Non Bloggers: A Series

My favorite part of English class was when we finally got around to reading the work of the people who were less likely to share it. Not that it was any better or worse, it was just mysterious, I guess because some people ::wait for it:: DON'T COMPULSIVELY OVERSHARE.

Not a bit.

I know, right? But it is just as often that these people have just as much if not more to say.

When I first met Matt, he contacted me through my first blog on myspace. I if I remember correctly, it was a strange kind of serendipitous thing, a story too long for me to tell right now. My point is, the people you meet on the internet sometimes become actual real breathing people who you one day look back and say WOW DUDE, we've known each other for 5 years now.

His kid has aged from 3 to 8, so the Family Sized Fun they are having is a little something something we have to look forward to.

And now, for Matt. (I can't TELL you how much I love to share my friends with each other!)

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Creativity and Cardboard

I'm divorced, and I am fortunate that I get to see my son every weekend. A lot of divorced dads are not so lucky. And on our weekends, I try to stay busy. I get to be the "fun dad". We seldom have homework, though a couple of weeks ago, I helped him with a school project - we made a 3D model of the Pantheon for his multicultural fair at school. And while helping him with that education, I also educated him on knife skills by showing him the wrong way to use a utility knife to cut cardboard. We both learned a lesson!

Last Saturday was also a fun-packed day. It started too early as Alexander woke me before 7am. On my day off. *evil glare of love* I slowly drug myself through the paces of getting myself ready to face the world. We started by watching an episode of Doctor Who, brought to us via carrier pigeon from England. Quality stuff, that. Recommended. This episode was a bit scary, which is why we watched it in the morning, instead of an hour where nightmares would be induced.

After that we headed to Home Depot for their Kid's Workshop. They give the kids fun little wood and nail kits to build, and ours gives Chick-N-Minis from Chick-Fil-A. Today's project was a picket fence planter. Here's info: Kids Workshops at The Home Depot. Lowe's has a similar Build and Grow program: lowesbuildandgrow.com/

After that, we headed to Coliseum of Comics in the Fashion Square Mall for http://freecomicbookday.com. It's a day where comic book stores give out free comics to get new readers. We were able to pick up comic books for Fraggle Rock, Shrek, Toy Story, Superman, The Avengers, and the Green Hornet, all for free!

And then we gathered friends and went to Whole Foods where they were celebrating 12 years of business in Winter Park. They had a cook-out of awesome food - grouper and salmon sandwiches, shrimp kabobs, beef sliders, portobello mushroom burgers, and more for $3 a plate and $1 drafts of Orange Blossom Pilsner and Toasted Coconut Porter. (I free-sampled the porter - not bad at all - a slight coconut aftertaste). And best they had a kids area of arts and crafts, featuring cardboardasauruses and paper bag mushrooms to decorate from the Spore Project (http://dougrhodehamel.wordpress.com/) and some dry bean art (on real canvas boards). These are all awesome arts and crafts - way better than the face painting you usually find at such a place.

Like this.

Carboardasauruses are the brainchild of an artist who invented them for a dinosaurs and cavemen themed party and then began making them for kids at Misty Forest, and enrichment center in Orlando. http://www.mistyforest.org/ They're easy to make using recycled cardboard, and look wicked cool.


Best of all, unlike the Pantheon, this kept me from losing blood.

We came home and had barbecued tofu and homemade french fries and watched Star Wars Episode III, Alexander's favorite. It was a good day, full of geekiness and creativity!

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Gosh, Matt. Imma hafta get me some fridge boxes now, I AM SO INSPIRED!

Do you have some fun cardboard crafts to share? TELL US! Would you like to join our Family Sized Fun Community as a Guest Non-Blogger?

contact Karmen at onomoriah@yahoo.com

You can follow Matt on twitter! @BrerMatt
And of course you know you can follow us on twitter: @FamilySizedFun

Non-Bloggers. A Series.

This blog is MINE.

But it isn't.

If you are reading this right now, and you come back repeatedly, even if you DON'T COMMENT, then this blog is a little bit yours, too, no?

Yes.

As a matter of fact, it is very much Madee and Eden and Boom Boom's, and if any tragedy (GAWD forbid) should ever befall me, this will be the most living record of my twisted little mind. And my life. Well, at least for the past several years.

