I will take a graduation gown over the hospital kind any day of the week

I spent more time than usual cleaning, shopping and organizing than I normally would on a beautiful May Sunday, but that was to hopefully get a jump on the week ahead, because it's a big one.

We've been joking all school year about the hype and ceremony that is 8th grade graduation around here, but as we now arrive here, I'm softening--or wearing down--a bit.

His kindergarten year also was the first year the school opened, so there is an emotional (and financial) investment that has certainly fostered over the last 10 years. And although we've got three others coming up the pike, I would be fooling myself if I didn't admit that this "graduation" is certainly special, and this year certainly has been a challenging one.

It was only 10 weeks ago that he underwent heart surgery for a cardiac condition we didn't know he had 4 months ago. Since then, not only was he able to make-up all of his work, but he nailed all of his finals, participated in every sport, responsibility, and activity, while continuing as Student Council President. He will also make the honor roll.

Obviously, I'm proud. So very proud. But I also am so grateful for this moment, coming so close not to having it.

And so I will celebrate with him and for him this week.

Congratulations, my sweet boy.

Awesomeness for charity

We are fortunate enough to be able to attend a lot of cool events around town, but last night's may have been one of the best.

Braving the heat and a fully-stocked stretch limo, we made the drive down to Sarasota to attend Dick Vitale's V Foundation annual gala to raise money for cancer research.

It was a star-studded event at the Ritz-Carlton (how could that be bad?) and we had a great time. We even got a chance to hang with some of those stars like Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson (well, we were in the same room at least) and Tony Dungy just to name a few of the many that were in attendance.

Some of whom were too slow to dodge our photo requests...


(That's Kenny Chesney in case you didn't recognize him without his cowboy hat.)

And did I mention the food? Delish as well as trademarked...



And then there were the real superstars...

And in happier news...

...Stevie is getting ready to go to his 8th grade graduation dance.

Wait a minute, that means he is old enough to be finishing up his elementary/middle school career and starts High School in 9 weeks.

Well, that's pretty depressing (for me) after all.

I am...

I'm angry. I'm upset. I'm sad. I seriously cannot believe that there are still millions of gallons of oil being gushed into the Gulf of Mexico while a corporation starts talking about liability caps before the well spewing its poison is even capped.

I am astounded that our governor wants to get $35 million for PR campaign on why Florida beaches can still be visited this summer instead of fighting for money to actually clean up this garbage.

I am mad that our president switched his stance on this.

I am saddened when people make environmental issues political, and forget that we are all humans on this planet and have a responsibility to be good stewards of it regardless of party affiliation.

I am disheartened when I realize that not only will untold tax dollars be spent on cleaning this up, but consumers will be paying for it at the pump and endless other costs as well. Our children's children will still be paying for the cleanup while BP from it's own website reported a first-quarter replacement cost profit of "$5,598 million, compared with $2,387 million a year ago, an increase of 135%." That's the first quarter of 2010. To a foreign company.

I am torn because I will now have to focus my charitable efforts toward helping this cause, while unfortunately neglecting other worthy causes.

So to all of those who still wave rally towels to the ridiculous chant, "Drill Baby Drill,"--take those towels down to Key West and start wiping off an oil-covered dolphin.

This is where I work. Where I play. Where I live.

I am seriously frightened that it won't be here after me.

I'll be back when she's 20

I haven't been posting much because I'm in the midst of potty-training.

Send help.

(Or just more laundry soap.)

Needed: sleepers to try out the new beds

I told you a couple of weeks ago that I was going to order some new beds for the girls from AllChildrensFurniture.com.



I don't usually order furniture online, but I was really happy with these results. Besides the very reasonable price of the headboards (I ordered frames, too) I really liked that there was NO SHIPPING charges. There's nothing worse than finding a bargain online and then having to pay a boatload in shipping fees. Anyway, it came within 3 days of my order in perfect condition and besides a few curse words from Sean while assembling, it was a very easy process all of the way around.

All we need now is for two little heads to start sleeping on those new little pillows and we are all set...

Disclosure: I was ordering these beds anyway, and CSN offered a discount for an honest review. They got one, and so do you.

Nothing for Mother's Day

I actually wrote this a couple of years ago before Jesso, but it still holds true today.

Nothing for Mother's Day.

If you need me today, I'll be poolside with steak and cake, Sangria and my little ones all day.

Perfect.

Viva Las Me

So I went to Vegas. For my 40th, because there's nothing like easing into a big birthday with $14 mojitos by the pool and $10 Miller Lites at the Flamingo watching Donny and Marie.

Expensive, but worth every penny.

