Giveaway! Yes Way!

Hold on to your sofa cushions ladies and gentleman! This is serious! One lucky winner will receive a $50.00 gift certificate to the CSN Stores!

I thought that since I was so close to my 100th post, I would team up with CSN Stores to offer this great giveaway that I KNOW you will love. So what is CSN you ask? Well, this is what they have to say about themselves..

"CSN Stores LLC is a fast-growing, privately-held company offering customers the best online shopping available for home and office goods. A $200 million company, CSN is made up of more than 200 online niche shops offering a huge selection of products ranging from barstools and bedroom sets to grills, greenhouses and gaming equipment. We have items for budget-minded shoppers, luxury seekers and everyone in between."

Here are a few of their websites that I have checked out!

http://www.csnsofas.com/
http://www.allmodernbaby.com/
http://www.cookware.com/
http://www.diaperbagboutique.com/
http://www.allmodernpet.com/
http://www.csnbaby.com/


...for my international followers (there's also more)... CSN Stores


Now, here's what you do:

1st entry ~ You must be a follower of my blog or remind me you are one!

2nd entry ~ Visit CSN stores and tell me one thing you might buy if you win!

3rd entry ~ Blog about this giveaway (or put it in your sidebar), and leave a link to your post!

Please, you must leave separate comments for each!

Make sure you put your email along so I know how to contact you!

Giveaway ends Saturday May 22 at 11:59 CST and winner will be announced Sunday May 23rd 2010
Winner will be chosen by random.org! Good luck everyone!

Win It!

Follow-Up to Yesterdays Post (No pictures, I promise)!

Thank you to everyone who stopped over and left a comment about yesterdays post. I think when you bring up subject matter like I did it can really send people looking the other direction or open up a few eyes to this epidemic that must stop! Not only are our kids at fault with this obsessive cell phone use but the people who have our lives in their hands are guilty too! I have seen police officers, bus drivers and even taxi drivers and all of them are talking and texting while driving. I have to tell you that if I were in a cab I would not hesitate to tell that cab driver to put his cell away! Its bad enough you don't wear a seat beat in a taxi!

Anyway, I wanted to share one more story that my husband shared with me recently. I think this is an important story that also deals with cell phones.

My husband is a General Surgeon, so he has seen his fair share of trauma in his life. He just recently told me about a horrific car accident that involved two twin brothers. These 2 brothers were driving in rural Iowa on their way home one day. They were driving on a country highway when their mother called them on their cell phone. She wanted to find out how much longer it would be before they got home. She was probably cooking dinner and wanted to time it all just right! She heard them clowning around and laughing as each of the boys were trying to take the phone away from each other. As they crested the top of a hill there was a semi stopped just off the side of the road for repairs. The boys were not paying attention and didn't have enough time to get out of the way. They slammed right into the back of the semi. Their mother heard the whole thing! The brother who was the passenger died instantly and the driver died while in transit to my husband at his hospital. I can't even imagine how that mother felt listening to the whole thing or even the fact that if she hadn't called this wouldn't have happened.

We cannot forget that not only is the person who uses the cell phone and dies the one that suffers, the people with whom that person leaves behind suffer too. This woman only had 2 children and now they are gone! It's amazing how fast life can be taken away! Please remind your loved ones how dangerous this is and realize your responsibility while driving a vehicle.

I cannot say for sure if this will be my last post about this subject matter, I suspect not! I am a strait shooter and I will be posting about things that stir something up with me. I appreciate all your comments, positive or not!

Stay tuned for tomorrows post. I promise it will be upbeat, in fact, I will have my 1st giveaway!

Please, Don't Text while Driving!

I know most of the blogs that you see are about decorating or funny things our children do, but sometimes REAL life has to be mentioned. This is very graphic so please don't have small children around! I saw this last night and although I do not text and drive I have been known to talk on the phone. I vowed after watching this to never talk on the phone while driving again. I think even though this is graphic, teenagers and adults should both see this because it can really leave an impact! I am still shaking from seeing this. How many times have you turned to the car next to you and seen someone texting? I have, and it make me angry. This is my road too! My children are traveling with me. What gives you the right to drive a car and text at the same time? I was driving on the highway the other day, and a guy to the left of me seemed a little goofy and not in his lane, well what do you know, he was texting. Are you kidding me? There was a semi in front of you! What if that semi stopped suddenly? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Please everyone, don't ignore this! I feel very passionate about having this seen and hope that you do see this or pass it on to someone that could benefit from this! Now, I'm taking a gamble that this doesn't change your opinion of me or have you walk away from me! Thanks for listening!

I am putting a silly cartoon picture so it pops up on your screen first!

Aloha Kakahiaka - Good Morning

Doesn't saying that just make you want to be in Hawaii right now? Well after the rainy days we have been having I wish I was. Our weather has been less than desirable this week. We are having Monsoon type weather and as I look out the window I can see my patio furniture floating down the backyard! Remember when I said how much I loved rain, well I still do but not downpours for days and days and big white chunks of hail. It sounds like we are being attacked! I thought since the weather outside was not so sunny I would make it sunny inside! I finished my Hawaiian themed upside down tree! So without further ado, drum roll please..........



