Neurotic Mothers Can't Blog

At least that's the best excuse reason I have for being absent from my own blog - and from pulling my weight, er I mean, dropping my weight, over at this blog.

I've talked before about the guilt that seems to come hand in hand with motherhood. I've also written about what can happen in the blink of an eye, when I should have been a more careful mother. What I haven't written about until now is the neurosis that this guilt feeds which has a tendency to take over my mind and life at times.

Slackermommy* has a great phrase 'Freebies from God' in relation to the little reminders we get as mothers to be more vigilant. I used up yet another 'Freebie' in August with Jay - I'm not going to get into details because I can't - I can't deal with the tears, the images that haven't left my mind and the GUILT! Suffice to say that a blind cord was involved and we had a very, very close shave.

I read today that I'm not the only mom this has happened to recently - and I have had chats online recently with another blogger who had her own version of the blind cord story - but I will leave that story for her to tell.

These little incidences, because they literally can mean life or death - sharpen those nervous anxieties that every mother has. They have us chastising ourselves for not having every eventuality covered. For not acknowledging that our smart kids will out manoeuvre us on our childproofing efforts, (or that those efforts were not as thorough as they should have been).

My days now consist of running around the house keeping the little man out of trouble. If 30 seconds goes by where I cannot see him, or hear him - I nervously go looking for him, and retrieve him from whatever mischief he's getting into - and as any toddler mother knows - there's mischief aplenty going on!

Add to this that Jay has fluid in his right ear that meant his latest routine hearing check couldn't be completed. I shrugged this off as either the potential start of an ear infection, or the residue of his first ear infection that he dealt with while we were in Ireland in June which was treated with anti-biotics. My preferred approach to this would have been 'wait and see' - if it develops into something - we'll have it checked, and since he was due for his two year check up soon anyway - I saw no need to take him to the Pediatrician's before this. The Audiologist disagreed, and proceeded to make me completely paranoid that this was the sign of something that could bring further deterioration in his heretofore very minor hearing issue. So off to the Pediatrician we went - and were told - 'both ears look great - very slight amount of fluid in the right ear - but nothing near an infection, and certainly nothing that requires meds'.

A couple of days later we get a phone call from the ENT doc Jay saw last year. He received the report from the Audiologist on his latest test that there was a little fluid, and suddenly the ENT doc wants to see Jay? Even the Audiologist wanted to wait and see if the fluid issue resolved itself over six weeks - but this mother's nerves are already jangling about the ears, and a phone call from a specialist is almost enough to send her over the edge. More phone calls with the Pediatrician who as always is the voice of reason, and reassures me that we have the luxury of six more weeks - and if the fluid hasn't resolved itself, then yes maybe and ENT consult is prudent.

Throw into this mix that I had my first mammogram a couple of weeks ago. My baseline mammogram. Expecting to have it done, and sent on my way not to return until I turn 40, I was shocked to have to have extra pictures done of one side, and later be told that I have to come back in six months to have another mammo because they want to keep an eye on calcification spots.

The rational part of my mind is fully capable of recognizing that this is proactive health care and it's a positive thing. That being careful is the right way to approach this. That what I have is 'probably benign'.

But...

The emotional part of my mind goes NUTS at news like this. The 'what if it's not benign?' thoughts run rampant and squash out all the rational thoughts, and the result is a blubbering mess.

My great blogging friend The Laundress, has been through all this, and has been wonderful in helping me gain some perspective.

It was, and remains though, another thread of anxiety that's going on with me right now.

In a welcome distraction from medical thoughts, appointments or worries, we prepared and enjoyed a great joint birthday party for Miss E and Jay, last Saturday. (My Miss E turned FOUR yesterday!). We had a fantastic day complete with a bounce house, lots of delicious food and a great semi-homemade cake (ahem!).

