Jenny On the Spot: Caffeinated mom, lover of dancing, glitter and glitter.

Why? Because she was a source of joy for me yesterday, and who am I to hold back joy?

I have been wading through piles of bills. Some of which will get paid “on time”… a select few will not get paid “on time”. This makes me not only feel scared uncomfortable, but also cranky. There are times my children add to my cross *brows furrowed” state of mind, but there are times I see that God gave me my kids to restore even just a smidge of my joy.

Like yesterday.

My sweet four year old little tyrant. Manipulator extraordinaire… THE Adorable of all that is adorable… Master of twists… Inventor of chaos… Our “surprise” that peppers our lives with goodness and messes…

As I tended to the list of things that need tending… Lucy tagged along. Subject to my ultimate timing and my decisions on what we were going to do.

Take, for example, lunch… I had busied myself with an ugly pile of bills, and could not pull away until my children’s stomachs had begun screaming for sustenance. I headed down to the kitchen to begin the arduous task of  making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Lucy rounded a corner of the kitchen and broke into song,

MOOOOOOOMellujiah!!! MOOOOOOOOOMellujiah!!!

Oh mercy. If it wasn’t so cute, I’d have felt bad for my daughter who was so hungry she saw fit to sing praises for hope was at hand!

Later that day I made cookies. MONSTER cookies to be precise… Big cookies with raisins chocolate chips, M&M’s, peanut butter and lots of oatmeal to offset the sugar and butter… As I pulled a hot tray of Monster Cookies from the oven Lucy giggled,

OOH! MONSSSSER COOOOOKIES! I afraid of MONSSSERS, Mama!

And then she giggle, giggle, giggled her way to nearly burning her little fingers on that hot cookie pan… cuz she was so “afraid”.

And finally — Halloween. Lucy is too sweet for the heart of Halloween. Scary stuff sends her skinny limbs a-shiverin’. We hit Target yesterday and milled about the Halloween stuff. There were some masks that were, well, just plain awful. Joel (big bro) told her not to look. I looked down and her little arms were quivering, her lips stuck in a look that not even a camera could capture… I put my hands on her shoulders and helped her turn away… then she saw it. IT… The CHRISTMAS STUFF!

Before I could shift my weight she was off… squealing,

OHBOYMAMA!!!!! WOOK! WOOK! WOOOOOOK! It’s happy Christmas stuff, Mama! HAPPY Christmas stuff!!! I WUV Christmas!!!”

And that is the heart of my girl. How do I deserve such goodness in my life?

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*Don’t forget there is still time to nominate a teacher of YOUR choice for an Office Max $100 gift card! Just go to this post and leave a comment! It’s odd, but I have not received any comments to qualify for the prize – PEOPLE – it’s money for a teacher! The contest ends October 4th! C’mon!

*Also! Head over to the Febreeze NOTICEables review on my review site, you can enter yourself for a chance to win a $100 gift card and a Febreeze gift basket!

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Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…

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Don’t you think it is just so cute when people use prepositions in a cute, yet totally grammatically wrong way in their titles? I do. I think I am so cute, clever and also can I just say title creation stresses me out. Or should I put a ? at the end of that sentence? Puncutaion is also a bit “strsssy”.

But I digress. Before I get to the laughter… I want to tell you about the monaey. I want to tell you about an opportunity for you to win $100 because I am awesome like that. O.K. it’s not so much MY awesome as it is the awesome of Blogher and Febreeze NOTICEables letting me be the conduit of awesome. (I threw in the word “conduit” because I did an analysis on my blog and turns out my reading level here hits right at “primary/elementary” level… so I’ve decided I am going to try to raise that level to “NASA”.)

Onomatopoeia.

Jurisprudence.

Hydrogen ions.

Hemoglobin. Thorax. Phalange. Heparin.

Marquetry. Lexicon. Iconocentrism.

Oh… thisisagoodone: Antidisestablishmentarianism.
Continue reading ‘Make Me Laugh Monday & $100 of Money’

For each of my children’s birthdays I write them a letter here… to read “someday”…. Sometimes I am a bit behind and I am NEVER early. My oldest and youngest got theirs “on time” this year, but not my middle daughter.

