Emo Cartoons and Lonely Hearts

When you're bored... you sporadically find stuff like Pon and Zi, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE because it speaks to my *cheesiness alert* lonely heart.

Does this make me Pon?

Breakfast of Champs

Ethan LOVES cereal. He'd eat it all day every day, if you let him. Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, Kix, Reeses Puffs, Fruit Loops... if it comes in form of a cereal box, he'll eat it.

September Recap

September was a busy month. Can you tell? I had 2 posts for the entire month! :)

I know, I know... I've been slacking off again. In my defense, it was quite a busy one, so here's a little recap:


We celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary.
Is it just me or does that not sound like a long time? Well... I'm sure being away from him almost half of that time makes it longer than it really should be. But I refuse to make this a ranting post. I did get to spend the week with Mike to celebrate and we drove down towards the beach in spite of numerous warnings of the hurricane... and spent a couple of rainy (and FREE) days in Baltimore, Ocean City, Virginia Beach and Richmond. I'll elaborate on the free part later.

I started a new job.
Immediately after I got back from the trip, I, indeed, re-joined the employed world of deadlines, bosses, and no afternoon naps! The job at the fire department didn't pan out, and I ended up with a company that I initially didn't even apply for (they pursued me). Turned out to be a lucky break. I'm now working as a graphics/web designer for a huge engineering consulting firm. Pay's good. Commute is manageable. Coworkers don't bug. So far so good.

Ethan started at his new daycare.
After spending the summer together, I knew it was time for him to get back into a routine... and be around other kids again. He was starting to forget how to share. So far, he's gotten in trouble for trying to fix one of the girl's hair (the story was that it was "standing up" so he was trying to pull it down to fix it, but apparently pulled too hard to make her cry), and he reported bit another boy yesterday over a toy. *sigh* Boys will be boys.

I turned another year older.
Nothing to celebrate here as I get another year closer to 30. I received a beautiful bouquet of roses at work (Mike always pulls through on my birthday), my boss let me take off work 2 hours early so I could take Ethan to get his flu shot, then I had dinner with family... and that was about it.


So that's it! That was my September in a nutshell. What do you mean I had plenty of time to blog inbetween?!?!

You're probably right....

Sh*t Happens

Ethan has always been independent. Rolled over on his own, started finger foods earlier than all the guide books recommended, wanted to pick his own clothes at 1...

Most recently, his biggest "I do it myself" accomplishment surrounds everything to do with the bathroom. He wants to brush his own teeth, shampoo his own hair, go to the potty without help. Lately, he's been locking himself in the bathroom to do his deed and only lets anybody in after he's done. Several times, I've tried to sneak a peak... and he shrieks "Get out!!!!" until you close the door.

Proud mama that I am, I usually don't mind cleaning up the mess he makes after each of these independent accomplishments. That is until yesterday...


DISCLAIMER: If you have not been desensitized to all gross things associated with toddlers, DON'T KEEP READING. Consider yourself warned.










All I remember was hearing the toilet flush, the door unlock and the cheerful sounds of "I pooped mommy! I pooped mommy! Look mommy, I pooped!"

I was getting ready to dutifully congratulate Ethan on a job well done (like I always do on these post-poop moments) until I realized something so horrific... THERE WAS SHIT EVERYWHERE.

It was on the tiled floor, on the rug, smeared all over the toilet seat, on the surface of the trash can, on his shoes, on his feet, on the counter, in the sink..... And to make the grossest thing I've ever seen even grosser..... I found it on his TOOTHBRUSH. What the hell was he doing with it, I guess I'll never know.

There was toilet paper everywhere, probably where he tried to clean up after himself. The weirdest thing is that his hands were completely clean, so I don't even know how this stuff got everywhere!

This boy has done some gross things... but this tops it all. And if you actually read through this and think it's funny... IT WASN'T FUNNY WHEN I WAS SCRUBBING ETHAN CLEAN!

Ferris Wheels, Mean Goats and Deep-Fried Oreos

It’s been years… but we finally ventured back to the Los Angeles Country Fair.

The fair was what you would expect it to be. Overpriced admission, overpriced midway games and overpriced food. With the economy being in supposed turmoil, you’d be surprised how many people still insist on paying $15 for “preferred” parking. Oh wait, I was one of them. They did have a shuttle for those who wouldn’t pay the extra $5, and they also had guys pedaling around on bicycle-pulled chariots who would take you to the gate for an additional fee (on top of what you already paid just to get a space!).

We bought our tickets from the AT&T store for $10 (compared to $17 at the gate) so it wasn't too bad. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they allow outside drinks into the fair. They confiscated our canned sodas, but they ok’d the water bottles we stuffed in a cooler under Ethan’s stroller, so that alone saved us a TON. There were several Sparklets water stations where you could get free water… you could only get them in those itty bitty cups like you get at the dentist office, but I applaud the effort.

We walked through the carnival rides/midway games first, but failed to find anything too appealing. The rides looked scarier than what I remember them to be. After having a kid, the thrill of going on the rides (just to beat the odds of being on it when it breaks down because they forgot that one bolt) just isn’t there anymore. The prizes looked cheesier than ever… Ethan was fascinated, but he wanted no part of it.

The three little piggies...

Of course, you can’t go to the fair without going to the animal exhibit. The barn was fairly clean, and the animals looked happy. They had more space to roam, and the majority of them weren’t even show animals… they were just… educational. And the ones in the “petting complex” were surprisingly more friendly, almost aggressive, which was odd. Don't they feed these animals??? They sure make a lot of money selling those itty bitty cups of feed for $2 so they should be able to afford to feed them! Most of them were nice (I think I might've made a new friend), and some were just downright mean. One of them almost took out Sissy... it was actually pretty hilarious.

Nice goat...

Mean goat...

Best part of the day was the fair food. They had EVERYTHING deep-fried --- twinkies, snicker bars, frog legs, pickles, coke? How does one actually deep fry coke? It must involve some freezing, but it will have to remain a mystery. After much debate, our curiosity led us to get the deep-fried oreos… what a heart attack in a small paper basket. It sounds absolutely disgusting, and after 2 bites, I could hear my arteries screaming for help, but boy, it was de-LISH!

The deep-fried white castle burgers were tempting...

We also decided to try the smoked turkey leg, but was left very disappointed (maybe not Jojo). I had a craving for a funnel cake, but that dwindled away after the unappetizing turkey leg… or whatever that was.

I have to say I was surprised that I didn’t see any presence of security past the gate, so we did make sure to get out of there before dusk after hearing about local gangs using the fairgrounds to congregate at night. It was a bit crowded… and with any crowded public place, you’ll always run into a group of people you don’t want to be around with, but what can you do? We didn’t see any fights, but you can bet I had four eyes on Ethan the whole time and was ready to b-line to the nearest exit if I needed to.


Overall, it was expensive but we had fun. We’ll probably do it again next year.