I married a backseat driver

I got into this relationship with my hubby knowing he was an electronic buying junkie-something that has caused it's share of quarrels-but, I can handle that compared to his other annoying habit.

Whenever we go somewhere, I do not volunteer to drive. Why?

BECAUSE MY HUSBAND IS A BACKSEAT DRIVER.

"Do you see that car turning?" he asks.

"Watch out for the car behind you!" he yells.

"Did you put on your turn signal?" he asks again.

"You need to go the speed limit," he states.

"I could do that better," he mumbles.

I tell him that I know how to drive and I've been driving since I was sixteen and I've been doing just fine before he came along. I like to remind him that HE has been the only one that had to turn in car "mishaps" to the insurance company since we've been together. He seems to think he has to "help" me with my driving (which does not suck) because as he puts it- I'm a woman.

I understand I just now made hundreds of woman want to hunt him down and run over him with their cars and then blame it on the fact that they are women and can't drive.

Would you like our address?

The light at the end of the tunnel

Things are a bit better around here. We (my side) have decided to let things go because we are fighting a losing battle to prove our side. You can't make anyone see something when they refuse to open their eyes to see it. Sometimes, you win just by knowing you are right. This isn't anything new to me. I've been having to be the one to "just drop it" all my life. Being the bigger person is not fun and can give you high blood pressure occasionally.

Anyway, I need to get back to business and by that, I mean WRITING. I have been neglecting my article writing, and for those who wondered if I was ever going to write my next chapter to my book, I will try to have that up by tomorrow or Saturday. If you missed the first chapter, you can find it here.

If you've been checking out my other blog, I have some more food photos up and another foodie blog interview. Here's some photos of my cinnamon rolls.

Are you hungry now? Me too. I'm off to eat some lunch and finish that next chapter-I'll try not to pick a fight with anyone, but I can't promise anything.

Family?

I'm still around. I just have been through alot with "family" problems. When you have a family member who has done alot to you over the years and then blames your kid for something they didn't or would never do, you just got to say 'enough is enough'.

It's hard though, when you don't have the support of your other family memebers. It's always a losing battle when it comes to anyone standing up for me and my kids. When a parent plays favorites, you don't stand a chance for any support-especially when you stand up for your kid and they say that you are the one causing trouble. WTF? I am? I'm always the one this other family member comes down on.

I actually felt bad for distancing the one person that I would not want to lose contact with, yet she just shot me down. She will never take my side or my kids against this other family member and it's pretty shitty how this all went down.

I will stand by my family and protect them against this person who did the same thing to me years ago. Little do these people know, they should be concentrating on someone else in the family, not my daughter.

So, I guess I'm the black sheep as usual. Baaah.

I'm so glad I have you guys to talk to. I don't know what I would do without you. Funny, how people that you barely know can be there for you the most.

Anyone want to adopt a 40ish woman with good teeth, a lot of baggage, a big addiction to chocolate and who just gave up Dr. Pepper at the worse possible time?

Getting you out of my life

Dear Dr. Pepper,

You and I go way back. I remember when I was 8 and loved you so much that I even bought Dr. Pepper lip gloss-just to feel and taste you on my lips. I was faithful to you over the years, turning away those other soda pops that flirted with me.


I gave you the best years of my life, but you have not been good to me. You gave me a little belly and you made me feel sluggish. You knew you were bad for me, yet you let me drink you almost every day-sometimes even in generic form.

You tempted me as you sat on the store shelf. Your sugary liquid form gave me many rushes during the day and I was so hooked on you, I would drink you instead of eating a meal. You were so bad, but you didn't care. You were hurting my health-and you knew it-but you didn't care. You are so selfish, Dr. Pepper, I see that now.

But, this week I decided to be strong and I broke up with you-for good. I did not drink you all week. Instead, I drank tea and water and even milk. I instantly felt better. I decided to make some other changes as well, and changed my eating habits too. I stayed away from other bad things for me like processed food and ate healthy and even added fruits and MUFA foods to my diet.

Now, my tummy doesn't jiggle anymore when I walk, I feel more awake and just plain better. I feel so great without you and don't take it personal, but I am better without you.

