Happy Halloween

Okay, I don't have a whole lot of time for reflections on the non-stop week that makes Halloween--I will shortly after another birthday party, 2 hockey games, Trick or Treating and a sleepover--but I wanted to throw out a couple of Halloween photos to get in the spirit. (Get it?)

Anyway, I am also hiring Stevie as the new family photographer because the boy has a gift.

Tomorrow I shall post pictures of my werewolf pumpkin and mummy dogs we are having for dinner. I am nothing if not maternally macabre.





Jessie was bobbing for Snickers...

A Soap Star, A Diva and Diapers

There is no doubt that my children and the Intern would call me a big loser for many reasons, but today I am officially--albeit loosely and tenuously--amongst those ranks....

Check out the "Celebrity Mom Spotlight" on Generation Huggies, and check out that mug on the same page as Alison Sweeney of "Days of Our Lives" and "The Biggest Loser" fame...yep, that's me! Gabbing about my thoughts on motherhood while along side of some other (ahem) famous welebrities. I am honored to be amongst this talented crew!

And so can you!

Submit your 60 second video regarding motherhood by November 20, 2008 and you could win prizes and be a part of a national ad campaign! Vote for others and with or without a video submission, enter to win the sweepstakes for $30,000!

Have fun and go Moms!

*

I hate this day. It's the one with the built-in grief, the automatic sorrow. The day I get through with a giant asterisk amending all of the days thoughts and feelings.

I lost my Mom 9 years ago today, and I have missed her every single minute since.

This day marks how much has changed, and how little. So much has happened in 9 years, but I feel the same as I did then--a scared girl who doesn't know how I'm going to get through this without my Mom.

So know I'm holding you a little closer today, Mom. If that's possible.

What Not to Wear

I hear word that Governor Palin is going to have to donate all of those clothes the Republican donors so graciously unknowingly paid $150,000 for last month. Lucky for Palin (and unlucky for the country) there are a lot more deserving charities to choose from than merely a month ago.

But I'm lobbying for me. I'm thinking that although my calendar doesn’t hold a whole lot of opportunities to wear a $2500 Valentino jacket, I could find places to wear the pricey wardrobe...

Don’t I give stump speeches to people in government? (See HOA/sign blog.) Don’t I do comedy? (See HOA/sign blog.) And I can almost see Cuba from my house!

And tonight, I will be escorting a visiting relative (we could say I was courting a Pennsylvania voter rather than saying Aunt Val) to the Neil Diamond concert where I will be cracklin’ Rosie and singing songs sung blue--I could be sporting a Saks suit and Nieman-Marcus shoes.

Can I count on your vote? I’ll share...

Halloween Make-Up Tips from Disney

Thinking I may have to incorporate this advice from Disney when making A-Dog's costume this year...

Happy Birthday, A!

Happy Birthday, A-Dog!

I seriously cannot believe that child is 5 today. She's sick as an A-Dog as well, but we'll try to salvage the day.

This also marks one year since her last surgery, and I'm more amazed by her progress in that year than anything I've ever seen.

Her first 4 years of life were not easy ones. Everything has had to be translated for her or someone translating on her behalf, and to watch that hearbreak is immeasurable. In the span of this year, she's gone from being virtually unable to hear and speak, to sitting at a table of other preschoolers laughing and playing like a 5 year-old should. As crazy as Sunday's party was, every second was worth it for this:


The most normal thing in the entire world is also the most extraordinary.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful little girl. You are so loved.

Onward

***SIGN UPDATE***

Because you want to know how ineffective I really am...well, one sign has come down--the offensive Prop 2 offender. Shockingly, when they approached the resident to let him know it was against the rules, he promptly removed it without question. Completely reasonable, as I think most people are. I think that that is the case with the majority of the signs, most people probably aren't aware of the rule and simply wondered why their neighbors were such apolitical potatoes. So I expect that others will follow suit, or we'll have flaming bags of dog crap left at our doorstep.

So I can be done now--or drive through my neighborhood with my eyes shut for the next 13 days.

