Sunday Sound Out

What a long tiring week this was. Vacation bible school should really be renamed because it is NOT a vacation. Nor is camping, but we're getting ready to go camping this week too. Joe and I had a date for the first time in many years on Friday. It was nice to go out without any kiddos. Then Saturday, we all went to the Jelly Belly factory in Wisconsin and bummed around Kenosha for the day. Here are some pictures from that trip...











Here we have all the kids except...


...Brooklyn, who didn't want her picture taken thankyouverymuch.






This was taken right before Brooklyn fell in the lake necessitating a trip to a very icky Walmart to get her some dry clothes before stopping at Cracker Barrel on the way home.


It was raining when we left Cracker Barrel. The whole sky was very dark. Except this one little spot of light. As we watched, the heavens opened up and the sun peeked through. It was very cool. I wish I'd been able to capture just how dark the sky was around it, for as far as we could see.


And now for a little question answering before I go to bed...

Okay, question for you...What were some of the best ideas that you received from your fellow blog fans about car design? I'd be curious...Did you get to pass them on to Ford?
Did I miss where you posted the winner of the drawing for your autographed book for posting info to share with Ford?
Thanks for the reminder. I did get to talk to the Ford people and pass ideas on. You wouldn't believe how many of your ideas are already in the 2010 Ford line-up! I'll write up a post about my visit to the Ford manufacturing plant this week and announce the winner of the book.

It was great to meet you Dawn and I just loved it how everyone screamed when they saw you in the Expo Hall. You really are a famous blogger!
LOL! Yeah, in case anyone's interested, the way to get a group of people to scream when you enter a room is to enter just in front of an actual celebrity. In this case, I walked in right before Tim Gunn and everyone screamed for him. I only bowed, thanked everyone, and offered to sign autographs for a minute before I realized he was standing behind me.

Did you go to Sears (Willis)Tower and have someone take a pic of you standing on the ledge (new glass enclosure - even the floor - where you feel like you're floating in mid-air?
Nope. I was too busy napping going to BlogHer seminars and didn't have time to sightsee.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the gifts that God has given to you?
I'm overwhelmed by 6 particular gifts daily.
In a nutshell (or nut house, as the case may be) - yes.

I have a question for you... I'm thinking of going to the next BlogHer convention... firstly, are foreigners allowed? (Yes, Canada is 'foreign') And how do you get a roomie? Did you know your roomie and make arrangements ahead of time or can you request to be shacked up (ooo la la) with somebody (and, if so, is Matthew Perry going to be there?!?)? I think having a roomie would help me meet people. As long as they aren't lame, stinky or prone to stealing my half of the toiletries!
Yes, Canadians are allowed. LOL Two of my favorite Canadians were at this BlogHer, in fact. Susan and Janice from 5 Minutes For Mom were there. (They have an awesome site, btw. Check it out when you have time.) I just went to the hotel without a reservation and started knocking on doors until I found someone who took pity on me and let me room with her. But you can check the BlogHer website for information on booking a room and such for the 2010 BlogHer conference.

Weren't those butter bars delish? btw the fruit flies kept following me all weekend. Did they eventually leave you alone?AND did you make it to vacation bible school on time!
I didn't actually try the butter bars. Can you believe it? I had just chugged down 2 Izze sparkling juice things (I had never heard of these until BlogHer, but now I'm addicted) and I was too full to try one.
And fruit flies? Ummm no. I'm thinking maybe it's just you, Michelle...
As far as vacation bible school...well, I really thought of 9:00 as more of a guideline, if you will - a kind of a ballpark time to shoot for.

Awesome artwork Austin! Thinking about using that as a career path? I'm sure you'd be great at wherever that road would take you!
According to Austin, he wants to be either a hobo or a bagel salesman when he grows up. Yep, that's working up to your potential, hon. Go for it.

So is Austin going to school in Savannah or Sarasota when he graduates? Awesomeness.
I'm just praying he makes it through his freshman year of high school.