Do I miss you? Sometimes. After all, we were together for a long time. But just like an ex boyfriend, my desire for you will eventually fade, and I will no longer want or need you.

So good-bye, Dr. Obsession. You will not be missed.

Blank Screen

Have you ever have one of those days when you want to write up a great post, but don't know what to write about? So, after about an hour of staring at the blank screen you decide to visit some of your favorite bloggers, hoping to spark some creativity.

Then, you get lost in blogging land when you start hopping to blog after blog that you discover in the comments section of another blogger. Next thing you know, two more hours have passed and you've traveled hundreds of miles away from the first blog you were reading.

Did you get inspired to write? Not yet. So, you read some more and stop for lunch and maybe say 'hi' to the kids and check to make sure they haven't burned down the house while you are trying to get inspired to write.

So, you decide to visit the big bloggers in hopes to trigger some funny thought in your head, only to get more depressed at how funny and brilliant their post for the day was. You pull your hair out as you yell at the monitor, "I wish I thought of that!"

Then as the day gets later, you sigh and just write some dumb post like this one...

A scare.

Yesterday, I thought my grand baby was coming early. My daughter called and told me that she was swelling up like a balloon. She had been having headaches the past several days as well, and the baby was moving less. I told her to call the doc office and see what they thought about it.

They wanted to see her and take some tests to see if she had preeclampsia-not a good thing to have. They told her to pack a bag just in case because she would be going to the hospital right away if she did have it. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Baby today? Yikes!

I got my cameras together and got the kids ready just in case we had to go to the hospital and waited. And waited. And waited. After waiting a bit more, I called her cell phone to see if she could sneak talking to me. She answered and said that they had her hooked up to a monitor and they were waiting for the doctor to come check her. Didn't these people know that I cannot stand to wait?? COME ON, ALREADY.

She said she would call me back as soon as she heard something. I hung up and paced the floor for another half and hour waiting for her to call back. I tried to take my mind off of things. Chocolate. Does anyone have any chocolate around here? THAT would take my mind off of things.

Finally, she called back and said that they thought that she was just dehydrated and were sending her home. Whew! I really need to have a talk with that baby-just as I did with Zach when he was giving her a hard time two years ago when he was in her tummy. At least I still have time to get her gift for the hospital stay, but I guess I better hurry cause she seems to be just as ornery as her big brother.

Moody Food Reviews Featured Blogger

Check out my first foodie blogger review over at my foodie blog:
http://www.moodyfoodreviews.blogspot.com/

XOXO Gossip Girl

Guest Post:
Written by my friend Judson Kelly
The calendars of myself and my family members are blocked off for Monday nights. You'd never guess what show we all just have to watch together, Gossip Girl. At first it was just sort of a joke. We were searching through the channels we got when we got tv and and internet through direct TV bundles. I knew from a few friends that it was a bunch of rich teenagers living overly dramatic and amazing lives. Everyone watched it with the sole intention of just laughing about it, but we all got hooked pretty quickly.
Even the men in my family got hooked. That is by far the funniest part of the situation. My dad and brother say they watch it because the girls are pretty and they like to laugh at it but I know they secretly want to know what's going to happen between Chuck and Blaire and Serena and whatever guy she's dating this week.
We like this show because it is nothing like actual life. Watching reality shows are ok and some citcoms are funny but you can relate them and sometimes that makes them boring. None of us an relate to living on the upper east side of Manhattan in New York but we'd all like to pretend for an hour or so. Monday nights at 9:00pm you know where to find me.

A Shower.

I've kept quiet about this. I didn't know the right time to announce it. I figured I'd do it today because it was the day of her baby shower.

My oldest daughter is expecting again and is due in August-is she trying to make me feel old??

Was I happy six months ago when I got the news? No comment. Am I happy now that I will be getting another grand baby next month? Yes! This time, she's giving me a girl. It's time to go shopping for pink dresses and bows and little Mary Jane shoes!

So, we had the baby shower this weekend and it was fun. I spent the night before covered in pink frosting and chocolate making these babies.

