AMomTwoBoys

So, I wish I had time to sit here and chat with you all, but I just don’t.  Because holy mother of all that is good I have a SHITLOAD of stuff to do and, like, 47 seconds available in which to get it done.

Mostly, I’m getting ready to leave town tomorrow for a visit to eastern Tennessee, which means I have 432 loads of laundry to do and HOURS of time to spend looking at all the piles wondering what I’m missing and thinking VERY carefully about what items I need to bring.  You know, to keep myself, DJ and the boys looking good warm.  Also, I have a very important commitment to the final 100 pages of the final book of the Twilight series.

YES, I did.  I broke down and read the book and then I couldn’t STOP reading.  And now I’m almost done with the entire set, my kids haven’t eaten in a week, I haven’t showered and I have to spend time PACKING instead of finding out what happens at the END of the damn books.  Really, truly, some sort of vampire-y thing must have bitten me, because I don’t generally even LIKE vampire stories, but I can’t seem to stop reading this one.  And WHY, I ask, am I taking time out to sit here and very furiously type while I could be reading?!

Because I love you all, that’s why.

The strange, incoherent moral of this story is that I’m a little stressed out right now and haven’t had time to sit down and write a thoughtful blog post.  SO, if I were going to do that, this is the gist of what it would say:

• Merry Christmas!
• Thanks to all of you who participated in the Bloggy Holiday Card Exchange.  It’s been SO much fun to see all your cards!
• Happy Birthday to ME!!  I turn 30 in 3 short days.  EEK!
• Happy New Year to everyone!  I can’t wait to see what 2009 has in store!
• Although I’ll have my computer on vacation, I have no idea how much time I’ll spend on it.
• SO, I probably won’t “talk” to you again until I get back!
• And when I do, I’ll have thoughts to offer on the items I’ve managed to get crossed off my list! Ha.
• Big, wet, sloppy kisses to you all.  *MWAH*

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If you’re like me, you send your Holiday cards to all the people in your life who mean something special (and maybe a few who you feel obligated to send one to!).  If you’re also like me, your internet friends would definitely be counted among the first group.  Except they’re internet friends, so you don’t necessarily have their mailing address, or even their real name, and sending out an extra hundred cards would make life difficult.  THIS is the next best thing.  It gives us an opportunity to share a bit of our real lives with people who make up some of our best friends. And it also gives us a chance to say “Thank You” for being such  amazing friends.

Thanks so much for stopping by and participating*!  If you’ve posted a card of your own on your blog, simply add your name & the direct link to the post to the form below!  Visit people who are already listed, and don’t forget to keep checking back so you can check out everyone’s Holiday cards!

Merry Christmas!  Happy Hanukkah!  Happy Kwanzaa!  Merry Chrismukkah!

*If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click on the little button at the top of the post for details!
**I will, without hesitation, delete any inappropriate links.**

Hey everyone!  I told you yesterday that Holly and I were having our own sort of nostalgic Holiday Celebration this week.  Yesterday she posted her amazingly funny recount of The Christmas Quilt Picture Story of 2007.  And today, you get to hear about the Holiday Dog.  I first posted this on December 28th of last year.  In case you missed it then (which most of you did!), here it is again:

We’re lucky enough to have our own version of the Holiday Armadillo. Jealous, aren’t you?

My crazy Aunt Dawna recently opened up her very own “Dog Grooming and Adorable Dog Merchandise shop”. It’s called My Dog’s Spot. Cute, right? I’m still not sure why she didn’t use my descriptive title. Whatever.

Anyway, as a way of bringing in customers my Uncle Ryan bought a dog costume and stands on the corner waving a sign. Apparently, this technique ACTUALLY brings people in, and it gives us something to laugh about. Especially after a few bottles each of wine.

Well, he kindly offered to wear the costume for the boys on Christmas morning. The kids were all totally freaked out by it him, except for Quart’s son Will, who ran right up yelling “dog!” and spent the next 10 minutes hugging it him.

Dylan wanted nothing to do with it him, but I did manage to take him up to the general vicinity of the Holiday Dog and he didn’t freak out. I’d say that’s a victory on our part.

