Happy Easter!

As far as jobs go...

Being a nose picker is a lot more glamerous than being an underwear licker...as youngest demonstrates below:

Child Locks Really Do Work

So last week something funny happened while leaving the gym. Those of you that belong to Gold's and have been to the Redmond location know that their parking spots are almost ALL for compact cars and that most of their patrons are parking challenged. It can make for some funky maneuvers to get the kids and myself in and out of the car. Last week was no exception.

I had managed to get one of the coveted spots that my Honda Pilot would actually fit into when arriving at the gym. However, while I was working out, one of these previously mentioned parking challenged folks decided to park to close on my passenger side. Really, they left so little room, I had a hard time believing any HUMAN could get out of their driver side and live.

Anyway, when I get to the car it is obvious that I will need to load Youngest in via Eldest's side, which is always exciting. First I put Eldest in the car with Youngest on the floor of the back seat. Then I scooped Youngest up, put him between the car seats, and stood there hunched over in the back like a troll while I shifted myself past Eldest so I could get Youngest in his seat. Finally, I lifted Youngest into his car seat, and just as I snapped his belt closed and turned to hop out, Eldest shut his door himself. He was SOOOO proud. I told him good job, and then realized that his door has the child locks enabled, and I was unable to actually GET OUT of the car from the back seat. Instead, I had to climb over the middle console and into the drivers seat from the back. I felt like I was on an episode of the "Dukes of Hazzard". The only thing that would have made this experience even more humiliating is if there was some DINK waiting in his hummer for my spot. thankfully, I was spared that embarrassment.

3000 visits...SWEET!

That's a lot more than I ever expected to see! Glad someone out there that's not my mom finds the blog entertaining and maybe even useful(?).

Belltown and Bellevue

I tell you what, this past weekend was so fun! On Friday night I felt like a celebrity! My friends Jess and Amanda and myself went into the city (Seattle as I've been instructed to call it, because "the city" makes it sound like I'm some crazy Redneck...apparently)for a grand opening of a high end women's boutique followed by some drinks in Belltown. I've never been to Belltown before, and I've never been to a boutique like this either. The opening was beautiful! The store had such nice merchandise, and free champagne to boot! We tried on a few $200 dollar shirts (NO KIDDING...they really were $200), had some champagne and then went to the club. My friend Jess knows some folks that manage and bar tend there, so we were treated very well. By the time the music started, I was ready to boogie, but waited until Dancing Queen came on to strut my stuff...and it was awesome.

After hours of dancing, these three mamas had to return to reality, but not before hitting Jack In The Box first for some cheese burgers!

Saturday morning I got to sleep in (THANK GOD), and then went to lunch in Bellevue with my friend Juli. We went to Nordstrom afterwards to get fitted for bras, and the store was packed! I guess they had some kind of spring fashion show, and they were doing make-overs all over the place! We started our shopping adventure by touching ALL the designer handbags, and trying to guess how much they were before checking the tag. We were always WAY under (one Jimmy Choo bag was $3000! Really, what is this bag made out of?). Than on our way up to Lingere, I was stopped by a toothpick that asked "would you like to try the world's best foundation?" Hell yes I would!!! This lead to a 45 minute make-over. Juli wouldn't do it at first, but by the time she saw this faboulous foundation on me, she was in her own chair getting her make-up done as well. After buying a lipstick, we finally made it to the bra department where a very funky and funny woman helped us pick out bras that would fit properly. This woman was the bra whisperer, I swear. She measured under my bust and that was it. She came back with three bras that fit great and looked fabulous. If I had unlimited funds, I would have bought all three, but I settled for one...so a couple times a week, I will have fabulous boobs.

Today, I am going to make Irish Soda Bread with my boys in honor of one of my favorite holidays tomorrow...St. Patrick's Day. I'm %75 Irish and proud of it! Tu-ra-lu-ra-lu-ra ya'll!

Tarzan

Yes, I'm talking about the Disney movie. A million years ago, before I even had kids, I bought this DVD for myself, and right now it is Eldest's favorite film. I tell you what though, it, by far, has the WORST beginning of ANY Disney film ever made (including Bambi). If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about, if you haven't...well, I'll spare you, since most of my readers are mom's and the beginning music of Hallmark commercials tends to make our lot cry.

