Bonus Woo-hoo!

I have another woo-hoo!  I had the great honor of being a guest blogger (my first time!) at Hanging Off The Wire.  Hayley does a great job over there and is having a rockin' Bloggy Birthday Bash!  I highly recommend stopping by and joining in the fun!  Here's the link to my guest post: Let's Get Metaphysical.

WWW Wednesday

Whine: I've noticed the last few Wednesdays whenever I put something into my whine blurb, the issue magically goes away!  WWW Wednesdays are miraculous!  A couple examples:  I whined about my phone... I have a new phone that I love!  I whined about not reading any good books... please note the new recommendation in my sidebar!  Molly refused to wear the same outfit as Adrienne... as you can see from yesterday's picture, the identical sundresses I bought in next summer's sizes will NOT go to waste!  So I'm going to do a little experiment today and whine that I don't have a private jet and uh... my skin is crazy dry right now.  Let's see if these issues work themselves out in the coming week!

Wish: I wishy wish wish the bridal shower I'm having Saturday goes smoothly!  The last time I had a shower the power went off at my house the day before so I was trying to keep food cold and not give my guests salmonella.  I also had to follow everyone into the bathroom and dump water into the tank to flush for them.  And it was about 100 degrees and really, everybody just wanted to get the heck out of here.  Including me.  So all I wish for is power on Saturday.  Please send your very best bloggy wishes to me- I trust your wish power will keep my home electric.

Woo-hoo!  Elections are over!  Whatever your party, how thrilled are we that the political ads are off  our TVs and radios?!  I could NOT be happier!  I prefer my commercials to be manipulating me into buying an actual product thank you very much.  I've missed the usuals- the fast food ads, the insurance spots, the beer commercials.  Welcome back old friends!
Also (and I'm not sure this is exactly a woo-hoo; it actually freaked me right out), yesterday (Nov. 2nd) I noticed a fully stocked Christmas aisle at Wal-Mart.  Christmas?!  I love Christmas but wow!  Now I'm feeling a little panicky.  As I get more stressed out, this development may move into a whine, but for now I'm jumping on the bandwagon with a Christmasy commercial:

Matchers Again!

An update: Molly has stopped protesting matching outfits!!!  I know you were on pins and needles about this hot topic, so the news is good.  When I pulled out their matching cupcake jammies she squealed in delight and my heart soared (while my stomach growled and mouth watered at the sight of the cupcakes).  Here they are:

Speaking of Molly squealing in delight, I'm missing a chunk of my tongue today thanks to her enthusiasm.  Saturday night I tucked her in and reminded her the next day was Halloween.  Bad idea.  She threw her hands into the air and brought her knees to her chest.  On the way up they smacked my chin, I saw stars, and now I'm talking like some kind of freaky bad ventriloquist.  Kids can really put a hurtin' on their parents, right?  Adi has taken to yanking my hair in protest whenever I wipe food off her mouth.  Jeesh!  It's a good thing they're cute and still wear matching outfits for me.

Here's an irrelevant question, but I'm wondering what you guys think about this.  M ran up to a house to trick-or-treat the other day and the guy gave her some candy and then took her picture.  Would you be freaked out?  I'm confident he was harmless, but is that weird?  Did any strangers take your children's pictures?

Other things that weird me out?  Doorhandles in public restrooms.  Target speaks to my soul yet again.

Hello Dolly

Good news!  I wasn't mauled by a bear!  The weekend was lovely- relaxing and fun.  Of course, I'm happy to be back to civilization now with a considerably lower risk of wild animal attacks.

Did everyone have a fun Halloween?!  I do not remember Halloween stretching out so long when I was little!  I wish it would have!  It's fine with me though, because the girls got a ton of use out of their costumes. Practically $1 per wear!  (that's quite an exaggeration but typing it makes me feel like a rockstar bargain shopper!)  We have enough candy to tide us over until Halloween 2011 (Lie!  With my help it will be gone before you can say, "I'm a hungry, hungry goblin") so I think it was a successful year.

In other Haloweeny news, I arrived home late Saturday night from my very relaxing weekend, quickly put the girls in bed, tidied up a little and opened my pantry to put something away.  This is what I found:

Why in the world I would ever let my brother alone in my house is a mystery.  Do you remember last time I left him?  See this post.  What a punk!  So I did what any warped Mommy would do... left it in there and instructed Molly to get some crackers out of the pantry.  What did she do when she opened the door?  Giggled.  And kept looking for crackers.  I asked what was so funny and she laughed, "there's a baby doll in here!"  So much for scaring some curl into her hair.  My daughter is already braver at three than I will ever be.

