Years ago, when my brother and I were finally left home alone while Mom and Dad were at work, we watched a little too much tv while they were gone.

You know how it is.  You get so caught up in your TV that you realize that Mom and Dad will be home in 20 minutes and you’ve not yet started on your chores….

yeah, that happened way more than it should’ve and one day, the foot was put down.

No more TV.

WHAT?

How will I know if Hope and Bo get off the island (because this is when I became a Days Fan) and how will I fine tune my pricing skills and no, I must watch the men go “no whammy no whammy” because it’s fun and it passes the time.

But that was the rule.

And you know what they say about rules, right?

No, not to follow them, silly… that they are meant to be broken.

Mom and Dad would go to work and I would turn on the TV.  I had a schedule.   I could plan my day around the TV.

At 11 o’clock in the morning I would turn on the Price is Right.  Oh how I wanted to be a Barker Babe.

And I wanted to be in infomercials too.

I’m still, to this day, infatuated with infomercials and watching all the cool things that people do on those 30 minute advertisements.

So, when we were asked to review Spot Shot, a carpet cleaner, I jumped at the chance and the kids and I decided that we would make our own infomercial…

Click on over here to see it…and learn how I got caught breaking the rule of no TV during the day…

Until next time…

A few things to check out…

• New Review up at Desperately Seeking Reviews… here’s a movie worth heading to the theater for
• New Giveaway at Desperately Seeking Reviews … it will be live Monday morning, and a must have for the laundry room!
• Want to know more WordPress Plugins that you must have?  Check out my latest post at Digital Bliss!

Oh and for all of you who were missing my feeds for the last month?

Welcome back…

I’ve missed you!!!

Until next time…

I’d love to type something phenominal and funny for you but the fact it, I’ve been way too busy… so we’re going to be bulleting some quick updates for you…

Heh.. I said “we’re” as if there is anyone else behind this blog… nope, just me.

So here we go..

• Matthew and I have to be at the surgical center at 6:30 IN THE MORNING Monday morning so we can make his dumbo ear normal again.  Prayers appreciated.. specifically for a sense of calm and peace for Matthew… he’s kinda freaking out over this… and more specifically that we won’t oversleep.
• Had Sam’s follow up appointment for her finger today… it’s healing, but not healed… she’s mad because she can’t be the goalie for 3 more weeks…
• If you haven’t been already, please go visit these blogs… because I worked hard on them… and they are uber cool…

• I Should Be Folding Laundry
• Daily Mish Mash
• Mrs. 007
• Sweetnicks

• I’m hopping over at Desperately Seeking WordPress… not with the posts though, I’ve been too busy… they are coming, I promise…. but there was a new one today, in honor of Speak Like a Pirate Day…
• Even though there was a whole day devoted to speaking like a Pirate, not once did I participate.. I know, I’m a slacker.
• I have written two more reviews at the new review site.. and you should totally read them because I’m talking about how I hate lack of communication and how smart my mother is…
• Speaking of the review blog… there are just a few more hours left to enter to win the 39 Clues gift pack.  Matthew can’t put the book down…  and there will be a new giveaway on Monday… promise…
• I got my car back today.  It’s been three weeks.  Hottie was at the counter when I returned it.  I think he was flirting, but I was in too much of a rush to reciprocate.  I don’t like the car.  It’s not the same as before I wrecked it, but I’ll get over it.  It’s back and I can now jam to the New Kids with the sun roof open again…
• Alpha Mom has a new feature called the Alpha Mom’s Guide to Everything in 5 Simple Steps… You should check it out… and sometime soon, you’ll see my contribution… I’ll let you know when it’s up…
• Steph had Ivy and now I want another baby.
• On Twitter and in the Roanoke area?  Tweetup on October 9th… email me for info…

I think that’s all… at least I’m tired of talking in bullets.  The kids are gone with their dad and I have lots of work to do to make blogs beautiful… :D  And I have to catch up on my TV… and the new season hasn’t officially started yet…

I’m doomed…

Have an AWESOME weekend…

Until next time…

Did I ever tell you about the time that I had a major dating faux pas? I don’t think I have. I’m not overly proud of it, but had I had a blog at that time, I probably would’ve blogged about it. It was a typical “Heather Moment”.

