It's all about me, me, me!

For my milestone 5th post (ha ha!), 5 things (+15) you may not know about me, in no particular order:

1. I am a mom to two monkey boys.
2. I am a binge shopper.
3. I love diaper bags. When traveling on business I use a diaper bag instead of a briefcase.
4. I think I am thinner than I appear in pictures. Please tell me so.
5. I love to sing loudly in my car and dance wildly to 80's music.
6. My "theme song" right now is "It's my life" by Bon Jovi. It is also my ring tone on my phone. I am not ashamed to admit it. My love for 80's rockers (along with my sisters') is documented by Alisa.
7. I am the least funny sister and maybe the most bossy.
8. I hate Wal-Mart. I love Target.
9. When on vacation my plans revolve around where I want to eat.
10. I have trouble with daily technology use. For example, I don't know how to use most features on my phone and had to be tutored by my 15 year old niece. I also don't know how to load songs onto my iPod and am at Craig's mercy in music selection (even though he has tried to teach me several times).
11. My proudest achievement, other than having children, is running a marathon.
12. I love to make friends and am frequently over inclusive.
13. I read blogs but don't often comment (I know, that sucks!).
14. Getting a massage is one of my favorite things in the whole world.
15. I am a huge procrastinator. I think I will work on this, but never seem to get to it. Seriously.
16. I frequently do very embarrassing things, and can't help but share the stories. See this example. Now good blog fodder.
17. I am a partner in a law firm. This makes me feel like I should be older and more mature than I think I am.
18. I am intimidated by stylish dressers, and wish I was one.
19. I recently took up biking and am training for my first triathlon.
20. I love to read but am about 4 years behind on the latest and greatest.

There you go! Now if I meet you in real life (e.g. at blogapalooza) you can pretend we are lifelong friends.

American Crush

It is cliche, but I must share my thoughts on Idol. While I miss Matthew Johns (that hair!), I must declare my love for David C.- overdone 5 o'clock shadow and all. His voice really gets me (sigh). When Carly closes her eyes and reaches for the big notes, she looks like a rat pulling taffy out of her mouth. Great voice, but I can't get over that face, or her terrible stylist (last night excepted). Poor, poor Brooke. Loved her in the Carly Simon phase. Now when she pouts I want to grab her lips and squeeze them together. Jason I love as long as he isn't talking. That's all folks. I would post pictures, but am not sure how to do that without violating copyright restrictions.

Oh, and you know the saying, never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear? Because while you are cleaning your 5 year old son's ear and he moves suddenly, you just might puncture his eardrum? Yeah. True story. Mother of the year, right here.

(Please don't notice that my boys are sitting on the kitchen counter, or you might feel the need to report me to child protective services after my last two posts. I swear I was right there the whole time!)

A New Low

So this past week, I have had trouble coming up with blog-ideas. It seemed that before I started a blog, I had lots of funny stories and profound thoughts to share over my blog. So I start a blog, and .... nothing.

Then this past weekend, I had ideas! Lots of ideas! On Friday, I got to visit with my old friend Amy, whom I never (and I mean never) get to see. It was a last minute random chance event, and it was SO fun. So when Jack, Sam, and her daughter, Tessa, were racing down the neighbor's driveway on little plasma cars, laughing their guts out, I thought- this is perfect! I'll blog about it! Alas, no camera. Amy took a few pictures, but I won't hold my breath to see them (you know I love you, Amy!). We then took our 6 combined kids (4 are hers, 3 are triplets!) to Carl's Jr. with a playground for lunch and sat and chatted for hours. It was great.

On Saturday, Craig ran the SL Marathon and my dad ran the half-marathon, which generated new blog-ideas. I even took pictures.

(I could have posted a picture of Craig running, but wanted to prove I have a second son)

Saturday night we went to a birthday party for one of Jack's friends, and Sam tried to bring his girlfriend home with us. Definitely blog worthy. I also went to a late dinner with my friend Heather, who told me hilarious stories that should be published but I couldn't do justice in retelling them.

Yesterday was my brother, Phillip's (he prefers Phil) family birthday dinner. Since I am new to blogging, I realized that I should have done a b-day shout-out to my bro. Another blog-idea.

(Sam's outfit is for another post!)

Then before I had the chance to write any one of these fantastic post, I experienced a new low. And it was low. Those of you that know the real life me know that I have children who wander. Well, tonight, Jack convinced me that he needed to go to Wal-Mart to replace two favors from the birthday party that had already broken. Normally I would tell him tough luck, but since Sam broke one of them and Jack cried and cried, I agreed to replace them. The birthday boy told Jack that the favors came from Wal-Mart. So after dinner, there we are, in my most hated place on earth. The Dreaded Wal-Mart, or alternatively, Wal-Mart-He**, I call it. And the Wal-Mart by our house isn't even a nice Super Wal-Mart- it is old and yucky.