Oh, and they also own this shop. They’re very diverse. Tattoo’s & Dog Grooming go hand in hand in our posse. Don’t ya wanna hang?  I mean, who needs Santa when you’ve got your very own Holiday Dog?!

**Don’t forget that tomorrow marks the First Annual Bloggy Hoilday Card Exchange!**

My good friend Holly at June Cleaver Nirvana and I are teaming up today and tomorrow to bring you our favorite posts from this time last year.  She’s up first, and I don’t think it worked out so well for me…Her story from last year is way funnier than mine!

But before you head over there, just a few quick things to remind you of:

1. My 30th Birthday is on the 29th.
2. I STILL haven’t heard from any of you about my Wish List.  Don’t forget that you’ll have to take shipping time into account if you’re planning on sending me a Keurig, Flip, or Rosetta Stone Software.  Some of the other stuff will be difficult to ship, like the house, but you can simply overnight the appropriate papers to me.  Kthanks.
3. The last day to enter to win the JP Monkey reusable shopping bag is on Thursday…PLEASE ENTER!
4. The First Annual Great Bloggy Holiday Card Exchange is also on Thursday. Don’t forget!



Okay, I’m done now.  Head over to visit Holly and read about The Christmas Quilt Picture Story of 2007…and just WAIT until you get to the last picture.  It’s classic.

See you tomorrow when I re-post my story from last year!

I’m turning 30 this month, which I’m pretty sure means it’s time to grow up and act all adultish and stuff.  And seeing as how I’ve always made a fairly big deal out of my birthdays (I’m sure my family will share some enlightening stories in the comments), I figure this is my last chance to be all greedy and immature about my birthday.  I mean, I’m going to be THIRTY, people.  It’s a milestone.

SO, I thought I’d share with you some of the things on my wishlist* (in no particular order):

1) A new house:

Since we decided to move closer to Santa Barbara so DJ doesn’t have to commute an hour each way, we’re in need of a house.  This one is in Santa Barbara and is listed for a mere $5,495,000.00.  It’s a real bargain.  Click on the photo for more information.

2) A Boat:

3) Diamond Earrings:

These are from Tiffany & Co.  Sigh.

4) A Fancy Schmancy Flat Screen TV:

This one is Samsung and DJ fell in love with it a few months ago.  We can hang it on the wall and it won’t be CONSTANTLY covered in little boy fingerprints.  Plus, it has pre-loaded recipes, exercise programs and games for kids.  We’d probably only ever use two of the three.  I’ll let you decide which two.

5) A Cuisinart Griddler:

If you know me AT ALL,  I don’t need to explain this one.

6)  A Dyson (or two):

Have you MET my kids and my dog?  I’m honestly not entirely convinced that even a Dyson could keep up with the ridiculous amounts of dog hair and kid crumbs in our house.  But I’d sure like to try it.

6) A day with Stacy & Clinton (and $5,000.00 to spend!)

7) A Keurig Platinum Brewer

While I have NO doubt that ANY Keurig would be a huge step up from what I have now, the12 oz. brewing option on the Platinum would be awesome for the MANY travel mugs of coffee we prepare every week (see #1)

8 ) A Flip

It’s too adorable to resist.  And for the life of me, I haven’t been able to WIN one!

9) A trip to Italy

Something along the lines of the “14 day Italy North Continental” offered by Perillo Tours.  But I’m not picky.

10) To learn to speak Italian

Is it just me, or do you covet a Rosetta Stone system?

11) For more of you to enter the giveaway that I’ve got going on now at Hot Mom Reviews.

It’s for a gorgeous reusable shopping bag from JP Monkey that looks a little something like this.  But in a different pattern.  You’ll have to head over to Hot Mom Reviews to learn more.

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Okay, I think that’s it.  And my head is about to explode from all the greed.

*If you’d like to purchase something from the above list and have it sent to me, just email me for my address.  Meghan(@)amomtwoboys(.)com.  I’ll be sitting by the computer waiting to hear from you.  With baited breath.

