Posts
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wordless Wednesday!
Which of course won't be entirely wordless since I have to keep training.
The Orangutan's pumpkin - carved by Daddy with close supervision from Mo and Munch.
S.M. Rhino's pumpkin - carved by Daddy with no supervision! Don't call it a Pirate! Mo will tell you quick fast and in a hurry that "it's the Jolly Roger!!"
Marmoset's pumpkin - carved by The Zookeeper!! My first attept at carving turned out pretty good wouldn't you say?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
This is Me Warming up my Typing Fingers
You are probably going to start seeing more typed posts from me. I mean Motherhood Means will continue but I have to start working out. Yes, I just referred to typing as working out. But let me explain and then I bet you'll start training too.
So Trisha and Co. over at MomDot (I have mentioned them only about a million times before!) are about to launch a HUGE, GINORMOUS, MASSIVE, GARGANTUAN blog party leading up to Christmas. I don't think you really understand this is going to be BIG.
Here's how it's going to work. The really awesome bloggers that I hang out with everyday over at MomDot are going to be blogging about different holiday related themes. Over at MomDot, Trisha is going to have a "cheat sheet" of where you can go to see the different perspectives on said themes. When you join us and blog too guess what? You get entered into the party. As with any party there are presents - REALLY cool presents if the Dyson vacuum is any indication!
What? You want more information you say? Well, then ckeck this out (pirated with permission from Trisha)
"In November, we are going to have a BLOG PARTY leading up to our Christmas of Dreams pull on Nov 28th to get everyone ready for Christmas.
The blog party will run from Nov 12-27th and will include some fabulous sponsors and fabulous prizes. We want to bring you to new blogs, participate in a few around the blogosphere games and topics, and highlight some online boutiques. Just meet up here every day during the blog party time to sign our Mr. Linky and we will be giving you lots of blogs to go to, lots of people to party with, and lots of prizes to win! By making it around the blogosphere to participating partying members, you will be exposed to new blogs, let people ‘meet’ you, and earn entries into our giveaways during that time. Only participating members of the Blog Party will be eligible for Blog Party prizes and we will do a mass draw at the end for everything we have and annouce all the winners at once on Nov 27th.
But at the end of the Blog Party, ON Nov 28th, we will be celebrating a Christmas of Dreams, where one person will walk away with an entire gaggle of items from sponsors like DYSON, Mutsy, and More! If you are a mom or a business that would like to be a part of our Blog Party or Christmas of Dreams, there is still time. Please email me directly at MomDot@live.com to secure your spot.
If you are a blogger that wants your blog highlighted during our blog party as a VIP place to visit, please contact me for info on that.
Ill be announcing all of our sponsors around Nov 1st so you can get geared up!
We will be THE place to be in November!! Two great events, One Big Party. Come celebrate how thankful we are to be a part of the blogging community in November with our First Blog Party (and we know how to party)."
So you want a piece of this right? Hop over to MomDot and grab the bloggy buttons to post in your side bar. Then start training! I would hate to miss an awesome party like this because of carpral tunnel or finger cramps!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Mom Tip #52
Plans are NEVER set in stone – even if you ARE the one who made them.
I think one of the biggest challenges of motherhood is being constantly and faithfully flexible while maintaining your sanity. You can plan a full day and an hour after announcing the plan, the whole smash is shot to pieces and you have to roll with it like the champ you are.
Take my day today. I got up this morning (after sleeping so fitfully on the couch with a teething baby all night) bright and early. The girls were cooperative while getting ready for church. The boys were still in bed but I had a brief conversation with L.M. Lion.
Me: So you are going to carve the pumpkins today, right?
Lion: Sure.Me: Would you pick up a newspaper when you go to get the carving kit while I’m at church? I want to check the sales before I go do the grocery shopping this afternoon.
Lion: I thought I was going to BJ’s (shopping club thing).
Me: When do you want to do that?
Lion: I’ll go tomorrow before I go to work.
Me: Awesome. But get a paper anyway because we need produce and some non-BJ’s stuff.
