I Want to Blog Again... Maybe

For the past couple years I've only had enough mental capacity to compose a facebook status (and sometimes not even for that) let alone blogging. But every now and then someone has a facebook status that reminds me of one of my old blog posts. So I search through them, read through them, find the one I'm thinking of, and I share it on facebook. Every time I do this I think, "I really need to start blogging again," and every time I laugh at myself and think, "Yeah right."

.

Today I did this again, but then I fought back with, "Why not, nobody would even read it, so, why not?" So, I'm sitting here in my messy office, waiting for a lasagna to finish baking, frustrated that more people aren't contributing to facebook so I can have something to do on here and, well, there you have it. I'm back... maybe... we'll see.

I'm Here

Here I am in Charlotte, NC. Well, technically I am in South Carolina, just across the border from Charlotte. We are absolutely loving it here! It is sunny all the time, we get amazing rain downpours and lightening storms. The kids go frog hunting almost every night before bed and we've seen deer in our backyard 5 times now. Mr. Hotness has a fabulously short commute (compared to his 4 hour round trip commute in Connecticut). We are living in a very big, very beautiful home for free right now (long story), just hoping and praying that we will eventually be able to buy it. The kids start school next week and we are all nervous and hoping that they will like it.

I will try to post more, and share photos later. Until then you can read a guest post over at my friend's blog: Suburban Housewife Uprising

Skeletons in the Boxes

How many boxes would it take to package up your life? Mine took 204. That doesn't include the things that didn't fit in boxes (like furniture, plastic totes, etc). That is a lot of boxes. A lot of "stuff." A lot! Have you seen the show Hoarders? There was an episode where a lady was freaking out because they brought 3 garbage trucks and she was worried thinking all of her stuff could fit in those trucks and she wouldn't have anything left. They filled those 3 trucks with nothing but garbage and they hadn't even got through 1/3 of her home. That is how I felt as I walked through my home full of boxes. How on earth could I possibly have THAT much stuff?
. Even Sweet Terror got sick of it and laid down while saying, "Why do we have to have so many boxes? I don't like all these boxes, they are driving me crazy, Mom."
.

Now we are in our new home, and half of the boxes have been unpacked. In the basement, though, are 3 walls of boxes. These are the "skeletons in my closet" boxes. You know, the ones filled with things. My things. Things that I will one day do marvelous things with. Things that I have yet to do very much at all with. Things that I keep boxing up and taking with me every time I move. Things that Mr. Hotness and the kids couldn't care less about. My things.

*sigh*

I liked it better when all these things were hiding in closets and drawers and cupboards.

Shocked

Have you just been begging for a reason to boycott Dora the Explorer, to rid your home of all things Spongey, or to reduce the time your kids spend online or watching TV? Well here is a really good reason and one you can explain to your kids. I am hereby boycotting Nickelodeon.

Click here to see why.

It isn't often I boycott things or get too riled up about issues, but this one has me steamed and willing to boycott to the hilt. I checked it out by going to nickjr.com and sure enough, down at the bottom, listed under "nickelodeon kids and family websites" you will find 5 links to addictinggames.com which is host to some very very disturbing games gear towards kids. For Nickelodeon to do this just boggles my mind. I know lots of parents who consider NickJr to be a safe site for their kids to play online. But if your kid gets curious and starts clicking on things, or hears about this cool site from a friend and goes to check it out, your child might end up playing a game where they get to imagine their teacher naked or mutilate their classmates. Not so sweet, not so educational, not so NickJr, is it?

I sent a personalized letter to Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President, Digital, Nickelodeon kids and family group. Tomorrow I'm going to tell my kids what I told Mr. Youngwood: that until they stop supporting such a heinous site and issue a grand scale apology to all the families and children who's trust they have betrayed, that we will not be renewing our cable once we move, that from this day on my children will not be allowed to watch Nickelodeon, that all Nickelodeon sites will be blocked on our computers, and that not a single cent of ours will be spent on any Nickelodeon licensed merchandise.

I won't ask you to do the same, I just wanted to let you know this was out there because I was glad someone let me know.

Moving

We went from this: To this:

And by July 1st we will end up here:

It's all part of the adventure I call life. And so far it's been an amazing ride. I can't wait to see what Charlotte, NC has in store for us. Personally I'm looking forward to finally being able to own a home again, to a shorter commute for Mr. Hotness than I've seen in 8 years, living closer to family than I have in 13 years (a member of my family, that is, and 6 years for any family at all), and for maybe possibly living in a place with central AC. So it's all good.

And who knows, maybe in Charlotte I will finally find the time to blog about all my NYC adventures. I know you are dying to hear about the day I tried eating a chicken foot, or about the rainbow haired, kilt wearing, pirate with a poodle I met. Ah, NYC, I will miss living near your awesomeness.

The Spirit of Christmas

I'm one of those that truly believes that Christmas should be a year long feeling of peace, joy, goodwill, and love for our fellow man. I also believe that Christmas goodies should be enjoyed year round as well. I want to thank the ice cream makers of Ben and Jerry's for helping a small part of my dream come true by way of their heavenly Peanut Brittle ice cream. I've had really good peanut brittle (my mom's) and really nasty peanut brittle (the kind you buy from kids selling door to door for a school fund raiser). This is the really good kind, mixed in vanilla ice cream with a caramel swirl. It's like waking up to snow flakes drifting past your window and sneaking into your stocking before your parents wake up on Christmas morning. Oh yeah, it's all kinds of good.

Ben, Jerry, I want to thank you for making this wonderful flavor. It totally makes up for your disastrous Boston Cream Pie flavor (GAG!). What went wrong with that anyway? How can you screw up cake, chocolate, and pastry creme? Why does it taste like 5 different chemicals I might use to clean my sink or paint my wall?

The only thing they could have done to improve this yummy Peanut Brittle ice cream would be to give it a fun name. Even a simple "Granny's Homemade Peanut Brittle" would have been something. Or "Brittle Spears" ('cause we all know Britney is nuts), or "Brittle White" (Betty just did SNL so she's totally hip, and probably has brittle hips). Do you guys need help naming your flavors? If so, just give me call. I'm also available for taste testing and flavor consulting. Seriously, guys, what are you waiting for?

What would you name this awesome ice cream?