***UPDATE OVER, GETTING A LIFE NOW***

Onward. There's a lot of anger brewing and bubbling out there, do you feel it? Frankly, I'm sick of it. Time for a collective mood upswing.

Here's something that has made me happy over the last few weeks: my novel. A switch has flipped, and I know have gone from working sporadically on it when everything else gets done (which was hardly ever) to putting it my first writing project of the day. And it shows. I now have a story with characters that are fleshed-out and unique. I now think things like, "But Mia would never say that," or "Has Danielle ever been to Europe?" This is a departure from the way I write in my "real" work, so it is very gratifying to be at that place and see a concrete book rather than just a nebulous idea that may or may not ever get on paper. Now I need to start thinking of a title...

I had a nice lunch today with the posse for the October birthdays, and that is always a good spirit builder. It's good to have good friends, and we've got some fun events over the next few weeks that I'm looking forward to.

But tonight, it's sausage and peppers and some oven-roasted potatoes while we watch Game 1 of the World Series.

Things are looking up already.

Signs of Crazy

I told you the yard sign issue would continue, and so it has.

So's the signs have now quadrupled in the neighborhood with no sign of rebuke from our useless homeowner's ass. In addition to the presidential declarations, a new one cropped up yesterday on our Proposition 2, which is a proposal to ban gay marriage with a Florida Constitutional amendment.

The sign explains the amendment by saying, "1 man+1 woman=legal marriage" Protect marriage or some such thing that I really didn't feel like explaining to my 8 year-old when he asked what that sign meant.

So, dutifully, instead of putting up my own sign that reads, "I live in a neighborhood of idiots," I wrote my homeowner's ass. with a repeat complaint, including the gay-bashing sign for all to read and to explain to their children coming off the bus stop in a neighborhood that doesn't allow signs, even when it is a resident's business owned truck that has his landscaping company's name printed on the side that he now must cover up with a black magnet every night when he comes home from work because the Kravitz' complained it was against HOA policy, yet they play games with the rules they apply to others but not themselves by keeping their political declarations posted in the garage. I was more succinct and brief in my complaint to the management company, as was their response.

"It is a difficult situation."

We pay them tens of thousands of dollars for that kind of sage response.

Actually, it isn't difficult at all. If it is against the rules, then make them take the signs down. Period. Across the board. If they don't, fine 'em. Just as they would have no problem doing for a dirty roof or sidewalk. I seriously have no patience for this.

Sean doesn't either, and after a very colorful response to their response to the tool at the management company, he went to the Board Meeting which just happened to be last night. They were surprised to see him, because no resident has ever attended. After a brief presentation of his point, they agreed that perhaps a phone call and letters were warranted. Wow. They are so bold.

We shall see if this accomplishes anything but labeling our house as the crazy people who are about to get "McCain-Palin" bleached into their front lawn. But my point from the beginning has been if you're going to allow them, that's fine. Just give me equal time. I will paint a mural on the side of my house and erect political topiary from my azaleas.

Beyotch.

We didn't have too much going ont his weekend...

So I've been absent from the blogosphere for a few days because I was busy planning/executing Sean's surprise party on Saturday and Amy's 5th Birthday party on Sunday...

I didn't announce this prior to the weekend because I knew my friends would then have to plan an intervention when they heard that I had invited 52 of A's closest friends along with a petting zoo of 4 rabbits, 3 goats, a turtle and a sheep and 1 large pig in the backyard for preschool birthday celebrations and I didn't have time to study for the Rorschach test and fill 50 goody bags.






But we did it, and she had a great time and it was nice to see her with kids her own age, talking.

So now onto the next round of preparations: Halloween and a 13 year-old birthday.

Someone wake me in January.

HB,SH

Happy Birthday, Sean!

Sign, sign everywhere a sign

I'm posing a question here, because I really do want to know what you all think about this issue, because I am highly intrigued about this...

The question is on political yard signs. You know the flimsy little stakes bearing the candidate's name planted in people's front lawns as a public announcement of who they are voting for?

Yeah, those.

