Baby Einstein - part 2

Here's my room at The Embassy Suites in Glendale, CA.






and the GORGEOUS view from my window...


in the hotel lobby...




This was at Crustacean in Beverly Hills. It was so cool - this river you could walk on ran throughout the restaurant.


They served Dungeness crabs the size of Ohio here.


and huge Tiger Prawns with garlic noodles - YUM!


Here's Tammy from Army Household 6. The airline lost one of her bags too. :( As of this morning, the airline still hadn't located her bag. Mine was thankfully delivered to my hotel after midnight on Thursday.


Here are Stephanie and Erin from Ketchum.


This is Leslie and Jessica.


Here we have Amy from MommyTrackd, Karen from Baby Einstein and
Michelle from Ketchum.


I wasn't on the ball with picture taking this trip. Some of the other girls (and guy) who joined us were Susan and Matt from Baby Einstein and

Rebecca from Girls Gone Child
Jenny and Jackie from MomLogic
I'm probably forgetting others. I really stink at remembering names. Please let me know if I forgot about you!

at the Baby Einstein headquarters...


Some of the Baby Einstein line of products...


This is from the Disney infant line. I just had to take a picture. I love this bedding! It makes me want to have another baby just to use this bedding! Not really. Well, maybe a little...NO!


This is Leslie's purse! I told her it reminded me of those gum wrapper chains we used to make as kids. She said it was made out of Mexican candy wrappers!


I had a fun, interesting, informative day at the Baby Einstein headquarters yesterday. I have a lot to say about it, but it'll have to wait until Monday when I'm more awake. I left the meeting yesterday at 6:00 PM Chicago time, went to the Burbank airport and waited and waited and waited for my flight. This airport is small. Like 4 gates small. Like only 1 newstand which was closed small. You'd think I wouldn't have any problem finding my gate since there were only 2 for United there. You'd think. However, as part of United's plan to mess with passengers, the gate from which my flight was departing, had a sign that read flight such&such to Denver - on time. Yes, folks, Denver is the new San Francisco. While waiting for that flight, I died a slow painful death by easy-listening music. "She's a lady, woah woah woah woah, she's a lady...."

I connected in San Francisco at a gate which had a sign that read, "flight such&such to Salt Lake City" (all part of their ongoing plan to confuse and disorient passengers) and didn't get home to Chicago until after 6:00AM this morning. I vegged out on the plane for awhile, but I had a middle seat and I can't really sleep sitting straight up so I was beat by the time I arrived in Chicago. I sat next to a normal, friendly, adorable girl named Dewey who was on her way home from her honeymoon in Hawaii. She said she got the name Dewey when she was a toddler, sitting on her dad's lap. Her dad was watching a Red Sox game and cheering for Dewey. She thought he was cheering for/talking to her, so she started calling herself Dewey. I thought that was a cute story. I love stories about how people acquire nicknames. In fact, I even wrote about that in Because I Said So.

Check out these seats! These were the seats in first class. They're BEDS! They don't just recline; they're stinkin' BEDS! I was more than just a little jealous of these.


My whole reason for taking the red-eye home was so I could make it to rehearsal this morning at 10:00. I got home, went to bed at 7:00 and could not, for the life of me, wake up at 9:00. I totally missed rehearsal. I could've just stayed in California in my nice hotel room for another night. Ugh, I'm so mad at myself for falling into such a deep sleep.

OK, I'm off to get some sleep...

Baby Einstein - part 1

(written Thursday night)

This morning, I left for California. O’Hare seemed unusually empty today. I guess no one can afford a vacation and no one is traveling for business because no one has a job. It’s kinda scary. I made it through security and over to my gate with no problems. I accidentally ripped my earring out and it went flying across the aisle and hit some poor guy. I have no idea how I managed that and I couldn’t do it again if I tried. I sat next to a normal couple from Ohio on the plane. They didn’t breathe through their mouths or chew like water buffalo or do any other annoying things so it was a good flight. I watched The Secret Life of Bees. I’m not a fan. It was ok, but I wouldn’t go out and rent it.

I didn’t check my bag because I’m always afraid of losing it in transit. I prefer to keep my luggage with me. Now that airlines charge you to check even one bag, everyone wants to keep their suitcases with them instead of checking them. The problem with that is they run out of room on the plane. If you’re one of the last people on, you’ll be out of luck and will end up having to check your bag right there at the gate. That’s what happened to me today. The flight attendant said, “There’s no room. Just leave your suitcase here and I’ll tag it and check it. What seat are you in?”

“Umm 18D.”

“And what’s your final destination?”

I bit back my smart-aleck answer of “heaven” and answered her, “Burbank.”
She scribbled this information on a cocktail napkin and tucked it under the handle of my suitcase. I looked at her and said, “A cocktail napkin? Oh yeah, now I’m full of confidence.”

She insisted she’d put a real tag on it.

“I’m never going to see this again, am I?” I joked, looking at my fellow passengers for confirmation of my fears.

“Yes, you will! It’ll go right to Burbank with you!” she lied insisted.

I had a hard time stowing my carry-on under my seat, I held up a line of people as I messed around with it, I dropped my phone in the aisle, and after I finally sat down, I stuck my foot out and tripped a poor guy walking by. It wasn’t on purpose!
I made it to San Francisco and had 10 minutes to make my connecting flight so I pushed everyone out of my way, got off the plane, and ran to the gate for my flight to Burbank. Thankfully that flight was delayed 10 minutes which gave me time to run to the bathroom (and catch my breath from all the running!)

On the flight between San Francisco and Burbank, I sat by myself in the very last row on the plane. I could reach out and touch the cockpit from my seat. It was the size of my girls’ Barbie plane.

So I got off the plane and waited for my suitcase. And I waited. And waited. And guess what! THEY LOST IT! I KNEW THE COCKTAIL NAPKIN WOULDN’T WORK!!! After talking to some United reps and filling out some forms, they informed me that they hadn’t technically “lost” my luggage as they knew where it was – San Francisco.
“That’s nice, but I’m in Burbank!” ARGH!

I rushed to the hotel, dropped off my carry-on and went out to dinner at a fancy-schmancy restaurant (Crustacean) wearing the jeans and t-shirt that I’d traveled in all day. Lovely.

Now, I’m back at the hotel and it’s 12:00am Chicago time. United just called and said that my suitcase had arrived and they’d send it over within the next 3 hours. Ugh. I just want a shower and sleep, but I can’t take a shower and put my dirty ole clothes back on. Guess I’ll be staying up, waiting for my bag…

On the bright side, I have a very nice, big hotel room with a beautiful view of the mountains! The weather is gorgeous here! I had a delicious meal that I didn’t have to cook tonight! I met some great women and had some nice conversations! I love California!!!

Ash Wednesday

So today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is the next 40 days (not counting Sundays) between now and Easter, in which we prepare for Easter. What are you going to do to prepare? Do you prepare? How does one prepare for something like Easter? This is how I usually get ready for Easter...

1. Call Mom and try to talk her into having everyone over for Easter dinner.
2. Buy Easter candy
3. Talk to Mom about menu for Easter dinner
4. Buy that stupid plastic grass that sticks to every surface in your home and doesn't completely disappear until Christmas when it's replaced by tinsel
5. Talk to Mom about menu for Easter dinner
6. Complain to sister that Mom can't make up her mind about what to have for Easter dinner and is stressing out way too much
7. Buy more Easter candy to replace what I've eaten
8. Talk to Mom about menu for Easter dinner and suggest just ordering pizza
9. Talk to sister about what a bad daughter I am for suggesting pizza
10. Decorate the house and pull out the Easter Monkey and laugh about that tradition
11. Talk to Mom about menu for Easter dinner and make fun of her because of the Ham Saga of 1998.
12. Call Mom to apologize for bringing up the Ham Saga of 1998.
13. Buy eggs and dye and more Easter candy (don't ask)

Yep, that about sums it up.

I'm not Catholic and the whole "giving up something for Lent" has never really been stressed in my life. I considered giving up something, however. I figured I could give up coffee, but that would be too great a punishment for my friends and family and well, basically anyone unlucky enough to come in contact with me for the next month and a half.

I considered giving up chocolate, but let's be realistic here. I could give up meat - nah, not enough of a sacrifice as I'm not a big meat eater. Hmmm, perhaps I could give up Facebook or Twitter... BAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAA!!! Oh that's a good one! LOL!

