this is really the person i leave my children with when i leave the house?!

so last night, around 9:30 pm, when all of my children were still awake, katie decided that she wanted popcorn. tommy was taking care of it, so i continued the important work that i was doing on the computer (reading textsfromlast night and shopping for dresses). apparently, tommy "taking care" of it means he opened the popcorn, put it in the microwave for 5 minutes and went and laid on the couch. about 4 minutes and 55 seconds later, he says to me "is that popcorn still in the microwave?" at this point, i look over at the microwave and see the smoke absolutely POURING from it and blanketing the entire first floor of my house. nice. it was so smokey in here, that we had to put the children outside. when i took the bag from the microwave, there was actually some kind of black liquid leaking from it. eyes were watering, everyone coughing...it was crazy. the smoke alarm NEVER went off (did i mention that tommy is an electrician and my smoke detectors are hard wired in my house in EVERY SINGLE ROOM). that's pretty crazy, you see, because thomas takes a shower, the steam sets off the smoke detector.
this whole situation causes me some concern, as i realize that my children's father has an attention span of less than 5 minutes. who is paying attention when i'm not here? oh, right, no one (as proven HERE).
not to worry about the smoke detector though...as i heated up the oven to make lunch today, it started going off like a mother. so now, i am sitting here with the windows open and candles lit (to get rid of last night's burnt popcorn stench) and the hood fan on and back door open to make the smoke alarm go off now. what do you think my neighbors are thinking?

ps - jack said some of the funniest things i have ever heard last night...he told me he didn't want to eat dinner anymore because he didn't like the chicken nuggets. they were french fries. he then proceeded to say to dennis: "i got two peanut guns and i am a monkey." he then went up to change into pajamas and came down with dennis' christmas fleece mickey mouse pj shirt (jack outweighs dennis by about 25 pounds) inside out and a pair of red lightning mc queen pajama pants. but hey, he dressed himself so it's still a win, right?

when i wish upon a star...

i have found myself saying "i wish" quite often lately, so i thought i would write the list down and try to keep better track of all my wishes.

alright, i figure i'll get the big, obvious ones out of the way first...
i wish..i was thin (or that i was happy with my appearance. i'll take either), i had a bigger house, i could afford to send my kids to a better school, i had more money, etc.

i wish that i had lancome mascara here instead of maybelline

i wish that caroline could figure out how to eat popsicles so they didn't always fall of the stick which makes her cry

i wish that my kids would keep their shoes on their feet

i wish that when my kids take their shoes off, they would at least remember to put them on the steps instead of in the middle of the living room floor

i wish i had long hair

i wish that my mom lived closer to me

i wish that i could get in touch with meghan to tell her about the funniest website of all time (www.textsfromlastnight.com) [by the way, meg, this is what i was reading when i started leaving you a message the other day and was laughing so hard i couldn't speak]. i kinda also wish that my life was as funny as some of the posts on there

i wish i liked cleaning, exercise and getting up early

i wish i knew how to spell "exercise" without spellcheck (there's only 1 "c" you know)

i wish dennis and katie did not just fall asleep at 4:45pm

i wish i could get a job as a nurse without having to go back to school

i wish i had a shore house this summer and could take a younger cousin down for the summer with me to watch the kids while i got a job as a waitress or bartender at night

i think that is all that i am wishing for right now.

i would also like to thank noah's mommy for giving me the kreativ blogger award. thanks so much! i am glad that you enjoy what i have to say! i've done this one before, so if you would like to see my thoughts, just click on the link. thanks again!

honest scrap

yay for me! i got another award! this one is from alicia at it ain't easy being cheesy gave me the honest scrap award. the rules are that i am supposed to list ten things about myself that are true, but everyone may not know and then tag five other bloggers. hmm...here goes.

1. when i get my hair colored, i get my eyebrows dyed too. they match my hair better.

2. i have no idea what the true color of my hair is anymore. i have been dying it for so long and have changed the color so many times, i'm not sure what it would really look like if i let it go natural. i probably will never let it go natural.

3. i went to culinary school in new york and lived there for 1 1/2 year.

4. even though i went to culinary school, i still eat spaghettios, ragu sauce and kraft mac and cheese.

5. i only eat boiled hot dogs and i prefer that they have been in the water for a while, like from a street vendor or on the beach. when i go to barbecues, i NEVER make my kids eat barbecued hot dogs.

