Shell-LITE

Did you have a fun holiday weekend?


When we were on the way to go see fireworks, my 5 year-old, wanting to know how long we were going to be driving asked "Where are we going to see fireworks?" to which my 4 year-old replied, "In the sky!"


I got a good giggle out of that one, especially since "In the sky" was said with a bit of a "duh, how can you not know that?" tone.


Since it's still the weekend here for us- Hubs has the day off,- I thought I'd do something quick and easy for a post today. BUT- if you missed this week's BFF post, please go click to it now HERE. Jenn wrote about wondering if she will ever feel like she's doing enough as a mom- it's such a wonderful post that I think we can all relate to. Please go leave her some love if you haven't already. She's a hidden gem in the blogosphere that I want you to find!

1. Who of all your blog friends would you like to meet and/or who have you met?
I've known Supah and Angie since before I started blogging. Supah for about 4 years and Angie since we were 4.


Thanks to SITS Bloggy Bootcamp in Baltimore, I met a lot of bloggers in person.

My sippy cup girls: Mommyologist, Grasshoppa, and Sunday. Yes, those were mimosas in our sippy cups.

Plus Kiran, Kat, MamaKat, Tiffany, Tina, Dumbmom(who had no clue who I was and thought I was a crazy stalker), Jayme, Michelle, Sarah....and lots more! If you want to see pics, go HERE.


And of course, I just met Princess recently when she was on vacation sort of close to where I live. If you missed that pic, you can find it HERE.


Who do I want to meet? Okay, I started listing people out and linking to them....but realized that it was going to take me all dang day to do it because there are so many of you that I want to meet! Can't we just have one big meet-up/party? Preferably on an NC beach so I don't have to drive very far to get there. Yes, I'm totally lazy like that.


What kind of vehicle(s) do you drive? Minivan Mama, baby! I have a Buick Terraza that I love.


What kind of cell phone do you have? Blackberry Curve. And it hates me. I get the spinning hourglass of death all the time. Bizarre error messages. It holds my emails hostage sometimes. And the trackball goes all crazy. But, still, I'm addicted to it.


What's the most annoying thing you wish bloggers would stop doing? Yikes. Hard to pick one...and even harder to stop listing things...
*No-reply so I can't talk back at ya
*Blog not in profile- I like to follow back, but can't if I can't find you!
*Comments that are left where you can tell the person didn't read the whole post and is just responding to one sentence of the whole post and they missed what the blogger actually meant
*Trash-talking other bloggers on your blog- that's what email is for, duh
*When someone responds to comments right on their own blog- unless you have a system where they are emailed to the person you are replying to- it's hard enough for me to get to all the blogs I want to read- I can't visit them again to look to see if someone has replied
*Horrible grammar
*If you point out someone's horrible grammar in a comment
*People who complain that no one reads or comments on their posts- but they don't go read and comment on others
*Comments that aren't about the post you just read, but about your own blog- like "Please visit me at ....." or a comment that just says "thanks for visiting my blog- I hope you visit again!"- but if you aren't reading someone's blog, why would they want to then come visit yours?
*Someone who goes on and on with lists like this- so I'll stop now

and finally...

What's the one thing that you still have on your bucket list to do before the year is out?
To have a night away with Hubs, no children- and I mean an overnight, not just a date night out- anyone want to come babysit????

Oh, and I SO want to win this bouncehouse at The Shopping Mama! I never blog about other people's giveaways, but 3 kids 5 and under? Um, they need to have something to wear them out and I really want to win! If  you want to enter, too, go HERE!

Sunday Monday Minute

My pal Ian gets a new button and I'm lured in by new, bright, and shiny, so I have to participate again.




1 - Have you ever had any feelings towards one of your teachers back in the day? Not until college. And then I had a huge crush on my history/sociology professor. Not only was he handsome, but he was BRILLIANT. I was so attracted to that. He was the sponsor for the honorary that I was the President of, I was one of the few who could get A's in his classes, and he basically was responsible for getting me my first teaching job. One total hater made a nasty speculation, but it was all lies unfortunately.


