Thanks to my quiz participants. Cheryl wins the prize for getting the closest. I don’t know what she wins (other than my undying amazement…:)   )

This… is the track ball inside my mouse. Somehow, my daughter figured out how to get it out of the mouse and coat it w/ silly putty. In case you are wondering…track balls tend not to glide very smoothly when coated w/ silly putty.

The next stumper…how to get the ever-lovin’ stuff OFF of the mouse? Scraping didn’t work. I was afraid trying goo gone would make it worse. Soooo, I ended up putting the thing in the freezer over night hoping I could chip it off. That worked only mildly well. Finally, my husband just got another ball from another (dead) computer and we were good to go. Any other suggestions for the future, I’d be mighty glad.

Meanwhile…we have banned silly putty from our home. We once had to do that w/ legos. In case you were wondering, legos do not flush down the toilet very well. It’s not pretty.

All righty…I’m running my first ever Befrazzled Quiz. Anyone and everyone, take a guess at what this is.

Anyone? Lurkers take a guess (I’m talking to YOU Mrs. G!

 I’ll give you a few hints.

1.) It IS of this world.

2.) Only MY kids could think of a way to make this particular brand of mess.

I’ll post the answer Monday morning.

We had “lunch” at IHOP today with my folks. Here’s what they are serving up for the kiddos in honor of the movie “Horton Hears a Who.”

I think they’re going to have to change the title of the movie to “Horton is a Type-II Diabetic.” Holy Crikey! I’ll take my Healthy Parent of the Year Award anytime now

With prom season fast approaching, I figured I ought to get a jump on what to wear. Turns out… 

I should get a dress that’s… Black - Elegant

I am naturally elegant and classy. I should opt for a black dress with some funky accents to show off my good fashion sense and natural beauty.

‘What Prom Dress should you get?’ at QuizGalaxy.com

Ok, if you’re brave enough to send them to me as .jpegs, I’ll post a gallery. Oh, and are you kidding me, I totally reserve the right to draw cartoons on them I promise not to make fun of you.

Ugh. I’m still here. I haven’t forgotten about you bloggy world. That said, some sort of yucky respiratory bug is invading my body.

The good news is, nobody else in my immediate family has caught it. The bad news is, I hope that doesn’t mean next week is going to be their Week o’ Fun!

In the meantime…I’m going to phone it in today and refer you to a blog link that makes me laugh out load everytime I see it. Hope you enjoy.

Ever have one of those days/weeks/experiences, where you just think…hmmm…I’m pretty sure Jennifer Aniston did NOT do this today?

Let’s see, J-Lo fed her babies formula out of gilded bottles while wearing a ball gown.

Jennifer Aniston allegedly shopped at Prada with her two bodyguards in tow, then read her latest movie script poolside in Miami.

Kelly Ripa sat next to Anderson Cooper and wore some sort of other ball gown to work.

I, on the other hand, went shopping at Costco. My husband and I got really excited about our purchases. We’ve both been having back pain and we think it’s because our pillows aren’t firm enough. We got these…

THEN, becasuse I really like to wear comfy fleecy socks at night, my daughter spotted a three pack of ballet slippers that seemed like they’d be ooooh so soft. And in my defense, there was a lot going on what with trying to remember if we needed another ginormous tub of laundry detergent and keeping track of two kids who are at the perfect shopping-cart blind spot height… I threw the socks into the heaping cart, brought ‘em home and put them on. This is what happened next.

Mother of God…I turned into a 108-year old over the weekend.

All righty…off to go clubbing with my body guards in tow!

Three earth-shatteringly important events transpired in 1920 in the U.S. of A.  Women finally won the right to vote in national elections. Prohibition became the law of the land. Cecelia Valerie Minor (later Kordowski) was born. With five sisters and one brother, she came smack dab in the middle of seven children born to Polish immigrants in the north end of Toledo. She grew up to be a true lady, with class, grace dignity and an iron will (and also a kind of inappropriate penchant for potty jokes). She was my grandmother and today is her birthday.

