Winners are:

iTunes card: Mom on the Run

Book: Collen from A Madison Mom

Please email me with your addresses :) @ kim (@) mommyknows (dot) com

* * *

Please don’t forget:

I won’t bore you with details about our weather, I will say only this: IT’S FUCKING COLD (sorry but it had to be said), it’s had me thinking about the homeless in our city. I just can’t stand the thought of people living, or worse dying out in the cold (regardless of why or how they got there). Last night I cleaned out my coat closets and took all the old, unused, unnecessary coats, fleece jackets, gloves, neck tubes, scarfs, boots, snowpants, long johns; washed them up and then today I hauled them down to an inner city church that is in URGENT need of outerwear for the homeless.

That gave me the warm fuzzies! When it’s -30c, I’ll take the warm fuzzies any which way I can get them. If your in the Edmonton area don’t leave all those old coats etc. hanging around (pun intended) in your coat closet never to be worn. Head on down to the Mustard Seed and drop them off –> 96 Street & 106A Ave. If you are not in Edmonton, I am sure there is a homeless shelter or equivalent in your area that could use your help (especially with all this unusually cold weather continent wide).

* * *

On a lighter note, the Third Annual Blogger Christmahunukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert is in full swing over at Neal’s Citizen of the Month. PLEASE, go over and watch the Little Drummer Boy, just thinking about it has me laughing.

* * *

Am I Loosing My Mind?

I have this little blue pencil case like bag, that I keep my injection gear in. Tonight I couldn’t find it! I need it, it has my auto injector and a couple $100 doses of medication. I need to take it. Did I mention I couldn’t find it? I searched, Mr. MK searched … everywhere … we looked some places twice. It’s not the first thing I’ve lost lately. I was frustrated, nearly to tears, but definitely to the point of anger. I finally found it. I’d wrapped it up with (IN) Mr. MK’s Christmas gift!? Hello … MK … are you home? I have absolutely no recollection of doing it or any idea why I’d do it. I only looked in there, because it was one of the things I had touched since misplacing the bag. FREAK!

I’ve also misplaced part of my Grandma’s Christmas gift, my nephews birthday present and a couple of items from Lizzy’s penpals holiday package. I’ve searched high and low, all the likely spots. I re-purchased the gifts, but now I’m thinking I should start looking in the unlikely spots, like the freezer, cereal boxes, toilet tanks. If I am lucky someone will open them up on Christmas morning and I will be able to get them back.

Ummm, just in case I forget –> Merry Christmas Dammit!

MK xo
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It’s my birthday! Feel free to send $ via paypal to kim (@) mommyknows (dot) com. I promise to spend it frivolously.

Kidding … sheesh!

Kinda …

Anyway, even though I’m one of those bloggers who shamelessly asks for $, I am also one of those bloggers who likes to give you the books laying around her house.

Happy Birthday to me and Happy Book Day to YOU!

Remember a while back, I went Christmas shopping, and came home with a b’zillion gifts for me? Remember the book that I hid from my lovely husband and could hardly wait to read? This is it –> ‘little earthquakes’ by Jennifer Weiner.

The good news is, it’s a fun read! The bad news is, I hopped into to bed early, all excited to read it, flipped it over to read the back cover (I like to know what’s going to happen) and realized that I had ALREADY read it! FRICK, I hate it when they publish the same darn book with different covers! Don’t you? Is it a ploy to make lazy book buyers like me who don’t bother reading the back until they’re all tucked up at home; buy the same book twice? Is it? Probably not, but I’m still not impressed. Pick a cover and stick with it Washington Square Press.

I was going to take it back, but my extreme lazy streak (and MS fatigue) keeps me from looking for receipts and making my way in -30c weather to stores filled with bitchy shoppers to get a refund for a book, I know ONE of you might like.

Here is what the first paragraph on the back of the book says:

Jennifer Weiner’s richest, wittiest, most true-to-life novel yet tells the story of three very different women as they navigate one of life’s most wonderful and perilous transitions: the journey of new motherhood.

If you think you might like to have this, leave me a comment. I’d also like to point out that I don’t think this her wittiest book … I loved, loved, loved ‘Good in Bed’ (I was positive it was about me, when I saw the title!!). I’ll pick just one of you (randomly) to win. Just like all of my other book giveaways, you have to promise to pass it forward.

