Miss C after watching Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses last night:

“Mommy I want to get married some day when I’m older…like 48.”

Miss C after seeing a Disney World commercial this morning on Nick Jr.:

“I love Disney World.”

Miss A:

“Me, too!”

(Note, they have never been to Disney World.)

I want to post a big thank you to the hubby for taking the girls to the park yesterday and for taking them for a long ride in our bike trailer while I basically laid in bed and popped Ibuprofen and swigged Gatorade and tried to keep my fever at bay. He also went to the grocery store and cooked dinner. Am I lucky or what?

I’ve got a doctor’s appointment this morning. My fever is down to about 99 but yesterday and Saturday it spiked to over 102. Not fun. Not fun at all. I’m not sure at this point if Tamiflu will help or if they’ll even prescribe me anything, but I’m going to go in and get checked out just in case.

I was feeling run down Friday night and yesterday morning, sure enough, I woke up feeling downright horrible with a 102 degree fever.

Did you know the Murphy’s Law of marital romance states if a Victoria’s Secret package crosses your threshold that someone will start hacking or sneezing within the next 24 hours? The hubby came down with a cold just in time for Valentine’s Day, and now I have some sort of heinous crud, which I hope is not the flu but I really hope is not pneumonia because I’ve been there, done that, thank you very much and it’s not fun. I’m not sure which is the lesser of two evils, so hopefully I just have a random last hurrah of winter/three-day weekend/your kids are cooped up and flying around the house like rabid monkies virus with a fever and horrible headache. Because if you’re going to be sick, you might as well do it up right!

Thankfully the hubby and Miss C picked out a lovely G-rated bottle of lotion at Macy’s for Valentine’s Day that I’m enjoying, because my new lingerie is collecting dust and the only small lacy thing I want near my body is a handkerchief.

Ladies, if you are currently engaged or just dating, make sure you marry the kind of man who will take the kids out for the day while you are sick. Hubby took the girls out to lunch and to the mall and video store. Wouldn’t you know they are saying we still have this DVD, but I clearly remember dropping if off in the return box and doing a little happy dance. If we end up paying for that movie? I will weep.

I’m overjoyed to report that Miss A happilly complied at daycare and washed her hands all day Friday, because honestly a sick mama weekend begs for some TV and DVD time and I would have been up a creek without a remote had she not been able to watch TV. When I told her how proud I was of her and heaped on the praise, she looked at me and said, “I TOLD YOU Mommy!” This was immediately followed by the command, “I WATCH TV!” Unfortunately she sh*t in her pants right before the hubby picked her up, but I didn’t pray for her to be accident free now did I?

Dear Lord:

Thank you for Miss A’s love of the potty and thank you for making 2008 the Year of the Big Girl Panties. That is truly awesome.

Now Lord, you work in mysterious ways and only you know why Miss A is now boycotting washing her hands at daycare and giving her teacher the evil stink eye when asked to wash up after potty time. Please Lord give her the desire to cleanse her hands thoroughly after using the potty and to obey her teachers and especially her doting mother, for that matter. Please God let the banning of TV and computer time yesterday and the threat of holding back on her Valentine’s Day candy let serve as a motivating factor today.

Speaking of daycare, God please let that mother who keeps bringing in McDonald’s breakfast for her child to eat at the table while the other children eat cold Cheerios realize that not only is she being inconsiderate, but she’s making the classroom smell like a fry cook apron.

And God, the parents and daycare teachers who drive into the “exit,” rather than the entrance, at daycare? Please make them stop before I flip them off in the parking lot in front of my sweet children.

Thank you, as always, for the girls’ ability to always make me laugh. That is my saving grace.

Amen!

Winner Update: Holy cow people! I’ve never had this many comments on my blog. Disney DVDs must be like crack or something. Brandy, who commented “We would love to be entered to win these. It is a great pair! My daughter is a Little Einsteins fan, and my son is a Handy Manny fan!” is the winner! Thanks to everyone who entered. I’m going to take a break from giveaways until April so stay tuned.

Yes, I’m still giving stuff away. Crazy, I know! I’m going to take a break after this month (with the giveaways…not blogging, what do you think I am, NUTS?) and I’ll be back in late April with some exciting giveaways so stay tuned. The PR people…they love reaching out to you moms out there.

