Friday Fabulous Fuhgetaboutit

I'm so wicked tired I don't know what to do with myself. My feet are killing me from wearing my fabulous red boots yesterday, my hammies are killing me from doing my fabulous workouts this week, and my head is throbbing from drinking to much fabulous caffeine. So what I have for you, fabulous readers, is my week in review. Once it's reviewed, I'm gonna just fuhgetaboutit and veg out in front of the TV watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. I suggest you do the same.

I was actally nominated for a blog award! Yes. Me. I'm with you: Wha'? Who's doin' what to who? Hey, I dunno either, but I'm so excited you can't believe it. So go over to One Woman's World and nominate your favorites.

This is why I hate math. Seriously. Who puts graphs in a blog? Even if it's for data's sake? Ouch.

Munchkin and I took a walk this week and as she is talking she notices something and stops. She is very quiet for about a second and then yells, "HELLO!" She turns to me and calmly says, "Mom, I think the sky is copying me."

I picked up Shannon's son from school this week and between asking me for the Burger King video game and wiping his nose with a Kleenex he slips in, "You have good hair." At first I thought I was hearing things so I asked him to repeat what he said. "You have good hair. Is it OK if I play with the video game?"

Munchkin acknowledged me as a mother. I had just acquiesced and allowed her to play in the bathtub with her plastic horses. I ran the water, got the horses, turned on the heating lamp, and put a towel out. I made sure the water was just the right temp for her. She gets in, smiles big, and says, "I love you mom. You do everything for us. Thanks."

I cut out a bajillion 9x9 squares for three different quilts this week. I still have to go back to the store to get some extra fabric. I really hope they aren't out of the one I need.

My son and Munchkin are currently composing a song on the piano entitled Who Loves You? The lyrics are Who loves you? Who loves you?
Mommy does. Mommy does.

Frankly, I'm too tired to type anymore. Hasta la pasta as my brother used to say...I'll be more entertaining tomorrow (one would hope--there's only one way to go from here).

100 of ANYTHING is a Lot

Yesterday was the 100th day of kindergarten (our kindergarten starts later than some other schools because of assessments). Each kindergartener was asked to come up with a special project using 100 things to celebrate this milestone. Some kids brought 100 beads; some found 100 things from outside; I saw one little girl who had glued 100 acorns into a swirly pattern (though it looked a little "too perfect" for a 5-year-old's handiwork). The sky is the limit on this assignment.

When my son did this he and his dad found 100 pennies and glued them onto a piece of paper. They made a shark eating a fish in the ocean with the sun shining overhead. It was awesome. Here it is:

Those three lone little pennies at the bottom are the shark babies.

Yesterday it was Munchkin's turn to come up with something. She decided she would like to take 100 stuffed animals to school. Um, wha'? Yes. 100. Stuffed. Animals. TO SCHOOL. So, believe it or not, we actually have 100 stuffed animals. Since Munchkin is not allowed to have a pet (besides Juliette her beta fish--who happens to be male, but that's another blog altogether), she collects stuffed pets. We did have to dip into my son's stash a bit and we used a few of my childhood buddies, but here ya go:

It may not look like 100, but it is. (I never thought I'd actually be excited to have so many small McDonald's toys!) The Holly Hobby was mine when I was but a wee chilihead. So was the little eskimo doll--did I tell you we lived in Anchorage, AK for a while? My brother was born there. He was orange because there was not enough sunlight. But I digress.

To transport all of these special critters to school I had to stuff and push and swear them into a tall hamper, the basket you see in the photo, and a third basket with a lid. It was worth it though: Munchkin was beside herself with glee and no one in the history of the kindergarten program had ever thought of her project before. She was the star of the day.

The Seedy Underbelly of Blog Addiction

Warning: This post may be unsuitable for the faint of heart, the tidy, the perfectionist, or anyone else who is going to criticize my housekeeping and blog addiction. Oh, and FLYbabies. If you’re a FLYbaby, you may want to skip this post.

Caveat: Any similarities between Chilihead and anyone you know (including yourself) are completely coincidental. However, if you see yourself or a loved one in this post, please, PLEASE seek help. I offer this post as a public service announcement. If only I’d been warned before I started or if my family had seen the signs, perhaps I could have been saved. If this post helps just one person, my purpose here will have been fulfilled.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

There is an aspect of blogging that no one talks about. A dirty little secret if you will (no pun intended). It is the seedy underbelly of blog addiction.

When I started blogging two years ago my posts were intermittent at best. I did a few here and there and usually only when I feeling ultra-creative or “poetic”. You know, just social blogging. Then this past December a “friend” asked if I blogged. As we discussed it she encouraged me to blog more. And more. She even invited me to blog with her at her house. She pointed me to other bloggers that were interesting. Then she showed me how to increase traffic to my site and how to subscribe to webrings. In short, she hooked me up. I was feeling the rush and I didn't want it to end.

