By the time most of you read this, I will be on a plane to Los Angeles (I LOVE AUTO POSTING!) to start the much needed vacation, I am going to make some specific goals for this week so that I don’t totally derail my weight loss/exercise efforts! Last Saturday at my Weight Watchers meeting, I looked my leader in the eye and said “Today, I weigh 159.6 pounds. The next time I see you in June, I will not weigh more than 159.6 pounds.” She shook my hand and told me she would take that as a promise and would look for me when I got back. So that’s my first goal for this week:

1. I will maintain my weight while I am on vacation. I am not going to try to lose, but I don’t want to gain either.
2. I will continue my goal of exercising 30 minutes a day for 5 days (besides the walking we’ll be doing at port)
3. I will allow myself one “treat” a day…it can be anything sweet, but I can only have one.
4. I will let Dave help me stay on track. I told him that I want him to be that little voice in my head if I start to go overboard. I need to remember that I have given him permission to correct help me so I can’t get mad at him when he does!

May Habit = Exercise 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week
April Habit = Follow Cleaning Schedule
March Habit = Follow Cleaning Schedule
February Habit = Reduced Personal Computer Time
January Habit = Cut back on kids TV and computer time

Click on the button above and visit Lara to check out how others are doing on their habits!

Considering the fact that I plan on spending most of the day today running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I will leave you with a nice light hearted post today.

I’ve often come across fellow bloggers who have these way cool lists of search terms that lead people to their front door. I’ve coveted these posts, hoping and wishing that someday I, too, would be blessed with such a nonsensical list. I checked my blot stats regularly but to no avail.

I don’t know if I have been looking in the wrong place or if I just suddenly became interesting to people, but I now have that list. Some of it’s silly. Some of it I hope to make silly with my pithy commentary. Without further ado, I present you….the list.

“thea” - Yes?

“my kids need a strict routine” - I agree, they do. When you find out how to get them in one, let me know how you did it.

“too old for stroller too young to walk” - that would be my Emma, have you met her?

“vicks vapor rub hangnail” - um, what?

“stupid warnings on products” - Oh, you must be looking for this and this.

“shoes slippers spanking photo” - This is not that kind of website, but good luck in your search!

“you remember the craze, then the banning” - Yes, I do. But I still think slap bracelets rocked.

“free batman pictures” - I honestly don’t think I’ve ever talked about batman here…

“not for the first time the argument had” - . . . . oh come on . . . had what??

“converse, shoes” - I don’t really like to talk about shoes, and don’t tell me what to do.

“thea march” - I think it would be so cool to have a march named after me. Prizes to the first person who could come up with a slogan and the purpose of the march.

“organize kitchen were do plate go” - I put my plates in the cabinet. Where’d you end up putting yours?

“a paper drama in two minutes” - I would have to say that a 2 minute paper drama would be the FASTEST paper drama I’ve ever seen…and I’ve seen a lot of paper drama

“working mom cleaning schedule” - First off, thank you for recognizing me as a working mom. As for the other part, I’ve got no help for you. Just ask the ants that have called my kitchen “home”.

“redesigning a sweatshirt” - The sweatshirt is a classic. Why would you want to redesign it?

“random information” - Now for this, you have definitely come to the right place.

“drama mama tee shirt” - Talk to the people who organize the Thea March, you guys could probably work together to come up with something.

“i’m a drama mama” - Excuse me, no. I’m a Drama Mama.

All my posts from now until the 26th or 27th will be auto posts as I will be out in the wild blue yonder. I’ll catch ya’ll on the flip side. Try not to miss me TOO much!

I’m tellin’ ya. I get the coolest e-mails from my family…and they always seem to have some sort of list of at least 13 things. I LOVE IT! The latest was a message from my uncle with the coolest sun shots I’ve ever seen!

For more lists, visit Thursday Thirteen.

Are you in the market for a blog redesign?

Let me introduce you to Be Design, a new blog design company run by Beth and Christy.

They just started this little venture but they already have some good work under their belts. Check out their work.

And like any good startup, they are having a sale! Order your redesign by this Thursday, May 15th, and they will give you 50% off your order!

GO NOW!!

In approximately 96 hours, I will be aboard a plane headed for sunny Los Angeles. We’ll spend one night there and then board the ship as early as we can on Sunday. From that point on, I plan on drinking (water, of course), reading, eating myself silly sensibly, touring, zip lining over rainforest canopies, playing hand after hand of rummy, clapping wildly for the brave souls who participate in the belly flop contest, and above all RELAXING!!

It seems like we have been planning for this trip forever and it hardly seems real that it’s finally here.