We had a lot of cupcakes.

I thought they turned out pretty good.

I hated making these. Bakerella makes it look so easy to make cake pops.

I found this recipe on the Internet. These are called French Dip Appetizers. They taste much better then they look!

Zach had fun. Who said you shouldn't put a white shirt on your child and let them eat chocolate?

Emily wasn't too thrilled. And why should she? This party wasn't for her...

We played some shower games like "guess the size of the belly" among others.

Only five minutes to come up with the longest list of baby products.

How can anybody write so neatly under pressure?

We opened presents next. Jess opened lots of adorable pink items.

And someone knew that I loved brown outfits on babies.

Emily finally came around and gave me a smile.

And Zach was just happy to pop all the balloons-and eat more chocolate.

I caught Jess holding her friend's baby girl. Oh boy. Am I ready for this again?

Bring it on, baby!

Puma Winner!

We have a winner for the Puma size 5 outfit:

That means that LuLu won!

LuLu said...
Great contest! I love Puma because of the great quality and durability!~Lauri
http://knitsandreads.blogspot.com

Congrats!

Tommee Tippee summer blog tour!

I am always looking for durable eating wear for my grandson. Because. Well. He's rough. When I was given the opportunity to be a part of Tommee Tippee's summer blog tour, I was thrilled to check out their products.

I was given a water bottle, a non-slip mat (love it) and a bowl set with spoon. I made Zach's breakfast and sat him down at his table.


Other then the wondering why the heck Nana was taking pictures of him, he dug right in to his cereal.


I love the mat that came with. It really does hold the bowls in place! They feel very durable and well-made as well. Tommee Tippee products can now be found in all Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores nationwide as well as on BabiesRUs.com. In fact, Buy any Explora item (cups and toddler feeding) right now, and get the second 50% off at BabiesRUs.com (http://bit.ly/cDYhv8) (Expires July 23rd)


Zach gives it a "thumbs up" and Nana agrees that Tommee Tippee can stand up to the Zachs of the world!

Stay up-to-date with Tommee Tippee:

Like Tommee Tippee on Facebook www.facebook.com/tommeetippeenorthamerica

Follow Tommee Tippee on Twitter www.twitter.com/tommeetippee_na

Moody Food Reviews

If you are a long time reader then you might remember me talking about my other blog, Moody Food Reviews. I haven't been able to work with it too much, but I've been wanting to revive it lately.

I thought it would be a good idea to take on the task of learning how to cook. Yes, as I've stated so many times, I can't cook. Also, I really love to look at food photography and I spend hours reading great foodie blogs and admiring their photos. As a photographer I thought, I can do that.

So, I gave it a makeover and started on a journey of learning how to cook and take food photography and letting the whole world (or at least the five people that read my blogs) in on it.

Now, if you could do me this tiny little favor of running over there and leaving me a comment and your opinion of my photos, design, or even just to say that you were there, I will love you forever.

Visit the blog:

http://www.moodyfoodreviews.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Words With a Blogger Wednesday

This week's blogger has a great business going and a great blog too!

She's worked hard to grow her blog and business and has some great advice to other bloggers.

Tabitha Hampton

from

Glammommy.com

When did you start blogging and what made you decide to blog?

I have blogged off and on for the past three years, but in the beginning I wasn’t serious about it– it was rather sporadic until last May, then in November I started Glam Mommy (Glammommy.com). What ultimately drove me to blogging full time, was the cathartic feeling I get from expressing myself. At that time, I was on a journey of self discovery and spiritual cleansing (which sounds really deep, but it just means I had a lot of crap to sort out), and I was really trying to figure out what I was going to do with my career and my life– and oddly enough it was my very ambitious four year old daughter, who inspire to finally go after what I want and to make it work for me!

What kind of blog do you have?

I definitely write a very somewhat feminist “mom blog”! My blog is about finding balance between being a woman and mother, and not allowing any one thing to define who you are! It’s very diverse and eclectic, for modern women because we juggle so much; we’re working, running businesses, we’re full time (even stay at home) parents, who are shaping everything in the world from the next generation of society, to the economy. Although I write from a mom’s perspective, I definitely write for all women; and my goal is to always encourage, empower, and support women, because we have the power to effect change and now is the time for us to come together and do that! It’s all about positivity!

