Trend Micro

If you have kids that use the internet, you're going to be very interested in this!



Just go to the website and check it out. I've been using it for almost a month and I think it's fantastic! I worry about my kids on the computer and scary internet predators and really just allowing them full access to all of the ludacris, scary and innappropriate stuff floating around in cyberspace...I was both thrilled and curious when I was asked to try it and review so although I'm in the middle of this campaign...I think you should try it!!

BzzAgent Campaign...The Factor Tree

This website is so awesome if you have a child that needs a little extra help learning math and math facts. Get your free 2 week no-strings-attached-and-no-credit-card-or-financial information-needed trial!! Try it...use coupon code BZF
Just go to http://www.thefactortree.com/ to sign up!

BzzAgent Campaign...Covergirl

I'm bringing the blog back...but not to tell personal stories about my life and family anymore, decided to stop doing that in 2009 for many reasons but brought it back out to share with you all BzzAgent and other freebie websites and offers you might be interested in!! If you haven't signed up for BzzAgent...you really should! Free stuff and state your honest unbiased opinions! Get rewards points and stuff!!! I will be posting the Bzzzzz about some of the products and campaigns here....you decide!

Like Covergirl on Facebook and you will see all the benefits!!

http://www.facebook.com/covergirl?v=app_160134610689223&sk=app_160134610689223

Fight for Preemies

You all know my fiery Little One? 20 months ago I was in the hospital. Living....waiting...hoping. My little one was able to hold out and arrived 6 weeks early. I had a placenta previa. I had several bleeds that landed she and I in the hospital until she arrived. She spent 4 weeks in the NICU until she reached 5 lbs and hit all her marks and was able to get off the machines and monitors and come home with us. The most glorious day of our lives to date.

We were lucky.

We still worry every time she gets sick. She is sick a lot. Her premature systems have not caught up yet. This is a problem in premature babies. They get and stay sick a lot. A LOT A LOT. And she can't just get a cold and get over it like most kids. If a germ walks past her she gets sick and stays sick for weeks. Sometimes it involves hospital visits but always involves doctor visits and she's not over the hump yet. She won't be until she's well on her way to 3 years old at least. She got a cold 3 weeks ago and is still sick. It went from cold to bronchitis to pneumonia. Almost every time. She is on 2 nebs, oral steroids, antibiotics, allergy meds, cough/cold medicine and sometimes singulair. This is constant. But again, we are lucky and thankful that we still have her and that she is getting stronger every day and month that goes by.

Please join the fight......please be aware........please pass it on....

Today is National Fight for Preemies Day....to find out more go to The March of Dimes - Fight For Preemies

BOO to YOU!!

let's see, what have I been up to?

Croup+Bronchitis+Sinus Infection+Tubes Out=Double Ear Infections in both ears and one helluva ill ass 20 month old (ill in the literal and figurative sense equally). We did manage a couple hours of good on Halloween for her and then it all went downhill. Luckily for you I captured it on film!

Anyway, Big One had a great time and I thought her costume turned out so good!!!

catching up

just thought I'd drop in and dust the cobwebs a little bit around here

long time no see!

It's been a while and my excuse is.....well, I have no excuse, other than sick children and busy-ness. Like we aren't all busy, right? Lame, I know....to be honest I've not felt inspired or witty or anything lately.

Put on your big girl panties and deal with it, right? I know I know. Anyway, while I try to come up with a better tomorrow you can enjoy these pictures of my minis at the pumpkin patch yesterday. Me and my BFF took all the littles to the pumpkin patch/hayride/petting barn place. You would have thought it was Little One's first public outing...she was beside herself.

Big One spent the majority of her time chasing Little One and "protecting" her from all those mean big kids that don't watch out for little ones in the hay mazes and stuff. It was fun.

I can't breathe today. Not sure if it's all that damn hay or if the girls have given me their creeping crud. Either way my sinuses are having a bad day. Sucks to be me. Send in the Waaaambulance.....

A Thousand Word Thursday - the BFF edition

2 1/2 yrs.

3 yrs.

4 yrs.

4 yrs.

4 1/2 yrs.

5 yrs.

5 yrs.

6 yrs.

7 yrs.

Big One and her main sidekick....her BFF if you will. These two have known one another since they were 6 weeks old and been inseparable since they could talk. They have literally grown up before my eyes (and now yours too!)