You see, I was very much involved in the dating sites at that time… the time being late 2006. I was talking and “playing the field” I guess you would call it and there were two men who were at the top of my list. We’ll call them Stalker and Guy I Should Have Picked (GISHP for short).

You can see where this is going, can’t you?

For the rest of my biggest dating embarrassing moment that happened at the CIRCUS of all places, click here… and while you’re there, pick up a coupon code for 20% off tickets to the Greatest Show on Earth (that would be the circus, not my dating life, which is also highly entertaining, but it’s free… for you anyway… )

Until next time…

When I found the mom blogs, and other life bloggers, I realized that I had the answers at my finger tips.  Answers in that, there are other people out there that can make recommendations.

Over time, I’ve come to know many of you and trust your opinion like I would someone who lives right down the street and over the past 18 months, I’ve shared seven reviews with you.  I haven’t done many, to be honest.  I’m picky about what I review and I would rather review something that I’ve actually USED as opposed to someone paying me to review something.

While I’m all for free stuff, I want to WANT to tell you about something and I don’t ever want to become a sellout.  It’s not why I started this blog.

But it is why I started this one…

No, I’m kidding.

But I would like to introduce you to my latest venture… Desperately Seeking Reviews.

And the lovely and talented Beth from I Should Be Folding Laundry and Ruby and Roja designed my header… and then I in all my geekiness made the rest of it pretty.  I’m quite pleased.

Now then.

I need for you to do me a few things… first, go there, to the review site and subscribe to the RSS feed, either by email or through your trusty reader and then?

Read all about The 39 Clues which is my first official post over there.

Enter the giveaway for a book, backpack and tee-shirt from the good folks at scholastic.  But over there.. not here!

And make sure you come back because I have a few more giveaways up my sleeve…. all of things that I was not contacted to review, rather things that I’ve used and I want to share with you.  The companies were ever so nice to give me something to give to you…

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging…

Oh and yesterday?  I was a little whiney.  I’m okay now.  Much better.  Perhaps I’ll post about it… a little later…

Until next time…

Twenty-five years ago, I was the ripe old age of 6.  I lived in San Antonio, Texas as my dad was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston.

Twenty-five years ago, gas was a whole lot cheaper, and I was a whole lot cuter.

Twenty-five years ago, I hurt my mother’s feelings when I asked why Grandma always got us better Christmas presents than Santa. (Hey! I didn’t know and to this day, everything my mother buys my kids comes from Santa because she doesn’t ever want me to feel the way that she did that morning.)

Twenty-five years ago, my grandma, who did bring better stuff than Santa, but I didn’t realize that Santa was mom and dad, tracked down the hottest gift of the season.  The tickle me elmo of it’s day.

A Cabbage Patch Kid.

All I wanted was a cabbage patch doll.  I wanted one, at age 6, so that I could be the cool girl.  The girl with the doll that everyone else at school coveted.

And when my grandma learned of this, I don’t even want to know what she did to get that doll for me.

But she did.

Her name was Justine Abbey and I fell in love with her the minute I ripped open the beautifully wrapped package.  Her brown yarn hair, and brown eyes were much like mine.  Her shoes never stayed on and it wasn’t long before I lost them.  But then she was even more like me… always barefoot.  Her hair was in pigtails and I wanted so badly to take it down, but my mother wouldn’t let me.

Can you believe that Cabbage Patch Kids have been around for 25 years?  This year, they are celebrating that silver anniversary with commemorative dolls and a new website.

And I?

Have one.

When she arrived, I ripped her out of the box.  The moment that I saw her, she looked just like Justine Abbey (except this doll has blonde hair in a side pony tail and blue eyes but her face.  I knew it the moment I laid eyes on her.)

I stared at her through the wall of flimsy plastic and remembered the day 25 years ago when Justine Abbey became mine.

The excitement was more than I could handle and I carefully opened the box that she came in.  Immediately after I opened the top, the smell of baby power consumed me.  It was that smell.  That new baby smell.  The smell that I love and that I remembered.

Once we got her out of the box, I did what everyone does when they first hold a cabbage patch kid.

Yes, I lifted up her bottoms to see if Xavier Roberts was stamped on her cheek.

And it was, along with a 25th, so that I would know, she’s a comemoritave baby.