I had two cousins here with me, with their families. One lives in South Florida and came up for the weekend, the other lives in Ireland - but is currently on vacation with her family in Orlando and since they were relatively close by, they came over for a while on Saturday evening. It really was like having a mini family reunion, Stateside. The kids all had a blast getting to know each other, and we enjoyed meeting (and cuddling) my cousin's newborn.

All in all, a busy but fun and relaxing weekend.

As you can imagine, many photographs were taken. And once I loaded them up on my computer and viewed them, the neurosis settled back in full force. In one photograph, one of Miss E's eyes is showing a very strange white reflection.

(I can't post it because several of my cousins' kids are in the picture and I know not everyone is comfortable with their kids'photos being put on the internet so I'm not risking their wrath).

Every morning I sit and eat my breakfast, and catch a little of the Today Show. When I saw that picture of Miss E, a segment I'd seen on a kid with a white reflection in their eye showing up in photographs being diagnosed with retinoblastoma came to the forefront of my mind and, I panicked.

See what I mean? NEUROTIC!

I wanted to brush the reflection off as a weird trick of the light, something to do with the camera. The odds of it being nothing were high since retinoblastoma is very rare. I can tell you that meant nothing to me - it goes back to that emotional part of my brain that completely overwhelms the rational part and so I was a blubbering mess once more.

Another trip to the Pediatrician's office, this time we were seen by a Nurse Practitioner who thought Miss E's eyes looked just fine but referred us to an ophthalmologist just to be sure.

We had that appointment yesterday and Miss E has 20/20 vision, and 100% healthy eyes. In this regard, I have peace of mind once more, even if it did mean enduring a bit of a condescending lecture from the eye doctor on what reflections are normal from a camera with a flash - whatever.

This is what's been going on with us lately - which combined with my borderline obsession with all things political, means I haven't had time to either process thoughts into coherent blog posts, and to my shame, means I'm not reading or commenting as much on the many blogs in my reader.

Once my nerves stop jangling a little, and (maybe) after Nov 4th, I'll be back in the swing of things, and embracing the blog world once more.

In the meantime - all you calm mothers, who take things in your stride - all and any recommendations for me on maintaining a more even keel, are most definitely welcome.


(*Sadly I can't link to Slackermommy's post on this because she's had some difficulties with her blog and has taken it down.)

Too good not to share!

I made this luscious lemon and lime confection yesterday and had to share the recipe.

I have [at last] joined Twitter (late to every fad, I figured why break the habit of a lifetime and that's why I'm only getting around to it now.) and, having chatted a little on Twitter with Deborah, of Tast.ie and Spicendipity fame I got a baking bug and poked around in my recipe books and found this simple recipe and gave it a try.

This is the lightest, tangiest, most delicious cake I have ever made. It's super easy to do, too - so go get the stuff and make it, today, k? I PROMISE you'll be glad you did.

LEMON & LIME LOVE CAKE

This tangy loaf is known by lots of different names, but Love Cake is particularly appropriate since everyone who tries it finds it impossible to resist.

Makes 1 Loaf

6 tbsp butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
Grated peel of 1 lemon and juice of 1/2 lemon
Grated peel and juice of one lime

Preheat oven to 325oF. Grease and flour a 9x5in loaf pan. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Put the butter in another bowl and add 3/4 cup of the sugar. Beat until pale and creamy, then gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour if the mixture shows any sign of curdling. Gradually add the remaining four, alternating with the milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon and lime peel.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and level the surface. Bake 40-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Invert the loaf onto a wire rack, then turn it right way up.

Mix the citrus juices with the remaining sugar*. Put a tray underneath the rack and spoon the sugar mixture over the top of the loaf, letting it run down the sides slightly. Allow to cool before slicing.

Taken from 'Pig Out: 60 fab recipes for sweet indulgence'.

*(next time I'll use powdered sugar instead of regular sugar for this as my glaze was slightly gritty and I would prefer it more smooth in texture.)

This one's definitely going into my regular baking repertoire.

