Posted on

Blogger Idol…It’s Real and I Auditioned!

Okay, I decided to enter a Blogger contest, Blogger Idol!  Think American Idol meets Project Runway for the writing world. Of course this is my description of the contest so, I should probably stop changing the concept if I want to be selected. 🙂  But I mean wouldn’t it be great to have a contest like that though?  They could have challenges like ‘Update and Perform a Classic Motown Song and Create Three Original Designs for the video’.  I’m kinda loving that concept.  Although, it might make for a super long show.  Obviously, unauthorized “imitation” in the writing world is called plagiarism so, CLEARLY not what this contest is trying to promote.

Here’s how it actually works…if you are selected as one of the Top 13, you will be assigned a weekly writing assignment on a variety of subjects.  Of course, no competition is complete without eliminations so, those will happen weekly too.  The contest will run for the next 3-4 months.

In my mind, the contest would have highlights a little like this…

  • Judges commenting on posts that are “wordy” vs  the overused “pitchy” on American Idol.
  • Some type of “Mentor” giving your work a once over and saying the writing world’s version of Tim Gunn‘s infamous, “Make it work.“
  • An eliminated blogger returns in some sort of ‘Judges Wild Card Save Scenario’. 🙂

I am pretty excited about it! I would love the opportunity to expand my writing skills and continuously improve my craft.  This platform would give me an enormous amount of exposure for my blog and invaluable advice aka constructive criticism on my writing. Not to mention, I could win a ton of amazing prizes!  I mean who doesn’t like to win stuff?  I do, I do!  Not a bad deal for an unemployed chick. 🙂

Honestly, I’m likely auditioning with the least amount of blog followers, blog posts, Twitter followers, Fan Page likes (umm, I don’t even have one of those yet!)… so I recognize this is a complete long shot. Here’s the thing… I HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE.  So, if you like my blog, please vote for me!  I will keep you all posted on how it goes and if I am chosen as one of the Top 13.  Vote on Facebook or on Twitter!

Thanks.

XO

Posted on

Oh Shirt!

For the past three months, I have been living in a semi state of fear…of my two-year old.

Here’s the long and short of it…

One day while Georgia Peach (GP) was playing she accidentally knocked over her tower of Lego’s and I thought I heard her say something when they fell.  I brushed it off and kept it moving. A few days past and while drinking her water GP spilled some on the floor and as clear as day…I heard what I thought I heard her say the other day.

“Oh, sh*&!!”

What???  No no no no no no no! The room started spinning! I freaked out and said to GP, “DON’T SAY THAT!!”.

I started to panic.

She started to cry. 😦

I immediately start apologizing, hugging, and consoling my sweet girl. I knew she heard someone say it and I was determined to get to the bottom of who had turned my Southern Belle into a two-year old trucker.  I knew it wasn’t her fault.

The reality of the situation started to settle into my brain. Did we just become THOSE parents? You know what I’m talking about.  We have all witnessed a little one saying something a tad bit naughty and perhaps thinking (I’m just saying, I have) ‘What is that kid’s parents teaching him/her? Terrible.’  Now, the problem is in my house.  I can hear our neighbors now, “Georgia Peach has always been such a sweet girl.  We can’t believe it. Things like this never happen in our neighborhood…” 😉

To add to my angst one tiny additional detail…she was scheduled to start preschool at a Christian school in a few weeks.  She is going to get kicked out the first week! We will be on the local news.

I started with the Coach.  After I explained to him what happened, he told me that I probably heard her incorrectly and she was likely saying, ‘shirt’. After all she is only two and still working on speaking to us fluently in English (we are pretty sure her current language is a mix between French and Chinese). Nope. I know what I heard and it wasn’t ‘shirt’. Besides, she used it in the right context. Who says, “Oh, shirt!”?

At this point,  I am living in fear.  I’m worried that something will trigger the phrase and I will be outed as a terrible Mommy.

A few days past and I dropped something on the floor and without thinking, I said, “Oh sh*&!”.

