The Red Ball - Review & Pictures

The Red Ball was hosted at the Please Touch Museum and wow, what a great place for a party! We entered and were greeted with a silent auction and red carpet. The auction items included everything from a makeover to hot air balloon rides. Fun!

Inside, the party's ambiance was spectacular - the room was dimly lit with candles and surrounding red lights along the walls. Stars ran along the VIP wall to the ceiling.

Food stations were set up throughout - sometimes you had to search around a corner to find a new booth. There was lots of seafood - lots of different kinds of ceviche. We even tried an alligator ceviche! One of my favorites was the crab ceviche from Mission Grill. A shout out and thanks to the lovely, Mission Grill ladies for the coupon!

Tony Danza was there - he was very handsome (and grey!). He stood for press pictures and then quietly slipped into the VIP room where he stayed for the night. I was able to get pretty close to him, but he seemed shy. He preferred to stay in his little chair, tasting food that was brought to him. So I left him alone. Another celeb in attendance was an old-school Philadelphia rapper, Schooly D. He's in the picture above, chowing on some shrimp in the VIP room. At the time, I didn't even know I was taking his picture - I was just trying to get the room. Only later did I realize he was in the crowd. He was very friendly and gracious - he mingled with the other guests and I brushed shoulders with him a few times. I kept calling him "Kanye" since he wore his sunglasses the entire night! Heather Graham was supposed to make an appearance but Red Cross sent out an email this morning saying she had food poisoning and wasn't able to make it.

A cupcake from Doug's Cakes. I had a sample of his Vanilla Rum with Fresh Fruit Cake and oh...mah...god....INCREDIBLE. He gets my vote for the best dessert of the night. So Doug - my birthday is in June. You can bet your ass I'll be calling you for a cake!

The hubs and I loved the cocktails served up by Tommy Bahamas - they have a new rum, you know.

I even got the nerve up to have my fortune told with tarot cards. Here I am shuffling them away, thinking about what I want to ask the cards. What did I ask? I'll never tell! It was fun, though. I'm doing my best Snookie face in this pic...what do you think?


A special thanks to Marilyn Sukonick-Zeff for the tarot reading. She was such a sweet person - she even said she wanted to paint me! Ha! I'll pose for you anytime, Marilyn!

Here's some of my favorite shots of the party goers. Lucky for me, everyone was extremely gracious and friendly.

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Piano by heels! Loves it. How adorable is she?!

And the best dressed goes to....the huge, red ballgown above and the plaid vested gentleman below! He told me that his wife specially ordered that fabulous red vest directly from Scotland - just for this event. Doesn't he look fantastic?! Cheers you two and thanks for the picture!

So that's it! I hope you enjoyed the review as much as I enjoyed the party. I'm already looking forward to next year. Hopefully they'll let me crash their party again!

A special thanks to the Red Cross Director of Communications, Dave Schrader, for allowing me to attend such a fabulous party. In all, they raised $216,900 for Red Cross House. Congratulations Red Cross for such a successful evening!

The Red Ball - Preview

The hubby and I had a great time at The Red Ball last night. The food was delicious, the people were beautiful and the party was fabulous. Lots to talk about but you're going to have to wait a little longer for all the deets. In the meantime, here's a preview of what's to come.

CLICK HERE to read my full review on The Red Ball Pictures!

That's right, baby....I'm the media!

A scallop in beurre blanc sauce. One of my favorite foods ever. Be still my heart.

It's Friday!

I'm a happy, relieved girl today. It's been a crazy week at my house. Nothing in particular to report - just one of those kids/work/emotions kinds of weeks. Are you familiar with that kind of week? I'm relieved the hard part is over and we're onto the fun part!

The hubs and I have The Red Ball to attend this weekend. (happy dance!) Did you know it's Red Cross month? This whole month, various Philadelphia city landmarks will be lit up in red in honor. The Cira Centre and Ben Franklin Bridge are among the landmarks scheduled to be lit in red, and other buildings will also be lit up on a day to day basis. It should look amazing! I'm hoping to get some pictures while we're in Center City this weekend. Here's a picture the hubby took yesterday afternoon on Market Street. Notice the flags!

Stay tuned for a full review of The Red Ball. I'm hoping to get lots of pictures - the best part is I'll be hanging out in the VIP area with all the other press and special people. Should make for an exciting night. Hopefully I don't pee my pants from all that yummy food!

