In The Mind of A Thirtysomething Mom

6279+ Brain Dead People Later,

and it's the end of Nablopomo!!!! Yeah! It was really getting hard to come up with interesting and riveting topics to write about every day. I hope I haven't bored you all to tears these past 30 days. Sometimes even with three kids 10 and under, the blogging fodder runs dry. I don't know if I'll keep up the daily posting or not. It depends how busy things get around here. In honor of making it to the last day in November, Fussy made this great button that I post with pleasure!

My birthday is next week, so after bombarding you all with pictures and videos of M dancing tomorrow and some not important posting on Sunday I will play catch up on the Meme's I'm behind. I think the number is at 3 right now. After all, it's my birthday week and it's all about ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I know you're all dying to read more about my neurotic quirks. LOL

I was thinking about some things recently that I wanted to get some thoughts on from you my lovely readers. What makes a blog worth reading? I mean, I think I'm somewhat funny looking, I write good well, I have hilarious children and yet I can't get traffic to my blog. I've signed up for Cre8Buzz (what is up with my high number? Please if you are a part of the Buzz, give me a high ranking! I soooooooooooo hate seeing a high number there!), Blog Explosion, Nablopomo; I comment on people's blogs who have never heard of me; I do the Meme's I'm tagged from (albeit snarkily-but just once-sorry again Sasha); I share wonderful color pictures and videos (look at my beauuuuuuuuuuuuutiful children!); I post interesting things at times (some rants, some important, some fluff); I share yummy recipes (yeah, ain't made those pretzels since) and wonderful menus (yup, we starved this past week-gotta try and lose weight ya know); I've done the free stuff giveaway, what else can I do???? I know there are people reading (I can seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee you!); I appreciate that!

Ya know, maybe it's comments I'm really after. Shoot, even when I provide a question in my posts and ask for answers in the comments I either don't get any or very few (see here, here, and here for examples). It's just like high school. I measure my worth on how liked I am. I'm getting a complex that you guys are mocking me: "Look at what Tina posted today. That's the dumbest stuff I've ever read!". I'm not feeling very well liked people! Show me some love!!!! Leave some comments please!!!! I need some positive reinforcement that you people actually read and like me!

I'm gonna go bury my head in the sand now. I'll be back to post more stuff that you guys don't read read and don't comment on.

Have a great weekend!

*Please know that this post was posted tongue-in-cheek. Well, except for the needing comments part. :) Everybody loves comments!*

This one goes to Mr. Smoochiefrog

I allowed Mr. Smoochiefrog to have this post, mainly due to the idea being solely his.

Head over to his site for a good laugh on behalf of K.

Thursday Thoughts

Tis the season. We hear it often from mid November through about January 1st. Unfortunately for many people it's tis the season to go into debt. A huge number of people literally "shop till they drop" from Black Friday until Christmas Eve spending thousands of dollars on things that will either break or be left alone for weeks after Christmas. Then when January/February rolls around, those same crazy shoppers begin to panic when the bills start coming in the mail. Suddenly that Wii system they just HAD to buy (whose controller broke 2 weeks later no less) isn't looking so great anymore. 

I was looking at other blogs and found one that was talking about this same idea. I'm not even going to link to that blog because the author suggests that for Christmas you get a payday loan to take care of your shopping expenses.

Uh, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you like paying 120-500% interest a day for your Christmas presents, then go right ahead! I'm not going to stop you. I'll just shake my head and wonder why you listened to them and not me.

"Well Tina, what can I do to change that for my family?", you may ask.

It's actually a very simple answer:

SAVE MONEY ALL YEAR!!!!

*THUD* That was the sound of about 50% of you falling out of your chairs at the idea. Now why would you fall out of your chair? I'm not talking rocket science here. Let's take a look:

.83 a day (a little more than a daily paper, less than a soda from a vending machine)

$1.67 a day (roughly the cost of a medium/large fry at McDonalds after tax)

$2.50 a day (roughly the cost of a burger at a fast food place)

$3.33 a day (less than the cost of a coffee at Starbucks)

Which number would be the easiest for you to give up everyday?

"Give up? What are you talking about Tina?"

Just what I said, GIVE UP!

