This is a true story.

It was a balmy night in San Antonio, Texas

and as my car barrelled through the night,
all of the passengers in the car sat in silence.
We were all building up our courage to visit the Ghost Tracks.

The story is the stuff of urban legend...
the tale of an intersection of roadway and railroad track that is haunted.
In the 1930s a school bus full of children
stalled on the railroad tracks and a train crashed into the bus.
10 children died as well as the bus driver on that day.

Legend says that the spirit of the children linger
near the tracks and if a car stops in front of the tracks
that they will push your car over the tracks to safety.
To add to the spookiness of this paranormal phenomena,
folks say that if you cover the back of the car
and rear bumper with baby powder that you will see tiny fingerprints.
No doubt, prints from the dead children.

My friends and I were just crazy enough
to put this urban legend to the test.
We pulled the car up to the intersection
that was seemingly on an upward slant.
The car was put into neutral 30 yards from the railroad tracks.

We sat in silence until one of us would giggle
then we would all shoosh and smack each other to be quiet.
A few of us jumped out of the car
and braved the silent darkness
to put the baby powder on the back of the car
and then ran back in the car squealing.

Then we sat idling before the tracks.
I turned off the engine and put the car in neutral.
As I took my foot off of the gas,
I could feel my heart beating in my neck
I was so scared.

Suddenly, the car started to move forward.
We all gasped as we gained momentum
and went steadily over the bump,
then over the tracks,
and down on the other side.

Once the car stopped,
we all took turns screaming and freaking out.
Did we dare get out of the car to see if the fingerprints were there?
We made a pact to all get of the car together to look.

Armed with a flashlight,
I shined the light on the bumper to find
tiny fingerprints all over the back of my car.
No lie, there were little bitty hand prints all over the place.

We all screamed again and bumped into one another
as we scrambled to get back in the car.
I drove like a bat out of hell
and never looked back.

Don't believe me?
Watch this...

Scary Story - San Antonio Ghost Tracks

Scary | Myspace Video

Have a Happy Halloween!!!


P.S. I am featured today over at Be@Home.
Please click here to stop by and say hello!

Freakshow Friday : Halloween Edition

It's time for another installment of Freakshow Friday. Where I ask my readers to come up with a caption or story for a funny photo. My best friend will be the judge and she's one hilarious freakaziod. So, bring it! Here is this week's photo, I flippin' love this kid.

This costume sucks.

You got a better one for me?

If so, you may just when this awesome award
and have bragging rights forever.

Oh...do I ever have an award for you!
You will win this brand spankin' new award!!

If you win then I'll linkup to your

Blog and make a big deal
about how funny you are.
Simply leave your funny caption or story
in my comments section.

The winner will be announced on Monday

I Was a Fourth Grade Bully.

There is much attention in the media these days about an epidemic that is sweeping our youth, bullying. I feel for the young kids out in the world today who have to deal with bullies. Everyday I thank my lucky stars that I was a kid in the eighties, when things were a bit simpler.
We didn't have to deal with the bullies of cyberspace. We didn't have Facebook and no one sent the little Tweety bird on a gossip flight. I mean, there were bullies back then too. I should know because for a brief period in the year 1984, I dabbled in being a bully. I don't know what came over me but my friends and I picked on this one little girl pretty harshly. I am not proud of what I did.

Becky Burgess was an easy target. The girl had a love of picking her nose. To make matters worse, she would tuck her boogers in her bottom lip and you could see her dining on her saved treats throughout the school day. Poor thing, she just could not help herself. My friends and I named her "Becky Boogers" and made up songs about her that we would perform in the back of playground in a grove of trees. We charged our fellow students a nickel to watch the show. We had a lucrative show running for a while until someone told on us and we had to pack up our gig and call it a day. Although we were crafty and somewhat clever in our chosen way to pick on Becky, we were so wrong to do that to her. If I could give back every nickel that we earned, I would.

I've been on the other side of bullying too. Of course, there was the epic fight of 1988. Most memorably though, in seventh grade, there was a boy on my bus that had it in for me. Rick Pointer was a greasy stoner that might have had a crush on me. Either that or he hated me. Anyway, one day I had had enough of him calling me "Chicken head" and I called him "Lice head" in retaliation. The entire back end of the bus laughed at him and that really incensed him because I think that he really might have had a nasty case of lice. He was so mad that he would follow me home from the bus stop threatening me on a daily basis. When he and his skeevy friends egged my house, it was the last straw. My older brother decided to take matters in his own hands and went to Rick's house to settle the score.

