What I Learned This Week

Since I missed last week I am going to let you know what I learned on my Girls Weekend in Atlanta.

I learned:

• No matter how big an airport is somehow you just end up on the right escalator.
• New hotels don't always have the best housekeeping and 4 star restaurants can have amazing food and horrible staff.
• Target in a different state with your girlfriends is much more fun then the Target at home. No matter how many times you hubby says you flew to Georgia to go to Target??
• It's puh-chan not pee-can.
• The Waffle House is yummy and a little scary.
• Tom-Toms don't always point you in the right direction but that's half the fun.
• I really like Grape Martinis and Berger cookies. Anderson Cooper is IN. If given the choice between the chicken and the hat I would chose the chicken.
• I can still function on very little sleep.
• I miss my girls! We had a fabulous weekend in Atlanta and now they are gone and we are back to e-mailing 100 times a day, IM'ing, texting and calling. I saw a picture frame in Target that sums up my feelings. It said "Don't cry because it's over, SMILE because it happened.

For more What I Learned This Week visit Musings of a Housewife.

Girls Weekend

Tomorrow morning I am getting up at 3am. That is if I ever get to sleep tonight. I am so nervous and excited about this weekend. You see the only reason beyond my kiddos that I would get up at 3am would be to catch a flight to go see my girls!

Tomorrow I am heading across the country to spending time with five amazing women. I am looking forward to laughing so hard my cheeks hurts, telling stories until the sun comes up, discussing the plot for the New Moon movie, figuring out what the heck sweet tea, old bay and Berger cookies are, trying a Grape Martini and some Alabama wine.

I am also wondering how a self proclaimed over packer will find a way to fit everything into one carry one suitcase without smashing the Sees candy I am bringing. Priorities. Un-smooshed candy is at the top of the list.

Watch out Hotlanta - here we come!

What I learned this week...

I am joining Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife for her new carnival.

So what did I lean this week? I learned to always check the dollar section at Target. The preferred method would be without kids because you can only have so many Strawberry Shortcake note pads or or black felt art sets. Last week I added a new small hamper for K's room and a handheld duster to my list of "things to get".

Now that I have the new washer and dryer (aren't they pretty) I can actually do laundry in a reasonable amount of time. K's hamper was taking up too much room for the little laundry that it was being used for. I also noticed that the pretty metallic grey that I picked for the washer/dryer collects alot of dust and it's annoying.

So I am browsing through the dollar section and what did I find a hamper and a hand held duster both for $1 each. WOW! I also found some great picture frames that will make great Valentine's gifts for the Grandparents. They were $1 too.

Check out the dollar section! Let me know what you find.

Learn more at What I Learned This Week

Yes, I am one of them

I never thought it would happen to me. I am a Mom, I am old; well not that old but old enough to know better. I work full time, I don't have time for things like this. Really I don't. Most of the time I can't find enough time in the day to work, cook, clean and get the kids to school. Then the company I work for decided that the holidays would be a great time to give us two weeks vacations. Two weeks during which you are not expected to check voice mail, don't even think about logging into e-mail and DO NOT think about work. I thought about all the things I could do... clean the house, bake, hang out with the kids and maybe just maybe read A book. Just one. I could do it. I had two weeks and during one of those weeks I would be in Lake Tahoe with no house to clean, nothing to be done but relax.

One of my friends mention this amazing series she was reading. She was obsessed. No one heard from her in days. She knew I would love it. So I did it. I borrowed "Twilight" from my Mom and I started reading it on Dec 23rd and I also got the flu. I read as much as I could between running to the bathroom. I was hooked. I had to know what happened next. The next two days my quiet time was limited with 20 people in the house but a interesting thing happened. Two more books in the series showed up under the tree.

I left for Tahoe on the 26th with books 1,2 and 3 determined to read them all. Did I mention that each book was at least 500 pages... at least. When I got to our destination I realized I really had books 1,2 and 4. What in the world was I going to do. I finished book 1 and started book 2 and knew I could not make it through the week without finding book 3. And this is where it got a little crazy... just ask my husband. I took K out for a drive through two states and 10 stores to find Eclipse. It was no where to be found. I was going crazy. The next day I begged Hubby to drive 30 minutes to a town that actually had a Target and a Borders. I HAD to find the book. Thank goodness the hubby loves me and knows how much I would have nagged if I didn't find the book.

I spent the rest of the week finishing all 4 books. Yes I read 4 books in a little over a week. I couldn't put them down. I had to know if Edward came back, I had to know what happened to Bella, I wanted Alice to be my BFF and yes I am now on a first name basis with the characters.

