Bloggy Love

Just when my SAHM life gets boring, something my bloggy life makes my day. I received The Honest Scrap blogger award from Cookie, whom always puts a smile on my face. Thanks so much!
As part of the award, I need to reveal 10 things about myself. Let me startle you with this information:
1. I bought a pair of Earth sandals and I hate them. The “negative heel” technology makes it impossible to chase after my kids.
2. I bought a pair of black swim shorts and I love them. No more tugging down my swim suit while I chase after my kids at the pool. 3. I’m hoping our cucumber plants do well this year so I can attempt pickling them.
4. Right now, my kids are fighting over which flavor of Jell-O to make: Berry Blue or Blackberry Fusion.
5. My diet was going great until I got too lazy to make dinner last night and my husband ordered a pepperoni pizza. One slice of cheese pizza is 6 Weight Watchers points, but who the hell can eat one slice of pizza?
6. I also admire people, like Cookie, whom can drink just one cup of coffee every morning.
7. Last week, my cable, Internet and phone were out for a day. I’m really proud of myself for not hyperventilating over it.
8. I’m also proud of myself for getting up at 6 am every morning this week to do the exercise show, Priscella’s Yoga Stretches.
9. I’m addicted to the reality show, The Next Food Network Star. I’m rooting for Melissa D’Arabian, whose only cooking experience is feeding her family.
10. Ethan saw a commercial for Clorox’s Greenworks cleaner and wants me to buy it. I should have him read this post.

I’m passing the award onto Jabblog, A Corgi, Lceel and Jan. Now you just need to award it to four other bloggers and share some bloggy love.

Defined by "D"

The lovely hokgardner, whose days are extremely full working as a freelance writer, raising four kids, writing two blogs, knitting and running, did the meme “Brought to you by the letter.” I wanted to play along, so she assigned me the letter “D.” Here are 10 things in my life that start with D.
1. D ______. My Italian maiden name was a huge part of my identity growing up. At one international fair day in grade school, I paired up with my friend, whom is German. I wasn’t cheating—I’m a quarter German. But when people came up to our booth, they would say, “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Italy.” Then I got married, took my husband’s easily pronounceable English last name, and no one knows I’m half-Italian, which makes me a little sad.
2. Denver. I was born and raised just outside of this city. I moved to Chicago for college because I wanted to live in a more intense urban environment—more shops, restaurants and museums. I got that, along with dirty, smelly subway rides and, at times, impossible traffic and crowds. The worst part, though, was worrying if you'd get assaulted when you left your apartment alone at night. I had to travel 1,000 miles and back to realize that suburban Denver is just right for me.
3. Doughnuts. Growing up, no Sunday morning was complete without eating a doughnut. It was a great pick-me-up after sitting through sleep-inducing 7 am mass every week.
4. Montrose and Damen. My husband and I lived off of this Chicago intersection for six years. I loved this part of town—it had quiet neighborhood feel even though we were in walking distance from great restaurants and shops. Plus, there was a big park we could stroll through when we needed a “nature fix.”

5. My dog, Lola. Our family’s basset hound wasn’t a perky, “let’s play catch” kind of dog. She’d rather nap in a sunny yard for hours. That lazy quality made her a great companion when we were home sick.
6. Dirt. I’ve grown to love gardening thanks to my farm-boy husband. As soon as we moved to the suburbs, we put in raised beds and started a vegetable garden. I get a strange satisfaction out of weeding.
7. John Donne. This 17th century womanizer-turned-vicar is one of the few poets I remember from my British Lit class in college. One of my favorite poems is “The Flea.”
8. Dumb bells. I started lifting when in college while I was on the cross-country team. I don’t run much anymore, but I still love going to the gym and lifting weights.
9. Dinosaurs. These prehistoric animals are a major part of my life thanks to Ethan’s obsession with them. He loves the beady eyes and razor-sharp talons and teeth of "meat-eaters." His desk is covered with plastic dinosaurs he uses to re-enact bloody encounters.

10. Depression. This isn’t something I love, but something that I’ve grown to accept. I was on anti-depressants all through my 20’s, and it helped somewhat. But when my husband and I wanted to start a family, I was worried about taking them during my pregnancy. I consulted a psychologist, and he recommended that I go off of them. When I asked him why, he said, “You’ve dealt with depression since childhood, and you have yet to go off the deep end.” I found his blunt statement oddly comforting. Ever since then, instead of fighting this part of myself, I’ve become more accepting of it, which helped me more than any pill.

Let me know if you’d like a letter!

Serendipity

I’m doing my usual thing, which is listening to 93.3 on the radio while I drive my kids around town, and I hear the DJ state that 93.3 plays more Weezer than any other station in the country. “So if you’re a Weezer fan,” he said a little sheepishly, “listen to us!”
You bet!! Ethan's narrow taste in music won't allow me listen to any other radio station while he's in the car. Plus, it was while I had my chauffeur hat on that

• I heard my first Weezer song, Pork and Beans,


• which made me buy their Red Album,


• which made me go to their concert in the fall,


• which made me buy all their previous albums,


• which made me mention them so much on my blog it might as well be a mini-Weezer fan site.
  

