July 2008

Six Random Things: A Meme

by Shannan on July 24, 2008

I have been swearing that I was going to write this post since my buddy T at Send Chocolate tagged me a couple of weeks ago, but it has been falling by the wayside. I have excuses – GOOD ones – but I can’t exactly remember what they are right now. Whaddaya want, I’m working off of 4 hours of sleep and it looks like tonight could be even worse. Being a work-at-home mom is a complete and total pain in the ass such a blessing.

So now I have to think of six semi-interesting things about me to share with all of you. This should be really ummm….interesting. I apologize in advance that I am probably one of the most boring people you will ever meet in your life. Ok, here goes:

  • I absolutely love horses, but am highly allergic to them or maybe its just hay. Every year when we go to the state fair, I insist on touring the horse barns and end up in the first aid center popping a handful of benadryl. You would think I would learn after 30 years.
  • I once met Bob Marley’s mother. We toured his childhood home, where his mother still lives, on our honeymoon in Jamaica. I have the pictures to prove it. Hmmm…I should post those one day. I was skinny and cute then.
  • The only thing I really want in life, besides an entire day alone, is a daughter. I love all my boys more than life itself, but would love to have just a tiny bit of a balance to the testosterone invasion over here. Tea party, anyone?
  • The first thing I ever wrote that was not assigned schoolwork was a family newspaper. I even interviewed myself about breaking my foot and wrote it up like a newspiece. I think I was about 10 at the time. I even printed it out on our Commodore 64…yeah, I’m THAT old.
  • One of my biggest downfalls in life is that I have a very hard time saying “no” to things. Whether it be jobs, favors, invitations or hand-me-downs that I don’t need or want, I have this horrible fear of hurting people’s feelings by saying no to an offer.
  • I absolutely adore reading. I generally re-read books at least two or three times and have been known to read the phone book if I can find nothing else around. No, not the listings pages…I’m boring, but not THAT bad. I read the community section in the front of the book.

Ok, I did it. There ya go…please don’t anyone else ever tag me with this meme again, because I am out of semi-interesting tidbits. Now comes the fun part…tagging my friends with the meme, too! Muahahaha. Here is what the chosen SIX (sorry!) will have to do:

THE RULES:

  1. Link to the person who tagged you.
  2. Post the rules on your blog.
  3. Write six random things about yourself.
  4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
  5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
  6. Let your tagger know when your blog entry is up.

I have decided to tag:

Nikki at The Guilty Parent

Harmony at Oh Happy Days

Diane at Crazy Mom’s Journal

Dana at Momphabet Soup

Jessica at It’s My Life…

Kate at Kate Says

{ 4 comments }

This Mama Rocks!

by Shannan on July 21, 2008

First off, I want to say welcome home to all my fabulous blogger friends who were lucky enough to attend BlogHer ’08! From everything that I have read, you all had an amazing time. I wish I could have joined you, but maybe next year…

My weekend was pretty exciting, as well. I had the opportunity to go back in time a little bit and spent a fun Saturday afternoon and evening with oldest, all on our own. Since hubby and I got married 3 1/2 years ago and I had his little brothers, he has had a lot of adjustments to deal with. For the first 10 years of his life, I was a single mom and everything was about him.

I know it has been hard for him to go from an only child to a member of a family of five (six when his stepbrother is with us) in just a few short years. Not to mention, since the littlest was born, he and I have not had a single opportunity to spend time together without an entourage along. So when my mom offered to buy us tickets to a concert at our state fair, I jumped at the chance for a night alone with my first born.

For such an itty, bitty, mostly-rural state, Delaware’s state fair gets some amazing acts at their concert series. This year they have Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins and other big names on the bill. None of these quite fit my oldest’s style though, he chose to see Staind, Hinder and Three Doors Down. I’m a huge Staind fan – something appealing about the brooding in their lyrics – and I like Hinder and Three Doors Down, too, so he got the thumbs up from me.

Hubby was a little less than excited that we were going, but he didn’t say much. It wasn’t so much that we were going to a rockin’ concert without him (he’s more of a rap/r&b kind of guy) but that he was going to be left to deal with bedtime for the babies, all on his own. Oh well, everyone survived – though I will be dealing with the aftermath of the screwed up sleep schedule of the littlest for days.

