TheMommyBlog

Friday, January 02, 2009 Me, Me, Me, Fun, Family

Get yourself a nice boyfriend and a wii and play Rock Star for four straight hours. The last hour, I was on drums, and boy are my arms tired.

It’s much harder than it sounds, and oh, how I wish we had real cymbals. The bad news is that the kids will be super frustrated with it because you have to read and be able to monitor several areas of the screen at once. Sort of second nature to a couple of computer geeks, but my daughter will be pouting for months.

We left on a high note—scored 91%—after we played “I’m Paranoid” by Garbage seven hundred times. The ratings were soooo funny. Whenever we messed up it made this guitar twang sound and the screen blinked FAILED. I was all, dude, we fell off the stage. I’m going to have shin splints in one leg from the foot pedal in the morning.

My favorite part was glancing down at the aftermath on the coffee table: a tin of Peppermint Bark, an empty bottle of champagne, a hammer (for the bark), Phil’s stocking, drumsticks, a microphone, and the instruction manual.

And a big Ted Nugent THANK YOOOO shout out to my brother for giving us the loudest, most distracting gift this year. Last year it was an Optimus Prime talking helmet and the year before, The Thing hands and feet.

Monday, December 15, 2008 Fun, Family

No one messes with Mighty Mindy!

I had planned to feature this later in the week, but the folks at MadeUpMemories.com made a far better episode than I could. The kids and I have been dying over this site, more fun than ElfYouself, in my opinion, which is a pretty high bar. If you could only see what we did to poor Phil.

I predict lots of image resizing and stifled giggles in the office this week.

Saturday, November 08, 2008 Me, Me, Me, Fun

Read on for a Joe’s Jeans giveaway… it’s dead easy to win a pair of $200 designer jeans! Just send me a photo as described in the instructions!

Saturday, October 04, 2008 Fun, Family

Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear myself say.

When David Oskardmay, founder of BitWorksMusic.com, wrote to ask if I felt like checking out some new music that rocks for kids AND their parents, I gotta say, I really didn’t. I’ve done my time with The Wiggles, Barney, Dora, The Babies Einstein, Van Gogh, Bach, and Beethoven, not to mention Hap Palmer, crooner of unforgettable tunes such as “Today I took My Diapers Off” and “My Mommy Comes Back.”

Pop quiz: what will make you cry harder than leaving a child in daycare? “My Mommy Comes Back” by Hap Palmer.

David gave a nice pitch about Hank and I could tell that he took the time to read my contact page because he volunteered to forgo breaking my kneecaps if there was a lesser appendage that would do just as well. People get major points for reading before writing. I can’t tell you how many people go to the Contact tab, skip the bits describing how to advertise on this site, and jump right into the contact form to ask me if I take advertising and how one might go about it. I don’t even want to respond. It makes me wonder if I really need the money. Which, incidentally, is another thing I never thought I’d hear myself say.

Hank Hooper is a musician and multimedia artist who creates great original music and art for kids. Collaborating with Hank, we have released the multimedia album download edition of his latest work, “Playground Fortune Teller”, 17 awesome songs and a narrated eBook by Hank, all presented in an interactive, easy-to-use, downloadable format.

Yeah, yeah. I was still iffy until I got to this line:

Please give the free single a listen!

”That’s My Chicken”

Whoa. Back up the golf cart. That’s your what? There are all sorts of places we can go with that one, not all of them good. Now I had to check it out. I couldn’t go to bed without knowing exactly what kind of inflection the question carries. Is it asked with a leer? In surprise and alarm? Anger? Tenderness with a dangerous hint of jealousy? Or is the singer slapping the listener on the head and saying, “NO, doofus, that’s my CHICKEN.” The possibilities, they stagger.

He gave me the link to post, along with one to the publicity page, so I clicked and waited as the song buffered.

First thought: did I just click on my They Might Be Giants album in iTunes? Second thought: Heyyyy, that’s my chicken!

I listened and agreed that I could indeed have used songs like this one instead of “Daddy be a Horsie” and “Baby’s Good Doggy.” Hell, I could have used an icepick to the temple in hindsight, though at the time I thought they were cute and they did entertain the babies. I could sing the “Rolling” song and they’d immediately clam up and stare at me, wide-eyed, until I finished, and then they’d pick up screaming right where they left off.

Phil walked in the door as I sat down to write this, and I said, “Hoooo boy, Phil, have you got to hear this. I’m going to listen to it again.” About halfway through, he came over and asked if I could please turn it off before it got stuck in his head and he couldn’t get it out. It’s catchy. I’m sitting here, humming, “Mmmm mmm mmmm that’s my chicken!”

Which reminds me: time for dinner.

Go check it out. I definitely want to hear the rest of the album based on the single. Everyone needs a break from Amy Winehouse now and then.