a quick bag post...before the break up

my computer and I have gotten a little too serious. We need to take a break from eachother, see other people. So we're breaking up for a short while. We'll get back together once it learns to appreciate me a little more.

But before I go, here are some bags I love. I love Bella's bag...I was real excited about this simple design. And I love the bow on Katie's bag, instead of the tie or ruffle. And, Jamie had a brilliant request for a TRAIN bag for her son's Thomas paraphanelia. Love it.

So long, cyperspace. Till we meet again (like a week).

WALL-E

We took the kids to see Pixar & Disney's new masterpiece, WALL-E.

I am in love with this movie. It's beautiful. It's funny. It's romantic.

It is an adorable movie. The animation is amazing; the music fantastic. From the very opening scene, before WALL-E even made an appearance, I was smiling with the showtunes. And I couldn't wipe the grin off my face the entire film. I sat upright, laughing out loud and constantly glancing at the kids, looking for validation for my giddiness...but they were totally glued to the screen and not paying any attention to their lame mom.

If you're looking for plot, it's not much. However, the story is sweet. This clever, lonely, humble little robot falls in love with Eve, a newfangled hottie tottie droid with a directive to find life amidst wasteland. Together, they've gotta reunite earth & humanity. No biggie. The chorus of life vs. survival is insightful. Not a load of dialogue; for me it was a movie of artistic cleverness. I do admit, the incapabilities of life 700 years from now made me a bit uncomfortable, but oh well.

Then there's the love affair. Innocent, sweet, and beautiful. WALL-E's flirtations are charming, and his romantic gestures irresistable. I sniffled and giggled over their affections. Their fancy for eachother was portrayed perfectly. Disclaimer: my opinion.

Oh, it was just good. I need to stop babbling so you can go see it already.

The Pixar Short before the film is a good one, too.

me time for $2.50 a bag

Alice called and told me Target had their Kellogg's cereal 5 for $11, plus a $5 gift card. Perfect.

Being the bargain shopper I pretend to be, I decided to make the arduous drive down the street to our Target, and push through the crowds of rudeness so common at 9:00pm, and make the sacrifice for my family, all in the name of mommy martyrdom and budget crisis...to check out the cereal revival...oh..the chip aisle...I may as well stroll down casually and look for any more red SALE signs, because that's what a good economically minded mommy does...oh look...I did not purposefully see that my chips are 2 for $5.00. What a pleasant surprise.

Heaven on earth. A Flat Earth. And I'll tell you why.

You may think this post is about obsession and gluttony, but it is much worse. It's about pregnancy.

I don't know if many of you are familiar with the term hyperemesis gravidarum. Once you understand that emesis means to vomit...you see where I'm going. Use your Latin brains.

Majorus Puketorus. My face in the toilet is no big deal anymore. I basically threw up for..what's 9 x 5...35 months of my short life. I would lose 10-20 pounds before I would gain any, and then it wasn't much because not only was I puking up the smell of water, but the word appetite, too. Luckily smart people realized the anti-nausea drug, Zofran, used for chemo-therapy patients worked for pregnancy related miseries as well. But I couldn't even keep the tiny pill down. (The thought of swallowing $10 every 6-8 hours is enough to make anyone chuck, emesis or not.) So good insurance came to the rescue and for two of the five, I got to stick a big needle attached to a tiny tube attached to a vial of the million dollar miracle into my leg every 2-3 days; and attach that to a pump that, well, pumped a continuous drip of expensive relief into my bloodstream. It took the edge off. I found a picture of it for ya. It helps with the visualization.

Okay...the chips...

My sister Cassy had bought these chips while I was in the hospital enjoying my last and final delivery. My first day home she puts them in my face. "Here, try these," she says. I said no thanks, because it was habit. I didn't eat real food.

Then I remembered I wasn't pregnant anymore. I tried one.

The clouds of maternity woe parted. The rays of sweet culinary goodness came breaking through the 3.8 years of hyper pukes. Those chips. I was free. Free from the bonds of the porcelin monster. Free from my love affair with ice chips. I could eat food again.

So I ate the whole bag.

And then the other one.

