Writers workshop - Normal Is!

The prompt for Kat's writers workshop that I am going to tackle this week is, "Normal is....."

So without further ado........

• Normal is being cranky for no reason at all.
  
• Normal is Reid saying, "I LOVE this song," to every song that comes on the radio.
  
• Normal is the pooch of fat sitting on my belly. {curses belly fat}
• Normal is Friday night dinner at moms house.
• Normal is wanting to kick the cat in her furry ass for scratching the sofa.
• Normal is blue eyes and a freckled nose.
  
• Normal is getting older.
• Normal is my camera near by.
• Normal is my constant and unconditional love for my girls.
• Normal is my future Grandchildren never inheriting anything old because I watch Oprah and Oprah says that I should simplify my life and get rid of my crap.

• Normal is wanting to hold on to the crap for those just in case moments.  
• Normal is telling yourself that if you haven't needed the crap in the past 10 years then you probably won't ever need it!
  

Last but not least.......Normal is the writers workshop over at Mama's Losin it. 

Won't you come and play.....all the Normal bloggers are.

Writing assignment - childhood

This writing assignment is brought to you by funny girl Kat over at Mama's Losin it. Kat gave us some tough prompts this week but you know me, I don't do tough. So I'm picking the easiest one of the bunch.

What made your childhood bearable? Write about it

I have three words for you:

Saturday

Morning

Cartoons

Oh yeah baby! I would spend Friday evening with the TV guide in hand going over the Saturday morning line up. It was so exciting! A morning filled with nothing but cartoons, waffles and my snugly afghan.

I rocked out to Josie and the Pussycats. They were so cool!

I cheered for the lovable Underdog!

I laughed my tail off over the crazy antics of Jabber Jaw.

Got a little freaked out by the scary monsters on Scooby Doo.

And who can forget those crazy inner city kids on Fat Albert? They made playing in the city dump look like so much fun!

Ahhh, the good ole days!

Don't think that the whole morning was lost to hours of mindless cartoon drivel.

No, in the 70's and 80's we had PSA's to make sure that the sexiest, violent cartoons weren't warping our young minds.



Anyone remember Time for Timer??

This is what made my childhood more bearable. I need to run. For some reason I am hankering for a hunk of cheese!

Writing Assignment

Writing assignments are being handed out over at Kat's blog, Mama's Losin It. I look forward to this bloggy carnival (is that what we call them?) every week.

This week I have something to say about each and every prompt!

And a way we go........

1.) If you were starring on American Idol TONIGHT and HAD to sing, what song would you choose and why.

If I were to sing something on idol it would have to be something from the 1980's. Why the 80's you ask? Well, no matter how hard I try, I can not remember lyrics to songs anymore. But the minute I hear an old 80's tune I can remember every single word.

I don't know about all of you, but my brain is quickly filling to capacity! So, should I start singing Mad Mad World by Tears for Fears for ya??

2.) Take a picture of yourself right this minute without primping and explain to us why it is you have not washed your hair today.

Bahahahaha.........are you kidding me with this one? No matter what time of day.......I always look like this when I am reading your blogs!

Whoops, on closer inspection it looks like I forgot to apply make-up to my right eye. So if you want to see what I look like without eye make-up just cover the left side of my face with your hand and whala!

All right, all right, I'll stop being vain and show you what I looked like Wednesday morning wearing my scuzzy Old Navy fleece pull over, wet hair and no make-up on both eyes.

Sharing is so much fun!

3.) "What do you think about the NBA All Star game"...blech.

The NBA All Star game is on?

4.) What's your number one pet peeve? 

Here is a blogging pet peeve.  Why is it that grammatical errors only jump out at you after you hit PUBLISH???

5.) Write about something mean you did to a sibling growing up.

One time I convinced my younger brother that it was OK to drink the water running down the gutter. Is that mean enough for you??

{For the record.....I have gone back and edited this post 5 times since publishing it}

Writing Assignment - Favorite Things!

