Giveaway W....Wi....WINNER!!!!!!!!

Congrats to the winner of the General Mills Movie & Cereal Package...

Unknown Mami is our lucky gal.

Here's a little info about our winner:

I am a bilingual Latina mother, wife,and actor in my late 30's and live with my Unknown Husband and daughter, "Put Pie", in San Francisco, where I take care of my daughter, work from home, work outside of the home, and go on auditions.

Unknown Mami is great, but I especially love her picture:

Is it cool if I steal someones profile pic? I think it should be...apologies if not.

Check out the....um....eyes on that lady! She's beeeee-utiful, eh?

On a side note: at the bottom of her blog it says, Si Se Puede!! That means Yes we can in espanol for you non-spanish-literates. I love that saying better in spanish.

I really love the spanish verb puedo. You can do so much with it!, lo siento no puedo hablar espanol is one of my favorites (I'm sorry, I don't speak spanish). Or: no puedo bailar contigo (i can't dance with you). Or: Se puede comer pollo todos los dias! (we can eat chicken every night!).
It's really easy to say a lot of things in spanish just by that one verb! Did I mention: no puedo hablar espanol? Si, es verdad.

ANYWAY....Unknown Mami, winner, blahblah, Congrats!!!

She's a great blogger, go check her out!


Thanks for playing folks...stay tuned - I have another giveaway coming up on Sunday! Two back to back giveaways? I know, it's getting Crrraaaaaazy ovah here! Hollah!!

(note to self - spellcheckers highligher has a stroke if you type in half english/half spanish.)

Thanks to MyBlogSpark and General Mills for sponsoring this giveaway!

RTT - Started Out Strong, But Then it Got Ugly.Thanks Jerry Falwell for Ruining Tuesday

It's Tuesday, and that means I have the license and permission of the internet (or at least Keely and her friends) to just type random thoughts.

I have a flannel shirt I have owned since my son was almost four. As we learned yesterday, he is now 17. That makes this particular flannel shirt 13 years old. THIRTEEN years old!! It's frayed around the edges and now it has a slight hole in the elbow area. I love it. It's super-comfy (it used to be SUPER big and baggy but is now just about the right size....clothes shrink over time right? I mean, not me of course---but clothes do). I've had it for so long, it's like comfort food but without the calories.

I remember when I bought it and my very-soon-to-be-ex-husband told me he hated it and it looked a bit "white-trash"-ish. That made me love it even more. He hates it? Perfect-it's my new favorite shirt. But now it looks like it might be coming to an end. It will be a sad day when we say goodbye....there might need to be a sacrificial burning of the flannel to the flannel gods to say a respectful goodbye. I'll keep you posted.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving to get here so I can have some super-yummy garlic mashed potatoes with chives. I don't even need to eat anything else but mashed potatoes, the family corn casserole, and creamed peas. Thanks pilgrims for feeding the Indians before you killed them all and took over their land so we can celebrate with a feast!!

I've laid the law down with my 17-year old and let him know that I don't want to be the party house where all his friends go to be with their girlfriends....so the new rule is that only two kisses are allowed between any two people, they cannot last longer than 48 seconds each kiss and they do not get more kisses if they step out of the house and come back in. I think that's realistic - and I gave a freebie as well - one kiss goodbye at the door, lasting no more than 14 seconds. Rules are rules!! I'll be sure to let all his friends know as well. I might just crochet this on a few pillows and place them sporadically around the house....

TMI for the month: One time I ate almost an entire package of Oreos in a 48-hr period and my poop was black for three days. I haven't eaten Oreos since then.

I don't have to work Friday!! Yay!!!

I'm reading a book about Jerry Falwell and his college....it's scary, and sad, and absurd. I'll write more on it when I'm done. But just know that I am not one of "Jerry's Kids." Not at all!!! Remember how two days after we had a national tragedy, forever known by the date it happened, September 11th.....and the country was in shock and disbelief....Jerry Falwell went on the 700 Club and said he"viewed the attacks as God's judgment on America for "throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked." The host, Pat Robertson agreed with him, praying ""We have sinned against Almighty God, at the highest level of our government, we've stuck our finger in your eye," said Robertson. "The Supreme Court has insulted you over and over again, Lord. They've taken your Bible away from the schools. They've forbidden little children to pray. They've taken the knowledge of God as best they can, and organizations have come into court to take the knowledge of God out of the public square of America."