Because the opening is so bad (in my opinion), I NEVER watch the movie with Eldest. in fact, I am usually in another part of the house, so I can't hear it, but today I didn't have that luxory. We came home from grocery shopping and after I put Youngest down, Eldest asked to watch Tarzan and I agreed, since it would allow me time to put the groceries away without being harrassed. I ignored the beginning sequence (yes, I don't even have to see it in order to tear up!), and focused instead on where I should put the bisquick and how many yogurts I bought.

This was all going nicely, not one tear was shed, until I got roped into the music. Phil Collin's did the soundtrack and it is really nice. There's a part where the mama Gorilla is singing a song to Tarzan after she's resqued him and then Phil takes over the song and I kept thinking about my own boys, and how it would be a great song for one of the videos...then they started welling up. Those big crocodile tears. If you watched LOST last night, you know what I'm talking about! Those tears you can't help crying when watching fiction because it's so easily transposed to your own life.

I don't know how this specific gene was passed on, but EVERY woman in my family has it. We see commercials for laundry detergent where the mom is skipping through a meadow of flowers and if the music is just right, we're blubbering like little girls. It's a gift and a curse.

So, in conclusion, if you have this specific ailment (crying at the drop of a hat), then NEVER watch the beginning of Tarzan. Better yet, skip the whole film all together. If you decide you have to see it after reading this, don't say I didn't warn you (the sound track is very good!).

Count Down to April 3rd!

It's funny, now that the writers strike is over, there are so many commercials on each network about the return of all our favorite shows. Some are fun, like the one of NBC regarding their Thursday night line up returning on April 3rd (YEAH!), and other are very serious, as if the return of our shows will promote world peace:



Although silly, there are folks (aka, ME) that are pretty excited about new shows on TV. I actually need to go through and weed out all the filler I've put on my TiVO to make sure it won't interfere with the return of my favorites! I mean, I really have learned a lot from the DIY network, but if Knitty Gritty conflicts with 30 Rock, then I'll wait until the summer to finish that scarf!

The countdown to April 3rd begins!!!

The Luck O' the Irish

I love St. Patrick's Day. It's not for a good two weeks, but starting about the end of February I start listening to all my favorite songs like "Ratlin Bog", "Molly Malone", and "Drunken Sailor".

Today I got an e-mail from one of my favorite websites. If you've never checked out JibJab before, you should. They have some pretty hillarious cards. Anyway, the e-mail was to let me know that they had a few new templates for St. Patrick's Day, so I went to check them out! One was a "Lord of the Dance" card, and it had four girls and a guy dancing! This is perfect, since there are five kids in my Irish family, four girls and a boy! I took some time and made the following:

Don't send a lame St. Patrick's Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Hillarious right? I think my favorite is my brothers jump in the air about mid way through. Now, should I send this to Mom & Dad now, or wait until St. Patrick's Day?? I don't think I can wait.

When do the new shows start again??

With the writer's strike finally over, I am very anxious to see new episodes of my favorite shoes!! They can not hit the airways fast enough either. Not only have I started reading more (granted, its mostly the internet), but I have also learned how to knit and have become addicted to a show on DIY called "Knitty Gritty". Oh yeah...it's as lame as it sounds, and yet I can't seem to stop watching it. I don't know if I'm drawn to the hosts overly bright red hair, or the thrill of seeing which three saps they picked to be the "knitsters" for that particular episode. Those three people range from teenage boys that knit their own ties to Dad (yes FATHER) daughter knitting teams. This however wouldn't keep me from being on the show. You better believe if I were to be contacted to be on the show I would pick up my basket of yarn and get on the next plane to wherever it's taped. I'm not particular when it comes to my 15 minutes.

Anyway, I've also started listening to some new tunes to pass the time. I did a huge download session from the Zune Marketplace the other night and my three favorite new songs are:

Foundations by Kate Nash
Love Like This by Natasha Bedingifield
Wanna Be Startin' Something by Michael Jackson (featuring AKon) off the new anniversary album

Check 'em!