Oh my poor middle child. Her birthday was in May. My calendar tells me we are closing in on October. However, I will not let this fact dissuade me. I will write this letter almost 5 months late, but she will have her letter.

My dearest Olivia…

Where do I start? Your laugh? Your fire? Your heart? Your wicked-awesome sense of humor? Your talent?

It’s hard to separate all these things from you. You are a delightful combination of zest, humor, magnetism, love, creativity and beauty. You are all girl, but pride yourself in being a tomboy. There was a time when all you would wear were dresses and pink. Nowadays you toss the skirts aside for pants or shorts, “I can’t play as hard in a skirt, Mom!”

However, you love to do your hair, beg to wear make-up and I quietly watch you when you primp…

It has been a hard year keeping your ear piercings clean, but you have been brave. You want your hair to get longer and longer, and you do the work to have the privilege of long hair. Tangles! Ouch! I see something in your eyes when you get an idea, and you can create from nothing… a masterpiece… even from a hole punch, safety pins and index cards.

I see in you a perseverance. A determination. A fearlessness. All of these traits have potential for great good or great mischief. I see mostly great good from these things in you… but I have also seen the mischief *wink*

Friendships. You have cultivated many. It seems your friends see in you the greatness I have. You are a Renaissance woman already… not secured to one best friend, but definitely have deep heart connections with a few. While this is mostly good, there are times where it is hard. I remember the struggle as a young girl too – being in the middle or friendships. I have seen your tears as you have struggled to please multiple friends whose only common bond was you. You’re only 7 and you are learning big lessons in relationship. While you have not been able to navigate perfectly, I am in awe of your sensitive heart and the love you show to others. Keep loving, my daughter… keep loving.

Something I have seen change and grow in you is your sensitivity. SO many more emotional tears these last several months. I have been surprised. For a long time I always thought you had more of a stoic persona… not giving too many folks too much power over your emotion. However… you have shifted. I feel a deepening bond between even us as you dig deeper into this new girl you are becoming.

I love you, Oliva. I admire your fire. Countless people have commented on your laugh… how contagious it is. You truly have a unique, magnetic laugh. I believe your laugh it is the fruit of your good heart. I believe God has created something in you that is meant to bless others… with joy… a distraction from the darkness that seems so prevalent…

There is truly something special about you. Yes, your laugh… but I think it is comparable to frosting on a cupcake. It is what draws others to you, but there is so much more.

Olivia… my prayer today is for that sweet heart of yours. For continued innocence, for life-long softness… for that special sort of joy God has planted in your heart to continually freely flow. I pray the limits of this world do not limit your creative process… I pray you continue to create and dream and grow by boundless measure. I pray your confidence is never stifled, but that arrogance never grips you. And as always, I pray that as you make choices, that you will continually choose Jesus.

And I want you to know this about Jesus… I am a sinful woman. I make bad choices, even now. But remember that while the world wants to insist that the God your daddy and I are trying to teach you about is full of fury and wrath and judgement and condemnation… the God we love is FIRST a God of grace. Of forgiveness…  And that is why we chose “Grace” to be your middle name. There is far too little of it in this world… Olivia Grace… peace, grace… You, my daughter have a namesake and I am so proud to be the woman who you call “Mom”. I am blessed that YOU are my daughter.

Love you girl,

Mom

Here are a couple of people (or their car) in and around my own neighborhood…

I can’t believe they totally stole my idea for my next license plate frame. Psh.

And…

I had to hold back the mother in me. She wanted to march right on over and hike his drawers back up to their proper place. Instead I made my husband take a picture. One’s man’s fashion fail is another woman’s blog post. I want to know… is there a girl out there that thinks this is hawt? Cuz you know what it reminds me of?  WRONG.

It also reminds me of a certain other fail I spied in my community not all that long ago…

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If you have visited here recently, you may be aware of the fact I have joined 29 other bloggers and Office Max to help spread the word about a great program created to benefit teachers - A Day Made Better. You MUST take a few to watch this video. Also, get tissue:

Stinkin’ beautiful. Who doesn’t want to be a part of this? If you head over to my earlier post on this and leave a comment, you could win a $100 Office Max card for a teacher who is personal to you. If you are my personal friend of mine, you can go to any of the other 29 Max Moms in this program and nominate your choice there.

