My first (and quite possibly last) giveaway!

**********UPDATED AGAIN*******

Congratulations Mary Katherine!!!! Mary Katherine was pregnant with me over Facebook when I had Lielle and she is the lucky winner of these beautiful Jamberries! I hope you love them as much as I do Mary Katherine! They are great for keeping nice nails while chasing busy toddlers!!! The winner from my Facebook launch party will be announced as soon as humanely possible!

************UPDATE*********

Dear everyone who has embarked on this Jamberry adventure with me willingly or unwillingly,

Today is the big day of BOTH raffles, and believe me when I say that no one has been more excited about that than me. However, after having our trip home delayed by four days (remember when a four HOUR delay was a big deal?), I arrived back at work today (without my luggage) only to find out that our school was mourning the sudden and unexpected loss of a parent of four sweet, wonderful children, two of whom I was lucky enough to teach in their preschool years.

As my family can attest, I have been beyond eager to hold the raffles. However, I’m sure that you will all understand that I will be delaying the drawings for a day so that I can return to my former irritating…I mean infectious enthusiasm and energy.

In a completely uncharacteristic move for me, I fell head over heels in love with a beauty product. Me! The one who has a hard time remembering to slap on some eyeliner and is lucky to make it to work with a little lip gloss.

In a much more characteristic move I impulsively decided I needed to become an "independent consultant" of these products within ten minutes of trying them.

And to help move things along in that department, I decided to try my first ever giveaway. So without further ado, meet Jamberry nails! The giveaway is for one set, which will be enough for two to three manicures.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To see more colors and patterns, check out my Jamberry site!

Meanwhile, The Boonga is all about the accessorizing. While she waits to be old enough to wear Jamberries (there are junior sizes, but she would find a way to eat them), she's trying out something a little more baby friendly.

I promised her some Jamberries as soon as she's old enough not to eat them.

You Can Always Tell When It's The Baby's Turn To Do The Dishes...

It's easier to just to leave it all up to her anyway. But here's a "how to" that I find handy when The-Guy-Who-Knows-A-Song-About-A-Chicken isn't home to intercept the baby's help:

Hide the silverware (so that she doesn't realize you are beginning to unload the dishwasher).

Hand wash pots and pans in an attempt to delay the inevitable.

Take spices away from baby and explain that glass bottles aren't really a toy. Clean up one last speck of glass from the last time she thought playing with glass would be fun.

Wait until the baby's back is turned to wash out her favorite pot. Step around baby as she removes her second favorite pot from the cabinet.

Pull out the bottom rack of the dishwasher as quietly as possible. When baby comes running, explain that you weren't really emptying the dishwasher, just setting the table.

Hurry to grab each dish from the baby as she empties the bottom rack so that no more get broken today.

Tell baby not to bang the glass table with the ceramic dishes. Take baby off the dining room table and un-set the table.

Stop to change a diaper.

Hurry to grab each dish from the baby as she empties the top rack.

Try to put dirty dishes into the dishwasher faster than the baby can empty them, all while repeating, "These are dirty dishes! They stay 'in in in!'"

Give up until after the baby has gone to bed. Decide to fix her lunch for the next day instead.

Spend the entire time repeating, "This wa-wa (water) is for tomorrow. You already have wawa right there!" and "This moe-eesh (more please) is for tomorrow. You can eat that moe-eesh that's on your plate."

And Now for Another Exciting Episode of "Who Is This Woman And What's That Black Thing That's Always In Front of Her Face?"

Why does this mama person always have that black rectangle in front of her face?!?!?!?

Doesn't she know I have better things to do than just sit under a tree all day long?

Oh. Wait. She has stickers?

In that case, maybe I do have a little time to just hang around and be cute.

But only a little.

It's Way too Cold Around Here to Even Think About Having Any Cold Weather. You Know, Cold Weather. That kind of weather they have other places that aren't here.

This baby…ok toddler…loves to help! In fact, she's helping us to the point of sheer exhaustion. She helps unload the dishwasher. She still doesn't really care whether the dishes are dirty or clean. She'll lick either and scatter them on the floor.

Have you ever seen anyone quite so gleefully doing household chores?

She helps make eggs.

They're pretty good too.

She helps clear her place at the table…by throwing all her food on the floor when she's done.

And then later, hours and hours later, she helps by throwing away her food. Or at least she tries - she set this particular piece of banana on top of the garbage can for me to encounter later when I least expected it.

She couldn't throw it away because we have to keep the garbage can locked. Because otherwise she will help us empty the garbage.

She even helped Dad unwrap one of his presents. It's totally okay that he hadn't gotten home from work yet and didn't know he had a present waiting for him. Right?

One place she won't be helping out - the city's Snowfest. Never mind that this is Texas and it's only snowed once in the past six or more years. The sign said the snow fest was STILL being held! Still! One has to at least celebrate the lack of snow with some fake snow. Or something.

Unfortunately, the Snowfest was canceled due to inclement weather.

What exactly was the inclement weather that heralded the demise of the Snowfest?


Wait for it…


It was cold.

Yep. It was a doggone 37 degrees today and WAY too cold to have a festival celebrating snow. Drat. Think of all the help the little Boonga could have given them.

If You Choose to Have A "Late in Life Baby", It Might be Best to Encase Yourself in Plaster Before the Kid Can Even Crawl

That baby of ours is cute, but whenever I'm around her I say things like,

"No more 'more'! You already have 'more' right here! Eat the 'more' on your plate and then you can have more 'more'."

