Another Yummy Snack Food Food

So you guys know that I have this problem grocery shopping- I pretty much just go from aisle to aisle, seeing interesting stuff and tossing it into my cart. Especially new yummy snack food.

I'm a big fan of the 100 Calorie packs that are so popular now. Yes, I know they aren't very economical, but it would be less economical for me to eat a whole regular sized bag at a time and have to buy a whole new wardrobe, now wouldn't it?

My latest find is Chex 100 Calorie Chocolate Caramel. Mercy, it's good. There's two flavors in the bag, (obvs) chocolate and caramel. The caramel rocks my world and the chocolate isn't too bad either- a nice balance for the so very sweet caramel. But I could actually eat a whole bag of the caramel, but then that would probably be more than 100 calories....

Anyway, I've also recently tried the Turtle and Peanut Butter Chex and although they don't come in the 100 Calorie bags, you simply must try them. The kiddos loved them too, although they did leave the pretzels in the bag of course, as they weren't covered in a sugary concoction.

And, hey, if you are getting pissed off at me for suggesting too many red-light foods, just remember I can always email you the C25K plan!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!!!

Well, I just got an email that made my day (and my week!)!

Turns out I'm a winner in 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic's Clean & Clear Giveaway!!!!!

You know how much I LOVE trying new beauty products, so I can't wait to use these products and post a review for you.

I absolutely love Christine's site- it's been one of my faves for quite some time. Check her out- she always has great reviews of fab products!

Oh Snap

Oh, this is totally something one could blame on one's children, but alas, I am not able to do that.

Cause I did it. Yup, it was me who opened the cabinet above the toilet, only to have a bottle of OPI Candy Cane Cutie come crashing down and shatter on my bathroom floor.

I spent the better part of 30 minutes trying to get up as much as I can off the toilet seat, the toilet bowl, the tile, the door, the shower door, and the threshold. I gave up on the rug and just threw it away.

I am about to google "getting red nail polish out of carpet" because, you see, just on the other side of this rug, where you can't see, is cream carpet. Now with red nail polish on it.

I must admit that the Lexapro allowed me to say, "Hmmmm... wonder what my priorities should be? Toilet? Floor? Shower door?"

It's nice not to freak the F out.

Yay me!

28:50!!!!!!

My best time ever, and that's after 3 beers at girls night last night!


Super awesome thanks to my friend Amanda for coming to cheer me on! So sweet and you made my day!

Damn You, Hershey

You know raspberry is my weakness..... so you just had to go and do it. Damn you.

(And, oh, but they are good. Found 'em at Target, where they just jumped in my cart.)

Meme

maybe i should start to work on that tax return for work that is due May 15

i love the smell of laundry and Fresh Sugar Lemon

people would say that i’m a bit nutty and talk a lot and know a little bit about a lot of things and can find anything on the internet

i don’t understand why The Politician can't go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without coming to wake us up

when i wake up in the morning I turn off my alarm that is going to go off in 3 minutes and I jump out of bed ready for the day (I'm super annoying like that)

i lost my willpower to keep counting WW points

life is crazy and right now I couldn't do it with my Lexapro

my past consists of a few semi-bad choices, but I turned out OK regardless

i get annoyed when things don't go my way, a typical Capricorn behavior

parties are something to look forward to (unless there's no beer)

dogs sometimes scare me, but I'd like to have a Golden some day just like LaVerne

cats make me cry since I miss Phil and Margo desperately

tomorrow is a 5K followed by a Tball meeting

i have low tolerance for wine- just a sip and I'm drunk and have a terrible headache

i’m totally terrified of revolving doors and eating vegetables

i wonder why I thought accounting would be a fun career choice

never in my life have i felt the pride I feel when I see my kiddos

high school was pretty damn fun

when i’m nervous I get a rash and my neck turns red

one time at a family gathering... my crazy grandmother made chili for a holiday dinner and tried to poison everybody

take my advice: figure out what works best for you parenting-wise and don't worry about what anyone else thinks- all kids are different and what worked for your best friend/mom/boss may not work for you

making my bed is a necessary part of the morning- I simply cannot go to sleep in an un-made bed

i'm almost always tucking my hair behind my ears and chewing on the inside of my cheeks

i’m addicted to BBC and full-sugar Coke

i want someone to come blow dry my hair every morning

PTO Fundraising

So I absolutely hate fundraisers. I hate asking people for money. Stupid thin wrapping paper, overpriced cookie dough, magazines I don't have time to read- hate it all.

