I have a ton of projects that I have yet to start, including Rhiannon’s scrapbook. Maybe I should say I like to purchase scrapbook stuff? I made calendars in the past for Rhi’s grandparents. I made little photo boxes for them last year with pics of Rhi. I made scrapbooks for my Dad’s fishing trips to alaska. I go to a class once a month. And I have a goal to scrapbook all of the bands and artists I’ve met.

So I went to an all day scrap event in Winterset on Saturday. From 9am to 9pm I scrapped. Ok, I lasted until 8pm as I ran out of creative juices. I paid $30 to go, and that included lunch, dinner and snacks all day. And a free make and take project (which was great!) and door prizes. Oh, and a goodie bag. And there were some additional raffle tickets you could buy for really cool stuff. I loved it! I had so much fun and want to do it again!

I met some incredible ladies that had me laughing out loud a good deal of the time! I have to mention this…one of the ladies at our table was talking about chocolate and brought up Geedivee chocolate. There was a pause, and then my friend Pam said ‘Do you mean Godiva?’ and that had us laughing out loud for a while! I want to do more of these scraps with these ladies! And now I know what to expect so I will be bringing a small cooler of diet coke and iced coffees. Bring it on! I got Christmas cards to make next!!

Ok, do we need to discuss the VMA’s? I am sorta of agreeing with Adam Levine who tweeted something about it being the only day out of the year where MTV actually cares about music. Here is the only way to watch the VMA’s…DVR. Watch the whole thing in less than 30 minutes! The whole Lady Gaga crossdressing alter ego thing was ok, but it just went on to long. Way to long. Half of the artists I had no clue who they were. Adele was the highlight without a doubt.

And to me, it seemed like Katy Perry heard that GaGa wasn’t going to be wearing crazy outfits this year, so she picked up her slack. It was weird.

Speaking of MTV…back when they actually aired videos I did an intership there. It was 1992 and I spent the summer in NYC working for a teen news program called Like We Care. Kurt Loder was still doing the news. It was the summer they began taping the first Real World. It hadn’t aired yet. And it was before TRL…every afternoon was Hangin With MTV. And I have video of my dancing on MTV to RHCP ‘Give It Away’. If only I could easily transfer that video from VHS to put up! I had the big hair. Very big hair.

Now Kurt and his wife Jennifer were married one year to the day, later than Brent and I. Kurt spent the morning gushing about his wife. I yelled ‘Happy Anniversary, now get your a@! out of bed so you aren’t late’.

Kurt offered up a romantic date night at El Rodeo for his wife. I will give the option of Hamburger or Chicken Helper.

I joke, but seriously we aren’t big on celebrating our anniversary. We don’t exhange gifts as we are trying to pay down debt. We have been thru so much in our 5 years together, that we sorta high five each other that we made it. (Have a baby 3 months premature and you will totally understand).  Brent is my best friend and just an all around amazing guy. I am lucky that I found him. And that he can deal with me. (I”m told I can be difficult at times)

I didn’t know how hard marriage can be. It really is a balancing act. You are a team, but you don’t want to lose your individuality. My husband and I like to chill out and watch movies together. But we also think it is important to have your own interests. So he has a band that he practices with, and I do my thing with scrapbooking. It’s a nice happy medium.  But some interesting stupid fights can happen when you are married. Toilet seat being left up? Yeah, that was brutal. You can come up with some interesting arguments. But that is usually because you know someone so well.  But hey, 5 years? We made it!

  Yeah, we got married in Vegas with an Elvis impersonator and about 60 of our friends and family. Fun times!

I am a big fan of Fong’s Pizza because it is not only completely different than anything else, but also delicious. And this is probably why I now love Zombie Burger. I like to watch Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef etc…and I’m an ok cook. I like trying different things. And I did that at Zombie Burger and Drink Lab. I didn’t so much sample the Drink Lab as I did the food.

The overview is that Zombie Burger has two sides to the establishment. One is sit down service, and one is quick where you order at the register and can take food to go or eat there.  The hours are going to be catering to not only a lunch and dinner crowd, but late night dining! Which I love! On weekends they will be open till at least 3am…and don’t judge me, but I will be there.  The dining area is pretty modern with Zombie artwork on the walls. I overheard someone saying it was all done by a local artist. It looks very cool and hip.

