Where Are Your Shoes?

When my alarm went off this morning, I did the unthinkable. I turned off the alarm and I got out of bed. I know! No, no, please, hold your applause. Seriously, I got up, showered, dressed and got going immediately. "We are SO going to make it to church on time today," I thought. Then I remembered that I had volunteered to bring in some Play-Doh toys for the kids in the nursery.

"Jackson, run out to the garage and grab the box of Play Doh stuff please."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Ugh. whine whine whine"

A few minutes passed and Jackson came in from the garage empty-handed.

"Where are the Play Doh things?" I inquired, not the least bit surprised that Jackson had gotten distracted and returned empty-handed.

"In the garage. duh"

"Bring them inside! We have to get going."

"But they're not in the Play Doh box. They're at the bottom of the refrigerator box."

"Why??? Oh, never mind. I don't want to know why they're in there. Just go get them please!"

"Why are you making me get them?" grumble grumble grumble

"Because I'm mean."

"Yes, you are!" Jackson replied as he stomped off to the garage.

Another few minutes passed and he returned empty-handed yet again.

"I can't get them," Jackson complained.

"Ugh. Fine!" I brushed past him and went to retrieve the toys myself.

I walked into the garage and saw that the kids had set up some kind of fort in there. They had every pillow and blanket from every bed in the house, save mine, piled up in the garage. There was a container of crayons artistically distributed over every square inch of floor; there were containers of pretzels and cereal left out to get stale; there were books, flashlights, dolls, stuffed animals, and toys strewn about.

"What the...??? Did you guys really think that was a good idea? Why did you guys put all this stuff out here?"

"It's our clubhouse, Mom. Isn't it cool?"

"Yeah, it's lovely. And the best part is that now I can spend all day washing all this bedding so it doesn't smell like gasoline, grass, and garagey stuff. Delightful."

By the time I'd picked up some of the blankets, pillows, and towels from the garage, it was time to leave. In fact, it was a little past time to leave.

"Come on. Let's go guys. Everyone get in the car. Someone put the PlayDoh stuff in the car too."

I poured myself a cup of coffee to go and went out to the car. Five blocks later, Austin pipes up with, "I don't have my shoes."

"Seriously? You don't have shoes on? Why not? Where did you think we were going? How can you forget your shoes? How? How?? HOW???"

I hung a u-turn and went back so my THIRTEEN year old could get his shoes. So much for being on time today.

Go HERE for your chance to win a Jawbone bluetooth headset. (By the way, some of my readers were a little confused, so I wanted to clarify one point. This headset doesn't work with your regular ole cordless phone in your house. This works with a bluetooth enabled cell phone.)

And go HERE for your chance to win a Lands' End backpack.

Grrrr Auction!

Once again, eBay pulled my auction. I understand why they pulled it the first time. They just don't want unethical people saying the auction is for charity and then pocketing the money. I understand that. When I went to relist it, Make a Wish Foundation didn't come up on their alphabetized list or under the categories of charities helping children. Because it didn't appear to be part of eBay's Giving Works, I listed it again and didn't write in my auction that I was going to donate the money, yet I still tried to make it clear to potential bidders that I really was going to donate the funds.

Apparently you can't say you're going to donate your earnings to charity, but you also can't say that you're not going to say you're going to donate your earnings to charity. I did get a very helpful (and by "helpful", I mean "lame" letter that didn't really explain anything to me. I wrote back to eBay to see just what their problem was and received the following wonderful answer to my question. Don't you just love companies who don't take the time to address your questions and instead send you autoresponders? Autoresponders that pretty much say, "We're not going to answer your question. Do not respond to this letter. We don't really care about your question. Buh-bye." This is really not a complaint specifically about eBay, but against every company who sadly lacks in the customer service department. I honestly don't have anything against eBay. I mean, if it weren't for my auction last year, I wouldn't be where I am right now. That said, I abhor stinky customer service from any company.

(Oooo Oooo! I have a really good customer service story though! I went to Best Buy the other day to check out cameras. I walked to the camera department and began looking around. Very soon, a friendly person asked, "Can I help you with anything?"
At this point, I declined and said that I was just looking.
"No problem. Let me know if you have any questions."
After a few more minutes, I approached this same woman and told her I had a few questions. And then the strangest thing happened. She answered my questions. With intelligence too! She knew what she was talking about! Not only that, but she seemed genuinely pleased to help find the right camera for me. When I told her I was thinking about taking a photography class, she even wrote down the names of a couple photography magazines she thought I might enjoy. It is so rare to find a customer service rep who not only knows what she's talking about, but is willing to share that information with you. And in a pleasant manner, at that! I was thoroughly impressed.

OK, back to the not so great side of customer service.
I hate these autoresponders. Let's see why. Here is the one I got from eBay. Again, I don't really have anything against eBay in particular. I just hate these stupid autoresponders. I've translated it for you so you know what it really says.


*****THIS IS AN AUTORESPONDER. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE*****Thank you for writing to eBay Customer Support.

Why are you bugging us? We won't read your mail. We won't bother to respond to you. We will, however, send this stupid form letter in response to your inquiry because, quite frankly, you aren't worth our time.

We sincerely value you as a member of our trading community and understand your concern regarding your recently removed listing(s).

Ha ha! You lose. We win. You suck. We just took 2 listing fees from you and you have nothing to show for it. Hee hee hee!

We realize that there are times when you may have additional questions.

Unfortunately we don't have time to answer them.

When your listings were removed by eBay, we sent you a Removed Listing Notice, which explained why we removed your listings and provided helpful information about eBay's policies and guidelines.

OK, so maybe it didn't really contain an explanation and much information after all, but it looked official, no?

Should you have further questions or concerns, please review the information below.

which won't answer your questions, but will give you a lot more senseless drivel to read. You know, in case this letter isn't enough for you.

To ensure that eBay remains a safe and fun venue to buy and sell, all listings must meet certain guidelines. When a listing does not meet these guidelines, eBay may have to remove the listing early.

We must protect buyers from the horrors of people like you who offer to donate their money to charity.

For more information on why eBay removes listings please visit (blah blah blah) eBay may remove listings when the item or listing potentially infringes a third party's copyright or trademark, is prohibited on eBay, or when the item or listing otherwise violates eBay's listing policies. More detailed information explaining these policies is provided below:

1. Potentially infringing items violations: "Potentially infringing" means that items may be in violation of certain copyrights, trademarks, or other rights. For your protection, some items here are not allowed (i.e. are "prohibited"), regardless of their legality, because they almost always violate copyright or trademark laws. Some examples of potential copyright infringement are copies of music on CD-R, counterfeit software (including software that has been pre-loaded onto a computer hard drive), and copies of video recorded from TV or other sources. Examples of potential trademark infringement are replica watches, or counterfeit handbags and accessories, and the inappropriate use of brandnames in the title of a listing title that offers an item made by another company. To read more detailed information on eBay's potentially infringing policies please visit (blah blah blah).

Yeah, because "two shirts and a necklace" was really code for "pirated copies of the latest movies".

2. Prohibited items: The listing is for an item which eBay does not allow to be listed on our web site. This means that the item listed may violate a particular law or eBay has deemed it inappropriate for listing. Some examples of these prohibited items would be improperly listed Event Tickets, Offensive materials (such as Nazi or KKK items), as well as certain scanners, cable and satellite descramblers, transceivers, or linear amplifiers.For more information on the regulations on these types of items (listed respectively), please refer to (blah blah blah). Our complete list of Prohibited and Questionable Items policies may be found at (blah blah blah).

Although I don't especially like the Horton Hears a Who t-shirt, I don't think it's particularly offensive. I'm pretty sure it isn't illegal to dress like a dork.

3. A listing violation: the listing fails to meet the appropriate formator guidelines for listing on eBay. To view these guidelines, please visit (blah blah blah). Also, be aware that eBay members are not allowed to use another eBay user's images or descriptions in their listings or About Me page without the owner's permission.

Gotta make sure I didn't steal the pictures or descriptions from anyone else. You know, because there are so many people out there selling these same two shirts and necklace.

If you are a bidder and received a notice about a listing you were participating in, please keep in mind that we are unable to provide you with contact information for the seller. Since the listing was removed by eBay, the results are null and void. We do not recommend that you proceed with a transaction for a listing that has been removed early. Doing so would be at your own risk and without eBay insurance coverage or use of the feedback forum. If you should have additional questions after reading the polices on our site, please use the links provided on this page to contact us.

not that we'll answer you or anything

include your user ID, the item number(s) in question, and a detailed explanation of your situation. This will ensure that the appropriate department addresses your concerns

so we can send you the same generic autoresponder.

Thank you for taking the time to write to eBay

Loser


So, I think I'll give up on the auction. I thought it might be a fun way to raise funds, but it's turning out to be more of a headache than it's worth. I just paid Make A Wish Foundation $75.00 instead.

Vacation Bible School -part one

It's that time again. Time to start going to bed before 3:00 AM. Time to wake up before 9:30 AM. Time to get up and get going in the morning. Time to be totally worn out by noon. Time to get crazy songs stuck in my head for weeks.

In other words, Vacation Bible School time.

When we got home from the church today, I went in the kitchen to make some lunch. From the family room, I hear Clayton say, "Look what I got at church!" I peek around the corner and see Clay holding up an ant trap. Usually they bring home t-shirts and other craft projects. I guess this year, it's ant traps.

"Clayton! That's poison! Put that down now! Where did you get that?! Clay, you can't just go picking stuff up and bringing it home! Ugh!!! Did you put that by your mouth? Let's go wash your hands! That can make you very, very sick, Clayton." Leave it to my kids. Hopefully tomorrow he'll come home with something less toxic and I'll have some pictures to share.


I took a ton of pictures, but I gave my memory card to the person putting together the slide show. (Oh yes - that's right, I forgot to say that I got a backup camera. I just couldn't live without one for weeks.) I'm sure the pictures all look like last year's pics anyway. For example -


Clearly, he's learning that God's love "sticks" to you.
Or maybe that God's love can "transform" you.
Or perhaps it's that God's love is like sticky, blue tape.

What can I say? He's a weird kid.

I always stay and help out with VBS, but I always, always request to be put in the kitchen so I can get away from my kids serve nutritious snacks to the children.

EBay took down my auction because I wrote that I was going to donate the money to the Make A Wish Foundation. I guess you can't write stuff like that on your auctions unless you go through eBays Giving Works. Unfortunately, Make A Wish isn't one of the charities on their list and that's where Savannah wanted to donate the money. Sooo, I relisted the auction, but didn't write that I would be donating the money to Make A Wish. Just so you know, that's still the plan, however. The money from Savannah's auction will indeed be donated to the Make A Wish Foundation.
Here is a new link for it. Thanks!


And remember to leave a comment on my other blog HERE for your chance to win a new Jawbone bluetooth wireless headset.

Sunday Sound Out

I hope everyone had a good week! I had a busy one. I haven't even finished unpacking from BlogHer. I have 2 tote bags full of swag that I still have to go through! I want to apologize to all the wonderful people I met at BlogHer and then forgot to mention in my recap. I wasn't on purpose. My kids have just sucked the brain cells outta my head and I can't remember anything.
Just a reminder about my auction to raise money from the Make A Wish Foundation. You can check it out HERE. Mimi also has an auction for a painting to raise money for a cancer family. You can find that one HERE. And Michelle is working on setting up a non-profit organization to raise money for cancer families. You can check that out HERE.

You can check out my latest product review HERE and enter for a chance to win a new Jawbone bluetooth headset.

Now to answer viewer mail.....

One thing I learned about marshmallows with the Feingold program - they have blue dye in them, It makes the marshmallow appear more white. There are no good substitutes.
They usually have artificial vanilla too. There is a substitute though. I found natural marshmallows at The Squirrel's Nest. I ordered some for our camping next camping trip. I'll let you know how they taste.