To send you off, here's one of my new favorite "it's Friday!" songs. I hate the band Train. Yuck. However, I LOVE this song. It's happy, fun to dance to, and the mandolin makes it sound kind of beachy. Damn, how I wish I was on the beach right now!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Deep Thoughts - Bloggy Shuffle

I've been working on my new pages at the top of my blog....do you see them? Not much to them yet, but I had started an "About Me" tab only to pull it.

Why, you ask?

Because I don't know what to write.

I think that's the first time I've ever said that.

Yes, I'm Tasha. I'm 32, I like food and....ehhhh, err, ummm....

I consider myself a pretty interesting person - I have lots to talk about, lots of life lived (just ask my mother, my best girlfriend and my husband), but I struggle to get it out.

A blog is incredibly narcissistic...it's about about "me! me! me!", right? But when it comes down to writing something about myself... I draw a blank.

There's plenty to share, but the question is does everyone else care to read it? Probably not. And that's ok. My feelings aren't hurt.

So why is it that, when we think no one is listening, we can have a perfectly reasonable conversation about ourselves, but when we're put on the spot so to speak, we freeze up?

For now, I think I'll save the "About Me" for the draft box.

Suck It Sunday

Thanks to The Mom Jen at Cheaper Than Therapy for the groovy graphic!

Welcome to another edition of Suck It Sunday. Wow, I think I've been doing Suck It Sundays for a month now...time to evaluate. Are you enjoying my suckiness? Or shall we move onto something new?

This week's Suck Its are grocery store themed. I know all my ladies out there can relate - shopping for the week's worth of food is about as fun as ripping out your fingernails one by one. Let's get started...

1. Usually, I try not to shop with both my kids. They like to take the opportunity to argue with each other and/or to run up and down the aisles ignoring my (very loud) screams at them not to. I bet other adults in the store think I'm a total lunatic when I have both kids with me-

"Kids, get over here and shut up or, so help me God, I will chain you to my cart!" Ok, I don't really say that....but I want to. So shopping with a four-year-old and a six-year-old can suck it.

2. People who don't notice that there are other human beings walking the Earth with them can suck it. The set up: I'm walking down an aisle, there's a person with a basket in that aisle casually scanning the shelves. They parked their basket in the dead center of the aisle - sweet. I slowly keep walking....ok, there's some eye contact with them, they know I'm here. I stop my cart, which is practically touching their cart, and wait for them to move their cart over so I can pass....waiting......waiting.....

Oh fuck this.

I move their cart sideways (groaning and stubbing my toe) just enough so I can pass by - which is where they should have parked it in the first place - while they continue to look at the shelf.

Um hello? Did you see me just move your cart? I know you did, you rude aisle hogger, you. Have fun shopping for your Rice Krispies...and suck it.

3. God bless the checkers and the baggers. I can imagine their job is painfully boring - all they do is run food over a clear spot and wait for a "beep!" They probably don't get paid very much, either. Boring and no pay? You have my deepest sympathies.

However, checkers and bagger who have NO sense of urgency can suck it.

I always try to pick the "fast" lane when I'm shopping. But somehow, just my luck, I pick the checkout lane that has the slowest....fucking...checkers....in existence. You know the ones - they have ten (grumpy) people in line, where the line has started to turn and snake down the store, and yet they don't seem to care. They're not going anywhere, so why get these people through the line any quicker? They'll pick up each item slowly, examine it, look for the bar code, and if you're really lucky they'll want to talk about each item and how it applies to them. All the while, I'm standing there, and have been for the last twenty minutes, giving them the death stare and they don't even notice. This is where I practice my two-unmedicated-childbirth breathing tactics. It's their world and we're just livin in it - to watch them look stupid!

I don't want to hear about how your grandma's cousin's dog went to dog camp because he ripped this apart, or how you haven't seen this kind of cereal yet and wonder if it's any good...Just check my shit and let me get on with my life. Rapido! And when I'm finally on my way out....suck it!

4. Now let's move on to the parking lot. Most of the time, this part is relieving. I'm done shopping! I'm leaving! I get to go home and relax now....but sometimes, there's that person who wants to carelessly drive in front of me as I'm walking my full cart back to my car. They're driving too fast and they're certainly not about to yield to the pedestrians around them. If I'm alone, they will only get my famous death stare. BUT, if I have my kids with me, this is one of the very few times I will yell at a total stranger. My favorite scream is

"I'm walking here!"

