Not Me! Monday

Oh boy, I've been waiting for some peace and quiet to write my Not Me! Monday post. Remember last week when I said it was an uneventful week and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop? Did it ever and it feels like today has been the longest day and it's only 2:45pm. I'm warning you now, get ready to read a novel. Let's start with earlier in the week and work our way forwards , shall we?

I have not only seen my husband for a total of about 8 hours the entire month of June (he's a long haul truck driver) up until this weekend. It was not causing me to be extremely overemotional and it definitely did not add to my stress level.

My son has not decided that he doesn't care to nap anymore and that it's okay if his mother turns into a big green monster because she is losing her mind by 3 o'clock. He does not then whine at 5 pm that he's tired and wants to take a nap. What do I say,"Um, sorry honey, it's too late to nap now." What I definitely do not want to say, " If you just listened to me at 2pm and took a nap then I wouldn't be a big mean monster and you'd be a happier boy. Now suck it up and go play" I would never think of such a terrible thing to say, Nope, not me!

I did not have tons of meaningless errands to run today and wanted to get them done by noon so that my little one would hopefully get back on schedule and take his nap.

First off, I was not trapped behind the garbage truck while trying to leave and he definitely was not talking on his bluetooth (and not picking up the garbage). I did not wait for 15 minutes for above mentioned garbage man while he chatted (about who knows what to whom), then eventually picked up the dumpsters while my son was beyond excited ( can also be read as would not stop talking/yelling for the entire 15 minutes straight.)

So we're finally on the road when I did not completely forget to go to the bank first. Really, who needs to deposit money to go run errands, not me! (While this seems insignificant now, just wait for later in my trip.)

After the first two stores, we jump in the car and proceed to the next store and my son did not quietly whisper to me that he peed his pants while in the car seat. Did I get a warning or a "hey, mom, I have to pee?" Nope, not me!

I did not pull over and assess the damage to discover that my extra undies/shorts were not going to fix this. It's not like the Hoover Dam broke and everything/everywhere was completely WET! Nope, that would never happen to me.

We did not head home to do a quick change of shirt/undies/shorts/socks (I'm surprised his hat wasn't wet) and grab towels so he can sit in the car seat without getting wet.

And at last we're on our way! (again)

To the bank we go. Here's the plan,

1.) Withdrawal $ from an account in Bank A 2.) Deposit $ to another account in Bank B.

Sounds easy, right. Should have been. I did not discover that my debit card from Bank B is missing! I did not have a major FREAK out in the car and search every nook and cranny of my big red purse over and over again for 20 minutes in hopes to find it and still didn't. One thing I'm actually good at is not loosing things and I definitely did not lose that bank card. Nope, not me!

In hopes that my card is at home somewhere I proceed to the next store carrying WAY too much cash, all in the form of $20 bills. I definitely was not acting like a little old lady guarding her purse throughout the store and I'm hoping I did not look like a drug dealer with wads of cash at the check out counter. Nope, not me!

I did not make it back at 1:30 (an hour and a half late). Nope, not Me!

***Side note to let you know my day has gotten better**** Little one is napping and I did find my debit card. Wanna know where? In my wallet of course, wrapped in a receipt!

For more "Not Me!" Mondays head over to MckMamma's.

A Little Link Love!

Who says spending time blogging and reading other's blogs isn't productive? Not I!

I meandered over to another blog, I really don't know how I found her, but immediately fell in love with her title, Domestic Dork. Really, who wouldn't love a title like that? After reading a few posts I found this one...that one that changed my life (ok, maybe that's a little dramatic, but you get the idea.) Use a pumice stone and some elbow grease to clean that stubborn "ring" around the toilet. GENIUS! (Check out her blog for the details and pics since I'm not brave enough to post toilet pics)

So, I put on my cute yellow gloves, parked the kiddo in front of the tv since he wouldn't take a nap today and I gave it a try. Holy Moly, it worked! I have tried almost every product for the last two years to get that gross ring out but just figured that I was doomed to live in a good for nothing, yucky, yellow ring kingdom.

Now, I can't say that the following events will happen in every one's bathroom but finally getting that toilet spic and span led to counters, sinks, mirrors, mopping the floors and removing the shower doors so that I could scrub the living daylights out of them. And at last, my bathroom is GORGEOUS! So a big thank you to Holly Noelle at Domestic Dork for providing the great idea and the inspiration to finally make my bathroom beautiful.