That's cool I sound like Janie! =) Is she weird too?
My friend Janie is totally weird. But in the best way! :) Love ya Jane!

A few people have told me that they're having problems linking to my blog. A reader wrote this....
For those who can't get your blog address to link on their blogs, try this http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/atom.xmlI asked the question on the blogger help forum and they said that C&Ping your address was not auto-discovering for some reason.Since the above link works for me, I hope it helps others out.
Thank you for the tip!

Brooklyn looks very tan and her hair looks blonder.... does it lighten from the sun? Nah, I just dyed it because I wanted her to have more fun (and less tantrums).
Before any angry people write me and tell me not to dye a 2 year old's hair, I'm KIDDING. Yes, it's the sun.

Ok, the only thing I have to say about this whole post is Austin is a GENIUS! Dude! His ability to think outside the box is amazing. Did Brooklyn have a red mark on her head afterwards?
Nope, she didn't have a red mark from the goggles. She did get a red mark later when Clay threw a toy and hit her though.

So, am I right or what? Once you get past 5 kids...my theory is "What's one more?". It was no harder with 11 than it is with 6, is it?
I agree with your theory! In fact, it may just get a little easier because some of the older kids can take over some chores and help out with the little ones. Hey Debi - I found another big family for you. I met this sweet woman, Mary, at BlogHer. She has 10 kids and a cool blog HERE.

Dont you just love the gift shops at these place....NOT!Its the same at Disney - do a ride and exit through the gift shop.How do you manage to get home without a car load of junk - I mean memoribillia - which will be discarded the next day?
I just tell the kids that we didn't come to the zoo/park/whatever to shop. We came to see the animals/go on the rides/whatever. I'm just mean that way. Oh wait - that's not totally true. I do get the kids "squished pennies" sometimes. They collect them, so when we go someplace that has a squished penny machine, I oftentimes let them get one. You can't beat a 51 cent souvenir!

Great zoo pictures. I know that you have been asked this before, but, (I have forgotten...lost brain cells through 5 pregnancies!) what type of camera do you have? Your pictures come out looking really clear.
It's a Sony Cybershot with an 11 times zoom. And it's broken boo hoo hoo.

I'm curious...Does Brooklyn habitally go to Austin for comfort? How is Savannah with Brooklyn? In many pictures we see Austin taking care of his little sister. I love seeing pictures of your older kids taking care of the younger ones. I tell my kids all the time that their brothers and sisters are their friends for the rest of their lives.
Nope, actually I think Savannah helps to care for Brooklyn more often than Austin does. And lately, Lex has been playing Mama to Brooklyn. I cherish the times they get along and help each other. It seems they're few and far between.


Awwwww

So do your friends now want to go to the zoo with you just so you have more blog material and they can experience it firsthand?
I highly, highly doubt it.

What? What? WHAT? I stop reading for a couple if months due to an insane ammount of sewing I've been doing, I come back and Brooklyn is HUGE! Not only that, but her hair grew like a FOOT and it's BLONDE now? What happened??????
This is why you don't take a break from reading for a couple months. :D

I've been thinking about getting a PedEgg too, but everyone in my house thinks its so totally gross that I've been reluctant. Maybe I'll just do it anyway and not tell them. ;) Are your heels smoother now that you've been using it?
Yep, it's awesome, but I agree with the other reader who wrote that the blades do get dull. You'll need replacements blades at some point.

My hair was hideous and my mother kept it that way. What was their deal back in the 70's anyway!?!?

Ahhh the 70s. Hideous, you say? Yeah, it's a toss-up between the boy haircut, the smocked dress or those snazzy mirrors in the background.

So, for all of us out there who do not know, can you please tell us ignorant people just what BlogHer is? I've seen you mention it a lot, but I have no clue exactly what the convention is for?
Here's a link to the BlogHer website. The BlogHer conference is a time for us bloggers to come together, network, share, learn, and have some fun. You have to register for the conference and there are different options available from the whole kit and caboodle, to just one day of the conference to just the cocktail parties. There are dozens of sessions you can attend from all topics blogging. The BlogHer sponsors hand out a lot of freebies and there are fun extras like a spa room where you could get massages and the Sesame Street suite where you could make a video with Grover or Abby Cadabby. It's a fun time for those who have just started blogging, those who have been blogging for years, and everyone in between. So now you know for next year. :)

Are you sure you're not really my cousin Terry? Yu look just like her.
Ummm yeah, I'm your cousin Terry.

All I see is photobucket asking you to upgrade. What is up with that?
The person who did my blog design used her own Photobucket account to store the images on my blog. Apparently she exceeded her bandwidth leaving all her customers with error messages on their blogs. And to top it off, she's out of business now. Nice, huh?

So, a question for you to ponder.... What new & quirky things will you encounter in your home when you return from your trip? What do you miss most when you are gone?
I've found all sorts of horrific fun and quirky things upon returning from trips. This time, however, everything was great. Probably because Joe and the kids were out camping while I was gone.

Okay, so I ws reviewing the SSO from July 13th, and saw that someone had asked about Brooklyn being on the St. Jude's website. I'm fairly new to your blog, so did I miss something?!? Was she sick when she was an infant?
No, no, no. I just used Brooklyn's photo on my St. Jude banner over there to the right. She was never sick. I made that banner before I'd ever met Julian or Coleman or any other kid battling cancer or I would've probably used one of their pictures.

My real question to you though: given your paranoia of knocking yourself unconscious and being found by the maid, did you get dressed before cleaning up the water or take your chances?
Why do you think I was paranoid of knocking myself unconscious? The poor housekeeper would've had nightmares for life!

Maybe you can share the name of the person who fixed your blog? I know there are a BUNCH of us who were either waiting on a design or had a design from that company that went out of business! (I paid for a re-design and never got it - grrr!) Oh well, jJust a thought.....if your web buddy needs some more work.
Her name is Kelli. She's super awesome. She does websites primarily for Christian authors and you can find her HERE and HERE.

When you take a trip somewhere in your car, do you always drive 90mph?
Yes.
You can easily cut a half-hour off your drive time over a long distance by doing so. But your mileage suffers.
I mean, no. No, of course I don't drive that fast. That would be silly. And I don't. I mean, I'm not. Silly, that is.
I'm guessing the same reason keeps the airlines from flooring it across the country all the time.

Have you ever considered having a full-time TRAVEL BLOG? Companies would pay you a retainer..to go out and visit far flung resorts and tourist traps..Then, you would just do a Dawn Report. The companies would profit..many new people would become travelers..It would be a very wise investment...plus, you would have a wonderful time as well.
How cool would that be?!! Get on that, will ya?

So..WHO is the celebrity you ran into?
You do realize that Grover was the celebrity. What? You were expecting someone less, um, furry?

Ok.. I have to know. My daughter flys to and from her father's 4-5times a year. We've never dared send her with her crochet project as she didn't want her favorite hook taken away. How were you able to get your hook and/or scissors on the plane?
I didn't take scissors (although small scissors are allowed now) and crochet hooks and knitting needles are fine to take on a plane.

I am anxiously awaiting 5 Minutes for Mom to post their interview with you! You wouldn't happen to know when that will be?
I don't, but I'll let you know as soon as I know. Here's a trailer though - 5MinutesforMom

Did you enjoy the Sea Lions??
Ummm they were climbing all over each other and barking at each other. They were smelly and loud. It was like being at home!

And on Pier 39, did you try Trish's Donuts?
Nooo, but I saw it and if I hadn't been so full of sourdough, I would totally have gotten a bag for myself to share.

Did I see a tattoo on your ankle in one of those pics in S.F.? Is it true that our Dawn is a closet wild-child??
I got that back when I was 18 and knew everything . It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I adore that you and Grover have the exact same expression. That is PRICELESS!
We planned it that way.

The haircut is sizzling, and you must be working out or something because you just GLOW. --Ooooh. Wait a second...are you pregnant....again? :)
Ummm no. Bright lights + oil on my face = "glow".

SSO: Did other anonymous people really ask if you had a blog on those auctions, or did you ask your friends to post if you had a blog?
Those were anonymous people.

Ok so I looked at all the auctions posted on ebay...and for the record you are way too funny to be contained in 1 human body. SO, my question is, Does everyone in the world have a blog??? The first question on each action was asking if you had a blog. I just thought that was funny. Glad to see Savannah's auction doing so well. Hope it sells well.
I know! I thought that was strange too. Not too long ago, I didn't even know what a blog was.

Here's a possible SSO question:In today's recap of the BlogHer conference, you made a list of blogs to check out. Here is a quote:"Alex from Flexible Parenting - she has a nice, clean blog"So are we to assume that many of these blogs are not "clean"?
There are several that are "clean" and some having swearing and are a bit more crude. There are a variety, if you will.

We obviously are from the same generation. What does "IDK" mean?
I don't know. I mean, I do know and it's I don't know. I mean, I know what it means. It means I don't know. I do really know though. You know?

Oh, but I DO know the names of all the Jonas Brothers. Kevin is the oldest one who plays guitar but doesn't sing very much. Joe sings lead and just starred in "Camp Rock" on the Disney Channel. Nick is the one with the curly hair and is the youngest of the three. They have a much younger brother, whose name I cannot recall at the moment. Can you tell I have a 10 yo daughter who has repeatedly tried to get me to remember who is who? I can't remember my own phone number, but I can tell you all about the Jonas brothers! Oh, and rumor has it that Nick is now dating Selena Gomez, but their publicists claim they are "just friends".
Uh yeah, you might not want to go around telling people this. ;)

Do you have any suggestions about how to get poop in the toilet? My son has been potty trained for 2 months - but refuses to poop in the potty. He goes and gets a pull up on, and poops in it. Then he takes the pullup off, puts the poop in the toilet, and the pull-up in the diaper bin. He still wears diapers at night... Both DH and I have decided we can't fight this one - no matter what I try, he won't go poop in the potty... any ideas short of sleeping on the pot?
I personally don't worry about it. I figure they're not going to go off to college pooping in their pants. They'll do it in their own time. That's just my theory though. A lot of people have a lot of different potty training ideas that have worked for them. You can check out everyone's potty training ideas HERE.

Papa? Why not Papou? My father is Greek and that's what all the grandkid's call him. It's so cute when they're really young.
I don't know. I had a "Papa" so that's what I taught my kids to call my dad. Savannah calls him Papou though.

Remember to check out my auctions and Mimi's auction and stop by my review blog to enter for your chance to win a new Jawbone bluetooth headset.

The Great Cicada Invasion

My parents took Jackson out to their house for a sleepover tonight. He loves going there. Well, all my kids love going out to my parent's house, but Jackson seems to especially love it. Maybe because he's one of the middle kids and it seems like he's always trying to get attention. His behavior lands him trouble more often than not and his siblings tend to pick on him because of that same behavior. It's a vicious circle. He annoys them, so they're mean to him, so he annoys them more, so they're meaner, etc. Anyway, that's another story.

So, he went out to Yia Yia and Papa's where he gets some alone time and one-on-one, total attention. He loves it. My parents (I think) love it and it's a little quieter here at home. I'm not saying it's quieter with Jax gone. It would be quieter with any of the kids gone. For some reason, it just makes a big difference in noise levels when one kid is gone somewhere else. It's strange because if I have an extra kid or two around the house, I don't notice any difference in noise levels. It's no big deal to have extra kids here. But getting rid of one for a couple hours makes a huge difference.

Actually I like it when my kids have friends over because then they take a break from fighting with each other to play with their buddies. Although, maybe I should be glad that they fight with each other. I can only imagine if their factions should ever unite. It would be mutiny. I'm pretty sure they'd have the power to overthrow me and their dad.