Question: When your first child was 3 yrs old, did you get to sleep in at all? I have been trying to sleep in even though Jazz wakes up super early. Then I got "yelled at" by some other moms. Just wondering what you did before you had the older ones to look after the younger ones in the morning.
I can't even remember back that far. I think my memory has suffered from lack of sleep.

Was Joe home polishing the shotgun?!
No! He's much more calm than I am about the whole dating/boys talking to our daughter thing. What's up with that???

That's right! They had the story about Jesus asking Peter to step out of the boat in the middle of the lake with him, didn't they?
I don't think they did that story. They did have the kids write down a mistake they'd made and felt sorry about on a piece of paper though. Then the kids gave the papers to the leaders who lit them on fire while holding them in one hand. The message was - when you tell God about your mistakes, God forgives you and forgets about it; the mistakes disappear. So the leaders lit these pieces of paper on fire and they instantly (poof!) disappeared in mid-air. They used magic paper that completely went up in flames and vanished before it hit the ground.
I give it a week before Clay burns down the house trying this one out despite my telling him a thousand times that they used special paper and he can't try it at home.

Nearly Sunday Sound Out

I probably should have stayed up late last night to do my Sunday Sound Out, because I've been interrupted 5, 692 times today!
Mom, I'm bored.
Can I have chocolate milk?
Can I ride my bike down the street?
I'm bored, Mom.
When can we leave for the birthday party?
Austin's bugging me.
Do I HAVE to clean my room?
I'm bored.
Can I have some crackers?
When are we going to leave?
Can we go bowling?
I'm bored.
Will you make me a peanut butter sandwich?
When are we going to go to the store?
What are we doing tomorrow?
Can we go to the pool?
Can I call Allyson?
I'm bored.
When are we going to leave?
Mom, can you wipe my butt?
Mom, can I have candy?
I'm bored.

And that was just in the first 30 minutes. Ugh.
Here, at long last, are the answer's to your questions...

How many bedrooms does your house have? And who shares bedrooms? Woud you share a picture of your house? Or the inside of th kitchen and living room. I love your blog and book btw!

Our house has 4 bedrooms. Austin has the smallest room to himself. Clay and Jackson share a room, and Lexi and Savannah share a room. Brooklyn still sleeps in our bedroom. I'm looking into redecorating the girls' room and moving Brooklyn in there this summer. As far as pictures go... Ummm, yeah, sure, let me just kick some of these toys out of the way. And vacuum. And dust. And, oh, for the love of God, what IS that under the couch?!!! Ummm, my ummm, my camera's broken. Yeah, that's it. It's broken. Sorry.

Lets talk dinner: How often do you cook dinner at home?

We eat dinner together almost every night. I usually do the cooking, but sometimes Joe does. I've been really lazy as of late, and have been making stuff like pasta and pancakes and hotdogs. What can I say? It's summer.

Do you have any picky eaters?

Define picky. Would you call it picky if all Brooklyn someone will eat is macaroni & cheese, ketchup, and chocolate milk?

Do you have any recipes you would like to share that the whole family enjoys?

I dunno. I'm no gourmet cook. I just make the usual kinda stuff, tacos, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, BBQ pork sandwiches, baked chicken, etc. We're not too fancy around here.

Two things: 1) I know it's been a while, but has Savannah hung out with that girl since the big clothing drama? 2) Have you ever thought about submitting some of your cakes to cakewrecks.blogspot.com? I bet they would qualify for the weekly Sweets spot....

Savannah hasn't seen that girl since the clothing drama.
My cakes wouldn't qualify for the Sweet Spot, but maybe they'd qualify for a wreck.

I'm just curious....Do you still keep up with Julian's Mom (I can't remember her name)? How is she doing dealing with the loss of her sweet kid?

I do still talk to Mimi now and then. In fact, we spoke just last week. I think she takes it one day at a time. It still feels like her heart was ripped out, but every day she gets out of bed and does what she can to make it through the day.

EWWWW! to the dead fish on a stick. Where did he find THAT at a baseball game?

The kid can find something gross pretty much anywhere we go. It's like there's a homing device...

Compare that hot dog to the sandwich that was there for two days and unrecognizable because it was real food....