Gimme 5!

We all know how toddlers can latch on to something and seem to beat the heck out of it, whether it be a song, toy, game, or the dreaded book that you have to read over and over again. Well, my son has latched onto quite an unusual thing........wait for it..........

The Number 5!!!

Why he has picked this number is beyond me? It's not his birthday, not his age, heck, I only count to 3 when he gets in trouble, but to him it is the most magical number out there. Let's all review the way number 5 has worked itself into our lives;

1. All things add up to 5. He knows how to count up to 30 yet when counting a few objects he always seems to equal up to 5. Doesn't matter how many there are, to him its always 5!

2. When going to checkout at a grocery store we must always to the aisle #5. ALWAYS! I can get away with 15 if the 5 is closed but there has been many a time I have gone to #5 and had to tell another checker who has offered to open her lane so we don't have to wait, that my kid will have a major freak out if we don't stay in this lane.(Although in a much nicer/kid friendly way)

3. Oh yeah, I was informed the other day that I don't have a 2 1/2 year old but that I have a 5 1/2 year old...just in case I missed the last 3 years.

4. Lastly, today I was also informed that his name is now Five. I guess I'll have to call the state and reorder that birth certificate with his new name, the one we gave him wasn't good enough.

5. You surely would not think that i would miss #5 with a post all about 5's did you??!!!

Not Me Monday

Can you believe that it's "Not Me!" Monday time already? While some weeks drag on for what seems like eternity, others, like this one, go by incredibly fast. While MckMama doesn't seem to be doing a post this week, and really who could blame her when her sweet baby Stellan has been through a roller coaster ride this week, I, for one, must get this off my chest to start my week out fresh. Honestly, it's pretty therapeutic, and much cheaper than a professional :)





On my way to the grocery store, I did not wait forever and a day at every stop light on the way there because the power was out. And of course, once at the above mentioned grocery store, which took me 30 minutes instead of 5 to get there, there was not a worker outside holding a big fat CLOSED sign because yes, their power was out too! So, on my journey to the other grocery store in the next town over, it was not incredibly over crowded because everyone else and their mother had the same idea as I did. That was not a complete waste of my afternoon!



My husband did not tell me the other day that because I let our son wear a lot of fake tattoos this week that he's going to blame me when he's 18 and comes home with a big fat tat with the word MOM in it. At least I already know it's my fault so I can be ready for it in about 16 years. LOL



I did not try to teach my son how to pee standing up today only to pull a muscle in my lower back. (don't even ask me how I did it, who knows) Now, our sweetly sympathetic little boy thinks that whenever he stands up to pee, mommy hurts her back. So one day, we'll have a tat wearing, toilet sitting, teenage mama's boy.



I asked my son what he wanted to get daddy for Father's Day and he did not say this, "I want to go to Toy's R Us and get him a blue car hauler so that I can open it and I can play with it." That would be an incredibly selfish response. Nope, not my 2 year old!

I did not have the tantrum kid at playgroup this week. (In all honesty, if you know my kid you know how rare this is.) I did not want to pull my hair out to make the whining stop. I did not wish I could just take him home for a nap. But then....... I would miss mommy time, cause really what are playgroups if not glorified girl time with intermittent child rearing.

***Side note- The non sharing, tantrum filled boy did get sick that night which thus explains above behavior. Now he's back to his non tantrum throwing self****


Overall, it's been a somewhat mellow week which makes me wonder when the other shoe is going to drop. Oh well, I'll just not tell you about it next Monday.

Giveaway Results

And the winner is........

#6

LOLO7878

Congratulations Laurie!

I'll send out the package by Saturday so you can enjoy them next week!

Thanks to everyone who participated and welcome to the new members. I had a lot of fun doing this and I hope to get another one up soon.