The only thing that wasn’t available on the menu were the New Jersey Rippers, which are a variety of deep fried hot dogs. They are still looking for the perfect hot dog is what I was told. But I am very excited to try these! There are some amazing sounding salads on the menu, unique appetizers and an overwhelming array of ‘Gourmet Bashed Burgers’. I say overwhelming because there are basically over 22 different burgers that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You can get a patty, a chicken breast, a grilled portobello, or a vege patty with any selection you make. And then you go further and determine if it will be a single, double or triple.

Let me describe a few of the burgers I didn’t try, but plan to. How about the TRAILER TRASH ZOMBIE? (American cheese, fried pickle slices, chicken fried bacon, cheese curds and ranch mayo) I want someone to tell me that the UNDEAD ELVIS isn’t as strange as I imagine. And then I want a bite of it. (Peanut Butter, fried bananas, bacon, American cheese, egg and mayo) What about a BOOMSTICK? (deep fried chili, American chese, onion, pickle) And I came really close to getting the PLANET TERROR. (BBQ sauce, bacon, cheddar cheese, fried ranch, and caramelized onion) A hint for you: anything with caramelized onion is going to rock! And fried ranch? Deep fried Chili? I’m in!

Here is what I did get though: a starter of fried brussel sprouts. I hate brussel sprouts. So did my waiter, who told me he tried them and thought they were great. So I thought, you know, I am going to try something new. It’s true, if you fry anything it can be good. The fried brussel sprouts were served with a type of sauce that I think was like a garlic mayo? I’m guessing, but it was great. I took some home and my husband loved them as well. Now there is an after effect with brussel sprouts that some people may experience. Similiar to broccoli. Use your imagination.

The burger I ordered was called the Raygun. I got a single hamburger patty with Monterey Jack cheese, fried jalapenos, caramelized onion, bacon, guacamole, and chipotle mayo. Holy cow. Amazing. I wish I could get another right now as I am writing this. It came with fries which were very good. There is nothing worse to me than mediocre fries, but these were thin and done right. My only regret is they didn’t carry any desserts. I felt like I wanted that badly after experiencing so many new flavors. They do have a great menu of alcoholic beverages, but with the new Zombie Bar and Drink Lab, I was hoping to see a menu of weird drink concoctions too. Perhaps there is one and I didn’t know about it. But no worries since I will be back.

The service was really good. I enjoyed talking to my waiter. The only downside was that I was overwhelmed with all the selections of burgers, and was hoping for some guidance from him. The wait staff at that point hadn’t tried any of the burgers, so he could only tell me what he had heard from others. I do think the wait staff should get to sample everything so they can give some opinions. I always ask the wait staff what they would choose when I am deciding between two different items.  But no regrets with what I ordered!

I’ve already told my friends about this place. My husband is ready to go with me. I don’t see a kids menu so this might be hard to take little kids to. The website isn’t fulling up yet, but here is the LINK.   This will be a great addition to the East Village! Now if I can only arrange special delivery for my lunch….

Let’s change gears here and talk about my cat like reflexes. I wasn’t at work yesterday. Monday night/Tuesday morning in the middle of the night Rhiannon crawled in bed with me. She had been coughing that afternoon so I was ok with it so I could keep an eye on her. I had mentioned in passing to my husband Monday night that Rhi may be getting sick. Well in the middle of the night I hear a very low, but very loud rumble that came from her stomach. I then heard what started to sound like gagging so I jumped up and was immediately wide awake. I said ‘Rhi, are you going to throw up?’ She nods and I can tell it is coming so I jump out of bed (these are my cat-like reflexes I mentioned, unbeliveable how limber I become when I don’t want vomit on my bed) and hurry her to the bathroom. She gets sick, and is running a temp. Now she tells me I better get the thermometer and some medicine for her. She was hot to the touch and I did finally get her back down to sleep. At this point I know she can’t go to daycare. She was hot most of the night. And in the morning she was just a cranky mess. My husband looked at me as she became really whiny and he said ’she obviously isn’t feeling better’.

So I got to spend the day taking care of my sick little 3 year old. Who watched Barney repeatedly. And told me the thermometer, the medicine and the water I gave her all made her better. And last night she got up around 2:30am to go to the bathroom. Which can only be done by waking me up first to tell me she is going potty.  But at least she is doing good!

