Perception vs. Reality

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

Swiped this one from ClemsonGirl. Totally fun, and while Heather would argue (legitimately) that I read WAY more than five blogs every day, these five of my faves. You all make my day, girls!

1 & 2. Badger Meets World & Make Your Own Damn Dinner: OK, so I realize that this is actually two blogs, but if you're a mom who's ever been faced with the dilemma of children refusing to eat what you cook, you must read up on Badger's solution in "MYODD". Her regular blog is just as hysterical.

3. A Study of Schoolbooks & Shoes: Libby makes me want to pack up, move to Boston and go to law school. Hope Fate is kind to you this time around, Libs!

4. Barely Keeping It All Together: Sasha and I both have a Wild Child in our lives, and share many other similarities. Love reading her kiddie posts, as they remind me that sanity is relative.

5. JourneyMama: Rae is amazing. There are no other adequate ways to describe her, so go check out her blog before she heads off to India with her husband and three-soon-to-be-four children.

So girls, if you're reading this, and are willing to accept your award, please "pass it on" by doing the following:

Write a post with links to five blogs that make your day.
Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
Display the “You Make My Day Award” logo.
Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs or emailing them the news.

Working Diva Present and Accounted For!

Yes, I'm still here. Alive, anyway. My mental state is open for debate, but that's another story! :)

I returned safely from "Lost Vegas", as Sweet Son #1 refers to it. The conference went well, and even though my flight (and three others from Vegas) fell prey to the Southwest cancellations. Nana & Papa survived my trip as well, which is no great feat, considering they took care of The Manimal for the week.

More soon, I promise. I have to get back into the swing of blogging. Also, I haven't forgotten about the giveaway, ladies! I've got the packages just about ready to send, so hang in there with me.

In the meantime, check out a new addition to the blogosphere, my dear friend Heather. She's a frequent blog reader and is joining us on the writing side!

Lucky

Well kids, tomorrow I'm headed west for my conference. By myself. Sans children and husband.


Aaaaahhhh...


Thanks for allowing me that moment to savor my upcoming five days. Yep, I'm headed to Vegas, Baby! And while I'm not a big gambler, I do plan on relaxing and having a bit of fun. Maybe one of the one-armed bandits will be kind to me.


We'll see if Lady Luck is on my side.


In the meantime, I did the drawing! Now, because this is my blog, and I can do whatever I want, I let Miss Cindy get in on the action, even though she was a bit late. I'll just chalk it up to that relaxed California mentality!


Here are the seven lucky participants (please excuse the cell phone photos)...
Now for the drawing (out of my fab Vera Bradley lunchbag)...
And the winners are (drum roll, please!)... And just in case you can't really see my oh-so-fabulous photos, Congratulations to Kelly and Demand More! Ladies, e-mail me with your snail mail info, and I'll get those out to you as soon as I return from my trip!

Many Will Enter...

At least I hope!

C'mon fellow blogging friends, I know there are more than two of you reading. Well, maybe not a LOT more than two, but at least a few more.

Who doesn't like fun surprise gifts? Not that I wouldn't be thrilled to send the packages to Kelly and The Princess, but at least make the randomizer do a bit of work!

So leave a comment here, and maybe you'll get lucky. No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter, as this is a family blog.

And for a little cinematic fun, see if you can figure out the quotes that are left here.

Oh, and hop on over to see Chloe and Bryan. Both are new parents of beautiful babies. Well, Bryan's pretty experienced, as their new addition makes FOUR BOYS. Oy! I'm lucky I can handle the two I have. Congrats to both newly-enlarged families!

Pay It Forward

I found out that I'm one of the lucky winners in Sasha's Pay It Forward Giveaway. I tried to find the initiator of this fun giveaway, and traced it back through several blogs, including Traci's, Jen's, Flutterby's, Bunny's, Mindy's, and ended up at Frog's. I stopped there, because I couldn't find Frog's "Pay It Forward" post. As far as I can tell, hers was from October or November of 2007. Pretty cool!

So here's the dealio.

Leave a comment by Thursday, March 6th at 5 pm Central Time (sorry, I don't do time conversions, you'll have to figure that out for yourselves!). I'll do a random drawing that evening for TWO lucky winners of a little care package that will make you feel young again.

EDITED TO ADD: I forgot one of the most important parts! If you are one of the lucky winners, you have to agree to "Pay it Forward" and do a giveaway of your own. Sounds fair, right? Spread the blogging love! :)

Have fun!

