Absolutely Bananas: Seattle mom blog

Scholastic Mom Blogger awards and… me?

Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to discover SNOW covering the ground.  

Which was NOTHING compared to the surprise I felt when I checked my email and learned that my blog was nominated for the Scholastic Parent & Child mom blog awards!

We’re talking falling-out-of-the-chair-directly-onto-the-floor surprise.  It’s true. In fact, I’m typing this from an awkward position on the linoleum (and my arm’s starting to hurt).

First of all, a big fat juicy thank you to whoever nominated me!

It turns out the 5 winning blogs get featured in Parent & Child magazine which is obviously a life-long goal of mine. The bad news is I’m up against blogs like Pioneer Woman and Like Merchant Ships.  I have a feeling their gazillions of screaming and desperately loyal fans might sway the voting just a little.

Still, if you’re so inclined, hop on over and vote. (feel free to scream and get all desperate too).

Because sometimes it’s fun to root for the underdog.  

vote here

not a fan of underdog?  How about voting for wonder woman?!

vote here

you don’t like wonder woman? (HOW can you not like WONDER WOMAN?)  

Do it for MISS AMERICA!

vote here

Still not convinced?

Do it for the squirrel who looks suspiciously like my husband.

vote here

Ok, so you’re still not buying.

Will you listen to VIN DIESEL?

vote here

Blogger brown is the new black

A few weeks back Jay and I did a massive overhaul of our bedroom closets. 17 bags to the Good Will later, I feel mostly certain that my closet contains NOTHING that shouldn’t be there. So, when I saw that PBN was hosting a contest in which you’re supposed to post pictures of horrifying wardrobe items, I thought Oh ho ho… that doesn’t apply to ME!

But then I remembered…

it

The t-shirt…

Hidden away in my drawer…

And I knew I had to come clean.

Back when I was at BlogHer, sponsors gave out t-shirts galore. Most of them, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, were hideously ugly. I either refused them on the spot or gave them away to my unsuspecting roommates.

But there was this one…

I was walking down the hallway between sessions, hurrying to try and ensure a place at the table (those were the only spots with plug-ins), when I had a strange encounter.

Jessica (you know, of Oh the Joys fame) was walking towards me. RIGHT towards me. Is this some of weird game of chicken? I wondered as she bore down on me… A blogger hazing of sorts?

And then, at the last possible second, she veered left just enough to keep from running into me, and thrust a bundle into my hands. “Keep it or pass it on.” she whispered, in a husky secret-agent kind of voice, and then she was gone.

I looked down. My hands held a brown rolled-up t-shirt. Nooooo!!! My mind howled in despair, I’ve been duped into accepting a t-shirt! All my efforts are for naught! The only question was on which poor soul I would deposit this undesirable item.

But then a sort of funny thing happened.

I brought the t-shirt back to the hotel with me, unrolled it and gave it a good look. And, sort of like the three-legged, flea-bitten dog that follows you home, I realized that I’d grown rather fond of it.

It’s a t-shirt, which of course goes on the “cons” column. But it’s brown, and it says “blogger”. Ok, ok, so Blogger is the name of Google’s blogging product, and it has a big fat orange Google Blogger logo lest you be confused. So that’s again in the “cons”. But still… there’s a sad pathetic little part of me that LIKES having a t-shirt that says ‘blogger’ on it.

So I brought it home.

And started wearing it, proudly. (But just around the house.)

One night after the shirt had made several appearances, I noticed Jay looking at me funny.

“WHAT?!” I demanded.

“Um, you’re not going to wear that shirt, like in public, are you?” he asked.

Funny thing about me, I actually wasn’t planning on wearing it in public. But the fact that he asked got my hackles up. “WHY?” I demanded, “Don’t you LIKE it?”

“Well, it’s ok for around the house… but it’s a little dorky.” he admitted, “I mean it’d be like if I wore a shirt that said ‘Designer.’”

“WELL I LIKE IT!” I announced huffily, and marched out of the room.

