(ok, so remember how i was talking about getting paid for blogging? i joined pay per post and although i perused the offers available i hadn't taken advantage of any but i got an email with an offer for me to review a website so... what the heck!)

it's actually a really cool site for private number plates and i know it's useful bc our state has a similar system to get personalized license plates. it's called northumbria numbers and you type in the plate you want and it gives you lots of available combinations. they have a lot of other driver services available too. if you want to sell a number they might buy it from you! one thing i noticed is they have their actual phone number available unlike lots of sites that only give you an email address for questions or service.

when it comes to private number plates i especially like this page where you can see the actual plate- this is what my state has - it's great to see the actual plate before you get it so you know how it looks.

i have a personalized plate and so does my hubby so i'm a little prejudiced, but the site is easy to use and offers a wonderful service.

anybody want to guess what my plates say?

ps check out my monkey craft slideshow down below, k?

i saw this idea a while back but it took me forever to find those brad/ paper fastener thingies.


word wheels (allegedly) help pre readers learn sounds, spelling, letters, and whatnot.
here is the one we made.
here are some others. i use this website alot for educational crudola.

here's how to make one using the wildmonkey method... (clickity)

if you want to make one with your young mammal, just let me know, bc now i have 500 brads and i can send you one. :)

can someone or 2 or 3 please inform me vis-a-vis the world of blog-vertising? nowadays every site i go on has ads on the sidebars , right? i had considered it but then thought, naw it can't be worth the trouble for the puny amount of money you get (if any.)

i know really popular blogs like d**ce and what not get so much $$$ that their blog is like, their job now. how cool would that be?

so, tell me dear reader, if you have ads on your blog do you like actually make any money on them or how does it even work bc i have no idea. is it worth the "sellout factor" if you will for lack of a better term - i'm not against it. it really wouldn't bother me to have ads over there ----> at all.

(okay and fyi for oldies and newbies here anybody who wants can leave a comment . i know sometimes you go to a blog and you click on comments and they're all the same people and it's like a clique in high school where only they get the inside jokes. it's not like that here. i am open to anybody's opinion or perhaps you'd just like to say "my goodness you make beautiful children" or "how do you get your hair so bright and shiny?" i used to have a site tracker thing when i blogged more bc i had a different job, ahem. but it cost money so i unsubscribed. the only tracker i have now is just the number of people who read each day, not where they're from like i used to have. you are more than welcome to leave me a comment even if you don't have a blog- just don't fill out the boxes. if you are a meanyhead i will just delete your comment but i have found generally that people are courteous and i have only had to do that a couple times since i've had this blog.)

the reason i told you all that is so if you make money and want to tell me how much you make but don't want to identify yourself you can and noone will ever know. k? c'mon. you can tell me. also i'm wondering if it starts out slow and builds up gradually or you made alot of money right away and how you get paid and how often.

dang she nosy.

yesterday at the beach was, um, partially fun and mostly stressful.


( click here to see all beach pics)


the girls, especially lily, are in some stage called "cry and whine incessantly (and sometimes add a little stomping and jumping) over every little thing that doesn't go my way."

it's wearin' me down people, it's wearin' me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down. (say with deep bass voice.)

for example, on monday we were going to do this science experiment, one of many i have been planning to do with them this summer. i was reminded of it when i read judy's 50 days blog the other day and decided to go with it. i was so excited for them to be excited. of course, lily whined through the whole thing and ruined it. first she whined and cried that her volcano "wouldn't go right" then she whined when she spilled some baking soda, then she complained when she poured her vinegar on and there wasn't more action. i guess she was expecting real fire or something.

so yesterday she started as soon as we got there that she didn't want to carry her stuff down to the beach (bucket and swim backpack.) the second she stopped with that they spotted a big jellyfish at the water's edge and started freaking. of course i had been convincing them for days that weren't going to be any jellyfish bc there rarely are, and this one was the only one we saw all day, but after viewing it they were convinced that as soon as they got in they would be swarmed and attacked by a mob of jellyfish. so they started whining about that.

i understand the jellyfish freakout bc it does look scary but they carry everything to the extreme.


i told them if they didn't want to go in the water to dig sand a build a sandcastle and Lily started whining about that being "boring." then she went into one of many whiny tantrums that everything was boring her. and she was tired and she wanted to go home. nothing could make her happy.

i told her to lay down and rest a while and she didn't stay there 5 minutes. she started whining again and finally agreed to get in the water with scott. the 20-30 minutes they spent swimming was the only time she stopped the whininess. when it was time to pack up and go she started in again and so did hannah.

the few minutes in between were great for me. i had a little while to relax while scott took them swimming. besides that it was stress and annoyance.

it's so depressing for me not to be able to take them anywhere and do anything lately without them either disobeying, whining loudly, or a combination of both. i am so sick of dealing with this, and although it was lily yesterday, it's mainly both- sometimes individually sometimes simultaneously.