Movie Mayhem

As indicated in my previous post, I don't get to see too many movies in the theatre. This does not, however, mean that I don't love a good movie. I've never been one of those people, though, who can quote chapter and verse from their fave flick.

So when I found this meme over at Badger's place, I was intrigued. It's fun, and here are the ground rules:

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out (I'll be darned if I can figure out how to do that!) when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. GUESSERS: NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions. I mean, you can cheat if you want, but is it really that important?
6. One movie guess per blogger. Give people a chance to guess before you steal all of the awesome!

Here we go, kiddos!

1. Way to go, Cami! From "The American President"..."How'd you finally do it? Do what? Manage to give a woman flowers and be president at the same time? Well, it turns out I've got a rose garden."

2. Carrie Lea! Carrie Lea! Carrie Lea! From "Rudy"..."We're gonna go inside, we're gonna go outside, inside and outside. We're gonna get 'em on the run boys and once we get 'em on the run we're gonna keep 'em on the run. And then we're gonna go go go go go go and we're not gonna stop til we get across that goalline. This is a team they say is... is good, well I think we're better than them. They can't lick us, so what do you say men?"
3. Yay, TulipMom! From "You've Got Mail"..."Brinkley is my dog. He loves the streets of New York as much as I do. Although he likes to eat bits of pizza and bagels off the sidewalk and I prefer to buy them."

4. Let's hear it for our South African blogging friend, Hanlie! From "The Princess Bride"..."Hear this now: I will always come for you. But how can you be sure? This is true love - you think this happens every day?"

5. "Sure you didn't put booze in that? Something better. Perhaps you should give it to my daughter. Melt that chilly disposition of hers."

6. "They say you're the world's only living heart donor."

7. "Up until now everything around here has been, well, pleasant. Recently certain things have become unpleasant. Now, it seems to me that the first thing we have to do is to separate out the things that are pleasant from the things that are unpleasant."

8. Home Run, Kelly! From "A League of Their Own"..."Careers and higher education are leading to the masculinization of women, with enormously dangerous consequences to the home, the children, and our country. When our boys come home from war, what kind of girls will they be coming home to? And now the most disgusting example of this sexual confusion: Mr. Walter Harvey of Harvey bars is presenting us with women's baseball. Right here in Chicago, young girls plucked from their families are gathered at Harvey Field, to see which one of them can be the most masculine. Mr. Harvey, like your candy bars, you're completely... nuts."

9. "You think that mosquitos, monkeys, and lions are bad? That is just the beginning. I've seen things you've only seen in your nightmares. Things you can't even imagine. Things you can't even see. There are things that hunt you in the night. Then something screams. Then you hear them eating, and you hope to God that you're not dessert. Afraid? You don't even know what afraid is. You would not last five minutes without me."

10. "That's all."

Have fun!

File This Under "Is She For Real?"

Before the children made their appearances in our lives, The Husband and I enjoyed going to movies. We don't do that so much anymore. As a matter of fact, I may have sprained my brain trying to figure out the last movie that I saw in the theatre.

After reading this, I don't think I've missed much.

Loving on Leap Day

So I couldn't let today go by without some sort of blogging. I mean, I won't have another chance to blog on February 29th for FOUR WHOLE YEARS. Who knows where my life will take me by then?

In celebration of Leap Day, I decided to share some things I'm "Loving on Leap Day":

1. TurboTax

Yay! They're done (our taxes, that is) and we ARE getting a refund. Now, I know the fine folks who do this financial thing for a living will tell me that I shouldn't be letting the government "borrow" my money for a whole year, only to return it to me without any interest paid, but seriously? Getting a refund makes the whole income tax filing thing a bit easier to swallow.

2. Winter Clearance Sales

Yesterday the zipper on SS#1's (yes, he's over the Mr. Poopyfacepants stage--for now) winter jacket broke. I can't complain, as the jacket has lasted two winters. However, we in the Windy City area are still getting snow, so the boy had to have a winter jacket. I decided to purchase one in "next year's" size and found great deals on clearance, so now BOTH boys have new winter jackets--for less than $20 for both! I was wearing the Bargain Diva tiara yesterday!

3. Spring Break Camp

Our park district runs a day camp for elementary-aged students during the school district spring break. Bonus for us work-away-from-home parents who would otherwise be tearing our hair out to find alternative care for our munchkins. Bonus is that my workplace is closed on Easter Monday as well, so I get a REAL free day! :)

4. The Dripping Sound Outside My Window

Because it means the snow is MELTING. Of course, I can't get too excited since the snow that is currently melting just fell last night, and it's only the end of February. We've been known to get that occasional freak snowstorm in April. But for today, Leap Day, the snow is melting!