Now I’ve already blogged about the ‘family day’ we had at the fair, so let me give you a recap of the most recent weekend with the Train/Maroon 5 concert, and Janet Jackson. I was really looking forward to the Train/Maroon 5 show. Would have been even better if Gavin DeGraw had opened up, but totally understood why he need to step off the tour. Now we were taking winners backstage to meet the bands. And I want to give you the inside scoop on how these things work.

THEY NEVER WORK AS PLANNED. There are a lot of moving parts to coordinate, and different schedules to work with. So even with the best plans, and intentions, it ends up messed up.  So the basic plan was to take our winners to meet Maroon 5 at 6:30, a different group of winners to meet Train and 7pm, and then I was going to have a few minutes to interview Adam Levine. Great. Ready, set, wait.

This is where schedules come into play. With 5 different members in a band, a management team, record company people, sponsors, etc…things can fall behind. But I’ve done this enough to sort of expect it. So what was supposed to be at 6:30 ended up being at 7:15. And at this point in time the meet and greet with Train started. And I can’t be in two places at once. And I didn’t want to miss the chance to interview Adam so I had to hold tight. Which caused problems galore. I won’t go dive into the dirty details, but I had some harsh words exchanged with a friend over this time delay. All before I got to interview Adam. Who didn’t want to be interviewed.

With so many moving parts, you have to let a lot of things roll off your shoulders. Adam isn’t doing interviews on this tour for the most part. But we were able to set something up last minute. Now I need to point something out before I go any further. Touring is grueling. Being on the road as a band isn’t all fun and games. I have enough friends in the industry that have told me most days you don’t know where you are. You don’t sleep well on the road. You certainly don’t eat well. And it can really take it’s toll. So what a lot of artists do is trying to reserve all of their energy for the stage. They don’t want to let the fans down. So every meet and greet they do, every interview they give…all takes away energy that they want to throw out on stage. It makes sense. Perfect sense to me. So I try to be respectful of all of that. And to boot you don’t know what kind of day they had on top of all of that! There might have been a fight with wife or girlfriend, or a fight with band members, or just a crappy day to boot.

Now I take you to my interview with Adam Levine. Who didn’t really want to be interviewed. I tried to make the best of the situation and diffuse it by telling him how grateful I was that he was taking the time to talk to me. I asked questions that were topical about The Voice, the fundraising for the victims of the tragedy at the Indiana State Fair etc. And he answered me politely, occasionally smiling, but not really wanting to get into a full blown conversation. It was awkward. Very awkward. And nothing against Adam because I can’t say he was a jerk. He really wasn’t at all. He looked tired. He was polite. And he was doing something he really didn’t want to do. But he was pleasant. My big disappointment is I didn’t even get a picture with him. So Luke took some screen captures from the video that will be going up.

I did get a picture with Train after their meet and greet was over but I didn’t really get a chance to talk to Pat Monahan at all.

Ok, now on to Janet Jackson…

I was so pumped when I first heard she was coming. I’ve been a fan since her debut cassette came out. I have 8 45’s of hers, I have the cassettes, and now the cds. So we were taking some winners back to meet her and we were going to go backstage as well. Excitement can’t even begin to describe what I was feeling. More like total elation. But as things typically go wrong with this sort of thing, the wrong number of passes showed up, and things fell thru. It happens. But I was still going on stage to introduce her. Which was cool. 

Knowing this I wore some hard flip flop type shoes because I didn’t want to wear sneakers on stage. Mistake. My feet have blisters everywhere and especially in between my toes where the thong part was. I am in so much pain today I can’t even explain. Ouch! And I’m exhausted! But I gotta say she put on an incredible show! Maybe next time we will meet Ms. Jackson, maybe next time…

Yep. The iPad.

