This week’s topic for the Small Talk Six is “6 things that never fail to make you smile.”    How does the Small Talk Six work?   It is simple.   Post your reply to the Small Talk Six topic of the week with 6 words, 6 phrases, 6 sentences, 6 paragraphs, or 6 photos.  Then go to this weeks post on MomDot.com and link up.

So here are the 6 things that never fail to make me smile:

1. Squishy faces on the front door when I get home from work.
   
2. When I’m doing dishes, my hubby wraps his arms around me and kisses the back of my neck.
3. When my boys learn to do something new.  The are so excited about their accomplishments, so “Mom, I did it.” always brings a smile to my face.
4. Learning something new in Photoshop…I get giddy.
5. Shopping…I confess I’m a shopaholic.  
6. The airport.  I love to travel.  Leaving all responsibility at home is so relaxing to me.

Dear Family and Friend,

Due to the recent funk I am in, I have decided to go into hibernation until it ceases to exist.     

I did not make this decision lightly and I do so to spare you the bitchiness some of you have experienced lately.   

Maybe its the full moon the other night…

Maybe my biorhythms are off…

Maybe its that seasonal mood disorder and I need some sunshine…

During this funk, I have recently sent snippy emails and impulsive text message.   While they are uncharacteristic of me, I did mean what I said yet probably could have phrased it differently. 

I know some of you are waiting for my head to spin and green puke to fly.    Others are probably calling me Sybil behing my back.  

To save my reputation, I am now going to find a quiet cave to park my butt in till the black cloud lifts.

Testing my signature plugin.

Label Daddy ,

I am submitting this plea on behalf of my daycare.  Instead of the usual daily report, the following letter came home with my children yesterday.   

Dear Mrs. Doran,
This letter is not for you.   We have given up hope and are pleading to higher powers.   See attached.

Sincerely,
His House Daycare

Here is the letter they enclosed. 

Dear Label Daddy ,
Our pleas to Mrs. Doran have gone unanswered, so we are turning to you for help.    While Mrs. Doran is not the only repeat offender, we see this contest as an opportunity to make an example of Mrs. Doran and send a message to our other parents.    We have sent home numerous reminders to Mrs. Doran to label her children items.   But week after week she ignores them.   So we are turning her in to you:

She is being charged with:

• Forgetting that as a daycare, we have approximately 8 sippy cups, 9 binkys from 3 different brands each with their own set of germs, 28 backpacks (which include 3 Cars designs, 6 Hannah Montana, and various others that without a doubt resemble each other), 32 coats, 25 pairs of gloves for a total of 50 gloves, 25 blankies, 3 loveys, 2 teddies, and 25 extra outfits.   – Only half of which is labeled and that includes her children’s stuff.  
• Ignoring repeat citations documenting the above charge
• NOT DOING ANYTHIING ABOUT IT!

Please Label Daddy answer our prayers – send her to BlogHer, make an example of her, and send her home with some labels.  

Sincerely,
His House Daycare

My husband is now laughing at me. Why? Because he packs the kids bags in the morning and takes them to school.  And I’m the one getting blamed.   But if it means our house will get organized I will take the blame for the crime and confess:

“I, Stephanie Doran, am guilty of being unorganized.   While I make valient attempts, I am unable to do this alone.   If I am chosen for the Label Daddy BlogHer Sponsorship, I vow to label everything, even my children, my husband and dog.    With the help of my friend, Dawn, self proclaimed anal obsessed organizing freak, I will become organized.   I will not send my children and their stuff to school unlabeled.  Finally, I will blog about my labeling experience and tell others the importance of labels.” 

Just stamp it on my forehead.  Go ahead….

Because I am craving a Paczki….

Oh the dilemmas of being a Mom…

Since I got my DSLR camera last September, I’ve wanted to take a photography workshop.  

Its not that I don’t take photos at home.   I do, but I don’t feel inspired.   Its the same with drawings.   At class I can focus, I’m comfortable and I can just draw.   At home, I find it so difficult.   Same with photography, uninspired.

