it's friday

and I'm tired. The sun is shining brilliantly and I'm moping around the house. I think I'll take my shoes off....that's better. El Fuego did not have school today. Some crazy in-service day or something. I swear when I was going to school, we actually went to school on a regular basis. We dropped Miss Divine off and picked up El Fuego's new specs. The ones we recently picked out were just too small for him. They kept flying off his face. Literally, I'm not even kidding. If you looked at him sideways, they would just pop right off and land across the room. So a couple weeks ago, we went in and picked out a new pair. He found the same pair of frames only bigger and in green instead of red.

After picking Miss Divine up, we ran two errands. All four of us. What was I thinking???? Petsmart for dog food and Office Depot for a magazine file. Simple right?! Nope.

I often feel like I'm in the middle of a tornado. Bits and objects flying off shelves, innocent by-standers running for cover, pleads and cries for things to be bought, shopping carts abandoned in search of small children...we hit in a whirlwind of commotion and leave a trail of dust and confusion. It makes me sweat. It makes my head hurt. It's frustrating and exhausting.

At Office Depot, El Fuego announced he really needed to pee so we ran for the bathroom. For the most part our Petite Artiste stays close behind and when she can't see me, she'll yell "Mom! Where are you???" in a sing-song voice. An older lady out of nowhere started talking loudly at my newly three year old asking her "Where is your mama?!" and "Stay with your Mama, please!!" At first I just smiled at the old bitty, but then her constant little shouts of authority at my child started to really bug me. Then out of nowhere, she walked past me and said "She must be a real hand full!!" Maybe at that moment Petete Artiste looked unruly with her wild, un-combed curls and her little hippity, hoppity walk she does but she's my unruly haired hippity hopper and I don't need some old bat making any judgements about what is happening at that very moment. Because at that very moment it wasn't my child that was behaving like a hand full, but her and I was this close to putting her in time out for not minding her own friggin' business!!

dreaming

Some days I wish I had secretly written a book that takes off like wildfire. A book that brings much enjoyment to many and brings me loads of money. I'm not a novelist but I have tons of ideas floating around my head. I love to plan birthday parties for my kids. I don't like to plan parties for other peoples' kids. Therefore I don't want to try and become a party planner. Rather, I would love to design a book filled cover to cover with ideas for planning kid parties. Not just your run of mill, go the party store and pick up all the princess themed crap off the shelf. But real fun, easy to make yourself, cheap and fabulous ideas from invitations to games. Where does one start? One who has never, ever done something like that before?

Something else that has been on mind lately...what is with all these family centered shows on the TLC channel. Don't get me wrong, I love Little People, Big World and Jon and Kate plus 8. 18 and counting makes me a little sick to my stomach and the newest one (I've not seen yet), Table for 12. And what about The Real Housewives of so-much-friggin-money!! Real housewives my ass! That's not how real families live. Here is an idea for TLC. How about following an average, run-of-the-mill family around. Like mine for instance. (I'm just saying) Showcase the hilarity of regular things majority of families REALLY deal with. We don't all have couple dozen kids (thank-you-very-much!) and we don't have gobs of money to throw out the window. We have kids that write on the walls, dogs that chew up toys, trips to the grocery store that fail miserably, clothes that turn pink in the wash, blankets that get lost at bedtime, dinners that get made that nobody eats, accidents that happen at school, orange peels that get shoved behind TVs, tiny houses are lived in with refrigerators that break, mowing of ones own lawn, manners and family values trying to be taught .... real life. Maybe if an actual real housewife and her family of five (not 8 million) was showcased, viewers could relate and feel better about their own struggles.

grace in small things 25

1. getting to go out with my friend tonight

2. new GAP sweatshirt found on clearance rack that makes me look like I've lost pounds

3. school not being canceled or late start because of the snow this morning

4. toys that entertain my kiddos for hours

5. not having any showings today

grace in small things 24

1. Hostess cupcakes

2. Duffy

3. Frederic Fekkai Glossing Sheer Shine Mist

4. LAVANILA Vanilla Grapefruit

5. Sephora

jammies

What is it about these jammies that makes little girls throw their hands up?

Miss Divine @ 3.5 years old

Petite Artiste @ almost 3

grace in small things 23

1. milk delivery

2. pink cowboy boots

3. good hair days

4. favorite black GAP sweater

5. gifts sent in the mail

book club

I love this book! It's a no nonsense guide to reshaping your diet and the way you think about creating a self you love. Not to mention it is chalked full of truths about the food and diet industry. A big thank you to the skinny bitch who sent it to me!!

"If you can't take one more day of self-loathing, you're ready to hear the truth: You cannot keep shoveling the same crap into your mouth every day and expect to lose weight." -Skinny Bitch website

on this day, three years ago...

pinewood derby champ

El Fuego's Cub Scouts den

And the winner is....

This trophy is passed to winner to winner every year.

It was huge and El Fuego was so proud!

I'm number one!!

I'm so happy El Fuego will have this memory forever even though I had to endure the masses amounts of pain and mushy brain syndrome that is The Cub Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet. Good thing there is only one a year.

it's getting pink in here...

Upon the realization of our Petite Artiste's pending birthday party on Wednesday, I have been in party mode the rest of the week. Shopping for groceries to gathering all the decorations to assembling goody bags has taken over the left side of brain. Today we baked. A very retro, home made birthday cake. I usually just order the cakes because they turn out so much cuter. But I hate the taste and mass amounts of frosting. So this time we decided to go all out and make one ourselves because after all it had to be strawberry cake with strawberry frosting. Plus I found this candle ages ago. And I so remember having those little sugar add-ons when I was a kid.

Other items on the Strawberry Shortcake menu:

Strawberry and Feta, spinach salad

Strawberry sandwiches

Strawberry jello

Strawberry muffins

rolls

grapes

Strawberries

chocolate covered raisins

Strawberry treats

Strawberry Juice

berry flavored Talking Rain

Strawberry cake and Strawberry ice cream

El Fuego's observation: "It's very pink around here now!!"

grace in small things 22

1. the smiling sun

2. kids club at the gym

3. lemons

4. rocking out to albums I would never buy on zune

5. chocolate covered raisins

just splendid

My friend, Monika, recently started a design blog called Splendid Willow. She is getting ready to launch her site very soon. You, too, can get a sneak peek at her talents. I hope she posts some pictures of her home soon because it's quite lovely!

it's all about the loot

Our Petite Artiste is berry excited about her Strawberry Shortcake goodie bags.

Check 'em out:

Tons of Strawberry goodness

with little Strawberry Shortcake hats.

Green for the boys and red for the girls.

Turned out pretty cute!

grace in small things: part 21 of 365

1. chocolate pudding cups

2. strawberry jello

3. bananas

4. berry flavored Talking Rain

5. fuzzy blankets

he needs fans people

I was perusing my favorite blogs the other day and I happened upon this post from Absolutely Bananas. Hilarious and genius I thought!! As I sat at my computer with Angus at my feet, it dawned on me that he too should have a very own Facebook page of his very own. And why not?! What kind of neglectful dog owner would I be if I didn't put his adorable mug up for all to see. So shortly after reading said post, I went straight to Facebook and set Mr. Angus Andrew Olson up his very own page. Now I've been obsessing over his fan count....a little bit. How can he get more? So not unlike Ms. Bananas, I am blogging about my doggy's Facebook page. I have stooped to a new low. It's all in good fun though, right. And what is life after all, if we can't have a little fun now and then?? Go ahead and become his fan....you know you want to.