Poke Sticks and Poke Chops: Important Conversations

Here is a deep conversation between 3-year-old Eva and me. I wish I could just freeze the kids at the ages they are now!

Eva: "Look, Mommy, I got a poke stick."

Me:"Cool! Is that like a poke chop?"

Eva, thinking: "Yes, it's just like a poke chop."

Folks, "school" will be starting at my house again soon ... the day after Labor Day to be exact. So you'll be seeing me around here half as much, and I may just be posting quickie things and using some guest bloggers I think you'll enjoy. Most likely it will be a lot of homeschooling and household stuff, since I'm deep in that world right now. Any writing stuff I'm dealing with (ebook cookbook, Boobie Trapped Mommy memoir, etc.) will be over at http://getpublishedparentingmags.com.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for coming by!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Cathy!

When is her bday? Find a picture to post!

You are a consistently kind and thoughtful person, and funny to boot! I'll never forget hanging around listening to you and my mom talking for hours on end when I was a kid. You scared the hell out of me when you told my mom your childbirth story, and it's a wonder I have any kids of my own!!!! You covered my eyes during the nudie parts of Caddyshack (FYI: I have my own boobies, ya know. Well, I guess I didn't back then!). You are one of the best cooks I know and always have food on hand, which makes me love you all the more. You didn't bat an eye when one of my toddler kids (who was it again?) dropped a dump on your pool deck, and you never freaked out when they had tantrums. I could go on and on about you.

When you and my uncle got divorced, I was devastated and thought I would not see you anymore. And in fact I didn't see you for a long time, in large part because I went my own stupid way for a few years in my late teens and early 20s. Then one day in 1995, God brought us back together. I was at a restaurant downtown where I had never been and haven't been back to since. I had a fight with a girlfriend there and I told her to just leave me there. I was walking around the front of the restaurant trying to figure out who to call in the middle of the day to come and get me when YOU popped out of the office! YOU drove me home, and after that we stayed in touch and you and my mom got back in touch. I am thrilled to have you (and your amazing sons) in my life.

Thank you for the generous gift for my birthday so I could buy a laptop and pursue my writing dream. Now you go out and do the same because I know you have a book in you!

Kim Kardashian's $2 Million Ring

Wow, Kim Kardashian's man must REEEEEEAAAALLLLLY love her to give her a $2 million ring! The picture above is my hand next to a picture of hers. Like Kim, I have been married before. Let's see if Kim can make her second marriage last as long as mine has (almost 13 years; 16 years together).

 I'm not trying to be a jerk, but WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING wearing something like that around? I would be afraid some random person would cut my finger off to get that ring. So I ask you (and I think I already know the answer): does a bigger, better ring equal a bigger, longer, better marriage?

I think not. I love my ring. I took forever to find it. I think it's interesting that it has 5 stones and I have 5 kids. I wonder if that means something! My ring cost under $2 million. In fact, it cost under $2,000. I didn't want something that was obnoxiously big or too expensive for my man. I wanted something pretty that nobody would hopefully steal that was COMFORTABLE.

Dang, I wish you could upload a picture on the Comments section of the blog. Maybe put your wedding ring on your own blog or Facebook pic me ... I'd love to see your wedding ring and hear the story behind it.