Finally, Someone Who Understands Me....

Mrs. Bear!

from the photographer:
"Black bears typically have 2 cubs, rarely 1 or 3. In 2007, in northern New Hampshire, a black bear sow gave birth to 5 healthy young... After spending nearly 4 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 6 weeks, I had that once in a lifetime opportunity and photographed them in the shadows and dull lighting of the evening... The print is properly focused and well exposed with all 6 bears posing as if they were in a studio for a family portrait. "

Of course, Bo Hunkmeister, graphic designer extraordinaire, couldn't help but put his touch on the photo.


I can only imagine the comments Mrs. Bear gets:
"Are they all yours? By the same bear?"
"You forest-school them? Is that legal?"
"How do you keep up with all your cubs? I can bearly handle my two!"
yes, bad pun

Seen Any Kisses?

It's been a whole week since I've started looking for the Hershey kisses that Bo Hunkmeister hid through the house. As of 6:28 this evening, I'm up to 71. Only four more to go!! I might need to hire some people to come help me look. Bo said I couldn't use our kids but he said nothing about hired guns.

Some of you ladies have told me, "Oh, I wish my husband would do something like that." You have to remember that your spouse probably has some other wonderful qualities that Bo doesn't have, and that you can celebrate that special quality in your man. What qualities Bo is lacking, I don't know, but I suppose there's got to be one. And no gagging out there over that last statement, you were warned in my earlier posts about my esteem for the Bo Hunkmeister.

Now some of you guys have told Bo, "Hey, you're making us look bad." All I can say is, "STEP OFF!" Don't diss my man! That's the hormones speaking, if you hadn't already guessed.

Anyway, I might have to put the kiss search on hold in light of Thanksgiving. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Cooking-Fest-O-Rama: brining the bird, dicing, chopping and sneaking bits of bacon when no one is looking.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday and remember - pace yourself!

Random Thoughts

1. In case you haven't been reading faithfully (what?!? you haven't?!? I'm hurt!), Bo Hunkmeister has hidden 75 Hershey's Kisses around our house. If I find them all, I get a dinner out. The up side is that as of today, I'm at 65. The down side of all this is that I'm finding lots of nasty, dusty spots in my house.

2. Princess Buttercup found this website in a magazine: FreeRice. It's a site that has vocabulary tests, geography tests, and other tests. The gig is for each question you get correct, rice will be donated to a family in need. They explain it all a lot better than I do at their FAQ page. Anyways, the kids are having lots of fun filling the rice bowl, and (this is music to a homeschooler's ears) they're doing schoolwork without even knowing it.

3. Blue Cross/Blue Shield is dropping two major hospitals from its network over a payment dispute. The two hospitals that happen to have the highest delivery rates in the state. You'd think that BC/BS wouldn't want a bunch of angry pregnant ladies on their front step. Didn't their mommas teach them not to mess with pregnant ladies?

4. Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, NJ, said in an interview after election day that he wants to celebrate America's "racial deliciousness." Deliciousness? Of my many positive qualities, I never thought of myself as edible.

What the Over Achieving Mom Does for Her Son's Birthday

I found this on Cake Wrecks



Go here to see how it's done.

Can I eat the cake scraps?

Mr. Fabulosity Himself - Bo Hunkmeister!

I had a very good weekend. It started Saturday with Bo taking the kids to a movie while Baby took a nap. That meant two hours by myself in a quiet house. All those with small children out there know what I mean.

Then today we went to church, and some girlfriends and I went for a shopping/lunch trip straight after. Not only do I return four hours later to a house cleaner than I left it (including the infamous mess known as my dining room table), but I find a note on my kitchen cabinet:

My dear, hidden through out the house are 75 Hershey Kisses for you to find. Find 20 and get a Dunkin' Donuts latte, find 40 and get a foot rub, find 60 and Bo will cook dinner on the evening of your choice, find all 75 and Bo will take you out to dinner.

