It was more like listening - well, it was listening - during the 7 hour drive on the way home today.

I had to pause the CD about 50 times to hear what was dropped by the little misses OR what they wanted to eat/not eat OR where we were going/coming from OR who was gonna be where and doing what. But that’s expected when you’re the sole driver going across the Sunshine State with a 3-1/2-year-old and a 2-year-old. Don’t be jealous.

Anyhoo, during the drive, I listened to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Now, I’d LOVE to call myself an avid reader, but for this time in my life (busy with my website, my girls, and not doing housework), I just can’t get up the energy to turn off the TV and read, though I LOVE it when I do. I kind of go in spurts where I’ll read 5 books back-to-back, then I don’t pick one up for 2 years. (Like when I traveled around Europe w/ my mom and sister and read 7 books. Hmmm… I guess I should have been looking out the window instead of the books.) Right now, I’m smack in the middle of a drought.

But my drought is soon ending. I couldn’t get through all 11 1/2 hours of the book on CD during my 7 hour trip (ha! math!), so I’m ordering the book from Amazon - don’t ya love Amazon? I am promising you, my loyal tens of readers, that I WILL finish the book when it arrives in a few days.

Promise.

Any other book suggestions?

I’ll give you mine since you asked:

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - a MUST for all women
Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella - FUN chic lit
Celebrity Detox by Rosie O’Donnell - all fans and strangerfriends must read
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - must read even if you saw the movie - the movie doesn’t do it justice

readreadreadreadreadreadreadreadreadreadreadreadreadread

Check out the review I posted today on Mamas Like!

Oh yeah, and that other site I work on 18 hours a day, Good for the Kids. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell your bloggers. Tell your message boarders. You can still order in time for Christmas delivery!

…………………………………………………………….

Alright alright ALRIGHT! WOOO-OO-OO-OO-OO!

My ears are still ringing.

Yes, that’s right - I saw Sir Elton tonight. Jealous much?

It was my 2nd time seeing Reggie (how I know him), and 2nd time’s a charm. Uh-maze-ing.

He played all of the classics with some newish songs thrown in.

No, I did not take that picture. We’re dorks and didn’t take our cameras. If I had, you could have seen a grainy, black picture with some lights in the center and could have believed it was really him waaaay down there.

………………………………………………………………………….

Holiday Gift Guide EXTRAVAGANZA coming at Mamas Like

………………………………………………………………………….

Tonight, HockeyMan and I attended our friends’ annual “Beerlitofest”/Halloween Party. After weeks of back-and-forth on what to wear (BritBrit/K-Fed, Bacon/Eggs, Plug/Socket), we stopped in to Target today to buy the clothes for our original idea - me-Fried Egg, HockeyMan-Chef. When I couldn’t find the white pants I needed (I’ll never say that again and mean it) browsing through every section of the women’s clothing, it hit me.

It’s Christmas time (what? already? no - the “man” just wants you to believe it’s already THAT time so you’ll start buying gifts now - BTW - did you hear Good for the Kids is having a store-wide sale? stock up now!), and Christmas PJs are already out. So, like any other non-creative, lazy, I-can-only-spend-5-minutes-dressing-for-a-Halloween-Party woman, I decided we’ll go as Christmas Morning!

What exactly does that mean? Pajamas! Annoyingly cute, fleece, reindeer pajamas with the biggest fluffy animal slippers I could find. HockeyMan found some “Family Guy” Xmas pajamas for himself and some Homer Simpson slippers.

Did I mention we had battery-powered Xmas lights around our neck? That’s the piece de resistance. Instant Christmas morning.

We were the HIT of the party! Everyone was so jealous that they had to put on silly makeup, wear tight tights, and masks while we lounged around in our PJs.

I don’t have pictures yet, but none are really needed to get across my idea for the BEST Halloween costume EVER.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Check out my post at Mamas Like today!

This weekend, I’m at my parent’s house with the girls. HockeyMan stayed behind to watch hockey/football/baseball, play Wii, go to the UCF game, work, hold down the fort, and thankfully clean and help with my business shipments.

