Sam Makes a New Fashion Statement: Preppy Peace

Okay, if this picture looks familiar to you, it's because I just posted it yesterday as part of Aron's Take Your Kids to Work Day ... haha! Now I'm posting it so you might notice the finer nuances of Sam's wardrobe. When the kids wear fatigues and tie-dye, we call that look War and Peace. When Sam wore tie-dye and preppy plaid shorts (bought by Jordan!), we call that Preppy Peace. I am the master of fashion, let me just tell you. Yes me, who would wear black shirts with jeans or shorts every single day. I keep saying I don't dress great because I need to lose weight and get the money to be able to afford vintage Chanel, but who am I kidding ... that's too much work! Thankfully, Callie has some fashion sense. Hopefully I can share some of those pics on here soon!

Oklahoma Earthquake Felt in Kansas City ... Freaky!

Around 11 p.m. last night I felt someone shaking my bed. I figured Eva was just shaking her leg or something, but it was too fast and shaking the bed too much. It felt like a dog was laying at the end of the bed scratching, only we don’t have a dog. Had our friend the possum gotten inside and under our bed and was shaking the bed?

Then Jordan, who was staying the night and sleeping in Joel’s bed, came in mildly flipping out and asking if we’d felt that. She said she thought someone was shaking her bed.

Then the other kids came in flipping out. Callie had been in her own bed and the boys were on the floor for a slumber party. Aron didn’t feel it much because he was sitting on his buns reading.

I didn’t know what was going on. Why was the water in the fish bowl moving? Was in a dinosaur stomping in our neighborhood? The apocalypse? When cars drive by with their bass boomin’, our house shakes, but not really the beds. Besides, that’s a slower rhythm usually.

Aron brought reason and said it was an earthquake. I remembered how Kansas is somehow near a fault line. This is going to be a great homeschool lesson for next week, showing the kids fault lines and talking about tectonic plates. Turns out the earthquake was in Oklahoma and it was felt all the way up to Wisconsin. Freaky!

How do they stand it in California? I don't think our structures in the Midwest are built to withstand earthquakes, just tornados (haha).

Downy Unstopables ... I Think My Nose Fell Off

Okay, my first problem with this product is that I think it needs two P's to be spelled correctly. But after using my free sample, I think it needs like 27 P's because the scent is too freaking strong to be something a human came up with.

My sample said to use the ENTIRE PACKET in one load of laundry. I knew my nose would probably fall off my face if I did that, so I just put in like 1/4 of the packet in a FULL load of laundry. After washing and drying my load, the scent was pretty strong on all my clothes. It hurt my poor wittle sinuses, like my new Glade Plug-In system I paid a buttload of money for.

Maybe I have a sensitive nose, but I can always tell when I'm around someone who has used the ENTIRE packet of their Unstopables. Actually, I can smell them from a mile away.

I don't get why we have to overpower things to make them smell "good." How about drying your clothes on the line outside for a FRESH scent? Okay, not always possible in the winter. But then you can dry them on the line in  your basement for that nice, musty scent.

I'm just sayin': if you have a strong nose, use this product in full strength. But be aware that you are killing the brain cells of everyone around you. It's on your conscience.

Hanging on the Freezer Door is Not a Sport

I'm over here at The Parent du Jour today answering questions about parenting. I guess I once tweeted that hanging on the freezer door is not a sport. Here are some other things that are NOT sports but that could easily be:

1. Jumping on the bed.
2. Jumping from couch cushion to couch cushion.
3. Trapping siblings in bedrooms.
4. Extreme ziplining.
5. Throwing sand in a sibling's eyes.
6. Extreme scooter-riding.
7. Ignoring your neighbor.
8. Trick or treating.
9. Christmas shopping.
10. Add your own here.

I think my blog post title is a great title for my first parenting book.

Support a Friend With a Baby in the NICU

DANGIT! A friend at church just became a grandma again. The thing is her new twin grandbabies weigh like 4 pounds combined. That's 2 months in the NICU for them. I hate that. They'll be fine ... they're breathing on their own and all that ... miraculous! ... but I still hate the NICU thing for lots of reasons. It just takes me back to a sad time. Anyway, I write for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggies is that I write articles to try to help other people. If you get a chance, check out my piece 12 Ways to Support a Friend with a Baby in the NICU over at North Texas Kids. I don't get paid per page view or anything like that; I just want to get the word out about how stressful the situation is because I didn't realize it until it happened to me. I encourage my friend to get a Care Calendar going for her daughter-in-law to start getting meals and help ASAP! We're praying for you, babies, and all NICU babies everywhere.