I talked to one of my BFFs, Sue today and she said that her church encourages its members to do something for others everyday instead of giving up something. Hmmm, I decided I liked this idea. After all, look what Jesus did for us. I can do something nice for others every day. No problem!

While I was at the library, making my weekly contribution to their renovation fund paying my fines, I gave my change to the librarian and asked her if she'd use it for the next few people who wanted a cup of coffee. (My library sells coffee for $1 a cup). She looked at me like I was nuts. After what I was asking sunk in, she smiled and agreed to do it. Actually, come to think of it, I probably screwed up everything at the library. After I left, she probably stood there holding my money, wondering what the heck she was going to do with it.

I know it wasn't much. It's not going to change the world. Still, can you imagine if everyone did a small act of kindness every day? The world would be a much nicer place, wouldn't it? And the thing about doing something nice for others is it's contagious. The man standing behind me in line at the library made a comment about that being a nice gesture. Maybe the wheels started spinning in his head and he'll go out of his way to be kind to someone tomorrow.

So, if you're looking for something to do to prepare for Easter, consider giving to others in some small way for the next 46 days. Hold a door open, volunteer at your local food pantry, pay for coffee for the next person in line, donate your old clothes to a women's shelter. And think about the reason why you're doing it as you act. Oh, and blog about it too! Tell everyone what you're doing and leave a link to your blog in the comments here so everyone can check it out!

*****If you want an idea of someplace where you can make a donation, check out Peggy Larson's (Coleman & Caden's mom) page for the Cure Search Walk to help conquer kids' cancer HERE.

*****And I still have a giveaway for Goat's Milk Soap HERE.

The Best of Both Worlds

A lot of people (and by a lot of people, I mean - those who have never done it) think that working from home is easy. And why wouldn't they think that? I mean, when you work from home, you can stay in your pajamas all day. There's no sitting next to annoying people on the train who talk loudly on their cell phones to their boyfriends, calling them Schmoopsie-poo and refusing to hang up until they do. You don't have to battle rush-hour traffic. When you work from home, you don't have to make small talk with coworkers and kiss your boss's butt. You can take a break and watch Oprah if you want. You can get up and grab a snack from your fridge whenever you want. You can play your old 80s CDs and turn the volume as high as it'll go while dancing around in your underwear and no one will hand you a brochure on psychiatrists covered by your company's HMO.

Yes, it's true that working from home has many advantages. However, if you're a parent, working from home takes on a whole new meaning. On the one hand, it means you don't have to pay for daycare. You don't have to worry about your kids picking up every germ known to man while at daycare. You don't have to dread the call from the daycare that your child bit another child and is a menace to society and will probably end up on a clock tower some day.

But it’s not all sunshine and roses. When I worked at an office I almost never had to stop what I was doing to wipe a coworker's butt. I didn’t have to break up fights between coworkers about which is better, Wonder Pets or Little Einsteins, very often. Fellow employees didn't generally run through my cubicle, screaming. When I used to work in an office, no one ever threw a paper airplane at me, no one ever came to me with a Barbie shoe stuck up his nose, no one ever poured a cup of chocolate milk on my desk, and no one ever screamed for attention when the phone rang.

Now that I work from home, I’ve experienced all of the above and then some. It’s hard to keep your train of thought on track when you have little people who are constantly derailing it. Still, I get to spend time with my children while working. I get to make a living while watching my kids grow up. I can sit down and write and a minute later, get up and play a game with the kids.
True, working from home offers the worst of both worlds. But it also offers the best. It just depends on how you look at it. :) I try to look at it as the best of both worlds. If I wasn't able to work from home, I'd have missed out on this...

This morning, Brooklyn came to me and said, "I think my tummy is hungry."

She'd just eaten 3 cheesesticks so I answered her, "I think your tummy is full of cheese!"

She lifted her shirt up, looked at her stomach, threw her hands up in the air and said, "I don't see any cheese in my tummy!"

Then, a little later, Clay walked into the laundry room wearing this...


Yep, that's great. My little Ariel. I'm so proud.

After we dropped Clay at school (thankfully he'd changed), Brooklyn made a creation out of Legos for me. "Here you go, Mama. I made this toy for you. I Santa."

"You're Santa Claus, huh? Well, thank you for my toy. Should we comb your hair and make it pretty now, Brooklyn?"

She looked me like I was insane. With hands on hips, she spoke down to me. "Mama, I Santa Claus. Santa doesn't like piggytails."

I stand corrected.

Head on over to my review blog to see my latest giveaway from a work-at-home family.

Sunday Sound Out

And now it's time for Sunday Sound Out, the part of the show where Larry "sounds out".

What advice do you have for someone who's considering starting their own blog?
Don't start doing Sunday Sound Outs because it takes a lot of time going through everyone's questions, but once you start, you won't be able to stop.

Hello! I experienced something recently, and I was wanting to get a parent's take on it if you don't mind. My husband and I both work the graveyard shift. This allows us both time to attend afternoon classes at the local college, go to work, and still manage to get a few hours of sleep every night. This morning, we were woken to the doorbell ringing. When we answered the door there was nobody there. I walked to the end of the driveway and saw a parent walking their children down the street. They looked to be school-aged and the parent was pulling a wagon, so I figured maybe they were selling cookies or something. Though I personally feel fund raisers are rather annoying, I always buy something. Gotta support the schools, you know? Anyway, so I watched this group for a couple of minutes thinking maybe they would work their way back. What I saw bother astonished and angered me. They weren't selling anything. These kids were playing Ding Dong Ditch with the parent telling them good job. I started to walk down to them to let the parent know how I felt about her kids' behavior but someone beat me to it. She didn't even seem apologetic. So I'm wanting to get a parent's perspective on this. What do you think?
Clearly, this parent has no clue what she's doing. She should've taught the kids to run faster.

Hi Dawn, I'll be short and sweet. I love your blog and plan on getting your book when it comes out. My question is what blogs do you read in your spare (yeah right!) time?
I suck. I don't read any blogs regularly anymore. I just have such a hard time finding the time (what with Facebook and everything). :(

I think the photo question was referring to the photo shoot you had. I think it was one of just you that you promised some photos from. But I"m just guessing.
Ohhhhh! I totally forgot about those. Here are a few of them. The photographer did a nice job considering what she had to work with. I hate what I'm wearing. I thought I had packed a different shirt, but I forgot it. (I know - shocking coming from someone who forgot to pack PANTS this weekend!) I had to 86 the full-length ones. Scary.











The other day my six-year-old was SCREAMING at the top of his lungs in the church foyer. This particular kid has a lot of neuro issues and the people understand. However, one lady said, "I would go insane." I replied, "I am insane. I just hide it real well." Is that how you feel?
I think I passed "insane" and cruised right on to "numb".

At the bottom of your comment section of your blog there's:Links to this post What does that mean?
I dunno. I'm not real computery. I just type out words. How they show up on my page is a mystery to me.

I have to ask too...who made that gorgeous blanket in the background of the first video?
My grandma made it for me. :)

I have to ask...I know you are going to reply "no idea," but maybe someone else can enlighten me. Somehow over the year, my links to your site changed. I used to get an email with a link to your site. Now...I only get an email with the whole text listed. (so if I never go to your site do you get the "hit"?) I digress...I've tried to change my sign up to your site, but am unable to just get an emailed link, it only emails me the full text. I like going to your site because I can read comments and see all the exciting pictures, etc. I know, more rambling than you care to read, but it's annoying. Have you heard this from anyone else? Am I just blog impaired?
You are correct. I have no idea.

Are you going to post a picture of the fabulous cake you made?
I did at the bottom of this post HERE.

If Wisconsinite is for Wisconsin, what's the name for people living in Illinois?????
Awesome.

Fun! And I noticed the picture you took of you and DeeDee is from the waist up. Is that because you don't have any pants on?
Yeah, that and the fact that my camera isn't equipped with a wide angle lens.

My question: Why isn't Brooklyn's hands glued to the table? At least that would be something fun to blog about! LOL
I did blog about that! Or maybe I wrote it in my book. I can't remember. Anyway, I wrote somewhere about how Clay super-glued Brooklyn's hands together before she was even 1-year-old. That was awful.

