I do exist!

Yes people...I do exist....

Honestly, just haven't felt compelled to write much about anything on here. There's no specific reason, really...I've had MANY things happen in my life recently. Perhaps it's a bit of a coming of age for me...I haven't relied on this corner of the net to vent my feelings, or to gain perspective on my life; instead, internalizing, reaching out to a select few whom are close to me, and gaining perspective through that route....a more personable, less public route.

Leh sigh.

I'm still a single, fully time working, single mother in her late twenties who struggles to find the right balance of friends, family, work, school and love (although, the love thing has been non existent for a loooooooooooooong time, I digress).

On the topic of love: How does a late 20-something get across her message that she's ready to have fun?? This so-called late 20-something is stuck at home, doesn't have the opportunity to go out and network in public, (nor does she really have time with her nutty work/family/school life to spend nights out), but in the same breath, this late 20-something has a void she's looking to fill. The void yearns for fun, laughing, and a splash of romance from time to time.

A little help please....?

Check it out!!

I don't ask much of the few who happen to stop by here...but if you could please spare a moment and stop by this website...They were the first winners of my Pay It Forward contest from a few weeks ago. I took the liberty of spreading the Minnesota Twins loving to Montana :) If you want the chance to win something fun and free, leave a comment on their site by this Monday!
I am a bit of a slacker (sorry to the other winners, I swear your goodies will be in the mail soon!!) I have one box packed and ready to be mailed..and two still in the works. Finding goodies for people you don't know is a lot of fun..but a heck of a lot more difficult than one would imagine.
Trust me, check out their site...if not to ogle at the most adorable twins in Montana!

Random Life Up to Date

What a wash of a weekend for me. In lieu of listing off every random detail, I will inform you that I was extremely lazy this past weekend. I did not lift a finger to clean once, and managed to watch season two of Veronica Mars in a 24 hour time-span. The marathon started after little man was sleeping on saturday night, and went into the wee hours of the morning on sunday...pausing briefly for a few hours of shut-eye, and then resuming when it was time for little man's nap on Sunday. I don't remember the last time I have watched that much television!! Needless to say, I am now in the process of hunting down season three (it really is a good show!!).

I feel slightly disappointed in myself. I didn't do anything crazy fun with little man this weekend. The past month I have taken us on some sort of fun mommy-son adventure every weekend. However, the most exciting thing we did this weekend entailed playing with chalk and water-filled spray bottles on friday evening before a few storms rolled in. I know he had fun, but I still should have been slightly more amped to take him to a new park or do something a little more special with him. There's always this coming weekend, right? Do you have any fun ideas you can share?

We did make a trip to the post office as well...to mail my first PIF package. I will say, I cannot believe the amount of items I fit into a small flat-rate priority box(I would say there were OVER a dozen small items). The post lady said I ended up saving myself a little over eight dollars (and the flat rate box only cost nine!! yay me!). Maybe this is just my lack of self esteem talking, but I wish I could have done more for this package..but receiving a box full of goodies is better than receiving a box full of no goodies at all! :)

I was unable to document anything for CSM (clean sweep monday), so this will be my first of two posts today. I have every intention to go home, and photograph two areas of my kitchen (before and after) and have the pics posted before I go to sleep tonight..so if you're up later, then enjoy...if not, then you'll have something to look forward to bright and early tomorrow morning!

I hope y'all had a fantabulous weekend! Did you do anything fun or exciting? Did you happen to see Miss USA fall on her bum in the Miss Universe contest? (I didn't watch the competition, but I have a strong feeling the video is going to make its way around the interweb!) Even though I was consumed with sloth, I was able to rest and really shake my cold (ALMOST for good!). Happy Monday!

OMG Exciting Stuff Part Duece!!

This morning I discovered I won a THIRD PIF! So, I will choose a third person making my total number of winners amount to FOUR. If you haven't yet heard from me, I'll try and shoot ya an email or leave a comment on your blog. Since I wasn't anticipating on winning ANYTHING, I am going to stagger the mailing of the packages..but rest asured, you WILL receive them..and they WILL bring a smile to your face :) Winner 1 will be mailed out this week, Winner 2 next week...you get the idea....right?

OH! And as for the (hopefully for the sake of my bank account) final winner! The random number generator chose lucky #18!
Congrats to Erica.

OMG!! Exciting stuff!!

