Guest Boggers Welcome

I'm opening the Mommy Rantings forum to guest bloggers for the holiday season, which means two things:

1) Cool, new subjects for visitors (especially if you're getting tired of my "rantings"
2) An open (global) floor for guest bloggers to come here and spread the word about their causes, thoughts, ideas, crafts, or just Mommyhood, in general. And, you don't have to be a blogger or a "Mommy blogger" to come and share...the sky's the limit.

http://www.touchofclass.com/

Just email me at cousinsbethany@hotmail.com and let me know that you are interested, the general topic that you want to write about, and when you will be writing the blog post. Although I do not mind controversial topics, I do like to keep it fairly clean.

I will offer: author credit, a bio, and even a pic. Your post will be up for two days (for now)...If I get more requests than I can handle, I will lower it to one day.

So, send me a message and I will give you a spot!

Morning Coffee, Please

Good morning, Monday! Not!

www.cafepress.com

I woke up this morning at about 9 a.m.with a laundry list to do (it's Monday morning, for goodness sake...can I at least sleep in?). My first call of the morning began before I even had my first cup of coffee (which, by the way, was hand-delivered by my sweet and thoughtful husband).

mambo-about-masonry.blogspot.com

I sluggishly added the sugar and milk (yes, milk) myself and then punched in the numbers on the phone.


Talk About Cheery

I'm just not a morning person (okay, I'm a BEAR in the morning - see picture), but apparently the mother on the other end of the phone was...her chipper voice called out "I'm one of those morning mamas that you love to hate".

cheezburger.com

 We discussed business and then started talking about motherhood (surprise, surprise!) and the conversation was actually more enlightening than my morning cup of coffee. (And, she admitted that she was a bright-and-early morning person, which automatically registered her in my mind as "one of those people").

www.cafepress.com

I'm usually a bit offended by these type of moms. The rise-and-shine, chipper, happy-go-lucky get-up-and-go-before-the-rooster-cries-out types. ESPECIALLY when I'm still in that hazy part of my morning when the coffee has yet to reach my veins. But, this morning person was different. Ironically enough, her name was Sparkle.

(Hold on while I swig another sip of my coffee...)

www.cafepress.com

Okay, so we talked about being/not being morning people, motherhood, ages of our children, stories about our children...stories about other people's children...

And, for a moment, it was like talking to an old friend. But, she was at work and I still had the rest of my laundry list to tackle...so, we ended the conversation with her reading off my confirmation number and...well, another sip of my coffee.

Isn't it ironic that, once two moms get together, no matter what their backgrounds are - even if one is NOT a morning person and the other is a bubbly morning momma who drives the not-the-morning-momma crazy - if they start a conversation about motherhood or their children, everything else goes out the door. You're not that grumpy morning person or tired momma...you're a proud, exhausted, or ambitious momma sharing stories and morals and values and tips and advice and...whatever else the conversation brings you to. (You can substitute the word momma for daddy, grandma, nana, auntie, uncle, grandpa, sister...)

The phone call made my day...maybe because it's been such a rainy, gloomy, stay-in-bed kinda week, but I hung up the phone with a smile on my face.

Which kind of mom are you? The bouncy, annoying "Good Morning, World!" mom that drives me crazy? Or are you the drag-yourself-out-of-bed, ponder-the-idea-of-climbing-back-in, and suck-down-coffee-until-you're-ready-to-face-the-world-kind-of-mom?

If you're a morning person, could you pass the coffee, please?

Have You Heard About CSN Stores?

I love a deal...Don't you?

So, I had to share my excitement with you about CSN Stores. They have over 200 online stores and whether you're looking for a new, gorgeous platform bed, convenient convertible cribs, some exciting toys and games for your kids, or brand new cookware to make working in the kitchen fun, you’ll find fabulous deals on it all. I spent hours looking through the items throughout the sites and was surprised at not only the quality of the items that they offer, but also the economical prices!

www.csnstores,com

As a mother of 6, I’ll tell you that shopping (for necessities) is not my favorite thing in the world. I either have to wait until my husband is home to get the shopping done or drag all of my kids with me. Online shopping saves me so much trouble! Can it get any easier than clicking on the items that you want and checking out? With CSN Stores (even though they have over 200 stores) there’s only one “shopping cart” for anything that you buy from them at one time and there are a ton of items marked Free Shipping. (And even if you have to pay shipping, it’s never more than $5-10. Anything $69 and up automatically qualifies for free shipping.) They also offer a 30 day return policy.

