Mackenzie for President!

Me: What would you do if you were president?

Mackenzie: *starts singing* If I were president, hunting would be illegal. Smoking would be illegal. I would make everyone recycle. I would make everyone adopt pets from the pound. Everyone would have food. Nothing would be expensive.

Me: *proud* What else?

Mackenzie: *singing and jumping on her bed* Every. One. In. The. Whole. World. Would. Get. Free. WEBKINZ!!! Wheeeeeee!

Well, except for that Webkinz thing, she's headed in the right direction. ;)


My baby turned 8 years old yesterday and it's so true what they say. Time flies when you're having fun. Happy birthday, beautiful girl! Mommy loves you!


This weekend she has a soccer game, a sleepover party which includes taking them to see High School Musical 3 the next morning and then soccer photos. Wish me luck! ;)

also, amy rules.

i think sarah palin is a very scary dingbat. HOWEVER. i seriously love amy poehler. oh dear, pregnant, crazy, hilarious amy poehler...i would have your baby.

i seea ikea.

until my kid is old enough not to accidentally squeeze a capri sun too hard on my sofa, i won't be paying loads of money for furniture. "well, you could just not let her drink capri sun in the living room" or "don't let your child dictate what kind of furniture you buy for your home" are not valid arguments for me. if you are the "eat over the sink" mom, that's cool...but that's just not me. that's why god invented ikea.

it takes me about 40 minutes to drive out to our ikea but i'm thankful that we have one. i drove out there today only to be faced with the problem i am always faced with when i am there. TOO MANY CHOICES. holy smokes. i have no idea what desk chair to get. i have no idea which kitchen jars to get. i have no idea which frames to get. yeesh. we got rid of so much stuff when we moved from houston to arizona and even more when we moved from the apartment to the house. there are a few things i just haven't gotten around to replacing but now that my parents are finally coming for the weekend, i have to finish things up around here. you know how it is...it needs to look as good as it can for your mom. ;) (HI MOM!)

i did get a few things and can't wait to get the new sofa set we're saving for. i was a very good girl and resisted the sale fabric. (i haven't sewn in a month!)

now, i'm off to clean my cabinets and fill the new jars i got. yay! happy monday!

the 7 things i hate about the radio.

back story
here's something you might not have guessed about me: i am a pretty good mom. i know. it's shocking. i volunteer at her school, i make sure her needs are met, i am her taxi driver, her confidant, her chef, her stylist, her boo boo kisser and everything a mom should be. do i screw up? of course. but i spend most of my time wearing my "mom hat" and less of my time wearing a "wife hat" or "me hat". and this stupid hat thing is going somewhere, i swear.

as a lover of so many different genres of music, i decided long ago that i would not be that parent who lets their child listen to anything and everything simply because "she's too little to get it anyway". i'm not saying that's the right thing, but it's my thing. do i think it's funny when a three year old girl starts singing "my humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps..."? YES. as long as that three year old isn't my kid.

this story
so one of my favorite "day moments" is when i hop in the car alone, crank up bbc 1 and sing along at the top of my lungs as i drive. windows down, cool breeze blowing, sun shining. a few days ago, i was on my way to starbucks singing along to rihanna at the top of my lungs. i get distracted with thoughts of my week and what i need to do when i hear sarah cox say "and here's miiiiiiiley cyrus", followed by "the 7 things i hate about you". this prompts me to immediately hit that handy little button on my steering wheel that swaps my preset stations. it goes to hits 1 and i hear the way too familiar strains of nick jonas as he croons the lyrics to "lovebug". i laugh sort of like that one guy did on grey's anatomy when he had a brain tumor...you know, that crazy, anxious laughter...and just switch to my adele CD.



fast forward to today. i am starting to think that someone hates me. you see, it's not that i don't love miley cyrus or the jonas brothers. quite the contrary, actually. i totally dig them both and love that my daughter is into them instead of barney or the wiggles. but seeing as how i am so particular about what my kid listens to, i am almost ALWAYS listening to them when she's in the car with me. unless she is at school, she's usually in the car with me. i'm lucky. she still likes me. i'm sure that'll change as we approach the hellish teenage years but i'm veering again.

so today -- i decide to run out and grab something for lunch and just as i'm turning onto my street, that damn sarah cox says it again. "here's miley's '7 things i hate about you'" and i sigh in frustration. again, i hit that trusty little button and swap for hits 1 and i swear to pineapples, the damn jonas brothers are on AGAIN. same song. is this a conspiracy of some sort? punishment for not letting my child shake what her momma gave her as she sings "back dat azz up"? a lesson in learning to back up what i say? proof that the little button on my steering wheel is plotting against me?

but then, i realize that if THIS is the worst thing in my day, i should drop to my knees, kiss the ground and be happy to be alive. i should dance in the streets in that pre-choreographed way that people do in the movies. and so i shall.

stop motion animation rules.