2 - What's the most embarrassing thing that happened while at work? (If you never worked then make something up) I was in the front office of the middle school where I was working on a teacher workday, talking to some of the other teachers about the two different school calendar schedules that we were supposed to be voting for and I jumped up and down, doing some sort of sing-songy chant like "Calendar A, alllll the wayyyyyy!" and then striking a dramatic cheerleader pose. Right as I was doing that, the mom of one of my students walked in, looking for me, early for our conference. Like she was going to take me seriously after my little show.


3 - When was the last time you crapped yourself? If we are talking literally, that would be back when I was still in diapers. Figuratively, a couple weeks ago, when Hubs was out of town. I was up late, like I usually am when he's gone and I swore that I heard the front door opened. I jumped up from my seat and SCREAMED at the top of my lungs. And then stood there frozen, not sure what the hell I should do. No one was there...though I couldn't fall asleep for hours after that. Figured out the next morning that that is just the noise that is made when the air turns on. Duh.


4 - What is one thing you have always kept a secret and why have you kept this a secret for so long? This blog. As a secret from family and all but about two friends. Because I like being able to say whatever I want and not have to worry about being pestered about it.


and finally...



5 - What's your best advice for us habitual coffee drinkers as to not have to poop right after drinking it? Um, this is the reason I don't drink it often. If I did drink it, my answer to #3 might be literal instead of figurative.



P.S. I will have the winners of the two giveaways that ended tonight posted shortly. I've just been emailing the winner and adding their name to the original giveaway post instead of doing an announcement for it, because I realize no one really wants to click over to a winners post unless that winner is them.

Getting to Know You and a Minute

Look at me, posting something that isn't a giveaway or review on a weekend! Btw, that's what you'll usually see here during the summer: weekends are going to be for giveaways and reviews or for taking a break. Usually. Totally breaking that right now to participate in some Q&A's.   

1. If a person has a booger in their nose. and you can see it, do you tell them?
If I know and like them, yes. Otherwise, I'll just be grossed out and walk away. If you are ever in a group of people with me and I am obssessively rubbing at my nose, please imitate me because I'm probably trying to tell you that you have a booger hanging there, without announcing it to the group.


2. What are you passionate about?
My family. Hard to describe just how much I love my husband and my boys.


3. How long have you been blogging?
On my family blog(it's boring, you don't want to read it) for about 2 years. This one has been around for over a year or so, but I started blogging on here reguarly back in September.


4. What is your favorite "summer" drink?
Lemonade. Or, if I want something with a little kick, add Sweet Tea Vodka to lemonade.


5. What is your favorite type of music?
I'm a country girl. I so need some cute pink boots and to find my pink cowboy hat- hopefully Hubs is taking me to at least one concert this summer.


6. Something I do before I go to bed is......?
Check on my little guys right before I go to sleep.


7. My Summer vacation plans are...?
We lived on the beach all winter, so that seemed like our vacation....


8. My favorite must have, can't live without, beauty product is?
Stila tinted moisturizer


 

I know it's not Monday. You know I never do anything on the right day.

For Monday Minute this week, Ian gave us some questions to ask our kids. I'm not playing favorites by just interviewing Bear, my 4 year-old. But, Monkey refused to answer and Cub just laughs at me when I try to ask him things like this- I can just see him thinking "Hey Mommy, want me to answer a question? Ask me if I want ice cream."


What's your favorite book/story? Curious George

What do you want to do when you grow up? a firefighter

What is your favorite game? Froggy trampoline game(Leaping Frogs)

What's your favorite food? chocolate

Insert your own question to ask your kid: Where do you wish we could go right now? The bouncy place

Monday Minute *snort Edition

This week's Monday Minute with Ian at The Daily Dose of Reality is dedicated to our friend Daffy, who lost her big sister this weekend. My thoughts and prayers are with you, love!