The lovely and talented Swistle started a massive Pay It Forward craze that has swept up the blogger world. I hosted my own contest, as well as participated in almost all a few of the contests posted on Swistle's blog. I am excited to announce that I won TWO of the contests! This makes me giddy, because instead of posting two more contests, I am using our friendly random number generator to pick TWO MORE WINNERS! And they are....
#20, Notameangirl
and
#9, Sara

If you haven't heard from me, I will try and get in touch with you in the NEAR future! Yay for fun contests, and YIPPEE for paying it forward! :)

I would also like to thank everyone who was directed here via Swistle's site, or however else you happened to stumble across this little ol' thing that attempts to be a blog. I hope you keep stopping by!! (Do I have to BEG?! Cuz I probably will!!)

We Have a Winner

This is my "first contest" blah blah blah...I didn't get the chance to sit at my computer yesterday because I was bummed out that I didn't have family or a lot of friends to spend the day with so instead I slept a chunk of the day away because it was the fourth and all. So here I am. I just visited the random number generator site and it produced a random winner :) Congrats to Christina, Steve, Clara and Elena!!! (Note: I wasn't sure which blog to site because this person has TWO blogs listed...so check both out if you have the chance!)
Please email me via my blogger profile. I wouldn't mind a hint as to what you would like to be surprised with too :) (even just a few tid bits such as likes and dislikes)

I was rather cautious about posting this past week while the contest was up and running...not gonna lie; I almost started shaking due to blog-posting withdrawl! Lately, writing on here has felt like an intrinsic emotional balancing tool. Blogger has turned into one of my best friends...wow, that sounds a bit creepy eh?
ANYWAYS... I am happy and excited to return to my regularly scheduled program of writing in the morning and obsessively checking my post to see if anyone had any fun or interesting insight to share :)

On Thursday I had my cable down-graded. I forced myself to cancel my television service because I just couldn't justify forking out fifty+ dollars per month when my small family is BARELY watching television because of the nice weather. Honestly, I was a bit teared up when I came home from work to discover TLC, The Food Network and FX to be snowy and non-existent.
This afternoon, as I was spending the day inside laying low due to a wretched headache that came from NOWHERE, I discovered something amazing. All of my cable channels above 64 STILL WORKED! This includes two of my guilty pleasured favorites of MTV (aka THE REAL WORLD CHANNEL!!) and BRAVO! I am TOTALLY confessing to being a reality television whore, but come on! I'm a single girl...I might as well enjoy marathons of The Real World and Kathy Griffin's My Life On The D-List while I can! :)

How was your 4th? Have you enjoyed your extended holiday weekend?

Mullets and Pay it Forwards!!!

The people watching in Minnesota can be exquisite. The best locations for watching all sorts of silly folk come out of the woodwork are: The Mall of America, The Minnesota State Fair, and the Como Zoo. I'm almost certain Como attracts the professionally cut mullets and unnecessary spandex because of the fact that it's free.
This past weekend, the PSIL (pseudo sister in law) and I decided to take the kids to Como. Our reasons were simple: It was free, the kids LOVE animals, and it was a heck of a lot more entertaining to walk around the zoo than sit at home and break up never ending fights between little man and Bop(my niece). Before we left, PSIL received a phone call from a lady she refers to as Grandma (note: she is not related to Grandma. Rather, this lady was her neighbor's mother when PSIL was little. Not that it matters, but Grandma is about 68-ish). Grandma wanted to take Bop to the zoo..and instead of telling PSIL telling her we already had plans, she invited Grandma & Co. to join us. Did I mention that I am totally PMS-ing right now?
For about forty five minutes PSIL, myself and the kids walked around the zoo. It was enjoyable. I was managing to keep myself collected while the crowds of people swarmed. Then PSIL got the call. Grandma & Co. had arrived at the zoo.
Now, I'm not SUPER shallow. I try my best not to be judgemental. Let me just say for the record there was a TON of EXTREMELY inappropriate spandex involved with Grandma & Co. They were the people I would normally catch out in public and think to myself "seriously, what were they thinking!"
My mood spontaneously shifted from "I'm surviving the zoo" to "Get me the hell out of here!"
Needless to say, I might politely decline another trip out with Grandma & Co. PMS or not...it was still too much for me to handle...and now, I've just received a one way ticket to hell, courtesy of my horrible thoughts!
I'm not sure if you've ever heard of a blog Pay it Forward...but I have reluctantly decided to participate (especially since I intend on entering EVERY contest possible because I am a whore for free stuff!!). Here's how you're going to play my "contest".
First: leave a comment about a time you've noticed someone completely inappropriate in public. If that's too much to handle, just leave a comment saying hi.
Second: the contest ends on Friday, July 4th at noon my time (central time). I will use a random number generator to pick the winner....a package of surprises will be mailed out.
FIY: if you DO win you need to post and participate in a pay it forward contest of your own!!! Yeah, that's right bizzo's...it's time to Pay it Forward...just like that annoying lovely little movie with that kid from the Sixth Sense :)