I am now what they call a

My goal is to convince everyone I know to join me and don't think I don't have selfish reasons. I need someone to go see the movie with me. I need to talk about the book and the movies. I can't get enough! This is so unlike me. I am even going to re-read the books. Seriously I have never done that before.

The bottom line is:

I'm here to help

I try my best to be a good listener, a good friend and give great advice. So here you go a little unsolicited advice for the week.

• Do NOT and I repeat do not under any circumstances go to Wal-Mart on a Saturday in December. I don't care how cheap their prices are. I don't care that you haven't been grocery shopping in two weeks. DO NOT go near a Wal-Mart unless you want to navigate your way through 20 carts in each aisle, listen to rude people complaining about not being able to find something. Hello people what do you think the Internet is for... get a blog!
• Remind me to read the bullet above next week when I need to get the fixings for Christmas dinner.
• Before you order Christmas cards count how many people you have to send them to and don't forget to ask Hubby how many he needs for work. Paying shipping twice is not fun.
• When you go to the post office on Dec 15 at 8:20am to be in line when the post office opens at 8:30am be sure to make sure you have your wallet with you and it's not sitting at home next to computer where you left it when you ordered more cards. (see above)
• When you decide to host Christmas Eve and Christmas remember how small your house is and that you only have 13 chairs in the whole house and there is NO WAY you can fit 20 people at your dining room table. What the heck am I going to do???
• When trying to preoccupy a 5 year old with face paint remember that the red face paint is a little harder to wash off then the rest. So you might not want to paint a Rudolph nose on a Sunday night when the kiddo has school in the morning.

I sure hope my advice helps you because it's been a long weekend round here.

It's December and I don't own a coat

Today's post is going to be a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Ready? Ahhh look a list!

• The more I blog the more I think about blogging and the more I want to blog. I started this thinking about doing reviews because I don't like talking about myself. Then a funny thing happened. I was driving home from my Mom's house in the car with no radio playing the alphabet game with no kids in the car and I thought I should post about this. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about things to post. I think I am going to blog more.
• It took me over an hour to find a Q while playing the alphabet game. I have never been so happy to find a Quiznos.
• I drove out of my way to drive past a store that I knew started with a Z so I could finish the game before I got home. It was 9:30pm and I had been away from my family for 5 days but I HAD to find that Z.
• I have a blog list now. I know shocking right? My favorite thing to buy in the Target dollar section is lists. The ones with the magnet on the back with lots of lines. Even better if it has boxes to check off. I love to check things off. I feel like I actually did something.
• Yes the title is true. Sometime after we got back from the snow last year I washed my jacket. Some how it ended up in the dryer. I am not naming names but I bet you can figure it out. I had to throw it away. I didn't buy another one right away because Spring was right around the corner. Now here it is December and I still don't own a jacket. I don't think I need one quiet yet. It has only rained once. The low during the day is in the 60's. We don't head for the snow until the end of the month. I wonder how long I can wait? If anyone know where I can find a nice jacket, that is waterproof, with a hood but NO FAKE FUR... that would be great.
• B (the 2 year old) is very upset about Christmas. We had to move the train table to make room for the tree. He has asked very nicely if we could "peas make Christmas go away" because "Christmas is messy Momma".
• At Thanksgiving dinner K asked if we could go around the table and tell everyone what we are thankful for without skipping a beat B said, "ummmmm Thomas" B loves his trains.

This is Reviewza-palooza

OK so I am a little late to this Mommy blog thing; but I am a Mom and I know how to blog so I figure better late then never right?

I thought for awhile about what to write about. I am not a writer. I am not the most articulate person. I am fluent in two year old, Kindergartenese, Gossip Girl, gansta rap and did I mention I work full time. Not bad for a college educated girl from the suburbs. I would venture to guess that most of the Moms at school don't know the real me, unless they happen to walk by when my cell phone rings "Ice-Ice Baby" which means I am getting a text. Texting... one of my favorite things, but we'll get to that.

I thought about a kids blog a place to post all the craziness that is our lives; but I already do that and it's a private blog. I read somewhere that google is forever and I don't think the hubby is ready for the internet to read all about our lives.

So I figured I would do what I do best and that is ramble. A little bit of this and a little bit of that with a sprinkle of toddler antics and Kindy sass. Most of all I want to share about the things I know and love.

For now here's the line-up:

• Mondays - Things I know and Love
• Tuesdays - What's New
• Wednesdays - The Wide Web World
• Thursdays - You tell me - Question of the Week
• Friday - Anything Goes

I reserve the right to mix things up depending on my day and how much sleep I got.

I hope you'll have fun getting to know me and my world.