Day(time) Tripper, A Tampa tribute

I am back from my jaunt to Tampa where I appeared on the syndicated morning TV show, "Daytime!". I was a big girl and boarded the plane on my own leaving the guys for, egads, 28 hours. It was fun! I read magazines. I jotted down blog ideas. I shuttled from the airport to the The Sheraton Riverwalk hotel. I got the whole deal, plane tix and the room, for 300 bucks via Southwest travel specials online. The hotel was nice. I enjoyed using their workout room and computer center. The bed was cushy plush and I could see the studio where I had to be at the next morning, across the river from my hotel room balcony. That was good for a little peace o' mind; I could swim there if I had to!

I was on the sandy soil of my ancestors (The Braddocks, I am told, were among the first hundred non-Spanish white settlers in Florida). My cousin Carol and her husband Larry live about 45 minutes away, in the same town where my dad grew up, and were kind enough to come meet me. We went to the famed Columbia restaurant in Tampa's old Latin-quarter, Ybor city, The Columbia is famous for Old-World Spanish and New-World Cuban cuisine, and has been there since 1905. Our grandparents actually courted there in the late 1920's and early 1930's- yikes! I had an amazing seafood paella and just one little sangria (yum) and plantains.

We stayed for the flamenco dancer show and had a really nice time.
I went back to the hotel to get to bed early for the show. No insomnia haunted me, thank goodness. After a little room service breakfast I went to the studio and hung out in the green room where the super sweet producer, Maureen, came and met me and explained that it was a 4 1/2 minute interview (live to tape)which would go fast. She told me she really enjoyed the book and I was impressed that she had read it.
I hung out in the greenroom to wait until it was my time to go on. I met the hostess, Cyndi, who would be interviewing me. She was funny, telling me she was liking my book, but that it made her want to keep her legs crossed! (She later repeated that line on camera) For our actual interview, she asked a couple of unexpected questions. She asked me right away about my mother (who I haven't seen since I was 14) and questioned whose issue our infertility was. Wha' is she, Barbara Walters?!
She asked probing questions which I am sure makes for more interesting TV and hopefully I rolled with it ok. I felt like we had a nice rapport and I felt relaxed, so that was all good. And then ... it was over!
It was a fun little adventure, but it is also nice to be home and hear the sweet words "I missed you mommy!"

Scary Halloween!

The day before Halloween, I had an appointment to get Little Man the coveted, hard to come by, H1N1 vaccine. That same day he woke up, after throwing up in the night, with a fever. It was a moderate fever though and he didn't throw up again all day so I wasn't too concerned. I was bummed to have to cancel the vaccination, though.
Halloween day he was still fevered. I called and they said to bring him in. Suspecting a virus, I was almost more afraid of bringing him in around the germs than I was of his bug, since he had been doing pretty good so far. So, my brilliant idea (ha)was to put him in his doctor shirt and let him wear the mask that goes with it into the waiting room. Appropriate for Halloween, but sheilding him from germs, and others from his germs, as well!
By the time we got to the doctors office though the little doctor was lying down in the waiting room. His temp (100.5 at home) had risen to 103 at the Dr's office. The doctor examined him and said "this may be the flu" (meaning THE flu). I couldn't believe it! For the eight minutes it took to get his test results I was pretty nervous. I was quite relieved when they came back normal. When I let out a "thank God!" the doc told me not to get too excited that they get a lot of false negatives. (When I asked him how accurate the test is he said it depends on whose hands it's in, but anywhere between 10-70% for negatives!) Oh well, what are you going to do? I will just watch him (like a hawk) and make sure that he progresses.
A little motrin brought the fever down and the boy was ready to rock-n-roll. Obviously we weren't going to take him out, but he did want to get into his Peter Pan costume. We stayed home and Grandbobby came over in his Cap'n Hook costume and we had a nice mellow visit. Finger's crossed this ickiness goes away as fast as it came on! But, I am glad he was able to rally enough to escape to Neverland for a brief minute! He woke up this morning (Sunday Nov 1) with no fever. Fingers crossed that the sickness goes away with the pixie dust!

