{Enter}

Blogospherians {A Kilroy_60 original} in the know, those who value the social aspects of blogging above all, participate regularly in carnivals. There’s no better way to promote your site and to connect with other bloggers.

The latest, greatest innovation is the:

Soup To Nuts
Progressive Dinner Blog Carnival
The way a progressive dinner works is…

you start out at one house or restaurant to have hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, then move on to a different one for appetizers, and continue moving from place to place all the way through dessert.

Soup To Nuts combines the power of blog carnivals with the adventure of a progressive dinner, while adding a dash of whimsy.

You can enter as many as five posts in the Soup To Nuts PROGRESSIVE DINNER Blog Carnival. If you wish, you can enter a single submission; or two or three or four or five.

How does it work that you can submit multiple posts to one carnival; and why would you?

—(-)-> You could say, Soup to Nuts is FIVE CARNIVALS in one. All five are connected, to make one megacarnival. <-(-)— Remember, there are five different host blogs involved. If you submit five posts, every one of the host blogs will have a link to your site. Entries are being accepted NOW. Don’t be one of the people who come to enter late; to find they have no seat at the table. {Enter}

Dinner is being served 30 April, 2008

No entries will be accepted after 11:59 pm, Saturday, 26 April, 2008

Entries are being accepted NOW

The Rules…

—(-)-> Only English language posts will be accepted.
—(-)-> It’s a FREE FOR ALL! - meaning you can submit posts on any subject, no matter when they were written.
—(-)-> No posts with titles that include profanity or pictures of a sexual nature.
—(-)-> Posts will not be accepted from blogs that publish primarily adult-oriented material; that means no sex blogs.
—(-)-> Please do not submit the same post for more than one course

The individual portions, in the progressive dinner, are referred to as courses. The lineup for the second Soup To Nuts PROGRESSIVE DINNER Carnival:

The Hors d’oeuvres & Cocktails course…
will be served by Soham at The Soul And The Witness.
{Enter} - Choose hors d’oeuvres category
or email your name as you want it to appear, blog/url and post/url
to sohamdas@gmail.com - subject line: progressive dinner

The Appetizer course…
will be served by Nicole at Musings Of A Manic Mom. <—–ME!!!!!
{Enter} - Choose appetizer category
or email your name as you want it to appear, blog/url and post url
to musingsofamanicmom@gmail.com - subject line: progressive dinner

The First Course…
will be served by Helene at Health Plans Plus
{Enter} - Choose first course category
or email your name as you want it to appear, blog/url and post url
to hlzmarketing@gmail.com - subject line: progressive dinner

The Main Course…
will be served by Dana at Simple Pleasures.
{Enter} - Choose main course category
or email your name as you want it to appear, blog/url and post url
to gottsegnet@gmail.com - subject line: progressive dinner

The Dessert Course…
will be served by Kilroy_60 at The Gonzo Papers.
{Enter} - Choose main course category
or email your name as you want it to appear, blog/url and post url
to kilroy60@gmail.com - subject line: progressive dinner

We would appreciate your help in promoting the Soup To Nuts Progressive Dinner Blog Carnival. Please email the url of your promotional post to kilroy60@gmail.com - you will receive links back in future announcements by the hosts. (and if you let ME (Nicole) know, I will also give you a link back on my blog.

This is a unique event. Please follow the format of this post to make the submission process as easy as possible for all involved.

{Enter}

My mom loves to send me these things, so here we go.

Four things you may or may not know about me:

A) Four employers:

Chocolate Soup (a clothing shop for kids that many women are familiar with! - my first job!)
Price Chopper (Bakery Dept.)
Maggie Moo’s (Ice Cream Shop)
Two Scrapbook Stores (I taught classes)

B) Four People who e-mail me:

Lisa, Erin, My CTMH girls, Mike

C) Four of my favorite foods:

Steak, Grilled Shrimp, Chicken/Turkey, Chocolate (oh, and those terrible for me cheeseburgers!)

D) Four places I would rather be right now:

At Lisa’s with a hot cup of coffee and some serious girl talk, Visiting my mom in PA, In my bed, At O’Charley’s (I’m hungry!)

E) Four people I think will respond:

Nobody because I don’t plan to actually send this out or tag anyone.

F) Four movies I would (do) watch over and over:

The Notebook, St. Elmo’s Fire, Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, The Day After Tomorrow

G) Four places I have lived:

Dallas, Texas, Mesa, Arizona, Miami, Florida, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

H) Four TV Shows I Watch:

House, Law and Order: SVU, American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy

If anyone decides to do this one, just leave me a comment and it will link to you. I have “Do Follow”. I will also come visit you and leave you a comment. Look forward to reading your answers.

I mentioned earlier that I had two kids home sick from school today. Ugh!

It was funny though, because the child that looks the worst (pale, circles under her eyes, etc.) is the one with the most energy. Of course, she is the youngest. LOL

I made them some lunch - chicken soup and fruit. She gobbled the whole entire thing up in less than 10 minutes and wanted more.