Samara was beside herself with this new doll at her finger tips.  And we decided that she would adopt this baby, this baby that is so “us” it’s unreal.

For example, this baby?  Her name?

Catalina Pamela.

Catalina was my spanish name in Spanish class in highschool (there is no spanish equivalent of Heather and since H’s are silent in spanish, I got to be whomever I wanted to be!)

And her birthday?

August 4th.

Which just happens to be my baby brother’s birthday.

I don’t know from experience what it’s like to adopt a child but I read on a lot of blogs of those who have adopted that when they meet a child for the first time, they know that this child was meant to be with them.

When I laid eyes on Catalina, I knew.  She belonged here.

It was then that I shared the adoption papers with Samara.  I explained to her the importance of taking the oath and that being the adoptive mother of any cabbage patch child was not only a huge responsibility but an honor as well.

After looking at me like I was nuts, she asked me what she needed to do.

And that’s when before God and her brother and I, she stated the following:

I promise to love my Cabbage Patch Kid with all my heart.  I promise to be a good and kind parent.  I will always remember how special my Cabbage Patch Kid is to me.

And then?

She signed her official adoption papers and I signed them as well as her witness and on August 14th, Catalina Pamela became a part of our home.

You can see more Cabbage Patch memories here and as soon as I track down a picture of Justine Abbey and I, you can bet that I’ll be posting mine!

So now I want to know… how about you?  Did you have a Cabbage Patch Doll?  What’s your greatest memory?

Until next time…

I wanted to title this post “Saturday”.  I’m so uncreative today, but perhaps it’s because I’ve been up since 7:30 trying to figure out if we have a soccer game today.  We heard two conflicting stories and by the time we figured it out and called all the parents (we don’t, by the way) I was wide awake.  So much for sleeping in.

Sleep is for the weak, right?

Sometimes I wish I was a little weaker.

So I’m going to take you around the blogosphere today and share with you a few things.

To be honest, I’m just not in the mood to be funny or creative (I think I already mentioned that) and so this is what you get.

Ignore what I say and click on the links.

Let’s start off with some things that I’ve won.  I always get discouraged when the bloggy giveaway carnival comes around because, well, there are all these cool giveaways and they always fall during a busy week for me.  I never get to enter very many, and as a result, I never win. (You can’t win if you don’t play and like I said, there’s been no playing.)

It doesn’t really bother me a whole lot, because I love to give things away as well, but whatever.

But I’m among the land of the winning this week.

Yesterday, several of you on twitter helped me win a brand spanking new 32gb iPod Touch!

I’m not kidding!  The Networking Masters were holding a contest to see who could create the most buzz for their new membership site and I managed to create the buzz in less than an hour, and win.  (Please don’t tell my bosses.  Thanks much!)

If you, or someone you know, does a lot of networking for business, I invite you to go and check them out and I’m so excited about the iPod because I currently have a first gen iPod mini.  It’s fine.  But when we went camping it didn’t fair so well.  Perhaps it was the dew when one child, who shall remain nameless, left it outside or the other night when that same child tossed and turned all night and ended up pushing it outside of the tent.

It still works which is why it’s going to be passed down to a child.  The problem is, I can’t very well give one child an iPod and not the other so the pink one (the old one) will go to the girl and I’m going to have to buy a new one for the boy.  So I guess this free iPod touch is going to cost me $150.

I hate that I like to make everyone happy, but very happy to get my new toy.

Shortly after I was notified that I won, Samara came home with the mail.  Nestled among all the junk and bills was a package.  And in that package was my new mother’s bracelet from Bellisimo Braclets.

Isn’t it GORGEOUS???  I am so totally in love with it.  Totally.  I never want to take it off and haven’t since Samara “helped” me get it fastened yesterday.

I won this bracelet after producing and starring in a rap video for MomDot.  The same night that Sam broke her finger.  Now I can remember that night forever, and my children’s names, since I’m to the point where I call out 4 or 5 names, including the dog and the cat before I get to the child that I am actually looking for.

I think that means that I’m getting old.

Patrina is an absolute DOLL to work with and was more than accommodating when I asked her if she would mind putting both children on the bracelet since what I won only came with one.  I think Matthew was a little dissappointed that I was getting a bracelet with only his sister’s name on it.