Time for another addition of Mama Kat's writing assignment! This week I am going easy and will list five of my most recent favorite things!

1. My regular readers know that my hubby bought me a new 20" iMac for Christmas. I am seriously in love with this computer. It's sleek, beautiful and does everything I ask it to do!

2. I have been using the cream lotions from Bath and Body works for a long time now. My current favorite scent is the Japanese Cherry Blossom.

If you are like me and can't wear perfume, this lotion is a great alternative. The scent last and last. People frequently tell me I smell good when I wear it.

3. Taking a great picture is so satisfying and this little baby helps me do just that. Since starting my 365 photo a day project my Rebel goes just about every where with me.

4. I can not live without my At a Glance desk calendar. I recently discovered the 18 month academic calenders that run from July through December. When you have school aged children(a volunteer a lot) having a calendar that matches the school year is a must have.

5. Now I give you a favorite recipe (hey, isn't that another prompt??). One of my families most favorite meals are Salmon patties. Now you people who hate fish stop screwing up your nose. Fish is your friend.....oh, wait, it is food. It is good food.

The beautiful thing about salmon patties is that you really don't need to follow a recipe in order to make them. In fact I make them a little differently each time I break open a can of Salmon.

The basics:

1 can of Wild Salmon

2 eggs (beaten)

1 cup of fine bread crumbs or cracker crumbs

juice from half a lemon

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

half a onion and one clove garlic finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste.

Drain Salmon and remove the spine (or crush it up....it is edible). Flake the salmon and add beaten eggs, bread crumbs, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. Form into patties and cook in a skillet with just a little bit of oil and a pat of butter. Cook on low heat until the outside forms a nice brown crispy crust (about 10 minutes total).

The beauty of salmon patties is that all you need to do is start with the basics (salmon, eggs, bread crumbs) and you can add from there. Love capers? Add them. Love peppercini's? Add them. Love the taste of dill.......add it! You really can't screw these babies up.

That brings us to the end of this weeks writing assignment. Want to play?

Click: HERE

Photo credit: All images were borrowed from Google images!

Writing Assignment - Liar Liar Pants on Fire

Ok, I really don't have time for this....but I need to work on something other than the yearbook for 5 minutes.

So I am going to take on the writing assignment over at Mama's Losin It. The prompts this week are appealing:

1.) Tell us about a lie you told that you later regretted.

2.) Choose a task you'd like someone to complete and write a poem asking them to do it.
3.) Describe a talent you have.
4.) Write a list of ten things on your mind this week.

I could take on #1, #3 and #4 but considering my time limitations I am going to choose to do just #1.

Hi, my name is Michelle and back in 1989 I told a lie that I ended up regretting. Let me set the stage for the lie that I created oh so many years ago.

I was a student at SDSU and I was the proud owner of a green Datsun 260Z.

Not a picture of the car I owned, but this is it's twin sister.  It was my very first car and I loved it.  It was low, it was solid and it was fast.  It was a teenagers dream come true.  

As I happily left my last class of the day I jumped into my little love and started up the engine. Just as I was starting to pull out of my parking spot I heard this tiny little "tick-tick" sound coming from my dashboard.  It didn't sound like a noise my car would make, but what did I know, I was young!

It wasn't until I was pulling out of my parking spot that I saw the little creature that was doing acrobatics around my car.

The escapee from the bug circus was a little hard flat green creature.  For it's small size it made an awfully big noise when it landed on anything plastic in my car.

My first instinct was to get out and try to swoosh the freaky little bug out of my car, but I had already pulled half way out of my parking spot and their was another student impatiently waiting for me to move.

So against my better judgement I decided to drive away with my little green passenger.  As I drove the perimeter of campus I tried to forget about the stowaway.  That little poop refused to buckle up and sit still and hearing him jumping around the car became a huge distraction.

As I rounded the corner of campus all of a sudden the green circus bug did a back flip and landed right on my face.  Being under attack, I freaked out!  In that split second while I was trying to keep the bug from sucking the eyeball out of my head I veered off the road!