Dawn: My children did this ONCE and never did anything like it again. It all boils down to training, parenting, and discipline. And the child KNOWING discipline is in ORDER before they ever do it again!
Sounds like you've got it all figured out. Congratulations! :)

How can Brooklyn know that you're mad at her when you're taking a picture of what she's done wrong? Do you say, "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! I NEED TO TAKE A PICTURE OF WHAT YOU'VE DONE SO I CAN SHOW THE POLICE WHEN THEY COME TO ARREST YOU!"
Well duh, Manic. Isn't that what you do? Speaking of my good friend, Manic...this is the last week to donate blood, save a life and enter to win a trip to sunny Florida! Head on over to her blog for details NOW!

Why is Jackson grounded? Did I miss something here?!
Jackson's always grounded from something. Usually it's his mouth that gets him trouble.

And by the 7 inches we're supposed to get by tomorrow, should I assume that the boots were put away or that the mere question of putting boots away incited this?
Uhhh, sorry about that. Just think how much we would've gotten if I'd let Savannah pack them away!

That's exactly why I don't have a cellphone. Ever considered getting rid of it? ;-)
Then how would I feed my Twitter addiction?

When you are away, at a conference or trip, who watches the kids?
Joe usually does. Thankfully his job is flexible enough that he's able to take time off. He's a good dad.

On a different note, how did the little lump Lexi found progress? Did you get it reevaluated?
Wow! You people have great memories! I'd forgotten about that. The lump went away on its own within a couple weeks. Thank you for asking!

Pitch in and help out? Heck, it's just easier and more time efficient if I just do it myself- the first time- correctly. Granted, I ask for help, but it is almost not worth the whining and bickering about who is doing more, better, faster, etc. Yup- I'm a looser mom raising a bunch of looser children : )
LOL! It takes a big person to admit that. :) I fully admit that although I really try to instill a decent work ethic in my kids, there are times when I simply push them out of my way and say, "I'LL DO IT!" because it's a thousand times easier than fighting with teaching them. This always needs to be followed with the requisite guilt trip, of course.

I Forgot My Pants

I drove up here to Madison yesterday and beat the snow. Of course, I drove off without my suitcase and had to turn around, go home and get it when Savannah texted me that I'd left it there. Who was it who was just complaining about getting texts from her family every time she left? Surely it wasn't me. Unfortunately I forgot to pack pants. PANTS! Not toothpaste or shampoo. Not socks. Not jewelry. Stinkin' pants! Who forgets to pack pants??? That's right - me! Then I managed to lock myself out of my room, not once, but twice today. I met a very funny writer, Rachael Phillips, in Sonoma this past October. She taught a class on humor writing. One of the things she said you needed to do in order to write humor is "do stupid things". Yep, I think I've got that one covered.

I spoke to a handful of people at the expo today and once again, didn't throw up so that's always good. It snowed here (and I guess in Chicago too) most of the day so I decided to spend one more night here. You know, because I have a rear-wheel drive van and it's horrible on slippery surfaces. The fact that this hotel has social hour with complimentary beer and wine has nothing to do with my decision. I gotta hand it to Joe - he's a good dad and has no problem holding down the fort while I'm away, so I thankfully don't have to try to drive home in this yuckness. (It's a word. Trust me, I'm a writer.)

My nice hotel room at the Baby Expo in Madison.

Now, it's out to dinner with a Wisconsinite Facebook friend, DeeDee.

Reason 104

The following is a public service announcement.
Attention all moms. Below, you will find information and appropriate graphics on why you should never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever take a shower while the kids are awake. Ever. If you choose to disregard this message and hop in the shower while the kids are up and running around, you could be faced with the following scenario. This is no laughing matter. This could happen to you.

"Hey kids, thanks for being so good while I was in the sho....what the???? Is that GLUE? Why, why, WHY???"






"And on the floor too?"


"And down the hallway.... Oh, for the love of... The bathroom too???" Before I could snap pictures of the bathroom, however, I had to respond to the call, "Mooooom! Brooklyn's putting her hands in the glue!"




Oh yeah, that's nice. That's just yeah, real nice. Wonderful. I'm pretty sure clean hair and shaved legs are not worth this.

Oh, but the fun doesn't end there. Oh no. While I cleaned up the gluextravaganza, Clay swiped some Valentine's Day candy and headed to the bathroom where he proceeded to pour out the blue-green crystals everywhere. But knowing I'd probably lose it if I saw another mess, he took it upon himself to smear it around clean it up with a dish cloth. Nice.




Ugh, that tile is filthy. I think I need a new bathroom floor. You never realize just how disgusting something looks until you see a picture of it.

And this, my friends, is reason 104 why you should never, ever take a shower while the kids are awake. Heed my advice.

"Mom R U there?"

After I picked the kids up from school, I drove Lexi to a birthday party. Actually, scratch that. I drove Lexi to the store to get a present for her friend because that's how I work - I can't remember to shop for a present ahead of time, oh nooo. Nope, I have to go out 15 minutes before the party to get it. One of these days I'm going to stock up on kid presents or gift cards so I'm always prepared for birthday parties. One of these days.... Yeah, like one of these days I'll be totally caught up with my laundry. LOL! Ouch, I think I pulled something laughing over that one.

OK, so I run to the store and before Lexi and I get in line to check out, Joe called me to ask me something about the kids. A few seconds later, Savannah texted me.

"I'm cleaning out the closet like you wanted. Should I pack away the snow boots?"

I texted her back, "NOOO! If you pack them away, it will snow every day for the next month."

Three minutes later, I got another text from her. "Dad is broken and doesn't know what's going on. He's confused."

OK then.

Two minutes later - "Now he's yelling at us."

"Well what do you want me to do about it??? Stop doing whatever you're doing to make him yell."

Ten minutes later, Savannah called me. "Mom, Jackson's playing video games!"

"Oh ok, let me just forget about Lexi's party. I'll turn around and drive back home through rush hour traffic and deal with it. GO TELL YOUR FATHER!!!"

Twenty minutes later, Joe texted me. "Is Jackson grounded from video games?"

"Uh yes!"

Five minutes later, Joe texted again. "How long is he grounded for?"

"Until he's in college. I don't know. I haven't decided yet."


Tell me why is it that moms are the only ones who can deal with any crisis that arises? (And yes, I know I'm generalizing here. I can do that. It's my blog.) Why, when we're on the other side of town/at work/in a meeting/on a business trip, does everyone feel the need to call us to put out the fires? Why is this? I'm just trying to understand why it seems like a preferable idea to call me when I'm half an hour away, than it is to just ask their father a question.

Is it because I'm too demanding and insist on things being done a certain way? Is everyone afraid of making a mistake and making me mad? I admit I can be kinda anal picky about how things are done. But let me tell ya, I don't care how things are done when I'm gone. Not one little bit. As long as the house doesn't burn down and the kids are still alive, it's all good. Heck I don't even care when there are little itty bitty pieces of paper all over my bedroom floor. I don't care that the kitchen is piled high with dirty dishes from Austin's latest baking experiment. Nope, it doesn't bother me at all when there's an open bottle of honey on my bedroom floor. It's no big deal when the kids (and by "kids", I mean "Brooklyn") smears a tube of my chapstick on my comforter. Nope. I don't mind. Nosiree.

Sibling Rivalry

I was going through some half-written blog posts that I never got around to finishing and posting when I found this one that I wrote several months ago. I'm posting it now...



A couple days ago, I wrote:

The day didn't end on such a wonderful note, however. When we got home, I saw the boys' room covered with toys and games. I yelled at told Jackson to pick them up. Instead of picking them up, I heard him whine, "Why do I have to pick it up? I didn't make the mess! Austin dumped them out on the floor! Clay made most of the mess!" He was so belligerent in his tone of voice that I lost it and informed him, "Fine. I'll pick it up!" I scooped up the mess, threw it in a laundry basket, and dumped it out the back door. I may or may not let him earn them back. I'm so fed up with his talking back.

An anonymous person wrote a comment and told me I was wrong to tell Jackson to pick up his things. I didn't publish the comment because, although the person probably thought she was giving me sound advice, she assumed a lot of things that were incorrect. She didn't know the whole story. She thought Jackson was my oldest and I was making him clean up the younger kids' messes. She also didn't know that Austin had not dumped out the games and Jackson had lied to me about that. And she didn't know how Jackson had been talking back to me in a very disrespectful manner all day. But her comment got me thinking anyway.

