free (fringes) love

{So it turns out I broke the internetz trying to get this link to work.  Anyway, read on, and please visit free fringes to participate in Lovelinks #8.  You can still link your post here, but we won't see the pretty thumbnails!  Erica has promised me a hosting gig AFTER my switch to WordPress, which is now imminent - stupid Blogger...}

I have a confession to make:

I have a secret crush.

I can’t help it.  My crush makes me feel special.  My crush makes me feel like what I have to say is interesting and important.  My crush also makes other small blogs feel the same way.

So I guess my crush is kind of a blog hussy.

But that’s okay.  There’s enough love to go around, isn’t there?

Erica at free fringes is the creator and fabulous host of Lovelinks - a brilliant new feature that highlights the smaller blogs (like mine!) and brings them together with fabulous readers who will help spread the love - or at least make you feel a little less lonely.  

AND it's easy peasy to get involved by linking your favorite posts of the week that could use the love: either someone else's or your own, then vote on your favorites.  

Winners will receive a fabulous button and bragging rights for the week (sorry, a years' supply of macaroni is not included.)

I am flattered to have won Lovelinks #7 (acceptance speech?  I can barely get a sentence posted!)  So I was bestowed the honor of hosting this week's Lovelinks #8

Want one of these?  Then link up!

Give us your best post of the week, or share with us your favorite obscure posts from when you were just messing around instead of working on that spreadsheet.

Submissions are open beginning at midnight Tuesday (5/24) until midnight, Thursday (5/26) then the fun begins:

1. Visit as many links as humanly possible

2. Leave relevant comments on your favorites

3. Come back and vote for the one you loved the most - voting is open until midnight Saturday (5/28) then the winner will be revealed!

4. Don't be mean or stingy: Karma will bring you back as a cockroach

What are you waiting for?  Click below to link up (and stop making me look bad, or Erica won't let me play with her stuff anymore!) 

[Edited by Erica M---for your link to work, you'll need to add this hyperlink somewhere in your post: lovelinks #8. Just something like: this post was lovelinked this week at lovelinks #8. Very simple]

The Mommy Has Two Faces

                 or

We can’t ALL be June Cleaver, but we can act like her.  Publicly, at least.  These are a few of my confessions (your results may vary):

::~::

At the tee ball field:  "Sweetie, you can't help your team if you're laying in the dirt - you gotta stand on the base, you silly goose!"

On the way home:  "I can't believe you spent the entire game laying in the dirt!  I'm not coming to another game ever again!  Now you'll never play for the Red Sox!"

::~::

The In-laws hear all about the lovely salmon dish that you slaved over for their grandchild's birthday dinner, because that's what your precious baby wanted.

They do not hear about the rest of the week's menu, which was comprised mostly of Ramen soup and frozen pizza.

::~::

On 'Pajama Day' at school, every child is wearing freshly laundered, rip-free PJ's that are as cute as a button!

At home, fleece tops and bottoms are found, but it must be explained to the protesting child that it really is okay to wear a Lego Star Wars top with Super Mario Brothers bottoms.

::~::

Lunch for school is lovingly prepared, and contains the following items:  a sunflower butter and banana sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread, with apple slices and an organic milk box.

Lunch at home is a can of Spaghetti-O's dumped in a bowl and nuked for 90 seconds, 

and may or may not be served with a cup of coffee.

::~::

On school days, the kids always have on clean underwear.

On non-school days, they are just as likely to be going 'commando.'

::~::

C’mon, fess up!  I can’t be the only one...

Reboot

Okay, so I took a little *break* and I feel like I have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Sometimes, I have these weird panic attacks.

They start out in the pit of my stomach - where the little butterflies start flittering.

Sometimes the butterflies grow.  And grow.  And grow.

Until they turn into something different.

When that happens, things start to go awry.

The shame of it is, that nervous, tweaked-out energy usually translates into some of my best material - I’m pretty funny in calamity!  But I can’t get it together enough to concentrate on any one thing for longer than a nano-second.

The kids generally don’t realize I’m in mid-crisis;  partly because I try not to visibly freak out, if at all possible.

And partly because they make me screamy anyway.

Normally, Derek’s there to talk me down from the imaginary ledge, and I can get back to a place where I can function normally.  At least for a little while.  At least until the next one happens.

I can’t figure out why they come and go the way they do, and usually I can work through them, but sometimes, they just get a little too big and demand attention. 

Kinda like a third child.  Or worse, a second husband.

So I do what I can to make it through, until the anxiety decides to retreat back to it’s dark little cave.  Although that periodically takes some creativity on my part.  This time, I needed something a little crazy to get back to “normal.”

So naturally, I dyed some of my hair purple.

I feel much, much better now...