That settled the final plan was I go to church. I come home, drop off children and run to do grocery shopping while he has quality time with the zoo. I come home; he goes to watch football with his buddies. Then we have a nice family evening carving pumpkins at home.
I came home from church to two boys still in PJ’s, my kitchen trashed from pumpkin guts, no one has had breakfast and my paper has already been torn apart. But I am Mom. I can be flexible. So I scramble to restore order to the kitchen while stewing pumpkin, toasting seeds and making PB&J’s for lunch. I look up to see L.M. Lion in the kitchen door dressed to head to football. Huh? What about the grocery store? Take them with you. When they have been trying to kill each other all day? Not on your life! Well, you’ll work it out. Deep breath. I am Mom. I can be flexible.
Three hours later he comes home. You haven’t been to the grocery store yet? No. I was waiting for you to get home to watch the children. But I was going to go to BJ’s. I thought that was tomorrow morning! I decided to do it today. And you called to tell me when? Well, can you go so I can have the van? Not everything is going to fit in my car. I am Mom. I can be flexible. I grabbed Marmoset and out the door we went for a sprint through the grocery store.
I came home to no progress on the pumpkin front and L.M. Lion napping on the couch. Do I need to mention that BJ’s is happening tomorrow? Two of the three pumpkins got done and dinner was called on account of whiplash.
I am Mom. I can be flexible – just give me a little warning, would you?
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wow!
So I just look at my blog count and my Wordless Wednesday for today was #75. Do you know what that means? I am 24 (since I have to count this!) posts away from my 100th post!! Which means by Thanksgiving I will have hit 100!
In other news from the Zoo. Stay tuned. I took a page from Kadi's book (A Womb at the Inn(sane))and a page from MomDot's book and I am about to start a video blog (known as a vlog) called "Motherhood Means..." I'll still be posting the normal nonsense and brain junk that comes along but this is something I hope to burn to CD for Orangutan and Marmoset.
But the idea came from a contest that MomDot posted that Huggies is running. So yes, (insert brutally honest voice) I am going to try to win $30,000 dollars for my children. But in the meantime I thought you would be interested to hear my take. If you pop over to The Bowl you can tell me what motherhood means to you. I am looking for one word answers so don't think that you have to be eloquent or elaborate (thank you Roget's Thesaurus). Just leave me a word.
And the last little bite of Zoo News. I DID end up "launching" (in a puddle) the review blog yesterday - As Seen at The Zoo. You can see the Noodleboro review here and hopefully by the end of the day I will have another review up for your viewing pleasure. If my bloggy buddies have anything they would like to see me review you can drop a note to me at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com.
And I guess that answers that question. The most links I can fit in one blog is.....7! I'm getting better at this blogging thing!
Wordless Wednesday!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
A Moment of Brutal Honesty!
I am not sure if you are all aware or not but times are tough! Yeah I know! Newsflash from a moron! But I AM going somewhere with this so bear with me. Or move on - that's an option too.
Here is what I am saying. Go for the freebies. My daughter's best friend has a birthday this weekend and I had no gift or a ton of available funds to get a gift. So of course, I was stressing. Then a package arrived on my doorstep yesterday. A few months back I entered a contest on BlogHer. Sure enough I won, forgot that I had entered and suddenly yesterday my prize showed up. It is a write your own Pop Up book kit.
Can we say, "ROCK ON!!" Birthday party problem solved! And of course as always happens when out of the ordinary things happen to me I started thinking. Maybe I should become a product reviewer! Those people get freebies all the time. And usually they get something to giveaway too. So I would get free stuff that I can use, I would get to make people happy and I could drive traffic to any old site I wanted. This of course only happening if I am super successful at my reviewing and people start to look to me as the authority on Mom stuff!
It dawned on me that I have already done one review for Playskool for a Noodleboro game. In my researching to see what it takes to start a review blog, I came across some advice to review things that you already have in your home. I have plenty I could review!
