Real World Mom

Madison “babysitting”.

See The Salty Mooch’s Wordless Wednesday post here.
See my Wordless Wednesday post on The AntHill here.

Visit Wordless Wednesday for more participants.

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Madison’s photo, “The Salty Mooch”, is in a contest! If her photo wins, not only will she get a prize, $250 will be donated to a shelter or rescue organization of our choice!

Please take a moment to visit Animal Attraction and vote for Madison HERE! (You will need to complete a quick registration in order to vote.)

Madison (and me) thank you for your support!

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Happy Easter from our home to yours!

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It’s Madison’s sixth birthday! To celebrate, we are introducing:
“The Salty Mooch”!

Please go and visit the new blog and wish Maddie a happy birthday!

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I’m feeling loved this week! I’ve been tagged again–and again! First by Colin at Life for the “Knowing Me, Knowing You” meme–go say hi to this great guy! And then by Ash at Paisley Goddess for the “Refrigerator” dare meme–take a minute to visit her and let her know I sent ya!

KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU

Copy this entire list of questions and change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then tag and pass it along to other blogging friends. Let’s see how well we can get to know one another!

1. What is your occupation? At the moment, I refer to myself as a “Domestic Goddess”.

2. What color are your socks right now? White (and I’m only wearing them because it’s Winter and I’m freezing!).

3. What are you listening to right now? My computer (it’s loud) and the washing machine (refer to #1).

4. What was the last thing that you ate? If I could remember, I’d tell ya.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes. (You didn’t ask if I can do it well though.)

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? That’s easy, purple.

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My friend/sister, Vicki.

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? He’s freaking AWESOME!

9. Favorite drink? #1: Coffee; #2: Diet Pepsi.

10. What is your favorite sport to watch? Naked male mud wrestling (this should produce some interesting Google searches, eh?). That is a sport, right?

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? A time or two…

12. Pets? Yes. Oh, did you want to know what? Well, I think you all know Madison!

13. Favorite food? Pasta, I could eat it every damn day.

14. Last movie you watched? “Maid in Manhattan”.

15. Favorite Day of the year? Any day that doesn’t involve a crapload of stress or bull$hit!

16. What do you do to vent anger? Write. Cry. Or both.

17. What was your favorite toy as a child? See #4.

18. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Spring. New life, Spring Cleaning… @@

19. Hugs or kisses? Depends who they’re from!

20. What kind of pie? Don’t really like pie. But I can make ‘em pretty good!

21. Do you want your friends to email you back? No. I so thoroughly enjoy writing emails so they can be ignored. Don’t you?

22. Who is most likely to respond? Me, myself or I.

23. Who is least likely to respond? Jimmy Hoffa.

24. Living arrangements? My guess is that my living was arranged by my parents? Am I close?

25. When was the last time you cried? Last night when T told me I had to finish my dinner in order to get dessert. I’ll have the same tantrum again tonight.

26. What is on the floor of your closet? How long have you got?

27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? Haven’t decided who I’m going to torture tag just yet.

28. The friend you have known the shortest amount of time that you are sending this to? That’s easy–Paisley Goddess!

29. Favorite smell? My man, fresh from the shower! Mmm!

30. What inspires you? My insatiable desire to be Root, biotch! (Just for you, T!)

31. What are you afraid of? Bugs. But T found a cool way to help with that, a Bug Sucker! (It’s on my birthday wish list!)

32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? I love to be cheesy!

33. Favorite car? My Oldsmobile Intrigue. It was black, cool looking and fast!

34. Favorite cat breed? The kind that says, “Meow.”

35. Number of keys on your key ring? 3? 4? 5?

36. How many years at your current job? I’ve been a “Domestic Goddess” since I was 18. Before that, I was in training.

37. Favorite day of the week? Friday. Goes back to the days of school and waiting for the weekend.

38. How many provinces have you lived in? Who me?

39. How many countries have you been to? Does the one I live in count?

I am going to tag:
Judy, Ash, Kelly and Jill.

As always, you do not have to participate, the choice is yours.

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And now Ash’s Fridge Meme. The deal is you must post a photo of the front of your refrigerator without cleaning it off first! (Oh, joy!)

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I just love this meme by Becca at BeccA’s Buzz! (It’s fun and I don’t have to think too hard on a Monday!)

The ‘Give Me Five’ Monday meme is designed to share fun information with each other in a simple, short list! Here’s how it works: Each week, I will put out a random topic from my list of topics and you share 5 answers of your choice on the given topic and link back here! You can add photos, links or stories or just a simple list of your own of 5 things that relate to the topic as it pertains to you and your life experiences. It doesn’t have to be in any order of importance unless otherwise specified.

Sign up for weekly reminder emails at beccagirl@charter.net.

