T.T. - To Laughing One's Ass Off

As most of my loyal readers know, I was off last week galavanting through the snow with an old friend, Beth.  I am inspired to pay tribute to an aspect of my relationship with Beth because I realized last week once again in real life one of the reasons why I love Beth and why we have remained friends over the years and the distance between us.  

And that is laughter.

Do you have a friend that you can be absolutely ridiculously silly with?  A friend that makes you smile a little bigger and a little brighter and a little deeper? The kind of smile that resonates through your being and warms your soul?  The kind of laughter that leaves you out of breath?

Well, I have that with Beth. 

We met in college on a soccer field and it was her energy that attracted me to her. She is upbeat and positive and has a spring in her step like none other. Our friendship was formed during early morning practices, evening games in the Southern California air, and away games to Fresno and San Luis Obispo. There's something to be said about chicks that compete together as a team - that bond is strong. My soccer teammates were my sorority sisters per se during college. 

Life happens as it does and after college Beth and I went our separate ways. Twenty years after graduation (yes, it's been twenty years - wow) we find ourselves at opposite ends of the country and radically different ways of life. Beth's a farmer in rural Vermont cutting heads off of chickens and enduring the bitter cold on a winter morning to feed the cows, and I'm, well, sipping cappuccinos watching The Today Show in densely populated West Los Angeles 

It had been seven years since we saw each other and we each were on our way to the biggest change of our lives - becoming mothers. Our bellies were just starting to pop with our firstborns when we snowshoed together on her farm years ago. When we first saw each other at the airport in Jackson Hole last week, well it sounds cliche, but it was like no time had passed.

The hug was fierce, the vibe as real as it comes, and off we went to laugh.  And laugh we did.

At the most ridiculous things wherever we were. In the middle of a swanky spa, on a long snowy walk along the Snake River, at a restaurant dining on the yummiest food I've had in a while, at her mountain home hanging by the fire.

Yes, Beth is the kind of friend where it doesn't matter how long it's been.  It always feels just like yesterday.  And we're older and maybe a little bit wiser and we're responsible and we're mothers, but the laughter is the same.  Exactly the same as when we were 19 years old kicking a ball around on a grassy field.

So let's give it up for deep, real, belly-shaking, corners-of-your-mouth-stinging, eyes-squinting, side-splitting laughter.  Friends who you can do that kind of laughing with is where. it's. at.  

Me and Beth

Beth and me along the Snake River

T.T. - A "Wagie Ride" for Tuesday

You know when you get that feeling of helplessness? That feeling that you wish you could do something to right a wrong, to heal a hurt, to solve a problem but you really have no role in the matter? Well that's how I'm feeling.

Like many of you out here in the blogosphere, my heart is breaking. We have all come across stories that shake us to our core and that is what has happened to me with the latest news of a tiny soul leaving the planet much much too soon.

If you're familiar with Tuesday Whitt's story, well you know. If you are not familiar, you can click here and browse through a blog that is written by Tuesday's mama, Jessica Kate, a strong, faithful woman whose courage and love and personality simply jump off the page every time I read her words.

Every day last week held such a different vibe.  The highs and lows and hopes and fears of caring for a child with cancer were so evident with each and every post. When I saw that Tuesday had passed away on Friday, well...there were no words. As a woman and a mama, my heart could not shake the images of this darling Tuesday with her sweet magnetic smile.  My thoughts drifted to how any parent could survive the death of a child - but somehow they do. Somehow.

I read on Tuesday's blog that her family is holding a celebration of her life this Saturday and they are inviting family and friends to meet at their home to walk together in a little parade to the memorial celebration held at a local equestrian center.  The family is encouraging everyone to come on bikes and in wagons because "wagie rides" were one of Tuesday's favorite things to do.  

I believe in this community so I thought how can we gather in our virtual world to show our support for this incredible family?  How can we let Tuesday's family know that we are with them in spirit?

