Yeah Baby, Yeah!

Ah "Chuck"...and episodes streamed online! Man, if you haven't seen this Spy vs. Spy show, it's fun! "Get Smart" with a twist it is! Between this and never having time to watch "The Office", I've got some stuff to watch. Between that, my contesting, AND poker on my PSP I'm in front of a glowing screen a lot lately.

I Don't Have a Problem, Right?

I entered 600 or so separate giveaways today, but I don't have a problem right? Okay, maybe a little.
Part of the deal was that I was trying to ignore the hubby. That's the downer to him being gone. He gets back and we always have a minor readjustment period. Grrr!!

Who Knew...

...that Hot Wheels and Littlest Pet Shop animals could throw a carnival in my living room together. I caught my sweet girl giving her brother plenty of hugs when he won at Mario Party on the Gamecube. Some days I love them ;0)

Drunk On Tea

Hubby will finally be back home tomorrow, Turkey was really good apparently (the hoser!). I was able to get a babysitter for 5 glorious hours on Saturday. What did I do you ask? Well...

My friend Cindy and I are obsessed with tea...I have over 60 different kinds in my tiny kitchen from places such as Thailand, China and the Celestial Seasonings plant. We drove to Boulder and had brunch at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse www.boulderteahouse.com . The building itself is amazing and the food is glorious. I had an Indian Curry Omlette and some amazing Ceylon tea. This is the only place I've seen tea based martini's and cocktails. It's overwhelming to a tea lover like myself. We hit the shopping street and I got (what else) tea.

Then we headed back to Golden and I went to the mall. There's one store in the mall that I cannot enter with my kids...Spencer's. Known for their gag/gross gifts and bachlorette fodder, they actually have a good selection of goodies for the married person who isn't willing to go into a sex shop for a board game or costume. It's the shy person's sex shop. Anyhoo, I'll just say the hubby will be happy on our anniversary (Feb. 6th) and Valentine's Day.

The Stars of Reality Shows

Since the strike has caused everyone to drag out a deluge of reality shows, let me tell you the stations that do it well:

Bravo
I stumbled onto this station gem watching Kathi Griffin's "Life on the D-List". I've gotten sucked into Project Runway countless times too! All of their reality shows seem much more crazily refined than the other channels.

This is my top station pick these days:

Discovery

This station is the king of fun factual shows:
-Mythbusters: so fun, my kids love it!
-How It's Made: who knew factories were so fascinating
-Survivorman: He does it so we don't have to.

I'm also really excited for "Smash Lab", I have yet to see it.

What about you, what reality shows/stations have you hooked?

Contests of the Day

Tops 2 Bottoms is giving away a T-shirt from PlanetMomTshirts.com! My favorite shirt says, "Star of My Own Reality Show".
Check it out: http://www.tops2bottoms.com/2008/01/win-a-planet-mom-tee-of-your-choice/

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Jackie's Biz is giving away two movie tickets for Valentine's Day, who couldn't use movie tickets?!
http://www.jackiesbizblog.com/2008/01/21/valentines-contest-win-two-movie-tickets/

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The Den of Iniquity is celebrating 10 years of internetedness by giving away a $20 Amazon GC. Head here to find out more:
http://wildrose.rpgraphics.net/?p=2687

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Oh! Baby Buy Products is hosting the "Great Northwest Giveaway". Many vendors have donated prizes, so go check it out! http://ohbabybuyproducts.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-northwest-giveaway.html

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The Rating Blog is holding a massive contest where you have the opportunity to win $500. There are a couple of different ways to enter: http://www.theratingblog.com/contest/

There Were 3 In The Bed & The Mom Said, "Get Out!"

My husband loves to let the kids sleep in bed with us occasionally...I always move to the couch. So, I thought it would be nice for me to let them do it while he's gone...aaand I remembered quickly why I hate it:

-Caedmon kicks and pushes everyone off the bed
-our bed is queen-sized, not much room
-Ruth gets really mad in the middle of the night when her brother is shoving her

To top it off, Ruth got a bad case of swimmer's ear in the middle of the night. I was awake every hour even after I moved to the couch.

Thankfully I've stayed uber busy while the hubby's been away, thought I really wish I were there.