Rick answered the door and my brother let him have it real good. "You better leave my sister alone, or else!" he told my lice infested bully. Rick then threatened him back and went to get his older brother, who just so happened to be friends my brother. They both taught him a good lesson about not picking on girls and let's just say that Rick had a fat lip when he got on the bus the next day. He never bothered me again.

Unfortunately, bullying has been around for a long time and is a potential hazard of being young. Having been on both ends of the spectrum, I can say that it's really horrible to be on either side. In my heart, when I performed my solo about Becky and her boogers, I felt bad. I knew that what I was doing was wrong. I'm sorry Becky, wherever you are. I hope that you dealt with the repercussions of our mean spirited booger variety show on a therapist's couch and that you have let it go. We were just being young and stupid.

I think that the best that we can do as parents is to raise our children to respect others and pray that they can do a better job than some of us did on the playground. I believe that open communication is the key. I want both of my boys to know that they can come to me if someone is giving them a hard time. We also need to teach our children a good helping of self respect so that if they end up a victim of bullying, they will have the strength to defend themselves. That and knowing how to slam a Roundhouse kick to the gut can get you far in life.

The Funny Show.

{G playing a song on a pretend vacuum while

holding a stick horse and wearing my sunglasses with a racing helmet}

I find it important to incite laughter in my home. Some may argue that one is either born funny or not but I firmly believe that instilling a little silliness in my children can't be a bad thing. They have big shoes to fill with my dad being a clown and I don't mean to brag, but I did win the wittiest of my graduating class in 1993 (my second proudest moment to date). So, we play games to encourage laughter as much as possible.

We warm up with an old fashioned staring contest, the kind where whoever laughs first loses. I admit that I have an unfair advantage because I was the master of this game in Elementary school, taking down kid after kid on my bus with my nonsensical skills. The rules are that you can't talk but you can act as ridiculous as you want. All sorts of funny faces pass between G and I as we both try to hold back the laughter. K usually ends up giggling first because he's too young to know the rules. We give him a free pass as G shoves a finger up his own nose and shakes his hips in hopes of breaking me.

After a few rounds of the staring contest, we move on to "The Funny Show". We take turns getting dressed up and performing skits for one another. I usually go first as I slap a pirate hat on my head, grab a whisk in one hand, a pretend sword in the other, and then stumble around the living room talking like a pirate that just inhaled helium from a balloon. "Aye, whose got the scurvy? I'll whip em' up some eggs and rub it in their noses!" I'll shout while stomping around the room. The peanut gallery falls into a pile of giggles as I get more and more exaggerated with my movements. G yells "You are so funny Mom!" and he actually means it. It warms my attention seeking heart every time.

G is up next and he usually mimics what I just performed but might put on a knight's helmet instead, I laugh and slap my knee and then demand that he comes up with his own idea. A few moment later, he is before me pretending to smack himself in the head with a maraca while wearing a Ninja Turtle mask and jumping on one foot. He'll make up a song about the eyeball fiesta. K and I laugh uproariously and G looks so proud. Then it's my turn again but this time I am silly old lady in a fireman's hat and I walk around with my butt sticking out with a shovel in my hand. All while screaming about the high price of bunion cream. We perform one crazy skit after another until our stomachs hurt from laughing. It is so flippin' fun.

Usually K is just a willing audience member but the other day, after we had performed our last skit, he ran over and grabbed the whisk. He then yelled "Boowoohaahaahoo" at the whisk and started spinning in circles. He had a sparkle in his eye as he threw the whisk across the room, grabbed the pretend sword, and beat the crap out of a toy truck while jumping up and down and yelling "doy" over and over. K had his first performance in the funny show and what a premier it was. We all laughed so hard that I almost tinkled a little.

I'm so proud of my future class clowns!

The Happiness Project :: Week 34

Admiring treasures at antique stores.

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://leighvslaundry.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae172/leighbug_photo/2876650690_005fb39e00-4-2.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></div><br />

If you want to jump on the bandwagon
simply post a photo of something that
makes you wildly happy.
Then, steal my button up there
and include it in your post.
Please let me know if you decide to join in.
Don't forget to link up to Mr. Linky.

Just Call Me Nancy Drew.