We managed to talk 12 other people into spending the weekend of the Kentucky Derby in smoky casinos and smoking hotel pools (The Encore has one of those fancy "European Bathing Pools" that require you to be 21 and camera-less. The only topless Europeans I saw were some hairy old Greek men smoking cigars.) We arrived on Friday and walked the strip and had drinks on the Bellagio patio overlooking the fountain. After gambling, we hopped on over to Paris for dinner and then back to gambling along the strip. Heaven.

Saturday was spent by the pool. And speaking of topless men, Sean started his tan tattoo for luck.


Later, the women folk went to Donny and Marie (Fabulous!) Incredibly cheesy, but when you go to see Donny and Marie at the Flamingo, well, you pretty much know what you're in for.

Sunday was more time at the pool, gambling, and then off to my favorite restaurant in the world--a little French hole in the wall that is absolutely divine. The story is that Bobby Darren named it back in 1974 and it is a favorite haunt by anyone who comes to Vegas. I can see why. Tucked in between a barb-wired hair salon and a burned out gas station, you would never find it in a million years.

But we did, and I'm glad.




Afterward, we went to the old Vegas--Freemont Street--and suffered smoke inhalation and second-hand alcoholism, but it was fun.



And now I'll have to continue easing into 40 in Eastern time. It's going to be a long process, so stay tuned.

I just did this, so should you

I'm going to write all about Vegas, and 40 and the stuff of milestone birthdays, but first I wanted to tell you that I just saved $30 from my Mother's Day flower order from 1-800-Flowers by using my Juicy Rewards.

Serious and timely savings people.

Look how hilarious my ex-friends are...

They also have flat tires in their driveways and toilet paper hanging from their trees, but they are hilarious.

Remember that interview with Brooke Shields?

It's hard to believe that its been about a decade since Brooke Shields was on the big screen. Images of her in The Blue Lagoon and Pretty Baby are so stuck in our minds that it seems that she has always been making films. But this week she returns in the family comedy Furry Vengeance, a look at how wildlife strikes back when a new housing development threatens their homes.

In the film, Brooke plays Tammy Sanders, a part that appealed to her immediately, she told me in a recent interview. In addition to working with friend and co-star Brendan Fraser, she also appreciated the opportunity to work on a family-friendly film.

Now a mother of two daughters, Brooke, 44, says the movie is a family comedy with a broader social message that “is never condescending, and allows kids to feel that they can make a difference.”

Certainly no stranger to the camera, Brooke's career spans more than four decades of film, television and modeling. She started modeling as an 11 month old, posing for Francesco Scavullo for an Ivory Soap ad. Her career never slowed as she continued in films and television, making guest appearances on many shows, including Friends, Nip/Tuck and Two and a Half Men. Along the way, she portrayed (in flashback) Miley Stewart's mom on Hannah Montana and starred in a couple of shows of her own, Suddenly Susan and more recently, Lipstick Jungle.

During our conversation, it was her poignant and unscripted thoughts about motherhood that revealed her refreshingly real beauty. When asked if her perspective had changed on her career and striking a healthy balance since becoming a mother, she said that “it is constantly being negotiated in my mind." While she was always an incredibly focused performer who often made work the priority over her personal life, that all changed when she had children. “It shifted. (It used to be) the desire for work to be the entirety of your life...having children changes that," she said. "Now the desire to enjoy my life is right in front of my face.”

That's why this film was important to her. “I liked to go to work and bring home laughter. I’m a fuller mom when I work.” She loves to share her passion with her children. "You want your kids to look up to you -- you want to earn their respect.”

It wasn’t all serious talk, however. Furry Vengeance is a comedy after all, and Brooke said she had “the best time she’s ever had working on a film.” On Brendan Fraser, who also is the film's executive producer, she had nothing but the highest praise, calling him “one of the most incredible talents I’ve ever worked with.”

She believes this movie will entertain all ages because it fills that gap between adult and kid films with humor that appeals to all and won’t leave the grown-ups checking their watches. While there are plenty of scenes filled with physical and slapstick comedy, she hints that adults will particularly appreciate the end credit, They are laden with dance montages and spoofs of the stars’ past films. And she even pokes fun at herself.

“For 20 years I have refused The Blue Lagoon,” she groans. But look for a funny reference to the film before the house lights come up.

Good-natured humor about being good to nature sounds like a must-see movie for any family.

My Juicy tip o' the week

Don't forget to check your Juicy Rewards options when you travel--I just found some deals for an upcoming trip which is a bonus and makes me look way smarter and better traveled than I actually am.

My Mommy turned 40 and all I got was this lousy potholder

My mother used to have a red and white picnic-checked potholder hanging in the kitchen over the monolith of a microwave that read, “I’d rather be 40 than pregnant!”

I didn’t get it.

At 14 years old, both of those things seemed to be equally as horrifying in my adolescent mind.