I know! I was thinking the same thing! It's amazing what buttloads of preservatives can do to food. Makes you kinda wonder what they do to us.

O.K. Speaking of funny photos, would you please direct me to the one of the soap - with teeth marks?
You can see that picture HERE. And this is that same bar of soap a couple days later -

And while I was searching for the soap pictures, I ran across this one...

The J. Peterman Underwear Hat
Some people simply have style. Perfect for swinging at the park, running in the backyard on a warm summer day, or wreaking havoc at the local grocery store. Red elastic waistband doesn't bind. Holes for air circulation. Soft cotton fabric for stylish comfort. Boys sizes 2T - 4T.
(not really a J. Peterman hat.)

LOL! Because I'm bored. Dawn, aren't you entertaining him? It's summer for goodness sakes!

The kids have been coming to me, bored, every day lately. Every time they tell me they're bored, I put on my cruise director hat and inform them of the activities I have planned. Things like, cleaning the bathroom, folding the laundry, dusting the shelves. For some reason, they don't find my planned activities fun.

My husband and I will be in Chicago for about 3-4 days around the U2 concert, and are wondering what are some of the "absolutely, have to see" sights? If you could let me know, either in your next Sunday sound out, or by email, that would be great.

For real? I have no idea what's in the city. I just saw Millennium Park for the first time last week. And I got lost while doing it. I am really the last person you want as a tour guide, I assure you.

It really was a regatta gala!! how funny!

I love anyone who gets a Friends reference! :D

Sears Tower name has been changed - check out today's Chicago Tribune:
"Sears Tower name change: Building today officially becomes Willis Tower"

Whatever. It's still the Sears Tower. Comisky is still Comisky and the Rosemont is still the Rosemont, no matter what they decide to call them.

Dawn, Dawn, Dawn... how can you get lost from Millennium Park to the train station - either one of them?! Granted, Union Station is slightly more of a straight shot than Ogilvie, but still, hon... *shakes head* Love you, though!

I got lost dropping off a Girl Scout cookie order form 3 blocks from my house once. Understand? And in my defense, I didn't start walking toward the train station. I just started wandering around the city, thinking that I'd just grab a cab when I got bored walking and he'd take me to the train station. When I realized that cabs weren't just lined up and down every street and I'd actually have to step out and flag one down, I decided I'd rather walk the whole way. By then, it was no longer a straight shot to the station. Sooo, I put "train station" in my phone and got directions. I started walking. Eventually, I hit Union Station. I knew that Ogilvie was just a couple blocks away, but I wasn't sure which way. Somewhere along the way, I'd accidentally deleted the map app from my phone. I have no idea....

Anyway, I couldn't seem to pull up a map and find out which way Ogilvie was. I gave up on making the train and resigned myself to making the next train, so I stopped in a Dunkin' Donuts to get an iced coconut coffee mmmm, and get directions. I got the coffee and the guy behind the counter laughed at me and said something about silly suburbanites. He directed me to go in the opposite direction from what I thought it was. And you know what? I actually made that train that I thought I was going to miss. And with 27 seconds to spare!

Did you ever, in the early days, struggle with the SAHM/working dad division of labor?

No, we really didn't. We fell into our roles easily in the early days. Joe worked, I stayed home, and it was all fine. As time went on, he worked more and more (he put in 80 hours in a typical week) and I did everything at home. He came home to sleep and that was pretty much it. It was hard on both of us because neither of us ever got a break. However, we were both ok with our roles. We did what we had to do.

However, now things have shifted a bit and Joe works a 40 hour week and I try to work from home. We're struggling with the division of housework and childcare now. I think Joe has a hard time seeing what I do as work, since I don't leave the house. He's willing to pick up the slack as far as housework goes, but it usually comes with a little guilt trip that I'm not able to do everything anymore. He doesn't make me feel guilty on purpose or anything. And I think I haven't been patient with him as he's struggling to figure out his role now. It's just an adjustment and we're still both trying to work things out so we're both involved and no one feels taken for granted or unfairly overloaded.

