Still Riding My Obama High

President Obama has been awfully busy for one week....
(1. Scrub 2. Rinse 3. Repeat)
What an amazing start. I'm as excited today as I was a week ago. My favorite word of the week: "follow through". Okay, that's two words, but whatever. I don't see him going down in history as "the president with the most vacation days". His predecessor holds that at 34% of his days in office. Can you imagine taking off 3 1/2 months out of the year? What a farce.

My second favorite word? "Diplomacy"
ooo, that even sounds just a little sexy ; )

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Not Me Monday (3)

Welcome to Not Me! Monday, where we can be brutally honest with each other, and live to tell about it. We all take shortcuts in life and so many of us moms think that if we admit to it, then we will not be the supermoms everyone sees us to be or expects us to be. Well, here is the place where hundreds of us are not exactly admitting to our shortcuts as almost a form of therapy. MckMama started it all here, on her blog. Join in, learn how and to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

1. I was horsing around with Jack and while I had my back on the floor, I hoisted him up on my feet to do the "helicopter ride". He's finally big enough for me to do this kinda stuff with him, and of course it was "do it again, Mommy" over and over. Finally, I thought it would make a fun photo for my 365 blog. That was until I saw my legs in it... because of course I shave my legs EVERYDAY now that I work from home full time, hardly ever go anywhere in anything but pants because it's oh, about an arctic 11 degrees here! So, obviously, I did not crop out most of my legs in the shot so people could not decipher just how long it's been, like rings of a tree.... not me!

2. I am not still listening to Christmas music because the CD's are still in the stereo and the kids always ask for it. Jeez, it's nearly February. Not me!

3. My son did not point out my dirty floor to my friend (with grown children) during lunch Saturday. Because of course, after having a crawler who wouldn't walk until she was 15 months old and even then, not 100% of the time, I am not taking a break here and there from having to keep the floor food-friendly.

4. My baby daughter let several rather unpleasant bouts of gas just rip during a quiet, intimate memorial service Wednesday. And I did not wave my hand in front of my face nor shake my head at her just so everyone that heard (and smelled nearby) would know that it was not me (seriously, it wasn't me, it WAS her and it was pretty mortifying!)

5. I don't think there is a rule that I have to list 5, but I usually do. I can't remember what 5 was supposed to be. I've been doing this all week.... I almost only had 3. But it's pretty funny that since I've been doing my NMM, I have been hearing the narrative of my blog posts in my head while I'm going through the actions thinking "yep, this is going to be one for NMM...ugh...."

An Unusual Post

If you have some time to burn, check out this unusual post over at my Project 365. I think I was inspired by Tammie when she wrote about her bag and the story it tells about her. What does your fridge say about you?

Pay It Forward

I really wanted to do this (from Lindsay's blog) but she doesn't really know me, so I didn't sign up immediately... until she still needed a good Samaritan tonight. (I'd hate for her to think I was a stalker! But she has the cutest little family (so do I), she loves to cook (so do I), she loves to make super cool cakes (so do I), she's awfully crafty and resourceful (so am I), her oldest son's birthday is September 18 (so is mine) and her last name is Miranda (so is mine!). We have a few things in common. I accidentally found her (the very first blog I stumbled upon) when I was looking for a blog name to use. So now I follow her blog and smile when I can relate and chuckle at her little monkeys!

Read closely...this is how it works...

{The Rules}

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Counts!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!
If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Please take the button and post it on your blog; start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

SO, REMEMBER... it is good... :) Pass it forward.

GG's tantrum goes global

GG's story was featured on McMama's site! (she's had about 3,395,882 visitors to her blog, roughly 30,000 a day?) GG's the "toddler girl" that's mentioned in the first paragraph.

"We Shall Overcome"

It was just me and my girl today for the inauguration. I thought it was fitting. She and I alone went to the caucus, and then it was just us when we voted early and then today, just us girls for this historic event. I was moved and I am so excited for our future. It will be a long haul, but I have faith in giving him some time to get it going, even though he hit the ground running 2 months ago and I don't see him having a problem with that. I don't think he'll be the president with a record vacation days. I think he's more "like us" than any other president in modern times and I love that two Kansas women raised him. I love that my children will grow up in a changed world, especially given that their heritage is the same as Obama's, with an immigrant father. I think people will be inspired to move more than ever, but more importantly, I believe he will be sure to guide us and show us the ways that we can be a part of this change. Tell us what to do, Mr. President, we are sooo ready.

Not Me Monday (2)

(If you don't know what Not Me Monday from MckMama is, check this post.)


1. I decided with this nasty cold weather we're having that it was high time to bust out the massive ham bone from Christmas out of the freezer and make a yummy soup. Mind you, this was from a 20 pound ham, a WHOLE ham. The bone was waaaay bigger than I remembered and not only did it not fit into my largest stockpot, but it wouldn't come close to fitting in the crock pot either. The bone was at least 1 1/2 inches thick. My wheels went to work. Of course, this did not lead me to the garage full of tools where I might find something to improvise with. And I did not proceed to clean the blades of our tree trimmer and then with everything I had, snap that bone in half. Nope, not me. Man that soup was good.

2. My mother in law brought over a bag of pre-popped kettle corn from Sams on her weekly Wednesday visit. I was skeptical because I make sure the kids eat very healthy and I thought it was probably loaded with sugar and fat. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that bad and you could eat a hefty 2 cups for a serving. I should have known better than to ever have tried that stuff. It was the tastiest blend of crispy sweet and crunchy salty goodness. I have never been one to binge on anything (that is not a facetious statement, I really mean that). About 10 minutes into that bag I did not look down at it and realize that about half that bag was missing. Because like I said, I'm not one to do that. Ever. Not me.

3. I did not bribe my son to sit on the potty in exchange for playing games on my iPhone. Couldn't that really screw him up? Well, you wouldn't catch me doing that. hmm, mm. Not me.

4. My cable news addiction has not returned with a fever pitch leading to the big party Tuesday night. And I absolutely have not googled 24 hour coverage of the inauguration. I also have not thought of several dinner dishes for Tuesday that would include red white and blue. I'm not THAT excited. Not me. Besides, that would make all our republican friends and family just disgusted.

5. I did not begin this week putting plastic covered training pants over the kids' diapers at night so I don't have to change the sheets every morning (including ours) any more. That might be considered lazy parenting and I would die if someone thought that. I'd bet (because I've NEVER actually seen this, but I'd bet that GG's little bubble butt would look pretty funny!) I have to admit, though, the damn diapers are just not holding up anymore to the 12+ hours of sleep. And it's not the greatest way to wake up when a little one crawls into your bed in the morning sopping wet.