Anyway, I knew that Jackson would be going on golf cart rides and doing fun things with my parents so I took the rest of the kids to see Space Chimps this afternoon. It was a cute movie. I think we all enjoyed it. It features the voice of Patrick Warburton. I think he's had a contract since 2000 that states he must be featured in all animated films. It seems like I've heard his voice in every animated feature/cartoon made over the past several years. And every time I hear it, I think of Puddy. (This will separate the Seinfeld fans from the unenlightened other readers.)

Towards the end of the movie, there was a part where the theater was absolutely silent. Not a sound came from the screen. You could have heard crickets cicadas in the background. Not a peep came from anyone in the theater. And then Lexi burped. I'm not talking about a dainty 7 year old girl burp either. I'm talking about an "Oh my gosh, did you get any on you?!" kind of burp. This was followed by uncontrolled giggles coming from each and every one of my kids. Lexi, quick-thinking and on her toes, exclaimed, "Savannah!" as she tried to pass the blame onto her sister. I was ever so proud.

And speaking of cicadas, wow are they loud right now. Last summer, Chicagoland (and some other places) had The Great Cicada Invasion. We couldn't walk outside without crunching over the shells of a thousand cicadas. We found them on our patio, sidewalks, cars, lawns, everywhere. For those of you who don't know what they are, cicadas are creepy-looking, red-eyed bugs. They don't bite or sting so they really don't bother me. They just make loud buzzing noises. They're interesting in that the female lays her eggs in the bark of a tree and the little cicada babies, then drop down and burrow in the ground and don't reemerge for 1 - 17 years depending on the type of cicada. Crazy, huh? Last year, the 17 year cicadas emerged and they were everywhere. It was pretty cool, in a very buggy sort of way.



This year they seem especially loud again. Is it just me, or do any Chicagolanders think the cicadas are really loud right now?

Here are some pictures I took of the kids emerging from cicada shells last summer at the Field Museum in Chicago where they had an Underground Adventure exhibit. (Yes, it's basically just another excuse to play with Smilebox again.)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Sky is Blue. No it's Not.

While watching Finding Nemo, I had this conversation with Clay.


CLAY: Did that fish get eaten?

ME: The mom fish was eaten. The dad fish and Nemo are ok though.

CLAY: A shark ate them?

ME: A big fish ate them.

CLAY: Actually, a shark ate them.

ME: It was a big fish.

CLAY: And sharks are big fish, right?

ME: I give up. You know everything.

I really don't know how I made it to the ripe old age of 38. My kids point out daily just how stupid I am. Austin is especially good for this. It doesn't matter what I say, that kid will find a loophole and exploit it every time without fail.

"The sky is blue."

"Well actually, the sky isn't really blue. The gas molecules in the sky just absorb the shorter wavelengths blah blah blah blah blah..."

Of course, if I gave the scientific explanation, he'd counter with something else.

"The sky looks blue because the molecules absorb the short wavelengths and...."

"No. The sky is blue because it would look weird if it was purple."

It really doesn't matter what I say, Austin's greatest joy in life is achieved by proving me wrong. Oh, if only I were as smart as a teenager. I used to be that smart. I used to know everything. I did!

I think I've figured it out. Babies are born knowing very little. You teach them important stuff. You teach them how to talk and walk, how to feed themselves and read, how to dress themselves and poop on the potty. They look up to you. You have all the answers to life's problems. In fact, you do such a great job teaching them that they eventually become smarter than you.

You begin to realize that you really don't have all the answers. I mean, you don't even know what MileyWorld is. You can't name all the Jonas Brothers. It takes you 12 minutes to send a text message and you have no clue what Webkinz are. You think that Fergie is the Duchess of York and Wii is simply "we" misspelled. Suddenly your kids are rolling their eyes at you because clearly, only the very simple-minded wouldn't know what "IDK" means.

Take heart though. You won't be stupid forever. Some day your kids will probably have kids of their own and suddenly you'll regain your intelligence. In fact, you may even be called wise by your children.

Why Are There All These Socks?

I do several loads of landry each day because, well, because I've got a family of 8. Recently I've been seeing a lot of little socks in the laundry. A LOT of them. Here's the thing though - my kids haven't worn socks in months. It's summer. They wear Crocs or sandals or go barefoot. I kept wondering, where are all these coming from? Why am I washing a couple dozen kid's socks a week? Then I was enlightened...






You can't slide around on all fours across the kitchen floor unless you have socks on your hands and feet. Duh.

BlogHer '08 Recap

OK, I'll try to recap BlogHer here. I've been putting it off because I didn't think I'd really be able to sum up the weekend accurately and because I kept forgetting to pull my camera out and take pictures, but here goes nothin'...


I got to San Francisco at noonish on Thursday. On the drive to the hotel, I was surprised to see the ocean on one side and hills on the other. It's so nice to see such scenic landscapes. I told my friend Julie, "There are hills! It's so cool to see hills!" She answered with, "You mean the whole world isn't just a giant cornfield?" Seriously, I think the greatest change in elevation in the entire midwest is like 5 feet.


As I was checking into the hotel, I ran into Liz from This Full House. I'd met her at Johnson & Johnson's Camp Baby back in April. She's such a sweetheart! She always has this great smile on her face! I ran up to my room, dropped off my luggage and ran down to where Janice and Susan from 5 Minutes For Mom were doing interviews.

There I was treated to a make-over by a professional make-up artist. When I walked into the room, the make-up artist scrutinized my face and said something along the lines of, "Oh my gosh! How much time do I have until your interview?! I don't think there's enough foundation in the world to cover up those bags under your eyes!" OK, so maybe she didn't really say that, but I'm sure she thought it. The interview went pretty well, I think. Janice and Susan are both so outgoing and friendly that they put you at ease instantly.


After that, I went to the speaker training where I met a few fellow bloggers, another speaker on my panel, and Elisa, Jory, and Lisa. Following the training, I went to a cocktail reception hosted by Johnson & Johnson. I met up with Lori and Edwige there.



Then I went to a reception for the speakers. That was fun - open bar, appetizers and a Wii boxing tournament. The prize for the winner of the tournament was a Wii, so I signed up. I figured my kids wouldn't be around to make fun of me if I accidentally hit myself in the face while Wii boxing. I was eliminated in the first round. Oh my gosh am I incompetent! And here I was thinking of getting a Wii Fitness so I could get a fun workout at home. With my complete and utter lack of coordination, I may have to rethink that. I think, if I remember correctly, that Jenny from Three Kid Circus won.


From there, I went to the Newbie Party where I met some more bloggers: Kellan from On The Upside (she looks and sounds like a pretty, young Suzanne Pleshette), JCK from Motherscribe, and VDog from VDogBlog (She took a picture of me with a fly swatter named Henry, Phil, Charlie, Bob, something, I don't remember. Yeah, I have no idea what that's about.) to name a few. And then it was on to the People's Party where I picked up a tote bag o'swag and a couple more drinks. About 10 minutes after I got there, the lack of sleep, travel, and rum caught up to me and I decided to call it a night.


The next day, as my phone rang with my wake-up call, I realized I couldn't move my arms. I tried to grab the phone, but no dice. I kept thinking, why can't I move my arms? What the heck? They worked last night! Then I realized it was from the Wii boxing. I have GOT to make more time for exercise!

Friday, I met a whole slew of people like Shannon from Rocks in my Dryer (actually, I met her on Thursday) and Crystal from Boobs, Injuries & Dr. Pepper.

I went to panels on Privacy, Video Blogging (NEED TO GET ME A VIDEO CAMERA AND DO SOME OF THIS!), and Taking Care of Business.

Friday night, there was a party at a local nightclub, Ruby Skye. Oh. My. Gosh. I am so old. There were 1000 bloggers crammed into a hot, LOUD nightclub with really LOUD music and so many people you couldn't even move and really LOUD music. Did I mention it was loud? I kinda shut down and hid out in a quietish corner. I met some more bloggers there like Biggie at Lunch in a Box (check out her cool bento lunch ideas!) I was so thankful when Susan from 5MinutesForMom.com joined me in my isolation. We had a nice conversation until we decided we couldn't take the loudness anymore so we left so she could nurse her baby and I could could on to another party go to bed because I'm old and don't do loud nightclubs anymore.


The next day, I spoke on a panel, The Commercial Momosphere: Policies, Ethics and Outreach with Lotta from Mom-O-Matic,

Devra from Parentopia and Kristin from Motherhood Uncensored. I don't feel like I had too much of value to add to the conversation because I'm still figuring things out myself. There I also met Liz from Mom 101 (which just happens to be the first blog I ever read.)


Saturday night ended with the Macy's Extravaganza. Macy's closed off the handbag section for a private BlogHer party where we enjoyed champagne and Hors d'Oeuvres. (Do you have any idea how long it took me to spell that?!) A woman from the San Francisco Chronicle interviewed me there. Then the party moved on to the shoe department where we had wine, and some really delicious food. After the shoe department, we went up a few floors to lingerie where they handed out KY samples, cookies that tasted like perfume and the nastiest shots I've ever had. Who ever thought that chipotle vodka and white chocolate would be a good mix? It sounds like a combination my kids would come up with! Finally, we ended up on the top floor in the furniture department where snacks, sandwiches, icecream and drinks were served as we lounged on living room sets. Handbags were raffled off, authors signed copies of Sleep is for the Weak, and people danced to music from a live DJ. "A live DJ"? Does that even make sense? Of course he was live. A dead DJ probably wouldn't play very good music.

Once again I was the life of the party and left early to go back to my hotel room. I know, I'm just a barrel of fun. In small groups I'm never at a loss for words and I enjoy myself immensely. There's just something about being in such a large crowd, especially when you only know a couple people, that's a little intimidating.

nasty shots in lingerie department

"Does my hand smell weird to you?"


And of course, you know all about my day of sightseeing on Sunday.


I'm sure I forgot some stuff and some great bloggers that I met and for that I'm sorry. I just can't remember everything that happened there. But here are a list of blogs from people I met... (Thank God for business cards!)

Jessica from It's my life...roses life her nimble fingers did some serious live blogging this weekend! You can check out live blogs of the sessions HERE.
Jean from Stimeyland
Vivien from Cool Moms Rule
Jenifer from notcalmdotcom
Debra from messylife
Mary from Refresh Moments - I had a nice talk with her right outside the elevators where we continuously directed people to the parties.
Alex from Flexible Parenting - she has a nice, clean blog
Jenny from Jenny on the Spot - so funny
Violet from Verbosity Abounds
Elizabeth from Table4Five
Andrea from Sweet Life Site
Fran from Merlot Mom
Nicole from Not Just a Working Mom
Glennia from Momocrats
Vanessa from On Teens Today
Melanie from Blogging Basics 101
Arianne from To Think is to Create
Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing
Jennifer from Preteens, Toddlers and Newborns Oh My!
Nancy from Marie Millard
Jennifer from Free and Flawed
MJ from Sugar my Bowl
Tarrant from Retro Food
Jessica from Everyday Adventures in the City
Jamie from Oh How Lovely
Carrie from OpMom

Sold to the Highest Bidder

I listed the shirts and necklace that Savannah got when she went shopping with her friend.  She's donating the money earned on that auction to the Make A Wish Foundation.  Then I went ahead and listed some of the black pants I found in Austin's closet and a toy that he wanted to sell.  I probably have another 2 dozen things to list, but no time to write up descriptions.  Anyway, here are the links if you want to check them out:

 

DRESS PANTS

 

SHIRTS & NECKLACE

 

SNAP CIRCUITS SET

 

Back to writing up my BlogHer recap and a couple reviews......

