Mom to the Screaming Masses

It's Only When It's NOT a Scam That You Know You Have Trouble

We've all seen the scams. Elderly woman gets an email from a traveling relative, claiming that he's been robbed and needs money. EW sends money and later finds out that it was a hoax, and she's now broke.We all know to never answer those types of emails.

Tuesday morning, my husband woke me way too early. He's one of those VERY ANNOYING early morning people who bounds out of bed bright and early with all the subtlety of a Labrador puppy. Get up, get up, let's GO, time's a-wasting, the sun is up and let's go, go go!!!!

Yeah. I don't wake up like that. For me it's more Oh, no, not again. Didn't we just have morning yesterday? Whose bright idea was it to make morning come so early? Get out of my face. Let me go back to bed.

So I rolled over and grabbed my phone, as is my typical MO first thing. I checked my email. And there, buried in the reader comments and spam emails was a Facebook post from my son. My son, who is overseas with my mom. My son, who only communicates through Facebook, because email is so last century. And the message from him sent shivers down my spine.

Bendy Pretzel Breakfast

I like to cook. I like to bake. I find it relaxing and stress reducing to spend time in the kitchen creating good foods from raw ingredients. The more that I cook, the less I find myself satisfied with commercially prepared foods.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy eating out. I LOVE me some eating out, especially in certain restaurants. Heh.

Getting by With a Little Help From a Book

Make sure you've entered the $50 Visa Gift Card giveaway - there's still time. And if you need a bathing suit, Popina is the way to go, with a discount. Also, an immense amount of thanks to those who have contributed to my Chip In to Blogher, (button on the right sidebar) which happens in August - I wouldn't be able to go without your help, so thank you SO MUCH.

I typically watch The Today Show every morning. I like the anchors, and for whatever reason, this show has become my morning show of choice. Sometimes, I'll admit, it's just on for noise and I'm not really paying attention. But every once in a while, something grabs my attention and I'm happy that I chose this particular show. Such was the morning that Henry Winkler was interviewed.

I'm Having Fun!

There's still time to win a $50 visa gift card!Head on over and leave me a comment - please help me get my numbers up so that I can continue to offer great giveaways!

I sat on the bedsheet that we bring with us to the beach and watched some of my kid.s They ran, back and forth, back and forth. They chased birds and rode waves, body surfed and built sandcastles. They buried each other and brought me broken shell treasures and empty pods. I watched as my little girl ran up to me, slamming to a halt six inches away, hands on hips, staring down.

"I'm having FUN!" she pronounced, and she was off, running back to the water.

I'm trying hard to have fun this summer. There's a lot of stuff I love about the summer - I love that it's warm, love riding with the windows down, love sleeping until 8 or even 9 some days. I love laying out by the pool, visiting the beach and hearing the birds call to each other. Feeling the sun beat on my face, relaxing the rules of bedtime and meals, driving in a convertible with the roof down while I drink a Coke Slurpee.

I am trying to have fun. I try to find the fun in every day. I want my kids to find the fun in every day as well. We aren't going away, we aren't going to take any trips or vacations or have company. I've told them it's US this summer - and they weren't too happy to hear that.

You see, to them, spending the summer together is a punishment, for who would want to spend time with their siblings? What's the fun in that?

So I read this idea on another blog - forgive me for not linking, but I honestly cannot remember where I saw it - and I've created the Summer Fun Activity Board. It's not as fancy as it sounds - merely a posterboard that I package taped to the pantry door - but the premise is fancy.

Anything that we do fun is written on the poster. You can draw a picture if you want, cut out a flyer with a picture, jot down the words - whatever you want to add. (I can't help but laugh every time I look at the picture someone drew of a diving board.)

Sometimes it's oh so easy to focus on the negativity - no vacation, no trips, no guest.

Sometimes it's good to have a visual reminder.

Especially for me.

Odds and Ends

Ok. Catch up on lots 'o stuff.

Let's get the tough stuff out of the way first. You may see something new on the sidebar. I put a "Chip In" button. It's making me feel like crap, but I need some help to get to Blogher this year. My oven died, and the money that I saved for my trip has to go to that, + the cost of repair for the brand new computer (ouch! but it works now, and that's all I'm going to focus on!), + the fact that 3 of my kids have started some new therapies this summer = I've got to figure out a way to pay for my room. The registration is paid, the airfare is paid, now to solve the rest. I've approached a couple of companies for sponsorships, but to be honest, I'd rather be a spokesperson for my readers than some company. So. I'm putting it out there, in hopes that you might have a couple of dollars rattling around that you need to get rid of, a paypal balance hanging over your head, or I dunno. I feel like a heel.

Second, have you seen the petition that DietsInReview has started? They are asking Subway - a place I LOVE to eat - to remove the High Fructose Corn Syrup from their breads. To be honest, I didn't know it was in there, and now I'm on a mission. Won't you please take just a minute to add your name? It's painless and for a good cause.

Item the third: Any interest at all in a summer reading book? It would kind of be a club, but not really. I just thought that since so many of us like to read - I'll have a new post up this week about my latest page turners - we could pick a book and all discuss it over a couple of days. Any interest?

Fourth - the post below this one, where a reader asks a very tough question, has some really amazing advice. Once again my readers came through for each other and I couldn't be more impressed with the advice that was shared. Even if you thought you read all the comments, there have been some new ones since yesterday.

Fifth, if you are on Facebook, don't forget that you can find Mom to the Screaming Masses there. 

