Take a Bow -

As promised, here she is. As far as I'm concerned, no more words are needed.

We made it!

Greetings from Florida!


We arrived on Saturday afternoon after an easy flight. Well, the flight was easy, but there was another slight problem. Matt put a 20 oz. bottle of water in my bag as we were getting onto the plane, and the ENTIRE thing spilled all over everything. I didn't know it until I sat on the plane, put my bag in my lap and it immediately appeared that I had wet my pants in a big, big way. Not good. But what was worse was the my cell phone and blackberry were in the bag and were toast. The blackberry has recovered for the moment, my regular phone is gone. Don't call me on it folks.......the screen is a lovely light pink color, but there is no action on it at all.

I do have a couple of highlights to share. The first is hearing my five year old niece Elisa sing the song "Take a Bow" by Rihanna. I am going to try to video her today and get a clip on here to share with you. She takes it so seriously that mid-song yesterday she asked us to start it over because she "wanted to do it really really good". I laughed so hard in the car yesterday a couple of drops of pee escaped. It cracks me up that much.

The second highlight happened last night back at Krissa's house after dinner at my mother's house. I will add here that it was a great great dinner - a full turkey dinner which we referred to as "Summergiving". So good! When we came home we were sitting in the living room talking about toe cramps. I haven't a clue why it came up, but that comment suddenly turned into all of us trying to give ourselves a toe cramp so we could laugh hysterically at how weird our toes looked all curled up. Krissa described mine as looking like a lobster claw, which isn't that far off from what my feet look like on a normal day unfortunately.

More to come when I have some video footage.

Pea Brain, But He's Mine

I love the King. I really, really do. He is funny, a great Dad, and a really good guy. I love to be with him, to see him with the kids, and I'm glad I married him.

But seriously, I don't get him sometimes. In fact, I'm not sure I get men in general.

A wise, wise friend of mine gave me an important piece of advice/wisdom a few years ago. It was incredibly helpful.

She said "Lisa, men are really so so simple. You just have to remember that. When you ask a man what he is thinking about, and he says "Nothing." we women just don't believe it. We push and push...."No, tell me, what are you thinking about? You can tell me, I won't be mad." But really, when they say they are thinking about nothing, THEY MEAN IT! They literally have NOTHING going on in the brain area. NOTHING!"

I can tell you from my own experience, that once I learned that, my life and my marriage changed for the better. I stopped worrying so much, and I started to realize that all of the things I was worried that the King might be worried about, were actually all just figments of my imagination! Figments I say!

The things that actually do take up space in the King's brain astonish me. Take this morning for example.

The King takes a shower, gets dressed, and when he comes down he is holding a sweatshirt in his hand. I looked at it, wondered for a minute why, figured there must be a good reason, continue to make breakfast for the cherubs, and then I heard it:

The King: "What in the name of holy hell is on my sweatshirt?"

Me: "Huh?"

The King: "What the heck is this all over my favorite sweatshirt?"

I take a quick look, see a bunch of brown crap on the sleeves and front of the sweatshirt.

Me: "How should I know? It's your sweatshirt. It looks like it needs to be washed."

The King: "I think it's ruined. (The King is always very very dramatic...) I tried to get it off, and I scratched at it, and the stuff is all furry. Look! The stuff is stuck on there! It won't come off! It's ruined."

Me: "Yeah, I'm sure. Ruined."

The King: "Why can't people just keep their mits off my stuff?"

Me: "Yeah, it is a conspiracy we've been working on for a while here. Let's ruin all of your stuff. I'll wash it, go to work."

So there you have it folks. This, THIS, is what is taking up space in a man's brain.The furry stuff that someone deliberately wiped all over his sweatshirt.

PS - The furry substance was chocolate....I washed it off with a paper towel. It was brutal.

They're Back!!!

For the last three days my awesome sister Jenna and her husband Sam have had my three darling cherubs at their house for a little "vacation" - for them and for me and the King. They had such a great time, got to spend some quality time with their cousins (all four of them, age 7 and under!) swimming, watching movies and playing together. It was so unreal to have the house to ourselves, to be able to think without being interrupted, to clean something up and have it stay that way for more than five minutes, to have the peace and quiet and be able to really enjoy it.

Yesterday I brought them home.

Yeah. They're back.

Please don't misunderstand me. I love my kids more than anything in the world. I am proud of the little people that the King and I are working on here, and my life would be nothing without them.