Honk If You Saw Me Waving

Over the last couple of months some of my friends have pointed out how unfriendly I look when I'm driving.
I keep telling them, "I'm not trying to be rude, I'm focused!!"
I've usually got too much going on in my car (listening to supposedly satanic NPR & telling my kids, "Is it really worth fighting about?") for me to be scanning the other cars for friends to wave at.
Also, I don't have a nameless van or SUV like so many of my friends. I have an embarrassingly recognizable Buick Regal whose headlights are literally glued in place. Between that and the "Bush/Cheney 2004" sticker ya can't miss me. At least back when I used to drive the Rodeo it was less noticable.

I get tailgated semi-frequently which I am assuming is because of the aformentioned bumper sticker. I HATE bumper stickers. If you want to make a permanent statement, do it in a tattoo instead of a sticker that may hurt your chances of selling the car or will get you flipped off for you opinion.

I also get many horrified looks in the Buick (especially by pedestrians) who must assume that I caused the 2 accidents that permanently mangled my car's front. Which I didn't, my hubby had 2 accidents that were really no fault accidents.

Anyone else have a recognizable car?

The Quickie

Hubby left for Turkey today, so I'm soloing it for the next week. Between grumpy munchkins, ear infections, swimming lessons and our fricking cars I haven't been on here much.

It snowed today which was awesome, but I wish it wasn't quite this bitterly cold.

Contests of the Day

I wish I could win something from 5 Minutes For Mom...they continue to have amazing giveaways. Best Buy gave the ladies an Insignia® - Pilot 4GB Video MP3 Player with Bluetooth Technology to give away! Hubby is in need of a player and this would fit the bill. Check it out at: http://www.5minutesformom.com/2848/win-an-insignia-bluetooth-mp3-player/

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Raven's Range is giving away some fabulous books for the month of January! Head over there to enter: http://www.ravensrange.com/january-book-giveaway/

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Teresa is running her first contest of the year over at her personal blog. You have a chance to win a beautiful turquoise bracelet created by Lori Jaclyn. She’s willing to ship anywhere and that means anyone is eligible to participate and win.

The Effect Continues

So, my kids have been blessed with good health so far in their short years. Never an illness that required any intervention like antibiotics. WELL, because of the glorious Turkey Effect, my son was up half the night with an ear infection. So, we hit the chiropractor and bought some herbal drops for his ear.

I'm hoping this is the last incident, but I ain't holding my breath.

So positive, right?

Contests of the Day

5 Minutes For Mom had a contest for one of these pedal cars from their store Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles. Check it out: http://www.5minutesformom.com/2831/mustang-pedal-car//

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BoSox Mommy is hosting her first contest....head on over there for your chance to win $10!!
http://bosoxmommy.com/?p=25

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Contest Blogger is hosting a giveaway for a $100 GC to Good Clean Love. I would love to win this!! All you have to do is link back to their homepage using the anchor text free samples and to Good Clean Love using the anchor text increase libido.

Weirdness Is As Weirdness Does

I got tagged by my friend Tara http://tarasviewoftheworld.blogspot.com/ to give you all a peek into my weirdness.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
4. Tag random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.



Here we go:

7 Weird Things About Me



1. I was a synchronized swimmer...for 4 years. Let it be known I sucked at it, but loved it and harbor a secret desire that my daughter would pick up the sport.



2. I'm addicted to poker, video games, Austin Powers and have a high sex drive. I swear I'm not a male :0)



3. I think fairies, mermaids and almost all mythological creatures are really sexy and wish I could be one.



4. I LOVE peanut butter and Miracle Whip sandwiches.



5. I'm a Trekkie and love sci-fi movies



6. I refuse to jump on any bandwagon...even if I agree with them. I can't stand following the crowd.

7. I wish I could wiggle and pull my teeth out like I did as a kid...for some reason I found the pulling of my teeth really satisfying.

AND, since I am #6 I'm refusing to tag anyone.

The Turkey Effect

It's been 3 years since hubby and I have stepped foot in the country of Turkey. Our daughter is a seasoned traveler and would do it full-time instead of kindergarten if she could. Our son was 1 when we went and was terrible; granted it was probably his age, but it's made me leery of taking him on any plane ride over 4 hours.

All that to say, Jason is leaving Monday to go see some friends in Turkey and fall in love with the country all over again. Since it's been 3 years I'd forgotten about "The Turkey Effect". Every time God has told us to go visit that country Satan tries his hardest to hinder us. We have been down to one car and a friend lent us one of theirs. In the last couple of days, the borrowed car has died on us three times and we woke up yesterday to a flat tire. The boy is sick and the kids (they never do this) got in a fist fight yesterday at the neighbor's house. Something that's also part of the Turkey Effect is usually getting robbed at least once while actually in the country. We've been robbed 5 different times while in the country. Trust me, that says nothing about the country and everything about our being there.