I am all out of blog steam

I started this blog almost a year ago and in that time I have really enjoyed the sense of community, the interaction and the cathartic benefits it has given me. I've also enjoyed the opportunity to weigh in on important topics relating to parenthood, or life in general.

However, I see so much about blogging that I haven't taken the time to understand. All the social networking sites, the stumbling, the diggs, and then there's the infamous Twitter, which, despite reading many blog posts on the subject - still confuses me - and I'm not sure I get, at all, what the point of it is.

I could get to the bottom of all these things - but that would require more time and energy than I'm prepared to devote to it - and so I feel like I'm being left behind in the dust of all the 'proper' bloggers. The more I resist getting into these blogging practices, the further behind I feel and catching up seems pointless to me - why would I try? To be like everyone else? (never a path I chose to follow), to be popular? To gain more readers? ( might be nice since the ones I had seem to have disappeared). Unless I see my blog as a shoe in to a means to make money in some way - which currently I'm not seeking - I won't try to 'catch up'

I have no enthusiasm for something that becomes like a chore - this blog is in danger of becoming exactly that. I have resisted posting about our recent (and maybe not all that recent) parenting challenges when dealing with what is essentially a strong willed child in Miss E because, to do so will sound whiney and who wants to read that? Everyone has their own issues. I've refrained from posting about our small successes in improving our overall experiences with said strong willed child because I feel like we're covering some pretty basic parenting ground, that has just taken us a little longer than most to figure out. Or, maybe it's that I'm so darned tired trying to meet these challenges and do right by Miss E, that I don't have the energy to articulate these issues in a coherent or interesting way. The result is I've posted a bunch of drivel in the few times that I've posted at all recently.

So, I think I'm jumping on the 'blogging break' bandwagon. I do feel all out of blogging steam, or maybe the novelty has just worn off.

All I know - is that I am a better mommy when I'm not spending time at this keyboard. And that at the end of the day is what I need to be - a better mommy.

More Reader Woes

As in 'Google Reader'.

I have none of my subscriptions showing up in my reader. They are all there in my settings, but Google Reader is not updating them for me.

The mighty Google Search is letting me down big time, as there are no current articles showing up revealing any current issues. It's just me it seems.

'Help' is no use either - no handy hints on what I've done wrong, or how I can get my subscriptions to show up.

The first couple of days this happened I thought 'fine, I'll just go directly to the blogs and read them' - which is great - and takes me back to what I used to do before I even knew Readers existed (I'm a bit slow like that).

One big snag in this though. I have been very bad at updating my blog roll - and while I can merrily click on those blogs listed in my blog roll, I have about three times as many great blogs that I read, that I never managed to put on my blog roll - and now I'm having a hard time finding some of them.

I've come across several of you by clicking through on comments you've made on other blogs.

Mind you, once I get to the blogs I'm finding lots of people saying that blogging has lost its appeal and you're taking a break - maybe I'm not missing much anyway?

I need something to read while I'm having my morning coffee though! To save me from trawling through everyone's comments looking for all those great blogs again, and to save my kids from certain neglect today - post me a comment here so I can get your url again and set everything up in another reader (I think I'm going to dump Google!).

Google and Blogger Blues

Everything is going all screwy on me. I hope this is not the start of messy stuff I read about other bloggers experiencing that have prompted their move to other platforms.

I don't have the energy, or the knowledge to move!

Anyone linking to my blog as www.bloomingmarvelous.blogspot.com probably won't have a live link now - seems it has to be http://bloomingmarvelous.blogspot.com/.

I also have a problem with my google reader. All of my subscriptions have disappeared and I can find nothing in either google reader help, nor via the mighty google search to help me fix this.

So here I am, one kid asleep, one watching Max and Ruby (I know, I know!), laundry is up to date and the house is clean. And my reader is broken. Now what am I supposed to do? *gasp*, suppose I'll have to go read a real book or something!