When the little kids make the mess, I do actually ask the older ones help them out oftentimes. You may think it's unfair and yes, in a way, I agree that it is. However, when those same older kids were 2 and 4 years old, they didn't have to do all the cleaning by themselves. So why should the ones who are currently 2 and 4 have to do all the picking up themselves? Usually it's me who helps the little ones clean up their messes, but I don't think there's anything wrong with expecting the older kids to help keep the house clean as well.

Now I'm not saying that you're wrong if you do things differently. I can understand the reasoning behind not making the older kids clean up after the younger ones. I'm just telling you how it is in my house. Everyone pitches in. Period. In a large family, I think it's important that everyone helps each other out. And, especially since the kids share rooms, that means the older ones are enlisted to help clean up the smaller ones' messes sometimes. Plus, my older ones earn allowance for helping me watch/care for their younger siblings, and for doing chores like taking out the garbage, unloading the dishwasher, etc. I just hate hearing, "But I didn't do it." My answer to that is usually, "Well I didn't wear your clothes, yet I washed them for you. We all pitch in and help out."

That said, I do try to make sure I don't take advantage of the older kids and expect them to care for my little ones or help out too much. They are just kids themselves and don't need or deserve the level of responsiblity that I have.

So, I'm curious - those of you with more than one child, how do you distribute chores among your children? Do your older children have more responsibilities or not? Do you make the older kids help out with younger ones? Do you feel that with age, come more responsibilities and more privileges or do you strive to treat all children exactly the same?

There isn't a right or wrong answer to this; I'm just curious as to your thoughts on the matter. So, please be respectful to others when you post your comments.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn

Brooklyn is three today. Although, if you ask her how old she is, she'll tell you, "I'm halffree." I'm not sure what this means. Halfway to three? Three and a half? Maybe it means three in another language?

Here's a little video I took before Christmas. This kid could fall asleep anywhere, anytime.



And here's an oldie, but goodie...



Happy Birthday, Baby Girl! I love you!

Sunday Sound Out

OK, here are 2 week's worth of reader's questions...

How do you get "picked" to go on these cool trips/tours like the Campbells tour? Does the company call you and offer to have you come to their location, or do you call them and beg them to let you come tour their facility so that you can get a break from the kids??? Also, who pays for these trips?
LOL, I've never called anyone and begged. Companies find me. I'm guessing it's because of the amount of traffic I get. The smart companies are figuring out that mom blogs are a great way to spread the word. Speaking of, I still have more to tell about my Campbell's trip. And I've got some giveaways too! I'll keep you posted.

we are planning on going to FL for spring break. We have one day to spend in Orlando. I have 3 kids (16, 13, and 11). Can't decide on a day at Disney or SeaWorld. If we go to Disney, which park would be the best in your opinion? We've never been there and my kids LOVE roller coasters. Let me know what you think, please! Thanks!
I'm no Orlando expert, but if you told my kids they could spend one day at some Orlando park, half would say, "Discovery Cove" and the other half would say, "Magic Kingdom"! I've heard Universal has a lot of roller coasters and attractions for older kids. I've never been there myself though. I'm sure my readers will have some good advice for you!

okay now, where are the pictures that you promised to show off?! you gave us one to see, but then never mentioned them again.
OK, I just have no idea what pictures you're talking about. Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?

Now that you finished the book and have so much free time and all! Is there a potential third book in the works at some point, or are you just focusing on getting the first two out?
Right now, I'm waiting to hear from my editor to see how much the manuscript stinks. Then it's time to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. After that, well, I'm not sure. I have an idea for a book that I really, really want to write. We'll see, I guess...

You SOOOO need to find a way to get a Duff cake for your launch party. And I so want to invite myself along -- and not just to see a cake in person.
Well, anyone who is in the vicinity of Chicago, mark your calendars for April 4th. Save the date for my book launch party. Details to be announced!

do you find yourself having to limit TV a lot with your kids, especially the younger ones? My 4 yr old would stay glued to the thing all day long if I let her!
Heck no! I encourage them to watch TV. Unfortunately, they're usually too busy goofing off, destroying the house and experimenting with soap, diaper wipes and household appliances to watch TV. ;)

do you get hate mail or hateful/ridiculous comments ? Probably not too many, but if you get some, I bet some actually pretty funny. Maybe future blog material???
Oh yeah, I get plenty of hate mail. I generally ignore/delete it. Once I responded to a piece of hate mail I got and I received a whole bucket of hate mail for responding to it! Generally it comes from people who think they know everything about me and my life from reading the little snippets I share here and it's ignorant so I just ignore it.

I'm thinking you sleep like a rock most nights! I hope that is the case!
Nope, not exactly.

does your family have/had any pets?
We've had a dog, a newt, fish, snails, hermit crabs, and frogs, but right now we have nothing and I'm good with that!

I just thought of this: someday, when our kids are older and our houses are quiet, we'll have plenty of time to call our friends. And I bet we'll miss the messes a little.
Yeah, you go with that. Let me know if it works.

How have you allocated chilodren to bedrooms? I note from previous posts that you have a 4 bedroom house, and that Savannah and Lexington share a room. From your recent 'bedrom cleaning' post it looks like perhaps Jackson and Clayton share a room? Does Austin have his own room? When Brooklyn isn't sleeping with you, where does she sleep? My husband and I are weighing up adding an extra bedroom to our house or having kids share a room.
I'll be doing a video blog about this soon, but yeah, Savannah & Lexi share, Clay & Jax share, Aj has his own and all Brooklyn's stuff is in my room.

Will your book be available on the Kindle on Amazon?
I have no idea!

Is there plans for an audio version of your book that you know of? I have no idea! You'd think I'd have a clue about this stuff, huh?

I thought the plan was to release the book around Mother's Day? Yep! April 1st is around Mother's Day. It gives husband's plenty of time to shop for it! ;)

is that a picture of its a small world ride in WDW?
Yep, be thankful I didn't put the video on my blog! "It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small world...."

I won't ask for your opinion on recent events since you've been quite clear you don't blog about outside news, and I respect that. But say, what would have been your reaction had you been expecting...say...triplets? (Assuming you weren't on fertility drugs and the chances to naturally conceive more than triplets are very slim).
Triplets the first time around would've been ok. Surprising and scary, but ok. Triplets after having 5 kids would've probably sent me over the edge. And yes, I think the single woman who had 8 through fertility treatments after already having 6 is clearly not thinking straight. I can't fathom her life.

I have to admit I do love texting! I normally spell things out and my almost 12 year old is good about it too! Now when I twitter and I have too much to say I will use "2" in place of two, to or too!
OK, I will admit that I use shortcuts occasionally when I Twitter because Twitter only allows you very few characters to get your point across.

My biggest nailbiting words are LOSE and LOOSE. It drives me batty when someone writes, "I need to loose weight." I could scream and I see it at least once a day when reading blogs online. In fact, I've seen it VERY recently...that's all I'm going to say....
Oh no, please don't tell me I messed up that one! PLEASE!

Why is it that I have to imagine Milwaukee looking like the set from Laverne & Shirley? Totally can't bring myself to think of it as up-to-date! Bottles going by on a conveyor belt, a glove on top of one of them...
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Sclemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated. We're gonna do it!

Okay that's funny - your room looks 99% identical to the room I got at the Hyatt across from Woodfield for our reunion. But the question is....did your honor bar have one of those handy dandy "intimacy kit" thingies that upon first glance looked like a tin of Altoids?
Ummm, no. LOL! Knowing me though, I would've thought they WERE Altoids! That would've made for some funny blog material though!

Oh...and my name is Adrienne, and my son's name is Jalen, not Jaden...but close enough.
I'm so sorry Adrienne! I'm TERRIBLE with names. I've always been awful at remembering names. Your son, Jalen is adorable!

You've stated several times that you only planned on having a couple children and ended up with a litter :) I'm a mama who has always wanted a litter and have ended up with only a couple. I want more and am interested in adoption by haven't felt God calling us in that direction yet. But I digress. I know it's different for every person/couple but I'm curious how you and/or Joe decided whether or not to have another and another? And how you two knew your family was complete?
Good question. After our 4th was born, we decided we were done. God had other plans though. Hmmm, I dunno. I guess we just thought 6 was a good number and probably couldn't handle or afford any more. The DVT I got while pregnant with my 6th didn't exactly make me want more either.