So there is something about having 2-3 days to devote strictly on photography.   Just to immerse myself in a creative environment.   It would also be a great time to build a portfolio.  I also don’t remember the last time I took some “me” time.

I’ve been on the lookout for a photography workshop.   I’ve wanted to attend Me Ra Koh’s Workshop, but there are travel expenses to go with it.   Recently I found out about a workshop by Amy Wenzel.  Its 3 hours away from me in Grand Rapids, MI.   I have family out there so I wouldn’t have to pay for hotel.    Great huh?

Her May workshop sold out and she just announced June dates.    Of course, my son’s birthday would fall right in the middle of the workshop.   Enter Mommy Guilt!   I know he will only be two so he won’t remember it.   We are also not having their party till the weekend.    But could I miss it and not feel horrible?   

Curse you Mommy Guilt!

Ok I’m done venting….I need to stay positive.   If I was meant to go to the workshop, it will happen.   Or maybe money will fall from the sky and I will get to go to Me Ra’s workshop.

So what drive people nuts about you?    Feel free to clarify a little more after the verbs. 

My ____________ (relation) loves/hates when I __________________ (verb), but loves/hates _________________ (verb).    

• My husband hates when I get into bed after he’s been asleep, but loves sleeping next to me.   Let me first clarify that our bed is right up against the wall and my side is up against the wall.  So getting into bed is no easy feat.   I have to climb up from the foot of the bed.   But I have to admit after that I’m not exactly subtle.   I have to have the pillows and blankets just right.  Then just when I settle down I change to the other side.  Then I get hot and kick the blankets off.  
• My husband loves when I cook, but hates cleaning up the dishes.   When he cooks, he cleans as he goes.   I’m not like that.  Plus usually I have two hungry kids that haven’t seen me all day tugging at my legs.   Hubby cooks breakfast on the weekends when the kids are fresh off 10-12 hours sleep.  

Ok and one from my point of view:

• I love seeing faces squished on the door when I come from work, but hate being ambushed when I walk in the door.    Sometimes a girl just needs 5 mins to switch over from working woman to mama.

I can’t wait to see what hubby’s reply will be to this post….

So in honor of mardi gras this weeks Small Talk Six topic is 6 things that you would be willing to flash someone for.   I’m not sure who would want to see my ta-tas after breastfeeding two children.   But anyways here are my six:

• Well one really good reason to show my ta-tas would be – A cure for breast cancer.   My mom is a breast cancer survivor.     I think its going on 7 years.  
  
  
• A fully paid college education for my two boys – Go Blue!
  
  
  
  They don’t have to go to the University of Michigan.  I’m just a little partial.  
• How about my pre-baby body back!  I didn’t think it was that great back then.  But I would love to have it now.  I could only wish that this was my body, even back then.  But I was on a roll with the photos.  I’d take a mommy make over though.  I think my stretch marks would make a great before & after.  
  
• A Boudior photo shoot.  A cheaper and less painful solution.   Just to feel good about myself naked.   I’d totally do that show with Carson – I want to look good naked!  Gotta throw a little crazy idea in here.  It is mardi gras.
• Next, since I am totally into photography right now, I would flash for this:
  
  
  
  A Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S Wide Angle-Telephoto Zoom Nikkor Lens

Wow, what a difference 10 years make!   When I was 18 with nice perky boobs and a few less pounds, I probably would have flashed for alot less.  Yeah if I ever made it down to Mardi Gras, I would have been one of those girls with a neck full of beads.   Now, no one is seeing my ta-tas besides my hubby or baby #3.

Since I started on my blogging journey just a few months ago, I have become completely infatuated with it.   Just ask my husband.  He probably thinks I’m having an affair.   My reply ”No honey, it’s not another man…I’m just blogging”  He constantly complains that he wants his wife back.   (Right here is where the photo of me hugging the computer monitor and my blog goes)

How infatuated am I?  I secretly go online to blog while working at my full-time job at a loading dock equipment company.  They probably wonder why my productivity is down.   But blogging is my little desert oasis in the land of semi trucks, construction equipment and steel toed boots.

