This Full House Archive

Category: It’s not the years, HONEY – it’s the mileage!

  • The Twilight Years: Okay, I get it, BITE ME!

    I began my obsession with Twilight in the Summer of 2007, when my oldest daughter insisted that…YES…it would keep her interest and…OF COURSE…the genre would make an absolutely perfect fit into her summer reading list.

    "It’s a vampire love story!"

    Uh-huh.

    So, I read it first to make sure that it was really, you know, appropriate for teen readers and…WHAM…it truly was love at first bite.

    [cringe]

    Don’t worry, Stephenie Meyer writes way gooder than me and has taken a story line that is not really that unique — like, how love overcomes all obstacles, sort of — but, presents it in a totally refreshing way.

    With that said, I can’t help but wonder if it’s wrong that I’m totally crushing on…um, you know…my teen’s crush?

    (more…)

  • The Responsibility Project: Because, parents (like me) need a real good kick in the head, sometimes!

    Ever have one of those days?  When things just don’t go right and you can’t seem to find the strength to even, you know, get out of the shower.

    Yeah, me too.

    Then, you come across something that makes you really think (dammit) and, not only that, it inspires you to believe in the magic and healing powers of the human spirit.

    No?

    Then, you have GOT to check out "Tony," written and directed by Academy Award-nominee Grant Heslov (co-owner with George Clooney of Smoke House Pictures) for Liberty Mutual’s Responsibility Project.

     

    See what I mean?

    What, don’t have the time to watch it?  No worries.  Come back, when you do.  Trust me, you’ll be real glad that you did and perhaps even see it as the best 13 minutes you’ve spent, all day!

    Oh, and I really would like Grant and my fake boyfriend George hear what you guys think.  Why?  Well, taking the personal time to share something truly wonderful, with one another, is what bloggers do best, right?

    No worries, take your time, I’ll wait.

    © 2008 This Full House – All Rights Reserved.

  • Got Teens: Then, you NEED to be reading my blog!

    My friend Jenn – whom I love dearly and needs coffee, like most mommies I know – has another thought provoking post (dammit!) about teens and the parents who blog about them.  Namely, me.  Because, you know, I am a mom, with teens, tweens, a precocious seven-year-old and I happen to keep a blog.  Or, two.

    Why?

    Well, it’s like told Jenn:

    "I’ve been blogging for 5 years now (4 kids all under the age of 10, ‘nuf said) and, yes…the stories have
    changed…a little…but, it’s still OUR story and I don’t write about
    anything that I (or, my kids) would be uncomfortable sharing, in real
    life.

    Although, my kids are in school full-time, my job is far from being done. I will have TWO teenagers, in a couple of months (ACK!) and personally, I feel that being their mom has become even harder.

    However, my reasons for keeping This Full House remain the same – blogging is cheaper than therapy!"

    Then, one of my kids goes and bleeds all over herself and what if I told you that the first thing I did was Twitter it?

    (more…)

  • Shaking It Up On the Soccer Field of Good and Evil

    Thisfullhousesoccer

    Mini-me (on far left, wearing red) at her soccer team’s first practice, last night.

    Does your kid play soccer?  Baseball?  Football?  How about basketball, hockey or softball?  Yes?

    [nods head]

    Perhaps, you’ve even coached a team, or two.

    Like, my kids’ coaches (two of them are playing soccer, this year) who volunteer their time, year after year, one season into the next and sometimes more than one sports, at a time.

    PHEW.

    Don’t get me wrong, my husband would love to coach, but Garth (not his real name) gets home really late and sometimes is scheduled to work three weekends out of the month.

    Me?  Well, as I see it, teaching kids sports means a) one would need to know a little something about that particular sport and b) being able to physically, you know, do it.

    I mean, giving birth to 4 babies, I can’t do a jumping jack, or sneeze, without having certain parts of my body begin to leak (you’re welcome) sometimes, all at once (I’m sure) besides, my uterus might fall out, or something.

    Still.

    Some of these guys are diehard dedicated to involving themselves in nearly every aspect of their children’s lives and I can’t help but think, you know, what kind of day job allows these people ALL that free time?

    (more…)

  • This Full House est. 1990

    Thisfullhouseaisledash

    August 25, 1990 – the year of the big dress and Cinderella Poof

    I think Dennis Miller (who ALSO happens to look a lot like Garth, not his real name) said it best:

    "After 7 years of marriage, I am sure of 2 things.  First, never
    wallpaper together and second, you’ll need 2 bathrooms…both for her.
    The rest is a mystery, but a mystery I love to be involved in."

