This one’s for you, Angie, on your wedding anniversary.
Today, I’ll be thinking about you and your inspirational, devoted, beautiful marriage to Brian.
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This one’s for you, Angie, on your wedding anniversary.
Today, I’ll be thinking about you and your inspirational, devoted, beautiful marriage to Brian.
Comments closed.

This is my first time participating in Lotus’ Weekly Winners! Please be gentle.
Vans.
My baby girl.
Ella thinks the elbow pads are gloves.
The most adorable croquet set ever. Thanks Target!
Probably staring at some smoker at the park.

I’d love to tell you all EVERYTHING right now instead of being a teasy, teaserton, but I can’t…
Sometimes you need a little help teasing from a friend, like Katie at Motherbumper.
This big announcement we’ll all be revealing, well, maybe it’s to tell you all some insider info on an upcoming wedding? Brad and the Octomom Angelina?! Jason the most-hated Bachelor in history and Molly?! No? Seems unlikely, but maybe this chick Megan from Velveteen Mind could tell you more.
I suppose it’s possible we could be announcing that Prince (or is it the artist formerly known as Prince still? I forget) is going to be giving free massages at BlogHer. That would be weird cool, right? Alli, aka Mrs. Fussypants, might know the answer.
Maybe we’re going to announce that Disco BALLS are all the rage in home decor for 2009. Ha! I said BALLS. Maybe The Caffeitnatrix herself knows if disco BALLS will become a fixture in all of our homes.
Maybe I have no idea what’s going on. Surely Jenny the Wolverine yelling Bloggess could explain this better.
Thoroughly confused yet?
Yeah, me, too.
Just GO HERE next and follow the links to find out what we are trying to tell you….
I’ve always liked to read. When I was a kid, I adored Beverly Cleary books with Ramona and Beezus (how did you pronounce her name? I pronounced it Bee-zus, but I’ve heard it pronounced Bee-Zeus. Weird.) I also loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and can remember my mom reading them aloud to me.
In 5th grade I discovered the scandalous books by Judy Blume. Sure I’d read her Superfudge books, though I guess you could consider Superfudge slightly scandalous. Do you remember when Peter peed in the plant? I remember when my 3rd grade teacher read that part of the book, she had a hard time getting all of us to stop laughing. Her truly scandalous books discussed divorce, racism, sex, and masturbation, but I didn’t really care about any of that stuff! In 5th grade I was far more interested in the topic of PERIODS. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret became my bible. Oh how I wanted to get my period after this and how I wanted to talk about getting periods with all my friends. (Why?!?) I read that book over and over, dissecting every page and feeling like the book had been written especially for me. I still love Judy Blume and wish she’d write another adult book, like Summer Sisters, which is one of my all time favorite books.
I go into bookstores now and it’s really overwhelming. I’ve read everything by my favorite authors (Judy Blume, Wally Lamb, Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy…) and don’t know who or what to read next.
It’s time to develop my 2009 booklist and I need your recommendations. My 2008 booklist is sitting over in my sidebar with it’s arms crossed, a scowl on it’s face, and it’s lips pursed. I KNOW I DIDN’T READ EVERYHING ON THE LIST! And I’m FINE! FINE! with that.
I’ll just move those books I didn’t read to this year’s booklist. So HA!, 2008 booklist.
So! {clap, clap} What should I read this year?
Here’s what I have so far…
1. Hunger Games (already finished it and I can’t wait for the next installment!!!!)
2. I’m currently reading The Poisonwood Bible (I’ve read it before, but I can’t remember what happened. Thanks a LOT, Placenta Brain.)
3. I plan on participating in Anglophile Football Fanatic’s PMS Bookclub and the first book is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
4. Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner (Dana didn’t exactly give this one a good review, but I’ll read it anyway)
5. The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Heidi recommended this one.)
(Edited to add because I forgot about this one) 6. Living in Little Rock with Miss Little Rock (a Mr. Lady certified recommendation)
What else should I read?
(I want to be sure to give a big “HOLLA!” to all of you who participated in Delurking day yesterday, it was so, so great to meet those of you I had no idea about! )
Edited to add: No need to recommend the Twilight series. I’d rather not read the remaining 3 books.