My Transplanted Life

I originally drafted this post for a guest starring role on Megan's blog when she asked me to be one of her "Saturday Squatters". That didn't quite pan out, and now Megan is nowhere to be found so - it's going in here instead!

I'm prompted to dust this post off because I've been reading about the transitions made by an American into life in the UK, and so many of the adjustments she's had to make echo my own, only in the opposite direction. I've been fascinated following her story of how she'd left all that she knew behind in the US, and had to try and make herself comfortable in England.

Making myself comfortable doesn’t come easy for me at times. Uprooting your life and moving across the world sounds like an adventure to be embraced by many, envied by others, and feared by some, like me!

You see, I love me some comfort zones. Familiarity, security, predictability – these are the things that make me breathe easy, and sleep well at night. Someone (my husband!) threw a spanner in those works a while back and all of a sudden I’m moving from Ireland, to Florida, USA! (A spanner is a wrench for all you American English readers – one of the many word substitutions I’ve had to embrace, more on this later).

Now I’m living life as an Irish bud transplanted, and after a while of feeling unsettled I am now ‘Blooming Marvelous’.

I felt sorry for myself for a long time. Love brought me here to the states. But love was also pulling me back home to Ireland, to my family and friends that I missed. Many times after moving here, my then fiancé was worried that I was going to bail and head home, leaving him to choose if he wanted to come with me. I asked for his patience and understanding which he gave unfalteringly, as I found my feet here.

With very few exceptions, American people have been overwhelming in their welcoming outreach towards me. Friends and strangers alike have warmly accepted us here in the United States, and are tickled to find out that we are Irish. I have certainly found that old adage that ‘half the world is Irish, and the other half wishes they were Irish’, to be true.

But Florida wasn’t Ireland, it wasn’t where my family was, and it wasn’t ‘home’.

After the ‘busyness’ that surrounded our wedding settled down, and I found myself pregnant with our first child, I did start to find my way here. I fell into that familiarity, security and predictability that I craved through my ongoing OB/GYN visits, and meeting and chatting with other pregnant women, the nurses and my doctor. Aside from friends I’d met through my husband [I kind of viewed them as 'friend's once removed', since they were his friends really, not mine] – these were the only other people I’d met and become familiar with.

When my baby arrived, and I started to take her along to ‘Mommy and Me’ groups, I made real friends of my own. I met people with kids my daughter’s age and found common ground with many of them. These women taught me a lesson. Several of them came from far flung States across this vast nation. Far from their families and friends, and settled themselves in Florida. For some, this wasn’t the first place to which they had ‘transplanted’ and with the realization that they were doing this so smoothly came the wake up call to myself that people uproot themselves and move all the time! They survive, and more than that they thrive!

I gradually adjusted my thinking and opened myself to the possibility of feeling comfortable here. You see, I had resisted the temptation to settle because I felt like I would in some way be betraying myself, and my family by admitting that I could feel settled in Florida. After all, am I not supposed to be devastated that I am so far from family? I am very sad at times that we aren’t geographically closer and goodness knows there are times in the last while that I could have used the physical and emotional support that would have been there without me ever having to ask for it, if we were physically closer.

In trying to stay true to myself and my identity as an Irish person I also resisted vehemently the need to use American English vocabulary and spelling in many situations. All this did was cause confusion and I’d look at puzzled faces as I’d talk about putting nappies in the changing bag and hanging it on the handle of the pram, or mention that in this cooler weather I’d be pulling on a jumper and trousers instead of a sweater and pants.

For the sake of my kids I have started to use American vocabulary like diapers, stroller, pants, stove, sidewalk, etc more frequently, so that they do not need to encounter the same puzzled faces. It’s hard enough for other people to understand kids as it is, I don’t need to make it more difficult!

I’m still resisting the US spelling though – even though phonetic spelling makes a whole lot more sense, I just can’t bring myself to change how I spell things like honour, colour, centre. It may make me seem illiterate, but for now you will just have to forgive me.