Hello light post, meet my Datsun 260Z.  Yes, I drove straight into the side of the hill and hit the one and only light freakin light post on that stretch of road.  

If you haven't been in a wreck you don't know how freaky it is be moving one minute and the next to come to a dead stop after hitting a very solid object.  At first I wasn't sure what had happened.  Then the horror of the situation hit me.  I cried as the rubber neckers drove by and stared at me.  

I felt so incredibly stupid for what had happened, because that bug didn't jump up and try to suck my eyeball out of my head (but I'm sure he was thinking about it).  In fact, the little bugger wasn't anywhere near me.  

It did exist, it was just sitting down on the passenger side floor mat patiently waiting for me to take it to my place near the beach.

The truth is that I was watching the bug and not the road, but I told EVeRyone that the bug had attacked me!  I regretted telling that stupid lie because people thought it was funny! 

You know what happens when people enjoy a funny story?  They ask you to retell it!  It is easy to tell a lie once, but it gets harder when you have to do it over and over again.

Years later I finally fessed up to friends and family about the bug that didn't actually try to wrestle the steering wheel away from me and cause me to crash.  

They still thought the attacking bug story was funny so now if it gets brought up I just now tell it as the lie I made up to cover my stupidity.

Writing Assignment - Jump!

Click HERE to join in this weeks writing assignment!

This week I decided to do something rare take the easy route with Kat's writing assignment. Oh, who am kidding! I always take the easy route.

I am going to share the best picture I took last month and explain why it is my favorite. Now, I am not sure if this is the best picture I took, but it is different from all of the holiday pictures from last month.

My girls love to make our dogs jump. Actually the whole family finds it very funny to watch the dogs spring up in the air for a treat. We call them circus dogs when they perform for us!

I took this picture of Molly jumping in the late afternoon when the sun was going down and I absolutely love how I captured her flying shadow on the wall.

When I look at the photo I'm not sure if I should look at the dog or her shadow!

Obsession.....by Michelle!

It's writing assignment time again over at Kat's pad! Here are the prompts if you feel like you just might want to play along this week:

1.) Describe your latest obsession.

2.) Ask a loved one to use 6 descriptive words to describe you and report your findings. How well do they know you?

3.) Who was your first bloggy friend? How did you find each other? Do you still correspond?

4.) Tell us about your pet! If you have a weird infatuation with your dog or cat we want to hear about it (or if they just plain drive you crazy)...but please don't compare them to children. It's just not the same.

I could write about all four but I am going to choose #1.

My obsession isn't really new, it is actually a long standing obsession. A twelve year obsession to be exact. My obsession is with buying scrapbook supplies.

It gives me great joy to buy new scrapbook supplies. So much so that each year I pay money to shop at the Scrapbook Expo. Last August I bought a ton of great stuff (that I really didn't need).

Funky paper like stickers, trendy patterned papers, chip board letters, sticky felt cut outs, brads with matching flowers, stamps, nestibilites........the list goes on. Usually when I buy a ton of new supplies I head home and lay them all out so I can stare at them. Makes me feel all warm and snugly inside.

Then the new supplies find their place in my hyper organized craft towers.

Would you like to know the most ridiculous thing about my ever growing obsession with buying scrapbook supplies? You do? Good.

The most ridiculous thing about my obsession is that I have the hardest time actually using the supplies I buy. Every year, as I head off to the Expo I realize that I still have stacks of supplies I bought the previous year that I haven't even touched.

It's really kind of neurotic of me. I buy a pack of shiny embellishments and I think to myself, "You know, if I use them then I won't have them anymore." Or if I have something really special, I feel I have to wait for the perfect page to use it.

Last year one of my resolutions was to stop hoarding my supplies and use them with reckless abandon. I'd say I'm currently at the cautious abandon level. 

I have a new rule. When I buy something new I have to use it before the next years Expo rolls around!  Baby steps people, baby steps.