On My Way to Where the Air is Sweet

There's just something about meeting a celebrity that can reduce the most self-assured, confident people to fits of nervous giggles. And when that celebrity is someone you've watched on television since childhood, it can be an unnerving experience. You might think I'm talking about a politician here. Or perhaps a famous musician. Or maybe even a movie star. Nope. I'm talking about a furry blue monster who stands a couple feet tall.

That's right, at the BlogHer conference, I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite Muppets, Grover, and the man who brings him to life, Eric Jacobson. I have to say that speaking to Grover was more disconcerting than speaking to a room full of fellow bloggers. There's just something about talking to someone's hand, even if it is covered in blue fur, that's a little strange. I'd be a little worried what that says about me except that I heard person after person tell Grover things like, "I can't believe I'm getting to meet you!" and "I still have the Grover doll I got when I was one year old!" I saw one person even tear up while meeting her cute, adorable pal, Grover.

Grover with Eric Jacobson

I spoke with Eric Jacobson, who, by the way, sounded nothing like Grover while talking to me. Eric is the voice of Grover and Miss Piggy, among others and has been for 10 years, when he succeeded Frank Oz. I asked Eric how long it took him to learn to move the puppet while saying his lines in the appropriate voice and staying out of view from the camera. He joked, "Let's see... I've been doing this 14 years now..."

"Did you put on puppet shows for your family and friends when you were a kid? Did you always want to be a puppeteer?" I inquired. "I put on puppet shows as much as any other kid, but I never thought, "Wow, I want to be a puppeteer when I grow up!" Eric answered.

"You've obviously gotten to meet and work with a lot of celebrities over the last ten years. Do any moments stick out in your mind as being especially remarkable?" He told me one of the biggest highlights was when singer Paul Simon asked him and Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo, to join him on a PBS special "Celebrating the Music of Paul Simon." Paul wrote a version of The 59th Street Bridge Song for Grover and Elmo to sing to him.

When I asked him which character he liked doing the best, he told me that Grover was his favorite Muppet. Eric and Ellen Lewis Gideon, Vice President of Corporate Communications, agreed that it's difficult to choose just one when Jim Henson and Frank Oz have created such interesting and fun characters with such depth and unique qualities. We went on to talk about how Sesame Street is so enjoyable for both kids and adults.

"It's really like a big family, " says Ellen who told me that although the production crew isn't on staff, the same people come back to work season after season. "We've been together for thirty years. And the writers are amazing," said Ellen. They write on two levels so kids are entertained while learning and parents enjoy watching as well." That's true, isn't it? If I was forced to watch some of the shows that my kids like, I would have to claw out my eyes and stab my eardrums. Not Sesame Street. We not only like that fact that it's good, educational and fun for our children, but we parents remember watching the show back when we were kids too. Who could ever forget Mr. Hooper? Or, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...6, 7, 8, 9, 10...11, 12? Or the ladybug picnic?

Speaking of all those great clips we remember from when we were kids, Sesame Street is launching a new website on August 11 that will feature over 3000 video clips of the show. I can't wait to fill my sister's inbox with clips accompanied by exclamations of, "Do you remember this one?" I got a chance to preview their new website and it's super child friendly, easy to use, and has some great parental controls to ensure online safety. I just know that SesameStreet.com is going to be Clay and Lexi's favorite new site come August 11th.

Me with Abby Cadabby

Puppeteer Leslie Carrara-Rudolph

I don't know who is cuter - Abby Cadabby or her bubbly puppeteer, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph.

Me with Grover

Come See my Vacation Slides!

I know, I sound like that annoying aunt and uncle with the reels and reels of vacation slides. "And here's Herb standing by a store. And here he is standing by a palm tree. Here I am standing next to Herb. Here we are standing next to, hmmm, I can't remember what that is. Herb, what were we standing next to?"
"That was our hotel."
"No, it wasn't. This picture was taken the day we drove to that one place."
"No, that's our hotel."
"That isn't our hotel, Herb. Well, I don't remember what we're standing in front of, but here's the next picture..."

I'll risk being the annoying relative here to show you my slideshow of San Francisco. I made it with Smilebox. The service is free, but you can upgrade to a premium membership for extra goodies if you like. This is my fun new toy! I want to make albums with each and every picture on my computer! Give it a try for kicks. It's super easy to customize with page layouts, colors, text, and music. Fun, fun, fun!

Make a Smilebox photobook

My Poor Camera

My camera broke. I LOVE my camera! It's a Sony CyberShot and it has an amazing zoom and it takes good pictures and it's broken. <--- to get the real effect, you have to read that last sentence while sobbing to the point that snot drips down your face. The little button you depress to take the picture has broken off. :( At least it lasted while I was in San Francisco, but no more pictures from me until I can figure out how to get it fixed. I think it may still be under warranty. :::crossing my fingers:::

Still, I don't know what I'll do if I have to be cameraless while it gets fixed. I was going to go to Millennium Park this week. Can I go someplace like that without a camera? I'm pretty sure there's a rule against it. I'm having a panic attack just thinking of being without a camera for weeks.

Coleman

I feel bad to admit that although I knew about Coleman's MRI this past Friday, it totally slipped my mind while I was in California. I just got caught up on his CarePages and was totally saddened to read that there were cancer cells in his spinal tap. :*( Please say some extra prayers for this sweet boy, his twin brother, his parents, family and friends, and all the people caring for him.

My Day in S.F.

I spent yesterday with my good friend from high school. She now lives 2 miles from The Westin St. Francis where I was staying. Heather and I took a cable car from the hotel to Fisherman's Wharf. I wanted Heather to take a picture of me holding a box of Rice-a-Roni and hanging off the car, but she didn't want to look like a stupid tourist. And I didn't have any Rice-a-Roni. And you can't take pictures while you're on a cable car. I really wanted to take some pictures, but I was afraid if I let go, I'd go rolling back and knock over a whole slew of people like so many bowling pins. Seriously, those streets are steep! You could totally get a workout from climbing up Nob (or Snob, as Heather calls it) Hill.

We also saw Lombard Street. I didn't get a picture of it, but click that link for a photo. Seriously, click it! Crazy, huh? People live on that street! Locals, of course, avoid it, but tourists line up to drive down the street so they can say they did it. We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and went to Ghirardelli Square. Mmmmm, chocolate. The smell of chocolate was a bit obscured by the smell of a burning building though. Seriously, a good dozen firefighters and a huge arsenal of firetrucks were rushing to the square as smoke billowed out from one of the buildings. As the firefighters marched through the square, I screamed, "Save the chocolate! Oh, for the love of God, save the chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!" What? You would've done the same.





Next, we had lunch at Boudin. Yummy sourdough. They have things like Caesar salad - in sourdough bread. Clam chowder - in sourdough bread. Crab cakes - in sourdough bread, a hamburger - in sourdough bread. A sourdough baguette - in sourdough bread. When you walk outside, you can watch through the windows as they bake bread. And there's an exhaust fan that blows the most delicious, fresh-baked bread aroma out onto the street.

After passing a cow and a dancing ice cream sundae, we walked on down to Pier 39. What a fun, touristy place. There were dozens and dozens of shops and restaurants there. You could book an ocean tour there, get a snack, do some shopping, people watch, and just hang out.

After doing some more walking around and shopping, we took a cab over to an Italian section of town where they have streets with really long names...

There, we sat outside, people watched, and sipped our fancy Italian coffees hot chocolate. The reason Heather ordered hot chocolate is because she didn't want too much caffeine. The reason I ordered hot chocolate is because I'm coffee-stupid. I have no clue what anything is and I'm afraid they'll look at me like I'm an idiot when I order a latte cappacino macchiato grande iced vanilla low-fat espresso chai steamed decaf.

When we were recharged and ready to do some more walking, we headed to China Town where there's shopping galore!!! We were in heaven! We decided that, had our husbands been with us, they would've ditched us and found a sports bar immediately. We had fun browsing in the stores and I spent a small fortune on souvenirs for the kiddos.


Everybody have fun tonight. Everybody...


And I got these totally cute earrings for myself! Score!


I totally rushed back to Union Square and my hotel so I could get my luggage from the bell station, repack some, freshen up a little, and catch a cab to the airport so I wouldn't miss my flight. Unfortunately my flight was delayed. I don't get this- it was supposed to be a 4 hour flight that left at 6:30 Pacific time. Because we were so delayed, the pilot said, "We're going to try to make up time. We should arrive in Chicago in 3 1/2 hours." OK, so if they can fly to Chicago in 3 1/2 hours, why don't they always go that fast? Why does it usually take 4 hours? Why???

It was actually a nice flight because I got an aisle seat and had an empty seat beside me! As the plane backed away from the gate, the plane made a loud clunking noise and I said sarcastically, jokingly, "Well, that sounds good." The guy by the window looked at me like I'd never set foot outside my house been on a plane before and said condescendingly, "It's supposed to sound like that." I decided to put on my headphones instead of trying to talk to Mr. No-Sense-Of-Humor.

As we neared Chicago, I noticed lightning out the window. We were flying above/around a storm and it was lightning like crazy. I glanced outside, then went back to my crocheting. Mr. I-Fly-All-The-Time-And-Have-No-Sense-Of-Humor looked out the window, freaked out, and plastered his face and hands up against the glass and commenced hyperventilating. I think he may have wet his pants. I laughed at him and said, "It's supposed to look like that." bit my tongue and continued crocheting. Well, maybe I smirked a little bit.

So after I landed and gathered my luggage, I got a cab. Now I always use American Taxi. They've always been on time. They've always known where they were going. Reliable, competent. Good, right? Well, last night, instead of calling for an American Taxi, I went out and let the ground transportation guy get me a cab. Big mistake. Big. Huge.

They grabbed a Checker Cab for me. First off, the driver hadn't bathed in at least 4 years. As I gagged and stuck my head out the window like a dog (literally, I did this), he asked me how to get out of the airport. Seriously? You're a cab driver and you don't know how to leave the airport? Perhaps you should find another line of work, Bud? Maybe something that includes soap, perhaps? So I seriously directed him the whole way to my house. He was clueless and didn't have GPS. When he dropped me off, I had to get my own luggage out of the trunk, then he asked me for directions back to the airport. Then, instead of charging me a reasonable flat rate like American Taxi, he charged me at a "meter and a half" rate! It was more than twice the amount of American! And he had the nerve to ask me to do the math and add it up for him because he couldn't figure it out! So, to all you suburbanites out there, I caution you against using Checker Cab! Yes, perhaps I just got a bad driver. Yes, I'm sure they're not all completely stupid directionally impaired. However, I called the company today to check on their policy of charging a meter and a half and sure enough, that is company protocol when taking passengers to the suburbs. Maybe Checker is better in the city, but for the suburbs, I highly recommend American Taxi.

I have a million more things to tell you about BlogHer and some bloggers I had the pleasure of meeting and some cool new products. I even met a celebrity! And I'm working on making a slide show with my awesome new toy. More on all this later...

Showering 101

So, I know I said I'd try to update from California, but I have been so busy and so amazingly overwhelmed at this conference that I just haven't had the chance.

Thank you everyone who emailed me to let me know that they were getting weird error messages on my blog. My blog loaded normally for me, so until you let me know, I had no idea. Apparently the person who did my blog design (who is no longer in business) did a horrendous job coding it and it took my awesome, wonderful, talented web designer and her team 3 hours to fix it.

I know, not everything is exactly the same, but it's readable now and considering she did all this work fixing something she hadn't even messed up in the first place (and on a Saturday too), I'm beyond thrilled! Thank you so much, Kelli and team!!! You rock! And she's in the process of developing my website and when it's up and running, my blog will be moved off of Blogger and over there. Make a note that it will be at BecauseISaidSo.com. You know, because you wouldn't want to miss one minute of my mediocre posts.