Now we're not allowed to have them in our neighborhood--it is strictly against the homeowner's association rules. It's always been like that from long before we moved in 8 years and applies to all signs except real estate. I've never seen anyone not abide by those rules (except for a local election a few years ago when a resident was actually a candidate for the city commission) until Mrs. Kravitz put one in her yard a couple of weeks ago.

People complained. A letter was sent.(This is exacerbated by the fact that she is literally behind every single complaint in the entire neighborhood.) She took it down, but then moved it 10 feet to the inside edge of her garage facing out toward the street and now leaves her garage door open so you cannot miss it each and every time you pull into the neighborhood.

My question is this: are these signs at all effective? Do they sway undecided voters? Do they reinforce your vote if it's your guy, or make you mad if it isn't? Does it make you look at the person differently, good or bad? Do most people use them to show support of one guy, or to protest the other? Do the amount of signs from either camp forecast voting trends?

I've read some editorials in the paper recently where opposing parties have destroyed said signs, and again, does this really do anything besides ignite anger and reinforce the owner's ire over the opposition? Methinks this is not an effective form of protest from either side.

I stopped by my local campaign field office and they were out of them. I obviously am not allowed to put one up, but I thought maybe I'd find another locale or depending on how much moxybitchy I was feeling, stick it in my garage. But I don't know--I'm really wondering about this. Do you put have one in your yard?

Thoughts?

Pictures, as promised (sort of)

Remember a couple of weekends ago when I said I vowed to get some good pictures of my kids? Well, one week late and one kid shy, but here a couple:



That seriously might be my favorite picture of Jessie yet.



My boys at the Lightning Home Opener



And yes, I let him get a Rayhawk today since the principal suspended the strict hair length and style rules for one day. (He has to shave off tomorrow) He turns 13 in two weeks and I thought that teenaged rebellion in the form of a one day bad haircut to show support for a baseball team was a battle I would gladly surrender.

Huggies Weekend Wrap-Up

I am now back behind the computer in a dark room with “Yo Gabba Gabba” serenading me in the background rather than the exotic locations of the last 3 days. Bummer, ‘cause I was kind of getting used to being the “celebrity blogger.”

And now I will attempt to blog about blogging, which hurts my head a little, but I will blog on.

Basically, I was a part of this Generation Huggies promotion honoring Huggies 30th Anniversary. This mobile Huggies unit is going around the country registering Moms to win $30,000 (that’s dollars, not diapers) and film these 60 second interviews with real Moms about Mom stuff. I was able to talk to these amazing women and blog, text, video, and email photos to this really cool site TheMotherhood.com. It was so unique. (And as an aside, you can still do all of this online at GenerationHuggies.com)



The first night was in Celebration at an Oktoberfest. The girls and some brave friends accompanied me there. It was really fun night.



On Saturday, the crowd was smaller because we were in a different location, but we still got some good stuff. I got to talk with the crew that was traveling from city to city, and they were amazed at the diverse responses from all of the Moms (and some Dads!) they had interviewed so far.


Sunday we spent at the Winter Park Art Festival, which was bustling with thousands of families! We had no trouble finding lots of Moms who wanted to share their stories and answer my questions and pose for photos.


On the long ride home (which may be the most collective hours I’ve spent alone in 4 years) I listened to a lot of eighties music and thought about what this whirlwind weekend was all about.

*corny maternal reflection alert*

Watching the creation of this mosaic of motherhood was pretty fabulous, and while it is amazing how different motherhood looks on different people, it is more amazing still how universal it is.

And, just so you don’t think I’ve totally become a Hallmark card:


From the Generation Huggies Event in Orlando--The End.

Day 3!

The final day of Generation Huggies Diva Edition will wrap up today at the Winter Park Art Festival just Northeast of Orlando. I'm putting on my lipstick and swallowing gallons of coffee now.

We stayed out late watching the Lightning home opener and I'm crazy tired, but excited for the event today. It'll be pretty nice to spend a day at an art festival blogging away...

Day 2 in Orlando

We had a blast in Celebration last night with Generation Huggies. Please go to TheMotherhood.com and watch the videos, listen to the phone interviews, see the pictures and read the posts--there is so much there, it will feel like you were catching leaves and dancing in the rain with us.

