You know you're a mom when...

...you are all dressed up for an event or an evening out and you look down to find a bright pink Dora the Explorer or Hello Kitty band-aid on your finger.

...it isn't unusual to be joined in the bathroom by multiple little people...or to even be holding a child on your lap while trying to take a potty break yourself.

...a good morning is measured by how many times you have to re-warm your coffee. 3+ times equals a not so good morning for me. 1 or 2 times is a decent morning. Didn't have to re-warm it at all? The girls must be at the grandparents.

...you know the location of every drive-thru Starbucks and all the restaurants that feature curbside to go. You are also still ticked that Braums stopped letting you buy milk and bread through the drive-thru window...even though that was years ago.

...playing peek-a-boo with a toddler on the other side of the shower curtain is just part of the morning routine.

...your closet is filled with so many sizes of clothes that it could be its own little retail outlet...pre-ever having children, pre-maternity post having children, maternity, post maternity...plus the sizes that you wore either while you were or were not pregnant, but couldn't bring yourself to wear maternity quite yet or still be wearing maternity after the baby. Does that make sense to anyone? Can you tell I'm getting ready for a garage sale and currently sorting clothes?

Just a few thoughts from this mommy early on a Friday morning. Does anyone else form blog posts in their head as they shower?

How I Justify Spending the Extra Money

Justification. Is it only me, or do we all do this?

I've pretty much decided I'm the master of justifying pretty much anything. The thud you just heard was my husband falling off of his chair after reading that confession from me.

Tom Thumb is my favorite grocery store. It is beautiful and clean and best of all always has great looking produce. To me, it's like having my own little Central Market a mile from home.

It has also proven to be a bit more expensive than the local Kroger or Wal*Mart where I also shop. There has to be a way to pay for the perfect lighting, bakery fresh smell piped into the entrance area, the cool mini shopping carts for quick (and childless) jaunts...and countless other little amenities that warm my heart...and that I'm also sure you could care less about.

When a recipe calls for some strange ingredient...you know the kind that necessitates a call to mom so you know if you should be looking on the spice aisle or for some funky item in the produce department...Tom Thumb is the place to go. At Tom Thumb, not only does the helpful worker know what you're talking about, but also knows exactly where to find it. And it must be some store policy that they don't just tell you where it is, but personally walk you right over to it. Justification #1.

Tom Thumb also happens to be the host of these babies.


TV Karts. Free TV Karts. Add that to the list of things their higher prices fund.

Sure, Wal*Mart has them too. Not enough of them though. And if one is available, it is most likely broken or in need of a battery recharge. Justification #2.

The girls love it. Since we don't have cable, they are thoroughly entertained by shows they don't get to see at home: Dora, The BackYardigans, BluesClues, etc. I don't want them to be completely clueless at a Bob the Builder themed birthday party. Justification #3.
Oops. Need to belt Jade in before she escapes.

Now we're ready to shop.
Also, since they are content, mommy has piece of mind and some actual time to contemplate what she is buying. And maybe even match up an unexpired coupon to the appropriate brand and size of an item she actually needs. Justification #4.



Sorry for the grainy photos. Believe it or not, I didn't head to Tom Thumb with a blog post in mind, so all I had was my cell phone cam. Wait. That could be justification #5. Blog fodder.

What is something you love that is easily justified? In your mind anyway.

I now know how to get comments.

Lots of comments. 30+ comments.

And it is so easy. No real effort at all.

This is what you do. Write a post. Post the post. And then don't come back for ten days or so.

And when you return...you will feel lots of love. The comment kind of love.

Sorry folks. I seem to have disappeared again. Not really intentional.

It was more like...preschool started, extra hours at work were demanded, small group started up again, and I finally am attempting a Bible study at church.

I haven't done one of those since Lily was itty bitty. Now Jade is more than itty bitty and it is time. Anyone done Beth Moore's Believing God?