Blogging itself has helped me feel more settled, and it has given me a sense of belonging as it is a great leveler. I tend to blog about my life as a stay at home mother with two small kids, and garner great support and friendship from other bloggers in the same circumstances. I have been known to touch on the odd serious issue, too which gives my brain some much needed exercise, and helps me engage in a certain level of debate, at times. I have also encountered other bloggers who are far from ‘home’ and reading about their experiences, and sharing my own with them as a ‘transplant’ helps, a lot. Who knew you could find virtual support groups for every need – right here literally at your fingertips? A veritable kaleidoscope of good reads, that with each click brings a new group of snapshots into other people's lives. These help reduce the feelings of loneliness when they crop up because you can always find someone who’s ‘been there, done that’ and survived, sometimes stronger because of it.

100th Blog Post!

How appropriate is it that I was coming in to write a post about my 'in real life' meeting with a fellow blogger?!

Blooming Marvelous (and Jay!) met Flamenco Mom last Friday.

We have 'known' each other for a couple of years after being involved on a stay at home mommy message board (you know the kind, don't worry I've seen the light!).

Flamenco Mom's husband works in my city and she and her two adorable kids came into town with him and met up with Jay and I at a wonderful local lake.

This wonderful lake!



It was great to meet up in person. We walked around the lake and chatted. It felt so strange in a way, here I was chatting to someone I'd never met, yet having read her blog for a while now, I felt like I knew so much about her.

Flamenco Mom is a very mellow person and I'd say I could learn much from her relaxed approach when both her kids, curious to explore the water's edge, got quite close. Miss E could learn a lot from her equally mellow kids, like a lesson in how to listen to and obey your mother! Miss E was in school that day, so this lesson will have to wait until we meet again.

Flamenco Mom was one of the bloggers I plagued with lots of questions last year as I was thinking of setting up my own blog and here we are at 100 posts already.

Here's to meeting fellow bloggers, making new friends, and the next 100 posts!

Cheers!

The Last Day of November

It's been a LONG month!

Now I can get back to a more sedate pace of blog reading where I can open my Google reader and my eyes won't bleed!

I think you all know what I'm talking about, and for anyone who doesn't - consider yourself very fortunate.

A Bouquet of Blooming Blog Bling

I am the proud recipient of several prizes lately.

First of all, I won a little prize draw at Parent Product Reviews. This arrived in the mail for me yesterday - what a nice treat to open something that wasn't a bill! Erika has great reviews, and even greater giveaways going on over at Parent Product Reviews, so if you haven't checked her out, go do it - oh, and come right back here to read about my other prizes, okay?

On to the Blog Bling.

Janice at Twist and Skewer has very kindly awarded me this great blog award and I am very flattered to receive it.



According to the blurb, this award 'casts a spotlight on bloggers who are just beginning to draw lotsa attention — the equivalent of a song with a bullet on Billboard’s Top 100 chart. Lotsa good posts. Lotsa good buzz. These bloggers are going places in a hurry.'.

Thank you so much Janice! I started this blog in April, primarily as a brain dump, and as a vehicle to chronicle some improvements I wanted to make in various aspects of life. I have been so delighted to find that many other bloggers dump the same kind of brain junk as me, face similar parenting challenges and want to make the same improvements. The sense of community and support has been very inspiring. It tickles me pink to know that people actually enjoy reading what I have to say!

I am supposed to pass this award on to five other people, and I will - but I need to think about it for a while. There are many bloggers out there who've been at this a lot longer than me, and so I don't think they fit into the 'break out' category, as they have already broken out and are leading the posse at this point. I have come across several 'new to me' blogs, some of them new bloggers like myself and I will consider them for this award, soon.

Momchatter (I feel bad not using your name, but I don't know it!) has bestowed upon me, not one, but two lovely awards:





Thank you very, very much for these - I seriously am very flattered, and thank you for your kind words on your own blog.