Also, because I’m not totally superficial, I’d also like to ask for World Peace, a cure for HIV/AIDS, cancer of all kinds, MS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Muscular Dystrophy and every other disease that adversely affects people’s lives.  And for the starving children of the world to have enough food to fill their bellies.

Well, if not, they should be! Because it’s everybody’s favorite…the Bullet List Post! Whoot!!!!

• Hannah’s Discovery Health show, Babies 911 is on tonight (Tuesday 12/9).  Be sure to watch.
• It’s 8:11am right now and Zach is already taking a nap.  In fact, he’s been asleep for an hour.
• It’s going to be a long day.
• We have a new review up at Hot Mom Reviews.  It’s for a computer back up device that’s SUPER easy to use.  If you have ANYTHING important on your computer (and in the age of digital pictures, I’m sure you do) you’ll love it!  Plus, you get a discount  on your purchase if you use our coupon code!  It’s a great Holiday gift idea!
• Zach has been a bit of a mess lately.
• His top molars came through without much trouble.
• The lower ones are proving to be complete pains in the ass.
• They’re swollen and bruised and downright NASTY looking.
• PLUS, he was trying to climb onto a chair the other day and he slipped and knocked his chin against it.
• There was MUCH blood.
• Once I was able to get the bleeding stopped, I noticed that it had been coming from his lower right molar area.
• He’d forcefully broken the skin and the tooth was visible.
• But since then, it’s kind of healed over and now the molar is coming through the injury.
• OUCH.
• Which leads to sleeplessness.
• Fun.
• See bullet points 2 and 3.
• I’ve coined a new term.
• It’s “Zachtastrophe”
• I have a feeling I’m going to be using it A LOT.
• Also, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and move.
• Soon-ish.
• Hi friends!  I’ll explain on Thursday.
• Which means we have A LOT of work to do on the house before we can rent it out.
• More fun.
• Don’t forget we’re having a Bloggy Holiday Card Exchange!
• And that’s all I can come up with right now.
• I’m exhausted.
• And I have to go shower while Zach’s still asleep so that when he wakes up we can head out.
• I’ve decided I NEED a Keurig and I want to see if any local stores have them.
• Or, maybe Keurig will see this post and offer to send me one to review.
• That would be awesome.
• Because Hot Moms drink coffee.
• Especially when their annoying as hell ridiculously cute children keep them up at night and wake them up early.

Bloggy Holiday Card Exchange!!!

So, I had this idea and I proposed it on Twitter and  three a few of you thought it would be fun, so I figured I’d propose it here and see what you think…

Since I’d LOVE to be able to send each and every one of you my Holiday Card I thought I’d see what y’all thought of having a day where we all post our Holiday cards on our blogs and link to them from here (via Mr. Linky).  THEN, we could share our cards as we’d like, but would save on postage, stalking everyone for their addresses AND we’d be totally GREEN by NOT using extra paper to print more cards.

What do you think?  Either way, I’m going to put my card up here on Thursday, December 18th to share with you all.  If you’d like to participate, feel free to grab the button to let others know about it.  If you’re squeamish about putting your ACTUAL Holiday card on your site for all the interwebs to see, feel free to be creative and create a Bloggy Holiday card, designed solely for us, your loyal and loving interweb friends.

Then, on the 18th put your card on your site, head over here and add it to the Mr. Linky and visit others who are doing the same!  If you’ve already posted your Holiday card, that’s fine!  Just add the link to Mr. Linky…no harm, no foul!

It’ll be one big Bloggy Holiday Lovefest!

Here’s the code:
<a href="http://amomtwoboys.com/2008/12/first-annual/" target="blank"><img src="http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo160/DomesticExtraordinaire/holidaycardexchangebutton.jpg" border="0" /></a>

***A VERY special thank you to the amazingly talented Domestic Extraordinaire for making me the button!!! Kisses & Hugs!***

I know NOTHING about girls anymore. I mean, *I* am a girl. So I know a little about that, but I’m LOST when it comes to the world of little girls. As in, the daughters of my friends. Also known as Dylan’s bitches.

