I scored Saturday night! We were at the bowling alley, get your minds out of the gutter!

** Please don't forget to enter my GO GREEN GIVEAWAY, which ends this Thursday, 12/10/09, at 7:00 a.m. CST. A set of 6 reusable produce bags and a coffee coozie! Great gifts for yourself or for your favorite Greenie this holiday season.**


Friends, I was on fire when we went bowling with friends on Saturday night. My previous high score was 100. I beat that! So of course I had to take a photo of the scoreboard. Obviously I'm "Ernie," which is my nickname from childhood. My younger brother Mark couldn't pronounce "Erin," so Sesame Street presented the perfect alternative. Anyshizzle, here it is:

I also got several strikes, which is virtually unheard of. You see, I am a complete klutz. I have no atheletic ability to speak of and I was always last to be chosen for teams in P.E. And on our wedding night, my Maid of Honor really did warn Hubs in her speech about my ineptitude, citing the time I tripped and fell unconscious in the gym. We were playing volleyball. Who knew?!

As you can see, I'm gloating very pleased with myself. Note the bowling pin shaped beers. I wish I could say I'm the gorgeous girl on the right, but that's my friend Julie (a.k.a. Demi on the scoreboard). I'm the geek with the grin on the left who is laughing hysterically.

Then on Sunday we took the girls to Mazel Tots, a program for little ones at our synagogue. This week's theme was Hanukkah because it starts on Friday night. They colored, ate some latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganyiot (jelly donuts), sang the Dreidel song, and listed to a Hanukkah story. It was great fun!

The girls' 4th birthday is on Wednesday, so stay tuned for a very weepy thoughtful post mid-week. And I'll be back tomorrow for Post-It Note Tuesday, which I missed last week. I'm in serious withdrawal!

Sunday Stealing -- The Can't Sleep Meme

If you'd like to play along, please check out Sunday Stealing.

Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed?no. unless i'm really tired and afraid that kiss will lead to something else.




When is it hard to kiss someone? when one or both of us reeks of garlic. or when I'm really tired and afraid that kiss will lead to something else.



You're trapped in a room with your most recent ex for three days, what do you do? tell him how lucky he is that he didn't marry me & that he escaped unscathed. It was really for the best since his parents hated Jews.



Does it matter to you if your significant other smokes? I made Hubs quit before we moved in together. I don't like my stuff smelling like smoke. And it's bad for you! Of course I just mean ciggies. Were you referring to marijuana? Bring on the pot, baby! BRING IT!




Have you ever regretted letting someone go? Yes, but I bet they were thrilled to escape from me



Where would you go if you were butt naked and locked out of your house? um, I would hide in the bushes like a secret agent while I fashioned panties from leaves and wait until Hubs got home. Or maybe I would pretend to be the Venus de Milo in my yard.



Do you want to please everyone? yes, but I fail miserably



Have you ever been called heartless? not yet, but there's a first time for everything, right?



Someone calls you at 3:00 AM, who do you expect it to be? my pimp



Does it matter if your significant other drinks? no, as long he doesn't drink my Mommy Juice. He needs to find his own!



Could you go the rest of your life without doing drugs? I have to say that I could, but what fun would that be?!



Which is better, amazing eyes or an amazing smile? Smile. But only if the teeth are all present & accounted for.



Do you want to get married and have children one day? done and done.



Are you easy to get along with? um, methinks most people would say no?



Do you ever want to go to sleep and not wake up? yes.



Are you shorter than your Mom? nope, taller. Just call me Amazon Woman.



Describe your life currently in one word: fun



Are you on medication for anything? birth control pills (not to prevent pregnancy, seeing as my ovaries are defunct, but instead to keep my hormone levels where they should be so I don't grow excessive amounts of facial hair and start to resemble Cro-Magnon Man) and thyroid medication.



Who would you allow to read your thoughts for one day? holy crap, NO ONE! Well, maybe just that John Edward guy and then I could be on tv!



Are there things in your life that you will never be able to get over? yes--the fact that Johnny Depp was voted People's Sexiest Man of the Year. Also that peanut butter Twix are really hard to find. Oh, and that Panera charges you $1.39 for a pitifully small tub of cream cheese EVEN WHEN YOU ORDERED A BAGEL. Seriously.



If you woke up naked next to the last person you kissed, what would your reaction be? Didn't we just do this? I'm off duty for at least another week.

It's Awards Day and I'm Feeling the Bloggy Love! Plus, FREE STUFF/ GIVEAWAYS!!