so far i have tried any and all positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement i can think of or research: time outs, behavior chart, sending them to their room, putting them to bed early, letting them pick a treat at the store for good behavior, doing fun stuff with them, giving them individual attention, the list goes on and on. nothing has any effect.

we were going to take them to an amusement park on monday that they have been wanting to go to but now scott has decided it will be too stressful for all of us.

ok well if you made it to the end of this post, it's a miracle. are you thinking "she's whining about her kids whining."???

cuz i am.

i don't know what to do.

calgon...take me away!

scott's off work, bob and sue are keeping travis, and we're off to the beach! some friends of our family have a private beach they only use on weekends mostly so it's secluded and the water is niiiiiiiiiiice.



here's the girls at the same beach last year...i will post today's pics tonight for comparison- i know you can hardly wait! lol

in yet another edition of "my sister and i are completely different" we examine her child's nursery.

first, let me reiterate that travis still has no nursery at all. he has a room but it is still uninhabitable. it's a long painful story that we won't get into but yes, he is still sleeping in his bassinet. at the rate he is growing soon we will simply transfer him into a big cardboard box.

let's look at a slideshow of griffin's beautiful nursery. in a second.

but first-

things to note: my sister and her husband are both anal retentive detail oriented. please notice that every little thing coordinates with the colors and design of the "under construction" theme, a theme which was selected with much care and analytic thought.

first, they decided on the paint colors and went and had them matched exactly at home depot. custom chair railing was maufactured by her husband at his job and erected precisely. cute coordinating signs and accessories were installed. everything is 'just so.'

i'm jealous. i would never have the patience for all that. if my kid ever has a room w crib we'll be lucky.

now...behold the splendor

ps btw does anybody know anybody who has tried the new weight loss drug alli? i have heard both good and bad things about it. the worst is the whole "leakage" problem. yikes!?

8 random facts about myself you say?

i did this in part (2 i think) when i was pregnant and i got stuck so let's take it from the top one more time.

ok i only wear pants that have elastic waists. i also have a tendency to buy my children elastic waist pants, thus perpetuating the cycle.

i am obsessed with pure citrus spray- it's made just from from oil in orange skins and it smells like you just peeled an orange. i'm spraying it constantly bc citrus makes me happy.

i realized just the other night that my husband is the only man i ever seriously dated that doesn't have a tattoo.

i feel sorry for parents that don't have kids as cute as mine which is almost all of them.






i have this strange compulsion to shop online, put items in cart, check totals, etc., then change my mind at the last moment and just x it out.

although i normally hate reality shows, i am unnaturally obsessed with the new vh1 show rock of love w bret michaels. it's complete garbage and i dig it. my sister had poison and guns and roses posters on her wall, i had duran duran. oh yeah she also had a denim jacket w the big poison patch.

once i was running and accidentally fell and slid on my butt across about 25 feet of wet grass on the back lawn of the art museum in philly where rocky ran up the front steps in front of like 250 people in light colored denim jeans and i went around the rest of the field trip with a big bright green skid mark on my arse.

ok this is really about my brother but it's cool- but i was standing beside him when barbara mandrell kissed his cheek.

my sister and i were talking earlier today about how being a sahm (stay at home mom- explanation for my mother and others not up w 'the internet lingo') is much harder than going to work. at our jobs anyway. and that's saying alot when you teach middle school. oy vey the 8th grade hormones. and attitudes.

at least when school is in i have an excuse as to why my house looks like a japanese bullet train just whizzed straight through it.

maybe i'm just imagining this bc i'm so paranoid about my house being messy when people stop by, but when you're not working and you're at home all day "they" expect your house to be tidy, all laundry done, dinner bubbling nicely on the stove, etc.

they don't know about the simultaneous screaming of all children at maximum lung capacity bc one has big caca pants and wants to be fed and another just took the other one's wiggles guitar and then right at that moment the phone rings and congratulations mrs (last name of my dead grandmother bc i live in her house) did you know you have won a free satellite dish and we're waiving the installation fee?????????





*please do not misconstrue my meaning here bc i love my kids dearly even though they make me loony and if i could afford it i would love to quit working and home school them but it ain't happening anytime soon. and yes, i know they grow so fast and soon they will be graduating from college and i will long to hear the sound of the wiggles guitar battle.

ok i could dig the personalized postage stamps, and i dealt with the customized m&m's. but this is pushing it.

coming soon...whose picture do you want on your toilet paper? i can think of a few.

normally i only let the girls watch noggin. then we branched out into playhouse disney and now discovery kids. what i do is dvr the shows they like so i can use them in a moment of crisis. their faves right now are berenstain bears, caillou, charlie and lola, and higglytown heroes, (which drives me nutty btw.)

now we add to the list, though, Hip Hop Harry. they were watching something else and it went off then this show came on. they were glued to the tv, hypnotized with those swirly pinwheels in their eyes.

then it got me too. you can't help it. it's so cheesy you don't realize they're teaching you something. it puts you in a hip hop trance.

