This Full House Archive

Tag: nj mom bloggers

  • Best to Worst Combinations of Children
    Guess How We Ranked?

    A friend of mine posted this link to an article on Facebook, yesterday, stating, “Want to be happy? have two daughters,” and, seeing as three out of four of my kids are, you know, hormonally-enthused (ahem) my first thought was, WOW, we must rank pretty-gosh-darned-high, for once, dagnabit.

    Apparently, we do, in the worst possible way:

    “BEST” TO “WORST” COMBINATIONS OF CHILDREN

    1. Two girls
    2. One boy and one girl
    3. Two boys
    4. Three girls
    5. Three boys
    6. Four boys
    7. Two girls and one boy
    8. Two boys and one girl
    9. Three boys and one girl
    10. Three girls and one boy <— WHOO-HOO, THIS IS US!!!
    11. Two boys and two girls
    12. Four girls

    Of course, results are highly subjective, however, I was relieved to learn that parents, with four children of ANY gender, in general, found it harder, with meal times, mornings and the bedtime routines stated as being more difficult.

    Well…DUH!…and I mean that in the most subjective way possible.

    Long story, short (I know, too late, still) it brought to mind a pretty funny thing that happened with my son, the other night.

    He was sort of annoyed with his sisters (no surprise there, right?) then, had a HUGE mental blow out with his dad and me (see last parenthesis) ran up to his bedroom and this is the part where he would have SLAMMED the door…if he had one.

    Instead, he came back downstairs looking for…wait for it…A HAMMER!

    [eyes go wide]

    “Or, do you think this would break open if I bashed it on the ground?”

    Apparently, he was rummaging through his stuff, found his old ATM-style-coin-bank-type-thingies and, well, I was just sort of happy he didn’t choose something a little more, you know, bashable.

    “I’ll get it open for you.”

    Because, I happen to come from a family of 2 kids (one boy, one girl) and can handle stuff like this better than my husband, Garth (not his real name) who has 4 siblings, which, does NOT even rank on the charts…understandably.

    Also, my father was the king of “let’s just jimmy this sucker open!”

    “But, I lost the combination!”

    Having also inherited our habit of, you know, losing keys.

    “Hand mommy that screwdriver, over there, would ya’?”

    Broken Safe After a few minutes, I was able to get it open (after taking out the batteries, in order to kill…I mean…quiet the stupid alarm, of course) I then sat back and watched, quietly, with extreme prejudice, not saying a word, as my son carefully extracted its contents:

    * One G.I. Joe figure
    * Two quarters 
    * One stretchy man
    * One Junior D.A.R.E. badge
    * A picture of his 2nd grade class trip to Sandy Hook

    That last one helped us date these treasures and I half-expected my 12 year-old to go all boyteen, on me, or something.

    “You know, I can’t believe I thought any of this stuff would be SO important to me!”

    Me. Still. Not. Saying. A. Word.

    “Boy, was I stupid!”

    Morale of the Story:  2 out of 3, 3 out of 4, whatever, one day, it just won’t matter as much, oh, and in this house, we don’t need no stinkin’ combinations, either!

    Or, something like that.

    “You should really blog about this, mom!”

    Really?  Can I?

    “Yeah, so I can read it, for the next time I get MAD AT YOU for NOT HAVING any MORE BOYS!”

    I rest my case!!!

    © 2003 – 2011 This Full House

  • Wordless Wednesday:
    It’s Muh-thuh-nay-chuh!

    April Showers

    Okay, so maybe April showers bring May flowers…

    April Downpour

    …but, here in Jersey, it's raining like a muh-thuh, no big deal, yo, we're sorta used to experiencing all four seasons, in just one week.

    Happy Spummerfallter!

    © 2003 – 2011 This Full House

    Want to play along?  Check out Wordless Wednesday HQ and 5 Minutes for Mom then feel free to link up and join in on the fun!

  • See Mom Morph Into Barry Williams

    In my pursuit to make blogging fun, again…seriously, check out my accent vlog, see if you think I tawk funny, I'm still waiting for Miss Zoot to do hers…ahem…I found out something very, very interesting.

    [nonchalantly looks to the left, right, then left again]

    So, I was reading about my friend Christine's (a.k.a. From Dates to Diapers) desire to win the #TypeACeleb Contest and she did this fun match your face to a celebrity thingy and, turns out, Christine looks a whole lot like Julia Roberts, only prettier (Christine, I mean, sorry Julia!)