I still wear it. I still like it. It passed the very rigorous closet-clearing inspection a few weeks back. It made an appearance at the Oregon Coast this past weekend, and I’m wearing it this very minute as I type.

But now I turn to you, dearest of readers, closest of friends, scariest of Internet stalkers and plagiarists, and I ask with the deepest sincerest wanting to know,

Is it dorky?

Should I purge it from my wardrobe?

Now, before you answer, you might be interested to see some photos of OTHER PEOPLE who wear the very same t-shirt. Because I think I just might have started a trend…

(Yes, that’s Angelina)

Even party girls Britney and Paris are wearing them.

Madonna? Well she certainly knows fashion…

Even the Queen Mum! They say those Brits are fashion forward…

Is that… Can it be?… Bigfoot! He’s real! And he’s wearing a blogger tee! Will wonders never cease…Yep, I think I’m gonna have to keep it.

***

Thanks to Shannon at Believer in Balance for awarding this post a Perfect Post award!

And the winner is…

Thanks to everyone who entered the Haiku Mama contest, and especially for those of you who submitted haiku. I deeply enjoyed all of them.

A few of my favorites were…

A mama once said
I have no fear: I have kids
Sleep is for the weak.
- Mrs. Mustard

Dust bunnies scatter
I am so tired of cleaning!
Make Swiffer onesies.
- Moodswingingmommy

Writing a Haiku
While nursing at the keyboard
Multi-tasking Mom
- Diva Mom Vicki

If it weren’t for the
new GPS, we would be
arguing right now
- WhyMommy’s husband

Now before I announce the winners, let me describe to you my HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC, PATENT PENDING process for random selection of winners.

1. Names are written on pieces of paper and dropped into last year’s easter basket…

2. Spiderman draws two pieces of paper

3. And, voila! We have the winners!

Congratulations to…

Jean from Working Momma 24/7

Miss Huckleberry from The Berry Patch

Ladies… send me your mailing address and I’ll get your book in the mail!

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A giveaway for two lucky Haiku Mamas

Having fun family-style

Back in the days before CJ (BCJ), Jay and I had a lifestyle that was pretty good by most accounts. We had blooming careers, a nice little house, time to work out and entertain and travel, a bit of extra money and lots of great friends.

So one day we said to each other, HEY, wouldn’t it be great to give all this up for red screaming creature that saps our sleep, strength and sanity? Wouldn’t it be great NOT to have any money, trash our house, lose our friends, and maybe our minds? And hey Jen, you’d sure look great with a spare tire and some extra MEAT on that caboose.

Riiiight.

For the record that is NOT the conversation we had. It went more like this,

“Oh, wouldn’t it be great to have a baby?”
“I can just imagine us all sitting round the table laughing and talking…”
“Wouldn’t it be fun if we had kids here with us right now?”

The simple fact of the matter is, we had CJ because of the potential for family fun. For another person to contribute to the love and laughter in our household. For someone to hang out with, to give us a different perspective, to help us see holidays and zoos and playgrounds and even our families in a fresh new light.

Spending time together as a family… doing fun things… this is what it’s all about. This is why we went down this road.

Because everything else IS awfully hard. The finances ARE tight. The house IS trashed. And my stomach… well let’s just say that “flat” is a distant memory.

And so we make a point to have the good times. To create the fun. To do the bonding.

Here are just a few of the ways that we keep our family flourishing.

• Family outings. The zoo, playground, wading pool, Target, and yes occasionally even Krispy Kreme.
• DANCE PARTY MARATHON. Turn on loud music like Will Smith or the Spice Girls or anything with a THUMPING beat and get down tonight.
• Eat dinner together. This is when CJ says the best, most hilarious things. I LOVE eating dinner together. Except when I don’t… when it doesn’t go well and we spend the whole time yelling things like SIT DOWN CJ! or DON’T YOU DARE THROW THAT SPOONFUL OF RICE! OK, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE YOUNG MAN!

This post is brought to you in conjunction with Parent Bloggers Network & EA’s Wii-Boogie, a family gaming experience. Shake it. Sing it. Create it.

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