And to give it the kind of respect it truly deserves, I have made a step in a new direction. I have started transferring and designing and hiring out work and we are soon going to be stepping Family Sized Fun up a notch or 2. I have felt a need to consolidate ALL MY BLOGS and organize posts so that it is easy to find exactly what it is you come here for, or to find something like a recipe or activity or craft idea again.

With all THAT being said, I have also started a fitness regime to lose 20 lbs, and although details will be elaborated on in a post later this week, I can give you a hint: I am hostile when it comes to any kind of exercise. HOSTILE. So we may have Coach Boom Boom give us some updates on my progress from his perspective, since he gets to hear all the cussin'.

Oh yeah, also, we are moving to Florida in like, 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS! So I am all over the place. And I kind of mean that literally. We will be packing up everything in a U-Haul and driving down starting next FRIDAY. Yeah. the 14th.

Does everybody know that MOTHER'S DAY is this weekend? Just saying.

We are having a birthday celebration for Eden (WHAT? I don't wanna talk about it :( )and driving down to my parents house, where BOTH my sisters are living. It is gonna be 1 BIG Coon party up in there!

Once we get there, Boom Boom will fly to San D, get the RV, drive to Tahoe, pack up our storage unit into the RV (well, whatever fits), and come across the country alone. which could literally be a vacation for him, but he will still stress and try to make "good time".

In the mean time, the dogs, the kids and I will be looking for a nice place to land for a while in Orlando. We will be hanging with Matt, going to Disney, and melting in the hot humid South. (Come visit!)

And oh yes, speaking of Matt. Does everybody here know him? Well, you will. He is a good friend and a good writer, and by GOOD FRIEND, I mean, Matt has agreed to give me a hand with some posting around here while I work through this transition - and by GOOD WRITER I mean, that's going to be a treat for all of us.

In fact, I have decided to sponsor a new series written by guest writers that are not bloggers. NOT BLOGGERS? I know right! (There is such a thing?)

Back to my original point, this blog is MINE.

But it is a lot more than just that. Since I have joined twitter, I now have a "knitting circle" of writers and there are many of us who write blogs, and read blogs and I haven't had a group of writers so engaged with each other since I was in college and in upper level writing courses. And if you are a nerd like me, you may be able to find some appreciation for something like that.

It is AWESOME. and INSPIRING. and MOVING. and oh, I am just going to go with awesome again.

Does everybody on Twitter blog?
nope.
Should they?
nope.

But there are a few out there, that still have something to say, even if they aren't going to say something ALL THE TIME. And I have started to round them up as guest posters for my this:

Non-Bloggers: A Series.

And who knows? Maybe they will end up being bloggers just yet. If not, consider it a privileged as they share what they would blog, if they did.

So that is it in a nutshell. Are there any questions? I am going to roll out Matt's first post tomorrow because it is such a stinking cute craft and there are some of us in Twitterworld that are excited for him to share it.

So, if I lost you at any point, here's the sitch: BIG move to domain hosting, McFatty Mama starts running, Big move to FL, cross country trip for Boom Boom, my friend Matt, DISNEY! New Digs, New Digs, and more New Digs.

Dig?

If YOU are a Non Blogger, and you are interested in participating in this series, please contact me at onomoriah@yahoo.com and we will get you all hooked up. Unless you submit something that looks like a monkey threw crap at the keyboard, because we DO have standards.

New Face in Town

Well last night was WAY better than the previous few. Eden was able to sleep enough for all of us and so today is already looking up. Plus it's FRIDAY. Pant-free Friday. And Madee and Eden are dancing to booty music singing "Dancing in our panties!"

Who doesn't love a 2 year old that will say anything you teach her?

Eden thinks it is hilarious!


So YAY!

Update on the stroller search: We found a used Maclaren Triumph in pristine condition for all of our runabout trips and I am already super happy with it. It's a machine. The handlebars are so comfy and it has serious maneuvering capability. We actually still have my first BabyJogger - its a GOLIATH but whatEVS it can handle trails and sand and so it is a good old standby, and we will be reunited with it soon enough.

The search is over. ::sigh:: Thanks to everybody that helped!

And now that I have a full night's sleep, I am feeling much better than I was yesterday, and am even mustering up some inspiration to be excited for our next move, which for me is a move HOME.

And, since it is summer, we will be doing some hard time at the family's lake house. Yippee! I am so excited for the girls to be at the lake this year. Now that they have each other to play with we are all going to have more fun!

And if you haven't noticed, this baby might break her face smiling for the camera. When the flash starts popping she piles on the charm!
Where have I seen that face before? Hmmmm..... oh yeah here it is.