It was brought to my attention last week that one of my posts had turned up on another blog. I followed the link to discover that someone had stolen 109 of my posts. Pictures of my children and my words were spread out before me. Not only that, but my content had been butchered and abused by someone who spoke horrible English or had a really bad drinking problem. I mean, how can you turn "I am proud to be a part of the movement in support of Dove Self-Esteem Weekend" into "I am haughty to be a prejudiced of a mutation in await of Dove Self-Esteem Weekend"? To add insult to injury, I was in the hospital with K and really did not have the brain power to deal with such a disturbing development.

I imagined a woman named Lola, sitting in the dark, gazing at photos of my kids, wishing for my life, and eating my favorite tube of lipstick (which is Trucco Stained, if you're feeling hungry). I turned into a girl sleuth and did as much research as I could on safe guarding my content. I disabled the right click, posted a Creative Commons License, and even posted a fancy Copyscape button demanding that my content not be stolen. I felt so smug and so smart. I would stop the thief dead in their tracks.

Wrong, not only did the next post show up but they even re posted the Copyscape sign. It became clear that I was not dealing with Lola at all but a Splogger. Clearly, a content scraper is using my blog for free content and traffic. With no contact information and no Whois report to speak of, I had to really pull out my magnifying glass. After a bit of research, I have sent out a cease and desist letter and notified Google Adsense of the violation as well as the host of the guilty blog. Hopefully, they will take action and shut down the thief.

So, it's back to business here at Leigh vs Laundry. I love this blog too much to let some trashy Splogger take it away from me. I have enabled the right click so that people can download The Happiness Project button again. To keep myself sane, I will now refer to my oldest son as "G" and my youngest son as "K", you know, to protect them or something. Even though there are several photos of them already posted on the blog in question, I will no longer show my children's faces in the photos on here. I will get creative, get ready to see their cute feet and backs a whole bunch. I feel too violated to post their sweet faces on here for some scum to make a buck off of them.

I've decided not to add a link to the blog that is stealing my content in this post, that would only drum up free traffic for them. Besides, they don't care if my loyal readers go over and leave nasty comments. It would not change anything, I believe that they are using software to lift my content. I'm sure that some computer is sending my text through a filter and simply spitting out synonyms. It's real James Bond type of stuff. This is nothing personal, to them, I am just a whole bunch of dollar signs.

Unless of course, Lola is drunk and laughing maniacally as she reads this. If so, I say to you Lola...you are an idiot. I suggest that you quit hitting the sauce and stealing my posts. If a Splogger is behind this theft, I'd like to tell you that you are a bottom feeder. You can take your stupid worthless blog and stick it where the sun don't shine. Now, I dare you to repost that!

Winner: Revenge of the Nerd Edition

We have a winner for this week's installment of Freakshow Friday. Please take note that my super hilarious and non biased best friend was the judge. Here are the top three in no particular order.

Amy
Moooooog, the early years.

Kearsie
Once you go Mac, you never look back.

Snidely Whiplash
So then Maury said "You are not the father"
before he even looked at my DNA results.

The winner is...
Amy

Moooooog, the early years.

Amy
is the funniest blogger in all the land.
Now head on over to her blog

and marvel at this fantastic award she just earned
to proudly display forever.

Thanks to all the people who played.

Tune in this Friday for another instalment of Freakshow Friday!

Dove Self-Esteem Weekend

I am proud to be a part of the movement in support of Dove Self-Esteem Weekend.

Dove asked me to inspire the next generation of women
by sharing what I wished I'd known at 13 years old.

So, to really get into the spirit of this, let's just take a look
at little ol' me all dressed up for a school dance
at the ripe age of 13.

I look at this young girl and I wish that I had known
to slow down and not be in such a hurry to grow up.
That being 13 is such a gift and that
you will be a woman for the rest of your life.
Enjoy being a girl for a little bit longer.
Hold onto that spark that makes you feel special
before the world convinces you that you are not.
You will always be wonderful
but life can be so sweet when you are 13
and you let yourself see the wonder that lives in you.

For more information on how you can join the movement
and get involved visit
Dove's Movement for Self Esteem.
There you will find tools to help
you make a difference in a young girl's life.

Oh...and watch this amazing video,
I just love the message that this movement is sending
to young girls!!!

Freakshow Friday : Revenge of the Nerd Edition

It's time for another installment of Freakshow Friday. Where I ask my readers to come up with a caption or story for a funny photo. My best friend will be the judge and she's one hilarious freakaziod. So, bring it! Here is this week's photo, this dude is awesome.