Those of you who are prayers, please lift us up as we prepare for next week. He will leave Monday and probably return on Saturday. Please pray that nothing physical, emotional or spiritual is taken from us in the coming weeks. Hey, you could even pray that $1,000 would materialize so that we could fix our car.

I know this kind've stuff just happens on overseas trips, anyone else have a good story???

Life In 3-D

I love my life right now. All of my parts (wife, mom, group leader, friend, mentor, Sara) are embraced by me and I'm happy with them. A lot of that happiness stems from what I've chosen to do (or not do). There is NOTHING in my weekly schedule that I don't want to do. I haven't agreed to anything over the last year that I didn't truly desire to do. Amazing how freeing that is!
I feel like I haven't been in such a whole place since my senior year of high school. I used to look back on that time with jealousy. I had all the time in the world to spend finding myself and chasing God. Now I see that who/where I am now is better. Better because I have the added roles (wife, mom, etc). As a single girl I saw life in what I thought was 3-D, but now I see more clearly the dimensions of reality, and my single self pales in comparison to what I know now.
I hope added years add dimensions and wisdom!

I Want to Be Related to the Car Talk Guys

I don't know why it should surprise me that cars continue to be a pain in the butt! We have one car down, which leaves me carless much of the time. We've been borrowing a friend's car that we were told was having issues as well. Sure enough, it died while I was running errands...thankfully it was off to the side and it wasn't that big of a deal because it started up after the engine had cooled off.

I envy those people that have money set aside for car repairs...granted, they're a loathsome expense for anyone, but when we have to choose to fix the car or pay the rent, the rent wins.

PS: My Entrecard thing is funkadelic, I'm trying to get it up, so stay tuned!

I Have A Dream...

...of a job that pays the bills. I would love to get off food stamps and government medical care. I would love to have the money to pay a bill when it comes. I would love to actually have more than $5 in our savings account (it's never had more than that in the last 7 years).
BUT, are these things that God needs for us to have?
I don't know and some days I wish I had those answers.

Contests of the Day

Workout Mommy is hosting a Biggest Loser contest where you can win a Brita faucet mount filter! Check it out: http://workoutmommy.com/index.php/2008/01/09/reduce-your-waist-while-reducing-waste-brita-filterforgood-and-the-biggest-loser/

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Emoms At Home is holding a contest to help you get organized!
http://emomsathome.com/momsational/win-a-complete-organizational-system-from-day-runner-to-help-you-get-your-new-year-started-on-the-right-foot/

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In honor of the Vicks Caring Tribute Campaign , Mommy Mandy is giving away the Vitamin E Skin Care Starter Kit from the body shop. Here's the link to her contest: http://www.mommymandy.com/2008/01/vicks-caring-tributes-giveaway.html

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Roni's Weight Watchen http://weightwatchen.com/ is giving away Netflix and some of Orville's tasty popcorn!!! http://orville.com/ Here's the link: http://weightwatchen.com/2008/01/popcorn-and-movie-anyone-contest.html

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Big Bald Blog is holding a contest that may make you $100!!! Check it out here: http://blog.impactmt.com/2008/01/100-per-month-for-new-year.html

Contest Deadline:12:00 AM February 1, 2008.
Who wants to pay you?
1. Mixed Market Arts
2. JoeTech.com
3. Link Bait
4. Gorilla Sushi
5. CK Marketing
6. The Big Bald Blog
7. How 2 Blogger

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Vote for Tyler!

An overall nice guy, Tyler Cruz, is holding a contest with another blogger where you can win $100. They're trying to up traffic on their site and generate overall buzz for their blogs. Cruz is a little behind in the votes, but is hopeful that he pull off a win! BTW, I'm voting for Tyler!

Here's some of Tyler's convincing arguement for a vote for him:

"Sure, Gyutae may seem like the smart, friendly, and overall lovable guy you’ve learned to love, but he has a darker side to him as well.
I can almost guarantee you that when he announces this contest on his blog that he will be giving away additional prizes as incentives to vote for him! In fact, I bet you he will try to give away some free advertising on his blog…
Now, this is all part of the game, and he’s allowed to do this if he so chooses. Therefore, I bet a lot of you are wondering to yourselves right now why you should vote for me when you can vote for Gyutae and receive additional prizes? Well, there’s a very good reason why you should vote for me instead of Gyutae.