A little conversation developed between me and my bloggy friend Em at Life, Liberty and the Pursuit and we have devised a plan:

We would like to hold a virtual parade on Saturday, February 7th, for Tuesday. We want each and every one of you to stop what you're doing on Saturday and spend a little time with your kids on a bike ride or a wagon ride or a sled ride or a skateboarding cruise or a stroll in the park and to photograph it.  

Then on Monday, February 9th, we are hoping that you will post your photograph(s) from your own little parade and come back here or over to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit to drop your name in a great big Mr. Linky.  All in one place where we can see the power of this community coming together in a show of solidarity and support for one of our own.  

I also have high hopes of grabbing the photos and putting them in one master slideshow for the Whitt Family but let's take it one step at a time.

We can't be with the family physically but we can be with them in spirit.  Reminding them they are not alone.  That somehow, someway we are all in this together on the journey. Hopefully our prayers and our photographs will lift their spirits if even for a moment.  

What can you do now?  First step is to grab this button and spread the word.

<a href="http://momswithoutblogs.blogspot.com/2009/02/tt-wagie-ride-for-tuesday.html"><img border="0" src="http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m296/shaunacallaghan/WagieRideforTuesdayAButterfont-125b.jpg" /></a>

(Thanks to Shauna and Bianca for pulling through last minute!)

Post it on your blog, tell your readers about the plan and let's get this parade going big and strong.  I'll have the button up all week directing people to this post and hopefully we can all get outdoors, breathe some fresh air, laugh with our kids, and wrap our arms around the Whitt family as they celebrate the life of their precious little girl, Tuesday.

Questions? Email me please!  leemwob AT gmail DOT com  

Blogkind rules.  All there is to it. 

P.S.  And all you true blue moms without blogs out there?  Well, you're in on it too. If you want to be.  All you have to do is email me your parade photos and they will be posted here on MWOB along with mine.  I got you all into this scene so why not jump in a little further? 

T.T. - The Supermom Spectrum

Before I jumped in headfirst into this deep, deep pool of bloggy-ness, an unbelievable story was brought to my attention courtesy of my beloved "Today" show.  At the time, I was actually thinking about starting a blog, or un-blog, or whatever this is, but I was, in no way, ready to commit.  

In the middle of the chaos of a September school morning, my eyes glanced up to the television and the chyron below the people seated on the couch being interviewed included the words "Supermom" and "Blog." Well, since I am obsessed with supermoms and with wondering if they really exist, I had to check that story out.   And after listening to this group of siblings talk about the tragedy that had struck their family, I headed over to my computer to check out the blog of the supermom that was mentioned - the NieNie Dialogues.

Now I know many of you, if not all of you, are like "Oh yeah, Nie Nie, of course. Like you didn't know about her already?"  Well, my non-blogging life is not that long ago so let me remind you that when you're a mom without a blog, there's really not much chance to know about a well-known blogging mom, you know?

So on that fateful September day, I was introduced to a blogging mama who had tons of followers and was about to add tons more - all because she was critically injured and burned in a horrible private plane crash.  I remember the early days of discovering her blog and I was literally in shock as I read the updates as she and her husband fought to survive - all while their four young children were being cared for by Nie's incredible sister, C Jane, another blogging mama extraordinaire.

I remember crying real tears when I thought about what this family was enduring and praying that she would survive so their children would not lose their mother. Half-obsessed with this mind-blowing story of tragic survival, I scoured past posts of Nie's to learn more about who this woman was.   

Who this supermom was. 

From what I read and learned, Nie is the kind of woman I am not. Nie is the kind of mother I am not. She seemed to handle the struggle of mothering four young children with a grace and ease I do not possess.  She had a knack for living her life bursting with creativity always looking for the next homemade art project.  She had a way of seeing life with optimism and she worked at giving that perspective to her kids.  Her energy seemed boundless - her ideas never-ending - her love and patience for her kids infinite.