6. i can't stand for other people to fold my laundry, even tommy. if someone else folds it, i find myself refolding things as i put them away.

7. i like sleep more than almost anything else. if i was able to have my ideal day, it would be to be able to sleep for as long as i wanted in a really clean, really quiet room.

8. i used to HATE for anyone to touch my face. i have gotten better about it, but i still am not a huge fan.

9. the year i turned 21 i took accutane for acne (bad idea to start that the year you can start drinking legally) and have never had to do another thing for my skin since. i rarely even wash my face before i go to bed.

10. i have started doing the south beach diet and surprisingly, i find myself totally able to survive without white bread and mashed potatoes.

by the way...that was way tougher than i anticipated!

as far as passing it on to other bloggers, i am just going to name some of the blogs that i love to read ever day. i get stressed out about giving people these things because then i think "what if they don't want to list things about themselves?" or "what if they have already gotten this before?" so, i am just going to do some shout outs and let them deal with it as they like! i love when i see that amber, valentine, isabel princes and amanda, among many others, have posted something. they usually make me laugh out loud, which is a much needed break in my day. thank you again, alicia. your posts make me laugh out loud (and sometimes drool...see the cupcake post), too! thanks! enjoy checking out these other blogs!

life is good

it's a double shot tuesday!...

so, in my opinion, there is absolutely nothing better than a nice day on the beach. which is where i spent five hours on sunday. my grandparents live in north cape may, nj and we are very fortunate to live within driving distance. we can pop in whenever we feel like and spend the weekend at the shore. the best part about it is that my grandparents really seem to enjoy having us there. crazy, right? this past weekend, we had a surprise party for tommy's uncle, which tommy was not able to go to (he was dj'ing a party on saturday and another on sunday). therefore, i roped my mother in to going to the party with me with the promise of going to the shore directly from the party.

the trip to the shore was uneventful, everyone was pretty well behaved. when we got to my grandparents, it was extra fun for the kiddies as my aunt, who had 4 children ages 9 to 1 was there, too. (have i mentioned how very large my family is yet? my mother is the oldest of 8 and there are about 64 members of her immediate family now.) i know most normal people just read that and said: wait! is this girl saying that they had NINE kids 9 and under staying in ONE RANCH STYLE HOUSE for the weekend?!!? yes, that is what i am saying. i didn't say sleeping was fun, i just said it was fun for the kids, not necessarily the adults.

so anyway, on sunday we got up, had breakfast (which is a must at the shore) and got ready for the beach. after about a half hour of sunblocking (my children are literally the WHITEST children on the planet), off we went to the beach. we got there by 11:30 am! you are so super impressed, i know (i did mention that we had 9 kids we were taking with us, right?). when we got there we met up with: my aunt sue, aunt gail, aunt susan, eileen, joe, eileen (who had maddy and grace with her, 1 yo and 5 yo), aunt teresa, shannon, christine, lauren and two of her friends, plus my mom, grandmom, bernadette and her kids (there everyone...you got the blog mention!). the kids were awesome! i totally did not have to deal with one single tear for five hours! that is unheard of. it was a great day. i am so glad that my kids enjoy the beach as much as i do and that we've gotten past the rough years that involve cranky babies eating sand and needing naps while on the beach. i loved sunday.

i have posted some pictures of the kiddies on the beach, including those of jack's incredible find. he found a conch shell...WITH A LIVING CONCH! it was one of the craziest things i have ever seen on wildwood's beach (and trust me, the place is not called "wild"wood for nothing. some pretty crazy things can be seen there). my children are total city kids (as are their parents). they don't dig for bugs or touch frogs or pick up worms. they are afraid of bugs, for crissake. however, jack found this huge shell with the conch in it and decided it was his new pet. he carried it around all day. we did convince him to leave it on the beach when we were leaving (i don't think there is a big conch survival rate in fishtown, or in philadelphia for that matter). we are planning on visiting the conch next time we are down the shore. hopefully he has decided to stay on 16th street.

thank you everyone for all of your help on sunday. it really was a great day!

random thoughts tuesday

so i am working on this well in advance to make sure that...a. i remember my random thoughts and...b. i get it done on time (nothing like being a total procrastinator to screw up a good blog!)