Sunday Sound Out

I need to take a minute to thank everyone who has sent me email the last couple months. I've gotten the most awesome notes from people who have read my book and taken the time to tell me how much they liked it. I want you to know that I read every single email I get and I appreciate them more than you know. I just haven't been able to keep up with all my mail and respond to all of them. But THANK YOU so very much!!!

Today, Austin had his confirmation. I think it's cool that confirmation Sunday fell on Pentecost.



I can't believe my baby is getting so old! He's far surpassed me in height (which isn't saying much, I know). I'm wearing high heels in this picture! And he'll be graduating 8th grade this month. I don't know how that happened. I swear I was just pregnant with him yesterday.

And now for your questions...

Uhhh got a ticket [to BlogHer] this weekend for free? How? And why didn't you tell me? I'm one of those procrastinators on the mile long list and it's in my own backyard!
I never said it was free! Oh no, I had to pay a premium for waiting so long to register. I just lucked out when they got to my number on the waiting list. Anyone going to BlogHer, look me up and say "hi"!

So does a Nintendo game survive being washed?
Surprisingly, yes, it did survive. It might have just been a fluke though. I don't recommend washing your DS game cartridges.

What I think is the most precious is that you could tell which kid it is [Brooklyn with the blue mask/wig/mummy getup] ....mine did stuff like this and I had to identify the kid on the old camera by the furniture and color of the walls....sigh
I'll let you in on a little secret. I didn't know it was Brooklyn until I saw this picture with Clay in the background...



And I always have to look at background clues to tell pictures of my kids (when they were little) apart. See what I mean...








Happy Birthday to your girls! How did you cut the lip gloss cake?
With a knife

How hard is the lipgloss cake?
Like you said - it's cake. Cake is generally pretty soft.

How did you get all that gunk [Desitin, Vaseline & bubble juice] off your floor?
Gasoline and a match

I've got three with a birthday all within two days of each other (two are twins) and I was debating if we do two celebrations or one. Making two separate cakes seems like a good idea to make the day special for both of them without getting birthday overload. DId you invite friends to this double celebration or was it just family?
This was just family and family friends. I usually double up for Savannah and Lexi and do one party for them because their birthdays are 7 days apart. It saves me time and effort and money, and this way, our guests don't have to block off 2 weekends and drive out for a party 2 weeks in a row. And so far, the girls have never minded sharing a party. I let them each pick out a theme and we decorate and use cups and napkins and such from both themes.

SSO question: Where do you get all your cake ideas? And do you just put them together out of your own brilliant mind? Or do you find directions somewhere? And just how would you go about making fondant foil?
I get a lot of my ideas from the Wilton books or from watching cake contests and Ace of Cakes on Food Network. I find some ideas online too. Austin suggested I make a big Hershey bar for Savannah. I liked his idea, but decided to do a kiss instead. The lipgloss idea just came to me because Lexi loves lip gloss!

Did they actually try their indoor slip-n-slide? Did it work? It's kind of ingenious really, for a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old. :)
Oh yeah they tried it! No, it didn't so much work. And "ingenious" was not quite the word I'd use.

So, um, what flavor was the Hershey kiss one?!
You'd think chocolate, right? For a girl who loves her chocolate, it's surprising that she doesn't like chocolate cake. Go figure. It was "funfetti".

What kind of punishment did you give Clay and Brooklyn for the mess they made with the bubbles, rash creme and vaseline? Do you bother anymore? I'm wondering because I don't know if they do things like this because they know they can get away with it or because they don't care if they get punished? I don't have six kids, but sweet Jesus, my boys would never think of doing some of the stuff you write about because they would be in so much trouble! Plus I'd make them clean it up and that's almost worse than the punishment!
I threw Brooklyn in the tub because she was covered head to toe with diaper cream. Then I put Clay to work helping me clean up the mess. Unfortunately, he just kinda smeared it around and made more work for me so I sent him to his room. After Brooklyn was bathed, she had time out too. The thing is - the kids didn't do this to be bad. I think sometimes kids get into stuff because they want to explore and experiment and learn and they don't always think things through. That's a learning process that takes time. (Some people never get it!) When they do stuff like this, it's irritating but I don't get too mad.

