Winner!

Our winner of the Easy Canvas Print is Jennifer H. - Congrats Jennifer - Sorry it took so long but there were issues with the Rafflecopter account.

Your prize is in your email!

Give it away, give it away, give it away now....

I am busy today selling my old stuff!  In our hood there is an annual sale the First Saturday in June and this year we are hauling our stuff out to the yard to see if we can con anyone into taking it off our hands for a fair price.  ;)

Remember when I showed you how to make an Easy Canvas Print? It really is SUPER easy to do and I love the quality of their product.  So while I am SELLING to the neighbors I am GIVING to you!

You can make one of your own Easy Canvas Print's if you WIN! - just follow the raffle copter prompts and you will be entered!

Contest starts today, June 1
Contest closes Saturday, June 8th
Winner Announced Sunday, June 9th

The Winner will get one free 8" x 10" canvas print of your their own to create a memory.

Enjoy!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am not sure how I kept a straight face.

A couple of years ago at the zoo - we were eating lunch that we brought with us and Boo Boo La La got up and started dancing.

Shake It Up was new and she was FASCINATED by the show.  FASCINATED I tell you.

Please watch:




I filmed - there was NO music playing at the zoo.  I added that when we got home.

I love her.

Top Ten YouTube Channels?

This Week's Writing Prompts For Thursday 05.09.2013

http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/

1.) Your top 10 favorite YouTube channels. <--oooh love YouTube!
2.) A long drive...
3.) Describe a talent of flaw that seems to be in your genes.
4.) When you first discovered the internet, what sites did you frequent most?
5.) Tell us what (or who) you're crushing on.

Guess what I chose???

10. DJ Hoopster - A beautiful friend.

9. MDK - My Drunk Kitchen, you must know Harto?

8. IAMMNNice - Mesmerizing Shovel, look into it.

7. NEWLY uncovered - Josh Hoaby.  My daycare provider's AWESOME SIL.  Wow.  Just Wow.

6.The Animated Woman!   And not just because I won her Twitter Contest.

5. Ted Talks - sometimes I need to feel smart.

4. Jenna Marbles - again, sometimes I need to feel smart.

3. Layer Cake Wine - Cook (and exercise) with Jayson.  Really.

2. Community Channel - I have followed here for-EVER.  I am the "MUM" who rates her.

1.  My own.  Why?  Because during the day I like to sometimes watch my Boo Boo.  It makes me not feel so sad to be away from her, or I cry.  Either way #winning!

The Great Closet Migration

Twice a year I rearrange the closet of Boo Boo La La and myself - Spring and Fall.

Usually by now I have completed this project.  And I would have been wearing my flip-flops for weeks.  However, unless you have been living under a ROCK, you know that I have not been able to do this migration as we had snow as recently as MAY 3rd here in MinneSNOWta.  But, Saturday, I had enough.  And despite the FRIGID 32 degrees outside I made my way to Boo Boo La La's closet to pull out the winter clothes and things that are too small and pull out all the fun stuff that I have accumulated over the years for when she would be the size she is now.

Yes, yes I am that mother who bought a size 7 raincoat with kitties on it for my child when she was 3.  It was at Once Upon A Child and I would never see it again - it HAD to be purchased.

Some things never leave her closet.  And every time I do the closet migration I pull them out, sigh, give them a kiss, and put them back into their hidey holes.

My favorite:

It is a sweater that T-Bone's aunt gave to Boo Boo when she was a few months old.  So CRAZY, yet so amazingly fun.

Plus, there was the day she SMILED the biggest smiles and I really started to see her personality.  

I love that sweater.

Do you know the rules?

I think I have fully demonstrated that I am crazy on this blog.  More than once. 

This morning the crazy turned into this blog post because someone could not follow the "Sleeping/Alarm Clock" rule at 4:19 am.

I had a whole other blog post planned with photos of LaCrosse, WI and the wonder that is Target Box Wine.  You can't get Target Box Wine here, so just being in LaCrosse made me giddy.

Yes, I am digressing, which is exactly what happened to me this morning.

I slept by myself, with only a cat or dog in the mix, for about thirty-two years of my life.  So it is really not my poor T-bone's fault that he does not know "The Rules" of sleeping.  For example, you need really soft sheets and you are not supposed to pull that top sheet out from being tucked at the foot of the bed.  Duh!

This morning, the ultimate sin.

T-bone's alarm went off, which is fine, but then he wanted a kiss.  Also fine, but the air kiss was not enough and the miss of the lips just didn't cut it, so I had to kiss him THREE times as I am saying, "I want to go back to sleep!"  It was only 4:19 am after all...but then he broke the BIG rule.  I rolled back to my side after the smooch he was looking for and HE DID NOT GET OUT OF BED!  I was laying there thinking how I would get up in about an hour and blog about LaCrosse.  This was my attempt to drift off back to sleep when I realized...HEY, he is still laying there.  Why is he laying there?  When is he getting up?  WTF?  (See, crazy. I know.)  And now I am so distracted by his laying there this whole other blog post gets stuck in my head.  This one more interesting than even Target Box Wine.

The ultimate "Sleeping/Alarm Clock" rule.  Once your alarm goes off and you give your partner a kiss, you GET OUT OF BED!  If you lay there you risk getting blogged about for; WHY ARE YOU STILL LAYING THERE???  When are you actually getting up?  Did you fall back asleep?  Should I poke you and check?  This rule to me is even bigger than "The Continental Divide Pillow" rule.

What is that rule?  It is when my husband in the night puts a pillow perpendicular to its normal position and it gets too far over on my side and I end up with one shoulder on it laying there all wonky and stiff when I wake up.  Yes, "The Continental Divide Pillow".  I KNOW how crazy this sounds, but I slept alone for more than three decades people!

