ABOUT ME

Here's a little "something" about me...just so you know...

I'm wife to my best friend in the world for 13 years, although we've been best friends for over 19 years. He's my "Italian Stallion"...I've loved being adopted into this Italian Heritage!

We have 3 beautiful children to whom I am "Mommy"!

Sweetpea is our eldest, M....she's my almost 9year old. She looks like her daddy, but is a natural firstborn like me. She has a very sensitive heart...she's my thinker, a compassionate friend and a great big sister!

Peanut is next, E....that typical middle kid! She's my rambunctious, adventurous, music lovin' girl! I love her giggle and her pig snorts!

Little Munchkin is the baby, C! She knows what she wants and will do all in her power to get it! She is truly the baby and bring much laughter to our house!

I'm a lover of photography...well, more like just capturing memories because, due to all the Diet Pepsi that I drank in college, my brain cells have drowned and I have little left to store actual memories...so I depend on pictures to remind me of the "days of old"...this is very disheartening to my husband, considering I can barely remember a single date before we were married...he has to "fill me in"...(although, I think he must secretly like it since the "stories" keep getting better and better each time he tells them, and I'd never really know if he exaggerated or not)

I love pop...fountain drinks are my favorite and each one of my girls had "sips" before they were one year old...this is a sad thing for my MIL...her poor grandbabies...

I can touch my tongue to my nose...it's disgusting, yes, I know...but, I claim it as a talent and will gladly show you if asked! (I also just discovered that Sweetpea has the same talent!!! whoohoo!!)

I'm a pack rat...the state of my basement is an embarrassment...and yet a treasure trove! It's easy to get lost in my "stuff"...but, there's always something that triggers some memory down there and so I continue "hoarding!" (this does include all my baby teeth, my wonder woman underoos and countless other knicknacks from the 80's)

I'm a people person...thus, I'm energized being around people...this is opposite of my husband...so we work great as a team!

I started this blog awhile ago...I used to be a big journal person...I know I have a box of filled journals somewhere in the basement...ahhh, that would be another treausre to locate!...but the whole blog thing is kinda fun because I can share it with my friends and family! My plan is to print out and save my entries as I go...so I'll have my own little "book" when I'm done...

A friend of mine recently called me Mamarazzi...ya know, like Paparazzi on TV? It's kinda what I do to my family, you know, run after them like a crazy person and snap pictures until they beg me to "please stop Momma..let's play!"...I liked the name...so it stuck...so that's our family in a nutshell:
Italian Stallion, Mamarazzi (I also think it has an "italian ring" to it:), Sweetpea, Peanut and Little Munchkin...

Sooo...there you have it...those are just the tidbits...glad you stopped by!

A Little Bantering Goes a Long Way...

I have a friend who lives a little south of here…well, kinda really south of here…like Costa Rica! I grew up with her husband, and we met in high school (I may have been in middle school at the time…I can’t rightly remember…bein’ as I’m loosing my eye sight, hearing and bodily functions at my OLD age)

Anyhoo…We were “chattin’” as I always do on facebook and other such communication devices that have me linked to the “outside world”…that of adults…where adult conversation runs freely and for the most part, whining does not occur, nor am I expected to wipe, hold, carry, pat, discipline anyone…well, again, for the most part!

She knows that this whole blogging thing has been on my mind lately…the whole privacy thing…being mindful of my children who don’t have control over what their mother “talks” about concerning them…YIKES! I’ve been wanting to create “code” names…side note(This is half of what makes blogging fun…I’m not out for popularity, or to have my voice heard…heck, it’s just another way to be creative…it’s that other outlet!!) so I get to do “code names” and I have with most of my family:

We’ve got my hubby: The Italian Stallion…I’m sure he LOVES the fact that he is known by the blogging world (at least MY blogging world) as a stud!!! Whoo hooo!!! But...I digress…

I refer to my eldest as SweetPea…this name has evolved from Pumpkin, to Nipper to now Sweetpea…I like the ring.

Middle child is my Peanut and that just fits her perfectly!

Little Muchkin is number 3…I’m sure once she gets older, we’ll have to drop the Little part, but I’m thinking that she has more of my genes, so the Munchkin part will probably stick.