On the other hand, a couple days ago, Clay brought a ball in the house and was tossing it up in the air. I told him twice to take it outside, but before he went out, he managed to hit and shatter a picture frame on the wall. I was mad because it wouldn't have happened if he'd listened to me and taken the ball outside where it belonged. For punishment, I couldn't make him clean up the glass because that would be dangerous. Instead I took a few dollars out of the birthday money he'd been saving for a toy and told him he had to buy a new frame.

I think there's a difference in deliberately disobeying and kids just doing goofy kid stuff. I try to separate the two and respond accordingly. I like when there are natural consequences to their actions. I try to apply logical consequences when there aren't. Do I do it consistently and perfectly? Heck no. Do I sometimes say, "Are you bleeding? No? Then I don't want to hear about it! Work it out!"?Heck yes. Do I sometimes tell Joe I simply must run some errands and then make a speedy getaway so he can deal with it? Heck yes. I never claimed to be perfect.

If it weren't for Clayton you wouldn't have half of the material that you use to write about. Aren't you glad God gave you the wealth of material in the form of Clay?
Honestly? YES! The funny thing is - my friends remember when I used to tell "Jackson stories" all the time. Jackson grew out of that stage and I know Clay will too. Sooner than I can imagine, I'm sure.

Do you own a steam carpet cleaner??
I probably should, shouldn't I? It would sure come in handy.

And has your website always been "the official site of ..." or is this new? Are people trying to create fake Dawn sites?
"fake Dawn sites" LOL! Not that I know of and yeah, it has said "the official site of author Dawn Meehan" since my website was designed in October.

Sunday Sound Out

From Chicago, where we have no problem spelling or pronouncing Des Plaines, it's Sunday Sound Out with Dawn Meehan! Tonight: answers to your questions and musical guests the Proclaimers! And now, the woman single handedly responsible for getting the Blackhawks to the Western Conference Finals, it's Dawn Meehan!

And now, it's time for viewer mail...


Just curious -- why would your parents, grandma and sister makes plans to get together that didn't include YOU?
I know right?! It's either A: they figured I'd be doing something with my family and didn't bother to ask. Or B: they didn't want me and my loony kids running all around their house. I'm going with "B".

Are you going to BlogHer??
Yes! Procrastination pays off again! I put off registering for BlogHer and missed out on tickets and was put on a 50 mile long waiting list. This weekend I was one of the lucky ones who was able to get a ticket though. Yipee!
Do you think this is where Austin learned all about procrastination? He put off his social studies project until the night before and managed to get an A on the thing! Ugh! How are we ever going to learn our lesson about procrastination when things keep working out for us?

I'm so craving a Chicago hotdog! I know Portillo's delivers via mail but it is too freaking expensive!
I was just thinking about Portillos earlier today because I wrote a post about fun hairdos from Suave and I mentioned celebrity stylist Luke O'Connor in the post. He was telling me how much he loves Portillos as he did my hair in Beverly Hills. LOL! You can stop by my review blog to enter the giveaway for a set of Suave haircare products HERE. And you have one more day to enter to win a case of V-8 V-Fusion HERE.

Any particular reason you changed the RSS settings so that the full text of the entry doesn't show up in feed readers?
Just to make you crazy. Oops sorry, that's the answer I reserve for my kids. Actually, it was an experiment to see if it affected traffic to my blog. I think it'll be changing back this week though so hang on a couple more days.

So what made your friends think any of this [amount of junk in my van] was hilarious? They obviously don't have kids.
Bingo! You hit the nail right on the head.

But since we are in the van as much as in the house, don't we need extra toys, food and clothes in there?
Yes! In fact, I say car manufacturers should take this into consideration and install toilets and fridges standard on all minivans.

Exactly how big is your car Dawn?
It's just your standard 43 passenger van. Why?

Wait, how many cars participated in that photo shoot? Wow, that's a lot of stuff! Aren't you glad it's not all on your living room floor?
Uh yeah, not on my living room floor, uh huh. Yeah, because that would be bad. Excuse me while I kick the piles of toys and junk under the couch.... ahem.