One more thing...I've price compared a bunch of items on the CSN Stores websites and can honestly say that I've found better prices than many of the stores that I currently frequent. Bathroom items, kitchen items, home decor...you're going to find a deal on the things that you love to buy.
  

So, I’ve done my research, as you can see. But, I’m going to do even more research for you! I’m actually going to pop on CSN Stores and order something and let you know how it goes. Sheesh! I can’t figure out what to get…I guess you’ll just have to wait for the next post when I receive…well, whatever I pick.

Happy Shopping!

My Children Think I'm MEAN

Last night, my 3 year old Dylan, with his new-found fascination with the gaming world was extremely mad at me. He has formed a habit of getting frustrated and screaming about the games or getting mad at whoever is playing with him for "beating him" or "pushing him" (or pushing his "guy").

He Says I'm Mean

By 8 p.m., I had had enough.

Me: Dylan, time to turn the games off.

Dylan: You're mean!

Me: If all you can do is scream and cry, apparently the game is not fun anymore. Time to turn it off.

Dylan: You're a big meanie, mom.

Me: Yep, I'm mean. Turn the game off.

Dylan: Youuuuuuuuuuuuuu MEAN! (now screaming) Meanie!

That wasn't the end of it. He pulled his little 3 year old screaming fit, reminding me over and over again how mean I really am.

Up walks little Dakoda, my youngest at 1 1/2 years old. He looks at me and says, "Mee-mee."

He Thinks I'm Mean, Too

Did he? He did. He says about 4 words, including Mom, Dad, peeeese (please), and now "Meanie".

Well, it's no secret that I'm a "Mean Mom". I'm mean because I expect my kids to behave, help clean the house and get along with each other. I'm mean because I have expectations, period. I'm mean because I don't say yes to everything...and I'm mean because I turn the games off.

I'm okay with being a Mean Mom. Am I the only Mean Mother in this world?

Abra Bowdabra: A Big Surprise!

I got this box in the mail the other day. Life's been crazy as usual, so I'm a little late on this post...but the moment was awesome!

I was expecting a surprise in the mail...Veronica, too...and although we knew what was going to be inside; there were new crafty items to play with and we were tickled to get the box! Inside the plain brown package that was delivered to the door was a Bowdabra, a Mini Bowdabra, a CD e-book, a few bundles of craft wire and a hair bow tool. You should have heard her squeal...yes, squeal.

www.bowdabra.com

You may be wondering, "What in the world is a Bowdabra?"...if you're one of the people thinking this, you gotta go here. It's the new and exciting word in our household. Bowdabra, Bowdabra, Bowdabra...it rolls off our tongues. What can I say? We love to say it.

I made a promise to Veronica that she and I would go get some Halloween ribbon to make Bowdabra hair bows for all of her friends. She's almost peeing her pants she's so excited. (And the boys are a bit jealous, but we'll probably let them participate in the Bowdabra fun, too! Can you imagine?)

Halloween Hair Bows

So, we're going to whip up some holiday festive orange, black and white hair bows...and look forward to checking out the cool new holiday spools of ribbon not only this weekend, but for every holiday, birthday, etc.

Birthday Hair Bows

Look, if your daughter is invited to a girl's birthday party, save yourself the stress of buying the birthday girl a gift and give her a unique home-made (but store-bought looking) hair bow that nobody else will have. Better yet, get her her very own Bowdabra set!

I'm so excited to make some hair bows with Veronica, but I'm more ecstatic that just three spools of ribbon and some fun time crafting with the kids will result in a bunch of hip and distinctive hair bows that Veronica's friends at school are going to go nuts for! I'll keep you posted.

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