Burning Questions of the Day

Since I know no one else who can answer these questions, I'm stepping up on the podium of Blogville to ask them:

1. Why doesn't anyone ever say "wait...you have an EYEBROW on your cheek..." and then ever-so-gently brush it off for them? Everyone uses that pretty word "eyelash" when they really don't know where it came from. Is it because no one wants to think of one's eyebrows falling out. Wasn't that in "The Wall" or something?

2. Why do I have to pay a waiter a bigger tip for a $15 steak than I do for a $7 hamburger? Don't they come on the same kind of plate? Doesn't she still have to visit my table to bring it to me (and fill my Diet Coke glass at least twice)? Is it because the steak weighs more? Or maybe it's the risk factor: the steak is a more valuable item so she must take extra care to not drop it. If you're a current or ex-member of the restaurant world, please enlighten me!

OK, I feel better now. I might make this a regular feature since I tend to think these random thoughts a lot. I hope that now, answered or not, I can purge them from my brain and make room for something useful.

WFMW: Giving sippy cups to their proper owners

My tip today may be a no-brainer for some of you seasoned moms, but for some of us the lightbulb takes just a little longer to come on.

I have two sons currently "on" sippy cups. At the end of the day I find myself in sippy cup hell. I don't know whose is whose or what's in them. So I make new ones and before I know it I have six or seven cups in the fridge and I have no idea which one to grab. I tried assigning each son a color but I don't have enough different colors for that and I'm not buying more and besides I'd just have to remember who has what color.

So I came up two simple rules:

1. One cup per kid, per day. And they have to finish whatever's in it from breakfast before they get something different to drink.

2. I put a sticker on the top of Son One's cup; he's 2 and old enough to not try to eat it. I know at a glance which one to grab from the fridge, and he does, too. It only takes a small sticker and by the time it starts un-sticking, the day is nearly over anyway.

Like I said, it's simple, but when both of them are screaming for something to drink, every second counts. And one more nerve of mine is left intact.

For more WFMW tips, check out the queen.

"Mommy, my tummy hu..."

Yeah, that's about all the notice I got on Saturday before I got a second look at Son One's breakfast. All day Saturday I just stared at his face, trying to make out any change at all that would indicate "sick" was about to happen. Sometimes I was successful, sometimes not. It's our sons' first bout with a stomach virus, ever. Luckily the other symptom that usually accompanies it didn't happen for either of them, which I am ever so thankful for since husband left on a business trip Sunday.

Son Two only had one incident and I happened to be holding him and standing near the kitchen sink. Lucky me. Not lucky sink.

Husband and I tried not to panic when our little ones were surprising us like this, but we must have looked a little like Lucy and Ethel at the candy factory. The first time it happened we didn't talk about it until about two hours after everything and everyone was cleaned up. I think we were in shock.

Everyone's all well now, and the plan is to post more frequently my mundane little entries for all the world to see. Hope they don't make you sick.

Crafty, but I won't make you sick

My littlest turned the big O-N-E on Saturday. I wanted to post this pic for all you who think you have to buy a cake to have a decorated cake. This was so easy and it had good centerpiece presence. Unfortunately, I can't take credit for the design, but my best friend Betty Crocker can.

Also, the little bags on the right were favors filled with M&Ms. Yes, it was a bit of a theme. I bought the bags at my local craft store for $2 and the ribbon for $1 on the clearance rack. I didn't compute the cost-per but it was cheap and original and fun to make.

So yes, it's a little crafty, no it's not nauseating. I think the little guy will love the pics when he's old enough to not try to eat or tear them.

Overheard from Son One

(Son One is 2.5.) I love reading other people's "overheards" so here are Son One's contributions:

Me: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Son One: "A four-wheeler."

At Mother's Day Out:

Teacher Megan: "Who loves you?"
Son One: "Ms. Megan!"

(Apparently this statement melted Ms. Megan's heart...and mine, since he has been, uh, shall we say slightly apprehensive about MDO lately.)

What, do you blog like you brush your teeth?

I sure hope you do not have my blog first on your blogroll, like this poor woman, because I'm thinking about now you are regretting it. There are several reasons for my post deficiency:

1. I have two little kids.

2. I have two little kids.

3. I have nothing of worth to write about.

4. I have two little kids.

Yikes, I have really got to think of a better list of excuses, since, helllooooo...One of the major reasons I started this blog was all the neat MOM blogs I was reading.

So here's my assignment fooooorrrr YOU! (Sorry, my boys are at Mother's Day Out today but Elmo lives on). I need to know your tricks for finding time to blog. Do you have a list of go-to topics? How long do you spend on a post? Are you people night owls or early risers? My aforementioned friend up there has some posts worthy of college term paper material, people!! Where do you find time in your mom-days to do it?

Tips appreciated...the jar is on the table.

My day off yesterday and a movie review

I wish I could say I impersonated Abe Froman (sp.), The Sausage King of Chicago, but my day off yesterday wasn't quite so adventurous. The best way I knew to relax without spending $100 for a massage was to go to a movie. I can't actually remember the last movie I saw in a theatre, so even if it had been "To Justin from Kelly" I think I would have loved it.

I saw "World Trade Center" with Nicholas Cage and a host of unknown actors. I had a lump in my throat almost the whole time, but this movie wasn't nearly as moving as the actual news footage from that day, as I remember it. It told the story of two Port Authority cops who were trapped for many hours under many feet of rubble between the two towers. While the movie gave a great idea of what it must have been like to be buried like that, I didn't get a real sense of what was going on outside. I was prepared to see mass confusion and chaos, people running around screaming, tons of people exiting Lower Manhattan on foot...the movie showed none of that. Maybe they avoided that on purpose, I don't know. Anyway, Nick was awesome in it, does he ever really fail at a movie? It was very entertaining and I would recommend it as a rent or a matinee. (By the way, I saw it at 11:10 a.m. and paid $4.00!! I am thinking pretty soon they will start first-run movies at 8 a.m. and they will be $.50).

The rest of my day was spent at a real-live toy store shopping for my little boy who will be ONE in a couple of weeks. I am up to my ears in party planning and I cannot wait!