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:6
Timestamp: 2009-06-18 14:35:42 UTC

Yummy in the Tummy

Want a fun way to sneak some veggies into your kiddos food?
My kid is a picky eater. It's beyond my knowledge how he's in the 75-90% for height and 50 % for weight for his age if you saw what he ate...or more what he doesn't eat. Unless it's corn, there are few vegetables he'll try, doesn't like crunchy stuff, and heaven forbid you put crusts on his sandwich. Seriously, all hell could break loose. I have to resort to sneaking it in like last night's dinner. Me-fajitas with beans, bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms etc. The little monster- bean burrito with bell peppers and zucchinis (I was not go to try mushrooms to blow my whole cover) chopped into the tiniest, most minuscule pieces you've ever seen, mixed together and topped with cheese, lots of cheese! I have to say, it was a success. Score one point for MOM!After dinner we made these muffins and they were SCRUMPTIOUS! Now, my kid hates zucchini (and yes, he saw me put it in the batter), but when combined in a muffin, loves it. I even substituted 1/2 the oil for applesauce to make it healthier and they were so incredibly moist. I was even thinking about adding some carrots next time. Ahhh, the joys of deceiving your children into eating their vegetables. I'm a huge fan of the cookbook Deceptively Delicious. It's a great resource for moms of other picky eaters. You're not alone!

Although the following recipe is not from the cookbook, it is destined to be a guaranteed hit. As I'm always looking for new ideas, please share what you do to make veggies or meal times fun :)

**** Giveaway ends tomorrow night if you haven't entered yet****

Pineapple-Zucchini Muffins

makes 48 muffins

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups vegetable oil
6 eggs
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
3 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour 4 muffin pans, or use paper liners.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the oil, eggs, zucchini, pineapple and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Not Me Monday

It's Not Me! Monday time again. I love Mondays just for this reason alone. The chance to air your dirty laundry and have fun doing it.

***Just a reminder that there are only two days left to enter my GIVEAWAY. So far there are just a few entries so the chance to win is pretty high. And really, who doesn't love free stuff :)***

And, here we go....

My panic alarm on my car did not decide to go on the fritz and go off anywhere and everywhere Tuesday afternoon.

I did not have disconnect the battery cables overnight to make sure my neighbors would still be my friends the next morning.

And I of course, did not have to pay 340 bucks for them to fix it. Ughhhh!

My son did not start calling one of his blankets "little sister" since everyone we know is having a little sister and we are not. It definitely did not break my heart and I absolutely would not use such example when trying to convince the hubster to start trying for #2.

I did not go a whole day without Diet Dr. Pepper and start getting caffeine withdrawals only to cave in at 8o'clock at night. That would be horrible will power. Nope, not me!

I did not change a poopy pull-up(from my fully potty trained kiddo) at 11:30 last night because I could smell the stench the second I opened the door to check on him before I went to bed. It was not a complete disaster trying to do it in the dark while he was still sleeping. I did not just leave his brown pj shorts off because I couldn't tell if they were dirty in the dark. I did not wake up at 6 o'clock this morning to a toddler who was whining that he couldn't find his pants. Nope, Not me!

(FYI-On further inspection the following morning, good thing I left said brown shorts off!)

I am not going to ditch housework after blogging so that I can go play with my Wii! That would be poor time management. Nope, no way, ain't gonna do it!

Don't forget to check out MckMama's Not me! Mondays. Really, who doesn't need a good Monday afternoon laugh?!

Friday Fill In

And...here we go!

Prompts in color and my thoughts in black.

1. I grew up thinking that I could do anything.

2. www.katu.com was the last website I was at before coming here. (sorry, it's kinda boring)

3. Why don't you join in on my giveaway? (Shameless self-promotion)

4. Sadly, tv and a diet dr. pepper helps me relax.

5. Thanks for the comments, I really do appreciate them. To know that people are enjoying what I write makes me feel good.

6. People who smoke are very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing with above mentioned diet dr. pepper and tv, tomorrow my plans include attending a birthday party full of toddlers, and Sunday, I want to have some great girl time at a babyshower!

Please don't forget to check out my giveaway! Happy Friday everyone!

Just say NO to Scrubbing that Crockpot!!!

I have a mini review to let you all in on, Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners.

I've used them for quite a while now, but totally forgot how great they were until I went to use one the other day and I was out of them. Ughhh! Let's just say I was not a happy camper. I almost ditched the entire crock pot meal just because I would have to do all that nasty cleanup, but I put on my big girl panties and scrubbed the heck out of that pot after we were done with it. Not my idea of a fun Friday night! The product itself is pretty self explanatory. You line your crock pot with these plastic liners and low and behold, your crock pot stays clean. Very simple, basic idea, but I absolutely LOVE them!

Now, I have a surprise.....it's my first giveaway! While it's not a big fancy giveaway, it's still FREE, and who doesn't love free stuff. The winner of the loot will walk away with their very own box of Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners along with a few more of my other essential kitchen products.