How ever do you fit the kids in the car?
I'm supposed to put them in there too???

Took more time to take photos and write this post than it would have to clean all that stuff up - at least with the car to trash can method.
Yeah, but taking pictures was more fun than cleaning it. Duh.

Out of curiosity, after the pics, did you ummm clean out any of the detrius?
Ummm yeah, sure, sure I did.

I just went to my library website and typed in "dawn meehan" to see if they have your book, and the search results came back with "Did you mean 'dawn elephant'?" That just cracked me up, so I had to share!
Have you seen the size of my butt? I completely understand why "elephant" came up while googling my name!

Do you know what books stores will carry it [Because I Said So]?
Family Christian book stores and some Barnes & Noble stores carry it. You can also get it online HERE or HERE. Or, if you'd like an autographed copy, you can get one HERE.

very cute of Brooklyn, so Dawn, did you get her that after she had spent so much time telling you what she wanted?
Ugh, you know what I got her? I got the kids some sidewalk chalk and a 6 pack of bubbles for them to play with at the older kids' sporting events. Know what Clay & Brooklyn did with the bubbles while I was on the phone? They poured 4 bottles out on my kitchen floor and then stripped down and lubed themselves up with Desitin and Vaseline and made a kind of indoor slip-n-slide. I had to video blog that one. Seriously, where do they come up with this stuff??? I never would have dreamed of doing something like that when I was a kid. Savannah never did crazy stuff like that. :::sigh::: It took me over an hour to clean the floor even with Clay's "help"!

I finally ordered your book today, from the Christian Book Distributor on line. Am I a fan, or what? How many of your males readers have said the same? (s.s.o.)
I think you're one of three male readers, Rick. You're an elite group. Congratulations!

*lol* -- I've seen worse, when it comes to dinner time, ;-)
So have I. Almost every single night, in fact. I really should've shot some more footage before that video blog was put together.

I see Mom sits at the head of the table ;0
Actually, no, Brooklyn sits there (which is somehow fitting). We just rearranged a bit to try and fit everyone in the shot.

And should I even ask what came flying [across the table during dinner]?
Probably not. I try not to ask. Sometimes the answer is just scary.


And put your hands together for our musical guests, The Proclaimers (just because they have fun Scottish accents.)

Sunday Sound Out

From Chicago, where we eat our hotdogs with mustard, relish, tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, and a pickle, it's Sunday Sound Out with Dawn Meehan! Tonight: answers to your questions and musical guest Anita Renfroe! And now, the woman who reached 5 million hits to her blog today, it's Dawn Meehan!

I hope all the moms and mom-like women out there had a nice Mother's Day! I was going to invite my parents, grandma and sister over for brunch, but they already had plans to get together. So I resigned myself to staying home and doing nothing. Since I was first pregnant with Austin in 1994, Joe has said the same thing, "Why should I do anything? You're not MY mom." So Mother's Day has not typically been a fun day for me. This year was different. I taught Sunday school and Joe made brunch after church. Austin and Savannah played with the little kids and occupied them so I could take a nap while Joe went to his parents' house. And Joe made dinner this evening and he didn't use lemon-lime Kool-Aid at all.

For years, I wished that he would just help the kids pick out a card or make a card or acknowledge Mother's Day in some way. This year, I think he tried to make up for the past several years and got me way too much stuff. I'm so happy they replaced the necklace I broke a few months ago. They also got me a Keurig coffee maker with some coconut coffee and a tray to set my laptop on so it doesn't burn off my legs. Clay decorated an oatmeal container and filled it with paper flowers, Jackson and Lexi bought me musical cards, and Savannah, Jackson, Lexington, Clayton & Brooklyn made me cards and pictures. It was nice. :)

So I remember you twittering and asking if you should get an iPhone and then twittering how you got your iPhone. How do you like your new iPhone?? (I love mine a lot!)
I love my iPhone! I'm still not fond of the keyboard, or how it likes to "correct" me while I'm typing. If I type "AJ" when talking about my son, for example, it likes to "correct" me and change it to "an". If I write "hee hee" to indicate I'm giggling, my iPhone will "correct" me and change it to "her her" because really, why wouldn't I write "her her" when I'm laughing? Grrr, that part can be frustrating. On the flipside, it's nice that it corrects me when I write something like "dtive" and it changes it to "drive". It's a toss up. But overall, I LOVE it!

