Bloggable Moment:

Your son stops to pee on the side of the road on the 1/4 mile walk home from the bus stop.

{Un}bloggable Moment:

Your son happily (and honestly) tells your sister-in-law that Mommy always rolls her eyes when she talks about her. (Because it’s better off just sweeping that moment far under the carpet and never talking about it again)

Bloggable Moment:

While your boys are using Daddy’s putting machine, it starts smoking. The subsequent e-mails sent between Mommy at home and Daddy at work are definitely bloggable.

{Un}bloggable Moment:

Your Aunt gives you this as a Christmas gift.

You’re dying to blog about it, but she reads your blog.

—–

I have an {un}bloggable moment at least once a week.

Some worse than others.

And I’m dying to hear about yours.

So, here’s your o-fficial invitation:

Who: You!

What: Share your {un}bloggable moments

When: The 2nd Saturday of every month… Starting March 13th!

Where: Right here…

Why: Because we all need to share our crazy {un}bloggable stories and laugh at everyone else’s!

How: I’ll put up a post, and you’ll comment on it (anonymously, of course). I would love it if you leave your e-mail address so that I can respond to your comment. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, too.

I can’t wait to hear all of your stories!

*I should mention that I love ALL of my sisters-in-law, and that none of my Aunts would ever give me a toilet clock.*

*Ooohh, and I’ll be adding my {un}bloggable secrets in my comment section, as well!*

I’m going to tell you first so that you don’t scroll down to the bottom and forget to come back up and read…

Becca from One Run Away!

Seriously, what are that odds that someone named Becca would win my first contest??  Fate, I tell ya…

Congratulations Becca! I’ve e-mailed you already, you just need to tell me what type of gift card you want! If I don’t hear from you within 48 hours, I’ll pick another winner.

I have to share some of the funniest answers that I received:

1. Who in the world is Marilyn?

Chelsea said: Oh, Marilyn! She’s that skank state that’s been stealing your husband (Also known as Maryland). Although I know you’re pretty stoked about the whole “affair” now, with your free plane tickets to HI. ;-)

2. Tell me one hamster rule.

Stephanie said: Don’t throw the hamster into a cactus. Hmmm…it seems that would be obvious, but apparently not. Teachers don’t get paid enough.

3. Michael is quite the swimmer. Tell me what stroke broke my heart last year during his swim meet.

Ok, not so many funny answers for this one.

4. Tell me the one creature that you could handle finding in your house (yes, this is an opinion question. A freebie, if you will).

Creature? Would “a dead one” count? – I got a lot of this. You guys are wimps.

Allison said: The creature I could handle finding in my house would be a snake, because we already have 4 and there is no way there would be one bigger than what we already have!  (12′ & 100+ lbs.)

Allison gets the award for bravest contestant :)

5. What did Steve and I drink a little too much of in Cancun last year?

Michelle said: Those chocolate cake shots sound yummy! I’ll have to go check it out and see if hubby can make me one… or two… or… oh you get the idea! :)

So, if everyone were to come party at my house, there would be lots of chocolate cake shots and no creatures. Got it.

Thanks for entering, all 57 of you!

I took this great picture of the sunset tonight. I can’t upload it because I lost my camera cord 5 months ago.

Go ahead. Ask.

“How have you been uploading pictures for the last 5 months?”

With my fancy-schmancy new laptop that has a special opening for my camera card, that’s how.

Said fancy-schmancy laptop is currently still in the fancy-schmancy laptop shop.

Waiting for a fancy-schmancy new hard drive.

Because the old one died.

It died before the laptop doc could get my files off of it.

Files like 967 pictures.

146 blog posts.

and a lot of files for work.

Yes, I know that I already said that in this post.

I’m just dwelling on reiterating it. Because I can.

But I’m looking on the bright side.

Really. I am.

They’re just things.

Jack told me today, “Mom, you can take lots more pictures. We just have to go back to those places and you can take the same ones.”

Back to Cancun…  I guess that would work. Hmmm…

Currently, I am using my hoopty laptop (thanks for the term Hillary) and it is sloooooooow. And louuuuuuuud.

So, bare with me. I’m here.

Waiting patiently for my computer to come home so I can share some pictures with you.

Because boy, do I have some stories to tell…

Happy blogday bloggiversary (what are they called?) blog birthday to me!

One year of sharing funny stories, posting pictures, and meeting lots of new friends.

One year ago when my friend Suzanne mentioned how much she loves blogging, I thought “hmmm…  I bet that would be fun to try.”

I had no idea.

I didn’t realize that I would “meet” new friends and strengthen family bonds.

I didn’t know about the amazing and supportive community that bloggers have.

Now I know.

Since it’s my day and all, I decided that we should do something fun. After talking to Darcie I decided to steal her idea and host a scavenger hunt giveaway!

The rules

1. Send me an e-mail with the answers to the following questions. The answers are in the linked posts. I’m sure you’ll become so interested in the posts that you’ll almost forget all about the contest you’re entering, so don’t forget to e-mail me!

becca AT Our Crazy Boys (dot) com

2. Leave me a comment. Any comment. Tell me about your favorite post, tell me if you’ve been here one or one hundred times, or just say hello.

3. Once you do these two things (assuming your answers are correct), you’re entered into the contest.

The prize

One reader will randomly be chosen to win a $50 gift card to… wherever you choose!

Me? I would probably choose Borders. Or Target. But that’s the fun part. YOU get to choose!

The fine print

I can only ship to U.S. addresses

I have to be able to purchase the gift card online. As much as I love each and every one of you, it’s probably not in my best interest to fly across the country to buy you a gift card for the teeny tiny coffee house that you frequent.