<a href="http://batcrapcrazy.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac13/CheapskateDesigns/daffyprayer.png" /></a>

1 - Do you *snort*? Not really, but I laugh so hard sometimes that I cry. Or become in danger of peeing my pants.


2 - Our friend, has a nickname and it's Daffy.  What's your nickname? Shell. Shocked, aren't you? Only my closest friend call me that. I don't introduce myself like that, except in the blog world. Hubs calls me "Peanut." Because I am was so tiny when we first met. He also calls me "Button." He used to say "Why do they say 'cute as a button'? Buttons really aren't that cute." And then started calling me "Button."


3 - Do you know sign language? The universal kiss off sign, of course. And I can make wild gestures that my boys know how to interpret, like "Go to bed," "Stop," and "You're going to get a spanking if you don't stop."


4 - What's a sample convo from your hood?  I actually have a funny story from a parent teacher conference where the mom looked me right in the eye and said, "My son's problem is that he suffers from I.A.S."  I looked at her, confused, until she informed that meant "He's Ignorant As Shit." Only, in her heavy southern accent, shit is pronouned "sheeeeeeeiiit."


5-  Do you sleep with electronic devices - i.e. laptop, Blackberry, iPhone, etc? I always keep my blackberry right beside the bed. So I can easily tell what time it is. I also use it as an alarm clock. I have to admit that it's hard to ignore that flashing message light, even if I see it when I roll over at 3am.

Movie Monday and a Minute

I adore Nicholas Sparks. Even though all of his books and movies make me cry, I still like them.

  I was really excited to see The Last Song because he wrote the screenplay before he wrote the book. So, it was my thought that they had to each other much more closely than normal, since he already knew what would be in the movie.   I was a little disappointed because some of the storylines in the book were not gone into much detail in the movie and some parts were left out entirely. I know there have to be changes made due to the time constraints, but still....screenplay first, then book: in my opinion, they should be more similar. Though, there weren't any completely crazy changes, like there were in Dear John.   Miley Cyrus was a little odd for the character of Ronnie, who is supposed to be this "bad girl" in the beginning of the movie- and it just didn't work. Though, much as I've seen her acting criticized, I thought she did better than her co-star.   But, all that said: I did actually enjoy the movie.  Should you see it? It was sweet and the majority of the people in the theater was crying towards the end.  I would recommend seeing it. I'll probably rent it when it comes out on dvd and watch it again, when I want a good cry.  Should your kids? Even if you have tween girls who love Miley still, I think that it would be okay to take them. There's a bigger focus on her relationship to her father than there is on the romance. The physical part of the romance doesn't go past some making out.  Though, with all Sparks, it is sad, so keep that in mind.  Click to play along with Messy Mommy's Movie Monday or to see other reviews.  ***** I'm also joining in with Ian at Dose of Reality for his Monday Minute. I had seen him all over the blogosphere, but finally went over to check out his blog a couple weeks ago. I came late to that party. He's hilarious. AND, he cracks me up with his questions- definitely different from the other question memes I see.

What's wrong with fake breasts? That they're so expensive. I want a pair. Hubs is in full support of this. Though, we disagree with the size that I should get. He wants ones that would make me tip over. I've blogged about my desire for fake boobies before: HERE

List your latest run-in with the Carnival of Idiocy: I'm being the bigger person and not going into it. I hate being the bigger person.

Name one thing you'd like to tell your ten year ago self: I know you think you love him, sweetie, but RUN. Run away. Do it. Now. Go! I mean it. RUN!

What's your favorite word that's not in the dictionary? Oh, come on! Do you really need to ask?  <a href="http://thingsicantsay-shell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="" src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac246/shellthings/motherbitchesbutton.jpg" /></a> You can grab my button and use it, too!
  Why do fools fall in love? Alcohol. Large quantities of it. It's also where a lot of babies come from. What? You didn't know that we almost gave my oldest the middle name of "Corona"?