While the other child (who refused to be photographed - hey she’s 13! LOL) who actually looks alright albeit a bit disheveled from staying in bed all day acts as if she is royally dying. Can we say Drama Queen? She’d kill me if I ever told her that.

Here’s my cutie 8 year old eating her yummy lunch. As soon as lunch was done, she asked if she could go to school tomorrow.

Uh. No. Feel better girls!

I stole borrowed this from Kristie over at Life With My X-Men.

MOUTHOLOGY

Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Wendy’s. Unless you count Mr. Goodcents or Jimmy Johns as fast food. They are sub shops. Those are actually my favorites, but I am just not sure they count.
Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? It’s a toss up between Macaroni Grill and O’Charleys
Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant? 15-20%. The whole thing depends on the service. (couldn’t have said it better myself Kristie)
Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? cheeseburgers
Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice? Light or no sauce. Extra Cheese. I like pepperoni and ham, but not necessarily together.
Q. What do you like to put on your toast? peanut butter. Sometimes I just like buttered toast. I also really like cinnamon and brown sugar with butter. Its AWESOME.

TECHNOLOGY

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer? I have one with horses that I adore, but it eats up memory like crazy so I don’t use it anymore.
Q. How many televisions are in your house? Four. And two that need to go get repaired but they are HUGE so its not as easy as it sounds. LOL

BIOLOGY

Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right.
Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body? No. Well, a baby or two. LOL
Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted? A 6′ Table for my Scrapbooking Area.
Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious? No.

BULLSHITOLOGY (If you’ll excuse the term.)

Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? No, I prefer to live every day to its fullest, so I’d rather not know because I think then my outlook would change.
Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I wouldn’t. I took my middle name (Nicole) that was the name I wanted. I might give myself a different last name. (*hint* *hint* Mike)
Q. What color do you think looks best on you? Blue
Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? I’m not sure. Maybe a bug or two on accident?
Q. Have you ever saved some one’s life? Well, I was a lifeguard for four years, and we had to pull a child or two out. I don’t know if I actually saved their life, but I did have to give CPR a few times.
Q. Has someone ever saved yours? No.

DAREOLOGY (You can stop here if you’re bored.)

Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? Depends on what kinda kiss we’re talking here. I kiss my sister, I kiss my female kiddos. I kiss my mother.
Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? Nope.
Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000? Sure. Then I’d just create a pseudo name cause I gotta get them words out. hehe
Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? Never.
Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? Sure, why not? (Kristie, good answer)

DUMBOLOGY

Q: What is in your left pocket? Nothing
Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie? Thankfully I have no clue. Never saw it and it is not one I intend to ever see.
Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower? Most of the time I stand, except we have this little ledge thing and I sometimes sit to shave.
Q: Could you live with roommates? I have several times. So yes, I suppose I can.
Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own? two
Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops? I have a friend that is a cop and occasionally we “run into” him. LOL Actually he has been known to pull us over in the past “just to be funny”. That was about a year ago or so though.
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up? I think I am grown up. I’m living the life I want to live and I’m being the person I want to be. I wanted to be a writer, I am living that and getting paid. I wanted to be creative in a job, and I’m a scrapbooking consultant, I get paid for that. Love it! I’m all I want to be.

LASTOLOGY

Q: Last friend you talked to? Lisa
Q: Last person who called you? Lisa
Q: Last person you saw? Mike

FAVORITOLOGY

Q: Number? 3 - I don’t know why. I also have a fascination with digits by 7. (ie. 14, 21, 28, etc.) No clue why.
Q. Season? Fall

CURRENTOLOGY

Q: Mood? Happy
Q: Listening to? The dog and cat play together and some strange FX movie on TV.
Q: Watching? My computer screen. I am not watching the movie.
Q: Worrying about? my two sick kiddo’s.

RANDOMOLOGY

Q: First place you went this morning? uhm..the kitchen?
Q: What can you not wait to do? See my article published in print in April. Yay me!
Q: What’s the last movie you saw? Face Off last night on TV. I have never watched the whole thing (and I still haven’t - I fell asleep) but it was so interesting now I want to watch it.
Q: Do you smile often? Yeah. A lot.
Q: Are you a friendly person? Yep. Especially if I know you. (Kristie your response works for me too) - I have occasional social anxiety, so often it takes someone else to start something out but then I’m chatty as can be.

Yes! You finally made it to the end of this looonnnngg Meme. I am not tagging anyone to do it, but if you do, let me know and I’ll link you. Thanks Kristie, for a fun meme.

It is tax time, which means we are expecting a nice sized refund back, and one of the things we want, is some new living room furniture. With seven people in our family, one sofa just does not cut it and quite frankly I am tired of finding kids sitting on the coffee table or elsewhere. So we know thats one thing we are getting.

The other thing on my wish list is a new bed. I don’t actually want a new mattress because I have a double pillow top and I love it! I just want a headboard. A complete bed, ya know?

Well, you have got to check out hooker furniture. Not only do they have beautiful furniture for every room in the house (living room, bedroom, children’s rooms, home office, dining room, kitchen and more!), but they will ship it to you. That’s right. You don’t have to go rent a truck and ask all your friends and neighbors to come over and help you move it into your house, because they will.

