Beware the Silver Soup Pot and Other Nonsense

Because of recent reports of a serious shortage of ridiculous nonsense on my blog, and lest you think it’s all doom and gloom in Crazy Land, I thought I would remedy the situation by telling you about all the silly posts I’ve thought about writing lately, but haven’t yet.

I thought about telling you many silly things, like how my house looks like a band of roving toddlers frequently celebrates raves in it, or that Santa crashed into it, with his entire sleigh of presents, and then left (not “Nice!”). But then I though I’d better clean up the mess instead of drawing cartoons of it.

One of my cartoons was going to be of me homeschooling the kids in the midst of the chaos. My husband would walk in the door and look a little stunned. Then my speech bubble would say, “Clean? Who me? I’m just the tutor!”

But I tried to make the right choice (at least a few times.) Scrubbing floor vs blogging. Ugh. Dirty floor, here we come. Hmmm, sometimes it’s no fun to be responsible. But don’t worry, I won’t let it happen too often!

I also thought about telling you about the incident with the soup pot. Sounds very innocent, doesn’t it? A pretty shiny silver soup pot. But you’ll see. It’s awful.

We walked in the door from an outing to be hit by a terrible stench. “Oh, yuck, I should’ve taken out the garbage with diapers,” I thought. So I did. No better. Must be something in the sink. Did dishes. No better. What is it?!

Then I checked the silver soup pot which had been sitting, looking pretty, on my stove all week, or possible since the Stone Age, I couldn’t be sure. Aaack! Broccoli from outer space with mossy tentacles , growing rapidly and certainly soon to be developing artificial intelligence, nourished by the primordial sludge of aqueous goop it sat in.

THE WORST SMELL EVER!!!

And I’m a mom, so I’m an expert in stinkage. I even feel sorry for the other nasty compost I rapidly dumped it on. It could be used as a deterrent for robbers. Just leave an open pot in front of your door. If the stench doesn’t stop them, they’ll trip on the pot, slip in the goop, and meet a ghastly demise in your entranceway.

…I think I may have watched “Home Alone” a few times too many as a kid. Possibly only beaten by “Ernest Goes to Camp” and “The Princess Bride.” All of which explains my highly refined sense of humour (i.e. the stupider, the better)…

So beware the covered silver pots sitting on your stoves. You never know what might be lurking within their deceptively shiny walls. And while we’re on the topic of animate kitchen utensils, you’d better watch this fabulous musical kitchen jam by the Muppets’ very own Swedish chef. Crank it up, and don’t forget to dance! 😉 It’s a very effective cure for moodiness known as “Muppet-Therapy.” But more about that another time…

The Muppets: Pöpcørn – YouTube

5 Reasons Why Stay-At-Home Parenting = Writing Success

Here is one more awesome post from Kate from Australia, whose blog I love. Her “Fail” posts are ridiculously funny. I wish she could come over for tea. We could sort socks together (ha!). She’s a fellow crazy mom blogger, and here’s her promised post on why writing at home works so well. Enjoy!

katelikestocreate's avatarLaptop on the Ironing Board

I used to think I would have to wait for my children to grow up a bit before thinking about becoming a writer, but now I realize I’m exactly where I need to be. Here’s why:

1. You will be desperate for a creative outlet

odd socks

There are only so many lullabies you can sing and pretend cappuccinos you can sip before you start craving a use for your brain.  Harness this hunger and write!

2.  It’s the ideal set-up

"The Frenzy": a cartoon depicting chaos surrounding an oblivious Kate who is writing furiously. Annie empties cornflakes onto the table, Harry is watering the television and the other two have kindled a small fire on the table and are roasting marshmallows

If you were trying to write on weekends whilst working full-time, you might struggle to get yourself into the right frame of mind.  If you took time off work to focus on your writing, you would have to face the unbearable pressure of producing something good and printable to validate your choice.  When you’re a stay-at-home-parent, you have the luxury of writing for fun.  If you ever get to the point…

View original post 328 more words

On Writing

This post made me laugh so hard I had to share it, and I also completely agree that being at home with the kids is a perfect setting for being a writer. Love it. Hope Kate makes you smile as she does me..

katelikestocreate's avatarLaptop on the Ironing Board

Pretty notepad with pen, tea and chocolate

Disclaimer: I suspect this is going to be an insufferably self-indulgent and introspective post.

Suffer.

I love writing. I get such a rush from words tumbling out and jostling for position on the screen or in my ratty notebook.  There is a delicious agony in searching for the right word or the perfect one-liner. I am filled with glee when I finish a piece and it’s done, it’s definitely done and I can totally publish it.  And knowing that I have readers as lovely as you is pure bliss.  I think I know now what I want to be when I grow up.

And here’s the funny part: I think that my job as a stay-at-home-mum fits perfectly with this plan.

I feel a little nervous saying this – in any other profession, it’s perfectly OK to say you love working and that your job is full of fun perks…

View original post 268 more words

Modern Women Use Tools!

/home/wpcom/public_html/wp-content/blogs.dir/f08/56183691/files/2014/12/img_5784.jpg

As a mother of four girls, I realize it’s very important for them to be able to take care of themselves, and to be competent with tools.

/home/wpcom/public_html/wp-content/blogs.dir/f08/56183691/files/2014/12/img_5778.jpg

Of course, no harm in their tools being made of chocolate, at least for now!

/home/wpcom/public_html/wp-content/blogs.dir/f08/56183691/files/2014/12/img_5781.jpg

Thanks, Opa Bang Bang!

Random Silliness: Scotty Goes Exploring

IMG_3879-0.JPG

Let’s just say I couldn’t sleep, so this is the random silliness I got up to to distract myself from thinking about being awake. A friend’s mother gave us this giant Scotty bathroom tissue stuffed creature. At first I thought it was straight to the give away pile, but my brother and I laughed so hard over thinking about stupid things we could do with it, that it’s still here, exploring the world and having adventures.