Wanna see my floppy disc?

You got a better one for me?

If so, you may just when this awesome award
and have bragging rights forever.

Oh...do I ever have an award for you!
You will win this brand spankin' new award!!

If you win then I'll linkup to your

Blog and make a big deal
about how funny you are.
Simply leave your funny caption or story
in my comments section.

The winner will be announced on Monday

The Happiness Project :: Week 33

Being home from the hospital and
having all of this be a not so distant memory.

If you want to jump on the bandwagon
simply post a photo of something that
makes you wildly happy.
Then, leave a comment requesting the code for
the button up there.
and I will e-mail it to you.

Someone has been using their grubby little fingers
to steal my photos and content
so...no right clicks allowed!

Please let me know if you decide to join in.
Don't forget to link up to Mr. Linky.

Oh and just to clear up any confusion for the thief that is among us...



Leigh vs Laundry by Leigh vs Laundry is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.leighvslaundry.blogspot.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.leighvslaundry.blogspot.com.
I do not want photos, especially of my children, posted anywhere other than my blog.
Thank you for your cooperation.

Why I let my kid eat ice cream for dinner

We are in the hospital with koen. Yesterday his ear swelled up and looked like a cauliflower so he is hooked up to an iv to get some antibiotics. We are hanging there and might be released tomorrow. Koen is doing better but is a little weary of nurses, unless they blow bubbles, then he loves them.

Say a prayer for us, I cannot eat hospital food for much longer. Plus, I look like a homeless person and I smell like a barn.

The happiness project will be on Thursday this week bur will return to our regularly sceduled program next tuesady.

The happiness project is being postponed...I have a sick baby

Fall Festival Madness

In our continuing quest to do cheap or free activities on the weekends, we found ourselves at a Fall Festival on a perfect sunny day! I just love a good old fashioned festival, even if it's crowded and the petting zoo stinks to high heaven. You won't find my kids over there petting a mangy little chicken, no way.

Highlights of our adventure included...

Griffin eating cotton candy that was bigger than his head.

He was then sticky and blue the rest of the morning, awesome!

The food area that offered every unhealthy food that your clogged heart could desire. I opted for a home made fried peach pie which will not be seen here because I inhaled it in two seconds flat.

There was some toe tappin' bluegrass.
My dear friend's husband was picking away at the banjo
so we stopped to be social and enjoy the music.

I'll be honest with you,
the boys threw themselves down on the grass
in a sugar induced fit
and growled at innocent people walking by
while my Mom and I enjoyed the music.
Koen looks like he is in pain in this photo
but that is just him being a tiger.

There was also a Farmer's Market full of wholesome treats
and for a moment, I regretted my decision to eat that fried pie as I longed for a Cuban Guava Pastry or a Lemon Bar.
So, I stopped to photograph it instead.

There were all sorts of handmade goodies to buy.
We spent some time destroying this display of wooden cars
and then putting them back over and over
while I fussed at my boys and
must have sounded like an angry hen.
In the end, we purchased a pull horse and a race car.

Then, there was this monster slide
that would have made even Evil Knievel's mom squirm.
Griffin threw himself down it over and over and over
as Koen yelled at me because he was too little to go on it
and he desperately wanted a turn.

So, I would say that we had a fun time.
Even though when we left
I had a nasty sugar high and my nerves were shot.

Fall Festivals are worth every insane moment.

Winner : Sexy Lady Edition

We have a winner for this week's installment of Freakshow Friday. Please take note that my super hilarious and non biased best friend was the judge. Here are the top three in no particular order.

I Live In
Greetings from Grandma Tammy!
Having a great time on the Bikers & Boobs Cruise.
See you soon. Don't forget to feed all my cats &
give the nice gardener boy the cookies on the table.

Kearsie
I was going to wear my leather bustier,
but it was at the cleaners. Besides, I wanted to look classy.

Rita/Fighting Off Frumpy
The hair says Rose ... but the jacket says Blanche.

The winner is...
Kearsie

I was going to wear my leather bustier,
but it was at the cleaners. Besides, I wanted to look classy.

Kearsie
is the funniest blogger in all the land.
Now head on over to her blog

and marvel at this fantastic award she just earned
to proudly display forever.

Thanks to all the people who played.

Tune in this Friday for another instalment of Freakshow Friday!