And that little booger in the background with the breaky face smile is all grown up and GRADUATING TODAY!. HOLY CRAP!

Congratulations, Chelsey! We love you and we are so proud we are breaking our faces smiling over here! We wish we were there today, and can't wait to see you soon!

Have a good weekend, and leave a link with your comment of your favorite breaky face smiling kid!

We call them "Mood Swings"

It was another rough night. Eden is just going through a time, and in the bounds of this living space, there comes a point of crying it out that is too much for the rest of us to bear. Or sleep through. I was up several times with her last night, and then, when Boom Boom had woken up early to sneak out for a run, Madee woke up and cried and cried and cried and seriously I am in a hurricane of whining and crying lately.

And that is a lot of my daily existence.

And some times are harder than others. Because sometimes I just don't have the energy to attack a mountain of whining and crying and clouds and cold. Sometimes I just don't know how we are going to make it through the day.

And then I have some coffee. Take my Prozac. Hop on Twitter.

Read a little from this guy's website. Cry a little.

Hug my babies. Real hard.

And find that strength that isn't in me, but is just from somewhere else.

I pack a lunch, get the girls fed and dressed, and take them out in the world to show them things, even if we are just driving by them and pointing from the window as rain beats down on the truck.

It isn't easy to be the Mom.

But I also know that it isn't easy being them either, being Eden, dealing with the mouth pain, not being able to help herself to things she cannot reach, not being able to say what she already means. wanting everything that Madee has, not being able to walk yet, because she really wants to.

And it also isn't easy being Madee, being in this swirl of emotion and new reaches of awareness that just make everything confusing and strange and uncomfortable. Feeling out of control of things and events, but understanding more and more that she could control these things, or that she will at some point. Being told "NO!" all the time. Being thrust into sharing everything - her mom and dad, her toys, her dogs, her space, her time, her food, at a time when she is just discovering ownership and independence and individuality, yet is still vulnerable to feeling like or wanting to be a baby again.

And Boom Boom? Well it isn't easy being him either. I won't get into why, because he is old enough to tell you himself, but he is tired and stressed and dealing with his own things right now.

Oh, and there I go again avoiding talking about myself. I guess I am not in the best place right now. I don't want to talk about it, I just want out. Out of the funk, out of the fog from being so tired, out of the emotion that is 3 females taking turns crying in our house. And I don't want to talk about it because I hate to admit weakness. It is like once I do, things start getting worse and the crap starts to pile on to test just how much I can carry before I fall down. And it's little things.

It's all little things! (well, except the lack of sleep!) but seriously, things are looking up in so many realms that I should be enjoying those developments (moving to FL, upgrading my blog) and I just want to cry because Madee is helping herself to the refrigerator YET AGAIN for what is like her 4 or 5th yogurt in 24 hours, despite the fact that ask her not to help herself, despite the fact that I feed her in the morning, despite the fact that now I'm crying because I feel like I must not feed my GIGANTIC GODZILLA children enough.

So here goes my pep talk, welcome one and all, seriously, if you ever need a pep talk COME TO ME I am like a SUNSHINE ENEMA.

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I have a dream. And in my dream, my new BFF from twitter, who only lives 2 hours away, and I jump a plane for Vegas, buy gorgeous new clothes and go dancing and drinking and hustling gambling winnings from old bald men for MORE GORGEOUS CLOTHES and then end up renting Segways and chucking hot dogs at at the porn card flickers while drinking vodka tonics and chanting "Big Freaking Potato" all night. Then we go into a tattoo parlor and get a tramp stamp of loaded potatoes with bacon and cheese and then run by the chapel to become "blood sisters" in a ceremony presided by a big lady Elvis. Old Bloated Elvis, not the cute one.

And then we go bet all the rest of our money on Keno while eating chicken fried steak and drunk dialing everybody in our cell phone lists and then we win a BAZILLION dollars and BUY BLOGHER and we are the QUEENS OF THE BLOGOSPHERE and we run around arm in arm singing that "Schlameel Schlamozzle" song from Laverne and Shirley.

And now I've found it. I have my strength to make this a wonderful day.

All because of my new imaginary friend.

I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER NOW.

Alrighty kiddos! lets get out of the house!

Wordless Wednesday

Haha. Just kidding.
Imma hafta say something.

First of all, how cute are these 2 at bath time? Last night was Eden's first time out of her seat in the bath tub and she felt like such a big girl.