Do you make money from your blog?

Yes, I recently started selling some ad space on my blog, but 99.9% of my income comes from my PR & Marketing Consultant work, Blog & Graphic Design work, and other related business endeavors.

What do you do to network/promote your blog to bring in readers?

Social Media & Work of Mouth is the two most important methods of promotion for my blog. Facebook, Twitter, Mom Bloggers Club, 5 Minutes for Mom, Blogher, etc. I also really value the communities of fellow mom bloggers, who are supportive and giving of their time & knowledge. I focus on building a network of quality not quantity– what good is it to have 100,000 followers if your contents only a targets and interest a hundred of them. I’d much rather focus on engaging and build meaningful connections with the hundred followers first, and then work through them to get to the 100,000!

How do you balance blogging and family?

Not without great difficulty! I usually start my day at around 6:30am checking and responding to emails, making to-do list, and brainstorming topics. Then at naptime I do graphic design and site updates, and after the kids go to bed at night I’m up until about 2am-4am, writing news posts and working on other projects.

How frequently do you post?

I had been posting 3-4 times a week, but I am starting to post daily!

Do you own a business and blog about your business?

I do own businesses, but I don’t really post “about” them, because it’s more important to reach my readers than to sell to them. I make my contact available so that if people are interested in working with me or hiring me for speaking engagements or PR & Marketing work, they are free get in touch with me, but that’s not what my blog is about.

What do you recommend to blog about?

You should blog about things that you care about, whether it be tech & gadgets, parenting, or fashion tips– and it always helps to know what the heck you’re talking about!

Have your readers influenced you in any way?

Absolutely! I gauge my audience, and I write about the things that they respond to. I read their comments, blogs, tweets and messages, and that gives me some direction.

Has blogging changed your life in any way?

It has been one of the most fulfilling experiences ever. I have become more open to self expression!

Who are your favorite bloggers?

Heather Armstrong (Dooce.com), Danielle Smith (a fellow Saint Louis blogger at ExtraordinaryMommy.com), Dear Crissy(DearCrissy.com), Julie Maloney (Momspective.com)

What is your blogging style?

I’d say my style is eclectic, positive, and fun! What do you do when you get writer's block?When all else fails. I write about something personal. I don’t have a filter, so whatever’s inside usually flows pretty freely.

Do you have any advice for newbie bloggers?

Don’t get blog envy & have fun! Don’t look at other’s blogs and think, “wow this is awesome and my blog sucks” because if you think that way your blog will suck. Don’t try to imitate other blogs or styles, just be yourself– that’s what’s really cool!

The Wedding -Chapter One

Do you remember me telling you about my next book, The Wedding?

Do you remember me also telling you that I decided to put it online?

Okay, here it is-well, the first chapter at least.

The Coconut Hut Club Series

Book One

The Wedding

The Coconut Hut.

It was a tacky little bar, decorated with fake palm trees, tiny white lights, and hula girl posters hung on the walls. Tiny Bubbles was always playing in the background and the waitresses dressed in grass skirts with flower leis around their necks. Yes, it was definitely tacky, but to Sam, Lizzy, Tasha and I, it was our temporary paradise.

We called ourselves the Coconut Hut Club. Obviously, you can guess how we got our name from the bar, but why make it a club? Well, we all seem to have one thing in common-we seem to get in the middle of trouble. It's not like we look for it. It seems to just find us.We all met through Becca. She's my kid sister and the owner of Little Angels Daycare. Sam, Lizzy, and Tasha all bring their kids there. I have a daughter named Elizabeth. She's sixteen and not in need of daycare. I just like to help out Becca once a week when I'm not busy with my work...

Want to read the rest of the chapter? You can read it here.

Emily's World

Recent Conversations:

Emily: "Ouch!"

Me: "What?!"
Emily: "Your legs are spiky!"

Me: "Must be time to shave."