Take note of my Queen sign, my husband could not believe I put it there and worried I would offend someone! Hmmm, doesn't bother me, you?





Mrs. Claus and Santa taking a much needed vacation!



Okole maluna!: Bottoms up! Cheers!



COWABUNGA!



I think I have 15 flip flop ornaments on this tree!



Can't have a tropical tree without this pink guy!



"Wahine hi'u i'a" - Mermaid



Gotta have the coconut shell bra right?



Isn't this saying so true? "Life is far too short not to have an umbrella in your drink"



Well there you have it, my Kumu nui (Coconut Tree)!
Now I'm going to go and imagine I am by the pool with my Pina Colada,
A hui hou - goodbye, until we meet again!

I should have known!

I should have know that my hidden passion for Roller Derby would one day get the best of me! I have sprained my ankle or should I say cankle. I will spare you the horrible picture for fear that someone might get sick at the site of it!



I went in to the doctor yesterday for an x-ray and it definitely is sprained, swollen and ugly!



While getting the x-ray the technician kept grabbing my cankle to reposition it and I about kicked her! Wouldn't you think to ask where to touch and not? This is so what I'm going to do next time!



Ok, so I didn't really do a round of roller derby but wow it sure sounds more exciting than tripping over the dog, right?

Just call me Captain Klutzo, my family does!

It's Miller Lite Time!

Ok so I'm sure you are all wondering why I titled my post that way, right? Well you wouldn't believe what I got for Mother's Day? I got beer! Yep, you heard correctly! I bet none of you can say that about your Mother's Day gifts, right? We were in Nebraska over the weekend and my wonderful son and husband stopped by the liquor store to pick up wine for dinner. My son apparently saw this huge 24oz of Miller Lite in the cooler and thought it was calling my name. Hmmmmm......what does that say about my parenting if my son knows what I like to drink and better yet, that my husband agreed to buy it? Please people don't call DCFS!

The whole family got a kick out of it and it did get a laugh out of me, but I didn't feel the need to crack it open just yet! We traveled home and my son put in in the fridge. He asks me every time he opens it if I would like to drink it! Honey, "It's 7:00 in the morning, I think coffee will work just fine!"

Yesterday his friends came over after school and they were all chatting about their day and deciding what they were going to do. One of his friends named Brad asked me what I got for Mother's Day. I said, "Oh the kiddos picked me a lovely bouquet (so lovely the roots were still attached)! James' friend told me he gave his mother a rose and I thought how sweet. James said, "Yah, well I bet none of you gave your mom a beer for Mother's Day? They all looked at me and then James took it out of the fridge and showed it to them. Now remember they are all ten and boys so they thought it was pretty cool and James thought he had given the best gift. Can you imagine the dinner conversations last night around the neighborhood? So, what did you do at James' house? Oh, we hung out and guess what James got his mom for Mother's Day? Beer! Whhhattttt?



I guess the true test will be if any kids come over after school! Maybe that's why we're the fun house! No seriously, not around the kids, honest!

Muffins with Moms!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday? The weather was the only downside to my weekend. It was way too windy and a little on the chilly side. It felt more like March than May! We spent the weekend in Nebraska visiting relatives so most of yesterday was spent driving home. Claire must have told me a million times that Mother's Day was not going to be until Monday, so she said she wouldn't be wishing me a Happy Mother's Day until then. So, this morning I woke up to, " Happy Mother's Day!", rather loudly I might add.

I spent this morning at school with Claire having Muffins with Moms. This was a morning to honor all the Mom's of kindergartners for Mother's Day! I have to say that as much as I would have rather spent my morning in bed curled up with a good book, I did the good Mommy thing, and drove to school. I just cracked up at the huge smile on Claire's face when I walked in. It's amazing at how fast a kid can forget things. I told her this morning I was coming but she was still so surprised when I got there. Hmmm, maybe someday she will make a good actress, do you think? It was pretty cute to see all the kids faces showing off their moms to each other. There was one dad among the group, but I think he held his own. Since I volunteer in the classroom, I was a little curious to see which kid went with which mother, because I know how they really act when their Mom's aren't around! No, I'm kidding, they really are a good group of kids!



Of course we had to get a picture of us!



Get ready for a good laugh! This was my attempt at drawing a picture of Claire and I. Ok, so it's not my best work, but hey, I was under a lot of pressure!



I just love Claire's face here!



This is Claire and her teacher, Mrs. B. She is a fantastic teacher and we just love her. She was my son's teacher when he was in Kindergarten, so when we found out Claire was going to have her, we were ecstatic!



Well guess what? I hear the laundry calling my name and possibly that good book I was talking about! So, for now, I bid you all a great Monday!