the thing is, WHO is in the suit??!!

the whole time i'm watching Harry dance i'm wondering what the person looks like in there and if they're sweating their hiphopheiny off inside that big yellow contraption.

also, if they can dance that good with a fifty pound rapper bear suit on, how well can they dance without the suit? dag, you know they can bust a move.

okay tell me if i'm wrong. seriously. cuz when i tell this to some people they look at me like i'm psycho.

first of all i have to drive 45 minutes to get to the nearest walmart. and it's a cruddy walmart. secondly i had just spent 197.97. my mom was watching my cart while i ran to the bathroom bc we were running way behind schedule childcare-wise.

so i'm pushing my cart out, and this lady barks at me "stop right there maam. i'm gonna hafta see yer receipt for that garden hose, " jabbing her stubby finger at the rack under my cart.

wait a minute is this now sam's club? cuz you know you're going to get your receipt checked at sam's club but at wal-mart? and for a measly garden hose?

i was not happy but i tried to find the receipt the whole time thinking how late i was. i didn't remember where i put it bc i had jammed it somewhere before i went to the bathroom.

"can't you please just ask that cashier? i just went through her line? and i'm kind of in a hurry to get home bc i have a babysitter and i'm late."

this lady sashays slowly over to the cashier in a leisurely fashion, converses with the cashier, and returns in the same turtle like manner. the whole time i'm jumping around trying to get this finished so i can go for the shopping cart gold medal when i hit the parking lot.

"she doesn't remember you, she says. you're going to have to wait here." she starts off for the service desk like molasses uphill in winter, reveling in her walmart-greeter-control-of-the-smiley-sticker-power to rule me.

oh no you dit-int.

"forget this" i say to myself and push forward out the door. out of nowhere this big backup greeter guy yells "MAAM ! MAAM! STOP! YOU ARE LEAVING WITHOUT A RECEIPT!"

"oh no i am not. i have a receipt, i have gone through everything and i can't find it. i just checked out on number 5. i'm in a hurry. if you want to see it, follow me out here and i'll look again after i get my stuff loaded."

"NO! NO! YOU CANNOT LEAVE!" he yells. (gape mouthed onlookers stop to stare at me, the THIEF WHO IS NOT OBEYING THE GREETERS.) "We're going to get your license plate! We're following you!"

"GOOD! and when you come bring the manager with you buddy!"

chuuuuuuuuuh. like
a. i would ever steal
b. i would ever steal at walmart for pete's sake
c. i would ever steal a cheap garden hose that was on clearance at walmart.

can you believe none of them followed me or even came out there after all that? i was actually hoping the manager would come out there so i could get all the peoples' names and report their big stinkyattitude booties to the walmart hq like i did w sears photo.

people in the parking lot were giving me the hairy eyeball. i felt like jumping around like a boxer in training, like "yeah i said it, yagotaproblemwiddit?"

the whole first half of the way home, my mom who was with me kept thinking the cops were going to pull us over any second.

of my new design.

bc it rules.

thanks lalagirl!

i'm a gonna keep on posting til my blog gets fixed. cuz i'm getting a cool new custom design by a super cool person but it's a secret right now. bwah ha ha.

besides, i must tell you that

a. travis gained 1 pound per week for three weeks- at his 1 month checkup the little porkpie weighed 11 pounds. i asked the doctor about his eating- it seems that he eats so much and can't get full. she said to give him as much as he wants. alrighty. most babies his age drink 32-35 ounces a day- he drinks 48-60. yikes!

b. HE SLEPT ALL NIGHT LAST NIGHT. oh yes you heard me correctly. he may not do it again for months but it was especially glorious since Scott picked the 6 am feeding instead of the usual 2 am so i got to sleep straight through from 11 til 6:45. hoo-rah.

c. ok i'm not lying i wasn't even there but my mom, my dad, and barbie t. were all at my mom's when they witnessed travis rolling over from his back to his tummy yesterday. that's one month and 3 days people. at the doctor's she put him on his stomach to see what he would do and he did a mini-pushup- lifted his head all the way up and pushed his chest off the table. the kid is freakin strong as idunnowhat.

plus if i don't post you might suffer from cuteness withdrawals if you can't see pictures like this and this.





you need EVEN MORE cuteness you say??? go to flickr for more recent pictures.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh i can't wait for my new template.

my blog is wacked out and i have no idea why! it's not loading correctly for some reason and the comments arent working?

stay tuned- if you know what i can do to fix it please email me! gracias.

(click any picture to bigify and go to flickr for more primate action.)


i asked them to stand still so i could take their picture but they wanted to pretend they were swimming. eergh.


ooh ooh aah aah


...attending a princess party



making humpty dumpty finger puppets- see posts below for the actual dramatic presentations of humpty dumpty!!!!


lily


hannah in deep concentration mode.

________________________________________________
and just for old time's sake- a monkey independence flashback...

(2 yrs ago)

i think we're broadway bound, people.

an interesting version of the old classic.