Nooooooo. Aww man, it was me! I am the bad influence on my precious angel.  I like how I didn’t think to consider myself as the culprit in this entire situation.  Seriously, I’m an idiot.

I tried a number of ways to correct the problem when finally the Coach came up with a solution that stuck.  Anytime we heard her say well you know, we corrected her and replaced it with…

‘Oh, shu shu!’

It worked!  For us both. 😉 And just in time to start preschool.

Now, even though we have moved past it, I still have “Mommy Shame” about the entire situation.   I am just relieved GP only shared her new words with us. Whew!

www.trymyui.com
http://www.trymyui.com
Posted on

Let Them Eat Cake

This summer GeorgiaPeach (GP) was blessed to have two birthday parties!  First, a small party at our home and then a family party back in the Land of Lincoln.  I know!  Sounds crazy to have two parties for a two-year old BUT, her very first birthday was a party of four (GP, the Coach, our dog, and a sad Mommy).  I grew up in a very large and supportive family where birthdays, all sporting events, dance recitals, and concerts were celebrated, supported, and attended.  If you had an event, someone in our family was there to support you. I wanted Georgia Peach to have similar memories of the “Family Birthday Party” with scores of her Aunties, Uncles, and Cousins so, we decided to travel to the love fest. Thanks, Coach!

 As with most things these days, I learned a thing or two about Kiddie Parties…

Take Pictures Early

Fruit ElmoGP loves Elmo so, I made her Elmo’s face out of a platter of fruit.  Now, I am NO Martha Stewart, I am more of the Pinterest Fail Kinda Mommy BUT, I will try. So when I made this for GP and it somewhat resembled Elmo I was  excited! 🙂 But here is where I made my FIRST mistake… I finished my precious Elmo, put him on the table and began to finish up some last-minute items.  As people started to arrive, I invited them to enjoy the food when I realized I forget to take a picture of Elmo!  By the time I snapped the picture, he STILL looked like Elmo but, a little troubled in the mouth area (the blueberries were good!).  Nevertheless, the Elmo face was a hit and the Parents loved the fresh fruit and yogurt option.

Don’t Be Tardy for the Party

Anyone that truly knows me knows that I take my parties and party planning very seriously. From the invitations to the food, the favors to the music, the thank-you cards to the decor, I try to make sure it is all cohesive ( or at least cute!). An hour or so into the party, I started to panic a little when I thought we could possibly run out of pizza. We still had an extra-large left but, I was worried.  How could this happen?  Just when I was about to order another pizza and send the Coach out to pick it up, I mentioned to my Cousin LudaLike (Ha!) what I was about to do.

LudaLike: What time did the party start?

Me: 11A. It ends at 1P, I need to keep GP on her nap schedule.

LudaLike:  If someone shows up at this point and there is no pizza, don’t worry about it.  Party started at 11A.  Save your money.

Me: Oh wise younger Cousin and experienced Father, I like it. Sounds like a plan.

Turns out we didn’t even need an additional pizza.  The remaining pizza was enough and we nibbled on it hours after the party ended. Whew!

SpitCakes Anyone?

If I don’t remember anything from this party I will never forget this…

Since our sweet daughter loves cupcakes, My Fabulous Aunt J offered to have an Elmo cupcake cake made for her. She is extremely generous and it was a cute idea. Thanks again, Aunt J!  We lit the candles and gathered everyone around to sing, ”Happy Birthday”.  When the song was over the family started to hype GP up into blowing out the candles. But…

I didn’t let her blow out them out!

I mean who wants toddler spit on their cupcakes, right?  Apparently, everyone except me. When I say this was a BIG MISTAKE, I mean I may as well flipped the table in a fit of rage RHONJ style from the looks and comments I got! I thought I was going to get kicked out of my OWN child’s party for this move. In hindsight, I should have put the candles on her own cupcake and let her blow out the candles. Lesson learned.

 Seriously, next year everyone gets spitcake! You’re welcome. 🙂