The fact that we existed at opposite ends of the supermom spectrum was perhaps best exemplified in a post where she wrote about doing a project with her kids where she wrote upbeat messages on slips of paper like "Smile, someone loves you" or "Someone wants you to have a happy day!" and she took her kids to not only hide these messages around a busy shopping area of her town but also they would then hide and watch people find the messages so as to see the happiness they were spreading. 

Are you kidding me?

To put it bluntly, she bugged me.  

But I felt bad, really bad, admitting it because here she was fighting for her life. When I read her posts and saw the pictures, my own insecurities as a mother deepened.  "Who does this shit?" I thought, "I would never EVER think to do these things she does." 

No matter how shitty I felt reading about the kind of mother Nie was, I couldn't stop reading.  I just couldn't.  Something kept drawing me back in.  Somewhere in between the baking, and the cooking, and the photography, and the gorgeous self-portraits she is known for, and the painting, and the sewing, and the crafts, and the art projects, and the faith she exudes, and the way her life felt like one HUGE artistic expression, I became...well, inspired.  

And that is where, to me, the best of blogging exists.  In the unknown, undefined, private space of a moment in time when one soul with a story touches another soul with a story.   

In both reading Nie's past posts and by reading the updates posted by C Jane, I began to realize that Nie was actually not that different than me at all.  Sure, she expressed herself much differently than I do and she did all of those typical "supermom" things much, much better than I do, but in the end she was a mom choosing to fight for her life despite all the odds stacked against her because she couldn't stand the thought of leaving her kids.  

And you know what?  I would do the exact same thing.  I would fight. Nie made me realize that.

And boy did Nie fight hard to stay on the planet.  And she's still fighting.  For those of you who don't know, she started posting again this past Friday.  She has returned from death's door looking very different as a victim suffering burns on over 80% of her body but she is alive.  All because a mother's love is the deepest love there is and she refused to let go.   

She simply had to get back to her kids.  To make them dinner.  To read them a book.  To tuck them into bed.  

Just like I do.  Just like we all do.  

So this Tuesday's Tribute is for Nie.  For helping me realize that being a supermom really IS a state of mind and it's time I start getting MY mind into the right state. Sure, I don't cook, sew, craft, blog, or do anything that well at all, but you know what I do well?  I love my kids well and I'm willing to go to the ends of the earth to make sure they are fed, read to and tucked in.

And in the end, that may be all they need.

A Jay and Deb Production.

A Feast, A Tribute and A Giveaway

Jay over at Halftime Lessons and Deb at Dirty Socks and Pizza are up to their typical blogging antics.  Innovation, creativity, business prowess, networking, community, goodwill, new colorful buttons and banners touting cute lil' names of their blogging games, and hell, I need all the help I can get.  So I'm in for this week's installment of ..... 