We spent the morning/afternoon (it kind of got away from us) with Hannah, her daughter Emma, and baby Andrew, our friend Heather, her daughter Isabelle and son Landon. And there was all sorts of girl shit going on. There was talk of Polly Pockets (?!) and there were My Little Pony’s coming out the wazoo.

Dylan was just stoked to be playing with ponies, I don’t think he got the whole magical world thing, and I think all the talk about the Crystal Meth Castle went right over his head.  I sat there and listened to Hannah and Heather have a discussion about all this shit and I’m pretty sure my eyes glazed over and I started drooling.  Because, really?  I have no fucking clue what they’re talking about and I really couldn’t care less.

I was actually RELIEVED when Dylan came across a Thomas the Tank Engine train set because that was something I could relate to.  Which is CRAZY to me, because growing up I was ALL about this girlie crap.  I fawned over my dolls, dutifully dressed, undressed and redressed my multitudes of Barbie’s, could name every Care Bear ever created and don’t even get me STARTED on Cabbage Patch Kids.

So where did it all go so terribly wrong?  Probably when I grew two boys in my womb and absorbed untold amounts of testosterone (just ask the hair on my upper lip).  I somehow lost my inner little girl.

But, I really can’t blame her for running as fast as possible in the other direction.  I mean, now I’m surrounded by penis’, trucks, trains, farts, ninja moves and dirt.  What little girl is into THAT?

Oh well, I really don’t miss her all that much*, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

*She was kind of a pain in the ass.

Seriously?  How in the hell did this happen?  DECEMBER, people.  As in, Christmas is in 23 freaking days and it will be 2009 soon.  And, most importantly, my 30th Birthday is on the 29th!  WHOOT!  I know you’re all as excited as I am.  And if you’re not, you should be!

We’ve been busy around here lately.  We headed up to Sacramento-area for Thanksgiving and had a nice time with Grandmaother and the rest of the family.  Let’s just say that I’m WAY better at Wii Bowling when I haven’t had 4 (or more) glasses of wine.  Ahem.

Then we came home and FINALLY finished the lighting in the Living Room.  It’s only been five years, so it really hasn’t taken us THAT long.  And by we, I mean DJ.  I supervised.  I was very helpful, as you can imagine.

OH!  AND, we managed to set the COUCH down on the baby’s head.  DJ was lifting it up so I could get the remote (which Zach dropped down the back side, so it’s really totally his fault).  Neither of us noticed that in the 3.7 seconds that the couch was in the air, Zach had started to crawl under it.  SO, when DJ placed it back on the ground, his little head was pinned underneath it.  Sweet.  I almost had a heart attack.  I screamed something when I noticed what was happening and my voice was all high pitched and shrieky.  I was NOT the picture of cool, calm & collected.  He walked away unscathed, though, so now it’s just a funny story to tell.

Let’s see…what else.  I went shopping with Heather yesterday.  We met for lunch and Margarita’s before hand.  The drinks were only $2 because it was Margarita Monday, so that was AWESOME.  Then we headed over to the Camarillo outlets and *attempted* to get some holiday shopping done.  The original objective was to buy presents for other people, but that plan was doomed as soon as we stepped foot in the first two stores.  Ann Taylor and Banana Republic.  The ENTIRE Banana Republic store was 50% off and Ann Taylor was offering 30% to 40% off of everything that was ALREADY reduced.  Which was EVERYTHING, so there were some awesome deals to be had.  And I took advantage of them.

I did manage to get the boys a few things, so it wasn’t a totally selfish trip.  Just, maybe, 75% selfish.  Heh.

My apologies for the randomocity of this post.  This is what’s going on in my brain lately, and I have 75 things to accomplish on my list today…so I have no time to sit here and be creative.  Like I usually am. Ha.

Oh, one more thing.  Since the Comment Hijacking thing went over pretty well, I’m going to add it as a regular monthly feature.  I’ll even allow anonymous comments (if I can figure out how) so you can REALLY hijack and get things off your chest.  Sound good?  I’m even going to create a badge for it.  Try not to get your panties in a bunch.

In closing, I offer you some of my most recent favorite photos of the boys.  Dylan enjoying an uncommon rain shower and Zach being…Zach.

Do you not just want to gobble him up?