We are now heading over to Pointe Orlando for another round of Diva talks Diapers. You know you want to see this....

Celebration celebration

Packing up and loading up the girls for our Orlando event...

I'll be checking out--and of course blogging on--the Generation Huggies happenings over at Oktoberfest tonight in Celebration, Florida.

If you want to talk imported beer and diapers, I'm your woman.

A Suburban Diva Confession on Suburban Diva's Confessions

Bless me Blogger for I have sinned. It has been 3 weeks since my lastcolumn.

I don't know what's with me lately. Every time I try to write some light humor, it ends up sounding like some horribly angry version of Mad Magazine, although incoherent and forced. I was hoping to put out something for tomorrow like I do every Friday when I have it together, but it just isn't happening.

Which is really kind of a bummer because I'm off to Orlando tomorrow for some events (details to follow) as a "celebrity blooger." A very quiet, word-challenged celebrity blogger who just happens to be in the middle of a dry spell.

Maybe I'll just have to do one of my "Best Of" shows. Ick.

Vote for Me!

The Intern got his Voter Registration card in the mail today.

Welcome to a battleground state with 27 Electoral votes up for grabs. Expect to be wooed like Popeye by the Spinach Lobbyists. Like you are Catherine, and the voter phone bank is Heathcliff. (And sometimes you're Heathcliff to their Catherine.) Like the Treasury Secretary on bended knee to the Speaker of the House. Like a Trick-Or-Treater at the house with the King size Snickers. Like a gas station in Charlotte. Like you are the Olympic delegation and the candidates are members of the Bejing Chamber of Commerce. You=valid U.S. email address. Them=Nigerian Prince. Like Sonja to Simon Cowell; Cloris Leachman to judges we have no idea what their names are.

Welcome to Florida during election season.

(This was a little bit fun to think about--post some more here and I'll see if I can't dig up a prize or two for some winners.)

Win 30k for doing what you already do everyday

It’s a question that doesn’t have one simple answer. A riddle that will produce as many different responses as there are…well, riddles. And although there isn’t only one right answer, everyone wins when we Moms think about the question…

What does motherhood mean to you?

In celebration of their 30th Anniversary, Huggies is offering a forum for Moms to answer that very question in 60 second video clips that may be featured in an upcoming online ad campaign.

Go to GenerationHuggies.com to get the information, as well as to enter their sweepstakes for a chance to win $30,000 and tell the world about your journey through this beautiful mess we call motherhood.

I’m going to be helping spread--and gather--those powerful words from Moms next weekend here in Florida, (more on that exciting event later) but until then, check out the motherhood.com-- a truly remarkable site that is absolutely going to change the way Moms use the Internet. You really don’t want to miss this…

Weekend Promises

I promise to sleep in on Sunday, and urge my sleepy children to do the same.

I promise to watch a lot of sporting events caring little of the score, but the playing in between.

I promise to relax a little, and encourage my family to do the same.

I promise to stay up late on Saturday to watch SNL past the first musical act.

I promise not to think, talk or otherwise engage in politics except for the SNL vow.

I promise to clean out another dresser, although if I don’t get to it, I promise not to be too hard on myself.

I promise to cook something comforting and delicious.

I promise to take one really great picture of one of the kids doing something they enjoy.

I promise to push J-Dog on that bucket swing every time she goes to the door and says, “Go.”

I promise to kiss my husband square on the mouth for no good reason.

I promise to make bacon for Matty on Sunday morning.

I promise to write the next chapter in my novel, even if it’s just on the pages of my mind.

I promise to breathe. Deeply.

No, It wasn't "Road Rules"

Today is the day that a certain major television show is airing the episode they contacted me about a few weeks back.

It is bittersweet--sort of--because I really wasn't at all suited for this particular topic--thank God--but it sure would have been nice to sit--or jump--on that couch.

I shall wait patiently for the casting call for "Uber Cool Mom Bloggers with a Penchant for Hockey and Pomegrante Martinis.

You have the number...