5. My Hair Salon

Where I will be on Thursday, taking care of my scary greys (Seriously people, I'm not 40 yet. My mom finally gave up the battle and has the most beautiful silver-grey hair. I'm just not ready yet to completely turn into my Mom.) before my hair turns on me. I love this salon and my stylist, because she can take care of my scary greys without completely breaking the bank.

6. Spring Forward

Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 9th. Losing that hour is oh-so-worth-it to me. Why? The first fall that I was in Chicago, none of my Ohio friends believed me when I told them it was DARK at 4:30 in the afternoon. As we inch toward March 9th, there is more daylight in the afternoon. Thank goodness!

7. Easter

Because I am so excited to celebrate the Risen Lord, but also because my baby, Sweet Son #1, will be taking Communion for the first time that day. No big ceremony like in the Catholic Church, but the kids get to take Communion with their parents. He's not nearly as excited about this as I am, but it is bittersweet, since it is another milestone, reminding me that he's not really my baby anymore, but my big boy.

8. Vegas, Baby!

I'll be headed out west for a Conference in March. By myself! Grandma and Grandpa are coming to stay with my boys and the dog-who-thinks-she's-a-human. I'll be gone for five whole days. In a hotel. Alone. Bliss.

9. Great Blogging Friends

Like Libby, who posted just the right thing, at just the right time. I feel your pain about the cold, dearie. Beantown and Chi-Town both seem to be unable to escape the white stuff. Take heart, though, the sun shines brightly today, and I'm willing it your way!

10. Bloggy Babies

Cheers to soon-to-be girlie moms, Cloggsy and TulipMom. Hope both of your deliveries are blessedly uneventful and quick! The Preppy blogworld can't wait to meet both of the little ladies. :)

That's all on this Leap Day. Kiss a frog today and have fun!

A Bird in the Hand is...

Our dog-who-thinks-she's-just-a-four-legged-human LOVES the snow. She loves sitting in it. She loves romping in it in that way puppies-at-heart are wont to do. She loves rubbing her nose in it. She loves eating it, even the disgusting yellow stuff. If it's falling from the sky, she loves barking at it. She loves digging in it.

That last one never bothered me until the other night.

I'd let her out after dinner (for about the millionth time since we got home. She loves the snow.) and heard the familiar scratching. I let her in and caught a glimpse of a slightly snow-covered wad of sticks in her mouth.

Only, one of the sticks had small claws. Bird-shaped claws.

She knew she wasn't supposed to have it in the house, because as soon as she came in, she bolted. For the family room. The carpeted family room. Where my children were playing. On the floor. She looked liked the cat that swallowed the canary. Or the dog who nearly had.

And when I called "PRINCESS!" and chased her, she dropped it. Right on the carpet. Then she took refuge in her cage, with her tail between her legs and ears flat against her head.

And there it was. I'll save you from the gross details, but yes, it was a bird. Or at least it was at one time. I couldn't get to the paper towel and bags fast enough. She wanted her treasure back. Fortunately, I was able to get it before she returned a third time.

Most.Disgusting.Thing.Ever.

I don't think rottweilers or chows are bird dogs by nature, so maybe it's some weird result of combining the breeds. This is the second time she's gotten a bird. The first time it was alive when she brought her trophy into the house. At least this one was still when I cleaned it up.

So the adage "A bird in the hand..."? Better than a bird the mouth, I suppose.

I Needed a Good Laugh Today

Before you watch this, make sure you don't have to pee. And I would also recommend not trying to eat or drink while watching it. Because if you aren't cracking up right alongside the little guy, you just might be dead.

No School

When I was a single teacher, I loved those days off of school. Not the teacher workdays, but you know, President's Day, MLK Day, Memorial Day. Snow days were even better because you got them totally out of the blue.

Now I am a parent who works outside of the home. I hate those days off. They generally mean either taking a vacation day or scrambling to find care for Sweet Son #1 (temporarily renamed Mr. Snottyfacepants) and sometimes even for The Manimal. This messes with my routine, which God knows, puts me over the edge.

The normal holidays (President's Day, MLK Day, Memorial Day) are bad enough. Snow days are the worst, because I not only have to scramble to figure out what to do with the kiddies, but I have to battle the elements to get to work.

At least with the normal holidays, I know they're coming. When I moved to the Land of Lincoln, however, I had no idea that residency brought with it yet another holiday.

Enter Casimir Pulaski Day.

Celebrated the first Monday in March, this "holiday" celebrates one Casimir Pulaski, a Polish-born General in the Continental Army during the American Revolution who, according to Wikipedia, has been called "the Father of the American Cavalry".