But what about the author of this lovely blog? What shall I be called? How do I “Identify” myself without revealing my “true identity”? All these other blogs have FUN names that give the hint of their “day job”:
Big Mama
Boo Mama
Mommy Zabs
You followin’ the gist here? I’m sure they haven't copywrited the name, but I need something new, something unique…something that says something about me and how I “work”…

My girls came up with (bless their little hearts) :Fun Mama, Panera Mama (wonder how they got this one?) Girly Mama (perhaps this was suggested to provide some motivation for their denim wearing mama who only owns 2 pair of earrings and no high heels!)…

And I truly like these…but, I ‘bout fell off my seat laughing when my friend suggested:

Mamarazzi (ya know, like the paparazzi…in other words, someone who takes lots of pictures…someone who can’t seem to take the camera off her hip…you’d think she was getting paid for as many prints as she has around her house!) It even sounds a little Italian to go with my Stallion Hee hee

So, for awhile we’re gonna stick with this “jovial” name…for fun...just remember, that I'm about as laidback as squirrel on caffeine, so be prepared for changes...I'm sure that eventually my mom won't even know who is who...but, eh...that's half the fun!

Have a great weekend
~Mamarazzi

just real quick

Just a quick explanation...I'll return you to your regularly, scheduled blog posts after this brief message:

I put privacy settings on this blog recently. It's not what I wanted to do by any means...it's cumbersome, it forces you to have to sign in instead of being able to just easily link over...I get that, believe me.

However, I am realizing that this whole "internet" thing is bigger than I realize...and although I'm careful, by changing my kids "real names", never mentioning my home address or surrounding "clues"...I'm not perfect, and I may slip up and not know it...and the thing is, I don't know who is reading this...I don't have control over it at all...

We don't have control over anything in life really...but, I think God gave us brains to make choices wisely. My children are small...what I publish about them, what I allow the world to see is precious and I don't want that taken away from them. Someone made just a side comment the other day, wasn't threatening or anything...but it just made me reevaluate...

I LOVE those other blogs over to the right of your screen...I so want to be like them...they are funny, witty, open, honest...and I've never heard any horror stories from them:) Goodness sakes, I read BETH MOORE's blog all the time...she's got stuff about her grandkids, etc etc...

After a time, I may pull the plug on the email invite thing...or I may switch over to wordpress, where it's at least password protected...but I can pass that word around a lot easier than the whole email thing...I"m not sure...

I just wanted to let you know that I'm not giving up, but I'm taking a step back for a sec just to make sure where I'm heading with all this...and to make sure that my decisions are wise concerning the safety of my family...

Thanks to those that go through the "ugh" of signing in to read this...will you do me a favor and let me know your thoughts, give me some insights, let me know if the whole thing is just crazy and I'm paranoid, or even if you just don't like it and won't be back to reading again...I really appreciate it and value your opinions!!!

***This is just a test of the national blogcasting system...this is only a test...we'll now bring you back to your regularly, scheduled postings***

Play acting in the next room

Conversation currently happening at my house between sisters:

“Okay, so you pretend that you’re like 20.”

“Yeah, and we can be sisters. (right cuz it makes sense to PRETEND that)
Okay, and you pretend that you live over here.
This is our store and this is our house…”

“Yeah, and let’s pretend that you are going to go shopping..
And then, you can like, pretend to buy stuff and I can pretend to sell it to you..”

“Okay and you be 10 and what is your name?”

“I’m gonna be Rose and you pretend to be Violet
Okay, wait, my name is Rose and people call me Rosetta or Rose…”

“But what if we call you something else?”

“I’m the second oldest, and I’m 20 and my name is Isabelle
No, wait, now I’m 8…I’m gonna be the youngest”

“Wait, who lives in the Boxcar?”

“What are we playing?”

“Meijer”

Yeah, don’t ask…don’t have a clue what is going on, but I’m sitting here chuckling to myself over the “play-acting” that is going on in the next room…

Sick anyone?

I’ve got that “ewhyuck” feeling in my throat.

I tried to swallow it away, sleep it away, suck down too much coffee it away, fill up on vitamins away…but to no avail…that “feeling” is still there…

So what does that mean? It means that I’m getting doggone sick…and by golly, I do NOT like being sick, especially in the summer (which doesn’t officially start by the calendar until Sunday…but, who’s counting)

It’s days like this that I wish I could just blink myself to a resort in Hawaii and get pampered all day by tall men dressed in white, who come and put cool wash clothes on my forehead, feed me fresh fruit and let me sit and read all day from my pile of library books that I’m wanting to devour. Ahhhhhhhh, that would be a vacation!

Instead, I must pop a few Ibuprofens, stagger to the shower, fix breakfast for the kiddos while answering the barrage of questions such as:

“Mommy, what are we doing today?”
“Can I watch more TV?”
“Can I have a gumball?”
“C has my baby and she won’t give it back, can you DOOOOOOO something about that?”
“Can I have a gumball?”
“I want to go on a bike ride, will you find my helmet?”
“Where are my clothes, Mom…did you do the laundry?”
“Can I have a gumball?”
“When is Daddy coming home?”
“Can we call some friends to come over and play?”