So here I go. I am launching myself out into the world of product review blindly and hoping for some great goodies. It won't be on The Zoo's page however. But there is going to be a link both here and at The Bowl if you want to know what my opinions are.
Wish me luck! And send free stuff!!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Mom Tip Mini for the Men out There
When you see a woman pushing an overloaded shopping cart with two children in it, her shopping bags and purse hanging off it while the one hand has a tight grip on a large bottle of laundry detergent, do NOT refer to her as "SuperMom" and laugh hysterically.
You are not funny. And should you even think about smirking in her direction as she pushes the cart to the car while 2 bag boys follow her with 2 more carts, be prepared for the laundry detergent to make rapid and repeated impact with your head and various other carefully selected body parts.
Sorry I have to go. The guard is telling me that my internet time is up. I have to go put my huggy jacket back on now.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Mom Tip #51
If you give a mom a grocery list, be ready to give her a cookie.
Did I mention that the Zoo has had 2 touring exhibits this week? Yeah well, we have. Needless to say it had been an interesting week. Which could explain a lot about this tip.
On my To Do list yesterday were three little words that I dread. “Make grocery list.” Ugh. But I pulled up my big girls and got to work.
If you give a mom a grocery list, she will write a few things on it. Then she will open the pantry to see what else is running low. In an effort to check the sugar, she will end up cleaning out and organizing the entire pantry only to learn that she is OUT of sugar. So she’ll write that on the list. She will then decide to check the other spices.
While in the spice cabinet (which she will also clean out and organize) she will remember that she has not taken anything out for dinner. She will go to the freezer to take something out and will start to stare blankly at the half gallon of rocky road ice cream. As water begins to drip from the ice maker she will snap out of it and run for the mop.
As long as she has the mop out, she will decide that this is a good time to mop the kitchen floor. Only when she opens the cabinet she will notice that she is very low on cleaning products. She should put those on the grocery list. The grocery list!!
She will try to focus and will open the next cabinet in line – the canned good cabinet. Can anyone say clean out and organize? As she writes tomatoes on the list she will remember seeing a coupon for tomatoes in the Sunday paper.
Two hours later after clipping, sorting, and filing coupons, she will try to remember what she was doing in the first place. Instead she will put away the (still dry) mop and switch out the laundry.
Then she will sit down and have a cookie. After all, she earned it! She’s been working hard!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Mom Tip Not so Mini
Contrary to what Wikipedia says, I think Murphy was a mom, not a scientist.
I had to run by CVS today before we went to pick up Mo from school. We popped in I grabbed what I needed and we got in line at the register. Of course this is when Murphy's Law kicked in.
You know how SM Rhino refuses to potty train? That only applies if we are somewhere that has an easily accessible restroom for customers. CVS doesn't have one of those. "But Mom I think the peeps are gonna come out!!! Stay peeps! Stay!!" Why not? I have no dignity left; let it rip son!
So I pay for our purchase, rush out the door and toss it in the van and then start to sprint up the hill to the Starbucks with an 18 mo old on one hip and three year old in the other hand. Whew! We made it! Thank goodness because that in the back of my van would have been truly Murphy.
Of course I'm the only person in Starbucks aside from the three baristas on duty and the store manager over there in the corner. My guilt gets the better of me and I make up a reason to buy a coffee cake - after all we did just come in here and use their potty. The darling barista behind the counter offers us some hot chocolate samples and makes sure that Rhino is holding his. I turn for the briefest of moments to pay for the coffee cake and Rhino drops his chocolate. Not just on the floor but in his shoes.
Understand this about Rhino. He doesn't do messy very well. Playing in the dirt is fine but getting something wet and sticky on him is an absolute no no. Remember how I said I had no dignity? Yeah, well, any that was left vanished when he started a full blown melt down right there in the middle of Starbucks. Now I have to figure out how to clean both feet and the inside of his shoes before he'll even think about moving from his soggy chocolate puddle.
