Best of the Tweets--Thursday, November 20, 2008

I watch the Twitter stream flow throughout the day. One cannot comment on every one, but here are some that caught my eye today.

@ADDmoms Have you tried searching with http://www.summize.com It may help if you can remember what the Tweet said... [identity withheld to protect the guilty]

Really?? Did you really send this to ADDMoms??

My husband just confessed he wishes he was a superhero. He was being serious. LauralOutLoud

I think all of our husbands are serious about this.

@MomDot My mom died of cancer in 2004 and I felt MomFaves was the best a way I could preserve her memory. She loved sharing her faves . JoshUnfried

As a mom of three boys, this just made my heart swell. Follow Josh.

@mammaloves I believe the bell pealed and you peeled an orange, so it's eye's peeled, lol watkins_lady

I'm still confused.

If you laminated your laundry all you'd have to do is wipe it off. ilinap

Brilliant!

@cckarl you just scared the shit out of me w/ that thing paullyoung

These types of conversations should really stay in the bedroom.

My SIL bakes 10 pies for Txgiving. One for each person. Here's her recipe for pecan pie. (it's easy) http://tinyurl.com/5vn7y8 sourwine

My SIL must not love us that much.

Pitch of the Day: Are your sperm strong swimmers? Um...wait...I know this answer...uh...probably...if I had any. thompsonclan6

And I thought the Viagra ads were bad.

Epson printer giveaway contest on SV Moms http://tinyurl.com/6xhay9 svmom

I have this printer. You should definitely enter.

Australian Man Arrested for Pleasure Via Pasta Sauce Jar http://tinyurl.com/5swuue truerumors

I can't even bring myself to click on that link.

You're Getting Warmer

Congratulations! You've found the sixth blog in the SHARE the LOVE Scavenger Hunt!

Can't tell you how happy I was to be asked to be a stop on the road to one of the coolest sites around. You just need to find one more blog for your final clue.

If you're just hearing about this scavenger hunt for the first time here, click on over to Mommy Needs Coffee to get started. There are cool prizes like goodies from Orville Redenbacher, Rice Krispies (wonderful treat kits) and Wendy’s and also handcrafted jewelry, bags; and more!

You have until Friday to finish The Hunt.

So let's get you moving on to the next awesome blogging mom.

To find her, you must travel to New Jersey, get past the chocolate lab and possibly wade through 2 piles of laundry. If that doesn't work, you could just ask John Stamos or the Olsen twins for directions.

Good luck!!!

Edited to add: HOLD UP a moment! Some of the other moms on the hunt are reporting that you're telling them they're beautiful. Why am I only getting "found you"? Is it my hair? Do you hate my hair? Wait, no! It's the eyebrows. I knew it. Guess I do need a wax.

"White Trash Mom" Not A Look, but a Way of Life

"White Trash Mom" You may bristle at the term.

I'm still a bit sensitive to it from time-to-time, but I've met Michelle Lamar in real life (oh alright, I love her). There isn't a mean bone in that woman's body (unless you're a member of the Muffia) so I know it's not a term meant to demean but rather to unify those of us who don't feel we fit into modern June Cleaver model.

Wait, you do? Why the hell are you still here?

I'm kidding. Relax. That's what being a "White Trash Mom" is all about.

I established yesterday that I never feel like I fit in. Do you think becoming a mother rectified that?

Hardly.

When my son first came to live with us at the age of three we were so green at parenthood that we took him to happy hour with us. That stopped with #2 because I was too tired to even consider happy hour.

What was our first son's first favorite song? Faithfully by Journey. You don't think he learned to love it by me playing The Wiggles in the car do you?

My youngest son has worn nothing but baseball pants every day for the past two years. Every. Day. I'm not phased because my middle son wore flip-flops every day for two years straight often on the wrong feet or mixing pairs for months.

Will my boys be permanently scarred by my approach to motherhood?

It's entirely possible, but pretty unlikely.

And it's not like they aren't going to dysfunctional adults one way or another. I mean look at our parents (of course, not you Mom). They grew up in the June Cleaver generation.

If the way I mother my boys qualifies me as a "White Trash Mom" according to Michelle, then RIGHT ON!

My oldest just made the Honor Roll, my second is reading ahead of grade level and my youngest has been helping me fold laundry.

Doesn't get much better than that.

This post was written as part of the SV Moms Book Club. Check out DC Metro Moms to see links to other posts about the book.

The Naked JellyBean

Today I described how I see myself in my mind's eye as a naked, flesh-colored jelly bean.

I'm not sure that this is a description that will mean anything to anyone else. I'm not sure it's exactly the vision I have, but it comes closest. Maybe you'd get a better idea if I added that it's probably one of those gross booger-flavored jelly beans from Harry Potter--I've steered clear of Jelly Belly's in fear of getting one of those ever since I read the first book.

