In honor of this holiday

Many of you that are OLD ENOUGH remember the hair commercial that sang "I'm gonna wash that gray right out of my hair". And while I still do need to do that this week, in honor of TODAY, I am going to claim a different hair commercial. I am going to throw back my hair, say "Don't hate me because I am beautiful" and laugh in the direction of midlife crisis. Happy birthday to me!

This is the week.

Remember me blogging earlier about turning 35 and being a bit freaked out over it a bit? Well, it happens. Wednesday to be specific. But I will be accepting gifts all week.

Messy house mortification

So yesterday, friends of ours were dropping something off at our house immediately after church. Barry and I had come up with a plan on the way home from church to force them to stay and have lunch. This was a completely impromptu thing, which the practice of is a bit archaic I realize, but nonetheless, we thought it would be fun and are always up for guests in our home. Now, when we got home I remained in the kitchen the entire time, getting my kids fed, deciding what I might feed our potential guests from the barren refrigerator and looking out the window so we didn't miss them (they were possibly just going to "drop and run" since they were afraid of Barry and his reaction to another large object entering the house). So, when they came buy we cajoled, forced, bribed, and bound them with ropes to stay and have lunch. Brunch. Whatever. So anyway, I drummed up some waffles and omelets. It's true, I messed the waffles up a little bit and they were a bit chewy. And we were limited on syrup, so everyone had to "ration". So the omelets probably weren't the greatest either- Barry always makes fun of my brown eggs. But hey, we had friends over and were enjoying every minute of it. At that point, I hadn't even cared that they had to step over the 12 toys that the kids immediately got out as soon as we had gotten home from church. I can't help it that the toy room is in the middle of the house, right? So as I said, we were blissfully enjoying our guests.

Until.

Until I went upstairs to get something and saw what was spewing out of my bedroom. See, we had been away from the house literally since Friday afternoon. We spent Friday night overnight in Philly with the kids, Saturday afternoon at the Please Touch museum and then Saturday night, I went straight from the turnpike to a friends house and Barry to a guys night. I rolled in Saturday night at 11:30. I got undressed in a pitch black bedroom after tripping over the suitcase that was on the floor. My clothes lay in a heap, the suitcase lay next to it, and then Sunday morning with the rush to get to church, the zillions of pillows from the unmade bed lay on top of the suitcase...and the pile of night-before clothes. So, what was spewing out of the bedroom was a THREE FOOT HIGH pile of...well, crap. Pillows. Clothes. Suitcases. Mold. Who knows. And what can you see AS SOON AS YOU TURN TO GO TO THE BATHROOM????? That pile of crap. LOVELYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. And of course, they had all gone to the bathroom. There was no way they wouldn't have seen the creature lurking at the end of the hall.

So now, our dear friends, whom we enjoy thoroughly, think we are sloven nasty creatures and will never return. No matter how much rope we use to bind them.

Ah well. All in a day.

Ok smartie pants. YES, we had to pay them stay and have lunch with us. We are desperate for good friends. What can we say?

New "illness" in my children

It's called "Sudden Onset Early Morning Waking". I am not the least bit pleased about this new development. Not one bit.

From the A.I. junkie...

All I have to say is....Antonella? Is voting America on hallucinogens?

A word from the A.I. junkie...

Side note: I am so cool that I call American Idol, "A.I.", just so you catch on to my lingo. (Haha!)
So, here I am, anxiously awaiting the start of A.I. in an hour. Yes, its "kickoff" night- the first week of call in voting. The guys sang one night and the girls sang another night. And YES, ok? I DID try and call and vote, but I didn't get through. So, its going to have to happen without me. Anyway anyway, the girls were wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than the guys this week. I thought it would be the opposite, but I'm not getting paid to be right, so whatever. The girls rocked the town. I would have voted for 8 of them, had I been able to get through. The guys- well, I hadn't tried to vote that night, but I would have voted for - well- just a few. So, here's the skinny on my thoughts.