We left them around 3 in the afternoon and headed out to the fair, which on a normal day is a 20-30 minuteĀ  drive from us. However, with the weekend beach traffic to contend with, it took us closer to an hour to get there. No big deal, that was why we left early.

Oldest has developed a sarcastic sense of humor like his mama, it seems. As we pulled into the parking lot, he takes note that in our awesomely redneck state, the parking lot sections are indicated by farm animals. We parked in the cow section, halfway between sections 4 and 5 – or as he called it “Moo 4.5″

We rode the tram up to the gate (appropriately pulled by a John Deere tractor) and wandered inside. The concert didn’t start until 6:00, so we had nearly two hours to kill before it was time to rock out. We checked out the Navy band that was playing in the free entertainment tent for a few minutes, then went to grab something to eat before we went in.

Once we got inside and grabbed our seats, it wasn’t too long before the opening act took the stage. There was a really great new band opening for the three main acts. Jet Black Stare just released their first album last week and has a single “Readoy To Roll” on the radio now. Good stuff!

Next up was Hinder. Great show, but it didn’t take long for me to remeber why I swore to never get seats at one of these concerts that was off the floor. I really hate the thought of paying $60 for a concert seat and actually SITTING in it the whole time. Honestly, I have seen more action in a Methodist church on Sunday than in those risers. If I’m at a concert I want to stand up, dance and sing along, not sit in my chair and clap politely after each song. UGH!

Staind was great, too, but more of the same sitting in chairs. It wasn’t until Three Doors Down took the stage that people in the risers decided that they were actually there to have fun. Of course, most decided after the second song – Superman – that it was time to sit back down. The teenage girls next to us were disgusted with everyone, too, so we stayed standing through the rest of the show. The teen girls behind us, who spent the whole show texting their friends (or each other – who could tell) talked smack the whole time, but we didn’t care.

All-in-all we had an awesome night! Once the concert was over, we headed back to Moo 4.5, with oldest commenting that we should have parked at Cockadoodle 2, since it was closer. After an hour long fight to get out of the parking lot and a half hour battle for food at Sonic, we made it home around 1 am. I am still recovering 2 days later.

It was well worth the exaustion though, to spend time alone with my oldest and relive our lives before hubby and the babies. Though I’d not change things a bit, sometimes I miss the one-on-one time that I got to spend with him over the years. Hey, he even told me I was still pretty cool! Not too shabby coming from a too-cool-for everything 13 yr old!

{ 2 comments }

P.B. Loco: Crazy Good Peanut Butter!

July 18, 2008

Over the past few months, I have become something of a Twitter addict. When I’m working online, it has become my water cooler, allowing me to shoot the breeze with a ton of great people. A few weeks ago, I saw someone recommending that everyone follow @PBLoco, because they were giving away free peanut butter. [...]

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First Haircut

July 15, 2008

I’m really not sure when I became so attached to my kids’ hair, but I have put off giving littlest his first haircut FOREVER. I mean, not that at 15 months old it was too terrible, but I’m all but in tears now that its done. There is just something about cutting off those first [...]

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Long Overdue Update

July 9, 2008

Hello, friends! Just want to take a few minutes to welcome you to the new and improved blog and let you know a bit about what has been happening with us. On the homefront, things are as hectic as ever. The baby has hit toddler stage and is climbing everything in sight. He is really [...]

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Mourning One of Our Own

July 7, 2008

The world has lost a beautiful person and the online community has lost a beloved friend. Andrea Collins Smith, aka Punk Rock Mommy, has passed on after waging a brave battle against inflammatory breast cancer. Her husband posted the news of her passing on the site on Saturday, along with a post that she had [...]

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Welcome To My New Home!

July 6, 2008

The shiny new blog is open for business! Take a look around and get comfy! I have negelected some other projects in order to get this up and running, so tomorrow I will post a nice juicy update about the happenings with me and the testosterone troop. Hope everyone likes the new look and stops [...]

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Getting Ready For A Big Move!

July 1, 2008

No, I’m not relocating the family, I’m relocating the blog! I have recently purchased the domain www.fromcribstocarkeys.com and will be making the move to the new site over the next few days, if all goes well. I’m looking for a shiny new template, as I type, and have some big plans to share some great [...]

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