Back to my obsession........I can only imagine how much it has cost me over the years. I told the girls that if I ever die unexpectedly that they are to call my friend Tina, as she would know how much everything is worth. They could sell everything on ebay and probably send both of the girls to college with the proceeds.

So do we have any other scrapbook supply hoarders in the house? Hoarding something different? Come on, let's hear all about it! I know I'm not the only wacko in the bunch!

Dear Santa!

Dear Santa,

Would it be too much to ask if you could toss some lumps of coal down the chimneys of a few mansions in Michigan?  

Copy reads:

You probably thought it was smart to buy a foreign import of superior quality, with better mileage and resale value. Maybe you even thought that years of market share loss might prod up into rethinking our process and redesigning our products with better quality in mind. But you forgot one thing: We spend a shitload of money on lobbyist. So now you’re out $25 billion, plus the cost of your Subaru. Maybe next time you”ll buy American like a real man. Either way, we’re cool.

Below the three logos:

We’re the Big Three. We Don’t Need to Compete.™

I think I would be able to laugh a little harder at this Ad spoof if it wasn't true!

A friend sent me this ad via email.  I'm not sure who created it.

Writing assignment - Demon Dentist

I'm on the ball this week and ready to complete the writing assignment dished out by Kat over at Mama's Losin it!

The prompt I am writing about this week is "my worst dentist experience ever"!

I have been going to the same dentist since I was 5 years old. In the thirty six years that I have been his patient there was only one time when I thought he was a Demon in a lab coat.

Demon dentist first appeared the day I had to have all four of my wisdom teeth pulled. I was seventeen and and thought it would be a piece of cake having my teeth pulled. Oh silly naive girl!

The procedure started off fine. I was given some laughing gas to relax me before he started poking me with numerous shots of Novocaine. The shots were unpleasant but not horrendously so.

The first three teeth came out fairly easily. Dr. Dentist showed me my teeth, complete with roots, as they exited my mouth.  How cool was I that I could marvel at my freshly removed bloody teeth?

Everything went down hill when he arrived at the finally wisdom tooth. You see, tooth number four was turned sideways and needed to be broken into pieces to be removed. This was when the gates of dental hell opened up and welcomed me in to it's ghastly grip.

Sparing you the gruesome details, there wasn't enough Novocaine in all of dental hell that would get me completely numb on the left side of my jaw.

Dr. Demon had to finish what he had started and I had to man up and let him do it. With tears rolling down my face, and nurses holding down my arms, he worked with the speed of a possessed demon dentist.

I left that office with a face so numb and swollen, I could barely talk. I vowed that someday I would get revenge on Demon Dentist. 

Well, that was until he gave me a prescription for vicodin and three of my freshly pulled teeth in a little bag.

Cool! Drugs and teeth! I gave those three teeth to my weird science teacher (did I ever mention that I went to the High School that Cameron Crowe based his movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High on?).

Weird science teacher had a collection of human teeth. We all suspected that he also had a collection of dead bodies in his back yard........but that is another story for another time.

So there you have it folks!

If you made it this far without falling asleep head over to Mama's Losin it to get your own writing assignment.

Writing Assignment!

It's that time of the week again! So many good choices Kat gave us this week.

Here are the Prompts I'm going to tackle:

1.) The last time I laughed really hard...

3.) I remember when...

Let us start off with number 1!

The other day I was looking up the lyrics to the Diarrhea song (don't ask). After doing a google search I found The Official Diarrhea Song blog. As I started reading the lyrics, I started laughing so hard that I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't even compose myself long enough to tell my husband what I thought was so funny. So here are a few that had me rolling.

When your stomach starts a rollin'
and you're cleaning out your colon:
Diarrhea, diarrhea.

When you're on the seat for hours
and it doesn't smell like flowers:
Diarrhea, diarrhea.

When the feeling's not that nice
and you have to flush it twice:
Diarrhea, diarrhea.

When your stomach really hurts,
and you know that it’s the squirts:
Diarrhea, diarrhea.