Both of my children were sick this weekend, either with walking pneumonia or bronchitis, the doctor wasn’t certain. Either way, both children were whiny and pitiful, I decided to go shopping anyway on Saturday and allow Tate some quality time with his children.
Because I’m not as bad as a mother as that, I didn’t leave for my shopping venture/escape until after I had prepared the childrens’ lunches. Though I was hungry myself, the thought of someone ELSE making my lunch won out over my growling stomach. It was raining AGAIN, (OF COURSE it was), on Saturday, so I decided the mall was the best place to shop, eat, and get a bra fitting all under one dry roof.
That’s right. A bra fitting.
I’d never actually had a bra fitting. Before kids, I could go to TJ Maxx, find the cheapest 34 C on the rack, and not worry about it not fitting. My girls still had spring in their step back then, if you know what I mean, and there was never any gathering at the top of my bra or boob spillage out of the bottom creating a double boob effect. Then I had two babies whom I breastfed, and BOY OH BOY did I have BOOBIES for a short, but glorious time. I never was offered a spread in Playboy, which is disappointing, because those boobs? Were damn NICE.
So anyway back to my current boobs, they were in need of a properly fitted bra. I parked at Dillard’s, which in hindsight was foolish due to my nagging hunger. How long could a bra fitting really take? I mean, I only have two boobs to measure.
Apparently it takes awhile. First there’s the measuring, then there’s the trying on. I’ve now learned that just because you measure as a 30 C (who knew!), that doesn’t mean that’s the actual size of bra you’ll need. Molded cups, soft cups, push-up cups, different brands, there was a LOT to consider when properly locking and loading the girls. After what seemed like hours, I finally chose two bras that seemed to fit and brought my girls back to their pre-baby stage. I paid (too much) for my bras and headed to the food court, the finest place to dine alone.
And promptly gorged myself on chicken teriyaki, vegetables, and rice.
Tate was practically foaming at the mouth and had a wild look of hunger in his eyes by the time I got home. On the phone on my drive home from the mall, I’d called and told him about my brand new, perky boobies. I promised a private viewing when I arrived home. It was the least I could do to make up for his long day with two sick children.
I tried on the first one, but something was WRONG! I could barely get it fastened. When I did finally get it fastened, after having broken a sweat and a few nails, I looked in the mirror and saw my previously perky boobies peeking out of the top of my bra. “Helloooo!” my boobies waved. And the back fat, back fat (loaded up with things and knickknacks, too)! You are not supposed to see excess boobage and back fat! The bra was TOO SMALL. A 30 C, I was not.
How could these bras have fit five hours before?? Damn chicken teriyaki.
Here’s my question. I can’t wear them, unless I plan on only wearing them on days I won’t be eating, which is pretty rare. I haven’t removed the tags, but I feel like a dunce, having tried them on, even having HELP when I tried them on. I hate having to return things, especially something like a bra, which I don’t even know CAN be returned? What do you think, can I return the bras?
(PSST…today is Delurking day (brainchild of Rude Cactus and Greeblemonkey) Feel free to leave a comment and say hello, even if it’s not about my bra issues. I totally understand if you don’t want to participate in a discussion about my boobs.)

Yesterday when going to meet the Blind man at my house (he can actually see…he just sells blinds), I nearly wrecked my car when I drove by this scene.
Thank goodness I’ve taken everyone’s advice and I tote my camera EVERYWHERE I go.
I knew I had to turn the car around and shoot some photos, it was so beautiful! The orange leaves, the way the trees lined the road along the cemetery, the sun and how it filtered through the leaves…
I couldn’t wait to get home and play around on Photoshop with the photos, I had just Stumbled on some free textures on Flickr and wanted to see if I could figure out how to use them.
Of course I never have been able to figure out how to do the vignette in Photoshop, so I just added that part using THE GREATEST PHOTO SOFTWARE ON THE INTERNET, Picnik. (PS…I’m giving away a PREMIUM Picnik subscription next week!)
There is a certain peace in having moved to Tennessee during the fall and makes leaving my beloved Indiana less painful.
Don’t forget, you can still enter the Vintage Body Spa giveaway until tomorrow morning!

I’m not sure if you’ve heard or not, but NEXT weekend is BlissDom ’08 sponsored by Blissfully Domestic magazine. It’s being held in my new home state of Tennessee, just a few hours from me in Nashville.
I think the MOST important thing that I should mention about BlissDom ’08 is the fact that I will be speaking on a Question and Answer panel. As your own personal “Yoda of blogging,” YOU can ask ME questions about blogging. If this isn’t enough to pique your interest (???), maybe the fact that it’s a FREE CONFERENCE will.
So let’s review.
I’m speaking and it’s FREE!
Not enough?
Okay, how about this. Jessie Baylin, a real live SINGER will be performing. They originally asked me to sing at the conference, seeing as I do an absolutely FAB rendition of Five Green and Speckled Frogs and If You’re Happy and You Know It. But with all those questions I’ll be answering, I figured my voice wouldn’t be in pristine condition for singing. Jessie Baylin is a fantastic replacement for me, though.
And if the fact that I’m speaking, which by proxy means you’ll get to meet ME! and the conference is FREE, AND Jessie Baylin is singing still isn’t enough, then how about a list of attendees…
Check out this link for a list of attendees so far.
Impressive, yes!!!??
I’LL see YOU next weekend in Nashville!
(You all get that I’m making fun of MYSELF, right??? I’m not really this conceited!!)