And then bought eight more.

Now, whenever I can sneak it, I buy myself a bag and eat as much as non-pregnancy-possible during the two minute drive home from Target. All by myself; as a sweet treat to ME. Alone with my chips, and all of their symbolic glory. Just me and my non-vomitting self.

The five pregnancies are gone and forgotten. The nausea worth the gold. I love my kids.

And I love to eat.

Wild Berry Patch holds the most meaning for me, but the Peach Mango Paradise sure are scrumptious, too.

cyndi's bag i'd like to keep.

I'd like to take her out. Show her the town.

The bag.

Although I'm sure Cyndi's fun, too.

for sheri.

These poor girls, they've been through so much. Nip 'n' tuck, embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions, hangovers...uh...wha?...nooooo...fray glue has nasty fumes. It has to have had an affect on them.

Now I will admit I did consume quite of bit of ginger ale whilst deciding upon which color ribbon would bring out their eyes. Their, black, eyes. And it took a few oreos to work out accentuating their positives...you know, like low rider jeans with back pocket flaps camoflauge the lack of round tushy. Meaning flat. What Not to Wear, TLC. I'm giving away my personal flaws. TMI.

Really, they were fun. Thanks, Sheri.

white glove it, till it sings

Me and E-Brack would stay up to greet the sun white glovein' the apartment, jammin' to the tunes of M.J. and DJ Jazzy Jeff. That's when a guy (yeah, a guy) taught me to use newspaper to clean the windows. And I learned you can't clean without the tunes.

I give you...the white glove mix.


...that i can't get to load on the post. So it's on the sidebar.

Happy cleaning.

Or just dance.

so i hid the remote control today...

and an amazing thing happened.


they played.


and i sat in a chair for 10 whole minutes, and stared at the wall.

Lovely.

summer improv

We have no swimmin' pool.

Improv is a vital survival technique I learned during the Mud Pie Obsession Era. "No. We're going to use pudding, sweetheart. Take the dirt back outside. please."

This Pool Parody requires large containers and kitchen paraphanelia of all sorts; no pudding.

You're good to go.

me time...wha, huh?

My mother-in-law brought this over to me the other day. I felt a little light-headed and started to hyperventilate a bit, then I could chuckle about it.

I hung it on the fridge; with all the other stuff I pretend to remember.

Dani was eating breakfast and says, "Hey mom. Is this your new schedule? I like it."

"Uh, no dear. It's a joke."

"I think you should take it seriously. You need some Me Time. "

"Dani, that lady is horribly uncomfortably stuffed into a sliver of time just enough to take a potty break."

"Works for me," she says.

No fair.

these are projects i wanna do...

in my next life when the sloppy joes will make themselves.

Or, I could ignore the back-talkin' dirty clothes bin for another couple days and start craftin'.

Fingerpaints posted by DesignMom on CookieNesting.

Paper Berries on HowAboutOrange

Children's Art Mural by Jan Eleni.

to the zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday. My ignorant ambition paid off; we had a really good time.

The only chaotic moment was when Andy decided to hide from me in the giant elephant box and I looked like a crazy lunatic yelling his name while the kids sat around eating cheez-itz.

Oh, and when Joey booked it down the cheetah stairs heading straight into the wild bamboo; and when I had to drag him by the ankles from under the fence while he's screaming "Funny Crane. Funny Crane!"; and when he tried to drink the eco-pond in Butterfly Garden.

Uh, and when Kacie performed her signature overly-dramatic I'm-gonna-die scream for the monkey watchers when I wouldn't give her the dirt covered water bottle, and everyone suddenly lost interest in the dancing gorilla to watch me abuse my child. "She's okay." I said politely. "Watch the dang primate." I said...politely. Very, very quietly.

I wish I had a peanut for every time someone asked "Are all those kids yours?" Then Joey could've at least had a handful of edibles to throw at the camels.

"Don't throw stuff at the camels, Joey!"
"Why?"
"Because it's rude."
"Why?"
"Because it hurts."
"Why?"
"Because you need to go play in the gopher tube. And I need a slushy."

I love a good slushy.

