The Mother’s Day Post

I wanted to make a beautiful and sentimental post about Mother’s Day…

but then I stayed up until 11:30 pm folding laundry.

Motherhood.

So, briefly I’ll just say what I’ve been thinking about this week, that being a Mom shouldn’t be seen as a right – something to be squeezed in among the other things that modern women fill their lives with.

Motherhood is a daunting privalege that demands its place as your top priority from the moment you have to start eating for two, to the first cry that fills your ears (or rather, your heart) in the delivery room, to the day that you cry as your baby walks out of your door to explore the adult world on his or her own.

And even after that, they still call. Sometimes to cry, often to laugh, and they’re still their Mommy’s top priority.

Or so my mom would make me feel.

Today I’m going to giggle with my sweet baby, count each and every blessing that he’s given me, and hopefully *HOPEFULLY* get some much needed sleep.

I love you Mamas. Some days are impossible, some days are perfect, but when you’re trying your best it all comes out right in the end.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Citizen Cee

Do you ever look at your child and see someone else?

No, I don’t mean your husband, or resemblances of loving grandparents.

I mean, do you ever look at them and see Orson Welles?

One minute he’s my little guy, the next minute he’s Citizen Cee making me an offer I can’t refuse.  Scary.

An Irish Blessing from a Fake Irish Girl

Here’s the little blessing…

Anyone can make an Irish pic – I used picnik.com to create this look for free.  First pick a picture that is bright and outdoors.  Tint it a light shade of green with a little fade so some colors come through.  Then put Cross-Process over the top – you can fade this too if you like, I did.  Then add whatever message you want and you’ve got an Irish Blessing to share.

Now, here’s the story…

Lace was the instigator of our childhood group.  That’s not to call the rest of us followers, but all comedians need material.  One day she came into possession of an Irish poster with a sweet old man, riding a wagon with his trusty sheep dog through a beautiful, lush forest.  Lace gathered a group of us to her room, showed us the poster and told us that Ireland is the greatest place ever and that we all love it.

We accepted our new love with delight.

We went about collecting all things Irish, but that wasn’t all.  We worked our accents until they were spot on perfect (in our minds at least).  With our trusty alter egos, we had all kinds of adventures.

We’d go to bowling alleys and pretend to be foreign exchange students that had never seen this strange American sport.

“Suuoh, yer sayin’ I hafta throw thees ball duwn tha alleyway an’ knock duown thos wee pins thar?”

I think we got free rootbeers if I’m not mistaken.

One time, after a long hard night at a camp, we recited the entirety of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol while taking super hot showers.  When we came out we’d convinced (without trying) several campers that we were Irish and just here at that camp to visit relatives.

But the big lesson in all of this is – if you’re going to lie about your identity, do it in places where they’ll never see you again.

I told these stories to my college roommates, and wanting proof of my abilities, they sent me across the street to a group party to act Irish for the crowd.  I chatted up a few people, stupidly used my real name, then went home thinking nothing of it.

The next week in the laundry room I was confronted by one of the girls I’d met.

“You’re Kim right.”

“Yep, that’s me.”

“Huh, what’s with your voice.”

“Nothing.”

“But, you’re accent is gone.”

*Oh crap!*

She chewed me out, and I deserved it.  Since then I haven’t been fake Irish, and I suppose it’s best for the world at large.

Besides, it’s best to save it for when I need a secret identity to flee the country or to get extra free samples at Costco.

Calling Out the Crushes on FB

Has anyone else been getting drilled about Hollywood crushes on Facebook lately?  Every time I refresh the page it asks me what I think about  some celebrity then gives me a list of possible answers.

The problem is they never seem to have my answer on their list.

Odd.

Surely I’m not the only one with these opinions, but let’s double check on that.

Facebook asked me: Are you a fan of Robert Pattinson?

Just thinking about his new movie makes my skin crawl.  If only I could have submitted my true answer…

I haven’t been his fan since this:

Now that’s a cute baby face that anyone could love – not just mildly depressed teens with parent issues (sorry Twi-hards, but you know that Bella isn’t making healthy choices).

Refresh.

Now it asks me, What’s your favorite John Cusack movie?

Say Anything? One Crazy Summer? High Fidelity?

Why wasn’t this the top answer:

Come on, we all know that his voice is his best feature.  Although, I will say that I do love Better Off Dead, but who doesn’t love a film with dancing cheeseburgers and Fronch food explosions?

Refresh.

Now it’s asking if I think Gerald Butler is hot.

Well duh.

Watch Dear Frankie and I dare you not to love him.  Sensitive, rugged, thoughtful, loves kids…

Ah.  Just like *Jay.

PS I Love You would also yield the same effect if you can’t take the accents or eyebrow twitching in the other.

*I’ve got to throw in something about how much I love my hubby in a post like this.  No one in Hollywood can hold a candle to Jay, but sadly FB doesn’t ask me that question.

A Recommendation in Light Reading: Everlost

Hi Mamas!  I adore pleasure reading – getting sucked into a book or series, having to know what will happen to your beloved characters, trying not to look at the last line of the chapter, not wanting to ruin the big twist.

Along with that confession, I also confess that I rarely read books for grown-ups.  It seems to me that grown up books are riddled with the things that make people (and society as a whole) miserable.  Rape, domestic violence, dysfunctional families, infidelity… really depressing stuff.

