Welcoming myself BACK to the BLOGOSPHERE!

Once upon a time there was a mom who spent her days pretending to get housework done working the fingers on her left hand to the bone and blogging with her right. There wasn't a moment of her life that didn't land on the pages of MY SEMBLANCE OF SANITY.

She had thousands of fans that laughed and cried the days away as they shared happiness and sometimes grief through the years. This popular Mommy Blogger was nominated for awards, was asked to write of other websites and even got the attention of publishers and agents with her goofy rants that could turn a harrowing situation into a run-for-the-bathroom-gonna-pee-my-pants moment.

Well, this Mommy Blogger went away for awhile. No, she wasn't incarcerated! No, she didn't fake her own death. She didn't even claim to be kidnapped and run off with Joe Jonas to Hawaii....wait, let me think about that for a minute....

I have been LONGING to get back to all of you and BLOG my pants off! Mainly because the media has inundated me with things I need a soapbox for and my facebook status slots are just NOT giving me the same validation that my AMAZING fans have in the past.

The last thing I wrote that wasn't a repeat or a product/book review was in June when a tornado hit our house. Yes, our house in the southeastern corner of PA.... where tornadoes DON'T go! Before that, the last time my blogging skipped more than a week or two was in 2007!

So, no matter the reason, no matter the time that has lapsed in between... I AM BACK! Can you gather your friends? Can you link to me on your facebook? Will you friend me on facebook?

I NEED YOU! I have missed you!

So, let me RE-introduce myself to you...and let the PARTY begin!

Since the last time I blogged:

1. I turned 40

2. I went VEGAN after a month of eating completely RAW last spring

3. My kids have all had birthdays - Matthew is 13, Emily is 12 and Izaiah is 5

4. I started illustrating for ReadingReadingBooks.com - an emergent reader publisher

5. I have a new baby - a chinchilla named Wodney

6. Our office has been turned into a HUGE studio just for moi

*crafting area*

*drawing area*

*writing area* (not ME pictured, LOL)

7. I still think my husband is the hottest man alive

8. Yesterday I had to dump 17 gallons of water out of size 12 snow boots

9. Yesterday I also had to clean up poo-water after the toilet overflowed WITH POOP IN IT

10. I have become a JUST DANCE 2 addict and will fight to the death for the high score

11. I am (with my husband) designing a middle school assembly program and have written a book for teens to coincide with it

12. I am also addicted to facebook - FRIEND ME!

13. I opened my own Etsy shop

14. I am also addicted to Picnik.com OMGH I could spend HOURS playing around with pictures

15. I have 30 minutes to finish this list before I go pick up Iz from preschool

16. Did I mention I can JUST DANCE with the best of them?

17. I have become more passionate than ever for TEENS and MIDDLE SCHOOLERS

18. While horsing around with the kids I blew my knee out and tore my meniscus over the Christmas break

19. I have not scrapbooked in WAY TOO LONG

20. I'm still making some killer cakes

*for my niece*

*for HOTCOP, remember him?*

21. I still play with my food

22. I did another mural - this one didn't take a year and a half to finish

23. I teach some amazing 5/6th graders on Sunday mornings in a program @ our church

24. I have 22 minutes to finish this

25. 25 is my favorite number!

....and I am still a goofball, I am still passionate, I still wear my heart on my sleeve and love helping people!

I am also hoping that when I hit post that my photos aren't overlapping my words  - I am having flashbacks of trying to get those tornado pics posted!!!
***UPDATE: the pics are ALL OVERLAPPING!! Grrrrrrr***
***UPDATE, again: OK, the overlapping is gone but how about the spaces?? WHY SO MANY?"
***UPDATE again: 4th try's the CHARM, right?

I hope you don't get sick of me! I hope you're glad I am back!

SUBSCRIBE if you haven't already :)

Peace OUT, Mamas!

It's Me...remember me? I'm BAAACCCKKKK...

Contest FINALISTS at the end of this post! (ONE MORE ADDED Wed) (No, I didn't forget you!) Don't skip to the end....there's a lot of fun stuff in this post! . WOW! It has been forever and a day since I have last written more than three sentences for you all to enjoy! It has been even longer since it took .3 seconds to get online. That WiFi deal while we were on vacation was a MESS!! Frustrating as all get out! SHEESH! . Let's just chat awhile, shall we? Last Sunday morning at 2 am, we shushled (that's a PA dutch term, meaning jiggled or poked) our three sleeping children from their beds and put them in the car to head to the Outer Banks with our 5 bestest friends in the whole world and all their kidlets, too. . After an 8 hour drive, a couple of food stops and too many "pee" stops to count, we arrived at the pretty place I showed you in my last post! Funny enough, it is owned by Penn State Alumni and there was a Nittany Lion welcoming us over the front door! ROAR LIONS ROAR! . We all ran around peeking into rooms and checking out our new digs for the week...here are some pictures for you to feel welcome, too... This place was amazing...3 floors of fun!! 6 bedrooms, 6 1/2 baths, granite counter tops, a gorgeous view of the sound, big screen tvs, pool table, jacuzzi, and the list goes on! 2 kayaks were hanging in the car port so my boys could take a quick jaunt off the dock whenever they pleased! And a SLEEP NUMBER BED for moi! It was a great week! 7 best friends and 7 kidlets co-existed peacefully for all 7 days! We had a blast! The grown up girls got a couple chances to go it a lone and shop while the hubbies took a swing at the Domestic Goddess role...they were very good at it! So good, in fact, that we left a couple times! . I got a call on the second day from our Foster Care Coordinator to tell us that our adoption date is set! Our baby Izaiah will be a TRUE Brownlow on April 9th when we meet in the courtroom to finalize his adoption. We are so excited! It was a great place to get that news, surrounded by friends! . We did a lot of walking, got some Henna tattoos...