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Yeah. Never pull in front of a mother and her kids, people. If the driver yells back or gives attitude, I will throw my kids in the cart and..."Stay here kids, mommy's going to kick someone's ass for a moment. Be right back."

I don't mess around with parking lot safety. I don't know why this brings out my "Mental Mama Bear" side, but it does. If you don't let me cross with my babies, I will come over to your car, jump on your hood and beat in your window. Ok, not really but, I'll at least scream at you. Typically, I am NOT a "scream at other people" kind of person - I reserve that right for my husband. But, in this case, I make an exception.

"I'm walking here! And suck it!"

Songs Drunk People Love

As most of you know, I was a bartender for six years. Before I became a bartender (I started pouring 3 days after I turned 21 to be exact) I had been in the restaurant biz since I was 16. I liked people, it was good money, I found that I was really good at it...and having a hot, 20-something body helped, too.

Anyway, so after years of bartending, I got to know the songs that drunk people liked to listen to. Partly from the music played on the jukebox, partly from the times the drunks would randomly break out into song, partly from all the karaoke nights I had to be tortured with during my shifts.

Here are some of my favorite drunk songs:

-Sublime's "Santeria". Dear God. This song was very cool and fun when it first came out in 1996, but, sweet bearded Jesus, I've heard it 10,000 times too many. This song gets played at every... single... fucking... dive bar... in existence... at least ten times a day. I don't need to hear how he has a dalmatian and can still get high... ANY more!

-Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl". What is it with drunk chicks liking this song? Every bar I've worked has played this song regularly and, whenever it would come on, every single woman in the place would get up and start singing at the top of her lungs....while the dudes would just sit back and smirk. Yeah, they're gettin laid tonight. Sigh. Is it last call yet?

-Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes". Ok, so this is the song that boyfriends would play for their girlfriends, to show that they were "sensitive". Oh please. Too bad the bartender could see right through their bullshit. But did I tell on boys? Nope...I just offered their girl another shot - on me! Yuk yuk yuk! I wouldn't be the one holding their hair when they were barfing an hour later - I'd be the one collecting the tips for treating their girl nice.....thank you very much......

-Eric Clapton's "Cocaine". Uh huh. Need I say more?

-Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy". Um dude, you're not sexy. You're drunk and spitting in my face. Move along.

-Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". I hate this song. Ladies, if you care at all about your reputation, DON'T sing this song. People will remember it and hold it against for the rest of your life.

So that's my starter list. Anyone have any songs they'd like to add?

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Attention Philly Foodies - The Red Ball

CLICK HERE to see all the juicy pictures from The Red Ball!

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If you hadn't figured this out already, I really...really love to attend food events, and food events for a good cause are even better.

You can read about my past food events under my March Of Dimes tab or Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation, Las Vegas.

And then there's The 2009 Epicurean Affair...

I'm honored and thrilled to announce that I've been invited to another amazing foodie event called The Red Ball produced by The Philadelphia Red Cross. As we all know, The Red Cross has been very busy in the Haiti relief efforts, so this event comes at a very appropriate time.

The Red Ball is a “red-tie” gala event featuring food tasting from 40 of Philadelphia’s premiere restaurants as well as dancing and luxury auction items. The event raises money for Red Cross House, a one-of-a-kind short-term housing facility in West Philadelphia where hundreds of local families every year begin their recovery from fires, floods, and other disasters. Each year, Red Ball attracts more than 1,000 guests from the Greater Philadelphia area’s business and social communities.

All proceeds from the Red Ball will benefit the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Red Cross and the operations of their one-of-a-kind Red Cross House recovery facility located in West Philadelphia. Red Cross House is a stable environment designed to help families find shelter and recover from a disaster by supporting their emotional, spiritual and physical needs.

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To learn more about the event, the Red Cross House and participating restaurants, visit http://www.theredball.org/.
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Sounds totally fabulous, doesn't it?! Stay Tuned to The Housewife Diaries for a full report on the evening, the food, the guests, the gossip and everything in between! (Word is that Adam Crossley is going to be performing. Squeeeeeal!)

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Here's a few pictures of the preview press party to hold you over:

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Tom Foley, CEO of Red Cross SEPA Chapter Speaks with CBS 3’s Jim Donovan and Shelley Hoffman.

Catering for the American Red Cross Red Ball Press Preview Party provided by Max & Me Catering.