Now, I'm all for cultural heroes, and I understand that the Windy City has the largest Polish population outside of Poland. But why exactly does my child get a day off of school? Keep him there, teach him about Casimir, feed him paczki and kielbasa, but please, keep him in school when he's supposed to be in school.

Sorry all you teachers out there. I'm a firm believer in higher pay for deserving teachers and goodness knows, most of you deserve every day off you get. But have pity on a working parent who expects that her child be educated from 9-3 every weekday and not given random days off.

Mr. Snottyfacepants and the Pig

As I alluded to in a previous post, Sweet Son #1 has been temporarily renamed "Mr. Snottyfacepants".

Why, you ask? Well, if I tell you that he's 7 1/2 years old, those of you who have children who've reached or surpassed that age will completely understand. For those of you who don't have the slightest clue about the situtation, one adage says it all.

"Never try to teach a pig to dance. You just get dirty and it annoys the pig."

Simply put, seven year old boys are always right. They know everything. Moms are never right and they know nothing. They are the ultimate contrarians. If I told him we were going out after dinner to get ice cream, he would whine and say he wanted a milkshake instead.

And oh, the whining! His bedtime is 8:30. I generally start the warnings around 8:00:

8:00--"Bedtime in a half-hour, buddy."

8:15--"You've got about 15 minutes left, big guy."

8:25--"OK, why don't you go upstairs and brush your teeth."

This last one usually gets the first response.

Him: "WHAT?! Why do I have to go brush my teeth?"

Me: "Because you only have five minutes until bed."

Him: "WHAT?! You didn't tell me that!"

Me: "Right. The previous warnings and the fact that 8:30 is ALWAYS your bedtime didn't give you a clue."

Him: "But WHY do I have to go to bed in five minutes."

Me: "Well, now it's really three minutes because you've wasted two minutes arguing."

Him: "But I'm not tired."

Me: "Go brush your teeth."

Him: (sounds of stomping up the stairs, slamming the bathroom door, etc.)

I consider it a victory if he makes it to bed by 8:45.

Unfortunately, as I understand it, this stage of child development can last anywhere from a few months to ten years.

But by gosh, that pig will know how to dance by then.

I'm Running Away to Join the Circus!

Hah! Gotcha there, didn't I? Actually, my life is a bit of circus of its own right now with The Manimal, Sweet Son #1 (temporarily renamed "Mr. Snottyfacepants"), Princess (the Wonder Dog Who Thinks She's a Human), and The Husband.

I would, however, like to run away to the Ranch. And become a Pioneer Woman-in-Training. If you haven't ever visited Ree, you absolutely must. She's absolutely amazing, and she cooks too! Maybe she'll take boarders. Just me, of course, because it wouldn't be running away if I had to take the circus performers with me!

I've been feeling the cooking bug the last few days. Mostly it's been making the normal dinners, cooking in advance to save time, etc. But I really went out on a limb and decided to make beef tamales. From scratch. By myself.

A bit of history.

The Husband's family is Mexican. I have learned how to make many Mexican dishes, which have, over the years, improved (which is a good thing for all concerned). I do a mean red rice, make refried beans, regular frijoles (the precursor to a good refried bean dish), chile reallnos, tacos, flan. You get the idea. I have made tamales only once before and it was with his mother.

The concept is pretty easy. Take a corn husk, soak it in water for about 20 minutes, pat it dry, smear some masa (pre-mixed corn meal, salt, shortening)into it, add some meat, roll that puppy up and steam the heck out of it. Unfortunately, there are some nuances in the rolling, and, oh, did I mention that you have to steam them for about 40 minutes or so?

Lesson learned? Don't start steaming tamales at 8:30 pm when you have to get up for work the next morning.

The upside of being awake steaming tamales until almost midnight? They didn't turn out half bad! AND I don't have to cook dinner tonight. Just heat up some tamales!

Because this was the maiden solo tamales voyage, I didn't take pictures. Because, quite frankly, while they taste yummy, they're not quite ready to be Tamales en Fotografias. And I'm not really a neat cook. When I was done, my kitchen looked like Mexico City, post-earthquake.

A bit of trivia. Did you know that a single of a group of tamales is called a "tamal"? Not a "tamale" as I (and most of the other gringos) call it! Who knew?

And don't think I've forgotten about my MouseLand postings. I haven't. I promise. They'll just take a bit longer. And show up when you least expect them. In between posting about tamales and Webkinz (don't even ask...).