Note: this doll is not ours.  We have friends who brought it over for the express purpose of putting it in Jim's truck to scare him.  The hilarious evil plan worked and after that he put it high, high up in our garage behind a bunch of junk so we'd never accidentally see it.  My point is this: if it were actually our property it would be in the dumpster.  Also, my sick brother went to great lengths to get this thing out and into my pantry.  If you have a brilliant idea how I could get him back, I'm accepting ideas!

This is a very busy week. I have lots going on and I'm hosting a bridal shower at my house Saturday.  I could use a dog like Harvey:

WWW Wednesday

Whine: You've probably noticed the stagnant book recommendation on my sidebar (right?  Yes, I'm sure you've noticed).  It's because I haven't really loved a book in (checking my Excel spreadsheet book log) over a month (it was My Name Is Memory).  I'm reading the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series right now and I like it but I hate to recommend something the whole world minus me has already read.  So if you guys have any superb books on your nightstand please clue me in!

Wish: I wholeheartedly wish Molly would not sneak real food into her kitchen in the basement.  We've been over this repeatedly, but every now and then I go down there and will find a few crackers in her "fridge" or (today) icky, sticky cider in her tea cups and all over her little table and chairs.  Gross.  If ever this results in rodents making their way into my house I will have to send her to live elsewhere.  Or better, I'll send myself to live elsewhere.

Woo-hoo:  I'm leaving tomorrow to go up north to one of my favorite places in the world.  I haven't been since the beginning of September and my spirit is aching for some Northern Michigan.  One of my most favorite and least favorite things about my visits up north is the lack of Internet.  In any event, I'll not be Ad Bitting for a couple days.  But hopefully when I get back I'll be refreshed and energized and rip roarin' ready to commentate on commercials!  A woo-hoo within the woo-hoo is that my mom is watching the girlies Friday so Jim and I can go hiking!  Yes, hiking in ultra-flat Michigan sounds a little silly, but I promise it's lovely and fun and did I mention we'll be without kids?!  Of course, there are bear in Northern Michigan.  Here is a picture of one my dad caught on his trail cam:

So, as long as I am not mauled by a black bear (I guess I could skip my morning honey and tuna bath) I'll be back to work spreading commercial joy on Monday.

Moms Can Be Cool Too!

Tonight I am hosting my book club at my house.  I adore book club.  It makes me feel like I'm a real person with my very own friends.  With one or two exceptions the women in my club do not have kids in Molly's class or at A's story time, their husbands are not snacky buddies* with Jim, their dogs don't run with mine.  They are my friends exclusively.  It is the one night a month I get drunk  have a glass or two of wine and then we have either intelligent conversation or fun, silly conversation, or both.  Every mom should have their equivalent of book club.

Last night I saw a Toyota commercial in which a kid notes, "Just because you're a mom doesn't mean you can't be cool".  Luckily, my kids still think I'm cool even when I'm singing off-key into a spatula or walking like an Egyptian to Poker Face.  I know these days are short-lived, but when the day comes that my kids are mortified by my each and every inhalation I'll be semi-prepared with my own interests and friends and non-mommyesque conversations! 
In lieu of the aforementioned commercial (not yet on YouTube) I've got a couple other cute Toyota commercials for you:




* Snacky buddy is a term I use for a good friend.  One day I will post about where this term originated, but it's a story in and of itself.

Halloween Candy Scene

Last night we went to a Halloween party at our church so the girls got to wear their costumes.  Here they are:

The party was huge!  (Amazing how $1 pizza will draw a crowd).  There were so many cute costumes: a sumo wrestler, an egg, little giraffes, baby dragons, the obligatory Scream masks, and me with my bunny ears.  No, not Playboy bunny ears, more like Easter bunny ears.  The whole thing was a big success except for:
1. Adi dumping an entire cup of cider over her head.  Anybody know how to clean one sticky butterfly costume?
2. Molly has weird taste in candy.  There were games for the kids to play to earn candy.  M sifted through each and every bowl for Smarties (which she thinks are miniature Tums), suckers, and what used to be candy cigarettes* but are now called "candy sticks" and don't have the red tip or the fake smoke.  I kept pointing out the good stuff: "Oo! Mols!  I.. er... YOU like Snickers!  How 'bout a yummy Butterfinger?  Why don't you pick something chocolatey for the love of PETE!?!"  Apparently she has established a foolproof plan for keeping me out of her candy.  I won't be troubling her for any of her chalky Bottlecaps anytime soon.  And Adrienne?  The only thing she was interested in was her free apple.  Puh-lease!

This commercial is just as scary as M's taste in candy.  And it may be the closest I get to a decent candy bar this Halloween:


* Do you remember these?  They were contraband in my house growing up and rightly so (in my opinion)!  My neighbor friend was allowed to have them and she still smokes a pack (of real cigarettes) a day... I'm just sayin'!