My view on fundraising is this: School, if you need money, just add $5 to our weekly fees, and we'll hardly notice it. You'll have your money, and we won't have to do any ridiculous fundraising.

But see this fabulous piece of 3X3 art pictured in the middle above? That was painted by my super-talented kiddos, and purchased by the Sashas for the bargain price of $65. It's going to look fab in our playroom!

Our director came up with this idea last year, and we raised a whopping $3500! We are on track to do the same this year.

Here's how it works: parents and staff make the canvases, keeping the cost down. Frames are built with scrap wood and canvas is stretched on the frame and stapled on. Paint is slopped on to give it a base color. Then the kids go to town, creating their masterpieces.

Orders are taken from parents for "commissioned art" at these sizes and prices:

• 1' by 1': $25
• 2' by 2': $45
• 3' by 3': $65

We then have an "art show" where all the pieces are hung up at a local coffee and chocolate shop for a month. Not shown in the picture above are the little cards that will be by each picture with the title and artist of each piece.

On a specific night, parents come to admire the work of their children and there is a silent auction on some group or class pieces. The school even offers childcare for the evening and parents get to enjoy wine, cheese, and chocolate and a little social time, and open up their checkbooks.

How fun is that?

Running Update

So now that I've run my first official 10K, what's my next goal?

Why, a half marathon, of course!

I think I've already told you I'm pretty sure I have undiagnosed ADHD as I have the shortest attention span EVER, so this is a big stretch for me to think that I can do this. Right now, it's hard for me to imagine doing anything for more than 2 hours....

But I'm going to give it a try. I really think my audio book eureka moment was the best idea I ever had and I think it'll the answer. I am really enjoying listening to Shopaholic and Sister and already have Shopaholic and Baby on my itunes ready to go (thank you public library!) once I finish Sister.

So this is the plan I think I am going to follow to train for the half mary. I may shoot for doing one in the fall or early winter, hopefully with some of the girls on my relay team. (Come on girls, we can do it!) I think there's one in November in Texas (is that right Cory?). If not, then definitely next April.

Anyone on board with me? I need a "Training for a Half" blinkie!

I Am a Member of The Brewmaster's Club!

I bet you've been waiting on this post.

I posted a little preview about the fabulous Hospitality House at Sea World a few weeks ago. And really, fabulous doesn't do it justice. I'm all about the free, especially free beer. And especially after I've been chasing my ornery two-year-old around the park for hours on end.

Now, the first cool part is that there is a bar in the front of the Hospitality House that you can get two free beers from and enjoy them in their large comfortable facility that is scattered with beer history and memorabilia. The second cool part is that you can also sign up for their Brewmaster's Club and get to attend an educational tasting of various beers and fruit, cheese, and chocolate.

Mr. Sasha and I signed up, although we did have to sign up separately since the kiddos weren't allowed in the Brewmaster area. He went first and came back refreshed and excited for me to get to go too.

So while I was waiting for the Brewmaster thing to start, I visited the bar up front and chose Shock Top, which is Anheuser-Busch's answer to Blue Moon. If you like Blue Moon, you'll like Shock Top.

Next, they opened up the Brewmaster Club doors and invited us in. They seated us in groups of four. I was seated with a girl who had just turned 21 the week before and a mother and daughter. Could have been totally uncomfortable sitting with 3 random strangers, but they turned out to be nice so it wasn't so bad.

An employee came and handed us a big menu and asked us to select 4 beers to try, which she would bring to us along with a tray of fruit, cheese, crackers and chocolate. Fun!

First, I chose Michelob Ultra Fruit, knowing that there are three different flavors and not knowing which one I would get. I'm just wild and crazy like that.

I had tried the Raspberry Pomegranate before on a trip to Missouri and loved it. So I was pleased that they brought out Lime, a flavor I hadn't tried. It was crisp and refreshing. Fab.

Next, I tried Tilt, which is a malt beverage energy drink. It was quite tasty, although I typically don't drink energy drinks. I figure I'm already medicated enough, no sense in adding additional things in my system. I get enough caffeine in my morning Coke.