Join Jen at Cheaper than Therapy for more Thousand Words Thursday!!

or maybe she's afraid of my driving? hmmmm.....

We have to bring a blanket to daycare for Little One every week. Normally we just take it home on Friday, wash it and throw it back in the car so as not to forget it the following Monday. Some days Little One will not leave the classroom without her blanket. Why is unbeknownst to me because she's not particularly attached to any one blanket, stuffed animal or anything else....but we now have a small collection of them in the car.....some washed, some not.....it's hard to say which is which.

Anyway, the past few days she's decided she needs a blanket over her head while we are riding in the car. Not to play peekaboo or scare me or any of the normal blanket-on-the-head reasons. I am kind of intrigued by this new development. She does it every day now when we drop of Big One at school and rides from Big One's school to the daycare with a blanket over her head. Once in a while she'll giggle....but that's it. Strange. Can't face the morning without Sissy? Can't face the morning period? I'm with you kid, only I don't think they would condone my wearing a blanket on my head while driving my mini's around. Every time I stop at a stoplight I just hope that the people in the car beside me are distracted by something and not noticing my blanket covered kid in the carseat next door.....

Photographic evidence of this new phenomena (all separate days):

WHAT?!!! Can't a girl get her Blanket On in peace????

a Thousand Words Thursday

It was about this time of year 4 years ago when Big One started ballet......the cuteness almost killed me

visit Jen at Cheaper than Therapy for more Thousand Words Thursday

the one about watching recording too much TV

Do ya'll do a lot of tv watching? I like to say I don't.....you know "I have two minis that keep me running crazy....who has time to watch tv?". Well honey, I must find the time somewhere because my -I Have To Record This Program Or My Life Will Cease To Have Meaning- list is not just long....it's holyshitthat'salonglist long. I don't think I realized just how many things I record until my beloved TIVO, the one I've had for (pinky swear) 11 years just died. DIED I tell you. Dead. Gone. Finito (is that how you spell it? I know ZERO spanish....or is that even spanish?)

When it died it took with it all of the programs I had recorded but hadn't gotten around to watching. Some of them were embarrassingly old but I had never deleted them because one of these days I'd get around to watching them, you know maybe when I'm at home sick one day or something.....Yeah Right! All my sick days are burned when my minis are sick, when I'm sick I just have to suck it up and soldier through....and at night I usually watch the newest stuff instead of going back and watching the older stuff. I have a sick little TIVO rating system in my head based on importance of the program. For instance I am now hooked on True Blood and had to watch all of season 1 in order on Netflix (which greatly reduced my recorded program watching time at night leading to a full TIVO which is now DEAD dammit!) before watching all of the Season 2 episodes that were patiently waiting their turn on the TIVO. All the while my TIVO is filling itself with The Cleaner and Intervention and Dateline and 20/20 and Chelsea Lately, etc. (in case you are wondering I would be flipping through all the Chelsea Lately's first to see who the guest was and deleting or watching accordingly then same with Dateline and 20/20 and then watching all the Cleaner's in order and then moving on to Intervention) and to make matters worse all the fall shows are starting back up and I'd need to make room for them as well.

Anyway, Direct TV and TIVO apparently can't come to any type of agreement and so you can't get TIVO for Direct TV anymore. You have to get a DVR. Fuck a DVR. A DVR is not a TIVO. Yes, I KNOW they do the same thing. I KNOW they are essentially the same creature. The DVR is not as user friendly as the TIVO and dammit, I miss her already. I got the TIVO back in the very beginning. I have the first model of the TIVO. I paid a wad for it and it lasted me forever. Everyone used to look at me like I had three heads when I raved about my TIVO....."what the hell is a TIVO"...the concept was just bewildering. Now I don't think I know anyone that doesn't TIVO or DVR. I begrudgingly ordered the stupid DVR and packed up my sad old TIVO, but not before writing down my Season Pass list. That's where the holyshitthat'salonglist list came from. I never realized I was recording that many programs and to be honest there was nothing I left out when programming the DVR. They are all must see's for me, or at least must-see-who-the-guest-is-or-what-the-topic-is. I record Ellen and Oprah every day but I'll bet 50% of the time at least I don't watch them.

Me and the DVR are just getting to know one another. I don't like her nearly as much as I loved my TIVO but since we have Direct TV I have no choice. It's DVR or nothing. Bitches.