Freakshow Friday : Sexy Lady Edition

It's time for another installment of Freakshow Friday. Where I ask my readers to come up with a caption or story for a funny photo. My best friend will be the judge and she's one hilarious freakaziod. So, bring it! Here is this week's photo, this lady takes leather to new places!

Nothing says "summer" quite like leather.

You got a better one for me?

If so, you may just when this awesome award
and have bragging rights forever.

Oh...do I ever have an award for you!
You will win this brand spankin' new award!!

If you win then I'll linkup to your

Blog and make a big deal
about how funny you are.
Simply leave your funny caption or story
in my comments section.

The winner will be announced on Monday

You Capture : My cat is a jerk.

The assignment over at You Capture was Animals.
I thought that I would introduce y'all to my naughty cat.
His name is Atticus and he is a trouble maker.
He's an outside cat because he wore out his welcome inside our home.
He tipped over glasses and pooped all over the place.

Now, he runs the neighborhood.
He gets in fights with other cats all the time and my neighbor
told me recently that he trapped their sweet little Persian under their porch
and that any time the kitty tried to come out, he would chase her back into hiding.
Then he would eat all of her food out of her food dish as the
poor kitty watched in terror from under the porch
Then, she confessed that her husband throws corncobs at him on a regular basis.

Let's face it, my cat is a jerk and a big ol' bully.

I mean, just look at him...

Doesn't he just look like trouble?

The Chubby Mom Confessions :: All You Can Eat Madness

Here is my latest confession:

On Saturday Roger and I had a lunch date. My parents took the boys so that we could go anywhere that we wanted to dine for lunch without wining children in tow. We made a stupid decision that we both regretted well into the wee hours of Sunday morning. We ate at The Olive Garden but worse than that admission is the fact that we went there specifically for the never ending pasta bowl. What self respecting woman would do that to herself? One bowl of pasta is plenty. We had seen a commercial the night before and it looked so tempting. Hot steaming plates of pasta taunted us and we fell for their ploy. I should interject here and confess that I have no self control when it comes to an all-you-can-eat situation. It's almost as if I just switch off that area in the brain that tells me when I am full. I turn into a bottomless pit, a nasty shameful bottomless pit. This was probably one of the worst ideas that I've had in a while.

I had a plan of attack though, a well thought out strategy to maximize my pasta consumption and minimize any tummy ache potential. I was only going to eat half of my first pasta bowl to save room for a second bowl. I did not factor in salad and bread sticks, which we were both full of when they brought out our first pasta bowls. That's right, as the plate was placed before me with my sad helping of Fettuccine Alfredo, I was already stuffed. As you can see, my plan was flawed from the start. Roger and I tried to ignore the fact that when our plates arrived, they were overflowing with pasta while being short on sauce and meat. We soldiered on with determination to live out all of our pasta fantasies.

Eating commenced and it wasn't pretty. Two bowls of pasta later (to my credit, I only ate half of each and the second bowl was half the size of the first, so really, I'd just had one generous portion. Who I am kidding? it was an all out pig fest. Is my internal dialogue coming out again? So sorry about that!)) we were both moaning and regretting our dining choice. We then proceeded to go home, plop down on the couch, and eat Tums. Yet another bad decision in the perils of my quest for weight loss.

Tune in next time for more shocking confessions of gluttony and poor decision making.

The Happiness Project :: Week 32

Smearing a mud mask on my face

and pretending to be at the spa.

I can't tell y'all how excited I am
that the word is getting out about this project.
We had the most links we've ever had last week
and it feels wonderful to think that 43 people
took the time to meditate on happiness.

Thanks to all of you who link up week after week
and thanks to all the new people
joining in the fun.
I hope that y'all get
as much out of this project as I do.

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://leighvslaundry.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae172/leighbug_photo/2876650690_005fb39e00-4-2.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></div><br />

If you want to jump on the bandwagon
simply post a photo of something that
makes you wildly happy.
Then, steal my button up there
and include it in your post.
Please let me know if you decide to join in.
Don't forget to link up to Mr. Linky

Repost: Thoughts on Motherhood : Remembering

So, I did a little blogswap with my awesome friend Ama recently. I decided to repost my musings because this is actually one of my favorite posts that I've written. Here is an encore, just in case you missed it. I swear, the day before I do a swap, I get a gazillion readers and comments. Yet, the day that I do the swap, it's all crickets and shame with just a few readers and even less comments. I had so much fun writing this little diddy that I thought it deserved one more run. Enjoy!