And he did get up about 7 minutes after the smooch, but the damage was done.  I was not getting back to sleep.

THANK THE SWEET LORD it is Friday.

White Sangria anyone?

T-Bone is helping someone install a furnace tomorrow,,,hopefully they don't want him over to their house so early his alarm goes off at 4:19 again.

We are closed.

I sat in a conference room all morning watching it snow.  Nothing stayed on the ground, it is MAY FIRST after all.  But it still put me in a mood so foul that I was tense and crabby all darn day long.

I guess I am over snow for now.

I did make it to get my haircut - fun fringe for all to view when I actually get to my phone that is active.  The nice lady from Sprint who was helping me yesterday and was supposed to help me activate the Galaxy S4 TONIGHT at 8pm actually activated it at about 4:10pm this afternoon.

The S4 is in Robbinsdale - I am in Chanhassen.

While normally that would have made me madder - I gave in, got my haircut, and am sitting while Boo Boo La La hangs with her random posse of kids at the McDonald's.  I swear that kid is JUST like her Great Granny.  Can make friends at an insurance convention.

Let us pause to remember Granny.

Yup.  She was a looker.

If you think this post had ZERO point.  You are absolutely correct.

Enjoy.

I am trying to be proactive here...

Mother's Day and my Birthday are so close together - its like CHRISTMAS ya'll.

Seriously.

I don't really want more than spending time with my family, but if T-bone is looking for ideas I thought I would throw some out there.

Source: toms.com via mommylisa on Pinterest

Tom's would be excellent - Give one, get one! I am a size 8. (Un-Tranny Hooker Peep-Toes!  Word!)

Source: zappos.com via mommylisa on Pinterest

And I LOVE me some Rocket Dog summer sandals. Zappos has these! :)

And finally -

I want TWO 50' Pocket Hoses Please!

A girl has her priorities.  

Cute shoes and a well watered lawn and garden.  

When did we all become Transvestite Hookers & Nuns?

I want a new wedge peep toe for summer.

Is that REALLY too much to ask for?

No, right?

But EVERY damn place I looked the wedges are FOUR INCHES high.

I am shooting for somewhere between two and three inches.

Target?  Nope

Anthropologie?  All the sensible ones are SOLD OUT in size 8, natch.

Shoedazzle - right - oh no that is Kardashishoe Central.

JustFab?  Nope - and there its either ugly flats or hooker heels like Shoedazzle.

Where can a girl find a CUTE wedge with a peep toe for spring/summer?  WHERE???

I am at a loss.

Hooker heels or flats and not a space in between.  :(

Robbinsdale Eggstravaganza!

There are a lot of fun events in Robbinsdale - Whiz Bang Days, the Lighting of the Christmas Tree, but the one that Boo Boo likes best - probably now more than ever - is the Eggstravaganza!

The first year my husband saw something about the event he just took Boo Boo there on a whim.  She came home with stuffed animals and candy and a huge smile.  So the next year I went along...she got some candy and a couple dollars in cash.  She was happy and smiling, we got CANDY and she got to hang with us doting on her for a few hours.

I have to tell you, from a parents perspective this event is not all that awesome.  You stand in line, it is usually cold, your child runs around some, complains about the wait some.  Parents who are first timers get WIDE EYED at the line, they don't understand.  Why is there a line?  Isn't this an Easter Egg Hunt?

Nope.

It is the Eggstravaganza.
 

I need to give this to the Easter Bunny!

It is not a hunt.  Here at the Eggstravagaza the kids wait and dance to the dj - parents sipping their free hot chocolate.  Then at 1pm all are ushered into City Hall, family by family.  Children are shown where to select their four plastic eggs from a laundry basket festooned with ribbons and spring-y touches, then swooped up to one of the many volunteers behind the counter who help them open their precious plastic eggs.


We got it down now.  T-bone goes up about noon.  We join him later to minimize the whine.

She LOVED my egg.

Boo Boo read her Captain Underpants book and waited.

Out came The Easter Bunny - giving all the kids Twizzlers and waving and hugging.  She was SO pleased to get the hand drawn gift - she waited for us to get the right picture of the hug.  :)


We then went inside.  The room was already buzzing with sugar and joy.  Cheers going going up from the volunteers when certain colors of tickets were revealed.  I mean, how fun to give a kid a scooter or a bike, or the biggest stuffed bunny you ever saw?

Boo Boo selected four little plastic eggs held together with tape.  Then we went up to the counter.

A nice lady bubbling with excitement said, "Should we see what you got?"  And she and Boo Boo began to open them.  She SHRIEKED!!!!!  "WE GOT AN ORANGE TICKET!!"  and suddenly we were pretty popular.  A lady behind said, "Is this the girl who won a BIKE?"

Boo Boo was in shock.  A bike?  And I have three more EGGS??? She could barely speak.

Lots of pictures were taken after Boo Boo surveyed all the bikes on the platform and selected the cute white one with pink and blue swirls.  She barely remembered she got THREE OTHER prizes including two stuffed animals and a pencil case.  

Would you if you were seven?

Did she need the bike?  No.

Do other parents complain that this is a zoo and kids from other towns come?  Yes.

Do I care?  No.  Because my Boo Boo had just as much fun the year she won two dollars and some candy as she did when she won the bike.  

How can you argue with that?

I wonder who's turn it will be next year to be so lucky.

P.S. There are other fun things at this event.  Cookie decorating, Easter Egg craft, people to talk to from the community.  Our Chamber does a great job of it - and I personally would love to be in their shoes making so much joy.