Since I’m frequently up at night in the bathroom (gotta love the squished, almost 9 months pregnant bladder), I may as well have some fun with the Scotty creature. Someone’s gotta have some excitement!

IMG_3880.JPG

Thank you to my sweet brother who bought me this fun pen for my iPad!
Perhaps doing kindergarten style art will convince my body it’s way past bedtime and help me sleep… here’s hoping! 😉

Maybe then I could have enough brain power to actually finish the drafts I’ve been working on about leadership in learning and fostering peace in a warring world…but for now, it’s the adventures of Scotty, and me dreaming about soft pillows and happy sleeps.

Pregosaurs: A Scientific Study

After living in the jungle for quite some time, I have been able to make a detailed study of the little known creature called the pregosaur. Here are my findings.

IMG_3818.JPG

Pregosaurs are large, sleepy beasts with ferocious appetites and dreadful tempers. Neither nocturnal or creatures of the day, pregosaurs sleep in small fits throughout the day and night, and frequently wake to roam in search of food.

After feeding, they often fall asleep, but are prone to waking up shortly after belching gas and roaring terribly. Other wildlife wakens them at risk of their own lives, due to this peculiar crabbiness.

Pregosaurs have difficulty getting comfortable, perhaps in part due to their distinctly shaped body, which includes a large protruding stomach, so it takes them a long time to settle in their nests. Their belly appears swollen, and seems to have life of its own as it ripples about in strange movements when the pregosaur is resting.

Their skin is rather like that of a chameleon, capable of taking on the shades and patterns of the jungle around it. Thus you will find floral pregosaurs, spotted pregosaurs, striped pregosaurs, etc. It is quite the sight to behold a pack of them socializing. They communicate through a variety of sounds from growls and moans to what sounds like hysterical laughter. They like to carry each other food in their claws and eat it together as they interact.

Some go together to the steaming mud pools to drink herbal soups or that dark sludge called caffeinus perkius, which seems to make the pregosaurs a lot more cheerful.

After nearly a year in this strange stage of development, pregosaurs morph into a new creature: the Momosaurus Reck. But that is a topic for a future study!

Writerly Ramblings: On Not Blogging Enough Lately

20140622-210430-75870941.jpg

So for one reason or another, like in the Baby Blues cartoon above, I’ve been letting the usual business take over more lately, and haven’t been blogging very often for the last few weeks. It’s very easy to find something else more urgent on my to-do list (anything that stinks or screams jumps right to the top), but constantly choosing something more pressing than pressing publish is having it’s effect. If I went to a specialist my appointment would go like this:

“What seems to be the trouble , ma’am?”
“I haven’t been myself lately…I’m more irritable and impatient, and I feel like adrenaline is always rushing through my veins, even late at night and early in the morning…”
“I see…and have you been blogging lately?”
“No, not much.”
“No ideas?”
“Quite the opposite. Words are buzzing around my head at night. I’ve got so many ideas I can’t choose which one write about next, or even if I make a draft, which one to publish.”
“Aha! It sounds like you are suffering from an unblogged duct, caused by an excess of ideas and a deficiency in publishing them.”
“But I don’t know where to start…”
“Well, the best remedy for unblogged ducts is to write something, anything, and publish it as soon as possible. This will help overcome this flare-up of perfectionism, and get things flowing again.”
“Thank you, doctor. I’ll get write to it!”
“Once you hear that little sparkle sound of a WordPress notification of someone’s comment on your iPad, you’ll start feeling yourself again.”

So here I am, imaginary doctor’s orders, writing. And I’m glad. I’ve been missing you all. You might think that writers are solitary creatures, only concerned about crafting words in the dark loneliness of a late night office. But the opposite is true. Writers have a great need to connect, to share their experiences, to inspire and be inspired, to encourage others and to be supported themselves. It’s about people ultimately…

20140622-205103-75063443.jpg

I’ve been wanting to tell you about our giant expedition to the park with Uncle Winston, about the inspiring homeschool conference I attended, about the Father’s Day dinner at a Chinese restaurant that ended by me being peed on by the baby, about my new Barefoot Books home business that I’m so excited about, and about all the crazy things my almost four year old has said lately, among other things. So hopefully I’ll get to all these things very soon, and let’s hope this post gets things up and running again!

And for anyone else who has been putting off writing lately, get to it! You’ll feel a lot better…

20140622-202809-73689879.jpg

I’ll tell you all more about it soon, but for anyone who wants to check out my new Barefoot Books site, here’s the link. Hope you’ll love these books as much as my kids do!

Barefoot Books: Colourful, Cultural Books for Creative Kids

20140622-211937-76777913.jpg

Attack of the Evil Dishwasher!

So I think my dishwasher is haunted….after a busy morning of homeschooling (and ignoring the dishes) the kids and I were trying to get the kitchen cleaned up before my friend Coco came over. One was passing dishes to me to load the dishwasher, others were wiping the counter or moving about kitchen chairs (toddler helping). Anyway, as I held my squirmy baby and tried to load dishes into the open washer, the machine suddenly turned on and starting spinning and squirting hot water all over the kitchen, spraying us all. After several load exclamations, and running to put baby in his bed out of the spray, I closed the evil thing and stopped the impromptu shower. 20140612-173238-63158833.jpg Is that what it takes for me to mop the floor?! That my appliances come alive!? Ok, ok, I take the hint universe…I wiped off the soaking wet table and floor, and left the kitchen shinier. I’d give my evil dishwasher a time out for misbehaving, but sadly that wouldn’t help me any… 20140612-173524-63324646.jpg