Woo-hoo, Blogathon 2009 is here and I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it, … (sung to the tune of that Pointer Sisters’ song, “I’m so excited”).

It’s a one day event on July 25 and I’ll be up all night blogging for 24 hours straight, no sleep, just posting like crazy every half hour. This is my 3rd year at the Blogathon and I’m so addicted!

I’ll be blogging for the ASPCA again, just like last year. Those of you who read my blog know I’m the wierdo who won’t order ‘live’ seafood and who will chase a mosquito out of my car instead of just smashing it.

Yes, and I’m always up for something crazy to do, are you? Well, you can find out more about Blogathon 2009 here or register to join us. It’s really fun and it’s for a good cause.

If you can’t do without your beauty sleep, no problem, you can still earn some good karma by donating. Sponsor me here and I promise I’ll stay up all night and do the donkey work. Your donations will go directly to ASPCA, not to me, so you can be sure I won’t be going shopping with your money . I appreciate any and all donations, no matter how big or small.

I’ll be posting updates as we get closer to the date so stay tuned…

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Since I’ve banned canned food this week after we OD’d on Transformer tin cans last weekend, I made shepherd’s pie for lunch today. From scratch.

Yes, it can be fattening but as long as you don’t eat it every day, you won’t need to subject yourself to any weight loss program review.

Usually I cheat by using chicken instead of lamb. Haha, the poor shepherd would be insulted! But today I made the ‘real’ thing with ground lamb. The kids loved it and say I should open a restaurant next to the one where they first tasted this, you know the one that claims to have that award-winning secret recipe for cheesecakes,  . Yeah, my kids sure know how to polish my shoes so I’ll cook this for them again next week.

Shepherd’s pie isn’t exactly the kind of food that chinapeks (chinks) would appreciate. But surprisingly my uncle who happened to drop by today says it’s very good. He thinks I can’t cook and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had Ratatouille sitting on top of my head the whole time I was cooking this .

I got dragged, kicking and screaming, to watch The Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen. When my kids were little, they never even looked at Ultra Man or whatever man so we never had to buy them those ugly plasticky toys with the stiff arms and legs, thank gawd .

To be quite honest, I never thought they’d be interested in this kind of movie either. But then again, free movie tickets are just too hard to resist.

So there I was, smack in the middle of two hours of mutating tin cans trying to kill each other off while piddly humans dodge around their huge metal feet trying not to get killed. Clashing tin cans, clanging tin cans, flying tin cans, so who’s the good tin can and who’s the bad ?

Just a few minutes in and my eyelids grew heavy from the glare of tin cans and more tin cans. Duh! Yawn…. zzZZzzz…. snore! The only consolation was my kids loved every minute of the movie. Good for you guys, I said, and good thing too you’re all too old for those ugly Transformer toys, pffft! And no canned food this week, ya hear?

Up until dinner last night, we were still talking about Michael Jackson’s passing. Such talent, such catchy music, such slick dance routines, such a crying shame he’s gone too soon.

Somewhere in the conversation, we were discussing how prescription medication might’ve been detrimental to his health.

Skye: What’s detrimental, Mom?

Me: Bad.

Raine: Hazardous.

There’s our walking dictionary. Looks like I’d better brush up my English . I’m bad, I’m bad…. who’s bad?

When my kids were younger, I often had to choose my clothes carefully, going only for the more practical outfits. I had to think about whether my buttons would pop open when I was struggling to carry the child, or if my pants would split if I bent over to pick up a toy, you know, stuff like that.

I often chose soft comfortable fabrics with lots of room for movement. These would’ve been some of my choices back then.

Center Gathered Top - The gentle gathers of this Modal jersey gives a busy mom lots of room for movement. The not-too-low neckline and not-too-short batwing sleeves offer just the right amount of coverage.

Penelope Palazzo Pants - Every mom should have a couple of pairs of these in her wardrobe. Simplistically elegant in design, these Palazzo pants are tailored to skim effortlessly over your curves. Instead of buttons or zippers which tend to create unsightly bulges, it has a wide elastic waistband, which together with the wide legs make for a super comfortable fit for active days out with the family.

Miami Wrap Dress - Don’t you just love the bold print on this summery wrap dress? The contrasting black banding along the neckline, 3/4 length sleeves oand princess seams on the front and back creates a wonderfully slimming effect. Wear this on a date with Hubs and have him swoon over twice .

You can find lots of very nice designs plus save 20% off everything at Kiyonna Clothing. Just enter the coupon code - fireworks09 - when you check out with your order. Offer ends July 8, 2009.

I missed eating my favorite bachangs, or dumplings this year because I was still on my 30-day vegetarian diet during the Dumpling Festival. Which means the 6 delicious homemade dumplings my dear neighbor gave me were sitting in my freezer for quite a while.

She gave me two of 3 different types here - sambal bachang which is spicy and tastes rather wierd to me *shudder*, pork bachang with chestnuts, dried shrimp and wobbly pork (I love playing with the jiggly fat but if I eat it, I’ll definitely need a diet pill to go with it !) and the pea version of the pork bachang which is the most yummy of all!

My dear neighbor tells me there’s two Dumpling Festivals this year and the second is tomorrow. Wonder if I’ll find more of her homemade dumplings dangling on the fence tomorrow morning?

Quite often, people get frustrated with me because I don’t seem to answer their phone calls or text messages. Hey, folks, I’m really sorry, I swear I’m not avoiding your calls. I would answer if only I could just find my phone or remember to switch it on .

My first cellphone was the one my company made us carry. So like it or not, I had to lug that huge, fugly thing with me and keep it on 24 hours a day even though my job description didn’t include being night watchman watchwoman. So me and cellphones never actually got off on the right foot, know what I mean?

Then there’s my perpetual problem of never being able to get to my cell phone quickly enough to answer it before it goes dead. It’s worse if I’m driving. I tried wearing a Bluetooth headset which made me feel like an alien from planet Pluto, so out it went!

By the time I left my job, cell phones had gotten considerably smaller, sexier and even harder to find in my big bottomless tote bag. With 3 school kids to juggle, my mentality has always been: don’t call me, I’ll call you unless there’s an emergency in which case just text me and I’ll get back to you within the next 30 days or after all my kids are married, whichever comes first, thanks .

Raine and I had a really great brainstorming session last night. Like me, both my girls love to write. I’m glad some of their teachers notice this. Yesterday Raine was asked to submit an article to the school magazine. All afternoon while in the car, she and I were tossing ideas at each other.

Should I write about Twilight, Mom? Everyone’s so crazy about it at school but I think it’s way overrated . Or should I do a book review? How about fashion trends? I sure have a lot to say about, oh, never mind, forget I said that *giggle*.

Come dinner time, she’d finally decided she was going to write about Twilight and we discussed the angle. She showed me the piece later and asked me to proofread it.

Going through a piece together is always a great time for us to bond and discuss the finer points of writing.

I see great potential in my children’s writing. They write very well and I love cheering them on. I was never a cheerleader at school but I swear I’m getting pretty good at it now . Raine was so excited about her piece last night I could almost sense the feverish tingling from across the room. Rah!