Who is Oata in this story?
Sorry about that. I didn't even realize I'd written Oata. "Oata" is what the kids call Brooklyn. I don't even know how it started, but they've called her "Oata", "Oat","Oatlin" for over a year. If you call Brooklyn by her real name, she'll look at you and say, "My name is Oata." I have no idea. Nicknames are unavoidable.

I Wanted to Wonder , one of Because I Said So's loyal advertisers, has a special going on for my readers right now. Save 15% on everything in the store (except custom shoes) until Sunday, February 22. Use coupon code DAWN15! And speaking of advertising, contact me HERE if you're interested in information about advertising on Because I Said So.

Strike Up The Band

I went to Savannah's band concert last night. Both the 5th grade band and the 8th grade band played at this concert. We first listened to the 5th grade band play 18 songs. That was fun. You know, if you like hearing Hot Cross Buns played by, well, by 5th graders who have had their instruments for 4 months. The contrast between the bands is really amazing though. I remember when Austin (and later Savannah) was in the 5th grade band. I remembering listening to the 8th grade band and thinking, "Thank God! There IS hope! The older kids sound so much better! In fact, when the older kids play, I don't feel my fillings vibrate at all."

When the 5th grade band began to play, Brooklyn covered her ears and kept crying, "It's loud! Mama, it's loud! It's loud, Mama!" This wasn't a problem while they were playing because they were indeed loud and no one could hear Brooklyn's complaining. Unfortunately, she kept talking at the same volume in the silence between songs. Yeah. Fun.

At some point, both Brooklyn and Clayton realized their big sister was down there playing in the band and they started shouting, "Nana! NANA! SA-VANN-AH!!!!" Poor Savannah wanted to crawl under her chair as half the band turned to see where the commotion was coming from. I think this is about the time Brooklyn found a Lego in her pocket and decided it would make a good snack.

Clay was intrigued by the band playing and he watched the director intently. He warned Brooklyn, "It's going to get loud now," or "Don't worry Oata, it's going to be quiet now."

I asked him, "How do you know when the music is going to get loud or quiet?"

"When that guy raises his stick up high, the music gets loud and when he puts the stick down low, it gets quiet," he informed me. Duh, everyone knows this, Mom!

"Where did you learn that, Clay?" I inquired. I wondered if he'd picked that up simply from his observations. Wow, this kid is a genius, I thought to myself!

He answered me. "Curious George."

"Curious George taught you when the music would get quieter and louder?"

"Yep."

And there you have it. The monkey knows.

Jackson had brought his PSP and popped in the movie Daddy Day Care. He handed Brooklyn his ear phones. She took them, rubbed the ear buds together like defibrillator paddles and proceeded to "shock" her knee. So Jackson put the ear phones on Brooklyn and started the movie for her. Not realizing just how loudly she was talking, she laughed out loud and, indicating the movie, squealed, "He pooped!!! Mom, he pooped!" Good times, good times, oh yeah, another half an hour to go...

As we were leaving the concert, I asked Jackson, "You don't want to be in band next year, do you?"

Go Back and Be Happy Winners

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about Go Back and Be Happy!
Here are the random winners who will get a copy of Julie's book, Go Back and Be Happy.

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
211
170
149
109
151
Timestamp: 2009-02-12 04:15:16 UTC

109
Anonymous said...
What an amazing story! I would love to read this!astierman@tconl.com

149
myless said...
What an amazing story. I'll have to mention it to my book club

151
Goldibug said...
I most definitly have to get myself a copy of this book. It sounds amazing. Courageous and inspriational are the first thoughts that come to mind when I hear of this story. I can't wait to read this!

170
Krys72599 said...
Would absolutely LOVE to read this inspiring story! You might want to try Don Piper's story, 90 Minutes in Heaven. Another inspiring tearjerker.

211
Diana said...
This story sounds fascinating. I would love to read this book.Diana GRomeoville, IL

Congratulations! Please email me at mom2my6pack@aol.com by Friday night with your shipping address or I'll choose another winner.

I Help, Mama!

It was 60 degrees today! SIXTY! It felt like spring! I know it was just a temporary gift and we'll be back to freezing temps and snow in no time, but it was so enjoyable today. I just love driving with my windows open and the music blasting.

Unfortunately, along with the warm weather, comes melting snow, mud, and in turn, dirty floors.

"Ugh, guys! Do you know how to wipe your feet? Shall I teach a class on shoe wiping? See this floor mat? Do you know what it's for? No, it's not just a decoration. You can actually scoot your dirty shoes across the mat, thus wiping off some of the filth before marching across the kitchen floor. See how that works? Pretty cool, huh? Give it a try!"

As I cleaned the floor, Brooklyn offered to help me. "I help, Mama!"

See how she "helped"?

That's about 60 diaper wipes. She grabbed a wipe, took a little swipe at the floor, then crumpled it up. Again and again and again.

It's nice to have helpers.

You've got a few more hours to enter my drawing for an HP Photosmart Wireless Printer HERE! It ends tonight at 11:59 pm (Pacific).

Where Are We Going, Mama?

Do any of you guys have kids who like to repeat the same questions fifteen-thousand times a day? Brooklyn is such a broken record these days. I think it's just a phase she's going through and I should just smile and enjoy it. But there are days when, after repeating myself a million times, I get frustrated and I feel like an idiot saying the same things again and again.

As I walked Clay and Brooklyn into the preschool today, Brooklyn began drilling me with the same set of questions she asks me every single day.

"Mama, why is there salt on the road?"

"To melt the ice."

"The salt melts the ice?"

"Yes," I sigh. She's asked me this same question every day for the last 2 1/2 months.

"Mama, does Clay have to hold your hand?"

"Yes, he has to hold my hand in the parking lot."

"So a car doesn't hit him?"

"Yes, I don't want him to get hit." I've heard this question since September.

"Are we late, Mama?"

In all honestly, we usually are running late (shocking, I know). Today we were actually on time.

"No, Sweetie. We're on time?"

Confused, she asked, "We're not late???"

As we walk down the hall to Clay's class, Brooklyn asks the same questions she repeats every day.

"Can I have water, Mama? Look a frog! Is that a bus? Look snowmen! Is that a bear?"

"Sure, I see the frog, yes, it's a bus, I see the snowmen, yes it's a bear." It's my running litany.

After doing the whole "I have to give Clay and kiss and a hug - no, not outside his class - INSIDE his class - AFTER he sits down" thing, we left to run some errands.

"Where are we going?" Brooklyn asks.

"We have to go to the bank and the grocery store," I tell her.

"We go to the bank?"

"Yep."

"And the grocery store?"

"Yep."

"Oh."

She pauses a minute and then asks again, "We go to the grocery store, Mama?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Where are we going?"

"The grocery store and the bank."

"We go to the bank and the store?"

"Still yes."

After getting in the car and telling me to turn up the radio until the windows are rattling, she asks me once again, "Where are we going, Mama? Are we going to the bank now? I like the bank. Are we going to the bank?"

Please tell me she's just a creature of habit and feels comfort in repeating the same sentences again and again and again...

On the bright side, Brooklyn's daily conversation is generously peppered with, "I love you, Mama!" Now, there's something I never grow tired of hearing or responding to.

Go Back and Be Happy

I'm sorry, but there's no sound out tonight. I just can't write right now. I wanted to share an incredible story with you instead...

When I was at the Books & Such retreat in Sonoma back in October, I met 2 amazing women. Well, actually, I met, many, many amazing women, but I want to introduce you to 2 of them here. The first one is Julie Papievis. Julie lives near me, just outside Chicago. In 1993, Julie was in a horrific car wreck. A doctor and an off-duty paramedic happened to be nearby at the time of the accident and immediately tried to assist Julie who was unconscious. Her pupils were fixed and dilated, she didn't respond to pain, had a palpable blood pressure of 80, and an elevated heart rate of 120. After cutting her from the car with the jaws of life, the paramedics delivered her to the hospital. As they handed her over to the trauma team, she started posturing, she urinated all the water from her body, and started agonal breathing, the last breaths taken before dying.

Julie shouldn't be alive today. She shouldn't be, but she is. Before she awoke from the coma she was in for FOUR weeks, she saw heaven. She saw her 2 grandmothers who told her, "You can't follow us. You have to go back. Your body will heal. Go back and be happy."

from Julie's book, "I know that I must return. I don't belong here yet. It isn't my time to be in heaven. I have to go back and finish my life and find happiness. God must have a reason and purpose for me not to stay. I trust him. I feel such hope. I feel such unconditional love. I know that whatever happens I will be okay. My faith is no longer 'blind'."