So, back to BlogHer...Wow is it insane! 1000 bloggers all packed into a room. I have had so much fun here! I've met tons of great people and I have a whole new slew of blogs to check out. I spoke on a panel called The Commercial Momosphere: Policies, Outreach, and Ethics (or something like that) and I didn't throw up or fall of the risers so all is good.

And I only flooded my hotel room a little bit. OK, maybe a little more than a little bit. Dork that I am, I didn't realize that the shower curtain wasn't tucked in when I took a shower tonight. I should have noticed the curtain was outside the tub because it wasn't sticking to my butt every time I turned around or bent over to shave my legs. But alas, I was unaware. Until I stepped out of the shower, that is. That's when I saw there was an inch of standing water covering the bathroom floor. Oops. I threw 4 towels down thinking that would sop it up. Nope. I rung the towels out and repeated. Again. And again. I just kept imagining the poor person on the 11th floor below me. I could see them just sitting there going to the bathroom, minding their own business when suddenly - drip. Drip. Drip. The ceiling started leaking, dripping on their head. And even worse than that was my paranoia that I was going to slip and fall on the wet bathroom floor and knock myself unconscious on the toilet seat and the maid would find me like that the next day.

I'm really excited to see my good friend from high school, Heather, tomorrow. She now lives a couple miles from my hotel and is going to spend the day with me doing the whole tourist thing! I think I may have to go buy some Rice-a-Roni and have her take a picture of me on a cable car.

More later....

California or Bust

I had a dentist appointment today and was going to write about it, but instead I think I'll make a video blog about it when I get back home.

After my appointment, I went shopping for a pair of shoes because I'd decided that I couldn't wear my Crocs to BlogHer. I went to 50 shoe stores! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a pair of shoes that look cute and yet are super comfortable? I found dozens of cute pairs at every store. They were adorable! Unfortunately, I would break my neck if I ever tried to walk in them. Still, I tried a couple pairs on for kicks. Keep in mind, that at this point, my mouth was still completely numb. So here I am, stumbling around in these heels, my mouth drooping, probably drooling on myself and I couldn't stop thinking about that Seinfeld episode with Kramer and the shoes and the Novocaine!


So, I went to tuck my kids in tonight and I gave them extra hugs and kisses and told them I'd miss them. Brooklyn was ok. Clay was ok. Jackson was ok. Savannah was ok. Lexi cried and told me she'd miss me so much. It broke my heart. Then I tried to give Austin a hug. He jumped away from me and screamed, "Ewww, Mom germs! Quick! Stop, drop and roll!!!" as he fell to the floor and writhed around in apparent pain. I had to pull the guilt card, so I said, "That's nice. So when my plane crashes into the ocean, you can remember this moment for the rest of your life." At this point, he burst into laughter and pointed out the obvious, "There is no ocean between here and California duh!"

Let me tell ya, after the past couple weeks where I feel like all I do is scream at the kids because all they do is fight and make messes, I am so looking forward to this trip! I'm just sad I'm going to miss Austin's championship baseball game tomorrow night.

I'll be bringing my laptop and will try to update from the BlogHer conference. Have a great weekend everyone!

Countdown to BlogHer!

I leave for San Francisco for the BlogHer conference Thursday morning so technically, I should be in "freak-out" mode. I'm not there yet. I'm starting to get stuff done though. I got my hair done today. She covered the gray highlighted it. Whenever I get my hair dyed highlighted, my scalp itches like mad. Does this happen to anyone else? I look like I have serious dandruff issues as I claw my poor head like crazy for hours after getting my hair colored. Still, bloody scratches down my skull are better than gray unhighlighted hair.

I also got it cut. Until last summer, I've always had long hair as an adult. I think the reason I've kept my hair long is because I was traumatized as a kid. I spent my youth looking like a boy. Seriously, I have pictures of myself looking like this.

I don't know why, but my mom always insisted I have my hair cut short. Darn that Dorothy Hamill and her stupid haircut!

So I got brave and cut it short last summer. Well it was short for me anyway. Today I asked my hairdresser, who also happens to be a really good friend of mine, if she'd cut the back of my hair really short, but keep the front long.
My friend, Gin, said, "I cut it like that last month."
"No, I want it even shorter in back. I want to be able to kinda fluff it up in back if I want."
"You want it like John and Kate plus 8?"
"I have no clue what her hair looks like," I said. Then I pointed to a picture of a supermodel in her hair magazine and told her, "Make me look like that."
She looked at me like I was stupid and said something along the lines of, "Are you serious?! Her hair is MUCH shorter than yours. I can cut it short like that, but it won't be long in front then."
"I don't want you to touch the front. Just make the back short," I insisted.
"So basically you want 2 different haircuts?" she asked.
"Is there something wrong with that?"
At this point, she shook her head and told me she'd cut it the way I wanted, but I had to promise to tell everyone that I'd cut it myself.

Actually, she didn't cut the back as short as I wanted it so it ended up looking fine.

What we women go through to look prettiful. Like waxing. What sicko ever decided that smearing hot wax on sensitive body parts then ripping it off, was a good idea? Who proclaimed that smooth was good and Brillo pad hairy was bad?

And pedicures. I do love me a good pedicure, but I can't afford them very often and who has the time to just sit there and do nothing but relax? So, I got a PedEgg. Have you guys seen these? My kids told me I needed one after they saw a commercial for it on tv. So what - my heels have skin thicker than an elephant's. Does that really mean I need one? I got this PedEgg thing back when Mimi, Michelle and I saw Oprah. I've been using it since and I've got to say that I love this thing! You rub it on your heels and then open it up and dump out the contents of your dead heel skin which looks curiously like grated Parmesan cheese. Mmmm.

And I haven't started packing yet because I have no idea what to wear. Men don't do this. They pack whatever they find on the floor that passes the sniff test. Done. Why do we women agonize over what we'll wear? I think if I bring a steamer trunk, I can pack my entire closet. That way, I can try on 12 things every day that I'm in California and I won't have to decide what to pack.

Tomorrow I go to the dentist to get 2 teeth fixed. You know, because I'm old and thanks to 6 pregnancies, my teeth are falling out of my head. Pretty soon I'm going to look like I'm from Peoria. (Kidding. JUST KIDDING!) Because I just made fun of Peoria, my cheeks are going to swell up after my appointment and I'll look like a Puffer Fish at the BlogHer conference.

Sooo, who's going to BlogHer?

I Smell Like the Zoo

We went to the zoo again today. This time I went with my friend Jen and her 4 kids. Lexi brought along a friend also so there were 11 kids between me and Jen. Jackson spent the first half of the trip dreading the moment we reached the play zoo because he knew he had to return the geode he stole the last time we were there. We walked up to the first employees we found which just happened to be teenage boys. Anyway, Jax burst into tears and told them that he'd taken the rock and was sorry and wanted to return it. The teenage boys looked shocked and said, "Good job! Thanks for being honest and bringing it back, dude!" (I was kinda hoping to find a grumpy old man who would give him a lecture about stealing!) So that's taken care of and hopefully he never does it again.

Here are some more pictures. See- keep reading my blog and eventually you'll see the entire animal kingdom from the comfort of your couch in your nice air-conditioned home! No walking required.

Timon


Brooklyn in her natural state.


A stick insect. Ewwww!


The fountain is back! Yay! I'm glad they didn't take it out. All they did was add these....


Sharks!!!


The gang minus 2 kiddos


polar bear. He was playing in the water and putting on a fun show. We watched him for a long time and when we finally moved on, this is what Brooklyn did...


You got it. She threw a fit and even jumped out of the wagon while it was moving and ran back to the polar bear.


Maybe I should buy her this polar bear to stop her crying.
BAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAA!!!!! NOT! In case you can't see - the price tag reads $2,699.95!


Chito and Rita are spectacled bears. What kind of bears? Spectacled bears!


The gang minus Brooklyn. They're soaking wet from standing in a sprinkler by the elephants.


baby giraffe


bison


It was a long day


and we were stopped by an even longer train on the way home. 150+ cars!


Brooklyn's head kept flopping forward so Austin came up with this creative restraint system. Yep, they're goggles.



From the zoo, we had to go straight on to Jackson's last baseball game. I was all hot and sweaty and my hair was gross and I smelled like a camel. Lovely. I just always feel this obsessive need to hop in the shower the instant I get home from the zoo. Anyway, Jackson did a great job pitching and hitting, but the team lost so they came in 4th for the season. Not too bad!

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Someone just left me this comment:

"I don't know if you read all your comments... I seem to recall you saying somewhere that it can take you awhile to get through your e-mail... I just wanted you to know I gave you an award that I am supposed to pass on for blogs that are fun to read. It is a long post and I've got another award before that one... you are the last one on the list if you don't want to read through it all. I don't see where you've posted any of those kinds of doohickeys so don't feel like you have to put it on your sidebar or anything. You just make me laugh."

Thank you so much and thank you to HMC who gave me an award last week and to all the awesome, sweet bloggers who have given me awards in the past. You're right - I don't put them on my sidebar because I don't think I'd have enough room to put all of them there. (Man, do I sound full of myself, or what?!) I absolutely appreciate all of them however! You guys rock!

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I did pick the winner of the SafetyTats Saturday night, but then forgot to post it! Oops! The winner is...
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:9
Timestamp: 2008-07-12 02:25:10 UTC

The 9th comment came from...

I would love to have some safety tats! Very good idea!
By Amanda, at July 11, 2008 1:32 PM

Congratulations!!!

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For those of you inquiring about the Luvs diaper coupon, I removed the link because they "ran out of coupons" a couple hours after I posted it. I thought that was crappy, so I took the whole link down.

Sunday Sound Out

I realized I hadn't done a Sunday sound out in a couple weeks. So, after going through 3 weeks' worth of questions, here goes...

I have been wondering for a long time, is the little girl from the St. Jude children's research thing Brooklyn?
Yep, that's Brooklyn on her first birthday.

Wow Austin is one smart cookie. Is he planning to be an engineer or an artist or architect or something similar when he's older? With that attention to detail at age 4-5 he will go a long way!
I just asked him, "What are you planning on being when you grow up?" He answered, "A person."
If only he could use his genius for good not evil...

I would like to post a link to your blog on my own, under a blogs that I am reading section, on blogger. Copying this link never works though. Is there a secret I don't know about?
I have no idea, but several people have told me this. Maybe try using mom2my6pack.com instead of mom2my6pack.blogspot.com?

And what the heck is Sonic? did I miss a post? I'm from Canada, so I've never heard of it.
It's a fast food restaurant where you can pull your car up, order, and pay for your meal and then waiters on skates bring your food out to you. They have an AWESOME blackberry Sprite too!

I had an SSO question for you but by the time the comment window popped up, I'd forgotten it already. Do you suffer from Mommy Brain like I do?
I'm sorry. What was the question?

Ice cream of the month, huh? How is it? Both my husband's and dad's birthdays are in the next month plus, and I have no clue what to get either!
It's ridiculously expensive, but if you've got someone who doesn't want or need anything and you can't think of any ideas, it's kinda neat.

......so did you play miniture golf?
No, we still haven't gone! Something has come up or the weather has been bad every day. I still owe them 18 holes! This week....

I noticed underneath Brooklyn's crying, that you were listening to the soundtrack from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (could they have come up with a longer name?!) It's a favorite of our family's but it got me to wondering: What audio selections do you offer in the car and, most importantly, who gets to pick?
My car - I pick. And if the kids complain, I put on opera. They love that.

I'm totally digging the fact that Brooklyn stopped crying as soon as "Go, Go, Go Joseph" came on. I wonder, does she always do that, or was this time just a fluke? :)
It was a fluke, but she used to stop crying EVERY TIME she heard THIS SONG when she was a baby.

Hi Dawn, What kind of Van did you buy.
A Pace bus Chevy Express

I wondered if you had ever considered with the success of your blog/book if someone will offer you a reality series and if you would be willing to do that?
Thanks!
I've never really thought about it, but I don't think I'd be interested in having America invade my home on a weekly basis like that.