What can I say people, I am that immature!

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Now on to prompt #3.....I remember when!

I remember when my stomach was flat, my hair was naturally brown and the only hair on my face I plucked was above my eyes.

I remember when Keyboarding class was called Typing class and it sounded something like this: Clank, Clank, Clank, Clank, Clank, Clank, ZiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiPT, Clank, Clank, Clank!

I remember when games like Pac Man, Donkey Kong and Frogger required a quarter and could only be found in an Arcade.

I remember when people tried to ban books by my favorite childhood author Judy Blume.

I remember when cell phones weighed 5 pounds!

I remember when getting a tan was considered healthy and baby oil was used to help speed along this process. Thank you stupid teenage me, I am now paying for your lack of knowledge.

I remember when I swore I would never have kids. Ha, little did I know what a blessing they would be.

I remember when cartoons could only be watched on Saturday morning!

This is where I say.......Ahhh, those were the days!

Writing Assignment.......Oh Snap!

Ok, it is the night before the big writing assignment is due and I'm having serious performance anxiety.  I knew it would happen eventually.  I knew that one day, Kat would post her five prompts and I would look and them and drool like an idiot because I couldn't think of one darn thing to write!  I'm not feeling clever, funny or particularly creative at this moment in time. So let's see what I can pull out of my @#%*@!

Here are the prompts for the week:

1.) Write a haiku about what you see out the window. (if you don't know what a haiku is click here.)

2.) Begin with "I thought I saw..."

3.) If I could live in any era of history, what would it be -- list 10 reasons why.

4.) Write a light hearted piece on how to get along with an enemy.

5.) The first time you...

You know, I am going to move out my comfort zone and pick the Haiku!  Technically speaking right now all I see outside my window is darkness.  But I will share something I see on a regular basis when I look out my back window.

Redtail Hawks are cool

Floating on the canyon breeze

Watch out little mouse

Geeze, I haven't written a Haiku since I was in elementary school.  If I did it wrong I don't want to hear about it!   Just pat me on the head and move along!  :) 

So want to play along?

Want to see what other clever bloggers wrote this week?

Click here: Mamas Losin it!

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I just had to tag on this little tidbit!  The Teen came home from school today all excited because for 8th Grade Standouts she was nominated in the "Best Hair."  She doesn't think she will win, but she was really thrilled she was nominated.

So for all my Red headed blogger friends who got teased over your hair color when you were little......the tides have turned my friends!  They vote on Friday, so she should know sometime next week if she won.

*Correction, I was informed by my the Teen that she was nominated for "Prettiest Hair," not "Best Hair."  Geeze, moms can be so lame!

Writing Assignment!

It's that time of the week fellow bloggers......time to join Kat for another fun writing assignment.

Last week I sort of took the easy way out of the assignment but not this week! I am going to take on two of the five prompts. Don't all cheer at once!

For the first prompt I choose:

"Fictionalize an event that happened to one of your parents, friends or siblings."

This is a story of a lovely lady who was...........just kidding, I tried to go fictional, but you know the saying that the truth is stranger than fiction. Well, here is the story of one of my Dad's shining moments as a parent.

Flash back to the summer of 1979. I am 12, my younger brother is 10 and we are on a road trip with our Dad. With our burnt orange VW van packed to the gills we spent two weeks of our summer vacation visiting a variety of state parks and tourist traps on our trek from Southern California to the State of Washington to visit family.

My brother and I took on two hours shifts riding shot gun. We sat for hours in anticipation of our turn in the front seat. When we weren't on front seat duty we would lounge around on the bed in the back of the van. That was fun for a while, but if you laid down it was inevitable that the hum of the van's engine would lull you to sleep.

This brings us to my dad's shining moment as a parent. While driving home from Washington my dad made a pit stop at a gas station in Oregon. When we stopped I was asleep in the back of the van. Instead of waking me up, my Dad and brother got the gas started and then went to use the bathroom.

