who me? stylish? you must have the wrong girl.

today i got an award from the exciting and always entertaining lady estrogen over at adventures in estrogen. we just discovered each other recently, but i like her, even though i can't be certain that her stories are safe for reading when the wee one is lurking about.

How this works...
1. Thank and link back to the person who honored you with this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

and here's my list.
1. i could live on cheese and potatoes for the rest of my life.
2. sitting down onto a warm, recently vacated toilet seat is like accidentally eating a piece of popcorn that someone else has sucked on & then spit out. gives me a bad case of the shuddering yucks.
3. i chomp & chew on gum like an agitated 12 year old girl all the time.
4. i love watching holly hobby movies with my daughter.
5. when i was a kid, i had a rabbit named bunz and he died from having too much diarhea. i guess his buns were rotten.
6. pepto bismol is a tasty treat to me. i can drink it like a smoothie and if i eat with too much abandon on those cheese & taters, i need it.
7. my idea of exercise is a good, brisk sit.

i don't know about 15, but here are the blogs i'd like to award this time around because for most of them, i just found them recently & i like them. now go & read & show them some love!
a little sprite

facing 50 with humor

in the gutter

into the chrysalis

happy hoots and photo shoots

it's always funny in colum-bubble

it's time for the burkalater

ow, my angst

pink satin sashes

cake and cup

no botox allowed

the little gray house

for those of you who are getting this award from me, feel free to do nothing with it unless you want to. i just wanted to share some love, not push you into a post you don't feel like doing.
happy hopping!

nunya

last night it was late when i was getting brooke to bed & i was so tired after lying on my bed, reading books to her that when she stretched herself along the length of my back, i decided to just wear her like a blanket and go to sleep. in our house, bedtime has a routine. there's an order & a pattern & we never ever let brooke sleep in our bed or tuck her in her own bed without prayers & songs. but i was too tired to move. eventually, when she was convinced that i was serious, she ran into her room for her pillow & a stack of stuffed animals. she built the great wall of china with stuffies serving as stones right down the center of my bed. i had to decree that only 3 could stay since i didn't want it to be a big deal when we moved her back to her own bed later, so she hemmed & hawed before picking the top three furry friends of the day.

then i realized that i had to pee and take some decongestant. and remove my jeans. and wash both our hands. and turn on a noisemaker with waves to make us sleep well. by the time all of this was done, i was pretty much wide awake again & wished i'd never started this whole thing to begin with. but it was too late to back out without drama, so we both crawled between the snuggly, flannel sheets. it only took her a few moments to start talking. "mom, what's your favorite color? what's your favorite food? what was your favorite part of our new mexico trip?"

i was fading quickly, but trying to keep answering her questions. then i cracked open an eye & realized that she was still wearing a headband with big, tall ears. we had a good laugh about wearing her ears in bed & then she reached over & patted me & said, "am i your friend or your daughter right now? because this feels like a sleepover to me."

my heart smiled & i realized that since she doesn't have a lot of contact with other kids & she's got no siblings, she needs more stuff like this. more times when i get onto her level & stop trying to make her behave or teach her things, but rather, just hang out.

last night we went to a friends house for post-meal visiting. i saw her playing with a box that their cat loves & reminded her not to break it. as i walked away, she told the other people in the room that her mom doesn't like the things she does. that makes me sad. it's hard to juggle being fun-mom with being business-mom. it's my job to teach & advise her, but she also needs me to be fun.

today we were chatting with some friends & she was asked, by an adult, what she likes to do in the morning before mom & dad wake up. her reply? "nunya." by which she meant none-ya-business. oh my gosh! gulping down my embarrassment at even remembering that rudeness, however funny it sounds when she says it back & forth with daddy.

i still feel like i've got a lot to learn about being a parent & to brooke in particular. but she just informed me that she's cleared the space beneath her bunk bed out & changed it from cave mode to tent mode & it's ready for her little pink christmas tree to be set up & decorated. so i suppose it's time to get off here & go be mom to my little dumpling of wackiness.

but before i go, i'd like to thank tracy over at it's an average life for a blog award of... well... it's called "the tanned hide blog award." i'm not entirely clear on what that means, but here it is & thanks, trace!













and now it's time to get out the first of the christmas stash.

hello & welcome

today was pretty exciting for me because, for the first time, i got reviewed. tracy over at it's an average life wrote a little review of my blog & posted it to possibly direct some of her readers to my page. and she was so nice with the deliciously exaggerated things she said about my writing that i was all a-giggle for a bit this afternoon. each time since then that i've gotten a comment from a new reader it makes me all glowy & fresh again.

so for those of you who are new in my realm, here's a quick synopsis; i started writing this in january when things in my family life were at a really low point, but it quickly evolved into something that i use to cheer myself up. i have a wacky 8 yr old daughter who i can't resist writing about frequently & i'd forgotten how much i love being laughed at. i know, most people prefer to be laughed with, but i'm perfectly happy to show you my flaws & failings & let you laugh at them right alongside me.

i've put together a list of my favorite posts from the past 9 months, so if you've got a bit of time & you're interested, feel free to visit them. perhaps you'll be able to join me in laughing at myself & the funny things in life.

first we have the hair bonanza series that you can see linked on the right side of my blog.

how many ways can i expose myself (in a non-pornographic way)? oh, lots & lots of them as you can read in my self exposure trilogy.
exposing myself 1

self exposure, round 2

self exposure, the childhood years

then we have some of my favorite parenting tales.
the van potty

what to call THAT region

i give you permission

where do babies come from?

a few random things...
secretly i wish i could

i fed my kid my life

pms roller coaster

mother nature is a bitch

where did my sexy go?

art therapy   there's a second art therapy in the next post down if you'd care to see more of how we cheer ourselves up around here.

thanks to any of you who've come by for a visit. i hope to see you back here again soon! =)

one lovely blog award

today i got my first blog award from another blogger who i recently discovered. i've seen this award floating around on other people's pages from time to time & i've got to be honest, i've kind of had the impression that this whole awards & linking business was sort of a club between bloggy buddies & i've sniffed at it as if it had nothing to do with me. but then, like in school where one day you're invisible & the next day a cool kid asks you to sit at their lunch table, maybe it seems more important than it did before. or maybe it's just nice to be included in the silliness that is blogging awards.

so with no further blabbering, thank you, tracy aka: average girl at it's an average life for this first time award. i didn't prepare a speech...

in order to accept this lovely award, i'm encouraged to

1. credit & link to the person who gave it to me - that would be tracy. thanks for thinking of me. i've already gotten a new follower today thanks to you!

2. pass the award on to some other new blogs.

and
3. let the recipients know that i gave it to them.

i've chosen people who i don't think have gotten any awards yet, but deserve them for putting in the time & effort to blog so that we can peer into their hearts & souls. so please feel free to visit & enjoy...

my good friend Jana at 4timesmorefun

my mom at throwoffeverythingthathinders

my former co-worker & friend carrie at shineovershadow

a lady i've recently been reading, louisa at lifeasweknowit

my  friend, melanie from elementary school, who takes awesome pictures at room118

my friend nekey who blogs about her homeschooling adventures at thehomeonahill

and last but not least, my daughter, brooke, who blogs about the adventures in her mind at brookeswonderousworld