My boy on the other hand, ends up having to say goofy sounding stuff just to get me to stop talking -

Me - "Y'Know, when the baby is all grown up and I'm already dead, you're giving to have to make sure she has somewhere to go for Passover."
Boy - ?
Me - "Because you're the youngest. If I'm dead and The-Guy is dead and Older Gal is dead, you and the Sweet Pea will have to make sure the baby has somewhere to go on the holidays."
Boy - ?
Me - "I might not be dead. I might just be old. And doddering."
Boy - ?
Me - "You know!!!!! Like when she's 30, I'll already be 73. So you'll have to have her over for Passover…or at least drop in at her place unexpectedly."
Boy - "As long as I can be referred to as The Godfather."

Hopefully I live long enough to hear the baby say stuff like that. Because it's extremely dangerous to have a "late in life baby". I never sustained a single baby related injury during The Boy or The Sweet Pea's formative years. But I've already fallen flat on the floor three times as a result of this kid.

Not to mention the fact that her car seat attacked me last week and yanked off part of my fingernail and the skin underneath.

Unlike when my boy busted his head wide open, I did not take a picture. You're welcome.

Both The-Guy and I have had broken toes thanks to her little innocent self. I didn't take pictures of our broken toes either. Your welcome.

I used to advise against having a new baby when you already had a high school senior. But that was when she was a newborn and she cried EVERY. WAKING. MOMENT. Having a toddler while you have a couple in college and one in high school is totally, totally worth all the injuries.

She's a lot of fun.

And delicious too. Apparently. Still, you want to have a well stocked first aid kit.

Why yes it IS tough being a baby.

The problems of today's youth are many. For example, when I'm upset Mama drags out the camera.

And those people NEVER get me the correct art supplies! I told them regular yogurt doesn't have the depth or dimension that I need! Next time maybe they'll get me Greek yogurt.

I even got put inside a block tower!

At least the next door neighbor's dog loves me. She love me not. She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me…

These days there are plenty of cool things to play with:

But, if we don't play our cards right we get could sent to "Lego lessons". Mama says when she was a kid, she just got to play with her Legos.

I hope that everyone is having a good week! (and hasn't been sent to Lego class!)

I'm almost as good at cooking as I am at eating. Or wait. Maybe I'm almost as good at eating as I am at cooking. Instructions on how to carve a pumpkin:

First take out some of the goo that's in the pumpkin. Come on in, the water's fine!

Pick up the glass bowl right away and dump all the seeds onto the ground. Try not to get any seeds or goop on the newspaper while you're dumping them. Dad might still want to read it, after all.

I like to make sure and step on the seeds too. I don't fully crush them of course, because I'm not making wine. But mashing my foot in them just so releases the flavor.

Go ahead and keep eating the entire time. Pumpkin guts, a snack, whatever you happen to find on the floor…but don't let any seeds escape!

For that certain eau de drool, make sure and lick the seeds before roasting.

You're supposed to let your mom do the actual carving. I'm not sure why.

Make sure to have a small snack after all that work. Trashing the kitchen is exhausting work! If your mom says you're too little for Halloween candy, see if she'll make you ghosts out of a red banana and some raisins.

Leave the pumpkin seeds on the counter for at least two days or until such time as they disappear because Dad gets tired of seeing them. (as it turns out, Mama doesn't have time to roast and Dad wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about this project as I thought he would be).

Wait...were we roasting seeds or carving a pumpkin? I always forget. Whatever it is, it's probably happening past my bedtime.

Everyone Says I'm "Delicious"

I guess that's why Mama made me into sushi for Halloween.

The white is the rice. The orange is my salmon and the green is probably avocado. Mama likes that better than cucumber.

The black band is my seaweed wrapper. And of course I have carrot for a hat!

~~~~~~~UPDATE for October 2014~~~~~~~

This was totally NOT a sponsored post when I originally wrote it, but I have since signed up as an Amazon affiliate, which as I understand it means that if you click on my little widgety thing and proceed to make a purchase, I get commissions.  Or something.  

Meanwhile, this costume is SO EASY that it would be kind of silly not to link what's needed.  Basically I dressed our Chief Content Provider in a white onsie and leggings.  Then I wrapped an adult black legging around her and shoved in some reusable grocery bags on her back.  

Here's where to click Amazon to get the ingredients for your own yummy sushi!!

And here's a picture that's all Pinterest-y, just in case you get a generous hair and decide to share:

Shared with:



As well as some of these nice people.

Just Because A Magic Marker Is Washable And NonToxic and Has Had the Cap Left Off for Three Days

Just because a magic marker is washable and nontoxic and has had the cap left off for three days doesn't mean my kid can't find something disgusting to do with it.

Before:

After:

Can't you just see the remorse all over her face? Oh no wait...that's marker all over her face.

Why is it that when you leave the lid off a marker for an hour and a half, you come back and can't write with it anymore. But when you leave the lid off for three days and therefore think it's relatively harmless, the kid uses it to cross pollinate herself with a pumpkin?

Couple other pictures and that's about it until I get to put her in some absurd costume for Halloween!

Let's pretend we live somewhere with seasons (and other activities for autumn)

The Boonga loves reading. Of course, reading while sitting on a digital piano is even better...

And it makes the books taste even more scrumptious!

She also loves a green pepper freshly pilfered from Dad's garden and eaten while standing on the coffee table. It helps with her Physics grades too. Especially the gravity part of Physics, because she shoved the book off the coffee table seconds after I snapped these pictures.

But, Boonga's favorite, favorite thing to do is to spin salad.



And of course after spinning it needs to be tossed:



(No lettuce was harmed in the making of this video. All tossed lettuce was about to be tossed into the compost anyway.)