In my pre-teen state I was a little bit annoyed when I woke up and saw that both of them had gone to the bathroom without waking me up. I'm mean, sheesh, how rude! It is common knowledge that if we don't use the gas station bathroom the next bathroom stop might be that tiny bush beside the freeway and homey don't tinkle in public.

So I gather my pre-teen belongings and trudge towards the disgusting gas station bathroom. I was probably in the bathroom for about 5 minutes before I emerged to discover that my Dad's van was no longer parked at the gas pump.

Ok, really funny dad! I stood there tapping my foot looking around wondering where he had hid his ORANGE van. After a few minutes had passed I found myself getting really annoyed with this little practical joke of his.

A few more minutes passed by when all of a sudden I went from being annoyed to having this scary feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then it hit me........"holy crap, my dad just left me in a gas station in the middle of no where Oregon."

Yes people it is true, my Dad abandon me in a gas station! It probably could have been a very scary scene if it wasn't for my brother. He turned around a few minutes after they left and said, "Ahhhhhh, where's Michelle?"

Can you just imagine the horror you would feel if you forgot one of your kids at a gas station in a strange state? That would have freaked me out as a parent! Knowing my Dad I'm pretty sure he just thought it was funny and potentially $200 less dollars a month he had to pay in child support!

Even though I didn't think the story was very funny at the time, I do now and I know that my Dad wouldn't mind me sharing it. Not to mention that he doesn't know I have a blog so I can say what ever I want.

Now on the next Prompt: 10 of my absolute worst pet peeves!

1. Word verifications! Trust me blogger friends, you won't get slammed with spam if you get rid of your WV's!
2. People who have a wimpy hand shake. I size up new people by the way they shake hands. Come on people.....put a little umpf behind your shake. Ladies, please don't offer me up the tips of your fingers like we are in a reenactment of Gone with the Wind.
3. People who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom! I'll skip shaking your hand.
4. Spitting.
   
5. Hair in the sink.
6. Globs of toothpaste in the sink.
7. People who don't replace the toilet paper roll (you know who you are).
8. Smokers who think the world is their ash tray.
9. Pet owners who don't pick up their dogs poop.
10. Finding a typo in my newly published post!! It always happens!

That is it, my writing assignment is done. Not sure what grade I will get this week, but I tried and isn't effort worth something?

Want to play?

Click here: Mama's Losin It

Writing Assignment!

Ok, I seriously took the easy way out of this weeks writing assignment! But hey, cut a girl some slack. The ginormous fundraiser I am chairing is this Saturday and I am feeling a little brain dead right now.  It is actually rather amazing I was able to pull anything out of my hat today!

So here we go.....I'm going David Letterman on you all and pulling out the Top Ten Words that make me giggle!

Warning a few are naughty.

fart

diphthong

flange

nincompoop

dickweed

rat bastard

persnickety

oxymoron

Bufadora

What words make you giggle?

Come on, don't let Hell freeze over before you head over to Kat's pad to see what everyone else has to say!

Wanna play along? Click here: Mama's Losin' It

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Ok, I had such a scary senior moment today!  You know how when you have a lot on your mind you can end up driving on auto pilot?  Then all of a sudden you realize, holy cow......I don't remember getting here!!!  

Well, I had one of those moments today, but it involved me walking out of Costco and realizing that I had absolutely no idea where I had parked.  For a split second I felt a wave of panic rush over me.  How in the world could I not remember where I parked?  It took a few seconds for me to remember that I scored a great end spot the minute I drove into the lot (no vulture circling for me). 

Phew, I was a little worried that one of the many delicious samples I ate in Costco had caused a sudden case of dementia to set in!  That would really suck, because munching on free samples is one of the best parts of shopping at Costco.  

Happy Thursday........I can see the weekend from here!

Writing Assignment!

Yes Ladies (and Gentlemen) it is that time of the week again.....time to get out your pen and paper and get writing with Kat over at Mama's Losin' It!

This week I am picking writing prompt numero uno........Complete the sentence "I'd walk a mile for a ________." and continue writing about it.