In this inspirational book, you learn of Julie's time in heaven and her struggle to relearn everything after coming out of a coma. I have to admit that I had the TV version of a coma in my head where the patient lies there motionless and then suddenly wakes up, refreshed and ready to get on with life. Not so. Not even close, in fact.

I read this book on the way home from Sonoma. I couldn't put it down and finished the whole thing on the plane ride.

Meet Julie Papievis from Go Back and Be Happy.

DAWN: When I met you at the retreat, I never, in a million years, would've guessed that you'd been in a coma, suffered major trauma to your brain, been paralyzed, and endured years of rehabilitation. Do people have that reaction a lot?

JULIE: Always!

DAWN: What was the hardest part of your rehabilitation?

JULIE: Rehabilitation, as a whole, is the hardest work I've ever done. I just finished rehab. for my left eye this year. Every year, they pick a new body part :)

DAWN: A triathlon! I've never participate in a triathlon. Or even a marathon. Oh, who am I kidding? I've never even run across the street! I'm just so impressed that after suffering such a severe brain stem injury and having to relearn how to walk, that you were able to come back and finish a triathlon. How did you feel finishing it?

JULIE: Finishing the race, I said to myself "your body has healed" just like my grandmothers in heaven told me it would.

DAWN: The chapter that talks about when you died and saw your grandmothers in heaven just sends chills down my spine. What an incredible experience. Can you describe what it was like?

JULIE: The way Margaret describes it in the book is perfect! If I had to use 2 words to describe it, they would be "perfect peace". Trust me, we all want to go there :)

DAWN: What is the best thing that has come out of this?

JULIE: I got the chance to reinvent myself :) Don't we all wish we could that? :)


The other person I want you to meet is Margaret McSweeney who put Julie's story down on paper. As Margaret says, "I tried to be the voice of Julie's heart."

DAWN: How did you hear of Julie's story?

MARGARET: I heard about Julie's story through her Aunt Kathy. We were both active in a local chapter of Infant Welfare Society. At that time I
wrote a neighborhood column for The Daily Herald and featured Julie's
story along with a fund-raiser for Midwest Brain Injury Clubhouse.

DAWN: What made you decide to write Julie's story?

MARGARET: After the article, Kathy, Julie and I met for lunch in Oak Brook.
She asked me if I would consider writing her book. As I was sipping
my iced tea, Julie told me about her near death experience and waking
up from the coma. One of the first questions she asked the nurse was,
"How is my yellow Toyota?" Years after the accident, she still had no
idea why she had said that since she didn't ever drive a yellow Toyota
and she didn't know anyone with a yellow Toyota. I about spewed my tea
across the table. My first car was a yellow Toyota! That was
definitely an indication that I was supposed to write her story. I
tried to be the voice of her heart.

DAWN: Do you have any other writing projects in the works?

MARGARET: My next book is Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit Experiencing Grace to be released in July 2009 by Moody Publishers. Just like the oyster, women get "grit" stuck inside their lives, but God's nacre of
love and grace covers the pain and turns it into a pearl. This book
features essays by women about the difficulties they have faced. Any
proceeds I receive will go in full to two charities: WINGS and Hands
of Hope. WINGS provides a Safe House for women and their children
fleeing from domestic violence. Hands of Hope is helping to build
wells in African villages.

I have 5 copies of Julie's book to give away here. Just leave me a comment and I'll draw 5 random winners on Wednesday, Feb. 11. In the meantime, you can check out her website and/or order your own copy HERE.

Baby Expo - Part Two

Well, I'm back home from the Baby Expo. Overall, they had a really nice turnout especially since this was the first year they had it in Milwaukee. The turnout of people who sat down to listen to me speak, on the other hand.... Well, let's just say, we had QUALITY not QUANTITY. Hee hee. It wasn't so much speaking to a large group, but more like telling a few friends some stories. It was nice. I think. I have my voice back, at least. Well, actually, I don't have MY voice back, but I have someone's voice.




Here's Michelle and her cutie little girl. She's a blog reader I got to meet!


Here's Jenny & Joe. Are they adorable or what?

And I don't think I got this woman's name (or I forgot because my brain is a sieve these days) with her sweet, cute little 12 week old baby, Jaden (I think I spelled that right.)

Meeting some blog readers was the best part! Thanks for coming out guys! :)

The hotel I stayed in, however....yikes! I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee. When I got to the hotel, they couldn't find my reservation. Vicki, the Baby Expo organizer took care of it right away, but it was a little aggravating that the hotel had screwed up.

The hotel is undergoing major renovations, but it says nothing about this on their website. Not a word. The hotel reeks of paint and there was a layer of drywall dust on every surface. Even the counter in my bathroom was covered in dust. I checked into my room and saw the following letter on the desk. (I've added a bit of translation in red.)

Dear Guest (schmuck who is staying here amid the wreckage),

Thank you for choosing the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee. (I guess the fact that we weren't forthcoming about the renovations on our website worked!) We hope you enjoy your stay. (We hope you don't come down from your room and complain too much.)

On Friday, February 6th, 2009, certain guest rooms will experience intermittent water interruption as part of the hotel-wide renovation. (If you're here on Friday, you're screwed.) The rooms that are affected by the interruption will experience a lack of water sometime after 9a.m., which will last for several hours. (You won't be able to shower, flush the toilet, or wash your hands, but that's not really important, is it? We've done our part warning you, so if you're stuck in the shower with shampoo in your hair when we turn the water off, it's your own fault.)

We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding of this situation. (Please don't beat us up.) Please contact a member of the front office staff with any questions or concerns. (We will ignore you and offer you stupid platitudes, but please feel free to contact us.)

We hope you enjoy the remainder of your visit to Milwaukee, and look forward to serving you in the future. (Other places in Milwaukee you may want to visit are the Hilton, the Sheraton, and The Best Western. We know we'll never ever see you again.)

Sincerely,

The Staff of Hyatt Regency Milwaukee

And then, last night I requested a wake-up call for this morning. Thankfully, I woke up on my own long before my scheduled call because they never called me. And, and, and, their tea burned my tongue and their coffee spilled down my front and burned my boob! Ok, fine, I can't blame that on them. That was my own stupidity. But still...

Seriously, check out the dust on the tissue box!

OK, I'm done ranting now.

Baby Expo Part One

I drove up to Milwaukee today because I'm speaking at the BABY EXPO in the morning. I wasn't paying attention and missed my exit. I realized I missed it when I started seeing signs for Green Bay and Fond du Lac. Oops. Thankfully I was able to get off the highway backtrack before I hit Canada. I parked in the garage, grabbed my suitcase (which has 4 outfits in it because I don't know what to wear and I'm just dorky like that) and headed for the elevator. I pressed "2" because that's the floor that has the skywalk over to the hotel. As soon as I pressed the button, the lit-up "2" went off; the doors never closed. I tried again. I pressed "2". The number lit up and then turned off immediately once again. I looked up and lo and behold, I'm already on level 2. Right there is the skywalk. RIGHT THERE! Duh.

I went to the lobby to check in and the hotel didn't have a reservation for me. Hmmm, I was supposed to be here today, right? Right? I quickly tried to remember the date. Yep, I'm supposed to be here now. Hmmm. I asked the hotel clerk if it was under the event organizer's name. "Nope", she informed me. She's already checked in and there was only one room under her name. I started thinking that perhaps I'd dreamed the whole thing. No, I assured myself. My picture is definitely on their website. I'm sure I'm supposed to be speaking here tomorrow.

Well, long story short - I did have a room, the hotel messed up, the event organizer fixed it so it's all good.

Last week, Vicki, the organizer, had mentioned going out to eat this evening, so she called me tonight and asked if I still wanted to grab a bite. Are you kidding? Going for food that isn't prepared by me? No kids? No husbands? Uhhh yeah! We went across the street to a little Italian place where I devoured a whole pile of gnocchi. I had to restrain myself from licking my plate. Seriously, it was yummy1 Vicki, on the other hand, had been feeling a little sick from the stress of organizing this whole event and didn't have much of an appetite. I think she ate 2 bites of her ravioli. I felt so bad for her. (And no, I didn't scarf down her remaining ravioli.) This is the first year for Milwaukee to host this Baby Expo. She's got a ton of interesting and unique vendors, goody bags, giveaways, and an awesome speaker with laryngitis. How can you beat that? Plus, the event is free! So if you're anywhere near Milwaukee come on out tomorrow or Sunday! HERE'S THE INFO.

