• Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Writing

    My First Rejection (or, “They Can’t All Be Gems, You Know!”)

    I consider myself to have been a pretty normal teenaged girl when it came to having raging crushes on rock stars, tv stars, and movie stars. I also, as many teenaged girls do, wrote fan letters on occasion. I remember writing to Charlene Tilton once, to tell her how much I loved “Dallas”. I was thrilled to receive, a couple of months later, an original cast photo that was autographed by every single stinking one of them, including Jock and Ellie*. Much later, when I was crazy about the band Berlin, I wrote a fan letter to John Crawford, who I totally adored. It won’t surprise you at all, because…

  • Amazing People,  Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Food,  Friends,  Something That Could Change Your Life,  Spreading the Bloggie Love,  Too Funny To Ignore,  Travels

    Meat Maidens Gone Wild!!!

    Yesterday was, as expected, a blast. But it was about 10,000 times better than I could have ever imagined. A mere blog post won’t even capture it properly; you truly had to be there. Momo did her own summary. The pictures would have spoken for themselves had it not been for the adorable RHYMING VERSE she used. She’s good. Really good. But I’ll try to give you a taste of it. First, the road trip to the Land of Momo. My van-mates? The lovely Weaselmomma: and the equally lovely Surprised Mom: Honestly, if you happen to be riding across the midwest (or where ever) in the middle seat of a…

  • Friends,  Spreading the Bloggie Love

    A Very Special Meating

    Delightful graphic created by Big Bad DaddyTomorrow (Sunday) is going to be a very, very special day. A fun day. A crazy day. An exciting day. A musical day. A huggy day. A feel-good day. Curious yet? I am, along with Weaselmomma and Surprised Mom, heading across the Midwest and back, six hours each way (yes, in the same day). Rather than re-summarize what Weaselmomma has already written, I’m sending you over there to read it; click here and it’ll open in a new window. Go ahead. I’ll wait. And Momo wrote a sweet post, so you should go look at that. Click here. Go ahead. I can wait again.…

  • My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    A Word To The Wise

    I know there are three weeks to go before July 4th, but each year as it approaches, my mind gets stuck on the memory of one July 4th holiday in particular. I will share it with you today, for your safety AND amusement. When your kid tells you that the neighbor boy got this cool new toy for his birthday called a Stomp Rocket, and is bursting with excitement about checking it out, that’s cool. It’s nice to have a playmate who conveniently lives next door and is always willing to share new stuff. It’s great to watch them for a few minutes through your bay window in your quiet…

  • My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    A Green Letter Day, The Sequel

    You might remember that, this time last year, after a great first season ever of playing mainly the midfield position in his first sport ever (Lacrosse), the older boy won the award for “Most Improved Player” on the JV team, which was presented at the end-of-year banquet. This year, as you know, he played the goalie position. He was playing 1000% times better at the end of the season than how he started, so we thought it was a real possibility that he would get the award again. How awesome would that be?? He actually told me a couple of weeks ago that he had a great “joke” in the…

  • Working On My Fitness

    Still Shredding…

    I wanted to give a Shredhead update, since I’m more than halfway through the 30 days. I have lost around 4 (ish) pounds, but visually I think the changes are more prominent. I did Level 1 for about six days. I have read that most people do each of the three levels for ten days, but I felt ready to move on. I first saw a change in my body at about Day 5. Just a little change, but a change nonetheless! Today will be Day 17 of the 30 Day Shred, which means it’ll be the 11th time I’ve done Level 2. Level 2 is full of stuff that’s…

  • Friends

    Silver and Gold

    I have gone through many stages in my life as far as friendships go; I think my experiences are pretty typical of the average woman but who knows…I may be an unusual case. What it boils down to for me is that friendships have an ebb and a flow to them. Though you might have a few “Forever Friends”, people generally come into and go out of your life for a reason, sometimes for support, sometimes to be supported, sometimes to teach us something, and sometimes for reasons unknown to us. When Jim and I were first married, he was in the Navy. I had many friends in the other…

  • Amazing People,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz

    It Only Took Twenty-Eight Years…

    On Friday, I did myself proud. As many of you know, I write feature articles for a nail salon industry magazine. Every July, my fabulous editor asks her writers to propose ideas for the following year. Last year as a part of my 2009 article proposal, I came up with the idea of interviewing the host of one of my favorite business makeover shows in conjunction with an article about salon makeovers. (Click here to hear his glorious British accent and see what his personality, full of infectious excitement, is like. He’s awesome!) I let my editor know that I would do my best to locate his PR people and…

  • My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    Call It What You Want…

    Note: This post is part of Fatherhood Friday at Dad Blogs, where all the cool kids are hanging out. (Moms are welcome over there!) Welcome to my visitors from DB; thanks for stopping in! The younger boy finishes eighth grade today. Yes, I said “finishes”. The powers that be call it “graduating”, but I can’t stand that term when it comes to finishing eighth grade. Call me a curmudgeon (go ahead, do it.), but the pomp and circumstance that is created when kids these days finish middle school is crazy*. I don’t mind giving a huge pat on the back and going out to dinner to celebrate the end of…

  • Jim Has Mad Skillz

    We’ve Built A Lot Together, But THIS Is Fantastic.

    Okay, that title is a total teaser because what I’m about to write about is definitely wonderful, but not nearly the best thing Jim and I have built together: that would be our life and family in general. It will come as no surprise to you, with all of the bragging writing I do about how we work as an excellent team, that Jim and I are one of those couples that can indeed do home projects together not only without killing each other, but even immensely enjoy the activity. Although he is definitely the foreman and I the assistant in the hardcore projects like replacing our sump pump, plumbing…