I was so excited to try Wild Blue, a fruit infused lager. I was not disappointed- it was wonderful. (And on another note, my wonderful friend Amanda just brought me a six pack because I told her how much I liked it! I don't think they sell it in my state, so I'll be rationing this out and if you come over and I don't offer you one, don't get your feelings hurt, K?)

I also chose LandShark, which I can't actually find any info on on the A-B site. After I ordered it I realized that I had already tried it at Margaritaville in Vegas (it's marketed as Jimmy Buffet's beer). On the plus side, I remembered liking it, so no loss there. It's kinda Corona-ish.

We stopped by a few convenient (convenience?) stores on the way home from Sea World but didn't see any of these for sale. I live in a crazy state with weird beer laws, so I didn't expect to be able to find these for sale at home. To my surprise, I did find LandShark and Shock Top at my local IGA!

I'm quite on a beer kick right now and think I'll christen this The Summer of Beer. Maybe that's my new motto......

What a Weekend!

Sweet Niblets, I am worn out.

After working an all-day music festival yesterday (I got to drink beer while I checked-in/wrote checks to bands!), I headed to bed about 10:30 pm.

After a mere 4-5 hours sleep, I picked up two band members from our headlining band who need to go to the airport (they hadn't been to sleep yet and made the Family Van smell like a tequila factory).

Dropped them off at the airport and headed to a hotel near the marathon site to meet my relay team.

A shuttle took us to the starting line and I ran my 10K at 6:30 am in a cold drizzle, but had a fab time of 1:01.

We decided to forego the marathon bus system and did the transportation from relay point to relay point in a car on our own, which started out stressful, but turned into fun and I had a blast hanging with 5 of my friends from college who I miss so much! We all joined our friend in crossing the finish line during the last leg! The announcer read our shirts, which had a little inside joke printed on them and it was so cool.

Got home and took a much-needed 2 hour nap. I am currently doing laundry (of course) and drinking my 2nd full sugar Coke of the day. Yum!

Articles in the local papers say the fest was a success and estimate 6000 in attendance!!!!!! And it went off without a hitch. Damn we're good. And cool, but you knew that.

Hope you had a good weekend yourself! Smooches!

6 Unimportant Things About Me

I was tagged a million years ago by Tina and Our Crazy Wonderful Life for this meme. And it's been on my To Do List for weeks, but there are quite a few things on there that aren't getting done either, so don't feel slighted too much. It's not you, it's me.

1. I always have to have something on my feet. It can be flip flops or socks, but I simply can't be barefoot.

2. I drink 1 can of Coke every morning. Full sugar version.

3. I love classic rock and am pretty sure I was born 15 years too late. I am dying to meet Pamela Des Barres and have chatted with her numerous times in the late 90s.

4. I bite my nails, although I am always trying to quit. I go through cycles where I do a great job taking care of my nails and keep them painted, and then there are busy times like right now where I bite the dickens out of them because I don't have time to take care of them properly.

5. I am totally in the wrong career. I should not be an accountant, although I must say I am good at it. I should be in product development, marketing, or something with makeup!

6. I am a bargain shopper for househoold goods and food and even clothes, but I make up for that by being a Coach purse girl.

I would tag somebody, but since I have waited so long, I think this one has been around already!

Let's Start a New Phrase on OBBC!

(that's Old BabyCenter)

Forget vajayjay. While watching My Name Is Earl, Mr. Sasha and I heard the best. phrase. ever. (uttered by Joy of course)

Undersmile. As in, "She uncrossed her legs and showed everybody her undersmile."

So let's start the new phrase on OBBC!

This will work great on Magic Cream threads.

Let's start a revolution!

The Sasha Rider

So today I was working at the local non-profit who is putting on the music festival this weekend (!!!) and an issue came up with our headliner's rider.

You know, the list of things bands need when they play. Like here.

We were under the impression that all riders had been X's out and sent back to the artists. However, this didn't happen with this particular band so we were working on what we could come up with off their list without breaking the bank.

30 towels, a bottle of Ketel One Vodka, various kegs of beer, certain food, etc. Crazy stuff.

But really not so crazy.

I mean, these people are away from home, and it's not like they have time or transportation to go to the grocery store before they play their set.