Suck-It Sunday

Thanks to TheMomJen at Cheaper Than Therapy for the graphic!

Welcome to another edition of Suck It Sunday! Have someone or something you'd like to tell to suck it? Snag the graphic and go to town - that or just leave your suckiness in the comment box.

1. People who follow too closely in their cars can suck it. Seriously, if I'm unable to see their front bumper in my rear view mirror because they're too busy riding my ass, then they're driving too dang close. I've gotten pretty good at giving death stares through the mirror. I don't need that person driving the rusted up, '79 Toyota Civic to run into the back of my car. Hello people - I've got my kids in here with me. So slow down...and suck it!

2. Parents who don't teach their children to be kind and friendly to other kids can suck it. My boy is having trouble making friends in his new school. He is student of the week next week, so he had to fill out a survey about himself to read to the class. One of the questions was "what are your three wishes?"

You know what he wrote? "A trampoline, a space room and a new friend"

God dammit....way to break my heart. My kid has three wishes for anything...and he asks for a friend? Ugh. Excuse me while I follow him to school and hunt down all those cliquish first grade boys....is slapping someone else's kid illegal?

3. Tiger Woods can suck it this week. His apology shouldn't have been THAT important to begin with, and what he did say was total BS. Scripted, rehearsed and totally not believable. Hey, did I ever tell you guys that one of his mistresses, Jamie Jungers, used to babysit one of my Vegas girlfriend's daughter? My girlfriend said Jamie would come over and talk about Tiger, and how it was common knowledge among everyone that she was effing him. Innnnneresting!

4. The snow can suck it again this week. I still have two feet of snow in my yard and it ain't melting fast enough. I'm ready for flowers and grass and warming weather....so bring on Spring!

That's it for this week.

Blond Moments

Remember when you were young and you heard a song you liked, and you didn't know the words so you just made up your own? Don't all kids do that? It's hysterical thinking about the words I came up with for some songs.

Every time you go away, you take a piece of poop...and eat it!

(Correct words- Every time you go away, you take a piece of me with you) Laugh all you want! I think I was like seven when I composed the poop words. By the way, check out the link above to see how craptastic Paul Young's hair was.

But did you ever listen to the same song, say ten years later, and finally figure out what the real words were?

Um yea, that happened to me recently. I was in my car, singing along to the fantastic song, "Low" by Cracker....

A million poppies gonna make me sleep. Just one row and it knows your name. The fruit is rusting on the vine. The fruit is calling from the trees.

And then it hit me.....

Holy shit, this song is about drugs. So I had to listen to it again, just to make sure.

Hey! Don't you wanna go down? Like some disgraced cosmonaut. A million miles below their feet....

Yep. Drugs.

Who knew?! It's still a good song. I like drug songs. I don't discriminate. Hellooooo Mr. Tambourine Man?

Here's the song in all its glory. Takes me back to 1994 and my high school days...and believe it or not, I never did drugs. I'm just crazy like this naturally.

Maybe that's why I never "got" this song?

Happy Valentine's Day

Did everyone have a nice Valentine's Day? I think it's totally overrated - it makes me crazy having so much candy and chocolate in the house! I don't have the willpower for sweets. Remember last year when I ate Jack's kindergarten teacher's box of chocolates? Yeah, real nice, Tasha.


My hubby is always really good about making the day special. Thanks honey bun! He surprised me with a reservation to Smith & Wollensky for a family dinner. I have three letters for you....Y U M. I prepped the kids to be on their best behavior, and brought along plenty of video games and my ipod touch. My plan worked and we ended up having a very nice evening!

This dinner was the first time I'd been out of the house (other than to go to the grocery store) in a freakin MONTH. Right now, I live a pathetic life. But I'm working on changing that! More on that soon....

Here's the kiddos and me on our way out the door to dinner...we were very excited. I hope you and yours had a great V-Day!

You Know You've Made it When....

You know you've made it in the blogging world when men in Russia start writing about you. (click the link to see what I'm talking about...)

Cant translate the words? I'll do it for you:

Output blogoobzor: blogs three American girls

Today, in honor of the day off I would like to make special blogoobzor. I will tell you a story about three American representatives of the fair sex, who earn on the internet on their own hobbies.

Despite the fact that they are all closely linked to the Internet - they are fundamentally different ways of life.

