Let's do this thing!

http://www.nanowrimo.org

Let's do this thing!

Just call me Righty.

Yes, once again I have found a way to disfigure myself while cooking dinner. This time I almost cut off the knuckle on my left pointing finger while cutting up beef for chili. Gee, those sheers are sharp when it comes to fingers.

The good news is I didn't faint and I didn't need stitches and I have a great husband who bandaged me up.

But one of these days I just know I am going to do some real harm...I think I'll wait until my husband is around to help me use the circular saw....

Children's Book Reviews

The Jelly Mom Children's Book Reviews blog has been updated and is a little easier to navigate. Hope you like it!

http://jellymom-bookreviews.blogspot.com

Guess who jumped in the deep fryer?

We just got Taran (see post below) fixed. We're supposed to keep him confined and clean while he heals up.

My mistake was not getting him a chocolate chip cookie. He stood on his tippy toes as I rummaged in the cookie pot. I thought he was cute, but ignored him.

No sooner had I left the kitchen when I heard a loud crash.

Apparently, Dude Man got up on the counter to get his own cookie and somehow stood on the lid to the pot we keep oil in for deep frying. He fell in up to his waist. Now there is oil everywhere.

To top it off, after he was bathed he slept in his cat box. Just can't wait to let the vet know how 'clean' we're keeping him.

Never a dull moment.

Still a dude man?

Our youngest was recently neutered...and just in time! He's been swaggering around here like he's 'the man' and swatting the other cats into submission.

Named Tarantula because of the way he scurried across the floor at night when he was much younger, he's now caleed the Dude Man.

However, I'm hoping that they fixed him real good and knocked him down a notch or two in the process...no pun intended.

Signs That You Are a Chocoholic

©Lisa Barker

1. You like to dip strawberries, cherries and bananas in chocolate so you start experimenting at dinner with broccoli and cauliflower substituting chocolate for cheese.

2. You buy a bottle of chocolate syrup and carry it around in a small paper bag for a quick nip when you need it.

3. You pour yourself a cup of coffee in the morning and use twelve chocolate spoons. You never touch the coffee.

4. You were delighted to discover that they make a chocolate bar for PMS, so you buy yourself three every month to get you through pre-menstrual, present-menstrual and post-menstrual syndrome.

5. Your significant other buys you a five-pound box of chocolate for Valentine’s Day and you eat the whole thing in one night. The next morning you try to call in sick, but you can’t dial the phone because your sugar levels are so high you can’t calm the tremors. So you nurse yourself back to health with little nips from that chocolate syrup bottle.

6. Whenever you see ‘Back-to-school’ advertisements you drool because you know there will soon be kids at your door selling the World’s Finest Chocolate bars for a dollar each.

7. When kids come to your house on Halloween you ‘make change’ by depositing hard candies in their pumpkins and withdrawing Snickers, Crunch, Hershey’s and 3 Musketeers bars.

8. Whenever there is a morning meeting scheduled at work you grab a double chocolate monster-sized muffin to go with your cup of cocoa, then sit on the edge of your chair all through the meeting waving your arm calling, “Me, me! I know, I know!” and they have to call a break so you can walk off some of the effects from all the sugar.

9. You actually call it a ‘hit’ at three o’clock in the afternoon when that chocolate craving strikes and you need it to get through the rest of the day.

10. You’ve eaten all twenty-four pieces of chocolate in your advent calendar by December 1st.

11. You think the best after-holiday sales follow Halloween, Valentine’s Day and Easter.

12. You think Hershey’s 65% cacao bars are for rookies and Lindt’s 85% cacao bars are for professionals.

13. You think it’s great when you go on a diet and the breakfast bars, snack bars, protein bars, and shakes come in chocolate and you’ve actually tried diet chocolate-flavored cola.

14. You plan to start a grassroots movement to get the cacao bean listed in the protein section of the food pyramid.

15. You think the woman in the Dove commercial who’s satisfied with just one piece of chocolate is faking it.

16. You’ve got ‘Chocolate Forever’ tattooed on you somewhere.

. . . . . . . . . . .
Jelly Mom™ is written by Lisa Barker, mother of five and author of "Just Because Your Kids Drive You Insane... Doesn't Mean You Are A Bad Parent!" and is syndicated through Parent To Parent™. To publish Jelly Mom™, buy the book or leave comments, please visit http://www.jellymom.com. Sign up for the complimentary Jelly Mom™ weekly newsletter and receive a BONUS GIFT!

What be yer kiddos this year for Halloween?

Here's me crew from last year.

Jumphouse fun

My sister and her family came down to our house last Saturday. We rented a jumphouse for all the kids...but I think the adults had the most fun

Halloween Fun

Doesn't that look yummy? Every year around this time my husband makes a kitty litter cake. It does a real number on your mind as you try to put a forkful in your mouth...especially when you use the scoop.

Here's a site with the recipe (and the picture above): http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/dessert/cakes/kittylittercake.html

They have other great and gross recipes for shocking your goblins this year.

Site re-vamped, new column

Check out the updates made to the Jelly Mom website. It should be a lot easier now to find columns, blog entries and children's book reviews as well as the little details those who wish to puiblish the column are looking for.

Also recently posted: This week's column.

Enjoy!

More book reviews!

I've just added twenty-seven new children's book reviews with several * * * Outstanding titles that you don't want to miss. My absolute favorite is Chester by Melanie Watt.

See all the titles here.

Read the latest children's book reviews

I've added some new book reviews here.

And more still to come!

Boo Angel Saw Blue Angels

Thanks to the Make-A-Wish foundation I got to take the kids to see the Blue Angels last Friday. We LOVED it.

I used to live near the airport and when the Blue Angels were in town, we'd sit on the roof and have one of the best views around.

This year we got front row seats practically on the runway and learned all kinds of interesting things like:

1) When in formation, the Blue Angles fly within 18 INCHES of one another...going 400 MPH.
2) When the two solo planes criss-cross, they are going 800 MPH. (One sneeze and that's it!)

We also saw some fantastic flying and daredevil tricks. One guy STOOD on the wings of a plane with only a belt strapping him to the plane as it flew 160 MPH and then did loop-dee-loops. That was AMAZING!

Boo had a ball. She loves loud noise and didn't have any complaints when the Blue Angels streaked overhead. The boys were in boy-heaven. The girls had fun, too. I thought it was all very well done and so generous that they would have us watch their practice show for free.

THEN, the pilots invited us over to take pictures with them by the jets and they autographed programs for the kids. They shook my hand and made a big deal about Boo, who promptly stuck her right foot in the air, a sure sign she was very pleased with all of them.

It was a fantastic day, we met some great families with adorable kiddos...the only downside was that Boo got a very bad sunburn on her face. I totally forgot the sunblock and even though it was overcast, poor, fair Boo was burned.

Prayers for her speedy recovery! The swelling is down, she's been cooing and laughing all along, so not too much pain, she just looks bad--like a red marshmallow. Poor thing.

Inspiration for Christian Readers

Often people contact me to share their writing. Recently Joanne Lowe sent me the links to her site and I wanted to share them with you.

Writing from an overflowing wellspring of faith, hope and love, Joanne takes moments from her life that might have crushed her and transforms them into inspirational spiritual insights.

Stop by Joanne's website or blog for an inspirational Christian treat.

http://www.joannelowe.blogspot.com
http://www.heavenwardbound.com