The lovely Leigh over at Leigh vs. Laundry and the entertaining Kelly at Speaking From The Crib bestowed this new award upon me.Thank you, Leigh and Kelly! After I finished sniveling and tossing tissues about and shuddering over the sheer joy that a brand new award brings, I started thinking about whom to share it with. I'm supposed to pass it along to my Top 10 Most Loyal Readers. I'm not sure I can limit it to just 10, and it's gonna be extra hard because Leigh & Kelly passed it along to a lot of the same people I was thinking of....so maybe I'll make an effort to pass it along to some newer peeps and those who just got it from Leigh can just nod & smile!

The award goes to:

Life Laugh Latte
Lee at Headaches, Hormones & Hotflashes
Kys at Stir-Fry Awesomeness
Daffy at Batcrap Crazy
Big Sis at Speaking of Witch
Blue Violet at A Nut in a Nutshell
MJ at Life, Interrupted
Deb at Menopausal New Mom
Mindy at The Inquisitive Mom
Holly at 504 Main
Pink Flip Flops and Wine
Think Tank Momma


The fabulous and snarky Holly over at 504 Main gave me this bling for my blog. Thanks, Holly! Holly's been one of my bloggy friends for a long time and you have to go check her out! This award is so shiny & sparkly and I'm really excited. I'm supposed to pass it along to 10 worthy bloggers (again, I can't stop at 10), so here goes:

The Blue Zoo

The 5th Sister

Jenny Mac at Let's Have a Cocktail

One Cluttered Brain

Martinis or Diaper Genies

The Ramblings of a Disgruntled Secretary

Who Has the Thyme?

Tatoos and Teething Rings

Good Girl Gone Redneck

I Like To Fish

Blog-Ignoramus

The Eco-Cheap Mom

Now for some cool FREE STUFF---listen up!(don't we all love free stuff?)

Please check out my GO GREEN GIVEAWAY. Set of 6 reusable produce bags and a cute coffee coozie. Giveaway ends on 12/10/09.

Please also go visit & follow my friend Chanda, the Eco-Cheap Mom, and enter her giveaway for some sweet EnviroVogue bags---very hip & stylish reusable totes for all of your shopping needs. Even if you already have some of your own, these would make wonderful gifts for your Greenie for the holidays! And Chanda and I will love you all the more for entering and making another effort to be green.

Last but not least, go see Jenna over at Bloggy Blog Designz. She just redesigned my blog and is hosting another giveaway plus a discount! Tell her I sent you.

Big Pimpin' All Up In The Mother Load---Thank You, Jenna!!!!

You may have noticed my lovely new layout courtesy of Jenna over at Bloggy Blog Designz!

I was the lucky winner of her giveaway hosted by the amazing Kelly of Speaking From The Crib.  If you don't already follow Kelly, shame on you and get thee over to her blog immediately! Then be sure to go say hi to Jenna and see about a blog makeover of your own! Jenna worked super fast, was so incredibly friendly, and she took the time to find out about me and what I liked prior to designing my blog. I am so excited about my new "look" and I hope you'll hop on over to Jenna's soon!


**I forgot to add that the fabulous Jenny Mac over at Let's Have a Cocktail helped me tame my tag line. Thank you, Jenny Mac!**

Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop -- An Open Letter to Santa Claus From Super Jew

If you'd like to play along, please check out Mama Kat's blog.

***The prompt I've chosen for today is an open letter to Santa.***

Dear Santa,

First of all, I'm really sorry that my family confused you when I was little. My mom's a Jew and my dad's an atheist, so why the hell were you stopping over at our place anyway? Of course when I was young, I had no conscience to speak of I didn't really think too hard about who brought me those cool roller skates and Ramona Quimby books. I was just super excited to have some new loot. While I wondered how such a fatty could fit down our chimney in the first place was a little suspicious, my thoughts never lingered long on the logistics---I just holed up in my room for a few days reading all about Ramona and her mother.

But Santa, a lot has changed since then. When I was a teenager I became friends with a special Jewish family and they taught me most of what I know now. Don't hate me for loving bacon embracing my Judaism. I've read and studied and gone to synagogue. I make challah almost every Friday and am proud of my Jewish heritage and how hot Hubs looks in his yarmulke.

Let me get to the point: stay the HELL away from my children! Please don't try to convert my kids. I mean, it's hard enough having a contest between a menorah and Santa. Lighting candles vs. a jolly old fella in a red suit? C'mon! So when they see you at their school next week and sit on your lap, please shut your trap  tread carefully. They are incredibly gullible They don't really "get it" yet and if you tell them you're going to come to our house with presents for them, they'll be expecting you.