When Ama asked me to write a guide for all the hopeful ladies out there that want to be mamas one day, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. Here is my number one piece of advice, try to remember what it felt like to be kid. I have the innate ability to do just that. My earliest memories go back to being two years old. I don't just remember events that occurred at that time but I remember how I felt when they happened. This gives me a leg up on the whole motherhood thing.

As I watch my children go through rights of passage, I am taken back to the very moment that I experienced the same thing.. This makes me either a more compassionate mother or an out of control narcissist, I haven't decided yet. Either way, it reignites a sense of wonder within me to see them feel the same way that I felt.

Griffin is afraid of the dark and it takes me back to a single moment that happened almost everyday of my childhood. I would run with fear into the dark bathroom, slap on the light, and then frantically slam back the shower curtain to make sure that no monsters were waiting there to eat me. Now as Griffin comes to me with a scared face, I remember how real that feeling felt. I give him all kinds of tactics to avoid the dark or skills to train his eye to decipher between a monster and a shadow. The two are closely related, as we all know.

Beyond the satisfaction I get from passing on such important survival skills, motherhood also provides a glorious paradox for me. It's amazing to experience childhood as the parent. For example, Griffin just lost his first loose tooth. We loved having conversations about all the different ways that we could pull it out. My favorite suggestion of his was to attach his tooth to an electric toy train with a string. I'm considering buying a train set to be our official tooth puller.

I'm not just excited about the milestone of him losing his first tooth but I am thrilled that I have been promoted to the tooth fairy. I was a staunch believer in the tooth fairy as a little girl, holding onto my belief embarrassingly long. So, I was excited to sneak into his room the other night as I gingerly snatched his little tooth and quickly left a dollar. I remember the excitement of waking up to find that money beneath my pillow. I was able to revel in that thrill from the other side. I get to experience childhood all over again from the parent's perspective. It's so fulfilling because all of the same feeling are evoked.

There is healing in motherhood. Sometimes when I rock my children, I feel as though I am rocking myself too. Tapping into that unconditional love that only a mama can give and I suppose that as I love my children and celebrate those wonderful rights of passage, that I am giving something back to the little girl that lives in me. I'm lucky to remember how that girl felt and to feel her giggling some place deep within me when I laugh with my children. She cries when they cry, she learns as they learn, and she grows with every step that they take.

So I say to you Ama and all the other hopeful mamas out there, locate that little girl and start looking at the world though her eyes. Dust off your memories and let them simmer in your heart so that when your future child is here, your inner child will be poised to experience childhood all over again as a mother.

Winner : Bad Reception Edition

We have a winner for this week's installment of Freakshow Friday. Please take note that my super hilarious and non biased best friend was the judge. Here are the top three in no particular order.

Erin
Wonda was trying to create the perfect Playboy bunny ensemble
for the Halloween party. Just before she donned
her pouffy white tail, she stopped dead in her tracks
upon hearing a KFC commercial in her ears....

Donda
I got UHF, VHF, CNN, ESPN, HLN, Whachoo want??

Dee Crowe
When I take my pants off I get HBO!

The winner is...
Dee Crowe

When I take my pants off I get HBO!

Dee Crowe
is the funniest blogger in all the land.
Now head on over to her blog

and marvel at this fantastic award she just earned
to proudly display forever.

Thanks to all the people who played.

Tune in this Friday for another instalment of Freakshow Friday!

Freakshow Friday : Bad Reception Edition

It's time for another installment of Freakshow Friday. Where I ask my readers to come up with a caption or story for a funny photo. My best friend will be the judge and she's one hilarious freakaziod. So, bring it! Here is this week's photo, this lady is a genius!

Wonda wonders why people keep
pointing remote controls at her.

You got a better one for me?

If so, you may just when this awesome award
and have bragging rights forever.

Oh...do I ever have an award for you!
You will win this brand spankin' new award!!

If you win then I'll linkup to your

Blog and make a big deal
about how funny you are.
Simply leave your funny caption or story
in my comments section.

The winner will be announced on Monday

Shake what your mama gave you, I know that I always do.

The other day I made myself a simple little playlist
to listen to while I clean the kitchen or straighten up the house.
I've played it all this week and found myself
shaking my hips, smacking my ass, and smiling while I cleaned.
Koen and I hopped all over the kitchen this morning,
laughing and squealing as I loaded the dishwasher.