Oh, it's totally worth it just to hear Andy laughing at the naked gorilla scratching his behind; and to discuss gender roles and humility with Dani when she gets an overdose of girl power because the female lions are the ones to hunt & the boys stay home.

It's worth the tear in my eye every time Jakey hugs my leg & says thank you for such a fun day; he won't want to come to the zoo with me forever.

They'll all grow out of it, someday.

So we had fun, yesterday.

Mac Taggie & Taggie Maggie

soho bag

I wanted a big bag for my trip to NYC. One that would hold all my airplane stuff, but mostly one big enough to carry around souvenirs without looking like a total tourist. This was perfect. Now I use it to carry all our church stuff...blankies, sippy cups, diapers, books, toys; and for antique outings, or to the zoo.

I have to fix some things with the design. If you look close you can see the ripple at the seams where the seam allowance doesn't stick to the stabilizer...so I need to think about a solution for that.

by myself bag

I love this one...because it's only big enough for me. For a trip to the store, by myself. Just my stuff. No diapers.

i think joey's been playing with my camera.

just a hunch.

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

Conan loves Banana Pudding, so I found this awesome recipe on FoodNetwork, compliments of Miss Paula Deen, for Father's Day. It is slap yo mama good. Someone make it and tell me how you couldn't stand the deliciousness.

I'm trying really hard to ignore Conan's last bit of leftovers that scream threatening words of fattening denial at me every time I open the fridge. You know, to be real nice and play the martyr so Conan will think I'm totally cool for putting his welfare before my love of good eats. I may have to eat it just to make it shutup, though.

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies

6 to 8 bananas, sliced

2 cups milk

1 (5-oz) box instant French vanilla pudding

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12-oz) container frozen whipped topping thawed

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top. In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

i love the opera

I sang this fine classic to Joey over breakfast. Realizing from the look on his face he has no idea how cool my spear and magic helmet are...I set out to educate my kids on the finer things in life and introduce them to the opera.

A Story for Grandpa Devon

Once Upon A Time

there lived a boy named Devon.

She told him he could never save the world.

Unless he found Canada

& saved Queen L. Year.

Okay. Devon thought.

And off he went.

Then his cell phone rang...

Devon began to...

Devon said,

"A dragon is going to eat me,

VERY SOON!"

The Old Man gave him a

magic yellow flute.

Then Devon smelled something stinky.




Devon played his yellow flute.




Devon ran and ran towards
what he thought was Canada,
and ran right into

The Sorcerer...Knight of the Great White North.

What tried to gobble Devon up,

so he threw his rolling pin at him,

but missed and hit him in the eye.

just then...

SCREAM woke up

and ate What.

at half past twelve.




So Devon really did save the world,

when he was a Dad.

We love you.

Happy Father's Day.

best stupid thing I've done.

I have grey hair. Lots of it. A noticable amount. Take a look. Can't you see it?

NO?

Because I dyed it this morning. By myself, with the kids hanging out in the bathroom, with a store bought dye.

I've been told that's bad for my hair...store bought dye. But I can't get myself to pay $60 for a salon color every 2-3 months. You can buy a lot of oreos with that kind of money.

Is that stupid? Not oreos, duh. To dye your own hair?

You bet. $11.73 and no more grey hair worth of stupid.

And a nice shine to boot.

Clairol Perfect10 .

decor8 roomboard contest

That I'm not going to enter anymore.

I've decided the world of fashion and design is a great big foreign country to me. I can't look beyond Target and Pottery Barn.

Darlyn and Merrilee inspired me to expand some of my pretend shopping likes into an actual idea board, and what better contest than an Amy Butler one. But I can't figure out how to get all these ideas and cool stuff into a board. All these people have Apple computers. That's all I can sumise. surmise.

But I wanted to save my ideas for when we build our house, so here's my Mud RooM. Try to visualize.

Yeah, that's a drinking fountain. Sweet. And outlets above the shelf to plug in battery chargers, etc. And fabric covered corkboards. I forgot to draw the magazine rack for kids school papers and library books. And the quiet children. Home sweet clean mud room. I'm not an artist, pretend the drawing looks cool.

this is a mirror.