The packaging that it came in was gorgeous as well and I’m not used to that.  Most of the things that I get are thrown into a brown box and this came in a little opaque bag with pink tissue paper and tucked in all that paper was a box and in that box was my bracelet.

Did I mention that I am in love with it?  I am.

To top it all off, I got something that means more than any physical or monetary prize as yesterday, Tara at Tara’s View of the World bestowed upon me this:

The iPod touch and the bracelet are great, but I don’t blog to win prizes.  I blog to bring a smile to people’s faces, to shed some light on what I face, and to help people to know that they are not alone in this great big world.

This means tons!

In other Heather news, in the next few weeks, you can find me moonlighting over at Digital Bliss, part of Domestic Divas.  Which cracks me up, because I am anything BUT domestic!  But I’ll be blogging about blogging and wordpress and all the techie little things that I know about, which, after reading some of the other stuff over there, I’m not sure that I know as much as they do.  But we’re going to try!

And!  I’ve got a new post up at Mommy 411 with more thoughts on judgement of mothers.

So that’s what’s going on with me this week.  How about you?  Did you win anything cool?  Discover any cool websites?  Post somewhere else other than your own blog?

Let me know and I’ll be sure to check it out!

Until next time…

As a parent, it’s our job, our responsibility, to show our kids how to be responsible.

They don’t want to be responsible.

Shoot, let’s be honest…

*I* don’t want to be responsible sometimes. I just don’t.

The responsibility doens’t only fall on us, as parents, although I do feel that it starts here.  But teachers, youth leaders, pastors, coaches, mentors, etc. are also responsible for passing that responsibility on.

And whereas I feel that you can’t complain about the country, the economy, or those in political office if you don’t vote, I don’t think you can complain about the “unruly” children of the times unless you’re attempting to do something about it.

I’m impressed that Liberty Mutual is stepping up and doing something about it.

Liberty Mutual launched The Responsibility Project, after a huge response to one of their TV commercials where people do nice things for strangers, in an effort to provide parents with tools to share with their children on what it means to be responsible.

Somehow, over time, we’ve lost that.  We’ve become a WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) society.

It’s time to bring it back to doing unto to others what you would have them do unto you.

It’s not called the Golden Rule for nothing.

At the Responsibility Project website, you’ll find videos, resources, and a question poised to make you think:  What’s your policy?

What is your policy on responsibility?

I shared this website with Matthew and Samara.  While I do try to instill the values that were taught to me, times are different.  What worked when parenting me, won’t work when parenting them.

So in an effort to try to speak to them on their level, with what they are interested in, I’ve used the Responsibilty Project.

Our favorite video is this one… Mandy & Lester.  Poor Lester.  He went through alot.  He could’ve given up at any time.  He could’ve eaily done the WRONG thing, but he didn’t.  He continued, time and time again, to do the RIGHT thing.

That’s the message that I want my children to hear.

Take a minute and check out the Responsibility Project.  Watch the videos with your children and take a moment to see what other parents think, what stance others are taking.

As the website states, and I wholeheartedly agree with, “We believe that the more people think and talk about responsibility, and even debate what it means, the more it can affect how we live our daily lives. And perhaps, in this small way, together, we can make the world just a little better.”

Will you do your part?

Until next time…

It’s no secret that I want another baby.  I don’t know where that desire came from.  I convinced myself 9 years ago, at the age of 22 that if I didn’t have another baby by the time I was 27 that I wouldn’t have any more.  In January of that year, when I turned 27, I upped the anti to 28.  However, that only left me 3 months to find a man, marry him, and get pregnant, and I’m good… but I’m not stupid.

Looking back, the age of 28 was not a good time to have a baby.  Neither was 27.  Even 22 and 20 weren’t, but I did, and look at what I have now.

Two healthy, beautiful children in both the male and female variety.

I had put the thought of another baby out of my head until I turned 30.  It’s like I celebrated a birthday at a surprise Tasteful Treasures party surrounded by tons of sex toys and immediately I wanted a baby.

It’s never gone away.

A few months later, I discovered the mom blogging community and all of a sudden I was surrounded by women having babies, parenting, nuturing, and doing all these things that at 20 and 22, I was too dumb to know about, let alone do.