As always, here are pictures of my room...




2 beds this time. I think I may have to jump between them. Kidding, just kidding. No really.



View from my window of tropical downtown Milwaukee. (It was really was tropical today! It got up to 40, I think!)






OK, I'm going to bed early tonight and praying I have my voice back in the morning.

Oh yeah - my giveaway for an HP Photosmart wireless printer is still going on HERE.

I'm Losing It!

...my voice, that is.

I've had a cold all week. Nothing too bad, just a stuffy nose mostly. Today I woke up with a headache. I took some Advil and felt much better by lunchtime. But I started losing my voice this evening. It was fine this afternoon, but it's now all scratchy and low. I call it my "Demi Moore" voice. I'm pretending that it's sexy. No one needs to correct me and tell me I sound like Roz...

"I'm watching you Wazowski; always watching..."

I'm drinking buckets of mint tea with honey (right, Kelli?), and I've decided that I shouldn't speak a word until Saturday. What? It could happen. I can just text my kids. I can be hip and happenin' and say things like, "ur making 2 much noyz!" Or maybe, "wat do u want 4 dinner?" Or perhaps "idk, go ask ur dad." And then I can end with, "g2g ttyl."

Actually, scratch that. It was physically painful to write that stuff. I just can't write "ur" for your or you're. I can't do it. Now I'm far from perfect, but I meet more and more people every day who just can't spell. Do you think our texting generation of kids will have a clue how to spell by the time they get to high school? Instead of explaining the difference between "your" and "you're", will we have to explain that "ur" isn't actually a word? Or, worse yet, maybe the powers that be will decide that "ur" should replace both "your" and "you're" and it will (gasp!) be added to the dictionary! Oh, I cringe to think of it.

I'm going to bed early before 2:00 tonight. I have to get my voice back before Saturday because I'm speaking at the Baby Expo in Milwaukee. If you're in the Milwaukee area, stop by and say, "Hi!" You can find me HERE!

(By the way, my spell check just blew up after going over this post.)

6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

"You - you did a movie with Val Kilmer?"
"No, but Val was in Top Gun with Tom Cruise and Tom was in A Few Good Men with me. Huh, that was a short one."

OK, so like the fun-filled game of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, it's a small world. Case in point...

I wrote an article for the April issue of Guideposts Magazine. I'm so excited to see my story featured in the magazine! I mean, it's Guideposts!!! How cool, right? Anyway, so I wrote this article and then Rick, an editor at Guideposts, made it sound 4000 times better than I had originally written it. (I just LOVE editors!)

Because of this article, Guideposts sent a photographer out to my house this summer to get some pictures of the family. I never did see all of those pictures, come to think of it. But it was a CRAZY photo shoot! Guideposts wanted to capture all the craziness in my house so the poor photographer (who has no kids and thanks to us, probably never will) tried to get pictures with the kids doing stuff like coloring on the walls, jumping off the couch, climbing the shelves and being their typical wacko selves. It was LOUD. It was insane.

Anyway, flash forward a couple months and I'm getting my hair cut by my friend Gin, who happens to be Brooklyn's godmother. As she's cutting my hair, she mentioned that her husband, who works at an advertising firm in the city, was looking through portfolios of potential photographers. As he flipped through this one portfolio, he came across a picture of my family.

"I know these people! They live by me."

The photographer went on to explain how he was trying to capture the chaos with the shots. My friend insisted, "Yes, I know. I know these people! I'm her godfather," he said as he pointed to Brooklyn.

So, that's my small world story. I guess it wasn't quite as interesting as I first thought. Hmmm, let me fix that. Let's see here... Um, the photographer's girlfriend once waited on this girl at a restaurant and that girl's boyfriend changed the oil in this guy's car that he bought from William Baldwin who was in Flatliners with Kevin Bacon. Yep, that's better. Anyway, it's a small world.


So, grab a copy of Guideposts Magazine come April 1st! (Which is incidentally, the date my book launches. Should I be disturbed by the fact my publisher is launching my book on April Fool's Day?) Not only is it an amazingly inspirational magazine that will make you cry, but they've got some fun giveaways (including some from V-Tech, Lands' End, and Johnson's Baby!) for the release of my book! Can't beat that, right?


(As I inserted the links to Guideposts Magazine, I realized my editor's picture is right there on the home page! Beth is AMAZING!!!)

And then go check out my giveaway for a Wireless HP Photosmart printer HERE!

Another Episode of Insane Googlers

It's time to do a post about the crazy things people google that bring them to my blog. Before you ask, I use statcounter.com to see these phrases. Enjoy...

Clay goose poop
Things my son has picked up off the sidewalk

easy way to make a toilet cake
Why would you want to make cake for a toilet?

balmex in the carpet
Oooo, so close! The answer we were looking for was Desitin on the couch.

9x13r2d2 cake
Cake or math formula?

spam cordon bleu
Yeah, making it French-sounding doesn't change the fact that it's SPAM!

Stomach stapling mouth
Hmm, interesting concept - stapling your mouth instead of your stomach to lose weight.

Because I said so couch
Does it look something like this?


Causes of diaper rash on pineapple
??? I didn't even know that was possible

Bird poop in house good luck?
No, that's just what people say to make you feel better because a BIRD POOPED IN YOUR HOUSE!

Does matthew perry have a tattoo on his ankle
Oooo, did someone say Matthew Perry? Have I mentioned how I brushed up against him? Yes? Well, I'm mentioning it again.

The diarrhea song lyrics from parenthood
When you're slidin' into first and your pants begin to burst, diarrhea (cha cha cha) diarrhea (cha cha cha)

Doritos anal seepage
Let me guess, you're taking Alli?

The weirdo's blogspot
HEY NOW!

Staple swallowed child


Get rid of smell of rotten food in a backpack
Impossible. Just throw it out. Not that I know from experience or anything. A-hem.

Moms diet plan
Breakfast: caffeine
Snack: handful of kids' animal crackers
Lunch: realize you haven't eaten when 2:00 rolls around, make a healthy salad, then finish the kids' macaroni & cheese and hotdogs as you clean up the dishes
Snack: gum
Dinner: too busy driving the kids around to eat, grab a cheeseburger on the fly
Snack: wine, lots of wine

michigan
tangerine! (Oh sorry, I thought we were just doing random words)

When mom is mean
Did you google this, Savannah?

Safe to bring laptop to Disneyworld
Yes, bring the laptop; leave the kids behind

haircut pixie cut youtube butt pixie haircut
the first 2 lines of a Haiku?

Hilarious why did the chicken cross the road jokes
According to my kids, the chicken crossed the road because a bat farted on it. I know, I know, but if you tell your kids, they'll crack up. Trust me.

Superglue to get kernel out of ear
ideas that may seem good at first, but after the alcohol wears off, you realize just how stupid they were

what is a “mom's time-out” when you’re about to go off the deep end
lock yourself in the bathroom with a glass of Chardonnay. Or so I've heard...

you're, like, really really pretty. and i'm, like, really really proud of you
Awww, this was written just for me, right? Right???

what happens if i leave l'oreal preference hair color in longer than the instructions say?
You hair turns out looking orange like this...


DISTURBING GOOGLES
tracing digestion of pizza
uniqua's butt
weird stuff in toilets
Boys in dresses


I HOPE THESE ARE SONG LYRICS OR YOU PEOPLE ARE JUST INSANE

the day you died, the day i tried, was hard to face as there i lie, buried beneath the covers wishing to be one and all.

a book about a person who is a cleaning person, but he see this girl that he loves and does many things while her friends want her to go with another boy that he doesn't like

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oooo, Oooo, Oooo, head on over to my review blog HERE to see my review of the HP WIRELESS printer! I have a giveaway starting at 12:00 AM (PST) on February 4th. Leave me a comment (after midnight PST) for a chance to win this awesome printer!

What Did You Do All Day?

Today, I read where a woman who had no children wrote a question to an answer column in a paper basically asking, "Why can't my friend who has children find time to call me? What does she do all day? Don't tell me she has laundry, cooking, chores, etc. because I have to do that too. Why can't she manage her time as well as I can?"

