MY DAZE

Tomorrow morning I am carpooling with my aunt to visit the land where I was raised.

The land where "ya'all" drive "rigs" and fish in "cricks." There is no need to voice your jealousy, dear reader. I understand how incredibly lucky I am to be making this journey. The friendly voices of my family that I have not seen in years will ask such endearing questions as,
"How long do you plan on nursing that kid, anyway?"
"Why are you single again?"
"Have you gained weight?"
They will cover me with loving comments including, but not limited to,
"Your hair is in your face."
"That's an interesting outfit."
"You came here for Thanksgiving, and you're not even going to eat any turkey!"
Reader, please feel free to insert eye rolls and deep sighs with any and/or all of these quotes.

One may start to ask why I am going to put myself through this misery?
For this...

This is Grandma and Papa and I love them with my whole heart. I spent majority of my childhood with them and often was taken on camping and boating trips with them too.
The woman pictured above is my hero. She is AMAZING. My daughter was named after her.

Therefore, I will drag my butt down to po-dunk and do my very best to maintain sanity during join in the family festivities.

Wish me luck!

Thanks to the superior camera stylings of Baz, her amazing editing skills, and the genius of lightroom, I now have more soccer photos to share that don't suck.


These were taken last season, as SuperGirl is now playing basketball.


These photos are much better than the ones I captured for a couple of reasons. First, Baz has become quite skilled at shooting in raw and capturing the moment. Second, she has several amazing camera lenses to choose from with incredible zoom power.



Go ahead Nike, call me.

I am in need of a new vehicle. I am currently saving up and plan to make a purchase sometime between March 2009 and March 2010. I have been looking at a few different vehicles and am interested in some more opinions. (This is not the place for one to go, BTW, when searching for more opinions on anything, as my 1-2 readers are not very forthcoming with their information and insight!)

Things I need in a car include (but are not limited to),

1. Pretty -I know what you are thinking. WTF!? Why is this NUMBER ONE?! Well, if I spend the most money I have ever had in my life on one object I want it to shimmer and shine at me every time that I walk towards it to get in. I want melodies to play in my head about sunshine and lollipops every time I look at this grand expense.

2. Not a Mini-Van -Again, I hear you thinking, "Lady, you got your priorities wrong, this is number two!" Here's the thing. I am single. There are certain things a mini-van broadcasts about your personality, about your lifestyle. As someone who has 2 children, is family orientated, and a soccer mom, I sure as shit do not not need to go around broadcasting that stuff! I'm not looking for a mate at the moment, but this car has to last awhile. When I do start dating, I would like to date someone cool. Let's me honest, a mini-van is not gonna make 'em come running! No, it's not all about men....it's kinda like wearing polyester pants when you get old. It's just one of those things I've promised myself never to do. ...then before you know it I'm 70 and have been driving a mini-van in my comfortable polyester pants for the past 35 years.

3. Lowest Gas-Mileage Possible (while paying close attention to #1!) -fairly self-explanatory.

4. High Safety Ratings -Did I mention I have kids?

5. Roomy Enough -I don't do a lot of camping or throwing bikes in the back or other things that require EXTRA cargo space, but again, I have kids. I don't want them sitting on my lap while I'm driving, if ya know what I mean.

6. Let's Revisit Pretty -I don't like boxes or squares that are disguised as automobiles. It doesn't have to be a triangle or linear by any means, but somewhere in between is nice. 90 degree angles are NOT necessary. -I have been sedan-ing it for quite some time. I am quite intrigued by small SUV's and cutesy wagons or hatchbacks. It might be fun to try something new.

7. All of the other stuff -I will cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm not interested in AWD vs. FWD, navigation, Sirius satellite radio, or other options. Since I have some time to think on this, I am trying to just do a little narrowing down of what I like.

Honda CR-V

Honda Fit Sport

Toyota Matrix

Toyota Rav4


These are some of the types of vehicles I like, but they are not the ONLY choices. Notice all the honda-toyota? Yeah, I would like to have one of those vehicles that is generally more trustworthy and doesn't depreciate in value quite as quickly as other brands. Again, this is not a die-hard rule.
(speaking of die hard, Karinda enjoys all 3 of those Bruce Willis films, but still doesn't believe she has seen the 4th.)

Oh, yes the voting....

Please see the sidebar on the right side of my blog to vote. You can also leave comments as to your opinions and reasonings concerning the type of car I will be driving in the future.

When a toddler goes to the fridge looking for the yummiest thing they can find, what else would they come out with except for pumped mommy milk?!
My baby boy had been visiting his dad the night before, causing his mommy to pump breast milk. I had not been feeling very well and did not have the energy to clean parts, so I just stuck the entire containers in the fridge. Of course, when baby went to raid the fridge, he was pleasantly surprised! He took his milk to the coffee table, so as not to miss a moment of Max & Ruby.









