My new TITANIUM glasses. I’m too cool for school.

Gosh… *sniff-sniff* 
I’m so touched. Really - do it again. Right there. Ahhhhh…..

I wanna give a big ole bloggy {{{hug}}} to my bloggy friend, Kim at Jogging in Circles, for my fab award. Even tho I may not slap them on the side of my page along with the 76 other banners and links, I do GREATLY appreciate the award and pat on my back.

Ooooo… Can you scratch that itch?  A little to the left… No, higher… Ahhhhhhh… Right there….

Thanks, Kim! I so wish we coulda hooked up in ladylike platonic manner last month when I was up experiencing a mild New York winter. Next time you’re down in Mickeyland, we’re gettin together.

Just had to share.

Don’t forget! We’re still working for Lotus!

Yeah, so this whole “economy going downhill and we’re all gonna be destitute in 9.4 months” is kinda scary. Scary in a way that sucks. Scary in a way that makes me wanna do something.

I’m a business owner. I never really thought I’d say that, but I have to admit, I like saying it. I try my best to make my business a professional, customer-driven company. Staying alive in the upcoming (and current) downturn in the economy (stupid) is going to be VERY important to my sanity family.

I want to start a grass-roots campaign to help support small businesses such as my own. I want to feel love from my fellow online bloggy community. I don’t mean shop in my store and only my store and spend every last “extra” dollar you have on my website. I mean support the small business online and where you live.

The small businesses are what is going to keep our economy (stupid) from hitting the crapper. Trust me - WalMart, Target, and any other Big Box stores are NOT going to go under just because you stop buying every little thing you need from them just because you can save $1.45.

Small businesses, like mine and other mom-owned web stores, will suffer and be forced out of business without your help.

I guarandamntee you that you WILL find deals and competitively-priced products from small business. Try the sites. Spend a few extra minutes online and see what’s out there.

For my Thursday 13, I give you 13 of some GREAT online stores, all of which are run by moms. You never know what you might find!

1. Good for the Kids - My beloved online store. Of course I’d be first!

2. B3 Boutique - mom-owned

3. Scrapless Creations - mom-owned

4. Super Healthy Kids - mom-owned

5. Allison Strine Designs - mom-owned Etsy store

6. My Little Monkey Boutique - mom-owned

7. Three Chickadees - moms-owned

8. I Wanted to Wonder - mom/mom-owned

9. Red Thread Confections - mom-owned DELICIOUS gourmet chocolates

10. Emily Allyn - mom-owned

11. For the Monster - mom-owned cloth diaper store

12. Mom Spit - mom-owned - I use this stuff EVERY day

13. Tees for Change - mom-owned - I LOOOOOVE her “green” shirts

I URGE you to start shopping with us small guys. It’s not only economy-friendly, it’s eco-friendly! Really!

I’ll be listing more online small businesses in later posts, so please please please spread the word to shop online with other small businesses. Even if you don’t post about it, spend a few $$ and help everyone.

Florida Living

Yeah, yeah. I know every good hosewife housewife needs to cook for her man, but this ain’t no normal housewife you’ve got here. I’m the WORST housewife. I don’t clean (lucky to have a housecleaner - notsomuch a maid), I barely do laundry (see sidebar to your left), and I don’t cook (drive to the restaurant and pay).

So the mere fact that we’ve eaten at home more than we’ve eaten out for the last two weeks (this past weekend is not counted - parents in town - dad pay$), is a sign of the apocalypse. Or that “A New Earth” reading is working. Or some screw is looser in my head. Or I’m growing up. *shivers* Or there’s a little lady who lives inside my head who has taken over. We’ll call her Mitchell II.

I’m putting my money on Mitchell II.

Hold your panties. I’ll explain Mitchell and Mitchell II in another post.

Today at Super Target, I actually stocked up on some groceries. Yup. Real food. Real food like hot dogs and shredded cheese.

And what can you make with hot dogs and shredded cheese?

Hot dogs and REAL FRIGGIN mac n’ cheese.

Not the blue box - real friggin mac n’ cheese.

The kind with organic (trying to buy all organic, but don’t mess with my Kraft Real Mayo bitches) macaroni and 63.7 pounds of shredded cheddar. LOTS of cheddar.

Recipe:
1 bag o’ organic elbow macaroni
63.7 pounds o’ real shredded cheddar cheese (not the veggie cheese crud)
1 slab pat o’ butter

1. boil bag o’ mac
2. drain
3. dump in 62.7 pounds o’ cheese and slab pat o’ butter
4. mix
5. load yummy goodness into pan as Trouble screams, “it’s too much!” and realize you have a small pan which any 2-year-old would know
6. sprinkle w/ 1 pound o’ cheeese
7. pop in broiler (who knew we had one!) and watch like a sniper to make sure it doesn’t over broil or whatever it does in there
8. INHALE

9. Feel your thighs expand

Props to Secret Agent Mama for theming me for this post. Nice to chat again, woman. I actually thought of you and your photo-taking skillz when I took that pic. And recognized my lack o’ skills.

Happy St. Paddy’s Day to my less-Irish-now-that-we-know-his-grandmother-was-German Irishish husband, HockeyMan!

Also, I want to send special baby-making (not he and I) energy across to the pond to my new true Irish-guy-living-in-Holland online friend, XBox4NappyRash. Today would have been a great day for you and ET to find out a baby was on its way, but it just wasn’t in the cards for this month. I’m kinda fertile, so I’ll send my fertile energy over the Atlantic to you. Best to you and ET.

Enjoy…

had to delete due to lack of html skillz

Apparently the pics of my mess o’boxes in my house is somewhat of a bloggy urban legend. I thought you’d appreciate an update. This could count in a bunch of memes around Blogworld, namely Tackle it Tuesday. Since it’s not Tuesday, and I wanna show it off, here’s the update:

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

GOOOOOOOO UUUUUUUSSSSSSSS!!!

Proof below that it’s totally random that the person who won my giveaway is someone I know.

But, peeps, you can’t mess with statistics or we go into a time-space continuum where we lose consciousness, flash back to 8 years ago, and bleed out of our face. Or is that just on Lost?

Congrats to Dawn for winning the Good for the Kids giveaway hosted at A Whole Lot of Nothing for the 5 Minutes for Mom Blog Par-tay!