Wow! I thought I was the only one that had to deal with tantrums like that!! I thought my 2 1/2 year old son was just going to be a bad child! You have given me hope that maybe it IS just a phase...do you have any suggestions??
Duct tape over his mouth and/or ear plugs for you.

Does Brooklyn normally freak out... scream so nicely, every time you put her in the car seat?
Oh no.
It's not exclusive to car seats.

If you could go anywhere in the world on your next vacation where would you go?
P.S. if you had all the money in the world.
There are too many places I'd love to see, so I guess if money wasn't an option, I'd take a trip around the world.

So does that mean you do about 9 to 10 loads of laundry a week?
Double that.

I was wondering - do you yell a lot?
WHO TOLD YOU THAT?! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I YELL A LOT? I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE CLOSED MY WINDOWS YESTERDAY!

And how did the marshmallows taste? I watch Alton Brown, and I've seen his marshmallow tutorial, and I cook a LOT and I'm still not willing to try out his theory that marshmallows don't have to come from a bag!
They were actually pretty good. But I've never found anything wrong with the kind that come in a bag either.

Question: Are you like me and feel GUILTY when you ask people to watch your kids? I HATE IT! I would rather drag them to the store, tantrums and all, than inconvenience someone else with MY children. I know that is silly but it's the way my brain works!
YES! Joe and I went out for our anniversary yesterday. I hate asking anyone to watch the kids. That's why we end up going out once every 2 years. It's pathetic. We had dinner and then called home to ask permission to extend our curfew so we could go see a movie.

Glad no one was hurt. I have to ask, it looks like hubby's burb is a 3/4 ton. I have one just like it but it is a rare diesel model. Is joe's burb a diesel too?
Ummm, it's white.

Do you wear your hair up or down?
I used to be the queen of the ponytail (very classy, I know), but I recently got my hair cut short. :(

Oh my good gravy, thank goodness no-one was hurt! How about his truck? Was it dented/scratched? Hopefully it's ok?
The truck was just dented a little when the branch fell on it, but more importantly, what does "good gravy" mean and where did you come up with that saying? LOL! You sound like my friend Janie!

just a stupid question, maybe SSO material. where do you rent your movies from?
the library or Blockbuster and now I remember why. Joe and I went out to the movies last night and saw Indiana Jones. It cost us $20! TWENTY DOLLARS!!! Just for the two of us!

Ummm Dawn, should I ask why you continue to go camping when someone is very politely and subtlely telling you not to?
I'm gathering material for my third book.

So my question is, where are all six kids if you were driving a truck?!? Tell me they weren't in the camper. Is that legal?!? Perhaps you have an RV?A truck - Suburban that seats 9. Although letting the kids bounce around in the camper sounds like a wonderful idea for next time!

Peoria, Peoria... Seems like there was some tv show or movie that took place in Peoria? Do you know what that was?
Children of the Corn?

Clearly it's been a while since I've been camping, but how, while camping, do you have internet access to tell us these wonderful stories??
I don't know. A lot of campgrounds now offer WiFi. We just stayed at a Jellystone that had internet access.

Question
What consequences and rewards do you use to guide your children's behavior? Timeouts, chores, restitution? I am being totally serious.
It depends on the child and the offense. There is no "one discipline fits all" answer in my house.

I'm curious Dawn. What are schmoes? I'm wondering if that's what we call s'mores here in the east. Graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows??
LOL! Yep! "Hot delicious schmoes" is a line from Toy Story 2.

Hi again Dawn, I am just curious if the masquito's < ( bad speller here) are really biting you all this year? They are terrible here in Michigan. I was told the bats are dying of some disese and therfore not eating them.
The mosquitoes stink. We just try to stay inside at dusk here. I hadn't heard anything about dwindling bat populations though. I figured it was just from all the flooding. I think Deb (boufmom) has some extra bats if anyone needs some!

Wow, so am I correct in assuming that you also live 3 hours away from the Brookfield Zoo? And you went twice in like a week? That's crazy! haha!
Ahhh no. I'm a few minutes away from the zoo.

From what I recall of central Illinois, you can just about see the ones shot off in Peoria from any point between Chicago and St. Louis. Am I right?
HAAA! Yep, I think you're right. Illinois is extraordinarily flat.

great post....But this is jus out of curiosity.I think i have met you YAHOO messenger.Do you write poems???
Ummm nope. I'm not on Yahoo and I definitely don't write poems.

Welcome home Dawn, Did you have any troubles with the truck on the drive home? Also was wondering what kind of tent or camper you use for your large family?
We have a kinda big camper. No tents for me anymore. No way. I'll take a camper with a bathroom, a microwave, and air conditioning thankyouverymuch.

Honestly, I bet you do love camping. It's just all the "other garbage" that you could do without....
Or not.

How hot is it in Chicago in August? I'm coming for a visit on the 14th and don't know how to dress. It's 100 degrees until October here in Mississippi.
It could be 100 or it could be 60. It's hard telling. Generally though, it's pretty hot (80s) and humid in August.

I have a question....how do we e-mail you? I've wanted to for awhile but I can't seem to find your e-mail address on your site. I swear I won't stalk you! Well, not anymore than I already do.....
mom2my6pack at aol dot com.

Dawn - A few questions for ya....reading your grocery store adventures is always a pleasure, but I have to wonder, at what age are you willing to leave one or two of the kids at home for the grocery run? My oldest is 11, and I'll leave him if I know he is A) occupied with something and B) my trip is under an hour.
I could leave the older ones at home for a short time while I went to the store, but I don't necessarily trust them to watch the little ones while I'm gone. Sooo, I'm mean and I make them all come with me so the older ones can help me out with the little ones.

Also, you mentioned Clayton's middle name and now it piqued my curiosity......what are all your kids middle names?
I have a hard enough time remembering their first names! Now you want to know their middle names too?
James
Lee
Raine
Anne
Reid
Rose

So do you always sit it out when you don't like your kids' friends?
It's only happened twice that I can think of, but other than hinting at some things, I left it up to my kids to decide. I figured if I forbid my kids from seeing them or said bad things about them, it would make my kids mad and make them want to hang out with them even more.

You know you really are starting to seem unreal to me. What a great way to handle this situation! You seem to be able to handle any situation, with grace and dignity
SNORT! That's just because I left off the part about my shaking in my Crocs and feeling like hurling all over the place.

OH - MY - GOSH! Brooklyn is so adorable in that picture. Have you ever considered trying to get her into commercials or modeling for catalogs?
Thank you and nope. I wouldn't begin to know how to go about that and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have time for it anyway.

You've got to help me (b/c you have so much extra time on your hands) - but I'm desperate and pls forgive my ignorance- for some reason I stopped receiving your updates in my email for a long time (I know, gasp!). Then recently, I went to your site and clicked to subscribe, but now I get the updates fully in email with no links so I cant see comments,etc. Tonite- I tried again, but can't figure out how to sign up for the email alerts that give me a link to your blog. (long winded cry for help) - where do I sign up for this?
I think you can click one of the links to the right of my blog (Feedburner, etc.)

Good for you! I think you handled that excellently! Thanks for sharing the experience with us so we could learn from it too. Ever thought about a parenting video!??!?! I'm sure the book will be full of "lessons learned" but a VIDEO...now THERE'S an idea!! =)
I have actually. We'll see...

BTW.. Dawn what is your secret (and Savannah's) for saving so well? I'm very impressed at how she was able to save so much $ at her age.
I don't have a secret. I have no idea. It's just how Savannah is. Jackson, on the other hand, can't keep money for a day without wanting to spend it. They're all different.

Way to handle a tough situation diplomatically and turn it in to a learning lesson. This does remind me of the Brady bunch. The end of every show was wrapped up with some pertinent life lesson, e.g Greg and his "Exact words".
LOL! Where did the Bradys go? Where are all the family shows we grew up watching? Full House? The Cosby Show? Little House on the Prairie? Different Strokes? Family Ties? The Facts of Life? Growing Pains? There's nothing good on tv anymore. Stupid reality shows (I get enough reality in my life) and stuff that isn't appropriate for kids. What happened to all the family shows??? Even the commercials are bad. Who wants to see 100 commercials for E.D. during a baseball game broadcast during the day??? Ugh.

Some Cool Stuff

Here's another way cool product! My friend Kristyi (yes, I spelled it that way on purpose. She can't decide if her name ends with a "y" or an "i" so I use both. Don't ask.) Anyway, my friend Kristyi emailed me a link to this website and I thought it was such a good idea, I asked the owner, Michele, if she'd send me a sample so I could review it and pass it on to you.

Have you ever been separated from a child while at a museum, zoo, amusement park, or mall? Do you remember a time when you were a child and you were separated from your parent? Those heart-stopping moments are hard to forget. Having 6 kids, I'm forever doing the head count thing. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5....Where's 6? WHO'S 6???

I remember shopping with Austin (3 years old) and Savannah (1 1/2 years old) at Toys R Us one day. On this particular trip, I had Savannah sitting in the seat of the cart. Ordinarily, I would've put Austin into the basket of the cart, but a case of temporary insanity caused me to let him walk instead. So, I'm pushing the cart along and doing my shopping and despite the glazed look in his eyes that says he's about to take off like a rocket through the store, Austin is surprisingly following along. I turn and make sure Austin is still beside me every few seconds until one time I look, and he's nowhere to be seen. I'm sure he's just walked over a little ways to look at an especially cool toy, but still my heart starts pounding as horrible little thoughts invade my mind. I turn the cart around and retrace my last several steps. No Austin. I'm getting worried and walking faster as I push the cart up and down the aisles looking for my son. I call out his name, but to no avail. Thoughts of every tragic thing that could happen race through my mind.

Then I hear over the loudspeaker, "Mrs. James, please come to the customer service desk. Mrs. James."

I don't think anything of the announcement for about five seconds and then it hits me. I rush up to the desk and sure enough, there stands Austin. After I grab him and kiss him and sufficiently embarrass him while thanking God for keeping him safe, I tell him, "Austin, honey, that was very good of you to go to the service desk and tell someone your name. Good job, sweetie. But Austin, your name is Austin Meehan. James is your middle name, honey." Of course, that was followed by the required, "Now don't EVER take off like that again!!!

Anyway, Michele, creator of SafetyTat and mother of 3, came up with the idea of SafetyTat after taking her family to an amusement/water park. As they arrived at the park, she realized there were 4 million people there and although her children were obedient, good listeners, they were still kids and she knew that it only takes a second for one to get separated in a crowd, or for one to start following another person thinking it's mom or dad. Although her husband helpfully suggested they fashion a chain gang out of duct tape to keep the family together, Michele had other plans. She grabbed a pen and wrote her cell phone number on each of the kids so if they were inadvertently separated, anyone with a cell phone could call her to reconnect parent with child. It was a great idea, but the ink washed off at the water park so Michele came up with the idea of tattoos! How awesome is that? Kids LOVE temporary tattoos! And if they're separated from you, you're just a phone call away. What a piece of mind!

Michele has a variety of really cute designs from which to choose and not only that - she has special tattoos that say, "I Have Non-Verbal Autism" and "Alert: Diabetic" among others. That's something I would have never even thought of! Clayton's godmother has an adorable daughter with autism who is non-verbal. If she were ever separated, she probably couldn't communicate to a stranger effectively.

The tattoos go on easily and they STAY on. I tried scrubbing them off my kids' arms with water and a washcloth and they stayed put. They can be removed with baby oil, but my kids insisted I leave them on. They love them!