Regarding your SSO pics: Why would you shut the bathroom door when you're all by yourself??
Because I'm nuts. Even in a hotel room by myself, I have to shut the bathroom door. It's just one of those things that proves I'm crazy idiosyncrasies that makes me adorable.

Am I the only one that doesn't know what the slaughter rule is?
It's a rule in baseball that keeps a team from being "slaughtered" with a score of like 428 - 3. In the fifth inning (my kids only play 7 innings) if the one team is ahead by 15 or more runs, the game ends by slaughter rule.

So which team got slaughtered, Austin's or the other guys?
Actually, Austin's team rallied that night and only lost by a couple runs. Despite the fact that Austin pitched 3 innings and ended up throwing 102 pitches! (He only walked one kid during that time!) Savannah's softball team, on the other hand, was slaughtered their first 2 games.

I'm thoroughly chuffed to find your book available in South Africa. Any chances of you coming here for a signing?
First of all, is "chuffed" a good thing? And, although I'd love to visit South Africa, I don't think I'll be heading there anytime soon.

Do they always put you in a room by yourself with two beds? Doesn't that make you feel lonely when you wake up to a room by yourself and another bed that's empty?
Uhhh no. It makes me want to get up and jump from bed to bed and sing happy songs that I got a good uninterrupted night's sleep.

Ew on the Escargots....So what do they taste like?
Garlic-flavored chewy slime.

Whats with the PRA in sky writing in one pic?
Someone had made a smiley face and written "Jesus loves you". I didn't see the "PRA" until I looked at the picture, but I'm guessing they wrote "pray".

Thanks for the review of the family suites at the All Star. Any photos of those rooms? We have been staying at a Disney Vacation Club (Old Key West) during our last two trips (which is pretty affordable when you buy someone's "points"), but I think the suites might be more up our alley.

I do have pictures, in fact! I set up a Flickr account and will upload all my Disney pictures there tomorrow.

By the way, how is your book doing? (Is it okay to ask that?)
No, it's not ok to ask. Just kidding. Sorry, I just had a smart-aleck moment. I think it's doing pretty well. Now go out and buy a couple copies! Oooo, actually, I just added a link on my website for people interested in buying an autographed copy of my book. You can check it out HERE.

But I must ask...How in the world did Clay get the ladder up against the tree?

There was no tree. It was a short ladder and he just set it up under the gutter where the nest was. Although I wouldn't put it past him to drag out the 6 foot ladder and get it set up against a tree!

I've done dozens and dozens of interviews this month. People tend to ask me the same questions over and over in interviews. But not my friend Cindy from Hello Dollface. Nope, she was the first one to ask me if I liked the Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana better. LOL! I got to meet Cindy at the Glamor Reel Moments back in October. She's a sweetheart and she's beautiful and she's skinny. I hate her I'm lucky to know her. You can check out her review of Because I Said So HERE.

And I wanted to put a list of my fellow bloggers who were on the Disney World trip with me. They're some really awesome women with some really great blogs! Check them out!

Christine at From Dates to Diapers,
Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry,
Megan at Velveteen Mind,
Lisa at Crazy Adventures in Parenting,
Emily from Mommin' it Up,
Amanda from Oh Amanda,
Marsha at Sweatpants Mom,
Andrea at Mommy Snacks,
Lindsay at Surburban Turmoil
and Maria Bailey of Blue Suit Mom, DisneyWorld Mom panelists- Margaret Fries and Amber Vaughan, and Laura and Leanne from Disney

Stop by my review blog HERE to see my write-up on swimsuits and enter for a chance to win $100 gift card from Lands' End!

And finally, in honor of Mother's Day, is Anita Renfroe with her Mom Song...