Mud Sodas

Ok, I am into my Target dollar bin, Pillsbury Halloween fun booklet. Why? Because I am a cheeseball. When I came across the name of this bevie I couldn't resist.

Mud Sodas:
4 cups chocolate milk, chilled
4 cups root beer
1 pint (2 cups)chocolate ice cream.
1) In each of 8 tall glasses, place 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup root beer, stir to mix.
2) top w/ 1/4 cup ice cream.
serve with swirly straws if handy.
sllllllurrrrrp!
I had mine with just fat free vanilla iced cream, in other words, a diet root beer float. But the guys seemed to dig the muddiness of theirs!(And I enjoyed the sips I snuck!)

Sloppy Jo Mama

Hey y'all!
Sunday night I wanted to go for a good mommy/wife/daughter/domestic Goddess moment. My dad was coming over, my husband was just getting back in town and my vision was to have everything together, house cleaned, fire in the fireplace, pumpkin soup simmering on the stove. But, single parenting for the day, I took Little Man to his soccer game, rushed to the grocery store to get all the necessary ingredients, stopped for an emergency potty break (his, people!) and by the time I got home it was time for everyone to get there. The house was not yet straightened, groceries still had to be put away and the dinner still needed to be cooked. Sigh! Ah well, we do the best we can!
But, I did try a fun new festive recipe I would like to share. Now, I generally prefer to feed him a bit healthier than this, whole grains, etc., but this was fun!
I got the recipe from a Pillsbury sponsored Halloween idea book in the dollar bin at Target. Corny Sloppy Joe Pizzas that look like Jack-O-Lanterns. All ya do is get some buttermilk bisquits (something I don't usually eat!) and flatten them into little rounds (like pizza shaped) and bake according to the instructions. In the meantime brown whatever you eat (the recipe calls for beef, but if you are a veggie or semi vegetarian you can opt for turkey or soy product) add corn and a can of Sloppy Joe sauce. Then, cut a slice of American cheese into a round and cut a face into it. Cut a little piece of green bell pepper to look like a stem. Spoon the meat or meatlike mixture onto the bisquit and put the cheese face on top, place your stem and, voila, a sloppy sensation! Sometimes a little messiness is okay!

Hard pore corn

Ok, I am lifting this title from my dad's old album "Hard Pore Cornography"! Not an appropriate title for a post about a trip with kids to the pumpkin patch you might say? Hey, (or "hay!"), there is nothing wrong with a little corn!
This post is all about "corniness". Yesterday, I did indeed get Little Man to accompany me to the farm. Keller's Corny Country to be exact. (http://kellerscornycountry.com/index.html)
One of the perks of Tennessee livin', some gorgeous farms for bumpkin' pumpkin patch trips in the fall. This is the kind of Hee-Haw stereotype that when I was a little younger I might have shied from. But now, I love it! So cute and fun. It was a gorgeous day for it, too. Crisp, but not at all cold, and sunny.
Here is Little Man in a corn pit---a little slide goes into a pit of corn kernels that the kids could scoop into toy tractors, buckets, etc.

Okay, this is fun in the country for sure. A monster slide made from piping.

Little man got to sit on a real tractor

And get his picture taken on a fake one.

His favorite activity was going on a hay ride with friends.

There was also a petting zoo where we petted a burro, a llama, a goat and then promptly purelled our hands. There was also a little corn field maze and a bigger one too that we did not feel like carrying tired kids through, or getting lost in! Another highlight was the "little nibblets barrel train". There were barrels cut into little train cars pulled around a pond by a four wheeler! We sat up front and got a nice whiff of the exhaust fumes, but it was still fun! A great way to spend an autumn afternoon.