    Naturally, I was curious (i.e. desperately seeking an ego boost, as well) and thought I would try it, too.

    Sooooo, I uploaded the most natural-looking picture of me, without makeup, which I also use on my social media platforms.

    MyHeritage: Family trees – Genealogy – Celebrities

    Barry Williams?  The Brady Bunch?  Seriously?

    [hangs head in shame]

    If anyone needs me, I'll be upstairs, googling local distributors for Bobbie Brown Cosmetics, cheap truck rentals and tips on ways to speed up the dry time for spackle.

    Or, you could always tell me something nice, like, oh, I dunno, how much I do NOT look like Barry Williams, DAMMIT!!!

    © 2003 – 2011 This Full House

  • You Say Joisey, I Say What?!?

    Because, I am all about making blogging fun again (shuddup!) my friend NYCPatty posted an Accent Vlog and, well, dang if I can't hear it (her accent, I mean) because we live from across the river (or, the rivuh) from each other, I guess.

    I know, I know, vlogging's not my thing, either.  Still, it's better than another post about mommybloggers going rogue or, the friggin' weather (here, in Jersey) right?

    [cue the crickets]

    Riiiiiight.

    Here's mine:

    Okay, what'dya think; hear anything?

    [someone please shut those crickets up, already]

    Fiiiiiiiiiine.  Fughettaboutit!  Want to play along?

    If you want to follow along or do the Accent Vlog yourself, here are the words/questions:

    Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

    • What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
    • What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
    • What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
    • What do you call gym shoes?
    • What do you say to address a group of people?
    • What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
    • What do you call your grandparents?
    • What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
    • What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
    • What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

    Personally, I'd love to hear from my Mid-West friends and, most especially, folks from the South, like, oh, I dunno, Nashville, or maybe even as far as Plano, TX, even…YO!

    In the meantime, have a GREAT weekend and if anybody needs me, I'll be upstairs, caulking holes and mopping floors, baby.

    Friggin' rain!

    2/28 UPDATED TO ADD:  Yay for BusyMom, Dawn, Melisa, Heather and Weasel Momma for playing along, with me, too!

    Now, it's your turn — help a dork (like me) make blogging fun, again — go ahead, you know you want to!

    © 2003 – 2011 This Full House

  • You See, This is EXACTLY Why I Love Reading Other People’s Blogs!

    Let the Sunshine In

    It's been a rough couple of days/weeks/months here at This Full House of sticky socks and crunchy feet. 

    Without going into too much detail (you're welcome!) for fear of boring you to the point where you experience permanent decrease in vision, or your head explodes (I know, too late, stay with me here, just a little longer, okay?) it's just the typical drama that goes along with living in close quarters, in the wintertime and raising kids, who are old enough to, you know, talk back.

    Which, in the long term, is a good thing, seeing as my children will most definitely display brilliant moments of absolute resilience or, at the very least, be able to hold their own in a conversation.

    Me, not so much.

    I'm just too gosh-darned tired to argue and, may the parenting gods on high forgive me, but, I sort of like it when I hear other seemingly rational and somewhat more educated people, you know, complain about their kids.

    Inevitably, the guilt sets in, hard, and typically in the darkest of moments — like, hearing when a family in one of our schools suddenly loses a child — and, well, I just can't imagine living without either one of mine.

    Until, the next time my oldest is running late, my son leaves his jacket behind, or my youngest interrupts a conversation, while my husband, Garth (not his real name) and I try to convince my middle girl that parents are NOT, you know, as dumb as we seem (which is most days, btw) well, every day, it's something, right?

    [sound of crickets chirping]

    So, there I was, just sitting here, at my desk, minding my own business (sort of) reading other people's blogs (hence, last parenthesis) when the most amazingly fantastical thing happened.

    The sun came out.

    Then, suddenly…um…uh…funny, I sort of forgot what the heck was bothering me in the first place.

    Aaaaand, well, I just love that, you know?

    Happy Love Thursday!

    UPDATED TO ADD:  Due to a sports-related emergency (Gatorade blew up in son's gym bag) he found his jacket in the front office, today (YAY!) but, seems to have misplaced one of his wrestling shoes (Ummmmm) bet you didn't know they cost an arm (possibly a leg, even) or, that there was such a thing as wrestling shoes, either, right?!?

    © 2003 – 2011 This Full House