This was James, my tattoo artist - he had a very lickable head! NO, I DIDN'T REALLY LICK HIS HEAD! I was thinking of you all and took advantage of what I like to call a "BLOG FODDER OPPORTUNITY"!

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While on this amazingly fun, sometimes borderline pee-your-pants hysterical (after the children went to bed, of course) vacation I had trouble connecting with the house WiFi...but did get on long enough to get an email from a fellow-blogger that she got Dawn, Mimi and I tickets to OPRAH! Yes, go back and read it again, I did say OPRAH!!!!!! So, in a couple weeks, the three of us will actually SEE each other in person! Friends who have never met but who have been forever blessed by the hearts of the others. . I squealed my way through that day, giggling that I would be in Chicago with my BLOG BUDS! We went sight seeing, climbed a lighthouse, shopped, laughed, had a murder mystery (again, after the kidlets were in dreamland)...I was Candy Cotton, lover of resort owner, Coconut Joe (SWATCOP from my comments) but who was secretly in love with Jack Daniels, the bartender (my hubby)! It was so much fun! . One of the highlights came out of my youngest each and every morning...no, not poop! Since when is that a highlight? Sickos! Of the four women that we vacation with, 3 are named Michelle/Michele. So, we go with nicknames to keep the confusion to a minimum...it doesn't take much! So, I am Kemper, another is Goose and then there is Michele and finally, Anne-Marie. My youngest can say "Goose," tries to say Anne-Marie but it comes out "Giggy" and for some reason calls Michele, "Bob!" So, each morning when he woke at 6 or 6:30, he would walk around squawking, "GIGGY, GOOSE, BOB!" Looking for his 3 favorite people in the house (besides Mommy, of course!) BTW, "Giggy" in PA Dutch is another word for Va-jay-jay!! HAHA! Anne-Marie is our children's ministry director so when Izaiah runs across the room squealing "GIGGY!" on Sunday mornings she blushes!! :) . And, ladies....I have to throw this in there just to make you all seeth with jealousy...14 people, 7 days, 3 meals a day...WE LADIES DID NOT COOK ONCE!!!! NOT ONCE!!!! We have rockin' husbands, I tell ya!! And, for me...I didn't do laundry once either, hubby did! WOOFREAKINHOO FOR ME!!! . We sadly headed home before lunch on Saturday. Landed in Chincoteague, VA. Stayed for the night in a great waterfront hotel and did the wild pony/nature center thing the next morning. Arrived in PA just in time for the baby to finish his nap in his own bed and then head to my mom's for Easter Dinner! The kids had off yesterday as part of their Spring Break so that was a bonus as it gave us time to gently EASE back into reality before the alarms went off for school! . Thanks for being patient with me as I promised you a celeb panel of judges, a video blog and the five finalists...ALL of which did NOT happen! So, I am here to redeem myself...I will allow EVERYONE a finalist position...LET THE VOTING BEGIN! . Hmmmmm....Grrrrrr....the linky thingy isn't workin..... http://juliekirbyblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/oh-boy-another-contest.html http://ricetrio.blogspot.com/2008/03/help-me-win-this-contest.html (first photo) http://peach867.blogspot.com/2008/03/contest-entry.html http://multiplemomt.blogspot.com/2008/03/no-mommie-thats-not-poop-oatmeal-cream.html http://shanemerrittfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/is-it-spring-yet.html http://wilsonscomingoutofthewoodwork5.blogspot.com/2008/03/yippie-reygann-went-poopy-on-potty-oh.html http://ascapecodturns.blogspot.com/2008/03/photo-contest.html http://alanem.blogspot.com/2008/03/phunny-photos.html http://common-place-book.blogspot.com/ (aka *Jane*) - scroll down to "spaghetti kid" photo . NOW REMEMBER...the caption is part of the entry...so take into consideration what makes the photo FUNNY! The best pairing of caption and photo will be our winner! . Invite your friends/bloggers/politicians to vote for your photo on THIS POST!!!

I WILL DO A FRIDAY VIDEO BLOG (instead of Thursday) ANNOUNCING THE WINNER!!