On a much more local level… Allie of No Time for Flashcards and I will be hosting a local event at my house! If you live around my parts – please come! Drop me an email or comment and I will get the invite to you!

It is going to be fun! Each participant is encouraged to bring something to add to our own box that we will be giving to a local teacher. We don’t know WHICH local teacher just yet. Event-goers will nominate a teacher and we will draw who will get a hopefully over-full box of school supplies… and perhaps some cash donations too?…

I want to thank some local businesses who are adding to the party favors and door prizes Office Max is contributing…

• Zero Gravity Athletics is donating a gym-themed birthday party as a door prize ($170 value!), a field trip for the chosen teacher and letting us keep a box for donations at their gym.
• Poulsbo Perk is donating coffee for the moms to drink at the party, and a $25 gift card as a door prize… You can follow them on Twitter @poulsboperk
• KCMT.org is donating a door prize of 2 tickets to heir upcoming production of Scrooge – The Musical
• Poulsbo Athletic Club has also given us space to keep a box to collect supplies until the event.
• any other local businesses want to join in… door prizes, cash for the teacher box… we could use some pastries :)

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1. I would like to start this post with a resounding WAH! *pout* The Type-A Mom Conference is this weekend and I’ll give you one guess as to at least one girl that won’t be there…. Ya give? It’s me. Iwillnnotbeattheconferencewaaaaah! I have never been a huge fan of missing out. *stomps off in a huff*
2. I actually feel kind of sorry for Asheville, North Carolina. Just think of all the glitter it will be missing out on… {sigh} But it’s not your fault, North Carolina in the Fall… I blame The Economy. Big bully.
3. I was going to put up a picture of my Pyrex pan that pretty much exploded in my oven, but the pork tenderloin had an inappropriate shape. I decided I wouldn’t make you have to discern whether the meat in that pan was in fact a tenderloin of pork. I make these hard choices because I want to protect your innocence. But if you want me to email you the pic, tell me in your comment. I’ll TOTALLY email you the pic.
4. I wrote a little something about the importance of sleep on Type-A Mom. Ya know, cuz I practice what I preach and whathaveyou.
5. A new school year has begun, and I went ahead and gushed about my kids over at Mom on the Spot. You should click over… If only to crank up my numbers over there, because in the last wholetimeIhavebeenwrtingthere few weeks I have only contributed to .5% of their traffic. That is not famous enough for me.
6. You know I am kidding about the “famous” part of #5, right?
7. I’m kidding about #6 too.
8. I am feeling mildy manic.
9. And also digressive.
10. And don’t expect you click on everything I am linking to. I WANT you to, but I know my lowly place on this here interwebz…
11. This is what my friend and I call Muffin Top Burn Fail. BTW, this is not Me.
12. I could totally post an embarrassing picture of myself right now. ButIwon’t. *sticks out tongue*
13. I updated my “About” page. The old page was making me *yawn*.
14. By the way… YouTube has a lot of creepy viewers… who make creepy comments *delete* Mostly about my braces and my Converse *rocks in a corner*
15. My kids don’t take me seriously when I threaten to rip off their arms and beat them with their own limbs. Am I THAT bad a liar? They laugh at me. Punks.
16. I’m kidding about the “punks” thing above
17. I’m kidding about #16…
18. Twitter has changed the way I do business my friend and I text. #like #weliketotally #hashtag #everything #andifyouarenotonthetwitter #thiswillnot #makeonelickofsensetoyou #truethat
19. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to discriminate agains the unTwittered. #myamends
20. It is 5:53 p.m. and I still don’t know how to answer the question, “What’s for dinner?”
21. If only I could make a blog for dinner…
22. Finally… Office Max and Adopt-A-Classroom have come together to bring you the A Day Made Better Campaign. I have joined 29 other Max Moms to help spread the word! In my original post, in order to nominate a teacher, one had to either create a blog post or create a Whrrl story… but NOW… alls you need to do is write a comment – click here. But, please see the fine print for other detail… Another way to make a difference is to donate directly to A Day Made Better:

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Before I head off into my den of silliness… don’t forget about about the Office Max and Adopt-a-Classroom campaign — A Day Made Better Giveaway. See this post for details on how YOU can win some cash for a teacher of your choice!