Did you know that over 2000 kids get lost every day? 90% of families will have the heart-stopping experience of losing a child in a public place and 27% (1 in 3!) of families that visit an amusement park, will lose a child while they're there. Now that it's summer, people are going to water parks, zoos, museums, and amusement parks by the thousands. Give yourself peace of mind and keep these outings fun with SafetyTats!

And now, just enter code "6pack" to receive FREE shipping on orders placed now through July 30! PLUS, Michele is giving away one FREE pack of 30 SafetyTats! Just leave a comment on this post and I'll pick a random winner this Saturday night.

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And lastly, this is the final call for Melissa! Melissa, who left this answer on my blog quiz:

1) C2) B3) B4) B, C, D, E5) C6) C7) D8) A, B, C, E9) F10) False
By Melissa, at June 30, 2008 3:26 PM

I need your address so we can send you the prize you won. If I haven't heard from you by Sunday, I'll choose another winner.

And I need email addresses for Debbie (mom2cors) and Carol C. and Sharon P.

Please email me mom2my6pack@aol.com. Thanks!

***Edited*** The Luvs diaper coupon can be found HERE.

Life Lessons Learned

I printed out copies of the items Savannah's friend bought along with the lowest sale and clearance prices that were advertised online now. It added up to over $75. Savannah and I went over to her house this evening and both the friend and her mom welcomed us inside. I calmly and nicely said, "I don't want to argue or start a fight or anything, but I looked up the items that B. bought with Savannah and this is what I came up with. Perhaps B. just forgot about some of the things she got."
B. looked highly guilty and said in a small voice, "Yes, I think I forgot about some things."

Her mom went over the list of items and B. admitted getting all of them. Her mom said that she hadn't seen everything that B. had gotten that day. I can see how that could happen. Your kid gets home from the mall and you're trying to get dinner on the table; you don't look at her purchases right away; then you forget about them all together. I really think her mother was just confused and wasn't sure what the story was. When she saw it on paper, it made sense to her and she thanked me for coming over and showing her what had been bought. Her mom then wrote Savannah a check and told B. she'd be doing errands for a long time to pay it off.

Although I still don't think much of this girl's character, I can understand getting wrapped up in shopping and not making wise decisions about how you spend your money. Heck, every time I go to Target for laundry detergent and toilet paper, 10 more things tend to wind up in my cart! Anyway, Savannah now knows not to lend out money like that. A friend forgets her lunch money and wants to borrow a couple dollars - sure. Seventy dollars for shopping - notsomuch.

I do hope that Savannah will be nice and cordial to this girl in the future, but I also hope she remembers this and doesn't hang out with her outside school anymore.

Savannah said she still wanted to sell the clothes and her half of the "best friends" necklace that she and B. bought together on eBay, but since she got her money back, she wants to donate the money to Make a Wish Foundation. I think we'll list it next week after I get back from the BlogHer conference.

So, she learned that it isn't wise to lend out huge amounts of money like that.
She learned a little about this girl's character.
She learned to stand up for what's right.
She learned that not everyone is honest.
She learned that dear ole mom will be there to help her out if she needs.
She learned to forgive and move on.
And I learned that cleaning is bad.

Well, actually that had nothing to do with Savannah's money lending saga, but still, it was a lesson learned. Want to know why? While cleaning the other day, I found a pacifier behind my bed. We had tried to get Brooklyn to take this pacifier when she was an infant. She's 2 now. (Yes, that's how often I try to clean between the wall and my waterbed that can't be moved.) Anyway, Brooklyn never wanted anything to do with the pacifier. She was never interested in using it. However, since finding it the other day, she's had it in her mouth nonstop. That, my friends, is reason #48 why cleaning is bad.

I Want My Two Dollars!

How would you handle this? Savannah and her friend went to the mall at the beginning of June. After letting them shop for a couple hours, I picked them up. They had several bags of clothes with them. Savannah showed me what they'd bought - some earrings from Claires and some clothes from Aeropostale and Forever 21. They had lunch at McDonald's. Savannah had even bought Brooklyn an outfit from Baby Gap. Now Savannah used her own money for this shopping trip; money she'd saved from allowance and birthdays. She's a big saver. She carefully weighs the pros and cons and debates whether she wants to spend her money on it. How sweet was it that she thought of Brooklyn and used her money to buy her this cute outfit? I was really touched by that. (I was going to reimburse Savannah for the price of that outfit, but it didn't fit Brooklyn, so I returned it and gave the money back to Savannah.)

OK, so the other day, Savannah wanted to buy something with her money and I told her she could go ahead and get it. She didn't say anything, but she was acting strange. I finally pulled from her the fact that she had lent $77.08 to her friend back when they went shopping in June. Apparently Savannah had tried calling her friend to ask for repayment, but the friend never answered her phone or called Savannah back. Savannah was really upset about it. She was in tears, in fact. I offered to call this friend's mom to let her know about it. Savannah agreed.

So, I called her mom who told me she was unaware that her daughter had borrowed any money from Savannah. She told me to call her back the next day so we could arrange a time for me to pick up the money. ??? OK, whatever. I called her back two days later and she informed me, "We seem to have a problem because my daughter said that she only borrowed $20 from Savannah."

Now, I didn't want to tell this woman that her daughter was a liar, but I know that the earrings alone cost over $20! I'm the one who picked them up from the mall. I saw everything they'd gotten. It was more than $20 worth. Still, I didn't want to start a fight or anything so I suggested we let the girls talk and see if they could work it out. We put our daughters on the phone. This friend told Savannah it was only $20 and hung up on Savannah. Savannah was in tears again.

Unfortunately Savannah didn't save any receipts. She has the card that some of the earrings came on. It still has a price sticker of $14.99 on it. (Her friend got an identical card of earrings plus one additional card of earrings.) I looked online for the prices of some of the clothing they'd bought. It added up to $70-something. Now, I don't want to sound naive, but out of all my kids, I know Savannah is the last person who would ever lie. I'm quite certain she didn't pull the figure of $77.08 out of thin air. That was the amount on the receipts (not including the tax) that Savannah added up when they first got home from the mall back in June.

The problem is - how do I convince this woman that her daughter is perhaps not being entirely honest about this. Just maybe she's embarrassed or scared of getting in trouble with her mom. How do I broach this without outright calling her daughter a liar? I don't know the mom. This isn't a girl Savannah's been friends with for years. She'd just met the girl this past year.

If it was my money, I'd probably just drop it and deal with the loss. But this is money that Savannah has saved for years. And what bothers me even more is that I had to tell Savannah to go against her nature and not lend money to friends again. She was trying to be helpful, thoughtful and generous and I had to tell her that basically she couldn't trust others to be the same way.

I'm just sad for her and don't know the best way to handle this. Darn those stupid parenting books. They never mention anything like this! I so didn't sign up for this! And you know, I wasn't overly thrilled when I first met this friend, but didn't want to say anything bad about her. This girl was absolutely rude and obnoxious during Savannah's band concert. A few of us wanted to slap her that night. But I figured Savannah could form her own opinion of this girl.

Savannah and this "friend" bought a couple matching outfits that day. Savannah has only worn hers once and no longer wants it. Maybe I'll eBay the clothes to try and get some of her money back.

What Was the Question?

A couple gentlemen paid me a visit today to talk about some business stuff. I'd never met these guys before so I should've tried to make a good impression, right? I should've cleaned my house and made sure I had plenty of refreshments on hand. I should've threatened the kids to behave drilled the kids on the importance of good behavior - maybe even teach them a nice little farewell song with which they could entertain our guests.



But I didn't. I just don't have the gene that makes you get all nervous when meeting people. I don't find it necessary to freak out about every little detail. I don't agonize for hours that my guests might not like my scratched up old Tupperware plates and cups. I don't worry that my china cabinet isn't sparkling. Well, I mainly don't worry about that one because I don't have a china cabinet. But if I did have a china cabinet, I wouldn't worry about it. Of course, my kids would've probably broken everything in it, so there really wouldn't be anything to worry about anyway....

I just don't stress about little stuff like that. My sister's the one who got the stress-out gene. She got it from my mom. My mom is hosting her bunko group next week. That means that for the past month she's been making lists of stuff that NEEDS to be done. She's cleaned everything despite the fact that it's just her and my dad in their house and they generally don't wedge granola bar wrappers in the couch cushions, spill pineapple juice on the floor, color on the tv, or shove dirty laundry in their closet. Their house is pretty much always spotless. It looks like a model home.

She's also landscaped, bought new dinnerware, tried out 52 new appetizer recipes, had the carpets cleaned, bought all new furniture, and built a 1000 square foot addition. OK, so I may be exaggerating a bit. A little bit.

Anyway, back to my visitors. Despite my stellar planning, I had to run out to the grocery store for some food for lunch. It was either that or feed the kids a can of stewed tomatoes and a some questionable looking celery for lunch. I've gotten spoiled with Joe being home most evenings. I haven't had to take all the kids to the grocery store with me in a long time.

I had one kid crawling under the cart. A couple more were writing, "cheese" and "poop" in the condensation on the deli case. Brooklyn was screaming her head off because she wanted to hold the little paper number I'd taken at the deli counter. Clay was sitting in the basket squishing grapes, Austin was teaching Brooklyn to say fun things like, "Get my gun!", and Savannah was giving me dirty looks because I tortured her by making her go with us.

After the grocery store fun, we spent the afternoon with our guests. The visit went something like this:

GUEST: Hi, nice to meet you.
CLAY: Mom! Look, a butt crack! as he indicated a dent in the pear he was eating
ME: CLAYTON REID! to my guest I'm sorry. It's so nice to meet you too.
CLAY: Look! Really Mom, there's a butt crack!
ME: Clayton, that's enough. to my guest He's charming, no?
CLAY: Butt crack! Butt crack! This pear has a butt crack!
ME: apologetically to my guest I dropped him on his head when he was little.
AUSTIN: Mom, come see my garden. I have 22 tomatoes growing now.
ME: That's awesome. I'll look at it later.
GUEST: So, besides your book, have you written anything else?
BROOKLYN: I want chips!
LEXI: Can I read this book to you, Mom?
SAVANNAH: Mom! Jackson's having pop!
JACKSON: Can I have a friend over?
BROOKLYN: I want chips!
LEXI: Can we go swimming?
JACKSON: Where's my baseball game tonight?
AUSTIN: Should I pick the zucchini today?
LEXI: Can I go across the street now?
ME: to guest Ummm, I'm sorry. What was the question again?

This went on for 2 hours.

I'm pretty sure we scared them right back home.
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OK, now I need to talk about something serious. I know, I know, I really try hard not be serious. I don't want to ruin my reputation as a goofy dork. However, I wanted to bring something to your attention. I've been super fortunate that I've never been affected by post partum depression. Oh sure, I did the usual crying because I forgot to put fabric softener in the laundry or tearing up over a battery commercial on tv, and other stupid stuff like for a couple weeks postpartum, but I never experienced full blown depression. There are a lot women who don't fare so well when their hormones go bonkers after giving birth, however. Reese Butler founded 1-800-SUICIDE in 1998 after losing his wife to suicide. This program helps 50,000 callers every month. 50,000 a month! Women suffering from postpartum depression, teenagers unable to cope, adults, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents. Right now, the Kristin Brooks Hope Center/1-800-SUICIDE is privately funded. Information about callers is kept confidential. Trained psychiatrict rescue teams are sent to help; not the police. And they're trying to keep it that way. They need to raise another 55k by August. Yes, that's a huge amount of money, but every dollar adds up. Maybe some of you have been affected by depression. Maybe some of you have even lost loved ones to suicide. This is a program that can help. Check it out HERE.

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And finally, because I'm always in search of ways to waste time to enrich my mind with fun, educational games, I wanted to share THIS GAME with you. It's a Journey to the Center of the Earth game! This is a fun one to play with the kids. Just don't play it with your kids who are over the age of 5 or so because they will make fun of your lack of geographical knowledge, and they will marvel at how you ever made it to adulthood not knowing what country lies to the north of Zimbabwe or what layer is directly beneath the earth's crust.