Remember: only the participants who end up voting for the winner will be inserted into the drawing and eligible for the prizes. So if you vote for Gyutae and he ends up having less votes than me, you won’t be eligible for any of the $300 prizes.

So the real question is: who do you think stands the better chance of winning: me or Gyutae?
Sure, Gyutae is crafty. A bit too crafty for my liking. But I have numbers on my side. At the time of this writing, my RSS stands at 1,077 compared to Gyutae’s 262. My Alexa is 29,029 while Gyutae’s is 83,196, and my Technorati is 7,667 while poor Gyutae’s is 43,764.
So voting for me would be a wise decision… yes… a very wise decision If you’ve already reviewed my site before, perhaps for a TylerReview, you’re more than welcome to enter this contest.

Here's a link to the contest:

Tyler: http://www.tylercruz.com/vote-for-me-win-100/
or
Gyutae: http://www.winningtheweb.com/tyler-contest-vote.php

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Here's another site that's giving away cold, paper cash! Someone will get $100 from Mr. Opportunist!
http://mropportunist.com/2008/01/03/the-january-blogtests%e2%84%a2-100-giveaway/

I Lost $20,000 dollars on a Bad Beat

I know, I know, I've been MIA...nothing spectacular has happened lately. I've been addicted to my poker career on my PSP. Yes, I'm a 25 yr old mother of two who is carrying around a PSP. I was sitting at my daughter's gymnastics practice today COMPLETELY absorbed in my poker game. I spent the entirety of our plane flight home playing it.

I am an addictive personality!

I Love Lutfisk!

I HIGHLY recommend all women watch "Drop Dead Gorgeous"...so stinkin funny! You have to love a good (or bad) Minnesota accent. My exciting day included:
-white knuckled the rent down to the rent office...I love the old truck we're borrowing, but getting used to the clutch is making me a little jumpy.
-spent an hour at the laundromat.
-watched Project Runway...I'm becoming a little addicted.

I'm so excited, I got Carmen Electra's workout DVD off Ebay. I got tired of the odd looks I was getting from the elderly library ladies every time I checked them out. I endorse any workout that makes you feel damn sexy at the end!

Contests of the Day

Flip Flop Mama is giving away Land's End Diaper Bags...check it out! http://flipflopmamma.blogspot.com/2008/01/lands-end-give-away-for-you-but-first.html

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Kids B-Day Fun Review is giving away GC's to Oriental Trading Co. and Amazon.com http://kidsfunreviewed.com/january-party-into-the-new-year-giveaway/

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Mother Earth's Garden is giving away GC's to Seeds of Change and Amazon.com http://www.motherearthsgarden.com/january-get-this-garden-started-giveaway

The Cowboy Contest of the Day

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!

The Biggest Loser is my Waist!

I know some people can handle it, but I cannot own a scale. There are times when I wish I could check just out of curiousity, but I know it would quickly spiral into a bad area.

I'm an anorexic...it's just like being a recovered alcoholic, the siren call is still there occasionally.

Granted, I haven't fallen off the wagon really badly in 10 years, but 2 years ago when we were nomadic I had 2 months of selfish anorexic indulgence. I've found my trigger for it, it's lack of control over any aspect of my life. Two years ago that meant we were nomadic and moving every two weeks. Talk about having no control over your life. Before that I'd selfishly starved myself after my son was born. The doctor finally told me to give him formula because he wasn't getting the nutrients he needed from me...talk about feeling guilty!

The reason all this ran through my brain is because I know I gained weight over the holidays. Putting my pants on is evidence of this...I don't need a scale. I entertained the idea of anorexia for all of 5 minutes, but I was able to move on to better thoughts of healthy eating and exercise. I feel like my emotional and spiritual health are starting off strong this year, I just need to have my physical health catch up!

A Traveling Contest of the Day

Colleen at a Simple Kind of Life http://www.simplekindoflife.com/2008/01/02/where-in-the-world-is-colleen/ is holding a contest where we have to guess where she's traveling. Check back daily for clues :0)

All The Time in the World?

I'm crossing my fingers right now...hubby just took the in-laws and our 2 kids to the airport. They're all flying standby and are planning on taking my kids for 5 days. I'm REALLY hoping they get on that plane because as much as I love them I need a day or two of sleep. I'm battling a cold and they're being snarly, so I hope they're able to bask in the love of their grandparents and aunt & uncle.

In other news, I'm doing a thorough sweep of my house today...the tree is coming down people!