Tasha - Young mother and author of the blog TheHousewifeDiaries.com
A former bartender, now an exemplary mother of two children is my diary and knows about his simple family life. In the menu on the left you can see a cloud of tags that describe the place where they go to rest the whole family. Frankly - I adore these "Photo", because in them you can see the simplicity and naturalness of family life and life in general.


Creepy? Yeah, maybe just a little bit. Especially since the guy looks like he has whiskers. Is that a new Russian fad? Whiskers? Or maybe they just help him find his way around in all that deep snow.

Thanks, Russian Dude, for the compliments. I'm glad you adore my pictures - they are cute, aren't they? A little scary that I "represent the American fair sex" to Russian men. If they only knew! Yuk yuk yuk! And bless your little heart for calling me a "young" mother.....young? I look young? Sweet. Not only that but I'm an "exemplary mother"? Shit if I look like an exemplary mother then God help the American people. Remind me to remember this next time my six-year-old tells me what a crappy job I'm doing.

"But Jack, a dude in Russia thinks I'm exemplary! So take THAT and stick it where the sun don't shine!"

I'm thrilled....it's not every day that Russian people blog about you.

Snowmageddon, Round 2

We've been snowed in all day thanks to Snowmageddon, part 2. This storm is worse than the last one! Here's a video the hubs and I made about an hour ago. As you can hear, he's just as much of a goofball as I am. Watch it through the very end...you'll see how deep the snow has gotten. Keep in mind I'm 5'9". The snow comes up past my knees. It's nuts. The snow on my car is just from the last 18 hours or so....

Housewife Reflections

The hubs and I were having a conversation the other day, and he mentioned that my blog has gotten increasingly negative over the past few months.
"There's all this swearing....it's fuck this, and suck-it that..." he said.

I couldn't help but giggle at first, because anyone who blogs themselves knows that these little blog babies of ours are specifically for shit like that - complaining, moaning and groaning and general ranting, and in my case, swearing. I never swear in real life. Well, hardly ever. I don't want my kids hearing it, and plus, I come up with other words to replace the naughty ones. But god knows I love me some good swear words. So I swear it up here and, that way, when my significant other comes around, I can put on the happy face and get on with life - with a clean mouth.

Makes sense, right?

But then I got to thinkin....


Maybe my blog is too bitchy. Mostly I hate people who perpetually complain. It drives me nuts when a person sits on their ass and bitches, and doesn't DO anything about their problem. I would hate for others to see me like that.


However, I did just move to a strange city, not knowing a soul, and am trying to jump in with both feet and start my life over...again. The hubs and I have done this twice before - once to San Diego and once to Vegas. So I'm not a rookie....but I'm not exactly "good" at doing this move thing, either.


It's a tough balance. But while I'm trying to figure out my new life here in Philly, in my quiet moments I often reflect on how lucky I am, and how this time has given me the opportunity to slow the fuck down and learn to just enjoy my life and my kids. It's been amazing to just "be a mom" and not worry about how I'm going to find the time to get everything done, or what I'm going to wear to the next party....


I've spent the past eight weeks in mom sweats and ponytails - no events to attend, no friends to have over, nowhere to go. I've welcomed my boy home from school every day ready to help him with his homework and bake cookies together. That's time I'll never get back, and I'm so grateful that I've been able to do that with him. I've spent loads of afternoons with my daughter, teaching her new songs and snuggling an extra few minutes when she wants it. I'm not the type of mom that could do this for the rest of my mom career - I'd go totally insane being home 24/7 - but for now, I'm trying to appreciate that I have the time, and the patience, and the energy to enjoy it while it's here.


So, even though I'm not exactly "happy" right now, I'm not sad, either. Figuring out my new path isn't easy. It's going to take lots of mental processing, time and patience, but most of all emotional courage....or as I like to call it...balls. I'm going to need some big balls to get through this. Luckily I've got some stashed away for times like these.


My apologies if I've been too bitchy. I certainly didn't mean to come across as The Negative Housewife (just call me Debbie Downer? Wah! Wah! Wahhhh!). To cheer up the place a bit, here are some of my favorite pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Shoo-Fly Pie, anyone?

One of the many storms to hit Philly this season...

The Franklin Institute

Butterfly Face

Suck-It Sunday

Thanks to The Mom, Jen at Cheaper Than Therapy for the graphic!