Ready… Set… Go!

1. Who in the world is Marilyn?

2. Give me one hamster rule.

3. Michael is quite the swimmer. Tell me what stroke broke my heart last year during his swim meet.

4. Tell me the one creature that you could handle finding in your house (yes, this is an opinion question. A freebie, if you will).

5. What did Steve and I drink a little too much of in Cancun last year?

I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday, February 3rd at 8 p.m. Arizona time.

Good luck!!

What I learned this week…

Hmmm…. let me see…

Oh, I know!

I learned that when buying a fancy schmancy new MacBook Pro for yourself, do not – I repeat – DO NOT put off backing it up.

Because if you were to put that off, you might possibly have lost (approximately) 976 pictures, 146 blog posts, progress notes/IEPs/lesson plans for 26 students, and one almost ready to publish blog giveaway.

We’ll find out tomorrow if they can be retrieved.

By the way… Do you know what the computer was doing while it crashed?

Yup.

Backing up for the first time.

I was so proud of myself for finally doing it that I took a picture.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

This week, Mom was celebrating with some of her favorite people!

My friend best friend sister (in the “we have different Moms, but are totally sisters” way) Kristin recently turned 40 (yes, you read that right. It’s not fair. She doesn’t look 40) and in true Kristin fashion, she decided to have a party in the park, complete with egg races:

a pinata:

three-legged races:

and almost 100 hot dogs! See my boy there? He grilled all. day. long. He loved it. Oh, and that guy next to him? Kristin’s husband. The same guy that redesigned my beautiful blog button and made me my very own twitter button! Go ahead… look on my sidebar… I’ll wait a second.

Isn’t it be-U-tiful?!

So, everyone had a great time, and when we got home we all passed out from exhaustion.

Hope you’re all having a wonderful week!

I realized this week that it’s been a while since I told you about all the stuff I’ve learned…

It has always been a fun post, I don’t know why I stopped writing one… but I’m back now!

-This week, I learned that you can buy these cactus leaves:

in the grocery store. You know, just in case you can’t find enough of them in your back yard. I have yet to make something with them.  Maybe someday soon I’ll surprise you with a recipe.

-I learned that you can microwave your kitchen sponge to remove germs. You can wash it in the dishwasher, too. But microwaving it is much more fun. Look what happens:

Ok, that doesn’t always happen. But if you microwave it for 3 minutes instead of 2, that’s what happens. The kids thought it was pretty funny that Mom started a fire in the kitchen.

-I learned that when you husband decides to make cornhole boards, you should think twice about agreeing to paint them. Because it might take up all of your blogging time, leaving your 7 readers to wonder if you dropped off the planet.

They do look pretty, though, don’t they?

We were able to take them to the park for a picnic with a few friends this weekend. Even though Steve didn’t get to show off the fancy lights that he installed in them, everyone had fun!

That’s about it for this week. I’ll be back next week if I don’t burn my house down with that sponge trick.

Crystal is personally donating $10 for every blogger that posts about Haiti.

We donated $10 by texting the word HAITI for 90999.

You can also donate $5 by texting the word YELE to 501501.

So go ahead.

Do something.

So, I have this fan.

She comments on almost every post I have published.

Sometimes, she cracks me up.

And apparently, she has fans, too.

I have received a few e-mails from people telling me that they always scan my comments to see if she wrote anything funny, because she cracks them up, as well.

It’s my Mom. If you haven’t noticed before, she comments under the name Grandma Teetsie and she’s pretty. darn. funny.

There are days when I feel like Amila, receiving unsolicited advice:

And days when I receive messages about my parenting skills:

And days when she yells at me (through MY blog) from across the country:

Here are a few more, because I can get away with blogging about my Mom one time, and one time only for good measure:

So, I would love for you to stick around and read my blog for, you know, my posts. But if all else fails, stick around for Mom, ok?

Love you, Mom. :-)

“Following Your Bliss means dreaming impossible dreams –

and then making them possible through creativity, passion and direction.”

Bliss: noun; perfect happiness; great joy.

2009 was a wonderful year, overall. The good outweighed the bad and the happy outweighed the sad. I couldn’t ask for more. Here is a quick recap of my most blissful moments.

My parents came and visited us – From New York to Tucson. They do this about once a year, and all is blissful around my house when they are here. I get to go shopping and get pedicures with with my mom, Dad and I usually cook a meal or two together, and the boys get spoiled. rotten. Great joy is watching your kids play with some of their grandparents, because in this house, it doesn’t happen every day.

Summer break – Summer break was jam-packed this year. The boys were in gymnastics, swimming, and rock climbing camps. Perfect happiness and great joy abounded throughout the summer. I was able to watch my little guys meet new friends, tackle new adventures, and learn a little more about who they are and what they like. I can’t think of anything more blissful than that.

My husband and I celebrated 12 years of marriage with a trip to Cancun. Being married to an amazing man is everyday bliss. But going on a vacation and lying on the beach beside him for 5 straight days? Perfect happiness and great joy are an understatement.

I started a blog, which led to my own bliss – meeting wonderful bloggy friends, helping my family and friends stay informed about our daily life, and giving myself a creative outlet. Going to Blissdom ’10 would give me the chance to “meet” those friends who I have been talking to for almost a year now. I would love to learn more about how to make my blog more successful, how to become a better writer, and meet some new friends!

How did I follow my bliss last year? It was pretty simple, actually.

I spent more quality time with those that I love.

And I plan to do lots of the same this year.

*Kimberly from Mom in the City is generously giving away a ticket to the Blissdom ’10 conference.

This post is my entry into her contest.*