And since this is MWOB's 3-month anniversary in existence, this tribute's got a little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so hang tight with me peeps.
As all good tributes begin, let's start with talking about me.  Yeah, me.  I know, I know, it's not all about me - I'm not stupid - but how can a blogger survive for even one post if not somehow inserting ME into the equation?
I'm gonna let you all in on a deep dark insecurity of mine.  I'm not a good cook. Yeah, that's right, I suck it hard in the kitchen.   My feelings of lameness have gotten way worse since becoming a mama.  I'm supposed to nurture and provide and nourish.  I can fake it with whipping up a standard yummy breakfast of eggs, homemade hash browns and bacon, or throw together a yummy turkey sandwich for lunch to fool myself that I'm doing okay, but when dinner rolls around? Let's just say thank God I married a hot dude who loves me even when I'm serving him up a PB & J for dinner along with the kids. 
And to make matters worse, I have knowledge that other mamas out there are preparing sauteed shrimp, asparagus and risotto for their 1st grade children for LUNCH!  Oh you know, I'm talking about you Julia, and one of the reasons I'm scared to meet you on Friday (another story for another post but I'm headed towards my first blind date with a fellow blogger.) 
I desperately want to improve in the kitchen but I first have to conquer other problems I have like not showering or getting out of my pj's before noon and finishing the laundry before it starts overflowing into the hallway.  
So while I'm working on a multitude of other deficiencies, I head over to the one place that can make a MWOB like me feel like a queen in the kitchen....Trader Joe's.  
Yes, for those of you who know about Trader Joe's, are you with me?  And if you don't have a Trader Joe's near you and you're like me, well then let's just say, you're screwed.
Trader Joe's is like heaven on earth for a mama like me.  Not only can I walk out of there with a little bit of self-worth restored, I can also actually make it through a shopping trip with my kids without turning into one of those moms you see in grocery stores screaming through clenched teeth and squeezing their kids' arms hard.  (Not like I've ever done that, mind you.)
TJ's makes it so easy.  With a bare fridge and no ideas as usual for dinner, I headed over on a hectic Monday afternoon to my local TJ's for some inspiration. The trip was nothing short of, magical.  
Upon entering, we're greeted with this brilliant idea:
Search for Molly the Monkey, a stuffed animal hidden somewhere in the store, and once you find her, get a prize!  Holy moley, The Love Fairy goes ape-shit over that challenge.
 
After locating Molly in the freezer section which took 15 minutes, we redeem our reward - two suckers to keep kids occupied for another 10 minutes.  Oh yeah, and we grab two balloons which can enthrall El Destructo for days on end.   Not sure why. Maybe I should be concerned.



Another bonus:  Bathroom is not like other LA grocery stores where the scene is so nasty, but instead I'm able to get decorating ideas for my own bathroom.


The dude at check-out is so friendly, I think I'm living in the midwest for a moment.  We chat, we laugh, we exchange phone numbers and he's now my new BFF.  (just kidding)  He lets The Love Fairy snap some photos of his mad checkout skills and we're on our way.


And not only are we on our way, I am armed with some mealtime ammunition.  I picked up some old faves like Citrus-Glazed Chicken with Rice and Toasted Cashews, a stir-fry extravanganza, and some new ones to try out like Marinated Tilapia Fillets Topped with Grilled Asparagus and Sliced Carrots.  (If that doesn't sound like I know what the eff I'm doing in the kitchen, I don't know what will.)

So last night when the dude got home at his usual "too-late-for-a-normal-dinnertime" time, I confidently threw together a meal fit for a king, in like five minutes.  Yep, FIVE.

That's Chicken Sausage Polenta Lasagna, a spring salad mix with cranberries, pecans, and gorgonzola, and a rustic panini roll.  And you know what?  It was damn yummy.
So this tribute is for you Trader Joe's.  For knowing there are overtired, overworked, underachieving, inadequate cooks out there in mama-ville who just need a little love to get through the day. And you know how to dish out the love I need, Trader Joe's, so thanks.  From the bottom of my hungry heart.

And MWOB readers?  This tribute must end with a tribute to YOU! For three months now, there have been enough of you out there wacky enough to read this drivel to sustain this creative endeavor and for that I also say a sincere thanks.
So today, on MWOB's anniversary, I am offering up a $20 Gift Card to Trader Joe's for one lucky MWOBBER. And if you live in a place where there is no Trader Joe's, we'll figure something out for you if you win. 
All you have to do is comment below.  And peeps, I know there are so many more of you out there reading who don't comment, so no worries if you don't have a Google Account or whatever just pick the name option and just leave your name.  It's so easy and so not scary.  Trust me.

And if you want an extra entry into the gift card giveaway, simply go up to my review section, read my current Lunch Box Card review and consider entering for that giveaway too. That is, if you are so inclined. Then come back here and let me know you did that.  By leaving a comment again. Sound complicated?  It does to me.  Just do your best.
This Trader Joe's Gift Card giveaway will end at the end of the blogging day Wednesday, January 14th.  That's how long it will take me to recover from this post.
Rock on people in that comment section!