Via Dooce, so I almost did not post this because she has a billion point two readers. But perhaps I’m wrong in assuming that everyone in the world reads her.

This is so effing funny. Be sure to read the update, because someone’s so getting disinherited.

Updated to add: Meg at Megret who commented that she liked the Zoom Zoom Zoom personalized book is the winner! Thanks again to everyone who entered.

Today’s Snowy Days Giveaways featured company is Aardvark Adventure Stories, a unique online store that allows you to upload your child’s photos so your child star in their own personalized adventure story book featuring their name, favorite things to do, and more.

I’ve purchased personalized books before, but Aardvark Adventure Stories are unique in that you help create the book and make it even more personal by uploading photos of your child.

Aardvark Adventure Stories offer several stories to choose from: Treasure Hunting Adventure, Princess Adventure, Space Adventure, Jungle Adventure, The Book of Truly Amazing Hats, Baseball Adventure, and Zoom Zoom Zoom.

Moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and grandparents take note! These books would make a wonderful present for the special little boy or girl in your life. Miss A is receiving the Princess Adventure story book next month for her third birthday and I know she will love it because she already thinks she’s a princess and this pretty much solidifies it, being in print and hardbound and all. Wait a minute…maybe that’s a bad thing?

Now for the fun part. I’m having a giveaway for an Aardvark Adventure Stories book of the winner’s choice. Simply visit the Aardvark Adventure Stories’ website and come back here and leave a comment saying which of their stories you like best. Comments will be open until next Friday, February 15. 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. Good luck and remember, for two entries you can link to this week’s giveaway on your own blog.

Also, for everyone who entered the Go Baby outmat giveaway, they are offering 25% off to my readers at checkout with the code BLONDEMOMBLOG. Aardvark Adventures is offering 15% off good through the end of February, also with the code BLONDEMOMBLOG. So get busy shopping people!

Skater Girl, originally uploaded by blondemom.

Miss C attended her first roller skating party last Saturday. She looks very happy in this picture, but earlier there was a bit of angst in the rink. She was frustrated but she stuck with it and soon was telling me to back off. That’s my girl! I was just sorely disappointed in losing the music trivia question, which was obviously set up for the parents. I mean who doesn’t remember who sang “You Dropped the Bomb on Me?”

Her friend’s dad is one of those cool creative types and he designed custom High School Musical t-shirts for all of the girls. We didn’t need another bag of random plastic treats, that’s for sure!

I was a total wimp and did not put on skates. It’s been at least 20 years and I never was good at it as a kid. (Picture a klutz and you’ll see me plain as day.) I knew if the two of us were flailing around, someone would be leaving on a gurney.

I’m proud of you Miss C. You didn’t quit.

I came up with a new afternoon tactic because since Super Bowl Sunday the girls have been completely wired for sound at night.

My tactic is called Operation WTAO (Wear Their Asses Out.)

This is all in an attempt to get them to sleep by a decent hour of, say, 8:30. We start the bedtime routine at 8 and lately Miss A, the night owl, is still awake after 9. She’s 2 years old. What the heck is she staying up late for?

Any way, back to Operation WTAO.

When I picked up Miss A from daycare yesterday I decided I would take both girls to the park since it was unusually warm in Nashville. But then some random sprinkles ruined my plans and I took them to the mall indoor play area. When I heard that Miss A’s class had spent two hours on the playground I knew she would be worn out.

Mwaa haa haa haa. Operation WTAO was in full swing.

Then last night the weather here in Tennessee was absolutely horrific and we were glued to the TV. Or at least I was. Tornado warnings were out for our county and pretty much every surrounding county. Thirty plus homes in a neighboring county (Williamson) were completely destroyed. At one point, sometime between 9 and 10, the tornadic activity was shown coming toward our part of town and the hubby told me to grab the girls and get in the bathtub as the winds were really picking up and he actually heard a tree go down, but not in our yard, thankfully. The girls finally went to sleep around 10. I think I fell asleep around 11 and then shortly after midnight a Public Works truck was just literally a couple of houses up the road and workers were using chainsaws to clear a tree that was down. There wasn’t anything significant at all in our area, though, so it was just a bad thunderstorm for us.

Miss C was really frightened last night, especially when we got in the tub. I told her we were just having a tornado drill and everything was OK. Miss A? Was not scared at all. I started to sing as we sat in the bathtub for a few minutes underneath the heavy foam mattress pad the hubby had put over us. Miss A told me to stop singing “that song.”

“What song do you want mommy to sing?” I asked her as I held her in my lap with my left arm and pulled Miss C closer to me with my right arm.

“The twister song!” she says in a sing-song voice and flashing me the biggest grin you’ve ever seen.

I swear Miss A is going to be a cowgirl, a storm chaser, or a race car driver when she grows up.

p.s. Thank you to Charla (Southern Mom) for checking on us via e-mail this morning. She had a lot of damage where she lives.

I decided it was high time recently for Miss C to have her own library card.

I try to take the girls to our local library a couple of times a month and Miss A and Miss C always make a beeline to the children’s area after they check out the DVD section. There is usually a lot of shushing on my part until I start to get on my own nerves with the shushing. I swore I’d never be a mother who shushed her kids.

There I stood all smug and proud in line, about to introduce my daughter to the wonders of the public library system. We were standing next to Miss C’s soccer coach, I might add, who I couldn’t help but overhear was paying off a twelve dollar fine. I mean, could you imagine? Twelve dollars in fines? Who could be so irresponsible? What kind of rogue library patron would do such an irresponsible thing? What sort of irresponsible citizen would rack up fines at the library?