Suffice to say, within 5 minutes I had found 40 of them. Bo was impressed until I reminded him that asking a pregnant woman to sniff out chocolate was like asking a normal person to breath. Not only was he asking a pregnant lady to find chocolate, but there was the added incentive of being taken out to dinner. Chocolate? Dinner out? Say no more!

He did add the condition that I could not have the children help me find the kisses (darn! he knows me too well). So as of 7:30 pm, I only have 20 more chocolates to find. I'm putting out a prayer request for psychic abilities. Of course, part of this is entertainment for Bo as he watches his wife turn into a three year old, running through the house looking for chocolate.

Princess Buttercup, bless her heart, asked Bo, "Does she get to collect all the prizes or does she have to pick just one?"
To which Bo replied, "No, she can have all the prizes."

Remind me to slip Buttercup a five spot tomorrow. After my dinner out.

Public Service Announcement #324

I laughed so hard I wet myself. Some of you might have seen these before but I felt the need to share some laughs with the world
Weight Watchers recipe cards from the 70's

Parenting Advice?!?

Sandy left a comment on my last blog asking for parenting tips. After I stopped laughing and picked myself up off the floor, here's what I came up with so far:

1. Rejoice in the small things.
Anything from "Hey! He said a new word today" to "Well, at least he didn't puke on the carpet!" (usually the latter ones are the situations I most rejoice in)

2. Have a sense of humor
see above

3. Have lots of kids
If you have two kids and one becomes a miscreant, you have a 50% failure record as a parent. If you have six and one heads south, your failure record is only 17%.

4. Make those kiddies work!
A two year old can help throw stuff on the washing machine, pull stuff out of a grocery bag, etc. The sooner they get used to helping, the better.

5. Ask for help (did I say that?)
Forget about parenting books from people who only have one kid and a degree from Harvard. Ask your friends what worked/didn't work for them. Remember, there is nothing new under the sun; there have been other moms who's kids have run pant-less down the street in broad daylight (not that... mine...ever did...)

Well that's it for now. I'll post more after cocktail hour nap time, if I think of any.

Bo, any contributions?

Some Funny Things

At least I think so.

1. I wrote a book review of Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile's "I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids: Reinventing Modern Motherhood" on Amazon. The same rambunctious one I wrote here expect for being a bit more condensed. Anyway, I looked up the review the other day and some one left a comment "Do you even have children?" Yeah, just a few....

2. W. Bear, my son was reading the list of character traits we have hanging up on our wall (because I'm that kind of homechooling mom) and says, "Well, I tried self control but I didn't like it."

3. I asked Princess Buttercup why she was fretting so much over her Christmas list in early November. She replies, "It's my pensive nature, Mom!"

4. I turned down a piece of chocolate after dinner and W. Bear says, "Oh no! Mom's lost her mind!" Tater says, "Oh no!!" W. Bear says, "Oh no! We're being dramatic!"

5. I'm giving a spelling test to Buttercup and I say, "The word is forty-eight, in ten years I'll be forty-eight." W. Bear says, "Mom, that makes you thirty-eight now."
Buttercup says, "No W., she's twenty-nine!"

P.S. Check out the award winning love cook create knit's free giveaway.

Ooo!! I Need a Dress for the Award Ceremony!

My blog friend, Lori (whom I actually met in real life) gave me this award. She's a homeschool mom like me with seven (gasp!) kids. Go check out her blog "Reflections and Ramblings of a Not-So-Super Woman" and give her some comment crack love.

Thanks Lori! You made my day!



Now for receiving the award, here are the conditions:

1. The award can be displayed on the recipient's blog.
2. Add a link to the person from who you received the award.
3. Nominate up to seven other blogs.
4. Add their links to your blog.
5. Send a message to each of those you awarded to tell them about the award.

I'm going to follow Lori's lead and only nominate one. That way I won't have to rack my pregnant brain to think of six more. I nominate "love cook create knit". She always has something interesting to say and I like her blogs on exploring a more environmentally friendly/frugal way of life. Rock on ladies!