Also – join me Tuesday night (9/22) for #gno from 9-11 ET where we will be discussing how to help kids succeed in school with #omx & @adaymadebetter . RSVP to Mom It Forward! I’m going to be joining the panel there!

And – Friday night (9/25) – it’s another Twitter party! #typeamomathome ! Mama in Pajamas (@mamainpajamas) and I will be hosting… you know since we will be at home while the Type-A Mom Conference will be going on in NC *dying inside*, and not in either of our homes, and instead of being completely left out we will be hosting and you will be joining us… and also we will be giving prizes… it’s true *takes a breath*and then I hope to go out and dance and pretend I am at a Type-A Mom cocktail party and not cry because I am here and not there and… please join us there if you are at your “here” and not there. *blinking*

***NEXT!***

My beloved searchers… The folks who get to my home here on the interwebz because they typed just the right thing… I stand in awe… of your… your…

*shakes head*

I am not only in awe about how some actually make it here, but…but… who ARE these people? You know, some inquiries makes sense, like (inquiries in italics)…

• Jenny tam tam tambourine – Wellll, I am am a tambourine FORCE!
• dancing is my passion – Can you feel the passion? I felt the whiplash…
• what makes me awesome – Uh… see above? Hello? It’s basic math, people. Tambourine + dancin’ =  me AWESOME.

Aaanywho.
Continue reading ‘They Are At It Again – My Searchers’

Anyone out there appreciate teachers? *cups hands behind ears* Anyone want to earn a $100 gift card for your favorite teacher?

Of course you do! And now we have a chance to show some teachers just how much! I was a teacher years back, and I spent over $1300 of my own money to supplement my curriculum that first year. Because it was a private school, my salary for the year was a whopping $14,000, but I wanted more for my kids.

I know first-hand that this is a decision all teachers face. And let’s face it, teachers are not paid enough. I know there is a lot of content that follows… and some pretty specific detail. However, if anyone is worth a little effort — it’s a quality teacher. If you have any questions about this program, please leave a comment or email me: jennyonthespot [at] gmail [dot] com

**Personal friends and family — please note the “fine print” at the bottom**

Did you know teachers spend an average of $1200 of their own money on classroom supplies each year? That is $4 billion annually! That’s why OfficeMax joined with Adopt-A-Classroom to create “A Day Made Better” national cause event founded to erase teacher-funded classrooms. This year, “A Day Made Better” will take place on October 6 where 1,000 teachers will be surprised in their classrooms each with $1,000 worth of essential supplies from OfficeMax. That’s more than one million dollars donated to help teachers! Principals at needy schools nominated the teachers for demonstrating dedication, innovation, and passion.

To pay-it-forward, OfficeMax and Mom It Forward have teamed up to create awareness about the issue of teacher-funded classrooms and to give you the opportunity to get involved and help a teacher in your community on behalf of “A Day Made Better”… Here’s how:

Simply nominate a teacher of your choice to win this giveaway by following the entry requirements. Be sure to check out the prize and criteria!
Continue reading ‘Office Max + Adopt-A-Classroom = A Day Made Better!’

I just want to thank you…

A couple of weeks ago I submitted my application in a dream that I might land a gig with Verity Credit Union as their Verity Mom. This gig offers legit pay, a few perks (a laptop, a Flip, and a reason to live) and a tremendous opportunity for my personal professional growth.

I know. I wrote “professional”. Yes, we are all laughing. Jenny + “professional” = Whut the whut?

Continue reading ‘Dear Friends, Thank You!!!’

Went to a local park recently. For the kids. Not me. I’m done with slides. It’s a painful memory I don’t want to talk about. Aaanywho.

The park. You know how these days even coffee mugs need a little warning label about how hot *HELLLOOO!* the coffee one is about to consume, is indeed HOT. *rolls eyes* Well… I just. I. I don’t even know what to say.

The heck?!

Seriously?

*backing away*

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