Happy Book Day to YOU!

AND

***
All comments and back-links for this post will be entered to win a $25 iTunes Card (includes shipping and handling) in my $25 iTunes Giveaway. If you comment and blog about the Giveaway you’ll receive two entries (too easy). I’ll randomly choose the winner on December 22nd, 2008 @ 9 p.m. –> make sure to come by and enter often.

MK xo
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My new favorite thing is my iPhone. Seriously, sometimes I sleep with it! You know, just in case I get an important facebook text in the wee hours. OH and all the great apps and music available — I love it! I could spend a fortune at the iTunes store. Of course, I don’t have a fortune, so when I was offered two $25 iTunes cards – one for me and one to give away to one of you –> just for telling you this:

It is now possible to purchase iTunes cards at Sobeys, Mac’s and A&P (Toronto area) and Safeway, Save-on Foods and Coop (Vancouver area).

I said, “HELL YAH!” I’ll tell ‘em!

So don’t forget you folks in Toronto and Vancouver –> Next time you are in the grocery checkout grab your iTunes cards!

Now to decide how to spend the loot! What would you buy with yours?

To be eligible to win a you must comment on any CURRENT post between now and December, 22nd, 2008 @ 9:00 pm MT. You may comment every day. You may double your chances by blogging about the contest on your blog and then coming back here and leaving the url of your post in a comment on a CURRENT post or on this post. I will randomly choose a winner from all the comments.

I will announce the winner as soon as possible after the contest closes (give me an hour or two). You must come back here to see if you have won and claim your prize. You might want to set a reminder to come back here … A LOT of prizes go unclaimed.

Good Luck!

MK xo
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Last night Mr. MK and I, left our nine year old standing outside in -20 degree weather, in the dark with no hat or mittens and drove away!

Let me explain …

Then again, it’s all been said on facebook, so I am just going to copy the conversation here (my friends names have been changed to protect the innocent).

Status: MommyKnows thinks Mr. MK & I deserve the worst parenting award! 8:50pm – 14 Comments

MTT at 8:53pm December 17
Oh oh, which one did you break?

MommyKnows at 8:55pm December 17
We left Lizzy at the school after her concert! I guess her door wouldn’t open so she couldn’t get in the truck. Obviously we didn’t notice and when we got home … she wasn’t with us! We turned around to go back but she was pretty much home! No gloves, hat, it’s DARK, it’s COLD! We suck!!

MTT at 9:00pm December 17
I bet she had some nice things to say to you guys!

NMH at 9:04pm December 17
We have all been there…
After a soccer game this summer we all got out of the car and left Adam (6) behind. He could not unlock the door because his hands were full of sunscreen and he didn’t know about the unlock button. I found him a few minutes later hiding in the car….hiding because he was afraid the police would find him and put me in jail for leaving him in the car alone.

IIT at 9:04pm December 17
omg… that is too funny. But not like funny “ha ha”, just funny. Poor thing. I hope she is ok.

MommyKnows at 9:13pm December 17
@NMH – Thanks :) poor guy!
@IIT – I actually started to laugh, because I’m awful like that! Will nearly started to cry, because he’s nice like that. Lizzy was running down the road … all red faced and cold! She’s fine and thought we were playing a joke on her :(

GB at 9:56pm December 17
Poor Lizzy….i guess she’d better come live at Auntie’s house. Sounds like she’ll be OK, even tho’ you did laugh at her ;(

MommyKnows at 10:02pm December 17
Hahaha … I couldn’t help it! We checked the whole suburban, I thought she was hiding. Then Will said, “she has to be here, I was talking to her!” I burst out laughing. I was laughing at us! I actually felt bad for her and her red little face :(

GB at 10:36pm December 17
Tell Will that talking to someone and getting no response might possibly indicate the person is not present. :)

KS at 2:04am December 18
OOPs, only having the 1 helps avoid this kind of thing! But D was away last night and W and I woke up this morning at 8.25, W starts school at 8.40. Cereal bar in the car and money to buy lunch! OOOPS

SB at 5:22am December 18
You’re all terrible lol….sounds like a movie script

JA at 7:50am December 18
You need to blog this one!

KS at 8:59am December 18
I see the kids got a ride to school this a.m., that has got to count for something!

MommyKnows at 11:05am December 18
Yes that is what you call a — GUILT Trip (pun intended).