But people, they bug me sometimes. I hate to say it but about ten minutes into our car ride, I was already annoyed. After three days "off" you'd think I'd have a little more patience. But alas, no. Annoyed in ten minutes.

Right now I am downstairs listening to the sweet sounds of Matt telling Grace "You're so mean!" and Olivia laughing at them both as the fight escalates. Hang on, hang on.......that has now progressed to Grace saying "Liv! Liv! LIVVVVVVVV!" Let me scream up to them to stop it......OK, did it.

I know when I go upstairs there will be clothes everywhere, no doubt scraps of paper all over Grace's room (her nickname is Edward Scissorhands as she can craft an entire city out of a piece of white paper), the bathroom will be covered with a fine sheen of blue toothpaste, and the place will be destroyed. Call me a mind reader.....but I am pretty sure that is what I will find.

Maybe my stress level is ultra high since in the next two days I have to pack for our upcoming three week trip back east. That might be it. And while I am excited for the time away , especially relaxing on the beach in North Carolina, the packing is a daunting task. I don't even know where to begin......I guess some laundry would be a good idea. Ugh.

But for those of you out there in blog land, this trip will no doubt be filled with some amazing stories......I know you won't be disappointed. If you know me and my family at all, you'll know what I mean.

Maybe I'd better get started on my packing.

Words She Hates

The other day my nine year old daughter decided that there are several words that she will never ever utter again in her life. She literally came downstairs and said "Mom, I really hate the word unique and I am never going to say it again." I had to laugh!


This lead to a discussion of what other words she doesn't like.....to round out her list are the following words: tender, vomit, moist, unique, juicy, scrumptious, luscious, tasty, wonderful.

This just cracked me up. And of course, she has opened herself up to lots of harassment by her siblings by letting them in on this little secret. You just know that during the next kid fight, one of them is going to say every single one of these hated words just to make Grace mad. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to so publicly announce this list.....

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It's Just a Greasy Spoon Without You

I am so sick and tired of hearing Spongebob Squarepants in the background of my life. For years I fought to never allow this show on my television. Kicking and screaming were involved, yet I held strong. No Spongebob for you - your brain will rot and my reputation as a mother will be soiled.

At some point though, I became weak. Probably after a long day of all three of my cherubs talking at the same time, or crying at the same time, and they broke me. "Just one time Mom? Please?" I gave in, and the battle was lost.

I will admit though, sometimes I do chuckle while listening to it in the background. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes. Especially when Spongebob sings. Have you ever heard it? Check it out. Maybe you'll chuckle too........I also love how he gets dressed in this clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHcRd5hhN88

Ina Wanna What?

This will mark my first post to this blog. Yahoo! We all have to start somewhere, so bear with me as I get going. I hope you'll like what you read and come back for more.

Wondering about the title? While you may find this odd, I aspire to cook, and live, like Ina Garten. Haven't heard of her you say? Turn on the Food Network.....Ina Garten (also known as the Barefoot Contessa) is a caterer and chef (her second career) who lives in the Hamptons (Long Island) with her husband Jeffrey. Ina is happy, chubby and amazing. Everything she makes, and the way she entertains and lives, looks ideal and effortless. Her home is to die for, and her food is simple, basic and totally delicious. I have yet to make a recipe of Ina's that didn't turn out perfectly.

So this past Christmas after getting three Ina cookbooks and reading them from cover to cover (I know I am not the only one who does this - be honest), I decided to adopt a few things from Ina's life.


On Friday evenings, to welcome Jeffrey home after a long week of travel, Ina has a cocktail ready for him, as well as his favorite dinner, Chicken Picatta. This is such an easy but delicious dish, and if you make it people will think you slaved all day long in the kitchen. Even my kids love this dish, and as you'll no doubt learn in the blog, my kids eat NOTHING!!!! I mean NOTHING! Oh, well, candy, but not real food. No way. But I digress....

So on Friday, The King (which is what I will call my husband for the purposes of this blog) is greeted with his favorite drink, and this amazing meal. I hear you snickering now people........
I can actually hear it. Don't think that I am a sad little housewife waiting on the King hand and foot. I do this because I enjoy it. I love rituals, and this one is a keeper. Friday night at my house is my favorite day of the week.

So this is the reason behind the name of my blog. I am an Ina Wanna Be. Watch me try.