And even I have a rider (for when I go stay with my parents):

• 1 can of cold Coke per day, in fridge
• 1 package of frozen Pepperidge Farm Apple Turnovers
• bottle of Advil that is findable in their kitchen
• funny stories about my childhood
• magazines I don't subscribe to
• some type of alcoholic beverage, possibly a bucket of frozen margaritas
• general snacky food, some chocolate, some salty

Sigh... he's really growing up

Some night when I put The Politician to bed, I like to get under the covers with him and snuggle for a few minutes.

Last night I did just that and after about 90 seconds, he said, "Momma, when are you going to get out of my bed? I'm really tired."

Broke my heart just a little. A preview of what's to come, I'm sure.

Have You Ever

seen this many stains on one tiny little 2 year old girl's shirt? Seriously, what did she do today? Paint a room? Clean the whole school? Do yardwork? Because I've never seen a shirt that dirty before. Off to do laundry......

A Giant Thank You!

to the 3 ladies who used me as a referral for a Gymboree Visa! Each time we each got a $20 giftcard to spend at Gymboree!

It's super easy- just use this link and enter my referral code: 100 035 040

Thanks in advance if you sign up! Email me if you do so I can make sure we both get the referral bonus!

Dude

I am tired. And I have lots to do before I go to bed....

But I thought I'd share this pic. Don't look at my yucky lawn. We were re-creating Easter Sunday since I didn't get a good pic of me with the kiddos. Not sure why I am so squinty, but we are all looking pleasant and towards the camera, so it's a keeper.

Backyard Barber Night

So about 3 years ago we decided to stop fighting the haircut war with The Politician and just buzz it ourselves. It's definitely a backyard job, although we do it in the garage when it's really cold.

So tonight was Haircut Night. He really does like it now because he gets 4 packs of Smarties to cajole him to sit still.

My favorite part is vacuuming him off when we are done. It's my own version of the Flowbee. I desperately wanted a Flowbee, and searched all over (OK, for 5 minutes online) only to find out it doesn't cut a buzz. So we just wheel the vacuum outside, hook up the attachment, and vacuum up all the hair! You're totally not dreaming, that's the brush attachment on the left side of the pic.

Here's the finished product, complete with "Cheese!" face. And we'll do it all again in a few weeks.

Something that I am totally not ready for

happened yesterday!

I was doing my normal Sunday afternoon good deal round-up (Super Target, Walgreens, CVS) and Mr. Sasha was reading the paper while The Politician watched some TV after his nap and The Wild Child finished her nap in her crib.

Mr. Sasha heard WC awake over the monitor, and P jumped up and said "I'll go in there!". Mr. Sasha was just about to stand up to go let her out of her crib, and all of the sudden P and WC came walking down the hall together!

She climbed out of her crib!!!! She's only 2 years and 3.5 months old! P happily stayed in his crib until 3 and I was hoping to do the same with her because I'm just not ready for her to be on the loose unattended.

Both of their cribs are the fab kind that convert to a toddler bed (with a little rail so they don't roll out) and then to a full-sized bed, so we can totally go the toddler bed route if it's time, but I just like her being captive right now. Does that make me a bad mommy? I'm just not sure I'll be able to convince her to stay in bed and go to sleep.......

Sigh.... I think I'll wait and see if she does it again. Maybe it was just a fluke?

It's only 1:00 pm

and it has already been an eventful day.

I ran 6 miles this morning in fab 50 degree weather with no wind- perfect running weather for me.

Went to 10 am soccer game.

Attempted to take the kids to lunch after the game, but got re-routed by a downtown parade.

Finally got to lunch and Mr. Sasha locked the keys in the car.

So we waited quite a while for a locksmith to come.....

And now we are at home- after dropping a $40 dollar locksmith fee.

For those asking, The Wild Child was great this week at school! They said she was a new child! Now, yesterday she did act like she was going to start to bite once, but her teacher caught her and startled her and she stopped. They then started using the tooth-brushing technique from the biting seminar, but since they don't have toothbrushes, they used some kind of long teething object that would reach her back teeth. She loved it and periodically asked for it by saying, "I need to chew my thing." So we see real promise in the new technique and the teacher is working on getting teether toothbrushes donated for 3 of the classrooms! Yay!

Still to come today: a birthday party at a local farm for P to go to, and some friends coming over for burgers/beers with their kids. And I may just meet a friend for margs at Taco Cabana after the kids go to bed. Cause I'm probably going to need it. I think we'll get a pitcher. Definitely, actually.

Just another crazy Saturday. Hope you have a good weekend!