I'd walk a mile for a chance to head back to 1987 to remember what it was like to be my husbands girl friend again.  Let's take a little stroll down memory lane.

Back in September of 1987 I was a newly minted 20 year old in college, taking my second semester of Spanish.  On the first day of class our instructor insisted that we all pick Spanish names.  The names we picked would be the ones we would use all semester long.  I quickly jotted down my favorite Spanish names, but much to my dismay the instructor started on the opposite side of the room and by the time she got around to me the names on my list had already been picked.  In a moment of panic I blurted out the only Spanish name I could think of.......LOLA!!  The class laughed and I turned several shades of red.  

We had a really fun class.  Our instructor gave us plenty of opportunities to get to know each other and it wasn't long before I was in a group project with the hippy looking dude with the red curly hair named Diego.

I liked Diego right away......he was funny, quirky, and super sweet.  He was 6 years my senior, grew up in a small town back east and had served in the Navy for four years.  I had been dating boys only a few years out of High School so in comparison Diego seemed like a man of the world.  

We flirted, he made me laugh and next thing you know, we started dating.  I remember the first time he asked me out like it was yesterday.  Since we only knew each other by our Spanish names I thought I should ask him what his "real" name was.  He turned to me and said, "Jim......G-Y-M."  I was hooked!  

I remember one day we were heading to our usual after class lunch date and he said something that made me laugh out loud.  In that moment he looked over at me and said, "Some day you won't think I'm this funny."  I smiled and thought......."No way will that ever happen."

Little did I know that someday I would forget how to be that girl sitting in Diego's VW van giggling at some stupid joke he made just to make me laugh.  Some where a long the way I allowed myself to become Reid and Kate's mom and Jim's wife.  I got comfortable in my new role and let that fun girl friend slip away.

So I sit here ladies trying to figure out how bring back Diego's girl friend Lola!  Any idea's? A seance perhaps?  I know she is down there some where......I just have to drag her back up!!!

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I almost forgot to mention that Jo Jo over at A Moms World of Madness and Blessings is having her very first give away and it is a cool one!  

And a quick thanks to Marla and Kelsey for my cool new bloggy awards.  I promise to post about them really soon!

Writing Assignment!

It's that time of the week again ladies. Time to check out the writing assignment over at Mama's Losin' It.

The Prompts:

1.) Recall a time when you did something to get noticed. Write about it.

2.) Begin with “I wish someone told me…”

3.) If you could rearrange three things about your life what would they be?

4.) What do you love to create?

I think I'm going to go a little crazy and write about all four!!!  

#1) This one is pretty easy!  Due to the fact that I am six feet tall, I don't have to do a lot to get noticed.  This is especially true while shopping.  I can't tell you how many times vertically challenged folks ask me if I can reach something on the top shelf.  Store owners should pay me for how often I end up helping their customers!  

#2)  I wish someone would have told me about the crazy long freaky white hair that was growing off the side of my face.  I'm sure that wild hair had been enjoying its free flowing flapping in the wind fiesta for an embarrassing amount of time.  I would have beaten my friends to a bloody pulp for not telling me, but they all have to wear reading glasses to see anything up close so I had to give them a pass on this one!!

#3)  Ok, I lied.....I'm skipping this one!

#4) What do I love to create........this one is super easy!  I love that I am creating wonderful childhood memories for my girls.  I'm sure I'm also creating a few crappy ones but what kind of mother would I be if I didn't give the girls a little something to complain about in future therapy sessions?

I also love that I am creating scrapbooks to save those memories.  The girls love going through their scrapbooks and love sharing them with friends.  Of course I'm not sure how thrilled they are going to be when I tell them they are going to need to take them with them when they move out!!  Lucky for them I've mellowed a bit on what I scrap.  

If you want to see some of my pages head to my gallery on Splitcoaststampers (I also have a few cards listed as well).

Writing assignment!

Another writing assignment from Mama Kat.  The prompt I am going to write about is the time I hid from someone.