Anyway, something didn't feel right about postponing Bible study in order to keep up the blog.

And believe me, there are so many posts swimming around in my head. They are perfecting all sorts of strokes. It's exhausting.

It's easier to push quiet time with the Lord when you don't have an accountability group staring you in the face every Wednesday morning. I need that accountability and am so glad to have it again.

How do the rest of you guys balance it all?

Other news. I added Blogger's new "Followers" tool. It's over there on the left under my subscriber box...just above my blogroll. Do you want to follow me?

I'm easy to follow...just one post every ten days or so.

Just kidding. I'll be back shortly. A couple of blog awards were recently given to me and I plan on passing those on pretty quickly.

Comment Love + Award Love = Happy Blogger.

I'm off to make some other bloggers happy. Peace out. (That was for you, Rachelle)

"W" is for Winner

I feel like such a loser about what a blog slacker I have been lately.

So, I figured after way too long of a break, I'd let everyone know that indeed I actually am a winner. In the very literal sense.

A few days ago a package arrived in the mail. I am one of those people that loves to get mail. Even going to get the mail is a daily ritual that I enjoy. Getting anything other than bills is a true joy. A full on package...even more so.

When I noticed that it was addressed to me, I immediately thought it must have been a late birthday present. But then I couldn't think of who in Franklin, Tennessee would be remembering my birthday. (More on my birthday later)

I crossed my fingers and wondered if that was where the Fairy Godmother of Potty Training lived and hoped that she was lending me her wand. I just knew if I could wave it with a few chants of "Bibbity, Bobbity, Poo", my life would be instantly easier. (More on potty training later)

As I opened it up and discovered these items, I finally remembered.

I'm a winner.

Remember this giveaway? Well, you're looking at the goods that this lucky girl won.

I actually felt a little starstruck as I opened it. Kind of like when I touched Jordan Knight's hand at one of the 5 New Kids on the Block concerts that I went to back in the day. Okay, not really. I really did touch Jordan Knight's hand...the feeling...different.

It is fun to be a winner though...especially of autographed items from a band that Jerry and I have followed for such a long time.

Thanks for making this loser a winner for a moment, Boo Mama and Third Day.

Oh, and if you feel like trying your luck at a giveaway...Missy has one going on here.

Because shin splints would be too normal

You'll never hear me claim to be in super good shape. I do make random attempts, in even more random intervals, to get in better shape, but it seems like just when I get in the swing of a routine, something happens. Geez...I hope the comma police don't come after me for that sentence.

We do belong to a gym. It is great. It is close to home. It has three levels of all sorts of equipment. It has nice people. It has other mommy flab syndrome sufferers. It has a smoothie bar. And best of all, it has KidsClub. KidsClub is just a cute way of saying, "We'll take care of the chillins while you go sweat it out." Or while you take an extended rest on the bicycle in front of HGTV. Whatever works. Who said the "cool down" period is only 5 minutes?

Once Jade was old enough, we really did get into the swing of going to the club. Jerry and I viewed our visits as "mini-dates" in a strange way. I could yap his head off while we did cardio next to each other. Soon he discovered Fox News and got headphones though. That's okay. I wasn't offended. Really.

We're too cheap for cable around here, and while news shows aren't my thing, I decided to reconnect with MTV. Wow. No wonder my dad got rid of that channel when we were kids.

Our routine was working perfectly. Something had to throw it off. Sadly that event happened back in late May. So, for the past little while, Lily hasn't been able to go to KidsClub. Our mini dates have stopped. Jerry also changed jobs, became super disciplined, and leaves the house at 5AM to work out every day. Which translates to: Jerry is no longer my workout buddy. Sniff.

Lily has recently been released from the doctor, but before heading back to the club I decided to hit the pavement. Completely out of the blue...random I tell you...I decided last week to grab my cell phone and take a walk in the late evening. I did a fast paced walk three nights in a row. And more importantly, my sister and I got some serious phone time in.