So while trying to balance my family and my job, I’m also going back to school.   Even that’s been taken over by blogging….hmmmm….what class should I take…”oh I need html web design for my blog”….  

Blogging has touched every part of my life.   It’s my social outlet when the kids are driving me nuts.   It’s my sounding board for ideas.    It’s my journal when I just can’t say things out loud but need to get them off my chest.    It’s my Friday night in.   Blogging is driving me to finally finish my college degree.  It’s also driving me to finally pursue other options so I can be home with my children and blog.   

I feel that attending BlogHer would be an eye opening experience.   It’s a chance to focus on one thing I love.   I honestly can’t remember the last time I had time away just for myself.   It must have been over 7 years ago before I got married.    By attending BlogHer it would be great to learn from the best without all the distractions of work and home. 

I also love interacting online with other bloggers, but it would be great to meet these women in person.   You can put names with faces from pictures, but there is something about sitting down and having a face to face.  

I realize I am fortunate that this year BlogHer is within driving distance for me.   But it still seems so far away.   I’m from Detroit and a majority of our business is automotive.   I recently took a pay cut and a couple people were laid off.  So I don’t know what going to happen in the next few months.   I am constantly weight the opportunity of BlogHer and our finances.    It would be great to have that weight lifted off my shoulders!

So pretty please Extraordinary Mothers with a cherry on top – Pick Me!

P.S.  I just thought of one more reason I want to go to BlogHer in Chicago…because since my one and only visit to Chicago developed in to a love/hate relationship, I really want to give it another shot.   For my bachelorette party, we tried to keep it cheap and ended up staying at the Cass Hotel figuring we would only be at the hotel to sleep…the regular rooms were nasty, everyone hated it, we got moved up to the suites on the top floor, the hotel caught fire, I was crying on the street in front of the fire engine, we switched hotels, the first rooms we were given were occupied, then we didnt know you needed reservations for the piano bar we planned to go to, one girl busted her knee when she tripped.   It was just an up and down emotional rollarcoaster.   So I’d love to give Chicago another shot…please send me to BlogHer!

P.S.S.   Our computer is in our basement.   Its freezing…I need a Slanket!

Today I’ve started 2 or 3 different posts, but nothing seemed just right.   I tried to do a Friday Meme and I was totally uninspired.  I thought about doing a post about some items I just fav’d on Etsy, na not right.   So I’m just going to post about what is randomly going through my head.  

• Yesterday was an awful day…I wonder if the doctor/nurse thought I smelled like puke.     The story – Mitchell had a cold/sore throat.  I had to wait for my mom to come over to stay with him so I was late for work.  I shouldn’t have even gone to work because my stomach was doing loop de loops after I ate breakfast.   I ended up going home after lunch, took a nap, then got up to take Mitch to the doctor.   I got him checked in, grabbed the bathroom key and was pulling him into the restroom.   Barely made it, well really I didn’t I got a little on the stall door.   Mitch was looking so concerned as I was hurling in the toilet.   I’m puking as I’m trying not to let him back up into the puke stream on the stall door.   But as a mom does I cleaned myself and the bathroom up, then went into Mitchell’s appt.   Oh yeah and I nibbled on Brocolli soup at lunch.  I must have smelled lovely.
• I keep seeing the twitters & posts from gals at the Mom 2.0 Summit.  I am definately going to have to make it to BlogHer.   I’m trying to figure out how to do it.   The conference fee isn’t the problem.  I’m a student so I could get in for $75.   Hotel is another story.   Hotels run $150-$200+.   Who wants to go with me and split the room cost? Hmm….
• I’m looking forward to an uneventful weekend.   Work on some homework.   Maybe snuggle up with hubby and watch a movie.   Relax is the word of the weekend.
• More thoughts later…