Dance Monkey Boy!

You know those people that stand on the corner with a sign and dance around?

Yeah, me too.

Have you ever noticed that you hardly ever notice what the sign even is? And even if you WANTED to know what the dancing sign person was dancing for, they're moving around so much you can't even see the sign anyway.

Mostly I just look at the person and laugh. I especially like the ones that are really dancing and they think they look so cool. I can just see some teenager's thinking on this one:

"Hey, look at that guy dancing on the corner, yeah, the guy with the sign! Dude, I dance waaaaay better than he does! AND I'd get paid to do it! Thats like the easiest/bestest job in the WHOLE WORLD!!"

I honestly think the company is wasting their money because I personally have never gone into a place because of a dancing sign person, so it can't possibly be working.

But hey, they sure are entertaining when you're stuck at a light!

p.s. Do you have your halloween costumes ready? I don't have a single one done and haven't even started! Yikes, gotta get on it! But I do have the idea all ready, so hopefully they'll come together quick. What are you doing this year?

Dream Swap

Do you all remember a few months ago me talking about my "DREAM TEAM" and doing package swaps? Well, if you don't I guess you'll have to dig through my archives because I have a raging sinus headache and this is just going to be as good as it gets. So anyways, we decided after such a busy summer and not doing package swaps that we wanted to do a sort of "mini" swap. Where the budget was smaller ($5) and it had to fit in one of those like 8x10 envelopes. Michelle had my name, and her package couldn't of come on a better day! I was having a bad day and there's nothing like cheering up like a nice gift from a great friend! Here's what I got!:

Isn't she awesome?! YES, yes she is.

This is what I pulled out of my envelope:

A sweet note, and two pairs of halloween socks! (I have worn them both already, much to my kids jealousy!)

Cute halloweeny dish towels, they are up along with my other halloween decorations!

And not pictured was a cute sticky notepad tucked sneakily in those towels.

I love these ladies! They are so amazing and make me so happy, they surely know how to make a gal feel good! Thanks to my Dream Team for being so fantastic!

(Are you satisfied Sheryl? I looooooove you!!)

Dream Weaver

I posted a VERY long time ago about my husband talking in his sleep. Since we first got married, he has talked in his sleep and it is always--ALWAYS--funny! And after so many years I finally wised up and recorded it. :) If you're a Facebook friend, I posted this on there awhile ago, but I thought I should share this with you guys here, because you are TOTALLY missing out! So here it is, and please enjoy:

One More Reason I Can't Clean

I just recently found this blog called Hyperbole and a Half and even though she swears every once in awhile, I think she's HYSTERICAL. Like I think I'm in love with her a little bit.

Anyway, I thought it would be a funny change up from regular 'just writing' posts, so this is my take with her style on what happened to me earlier today:

Let me set it up for you, my kids were watching tv.

This is what they looked like:

I needed to vacuum. I warned them before I did it that I was going to vacuum. I was going to be turning the vacuum on RIGHT NOW.

This is what ensued afterward from my son:

Turn the vacuum off.

Turn it back on.

Screaming, running in circles, running from one end of the room to the other whilst screaming.

So if you come to my house and my floors need vacuuming, you will know why it hasn't been done.

Adventures In Babysitting

I don't know why bad things happened to me when there was a babysitter around, but when I reflect on some of my babysitting days, I can think of a few too many sad stories.

Like that one time when my brother got upset that I ate the last of the ice cream (maybe I took it from him? Small detail really) and he chased me down the hall and knocked me down and sat on me and proceeded to STRANGLE me. Yes. Thats right, he choked me. Hands around the neck, head knocking back and forth. Me going "ugh, ugh, ugh!" My sister crying in the corner. It was lovely.

One time my Grandpa babysat us and although I have a wonderful grandpa and I love him, somehow we weren't quite meshing that night. I don't remember what he yelled at me for (I'm sure I was completely misunderstood and had done NOTHING wrong) but I DO remember the crying. And making sure that the tears stayed on my cheeks as I went to bed so that my parents could see them when they got home that night and feel AWFUL that their sweet daughter had been so mistreated.

I started babysitting when I was twelve and believe you me, I made LOTS of mistakes. I'm not going to share them because I wouldn't want child protective services called, which is why I NEVER want a twelve year old to babysit my kids.

The end.

Up and Down

Dudes, I want to crawl up in bed with a good book, fall asleep and not get up for a LONG time. I am SO TIRED. I already have sleep problems but I've been getting even less rest than usual. I think. What if this is normal?! What if I NEVER get any sleep for the rest of my life?! Kill me now.