Cell phones equate safety, right? I probably wouldn't have noticed anyone approaching me for all the yapping, but at least Kelly could have reported where I was.

Do you notice a trend here? Apparently I cannot exercise my body without also exercising my mouth. Don't get jealous over my nice jawline.

The morning after the 3rd late night, fast paced, talking storm of a walk, there was a problem. As I descended the stairs on a quick jaunt to make the java before retrieving the chillins, my ankle just didn't work right. It didn't want to stretch, or point, or flex, or whatever else it had to do to make it down the stairs.

Painful. The only way I can describe it is that it feels like a shin splint, but in the ankle. Ankle splint? According to Google that is only something you can buy to wear, not a condition of the ankle. Hello Google, I have the first ankle splint ever. And it hurts.

I guess since my mouth is already warmed up for exercise, I never thought I really needed to warm up my ankles for a stinkin' walk. It's just a walk. Not like I'm training for marathons over here.

Jerry even offered to massage the pain away. It was too painful. I do not turn down foot massages. But I flinched every time he even went near my ankle. I am such a wimp.

Has anyone else experienced this? I need a remedy. Quick.

It is affecting my life in all areas.

Like sleep. I have done the mid-night stretch and point thing a couple of times. Only twice to be exact. Ouch. How my "injury" escaped my mind at 3AM is beyond me.

Then tonight we met for the quick $1.50 hot dog/coke dinner at Costco. We were a mess. Just picture ketchup on faces, Lily riding in the baby stroller (they don't have high chairs so we brought it for Jade...after all she is the BABY, but LILY wanted in it...go figure), Jade wanting to be carried, Jade being carried, and one of us pushing a big honkin' cart around with one lonely box of baby wipes in it.

By the time we got to the van I could tell it wasn't going to be a fun ride home.

Then I remembered. We met there. Jerry's car was there. I had a key to said car. So, I did the only thing that made sense. I let Jerry have some quality bonding time with the girls in the van while I opted to ride home solo in the Honda.

I pretended that Jerry was rolling his eyes at someone else and went to find the car. I hopped in, turned the radio OFF, and got ready to back out. Then I remembered. The clutch. The clutch that required me to extend, point, flex, and move my ankle in ways that it didn't want to be moved.

I thought, briefly thought, about calling Jerry and aborting my plan. But the silence. Oh the silence. I'm a sucker for silence. So, after contemplating driving in second gear all the way home, I painfully got through it.

I'm thinking about creating a Wikipedia page dedicated to ankle splints...the condition...not the product. Do you think I have a case?

Facebook anyone?

I never thought I would sign up with one of those social networking type sites. Hello? What is blogger?

Oh well. The other ones like MySpace or Facebook. I wasn't ever really tempted by MySpace because I really thought it was for teenagers...and thankfully that is well over a decade ago for me. No offense to you if you are a MySpacer...some of my best friends are...you are just more in touch with your younger side than I am.

Just within the past couple of weeks I've had a couple of friends mention joining Facebook. Rachelle said it was easy, so that perked my interest. Amy mentioned how addicting it is (at first at least) and I thought great...another computer time drain. But usually time drains are so fun...so...

Jerry was out late last night and I found myself at the computer not really in the mood to blog or read blogs. I signed on to Facebook for the first time ever and it was easy. Then, when within 10 minutes, I had a couple of "friends"...I knew I was hooked. Then when I checked it first thing this morning I had 23 "notifications"...double hooked. Who knew I had so many cool people in my hotmail address book.

Carol even gave me a bumper sticker. Not real sure about that. Thanks though. I'm also unsure about poking people. What in the world? Is it nice? Sounds a little risque to me so I'll probably put that off for a while.

I haven't done anything to customize my page, or I guess that is called adding "flair" in facebook terms. But, I'm sure as the time drain continues...I will.