How fortunate am I that I can get a daily Weezer fix while schlepping my kids around suburbia?

That's what I'm talking about: serendipity.

Thirty-Two Snippets

The wonderful Mama Zen tagged me to do this meme. Here it goes:

Eight Things That I'm Looking Forward To
1. My next Weezer concert
2. Christmas
3. The first big snow
4. My 15th wedding anniversary
5. Knitting my first sweater
6. Practicing yoga
7. The Obama Administration
8. Learning to use my digital camcorder

Eight Things On My Wish List
1. A less polluted world
2. Rivers Cuomo’s Alone II album
3. A "green" economy
4. Time to scrapbook
5. A trip to Europe
6. A clean house
7. A painless bikini wax
8. A pug

Eight TV Shows That I Watch
1. Frontline
2. Antiques Road Show
3. The Office
4. Project Runway
5. Top Chef
6. Priscella’s Yoga Stretches
7. Clifford The Big Red Dog

Eight Things That I Did Yesterday
1. Blogged
2. Went to the doctor
3. Dropped James off at preschool
4. Took a nap
5. Picked up Ethan from school
6. Picked up James from preschool
7. Baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
8. Read some blogs

Now I’m tagging Honey Mommy! Can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

Me In One Word

I was tagged by The Cookie Jar to reveal one-word facts about myself. Here it goes:

Where is your cell phone? kitchen
Where is your significant other? work
Your hair color? brown
Your mother? Rita
Your father? Onofrio
Your favorite thing? wine
Your dream last night? None
Your dream/goal? organization
The room you’re in? dining
Your hobby? knitting/scrapbooking
Your fear? sickness
Where do you want to be in 6 years? beach
Where were you last night? couch
What you’re not? organized
One of your wish-list items? savings
Where you grew up? Colorado
Last thing you did? laundry
What are you wearing? clothes
Your TV? on
Your pet? Molly
Your computer? working
Your mood? frustrated
Missing someone? yes
Your car? Toyota
Something you’re not wearing? socks
Favorite store? J Crew
Your summer? hot
Love someone? Yes
Your favorite color? blue
When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
Last time you cried? yesterday

I'm supposed to tag seven other people, but I've been tagging blogs a lot lately, so I'll pass this time. But if you want to share, I'd love to hear!

Here's The Latest

I was tagged by Rebecca of the Green Baby Guide to reveal seven random facts about myself:

1. After pilfering my sons' Halloween candy for 12 days, I think I've finally had my full of mini Snickers and Milky Way candy bars.

2. Speaking of pilfering, I'm trying to expand my music library and save money at the same time by borrowing music CD's from my local library. This week's pick is "Hail to the Thief" by Radiohead.

3. James has suddenly taken to calling me "mama" instead of "mommy." For some reason this makes me feel oddly sophisticated.

4. I know I need to drink eight glasses of water a day, but there are so many other beverages I'd rather consume. Does two cups of coffee every morning count as one glass of water?

5. And coffee consumption doesn't stop at noon. Thanks to my handy Starbucks gift card, I'm indulging in Gingerbread lattes as an afternoon pick-me-up. My waistline will thank me when I run out of money on this card.

6. This past weekend, I met someone whom lives in the south of France, and I watched "Swimming Pool," which takes place in the South of France. Now, if only I could BE in the south of France.

7. Maybe I can't make it to France any time soon, but I did manage to go on a hike here last weekend:

Now it's your turn to divulge. I'm picking:

1. Maggie's Mind

2. The Days Are Just PACKED

3. The Soapdish

4. Mama Zen

5. Rainbow Mummy

6. Statvox

7. Lceel

Here are the rules.

1) Link back to the person who tagged you and share the rules on your blog.

2) Share 7 facts about yourself.

3) Tag seven people and list their links in your post.
4) Tell those 7 people by commenting on their blog.

I can't wait to hear what you have to say!

My Current Snapshot

I was tagged by Honey Mommy to divulge seven random facts about myself. Thanks, Honey Mommy--I needed a mid-week post! So, here it goes:

1. I miss my pre-kid road trips. Before we had Ethan, my husband and I would drive eight hours straight from Chicago to Kentucky to visit his family, which gave us plenty of time to talk and drink lots of bad gas station coffee. Now our family road trips are too filled with whining and interruptions to replicate that.

2. I've developed obsessive-compulsive disorder from blogging. I can't complete any household chore without checking my e-mail for comments first.

3. I dyed my hair with henna and cloves a couple of weeks ago, and it still smells like cloves when it gets wet.

4. Ethan wants to be a dinosaur for Halloween, and James wants to be "The Creeper" from Scooby-Doo. I have no idea how I'm going to make that happen.

5. Based on the number of uncompleted craft projects I have lying around the house, I think I have attention deficit disorder along with OCD.

6. Ethan cares more about our fish than I do. The other day he told me to "clean the fish tank--it's filthy!!"

7. I followed through on the promise I made in yesterday's post, and had a fun time with Ethan at the pool while James took his swim lesson. The best part was just hanging out in the shallow end and watching the sunlight reflect on the water.

Now I want to hear seven random facts from The Soapdish, The Circus, Rainbow Mummy , and The Wayfaring Wanderer.