Although a little worried. And rightly so.


The first thing she did was go for the thing that Madee is always going after to get herself in trouble - the faucet. Awesome. So she knows what the bad stuff is an CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT.

She really enjoyed being hollered at for it.

"I'm BIG TIME NOW y'all!"


Other "Big Girl" stuff she's doing?

Cracking us all up at snack time sitting like a big girl at the kid's table.
She eats dinner like this, too.

When babies attack...

If I Had 500 Dollars

Last night was a rough one. First of all, after what seems like waymore than what's my fair share of nights in the big bed with Madee, I was floor mattress parent.

And Eden was up. all. night.

She must be going through a "frequency spasm" as she is eating and drinking anything and everything that isn't nailed down. So not only is she constantly seemingly starving, she ia also screaming about what ever she is processing from eating before.

IT IS PURE JOY.

So on a morning like this, I can't think much. On a morning like this, I pull out this book my Auntie Teri gave me, (Simple Abundance by Sarah Bern Breathnach)and although I don't really get to it everyday (it is a "daybook"), when I do, it always seems relevant to my struggle for that particular day.

And today, it went on and on for 2 pages of this story and that story but all I got from it was "go get a massage" (or your hair done, or a facial or WHATEVER)

Oh, and "Snuggle your kids. Even if they kept you up all night."

Good book.

So today, as my weepy whiny children who need a little more sleep and a lot more warm sunshine laze around the house, I am going to look up at-home spa solutions and probably rub everybody in the house down with lots of lotion.

I thought I would scour the internet and have a "If I Had Money I'd Buy" kind of day. And perhaps tomorrow's "Wordless Wednesday" will be filled with pictures of the things I found and wanted.

Lately I have been wishing I had $500 to spend here. We were fortunate to adopt this little fella in Arcata, CA at the cutest little toy store named Geppetto's. He is a bed bug.

Later when we checked into the motel we were staying in, Boom Boom said, "At least he won't be the only bedbug here tonight."

Ha.

You can see is well-loved and worn. But I think he might at least need a friend. Like Herpes or The Mange. (I mean Bedbug, not Boom Boom!)


Here's my bedbug. Look at that hair fresh from the shower. She isn't that cute at 2:30 I PROMISE. :)

So if you had $500 what would you spend it on? Keep in mind I want to know what you would buy for yourself and yourself only, no gifts, no presents, no donations, just pure unadulterated retail therapy.

New Wheels

I am a stroller buff. In fact, it is quite ironic that right now, at THIS time, I don't even have ONE. When we lived in the house with a garage, I was quite the collector. Boom Boom would ask me all the time, "You collect strollers like JAY LENO collects cars. What do you plan on doing with all of these?"

And well, each had their own purpose. When we had Madee, we of course got the "travel system" and the Cadillac stroller that holds an infant seat. It is just the stroller I heard you HAD TO HAVE. I didn't even question its purchase. Even though we didn't really live in a place where it could easily maneuver (trails and potholes and sand and SNOW) and, in fact I couldn't use it outside, since there was 20 feet of snow, and I couldn't take it to stroll the mall, since we our town (and the next 2) didn't even have a mall.

I bought an old basic Baby Jogger for $30 at a garage sale that first summer, but it was a pain to disassemble and haul around, and it barely folded up at all. I found a Bob SUV for $20 (it retails for $300) in pristine condition, but HATED IT and sold it for $150. SWEET ACE.

I bought a double "sit and stand" but it was too long to turn easily, a twin Peg Perego that the girls trashed within a month, and although, for the most part, I haven't lost any money at all in strollers, I find myself here now, without one, as I have sold the last of them on Craigslist.com.

But that just will not do. Madee may not really ride much anymore (so I doubt I really need a double), and I know Eden is pretty close to walking, but still, even if they don't ride in it all the time, I still need something to sherpa my mile high pile of crap that comes with us on the simplest of trips.

I need a rig that will jog, stroll, and walk through a mall. Something that can handle sandy beaches, rooty hiking trails, maneuver through doorways, jog down dirt roads and pothole laden streets and still fit in the back of the car leaving the dog enough room to lay down.

It should have a cupholder and good storage underneath and a swivel front wheel and a good sunshade for a sleeper.

And if it can make coffee and do dishes, I will even consider paying an extra $20.

Do you have a stroller you love? Tell what you love/hate about your baby gear and what you buy all over again!