Plagiarism is the fondest form of flattery.  Is that the saying?  I think it’s actually supposed to be “imitation,” but that’s pretty close.  I will tell you though, that in reality it makes you sweat.  It makes you feel ill.  It makes you shake to have someone flatter you in this way.

My husband has stumbled upon a post written by someone in which they have directly stolen my writing, VERBATIM.  And it’s a person who gets paid to write; they got paid for this post of theirs (MINE).  I’ve left a message for the editor of this website and am now waiting.  I don’t know what else to do.

When I was a teacher, if a student plagiarized work and passed it off as their own it was considered an extremely serious offense.   What happens here?  Will she be suspended?  Will she have to write an essay?  Will we be calling her parents?  Sometimes we asked the student what they thought an appropriate consequence would be.

What do you think it should be, J.H.?

Labels: Tales

Here are the top five things you do not want to be doing while a baby is screaming at you. And I have a lot of experience with this now, so you can trust me.

5. Driving. I seriously considered driving into the car in front of me the other day because it JUST WOULDN’T MOVE.

4. Anything where a sudden jerk of the arm may result in blindness, burn, or maiming, such as applying eyeliner, taking a sip of your cup of coffee, or chopping carrots.

3. Trying to conduct a time-sensitive phone conversation involving something critical, such as making a decision about locking in an interest rate on a home loan before market closes.

2. Trying to put the blue pants on an almost three-year-old who wants to wear the brown pants. BTW, the brown pants in this scenario are obviously dirty and unavailable. Seriously, the moms who can keep it together and maintain patience with their older child when things like this happen (aka child who is being insistent about a minor detail and being totally uncooperative despite younger brother’s screams of fury) are totally amazing.

1. You know what it is people . . . yes, you do. Involves a throne? Yeah. I don’t need to tell ya’ll. Man, I hate it when that happens. Talk about a time you don’t want to feel rushed . . . and I especially like it when you can hear the baby screaming in the other room where you’ve left him in his crib and you’ve got the older one in the room with you yelling at you to come and do whatever it is he wants you to do - fix a train, find a sippy cup, pick a booger, whatever - but you can’t actually hear what he wants because the baby is so loud, and you can’t actually help him right now anyway because, well, you’re stuck. Yeah. Love that moment. What is that, like every day?

Labels: Bodily functions, Mommyhood, The Big One, The Little One

This week Sam said what I’ve been dreading for quite some time:  “I want a doggie.”  Oh boy.  And of course I can’t help but consider it.  I’m in trouble.

It’s all because we’ve been reading that Pretzel book about the dachshunds.  And tonight when we started reading it he said again, “I wish I had a doggie.”  To which I responded, “One day we’ll get you a dog, when you’re older.”

To which he said, “We get one at May?”  Obviously he has retained the information that his birthday is in May and at such time he will be getting things that I have been putting off.

I hope I can hold out beyond May.  Two kids, two cats and a dog?  I don’t think so.  I may need to be reminded though because I don’t think I can stand up to many more, “I love Pretzel; I wish I had a doggie”s.

Labels: Birthdays, Talking, The Big One

I’m going to grab this from Steph over at Adventures in Babywearing. I have many things I’ve been wanting to share and amazingly this covers several of them - so here’s what I’m into this month:

The Thing I’ve Been Working On The Most: Trying to find a balance. Things got bad enough this winter that I accepted that I HAVE to fit in some time for myself if I want to be the best mother I can be. And I had to recognize that doing that is not selfish and it’s not a weakness. I plan to write more about what I’ve been doing to accomplish this in my next post.

TV Show I Used To Love But Now Hate And Refuse To Ever Watch Again: 24. Oh, it used to be so good, but no more . . . ever again.

TV Show I Sometimes Hate But Really Like This Year: Oprah. you know, I never watched Oprah before and I used to feel it was all a big cliche. You know, SAHM who watches Oprah. But I have to admit it: I love Oprah. I love her. I’m an Opraholic.

The CD I Can’t Stop Listening To: I’ve really been loving Brandi Carlile. I saw her first on one of those late night shows doing this song from her more recent release, The Story, but I got her first self-titled release and I think I love it even more.

My Favorite Blog Entry This Month: I just realized this part is supposed to be my favorite blog post of mine from this month, rather than someone else’s, which I had originally written in. Well, I don’t have many to choose from if it has to be from my own blog since I have been so bad about it lately. I suppose this one is my favorite because, although it is very short, I’m pretty sure it says quite a bit. It sums up what I’ve been doing this month in one sentence.

Blog I Am Always Visiting: I really like the new blog, Green Mom Finds. We’ve really been working hard over here to be green and healthy, and I’ve found a lot of helpful tips and products from this new site, which was started in part by Cristina from Mommy Off the Record.

What I’m Most Looking Forward To Next Month: Well, my birthday is tomorrow, and my husband seems to be extremely confident about his gift. I have no idea what it could be. I’m also hoping my mom will visit this month.

Head on over to Steph’s if you’d like to see what others are into or to participate.

Labels: Birthdays