Now I spend hours blogging, thinking of blogging, advertising blogging, and reading blogs. Forget the housework and the kids. Forget my husband. I’m just looking for my next blog.

As I posted a few days ago, I took a forced break from the blogging scene to prove I could do it. The following pictures were taken during that forced break. These pictures are graphic and may not be suitable for all audiences.

My bedroom:

This photo shows dirty laundry in the front pile, clean laundry in the back pile. When my children asked if they had clean clothes, I vaguely motioned to either pile without taking my eyes off my blog. I still have no idea what they were wearing to school. Or if they got to school.

My kitchen:


The tea ring is a result of my DTs while I tried to pour some iced tea directly from the pitcher I just brewed it in. That tea maker and ring stayed there for three days. The dishes where just the tip of the ice burg. The dishwasher was full and there were more in the bottom of the sink. My children begged for cereal bowls, but I pretended I couldn’t hear them. Since I hadn't swept the floors in weeks surely they would find stray bits of Cheerios somewhere down there.

Dustbunnies, er, full-grown rabbits:

It has been weeks since I have swept, dry-mopped, or wet-mopped. How can I possibly do floors when I could be reading this or this or this? Or this? And don't forget this!

Ladies and gentlemen, don't do what Bobby Don't does. Save yourselves.

Self-Portrait Tuesday

I've seen a few different blogs that have themes for different days of the week. One of them is Self-Portrait Tuesday. I'm pressed for time this week and can't seem to squeeze in the time I want to compose the deep thinking, socially responsible blogs for which I'm known. So I'm going with the whole self-portrait thing.



This is the fabric I've chosen to make a quilt for my nephew. You can't really tell from the picture, but the fabric does coordinate. The fabric on the left is actually a light blue and the greens in the turtles coordinate with that funky square pattern.

And how is this a self portrait you ask. Well, it's a representation of what I'm doing right now. And do you see the turtles? Those are Hawaiian turtles and they are called Honu. They are special to me because I was able to visit my brother and his precious family twice while they lived in Hawaii. On my last visit my brother and I decided to get tattoos together. I know, I know. It's not what some families would do, and trust me, I called home to discuss it with hubby before I actually inked. After explaining it would be small, hidden, and one color, hubby seemed to be OK with it so I went ahead with the deal. As an aside: yes, it hurt; no, I won't be doing it again.

For my tattoo I chose a small group of four honu that vary in size and represent each member of my family. It's on my hip and isn't even visible when I wear a bathing suit (especially since I only wear skirtinis). My brother also chose a grouping of three honu (to represent his own family) which he had placed swimming up from his foot to his calf. They are quite nice, actually. It was a really great day. Right up there with the day we learned to surf together.

Rather than take a picture of the tattoo and share that--which I'm just not ready to do and I'm sure you're not quite there either--I chose to take a picture of the fabric. My nephew was born in Hawaii and the honu are a special symbol for me that I would like to share with him.

That's my self-portrait Tuesday.

Curiouser and Curiouser

I have not really blogged since February 2. There are reasons...I was afraid I was becoming addicted (a bummer part of my personality) so I made myself quit for a few days. I'm currently writing a post about the seedy underbelly of blog addiction--should be ready this week. We had dates, birthday parties, playdates, etc. I immersed myself in those and refused to blog. I lasted until Saturday night. And I don't have a problem so BACK OFF. I can quit whenever I want! I am in control. Do you hear me? ME. And I'm choosing to blog not the other way around. This dog's wagging her own tail. Er. You know what I mean.

Um, where was I? Oh yes. I lasted until last night. I spent yesterday evening and a small portion of today trying to figure out Word Press. I have spent the better part of the afternoon today trying to figure out how to use TypePad. Why? Because I'm thinking of making THE SWITCH.

I was having a little trouble logging in this weekend and Shannon has been having all kinds of trouble with her page. She changed to TypePad this weekend and seems to really like it. Make sure you check out her new site and add it to your links.

Anyway, I would like to hear what everyone thinks. To recap:

• Blogger is free, but it's not always up.
  
• TypePad seems to be usable with a learning curve, but it costs money to be able to manipulate your code (read: OH NO! I may lose my fantastic, wicked-cool juggling red head!).
  
• Word Press is also free to me and is included in a server package I have for my extended family's web site. However, I keep looking at it and I can't seem to figure it out! The frustration factor is large.

What are you using? How did you choose that service? Would you switch? Why? Please weigh in on this matter. You know how I get. I won't let it go. Seriously. Tell me.