And NOW someone else walks in. Where was she three minutes ago? If she had been here I would have slipped unnoticed out a side door and skipped the whole bathroom rental coffee cake! She of course was offered a chocolate too. As I finally got it together I rounded up my coffee cake, my children and a chocolate.
The only problem is that I don't think that was my chocolate.
Oh yeah. Murphy was definitely a Mom.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wordless Wednesday
For all their ruckus sometimes, I still think Orangutan and Rhino will end up best of friends.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Mom Tip #50
Just because you knew where it was five minutes ago, doesn’t mean you still know where it is.
When did moms become a GPS system? Is it part of mom gear that I received upon giving birth and I just failed to recognize my upgrade?
There is a commercial for a refrigerator (Sorry marketing people. If you were trying to make your brand name stick you missed your mark.) in which everyone is calling Mom asking her where x, y and z are. I would rather not assume that I am speaking for every woman in the world who has children, but I am pretty darn sure that the vast majority of us HATE that commercial!
Sadly, this is a real page from life as a mom. Where’s my phone? Where are my shoes? Have you seen my screwdriver? Where is my snack? Where did my book go? Have you seen my backpack?
The answers in order are, on the charger in the kitchen. I have to be specific because even though the charger has been in the same place for six months doesn’t mean the follow up, “And where is the charger?” question won’t be asked. Your shoes are in the playroom where you took them off. The screwdriver is in the garage on the shelf beside the clippers where you left it. You ate your snack so it’s in your belly. Your book is under your bed where you hid it from your brother. Your back pack is in the car waiting for you to get moving for school.
But then there are the moments when YOU the Mom need something. It is never where you left it! My hairbrush which I left in the bathroom drawer was behind the living room couch; my toothbrush was under my bed – thank you Munch; and my shoes were out on the deck because why wouldn’t they walk out of the closet on their own? And if you ask where something is you get, “Uh dunno.” Do they get up and help you look? No. Do they remember when they had it last? Of course not. Is there a point in even asking? Nope!
You are now saying to yourself, “I wonder what started this rant.” Just a few minutes ago I came to the computer to check my e-mail only to pull out the keyboard shelf and have my keyboard missing. Just when you think you know where you left it…
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Mom Tip #49
If you are a mother to toddlers or a dog, there is absolutely no point in cleaning.
Anything. Ever.
And before you start to think that we must live is the nastiest house on the block, know this. Knowing this tip does not prevent a mom from doing it anyway. I just wanted you to all know that it is pointless except for the brief thirty seconds you get to stand back and look at your handiwork.
Indulge me in an illustration if you will. I cleaned up the playroom yesterday. All the toys were in their proper bins. The puzzles were put together and stacked nicely. I even ran the vacuum and got up all the popcorn remnants from Sunday’s movie fest. I went upstairs to put away the vacuum and came back to the office only to look over at the playroom.
A bag of saltines had exploded into a million bits, pieces and crumbs. I refrained from asking who did it because I knew that it happened spontaneously without any help from an outside force. A box of dominoes had scattered itself across the room and the coloring books had launched themselves off the shelf. I sighed and buried myself in email.
I mopped my kitchen floor yesterday too. No more Velcro sounds as I walked across the floor in my bare feet. No more fruit fly cloud erupting from under the dishwasher. The lemony scent wafted through the house – for 2 hours. Then the exterminator came to do the annual termite inspection (We are clear. Thank you for asking!) and decided to play ball with the dog in the part of the yard where he had just watched me water new flowers. Then of course the dog needed a drink from? That’s right sports fans! The kitchen! And since I was wiping up after him when the inspection was done, guess where Mr. Muddy Shoes came for me to sign off on the inspection.
And it goes beyond house work. Wipe a nose and I promise within twenty-four seconds you will be doing it again. Clean a butt and less than nine minutes later, you will smell something funky that you just can not bring yourself to believe.
Congratulations Mom! You have the most secure job in any economy!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The Zoo got a Bear!
We had a guest the past two days. Barney came home from OAT with The Orangutan on Monday and has been going everywhere and doing everything with us. 
