because I really can't get enough of myself

I'm having a love affair with popcorn. We used to just see each other at the movies. I would sit in the dark theater, with my hand in the warm buttery tub delighting in my guilty pleasure. Everything was rather innocent back then. And every once in awhile I would pop some in the microwave. I would tell the kids it was for them. Like a favorite uncle, they loved it when popcorn was in our house. But then we bought an air popper. It's been two weeks. Two weeks of never ending popcorn. First I made caramel corn for my kids' teachers. The good crunchy kind. I thought I could share it. I thought I would be strong enough to give some of my beloved popcorn away. But then I started to think of excuses to make more. The neighbors needed some, and we ought to make a double batch for our family Christmas Eve party. And each time I would dip in and dive further into the affair. I also realized how wonderful air popped popcorn with real butter was. It was like finding a deep...

So I said that Monkey likes guitars, right? Santa brought him a new one. (He's trashed the old one, since he's a fan of smashing it concert style into the floor.) He likes all kinds of rock music, but seems to be particularly fond of acid rock (hence the Guns n Roses in the video.) Is it wierd that our toddler has a preffered genre of music? And that it includes Guns n Roses? Here's a little clip him playing this morning - snowman pj's and pink binky included. I had to slice it a bit, because being an almost 2 year old, he gets distracted. So I took out the distractions and left the guitar parts. And just so you know, he didn't pull out some of his best moves (like playing behind his head or you know, the smashing thing...)

I finally finished. The day before Christmas everyone's gifts are done. Yeah, doing a home made Christmas -or what turned into a semi-partial home made Christmas because for the love of macaroni this is taking me FOREVER - was a total DRAG. I don't care how poor we are next year, or any year for that matter, everyone is getting a store bought gift, even if it's just socks or underwear or I don't know, an 80's poster from Goodwill, whatever, YOU BETTER LOVE IT. And now my Christmas gift to myself is actually going to bed before 3 AM and, of course, a lengthy sit at the computer to catch up on all the blog reading I missed. Because I totally deserve it. The crappiest part about all of this? My kids will probably love their cheapo store bought stuff way better than the stuff I made. Even if I put hours and hours of labor into them, and also some blood because I poke my fingers a lot, which sounds gross, ok, I wiped off the blood, but still, and also I put my soul i...

So you know how a little while ago I posted about getting rid of our baby clothes ? No? Yeah, well, I did. That was during my "moody" period, and I was a bit upset about it. Ok, so I'm still upset. But I'm getting better. Sort of. I went through all of our clothes and separated them into two piles. The "Wow, that has some nasty stains, but I just can't throw it away, because how wasteful would I be, don't you even CARE about our earth, so it better go to DI where they can hopefully power wash that out, or throw it away themselves without telling me" pile. And the "I'll take this to Other Mothers and hopefully get some cash or atleast some more cute kid clothes out of it" pile. (It was a much smaller pile....but still surprisingly large, because we have a ton of old baby clothes, which I believe I already mentioned....in that other post.) And then I put the two piles in containers (multiple containers) and stuck them in our garage....

You know that book that Sue is putting together for NieNie ? I got to do the cover. Can I get a WOOT WOOT. Want to know what else is cool? The pig in my header is still dressed like a turkey and will probably stay that way until Christmas is over. Awesome.

I think Costco should adopt us as their "Secret Santa" family. Wouldn't that be awesome? Except I don't think Costco really does that. But they should. Because I have my list all ready: 1 giganto box of toilet paper 52 boxes of Huggies in sizes 3 & 5 (that should last us a few weeks) 4 bottles of those gummy vitamin bears A lifetime supply of wet wipes 27 pounds of pre-frozen chicken breasts 5 boxes of corn dogs or chicken nuggets or both As many cans of fruit and vegetables that can fit into our garage (I'll even move the car, except I don't want canned peas or green beans, because they are nasty, although I'll take some frozen peas and someone pretending that I like green beans.) 27 tubes of cinnamon flavored toothpaste A new digital camcorder (ours is starting to fossilize) 489 pounds of M&Ms in Christmas colors. And then just a smattering of the fun stuff that they always throw into the center of the store. I found some really cute jeans for ...

So I was searching my house, wracking my brain, trying to figure out where I put my daughter's theater slip when I had an epiphany -ok, maybe not an epiphany, but more like a regular idea- about why I am so scatterbrained these days. I used to remember everything. When I was in 6th grade I could name everyone my age. The student body wasn't huge, but that was at least 350 people. And just because I didn't actually know them all, or maybe know all of their last names, I could identify almost every one of their faces. In high school and college I was an expert crammer. I would study right before the test, remember everything with crystal clear precision for a few hours, score amazing grades, and then forget most of it. That information was concrete for those few hours, and tests were a breeze. This morning I walked up the stairs to grab a pair of socks for Monkey, but once I reached the top step I couldn't recall why I was there. It took another trip back down the s...

So I was on vacation for awhile, and I'm not even promising to catch up on all the blog posts I missed. Sorry. But I fully expect you to read every single word that I type. Really. While I was on vacation I went with my mom and my sister to see Twilight (my second viewing.) And then we discussed the hotness of each character. Of course with different opinions, but mine is the best, naturally. I decided to get all obsessed about it though, and I re-read the book before we went. Which doesn't sound TOO obsessed until you hear that I was in a craze while searching the house for my step-mom's copy of the book. I couldn't find it anywhere. I even checked her trunk. (It wasn't there.) Luckily she got home after about an hour (or possibly two hours) of searching. Which left me about 24 hours to read the book, and still socialize with my family. Did you know that it's possible to read and carry on a conversation at the same time? I think this was only possibl...