So stumped.

I swear this song, "Strut" by Sheena Easton was in some '80s movie for a brief moment. I thought it was 'Can't Buy Me Love,' but Kevin says no. I can't find a Google answer...anyone know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzgPot4XvAk

That's the video in case you need a reference.

I feel dumb.

And I'm even supposedly a writer. Do better than me, please. Oh yeah, I got 53.

The 100 Most Common English Words

Better than 'ok'

Although it has a decidedly Western slant (I mean Club Rodeo, come on), I love that OKC was featured in this Travel section of the NY Times. There is much to be excited about around here.

Click below to read the article and then check out the fun slideshow that was featured with it.

Oklahoma City Is Booming With Oil and a New Exuberance

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/08/07/travel/0808-OKLA_index.html

Whew.

Today was a loooong day. Mobile baby is wearing out his mother. Prepare for baby fat to start melting off --his, not mine. Although, that would be a bonus of the non-stop chasing.

First, he escaped down the hall....

Then, I found out he could climb stairs. Actually, he does a really good job. Scary.

I forgot to put the valve on his sippy cup. While I went to grab the rest of his lunch, I came back to this:

An hour or so later, I was picking up his room. He promptly went next door and emptied the trash can.

Then, as I was saving him from the dreaded plastic bag, he started eating my decorative balls of twig. I guess that's what I get for having decorative balls of twig.

He'll be up again in 8 hours. I'm going to bed while I have the chance.

Shear genius

Mark off another milestone...Baby Bug is a new man.

He had his first 'official' haircut at Snip-Its this weekend. Geesh, the kid is a champ! Maybe it had something to do with the puffs I fed him throughout his scissor date or perhaps it was the breakneck swiftness with which our stylist performed the hair removal. Either way, he acted like it was his 25th visit to the chair/bumbo seat. It's a good thing, with the genes this child has, he will be up to 25 visits in no time.

And Snip-Its was awesome too. The perfect environment for a first haircut. With kids & bright colors all around, Riley was in sensory-overload nirvana.

Here are some pictures and a video of a funny moment...a clip, if you will. Groan.

Go here.

Nope. No baby pics here. Apparently this is my week for spewing out propaganda. I think it has to do with the fact that this has been a major deadline week for me. That leaves little time for anything other than time-wasting web cycling (I don't surf) once an hour for a quick distraction....yep, that's it. Just once an hour. Bu-ha. Sure.

Anyway, I'm sure plenty of you are already way in tune with the amazing website Dooce.com. If you aren't, do yourself a favor and bookmark it. It's basically an expanded blog of one Heather B. Armstrong. I love reading her honest, funny musings and her daily Tweets. She is a smart, witty writer and a fellow mom who makes her living writing smart, witty things on her website. Geez, that must suck for her.

There's a point here...

Yesterday, she posted about a really mind-blowing case of child abuse in Florida. I hate reading those kinds of stories because I can never get them out of my mind. But her blog entry about the story compelled me to the link she referenced and the story is, quite simply, chilling. I couldn't break away. I'm not sure what I've taken from it yet, but if you have the time, consider reading it. And then do what Heather says -- go hug your kids. Go hug anyone you love for that matter.

And consider adding a litle Dooce to your life....if you don't already. I love that woman.

P.S. SYTYCD is officially over. ...sigh... I will miss it so.

The Good Ol' Days

Natasha just sent me this via e-mail. I'm not usually a fan of 'forwards' (and she doesn't usually send them either), but I really liked this one.

Maybe I liked it because I remember so much of this. Maybe I like it because I'm raising a baby in this new generation where things are so, so different from my childhood. I can clearly remember the fun we had when we got to hop in the back of a pickup truck for a quick ride. It didn't happen often for us--even then--but it was great when it happened. I remember long bike rides through the neighborhood where we would 'explore' our surroundings. And I can remember begging my dad to let us take off our seatbelts for awhile when we were on long road trips--and how cool it was when he said yes.

I'm a worrier...and I know I'll have a tendency to over-protect. I just hope that I'll remember to let our kids just be kids sometimes--even if I insist they do it with a helmet on.

Anyhow, here's the forward:

To all the kids who survived the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s & ’70s:

First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets – not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts, or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were okay.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-Boxes. No video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms…

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

W e rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. …imagine that!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all! If YOU are one of them... CONGRATULATIONS!

Busted!

Caught in mid-grab! How do they always know exactly what they should stay away from?