Budding Songstress

It's less than a minute long, but oh so funny!

Telling Time Help

Parker keeps telling us she wants a clock in her room so she can know when it is time to get up and how long she has until she goes to bed. I think this is great, but I'm not sure how to go about it. She doesn't really know her numbers yet, so a digital clock isn't going to do much for her. I guess I could get a clock with hands and paint different colored hand positions one for wake up and one for bedtime. I feel like I should know how to do this, but I'm clueless.

Anyone have any great advice?

Disney All The Way

I've been a horrible slacker and it's taken me a week to write a vacation post. & now I have nothing witty or clever to say about our vacation other than it was awesome. Well, it would have been more awesome had our friends been with us, but we did have a great time. The weather ranged from us being hot in shorts/t-shirts to us freezing and having to buy Parker a coat to bulk up on layers. Not the ideal situation for packing, but we managed. Sadly I brought only one pair of jeans and I ended up wearing them so often they actually walked themselves into the washer when we got home. Blech.

We have been to WDW many times, thanks to our former close proximity to the Happiest Place on Earth. That I can remember, we've never been at Christmas time before and it was truly magical. The many decorations and attention to detail were astounding. I'd seen an HGTV special on the week before we left about how they get ready for the holidays and I stopped watching it about 20 minutes in because I didn't want it to be spoiled for me. I wanted to see it firsthand there, for myself, and be caught up in the moment. I was. They even light up Cinderella's castle differently for the holidays and it was beautiful. Mainstreet is completely decked out, the store windows have special holiday decorations including several windows with scenes from A Christmas Carol in them. The only thing I thought would be different is that though the other parks had huge Christmas trees and some decorations, none of them even came close to the intense efforts put into the Magic Kingdom. It makes sense since that's where the special holiday parties are held and I am sure they can only do so much, but I'm greedy like that.

We're content to be annual visitors now and we seem to have more fun every time we go. This is mostly because of Parker and her pure joy at every little experience. She was also really into whatever was making us happy this trip. For example, during one of the Christmas parades, there was a platoon of toy soldiers with these huge, wooden rectangular feet that made a loud clompclompclomp sound that I just loved. The next time we saw the parade, Parker got so excited and yelled "Mommy, here come your favorites!!!" and she truly was just as excited for me as she was for herself the first time she got to see Belle up close. Of course she had her asshole moments, too, but the worst of that little phase seems to have passed, thank the gods, for now at least.

How about some pictures?




We met every character and got every autograph we possibly could, within reason. I am not a mom who will stand in line for 2 hours to meet Mickey, but if Parker is really interested, I can wait 20 minutes. We filled most of an autograph book and she never tired of getting to meet characters. Unfortunately she never got to meet her (at this moment) favorites, Chip & Dale, but she didn't really mind.


She's never really one for getting her picture taken anymore anyway, giving a horribly fake "Cheese!" smile when we ask her to pose. To our surprise she did NOT want us getting our pictures taken with the characters with her. How's that for gratitude?


We are HUGE Monsters, Inc. fans here, so meeting Mike & Sulley was the highlight of the trip for us. Even better was that this character spot was well hidden and not marked well, so there was no one else there but us. We spent at least 5 minutes with these guys and I think it was one of R's dreams come true.



My favorite picture of all. Had I not already had our holiday cards done, this is the photo I would have used.


Modeling her new hat and coat. I also got a hat (a Mickey one, not Minnie) just for warmth.


We wore her out!


We already have our trip for next year booked! (Okay, really, the only reason we did is because they were having a great special if you booked for 2010 while still checked in for your trip.)

Follow up to hypothetical question

Just play along with me as if this might happen to you:

You sleep naked and the house catches on fire. You can only grab ONE undergarment to wear before rushing outside.

Which do you choose - bra, underwear or socks???

Dinner for Five - The Naked Edition

Since we're already on the topic of naked, let's get this one out of the way. Many of you have hinted about this in previous editions, but let me clarify. There will be a later version called the "Crush Edition" (I will have a same sex edition as well as an opposite sex edition), but this one here, this is the Naked Edition. I do believe in a difference between having a crush on someone and wanting to have them throw you up against the wall and cram their tongue down your throat. I'm only calling it the Naked Edition to be polite. What I really mean is, what five people do you want to throw down on the bed and have hot, wild monkey sex* with. If you had a laminated "list" in your wallet, these are the five people you get the free pass from your spouse to be with. Got it??

BTW, I want to mention that I am going to try really hard to not have overlap on these Dinner for Five lists. It's a goal I've created to challenge myself and keep this fun. HOWEVER, this is one list I know whose members will definitely be on other lists as well. (I might also add that I have had pregnancy dreams {so you know what I mean - wink wink!} about two of the men on this list and they are SO worthy of hot monkey sex*.) (Oh, and HI, MOM!)

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get it on. (hahaha - I am SO funny!)




David Boreanz



Nathan Fillion



Jon Hamm



Hugh Grant



Kasey Kahne



Robert Downey Jr.



Jon Stewart


Yes, I know that is more than 5, but I couldn't stop. I kept thinking of more men while I was trying to sleep last night. Besides, this is my gig, so I can do what I want.


*DISCLAIMER: I am not sure where the phrase "hot monkey sex" came from, but it's one I use frequently. I do not know if monkeys have particularly wild sex, nor, to my knowledge, have I ever actually had sex with a monkey.



Let's hear it. Give me your top 5 (or more if you need to) of the hottest you wouldn't kick out of bed for eating crackers.

Hypothetical Question

Purely hypothetical:

Suppose it is your norm to sleep in the nude. If your child has a friend sleep over, do you sleep with clothes on? What about if you have friends/family staying with you?

Please discuss.

Dinner for Five - The Vacation Edition

Different twist, but since we're on vacation this week -

Name the top 5 places you would want to spend one week on vacation (assuming money/time/kids/etc is no object).



Maui



Italy (particularly Rome and the Amalfi coast)



France (all of it)



London (I so want to live there one day)



Disney World (I can't help it. We always have SO MUCH FUN there!)

TTFN

Just so you don't think I'm AWOL, I'll not be around next week. We will be on our annual pilgrimmage to DisneyWorld.

"DisneyWorld?" I hear you say to yourself. "But, Shelly Overlook, your husband doesn't even have a job. You aren't even buying Christmas gifts for anyone other than your daughter this year because of it. And you're going to DisneyWorld?!?"

Yes, that's right. Our annual trip was planned and paid for before R lost his job. All of the money I've made on eBay for the last couple months will be enough to pay for our expenses while we're there, so it all works out rather nicely.

Except for the sad part. We were supposed to go with our dear friends to make this our second annual excursion together, but for reasons that are not mine to explain, our friends are unable to join us. It is with great sorrow that we will eat our Mickey Ears alone. Or maybe it just means I have to eat twice the amount of Mickey Ears in order to make up for what our friends are missing.

So, don't go thinking you can go rob my house. The pets are at home, being watched by the neighbors, and you know our dogs are KILLERS, right???

See you real soon!