Mmmmmmm, breastmilk, it does a baby good!!!

I started this little blog in August 2007, and have finally reached the auspicious marker of 100 blog posts! In honor of this exciting moment, I’ve decided to hold my first giveaway.

The first prize is a $10.oo gift card to Amazon.com. The second prize is infant clothing. To be precise, NWT Carter's size 6 month unisex PJ's. Yes, they are a re-gift, but I'm a single mom, so I get a break, right?!

You can gain entries into this fabulous drawing in a number of ways:

You don’t have to do all of these things, you can just post a comment saying you want to be entered; the questions and linking and whatnot are all optional ways to get more entries.

Leave a comment on this post letting me know you would like to be entered. Please leave your prize preference, as when my 12 year old pulls your name from a hat, we want to give first dibs.

Link to this post talking about my giveaway, and leave a link to your post in the comments.

Answer any/all of the following questions about my blog. Please answer all questions in the same comment, and number your answers so it is clear how many questions you’ve answered.

1. How did you find my blog (a link, random surfing, something else)?
2. What is one specific thing you like about my blog?
3. What is a favorite or memorable post from this blog?
4. What is a favorite topic I blog about?
5. What is one specific thing you think I could do better?

In conclusion, if you comment that you would like to be entered in the giveaway AND link to this post in your blog AND leave a link to your post about my giveaway in the comments AND answer all of the 5 questions, your name would be in the hat 7 times. Those can be three separate comments, it's up to you. Normally I have one or two regular readers, I hope this may bring in some more readers and opinions. I also hope that this is not too confusing.
I will run this contest for 3 weeks. Winners will be announced on December 12th, 2008. This way if you need one of the prizes for a holiday gift, you will have it on time.
Happy Blogging!!!

I am addicted to Harry Potter books on CD. Not in a normal healthy way that gives validation to J.K.Rowling's AMAZING skill as a master story teller. More in a creepy, relationships have broken up due to my inability to TURN OFF the Harry Potter, kind of way.

For almost 2 years now I have been listening to Harry Potter audiobooks almost non-stop. They are my blankie, my favorite stuffy, the thing that I cling to in this life to maintain stability and comfort. I cannot get to sleep each night without listening to the sound of Jim Dale's comforting voice. Many people rely on other methods to get to sleep.

Medications,

supplements,

listening to soothing tunes,

cuddling,

white noise,

not me, I rely on this!


The soothing sound of Jim Dale's voice, accompanied by the fine tale of Harry, Hermoine, Ron, and Dumbledore. They really do come to life as he does their voices so well. I can't possibly sleep with the voice in my head droning on about things to do and making grocery lists. Therefore I need the story of someone else's life to take me to another place. I have tried relaxing to MANY other audiobooks. It is simply not the same.

If the toddler quacking isn't cute enough, you should hear his sad mama duck voice! It's hard not to giggle at his woeful duck sounds!

the children will....
No, no, no, wait....I meant to say while the single mom goes to try and lay down for one second of peace as she is exhausted from EVERYTHING her house all of a sudden becomes very quiet. Hmmm, perhaps a little too quiet...
Here is the older one hard at work on her homework for the day.

Perplexed by this the mom wanders further through her soundless house.
Note the look in his innocent eyes. Oh, and by the way, no he hasn't grown THAT much, he pulled a chair over to the stove.

Piles of laundry and vomitous children abound...........

vomit and such everywhere.

OMG!!! A superstar has contacted me! I was so honored, beside myself, and thrilled beyond belief!!! I called up one of my closest friends and shouted, "You will never believe what has happened!!! MRS. G commented on one of my posts!!!!" "Uh-huh," was her nonchalant reply. "No, you don't understand," I insist. "Mrs. G is as close as I will ever get to a rock star. She is like, FAMOUS!" My friend comments that Mrs. G is pretty down to earth, being from the northwest and all. I am feeling a little deflated at this point.
Cuz Mrs. G, folks, she is a SUPERSTAR. Say it with me.....SUPA-STAH

Much like Pioneer Woman is to Mrs. G, Mrs. G is to Karinda. Therefore, I found her taking the time to visit my measly little attempt at a blog very exciting. As Cher gave Mrs. G a reason to stop talking to cats, Mrs. G gives me a reason to blog.

As all the older children were doing tricks on both bikes and skateboards, this young lad on his first big boy bike, was not to be outdone.







This AWESOME bike that I got him for his birthday is a Strider purchased at www.RunBikes.com. It is one of many versions of Balance Bikes. It does not have any pedals and the theory is that children move straight from this to regular bikes and will never need training wheels. Not only do I love it, he LOVES it. I would highly recommend this great bike!!!

Riok turned two on November 4th, but I didn't have my photos ready. Better late than never. Happy Birthday Riok!! I hope you are enjoying your new bike! I love you with my whole heart and although things have been challenging lately, I couldn't do it without you. I love you, baby!