I guess maybe I'll like her better once I get to know her better and maybe I'll love her more, but I doubt it. I'll miss you TIVO. I'll miss you like a long lost friend. A sister even. (okay I don't have any sisters, but if I did, I'd bet her name would be Tivo).

R.I.P. my dear sweet TIVO, you will forever be missed.

On a side note.......do you like spoilers? Do you watch a lot of TV and record stuff all the time? I have a site for you to visit, but if you don't like spoilers, then DON'T go there.....it's addictive. It covers these shows: 24, Bones, Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Greek, Ghost Whisperer, How I Met Your Mother, 90210, Desperate Housewives, Chuck, Heroes, Lost, Smallville, Super Natural, Ugly Betty and has a This Week On TV section. All Spoilers, so beware.....Spoilerfix

we will not forget.....

a re-run from last year....

Thursday, September 11, 2008

always remember.....

do you remember where you were? what you were doing? who you were with?
I certainly do.....and since you asked.......I was at work typing (on a typewriter no less) a Fed Ex International label for a shipment to our head office in Japan. I was 5 months pregnant with Big One. The office I worked in at the time was located about 3/4 of a mile from the airport in Charlotte NC. We got a phone call from a co-workers wife just after the first tower was hit and she told us to immediately stop what we were doing and go to our computers or a TV.....we made it just in time to see the second tower hit......not something I wish to see ever again.....not something you want to see when you are pregnant or working so close to an airport, because at the time who knew that they weren't pulling this shit all over the USA? Who knew what would happen next and where? No one. No one knew and it was scary. It is still scary. It is still heartbreaking and mindless and confusing and seems incomprehensible. I remember almost every single second of the remainder of that day and if it tells you anything, I have a TERRIBLE memory. I was deeply affected, as most people were.
They closed the airport and evacuated everyone within 2 miles surrounding the airport, so we were forced to go home (which was fine with me) and couldn't come back the next day either. It was a terrifying time. It is difficult to find the right words to describe the feeling of that time.
So tell me, where were you? What were you doing? I know you remember, I think we all do.
God Bless the USA

A Sparkely Tip for You

You learn something new every day right? Or so they say.....whoever "they" are.

Today wasn't a big learning day for me but I did manage one really seemingly small tidbit that I thought was cool. If you already know this then why didn't you tell me sooner and if you didn't then you should try it because, pinky swear it works better than any ultrasonic fancy schmancy jewelry store cleaning machine ever did.

I don't think my diamonds sparkled this much when they were new. I find myself looking at my rings again where normally they are just there, you know one of those things that's just been there so long you don't notice it anymore. I probably wouldn't have thought to mention it honestly but I got two compliments on my sparklers today. I'm now convinced.

I was with my Mom today at the manufacturing jewelers picking up some of my Grandmother's jewelry they were having appraised for splitting amongst the son's wives. There is controversy. Personally I could give a shit, didn't care for her all that much anyway and I'm positive the feeling was mutual, but that's getting off topic. While we were there (since I don't frequent jewelry stores..being that I can't afford nice real jewelry....I'm more of the jewelry-section-in-Target kind of girl) I asked them to clean my rings. They were happy to oblige but the owner brought my rings back out to me and told me that the absolute best way to clean your rings, better even than their machines is to get a microwave safe tupperware bowl and fill with water about 1/4 full (medium sized and not a lot of water, but enough to cover what you'll be putting in the bowl) squirt a small amount of ORIGINAL BLUE (not scented green or yellow or any of the others) DAWN (has to be Dawn) dish liquid in the bowl. Do not put your jewelry in yet. Microwave the bowl until boiling or almost boiling (2 or 3 minutes or so, sometimes less depending on the amount of water and size of bowl) and take out of microwave. (you can put soap in before or after microwaving, but I do it before) Drop your jewelry in immediately. Cool to see it foam up when your dirty jewelry hits the hot water! Leave the bowl and go about your business. Later when you come back to rinse in cool water your diamonds will be so sparkly you'll think someone came and stole yours and replaced them with brand new ones!

The Dawn (as explained by the jewelry goddess) gets the dirt and grease from your body and daily wear off safely and more effectively than any other jewelry cleaner there is and leaves no residue, just like when you use it to wash the dirt and grease off your dishes with no spots!!

Love her......might go back and give her a hug.