Why a naked jelly bean?

It's mostly the amorphous blob shape, I imagine.

When I told my friend this he laughed and shook his head at me.

Last night I had the chance to talk to a childhood friend who told me that she always thought I was the "together" one. We were in 5th grade the last time we saw each other. How could I have been "together" in 5th grade? I'll tell you what, I wasn't.

But this is a trend. People often think I look like I know what I'm doing. A lot of times I do. But many times I don't. Many times I feel like I'm the only person in the room who doesn't have it all together.

I don't know why I'm telling you this. I probably shouldn't, but I can't get the image of the naked, flesh-colored jelly bean out of my head.

Oh yeah, and I'm way jealous of people with good handwriting.

Your Blue Eyes

I have a feeling I'm only the first woman who will fall in love with those eyes of yours.

I don't know if it's their dark blue color, those ridiculously long eye-lashes or the ever-present sparkle that melts my heart every time.

Whatever it is, they will serve you well. Of course, you seem to already know that you little stinker.

Mobile Blogger Screw-up or Beer?

I wrote this post from a bar Saturday night and for some reason rather than posting here it created a new blog. Confusing...

It's NaBloPoMo so I need to post but I'm actually out on a Saturday night!!!

I know it's hard to believe.

We're celebrating Kris'(http://www.notyetawino.com) birthday. I am happy to report she doesn't look any older than last week--it might be the new cute haircut--and we're having fun.

Stop by her blog, wish her Happy Birthday.

Oh yeah, Devra (http://www.parentopia.com), Laurie (http://www.lauriewrites.typepad.com), Kim (http://www.kimsnotebook.com), and Ryan (http://theplatinumyears.blogspot.com) are all here too--plus many more.

Okay, i've written enough for doing this from a BlackBerry in a bar. I love you, but I love my night out more.

Cheers!!

Summer Breeze

This was a FANTASTIC day. Simply fantastic.

It's Starting as an Idea

Did you ever have an idea that you knew everyone would think was crazy?

Did you proceed with it or did you put it aside and always wonder "what if?"

Well I have an idea and I think I'm going to go for it.

There are enough regrets over missed opportunities in my past because I was too afraid to fail. Here I am trying to raise three boys to understand that failure is part of life and you have to just keep trying and yet I've been too afraid to fail.

Not this time.

So here it is.

I want to organize a HUGE tweet-up in conjunction with President-elect Obama's inauguration. I want to organize it entirely using social media and relationships developed through social media. I want it to draw main stream attention to social media and Twitter. Frankly, I want it to be so big that the President-elect actually stops by to say hi.

Who am I to pull this off? I'm a mommyblogger of three, an almost 40 year old woman with a full-time job and honestly that more than qualifies me to make it happen. Right??

I won't be able to do it alone.

I'll need the help and connections and sponsors of fellow social media devotees and those who want to reach them, but isn't that what social media is all about--one person starting with an idea, bringing it to the group and growing it from there.

Want to get on board?

Join up here.

I don't know if I'll really be able to make this happen, but I've been inspired by the words I keep hearing from our next President.

Yes We Can!

How can you help out??

Backwards Experience Election My

Everyone gets doughnuts on Election Day!

Obama-supporting firefighters are very cool and will take pictures with kids visiting the polls.

See what I mean? Everyone gets doughnuts on Election Day!

And kids get special stickers from the poll workers at the Obama table--the last ones.

Obama poll workers are incredibly friendly--and they didn't even know the outcome yet.

Maybe it's because they had doughnuts AND all of these snacks to keep them going.

Oh yeah! Lots of snacks to keep them going.

I whispered "I hope so." when this screen came up.

By now the boys thought I was crazy for photographing every screen, but it felt important. I was voting for...

YES I Did!!

I had the boys check to make sure I selected all the right buttons.

These are the machines Fairfax County is phasing out. I used one to vote any way.

From now on you'll hide behind these cute little cubicles to fill in your paper ballot.

The poll monitors didn't seem to have a whole bunch to do.

All walks of life in line, which I may add wasn't that long.

I'm not sure of the point of carrying this easily copied piece of paper from one table to the voting booth, but I complied. I'm law-abiding like that.

We found the place! Also known as the 8th grade gym at my son's school.

We were out by 10:30 a.m.

Helpful signs on the school monitor.


Isn't that a friendly school? I waved back.

We had to put the brochures back after the picture because we couldn't carry them inside. All three of our candidates won. VA is BLUE!!

This just made me feel good. I knew they were looking out for us.

And we were out so quickly, because there were no lines when we got there.

The signs were crammed in all the way up to the last inch before the no campaign zone. Before you even entered the school you could feel the excitement of the day.