Doesn't that make you need to vomit??? Me too......I'm going to vomit. Right now. Here I go....

Guess Whose Birthday is TODAY??!!!

Not mine - even BETTER ---it's my baby's day today!!

The good moms out there probably plan a wonderful, glowing, loving and heartfelt letter to their children on their birthday.
We can't all be good....however - let's all wish me a happy anniversary of giving birth.

Oh - And a HUGE Happy Birthday to the light of my life, my one and only, my first and best, the greatest and most wonderful son I could have ever hoped for.....

ANDREW!!!

Andrew was a great baby...as far as babies go, I mean. He cried when he needed to, but luckily, he had this logic streak in him from year 5 and on. He was easy to deal with because he accepted logical answers.

Andrew loved to read from the start, which is how I knew he wasn't switched at birth. There was nothing greater than cuddling up in bed with my 4 year old and having him toddle in with so many books he could not see around them and plan to spend a few hours just reading. We would alternate between us reading together and us reading our own books (which usually consisted of him telling a story around the pictures in the book and me reading my own book -mothers learn early on how to block out noise!).


He's also always had a love for all things furry and feathered. He's had a heart of gold and is sweet as can be...and if dogs didn't smell and jump and lick everyone, I would totally have fulfilled his forever-wish/whine/demand/pleas to get him a dog, cause I know he would just love to have one (and he's welcome to find his own when he moves out in 2 yrs!).



He's got a great smile and a wonderful laugh and it has been my favorite sound for the last 17 years.














He has been a great travel-partner, a wonderful companion, a joy to be around at least 90% of the time (he is still a child!). I just love him to pieces!!!



I bought this Happy Birthday sign for his first birthday - best $20.00 I have spent as it has been our primary birthday decoration for 16 years (we did not take it to Korea with us so I had to make a homemade sign that year). Every year I get a picture of him and his friends and/or family in front of it. Some day I will be organized enough to compile all those photos and it will be a nice watch-him-grow collage. Next year might be a good time to do that, as I'm not sure I can get him to stand in front of this sign after he goes off to college.

Andrew in the front.

Andrew on the far left.

He does wacky and crazy faces, poses, behaviors, and sounds.
He asks hilarious questions (is cheese a vegetable?).
He's a great singer (though won't do so on command), he can play a mean guitar (sigh...more guns-n-roses? Really?).
He is persistent about making sure his hair is in exactly the right spot ALL the time.
He is not enormously smelly, considering he's a boy.
He is a great person to play board games with - though he consistently tells people I cheat (and I don't have to - I'm just REALLY good).
He does ridiculous things (like training his cat to lay down).
He can't pick up his socks to save his life. Wait...edit that last one.
He's super-amazingly smart and great at figuring out ways to get A's in almost all his classes without having to stress out all night over homework.
He has been grilling since he was 14 and has done better than any child ever should - he makes his own marinade and is great about washing his hands while cooking (the moms out there can appreciate this!).
I could go on....but the moral of the story is: Andrew is WONDERFUL.

And he's mine all mine!!

Happy 17th Birthday to my baby boy!!!!!!!!!!

Little Clansmen, Bugs Trapped In Machines and Lazy Writing

There's this great little place called SCRAP in North Portland (or NoPo as many lovingly call it), and you can go there and find a wealth of recycled mish-mash: paper, matting, yarn, fabric, plastic thing-a-bobs, and holiday decorations, just to name a few of the items. If you are really crafty, or have small children who like to create things (don't all kids do this), then this is THE place to go.

Things are mega-cheap there, like the large gift bag I got for a quarter, or an entire roll of designer-style wrapping paper for a buck. I get used cd's there for 25cents for an inch thick of them (like 30 maybe) - they are great for my holiday ornament project. And ribbon - who doesn't need ribbon?? But you don't want or need a full thing of ribbon, then this is perfect-you can get the leftovers of someone else for just a small amount...

Anyway, SCRAP gives me a small donation each month for supplies for my volunteer project. They are awesome. I can get some great supplies to supplement my volunteer donations and never need to buy anything myself. Love it, right?

Young Natalie and I went to the new SCRAP store in NoPo yesterday. It's kinda like a garage sale in many ways--it's just a hodge-podge of stuff, some of which are just thrown in bins and you have to dig through. Prices are not always clear and you never really know what you find. This month they had some huge boxes of blank airline ticket paper to be printed on. And big heavy signs that say WebPulse - you can buy these and cover them with a personal picture of some sort and it would be cheaper than having it made professionally - AND you are saving the earth by helping recycle-bonus!!