Taller Than Trees from Joseph Mann on Vimeo.

thanks drawn!

so not productive today.

my freaking desktop is giving me a software headache so now i'm back on the laptop. rawr. i'm a pc. and sometimes it sucks.

i did download this amazingly rad obama mix by dj z-trip and listening to it is making me crazy happy. go get it and you'll see what i mean.




in other news, i'm getting better with this damn splint. i don't want to take it off yet because the fingertip is still pretty bruised and i'm afraid i'll bang it up. i've smacked the splint several times already. i'm SMART! seriously, i can barely wield a pair of scissors, yo. that's NO BUENO. so, GO FINGER GO! heal thyself.

what's up with you this week? anything exciting?

happy monday!

if this doesn't make you smile on a breezy monday afternoon, nothing will.



thanks, erin.

are you sure you want to ask me how i am?

hi. how are you?

well, i am feeling like i want to change the world. like i want to jump up and down in the street and wake people up. don't you remember those dreams? man. i feel like shaking people. moving people. inspiring people. talking. creating. singing. speaking. SCREAMING.

instead, i walk from the house to the car to the flagpole to the grocery store to soccer practice to dinner to bed. life is crazy! i'm happy. don't get me wrong. i know how important this job i'm doing is. it is the most important one i've ever had. but surely there has to be a bigger plan for me. HAS TO BE. now to figure out what it is.

fighting against being just another zombie is hard. struggle, dream, breathe. over and over again. the winds of change are in the air, y'all. just where they will blow is unknown...but i'm letting go and letting them carry me.

nothing compares 2 u.

i love the way music has played such a huge role in my life. it used to be a part of me that was public. there was even a time when i thought it would BE my life.

when i was younger, i sang in the school choir. later, the church choir. solos soon followed and i loved harmonizing with my mom and sisters. i am not that girl who says "omg i'm so awesome", so i feel like i can say this...i have a pretty good voice. not amazing by any means, but certainly full of potential. or i was.

i love musical theater, musical movies and all different genres of music in general. i love watching reality tv shows centered around singing or performing. i even scrap lyrics now and then. i love the way music can speak to and move me.

over the weekend, we finally got a few karaoke cds and hooked up the karaoke machine my sis gave us a couple of months ago. and i sang.

it is the first time i've picked up a microphone in a very long time. i miss singing. not the kind of singing i always do -- in the car, to my daughter, along with my ipod -- i mean, i miss performing, i guess. i've never done karaoke in public and i'm not sure why. it sort of felt...i don't know. not quite right. but now i'm starting to think maybe i should do it the next time i'm around it. or at least have some friends over and do it here. get over that thing...that performance thing. weird.

tonight, as i sit watching radio1 live lounge videos on youtube, i miss singing. one click leads to another and now i'm listening to sinead doing "nothing compares 2 u" live. i remember being so totally in love with a boy and in love with that song. i remember singing it over and over and over as i blasted it on my walkman. (ha!) "so lonely without you here...like a bird without a song..." i think sometimes i feel like a bird without a song. not because i miss someone else, though. because i miss me.

saturday stop off.

i am seriously getting the MAC itch again. ruh roh.

right now, i'm listening to four 8 year olds smushed into a tiny bathroom as they give each other makeovers. i am thinking that there are going to be major requests for remodeling in our future if we stay in this house. there's no way in hell four teenagers will fit in there! i just heard "okay, who wants perfume?".

life is good, if a bit crazy. i seriously have to get to the post office at some point today or stephanie is going to kick my ass. i'm sort of afraid. she's tall. maybe once the other moms come get their kiddos.

they lost their game today and were super down about it right after. you'd never be able to tell it right now. they are spraying perfume in the hall and running through it. heh.

on the boards for tonight: early to bed for the kid so we can watch iron man and made of honor and enjoy some pretend-buttered popcorn. (that stuff is SO not butter. eww.) what are you up to this weekend?

it's a good video day.

seriously.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

alive and mostly kicking.

omg, i am such a blog slacker.

i'm here. busy. crampy. grumpy. other various snow white characters, i'm sure.

i am trying to catch up with some things i let sneak up on me. i am also trying to book fair my little heart out.

oh and clean underpants would be nice. damn you, laundry!

HELLO! tell me something funny today, please and thank you.