And it was an exciting day. Of course that's because it turned out the way I'd hoped it would, but I had a really good reason...

I'm so proud that they wanted to come with me, because my vote? It was all about them (and their sleeping little brother at home).

Eight Years Ago Tonight

On Election night eight years ago, I was at a trade association poll watching party at about this time. These were the days when news outlets were still calling results based on exit polls.

I stood in a large crowd, one of the lone Democrats, when Pennsylvania was called for Gore. You could hear the collective groan as the news popped up on screen after screen throughout the
room.

My heart started racing. It took everything I had not to let out a loud "Woot!" but I was surrounded by clients and I was new to my job.

With Pennsylvania over, the party started dying down which gave me the opening I wanted to head over to the party I REALLY wanted to attend--the Democratic Party party at the Mayflower Hotel.

I jumped in my car, raced through downtown DC wanting to be among my people--old friends to hug and new friends to high five. Throwing all caution to the wind, I pulled into the valet, threw the bell captain my keys and ran into the ballroom. And I was so confused.

It was quiet.

Had everyone cheered too loudly and lost their voice? Were they worn out from jumping up and down and just taking a rest?

No. The news outlets realized they had prematurely called the race. In the time it took me to get across town, the whole election had turned around. We stood in the ballroom for hours and continued to hug, but the hugs were not to celebrate they were to console.

It would be weeks before we all knew the "official" outcome of the race--weeks before I gave up.

Tonight I am far more hopeful for a Democratic win, but I'm far more cynical too.

I hope the main stream media doesn't screw it up again.

Potato Chip Pundit

You, mere mortals, may look at my kitchen table and see only a mess.


It's okay. Not everyone has "the gift."

Because the message I read in the chips; however, is so important I'm going to share it with you today.



You don't wanna mess with the force of the chip.

A Spontaneous Trip

Today we were up with the birdies to head south for the last baseball game of the season. Waking up at 6:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning isn't my favorite thing to do, but the drive was beautiful with all the fall colors and it was just me and my boy.

It's not often we get to have that much time together alone.

We were done by 11:20 a.m. and ready to head home having just lost by one run in the bottom of the last inning. He just wanted to get out of there.

"I hate losing mom."

"I know but you got to get out there and play a sport you love with your friends. Think about M who played a whole season without winning and still had a smile after every game."

"Yeah, that's true, but it doesn't hurt to win every once in a while." "And you know what I hate about losing? It means we didn't do something right. We could have played better."

He was really okay. He doesn't take it as hard as some kids. And I love that he thinks about how he can make changes to affect the outcome next time.

Sorry--little bragging.

The terrific thing about living in Virginia is that we are surrounded by historical landmarks. How often do we take advantage of them? Not often. But we were up and out and it was still early and we actually had a Sunday afternoon with no plans, so I suggested a detour to Fredericksburg--just me and him--on the way home.

What a great day!

We visited Kenmore, the home of Fielding and Betty Lewis (George Washington's sister). It was built before the Civil War and is going through restoration right now.

Big A wasn't too psyched about the idea of taking a tour, but it was just the two of us on it and even without furniture in the house he was filled with questions.

He really was interested in how people lived, in how old things were, and had clearly paid attention to some of his history lessons being able to talk to the docent about Virginia history.

I walked around with a perma-grin the entire time.


Done with our tour, he then begged me to go over and visit the Fredericksburg Civil War battle site. How can you say no to a kid who wants to do more "hysterical" stuff as we joke in my family.

He could barely contain his excitement. He kept saying "do you think a confederate soldier stood here?" (I'd move one step to the left and say "no I think they stood right here.")

The Civil War has never been something that interested me greatly--until today. Walking along the trails and looking over the fields where thousands of young men were killed fighting to protect a version of their country, I was struck by how much we take for granted even in at a divisive political time such as this election.

It wasn't lost on me that those boys on that battle field could have been my boys. I owe it to those soldiers and the families who lost them to think of them and remember their sacrifice. And to be grateful for their passion to protect a country that really was still such a new experiment.

It's easy to forget sometimes.

There were plaques around the cemetery with stanzas from a poem(s?) (I still don't know which one, but will research it.) that say it better than I ever could.




I titled this photo above "hope." For the words are my wish for my boys, their children and their children's children.

Letters from the Future

I have quite a bit I'd like to tell this girl (other than the name of a good eye brow waxer and hair stylist).

There's so much she doesn't know. There's so much she'll fret over that isn't worth the energy. There's so much she'll miss because of unnecessary fear.

I'd tell her to spend more time enjoying the little moments. I'd tell her there are some people she should spend more time with and others who don't deserve even a minute.

I have so much I'd like to tell her, but I can't.

What will I want to tell this woman in twenty years?

The brunette, not the blonde. The blonde is already brilliant.