Awww, and I just found out that I got a "Cool Site of the Day" award from Michele at Finding Trinity. Thanks, babe! I am honored and glad to know you agree that corny can sometimes be cool ;)

The Halloween Store is out to lunch

Ah, one week from Halloween! We like to be festive for it around here. Last year, Little Man cast the whole family. Himself as the Cowardly Lion, me as Dorothy, Dad as the Scarecrow and Grandbobby as the Tin Man. We had a bigtime trick-or-treating in a local neighborhood that really gets into the spirit, as you can tell from the stilted skeleton man in the pic with us ...scary!

This year Little Man has again cast us all as Peter Pan characters. So far I only have his costume. I had better get busy or let him know that it is okay for him to be Peter Pan and let mommy dress as something really exotic like ... a mommy!

And, I wouldn't be properly documenting our lives if I didn't make mention of Little Man and his Daddy's favorite game to play together, "Halloween store". At different times of the year it turns into different kind of stores, but this one is the fave. It basically consists of Little Man saying "ring ring" and Jim answering the pretend phone in a funny, kind of New York accented voice, "Boo! Little Man's (insert name here) Halloween store" while Little Man reminds him to say, "can I help you", "what's your name" and "what do you want to be for Halloween?" as Jim (posing as "Harry") calls "Joe" in the back to see what costumes are available as the boy giggles, thouroughly amused.
Jim had to go out of town on business this morning. Little Man, after saying he missed his dad, sulkily proclaimed "My Halloween store is closed!" (Adding, "that's why I don't have my nametag on")
I will save that game for him and his Daddy and maybe, while he has some time off from "work" he can accompany his Mama to a pumpkin patch!

And the award goes to ...

Ok, I am a bit of a spaz and I know it. Plus, I have been a little preoccupied with my book/CD release. (We interrupt this broadcast for a commercial break, A Journey to the Son, the book and CD, are now available at www.ajourneytotheson.com. We will now return to our normally scheduled programming) Anywho, I have gotten a bit behind on some bloggy business. I have come into contact with some great mommy bloggers out there. Several bestowed me the honor of blog awards in the past few weeks and I am just now getting around to them. My fabulous blog designer, Thais over at olivinadesignhouse, has been so kind as to help me put the actual awards on the sidebar. (I know how to find my way around facebook and writing a blog and that is about it!)

Here they are ...

Nancy at ifevolutionworks, a blog I really enjoy, gave me a "Great Sunday Reading" award.



A woman after my own heart, she basically said there are no rules, if you want to pass this along, great, if not, great. (I will get around to paying it forward eventually, but... maybe not right now!) She gave the award along with these kind words about the blog.

"Mud Mama: I enjoy Lauren’s style of writing, that her posts aren’t too long for my very brief attention span.. I love the refreshing look of her blog. I love her talent."

So sweet! I love your blog as well! Muah!

Lovely blogger Tami at http://www.heartsmakefamilies.com/ and also the tres chic onechicmommy, Alicia, honored me with One Lovely Blog Award.



Thank you so much! Here are the rules for this one. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award. (I will eventually get around to that, too!)AND I am going to do somewhere between 15 and 30, since I got the award twice :)
Sorry if I am accidentally leaving anyone out. Take this award if ya wanna, or if you can't get around to it that is fine, too. Some lovely bloggers IMHO are (please play the Miss America theme song now! Or Miss Canada as the case may be) ...

1)Xenia, Thanks Mail Carrier
2)Jamie, BlondeMomBlog
3)Amanda, Brilliant Sulk
4)Thais, Love and Olive
5)Michele, Finding Trinity
6)Thetamom.com
7)Nancy, Ifevolutionworks
8)Lesia A. Hammett
9)Brigidday.com
10)Carrie-in-TN, Bilingual in the Boonies
11)Amo, Where a Woman Shakes Her Tablecloth
12)Areeba, All That and a Box of Rocks
13)Pilarina's Workshop
14)Brown eyes sweetheart
15)Fastlass73
16) Aham Prema
17) fabulousillustrator
18) The writers block
19) Yonca's Cooking
20) toothwhale
21) Blue Violet
22) Milk Breath and Margaritas

Virtual roses and tieras to you all!