We are in the toy aisle, which is next to the bike rack. Jack and I are scouring the aisles for the replacement toys, while Sam is looking at the bikes. I think Craig is with Sam. Craig then joins us in the toy aisle, where we discuss the fact that the replacement toys are no where to be found. I ask him where Sam is. I don't know, he says. He walks back to the bikes, no Sam. He looks in the aisles around the bikes, no Sam. I thought he was with you! I cry, as I frantically start looking up and down the aisles, hollering Sam's name. Unfortunately, my running around like a crazy woman screaming Sam's name is not new to me. Thankfully, I have no shame. Craig has headed the other direction looking for Sam. I am running now, wondering if I should find a sales person to have the store locked down, and thinking that I will run into someone to help me as I am yelling my son's name.

And then I hear it... Attention, Wal-Mart shoppers, we have a lost little boy. He is about 2 years old, with longish brown hair. He is wearing a blue Champion shirt. Please come to customer service. SAM! Craig claims him, and asks where they found him. By the bikes, they say. My little wanderer didn't even wander off, he was just picked up! Fortunately it was by a diligent Wal-Mart worker and not a psychopath. This does not actually make me feel better.

And there it is, my new low. I lost my kid in Wal-Mart and they announced him as a lost child over the intercom system. I'm getting better at this blogging thing though- while I didn't think to take a picture of him at Wal-Mart, I did when we got him home. Here he is, oblivious to his narrow escape.


I didn't even get to purchase a copy of Juno with the special music CD extra. I just wanted to get out of there.

[On the blog-learning curve, please note the pictures in the posts. Someone please help me rotate them. Next, hyperlinks, courtesy of Shannan.]

Confession

Post #2, no accompanying picture. Here is the confession... I lied. I most like will break every blogging "rule" time and again. Too bad. Here is what I just learned. The button at the bottom of blogspot that says, "Now Blogger saves your drafts automatically!" also lies. You must push the Save Now button for that to happen. So you will never know the amazing and hilarious post that was previously drafted, only to be lost forever. Oh wait, it was actually saved as a draft, but my story is it was deleted and I'm sticking to it.

I did figure out how to post a picture with my darling 3 year old. I can't find a picture of me with both my sons, so it appears that I am playing favorites. As for the links, I posted a link to you if you are on my reader and I think you are amusing. If you don't want to be linked, just let me know. I'm not easily offended so don't worry about asking. Almost all of my links are somehow related to Paige. She is quite the connector. My blog is not yet "the cutest blog on the block" (apparently a site designed to help deficient bloggers like myself), but I need something to aspire to, right?

ETA: Thanks to my sis, Alisa, for the cute background! Next, hyperlinking...

Let the games begin!

Hello, internet! I have contemplated blogging for a while now, for a few reasons. One, my sisters all have blogs, and I can't stand to be left out. Two, my friend, Paige, keeps harassing me. Three, I plan to attend blogapalooza and feel sheepish about not having a blog, especially since I feel like I "know" many of the women who will be there and they don't know me. Lastly, I have random thoughts on about everything that I feel should be shared with the world, or at least with my sisters (who will no doubt be my most loyal, if only, readers).

For my first post, I need help figuring out the rules of blogging (to the extent they exist!) I expect that many will be explained to me by the Greenbaum gals.

1. Post often, preferably everyday, but at least every couple of days. I'll do my best on this one, but I am a huge procrastinator without a lot of free time. Which would explain why I am one of the last people on earth to attempt a blog.

2. Posts must contain a picture. This again might be a problem for me, but I'll do my best.

3. The blog must be public. I can already hear the complaints that would ensue if I attempted to make this private. However, I am somewhat paranoid, so you won't get to know everything about me and my family.

4. I can tell stories about my kids, but not every post can be about my kids. As a heads up, it is highly unlikely that you will see any "I am the luckiest woman on the face of the earth and absolutely fawn over my husband and children every moment and I lead the perfect life" posts. Just ain't me. Neither is saying "ain't".

5. Hyperlink whenever possible. I obviously haven't figured this one out yet.

6. Comment when reading others' blogs.

So, how did I do? What else do I need to know? For example, what are the rules on linking to other blogs in the sidebar? Do I link to everyone I know? People I like to read? People who comment on my blog?

You may sense that I plan to rebel against the blog rules. Not true, I am not that rebellious. But I do like to set expectations low so that I can meet or exceed them. I also like lists, and others' opinions on everything. So prepare to ante up! And expect to learn more about me next post.