Then after the geography embarrassment, the kids laughed at me as I smashed my little guy into rocks until he became unconcious. And I won't even tell you how long it took me to hop across the rocks to get to the center of the earth! In fact, after I killed my guy 4000 times, I gave up entirely. I think I'll just skip the game and let my kids play so they can taunt me with their vast geography knowledge. I'll just go to the movie instead. After all, Brendan Fraser is in it. Yum-o.

And the Winners Are...

Here are the 11 winners from my Super Spectacular One Year Anniversary Bloggy Quiz!

These are the people who got all 10 questions right!

Shannon from Delaware
Melissa
Keren
Carol
Amber
Sharon

And here are the other winning names that I randomly drew from the group of people who got 9 out of 10 questions correct!

mrsslats
Charlotte's Mommy
LaLa
mom2cors
zelcers

Congratulations! Write me with your mailing address so your prize can be shipped out.

1. Which one of these things has Dawn NOT shown us pictures of?

A. a bar of soap with teethmarks in it
B. her sister's Christmas tree
C. her thumb with a Strawberry Shortcake bandage on it
D. a komodo dragon
E. a doorknob

2. Which quote has Dawn NOT used on her blog?

A. Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that ~ George Carlin
B. Parents are not interested in justice, they're interested in peace and quiet. ~ Bill Cosby
C. Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much. ~ Oscar Wilde
D. When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear. ~ Mark Twain
E. Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ~ Matthew 7:1-2

3. Which one of the following was NOT a blog post title?

A. The Bats Won't Poop on Your Head
B. You Put WHAT in the Toilet?
C. Here's Some Toilet Paper to go With That Butt Paste
D. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
E. Don't Put Chocolate Milk in Your Pants

4. Dawn has had pictures of Brooklyn in which of these places?

A. Stuck on the top bunk bed
B. Playing in the toilet
C. Sitting in the bathroom sink
D. In the kitchen cupboard
E. Standing in the dishwasher

5. The most comments Dawn has received on a post is...

A. 718
B. 353
C. 872
D. 903

6. Which of the following things does Dawn NOT hate?

A. vomit
B. styrofoam
C. broccoli
D. balloons
E. shoes

7. Dawn is well known for her beautiful decorated cakes made to celebrate the highlights in her family. Which theme has Dawn NOT shown us pictures of?

A. Bacon
B. Lightning McQueen
C. Monkeys
D. Bugs
E. Simpsons

8. In addition to cakes, a lot of other cooking takes place in the Meehan kitchen too. Which of these kitchen disasters experiences did Dawn write about?

A. Joe putting lemon-lime Kool Aid on fish
B. Clay microwaving eggs for 55 minutes and 55 seconds
C. Austin melting the slotted spoon by making donuts
D. Savannah burning chocolate chip cookies
E. Clay turning the mixer on high and spraying flour all over the place

9. There is a lot of “gross” food found at the Meehan’s. Which one has NOT been blogged about?

A. Pizza
B. Sour chocolate milk
C. Moldy sandwich
D. Petrified hot dog
E. Banana peel
F. Cookies
G. Waffle

10. True or false: Dawn fed Clayton chocolate ice cream for breakfast on national tv.
False

Thank you to everyone for playing!!! And thanks for an awesome first year!
And thank you so much to the wonderful ladies who donated prizes to the winners!

Leslie at Simply Lovely Gifts

Patti at Precious Text

Vanessa at My Mommy's Bracelets

Annika at Red Thread Confections

Angie at Good For the Kids

Kim at Olive Kids

Dana at Couture Moms

Michelle at 4 The Kids

Rachel at Supper's on the Table, Come Home

Roxanne from Sassy Chics

I Love Camping!

I'm on my 9th load of laundry since returning home last night. I have a good 7 more to go.

I love camping.

Joe took Lexi to get her glasses fixed this evening because they were broken when we were camping. They're broken every time we camp. It's a rule or something.

I love camping.

I think my ears have finally stopped ringing from listening to the kids for 3 hours on the way home.
Mom! She hit me!
Go away, Jackson!
Mom! She's on my side!
Dad! She's kicking my chair!
Mom! Make her stop kicking my chair!
Dad! I'm thirsty!
Mom! Is there anything to eat?
Are we almost there yet?

And let's not forget Brooklyn's made-up Yogi Bear song. I believe the lyrics went a little like this: Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear Yogi Bear. Repeat until your ears bleed.

Oh yes, and then there was Clay who kept repeating, "butt crack"

I think all minivans should come equipped with sound-proof glass between the driver's seat and the back of the van (like a limo) standard. It's not that we don't love to hear our kids, but we like our ear drums intact and would enjoy keeping them that way. Besides, there's a direct car-to-noise ratio. The more enclosed the space (like a vehicle), the louder the sounds. The louder the sounds, the more stress inflicted upon the parents. The more stress on the parents, the more they have an urge to drive their car off a cliff. It's simple math, really.

I love camping.

I have mosquito bites in places I'd rather not mention. My ankles are bloody scabs from all the scartching I did in my sleep. And creepy alien lightning bugs tried to abduct me and Jenny at the campground. Honestly! It's true! You can even ask Jen. She'll tell you. We had to jump up on our camping chairs so the lightning bug didn't drag us off under the camper. No, we weren't drinking, why?

I love camping.

The kids are off schedule from camping. I think Brooklyn woke up a half hour after I went to bed. It's been a fun day around here. Have I mentioned that I love camping?

...Back Home Again, You Know.

We went to this museum, Wheels O' Time, yesterday. They had 3 barns full of old "stuff" - clocks, cars, machinery, toys, etc. It was really interesting and the adults in our group would like to have spent more time there, but since we had to chase 10 kids who wanted to run through the museum at break-neck speed, that wasn't an option. I could just see Brooklyn or Clayton jumping in a hundred year old Ford model T and somehow managing to drive it through the barn, over typewriters, phonographs, ancient lightbulbs, and 200 year old cuckoo clocks before crashing it through the wall.

A bunch of old cars. Joe was hyperventilating.


An old fashioned washing machine. I guess I shouldn't complain about the 400 loads of laundry I have to do this week...


It could be even worse....


OK, so most of the exhibits were really interesting and there were many hands-on exhibits, but this one was particularly creepy. It's a presidential quartet, of course. I think the presidents were dug up from their graves for this one. (Before you write to tell me - yes, I know they're not all dead, but come on - look at them! It's night of the living dead here!)


Here's the gang minus me and I think only 2 of them were throwing melt-down fits at the time. Not bad.


Just playing with my camera here and making the kids wait for me to take more pictures. They love it when I do that.


OK, so I wrote how the pool had a salty taste. I failed to mention the film of nastiness that was floating on the surface and the layer of crud on the bottom. Then, I noticed this sign outside the pool today.
"Any person having an infectious or communicable disease is prohibited from using a public pool.
Persons having open blisters, cuts, etc. are advised not to use the pool.
Spitting, spouting water, blowing the nose, or discharging bodily wastes in the pool is strictly prohibited."
Barf. Antibiotics anyone?


And check it out! The happening town of Goodfield, population 700. Yes, that's right. This town has about the same number of people that were in my graduating class! It doesn't get more exciting than this.


This concludes the run-down on my fun-filled camping trip. Until I lose my mind and agree to go camping again...

...Hi Ho the Dairy-O...

Happy Fourth of July!

Well, we spent the day hanging around the campsite and swimming. Even though it was a chlorinated pool, the water somehow tasted salty. Still, it was ok until Chris pointed out that we were swimming in everyone else's butt sweat. Pretty gross when you think about it. That ended the swimming for me thankyouverymuch.

We went out to see fireworks in Peoria tonight. I have never seen such a crowd for fireworks before. I mean, where I live every town has fireworks. You have a dozen places to choose from - all within 10 miles of your house. We walked in to Walmart to kill time before the fireworks and I asked the cashier, "Is this the only place around that does fireworks?" She said, "No, Chicago does them and St. Louis does them." (For those of you who don't know, both Chicago and St. Louis are a good 3 hours away.) In other words, I guess if you live in central Illinois, this is pretty much it.

The cool thing about our optimal viewing spot is that we were parked between Buffalo Wild Wings and Culvers. Hot wings and frozen custard anyone?

...A-Camping We Will Go...

We're camping with friends and there are 14 of us total. We've been noticing a strange phenomenon. A camper pulled up at the site adjacent to ours. The people got out of their RV, saw all of us, promptly got back in their vehicle and drove off.

Another camper pulled up, the folks got out, plugged their camper into the electrical outlet, then quickly disappeared inside, not to be seen again.

When we went to the pool this afternoon, within 15 minutes, the entire place was empty except for us. Not another soul in sight.

Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that we've got 10 kids running around like howler monkeys hopped up on caffeine and crack?


ME: Are you sure the kids can eat those? Where did you find them? How do you know what kind of berries they are?

JOE: They're boysenberries.

ME: Since when do you know what boysenberries are?

JOE: I just know.

ME: Oh give me a break. You just find some berries growing along the lake and you start eating them without knowing what they are?

JOE: I told you - they're mulberries!

ME: You said they were boysenberries! Now they're mulberries?

JOE: Yes, they're huckleberries.

ME: Admit that you're clueless.

JOE: I am not clueless. I'm an Eagle Scout!

ME: Do Eagle Scouts usually pour lighter fluid on the fire to get it going?

Yes, camping brings out the best in us.


Ooooo prettiful

Now I'm off to sit around the campfire with Andy and make some hot delicious schmoes!

A-Camping We Will Go...

Guess where I had dinner tonight!



Right here in the middle of a corn field in Peoria.



We made it here relatively uneventfully. I say "relatively" because we do not have good luck camping. One time our truck burst into flames. Once the whole wheel fell off. Not the tire - the wheel. More times than I can count, something has broken on the truck. One of those times, while Joe went to a nearby junk yard and fixed it, Jen, Chris, all our kids, and I walked around a K-Mart for like 5 hours. It was 5000 degrees outside and I was 100 months pregnant. It was not fun. I'm pretty sure there's a K-Mart in Wisconsin that has our pictures posted near the entrance with a warning, "If you see these people, call the police immediately."

Then there was the time, we got stuck on a hill in the Kentucky mud and the time that our carbon monoxide detector went off in the middle of the night. Another time the truck overheated and we had to drive home from Michigan in rush hour traffic through the city with the heater full blast. The only problem is it was 90-some degrees at the time. On a different trip, something broke and we couldn't drive over 35 mph all the way home. That was fun. I think the worst trip was when our truck and camper flipped over. Needless to say, we had a little detour to the emergency room and never made it to our destination.

Anyway, Joe spent the last couple days working on his truck to ensure it was in good working condition and would indeed safely transport us to Peoria. Yesterday evening Joe got some metal shavings in his eye while working on his truck. He finally broke down and went to the ER when I threatened to divorce him his eye was still in pain several hours later. Much like Clay, a couple weeks ago, he has a corneal abrasion and needs antibiotic drops. Because the ER was so busy last night, he didn't get home until 2:00am.

We only had to stop once on the way here today because the floor beneath my feet on the passenger side of the truck was so hot it was burning my feet. In fact, it was burning the carpet and the rubber floor mat. The smell of burning plastic filled the truck and steam circled around the cabin. Given our glorious history, however, this goes down in the Most Awesome Times Driving to a Campground Ever book.

I'm sure there'll be more adventures tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's a giant ice cream cone and a giant rooster. Where else can you go for blurry pictures of giant dairy products and farm fowl? For any of you who happen to live in Peoria, yes I was the weirdo with my head hanging out the car window taking pictures of these things.