Who needs to get the heck out of here:
Antonella. Bye bye. Never should have made it. Sorry babe, if you are reading my blog. You might be sweet, but your singing isn't up to par.
The dog walker, Leslie. Back to the doggies for you sweetie. I needed a sedative to watch you.

Who I love at the current moment, knowing of course that this could change:
Well, shoot. Many of the girls. Lakeisha "Everyone else should pack up and go home", Melinda "the quiet, shy, insecure master of vocals", Stephanie "the first up last night", Sabrina "the curly curly curly haired, yowsa singer", Gina "girl with the 'tude and piercings", Nicole "girl from Philadelpia with the strange song, but great singer", Jordin "the perky 17 year old" Blake "the beatboxer", Phil the "baldie that doesn't work as bald".

Who is leaving:
Antonella, Leslie, Rudy and Paul or AJ Tabaldo.

That's it for now!

(melodic 80's tune) "Should it stay or should it go now?"

Yes, I am referring to my hair color. Many, many of you have noticed that my hair is darker right now. Yes, and a bit curlier too. I am embracing my natural curl at the present time. I hear it's in style in Hollywood for '07, so if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. So, Linberger decided yet again NOT to hack off the hair, and embrace the length and (somewhat) curl. So indeed, my hair is darker than usual and curlier than usual. Today anyway. So here is the question I pose to the bloggers of the world reading this right now- those that care- and those that know what I am talking about.... Should it stay dark? The gray is popping through ever so nastily, so I am going to be coloring again shortly. Should it remain dark, or should it go back to a lighter brown, or hey, should I go some other color? When you live a life of a little over the top, your hair could be any color at any time. Embrace the gray, you say? Um, no. That's not my best color. So, I'll go with something else. Stay tuned. And vote if you please. Since I"m in the voting mood, what with American Idol going on and all. But that's another post. For later.

Exciting times of a SAHM

Exactly what am I hoping for when I go to the mailbox with excitement and anticipation every morning?

Child labor laws?

Do child labor laws count if they are your own children? Antonio, take care of the driveway, would ya? And Gabriella, take care of the steps. Thanks. I'll just be inside sipping my hot choccy.

Box of chocolates

It is said that "Life is like a box of chocolates". I propose that for mothers of young children, life is more like a box of hand grenades. All can be quiet and unassuming and you open the box and KABLAM! You don't even know what hits you.

Take this morning for instance. Yes, its only 8:48 and this can be said. If you are a mom, you know what I am talking about. You hear the cherub chitter chattering in the crib at 6:30am (is this REALLY my child chattering at this hour??!! Does she not know me??!!) Anyway, all seems well. You begin to open the box and go get her out of her crib and bring her into the bed with you. You have pulled the grenade out, but apparently the pin still remains intact. In comes your son after a few more minutes (really, do these kids know what they are doing to me at this hour??!! haha!) Evidently the pin gets loosened, because the grenade begins to percolate. Crabiness begins out of seemingly nowhere. The unhappiness continues until the pin is pulled out in the bathtub and KABLAM!!!!!! KABLAM!!!! KABLAM!!! What has just hit you? Your child is screaming and screaming and screaming and for evidently no apparent reason. The other grenade isn't even bothering her.

You look into the box of grenades and you see many others and fear for your life the rest of the day. Yes, life is like a box of grenades. Some of them are duds and never go off. But when you open that box, beware! You can't be sure which ones will blow and which ones won't. Life is like a box of grenades. You never know what you're gonna get.

Survived and even thrived!

I did it, I did it! I dropped off BOTH of my children this afternoon to be babysat- at my dad/stepmom's house. We have been making baby steps with Gabriella - taking her to nursery at church; left her home with a sitter last week and NOW, now the BIG one. Took her someplace to be watched AND put to bed at their house. And we all made it! We all survived and guess what?! Even thrived. I had a great time- and the children did fine too! (well, poor son was crying up in their bed, but hey, it can't all be perfect I guess!) Well hey, this mom is making progress! Pat on back, pat on back. :) Next step, an overnight. Ok, let's not push it.