Well, this is more about the times I hid  from someone!  You see this is a story about my awesome Grandpa and a really fond memory I have of him.  It starts out like this. 

When we were kids my younger brother and I used have sleep overs at my Grandparents house on Friday nights.  My mom would drop us off early before my Grandpa got home from work.  We would play in their back yard with their poodle Cer Cer, color, watch my Grandma cook dinner and sneak candy from the long row of sweets filled glass jars on my Grandma's counter.  

All these activities were our way of killing time before my Grandpa came home from his job as a car mechanic for Cadillac.  As the time grew closer to 5:30 my brother and I would eagerly wait in the front room waiting to hear the curb feeler on his car scrape the cement as he pulled up in front of the house.  When he would arrive my Grandma would quickly say in an excited hushed voice, "He's home.......hurry and go hide."

My brother and I would rush down to the end of the hall and turn the corner to our hiding place in front of the hall pantry.  We would stand back at the end of the hall trying to stiffle or excited giggles.  

When Grandpa walked in the front door, which looked straight down the hallway to where we were hiding, Grandma would say, "Syl, go down the hall wash your hands, it's almost time to eat."  This was Grandpa's cue that we were ready and waiting for him!

Grandpa would make a big deal about her telling him to wash up and would usually say something really funny trying to make us laugh.  He would talk all the way down the hall so we would know just the right minute to jump out and scare him.  

When he got to the end of the hall we would jump out and yell, "BOO", and Grandpa would fall to the ground and pretend that we scared him to death.  He would lay limp on the ground and we would  pounce on our innocent victim, roughing him up until he came back to life.  

As we got a little older we began to realize that he knew we were down there, but it never spoiled the fun of surprising him.  My Grandpa was so much fun and such a special part of my life.  

Even though he has been gone for almost 10 years I still miss his wacky personality.  He lived to be 87 and right up until the time he passed away he would get down on the floor and play with my girls or do a silly dance to make them laugh.

Here's to you Grandpa......I hope your silliness and charming personality are still making people laugh!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

New bloggers to add to your list!

I'm always amazed by how many great bloggers are out in cyber space just waiting to be discovered.  I am constantly finding new blogs to add to my reading list.  I just ran across a few new bloggers that I will surely start to "stalk." 

The first is Mama's Losing it.  She is super funny and has a pretty nice vacuum give away  going on right now.  Check out her site for all the details on how you can enter her contest.

What I wanted to share was the writing assignment from Mama's losing it.  

The Prompts:

1.) Lost? How come?
2.) If I could take tomorrow off work I'd...
3.) Write a letter to someone you miss greatly
4.) 10 things I believe in...

I think I will choose #2!  First, I'm not sure you can actually take the day off from being a mom, but if I did, I would find an art studio that was offering an all day mixed media art class and jump right in.  I would stop drooling over the incredible art projects in my Cloth Paper Scissors magazines and actually give something more than UTEE covered paper beads a try.  I would get paint under my nails and gel medium stuck on my hands and love every minute of it.......that would be a great day off!

Which prompt would you choose??  

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Weight Loss Update:  I am having some cravings like you wouldn't believe!  Last night I was busy with open house at the middle school and didn't get around to eating dinner until 8:45.  On the way home Reid and I stopped at Vons for some groceries (aka: something to eat for dinner) and you all know going to the grocery store when your hungry is a big no no.  Since Reid still had homework to complete, we rushed through the store and I managed to skip the isles with all the naughty food.  

That was until we got to the check out and they had a big ol' display of Halloween MnM's.  Curses!!!  I grabbed a bag and had it open before my behind hit the car seat.  I was munching on them after lunch today and felt I was going to eat the entire bag if I didn't put them up somewhere out of my reach.  Well, being 6 feet tall means just about everything in my house is in reach.  I seriously contemplated throwing the entire bag up into the rafters of the garage!  Needless to say......today the diet isn't going so well.  Curses to hormones and curses to those last 13 pounds!!