Fast forward a couple of decades and four pregnancies later, and I think I’m being let in on the joke.

When I first read that potholder, I figured on the morning I turned 40, I’d wake up in a spiraling pit of depression. Or wrinkle beyond recognition. Or at the very least, something would fall off. I’d get a craving to eat dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon and listen to the oldies station on the radio.

What I failed to take into account -- and a big difference between 14 and 40 -- is that by this great big birthday, I would be in the throes of motherhood, and perspectives certainly change here.

Those pregnancies that preceded this birthday produced four beautiful, healthy children that I love beyond words, and being in this moment with them is my greatest joy. And while I’m sure the potholder-author’s original intent was to make a bad joke rather than suggest an introspective philosophy on aging, for me there is a deeper meaning of this gag gift. Now that I’m here, I realize that after our skin gets stretched out from childbearing and wrinkles a little on the edges, it’s now when we at last become the most comfortable in it.

I may be a little grayer and not carded nearly as often, but that only delays the purchase of champagne to toast a very full life of many blessings anyway.

So throw me what you’ve got, Forty -- I’m ready.

I’ve got an oven mitt with your name on it.

(Cross-posted on Whoa Momma.)

Happy Earth Day

My unwitting tribute to Earth Day includes a second visit from the plumber to fix the toilet from Jessie's tribute to Earth Day by exfoliating Mother Nature when she dropped an entire jar of sea salts down there. Yesterday, they took the toilet apart to find that little gem, and today it is still not working properly so perhaps Jessie followed up with a mud mask or a tube of deep moisturizer.

Oh yes, and I also wrote this up for Whoa Momma.

And this on SuburbanDiva.com.

More redecorating

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been slowly putting the house back together after the Big Carpet Project 2010. I’ve managed to get through the master bedroom and both boys’ rooms, and feel like most everything is back in place with a healthy new shine.

There’s just one room to go.

The girls' room.

I’ve been avoiding this particular nightmare because the scope of this project trumps all other rooms. It isn’t a matter of putting things back in--the baby cribs have been dismantled and given away, the huge canopy bed that never had a night’s sleep in it by the child it was purchased for--a similar fate. I would take a “before” photo but I just watched my first episode of “Hoarders” and I’m afraid I’d get a call from an A&E producer if anyone were to see the crates of stuffed animals that line the walls.

So it’s past time to address this room at our address.

Another problem in this effort is how much I hate to shop. Hate it. I know what I want in my head, I just hate wasting days driving around to find it. So on Sunday, I ordered two twin beds from AllChildrensFurniture.com. I’ve worked with them before (they have given away some gifts to Suburban Diva readers), but this is the first time I’ve ordered from them directly.

I’m pretty excited since it could all be completed painlessly online and it will be delivered to my house in 3-5 days.

But you know the best part? NO SHIPPING CHARGES.

Seriously.

So I will let you know how much we love them and maybe even an “after” photo of the new room.

And if all of those stuffed animals fit under the new beds.

(So don’t call A&E, K?)

Disclosure: My friends at CSN Stores gave me a little shopping spree, and I applied the amount to the beds I had already chosen before we spoke. Seemed like a win-win to me. I will let you know how it turns out.

Don't put those candles away yet

April is a big birthday month around here, and we've had some big birthdays to celebrate lately.



Jessie turned 3 and she got the Spongebob cake she's been begging for for 6 months. It was on display at Publix and since we are there every other day, she had time to form desire for the thing. She didn't need presents after that...



And today is Matty's big day which meant a Storm game and sleepover. Actually it was more of an -over, since very little sleep was involved.



For any of us.




And we won't even talk about the next family birthday quite yet.

Sometimes, we don't have to go very far to spend an afternoon in the great outdoors

Day 4 of our challenge.

Juicy Deal of the Day--Exclusive, ya'll

I’ve got the Juicy Insider Deal of the Day for you...you ready?

For today only, (Friday, April 16) you can cash in 2 Juicy Reward points for a free movie ticket on Fandango.com.

But before you go to the big screen, you have to go to your little one and follow the steps here : www.fandango.com/promo/tropicana/ for a Buy 1 Get 1 Free ticket available today only. (You don’t have to go to the movies today, but you do have to redeem the reward today.)

See, that glass of O.J. you had this morning just boosted your immune system and got you a ticket for Date Night on your Date Night.

Why yes, I am bragging

Posting on more outdoor fun later, but I just had to scream across the Interwebs, Guess who is talking to Brooke Shields tomorrow???!!!

ME!!!!

Okay, back to my regularly scheduled, non-mega celebrity life now at the gym.

Thank goodness there are lights on the field or Day 3

Not all of your outside time need be during the day.




Sometimes extra innings and deciphering the infield fly rule in Little League pushes a nice day outside into a nice night outside.