Tell me. Do you Facebook, Twitter or something similar? Do you see it replacing your blogging, or is it just another fun time drain?

If you're on...look me up...I'm accepting "friends"...tee hee! Oh and there are more than a few Kerry Gibsons out there...who knew? I've used the same profile pic that you see on blogger.

As long as the dust bunnies don't come out of their corners and unite against me...I guess I'll try to keep it up.

And Amy, since I joined, will you come back to blogging?

Shopping carts, office supply stores and party updates

I have lots of random thoughts roaming my head this morning. Going a little crazy here. The good news is that I already feel better just typing that title. Can't imagine how good I'll be feeling by the end of this post. Randomness, please exit brain.

Shopping carts. I used to love them. Pop Lily in and away we went. Nothing difficult. Enter Jade. Now, Lily, who didn't want to ride in them anymore 10 months ago...insists on a ride. Not just in the buggy, but up front. This works great at Costco...they have the double loader variety there. Everywhere else...not so lucky. I'm fine with saying no and possibly being kicked out of Target due to the wailing, and so I just go on.

That's not the only issue though. It seems like recently I've been running into a type of shopping carts that I absolutely despise. First there is the kind that don't let you prop the infant carrier on them correctly...those stores were off my list when Jade still was in the carrier. Now what I'm avoiding are stores whose cart's plastic seats automatically flip up to cover the holes where Jade's legs go through. Do you know what I'm talking about? The little plastic rectangular thingy that they need to sit on, constantly flips up making it impossible for you to man handle them into the cart. Where is my third arm during these moments? A boycott is in order.

On a more fun note, I went to the office supply store alone last night. Don't you love the stores that are open til 9 or 10 at night that you can run to once the kids are in bed? Ah, the office supply store. I don't know what it is about all those cool pens and other random gadgets that transforms me into a kid in a candy shoppe. My find of the night? This ginormous pack of multi-colored permanent markers. Not just primary colors or pastels...this pack makes the rainbow jealous. It even has its own storage case. Which is necessary when you are the proud new owner of 36 fine colored permanent markers.

I did make it out of there without buying the battery operated eraser and paper shredder lubricant that I saw. Such fine items I'm sure, it's astounding that I've made it this far in life without either of them. Seriously, whoever needs a battery operated eraser might find a new ream of paper a better investment. And if your paper shredder is so overworked that it needs a lube job, you might want to call a shredding service.

So, you're wondering what business I have needing that many markers of various colors. This will be the final random thought exiting my brain.

We have a party to decorate for this weekend. Remember my dilemma of throwing a Potato Head party for sweet Jader-Tater? Well, the drama continues. I already knew that there was no chance of finding Mr. or Mrs. Potato themed party goods. So, I thought I'd just keep it simple and use solid colors. Pink and brown. Easy enough. WRONG. None of the party stores carry ANYTHING in brown. Not plates, napkins, plasticware and definitely not balloons. I was just sick when I realized this last night. 6 days before the big potato event.

Enter the markers. I ordered a bunch of pink and white balloons and will be spending the weekend drawing Mrs. Potato Head on them. I know. I promise I'll be looking for a life soon.

After going to the office store, I thought I'd Google "brown balloons". Alas, Google didn't let me down this time. There are companies out there that sell brown partyware. Even in different shades of brown. So, it looks like I am in luck. Sort of. Did I mention I only have a few days before the party? Plus one of those days happens to be a postal holiday.

FedEx to the rescue. Thank God balloons are light. And uninflated. The disclaimer had to tell me that. "All balloons are shipped uninflated"...well, I'd hope so.

Okay. I'm off to get a life. Promise.

Blogroll news and other early morning ramblings

I just spent way too long doing something that I have been putting off for equally way too long.

I just put commas in different locations in the above sentence and no matter how I read it, it just didn't seem to sound like it should. So, grammar nerds--forgive me.