If you save .83 a day, (giving up that soda or newspaper) you'll save $25 a month, which = $300 by next December.

If you save $1.67 a day, (giving up those fries) you'll save $50 a month, which = $600 by next December.

If you save $2.50 a day, (giving up that burger) you'll save $75 a month, which = $900 by next December.

If you save $3.33 a day, (giving up that coffee) you'll save $100 a month, which = $1200 by next December.

Holy Cow!!!! $1200 to shop with???? In cash???? Wow!!!! Now what could you buy with $1200???? If you're not shopping at high end stores for everything, you can get presents for your entire family as well as some extended family. If you hit the great sales, you may even have money left over! 

AND

If you put the money into a money market account like ING or a Christmas club account at your bank, you can earn interest at the same time. You'll have a little more than the $1200 at the end of the year. WooHoo!!!! Bonus money!!!!

A wise man once said that Christmas comes every year. It doesn't sneak up on you. The date doesn't change from year to year, so why should you be scrambling come the end of November?

Are you willing to give up a coffee at Starbucks for a year to avoid going into debt?

It seems worth it to me.

Not to mention the calories you'll save! Maybe you'll lose weight in the process!

Just a thought!

Dinner Conversation Pt. 2

Overheard at the dinner table tonight:

B: "Who won Dancing With the Stars?" (He's restricted from the T.V. for the rest of the month so he wasn't able to watch the finale)

Mr. Smoochiefrog: "Helio"

M: "The yellow and gold outfit people, right?"

Me: "Yes."

Random conversation inserted here and then all of a sudden....

M: "Did you see Cameron last night?"

Me: "Yes M."

M: "In the Superman costume with the cape?"

Me: "Yes, M."

*M looks dreamily into the sky*

Me: "He's not all that M."

M: "The way he looks, oh yeah."

Mr. Smoochiefrog: "I'm out!"

*He runs from the room*

Dear God in Heaven help me. She's only 6!!!!

Christmas Makes Me Cry

ETA: If the video doesn't work, go to Youtube and type in "Christmas Makes Me Cry video" into the search box. It should be the first video that comes up.

________________________________________
I hear this song on the radio a lot right now, but the first time I heard it I almost wrecked the car I was crying so much. The lyrics are poignant and deep and really make you think.

This video was taken from a concert in IL. There is some kidding around at the beginning between Mandisa and Matthew West but once they start singing....

I know it's 7 minutes long, about 3-4 of that is the kidding around. Please take a minute and watch it. You'll be better for it, I promise.

If you have a hard time hearing all the words, here are the lyrics. Sorry they're in all caps. I took them from Matthew's Myspace page.

CHRISTMAS MAKES ME CRY
MATTHEW WEST

I THINK OF LOVED ONES WHO’VE PASSED AWAY
AND I PRAY THEY’RE RESTING IN A BETTER PLACE
I THINK OF MEMORIES OF YEARS GONE BY
AND SOMETIMES CHRISTMAS MAKES ME CRY

I THINK OF SOLDIERS ACROSS THE SEA
AND SOMETIMES I WONDER WHY IT’S THEM INSTEAD OF ME
THAT FOR MY FREEDOM THEY GIVE THEIR LIVES
AND SOMETIMES CHRISTMAS MAKES ME CRY

CHORUS:
TEARS OF THANKFULNESS
TEARS OF HOPE
I CRY TEARS OF JOY AT CHRISTMAS BECAUSE I KNOW
THERE IS PEACE ON EARTH FOR EVERY HEART TO FIND
AND SOMETIMES CHRISTMAS MAKES ME CRY

I THINK OF FAMILY
I THINK OF HOME
AND SAY A PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO SPEND THIS TIME ALONE
‘CAUSE LOVE CAN REACH OUT INTO A SILENT NIGHT
AND THAT’S WHY CHRISTMAS MAKES ME CRY

CHORUS

I THINK OF A MARY AND A VIRGIN BIRTH
AND I’M AMAZED BY HOW MUCH GOD THINKS WE ARE WORTH
THAT HE WOULD SEND HIS ONLY SON TO DIE
AND SOMETIMES CHRISTMAS MAKES ME CRY

CHORUS