So we found a bunch of stuff - Xmas decorations are out. I got some ornaments, a little holiday tree that is perfect for some miniature ornaments I bought at a school fundraiser 5 years ago (yes, five-never been used), and a bunch of random things for the holiday ornament project next month.

AND - I stumbled upon this little guy in one of the bins - someone please tell me that this is not the type of character that it looks like:

I went to the drive-through ATM at my bank yesterday and saw this:
It's a creepy-crawly bug, right.....but what's really special about him, and what isn't necessarily visible in the picture, is that he is INSIDE the ATM machine. I put my hand up to see if it was real-it was--and he crawled a little when I touched the screen. How is this possible????

The weekend is almost over, and alas, I will have to go to work tomorrow.


Oh - and did you notice how incredibly frequently I'm blogging?? It probably feels like I'm blogging all day, every day, right? Yeah, it does to me sometimes. I'm taking part in the NaBloPoMo tradition and posting a blog post every day for the month of November. It's my second year partaking in the fun. It's a good way to get motivated to write. It's really just for the lazy people who can't step up and join in with the National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo.
I'd love to write a novel, maybe next year I'll try it. I think I would need to have a time restraint on my novel like this provides, otherwise I might just procrastinate on doing so (as I have done the last 10 years).

Good Morning, Saturday!!

Nothing better than going for a crisp walk first thing in the morning....and then an hour later, snuggling down on the couch watching a big thunderstorm roll through!

I Am Not Sweating, Sticky, or Smelly

Remember Puerto Vallarta?


Remember wanting to take cool showers twice a day?


Remember wishing the air-conditioning could go to a temperature colder than "More Cool"

Remember wanting to change your clothes every 6 hours but pacing yourself because you only had so many clothes to wear over the span of a week?

Those are just memories....because this is where I am now:

I am okay with the cooler temperatures, and I like a bit of rain (I really like not having to water my grass), but at some point I want to be dry. At least for a little bit.

I think the worst part of the rain is having the bottom edge of my pants wet. Yeah, that's not fun. Why hasn't something been invented to fix this?? Like a hand dryer, but for your pants! And you would put it just inside the door to your company and as someone comes in from the torrential downpour that is my existence for 5 months out of the year, they would just stick their foot under it, the pants would be fairly dry within 20 seconds and people would be happy and workplace tensions would be decreased.

How can I be expected to work with wet pant legs???

And don't think you can steal this idea and patent it - cause this post is dated and that serves as a legal date of idea generation and I can and will sue you if you start profiting from this idea!!!

The One Where I Don't Discuss Ft. Hood, Texas

Scary things going on these days.
I actually have an old friend who is stationed at Ft. Hood. I haven't spoken to him lately but I know that Ft. Hood is a HUGE place and the odds that my friend was anywhere near that mess on this particular day is low, right?

Right.

I don't want to discuss it, as I'm sure the rest of us are feeling just as overwhelmed with it as with any tragedy, being played out over and over in the news all day and night and probably will be for the next week, month, 3 months, maybe more...especially since the shooter lived and now we'll have to have a trial and all that.

It's so sad. I know there are so many families hurting and grieving....it's sad. That's all.
But I don't want to discuss it.

Back to Anderson Cooper....

**Update: Heard from my friend - he's fine!!**

If You Aren't Ready For The Responsibility of a Tail....Don't Pretend to Be a Cat

I think it's no secret that I love cats. I might someday be a creepy cat lady....maybe.
So it's logical that for Halloween, I wore cat ears and a clip-on tail.

It was a cute tail - very fluffy, full of energy.....it was adorable. I wore it to my volunteer event and would have worn it to the store and then the rest of the night...

If not for this tragic tale:

I forgot I had the tail on when I went to the loo....and sat down (as girls do) and didn't think twice to just pee away to my hearts content.

Until I stood up and realized that my tail, attached to my jeans, had flopped INTO the toilet. The toilet that I had just urinated into...

And I was a cat no more.

Come on - like you haven't peed on a tail before???

Feel free to comment below and share your embarassing urination stories. Unless they involve alcohol--cause everyone has those stories and yours won't be special.