Did I mention, “Can I have a gumball?” What it is about gumballs and my girls, I’ll never know, but thank you dear brother for the lovely gumball machine wedding gift 10 years ago…it’s a been a source of aggravation JOY!

So, we’ll see how far this “sick” actually goes. We have a wedding to attend this weekend, not to mention Little Munchkin turns TWO…oh my heavens…TWO…next week! Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Reading is like Water

Reading is second nature to me. My love for the written word began in about 5th grade by my teacher who required everyone to read 50 books over the course of the school year. Never had I had a teacher who blatantly required so much (Man, what kind of school did you go to you say?…yeah, well…it wasn’t the best school district in the world…bear with me)…but the students respected her and although some thought the feat was an impossible undertaking, we persevered.

We had to journal about every book and make a list of the titles and authors. I remember that we had to meet the halfway mark by the end of the first semester. I have a love/hate relationship with deadlines. I LOVE the check them off, I HATE the pressure to meet them. But, being the little “Teacher’s Pet” that I was, I was determined to meet those goals and then some. I didn’t start out doing it for enjoyment, but rather for the praise and adoration of my teacher.

However, through the process I found that I LOVE to read…it’s like water to my thirsty soul! I couldn’t get enough…and some 25 years later, I’m still feeling that way. When we go to the library, the librarians laugh because I have a bag for the kids and a bag for me…mine is often larger than theirs…go figure! When do I find time for this timely pleasure…yes well, ahem…that would be the reason that I’m up until after midnight nearly every night…but I digress…

ANYHOO, my little kiddos are not quite there in their ‘fascination’ with all things lettered black and white. I’ve already signed them up for THREE..yes count them…THREE summer reading programs…and myself for TWO. Sweetpea LOVES the challenge…she doesn’t necessarily love to read, but she loves to check off!!! Peanut, could care less one way or the other…she’s confident in who she is, whether she reads or not and by golly, if she gets to choose to either read, or go play outside…well, that’s just a no-brainer!

I hope…hope…sooooooooooo hope that they will develop a love of literature as I have. I’ve read to them since they were in the womb…I “graduate” them from board books to picture books and begin reading novels to them around age 4…

We’ve been through Classics such as The Secret Garden, The Little Princess, Charlotte’s Web and Caddie Woodlawn, James and the Giant Peach,…

Through historical fiction books such as Hittie, Her first Hundred Years, American Girl series, Little House on the Prairie…

Through mysteries like Boxcar Children, Magic tree house…

And into series books like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Ramona, Narnia and anything FAIRIES…

And through books that just interest us like Princess Academy, or authors like Beverly Cleary and Patricia MacLaughlin…

Our recent find was Kenny and the Dragon…WOW…such a fun book. Much like the picture book of the Reluctant Dragon, but made into a novel version…excellent read for boys and girls…literature is meaty, scarce pictures, enough to grab little one’s attention, but rare so the imagination can run wild…
We went to a storytime for Little Munchkin today…quite unexpectedly (we were actually going to collect our first “prize” for checking off on our reading chart) It just reminded me how much fun it is…I’m glad I’ve got one more little one to attempt to instill that love of reading…we’ll see how that works out!

Gardening

So, I thought I'd just share a little bit about my gardening experience.

Maybe even throw in a few pictures for imagination sake...

(Yes I know I've put this picture up before...)

I ran into a neighbor at the store today.
She told me that she sees my garden every morning and is quite jealous.
She thinks I have a green thumb.

It made me feel good, although I don't necessarily agree with her...all I do is stick the seeds in the ground...I'm not really one to follow the directions on the seed packets either...

12 inches apart just seems WAY too far apart for me...let's just plant them about 2 inches apart...that'll give em enough space...sure...ahem

I also don't like to murder thin my poor, sprouting seedlings...therefore, my lettuce looks like an overgrown chia pet. This is also the reason that my back about broke planting carrots...have you ever seen carrot seeds?...they are like the size of the tip of a pencil...I just licked my finger and put one little seed every inch or so...yes, back breaking work...

I know...I did it...

And then comes the watering...I think my poor husband realized that it looked bad to the neighbors felt sorry for me, hauling two 5 gallon buckets out to the garden each day. He installed a sprinkler this year! yippee for me...and again, less and less with me having a green thumb!

Of course, I've got to wonder when I planted 6 potato seeds last year and only ONE came up....so this year I planted 15...and all 15 sprouted...what am I going to do with 15 potato plants?


All in all...it's a fun "hobby"...I like just being out there and watching everything grow!

Green thumb or not...