So sorry my Suck-It Sunday is running late today, but the Internet has been out all morning...thanks to Snowmageddon. Snowmageddon...you know, the 3 feet of snow the east coast was buried in yesterday morning? Growing up in Colorado, this shit ain't nothin new to me. It still sucks, though. I've never liked the snow. Snowstorms are fun for a few hours, but then the family and I stop liking each other and we need to get out of the house. Remember I work from home all week so once the weekend rolls around I am ready to get OUT. I tried to make the best out of the day and spent most of it watching the newscast (something I never get to do!), drinking coffee, making homemade cinnamon rolls and cream cheese brownies and listening to lots of classical music. Sounds pretty decent, eh?

Just to give you an idea of how bad it was at my place, check out the pictures I took:

The snow along our sliding door was almost as tall as little miss Ava!

Anyone want to have a BBQ?

It's supposed to snow more this Tuesday and Wednesday. Great. Can't wait....can you sense my excitement?

So I have only one thing that can SUCK-IT this week. Can you guess what it is? The snow. The snow can suck it this week. Philadelphia has received 50 freakin inches of snow this season. They're calling it a "historic" winter. Lovely. Enough already for pete's sake. I just got here.

Is it spring time yet?

Conversations with Ava

If you've missed any of my other "Conversations with..." entries, just click on the link on the left sidebar. The hubs and I have had lots of conversations that you won't want to miss!

My daughter, Ava, and I have been spending a lot of time together lately - she's been sick so I've kept her home with me. All day. Every day. Capiche? Here's a picture of her and Jack - this shows Ava's personality in all its glory. Yep, that's my girl!

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The set up: I'm at the computer working as usual. Ava runs by me saying...

Ava: "I need to hurry up before it gets there!"

My mommy radar is up, so I ask...

Me: Before what gets there?

Ava: My pee.

Me: Before your pee gets where?

Ava: My pants.

Me: What?

Ava: I need to hurry....before it gets there!

Me: You mean you need to go to hurry up and go to the bathroom before you pee your pants?

Ava: Yes!

Me: Sweet.

Me again: Well then, go there before it gets there!

She's a girl of few words but she definitely knows how to get her point across.

Deep Thoughts

Don't you love how your voice sounds when you've got a cold? You know, when your nose is so stuffed up it feels like your eyeballs are going to suddenly burst out of your head?

And then there's the extremely intelligent people who hear you speak and then politely ask "are you sick?"

No, you stupid moron. I just like to talk out of my nose. Doesn't everyone? Yes, I'm sick. Thanks for asking. Can I cough on you now?

As I said yesterday, my precious daughter handed this cold over to me. She's been pretty sick, too. Her nose is even runnier than mine, and I've had to beg her to blow her nose every ten minutes....cause we all know how much kids loooove to blow their noses, don't we moms?

That was sarcasm, by the way.

So I hold a tissue over her face and finally get Ava to blow, but instead of blowing into the Kleenex, she blows her snot all over my hand. (shudder, gag, shudder) How do kids do that? Does she have a little snot steering wheel up her nose?

Tissue? Nah!

Hand? Definitely!

I hate snot. I can stand pee, puke, poo and the random shit I find in my son's hair, but there's something about boogers that makes me want to heave.

So there I am, dry gagging, holding a dry tissue with my hand covered in snot...while my daughter carelessly shuffles away.

Can someone get me a barf bag?

And some soap and water?

And some hand sanitiser?

Being sick with your kids is the best. I wonder if a martini and some Mucinex would make me feel better...

Crock Pot Lasagna

Gretchen posted a recipe for a crock pot lasagna a few months ago and I finally got around to trying it last week. A little background: I don't like to cook. I'm not any good at it and, although I can hold my own, I've never had any confidence in my cooking. I would prefer to just eat, instead. Isn't it amazing how food tastes so much better when someone else cooks it?

Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, I'd never made a lasagna in my life (pretty pathetic, eh?) so I thought a crock pot recipe would be a good place to get my tootsies wet. Amazingly, this recipe is a piece of cake...and it's GOOD! I made just a few tweaks - I cooked it for only four hours, because the reviews said the noodles become too soft after six hours, and I also added some defrosted spinach to the layers. YUM!

My daughter brought me a lovely present home from school this week: a bad cold. I've been feeling under the weather for the past few days, so some warm, easy-to-make lasagna sounds like the perfect end to a sick day.