I bought an iPad a few weeks ago and downloaded some games for Rhiannon. And one is a shape game. And since I won’t let her play with the iPad without adult supervision, we started telling her if she pooped in the potty she could play games on it. Or if she didn’t have any accidents she could play games. And I am here to tell you that did the trick. We did have some accidents after the fair on Thursday, but we are going to chalk that up to the outrageous amount of fluid she drank that day. (More on that later)

Friday she did great. Saturday we went to the pool and she even told us while swimming when she had to go. So we got out of the pool for her to go! I was thrilled with this progress! Then Saturday night she went poop in the potty and got to play some games. Sunday I was at the fair for work so my husband had her all day. And when I got home he told me she just started going to the bathroom on her own. We no longer had to remind her every hour and half to go sit on the potty. Again, I was thrilled! She woke up from her nap yesterday dry, and then woke up this morning dry! (I still had a pull up on her, I am not convinced we are out of the woods on this one)

But this morning she was watching Blues Clues and I was doing some work at the kitchen table and she went running out of the living room. I asked what she was doing and from the bathroom she shouted ‘I gotta poop Mom’. I went to check on her, and sure enough, she was doing it on her own! She finished and asked ‘ok can I play a game now?’  I said give me a minute and we can. A few mintues later she ran back to the bathroom and I asked what she was doing and she reported she wasn’t quite done. Cracked me up, but we didn’t have an accident!

So games on the iPad have motivated her. I’ll take it. And speaking of the iPad…I love it. I want to keep it all to myself but my that hasn’t worked as my husband has discovered Angry Birds now. And of course Rhi has her games she wants to play.

So last week I took some time off. I cleaned my kitchen spotless. I took Rhiannon to the pool, where I got a wicked burn. And I read a book. Then Thursday was some quality family time at the fair. Rhi went on the big slide with my husband. We checked out the Little Hands on the Farm. We had a ball! And Rhi loved it. I didn’t eat as much as I had aimed for. Had a corn brat, which is still my favorite fair food, and we shared a funnel cake. I didn’t go for the red velvet one…I’m old school with my funnel cake. But I didn’t go overboard because to be honest, nothing really screamed at me ‘EAT ME!’  I’m confused by this, I’ll be honest. I love fried, fattening food. Maybe there was just too much for me to make a decision. But I kept thinking why would I pay $xxxx for that?

Yesterday I did have fried Oreos, which I split with my staffer Allie. The only thing I really still want is a corn brat. And I do want that really bad!

I’ll be back out at the fair on Friday for Train and Maroon 5, and then of course Janet Jackson on Sunday!

My husband and I both took most of next week off to go visit my family in South Dakota. He has never been to the Sturgis Motorcycle rally, which is basically in my backyard as my parents live about 20 minutes away. The downside is that all of the fun kid things we would want to do with Rhiannon wouldn’t be possible with the massive numbers of bikes in town. In just makes getting around the Black Hills impossible.

Then we found out my husband might not be able to take that particular weekend off because his boss might be called to go out of town for a work thing. So we told my parents we weren’t going to be able to make it. So we took our vacation gas money, and put it towards the purchase of my iPad. Which we are absolutely loving! Our home computer crashed this week, so the iPad has at least made it possible for me to get on the internet. I love playing games on it and Rhiannon has been practicing her shapes on it. (I found a game for her that has her matching and naming different shapes)

So last night my husband came home to tell me he has next week off. Now we would be in a pinch to really have the cash flow to take the trip out of town. So back up plans are now going into effect. I think we will try to get stuff down around the house. Maybe take Rhiannon swimming one day. Maybe go to a bunch of movies? And hit the fair on Thursday. We can have a great mini vacation at home. I will not be answering the phone to make sure we really get to enjoy ourselves! 

I can read books. And watch the Real Housewives of whereever. I can organize my scrapbook area. Yes, there are things I can do. And I might not do a thing. Either way, I need a vacation. I’m going for it!

So advice. I got it. But Colleen, go with your gut instinct on almost everything.

–Sleep whenever you can. Rhi’s first year she had to be woken up to eat every three hours because of her prematurity. I still to this day have not gotten a full 8 hours of sleep in a row. Take it when you can get it. It shouldn’t surprise anyone know that when I need to wake Rhiannon up in the morning she will tell me ‘just 5 more minutes’ as that has been the first thing out of my mouth every morning for 3 years.

–It’s ok to think your baby is the most beautiful baby ever born. Noone will tell you different to your face. But I always wondered is my child really ugly and noone is telling me?

–The first time they get sick your heart will break and it will be the most tramatic thing in the world. You will be ready to rush them to the ER. Not everything requires an ER visit. You will get more used to them throwing up or having diarrhea than you ever thought possible.

–Poop is still gross, even when it is your kid’s. But you stop gagging after a while. Even when you are wiping it off your walls. And toys. And the floor. But you might gag when it happens in the bathtub. That is still really disgusting.