I’m making this week’s Snowy Days Giveaway so simple your family dog could probably enter if it could figure out how to get its grimey little paws on the keyboard.

I’ve got two new DVD releases from Disney up for grabs, courtesy of Special Ops Media.

First is Little Einsteins: Race For Space. This is a 72-minute DVD featuring Leo, June, Quincy, Annie and Rocket on a mission to rescue the Three Little Piggies when their airplanes spin out of control. Don’t ask. You know your little one will love this, even though the synopsis sounds a little bit like someone was on drugs when they came up with the story line. In this case, pigs do fly.

The second DVD is Handy Manny: Fixing It Right. This is a 58-minute DVD with six episodes, including one never-before-seen episode, “Manny To The Rescue.” There’s also a bonus game time feature, “Fix It With Handy Manny.”

Now for the fun part. To enter to win one copy of each of these new Disney releases, simply leave a comment now through midnight Friday, February 22. My girls love both, but I have to say that Little Einsteins narrowly beats out Handy Manny, the tool whisperer. You don’t need a blog or website to enter, but you do need a valid e-mail address so I can contact you, should you win. And if you link back to this giveaway, you’ll get two entries. Thanks and good luck!

Miss C and Miss A’s hands, February 2005

(Because lately it’s nearly impossible to take a peaceful photo of them together.)

I keep having fantasies of these wonderful holiday traditions that are very Martha Stewart, but then I run out of time and energy. I had big plans to cut out pink paper hearts last night and leave a little trail to the den early this morning but it was late and I was tired. I gave the girls hilarious sucker pops with big plastic lips that may not be Martha-esque, but are so funny.

The girls also got new heart tights to wear to school today. Miss A’s tights have silver glittery thread hearts and Miss C’s do not so there was an uncomfortable moment of “her tights are cuter than mine!” Women. Petty jealousy rears its ugly head so young.

Do you have any traditions you remember from childhood? My mother always gave us a small Russell Stover red heart box filled with chocolates. My favorites were, and still are, the caramel filled ones and I still remember tearing open the cheery red cellophane.

Hubby and I ate lunch together since we’ve got a hot date tonight with a blonde and a brunette. We were going to go to our favorite little Italian spot but it’s closed for lunch so instead we went to a burger and beer type place, where I ended up ordering the shrimp etoufee on special. Besides, we needed a hearty lunch so we have enough energy to cope with Miss Wired on Sugar I and Miss Wired on Sugar II Electric Boogaloo tonight at the pizza place.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and you and you! You look fabulous, by the way. Is that a new shirt?

p.s. Belated thanks to Amy at Milkbreath and Margaritas, fellow blonde and working mom, for a Your Blog is a Treasure award and to Piper of Love, who blogs at Bliss in Bloom, for a Blog of Love award! Be sure to read this sweet post from Piper about going on a date with a very special man in her life. And this post written by Amy for her daughter Sugarplum? Just beautiful.

I was sending a fax at my office the other morning and started humming a catchy little tune.

I realized it was Hannah Montana’s “Best of Both Worlds.”

Screeeeeeeech!

The amazing thing about the popularity of Hannah Montana is that Miss C doesn’t even watch the Hannah Montana show, yet she is in love with her songs and all things bearing the Hannah Montana name, especially those hair pieces. What is up with the mass-produced hair extensions for kids?

Any way, I volunteer Friday mornings in Miss C’s classroom and while I was helping one of her classmates last week I overheard Miss C singing. Then I noticed she was starting to dance in place a little while she concentrated on cutting out shapes for a worksheet. I was thinking about how cute she looked and then it dawned on me. She was singing and dancing to a Bratz commercial that was on Nick Jr. the other day.

Oh hell to the no!

My mind started racing and in what seemed to be slow motion I walked ran to her and, in a strategic movement clearly intended to distract her, I asked her who she wanted to sit with at lunch.

What if her teacher had overheard her singing a Bratz commercial about nail bling? What if her friends had started singing along and shaking their hips in a kindergarten Bratz singalong? What if they had jumped up on the tables and grabbed a gluestick for a microphone and impromptu jam session?