It is the wee hours of the morn and I am thinking that my girls aren't going to understand, nor deserve, my grumpiness when one of their monitors awakes me soon. Plus it is my hubby's turn to sleep in, so I will be doing it solo. I pray now that they don't wake up at the same exact moment. Boy, those mornings are rough!

Jerry and I are trying something new. Since we attend church on either Saturday or Sunday evenings, we are taking turns letting one another sleep in on the weekend mornings. Today, I didn't crawl out of bed til 8:40. It was glorious. Especially since I went to be pretty early too...before midnight that is.

The goal is for whoever is getting up with the wee people, to jump up and turn off both monitors at the first peep heard. Then exit the room closing our door behind them...quietly. Take the kid or kids, if both noise makers are awake, down the stairs for morning milk and some form of quiet activity until the other parent climbs out of bed.

So far, this little routine has been awesome. Jerry just needs a little more training. He tends to linger in bed a little too long when the alarms...I mean monitors...start sounding. I think he is hopeful that they will fall back asleep. Not likely.

Anyways, I guess all that sleeping in this morning tricked my body into staying up way too late. But, due to this energy (and a 11PM latte), I have blogroll news!!! I finally got around to updating my blogroll. I'm excited that I procrastinated so faithfully too. I got to use Blogger's new Blog List feature...and it rocks. You can just upload your Google reader feeds...which I'm sure would be so easy...had I ever really used Google reader. I had to type mine in one by one, but it was still a snap. The best thing is that it shows the most recently updated feeds at the top.

Go check it out...it's over there on my side bar. If you are a commenter here...you are most likely on it. I have found some fun blogs through comments. I feel like I might be missing a few though. My favorite list is messed up...or maybe I saved some to favorites under my hubby's user name. I'm not sure. But if I missed you, or you would otherwise like to be added, just leave me a comment. And, when you are updating yours, I'd love to be added!

The ones with an asterisk next to the blog name are my "real life" friends. You know, the people that I've actually talked to...face to face. And the rest of you guys...it sure would be a privilege.

Thanks and goodnight. Good morning. Good morning is what I meant.

Skinny Mocha, I will miss you.

To me, each unnecessary carb I avoid equals a few less minutes of cardio for me to accomplish in the rare case I should make it to the gym.

So, I really try to avoid unnecessary carbs. One easy way to do that is in drinks. Coffee drinks. Even though I know even the ants won't eat fake sugar, and that it is bad for me, I just don't seem to notice the fake sugar taste when it is in a drink. In a dessert...don't even try to fool me. Unless that dessert is a grande flavored latte from Starbucks.

Until recently my order at the Starbucks drive through sounded something like this (after their way too friendly introduction of themselves):

I'm fine, thank you. No, I really don't want to try that today, I just want a tall, non-fat, sugar-free, hazelnut latte, with extra foam please.

A mouthful that I always had to think through before they offered me some weird drink of the month and threw me off kilter. God forbid if I had wanted it iced or with whip. Too many details to remember. And if I'm in the Starbucks drive through line at any time of day with two kids in tow...I don't need any extra stress.

Then those brainy people at Starbucks came up with a great idea. I guess they grew tired of us having to use so many words just to order a cup of coffee. The new word? Skinny. Yep, skinny. No longer "non-fat, sugar-free"...now all you have to say is "skinny". I just love that.

Then they added all these new sugar-free flavored syrups. Beyond vanilla and hazelnut. Flavors like mocha, cinnamon dulce and others. I quickly favored mocha.

But today when I went through to order my tall, extra foamy, skinny mocha, I heard this: We no longer have that ma'am. To which I said, "You are out of it?" No, sadly, it has been discontinued. Discontinued? Ugh.

Don't be fooled by the fact that it is still on the menu.

Thankfully Skinny Cinnamon Dulce comes in at a close second. I'm thinking that it is going to take many, many visits though to adequately readjust my taste buds.

Farewell, Skinny Mocha.