The library clerk checked our account and, cue suspenseful music, lo and behold she told me I had late fees on my account. I blew this off, chuckling and thinking that surely it was just a dollar or two. And then I asked her how much I owed.

“Twenty dollars.” (And some change.)

So much for my squeaky clean library record.

Apparently I had checked out several DVDs that we forgot to return for a couple of days last year. They racked up a $2 a day fine per DVD. Then there were late fees for books, ranging from a board book, “Jesus Stops a Storm,” to chick lit, Jennifer Weiner’s “Good in Bed.” We are nothing, but intellectually diverse, at this house. Rumor has it there were also late fees for a couple of really bad DVDs, including Barney and a Blue Collar Comedy Tour DVD that we never watched. I’m thinking this must have been the week I had my wisdom teeth extracted and I was on pain pills, otherwise I’m fearful of my deteriorating judgment in movies.

Miss C was able to leave with a library card on a purple lanyard, with the promise that I would pay off our fees with canned goods. Our local library was running a food drive and allowing library flunkees such as myself to redeem themselves by donating cans of tuna and boxes of mac and cheese to wipe the slate clean. I brought in a couple of bags of food the next day to pay off our fines, but I’ll never be able to run for public office should my embarrassing public library record make headline news.

I am holding the irresistibly cute Miss A, who is as fidgety as Carrie Bradshaw in a room full of Manolo Blahniks, while wearing a v-neck pajama top that reveals just a bit of cleavage (remember, I’ve breastfed two babies and had a lumpectomy so the cleavage factor is fair to middlin’ as my daddy would say.). She plows both her hands down my shirt front and starts fishing around, as if to find the TV remote or a chocolate chip cookie.

“Miss A, what are you lookin’ for?” I ask, tickling her so that she’ll release me from her probing hands.

“BUTTER!”

Speaking of Carrie Bradshaw, have you seen the Sex in the City movie trailer? (Hat tip: Uncommon Blonde.) I can’t wait!

How’s that for a segue from one totally unrelated topic to another? Sarah Jessica Parker does not invoke images of butter.

And now to change the subject from my boobs and Sex in the City to something on everyone’s minds– football. What a game! I’m not a huge football fan, but last night’s ending was incredible. I also loved the commercials. My favorites were the Budweiser “Rocky” Clydesdale commercial, Bridgestone’s screaming squirrel, the Will Ferrell Bud Light spot, the Coca Cola Macy’s ad, the Planter’s peanut spot, and the Diet Pepsi Max commercial with Chris Kattan.

I had an appointment to get my teeth cleaned this morning and my new dental hygienist went to school with Eli Manning at Ole Miss. She also attended a Super Bowl party with our daycare owner. This is just a testament to the fact that everyone in the South knows everyone else, or at least went to school with one of the Manning brothers.

I am making a big pot of Tex-Mex style chili this morning. This is my signature winter recipe, so take heed, as these moments are few and far between sayeth the hubby (who is a fabulous cook, I might add.)

Here’s the recipe for all to enjoy:

Chili Tex-Mex Style

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large onions, peeled and chopped

1 large green pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 lbs lean ground beef (I recently tossed in some cubed steak for a change and it was awesome)

3 lb cans of diced tomatoes, plus liquid from the cans

2 6 oz cans of tomato paste

3 lb cans red kidney beans, drained

2 cups of water (my secret is to replace this with a cheap domestic beer, like Miller Light)

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 to 4 tbsp chili powder (I go light on the chili powder)

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions, garlic, and green pepper, and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently and taking care that the garlic does not brown.

Crumble in ground beef and continue to cook, stirring frequently until the meat is well browned.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beans, water/beer, salt, and then 2 tbsp of the chili powder. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook uncovered for at least one hour (the longer the better), stirring occasionally to make sure the bottom is not burning.

Top with sour cream, grated cheese, whatever floats your boat.

Enjoy!

This post is dedicated to my brother, who is in Thailand and will no doubt be watching tomorrow’s game from some open-air bar in 90-degree weather.

Updated to add: We have a winner! Jenni from Just Chicken Feed is the winner of the $25 gift certificate. Thanks again to everyone who entered and be sure to enter this week’s giveaway to Aardvark Adventure Stories. Shop now through the end of February and save 15% with the code BLONDEMOM at checkout.

Today’s Snowy Days Giveaway highlights online boutique Little Piddles, which is owned by Blonde Mom Blog reader and all girl mom, like me, Jennifer!

I love unique gifts as well as the convenience of online shopping and Little Piddles has a wonderful assortment of gifts for boys, girls, moms, and even dads in a wide variety of price ranges.

You could easily spend an hour browsing Little Piddles, so I’ll highlight some of my favorite items here, ranging from the custom business card holders below (only $8!) to the monogrammed tooth fairy pillows to the musical dress-up section (Miss A is getting a musical skirt for her birthday in March).

Now for the fun part. I have a $25 gift certificate to Little Piddles up for grabs!

How to win: Visit Little Piddles and then come back and leave a comment saying which of their adorable products you like best. (Trust me, it will be difficult to choose.) I’ll leave comments open until midnight Friday, February 8, and will draw a random winner from all qualifying comments. You don’t need a blog or website, but you do need a valid e-mail address so I can contact you, should you win. Thanks and good luck and remember, you’ll get two entries if you link to the giveaway from your own blog.

Also, for everyone who entered the Go Baby outmat giveaway, they are offering 25% off to my readers at checkout with the code BLONDEMOMBLOG.