People don’t want to be depressed, so why spend your free-time delving into it?

(BTW – If you know of some good grown-up books that don’t fit this description, I’d LOVE to hear about them.)

With that being said, a lot of people I know having been reading this lately:

And this:

All waiting for the big day when they can read this:

The Hunger Games series is engaging and powerful.  I don’t recommend it to just anybody as the premise of kids being forced to kill kids is quite violent and graphic, but its look at human nature, the power of authority, and moral corruption have lead to some very interesting conversations around our house.

My suggestions for those who are looking for something to fill the time until 8-24 is to read this:

Over a year ago I read Everlost, kind of on a whim, and fell in love with it.  I recommend it to the Hunger Games crowd because I know you can handle morbid stuff and this book is about kids that die, but don’t “get where they’re going.”  I’m usually the type of person that can predict movies and books, but this plot always had a surprise in store for me and I loved it to the last page.

After I finished, I was dying to find out what happened next, but a quick search online left me disappointed – no sequel.

This year the sequel has finally hit the shelf.  I reread Everlost to remember the details, then put in an order for Everwild.I’d love to hear what you think or to get any reading suggestions from you. I’m always on the hunt for a good book.

*I was in no way compensated for giving these reviews and opinions.

Two Penny Poll: Which Chore Would You Blink Away?

Sometimes I feel like I never stop doing dishes.

Last night I had the thought:

Why can’t the dishes just get done by blinking at them? Maybe I’ll try blinking at my husband.

Blinking at Jay worked well. We did the dishes together and watched the Olympics.  It went fast and was a treat to be together.

So my 2 Penny Poll for you Mamas: Which chore do you wish you could do with a blink?

I Coined a New Word This Week…

I like to think of myself as a Word Conservationist.  Words that are beautiful or fun deserve their chance to be saved and heard throughout the generations.

I was critical in the revival of Booyah.

I’m currently working on Rad, and this week I coined a new word: Radiculous, meaning something so rad that it’s ridiculous.

Some things that were radiculous this week:

1. My son.
2. Only having to carry groceries from the garage into the house.
3. Stepping on my scale and realizing that owning a house makes me 2 pounds lighter.
4. The boys fortune cookies – Jay: The best times of your life have not yet been lived.
   Cee: Sometimes traveling to a new place leads to great transformation. (ha ha Cranky Pants!)
5. Hearing only silence when going to bed.
6. The weather – I was at the neighborhood park yesterday in a t-shirt and sandals! (Pants too, but they were implied as I never leave home without them.)
7. Jay’s performance bonus!

This list could go on, but I cannot.  It’s time to get back to the unpacking, organizing, little boy playing, and laundry.

Being a SAHM is the best.

The Spurs VS The Jazz VIP Style!

Jay scored an awesome night of basketball from work – we’re talking tickets, parking, and a VIP suite for food and comfort.

And he took ME as his date! I was so flattered. It was a really nice break in the packing-for-the-move action.

Just to give you an idea of the VIP-niss-ity, here is where we parked:(You can see the front door entrance behind us.)

This is where we sat:(Go Spurs! Jazz in green, what’s up with this? I don’t think they had a single fan there that night. They’d do something good and nothing would happen, no sound, no movement. When the Spurs did something good you’d try to scream, but the room was so loud that you couldn’t even tell if you were screaming.)

This is where we ate:(That’s kinda funny that there’s a big pic of steak on the TV of the eating suite – It was just an add for Ruth’s Chris who was a part-sponsor of the event.)

(The salad dressing was so good that Jay caught me in a lick.)

(Woo – that’s better.)And ladies, you’ll appreciate this, at half time, this was our private potty.I’m spoiled – I will never be able to go to another game again without such treatment.

It’s a shame too since the Spurs lost.

2 Penny Poll: Best On Screen Couple

I’m always throwing my 2 cents around, so I figure why not ask for yours?

Hence, I give you the 2 Penny Poll (ta da!).

A friend of mine put on her Facebook something about Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan having the best on screen chemistry.  I’m sure she was thinking of moments like this:

So my question is – Who do you consider to be the best on screen couple?  You know, those tried and true pairings that just make you want to say to their spouses or significant others, “Sorry, but the universe needs those two together. You’re out.”

There’s about a million possible answers for this, but my mind when to these two as my contemporary choice:

And these two for my all time classic choice:

(You might be thinking only of The Philadelphia Story with this pair, but no, you’ve got to see Bringing Up Baby.  I have to watch it at least once a year and I can usually get Jay to sit through it too.  If you don’t believe me, it was on that 100 Best Movies of the Century list that they made back in 2000).

So who would you pick?

10 Things That Make Me Happy

My friend Annalise tagged me for this forever ago, but with the craziness of the holidays, I’m just posting my response now.  Enjoy!

10 Things That Make Me Happy

1. Warm Sunshine.
2. Looking in the mirror and seeing the changes that my body has made this past year.
3. Seeing Cee learn something new.
4. Cee’s giggles.
5. Pillow talk with Jay every night.
6. Having a new recipe turn out just right.
7. Seeing that there are new Comments/Updates on my blog or Facebook.
8. The anticipation and thrill of Christmas Eve. (Or, if it isn’t that time of year, just surprise presents.)
9. Sleep!  Oh blessed sleep.
10. Feeling like I’ve done the right thing, even if it was hard or scary to do.