The columnist answered her nicely, but told her pretty much, that it takes twice as long to get anything done when you have kids.

I thought I could illustrate this point. Here's what happened today. This is not an isolated incident. This is pretty much what happens every day in my fun-filled life.

On my agenda for today was cleaning (because my house always gets trashed over the weekend), paying bills (groan), doing laundry (I had 8 loads to do because I let it slide over the weekend), writing up 4 reviews that I committed to last month, and a little Tae Bo (because I'm sick and tired of looking like I'm pregnant when my youngest child is almost 3).

I grabbed a cup of stupid tea because I decided to try and give up coffee. My reasoning behind this stupid plan was that I generally drink a cup of cream with a teaspoon of coffee for flavor and I decided it would be a good plan to cut out those calories. Yeah, I don't know. It seemed like a good idea when I came up with it last night around 2:00 in the morning. Note to self: never come up with ideas past midnight. They're never good.

So I sat down with my stupid tea after getting kids off to school. I'm in flannel pants and t-shirt, no make-up, and unshowered at this point. The little kids are eating the wonderful, nutritious breakfast I prepared for them - granola bars. I checked my mail and started writing up a review. Before I could finish this ONE review, I had to get up because the little kids were pushing the kitchen chairs over to the pantry so they could grab some fruit snacks. Their plans foiled, I sat back down to write. A few minutes passed and I was interrupted with,
"Mom! Mom, can you get this toy for me?"

"Sure, honey," I said while still sitting on my butt writing, hoping they would forget about the elusive toy. No dice.

"Mom, please can you get this toy?" they pleaded.

I got up and got them the requested toy. Then they asked me to grab the Snoopy Snow Cone maker off the top shelf of the closet for them. Know why they have a Snoopy Snow Cone maker? Because evil people without children got it for them.

OK, back to my review. By the time I figured out what the heck I'd been writing before the interruption, my dryer buzzed indicating my laundry was done.

I got up and switched loads and folded laundry. As I was folding laundry, I noticed about 4000 toys on my bedroom floor. Sidetracked, I picked them up and put them away. While putting the stray toys away, Clay called to me, "Mom, come listen to my song!"

As Clay called me to listen to his song, Brooklyn asked me to help her put some Barbie dolls in an airplane with no seats. I tossed the Barbies in the plane.

"No, they have to be sitting down!" she corrected me.

"But there aren't any seats. Go find the chairs, Brooklyn."

"No! I don't want chairs. Make them sit here," she instructed me. After 10 minutes of playing Barbie and trying to figure out just where exactly they were supposed to sit in the empty plane, I gave up and went to listen to Clay's song.

Clay, however, had completely forgotten about the song and was crouching in the corner of my room inhaling fruit snacks. Well, duh, I had left him alone for 10 minutes. What else would he be doing?

I sent Clay to his room to get dressed and clean up, then I grabbed some more lacking-in-caffeine-tea and sat back down to write. I looked through my notes to research some information about Campbell's soup for the review. Before I'd written a single sentence, my dryer buzzed again. Back to the clothes. Switched loads, folded clothes and started back to my computer. I was sidetracked because the kids were neglected and wasting away and starved.

"Will you make us some macaroni and cheese, Mom?"

After telling Clay to get his butt dressed (again), I made some macaroni. While the macaroni was cooking, I opened some mail and went through some paperwork. The kids were off playing. When the macaroni was done, I went to find the kids to tell them lunch was ready. Where did I find them? In the bathroom, of course. Note exhibit A.

EXHIBIT A

Know how much water a roll of toilet paper can hold? A stinkin' LOT! I picked the toothpaste off the floor, tossed out 2 water-logged rolls of toilet paper, picked up 4 damp towels from off the floor, grabbed a toothbrush that was stuck to the wall with a suction cup and put it away, and cleaned the mystery purple goo from off the lid of the toilet seat.

Meanwhile, were the kids eating their macaroni and cheese? Oh no. That would make my life much too simple. Nope, they were rearranging the kitchen furniture and had somehow managed to move the kitchen table almost into the family room.

At this point, I nicely told them to sit down and eat, "SIT DOWN AND EAT ALREADY!!! OHMYGOSH YOU GUYS ARE DRIVING ME LOOPY!!!"

I switched loads of laundry once more and dared to take a minute to go to the bathroom. Note Exhibit B.


EXHIBIT B

Apparently I didn't get the memo regarding "Fun With Toilet Paper Day".

This, my friends, is why when lunchtime rolls around, the only thing we've done is a few loads of laundry and a paragraph worth of writing. It's called DAMAGE CONTROL!

(Know how many times I was interrupted while writing this post? Neither do I! It was THAT many times!)

P.S. I did finally finish one review. You can see it HERE. Watch Chef Tom make chicken soup!

And, as long as I stay up until 2:00, I'll have another review/giveaway for an HP printer up tomorrow. Check back.

Sunday Sound Out

Are you alive? Did the library guy find you? I'm having Dawn & Co. withdrawls!

Sorry, I've just been busy with life, the trip to PA, the play I'm in, finishing up my book...

I love that pink striped shirt where did you get it?
Old Navy! Is it weird that both Savannah and I like to shop there?

I love Lexi's new glasses but ummm they're new? Again? Fingers crossed it was just a new prescription that necessitated this.
Yes, actually, this time she just needed a weaker prescription. Her doctor is trying to wean her off the glasses!

Did you ever think about entering the Oklahoma Sugar Art and Cake Decorating Competition? It's obviously in Oklahoma but it isn't just for Oklahoma citizens. You could probably do very well with your beautiful cakes. If Oklahoma doesn't sound appealing, you should at least enter the IL State Fair.And are you teaching your children how to decorate cakes? I know they probably see it as "one of Mom's dorky hobbies" but it is a really wonderful skill to have.
I've never considering entering any competition, but I like to watch them on Food Network. Does that count? And yeah, Austin and Savannah like to help me with cakes now. :)

How in the world do you go about cutting up your fabulous cakes?
Eh, I just throw it on the floor and let the kids have at it.

I want to see pictures of Duff's cakes at your book launch. That would be totally awesome...OMG I just sounded like him didn't I??I need to get a life.LOL
Duff is AWESOME! I just know if he met me, he would not only want to make me a cake, but he'd want to date me too! Oh, I just crack myself up.

Hi Dawn, Have you ever recieved any gifts in the mail from your fans? I can see a few new notebooks coming soon.
LOL, umm nope. But as it says on my contact form, I happily accept chocolate, rum, professional cleaning services, and large cash donations. ;)

How's the second book coming along???
I finished it today! Now, I hope my publisher likes it and my editor can work her miracles with it.

Has anyone else said that their handwriting looks just like yours? I looked at your notes and numbers and seriously thought you had somehow gotten ahold of one of my notebooks.
Nope. That's not my real writing. That's my scribbley writing. I am capable of writing neatly. For real.

i know this is totally out of the blue, but can we see some pictures of when you and joe started dating and of your wedding? i really really wanna see!

Maybe some day. I don't really feel like looking through my wedding album right now.

Just a thought, but have you ever considered the "creepy guy" sat next to you because he thought you were cute?

LOL! Ummm nope.

Your friends may be on to something with the ADD thing....There appears to be a genetic component to ADD, with Jackson having it there is a decent chance of either you or Joe having it as well...just some food for thought.

Oh, I know exactly where Jax got his ADHD. I won't name names, but it rhymes with "blow".

What I'm truly fascinated by is not so much your dorkiness, but the fact that you have coffee in the library.

Not all libraries do?

congrats on finishing the manuscript (assuming I interpreted this correctly)! Whoo! So when are you going out to celebrate?

Can't I just celebrate all month week?

Hi Dawn, here's Sunday Sound Out question for you! Now that your manuscript is all done, what are you going to do next? I know you're in another play, "acting" as a drunk and all, but would you consider donating blood? I hear there is a very, very VERY BIG shortage of O NEGATIVE and B NEGATIVE blood out there, and that by donating blood you could save THREE lives, or the lives of FIVE babies. If you are afraid of needles, I know of one certain "maniac" that would go with you and hold your hand and even buy you lunch afterward. Just your normal SSO question for you, yanno! : ) xoxoxo
You're still a dork, Manic. Everyone go donate some blood, save a life, and earn a chance to win a trip to FL!