Post Party Post

I just rearranged my bedroom. I'm also rearranging my life. You know the saying "when it rains, it pours?" Well, it was pouring both figuratively and literally the past few days. I'm trying to figure out which jobs to say yes to and which ones will put me over the top sending me to some kind of mommy asylum.

And even though I'd like to do it all, because I, like many moms have "Super Mom Syndrome" (that's a real syndrome, right?) something's gotta give...

*sigh* It's hard to please everyone.

But there was one little girl who was pleased this weekend, and that was so important.

Cutting approximately 40 paper flowers; baking my own cake; decorating into the late hours and staying on a budget was well worth it.

Our little girl had a fabulous time. And that's always the most important thing.

Getting Your Craft On

It all started with weeks of searching for party ideas online. Then picking out a theme; a garden tea party. Then it became the hunt for all things flower-like. On a budget. Then I found this inspirational photo.

Our youngest turns seven this Saturday. It's easy to throw a party when you have money.

• You can buy the generic birthday party stuff at a party/dollar store.
  
• You can buy a Cricut machine or a Silhouette.
  
• You can take your sweet time at Michael's or Joann's and shop up and down the aisles.

But how do you do it when you have very little $? You get your scissors and construction paper and get your craft on sista...

{source for paper flowers}


I'm linking to:

Husband's Email To Me

This is an actual email exchange between Husband and I. The "dopey dog" is our dog Juno, the 125 lb. one-year-old English Mastiff (she is so busted!) Here's how Husband responds to my sweating the small stuff...

From: Suzanne
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 9:44 AM
To: Husband
Subject: d-o-g

Any suggestions on how to keep the dopey dog off the couch? I caught her there twice!

From: Husband
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 9:49 AM
To: Suzanne
Subject: d-o-g

Poisonous droplets wedged between the cushions…male dog photos under the piano bench…treats distributor in the kitchen…induce runaway strategies, like “your real family lives in Chicago”…pawcuff her to the toilet…???

When Bloggers Become Haters

So I was reading a blog post about niches, and still adamant that I do not have one, when this post talked about creating a niche on what you're passionate about. I'm passionate about a lot of things, that's my problem!

Now that I've clarified my "niche-lessness," let's be passionate about something that really bugged me last week. I found a hate blog. There's no other name for it. It was a blog dedicated to doling out cynicism and criticism toward a very popular blog that's out there. A blog, in fact, that I read on a daily basis.

:(

You know, I get the freedom of speech thing and the "well, if you put yourself out there..." but really? Does this person actually have that much time on their hands to start (and name and post on) a blog aimed specifically at targeting hatred towards someone else's blog? C'mon.

I mentioned this to my bloggy friend (and IRL friend) Esther last week about this while we sat and watched our kids at soccer practice.

"No!!" she said.
"Can you believe it?!?" I yelped.

That was basically the conversation. We both agreed if we came upon a blog we didn't like, for whatever reason, we just moved on. Kinda like when your surfing the television channels.Click, click.

I've only had one person give it to me in my few years of blogging, thank goodness, otherwise it has been a relatively happy blogging life.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? Do you  think "hate blogs" should be out there? Do you support them? Do you think they're really just harmless? Drop me a comment and let me in on your opinion.

Feels Like Fall In The Midwest

Two years and many blogs ago, I took some great Fall pictures. I decided to re-post them because I like them so much and I'm loving this season in the Midwest. Today's forecast calls for sunshine and a high of 68 degrees (I feel like a meteorologist.) Enjoy!

Kate Plus 8 Goes Bye Bye

Last night I had to watch the series finale of "Kate Plus 8." Husband was less than thrilled to have to switch from baseball during commercials to watch this show. But I felt somewhat lead to watch it seeing as I had started watching the series when it began six years ago (back then it was "Jon & Kate Plus 8.")

At the time I was mesmerized by the cute sextuplets (who were born the same year as our youngest) and what seemed to be two super parents.

I have to admit that I also found it compelling because it was one of the first shows to feature a Caucasian mother and an Asian father. (For the longest time our youngest would say "I'm half Filipino and half human!")

I found myself laughing along with the toddler antics and relating to the frustrations of parenthood. Yes, I know all about sleepless nights, yes, diaper changing seems endless and oh my gosh, the noise can get incredibly loud at times! Whether you agreed with their child-rearing methods or not, viewers could at least see the commonality, even if theirs was eight times the work!

In the end I thought it was sad. As Kate basically reviewed their "TV life" with flashbacks of previous episodes, I thought she was sincere shedding a few tears with her own reminiscing. But that's only my opinion and others may disagree.

Whether you watched their show or not, I for one will miss those cute little faces who showed viewers that bringing up children isn't always fun and games, but that parenting, in reality, can be hard work.