The Best (Belated) Valentine's Gift EVER

As I've mentioned before, The Manimal's language skills are developing at light-speed. He repeats EVERYTHING he hears (bad), but can usually make his desires known (good).

This morning we were cuddling before we got out of bed and he turned his sweet little snot-crusted nose (we ALL have head colds) to me and said "I love you Mommy."

I think that makes up for the "oh sh*t" from earlier this week...

Say a Prayer

This one hit close to home. Prayers for the Northern Illinois University and DeKalb Communities. Everyone hold your loved ones a bit closer, and call your parents.

The Manimal and His Twin

You know those commercials where the photos live in digital cameras for years? I promise to try and NOT be one of those camera owners, but the vacay photos are indeed still in my camera!

So I decided to share a story for which I have no pictures. Of course, it was one incident where we SHOULD have taken photos, so amazing was the resemblance.

On Day 2 of our Disney Excursion, we ventured to Animal Kingdom with our VIP Guide, Matthew (more on the VIP program later, but Tiny and Matthew? They ROCK!). We made a quick pit stop at the potties before we headed into the wild. Nana kept an eye on The Manimal while I powdered my nose, and when I came out, I saw double.

Standing next to my red-striped shirt and tan shorts clad child was his doppelganger. Dressed in an identical outfit, right down to his monkey backpack (but, shh, it's really a harness!) and curly brown hair! Manimal #2's family was wildly snapping pictures, but the Diva family? We all just stared, mouths agape. A quick conversation with Manimal #2's mom confirmed that we frequented the same stores for kids' clothes, and believe it or not, the twin was only about 10 days The Manimal's senior!

The boys, of course, didn't seem to be as in awe of the resemblance as did the families. They both just stood there, eyes glazed over, wondering why everyone was taking pictures and pointing. Put some mouse ears on them and people would've thought they were part of the park attraction.

If you're headed to Animal Kingdom, I highly recommend the "Festival of the Lion King" show. A.Ma.Zing. Fabulous show, enjoyed by all. "It's Hard to Be a Bug" was a big hit as well, as was "Expedition Everest". We did some of the kiddie rides too, but they're, well, kiddie rides. The safari was nice, but I can't imagine waiting in a long line for it. All in all, a "Hakuna Matata" kind of day!

Right Now

I'm enjoying some Wheat Thins with Nutella (If you haven't tried it, don't ask. Something about the sweet and salty together is just, well, right.).

Wishing I had wine too.

It's just been one of those kind of days.

Out of the Loop

Wow, going away for six days really wreaks havoc on one's routine! I was doing so well posting every day, and now we've been home for five days and I've posted one measley little update. I have got to do better.

No pics yet, because I've been working every day since we got home. MouseLand was fabulous.
Of course, now we're all laid low with the mother of all head colds, but I guess that's the penalty we pay for enjoying the MOST GORGEOUS weather while our fellow Chicagoans dug themselves out of one of the worst winters ever.

We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort in Animal Kingdom. Nice place, if not a little bizarrely decorated. My mom wondered if they were in the process of redecorating the bathrooms or if the decorator was just drunk. Picture, if you will, an orange, red and blue striped shower curtain, weird geometric Aztec-print border in same colors, and a wallpaper in a black and white stairstep geometric pattern. I, however, thought it was the most beautiful place in the world, since the Manimal chose that very toilet to pee in FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! Don't get too excited, though. He's really not ready for the full potty training yet, but he does sit on the toilet, flush, wash his hands and get really excited. Peeing in the pot was a fluke, but boy did we go crazy!

As previously mentioned, the weather was spectacular. Every day, the temperature hovered right around 85 degrees, with sunshine and beautiful blue skies. We were in Heaven! Sweet Son #1 decided that he'd like to move to Florida, especially if it meant we'd not have to deal with snow. I reminded him that Central Florida was prone to some nasty rainstorms and had to deal with the occasional hurricane residue, but that didn't seem to sway his seven-year-old mind. Of course, he might've been under the influence of a mouse and his friends.

More to come, I promise. I'll regale you with tales such as The Manimal and His Twin, Meltdown of a Five-Year-Old, Meal-Sharing With Donald, VIP Tours: The Only Way to Meet the Mouse, Why Not to Eat at the Rainforest Cafe, Attack of the Chicken Nuggets, The Fastest Three Seconds EVER, and more!

Home Sweet Home

Just a quick note to say that we're finally home. I'll be posting more later (with photos, of course!), but suffice it to say, the kids were thrilled, the trip was wonderful, the weather was fabulous, and Chicago got snow.