Got a tip? Share a tip! I love tips.......but not "I heard" tips.....only ones that you use and know work!!

A Thousand Words Thursday

Big One and her "Bebo" riding my old tricycle circa 2005. Mom and Dad were moving and we were cleaning out the garage.....hence the loverly outfit that Bebo is sporting. Diggin the hat.....

Mom looks like a homeless person with her Mercedes in the background......so funny

For more A Thousand Words Thursday.....join Jen at Cheaper Than Therapy!

adult entertainment

I can't tell you the last time I was in a movie theater. I can't even remember the last movie I watched in a theater. I know it was before Little One and obviously given my stellar pregnancy with her it was before then so more than two years ago.

It isn't often a movie comes around that I feel I must go see in the theater because these days they put them on DVD like 2 months after they premiere in the theater so I just wait and get it on Netflix.

The Husband and I had a rare night off from the minis Saturday and decided we'd go see this movie that all our friends and pretty much everyone in the continental United States has told us we must see. I wasn't actually sure we'd find a theater still showing it. It's been out so long I was beyond shocked to find it. Only one theater still showing it anywhere near us, so we went and had dinner and then on to the theater.

As we walked into the theater I was pretty sure we might be the only people in Charlotte or the surrounding area that hadn't already seen "the Hangover".

Hands down funniest movie I've seen since "Friday" came out in 1995. I loved it. I laughed for the entire movie. It is funny ALL the way through to the bitter end when the credits roll. If you have not seen it, you must. MUST I tell you. HI_larious. I will own it just you wait and see. It already has a home waiting for it right beside Friday on the must see rack. We don't purchase a lot of movies that don't involve princesses or talking 3 year old red monsters or that don't have Disney and/or Pixar on the case so let this one go down in the books......we will own it. It's that funny.

If you saw it and didn't think it was THAT funny......you are a Ri-tard...period.

Another episode in WalMart

All I know is if that was my little girl....he'd be a dead man

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/02/georgia.tot.slapped/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Thousand Words Thursday

These two had the sillies and would NOT smile pretty for me!!

Love those girls

See Jen at Cheaper than Therapy to play along and see all the other great photos!!!

trouble

Little One.....STOP unloading the drawer onto the kitchen floor NOW! Mommy said NO! Yes...YOU..that means YOU...NO NO.

(yeah right...okay)

BUSTED!!! You little turkey.....Mommy said NO!

she looks at me and says straight into the camera.....

UH OH!!!!!

Uh Oh my ass

I have a hunch you'll be doing this today

have ya'll ever heard of the website HUNCH?

Ever need help making a life changing decision or just a decision on which color pants to wear today? Don't always have a friend or confidant to help with those life altering decisions?

Well then Hunch is the place for you!

Simply answer no less than 185,000 questions about your preferences on anything from which way the toilet paper roll goes (up or down) to what you do after work (no picture of screaming crazy minis to choose from) to what show you find funniest to what you would do if served sea urchin stuffed with jellied sea urchin at a friends house...you know....life changing stuff like that, and the more you answer the more Hunch gets to know you and can easily help you make decisions on things like whether you should break up with your boyfriend or what book you should read next or if you should get a divorce or have more kids or change jobs or get a dog or not get a dog or get rid of the dog you have, move across the country, take a job in Japan, punch your annoying and highly innapropriate neighbor in the throat or kick your stupid husband in the shin and spit in his spaghetti....you know, just examples

It's mindless entertainment. Can be fun and will engross you. Even if you think it's dumb....you will continue to answer the questions and you will become transfixed.

Try it. See if Hunch can help you make that tough decision you've been floundering on and let me know how it goes!

The Mama Test

I was out walking with my 4-year-old daughter. She picked up something off of the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that.
'Why ?' my daughter asked. 'Because it's been on the ground; you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs,' I replied.

At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, 'Mama, how do you know all this stuff ? You are so smart.'

I was thinking quickly and replied, 'All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mama Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mama.'

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. 'Oh.....I get it!' she beamed. 'So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad.'

'Exactly,' I replied with a big smile on my face.


(someone sent this to me and although I've seen it before as soon as I got to the end my brain still says Ain't that the DAMN truth!!!)

Pass it on.....

this is truly and inspirational child and story....please take the time to read it and then pass it on. This little angel needs our help....

The internet is a powerful thing when it needs to be.....