1. i really, really love that the abbreviation used by many bloggers for their husband "dh" can stand for either "dear husband" or "dick head." it makes me laugh because it is oh so fitting sometimes. by the way...i RARELY refer to my husband as "my husband" and never as "dh" (reminds me of "THE BABY" episode of seinfeld). my husband is tommy. my son is thomas. they are ALWAYS referred to by these names.

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2. there are 60 asterisks above this statement. i know this because i went to my previous "rtt" post and counted how many i used so that everything looks uniform. ocd, anyone?

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3. i am 34 years old. i have been wearing mascara for roughly 20 years now. i would say i apply mascara at least 360 days of the year. that allows for 72000 mascara applications (i'm not even counting the days when i reapply or go out at night and put it on twice in one day). i would think that this would be enough applications that i am able to do it without poking myself in the eye with the mascara wand. i would be wrong to think that.

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4. lesson learned ~ 2 girls in the bathtub + 2 boys on the computer + 1 boy in school = mommy putting away 3 loads of laundry. 2 girls in the bathtub + 2 boys in the bathtub + 1 boy elsewhere = utter mayhem. moral of this story...don't put 4 kids in the bathtub at the same time.

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5. i love my ipod, possibly even more than my children. i think it is the greatest invention ever and i love that i am able to drive for long periods of time in my car and never have to listen to a song that i don't know every single word to. being totally crazy, i always wonder "if they made a movie about my life, who would play me, tommy, etc?" (by the way, i know i am not the only person that does this.) well, now, when they do make that movie, i have already done the soundtrack for them. how great is that?!?!

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that's about as random as i get this week. for even more random thoughts, check out the un mom's blog. she is the queen of it all.

still got nothing...

so we have been crazy busy with things to do these past few weeks, and it does not appear to be letting up anytime soon. in the absence of any quality post fodder, i figured i would do a quick post of the things we have done including pictures of those things (if i'm not going to make it interesting, i can at least make it pretty, right?)

1 & 2. may started with thomas making his first holy communion. it was a very nice ceremony (which also happened to be the longest 1 1/2 hours of my life, as all of thomas' siblings were at mass with us). everyone got dressed in their sunday best, cara brought her baby and purse, katie brought her home depot tool set and sat patiently (hahahaha) through mass. we only got 7 or 8 dirty looks from the people around us. by 11 am the following day, thomas had spent all of the gift money he was given, plus an additional $20 of mine on a nintendo dsi. i think he really appreciates the solemnity of the sacrament, don't you?

3. we had a party for thomas' communion on may 23rd (he did wear his suit for the beginning of the party). it was a joint party for him and my sister-in-law who graduated from college. it was a big, huge, time consuming deal for me, as i made all of the food for all of the guests, but it was also a great party. thomas immediately went back to game stop to buy dennis a nintendo ds and ds games for himself and jack, as well (see, truly appreciates that it is about the sacrament...not the gifts he received).

4 & 5. jack turned five in may and we celebrated his birthday numerous times over mother's day weekend.

6 & 7. added in to this mix we had two showers (one wedding and one baby). hey! who brought the kids standing directly in front of the guest of honor playing with the gifts as she tries to open them?!?! oh. me...great. we also had a few playground trips and play dates, but i was too lazy to document those with pictures. sorry.

8, 9 & 10. rounding out the month, all of us girls got haircuts today (i know it's june now, but it brings everything pretty much current). i have included before and after shots of the girls, so you can see how desperate katie was.

i have tried to number these to correspond with the pictures. hopefully, you will be able to follow along. i still can't figure out how to post a picture and then write below or above each individual shot. pathetic, i know. enjoy the pictures and have a good weekend. we have a surprise party on saturday and then we are fleeing to the shore. i know that something blogworthy will occur there (i am taking my five children and my aunt is bringing her four, all between the ages of 9 and 1. who wants to sit next to us?). i'll keep you posted.

also, i have been tagged for two different "memes" by two lovely bloggers, which i have not gotten around to acknowledging. one was from sweet mama jones and another was from mrs. fish. thank you so much, girls! i truly do appreciate that you read and enjoy my blog. i love both of yours, too. i will absolutely do my best to get to these memes, as soon as i can form coherent, rationaly thoughts again. it's a bit of a struggle these days! thanks again! everyone else...go check these blogs out!

i got nothing

i am pretty sure that the sheer number of repeated words/sentences that i listened to today while i cleaned my house has completely drained any and all brain cells that i may have had. hopefully, tomorrow i will be revived and be able to post something coherent again soon...