Now I can pass these two awards on to some of my favourite bloggers without hesitation.

Velveteen Mind Most of my readers read Megan's blog I'm sure, so I don't need to explain why I'm giving her these awards. If you're not reading Velveteen Mind - you're missing a treat. Check her out, I guarantee you'll be back for more.

Playgroups are no place for children Jennifer has posted lately on a lot of issues that I have faced as a stay at home mum, and I feel her frustration, exhaustion and her exhilaration, often all at the same time.

Braveheart does the Maghreb Lady M's wonderful accounts of life in Morocco are hypnotic. Morocco isn't somewhere I thought I'd like to visit, but reading her stories makes me want to pack my bags and go there, now.

Not wrong, just different This is a British lady living in the States. She writes about some of the same adjustments I've had to make, and the oddities I've discovered here, and she does it with a great sense of humour, too.

Poot and Cubby Andi and I are living parallel lives and our daughters are eerily similar that I could literally cut and paste her posts as they apply to our lives.

Absolutely Bananas Jenny is one of the first bloggers I read regularly when I started and I still read every single post. She is absolutely bananas, and a whole lot of fun.

Up in the Night I don't remember how I came across this blog, but I love Shauna's accounts of the crazies of family life. Her blog is a nice mix of fun and serious stuff, of the lighthearted and not so lighthearted aspects of living in a modern family.

Flamenco Mom Flamenco Mom's is another blog I've read since I started, and she helped me with some of my novice blogger questions. Another inspiring mother and one that has her share of parenting challenges. She has also been great in encouraging me as we deal with the unknown on Baby J's hearing.

There you have it - my shiny new blog awards, my round up of awardees, and with that I have to split since I have a big birthday party coming up on Saturday, and guests arriving tomorrow and I am not in the least bit organized for it all. Ah, well - I laugh in the face of deadlines, and do my best work under pressure!

Thank You for thinking I'm Nice!

Although I don't feel 'nice' many days, especially when errant drivers, stubborn children, or any combination of irritating miscellany conspires to drive me nuts, Jennifer (Playgroups are no place for children), Jessica (A Bushel and a Peck), have presented me with the Nice Matters award. Andi (Poot and Cubby) also awarded me the 'Nice Matters' award via email.


And, if you can stand it - I am also the very proud recipient of the Big Fat Wet Kiss Award generously bestowed by Jenny (Absolutely Bananas). This is all the more cool for the fact that Jenny made this herself, crafty photoshop hexpert that she is!



Thank you ladies - these awards will look 'nice' hanging on my new blog!

I'm pretty sure that most of the bloggers to whom I would pass these awards, already have them, but I'm going to share some more anyway.

I would like to pass the 'Nice Matters' blog award to the following bloggers who have been great in their posts, emails, and in their comments:

The Good Woman (My Wee Scottish Blog)

Kimberly (Temporary?Insanity)

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Deborah (The Humble Housewife)

New and Improved Blooming Marvelous!

Welcome to my new look blog. I hope you love it as much as I do.

A much needed breath of fresh air around here, since the dark colours, and my moody posts have been a bit depressing of late.

Big thanks to my ever so talented brother for pulling this together for me. Without his help I would be stuck with a boring Blogger template - because you know, I am after all a stay at home mum, and am too cheap to actually pay someone to design and install a template for me! As for doing it myself - forget it.

With a name like 'Blooming Marvelous' it would have been a travesty not to have a flower in my banner, no? These are not just any flowers. They are Frangipani, or Plumeria, blooms.

My parents had Frangipani plants in their garden in Africa. I heard a lot about them and their fragrance growing up as they were referenced in photos and tales told of our time in Zambia.

On one of her visits to us here in Florida, my Mum bought me 4 Frangipani cuttings, and 3 of them are thriving shrubs in my back garden now. One sadly had a losing battle with the lawnmower! We actually have one identical to the picture, and it is the most fragrant of all.