Are we bad parents? Ummm … on second thought, don’t answer that! What’s your worst parenting oops?

***
All comments and back-links for this post will be entered to win a $25 iTunes Card (includes shipping and handling) in my $25 iTunes Giveaway. If you comment and blog about the Giveaway you’ll receive two entries (too easy). I’ll randomly choose the winner on December 22nd, 2008 @ 9 p.m. –> make sure to come by and enter often.

MK xo
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Back in Dubai there’s a sun and it shines there all the time! Not only is that statement the absolute truth, it’s also the lyrics for an old 1970′s song by Sal Davies called ‘Back in Dubai’.

This is the only digitized version ON EARTH (as far as I can tell), have a listen :)

I think all this bitter cold we’re experiencing has me longing for some sun and sand. I’m nostalgic!

Hey! There’s your cousin (and his driver).

It was pretty much a standing joke that when ever we passed a goat or camel on the road, my Dad would tell my brother, “Hey, there’s your cousin!”. It never failed to get a rise out of my brother. Do you have those silly family jokes that never fail to BUG / get a laugh, even though they are old and tired, not even funny?

What I wouldn’t give for a goat, a camel, a sand dune and just a little bit of ‘back in Dubai’ today.

MK xo
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Are Green Toys going to the dogs? Only in Georgia’s world! Being a small dog lover means this toddler chickie parties with the dogs. Tea parties that is!

Georgia loves her Green Toys! Why wouldn’t she? They’re darn near perfect –> the perfect size, great colors and FUN! She uses them for real food too.

I love Green Toys, because they truly are GREEN. Green Toys are made in the USA (CA to be precise) from recycled milk jugs (yes, the very jugs you rinse out and recycle). On average, every pound of recycled milk jugs used in the making of Green Toys saves enough energy to power the average TV set for 3 weeks! The fact that they are made in the USA means LESS transportation … no fossil fuels wasted getting them across the pacific!

Georgia’s stirring up a little water soup for her puppy fans.

I am really trying to cut down on STUFF (you know … useless, I can live without it … only lasts an hour kind of STUFF)! I missed the boat with the older kids, but with Georgia there is still a small glimmer of hope that I can keep the junky toys to a minimum and fill her toy box (hopefully just 1/2 full and not overflowing) with toys that are good for her imagination and the earth too!

Speaking of the earth, WHAT IN THE HELL IS WITH ALL OF THE PACKAGING? Plastic, metal ties, more plastic, cellopane, tape, cardboard, more metal ties. Is this some kind of Chinese attempt to torture us? (I’m watching you China!) Remember back in the good ‘ole days, when all you needed to have on hand Christmas morning was some extra batteries? Now you can add to that list, wire cutters, box cutter and the patience of a saint. Unless your kiddies are opening Green Toys that is, then even your three year old can just open the recycled cardboard packaging all by themselves and get right down to play. Honest … you just open the box. What a concept!

Attention ALL toy manufactures: WE DON’T LIKE PACKAGING! From this day forward I will take note to the amount of packaging you wrap around toys, and if it’s more than absolutely necessary it’ll stay at the store on the shelf, never to be purchased by ME! NEVER – EVER!

TAG –> If you are reading this, you have been tagged! Blog and let toy manufacturers know we’re tired and annoyed at all the redundant packaging. We insist they be more responsible! Please :)

Georgia breaks out into song. A happy kid, is truly the sign of a great toy.

GREEN TOYS = GREAT TOYS

Green Toy sent us the Cookware & Dining Set, I have already purchased the Tea Set for Santa to leave under the tree. I’m adding the Indoor Gardening Kit to our wish list.

To find a Green Toy retailer near you: click here

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The period key isn’t working on my laptop

In order to keep this post organized and refrain from having the world’s longest run on sentence, each sentence will live on it’s own line

Imagine there is a period at the end of each line

What a pain in the ASS

I am able to copy and paste periods from other places, so when absolutely necessary they may appear

I have all kinds of great posts coming this week

Contests (itunes and book), a great toy review (if you’re not done your shopping don’t miss this) and holiday happiness posts

Mostly I’ve been busy wrangling Georgia

She’s pretending to be a dog here

She’s quite convincing, she scared her friend enough to make her want to go home (OH Georgie!)