Honestly, I think I'm going to clean my house, take a shower, put a movie on for my older kids and then go take a nap with the baby. Can I do it?! I hate napping but I'm so exhausted I don't think I can take much more.

Also, I have to get this off my chest. I'm sick of people. And drama. And crap. Why do I let things bother me so much?! Why do I take everything to heart?! Gosh darn it, I just want to be happy! Every day I resolve to let things go and not let things bother me and EVERY day I do that, something comes up to throw me! And I'm over it, I'm not doing it any more, I'm just going to let people do their own crap and I'm going to be happy! And tired. And just a teeny bit whiney.

Here's what happened the other night--I was at my parents' for a family birthday party, with my aunt and uncle and cousins' and their spouses and all that. One of my cousin's got married last year to a girl I sometimes don't know how to read very well. She's pregnant right now and said she wanted to have a natural birth so I lent her my hypnobirthing book. I went to talk to her about it that night, but before I could say anything, she tapped her glass next to her and told me to get her some water. Now the thing is, if ANYONE said "Hey Melinda, could you grab me a glass of water?" I would be HAPPY to do it and would think nothing of it, but the way she did it was like I should serve her because she's pregnant (and not even HUGE pregnant, I would even understand that a little more) and the attitude behind it was SO RUDE. I was pretty mad. Of course, I got her some water and of course I didn't say a dang thing because I'm stupid, but then we had to go home after that because I was...upset. (Also this isn't the first time she's had me "serve" her so it builds up. One time they showed up late to a get together and all the ice cream was put away and she told me to get it out and scoop her some. Rude.) More than anything though, I'm upset with myself for being upset! I know, I'm insane. Today, its more funny to me than it is upsetting, but I'm sad at myself for letting it bother me (and also for not saying something at the time). Bah. I'm working on it.

On a happy note, I made something I'm excited about this weekend. You know those "keep calm and carry on" signs? No? Here's an example:

Pretty cute normally right? Well, I made one for ME, that matches ME. :) Here it is:

Its huge and fun and I love it! I got the frame from the Goodwill for $10 and I painted it turquoise, then took the picture out, flipped it over and painted it. Now I need to hang it, exciting!

What did you do this weekend? And how do you get over people's stupid crap that isn't just stupid but affects you? I NEED TO KNOW!

So What If I Dance Around in My Living Room?

In my living room, leading out to the backyard is a huge glass sliding door. There's a karate studio right behind our house and I'm pretty sure people can see through the huge glass sliding door into our living room. Where we spend most our day because the tv's in there. And the kitchen is right here too. Oh and most importantly, the computer.

I often wonder after I've done something really weird, if someone saw me and what they'd be thinking.

Like when a new cartoon comes on and I do a little weird jiggity jig towards my kids to the music. Really big hopping and crazy spins and moves. Are they thinking "Whats that lady with the crazy hair and still in her pajamas hopping around for?! Did she step on one of the million toys on the floor? Whats going on?!"

Or when a new cartoon comes on and the music for it starts playing and I sing really loud and crane my neck back to sing it like a pop star. Are they like "Why does that lady have a spoon in her hand and is using it like a microphone? Is she howling at the moon?"

Or like when my son is running around completely naked, are they like "We should call social services, there's obviously a problem with this lady."

There's a lot more situations I think of during the day but you get the point. If you saw your neighbor dancing around like a crazy person through their living room window, what would YOU think? We'll leave out me spanking my kids, dragging my son to the bathroom, how many hours I sit on the computer, nose picking and so on and so forth...

Locked Up

Wow, its been almost a week since I last posted. Do you know whats been taking up my time? Of course you don't unless you know where I live and then this post is gonna get really awkward because you'd be seeing a whole lot of naked.

Let me explain before you exit out of here.

I'm potty training my son. So very often he ends up naked, its just easier that way. Things are going so-so. He's goes potty on the toilet if I hassle him a LOT, but he fights me all the time. Don't tell me he isn't ready, you don't know him! More than anything, he's just stubborn and doesn't like to be told what to do about anything. The reverse psychology thing works really well on him.

So anyway, I pretty much want to kill myself right now. Potty training sucks. Even if I had complete confidence with him at home (which I don't) I don't know how it would go if we went out anywhere.

So I'm a prisoner in my own house.

Not that we could go anywhere anyway because we only have ONE car right now, and the husband takes that to work. But STILL--a PRISONER!

I need more friends.