–Your child will never wear all the clothes you think you need. Take advantage of hand me downs as kids grow really really fast. And please take the 5 plastic tubs I have of clothes. Some have only been worn once.

–Take it all. Get all the snuggling time you can because when they become independant little three year olds they don’t want to cuddle as much.

–Enjoy the smell of a new baby. They have that unique, pleasant smell. That goes away. Wish you could bottle it, but they do develop morning breath and the stink of playing outside all day.

Ok…I don’t want to overwhelm her with too much. So this is good for now. Do you have anything to add? Do it in the comments below!

Congrats Colleen!

So Friday night I had plans to meet up with a friend for much needed cocktails. I had it in my head that I wanted martinis, so I was ready to indulge in Flemings 5 for 6 til 7. But my friend had gone out the night before and had a headache. So she was going to lay down then see how she felt. No problem! I went alone. I had calamari and a few martinis. Chatted with people in the bar. Then I headed over to a neighborhood bar close to my house called Cattoors. They have incredible Happy Hour specials. Now if you think it is weird for me to go to a bar alone, you are wrong. I love to go and play Megatouch. The little bar game machine? So I sat and had a few drinks and played the games.

I got home and read my book and went to bed. I woke up Saturday morning to the most horrific neck pain! I must have slept wrong on it, but I could barely move my head. I thought after a while it would work itself out. So I put my weekend cleaning plans on the back burner, and rested. But Sunday morning it just wasn’t any better. Nothing was helping! So I ended up at the Walk In clinic. They said it isn’t a pinched nerve, but more of a muscle spasm. So they gave me some muscle relaxants and instructions on how to let it heal. It hasn’t gone as planned needless to say. Nothing got done this weekend!

Now last week I blogged about wanting an iPad. Debating if I should get one. An opportunity to buy one came up, from someone who had one but never used it. I got a great deal so I did it. And I LOVE it! I’ve been playing with it all weekend as I was on the couch with the heating pad on my neck. I downloaded some games for Rhi and we played together. It was fun and I love it.

Plus it made my wait at the dr office easier!

So what will this next week bring for me? I am too frightened to find out!

My guess is a broken limb is coming soon!

When I was in high school my friend Krista and I were constantly trying to lose weight. And so she made these ‘inspiration tapes’. You must remember the mix tapes of the 80’s? Instead of a whole song, Krista put down phrases or lines from songs. So you only got like a :15 or :20 sec clip. I still have these cassettes. And they make me laugh everytime I listen. We drove everyone else crazy.

 I’m a lyrical person, and I love the way music can make you feel. It can soothe your soul after a good cry. It can put forth the emotions that you can’t find the words to express. It can bring up a better time. Or a great memory. So today random song lyrics are popping in my head.

Hot Chelle Rae had words of wisdom for me today. ‘Not sure I’ll make it, but watch how good I’ll fake it.’

And an old song from Asia called Days Like These keeps poppin in my head. I should make a mix cd for my cousin to lift her spirits. I did just order her something special from Amazon that should help.

And on this kind of day, which could pummel me into submission, the kindess of a stranger has me smiling. I went to Caribou Coffee on Ingersoll on my way to work, because let’s face it, when you have a day like this you need all the caffeine you can get! I got to the window, and the woman in front of me paid for my drink. I don’t think she knew me. She just did it. Now I have done that several time myself, and it feels good. To surprise a stranger. And to that stranger, I thank you. You gave me a smile on a crap day!

I am not a techno geek. I have a simple phone, not a smart phone. I have an ipod shuffle (2 actually). Not an Ipod Nano or a touch. But I am toying with the idea of getting an Ipad.  My coworker Luke has one and I’ve gotten the chance to look at it. We have Ipads that you use to register for our Focus or Fuel giveaway. And I’ve had a great discussion with trusty newsguy Jay Wells about it. He has an Iphone and he thinks I would benefit from an Ipad. Here are the reasons we think I should get one.

1.  I could read books on it and therefore not need a kindle.

2. I don’t have a laptop, so in my home with wireless internet it would act as such.

3. Megatouch Lucky 11’s…my favorite touchscreen game to play at the bar can be downloaded.

4.  Rhiannon could play educational games on it.

5.  I could watch movies on it.

Reasons against getting one?

1.  $500 minimum purchase price.

This is where you can weigh in and help me. Please.