My MS drugs suck

This was taken about 2 minutes after the injection

Getting the injection doesn’t hurt, but about 30-45 seconds later it starts to sting, swell and turn red

Within a couple of minutes it looks like the shot above and it stings like a WASP

LIKE A WASP!

That isn’t the worst part though, the worst part is that about 12 hours later it looks like an egg (a super itchy egg) has been injected under the skin (too vain to show you photos of that)

It is just too ugly

The good news is: IT’S WINTER YAY (like -30c winter) and this bloody ugly mess is well hidden under my December wardrobe of cozy fleece PJ bottoms

I’ll be back soon, cheerier, with colorful happy photo’s and a better attitude – SOON!

MK xo
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Every year I buy the gingerbread house kits from the supermarket. They’re easy and tons of fun (when you’re not yelling at the kids to stop eating all the candies). This year all our ‘gingerbread crafting fun’ took place under the super-happy SNL Gumby Christmas slogan, that I unhappily drew yesterday. Naughtiness, therefore, was kept to a dull roar. No-one likes to have their lungs ripped out while crafting (or ever for that matter).

A couple of days ago, I noticed Cookie Magazine was having a gingerbread house contest and I figured it would be fun for Lizzy and I to enter. I am sure there will be all kinds of marvelous Marthas out there who bake their own gingerbread and create multi-storey ginger mansions that will make our ‘frosted mini-Wheat’ thatched cottage pale in comparison. I’m afraid, I am a ‘kit’ kind of girl and keeping it simple means less stress and more fun.

Notes: We added our own additional red and white candies and frosted mini-wheats to the Safeway Gingerbread House Kit. Those big red feet next to the chimney are Santa’s foot prints, idea courtesy of Sam.

I saw this thatched roof idea on a magazine cover last week … I think it was Nigella Lawson, but I searched and searched, and couldn’t find the magazine again when I went frosted mini-wheat shopping.

My only regret is that I didn’t make one more trip to the store to buy the fruit roll-ups to do the stained glassed windows, maybe next year.

If you are wondering why my Gingerbread house is outside, well the lighting in my house is bloody horrible. I haven’t taken a decent photo after 1 pm, since October. I wanted a 1/2 decent photo for the contest, so I waited until daylight and carried it out on to the back deck. Silly, but necessary.

Of course, we couldn’t leave Sam and Georgia out (and we couldn’t have them help!).

This is the Midnight Express to Candyland. I was so immersed in my own creation, that I gave up ownership of the sacred icing bag to Sam. They had tons of fun.

See the lighting? Horrible …

I want to see your gingerbread creations, if you have photos, post the links below. It doesn’t have to be this years. If you don’t have a gingerbread masterpiece, feel free to rave about mine :)

MK xo
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I haven’t started decorating the house for Christmas. Mostly because, I’d have to clean it first, and well honestly, I just don’t feel like it.

Georgia is getting pretty excited about the whole Christmas thing this year. She is always asking me to draw her Santas and Rudolphs. I thought I’d give her a treat and deck out the chalkboard wall with her favorites.

Well, in true Georgia fashion, my Santa’s beard wasn’t big enough, and didn’t I know that his suit is ALL red not black (no concern to the fact I was running out of ‘pink’ chalk). My Rudolph didn’t have any legs (she added about 11 of them later), his eyes aren’t brown they are blue. Combine this with pathetic crying for more ‘icing’ (I was saving it to finish the Gingerbread houses), and I was pretty much ready to SNAP!

I kept having flash backs to high school and the SNL Gumby Christmas. It was titled ‘Merry Christmas Dammit‘.

Merry Christmas Dammit –> the MommyKnows version.

How’s your decorating coming along?

MK xo
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I’m thinking I might get this book for Sam for Christmas

Mostly just to watch him turn a g’zillion shades of red, slap his hand to his cheeks ‘Home Alone’ style and scream AHHHHHHH! My eight year old son, would DIE a thousand deaths to find this in his stocking. So even though the naughty part of me would love to TEASE him, I’m going to give it a pass. It’s not easy … my need to tease is rather HUGE.

Way to go, to little Alec Greven, while I am not sure you should be writing on this subject at 9 years old, I am impressed that you can and you did; and that people are buying it. You’re a savvy little entrepreneur.

I found this nifty little nugget thanks to thesassykathy.

MK xo
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