Eating Standing Up

Tonight I'm eating Phad Thai and downing my Pinot at a record pace. This is when I realize that I'm eating my dinner standing up in my kitchen. The kids are at the table eating their meal, and I'm taking a bite, then loading the dishwasher. Then I take a drink, and wash out the sink.

*Bite: organize the recycling.

*Sip: take a hairbrush off the counter and put it in the bathroom.

*Bite: tell John and Birk to stop kicking each other under the table.

*Sip: feed the dog.

*Bite: I.M. my life partner and ask when he might be coming home.

*Sip: serve Ruth more pot stickers.

*Bite: answer the phone.

*Sip: explain to telemarketer that I'm not home.

How many other women are out there eating standing up like horses? $40 take out and a glass of $20/per bottle Pinot deserves better conditions than standing up and eating like a horse. Am I wrong? Next I'll be sleeping standing up. Although it would save laundry costs and I'd never have to make my bed.

The Dishwasher Loading Award

Like so many of my cool blogging friends out there, I've decided to create my very own award...

THE DISHWASHER LOADING AWARD

and I'm awarding it to...

drumroll please...

MY HUSBAND!

Honey, only you can load the dishwasher in such a way.  In my entire life I'm eclectic and chaotic, but in the dishwasher department, my world is neat, tidy and lined up just so.

You have proven time and time again, you can load the dishwasher willy nilly and it still comes out sparkling clean.  I love how you can stuff every last thing into a load.  

The very same amount of items would take me at least one and a half times around the cycle, but you, are able to jam it all in there.  It's very Eco-minded of you.

Now that I've awarded  this award to you, here are the rules:

1. You must load the dishwasher every night.
   
2. Cooking dinner would earn you extra points.
   
3. Tag all of your children and give them the next round of dishwasher unloading duty.
   
4. Write 5 things that you love about being married to me on romantic stationery and seal it with a kiss.  Mail it to me snail mail.

Are You Allowed To Blog Brag? Mother's Day Monday

Are you allowed to brag on your blog?  I know this is a funny thought.  I can easily write about the funny or the crappy, but when it comes to the fabulous, I have a hard time finding the words. If I do stumble along and find the words, it just sounds too boastful.

I am a "the other shoe's going to drop sometime" kind of girl.  In the old days, when you could actually live the fantasy of getting bumped to business class for a flight from Toronto to Tokyo, I just enjoyed every second to the fullest.  I knew this could be it for me in my upgraded adventures.

When it's all too good I get scared.  I think it's akin to a fear of heights.  The more you have the more you have to lose, but I don't want to live like a fraidy cat loser.  I want to have some fun and keep having it until someone kicks me out at closing time.

Thus, in this vein, I want to let you know that my wonderful family kicked me out of the house Saturday and Sunday morning and sent me with another mom to Sonoma.  We sipped, we shopped, we spa'd, we dined, we read the newspaper, we slept in and we had a grand old girl's time.

On Sunday I returned, refreshed and thoroughly missing my family.  My kids ran to me, arms outstretched with big, airport kinds of hugs and kisses.  Awwww, gee I love these guys and I'm going to enjoy every single moment I have with them to the fullest!

Happy Mother's Day, hope you all enjoyed it to the fullest, too!

Oh, Scrap! I Thought This Was Published!

Rae Ann was kind enough to give me the Honest Scrap Award. This award is for bloggers who write from their heart or put their hearts on display. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Rae Ann! She writes a nifty blog called Critical Mass. Check it out, you are sure to enjoy her wit and wisdom. It's always a fun place to visit to cheer up your day.

I'm supposed to do two things with this award: 1. Tell 5 honest things about me. 2. Pass this on to 5 deserving blogs--I'd like to share the love and award this award to some new, fun blogs.

5 Honest Things
1. I don't like to get cut flowers as a gift. First, I'm allergic (especially lilies) and second, I'm no good at keeping them alive or arranging them.
2. Carmel is my ultimate sweet thing. If it's on an apple at Halloween time, it's even better!
3. I'm a junky shopaholic. I love to troll antique shops and discount stores. There is no hunt at the corner boutique that can satisfy the thrill of the kill at Marshalls or TJ Maxx.
4. I was a preschool teacher and a middle school teacher--the parents were always harder to handle and cater to than the kids.
5. My mom is a vegetarian and my dad was a dairy farmer. Their daughter is a hybrid crazy, picky beef-eating vegetarian. Say what?

5 Cool Blogs That I've Been Recently Introduced To:
1.  Shimmer Me Blue
2.  a picture or memory a day
3.  Three different directions
4.  Wife and Mom of 3
5.  parenting BY dummies

Play along if you'd like, no pressure.

And You Think Your Teen Is Bad?

Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority;

they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise;

they no longer rise when elders enter the room;

they contradict their parents, chatter before company;

gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.



--Socrates, Fifth Century B.C.

What Your Kid Might Be Saying At School...

I picked up Birk after school and took her corrected work out of her cubby. I quickly scanned her first grade papers.

There was a cute exercise that was folded like a greeting card that said, "I like the taste of..." Then your child put in what they liked. Birk of course put her favorite, ice cream. I smiled to myself.



However, my smile turned to horror when I turned the page:

Boulangerie Cookie Dough and Other Meme-ingful Stuff

Jo from Under the Influence tagged me with my very first meme. I'll let you know, I am the last person to do these kind of things when it comes to email, but for some reason, I am totally up for it in blogland. Maybe it's the fact that I don't even know what day it is?

Rules of the meme. Respond and rework. Answer questions on your own blog. Replace one question. Add one question. Tag 8 people.

Here I go...

1. What are your current obsessions? Boulangerie Cookie Dough from the refrigerated section at the grocery store. I bought these to bake for my kids, but I'm just going to eat every one raw. Maybe even I'll eat every one today. They are that addictive!
2. Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often? Workout clothes, it makes me look like at least I'm trying.
3. Last dream you had? I don't get enough REM sleep to dream lately.
4. Last thing you bought? Sandals
5. What are you listening to? The peaceful, quiet of all three kids being at school.
6. What do you want to be when you grow up? I might like to go back to work as a preschool teacher--it keeps you young and I'd cry if I don't get to read Good Night Moon ever again.
7. Favourite holiday spots? Home :)
8. Reading right now? Canadian Living Magazine
9. Four words to describe yourself. Tired, caring, happy, spontaneous. 
10. Guilty pleasure? Shopping
11. Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak? My husband.  He has a great sense of humor.
12. Favourite spring thing to do? Get out the summer furniture, plant some flowers and hang out and enjoy the sun.
13. Planning to travel to next? Sonoma
14. Best thing you ate or drank lately? Those cookies from question #1!
15. Dream vacation? Taking my kids to Europe to learn about history.
16. Favourite ever film? Out Of Africa (love the book, too!)
17. Care to share some wisdom? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!
18. Song you can't get out of your head? The Little Sister Blues
19. Thing you are looking forward to? Summer break

As for the tags, here are five new bloggers I've met lately.  Play along if you'd like, if you don't, well, that's o-k, too:

1.  Mozer from Spell Out Loud

2.  Simone from Great Fun 4 Kids

3.  Brown Eyed Gal

4.  Katy from Parenting By Google

5.  Two Pretty Little Skirts