Last, if you are so inclined, keep my mom and oldest son in your thoughts. They went OVERSEAS on an awesome England/Scotland/Ireland/Wales/PARIS trip - my mom's gift to my son - I am so, so envious and also just a wee bit skittish with them both so far away. (If it wasn't with my mom, I probably wouldn't have sent my son.)

One more - I'm craving garlic bread. Anyone else? :)

A Reader Asks a Very Heartfelt, and Difficult, Question

To begin with, I owe about one million emails to various people, as well as responses to your lovely comments. I pinky promise that I will reply to you and if I owe you an email, my most abject apologies. I have been running amok all week long, trying to catch up and, instead, falling further and further behind. I'm floundering at, well, pretty much everything. I have faith that I'll find my groove soon. In the mean time, let me direct you a couple of places - I reviewed a wonderful bathing suit with a discount code just for you,  I'm giving away a $50 Visa gift card, I have a new washer and dryer, and there are several new posts up at Diets in Review that are really interesting.

This email came to me last week. I requested the writer's permission to post it here, although I have left her name off. It's a bit long but I think it's important. 

I have thought about writing this email for awhile but knew you were really busy. I feel I have too now because well, I just have to.

Long, Beautiful Hair

Or short, crisp hair. It doesn't matter.

One of my girls had shoulder length hair. It was cute on her. Let's face it - any hair cut would have been cute on her, as she's, you know, pretty cute. She asked me, at the end of the school year, if I'd let her cut her hair really short.

I don't care. To me, hair is hair is hair. It's your head, it's your hair. If the school you attend has a dress code, I expect you to abide by it. If you are a boy and you want to grow it long, it's fine by me as long as it's clean. Both of my boys prefer short, almost shaved heads - but that's their preference. My girls have had long hair, short hair, in between - the only thing I don't especially care for is bangs, but as long as they are happy, and it's neat, I don't care.

So on Saturday we found a few spare minutes and we drove up to the hair cut place for what I thought would be a quick cut. Cut off six inches, shorter in the back, stacked in the back and a slight angle to the chin. Off center part. All the rest one length. 1 hour, 10 minutes later, we were done. it was really cute and she was delighted.

And that's all that matters. Right? In my mind.

Stolen by a Blogging Thief

Because Adam Avitable did it. So did Auds at Barking Mad. And I read it on Headless Mom.

30 Questions:

1. It's 2AM and you are not home. You are more than likely:
On my way home from listening to The DeLorean's play and dancing my fool head off.

2. What's the last thing you spent more than $100 on?
Groceries. Always, always groceries. Not food? Tires for the van.

3. What do your bank checks look like?
Standard free design. I write very few checks.

4. Where did the shirt you are currently wearing come from?
I'm not wearing a shirt, but my nightgown came from Etsy. Yes, it's 10:30 and I'm still in my nightgown.

Looking for the Positive

Ok, so this weekend, we had two really great parties. Really fun, lots of graduation excitement, lots of friends, family, food, booze, a bounce house, a slip 'n slide, cupcakes - in short, just about everything that could be awesome, wrapped in one big weekend. It was great fun to plan and set everything up and wait impatiently for everyone to arrive.

And then, I slipped a tray of chicken enchiladas into the oven, and noticed that my oven, which had been preheating for TWENTY -THREE minutes - was c-o-l-d and the entire house smelled of gas.

Seriously. As if I can afford another appliance, since I'm thinking this may well be toast. 2 burners on the top are already non functional and have been on strike for about, oh, 6 months. It's so, so much fun to cook on half a stove top - especially when you can't fit two skillets on that side at once.

SO. There will be no going away for vacay this summer - as if we could have afforded it in the beginning, but now, more than ever, we will be enjoying either payments on a new stove or repair bills in the place of a stay at a hotel in another state. Instead of going away - which, let's be honest, I am not a fan of doing with my kids - we will be remaining at home. And it's going to be FUN, because I said so - even if it kills us. We WILL HAVE FUN.

Now, there's a lot to be happy about, staying at home this summer. Let's be honest - I didn't want to go away. It's just me, doing my same amount of work in a different location, without the things that make it easier. I recently read Kira's great post, in which she invoked us all to call down the wonders of summer. And it reminded me that last week I did a TERRIBLE amount of venting and I promised that I would comment on lots of positive stuff the next day - and I never did it. So let's get busy.

(And I've typed this THREE times and Typepad has glitched EACH time and deleted different parts of this - but I'm being POSITIVE and continuing.)

• Froyo. Especially since my FAVORITE place gives discounts to students of my martial arts place
• Watermelon
• Strawberries. Blueberries. Peaches (not yet, but almost)
• Hammock in the back yard with a book. Even if it's a book I've read a dozen times
• An exhausting Muay Thai class
• followed by a trip to the beach with three of my kids
• Being chosen to give away $100 on Blogher with the Question of the week
• The movie The Birdcage
• Giving away 2 Visa Gift cards on Scrutiny - and knowing that there will be more this week and next - I LOVE giving stuff away
• Creating a Facebook Fan page for my blog. I don't know if I did it correctly, but why not check it out? And "like" it, if you are so inclined? Maybe I'll figure out how to use it soon.

Your turn. :)

Shampoo Freak

I am a shampoo freak. There. I said it.

Half of a problem is admitting that you have a problem. Or something like that. Because I don't, you know. Have a problem that is.

I just like shampoo.

;)