Tonight I spent about an hour on the site and found about 10 pieces I sure would love to have in various locations in our home. There is a living room wall unit that is absolutely to die for and would hold our television perfectly! Along with our ever growing DVD collection.

Guess where I am shopping in a few weeks?

Oh it just figures. I have two home sick from school today. YUCK!

Here’s the scoop. It was their weekend at mom’s house and everyone left healthy and happy and doing great. When they arrived home last night (an hour and 20 minutes late) the youngest sounded horrible. Every time that she opened her mouth to speak, you could hear it in her voice and she just looked beat. She however ate a full dinner and so we thought perhaps she was just really tired (as is typical for a weekend at their moms as there is no bedtime and no beds!). The other two didn’t eat much at all, picked at their food, ate a bite or two, however they were chatty and seemed okay.

Fast forward to this morning. We woke the middle schooler up for school and she looked horrible, sounded horrible and obviously felt horrible which she was verbal about. Strike 1. *sigh*

Next, an hour later we wake the elementary kids up. I knew my daughter was fine, as she had been fine all weekend. The youngest, the one who was so obviously sounding horrible last night, looked as white as a sheet. Horrible really. Yet she got up and went through the motions to prepare for school. I looked at her father and said no. I don’t normally encourage the kids to stay at home if they want to go, but we have all been healthy this school year and we need to kick this in the butt so we can move on and get better. No going to school for her.

I checked out the middle gal and she seemed ok. She said her throat felt a little scratchy but she felt alright and was eager to go to school. If she was sick, she would have said it, so we let her go. Thankfully we still have three well kids, but for how long?

I have a family member who suffered from Bipolar disorder. I guess I should say she suffers from it, because it never completely goes away. You can learn to live with it, as she has.

As a young girl they diagnosed her with Manic depression, but nobody got her help. Back then there were not the resources available that are available for us today.

But now, if you need help or you are just wanting a place to get information about bipolar, you can.

Bipolar Central is an awesome resource for anyone either afflicted with the disorder or who is affected by the disorder. If you have a family member with it, or a close friend, it can be a challenge to get close to them. Often their mood swings just about do you in, but with this site you can get more information, ideas to help and find support.

If you have bipolar disorder, whether you are managing fine, or you are still looking into getting help, there are dozens of tips and information to get you on the track to getting the help you need.

If you are married to someone you can find information, or if you know someone who takes medication and you want more information on the side effects and what kinds of medications are available, there is information about that too.

Bipolar Central is one of the most comprehensive sites out there for information on manic depression and bipolar disorder. A good choice for anyone who is touched by it.

I’m at it again spreading the word about the store I had a problem with at Christmas. More on the 3Drose fiasco here.

The reason I am back to spreading the word about how terrible 3DRose is, and that I would avoid shopping anywhere or with anyone who claims to be associated with 3DRose in any way, is that I have now found out she is all over the Internet. A quick google search for the phrase “3drose” brings up all sorts of search results. (Mine is the fourth! I love it!) In big bold letters it says “Don’t Shop at 3D Rose”. hehehe

However, apparently she has an ebay account where she has had several negatives over the past year, and the majority of it is from people who say it took over a month to get the product, or its been a month and they never received a thing.

In addition they have an associate through Amazon.com as well. That made me more mad.

You know to be objective, I have absolutely no issue with people selling in mass quantities. In fact, if your business is online - fine. But don’t take people’s money and not deliver product, and certainly don’t keep those people’s money when they ask for it back. I am out $45 for Christmas gifts I ordered during the first week of December. Funny how absolutely everything else we ordered over those same couple of days arrived within a week. Know what else is ironic? Besides online stores (Websites) I also shopped at Amazon and at ebay. Everything from everyone else arrived.

My advice is to avoid this woman at all costs. While there are plenty of happy patrons listed on her ebay feedback, its the negatives that concern me. How does she choose who will have to wait, or who will never receive their product? It could be you next time.

Just avoid them at all cost. There is nothing she has that you cannot find somewhere else.

What are you up to this weekend?

My step kids are at their moms, so its pretty quiet around here with just two. I got a bunch of scrapbooking done. Well not really a bunch but I did organize a few albums and start a few layouts.

I also got a number of articles written for the print magazine I am writing for. I am very pleased with the results and hope they are too.

We went to the library and I swear I could have been there two more hours. I always find things to look up and learn about. Why am I like that? It is strange. I have also been right at home in the cooking and baking section, checking out new foods, recipes and more. I can’t seem to get enough.

I got a few posts collected together for the progressive dinner and the Drinks After Dinner Reception. I am so excited about it. I guess I should mention I will be hosting a portion of a future dinner, so I am really excited about this one to jump in and get my feet wet. Kilroy has the coolest blog carnivals ever. If you have never joined in a blog carnival, you should. Even if you think your blog is boring, you have to have at least a handful of posts that get comments or seem interesting to other people. It’s a great way to get more traffic to your blog and find other interesting blogs. And you can enter one post from each blog you have. Any subject.

So that’s all about my weekend to date. I am hoping tomorrow brings something a bit more exciting to the table.