as I started posting about my families adventures on the aforementioned mama's group, which led me here.

The problem with this whole blog thing, is that I get performance anxiety. I know that sounds stupid, but bare with me while I explain. I started this to unload the rambling thoughts out of my head and have them stored some where. Then I get here and feel the not so piercing eyes of would be readers. Not that I have many. But still! And it's stupid really! I want to do this for myself! What do I care what others think? Because I'm HUMAN! *eye roll* Now, if I was a cat, this wouldn't be the case. Cats don't care what others think. Especially humans! But then, cats don't have thumbs, so... that would be pointless. All my entries would be about tuna and lack spaces.

Speakin' of Tuna... back with that sandwich? Good! Well, don't let me stop ya. Munch on. I'm almost done.

So, what is my point with all this. Well, not sure if I have one really. Just trying to figure some things out for myself. Answer some questions. Like... Do I want to keep blogging? Does it matter if no one really reads it? Is it better if not one reads it? What if people DO read it? Will that bother me? Do I continue to write like I'm aware others will be reading or more like I am writing in a personal diary and from the heart? And if I do, do I attempt to be more correct in my creativity or just give in and be creative in my own interpretation of the word? Will I slave to a schedule? Do I sign up on blog lists and with blog groups? Or do I fly solo and let the flow of the internet wave take me where ever the tide of surfers see fit? To tell you the Truth, I know none of these answers. Yet. But I will! This was my first step. Now that I've typed this all out and have read and re-read it, it will be easier to mull over as one big picture and not just a jumbled mass of fragmented thoughts. Hopefully, I'll have an answer soon.

Done with your sandwich I see. Wow. Did I really ramble that long? Eh. Nothing new.

Oh great. Now I'm hungry. Good thing dinner is already in the oven. ;0)