And now?  The thoughts of carrying a child, nursing a child and witnessing all the first sometimes consumes me.

And please don’t put me near a baby.  I go nuts.  Because as I mentioned when I met Heather, I want to steal them… although I never would.  I have no room in this house for another baby.  Hence needing the husband, not only for his sperm, but for a second income for a slightly bigger house that would accommodate at least 4 children.

But, with all of those things comes alot of other things… like, oh, I don’t know… not sleeping through the night, having to feed the child myself, teething, diapers and diaper rash.

If you are fortunate to have children and never really had to deal with diaper rash, I want to be you.  Samara was forever with the rash and it seemed like nothing I could do could change that, dimish it, or keep it under control.

I’m also someone who didn’t know that you could take a baby to the doctor for uncontrollable diaper rash.  I assumed that it was something that I was doing wrong and that I was a horrible mother.

And through the mommy blogging community, I’ve learned of lots of things that I want when the new baby comes.  Like slings?  Yes, I think it would be so cool to wear my baby.  And cloth diapering?  This lazy woman actually WANTS to try that.

And then I learned about Vusion for diaper rashes.  No, I didn’t try it.. for two reasons… (a) I don’t have a baby and (b) it’s by prescription only and I’m pretty sure Dr. Payne would look at me strange if I came in and asked him for a scrip for diaper rash cream when my youngest child is 9.

But he’s a pediatrician, so maybe it wouldn’t be the strangest request that he’s gotten.

I wish the internet was around when I had my children.  A new mommy in today’s age has so much more information.  They have a website that outline the symptoms and how to treat and manage it as well as a symptom checklist.  I would’ve been to the doc in a heartbeat had I been able to read any of this.

And, yes, the internet was there and I was online but it was dial-up?  By the time I would’ve found what I was looking for, she would’ve been 9.

And so, I’ve bookmarked this site as well.  Because if I do have another baby, I’m going to hope that if he or she has the same problem that Sam did that the $25 rebate offer is still available.  Because, all the other cool things that I want for my new baby are going to cost alot of money.

Thanks Mom Central for letting me know about this…I’ll make sure you get a birth announcement…

Until next time…

My children have outgrown the typical kids programs.  Blue’s Clues and Dragon Tales was all the rage with both of my children.  Samara was infatuated with Maisy.  We hit the tail end of Dora, but we never watched Barney.  (I just couldn’t do it.)

We’ve moved into Hannah Montanna, That’s So Raven, and well, Matthew rarely veers from the History or Science Channel (I now know more about the history of sneakers than most other moms, just so you know.)

However, there are occasions when I watch a four year old and I always find myself wondering what to do with her.  My kids are self-sufficient.  I don’t have to sit there with them and watch TV, although I do sometimes.  Secretly, I love to watch Hannah and my favorite episode is when she comes up with the Bone Dance.  (A side note to how dense I am… it took me awhile to figure out that the tune was actually one of her real songs.)

Jessica likes Sponge Bob.  I take that back.  Jessica loves Sponge Bob, but as with any other cartoon, there’s only so much Sponge Bob that I can take.  And so, I look for new things that I can share with her.  Shows that she would enjoy and I wouldn’t have the uncontrollable urge to gouge my eye out with a pencil while we watch and websites that she can peruse while she’s sitting next to me in the office.

I think I finally found a new one.  To the point that I can’t wait until I watch her again, because I’ve found myself sitting here humming the tunes all morning.

Apparently, there was a costumed rock band in the ’60s called the Banana Splits.  I have to assume this is true, because that was way before my time but, regardless, they’re making a comeback and will star in brand new comedy shorts and music videos on Cartoon Network beginning September 2nd.

They are called the Fab Four and they consist of a dog, a lion, a gorilla, and an elephant.  I know that Jessica will fall in love with them.

The website is so colorful and offers so much for a child to do including the ability to call in (an 800 number no less) their favorite joke, great music (seriously.  It’s good.), secret codes that they can check in daily to decipher a code, then solve a word puzzle to reveal a silly joke, fan mail, and the ability to join the Banana Splits club.

Watch for the Banana Splits on Cartoon Network beginning September 2nd, but you can check out the website now.  And don’t lose track of time playing the Pie Toss.  (Can you beat my high score of 7500?)