GOD HELP US ALL!

I’ve now changed my tune.

Hannah Montana…rocks!

Yesterday I was reading my fellow Divine Caroline friend Amy’s great blog, The Mother Load. She had posted a code for a free Red Box movie rental.

After school I thought it would be a treat to take Miss C to rent a movie seeing as the weather is less than desirable.

I was all…

MUST GET FREE MOVIE!

MUST DRIVE TO MCDONALD’S AND STAND IN FRIGID COLD IN LINE WITH NO COAT ON AND 5-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER CLINGING TO MY LEGS BEHIND THREE PEOPLE DUMBASSES WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING WHO SCROLL THROUGH EVERY MOVIE SELECTION AS SLOW AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!

Ahhh finally we reach the kiosk.

My fingers and brain are frozen and I get all the way to the end of the rental process only to realize you punch in the freaking code at the beginning prompt screen.

The code…that expires at midnight.

I realize it’s not worth backing out and starting all over because I am freezing to death and Miss C’s ears are starting to turn a strange shade of purplish red and it’s not worth potential hypothermia to save $1.

End up charging $1 rental on my debit card for a stupid Dora flick because it turns out the Hannah Montana movie Miss C wanted was not available.

Dammit.

I will be back, though, as I registered my e-mail address with the Red Box site and I’ve got another free movie rental code.

Only this time I’m saving it for a warm sunny day when no one else in our neighborhood will be renting movies.

Super Tent, originally uploaded by blondemom.

I’ve been thinking about Miss C’s 6th birthday in June and what sort of treasures a girl with big dreams and a love for frilly things might like. I know she’d love a pretty jewelry box to safely store all her treasures and she’s crazy about Barbies and a million other typical girly things. The other night, however, she surprised me with the most simple of requests. She mentioned that hubby and I had forgotten to bring home some boxes so she and Miss A construct their own play train in the living room. This was something that had come up during the recent super tent construction in the living room. Miss C had wanted to build a tent, and the hubby made one that rivaled any I’d ever seen. It was a veritable fortress, fashioned with bar stools from our kitchen and an old wooden clothes drying rack draped with blankets and sheets to make a cozy lair to fill with pillows and stuffed animals.

I wonder how many times we unintentionally encourage our children to stifle their imaginations? At one point does it become “uncool” to make a fortress with blankets in the middle of the living room or a train from cardboard boxes? Miss C, especially, is at the age where she’s influenced by pop culture and the media. Her opinion is swayed by her friends and she is developing her own inner barometer of what behavior is acceptable and what is not.

My brother travels to Thailand now after Christmas and lives there for most of the winter. He sent this sentiment in a recent e-mail:

I read an interesting commentary on why life seems to speed up as we get older. It is from a speech by Ani Tenzin Palmo - an Englishwoman, who at the age of 20 became the first Western woman to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. I read a good book of hers called “Cave in the Snow,” about spending 12 years alone meditating in a cave way up in the Himalayan mountains - she now runs a center for nuns in northern India.

When asked “Is that why life gets shorter as we get older?”

“Yes, because we become more and more robotic.When we are small children, everything is so fascinating that life seems to go on forever. Every day is huge…and we are so interested…as we become dulled, as our minds get less and less curious, we go on automatic pilot more and more in our relationships, work, etc…life loses its vivacity and it seems shorter.”

This is very sad, isn’t it? Actually it is the same time. It seems to speed up.

This is an indication of how we are becoming more and more robotic in our responses. In a way it is a warning sign for us to wake up and reestablish that original childlike curiosity and fresh quality of mind.

One thing I love about being a parent is seeing the world through a child’s eyes once again and getting a taste of that magical feeling that life is a grand adventure, and not just an endless series of deadlines and to do lists.

This weekend Miss C and Miss raided the dress up basket and twirled around the house like barefoot princesses, rode bikes up to the neighborhood playground and played with an abandoned golf ball, and dug in the dirt in the backyard with sticks. Their imagination has no tethers, their excitement for life is contagious. As their mother, I am simply honored that I get to come along for the joyride.