Bear with me. Sooner or later I’ll stop talking about this trip, but just brace yourself for hopefully lots and LOTS of pictures when we get back!

And I’m still looking for some questions to answer! If you have anything you want to ask me, leave it in the comments!!

To see what everyone else is Talking About, stop by Lara’s place!

Overall, yesterday was a great day. There were a few snafus, but really…it was a great day.

Even if one of the snafus was a tornado warning which meant we all spent about a half hour in the basement listening to tornado sirens going off. There were several funnel clouds spotted, but thankfully none touched down which means no one was hurt. That’s always a good thing.

Dave and the kids got me a $50 gift certificate to Boca Java and several very cute cards. At school last week, each of the kids gave me a flower that they had potted in a Styrofoam cup so I got those transplanted into our outdoor planners over the weekend.

One of the cards Jake gave me was one he made in Sunday School. It was a fill in the blank type card: the teacher gave him the beginning of a sentence and Jacob completed it with his “sentiment”. The result?

My mom likes to: work on the computer.

I like it when my mom: says that I can play!

My mom is pretty as a: Mother

Does my son know me or what?

Emma also made me a card in Sunday School. They put a preprinted poem on one side and Emma’s handprint on the other. The poem almost made me cry…

Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls.

But everyday I’m growing -
I’ll be grown up someday -
And all those tiny hand prints
Will surely fade away.

So here’s a tiny hand print
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small.

I hope all of you had a great Mother’s Day filled with lots of sticky kisses!

While I didn’t work out on 5 days, I did work out on average of 3 days at 30 minutes…which I consider a success! I didn’t work out at all the week before that so 3 days is definitely more than no days.

I’m going to have to get creative with my time to get it all in this week. We leave on Saturday morning for the cruise so I’m going to be spending the lion’s share of this week packing and getting ready and grocery shopping for the grandparents and all that kind of fun administrative stuff.

I’m not even going to start thinking of exercising on the cruise. How and when will be an issue. But I need to do it. That’s all I know!

May Habit = Exercise 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week
April Habit = Follow Cleaning Schedule
March Habit = Follow Cleaning Schedule
February Habit = Reduced Personal Computer Time
January Habit = Cut back on kids TV and computer time

Click on the button above and visit Lara to check out how others are doing on their habits!

I am leaving for vacation in a week and I need your help.

I’ve been trying to think of things that I could auto-post while I was gone. The only thing I could come up with was giving you a daily update of where I would be and what the itinerary was. But then it occurred to me that that idea was:

1. incredibly boring
2. even more stupid
3. maybe a little mean (I’m sorry ya’ll can’t come with me!)

So I thought I would take a different tack. ASK ME QUESTIONS! Ask me anything you want and I will answer it to the best of my abilities. I will be auto-posting for 9 days. 9 days folks, that means I really only need 9 questions (1 per day for you that are math challenged like me). Now, I’m not expecting tons of questions…heck, I already asked once and no one asked me anything. But I’m holding out hope that this time you will come through for me.

For those of you who sneak around here without commenting, this is your chance to make yourself heard.  Fire away!!

Last week, I introduced you to MLAW, an organization that has an annual Wacky Warning Label contest to recognize those “Well, DUH!” labels that seem to be popping up on packaging everywhere.

Here are 13 more past winners:

1. A cardboard car sunshield that keeps sun off the dashboard warns, “Do not drive with sunshield in place”
2. An “Aim-n-Flame” fireplace lighter cautions, “Do not use near fire, flame or sparks”
3. A label on a hand-held massager advises consumers not to use “while sleeping or unconscious”
4. A 12-inch rack for storing compact disks warns: “Do not use as a ladder.”
5. A cartridge for a laser printer warns, “Do not eat toner”
6. A 13-inch wheel on a wheelbarrow warns: “Not intended for highway use”
7. A can of self-defense pepper spray warns users: “May irritate eyes”
8. A warning on a pair of shin guards manufactured for bicyclists says: “Shin pads cannot protect any part of the body they do not cover.”
9. A snowblower warns: “Do not use snowthrower on roof.”
10. A dishwasher carries this warning: “Do not allow children to play in the dishwasher.”
11. A popular manufactured fireplace log warns: “Caution - Risk of Fire”
12. A box of birthday cake candles says: “DO NOT use soft wax as ear plugs or for any other function that involves insertion into a body cavity.”
13. The Vanishing Fabric Marker which cautions users: “The Vanishing Fabric Marker should not be used as a writing instrument for signing checks or any legal documents.”

For more lists, visit Thursday Thirteen.