Coming from Ireland, the colour scheme of green white and gold, is a nice patriotic nod to home.

I am still settling myself in, and will spend some time (just as soon as I find it - time that is) shuffling things around until it feels just right. For now though I have to say this is pretty darn comfy, and puts a smile on my face.

Mommy Blogger Initiation

When I started this blog in April, I didn't envision it fitting in any particular category. However, since I am a Mom, have young kids, and write about my current experiences - I think it is safe to say that I am a Mommy Blogger.

What this Mommy Blog is sadly lacking though are stories of poop and farts - requisites I believe to be considered a real mommy blogger. There is no rule that I know of that these have to be my children's poop and farts, is there?

So, without further ado, let me initiate myself into the world of true Mommy Bloggers.

While at Lowes last weekend, scouting out items for our growing list of home improvement 'to dos', and torturing ourselves looking at granite counter tops we can't afford, I got that tell tale feeling that I needed to, you know, go. And not just for a quick pee if you know what I mean. You have to know that I hate using public bathrooms, I hate even more having to poop in a public bathroom.

Since my husband had that look of abject terror on his face at the prospect of managing both kids and a shopping cart (I mean imagine - what a terrible scenario that would be - how he thinks the groceries get done and the pantry and fridge fill up is beyond me!), I took Miss E to the bathrooms with me.

I brought her into the stall, and gave her the usual lecture about standing still and absolutely not touching anything in there. So I set about my business and Miss E is getting all the more curious - poking at the toilet roll dispenser, the disposal unit for 'you know what' ladies, unlatching the door (my growling remonstrations ensured she did not open said door), and finally crouching down so she can look at the feet of all the other ladies relieving themselves. And there were a lot of ladies.

When the surrounding stalls were suitably occupied, Miss E then shouts (she hasn't quite mastered the art of the 'inside voice' yet), "Mommy, *sniff, sniff*, what's that smell? *sniff, sniff* - Ewwwww, Mommy! - You did STINKY POO.

You can bet I washed up and hightailed it out of there, pronto - carefully avoiding eye contact with anyone in the process.

Sharon at Pinks and Blues girls wrote this post about ladies, and ladies' bathrooms. Go read it, I'm sure it will strike a chord with most moms, and women in general. She is also running a contest for your potty stories to win fun goodies - you 'gotta go' and check it out and enter!

A Mini Milestone

This is my fiftieth post!

I'm feeling very unsettled these days. My head is spinning with many issues, some fairly decent and others of no consequence whatever. This happens me from time to time, and this is why I have not been blogging much lately. Once I sort through a few things and get to the point where I can articulate how I'm feeling about a number of things, I'll write about them. Since I'm not at that point yet, I'll leave you with a few of my favourite posts, especially for any new readers stumbling across this 'blooming' blog of mine!

The Best Laid Plans
Equal, but different
Pass me a beer, please
Birthday List
Our Irish Adventures

Back in the ole U S of A

Can you have two homes? Two places that you feel comfortable in? Two countries that you can call 'home'? This is what life is feeling like to me these days. Jetlag and suitcases yet unpacked prevent me from explaining this in anything resembling a coherent fashion so I'll leave it for later.

We're back from our trip to Ireland. Travelling was hell on a stick yesterday and I vow that next time it will be sedatives for four please!

We all had a great time, and it was sad leaving loved ones once more, but trust that some of them will be back here to visit us before long.

If you want a stark illustration of how much time you 'waste', blogging and reading other blogs, take a step back for 3 weeks and then look at your reader subscriptions - yikes! I doubt if I'll ever catch up on what my favourite bloggers have written, but feel like I must because I hate thinking that I'm missing something.

I have so many thoughts and reports on our three weeks in Ireland to share but for now, it's unpacking, laundry and more blessed sleep.