Here are the rules.

1. Leave me a comment. Have you ever used them before? What product can't you live without at your home? Let me know.

2. Become a follower. It's very easy...just look to my right sidebar and you'll find the follower box.

3. Link to my blog. Feel free to tell other bloggers about the giveaway...the more the merrier.

You'll receive one entry for each and I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner. The drawing starts now and will close next Wednesday the 17th at 11:59pm Pacific Time.

Happy cooking everyone!

Not Me! Monday

It's Not Me! Monday time again. It's the time for us moms to declare how perfect we really are and that we would never, ever do anything wrong. Not in a million years, because we've been sent down from the heavens with halos floating over our heads. Here is how my perfect week went...



I did not teach my son how to unload the silverware from the dishwasher because it is my least favorite thing to do. I'm not conveniently hyping up the world's most boring task for my own personal benefit. Nope, I would never do that.


I didn't just put away the butter,that I used earlier, (as quickly as I could) before I definitely did not nag at my husband for leaving his cereal box, milk, and banana peel on the counter WHILE he ate his breakfast. That would be a very hypocritical, and impatient thing to do and I would never do that. Nope, not me!

I also didn't promise my son that he could play on the playground at the mall after being an incredibly great shopper only to not have checked that they were cleaning it from 2-3pm. That would be a complete heartache to a 2 year old and I did not feel incredibly guilty for doing that. I did not want to cry right along with him because I felt so terrible. I also did not make it up to him with a cookie from the Mrs. Fields so perfectly located across from the playground. (talk about location, location, location). Nope, not me!


Lastly, I am here to declare that my husband is also part of the Not Me! Club as apparently he is just as perfect as I am (minus the cereal box thing.)


My hubby did not have to manually pick up our son (who was whining about not wanting to leave) the toy store with the train table only to turn around and not buy him a Thomas the Train that he truly did not deserve. Nope, not my hubby....he is not a sucker, no way!


Please check out all the other perfect mommas over at My Charming Kids! I'm sure they will not disappoint!

*****I just found out Not Me! Mondays won't be on the My Charming Kids site until later this afternoon because she defintely did not have 3 1/2 small children climbing on top of her and is waiting for the peace and quiet of naptime to finish her post******

Weekly Winners

It has been so long since I've done a Weekly Winners post so I cheated a little bit and instead of just posting my faves from the last week, I've included some from the last couple weeks. For more Weekly Winners check out Lotus at SarcasticMom.

Enjoying his first snow cone at the baseball game

Exploring the empty bleachers at the top of the stadium

My two fave boys enjoying a game of bowling

Who knew they made shoes in little boy sizes? Too cute!

STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a great week everyone!

Friday Fill In

It's Friday Fill-In time again. Time to mindlessly blog about nothing in particular. I love it! Prompts in color, my thoughts in black....here we go!

1. I can't wait for my husband to come home, it's been two weeks since I've seen him.

2. My favorite thing for dinner lately has been flat bread chicken/lettuce wraps with Papaya Poppy Seed Dressing! So delicious and easy to make.

3. What does a doggy say bark! bark! bark! (ok, that was a really weird prompt?)

4. A nice long walk with my IPOD really clears my mind.

5. Is hoping for some good news on the house we're trying to sell.

6. When all is said and done, my family is the most important thing in the world to me.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my hubby coming home!!!, tomorrow my plans include possibly going fishing (although I kinda don't want to) and Sunday, I want to clean up the aftermath of said hubby coming home!

A Public Service Announcement from The Sippy Cup Police!

You would think that after two years and about 5 sippy cups lost that I would learn, but nope, I'm a repeat offender. I woke up the other morning from a distinct smell lingering from the kitchen into the hallways, possibly even seeping into my bedroom. I've smelled it before, and sadly, I'm sure I'll smell it again. The first time I smelled the odor I thought my house was on fire and I searched high and low to find the source of the possible fire, but now I'm a pro and I go straight to the dishwasher to assess the damage. We had one fatality, the lid to the blue sippy cup. This was our worst damage yet, it actually melted into two separate pieces. My dishwasher still reeks of plastic death and hopefully the stench will soon fade and our life can go on as normal. R.I.P. Blue Sippy Cup. You'll be missed.

WARNING - The photo below may not be suitable for young viewers...proceed with caution.