Click to see the recipe below. Bon appetit! Make sure to come back and tell me how it was.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Suck-It Sunday

Welcome to Suck-It Sunday! Here's my weekly list of people, places and things that I'd like to tell to suck it. Have your own list? Grab the graphic and go to town. Just make sure to let me know so I can read it and laugh along with you. And it would be really super awesome if you link me back from your suckiness.



1. Freelancer taxes can suck it. I work full-time from home, which to most moms sounds like the job of a lifetime. And for the most part, ok...it is. Only did you know that a free-lancer pays twice as many taxes as an office-bound career woman? Yea. Ouch. I already make about a third of what I would make working outside of the home, but then I have to bend over and pay an entire month's worth of my salary in annual taxes. Awesome. So suck it, freelance taxes. Thanks to J for the Suck-It heads up!

2. Rush Limbaugh can suck it. He's a complete psycho...and he's not even a nice psycho. He's a jerk. Need I say more? Thanks to my fellow scribe, VegasGhostDude, for the Suck-It!

3. Frozen beer. Ok, maybe this is a strange one but...sometimes I put a couple of bottles of beer in the freezer to cool them quick. I hate waiting for cold beer! But if I'm having a particularly crazy night (my kids puking, for instance) I forget about the beer. Which means I wake up to a nice little freezer present in the morning: frozen, slushy, exploded-all-over-the-god-damn-freezer beer bottles. Not only that but the beer inside is completely ruined. Damn. You'd think I'd remember my lesson after the first time? Ummm, nope. Happened just this week. So frozen beer can Suck-It.

4. People who give too much advice. Sometimes, a woman just needs to vent. She needs to ramble on about how shitty the bathroom looks and how much laundry she has to do and how much her son's feet stink. So she calls her people, and most of her people are awesome. But there are a select few that think she wants advice on how to do her laundry faster, how she needs to suck it up that her husband doesn't put the toilet seat down, and how investing in some odor eaters will take care of her son's stinky feet.

Um, just shut up. Shut the hell up. I don't need your advice. I need you to shut your pie hole so I can get it all out. Then, after we hang up, feel free to gossip about me and tell you husband how immature and silly I am. If I need advice, usually I'll say something really clever like....wait for it....."I need your advice on something...." Ding ding!

Damn that felt good!

5. Teenagers in the movie theatres who kick the seat in front of them during the entire movie (especially when I'm the one sitting in the seat in front of them).

6. John Edwards can Suck-It again this week.

7. Low-rise jeans. Dear low-rise jeans, you were fun in my mid 20s, and showing people my ass crack every time I sat down was the best. But now that I have a post-baby muffin top and, dear god, no one wants to see my crack anymore....why are you still being made? Go away! I don't want to see you ever...again. Ever. Low-rise jeans, you can totally Suck-It.
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8. Reindeer Auto can Suck-It. Stay tuned to hear about their response to our claim!

Bloggy Recognition

It's really nice when one gives you some bloggy recognition. I received some this week and I couldn't be happier about it.

One of my favorite bloggers, Closer To Lucy, named me as her Blog of the Week. I don't know what the hell she was thinking (too many martinis?) but she did an amazing write up about my bloggy style. So Lucy, I humbly bow down to you. Thank you for the love and smart-assed support. Right back at you.

Lookie, she even did up my header:



So go over and check Lucy out. After all, she found the answers to all of life's questions in some breath spray!

Things I Need

Things I need:

1. A Life

2. More gay men friends. I've been telling the hubs this for years. I love gay men. Always have. Why? Not sure. Maybe because they dress better than I do? I've seen TONS of gay men since moving to Philly. Way more than I ever saw in Las Vegas. Kind of ironic, don't you think? So where I can hang out and make some gay men friends?

3. More purses. There is a Coach Outlet store at the Nevada - California border. I was able to get my purse fix there every six months or so when the family and I would make trips out to the coast. Now, I'm getting bored of my purses. Plus, I could use a little retail therapy. My ass is lonely.

4. Lose 20 pounds of blubber. But then you already knew that.

5. A babysitter. How I'm going to find a good one? I have no freaking clue. The neighbor across the street says she has a great, college-aged babysitter and that I could use her. I just haven't gotten the balls up to go over there and ask for the number. Why? Because I'm shy? Yeah, that's it. You believe me, right?

6. A magazine column. This is my career dream - to have a sassy, advice-driven weekly column. That, and a book deal.