So, while I’m here, I’ve learned some things, just in the last 36 hours:

*Windows, Cox & AOL suck. I LURVES my Mac and Firefox. I can’t log in or even see my blogs through my parent’s internet connection. My mom even spent over an hour on the phone with Cox and they finally hung up on her with no luck. So, I’m stuck using my mom’s old AOL browser to see and update my blogs. Yeah. My blogs look like CRAP in AOL. Get with it, Mr. AOL. For now, you still suck.

*When it rains, it pours. It’s been pouring now for 24 hours STRAIGHT. My girls had serious cabin fever today. There was a tornado an hour away, so everyone had to “hunker down” in case it got bad here. It sucks.

*Instead of watching America’s Next Top Model or the other “crap” shows I watch, my dad suggests I work out. Yes. Thanks, Dad. I never thought of that. Give up my “crap” shows to work out. I’ll give it a go. Sure. Thanks.

*The Mullet Festival is getting expensive! Here in Niceville (yes, I said Niceville), we celebrate a fish called a Mullet. No, not the haircut. The fish. It used to be a free festival, then they started charging $1, then $2, then $5, now $10. Ten friggin dollars! Insane. Growing up, the Mullet Festival was THE place to go during the 3rd weekend of October. We hung out, met up with friends, and ate funnel cakes and alligator tails. The last few times I’ve gone, my Dad and I have a mission to find the redneckiest couple attending. I hope to have some pics next week to show you our findings. Come on. It’s the MULLET Festival. How hard will it be to find rednecks? The challenge is to find the redneckiest (or as we name them, Mr. & Mrs. Niceville) couple and take their picture. I can’t wait.

……………………………………………………………………………

That’s what I’ll say after you read this post.

Yesterday I posted that I was feeling sick and my face was imploding. 24 hours later, my face isn’t imploding, and I feel well-rested. What? Well-rested after a night and day of sickness???

That’s because I have the greatest husband in the world.

Don’t start throwing up. Yet.

Because I loves me a list, here’s what HockeyMan did for me today:

*Let me sleep in until 12:45. Yup. PM. I haven’t slept that late in forever. When I finally sat up to get up, I thought it was 11, but it was almost 1! Ahhhh…. sleep… I also love NyQuil. I remember taking NyQuil when I was a kid and barely making it to my bed, but now, with this whole decrease in alcohol, it’s just not the same. I digress…

*He took the girls out of the house on a “field trip” to the park and grocery store without me asking. Yes, he went grocery shopping and bought real food.

*He brought me back Gatorade, new Reese’s 100 calorie snack packs (yum), and bakery cake. You know I loooove baked goods!

*NaNa asked to get me flowers and picked out some just for me. Isn’t that the best?

*He didn’t complain ONCE that I just sat around all day blowing my nose and sitting on the computer.

*He made me and the girls a dinner of yummy grilled cheese.

*He moved some laundry. Ahhh… Now I’ll have clothes to wear tomorrow!

*He got the girls ready for bed.

Now, HANDS OFF MY MAN. You can throw up now.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

UPDATE: I am feeling better and thanks for all of your well wishes, but now the girls have it. My poor (almost) 2yo has been on the couch with a fever ALL day sleeping.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Oh, sugar cookie with a generous coating of brightly colored seasonal icing. How I love thee. Let me count the ways:

Oh, cookie, with each passing season, you change your colors to match all the other cheap streamers and decorations that adorn the grocery store. You even at times dress yourself up to match my favorite sports team.

Oh, cookie, with your soft, sugary almost-not-completely-baked deliciousness. I am sometimes afraid your almost-doneness will sicken me, but to date, you have not yet.

Oh, cookie, you present yourself in a one-of-a-kind-unmistakable wreath of baked goodness. Your circular packaging is recognizable across the bakery section and sometimes in the middle of the grocery aisle. How could I possibly pass you by and not bring you home?