----

Me: "How about this outfit?"

Emily: "That's SO 80's."
Me: "You watch too much TV."

----

What happens after I clean her room and then tell her to go play in there while I get things done. Argh.

Picking up lounging positions from the dog.

Not sure how this happened-not even going to try to figure it out.

First year photos

Do you remember the little thumb-sucker that I took photos of almost a year ago?

He even stuck his tongue out at me.
Well, his mom wanted me to do his one year photos.
My how he's changed!

He's got some more teeth.

He's got some more hair.

But, he's still a little cutie!

Words with a Blogger Wednesday

This week's blogger has a great blog.

I love, love, love this blog. It's full of wonderful information about finding work at home jobs. I love finding out about work at home jobs.

This week's blogger is

Alaina

from

Telecommuting Mom

When did you start blogging and what made you decide to blog?

I just started blogging in August of 2009. I had a regular website before that for many years and decided to make the switch to blogging. I started the website and the blog because of my personal experiences working from home and because I was had friends and family asking me where I found all the jobs I do. So many people get scammed trying to find a legitimate work from home job. I finally started putting a list together of companies that hired and originally posted it to my website about eight years ago but now there are constantly new companies and new jobs being created so blogging is easier where I can constantly update my readers.

What kind of blog do you have?

Mostly it covers legitimate work-from-home jobs but I also add in money saving advice, good deals and freebies

Do you make money from your blog?

Only a small amount from advertisers so far

What do you do to network/promote your blog to bring in readers?

I like connecting with other bloggers on places like Mom Bloggers Network and Twitter Moms and I also frequent many work from home forums such as WAHM.com where there are Moms looking for work. I also write for Examiner.com for telecommuting jobs in Denver which also helps promote my blog.

How do you balance blogging and family?

I am a stay-at-home and homeschooling Mom of four children so I try to make sure that my priorities are in order and that I don't let blogging interfere with devoting my time to the kids and homeschooling. I try to do most of my blogging along with the other jobs I do from home during nap time or after the kids are in bed for the evening.

How frequently do you post?

This varies greatly for me as opposed to many other bloggers. I don't want to post just to post if there are not a whole lot of great job leads that week. I really try to only post job leads that are something that I think my readers would be interested in instead of posting every job lead I come across.

Do you own a business and blog about your business?

No but I have worked for several of the companies I have blogged about in the past including some of the virtual call centers, data entry, freelance writing, etc. I have worked from home for ten years so I have tried a lot of the different jobs during that time which is nice because I have come to know a lot about the different companies and can help answer questions other Moms may have. Currently I work from home doing freelance writing for Examiner.com, Internet Brands and Demand Studios and I also work as a search engine evaluator for Leapforce.

What do you recommend to blog about?

Whatever you are passionate about!

Has blogging changed your life in any way?

I thoroughly enjoy getting emails from Moms who have found a job through my blog and are now able to stay home with their kids because of it.

Who are your favorite bloggers?

I can of have an eclectic range in blogs I follow. For homeschooling and parenting blogs I love http://www.amomentwithmom.blogspot.com/ and http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/. For saving money I LOVE http://thethriftydivas.com/ and http://www.savingcentswithsense.net/ and just for general enjoyment of reading I love http://www.thetamom.com/.

What is your blogging style?

Hmmm...I guess I never really thought about what my style was but I try to think about what information is important for each job post so that when a reader looks at the blog post they can immediately decide if the job is for them or not instead of needing to research the company themselves.

What do you do when you get writer's block?

Well my writers blog is usually based on a lack of jobs for the week! So then I just dig further online to find some that may be more difficult to dig up.

Do you have any advice for newbie bloggers?

I guess just find something you are sure you are passionate about or it will probably be a short lived hobby. Find a community of bloggers that can help you with some of the start up questions you will probably have and then start making connections throughout the blogosphere. It is amazing the advice and help other Mom bloggers gave me when I was first starting!

Fireworks? No. An unusual 4th of July.