    After 18 years, 4 kids, 2 cats, 1 sock-eating Doofus-dog and tons of laundry later, I’m STILL waiting for a bathroom.

    [heavy sigh]

    Because, I love you THAT MUCH!

    © 2008 This Full House – All Rights Reserved.

    [Please, clean off a chair and stay a while – subscribe to email updates or the RSS feed or – if you really, really like me – visit our review blog and I’ll love you forever!]

  • Summer’s almost over, time to cram for school!

    Dunebabies

    Dune baby, dune baby, give me a smile — or, not.

    In less than 2 weeks, our summer will be over and — having directed nearly all of my attentions to raising kids and killer dust bunnies, for the last 15 years — perhaps you’d be surprised, as I am, to learn that I haven’t done a gosh-darned thing to get the kids ready for back-to-school.

    Besides, doing nothing….I mean.

    My husband, Garth (not his real name) and I have been busy — although, taking a quick look outside — you really couldn’t tell.

    We’ve slowly been mowing, planting, weeding and transplanting our way through the seemingly endless amount of chores that come with having a big backyard.  Not to mention, keeping our house from falling down and crashing into our 100-year-old neighbor’s immaculately kept lawn.

    Yeah, you heard right — she’s turning 100, next month — so, where do we get off feeling so tired, all the time?

    (more…)

  • Parenting Tip# 4,721,936: What doesn’t kill you, will most certainly grow up and make you cry!

    Thisfullhousenap

    After having run about a bazillion errands, Mini-me and Thing Two pass out on mommy’s chair, yesterday!

    As with most days, a large portion of my time was spent driving around, or waiting for someone, and running errands for someone else, this week.

    What, you too?

    So, you MUST know how cranky, tired and frustrated I am feeling right about now – considering, nothing that I actually WANTED to do, got done – and, as my kids get older, it doesn’t get ANY better!

    Such is life – especially, if you are a parent – and if you’ve got a couple of kids (like me) well, let’s just say that my husband, Garth (not his real name) and I have learned to just live in the moment.

    Even if it kills us!

    (more…)

  • Bloggers Unite for Human Rights: A Mom Speaks Out For the Families of Myanmar

    Humanrightsbadge3

    This month marks the first anniversary of Bloggers Unite and they’re launching an awareness campaign chosen by BlogCatalog members and partnering with Amnesty International. Today, May 15, 2008, bloggers across the Internets are uniting for human rights to make a statement:

    All people are born with basic rights and freedoms – life, liberty, and justice!

    So, what DOES a wigged-out, total klutz of a mother with 4 kids, 2 cats, 1 super-hyper sock-eating dog and 2 damn much laundry (like me) possibly have to say about human rights, that would make sense to anyone else other than the voices in her head, anyway?

    (more…)

  • Child Web-Safety: It’s NOT just a scare tactic.

    Our superintendent sent out a letter that there would be an evening presentation held at the middle school on teaching your children about online safety.

    It’s not the first time I’ve received such a notification.  Besides, I attended something similar two years ago.

    I have four children (14, 12, 9 and 6) who will be entering into four different schools within the district, next year.  So, I’m pretty much used to getting scary letters from school.  Like the latest outbreaks of chicken pox and head lice and the typical "just so you know" type letters, reminding parents "how to know when your child is too sick to go to school" AND the repercussions of "excessive absents."

    I know…DUH!…I spend a lot of time on the Internets.  I make it my business to surf the blogosphere and have spoken about the power of the mom blogging community (more than once) and I have become fearless.  In fact, I feel safer here (in my blog) than I do out on the street and thought…meh…I am so done with scare tactics!

    Until, it happened to our family.

    (more…)

  • PBN Blog Blast: All I want for Mother’s Day

    The Parent Bloggers Network has teamed up with Johnson and Johnson to promote their new charitable giving site, Johnson’s Baby Cause, powered by Global Giving.

    As part of their responsibility to the global community, Johnson’s has hand-selected dozens of charities around the world that mirror their deep commitment to caring for the health and well-being of mothers and children – not just on Mother’s Day, but every day of the year.

    This is the 100th Anniversary of Mother’s Day and my 15th year of raising kids — not to mention, killer dust bunnies — in this mother-loving world of comfortable running shoes and matching hoodies.

    So, as a mother of a teen, a tween, a precocious 1st grader and The Boy who refuses to admit he is NOT getting a brother for Christmas, what could I possibly want for Mother’s Day?

    (more…)