Fourteen years ago, I wrote her a letter. This is a tiny part of it:

Dear Grandma,

When I was small and we lived in Tiffin, you were my “Gramma Dowski.” Becky and I would come to your house and you would just watch us. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that’s what you were doing. Whether it was with Cool Whip Crowns on our head so we could play Miss America, or with those tin-foil clothes pin “microphones” you made we’d sing Donny and Marie and you would sit back and smile. No matter what crazy routine we’d cook up to entertain you, you’d watch and think we were wonderful. You’d laugh so hard your eyes watered. Then you’d applaud, throw money, and demand an encore…”

My parents are like that now with my children (Hi. Who gets $20 for losing their first tooth??). I know it’s in large part because they follow her example (and my other grandparents). I am so grateful for that.

€

She helped give me confidence in myself. She taught me that it does matter what people think of you (in the good way).  She taught me that it’s absolutely ridiculous to wear baggy clothes when you are skinny and you’ll have plenty of time to wear them when you’re oh, say 37??  (oh how I regret not listening :)  )

   My grandmother was very artistic. A trait she did NOT pass on to me, unfortunately. One of her specialties was paper snowflakes. She made hundreds of them over her lifetime. After she passed away, we found dozens of them stuffed between the pages of her books. My sister surprised the women of our family by framing them and giving them to us at Christmas. The clerks at Mitered Corner (or wherever she took them) kept having to fend off customers who wanted to buy them. Grandma would have loved that.

Happy birthday Grandma. I love you and miss you very much.

P.S. Is my mom not rocking it in that silver dress and matching shoes?? She probably made the whole thing herself. Ugh. I am so not living up to my heritage.

You most resemble Marlon BrandoYou are very smart, and very talented, although you don’t really enjoy social company. You prefer to live alone, go to movies alone, cry alone in the corner…Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Er…um…uh…there isn’t…I haven’t…ugh. This can’t be right? Which screwed up celebrity do you most resemble?

Here’s hoping everyone had a Happy Eater. (ooh, I meant Easter…how’s THAT for a Freudian slip?)

Anyhoo, because I live to amuse basically myself back by popular demand here is a graphical representation of mine.

BEFORE EASTER ME

AFTER EASTER ME

Any questions?

Ok, let me start off with an apology. I realize I let my legions of fans fan down by not live blogging idol last night. My planets just did not align properly and before I knew it, it was Wednesday afternoon and we were already on predicting tonight’s episode of Lost.

 Anyway, today I bring you what I hope to make another regular feature on Befrazzled. I decided to combine my talents of winging it and seeing what sticks ingenuity with my worse than subpar, seriously, I think I got a D in 8th grade art class artistic abilities and bring you a why in the world would anyone listen to what I say handy how-to guide.

Big Day in the Dec household. Loose top front tooth on my son. It’s been hanging on for a couple of weeks now. Everyone and their brother (seriously, my husband has 47 brothers…I’m not kidding) has weighed in with the best way to help that tooth along. Last year, we scored the double bogie of losing a tooth on the night before Easter. Yep, the bunny and the fairy rendevouzed at our house. It was a smack down, but the fairy came out on top. She has the benefit of opposable thumbs, after all. Plus…those long bunny ears just scream, “yank me!” Turns out the Easter Bunny is a bit of a pansy.

I digress. So, after years of dealing with loose teeth and helpful advice from friends and family, I’ve compiled my data and have come up with the following sure-fire method for major drama, crying, and general hysterics quick and painless baby tooth removal.

First, I highly recommend your child actually HAS a loose tooth before you begin this process. Luckily, mine did. The only tool we require is a dry paper towel. Next, we do this… 

Next, we do this (Note: I realize Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 are missing. I misnumbered them and by now had already spent an obscene amount of time on this project.)

Usually at this point, everybody and their 47 brothers (see above) begins calling us and offering these helpful suggestions for how to proceed.

               …or…                …. and finally…

By this point, my son figures out that if he allows the “adults” to continue with this line of reasoning, he might never be able to enjoy a Happy Meal again. So, he quietly walks into the bathroom with his paper towel. After a few minutes, he comes out looking like this:

And there you have it. I’ll keep you updated on whether he does better by the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy in terms of cash haul. I’ll now open the floor to my blogger buddies for more helpful tips that I can incorporate to improve this tutorial (i.e., string tied around a door knob, pick-up truck, 747?)

*******************BREAKING NEWS ALERT **************BLOG UPDATE*****************************

Because the above method worked so well, the other top tooth got bold (and extra wiggly). About 2 hours after I posted, the boy looked like this.

 Robin