Our 4th of July did not entail our traditional celebration this year. We usually go to my mom’s house and cookout, watch the neighbors shoot off fireworks and then eat dessert. This year, we went to see Eclipse, went shopping and cooked out (in) at home. A bazaar celebration, and one that left me feeling guilty.

I used to make sure that as a mom, I carried on the traditional festivities of each holiday. Painting eggs on Easter, going trick-or-treating on Halloween, leaving cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Over the years, I’ve gotten a bit lazy, skipping some traditions here and there. While the two older kids are past a lot of the “baby stuff” as they would call it, my youngest is still only five and getting cheated out of a lot.

Though this was not a typical July 4th activity, she (Emily) loved going to see the vampire movie. She behaved, but I had to act a bit bad since the people back that sat behind us were annoying. Yes, they kicked our chairs as I predicted, and decided to eat their popcorn very loudly in our ears. Who would of thought that a bunch of teenage boys would want to see this movie with their mom?

I did try to add a little 4th celebration to our weekend; we found out that some neighbors were shooting fireworks off in the field behind us so, we headed out back and picked our spot in the field to watch the display. After about 5 minutes of getting attacked by mosquitoes, we all decided to march back into the house and call it a night.

Am I a horrible mom? I am going to try to not surrender to being lazy and skipping out in celebrating each holiday the way it's supposed to be celebrated. I promise that next holiday I will get off my butt and my youngest will not be cheated.

Let’s see, the next holiday is Labor Day-whew, at least that will be an easy one. Maybe we can go out of town that weekend. Wait, my grandson’s birthday falls on Labor Day this year. I also have a wedding to shoot that Saturday. Crap!

What's next? Halloween?

I’m on it right now.

Eclipsed to the Max

Emily has been waiting for the new Twilight movie to come out-okay, so have I.

We plan on going over the weekend, and hopefully a lot of the Twi-hards have already gone.

She's got her outfit ready and is excited to get to sit in a big theater. We usually wait until the dvd comes out and watch it in our own little "theater" downstairs. I had to warn her that there will be no screaming or jumping for joy whenever her "boyfriend" appears on screen. I may have to remind her of this when we are there and let her know that it's pretty hard to watch it from the lobby if they make us leave.

I think it will be fun, even though I have this incredibly bad luck of having tall people sit in front of me and loud "chair-kicking" people in back of me. Second thought, maybe I'll let her be loud so she can scare everyone away.

Her so-obsessed-with-Twilight-it's-gosh-darn-embarrassing just might come in handy this time.

A Contest For A Cause: Kelly Ripa and Electrolux

I don't know about you, but I need a new refrigerator and freezer. I H-A-T-E how I don't have room in my freezer. That's why I would so want one of these babies...

And wouldn't you too?

Well, we both have a chance to win a new stand-alone refrigerator and freezer split-though, I'm secretly hoping you sprain your clicking finger and can't enter (just kidding!).

Kelly Ripa and Electrolux are joining forces once again to celebrate the launch of Electrolux Appliance's new stand-alone refrigerator and freezer - that's right, the familiar duo has split up. And to sweeten the celebration, they're bringing in the "Emperor of Ice Cream" Stephen Bruce, owner and founder of Serendipity 3, the landmark New York City restaurant and dessert spot, into the mix.
Kelly and Bruce had teamed up to make banana splits for a cause. And now we want you to dig in, with your virtual spoon! Starting today, at http://www.kelly-confidential.com/

, you can build your ultimate banana split using virtual ingredients from classic whipped cream to caramel sauce to rainbow sprinkles. For each "split", Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund as part of its $750,000 commitment to help fight ovarian cancer.

As usual, Electrolux and Kelly find new and fun ways to say thank you to those who support this great cause. Everyone who logs on to the site and builds a split will be automatically entered for a chance to win the daily prize - $50 towards sweet summer treats - and the grand prize: the new stand-alone refrigerator and freezer from Electrolux. You really should enter this contest-you know you want to!

I'm going to make this deal a bit sweeter. I'm giving away $25 American Express card to one lucky reader!

To enter, tell me what your favorite ice cream flavor is.

If you want an extra entry:

Follow me!

Contest ends

7/29