Life can be so sweet sometimes.

I just had to share it with you.
Go find someone you love and dance in the kitchen!

Thoughts on Motherhood :: Worrying

As my oldest son sprawled out on the exam table my heart started to race. Our pediatrician poked her way around his ribs and my mind lifted up a prayer. "Well, I don't think that it's anything that we need to be worried about." she said as I let out a huge sigh of relief. I had spent the weekend worrying and forcing Griffin to keep still while I inspected his ribcage over and over.

Let's go back a few days, I'm getting ahead of myself. It was Friday evening and Griffin was stripped down naked and singing while he sat on the toilet with the bathroom door wide open. This is a normal occurrence in our home and I looked down the hallway with a smile. I just love seeing his weird little moments. I happened to notice, in the midst of my admiration, that a shadow fell on his tummy in the bathroom light just beneath the left side of his ribs. It looked like something was protruding out of his ribcage ever so slightly. Of course, I grabbed him and started to feel the protrusion. It felt like his rib was curved maybe or did it feel like a mass? My mind began to race. Could it be a growth of some sort? My heart sank as I called Roger in to poke at him too. We must have looked like cavemen as we poked and rubbed Griffin's ribs with concerned looks on our faces. Did it feel like a lump or was it his bone? We both knew for sure that we felt something strange. The worrying began.

I did the worst thing a mother could do in this situation and turned to the Internet. Horror stories unfolded before me and I thought of the numerous blogs I have read that started with "I noticed a bump on my child" and ended with "we are now fighting for their life." I did not want to write up one of those blog posts. My imagination took over.

I spent a good part of Saturday thinking scary thoughts. I thought of the late nights when he's woken up scared and pondering death. I always tell him "You are safe, you are healthy, and you are going to live a very long life." I cringed at the idea of those comforting words not being true.
What a betrayal that would be, for me to tell him over and over in hopes of comforting him that he was healthy and then to suddenly have to tell him that I was wrong, my heart hurt just thinking about it.

This worry was actually a blessing though because it helped me to treasure my son. I began to see how often I rushed through our day. I noticed when Griffin was in the back seat rambling on and on about his little obsessions, how often I tuned out and replied with "Wow sweetie, that's amazing!" without really listening to him. My fear helped me to tune into his little world. A new awareness emerged as to how much I love Griffin's fantastic life being entangled with mine. I began to cherish his crazy ways. Suddenly, patience washed over me as he dawdled at the grocery store. Watching him pretend to be a stuntman on the deep freezers at Walmart seemed hilarious to me instead of annoying. I became aware of how I spoke to him and tried my hardest to speak patiently instead of my tendency to bicker with him. The worry sat in the back of my mind as I fell more and more in love with our life together.

Sunday night, as I plopped down on the couch to watch TV, the children were sleeping soundly in their beds and I had a moment to spend some time with my thoughts. I happened to glance over at a Christmas list that Griffin had made earlier that day and had left on the couch. As I read the list to myself I said a prayer. I prayed that we would have a wonderful Christmas and that we would all be at home, safe and sound. Prayers filled my heart as I began to see all the blessings that dwell within my family. Please let our visit to the pediatrician be the end of this journey and not the beginning of a journey that led to X-rays, biopsies, or treatment, I prayed. My heart skipped beats as I tried to convince myself that I was being ridiculous.

So, to my relief, it was a good report after all from the Doctor. His ribs are asymmetrical. It was his rib protruding and not a cancerous cyst. I probably just now noticed it because he recently had a growth spurt and is stretching out a bit. Suddenly, life felt normal again, in an instant. I feel for the mothers who don't get the good report and I have so much gratitude that we can move forward. That I was simply being overly indulgent in my worry and that it was not to be our reality.

It's easy to take birthdays and even simple hugs for granted. I will admit that I have a flare for the dramatic and a heart that is quick to worry. I'm almost ashamed to admit my fears when it comes to my children. I longed for these children my entire life before I had them. My days are spent loving them and caring for them. Now, after my weekend of worry, I've gotten a new perspective on Motherhood. I must love the connection we have as a family. Through all of the chaos, stress, and insanity that comes with having a five year old boy, there is a beautiful life here in my home.

I cherish it more now.

The Happiness Project :: Week 31

The clanking of pots and pans being
played with while dinner is cooked.

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