In all seriousness, it makes me kinda sad. I am at a loss for what to tell them. How to explain for the umpteenth time that you aren't coming to our house, that we are Jews and we celebrate Hanukkah instead. I am sure this phase is temporary, but I want them to want their Judaism--I want them to want to be different in that way. As usual, my expectations are entirely too high for their tender young age.

So in closing, Dear Santa, please be careful with my kids. Don't make them want you too much. I know it's my job to make Hanukkah at our house super fun this year, and I'm on it. But it would be helpful if you could just back the hell off slow down this season and not be in so many places all at once. It's not Quantum Leap, it's Christmas.

And after all, I'm just a Jew....a lonely Jew....on Christmas.

Sincerely,
Erin

My third GO GREEN GIVEAWAY begins NOW ---Third time's a charm, right?!!?

I had a brief mental lapse and forgot to announce that BunkieBott over at Adventures of a Poor Shopaholic won my 2nd GO GREEN GIVEAWAY! Congratulations & your reusable tote is in the mail on its way to you.

This means it's time to begin my 3rd and final GO GREEN GIVEAWAY. It may not be my final giveaway ever, but it's the last one for now.

Here's what you're going to win:

This super cute blue coffee coozie thingie! It protects your hands as you once again succumb to that caffeine addiction enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee on the go. Courtesy of Coffee Girls here in KC! It goes without saying you should be bringing your own mug by now, but if you don't, at least you can skip the paper sleeve part.

You will also win this set of six reusbale produce bags courtesy of Etsy (2 bags in each size):

These bags are white with pink ribbon. They come with a pink floral storage bag:

This giveaway will end  at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, 12/10/09. So you have a full week for this one. Here's how to enter:

1.) Follow me here on Blogger - 1 entry
2.) Follow me on Twitter (@erinlynn76) - 1 entry
3.) Write about this giveaway on your own blog with a link to this post here (please email me and make sure I see the post! erinlynn76@aol.com) - 5 entries
4.) Tweet about this giveaway with a link to this post  - 5 entries (please send me a link to your tweet or at least put my Twitter username in your tweet so I can see it---people who may have entered the last giveaway this way---I never saw your tweets!). You can tweet about this giveaway once per day.
5.) Write your own GO GREEN blog post and tell us about everything you do that helps our planet. And link up to me here, too - 10 entries

Thanks for playing & good luck!

Silly Haiku Wednesday

Hop on over to You Know....That Blog to play along!


This week's haiku theme is: challenge.
Here's mine:

Motherhood--oy vey!

A challenge I am up to.

Just not today, k?

The Night That Began Eight Years of Wedded Bliss, or, The Look of Terror On My Face On My Wedding Night

On this day eight incredible years ago, Hubs and I quit living in sin got married. Surrounded by our families and closest friends, we spoke our own vows and became one under the chuppa (for you non-Jews, that's the marriage canopy we are standing underneath in the photo below).

This may be my favorite photo of us---taken as we were leaving the ballroom after the ceremony's completion:

It was a beautiful evening marred only by my maid of honor's toast in which she warned Hubs about that time I tripped and fell unconscious in gym class but due to the inebriated state of several people who shall remain nameless, I fell off my chair during the horah. I thought you might find these photos ridiculously funny rather endearing. No bride should have to feel or look like this on her wedding day (please note my bulging bicep muscles as I grip the chair--although you may be slightly distracted by the fake bosoms sewn into the bodice of my dress):

If you look carefully in the background, you'll notice my husband is clearly happy and laughing and enjoying himself whilst his beloved bride is experiencing sheer terror. Now I want you to have the full effect and see just how un-level my chair was at this point. This is not a 90-degree angle, people:

Seriously. Look at me. I'm holding on for DEAR LIFE. C'mon, guys, SOBER UP! And while I am not a tiny woman, it's not like I weighed 500 pounds and was expecting you to hold me up for an hour. Clearly you need to get yourselves to a gym and pump some iron!

I was trying to grab the other end of the handkerchief, but couldn't continue to hold myself upon the chair with my one remaining arm (oh that I were an octopus!). Consequently, I fell off the chair and onto the floor, flashing my lacy white skivvies to the entire ballroom. Fortunately our photographer either failed to capture me in all my nekkid glory, or he destroyed the proofs and never showed them to me.

Happy Anniversary, my love!