It's time for the new...

I know I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Between work, three kids, and morning sickness, it's impossible to find the time to use the bathroom in peace, let alone sit down to write.

And I was bored with "Momma Musings..." It wasn't as challenging as it used to be; there was no joy. Added to that, once you are your third child and cooking the fourth, I think you are "musing" less and "b&#$%ing" more.

So I decided to give myself a little break. But it was always on the back of my mind... I should write. I miss writing. I want to write. But I never forced myself to find the time.

Then my husband made dinner last Friday night.

He made his specialty -- spaghetti and meat sauce. The kids helped (or hindered) as they love to do. And we encourage that, since that means they eat dinner -- one less battle to fight.

We sit down to our "noodles and sauce." We say Grace (my husband and I are actually praying for the strength to get through the meal). I feed the baby her truly disgusting, mashed up chicken. My husband pours juice. And then we hear:

"Look at me, Mommy!"

I glance in my daughter's direction. She has pulled A noodle from her mound of spaghetti and is spinning in her fingers, watching is fly in a circle in front of her face. Spaghetti sauce is flying -- my yellow walls, the pantry, the white kitchen cabinets.

And then her brother gives a crack of laughter and shouts "I do it too!" Only he is less coordinated than she is. One noodle is three. And now there is spaghetti sauce on my ceiling fan. And on his naked chest. Because he doesn't wear clothes in the house. Ever. "Knock that off right now!" my husband orders, but doesn't make a move to take their spaghetti away. I turn back to the baby, wondering if I can pretend that only she and I are in the kitchen.

The older two are in fits of giggles, twirling, spraying, and - yes, eating - while my husband tells them to stop repeatedly. Finally I turn around "STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" I order.


Girlie and Boyo momentarily pause. Is Mommy serious? They seem to be thinking. Are we about to get in trouble?

"We DO NOT play with our food! I am not raising savages!" I continue in my stern, it-is-6pm-and-I-have-been-doing-this-all-day-do-not-test-me-voice.

"Yes, you are," my husband interjects.

I stare at him in disbelief while the children watch us, waiting to see how much trouble they are going to get in. And I can't help it. I start to laugh.

"I thought I was raising children, not savages," I told my husband.

"That should be your new blog title," he told me, finishing his salad.

And thus, while my daughter begins to slurp up her pasta like in Lady in the Tramp and my son uses noodles to give himself hair (and a mustache and beard), a new blog idea was born.

Secrets from a Blogger

~ When you have a blog on Blogger, Google gives you all sorts of information about your blog. There are tabs for Comments, Settings, Design... But the best one is Stats. I just figured out what it was. And I'm addicted. The Stats tab tells you how many page views you get and at what time. It tells you what the most popular post is. And, best of all, it tells you where the people who are reading your blog are located. For example: Canada 57

Poland 12

Germany 6

United Kingdom 4

Denmark 3

Luxembourg 3

United Arab Emirates 1

Latvia 1

I don't know why, but I think the fact that someone in Poland read my blog is SO COOL. So if you are a reader from Poland: Dzień Dobry I hope I said that right.

Beautiful Blogger

My friend Katie at http://whybother-kekibird.blogspot.com/ (check her out, she has a great voice and is absolutely hilarious with an adorable lil man) posted this and I decided to take up the challenge!

First, the rules!

1.Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the award & place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Share 7 interesting things about yourself

Now it's time to share 7 interesting things about myself. Well, I'm not sure I can think of 7 interesting things, but I'll give it a shot...

1. I am an organized soul. Not just a-sort-the-mail-when-I-come-home-organized soul, but an alphabatize the spice rack, my clothes are hanging by color in my closet, food is placed in my pantry by expiration date organized soul. The fact that my children think that it's hilarious to dump their toys in a pile causes my organized soul to gasp in pain....

2. I wanted 5 kids. Now that I have two.... I think I'm done after 3.

3. I was determined to be President when I grew up. Yes, of the United States. Teaching American Government is better (or I'm still trying to convince myself of that, I'm not sure).

4. I have a tattoo - a Celtic Cross with the claddagh as the circle of life. The tattoo is on my back, to the left of the small of my back. I designed it myself when I was 15 and then carried the drawing around in my wallet for 4 years, until I could scrounge up the courage to get it. It was totally worth it. And I got it before tattoos became popular.

5. I dreamed about my children before I knew I was pregnant. That is actually how my daughter got her name - it means vision. Both of my children were two in my dreams and their personalities were as clear as day - what they looked like, what their names were, how they behaved. Last week I had a dream that I had two year old twin girls... when I told my husband, he swore he was never going to touch me again.

6. I have been working on a children's book for 10 years. It's tentatively titled the Fairy Tree and its about a little girl who is half fairy and half human and how she has to avert a war of power in the sidhe (fairyland). I started writing it after the fairies whispered the story in my ear one night when I was dreaming. Still, I have the worst case of writer's block.

7. I am 30 years old and I am just now learning how to cook. I enjoy the challenge and now that I have a family, I don't mind cooking. I used to hate it, because it made my kitchen messy and I dislike eating leftovers. But now, its not so bad... I enjoy trying out new recipes and seeing how I can change them so that my husband or children will like them better. And I don't think I'm half bad as a chef either... still, it takes about 2 tries before I'm happy with a recipe...

Okay, that's me! Learn anything new?

And now, the challenge: I want you to take this award and write about yourself. Go on, you know you wanna! Take it, go on! I think you're a beautiful reader, so why not take this and become a beatiful blogger too!