Oh, cookie, I am quickly growing to love the cheesy additions you have left behind on my behind. They are left there as a reminder of your deliciousness and a promising wish to see you during my next excursion to the grocer.

Oh, cookie, you leave me with a lasting taste in my mouth that stays with me for hours. I’m sure you leave it there for me as a sweet reminder that only one of you every six hours is quite enough. I guess you can have too much of a good thing, my tasty cookie.

Oh, cookie, I bring you with me to all of the celebrations I attend. Whether it is a casual affair centered around a sporting event or the social event of the season, I bring you along. Without you, a party is not a celebration. BYOB to me is Bring Your Own Baked (Goods).

Oh, cookie, I just enjoyed your every morsel. I will now remember your goodness until next morrow when I see you sitting amongst my other not-so-delicious products. Until then, I bid you good night, my love.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

I guess I’ve hit a wall of sleep deprivation. I really need to get to bed earlier than I have been (like before 1:30am). So I’m having a one-woman protest against thinking, and I’ll just post ideas for future blogs since I can’t think of anything else to write about.

1. My new friend Dawn at Mom2My6Pack suggests “compare and contrast the presidential candidates,” “Should Rudy Guilliani go by Rudy or Rudolph?,” and “The Italian Neo Realist Movement in film was neither Italian nor neo nor particularly a movement. Discuss!” See, I can’t even think of my own non-topics to talk about (and she really only thought of 2 of the 3). Thanks, Miss Dawn!

2. Kids say the darndest things. We have a rule in my house that you can’t say you don’t like something before you try it. My 3yo, NaNa, came to ask me what I was taking out of the oven (SHOCKER! I actually used the oven!), and I told her meatloaf. She started to say, “But I don’t liiiikkkkeee…,” and that’s when I gave her the Mama Look. She stopped mid-word and said, “Ooohhh, OOOO…KKKK….” It may not read as funny as it was, but for a late-talking kid, it was herlarious.

3. New Fall season TV shows. Holy crabs! This year’s shows are Uh-May-Zing-Ly Good. Some of my faves are Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Bionic Woman, Carpoolers, and Big Bang Theory. I usually have high hopes for TV shows, and then they fall flat. But this year, these shows are goooood. Any other suggestions on shows I need to see?

4. Adult-onset acne. I know, a little yucky personal, but it’s a major thing with me right now. I had really bad skin in high school, but once I got on The Pill, it pretty much cleared up. Now that I’ve had my kids, my husband has been snipped, and I’m no longer on estrogen-modifying meds, my skin is a WRECK. I’ve tried the basics, the “medical” stuff from TV (Hey, if it worked for Jessica Simpson, it should work for me, right? Ummmm, no.), and now I’m on some really expensive crap. Any ideas?

5. I have the best skanks friends in the world. Finally. I’ll expand in another post.

6. Food. Glorious food. I could write all my posts about food. But since I’m protesting today, I won’t write an actual post.

Damn. I actually made it to a whole post. I guess I’m not so brain dead after all, but now I’ve already written this, and I’m trying to get to bed before… Oh, crap. It’s already 12am. And the baby’s crying.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Excuses, excuses.

1. My foot hurts. I broke it last Xmas Eve, and it still kind of aches. Sympathy?

2. Cramps. I’m a girl. I get to pull that card at least 1 time a month.

3. I have to work. Does reading TMZ count as work?

4. I’m hungry. Can you get something for me to eat? Taco Bell?

5. I have laundry waiting for me to fold, so I can’t do ANYthing else until it’s done in about a week.

6. My head hurts. I’m a girl. See #2.

7. I have to scientifically and methodically mold the minds of play with the girls. Valid, right?

8. I have to go to the grocery store. If I don’t come back for 2 hours, send rescue. I’m just too happy to be out by myself to recognize the time-space continuum.

9. Can’t YOU do it?

10. Watch this that I just recorded/is on YouTube! The art of distraction.

11. My stomach hurts. Taco Bell?

12. Did you hear that? I think an email just came through. Let me check to see what it was.

13. I don’t WANNA!

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+