This week’s list: Give me 5 things to do during your favorite season of the year.

Summer is my absolute favorite season, and these are just some of the things I like to do:

1.) Go to the beach. I actually don’t spend a lot of time in the water. I prefer to lay/sit on the beach, with my eyes closed and just listen to the ocean. Actually, I like going anytime of the year since I only live about 10 minutes away! It’s great in the winter because there aren’t many people there. The photo below was taken about a year ago.

2.) Barbecue! Nothing like the taste of grilled…anything (well, almost)!

3.) Play in my gardens. Wow, that sounds pretty romantic, doesn’t it? Like I have a huge garden on the grounds? In reality, I have several small gardens/beds where I love to plant flowers. And watch the butterflies.

4.) Get outside and take photos! When the weather is non-frigid, it’s fun to go places and see things and then try to capture those memories. (It’s probably nice at other times of the year too, but I’m a wimp and just don’t like the cold!)

5.) Sit out on my back patio, usually with Madison, and just chill or read. I find that extremely relaxing. (And Maddie sure does love to chill–even with a lobster on her head!)



And please don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for my 100th post!

 

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First, I have been honored by Kim from Jogging in Circles, with the You Make My Day Award! Kim is a first-class blogger (go see for yourself!), so to receive an award from her really makes my day! Thank you, so much, Kim!

There are a few rules to this award which are a nice way to Share The Love:
1. Write a post with links to five blogs that make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the “You Make My Day Award” logo.
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs or emailing them the news.

It’s difficult to choose from all the great blogs I enjoy, but here you go:

1. Latte Mommy- Her sense of humor and love for coffee keep me coming back for more!
2. Attack of the Redneck Mommy- This blogger writes about everyday life in a way that always has me laughing my ass off!
3. Lyrics of My Life- She blogs from the heart and keeps it real!
4. Where One Day Runs Into Another- A tell it like it is view from a mom and teacher, and all-around sweet person!
5. Worn Out Woman- This down to earth blogging mom gives us insight into the life of a busy mom–with great style!

Congratulations, Ladies!

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Since I actually have some archives now, I’ve decided to start participating in Scrolling Saturday. This great idea for giving a second chance to older posts that didn’t receive much attention the first time around was created by Melissa at Such Simple Pleasures and Coleen from Manners and Moxie.

My choice for this week is “My Dog Madison”, originally posted on 12/9/07. The reason I’m choosing this particular post is a hint at the exciting new project I’m working on–plus the fact that she’s so damn cute! Hope you enjoy!

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My Dog Madison

Madison, aka “Maddie”, is 5 1/2 years old, and the sweetest, most gentle creature I’ve ever known. I once saw a sign that read, “Dogs are people with fur.” That describes Maddie as though the phrase were inspired by her!

Our love seat has become her “Princess Couch,” and she enjoys lounging and napping there quite frequently! (Although, as I write this, she is sound asleep and snoring on the bed right behind me!)

Madison is not into playing ball or chewing on squeaky toys. What Maddie enjoys most is being near her family– showing us how much she loves us with the “whomp, whomp, whomp” of her ‘tail of destruction’ (you’d appreciate this affectionate nickname if you ever witnessed it clear a table or felt it make contact with your leg!) , or gracing us with her sweet puppy smile.

Stay tuned for more tails of “Maddie the Mooch”!

 

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I’m borrowing this idea from Jill at Caffeine Court–how I love that name–and her blog, so please be sure to stop by and say hello! What a great way to get to know a little more about each other!

Jill wrote:
“I’d like to do a little roll call. If you don’t mind would you please state your first name and the state you live in. You can give more information if you want.”

Some info about me:

• My name is Stacey and I live in Ocean County, NJ, but I’m originally from PA.
• I have four wonderful children–three boys, ages 20, 18 and 16, and one daughter who will be 13 in only five weeks.
• We have a dog, Madison (you can see her here, here, and here), who is almost six years old, and the sweetest ‘puppy’ ever!
• I’m currently going through the “wonderful” process known as divorce, which is a real pain in the ass quite educational (more info on that here, here and here)!
• I met the love of my life (”T”) in June of 2006, and we’ve been together ever since (tidbits on him here, here, here, and here)!

I’m really looking forward to reading the responses to this post! Have fun, kids!

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This was the view from our back door this afternoon…

The view from our front door…

Madison and T went outside to play…

Lucky for me, we’re supposed to get rain tomorrow, so it should all go away!

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One of Madison’s favorite things to do is go for a ride in the car. And she’s always very good! However, never in a million years did we expect to see Princess Maddie alone in a car with Aunt Vicki (who loves Madison, but is leary of dogs)! (I know the photo is somewhat unclear, but we had to preserve this moment in history!)

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